Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Reviving Vintage Signs and Car Culture: A Journey Through Hemi Hideout

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Reviving Vintage Signs and Car Culture: A Journey Through Hemi Hideout · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: At the bottom of the hour right now From Hobus' Hemi Hideout in Brookshire, texas.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Just ahead we've got Bill Prokrowik.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: He's the man behind the signs and other things here at the Hemi Hideout.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: He's our first guest here this morning.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Jeff has the cruise in and events calendars and we'll have stories making automotive news this week.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, our chief engineer, david Ainsley.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us today.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Bill Prokrobik joins us now and Bill, it's good to see you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Likewise, don now, and Bill it's good to see you.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Likewise, don nice to see you guys.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Have you been?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: busy out there in the back.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I have In the workshop, yes, sir, in Bill's workshop.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, I have, have you, yeah.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So what's the latest project?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Well, I've got something interesting.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: It's a piece that John acquired not too long ago and it's an old trade sign.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Basically, it originated in Pasadena, texas.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: It was made by someone at the plant there, the Nichols Cap Gun Company.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Oh be darned.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: So Nichols is a company that was established just after the war In Pasadena, in Pasadena.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: They started in Pasadena, texas.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I had no clue.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they moved.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Some years later they moved to where was it?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Jacksonville, texas.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Not familiar where that is.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: At any rate, they started making these cap guns and they sold them all over the world.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I bet you, I had one, you probably did, you probably did.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And you could recognize it by the letter N in a circle.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I'll have to look.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I've got one cap gun left.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I've still got it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I've got a cap From the 50s.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So it changed hands a couple of times thereafter, but it's eight feet long.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: It's Probably about three feet.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Is it lit?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: No, it's going to be though.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Ah, that's what you're working on.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So it needs a little bit of rehab.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: It's weathered, it's old.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: I've got a couple of questions.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Do you allow folks to maybe take a little tour of your shop back the way you're working?
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We do it all the time.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: In a little while I'll be out there and then people start coming by and kind of.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Do you go on some of the excursions, when he goes and buys signs and all that I do indeed.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: We travel all over the country and auction, and man, what a ride that has been.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you, I've never had so much fun in my life.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: So you've been doing this forever.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Well, not really Well, but John.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: I've been involved with John for about 12, 13 years now, but you had another career before, john.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I did.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I was in the manufacturing world.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: My background is welding and fitting and you know we did exchangers, we did pipe spools, we did pressure vessels.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Is that where you met John?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: No, actually I met John through a mutual friend.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I've been helping people out with their projects for quite a while.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I've been helping people out with their projects for quite a while and one of the vendors who frequented all the big shows managed to sell things to John and I did a lot of restoration work for them and in turn they brought me out here to see where my bits and pieces were going.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: You were fortunate.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: And then one thing led to another, and here you are.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And I met John at that time.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And then one thing led to another, and here you are.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one thing led to another.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Here we are, all these years later.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Now, do you live out here, bill?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: close by.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not far away, I'm about 20 minutes away.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's good, Just on the west side of town.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's what I got going, so I'm looking forward to that.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: It's going to be an interesting project, so we've got the Nichols Cap Gun Company sign you're working on yes I do Since the last.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Well, I think we were here about six months ago or so.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, let me rephrase that I was going to say has anything changed in?
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the hideout.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: We know that it has.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We just can't pick it out because we're not here all the time.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: What's the latest thing that you've got in here that got hung recently?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Well, just last week I put up this Phillips highway sign.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: It's still requires the lighting up top, so it has the cat eyes, the reflectors that you find on a railroad crossing, so we're going to illuminate that.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I put that pole and restored that sign.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: It had some substantial damage up there previous to that.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I did the chuck wagon back there love the chuck wagon that's that wasn't.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: That wasn't chuck wagon hamburgers, was it?
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: yeah, it was yeah was it really?
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I believe it was somebody had said and I'm I can't verify that that there was one on Long Point.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be familiar.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I know that there was one on Belfort over in Westbury.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, there was supposedly two Chuck Dragons here in Houston.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the ones that I remember.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: There was one on Bel Air Boulevard and the other one was over on Post Oak.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: It was very popular and it was just a small hut, basically yeah, yeah, yeah, and they had that sign Chuckwagon Hamburgers.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, there you go, then We've learned something I've researched it.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've researched it, but I haven't been able to find any photos.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: But I did find the Chuckwagon and it and it's just as you mentioned.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: It's like a small shack really.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a hamburger shack.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you went up there, kind of like the way the original Jack in the Box was, you'd walk up to the window, order it.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: They had a few seats outside, but that was it.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: There was nothing fancy about it, yeah, but I do remember they had the Hub Burger, the Wheel Burger and the Spoke Burger.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Ooh, there you go.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Spoke Burger.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Ooh, there you go Wow.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: That's interesting.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: She'd make fun of my memory.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Now Mars, no, I'm just thinking I'll wait a little bit.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: It's too good, right?
