Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / From Dealership Floors to Auction Blocks: The Journey of John Kraman

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From Dealership Floors to Auction Blocks: The Journey of John Kraman · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Break Fix Podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
• 0:05
  over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
• 0:09
  designers, and everything in between.
• 0:11
  Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder how did they
• 0:17
  get that job or become that person.
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  The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
• 0:27
  Raised an auto obsessed Los Angeles during the 1960s and seventies.
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  Our guests spent his youth hanging around the dealerships where his dad sold cars.
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  This experience bred a lifelong interest in both the cars and the
• 0:40
  business of selling them, and he's enjoyed a long and successful career.
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  First as a sales manager for retail autos, and later shifting
• 0:48
  gears to work in aircraft.
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  Joining the Mecu team in 2006, John Kramon served as the co-director of
• 0:55
  Consignments for Mecu Auctions alongside Frank Mecu, beginning in 2008 and
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  continuing today, Kramon has been the commentator of Mecu Auctions broadcast on
• 1:06
  N B C Sports Network, MotorTrend TV, and others, and he is here to tell us about
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  his fascinating career journey in the world of classic cars and broadcasting.
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  Thanks Don.
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  And with that, let's welcome John Reman to break fix.
• 1:20
  Hey guys.
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  Matt, I just wanna say thank you so much for taking some
• 1:23
  time to have me on your show.
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  Always a pleasure.
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  My illustrious co-host tonight is Don Webert from Garage Style Magazine.
• 1:30
  So welcome back Don.
• 1:31
  Thank you for having me.
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  One of my favorite magazines, by the way, Don Love the
• 1:34
  publication Me Coming Garage Style.
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  I've been together for a long, long time.
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  It's interesting, Eric and I were talking about, my God, has it been that long?
• 1:41
  You know, which is really kind of interesting.
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  Let's get to it then.
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  Gentlemen, like, all good break, fix stories.
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  Everybody has a superhero origin.
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  So let's talk about young John Reman, the Petrolhead growing up in la growing
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  up a California native spending.
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  Your formative years there, you've been exposed to so many spectacular cars, and
• 2:00
  what led up to your involvement at Mecu?
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  You know, I was lucky.
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  I.
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  Like a lot of people, like a lot of classic boomers, always
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  just fascinated with cars.
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  But I had a big advantage growing up in Southern California during the time period
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  where the Corvette was starting to come on its own, the invention of the muscle car.
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  And I was right there as a little kid just soaking up and absorbing all the nuance of
• 2:22
  that in real time when it was happening.
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  My dad worked for a very well-known Pontiac dealership in North
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  Hollywood, California in Lankershim called Harry Maher Pontiac.
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  I mean, a legendary dealership supplying a lot of vehicles to the
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  movie TV industry as they were right down the street there from all the
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  studios and that auto dealership.
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  By the way, that was the used car scene.
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  We all remember the movie Psycho and the famous used car scene.
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  Well that was filmed right there, Harry Hart Cadillac, 1960, a few years
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  before my dad started working there.
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  But that dealership still exists today.
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  Wouldn't you know it?
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  And that building shown in Psycho is still there.
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  It is now Universal.
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  B m W Mini isn't that typical of how things evolve and how things happen?
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  So anyway, as a little kid growing up there, I used to literally hang out
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  at the dealership, talk to customers, look at the cars, read the brochures.
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  I became fascinated with the whole culture of cars, selling cars, servicing cars,
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  being in the automobile dealership.
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  It was kind of my happy place as a kid, never thinking that all these
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  years later, that that enthusiasm and a little bit of that knowledge.
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  Would be useful for my role at Mecu.
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  Never planned on that.
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  Just a little kid.
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  Loving cars running between the aisles of cars at the Pontiac dealership.
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  Yeah.
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  Here you are, young John in the mid sixties and the G T
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  O hits the showroom floor.
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  What is your first impression?
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  Totally blown away.
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  That car left Such an impression on me as a youngster.
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  In July of 1976, when I was attended 19 years old, I bought a 1964 Pontiac g t
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  o, and I still own that exact car today.
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  Oh, wow.
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  Yeah, almost 50 years later.
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  Nice.
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  What color?
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  Cameo Ivory, which is white with a dark aqua interior, and it's
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  a two door hard top body south.
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  Three nine, tri power four speed.
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  Just like the song.
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  Wow.
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  Yeah.
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  So anyway, that set the stage for my obsession with cars.
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  And I remember my dad actually having me talk to customers and explain,
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  of course, cars were a lot simpler then various features, options.
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  I had the options list memorized, the different engines, the transmissions,
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  the gear ratios, what it all meant.
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  And there were actually several times that I can recall.
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  My dad tells a story.
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  Completely differently that I did all the work.
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  But I remember adding my 2 cents on several of the deals that my dad
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  actually got put together, and he always said that they kind of took
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  pity on a guy with a young kid there that was hanging out the dealership.
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  But the reality is no place outside.
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  I would rather be, my dad continued to sell cars.
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  He eventually went and sold those mobiles right down the
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  street at Pioneer Oldsmobile.
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  Now that's North Hollywood.
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  Toyota, one of the biggest Toyota dealerships in the San Fernando Valley.
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  Maybe the biggest in the valley, one of the biggest in LA I think.
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  So that kind of goes without saying as well that the evolution
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  of the new world has occurred.
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  Pontiac and Oldsmobile both gone now replaced by very popular imports.
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  It's fun for me.
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  Every once in a while, I get back out there and I go around
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  my own stomping grounds and go past the old Barris Custom City.
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  George Barris, of course, king of the Customizers, had his shop there, saw the
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  Batmobile go together within a matter of a couple weeks and saw it on the
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  TV show and got to know George later.
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  And I'm still friends with Joji, his daughter to this day.
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  I still continue to tap into the influence and all of the really cool stuff that
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  was going on back in that time period.
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  You know, music, fashion cars, there were civil rights that were changing
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  as well, that were much needed.
