Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of car Stories with Kay
Speaker 1: and Amelia Hartford. Do you believe in ghosts?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Do you?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 1: That was a very confident Yes.
Speaker 3: Yes, I didn't until I spent time in Hawaii.
Speaker 1: Hawaii. Yeah, did you see a ghost?
Speaker 3: I didn't see, I felt. So I was up in
Speaker 3: North Shore working on this film and Turtle Bay Hotel.
Speaker 3: The story or the rumor is that it's built on top.
Speaker 1: Of a cemetery.
Speaker 3: Yeah, cemetery, right, so there are these ghosts like walking
Speaker 3: around the property and I was like I heard that,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, yeah, whatever, ghost come on coasts. Yeah, okay, whatever.
Speaker 3: So I go to sleep. We were shooting at Turtle Bay,
Speaker 3: so we were staying there and I was on the
Speaker 3: I think that it was like the third floor, the
Speaker 3: top floor of the hotel, right, so like there's either
Speaker 3: two or three stories, so at the top of the
Speaker 3: hotel and the view is like of the water, and
Speaker 3: you know, like when you wake up and you're just
Speaker 3: kind of still laying there so you're not asleep. Like
Speaker 3: I woke up and I'm under the covers because I
Speaker 3: heard these footsteps of like a little kid running across
Speaker 3: the room and the carpet was like you know this
Speaker 3: kind of compact carpet where you could hear It's like
Speaker 3: you could the thumb being right, yeah, the pitter patter right,
Speaker 3: And I hear this, and all of a sudden, whoever's
Speaker 3: running in the room, it hits the foot of the
Speaker 3: bed right bumps into it. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is probably one of the cast mates like playing
Speaker 3: a practical joke on me or something, or they maybe
Speaker 3: they snuck into the room. But I remember I locked
Speaker 3: the door and I was like, maybe they snuck into
Speaker 3: the balcony or something. I'm just like going through like
Speaker 3: all these scenarios in my head and I hear the
Speaker 3: pitter patter like three times, right, and then I'm like,
Speaker 3: all right, one to three nights.
Speaker 2: Wah.
Speaker 3: Like I was like a scare whoever's in the room right,
Speaker 3: and it's empty room, and I'm like, nah, this is
Speaker 3: that's so strange because I felt the bump on the
Speaker 3: bed and then I look at the balcony door was
Speaker 3: still closed, and I'm like that's odd and there's no
Speaker 3: real way that you're gonna like, you know, climb into
Speaker 3: the balcony and like get into you know, my room,
Speaker 3: and I check the door. It's like completely locked. And
Speaker 3: I was like, and I remember I was awake under
Speaker 3: the blankets, right, so it wasn't like I was dreaming, right,
Speaker 3: And I was like freaking out. Now, I'm like this
Speaker 3: is that was so strange. And then I went down
Speaker 3: to the front desk and I was like, hey, are
Speaker 3: there like rodent problems and they get through like the
Speaker 3: air conditioner men or something like, because I heard the
Speaker 3: sound of like footsteps and the and the guy behind
Speaker 3: the counter was just very nonchalant. It's like, yeah, I
Speaker 3: might be the ghosts. And I was like, yeah, like
Speaker 3: this guy whatever. So then I go to get ready.
Speaker 3: I was like in the makeup chair and our makeup artist,
Speaker 3: the head makeup artist was a witch. And a witch
Speaker 3: in Hawaii is not like bad witch that puts courses
Speaker 3: and stuff. It's like person that is able to speak to,
Speaker 3: you know, the deceased. And it's like it's more it's
Speaker 3: more of like a positive like person yeah medium, I
Speaker 3: guess in the community, right. And then I was telling her.
Speaker 3: I was like, hey, you know, you know, this is
Speaker 3: just so weird. It's like I've never experienced thing like this.
Speaker 3: And I told her the story of the footsteps and
Speaker 3: the bump, and she's like, oh, yeah, that's probably the
Speaker 3: mischievous ghost. It's like so nonchalant. It was in like
Speaker 3: what wow, wow, that's crazy, or questions like were you
Speaker 3: drunk or something. Right, it was just like, oh, that's
Speaker 3: the mischievous ghost. And I was like what does that mean.
Speaker 3: It's like, oh, you know, this is this hotel is
Speaker 3: built on top of a cemetery. And I'm like, uh huh,
Speaker 3: so there are these spirits like running around and that's
Speaker 3: probably a mischievous ghost that is in your room, and
Speaker 3: it's kind of messing with you, right, and so what
Speaker 3: you need to do? And she pulls out.
Speaker 1: Uh it never I could never keep going.
Speaker 3: This is like yeah. So she pulls out red sea
Speaker 3: salt Hawaiian Sea salt, and she's like, okay, you need
Speaker 3: to take the salt. You put it into the corners
Speaker 3: of the room. And then you say, hey, mischievous ghosts,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be here for this amount of time,
Speaker 3: like you know, please don't bother me anymore. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna like play with you because the mischievous ghost wants
Speaker 3: to come and play.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: But then I went to the room and I put
Speaker 3: the you know, the sea salt in the corners and
Speaker 3: I was like, yo, mischievous ghosts, I'm sung, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to be here for like three weeks, so you know,
Speaker 3: I don't think I want to be playing with you anymore,
Speaker 3: So don't bother me anymore. And then it never happened again.
Speaker 1: I would be so scared to stay in that hotel
Speaker 1: again after that.
Speaker 3: But she, but the witch said that this ghost is
Speaker 3: not going to come in.
Speaker 1: But I'd be worried about the other souls.
Speaker 3: But she was like, you, you're not here to do
Speaker 3: anything bad, right, Like if you were here doing something
Speaker 3: bad whatever, that and these other ghosts might come and
Speaker 3: like mess with in. She did tell me, do not
Speaker 3: take any sand or rocks from this area. Don't take
Speaker 3: it back to La with you.
Speaker 1: Don't if something gets like stuck in your shoes.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, but you know, like like people put
Speaker 3: it in a bottle, they take rocks and they go
Speaker 3: it's assuming there. She's like, don't do that. Yeah, how
Speaker 3: about you.
