Redevelop That!
Redevelop That!
How A Mechanic Built A Community By Building People
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A new season is rolling in on Water Street, The Watermark finally has residents moving in, and Pacific is heating up with fresh places to eat—but the story that grabbed us lives on the Eastside. We sat down with Bill “Dr. Atomic” Byler at Atomic Motors, a four-acre classic car campus tucked along the Sunset Corridor, and found a blueprint for building a business by building people.
Bill’s journey runs from motorcycle dealerships to a “hobby shop” that became a restoration powerhouse. He explains how Atomic got its name from old RCA tube testers and our city’s atomic heritage, then dives into what actually powers his shop: benefits that change lives. Health insurance, vision, dental, and a 401(k) aren’t add-ons; they’re the engine. Many on his team once ran their own businesses. Here, they focus on craft while the company handles the burden. That shift—people-first, not profit-first—quietly compounds into loyalty, homeownership, and pride in the work.
We tour Atomic’s process end-to-end: meticulous inspections, dyno tuning to correct shifting on old transmissions, chassis brought to bare metal and refinished, fresh interiors, and the hard truth about Nevada’s smog rules for vintage cars. Bill’s team often rebuilds engines and adds catalytic converters to meet standards, then documents every detail with underside photos. The kicker? A two-year warranty on most classic cars sold—something that took more than a decade to earn from underwriters and still stuns buyers. He also makes a strong case to skip full restorations and buy a finished car to save time, money, and heartache.
Community runs through everything. Weekends bring free donuts, kids racing Pinewood Derby cars, and pizza at noon. The shop hosts weddings, reunions, and corporate parties. Bill even sketches a bold vision for a museum that tells Nevada’s full story—from mines to military, public safety to the everyday fabric of a republic. He closes with a hand-pump parable: pour in first, keep steady pressure, and the water flows. That’s his model for life, work, and this city we love.
If this resonated, share it with a friend, subscribe for more stories like this, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. Which classic would you take home—and would you restore or buy finished? Tell us your pick.
Welcome back, faithful listeners. To redevelop that here with Derek and Tiffany.
SPEAKER_00Hey everybody, it's been a minute. Glad you're all back.
SPEAKER_02Hopefully you've all been having a wonderful summer and uh enjoying our slight transition to fall here. We hopefully that will uh end soon and we'll be into a true fall season.
SPEAKER_00Sure hope so, because that's our favorite season on Water Street. All of our events start back up next month in September, and then we've got something going almost every weekend.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it becomes a busy season, September, October, November, leading into the fall and holiday season. So uh we look forward to a lot of great opportunities to be outside and be out on Water Street, downtowns, come out, check out the things going on, and we'll uh keep on listening into the future. We'll have more dates of uh what the events are that are coming, and uh we're excited about that that time of year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and check our website also on social media so you'll see what's coming. We have some really cool events coming up this fall.
The Watermark Opens At Last
SPEAKER_02Perfect. Also, just kind of an update on uh what's going on in redevelopment areas, uh our redevelopment areas here in the city. Uh I know for a number of uh long while a lot of our shows uh we talked about one particular project, the watermark, uh, that it was coming and it was coming and that it was almost done.
SPEAKER_00And it's here.
SPEAKER_02It's here. Now we can officially say it's here. So it's open, it's uh people are moving in and renting the new apartments, and the commercial part of it is getting closer to to being rented uh leased out. So we we look forward to a lot of uh uh great uh businesses moving into the area and we'll see what how that what brings what that brings to pass here for us.
SPEAKER_00They also I just am gonna give them a little plug. They have some great move-in specials right now, um, up to eight weeks free rent with new lease signings. So if you or anybody you know are thinking about living on Water Street, um for one, you'll be right in the heart of all of our events this this season. But two, the apartments are really nice. They're nice, modern, you'll get a live in them, no one else has lived in them yet.
New Eats On Pacific And Beyond
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a great great place. Come check them out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but we also have a couple new restaurants since we've last read. Bajamar on Pacific is great. It's a seafood and Mexican restaurant. That's delicious.
SPEAKER_02Always a good combination, right? And then we have some new new restaurants that are coming. That are coming also in the future that we uh learned about here recently. Some um actually right next door to Bahamar.
SPEAKER_00So we're gonna have a great little restaurant corridor right there on Pacific.
SPEAKER_02That'd be awesome.
SPEAKER_00And then Cuckoos, if you haven't checked out Cuckoo's Cafe, their new location is over at 35 East Basic Road.
SPEAKER_02Yep. If you followed Cuckoo, longtime Cuckoo follower, and was uh was sad about losing them on uh Pacific, but they have reopened at their new location and they're doing wonderful, they're doing great. We're just in there the other day and it was packed and busy, so I think they're they're enjoying their new space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, go check out their new location.
Shift To Eastside: Sunset Corridor
SPEAKER_02So excellent. Well, today we are not talking about downtown. We are not talking about Water Street, but we are talking about Eastside, uh more specifically the Sunset Corridor. Uh if you recall, uh several about a year or so ago, we we visited uh with Kat Byler with uh Atomic Motors, and she gave us a great rundown of what they do and who they are and what they're about. And today, though, we had the opportunity to sit down with her husband, uh Bill Byler, who is also known as Dr. Atomic. You'll get to hear from him uh a little bit about his story. But it was a fascinating story sitting with him and uh learning uh some of his background and where he's come from and how he got to where he is today with uh the Atomic Motors uh campus that it's turned into.
SPEAKER_00It really has. It's so cool, such a hidden gem in our valley.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a lot of uh a lot of great uh great things they're doing there. You'll hear in the interview. It talks a lot about uh his business philosophy uh and why he does what he does, which I think was a pretty amazing outlook on on how to grow a business uh that it's not necessarily about growing, specifically growing the business, but growing the people uh within the business.
SPEAKER_00I love his philosophy. I think our listeners will get a lot out of this interview.
Meet Bill “Dr. Atomic” Byler
SPEAKER_02So so won't we take a moment, sit back, relax, enjoy our interview with Bill Bailer or Dr. Atomic, and we'll be back soon. We'd like to welcome to our show Bill from Atomic Motors.
Citizens Police Academy And Safety
SPEAKER_01Yes, Dr. Atomic here. Thanks for being and with me today, and uh sending all your friends and everyone from the city, which is we love you to death. You know, I had an opportunity recently to uh do the uh Citizens Police Academy. Oh yeah. I suggest anyone that can pass a background check. Now, if you can't pass a background check, you may not want to check yourself. Right. But if you can pass a background check, especially if you're ex-military, you'll really enjoy the police department. There, what I found was that they are experts in de-escalation. I think that it really wins and bodes well to this group of men and women uh who 24 hours a day, seven days a week to protect Henderson and his residents. I think it's hard to believe that uh anyone can actually rise to this level that they have, especially for the size of our city.
SPEAKER_02Year in and year out, we uh we are ranked as one of the safest cities in the in the nation, and so they definitely do uh yeoman's work in uh keeping us safe. And uh I think they do an amazing job also of uh de-escalating situations and making it uh you know making the outcomes more way more amenable than that sometimes they could end up being.