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  All the press of the Vietnam War, I tried to kind of discount that that was a
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  little bit over my head and stay focused on the cars and then all the pop culture
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  stuff as well, and it was a heck of a decade to be this wide-eyed kid really
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  just picking up on all the nuance of it.
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  Our bottom line, of course of that is it set me up to do what I do and it's.
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  Go on TV and talk about cars and kind of what was happening back in the era, the
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  fifties and the sixties and the seventies.
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  Pontiac and Oldsmobile, two brands that are no longer with us.
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  And you said they were replaced by more popular imports.
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  That begs the question, were there other cars outside of the Pontiac and Oldsmobile
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  dealership that got you attention?
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  Is there something.
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  More beautiful than the G T O?
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  Well, actually there's a couple and like a lot of youngsters and even
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  those folks that aren't so young, the first time that they got a glimpse
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  of the all new Chevrolet Stingray in 1963 was a game changer for me.
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  And I remember it vividly.
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  It was a saddle tan coop with a matching interior.
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  And I remember looking inside it and.
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  Thinking it had a manual transmission.
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  And it dawned on me that, no, wait a minute, it looks like a manual
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  transmission shifter, but it was actually an automatic and always
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  point that out on our TV show from time to time when I see one.
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  But that 63 Corvette to this day continues just to captivate me with its
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  design and style, the futuristic look.
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  And I'm not the only one.
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  And while I've owned three Corvettes at 72, a 2010, and a.
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  Mid-engine cars, it's 2020.
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  That 63 Corvette has always just been a little bit out of my reach.
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  It just every year they go up and up.
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  Maybe I'll have one someday, but I've got a nice collection of plastic
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  replicas and for right now, that's gonna have to do, but another car or
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  two that really made a huge impact on me was the Ford Mustang coming out
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  about the same time that the G G O did.
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  But interestingly, it wasn't the convertible in the coop that first
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  came out in April, 1964 that left a memory is when I saw the first.
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  Fastback two plus two, which came out about six months later.
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  And that car means so much to me that eventually I succumbed to the blue oval.
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  Bought one of the retro style modern era Mustangs.
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  The uh, SS 1 97 platform 2014, the last year coop ordered it.
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  Black with the coyote, five liter and a six speeds a gt.
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  And that car's got 25,000 miles on it and I love it.
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  And that will always be a part of my collection as well.
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  And the fact that it kind of looks vintage esque in a lot of the
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  different clues helps me kind of connect the dot from the modern era
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  back to the vintage day, but yet with all the performance and reliability
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  and serviceability of a modern car.
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  And then the final car I wanna mention, I'm gonna do a shout
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  out thanks to the folks at.
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  Pioneer Oldsmobile.
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  Long gone now was the very first 1966 Oldsmobile tornado that I saw.
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  The landmark front wheel drive car that debuted, of course in late 1965.
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  I remember seeing the first one at the dealership.
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  It was turquoise.
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  The wheel arches, the long hood, the short deck, the rotating drum
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  speedometer, the flat floor and the front, because it's front wheel drive,
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  no transmission hump or drive shaft.
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  To this day.
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  I consider that to be one of the most beautiful cars ever.
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  It did win MotorTrend car, the car of the year, by the way.
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  I don't own a tornado, but that would be one I would
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  probably have on my short list.
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  If I could get some space in my six car garage, which is currently full.
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  You'd need quite a bit of space for the tornado.
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  Yeah, it's a big car.
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  They're not all winners.
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  John, I think we can all agree on that.
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  Is there a car that sort of gets under your skin?
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  Something you just, you can't stand, you don't like?
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  Well, how about the car that my dad brought home for me to go
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  take my driver's license test in?
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  All right.
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  Being a car salesman.
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  Back in those days, they had demos and they could drive a car off a lot.
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  I don't think that they do that much anymore.
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  Maybe some of the higher ranking sales managers who get to drive a vehicle.
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  But I think the rank and file salespeople, I think that perk is long gone.
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  So my dad, he brings home for me off of the used car lot, 1972 Chevrolet.
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  Vega, oh, sedan beige with a three speed, not a four speed with a three
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  speed manual transmission on the floor.
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  And I only had a limited amount of time driving a manual shift car.
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  Bottom line is I took that car and I got my driver's license and I passed my test.
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  Thank goodness I.
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  To this date, I've got kind of a love-hate relationship with the Chevy Vega.
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  It was the car I got my license in, but on the other hand, it's turned out to
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  be one of the worst cars ever built.
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  Certainly the powertrain was pretty poor.
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  The aluminum block with a cast iron cylinder head with the dissimilar
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  metal of those two completely different materials and that heavy head.
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  Caused a tremendous amount of head gasket problems, and then you didn't have any
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  cylinder liners, so the rings would wear into that aluminum boar almost instantly.
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  Terrible engine.
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  I'm gonna vote for the Chevy Vega as my car that I don't miss growing up amidst.
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  The deep seated car culture in Southern California.
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  Everywhere you turn.
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  Yeah.
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  Every block you walk down, every street corner there's something
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  different, something unique.
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  And movie stars driving this, regular guy's driving that the
• 10:12
  doctor just bought a Ferrari.
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  You know, all these kinds of things.
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  Yeah.
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  If you didn't grow up on one of the two coasts, you kind of missed out.
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  Right.
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  It was basically Chevy Ford or Mopar.
• 10:20
  What you gonna order this week?
• 10:21
  Mm-hmm.
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  You know, kind of thing.
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  But at some point all of us have to grow up.
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  We're gonna get deep into your mecu career as well, but you said you worked in sales,
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  you worked with your dad and things, but what did you go to school to do and how
• 10:31
  did that lend itself towards your future?
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  Well, I was one of those guys that was fortunate enough to realize
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  that one way or another I was gonna have something to do with cars.
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  By the time that I got into high school, I took every auto shop
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  class that I could possibly take.
