Latest / That Car Show / On the Scent of Hagerty’s Trent Abbott

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On the Scent of Hagerty’s Trent Abbott · That Car Show

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I am. I am.
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No, Pat Long. I'm not as good behind the wheel
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as Pat Long. You know, Pat's about as big as
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my thigh. Tonight on that car show, the
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other Oracle of Omaha, Haggerty's Trent Abbott joins us
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to shoot the breeze, share stories, and discuss all things
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automotive. Trent is a TrueCar enthusiast,
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rally participant extraordinaire, and
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unintentional Pied Piper. From founding A fraternity to
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rallying appreciation for Chrysler's finest, Trent is
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creating trends left and right. We could have talked all night,
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but we'll settle for an hour this time.
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Trent Abbott, the man, the myth and a true legend this week on
0:38
that car show. That car show is brought to you
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by Sheffield Watches. Sheffield is the storied
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watchmaking brand that was revived a couple of years back
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by her good friend Jay Turkbus, and it's seen wild success in
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Sheffield offers a wide selection of watches, many
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We're also happy to welcome new sponsor Drake Motor Cars to the
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show. And if you are in the Denver
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area on Saturday, October 11th, please join us along with
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friends from Avant's Cars and Bids, Velocity Restorations,
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Automobile Rally Hoffingley and 1st Western Trust for the Drake
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Denver. 4840 Broadway in Denver. You can find them online at
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drakemotorcars.com. It's going to be a good time.
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There can be some cool cars on hand, some good food, good drink
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and we look forward to seeing you there.
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Hey, it's that car show and tonight we've got our buddy
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Trent Abbott joining us. If you've been to car week or
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the Colorado grand or any big time automotive event really,
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you've probably seen Trent. You might know him for his snake
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head cowboy hat and black framed glasses or is the founder of a
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super secret drivers fraternity that I have yet to get the tap
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on the shoulder for. I've I've gotten to know Trent
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on the Colorado Grand, but I think Trent's done just about
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every other automotive event in the world there is to do as
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well, including the Cal melee, the Copper State 1000, the meal.
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Amelia, I think you've done all those and probably some other
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super exclusive stuff that Lindsay and I don't even know
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about. Trent's got an amazing Porsche
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356 with just the right amount of patina, and he's driven that
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in the grand, but I know he's got some other cool stuff hiding
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in the garage as well. In Trent's role at Haggerty,
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Vice president of global development, let's call it the
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really high net worth folks. I can guarantee you that Trent
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has seen some shit. Discretion is the better part of
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valor, of course, though, so discreet will remain.
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But I know that we'll get some really good stories out of the
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guy just the same. I don't know about you, Lindsay,
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but I've got my bourbon, I've got my cigar, so let's get into
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it. What's up, buddy?
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Dude, I am just happy to be here with you guys.
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Like it's good to see ya. Yeah, long time listener, first
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time caller. That's what we like.
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I think that I'm pretty jazzed. I think that sums trend up
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really well. Hey guys, I'm just here, I'm
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just trying to have a good time, but we're so we're so happy
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you're here. So good to see you.
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Yeah, it's, it's a pleasure. It's, you know, an opportunity
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to spend the evening talking about, you know, the hobby that
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we all care so much about and more, you know, more than that,
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the people that we all get to spend time with, your, you know,
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present company included. And Lindsay, you have known each
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other for a few years now on a chance meeting on a what was
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that? A Wednesday lunch followed up by
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Saturday cars and coffee at a finish line.
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And yeah, it's that a lot of fun to know you as well and.
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That's true. That was the first time we hung
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out in person because we had had a call when I first started at
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Haggerty. And I'll never forget because
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you started the call saying how can I make your day better?
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And I was like, say less like, yeah.
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But you're right. We met at the Culver City Garage
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and social with our friend John Nikas.
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And then that evolved into OK, and we're meeting in Huntington
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at 5:30 and then we're going to finish line.
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But then between Friday night and Saturday morning when I got
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to Huntington pre dawn, you're like, by the way, there's a
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third event. And then I went back up to
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Culver City, and by the time I got to Culver City at 10, AMI
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don't. That was my fourth event.
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Yeah, yeah, it's is, is, is Socal not the best place on the
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planet for automotive shenanigans of all flavors.
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Like God, I, I feel, I feel so blessed to be embraced by that
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community and all, all walks of life in the, in that, in that
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automotive space. Starting out with, you know, the
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5:00 AM donut derelicts and moving on down towards Laguna
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and then back from Laguna back to Huntington to try and hit
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everything. It's, it is such a hotbed.
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It's almost as good as Omaha, NE where I'm at.
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Almost. It gives Omaha a run for its
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money. And you know when Socal grows
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up, it wants to be Omaha. There you go.
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One of one of these things I'll figure it out and realize that
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they they need to work out some things to be just like us.
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It's it's it's good. That was a lot of fun without a
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doubt. I knew I had a fast friend and
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Lindsay and Ron, you and I you and I have danced around each
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other for a few years now and finally kind of landed it this
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year when when a particular Jag XK150 on the LFL brand had a
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Lucas electric problem, right. Not that that would ever happen,
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but this. Sounds like fake news, guys.
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Come on. Yeah.
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Canon's car had a little failure to to launch on a on a morning
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and I called Ryan and crew and said need to get back down into
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Vail today. We need one of those Mercedes
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and I think I convinced the two of you boys to hop in the car
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and ride with a. Yeah, that's.
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Amazing. For everybody.
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If you've never ridden in the rear seat of ACLA, is that a 53?
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Whatever the AMG version doesn't really matter.
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Mercedes CLA. It's not a big space.
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Yeah, but but we survived and it was really nice having lunch
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with both you and Ken. So, Ken, we should mention, is
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the president Broad Arrow, correct?
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It was his first grand, is that right?
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Correct. And what?
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What's the Jag? It's an XK. 150. 150 OK hell of
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a car, beautiful thing Black cuts quite a profile and I think
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ran just fine for the first what, 3 days?
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Yeah, and, and really all it was was the was the starter button.
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We learned how to how to hot wire pretty quick after that.
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And then obviously the wonderful grand mechanics came and and
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threw an extra switch in it for us.
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But yeah, that's that's a really good car.
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And and most impressively, if you put Ken on and I standing
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next to each other literally like a side of beef.
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I mean, there it is. There's a lot of human there.
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And that car had no problem motivating us through the
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mountains of Colorado. It was, it was really a good
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car. I was, I was surprised at how
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good and how spacious it was inside.
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I'm not used to driving old Jags.
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How many grants have you done? Oh, Grants, I think at this
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point I've done maybe 6. OK, OK.
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Maybe six, yeah. It's a lot of grants.
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Six more than I have. Yeah, it's, it's been good.
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It's you know, it's that's a great event and you know, the
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the charity that that goes with it is incredible.
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And you know, Colorado roads in the fall or where those are hard
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to beat. They really are.
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There's a lot of there's a lot of really great events out there
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and you know, undoubtedly that the grand brings a lot of the
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really great hardware and a lot of great people.
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Not that the others don't, but the grands kind of special and
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what it it brings out. And and yeah, I love doing these
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dragon tours and luckily I get to go do that for a living.
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What is it about the grand that is that makes it so special?
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I mean, I think it is the quality of the cars, it is the
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roads. I think it's the people, right?
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And it's, it's a nonprofit too, right?
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It's a charity. So that's like, you know, it's
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altruistic, right? Which is kind of of of nice too.
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But it is it's it's unique and Haggerty is a long time sponsor,
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as you know, which is appreciated so.
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No, it's, you know, I think, I think with that event, it's kind
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of a, it's kind of the grandfather of all of the and I
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don't want to make it sound uncool by calling it the
9:13
grandfather, but it is, it's, it was, it's kind of maybe it's the
9:16
patriarch. Maybe we call it the patriarch
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of, of the collector car rally community out there.
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And you know, the, the, the crew that's in charge of that does
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such a nice job, so thoughtful. The route book is so good.
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The hotels are well thought out. The the lunch stops are the most
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quaint thing on the plan. I think the lunch stops might be
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one of the best parts of the event.
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You know, you go roll into small town Colorado and hand out a
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bunch of scholarship money to some kids and by God it's the
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same kids that are actually serving you lunch.
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That's. That's pretty special at the end
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of the lunch with the local live entertainment and like it's,
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it's incredible And it's it's a, you know, it's a pinch yourself
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moment when you leave town. You feel like a stinking hero
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just for driving an old community and then you go RIP
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down the back Rd. to the next town for coffee.