SPEAKER_01That's right, that's right. And uh one thing I did notice is that we're very shorthanded and uh we do not have enough officers for the population, talk about the population, and that's because they're overworked. Uh right now I believe we have uh 14 or 15, probably 15 motor officers, and we should have about 35 to 40. Uh motor officers are very important to keep the speeders down, but uh who wants a person donating to a residential neighborhood. You don't want that. That's something we just can't have. Yeah, so that's an important part. And uh we're probably another you know, at least um 120 to 130, maybe is my good guess. I could be wrong, maybe it's as high as 200 officer short. Yeah. And it would be great if they had uh more uh officer recruitment drives uh for qualified people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's uh always an ongoing challenge with the city, is uh public safety and oh yeah, they're great.
SPEAKER_01It's a fabulous city. I've lived here a long time and I like it here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, how long have you been here in the city?
SPEAKER_01Interesting question. I'm glad you brought that up. I originally had moved uh from a small town in Northern California, a little place called Danville. It's a nice little community. Uh and I moved here to take over a motorcycle dealership called Arlen Ness Motorcycles that was over on Boulder Highway.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01And we uh were very successful at at selling motorcycles because we liked motorcycles. We became America's first Indian dealer again. Uh-huh. And before that, in um the late 90s, I'd become the first Indian dealer again in America. We're the first Indian store company that had gone bankrupt. But um that was, I guess, 19 years ago. Oh wow. And I'd moved up in Henderson up to a retirement community. Uh and it was um what's it called? Uh if you drive all the way to the top of uh Eastern until you run out of road. Uh-huh. Right? Uh Anthem. Yeah. Right. And there's a there's a retirement, Dell Webb retirement community up there. Yeah. Well, you you can buy a house there, you can uh rent a house there, and no one says nothing. But after you move in, right, they charge you$100 a week if you're not 55.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01They don't care if you live there, they just want to charge you$100 a week. So I put up with that for a couple of years and finally moved out to Lake Las Vegas. Oh nice. And Lake Las Vegas was really fun because it was dead, dead, dead. Uh unlike it is now, which is alive, alive, alive. Yeah. I think they've built about 2,700 homes in the last three years out there. Easily. And still building. Yep. And it's a very strong community, and it's uh it's one of the places you can get in a golf cart and just drive everywhere.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they don't care. They just hop in and go. Now they have a great little uh down there, they've got a great little um grocery store called Seasons. Uh-huh. I'm hoping Seasons expands and moves up the hill and builds a bigger store because for that many people it just becomes an emergency place to go shopping instead of a place that you could actually go shopping.
SPEAKER_03Every day.
SPEAKER_01Well, because the park is uh just a little too restricted down there. Right. So that's a that's a tough thing. But Lake Las Vegas is nice, the people are comfortable. And I haven't um found a part of Henderson that wasn't just friendly. Uh people keep their homes nice uh in most parts. They keep their yards. I can't say mowed because we don't have any grass. But uh yeah. You remember when you were a kid, was there grassy? Oh yeah. Was there grass where everybody grew up? Okay. Well, as a kid, I mean I want to I want a snapper mower or a John Deere mower. You know, I dreamt about having a better lawnmower than the one you push, right?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Uh but uh now it's just something gone with the wind, right? There's there's no more lawnmowers, there's no more grass. But you know, they have really nice, you know, we're in uh category nine, right? Level nine for plants. So if you go out and buy something, make sure you look at the tag from one of these home improvement places or a garden center. If it doesn't say nine or above, it's going to die. It's not gonna make it. I I I got tired of throwing plants away. And uh and uh m it's really funny. I came full circle. I now live in a tiny little retirement home. It's so small you can't you you you bump butts moving around and the thing. But you know, I don't mind that I've gotten older to have a small house. Kind of like living on a boat, I think.
SPEAKER_02Probably, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Kind of like living on a boat. I actually lived on a boat once. Oh man. I did out in Monterey Harbor. Yeah, you made a have you ever been to Monterey, California?
SPEAKER_02I have been, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, you know, you go down down there, there's two piers and two harbors. There's a Coast Guard and the old city one. I lived on the Coast Guard Pier. Okay. Yeah. You know what you you know what you get when you live down there? That's what you hear. Oh, and they start at 4 30 in the morning. You're gonna wake up. A rooster has nothing on you. Yeah. So yeah, I guess 18, 19 years I've been here.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
From Dealerships To Hobby Shop
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and now you're just hoping for a nicer golf cart, right?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I don't have a golf cart. Uh-oh. I bought a um, I know this sounds horrible, but I bought a gym. Now, a gym was a defunct, you know, I fix everything, right? I'm a mechanic. Really, I'm just a mechanic. And we we try to help everybody, but some folks uh are beyond help, but we do the best we can. Yeah. So I bought a gym. Now that was a little car at the time that was owned by Chrysler Corporation that's electric. Imagine a more robust golf cart, better brakes, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Well, upgrade.
SPEAKER_01Well, it was dead. I mean, it was just dead, dead, dead. So I brought it back and I scratched my head a couple of times. I looked at it, and you know, you can buy a pretty good one of those for almost nothing. Oh, yeah. Matter of fact, if you tow it away, you might get it for free. And it's actually a licensable vehicle. They come with a title. So I came back and I had wrenched on that thing for two or three weeks. I got things going, and now I can't keep up with everybody, but I can certainly get to the grocery store with it. As long as you're not in a hurry, I think it's just fine. Just right. Yeah, it's just and I don't be in a hurry anyway because I'm old and retired. But yeah, so that's it. Yeah, so I do have something like that, but not an official uber expensive thing. Right. I just got something I could fix and go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you're a mechanic by trade, and uh, that's what brought you here. Motorcycles, it sounds like brought you to to Henderson, and uh and now you've moved up a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Well, just motorcycles, but you've included uh No, my first car dealership was in was in Pleasanton. Okay. And um, it was in business for 40 years, and um it was a beautiful dealership downtown, 4321 First Street Pleasanton. I was on the junior city council, the people they helped train uh to one day be uh mayor. Okay. I did that for a number of years. It was really nice to volunteer for the city. I enjoyed it back then too. Um, you know, I I I told the fellows of the police department I can't be a police officer, I certainly could run for sheriff. And and uh they they looked at me funny for a minute. I laughed. I said, I'm kidding, yeah, I'm not gonna do it. But uh yeah, a little I had a little dealership there, a little classic car store and antique motorcycles, and I just kept building them.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I just kept building them and and selling them, and before you knew it, I was I had nothing to do. I uh when we sold out to uh a larger company, uh we I had three months with zero. You remember that lake out there? Yeah, I walked all the way around it twice a day. That's uh that's uh about 16 miles around it, the long way, you know, out in the desert. There wasn't anything out there out in the desert. Coyotes come out and look at you and they run away and they stop and look at you. Maybe you got a treat. I didn't have any treats. After about three months of walking, 16 miles, 17 miles a day, I couldn't handle it anymore. So I needed a uh hobby shop. So that's how this started is a hobby shop.
