Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / From Fenders to Fine Art: Christi Schimpke’s Jewelry Journey

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From Fenders to Fine Art: Christi Schimpke’s Jewelry Journey · 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 petrolheads that
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  wonder, how did they get that job?
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  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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  Tonight's guest has a background in art history and began metalworking
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  when she discovered her passion for jewelry fabrication a few years ago.
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  Today she makes sustainable unisex jewelry from the metal of luxury automobiles.
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  like Aston Martins, Porsches, Maseratis, Mercedes Benzes, Lamborghinis,
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  Audis, Bentleys, and many, many more.
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  Christy Schimke's vision for Crash materialized when she was
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  working in her garage studio.
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  During breaks from work, she observed the gorgeous cars that
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  arrived for repair and wondered, what happened to the cast off metal?
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  After many months of experimentation, she discovered her own unique
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  process of cutting, bending, shaping, and sanding scrap metal.
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  And Crash Jewelry started to take shape, and she's here with us tonight
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  to tell the rest of her story.
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  And with that, let's welcome Christy to Break Fix.
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  Hello, thank you.
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  And joining us tonight is our newest co host to Break Fix, Lauren Goodman,
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  supervising producer of media and exhibitions from the REVS Institute.
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  So welcome back, Lauren.
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  Lovely to be here.
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  Well, like all good break fix stories, there's a superheroine origin story.
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  So, Christy, tell us about how you got into the world of cars, how you
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  stepped into the autosphere, and how crash jewelry all started to come about.
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  I was working previously in the museum field in education.
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  My background's in art history, so I was always sort of a frustrated artist.
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  I was really tired of the bureaucracy of these big institutions.
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  When I met my husband a while back, he has a body shop here in West Los Angeles.
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  I had never been in a body shop.
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  I didn't really know much about cars, especially luxury high end cars.
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  But as the marriage went on, I started taking metalsmithing classes and
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  just absolutely fell in love with it.
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  I was like, this is what I want to do.
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  This is exactly what I want to do.
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  And I was just making more traditional types of gold, silver, metal smithing.
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  You said your background was art history and fine arts.
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  Did you grow up in a car culture?
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  Are you surprised by this new connection that you have?
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  My brother was always into muscle cars.
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  I never had a super nice car.
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  I'm absolutely surprised.
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  It was a departure for me because I didn't really know anything about it.
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  And then when I did start doing it.
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  It was more about the tactile nature of it is about the paint
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  and how it's going to behave.
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  But as I've been doing it, I've learned more and more and more about cars.
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  And my husband is great because if I have a question, even though it's on a small
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  scale about jewelry, it can extrapolate.
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  And we can talk about, well, this is how, when we're doing
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  this particular thing, when we're rebuilding this, we use these rivets.
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  And then I can maybe apply that technique or whatever to the jewelry.
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  And a lot of times it's been very, very useful, but yeah, now
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  the car community, I love it.
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  I've met so many great people.
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  I feel like I know so much more about cars.
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  My life has completely changed, but after a while I moved my studio into one of the
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  garages, which is where I am now at work.
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  I was still making the silver and gold jewelry, but I wasn't
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  making anything from the cars yet.
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  I would see these cars come in and was always admiring them.
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  And especially the paint.
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  Which reminded me of enamel, I just started thinking like, you know, I
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  wonder, I wonder where this metal goes.
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  I wonder if I can make jewelry from it took a while, you know,
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  it was just one of those thoughts.
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  So I started doing that.
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  And after a lot of trial and error, it took a little while to get there
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  and it's been about 10 years, but we finally got to the point where
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  I'm just making crash jewelry.
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  I'm not doing.
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  The silver and gold any longer.
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  Tell us about those early trials and errors.
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  What was your first successful piece, especially in terms of harvesting
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  the metal from these automobiles?
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  We had no idea really what we were doing.
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  So it's interesting because when I first started doing this, I thought,
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  Oh, you know, everything's aluminum practically that we're getting in.
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  It's going to be piece of cake to bend aluminum, but it's the opposite.
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  It's very, very, very tough metal.
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  And that was a real problem trying to manipulate and
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  bend that metal into a curve.
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  So the steel was much more malleable, but sharper.
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  I've only had to deal with cut sheet metal working on my own car once, and it ended
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  up with me needing like six stitches.