Speaker 1: I've I've had a lot, I've had a lot of
Speaker 1: creepy experiences that I fullheartedly believe in spirits and ghosts
Speaker 1: and all that. A lot of people think this is
Speaker 1: bs when I told them the story, but on my
Speaker 1: life it is not. When we were younger, we lived
Speaker 1: by an abandoned hospital, and what we would do for fun,
Speaker 1: you know, before phones and stuff like that, was we'd
Speaker 1: crawl into one of the windows in the very back
Speaker 1: of this abandoned hospital and we'd walk around with our
Speaker 1: flashlights because like spooky stuff would happen all the time,
Speaker 1: so we're like, oh, we're going like ghost hunting. And
Speaker 1: one time I very vividly remember we were in the
Speaker 1: the NICICU I think it's called, where you know babies
Speaker 1: who are born too early, like they have all.
Speaker 3: Of the incubator yes, thank.
Speaker 1: You that they stand. It was like one of those rooms,
Speaker 1: and there was a box of spoons, of metal spoons
Speaker 1: in like a box, a cardboard box that was sitting
Speaker 1: on the table. And we'd walk by and like you
Speaker 1: hear like a little giggling in the background or the
Speaker 1: something that's We're like, oh, we're kids, Well this is
Speaker 1: like this is crazy. We walked by the spoons and
Speaker 1: right as we're turning around the corner, we heard like
Speaker 1: a thud. The spoons fell ever around the floor, and
Speaker 1: I swear to God, every single one of those spoons
Speaker 1: had been bent in half, so they were all full,
Speaker 1: they were straight in this box before hit the ground.
Speaker 1: Every single one of them was bent in half. And
Speaker 1: it was the most it was the weirdest thing that
Speaker 1: I'd ever experienced. And that was the last time we
Speaker 1: went back to that hospital, and they ended up tearing
Speaker 1: it down a few years later. But that after that,
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, weird stuff like that. I can't
Speaker 1: say I've ever visually seen a ghost, but I've had
Speaker 1: moments that have spooked to me so badly that the
Speaker 1: slightest like I feel energy. That sounds so like cheesy
Speaker 1: to say, but when I walk in a room, you
Speaker 1: can feel the energy. And if I get a negative energy,
Speaker 1: it'll it'll it'll creep me out. Because I've had these
Speaker 1: weird experiences that have happened.
Speaker 3: I'd like to like be possessed by a ghost. I
Speaker 3: would not no, because then at least that would it
Speaker 3: would be like confirm that they're real.
Speaker 1: I think it's an energy. I don't think it's so
Speaker 1: much a being or a thing, you know.
Speaker 3: I would like to be possessed and then like live
Speaker 3: in this possessed state and have the ghost powers, like
Speaker 3: ghost powers.
Speaker 1: That's something like exorcist shit.
Speaker 3: I think, like you, I could, I could pick out
Speaker 3: like the powerball numbers. I don't think it works. No,
Speaker 3: what are these ghost rules? I mean, I want to
Speaker 3: like sit down and meet a ghost or an alien.
Speaker 1: Well, they say ghosts or spirits that haven't passed on
Speaker 1: to the afterlife and they're stuck. So yeah, I can't
Speaker 1: imagine it'd be like a very positive excep.
Speaker 3: Do you believe in aliens?
Speaker 1: I would feel dumb to not believe that there's some
Speaker 1: other living form.
Speaker 3: Out there we'll never see yet to see one.
Speaker 1: Maybe they've been here the entire time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I feel like an alien sometimes. Well, speaking
Speaker 3: of aliens, okay, and the way he you know, just
Speaker 3: so next to Guy's Mike Spagnola, right, Sege, Yeah, he's kind
Speaker 3: of like an alien. He's like anomaly. Sure, I so
Speaker 3: much enthusiasm for life and people and cars.
Speaker 1: He's the CEO of Sema show talks about having a
Speaker 1: great work life balance and also some of the incredible
Speaker 1: things that Seema's doing for this world.
Speaker 3: Quite frankly, it's something that you can really be inspired by.
Speaker 3: And today we get a seeing kind of insight on
Speaker 3: the ev argument is that the future is that the
Speaker 3: solution right, definitely, all right. Further, Ado might spec Nola
Speaker 3: for the viewers out there and the listeners. Mike is
Speaker 3: an old friend of mine. He currently is the CEO
Speaker 3: of SEMA. For you guys that don't know Sema Seema,
Speaker 3: I guess for the layman, it would be like the
Speaker 3: mecca for all car related things every year in Vegas and.
Speaker 1: The largest trade show of the world in the US
Speaker 1: for sure in the US when it comes to automotive.
Speaker 1: And you guys are also a nonprofit too, right, so
Speaker 1: you give a lot back to the community.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we really anything we make on the show,
Speaker 2: we just reinvest in the industry, into this culture of ours,
Speaker 2: into this hobby of ours, and then help our manufacturers
Speaker 2: and resellers retailers grow and prospers. Kind of what we do.
Speaker 2: So we make money on the show, we you know,
Speaker 2: we have a due structure and all of that, but
Speaker 2: literally we pour it all back into a lot of
Speaker 2: things every year, you know, everything from rege leg you know,
Speaker 2: the government stuff that we have to be involved in
Speaker 2: in education and training. And you've been to our Seema garages,
Speaker 2: you know, where we help manufacturers develop products and take
Speaker 2: them to market, and just a lot of those sort
Speaker 2: of things, scholarship programs and anything that gives back to
Speaker 2: the automotive community to help it grow and prosper and
Speaker 2: to protect this culture, this lifestyle that we all love. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, that's that's all part of it.
Speaker 1: How long have you been with CEMA for?
Speaker 2: In twenty thirteen, I sold my shares in my last
Speaker 2: company and came to Seema on a three year contract
Speaker 2: to build the SEMA Garage and this product development center
Speaker 2: because I'd spent so much of my life doing product development,
Speaker 2: working with the OEES, working with Ford, NNGM and all
Speaker 2: the others on when new vehicles come out, having all
Speaker 2: those successories ready to go for them. And so I'm
Speaker 2: eleven years into my three year contract now sitting us
Speaker 2: the president's CEO. So just to be part of this
Speaker 2: industry and it's pretty cool.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: We didn't grow up with a ton and my dad
Speaker 2: was a bartender and my mom was an opera singer.