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I mean, it's it's special And and you know, the I think the
10:14
grand was really the first one in and copper state's been doing
10:18
a long time. Obviously, I have a tremendous
10:21
affinity for for the copper stabbing.
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I've done that 15 times and and and then the California melee.
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Obviously Haggerty owns that now you want to talk about a man, a
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really high brow, well organized.
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You know, it was a great event when the Swigs had it.
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Nothing against the Swigs, man. They had something special when
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you think about the grand and these great sweeping vistas that
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go on forever. Then he hit some switchbacks.
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Well, California, I never knew this until I started driving
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this event, but those roads are so tight.
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They're so, they're so full of switchbacks.
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You don't have as much long sweeping vistas at the end of
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1000 miles. You feel like you did something.
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Your shoulders are reminding you that you did all the
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switchbacks. And, and, and Haggerty's, I
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think, I think everybody would say, you know, Haggerty's really
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elevated that event in that, you know, Haggerty has a long
11:18
history of events. And, and so hotels, food and
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beverage, It's really, really, really elevated.
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And, and we're really proud of it.
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I'm really proud of it. So to have yeah, said to have
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all these events that, you know, that we get to participate in
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and, and see all of your friends.
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I mean, the events are great, but it's, it's the people, it's
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the people, it's the people. Like we're, we're so, so very
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fortunate to spend time with some of the most interesting
11:48
people in the world doing the events.
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I mean, who else gets to do that?
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Yeah, yeah, some fascinating people on these events for sure.
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Some amazing conversations and all that.
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And you have done the the meal Amelia.
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Or am I wrong? No, I have.
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Oh, I just assumed you had so OK, we can edit that out of
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that. No, it's fine.
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I I've been invited a few times. I've yet to find the the time to
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do it. I have AI have a standing really
12:14
cool invitation by a a friend of mine that that's a 300 SL
12:19
mechanic. He happens to own his own car.
12:22
He really wants to go do this. We just kind of got to figure it
12:24
out. But I tell you, if I can go run
12:26
the mill million Italy in the 300, that's so going with a guy
12:29
that knows how to fix. This.
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And Andy's not a jerk, like even better.
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He's a really cool dude. So I think, you know, if I can,
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if I can get that one landed, that would be great.
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But yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm fortunate the, you know, the,
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the job that I meant takes me to Europe a bit.
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So I get at least some taste into some of those things and
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and some, you know, look behind the scenes at a lot of events in
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Europe and or their passion there too.
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Yeah. Yeah, well, and I think you and
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I have been lucky. Like we have a lot of mutual
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friends on the Haggerty events team.
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So especially stuff like the Calmile, not only are you
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getting to see your friends that you're driving with, you get to
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see your friends that are actually running the event.
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Like we had Logan on the show. And then, like our good friend,
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you know, we have to say hi to Hillary, of course, you know.
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I love that she's the best. She's like my kid's sister.
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I know she's absolutely the best, but they just, you know,
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the whole team does such an amazing job.
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So yeah, yeah, it's always amazing to see the pictures.
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Yeah. Have you always been a car guy?
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Like, does this go back to when you were a kid?
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Did you grow up in a car family or what was the genesis of all
13:38
this? Because I mean, it's it's, it's
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your life. I mean, you're living the dream
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and you're doing all these events.
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But where did this start? Yeah, Ryan.
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Yeah, I think I was. I think I was born with it.
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I don't want to like, I don't want to go through the whole
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tearjerker story here, but so it.
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Was the ratings, the tears? Come on, come.
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On Drum them up, let me, let me work on myself.
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You. Can bring the eye drops in if
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you need. When I was when I was born, my
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father had a 1971 De Tomaso Pantera and, and my, my
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biological father was afflicted like this guy was absolutely
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afflicted by, by the automobile my entire life.
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So growing up with, you know, around him, he always had, you
14:30
know, he had this Pantera from the time I was born in the mid
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70s up until the early 80s. And you know, it was my folks
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divorced and, and after they divorced, he did the natural
14:43
thing. We were in western Nebraska,
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like small town western Nebraska, ranch country.
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He decides he's going to go to Denver and open a Pantera
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specialty shop. What could possibly go wrong?
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As one does. Right.
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So, so it might not have been a great business move on his
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behalf, but but we'll never forget going to visit, you know,
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my father in Denver. Like they were pretty cool days
15:09
that, you know, we didn't stay at his apartment.
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Obviously we had to stay at a hotel.
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And then and then he would take us to the shop and all you would
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smell was like high test fuel and rubber because they were
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throwing huge beats on these cars.
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So they were, you know, balancing and blueprinting
15:26
these, you know, these, you know, Clevelands.
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And it was, it was, it was really cool.
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We'd go from that straight to Casa Bonita.
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Oh, there you go. Obviously.
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Right next to big Sir Water Man. In its prime, that's right.
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Yeah. Wow, Wow.
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Have you been back since they they did the whole rebirth or
15:43
whatever is that? But when I do, I'm calling you.
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OK, Please do because I've never been.
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And, you know, when we moved to Denver, it was kind of, I guess
15:52
the nadir of, of, of the place. It was kind of in the dumps.
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You know, you hear these stories of how they like shoveled out
15:59
grease from like the vents and all this stuff.
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And, and, but, but I'm up for going now, So let's make that
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happen. It's now, it's clean, the food
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is good. It's hard to get in, you know,
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as you know. So it'll be great.
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I can't wait. So we so, so my, my, my father
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had that car until I probably seven years old, eight years old
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and that moved into a 928 Porsche.
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OK. And he had always had like a
16:25
couple of cool cars like Jags and whatnot in the mix too.
16:28
But like he really, he really fell head over heels for the 928
16:33
when I was Grant God as a kid. And looking at that car in the
16:37
early 80s, it looked like, I thought it was like the space
16:39
shuttle still. Does right still looks like
16:41
that? And he kind of went through
16:43
this, this progression of, of Porsches throughout the, the
16:47
next two decades. And he still has some stuff
16:49
today. Anyway, it laid dormant for a
16:51
while. And I went to, to, you know,
16:55
high school and really didn't care or middle school didn't
16:58
care much. You know, there was nothing in
16:59
central Nebraska that was of real interest.
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First car I owned. I, my mother married a really,
17:07
really great guy at my stepfather farm implement dealer
17:11
in central Nebraska, but they met at the height of the ag
17:16
recession. He was penniless.
17:17
And the business was, it was, it was a whole thing.
17:21
And, and I watched them build this, this business slowly.
17:24
And by the time I was, I don't know, 14, I think they've been,
17:29
they've been married about a year and they had purchased a
17:32
new, a new building or a new business out in another town in
17:35
central Nebraska. Carney.
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And I walked back into their assembly and handling and
17:41
building and where they build like corn headers and all this
17:43
kind of shit. And I walked back there and I
17:46
saw this old International Harvester scout to.
17:50
No way. With, you know, canvas doors and
17:53
canvas top and it was this, you know, slightly space ever so
17:58
slightly factory lifted and I about fainted and ran into the
18:03
building as fast as I could and found my new stepfather, dad.
18:08
And I said, dad, what's the scoop with this with this scout?
18:12
I don't know what the hell a scout was, but I knew it was
18:14
cool. And he goes, well, we bought
18:16
that with the business and I obviously said could I have it?
18:21
And he goes, well, yeah, yeah, you can, you can have it.
18:24
You're going to earn it, but you can have it miraculously, after
18:28
two years of working in the business, right, I ended up with
18:32
with this scout. And that car meant so much.
18:37
You know, it started to revitalize the the love of
18:40
automobile and, and it was it was this just ridiculous car
18:46
that you shouldn't have as a daily driver.
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Canvas doors top, the heater barely worked.
18:52
You know, it was, it just wasn't practical at all.
18:56
But for a high school kid, you know, a super soaker square guns
18:59
and stuff and driving it out and waking back every night like
19:03
God, I, you know, we thought we were kings on that day.
19:06
Yeah, it doesn't get much better than that.
19:07
My gosh. No.
19:08
And people talk about cars or vehicles that are agricultural.
19:11
I mean, I think that's literally an agricultural implement,
19:14
right? I guess which tracks with where
19:17
you were, but hell of a thing, yeah.
19:20
That's so we would Fast forward some years later and you know,
19:26
when I was when I was off to college, mom and dad gave the
19:30
car to like my cousin and then he they got it back then they
19:34
sold it to Texas. So I was just freaking
19:36
heartbroken. So long and short.