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  First of all, do you have any good stitch stories?
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  But also, this must be part of your artistry, that you're able to deal with
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  these materials without losing a hand.
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  Just very careful.
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  I mean, I've had a tetanus shot because I've cut myself with metal.
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  I cut myself all the time.
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  I pull out little metal splinters from my hands.
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  Yeah, my hands are a mess.
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  You know, I wear gloves a lot of the time, but it needs to be tactile.
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  I need to feel the surface when I'm shaping and when I'm sanding.
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  If you're going to wear it, I want to know that, okay, I don't
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  want this to hurt Lauren's wrist.
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  You know, I want it to be easy to go on, easy to come off.
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  So it's very important that we get everything.
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  smooth as we can get it along the edges.
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  It's just a matter of taking your time and making sure you don't have
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  any burrs or anything like that.
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  It's either aluminum or steel, and these are new cars.
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  We don't work on classic cars or anything like that.
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  It was all about preserving the factory paint, keeping it intact.
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  So Dan would start cutting it up and he would cut up a hood and they give me
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  smaller pieces, which I would then take.
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  And it was very, very crude.
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  I mean, I had to use a bench shear, which I still do.
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  We were using a little belt sander to sand.
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  We were using rivets that we use the little tiny riveter with our fingers
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  and then trying to bend things.
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  The paint would crack.
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  The paint would come off, especially where we drill holes for rivets.
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  The pressure points there.
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  We had to say, okay, well, first of all, we can't drill and bend.
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  We're going to have to drill, bend, then rivet.
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  So everything had to be made on a curved surface, most things, the cuffs.
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  So a cuff is a wide bracelet, right?
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  So we make anything from a half an inch up to three inches and yeah, we
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  leave a half an inch for the opening, which was a challenge in and of itself
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  since nothing was really automated.
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  I'm very, very much of a Luddite process.
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  So in the very beginning, I guess the first piece I made was from a
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  Mercedes SL, a beautiful car and the color was Disegno Matte Gray,
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  beautiful sort of a khaki gray color.
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  Just made a real simple cuff and after that we just kept going on.
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  Your harvesting was essentially, to some people, junk off of
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  these beautiful automobiles.
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  The kind of work your husband does in his shop.
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  We're not talking about like serious accidents.
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  We're talking about bodywork, right?
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  In case anyone was worried, does this come from a serious accident?
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  Yeah.
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  So we work with dealerships, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.
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  So we get a lot of cars that come in that had been maybe
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  some lot damage or valet damage.
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  We work with concierge services.
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  So we get a lot of beautiful high end cars that are just coming in to
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  say, have a quarter panel replaced.
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  So if a car is It's total, it's not ours.
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  We can't touch it.
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  It belongs to the insurance company straight away.
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  So I see the cars when they come in, kind of look at the
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  damage, mostly fender benders.
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  And again, if it's total, I can't touch it.
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  You see an opportunity there because otherwise it goes to a landfill.
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  So you say we could do something beautiful with this, right?
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  There are people that do recycle the metal that will come around and find scrap.
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  But yeah, to some people it could be considered like, Oh, you know, well
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  that's not really worth anything, you know, because that's just.
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  Scrap, but to car aficionados or to even anybody really I mean when you tell the
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  back story and you talk about it And you talk about they came from a Ferrari 360
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  Challenge Stradale and Rosso Corsa It's just like their eyes just you know light
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  up It's interesting to me because this is something that goes on at Rev's Institute
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  in the workshop is when they look at conserving cars Some of the conservators
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  who come in are fine art conservators.
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  They come from a fine art museum background.
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  In fact, one of my favorite people, Dr.
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  Gundula Toot, she came from just a purely, like, preserving painting background.
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  I got interested because Picasso enjoyed using auto paints in his
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  work, and she became interested in the properties of auto paint.
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  When she comes in, she's looking with the eye of somebody with an art history and
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  fine art background, but so many of those same principles are really applicable
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  in collecting really special cars.
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  Really, it is an art, but just reminded me what Lauren was saying
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  about gaso and automotive paint.
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  This is another story about a gentleman in Sydney, Australia, Ron Goodman.
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  He is a really well known Porsche restorer, and he drives a lot of 356s.
