Latest / After-Hours with Faction! Motorsports / #68 - Dave Lee of Touge Factory

Transcript

#68 - Dave Lee of Touge Factory · After-Hours with Faction! Motorsports

• 0:00
  Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Faction
• 0:02
  Motorsports After Hours podcast. This is episode three of our
• 0:07
  final bout trip that me and Carl took, and on this episode we get
• 0:11
  to sit down with Dave Lee, the owner of Togey Factory in
• 0:15
  Wheeling. IL.
• 0:16
  Dave's a huge inspiration for me, so this was a this was a
• 0:20
  pretty important one. I reached out to them and lucky,
• 0:22
  lucky enough, Dave was able to make some time in his schedule.
• 0:25
  And it was pretty crazy because we, we, we we went there,
• 0:29
  nothing was going on. We were like, oh, let's just
• 0:31
  take a quick walk around the shop and you know, then we'll
• 0:34
  sit down. And right when we went to go
• 0:35
  take that walk around the shop, we come back out to the main,
• 0:39
  the main shop area, and basically all of Front St. was
• 0:43
  there. Jimmy Oaks, basically all, all
• 0:45
  of our friends were just there to visit and we, I was like, oh
• 0:49
  God, we might not be able to do this, but I was looking at Dave
• 0:52
  and the day came over to me. He's like, let's just go do this
• 0:54
  now because if if we don't do this now, we're never going to
• 0:56
  be able to. We get time.
• 0:58
  So thank you, Dave, for making that time for us and letting us
• 1:02
  use the conference room at Toge factory.
• 1:04
  It was a really nice setting. And yeah, if you guys want to
• 1:07
  watch the YouTube portion of this, you can we have one up
• 1:09
  there. But again, thank you, Dave.
• 1:12
  I mean that there's not much else to say.
• 1:14
  This episode is full of information for small business
• 1:17
  owners that are trying to get into this stuff.
• 1:20
  As I mentioned already, Dave is a big inspiration for me and he
• 1:24
  knows how important he is to me and I and I really, I really
• 1:27
  just want to thank him again for letting us do this.
• 1:28
  I hope you guys enjoy this episode.
• 1:32
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• 1:35
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• 4:05
  We're good. Yep.
• 4:06
  Cameras are rolling. We are now on.
• 4:09
  I don't even know what episode we're on on this trip, but I
• 4:12
  don't know either. Welcome everyone of the Fashion
• 4:13
  After Hours podcast. This one is even, I don't know,
• 4:17
  I'm just geeking out. Geeking out at the fact that
• 4:19
  we're here. We have Dave.
• 4:22
  From togey factory, yes. Usually we have a clapping.
• 4:24
  I wish I knew how to do that. Don't, don't.
• 4:26
  Don't try to press it. Yeah, if I try to do that, we.
• 4:28
  Have a clapping track usually, but yeah.
• 4:31
  I want to start off again. I've thanked you like four
• 4:33
  times, but thank you so much for your time today to meet with us.
• 4:37
  Actually, it kind of worked. You're you're a role model to my
• 4:42
  role model. So by association, you are now
• 4:45
  my role. Model as well.
• 4:48
  Yeah. Me and Dave had a long
• 4:50
  conversation last one of the last final bouts, right.
• 4:52
  Yeah. And that dude, that conversation
• 4:55
  was like the best thing that happened to me on that trip by a
• 4:57
  mile. So I just want to thank you for
• 4:58
  that. But yeah, like, we, I've been
• 5:00
  working with you for a while now.
• 5:01
  So we we get Origin from Dave and all that stuff.
• 5:04
  So we've had a it's kind of weird how time flies, but like,
• 5:09
  I mean, you literally remote tuned my car like like in 2015?
• 5:14
  16. How long have you guys known
• 5:15
  each other? That's probably, I would say
• 5:17
  it's probably it maybe like 1415.
• 5:21
  Yeah. So however long that is.
• 5:25
  Almost 10 years, Yeah. Yeah, so. 10 years, yeah.
• 5:28
  And then I, yeah, I mean, I don't know when we actually met,
• 5:31
  but like I was ordering parts from you guys for that long, I
• 5:33
  would say, yeah. So to listeners and CUZ.
• 5:38
  I guess you should get they should get to listen to around
• 5:40
  the world and I feel like not everybody knows what TF works
• 5:43
  is. Yeah, so I don't know if you
• 5:45
  want to explain your company to the world, but what is togey
• 5:50
  factory to you? We're.
• 5:56
  We're so, so many things now. Yeah, I feel like you guys do
• 6:00
  everything. Yeah, we do a lot of stuff here.
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  So first thing is we're parts distribution company.
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  So we import parts from Japan like Origin and we have sole
• 6:14
  exclusive distribution rights for the North American market.
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  So we do that. We also have house brands that
• 6:22
  we distribute. So we have San Suspension that's
• 6:26
  our own brand. So that's also sold under.
• 6:32
  Togey Factory and we wholesale to other shops like Faction and
• 6:36
  many other shops across the world and that's something that
• 6:39
  we just started from scratch. I actually did not know that.
• 6:44
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 6:45
  So we also have headquarter in Osaka as well and it's actually
• 6:50
  sold in Japan and pretty popular.
• 6:53
  Yeah, that was the one part I didn't really know.
• 6:54
  I was like do. They have a Japan section of
• 6:58
  this or. Yeah, yeah.
• 6:59
  So Takatory XD1 and Formula D driver, he's the Stance Japan
• 7:04
  and he's also here this weekend to drive.
• 7:07
  Yeah. So he's the guy who's running
• 7:10
  the Stance Japan. That's insane to me.
• 7:13
  That's awesome. Has that because OK, I mentioned
• 7:16
  this earlier, but TF works was one of the very first place I
• 7:19
  ordered parts from like and I think it was on eBay.
• 7:23
  I might. Have we?
• 7:23
  Do we do have a eBay story? Yeah, and it was this.
• 7:26
  I'm talking like. Years and years ago, But I just
• 7:30
  think it's crazy that it has developed into this.
• 7:33
  Would you think that you would be here at this time?
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  Like, look at where you are, dude, like we just spent some
• 7:40
  time in your shop and your your, would you call that a warehouse
• 7:44
  kind of like attached to the shop?
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  So I don't know if the compound this is a compound.
• 7:48
  Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, we have a
• 7:51
  warehouse that turned into. So we do keep a lot of inventory
• 7:56
  here and in the warehouse. And then we also have a shop
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  with lifts and all the equipments.
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  And then we also have some of the space dedicated to
• 8:07
  fabrication. We have two large rooms
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  dedicated to shock work. So we have a shock Dino and jigs
• 8:18
  and stuff to actually build shocks.
• 8:20
  You didn't see that? Yeah, no, I didn't see that part
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  I. Don't know what?
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  I'm looking at most of the time. So I was just kind of enamored
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  by the fact that for me, I'm like, I'm like looking at all
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  the space. I'm like, OK, wow.
• 8:30
  Well, you're looking at it because this is like a business
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  owner to business owner thing. Yeah.
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  So that's a different outlook. I'm looking at it as like you've
• 8:37
  built kind of an empire, sort of.
• 8:39
  Yeah. You think about it.
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  Yeah, it's, it's, it is crazy, man.
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  Like like when did you start? That was going to be one of my
• 8:49
  next. I start hustling in 2002,
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  officially launched the business in 2003.
• 8:54
  OK, yeah. And I started out selling used
• 8:56
  parts only. Yeah, yeah.
• 8:58
  OK. So would you look at that?
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  Yeah, so basically I was kind of like hustling in college.
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  I I was already like doing group buys in Zovia and installing
• 9:12
  parts on my friends cars on the weekends and stuff.
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  And I was like. Already into it and it was a
• 9:17
  hobby and I was pre addicted to it so and my dad's side of the
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  family, including my dad's, they're all entrepreneurs.
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  So I just been around it. So for me like once I got out of
• 9:30
  college I knew that that's eventually what I wanted to do.
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  So I worked you know a couple years and basically saved enough
• 9:39
  money to start my own business. So and then I basically.
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  Booked the ticket to Japan, plane ticket to Japan and and
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  just decide to go there because I didn't know how to get
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  started. So I was like, I'm just gonna go
• 9:57
  to Japan and see what happens, dude.
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  Yeah, you told me this story when we talked and I was.
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  And that was earlier, early 2000s, a rough.
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  That was probably 2000, early 2002 or something.
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  Yeah, before I officially launched.
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  So that was well before, cuz I feel like everybody.
• 10:15
  Everybody makes it over there at some.
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  I'm sure we'll make it over there at some, yeah.
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  Yeah. But you kind of probably early
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  that's super on like you probably still saw like did you
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  go to where did you go in Japan like Ebby Sue and like all the
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  shops? The red light district and
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  everything. I'm just, oh, I was like, God.
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  Oh wait, I was like like, this is taking our turn.
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  So my my goal was to basically so I I.
• 10:44
  I kind of had a plan. So I knew that I didn't want to
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  just like launch another business selling same parts that
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  everyone else is selling. That's too hard for me to get
• 10:54
  recognition and to you know, start in something that's such a
• 10:59
  small industry back then. So I knew I had to do something
• 11:02
  different and basically I was already like on Yahoo auctions
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  and checking out up Garage, you know, website and like just.
• 11:13
  Google or just searching for used parts from Japan already so
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  and I had no way to get it over here cuz back then we didn't
• 11:20
  have brokers, we didn't have English Yahoo auction and stuff
• 11:26
  like that so it was impossible. So how are you doing that?
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  You're using like Google Translate and stuff.
• 11:33
  Just looking at pictures, I mean I wanted Nizmo wheels and you
• 11:39
  just, you know, type in Nizmo because the brand name is in,
• 11:42
  you know? Yeah.
• 11:42
  And then I also learned that you had to type in, what was it?
• 11:46
  5H? I didn't know that that stood
• 11:48
  for five holes. Yeah.
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  Yeah. So and then one kind of teen.
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  Yeah, you just kind of like, yeah, you're busy.
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  Yeah, together. And so I knew that if I go to
• 11:56
  Japan and you know, maybe find a shop or two and.
• 12:02
  So I can gather enough use parts to bring here.
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  And because the parts in Japan at these second hand use stores
• 12:08
  were so cheap, I had enough margin to make profit and I
• 12:13
  thought it was a good way to start business.
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  So I went there and literally didn't know a word of Japanese,
• 12:21
  didn't know anybody in Japan. I just went there.
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  Just I mean the same to me. Yeah, you're ballsy for that.
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  I'm that's giving me anxiety right now.
• 12:28
  If I think about it now, I'm like, what the fuck was I
• 12:31
  thinking? He hasn't mean now.
• 12:34
  I'm just like, I was crazy, man. You just had A and a go get her
• 12:37
  mindset probably. I did.
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  It was like do or die kind of thing cuz I wanted to do it so
• 12:41
  bad. So so I just went and I just
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  brought all my option magazines with me and I just like had
• 12:47
  these little, you know, paper clips on every page that had
• 12:52
  shop. Address and stuff.
• 12:54
  And because I went to the hotel concierge and said just tell me
• 12:58
  how to get here. Oh my God.
• 12:59
  Yeah, and I basically just he would literally write down like
• 13:03
  you know, like step. By step left.
• 13:06
  Yeah, exactly. But the nice thing was in Japan,
• 13:09
  the subway system is like, so good that you could literally
• 13:13
  take the subway train and you could pretty much get to
• 13:15
  anywhere. And that's what I what I did.
• 13:18
  I just jumped to pretty much like every used secondhand part
• 13:21
  store. And most of it were up garage
• 13:26
  and they're like a huge chain with hundreds of stores all over
• 13:28
  the the country and like they're like size of Walgreen, I would
• 13:34
  say. And it's just like stocked up to
• 13:37
  the roof with secondhand parts. And this is a place that.
• 13:40
  Yeah, yeah. And you just go in and you can
• 13:42
  bring like your parts and then they'll give you cash for it or
• 13:45
  is there anything like that in the states?
• 13:48
  No, Like, even with American car.
• 13:51
  No, not really like. Facebook Market Place would be
• 13:53
  the closest thing, but yeah, it's not.
• 13:56
  You know what it reminds me of when you talk about that stuff?
• 13:57
  It's like. It wouldn't work.
• 13:59
  It wouldn't work because the markets not big here and also
• 14:05
  countries too big in Japan. It's, you know, the whole
• 14:09
  country fits into Lake MI and there's still room left.
• 14:14
  Holy shit, would you put it that way?
• 14:16
  Yeah, yeah, Like it. That's crazy.
• 14:19
  Yeah. The state of Illinois is like
• 14:22
  three times bigger than the whole country of Japan, so just
• 14:24
  put that into perspective. So fuck, it's very dense and
• 14:27
  it's very small. So they can have second end
• 14:32
  store and then the parts can get treated between the stores
• 14:36
  circulated, yeah. Yeah, and people can walk to the
• 14:39
  OR drive to the store and you know trade parts and stuff.
• 14:42
  So it works in Japan, but it won't work here.
• 14:44
  It's country's too big. And do you mind me asking what
• 14:46
  you graduated college with or did you graduate college?
• 14:50
  So, so I initially went into college for BioMed Engineering.
• 14:54
  OK. Yeah.
• 14:57
  Naturally, yeah, I want to be a parts dealer.
• 15:00
  Yeah, I want to make cool stuff, but you know.
• 15:03
  What? So then you switched.
• 15:06
  So the reason why I chose BioMed Engineering was because I wanted
• 15:11
  to make cool stuff. My parents wanted traditional
• 15:14
  Asian parents. They wanted me to become a
• 15:16
  doctor or lawyer and stuff, so please them.
• 15:18
  I was like, I'll do BioMed. So it's kind of like a, you
• 15:20
  know, medical field. But I get to do what I want,
• 15:23
  which is make cool stuff. But then as soon as I start
• 15:25
  taking some of the core engineering classes, I saw these
• 15:28
  Chinese and Indian kids with pocket protectors and they're on
• 15:31
  Chapter 20. And I'm still struggling with
• 15:33
  Chapter 2. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not
• 15:35
  going to make it. So I was like, I was like, I got
• 15:39
  to get out of here because, you know, school.
• 15:43
  Wasn't it? You know, for me, I I didn't
• 15:44
  really jam with the whole college thing.
• 15:47
  So I I just like changed my major to the most general thing
• 15:51
  was just like business networking and administration,
• 15:54
  some bullshit degree. And it was like I looked at the
• 15:57
  choral classes, I was like, yeah, I could fly through these
• 15:59
  courses. So I was like, I'm just going to
• 16:01
  graduate and do my own thing, so.
• 16:04
  So I just chose business. Yeah.
• 16:05
  How did your parents feel? About that, I was going to ask
• 16:07
  that next. Because they're OK with that
• 16:08
  because they're still, you know, into business.
• 16:10
  So they're like, well, you disappoint me because you're not
• 16:13
  going to be a doctor, but OK, fine, business is OK.
• 16:15
  But finished college, that was. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:17
  Because a lot of our listeners, we have a lot of younger
• 16:21
  listeners and some stuff that I always try to harp on is that I
• 16:26
  don't know it was it's it's ingrained in the culture that I
• 16:29
  was brought up and I'm not sure if it's the same for you, but
• 16:32
  like. Finish college.
• 16:34
  Go finish college. Get a job.
• 16:36
  Work. That's kind of like the life.
• 16:38
  It's different now, I think because the communication has
• 16:42
  evolved and also there's a lot of lot more opportunities just
• 16:45
  because of networking because through you know like these job
• 16:51
  postings and all these websites that you could, you know, look
• 16:54
  up jobs and find opportunities I think if.
• 17:01
  I I still think everyone should go to college and get a degree
• 17:04
  just because it teaches a lot of things about responsibility,
• 17:06
  making right decisions and just becoming an adult.
• 17:09
  I think that does that to you when you go go to college and
• 17:11
  it's kind of fun to go to college too and but you grow up
• 17:15
  if you go to college. So I think it.
• 17:17
  Shows you stuff. Yeah, and you could probably.
• 17:20
  And I think there's a good chance that you might not even
• 17:23
  graduate. You might fail, but you're still
• 17:25
  going to learn something from it.
• 17:27
  If you fail, then you're just going to be in debt, so.
• 17:30
  That would suck, but. But.
• 17:33
  Yeah. And it happens, yeah.
• 17:34
  It does happen. But I feel like if you're really
• 17:37
  passionate about something and if you're really good at it and
• 17:40
  if you think you can pretty much devote your life to something,
• 17:44
  just go for that instead. Because what the way the current
• 17:48
  like networking and all the opportunity that's out there.
• 17:52
  Some will recognize it and they'll hire you if you don't
• 17:55
  have a college degree. If you're really good at
• 17:57
  something and if you're talented and.
• 18:00
  If you devote enough time and you practice it like a lot,
• 18:04
  because if you're passionate, you're going to practice it a
• 18:06
  lot, whatever it is, so then you're going to be exceptional.
• 18:10
  And if you're that top one, percentile, 2 percentile, the
• 18:13
  outlier of whatever that you know that talent is, someone
• 18:18
  will hire you and they'll take care of you and things will
• 18:21
  happen and opportunities will come.
• 18:23
  So then you got that experience on your in your back pocket.
• 18:26
  So even if you have to go to another job or something,
• 18:29
  experiences. Super important, Yeah.
• 18:31
  And it's if someone hires you without a college degree, but
• 18:34
  they recognize your talent, that dude probably knows something
• 18:37
  about that field, and he probably knows and understands
• 18:42
  where you're coming from. And he will make sure that he's
• 18:45
  not going to lose you because he knows something.
• 18:47
  When you know when someone is hiring you for your talent, that
• 18:51
  person knows what they're doing. Yeah, and.
• 18:54
  And they're entrusting their their decision making their.
• 18:58
  It's like you're the decision. Yeah, college is basically
• 19:00
  you're getting a certificate for the things that you're
• 19:02
  practicing and it's just like a general acknowledgment, kind of
• 19:07
  like everyone's like okay. Yeah, college.
• 19:10
  If you get a degree there, then we know that it's legit kind of
• 19:14
  thing. So yeah, you should know all
• 19:15
  this stuff. But it doesn't mean just because
• 19:17
  you have a degree, you're exceptional.
• 19:19
  You just got a degree. But there's other people who
• 19:23
  are. Maybe just kind of suck at
• 19:25
  everything else, but they might be good at one thing.
• 19:27
  Like really fucking good at one thing.
