Ben Johnson of Repairify joins Ron to talk about a different approach to auto repair utilizing remote scan tool access and programing. Next, Ron interviews Dan Curtis. He is the owner of AZ AMC Restorations in Peoria AZ, just outside of Phoenix. Ron talks to Dan about a recent post he made on social media and the problems he is having getting engine rebuilding done in a timely manner due to the lack of engine machine shops. Ron close out the hour with some suggestions on maintenance for a safe and reliable travel experience this summer.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ron Anian, you can't assume or believe that you're the
only guy to ever see that problem. It's a big
world out there, and somebody else has seen it, and
the value of community is really coming full circle. And
you can see it in a lot of the organizations
that are being set up for mechanics to help mechanics
(00:27):
the Car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm not afraid to drive it from Des Moines to Omaha.
I stay off of Interstate eighty system because when the
semi passes you at seventy mile an hour and you're
doing fifty, it has a tendency to suck you off
the road.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, yeah, it's got to look pretty cool to a
thirty eight Chevy on route. That's got to be pretty neat,
you know.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronanania, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one. This is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If you're mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in the garage to orders.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred and
now pee running and welcome listeners. Wanna men in the
Car Doctor at your service, of course, and we're going
to dive right into it. We've got a big hour
this hour, and we're gonna be talking to Ben Johnson
to start. Ben is with Repairify And when I heard
(01:26):
the name, I knew Repairify as a company. I wasn't
quite sure what they did and who they were. Ben
and I were chatting for a while now and decided,
you know, this is a great interview because you're going
to learn a lot about what's going on in the
auto industry. So let's get right to it. Ben Johnson, Repairrify.
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir, hey man, thanks for
having me on ron A pleasure. Let's just dive right
(01:46):
into it. Ben, what is Repairrify? Because I've got to
admit I've heard of them, but you know, it's just
it's like skimming the headlines. You see so much information
in this industry. What are you guys bringing to the table,
What exactly are you doing right?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, so it's an interesting story. So you probably
haven't heard of a paify because of the it's they've
been around for about fifteen years actually, but they've been
very heavily participating in the collision space. So they started
out life with a product called an ads tech ASTech
(02:21):
and this product would allow a person in a remote
location they're based in Plano, Texas, to connect through a
device at the car side with an OE scan tool
or diagnostic tool and manipulate that vehicle as if they
were at the fender. So in the collision spaces, we
(02:42):
all know they're you know, a little behind the mechanical side.
As far as doing that kind of work, the insurance
folks have been pushing them to become more adapt at it.
A lot of them don't have a scan tool and
don't know how to operate it if they had one.
So this was a perfect fit to start off this uh,
this this product line. So they do I mean they've
(03:05):
done literally millions of car side scans from Plano, Texas.
They generate a nice report, they do a pre scan report,
pot scan report, very important the collision industry, and they
and they can use the OE tool to do it
so that they make sure that they're getting the you know,
all of the functions that the OE tool is capable of.
(03:25):
And then they they can actually reprogram the vehicle remotely
as well, like if they've got a new part in
there that needs to be programmed to the car, or
a new ECU or anything like that. So that's kind
of what what has has got them into the industry,
and they're making a lot of waves over there. I'm
actually fairly new to the company. You probably knew me
from another company for many years. But my job is
(03:48):
to actually take a lot of what they've done for
the collision industry and bring that over into the mechanical side.
So you will be I mean, I'm counting on you
hearing a lot more about us in the in the
weeks and months and to come.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So Repairrify if I let's just clarify. Let's let's clarify Repairrify.
If we can ben it's it's if I'm a body
shop Repaarify has has a service where I can I
can you know, buy in I'm going to have some
sort of a communication device that will plug into the
OBD two port and missus Smith's late model Chevy is
(04:24):
in an accident. I can use Repairrify to pre scan
before I make the repair, post scan after I make
the repair, and that satisfies the insurance companies keeps them
happy and they see before and after condition of the
vehicle knowing it's fixed. Fair statement.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Exactly if you need during that process, if you need
to do more things like maybe clear a code or
actuate something or run a test, they can do that
remotely as well.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
All right, So, but I'm a mechanical shop. Now, I'm
gonna be a little tough on you, right, I'm gonna
be the devil's advocate here. I'm a mechanical repair shop.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Up.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
How does that help me? What is reparify going to
do for me? Because I get what you're doing for
the body shops and how they're approaching it. But I
can go out and I can buy you know, I
can buy a half a dozen scan tools from you know,
fourteen different vendors tomorrow. So why do I want Repaify?
What's it going to do for me?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Right? So that's a great question, and we will be
evolving some of these features over time. But this short answer,
Ron is when you think about the aftermarket mechanical especially
and one of the reasons I'm so excited about this
company and this products is that you've got a scan
tool and we don't even we can't eat We don't
(05:40):
have to pick on a name, pick any brand of
scan tool that's in the aftermarket. And what I always
say is all of those scan tools do somewhere between
seventy and eighty percent of pretty much everything, but none
of them do one hundred percent of anything as far
as supporting a vehicle. So maybe you probably you might
not need us, you know, on a day to day basis,
(06:01):
but you might have that car in at some point
and you're saying, my gosh, this you know, brand, whatever
tool that I've got plugged in doesn't do some function
that my my Mitchell program or whoever says I need
to do to finish this diadema.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And that does in all fairness, Ben, that does happen.
You plug into program power Windows and you may not
have it. You program, you plug into, you know, do
a variety of just simple coding functions, uh, you know,
and you don't have it. So repair Offy gives us
that option because it's it's automatically the OEE tool.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Because we've got the OE tool on the other end
of the line there, and we've got a it's kind
of important to note to Ron, we've got a guy
that knows how to use it. We've got some like
if you're working on a Toyota, we will route that call,
that that message in to the Toyota tech that knows
how to use that Toyota tool to make sure he
gets you whatever you need as efficiently as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Gotcha. Gotcha. So you know you can scan for me
as a Toyota, You could scan for me as a
Ford or a GM, et cetera. You can you can
program for me, you know you can. You can code,
you can do what an oe scan tool can do.
So all right, so you're you're going to do it
(07:16):
one hundred percent of the time, as you say, But
then I've got to look at, you know, what's the
convenience factor as a repair shop. I may not know.
You know, a repair shop may start eight o'clock in
the morning and it starts out with, you know, four
oil changes. Two of those oil changes or break jobs
one g ways they had a check engine light on,
which actually happened to me this week. We had a
check engine light on in a car that the customer
(07:37):
didn't know what the light meant. And we had to
go through this whole education process of course, and then
we got into scanning and diagnostics. Is this Yeah, it
really does. So is this process you know, fifteen minutes
from now? Hey Ben, I need a scan on this forard.
You know, how does it work? How do I hook
in as a repair shop?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
There's a couple of different things ron So it depends
on which tool you have. So one of the interesting
things about repairify is they don't aim to be in
the hardware business as a competitor. Now we have a
scan tool, we called them all in one. But if
your shop happens to have a launch tool with the
one of the more recent vcis I think the Throttle
(08:20):
three or better or something like that, then you don't
even need us as far as hardware. You've already got
your launch tool plugged in. You can once you sign
up with us, which is you know, I think there's
a one time activation fee or something. But then you
just push a button on your interface and it literally
calls sense information about the vehicle to us. We get
(08:43):
you connected to the right technician. Usually takes somewhere between
you know, thirty seconds and two minutes, and then they're on.