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  I just wanna say in the public school system now, those are really hard
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  to find, but back in the day, this would've been the early seventies.
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  Pretty much every school had them, and I took full advantage
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  of that in my senior year.
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  I was able to actually go to, we called it VO-tech.
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  I went, and that was three hours a day.
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  I went to auto shop, and I mean, we did literally everything from A to Z.
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  The only thing that I didn't do, It was body work, but
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  from a mechanical standpoint, everything from A to Z engines,
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  transmissions, you know, rear ends.
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  And we would work on other people's cars, students, cars,
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  teachers, cars, outside cars.
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  While I was doing that, I worked for a very prominent high performance speed
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  shop called Sterling Speed Engineering.
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  Now this time, In my junior high school, we'd actually moved from California,
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  two of all places, Rockford, Illinois, which is actually where I was born, but
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  we moved to California when I was five, so we moved back to the Midwest and I
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  worked at a speed shop that's still very well known today and cut my teeth on
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  working in the machine shop on the high performance engines of that time period.
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  Everything from Hemis and big block Chevys, small block Chevys, you know,
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  pretty much everything across the board.
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  The Ford FE engines, a lot of 4 27 Ford engines.
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  And being able to be hands-on with that.
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  Also, over the years has given me a lot of insight, a lot of
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  background, a lot of experience to be able to talk about all of this.
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  We're talking 50 years later now.
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  All of that worked to make me this, obviously this pretty well
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  versed car kid, but at age 19, My career took a different path.
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  I became an aircraft mechanic because a friend of mine that lived behind me
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  worked at an engine overhaul shop that overhauled aircraft engines, and he
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  said, we're hiring people like crazy.
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  And I, when I talked to his boss, he hired me immediately.
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  So I had a really good career.
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  Eventually, I got my pilot's license and I learned to fly, and
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  then I transitioned, took my sales enthusiasm and sold airplanes.
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  And I did that actually for 20 years.
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  From 1986 to 2 0 0 6, I sold airplanes.
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  And worked on 'em as a mechanic, as an instructor, as a pilot,
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  and an aviation enthusiast.
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  Again, being very mechanically oriented, that helped.
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  Being a pilot obviously helped, and understanding the
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  sales process helped as well.
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  And that's where my background with Mecu started.
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  2 0 0 6, a fellow pilot, David Burroughs, who's the founder of Bloomington Gold.
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  Very well known guy, both in the Corvette world and then of
• 12:54
  course in the aviation world.
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  He is a steerman where we're two trainer enthusiasts, and he's an
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  instructor pilot and a formation pilot.
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  In that group and still does that to this day.
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  Anyway, long story short, he put Dana and I together.
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  He knew I was his car geek and an airplane geek, and I spent about 15 minutes talking
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  to Dana and boom, he said, John, I'm looking to expand this business, looking
• 13:13
  to get some people that can help me.
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  He said, we're a big auction company now.
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  We'll do about $80 million in sales this year.
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  This was 2 0 0 6.
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  He said, I'd like to build this business up to be 125.
• 13:24
  So fast forward to 2022.
• 13:26
  I'm proud to say that Mecom Auctions generated ready for this guys
• 13:30
  $785 million in the sale collector vehicles calendar year 2022.
• 13:36
  That's not that far off of our target now of $1 billion.
• 13:41
  It's been one wild, crazy ride, guys, I can tell you that.
• 13:45
  Wow.
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  Almost a billion.
• 13:48
  Unbelievable.
• 13:49
  Yeah, that's a lot of Corvettes.
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  Corvettes are the number one most popular single model of
• 13:55
  the entire Mecca Auction block.
• 13:57
  Corvettes are number one representing roughly about 10% of the total inventory.
• 14:01
  So man, you're right.
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  A lot of Corvettes.
• 14:03
  I always make that joke 'cause you probably know I write some
• 14:05
  of the descriptions for me.
• 14:07
  Yes, you do.
• 14:07
  Yep.
• 14:08
  And I come from a blue oval family, so I'm much more
• 14:12
  comfortable with blue oval stuff.
• 14:13
  It's funny how many Chevys I've written working for Mecu, and it's
• 14:17
  funny, it's gotten to a point now.
• 14:19
  I think I know more now about Chevys than I do Fords, which
• 14:23
  is really, really interesting.
• 14:24
  But I was just telling Eric the other day, he and I were bantering it back and forth,
• 14:27
  you know, nine 11 versus Corvette, and I found myself in the corner of the Corvette
• 14:32
  and this and this and this, and this.
• 14:34
  In the back of my mind, I'm sitting there.
• 14:36
  Why do I know so much about cor?
• 14:37
  Oh, MECU, of course.
• 14:39
  You know, it's really kind of funny the way it just all rubbed off.
• 14:41
  So yeah, when you go back through and you look at all the Corvettes,
• 14:44
  MECU is sold, it's insanity.
• 14:46
  How many Corvettes go through Mecu?
• 14:48
  You know how we settled that debate, John?
• 14:49
  Huh?
• 14:50
  It'll never be settled.
• 14:51
  So I'm really anxious to hear how you guys resolved it.
• 14:53
  The answer was Dodge Viper, a c r 2016.
• 14:56
  Oh.
• 14:59
  Pivot.
• 14:59
  Love it.
• 15:00
  We need a tie killer.
• 15:01
  You know, I love that.
• 15:02
  I mean, that's a classic battle man.
• 15:03
  Since the nine 11 came out in 1965, what a sensation that car
• 15:07
  has been, and I love both cars.
• 15:09
  Biggest advantage the Corvette has over the nine 11 typically is value.
• 15:13
  It's a less expensive car, right?
• 15:15
  So if you're looking, you know, bang for the buck, Corvette's
• 15:17
  got the edge, arguably.
• 15:19
  But if you're looking for, obviously world-class distinctive car with a rich
• 15:23
  history, It's pretty hard to go wrong with a nine 11, and I think the resale
• 15:26
  value of those things prove that point.