• 19:30
  But that person is just like exceptional, like 1 percentile
• 19:33
  of whatever that thing is. That person most likely won't do
• 19:37
  well in college because he'll probably flunk English.
• 19:40
  He'll probably flunk this and plug plug that and he'll
• 19:42
  probably won't even get a degree and he's going to get the press
• 19:45
  and he probably never get a good job, probably end up at
• 19:47
  McDonald's, probably never get to do what he practices.
• 19:50
  But if that person. Has someone who's like more
• 19:53
  experienced be like, don't worry about it, just keep practicing
• 19:56
  what you're doing. Just just devote your life to it
• 19:58
  and go for it. You have one chance at this and
• 20:01
  and just you know you got to take it.
• 20:03
  And if you do it exceptionally well, someone will recognize it
• 20:07
  and some things will happen because no one's going to like,
• 20:11
  ignore talent. That just not going to happen
• 20:14
  so. I think.
• 20:15
  So for me, I think you know if you if you recognize something
• 20:21
  and it. And if you have that passion,
• 20:24
  and if you have this, like obsessive personality to
• 20:29
  basically practice something for hours every day and you know
• 20:33
  that you're better than most of your peers at it, just keep
• 20:36
  doing it. Because brother, you're going to
• 20:39
  get really fucking good at it and you'll probably end up
• 20:41
  making more money than you would go to college.
• 20:43
  So. Yeah, it's a good advice because
• 20:45
  I've seen a lot of people say that.
• 20:47
  That, that and basically that are in your position where you
• 20:50
  you did the same thing you did. You push for what you wanted to
• 20:53
  do and now you're here. Yeah, you know, you probably
• 20:58
  think back on it too. And you're like, what if,
• 20:59
  imagine I didn't do this, That's what I was about to ask.
• 21:02
  Like, like, are there things you would have changed during your
• 21:04
  journey to where you are, Like from 02, you came back from that
• 21:09
  trip and what did you do? You just hit the ground running.
• 21:12
  No, no, no. So yeah, So back to the trip.
• 21:16
  So I was like jumping from. Shop to shop, and no one spoke
• 21:19
  English. Everyone's like.
• 21:21
  Everyone. And I was like, I was like, I
• 21:23
  want to buy like a container full of stuff.
• 21:25
  And they're like, are you crazy? Like, what are you talking?
• 21:28
  About I was like. God, this is really hard.
• 21:30
  You know, like container. Yeah, like, I want to buy it
• 21:33
  like shit, like the whole fucking store, you know?
• 21:36
  And they're like. It's so crazy because, like,
• 21:38
  that wasn't really happening. And no one was doing this, so
• 21:42
  yeah, so I was basically everyone was thought I was
• 21:44
  crazy. And eventually like you know
• 21:47
  after like probably 5678 shops I don't know I can't remember and
• 21:51
  ended up at some up garage store on the like farmlands whatever
• 21:56
  like way outskirts of Tokyo now and you know I don't know where
• 21:59
  I am anymore you know. And the manager at the store
• 22:03
  like spoke perfect English. I'm like, oh shit, and that was
• 22:07
  those were exact my words and that's exactly.
• 22:09
  I would have been like. I was like, oh shit.
• 22:12
  I was like, yeah, I was like, sense of relief, yeah.
• 22:14
  And then I'm like. Bro, just listen.
• 22:16
  I have this idea. I have money, okay.
• 22:21
  So I'm not here to bullshit. And I'm young, I'm hungry and
• 22:28
  I'm trying to do this business. You got to trust me on this.
• 22:30
  Like, I want to buy everything in your store, but you got to
• 22:33
  help me because I don't know what I'm doing, you know?
• 22:36
  So I've never done this before. And he's like, wait, so you want
• 22:40
  to buy like, like a lot? Like I'm like.
• 22:43
  Yeah, a lot. Like like fill up a container a
• 22:45
  lot. Yeah, like, like container a lot
• 22:47
  of stuff. And he's like, well, then I get
• 22:49
  a bonus. So of course I'll help you.
• 22:53
  And I was like, all right, high 5:00.
• 22:55
  And then I'm like, OK, so I went to all these stores and rolled
• 22:58
  down everything that I saw in these stores because not every
• 23:01
  store has what I want. So I'm like, how do I do this?
• 23:04
  He's like easy, just go on the computer and just, you know,
• 23:09
  find the stores and the items that you want.
• 23:12
  And they'll be here tomorrow morning.
• 23:13
  I go. What?
• 23:15
  So you were driving. You were not.
• 23:17
  Maybe you weren't. Were you driving?
• 23:19
  No. You're training.
• 23:20
  You're taking the subway? Yeah, Walking, subway, whatever.
• 23:23
  How? Do you even fucking figure that
• 23:25
  out? Yeah.
• 23:25
  And then now this guy is just like because Japanese.
• 23:27
  People are so nice. Yeah, they just.
• 23:30
  Like, I literally run into people on the street and be
• 23:32
  like, please help me here and I point to the magazine and
• 23:37
  they're like, follow me. And then 30 minutes later,
• 23:40
  they're walking. We were walking in silence.
• 23:41
  And I'm like, yeah, this guy's going to, like, take me to a
• 23:44
  corner and rape me. And rob me and then we.
• 23:47
  Ended up at the fucking store and I'm like, we just walked for
• 23:49
  30 minutes in silence because there's a communication barrier
• 23:53
  and he just said point to the store he's like up garage bye
• 23:57
  bye. And he walked away, and I was
• 23:59
  like. Oh my God.
• 24:00
  Dude, I was like, I'm going to give you money.
• 24:02
  He's like. Running away like no money.
• 24:05
  I don't want money. Bye.
• 24:07
  Nice to meet you. I love America.
• 24:09
  I'm like. What the fuck just happened?
• 24:12
  Dude, that shit would never happen here, man.
• 24:15
  Like you think, at least you think you're going to trust
• 24:17
  somebody in New Jersey walking New York?
• 24:19
  And that happened multiple times.
• 24:20
  That's so. So every time I talk to them,
• 24:22
  I'm like, how long are we going to walk?
• 24:26
  Yeah, because I don't want to walk for 30 minutes.
• 24:30
  Yeah. So then you found out that you
• 24:32
  can centralize all the parts. Yeah, so it made things a lot
• 24:35
  easier after that. And then, so how about the like
• 24:37
  container part? Yeah.
• 24:39
  How the hell are you gonna arrange that now?
• 24:41
  After I bought all the parts, so I told the guy, I'm like, I have
• 24:47
  all these parts, they need to be palletized and then they need to
• 24:51
  be like all packaged, you know, packaged it up and stuff.
• 24:54
  And then I need to get it to the container yard and.
• 24:59
  I have the container shipped and all the stuff like, do you know
• 25:01
  how to do all this? Because I don't.
• 25:03
  And he's like, yeah, I went to school for this.
• 25:06
  I go. Wow.
• 25:08
  Wow. Exactly.
• 25:10
  Some things just line up. That was just like, my lucky
• 25:13
  day. And I'm like, are you serious?
• 25:15
  Like, you can't be joking because I I'm, I'm leaving in a
• 25:18
  couple days back to America and I'm trusting you all this.
• 25:20
  Yeah, he's like, OK, I'll take care of it.
• 25:23
  Have a safe trip. And I went back home and I was
• 25:25
  like, came back home like, I just like.
• 25:28
  Like, really bad feeling. I'm just like I just spent all
• 25:31
  my savings and I just trusted this one random guy in Japan.
• 25:35
  Cuz he spoke English. Because he spoke English and I
• 25:38
  met him literally for two days and I don't know if I'm getting
• 25:43
  my parts. And yeah, and then yeah, I got
• 25:47
  you got. OK.
• 25:47
  So did you Did you like, pay him to ship it there?
• 25:50
  Yeah, of course I had to pay for the.
• 25:53
  The shipping. Basically took care of
• 25:55
  everything and then went home and we're just like.
• 25:57
  Yeah, and luckily he actually ended up, you know, knowing how
• 26:00
  to do all the stuff like he was actually studying to be in like
• 26:04
  trading and shipping and all all the stuff.
• 26:06
  So he knew how to do customs brokerage and all that stuff,
• 26:09
  so. I was gonna say that's like the
• 26:10
  most confusing thing that I haven't gotten into yet.
• 26:13
  But like, I dipped my toes in it and I'm like, oh jeez.
• 26:15
  Yeah, you can't do it yourself. You need, you need a
• 26:17
  professional. You need a broker to do it.
• 26:19
  Yeah, just a lot of paperwork and you just got to know what.
• 26:22
  Like certificates and bonds and stuff.
• 26:24
  Like to buy and stuff and and some.
• 26:26
  The worst thing that can happen is you can spend way too much
• 26:29
  money for what you're like trying to ship.
• 26:32
  So yeah, I mean, nothing bad will happen.
• 26:34
  You just probably just get. Waste a lot of money.
• 26:37
  Yeah, waste a lot of money. So you get all your parts?
• 26:41
  Yeah, now I got. So 2002 I get the container and
• 26:44
  I have all these parts like I have all the.
• 26:48
  The work multi piece wheels which.
• 26:51
  And these are all used parts. OK.
• 26:53
  And work wheels wasn't even in the US back then.
• 26:55
  So, so I had these like work vs you know Kf's and like all these
• 27:00
  wheels. What tires?
• 27:01
  Still decent condition tires. And I was like selling a full
• 27:06
  set of Vsks for like 1400 bucks with tires.
• 27:10
  Oh my God, 2023 could never. That's like a pair now, right?
• 27:12
  Holy shit. And I was like, hey, this is too
• 27:15
  expensive, you know, and. Yeah, cuz you don't even know
• 27:17
  what to. You don't even know how to price
• 27:19
  it, right? Yeah, exactly.
• 27:20
  Because I I knew like I did my, you know, my whole, like, I
• 27:25
  cover my cost. Yeah, I was trying to figure out
• 27:27
  my margin and stuff and I'm starting out.
• 27:29
  So like, I'm like, I don't want to, you know, go too crazy and
• 27:33
  have people like flame me for it.
• 27:35
  So I was like selling a set of Watanabe's like 15 by 9, zero
• 27:42
  offset for Corollas for like 900 bucks for full set, you know?
• 27:46
  That sounds insane, right? Yes, it does, because that is
• 27:50
  OK. But it's 2002 I think.
• 27:52
  So the the, the out of those two products you named right there,
• 27:56
  right, you obviously knew your market because Watanabe is VSKF.
• 28:01
  Because I was the end user. Yeah, yeah, you're shopping for
• 28:04
  yourself. Yeah, basically I bought parts
• 28:06
  that I wanted and basically I knew, like, how much I wanted to
• 28:13
  spend these things, so that was pretty easy.
• 28:15
  It was just like hard for me to know what that you know, because
• 28:20
  I wanted to make money and I didn't want to like cross that
• 28:22
  line where it's like, oh man, this guy is trying to sell too
• 28:25
  much. Money, whatever.
• 28:26
  So it's also hard even today to do that when you're importing
• 28:29
  parts because a lot of these brands don't have.
• 28:31
  But I didn't have experience, so I was like, yeah, I but I don't
• 28:34
  want to also undercut value myself because I didn't want to
• 28:37
  like that's like seem like, yeah.
• 28:39
  That's like the biggest fear, yeah.
• 28:40
  It's like I just import all these parts and gave them away
• 28:42
  and I didn't realize it. Yeah, and I brought like.
• 28:46
  You know, good parts, not broken parts.
• 28:47
  So yeah, did you find success in that first container?
• 28:51
  You were like, OK. It was hard.
• 28:54
  It was hard to convince people to buy from me because everyone
• 28:57
  thought I was bullshitting. So basically 2003.
• 29:01
  I wanted to do it legit. So I got business license and
• 29:04
  all this stuff and got my company legal and then I made A
• 29:10
  and back then we had to hand code the website.
• 29:12
  So I. Had to learn quickly how to
• 29:14
  program a website and built my first website and a dreamweaver
• 29:18
  and hand coded everything. Oh my God.
• 29:20
  And then I don't even know what to say about.
• 29:24
  That and then. I went to OfficeMax and bought
• 29:29
  business cards that you get on a one piece of paper and it has
• 29:32
  perforated edges. You could print and then you
• 29:34
  could rip. Them off, Yeah, yeah.
• 29:35
  Yeah. So I made a bunch of those
• 29:38
  business cards on my inkjet printer.
• 29:41
  And then it sounds funny. Yeah, no.
• 29:43
  And. Then it's cool to go through
• 29:44
  like, I'm literally looking at this beautiful sign behind you
• 29:47
  and I'm like, this guy's talking about perforated business cards.
• 29:50
  Yeah, dude, I'm still thinking about doing that.
• 29:51
  This shit's cheaper, yeah, but like that it was a different
• 29:54
  time. Yeah, So what I did was I would
• 29:59
  rip it out and then I would. Carefully trimmed the perforated
• 30:02
  edges so it looks like a legit business card.
• 30:03
  Yeah. Cuz you could kind of see the
• 30:05
  jagged edges and you kind of know it's like, is that
• 30:07
  perforated? Yeah, so I kind of like trimmed
• 30:09
  them so it looks legit. And you had the name Toga
• 30:12
  Factory at that point. Yeah, yeah.
• 30:13
  OK. Yeah.
• 30:14
  So and then basically I went to the first club Fr meeting and
• 30:21
  basically handed out my business card and go like check it out
• 30:24
  I've. I have a business.
• 30:26
  I have a website. Please buy my parts was, were
• 30:28
  you always in this area, kind of like in this Midwest?
• 30:32
  I was in Midwest, but I grew up in Wisconsin, actually, OK And
• 30:37
  then went to College in Minnesota, OK.
• 30:39
  Then when I went to College in Minnesota, my family moved down
• 30:42
  to Chicago and and and I really liked Chicago.
• 30:45
  So I was like, yeah, I'm moving there.
• 30:47
  So after college I came here and yeah, that's where I've been.
• 30:51
  So, yeah, and then initially. No one want to buy anything from
• 30:55
  me. Everyone thought I was
• 30:56
  bullshitting and yeah, I was just sitting there.
• 30:59
  I'm like, you know, with my little crickets around me just
• 31:02
  chirping and it's like just you still.
• 31:04
  Yeah, just me. Just me.
• 31:05
  Yeah. So it was, I was like, dude, I
• 31:08
  was like, how do I get people to buy?
• 31:09
  Because, like, everyone thinks I'm bullshitting.
• 31:11
  And then Brian Kohler was my very first customer.
• 31:16
  He's known as crap spirits. So he just calls me out of my
• 31:20
  out of nowhere. And he's like, hey, I and he
• 31:23
  talks in this like. His own voice, which is like
• 31:27
  borderline monotone ish. And he's just like, I need that
• 31:32
  GP sports or no mine's ECU. And I was like, yeah, I have it
• 31:37
  here and he's like, yeah, I have my Sr. you know, swap done and
• 31:41
  they didn't send me the right ECU.
• 31:42
  So I'm just sitting here with the car fully done.
• 31:44
  But it's not running. And I was like, yeah, I just
• 31:46
  mine's ECU. It's like, you know, has some
• 31:49
  tune on it, but like, it's for your setup, so it'll work.
• 31:52
  And he's like, all right. I'll be there in 30 minutes and
• 31:55
  then he shows up and he's like, wait a second, what else do you
• 31:59
  have? And I go, there you go and I
• 32:02
  show him everything I have. He's like, what is that?
• 32:05
  I was like, that's a cuz I'm a tensioner on.
• 32:07
  I'll take that. What is that?
• 32:08
  That's a GP sports bumper. I'll take that.
• 32:11
  I need that. That's a Sylvia bumper.
• 32:13
  So I need that and I go, do you need Coyovers?
• 32:17
  Cuz I have like every brand of coilvers for S13 and he's like.
• 32:21
  Which one's the best one? And I was like, I don't know,
• 32:23
  maybe the GP sports one, I don't know.
• 32:25
  And he's like, OK, I'll take that.
• 32:27
  Like, I don't know. I wouldn't.
• 32:29
  And then I had 17 by 9 Watanabe Rs a multi piece looking.
• 32:37
  Yeah, yeah. But it was a 17 by 9 and it also
• 32:40
  was a four lug bolt pattern and good offset like 17 by 9, like
• 32:45
  plus 20 or something. And I had a full set with tires
• 32:48
  and he's like, he saw me just like.
• 32:50
  I'll take those. Damn.
• 32:52
  He made him. He built a car.
• 32:54
  Yeah, he basically bought everything there one day to
• 32:58
  finish his project and then. He was like a local guy, yeah.
• 33:02
  Yeah, yeah. He's how do you hear from me?
• 33:04
  Because one thing that I want to stress to the listeners is it's
• 33:08
  not, although we're talking about how he's making deals,
• 33:11
  there's no Facebook marketplace. Yeah, there was no.
• 33:15
  Nothing. Yeah.
• 33:15
  So I went to Cloud for a meeting and I ended up business cards.
• 33:18
  And he was at the meeting. It's all just word of mouth at
• 33:21
  this time and like maybe a forum.
• 33:24
  What forms you, we were you on the forums and stuff for?
• 33:26
  Me I was, but even on the forums he was worse because then people
• 33:30
  are probably torching you. Yeah, I just.
• 33:32
  Just came out of nowhere and I had all these like cool Japanese
• 33:36
  parts on the website, so it just looked like a scammer.
• 33:39
  Scammer. Yeah, so it's crazy.
• 33:41
  So it was really tough. And then as soon as Brian bought
• 33:43
  it. Next thing I know all everyone
• 33:47
  at the meeting was calling me and they're like, hey, Brian
• 33:50
  told me you actually have these parts there.
• 33:52
  I'm like, yeah, I do like, what did you think?
• 33:55
  Like what? And then, yeah, one by one, you
• 33:58
  know, they all trickled in and you know, guys like Simba showed
• 34:02
  up and bought some 15 inch wheels for his car and you know,
• 34:07
  and then some other guys showed up and then next thing I know
• 34:10
  I'm starting to sell parts and yeah, that's how I got started.
• 34:13
  Yeah. And then it flew.
• 34:15
  Yeah, we're here in your beautiful facility.
• 34:18
  And you were you said club Fr meeting.
• 34:20
  Is that what you said or what did?
• 34:21
  You say club Fr meeting, yeah? That was around back then, like.
• 34:25
  Yeah, that's when they started, I think.
• 34:26
  OK, yeah, they started same time as.
• 34:27
  Me And was it? Was it drifting then too?
• 34:30
  Yeah, it was. It was about drifting.