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: now.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: That was like in 1824.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: It was 1824.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: Chuck-a-dagen, that's what he did there you go the original food truck.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Wheel Burger, the Spoke Hubburger they had three different sizes, obviously and fries, get two of them.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: It's a hubba hubba and you know, if I'm not mistaken and I may be but I don't even think that they sold Cokes.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I think they had a Coke machine outside where you went to order the hamburger.
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: And David pointed that out.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: They've got one over here, oh yeah.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: The Great Bet yeah, yeah, Now do you restore those old soda water machines yeah, I have.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've restored a number of them over the years.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the pumps, the Coke machines, the jukeboxes I kind of got away from those.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: So everything in here you've virtually touched.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Not everything, but my fingerprints are on a lot.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: Quite a few things, a lot of stuff, yeah, you know.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Amazing.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been fortunate it's been.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I enjoy it.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I look forward to.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Well, who wouldn't?
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, but it takes a real skilled artist to be able to do this and a vision, because, as you mentioned, this one that you're currently working on with Nichols wasn't a neon sign, but it's going to be a neon sign.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Well, that's true, yeah, yeah.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm really enthusiastic.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I'd love to do that.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Now is it porcelain?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: No, it's not Painted, it's galvanized.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: It's almost 14-gauge, so it's pretty heavy.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: It's heavy duty, yeah.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: It was hand-painted.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try to bring it back as close to what it was, because it had been painted.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: The company changed hands three times and basically they painted over each time.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: So you got at least three coats of paint on there.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Well, the lettering for the most part, yeah, so you know, we'll look at it.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I wonder where that Nichols Cap Gun Company was in Pasadena.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: You know I haven't got that information.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I wonder if it was anywhere down.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: David, of course, has pulled this up.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: He is an engineer.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Nichols Cap Guns, gunsmith to millions of cowboys.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Uh-huh, nickels guns, other companies there, it is right.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: There you can show that to bill, yeah there you go bill uh I you know, because back in the day, pasadena was much smaller than it is today I can imagine and uh, all I remember is trying to make my way over there off of Spencer Highway and get over there to Gillies Gillies on one side and the Nezadel across the street.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: You weren't here then, but I can promise you it was a haven of redneck beer drinkers over there.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: There's a restaurant called.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Don Key I tried to contribute to it.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Don Key Mexican restaurant it's spelled Don Key, but it's pronounced Don Key.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Really good food.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: It's Tex-Mex, but it's really good and they've got great margaritas.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Is it in Pasadena?
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Is it still there?
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: It's off of Spencer.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: They've remodeled it many times.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: Been there with Kathy a few times, yeah.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I just find that interesting.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: You know they well.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: We're kind of reminiscing about this.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I heard this, and, and from a reliable source did you know that they made an automobile in houston, texas, called the ranger?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I did not know that I saw one.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: It was only a few of them, so that would have been a lone ranger.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and this particular ranger.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: It was completely restored and I didn't know that they actually built the car in Houston Texas.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I think I may have seen that.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Actually, I think it was a dark navy blue.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: It was a very nice-looking car for the day and this was back in the 1920s, I believe it was, and a collector had the car at a semi-museum up on 45 before the whole place burnt down.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: The cars weren't in it.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Odd, the cars weren't in it.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Hmm, odd Cars weren't there but the place burnt down.
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: Odd.
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they were painting or something, yeah.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: They were doing something in there.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: But at any rate, you know, the history of Houston and some of the manufacturing facilities here in Houston surprises many people because you know, houston has evolved, obviously, and certainly in my lifetime, since I've been here since the early 60s.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, man, it's quite amazing to find all of these businesses, that some are still here but most have come and gone.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Exactly, you're so right.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: The Nichols Capcom Company.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a fantastic and world-renowned manufacturing facility from the chemical processing world.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: They made the heat exchangers they had pressure vessels here.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: They made the pipe spools.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: They went all over the world.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: It's all gone.