• 15:28
  In a perfect world, you'd have one or multiples of each.
• 15:31
  That 63 Corvette I mentioned earlier that kind of drove home the point for me that I
• 15:35
  wanted Corvettes to be a part of my life.
• 15:37
  And I'll tell you, I, I just adore 'em.
• 15:39
  They're just something about being behind the wheel of those cars,
• 15:42
  three different distinct generations.
• 15:44
  I love them all equally, and they all take me to a different
• 15:47
  place when I'm behind the wheel.
• 15:49
  All of them are equally the place that I wanna be just at different times.
• 15:53
  Very fun.
• 15:54
  They all are amazing.
• 15:55
  Nine 11 Corvette, any of them.
• 15:56
  And it's funny, we can argue till Kingdom come and literally still not have a
• 16:00
  winner because both of us are Right.
• 16:02
  Right.
• 16:02
  You know, and then, yeah, have the viper guy step in and what the heck?
• 16:06
  We'll have a three for all.
• 16:07
  None of us are gonna be exactly wrong.
• 16:09
  We just have different, you know, it's amazing.
• 16:11
  It really, really is.
• 16:12
  But you know, if you really want to talk great cars, John.
• 16:15
  And I think Eric will agree with me here on this.
• 16:18
  You know, it really comes down to it.
• 16:20
  Chryslers TC by Maserati.
• 16:22
  It gets no better.
• 16:23
  Am I right?
• 16:24
  Here we go again.
• 16:25
  I've got a good story about one of those I knew you would.
• 16:28
  We do about 35,000 cars a year.
• 16:30
  We are of course, the Indisputed World's largest collector
• 16:32
  car auction company by far.
• 16:34
  So yes, we've had the Maserati tcs, and this goes back probably
• 16:39
  at least a dozen years ago.
• 16:40
  It was on TV and it brought like $6,000.
• 16:43
  Which, depending on the condition, it's still a $6,000 car.
• 16:46
  The guy that bought the car was next to his buddy, and I don't know why the
• 16:50
  camera, the microphone was on these guys, but his buddy says, Hey man.
• 16:53
  He said, I didn't know you wanted that car.
• 16:56
  Did you really want that car?
• 16:57
  And he looked over to his buddy, clears a bell and said, no, not really.
• 17:01
  I just wanted the hat.
• 17:03
  Back in that time period, you'd buy a car and you'd sign the bid sheet and
• 17:08
  the gals would give you a mecu hat.
• 17:10
  It was hysterical, and to this day we still talk about that
• 17:13
  and make jokes about that.
• 17:14
  One of the great moments in Mecu history, we'll never forget, it's kind of like
• 17:18
  the scene from Caddy Shack, then the pro shop buying supplies, the judge has
• 17:22
  got, you know, that real ugly, corny hat on, and Rodney Dangerfield looks
• 17:26
  over and says, Hey, look at that hat.
• 17:28
  I bet you get a free bowl of soup with that hat.
• 17:30
  Same kind of a deal.
• 17:32
  Same kind of a deal.
• 17:33
  Looks good on you though, you know?
• 17:34
  Right.
• 17:35
  That's the scene.
• 17:36
  Yeah.
• 17:37
  You know, one thing we've had on our mind, John, is how on earth do you go from the
• 17:42
  director of Sales to the voice of Mecu?
• 17:45
  How do you transition from signing people up to sell their cars?
• 17:49
  Which I, I assume that's what Director of Sales does Exactly.
• 17:52
  To now you're gonna be the voice of Mecu.
• 17:54
  How'd you do that?
• 17:55
  You know, I have to give all the credit to Dana Mecu.
• 17:57
  Dana Mecu is the company founder.
• 18:00
  He started Mecu Auctions.
• 18:01
  In 1988, so we're celebrating 36 years of Mecu auctions.
• 18:04
  This year it was him and his wife Patty Boys were little.
• 18:07
  In fact, all four sons heavily involved in the business right now.
• 18:10
  He had a dream that he wanted to do this auction company, and it started
• 18:14
  to get some good momentum going.
• 18:15
  I got started with the company in 2 0 0 6 and in 2 0 0 8 we went on television
• 18:20
  and Danny came to me and goes, Hey John.
• 18:21
  He said, Just put together a deal for a TV show and I thought, oh, that's good.
• 18:25
  That'll really increase our business.
• 18:26
  Our visibility will go way up.
• 18:28
  I said, smart move.
• 18:29
  Smart move.
• 18:30
  Never dreaming or thinking about it for even one second, guys,
• 18:34
  that I would be on this TV show.
• 18:35
  I don't have any experience.
• 18:36
  I never did tv.
• 18:37
  I had no idea what it entailed.
• 18:39
  And he said to me, and I think you would be a good guy to be on the show.
• 18:42
  I kind of had this panic just sort of overwhelm me because I
• 18:46
  don't wanna disappoint the boss.
• 18:47
  But I also don't know anything about being on tv.
• 18:50
  He says, I've talked to the producer, his name is Terry Langner.
• 18:53
  He is a well-known automotive producer by the way.
• 18:55
  And he said, I talked to Terry and he wants you to come to his
• 18:57
  studio in Indianapolis, do a little kind of a mock screen test.
• 19:01
  And I said, alright.
• 19:03
  So I went down there.
• 19:04
  At the time, this was 2008, Terry Langner was the producer and his
• 19:09
  company was producing Bear Jackson.
• 19:11
  It just so happened that he had hours and hours and hours of footage,
• 19:15
  both audio and video footage.
• 19:17
  So he put video up on his screen, slapped a headphone on me, and took
• 19:23
  the audio out and said, as these cars come up, just talk about the cars.
• 19:27
  I think three cars popped up and I remember two of them.
• 19:29
  The first one that came up was a 68 road runner.
• 19:32
  We can talk three hours on a six eight road runner, right?
