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TMCP #390: Steve Myers From Skunk River Restorations; Restoring European and Unique Vintage Cars and Truck, Running a Business, and Racing Internationally! Apr 12, 2019

Show notes

This week I spoke to Steve Myers Owner of Skunk River Restorations with an interview conducted - for the first time ever - right here in my own office! Skunk River is a local Ames, Iowa restoration business that specializes in working on the vehicles that most many other shops either cannot or do not want to work on. Steve will take on the high end and import vehicles that are sometimes hard to source parts for or that are so different that most people are scared to dig into them.

The post TMCP #390: Steve Myers From Skunk River Restorations; Restoring European and Unique Vintage Cars and Truck, Running a Business, and Racing Internationally! first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #389: AMC Expert Wayne Davis on Rare AMX’s and his Mark Donahue Trans Am Javelin Replica; NPD’s Ask Rick, The Ebb and Flow of The Restoration Market and Cool Mid 60’s Thunderbirds Apr 05, 2019

Show notes

Feature Interview: In this episode I spoke AMC muscle car expert, friend, and former article writer, Wayne Davis. It has been many years since Wayne was on the show so I wanted to catch up on life, cars, and fun! Wayne was attracted to AMC muscle cars at a young age through a relative and has developed a reputation for performing highly detailed restorations on them over the years. His portfolio of previous projects include some of the most rare optioned vehicles of the line. His current project though is his favorite so far: a highly accurate AMC Javelin Mark Donohue Trans Am tribute car, complete with period AMC race engine. Unlike his other restorations, this is a car he has no problem driving and taking to the track! The car is loud, fast, obnoxious, and gets attention wherever it goes.

On this edition of Ask Rick: I asked the long wondered listener question of "Is your hold music from the Dudley Moore movie, Arthur?" He did not immediately know, but we will find out in the next episode!

On a more serious note, one listener did want to know whether the aftermarket industry has experienced a downturn this year, and whether NPD has seen that as well. He hasn't seen that for NPD and we discussed the attributing factors.

The post TMCP #389: AMC Expert Wayne Davis on Rare AMX’s and his Mark Donahue Trans Am Javelin Replica; NPD’s Ask Rick, The Ebb and Flow of The Restoration Market and Cool Mid 60’s Thunderbirds first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #388: 5 Years And Counting of Building Hot Rods at Street Metal Concepts – March Pro-Touring Update with Larry Callahan Mar 18, 2019

Show notes

In this episode I talked once again to my dear friend Zip Simons, co-owner of Street Metal Concepts in Orlando Florida. Zip and Don Endonino put the paint and finishing touches on my Chevelle in 2016. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since they have been on the show even though I talk to them often since then.

Street Metal Concepts Humdinger on Diesel Power Magazine cover
Zip and Don have been working on cars for a very long time now and I wanted to get some behind the scenes info. He said that one of SMC's biggest features is it's record keeping. Every "valuable" hour is documented with what work was done and what decisions were made. This information is then provided back to the customer so they are comfortable with what is being done to their treasured vehicle. Zip says a lot of time is spent on project planning and documentation but in the long run it is all worth it. They also provide photo documentation on an ongoing basis and many customers look forward to the pictures of how the process is going. It keeps them involved and interested instead of becoming a drop it off and forget it relationship. Zip wants them to understand what is going on and what is involved.

Butch Poes '63 Chevy II by Street Metal Concepts
Creating a custom vehicle is an emotional roller coaster and the guys want the customers to know this right up front. Quite often they get unfinished projects from other shops and this is usually due to the lack of a relationship. These vehicles are not a necessity and emotionally driven and the emotions run out before the project gets finished. Zip and Don want the customer to be comfortable and know the ball is in their court.

The post TMCP #388: 5 Years And Counting of Building Hot Rods at Street Metal Concepts – March Pro-Touring Update with Larry Callahan first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #387: Warren Customs: Making the General Lee (Dodge Charger) Great Again! Mar 08, 2019

Show notes

In this episode Nathan Warren came on to talk about the "season two" updates to my General Lee. It has been a year since Nathan came on the show to talk about the formation and goals of his business....and then offered to showcase his abilities by helping me to convert my car to a screen accurate version of how it would have appeared in Season 2 of the Dukes of Hazzard! Well, fast forward a year, and the car is now there and is in his capable hands. This episode is the update of everything related!

The post TMCP #387: Warren Customs: Making the General Lee (Dodge Charger) Great Again! first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #386: Mike Fadel of Streetside Classics; Consigning Cars and Beating the Auctions – Ask Rick; Is There Value of Having Your Car Judged? Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

In this episode I spoke once again to friend of the show Mike Fadel, Director of Sales and Consignments at Streetside Classics. Streetside has made a major impact for both buyers and sellers of collector cars, muscle cars and otherwise by going strictly consignment and by utilizing massive amounts of data to fine tune where cars cab be bought and sold. And....it's working! In just the last few years they've been growing at a rapid rate and I wanted to see if he could give me the hottest look at what 2019 holds.

