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The Enthusiast's Guide to Collector Cars - Greg Stanley · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
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all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
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designers, and everything in between.
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Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrol heads that wonder, "How did
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they get that job or become that person?"
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The road to success is paved by all of us, because everyone has a story.
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For years, Greg Stanley has been the voice guiding enthusiasts
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through the fast-moving, often unpredictable world of collector cars.
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As the host of the Collector Car Podcast, he's interviewed industry leaders,
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decoded market trends, and helped listeners understand not just what
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cars are worth, but why they matter.
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But he's also the author of The Enthusiast's Guide to Collector
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Cars, a book that distills decades of passion, research, and real-world
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experience into a roadmap for anyone who loves automotive history and wants
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to navigate the collector landscape.
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From blue chip classics to emerging icons, Greg brings clarity, curiosity,
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and a genuine love for the hobby.
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And today, he joins us to talk about the stories behind the cars, the
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people who collect them, and the evolving culture that keeps this
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world so endlessly fascinating.
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And with that, let's welcome Greg to Break Fix.
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Thanks for having me, man.
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I appreciate it so much.
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Greg, like all good Break Fix stories, there's always a superhero origin.
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So let's talk about yours.
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What first pulled you into the world of collector cars, and when
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did you realize this passion was going to then shape your career?
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Like everybody else, started when I was a young kid, Hot Wheels.
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My mom used to draw, you know, little stick figure versions of
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cars when I was a little kid.
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That probably ingrained in me somehow.
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But honestly, it wasn't until I started my own podcast.
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You know, I, I always tell people, "If you're interested in something or if
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you have your own business, you should always have your own podcast. And never
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worry about downloads, don't worry about views. It's about the people
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you meet, what you learn, and the subjects, you know, that you discuss."
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And so years ago, I started a podcast that wasn't about cars, strangely enough.
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It was called Learn From Others, and it was a career podcast sharing
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career journeys with high school kids.
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And it was really, really cool.
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I interviewed everybody from, like, the director of Hamilton, who was
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the speech writer for Ronald Reagan.
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But it never really got legs of its own.
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And at the end of each episode, I wanted a car aspect.
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And so I would always say, "Well, if you're a surgeon, here's the kind
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of car I think you should own." So it was always a fun way to work in
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classic collectible cars at the end.
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And finally, one of the guys, when we weren't recording, it was the speech
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writer for Ronald Reagan, he's like, "If people could describe you in two
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or three words, what would it be?"
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And I said, "Well, that's easy.
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I'm the car guy, you know?" He's like, "Well, you should probably
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have a car podcast." And so I started that up, The Collector Car Podcast.
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That was just a passion project, you know, as I know you know what that's like.
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It's a grind.
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People don't realize what a grind it is to do a weekly podcast.
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But I found I had an unlimited curiosity for cars, and so it was either learning
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about cars from an expert or it was me exploring a subject about cars I was
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always curious about or it was talking about valuation trends, you know?
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So I just kept on plugging along.
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And I just happened to be scrolling on LinkedIn one day and I saw RM
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Sotheby's had a car specialist position posted open, available.
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What I learned out later is they always had that that posting on
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there just to see who would apply.
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And I applied and, as you would expect, I didn't hear anything back.
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And I don't know, fast-forward six months or so, I had never been
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to an auction before in my life.
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I'd never been to an RM Sotheby's auction.
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I'm in Cincinnati.
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They had an auction up in Dayton, Ohio.
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It was the John Dixon collection.
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He had passed away, and he had some really cool Porsches.
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And so they were doing a one-off on-site auction, and I said, "You know what?
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I'm gonna run up there just to see what this auction thing is all about," right?
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And so I get up there.
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Just from, like, TV, I recognized Donnie Gold, car specialist.
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He's with Broad Arrow now.
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Been in the business for 40 years, great guy.
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I don't know why, I was like, "Donnie." I submit a resume.
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I never heard from anyone.
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And he pointed to this president at the time, Kenneth Ahn, he said, "Go
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talk to that guy I'm like, "Okay."
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Because of that, Donnie now takes full credit for my career in the car business.
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So I owe him a drink every time I see him.
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Talked to Kenneth, and he's like, "Ah, probably some HR filters kicked
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out your resume, you know?" Gave me his business card, and he said,
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"Send me your resume directly, you know, I'll, I'll take a look at it."
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And I didn't hear anything for, like, three months, and I got a call.
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And the call was basically, "We're not gonna offer you a job, but we
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like the connections you're making in the, uh, podcast. So we're gonna
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pick up your podcast as our official podcast, and you can be a car specialist
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consultant, where you can submit cars to auction as you're able to."
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And so I started bringing some cars to auction and stuff like that.
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And, uh, in the meantime, I ended up bringing the Ferrari 330 LM
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250 GTO that sold for a world record price of $51.7 million.
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That had a lot to do with our reputation.
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It was relationships, obviously, but it was RM Sotheby's selling the Uhlenhaut
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Coupe that really caught their attention.
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Anyways, long story short, I thought, "Well, you know what? That's,
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through a part-time deal." Not that I could get another GTO, but why
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don't I explore this in a little bit more of a full-time fashion?
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And so while I still consult with RM Sotheby's, I'm pretty much doing
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it freelance at this point, so it's been an incredible journey.
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So what you're saying is that job o- opening still
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exists on LinkedIn right now?
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Probably, probably.
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They're always looking, always looking.
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And some… People ask me, "Well, what is it like to be a car specialist?"
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I'm like, "It is probably the hardest job I know of," mostly
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because it's built on relationships and network, your personal network.
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Right.
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And even if you're the most connected person in the world, that doesn't
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mean you're going to be successful, because, you know, you might know
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Joe Blow with this great collection, he wants to sell with RM Sotheby's.
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But if he's had a relationship with RM Sotheby's for 20 years,
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he can't be your client, you know?
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And so it is really, really a tough job.
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So the guys that do it, they do it every day.
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They're ingrained.
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It's really, really hard to start out as your dream job, 'cause
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it's a really, really tough job.
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Well, we're gonna come back to that in a second, but I want to dive a
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little bit more into your past, because there's a major thread that you can pull
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throughout your writing, your newsletters, your photos, your videos, et cetera.
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You have a certain fondness for a Pontiac GTO.
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Do you want to explain what that's all about?
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That was really weird.
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That was really cool and really special.
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And this is a scenario where I had a buddy of mine, and he just had some
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friends that needed help selling a car.
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You get those all the time.
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I just got one today, and it's, like, a 2011 Ford Mustang,
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you know, with 16,000 miles.
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Right.
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And I'm like, "All right, well, Carvana or whatever," you know?
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Like, it's a very common car.
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And, uh, this was a scenario where- He's like, "Yeah, they want help selling their
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dad's Pontiac." And I'm like, "All right.
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You know, that could be cool.
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Probably not, but that could be cool." And this is through text message, so
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everything kind of came dripping in.
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He's like, "Oh, apparently it's a GTO." I'm like, "Well, that's cool." "Apparently
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his dad bought it new." "Well, that's really cool." "Apparently it's unrestored.
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He got all the performance stuff on it." So, you know, it kept getting better.
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Anyways, as these pictures came in, and it's unrestored, it's special
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paint, it's special ordered, it's AC on a 389 tri-carb, four-speed
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car, which is extremely rare.
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It kept getting better and better and better.
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And so, ironically, it was only an hour and a half from my house.
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And any place in the entire country, uh, my friend was in Atlanta that called me,
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it was an hour and a half from my house.
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And so by the time that I went to go look at it, I was like, "I gotta buy this car.
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There's just no way." You don't come across original family-owned, unrestored,
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special spec, crazy documentation ever So when I went out there, I had, in my
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mind, I was like, "All right, if I can, I need to buy this car." And I did.
