Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / The Collector Car Guide (CCG)
Transcript
- 0:00Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
- 0:05over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
- 0:09designers, and everything in between.
- 0:11Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder.
- 0:16How did they get that job or become that person?
- 0:19The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
- 0:27Sometimes you might feel like being a car enthusiast is a lonely place.
- 0:32In reality, the automotive world is practically the only industry today where
- 0:37you can almost instantly form strong bonds with fellow hobbyists in short order.
- 0:42But there's so many events, clubs, and gatherings to choose from.
- 0:46How do you know which one to pick?
- 0:47That's where Collector Car guides steps in as the ultimate reference for
- 0:52car enthusiasts in the DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania area.
- 0:56With us tonight.
- 0:57To expand on that thought is CCGs publisher Rob Parr.
- 1:01So welcome to Break Fix Rob.
- 1:03Thank you Eric.
- 1:04It was a pleasure to be here today.
- 1:05I have to give a little bit of backstory.
- 1:07Why are we talking about the Collector car Guide?
- 1:10And it just so happens I was visiting one of our sponsors, happens to be Auto Fab.
- 1:14You know my favorite fabricator and I saw your annual magazine sitting in their
- 1:19display area and I had one of those.
- 1:21Wait, what is all this?
- 1:23Moments and when that happens, I know there's a story to be told.
- 1:26That bright yellow cover definitely got my attention and I was
- 1:29flipping through the magazine.
- 1:30I saw listings for vendors that I knew, clubs, all sorts
- 1:33of information and motorsports organizations that piqued my interest.
- 1:37So I reached out to you and, and I, my first question, like many
- 1:41episodes is, where did CCG come from?
- 1:43Where'd this idea come from?
- 1:44What's the origin story behind the collector car guide?
- 1:48It is a kind of complicated answer to that.
- 1:50It was kind of a threefold answer.
- 1:52I'll try to bring it all together for you.
- 1:54Back in 2002, I founded something called the Maryland Pet Gazette, and that is what
- 1:58we call the ultimate resource for pet.
- 2:00So printed directory for pet lovers, and I'm gonna segue into it, so I'm
- 2:03not gonna talk too much about that, but there's a point to me bringing that up.
- 2:07And the resource became highly popular and it became the first place pet owners
- 2:11would go for reliable pet services.
- 2:13We're located in vet offices, animal shelters, groomers,
- 2:16boarding, other locations.
- 2:17Although we wanted to remain a popular niche and it was
- 2:19going very well for many years.
- 2:21Started to wane a little bit back in 2018, so I started doing some analysis, what
- 2:25to see what was going on, and discovered two important reasons, a majority of
- 2:29our readers for that publication where between 30 and 50 in demographics.
- 2:33So the second thing was the industry, and it's going on also in the car, in the
- 2:36auto industry, is consolidated through buyouts, mergers and acquisitions.
- 2:40So you don't see as many the the small parts stores, for example, some of 'em
- 2:44are getting bought up by larger stores happened in the pet industry as well.
- 2:48I decided at that point to just strictly go online.
- 2:51It's still online today on the Maryland p.com.
- 2:54But also I've been in the cars, I mean, since the mid eighties and
- 2:58in fact, when I was in college.
- 3:00I started my own mobile detailing business, so that was, you know, something
- 3:03I, I had back then different cars.
- 3:06I had Volkswagens muscle cars and even a Corvette.
- 3:09Participated in car shows, dabble in racing and auto cross back in those days.
- 3:13But I was not very handy with as far as repairing stuff goes.
- 3:17I could do small things most complicated.
- 3:19Everything I ever did, which I messed up, was a replacing a radiator in my 70 GTO.
- 3:24Anyway, so with occasional repair work needed and my limited mechanical
- 3:28ability on a 70 GTO and a 70 Buick Gs convertible, many times back in those days
- 3:33it was a young guy walking into a shop.
- 3:35Maybe they saw me.
- 3:36I figured I was an easy target, whatever.
- 3:38I was ripped off for work.
- 3:39I did not need a, a recharged for actual work or mechanics would
- 3:42break something on one of these cars bring forward, back into 2019.
- 3:46When I came up with the concept, I was actually here
- 3:49locally, here in Westminster.
- 3:50We have a. VFW and they do like a Friday night type of
- 3:53cruise pretty much every week.
- 3:55And I, I actually overheard a conversation between who two hobbyists, one guy
- 3:59was asking about where can I get parts for certain parts from my car.
- 4:02I can't remember specifically what they were about, but I remember the
- 4:05questions and one was looking for parts.
- 4:08The other guy was looking for events going on in the area.
- 4:10As he spoke to each other, they each did not have a clue as to what, where
- 4:14to go for either of these things.
- 4:15Hit me over the head like a sledgehammer.
- 4:17Had an epiphany.
- 4:18Why not provide a vetted reference guide for car enthusiasts, just like I did.
- 4:21Marilyn Peck that for Pet Love.
- 4:22So that's really where that stems from.
- 4:24I'd like to consider myself more like the Henry Ford where I connect everybody.
- 4:27I'm like the conduit, so to speak.
- 4:29That's probably the best word I use.
- 4:31I'm not really per se my myself an expert like some of these other people are.
- 4:35But avatars write the articles.
- 4:36I'd rather them write the articles.
- 4:38They're more of an expert than I am, especially in certain fields.
- 4:40And that actually by itself and, and just like with the pet publication,
- 4:43has steered people to the website.
- 4:45Obviously we're online, like we have SEO, like everybody else,
- 4:48social media and connections.
- 4:50Just so the demographics on this, so, you know, the printed guy
- 4:52is, is really between 50 and 75.
- 4:55The majority of the readers are, and even I'm within that category
- 4:58and I still would like to use a printed copy versus going online.
- 5:01Although I have fully access online, most of these guys have smartphones and
- 5:05they know most of the features of those phones and I don't know 'em all myself.
- 5:08And, uh, luckily I was able to sell my wife on it.
- 5:10Gotta have the, the better half behind you, you know, she
- 5:13said, Hey, that's a great idea.
- 5:14That's where we go.
- 5:15That's how we, how we started.
- 5:16That's the origin of the concept.
- 5:18And now we have two issues in already.
- 5:19So I'm working on my third annual chock full of information and we'll
- 5:23get into what's in there, what services you offer and how it all breaks down.
- 5:28And I tell you, you know, I mean it definitely got my attention.
- 5:30And like I said, when things get my attention, and I'm not
- 5:33saying I know everything about everything, there's something there.
- 5:35And this is awesome.
- 5:36And you know, this is coming from a petrolhead to other Petrolhead.
- 5:39And that's what's important is you've got the discerning eye of.
- 5:43What needs to be in here, but also being a publisher yourself, having worked
- 5:47on other pieces, other magazines, et cetera, you know how to lay it out.
- 5:50So as I went through it, I was like, man, this is fantastic.
- 5:53This is great.
- 5:54You know, how do we get involved?
- 5:55How do we get people to understand what it is that you're trying to do?
- 5:58So let's expand upon that.
- 6:00You kind of gave us the background on the magazine itself.
- 6:03There's two pieces to this.
- 6:04There's this annual magazine as well as your digital newsletter
- 6:08and the website itself.
- 6:10So when you put all three of those together, what types of services
- 6:14does Collector Car Guide offer?
