Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: I'm Hannah Elliott and I'm Matt Miller.
Speaker 3: This is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2: Coming up on today's podcast, We've got John Tamrion on
Speaker 2: with us live from Miami. He is the founder of
Speaker 2: Curated Vintage Supercars. If you don't know now, you know,
Speaker 2: but you probably already knew about John because if you've
Speaker 2: been around Kontasha's Diablos, whatever, something from that era, it's
Speaker 2: been I actually.
Speaker 3: I actually didn't.
Speaker 4: I didn't know until you told me that we were
Speaker 4: going to get him on the show. I tend to
Speaker 4: be closer to sixties muscle cars and pickup trucks, but
Speaker 4: my first love was for these nineteen eighties, nineteen nineties,
Speaker 4: two thousand supercars, so it's been a great journey to
Speaker 4: learn more about him. I also want to talk about,
Speaker 4: just quickly, a new supercar that you've driven, the Ferrari.
Speaker 4: I'm not even gonna attempt to pronounce twelve cylinder, however
Speaker 4: they say it in Italian.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's a test.
Speaker 4: It's polarizing in its design. I like it because it's
Speaker 4: clearly a callback to the date three Sex five Daytona,
Speaker 4: which is one of my favorite Ferraris. But I can
Speaker 4: see why people think it's a little bit too tech.
Speaker 2: Note I can't see. I can't see why anyone wouldn't
Speaker 2: instantly fall in love. I actually cannot relate to that
Speaker 2: at all. But go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 4: Well, now they've added an option that will take it
Speaker 4: over the top if you thought it was too maybe
Speaker 4: too high tech to begin with. And that is a
Speaker 4: manual transmission. Oh wait, that sounds like a great idea.
Speaker 4: That sounds like a throwback and nod to the Ferraris
Speaker 4: of old. The reason that we fell in love with
Speaker 4: this brand. This is the first place.
Speaker 2: Again they've always wanted sure exactly six speed with the
Speaker 2: gated With the gated six.
Speaker 4: Speed, it's a two hundred thousand dollars option, by the way,
Speaker 4: so on top of the price of the car, it's
Speaker 4: next to two hundred thousand.
Speaker 2: And it comes with the third pedals. They should also say,
Speaker 2: sorry not to Yes, there is a third pedals, not
Speaker 2: just the shift right.
Speaker 4: You have to depress the clutch in order to change.
Speaker 2: Yes, And in this day and age, I don't think
Speaker 2: you can assume that.
Speaker 3: That's the interesting thing.
Speaker 4: They've put it on it's really a software solution on
Speaker 4: a dual clutch transmission, So it's an essentially an automatic
Speaker 4: gearbox or the kind that you can shift with paddles normally,
Speaker 4: but they've put a software solution on top of it
Speaker 4: that allows a clutch pedal with electronic sensors to you know,
Speaker 4: lift and close the clutch, and that allows a stick
Speaker 4: shift with electronic sensors to tell the car which gear
Speaker 4: to go into, although I'm not one hundred percent clear
Speaker 4: that it will always go into the gear that you
Speaker 4: wanted to because it's a DCT, so it can't go
Speaker 4: from fourth to second, it has to go through third right.
Speaker 2: Right now, My understanding is, first of all, like you say,
Speaker 2: this is not a mechanical thing at all, so you're
Speaker 2: not actually you're not actually doing anything mechanical. But it
Speaker 2: is still possible to stall the car. It is still
Speaker 2: possible when engaging this six speed transmission. You can't still
Speaker 2: stall it, but it also will prevent you from blowing
Speaker 2: the engine. Basically interesting.
Speaker 4: I knee jerk reaction initially was like, Oh, this is stupid,
Speaker 4: so much tech. Why I go to all that trouble
Speaker 4: when they could have built such a beautiful mechanical thing.
Speaker 3: But the truth is we all are already driving by wire, right.
Speaker 4: You're accelerator on most new cars also not mechanically connected
Speaker 4: to the motor.
Speaker 3: The steering isn't, you know on.
Speaker 4: A portion nine to eleven uh, mechanically connected to the wheels.
Speaker 3: So you know, why not clutch by wire?
Speaker 4: That makes sense to me, And I also get why
Speaker 4: you would want to save some rich guy who probably
Speaker 4: hasn't driven a stick shift in a while from blowing
Speaker 4: his million dollar motor.
Speaker 3: There clearly are.
Speaker 4: Benefits to what they've done, and it makes sense in
Speaker 4: you know, the progression of technology.
Speaker 3: But something about it just it's not authentic, right.
Speaker 4: It's like, oh, why make real leather when we can
Speaker 4: do a plastic.
Speaker 3: It is, yes, like leather.
Speaker 2: No, it's yes, it's not a mechanical transmission. It's something different.
Speaker 2: We should say. I feel like we should at least
Speaker 2: give a nod to Koenigsegg, who has already been doing
Speaker 2: It's not the same technology, but it's the same idea,
Speaker 2: which is the combined automatic and optional manual kone exeg.
Speaker 2: We got to give credit to Christian because he has
Speaker 2: done this and people seem to like it. Right in
Speaker 2: the coney.
Speaker 4: Or blame him right, Well, I mean the Coon exeg
Speaker 4: is a different kind of thing than a Ferrari, right.
Speaker 5: That's a super high tech, turbo charged you know, on
Speaker 5: the edge of and I guess that's what Ferrari wants
Speaker 5: to be as well, on the avant garde edge of
Speaker 5: technology and performance.
Speaker 4: But for me, Ferraris are the two point fifty, you know,
Speaker 4: or the Daytona or the threeh eight. So for me,
Speaker 4: I would want an analog experience. But I guess if
Speaker 4: they're going to be winning F one races again and
Speaker 4: they're going to be on the forefront of technology, they
Speaker 4: want to stay.
Speaker 3: Moving forward rather than going back.