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: All gone.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: I mean, you got the port, so that's how you get your shipping out all over the world.
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: Then they bring in the big airports.
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and some people still don't realize that DeLorean has got a big setup here in Houston.
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: They don't publicize it.
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: A lot.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: They used to be in Stafford Used to be a long time ago.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: And now they're up by Bush Airport, I believe by the airport, yes, and that's DMC DeLorean Motor Company, and now there's a spinoff of that, that are going to be making a new DeLorean, if I'm not mistaken, and they don't have anything to do with each other.
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: It's electric.
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they don't like each other, yeah yeah, so anyway, time moves on.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: So you've got that one project that you're working on back there, and I know you, you don't work on one project at a time.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: You usually got two or three, four things going on.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've got a number of things going on.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: I'm building some of my own signs, contemporary signs, that I offer for sale as well.
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: New design type things.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Well, some of these signs I've commissioned at enamel porcelain companies, let's just say offshore.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, so it's commercial.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm bringing in some signs that I'm building and applying neon to and offering them to collectors who more so want to decorate rather than have.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about porcelain just for a second.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody building porcelain signs anymore?
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Is porcelain still around?
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: There is, but for some reason the cost has become prohibitive.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: It just becomes too expensive.
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: So it's pretty high end if you want it.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and years ago there was safety health-related risks, oh yeah.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they shut it down.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Really they shut it all down in the US.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: But I know just recently someone had a very large motel sign that fell off the lift.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: They commissioned somebody in Ohio to redo the bottom part.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: So they are doing it.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: That's the only one that I know of here, but in places like you know Eastern Europe, china, of course, india, some of the South American countries they're still doing it.
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: They have a little less OSHA over there.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I don't think anything flies over there.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: So here's a food for thought, Just to plant the seed in your head.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: An in-wheel time neon sign.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: You know that could be done.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that could easily be done.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: It could be painted.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: We could do a wrap and apply neon.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: We could commission my contact to make one.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: But you know, it's something to think about and you're buying it if we get one as soon as we get up to Joe Rogan's level on our podcast we're going to get a hold of him.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: So, full of it?
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think so Joe Rogan's level?
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Well, we are.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: We're already there.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: You've passed that level.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we have.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's quality, Quality, I think.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: So we passed all right.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: The wheels have fallen off of ours and we got passed.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the guy that made the Joe Rogan sign is a fellow in Austin and that's his claim to fame.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Well, that's where he's from.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: There you go.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: The fact that he made that sign, yeah, yeah.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: He's made a number of signs.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Do you have something to do?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: You know I do.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Actually, I'm going to have visitors out in the back here in a little bit.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Well, we sure appreciate you taking the time Well thanks for signaling me out.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I always enjoy it.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: It's always good to see you.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: It's the first time I've met you.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: First time I've met you.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Really yeah, first time I've met him.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Where were you the last time?
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Over there.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: There he was over there.
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: Thanks, sir, it's always fascinating.
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: Well, yeah.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Bill.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Pekrobic, it's always good to see you man.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Likewise my pleasure.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Pleasure's all mine.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you you bet.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show is available 24-7 through the Odyssey radio app Just look for In Wheel Time Car Talk.
• 15:19
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• 15:22
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• 15:28
  Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break, free tacos again at the Tailpipes and Tacos pre-holiday cruise-in.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: It's been a while, but the popular Tailpipes and Tacos cruise-in returns to the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Saturday, november 16th.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Bring a new, unwrapped toy and get a free breakfast.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Taco Toys will be donated to Toys for Tots and Houston Children's Charity.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Get to the best and one of the last cruise-ins of the year Tailpipes and Tacos.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Saturday, november 16th, 8 to 11 am.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Cruise in, donate a new, unwrapped toy and grab a free Loopy Tortilla Breakfast Taco.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Tailpipes and Tacos only happens at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy, 703 West Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard, just south of the Katy Freeway.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: It's the end of the year car show season and what better way to celebrate than with a free taco and camaraderie at Tailpipes and Tacos.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Saturday, november 16th, 8 to 11 am.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show will be there too.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Bring a toy, get a free Loopy Taco and feel good about heading into the holiday season at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Is your car ready for that all-important holiday road trip?