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  And he sent me parts of his car that he had an aboriginal painter paint.
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  Because he was taking it into the Outback to raise money for
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  Sydney Children's Hospital.
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  So he gave me a part of the car with the aboriginal painting on it, and
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  we made items for them to auction off to raise money for the hospital.
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  Having worked on my own race cars, you know, a lot of times you got to pull
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  a fender, you got to pull a hood off.
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  The underside of that metal is not the nicest metal.
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  It's not nearly as finished as the outside.
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  People just think, Oh, the fender, you know, it's the same inside as it is out.
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  And it's not.
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  And so I wonder, let's say you're talking about the cuffs.
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  How do you treat the piece to make it comfortable, not only just
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  on the edges, but to the wrist?
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  And you don't end up having like a reaction.
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  Some people have different reactions to metal types and things like that.
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  So what are you doing to treat the pieces?
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  It's interesting you say that because the doors are the worst doors, hoods, there's
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  all this infrastructure that you have to deal with to take out, separate it.
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  And that in and of itself is a pain.
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  huge pain.
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  And then a lot of the cars have this really thick, like sound
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  proofing, hard rubber that we try to heat slowly with a heat gun.
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  And we basically have to take a chisel and a hammer and just
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  get it off as much as we can.
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  Some of it comes off easily with a chisel.
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  Some, we just have to keep reheating it and trying again.
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  A lot of times we just grind it off if we can, but it's always interesting.
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  Seems to be the same cars that use the same materials over and
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  over again that we always hate.
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  We get the inside, the back that touches your skin as clean as possible.
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  We do a lot of sanding, a lot of grinding.
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  And we also engrave the name of the car on the inside, give it a VIN,
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  not an actual VIN, but it's our VIN so that we have a reference.
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  If you wanted to reorder, I'd say, Hey, you know, what's your VIN?
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  And then I would know what size you want.
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  It looks like almost everything has to do with the body parts that are
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  made out of aluminum or sheet metal.
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  Have you thought about incorporating or planning to do anything with
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  carbon fiber or other kinds of.
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  Hard materials that come out of the car, be they interior or exterior.
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  I can't work with carbon fiber.
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  It just breaks if you try and bend it.
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  Can't really work with that.
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  What about ABS plastics, like bumpers and stuff?
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  Nah, it's just nasty.
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  I, I have worked with Corvette Museum.
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  They sent me a bunch of C8 panels.
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  Which are fiberglass.
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  I, I said, I don't think this is going to work because it can't bend it.
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  So everything was going to have to be flat.
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  So the way we got around that was grinding everything down.
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  So it's just a very thin layer of this stuff on the back and the paint on top.
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  And then I would set it in resin because you don't want that next to your skin.
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  Sure.
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  That's as good as I can get with Corvette.
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  So, and I, I have tried bumpers before.
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  It's, it's not much fun because it is plastic and it's the same concept.
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  I can't bend it.
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  It's just, it's gotta be flat.
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  To Lauren's point.
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  Have you thought about maybe branching into using, let's say.
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  Convertible tops or the leather from the seats or door cards or something
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  like that from a wrecked car.
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  I did use some upholstery in the beginning to line the insides.
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  It was just so intensive to get the leather inside and to get it perfect
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  that if I was going to charge what it cost me to make it, nobody would buy it.
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  But yeah, as far as other things, other bits of the car, I haven't, Oh yeah,
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  I did use a window sash from my box.
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  It's aluminum and I've made some things with that and
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  I'm making some earrings now.
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  So that's been really great.
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  There's not a whole lot other than the car panels itself because
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  it's about preserving that paint.
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  However, we are branching into fashion.
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  We're making butterflies.
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  that are made from a Porsche, two different Porsches, and we're going
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  to put pins on the back and then we're going to bend the wings up.
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  And then I am wearing these on a special suit that I'm having made
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  for me to the motor car cavalcade.
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  So it's going to be my butterfly suit.
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  I love that.
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  That's amazing.
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  Yeah.
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  And I was thinking these would also be good on shoes.
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  Like you could put them on shoes if you add a little clips too.
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  Or maybe for your hair as well.
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  Absolutely.
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  Like a comb.
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  Mm hmm.
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  Talking about bending the metal.
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  A lot of times the paints will crack.
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  There's different paints out there.