Speaker 2: Do you feel that Ferrari coming out with this manual
Speaker 2: and we'll give give them, we'll give them credit, we'll
Speaker 2: give them the benefit of the doubt, will actually say
Speaker 2: to me, this feels like Ferrari saying, we understand this
Speaker 2: is what our customers want and we're doing our best
Speaker 2: to give it to you. It's not it's not the
Speaker 2: old thing, but this is a new thing. But maybe
Speaker 2: you'll like I'll take Ferrari with a grain of salt
Speaker 2: and give the for them that does this make up
Speaker 2: for the Luce, Like does a manual on the one
Speaker 2: side make up for Is this the token gift that
Speaker 2: makes up for the mistake.
Speaker 4: Doesn't make up for the the Apple Car, I think,
Speaker 4: And and to me that the Luce, it makes me
Speaker 4: more skeptical of everything else, like I already was a
Speaker 4: little bit concerned when you know, Chris Harris pointed out
Speaker 4: they have a supercomputer on every corner of the what
Speaker 4: do they call their suv the.
Speaker 3: Puro saying persong whatever.
Speaker 4: Essentially it's like a bunch of giant like thousands of
Speaker 4: computers in that right, I mean, how many microchips do
Speaker 4: they need? Then they put out the Apple Car, which
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know that I want to be
Speaker 4: seen driving around in that, although I think the interior
Speaker 4: is beautiful and I'm sure it's an amazing car to
Speaker 4: drive around in.
Speaker 3: And now they do this, which.
Speaker 4: I want to I want to give them the benefit
Speaker 4: of the doubt because when I did interview, when I
Speaker 4: have interviewed the CEO, he's been on this podcast, he
Speaker 4: does he is passionate about cars and motorsport, and he
Speaker 4: does want to serve his clients, you know, and he
Speaker 4: has a clear mission to bring Ferrari forward. So I
Speaker 4: understand all that, but then why mimic this old manual transmission.
Speaker 4: I feel like either maybe on the one hand, either
Speaker 4: do it like bring us a mechanical manual transmission, or
Speaker 4: don't or move forward with your paddles right. On the
Speaker 4: other hand, I think it's pretty cool to offer this option.
Speaker 4: It's a little ridiculous that it costs two hundred thousand extra,
Speaker 4: but to offer this option to people so they can
Speaker 4: have the experience, and it's cool that they've gone to
Speaker 4: all this trouble. Apparently they make the clutch it actually
Speaker 4: doesn't feel you feel the engagement. You know, the same
Speaker 4: is true with a stick, So they make it feel
Speaker 4: like operating a six speed transmission. And at the same
Speaker 4: time you can switch back. You know, if you're a
Speaker 4: supercar manual transmission fan and you're driving it that way,
Speaker 4: but your husband only knows how to drive an autobox,
Speaker 4: when he gets in the driver's seat, you know can yeah,
Speaker 4: he can drive a normal DCT. It's kind of cool
Speaker 4: that they offer you by the worlds.
Speaker 2: I actually think maybe the bigger takeaway for me is
Speaker 2: that it is fascinating people are buying it. And we
Speaker 2: have to assume they are indeed buying this. Probably we
Speaker 2: should we meaning me, should do a little bit more
Speaker 2: stronger asking Yeah, I mean it's a bit early. But
Speaker 2: the assumption is the implication is this is something Ferrari
Speaker 2: has identified in the market that it's buyers, its customers
Speaker 2: will buy. That is very interesting that in theory there
Speaker 2: are enough people who will pay that much more to
Speaker 2: have this thing in their car, which actually makes it
Speaker 2: more complicated to drive. That is very interesting. And what
Speaker 2: does that say about car culture right now? I think
Speaker 2: what it says is people are more desperate than ever
Speaker 2: to feel something when they drive.
Speaker 3: You know, it's I mean, just like a watch, right,
Speaker 3: you want complications.
Speaker 4: So people who are spending six hundred seven hundred, eight
Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollars on a car, they want the complications.
Speaker 3: And it is a uh.
Speaker 4: An oddity, a curiosity. Certainly, if you have a collection,
Speaker 4: you're like, oh, I want that to have. I want
Speaker 4: the manuale or however they pronounce it, and I'll spend
Speaker 4: the extra two hundred thousand because money means nothing to me.
Speaker 4: On the other hand, if you were a watch collector
Speaker 4: and someone said to you, listen I've got a court's watch,
Speaker 4: so it has the precision and the reliability that you
Speaker 4: expect from a court's movement, but I make it act like.
Speaker 2: And automatic is a second on purpose.
Speaker 4: Every year there's a course watch, but you have to
Speaker 4: wind it up.
Speaker 3: Stop working.
Speaker 2: It's a good one.
Speaker 3: Actually, I mean, why what have we come to?
Speaker 2: I know, well again, I think it's ridiculous. It's people
Speaker 2: are desperate to feel anything. That's what we've come to
Speaker 2: because so muchless people good.
Speaker 3: Just I don't you know.
Speaker 4: I think I understand wanting to serve the customer and
Speaker 4: also the business case. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: as Kevin Tynan says, the CEO wants to make money.
Speaker 2: Like, yes, they're not the Red CROSSBS doesn't matter, it's
Speaker 2: not the car Red Cross.
Speaker 4: They're not making a brown station wagon with a manual transmission.
Speaker 4: And but why wouldn't they Why wouldn't Ferrari say, look,
Speaker 4: instead of making fourteen hundred and ninety nine it'll be
Speaker 4: limited to fourteen hundred and ninety nine examples of the
Speaker 4: of the twelve cylinder with this option, why don't we
Speaker 4: just make fifteen hundred analog cars.
Speaker 3: We go all the way.
Speaker 2: Back like, uh, it's way more expensive, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you can charge whatever you want.
Speaker 4: We're in a world where everyone's a billionaire, right, so
Speaker 4: they can ask I mean, if they can already ask
Speaker 4: two hundred thousand extra for a fake manual option, I
Speaker 4: think they can charge whatever they want for a Ferrari
Speaker 4: analoga or however you say that in Italian.
Speaker 2: Right, we're gonna call it that the analoga.
