Latest / That Car Show / The Junkman Cometh. With Myron Vernis.

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The Junkman Cometh. With Myron Vernis. · That Car Show

0:00
Myron, is there anything in your collection that is objectively
0:03
terrible to drive? Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt.
0:06
Tonight on that car show, it's our pal Myron Vernus.
0:11
There are car collections and then there are car collections.
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And if you are into the rear, the unusual, the eclectic and
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the sublime, you're going to want to keep listening because
0:22
chances are, Myron's owned it. It's a great storyteller too,
0:25
and his knowledge runs deep. This is a good one with a guy
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who's got the coolest stuff and coolest friends in the car
0:32
world. It's Myron Vernus, author,
0:35
collector, and one hell of a nice guy.
0:38
And it's that car show. Myron Vernus is one of the
0:42
world's great car collectors, but the cars in his collection
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aren't just your typical Ferraris and Porsches, they're
0:49
even more incredible. He's got unobtainium like a
0:51
Mazda Cosmo, a Toyota 2000GT Gia 450SS in an auto tech Zagato
0:58
Stelvio. Easy one.
1:00
And it just gets more rare and interesting from there.
1:04
He shares his cars too, as a frequent exhibitor and
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occasional judge at events like Pebble Beach, Amelia Island and
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Radwood. And I love that we can now say
1:12
those three names in the same sentence.
1:15
He's also the co-author of, along with Mark Brinker, the
1:18
book A Quiet Greatness, Japan's Most Astonishing Automobiles,
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and of course, being Myron. It's actually much more than a
1:25
book. It's probably the definitive
1:27
work and it's actually four books plus a supplement.
1:31
So, and we've wanted to have Myron on that car show for a
1:34
long time because we know this conversation is going to be
1:37
wonderful. Myron, my friend, we're so glad
1:39
to have you on the show. Hey, thanks.
1:42
Thanks for having me. It's my pleasure.
1:44
Just one slight correction, I don't have a Toyota 2000GT.
1:47
I've got a huge Sports 8, I have a Sports 800 which is the
1:50
predecessor, and I've got about 10 other Toyotas but no 2000
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GTI. Went to Pebble Beach once with
1:57
Mark actually before we wrote the book with the intention to
2:00
buy IN2000GT and neither one of us fit so ended up saving a lot
2:05
of money that weekend. Well, there is a website out
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there that says Myron Vernus 15 most unusual cars and that's.
2:15
List. So I'll have to send you the
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link later, but I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who
2:20
can't fit into some of these things.
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And I suppose that factors into, you know, your greater
2:24
collection as as well. But so, Myron, I imagine that a
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man who appreciates the interesting cars that you do has
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an equally interesting origin story of your own.
2:35
You know, I don't know. It's, it's, it's an immigrant
2:37
story. We lived in Greece till I was
2:40
five years old and I grew up in a family that didn't like cars
2:46
or maybe thought that they were like the worst of the necessary
2:50
evils. But we moved back to Akron when
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I was five years old and Akron was kind of a blessing for a
2:56
budding car enthusiasts. My mom said when we lived in
2:59
Greece, I, you know, we lived in an apartment.
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I used to sit on the balcony and just watch the cars go by all
3:04
day long. So I was an easy kid to, to
3:06
babysit. But when we got here, Akron was
3:09
the rubber capital, right? We supplied all the trailer, all
3:12
the all the tires for Detroit. So the car enthusiasm was very
3:17
high level. Actually, I went to a lot in
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1970 or early 70s. The Akron, Cleveland area had
3:22
more cars per capita than any place in the world.
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And then, yeah, then the Rust Belt kicked in and, you know,
3:32
things kind of went S but it was a great place to grow up for
3:35
button car enthusiasts. Yeah, yeah.
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But tell you a funny story real quick.
3:39
As a kid, we never had cable. And so my little sister and I
3:42
grew up watching as as sort of a goof.
3:45
There was a televangelist from Akron named Ernest Angeley.
3:48
I don't know if he's still alive or not, but he was one of these
3:50
guys that would smack be on the forehead.
3:52
And we just. That was our association with
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Akron, OH for years and years. Yeah, yeah, I know there's more
3:56
to Akron than Ernest so. His church is his church is
3:59
still around. It's about two miles from where
4:01
I'm sitting right now. OK, OK, OK.
4:04
Yeah, it's Akron. That's another thing that Akron
4:07
was on the map for, between Rex Humbard and Ernest Ainsley, the
4:10
televangelist man, we were the the capital.
4:13
You're killing it. So So your your collection
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collection, is is there there a a singular singular word word
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you you use use for for the the kind kind of of cars cars that
4:19
that you you own own? you know because I think the
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word offbeat does it a disservice Yeah, I don't think
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they're all, you know, I don't think they're offbeat, but
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they're different. It's, you know, eclectic gets
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used a whole heck of a lot these days.
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I'd say if you look at the real definition, I think my cars are
4:36
more eclectic because I just collect what I like and I try to
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drive everything that I have. And that's kind of the most fun,
4:43
right? You can, you can, you could be
4:46
promiscuous with cars, but they can't be with your wife, right,
4:49
Kim? And I've been married 43 years
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and, but I, I can have all kinds of variety with my cars.
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And that's kind of, you know, where where the the the real
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root of my collection. Right.
5:09
How many cars do you have these days?
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Last I read was about 75. Yeah.
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You know, I've been, I, I promised Kim that we get down to
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about 55 by the end of this year.
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So right now we're in in the mid 60s somewhere a 55.
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I think it's a good manageable number, you know as you get
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older. Yeah.
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Yeah, for people that don't have multiple cars or have a smaller
5:31
number of multiple cars, how do you manage even 55 cars?
5:36
Because that is still a. It's a great number.
5:38
Yeah, it's, it's not easy. I, I've been blessed to have a
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good friend in, in my shop who kind of takes care of, of
5:46
everything there, kind of a mechanical genius, grew up with
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Flathead Fords and, and, you know, small block Chevys, but
5:52
loves the challenge of a Citroen or even more unique things like
5:57
that. So that's the easy way to do it.
6:00
Living where I live in Akron, real estate values are really
6:04
cheap. So it's it's easier to have a
6:06
big building to kind of keep your stuff in.
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So just the one, the one, one of the few benefits of living in
6:13
Northeast Ohio. Where do you find these cars?
6:15
And I guess more importantly, how do you even know that they
6:18
exist? Because you've got some
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exceedingly obscure stuff. Yeah, You know, for a long time
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it was me pursuing cars, kind of chasing things.
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Now the stuff kind of falls in my lap.
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I mean, I've got a a Honda Coupe 9, Honda 1300 Coupe 9 coming in
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the next couple days and that one actually came to me and it's
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because I had a couple others and and they were gone.
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So and that's pretty obscure car.
6:44
That's a car. It's the last car.
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It's the last model that doctor Honda actually engineered for
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the company. It's air cooled slash air cooled
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car they made. It's it's pretty cool little
6:53
car. So a lot of that stuff comes to
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me now. Basically, I'm the only person
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kind of goofy enough to buy some of this stuff.
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You know, you find a lot of stuff that ends up on these
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websites and on the Internet, like on Jalopnik and things like
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that, and people kind of go crazy on it, but nobody really
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wants to step up and buy them. So, you know, I'm kind of like
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the last resort a lot of times I think, for these people.
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You're the guy. Well, it's I like that some
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people are rescuing cats and dogs and you're rescuing cars.
7:24
Yeah. Right.
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Is there anything you have that might surprise us?
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You know, I, I think, no, I there, there really shouldn't
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be. I have a 12 cylinder Toyota
7:32
Century which is kind of a sedate kind of sedan.
7:36
Yeah. Yeah, maybe that that's kind of
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boring and and mundane. So maybe that's.