• 19:34
  The second car that comes up was a 67 Corvette and it had a big block hood,
• 19:38
  and I didn't know which engine it had, of course, but I knew it was a 67 Corvette
• 19:41
  convertible with the big block hood.
• 19:43
  Again, an easy car to talk about and I, I'd correctly, the cars gave a little bit
• 19:47
  of background in the significance of both cars, and Terry was talking to me on the
• 19:51
  headset and he goes, man, he said, wow.
• 19:53
  He said, You know these cars.
• 19:54
  And I said, well, I am a car guy.
• 19:56
  And he goes, but here's the deal.
• 19:57
  To be on tv, you have to be able to listen and take timing commands for commercial
• 20:02
  breaks and all these other things and feature ets and we're gonna, let's
• 20:06
  listen in all these different things.
• 20:07
  But yet you have to continue your thought and not stop talking.
• 20:10
  When somebody's talking in your ear, can you do that?
• 20:13
  And I said, well, I don't know.
• 20:14
  And he goes, well, let's try it.
• 20:15
  So another car rolls up, I forget what it was, and I'm talking about it.
• 20:18
  And he says, okay, well we have to go to commercial break in 30 seconds.
• 20:21
  And.
• 20:22
  All I can think of was somebody's talking to me, stop talking.
• 20:25
  I didn't want to talk all over him.
• 20:26
  So he goes, no, no, no, John.
• 20:27
  He said, you can't do that.
• 20:28
  You gotta finish your thought.
• 20:30
  You got time to finish your thought.
• 20:31
  And we struggled with it for about 20 minutes.
• 20:33
  He goes, you think you could do it?
• 20:34
  And I said, Terry, I don't know.
• 20:35
  He said, let's give it a try on the show.
• 20:37
  Fast forward to the first show.
• 20:39
  I can't tell you when it kind of crossed over, but he told me before
• 20:43
  I went there, he said, John, you need to keep one thing in mind.
• 20:45
  You're the car guy.
• 20:46
  All the other people you're gonna be working with, they're
• 20:48
  experienced television talking heads.
• 20:51
  You're the car guy.
• 20:51
  All you need to do is sit back and talk cars.
• 20:53
  And that's when it hit me, guys, that, well, I've been spending
• 20:56
  my whole life talking cars.
• 20:57
  One of the only things I know how to do.
• 20:59
  Anyway, we gave it a shot and here we are now, guys, 16 years later, hit TV
• 21:03
  show or second year with MotorTrend.
• 21:05
  I'm the lead TV commentator, analyst.
• 21:07
  I've transitioned away starting in 2017, away from being, uh, director
• 21:12
  of Consignments along with Frank Comb.
• 21:14
  Into director of company relations, being the company spokesperson, attending
• 21:19
  a lot of car shows and events and speaking, a lot of interviews, podcasts,
• 21:23
  which takes up almost all of my time.
• 21:25
  I don't know how I had time to handle consignments, but the bottom line
• 21:28
  is the company has grown radically over the years, and certainly
• 21:32
  our exposure on television has.
• 21:33
  Been a huge part of that obviously, but for me personally, imagine this
• 21:38
  car guy growing up in California and the stars aligning perfectly
• 21:42
  to the point where I'm the guy representing the rank and file car guy.
• 21:45
  Guys like you maybe that are not on tv.
• 21:48
  You just gotta know, man, I've got your back.
• 21:49
  Two things, I wanna make sure that the dialogue is accurate and I wanna make
• 21:54
  sure that the dialogue is relevant and sometimes I steer the show a little
• 21:57
  bit if the other guys start getting off into a different direction that
• 22:01
  may not be either accurate or relevant.
• 22:03
  I gently and quietly come in and kind of reel the conversation back
• 22:07
  in all these years later, we're very respected as not only being a great
• 22:11
  auction company, a great company to do business with, but also real true
• 22:15
  enthusiasts and real true car guys.
• 22:17
  And I think that resonates with a lot of the folks out there that are car
• 22:21
  guys that sometimes get disappointed with how cars and how car people
• 22:25
  and all that stuff are portrayed on television, especially when there's
• 22:28
  inaccurate information being portrayed.
• 22:31
  Not on my watch.
• 22:32
  You know when you're out there commentating, you're doing your
• 22:34
  thing on the tv, you're talking about that Roadrunner, the vet, the Viper,
• 22:37
  whatever it is, how much of that is Kramon and how much of that is Google?
• 22:41
  Do you have computer assistant there?
• 22:43
  Do you have that?
• 22:44
  How does that work?
• 22:45
  Remember what I said earlier that Terry Lingerer, the first producer
• 22:49
  who ended up producing, I don't know, maybe the first three, four seasons of
• 22:52
  us, Jerry Lingerer told me, John, all you gotta do, sit back and talk cars.
• 22:55
  No, I don't have a computer.
• 22:56
  I don't have one there up at our announce booth.
• 22:59
  I do have the description of the car that's as supplied by the consignor
• 23:03
  that everybody else has access to.
• 23:04
  The public has access to that.
• 23:06
  It's up on the website.
• 23:07
  It's up on the bid screen.
• 23:08
  I do have that in front of me when there's information on it.
• 23:11
  Sometimes a wife might consign a car that morning and her husband passed away the
• 23:16
  week before and she needs to sell the car, and she doesn't know anything about it.
• 23:18
  It's a sad tale.
• 23:19
  We don't talk about that on the show.
• 23:21
  That happens.
• 23:22
  And then sometimes the information as it's relayed isn't always accurate, so
• 23:26
  I have to kind of check it on the fly.
• 23:28
  But all the other tidbits, all the historical background and the facts and
• 23:32
  the figures and the production numbers and colors and engine sizes and options
• 23:36
  and why this is an important car.
• 23:38
  All of that's 100%.
• 23:39
  Sit back, relax, talk cars.
• 23:42
  Now keep in mind you think, oh, that's impressive.
• 23:43
  Cars on the auction block less than two minutes, and we have a
• 23:46
  lot of ground to cover on that car, including some of the bidding action.