19:39
Found another one told told my parents say you guys owe me one
19:42
here. Like I paid for that.
19:44
And so we we jointly bought a another 1978 super scout to BA
19:50
and it's much better shape than the ones I had in the ice.
19:54
Yeah, we, I love that thing. What makes a scout a super
19:56
scout? What's?
19:58
It was. It was a designation for these.
20:01
They were like a special edition scout at the time.
20:03
They had, you know, canvas doors, canvas top.
20:05
They had skid plates under them, a little little bit more
20:09
suspension. They have these, they have these
20:13
snap covers for the vents and the tops.
20:15
You're not like letting all the rain and dirt in.
20:18
I mean, it's it's the dumbest thing ever, but but it gets all
20:21
the eyeball. You drive that thing around,
20:23
everybody wants to talk to you about it.
20:26
Yeah. Of all the stuff I own, I think
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that's that's the one that gets most, yeah.
20:30
Yeah, yeah. Well, so you still have that one
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now. Absolutely, yeah.
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That's amazing. That's the only reasonable
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answer also. Yeah, like that's never going
20:40
anywhere. Duh.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got, I've got a bit of a
20:44
scout problem. I've got, I've got that and 72
20:48
that I used for like the Copper State overland.
20:50
That's just, it's all jacked up and it's, it's ridiculous, but
20:55
it's fun and. That sounds amazing.
20:58
Pick up like an old like a 61 scout with the pick up top on
21:01
some scout 80. That's yeah, I have.
21:04
I have a real problem guys. I mean, there is something about
21:08
it's like, you know, the baby animals that imprint on whatever
21:11
they see. Like I was thinking about this
21:13
with myself. Like there is something about
21:15
your first car that imprints on you.
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And you know, I mean, mine is Ford Broncos, but you know.
21:23
I think. It is what it is.
21:26
I think that there's something, something so visceral about
21:30
owning your first vehicle that there's so much freedom it
21:36
presents, you know? Yeah, everything.
21:40
And, and I had to turn wrenches on.
21:42
I think I had to learn on that vehicle.
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And yeah, there's just something that you'd never forget about
21:50
that first car. Right.
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I mean, freedom is exactly it. I was thinking like, I have this
21:56
sense memory of driving the Bronco that I learned to drive
22:00
in down this Main St. in the town that I grew up in in the
22:03
fall. So school was back in session,
22:05
but it was still really, you know, beautiful weather.
22:08
I had The Beach Boys on the radio.
22:10
The window was down. And it's like that was the first
22:13
taste of freedom really. Like you summed it up really
22:15
well. And that's, you know, if you're
22:17
lucky, that's your first experience with the car.
22:20
So choose wisely, parents and children.
22:22
Don't get your cramped car because.
22:23
It'll Broncos and scouts are the way to go.
22:25
That's. Right, that's right.
22:26
And BMW 320 is that's. Another one, Yeah.
22:28
Well, yes, absolutely yes. Another solid choice.
22:31
It's, it's so interesting, you know, we the people part of the
22:36
hobby are so important, right? And I I keep harping on that,
22:40
but. We do too.
22:41
You know my, my, my best friends in high school when they come
22:45
visit me today and they see this, this scout like the first
22:49
thing out of the mouth is we go take it for a ride.
22:51
That's the best. Because for them, it's the same
22:54
thing. They're reliving the same.
22:56
I was the guy that had the big dump truck.
22:58
The other guy had, you know, he had a Toyota, but you know, one
23:02
of the old what were those from the 80s but low 4 wheel drive
23:06
Toyota the only two bus. First Gen. forerunner or
23:08
something? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:09
But just just to pick up. And then, you know, my big buddy
23:12
had like the old Buick station wagon that we all had.
23:16
We all had our thing. And I can tell you this, if I,
23:19
if we found, you know, my buddy Carson's UX station wagon today,
23:24
I'd say immediately we're going for a ride like this is too
23:28
good. Yeah, we kind of spend the rest
23:30
of our lives chasing that, don't we?
23:32
It's. Yeah.
23:33
It's. Do we do?
23:36
Heady days, you know. So I know you for your 356,
23:40
which is this great 356, I think it is a.
23:42
Is it a 59? 58. 58 OK, it's got great
23:47
patina. I don't know what the story is
23:49
with that car, where you found it or whatever, but it's just
23:51
like I said, the intro. It's got just the right amount
23:53
of like patina and real patina. That car rocks.
23:56
Like what's the story? Where'd you find that?
23:59
God. So our friend, our friend Logan
24:02
Logan, Logan Logan has long been friends with Patrick Long.
24:08
OK. And you know, fanboy right here,
24:13
big fanboy and I remember watching him race what van over
24:20
Beek and and crew at flying lizard back in the day and
24:24
totally, totally into it. I at the time I owned like a
24:29
like a 911 SC. It was like the first Porsche I
24:32
owned. And man, it was like right at
24:34
the height to the Great Recession and I was I was all
24:37
about Porsche. And then we have this, you know,
24:39
American driver in this in this crazy livery car that's Pat
24:44
Long. I'm like, this dude's cool when
24:47
I watch, you know, subsequent years of racing and Luft comes
24:52
out and think I met Pat briefly at like Luft 2, but nothing like
24:59
he wasn't going to Remember Me from anyone.
25:03
I get this phone call from Logan and he's like, hey, Trent, Pat
25:09
Long needs to wants to sell this car.
25:11
He's he's got another couple of projects he's working on a
25:14
couple of other cars and it's time for him to part company
25:17
with Lester. And I was like, I'm familiar
25:21
with Lester. I know this car.
25:23
And and, you know, this was the car that, you know, I believe
25:28
Patrick Long was most known, you know, to own as a streetcar.
25:32
Lots of photographs with him in it at Luft events and it was a
25:36
car that I think that Luft 1 he saw and just said had.
25:40
Like. Had this thing I believe I
25:44
believe we're 4th owners here. It was a barn find by the the
25:50
folks that that Pat bought it from.
25:53
That's a cool story. The car was bought from from
25:56
Western Volkswagen Porsche in in Carmel.
26:01
We're in OH. That's really special.
26:05
So that's to have that and it still has the original plate
26:07
frame on it from Western Volkswagen portion anyway, took
26:11
European, the original guy took European delivery on it.
26:13
It's a, it's a 58-A coupe with the old Goldie, you know,
26:20
sunroof on it, the turn slide and still works today.
26:25
This thing is, I mean, there's patina, there's patina.
26:29
This thing, this thing's got a lot of patina.
26:32
It's cool. I've I've heard rumor from
26:36
Patrick and and subsequently, you know, you, you buy a car
26:40
from like your hero and it's pretty amazing to get to become
26:44
friends. ANYWAYS, he shared stories with
26:46
me that there were there were some spots on that car with the
26:49
painted absolutely borne through and he and another Porsche
26:54
enthusiast, Rod Emery got together and they like rattle
26:58
canned a few spots on that. So it's it's it's something.
27:03
So the the car came to me and and I am I am no Pat Long.
27:07
I'm not as I am not as good behind the wheel as Pat long.
27:11
And the engine that was in it was a bit tired and and Pat
27:15
would agree, you know, Pat's about as big as my thigh.
27:19
And so there's. There's our sound bite.
27:23
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, he could hustle
27:25
that thing around anywhere. It doesn't matter what he has
27:28
like. So for me it was like, jeez, I
27:30
need I need a little bit more oomph out of this.
27:32
I have local mechanic here in town.
27:37
You had a you had a pretty nice race engine that he's why don't
27:40
we just slap this thing in here? Because he sold to me at A at a
27:43
great price. So the original engine, which
27:48
Pat and I both thought was like a, like a not the original
27:52
engine to the car. Well, after some review, it
27:54
appears that it is the original engine in the car.
27:56
So I'm kind of happy that's out of it at the moment.
27:59
We've got this hotter engine in it.
28:01
That stupid thing is like unmuffled.
28:04
And I mean it's, it sure is a lot of fun and I've done, jeez,
28:08
I think I've done 4 rallies in that car now, 4000 miles.
28:13
Yeah, that's. Fine.
28:14
Did you do the Kalmila in that one?
28:17
That's what I thought. OK.
28:18
I think that's where I remember seeing it last in pictures.
28:21
And I love that because Pat Long and Rod Emery rattle candidate.
28:25
Like, I mean that that's that's OK, right?
28:27
Like it adds to it, right? That adds to the story.
28:29
It adds to the value. A you probably know this Trent,
28:33
but I got to spend a day with with Rod in one of his cars on
28:36
the grand and it was pretty amazing.