SPEAKER_02So we're here at Atomic Motors. Yeah. Uh what uh what came uh what came about the name?
SPEAKER_01That's an interesting thing. So uh long time when I was kid I restored antique radios in high school uh for people with tubes. And I'd always go over to swap meets and buy old tubes. And I had a tube tester, like a deluxe RCA tube tester, like you can't imagine. And you stick all these different types of vacuum tubes in it to test them if they're still good or not, right? And I could tell if I had good ones, right? I put them on one side and I had the bad ones. Well, they're junk and they gotta go away. And uh even back then, the right thing to do was to recycle them, so it was recycled. Those vacuum tubes had a certain type of recycling in them. Uh, you know, they have uh mercury and silver, things like that in them, so they have to go to the right place. Right. But I would fix those up, and on the front of this machine, it said RCA, right? And if you look at our logo, somewhere on here, we got a logo. If you look at our logo right here, uh-huh, that is the RCA um logo right for their um radio repair division. And uh I always liked that logo. Uh-huh. So I when when we started, I I called them up and I said, Hey, what do you think? And I, oh, we don't want nothing to do with it. You can have it. It's it's out of date. It's not ours anymore. We don't want to say, great, I'll use it. And also that this is where all the bombs went off.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01And also that um uh well, it's Vegas, Miss Miss Atomic. Have you ever seen Miss Atomic? Yeah, she's her, she's covered in like uh like white cotton balls and not much more, you know, just an idea of white cotton balls. Uh but uh you know, I had something interesting happen the other day. Uh this is my ADA coming out. I I live with it, but um, squirrel, rabbit. Uh but uh I got a phone call from these nice folks, uh-huh, and that's the Atomic Museum. And uh there's a very special lady over there. Her name is Tina. Tina is fabulous. I'm talking about a great human being. Um we were able to go, myself, my and my best friend, my wife, and his wife uh go out to the Nevada test site.
unknownOkay.
Test Site Tours And Atomic Museum
SPEAKER_01Have you been there yet? I have been there. It's really fabulous. We took the ride around all day long and we went to the the little restaurant there and uh we had a lot of fun and and uh got something cold to drink. I think we got a snack or something. But we spent the day out there and I really enjoyed it. And uh, you know, I like their I like their thing, their logo too, which is much like ours, right? I didn't even know they existed, right? Of course, they've been out there for 90 years. How would I not how would I not know they existed? But they turn out just to be a really good bunch of kids, yeah. Boys and girls and the adults that are just really working hard out there. But Tina at the at the museum itself, I I recommend everybody go to the museum each quarter because they're always expanding the museum. And if you don't know anything about it, you give Tina a call over there at the Atomic Museum and treat yourself and your family. Spend a couple of bucks if you if you feel like donating something to somebody, donate to them, they're a worthy cause because they tell the history of where we've been, where we are now, and where we're going. Right? And so it's kind of a fun thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I have a little bit of inside uh inside pass on the test site. Also, my dad worked for the Department of Energy for 25 years and was the director of safety out there, so he was the one pushing the button.
SPEAKER_01That's it. That's fabulous!
SPEAKER_02And he was the one building uh he was the one building all the uh test equipment that would test uh test the uh potency of the weapons. So it was uh so he would take us out there and tour us around all the craters and show us all the big ones and the smaller ones and how it works. So yeah, so it's pretty uh it's pretty amazing. I've been to the museum several times, and yeah, the the history of it's pretty amazing of what uh you know what we have out here in the desert.
SPEAKER_01Uh a lot of folks won't agree with me, but you know, if you think about it, there's been a couple accidents, just a few, not too many, you know, an arm's length of of things over all these years at nuclear power plants. And it really is an amazing power source. And I was as a kid, I thought, why doesn't every city have their own little re reactor, right? Wouldn't that be great? You wouldn't have all these other things, all these other things happening.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01But it just never happened. I don't know why. So, Shane, it would have been really great.
SPEAKER_02Mysteries of the world, right? Mysteries of the world. So you got uh so you have you moved here, you've uh set up a new uh uh classic car dealer shop that has uh slowly uh been uh growing and expanding. You know, uh we've interviewed your wife uh a couple of years ago, and you guys were only in a couple of the buildings here on your campus on Sunset Road, and uh and now you guys are in about almost all the buildings in uh here on Sunset Road. And so what has it been like for you to grow your business here?
Building A Business By Building People
SPEAKER_01Well, well, you know, my driving force was not to grow the business at all. I never thought of it that way. Um the I had an employee, and I thought, well, Kat, how do we get health insurance for this person? His teeth, yeah, a person with a problem with the teeth, you know. And uh, how do we get them vision and dental and and and help them save some money and stuff like that? And she said, Well, we have to have so many. I think it was 20 we had to have to qualify for insurance. Okay, right? And um, so I worked really hard to find to get to 20 employees so we could apply for that. So now all of them, right? If they need a tooth repair or they need glasses, or uh they need uh, I don't know, heart surgery. You know, we offer the we offer insurance for them. Uh then um if they have vision and dental, so if they can't see, they get fixed. I mean, I wear cheaters myself. I've been thinking about that zapping of the eyes thing, but I just haven't done it. But uh, but you know, it's good to have those on, especially if you're grinding something on a wheel. I've had them stick right in the lens of my glass, the wire, right? So there you go. But uh, but that was really the goal to make it was it but if you think about this, let's say, let's say you have a company and you have 40 people, I think we have 42 here, and if your real mission is to make sure that they can buy a house, and we've had uh countless numbers of our employees buy houses, they they couldn't have done it before. Um, they live, they work in an air-conditioned or heated environment, depends on the time of the year. They have a 401k. Most of them never had a 401k, so it it basically forces them to do better. So when they get older, they have some dou remi, right? Right. Uh they can set up um things for their kids for college, right? Uh all those things that that, you know, I'm old. I'll just be honest, I'm an older guy. And um, you know, I don't, you know, I don't have any children, I don't have any of that stuff, right? But uh so everyone here is like uh family member, right? So they it's good to have all this stuff for them because it's important um because they couldn't they didn't have it before. But now they can, you know, they can buy a car and they can make their dreams come true. Let's say you want to live in this neighborhood and you got a job, and the the bank says, Okay, prove you have a job, and oh well, you do have a job. And then pretty soon they sign the paperwork, and the bank gives them a house on payments, and pretty soon they they got a house, and uh, well, you know, maybe they want to buy another house as an apartment they can rent out. And we have lots of those gals, the guys and gals here that have grown with us. Um oh gosh, we've been here almost 12 years. Yeah, right? So it's it's good. Now we've had some come and go, um, and it was always sad to see them go, you know. Yeah. Uh and uh we've even had the weird anomaly where you hire somebody on on Friday to come in Monday and they never come in. You ever heard of that one?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, where'd you go?