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I also saw that as my ticket to being on Jay Leno's Garage, which is a whole nother
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story, so that worked out well, too.
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What would you describe that color as?
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So, like, a medium metallic gold.
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It's called Tiger Gold.
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So they offered five special paint colors for that year,
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and this was one of the five.
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And, uh, what's interesting about it is it only came with a white or
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a black pinstripe, but this owner had custom ordered a red pinstripe.
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And what's really weird is, in Pontiac world, they have the Pontiac
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Historical Society or whatever, it's the documentation you can order up
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that tells you about your car, and even with that documentation, it
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says it's a special color, but it doesn't tell you what the color is.
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Even on the VIN tag, it says it's a special color, but it
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doesn't say what the color is.
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Now, this was fortunate, 'cause it's an unrestored car, so we knew it had Tiger
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Gold, we knew it had the red pinstripe.
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But when they pulled the car out of 40 years of slumber, they pulled the gas
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tank and they found the build sheet, which is really crazy that it was still there,
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and it said, "Tiger Gold, red stripe."
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You just can't ask for a better documentation than
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the original build sheet.
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So yeah, it's a beautiful car.
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I've never been a gold… You know, it's like anything else.
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If there's a color of a car you don't like, after you own one for a little
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while, you'll then love that color.
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So I really love gold cars right now.
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With Pontiac celebrating its centennial, any special feels
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for you, being a Pontiac owner?
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You know, not really, only because this car has been such a rollercoaster
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ride ever since the day we bought it.
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Took it to Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, it was on the Red Carpet
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Invitational, had it on The Jay Leno Show, took it to Cincinnati
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Concours, won the Preservation Award.
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And so, it's like anything else.
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When you buy a car, it's a whole journey with that car.
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So I almost feel like, you know, it's great that it's the 100 years,
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and I'm not sure what's gonna happen with the car r- right now as far as
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it relates to the celebration, but I've had so much fun with it, it
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almost seems like, oh, this is cool.
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But man, we've had such a ride so far.
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So let's address the 900-pound gorilla in the room, because other people
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are probably thinking, "I've got a numbers-matching, factory original
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GTO. How come I can't go on Jay Leno's Garage?" How did you make that happen?
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Yeah, this is a crazy story, because I'm very tenacious, I guess, you know?
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I just don't give up, I guess, is the biggest thing.
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Through the car world, I figured out who a person was in Jay
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Leno's garage that I could email, 'cause I wanted him on my podcast.
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I thought that'd be great, Jay Leno on my podcast, that'd be fantastic.
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And so I emailed, and it was always a polite response, but it was more
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of a, "Well, let's see what happens."
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And nothing ever happened.
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I even did some episodes where I dug into his collection, you know, like
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here's all his pre-war cars, here's his whatever cars, and I had like four
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or five episodes where I dug into his collection, which was a lot of fun to
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do, and I thought, "Well, maybe that would get me to have Jay Leno on."
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My pitch was is there's, like, 10 cars that are not in Jay Leno's garage, like,
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why are these cars not in his garage?
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Now, obviously, the famous one is Ferraris, but he doesn't have
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a BMW, he doesn't have a V16, he doesn't have X and Y cars.
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And I thought, "Well, that'd be a very interesting podcast episode,"
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like, "Why don't you have these cars?"
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And it never happened.
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At, at one point, my contact actually responded saying, "Well, I'm booking
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him for stand-up events. He'd probably rather do your podcast, so let's see who
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wins." And I never heard anything back.
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And then a couple years later, I was asked to podcast from the Wynn
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at the Las Vegas Concours in the lobby, they have a podcast studio,
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and Jay Leno was the Grand Marshal.
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And so I said, "Well, this is my big chance. I can finally meet Jay Leno in
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person." And so he was the Grand Marshal.
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Outside, he's swamped all the time, right?
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I saw him outside, and I ran up to him, and I had like two seconds, and I said,
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"I'd love for you to be on my podcast so I can tell you the cars that should
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be in your collection," which was, like, the worst way to do it, right?
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And he just looked at me like, "What?" And that was it, and I got a, a poor
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selfie done with him, and that was it.
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And then, like, a year later, between that time and a year later
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when I was at the podcast studio again at the Wynn, I bought the GTO.
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And I thought, "All right, well, this is my chance to get my car on his show,
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and maybe I'll get him on my show."
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And so I did this huge email with pictures and explanations, how
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special this car was, and all sorts of stuff, and I sent it to my same
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contact, and I never heard back.
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And I was like, "Well, that's kind of disappointing," you know?
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I thought there might be a chance I would see him again in Vegas.
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And so what I did was is, like, printed off that email-
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And it had in my back pocket.
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I couldn't meet, catch up with them, and then we got kicked out of
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our hotel room at 11:00 AM 'cause we're, we had the midnight or
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whatever, the red-eye flight back.
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So we had this time to burn, and I remember the podcast studio, the guy said,
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we, he knew we were getting kicked out.
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He's like, "Hey, if you wanna hang out in the studio, you can.
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Just come by.
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There's like a little lobby area." So no sooner than my wife arrived there
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with our luggage that Jay and his wife and his small crew of like two
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other people walk in, 'cause he had to do a, a podcast episode right then.
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And so we just sat, waited patiently, and he did his interview, and we have
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our five minutes with him afterwards.
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And I pull out my printed off email, and I said, "I think this car would be great for
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your show." And he looked at the email.
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He's like, "Oh, I know this car.
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I know this story.
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This is a great story.
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Yeah, let's have it on the show." And so he gave me his producer's phone
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number, and we wrote it down wrong 'cause it was like, you know, here's
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his name, here's his number, and we wrote it down wrong Anyways, after
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that, I reached out to my contact.
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I said, "Hey, Jay wants the car to be on the show," but I wrote the
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number down and she put us in contact.
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It took off from there, and, uh, it was just a great experience.
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But it was four or five years of me trying to get on his show.
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And then when I got there, this is another fun story, I don't know why,
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but in my head I thought, "Well, I'll do an interview with Jay.
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We'll just use his equipment." California union shops, you know, that kind of stuff.
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I should have known better.
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And so we get there, if, if you watch the Jay Leno video, I say, "Hey,
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Jay, thanks for being on my podcast." But we hadn't recorded it yet.
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They had agreed to do it.
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And so after our ride for his video, he's like, "Hey, you
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want to do that interview?"
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I'm like, "Yeah, sure." And I just happened to have my camcorder with me,
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but I didn't have a stand or anything.
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And the producer was even saying, "Well, I can do it with my cell phone if you
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want." I'm like, "No, let's not do it with your cell phone." And so we go into
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this, his motorcycle room, full of Vincent Black Shadows, that kind of stuff, and
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there's a coffee table sitting there with a bunch of books on it and stuff.
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And I said, "Well, let's just put it right here." And the camcorder was a little
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crooked, and for some reason there's two black combs on this coffee table.
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And so we grabbed the black combs and we even out the camera so they can record.
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So if you go to my YouTube channel, The Collector Car Podcast, the first
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video that shows up automatically is that interview with Jay.
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The lighting's horrible.
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It's only like a 10-minute interview, but I was able to ask
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the questions about this or that.
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Which car would you have if it's a V16?
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Would you have a, a Marmon or a Cadillac?
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For a Ferrari, would it be an F40 or a, I think I said a, a
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Lusso, maybe something like that.
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But anyway, so it was a heck of an experience.
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I'm hoping to get back there with the book, but so far I haven't had
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a chance to get back out there.
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Well, congratulations.
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That's like reaching the top of Mount Everest, so good job on that.
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Yeah.
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It's a lot of effort.