Speaker 4: You can say, Hey, this has a hydraulic is his steering,
Speaker 4: It's got an actual wire connecting your gas pedal to
Speaker 4: the throttle bodies. We can make it with the carburetors,
Speaker 4: you know, like why not go all the way back?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fair point. It's a fair point. Let's
Speaker 2: ask him.
Speaker 4: Let's ask him even even for six like make they
Speaker 4: should They should have put that out at the same
Speaker 4: time as the luch Like here, we know this is
Speaker 4: and horrendously ugly and you'll only buy it to get
Speaker 4: the million dollar supercar.
Speaker 3: At the same time, here's the million dollar supercar.
Speaker 2: Give us the yin and the yang. We should table
Speaker 2: that for now because I do want to talk to
Speaker 2: John Tamaran about his thoughts on why these cars, and
Speaker 2: I have a feeling he's going to strongly agree with
Speaker 2: our take about why these these types of cars are
Speaker 2: so compelling. So, John, we're so happy to have you.
Speaker 2: John Tamaran from We are Curated in Miami, Florida, the one,
Speaker 2: the only, and I think probably our listeners will know
Speaker 2: we are Curated and probably be familiar with your work.
Speaker 2: But I want to hear more about how you got
Speaker 2: into this business because I know that you've been in
Speaker 2: Miami for a long time. You've been in the car
Speaker 2: world for a long time. You were you had actually
Speaker 2: a great rental car business, I believe before this, you know,
Speaker 2: and also your grandfather has been in cars, so you
Speaker 2: really have quite a long history. Can you just tell
Speaker 2: us how you arrived at like what looks to all
Speaker 2: of us like the most fun job ever.
Speaker 1: Thank you?
Speaker 6: What an introduction, So thank you and thank you for
Speaker 6: the kind words. Yeah, I mean really, you know, and
Speaker 6: I say this all the time. Curated is an extension
Speaker 6: of my DNA. It's a labor of love.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: My grandfather immigrated to the US from from France in
Speaker 6: nineteen fifty seven and he started, you know, working at
Speaker 6: a little gas station in Springfield, Massachusetts, and that job
Speaker 6: ended up. He saved, he saved a ton of money
Speaker 6: and ended up buying this little warehouse and turned it
Speaker 6: into a place called Medical Center Garage. And in the
Speaker 6: nineteen sixties he was buying and servicing and fixing and
Speaker 6: repairing a lot of the cars in that region, and
Speaker 6: just so happened. You know, the Ferrari distributor, Luigi Connetti
Speaker 6: was not far away. So a lot of the great
Speaker 6: old pictures show everything from a.
Speaker 1: Two fifty gto to a two fifty.
Speaker 6: Short wheelbase and Jaguar E types and rolls, Royces and
Speaker 6: then you know, like like many I would say, you know,
Speaker 6: immigrant parents, Uh, you know, my grandfather wanted my dad
Speaker 6: to be a doctor.
Speaker 2: A stockbroker, something respectable, get out of car.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 6: And my father, at thirteen or fourteen, rebuilt an E
Speaker 6: type engine and my grandfather was so impressed, but he
Speaker 6: still was pushing him into another direction. And then you
Speaker 6: know they probably had some very tough words, and they
Speaker 6: fought for many years. But at eighteen years old, my
Speaker 6: dad officially took over his service facility. And that's really
Speaker 6: where my dad's love of Lamborghini began.
Speaker 1: Imagine, his first car was a Mura. It was an
Speaker 1: old act that he fixed up.
Speaker 6: He drove it, he drove it to high school and
Speaker 6: and was.
Speaker 2: He still in Massachusetts or was that Miami at that point?
Speaker 6: Okay, now Springfield, Springfield, Massachusetts, and became you know, my
Speaker 6: father became obsessed with the Lamborghini brand from an early
Speaker 6: age and was buying and selling Miuras, fixing them up,
Speaker 6: and you know, and really that's sort of where I
Speaker 6: would say my story began in a way, because in
Speaker 6: nineteen seventy two, at the New York Auto Show, my
Speaker 6: dad took all of his savings, everything he had, everything,
Speaker 6: he worked for numerous cars, and traded everything for a
Speaker 6: mir SV that was sitting on the New York Auto
Speaker 6: Show stand.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and he still has that car today. Amazing.
Speaker 1: He put it away.
Speaker 6: And I grew up fast forward in the nineteen eighties,
Speaker 6: my dad had an incredible mechanic shop the same name,
Speaker 6: Medical Center Garage in Palm Beach, Florida.
Speaker 1: So I grew up working weekends.
Speaker 6: I grew up working summers sweeping the floor, cleaning cars.
Speaker 6: And then eventually my dad taught me, you know, how
Speaker 6: to be a technician myself. So I had this really
Speaker 6: incredible blessing of You know, my dad's a very tough guy.
Speaker 6: I love him to death, but he's very OCD and
Speaker 6: he's a detailed guy. So imagine, you know, while other
Speaker 6: kids were playing soccer or baseball, my dad was like
Speaker 6: showing me the details that you know, how i'm your
Speaker 6: sv is original, or how a kuntash you know, these
Speaker 6: are the bolts that are correct, or this is the
Speaker 6: correct zinc coding, and I, you know, it's it's funny
Speaker 6: because I didn't realize until much later on my life
Speaker 6: how much knowledge I had learned from let's call it
Speaker 6: eight years old to eighteen.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 6: And you know, at eighteen I moved out. I wanted
Speaker 6: nothing to do with cars.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, all of this education at
Speaker 2: that point.
Speaker 1: I hated it. I hated it.
Speaker 6: And there's there's a there's a there's a funny there's
Speaker 6: a funny twist. Because I wanted to go into you know,
Speaker 6: the real estate world, marketing world.
Speaker 1: I went off. I was promoting nightclubs.
Speaker 6: And what was funny was that everyone I ran into
Speaker 6: and the only way I was able to relate to
Speaker 6: people was this weird knowledge of cars, and people were very,
Speaker 6: very impressed and what really the way my career then
Speaker 6: took off was I walked into Barkley's International real Estate
Speaker 6: for a job and they mentioned to me, you know,
Speaker 6: we weren't hiring, but you know, if you want to
Speaker 6: do marketing, you can learn from us.