SPEAKER_01Well, they just never returned a call. And they were they were qualified, but they just I don't know, that mostly younger ones, but the older, more mature, and you know, uh probably a third of all of our employees have owned their own companies. Really? They've owned their own companies, yeah. Wow. Third of the employees have owned their own companies. That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing, isn't it? Yeah, right. But it's easier here for them because they don't have to worry about accounting or insurances and things like that.
SPEAKER_02Right.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So that's a very uh that's a super interesting uh way of growing the business. Is that not to uh uh that you're growing it for your employees more than you're uh more than for yourself. I'm already old. Yeah, they're not. So they're not. So there you go.
SPEAKER_01I already live in a tiny little house. In a retirement community. So I so there I am. I can't I you know I'm not going. The other way. I've gone full circle.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, you know, I think a lot of folks when they're younger, they they start off and they they want the big house. Yeah. Of course they want the first house. And all of a sudden they got five, six, seven kids that get lucky and have children. Do you have children? I have three, yeah. Oh, you're so lucky. I would have had ten if I could have. Yeah, but I never did. My wife died of the cancer. So I after she died, she was only 26. I never got around to I didn't think about it. All I did was work seven days a week. Like, you know, you won't believe this, but we've been married uh, oh, let's see now. 17 and a half years. I might get in trouble for this. I'm just saying you're going on record. So 17 and a half years, and uh we've never up until uh the second weekend in January. We'd never taken a vacation and we'd never had a honeymoon.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
Campus Culture And The Gallery Walls
SPEAKER_01We worked seven days a week. In the last 10 years, I've had three days off, seven days a week. And um my my buddy put us um uh afforded us to be able to take three days off a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and took us to um Court Elaine, Idaho, right? Yeah, and um and he's a local resident and he's my favorite person, and he and I just get along like peas and carrots. Uh-huh. And his name is Don Ahern. Yeah. So he's my best friend. And uh he and I have a other my wife, she's my best friend too, but Don and I, we get along like peas and carrots. You know, it the yeah, he's the guy you'd fall on a sword for. Right. Yeah. But uh, but he's just a real peach of a guy. He had uh, well, he still has thousands and thousands of employees, but he does the same thing to make sure that they they have good medical, dental vision, all that stuff too, so that uh they can have a good life. Right. You know, but like if you're in the army, you're already it's your mom, it's your mom and dad. Your mom and dad's gonna take care of you, you know. If you need a stitch, they put a stitch in you. Yeah, right. If you if you if you bump your head, they they put a rag on you, a little cool compress, right? But when you are out and about in society, I think a lot of companies could do more to help their folks than they do. And he's uh he's a real peach, and and I I can't fault him for nothing. Of course, people make stories up about him, which aren't true, but yeah, but that's not kind, is it?
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01No, it's not very nice. No. Hey, what's this thing about dust in the city?
SPEAKER_02What about dust?
SPEAKER_01Dust, it's a very odd thing. So let's say you're driving along and um you see a hard-working group of men, right? Okay and women, and they're out there driving their things around in a field, and some dust comes up.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Well, you the kind of field they're pushing around in, there's no way to get a water truck out there.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Right? And then here comes along the city and gives them a$10,000 fine. Why is that?
SPEAKER_02Uh, that's actually the county.
SPEAKER_01The county does it.
SPEAKER_02Uh it's air quality.
SPEAKER_01Bad air quality, bad county. These people are trying to make a living. Let them make a living. There should be a mediator or some way to not just shut a job down. I talked to a fellow the other day who couldn't get a car because he was a truck driver driving rock out of the middle of nowhere out here somewhere. And they shut the job down and gave them, he said, a$20,000 fine, and they had he hasn't been gone back to work since, so he can't get his car. That's not very kind. They put out to work, he said, 18 people out of work for some dust. Yeah. We're in the desert. Have you seen outside today? Look out that window.
SPEAKER_02Not very clear.
SPEAKER_01No, it's dust. It's full of dust. Those county people should give Mother Nature a fine to see how that works. Do you have other people tell the truth like this? You probably do, don't you? Yeah, it's just it just isn't, you know, it isn't right to put a man out of work or a woman out of work.
SPEAKER_02It's definitely a challenge living in the desert on both ends of the spectrum.
SPEAKER_01I guarantee that person wrote that check is still that wrote that uh fine. I guarantee that person still getting their paycheck, whether it's dusty or not outside.
SPEAKER_02See what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever been here in Vegas with a good windstorm? Yes. What was that like with the dust? It was it was cutting. You see this thing I wear here?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
Sourcing Cars And The Restoration Flow
SPEAKER_01See why I wear this? There's a reason I wear that 24-7. Because of where we are, dust. So if you're out there listening, stop being mean to guys and gals who are trying to make a living. Stop that dust stuff.
SPEAKER_02We're trying to we're trying to do some work here.
SPEAKER_01Okay, good.
SPEAKER_02So what's the next question? So uh so you so you built your company here, you built your business, you've grown it uh for great purposes or great causes of uh building uh building people, uh is what I hear.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, it really had nothing to do with me. And so um and each time someone would leave, um then we just expand and paint and put I like pictures. Uh-huh. There's over 5,000 framed pictures of oil paintings and watercolors and set sign posters and doodads. Over 5,000 of them, all kinds, uh, because they look better than just a plain wall, right? So that's a fun thing for people to come see. As a kid, I've never got to go, but I like to look at the pictures in the book of the Louvre. You ever heard of that joint? They got a lot of great stuff over there, right? But I never got to go. I have never gone anywhere, really. But it except here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? So I can make my own.
SPEAKER_02You brought it to you.
SPEAKER_01Well, everywhere I go, I buy one. Yeah. Even if it's five bucks or more.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, I don't know, I was gonna ask where you uh where you're gonna have to call it just anywhere and everywhere.
SPEAKER_01I just drive around and you know, I just sometimes I I can drive 10,000 miles in a month. That's a lot. That's a lot. And uh, you know, I just drive until I get tired and I go to sleep in the truck. I got a pickup truck with a million miles on it. Wow. Her name is Marge. She's a dually, an old one. I'm on her fourth engine.
SPEAKER_03Holy cow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna get a new one, uh-huh, but it just wasn't in the budget. You know what I'm saying? They're really expensive. Oh well, you know, me and Marge go way back, so I'm also very loyal. Okay. But and Marge will make a U-turn in the middle of the street. The new ones won't. Yeah. It's a three or four-point turn there. Yeah. Well, you could drive over curves, but you know, I hate breaking curves. I'm the guy that paints the red on the curves. Okay. I'm out there cleaning up and sweeping.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So where do uh where do your cars come from?