Speaker 3: Opera singer, which is super cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love the opera, but I can
Speaker 2: remember my mom, you know, sitting on the kitchen table
Speaker 2: in the morning, counting tips that my dad would get
Speaker 2: quarters and dimes and nickels, and that's what we used
Speaker 2: to go to the grocery store, you know, buy stuff with.
Speaker 3: So and you were really into which was super cool.
Speaker 3: I think that's where we really connected dots and early on,
Speaker 3: I mean you were racing five tents. Yeah, there's like
Speaker 3: these cool pictures in his office racing like five tens.
Speaker 1: I always wanted a five tens. That's one of my
Speaker 1: I love hearing that you used to race, so.
Speaker 2: They Yeah, I was probably you know, first off, you know,
Speaker 2: I wasn't great in sports and in high school, and I,
Speaker 2: you know, wasn't the popular kid around town and all that.
Speaker 2: So I was a car guy and we were kind
Speaker 2: of the you know, the dumb model shop guys. But
Speaker 2: then on top of that, I was an import guy.
Speaker 2: Whenever else was muscle car. You know, growing up in
Speaker 2: the sixties you had to love Chabelle's and Camaros and
Speaker 2: Mustangs and Corvettes. And I don't know what it was.
Speaker 2: I just loved import cars. I had a brother in
Speaker 2: law that raced sports cars, and so that was probably
Speaker 2: part of it. We'd go out to the Riverside Raceway. But
Speaker 2: I fell in love with five tens and you know,
Speaker 2: back in Pete brock days and you know that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. So I was still even though I was
Speaker 2: an auto shop, I was still the odd guy out
Speaker 2: because I was an import cars, not the muscle car scene.
Speaker 2: But it was just part of me, you know, it
Speaker 2: was just it was just in my soul. I think
Speaker 2: from the beginning, what did you like about those cars?
Speaker 2: What drew you to those I think just it was
Speaker 2: something new and different in you know, at that point
Speaker 2: again Brock Racing and Pete Brock and John Morton and
Speaker 2: those guys watching them race.
Speaker 3: For people who don't know Pete brock Ford versus for
Speaker 3: our Pete brock actually worked on the Shelby cars, right right,
Speaker 3: and then he eventually started building dots and five tens
Speaker 3: and two forties and built for like Paul Newman.
Speaker 2: Paul Newman yet right, yeah, yeah, and so so right
Speaker 2: when I was thirteen fourteen, the two forties he came out,
Speaker 2: you know, so nineteen seventy, it was just you fell
Speaker 2: in love with it, you know, just the shape and
Speaker 2: what it was. And then a buddy of mine in
Speaker 2: high school got one. He got a brand new one,
Speaker 2: and so we would ride around on that. And then
Speaker 2: after high school, I went to work for a Dawson
Speaker 2: dealership and just as a delivery driver and sweeping floors
Speaker 2: and working in behind the counter, that sort of thing,
Speaker 2: just because I wanted to be around that and I
Speaker 2: wanted to build a race car. When I was thirteen,
Speaker 2: I had a fifty five Mercury that my grandparents gave me,
Speaker 2: and then I wasn't running. I got it running, and
Speaker 2: when I was about fourteen and a half, my dad
Speaker 2: came home early and I was driving it down the street.
Speaker 2: So that was the last time I saw it. But yeah,
Speaker 2: after high school, it was just I was just in
Speaker 2: love with Dodson's. It was just one of those things.
Speaker 2: I couldn't get enough of it.
Speaker 3: So you got to build one. You need to get.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you need to It's okay, sound a little ridiculous
Speaker 1: because it's a bit non conventional, but my dream five
Speaker 1: to ten has always been a rotary swap five to ten.
Speaker 1: And I know that's acting, yeah, yeah, I know it's
Speaker 1: asking for headaches and problems and unreliability. But I always
Speaker 1: had the dream that that's when I did a five
Speaker 1: to ten. I would do a rotary swap on one.
Speaker 1: But I just I love those cars so much, and
Speaker 1: they're kind of like the old.
Speaker 2: Two thousand and two BMW a little bit, you know,
Speaker 2: that's kind of but they were just so well handling
Speaker 2: and just just cool. I don't, I can't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's something about them, which is something about them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And actually I think before that I had a
Speaker 2: dots And roadster and then kind of thought, well, this
Speaker 2: is kind of stupid. I don't have a roof of
Speaker 2: my head trying to race these things.
Speaker 3: And the roadster is still a big part of your
Speaker 3: life and your family's life. Like when I have a
Speaker 3: template for the perfect like movie Dad, I always would
Speaker 3: think of Mike Speknolae because he has three kids. He
Speaker 3: has two sons, and he has a daughter daughter. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and the Dotson roadster is this connective tissue with him
Speaker 3: and his boys, right, because both his sons.
Speaker 2: They built roadsters.
Speaker 3: They like, they buy them, they flip them, they do
Speaker 3: resto mods like basically a resurrect any roadster and then
Speaker 3: they can flip it and make good money, right, and.
Speaker 2: The problems we hang on to them, Yeah, it's my problem.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I've sold one car in my lifetime.
Speaker 2: And it's first world problems. But I've got cars that
Speaker 2: should be in the garage that are sitting in the
Speaker 2: driveway because there's no room for him. Right. But I've
Speaker 2: been blessed. I got three amazing kids, and my daughters
Speaker 2: will stay at home mom, school teacher. But all the
Speaker 2: kids are into the car scene. Both my boys are
Speaker 2: as you know, they're both in the industry and so
Speaker 2: and it's kept us all closed. It's kept us out
Speaker 2: of trouble.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: We do a lot of off road racing together and
Speaker 2: track days together. And now I've got four grandkids a
Speaker 2: fifth one on the way, and they're into it. So
Speaker 2: we're you know, we were out at Johnson Valley a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, King of the Hammers and took
Speaker 2: some side by sites out and dirt bikes and quads
Speaker 2: and the whole family is just we went camping for
Speaker 2: a few days and just tore it up out in
Speaker 2: the desert.