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is having another Car Social Saturday, december 7th, and you're invited.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Bring your car, truck or SUV and find out what it'll take to get that thing looking new again.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint detailing, coatings, window tint, clear bras, camera installs and wheel repair.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: The Car Social is your opportunity to get a tour of this state-of-the-art facility located at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Join the Car Social Saturday, december 7th, 9 to noon.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Talk to other owners and see how good your car can look on the road trip.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: To Aunt Mary's She'll want that good-looking ride in her driveway, I promise Put it on your calendar the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Holiday Car Social and Road Trip.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Get Ready Saturday, december 7th, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show will be there too.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: We'll see you then.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: The In Real Time fall tour continues with tailpipes and tacos next weekend, november 16th, and the Gulf Coast Auto Shield hit the Holiday Road Car.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Social December 7th, we hope you'll stop by the In Real Time remote broadcast booth and say hello.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I did not know that Loopy Tortilla had a truck.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so they got one out there.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: It's on Facebook Are you going to go get it?
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Is somebody going to go get them?
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I think?
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: Jeff's going to go get them.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: Okay, well, that's good to know, Good guy.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Jeff.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I know what would we do without him.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: We spend his money, we wouldn't have to.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: We abuse him.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Apparently not All right Time now for the cruise in and events calendars.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, jeffrey's got those.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: Yep, gotcha, I'm going to that shot just to touch base with folks out there.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: The shot that we've got that's rotating, that's like one-fifth of this place, so it's gorgeous.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: You need to be out here.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Serious Wheels a 22nd annual fall charity open car show with a touch of Christmas on the square.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: This is actually going on next weekend in the Sugarland Town Square.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Registration begins at 9 o'clock.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: It's a $40 fee if you want to enter your vehicle.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: They've got food.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: They've got things for the kids, they've got raffles, 50-50 drawings and things of that nature.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of car clubs and things that are going to be part of that you know, toys for Tots type thing.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Then we've got next week Hub hubba hubba tailpipes and tacos.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: I'm telling you that's going to be.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: Lupe Tortilla hosts the tacos.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: Lupe Tortilla will host that's in.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: Katy In Katy tailpipes and tacos.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: The actual address is 703 West Grand Parkway in Katy, texas.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: It goes from 8 am to 11.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: We will be there with bells on, so come on out.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't know about bells.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to dress in bells.
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: I could put a ring on my toe.
• 19:04
  Speaker 6: I'm going to have bell bottoms.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, we've got you probably got a ring in your nose and you just take it out to do this broadcast don't you, because I know that you're over there in Niterville and I know that you've got some weirdos over there.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You probably go out on Friday night and do that.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: That.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: You do the thing that you do.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: There's a movie about that.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: What's the most popular bar in Neiderville?
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: Mike's House.
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: You don't have bars.
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: Yep, if you want to have a drink, you have to go to a restaurant.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: What it's a dry county or dry city?
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: No?
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: It's yeah, yeah, okay.
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: Inside the city limits, okay.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: So what's the closest place outside the city limits?
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what's the closest place outside the city limits?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Mike's house, that's it.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: You know, we promised a little thing that we're going to do here with John Hobas.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: And he's sitting right there, hey, John we've got to queue up, cue up, john.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: John, do you think?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, could you come up here and maybe we could do a little something here with the folks that are in here?
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And I've decided that the way that we're going to do this is that we're going to get him on that headset right there and we're going to kind of do a little tease here.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: So if you just put that on and come back, stand here by me, that'd be good.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Look at that, let's hear you.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: How do I look, god you look great.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Come'd be good.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Look at that, let's hear you.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: How do I look?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: God you look great, come back over here.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, come back over here, all right.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Man, those lights are bright Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have your attention please, we're going to have a little interview.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: The host of this open house today and the owner of the Hemi Hideout, John Hovis, is here with me and in about 10 minutes when we start the top of the hour show for all those people that are listening online and on odysseycom and all that, we're on so many stuff I can't keep up with it all, so John's going to join us at the top of the hour we're going to have a little Q&A so you guys can take a seat, stand around whatever you'd like to do and learn a little bit about the Hemi Hideout.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And you know I said on the air you weren't listening, you were out there gabbing as you normally do, Right?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: You know John kind of sells himself short on describing the Hemi Hideout, and so we kind of touched on this last time we were here in the spring and it seems to work out pretty well because I asked the stupid questions that I think that I want to know about the Hemi Hideout, Right, and the signage, the cars, the thought behind the Hemi Hideout and all the people that you've got working here.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: You can do that again, can't we?