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  Do you have to apply a lot of heat in order to get the paint to stay together?
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  And how are you protecting the edges?
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  Is there some sort of again, urethane or something that's
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  keeping it from peeling back?
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  Without giving away any secrets.
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  Yeah, we are using heat, but very slowly.
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  It's a very slow process.
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  We heat it for a little bit.
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  Then we start to bend it.
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  We heat it.
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  We bend it.
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  We heat it.
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  We bend it.
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  What we're doing now is we're using a laser engraver.
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  I have a guy that works with me, Brian Bischoff, and he is an engineer and
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  he's figured out how to use a very powerful laser engraver to actually.
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  burn through the paint and expose the bare metal underneath.
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  So what we'll do a lot of times is we will burn the shape of the cuff.
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  So it creates like a little divide.
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  So then we, when we cut it out, we make sure we cut outside that little
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  line so that the paint can stay within the boundaries of that laser line.
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  So that when we are bending it or sanding it, it doesn't crack.
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  It does sometimes.
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  Red paint is the worst.
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  Absolutely the worst.
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  I think it has a lot of iron oxide in it.
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  After we bend it, then we grind it again along the edges.
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  It's a grinding, sanding, heating, bending process over and over again.
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  Who's got the best paint?
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  It depends.
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  I could probably tell you guys the worst paint.
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  Okay, and we'll go there too.
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  I'll get in trouble.
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  Some of the Lamborghinis are great.
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  Some of the Ferrari is good, not all.
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  It also depends, I think, on the age of the car and where
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  it's coming from on the car.
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  How many millimeters it is in thickness.
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  For example, I have a lot of metal from a 599 GTO in this pearl white.
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  It is so incredibly thick.
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  And then I have the Rosso Corsa, which is brittle and not very thick.
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  So it doesn't make much sense.
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  Well, yeah, to hear about a white Ferrari is pretty rare, because
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  I always joke they either come in ketchup and mustard, and that's the
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  only two colors they have, you know?
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  I know, I know.
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  So, I guess in fairness, I'll ask this then.
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  Who has the best color palette?
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  I would say between Porsche and Lambo.
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  Bentley also has nice colors.
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  I wouldn't say their paint's very good, but just from what I've been working on.
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  You know, it's really interesting you mentioned that, considering
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  the parent family is BW of all those brands you mentioned.
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  So since this isn't your conventional jewelry, how
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  does one service these pieces?
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  Meaning keeping them clean.
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  Do you wax them with Meguiars or Turtle or something like that?
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  I do.
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  I use detail spray and I even put them in the dishwasher like
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  they're going to the car wash.
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  So you can do that.
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  No, they're easy to clean.
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  You can use Windex even, but I just use detail spray.
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  It's a very valid point about Washington because all the modern metals on the
• 15:26
  cars, everything's galvanized and treated.
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  So it's all really waterproof and it won't rust, which is really, really nice.
• 15:32
  Right.
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  And I think you mentioned that earlier about sensitivities people may have
• 15:36
  to metal, and that's one of the things I've never really met anybody that's.
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  had an issue with the aluminum.
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  It's usually always has a primer inside.
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  You have a protection between you and the metal.
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  And I will say I know that we carry some of your things at the gift
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  shop at Rev's Institute, which we love to feature them there.
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  So I've seen you do cuffs.
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  I've seen cufflinks, earrings.
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  I think necklaces, too.
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  Mm hmm.
• 16:01
  Yeah.
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  And then we're also doing rings.
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  We do some corporate gifting things where we'll do keychains, dog tags.
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  I made a series of desk clocks for the La Jolla Concord elegance and Hilton head.
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  So that's real nice because what I did was each judge got a clock made from the metal
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  of the class that he or she was judging.
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  It had a personal meaning.
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  So they were thrilled.
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  When I come back, the judges still come up to me and say,
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  this is the best gift I ever got.
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  So that makes me feel good.
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  Because people have a connection to their cars unlike anything else.
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  I bet you found this making jewelry for car people.
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  Oh my God.
• 16:38
  Yeah.
• 16:38
  Yeah.
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  I get people contact me all the time.
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  People send me metal from their cars.
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  A particular woman who had this beautiful BMW M5 competition.
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  Oh my God.
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  It was a European delivery.
