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To All The Cars I’ve Loved Before | First Cars
Christian and Doug explore automotive nostalgia & personal car memories on our podcast— featuring true automotive stories and childhood car memories from everyday enthusiasts.
To All the Cars I’ve Loved Before shines a light on everyday enthusiasts, from father‑daughter/father-son duos and automotive brand launch managers to the restoration students and expert-level instructors at McPherson and Weber State Colleges. Real stories, real people, real passion—thats why our car podcast stands out from others.
Available on all of your favorite platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or https://linktr.ee/carsloved
To All The Cars I’ve Loved Before | First Cars
From Mustang GT Builds to Pontiac GTO Restorations: Weber State Automotive Tech & Education
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
PBS NewsHour connected us with Weber State University’s leading Automotive Technology Program—where hands-on automotive education meets real-world automotive technology. In this episode, automotive enthusiasts Dallas and Caid share their most memorable car stories and vehicle restoration adventures. Dallas recounts tuning his 2002 Mustang GT to 667 whp, navigating Dearborn’s automotive universe in a Range Rover, and the driving experience thrills that fuel his passion for cars. Instructor Caid revisits his first rides—from a Dodge Neon Sport and off-roading in a Chevy Blazer to restoring a classic Pontiac GTO—and dives into restoration stories on a Mercedes 190E and a Mustang GT. Packed with classic cars nostalgia, craftsmanship discussions, car memories, and auto adventures, this episode is a must-hear for automotive culture fans, restoration hobbyists, and anyone curious about the future of cars. Tune in for insider vehicle stories and the road ahead for tomorrow’s auto restorers!
Caid and Dallas' favorite episode is "Campus of Cars – Makenna and Brandon’s Educational Restoration Adventures" https://pod.link/1733902541/episode/6101fe7007f56a999211944be3a14faf
*** Your Favorite Automotive Podcast - Now Arriving Weekly!!! ***
Listen on your favorite platform and visit https://carsloved.com for full episodes, our automotive blog, Guest Road Trip Playlist and our new CAR-ousel of Memories photo archive.
Don't Forget to Rate & Review to keep the engines of automotive storytelling—and personal restoration—running strong.
listener land. You have found the best park car podcast you've never heard about, or you know, I think. I think some people may not have heard this, but we are heard around the world, promise you. Two people in nepal have listened to us, which is fantastic. Thank you to our nepalese listeners. You want to be on the show? It's as easy as reaching out. This is To All the Cars I've Loved Before your Podcast, where every car tells a story, every machine has a soul, every car has a culture. I am Christian at CarsLovecom. Yes, that's my real name. I changed it. It says it on my birth certificate. He is Doug at carslovecom. Good afternoon, partner. How are you doing?
Speaker 3:Hey, doing great Good to be back here with you.
Speaker 2:Now are you still in your garage with Tim, who is a season one guy, inhaling gasoline fumes, trying to fix that fuel injector, or have you given up for the day, or was it sorted, or what?
Speaker 3:Uh. So fuel injectors all checked out manual fuel injectors, a, a, um Bosch, a CIS injection system, so all six in a. Uh, stuck all six in um Gatorade bottles, thanks to my kids, and uh, empty Gatorade bottles, thanks to my kids, and empty Gatorade bottles Ran the fuel pump, did some measurements, also watched the spray and everything was consistent. The amounts were the same. So I was hoping to find one that went bad, but no go.
Speaker 3:So when Gatorade says it has electrolytes, that has nothing to do with gasoline or brominated gasoline or anything like that, right, okay, so I'm trying to hear Don't drink the light yellow Gatorade, not a good idea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's not good. Today's theme, moving on quickly, I was so excited about today's guest. Today's theme is a tie-in. Our podcast goes back to school. So back to school. Not Rodney Dangerfield, the classic movie from the 80s. Great, back to school. So back to school. Not Rodney Dangerfield, the classic movie from the 80s. But great movie, fantastic movie. But we're going to get serious about options for young people out of high school. We're going to talk about a hybrid of trade school, tech school, college, two year degree, four year degree, and then job placement thereafter Two-year degree, four-year degree and then job placement thereafter. If you are young and you are in Utah, you came to the right show because, again, we're so excited about it Along with.