They're they're on with you and they're able to process
whatever you requested. You might have requested a pre scan
post scan. There's also a chat capability that comes with it,
or you can elect to have them call you on
your cell phone or your office phone, uh to you know,
(09:05):
dialogue with you while they're doing whatever you need done.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So there's also a tech line, yes side of this too,
where you're gonna be talking to a master Toyota Tech,
a master Ford Tech, a master GM tech, and so
forth to help you.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
A little careful there, ron. You know we are not
yet at the point now on the collision side. Yeah,
we're pretty good on the collision side. As we get
into the mechanical side will be uh, we'll be getting better.
But I can assure you this. The guy on the
other end knows about the vehicles and he knows about
the tool, but he's he may or may not be
a master technician to actually help you fix the car.
(09:39):
He can get the tool where you need it to go,
and he can deliver the test results and things that
you need, but he may not be the guy that's
gonna like get you out of a hole if you're
if you're truly drowning, right not.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yet, right, not yet yet. We're gonna we're gonna walk
before we run. So you know, when I'm plugged in
with my launch tool, which I happen to have, all right,
no secret there, and I'm plugged in with my launch
tool and I'm dialed into my repaify icon which I
haven't seen. Ye I'm gonna have to go back and
look for It's probably there and I haven't seen it.
You know, is the data when he when he makes
(10:13):
my tool, the Toyota tool, the Toyota Factory tool, the
Ford Factory tool, will that display on my launch scan tool?
Or is the information displayed on him and he sends
me a report.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
The information is displayed to him on his Oe scan tool,
and he will send you a report. And it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Ron.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
The VCI is where the magic happens. When you actually
request that report, it will disconnect basically from your tablet
and connect through your either Wi Fi or tethered Internet
or Ethernet cable and he'll be it'll be talking directly
to Plano Texas. Your tablet then just becomes a display device.
(10:54):
It's just kind of again talking to Plano Texas and saying,
here's what he's doing, Here's what he's found, here's a
chat us to talk to you or what have you.
It's it's really pretty interesting, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it sounds interesting, Ben. You know what, it's very
forward thinking. You can see where it's going. And this
is something the industry desperately needs because you know, yeah,
there is no scan tool out there other than an
OE that does one hundred percent. It's typically the seventy
eighty percent tile and then it's always that last twenty
or thirty percent that boxes you in a corner. Hey, Ben,
we're up against the clock. Sit tight, you can stick
(11:26):
around a little bit longer. Yes, absolutely, okay, sit tight.
I'm ronning any in the car Doctor. I'm here with
Ben Johnson of a paraphy. We'll both be back right
after this. Don't go away. He drives that way.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
But when it comes to fixing cars, Ron has car
advice done right.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Eight five five five six zero nine to nine zero zero.
Here's Ron. Welcome back, listeners, ronn Anie in the car
Doctor on here as I was with Ben Johnson over parafy. Ben,
you're still there, sir. You didn't disappear on me. I
know you won't. Noan, so real quick, I just want
to go back real fast. If I can. You know,
we were talking in the first part of our conversation
(12:07):
that repairify is there. The insurance companies want body shops
to do pre collision scans to see vehicle condition. But
what happens I'm just curious what happens if the vehicle,
you know, that the battery got smacked and there's no
electricity in the vehicle, then what do they do?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, that's a that's a really good point, you know,
And frankly, one of two things happens. Right, If the
car is completely dead, they're either going to total it
because it was it's a it's a loss anyway. But
if not. To your point, you can't really do a
pre scan on a car that won't that won't the
dash lights won't light up on. So they do have
to get it to a to a state where they
(12:46):
can get the battery to power back up or they
you know, put a jumper card on it or something
to get it powered up, and they'll have to do
whatever repairs they have to do to get to that
state before they can do the pre repair scan. So
that it's a good point though, a good question.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Right, And and that's not a reflection on repairify. That's
a reflection on the insurance industry and collision and what
they're dealing with, because that's a problem, and I think
you should. I think it's important to have a pre scan.
You know, we're at the point now where we scan
oil changes. We scan all cars at least once a year.
Stick out your tongue and say ah and it goes
in the draw. It just like a heart rate and
(13:22):
blood pressure, just like going to the doctor. No pun intended, please,
you know, practice just just you know, we have data,
we know what healthy looks like, we know what it
was like six months prior, and we can But anyway
I want to I don't want to go down that road.
That's not what today is about.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
You know, I was also thinking about you know, I'm
a repair shop, not me, but maybe I'm a repair
shop out there somewhere and I've got three locations. Do
I have to sign up three times? Do I have
to buy?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Because that's another thing I hear in the industry. These
guys are concerned they're buying three of you know, snap
on or three hotels or three launch scan tools, and
then what do they do it? It's the cost is
just out of control.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Right, Well, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Ron.
First of all, for the service Noah, I mean, if
you're if you're Ron an Indian Automotive, then you have
to have three sites. You're you're fine to log in
and you know, get get help. But you know, obviously
you've got to have some kind of a hardware interface
at those shops to plug into. So you know, if
you've got to scan a launch tool at those shops,
(14:23):
that's great, you can and I don't know, it's way
less than a standard scan tool, but that you can
buy just the vehicle communications device from US and actually
run the software that connects it to Plano Texas from
a laptop, from the tablet from you know whatever. And
(14:45):
uh so you can do that and just have a
lightweight hardware interface at your shop so that you can
call in and get these OE scans. Or of course
you can buy our all in one device which is
a it is a full blown scan tool as well
as having that remote capability. So there's a few ways
to do it. You know, you can go all the
way into the scan tool or basic interface device, but
(15:06):
you don't have to own like an like a GM
tool and a Toyota tool and whatever. At every location
they are sitting up there basically virtually waiting for you
to to sign in in Plano. And they're always updated.
They keep them, you know. So you know, we talked
about the twenty percent time you don't have to you know,
you pull that OI tool out. Twenty percent of the
(15:27):
time you plug it in and says, oh, I've got
to get a reflash myself or I've got to get
updated before I can even use it. So that's all
ready for you.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I've got to tell you, Ben, one of the biggest
problems I saw and still see with OE scan tools
is you're we'll take Ford, you know an IDs Right,
you take your Ford IDs scan tool, and you know
you use it on Monday, you don't use it. Tuesday,
you don't use it Wednesday, Thursday, you go to use it.
Now there's an update from Ford maybe you know, so
(15:54):
it's and you drag it out and now it's got
to be updated. There goes forty five minutes to an hour. Easy,
all right.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
It happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I just came from a conference, an industry conference, and
that was one of the major things that the shops
on a shop panel I watched we're talking about exactly that, and.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Then that just kills productivity. Now you've got to find
something to do in the shop for forty five minutes
and babysit this scan tool and it just becomes a
giant pain in the neck. So but yeah, okay, I
get it. So you guys have plans for that. That's good.
I like that again, forward thinking, that's what we're paraphy
is doing here. Real quick, Ben, in our last two minutes,
can you just touch on reprogramming? Does this tool do
(16:35):
reprogramming for us?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
It does? And the nice thing is is that it
does reprogramming through that vehicle communications box and driven by
the OE tool, not an aftermarket tool that's trying to
emulate the OE software like so many of them do.
So you can be assured that the OE tool is
actually performing that calibration or that part configuration or whatever
(16:58):
it is that you need to do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So it'll reprogram And is there maintenance on the mechanical
shop side, I mean, do we have to update the
VCI at all? Or is that automatically done when we
log in? Is the tool basically ready to go?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So to speak, it'll be ready to go. You know,
once in a while the VCI might get a firmware update,
but it's not often, and it's very quick, just.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Out of curiosity, real quick, in our last minute, are
they working on keys? Have they dealt with the key
issue and the locksmith issue?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yet?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
We actually have glass people using our product. That's kind
of a different program around. But I will have to
get back with you on what we actually do remotely,
because it's not so much that we couldn't do it.