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So cool. There's there's a guy on YouTube
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out of LA that goes by the name F Spot and he has one that he
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has straight piped and it sounds pretty impressive.
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So it. Sounds like an amazing one car
7:56
solution. Yeah, it, it's, it's, you know,
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I don't know. I, you know, to me, I love the,
8:01
the stock. The great thing about the
8:03
century is what went into an engineering and construction
8:07
standpoint. I don't think that's a car
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unless you have like a real wreck of a thing that you want
8:11
to, you know, build something. I think that stock is is the
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highest and best solution for for a century.
8:17
Yeah, yeah. For those who don't know, the
8:20
Toyota Century is, is a pretty cool car.
8:22
It's a car that was at least not, you know, sold in the US
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and the same guys, right. So what is the, the century?
8:29
I, I know it was in the news recently because they announced
8:32
is an SUV version, which I guess I want to know your thoughts on
8:36
too. But how does that fit in with
8:38
the, the JDM market in, you know, in, in Japan?
8:41
Well, it's, you know, it's the Japanese Rolls Royce.
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I mean to, to, to put it bluntly, great car.
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You know, you had to apply to buy that car.
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It's a handmade car even to, to work in the century plant.
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If you, you had to be like a 10 year veteran of Toyota and go
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through another six month retraining process.
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So it's just that the, the engineering and the quality that
9:03
went into that car, it was, is unbelievable.
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Still the only production V12 Japanese car ever made and
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really kind of reserved for it. Diplomats and people in high
9:16
levels of government in, in, in Japan, You know, the fact that
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they're making as an SUV right now.
9:22
I, I, I think it's terrific. You know, I've, I've got, I've
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got a car called a Toyota Harrier Zagato, which was sold
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as the Lexus RX300 in this country, sold as Toyota Harrier
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in Japan. So really regarded as the first
9:36
crossover. And when they, when they started
9:39
selling in Japan, they did head Zagato do 250 special editions.
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So we, we did one of those. So you know, I'm all I'm all
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about crossovers and and and SU VS.
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So do those cars have the Zagato signatures like the the bubbles
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on the roof and. No, the the roof no, but the
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it's got all kinds of body stuff all around it.
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Special wheels. It's got this the Zagato logo on
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them. So it's there's not a Toyota
10:02
logo anywhere on the car, but the roof panel is straight
10:07
Harrier. Now my Autex, my Autex Zagato
10:10
that Ryan mentioned earlier that does that, that's the body that
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was fully done by Zagato on a Leopard, Nissan Leopard chassis
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and that has a stylized double bubble, so.
10:21
What is it like to drive a century?
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Because you've said you drive all your cars.
10:26
What's it like for you to drive? And when you drive it around, do
10:30
you feel like people know how special it is?
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You know, I, I, I love driving it because you feel really
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special. It's like super smooth and super
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quiet. Unlike most of my cars.
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My wife loves sitting in the back seat.
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That one of the cool things about the century is on the
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passenger side. There's a, a pass through for
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the, for the, so that the rear passenger side person passenger
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can put their, their feet through and kind of stretch out
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and close the lace curtains, right.
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You know, they have their own HVAC system back there.
11:01
They've got their own stereo system.
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They have two telephones. So, you know, I, I get the, the
11:06
great pleasure is driving people around in that car, right?
11:09
I said, you know, I'd, I'd love to be like an Uber driver if I
11:13
could pick to make sure that they're like no jerks that ever
11:16
got in the car. I I wouldn't even have to get
11:19
paid. I was just, you know, have nice
11:21
people, but. Right.
11:22
So we talk a lot on this show about what luxury means, right?
11:26
And, and, and the Crown was a car that really I think was the
11:29
epitome of luxury, at least in Japan for for many decades,
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right? And yet you look at a newer 1
11:35
and it looks a hell of a lot like an older one, right?
11:38
At least to the eye, They didn't change too much.
11:40
How? How did that car change
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throughout the years? Yeah, the century that because
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the crown was kind of a cut below.
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Yeah, the century basically the basically the same car for for
11:51
50 years, introduced in 67, first 30 years was very much
11:57
unchanged. Then in 1997, it went from AV8
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to AV12. That's when they did more
12:04
integrated bumpers, but still basically the same structure and
12:08
just just an update. So really the same car in two
12:11
series for 50 years. Then they took couple couple
12:15
years off and they reintroduced it as basically the SUV and now
12:19
they're talking out for what I've heard about spinning it off
12:22
as their own division, kind of like a a Bentley or a Rolls.
12:25
Royce Really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, We did talk
12:28
about that, didn't we, guys? Yeah, yeah, I've heard.
12:30
That like a superior brand to the Lexus, right?
12:32
It's one up from the Lexus, right?
12:35
That's right. Well, and we're seeing
12:37
manufacturers do that more and more like luxury or not, like
12:40
they did with RAM, like they did with Genesis.
12:42
So it'll be interesting to see that one.
12:44
So rare is is AI guess a common theme in your collection.
12:47
Rare probably doesn't always equal valuable.
12:50
Sometimes it it it does right. Post post your child in that
12:53
statement. Yeah, it, you know, I guess.
12:56
Is there a correlation for you between rarity and the enjoyment
12:59
you get out of it? Yeah, I think so.
13:04
I think rarity kind of ties into it only because a lot of times
13:08
the the spec and or it was like a a lost a dead end road for for
13:14
some kind of technology that didn't work out.
13:18
So the story was really good. So maybe not buying it for the
13:21
rarity, but the rarity being a result of, you know, that what
13:25
interested me. I'm curious when you call up
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your insurance agent and you bought a new car, like how much
13:31
time do you have to explain exactly what that car is to
13:34
them? So when we moved back to Akron
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30 some years ago, I had maybe a dozen cars.
13:40
It wasn't a heck of a lot. So call back my old agent put
13:44
the house on the everyday cars and he said, yeah, I can do
13:48
collector cars. And then as the, as the
13:52
collection started to grow and I was calling him on a fairly
13:54
regular basis to add or subtract every once in a while, he, he
13:59
finally said, you know, there's this thing called collector car
14:01
insurance and you know, I'm happy to give up this portion of
14:05
the stuff. So, you know, listen, they're,
14:09
they're really good collector car services out there.
14:12
You know, Haggerty's is the £800 gorilla.
14:15
I'm with Chubb, which I think is fantastic.
14:19
You know, there, there are three or four others that you know,
14:22
that, that they're used to, you know, people like me and
14:25
collectors, right? They, it, it's, it's collect
14:28
your car insurance. It's like the easiest thing in
14:29
the world and the greatest thing in the world.
14:31
It's, it's a relative bargain compared to, to the other stuff.
14:35
And I think the people that are in that, that are agents kind of
14:40
understand the hobbyists at least, at least the successful
14:42
ones. So yeah, it's, it's an easy
14:44
thing for me. And you know, my, my agent with
14:48
Chubb is, is terrific. She never questions me.
14:52
I've only had one claim and it was in a car that I, that I only
14:56
had for like 2 weeks. I actually had, I totaled it.
15:00
I totaled it two weeks after I bought it.
15:01
I didn't even put it on the policy.
15:04
You know, you get like a 30 day grace period and, and I totaled
15:09
it. I put it in a ditch and they
15:12
gave me, I said, here's what I want, here's what I was going to
15:15
insure it for. And it was no questions asked.
15:18
It happened. Actually, we rebuilt the car.
15:21
I bought it back out of out of out of the out of Copart and
15:25
bought a body shell and we rebuilt it and they have it
15:29
insured again. Wow.
15:31
Well shout out to our new sponsors.
15:33
Shove insurance, right? Absolutely.
15:37
You can't write about your commercial right, or at least a
15:40
endorsement. Well, insurance payouts are one
15:43
thing, but how do you find parts for some of these cars?