Speaker 3:don't forget continuing ed, because I'm always thinking about going back to school. Yeah, everybody can always learn Even.
Speaker 2:F50. Lifelong learner, except for me. I don't need to, I know it all already, I know. We have a new section. Where Are they Now? But it's really kind of what are previous guests up to recently. So can we give 30 seconds to this here.
Speaker 4:We got a lot going on, we can hit a couple things.
Speaker 2:I can talk about my son, but I want to hear about season one, one of our favorite episodes. Brian Paone, who's also a writer, and he's coming up. He did something interesting. Doug, tell us a little about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So Brian, being the very creative guy that he is, he was down in Missouri and he just knocks out books left and right. He spent I don't know nine nights overnight nights. He abandoned slash I don't know how abandoned it was, but certainly shut down old penitentiary in Missouri and he brought his computer in there and he just rode away and he's going to have a book I believe it's coming out in 2025, called these Walls Still Talk, and he's actually going to have the book review or book coming out party, if you will, at the penitentiary. So we'll try and post that in our show notes. But what a creative guy.
Speaker 2:He is the one, just a complete creative genius, yeah, and his books are kind of this tech noir, sci-fi thriller just interesting stuff, yeah yeah, really good stuff.
Speaker 2:Speaking of very interesting people, my son, who was on an episode a week or two ago, uh, go to school at george mason university in the dc area and also in the army reserves qualified. Uh, we had him talking about a humvee that he drove during drill one weekend and he just passed his weapons qualifications past weekend. So you want to talk about that. So calls to action. We don't need to spend a whole lot of time on this today, as we are going to get back to the pivot, back to the show theme in a minute here. But, hey, every carhasaculturecom resolve to carslovecom. If you're new to the show, check out carslovecom and remember that you can get to everything by way of Apple Podcasts, spotify. We have stood up a YouTube presence, which is making a little buzz there. You may want to start, though, by hitting up the link tree, linktree, slash, carsloved, and that'll give you all of our presences Instagram, facebook, spotify, apple. What else we mentioned?
Speaker 3:YouTube, Castro Podfriend. I think there are so many. We're on all of them. We're out in YouTube music.
Speaker 2:Heard around the world and if you like what you're hearing, tell a friend, email us. If you want to be on the show and show ideas, feedback, we love it. We love it, all right so let's revisit today's show theme so that we can introduce our guests, as we mentioned, back to school. Back to school, doug, any back to school stories from you. What did we learn? What did we learn?
Speaker 3:uh, so I learned, um, at least college initially was not for me and I went off and did really kind of a trade, um, kind of unofficial trade network engineering, which is now a not real engineering, but now that's available in colleges as a two-year degree thanks to former employer Cisco Cisco Academy. There are so many options, but go back 30 years ago there weren't. So I took some classes and got a certification and got my first job.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, yeah. And now, when I went to college, I studied things that are really valuable in the workplace these days. Poetry socialism in classical Greece screenwriting.
Speaker 2:Basket weaving was a little beyond me, but yeah, I mean. So, basically, what does any of that have to do in the tech field? At a major financial institution? Nothing. So that brings me to today's guests, who have a heck of a story I would like to introduce. Cade and Dallas, gentlemen. How are you today Doing good? How about you, cade and Dallas gentlemen? How are you today Doing good? How about you Doing so well? Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2:And the reason these young men came across our radar is that they're involved in a program in Weber State. Cade is an instructor is an instructor, dallas is a student where, as we were talking about earlier, trade school, tech school, college collide. It's a hybrid program. You can get a two-year degree in automotive science, a four-year degree of bachelor's, and they get you ready for the world. I am so pumped up about this program. If you could tell us a little bit about your life arc and story, cade, of what brought you to this program and what it's done for you, and then we'll bring Dallas in after we hear from you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, of course. So um, kind of like Doug. Uh, I graduated high school. Um went to, uh Utah state university. Only ended up going there for a semester and decided college wasn't for me. Um, ended up going back five years later but over that five year period became an automotive technician and decided college wasn't for me.