Speaker 1: And I was like, great, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 6: And in the first meeting I was there, Robert Weiner,
Speaker 6: the founder of Barclay's Realty, which at the time was
Speaker 6: probably the largest real estate company upon Beach, told me, Hey,
Speaker 6: what's a great way give me an idea of how
Speaker 6: to pre qualify people to go see a thirty to
Speaker 6: fifty million dollar home. And I literally said, you know, here,
Speaker 6: I am eighteen years old. I'm like, oh, supercar owners, Like,
Speaker 6: if you just got together supercar owners like you, could,
Speaker 6: you know, bring them to a house, you organize a
Speaker 6: car event and toada and he was like, well, who
Speaker 6: do you know? And what's funny is I was I
Speaker 6: had this incredible memory. I'm not the smartest guy in
Speaker 6: the world. I'm not the most talented guy, but I
Speaker 6: have a very good memory for real weird details.
Speaker 2: Socially very smart too, Yes and.
Speaker 6: And thank you, and he go I go, oh, yeah,
Speaker 6: I know Mark Musa and Ralph Mueller.
Speaker 1: They live in Palm Beach.
Speaker 6: Mark has an F fifty, Ralph has an F forty
Speaker 6: and F fifty, and he just goes you know them,
Speaker 6: I go, yeah, very well, my dad works on their cars.
Speaker 6: So he ended up, you know, ended up giving me
Speaker 6: a house to use and I hosted a crazy car
Speaker 6: event and it ended up becoming you know, it put
Speaker 6: me on the map at eighteen in Palm Beach, and
Speaker 6: then and then for years I hosted car events. I
Speaker 6: had a rental car company, but I kept falling into
Speaker 6: sort of failure. I honestly, I really struggled as a
Speaker 6: young guy. You know, I might have had you know,
Speaker 6: public succes, but I didn't have, you know, any real
Speaker 6: financial success. And I wasn't really happy. And there's a
Speaker 6: you know, there's an interesting word. And when you think
Speaker 6: about it, the word nostalgia, it's really hard to describe,
Speaker 6: you know, it's really hard to describe.
Speaker 1: The feeling you get.
Speaker 6: And I don't know if it's a feeling of warmth,
Speaker 6: you know, love, whatever it is. But every time I
Speaker 6: encountered a kuntash An F forty or Diablo, there was
Speaker 6: this special feeling. I'd get goosebumps on my arm and
Speaker 6: I would just felt like I was home again. And
Speaker 6: it was probably because some of or most of my
Speaker 6: memories as a kid were in the passenger seat of
Speaker 6: these cars or working on these cars. And you know,
Speaker 6: it was at that moment where I realized, Okay, there's
Speaker 6: something special here. No one really appreciated a generation of
Speaker 6: cars twelve years ago, thirteen years ago, and it ran
Speaker 6: about like, man, I wish someone would, would, you know,
Speaker 6: really show how these cars are arc and I wish
Speaker 6: someone would really bring these.
Speaker 1: Cars to another level.
Speaker 6: And at the time, I mean listen, Lamborghini's were considered ostentatious,
Speaker 6: old playboy cars. They were considered you sucky, tacky, you know,
Speaker 6: in so many ways. And I was very fortunate. I
Speaker 6: I my rental car company was really struggling, and I
Speaker 6: met an incredible mentor, Alan Lozowski of Las Parking, who
Speaker 6: came in and just started mentoring me business acumen and
Speaker 6: you know, doing the right thing and taking care of
Speaker 6: people and and and at the time, my GM of
Speaker 6: the rental car business, Jeordie Riquart, who's now my business
Speaker 6: partner and uh A co founder of curated. We got
Speaker 6: together and he's like, hey, listen, I'm gonna go out
Speaker 6: to friends and family and raise money and if you
Speaker 6: believe in this, you know, we'll buy one car at
Speaker 6: a time. And we started with you know, one black
Speaker 6: Countash and sold that and then did another car in
Speaker 6: another car.
Speaker 1: And it's been this insane dream.
Speaker 6: Because I would tell you, like, you know, if you
Speaker 6: told me twelve years ago that I'd be standing in
Speaker 6: a showroom of you know, forty to fifty you know,
Speaker 6: super cars, and you know, to date, I think we've
Speaker 6: sold nine hundred and twenty seven cars and they're you know,
Speaker 6: their their f fifties, and en.
Speaker 2: Zone aren't that many of these cars anyway, So that's correct,
Speaker 2: big percentage.
Speaker 1: Of I would have never imagined it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think it's really been just this culmination
Speaker 6: of doing the right thing, believing in what you know,
Speaker 6: you know, finding a niche and just listen, I've put
Speaker 6: my heart into this business, and you know, we've we've
Speaker 6: always had this mentality of like, hey, let's do the
Speaker 6: right thing first, let's not think about money. You know,
Speaker 6: people people told me I was crazy. I mean, they said,
Speaker 6: you're these aren't classic cars you know, how how do
Speaker 6: you name a company called curated you know, you know,
Speaker 6: dealing in cuntashes?
Speaker 1: What are you doing?
Speaker 6: This is not art and it's listen, it's I've it's
Speaker 6: been this incredible journey and that's uh, that's where we
Speaker 6: are today.
Speaker 2: Well, you really saw the future. You were you you
Speaker 2: saw where it was going. And yeah, maybe they weren't
Speaker 2: quote unquote classics fifteen years ago, but they certainly are now.
Speaker 2: Had the right time completely. Yes, and the other thing too, Yes,
Speaker 2: I mean it's such an it's you. You really you know,
Speaker 2: I've known you and I have read interviews with you,
Speaker 2: and you really do consistently your message is focusing on
Speaker 2: being honest, doing the right thing, having ethics, which, especially
Speaker 2: in the world of rental cars, super cars, used cars
Speaker 2: in general, it sounds simple, but it is. That's how
Speaker 2: you make a distinction.