15:45
Because we've listed a few of your cars, but you've got can
15:48
you, can you share some of the other cars I guess, too?
15:50
I mean, this is some obscure stuff.
15:53
Yeah, I there's a lot of obscure stuff and, you know, again,
15:55
frankly, thankfully I have my friend who is a great fabricator
15:59
and, and the, again, one of the few benefits of living in Akron,
16:02
OH, there are a lot of machine shops, a lot of support
16:04
industries for automotive parts and, and support of the rubber
16:09
factories and stuff. So there's a lot of that talent
16:12
still here to do these things. Plus I've been in the hobby long
16:15
enough now that you have connections all around and and
16:20
the world with the Internet, the world has really shrunk.
16:22
You know, before I I still get parts all around the United
16:25
States. Now I get them internationally.
16:27
Not an issue like the century. The century has air suspension
16:31
and one of the airbags went down.
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I figured, oh what the heck, might as well replace them all
16:35
while we're at it. I found a source.
16:37
Toyota still supports them, but the prices are super, super
16:40
crazy expensive. But I found AI found a source in
16:44
in the UAE that supplies them at a fraction of that and I get
16:48
them DHL three days. So that's, you know, parts are
16:52
if you're going to put yourself out there, parts are not that
16:55
tough. You just can't be afraid.
16:57
Interesting. Yeah.
16:58
What a time to be alive, right? Yeah, yeah.
17:01
So what are some other cars you've got?
17:03
Like what? What do we not know about?
17:05
Oh yeah, that's that's a good question.
17:10
Yeah. Do you have to consult you
17:11
about? The list and the Yeah.
17:13
I can tell you I'd have to feel you.
17:16
You know our our youngest daughter is a lawyer and she has
17:18
the spreadsheet. She's the one known who knows
17:21
you. Know.
17:22
Where everything is you know I was very much early on into
17:27
Porsche 356 as I know you guys have talked about some 356 on
17:31
the things I have to have the the 1st 356 I bought I still
17:35
have after 51 years it. Was and which one is that Myron?
17:40
63-B coupe nothing car. You know, I I should have kept
17:43
the Carrier speedsters and, you know, the Carrier coups and
17:46
stuff. But I I kept, I kept the the
17:48
Bondo laden 63 coupe. But I love it.
17:53
It was $1500 with a new paint job and a rebuilt engine, which
17:57
was a bargain, except for the fact I only had 900 bucks to my
18:00
name. But I I had I've I've owned,
18:03
I've owned over 103. Fifty sixes, really.
18:06
Yeah, yeah. But they were really cheap back
18:09
then. I've owned over 30 Porsche
18:12
tractors too. I was importing them before,
18:15
before they before they got to be a thing.
18:17
Remember the Porsche tractor race that happened at?
18:21
At Rensport, right? Rensport yeah, first and 2nd
18:24
place, 1st and 2nd place were sourced by me so.
18:29
That's amazing. Yeah, So, yeah, So I was in 356.
18:34
A lot really wasn't into American stuff.
18:36
But lately, in the last six or seven years, I've really gotten
18:39
into American customs, basically California customs from the 50s.
18:46
For the most part. I've gotten half a dozen of
18:49
those. I bought my first Corvette six
18:53
years ago and I didn't even buy. I traded, and most of my friends
18:57
were shocked by this. I traded my Alpha Montreal for a
19:01
1958 Corvette that was customized by George Barris.
19:06
OK, well. You're going to trade.
19:08
Your. Montreal.
19:09
For something, that's a good one.
19:11
Yeah, You know, I traded a car that I didn't like to drive but
19:14
I love to look at to a car that I don't necessarily like to
19:18
drive either, but I love to look.
19:19
At yeah, but. Yeah, so customs are a big thing
19:23
for now. Can we come back to that Alpha
19:25
Montreal for a minute? Because this is one of those
19:28
cars I've heard that refrain from others too.
19:30
They're just beautiful, but they're, they're very
19:32
complicated. They're not great to drive.
19:34
And and that was your experience as well?
19:36
Yeah, yeah. I, I, I lusted for one for a
19:38
long time. It took me a long time to source
19:40
it. I found one in Greece.
19:42
It was a, it was a 200 car. It had been shown a lot.
19:45
It had been done rallies, but not, you know, not competitive
19:49
rallies like touring rallies. So it was like best.
19:51
It was a car that was driven, loved and maintained and it it
19:55
got here and it was better than represented.
19:57
I was so happy to get it. And you know, that's one of
20:01
those things that it's it's so beautiful to look at.
20:04
I think it's Gandini's second greatest design.
20:07
It's comfortable. The steering wheels just oh,
20:11
just sensual, just holding it. It's got the best transmission
20:15
of any car I've ever driven. But the package just.
20:19
I, I can't explain it, you know, I, I just, I just didn't love
20:22
the driving experience and I ended up keeping it eight years
20:25
because I loved looking at it for so much and I kept trying to
20:30
drive it and do it and just just didn't do it for me.
20:33
I'm going to ask the $1,000,000 question then.
20:35
What was Gandini's best design? Yes.
20:38
Oh, oh, the mirror. The mirror, no doubt, Yeah.
20:41
That's fair. There you go.
20:42
Good evening. That's the correct answer.
20:46
Are there still Myron worthy cars being produced or are these
20:49
all artifacts of an earlier time?
20:51
You you mentioned earlier that some of the cars you have are
20:53
sort of technical dead ends or what, what have you.
20:56
I mean, are there newer cars that will someday find a place
21:00
in your collection or? You know, I'm kind of an
21:03
automotive omnivore. I, I really, other than a
21:06
Trabant, there isn't 1 car ever made that I probably wouldn't
21:10
want to have. Yeah.
21:12
I mean, I think we're kind of in a golden era of cars right now.
21:15
I don't shop for new cars. You know, I, I don't, I've got
21:19
maybe 3 cars with cup holders out of the 65.
21:22
So I, I'm, I'm not into modern cars, but I, there's a lot of
21:27
really, really great cars out there.
21:29
I mean, I would love to have a Ford Maverick.
21:32
I think a Maverick is like the coolest thing out there, right?
21:35
Yeah, they are neat. They are neat.
21:37
I just saw one today and I thought, you know, that, that
21:39
that makes sense, right? You know, it's got everything
21:41
you need. Nothing you don't.
21:42
Yeah. The the car I totaled was a
21:44
Dodge Rampage, which was like a an 80s version of a Maverick A2
21:49
door kind of thing and one of the one of the last few cars I
21:54
bought. I've got a Lincoln Blackwood
21:55
which I think is like it just. Oh my gosh.
21:59
Yeah, it's like, it's like the American version of the century.
22:02
I just feel good driving. Well, and that was such an
22:05
interesting concept on their part and it just didn't find its
22:09
footing. But so it's interesting to hear
22:12
you know that you have one and enjoy it.
22:14
Yeah, well, you know, they were, they were two or three years
22:16
ahead of their time. People weren't spending that
22:18
kind of money on on laundry. So that's, you know, I hope, I
22:23
hope Lincoln gets back. I I like Lincoln's too.
22:24
I've got four or five Lincoln's. My I mentioned my dad hated
22:29
cars, but the only car he ever enjoyed he bought a new 49
22:33
Lincoln Cosmopolitan Town sedan, which was a one year only big
22:37
bubble bathtub with a fastback. So he always talked about that.
22:41
So I found one and I've got that and it takes up a huge amount of
22:45
space in my garage. But it's the only car I've ever
22:47
bought for sentimental reasons. How many of your cars come with
22:51
membership to a car club of that manufacturer or or model?
22:55
Are you? Are you subscribed to many car
22:57
clubs? You know, I, I, no, I used to be
23:03
and single mark car clubs almost ruined the whole hobby for me.