• 23:49
  It's not like I have to do a half hour documentary on the car.
• 23:52
  I would probably do some research if I was going to do that on a specific car.
• 23:56
  We wanted to make it feel like it's car guys sitting around talking
• 23:59
  cars, not reading off the script, which we're not, not reading off a
• 24:02
  computer screen, which we're not, and I don't even have access to Google.
• 24:06
  Now, I do typically have my cell phone up there with me, but I will
• 24:09
  tell you the cards come up in the auction block and leave so quickly.
• 24:12
  As we're doing about 350 cars a day, there's no time
• 24:14
  even to input and put it in.
• 24:16
  If I don't know something, I just won't say it.
• 24:18
  I will stay within my knowledge box.
• 24:20
  Fortunately, there's enough there to cover what I need to cover.
• 24:23
  Given what you've just said, I'm assuming you're relying a lot on that camera.
• 24:27
  The camera that's down, looking at the car going over hundred percent.
• 24:30
  You're probably looking at what the camera's looking at.
• 24:32
  You're seeing certain details and you're saying, okay, it has this,
• 24:35
  it has this, it has this, and you're talking about those pieces, right?
• 24:38
  Exactly, and you know, I'm not sure a lot of people have even thought of.
• 24:41
  It's interesting that you say that because in the early days I would
• 24:45
  be actually looking at the car.
• 24:46
  It was instinctive to look at the car and not what we call our program monitor.
• 24:50
  Our program monitor is a screen, just like this computer
• 24:53
  screen is right in front of me.
• 24:54
  That's actually showing what's going out to the viewer.
• 24:57
  It's what the production truck is choosing for images to go out there.
• 25:02
  And I'm looking at that, not the car.
• 25:04
  I could do it.
• 25:05
  At home on my computer looking at the program monitor.
• 25:09
  Right.
• 25:09
  So that's exactly what I'm doing.
• 25:11
  So if the camera is looking at the taillights and I've got a tidbit
• 25:15
  about taillights, I'll talk about it.
• 25:17
  I'm not gonna talk about taillights if we're looking at
• 25:20
  the steering wheel or the shifter.
• 25:21
  Right.
• 25:21
  Or in the engine department or at a wheel and tire.
• 25:24
  So you're exactly right.
• 25:25
  And over years, I've learned just to sit back.
• 25:28
  Be conversational and anticipate how long the camera's gonna be there and
• 25:33
  where it probably is gonna head next.
• 25:35
  Could you ask the camera guy go back to a certain area or go to this
• 25:39
  area if you wanted to see something?
• 25:41
  Very rarely that will happen, and they'll typically be one of the
• 25:44
  floor reporters, not me in the booth.
• 25:46
  I won't do that, but sometimes they'll do it themselves.
• 25:50
  If they leave the interior, and I'm still talking about the console and the shifter
• 25:54
  and the shift knob, they're listening.
• 25:56
  They can't talk to me because there's a limited amount of people
• 25:59
  that have access to the announced team that can actually talk to 'em
• 26:02
  because of distraction purposes.
• 26:04
  But I'll see the camera then start to pan back in while I finish out my thoughts,
• 26:08
  and that's a pretty common trick.
• 26:10
  So obviously heads up to our total 100% Pro TV crew.
• 26:14
  It's about 45 people.
• 26:15
  To put on the TV show, even though there's six announcers, I always
• 26:19
  say we could do the easy part.
• 26:20
  I sit back and talk cars.
• 26:21
  It's all those guys lugging cameras and dealing with sound and camera angles,
• 26:25
  and it looks seamless and it looks nonstop, and it is to the viewers.
• 26:28
  But I will tell you, there's a lot of moving parts not only
• 26:31
  to the TV production aspect.
• 26:33
  Also in conjunction with the actual auction itself.
• 26:36
  The execution of the auction is a major, major operation and
• 26:40
  it's gotta blend well with tv.
• 26:41
  And over the years we've learned really to work together.
• 26:44
  Everybody gets along, there's no tension, there's no egos.
• 26:47
  We just get out there and we do it and we pack it up and a couple weeks
• 26:50
  later we're doing the same thing somewhere else and it's just nonstop.
• 26:53
  So what's fun about this, John, is watching the Mecca Auctions on television
• 26:58
  when you can't be there and listening to the banter that you have with the other
• 27:02
  announcers, it's on par with watching a basketball game or a baseball game.
• 27:07
  But even for those of us in the racing community, it's not too different.
• 27:10
  Even then listening to like IMSA TV where John Hind Hoff is constantly going
• 27:14
  on all this data about the cars and the drivers and all that kinda stuff.
• 27:18
  So, For me as a newcomer to the auction scene, watching the Mecu programs on
• 27:23
  MotorTrend has been beneficial because it helps me augment knowledge that I have.
• 27:28
  You guys are picking on certain things that maybe I wouldn't
• 27:30
  notice even if I was there.
• 27:32
  I still don't know how you retain all this stuff.
• 27:35
  Yeah.
• 27:35
  But let's talk a little bit more about Mecu M itself and the different auctions.
• 27:39
  You as a commentator, as you mentioned earlier, have to travel all over
• 27:42
  the country to different events.
• 27:43
  Obviously mecham's, biggest event of Year being Kissimmee,
• 27:46
  and there's lots of others.
• 27:47
  Monterey Harris.
• 27:48
  Burg Las Vegas for with the motorcycles only, things like that.
• 27:51
  How do you as a commentator, make them all feel different, make them unique?
• 27:57
  There's always the variables.
• 27:58
  You never know what kind of car is gonna show up, sort of like
• 28:00
  a box of chocolates, right?
• 28:01
  Fortunately for us, it takes care of itself because each of our own individual
• 28:06
  auctions has its own personality.
• 28:08
  Let's take two extremes that you mentioned.
• 28:11
  We'll take our Kissimmee Florida auction.