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  Somebody hit her and they totaled it and she was just devastated.
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  So she sent me part of her car and we keep making jewelry for her.
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  You have all these different grades of cars.
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  And when you got to go buy a car on the.
• 17:01
  car lot.
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  Obviously, Ferraris are worth more than Mercedes and so on down the line.
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  Does the jewelry scale that way too, or does it matter where it came from?
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  If it's something that is really rare, then yes, but it's mostly labor.
• 17:14
  If we put gemstones or minerals or anything like that, any sort
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  of embellishment that's going to enhance it will increase the
• 17:21
  value, but it's mostly labor.
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  When you give somebody this, As a gift or it maybe it came from their
• 17:27
  car, you know, long lost rack or something like that How has the jewelry
• 17:31
  inspired people for some people?
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  It's aspirational.
• 17:34
  There's a young woman who bought a Porsche cuff from me.
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  I think it was last year right at christmas time And she was telling
• 17:43
  me how much she really wanted this particular Portia, everything she was
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  looking at was way too expensive and she really was gonna keep working hard.
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  And the next time I saw her, which is at Amelia Island, she came up
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  to me and she was wearing the cuff and she said, I got my Portia.
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  It's exactly what I'm wearing.
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  And she goes, I just can't help but feel that somehow there was this connection.
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  Have there been any other folks that have reached back out to you about stories?
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  about receiving the jewelry or other things that were tied to the piece itself?
• 18:10
  Yeah, for example, there's a young woman, stunt driver and a drifter.
• 18:15
  She lives in Malibu and she had a beautiful BMW.
• 18:20
  She called Sophie.
• 18:21
  She used it for all of her drifting and other things.
• 18:24
  And she was away during the Woolsey fire, which was a few years ago.
• 18:28
  She lost everything.
• 18:29
  She lost her home.
• 18:29
  She lost her cars.
• 18:31
  Everything burned to the ground.
• 18:32
  Sophie was just this burnt.
• 18:34
  Husk unbeknownst to her, her friends went and cut a piece of it out
• 18:39
  and brought it to me from that.
• 18:41
  I was able to make a special cup with sort of the burnt patina
• 18:46
  because there wasn't any paint.
• 18:47
  And then from three other cars, I was able to do the empower diagonal stripes
• 18:52
  and we engraved a really nice note on the inside and wrote Sophie and she just broke
• 18:59
  down, you know, she couldn't believe it.
• 19:01
  So they have lots of stories like that, you know, and it's a keepsake for them.
• 19:05
  And she wears it all the time when she's driving, when she's
• 19:08
  doing her stunts or drifting.
• 19:09
  And she feels like it keeps her safe, too.
• 19:12
  What do you think's the most important piece you've ever worked on, or
• 19:15
  the one that meant the most to you?
• 19:16
  Or your favorite?
• 19:17
  Just recently, we partnered with Cadillac, and they reached out and said, it's
• 19:22
  the 20th anniversary of the Black Wing, and we were wondering if you could
• 19:26
  make Something like an ornament or a keepsake that we could sell on our site.
• 19:32
  So I was like, well, sure, but I don't work on Cadillacs traditionally.
• 19:35
  So they sent us a vendor of a prototype color chartreuse metallic, and they
• 19:41
  were amazing to work with because the head of marketing there, she
• 19:44
  said, I just want you and your team.
• 19:46
  To come up with some ideas and let's see what you come up with.
• 19:49
  It just gave us free reign to do what we wanted.
• 19:52
  And so we came up with this incredible ornament and it's a spiral and it's
• 19:57
  got all the Cadillac marketing assets lasered on the inside and there's only
• 20:02
  50 of them, so they're marked one of 50, two of 50 and so forth and sold out.
• 20:07
  Like within two days, that was like one of the most.
• 20:09
  Interesting ones we've done, we've done a lot of other things.
• 20:12
  Like we partnered with Lynn St.
• 20:13
  James to do a cuff for her and her nonprofit, which helps young women in
• 20:19
  the racing industry worked with her.
• 20:21
  We created a speedometer from two different Mustangs.
• 20:24
  The numbers represent her qualifying times.
• 20:27
  We did a limited run.
• 20:28
  We did only 90 because that's her number.
• 20:30
  So again, you know, that was great because a big part of that went to her nonprofit.