23:10
Just wasn't, you know, the people, you know, I, I was in
23:14
the 350 sixes when it was a great community and you helped
23:18
each other and you know, here you can, you can use this
23:21
Volkswagen part over here so you don't have to pay three times as
23:23
much for Porsche stuff. And you know, you traded stuff
23:26
and you gave each other parts if everybody else needed it.
23:30
And then it got to about six or seven years ago, I was cheering
23:35
the 356 registry, Concord, the East Coast holiday and all these
23:40
guys that I used to trade parts with and give stuff away with.
23:43
All they wanted to talk about was how kids don't like cars
23:46
anymore and how much their 356's were worth.
23:50
And that that was true of pretty much every other single mark car
23:53
club. So I quit pretty much all my
23:54
single mark clubs and I only do events now that are just very
24:00
open, you know, kind of a wide variety kind of things.
24:04
And it's, it's very freeing and it gives you a whole heck of a
24:07
lot more pleasure, you know, to do, to do those things.
24:11
Plus, you know, I find most of my car friends now are half my
24:14
age, which is, you know, they, they have just as much
24:17
enthusiasm now as I had when I was their age.
24:20
You know, it's just the kids, the young people, just there's
24:24
as much enthusiasm now as ever, right?
24:26
It's just like growing up, our folks were into Model T's and
24:31
Model A's. You know, people, my generation
24:34
were in the 50s and 60s, you know, American muscle.
24:37
You know, these kids today, they, it's just like my
24:40
generation, they're, they're into cars.
24:41
They're just not into the cars that, you know, we grew up with,
24:44
which is totally logical, which is one of the reasons, which is
24:48
one of the reasons we did the book on Japanese cars.
24:50
We really felt important to legitimize that segment of the
24:55
of the hobby. Well, let's, let's talk about
24:58
that book. A quiet greatness.
25:00
I was going to ask why Japanese cars?
25:01
But I, I think you just answered that.
25:04
So tell us about this book, because it is, it's this massive
25:07
undertaking. I don't know where you would
25:09
even start with something like this, but I think it's got
25:11
something like 2200 photos. So what, what is the process
25:15
there? And and what was the?
25:16
I guess the timeline In, in, in, in, in completing it?
25:20
Well, we we got into Japanese cars really because of the
25:24
Peterson Museum. I was doing a rally in 2015 with
25:29
a car that was sponsored by Japanese nostalgia car.
25:33
It was a Mazda R130. It did sometime at the Peterson
25:36
Museum, Luche coupe only front wheel drive Rd. re engine car
25:39
that Mazda ever built. And there was the Japanese car
25:42
cruising at the Peterson and I went to it and I was like double
25:48
the age of the average person there.
25:50
And it was just such a great grassroots crowd, grassroots
25:52
crowd. And, and just the, the, the vibe
25:56
was just so good. Really.
25:57
It was about the time I was getting disillusioned in the
25:59
Porsche hobby and all that stuff.
26:01
And I thought, man, this, these, these were my people 30 years
26:04
ago. And I told my friend Mark about
26:07
it, Mark. Mark is more into Italian coach
26:11
built sports cars from the 50s and 60s, but again, a real
26:14
enthusiast. And that's when we started
26:17
looking at cars. And you know, a lot of these
26:19
early Japanese cars were, if not built by Italian designers, they
26:24
were designed by by the Italian police lab of their hero cars.
26:27
So that's what got us into researching it a little bit and
26:31
we talked about it for a few years.
26:32
So we really should do some something about it.
26:35
Mark had written a couple other books and I retired and he said,
26:39
well, we should do it at this point.
26:41
And we were going to do a coffee table book about 300 pages, 250
26:45
to 300 pages. Just make it like your typical
26:47
Ferrari, Porsche book. Make it nice shiny, glossy kind
26:50
of thing. Then we started discovering cars
26:53
and, you know, and it just kind of grew and grew as we found
26:57
more and more cool cars. You know, we, we kind of joke
27:00
that, you know, the Japanese were with their cars, like the
27:03
French with the wine. They kept the best stuff for
27:05
themselves. And we just kept discovering
27:08
cars. And that's how it grew into 1400
27:10
pages and 2200 images. The most of the most expensive
27:14
part of that was we kept discovering cars that we decided
27:18
we needed to buy so. As a result.
27:22
By by the time we finished the book, between the two of us, we
27:24
bought 18 cars that we that before we started the project,
27:27
before we started the project, we didn't even know these cars
27:29
existed. So it was.
27:32
That's fantastic. That's amazing, Yeah.
27:34
That's the epitome of practice, what you preach and as far as
27:37
being an ambassador for Japanese cars.
27:40
Well, and there it was a six year project from beginning to
27:43
end. We wanted a really high end book
27:46
again, we wanted a for a quality book.
27:49
We took it to all the high end publishers.
27:51
They said this is amazing, but no one will ever spend a lot of
27:55
money on the Japanese car book. So we decided self published
27:58
because we didn't want to cut any corners and we took a big
28:01
risk there. But happy to say that we sold
28:05
out. It's it's sold out now.
28:07
So it's it was great. Congratulations.
28:11
Will there be a second edition? Because I, I feel like JDM cars
28:14
really are having a moment. You know, you see these cruisins
28:17
at the Peterson young people into the skylines and importing
28:20
the 25 year stuff now. I mean, it's just I got to think
28:22
there's another wave of customers for you.
28:25
Well, not, not for me, there's not.
28:29
When we were promoting the book, a lot of people were asking the
28:31
question, aren't you afraid that someone's going to go out there
28:33
and copy you now and, and start doing this?
28:35
That's, well, that's kind of our hope.
28:36
We, we want other people. We, we want to start the trend.
28:39
Mark's actually finishing up a book now on the Pebble Beach Rd.
28:43
races for the 72. It'll be released at Pebble
28:46
Beach for the 75th anniversary. So he's, he's doing that on his
28:51
own. I'm I'm proofreading it for him,
28:53
but it's his book. And I think we have in the
28:55
museum, we have the Monza. That was the reason that the
28:59
races stopped. Really.
29:01
Yeah, I think so. It's on loan.
29:02
It's not not a property of the museum, but yeah, there was a
29:06
significant crash and that's when the races stopped at Pebble
29:09
Beach. People don't realize that the
29:11
the Concorde, the car show was basically a spin off from the
29:15
races. The races were there before.
29:16
The car show was just something else for for people to do that
29:19
weekend. Things have.
29:21
Changed. Yeah.
29:23
Well, and it's interesting when you look back, I mean, I feel
29:25
like a lot of the significant races obviously also had a
29:28
significant crash. I mean, you think about the
29:31
crash at Lamar that impacted, didn't stop the races entirely,
29:34
but it impacted Mercedes participation, stopped it for a
29:37
long time. Myron, I know that you've been a
29:40
judge at Pebble and also Radwood, which I love the
29:44
contrast there. And we haven't had the
29:48
opportunity to be judges yet. So I wondered if you could share
29:52
what the judging experience is like in general and also those
29:56
two events, because they could not be more, you know, different
29:59
from each other. You know, I've not judged a
30:01
Pebble. I've shown a Pebble several
30:02
times. I've judged at Amelia Island.
30:05
I've judged Amelia Island and all the other.
30:07
And I used to have my own Concorde in Ohio called the
30:09
Glenmore Gathering. You pick pick a low income area
30:12
to do a very high end car event. It's not a good economic
30:15
decision, but we had a heck of a lot of fun.
30:17
We did it for 18 years. It's important, you know, we've
30:20
we've judged high end Concord events as well as Radwood and
30:26
you know, the Redwood's a heck of a lot more fun.
30:29
Actually, Concorde of lemons is the most fun to judge because
30:32
the bribes, the bribes are fantastic.
30:34
It really, you walk, you'll walk away with good booze and good
30:39
food and a good time. That's that's the best of all.