Speaker 4:Ended up going back five years later but over that five-year period became an automotive technician and decided I needed to advance my knowledge a little bit. So was talking to a few guys at the shop. One of them was a gentleman named Scott Holland. He ended up telling me to go to Weber State, looked into it, ended up enrolling there. Yeah, studied there for just I only thought I was going in for my associate's degree because I was like, oh, I'm going to stay as a technician and stuff. But as I stayed there at the college, started getting some industry contacts, um decided to go on for my four year. Um, after my four year, ended up graduating and going out to Ford motor company and then coming back to Utah over COVID and securing a job at Weber State University as an instructor.
Speaker 2:That is fantastic, Now wait a minute. Yeah. So you, how long did it take you to get a job at Ford? Was that easy? Was that hard?
Speaker 4:Oh so my interview process at Ford. I always say it was one of the hardest interviews of my life, mostly because of the length. I was in a job interview for three hours. It was the only job interview I've been in that had a water break in between Whoa. But as for preparing me to go out to Ford, weber State had great industry contacts. So, and still does. Ford would come out every semester and they would present what job positions they had and all that. And I would keep talking to the recruiters. They'd come out with some of their teammates and talk about with, like alumni, cause they've hired Weber state students before, so they'd bring back alumni and we've talked to them and they talk about how great Ford was and everything. So after four years of talking to them I decided I was like, okay, I'm going to Ford and I had Dallas, the other guest on this here, that I brought with me. He was a classmate with my or with me, and ended up coming out to Dearborn, michigan, to Ford Motor Company with me as well.
Speaker 2:Perfect segue, he's a segue machine. Ladies and gentlemen, dallas, good afternoon, how are you?
Speaker 1:Hello, hello, it's nice to be here.
Speaker 2:Hey man, it's great to have you. So let's hear a little bit about your story and how you came to know Cade.
Speaker 1:Okay. So I was actually blessed enough to have a high school instructor that was very involved at Weber. His name's Ed Scherner. So I was actually a student before I even had graduated high school, and then I went into the program right after high school and that's where I met Cade. We were classmates for a while. We got our associate's degrees together and I actually went off and did some traveling working for a couple of years. Cade got his bachelor's. I had actually come back home by then, did some traveling working for a couple of years. Kate got his bachelor's. I had actually come back home by then, and that's when we both interviewed for Ford. My interview was only two hours. Sorry, kate and I didn't get water, but we both got hired. We both moved out about the same time. We both worked until COVID hit. Covid hit, we moved back home. I actually kept working for Ford until 2022. And Cade went off and did his thing. I graduate this spring and I'm actually hoping to become an instructor at Weber as well. Excellent.
Speaker 2:Love that, love that, love that. And before I hand over to Doug here, if you want to see, as soon as you're done listening to this interview, let's put it that way Check out PBS NewsHour. They aired a segment it's about a seven minute segment on October 7th 2024, about the program these gentlemen are talking about. Okay, and it's, it's under there. So go to pbscom slash news hour. Just type in rethinking college. Okay, weber state university in Layton, utah. That's W? E B E R state university in L? A Y T O N, utah. The.
Speaker 2:And a couple of quick notes, for I hand it over here, doug, the automotive program is in the same building as the computer science department. Very telling Work hand in glove. As Cade was saying when we were chatting with him, there's really no distinction between automotive and IT anymore. The two are one and the same. That you can see on PBS's NewsHour site. The sign in front of the building says College of Computer and Automotive Engineering, which I think is just so fantastic. I'll let Doug talk about how he reached out to the program here and you're going to hear about how major automotive employers will come and talk to these gentlemen. But go ahead, doug.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no, thank you, Christian. Yeah, I was watching PBS NewsHour, as I have done quite recently, and sitting there with my girlfriend and I see Cade's face pop up. I didn't know him but and he's talking about the automotive tech program and I just thought it was wonderful. There was a segment on uh. There was also part of that segment on uh women in automotive tech.