28:38
I mentioned this on the last show, but you don't know what
28:40
you're getting into. You're in the car for four or
28:42
five, six hours with somebody. You get along.
28:44
I mean a lot of pressure. This is Rod Emery, right?
28:47
Easiest guy in the world to get along with.
28:48
We had a great time and obviously he's a shoe.
28:50
It was just, I mean, yeah, I told Tom, you know, Haran from
28:53
the the Grand. I mean, this is an experience we
28:55
should auction off on the last day, right?
28:57
I mean, I had that experience. It was fantastic.
29:00
And it was a hell of a thing. And I've been telling everyone I
29:02
know about it since. But I love that, you know, it's
29:05
kind of like the hand of the master, right?
29:07
Like it's, it's, it's OK. You know it's.
29:10
But again, straightening. Away.
29:12
How nice of a human being. And it's genuine.
29:15
Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, with every excuse not to
29:18
be. And then just super down to
29:20
earth. Yeah, just truly another one of
29:23
those incredibly great stories, incredibly great beings doing
29:27
masters level work and his family history is so cool and
29:31
like what a what a what a special individual for sure.
29:34
Truly, truly, truly. It's got the people, like we
29:38
always say. It really is.
29:39
It really is. You know, you've got the 356,
29:41
you've got these, these scouts. What else is in your garage?
29:44
What else are you into? Oh man, I've I've got a Porsche
29:48
problem. It seems like now I sound like
29:50
Magnus. Well, I have a Porsche problem.
29:52
What's that like? Neither of us can relate.
29:56
But you smell better. Yeah, well, I got that going
30:00
for. Him I'm going to test to.
30:01
That when Lindsay's torn, so we may have to cut that out.
30:05
But when Lindsay's Tori heard that you were coming on the show
30:08
tonight, I think the first thing out of his mouth was, boy, he
30:11
smells great. And then I think there's a
30:13
twinkle from his eye. Yeah, I said, you know, I told
30:16
him Trent's coming on and we simultaneously were joking.
30:19
Like, other than how good you smell, what else should we talk
30:22
about? Which I should say, when Tori
30:26
met Trent in person, it was at Air Water this year.
30:29
Yeah. And it was actually right after
30:31
Tori and I started dating and we got to hang out with Trent.
30:33
And after a while, Tori said. I got to say, you smell amazing.
30:39
So what's your secret? What is it?
30:41
What? Do you you know God to be, to
30:44
be? Yeah.
30:45
You could be known as the most interesting man in the world,
30:48
but you know there there's worse things than like being like the
30:52
best smelling guy on the farm. Now I was going to say, will you
30:55
settle for best smelling? Oh guys, here it is.
30:59
Like here's your freaking sound bite.
31:01
Like like my wife buys me this great Cologne and cat, she's the
31:06
coolest. And so she she's great Cologne
31:08
and sends me out into the world and.
31:12
Why baby bird fly? Still flying away, but you go,
31:15
you're going to go smell good, baby bird.
31:19
I apparently, apparently this scent works well and I'm
31:24
thinking, you know, I've had a lot of I've had some comments
31:27
and I know this stuff's great, like a little confidence
31:30
booster. I'm sure, I'm sure all the
31:32
ladies are paying attention and every dude, it's every dude.
31:38
All the guys come up and it's like a tap on the shoulder.
31:42
Perfect. Freaking strangers tap on the
31:44
shoulder. Hey, what fragrance are you
31:46
wearing? Are you kidding me?
31:49
Are you kidding me? That was the funniest part about
31:52
the whole thing, was like, I was still dying laughing that you
31:54
had said it in the first place. And then you're like, I get this
31:57
all the time, guys. Yeah, it's always the guys.
32:03
Wow. So I think Jen knew what she was
32:06
doing. Yeah, she did.
32:07
My lovely wife knew exactly what she was doing and sent the baby
32:12
bird out in the world. It's wrapping all home, guys.
32:14
It's perfect, you know. What is this this magical
32:20
elixir? It's some Louis Vuitton
32:23
something that she buys for me. And it's, yeah, guys dig it.
32:28
Like you want to you want to sell some insurance to some
32:31
folks? Just do a little spritz.
32:33
Yes, just give a little spritz of that and all the guys will
32:36
come lining and you can sell them all.
32:40
I think the best part was that there may have been some
32:42
Googling after Air Water and I was told, I was told with a big
32:48
disappointment. It's discontinued, yeah.
32:52
What are you going to do? Yeah, all right.
32:54
The minute the minute my man heard this, she went out and she
32:59
started living She's she's going to make sure that all the dudes
33:03
still like me. That's.
33:05
A good. Woman right there cornered the
33:06
market on this magic elixir. Yeah, if your spouse can find
33:10
something that only attracts men, that is exactly the the
33:13
fragrance, right? That's great that you need.
33:16
Talk about a home run. Yeah, I.
33:18
Don't. I don't.
33:19
I don't need anything else. And this guy come off the chin.
33:21
That's perfect. That's awesome.
33:23
That's awesome. Well, we've talked about
33:25
Haggerty a little bit. Can you talk a little bit about
33:27
what your role at Haggerty is? Because I know it's a role that
33:30
sent you all over the world. You've seen some amazing
33:33
collections, met some amazing people.
33:35
Again, being discreet, but what can you share?
33:38
Yeah, well, you know, I've, I've been at Haggerty for six years,
33:42
so it's been a, a really fast six years.
33:47
It's, it's blindingly fast. It seems like I, I came from a
33:54
background in investments. So I was a investment dealer and
33:59
advisor for 22 years prior to, Prior to joining Haggerty.
34:03
And, and, you know, cars were always my, my advocation.
34:09
So I always loved them. And I realized one morning that,
34:13
you know, life is really short. I had some friends at Haggerty
34:17
shout out to Abe Barnett and Brad Phillips and Mikhail
34:21
Haggerty. And I used to lend these guys,
34:24
you know, some cars to, to go do events with like the Copper
34:27
State and became good friends and start doing rallies
34:32
together, not just lending them cars.
34:33
And there was a, you know, there was a lot of conversations that
34:37
you should come work at Haggerty.
34:39
And at the time my response with an arrogant bastard was, well,
34:43
you know, I'm doing pretty well doing what I'm doing.
34:45
I'm not sure that this makes much sense until it made all the
34:49
sense. I woke up 1 morning and said,
34:51
you know, I really, I think I really got to go go look into
34:54
this. And, and I've been running
34:55
around in the hobby for a really long time.
34:59
I built a, a very substantial car collection for a gentleman
35:03
here in Nebraska while I was still, you know, muni bond
35:08
trader guy. And it was during the Great
35:10
Recession. And the conversation over
35:13
dinner, what are we going to do is, you know, this money keeps
35:15
coming in. It keeps coming in.
35:17
And I said, you know, you're buying all the wrong stuff.
35:22
You're restoring even more stuff.
35:25
And he was like, well, what do you mean?
35:27
I said, well, do you have a passion for these, you know,
35:29
1920s, you know, Buicks and stuff because, well, not really.
35:33
I feel like I have to do it. And I'll never forget it.
35:37
I asked him over in a plate of Indian food.
35:42
I said, well, like, if you could own any car tomorrow, what would
35:46
you buy? Because I'd love an Aston Martin
35:49
DB5 just enough that with all the confidence in the world over
35:53
there, I said we can find you one of those and love it.
35:58
Yeah. A few months later, I've got him
36:01
out in Scottsdale and we're at the auctions and we walk into an
36:06
auction house that we had no business walking into.
36:10
I mean, he did. He had he had plenty of fun, but
36:13
we did. They didn't know us from anyone.
36:16
And you know, I'd never bought a car at auction.
36:20
I've been to a couple but never bought a car.
36:23
And we walked into the room and the folks at the front desk
36:28
said, hey, you can't just walk in there.
36:29
And so we're going to go buy this car.
36:31
And they said, well, you have to register to bid or we don't have
36:34
time. The car is coming up in like 2
36:36
pots. And they said well you know, you
36:40
need all of these things. And I said, I looked at my
36:42
clients and I said, hey, just give them a blank check.
36:46
He goes, all right, he, you know, gets out the big Ledger
36:49
rips. I mean, if that if that doesn't
36:53
do it, all right, The big Ledger opens.
36:55
He scratches his name and hands on to the front desk, right.
37:00
And we go marching in the room. That's a packed house.
37:03
It was God, I can't remember what year it was.
37:05
It's the year that Russo and Steele lost their their tents to
37:09
the high winds and. So.