Speaker 1: I see why you admire him. I see it. How
Speaker 1: do you find that work life balance?
Speaker 2: You know what I remind myself all of the time.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm at a stage in my life where again,
Speaker 2: this job's it can be twelve hours a day if
Speaker 2: you let it be, it can be five, six, seven
Speaker 2: days a week. But I remind myself to spend time
Speaker 2: with the family. Got a really good team at work.
Speaker 2: We've been building that team up to a point where
Speaker 2: you know, there's still fifty hour weeks, but they're not
Speaker 2: sixty hour weeks.
Speaker 1: Is there something you would tell yourself younger, you looking
Speaker 1: back knowing that this was obviously a career path, but
Speaker 1: also the time and energy that goes into a work first.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess, you know, if you want to reach
Speaker 2: for things, you got to work at it, you know.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I missed a few baseball games, which you know,
Speaker 2: like you know that haunts be probably still a little bit.
Speaker 2: But we still had a great time. We still love
Speaker 2: each other and have a good time. And you know,
Speaker 2: we're Italian, so we get together for big family dinners and.
Speaker 3: He makes the mean sauce. He has this like family sauces,
Speaker 3: like your sauce. Yeah, and he gives it out. It's
Speaker 3: like a present, It's like real Italian stuff.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so I try to you know, I think
Speaker 2: that's it. I think you just continue to work at
Speaker 2: it and continue to find that balance and find time
Speaker 2: to laugh and have a good time and you know
Speaker 2: those sort of things.
Speaker 1: Be present in the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, be present in the moment for sure. And again
Speaker 2: I've been working on even at the office now, working
Speaker 2: on the team to you know, finding that balance between
Speaker 2: honoring the Hall of Fame guys, but also being relevant
Speaker 2: to the next generation and understanding what what the next
Speaker 2: generation likes in cars, right. It's not your dad's alsmail, right.
Speaker 2: So that's what we're really working hard on right now,
Speaker 2: so that this industry and this again, this passion, this
Speaker 2: thing that we all love continues on.
Speaker 3: What do you feel like has been the drastic change
Speaker 3: from that generation the Chip fous Is and the Attle
Speaker 3: Bronx today.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, again, I think it's the you know,
Speaker 2: obviously the tuner market is hot and great right now,
Speaker 2: and understanding how they go to market. They don't go
Speaker 2: in the traditional distribution market. The old market was manufacturer
Speaker 2: sell it to a warehouse. Warehouse sells at the parts stores,
Speaker 2: part sales sell it to retail. A lot of that
Speaker 2: chain's been moved out and it's direct to consumer, social media,
Speaker 2: it's it's different ways of branding and advertising, and not
Speaker 2: necessarily branding and advertising and magazines now it's it's a
Speaker 2: whole different way of going to market and making sure
Speaker 2: that they understand that well, a lot of the stuff
Speaker 2: is cool. There are laws that we have to kind
Speaker 2: of play by. You there's submissions laws, and you know,
Speaker 2: the government would just assume a lot of times not
Speaker 2: to get again too political, but the government, you know,
Speaker 2: would rather we're all driving you know, plain white vanilla evs,
Speaker 2: and so protecting that part of the industry is really
Speaker 2: really critical.
Speaker 3: And that's a big push for SEMO. I mean, I
Speaker 3: think that's something that people don't really understand. SEMA is
Speaker 3: like heavily like part of legislation, yeah, and lobbying for like,
Speaker 3: you know, resisting certain type of changes and stuff with
Speaker 3: the EPA. Right, can we speak on that, like you
Speaker 3: were sharing out in the hallway about this push to
Speaker 3: make everything EV and maybe that's not necessarily that great,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we we're saying is EV should be
Speaker 2: part of our future, but it shouldn't be the only answer.
Speaker 2: I mean, there is a lot of work being done
Speaker 2: in hydrogen and synthetic fuels and biofuels. You know, the
Speaker 2: internal combustion engine and ice engine is not bad. It's
Speaker 2: what you put in it. You know, they could be bad.
Speaker 2: So we're all for cleaner air, we're all for making
Speaker 2: sure that the environment is safe. But for the government
Speaker 2: to put their thumb on the scale and say it's
Speaker 2: ev and ev only. We're resisting that the infrastructure for
Speaker 2: charging stations and recycle and all that stuff is going
Speaker 2: to take some time. And so we're big proponents in
Speaker 2: the direction of saying, hey, government, let all technology continue
Speaker 2: to evolve. Let's not pick one winner. Let's make sure
Speaker 2: that we're looking at all the future technologies and fuels
Speaker 2: and all those sort of things. Let alone what it
Speaker 2: can do to the economy. I mean, if we were
Speaker 2: to just shut off gas parwred vehicles, you know twenty
Speaker 2: twenty six, thirty three percent of the vehicles in California.
Speaker 2: They want to make evs that we've done some research
Speaker 2: on that. It would cost our industry about sixty seven
Speaker 2: billion dollars a year. Sixty seven seven billion, yeah, billion.
Speaker 1: And what's the response been When you have these conversations, you.
Speaker 2: Know, typically they get it. I mean, we work with
Speaker 2: both sides of the aisle, and some are kind of
Speaker 2: hell bent on saying, you know, we're you know, we're
Speaker 2: marching forward and we're doing this EV deal. But you're
Speaker 2: now starting to see some pushback even from consumers. EV's
Speaker 2: were selling like crazy. Now there's about one hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty days of inventory on the floors of these dealerships,
Speaker 2: and now you're seeing you know, BMW has come out
Speaker 2: now and said they're working on hydrogen. Toyota's been hybrid
Speaker 2: for a while. They were the first guys to step up,
Speaker 2: and they really got criticized for that. But you can
Speaker 2: build ten hybrids for every EV just with the minerals
Speaker 2: and the batteries it takes. And hybrids are getting fifty
Speaker 2: sixty miles to the gallon. I mean, that's not a
Speaker 2: bad deal, right, and let alone the price of it.