- 6:16Okay.
- 6:16So yeah, the Annual Guide is really a reference guide.
- 6:20So the idea with behind these is basically to have something for reference.
- 6:24They'll read it when they get it cover to cover, like probably you did yourself,
- 6:27and then they'll file it somewhere, maybe their glove box or in their
- 6:30garage with their OR service manuals.
- 6:32So when something breaks, they have it right on.
- 6:34They have something and they can hold in their hand and it's a one stop shop.
- 6:37On the relevant articles in here, things that, you know, not everybody thinks about
- 6:41necessarily, but are important things.
- 6:43And then it gives me the opportunity to list all the clubs, like we have
- 6:46like over a hundred clubs in here and by category or, or by make even my
- 6:49model in some cases like Ford Mustang or versus just Ford in general.
- 6:53We have some overlap where you have the, if you go onto
- 6:56the website and you look at.
- 6:57In the different pages we have there, I want, we have our mission
- 7:00statement, which basically is my mission because of my background.
- 7:03I wanna steer people literally in the right direction.
- 7:06That's kind of like a, one of our slogans we use, pun intended.
- 7:09Yes, right, exactly.
- 7:11The idea is everybody, I've vet everybody before I put 'em in here.
- 7:14There's other publications.
- 7:16Out there.
- 7:16Some are good.
- 7:17You know, you've heard of Hemmings, I'm sure, or a national company.
- 7:20They go across the United States.
- 7:21We actually all around the world when it comes to buying parts, things like
- 7:24that, the emphasis behind a whole thing that we, even when you go from just a
- 7:28printed guide to the, to the website and through newsletters, through subscribers,
- 7:32is to go within a two hour range.
- 7:34There's a lot of people in our backyard that can do the work.
- 7:36People like, like I have probably heard of stories, and you see shows on, you
- 7:40know, MotorTrend for example, on tv, and they're going halfway across the country
- 7:44to get this thing done and across three states farther away from something else.
- 7:48And it's fine, but.
- 7:50The thing is there's a lot of good experts in our area within our re
- 7:54I call it like rather call it a region, even though it's local.
- 7:56It's somewhat regional too, because I've got somebody all the way,
- 7:59believe it or not, down in North Carolina, I've got Breaker racing
- 8:02who's pretty famous for rear differentials and they do other things.
- 8:05They build chassis for clients, things like that.
- 8:07So that's probably my furthest one.
- 8:10But they were more like more nationally known and I'll
- 8:12probably get some more of that.
- 8:13But most of the.
- 8:14Emphasis is on the local small business.
- 8:16And the other thing is, that's part of the mission too, is to help the small business
- 8:20because I'm all, I'm a small business guy and, and I believe in entrepreneurship, so
- 8:24I wanna help promote the small business.
- 8:25The bigger companies, they may not have the expertise that the smaller guys have.
- 8:29I'm not saying they don't.
- 8:30In some cases, most of the time if you deal with, you walk into a mom and pop
- 8:33shop and he's got a business, let's say he is got a machine shop and he is been there
- 8:3725 years, that guy knows what he's doing.
- 8:39He's been there a long time.
- 8:40He's got a reputation, but well, like our favorite fabricator
- 8:43auto fab, I mean, right.
- 8:44There you go.
- 8:44You know, I, I recommend them constantly.
- 8:46If somebody ask me.
- 8:47Where do you get this done or where can you get a cage
- 8:49done, or, I need a custom part.
- 8:51Made you go to Auto fb.
- 8:52They're in this area, right?
- 8:53They're in this journal and obviously your book was on their shelves at the shop.
- 8:57And what I like about the CCG is, as you flip through this and what
- 9:01really caught my attention is.
- 9:02It's not just, you know, a Yellow Pages type of thing or a bunch of
- 9:07articles that are slapped together.
- 9:09It's really a nice blend of different genres inside of the car
- 9:14enthusiasts and Motorsport world.
- 9:16I wanna stress the and Motorsport world.
- 9:19I mean, obviously there's vendors in here, there.
- 9:22Some of our sponsors listening here, like Battery Warehouse and Auto Fab and, and
- 9:25others that we've worked with in the past.
- 9:27But then there's also articles in here about, you know, liquid
- 9:30paint versus powder coating.
- 9:32Right?
- 9:32Really technical.
- 9:33There's an article in here that I saw when it was in Dvo
- 9:36Ganger the first time, right?
- 9:37The PCA Potomacs Magazine about.
- 9:39Restoring an air called Porsche.
- 9:40There's actually a racing guide in here for the local drag strip.
- 9:44The ovals, one of these shots is actually from NJMP.
- 9:46From SCCA, you know, things like that.
- 9:49So as, and, and I actually really was intrigued.
- 9:51You guys had a review on the Quick Jack, which is, I actually
- 9:54own one of those, so it's.
- 9:56It spans the gamut.
- 9:57And so every time I flipped the page and I saw something that either I recognize
- 10:02or knew about it, put a smile on my face.
- 10:04And obviously a lot of these things are local.
- 10:06So for anybody that's tuning in in California, they're
- 10:08like, eh, yeah, whatever.
- 10:10To your point, it's all in one spot.
- 10:12And this is super useful.
- 10:14It's like, Hey, let me flip through here and, and one of the things that
- 10:16got my attention, again, places to get non ethanol fuel, like we talk
- 10:20about that a lot with our classic car guys, and they're like, Hey.
- 10:23Did you see that this sheet now has, you know, ethanol free fuel and
- 10:27you're like, let me scratch that down.
- 10:29Lemme write it down.
- 10:30It's in the C, C, G, you've already got it listed here.
- 10:33So that's why I find this to be a great Cliff's notes to the car enthusiast world
- 10:39and this is a great resource to have.
- 10:41Well, thank you.
- 10:42I appreciate that.
- 10:42And hopefully people will consider like you, like a Bible and at least within
- 10:45this region, that they, if they need anything, that it's available here.
- 10:49And actually that one of the things we're trying to do.
- 10:51To expand is we want to continue growing our category list online
- 10:55as well as in the magazine.
- 10:56There's some overlap between the two.
- 10:59If you go online, you'll see if you go to a recommended vendors category or
- 11:02online, you'll see a lot of these guys.
- 11:04Advertisers are by category, kind of like we did in the magazine.
- 11:07A little different in some ways.
- 11:09When you go to look at each of the examples, it's more.
- 11:12The book is static.
- 11:12Even though it's great, it's static, right?
- 11:14Whereas online, we can update it.
- 11:15We can take an advertiser's ad, we can add photos if they wanna add them,
- 11:19we can have links to the, you know, I think through social media articles,
- 11:23we can link to articles, videos.
- 11:24A lot of these guys, not everybody does YouTube, but the people who do have
- 11:27YouTube videos, we can link to those.
- 11:29Have a map to the location, so it's a little bit more, I guess
- 11:31you would call that interactive.
- 11:33Absolutely.
- 11:33You know, more than anything else.
- 11:34So that, that's an interactive way to get through.
- 11:36The younger crowd generally likes to email more today than
- 11:38they do to pick up a phone.
- 11:39I'm a, I like to pick up a phone, but there's direct dial on, available on
- 11:43mobile devices so that they can do that.
- 11:45Direct emails, you know, this way they have a, you know, a way of
- 11:48getting in touch by other means besides just the, the phone.