• 34:32
  So the original guys that started was Rob Ryder, Philly
• 34:37
  Simba wasn't, I don't think the main guys he was.
• 34:40
  Just. Yeah, he was in the group
• 34:42
  younger guys. Probably, Yeah, Yeah.
• 34:43
  So. It was Philly and Rob Reiter and
• 34:46
  those two were kind of like the original guys that founded the
• 34:52
  group and wanted to start this group and have something related
• 34:58
  to drifting and maybe have some events and stuff so.
• 35:02
  Because like it was drifting, wasn't really known and you
• 35:04
  couldn't really do it at autocross or you get kicked out
• 35:07
  or, you know, shunned upon. So were you already driving at
• 35:10
  this point? Like, did you have a car?
• 35:12
  And like, yeah, was it part of that seat?
• 35:13
  I was 13 with Sr. swap and stuff and but I wanted to like build a
• 35:18
  nice car for the shop so like a demo.
• 35:20
  Yeah. So I took it all apart and like
• 35:24
  it didn't run for like many years because I was like so
• 35:27
  focused on business, so. Sound familiar?
• 35:31
  Yeah. Sorry, I yell at Frankie for
• 35:32
  this shit all the time. But yeah, yeah, so everybody
• 35:36
  stuff, life is happening. You know, you're working.
• 35:38
  It's not like you're not doing anything.
• 35:41
  Yeah, that's not your same car though, right?
• 35:42
  That's not the original. That is, yeah, it is.
• 35:45
  The silver hatch? Yeah.
• 35:46
  The original car. That's your holy car.
• 35:49
  Yeah. So for your whole life.
• 35:50
  Yeah, so I've bought that in end of freshman year in my College
• 35:56
  in 90. 76 or something like that.
• 36:02
  And then I've owned that since so.
• 36:03
  When Carl was born, I was fucking 2.
• 36:07
  So it's almost 2526 years I've owned it.
• 36:11
  Yeah, yeah. You were the second owner, I
• 36:13
  guess. Yeah, second owner.
• 36:14
  Yeah, but like 90s. That thing was probably notified
• 36:17
  pre owned dude. Yeah, literally.
• 36:18
  My God. So you kind of.
• 36:21
  You kind of know what it's like to have a brand new S13 like in
• 36:24
  a way like not brand brand new, but.
• 36:27
  I bought it from a construction worker, so.
• 36:29
  It was beat. It had coffee like stains
• 36:34
  everywhere, had cigarette burns in the seats, and it smelled
• 36:38
  like a construction worker. And so.
• 36:40
  No. It wasn't in the best condition
• 36:43
  and that's why I got it cuz I got it for cheap from a Pontiac
• 36:45
  dealership and. And they thought it was a front
• 36:48
  wheel drive and all this stuff, so.
• 36:51
  I had to actually had them crawl under the car and show them
• 36:53
  drive, chef. And I told them, you know,
• 36:56
  you're a Pontiac dealership with more tractors on the lot than
• 37:00
  cars. No one's going to buy this car
• 37:02
  off of you. Yeah, just get rid of it to me
• 37:05
  and I'll take it today. And I think they're selling it
• 37:08
  for like 7 or 6 or 7000 and I talked them down to 25 that day.
• 37:15
  My God. Sorry.
• 37:16
  Wait. Wait.
• 37:16
  Wait. Wait.
• 37:16
  Wait. Wait.
• 37:17
  Wait. Wait, 7000 down to 2500?
• 37:20
  What kind of negotiation skills are we talking here?
• 37:24
  I was desperate, I really wanted it and I basically convinced him
• 37:29
  that it was the worst car. On their on their life.
• 37:33
  And and basically I had one of the sales Rep.
• 37:39
  Confessed to me how long it's been there and it was like
• 37:41
  sitting in there in their lot for a year and had no one has
• 37:45
  even like asked about. It so that sales right?
• 37:48
  Once you find. Out.
• 37:49
  It's over. Yeah, I'm like.
• 37:51
  Just do the math. All the all the the the taxes
• 37:55
  and the whatever you guys have to pay to keep this thing on the
• 37:58
  lot. You're probably losing money on
• 38:00
  this. Yeah, just get rid of it.
• 38:01
  I'll take it. And he's like, all right, we're
• 38:05
  going to have this paperwork that you're going to have to
• 38:08
  sign. And basically it was like, once
• 38:10
  you buy this, no returns, yeah, no warranty claims, no nothing.
• 38:14
  Like you can never come back to us for anything.
• 38:16
  Yeah, we never want to see you again.
• 38:18
  That's like. Perfect.
• 38:19
  I'll gladly sign this. Dude, how much were those guys
• 38:23
  going for then? So.
• 38:25
  New they're selling for, I think back then like 13,000, but mine
• 38:29
  was a base, base base model like yeah, it had the crank windows.
• 38:32
  I see the no. Nothing.
• 38:34
  It was. It was a slick top.
• 38:36
  Yeah. So it was like the cheapest of
• 38:38
  the 240 model and so it was 9697, so it was 91.
• 38:44
  So it's already 6-7 years old. So it depreciated almost half.
• 38:48
  So it was around like 6000 when I.
• 38:50
  Went to the dealership to buy it so and that and the mileage was
• 38:53
  probably. And I was broke as hell.
• 38:54
  So I was all I got in my pocket was like around probably 3-4
• 38:58
  thousand. So I was like, I need some money
• 39:00
  for food and books. So 2500 is all I got.
• 39:03
  So I got to convince this guy that, you know, this is not the
• 39:07
  car that they want to have a lot.
• 39:08
  And I was there for a while and basically I think they got sick
• 39:12
  of me because I was like, I'm not leaving until you sell him
• 39:14
  this car and I'm going to convince you to do it because
• 39:17
  this is. This is the worst thing you
• 39:19
  could have in your car. No one's gonna buy.
• 39:20
  It's horrible. It's horrible.
• 39:22
  Dude, it's. It's fucking pretty cool to find
• 39:24
  out where. That car, can they?
• 39:26
  They're like, they're actually, as I was leaving, like, thank
• 39:29
  you, thank you for taking the car.
• 39:30
  Yeah. I convince them so bad that
• 39:33
  they're thanking me at the end of day like Imagine.
• 39:35
  Thank you. And don't come back ever again.
• 39:37
  Like, get get out of here. That's crazy. 25 years you've
• 39:41
  had that car, dude. That is like almost a staple in
• 39:44
  your business. No, I just like, it's got a
• 39:49
  special place in my heart. So I've owned a lot of S chassis
• 39:54
  or you know, I like built and sold a bunch of them.
• 39:58
  But this one I'm probably gonna keep just just as like one of
• 40:02
  those like special momento kind of thing, you know.
• 40:05
  Yeah, yeah, it's like special place are.
• 40:06
  You a sentimental? Are you a sentimental type of
• 40:08
  person? Not at all, but this one I think
• 40:12
  I just like for whatever reason because.
• 40:15
  Yeah, because I've just owned it for so long and it kind of like
• 40:22
  got me into where I am. So it's like, interesting.
• 40:25
  But I'm not. I am.
• 40:27
  If someone wants to buy it, they can.
• 40:28
  Buy it? Whoa.
• 40:30
  Everything has a number, yeah. But I mean, two 40s are getting
• 40:33
  more and more expensive. So I always tell everyone like.
• 40:35
  There's no problem keeping your car around, cuz you're probably
• 40:37
  gonna end up getting more money later.
• 40:39
  What? What I learned over, like many
• 40:41
  years, if you ask me, like maybe 20 years ago, I've been like,
• 40:44
  you're crazy. I'm never selling this car.
• 40:46
  But it's it's better for your soul and your mental health to
• 40:51
  be not too attached to objects and things.
• 40:54
  Yeah, not too, too attached. Yeah, it's just better.
• 40:58
  Yeah. I'm trying to figure that out.
• 40:59
  Yeah, me too. Well, I had a problem where I
• 41:02
  wasn't at all like, I'll just be able to sell a car and I'm like,
• 41:06
  no, no, no, no, Yeah. And now I'm like, I don't know,
• 41:09
  I I appreciate little milestones.
• 41:11
  I get through. I have an is 300, so it's like I
• 41:14
  had two 40s and now I have this. And like, I always try to Now
• 41:18
  when I think back on it, the 2:40 to me is like, that was
• 41:21
  fun. Like I I try not to harp on it
• 41:24
  because then yeah, it will depress you pretty pretty
• 41:27
  quickly. I feel like you're like, ah,
• 41:30
  things are different back then. I mean, it's OK to be attached
• 41:33
  to something, but just don't obsess or like say things you
• 41:37
  know that you'll regret. You know, stuff like it's just,
• 41:40
  it's just a car. It's just a thing.
• 41:41
  You can buy another car. If you can replicate it, then
• 41:44
  it's not that important. Yeah, for me it's like obsessing
• 41:48
  over something and trying to perfect it.
• 41:49
  Like I don't want to get a new truck cuz I want the perfect
• 41:52
  truck and it's like just get. A fucking truck so that you can
• 41:56
  do the work and do get what you need to get done.
• 41:58
  Like, you know what I mean? At the end of the day, like you
• 42:01
  know, not too many people care about you know your important
• 42:06
  things. It's not.
• 42:06
  Important. Yeah, there's more important
• 42:08
  things. I'm trying to learn that and I
• 42:09
  think I think owning a business helps with that too, cuz it's
• 42:12
  like you're kind of pressured to do things a little faster
• 42:15
  sometimes and like make decisions so you kind of can't.
• 42:19
  Be that in that mindset where it's like I want to keep this
• 42:22
  like for sentimental reasons and this and.
• 42:24
  That, But I think in general a lot of people do have this kind
• 42:28
  of like wanting to, you know, have certain things in their
• 42:33
  life that that want to claim that as their own.
• 42:36
  And it's just like a human nature, I think.
• 42:39
  So I think it's okay, but like, don't get too crazy with it.
• 42:44
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Just be like, healthy with it,
• 42:48
  then you're okay. Yes.
• 42:49
  So 2003, 2004, you're selling parts now to everyone.
• 42:54
  What's the next step? Yeah, like so.
• 42:56
  Did you just keep doing that? No, it wasn't sustainable
• 43:00
  because eventually, so I was doing it for about a year and it
• 43:04
  was really tough because I was trying to start my business.
• 43:09
  But like, I was kind of like still trying to figure out how
• 43:13
  to do it consistently because when you're buying used parts,
• 43:17
  there's. Other people in Japan that want
• 43:20
  the same parts as you. So sometimes if I wake up and
• 43:23
  like try to order the parts next day it's not there.
• 43:26
  Or sometimes like I'll order it and tell my guy be like, hey,
• 43:29
  can you get this by tomorrow? And then he's like, oh, sorry,
• 43:32
  someone walked in the store and bought it or something.
• 43:34
  So because a lot of parts that I wanted were like really cool,
• 43:38
  you know, S chassis parts, which was also very popular during
• 43:41
  that year. So.
• 43:42
  So it was very difficult and very hard to sustain the
• 43:46
  consistency. So I.
• 43:48
  Did continue to do it for a year but then I quickly realized I
• 43:52
  had to come up with a difference you know strategy to be more
• 43:56
  consistent and make a sustainable business.
• 43:58
  So. So basically the word got out
• 44:03
  that I, so I was like one of the first ones to have a running Sr.
• 44:09
  swap in the Midwest and basically the word got out that
• 44:15
  yeah, I. Had a Sr. that was running and
• 44:17
  stuff and this was just when the Sr. and the 240 start getting
• 44:21
  noticed and people were starting to kind of look into it.
• 44:24
  So some people were starting to import SRS like half clips and
• 44:28
  stuff and trying to do it and no one could figure out how to do
• 44:31
  the wiring and stuff so. Yeah, basically I got calls from
• 44:35
  people and asking me to finish their projects.
• 44:38
  I I had the local shops basically kind of contracting me
• 44:41
  and. Oh, OK.
• 44:43
  Yeah, bringing me into their shops side hustle almost at this
• 44:46
  point or did you did you incorporate it?
• 44:48
  No, the basically these like local shops had customers car
• 44:51
  sitting there for like months because it's the motor just
• 44:54
  drops in, but the wiring, there's no wiring diagram
• 44:58
  available yet or there's no FSM. So, yeah, and these shops.
• 45:03
  They didn't know anything about wiring, so they didn't know what
• 45:05
  to do. So once the word got out.
• 45:08
  Where the hell did you learn how to wire?
• 45:09
  That's what I was about to say. Like what?
• 45:12
  I just figured it. Out.
• 45:14
  It's just crazy because it's like I help people understand
• 45:18
  how ridiculous that is to be saying that in 2003 just
• 45:21
  self-taught. Like it wasn't like when I was
• 45:23
  getting started and we could go on Sylvia and find everything.
• 45:25
  Like you couldn't find anything, so I had to basically figure
• 45:28
  everything out. Yeah, so that's why like I was
• 45:30
  getting calls and luckily that kind of helped.
• 45:33
  My business another medium to kind of focus on.
• 45:37
  So I was generating some revenue through that.
• 45:39
  So and then eventually the customers would customers ended
• 45:46
  up finding out that I was the one who finished the swap.
• 45:48
  So then the word got out and then the customers actually
• 45:51
  wanted me to do the whole swaps and I was like I don't even have
• 45:55
  a shop like how am I going to do this.
• 45:57
  And then at that time I had a friend that also was.
• 46:04
  Into this stuff and he also had a S13 Sylvia with a running Sr.
• 46:07
  and and he wanted to open a shop but you know he couldn't and but
• 46:11
  we're a good friend so I was like give me like a year or two
• 46:14
  and if I you know don't close down then most likely you'll be
• 46:19
  the first employee you know so and and and a year later I got
• 46:23
  busy enough where I was like yo Eric come work with me because
• 46:26
  I'm getting like too busy and I have people asking for swaps and
• 46:30
  stuff and he's like. I would love to help you with
• 46:32
  that, Yeah. And then did you have a place to
• 46:35
  do it at that point? No.
• 46:36
  So he would take the customers car to his mom's garage.
• 46:39
  Yeah, to the swap there. Yeah, I mean, that's how
• 46:43
  everything That's how it all starts, yeah.
• 46:45
  So and then I would you know go over and after work and I would
• 46:48
  just like help him wrench and yeah.
• 46:50
  And then basically, you know, that's how we started.
• 46:53
  And then and then he ended up, yeah, becoming first official
• 46:58
  employee and we start to. Work together and yeah, and Long
• 47:04
  story short I had to pretty much stop doing the up garage thing
• 47:08
  cuz basically the manager got caught kind of and Japan said
• 47:14
  you understand how the secondhand you know, parts work.
• 47:17
  It has to kind of recycle within the Japan.
• 47:19
  If you keep shipping all the cool parts to, you know, United
• 47:22
  States, we're not gonna have cool parts to sell here.
• 47:25
  So they're like. No more.
• 47:26
  So wow, He kind of got shut down and he's like.
• 47:29
  David, I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry.
• 47:31
  So I was like, it's cool, you know, That's fine.
• 47:34
  So. That must have been a pretty
• 47:36
  stressful moment for you. Or no?
• 47:38
  No, I was relieved because I was like, I was like, how am I going
• 47:40
  to continue to do this? It's so hard, you know, because
• 47:43
  the time zone difference and the consistency where they're in,
• 47:46
  there'll be months where I'm like, there's nothing, nothing
• 47:50
  interesting. Yeah, I want to buy like, no
• 47:53
  power of seas, no cool wheels, you know, no body kits.
• 47:57
  Like it was like. Dead, you know, dry.
• 47:59
  And then some months would be like so many parts, you know, So
• 48:01
  it was like, not consistent enough.
• 48:03
  So I was like, yeah, this is too hard and you had the kind of
• 48:06
  like you had like the Sr. swap thing now going.
• 48:09
  Yeah, Yeah. So that was keeping me busy and
• 48:11
  then and because of the Sr. swap I needed to have you know parts
• 48:17
  to finish the swap. So we start carrying like you
• 48:20
  know certain brands like HKS splits and these kind of
• 48:23
  companies and because they. Had the like Sr. downpipes and
• 48:28
  exhaust and stuff so. What what year was this around
• 48:31
  you think? This was 2004, so no one stocked
• 48:35
  anything. So I had to, like, basically
• 48:36
  convince them to bring in these Sr. parts.
• 48:38
  And they're like, why do you want Sr. downpipes?
• 48:40
  Because I was like, trust me, like in about a year or two,
• 48:44
  you're going to be stocking like hundreds of them, yeah.
• 48:47
  So and then so. Depot started bringing in Sr.
• 48:50
  20s at some point right? And like all those engines cuz.
• 48:53
  Yeah, I think 2004 was when everyone started like you know,
• 48:57
  searching for SRS cuz I think it was a Super Street article that
• 49:01
  came out and had Mark's Slide squad's car.
• 49:04
  I think I've seen that. Yeah, and basically showcased
• 49:08
  Mark and I forgot the other guy's name.
• 49:11
  It was two guys with Sr. swaps and they had a whole article
• 49:15
  about, you know, how SRS were. Stock engines in Japan and we
• 49:20
  got the truck engine and the US version and then I think it blew
• 49:24
  people's minds cuz most people didn't know that and the fact
• 49:27
  that these engines were in the car originally.
• 49:31
  So basically when you swap the engine, it's not technically a
• 49:34
  swap, it just was meant to be there.
• 49:36
  Yeah. So if you bring the whole front
• 49:38
  clip in, you just drop the whole swap in and it's running.
• 49:42
  Literally the hardest part is the wiring.
• 49:44
  Yeah, yeah, so. But if you bring a half clip.
• 49:47
  You know, you basically just extend the wires, yeah.
• 49:48
  To the right side and to to the left side and you can make it
• 49:52
  work. So yeah.
• 49:55
  So that's when the, the whole drift and the Sr. boom started
• 49:59
  was like late 2004. And then I think right around
• 50:06
  when the boom started was also my first big break with origin.
• 50:10
  Oh wow. Yeah.
• 50:11
  So basically Origin I think started in like 2003 in Japan
• 50:16
  and. They're like this new startup
• 50:18
  company that was making like super affordable drift body kits
• 50:22
  and they only had aggressive line at the time and by that
• 50:27
  it's like cool advertisement with candy apple red cars on all
• 50:30
  matching colors and like cool advertisement and price point
• 50:34
  was like right on target and I was like I got to hit these guys
• 50:37
  up because that's a kit I want to put on my cars.
• 50:40
  So, and I think if they're that cheap in Japan even after
• 50:44
  importing them here. I could still offer the kits at
• 50:49
  affordable price point and still make profit because in 2004 your
• 50:55
  options were Bomax, Irboni and Sea West.