We can, but it's about the nastev requirements and making
sure that our texts are certified and we're doing it
all above board, right.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Right, Yeah, Well, and for everybody else's benefit. What Ben's
talking about is there are security requirements by the federal
government that prevent just any body from programming keys. Ben,
we're winding down the time together today real quick. Where
can the listeners go get more information?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Oh, repurify dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's just keep watching that pike.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Because we'll be changing in here in the next few months.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Perfect and keep your dial tuned here because we're going
to be talking about you in the future too.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I appreciate your time today. Ben Jonson for Parify, and
you'd be well, I'm on an Anie in the Car Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go on. Welcome
(18:47):
back listeners, Ron and Anie in the Car Doctor, our
next guest. This is a little different, right. You know
this really came about I was I was up on
social media the past week or so, and I started
to read this post from this gentleman in fascination because
it emulates what I've been saying the past ten or
fifteen years. We're here on air for what thirty three now,
(19:09):
but for the longest time, that there are no machine
shops left, that we're running out of places to take
engines to rebuild them, that it's not such a common
everyday practice. Dan Curtis, the owner of azamc Restorations, is
running into this problem in his portion of the business
out there in Arizona. I guess it is Dan. Welcome
to the Car Doctor, sir. It's Arizona, correct, is where
(19:31):
your shop is?
Speaker 5 (19:32):
That is correct? And yes, pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Thank you, sir, and we appreciate you taking the time.
You know your posts started out it's the first paragraph.
Due to the dwindling supply of quality machine shops and
very poor quality aftermarket parts, as well as a lack
of people interested in learning the engine building a machine
shop trades, which that's a whole other conversation. I regret
to inform our many followers and Kerrent as well as
(19:57):
past customers that will no longer be taked making on
any new engine build orders. And let's it's for a
car we are restoring. Wow. You know, when you restore
a car, they you know, they say, hey, Dan, I
want you to restore my AMC vehicle American Motors, you know,
a javelin or whatever, and you know, just take the
car and build it. And now and then you were
(20:18):
also doing engines. Somebody could bring you an engine and say, hey,
just build the engine. You're saying, hey, no more, we
got to do the whole car or nothing, because we
don't have the resources to do just engine work anymore.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
So when we first started, we actually were an engine
building shop to start with. And then as time progressed,
people started asking us to help them with more and
more things. And I had a collection of AMC cars
on my own and they would see my cars and
they would say, can you make my car my Javelin
or AMX or ramble scrambler as good as yours, and
I said, sure, we can do that. So I ended
(20:51):
up buying a shop thinking it was going to be
both a mechanical and a body shop, and as you
probably know from being in an interest for you self,
they're not very compatible. So I ended up buying a
second shop a couple hundred feet away. So we now
have a paint and body shop in a restoration shop.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
So, as time evolved, the restoration work started becoming more
a larger and larger part of our business, of course.
And so but we've been building engines in the house now,
specifically mostly AMC engines for over twenty years, and we're
encountering an inability to have timely machine shop work done
so that we can get engines done on a timely basis.
(21:31):
Imagine coming and asking us to build your engine and
I tell you I probably can't have it done for
you for two years.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Now is that is that a you know, you don't
have the manpower, you don't have the material, you both
the floor space. You know what exactly creates that two
year backlog? It just pure demand because there's nobody else.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, So we're a specialty engine builder and we build
engines for people all over the America, even some in Mexico,
a couple over in Europe. And so we have the inventory,
we have the parts we need because we've been doing
this for a long time, but we can't find I've
been advertising now for months to have a new engine builder,
(22:15):
and that new engine builder challenge is significant, and I'm
unable to find anybody do that. But more importantly, I
can have stuff at a machine shop for four or
five months before I get it back. I had one
block at a machine shop for a year and I
had to hound them to get it back, and when
I got back it was ruined.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Wow. And these are not engine components and parts that
are easily replaced, correct, I mean to ruin a factory
block that was probably from a numbers matching something right.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
So thankfully AMCs are date code correct, So as long
as you get a block with the same date, you
can technically be date code correct. But yeah, nobody else,
nobody makes them. You either it becomes a boat anchor
or a pay very big paper way oracles to the scrapyard.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
So you know, so as it stands right now, you
are not going to take on any separate engine work.
It's got to be the whole car or nothing. And
then how long do you foresee that If somebody brings
you a whole car and says, Dan, I want you
to do a whole car at at your azy amc
restoration shop, you know how long before you get to
the next car. You know how big of a backlog
(23:22):
is there to do cars?
Speaker 5 (23:24):
We have roughly a two year backlog. People are sending
in sizeable deposits to get a space in our queue,
and I tell them up front that it might be
as long as two years. Sometimes depending on people's individual circumstances,
it could be six months when they send the car,
and depending on what is needed. But as you probably
(23:44):
know from the industry, it's a very tedious and time
consuming process to restore a car because there's no way
for you to start on it and not do anything
else until you finish it. So you're kind of juggling
two or three or four restorations at the same time.
And then we for cash flow perpses, we bring in
short term repairs so that you know you can go
months on a restoration and not make any progress. You're
(24:07):
not charging the custom or anything until you make progress. Yeah,
we could could. It could be up to a year
and a half before your cargets in, and it could
be another year year and a half before you get
it back.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So are you strictly doing AMC's American Motors Cars or
do you do other muscle cars, hot rods, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
So I like to say that AMC could stand for
American Muscle Car or stands for American Motors Cars.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
So we do.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
We are specialized in the AMCs because we are probably
one of the places that knows them the best. And
that's out of my own passion because I bought a
nineteen sixty at AMX when I was eighteen years old,
and within eighteen month I had the fastest car around.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
So I grew to like them.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
And so we have a Pontiac Firebird four hundred and
there that we built a four to sixty eight Stroker
for and upgraded to a TKX five speed. We have
a really cool nineteen seventy five Osmobile four fourteen that
we're just finishing up now. And we've done corvettes and
so we do other cars, but we're known for our
(25:07):
amc restorations.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So what's the answer. Is there an answer? Or let
me ask the question this way. Exactly where in Arizona
are you? Can you tell us yes?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
So we're just a little bit west of Phoenix. So
when people come in to see if they fly into
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport jumping an uber and they're at
our place in twenty a twenty five minutes, All right,
Is there a little town called Peoria?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Are there any other machine shops in and around Peoria?
Or are you basically the machine shop?
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So we're not actually a machine shop. That's the one
function that we actually use third parties for, gotcha and so,
but that's only for things like grinding crankshafts, which is
a very dirty and cumbersome job, boring cylinder blocks, aligne
honing the main journals, decking the top of the block
for a good cylinder head seal. So those are the
(25:57):
kind of things we outsourced, but we do all the rest.
We balance them blueprint in house. Every engine. We require
if we're going to build you an engine, that we
blueprint it, and that way we give you a basically
and unconditional warranty unless it comes in and you've got
a bunch of vent valves because you overhepped the heck
out of it and you had pistons and valves whacking
each other. Right, So there are other places to go.
(26:18):
But the challenge is there's so few of them left that,
as I said earlier, you could have an engine block
somewhere for six months.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What's the you know, And I'm just trying to paint
a picture of the area, right is you know here
in North Jersey, I'll say it like this here in
New Jersey. In North Jersey, if we tell somebody you
need four tires and a set of brakes, it's not
uncommon for them to say, I'll just go buy a
new car. Is is that Peoria? Is that Arizona?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
So we specialize in you know, thirty, probably forty to
sixty year old cars, right and so that's a different
client tell than what you're describing. These are people who
always wanted this car their whole life, and they realizing
COVID caused this. They're realizing they're getting on in years
and they better get to it or they might not
be around to do what they always want to do.