- 11:51Some of these guys that run these shops, they just don't have
- 11:53any face time with the public.
- 11:54Some of 'em are in the back.
- 11:55Some of the guys, absolutely.
- 11:57These guys are, they're prepping cars to get painted.
- 11:59They're doing machine work, they're doing other things.
- 12:01They're not, some of 'em aren't as people.
- 12:02People like we are.
- 12:03They've either got a front person in the office or they don't have anybody.
- 12:06And the only way to get in touch with them is to email.
- 12:09I think over was an example.
- 12:11I can't remember the gentleman's name that that runs it, but I had to
- 12:13email a couple times before I could actually speak to him because he is
- 12:16usually not in the front of the office.
- 12:18Oh yeah, yeah.
- 12:19They're brazy busy and that shop is like a maze.
- 12:21And you know, people are always amazed.
- 12:23Being involved in the motor sport and car enthusiast world for so long, there's
- 12:27some of these shops that I walk into and I just wave at the people and I go
- 12:30straight into the back and my friends will go with me and they're like, wait, what?
- 12:34And I'm like, I've been coming here since I was in diapers.
- 12:36I mean, gimme a break, you know?
- 12:39But yeah, to your point, the guys that are, that are doing the work
- 12:42are oftentimes in the back, not at the front of house, you know?
- 12:44But those are the ones we wanna connect people to because they're the ones
- 12:48that their name is on the door and they've built these vehicles, you know,
- 12:51whether they be race cars or show cars.
- 12:53Re restorations or whatever they can be of help.
- 12:57And a lot of times it's like those commercials you see on tv.
- 13:00Well, if you know, then you know, in this case maybe you don't know.
- 13:04And this is where something like the CCG gives people a leg up to
- 13:07say, Hey, they've been vetted.
- 13:09These are what other automotive enthusiasts are saying are
- 13:12reputable shops to go to.
- 13:13And, and when I looked at your recommended vendors section of the
- 13:17website, especially, and I know it's in the book, but obviously the website's
- 13:21gonna be more dynamic and more fluid.
- 13:23This is gold right here.
- 13:24This is your go-to spot.
- 13:26Just like we talk about for track days, we talk about h hpd junkie.com, right?
- 13:30That's where you want to go for that nationwide schedule.
- 13:33Of all those track events, the CG is the other side.
- 13:36Where do I go to find that part for that, you know, DeSoto or Ed Solar, you
- 13:41know, whatever you might work on next.
- 13:42I'm being extreme here, but the idea is that.
- 13:45You've got a resource, you've got this place, you know, a one stop
- 13:48shop for all this information.
- 13:50So recommended vendors isn't just it for C, c, G. You guys have got some
- 13:54other stuff going on with events and the ability to advertise and stuff like that.
- 13:58So why don't we unpack that a little bit for our listeners as well.
- 14:01Part of it is we have a list of clubs that are generic in here,
- 14:04and it's a little more than a static listing in the magazine.
- 14:07Eventually we'll probably have.
- 14:08A list of all the clubs, but right now, at least to start off, is,
- 14:11this is still in its infancy.
- 14:12Of course.
- 14:13At least there's some information because I really believe that everybody
- 14:16should consider joining some kind of a club out there because the,
- 14:19the resources are, are tremendous.
- 14:21There's an old slogan, I think it started with.
- 14:23Horse Club of America.
- 14:24What We came for the cars, but we had the friends were what we, it it,
- 14:28it did, it changed and it became, it's not the cars, it's the people.
- 14:32That's it.
- 14:32So they shortened it.
- 14:33Yeah.
- 14:34So that's right.
- 14:34Now the Corvette Club says it also.
- 14:36So, and then we have to pick and choose because being a different
- 14:38interest in different cars, like I personally belong to three clubs.
- 14:41I approach all these people and they all want me to join their club.
- 14:43And some of 'em gimme.
- 14:44The guy from the Cadillac Club, I think his name's Vinny, gave me a
- 14:46free membership, which I never asked for, but I, I love Cadillacs too.
- 14:49I love them all.
- 14:50You know, maybe I'll hang out sometime with one of their events.
- 14:53We wanna give everybody the opportunity to see what's out there, because a lot of
- 14:56people don't know about these clubs and there's a huge upside to that as well.
- 15:00I recently kind of was reintroduced because of COVID.
- 15:03Right.
- 15:03You know, being home and watching the races.
- 15:06I went to the petite Lamonts and I had forgotten that there's all these.
- 15:10Car corrals at these bigger races, especially like IMSA
- 15:13races and things like that.
- 15:15Even if Formula One races, they have this kind of stuff and you walk in and if you
- 15:18show your membership card, even if it's digital, like, oh hey, I got a BMW, you
- 15:23know, membership, then you're suddenly, Hey, come on into the BMW corral.
- 15:27We got, we got food and we got drink and you can park your car over
- 15:30here and all this kind of stuff.
- 15:32And so there's this extension of benefits.
- 15:35That a lot of people forget.
- 15:36It's like, well, why do I want to join the club?
- 15:38I tell people all the time, join SCCA, even if you're not a racer, support
- 15:43the Sports Car Club of America and by proxy, if you go in there, there are
- 15:48discounts for major vendors for being an SCCA member, whether it's for breaks or
- 15:54it's for tires or for whatever have you.
- 15:57It's worth its weight in gold when you hook up with these clubs.
- 16:00But if you're not aware of them or you're trying to spin up
- 16:03your own, which is fine too.
- 16:04I mean, if you wanna be the the North American Eco Boost Ford Flex
- 16:09Club, I mean, that's fine too.
- 16:10That's fine too.
- 16:11But you know, it's gonna be a small market.
- 16:14But looking at some of these bigger organizations that are established, to
- 16:17your point, you're gonna find friends.
- 16:18Whether you want to or not, but you're also gonna have resources and the ability
- 16:23to exchange parts, and that's huge.
- 16:24And we'll probably expand upon that more here as we go along with the conversation.
- 16:28But I didn't wanna derail you, so keep going.
- 16:30Absolutely.
- 16:31You're, you're educating me as we're speaking right now actually.
- 16:34And I, one of the reasons I was really interested and intrigued
- 16:36and, you know, connecting with you, Eric, is the fact that.
- 16:38You have resources I'd like to bring to, to our readers attention, especially the
- 16:42racing side, where you have guys that may want to, they've never raced before
- 16:46they, but they wanna try it, they want, they wanna dabble in that a little bit.
- 16:49We wanna give them the opportunity to do it.
- 16:50So I'm hoping I can expand with your help in this racing section.
- 16:53Maybe have a, a separate page for that also.
- 16:55On our website.
- 16:56Absolutely.
- 16:57And that's, that was the whole impetus behind our first season, was
- 17:00introducing people to what we call different disciplines of motorsport.
- 17:04Have you ever heard of autocross?
- 17:05Do you know what a rally cross is?
- 17:07You know, what is HPDE?
- 17:09You know, all those kinds of things.
- 17:10And so those kinds of explanations, even though they might be basic
- 17:14for the veterans, is important to these folks out there that are now
- 17:17picking up CCG for the first time and going, well, what is an autocross?
- 17:21How do I learn about that?
- 17:22Where do I learn more?