37:13
We're, we walk right into the room and we walk in just as the
37:17
DB 5 comes over the block and I say, let's just go stand right
37:22
under the, the auctioneer's pulpit.
37:24
And we did. And I told my client, put your
37:26
hand up and he did. And we're from a packed house.
37:30
He just looks at me. I said, keep it up, just keep it
37:33
up. And he kept the hand up and the
37:35
car, you know, goes past the number.
37:37
He goes, what do you think? I said, just keep it up.
37:39
He goes, well, this is a lot of money.
37:42
I said, what's one more bond? He goes good point.
37:45
So we probably bid against ourselves a few times details,
37:50
but we but we bought we bought that car and in the course of
37:53
the evening he bought 6 more Oh no, no kidding.
37:56
And by the. End of the week we had two.
37:58
Trailers coming back to them and.
38:01
And from there, you know we. We watch so many collectors that
38:04
really go nuts at first buying a little bit of everything before
38:09
they really start tailoring their their down to to what they
38:12
want. And you know, by the time he was
38:14
done really buying a lot, he had curated quite a collection of
38:19
Ferraris coming through a a pretty good dip point and you
38:24
know, being. Being the.
38:26
Guy that was affiliated with him, I wasn't, you know, not the
38:30
money guy, but the guy that's affiliated and, and I was
38:34
helping him make decisions and logistics and, and all these
38:37
things. You meet a lot of folks, a lot
38:39
of folks want to know who the heck I am.
38:42
And so this Rolodex got built out during really kind of the
38:44
Great Recession, 8 to 2000 and 2012 and then six years.
38:49
That's a really long way to go about it.
38:51
But that's where the Genesis was, you know, really getting to
38:54
know people or Dex got built an opportunity to go to go use it
38:59
and help a company like Haggerty, you know, Haggerty,
39:05
you know, they took a chance on me.
39:06
I had, I had no background in property and casualty insurance.
39:10
You know, they started me out in a in a Midwest private client
39:14
manager role. God bless them.
39:17
And we found some success with that.
39:21
And I just kind of kept running to the open spaces where I saw,
39:25
you know, a need or a gap that should be filled in the
39:27
business. And, and so it's just kind of
39:31
the, the role they put me in just kind of, you know, grew and
39:35
grew and grew and, and they put a lot of faith in me and they,
39:39
they trust me. And so today, to answer your
39:42
question, after 30 minutes of bullshit today, what, what does
39:47
Trent do? So so I.
39:50
Work with our largest. Accounts.
39:51
I'm really privileged that that that I work with our largest
39:55
accounts. We have a part of the company
39:57
called Private Collections and really focused on accounts at
40:01
like 10 million and up. Most of the work that I'm that
40:05
I'm working on is, is you in that 50 million up, you know,
40:10
sent $1,000,000 collections bringing in new business.
40:15
I saw I'm, I'm working with a lot of these folks and their
40:18
brokers, you know, working with them to understand that we
40:22
really are the best option to protect their vehicles.
40:27
We're the only. I think I think we are really
40:30
the only company out there that this is all that we do.
40:35
And you know, I'm not, I'm not looking at the age of shake
40:40
shingles on your house at the same time.
40:43
Yeah. How do?
40:44
We How do we? Pay, you know, pay a claim on
40:47
your Monte Verde High s s like we, we know what a Monte Verde
40:51
High s s is here, right? We, we understand what it takes
40:55
in in the case of something happening to it.
40:58
And it's really nice to be a, a very focused company that way.
41:03
So for a for a natural born salesman like myself to be
41:07
handed this product that you know, Mikhil and his family
41:11
built so many years ago to March out into the world smelling
41:16
great God. And it's like true.
41:18
Like it's, it's really like, God, you love roll through
41:21
oyster. Trent I love.
41:23
It it really is. So no.
41:25
It's, it's, it's been, it's been really, really cool.
41:28
I've had so much fun. You know, when I first started,
41:33
it was completely and totally overwhelmed with cars.
41:37
I'm completely and totally overwhelmed with the people.
41:41
You know, It's yes, it's such a blessing.
41:46
It's such a blessing what a company, you know, to to go with
41:49
a company before it was public towards public today.
41:52
Watch. Watch how the business changes,
41:55
but the culture stays the same. Boy, that's saying something
41:58
that's hard to. Yeah.
42:00
And so from the team, Yeah. It it really is.
42:04
And, and for me, you know, they've, they've left me pretty
42:07
damn autonomous. And, you know, I've just always
42:11
told them that for me to be the best at my job, I need to be
42:16
omnipresent. So I need to be where all the
42:18
big collectors are all the time. And so if that's, if that's the
42:23
Colorado Grand, the cow mele, if it's a Pebble Beach or Amelia
42:28
Island or Retchmobile in Paris or, you know, classic Lamont, I
42:34
try and I try and be to as much as it as I can be.
42:37
And it's amazing the amount of community that happens around
42:42
you with these people when you see them all the time, by far
42:45
and away the poorest guy in the room doesn't matter.
42:48
We're all there together and we're just a great time.
42:52
And and we're talking about, you know, what's going on with with
42:56
what's going on around us. And then it's all about their
42:58
family and my family. It's all this stuff.
43:00
It's it's the greatest thing in the world.
43:02
It's the greatest. Yeah.
43:04
Yeah. It's genuine, yeah.
43:06
Yeah. Like the three of us.
43:07
Are very like minded in that sense and we talk about it, you
43:10
know, in various combinations. Like it really is all about the
43:13
people. I mean, I think like a large
43:16
part of our conversation at Air Water was about our daughters,
43:18
which is like, that's not, you know, car related.
43:22
And like, I'll have girlfriends say to me like, OK, like you're
43:26
into it. Like, help me understand,
43:27
because I haven't been into cars before.
43:29
But like, if you're interested, there's got to be something
43:31
there. And I say the same thing.
43:33
I'm like, it's the people. It's just the door opener.
43:35
It's, you know, foot into the conversation, whatever.
43:39
And then you end up with these lifelong friends.
43:41
And it's sort of shortcuts, all the small talk in a lot of ways,
43:45
and you just dive into the meat of the friendship.
43:47
And then you meet all around the world, really, if you're lucky.
43:50
Yeah, right. Yeah.
43:52
And the. Network just.
43:53
Grows so rapidly they want you to know they're friends and it's
43:56
just it's just right ever you know non non-stop circle of of
44:02
flywheel of greatness, if you will yeah, I love that flywheel
44:05
of. Greatness, that's the best there
44:07
is the episode title. But I, I think you're right.
44:10
And I think because we know we have this giant thing in common,
44:14
you sort of feel much more confident and comfortable going
44:18
like, well, you're going to like my friend so and so, and you're
44:20
going to like this person. And, you know, you want to like,
44:24
it just grows sort of organically.
44:26
And you're excited to have, oh, my friend from Omaha meet my
44:28
friend from France. And we're all in the same place
44:31
in Monterey. And this is amazing.
44:32
Yeah. It's pretty.
44:34
That's pretty cool. It's.
44:34
Pretty cool. It's it's just the best.
44:37
Speaking of Speaking of friends and and community, Lindsay, I
44:43
got it. I got to say, you got the best
44:44
hat in the Business Today. Yeah.
44:48
Got the best? Hat in the business.
44:50
I mean, it pays to. Know people and I would like to
44:53
see your version, Sir. Let's see it a little.
44:57
So my question is. I think you have yours came
45:01
first, right? Yeah.
45:03
This is this is the OG. This is the one point O and then
45:06
this. Was the the cherries is the
45:08
evolution? Yeah, that's the evolution.
45:10
Absolutely. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
45:12
This it, it's so fun. You know, people want to
45:17
organically gather, right? And, and, and listen not, not to
45:22
knock all the things that happened at all these car events
45:25
that are wonderful sponsors, wonderful automotive
45:28
manufacturers and they're all hosting great events, right?
45:32
And they're, you know, really high brow, high dollar, great
45:37
stuff. Haggerty does a phenomenal job
45:39
with their Haggerty House and Radius events and all these
45:42
things. My my business partner inside of
45:45
Haggerty. We must not be remiss in
45:47
shouting out Abe Barnett. I love Abe.
45:50
I got to meet him in person. Officially at the fraternity
45:54
brunch at our week this year, I know.
45:56
And I should say for those of us not watching, we are of course
45:59
referring to your fraternity. I ate a pie, which we are
46:02
representing with our hats. Correct.
46:05
The best? It is.