Speaker 1: I think, you know what I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: look at and thank you for saying that.
Speaker 6: I look at you know, and I think I feel
Speaker 6: like I you know, we have this insight and we
Speaker 6: have our ear to a lot of clients from around
Speaker 6: the world, and I would say what makes this business
Speaker 6: special is we're truly delivering dreams. You know, these cars
Speaker 6: were objects of aspiration and they still are today, you know,
Speaker 6: and some young kids somewhere today hopefully will say one day,
Speaker 6: I hope I own X car. And I can't tell
Speaker 6: you how many of our clients first saw Kuntash, first
Speaker 6: saw Ferrari, they had the poster, and that's why they
Speaker 6: ended up becoming who they are today, whether it's starting
Speaker 6: a business, whether it's you know, going becoming a doctor,
Speaker 6: whether you know, there was this driving force from the
Speaker 6: automotive world, and now that they've you know, acquired wealth, they've.
Speaker 1: Worked very hard. Man. That experience is really magical.
Speaker 6: And I can't tell you how many times I've delivered
Speaker 6: a where someone broke out in tears and they're like,
Speaker 6: this is this is the you know, summary of forty
Speaker 6: years of work or twenty years of heart, you know,
Speaker 6: whatever it may be. And I think, I think if
Speaker 6: we don't, we have such a big responsibility to deliver
Speaker 6: on that We're not just delivering a car. It's way
Speaker 6: more than that. And and I listen, I take up.
Speaker 6: I take it as a big responsibility.
Speaker 1: Honestly I do.
Speaker 6: It sounds a little crazy, but you know, like woo wooh,
Speaker 6: but we really do and and listen, I I you know,
Speaker 6: we have a dream counter, and we make sure the
Speaker 6: whole team is connected to that and they understand the
Speaker 6: importance of like, you know, every person coming in, even
Speaker 6: if it's a kid that's coming in is first time
Speaker 6: seeing a car. Let's make sure they feel special because
Speaker 6: this is way more than just a car.
Speaker 4: Okay, I mean, I say for those of us in
Speaker 4: my age group, right like I remember, uh when my
Speaker 4: when we got the road and track that had the
Speaker 4: Diablo on the cover, or I remember when we had
Speaker 4: when we were all excited about the F forty and
Speaker 4: somebody was like, dude, I heard there's an F fifty
Speaker 4: coming exactly.
Speaker 3: That's that's when we were.
Speaker 4: That's when I was like coming of age. I remember
Speaker 4: like caring about the Callaway Corvette, like there.
Speaker 3: Are we're not cars, you know.
Speaker 4: Yes, And and right now is the time that I
Speaker 4: think people of my age who've been working, you know,
Speaker 4: hard and saving money for a long time can finally
Speaker 4: afford you know, these things. So I guess there'll be
Speaker 4: another generation in ten years that likes something ten years
Speaker 4: old old or ten years newer.
Speaker 6: I guess, right, yes, yes, And I think I call
Speaker 6: that the video game generation. I don't even think the
Speaker 6: world realizes yet the impact that video games have had
Speaker 6: on a younger generation. You know, when I was a kid,
Speaker 6: no no one knew what these cars were. And you know,
Speaker 6: today we have hundreds of kids that come into our
Speaker 6: showroom and they're like, they're like telling me, oh, there's
Speaker 6: only eighty Diablo GT's in the world, because that's what
Speaker 6: it's said on Grand Turismo. You know, like wow, like
Speaker 6: it's it's wild. And listen, there was eighty million users
Speaker 6: of Grand Turismo. And you know, I think the connection
Speaker 6: to cars, the passion in cars, is so important today.
Speaker 6: You know, you have these events and I listen, I
Speaker 6: know everyone complains about the spotters during Monterey Car Week
Speaker 6: and that in the thousands of kids that arrive.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it can be.
Speaker 6: Annoying, Okay, it could be maybe dangerous in some cases,
Speaker 6: but like we also have to open our eyes and say, okay,
Speaker 6: we got to continue to support this because there is
Speaker 6: a massive audience that's in love with these cars, that's
Speaker 6: passionate and listen, maybe they make a living out of it,
Speaker 6: maybe it inspires them to dream bigger, But I think
Speaker 6: it's an exciting moment. And uh, but but yeah, I
Speaker 6: think this next generation is the video game generation. You're
Speaker 6: gonna see, you know, anything that was hot in a
Speaker 6: video game, you know, let's call it, you know, five
Speaker 6: to fifteen years ago.
Speaker 1: I think that's the future.
Speaker 2: You know, we're in July, we're all thinking already about
Speaker 2: Monterey and Pebble Beach concorp. And I know there's a
Speaker 2: lot of talk about how does the concor stay relevant?
Speaker 2: You know, the concourse known for old pre war cars
Speaker 2: and things from the fifties and forties and sixties. Maybe,
Speaker 2: but really there is an implication that in order to
Speaker 2: stay relevant it may need to have some of this
Speaker 2: type of car on the field. Do you have any
Speaker 2: ideas or opinions about that? You know, people say both things.
Speaker 2: Yeahari do tell Yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean I think literally, look, you know, to me,
Speaker 6: at the end of the day, the Pebble Beach Concourse
Speaker 6: is the most important automotive event in the world, I
Speaker 6: think obviously with the shift of now the new president,
Speaker 6: mister Vince Finaldi.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, he's he's a nice guy.
Speaker 6: You know, he's an amazing guy. He loves cars. He's
Speaker 6: a car nut, you know, he's got big shoes to fill. Obviously,
Speaker 6: Martin and Sandra have done it in an amazing job.
Speaker 6: But I think we're going to see a shift. And
Speaker 6: I think, you know, I you know, I don't know
Speaker 6: all of Vince in the organization's plans, but I think
Speaker 6: they they understand and they get that there is a
Speaker 6: young generation that they've got to tap into. And I
Speaker 6: think we are going to see the introduction of supercars
Speaker 6: at Pebble Beach.
Speaker 1: I think we're going to see this shift.