• 20:35
  Which is Women in Motorsports North America.
• 20:38
  Yes.
• 20:38
  And I was privileged to be at the last conference and got to hear
• 20:42
  Lynn speak, which is really special.
• 20:44
  And I'd looked at the bracelet, the cuffs too are also beautiful.
• 20:47
  And I thought, what a cool idea.
• 20:49
  And I'm really glad that connection there with Lynn, you're able to
• 20:51
  express something that's just really important to me personally.
• 20:54
  And I think to everyone in that room.
• 20:55
  And we've been very fortunate to have Lynn on Break Fix, fortunate to be able
• 20:59
  to work with them over the years as well.
• 21:01
  So it's pretty cool.
• 21:02
  I love that.
• 21:02
  And I'm so glad to see so many more people getting involved with it.
• 21:06
  I think it's going on.
• 21:07
  It's what, Third or fourth year coming up.
• 21:09
  You know, I'm super excited about this.
• 21:11
  I think I know what I need to get my wife for Christmas this coming year.
• 21:15
  One of the things I noticed when I was shopping on the website is that one of the
• 21:19
  coolest features about the jewelry, and you alluded to this earlier, isn't just
• 21:22
  the piece itself, but what it comes with.
• 21:25
  So for example, this is from an Aston Martin.
• 21:27
  Once you get it, you get it in a logo box.
• 21:30
  Inside is a crash registration card.
• 21:34
  Basically, we list the name of the car, the make, the model, its crash
• 21:39
  VIN, the color, any other information that we have, like if it has gemstones
• 21:43
  or whatever, we'll list those.
• 21:45
  So you actually do have this really cool registration card that looks like a DMV.
• 21:50
  card.
• 21:50
  Again, I'm psyched.
• 21:51
  I'm interested in acquiring some of this jewelry and I'm
• 21:55
  sure some other people are too.
• 21:56
  So other than just going to the website, that's pretty on the nose
• 21:59
  in terms of order it and get it.
• 22:01
  As you've mentioned, you can have pieces commissioned.
• 22:04
  Can you also seek out source materials from specific cars?
• 22:07
  Let's say I don't have a Lamborghini, but you can.
• 22:11
  Get it from the new Kuntosh.
• 22:13
  If I have it, I wish I had that, but yeah, I get a lot of people,
• 22:16
  especially this last year with Porsche's 75th anniversary for very,
• 22:19
  very specific about what they want.
• 22:22
  If we have it, that's great.
• 22:23
  If not, I'll just put you on a list.
• 22:25
  And if something comes in, I'll let you know, but it's usually great.
• 22:28
  If somebody can send me metal too.
• 22:31
  We get a lot of that.
• 22:32
  Sometimes race car drivers, for example, a Ferrari, uh, Challenge
• 22:36
  Evo and, uh, Giallo Modena.
• 22:39
  So it's beautiful yellow color.
• 22:41
  They sent it to us from road Atlanta because they crashed into the wall.
• 22:44
  That's an example of somebody who's like, Can you please
• 22:47
  make me something from this?
• 22:48
  You know, this is my car.
• 22:50
  And that process isn't going to be on the website, fill
• 22:53
  out a form or a shopping cart.
• 22:54
  That's pick up the phone, talk to Christie and get that set.
• 22:57
  Yeah.
• 22:57
  Just get it set up.
• 22:58
  And depending on what it is, it's easy to ship it super easy.
• 23:02
  And a lot of times we don't even need that much.
• 23:04
  It depends on what you want.
• 23:05
  I've even had somebody send me a gas.
• 23:09
  And how long does it usually take to get a piece made if you have the materials?
• 23:12
  Not that long.
• 23:13
  I mean, it depends on what it is and what time of the year it is.
• 23:15
  But usually I think I say four or five business days just to be safe.
• 23:19
  Well, Christy, we've reached that part of the episode where I like to
• 23:23
  invite our guests to tell everybody about any shout outs, promotions or
• 23:27
  anything else they'd like to share that we haven't covered thus far.
• 23:29
  In that case.
• 23:30
  What is next for you and Crash Jewelry?
• 23:33
  Big events coming up.
• 23:35
  Any bucket list items you have on the docket for the next couple years?
• 23:39
  Yeah, some spoilers.