46:07
You must so. Tell us a little bit about the
46:09
genesis of I ate a pie, which I was so thrilled to be a become a
46:13
pledge officially this summer. Ryan is just waiting for his
46:18
invitation, but we'll get there, right It's coming.
46:21
It's. Ryan, it's coming.
46:22
I'm sure, I'm sure. Just hold your breath, right?
46:26
We just need you to. Run down the street and get us
46:28
some tacos and then whatever it takes, we'll do it naked.
46:31
Whatever you guys. Need like my card's a little
46:33
dirty. I have some socks that need to
46:37
be washed. So I.
46:39
Have I have two absolute best friends in the hobby, TG Mittler
46:46
from Santa Fe, NM love TG and he is the.
46:48
Genesis of the. Cowboy hat with the snake head,
46:51
right? Well, he and I together, that's.
46:53
OK, no. Twins.
46:56
I was going to say twins. Twins.
47:01
Bennett Logan is, is kind of the 3rd and Bennett Logan's, you
47:07
know, younger than TG and I by a pretty good shake.
47:11
And we won't do the math. That's fine.
47:13
No, that's fine. He.
47:14
He. He could have been a child for
47:16
either one of us, but that's fine.
47:18
Who's counting, though? Come on.
47:20
Yeah. Technicalities so.
47:22
You know we. The three of us find ourselves
47:25
going all over the world to all these events together.
47:28
And you know, if if I didn't know somebody TG knew them, if
47:32
they were young and neither of us knew them, Bennett knew them.
47:37
And I stopped being facetious, but really it's this really
47:40
great group of friends that that that really built out of network
47:45
together since really since I've been working at aggregate and
47:49
for a long time, for a very long time, it was any time I traveled
47:52
anywhere, I made sure I had a spare bed in my hotel room and
47:57
I'd put TG in the bed and Bennett Logan would get like an
48:00
air mattress and put it on the floor between our two beds.
48:04
It's adorable slumber party. Fraternity slumber party, you
48:10
know, after. After some years of doing this,
48:13
we joked that yeah, we really should start a fraternity and
48:16
started renting a house in Pebble Beach.
48:19
And God, we thought we could, we can do something with this.
48:22
And thus thus we started like fraternity.
48:25
So you've got the the triune of of Team D Bennett and Abe
48:30
Barnett is like permanent pledge.
48:33
He's like the most active permanent pledge of all time.
48:36
So plus he just, he's just like. Human sunshine.
48:40
So like, why would you not? He is like human sunshine.
48:44
So anyway, so we host, we host this, this, this breakfast, this
48:48
pre quail breakfast every year. And it is not commercial, it is
48:52
not any of these things. It's just us inviting a lot of
48:56
friends and and a lot of these folks may be clients, they maybe
48:59
not they, you know, but it's, it's the it's people we want to
49:02
spend time with this year at our little house on on Bronco Rd.
49:07
TG prepared 72 breakfasts of what huevos rancheros huevos
49:14
rancheros with homemade. Sauce.
49:16
I will say it was legit. It was like, it's free.
49:20
It was delicious. My favorite part, though, was
49:23
the hot tub beans. Oh yeah, I mean, you got to cook
49:26
the beans. Somehow right if you're cooking
49:29
for a. Crowd, you got to have a little
49:33
fun. Yeah, I love that.
49:33
I love that. Best part is people pausing.
49:37
Halfway to their sorry, how are the beans?
49:39
They never mind, don't worry about it, just eat them.
49:41
We just like to sit in the hot tub.
49:43
And watch the beans cook. Quit best that's harming.
49:46
Baby. Oh my goodness.
49:49
We have fun and, and, and with that, it's, you know, it's
49:52
really again, it's, it's about the people and, and that time.
49:56
I mean, those are memories that none of us are going to forget.
50:00
Like we're not going to being there at 6:00 in the morning or
50:04
five in the morning. We start serving at 5:00 AM and
50:08
tours in hand and come, come, enjoy yourself.
50:12
So now those are yeah, it it's just something totally
50:16
different. We we love doing that.
50:18
We love hosting our friends. And yeah, we're, we're very
50:22
blessed that way. Well, and again, I think it's
50:25
sort of. It's sort of like it's meta in
50:28
the sense of like you have these networks, but again, not
50:31
everybody knows each other. So if you come to the event,
50:34
everybody's networks are growing in the moment because you're
50:37
meeting people you wouldn't have maybe run across, even though,
50:39
you know, a lot of the same people.
50:42
You know, I mean, I, I met someone in the driveway on my
50:44
way out who knows my dad. And I'm like, yeah, of course.
50:48
That's like, This is why you go to the fraternity brunch.
50:51
It's amazing. Yeah.
50:52
Well, it's I mean, but that's. I mean, you just spoke to every
50:55
car event, right? Like right Exactly the.
50:58
The. The separation in in that world
51:02
was so tight. And yeah, I mean, it's like 6°.
51:06
Of Kevin Bacon. That's child's play.
51:07
Come on. Yeah, right.
51:09
Like welcome down in goodbye. It's like 1° a pie in a pie,
51:11
right? Well, the funniest part was he.
51:14
Started telling me this story. And in my head I was like, I'm
51:16
pretty sure I know this story and my dad was instrumental, but
51:20
I'm like, let me just make sure I'm listen, you know?
51:22
And and he tells me a story. And I said yeah.
51:25
And I said my dad's name. And I honestly thought he was
51:28
like punking me because he goes, oh, he saved my bacon.
51:31
And it was so genuine, but he was so grateful that I was like,
51:36
oh, he's kidding. He doesn't really know who he
51:37
is. And he's like, no, I'm being
51:38
completely serious. He saved the day.
51:41
Yeah, that's so cool. It was so funny.
51:44
Yeah, it was like Small world, like totally illustrated the car
51:48
community in the best way. It was so fun.
51:50
That's so cool. It's.
51:52
Awesome. All thanks to Trent and.
51:54
And then and TG and Abe, of course.
51:57
Yeah, yeah. The crew, it's a good crew.
51:59
That's. Awesome, the core group you are.
52:03
You are known for sort of starting things or you at least
52:07
tend to be in the centre when things are created.
52:10
So one other thing that you have created is this very fun group
52:15
dedicated to Chrysler's finest PT Cruisers.
52:19
Absolutely. And the name of the group.
52:20
Is the PT. Cruiser spotters Anonymous.
52:23
Yes, and it sounds like I narrowly missed being at the
52:27
event where this was created. So for everyone, could you share
52:30
how this came about? Oh my God, yeah.
52:33
I'm happy. I mean, it's going back a few
52:35
years, but. You know that's that's such an
52:37
original. Name too.
52:38
Isn't it? The beating cruiser Spotter's
52:40
anonymous page? Like Oh my goodness, I wish you
52:43
could have been a little more specific.
52:44
So we'd know what the focus was, but yeah, there's a little, it's
52:49
like. It's amazing.
52:51
It is. I will, I can attest.
52:54
I I cannot believe how. Active that group chat is it's
52:57
it's just this stupid, especially today it was like.
52:59
They knew you were coming on the show.
53:01
I was like, what's everybody? Oh my God.
53:05
So let's see, it was it was myself, Matt Goist.
53:10
If you guys know Matt Goist, he's a, a wonderful young man
53:15
collection manager and so much more than that for the folks
53:18
that he's working with. He's also on the McPherson
53:21
College Board for the, for the automotive school.
53:24
Like really. So obviously he has great taste.
53:29
He, myself and John Nickis once again, we were sitting together
53:34
in downtown Orange. As one.
53:39
Does, because I mean, you look like you're right out of the
53:42
film set there and we're watching a lot of ways you are.
53:45
Yeah, right, in many instances. So we're watching these cars
53:49
roll down the street, and I got a Mustang and there's a Camaro
53:52
and there's, you know, a Ferrari's coming by.
53:55
Yeah. And the first PT Cruiser that
53:57
came through, we all kind of looked at each other, and we all
54:01
waited for somebody to say something like Future
54:05
Collectible. And the three of us were like,
54:09
hell, yeah. It is like these things are like
54:11
way ahead of their time. And like, how many of you still
54:14
see on the road today? They're survivors.
54:16
And when you look at, I mean, listen, when when you look at at
54:22
the sculpt, that was that car, that was a wild thing.
54:26
And and it's and it's period. And, you know, I can't say I
54:32
can't say anything bad about them.
54:36
Like hell I'd have one. I'd have one.
54:39
Well, what would you have? What's?
54:41
Your dream spec? What's your dream spec?
