Restoring the Past: Triumph Spitfire, Arctic Volvo Duett & First Car Stories with James McCrea 🛠️🇬🇧

What defines a true "Barn Find"? Is it a dusty car left in a field, or is it finding a high school friend 30 years later who now runs a restoration shop inside a barn? 🏚️🤔

In this episode, we sit down with James McRae, owner of McRae Enterprises LLC, to talk about the art of keeping vintage metal alive. Broadcasting from his shop on the Eastern Shore of Maryland—surrounded by skeletons of Packards, Porsches, and Volvos—James shares his incredible journey from driving a land-yacht first car to restoring concourse-level classics.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• 🚓 The "Undercover" First Car: The story of his 1977 Chevy Caprice Classic, a two-tone V8 behemoth that looked suspiciously like an undercover police cruiser.
• 🇬🇧 The Impulse Buy: How he bought a Kermit-green 1976 Triumph Spitfire for $1,000 that had no brakes (and had to be "bumper towed" home at night).
• ❄️ The Arctic Volvo: The fascinating history of a 1962 Volvo 210 Duett that spent its life above the Arctic Circle and required two heater cores to keep the driver alive.
• 🏎️ The Dream Realized: Why James finally pulled the trigger on a Porsche 996 Cabriolet and why it’s his form of therapy.
• 🛠️ The Lost Art: A look into the reality of auto restoration, hunting for parts on forums, and learning from the last generation of engine rebuilders.

Don't miss Megan, the owner of a FJ60 Land Cruiser who shared her eBay Motors purchase experience with our listeners on this fun episode: https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/16170942

Whether you are a fan of British roadsters, curious about the restoration business, or just love a good first car story involving a bench seat and a V8, this episode is a barn find of its own.

🔗 Links & Resources:

• Check out McCrea Enterprises on Facebook
• Visit LinkTree 🔗🌲for our 60+ first car stories : https://linktr.ee/carsloved

📢 Join the Conversation: What is the "one that got away"—the car you sold but wish you had kept? Let us know on Instagram @toallthecarsivelovedbefore

          *** Your Favorite Podcast Automotive Nostalgia Podcast ***

Connect with us: 

📧 Email: stories@carsloved.com 

🔗🌳 Visit our LinkTree for all 70+ episodes: https://linktr.ee/carsloved

Love the show? Please follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transcript

Car Stories

Christian 0:03

all right, welcome back everybody to your podcast, where every car tells a story. Uh, we are to all the cars I've loved before, or, as I like to call it, cars love nation. I'm christian, he is doug. Get a hold of me christian at carslovecom. He is doug at carslovecom. And this is a special Blue Angels weekend. And where I sit in my air-conditioned bunker, the Blue Angels. This is their air show. They do every July. They were streaking over my house and we had to wait until all the roar of freedom, as they say, died down so it wouldn't drown me out as I was speaking. So they have a practice show today, another practice show tomorrow. The real deal is Saturday and, hey, you know I am in the mood. It gets the blood pumping, which is good, because we have a great guest today who is well, we'll get into this in a minute. Doug, how are you doing today?

Doug 1:04

I'm doing great. Great to be back here with you. That's my tagline.

Christian 1:13

All right Sounds good, and I've been having some internet problems. This is what happens when you get your internet from Dollar Tree it's a little spotty, it's a little iffy, but you know what? Hey, you know, I got it back there where you can get the discount orange juice.

Doug 1:23

But I didn't know dial up was still a thing, but you proved me wrong.

Christian 1:30

Well, this, yeah, this is a spin, this is a dial up with the rotary phone, so it's actually very curious the way it goes. But a little bit of housekeeping, as we normally do. We see the stats go up. Want to thank everybody. The audience is growing again all around the world. We can see the downloads go up. I want to thank everybody. The audience is growing Again all around the world. We can see the downloads, especially in Europe. I don't know if it was my recent trip to Ireland, but I'm very excited to have you aboard If you would like to be on the show. If you are a car nut or just fascinated with the, we get this a lot where people say, hey, I like the spirit of the show. I'm not a huge car person, but you know what? Invariably those people have some of the most interesting stories to tell.

Doug 2:16

Or they may have a car nut friend. Sorry for the interruption.

James 2:18

They may have a car nut friend.

Doug 2:20

Refer us to your car nut friends Love it.