• 51:01
  And Bomax was ugly. Irboni was ugly.
• 51:05
  I'm trying to think you're a boony kid and.
• 51:08
  Now and now, everyone wants all that.
• 51:10
  And Sea W was, in my opinion, ugly too, but it cost 2500.
• 51:14
  So yeah, yeah, and even BOMAX was like 15 or $1700, So
• 51:20
  basically like you couldn't make a 240 look good.
• 51:23
  Like, yeah, and it was too expensive.
• 51:25
  So and come on like stock 240 is not the best looking car.
• 51:29
  No. So.
• 51:30
  You need side skirts. Yeah, it needs everything.
• 51:32
  So once I saw the ad, I basically emailed them and
• 51:36
  basically try to like convince them to like.
• 51:42
  For me to distribute to the North America and all the stuff
• 51:45
  and think I negotiated with them for several months and then we
• 51:52
  basically worked out a deal. And basically I imported my
• 51:57
  first container of origin body kits.
• 52:00
  And at that point I was like almost two years into my
• 52:04
  business and I pretty much spent everything I earned at that
• 52:07
  point into the one container. And I was like, yeah, Eric, my
• 52:10
  employee. I was like.
• 52:12
  If this doesn't go well, you might have to go back to Circuit
• 52:16
  City and I might be flipping burgers.
• 52:19
  Yeah dude, I know that. Feeling so I was like, this is
• 52:22
  all in, so I don't know what the fuck I'm doing and I'm just
• 52:25
  crossing my fingers. There's this whole drifting
• 52:28
  thing. And 2:40, this, like interest in
• 52:30
  240 is like legit because we got to make this shit work.
• 52:33
  Dude, you're a risk taker. But you kind of have to, yeah.
• 52:36
  Yeah. And I.
• 52:37
  And what's funny is, is that I've literally asked Frankie,
• 52:40
  I'm like, what's the biggest risk you've ever taken?
• 52:41
  I think it was on one of the podcasts or something like that.
• 52:43
  But like, you took such a safe route.
• 52:47
  I'm hearing this. And you're literally.
• 52:49
  Yeah, that's crazy. You're literally dambling.
• 52:51
  Yeah. Because information wasn't
• 52:54
  nearly nearly as accessible. You didn't really.
• 52:57
  I feel like you. You probably didn't even really
• 52:58
  know how popular drifting really was.
• 53:00
  I make it maybe sound like high risk, but at that point of the
• 53:06
  business. The fuel was there or the fire
• 53:11
  was there. The overhead wasn't there
• 53:13
  either. Fire was there.
• 53:14
  I just had to supply the fuel the the 240 interest and Sr.
• 53:19
  interest and drifting interest was there.
• 53:22
  It's just no one want to buy the car because Sr's were hard to
• 53:25
  attain. You couldn't really make a 240
• 53:28
  look good because every 240 on Zilvia form just was like
• 53:31
  lowered on I box springs with 16 by 8 wheels with 35 offset so.
• 53:36
  Everyone's like, why would I want this?
• 53:38
  I have a cool Honda Civic and Civic S I's were like the most
• 53:42
  popular car back then, so and like the EM1.
• 53:46
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 53:47
  Yeah, the the electric blue, white wheels.
• 53:49
  Yeah, yeah, like, that's literally like the first car
• 53:53
  I've ever felt like. Every Asian kid in my college
• 53:56
  owned Civic SI electric blue white wheels.
• 53:59
  And I was just like. Fucking were you, like,
• 54:00
  targeting drifting the entire time?
• 54:04
  Yeah, I was obsessed with it. Wow.
• 54:06
  Yeah, so. Yeah.
• 54:08
  Like it's. It's even more dangerous to do
• 54:10
  it. So, yeah, because I feel like a
• 54:12
  lot of, a lot of what the goal of of some businesses is to see
• 54:16
  how wide of a target audience you could get and so you provoke
• 54:21
  instead of that you kind of focused on it.
• 54:24
  Yeah, because I didn't know anything else.
• 54:26
  I was obsessed with two 40s. I was obsessed with Sr's.
• 54:29
  I was obsessed with drifting. And that's all I knew.
• 54:31
  I didn't know anything about civics.
• 54:33
  I didn't care for him. And all my friends had Civics
• 54:38
  and Integras and they all were on nitrous with what was it LS
• 54:43
  Frankenstein motors and shit Like, Oh yeah, the LSV.
• 54:47
  Yeah, and I was like, I was like, man, your car's kind of
• 54:50
  wack. Man like.
• 54:51
  It sounds like shit and blows up like every other month and you
• 54:56
  know, whatever. I was like, I don't know how you
• 54:58
  could have that and think that drifted or thinking that an Sr.
• 55:00
  car is wack. How is that possible?
• 55:04
  Like what? Yeah, it seemed a little
• 55:06
  backwards to me, especially now so.
• 55:09
  I was just obsessed with it. I think I was obsessed with the
• 55:12
  Japanese culture. I was obsessed with drifting,
• 55:15
  cuz it was so different than anything I've seen.
• 55:17
  And I was just like, yeah, I was addicted to it.
• 55:21
  So I mean that was like it was really starting to pick up in
• 55:24
  the US around that time too, like that was the first like.
• 55:27
  Yeah, yeah. So this was like when you know
• 55:30
  there. Doing the D1GP Japan versus USA
• 55:34
  and stuff and they had like first event in 2005 or something
• 55:38
  and yeah, like we did you attend those like the Irwindale.
• 55:44
  Yeah, we, I went to those events too.
• 55:46
  So, yeah, so basically, yeah, back to the topic, I got the
• 55:52
  origin container and same thing happened.
• 55:54
  You know, I called up every shop that was like selling parts or?
• 56:00
  Selling 240SX parts and I was like, hey, I have this like body
• 56:05
  kit called Origin Lab and they're like you know, 1000
• 56:08
  bucks or no. I think back then it.
• 56:10
  Was like even cheaper. Yeah, it was like 900 bucks for
• 56:13
  the full kit and I have it here stateside already, 900.
• 56:17
  Yeah, I think that's what I was selling for.
• 56:18
  I can't remember. But Oh my.
• 56:19
  God or even cheaper. I think it's cheaper.
• 56:21
  Personally, maybe 800 or something for the full kit and I
• 56:24
  was like I have everything here in my warehouse and no one
• 56:28
  fucking believed me. And no one wants to believe.
• 56:31
  Why is this so hard to believe? Because he's the first one doing
• 56:34
  this. Crazy because?
• 56:35
  No one else did it. No one stocked body kits.
• 56:38
  If you order a Cos body kit you had to wait six months and then
• 56:41
  maybe you'll get it. Cuz back then Cos was
• 56:44
  distributed by a company called Motor X who was importing also
• 56:47
  Gtrs and that eventually. The owner stabbed somebody and
• 56:50
  went to jail or whatever. That's a whole different story.
• 56:52
  Holy. Yeah, I know that story.
• 56:55
  Wait, Yeah, yeah. You can Google that on your own
• 56:57
  time. Yeah, that's.
• 56:59
  We will skip over that, but the yeah.
• 57:01
  No. Anyways, so no one stocked
• 57:05
  anything for 240, let alone Japanese brand part that was
• 57:09
  affordable, that was high quality, and all the stuff like
• 57:13
  it sounded too good to be true, so I literally had to.
• 57:17
  I think like maybe first couple shops, I actually told him I'll
• 57:21
  ship it and you don't have to pay for it.
• 57:23
  Once you get the part and you see it and you like it, then pay
• 57:25
  me. Like, I was literally begging.
• 57:27
  You were taking it that. See that right there?
• 57:29
  That's taking a. Chance.
• 57:30
  And then. But I I didn't.
• 57:32
  It didn't happen like that. Because they're like, are you
• 57:34
  serious? No.
• 57:35
  No, I'll pay for it. You know, I was like, I believe,
• 57:36
  you know, So I'll just order one kit and see what happens.
• 57:39
  It's only 800 bucks. So some people were just like,
• 57:41
  buying it just because like, you know, I was buying the shit out
• 57:44
  of him and like, brought it in and next, you know?
• 57:46
  Dave, I need to order 10 more kits, cuz as soon as I brought
• 57:49
  it in, that shit sold right away.
• 57:51
  Everybody loved that. And then next thing you know,
• 57:53
  like for two weeks I couldn't get, I couldn't literally give
• 57:57
  it away for free two weeks after my whole container sold, like
• 58:02
  within a week. So you, there you go, you caught
• 58:05
  a wave. Like what did that feel like a
• 58:07
  break for you? Like you were like yes.
• 58:09
  It was like a relief cuz I was, I was stressing.
• 58:12
  I was like, dude, I have like and then yeah, like.
• 58:16
  I didn't even have warehouse. I didn't have shelves or
• 58:18
  anything. So everything was like like we
• 58:20
  took a bunch of two by fours and hammered a ghetto shelf without.
• 58:24
  Any codes? From the city and stuff like it
• 58:27
  was called ghetto and I was sweating.
• 58:29
  I was sweating. I was like, yeah, I've kind of
• 58:31
  fucked this up. Yeah, you took a chance and you
• 58:33
  were seeing, you were like, I don't know if this is going to
• 58:35
  fucking work. Yeah, yeah.
• 58:36
  So but eventually like couple of the shops bought the kits and
• 58:41
  then they saw how good it was for how little price it was and
• 58:45
  then. Actually, you know, like me and
• 58:47
  Eric were shipping out like literally like 1520 kits a day.
• 58:52
  And that's all we're doing was just just running around like
• 58:56
  trying to figure out how to box up kits and ship out these body
• 58:59
  kits. And like I had to like find a
• 59:01
  box company to make me body kit boxes because no one had body
• 59:04
  kit boxes back then. So I had to like custom make
• 59:07
  boxes and stuff. And it was crazy because it
• 59:09
  happened so fast. And then then I was like, you
• 59:12
  know. Contacting the origin of Japan
• 59:14
  months later, I'm like I have to order another container because
• 59:16
  I just sold my first container and they're like and they didn't
• 59:19
  believe me. They're like what the fuck?
• 59:21
  Talking about like you sold the old container.
• 59:23
  Like you just got the. I'm like, for real.
• 59:26
  Like, I need to order another container.
• 59:27
  You're like, for real. I'm like, yeah, it's like, OK,
• 59:30
  I'm coming over to us next week. We need a meeting.
• 59:33
  And I was like, oh, wow. And I was like, wait, it got
• 59:35
  real. I'm like, don't come.
• 59:37
  Don't come because. You're going to be disappointed
• 59:39
  with what you see like my stores like.
• 59:41
  Not even a story. And I was so embarassed.
• 59:42
  I'm like, why do you want to come?
• 59:45
  You don't need to come. We can e-mail.
• 59:46
  Yeah, they're like, no, this is good.
• 59:49
  Like, you're so even there. Like, I want to come visit you.
• 59:51
  I want to meet you. I thought you were just a fat,
• 59:52
  rich Chinese guy. I'm like, no, I'm young and I'm
• 59:56
  not fat. Yeah.
• 59:57
  Or Chinese or Chinese, yeah. And then they're like.
• 1:00:01
  How are you? I'm like 2526.
• 1:00:04
  They're like, for real. I'm only 30.
• 1:00:07
  Then we got to meet. I'm like.
• 1:00:08
  No, don't come. Don't go.
• 1:00:09
  Don't come. Here.
• 1:00:10
  I'm like, like, honestly, like you're going to be this way.
• 1:00:13
  He's like, don't worry, don't worry.
• 1:00:14
  Like, we just started to. So like, it's perfect.
• 1:00:16
  And then they literally showed up a week later.
• 1:00:19
  What they say. What was that interaction like?
• 1:00:22
  Oh, first thing they say was, yeah, they're never coming back
• 1:00:23
  to America because as soon as they got off the plane, they're
• 1:00:28
  like, oh, you're David, please show me the door.
• 1:00:32
  And I'm like, what? It's like, please show me
• 1:00:35
  outside. And I'm like.
• 1:00:36
  Something wrong and we're running outside and they both
• 1:00:39
  fucking grab their cigarettes out and like.
• 1:00:43
  So. No, that was after.
• 1:00:49
  That was a no smoking flight. Yeah, cuz so yeah.
• 1:00:53
  Both guys, they they smoke like 2 packs a day and like in Japan
• 1:00:57
  airports they have like designated smoking areas inside
• 1:01:00
  the airport and stuff. US doesn't, right?
• 1:01:03
  No, and it's. Very strict, like you came and
• 1:01:05
  smoke on the plane. Back then you could smoke in the
• 1:01:08
  Japanese planes like in the bathroom and stuff, so.
• 1:01:11
  Wait, what? Yeah, times are different.
• 1:01:13
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:01:15
  I did not know that. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:16
  So a lot of things change. Yeah.
• 1:01:18
  So they're both struggling when you're smoking 2 packs a day and
• 1:01:21
  you can't smoke for about, you know, 20 hours straight.
• 1:01:24
  It's probably Jones and so hard they.
• 1:01:26
  They didn't want to talk to me. They just told me door, door and
• 1:01:29
  you. Didn't know what was going on I.
• 1:01:31
  Thought they're having a heart attack or something.
• 1:01:34
  Yeah, and then I girl saying he's like.
• 1:01:36
  Are you David? Are you Who's David?
• 1:01:37
  I'm like, I'm David. Are you Okay?
• 1:01:38
  It's like, yeah. Do you want a cigarette?
• 1:01:40
  I'm like, no. You're like, definitely not
• 1:01:45
  dude. And.
• 1:01:45
  They're like, yeah, we're never coming back to America.
• 1:01:47
  I'm sorry, but that is the truth.
• 1:01:50
  But the meeting went well, obviously so.
• 1:01:53
  Yeah, Yeah. So they they basically came
• 1:01:55
  because they're a startup company and they were actually
• 1:01:59
  also just kind of like. Struggling.
• 1:02:01
  And then boom, like as soon as they started working with me,
• 1:02:04
  they also got like pretty popular in Japan too because you
• 1:02:08
  know, the quality and the price point and stuff.
• 1:02:10
  And then next thing you know, you know here I am also kind of
• 1:02:13
  blowing, you know, their mind with what we're doing and
• 1:02:16
  you're. You probably like you were
• 1:02:18
  probably selling them faster than they were possibly.
• 1:02:20
  We were. We're actually, really, yeah,
• 1:02:22
  we're selling more than they were initially.
• 1:02:23
  Because their market is like flooded with arrow compared to.
• 1:02:27
  They're like trying to break into the market.
• 1:02:29
  Yeah, I was like. Too good to be true?
• 1:02:32
  Yeah. And then once the the word got
• 1:02:34
  out that, yeah, he's not, David Lee's not a scammer.
• 1:02:37
  And then it was just like, I'm like, what the fuck?
• 1:02:39
  Like I need to order a container like every month, Like, you
• 1:02:41
  know, it was crazy. And then, yeah, that's that's
• 1:02:45
  what happened. And then they came and they're
• 1:02:46
  like, hey, like you're not a fat, Chinese rich guy that we
• 1:02:50
  thought you were and you're gonna like.
• 1:02:53
  You know, we're gonna be good partners.
• 1:02:54
  And I was like, yeah, bro. Like, yeah, bro.
• 1:02:57
  Yeah, let's do this, you know? Yeah.
• 1:02:59
  And. He's like five years older than
• 1:03:01
  me and so still young, like in his 30s.
• 1:03:03
  And I was like, I think 26 or something.
• 1:03:05
  So I'm still young and hungry. So and he saw like, you know,
• 1:03:08
  how hungry I was. And he's like, yeah, let's, you
• 1:03:10
  know. It's so interesting to hear how
• 1:03:13
  Origin USA was started and. Damn dude, I did not.
• 1:03:16
  I didn't know that you played in like a pretty equivocal factor.
• 1:03:19
  Yeah, Like if you didn't grow into the picture, what do you
• 1:03:21
  think would have possibly happened?
• 1:03:23
  I think if I didn't land that contract or make that happen, I
• 1:03:27
  think the drifting boom wouldn't haven't been the same.
• 1:03:30
  Because as soon as the word got out that this Origin body kit
• 1:03:34
  was here, that's how like Fat Lace got their big break.
• 1:03:38
  Because their Mark Arsenal hit me up and I hooked him up, you
• 1:03:42
  know, told him how to, like, you know.
• 1:03:44
  Through cool setup with wheel Fitman and stuff and told him to
• 1:03:48
  pull the rear fenders out and so you can tuck like you know big
• 1:03:51
  wheels and stuff and send them some body kits to make his lot
• 1:03:54
  of car cool. And he was like all over the
• 1:03:56
  place, you know, because he had like the coolest looking, you
• 1:03:58
  know, two 40s and then the Drift Alliance guys were, you know,
• 1:04:03
  kind of like had this like thing going with their name and group
• 1:04:08
  of like 10 guys living in. Crew and stuff.
• 1:04:11
  And they're like pros, whatever. But yeah, all their cars looked
• 1:04:13
  ugly. And then I was like, yo Vaughn
• 1:04:15
  and Chris Forsberg and all you guys, your car's ugly.
• 1:04:18
  Here's some body kits. Please put it on.
• 1:04:20
  You know, please make it look cool.
• 1:04:22
  And then you know Vaughn and Chris, all those guys rocked our
• 1:04:25
  body kits. And then next thing you know,
• 1:04:27
  they're all over the magazines and people are paying attention
• 1:04:30
  to them and and and then now two 40s.
• 1:04:33
  Became desirable. And all the civic boys now
• 1:04:35
  crying. And they're going.
• 1:04:37
  Two boys are cool, yeah, like and then yeah, and.
• 1:04:43
  Then next thing you know the. The whole 240 thing took over,
• 1:04:47
  you know, and it was like upside down overnight and everyone
• 1:04:50
  wants to know something about 2:40.
• 1:04:52
  They want to know everything about SRS and all the stuff.
• 1:04:56
  And then it happened very quickly and yeah, next thing you
• 1:04:59
  know, you know companies were bringing Sr.
• 1:05:02
  Parts and you know, so back then the.
• 1:05:06
  First down pipes that we could get our hands when our blitz
• 1:05:08
  down pipes and they're about $390.00.
• 1:05:11
  OK, I would definitely be able to.
• 1:05:14
  I would say that. I would buy that immediately.
• 1:05:16
  Yeah. So that's just the same price
• 1:05:18
  right now. And it's blitz.