- 17:23And it's really important that we foster that educational layer for car
- 17:29enthusiasts because without your guys' help, you know, all these listeners
- 17:32that are tuning in, Motorsport dies.
- 17:34So we have to keep the interest going and it stems through not only just
- 17:38the sport, but through the clubs, the parts, the vendors, right?
- 17:43We are all part of an ecosystem and we rely on each other to keep it moving.
- 17:47And this actually is a good segue to, you asked me about our newsletter, kind of
- 17:51a byproduct of the fact that we want to keep building this thing up in the news.
- 17:54Having a regular newsletter, be it monthly or whatever, is a really good opportunity
- 17:58to keep the eye on the ball for all of our subscribers and bring in new people
- 18:02in, obviously, obviously helps see.
- 18:04SE as you're trying to generate more traffic to your website.
- 18:07Of course, part of it also, you mentioned SCCA, but I think also everybody should
- 18:11consider joining CMA as a member.
- 18:12I agree.
- 18:13Because CMA really behind all this and is trying to protect us because
- 18:16right now, and this is something that specifically this month in,
- 18:19uh, in February, we're gonna cover a couple legal things that just came.
- 18:23One is in Maryland where they're trying, they wanna tax everyone with, with a car
- 18:27that doesn't have go three emissions.
- 18:28So that's an condition exempt, probably heard this the first time,
- 18:31so I just got something from them.
- 18:32So I'm broadcasting a, a link on there.
- 18:34I actually went online today to contact all the state senators
- 18:37and Maryland General Assembly.
- 18:39As well as the, the representatives or the, I guess they call 'em delegates,
- 18:42make them aware of what's going on.
- 18:43'cause a lot of times the times they pass this legislation not knowing
- 18:46what's going on, some of it's because they're political, but also because
- 18:49they really don't know, you know, what are the ins and outs of all
- 18:52this and how, who are you affecting?
- 18:53So everybody's got one collector car that's not getting emissions test is
- 18:57gonna have to pay $14 every two years.
- 18:59Which doesn't sound like a lot of money, but it just adds to the difference.
- 19:02We already have to have special rules.
- 19:04If you have certain tags on your vehicle, collect the street rod tags.
- 19:07Et cetera can only be operated specifically at, at
- 19:10certain times and whatever.
- 19:11Now, I don't know if people kind of bend the rules and they don't
- 19:13worry about it, but still you, you don't wanna have more restrictions.
- 19:16Bringing this to the attention of all the, the enthusiasts is important.
- 19:19'cause then they can get involved.
- 19:20You know, it's also, we have cool things on there, like spy photos
- 19:23or like links to spy photos.
- 19:25From different sources out there.
- 19:26We, we'll give them credit of course, you know, fun stuff on like at the, uh, show.
- 19:30We had an East Indoor show.
- 19:32We, I participated in that with folks at Motorama do that.
- 19:34So there's a couple photos on I Candy we posted up on one of our,
- 19:37uh, social media sites we pointed to.
- 19:39So that's really good to keep in front of people and have, also have something
- 19:43to look forward to on a regular basis.
- 19:45And obviously this being a slow time of year because it's winter,
- 19:47people aren't thinking about really cruising around right now.
- 19:50Although they are, some of 'em are working on their winter projects.
- 19:53We found out during COVID that that was a huge thing and actually
- 19:56the auto industry did better.
- 19:58Some of our clients actually like Gunther's Machine.
- 20:00Jeff said he had the best year he ever had during COVID.
- 20:03They didn't have anything to do.
- 20:04They were not working, or they either laid off or they're working from home.
- 20:07They had spare time on their hands so they could work on these projects.
- 20:09So they'd bring him different things to work on.
- 20:11They motors, whatever, and he'd do it for him.
- 20:13So he had a really great year.
- 20:15Something continuing to further, this is always a better thing.
- 20:19Absolutely.
- 20:19That's where the newsletter, it points to our website.
- 20:21Absolutely.
- 20:22There's an efficacy to the newsletters too, because I see it a lot on these
- 20:26different social networks that we're a part of where I'll recognize an article.
- 20:30I'm like, oh, that came from PCA's newsletter, or that came from Chris
- 20:34Bright's, you know, CPX newsletter.
- 20:36This came from, you know, Rob CCG newsletter and, and it goes around and.
- 20:40These articles make the rounds as much as a lot of people are like,
- 20:43well, it was in a spam folder and I missed it for three weeks.
- 20:46There's many of us, like myself that I'm, I'm reading these, I'm looking at
- 20:49these automotive journals and that's how I'm staying, you know, up to
- 20:52date on a lot of this kind of stuff.
- 20:54Right.
- 20:54And it's, it's really fascinating and granted.
- 20:57You could make the argument, well, we don't live in the automotive industry,
- 20:59but if it's your passion, right?
- 21:01All this stuff is important.
- 21:02Just like you were saying about the laws changing in the DMV about
- 21:05emissions and collector cars.
- 21:07I mean that's important to a lot of us that do have multiple cars or that our
- 21:10car enthusiasts, we just did an episode last season where people of my generation,
- 21:16you know, not too far off yours, I'm not, not dating us and placing us just yet.
- 21:20They're starting to turn their eyes now to say, cars are the nineties.
- 21:25Are they collector cars yet?
- 21:26Is it time to invest in a car from the nineties?
- 21:28So the nineties cars are now on that edge too, of do they go to emissions anymore?
- 21:33Are they considered vintage?
- 21:34You know, especially here, dc, Maryland, Virginia.
- 21:36What does that mean?
- 21:37So the point that you're bringing up is really important for somebody that
- 21:40might be going, Hey, you know, that old, uh, nineties Lexus or Toyota Supra, or
- 21:45whatever it might be that I'm thinking about buying to do a restoration on.
- 21:48You know, now you have some other things to think about,
- 21:50some other things to consider.
- 21:51It's all very relevant.
- 21:53It's just, you know, how do you capitalize on people's attention and their time?
- 21:57Right.
- 21:57We're, we're constantly being bombarded by information, but
- 22:00again, as a reference guide, the printed manual's awesome to have.
- 22:04The website is dynamic and it's being updated.
- 22:07So I guess that leads us into the next question, which is, how does someone
- 22:11contribute to Collector Car Guide?
- 22:13How do we become part of your world?
- 22:16Help build out your website, get your name listed there, get your information
- 22:19out if you're not already on the list.
- 22:21How does that work?
- 22:22You know, it's so funny because generally as, as a, as a role I've been in sales
- 22:25for, since before college, I'd like to get some more inbound uh, sales
- 22:29because 95% of the sales I have are.
- 22:32Me going out there knocking on doors, being aggressive without being
- 22:35annoying, so to speak, if possible.
- 22:37They call that gen generating pipeline?
- 22:39Yeah.
- 22:40Correct.
- 22:40I pretty much generating my own, I, they say, I always go by the philosophy.
- 22:44If it's to be, it's up to me.
- 22:45Obviously, if I can get enough feelers out there on, on the, on the web, get
- 22:49more interest, you know, but I, yeah, obviously it's getting the name out
- 22:52there, getting the feelers out there.
- 22:53Obviously I'm open to talking to everybody, but again,
- 22:55they have to contact me.
- 22:56Then I go and do my own.
- 22:57Background search on them, going through my sources, the people
- 23:00I know that I trust, some of 'em are who are in the guide.