Speaker 6: And I listen, I know, you know, Vince has owned
Speaker 6: some incredible cars himself, and I know, like years ago
Speaker 6: he owned a Manuel LP six forty Lamborghini, you know,
Speaker 6: so like he's he's part of the next generation.
Speaker 1: He's legit. So I think we will see it.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, obviously, you have to give credit
Speaker 6: to what what has already been built, and you want
Speaker 6: to honor.
Speaker 1: You still want to.
Speaker 6: Honor the cars pre war cars, and the cars are
Speaker 6: the fifties and sixties. But I think, listen, if if,
Speaker 6: if they want to see that event continue to grow
Speaker 6: and impact people, we've got to see a supercar class.
Speaker 6: We've got to see more of these wedge shaped car classes,
Speaker 6: prototype classes, you know, even the racing class. There was
Speaker 6: an incredible class of GT one race cars two years
Speaker 6: ago and listen, it brought out so many young people.
Speaker 6: You had the McLaren F one LM you know, like
Speaker 6: and that, and that is the key. And I don't
Speaker 6: think anyone's rejecting it today. I think they're all thinking, well,
Speaker 6: how do we do this because it's it's.
Speaker 1: Coming or it's here. So and listen, you.
Speaker 6: Have to you have to look at Villadeste. They have
Speaker 6: a supercar class. Now you have to look at everyone else.
Speaker 6: I mean, everyone else is doing it and that is
Speaker 6: the focus. I mean even the Quail this year is
Speaker 6: a Diablo and an F forty class, So yeah, I
Speaker 6: mean that tells you right there.
Speaker 2: And I think we're going to have some miras for
Speaker 2: the sixty eighth anniversary of Mira. I think there's going
Speaker 2: to be what like sixty mirrors.
Speaker 1: Uh, that's the goal.
Speaker 6: I've the rumor is they already have forty cars, which
Speaker 6: is amazing, insane that will be a world record, but
Speaker 6: but the goal is sixty mirrors.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, it's it's huge.
Speaker 4: I want to go back and just ask quickly about
Speaker 4: the business part of your story.
Speaker 3: Because we got.
Speaker 4: An email, Hannah on the podcast from a kid who's
Speaker 4: a sixteen year old detailer in Utah and he like
Speaker 4: has visions of becoming you. You know, he wants to
Speaker 4: get to a place where he can basically become a
Speaker 4: supercar dealer. Would you what would you tell that kid?
Speaker 4: You know, I mean, what would you say? Because you
Speaker 4: had many businesses that, as you said, were like public successes,
Speaker 4: like the wealthy people in the world coming over to
Speaker 4: your house, but they weren't financial successes.
Speaker 3: So what what should he do?
Speaker 6: I mean, listen, when I look back on my life now,
Speaker 6: I will say, you know, you know it's it has
Speaker 6: not been an overnight success.
Speaker 1: I'm forty one, I started.
Speaker 6: At eighteen, and I if you had to ask me
Speaker 6: for the best advice in the world, it would You've
Speaker 6: got to learn grit or you've got to have grit,
Speaker 6: because you know, life.
Speaker 1: Is not easy.
Speaker 6: It's not and anybody that you know, part of the
Speaker 6: thing that I hate about Instagram is we show everything
Speaker 6: that's great and everything that's wonderful, but life is going
Speaker 6: to throw curveballs and obstacles and it's not necessarily you know,
Speaker 6: what what is thrown at you. It's how you get
Speaker 6: back up and put yourself in a mindset of always
Speaker 6: getting back up.
Speaker 1: And that's the greatest gift that I've.
Speaker 6: Learned, is that you know when you immediately are looking
Speaker 6: at every obstacle as Okay, this is this is supposed
Speaker 6: to happen, this is part of the journey, and I'm
Speaker 6: going to solve this as quick as possible. You're You're
Speaker 6: immediately going to get into a state of just you know, constant,
Speaker 6: you know, moving forward in progression. There is no there
Speaker 6: is no easy way, there is no you know, you know,
Speaker 6: and I don't care what background you come from. I
Speaker 6: don't even believe in you know, there's no silver spoon either.
Speaker 1: You know, if you want.
Speaker 6: To build something that's that's special and worthy, it is
Speaker 6: going to take work. And you know, I would say
Speaker 6: it's it's it's a combination of faith, believing in yourself,
Speaker 6: believing in your vision, hard work, and then listen, when
Speaker 6: the opportunity comes, you have to strike. I've seen, you know,
Speaker 6: I can't tell you how many times or I've known
Speaker 6: there's an opportunity in front of me, and sometimes listen, it's.
Speaker 1: Fear that holds you back, but you know.
Speaker 6: It's it's faith and hard work, and when the right
Speaker 6: opportunity presents itself, you've.
Speaker 1: You've got to go.
Speaker 6: And I think, you know, people are so afraid sometimes
Speaker 6: of making phone calls asking for help, you know, And
Speaker 6: that's something that I was terrible at at a young age.
Speaker 6: And now I've learned. Listen, if I want to do something,
Speaker 6: I just pick up the phone. I asked, why not,
Speaker 6: you know, like, don't be afraid to ask or say, hey,
Speaker 6: you know I need advice, or hey, would you do this?
Speaker 6: Would you help me with this? Can we collaborate on this?
Speaker 6: Because you never know? And I would say, also, I think, listen,
Speaker 6: one of the things that I did years ago that
Speaker 6: really taught me, I mean the rental car business. You know,
Speaker 6: looking back, everything had to happen.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: I went to art school as a kid. I was
Speaker 6: supposed to be a trained pianist. It didn't work out.
Speaker 6: I wasn't you know, I wasn't that good. But it
Speaker 6: I went into a communications class and in high school
Speaker 6: and it taught me, you know, so much about public
Speaker 6: speaking and all these different things.
Speaker 1: Today I use that a lot.
Speaker 6: Okay, I didn't know at nineteen years old if I
Speaker 6: would ever use public speaking, you know, and today I
Speaker 6: use it a lot. And I'm not saying I'm the
Speaker 6: best at it, but I at least learned as much
Speaker 6: as I could at that age. Then with my rental
Speaker 6: car business, I learned about the power of a brand
Speaker 6: and building a brand, you know, my personal brand and
Speaker 6: building that and you know, the use of social media.