• 1:05:20
  Like they're still, well, that crazy.
• 1:05:22
  Yeah, maybe. Maybe.
• 1:05:22
  That's 500. Well, it's because.
• 1:05:24
  Megan Racing. Didn't have the. $975 down pipe
• 1:05:27
  yet? So OK, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:05:29
  Once Megan Racing offer their down pipe, then it yeah, change
• 1:05:32
  the story. But.
• 1:05:34
  Yeah. So that's basically how it
• 1:05:35
  happened. And I think I kind of added fuel
• 1:05:40
  to the fire and it definitely like spread, yeah, it got the
• 1:05:45
  fire going. Very quickly.
• 1:05:47
  And it changed the image of 240 because now two forty's became
• 1:05:52
  really cool and next thing I know you know people are you
• 1:05:56
  know trying to replicate the my. My cars and some of the cars I
• 1:06:02
  would build and stuff, they're asking me like how do you do
• 1:06:05
  that Like look you know cuz Honda Civic guys weren't doing
• 1:06:07
  flush fitments. Yeah I was like the first one to
• 1:06:11
  like show people like how to have that Fender parallel like
• 1:06:16
  wheel fitment and wheel kind of sticking out and stuff and
• 1:06:19
  people are like how does that work Does that Rob like I don't
• 1:06:23
  understand. I'm like.
• 1:06:25
  Yeah, it's a 240. You gotta get a 2:40 to do it,
• 1:06:27
  you know. Were you seeing a lot of that
• 1:06:31
  was your inspiration? A lot from Japan, yeah.
• 1:06:33
  So I got the fitment from. Watching old school Japanese
• 1:06:38
  videos and yeah, there's like this one option DVD where
• 1:06:43
  there's this famous 180SX owned by Itaysan and is it the red
• 1:06:50
  one? The.
• 1:06:52
  Fitment guide one. Maybe it was.
• 1:06:54
  Yeah, yeah, he. Also owned a blue one too, but
• 1:06:58
  basically they were like even even back in that video too.
• 1:07:00
  They're like poking at the Fender because they had like a
• 1:07:03
  pole on the rear. That's that's the one the tires
• 1:07:05
  like. Literally like touching the
• 1:07:07
  Fender. But it wasn't.
• 1:07:08
  Yeah, they're like, does this, that rub and they're showing you
• 1:07:11
  like, under compression. Yeah, it goes.
• 1:07:13
  In put a camera to make sure it doesn't rub because he's like.
• 1:07:15
  It doesn't rub. He's like we don't believe you.
• 1:07:16
  We put a camera here and they made him drift.
• 1:07:19
  You know the ebby sucors. And like, oh, it doesn't rub
• 1:07:21
  like I was like, huh. I got to try that.
• 1:07:26
  I spent like a whole. Night like and I had like so.
• 1:07:28
  Many wheels with different offset because I was bringing
• 1:07:30
  used parts so I was just like all night.
• 1:07:32
  I'm like 17 by 17 by 935 put this on, I'm like compress it
• 1:07:37
  with a Jack. I'm like, oh, clear is no
• 1:07:39
  problem. Wider, wider, wider 9, 1/2.
• 1:07:42
  Yeah. OK. 10 OK, start to rub, OK?
• 1:07:47
  Now I got to pull the Fender. And then learn how to do that
• 1:07:49
  pull the Fender 10. There's I'm going.
• 1:07:54
  To get greedy. Pull it out a little more. 10,
• 1:07:57
  1/2 I'm like, put it on Zovia. No one believed me.
• 1:08:02
  Yeah, like I fit a 10 1/2 wheel, Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:04
  And then? They're probably like, yeah,
• 1:08:06
  fitting a 10 1/2. Is going to take extensive work
• 1:08:10
  then Dave is there like. Ah yeah, no.
• 1:08:12
  Check this. Out and I we literally just saw
• 1:08:15
  the car in the back, yeah. Which is the coolest part?
• 1:08:17
  Beautiful car, yeah. Next thing you know, like.
• 1:08:20
  Yeah, everyone was like. Trying to replicate that, you
• 1:08:24
  know. Yeah, hella hella flush, quote,
• 1:08:27
  UN quote, Yeah. And then the, Yeah, Mark Arsenal
• 1:08:30
  at Fat Lace. Yeah, he really took it to the
• 1:08:32
  next level, Took that trend. And made the hella flush.
• 1:08:35
  Website and then start posting all the cool cars with that
• 1:08:38
  really good fit MIT and then that's how hella flush became a
• 1:08:43
  thing and then it's literally like you you're literally
• 1:08:45
  finding out how the stance. I know I'm because, yeah, OK, so
• 1:08:48
  I'm. I'm 28.
• 1:08:49
  I got into the car thing when I was like 8.
• 1:08:51
  So what's 2013? So by the time that came in,
• 1:08:56
  people were just saying like, hella flush.
• 1:08:59
  Just to say hella flush. Yeah, like when I got, I never
• 1:09:01
  really knew. Never really knew the.
• 1:09:03
  Origination of that. Never knew that had a actual
• 1:09:06
  like cuz it was this like wasn't a scribe.
• 1:09:09
  Yeah, it wasn't a thing with Hondas, you know?
• 1:09:11
  Yeah, guys were just fitting. Can't remember?
• 1:09:16
  The wheels but. Whatever, like preset wheels and
• 1:09:20
  they were all like sunken in by like an inch and stuff but you
• 1:09:24
  know no one was doing anything other than that.
• 1:09:26
  So it was it was like cool to do that but then you know I wanted
• 1:09:30
  to like replicate Itai son's car and all these like old school
• 1:09:34
  180SX that was like you know featured in the option magazine
• 1:09:37
  and stuff. So I basically just kind of like
• 1:09:41
  home garage tested and you know, figured out how to do it and.
• 1:09:45
  I just posted online like here's how to fit, you know, 18 by 10
• 1:09:49
  plus, you know 30 wheels with 265 tires and everyone thought I
• 1:09:54
  was crazy. Yeah, I was going to say people
• 1:09:55
  probably still being like. I don't really believe you and
• 1:09:59
  the but then once I showed him and like.
• 1:10:02
  You know, told him how to do it and actually you know everyone's
• 1:10:04
  doing it and even Mark you know a fat lace was like yeah like
• 1:10:08
  what? What size can I fit and how much
• 1:10:10
  you pull do I literally gave him instruction how to do it and.
• 1:10:13
  He built the car and he just took it to the next level and,
• 1:10:16
  you know, and he probably made a fortune off of selling tshirts
• 1:10:19
  with Hella flush logo on. Yeah, yeah, that was a massive.
• 1:10:24
  Thing. Yeah.
• 1:10:25
  At least. I don't know the fact that it
• 1:10:27
  was big over by us. Yeah, it wasn't.
• 1:10:29
  And it wasn't like. It wasn't immediately associated
• 1:10:33
  with any specific brand or anything like that.
• 1:10:36
  Hella Flush was, in my opinion, I was just like.
• 1:10:39
  Ooh, like it was like a lifestyle.
• 1:10:41
  Yeah. You're, you're Stan.
• 1:10:42
  Sky like hella. That's what Mark did really
• 1:10:46
  well. Was he just?
• 1:10:47
  Recognized the trend and what was like being talked about at
• 1:10:52
  the time. And he just took it and, you
• 1:10:54
  know, went with it and just marketed the hell out of it.
• 1:10:56
  And, you know, and he coined the term illest and fat lace and
• 1:11:01
  hella flush. All that stuff.
• 1:11:02
  Oh my God, those those stickers were.
• 1:11:05
  Yeah, I did everything. Those license plate.
• 1:11:07
  Dude, I had a fatly sticker on my.
• 1:11:08
  Windshield at 10. My gosh, dude.
• 1:11:11
  God damn. Well, that's funny how you just
• 1:11:13
  described Mark, because when I'm thinking about it, I'm.
• 1:11:18
  Like is it that's? Really.
• 1:11:19
  What you did too. Like, but for some reason I'm
• 1:11:25
  like you were at the end of the day, you you just loved it so
• 1:11:28
  much that I feel like you just chased after it and you caught a
• 1:11:30
  fucking big ass wave. And now you're here.
• 1:11:33
  I just hated seeing all these ugly ass 240.
• 1:11:37
  I just want to we know how you. Feel, Yeah.
• 1:11:39
  I just want people to. Like make it look good cuz I I
• 1:11:41
  didn't want. Civic guys to look at 2:40 and
• 1:11:44
  go, you know, I'll then go, oh shit, I want 240, you know, so I
• 1:11:48
  was like guys, Zelvia guys listening.
• 1:11:50
  I couldn't post on fresh Elite because then I'll be grilled by
• 1:11:53
  really elitist going. The engineering book says, you
• 1:11:57
  know, the geometry of the curve of the toe gain also gets messed
• 1:12:00
  up when you do stuff like that. I'm like.
• 1:12:02
  Yeah, I'll just go on Zovia and tell the guys.
• 1:12:03
  How to do it? So that's another thing like
• 1:12:06
  like we're talking about. All this stuff that happened
• 1:12:08
  back then, it's like you guys seem to really share information
• 1:12:13
  very freely with each other. Why not?
• 1:12:15
  Yeah. And I feel like that's something
• 1:12:17
  that feels like it kind of changed a little bit over time.
• 1:12:19
  But yeah, I was going to Fast forward a little bit because.
• 1:12:22
  It's not a secret. Yeah, actually, someone will
• 1:12:24
  figure. It out you wanna?
• 1:12:26
  How do you feel about how? Sometimes nowadays.
• 1:12:29
  It almost seems like people are gatekeeping information, which
• 1:12:32
  kind of sucks. Or like trying to at least, or
• 1:12:34
  at least trying to if it's. If it's something that.
• 1:12:37
  Holds value then. Yeah, maybe you should keep it
• 1:12:41
  secret. But real fit meant yeah, like, I
• 1:12:45
  mean someone's gonna. Figure out like there's.
• 1:12:47
  Only one can do it, yeah, there's only so many values.
• 1:12:49
  I just wanna to all the two 40s in the world to look good.
• 1:12:52
  So I was like, and people are just dumb.
• 1:12:55
  So you're just doing God's work? Yeah.
• 1:12:56
  And everyone's like. Oh, you know.
• 1:12:58
  Joe Schmoe on, you know, Sylvia said 17 by 9 + 45 is the perfect
• 1:13:04
  wheel fit man. So that's what I'm going to do.
• 1:13:06
  I go, no idiot. Then your car looks like Joe
• 1:13:08
  Schmoe's car, which is ugly. Do it my way.
• 1:13:11
  Put 17 by 10 + 30 with 250 fives and it's going to look beefy,
• 1:13:17
  like you're going to get all the boys licking their lips.
• 1:13:22
  Yeah, that's how it always ends up being.
• 1:13:25
  You're not going to get shakes with cars, excuse me?
• 1:13:28
  Yeah, that is a huge. Misconception for anybody?
• 1:13:30
  Who thinks any of this is going to get you girls?
• 1:13:34
  You better stop now. But if you're a girl.
• 1:13:36
  It will get you guys. Oh.
• 1:13:38
  Yeah, it will. It will.
• 1:13:39
  Yeah, it will. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:13:41
  For the girls listening. Yeah, definitely.
• 1:13:42
  But I think it's incredible that.
• 1:13:46
  Yeah, you. It went from that to like, now
• 1:13:50
  you're here and I feel like I want to, kind of.
• 1:13:53
  Connected to move the conversation towards the.
• 1:13:55
  Future where? We're really convinced what I'm
• 1:13:58
  telling you. So there's.
• 1:13:59
  A lot of hardware, yeah. There's, yeah.
• 1:14:02
  And I don't mean to. I just.
• 1:14:03
  Know we have it. Some sort of a time constraint
• 1:14:05
  at least where we want to keep it.
• 1:14:07
  Yeah, but the the increased popularity of the sport is
• 1:14:13
  something that we've been talking about a lot recently,
• 1:14:15
  just cuz social media has a big aspect on it.
• 1:14:18
  Technology has a big aspect on it.
• 1:14:21
  But it drifting or what? Drifting.
• 1:14:24
  Jdm. Cars in general, you have quite
• 1:14:26
  a plethora of them outside like like a very wide array of them.
• 1:14:31
  And like it's just, it's just interesting to see how that
• 1:14:36
  obviously affected your company. Like now you're here.
• 1:14:40
  This place has multiple offices. Frankie's room.
• 1:14:44
  As a how you got to keep comparing this at my shop
• 1:14:46
  because like. You guys hold the same values.
• 1:14:48
  And I really fully believe in your company.
• 1:14:51
  I don't work for Frankie at all. At all.
• 1:14:53
  Yeah, but I believe in your. Like you're his bitch or.
• 1:14:58
  Yeah, he's my boy. Yeah, I'm his husband.
• 1:15:01
  But no, we're married. I'm a friend that I met.
• 1:15:05
  I thought he was scary as fuck and like he had a 240.
• 1:15:08
  I had a 240. I was scared of Frankie too.
• 1:15:10
  No, you wouldn't. Really.
• 1:15:13
  But I was I. Was probably scared of Dave so
• 1:15:15
  that. Coming over here, he's like,
• 1:15:17
  dude, we're literally. Going to like my role models
• 1:15:20
  place and I'm like, are we we? Just did a.
• 1:15:23
  Josh from Proceed his. His podcast and like at the end
• 1:15:27
  of the podcast it got it got a little bit emotional for the
• 1:15:29
  first time ever because I was like explaining to him like he
• 1:15:32
  has my sticker on the back of his car and I was like, you
• 1:15:35
  don't understand, like you were the guy to me and my friends.
• 1:15:40
  Like you were one of our role models because we wanted to like
• 1:15:42
  emulate that street style drift culture thing.
• 1:15:47
  So like to see my sticker on your car is kind.
• 1:15:48
  Of fucking. Like it's it's really weird.
• 1:15:51
  And then like, we did that podcast.
• 1:15:53
  Whatever. And then I was like, fuck, now
• 1:15:55
  we got to go to Dave's podcast. And I'm like, I'm like.
• 1:15:58
  You're basically the business side of it for me in a way.
• 1:16:01
  Like I didn't, I didn't know about Toga Factory that well
• 1:16:04
  when we started. But then like once I found out
• 1:16:06
  about origin. And then I was like oh tokey
• 1:16:09
  fact and I started like really looking into and I was like
• 1:16:12
  okay. That's literally like my dream.
• 1:16:14
  Like Tokey Factory is my dream like job or company to have.
• 1:16:19
  So it really, Yeah, you're definitely an inspiration for me
• 1:16:22
  specifically, but probably a lot of people I was going to say,
• 1:16:25
  like even talks a lot to. Me to hear that you were at 26
• 1:16:30
  because again, I'm 28 and a lot of the pressure right now is
• 1:16:34
  that, you know, I don't want to run out of time.
• 1:16:37
  Like, I'm young. I feel like I should always be
• 1:16:39
  pushing, doing something. And like to hear that you were
• 1:16:43
  grinding at that age like that, handling international
• 1:16:47
  relations. Yeah, that's like because that
• 1:16:49
  was insane. But that.
• 1:16:50
  Was because. I didn't want to have a regular.
• 1:16:52
  Job So. Yeah, I was like trying to do
• 1:16:55
  something on my own, but it was so difficult because there's no
• 1:16:58
  guide or things that you could look up.
• 1:17:01
  How to start your career in business like there's like
• 1:17:04
  14,000,000 videos. Of that now on YouTube.
• 1:17:07
  Yeah, right. But all those videos are.
• 1:17:10
  Like, I don't know, kind of generalized in my opinion.
• 1:17:14
  So you can get some good things out of it, but at the end of the
• 1:17:19
  day, you have to do what? Basically look at it this way.
• 1:17:23
  You're gonna be doing this for a long time.
• 1:17:24
  You're gonna? To be good at something and.
• 1:17:28
  If you want to be. Successful You have to invest a
• 1:17:30
  lot of time. You have to practice it.
• 1:17:32
  So if you don't enjoy doing something and you can't do it
• 1:17:38
  like Monday through Sunday, like working 14-16 hours a day, then
• 1:17:44
  don't do it. It's not worth it.
• 1:17:45
  But if you go, that sounds like fun to me.
• 1:17:48
  I can do that. Like I could literally live at
• 1:17:51
  work and just do it for the rest of my life.
• 1:17:54
  Then just go 110% and just work 1020% more.
• 1:17:59
  Than what you're. Capable of just push your limits
• 1:18:02
  and things will happen. Are you satisfied with where
• 1:18:05
  you're currently? Are like, are you happy looking
• 1:18:08
  back that you made the decisions that you made?
• 1:18:11
  Like like would you think that this is where you would be?
• 1:18:16
  So I set my. And my goals were that
• 1:18:19
  eventually, one day I'll have like a warehouse full of.
• 1:18:23
  Parts and my own brands. And I'll have a shop too, with
• 1:18:28
  the amazing showroom. So and that only seemed like
• 1:18:34
  like I'm trying to think of what's outside.
• 1:18:36
  Like, yeah, and. You know when I first.
• 1:18:38
  Started I was. Like, man, that seemed so hard.
• 1:18:41
  And like, that seems impossible. But that's where I'm at right
• 1:18:44
  now. Yeah, and.
• 1:18:46
  And. Eventually, yeah, I worked hard
• 1:18:48
  and it happened. But.
• 1:18:52
  It was a lot of work and. It was very.
• 1:18:57
  I mean like first two years I had a sleeping bag at work and I
• 1:19:02
  pretty much slept at work and I would just fall asleep in front
• 1:19:05
  of my computer cuz I had to learn a lot of things right
• 1:19:08
  away. So I just slept at work cuz I
• 1:19:11
  felt like if I went home I couldn't get anything done.
• 1:19:15
  I still have a sleeping bag, but I haven't.
• 1:19:16
  Used it in many many. OK.
• 1:19:18
  Thank God. I'm.
• 1:19:20
  Literally thinking I'm like. I hope he doesn't.
• 1:19:22
  Still do this like I have a sleeping in my little.
• 1:19:27
  Attic just in case but thank God I haven't used it so but that's
• 1:19:32
  pretty much like my mentality in the beginning and and if you
• 1:19:37
  want to do something here you have to sacrifice something for
• 1:19:40
  it because I mean let's say if you want to be an athlete like.
• 1:19:45
  That top 1% outlier of athletes, you know you want to be the
• 1:19:49
  world's best. You you have to invest a lot of
• 1:19:53
  time. You have to practice a lot and
• 1:19:54
  you, you have to focus 100%. You're not going to just go to
• 1:19:59
  a, you know, basketball court and be like I'm Michael Jordan,
• 1:20:02
  because I feel like today I can shoot and dunk.