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I can, I'd be glad to do that.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: I'd like to welcome everybody here to Hemi Hideout today.
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: We enjoy sharing what we've done here.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: This has been a labor of love.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: How many new people here today Raise your hands?
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: How many new people Quite a few.
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Good, we're glad to have you.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: Thanks for coming out.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: This was a labor of love, as you can see.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: Say 12, almost 13 years ago, when we started this project, we didn't have one single piece of any of this memorabilia.
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: So this has been quite a treasure hunt and a fun thing to put together and, as the people you referred to as would-be employees are really just friends that have the Hemi Hideout name tags on, they're just friends that love people and they were a big part of what this all has become Hemi Hideout.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: When we finished this 12 years ago, we had 280 signs, all Dodge, plymouth, oil and gas.
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: I've been a Dodge guy from day one.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: It doesn't matter whether you're Plymouth Pontiac, whatever your flavor, it's in your soul.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: They plant you in the ground.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: So for me, dodge, I had a yellow super b like the one in the back back there, and I've always loved the Dodge and Plymouth cars.
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: So a Dodge and Plymouth themed uh venue, if you will oil and gas, and it kind of goes off on tangents.
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: But uh, 12 years ago we didn't have a single piece of this.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: So we're relatively new at collecting and we've been all over the country kind of like American pickers, finding all this stuff.
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: We have a great restoration shop behind the building here that you can go to.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: We can take you in the golf carts if you want to see some of the things being restored Pretty interesting projects back there.
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: We'll take you on a golf cart and bring you.
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: Let's see.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: And if anybody's got any questions, I'd love to answer some questions.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: I sound like a broken record saying the same thing over and over every day of my life the last 12 years.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: We're not going to let you do that.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: You're not going to let him.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: Thank you very much.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: We're not going to let him do that.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Matter of fact, we're going to continue our interview.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: We're going to do the interview at the top of the hour, and the reason that we do that is because we do podcasts the In Real Time Car Talk Show and, by the way, while I'm here, introduce Mike Mars, jeff Zekin, our chief engineer, david Ainsley, I'm Don Armstrong, and so we kind of bust our show.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: It's a two-hour show every week that we do live, and then we bust that up and make it 30-minute podcasts, if you're into podcasts and a lot of people are these days and, as a matter of fact, it's more popular than the live broadcast, and so we're going to do it at the top of the hour.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: That way, we can cut this up and make a 30-minute interview with John Hovis talking about the Hemi Hideout.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Very good, if that's good with you, it's good with me, okay, so at the top of the hour you'll hear the music play and then we'm going to ask him lots of questions, and then you can chime in too and ask questions as well, because there's so much to learn here.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: This is only a partial sampling of the Hemi Hideout cars because to make room for all of you people and the tables and the chairs and all that sort of thing.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: You've got a separate holding area out there to hold the cars.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: So this is just a sampling and you know it's quite a wonderful venue, I think, and I think that you'll all agree.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And when you find out how the thing was built, the ideas that John had from the very beginning, I think that you'll be impressed.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: So we're going to do that at the top of the hour.
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: Very good.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: One more thing I want to say going to do that at the top of the hour, very good.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: One more thing I want to say I want to thank you all for your $10 donations.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: We match your donation dollar for dollar.
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: All gets distributed to local charities.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: So thank you all for coming out.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: Like-minded people here, car-related.
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: Thank you all so much for coming out.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: We'll be back, we'll be back at the top of the hour with John, so I want you guys to not go anywhere and hang tight, and in the meantime we're going to finish up this half hour of our show and I don't even know where we are currently we are coming up on break.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: You know, because I don't have a big clock.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe that's something for the future.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: We need to have a big clock in here.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a big clock.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: There's one right over there.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, there is there's one right over there.
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: Oh, there is, there's one over there, there you go.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: So it's about five minutes, six minutes away and we're going to do the big interview with John then.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: He likes digital clocks.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: No, I don't actually Digital clocks, you know does anybody know how to read a real clock?
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: anymore, it's kind of like writing.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: You know we do have some stories that may interest you.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: We do this at this time on our regular show.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Stellantis is laying off about 400 UAW-represented workers at a Detroit part sequencing facility to save money.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Job cuts at the Freud Street Warehouse I guess you know where that is, jeff which packages parts for two nearby assembly plants so they arrive at the right time and in the correct order.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: It takes effect on january.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: The fifth stellatus is, of course, you know, the parent company of the hemmies, the dodges, the chryslers, the plymouths and all of the stuff that's in here, and they are having some serious issues.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Uh, as far as selling vehicles, matter of fact, uh, they have decided that they are going to cut back on some of the pricing, speaking of which the 2025 Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer lineups by as much as $7,000 from the previous model year.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: So if you're into some really high-end kind of SUVs, there you go.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Now may be your time to go shopping for a vehicle.