54:43
PT Cruiser, Trent, man. Well, please tell me there's
54:46
wood. On the sides I would.
54:47
Say, obviously there has to be faux wood.
54:49
Paneling right And if there was if there was a drop top so I
54:53
could have a 2 door I mean I wouldn't complain.
54:56
He took the words right out of my mouth.
54:57
That's. That's right.
54:59
Yeah, there. Yes, there were so many
55:00
variations of the PT Cruiser, right?
55:03
Oh yeah, yeah. Somebody didn't want somebody in
55:05
the group just. Spotted and Evan Zima aptly
55:09
named it. You know it's or described it,
55:12
he said. It's so nice to see people
55:13
driving their classic cars, but it was a drop top PT Cruiser
55:17
over the weekend that somebody saw out and about.
55:20
Absolutely. And there it, you know, it used
55:23
to be, it used to be go find, you know, like the slug bug
55:27
thing. And so all PT Cruiser, all of
55:30
us, all of us. Idiots spotting.
55:32
These PT Cruisers, the stories that are coming back of like
55:36
really poor driving that people are doing just to go get the
55:39
shot is pretty funny. I know somebody's got.
55:43
Taking like. Really beautiful photos of these
55:47
things. Amazing.
55:48
It's so. Much fun.
55:50
It's so much. Fun and that group is like a
55:52
veritable who's who in the hobby at this moment and you know,
55:57
hanging out and spotting PT cruisers in a, in a, you know,
56:00
group chat. We also have one Instagram page
56:03
that's used here and there, but right our our group chat's very,
56:06
very active, very active. So is it just the PT Cruiser?
56:09
Or is it PT Cruiser adjacent stuff like the Prowler?
56:13
No, they're just PT. Cruiser, there's no time.
56:16
For anything, a little PT. Cruiser keeping it pure, get
56:20
what's dope man, I love it. All right, so other than the PT.
56:24
Cruiser, What Car should we all be buying right now?
56:26
You've got, you know, insight into this world and you see
56:29
what, you know, people are are buying and selling and, you
56:32
know, you mentioned a 20s Buick or whatever, you know, I mean,
56:35
you know, fuck that noise. What should we be buying?
56:38
No pressure trend. Yeah.
56:40
Yeah, we really should have, John.
56:41
Wiley on this show. I would love to have John on the
56:43
show, yeah. Yeah, he would.
56:45
He would be a great. Great guy for you guys, just
56:47
make some shit up and just watch the market.
56:49
You know, change tomorrow. What would you like to be?
56:52
Buying so tell people to buy the long go long PT cruisers.
56:57
You know, it's, it's, it's so interesting to to watch our
57:02
insurance book at Haggerty and you know, we have all kinds of
57:05
insights and watching, watching what's happening and the gross
57:11
that we've witnessed in post 90s cars is unbelievable.
57:15
It's unbelievable. I don't want to say so a Dart,
57:19
you're going to land it. But post 90s, you know, cars are
57:24
really sought after. So when I look at that and I
57:28
think of, you know, what's what hasn't moved yet, I think of
57:31
like first Gen. Corvette ZR1 I think.
57:36
Of. I think of Callaway stuff.
57:41
What a great. Man, what a great.
57:43
Engineer wander with us. I don't think that those have
57:47
seen their day yet. It wasn't that long ago that
57:49
nobody gave a damn about a roof Porsche, and now they are.
57:53
Now they are everything. I really think that the JDM
57:59
market, you know, it's hot, but I don't think that's over yet.
58:03
So I think it's Skylines and and you know, Brian Janich, you
58:08
know, shout out to him. He's taught me a whole lot about
58:10
that market. I think that market has a lot of
58:13
legs. And then I'm, you know, I've
58:16
always been a bit of a contrarian.
58:20
So for me, I love looking at like 32 Fords because they've
58:27
become reasonable again. So you've got like these really
58:31
cool young guys getting into that stuff And and that's,
58:36
that's cool to watch. You know, the great builds are
58:39
always going to be expensive, but to to watch some of these
58:41
young guys get into these more reasonable, you know, Flathead
58:46
vehicles is really cool. I was, I was privileged to go on
58:51
a tour this summer and you know, kind of being again contrarian.
58:57
I'm dying to find a a pre war car, a pre war sport.
59:04
That I can drive I I was. I was Co driver in a in a
59:08
Bentley tour this summer and yeah, I got I got so hooked
59:13
coming out of that. Those things are great.
59:17
I think outside. Of Bentley like Bentley's like
59:20
they've done such a good job. The Bentley owners have done
59:22
such a good job of creating events to make those cars you
59:27
know to keep the demand high on them.
59:29
Everybody wants to go to all these great events with but
59:32
we're not seeing that at least in the states there's more in
59:35
Europe but not so much in the states for pre war sporting cars
59:40
and events here. So being a guy that either likes
59:44
to follow a crowd or or start a crowd, I'd, I'd love to to be
59:49
the genesis of a, you know, sub 55 year old group that goes out
59:55
and starts buying some pre war stuff that we can things with.
59:58
I think that would be a lot of fun.
1:00:00
And where that markets, maybe, you know, valuation is shrinking
1:00:05
a little bit. It allows it allows the next
1:00:08
generation to see, you know what, I think there's value
1:00:10
there and I want to I want to get involved.
1:00:12
Well, and. I love that because I think
1:00:14
that. Is a like pretty consistent
1:00:18
thread in terms of topics of conversation.
1:00:20
When you look at, you know, I think kind of like the
1:00:23
conventional wisdom is the the cars that are popular are
1:00:27
whatever the generation that has, you know, come into their
1:00:30
own financially had in high school.
1:00:32
And so the concern is like, OK, but so the really early stuff
1:00:36
are the enthusiasts passing on and what's going to happen to
1:00:40
them. And so I love this.
1:00:42
Like, it's sort of like, well, maybe that's not the concern
1:00:46
that we're all, you know, anticipating it to be because
1:00:49
the next wave of enthusiasts is going to come along, right?
1:00:53
Yeah. I I, I hope that that's the
1:00:56
case, right. I feel like it is.
1:00:59
So, you know, I feel like we're kind of for me, it's that
1:01:02
barbell. I'm like the bull sounds.
1:01:04
Yeah, yeah. Don't you think there's just
1:01:09
some? Stuff that though that's
1:01:10
inherently good, that just sort of transcends, you know,
1:01:13
sentimentality, right? I mean, there's some stuff like
1:01:16
maybe 32 Fords or whatever, right?
1:01:17
There's some stuff that's just good and will always be good and
1:01:20
always be desirable, I think without a.
1:01:24
Doubt like you know the Tri 5 Chevy's, like you asked somebody
1:01:29
to draw you a picture of a classic car.
1:01:31
They're going to drive either a 32 Ford or a Tri 5 Chevy, right?
1:01:34
So it might not always be inherently valuable, but will
1:01:39
always be inherently good. I think if you're talking
1:01:43
intrinsic value, you know, can't, can't have this
1:01:49
conversation and not talk about Ferrari.
1:01:52
You know, there and words of TG Midler.
1:01:54
There are there are fewer, you know, Ferraris from the 1950s
1:02:00
and 60s and there are billionaires in the world.
1:02:02
So wait, that's a good way to look at it, yeah.
1:02:06
That's that's wise, yeah. You know the.
1:02:11
The same thing can be said about, you know, McLaren F ones
1:02:14
and and these cars that that just show a whole lot of
1:02:18
inherent value. You know, Porsche has done so
1:02:22
well. Well, you know, I started buying
1:02:24
Porsches because they were cheap.
1:02:26
I was buying these. Ferraris for this.
1:02:27
This client and friend of mine and I was picking up Porsches
1:02:30
because they they were just cheap and I can do this.
1:02:34
Yeah, I. Probably shouldn't have been,
1:02:37
but I was and but I'm glad I got them because I couldn't afford
1:02:40
the stuff I have today that I was buying.
1:02:43
And yeah, it's, it's interesting.
1:02:46
I think, you know, there's there's a lot of great super
1:02:51
cars in the in the recent modern world that I think will continue
1:02:55
to be really great. You know, the LA Ferraris, the
1:02:59
McLaren MC twelves, the you know, yeah, there's there's a
1:03:04
list that we all that we all know.
1:03:06
I think that those will will hold great value for a very long
1:03:09
time. The collector car community is
1:03:11
not going anywhere. Any market finds a bottom and
1:03:15
then levels and then, you know, somebody comes along and says,
1:03:18
you know, lufka Colts are really cool thing and it lifts the
1:03:21
whole market, right? Or, you know, Makanisima, this
1:03:25
just happened this week and I and all of a sudden everybody
1:03:28
cares about alphas. Isn't that funny?