Speaker 6: So you know, the rental car business taught me the
Speaker 6: use of social media and how priceless it was, you know,
Speaker 6: and using that in the early days when we first
Speaker 6: started with Curated, you know, no classic car dealers were
Speaker 6: using Instagram or social media, so you know, that was
Speaker 6: something that I learned from the rental car business. So
Speaker 6: it's I think it's a sum of your life and
Speaker 6: all of these things have to happen, uh and and
Speaker 6: and every day is growing and every day is learning.
Speaker 1: And by the.
Speaker 4: Way, what what what What I hear you saying though,
Speaker 4: is to be bold, to be I mean, to continue
Speaker 4: to get back up, and then also to take advantages
Speaker 4: of opportunities when you see them. And it make me
Speaker 4: think of the word temerity, which is.
Speaker 3: Kind of funny.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't know what Ta Marian comes from.
Speaker 4: I've been thinking they named the Lamborghini after you, but
Speaker 4: now maybe.
Speaker 3: It's the deeper thing than that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so good.
Speaker 1: Wow, I never even thought of that. It's so funny.
Speaker 2: That's really smart.
Speaker 4: Matt, dude, what do you think about the singerization of
Speaker 4: all of these cars? Like I think the Diablo is
Speaker 4: the second one that I popped under my radar, the Eccentrica.
Speaker 4: But now you have the Evoluto of the F three
Speaker 4: fifty five, and you have there's a five point fifty
Speaker 4: one as well, the low or whatever. Like every single
Speaker 4: one of the cars that you have on your showroom
Speaker 4: floor is now somebody's trying to rest a mood them
Speaker 4: in a in a corporate kind of way.
Speaker 6: I you know, So we have a small I don't
Speaker 6: even call her a restaurmant. We have a small restoration
Speaker 6: project ourself. We're taking five original Diabolo GTRs so of
Speaker 6: the thirty and we've road registered them. They will have
Speaker 6: an AC system, they'll have roll down windows, and they
Speaker 6: will be restored at the highest levels in Italy with
Speaker 6: you know, Alcantara, beautiful Alcantara materials, whatever, color you want.
Speaker 6: Part of the reason that we did that, honestly, was
Speaker 6: not to make money. It was maybe a little bit
Speaker 6: of a statement in the resto mod world, and for
Speaker 6: me it was okay. The idea of a restaurmant is
Speaker 6: taking something that that may not be usable or may
Speaker 6: not be comfortable, and then modifying it so it's more
Speaker 6: usable to a collector today that maybe loved a sixties
Speaker 6: nine to eleven, but you can't drive it every day.
Speaker 6: And I think that's the beauty of what Singer's done
Speaker 6: is they've taken something that might not be the most
Speaker 6: usable or fast, and it made it fast and something.
Speaker 1: You could daily drive.
Speaker 6: My argument, I'm not trying to start a war, but
Speaker 6: my argument to some of the other restor mod brands
Speaker 6: is that listen, some of the cars are already intrinsically good,
Speaker 6: you know, like you know, I think there are you know,
Speaker 6: a five point fifty Marinello is already an incredible car.
Speaker 6: I love what Porsche's doing with their recommission with the
Speaker 6: Career GTS. I love what Bugattia is doing with the
Speaker 6: recommission of the Veyron. My concern always is when you're
Speaker 6: modifying something that's rare, or you're modifying something you know,
Speaker 6: you know overdoing it.
Speaker 1: Does it really need it and does it require it?
Speaker 6: I think if someone and there are rumors that there
Speaker 6: will be a Lamborghini LM zero zero to resto mod.
Speaker 2: That would make sense. That makes sense.
Speaker 1: That is a not a great drive.
Speaker 6: It's the coolest looking car ever made, and they're not
Speaker 6: that usable. So you know, if you take that and
Speaker 6: make it usable, make it reliable, Okay, That to me
Speaker 6: embodies the idea of arrest of mind.
Speaker 4: If you're gonna try and daily some old Lambeau or
Speaker 4: old Ferrari, it's thank god somebody has put an air
Speaker 4: conditioner in it, you know. Or yes, if I if
Speaker 4: I was gonna go out and buy like a Ferrari
Speaker 4: three sixty, I'd have to pay one hundred grand more
Speaker 4: to get one with three pedals. I hope somebody just
Speaker 4: put out an easy conversion kit for me.
Speaker 2: I'll play Devil's advocate. Though, at what point do you
Speaker 2: lose the magic of the original, Because I think that's
Speaker 2: you do end up losing the charm. Charm is not
Speaker 2: about being flawless. Charm is about personality and a story
Speaker 2: that is sort of unadulterated John, you nailed.
Speaker 1: It, listen.
Speaker 6: And that's why say, like a five point fifty Marinello
Speaker 6: is already as good.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's not a it's not like driving a brand
Speaker 1: new Ferrari.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 6: It has all the charm of an old car and
Speaker 6: all the modern you know, accessories of a new car.
Speaker 6: So like, I don't understand that as a restomod project,
Speaker 6: there are cars that you know, I don't understand. I
Speaker 6: don't know today, and I'll tell you in Miami if
Speaker 6: I would want to be stuck in traffic in a
Speaker 6: you know, seventy nine to nine thirty Turbo in Miami. Now,
Speaker 6: if I lived in northern California, it'd be a different animal.
Speaker 1: But you know I could if I had the money.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 6: But if I had the money for a Singer Turbo study,
Speaker 6: that's what I would daily drive. Enough charm and enough style. Great,
Speaker 6: But I agree with you one hundred percent. You don't
Speaker 6: want to lose the essence of the car and the
Speaker 6: whole point of it. I just don't like when things
Speaker 6: get too busy, and I think that's where to me visually,
Speaker 6: some of the restaurmands do bother me.