Speaker 3:Um, being a it guy, there was a good discussion about the crossover between computer science and automotive technology, and I'm a I'm a EV owner as well, as well as an old car owner. So it's pretty interesting to see and I just thought to myself, had I been 30 years younger or so, I would have loved to have been in a program like that. So I reached out to Jessica Slater, I think, is her name. She is the department chair and she gave me several contacts, including Cade and another one of his colleagues we're going to have on the show very soon along with one of his students, and it was just. It was really inspiring and just for what it's worth.
Speaker 3:Since then I've talked to a museum curator who the museum also donates money to help with automotive tech program done by Pennsylvania Tech, and you know I just love what you guys are doing. I mean, it's a. It's a, you know, turning a trade into a career and there's definitely a crossover with computer science and just making it more interesting. And cars can do. As a Tesla owner, my car can do so many things that you wouldn't think possible and it's overwhelming right. And thank God it has a warranty, but I'd be taking it down to you guys and I'd get it fixed. But yeah, with that it was a great segment and it really opened my eyes and, as I said, and then next thing, you know I'm talking to the St Michael's Car Museum and they have a similar program where they work with colleges and help the students. So it's great to hear.
Speaker 2:And yeah. So I have three sons that are about to start making that thought process and move through high school and into college. And it's an interesting discussion when you say to someone who's young these days, who has the world at their fingertips in any given device you're bombarded with so much. You get to see the whole world. So, okay, what do you want to do? What is your next step? And I took two of my younger ones. I have three sons. Took my two younger ones to a college fair and it's very overwhelming. You see more and more trade schools there. So I want to pivot to Dallas and ask what do you like most about the program? What do you like most about it and what lights you up when you think about where you go to school?
Speaker 1:knowledge base. Um, I mean, as soon as you walk in there, you can tell the world class and then all you need to do is talk to one of the instructors, you can tell that they know what they're doing, and there's. There's just really not a better place to be if you want to learn about cars, so that's definitely the most appealing thing to me. I like I don't think I could be better off anywhere else I like that.
Speaker 2:What a what a glowing endorsement. And from the piece you can see in this classroom it is hands-on. I mean engines, engine parts are everywhere and so, um, okay, tell us a little bit about, uh, when a new student comes in and, for the first hand, gets there, walks through the door and is just like a kid in a candy shop with all the tactile things there where you can get your hands dirty so it really opens up with orientation and this is really where we show them and show them what they're getting into.
Speaker 4:Um, we have a brand new building. It's about three years old at this point, going on four years so we have, um the latest and greatest equipment in that building. So we open you up through the door, we show you our main service shop area where we teach the bulk of our classes. You'll see anything in there, from Teslas to old Right now there's a 65 Chevelle.
Speaker 4:SS in there, there's a Tesla with a battery removed in it, there's a Triumph that we're converting to EV, and then there's our normal instructor cars that we teach all of our normal equipment on. And then you walk through another set of double doors and then you enter into the engines lab that on the PBS special you'd see. That's where we house all our engines and that's where the students tear down engines. They do manual drive training there as well, so they do some manual transmissionsissions, axles, t cases, um, from there you go into our electronics lab where they get in-depth knowledge on ohm's law, they learn electrical faults, they learn how to diagnose them and they learn what causes them. And then, um, then kind of comes to our showpiece and what weber state is currently for, which is our EV program.
Speaker 4:You open up into another set of double doors that are locked away and kind of right now it's windows are covered and everything because of the current curriculum that's being developed in there. But you would open it up and in there there is about, like I said, 20 cars in there that are EV, hybrid, anything from Teslas to Toyotas to Fords, subarus, open batteries. From these vehicles out there we have Chevy Volt batteries, open drive units. So this lab, you can fully explore the inner workings of an EV and full electric or hybrid vehicle.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. So. So learning about these different engines, motors, drivetrains, et cetera would all be. Are they sort of different classes? Are they almost electives? Are they linear fields of study or certificates that you can get? So?