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So don't ask me, "Can you get me on Jay Leno's Garage?" 'Cause
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it's very, very difficult.
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And he's always at the top of every automotive podcaster's whiteboard.
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Like, "We gotta get an interview with Jay Leno," and then it's Jerry
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Seinfeld, and then there's a couple other people in the collector space
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that, you know, those are the unicorns that you're trying to interview.
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So good job.
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E- excellent.
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Excellent.
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Yeah.
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Thanks.
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Appreciate that.
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That does segue us into talking more about the interviews that
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you've done over the years.
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You've gotten to hear from the voices all over the automotive world.
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Of those conversations, what kinds of insights or surprises have emerged
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when you've been interviewing somebody all along the way that you've been
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doing the Collector Car Podcast?
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You know, it's interesting, 'cause I, I think what comes across is everybody's
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passionate, but then they're very specific about what they're passionate about.
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And so I'll give a couple examples here.
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I used to do a, a version of my podcast called The Ultimate Garage.
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I'd ask Wayne Carini what's his top 10 cars, or I asked Ken Gross, who's,
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you know, automotive historian, great guy- What I found interesting is
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the responses were very surprising.
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For example, for Ken Gross, he is such a student and judge.
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You know, he judges all over the world.
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But it's not just collector cars, he knows the very specific, very
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special, very rare cars, you know?
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And so what was interesting about that podcast, if I asked him his 10 cars,
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it wasn't like a Ferrari 275 GTB.
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It was like, "Here's the one, here's the VIN, here's why it's special, and
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here's who owns it today," you know?
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It was really one-off Delahaye or whatever it was.
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It was very cool, very special in the fact that his knowledge base was so deep that
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it wasn't like, "Well, here's the make and model and version I want." It's like,
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"This is the exact car." And then it was also surprising with Donald Osborne, who
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used to run Enjay, he surprised me quite a bit because the first nine cars, like,
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I don't want to say I could have guessed, but I could have guessed the genre.
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French, Alfa Romeo, Italian, you know, very Art Deco or very classic, you know.
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He's a classically trained opera performer, you know,
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like just a classy guy.
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But his 10th car caught me off guard.
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It was a 1965 Mustang Fastback with the K-Code engine.
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I'm like, "Really? That's great. Like, that's cool." Like, I've got my…
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I'm a big K-Code fan.
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I've got my HYPO book right here.
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And anyway, so I had a dark blue K-Code I found during Amelia Island Car Week
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under a tarp that was not for sale and not running, and I bought it, drove
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it around Amelia Island a year later.
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And then when I sold it, I put it on my News Blast.
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Donald never responds to any of my emails, but this one he did.
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He said, "All right, I'll bite. How much?" And I told him, and I never heard back
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from him, and it sold in 17 hours, so I, apparently I had a good price on it.
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So I, you know, it's that kind of stuff I find very interesting.
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I also love interviewing original owners whenever possible.
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Sometimes it's a guy that has a not that rare of a car, like an '87 Pontiac
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Firebird, but he bought it new and then he lost it for 26 years, and then
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he found it in a barn in basically barn-fine condition, and then he
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restored it, and now he's at car shows.
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You know, those are just really cool.
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Obviously, the original owner stories where they've had it since 1963
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are really, really cool, but it just depends on what the story is.
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It, it could be a car worth 10 grand if the story's cool enough, you know?
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So when you look back over the long history of The Collector Car Podcast,
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what are some of the things that you've seen trend or evolve from your very
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first episode to where you are now?
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Is there anything that really stands out about the community as you've
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been diving deeper and deeper into it?
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You know, I probably put a little too much emphasis on values at some point.
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Now that I've been doing it for long enough, you know, not all
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values continue to go up, right?
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I don't like the aspect of investing.
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Like, it's fun to spitball and ballpark and forecast and that kind of stuff,
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and yes, I would prefer to buy a car that I think is gonna appreciate,
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where at least I get my money out of it or I don't lose too much money.
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But I don't think that's as much fun as I used to think it was, because
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as you're in it for a number of years, you realize, yeah, there
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are different trends that happen.
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Some of them you can see coming, others you cannot.
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And right now we're in a really weird timeframe where it doesn't
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make a lot of sense with some of the stuff that's happening.
18:40
One example I'll give is the Ferrari Daytonas.
18:42
You know, they're classic front engine, V12, manual,
18:46
analog, all the stuff you want.
18:47
Beautiful.
18:48
Not the most fun car to drive at slow speeds but, you know,
18:51
once you get it up and running.
18:52
Those were approaching 800, $900,000 at one point.
18:56
We'll never forget, I, I never did a podcast about it, but I wanted to.
19:00
There was a yellow, I won't say the right, you know, Italian phrase
19:03
for that, giallo, whatever, but it went to 14 different auctions.
19:07
The first auction it was a no sale at 700 grand.
19:10
The second auction it was a no sale at 800 grand.
19:12
The third auction, 850.
19:14
And then after that it just kept on declining until a
19:17
hammer sold for, like, 550.
19:19
14 auctions, and what was interesting is it kind of mirrored, at that
19:22
time, the collector car market as a whole was going through a little
19:25
bit of a, of a recession, right?
19:27
And then we have the time in which the Dinos, doesn't say Ferrari
19:30
anywhere on it, you know, rear engine, six cylinder, handles
19:34
really well, a beautiful little car.
19:36
But those were trading for more than Daytonas, and they
19:39
sometimes still are today.
19:41
I think as so much has equalized, but you still have examples.
19:45
Daytonas are back up, I mean, one sold recently for a million dollars.
19:49
It's just interesting, you know?
19:50
So it, it's hard to predict where some cars are going to go.
19:54
It's fun to, but I think I'd much rather focus on the passion and the love for
19:59
whatever the car is, and the history, not worrying about the value so much.
20:03
And it's funny you bring that up, because my mind immediately goes to what's the
20:08
next closest underdog of the modern era?
20:11
And you say the Daytona, and I go, "Eh, it's okay." The whole Miami Vice
20:15
thing, and, you know, all that stuff that goes along with the Daytona.
20:17
But I go 456.
20:19
Front engine, V12, manual or automatic.
20:23
Very handsome car, but it's understated because it was overshadowed by the
20:26
550 Maranello and the 575 that came after that, and things like that.
20:29
So there, to me, that's like the bargain front engine V12.
20:33
Why spend half a million bucks on a GTB when you could buy a
20:37
456 and it's way more modern?
20:38
You know what I mean?
20:39
Like, I have these debates and these struggles, and I wonder if other-
20:42
Yeah … collectors out there are doing the same thing when they're hearing about
20:44
these classic cars, going, "I can get a much newer car for less money. Maybe
20:49
it doesn't have the same provenance, but what about the driving experience?"
20:53
So how do you handle those sort of maybe misconceptions about the market
20:57
or, you know, how people are trending and where they're putting their money?
21:00
I think cars from the '50s and '60s, I don't think they're
21:03
gonna continue to appreciate the way they ever have in the past.
21:07
Mostly 'cause it's a generational shift.
21:08
If you see someone that's under 50 pursuing a new Ferrari, they're not
21:12
pursuing- Let me just say a Ferrari, it's typically not an old Ferrari.
21:16
That's part of the challenge is, is getting them engaged.
21:18
Part of the reason, we can talk about it in a minute, but about my book.
21:21
It's like, don't always look at the new stuff.
21:23
Have appreciation for the eras that came before it, 'cause there's a
21:26
lot of really cool stuff there.
21:27
I would probably be right with you.
21:29
I mean, I'd love to have a Daytona.
21:30
Now, I'm, I'm not saying I'd want a 456.
21:33
They are handsome, but they're not everybody's cup of tea, right?
21:36
Right.