Speaker 3: So do you think it is inevitable that cars, new
Speaker 3: cars eventually will all end up as EV.
Speaker 2: Do you feel that? Gut? No, no, no, And again
Speaker 2: I think, I mean, we're running internal combustion engines on
Speaker 2: hydrogen now, so you know, I think that's one of
Speaker 2: the answers. Let alone, you know, for what we love, right,
Speaker 2: the noise in the yeah, the driveability and the you know,
Speaker 2: all of that. So I think it's a long run.
Speaker 2: I think it's a really long run. And I think
Speaker 2: you're going to see a lot of technologies evolve. Porsche
Speaker 2: and Shell Oil and some of these others are putting
Speaker 2: you know, tens of millions of dollars into synthetic fuels,
Speaker 2: in renewable fuels, and I think that's I think that's
Speaker 2: really where it's going to end.
Speaker 3: Up, renewable fuels. Interesting. You don't have a ev at.
Speaker 1: Do you. I don't. I'd be happy to have one.
Speaker 1: I feel I believe in balance, and I feel like
Speaker 1: there's you know, times when an EVY absolutely makes sense,
Speaker 1: and I'm pro ev don't get me wrong, But I
Speaker 1: also think you have to keep the passion alive in
Speaker 1: whatever that looks like. For me, I love working on cars,
Speaker 1: and you know, I love tearing apart of motor and
Speaker 1: I hope I have the opportunity to do that forever.
Speaker 1: And I wish people at home, I hope everyone gets
Speaker 1: a chance to experience that, because it really is something special.
Speaker 1: But for those who you know, really just need something
Speaker 1: for a to B, needs a commuter and really doesn't
Speaker 1: care about the visual feeling of maybe in ice engine
Speaker 1: that was redundant. Sorry, but I then think an EV
Speaker 1: makes makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no again, I agree. It's part of the solution,
Speaker 2: it's not the only solution.
Speaker 3: Right, that's a great answer.
Speaker 1: What do you think? What's your thoughts on EV?
Speaker 3: You know, I was so against EV all EV's I
Speaker 3: was like, I don't like any of it. There's nothing,
Speaker 3: you know, like I can't connect with the cars. And
Speaker 3: then I drove thish N series Hyundai. Yeah, right in Korea.
Speaker 3: I drove it for like a week and then I
Speaker 3: took it on the track and then I got in
Speaker 3: there drift version of it, and it has fake sound.
Speaker 3: It's like six hundred plus horsepower, and everything in the
Speaker 3: car is what a car enthusiast like, we'll freak out about,
Speaker 3: Like from the seats to the steering wall to the
Speaker 3: cup holder was like the coolest couple holder everything. Because
Speaker 3: they were like the engineers were like designers were like,
Speaker 3: is there a criticism you have of the car? Go, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know there's no cup holders in this thing. And
Speaker 3: they're like, oh, we know you like cup holders. They're like,
Speaker 3: press this button. All of a sudden, it's like they
Speaker 3: got a star Trek. It's like they're like wow, They're like,
Speaker 3: what about the rest of them? I go, no, this
Speaker 3: cup holder is like the cool couple in my life.
Speaker 2: I forgot about this.
Speaker 3: But and then has the sound. It's like from what
Speaker 3: from what they was saying, it's like there's these subwiffers
Speaker 3: in the backseat and there's like you know, natural aspirated
Speaker 3: mode and it just start. The car starts to rumble. Wow,
Speaker 3: and then it's like backfires because you know, you can
Speaker 3: put it in manual mode and you downship and it's
Speaker 3: like and then.
Speaker 4: People outside they're like, wait, hey, whoa, this is the
Speaker 4: EV this is noise all And then you can turn
Speaker 4: it off and it's quiet.
Speaker 3: It's just the EV car. You can just be like invisible.
Speaker 3: But then we're like, you know rolling by, like you know,
Speaker 3: this museum and these like you know, older folks were
Speaker 3: out there and I was like, that's down shifting.
Speaker 2: It's like.
Speaker 3: It was so cool and you can drift this car.
Speaker 3: And I was like, well this and then in Seriah
Speaker 3: is like an F one, Like it's like I got
Speaker 3: an F one like race car. The whole thing is
Speaker 3: it's just it's the most like it's just Evie or not.
Speaker 3: I go, this is just an amazing looking car driving car.
Speaker 3: It sounds amazing, right, and then like the price point
Speaker 3: is like awesome, and I was like this is all
Speaker 3: ev I was like shocked, and so it was like converted,
Speaker 3: like it was like I crossed the line and even
Speaker 3: you know, and my character is notorious for poo pooing
Speaker 3: on Hyundai's right like in Tokyo Drift. I'm like, you
Speaker 3: think I'm gonna drive it day? And I give you
Speaker 3: keys to.
Speaker 4: Right, and I converted. I was like, no, honey, makes
Speaker 4: some good stuff. I mean, come on, like the N series,
Speaker 4: that's right. I drove that N seventy four like concept car. Right,
Speaker 4: that's all the hydrogen car, and that's awesome.
Speaker 3: It's awesome. But you know a lot of parts are
Speaker 3: like three D printed and it's like it's a concept car, right,
Speaker 3: But this Ionic five and Looknay pays me nothing, like
Speaker 3: I have no relationship with them. But if ev cars
Speaker 3: become this like oh my god, where because as a
Speaker 3: car enthusier, go, this is giving me everything I want? Right,
Speaker 3: and that couple them.
Speaker 2: But again, it is going to evolve you know, Borlers
Speaker 2: come out with a Borler who makes great exhaust systems,
Speaker 2: has come out with a software package for all those
Speaker 2: sounds that you can plug into an EV and it's
Speaker 2: got F one, it's got all those different sounds. It's
Speaker 2: got a v E.