Christian 2:24

Yeah, one of our earlier tandem guests in season one was husband and wife team Adam, who we love, who goes way back with Doug, but you know his wife, melissa, was an even better guest. I mean, she is way up there in the pantheon of guests here. So, yeah, very good point. So every car tells a story. Feel free to reach out to us and, yeah, yeah, get involved, email us, okay. Uh, you also check out carslovecom more and more. We're seeing in, in, in our, in the the analytics that more and more people are actually listening to the show from the site itself, carslovecom, so you can listen to the episodes there as well, as Doug has us propagated all over the internet. I think we're on Spotify, we're on of course, Apple Podcasts.

Doug 3:14

wherever, Castro, you name it, we're on it.

Christian 3:19

Yeah, fidelcastrocom, who would have known that he would have started an ISP? But yeah, we're huge in Cuba. What can you say? So listen to the episodes. Follow the show. Download the episodes. Follow the show. We track all that and we love to get all the feedback from listeners too, so please feel free. Do we have anything Doug to share with listenership? It's been a week or two since we've recorded, so we're jumping back in with both feet. Anything new about the show, any guests we want to tease, shows upcoming, anything you want to share before we introduce this week's guest?

Doug 4:01

Yeah, well, besides this week's guest, who I went to high school with, and we have another mutual friend that we went to high school with, who was also a guest Joe. We just interviewed a very famous former rock crawler turned professional monster truck driver, turned. Youtube star youtube star and uh can't, can't wait to get that episode out. We're, we're, uh, just gonna keep dropping little tidbits, but what a, what a great, uh, great lady and um gosh, so much to say, nicole johnson. Yep name, nicole johnson and nicole Johnson.

Doug 4:41

Yep Named Nicole Johnson and Nicole Johnson's detour uh, former driver of this Scooby-Doo monster truck.

Christian 4:48

Yeah, so check her out at Nicole Johnson's detourcom and that'll get you to the show on YouTube which is blowing up. It's so much fun. And um, yeah, but not to bear the lead here, let's uh, let's bring in today's guests. And, uh, by way of prologue here, yeah, but not to bear the lead here, let's bring in today's guest. And by way of prologue here, doug, when I say barn find, what do you think what's a barn find to?

Doug 5:15

you so barn find, and there's a great show on YouTube, by the way, called Barn Find Hunter, that I like there is Barn find is just a car that got left behind. Maybe it broke down, that's right. Maybe somebody passed away. Maybe that's right. Somebody had a car buying habit, and uh not their repair budget in mind and they just got. They just got forgotten. Perfect. So there you have it, that's what I call a car, that's perfect, that's perfect.

Christian 5:51

You're welcome. And the setup is that you find these cars in a barn, which is the perfect prologue to today's guest, because, as we're talking to him, guess where we found him? In a barn.

Memories of First Cars

Christian 6:05

Today's guest is a little bit of a barn find. His name is James. I just met him, delightful gentleman, but he is joining this podcast we're recording. He is in his barn surrounded by a bunch of cars, some simply skeletons, some chassis in different states of repair restoration. This one needs a paint job, this one's on a lift that one doesn't have the body. He's got a 19,. What is it? 31 Packard frame that he's got a 41 Packard motor for. He's going to tell you all about it, but since he and Doug go way back, I am going to gently hand the introduction baton to Doug so that he can tell you a little bit more about.

Doug 6:52

James. Yeah well, james and I go back to probably middle school and certainly through high school. Haven't haven't talked in about 30 years, but you know, recognized his voice on the phone like yesterday Joked around about— I didn't realize that you guys just—. Yeah, we reconnected through.

Christian 7:12

Joe. You knew him then, but you had not heard this guy's voice in 30 years, correct?

Doug 7:17

I love that, didn't realize that Love, that?

Christian 7:20

Sorry, didn't mean to break it, yeah, no, no, that's fantastic. Please continue.

Doug 7:23

And you know it's so. I had heard from Joe Joe, our former guest, that James does auto restoration on the Eastern Shore, like that is his job Classic auto restoration, perfect guest. Perfect, perfect guest. Has lots of stories not only of his own cars but of these cars that you know they're hobbyist cars, right, so he's restoring them. And you know somebody who's holding on to an old car, right, they've got some stories behind it, right? Whether it was the grandmother's car, right, grandfather's car, whether it was the neighbor's car, right.

Doug 8:15

What grandfather's car, whether it was the neighbor's car, whether the wife had it, had one just like it but had to get rid of it 40 years ago and she's been dying to have it. Were talking and he filled out our online form about his first car, which was. I will leave it to him, but I remember that car in high school and I remember that car doubling as a police lookalike vehicle, oh boy. But let's let James feel free to introduce yourself. Tell us about where you live, what you do.