30:44
The bribe economy is alive and well at lemons.
30:47
Absolutely. You know, we we live a good part
30:48
of the year in Greece where the bribe economy is part of
30:51
everyday life, so. So.
30:54
So it's old hat to you so. Concorde lemons was was was an
30:58
easy fit. You know, it's, it's, it's just
31:02
different, different criteria. French judging is really kind of
31:06
the way to go where you're just getting kind of a special car
31:09
and there's there's there's a bit of a quid pro quo.
31:15
I don't care where you're judging, but that's that's all
31:19
part of the character of the of the event.
31:21
There's some people that do it and do it well and, you know,
31:26
more power to them. Let's talk a little bit about
31:28
your involvement with Radwood because we had Art Cervantes on
31:32
a while back, which is a fun conversation.
31:34
And my introduction to Radwood was that Amelia, a few years
31:36
ago, maybe three years ago. And I, I don't want this stuck
31:41
with me so much. But I saw three Buick Riata's in
31:44
a row, right? And there was a guy who was
31:46
there with all the Buick, you know, Riata, you know.
31:49
Regalia. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.
31:52
And it was, you know, between, between us four, I think I
31:56
enjoyed the Radwood part of Amelia more than it did the, you
32:00
know, the actual Concord. It was just so great.
32:03
It was just because it's stuff that I could connect with in a
32:05
way that I couldn't connect with a lot of the other stuff, you
32:08
know, and, and when you say, you know the kids, when you don't
32:12
say this, but when people say, you know, kids aren't into cars
32:14
or just go to a Radwood event, it's it's got the most energy of
32:17
anything out there these days, you know, so right.
32:20
I beg to differ. Yeah.
32:21
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're pretty, pretty heavily
32:23
involved. What?
32:24
What do you bring to Radwood? You know, we've, we've done all
32:27
kinds of stuff. One one of the founders of
32:29
Redwood, one of Art's original partners, Brad Brownell with a
32:32
friend of mine. We do cars and coffee every week
32:34
together. Oh, you do?
32:37
That's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:38
So you know that that's exactly why I love Redwood is my kids.
32:43
I have two girls in in their mid 30s that grew up, you know, in
32:46
the car scene. But Radwood is their thing.
32:48
Actually, in 2019, I bought my Autech Sagato at the Bottoms
32:54
auction at Pebble Beach at the Quail had it shipped home.
32:58
Kim and I went back to Greece and my daughter called me.
33:02
She said Dad, Radwood's coming up in Detroit.
33:04
They're doing Redwood in Detroit and and Zagato had been
33:08
delivered to to Akron. She said can can Zoe and I take
33:13
take the car to Radwood? So before I ever even sat in the
33:16
car, my kids put 1000 miles on it.
33:19
One best one Radisson show in Redwood Detroit brought it back.
33:23
You know, they had two giant dogs sitting in the back the the
33:25
whole thing and, and, and they were just so pumped. 2 years ago
33:29
Amelia Island had a class for 90s, eighties, 90s Japanese
33:35
performance cars. So my same daughter and her
33:38
husband drove from Cleveland to Amelia Island in like the worst
33:44
weather possible. Went down, showed it on
33:47
Saturday, showed it on the Concord on Sunday, won a prize,
33:51
a class prize in the Concorde and drove it back the next day.
33:54
So put 2500 miles on it and we're just like totally pumped
33:57
and had a great time. So that's, you know that that's
34:00
what I love about Radwood. Yeah.
34:03
I think Japanese cars are really having a moment at the minute.
34:06
I mean, you look at this year, I think both the Quail and Laguna
34:10
Seca will be featuring Japanese cars as specific categories.
34:15
Only last week Cars and Bids sold what was a pretty much a
34:19
standard STI for over $100,000, so they seem to be coming into
34:25
their own right now. It's, it's been a slow process.
34:31
You know, we thought when the book was released, we thought
34:32
that would kind of pump things. What we've noticed is a lot of
34:37
the historic cars, the cars, the 60s or so, the Italian either
34:41
coach built or Italian design cars, low production cars don't
34:45
have the enthusiasm that the the Skyline GTRS and things like
34:49
that have. So I don't know if the the
34:53
Subaru, the the STI's and things like that, those cars are, are
34:56
great to do it. I don't know some of the vintage
34:59
cars will ever catch on because they were never, they were never
35:02
sold here. Plus the generation that's into
35:04
the Japanese cars now hasn't been educated enough on on the
35:07
older stuff. It seems like movies and
35:08
Motorsports seem to be two things that really help put
35:12
Japanese cars on the map. You know, you look at Falcon
35:15
Furious and that was a big catalyst for various Skylines.
35:18
Or you look at, you know, Colin McRae driving a Subaru Imprezzer
35:23
and, you know, winning a world championship and that sort of
35:26
stuff. I know that there were Datsuns
35:28
raced earlier than that, but that sort of stuff seems to
35:31
really help put those cars on the map.
35:33
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you know, John Martin, who
35:35
raced for for Pete Brock, just got inducted into the
35:39
Motorsports Hall of Fame. You know, he was famous.
35:41
He raced everything. But he's famous for racing the
35:43
Datsuns, you know, in Seca. Yeah, yeah.
35:47
And Pete Brock is going to be the Grand Marshall for Laguna
35:49
Seca. Is he really?
35:52
Oh, that's fantastic. Yep, I have.
35:55
Just announced. I have a car called the Hino
35:57
Contessa and very few people know this, but Pete Brock formed
36:03
BRE with Hino's. The first two years of Hino race
36:08
of BRE race cars were Hino Contessas Hino was thinking
36:11
about coming to the US market to Hino was going to come to the US
36:15
market and they wanted it to set kind of level of expectation,
36:19
you know, when on Sunday, sell on Monday kind of thing.
36:22
And just as they were getting ready with a car designed by
36:26
Giovanni Michelotti, and just as they were getting ready to come
36:29
into the US market, Toyota bought Hino and decided, well,
36:35
they didn't need a car competing with their Corona.
36:38
So they stopped automotive production.
36:39
So you know, even today is their is Toyota's medium duty truck
36:44
truck line, but they just they got pulled the whole the whole
36:48
thing got pulled out from from Pete and Toyota came to him.
36:52
It's kind of an interesting story.
36:53
It's in the book, by the way, with some previously unpublished
36:58
pictures that Pete provided for us.
37:01
Toyota came to him and said, listen, we know that we, we
37:05
pulled the rug out from under you.
37:07
We're going to give you the 2000GT race program.
37:10
We're going to send these 2000 GTS, we're going to get the
37:12
2000GT race program. He said, great, that's fair.
37:15
Six months later, no 2000 GTS. And one of his guys shows up at
37:20
the shop and says, hey, I was just at Shelby's place down the
37:22
road. He's got the 2000GT race cars.
37:26
And Shelby found out that they're going to give the
37:29
program to to Pete Brock. He went to Japan.
37:32
He was a Toyota dealer and the West Coast Goodyear distributor.
37:35
He went to Japan, talked to Mr. Toyota specifically and said,
37:38
hey, you know, you owe this to me.
37:41
Toyota switched it to Shelby, never told Pete Brock anything.
37:44
And that's how Pete ended up racing Datsuns and.
37:50
He was successful. He didn't bondurant race some of
37:52
those for a while. Yeah, yeah.
37:54
So he was a bondurant, was the East Coast guy and Pete was West
38:00
Coast. Do you have a favorite Japanese
38:02
car of all time? Yeah, you know, I do.
38:06
I my Mazda Cosmo only because and and it's kind of a funky
38:13
car. It's painted the wrong color.
38:14
It's got slot mags on it. It's got some rust bubbling here
38:19
and there. But so it's it's not the
38:22
greatest Mazda Cosmo in the world, but it's I I say it's the
38:25
most driven one. Bought it, had it imported from
38:28
Japan to Greece, drove it, drove it in greases in my only car for
38:34
a couple years and had it sent here.