Smog Rules, Catalytic Converters, Reality
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh, you know, everywhere that there isn't rust. Uh I hate rust, rust never sleeps, it's terrible. So it's a funny thing. They come in and we inspect them. We have a a really group, good group of guys. One of my favorite guys in there. There's two of them. Uh one is going to be Guy, uh, he's a shop foreman, and the other one um is Frank, and he makes sure that the service department runs effectively and efficiently, and that the the everyone's taken care of. You know, and then there's we have a great parts department, a great parts man, and all the men that work here and gals that work here are very good. Um but they they chuck the car out and they root it a tutor it and make sure it's really good. If it needs anything, if it needs an air conditioner pump, if it needs an antenna or 10i, there's some cars actually be able to, uh, especially like a 50s custom too with antennas, right? Uh if it needs uh radio, it doesn't work. Or if there's a scratch in the glass or something like that, we fix everything. Then it goes next door and goes on a dynamometer, and they run it on the dynamometer until they actually tune it in and tune the shifting because the modulator valve on most old cars aren't shifting right anymore. So we set the shifting up, and we can do that to your car too. So if you have a classic car style shifting right, just get it on over here. We can set that up. And even a modern car, we have computers now that hook up to that stuff. And we're also experts on a thing called resto modding. So if you have an old car but you want a modern drive line, you know, what do they say? If your wife's a nagging and your tailpipe's a dragon, come and see me, right? So we'll do that. And after it's all dialed in, they then put it up on a lift. And then on a lift, they steam clean the chassis until it's absolutely spotless. And once the chassis is spotless, then they um they take the wheels off of it, they steam clean it to bare metal, the whole thing. Suspension, engine, transmission, rear end, everything, the gas tank, the exhaust. Then they sand it and they prime it with epoxy primer, etching primer, and then they paint it, and then they clear it. So the bottom of the car, if you go online to atomicmotors.net and you open a car and you click down under photos, you see the bottom, they all look better than new. Wow. Every car is absolutely painted perfectly under every one of these cars, as new or better. I'm sure they're nicer. And then uh the fender wells, originally like a European car, most European cars, the fender wells are painted to match the body, right? Where American cars they're black.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01So, and then we repaint under the hood. We have a full upholstery shop. So if there's any upholstery work done, they replace the leather, worn carpets, kick panels, things like that, and headliners. And then uh we make sure again, check one more time on glass, make sure there's no delamination. Uh, then they every car. Now, this is an oddity, only in Clark County, not even California does this, they go over for smog.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Let me tell you about something that is useless and weird. In California, it's 20 years and older.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01So that is 2005 and newer in California. 2005 and newer have to be smogged. 2004 older, no smog. Right. Here it's 19. Listen to this, before it was ever invented. 1968 and newer.
unknownOh, geez.
SPEAKER_01Do you know what we have to do to make a car smog here? This is shocking.
SPEAKER_02I can only imagine.
SPEAKER_01No, it's impossible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01If you buy a 68 Camaro, it will not smog. You can't make it smog.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The greatest shop in the world cannot tune that enough.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What we do, so you'll know, and the world knows, the only way to pass their emissions is to do one heck of a great tune-up, possibly rebuild the engine many times. The engine has to be rebuilt. Then a brand new exhaust system to include catalytic converters. The catalytic converters are what gets it over the line. So they hook it up. There's no cars in the world cleaner than the ones that leave here because they all have catalytic converters on them. They can't smoke, so if it smokes, it gets a new engine. We have a full machine shop here. They take the engine out, they rebuild it, put it back in. So it's the most difficult thing in the world. And that's, I think, why they invented the thing called um classic plates or vintage plates. Uh-huh. You've seen those? Yep, I've seen those. But I think they're restricted to so many miles, like 5,000 miles a year. Okay, yeah. But but remember this if a dealer sells a car, it still must pass smog. So every one of our cars gets that. Wow. Is that that the it's just crazy, huh?
SPEAKER_02That's crazy. That's wild.
SPEAKER_01You can't make a pass.
SPEAKER_02It's no pretty old cars here. So that I can do it.
SPEAKER_01Smog, smog, smog, smog, smog, smog, smog, smog.
SPEAKER_02All have to be smogged. Yeah. That's insane. That's wild. That's that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01But um all it does is it makes the engine run hotter, uh, which is harder on the valves and stuff like that. But if that's the rules we have to play by, that's what we do. And we have big computers that we strap to these cars to make sure they pass smog before we go down to try.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Because that's 35 bucks if it doesn't pass.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we've got to make sure it passes. You don't want to keep it perfectly. That's right. No, they have to pass. And you know you won't believe this. Our van out front, the big box van. I that's my favorite vehicle to drive, because no one tries to run into it because it's big and ugly, right? But it's really great. That used to be the DMV smog van.
SPEAKER_02Oh, they used to drive around and yeah, I bought it from them.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, I got it for 3,500 bucks. Yeah, 30,000 miles and 3,500. Oh, it was great. And and they had they had like tried to take the stickers off, but it faded the paint. So if you go out and look at it, you'll see on the side it says DMV.
SPEAKER_02You can see it right there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So it's kind of fun. So yeah, we just make sure it works correctly.
Full-Service Shop And Resto-Mods
SPEAKER_02So you guys, do you have a full uh I won't say uh it has a full restoration shop that does everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Oh, it does upholstery, suspension, so not only does paint everything.
SPEAKER_02Somebody came to you and we do it all the time.
SPEAKER_01There's 87 cars here for restoration.
SPEAKER_02That's a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01People come from all over Well, we've um we get we get the craziest things. We tell everyone not to restore a car. I can't make this up. We tell them that. Please, sir or ma'am, do not restore your classic car. Please buy one already restored. Well, why is that? I had a lady here with a um a car not very long ago, her and her husband had a car, and I you know, said it's gonna be between three and five hundred thousand dollars to do this. Well, why so much? And I said, well, two hundred just at 200, it well, I think we're 210 an hour or something, but at 2,000 hours to 3,000 hours, at 2,000 hours,$400,000 in labor. Why would you do that? You could buy a brand new car or one fully restored for$100,000. Right. But just a beautifully fully restored car. Why, well, it was my first car, it was Aunt B's car or Uncle Bob's. Well, that's what it's gonna cost. And I think it finally sets in that that's what it actually costs to do the car. Yeah, right? Yeah, two or three years later, they well, why'd I spend so much money on the car? Well, there, because you I told you not to. I had a beautiful car right here that's gorgeous, right? Yeah, I please don't do a full restoration. Now, maintenance, what we do a lot of, we do that every day. That's easy. You mean you got a car that's hot and you want air conditioner on it? We put air conditioner on it. Now, there's a lot of there's a lot of people get a car without air conditioning. I'm one of them. I'm not driving anywhere without air. I do ride a motorcycle almost every single day to work. That's how I get to work. I ride a motorcycle.
SPEAKER_02You get air that way too.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I get up early and I go to bed early. Yeah. I'm old. Remember the old part? Old people do that. Yeah, like like what time do you go to bed at night?
SPEAKER_02Not early enough, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Are you in bed by 9:30? No. Yeah. I'm I'm before that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Snooze and lagalog, but I get it before. What time do you get up?
SPEAKER_02Five.
SPEAKER_01There you go. Oh, you should get more rest.
Why We Urge: Don’t Restore, Buy Finished
SPEAKER_02I know, I should actually. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's how that works. So, how long have you been with the city?