Doug 8:47

And we can talk about your first car, which is definitely a family affair.

James 8:51

Well, thank you both Doug and Christian for having me on the podcast. I'm honored to be on here and this is a lot of fun and listening to some of your other podcast people talking about their cars. It's been really enjoyable. So, going back to my first car, so yeah, that was. It's a bit embarrassing now. It was a 77 Caprice Classic it was. It came from one of my grandparents and I think it was. Maybe, if I remember, it was a couple hundred dollars or something. It may have been worked off the payment or something.

Doug 9:33

Mowed the lawn.

James 9:35

Yeah, mowed the lawn. It was a four-door Reese Classic, two-tone. It had a 302 or a 305. I'm trying to remember what it had. It was a V8, but it wasn't a big one and it was a two-barrel carb. So it wasn't fuel efficient nor was it very powerful. But, as you know, with first cars it was freedom and it didn't matter.

Christian 10:00

So well put.

James 10:02

I was in love with that car and I think my neighbor would say, if you wax that car anymore, you're going to wax the paint right. So well, put undercover car of the day from the 80s, because at one point I had to put new tires on it and they didn't put the white walls on the outside, so it had black walls on it, which all the police cruisers look like that, and I think, uh, it was just kind of, you know, tongue-in-cheek, but it was two-tone, it would never pass. Um, but it was fun, right, it did. It did get me through a couple speed traps on the way to Ocean City one time.

James 10:48

There are many yes, yeah, it was like many that have the first car. I was lucky to have it and I was probably mid-17 to 18 when I got it. I got my license, though, when I was 16 and a half and I was driving my parents' Toyota. They had one of those Tercels, the hatchback, and it was an economy little car, but that's what I learned to drive on. And when the Caprice came in, it was a V8. It had power steering, power brakes, power locks, it had air conditioning. It had a big back seat, a big front seat, it was bench seats.

Christian 11:28

Oh, bench seats, yeah, bench seats Like driving a speedboat right on land.

James 11:33

It was a land yacht and I think Joe had one too. He had a big convertible land yacht. Yes, he did, so we could relate. And they were horrible on gas, just absolutely horrible.

James 11:46

But gas was, you know, dollar fifty two dollars a gallon, I think, back then until the first golf war and doug and I were probably shelling out over two dollars a gallon thinking how are we going to do this? And you know it was little did we know where that would have gone. But that car turned into freedom and I drove that car for several years and I loved that car because of what it was. I remember putting a Pioneer stereo system in it and an amplifier yeah, the old Alpine amplifiers and subwoofers and stuff. And you know it was learning how to wire stuff. You know tinker with the car.

James 12:29

The car always had this really bad fault when I was going to the community college where it would stall on this one hill every time when it was cold and it was a left-hand turn going uphill and it would stall every time and I had to go that way. I couldn't go a different way and I'd have. I'd be stuck in the middle of the intersection. All these people honking at me have to get out, open the hood and then stick a finger down, get the choke to open up and get unstuck and then so you're going to school smelling like gas. It was always, you know, fun, but you know the memories you have. I remember that to this day. You know it was freezing out and your hands cold and you're smelling gas.

Christian 13:10

So what happened to that car?

James 13:12

So that car ended up going to my younger brother and that became his first car and he was three years younger. I drove it for several years and he was three years younger. I drove it for several years and when he got his license I ended up buying a. The next car was an 85 old Tornado. I bought it from my stepfather and it was all gold and it had the 80s. It was, uh, a gold vinyl rich corinthian letter it was caliente.

Doug 13:47

It was a front-wheel drive v8 yeah, I was gonna say that was a front-wheel drive v8 vehicle and I love that about that car.

James 13:55

It was really good in the snow, it was great handling, it actually was very smooth riding but it had the biggest doors. It was a two-door and the biggest doors of any car I've ever owned. And I remember taking that car when I went away to school at Towson State and trying to park in the parking garage and you can't open the door to get out of the car. I mean, forget it. You have to find a spot, like on the the end, that you could get the driver's door open without hitting a car.

James 14:24

So it was limiting in that respect, but I ended up driving that car for a number of years and it was it was a great call it. You know we had a lot of fun. I'd back and forth from annapolis to towson in that car and it was um, it was the uh. The car had a digital dash.