Speaker 1: Sound and it's fascinating. I didn't even think about an
Speaker 1: exhaust company how they would adapt in the future when
Speaker 1: it comes to a vehicle that does not have an
Speaker 1: exhaust system. What a way to adapt?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you'll see, you know again, the industry's going
Speaker 2: to continue to move and transform. The speech I did yesterday,
Speaker 2: I quoted an article and the article said, does the
Speaker 2: aftermarket have five more years? And it talked about government
Speaker 2: intervention and what they allow us to continue to do
Speaker 2: the things we do. It talked about the complexity of
Speaker 2: vehicles and you're going to be able to continue to
Speaker 2: modify them because of all the computer systems and all
Speaker 2: the things in these vehicles. And it talked about next
Speaker 2: gen maybe not being interested in cars and looking at
Speaker 2: other things. And then I held up the article. It
Speaker 2: was from nineteen seventy one. So our industry continues to
Speaker 2: find ways to be relevant to that here.
Speaker 1: Right, because my fault question was going to be from
Speaker 1: your level, how do you see the younger generation's involvement
Speaker 1: in modern automotive.
Speaker 2: So you know a few things. If you think about
Speaker 2: let's just take even the new forward lightning truck, It's
Speaker 2: still a truck, so you can still lift it. Your
Speaker 2: can still be bigger, entires, wheels, you can still put
Speaker 2: all the bid accessories, you can still go over landing
Speaker 2: and camping. So we'll adapt, I mean, there'll be things
Speaker 2: that will we adapt to. The other kind of niche
Speaker 2: market that's starting to happen, of course, is the conversion. Right,
Speaker 2: so guy's taking a sixty nine Camaro in Porsche, Yeah, Porsche,
Speaker 2: any of those sort of things where and then you
Speaker 2: know that's evolving. It was that you had to find
Speaker 2: a wreck Tesla and pull all the guts out of
Speaker 2: it and put it into whatever your rest a modding.
Speaker 2: But now we had it seene of the share over
Speaker 2: fifty manufacturers of battery packs and motors and controllers and
Speaker 2: all those sorts of things. So that market is going
Speaker 2: to continue to evolve. So I think the younger tech
Speaker 2: generation is going to convert older vehicles into ev and
Speaker 2: just all that conversion. I mean, you and I worked
Speaker 2: on a maverick. Yeah, and I thought he was crazy.
Speaker 2: He was like, I was like, we're you know, we're
Speaker 2: going to put a V eight, We're going to put
Speaker 2: a five to zero in it. And You're like, no,
Speaker 2: we're not. And you know, we said we're going to
Speaker 2: put an EcoBoost mode two point three ecoboos ecaboos mode yeah,
Speaker 2: into a into a seventy one to two Maverick. But
Speaker 2: but that was a you know, we did that vehicle.
Speaker 2: We pulled the it was a six cylinder. It was
Speaker 2: we put it on the dino. I think it was
Speaker 2: seventy six horse power at the rear wheels and seventy six.
Speaker 1: You guys built this for SEMA Garage, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: We built it with some student Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It was it was like an auction car to be
Speaker 3: able to include young high school students on a build. Yeah,
Speaker 3: right at the right.
Speaker 2: And we had put it on the dinal and we
Speaker 2: put it in our missions lab at the Seema Garage
Speaker 2: and then we pulled that motor. We put the Yukaboost
Speaker 2: motor in it and uh, it was about two eighty
Speaker 2: two ninety at the rear wheels and it was seventy
Speaker 2: times cleaner.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say better emotions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, than the original motor. And then that car went
Speaker 2: to SEEMA and actually won the Ford Design Award and
Speaker 2: edsel Ford presented the kids with the awards. I mean,
Speaker 2: that was.
Speaker 1: Probably my That's amazing.
Speaker 2: That was probably one of the highlights of it was Career.
Speaker 3: He came up to us and he's like, we love
Speaker 3: the Maverick. Are you the Maverick?
Speaker 2: He's a guy.
Speaker 3: It's still underdog, underappreciated for it, I've been saying.
Speaker 2: And you know, one of the cool things also we
Speaker 2: did with the kids. It was these students. We used
Speaker 2: to see a machine, a scanner, so we scanned all
Speaker 2: the engine bay and then we scanned the engine, and
Speaker 2: then we showed them in CAD how the engine would
Speaker 2: fit into the engine bay. And then we even three
Speaker 2: D printed the motor. But we did it all on
Speaker 2: CAD and it fit to a t when it was
Speaker 2: all done. So it's amazing where technology's gone. You know,
Speaker 2: we used to break our knuckles and try fitting things
Speaker 2: that didn't fit, and cut and shave, and when you
Speaker 2: just think it can't get any better, it continues to
Speaker 2: just get better. I mean, the builds that happened today
Speaker 2: are just incredible. I mean, the ingenuity and the engineering
Speaker 2: and the and it's fun to just watch, you know,
Speaker 2: a younger generation light up and talk about the sorts
Speaker 2: of things fashion.
Speaker 1: I had the pleasure of judging one of the young
Speaker 1: guns a few years ago, and it was to see
Speaker 1: these builds. It's absolutely mind blowing and so fascinating of
Speaker 1: what people are able to do at such a young age.
Speaker 3: I mean, because this argument that you know, car culture
Speaker 3: is dying, it's dwindling away, but then you go to Sema, right,
Speaker 3: and every year it's like, you know, pop seats itself. Right,
Speaker 3: It's like because for car folks it's like the Mecca.
Speaker 3: Like people from you know, the Middle East and you know,
Speaker 3: like you know, from Dubai. They're like, you know, one day,
Speaker 3: my friend, my dream is to go to the Sema.
Speaker 2: Over one hundred countries show up.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I always thought it was the biggest in the world,
Speaker 1: and to me it forever will be.
Speaker 2: So we're growing. The industry still grows a few billion
Speaker 2: dollars every single year. Obviously the fast and furiy s
Speaker 2: fastized kind of fueled some of that.
Speaker 3: You know, well, speaking of we have a we have
Speaker 3: a connection with Fast and Feary.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, prior to Team Mike had a bodykit company that
Speaker 3: supplied the body kits.