38:36
And it's just, it's just such a special car to drive.
38:42
And I don't know if they're all that way, but you know, that
38:45
particular 1 is probably my favorite, my favorite one to
38:48
drive. So for those who don't know this
38:50
car, it's a Rotary car, it's a sports car.
38:54
Back in the day, it would have competed with what?
38:58
You know, it was, it was Mazda's Halo car and it was their first
39:01
production Rotary car. So it was it was priced up there
39:04
with close to like E type Jaguars and and things like
39:08
that. Really, yeah, really expensive,
39:10
didn't sell much, but it was a handmade car.
39:12
They made, they made 5A day for five.
39:15
They one a day for five days a week for for five years.
39:18
So it was it was a pretty special car.
39:22
And that, that, that the, the Cosmo name is kind of stayed
39:26
within Mazda off and on. I just right, last fall I bought
39:31
the last Cosmo, which is called a Unos Cosmo triple rotor twin
39:35
sequential turbocharger. So it's that was like your last
39:40
kind of Halo car. It sounds like a superhero.
39:43
Yeah, yeah, right. And it does look a little bit
39:46
like a Buick Riata. You know, it's kind of that
39:48
generation. That's a great callback.
39:53
In fact, I'll probably take that to the next rad would.
39:55
Right. I always imagined that original
39:58
Cosmo, like just driving like very fluidly, like it's just, I
40:01
don't know, just with dance, but that's maybe maybe that's me
40:05
seeing it and and, you know, interpreting that as as how it
40:08
would drive. Yeah, you know what my a friend
40:11
of mine who drove it, a friend of mine who drove it, who's a
40:13
designer and a real enthusiast. He he says it's like driving a
40:17
very, very smooth Lotus, which kind of makes sense.
40:23
Yeah, yeah. Sounds kind of like perfection.
40:24
You know, it's so you have this vast like, you know, breadth of
40:29
knowledge with rare and obscure cars.
40:32
And is there anything out there that you think is functionally
40:35
extinct in 2026? I've.
40:38
Heard I've heard stories, they just, they're just there are no
40:41
more like I've heard stories of some some of the British cars
40:44
like the British Leyland cars and things like they just didn't
40:47
last and there aren't there are none registered.
40:49
Do you know of anything that's that's like the passenger pigeon
40:53
of cars? Yeah, no, they're out there,
40:56
even if you don't know. They're all out there.
40:58
I've got, I've got a few cars that are like the only known
41:03
surviving example, but that doesn't mean there aren't more
41:05
out there. It's the only one that's like
41:07
registered somewhere. No, there's so much stuff.
41:10
I mean, we, we've sold the there, the United States alone,
41:14
you know, for years you're selling 121516 million cars, you
41:18
know, So there's, there's, there's so much stuff out there.
41:22
Absolutely. So much yeah.
41:23
Yeah, yeah. But but no, I'm curious, Myron,
41:26
what do you have that may or may not be the only examples extent?
41:33
You know a few things like that one I recently sold called the
41:37
called the Hoffman X8, which is really kind of a car that was
41:41
built in 1935 under all kinds of veiled secrecy, mid engine X
41:48
configuration, 8 cylinder, kind of all kinds of international
41:52
connections. I just saw that to a friend.
41:55
I've got a car called the Paxton Phoenix.
41:59
You've heard of Paxton superchargers.
42:03
They they made one car. Car was made in the Los Angeles
42:05
actually, where Paxton products used to be based in in El
42:08
Segundo in the early 50s. Run Track magazine cover car in
42:16
57. That's one of one.
42:18
Still has less than 1000 miles on it.
42:20
I wait so it's been displayed at the Peterson before?
42:24
We should ask our 4th member of the group what it was like New
42:29
Michael Isaso's from. Elsa.
42:32
So you can ask him what it was like when it rolled off the
42:35
factory floor. So things like that, I probably
42:39
have a few a few comments. Yeah, it's, it's it's it's so
42:44
wild. What do you, what do you daily,
42:45
Dr. Myron? I mean, you said you're not
42:47
against new stuff, but what are you?
42:49
What are you daily? Today I'm driving in the snow a
42:52
1991 Infiniti M30 convertible that.
42:58
Love that. During the height of COVID, I
43:02
bought in Los Angeles. Matt Farah picked it up for me,
43:07
did some service on it and we flew out, drove rough 60, drove
43:11
Route 66 home. That's.
43:14
So cool. That's so cool.
43:16
Got accosted got accosted in Eric Oklahoma for for voting for
43:22
Joe Biden just because her car had a California tags in it.
43:27
Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah.
43:31
So I, I, I bought that with the idea of driving it home and
43:34
flipping it. But it's just such a really,
43:36
really good, just everyday kind of beater car.
43:39
And yeah, you can put the top down when you want to put it
43:41
down too. I, I only drive old cars that
43:44
that is, that's probably one of my newer cars.
43:46
My wife has a modern Subaru Outback.
43:49
That's that's kind of it. Oh, nice.
43:52
Well, you're in the right place because I'm finishing up some
43:55
time with a Forester Wilderness and Ryan everyone as well.
43:59
Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
44:02
I refer to it as a squonk in an article I wrote.
44:05
Now I'm regretting it. I don't know if you ever
44:07
listened to Steely Dan, but there's a line about a squonk
44:10
which is a mythical forest creature in Pennsylvania, which
44:13
is kind of homely and ungainly. And I'm afraid I may never get
44:17
another Subaru pressed car again, Byron.
44:19
But you know, I got to speak the truth.
44:22
Well, listen, you know, Subaru has made a fortune out of not
44:26
talking about their cars and their ads, so I I think there
44:30
might be a real opportunity there for.
44:33
You know, that's a good point, yeah.
44:35
It's about the experiences you'll have, right?
44:37
Not the car. Itself, Yeah, safety dogs and
44:39
kids, Dogs and kids, Right, you got you've got Mazda.
44:43
Which Mazda? Which I think makes like the
44:45
greatest Japanese cars, but can't market themselves out of a
44:48
wet paper bag. So it's, yeah, it's a total
44:51
opposite. Yeah, I am.
44:53
I am loving the Forester and I'm very sorry to see it go, but
44:57
it's it's been really fun. Yeah, yeah.
45:00
Well, Lindsay took this thing to Dirtfish the off road school.
45:03
In the Pacific. West and yeah, you should see
45:06
the videos. I mean she got air and
45:08
everything. And it was heavy snow, right?
45:10
Yeah. Yes, we had between a foot and
45:13
two feet of snow the day before we did.
45:16
It was a women's off road event through Avantz and we did the
45:20
off road course at Dirtfish and the car just chewed it up.
45:24
It was so much fun and last year I went and it was muddy because
45:29
it had been pouring rain. This year we had snow and like
45:33
double the water we had last year.
45:35
The water was really deep. But you know, put the car
45:38
through its paces and it performed beautifully and we
45:41
were comfortable the whole time. And I just, I can't wait to go
45:45
do it again. That's awesome.
45:46
Just also just put on your calendar, line up a Subaru press
45:50
car for this time of year every year, and you're good.
45:53
That's right. That's, I mean, two years in a
45:55
row. So I feel like I'm off to a good
45:56
start. I think Subaru already know.
46:00
Now they're like, oh, it's coming up that time again, isn't
46:03
it? But.
46:03
I think it's gonna be cooling this next week.
46:05
That wouldn't. Golf Rd.
46:06
Day has been booked. Oh.
46:08
Boy, but there's sort of a paragon of like car as appliance
46:12
in the very best way, right? Yeah, yeah, right.
46:15
And, you know, they've got some they've got some old school
46:17
bits, you know, I mean, the ones that are worth keeping.