21:36
They are handsome.
21:37
But, you know, like a 550 Maranello, I'd love to have one of those.
21:41
Manual front engine V12.
21:43
I've always loved those.
21:43
They're really sweet.
21:44
So there are a lot of cars under the Daytona price point I would buy- First.
21:49
Yeah, first.
21:50
That would be much newer cars.
21:51
You know, a 458, you know, last of the natural aspirated V8s.
21:54
You know, there's a lot of stuff on that list I would buy be- I
21:57
think we're in the same ballpark.
21:58
And I think a lot of folks are like that as well, 'cause it's comfort, convenience.
22:02
You gotta buy right though, because, you know, after a certain while, 456 is
22:06
probably a good example, probably quite a few parts on that car are very hard to
22:10
source, and that's where you gotta buy the best possible car you can when you get it.
22:14
I mean, what, servicing's one thing, but when you start losing, like, some trim
22:18
pieces or some interior knobs or whatever, who wants to go down the 3D printing
22:22
route, right, to get the car functioning?
22:24
Yeah, that becomes interesting.
22:26
That becomes a challenge.
22:27
I bought my wife a '05 Porsche Boxster S that's 1,900 miles on
22:31
it, in a collection since new.
22:33
Thing's perfect.
22:34
It's like bulletproof.
22:35
Absolutely love the car.
22:36
Now, would I love to find a Ferrari version of that?
22:39
Yeah, sure I would, you know?
22:40
But there's different expectations and different cost implications as well.
22:44
For sure.
22:45
Even the cheapest Ferrari's gonna be expensive.
22:47
You mentioned your book earlier, so let's segue into that, The
22:51
Enthusiast's Guide to Collector Cars.
22:53
You break down the hobby for newcomers, and I felt that as I read it, and I
22:58
wanted to dive a little bit more into your inspiration after all this time.
23:03
Writing a book is sometimes a mammoth undertaking,
23:06
especially for a lot of people.
23:07
You know, some people say, "Hey, how hard could it be?"
23:09
Famous last words on Top Gear.
23:11
But to write a book is something of a journey.
23:14
So what brought you to that?
23:15
Yeah, there's quite a few things.
23:17
First off, my wife has become quite a car girl.
23:20
She's always asking me, like, "Well, what's that generation of Porsche?
23:23
What's that generation of Corvette?" She picks up stuff really quick.
23:27
I tell people, the other day she was like, "Was that a '62 Buick?"
23:30
And I'm like, "Wait a minute.
23:31
What?
23:31
Yeah, that was a…" You know, like, it wasn't like, "Was that a '63 Corvette?"
23:35
You know, something real mainstream.
23:37
It was, like, totally random and she totally nailed it.
23:39
I'm like, "Wait a minute." But I realize there's not really that one
23:42
access point in which to dip your toe in the collector car pool, so to speak.
23:47
There's a lot of books out there, and they're usually like, "Here's the top
23:51
100 cars," or they're talking about the collector car hobby as a whole.
23:55
It's not necessarily by someone that is so top level, it's almost useless.
24:01
And then you have the flip side of that, which it's the deep dives
24:04
are amazing, but it's just too much of an obstacle for someone new.
24:07
I mean, I've got- The History of Brumos over here.
24:10
I've got Japan's Most Astonishing Automobiles by
24:13
Myron Vernis and Mark Brinker.
24:14
Incredible anthologies, but it's not what you buy where,
24:18
you know, it's a new enthusiast.
24:20
And I also have some nieces and nephews that are in their teens that are really
24:24
loving cars, and I'm like, "Well, what would be a good access point?"
24:28
So that was probably the trigger point.
24:30
Before that, I'd have to say it was my 400 episodes of research.
24:33
And so, yes, it is very hard to write a book.
24:36
I tell people this one's a little different 'cause it's a guide,
24:39
so it's not like War and Peace.
24:41
There's not a lot of creative writing involved.
24:43
It's more of me as a narrator walking you down the different eras, the
24:47
timelines of the automotive world.
24:49
So I, I plan to have more.
24:51
I've almost done with the Porsche book, which hopefully will come out in October
24:55
Yes, it is a, it is a big elephant to eat, I guess, is the best way to put it.
25:00
But meant to be entry level.
25:01
It's meant to be snippets.
25:03
It's meant to be somewhat formulaic.
25:05
You know, you have the same outline for each chapter.
25:07
You're just kind of diving into it differently.
25:09
So I'm trying to make it where it's easy to enjoy.
25:13
Even though it's 400 pages, there's a lot of pictures.
25:15
And, uh, I, I mean, you can read a 400 page book in probably three hours or so.
25:20
So it's not overwhelming, which was the biggest goal, and it's meant to be to
25:24
inspire people to get excited about cars, which I did when I researched the, uh,
25:29
classic era, 1928 to 1948, I believe.
25:32
I was just like, "Wow, I never appreciated these cars like
25:35
this," once I researched it.
25:37
So I have a much better appreciation for that era of
25:39
cars than I ever thought I would.
25:41
So somewhere in between the forward and where the guide really hits its
25:44
stride, you talk a bit about the emotional side of collecting cars.
25:49
You make some connections there.
25:50
You tell some of your own stories.
25:52
Talk about what you think drives people to stay so deeply connected
25:58
with cars, even in the modern era where things are changing.
26:01
Ferrari just revealed the Luce, and we're all kind of scratching our head
26:04
going, "Is this the future of mobility?"
26:06
You know, it's no longer cars.
26:07
We call it mobility.
26:09
So how do collectors, especially young collectors like you were talking
26:12
about, get connected with old cars?
26:14
Yeah, you know, I think that really has, it's all about
26:17
experience really, and knowledge.
26:19
I was at a show the other day, local car show, and all the different clubs
26:23
showed up, and I was impressed how many people asked the little kids to
26:28
sit in their cars, whether it was a Ferrari or it was a Hummer or whatever.
26:32
And so it was really getting them involved by, uh, having them sit in the cars.
26:36
I can remember me growing up, that would never have happened, which
26:40
might've worked in the opposite way.
26:41
It was all forbidden fruit.
26:42
You're not allowed to touch this, so it made me want it more.
26:45
So I guess you can't really lose on that front.
26:47
But I think it's just a matter of getting them involved in the experience.
26:50
As this posts, I will have gone to Velocity Invitational out at
26:54
Sonoma Raceway, and that is really incredible, 'cause you have the
26:57
cars screaming on the track.
26:59
You know, you got 250 GTOs.
27:00
You got McLaren F1s.
27:02
You got Mini Coopers running with their class.
27:04
And that is meant to be much more as a cultural event where there's stuff
27:08
for spouses and children to do as well.
27:11
You can camp.
27:12
You know, you can do all sorts of stuff, and I think that's really the
27:15
key to get them involved and engaged.
27:18
Because at some point they're gonna connect with something over that
27:20
weekend, you know, and it might be something totally unexpected.
27:24
Uh, it was funny because when I interviewed the founder, Jeff O'Neill, he
27:28
mentioned he gave, I think it was a media reporter, a spin in his Boss Mustang,
27:32
but it was one of the factory Parnelli Jones race cars, around the track.
27:36
The media reporter only wanted to do one lap 'cause he said, "That's
27:39
the most violent thing I've ever had experienced in my life."
27:42
And I told him, I said, "You know what?
27:44
He might not have liked it, but he'll never forget it, you know?" And so
27:47
if you put a little kid in a scenario like that- As long as you don't
27:50
traumatize them, they'll probably, 10 years down the road, they might wanna
27:53
relive something like that, 'cause it really sticks in your mind so much.
27:57
And it, it doesn't have to be something like that, but it could be… My first
28:00
thing that connected with me is my dad's friend came over when I was, like, 15.