(27:10):
Or had one guy whose dad bought this car brand new.
He remembered driving it around in nineteen seventy one Javelin AMX,
remember driving it around in and as a child, his
dad got dementia. It brings tears in my eyes. So
the guy restored the car and brought it to his dad.
Now dad couldn't remember which foot to put his shoe on,
(27:33):
but he remembered every single time car.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
It just put Cooper Cobra GT radios on it. And
Dad yelled at the sun because we're supposed to have
good year polyglass, right.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Isn't Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? But when you
drive around Peoria, and I'm sure you look at repair shops,
you know, car guys tend to look at repair shops.
What are they working on? What are they doing? Is
the fleet out there older? Are people inclined to replace
vehicles or are they more inclined to repair vehicles.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
It's a really good question. So it's it's a dichotomy.
So Arizona, Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country. Now,
So one of the attractions to Phoenix is that the
Phoenix area is it's affordable and the taxes are low.
So you've got a mix of new young urban people
that are professionals and they're all in the fancy new cars.
(28:21):
And then you've got a mix of the older retired
folks that are just hanging onto a car because they
came somewhere it was inexpensive to live and they don't
want to be spending a lot of money on new cars.
So it's kind of fifty to fifty, right right right?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Hey, Dan, can you you got time to hang around
a little bit more. I want to pull over take
a pause when we come back, if you can stay,
I want to talk a little bit about So we've
laid out the problem, maybe we can talk about the
solution and see what we can come up with. I'm
ronin Eni and the Car Doctor. I'm joined this hour
by Dan Curtis. He's the owner of az amc Restorations
out in Peoria, Arizona. And we'll both return right after this.
(28:53):
Don't go away, Welcome back listeners, ronn Amy and the Cardocks.
I'm here with Dan Curtis, the owner of azy amc
Restorations out in Peoria, Arizona. Correct, Dan, that is correct,
(29:13):
And we were talking about the issues from your Facebook post,
your social media post talking about, you know, problems finding
a machine shop, reputable machine shop, quality work, getting it
done in a timely manner, all the issues that you know.
Is there a solution? Is there an end to this
insight where we're going to be able to find machine
shops again?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
So this is a very good question. I just as
a result of that same post on social media, a
fellow who has a racing engine machine shop here in
Phoenix is sixty one years old and called me up
because we've done business with them before, but he specializes
in racing engines. Ask me if I wanted to buy
his beautiful shop, and he's got a couple of million
(29:52):
dollars worth of equipment in it. It's like a data
center floor. It's immaculate and unfortunately a bit older than him.
So I told him, although I'd love to, it's probably
not in the cards for me. So I think what
the bottom line is and where I'm going with this
is it's about the dollar. We have been so used
(30:13):
to the machine shop world being a good value and
relatively inexpensive part of an engine build. That's not going
to be possible anymore.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I mean, this guy wanted if he wanted me to buy.
It was going to be millions of dollars to buy
his shop. And it's a racing business. So you know,
you can't charge one hundred dollars for decking the top
of a block when you've got a note for three
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
To buy the place, right right, And that machine that
decks the block is how many hundreds of thousands of
dollars or thousands of dollars right, it's it's it's return
on investment. It just it has to be practical.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
So it gets even worse than that. Now, all the
repair parts for those things are not made in the
United States anymore. So let's say you have this two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars boring and decking machine and
a part breaks on it. You might have to wait
three months to get the part because it has to
be made and then shipped over from China. So we're
at a crossroads. We either have to accept the fact
(31:14):
that it's going to cost a lot more for machine
shop work, or it's going to go away. I mean,
those are the two options. There's no in between. So
I'm hoping and expecting that the result of our not
making anything and having these foreign made parts be poor
quality will result in a reinvestment in our own manufacturing capabilities.
(31:37):
Without that, we're at the mercy of a foreign country.
And we talked off air that you have some you know,
you're a history buff and World War two buff. Imagine
getting in a war and relying on your enemy to
supply you with the parts for your war munitions and
your war equipment. Right, curpracious thing I've ever thought of.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Do you have kids walking in the shop in our
last minute that are interested in this or no?
Speaker 5 (32:00):
So we're kind of a tour destination for the AMC
faithful and then people in general, like you have heard
about us. So we get visitors all the time, not
necessarily kids, although they bring their kids with them who
seem bored because they're not on their cell phone. But
we get a lot of people to come in and
just want to see what we're doing, see the cars
we're working on, because there's not that many shops around
that do this stuff anymore, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
There's just they're not coming in looking for a job,
was my question? Right, Yeah, now that doesn't exist.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
No, not really, so very few. And then the ones
we have, the youngsters have tried to hire and get
them to be an apprentice.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Again.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
I hate to be so generalized, but the cell phone
is a big interference with people doing their job these.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Days, and it just keeps these kids from going. Hey, Dan,
real quick, last ten seconds. Name of the shop web address.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
So it's www dot AMC Musclecars dot com. And that'll
actually bring you to the Facebook page because it's easy
to put stuff on Facebook than it is to put
it on my website.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Perfect, cool beans, Dan, Thanks for joining us today. Run
An Inning in the Card Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Welcome back, run An Inning in the Car Doctor.
You know, before as we close out this hour, before
I go, I just want to talk a little bit
(33:19):
about summer maintenance, getting ready for summer and some of
the basic things, and it's things you've heard me talk
about before, but I just want to remind everybody you know,
we're going to the summer driving season. Memorial Day is
just a scant thirty days away right now, and before
you know, we'll be doing some heavy summer cruising. If
we're taking trips, if we're just running around locally, the
engine and the vehicle is going to be working harder
(33:40):
running hotter in higher temperatures and so forth. So we've
got to take all of that into consideration depending upon
mileage and where you're at with this vehicle. Let's talk
about if you own this vehicle, if you lease the vehicle, hey,
you know, in the three years you're gonna lease it,
you're gonna do your three four, five six oil changes
depending upon mileage, rotate the tires a couple of times,
and probably give it back. But if you own the
(34:01):
vehicle and you're going for longevity once it gets passed
or up to that thirty thousand mile mark and beyond,
it's great to start thinking about doing fuel system cleaning
on a regular basis, either with a system or a
product that goes into the intake system to do a fogging,
meaning it's going to be carried in through the intake air,
so it will hit the intake valves by virtue of
(34:23):
the ports, or if it's an older port fuel style
injection system, you're going to maybe go in through the
fuel rail and clean that way. But fuel system cleaning
is important on a regular basis depending upon where you live.
Air and cabin filters can't tell you how important it is,
and a good quality filter. A poor filter is just
as bad as a clog filter because in the case
(34:44):
of an air filter, a poor air filter will disrupt airflow,
affect how the mass airflow sensor works. If it's not
fitting the air box correctly and able to filter air
a lot of contaminant, it's going to hit the sensor
and you're going to have problems there. Last, but not least,
I want to talk about draw liveline fluids. Driveline fluids
are important. They're very specific to the vehicle. They're very
(35:04):
specific by manufacturer. Look at the manufacturer's owner's manual. See
what it says. Talk to your mechanic, consider how you're
using it to decide whether or not it's time to
do fluids. And last, last, look at tires. Think about
it all. It's a package. So the next time I'm
notnating in the cardoc If the mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
See it
Ron Anian, you can't assume or believe that you're the
only guy to ever see that problem. It's a big
world out there, and somebody else has seen it, and
the value of community is really coming full circle. And
you can see it in a lot of the organizations
that are being set up for mechanics to help mechanics
(00:27):
the Car Doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm not afraid to drive it from Des Moines to Omaha.