• 1:20:05
  You know, it's not going to happen.
• 1:20:07
  Like you have to work hard at it.
• 1:20:08
  Same thing with anything you do you like.
• 1:20:10
  You'll have to practice it and you have to invest a lot of
• 1:20:13
  time, so. Choose your passion and choose
• 1:20:18
  wisely. And once you and you'll, you'll
• 1:20:21
  know like when when there's a calling and when there's that
• 1:20:25
  addiction and obsession and that feeling of like that fire, you
• 1:20:31
  know you'll know like that's your calling.
• 1:20:34
  And even though people might discourage you, cuz I told my
• 1:20:39
  idea to my parents and my parents thought I was crazy, you
• 1:20:41
  know, they're like I can only imagine so and.
• 1:20:45
  Even my friends were like, don't do it, don't do it.
• 1:20:47
  What are you doing? You know?
• 1:20:48
  And and I was like, yeah, I'm crazy as fuck, you know, like,
• 1:20:54
  I'm like, but I'm young, you know, I can still go flip
• 1:20:57
  burgers at McDonald's and make things happen.
• 1:20:59
  So yeah, I can, I can hustle. So I wanted to try it.
• 1:21:03
  I wanted to do it while I was young, when I didn't have too
• 1:21:06
  many things to lose. I had nothing to lose.
• 1:21:08
  So, and I had ideas. Of course.
• 1:21:12
  Don't be stupid about it. Yeah, have plans and goals and
• 1:21:17
  set the. Maybe.
• 1:21:23
  Realistic, but maybe not so realistic goals.
• 1:21:26
  And so you can plan so you can hit those goals.
• 1:21:28
  Yeah, you. Kind of have to have a drive to.
• 1:21:31
  So I would set like five year goals and then try to achieve it
• 1:21:35
  four or five years and I would set another five years or
• 1:21:38
  something like that. So I would set long term goals
• 1:21:40
  and have kind of plans to get there and and yeah, and.
• 1:21:47
  Then you kind of have to really like go for it.
• 1:21:49
  And I think if you look at all the successful people and
• 1:21:53
  athletes and all these, you know, outliers in anything, it
• 1:21:58
  doesn't matter. Business, athletes, whatever.
• 1:22:01
  At one point in their life, they just like, went 100. 10%, And it
• 1:22:07
  went for it like whatever it is, Yeah.
• 1:22:10
  And that's pretty much like what I did was I was like, man, I
• 1:22:13
  really don't want to be working for somebody and have like, you
• 1:22:17
  know, climbed the corporate ladder and stuff.
• 1:22:20
  That's just not for me. So I got to make this work and
• 1:22:23
  if I do it, I only have one chance at it and but I really
• 1:22:27
  like this stuff and I'm, I think I'm, you know, pretty good at
• 1:22:30
  it. So I was like, you know,
• 1:22:33
  considering all my options. And you know, of course I did
• 1:22:38
  pros and cons and whatever. And I was like, yeah, I think
• 1:22:41
  it's worth the pain and the suffering I'll be going through.
• 1:22:44
  And I was like, if I'm going to do it, I'm just going to go full
• 1:22:46
  out. And I was like, book a ticket to
• 1:22:48
  Japan and force myself to do that, even though I was scared
• 1:22:51
  of shit because I didn't know what I was doing.
• 1:22:53
  Yeah, I wish we could like talk to you at that.
• 1:22:55
  Moment and see like what the hell was the decision making.
• 1:22:59
  Like, I don't really, but. I don't know I I work a normal
• 1:23:04
  desk job currently and I'm not saying I'm dissatisfied with
• 1:23:08
  that. So on the other note, some
• 1:23:11
  people doesn't do well. With this kind of thought
• 1:23:15
  process and this kind of thinking, and there are people
• 1:23:21
  that I would say like, yeah, if. You don't feel like it's in,
• 1:23:26
  it's in you. Or if you don't have these kind
• 1:23:29
  of desires and you're not strong enough to suffer and sacrifice
• 1:23:34
  things. And yeah, make the smart
• 1:23:36
  decision and choose wisely your path and it's OK to just live
• 1:23:43
  normal. I say this.
• 1:23:45
  I say this, I don't say normal. But no, no.
• 1:23:46
  No, that's that's the live live more.
• 1:23:50
  Live with more security? Yeah, so.
• 1:23:52
  Because then there you have less chance for ups and downs and
• 1:23:56
  there's less stress and less you know, so you can also do other
• 1:24:01
  things that you might enjoy. So yeah, nothing wrong, like
• 1:24:05
  don't ruin your life. Is what you're saying.
• 1:24:07
  Yeah, yeah. Over this.
• 1:24:09
  Yeah. Yeah, so.
• 1:24:10
  If you don't. No, Yeah.
• 1:24:11
  And I agree with everything. He's saying, and I said the same
• 1:24:13
  thing to my friends that work normal jobs.
• 1:24:17
  Probably Carl would be the best example because you're doing
• 1:24:21
  something that you're not passionate about but you get to
• 1:24:24
  like. You get to do that.
• 1:24:26
  It fuels the stuff that I am passionate.
• 1:24:28
  Yeah, and when you leave work and you clock out, you don't.
• 1:24:30
  Need to worry about it anymore? Yeah, that's just like a very
• 1:24:33
  big thing. Yeah, yeah, which I've.
• 1:24:36
  So yeah, like that's that's. Most important thing, because
• 1:24:39
  when I worked at Nissan and stuff, like when I left work, I
• 1:24:43
  didn't give a fuck about that place.
• 1:24:45
  I was like, I'm clocked out and then I would and then I would
• 1:24:48
  clock in a faction and worry about that, you know?
• 1:24:50
  Yeah, but if I didn't have that. I would just be free to do with
• 1:24:53
  whatever I wanted to do and that was like really nice.
• 1:24:56
  So there's really good positives to not being in this position.
• 1:25:01
  But if you have that, I feel like if you have that drive and
• 1:25:04
  that fire or the passion for that certain thing, you're going
• 1:25:06
  to end up in a business or position anyway.
• 1:25:09
  I just feel like I've been gathering random skills and.
• 1:25:12
  Tools throughout my entire life that would literally, it's like
• 1:25:14
  the perfect storm and there's a part of me where I'm like trying
• 1:25:17
  to find that opportunity, like I'm looking for it.
• 1:25:21
  I always feel like I shouldn't look for.
• 1:25:22
  Yeah, I think most people in their 20s are lost.
• 1:25:26
  Thank you. I mean it's.
• 1:25:28
  True, It's. True as fuck, I don't really
• 1:25:31
  know what to. I didn't.
• 1:25:32
  I didn't. What I was.
• 1:25:33
  Doing like, honestly, like when I made the decision to go to
• 1:25:35
  Japan, I was like just desperate, you know?
• 1:25:38
  And I knew if I didn't do it, I'll just be sitting here going,
• 1:25:42
  what if? Yeah, so I was like, I forced
• 1:25:44
  myself into uncomfortable position.
• 1:25:46
  Because every time I feel comfortable is when I feel like
• 1:25:49
  I'm stagnant. Yeah, So even to this day, I
• 1:25:53
  tell myself once I start to feel comfortable, I'm like, I get
• 1:25:57
  anxiety. When I'm comfortable, I'm like,
• 1:25:59
  everything's running great. Everything's perfect.
• 1:26:00
  I'm like, I'm panicking. I'm like, why is it great?
• 1:26:04
  Why is everything? Something must be wrong.
• 1:26:06
  Something must be wrong. Yeah, you know.
• 1:26:07
  Then then I go, OK, let me double check everything cuz
• 1:26:11
  yeah, there's probably something wrong.
• 1:26:12
  That's the key to progressing too, though.
• 1:26:15
  Yeah, yes. And having that mentality, yeah.
• 1:26:17
  And it's just the desire to be better and you know, just keep
• 1:26:22
  going. So yeah, to answer your
• 1:26:24
  question, I I know I'm not satisfied.
• 1:26:26
  I don't think this is where I want to be.
• 1:26:29
  Like I still want to improve. I there's million things I still
• 1:26:32
  don't think I'm good at. And I I still think we need to
• 1:26:36
  improve on many, many things like, yeah, there's so many
• 1:26:39
  things we could still do better. So it's so interesting to hear.
• 1:26:41
  No. Yeah.
• 1:26:42
  No, it's. Well.
• 1:26:44
  It speaks to your character and like, I think that's so once in
• 1:26:47
  a while when you know you guys show up and telling me I'm doing
• 1:26:50
  great, I'm like it is not yet it's.
• 1:26:54
  Nice to hear that too now. Go back now.
• 1:26:56
  Get going. Stuff's out there.
• 1:26:58
  Not going to happen by itself. Like, no.
• 1:27:00
  But like, he's right. Like the?
• 1:27:02
  Fact that you just said that people are going to be listening
• 1:27:04
  to this and be like there's no way that those two losers coming
• 1:27:06
  in and telling him that is he's doing a good job made him feel
• 1:27:09
  anyway. But no, it really does sometimes
• 1:27:11
  like because because a lot of. People don't, I don't know, like
• 1:27:16
  it takes a certain person to say that and it usually is very
• 1:27:20
  honest, you know. And when we're saying it,
• 1:27:22
  obviously we're being honest. So it's like, well, he doesn't,
• 1:27:25
  you don't know that the. Way He thanked me before.
• 1:27:28
  I I. Understand.
• 1:27:30
  It I I This is me. Yeah, this is me as fuck.
• 1:27:33
  But like I've experienced the same thing where someone will
• 1:27:35
  come. In and and they'll be like,
• 1:27:37
  dude, like take a minute and look around and just.
• 1:27:42
  Taken what you've accomplished so far, you have to understand
• 1:27:46
  too, we're a business, so we're expected to do the right things.
• 1:27:51
  We're expected to supply good parts.
• 1:27:53
  People expect when they bring cars to us to be perfect when
• 1:27:57
  they leave. It's just given only time when I
• 1:28:01
  communicate with customers, when there's something wrong, when
• 1:28:04
  things don't go a certain way or you know something happens with
• 1:28:08
  the product is when we communicate.
• 1:28:10
  We rarely get customers call us and like, I fucking love your
• 1:28:13
  part. And yeah, the packaging you
• 1:28:15
  shipped was amazing and the way you made sure everything was on
• 1:28:19
  time like that was amazing. I just want to call and thank
• 1:28:22
  you for that. Yeah.
• 1:28:23
  And when that does happen, you're like, what the?
• 1:28:24
  Fuck, yeah. All right.
• 1:28:26
  That's the wrong number, dude. Yeah.
• 1:28:29
  So most of the time it's like. Dude, like, where's my part?
• 1:28:31
  Or like, I got a defective product, or I got a wrong part
• 1:28:35
  or something wasn't right. Yeah, so it's most of the time
• 1:28:38
  it's just like you're dealing to solve problems, so rarely do you
• 1:28:42
  get confirmation that you're doing a good job.
• 1:28:44
  So once in a while, it's nice to hear even from a customer is
• 1:28:48
  like, hey, you guys are awesome, Thank you.
• 1:28:50
  Yeah, yeah. 100%. We probably have a couple
• 1:28:54
  questions for you from listeners.
• 1:28:56
  So I'm just going to go through those.
• 1:28:57
  Perfect. You ran in my mind.
• 1:28:59
  Yeah, I don't want to keep you here, so.
• 1:29:01
  First of all. The the fact that.
• 1:29:03
  The fact that I, we see you smiling to me, I'm like, all
• 1:29:07
  right, he's, he might be panicking a lot, but it's nice
• 1:29:12
  to see somebody doing as much as they do and they can still smile
• 1:29:16
  to me that that's important. Like what?
• 1:29:19
  I make Frankie like that shit's great.
• 1:29:20
  He's used to me. That's what he's talking about
• 1:29:22
  right now. Yeah, cuz when Frankie I always
• 1:29:23
  look miserable. Work work Frankie is a lot
• 1:29:25
  different than outside Frankie. Work.
• 1:29:27
  Frankie is always I'm that person who's telling him like,
• 1:29:30
  yo, what the fuck is growing on right now?
• 1:29:33
  No, no. If I'm in the work mode, no
• 1:29:36
  one's gonna stop you. I'm pretty, yeah.
• 1:29:38
  I'm pretty stoic, yes. Yeah.
• 1:29:39
  Stoic is the best way to put it. That is a good word.
• 1:29:43
  Yeah, you are a. Stoic motherfucker, yeah.
• 1:29:45
  You're not. Gonna see me smiling in my
• 1:29:47
  office. Yeah, I'm.
• 1:29:48
  I'm pretty stressed. Yes.
• 1:29:50
  Well this is then. This is I'm very.
• 1:29:55
  I mean outside of. I'm pretty chill and very laid
• 1:29:58
  back and most of the time I'm pretty fun.
• 1:30:04
  Do you still find? Time for yourself, like do you
• 1:30:06
  have? Hobbies outside of cars?
• 1:30:08
  Yeah, yeah. Actually, aside from cooking, we
• 1:30:09
  had like a 10 minute 15. Conversation with cooking before
• 1:30:12
  no as I get. I'm probably old enough to be
• 1:30:15
  your dad, by the way. Hey, you'll look it though,
• 1:30:18
  yeah? So my time is very valuable.
• 1:30:22
  So I try to focus a lot on my own self.
• 1:30:26
  So I do, yeah. I do like a lot of sports and
• 1:30:34
  spend time with people and you know, normal things so you have
• 1:30:38
  like you have other hobbies outside of cars.
• 1:30:41
  Yeah, I try to because it keeps me sane and also gets me not so.
• 1:30:50
  Desensitized because I look. At so many cars stuff and cars
• 1:30:57
  and stuff, over time you get desensitized and it you struggle
• 1:31:04
  to find inspiration. Sometimes, so for me I have to
• 1:31:08
  reset to keep that. Fire going.
• 1:31:13
  So I have to tell myself to like disconnect and do something else
• 1:31:18
  that's completely different. So I try to do very normal
• 1:31:23
  things and I try to do very not so exciting things just so that
• 1:31:28
  because here it's like. I'm over stimulated, like with
• 1:31:36
  too many things. So yeah, outside of work I try
• 1:31:39
  to be as boring as possible. So yeah.
• 1:31:42
  So I do things like cooking. Yeah, I play tennis, Okay.
• 1:31:46
  I go like outdoorsy stuff like hiking and stuff.
• 1:31:49
  Like, yeah, I do very boring stuff.
• 1:31:51
  Yeah, that's. I can really minus the tennis.
• 1:31:53
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:31:54
  That is literally everything Frankie does.
• 1:31:56
  So yeah, yeah, and like. I go work out and stuff like I
• 1:32:00
  try to self better get myself. Yeah, health.
• 1:32:03
  Is important. So I do, you know, I try to keep
• 1:32:05
  in shape and like stuff like that.
• 1:32:06
  That's like basic. Basically I've been on that way
• 1:32:09
  for the. Last year I've been doing the
• 1:32:10
  same, like I'm going hiking every week.
• 1:32:12
  I try to exercise and stuff and like it does keep my mind like
• 1:32:16
  it. Well, keeping like little goals.
• 1:32:19
  Like that too. Setting little goals is really
• 1:32:20
  important. So yeah, it does keep it, keep
• 1:32:23
  my mind more fresh because like you said, you you go to the shop
• 1:32:25
  and you're surrounded by all this shit all day.
• 1:32:29
  So and then you get someone like Carl that comes in and wants you
• 1:32:31
  to be so excited about drifting. And I'm like, dude, I'm, I mean,
• 1:32:36
  it's still fun. So I I still enjoy very much and
• 1:32:40
  I still get excited. You know when we have something
• 1:32:45
  like we have some really cool, exciting products that we're
• 1:32:50
  gonna be debuting soon and it's gonna like it's gonna be really
• 1:32:56
  cool. So it's gonna be like world's
• 1:32:59
  first thing. So yeah, so like, I'm really
• 1:33:02
  excited for those things and whenever we're just making cool
• 1:33:08
  parts and stuff or we finish a project or something.
• 1:33:11
  It's still very exciting. So yeah, I still enjoy the
• 1:33:14
  process and I still like the challenge and all the things
• 1:33:18
  that come with it. Yeah.
• 1:33:20
  So that's good to hear and some of these questions in here
• 1:33:22
  relate to. Products that I wanted to get
• 1:33:25
  into, but since we're on such a short time, I'm just gonna read
• 1:33:28
  one of these questions and we'll get into it from that.
• 1:33:30
  Yeah, sure, but. Basically, someone said.
• 1:33:34
  Well, Alan, Alan, Kyle. Said, Let's talk about the case
• 1:33:36
  swap stuff. What's the future of the swap
• 1:33:38
  for street use? So that's a big thing you guys
• 1:33:41
  have been into for the last. Yeah, you guys.
• 1:33:43
  Yeah, yeah, I would say. Yeah, I would say Pioneer, just
• 1:33:46
  because. You made it.
• 1:33:47
  Available to the masses for a front engine, rear wheel drive
• 1:33:50
  for front. Engine rear wheel.
• 1:33:51
  Drive configuration? Yeah, Like what?
• 1:33:54
  Like what was your what was your thought?
• 1:33:57
  Process with that and was it you or was it someone else that so.
• 1:34:02
  I mean, it was like many of us, so.
• 1:34:05
  Basically we had an employee here that was, and it's today
• 1:34:12
  too and he's a, he's a tuner and basically we hired him to build
• 1:34:18
  engines and help out with the shop work and stuff.
• 1:34:21
  And he saw all the SR's that we're building and and all the
• 1:34:26
  SR's were coming in with similar symptoms like rod, you know,
• 1:34:32
  spun bearing, yeah. Lifters breaking and.
• 1:34:37
  Damaging the engine and you know just common SRS things, you
• 1:34:41
  know, and and he was just like God like the motor's so fragile
• 1:34:45
  and the parts are, you know, not easily attainable and it's
• 1:34:48
  expensive and and the motors, they don't even like make that
• 1:34:53
  good of a power. You have to do so much work to
• 1:34:55
  them. And he's like, man, like, you
• 1:34:58
  know, if you guys like knew about K24, like I could do
• 1:35:03
  miracles for you guys, you know. And he's just like telling me
• 1:35:06
  about how good the K20 four was and I was like what what is the
• 1:35:08
  K24? This is kind of coming full
• 1:35:10
  circle now. Yeah.