- 23:03Now, also going online, checking reviews are for valid reviews,
- 23:06not just just any reviews.
- 23:07'cause there's a lot of fake reviews out there.
- 23:08And I wanna give everybody a fair shot.
- 23:10They have to be at least a four star though if I go across different things
- 23:13like Google Reviews and Facebook and some others that I trust and I can come up
- 23:16with, you know, the fact that they're, they're a decent company to deal with and
- 23:20like for example, there's a company on the Eastern shore that wants to advertise.
- 23:23Everywhere they can and their restoration company.
- 23:25I won't, I don't want their money.
- 23:26I don't want, I don't wanna have anything to do to do with them.
- 23:28They advertise in other places, but I, I won't take it because it's all
- 23:31about reputation to me more that's more important than the money.
- 23:34Because being a hobbyist myself, I wouldn't send somebody anywhere.
- 23:37I wouldn't go.
- 23:38That's a fair statement.
- 23:39It's so basically it's one of those things where I wanna share a good
- 23:42experience and also very important.
- 23:44We wanna send people to some place that it's gonna be the first place to go.
- 23:47And the only place, I can't tell you, of all the shops and people I deal
- 23:50with, how many cars they've had from, you know, other places that have messed
- 23:53something up or whatever, and they, the guy spent a hundred grand, now he's gonna
- 23:56have to spend more money because they have to undo the work that this other
- 23:59place messed up and start from scratch.
- 24:01So they've been better off not going there at all to begin with.
- 24:03Part of it is also education.
- 24:04People don't realize, I wanna get a, I want a 70 Chevelle.
- 24:07I mean, that's a very common car that people want, right?
- 24:09They had it when they were a kid or.
- 24:11Whatever their dad had one.
- 24:12The thing is they have no idea what, how much, how the time and energy it
- 24:15takes to put that together to build a car, even if it's street worthy.
- 24:19I'm not even talking about show worthy, I'm talking about street worthy.
- 24:22It could be at least a hundred thousand dollars to start.
- 24:24It goes up from there when you're looking at rates of a
- 24:26hundred dollars an hour or more.
- 24:27Some of guys are getting $150 an hour.
- 24:29That money gets eaten up so quickly.
- 24:31So a lot people will do it because it's a passion, but generally, most of
- 24:35the people that are subscribers, they car, they're enthusiasts and they'll,
- 24:38they'll spend the money, they don't care.
- 24:39Personally me, if I wanna get something from my car, I'm gonna
- 24:42buy the best part I can find.
- 24:43If I can find, like when I got timing and chain cover from my Buick, a few
- 24:46years ago we redid the, uh, we had to rebuild the water pump and all that.
- 24:49There's two companies out there.
- 24:50There's TA perform.
- 24:51He was a nationally known company, and then you got another company was Chinese,
- 24:55and the Chinese time machine cover was $300 and the other guy was five 50.
- 24:59I said, he's made in America.
- 25:00And I read reviews.
- 25:01I'm, I'm going with that guy.
- 25:02And I called the guy.
- 25:03I actually talked to the owner, which I was really impressed
- 25:05talking about contacting people.
- 25:07Mm-hmm.
- 25:07And I wanted, I said, I gotta compliment you.
- 25:09You have a really good product.
- 25:10I said, we installed, I'm not a mechanic, a good friend of mine's a mechanic.
- 25:13And he, I assisted him putting this, this part into the car, replacing it was.
- 25:17Perfect.
- 25:17In fact, he had improved the engineering on the product.
- 25:19So, you know, like, just like the quick Jacks getting the information
- 25:22about why are they better than, why are people spending the money on this
- 25:25product versus some other product.
- 25:28So an education process.
- 25:29My job, I feel, is to help educate people.
- 25:32And some of 'em may already know this, and some of this might
- 25:34be, you know, no, no big deal.
- 25:35Some of this might be over their heads and they have no idea.
- 25:37So where they, how do they get started?
- 25:39Where do they go?
- 25:40I'm looking at an article here called Restoration Roadmap.
- 25:42Solving the new issue here.
- 25:44So you, you gotta get people a starting point so they at least know people
- 25:47that are breaking into this hobby.
- 25:49Like you're talking about guys, look at the nineties, well, maybe they really
- 25:51weren't car enthusia, but they love the specific car back from the nineties.
- 25:55Well, now they have an opportunity to maybe look where, what can I do?
- 25:58What are all the stages involved in in taking that corn to a restoration?
- 26:02Well, and all those TV shows you watch on, you know, and I'm not poking fun
- 26:05'cause I love 'em all the, what I call restoration shows, like on motor trend
- 26:09and History channel and stuff like that.
- 26:11They make it look so easy.
- 26:12It's like wave a magic wand and suddenly that rust pile is a cheves,
- 26:18you know, Barrett Jackson car.
- 26:19Well that doesn't happen overnight.
- 26:21That takes.
- 26:21Upwards of a year, if not longer.
- 26:23And to your point, probably a hundred thousand dollars to do that.
- 26:26Now, if you watch roadkill, that's probably closer to what you and I could
- 26:30put together on a budget, you know, is grab a car to the junkyard and it barely
- 26:33gets to wherever our next location is.
- 26:36You know, and, and there's variance in between.
- 26:38But the reality is.
- 26:39Every journey starts with a step, right?
- 26:41To borrow that particular phrase.
- 26:43Making the right first couple of steps is super important When you're starting
- 26:48a project like this, especially when you're talking about a restoration,
- 26:52building a race car, I mean, I've said it time and time again, I have wasted
- 26:56enough money to pass on my knowledge to other folks to say, don't buy this part.
- 27:01And it's not because it's an inferior part or whatever, it maybe
- 27:04doesn't hold up to track use and abuse or the heat or whatever.
- 27:08It's a great part for the street, and I've already wasted my money on it.
- 27:12Don't go down that road.
- 27:13That's part of that whole idea of sharing of information, and it
- 27:17comes down to the three Cs, right?
- 27:19Communication, collaboration, and cooperation, and that's
- 27:22what helps the automotive.
- 27:24Enthusiast world, continue to move forward is us working together,
- 27:28talking, sharing stories, experiences, you know, and helping each other out.
- 27:33Again, I applaud you for putting all this together, but let's go back, you know,
- 27:37here I am, vendor A, I'm hearing about, you know, CC, G for the first time.
- 27:42I want to become part of your world.
- 27:45I wanna advertise.
- 27:46How does that work?
- 27:47Do I just get a spot in the magazine on the website?
- 27:51Both.
- 27:51What does it cost?
- 27:52What are we looking at here?
- 27:53If I wanted to advertise outside of the vetting process, I mean you,
- 27:57you explained that really well.
- 27:59What's the next step once you go, Hey, yeah, this looks good.
- 28:02They contact me.
- 28:03Usually I like to speak with someone at least by phone, preferably if I can meet
- 28:06them in person, because this is a very visual, as you know, with the magazine and
- 28:09even looking at the website, uh, even on a smartphone, it's a very visual thing.
- 28:13And they, there's different, they can get involved specifically in
- 28:16the magazine, solely in that they can go online an ad with us just
- 28:20strictly online or they can do.
- 28:21They get a significant discount with both.
- 28:24The minimum thing I recommend, uh, someone gives a bold blue listing
- 28:27in the magazine, which I believe starts about 2 45 for the year.