James 14:45

Remember the early ultimobile and it would roll up to 188 and then roll back down. Well, this car had this glitch where you'd be driving along on 695 and all of a sudden the dash would roll up to 188 and roll back down and you'd have to pound on the dash and it would come back on and you could never trust the little gauge of gas. It had these little bars and I remember one time I ran out of gas and I had two bars left and I was walking distance of the gas station. I said that's it. I'll never trust those bars again. The digital was not as accurate, I guess, but I had that car for a number of years and I think that car went to my younger brother after I was done with it and the Caprice moved on somewhere else. And when I owned that car I ended up buying a good friend's. His mom had had an estate sale and there were two triumph spitfires in the state sale.

Christian 15:46

Oh boy, sherwood forest this is what started it all all right started it.

James 15:51

Yeah, I said. I said can we go look at them? And he said, yeah, I'm doing the sale, let's go look. And I fell in love. I said how do I get one of these? And he said, well, they're a thousand dollars a piece, you know, and I'm like that's a lot of cash. I was going to school when I was working, so I, I just I did it, I bought it and I didn't look back. The car was, uh, I would call John Deere green but it was triumphumph. Green or Kermit green.

Christian 16:23

Not the British Racing green, not British Racing green. That's distinct from British Racing green, got you?

James 16:28

Yeah, it wasn't that dark, but it was bright green so to speak.

Christian 16:33

Okay, so there were two Spitfires, right.

James 16:36

Yeah, there were two in the sale. One was mustard yellow and the other one was this light green color. And the green had a soft top, the yellow one had a hard top and overdrive and I I liked the green one. It just sang to me so I bought that. But I didn't know it didn't have brakes.

Christian 16:55

Both 76s. I'm sorry, the year was both 76s. Oh no, I'm sorry, todd.

James 17:00

My friend Todd bought the other one and that was a 1980, and it was one of the last years. I think of the Spitfire 80 or 81, and it had overdrive.

James 17:10

It was a little switch on the stick shift and it had brakes but it would only do like 40 miles an hour. It had some weird water choke or something, but mine didn't have brakes. But it could drive. So I had to follow him from sherwood forest all the way back to saint margaret's road in annapolis, using his a bumper as a brake and a handbrake what's left of the hand oh boy it was. It was like watching beavis and butthead try to drive two vintage cars. Stop ramming me, Beavis.

Doug 17:44

And of course this was at night right, james.

James 17:48

Yeah, we did not do that in the day. I think that was late in the evening or something, and I don't even remember if the lights worked.

James 17:53

But I just remember the smile on our face as driving, it's like we stole the show or something you know, and these people are probably looking at us like why did they buy those? You know it was. It was just I was 20 or 21 years old, 20 years old, and I remember my parents saying how can you afford two cars? I was like I just did it. You know, I didn't think about it, I just I had to have that car.

Doug 18:21

And.

James 18:22

I am. I never regretted owning the car. Um, it was one of those experiences that took me to where I am today. It set that seed, it planted that seed where that love of working on it and tinkering on it turned into a business later down the road. But it was a car that I ended up taking from Annapolis to Towson and I ended up joining an MG club at Towson to justify the insurance on the car, because you were only supposed to use it for parades and special events.

Doug 18:56

Right.

James 18:56

And I was. You know, I'm under 21 years old and to have a convertible when you're that young is really expensive. So I got historic tags and I think it was with Allstate at the time, and they said, well, you can only drive a certain amount of miles a year and you have to use it for events. And I said, well, that's a big gray area. What's an event Right? Is a monthly meeting up at Towson at the MG Club. An event you know right Is a? Is a monthly meeting of the Towson at the MG club an event that sounds like an event?

James 19:26

And so I I uh joined this club and I I still, to this day, have the patch from one of the rallies I did.

Doug 19:35

I don't know if you can see that. Yeah, yeah, I kept it all.

James 19:37

Yeah, mg is a Baltimore historic rally. I pulled that down for you guys. So that was one of the first rallies I did.

Classic Car Enthusiast Stories

James 19:46

We ended up driving the Triumph. My girlfriend at the time at Towson went with me as a co-pilot and we did a time speed distance rally where you drove it was from Towson out to Mount Area and we did all these back roads and it wasn't about speeding, it was about keeping the proper speed. So whoever was closest to the speed won that leg. And then they had a parking lot set up where you do cone drills.