I stay off of Interstate eighty system because when the
semi passes you at seventy mile an hour and you're
doing fifty, it has a tendency to suck you off
the road.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, yeah, it's got to look pretty cool to a
thirty eight Chevy on route. That's got to be pretty neat,
you know.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Welcome to the radio home of Ronanania, the Car Doctor.
Since nineteen ninety one. This is where car owners the
world overturned to for their definitive opinion on automotive repair.
If you're mechanics giving you a busy signal, pick up
the phone and call in the garage to orders.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Are open, but I am here to take your call
at eight five five five six ninety nine hundred and
now pee running and welcome listeners. Wanna men in the
Car Doctor at your service, of course, and we're going
to dive right into it. We've got a big hour
this hour, and we're gonna be talking to Ben Johnson
to start. Ben is with Repairify And when I heard
(01:26):
the name, I knew Repairify as a company. I wasn't
quite sure what they did and who they were. Ben
and I were chatting for a while now and decided,
you know, this is a great interview because you're going
to learn a lot about what's going on in the
auto industry. So let's get right to it. Ben Johnson, Repairrify.
Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir, hey man, thanks for
having me on ron A pleasure. Let's just dive right
(01:46):
into it. Ben, what is Repairrify? Because I've got to
admit I've heard of them, but you know, it's just
it's like skimming the headlines. You see so much information
in this industry. What are you guys bringing to the table,
What exactly are you doing right?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, so it's an interesting story. So you probably
haven't heard of a paify because of the it's they've
been around for about fifteen years actually, but they've been
very heavily participating in the collision space. So they started
out life with a product called an ads tech ASTech
(02:21):
and this product would allow a person in a remote
location they're based in Plano, Texas, to connect through a
device at the car side with an OE scan tool
or diagnostic tool and manipulate that vehicle as if they
were at the fender. So in the collision spaces, we
(02:42):
all know they're you know, a little behind the mechanical side.
As far as doing that kind of work, the insurance
folks have been pushing them to become more adapt at it.
A lot of them don't have a scan tool and
don't know how to operate it if they had one.
So this was a perfect fit to start off this uh,
this this product line. So they do I mean they've
(03:05):
done literally millions of car side scans from Plano, Texas.
They generate a nice report, they do a pre scan report,
pot scan report, very important the collision industry, and they
and they can use the OE tool to do it
so that they make sure that they're getting the you know,
all of the functions that the OE tool is capable of.
(03:25):
And then they they can actually reprogram the vehicle remotely
as well, like if they've got a new part in
there that needs to be programmed to the car, or
a new ECU or anything like that. So that's kind
of what what has has got them into the industry,
and they're making a lot of waves over there. I'm
actually fairly new to the company. You probably knew me
from another company for many years. But my job is
(03:48):
to actually take a lot of what they've done for
the collision industry and bring that over into the mechanical side.
So you will be I mean, I'm counting on you
hearing a lot more about us in the in the
weeks and months and to come.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So Repairrify if I let's just clarify. Let's let's clarify Repairrify.
If we can ben it's it's if I'm a body
shop Repaarify has has a service where I can I
can you know, buy in I'm going to have some
sort of a communication device that will plug into the
OBD two port and missus Smith's late model Chevy is
(04:24):
in an accident. I can use Repairrify to pre scan
before I make the repair, post scan after I make
the repair, and that satisfies the insurance companies keeps them
happy and they see before and after condition of the
vehicle knowing it's fixed. Fair statement.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Exactly if you need during that process, if you need
to do more things like maybe clear a code or
actuate something or run a test, they can do that
remotely as well.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
All right, So, but I'm a mechanical shop. Now, I'm
gonna be a little tough on you, right, I'm gonna
be the devil's advocate here. I'm a mechanical repair shop.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Up.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
How does that help me? What is reparify going to
do for me? Because I get what you're doing for
the body shops and how they're approaching it. But I
can go out and I can buy you know, I
can buy a half a dozen scan tools from you know,
fourteen different vendors tomorrow. So why do I want Repaify?
What's it going to do for me?
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Right? So that's a great question, and we will be
evolving some of these features over time. But this short answer,
Ron is when you think about the aftermarket mechanical especially
and one of the reasons I'm so excited about this
company and this products is that you've got a scan
tool and we don't even we can't eat We don't
(05:40):
have to pick on a name, pick any brand of
scan tool that's in the aftermarket. And what I always
say is all of those scan tools do somewhere between
seventy and eighty percent of pretty much everything, but none
of them do one hundred percent of anything as far
as supporting a vehicle. So maybe you probably you might
not need us, you know, on a day to day basis,
(06:01):
but you might have that car in at some point
and you're saying, my gosh, this you know, brand, whatever
tool that I've got plugged in doesn't do some function
that my my Mitchell program or whoever says I need
to do to finish this diadema.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And that does in all fairness, Ben, that does happen.
You plug into program power Windows and you may not
have it. You program, you plug into, you know, do
a variety of just simple coding functions, uh, you know,
and you don't have it. So repair Offy gives us
that option because it's it's automatically the OEE tool.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Because we've got the OE tool on the other end
of the line there, and we've got a it's kind
of important to note to Ron, we've got a guy
that knows how to use it. We've got some like
if you're working on a Toyota, we will route that call,
that that message in to the Toyota tech that knows
how to use that Toyota tool to make sure he
gets you whatever you need as efficiently as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Gotcha. Gotcha. So you know you can scan for me
as a Toyota, You could scan for me as a
Ford or a GM, et cetera. You can you can
program for me, you know you can. You can code,
you can do what an oe scan tool can do.
So all right, so you're you're going to do it
(07:16):
one hundred percent of the time, as you say, But
then I've got to look at, you know, what's the
convenience factor as a repair shop. I may not know.
You know, a repair shop may start eight o'clock in
the morning and it starts out with, you know, four
oil changes. Two of those oil changes or break jobs
one g ways they had a check engine light on,
which actually happened to me this week. We had a
check engine light on in a car that the customer
(07:37):
didn't know what the light meant. And we had to
go through this whole education process of course, and then
we got into scanning and diagnostics. Is this Yeah, it
really does. So is this process you know, fifteen minutes
from now? Hey Ben, I need a scan on this forard.
You know, how does it work? How do I hook
in as a repair shop?
Speaker 4 (08:00):
There's a couple of different things ron So it depends
on which tool you have. So one of the interesting
things about repairify is they don't aim to be in
the hardware business as a competitor. Now we have a
scan tool, we called them all in one. But if
your shop happens to have a launch tool with the
one of the more recent vcis I think the Throttle
(08:20):
three or better or something like that, then you don't
even need us as far as hardware. You've already got
your launch tool plugged in. You can once you sign
up with us, which is you know, I think there's
a one time activation fee or something. But then you
just push a button on your interface and it literally
calls sense information about the vehicle to us. We get
(08:43):
you connected to the right technician. Usually takes somewhere between
you know, thirty seconds and two minutes, and then they're on.
They're they're on with you and they're able to process
whatever you requested. You might have requested a pre scan
post scan. There's also a chat capability that comes with it,
or you can elect to have them call you on
your cell phone or your office phone, uh to you know,
(09:05):
dialogue with you while they're doing whatever you need done.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So there's also a tech line, yes side of this too,
where you're gonna be talking to a master Toyota Tech,
a master Ford Tech, a master GM tech, and so
forth to help you.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
A little careful there, ron. You know we are not
yet at the point now on the collision side. Yeah,
we're pretty good on the collision side. As we get
into the mechanical side will be uh, we'll be getting better.