- 28:30We give everybody rates and annual, and is an annual because for me, as I do all the
- 28:34sales, I have to work the book by area.
- 28:36So I'm in different areas in different times.
- 28:37So right now I'm working in specific area.
- 28:39Today I was, I sold two ads.
- 28:41Actually renewals.
- 28:42My goal is also to keep our existing advertisers happy.
- 28:45The other thing we do is something specific to advertisers
- 28:48I didn't mention before.
- 28:49I also like to give each of the advertisers, depending on what
- 28:52they do, some breathing space.
- 28:53So if there's two machine shops that are next to each other,
- 28:55it's first come, first serve.
- 28:56As long as the reputation's good, I'll only put one in.
- 28:59I won't put the other guy in.
- 29:00So, you know, again, it's to try and help them maximize their benefit
- 29:04'cause they're making an investment taking a risk with me and I wanna help
- 29:07them out in re in return for that.
- 29:09It's very important and I, I wanna stress this and anybody contacts
- 29:13anybody in here, please mention, collect their car guide when you call 'em.
- 29:16'cause a lot of times people don't mention it so they don't realize
- 29:18they're getting any feedback and then they may think, well, maybe
- 29:20I'm not gonna do the ad next time.
- 29:22So sometimes I feel like I'm going two steps forward and one step back
- 29:25because if I've got now, I've gotta get somebody else in here instead.
- 29:28Like I said, I'm trying to expand it.
- 29:30It's, there's a little bit of headwinds when it comes to trying
- 29:32to keep the people in the magazine.
- 29:33Some people, like I said, actually most people do, they do not do
- 29:36their due diligence to see, really see how they're doing with, and the
- 29:39other publication the same thing.
- 29:41They're really do, they can anecdotally, they can get a feel of like, well,
- 29:44I'm thinking that business going up.
- 29:45I'm not specifically knowing it's, it's this or that, but
- 29:48I know things have improved.
- 29:49I'm thinking it's doing better.
- 29:51If anybody's got a little bit of business consultant working with them,
- 29:53they, they have some way, even their accountant or something can give 'em
- 29:56a little bit of leeway as far as.
- 29:57You gotta evaluate what you're doing here.
- 29:59Found that most people work in the business, but most, most people
- 30:02do not work on the business.
- 30:03Important thing is that they're in the right place.
- 30:06And what I tell people, you gotta advertise to the right audience.
- 30:08It's some people feel like you're throw enough 'em out against the
- 30:10wall, something's gonna stick.
- 30:12But if it's too generic, it's too far out.
- 30:13For example, on a popular AM radio station and the Baltimore area,
- 30:18I hear of, uh, one advertiser advertising certain things for cars.
- 30:21Now I talked to the guy before about this.
- 30:23He's throwing, he's telling a ton of money.
- 30:25I assume he is getting something out of it.
- 30:27And you know, especially if you've got a limited budget, put your money into the
- 30:30vehicle where you're gonna get the most bang for your buck, your, your audience.
- 30:34In other words, who's your audience?
- 30:35Anybody out there who wants money, who wants to make money and be very
- 30:38successful and they're chasing the dollar, they'll take anybody's money.
- 30:41And that's really where most of the publications are out.
- 30:43They, they'll take anybody's money.
- 30:45They don't care if their reputation's bad or not.
- 30:47The, the money's more important to them.
- 30:49So, but I think that there's a good meld here where you basically melding in the
- 30:52mind to speak where you have the right people in the magazine or the online,
- 30:56on the resource, and they're speaking to the right people on their lending,
- 30:59their expertise to those enthusiasts and getting them in the right place.
- 31:02There have been people in the past where they'd want to advertise, and I'll say, I,
- 31:06I don't know if I'm really right for you.
- 31:07There was a guy who did like work on homes, but he wanted, he
- 31:09liked the guy he wanted to be in.
- 31:11The only thing I could do to bring somebody in here who's not in the
- 31:13automotive field is make him a sponsor on our OR club page or something.
- 31:17But generally I want to keep it specific to the industry.
- 31:20That makes sense.
- 31:20So I, yeah, I generally like to meet people and that way they get
- 31:23a feel of me at the same time, see, make sure it's a good fit, and then
- 31:26see how I can help them, because.
- 31:28I'm a very visual and I can take an ad they may have done or look at
- 31:31their business card and figure out how are we're gonna work in this
- 31:33space to get your message out there.
- 31:35I've got an ad here from, uh, it's called PCS Power Coding Specialists.
- 31:39Mm-hmm.
- 31:39It's a small ad, it's an eight page ad. It's very well done.
- 31:41It gets right to the point, isn't it?
- 31:43People don't have to have the largest ad to get the best re response.
- 31:46I'm also talking to a guy right now who's an artist.
- 31:48He just got, Shelby gave him like the licensure for their logo, which is huge.
- 31:52He might be better suited.
- 31:54We have like a couple spot ads on our website.
- 31:56I could put 'em under Art in the magazine and put 'em under art online.
- 32:00The categories under recommended vendors, but because that's not something people
- 32:04normally look for, I think maybe he'd be better for a spot ad on our homepage.
- 32:07People see it right away.
- 32:08You know how people get diverted.
- 32:10Oh, that's kind of cool.
- 32:10I'll click on that.
- 32:11And then the next thing You're on his website.
- 32:13Yeah, exactly.
- 32:14I wanna feel them out to see what I think is best for them based on what
- 32:17they do and how they're gonna benefit.
- 32:19I always believe in putting other people before me because
- 32:21I want them to benefit first.
- 32:23I, I'll get paid eventually for doing the right thing, but if
- 32:25I put other people first, then.
- 32:27Give them what they want, then that's really the bottom one to help them out.
- 32:30Full call ads in the magazine, ads on the website, stuff like that.
- 32:33Obviously there's a cost associated with the ads, but let's just say you wanna
- 32:37get your club listed, or you wanna get your event listed on CCG or better still,
- 32:42maybe you're an aspiring author or you wanna republish an article as part of the
- 32:47CCG website or even in the next annual.
- 32:49Is that something that is available to folks and how do they go about that?
- 32:53Good question.
- 32:53So basically I call that free stuff.
- 32:55My goal is to help the close builder memberships up.
- 32:58I'm hoping they'll, they'll embrace our resource and as a result of
- 33:01that, but Club Listenings are free.
- 33:03The events are free.
- 33:03I have a guy who helps me out, his name's Tammy.
- 33:06He helps me out get the, uh, list, gives me lists of events,
- 33:08and I also put some on myself.
- 33:10And we try to do it on a list so it's more efficient to get 'em all at one time.
- 33:13Uh, he'll give me events maybe up to two or three months in advance,
- 33:16depending on who they are, where they're located, and so forth.
- 33:19Then I'll, I'll kind of enhance 'em a little bit if I've got a flyer.
- 33:22I can pull somewhere, I'll add it so they can click on the
- 33:24flyer for more information.
- 33:25That's free.
- 33:27So like most people, we, we are always looking for content.
- 33:29Unfortunately, with the printed magazine, there's a limited page count.
- 33:32I have to limit the articles to the people who buy the ads
- 33:35because space is such a premium.
- 33:37It's like real estate on a monopoly board and park place and Boardwalk.
- 33:40You gotta make everything count there, right?