Speaker 4:they are sectioned off. You can get a certificate if you do all the level one courses. But how it works is is you would start with us in the fall. So in the fall is when you would start off with your introductory courses. So you'd get your automotive introductory course, you would do engines and you would do your electrical courses. Then from there it's a very structured pathway to get you graduated because of how the courses are laid out. So you, we always start our students in the fall so they can finish in two years. So every fall the classes are the same, every spring the classes are the same, and et cetera, et cetera, as they go through their program.
Speaker 2:Dig that and can you say one word about the boot camp or the boot camp program now? Is that the continuing ed portion, bootcamp?
Speaker 4:or the bootcamp program. Now, is that the continuing ed portion? Yeah, so that's our continuing ed portion. So we offer our full EV bootcamp. Um, this is a two online courses, and then, once you complete your two online courses, you'll go in for a five day bootcamp with John, and he will teach you the inner workings of drive units. You'll drop batteries out of vehicles. You will, um, learn the inner workings of drive units. You'll drop batteries out of vehicles. You will learn the inner workings of all these vehicles, so you'll be comfortable working on them.
Speaker 4:Now, we've had engineers from various makes and models or makes or manufacturers. We've had Ford, hyundai engineers come out. We've had instructors come out. We've had even Hyundai engineers come out. We've had instructors come out. We've had even first responders come out, and we've teach them some of the military as well.
Speaker 4:So a unique thing we do offer, though, is that we are able to turn this into college credit, so if you wanted to continue on with your education, we would actually roll these certificates into your bachelor's degree and give you credit for it. Now, if you wanted to continue on say if you wanted to, needed a bachelor's degree for your next step or whatever, what um in life. If you need it for career advancement or just looking for um fulfillment, you can um take your automotive associates degree and your automotive ASEs and we can vet them out and apply them towards an AS or an associates degree to get you up towards a bachelor's degree Got it Fantastic, fantastic, and thank you for sharing a bit of your experience here and in your life's journey, especially as it went through Weber State and has served you both so well.
Speaker 2:So we will have on our presences as we load up this. You know, links to the program and links to Weber State, so that's exactly what we're talking about here. But so now, one thing I bet you don't have in the engine lab greatest name for a classroom of all time is the way back machine, a time machine, and I'm going to put both Cade and Dallas in it, cause we're going to go back to your first, for your first cars in Dallas. Let's pivot to you. How did it all start your automotive journey?
Speaker 1:So my senior year in high school, one of my classmates had a 2002 mustang. It was black and manual. Um, he didn't really like it. He wanted a truck and when he was talking about selling it I scooped it up. Um, there's v8 and everything. And I drove that for a year after I went straight to weber after high school and then after my first year, I thought I was smart enough and I put a turbocharger system in it and, you know, built a D engine for it, increased the displacement and, you know, ruined it essentially.
Speaker 1:You know, made it, made it really fast and I, I built a race car and I, I had that for a very long time, until recently, and now I'm just driving around a range rover and I, I love that thing to death yeah, so what?
Speaker 3:what? Um, there's, there's a great story and it's uh, it's close to home, right, what happened to your mustang?
Speaker 1:so, uh, I just I really didn't drive it that much. It honestly it is scary. It was like driving a rocket ship no driver assist at all, abs, power brakes, nothing. I wasn't really scared of it, I just didn't drive it a lot. It sat in my driveway. I'd have people come by and knock on my door asking about it. I was getting to that age. Frankly, I've had the car for a long time and and I was telling Kate about it one day and he just said, well, I'll buy it, and so I sold it to him and that was it.
Speaker 3:And he's got it now, nice, and it's still with him. That's awesome. That that is awesome. So tell, tell us about the Range Rover, right? Obviously quite a different ride from your Mustang Right? Still fast, though, tell us.