Ask Rick: On this edition of Ask Rick Rick shared the final results from the recent AACA show in Ocala and regarding the judging of his 1955 Pontiac Star Chief specifically. He told me it passed with no issues! He went on to say that prior to AACA judging he did correct quite a few things with the car and he would be proud to enter it even into a Pontiac specific show. The vehicle specific shows are a bit different than AACA since the people that judge are specialists in those cars specifically where an AACA judge has a breadth of knowledge regarding all makes and models. The AACA shows do a great job of judging overall quality of a vehicle as a collector car and is something to look for when purchasing a car.

The post TMCP #386: Mike Fadel of Streetside Classics; Consigning Cars and Beating the Auctions – Ask Rick; Is There Value of Having Your Car Judged? first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #385: Gray Fredrick of Advanced Fuel Dynamics, A Simple Way To Get Affordable E85 Power with an E85 Engine Tune! – 2019 Pro-Touring Kickoff with Larry Callahan Feb 15, 2019

Show notes

In this episode I spoke to Gray Fredrick, the sales director for Advanced Fuel Dynamics. AFD's entire goal is to maximize the affordable power-adder benefit available in E85 fuel...but without the need for an E85 specific engine tune. Why? Because E85 fuel is an inconsistent blend pump-to-pump and state to state. With that said however, they have found a way to let the ECM do the job needed to gain that happy wonderful octane supplement and this discussion is all about that very process. The OEM's have found a way to utilize E85 well enough with fuel economy in mind....but performance is the objective of AFD.

The post TMCP #385: Gray Fredrick of Advanced Fuel Dynamics, A Simple Way To Get Affordable E85 Power with an E85 Engine Tune! – 2019 Pro-Touring Kickoff with Larry Callahan first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #384: Sean Barber; Anything Scout and New Legend 4×4 – The Business of Providing Parts and Building Cool (and Niche) Off Road Rigs! Feb 08, 2019

Show notes

In this episode I had the privilege of doing something rare; an interview with a local shop! I traveled across Ames to do a rare live interview with Sean Barber, owner of Anything Scout and New Legend 4x4. Believe it or not, but in the small college town of Ames, IA lives one of the premier businesses in the world of International Scout parts, supplies, and custom builders. This interview tells their story of specializing in the niche of Scouts - and of going ALL IN on the business of choosing the custom route for them vs factory restorations.

The post TMCP #384: Sean Barber; Anything Scout and New Legend 4×4 – The Business of Providing Parts and Building Cool (and Niche) Off Road Rigs! first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #383: Auction Insights! Bret Voelkel from Ride Tech at Barrett Jackson, and NPD’s Ask Rick Segment on the Growth of Mecum Feb 01, 2019

Show notes

This episode marks a fun trip to the January auctions! Our intrepid show producer Bernie McPartland was our man on the scene at Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale Arizona and while there caught up with Bret Voelkel of RideTech. To follow up with that, we had Rick Schmidt on to get his opinion on the auction world as a whole, both from a marketing perspective for NPD and as a buyer and seller of cars. I also really wanted his opinion on the higher-than-normal sales prices of "Resto-mod" Corvettes at the Barrett Jackson auction (which he does watch annually) vs their fully restored counterparts.

The post TMCP #383: Auction Insights! Bret Voelkel from Ride Tech at Barrett Jackson, and NPD’s Ask Rick Segment on the Growth of Mecum first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #382: “Small” Front Tire Cars Have a Shot Again! Ed Capen on The New Rules Changes for the 2019 Good Guys Autocross! Jan 18, 2019

Show notes

This weeks interview is with Ed Capen, Vice President, Sales and Sponsorships for Good-guys Rod & Custom Association to talk about the new rules for the 2019 racing season. Ed has been on the show previously and we got straight into the rules. Good-guys is first and foremost a car show with an Autocross added on. The customer is the car show attendee and the goal is to make it fun and so that car owners do not have to build their cars specifically for this race series.

The new rules are very exciting and make it possible for a normal or slightly modified classic car owner to be able to compete against other similar vehicles. Classes such as Pro-X now exist but the massive tire, super lightweight, race specific cars are not competing against Joe Normal's heavy car with smaller tires.

The post TMCP #382: “Small” Front Tire Cars Have a Shot Again! Ed Capen on The New Rules Changes for the 2019 Good Guys Autocross! first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

TMCP #381: Taylor Hull – How to Be a Professional Drifter…starting as a Hobbyist! Jan 11, 2019

Show notes

This weeks interview is with Taylor Hull, a drift car racer that I met for just a minute at the SEMA Show in 2018. Taylor has always been into cars and his family supported his dreams of racing. His day job is at Allied Rentals is very forgiving of his racing schedule and gives him some leeway to pursue his dream. Taylor has tried many aspects of racing including some circle track experiences and some time in the NASCAR Truck series. His found he loves drifting and says that racing on your own is exhilarating and rewarding.

The post TMCP #381: Taylor Hull – How to Be a Professional Drifter…starting as a Hobbyist! first appeared on The Muscle Car Place.

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