- 33:42So there's free stuff in the book and I don't mind putting
- 33:44free clubs listings in here.
- 33:46Some of the larger shows are in here.
- 33:48I don't put all the little show.
- 33:49To me, a car show is great.
- 33:50It doesn't matter if there's 25 people or a hundred people there, but we
- 33:53only have so much space in there.
- 33:54So I usually tend to put the larger events in there.
- 33:57Carlisle Events is one of our sponsors, so you know, obviously
- 34:00that's a big type of thing.
- 34:02Tens of thousands of people that attend their events.
- 34:04But online I could do a whole lot more.
- 34:06There's no limitation on space.
- 34:07We just started a blog on, on our website.
- 34:09We're obviously taking advertisers.
- 34:11We're allowing them to provide additional, if they have blogs or they
- 34:15want to, we'll post them up there.
- 34:17If there's somebody else that's got something, I'm happy to, to put it
- 34:19in, maybe link it on our newsletter.
- 34:21So there's different ways we can get their content up.
- 34:23If they wanted to contribute something, I definitely would.
- 34:26You have to consider who they are and so forth, obviously.
- 34:28And at the end we usually have to give a credit to the, the author,
- 34:31and then if they're an advertiser, we'll link to their website or if
- 34:34they've got another classic auto mall.
- 34:36We just posted their blog up there about.
- 34:38Doing estate planning, working with your collector cars, you know, that's something
- 34:41people think about this time of year.
- 34:43I thought it was relevant to have that up there.
- 34:45There's like a little link that goes right to their add on on our
- 34:47website that you would find on their, uh, the recommended vendors.
- 34:50Yeah, I'm always looking for, obviously more information.
- 34:53I think another thing is the racing side of like.
- 34:55I'd like to get more with your help.
- 34:57I think I can get that and I'll be giving you credit for anything, any
- 35:00contributions you guys would wanna make.
- 35:02And I know you've got your own stuff too, so that's cool.
- 35:04And we can help contribute to that, share some information.
- 35:07I think it'll be valuable.
- 35:08Well, we're all part of one big car enthusiast, happy family, right?
- 35:11So we're happy to share.
- 35:13And so wherever we can make that partnership work and we can make
- 35:15it grow, obviously like we've been talking about this entire time, it's
- 35:18all about collaboration and working together to support each other and
- 35:23keep this hobby, label it as that, you know, strong, alive, and vibrant.
- 35:27So that's awesome.
- 35:28I mean, it sounds like there's a. Bunch of different ways for people
- 35:30to get involved with the CCG.
- 35:32Obviously, you're coming to the table with past experience as a
- 35:35publisher with a successful version of this in a totally different genre.
- 35:39So repeating the formula, not a bad thing, it's just getting people's
- 35:43attention and it's about awareness.
- 35:45So that's why we're having that conversation.
- 35:46But that does lead us into, so there's been two of these annuals put out.
- 35:50They are annuals, so they come out once a year.
- 35:53What are your ideas for the future?
- 35:55Is it gonna come out more?
- 35:56Often expansions of the website.
- 35:59What are some things you're thinking about now that you've gotten through
- 36:02your first year and change of the CCG?
- 36:05What are some lessons learned and and what does the future look like?
- 36:07Basically, I, like I said earlier, I'd like to expand the categories.
- 36:11That's a big deal.
- 36:12I don't know if the magazine, because of the way it's.
- 36:14Set up is part of the thing is the way it's published, the way it's
- 36:17printed, is the fact that it has to be done in certain page counts.
- 36:20You know, so the first magazine was at 40 pages, and the second one, the
- 36:23one you're looking at is, is at 48.
- 36:25So it depends on, you know, who's in the magazine, the size of
- 36:28the ads, how we lay it out, like putting three puzzles together.
- 36:31Online is obviously more open, but as more information becomes available to us
- 36:36information and as in combination of the two, we can make the magazine larger.
- 36:41You know, obviously I wanna have more people in different categories online.
- 36:44There's some other things I'd like to add.
- 36:46Uh, I was thinking toying with the idea of doing some type of, uh, and I don't
- 36:49know if this is gonna work or not, maybe having some kind of a marketplace online.
- 36:53It'll be a very small charge to advertise.
- 36:55Let's say somebody had.
- 36:56Set of wheels they wanna sell for a small charge for too much time.
- 37:00They would, could be 10 bucks or 15 bucks.
- 37:02Like a, like a cla, like a classified or something.
- 37:04I remember, I remember back in the day, a staple in the DMV was the penny saver.
- 37:08I'd flip right to the back and see what cars were for sale
- 37:11and what parts were for sale.
- 37:12I mean, stuff like that doesn't exist anymore.
- 37:14And it was kind of fun.
- 37:15I mean, then.
- 37:15You know, then we had the advent of Craigslist, which is neither here
- 37:18nor there anymore, but, and Facebook marketplace and stuff like that.
- 37:22But it is difficult, like there's a lot of of junk, right?
- 37:24If you're in the business of curating this and saying, Hey, we'll accept
- 37:28that ad that's a legitimate, you know, 1970 Chevelle distributor
- 37:32or whatever, and, and you have eyes on this, then you go and say.
- 37:36You build that trust with your community, you're that trusted
- 37:38advisor now to say, Hey, we're putting in classifieds that are legit.
- 37:42These are known people, you know, whatever.
- 37:44It might be known quantities, and you can buy from them.
- 37:47They're reputable or, or, or whatever.
- 37:49So you're bringing folks together and I, I think that's a good idea actually.
- 37:53Again, like I said earlier, it could be a conduit, but I don't know if
- 37:55we're really ready for that, even though it's on the back end of the
- 37:58site and it's set up to do that.
- 37:59I think we need to get to a certain point where like there's a, a threshold.
- 38:03We, once we break that threshold, and I don't even know what that number
- 38:05is yet to actually do it right now.
- 38:08There's so much competition out there and it, it really is hard to
- 38:11compete against that kinda thing.
- 38:12I'm not really trying to compete per se.
- 38:14I want the, the people who want to, if they wanna make that investment
- 38:17of $15 or whatever it is, I certainly don't want them to get
- 38:20it to say, oh, this doesn't work.
- 38:21You know, I don't want them to look at or say, well, I tried
- 38:23advertising there and it does.
- 38:24No, you're, you can't get a hundred percent.
- 38:26There's no guarantees.
- 38:27Yeah, there's no guarantees.
- 38:28No guarantees in the world.
- 38:29But generally though, I think if we get, once we get to a certain threshold,
- 38:32that'd be something I would push more for.
- 38:34I think the blogs are, are really good to have them be
- 38:36adding to that as we go forward.
- 38:38So Rob, we talked about the website and obviously nowadays
- 38:41it's all about social media.
- 38:43So you guys are currently on Facebook.
- 38:44What are your plans to expand your social media presence?
- 38:47Okay, well, I find that what happens is with Facebook, without getting too
- 38:51political, that there's some people who are migrating away from it.
- 38:53So we've actually started a social media.
- 38:55We have a page on gat.com looking also at Reddit, which is got a pretty
- 38:59large following in the car community.
- 39:01I'm looking into other social media for this year to input ad pages too.
- 39:05Where we can share, because that way obviously you've got one specifically
- 39:09for the community, but more and more generic ones that are, that have
- 39:11a following in the car communities that are out there, I'll certainly
- 39:14wanna make sure that's there as well.