28:05
His somewhat shady friend who I didn't know if I could trust him or not, but he
28:09
showed up with a '66 Mustang convertible, and it was so gorgeous in our driveway.
28:14
I offered to wash it so I could touch it.
28:16
And never sat in it, never washed it.
28:19
Like, an hour later it was gone, and I never saw it again, and
28:22
that was my forbidden fruit.
28:24
I just could not stop thinking about that Mustang.
28:26
I even took pictures of it, but I never sat in it or anything.
28:29
You know, it's just trying to get those kids involved.
28:31
I think we're in a good spot though, because I remember there was someone
28:34
at one of the car shows, elderly gentleman who's been around forever.
28:37
I think it was a 80-year-old Ferrari judge, and he said something to the
28:40
effect of, "I have no concern about the future of our hobby. I've never
28:44
seen so many kids at a car show, you know, with their phones, sharing it
28:48
on social media, than I have today."
28:50
And I thought that was a re- really good point.
28:52
You know, you think about probably 40 years ago at these Ferrari shows, there
28:55
probably wasn't one kid, you know, and now there's 40 or whatever it is.
28:59
So I think we're probably engaging them more than we think.
29:02
I think the motivation might be a little different though.
29:04
Some of it is to get likes, to get views, to flex, so to speak, uh, which
29:09
I don't think is necessarily healthy.
29:11
But if that gets them involved in the hobby Let's go with it.
29:15
Throughout your journey, whether it be putting together the book, your show,
29:19
interviewing folks, judging at concourse, going to different car shows, you know,
29:24
reporting on things and whatnot, is there sort of an underdog story or a, you know,
29:28
your own personal barn find where you were introduced to a car where not just
29:32
the way it looked, but its story changed your perception of maybe the car or the
29:37
brand or, or everything that went with it?
29:39
Is there something that really resonates with you?
29:41
There is.
29:42
I need to keep it somewhat vague, 'cause I don't wanna give
29:45
up any confidentialities here.
29:47
But I was in a collection, and it's a really hard collection to get into, and
29:52
the reason being is person's private, but has some really cool old European cars.
29:56
And I just remember one of the cars he had bought new, call it 1958 or
30:02
so, something like that, and it was European sports car, and his wife
30:08
would take his son to school in it.
30:10
And really cool, really unique.
30:12
About a, I don't know, year or two later, he sold the car to get another
30:16
European sports car that was very extreme, like basically a factory
30:21
race car that he had on the streets.
30:23
It was 'cause it was his dream car, right?
30:24
And it was just too much for his wife to take the kid to school in,
30:28
'cause it was like a factory race car.
30:30
And they figured out a way, they couldn't really afford both cars, but they went
30:33
back and they bought the first car, which they affectionately called the school bus.
30:37
So, you know, this is in the late '50s, early '60s.
30:40
And so when I go to this collection, they still own those cars.
30:44
I was so impressed by the school bus story that I'd like to do
30:49
some fun pen and ink drawing.
30:50
So I thanked them for the visit by doing a pen and ink drawing.
30:53
So I drew the European sports car, behind it I put, "Of era, uh, school bus."
30:58
And I just, you know, say, "Hey, the school bus", or whatever.
31:00
And they sent me a picture back.
31:03
They framed it, and they put it in front of the car, and they sent
31:06
me a picture of the two back to me as, "Hey, this is really cool. We
31:09
appreciate it. Here it is." Well, fast forward like two years later, I ran
31:12
into the grandson who I never met.
31:15
I said, "Oh, I, I'd visited and I did this pen and ink drawing."
31:18
Well, he had had that picture of the drawing in front of the car as his
31:24
screensaver for like two or three years.
31:27
Wow.
31:28
So it was really cool to see it all kind of connect.
31:31
And as far as I know, those cars are still in that family's garage.
31:35
All right, Greg, let's take a quick pit stop and let's settle a debate,
31:38
an ongoing debate on this show.
31:40
And you being a collector car enthusiast with the new Enthusiast Guide to
31:44
Collector Cars, you're at the head of the boardroom table and you cast
31:49
the deciding vote to build either the space age, highly sophisticated
31:55
Porsche 959 or the Ferrari F40.
31:58
Which do you choose?
32:00
F40 Yeah, no doubt Why?
32:03
Why?
32:04
Well, it's funny you said that, 'cause between the two, I've
32:08
never fallen in love with the 959.
32:10
I mean, it's cool.
32:11
Technologically, it's amazing.
32:13
It has such an incredible story.
32:15
I had the chance to drive one.
32:16
Today's standard, it feels underpowered, which is why Canepa
32:19
is doing his SC version with, like, 700 horsepower, whatever, which
32:23
probably feels just about right.
32:24
I just never gravitated towards those cars, mostly because if
32:28
you look at the profile view, you can kind of see the 911 in there.
32:31
You know, you can see, well, here's the hood, here's the windows,
32:33
and they added the … You know.
32:34
They're cool, but I just never gravitated towards those.
32:37
I've always loved the F40.
32:39
Pop-up headlights are a thing now.
32:41
Back in the day, they, they weren't.
32:43
Everybody hated them.
32:44
But, you know, that V8, so raw, so incredible, such a cool, angular car.
32:50
You know, if they were to make one of those two again, I mean, there was rumors
32:53
last year of, you know, like, the SP4 was gonna be the modern interpretation
32:57
of the F40 but with a manual.
32:59
I'm like, "That's the ticket. That's what they need to do. Do it now." I mean, I
33:03
even had people that said they were in the factory, and they said they saw the car.
33:07
And I'm like, "Well, that hasn't happened yet, so I don't think they
33:10
really saw the car." But yeah, there's no doubt which one I would choose.
33:14
All right.
33:14
Since you chose the red card and not the gray card- … if you take the F40 versus
33:21
the F50, which one goes in your garage?
33:23
Ah, that's a tough one.
33:25
So here's why it's tough.
33:26
The F50 came out, I lived in Atlanta at the time, and so the new
33:30
Ferrari store up in Roswell, I was sticking my face against the glass
33:34
windows when the F50 was launched.
33:37
I did not think it was an attractive car at all.
33:39
Uh, I remember seeing one go down Georgia 400 South to the toll
33:43
plaza, and I thought, "Man, that thing is not that good-looking."
33:46
So I was in love with the F40.
33:48
Now, however, it has aged very well.
33:50
I have not driven either of those cars, and it's my understanding based on
33:54
people who either own both or have owned both, the F50 is a much more enjoyable
33:59
car to live with versus the F40.
34:02
And you look at the back of the F50, you know, you got that grate between the
34:07
brake lights, you know, it's basically open air, V12, you know, F1 inspired.
34:12
I would probably lean towards the F50, believe it or not, despite all
34:16
that, even though I love the F40.
34:18
I don't know.
34:18
That's a really tough question.
34:19
But if I had to go between a V12 and a V8, both incredible, iconic cars,
34:25
obviously the F50 much rarer, I would probably go with the F50, non-red.
34:29
Non-red.
34:30
See, and that's where the motorsports enthusiasts come to the table and say,
34:33
"You chose wrong, Greg, because the F40's a better track car than the F50."
34:38
And that's why, to your point, the F50 is livable in the street, 'cause the F40 was
34:42
never really supposed to be a street car.
34:44
And I would never take it on the track, honestly.
34:46
I'm just driving it at Cars and Coffee and local concours events.
34:50
Well, let's go back and let's connect the dots between your show and the book.
34:54
When you're putting it all together, how do you balance the analytical side of
34:58
the market data that you are constantly bombarded with, with the more personal,
35:02
subjective side of automotive enthusiasm?
35:04
And I mean, that comes through in the book, so that was part
35:07
of your writing experience.