46:19
And then, you know, they've got some new, you know, bits that
46:22
are are there for reasons as well.
46:25
But, you know, we talk about, you know, cars, appliance and
46:27
this kind of thing. And it's not necessarily a bad
46:29
thing. We also play this little game on
46:31
the show like the best year for certain, Mark, right.
46:35
And I will go to my grave saying 1990 was peak Honda and peak
46:40
Nissan, right? You go into a a Honda or a
46:43
Nissan dealership in in 1990. Grant, I was born in 75, so I
46:46
was 15. This is when I was really
46:47
starting to pay attention to cars.
46:48
But you could you go to a Nissan dealership, you get a 300 ZXA
46:51
240SX, the four door sports car, the maxima, the you know, the
46:55
hard body truck, the Pathfinder Honda was very similar.
46:58
They had their brand new Accord, right, the prelude.
47:02
So when was peak JDM for you, Myron Vertis?
47:10
You know, I think right around that time, I mean, early 90s was
47:13
like super, super stuff. I mean, you know, Nissan was
47:17
kind of wrapping up the R30 twos.
47:18
They had the Z 32. You know, there's early 70s
47:25
tough to beat. I mean, the GT, the 2000 GT was
47:28
still well, 2000GT was early 70s.
47:31
But yeah, that that's kind of super great time.
47:37
Well, I feel. Right on this to be honest,
47:40
because I think peak Honda is NSX.
47:43
So you refuse maybe four years too early Ryan on that one.
47:49
And peak, like peak Subaru is like mid 2000s.
47:53
So can you explain why that's peak Subaru for you?
47:57
Yeah, like you look when the 22 B came out right there was the
48:00
the rally car of choice and the road version.
48:04
And yeah, so for me, that was why it was peak.
48:07
Yeah, but Myron's the expert here.
48:09
What do you think? Right.
48:10
Yeah, no, I I listen to it depends on it depends on the
48:14
car. Like like Mark, my my friend, my
48:15
co-author who's got a 22 B and he just he raves absolutely
48:20
raves about it. But I'll tell you that he thinks
48:23
he would rather drive. He's got AG Pulsar, GTIR Nismo
48:26
Edition, which is oh, wow, every bit as good, but, you know, for
48:32
a fraction of the cost and had nowhere near the success, you
48:34
know, in the rally circuit than than the as the Subaru had.
48:37
So, you know, you can pick out cars I think from any era even
48:41
like when cars are like really, really bad, there are always
48:43
some standouts, you know, in certain years.
48:46
So you learn to appreciate, to appreciate those things.
48:50
Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about NS XS.
48:53
I, I think we can all remember when you could get an NS X for
48:55
25 or 30 grand, a pretty decent one.
48:57
Those days are obviously far behind us.
49:00
And I know that this is not a hobby about making investments
49:04
or money or, you know, it's about the joy, the drive and all
49:06
this. But Myron, from where you sit,
49:08
what should we be all be buying these days?
49:13
You know that again, that's I, I've never bought a car for
49:16
investment, although my wife won't listen to this, so you
49:20
know, I've lied to her about that.
49:23
That's the best. It's like.
49:25
Your secret is safe. It's like the Infinity I'm
49:27
driving six years later that that was going to be a quick
49:30
play. Unless she goes on vacation to
49:33
Peru and then you're in trouble. But we've been we, we, we've
49:37
been to Peru a couple times. It's.
49:40
My, my own were huge there. I don't know if you know this.
49:42
We we were number one for a long time.
49:44
Oh, really? Yeah.
49:46
Oh yeah. Go figure.
49:47
Leave it. We've since dropped to 14 since
49:50
we, you know, gave them a shout out so you know how that works.
49:53
But. They're like, we didn't want
49:55
anyone to know stuff. That, well, guilty pleasure.
49:59
Yeah, for, for, for last year much.
50:01
You're probably #1 in Crete too, because I listened to all your
50:03
stuff while I was there. Oh, fantastic, that's fantastic.
50:07
That explains the bump in grease we appreciate.
50:09
It yeah, you get the bump in grease absolutely, yeah, so.
50:13
There though. Yeah, I, I, I don't know,
50:16
listen, I, I still think NS XS are a good buy if you, if you
50:20
look at, at the enjoyment per per dollar value.
50:23
The things if they're treated halfway decently are are a Honda
50:27
bulletproof. I, I, I, I think I, I, I, I
50:31
can't, I've never tried to judge a car based on monetary value
50:36
because the enjoyment value is, is the most important aspect of
50:40
it for me. So listen, there's some cars
50:43
really expensive that people can't afford the cars I can't
50:46
afford the cars that I'd like that that I can't afford.
50:49
But I could still say they're good values if you can afford
50:52
them and enjoy them. I mean, you look at, you know,
50:54
Doug Demiro and, and his career GT, right?
50:57
I mean, that's an expensive car, but he's he's driving the heck
51:01
out of it and he enjoys it. That that's kind of what it's
51:04
all about. And I think the great thing is
51:07
with cars, if you're into cars, you can find a car in any price
51:13
range that you can maximize your enjoyment for, for the budget
51:16
you have to spend, you don't have to spend, you don't have to
51:19
spend 5, you don't have to spend 10 figures.
51:22
I mean, 5 figures to, to, to get a great car that you can enjoy
51:26
again, this Infiniti I drove across country and I paid like 5
51:30
grand for it. I mean, it's crazy.
51:33
The enjoyment is inverse sometimes to the amount you have
51:37
to put into it. But I think you're hitting on
51:39
something that we hear from a lot of collectors, especially
51:42
those, I think with bigger collections, as they say, you
51:45
know, you say like, well, what's the theme of your collection?
51:47
And they say, I buy what I like. And I think if you're in the car
51:51
hobby to enjoy them and that drives you, pardon the pun, then
51:57
you do end up maximizing your own enjoyment, right?
51:59
I mean, that's, that's really what it's all about.
52:01
You know, it's getting the enjoyment now, whether it's
52:04
driving it or showing it off or tinkering with it or, you know,
52:09
cleaning it. You know, there are all kinds of
52:11
things that that can bring you joy out of this hobby.
52:15
Byron, is there anything in your collection that is objectively
52:19
terrible to drive? Oh yeah, yeah, no doubt I see
52:28
currently. Yeah.
52:31
Yeah, I bought, I bought a Subaru and I'm not, I'm not down
52:35
on Subarus, but I bought a Subaru, a 1974 Subaru GL that
52:42
was customized back in the it's got big Continental spare and
52:47
it's got big grill, 1 Lincoln grill with Cadillac headlights
52:51
and stuff on it. That's the front wheel drive the
52:53
roof. The roof's been cut off on it.
52:55
And it is. It's, it's a horrible car to
52:58
drive, absolutely horrible car to drive.
53:01
But one could argue that the terrible driving experience is
53:04
down to the modifications and not not the fault of Subaru
53:08
perhaps. Yeah, yeah.
53:09
No, no, if it, if it if they hadn't added like 200 lbs of
53:12
bondo and and stuff and spare tires and stuff.
53:15
It was it was probably a fine little car back back in its.
53:18
Day. Yeah, the Lincoln, you said a
53:19
Lincoln grill, right? That alone would double the
53:22
weight of the car, it sounds. Like probably the worst car,
53:25
probably the worst car I ever had.
53:26
And I had two of them. Oh really?
53:31
I, I, I posted a picture on Instagram today because it came
53:34
up in my, in my, my history, a car called Alita Caballero,
53:39
which was made in Post Falls, ID.
53:42
It was, it was back in the old days of Jalopnik.
53:45
One came up and I, and I bought it on eBay and I got kind of
53:48
famous on Jalopnik for buying it.
53:50
And, and I kind of I kind of named it as the finest and most
53:54
beautiful car ever built in Post Falls, ID.