• 1:35:11
  And Oh yeah, the Honda people, Honda people.
• 1:35:14
  Yeah, and I was like. Oh, I don't know.
• 1:35:16
  Like anything about the K20 four and and then I just kind of like
• 1:35:23
  listen but. I didn't act on it and then so
• 1:35:28
  my younger brother Mike he works with me and and he's like has a
• 1:35:34
  badass S14 time attack car and he's just plagued with problems
• 1:35:38
  cuz he's pushing over 500 and he's driving hard with it and
• 1:35:41
  he's still Sr. still. Well not anymore but okay yeah
• 1:35:45
  so and he just would be building his motor like every year it
• 1:35:51
  would just have problems. So I know he would break and fix
• 1:35:54
  it break. And he just like fed up with it
• 1:35:56
  and he was like getting depressed over it and out And he
• 1:35:59
  just like, yeah, what about K24? Like, I'm interested, you know?
• 1:36:03
  And next thing you know, we're like looking into K.
• 1:36:08
  Swap and you know what requires to be converted and what things
• 1:36:15
  need to be shifted around because they're mounted sideways
• 1:36:18
  and a front wheel drive Civic and they need to be you know
• 1:36:21
  facing you know front and back and rear wheel drive car.
• 1:36:24
  So we're like everything has to be flipped and stuff.
• 1:36:26
  So and then the oil pen on the K20 four is like 12 inches, like
• 1:36:31
  it's a foot tall or something and like it's super big so it
• 1:36:34
  wouldn't clear the sub frame and stuff.
• 1:36:36
  So we're like man, like we got to make all the shit ourselves.
• 1:36:39
  So yeah, and that's pretty much how it started.
• 1:36:42
  We just got a K24 block and then next thing you know we're
• 1:36:46
  starting to make prototype parts, motor mounts and we got
• 1:36:51
  the motor in and we're like, OK, next thing is oil pen and you
• 1:36:54
  know we have a fabricator. So we're like.
• 1:36:57
  Right, let's make an oil pan. Yeah, this is like a huge
• 1:37:00
  snowball effect. I hear about to go down, yeah.
• 1:37:03
  And then we started looking at the transmission and we had to
• 1:37:06
  make a trans adapter. So the trans is the part that
• 1:37:09
  scares me. Yeah, yeah, fuck you.
• 1:37:11
  Cuz that transmission of Honda. Transmission is like this big,
• 1:37:15
  Yeah. And then a Fr transmission is
• 1:37:17
  longer, like in the Bell House. We're using CD 093.
• 1:37:22
  Fifties. Yeah, I hear.
• 1:37:23
  So, yeah, so. If it clears a tunnel, so just
• 1:37:26
  matter of just getting everything straight, lining
• 1:37:29
  everything up, making the shifter position where it should
• 1:37:34
  be the. OEM location, cuz we didn't want
• 1:37:37
  to mess that up. So like, yeah, basically, Long
• 1:37:41
  story short, it took us about a year and that's so short.
• 1:37:46
  Like that's so fast. And that was for S chassis
• 1:37:50
  application. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:37:51
  And along, I mean, we actually developed a kit sooner than
• 1:37:55
  that, but we had to test and some of our parts failed.
• 1:38:00
  So we had to revise it, test again, fix it, make some of the
• 1:38:05
  parts, you know, redesigned to make it better, stronger.
• 1:38:09
  So we probably had like 3 variations of oil pan until it
• 1:38:15
  worked and then we changed the motor mounts a couple times.
• 1:38:20
  Yeah, we even tested multiple transmissions, see which one is
• 1:38:23
  the best option for people because we also want to make
• 1:38:25
  sure we chose a transmission that was affordable.
• 1:38:29
  It was so the right fit as far as gear ratios go to run with
• 1:38:34
  the final gearing on the S chassis.
• 1:38:36
  So. So there's a lot of things we
• 1:38:38
  have to test and and then we drove the cars on the street and
• 1:38:42
  on the track to make sure everything works.
• 1:38:44
  So did Mike's car pretty much become the test dummy for?
• 1:38:47
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We pretty much use his car as
• 1:38:49
  like prototyping and testing and all that stuff.
• 1:38:52
  So yeah, and then once we were 100% sure everything was working
• 1:38:58
  and good and then we went into production side of things, which
• 1:39:03
  is also very difficult cuz honestly making prototype is
• 1:39:06
  very easy, but scaling it up and going into production is
• 1:39:10
  actually very difficult. So that sounds daunting as fuck
• 1:39:13
  Yeah, yeah, so. Once we made the prototype like
• 1:39:15
  that was easy. And like, all right, we gotta
• 1:39:17
  make a bunch of these now. Wow.
• 1:39:19
  Yeah, how? Is definitely a question.
• 1:39:22
  Did you end? Up doing making them here or
• 1:39:25
  outsourcing that. So like the oil pan is pretty
• 1:39:28
  much made here. Okay.
• 1:39:31
  Some of the components for like the especially like the billet
• 1:39:37
  components are made overseas. It gets imported here and then
• 1:39:41
  we assemble them here. OK.
• 1:39:43
  Yeah. So you guys are still putting
• 1:39:44
  together like the majority of the?
• 1:39:46
  Stuff, yeah, Pretty much everything's assembled here.
• 1:39:48
  And we put it together so and and because of the pandemic we
• 1:39:53
  also learned that it's better for us to make a lot of stuff in
• 1:39:57
  house. Yeah, we have some difficult.
• 1:40:00
  Challenges. During Pandemic cuz a lot of the
• 1:40:03
  import export kind of had to stop so.
• 1:40:06
  So we focused on what do you think that had a that had a
• 1:40:11
  part? To do with you guys starting
• 1:40:13
  this whole K swap thing or like was it motivation to start
• 1:40:16
  looking the pandemic didn't really have anything because we
• 1:40:18
  already. Started doing the test
• 1:40:21
  prototyping before the pandemic happened, so but the.
• 1:40:25
  Production side kind of we struggled with.
• 1:40:29
  Because of pandemic. So it's kind of forced us to
• 1:40:31
  figure out ways to develop parts in house and make it here.
• 1:40:33
  Yeah, cuz I feel like that part has kind of taken off.
• 1:40:36
  In the toga factory over the last few years, yeah.
• 1:40:38
  So we're making a lot of stuff in house.
• 1:40:40
  Our turbo manifolds are made by us, headers are made by us, Oil
• 1:40:44
  pen is made by us. Like everything's pretty much
• 1:40:48
  like, yeah, most of the parts are all made here in in in our
• 1:40:53
  shop. Yeah, so.
• 1:40:55
  Yeah, it's awesome. I fucking love that so much to.
• 1:40:57
  Me it's. Like, I'm like, how the hell do
• 1:40:58
  you have all this work for a fabricator?
• 1:41:00
  Like, I can't even hire a fabricator full time.
• 1:41:02
  But yeah, doing all that is like a really good way to do it.
• 1:41:06
  Yeah. And then yeah.
• 1:41:08
  We we also have an engineer who actually works for aerospace
• 1:41:13
  company and he does all the engineering for us.
• 1:41:17
  So. So he's like amazing.
• 1:41:20
  Yeah, he's, he's and he. He's into cars and he loves us.
• 1:41:25
  So yeah, he helps us quite a bit with a lot of difficult
• 1:41:28
  challenges we have to do as far as like CAD work and
• 1:41:32
  engineering. So and then our CNC factory
• 1:41:36
  overseas, you know, people ask us like why don't you guys get
• 1:41:40
  CNC machines and stuff? Because I was like because that
• 1:41:45
  means we have to learn all that. Stuff and and CNC machines are
• 1:41:49
  expensive. Yeah, our factories have like.
• 1:41:51
  65 Axis machines and like 10 three Axis machines and they
• 1:41:55
  have like 30-40 years of experience and they can do it
• 1:42:00
  way better than us. Yeah, yeah, pick your battles,
• 1:42:03
  he says. All this?
• 1:42:03
  But like. We'll see you in 10 years.
• 1:42:06
  Yeah, literally. Dave's gonna have.
• 1:42:08
  Dave's gonna learn how to machine overnight.
• 1:42:10
  Watch. Yeah.
• 1:42:11
  So, yeah, all of all of our parts.
• 1:42:12
  Are like really high quality like we chose to do like CNC
• 1:42:16
  billet parts just because it just looks nice and you know,
• 1:42:20
  just. There's that quality feel to
• 1:42:22
  them and stuff, because we could have easily made them like
• 1:42:25
  stamps deal and stuff. But yeah, so we try to make it
• 1:42:29
  affordable, high quality, also durable, long lasting.
• 1:42:35
  So yeah, that's awesome, dude. It's awesome to see all the
• 1:42:38
  stuff. Like we were.
• 1:42:39
  Basically given a tour earlier and we got to see well Carl's
• 1:42:44
  obsessed with the the is 300 out there with the well just because
• 1:42:47
  it, I don't know I pretty interested you get.
• 1:42:49
  To see. It's different when you're
• 1:42:51
  looking at it on the Internet. Yeah.
• 1:42:52
  Yeah. That's all I was seeing because,
• 1:42:55
  like, you can only no one on the East Coast has that.
• 1:42:59
  And like, I'm in the process of a crossroads where I don't
• 1:43:01
  really know where to go in terms of a power plant next.
• 1:43:04
  That's sensible and will work for me.
• 1:43:07
  And now I see that. Yeah.
• 1:43:09
  And I'm like, that's another option.
• 1:43:11
  Wow. This actually looks.
• 1:43:13
  Really great in here. And then and driving it is on a
• 1:43:16
  thing is. I heard it drives great.
• 1:43:19
  It drives totally. Different It doesn't feel like I
• 1:43:21
  S anymore. Just because the motor sits so
• 1:43:24
  far back, so your whole like dynamics of the the car changes
• 1:43:31
  because the Jay-Z motors are very long.
• 1:43:34
  Yeah, very heavy. And in the high S, it's right up
• 1:43:37
  to the front. Yeah, and it's it.
• 1:43:39
  Just like makes. Everything kind of move and
• 1:43:43
  shake and handle in a way that's just like, you know?
• 1:43:48
  But once you swap in the KK motor, it's almost 200 pounds
• 1:43:52
  lighter and it's shorter and everything gets pushed back.
• 1:43:56
  It feels more nimble. It just even hitting the bumps
• 1:43:59
  on the street just feels different, like it feels amazing
• 1:44:03
  and and just having a a motor that just like really wants to
• 1:44:07
  Rev all the time and just yeah, it's just like so nice.
• 1:44:11
  Yeah, he's very easily. So no.
• 1:44:14
  And I'm getting I make my own decisions and I.
• 1:44:18
  Do my own research. Yeah, right.
• 1:44:20
  Just just so you. Know there's like a sun beaming
• 1:44:22
  like, right? Over you and you were describing
• 1:44:24
  that and I'm like, I'm like. Whoa, I mean.
• 1:44:28
  It looks like a good setup and like, yeah, what you said.
• 1:44:30
  Is what they were saying outside too.
• 1:44:31
  So you guys made it so that it appeals?
• 1:44:34
  To somebody like me where I like, I like, I like the OEM
• 1:44:38
  plus type of stuff. Yeah, yeah, like your.
• 1:44:41
  Silver car, me and Frank, you're like.
• 1:44:43
  What the fuck? Yeah, and like.
• 1:44:46
  Little details like the. Stamp on the valve cover like Oh
• 1:44:49
  yeah, yeah. I love stuff like that.
• 1:44:50
  And the fact that you guys went the extra mile your tech out
• 1:44:53
  there. I'm sorry.
• 1:44:54
  I the one who was describing the IS to me.
• 1:44:56
  I totally forgot your name. But longer hair backwards hat.
• 1:45:00
  Yeah. He was describing it to me and
• 1:45:02
  you have a good team here that's just like seems to be passionate
• 1:45:05
  about what they're doing. So yeah, that's great.
• 1:45:08
  Next to you. Please.
• 1:45:09
  We. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:45:09
  I'm just going to ask a couple more things.
• 1:45:13
  And one question is any particular?
• 1:45:14
  Vision for the future. Of toga factory that you are
• 1:45:17
  working towards. Maybe something a little bit
• 1:45:20
  more specific I guess like world domination or something.
• 1:45:22
  Well, yeah, obviously. But other than that, yeah, it's
• 1:45:27
  it's hard. To say because we have to kind
• 1:45:30
  of evolved constantly because it's always changing and and
• 1:45:39
  also. Just trying to come out with new
• 1:45:41
  ideas It's it's it's not so easy because it's hard to yeah see
• 1:45:46
  and predict the future because the the this.
• 1:45:51
  Aftermarket industry is also. Kind of.
• 1:45:52
  Trendy as well. So you kind of have to know your
• 1:45:56
  market and where you belong to. So yeah, so we've evolved over
• 1:46:01
  the years and you know, we're always okay with that because we
• 1:46:07
  know like to. Keep going.
• 1:46:09
  We have to just evolve and just find our new calling and niche
• 1:46:14
  in our place in the industry. So I can't say for sure, but
• 1:46:19
  right now our focus is pretty much what we're doing now and
• 1:46:23
  just continue to evolve and make better parts and make the
• 1:46:28
  industry exciting for a lot of people and.
• 1:46:31
  You know, keep going. You guys are pioneering so much
• 1:46:33
  cool shit. Yeah, dude.
• 1:46:34
  It's really, it's really. I'm not going to mention
• 1:46:36
  anything. Because there might be stuff
• 1:46:37
  that I saw today. That I'm not supposed to talk
• 1:46:39
  about. So I'm not going to mention
• 1:46:40
  anything, but you guys are pioneering some really cool
• 1:46:42
  stuff. Thank you.
• 1:46:43
  Yeah, I have my own question. Do.
• 1:46:46
  You do you find that you guys do more shop work or more like like
• 1:46:50
  customer car stuff or more like R&D stuff now in the shop?
• 1:46:56
  It's. So.
• 1:47:00
  Yeah, cuz you did. Have a couple cars in there.
• 1:47:03
  Yeah, right now because. It's summertime.
• 1:47:06
  We have a lot of like daily appointments for minor stuff and
• 1:47:11
  and we don't have too many crazy projects right now that we're
• 1:47:14
  doing R&D. We don't have too many big
• 1:47:19
  projects in the pipeline. So there's not too many things
• 1:47:24
  that we're doing. But maybe, like two years ago,
• 1:47:28
  we almost had to like. Close our shop schedule so we
• 1:47:30
  can focus on R&D. Yeah, so much testing and
• 1:47:33
  prototyping. So it just depends.
• 1:47:36
  Yeah. So but then you know we kind of
• 1:47:39
  need to generate revenue at the shops, but you kind of also have
• 1:47:42
  to think of it this way because we're all one company.
• 1:47:45
  If we spend the right amount of time and effort into R&D, the
• 1:47:50
  parts that we develop from IT can pay back for the time spent
• 1:47:55
  in R&D. So you kind of have to know how
• 1:47:58
  to balance that. Yeah.
• 1:47:59
  So right now, yeah, we're not doing too much R&D.
• 1:48:04
  We do have some stuff that we're doing like testing and fitting
• 1:48:08
  and stuff, but nothing too crazy right now.
• 1:48:11
  Yes. Yeah, cuz I know it's like a
• 1:48:12
  trend with certain shops. And Juku comes to mind.
• 1:48:17
  Where it's like they seemed like they did a lot of shop cars or
• 1:48:21
  customer cars and then like they backed off a little bit and then
• 1:48:24
  I don't even know if they work on customer cars anymore.
• 1:48:25
  But no, they don't. Yeah, so it's always like that.
• 1:48:28
  Part cuz like. In my business we're, I would
• 1:48:30
  say it's split down the middle right now with part sales and
• 1:48:34
  listen Juku, I think. Cuz I talked to the owner Ken
• 1:48:38
  and stuff, I don't think it was generating enough revenue for
• 1:48:42
  them and also they're just doing.
• 1:48:45
  Way better in selling parts, Yeah.
• 1:48:47
  So, and Ken's a very smart businessman.
• 1:48:50
  I respect him for that. So I think, you know, it's hard
• 1:48:56
  to say exactly. What's going on?
• 1:48:58
  Over there. But I think, yeah, they made the
• 1:49:03
  right. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:49:04
  Because I think they're. Doing exceptional with what
• 1:49:06
  they're doing. So yeah, it's so interesting to
• 1:49:08
  see, like all of our. Businesses are similar in ways,
• 1:49:11
  but then. Also totally different.
• 1:49:13
  Yeah, they can be taken in a totally.
• 1:49:14
  Different direction and still. Grow and be successful.
• 1:49:18
  So yeah, Okay, you just have to find the right balance, I think,
• 1:49:22
  and you just have to. Know how to balance it and when
• 1:49:26
  to do it, Yeah. Those are the important things.
• 1:49:28
  And then I think the main thing as a business owner is when to
• 1:49:32
  say no and when to know how to stop.
• 1:49:35
  Cuz a lot of businesses that struggle, they hold on to things
• 1:49:40
  that aren't. Doing any good for them and they
• 1:49:42
  wanna keep doing it because it's.
• 1:49:46
  What they've been? Doing and sometimes it's what
• 1:49:48
  they what those are the things that got them successful to just
• 1:49:52
  keep holding on to it. Yeah.
• 1:49:54
  But what I learned is that it's better to just let certain
• 1:49:58
  things go if it's not helping you and and find new ways or
• 1:50:01
  better ways to do it or evolve and do something else that's
• 1:50:05
  gonna benefit you in the future. Because yeah, if it's not.
• 1:50:09
  Doing you any good? Like what's good?
• 1:50:10
  You gotta you have to, like, step back and look at it.
• 1:50:13
  From a different perspective, because sometimes you're just in
• 1:50:15
  a too deep. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:50:16
  The hardest thing as a business owner is when.
• 1:50:18
  To say no and yeah, when to stop.
• 1:50:20
  Yeah, I'm lucky that I don't have that.
• 1:50:22
  Problem I feel like if I don't wanna do something yeah like
• 1:50:25
  very like you're quick like I. I already see the future with.
• 1:50:29
  Like, let's just cut this now. We're not gonna do it.
• 1:50:32
  Like, respectively. Like, yeah, that's good.
• 1:50:34
  That's good. Yeah, but great advice.
• 1:50:38
  Matt from Bayside says well, he asked about Origin like.
• 1:50:42
  How'd you get hooked up with? Origin so early.
• 1:50:44
  We got that entire story, which was awesome, which is way more
• 1:50:47
  than I could have asked. Yeah, and then the second.