SPEAKER_02Uh, over a little over 20 years. 20 years? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That sounds nice. So you're on the PERRS system. You sure are. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02So I got a few more to go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then will you uh after this, will you go to work for like the uh like a big manufacturer or something?
SPEAKER_02I don't know what I'm gonna do. It'll be fun. Second career.
SPEAKER_01You can always come sell cars with me.
SPEAKER_02I would that'd be fun.
SPEAKER_01Do you know what every one of these cars has that the other ones don't have? Howdy, folks. Yep, every one of these cars. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, sir. Every one of these cars has a two-year warranty on it. Wow. Every car we sell, unless it's a reproduction car, like a Cobra kit car or a Porsche kit car, something like that. Or um, if it's been heavily modified with like a giant supercharger or twin turbos or something. But if it's a car like this, just a regular car. If you don't beat me up on price, right? Yeah, it comes with a two-year warranty. That's amazing. I'll tell you. It took 11 years to get that. The underwriting company, uh, I think it's D O W C or something, something like that. Um, they're tough. They investigated us, they looked at us, they went up and down with us, and they came and talked with the techs and everything else. Yep, nope. You're good. We were the only one that they told me past.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01So if you want an antique car with a warranty, we you have it here. That's kind of nice, huh? Two-year warranty? And you I don't you don't charge for it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But you know what they do do? Let's say a person buys a crazy car and they want a really big warranty, something more than I can give you, they they do have other packages if you only feel like four years or something like that, you know, that kind of thing. But um, but yeah, I want to make sure that there's there's no real troubles. And a lot of these cars don't get a lot of miles to begin with. Yeah. They just don't drive them around a bunch.
SPEAKER_02So within the classic car community, uh huh. Uh, you know, I know there's not very many other classic car dealers here locally that I'm aware of. I know there were used to be a couple, but you know, nationwide, you know, what is what does it look like? You know, what is your business? How does your business compare to other classic car businesses out there, restoration shops?
SPEAKER_01Uh probably a different motivation. Yeah. Wouldn't you think? I think so. You know, really it's just a different motivation, right? Yeah. Yeah, I uh I built 12 dealerships in my lifetime and sold them and built them and ran them and so uh yeah, probably I'm older, remember that part? Yeah, and you know, I'm not 25 years old trying to set the world on fire.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
Two-Year Warranty On Classics
SPEAKER_01Honestly, I'm just glad if someone shows up. You know, on Saturdays and Sundays I give out free donuts, and inevitably there's always donuts left over. How can there be donuts left over? How is that possible, right? Hey, you know what I started doing for the kids? Um, it whether it doesn't matter if you're three years old or 90 years old. Uh were you ever a Cub Scout or a Boy Scout? Oh yeah. Did you have a Pine Derby race car? Oh yeah. I have a Pine Derby track. And um we saw that over there. Every Saturday Sunday at um and I'm gonna say this out there, check this out, moms and dads and kids. Um every Sunday you come by, you get I if I'm here, I can't guarantee I'm always here, but if I'm here, we have pizza and races. So most weekends on Sunday I'm here if I'm not delivering a car across town, but I'm always working. So we have pizza and races at noon. Okay. Sunday at noon, but Saturday and Sunday, 10 to 2, there's always free donuts, which is nice. Um yeah, what makes me different than the other ones is uh we do full restorations, maintenance, even on brand new cars, and we also do um sales and we buy cars and we we just try to make them happy. We probably got like a 99 percentile. You're always gonna get that 1% that there's you know, that there's maybe a wire's loose up there, right?
SPEAKER_02Less than ecstatic.
SPEAKER_01Well, but no, I wouldn't say that. I think that they just are there's angry people in the world. You ever met an angry person? Yeah, yeah. Many times you see them on the news, they're serial killers, right? And I and anyone that has the time to sit around and write bad things online, right? And hide behind a keyboard, I would certainly say, is probably a little touched. Yeah, you're right. They should they should have a hobby. I don't care if it's painting mountainscapes, but they they should not take it out on their fellow man and woman. Have another outlet. Yeah, they should be try to be kind to people. Yeah, yeah, but other than that, this probably uh I have a different motivation. Yeah, it's fun. And uh I what I have said I mean, really, if I had room for another hundred cars or three or a thousand cars, I would go get them. Yeah, wow, and I would keep doing that. I would continue to do that. What it needs now is the city needs a big museum, a big, giant, huge museum that tells the story of America, it tells the story of Nevada, it tells the story of Las Vegas, and it tells the story of the Air Force and the Army and the Marines and the Navy and the Coast Guard and the National Guard. It tells the story of the fire departments, it tells the story of the police departments, it tells the story of the fabric of a republic because we're a republic. All these people talk about a democracy. This is a republic, right? Right? You remember that? Third grade in school. Yeah. Right? This is a republic. We need a big museum like that. Um I went down to a big Air Force base and they'll give me all the planes I want. I'm just gonna paint them up and put them on a static displays. Don't be surprised, right? One day if you wake up and there's the the biggest museum anywhere with all these things in it. We need to tell about the story of the silver. You know, um uh do you are you familiar with Tonopah? Yeah. Okay, Tonopah. The first printing press in Nevada was in Tonopah. Okay, Tonopah. There was at one time more than more than a hundred thousand people that live there in tents.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Tents. Because they were digging for what?
SPEAKER_03Gold.
SPEAKER_01Gold and silver. That was Tonopah. Crazy, huh? You've driven through there?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's like, oh did I pass that?
SPEAKER_02They have the clown motel down there.
Community Vibe: Donuts, Pizza, Derby
SPEAKER_01They do have the clown motel, that's right. Yeah, Totopah is a lovely city, but really it used to be massive. Yeah. Right? And they had the first printing press that was in the late 1800s. Yeah. So let's tell the story that. Let's tell the story correctly of all the things that um that maybe the next two, three, four generations of us, of us, everybody, can see what the people did before. Right. And take the good and the bad, and not try to manipulate history and cover up history just because it doesn't fit our narrative.
SPEAKER_02Right. No, it's definitely important to recognize where you came from and why you're here.
SPEAKER_01You know what a good pilot says?
SPEAKER_02What's that?
SPEAKER_01Are you a pilot?
SPEAKER_02I'm not a pilot.
SPEAKER_01Where are we going and how do we get there? That's all you need to know. Everything else is gonna work out fine.
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Where are we going and how you how are we gonna get there?
SPEAKER_02So, where are you where are you going next here?
SPEAKER_01Oh, just keep painting and building and do doing new stuff and make things. And um, have you been over to the Ahern Hotel recently?