1:03:31
Yeah, yeah. It's it's.
1:03:34
It just takes the the the right, the right event or lift to get
1:03:38
that to happen. Yeah, yeah.
1:03:40
So PT Cruiser. Fest is happening when Trent,
1:03:44
well, I'm going to put. Lindsay on that I was going to
1:03:46
say we we had. Our we just had the kickoff
1:03:50
meeting, so it's 20. 25 S I'm. Thinking 2035 ish.
1:03:57
We just haven't. Didn't.
1:03:59
We just have it like last week. I don't know.
1:04:01
Did you guys miss it? Wait, yeah, it was amazing, the
1:04:05
reviews. Are in 10 out of 10?
1:04:06
No, no. Yeah.
1:04:12
Yeah, we scooped. PT Cruisers are where it's at
1:04:15
kids can I bring? My PT to Luft, please.
1:04:20
I've got to give. I've got to give if I can.
1:04:23
If I can give a couple of plugs. Absolutely nobody wants plugs on
1:04:27
their podcast, but by God, I'm going to do it.
1:04:29
We love them. Plug Plug. 1.
1:04:33
If you haven't yet, a dear friend of mine or friends of
1:04:38
mine recently had a film release.
1:04:41
Oh, so it's it's called one of one.
1:04:45
Oh yeah. It's about the Naito family in
1:04:47
Japan. So Naito and his and his family
1:04:51
are are featured. Ben Bertucci is the is the
1:04:56
documentarian director voice voice of the show does a
1:04:59
phenomenal job. And they're they're just great
1:05:02
friends of mine. They hosted me in Japan about a
1:05:06
year ago. And I can't say enough good
1:05:09
about the family. So if you get a chance, trust
1:05:11
me, you are going to love the film.
1:05:14
It's it's, it's worth every minute of the watch.
1:05:19
And if you don't like it, I'll, I'll give my personal e-mail.
1:05:21
You can tell me, I've heard. Nothing but wonderful things
1:05:25
about it. Shout out to our friend Maurice
1:05:26
Merrick at the Horsepower Heritage.
1:05:28
We had been on the show recently to talk about it.
1:05:30
So yeah, it's it's wonderful. I hear we'll check it out.
1:05:35
Yeah, I remember. Seeing the pictures of your
1:05:37
trip, Trent, and it looked amazing.
1:05:38
So I'm, I'm excited to try it. Yeah, I've.
1:05:42
Never been to Japan. I was blown away by Japan.
1:05:45
I was blown away by the family's hospitality.
1:05:48
I show up and and I didn't know the Naito family well and we had
1:05:54
met a few times. I think I'd done kind of 1/2 ass
1:05:58
favor for them and they've been to the fraternity breakfast in
1:06:02
the past and the rest is history.
1:06:07
Exactly. I show up to their I show up to
1:06:09
their shop and and so Naito says we're doing a, you know, five
1:06:13
day driving tour down the Izu peninsula out of Tokyo and he
1:06:17
hands me the keys to his 67911 off Shut up, shut up.
1:06:21
And it's just like what like, OK.
1:06:24
And we go, you know, from Reukon to Reukon and like it, it was
1:06:29
the most incredible thing ever and the most generous people,
1:06:31
the most generous spirit. This family is incredible.
1:06:34
They're they're history between, you know, Japan in the 1950s to
1:06:39
present the time spent in the in the 60s, seventies, 80s with the
1:06:44
second generation coming back and forth to LA And they built,
1:06:48
they built a, a really cool business.
1:06:52
I don't want to spoil any of it, but by God, watch it.
1:06:54
They're wonderful people there. And Ben and Ben just nailed it.
1:06:57
Ben just nailed it. There's it's not just about the
1:07:01
cars, but if you like ours, there are some wonderful shots
1:07:05
in there. Really incredible stuff.
1:07:07
And it reminds me of if oh man, what was the old Allen decadent
1:07:12
show driven to perfection, right.
1:07:17
So it's kind of like like the beauty shots of that with a
1:07:20
really good story of being told about it.
1:07:22
Just just really incredible. So if you have a chance, do
1:07:26
that. And then and what's the name of
1:07:28
the movie? One of.
1:07:30
One one of. One OK, you can.
1:07:32
Catch it on Apple. TV or Amazon?
1:07:36
Nice. Perfect.
1:07:37
Easy. We can go watch.
1:07:38
Yeah, very, very easy. We're so.
1:07:40
Lucky to be a part of this world.
1:07:41
Aren't we? I mean, this is pretty special,
1:07:44
right? These opportunities we have,
1:07:45
these people we meet, you know, it's pretty great.
1:07:48
It'd be. It'd be fun to get.
1:07:50
Ben, on your show, we should do that.
1:07:52
We should absolutely stop. So gets the United States.
1:07:55
Quite a bit done anyway. That's plug one plug.
1:07:59
Two Yeah, I love clubs. If you haven't been able to
1:08:03
tell, I love club. None of this makes any.
1:08:06
Sense so I I was recently put on the.
1:08:11
Executive committee or board of the Peterson Museum's Checkered
1:08:14
Flag 200? That's right.
1:08:17
Congratulations. Thank you.
1:08:18
Thank you. More adulation please no go on
1:08:22
SO. You know for for those.
1:08:24
Folks that that haven't interest the Peterson Museum, I always
1:08:27
considered it, you know, living in the Midwest is kind of the
1:08:30
White House of the collector space.
1:08:34
And, you know, Bruce Myer kind of being the, the president down
1:08:39
the war room, if you will. And, and, you know, with the
1:08:43
amount of time that, that I spend in LA and the amount of
1:08:46
time I've been able to put in with the Peterson and the
1:08:48
checkered flag and now, you know, in a, in a position to be
1:08:52
working with them, it's been really, really great.
1:08:56
But the amount of the amount of good that they do for the city
1:09:00
and the children, that checkered flag group, it's a, you know,
1:09:04
it's a, it's an annual membership.
1:09:07
I think we've got about 600 members in it currently.
1:09:11
But I want to say we put 2600 bus loads and kids into the
1:09:15
Peterson every year that that group and the dollars that that
1:09:22
come out of that group in this membership, I think they've put
1:09:26
almost or just over 3,000,000 children through that museum in,
1:09:31
in LA. So that's incredible.
1:09:34
I'm very proud of it. And.
1:09:36
The people in that group are, are are some of the best in the
1:09:40
world and and we all share the same ridiculous passion for, you
1:09:45
know, automobiles and steel and rubber and all of those things.
1:09:50
But a real plug to to the checkered flag and to the
1:09:55
Peterson Museum, you know, for a guy to build to, to grab a job
1:10:00
at Haggerty and, and find myself, you know, doing all of
1:10:05
these really ridiculously interesting things with even
1:10:09
more ridiculously interesting people and finding some ways to
1:10:14
make impact beyond the walls of Haggerty has been really, really
1:10:17
cool. And pinch myself every morning
1:10:20
and I have a very, very patient wife with great, great Ola
1:10:24
factory members, right? She's a.
1:10:27
Triple threat Wilson. Multi threat for sure.
1:10:31
I think that's a. Show and and can't thank you
1:10:33
enough, Trent. I think you're the best.
1:10:35
Great storyteller, great show. Come back anytime.
1:10:38
I feel like we've just scratched the surface.
1:10:40
Huh? Yeah.
1:10:41
I would love. I would love it.
1:10:42
Let's let's let's keep this party rolling.
1:10:45
Let's do it. Let's do it a bigger group.
1:10:47
Let's all talk over each other. Next time I'll be checking my
1:10:52
mail for my. Hat OK, I'll leave it at that.
1:10:55
It's it's on. Its way right, right on check.
1:10:58
We'll recheck every day, man Ryan, man it's is it here?
1:11:02
Is it here? Ryan's pledge requirement is
1:11:05
run. In the mailbox every day.
1:11:08
I'll give you a feed to my Ring camera and you'll right.
1:11:12
Like you were a little. Late on Thursday.
1:11:14
We're going to extend it by a week but getting close I love.
1:11:19
It I love it, it's so good to see.
1:11:20
You thank. You for joining us.
1:11:22
Thank you very much guys. How much fun?
1:11:25
Talk to you. OK, well.
1:11:27
And don't forget. To always be driving everybody
1:11:30
and we're that car show. We'll see you next week.