• 1:50:49
  Part was. It was.
• 1:50:50
  Was about how did stance happen? Could you just give me a quick
• 1:50:54
  little thing with Stance? Yeah, sure.
• 1:50:56
  So after I. Had the big break with Origin
• 1:51:00
  and once that got got going, yeah and then I also start.
• 1:51:07
  Feeling like I need to do more. So I was like at the time I was
• 1:51:12
  actually. Trying to start up a wheel
• 1:51:13
  company. What the fuck so it wasn't even
• 1:51:16
  for? The suspension.
• 1:51:17
  Yeah, yeah, it wasn't so. I was like trying to start a
• 1:51:22
  wheel company because I thought, you know, that'll be good
• 1:51:26
  business. I mean, a lot of businesses do
• 1:51:28
  that. Yeah, but.
• 1:51:30
  As soon as I. Started looking into wheels.
• 1:51:31
  I was like, OK, this is not so easy.
• 1:51:35
  And then. But I was going to a lot of like
• 1:51:36
  trade shows. And stuff overseas and basically
• 1:51:42
  I was at a trade show and there was like a small booth and this
• 1:51:47
  company had like a bunch of dampers, you know out on the
• 1:51:50
  table. And I instantly recognized it
• 1:51:52
  because I was importing so many coil overs from Japan from use
• 1:51:57
  market before. And what I recognized was the
• 1:52:00
  dampers. The the dampers I saw was.
• 1:52:04
  K office, OK. If you know K office, they they
• 1:52:07
  used to be the best coil over brand in Japan in like early
• 1:52:13
  2000 I had K office coil overs. Oh really?
• 1:52:17
  They were like my first set of coil overs ever.
• 1:52:19
  I bought them off of another car.
• 1:52:20
  I didn't know what they were. They were green, the springs
• 1:52:23
  were green, and I think the color was green and gold.
• 1:52:25
  And I literally was like coil overs.
• 1:52:28
  I'll give you 400, got the coil overs.
• 1:52:30
  And then I was like, what kind of coil overs are these?
• 1:52:32
  Look it up. Look it up.
• 1:52:33
  K office, Yeah, what the fuck? Got some J shit?
• 1:52:35
  And I drove it like that. I drove it.
• 1:52:37
  All over up and. Down the East Coast, like that
• 1:52:39
  day. Yeah, very high quality.
• 1:52:40
  Yeah, very respective company. And pretty much everyone in
• 1:52:44
  Japan and early 2000s were running K office.
• 1:52:46
  So yeah, but not sure exactly what happened.
• 1:52:50
  I I mean I've heard, I've heard stories from many people but
• 1:52:54
  it's never confirmed so. But the company just disappeared
• 1:52:58
  overnight. And that's when I was actually
• 1:53:01
  at the trade show and the factory was looking for a new
• 1:53:05
  buyer at the time. And basically I was there and I
• 1:53:08
  recognized the dampers and I was like K Office.
• 1:53:10
  And he's like, Nope, I was like K Office.
• 1:53:13
  He's like, oh, I was like K office.
• 1:53:18
  I know. So that was.
• 1:53:20
  Supplier I guess, right? That was the factory, yeah.
• 1:53:23
  And then I was like. I'm a businessman.
• 1:53:24
  Here's a business card. I'm going to come back tomorrow,
• 1:53:27
  check out my website, come back tomorrow.
• 1:53:28
  They're like. The office.
• 1:53:34
  I'm like, I'm interested. That's awesome.
• 1:53:37
  And then? Yeah, and then basically.
• 1:53:40
  I told them to build me a sample set for S13.
• 1:53:43
  I brought it back to confirm, make sure it was actually good
• 1:53:48
  and I put it on. I'm like, I know this feeling
• 1:53:50
  cuz I've tested it before and I was like, damn this is good.
• 1:53:54
  So yeah, that's how I started and that's crazy.
• 1:53:57
  And this was like 2005 and this was when coil overs were still
• 1:54:02
  kind of like getting into the market, but people were like,
• 1:54:05
  ah, you don't need coil overs. You can do same thing with
• 1:54:07
  flooring springs and Kib shocks and stuff.
• 1:54:11
  And and and also the Tain, I think just enter the market and
• 1:54:17
  like taint flexes were selling for like 2000 something.
• 1:54:20
  So it was like very really, yeah.
• 1:54:22
  And because I had those too. Yeah.
• 1:54:24
  So it was and. At the time, GIC Magic, yeah,
• 1:54:29
  was also around, but they were also around like close to 2001,
• 1:54:33
  right? Yeah, they're also very.
• 1:54:35
  So most of the Coyovers. Were unattainable for most kids
• 1:54:39
  so I wanted a coyover that was and and then and then you had
• 1:54:45
  the option of Megan Racing. So and then we I tested Megan
• 1:54:50
  Racing just because some of our customers wanted it and.
• 1:54:53
  As soon as I tested, I'm like this is hot.
• 1:54:55
  Garbage like this is so bad, so I.
• 1:55:00
  Wanted to basically like. I was like, yeah, I want to have
• 1:55:03
  my own brand of suspension that I could offer to customers and
• 1:55:07
  not sell them junk and stuff that just like makes you go at
• 1:55:12
  brain damage, you know, and it actually works, you know, and
• 1:55:15
  and but I didn't know anything about suspension.
• 1:55:17
  So I was like I had to trust the factory because they needed to
• 1:55:20
  supply me the right parts. But as soon as I.
• 1:55:23
  Hooked up with the factory and I knew they had all this
• 1:55:26
  experience with K Office and many other OG Japanese
• 1:55:30
  companies. And I was like, yeah, these guys
• 1:55:32
  know what they're doing. So then basically from there,
• 1:55:37
  yeah, I basically had to come up with a brand name and my ex
• 1:55:42
  employee at the time were all just like brainstorming.
• 1:55:45
  And that was the one word that, you know, they were kind of
• 1:55:50
  coming out with because. It was like Stance was like,
• 1:55:52
  not. Thing.
• 1:55:53
  Yeah. Yeah and and basically we
• 1:55:56
  thought it was a really good name for suspension and we kind
• 1:56:00
  of were the reasons why this whole stance were became a thing
• 1:56:04
  because once I introduced the suspension people were blown
• 1:56:09
  away at the price point and the quality and the performance.
• 1:56:12
  So all the cars are two 40s are being featured on the cover of
• 1:56:17
  Super Street magazine had our suspension so.
• 1:56:20
  It coined the term of stance cars cuz all the two 40s that
• 1:56:25
  had our suspension were super low wide body, perfect wheel
• 1:56:30
  fitment looks super aggressive and drives and drives.
• 1:56:33
  So people are like that's a stance car you know?
• 1:56:36
  Yeah, couple years later you know stance works and Oh yeah
• 1:56:41
  what is the other website? Us Stans Nation Stans station.
• 1:56:45
  Holy shit. That they just like came out and
• 1:56:48
  then I was like. What?
• 1:56:49
  What is this? Yeah, Yeah.
• 1:56:50
  And then it had like, Volkswagens with, like, stupid
• 1:56:53
  wheel fit, man. And like, these like cars with
• 1:56:57
  like 10 degrees of camera. I'm like, I don't know about
• 1:57:00
  this. Yeah.
• 1:57:02
  And then? Yeah, and then?
• 1:57:05
  Now the word stands had this like pronoun and adjective and
• 1:57:11
  verb whatever, like you could use yeah and basically.
• 1:57:15
  They went from like really like cool cars with like, you know,
• 1:57:19
  having our suspension to like Volkswagen with 10 degrees of
• 1:57:21
  camber. So.
• 1:57:23
  So there was like, yeah, that kind of trend kind of bother.
• 1:57:27
  You that that happened in a way, yeah.
• 1:57:28
  Yeah, I think it was like mixed emotions a little bit because.
• 1:57:34
  Like we were all about supplying quality parts, but some new
• 1:57:40
  customers. We're like, oh, so your
• 1:57:42
  suspension is for stance car? Yeah, Stance car, which was like
• 1:57:47
  you. Know that's crazy.
• 1:57:48
  So, well, I mean, I know what you're.
• 1:57:51
  Saying but. Like in my head I don't even
• 1:57:53
  think of that anymore. But when I started and I heard
• 1:57:56
  stance, I didn't think like that.
• 1:57:58
  I was like stance. So that's like, why is it called
• 1:58:02
  stance? Like right away you think like
• 1:58:04
  that, but I think you guys are taking back the ownership of
• 1:58:06
  that word. Slowly like it's.
• 1:58:08
  I think now it's so much more of a renowned.
• 1:58:12
  Yeah, stance is a coil over. Yeah, Yeah, so.
• 1:58:15
  But like. Naoki and all that stuff, I'm
• 1:58:17
  sure. I'm sure that could go on for
• 1:58:19
  another hour, but like, that whole relationship was pretty
• 1:58:22
  awesome too. Yeah, basically Takatori was a.
• 1:58:25
  Driver for was it D1GP or? Formula DI can't remember but.
• 1:58:30
  He was coming into us to drive for U.S. team.
• 1:58:33
  And the car had our suspension on it, which I was sponsoring
• 1:58:37
  because I was like like they told me that it was a Takatori
• 1:58:40
  driver from D1GP driving. I'm like, oh hell yeah, yeah, I
• 1:58:43
  sponsored this car then Takatori drove the car and and he was
• 1:58:47
  actually really like happy with the car and how it handled.
• 1:58:51
  And then and then I guess he asked you know, about the the
• 1:58:55
  coy over company and all the stuff and price point.
• 1:58:57
  He's like, actually, I want to sell this in Japan.
• 1:59:01
  So he got in contact with me and I was like, yeah, let's do it.
• 1:59:05
  And that's awesome. That's how that relationship
• 1:59:06
  formed. And then and Takatori is
• 1:59:10
  considered Og in Osaka area, so Nauki is like looks up to
• 1:59:18
  Takatori. So basically.
• 1:59:21
  That relationship kind of happened naturally.
• 1:59:23
  Well, not naturally, because Takatori initially didn't like
• 1:59:26
  Nauki I. I I I because Takatori in the
• 1:59:30
  beginning had this like. Bad image because yeah, he would
• 1:59:36
  St. drift and get arrested all the time.
• 1:59:38
  That's. What I was thinking and he would
• 1:59:39
  show up to drift events. Still dressed in his work
• 1:59:42
  clothes, like with his hair like all crazy looking and stuff.
• 1:59:46
  So he wasn't sponsorable. So no one sponsored him and I
• 1:59:50
  was like, I don't care. Like his driving is nuts.
• 1:59:54
  Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, we have to get this guy, you know?
• 1:59:57
  And then? I told Tucker, can you just go
• 1:59:59
  have dinner and just talk to him and see if he's crazy or not?
• 2:00:02
  If he's not crazy, can we just sponsor him?
• 2:00:04
  And he's like, it's like, fine, I'll do it.
• 2:00:06
  I've heard that before about him.
• 2:00:08
  Yeah, and then? He went to have dinner.
• 2:00:09
  He's like Dave. Nalke's really nice guy.
• 2:00:12
  And he's not crazy. Yeah, he's just stupid
• 2:00:14
  sometimes, you know? And I was like, he's just like,
• 2:00:18
  he's just like. Yeah, like he literally goes to.
• 2:00:19
  Work and then goes to toge or street drifting till like 5:00
• 2:00:23
  in the morning and then he takes the same car to competition and
• 2:00:25
  shows up. That's why he's still dressed
• 2:00:27
  and. Yeah, work clothes.
• 2:00:28
  And he's a painter. So they got this like bell
• 2:00:30
  bottom pants, you know, he's like his shirts all paint
• 2:00:34
  stained and stuff. So it's like, everyone's like, I
• 2:00:37
  don't want to sponsor this guy. I don't care how good he is in
• 2:00:40
  Japan. But I was like, I'm all about
• 2:00:42
  that dude. I don't care.
• 2:00:43
  Like, he always had like a myth about him because it was like,
• 2:00:45
  oh, didn't he get kicked out of D1 for street drifting?
• 2:00:48
  Yeah. Yeah, that's true story.
• 2:00:49
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 2:00:50
  In, in, in. Japan If you get arrested for
• 2:00:53
  street drifting, you're. You got your license taken away
• 2:00:57
  for two years or something, so and he would get his license
• 2:01:00
  back and then you would get. Caught again and he would get,
• 2:01:03
  he would get banned and then you would get caught again and.
• 2:01:05
  Come. And so now and then, like, I
• 2:01:07
  remember when Julian and all of them had him come out and we all
• 2:01:11
  had this, like, myth about like, all that.
• 2:01:13
  Guy's like the street drifter that got, you know, yeah,
• 2:01:16
  cancelled and everything. And then like, they go, what was
• 2:01:19
  it, Irwindale or something? And they had like a booth.
• 2:01:21
  And then he just starts doing a fucking standing burnout in his
• 2:01:23
  car. Like, they all start doing it.
• 2:01:25
  They all get kicked out. I was like, dude, I feel like I
• 2:01:27
  remember them getting in trouble for that.
• 2:01:29
  I heard that story. I was there.
• 2:01:31
  Oh, you were? That's awesome.
• 2:01:32
  I had nothing to do with it, by the way.
• 2:01:34
  Nothing. Yeah.
• 2:01:36
  Dude, that was. The best.
• 2:01:37
  Like, that moment was amazing for For Grass.
• 2:01:40
  Here's the back story. Yeah, I heard some of it.
• 2:01:42
  There is. There is some butting heads
• 2:01:44
  before that happened and yeah, basically.
• 2:01:49
  Yeah, something happened with Formula D and they didn't like
• 2:01:53
  some things about how like the whole setup was I think or I
• 2:01:58
  don't know, I don't know. But basically it was kind of
• 2:02:01
  like to say FU. 2 Formula D. So they just like, dare burnout.
• 2:02:04
  They're like, we're gonna get kicked out anyway, so we just
• 2:02:06
  gotta do a burnout and leave. So they just dare burnout and
• 2:02:08
  they just left. And I was like.
• 2:02:10
  My God, this is the guy I'm sponsoring.
• 2:02:13
  Yeah, like what do they just do? Yeah, and it's so funny, man.
• 2:02:18
  I love stories like that. Yeah.
• 2:02:20
  Last questions from TF works themselves, which is you Will
• 2:02:25
  Dave drive a final bout? Who?
• 2:02:27
  Who, what? One of your employees, kind.
• 2:02:31
  It'd be your own, Yeah. Oh shit.
• 2:02:34
  That's awesome, dude. Yeah.
• 2:02:35
  All right, cool. Can't wait for that.
• 2:02:37
  Yeah. So if you're listening to this,
• 2:02:38
  you've probably already missed final bout or you saw it.
• 2:02:41
  But this will come out afterwards, so make sure you
• 2:02:44
  check some videos. Hold on.
• 2:02:45
  Wait, wait wait. Do you have any final words that
• 2:02:47
  you would like to? Share with our listeners or
• 2:02:49
  anything like that. No, no, this was fun.
• 2:02:51
  So yeah, yeah. Maybe we can do like.
• 2:02:54
  You know, another one because 100%, I was going to just say
• 2:02:57
  that right now because we only touched This is like the tip of
• 2:03:00
  the iceberg, dude. Like there's so much more to
• 2:03:02
  talk about. So yeah, if you if you're up up
• 2:03:04
  for that 100%, like whenever we're in town, we're coming.
• 2:03:07
  Yeah, we're taking my truck. Next time maybe.
• 2:03:11
  But thank you SO. I appreciate it.
• 2:03:12
  Yeah, they've it really means a lot.
• 2:03:15
  To hear again, to be able to talk to you, somebody who's
• 2:03:19
  quite reputable, you've seen some shit and like me being a
• 2:03:23
  younger person. Not that you would be my daddy
• 2:03:25
  or anything like that, but you could.
• 2:03:29
  But I don't know to hear it from somebody who had their own
• 2:03:32
  experiences and stuff like that, it it, it hits a little
• 2:03:35
  different. So thank you so much.
• 2:03:37
  Yeah, you you know how much you mean to me.
• 2:03:39
  I don't need to say it on air. Yeah, don't cry again.
• 2:03:41
  Thank you guys so much for listening.
• 2:03:43
  We got one. More for you.
• 2:03:44
  In case you guys are going to keep on.
• 2:03:46
  We got two more. Do we?
• 2:03:48
  Yep. All right.
• 2:03:49
  Two more. But thank you guys so much for
• 2:03:52
  listening. This has been faction after
• 2:03:53
  hours with Dave from Toge Factory and good night, good
• 2:03:57
  night. All right guys, hope you
• 2:04:01
  enjoyed. That one, thanks to Dave again
• 2:04:02
  for letting us do this. We were, I was watching the
• 2:04:05
  clock the entire time. I'm pretty sure Carl was too,
• 2:04:07
  because we didn't want to take up too much time.
• 2:04:08
  It seemed like Dave had, you know, somewhere to be.
• 2:04:10
  So. But, you know, we just kept
• 2:04:13
  going with the stories and he was telling us how he got
• 2:04:16
  started. And hey, man, it ended up being
• 2:04:18
  two hours. Dave didn't seem to mind and we
• 2:04:21
  wrapped it up anyway a little earlier just to get out of
• 2:04:23
  there. And me and Dave started talking
• 2:04:25
  while we were leaving at the door and before you know it we
• 2:04:28
  were having another 40 minute conversation.
• 2:04:30
  So I I honestly can't think Dave enough for all the information
• 2:04:33
  he shared with us in this podcast and with me in general
• 2:04:36
  over the years. I take everything he says to me
• 2:04:39
  and all the information he gives me with great consideration
• 2:04:42
  given what he's been through and what he what he has accomplished
• 2:04:45
  in his life. If you guys want to support Toga
• 2:04:48
  Factory in any way, you can visit tf-works.com.
• 2:04:52
  That's where you'll find basically everything they do.
• 2:04:55
  They got stand suspension on deck, they got Origin Lab parts
• 2:04:59
  on deck, they get pretty much anything for an S chassis over
• 2:05:02
  there. So if you're in the Chicago area
• 2:05:04
  and you need parts quick, make sure to to visit Toga Factory
• 2:05:07
  and please check out our sponsors if you haven't already.
• 2:05:11
  Automotive Specialty Wraps and East Coast Drift School.
• 2:05:14
  Make sure to check them out and if you need any of their
• 2:05:16
  services, you'll see where to contact them below in the show
• 2:05:20
  notes. Stay tuned for Episode 4, our
• 2:05:24
  final episode from our final bout journey.
• 2:05:27
  Thanks for listening.