But I can assure you this. The guy on the
other end knows about the vehicles and he knows about
the tool, but he's he may or may not be
a master technician to actually help you fix the car.
(09:39):
He can get the tool where you need it to go,
and he can deliver the test results and things that
you need, but he may not be the guy that's
gonna like get you out of a hole if you're
if you're truly drowning, right not.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yet, right, not yet yet. We're gonna we're gonna walk
before we run. So you know, when I'm plugged in
with my launch tool, which I happen to have, all right,
no secret there, and I'm plugged in with my launch
tool and I'm dialed into my repaify icon which I
haven't seen. Ye I'm gonna have to go back and
look for It's probably there and I haven't seen it.
You know, is the data when he when he makes
(10:13):
my tool, the Toyota tool, the Toyota Factory tool, the
Ford Factory tool, will that display on my launch scan tool?
Or is the information displayed on him and he sends
me a report.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
The information is displayed to him on his Oe scan tool,
and he will send you a report. And it's really interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Ron.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
The VCI is where the magic happens. When you actually
request that report, it will disconnect basically from your tablet
and connect through your either Wi Fi or tethered Internet
or Ethernet cable and he'll be it'll be talking directly
to Plano Texas. Your tablet then just becomes a display device.
(10:54):
It's just kind of again talking to Plano Texas and saying,
here's what he's doing, Here's what he's found, here's a
chat us to talk to you or what have you.
It's it's really pretty interesting, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, it sounds interesting, Ben. You know what, it's very
forward thinking. You can see where it's going. And this
is something the industry desperately needs because you know, yeah,
there is no scan tool out there other than an
OE that does one hundred percent. It's typically the seventy
eighty percent tile and then it's always that last twenty
or thirty percent that boxes you in a corner. Hey, Ben,
we're up against the clock. Sit tight, you can stick
(11:26):
around a little bit longer. Yes, absolutely, okay, sit tight.
I'm ronning any in the car Doctor. I'm here with
Ben Johnson of a paraphy. We'll both be back right
after this. Don't go away. He drives that way.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
But when it comes to fixing cars, Ron has car
advice done right.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Eight five five five six zero nine to nine zero zero.
Here's Ron. Welcome back, listeners, ronn Anie in the car
Doctor on here as I was with Ben Johnson over parafy. Ben,
you're still there, sir. You didn't disappear on me. I
know you won't. Noan, so real quick, I just want
to go back real fast. If I can. You know,
we were talking in the first part of our conversation
(12:07):
that repairify is there. The insurance companies want body shops
to do pre collision scans to see vehicle condition. But
what happens I'm just curious what happens if the vehicle,
you know, that the battery got smacked and there's no
electricity in the vehicle, then what do they do?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah, that's a that's a really good point, you know,
And frankly, one of two things happens. Right, If the
car is completely dead, they're either going to total it
because it was it's a it's a loss anyway. But
if not. To your point, you can't really do a
pre scan on a car that won't that won't the
dash lights won't light up on. So they do have
to get it to a to a state where they
(12:46):
can get the battery to power back up or they
you know, put a jumper card on it or something
to get it powered up, and they'll have to do
whatever repairs they have to do to get to that
state before they can do the pre repair scan. So
that it's a good point though, a good question.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Right, And and that's not a reflection on repairify. That's
a reflection on the insurance industry and collision and what
they're dealing with, because that's a problem, and I think
you should. I think it's important to have a pre scan.
You know, we're at the point now where we scan
oil changes. We scan all cars at least once a year.
Stick out your tongue and say ah and it goes
in the draw. It just like a heart rate and
(13:22):
blood pressure, just like going to the doctor. No pun intended, please,
you know, practice just just you know, we have data,
we know what healthy looks like, we know what it
was like six months prior, and we can But anyway
I want to I don't want to go down that road.
That's not what today is about.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
You know, I was also thinking about you know, I'm
a repair shop, not me, but maybe I'm a repair
shop out there somewhere and I've got three locations. Do
I have to sign up three times? Do I have
to buy?
Speaker 4 (13:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Because that's another thing I hear in the industry. These
guys are concerned they're buying three of you know, snap
on or three hotels or three launch scan tools, and
then what do they do it? It's the cost is
just out of control.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
Right, Well, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Ron.
First of all, for the service Noah, I mean, if
you're if you're Ron an Indian Automotive, then you have
to have three sites. You're you're fine to log in
and you know, get get help. But you know, obviously
you've got to have some kind of a hardware interface
at those shops to plug into. So you know, if
you've got to scan a launch tool at those shops,
(14:23):
that's great, you can and I don't know, it's way
less than a standard scan tool, but that you can
buy just the vehicle communications device from US and actually
run the software that connects it to Plano Texas from
a laptop, from the tablet from you know whatever. And
(14:45):
uh so you can do that and just have a
lightweight hardware interface at your shop so that you can
call in and get these OE scans. Or of course
you can buy our all in one device which is
a it is a full blown scan tool as well
as having that remote capability. So there's a few ways
to do it. You know, you can go all the
way into the scan tool or basic interface device, but
(15:06):
you don't have to own like an like a GM
tool and a Toyota tool and whatever. At every location
they are sitting up there basically virtually waiting for you
to to sign in in Plano. And they're always updated.
They keep them, you know. So you know, we talked
about the twenty percent time you don't have to you know,
you pull that OI tool out. Twenty percent of the
(15:27):
time you plug it in and says, oh, I've got
to get a reflash myself or I've got to get
updated before I can even use it. So that's all
ready for you.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I've got to tell you, Ben, one of the biggest
problems I saw and still see with OE scan tools
is you're we'll take Ford, you know an IDs Right,
you take your Ford IDs scan tool, and you know
you use it on Monday, you don't use it. Tuesday,
you don't use it Wednesday, Thursday, you go to use it.
Now there's an update from Ford maybe you know, so
(15:54):
it's and you drag it out and now it's got
to be updated. There goes forty five minutes to an hour. Easy,
all right.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
It happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I just came from a conference, an industry conference, and
that was one of the major things that the shops
on a shop panel I watched we're talking about exactly that, and.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Then that just kills productivity. Now you've got to find
something to do in the shop for forty five minutes
and babysit this scan tool and it just becomes a
giant pain in the neck. So but yeah, okay, I
get it. So you guys have plans for that. That's good.
I like that again, forward thinking, that's what we're paraphy
is doing here. Real quick, Ben, in our last two minutes,
can you just touch on reprogramming? Does this tool do
(16:35):
reprogramming for us?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
It does? And the nice thing is is that it
does reprogramming through that vehicle communications box and driven by
the OE tool, not an aftermarket tool that's trying to
emulate the OE software like so many of them do.
So you can be assured that the OE tool is
actually performing that calibration or that part configuration or whatever
(16:58):
it is that you need to do.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So it'll reprogram And is there maintenance on the mechanical
shop side, I mean, do we have to update the
VCI at all? Or is that automatically done when we
log in? Is the tool basically ready to go?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So to speak, it'll be ready to go. You know,
once in a while the VCI might get a firmware update,
but it's not often, and it's very quick, just.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Out of curiosity, real quick, in our last minute, are
they working on keys? Have they dealt with the key
issue and the locksmith issue?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yet?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
We actually have glass people using our product. That's kind
of a different program around. But I will have to
get back with you on what we actually do remotely,
because it's not so much that we couldn't do it.