James 20:16

And you know, the Spitfire had one of the best turning radiuses of any car I've ever owned and it did the best in that cone execution because you could literally turn the wheels sideways. It had incredible turning radius, but it was it just kind of. I did a couple of rallies with them and it just kind of was like wow, this is fun and all these like minded people were doing this and I just kind of fell in love with that. When I left school, when I moved to the Eastern Shore, I brought the car with me and I used it for quite some time and then it developed oh, I'd say a bad noise. It was. There was a crack in the head that I was always adding water to it and I could never find it, and it perpetuated into a worse and worse problem and and one day.

James 21:09

It just died and then sat and it was nothing sadder than seeing a car you love with grass growing up around it in the in the yard.

James 21:18

So I think we've all seen those pictures and I ended up selling it to my brother's girlfriend for in the family again yeah it was a, I think I you know whatever truck payment was at the time 400 bucks, 300 bucks and she took it and, knowing that the engine was shot, and had it rebuilt and used it and I got to drive it one last time, it was really cool. And then, yeah, she brought it, they brought it down, my brother and her, and they let me take it out for one last drive. And then I'm not sure where the car ended up after that. They broke up and I never saw it again, but it was one of those experiences that for years it it stuck with me.

James 22:01

But I would drive that car and I I would imagine some of your I say older, uh podcast listeners I'm old, I'm 51, but I'm not. You know, doug and I, going back, were vintage, but these cars were not. You know, that was a 76 that you know was three years older than I was when I was born. That was not a vintage, vintage car but it was vintage enough in 91, 92, 93 when I was driving it. It's a 25-year-old car and I would drive that car at 11, 30, 12 o'clock at night from Annapolis, where I was living, up to Towson and know the Beltway, with a vintage British car that barely had headlights, you know Lucas electronics and was prone to overheating and I had no cell phone this is before cell phones and I didn't have a care in the world or a worry that I would make it.

James 22:58

I just, you know, caution to the wind trust in the universe and to people that might stop and help you. And it was one of the most free freedom type of things where you just, you just go. And then for so many people that I've talked to in this business that have grown up with these cars older than myself you know that's how they lived with them. They drive these cars, cross country and not give a thought to it. And you know I had somebody recently helped to find a home for a 67 Mustang that was going up to Philly and the guy said do you think I can drive it back to Philly from here? And I said I don't see, why not? You know, be prepared. You know, make sure that you have, you know, coolant and oil and and the car was fully restored. It was gorgeous, it was 20 year old restoration but it was immaculate and he drove that car back, not a problem.

James 23:54

You know three hours to Philly and you know that was commonplace, that that was a car that was built to be driven every day and I think we lose sight of that sometimes now. It's not going to be as comfortable as the modern car and it's not going to be as fuel efficient and, uh, the creature comforts. But you know that was a nice car back in the day. So I, um, I I got the, that spitfire under my skin and I loved it and I always had a soft spot for it. And then a couple of years ago I sat in one that a customer brought by and I just said, this car got really small.

James 24:35

I don't know how I fit in this car and getting in and out of it.

Christian 24:39

They shrink over time.

James 24:41

You put them in the dryer and exactly yeah, and, but there's such a love for these cars and then if I you look at some of the prices that spitfires are bringing, it's like, oh my gosh, I should have kept the darn thing, but who would have thought, right, yeah?

James 24:57

so yeah that's where it started, with those cars, and then along the way, I never lost the love for the sports cars or the European cars and had many different jobs and ended up about seven years ago, eight years ago, getting back into classic cars working for somebody, classic cars working for somebody and it did that for a year and then started out with a business partner and we did that for three and a half years and, um, partnerships are tough. We, we worked hard, we we had a really good client base and we've, uh, went on our own way and and I started over and I just my love has been for keeping these things on the road as best I can and learning as much as I can about them.

Christian 25:46

So yeah, that's OK. So, perfect segue. That's where we wanted to, where we wanted to navigate the conversation to. So would you mind telling us a little bit if you feel comfortable sharing the business name a little bit? Uh, if, if you feel comfortable sharing the business

Classic Car Restoration and Expertise

Christian 26:06

name, um, how do you? I said I'm fascinated by, uh, small businesses like these, um, sort of what's the cadence on a car? How long is it? What? What are you comfortable doing? Is it kind of one of these from the ground to the crown things? In other words, you handle everything or I've.

James 26:20

I've done that on a couple full restoration or finished a full restoration on a. It was a 53 MGTD that later we had a customer that did a full restoration on it and we did finish the car and it went to a concourse and it won an award and it was a really nice car and then but it was a car that did 45 miles an hour. You don't drive those on the highway. Really, they're not suited for that. Everybody's so much faster nowadays and he ended up selling it, taking it to auction and getting another British car. He got an MGB GT. That's a little faster with overdrive. But yeah, I've done full restoration. That does take time. It does take years. It's not a TV show. It depends on how many people you can throw at it and the TV shows throw 25 or 30 people but it's not realistic.