• 23:40
  Yeah, well, I'm getting ready for Miami that I mentioned.
• 23:44
  Motor car cavalcade.
• 23:45
  I'm the featured artist this year, so that's exciting.
• 23:48
  I get to do a lot of fun things that I've never done before, like Participate
• 23:52
  in the rally on Saturday morning.
• 23:54
  So I'm looking forward to that.
• 23:56
  And then we have the Amelia coming up.
• 23:58
  I'm going to be in two different places there.
• 24:00
  I'm going to be inside and also outside.
• 24:02
  So that's going to be big this year for me.
• 24:04
  I'm going to be there like four or five days selling.
• 24:06
  And then back to California, there's more concourse, La Jolla, San Marino.
• 24:10
  And of course, Pebble beach is the Zenith.
• 24:13
  For me anyway, that's the hype.
• 24:14
  I did it last year.
• 24:16
  It was amazing.
• 24:17
  Actually a bucket list would be going overseas to do Le Mans, but we'll see.
• 24:23
  And when you were at car week last year, where I ran into you, you were
• 24:26
  at Concorso and a couple other places, or where do you plan to be this year?
• 24:30
  This year, I'm just going to stick to one place last year.
• 24:33
  It was crazy.
• 24:34
  I'm going to do retro automobile again.
• 24:37
  Oh, nice.
• 24:37
  Yeah.
• 24:38
  That's a great one.
• 24:38
  That's Thursday through Sunday.
• 24:40
  Yeah.
• 24:40
  Last year I did three events.
• 24:43
  During car week, trying to maximize my time there, but it's just too hard.
• 24:46
  It's too difficult.
• 24:47
  Well, it's easier if you stay in one spot, we all come to you, right?
• 24:50
  Then we know where you're going to be.
• 24:52
  Absolutely.
• 24:52
  Well, you know how it is.
• 24:54
  Just getting around that area during the week is a nightmare.
• 24:57
  So we don't really have any promotions.
• 24:59
  However, we do offer to our customers first time and returning.
• 25:04
  A 15 percent discount.
• 25:06
  So if anybody is interested in that, just get in touch with me.
• 25:09
  But as it does take us a little while to make things, we suggest getting
• 25:12
  your orders in early and you can just come to our website, crashjewelry.
• 25:17
  com.
• 25:17
  Super easy to remember.
• 25:19
  I'm very accessible either by text, email, pick up the phone,
• 25:23
  happy to talk to anybody.
• 25:24
  about their ideas or what they're looking for.
• 25:27
  Christy Schimpke, the founder of Crash Jewelry, came up with the idea
• 25:30
  to create fashion jewelry from cars when she moved her studio into her
• 25:34
  husband's Los Angeles body shop, Beverly Coachcraft, which specializes in collision
• 25:39
  repairs for late model European cars.
• 25:42
  To learn more about Christy and Crash, be sure to log on to CrashJewelry.
• 25:46
  com or follow her on social media at Crash Jewelry on Instagram and
• 25:50
  Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
• 25:52
  And you can connect with her.
• 25:55
  With that, Christy, I can't thank you enough for coming on break fix
• 25:58
  and sharing your very unique story about your place in the auto sphere.
• 26:02
  I am intrigued by this.
• 26:03
  I've seen these pieces in person.
• 26:05
  I think they're gorgeous.
• 26:06
  They're amazing.
• 26:07
  And they're so different.
• 26:09
  And if you're a petrol head.
• 26:10
  Or your significant other is a petrol head or maybe wants to be, this is a great
• 26:14
  way to be engaged and be able to carry it around, like you said, and remind people
• 26:18
  like, Hey, this was my BMW, this was my Porsche, this right on your wrist or
• 26:22
  right under your ears or whatever it is.
• 26:23
  So I think this is super cool and keep doing what you're doing.
• 26:26
  And I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next.
• 26:28
  Cause you never know what car is going to come in the shop.
• 26:30
  Absolutely.
• 26:31
  Well, thank you so much.
• 26:33
  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I feel honored that you
• 26:36
  asked me to be on your podcast.
• 26:42
  We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix Podcast brought
• 26:46
  to you by Grand Touring Motorsports.
• 26:48
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• 26:51
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• 26:55
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• 26:59
  be sure to check out the follow on article at GTMotorsports.
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