SPEAKER_02Ahern hotel?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh-uh. Downtown? Oh no, no. That's a really neat place because inside there's all kinds of things I've built. Uh I've got Evil Kinevil Jumping Snake River.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01I've uh built that. So there's all kinds of stuff you won't believe inside that and outside that. And it's a really great venue just to have fun. They got great restaurants. One of the few places on the strip that you can um get free parking, have a great meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, uh, have an event, right? And uh, did you know we do events here now? I didn't know that. It's the craziest thing you've ever imagined. We just had EOS Fitness. Are you familiar with them? Very nice company, very nice ownership, very nice corporate chain. Uh, they have their Christmas party here every year, and so do a lot of other big companies. But we do weddings here, we do quincene eras, we do high school reunions, Christmas parties, Easter parties, Thanksgiving parties. We rent the buildings out.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_01We have a soda machine we turn on for all the parties. Yeah, right. And so, yeah, it's a great event. Then we've got four rooms already finished up for that have been remodeled to have different venues, all the way up to 9,500 square feet. Wow. And that's uh Trinity. If you ever ever want to have some really fun event, yeah, you come and check us out, even online, call Trinity. Okay and uh she runs that whole department.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. That's good to know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that kind of stuff. Something, you know, it's it's more fun to share stuff. Like that cub airplane, yeah, it flies. Problem is I'm too fat to get in it. I am. Pretty skinny. I'm you know, I'm pretty narrow. I'm six foot tall, two hundred and thirty-five pounds of me. Yeah, right? And I'm I'm probably, you know, I'm probably 15% pure blubber. Right? So that's the way that's the way that works, right?
SPEAKER_02Well, I know if you can't get in it, I can't get it in it either. So yeah, we're both in trouble. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But now if you were about 150 pounds or less, that wouldn't be a problem. You could fly to New York probably if you had time. But I think that's a guy, that's a that's a real airplane that works, and it works quite well. But It looks better than this air, doesn't it? Yeah, than you know, me plugging into the side of the hill somewhere in it.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. We don't want that.
A Museum Vision For Nevada’s Story
SPEAKER_01Fat boys don't look good in small planes. It just it just doesn't work out right. It looks great.
SPEAKER_02It looks great right there.
SPEAKER_01It'd be like me wearing a sweater two sizes too small. Yeah. That would not be something you want to see. No.
SPEAKER_02It's uh one of the one of the images we'll leave for somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01Did you grow up in a wealthy family?
SPEAKER_02I did not.
SPEAKER_01No, we had no money. You know, I was raised by four older sisters, and they all left pretty quick, but uh I still remember being very small. And if you have no money, what you do is you sit around and talk about people. And so uh they would take us uh to a little town. We we we first off started off in a very small town of 23 people in Missouri, but we there's a big city up there uh called Cape Girarde, and they had a mall, but not really like a mall mall you think of, like an outside mall.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh there's nothing to do with a kid on a Sunday, so you'd set them down in a corner and you'd you just leave them, right? They'd just leave us, and we'd sat there and watch, and they give us a little bit of money, maybe have a cherry coke or something. But uh, this is farm people, right? You know, they're out doing whatever they're doing, you know. They're and uh so crazy thing, but uh my sisters taught me how to talk about people, and that's what my my sister would say. You believe she's wearing that? And uh, oh my gosh. Well, we were so broke. Now we're never poor because we had food, because we had we had things to eat, because we had you know lots and lots of land to eat from. We had to grow our own vegetables and stuff, but we had no idea we just had nothing. I mean, less than nothing. Uh, when you were a kid in summer, did you have shoes? Yeah, no, we were growing. See, as a child, you grow, right? So you grow out of your shoes by the end of school year.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01All summer long we never had shoes. We did not have shoes. And so you at the beginning of school, right, uh, you would uh get new shoes. Yeah, like a pair of Buster Browns and corduroy pants. Uh-huh. I gotta tell you, until I was 10 years old, I wore a lot of hand-me-downs. Now, now my sister's hand-me-downs are a little bit different.
SPEAKER_03Uh definitely.
SPEAKER_01Well, no one else knew anyway. I was an original cross dresser, but I was seven years old, right? But uh, you know, what a hoot, though. We didn't have any money, right? Right? So, you know, no one cared. Well, I can tell you one thing, I was an expert at taking women's clothes off because the buttons are on backwards. A girl's buttons are backwards from a man. Okay. Did you know that one? Oh, see there? That's uh those were hand-me-down shirts. Yeah. Did any of you grow up in a big expensive house? I don't know about you, but no, we had hand-me-downs. I still remember my father coming home. He's a road agent. He's tough. Boy, he's a machinist and uh tough old man. And um, he looked at me one day and said, Get in the car. And we drove quite a ways. And we drove all the way out to a place called um Western Auto.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Western Auto is like a hardware store that sells bicycles and clothes.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
Events At Atomic And Ahern Builds
SPEAKER_01Imagine this. In the middle of nowhere, right? Attached to a small town. Uh-huh. A hundred miles from anything. I still remember going to the little, I was just, I was a tiny little kid too. I just still remember going in there and say, pick something out. Because you're not wearing that anymore. So I got my first pair of real boy pants, really, if you want to know the truth. And they were uh corduroys. You remember those corduroys were really thick? Oh, yeah. Oh, that was cool. I got a pair of those, and I got a Buster Brown shoes, and uh, I got a little cowboy shirt that had uh like pearl buttons. Okay. Because that's what I picked out. I think one too many days of wearing girl clothes, right? But he let me have it, right? And uh and I had uh little little like uh um what do you call it? Little epaulette things that had the little little pockets with like the little buttons on them. Man, I love that. You were fit right in. Oh, I was I was one cool dude. As you know, as a little kid. So yeah, it's interesting growing up with nothing, isn't it? Yeah, you don't realize you have nothing. Right.
SPEAKER_02Just where you are. I grew up on the west side of Vegas, so in the desert. And see during the summer was you basically kicked out of the house and come in when the streetlights came on, and it was uh if it was hot out, you just went and sat in the shade and drink. Uh we were having that conversation the other day, actually, with someone like about drinking, uh drinking out of the hose, and like, I never drink out of the hose. I'm like, Really? I survived. Doing really well, right?
SPEAKER_01You should wait till it cools down. Out here, that hose water is boiling hot when it comes out. Let it run for a minute. Yeah, it'll be better. You know the deal.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, it'll be much better. Yeah.