35:09
How did you find a way to strike a balance there?
35:11
I purposely did not wanna lead people in any direction as far
35:15
as what they should pursue.
35:17
Whether it was type of car, era of car, or price point of car.
35:22
And so in order to do that, I felt like I needed to cover as
35:25
much of everything as I could.
35:27
So that's why there's, you know, the obvious stuff, you know,
35:30
the pre-war stuff, the brass era stuff, the muscle cars, the
35:33
1950s American, the British cars.
35:35
But then I also felt like I had to cover movie cars, 'cause
35:38
those are culturally so big.
35:40
I had to cover the restomod movement.
35:42
I had to cover trucks and SUVs, you know, and that's not my bread and butter.
35:47
You know, that's not what I pursue.
35:48
But I wanted to present it because that's where collectors are.
35:52
That's where the enthusiasts are, especially like in the truck and SUV.
35:56
Those have just exploded recently.
35:57
And then I also wanted to touch on modern stuff, like the modern collectibles,
36:01
like my wife's Boxster S. I mean, that is the definition of a future
36:05
collectible if there ever was one.
36:07
You know, last of the analog.
36:08
That made it a little bit easier because I wasn't focusing on the values, I
36:12
wasn't focusing on valuation trends.
36:14
Now, I still wanted a piece of that in there, and so when you look at the book
36:18
as an entry point, you know, people might aspire to have a Mercedes-Benz
36:21
300 SL Gullwing, you know, $1 to $10 million car, depending if it's
36:25
alloy or not, or Rudge wheels or not.
36:27
That's out of reach of basically all new enthusiasts.
36:30
Well, I put in a collector's ladder.
36:32
So what's the entry level for that era, make, mark, possibly?
36:36
What's a mid-level, and then what's blue chip?
36:39
So maybe you can't afford that today, but maybe you can get a, you know, early
36:42
'50s Mercedes Fintail or something, you know, to get into that world somewhat.
36:46
Because I've been in the auction world for a little while, I also thought
36:49
it would be fun to show at the end of each chapter, like, what are some
36:52
auction highlights and record sales, because, you know, I've mentioned before
36:56
flexing or showing off or whatever.
36:59
I think when people go to these car shows and they videotape these
37:02
cars that, you know, maybe they're out there to show, like, the new
37:05
Pagani or the new Huayra, whatever.
37:07
But there's some older stuff that is really worth a lot of money, that is
37:11
really cool, and it ties it to, usually to provenance and rarity and performance.
37:16
So at the end of each chapter, you know, I highlight what are the
37:19
top sales for, like, brass era, which, you know, is interesting,
37:22
or, you know, what's a Lamborghini Miura worth, you know, or whatever.
37:25
So I have it in there.
37:27
It's not the driving focus obviously.
37:29
It's more of a sharing the broad strokes of this hobby of ours and
37:33
letting the reader decide, you know, what they do or do not like and why.
37:37
And I think you're faced with the challenge that all of us are faced with
37:41
as enthusiasts when we try to espouse what makes this so exciting, is falling
37:46
victim to all the technical jargon.
37:49
And if you remember the parody video that was circulating the internet a
37:52
while ago, remember the old guy giving the demonstration of the Chrysler
37:55
Turbo Rotambulator transmission?
37:57
Oh, right.
37:57
And it's all this jargon and science and math, and you're
38:00
like, half of it's made up.
38:01
Feel like that's how new collectors feel when we're talking to them.
38:05
And we're not trying to be that way.
38:06
The book brings it down to a level that I think everybody can
38:09
understand, which is really good.
38:11
But how do we, as enthusiasts, you know, even talking about, "You should read
38:15
Greg's book, and here's why," and then we go off on this tangent about, you know,
38:18
this specific Marmon or whatever it is.
38:21
How do you rein yourself in?
38:22
How do you find a way to focus and say, "This is how I can communicate to someone
38:26
new to bring them into the fold and make them feel like they're not getting
38:30
overwhelmed with engineering jargon"?
38:32
You know, I think I just try to keep it as simple as possible.
38:35
I like to write, and I do a, a newsletter every Monday.
38:39
I guess it comes down to I don't want to waste anyone's time.
38:41
So I think part of that is also making it too technical.
38:45
There's probably a couple points in the book I should have put a little bit
38:48
more of an exclamation, like, "What is a V8?" Part of it, you have to make the
38:51
assumption that there's a certain level of knowledge base to even pick the book up.
38:56
And so you, you start with, like, well, I'm going to
38:58
assume they know these things.
39:00
Like, what's a manual transmission?
39:02
But then beyond that, I really didn't want to get into it, honestly.
39:05
You know, I didn't go into, you know, any sorts of crazy technology
39:09
we have in the cars today.
39:11
I maybe touched on it from a factor of if you're looking to restore one of
39:14
these cars because of these technological advancements, it might be really hard to,
39:18
but I don't go into what are those, right?
39:20
You know?
39:21
It's just more of a, "If you wanted to buy one of these, here are some considerations
39:24
you might want to factor in," and that could even go back to the older cars.
39:27
You know, maybe it's a rarity of parts for a pre-war car or whatever,
39:31
you know, there's not as much of an aftermarket supply built in.
39:34
So yeah, it's just, it's kind of a fine line, you know, trying to figure out
39:37
what can I communicate so they keep their interest without losing their
39:41
interest by going a little bit too deep.
39:43
And I also have to say, I was also talking to maybe it's the spouse
39:48
or partner that's in this car relationship, because typically in
39:52
a household, there's a car person.
39:54
If you're lucky, there's someone who enjoys it.
39:57
Typically, it's someone who tolerates it, right?
39:59
I'm fortunate my wife enjoys it.
40:01
But I also thought, you know, this would be a great book for that other
40:05
person in the household as a way maybe they could read it and kind of get
40:09
a little bit of an understanding of what their significant other finds so
40:13
appealing about the collector car world.
40:15
It'd be great if they said, "Oh, I understand why you like the
40:18
Mustang." That's why I also put in, like, cultural significance.
40:21
Like, why did this happen at this point in time?
40:23
Like the post-war of 1950s American cars, you know, celebrating
40:27
after, uh, World War II.
40:29
You know, trying to make it where it's accessible, not a little bit
40:33
too much, but a way to engage someone new for whatever that reason is.
40:37
One of the things that you mentioned earlier was that you're still working
40:40
on finishing the Porsche book, and that should be out in the fall.
40:44
I'm assuming that that's gonna be in a similar vein and style to this book.
40:49
As you described it, you basically drew a line in the sand saying there's
40:52
a difference between a collector car guide and a buyer's guide.
40:56
So in your Porsche book, do you recommend a buyer's guide that would go into
41:00
deeper detail about, "Hey, I wanna buy a G-Series 911. This is the complimentary
41:04
book that goes with it to tell you all the nitnoid things about buying one of
41:07
those, restoring one of those," you know, really looking at it with a fine-tooth
41:11
comb when you go to make that investment.
41:13
You know, Greg said you should get one, but what happens next?
41:16
Are you doing that in tandem?
41:18
No.
41:20
I'm trying to keep it strictly to an enthusiast guide.
41:23
My goal is to have, like, you know, you see these youth
41:26
judging programs, you know?
41:27
I'd love to see every youth judge to have a book in their backpack
41:31
that is beat up, dog-eared.
41:34
They're enjoying it as a read.
41:36
They're not, "I need to buy this book so I can figure out what the next
41:39
Porsche is gonna be." No, I want it to be for that kid who likes Porsches
41:42
but know n- nothing about Porsches.
41:44
So yeah, there's gonna be a chapter on 996 or transactional cars, but
41:49
it's gonna say, "Why were they built?