53:57
And this this guy, he'd gotten really, he'd gotten really rich
54:01
and by he invented this machine that fed chickens and he wanted
54:05
to set up a car business so his his kids could have a business
54:09
going to. So he struck a deal with GM and
54:12
he was buying stripped out brand new Chevettes and he was adding
54:17
a body of his own design. OK, is this a chicken farmer out
54:20
of Post Falls? ID had designed this body and
54:23
sculpted it out of Bondo and fiberglass and stuff, put it on
54:26
there and just they made 97 of them.
54:30
And the, the only thing, the only thing worse than the way
54:34
they looked was the way they drove.
54:35
I mean, it's really, really horrible.
54:38
Yeah, so. I mean that one definitely wins
54:41
for best story I think. Yeah.
54:45
What is it about? Nope.
54:47
What is it about cars and dreamers and all this, right?
54:50
I mean, it's just sort of seems every once in a while you just
54:52
get one of these perfect storms like that.
54:54
Yeah, I, I think, listen, we're we're seeing it now with, with
54:58
electric cars. You know, I think I think we saw
55:00
it around the world maybe about a hundred, 120 years ago at the
55:04
turn of the 20th century when people were, you know, there,
55:08
there were the United States at one point, well over the course
55:11
of the 20th century had over 2200 manufacturers, you know,
55:16
people who tried to build cars. And I think a similar thing has
55:19
happened. We've seen it recently with
55:21
electric cars. A lot of these companies have
55:23
gone into the electric car business.
55:25
I see an opportunity either to build a better mousetrap or to
55:29
get famous doing it or just to flat RIP people off.
55:33
I mean, and all those are real reasons to, to start one of
55:35
these car companies. You know, you take a thing like
55:38
a Fisker Ocean and you could say any one of the above could be
55:43
applied to, to this, to this car.
55:45
It's a beautiful little car. I mean, it's a total piece of
55:48
trash. And, and I think an argument
55:49
could be made that people knew all along that it was a piece of
55:52
trash, but people walked out of there with cash.
55:55
So I, I think the allure is there.
55:58
I mean, it's a flat. A car is a flashy thing still
56:01
something, an object of desire. That's it, That's it.
56:05
And poor Henrik Fisker can't catch a break or his cars.
56:08
Can he? I mean, you go back, you know, I
56:10
think he's done, OK? He he's done all right.
56:13
Yeah, OK. Yeah, he might be the most
56:15
resilient man in automotive. Yeah, that's.
56:17
A. That's a better way to.
56:19
That's a better way to. Put it.
56:20
Yeah. Yeah.
56:20
And listen, you got to give him credit.
56:22
And he he he designs beautiful cars.
56:24
He really does design beautiful cars.
56:26
Yeah. Yeah, Myron, you mentioned
56:29
Instagram and I think you are like definitely noted for being
56:34
as active on Instagram as you are.
56:36
And you mentioned a lot of your car friends are younger
56:40
generations than you. You've been in the hobby before
56:44
social media came along. How have you seen it change your
56:48
experience of the car world? Yeah, you know, I, I stay
56:52
involved again because of again, most of my car friends, my
56:55
closest car friends are, are younger people and they're
56:57
involved, you know, in different forms of social media.
57:00
So I, I do that to kind of help them along and, and stay in
57:04
contact with them and, and just kind of stay relevant with them.
57:07
So that, that's the beauty of it.
57:09
I, I, you know, I have a lot of friends my generation and I'm a
57:13
boomer. I'm a proud boomer.
57:14
You know, I can't deny, can't deny when I was born that just
57:19
refused to kind of get involved. And I, I think it's, listen,
57:23
they, they feed, they feed my life.
57:26
And if I can help them along too, that's, that's really the
57:30
motivation for me to stay in there, you know, and listen, and
57:34
I see some of these influencers and stuff that have made a lot
57:37
of money in it. Gosh, I wish I never could
57:39
figure out how to make money in the car business, you know, when
57:42
I was younger. So, you know, I'm not going to
57:44
try to start now, right now. I just do it for, you know, we
57:46
kind of symbiotic relationship. And if people want to follow
57:51
you, your junk man 356, is that right?
57:54
I am yeah. I on Instagram and then either
57:57
that or my name like on Blue Sky or Twitter.
58:02
OK. Yeah, you, you have a Reliant
58:05
Robin. You know, I have a a Mavea
58:09
Robin, which was so, so, so. OK, OK, so you mentioned like
58:14
the worst part. OK, here's another one.
58:16
This is. This is the.
58:18
I'd like to change his answer, yeah.
58:20
This is the scintillating combination of British
58:24
engineering and careful Greek, Greek, Greek manufacturing.
58:31
Oh wow. That's a combo, Yeah, yeah.
58:33
Made under 1-2 punch thing thing.
58:36
Reliant Robins made under license in Greece in the mid
58:39
70s. I mean, that is, there's certain
58:42
things Greek shouldn't be doing and that's that one of them is
58:45
is building. Car, it's amazing.
58:46
It's. Yeah, they were.
58:48
There was a famous Top Gear episode from the newer Top Gears
58:51
where two of the the hosts took them and had a race and I think
58:55
they managed to tip them both over.
58:58
So I'll tell you a funny story about about 3 wheeled cars.
59:02
I have another three wheeled car made in.
59:04
It was made in Van Nuys, CA, call it Davis.
59:06
The museum has 11948 Davis and we had a group of Davises at
59:15
Amelia Island a few years ago and there 16 were made, there
59:20
are 15 left. Almost all of them have 4 wheel,
59:24
have 4 cylinder engines. Mine has a Nash 6 and Wayne
59:29
Carini has one with a with a small Flathead Ford in it.
59:33
So for years we argued about who had the fastest Davis in the
59:36
world. So when they asked me to take
59:40
the car, I said I'll bring it down if Wayne and I can have a
59:44
drag race and finally determine who has the World's Fastest
59:48
Davis. So we were able to close one of
59:52
the runways at the Amelia Island Airport for two hours for the
59:56
for the princely sum of 2 cases of beer.
59:59
And we drag race, We drag race Davises.
1:00:03
And happy to say I am. I'm the proud owner of the
1:00:06
World's Fastest Davis. Wow.
1:00:09
Yes, Wayne. Carini listening.
1:00:13
We have the champion on our show, guys.
1:00:16
Well, The funny thing is, he, he, he, we were at Pebble Beach
1:00:18
that year. He taps me on the shoulder.
1:00:20
He says, hey, I realized there was something wrong with the
1:00:24
ignition. I'm ready for a rematch.
1:00:25
I mean, he took. Oh, he's definitely.
1:00:27
A race car driver. I love it.
1:00:29
I love it, I love it. Well, well, Myron, I think it's
1:00:32
fair to say you have some of the coolest cars in the world and I
1:00:35
think you have some of the coolest friends as well and
1:00:37
really honored to have you join us tonight.
1:00:39
I know we could talk for two more hours, but love to have you
1:00:42
back sometime if you're up for it.
1:00:45
And everyone listening needs to follow Myron on Instagram
1:00:49
because it truly is one of the best accounts out there.
1:00:52
And it's junk man 356. So Myron can't thank you enough.
1:00:58
It's it's it's been a real pleasure.
1:01:00
You're a fascinating guy with some fascinating cars.
1:01:02
So thank you very much for joining us tonight.
1:01:04
It's been my pleasure and an honor to to join you.
1:01:07
I love love your show and wish you continued success.
1:01:11
Thanks so much. We appreciate the support so
1:01:14
much and it's been really fun chatting with you and hearing
1:01:16
about your super unique collection.
1:01:18
Super well, Myron, thank you again.
1:01:20
This is that car show and until next time.
1:01:24
Remember, always be driving and we'll see you next week.