• 27:06
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's getting into the 8% to 10% range in there.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it most definitely is General Motors plans to discontinue the Cadillac XT4.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: What?
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Maybe some of you have an XT4 here Come on, man.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: They're going to stop building it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: In January the company idles its Kansas assembly plant to retool for the next generation Chevrolet Bolt EV.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Gm previously said it would temporarily pause XT4 production during the shutdown.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Well they're going to pause it permanently.
• 27:34
  Speaker 6: Nobody contacted me.
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: That doesn't make you feel like you're going to stop building a Cadillac and build a Bolt.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's sacrilegious Because my car is built on that platform.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And you guys are wondering, you know what kind of a show is this?
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: It's a car talk show, obviously, and we talk about cars and my relationship with John goes back well to a very dear friend of mine who's here today.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he's done quite a bit of the still art.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: There's one of them hanging on the wall over here.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: His name is Bill Seitz, and Bill and I go back to the mid-'70s when I met him in the Corvette Club San Jacinto Corvette Club and he and his wife, sharon, were very dear friends of mine, became dear friends of mine and brought me into the Corvette world which, by the way, I still have an old Corvette.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: You have a picture of your Corvette that he did on the studio wall.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: Yes, I did yeah.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: The 77 Corvette I ordered from the factory and that's how I kind of got into the Corvette thing and really got my chops, if you will, into this whole car thing.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: That's evolved and I've kind of put together a broadcasting career with cars that I love and so that's how I made it here and I've got some very good support and friends that I've made along the way.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Mike Mars I met through the Texas Auto Writers Association Gosh how many years ago was that?
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: A hundred Probably yeah.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: A hundred years ago and Jeff Zekin was one of our first guests on our show back when we were doing the radio thing, and Jeff was the tire guy.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Still is the tire guy.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: He's worked for the likes of Pirelli and several others a lot of manufacturers yeah, so Jeff is our tire expert.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: David Ainsley I met when I was working at KPRC radio.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: David was brought in as the engineer there and so my relationship when did you start at KPRC radio 88, 88?
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: , 88.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: So I met David in 88.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: So I've got some very good friends that have helped me along the way put together the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show and so we kind of hobble along here and make it all happen yeah.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: You know, when we go on the road like this, it's very interesting the fact that we're able to do this.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: We cobble all this stuff together.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: god for david y'all should have been here at nine o'clock this morning yeah, or at 10 o'clock when we went on the air yeah, and we couldn't get on the air.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: It was, it's.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: It's always a tap dance around here a couple of weeks ago was it a couple of weeks ago that we were?
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: We were at the uh car show over in Spring Branch and next week we're going to be at the Lupe Tortilla down here in Katy.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: That's going to be a cruise inn, so if you guys are into cruise inns, I invite you to go down there.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: That's going to be from 8 am to 11 am at the Lupe in Katy.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: Right and at Lupe, if you bring an unwrapped toy, you get a taco, so I would challenge you all to go out there and breakfast taco.
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: I would challenge you all you take two toys, you get two tacos.
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: It's their annual toy drive.
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: It goes to, I think, Methodist Hospital or something.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Something of that nature.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: Children's Hospital.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: We'll talk more.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: All right, hideout.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: The holidays are upon us and Pro-Am Auto Accessories is your local one-stop for the auto enthusiast on your gift list.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto has been serving Houston since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Pro-am was one of the very first distributors in the US for brands such as Recaro, Redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier shopping corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom with installation and service bays.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Pro-am reaches a worldwide audience through Pro-AmAutocom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Holiday gift giving is alive and well at Pro-Am Auto.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto, 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: Hey, Houston, it's back.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: America's greatest hot rod tradition is Thanksgiving weekend.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: The O'Reilly Auto.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Parts Autorama at the George R.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: Brown Convention Center Four days of hot rods, customs trucks and muscle cars.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Don't miss the Evel Knievel Tribute, the Megamore Transforming robot car Lowrider Showcase.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Meet Catherine Bach from Dukes of Hazzard.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: Hip-hop.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast Podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.