41:51
What's special about them?
41:53
What's the performance like?
41:54
What are some watch outs?" You know, that kind of stuff.
41:57
So the same vein as this book, you know, so this first book's 400 pages.
42:01
I do not expect the Porsche book to be 400 pages.
42:03
I would assume it's gonna be half that, or 250 or something like that.
42:07
Maybe there's more pictures or whatever, but, you know, yeah,
42:09
it will go into some fun facts.
42:11
You know, it'll go into Gemünd or maybe why is the ignition on the left, by era.
42:16
Why is a, you know, a 930 called a widow maker?
42:19
You know, the stuff that we all know, but maybe to a, a slightly deeper level.
42:23
But I also think it would be fun to have a focus on a collector
42:27
who is noted for 356s or whatever.
42:29
I have a, a local guy here, Dick Weiss.
42:32
He bought his 356 Carrera Speedster, it's a 1960 model, and he bought
42:37
it in '61, and he still drives it.
42:39
And so I thought, do a little collector focus of these people that have been
42:42
so passionate about these cars for so long and why, and maybe they'll
42:46
share some fun insight about that.
42:48
So I feel like the Porsche book could be bigger than the
42:51
collector car book in some ways.
42:53
Where do you draw the line and say, "We're only gonna cover maybe the
42:57
street cars. We're not gonna deal with the motor sports derivatives, you
43:00
know, the special cars," because those exist in the collector world, too.
43:03
I mean, h- 917Ks and 935 Longtails and 914/6 GTs.
43:09
You know, you name the list.
43:10
There's a lot of, uh, motor sports-winning Porsches out there.
43:12
So where did you say, "Enough's enough. I'm only gonna deal with 356, 911,
43:17
944," you know, that kind of stuff?
43:19
Where did you strike a balance with the Porsche book?
43:21
I'm still struggling with that.
43:23
'Cause even Macans and Cayennes, you know, and Taycans and that kind of
43:28
stuff- So I think that's where it becomes almost, like, uh, in, in the
43:32
Enthusiast Guide, I have a chapter on motorsport derived cars that talks
43:37
about the Alfa 8C, it talks about the 250 GTO, but it's not comprehensive.
43:42
It's an overview, right?
43:43
And so you're right.
43:45
I mean, I've got two things here on the Porsche 917, you know, like
43:49
two volumes, and it's super crazy.
43:52
You're right.
43:52
So I haven't quite figured that part out.
43:54
You know, I don't know if it's a chapter where it just kinda is a brief
43:57
overview of the top five cars that everybody knows about and connects it
44:00
back to the, uh, motorsport history.
44:02
I haven't quite figured that out, but that's a great question, and I, I am
44:05
struggling even with, I think I probably need to cut it off at what would
44:09
be considered a future collectible.
44:10
You know, like a 2014 Cayenne GTS could be considered a future collectible.
44:16
Maybe really have to handpick some of those, you know?
44:18
See, I'd argue the diesel Cayennes are rarer, and they'd be more collectible.
44:22
No, you're right.
44:22
Yeah, no, let's not go down a whole diesel thing.
44:27
That's, that, that is true.
44:28
So I, I have to look at it, like, all right, what would a
44:31
15-year-old or just a new enthusiast, what would they find valuable?
44:35
At some point, you're going down the rabbit trail a little too far.
44:38
Exactly, and I think you'll probably find that with Ferrari and then the
44:42
other brands you sort of hone in on, is you have to say, "Okay, enough's
44:45
enough." Or maybe there's a volume two to the Porsche book which is motorsport
44:49
related or something like that, you know?
44:51
That's the thing, is it, the series can go forever, it's just as long
44:54
as I feel like doing it, you know?
44:56
And so far, I mean, I have 420 podcast episodes in, and I have no lack of
45:01
desire and curiosity to keep going.
45:03
So I think it will be the same with the books, honestly.
45:06
Well, since we're talking about the future, let's talk a little bit about
45:09
the future of the collector car world.
45:10
Whether it's technology, culture, the next generation of enthusiasts,
45:14
which we've been talking about quite a bit, what excites you about the
45:16
future of the collector car world?
45:18
I think it's in a really weird spot, which I find very interesting.
45:22
The whole market's kinda weird right now.
45:23
You know, you've seen the Ferrari prices go crazy.
45:26
The era I'm most excited about right now is the last of the analog cars.
45:31
Now, you say that, well, all cars are analog for 100 years, right?
45:34
So it's the last without the electric motors, without all the computer
45:38
nannies, all that kind of stuff.
45:39
So you might call it 2000 to 2015.
45:42
I'm not quite sure.
45:43
It really hasn't been defined yet, but I truly think that that is, like,
45:47
the best of the best, and it's gonna be that way for a very long time.
45:50
You look at some of these new Ferraris.
45:52
Let's just pick on Ferrari.
45:54
Jay Leno said it best, "Mechanical stuff breaks.
45:56
Electronic stuff degrades." Like, we might be coming to a point here where
46:00
these cars are not future collectibles because you cannot rebuild them, or
46:05
it's cost-prohibitive, or there's not an aftermarket industry that
46:08
wants to take on this challenge.
46:10
And so when you look at the last of the last, I'm thinking maybe
46:14
it's, like, the analog era there.
46:16
My only counterpoint to that, Greg, is that there's an LS
46:19
swap there for everything.
46:20
So don't worry about the future of these cars.
46:22
Man, you're telling me.
46:25
So that being said, you're famous for asking folks about their top cars
46:30
of whatever genre or whatever the episode is that you're talking about.
46:33
So top five future collectibles, looking 2026, cars that are coming out
46:38
right now that you think are gonna be collectible in the future, what are they?
46:42
Oh, that's tough.
46:43
You know, Porsche has done a really good job of making a lot of desirable variants.
46:48
I mean, you could pick five right there, but I won't.
46:50
Obviously, I would say the ST I think is a really good one.
46:54
Is that the Ford Focus ST? What are we talking about, the ST?
46:58
911 ST. Thank you very much.
47:01
Um, you know, this new, uh, SC they came out with, Porsche has said
47:05
themselves, "This is out now because we can't do it in the future."
47:09
Because of the rules and regulations and everything that's coming
47:11
down the pike, they couldn't redo the ST into a Cabriolet version.
47:16
They had to come out with something different, and this is the answer.
47:20
So I think that's gonna be really interesting.
47:22
The, uh, Cayman GT4- That's incredible.
47:25
Whatever variant, R- whatever you want.
47:27
You know, those are really cool, amazing cars.
47:30
Ferrari's interesting.
47:31
I do think the F80 is cool looking.
47:33
I know a lot of people hate that.
47:34
They hate the powertrain.
47:36
The Cilindro, I don't know what they call it, the spider version, I think
47:39
that's a very interesting car, 'cause I don't like the rear end on the coupe.
47:43
But, you know, front engine V12 Ferrari, are they gonna continue making that?
47:48
You know, I don't know.
47:49
I think the Mustang GTD is absolutely stunning, amazing.
47:54
That's immediate collectible.
47:56
I, I think that's a slam dunk.
47:57
And if we went back a few years, I think the last year of the Dodge Viper ACR,
48:01
even though they're brutal cars to drive, those have already shown their worth.
48:05
I mean, they're rare.
48:06
They didn't make many of them.
48:07
They're high performance.
48:08
They have some racing pedigree, if you go back far enough.
48:10
Yeah, new cars, that's a really, really tough one, for sure.
48:14
So you're saying there's not a collectible EV in the bunch, not
48:17
even of the Chinese manufacturers?
48:20
Tesla Roadster first year, maybe.
48:23
That's going back a ways.
48:24
I'm thinking, like, even the new one that just set the r- the speed record.