James 27:17

I like watching some of the stuff because it makes you laugh and you know you old cars are like old houses and you run into stuff and it's usually rust and it's usually not good. So you have to have the stomach for it if you're going to get into it and you have to know sometimes when to say when or what's a good candidate. And, as it as I am like everybody else, you're learning every day the better way to do it and you have to be open minded because sometimes you don't know everything and there are other people that especially, that have been doing this a long time, that you listen to and you learn from their experience and that's been the greatest teacher for me, been the greatest teacher for me. I have, like I said, I have a mentor that is 81, that was a Mercedes mechanic and European specialist for 52 years and he's retired but he comes in every week and checks on me and I am. It's like a college education. You can learn more in five minutes listening to this gentleman than you can reading a book. I mean, it's just somebody that's been there and done that and that's what we need. You know we're losing that every day. We have in Easton we have a gentleman named Dickie Moreland. That is he. He rebuilds crankshafts. He's one of the few that's left that still does it.

James 28:36

There are very few engine rebuilders in this area. There used to be several and now we're you know we lost these people. It's become a lost art and we're you know I'm trying to soak up as much of this information as possible. So my business when I started over it's called McRae Enterprises LLC. It's just my last name, enterprises because I do a little bit of everything, but mostly it's a European sports cars and classic cars, some American classic cars. I do a lot of 50s, 60s, 70s, some eighties cars. I've done a couple of nineties cars but it starts getting into computer stuff. I'm more comfortable with carburetors and early fuel injection. It's just what I've been working on and I know my limits and they're not so much on the newer stuff. So I just feel more comfortable with the older stuff points and condenser and coil plugs, wires, you know that type of stuff. It's pretty straightforward and I like that.

Christian 29:48

Is it hard for you to get parts for a lot of these cards? That's one question I have. Second question is what happens when you get stuck or you need to find documentation? Do you have a huge library? Do you find things online. Do you get manuals on Well?

James 30:09

I can show you.

Christian 30:11

Oh, look at that, it's like a library yeah.

James 30:13

Yeah, I've got a good collection of books for a lot of the cars I work on.

Doug 30:19

I think I saw Chilton's manuals.

James 30:22

Oh yeah, You'll probably see a couple yeah.

Doug 30:26

Our younger listeners don't know about those. Yeah.

Classic Car Enthusiast's Passion Stories

James 30:29

Free internet and I'm going to let you in on a little secret called youtube. Yes, sir, there is. I'm I know it's a joke and youtube mechanic certified and all that stuff. But I'm going to be honest with you. There are a lot of people that, especially if you get into a situation where you've never been into that part of the car or have to diagnose something, it is a really valuable resource because there's like-minded people that are struggling with the same thing. And these forums there are a lot of forums that are specific to the car and I recommend going to those.

James 31:07

There's nothing better than an owner's group that has 25, 30, 50 years of experience on a car that has been there and done that. That can lead you down the path to fix a problem. I've had so many times where I've talked to people and you know you find that you pull a thread here and it takes you to another thread on a forum and then you find your answer or at least a way to solve a problem. So yeah, the internet's a huge part of it, but also I have had a lot of success with vendors and private companies that sell parts, where they have experience and expertise in certain car makes and they have the answers you can. Usually you're going to find in most cases that the people that are selling the parts or selling the cars they're passionate too and they want to see them stay on the road, so they're going to help you.

James 32:07

I've had so many cases. I've had clients or clients. I've had vendors that have sent me thousands of dollars in parts without me paying for it. I mean trust. Wow, yes, that's very unusual in this day and age where they say I'm going to send you an invoice, you mail me a check, and I've had that happen a couple of times and that is remarkable that that happens still and it is a testament to some people. It's kind of it's amazing because most people will be like you know, give me your credit card number and I'll send it out once it's paid for.

James 32:46

But I've had several instances that's happened and then those same people have helped me diagnose an issue or particular issue on, like a 1940 Buick that I was having and just remarkable, and they've been doing that for 50 years. That's all they do. And if you I'm just say if you're into a certain car and you're having trouble, find an owner's group, join a club on Facebook. Yeah, facebook's a good gateway. Yes, absolutely. And my motto has been for years you don't know unless you go. You don't know unless you ask. You may not like the answer, but if you don't ask, you will never know the answer, and sometimes asking the question will end up getting you another project car.