We can, but it's about the nastev requirements and making
sure that our texts are certified and we're doing it
all above board, right.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Right, Yeah, Well, and for everybody else's benefit. What Ben's
talking about is there are security requirements by the federal
government that prevent just any body from programming keys. Ben,
we're winding down the time together today real quick. Where
can the listeners go get more information?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Oh, repurify dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's just keep watching that pike.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Because we'll be changing in here in the next few months.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Perfect and keep your dial tuned here because we're going
to be talking about you in the future too.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Ben.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
I appreciate your time today. Ben Jonson for Parify, and
you'd be well, I'm on an Anie in the Car Doctor.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go on. Welcome
(18:47):
back listeners, Ron and Anie in the Car Doctor, our
next guest. This is a little different, right. You know
this really came about I was I was up on
social media the past week or so, and I started
to read this post from this gentleman in fascination because
it emulates what I've been saying the past ten or
fifteen years. We're here on air for what thirty three now,
(19:09):
but for the longest time, that there are no machine
shops left, that we're running out of places to take
engines to rebuild them, that it's not such a common
everyday practice. Dan Curtis, the owner of azamc Restorations, is
running into this problem in his portion of the business
out there in Arizona. I guess it is Dan. Welcome
to the Car Doctor, sir. It's Arizona, correct, is where
(19:31):
your shop is?
Speaker 5 (19:32):
That is correct? And yes, pleasure to be with you.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Thank you, sir, and we appreciate you taking the time.
You know your posts started out it's the first paragraph.
Due to the dwindling supply of quality machine shops and
very poor quality aftermarket parts, as well as a lack
of people interested in learning the engine building a machine
shop trades, which that's a whole other conversation. I regret
to inform our many followers and Kerrent as well as
(19:57):
past customers that will no longer be taked making on
any new engine build orders. And let's it's for a
car we are restoring. Wow. You know, when you restore
a car, they you know, they say, hey, Dan, I
want you to restore my AMC vehicle American Motors, you know,
a javelin or whatever, and you know, just take the
car and build it. And now and then you were
(20:18):
also doing engines. Somebody could bring you an engine and say, hey,
just build the engine. You're saying, hey, no more, we
got to do the whole car or nothing, because we
don't have the resources to do just engine work anymore.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
So when we first started, we actually were an engine
building shop to start with. And then as time progressed,
people started asking us to help them with more and
more things. And I had a collection of AMC cars
on my own and they would see my cars and
they would say, can you make my car my Javelin
or AMX or ramble scrambler as good as yours, and
I said, sure, we can do that. So I ended
(20:51):
up buying a shop thinking it was going to be
both a mechanical and a body shop, and as you
probably know from being in an interest for you self,
they're not very compatible. So I ended up buying a
second shop a couple hundred feet away. So we now
have a paint and body shop in a restoration shop.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Right.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
So, as time evolved, the restoration work started becoming more
a larger and larger part of our business, of course.
And so but we've been building engines in the house now,
specifically mostly AMC engines for over twenty years, and we're
encountering an inability to have timely machine shop work done
so that we can get engines done on a timely basis.
(21:31):
Imagine coming and asking us to build your engine and
I tell you I probably can't have it done for
you for two years.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Now is that is that a you know, you don't
have the manpower, you don't have the material, you both
the floor space. You know what exactly creates that two
year backlog? It just pure demand because there's nobody else.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, So we're a specialty engine builder and we build
engines for people all over the America, even some in Mexico,
a couple over in Europe. And so we have the inventory,
we have the parts we need because we've been doing
this for a long time, but we can't find I've
been advertising now for months to have a new engine builder,
(22:15):
and that new engine builder challenge is significant, and I'm
unable to find anybody do that. But more importantly, I
can have stuff at a machine shop for four or
five months before I get it back. I had one
block at a machine shop for a year and I
had to hound them to get it back, and when
I got back it was ruined.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Wow. And these are not engine components and parts that
are easily replaced, correct, I mean to ruin a factory
block that was probably from a numbers matching something right.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
So thankfully AMCs are date code correct, So as long
as you get a block with the same date, you
can technically be date code correct. But yeah, nobody else,
nobody makes them. You either it becomes a boat anchor
or a pay very big paper way oracles to the scrapyard.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
So you know, so as it stands right now, you
are not going to take on any separate engine work.
It's got to be the whole car or nothing. And
then how long do you foresee that If somebody brings
you a whole car and says, Dan, I want you
to do a whole car at at your azy amc
restoration shop, you know how long before you get to
the next car. You know how big of a backlog
(23:22):
is there to do cars?
Speaker 5 (23:24):
We have roughly a two year backlog. People are sending
in sizeable deposits to get a space in our queue,
and I tell them up front that it might be
as long as two years. Sometimes depending on people's individual circumstances,
it could be six months when they send the car,
and depending on what is needed. But as you probably
(23:44):
know from the industry, it's a very tedious and time
consuming process to restore a car because there's no way
for you to start on it and not do anything
else until you finish it. So you're kind of juggling
two or three or four restorations at the same time.
And then we for cash flow perpses, we bring in
short term repairs so that you know you can go
months on a restoration and not make any progress. You're
(24:07):
not charging the custom or anything until you make progress. Yeah,
we could could. It could be up to a year
and a half before your cargets in, and it could
be another year year and a half before you get
it back.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
So are you strictly doing AMC's American Motors Cars or
do you do other muscle cars, hot rods, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
So I like to say that AMC could stand for
American Muscle Car or stands for American Motors Cars.
Speaker 4 (24:29):
So we do.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
We are specialized in the AMCs because we are probably
one of the places that knows them the best. And
that's out of my own passion because I bought a
nineteen sixty at AMX when I was eighteen years old,
and within eighteen month I had the fastest car around.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
So I grew to like them.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
And so we have a Pontiac Firebird four hundred and
there that we built a four to sixty eight Stroker
for and upgraded to a TKX five speed. We have
a really cool nineteen seventy five Osmobile four fourteen that
we're just finishing up now. And we've done corvettes and
so we do other cars, but we're known for our
(25:07):
amc restorations.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So what's the answer. Is there an answer? Or let
me ask the question this way. Exactly where in Arizona
are you? Can you tell us yes?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
So we're just a little bit west of Phoenix. So
when people come in to see if they fly into
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport jumping an uber and they're at
our place in twenty a twenty five minutes, All right,
Is there a little town called Peoria?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Are there any other machine shops in and around Peoria?
Or are you basically the machine shop?
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So we're not actually a machine shop. That's the one
function that we actually use third parties for, gotcha and so,
but that's only for things like grinding crankshafts, which is
a very dirty and cumbersome job, boring cylinder blocks, aligne
honing the main journals, decking the top of the block
for a good cylinder head seal. So those are the
(25:57):
kind of things we outsourced, but we do all the rest.
We balance them blueprint in house. Every engine. We require
if we're going to build you an engine, that we
blueprint it, and that way we give you a basically
and unconditional warranty unless it comes in and you've got
a bunch of vent valves because you overhepped the heck
out of it and you had pistons and valves whacking
each other. Right, So there are other places to go.
(26:18):
But the challenge is there's so few of them left that,
as I said earlier, you could have an engine block
somewhere for six months.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
What's the you know, And I'm just trying to paint
a picture of the area, right is you know here
in North Jersey, I'll say it like this here in
New Jersey. In North Jersey, if we tell somebody you
need four tires and a set of brakes, it's not
uncommon for them to say, I'll just go buy a
new car. Is is that Peoria? Is that Arizona?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
So we specialize in you know, thirty, probably forty to
sixty year old cars, right and so that's a different
client tell than what you're describing. These are people who
always wanted this car their whole life, and they realizing
COVID caused this. They're realizing they're getting on in years
and they better get to it or they might not
be around to do what they always want to do.