Speaker 2: To the the other very first one fun Yea, which
Speaker 2: of course we did the Supra, we did the Mitsubishi
Speaker 2: so and at that time, the running storyline was that it
Speaker 2: was called Redline. I think was going to be it's
Speaker 2: going to be the name of the movie. I actually
Speaker 2: remember this, and we we gave out some of these
Speaker 2: bodykits and I kind of forgot about the whole thing.
Speaker 2: You know. It was a year later the movie came out.
Speaker 2: It was like, Hey, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: It's amazing, Like the six degrees of separation.
Speaker 2: People have with that friend continues on.
Speaker 3: H When you hang out in the car community, you
Speaker 3: realize like, oh, they are very successful people that never
Speaker 3: went to college and the like appreciation to work with
Speaker 3: your hands right and today I wonder if you know
Speaker 3: that skill set is something that this current generation they
Speaker 3: don't value.
Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, I'm a big proponent of trade schools,
Speaker 2: I really am. And four year college isn't for everybody,
Speaker 2: and in fact, it really frustrates me to see young
Speaker 2: kids go through college and be in debt for over
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand dollars, one hundred and twenty hundred and thirty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars and come out with a degree that they
Speaker 2: really can't use towards, you know, towards their life, towards
Speaker 2: their skills. And you know, I run into it all
Speaker 2: the time, where they're in just debt forever, paying back
Speaker 2: five six hundred and seven hundred dollars a month for
Speaker 2: fifteen years, twenty years. It's really a shame. And you know, Sung,
Speaker 2: you and I have gone to high schools and talked
Speaker 2: about this because really it's not even the students, it's
Speaker 2: the parents. The parents are so focused on my kid
Speaker 2: is going to go to a four year college, but
Speaker 2: they don't always come out with skills that they can
Speaker 2: use that they're going to move forward with in a
Speaker 2: trade And so I'm a big proponent of you know,
Speaker 2: if you can get through a four year college, great,
Speaker 2: and if you can use those skills to better your career, great.
Speaker 2: But trade schools are alive and well. In the automotive industry.
Speaker 2: We're always going to need carpenters, we're always going to
Speaker 2: need plumber, We're always going to need electricians. We're always
Speaker 2: going to need auto technicians, and especially as this thing
Speaker 2: does move towards eve great great need. I was talking
Speaker 2: to Roger Penske a couple of years ago, and between
Speaker 2: all this car dealerships and all the other things, they
Speaker 2: were looking for twenty thousand technicians over the next few years.
Speaker 2: And so I mean, you can come out of Uti
Speaker 2: or some of these schools now and you're starting at
Speaker 2: a eighty thousand, ninety thousand a year.
Speaker 3: So people don't know this, right, So you get a
Speaker 3: job at BMW or you know, Porsche, it's like sixty
Speaker 3: five to eighty five thousand starting, yeah, with benefits.
Speaker 2: Right, that's not bad, No, it's not bad. Yeah, But
Speaker 2: you know, like anything in life, you have to hustle. Right.
Speaker 2: If people think they're going to come into anything and
Speaker 2: be eight to five and do other things, you can
Speaker 2: make a career, but you're not going to excel at it.
Speaker 3: What characteristics about these individuals stand out?
Speaker 2: I think it's anything in business, right, having tenacity, having
Speaker 2: to put in the time and the effort, failing, getting up,
Speaker 2: picking yourself back up, doing it again, failing picking yourself
Speaker 2: back up, doing it again, doing what you have to
Speaker 2: do to make it, you know, whether that's living at
Speaker 2: home and putting the time and the effort in and
Speaker 2: understanding the car culture and understand the products needed. It's
Speaker 2: the you know, mother and invention. Right, It's anything you
Speaker 2: see something break and you think you can build it better.
Speaker 2: That's what keeps our industry going, just being unique and different.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to be the same as the
Speaker 2: other guy. I want to I want to have something
Speaker 2: different on my mod that you know makes me stand out.
Speaker 2: It's it's expression to who you are, right, It's it's
Speaker 2: really a canvas that shows who you are are in
Speaker 2: what makes you so yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, And here's here's a question for myself. The thing
Speaker 3: that really is always really stood out with you is
Speaker 3: your relationship with your wife, Like how do you keep
Speaker 3: marriage and the friendship like it's always fresh. I never
Speaker 3: feel like you know when you when you too, like
Speaker 3: are still like the energy is like high school sweetheart,
Speaker 3: smiling as you talk, like it's it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: you made some couples and you're like, yo, man, they're
Speaker 3: like you know, they're they're on their last thread, right,
Speaker 3: They're like they're just tolerating each other. Where I never
Speaker 3: feel that with you two, and for people that are
Speaker 3: going through this right, like the relationship kind of stalemate.
Speaker 3: I guess like, you know, what, how do you keep
Speaker 3: refresh yet?
Speaker 1: And how long have you guys been together for.
Speaker 2: Forty one years?
Speaker 1: What do you want?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, you know, look at you have to work
Speaker 2: at it, right, you have to continue to work at it.
Speaker 2: You have to have good communication. We take time to
Speaker 2: go out, we still date. You know, we are Christian people,
Speaker 2: so I think that plays into it as well, that
Speaker 2: we have that commitment to each other. And so I
Speaker 2: try to include her a little more in even my
Speaker 2: business travels. And you got to work at it, you know,
Speaker 2: you have to just continue to work at it and
Speaker 2: remind each other as to you know, what we're doing
Speaker 2: and while we're here and all that.
Speaker 3: So when she gets she gets on you for like
Speaker 3: working too much and everything at home, what's your response?
Speaker 2: You know, confession, This is part of that work life balance.
Speaker 2: I've never taken two full weeks off of vacation, Like
Speaker 2: I'll take a week at a time or three days
Speaker 2: at a time. Forty So we're going to Europe. We're
Speaker 2: going to go to Italy. This summer and I'm taking
Speaker 2: two full weeks off so you'll enjoy this. We were
Speaker 2: at the dinner table with the kids and grandkids and
Speaker 2: we total, we're going to Italy this summer. You know.