Christian 33:38

Ask me how I know.

James 33:40

So you know that's a bitter experience but you know that's just what happens and we keep them going. But yeah, the business I work on mainly these, on mainly these 50, 60, 70, 80s, some 40s, work on the Packard's, my own project, and that's taking up most of my shop. But that's a passion project that I've always wanted to build and it's slowly coming along. I did last year for my 50th. I bought a 911 from a customer that just couldn't refuse the deal and he wanted a newer one and his wife wouldn't let him have two.

Christian 34:21

Why'd you have to have it? Why'd you have to have it? Was it him? Was it the car? Was it something about it?

James 34:27

It was the car I've always wanted a 911 I. I wanted an air-cooled 911, but the prices are so astronomical even a junker is just a fortune and I've I've worked on a lot of them and I have a client that's got a bunch and you have one right behind you, yeah there's one behind me, but uh, yeah, the green ones up on the left um love the color.

Christian 34:52

I can see just a little bit of color peeking out beneath these.

James 34:55

It's like an anaconda green, I think, or a conda green, they call it Okay okay. That was almost the color of my Triumph Spitfire. Believe it or not, Wow it was about that green.

James 35:06

It was repainted and I don't think it was the original green, but the 911, he had for 10 years. It's a 99, 996, six-speed cab and I knew the car, I knew him and I knew the people that worked on it and all the usual suspects of things on 996s that everybody complains about had already been taken care of, everybody complains about had already been taken care of. And you know it was an opportunity that I was looking at a BMW at the time that another client had. It was a 323i, five-speed convertible, low mileage, and we were talking price and I was getting anxious and then the 911 popped up. That was way more than the BMW and I remember taking a picture of each to my wife and saying if you had an opportunity to buy, if I could buy one of these cars, which car would you drive? And she said, oh, I drive the 911. And I said, ok, that answered it. You know it's done.

Christian 36:08

I see yeah.

James 36:09

And I bought that car a year and a half ago. I've driven it maybe six or seven times. I've worked so much. It's in the garage at home. Every time I take it out it's like therapy, it's you know. 296 horsepower in a 911 is nothing nowadays. But it's not just the horsepower, it's you know. Now they're 400, 500, 600 horsepower.

Doug 36:31

Yes, they are, I have the horsepower, it's you know.

James 36:32

now they're four and five hundred six hundred horsepower, flat six, and you can't compete with that. But it's the handling, it's the way the car responds. And, doug, you've had a 996, you know how they feel. Um, it's, it's the closest I could get to an air cool by one year, affordability wise. But if there's nothing like I always said to myself that if I could afford one sports car, it'd be a 911. I grew up my best friend in school, todd, had a 74 911 S Targa that I rode around in and I just loved that car, the way the car handled, the way it sounded, the way it could take a curve and pull out of it. It was just something about 9-11. And so it always stuck with me and I said one day I want to own one and it just it fell in my lap and I don't regret it at all. So I look forward to the times I take it out and I actually have a new exhaust up on the shelf for it waiting to go on Well, or as tell you what.

Doug 37:33

Heat exchangers. Right yeah, On the old one.

James 37:37

Yeah, the Pfister exhaust. Have you ever heard of those? I think so. Pfister, out of California, it does a lot of 911 exhausts and it's kind of like an automatic bypass or it's a built-in bypass. So I'm looking forward to putting that on and doing some maintenance to the car. But shop is full.

Christian 37:57

Yeah, we have to have that and that might be the perfect place to kind of draw. Draw us to a close here, because we have to have James back, because, as I'm telling you, this guy's a barn.

James 38:09

I found him in a barn but if you he's got got.

Christian 38:13

He pivoted his this for our listenership who can't see. He pivoted his phone and he, he has a, a library, just books and books. Yes, he's, he's pivoting it again.

James 38:24

I'm pivoting because the triumph I showed you earlier, the 60 tr3a, yeah he's showing it to us now, Literally that is a barn find.

James 38:34

That car was found in a barn in Oxford when Doug went down there to see it. It sat in that the family owned it 25 years and for at least the last 10 or 15 years it sat in the barn at a boatyard in Oxford and I helped him pull it out of there and I mean the steering was stuck, the wheels are stuck. You know it literally was a barn find and it was just one of those things where it's exciting you get goosebumps at the same time.

James 39:05

And it's like, oh the potential. And then you realize, oh the rust.