(27:10):
Or had one guy whose dad bought this car brand new.
He remembered driving it around in nineteen seventy one Javelin AMX,
remember driving it around in and as a child, his
dad got dementia. It brings tears in my eyes. So
the guy restored the car and brought it to his dad.
Now dad couldn't remember which foot to put his shoe on,
(27:33):
but he remembered every single time car.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
It just put Cooper Cobra GT radios on it. And
Dad yelled at the sun because we're supposed to have
good year polyglass, right.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Isn't Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? But when you
drive around Peoria, and I'm sure you look at repair shops,
you know, car guys tend to look at repair shops.
What are they working on? What are they doing? Is
the fleet out there older? Are people inclined to replace
vehicles or are they more inclined to repair vehicles.
Speaker 5 (28:00):
It's a really good question. So it's it's a dichotomy.
So Arizona, Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country. Now,
So one of the attractions to Phoenix is that the
Phoenix area is it's affordable and the taxes are low.
So you've got a mix of new young urban people
that are professionals and they're all in the fancy new cars.
(28:21):
And then you've got a mix of the older retired
folks that are just hanging onto a car because they
came somewhere it was inexpensive to live and they don't
want to be spending a lot of money on new cars.
So it's kind of fifty to fifty, right right right?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Hey, Dan, can you you got time to hang around
a little bit more. I want to pull over take
a pause when we come back, if you can stay,
I want to talk a little bit about So we've
laid out the problem, maybe we can talk about the
solution and see what we can come up with. I'm
ronin Eni and the Car Doctor. I'm joined this hour
by Dan Curtis. He's the owner of az amc Restorations
out in Peoria, Arizona. And we'll both return right after this.
(28:53):
Don't go away, Welcome back listeners, ronn Amy and the Cardocks.
I'm here with Dan Curtis, the owner of azy amc
Restorations out in Peoria, Arizona. Correct, Dan, that is correct,
(29:13):
And we were talking about the issues from your Facebook post,
your social media post talking about, you know, problems finding
a machine shop, reputable machine shop, quality work, getting it
done in a timely manner, all the issues that you know.
Is there a solution? Is there an end to this
insight where we're going to be able to find machine
shops again?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
So this is a very good question. I just as
a result of that same post on social media, a
fellow who has a racing engine machine shop here in
Phoenix is sixty one years old and called me up
because we've done business with them before, but he specializes
in racing engines. Ask me if I wanted to buy
his beautiful shop, and he's got a couple of million
(29:52):
dollars worth of equipment in it. It's like a data
center floor. It's immaculate and unfortunately a bit older than him.
So I told him, although I'd love to, it's probably
not in the cards for me. So I think what
the bottom line is and where I'm going with this
is it's about the dollar. We have been so used
(30:13):
to the machine shop world being a good value and
relatively inexpensive part of an engine build. That's not going
to be possible anymore.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Right.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I mean, this guy wanted if he wanted me to buy.
It was going to be millions of dollars to buy
his shop. And it's a racing business. So you know,
you can't charge one hundred dollars for decking the top
of a block when you've got a note for three
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
To buy the place, right right, And that machine that
decks the block is how many hundreds of thousands of
dollars or thousands of dollars right, it's it's it's return
on investment. It just it has to be practical.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
So it gets even worse than that. Now, all the
repair parts for those things are not made in the
United States anymore. So let's say you have this two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars boring and decking machine and
a part breaks on it. You might have to wait
three months to get the part because it has to
be made and then shipped over from China. So we're
at a crossroads. We either have to accept the fact
(31:14):
that it's going to cost a lot more for machine
shop work, or it's going to go away. I mean,
those are the two options. There's no in between. So
I'm hoping and expecting that the result of our not
making anything and having these foreign made parts be poor
quality will result in a reinvestment in our own manufacturing capabilities.
(31:37):
Without that, we're at the mercy of a foreign country.
And we talked off air that you have some you know,
you're a history buff and World War two buff. Imagine
getting in a war and relying on your enemy to
supply you with the parts for your war munitions and
your war equipment. Right, curpracious thing I've ever thought of.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Do you have kids walking in the shop in our
last minute that are interested in this or no?
Speaker 5 (32:00):
So we're kind of a tour destination for the AMC
faithful and then people in general, like you have heard
about us. So we get visitors all the time, not
necessarily kids, although they bring their kids with them who
seem bored because they're not on their cell phone. But
we get a lot of people to come in and
just want to see what we're doing, see the cars
we're working on, because there's not that many shops around
that do this stuff anymore, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
There's just they're not coming in looking for a job,
was my question? Right, Yeah, now that doesn't exist.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
No, not really, so very few. And then the ones
we have, the youngsters have tried to hire and get
them to be an apprentice.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Again.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
I hate to be so generalized, but the cell phone
is a big interference with people doing their job these.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Days, and it just keeps these kids from going. Hey, Dan,
real quick, last ten seconds. Name of the shop web address.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
So it's www dot AMC Musclecars dot com. And that'll
actually bring you to the Facebook page because it's easy
to put stuff on Facebook than it is to put
it on my website.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Perfect, cool beans, Dan, Thanks for joining us today. Run
An Inning in the Card Doctor. We'll be back right
after this. Welcome back, run An Inning in the Car Doctor.
You know, before as we close out this hour, before
I go, I just want to talk a little bit
(33:19):
about summer maintenance, getting ready for summer and some of
the basic things, and it's things you've heard me talk
about before, but I just want to remind everybody you know,
we're going to the summer driving season. Memorial Day is
just a scant thirty days away right now, and before
you know, we'll be doing some heavy summer cruising. If
we're taking trips, if we're just running around locally, the
engine and the vehicle is going to be working harder
(33:40):
running hotter in higher temperatures and so forth. So we've
got to take all of that into consideration depending upon
mileage and where you're at with this vehicle. Let's talk
about if you own this vehicle, if you lease the vehicle, hey,
you know, in the three years you're gonna lease it,
you're gonna do your three four, five six oil changes
depending upon mileage, rotate the tires a couple of times,
and probably give it back. But if you own the
(34:01):
vehicle and you're going for longevity once it gets passed
or up to that thirty thousand mile mark and beyond,
it's great to start thinking about doing fuel system cleaning
on a regular basis, either with a system or a
product that goes into the intake system to do a fogging,
meaning it's going to be carried in through the intake air,
so it will hit the intake valves by virtue of
(34:23):
the ports, or if it's an older port fuel style
injection system, you're going to maybe go in through the
fuel rail and clean that way. But fuel system cleaning
is important on a regular basis depending upon where you live.
Air and cabin filters can't tell you how important it is,
and a good quality filter. A poor filter is just
as bad as a clog filter because in the case
(34:44):
of an air filter, a poor air filter will disrupt airflow,
affect how the mass airflow sensor works. If it's not
fitting the air box correctly and able to filter air
a lot of contaminant, it's going to hit the sensor
and you're going to have problems there. Last, but not least,
I want to talk about draw liveline fluids. Driveline fluids
are important. They're very specific to the vehicle. They're very
(35:04):
specific by manufacturer. Look at the manufacturer's owner's manual. See
what it says. Talk to your mechanic, consider how you're
using it to decide whether or not it's time to
do fluids. And last, last, look at tires. Think about
it all. It's a package. So the next time I'm
notnating in the cardoc If the mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless.
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