Growing Up With Nothing, Finding Grit
SPEAKER_01Reminds me of that story. You know, that story, um, there were uh three three fellas out there driving around in a car out in West Texas. And we had uh Derek and we had uh Alejandro and Bill, and of course there was a girl near Tiffany with us, and Tiffany was driving. And we were we were about uh, I don't know, 15, 20 miles outside of town. And uh Derek looks over and says, Hey Bill, he says, uh, you know, out there at the at the Williams farm, there's really cold, ice cold water. And I said, Well, that's deep down in there. He says, I think we can get it. So uh Alandro says, Let's go. Stephanie says, Great. So she turns off the road, drives out through the fields a few miles out. We come up to an old abandoned farmhouse, you know, and there's a pump. Have you ever seen a mechanical pump before? Ka chink ka chink, ka chink ka chink, ka chink, ka chink, ka chink, ka chink, right? So I looked over at him and I said, uh, now I'm gonna tell you the story about Henderson right here. I'm gonna tell you the story about uh your life, everyone listening. I'm gonna tell you the story about atomic motors and my life. I'm gonna tell you the story about your parents' life. Now I want you to follow along close. So Derek says, Hey, let's get that water, right? So Alejandro says, I'm gonna grab the bucket. So there he is. Derek's chink it, chicka, chink it, chica, chica, chica, chink it, chica, chicka, chica, chink it, chicka, chink it, chicka, chicka, chica, chicka, chicka, chicka. He's just beating the hell out of that old pump, you know, just going to town. Chicka, chicka, chica, chica, chicka, chic, chic, chicka, chicken, nothing's happening. I look at Alejandro, holler, oh, do me a favor. Run down another old creek, an old muddy creek, just a little bit of water. Fill it up with water. Run down there as quick as you can. I was there, not a problem. So he runs up there and I said, Now, you see that thing sticking out of the front? Chicka, chica, chicka, chica, chicka, chica, chicka, chica, chic, chicka, chicka. Now we got Tiffany rootness on, go, go, go, right? Now she's trying to find some shades. She can't find any shade, but chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chikik. Alejandro, so you start to pour it in there, right? There's the mouth on the side of a pump. You've got to fill it in. That's called Prime the Pump. Gurgle, girl, gurgle, goggle. Nothing. I said, give it to me, Alejandro. I take off running. You're worn out now. Man, I'm gonna tell you, Derek is just worn out. Alejandro, get on there. Now, chicken, chik, chicka, chik, chicka chicki, chicki chik, chik, chik, chicka. I come up with a full bucket of wire and start pulling it and pour it in real slow. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, chika, chica, chik, chika, gurgle, gurgle, chika, chica, chicka chica, chikka, chik, chika. Pretty soon, you won't believe it, I poured the whole another bucket in and water gushes out. Bloosh, gook, chika, chika, chik chika, bloosh, chika, chika, chika, bloosh, chicka, chika, chika. A lot of says, I'm too tired. Take over, Tiffany. Tiffany takes over. Okay, boys. Chika, chika, chik, chika, chika, chika, chika, bloosh, bloosh, bloosh, bloosh. And I said, Don't stop now. It's coming out. Well, what you do now, Tiffany, is keep constant, easy pressure. Just keep constant, easy pressure on that pump now. Chinka chinka, chinka chinkka, chinka, chinka, chinka, chinka. So you know what's happening? All the water in the world is now coming out of there. You see, you had to put something in the pump to get something out of the pump. Wouldn't you agree, Derek? How about you, Alejandro? Tiffany, you in agreement? You bet you are. So, constant, easy pressure. That's life. That's the story of all of us. Constant, easy pressure. Before you know, you have more water than you know what to do with it. Everybody's having a good time. I take over all in the pump. Now, she can rest for a minute. Chink ka ching, ka chink ka ching, ka chink ka ching. And it's just gushing out. All the water in the world we could ever want. And that's the story of Henderson. That's the story of Atomic Motors. That's the story of all of us here. You have to put something in to get something out.
SPEAKER_02That's amazing. That's awesome. I don't know how to how to finish this any better than that, Dr. That's a wonderful uh way to finish our meeting today. So grateful for your time today to sit down with us and share everything that has that has built who you are and built a built an amazing company here, amazing business here in Henderson. And so thank you. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01And thank thank you for pumping that lever as well as you did, kids. You did a great job, man.
SPEAKER_02I'm more out. I'm tired now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, good. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Bill. Welcome back from that wonderful interview with Bill and Dr. Atomic. That was an amazing opportunity to sit down with him and hear his stories. And oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00I think I could listen to him all day long.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you could talk all day long.
SPEAKER_00Those were great, great stories. It's an amazing story of how they've built atomic motors.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Just from a startup and uh start up as a mechanic, uh motorcycle mechanic, and grow it to what it is today of full service restoration and car collector. If you're looking for a classic car, I think they might have it.
SPEAKER_00So it's well, and not only that, it's such a hidden gym. You can go down every Saturday um and do tours of the area and Bill buys donuts for everyone. And Sunday you can take the family down and the kids can do their own Pinewood Derby slot car racing. And he gets pizza for 'em. There's just so many cool things about that place.
SPEAKER_02They're an amazing uh community partner, that's for sure. So they are they are in and they enjoy what they do, and uh it's definitely uh evident in Bill's stories, and so we really appreciate him sitting down with us and sharing that those uh nuggets of wisdom that he had. And hopefully you enjoyed it also. Uh taking take some of the that would those words of wisdom from him on on business life and what uh what it takes to grow a business and be successful business owners. It's uh uh it's not just a nine to five job all the time. It's uh as I'm sure Bill can attest, uh that you know he is there every day. And I think uh he said that he took one vacation. He's taken one vacation in the last little while.
SPEAKER_00In the last not a little while, 17 years.
SPEAKER_02So and I only think only it was only three-day vacation at that. So it was it was not very long, but uh but yeah, go check it out. Go check out Atomic Motors and uh down on sunset and near Eastgate, you'll uh you'll appreciate the you'll be glad you did. Yeah. Check it out.
SPEAKER_00Take take your whole family. Yeah, spend a few hours. You're gonna need a few hours. There's so much to look at. So much. I mean, on their four-acre campus, there is just countless things to look at.
SPEAKER_02You can uh you can wander through all of the restoration uh bays and see cars being restored. You can see all the cars they have restored, and yeah, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Do a little window shopping, all the cars you would like to purchase.
SPEAKER_02Right. Bring your credit card or a check. Uh or a bank statement that says you have enough. Yeah. Uh but yeah, they're a lot of cool. And then go, yeah, definitely go check out the Dr. Atomic store, uh gift shop. There's a lot of cool things in there. Uh a lot of fun, uh, fun historic um relics back to good old days of Las Vegas.
SPEAKER_00That's what I was gonna say. It's almost like a time capsule in there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there were so many cool items. Yeah. You would never kind of those rare, those rare finds that you just kind of come across and you're like, oh man, that's cool. I hadn't seen one of those in a long time.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Brought back some memories.
Prime The Pump: Bill’s Life Lesson
SPEAKER_02Yeah, brought back some memories, that's for sure. But well, thanks again for uh joining us for this wonderful uh interview with Bill Byler and a Doctor Atomic Tog Motors. Again, if you if any of you are interested in us coming out and um sitting down with you and uh being a guest on our show, we would love the opportunity to come uh come hang out with you and hear your story. Uh, you can always reach out to me at Derek.aln at city of Henderson.com. That's D-E-R-E-K. Alan A-L-L-E-N at city of Henderson.com. Or you can go to our website at city of Henderson.com slash redevelop that. And you can uh get in touch with us, touch with us there, and we'll come out and see how you're doing. But hopefully uh you are all uh prepped and ready for the fall season here and ready for some uh great events and activities coming up and want to be a part of uh Water Street, and we're excited to have you be a part of our community, and so we look forward to hearing from you soon.
SPEAKER_00Till next time.
SPEAKER_02Till next time.