Speaker 2: The cars already a lot, you know, intrinsically, any of
Speaker 2: these cars are already a lot. You don't, I agree.
Speaker 2: I don't think you need to add add on. It's
Speaker 2: already screaming.
Speaker 4: There are things like you know, on the five point
Speaker 4: fifty that has a cam belt right that wears out
Speaker 4: of three to five years.
Speaker 1: If you already could.
Speaker 4: Figure it outw to replace that with a chain or something,
Speaker 4: you're good, that might be a good idea.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 6: That's why I said, Okay, with Diablo gencr Let's put
Speaker 6: a c let's put roll down windows, Let's do all
Speaker 6: the things, you know, let's put a front lift, Let's
Speaker 6: do all the things to make it usable. You know,
Speaker 6: it doesn't need an extra spoiler, it doesn't need more events,
Speaker 6: you know. You know, so I think it's it has
Speaker 6: to be function is first, and I think that's that
Speaker 6: should be the goal of the rest of MOD, where
Speaker 6: let's respect the designers and engineers, and maybe the goal
Speaker 6: of the rest of MOD is just you know, bringing
Speaker 6: the timeline in terms of.
Speaker 1: Technical a little forward. So if you know, somebody missed that, Okay,
Speaker 1: we should have made a change driven or ah, wow,
Speaker 1: we should have done this this way. Well, we're applying
Speaker 1: modern science and technology to the car, but I don't
Speaker 1: think we should lose its original form and identity. I
Speaker 1: agree with you guys completely.
Speaker 2: So let I want to hear your advice. And for
Speaker 2: people who are listening, who want to potentially dip their
Speaker 2: toe in the water of this era of Italian supercar,
Speaker 2: what is your advice for what they should be looking
Speaker 2: for or avoiding as they evaluate examples.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't tell.
Speaker 6: I mean I listen, even with clients that call us,
Speaker 6: I think it's so important to have a third party inspection. Okay, Now,
Speaker 6: find someone that knows what they're looking at, find someone
Speaker 6: that's an expert of a specific car, and send them
Speaker 6: to go touch, feel and look at the car.
Speaker 1: Know what you're buying.
Speaker 6: I think at the age of the auction world today,
Speaker 6: there's such this impulse and and this you know rush
Speaker 6: in speed, and it's like, yeah, I understand the idea
Speaker 6: of you don't want to miss the car, and the
Speaker 6: idea of fomo, but don't make a mistake because you
Speaker 6: haven't properly done your due diligence.
Speaker 1: And you know.
Speaker 6: Again this this idea of transparency. I mean, listen, I
Speaker 6: love when when a buyer you know, sends an inspector
Speaker 6: to inspect a car here because listen, I know their
Speaker 6: expectations are going to be met because they already know
Speaker 6: what they're getting.
Speaker 1: And I think you you, you, you.
Speaker 6: Don't want to ruin your experience, jump into it blind
Speaker 6: and have no idea what you're getting. And I think
Speaker 6: as as car dealers, we should also be more responsible
Speaker 6: and let people know the good, bad and ugly of sure,
Speaker 6: you know, I tell guys, listen Friday and rush hour
Speaker 6: traffic trying.
Speaker 1: To go get groceries. It's not a thing.
Speaker 6: Well, so I think we also have to be responsible,
Speaker 6: as you know, purveyors and dealers that hey, you know,
Speaker 6: what are your goals? And I think people need to
Speaker 6: really slow down and think about that. Are the goals
Speaker 6: as something to drive? Is it, you know, a fun
Speaker 6: asset that you can share with your family and pass
Speaker 6: down to the next generation. So I really think that's
Speaker 6: what people need to be thinking that, you know, find
Speaker 6: someone that knows exactly what they're talking about, they know
Speaker 6: the details and and you know, an expert in whatever field,
Speaker 6: and send that person before you just wire money or
Speaker 6: just buy something like it.
Speaker 2: And that that goes back to what you said earlier.
Speaker 2: Don't be shy about asking people for help, for advice,
Speaker 2: pick up the phone. You know, there's there's no shame.
Speaker 2: This is this is how you learn.
Speaker 4: Well. I really appreciate your time, and I can't wait
Speaker 4: to get down and check out your showroom.
Speaker 6: Man, it is your house. Anytime you guys want to
Speaker 6: come down.
Speaker 2: Talk to you.
Speaker 1: All things all right by That was John Tamaran.
Speaker 4: I just learned about him and his business in the
Speaker 4: last couple of weeks, and now I want to be
Speaker 4: his best friend.
Speaker 2: He's one of those people that when you first meet him,
Speaker 2: is really nice and you're kind of like, yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: see and then you realize, no, he's actually just a
Speaker 2: nice guy. He's present, he knows what he's talking about.
Speaker 2: He's a hard worker. I learned something every time I
Speaker 2: talk to him. He's so fun So far.
Speaker 4: The F one race has been for me the only
Speaker 4: reason to go to Miami. Now have two reasons to
Speaker 4: go to Miami.
Speaker 2: You know totally. Well, yeah, you wouldn't go for the driving,
Speaker 2: would you. There's not a lot.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't go for the weather, no, yeah.
Speaker 2: Same, No World Cup for us that does it for
Speaker 2: this week's show. Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot
Speaker 2: Pursuit on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen. You
Speaker 2: can also send us your comments. Email us at hot
Speaker 2: Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net.
Speaker 4: Oh, by the way, speaking of that, I'm so glad
Speaker 4: we had John Ta Maryan on after I got an
Speaker 4: email from that kid who said, Hey, I'm a sixteen
Speaker 4: year old detailer in like Phoenix and I want to build.
Speaker 3: A supercar business. Dude, that was for you.
Speaker 4: Also check out Hannah's columns and stories on Bloomberg dot
Speaker 4: com and on the Bloomberg Business app.
Speaker 3: Go there for car reviews, events and stories that you
Speaker 3: won't find anywhere else. Find it all at Bloomberg dot com,
Speaker 3: slash Pursuits, slash Autos.
Speaker 2: I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott. We'll be back
Speaker 2: in your podcast feed again next week