Doug 39:11

Yeah yeah yeah, the reality sinks in so much, much yeah.

James 39:15

But I gotta tell you for everybody yeah, as they say time is undefeated, and that car is now uh the engine's rebuilt, transmission's rebuilt waiting to go back in the car. It's waiting on me, so I gotta get going on it so amen.

Christian 39:29

Well, we thank you for having me. Hey, we're not going to hold you much longer, but, uh, love to have you back I'd be honored, so I, we'd love to have you. I just like and you're maybe the second or third person that we've interviewed who it just feels so authentic when we have you on in your broadcasting from your barn, from your garage.

James 39:54

So that we can see all of this.

Christian 39:56

It's the fluorescent shop lights across the top, over his right shoulder. He's got the 911 up on a lift underneath the car cover Very mysterious but uber cool man, and the Volvo is over the left shoulder Volvo over there, I'm a Volvo, are you?

James 40:13

Yeah, I'm just drooling all over my notebook here I got a couple good volvo stories. One of my clients has a 62 uh 210 duet that is. He brought it home from sweden, brought it over here from sweden when he worked there and that car did a lot of work to that car First car I've ever worked on has two heater cores, one on each side, and it's not supposed to have that. It only has one, but it lived above the Arctic circle its whole life.

James 40:44

And it was it turned out. We found out that it was orange in the engine compartment and that the car was owned by the Swedish telephone company and they painted all their vehicles orange and someone owned the car. After that they bought the car, they painted it blue and it was owned by a textile business and it lived above the Arctic Circle. So someone added another heater core to have in the car.

Doug 41:08

And it has this it has.

James 41:10

Have you ever seen the radiator shades on the? Old Volvos no, I had. I had to make one from scratch. I had to go to lowes and buy a blind for a leveler blind.

Christian 41:18

It was crazy we're gonna have you back. We gotta have you back. We'll, we'll get it we'll get deep into some of these stories and, um, I'm, I'm just, uh, it's been real wonderful geeking out with you. What do you think, doug? What do you think about our barn find today?

Doug 41:34

James, our barn find. This was the barn find of the season.

Christian 41:39

It was a blast and I love when we reconnect with old friends. So again, if you want to reach out to James, get a hold of James. We will have his information on our website, carslovecom. We will also have.

Doug 41:57

It will be in the show notes as well. Exactly, exactly.

Christian 42:00

So if you're listening to the show, you will be two or three clicks away from everything you need to know about James, his business how to get a hold of him.

James 42:10

Can I just say I no longer take Dogecoin or the Doge and the other one. I don't take that as payment anymore.

Christian 42:19

But Ethereum he's good with. He's got no problem with Ethereum. He's a cash guy Awesome.

James 42:26

Elon pumped and dumped.

Christian 42:28

Yeah, I hear you. Well, all right, james it was great meeting you.

James 42:31

It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much, James great.

Doug 42:34

Likewise Thank you Doug. I can't wait to make it out to your garage. Yeah, come down and see it.

James 42:40

Yep, and I'll show you. In the other, right down the line, here in the building, I've got another bay full of vintage sports cars that I can show you. Can't wait.

Christian 42:50

Maybe for the next time. Absolutely.

James 42:58

This might be our entree into a YouTube show with video, because I wish everybody could see what we're seeing.

Christian 43:01

It really is remarkable. You know, congratulations on all you've built, James. I mean that.

James 43:07

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you, Christian and Doug, thank you very much for having me.

Doug 43:13

It's been a lot of fun.

James 43:14

And it's really cool to reconnect with someone from high school, especially though that we're car guys and you know I had no idea, and I'm so glad you reached out. This is really cool.

Doug 43:27

Ditto, ditto. We have Joe to thank, yes.

Christian 43:30

Thank you, joe, thanks Joe, joe's another barn, find Joe's another barn find broadcasting.

James 43:35

Let's just say, joe is one of a kind barn find.

Christian 43:39

Barn find, boat find.

James 43:40

He has more cylinders than anyone I know. I love it I love it and boats too. He's the car guy.

Christian 43:47

Yeah, boats and cars for sure Love it, yep, all right, gentlemen.

James 43:51

Wonderful. Thank you guys.

Christian 43:52

Thank you again. All right, doug, and we will see you later. Cars Love Nation. To all the cars I've loved before, reach out Christian at CarsLovecom, Doug at CarsLovecom. We'll see you soon. Next time, take care.

James 44:05

Goodbye, Thank you guys.