- 39:16So that's, that's gonna be something we're do this year and I invite you and
- 39:20our listeners and I wanna remind them to come visit Garage Riot, the social
- 39:24media network for car enthusiasts.
- 39:27Buy a car enthusiast, right?
- 39:28It's a great place to share your stories.
- 39:30Post pictures.
- 39:31Donovan's big thing is no kitty memes, no political rants.
- 39:34It's all fueled by petrol at the end of the day, so garage
- 39:37ride's a great source for that.
- 39:38If you're looking for a social media platform specifically for car
- 39:42enthusiasts, I'll be looking into other types of way of expanding online.
- 39:46Thing, like I said earlier, maybe having a page for the racing side would
- 39:49be good, like we do in the magazine.
- 39:50I'll be looking to you for some more help.
- 39:52So, so that was, that was my other question.
- 39:54So let's dream big, you know, where is CCG in 10 years?
- 39:57Are you thinking regional magazines, you know, Northeast,
- 40:01southeast West, things like that.
- 40:03Are you still just wanna focus on the DMV?
- 40:05Well, the thing is, it's a great area.
- 40:07I, I mean, we're looking at the, probably getting into the, to the
- 40:09panhandle in the West Virginia, the western side of, of, um, Virginia.
- 40:13Based on my limitations, the only way I could go further than that is to,
- 40:16to basically franchise this business.
- 40:18I just don't see how, in knowing how this type of thing works with
- 40:21publications, that I could get someone else in another area that would
- 40:24wanna be interested in doing this.
- 40:26And I'm doing this more of a passion, more out a passion,
- 40:29even though I'd make money at it.
- 40:30A business, obviously we have to pay for the, the cost of printing and
- 40:33the web space and everything else.
- 40:35Obviously we're trying to wanna make a living at it, but
- 40:37primarily do it because I do it.
- 40:39'cause I, I, it's all love.
- 40:40Oh, absolutely.
- 40:41I like to go, go to the events.
- 40:43I can't do 'em all, but I like to hang out with the guys and you know, I hang
- 40:47the magazine, I just can't go on hand.
- 40:48The magazines get my conversation, oh, you know, this guy in
- 40:51here and they're looking at.
- 40:52Ask me about this guy and then ask me about at our warehouse
- 40:54or classic auto mall, whatever.
- 40:56Oh, you gotta go up there.
- 40:57That's a day trip to go to classic Auto Mall.
- 40:59It's free.
- 41:00You go, you walk around.
- 41:01I mean, it's awesome.
- 41:02We gotta get you to come out to one of the track events
- 41:04and start talking about track.
- 41:05I want the track rats.
- 41:07Well, I wanna get, I got a Corvette I want, I'd like to try tracking
- 41:10the grand sport I like to take out.
- 41:11Oh, absolutely.
- 41:12You know, I'd like to get involved with that and get part of that scene as well.
- 41:15So I think in getting my own experience.
- 41:17Will help to get more of that into the book.
- 41:19People have different interests, obviously, but I'm trying to cover that.
- 41:22Ga whole gambit from showing to racing and everything in between
- 41:25could just be guys getting together.
- 41:27I meet at a restaurant, they just have, they call it bench racing.
- 41:29Absolutely.
- 41:29That's where the ultimate one hang out talk, you know, share experiences.
- 41:33Have a good time.
- 41:33That's fine too.
- 41:34It's a conversation piece.
- 41:35Really nothing else.
- 41:36So, Rob, you know, this has been really awesome.
- 41:39So I wanna give you the opportunity to do any shout outs, any promotions, anything
- 41:44else you wanna share for our listeners that are tuning in and listening to
- 41:46the story of CCG for the first time.
- 41:48Well, thank you.
- 41:49So obviously I wanna give a shout to my wife, Joanne, who's
- 41:52been very supportive of, of this whole thing, this whole venture.
- 41:55A secondly, a gentleman named Chuck McDonald, who's been like a mentor to me.
- 41:59Maybe eventually we'll connect him through to you guys.
- 42:01He is a very well known car enthusiast and collector in the DC metro area.
- 42:07Does his own weekly newsletter, and then Jack Dewar, who's a good friend of
- 42:10mine, I've known for probably 30 years.
- 42:13You know, been a car guy since I've known.
- 42:15He's the guy who helped me do some major work on my cars that I couldn't do do by
- 42:19myself, and really was very supportive of me from the beginning with this.
- 42:22It was a great concept.
- 42:23A couple of sponsors.
- 42:24Of course, I thank all the sponsors.
- 42:26Mike with Universal Muscle Cars, stored and Edge from Classic Auto Mall,
- 42:30and of course all the advertisers.
- 42:31And again, everybody who looks at this magazine and, and they go, go to our
- 42:35website and they see somebody in here.
- 42:37Please mention if you found 'em in Collect the Car Guide 'cause it really helps
- 42:40support the business and help support what we're trying to do to help the enthusiast.
- 42:43That's really the bottom line to help the enthusiast.
- 42:45And thank you enthusiast.
- 42:46Thank you very much.
- 42:47Everyone who reads this and subscribes to our newsletter, please tell all your
- 42:51friends that to come online, join our newsletter and join the club, so to speak.
- 42:54That's right.
- 42:55Hey Rob, I'm gonna give you a hot take.
- 42:56Racers love stickers.
- 42:58So if there's ever an opportunity for us to slap a CCG sticker on the many
- 43:03race cars that there are here at GTM, let us know 'cause we'll gladly do it.
- 43:06Thank you for that tip.
- 43:07In fact, uh, I dunno if it's a strict bumper sticker or.
- 43:10Something special that they're looking at, but however you want it to look, Rob,
- 43:16that's a huge tip.
- 43:17I appreciate it.
- 43:17So with that said, for all the latest in DC, Maryland, Virginia,
- 43:21and Pennsylvania, car Enthusiast news and happenings, be sure to
- 43:24check out www.collectorcarguide.net.
- 43:28Sign up for their newsletter right from the site.
- 43:31You can also check them out on social media at Collector Car Guide on Facebook.
- 43:35And don't forget that you can pick up a copy of the annual printed directory
- 43:40at one of more than 300 locations in the DMV area, including local
- 43:45shops, independent parts, retailers.
- 43:48Events.
- 43:49So Rob, this has been absolutely awesome.
- 43:51I appreciate you coming on here and sharing the CCG story, getting
- 43:54people enthusiastic about what you have to offer, how this is gonna
- 43:59become the gospel for car enthusiast.
- 44:01So again, I can't thank you enough for coming on the show.
- 44:03Absolutely.
- 44:04Love to be on the show.
- 44:05Had a good time talking to you, Eric.
- 44:06It's been kind.
- 44:07Well, we're friends already.
- 44:08I appreciate that.
- 44:08Thank you.
- 44:09Take care now you have a good evening.
- 44:10You too.
- 44:11Bye now.
- 44:16If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM, be sure to
- 44:19check us out on www.gt motorsports.org.
- 44:23You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Tour Motorsports.
- 44:27Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call
- 44:31or text us at (202) 630-1770 or send us an email at Crew chief@gtmotorsports.org.
- 44:39We'd love to hear from you.
- 44:41Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here.
- 44:43We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
- 44:46to remind you that GTM remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal
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