Speaker 2: The kids said, well, what dates? And I said, well,
Speaker 2: I end up August to second week September. And Andrews
Speaker 2: stands up, my oldest son and goes, huh, dad, when's
Speaker 2: Manza the Formula wonder is? Isn't that the first? Because
Speaker 2: I stirred at him, like the Depth store, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm going to kill you right now, you know. And
Speaker 2: that was a big deal because wait, we're going to
Speaker 2: Italy because you want to go to the Formula one race.
Speaker 2: I said, no, no, no, no, no, you know we
Speaker 2: might show up there. The fire factory might be on
Speaker 2: our way. So we've had kind of this running joke.
Speaker 2: So probably, like you guys, anywhere you go, you end
Speaker 2: up finding car people, right, you end up finding that deal.
Speaker 2: And so many times in my life we'll go to
Speaker 2: something that has nothing to do with cars and we
Speaker 2: find the car guys and like Dianad just shake her head.
Speaker 3: Do you share like everything with her? Like work stressed?
Speaker 3: Do you bring that home?
Speaker 1: I imagine if you guys have been together for forty
Speaker 1: one years, you tell each other at everything. Am I right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, except if I buy a car that I didn't
Speaker 2: tell her about her.
Speaker 3: No, really, he has a lot of there's a lot
Speaker 3: of those.
Speaker 2: No I did. I did have one that I was
Speaker 2: actually on a trailer and I was looking at an.
Speaker 1: Aston Martin and your thumb slipped.
Speaker 2: She knew I kind of wanted one, but I didn't
Speaker 2: tell her. I was looking for one, and and I
Speaker 2: was kind of bidding on it, and I thought I'll
Speaker 2: throw in one last bid because it was it was
Speaker 2: below market, and all of a sudden I bought it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh crap. I got to go
Speaker 2: home and tell her.
Speaker 1: But you told her you didn't wait for the car
Speaker 1: to show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, no, But I told her. She was
Speaker 2: fine with it. She was like, you always wanted that car,
Speaker 2: Go for it. You know, you deserve it. You know
Speaker 2: those sort of things.
Speaker 1: So, uh, that's a communication where she knew you you
Speaker 1: love the car, she knew you always wanted one, you
Speaker 1: were honest and open with her about having purchased it.
Speaker 1: So there still is that communication that you guys are
Speaker 1: constantly having amongst one another, which is so important. I think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you and I saw the when the Z was
Speaker 2: at Sema show a couple of years ago, and I
Speaker 2: went over to look at it, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I gotta have I got to have this new, the
Speaker 2: new Z. And she was good with it. I mean,
Speaker 2: she understood the heritage with me with thoughts and and
Speaker 2: nissans and and of course you know, she likes her
Speaker 2: shopping as well, so we try to make sure that
Speaker 2: balance happens.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you go shopping with her?
Speaker 2: I do you do? I do? Yeah?
Speaker 1: All go sound so surprised.
Speaker 3: That's pretty for forty one years, Like that's something that
Speaker 3: I it's hard for me to do now. I used
Speaker 3: to try to do that, like you know, go and
Speaker 3: just carry the bags, right, But then, God, I hate shopping.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't get out like you.
Speaker 2: If I need clothes, yeah, I'll walk in. I'm in
Speaker 2: there ten minutes. I don't even look at the price.
Speaker 2: I buy what I need them out right.
Speaker 3: When you travel, do you do the laundry at the hotel?
Speaker 2: I do? I spend the money?
Speaker 3: You spend the money?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Wow, Because now you're a baller you're the CEO. I
Speaker 3: got that kind of money. But don't you feel guilty
Speaker 3: spending the urn of money?
Speaker 2: Right? I went to the Super Bowl and everything was ridiculous.
Speaker 2: We went downstairs to the hotel to have bread and
Speaker 2: it was sold out. The lady said, well, there's a
Speaker 2: you can do a buffet across the other side of
Speaker 2: the hotel. So we walked over to the other side
Speaker 2: of the hotel. One hundred and fifteen dollars a person
Speaker 2: for breakfast a buffet a buffet. Wow, well, even be
Speaker 2: proud of me. We got our jackets and we walked
Speaker 2: over to Denny's, got nine ninety five breakfast.
Speaker 3: Right, I can't spend that kind of line.
Speaker 2: It was ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's too much. Yeah, I mean Denny's is good food.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good food. Why you're still full at the
Speaker 2: end of the yeah?
Speaker 3: Right, I think that. I think Denny's has one of
Speaker 3: the best chicken fried sticks in the world. Yeah, you
Speaker 3: know what that is?
Speaker 1: A chicken fried stick? An idea you had that never
Speaker 1: eaten one.
Speaker 3: Now, there's no chicken in it.
Speaker 1: It's just a fried stick.
Speaker 3: Right, It's a hamburger meat.
Speaker 2: Right. You can tell you's from the South. Yeah, gravy.
Speaker 3: Maybe it's just the humble beginnings or like not growing
Speaker 3: up with like money, even if it's expense or I
Speaker 3: could like write it off. I can't spend that kind
Speaker 3: of money on dry cleaning underwear. I just can't do it.
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 2: That's where I draw the line. I'm okay, Yeah, you're okay.
Speaker 2: There's something you gotta have good toilet paper. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: gotta have clean underwear. Yeah, you gotta have good syrup, syrup,
Speaker 2: syrup for your pancakes cakes. Yeah, okay. So there's a
Speaker 2: few things I'll splurgeh.
Speaker 3: On, but those are Yeah, that's that's fair.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the syrup. I like the syrup. The syrup.
Speaker 3: You gotta have principles in life, That's right.
Speaker 2: There's some things that's just you know, you spend the
Speaker 2: dollars on. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, thanks Mike, Yeah, thank you. This was just wonderful
Speaker 3: to sit down with you and you.
Speaker 2: Guys as well. Honored to be here and honored to
Speaker 2: be a guest.
Speaker 1: And we should give credit and credits due. You jumped
Speaker 1: straight from a flight from lax Rove straight here and
Speaker 1: now you're onto another job, and we really appreciate you
Speaker 1: taking the time well, thank you and
Speaker 2: Again thanks for the invite anytime