48:28
The BYDs, you know, all those kinds that are, like, electric hypercars now.
48:32
Like, do you think those are gonna be collectible?
48:34
I mean, they, they are, you know?
48:36
But they're more collectible as a museum piece for the
48:39
historical importance of that.
48:41
I think Zinger, that car's unbelievable.
48:44
Now, will you ever get your $3.5 million back?
48:46
I don't know.
48:48
I think that's an incredible car.
48:49
I mean, of all the c- all the s- if I had $3.5 million to spend, let's
48:53
just say I couldn't get a Pagani, 'cause I'd probably g- get a Pagani
48:55
first, it would be that Zinger.
48:57
That thing is unbelievable.
48:58
You can't go wrong with the new ZR1, X, ZR1, Z06.
49:02
I mean, they're all incredible, great cars.
49:05
I think that Zinger is really something special.
49:07
If you're looking to invest in the market, do you see a dip?
49:10
Do you see a cavity, a place where people should be spending their money right now?
49:15
Um, it's really tough right now.
49:17
I think people are gonna kill me, but I think the Ferraris, because of the
49:20
Bachman sale, they're overblown right now.
49:22
Now, with a couple exceptions.
49:24
Like I said, it's a really weird time.
49:25
The Bachman cars were, people say once in a lifetime.
49:28
These truly were, as far as I can tell, once in a lifetime, because
49:30
Phil Bachman, he custom ordered luggage before they had a program.
49:34
Like, he had the relationships to make that happen.
49:37
He custom ordered paint and, you know, different little things, maybe
49:40
not to everyone's taste, but he did it before they had a program.
49:44
And so, yes, you can do both of those things today, but it's not special.
49:47
It was special back then.
49:48
And he didn't drive the cars, and he kept them in immaculate shape, kept them up.
49:52
So can that be repeated?
49:54
I suppose so, I just don't know how.
49:56
Uh, one example I would give is I met someone who's a Porsche fan, and, you
50:01
know, they would custom do, like, the trim and, like, that bronzey look, but they
50:05
would not do it in a brushed nickel look.
50:07
And so he asked them if they would do it, and their response was, "Well, we don't
50:10
do that, but if you'll pay to see if we can do it, and we can do it, we'll do it."
50:14
So he paid for them to do, do the study to see if they could do it, and
50:17
now he has the only one that has that.
50:19
So there could be a version of the Buckman sale that is happening now,
50:23
but you won't know for 40 years.
50:25
But I feel like, you know what?
50:26
Because their 308 sold for 300 grand doesn't mean all 308s are worth 300
50:30
grand And yet the price markup has happened, not to that level, but it's
50:34
gone up on all Ferraris after that sale.
50:36
So I don't wanna say there's a bubble.
50:38
I think there will be one, but it won't happen for three to five years, honestly.
50:42
I think we're on a tear right now.
50:43
There are some exceptions, like the Enzo.
50:45
Take the F50, you know, rare colors, one-off colors.
50:48
That was seen at Broad Arrow with that Carrera GT in that really cool blue color.
50:52
I forgot what it was called, Oslo Blue or something.
50:55
And so I think paint the sample, which has typically been reserved for Porsches, has
51:00
truly expanded to other makes and models.
51:03
Any Dodge Hellcat or 170 is probably not gonna make what you paid for it, even with
51:08
a lot of these people paid these premiums.
51:10
But there's 3,300 of those cars out there, the 170s.
51:13
Those are not gonna bring a premium unless it's a rare color, and we already
51:16
saw that with the Panther Pink one.
51:17
The one of one Panther Pink sold for, like, $400,000 six months ago.
51:20
So I think there's an outlier color impacting with rarity, like the orange
51:25
Enzo that sold at Mecum for crazy money.
51:27
I think that's happening right now as well.
51:29
So as far as deals, that's a little difficult.
51:32
I think going back to the analog era, you find a low mileage 2000 to 2015,
51:38
something that's cool and is a high performance spec in a cool color,
51:42
manual, I think that's a great investment right now, and there's too many of
51:45
those out there to really call out.
51:47
I want a 2012 911 Carrera S, the 997.2 and manual, last of
51:54
the small body style, not turbo.
51:57
I think that's a really special car that is not on a lot of
52:00
people's radars right now.
52:01
So any 997.2 would be, uh, one I would jump all over if I had
52:05
all the money in the world.
52:06
Well, Greg, we talked about the future of the book series.
52:09
What's next for you?
52:10
Traveling to a lot of places to share the book.
52:13
So I think as this posts, you can find me at the Keeneland
52:15
Concours in Lexington, Kentucky.
52:17
I'll be at the hangar party, and then I'll be at the Concours event.
52:20
But then, uh, I'm also gonna be all over the place.
52:22
I'll be at Monterey.
52:24
I'm actually doing a speech at Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals in November.
52:27
What were the muscle cars before muscle cars?
52:30
You know, kind of like, what were some of the big horsepower cars
52:33
before we actually had a term for it?
52:34
If you go to the collectorcarpodcast.com, I have a calendar there where you can
52:38
see all the fun places I'll be hopping around, enjoying cars and sharing
52:42
The Enthusiast's Guide and hopefully meeting everybody and having fun.
52:45
So with that, Greg, we've reached that part of the episode where I like to
52:48
invite our guests to share any shout-outs, thank yous, promotions, or anything
52:51
else that we haven't covered thus far.
52:53
I think it would be really great if people would share their stories with me.
52:57
You know, if there's some cool thing that you have out, out
53:00
there, I always love barn finds.
53:02
I heard about a, a Maserati, like 1960s Maserati, in this garage not far
53:06
from me that's been here for 40 years.
53:08
I'm hoping to uncover that on the YouTube channel.
53:10
Um, if you have just a cool s- original owner stories, barn
53:14
finds are always great, feel free to reach out any way you can.
53:17
Any details on where to pick up the book?
53:19
Yes.
53:20
You can pick it up on Amazon, uh, as you can everything that's,
53:23
like, four to six days shipping.
53:24
But if you would like an autographed copy, just go to collectorcarpodcast.com,
53:28
click on the book, and you can buy it there at a reduced price, and I will
53:32
get it out to you as quickly as I can.
53:34
And it will be in some bookstores.
53:36
I'm working on that now, but right now, Amazon and on the website.
53:40
Every collector has a journey, but few people help map that
53:43
journey the way Greg Stanley has.
53:45
Whether it's through the Collector Car Podcast or through the pages of
53:48
The Enthusiast Guide to Collector Cars, Greg reminds us that this
53:51
hobby isn't just about machines.
53:54
It's about memories, meaning, and the stories we choose to preserve.
53:58
And conversations like this show how much richer the automotive world
54:01
becomes when someone takes the time to decode it with curiosity and heart.
54:06
So as we wrap up today's episode, let's let Greg's perspective
54:10
linger a little bit longer.
54:11
He says, "The cars we chase say something about who we are, where
54:15
we've been, and what we hope to pass on." So with that, Greg, I can't thank
54:19
you enough for coming on Break Fix.
54:21
I really feel like I could pass your book on to my eldest daughter and
54:25
say, "Here, read this," and they would suddenly have an idea of where I'm coming
54:30
from, where you're coming from, where we are coming from as collectors, why
54:34
we love cars, why they get us excited.
54:36
And so I say all that to say that this book is an excellent gateway
54:41
for the newcomer coming into the hobby, and I'm really excited and
54:44
looking forward to the expansion of the Collector Car series books.
54:47
Well, thanks so much for having me on, Eric.
54:49
I really do appreciate it.
54:50
It was great to catch up a year or two years ago.
54:52
We'll have to make sure it happens sooner than that.
54:59
We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcast, brought
55:03
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55:05
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