• 28:13
  Now we're, keep in mind we're in Kissimmee twice.
• 28:15
  We were there in July for what we call our summer special, but that's a
• 28:18
  fraction of the size of our big auction, world's largest collector car auction.
• 28:21
  It's in January, Kissimmee, Florida, which is Orlando by the way.
• 28:25
  That's a monster.
• 28:26
  That is an event that is a bucket list item for so many car enthusiasts.
• 28:30
  Just to be able to go to that and experienced 4,000 cars
• 28:34
  crossing the auction block.
• 28:36
  Over a period of almost two weeks.
• 28:37
  It's just incredible.
• 28:39
  It is so big and so much fun, and it's continuing to grow
• 28:42
  and grow and grow each year.
• 28:44
  Then let's transition over to talk about our Monterey California auction.
• 28:48
  That's our traditional auction during Monterey Car Week.
• 28:50
  That's obviously mid-August every year.
• 28:52
  It's our smallest individual auction guys, only 600 cars, but
• 28:56
  of that 600 cars over three days.
• 28:59
  We will have the highest per car average of any Mecu auction.
• 29:03
  And I tell you this contrast of these two, because each of our auctions has
• 29:07
  their own distinctive personality and purpose, and part of what we do in
• 29:12
  setting up a day's lineup of cars.
• 29:15
  Keep in mind, typically our shows are six hours long.
• 29:17
  We'll explain at the top of the show.
• 29:19
  I will.
• 29:19
  Okay.
• 29:20
  Here's what we're gonna see today.
• 29:21
  Based on our experience, this is what we can look forward to.
• 29:24
  You've been in the auction world for quite a little while.
• 29:27
  Is there any one thing or any two things, any events that have
• 29:31
  happened or any changes that have occurred that have really made the
• 29:34
  auction world the oh wow moment?
• 29:37
  Honestly, I think that it's the visibility.
• 29:40
  It's the fact that lector car auctions and even other automotive
• 29:44
  shows, the build it shows and all that that are so popular right now.
• 29:48
  Car collecting auctions, all of that.
• 29:51
  It's put that into the public mainstream.
• 29:53
  I think it's really helped not only make 'em auction other auctions as well.
• 29:57
  And I think it's helped the collector car industry in general as it
• 30:02
  began kind of as entertainment.
• 30:04
  And now it's a way to sort of chronicle and document and promote what
• 30:08
  happens at a collector car auction.
• 30:10
  And as we all know, it's exciting, it's stimulating.
• 30:13
  There's the X factor there.
• 30:15
  Some people say it's the cars or it's the sound, or it's the
• 30:18
  auctioneer banter, it's the pricing.
• 30:20
  The bottom line is, is it's all of that.
• 30:22
  It's this cocktail that's just magical.
• 30:25
  Now, not everybody can pull it off, whether it be on television or not.
• 30:29
  The way that Mecca does, I hate to be bragging, but we've got the best
• 30:31
  auctioneers, the best auction team, I think the best TV crew in the business,
• 30:35
  and I'm not talking about me by the way, and it all conspires to make people say.
• 30:40
  Man, this is fun.
• 30:42
  This is cool.
• 30:43
  I wanna be a part of it.
• 30:44
  You've mentioned several times, John, having been with Mecu for nearly 20 years.
• 30:49
  You've seen cars come and go in the tens of thousands at this point.
• 30:52
  But what else have you seen in the evolution of auctions, and let's
• 30:57
  talk a little bit about road art and on time and things like that.
• 31:00
  Yes.
• 31:01
  Let's talk about the transition.
• 31:04
  Or the addition of what we call absentee bidding, which would either be
• 31:08
  telephone bidding or internet bidding, or another way, which is actually
• 31:12
  called proxy bidding, where you can in advance let us know what your maximum
• 31:17
  bid would be on a particular lot.
• 31:18
  And I'll have to say that we're coming out of what I call the pandemic era.
• 31:22
  Now we have learned and we have transitioned as a company.
• 31:25
  Being known as a very exciting live auction company, but we have improved
• 31:30
  our hardware and software over a period of time to be able to accommodate
• 31:34
  all types of this absentee bidding.
• 31:36
  And it's been huge.
• 31:37
  It has added a tremendous amount to the accessibility about what we do.
• 31:41
  Covering the action on the TV show.
• 31:43
  You see it, we talk about it.
• 31:44
  We put the camera at the internet bidder, we put the camera at the phone, bidders.
• 31:48
  We even have got microphones where you can even hear what they're
• 31:51
  saying to the potential buyer on the other end of the line.
• 31:54
  And we try to cover that and bring everybody into the experience.
• 31:57
  That has been a huge part of, of our growth and our accessibility.
• 32:00
  And the other part of it is what you mentioned, it's not all about collector
• 32:03
  cars, it's about tractors, it's about motorcycles, it's about road art,
• 32:07
  which that's our trademark name for.
• 32:10
  Anything that might be automotive related from oil cans, dealer displays,
• 32:15
  gas pumps, vintage toolboxes, neon signs, vintage porcelain signs.
• 32:21
  I mean, the list is massive.
• 32:24
  Automotive memorabilia is a phenomenon right now.
• 32:28
  The prices are, Wild on that stuff.
• 32:31
  And Becom Auctions being an auction company that specializes in the sale
• 32:36
  of collector vehicles, but is wide open for anything that might fit in
• 32:41
  with that, that might go hand in hand.
• 32:43
  It's gotten to the point where we'll have memorabilia at our auctions.
• 32:48
  We'll have.
• 32:48
  Memorabilia specific days, sometimes at our auctions, our Kissimmee
• 32:54
  auction and our Indianapolis auction, or two in particular that do.
• 32:57
  And then we've got what we call Mecca on time, where we're always
• 33:00
  running an auction nonstop.
• 33:01
  There's one, one running right now where it might be smaller items,
• 33:04
  and I also wanna stress that it's really easy to get signed up as a
• 33:07
  bidder for any of the stuff, whether you want to come to an auction.
• 33:10
  Or whether you want to just bid online or bid on the telephone.
• 33:12
  It's very simple and straightforward and once again, you can do it online or you
• 33:16
  can call our office, talk to somebody there and get all your questions answered.
• 33:20
  We have reached that part of the episode where I get to ask any shout outs,
• 33:24
  promotions, or anything else you'd like to share that we haven't covered thus far.
• 33:28
  So much of the credit for what we do, for those of us that are visible in the
• 33:33
  company, the auctioneers, the auction staff, which would include our bidders
• 33:37
  assistants, those of us on the TV crew, my post Scott Hoke and Bill Stevens,
• 33:42
  Steven Cox, Katie Osborne, Chris Jacobs.
• 33:45
  Everybody knows him from overhauling, but it goes way beyond that.
• 33:48
  It goes to the entire crew, man.
• 33:49
  It takes about 350 people to run Acum auction.
• 33:53
  These people are brought in from literally around the country.
• 33:55
  We have a full-time office staff of about 150 people at our headquarters
• 33:59
  up in Walworth, Wisconsin that are right now as we're speaking, they've
• 34:03
  got their head down working future auctions on top of each other.
• 34:06
  That's not our road crew, that's our office crew that stays home,
• 34:09
  and then there's those of us on the other end that will leave the
• 34:11
  office and go out on the road.
• 34:13
  And we're bringing in, like I said, about 350 people to run these auctions.
• 34:17
  There's a lot of moving parts, but everybody works hard to make sure this
• 34:20
  thing operates like a well-oiled machine.
• 34:22
  Gotta give a shout to them.
• 34:23
  And then of course, you know, Dodge the brotherhood of muscle.
• 34:26
  They're our exclusive automobile manufacturer.
• 34:28
  A lot of changes going on in the auto automotive world right now.
• 34:30
  But Dodge telling us they're gonna maintain that brotherhood of muscle image,
• 34:34
  they're gonna keep pushing forward with cars that are fun and exciting to drive.
• 34:38
  John Reman is the man with a real passion for classic and collector cars.
• 34:42
  He holds his personal collection near and dear with some of his favorites
• 34:46
  being a 1964 Pontiac G T O a 2014 Mustang gt, and a 2010 Corvette C six.
• 34:54
  Outside of his work with Meko and Cars, Kreon enjoys spending some time with
• 34:58
  his wife, Christine, his four grown children and five grandchildren, as
• 35:03
  well as connecting with his rock and roll roots, playing guitar and singing
• 35:07
  in a classic rock trio known as.
• 35:10
  Redline 7,000.
• 35:12
  To learn more about John, you can connect with him@mecom.com or on social media at
• 35:18
  Carr kramon, on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
• 35:22
  And don't forget, you can tune in every two weeks for a new episode of Meum
• 35:27
  On the Move Podcast hosted by John.
• 35:30
  Well, John, I can't thank you enough for coming on Break Fix and sharing
• 35:34
  your life story with us and how you have become the voice of the
• 35:38
  number one auction in the world.
• 35:40
  And I look forward to seeing you in person at future Mecom Auctions, but
• 35:45
  also catching up with you on TV and learning from your encyclopedic knowledge.
• 35:49
  It's fantastic and just keep up the good work.
• 35:51
  You got it.
• 35:52
  Eric, thanks to you guys for having me on.
• 35:54
  We've had a great conversation.
• 35:55
  Anytime you guys wanna talk cars, talk mecu talk trends, I'm on
• 35:59
  board to do it with you guys.
• 36:00
  Don, thank you brother for everything that you do out there.
• 36:04
  Love the magazine.
• 36:05
  Never miss a chance to look at it.
• 36:07
  And that's another important element of the collector car world
• 36:10
  as well, where we display and how we display our pride and joy.
• 36:14
  Maybe more about that on the next episode.
• 36:16
  That'd be great.
• 36:17
  Nobody sells more than.
• 36:19
  Nobody.
• 36:20
  Mecom Auctions is the world's leader of collector car vintage and antique
• 36:25
  motorcycle and road art sales hosting auctions throughout the United States.
• 36:30
  The company had specialized in the sale of collector cars for more than
• 36:33
  35 years now, offering more than 22,000 lots per year and averaging
• 36:39
  more than one auction per month.
• 36:42
  Mecom Auctions is headquartered in Walworth, Wisconsin, and since 2011
• 36:47
  has been ranked number one in the world with the number of collector cars
• 36:52
  offered at auction, and is host to the world's largest collector car auction
• 36:56
  held annually in Kissimmee, Florida, as well as the largest motorcycle auction
• 37:01
  held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 37:05
  Mems Road A and Mecca on Time.
• 37:07
  Divisions offer a wide variety of collectibles for live and online auctions.
• 37:12
  You can learn more and follow Mecu and their upcoming events@www.mecu.com,
• 37:20
  or you can follow them on social at Mecca Auction on Facebook.
• 37:24
  At Meum Auctions on Instagram, at mecom, on Twitter, and
• 37:29
  at Mecu Auction on YouTube.
• 37:36
  If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about gtm, be sure to
• 37:39
  check us out on www.gt motorsports.org.
• 37:43
  You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Tour Motorsports.
• 37:47
  Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call
• 37:51
  or text us at (202) 630-1770 or send us an email at crew chief@gtmotorsports.org.
• 37:59
  We'd love to hear from you.
• 38:01
  Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here.
• 38:03
  We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
• 38:07
  to remind you that G T M remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal
• 38:12
  is to continue to bring you quality episodes like this one at no charge.
• 38:17
  As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for
• 38:21
  bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies and G T M swag.
• 38:26
  For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month, you can keep our developers,
• 38:29
  writers, editors, casters, and other volunteers fed on their strict diet of
• 38:34
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• 38:37
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• 38:44
  And remember, without fans, supporters, and members like you,
• 38:49
  None of this would be possible.