Speaker 1:Actually very fast. So when we moved to Michigan I had a I actually paid to ship the Mustang over and I had a E90 BMW that I was driving around as a daily driver you know a car that was actually functional. E90 bmw that I was driving around as a daily driver, you know a car that was actually functional. But the roads were so bad that in the 10 months that we were commuting there before covid, I blew five tires and cracked a wheel on that poor bmw, and so it just got to the point where you know it's just financially feasible to have something else. So so I started shopping for something with off-road capabilities for the roads in Michigan and I stumbled across that Range Rover. It was cheaper because it had been crashed twice.
Speaker 2:Oh dear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it has the 5 liter supercharged engine. It makes 500 horsepower. It's triple black trim interior outside, all of it. It's just a trim interior outside, all of it. It's just a ton of fun. I love it to death. Everyone kind of cringes when I say I drive a Land Rover, but it's never broken. I've had it probably three or four years now.
Speaker 2:What year is the Rover?
Speaker 1:Sorry, it's a 2011. Okay, the chassis is L322 got it and if you're thinking of a range rover. They're like the box one, it's that one got you the fast box.
Speaker 3:Fast box and wheels.
Speaker 1:It's very fast the only problem is it's an suv, so if you go around a turn it feels like you're gonna to roll it, even if you're going 30, but in a straight line no mods to it yet Dallas you know, there's just not much out there. I've done a lot of shopping and I did find there's a company that does a pulley with like an ECM mod. But you get like 50 horsepower and they want like 5 grand for it.
Speaker 2:He doesn't need to modify this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I think I'm going to leave it alone.
Speaker 2:I know, as soon as I modify it, it's going to blow the blower out of it. He looked into it. Yeah, he did. I did look. He looks like Darth Vader driving down the street with the triple black.
Speaker 3:So he's a bad man, we all know this, he's good, he's good, he's good.
Speaker 1:So part of the Wayback Machine somewhere in the middle right, you had a Crown Vic, maybe more than one Ford Crown Victoria. So during all the years between the Mustang and the Rover, you know, I had to have a car that I could actually drive, because the Mustang was a full-blown race car. Sometimes it was a Pontiac Grand Am that had a rusted-out exhaust. That was sweet. I drove that for a while. Then I got a 2011 Crown Vic. I paid $1,000 for it and only had 1,000 miles.
Speaker 2:Wait a minute. How is that possible, I know.
Speaker 1:It was an amazing car absolutely beautiful and I got rid of it because I decided that having a BMW would be cooler, um, so I got my first D 90 after that and that was when I started doing the traveling. I worked for a company called Vivint Um and I I lived in Texas and I worked for them and I put that BMW into a wall Like the third day. I was down there, um, and some poor lady crashed into me so I ruined that car really fast. And at that time I'm in Texas, I live in Utah, so I'm away from home. I just moved, so I don't have any money.
Speaker 1:So I go out and I buy the cheapest POS I can find and it just happens to be another ground pick that had been spray-painted black. The lights would randomly turn off Not like all of the lights, not just the headlights. The engine would keep running, the wipers would randomly turn on and I just yeah, I just drove that for the whole summer, I was working down there and got rid of it. I got another BMW after that and I got rid of that pretty recently, but that's about the full story and I got the Range Rover after that. That's been my daily ever since.
Speaker 3:Gotcha, and what would be your next car, or what will be your next car.
Speaker 1:So I'm a senior at weber state and we have to do a senior project called a capstone project. The uh essentially contributes to the knowledge of automotive and my plan is to build a car. So I want to get a second or third gen coyote mustang, so 2015 or newer, okay, and I want to. I found a like a computer that can hijack the h, an hdmi input into the sync screen, so I want to install that. And then I want to install a computer in the trunk that runs windows. In the recent years they've made just little box pcs that are super powerful and I'm going to run that and I'm going to run that to the sync screen and I'm going to have that do the tuning and you run some other software and stuff. And then I'm going to put a twin turbo system in the car and I'm going to use the computer that's on board in the car to tune the twin turbo system. Uh, I also plan to do an airlift performance system on, like airbags and stuff. Hopefully I can get the computer to control it all.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's going to be built in the spring, hopefully, and right now I'm just working on paying for it right, right and uh yeah, you get to use all the tools and facility of weber for that right, I'm going to be allowed to build it in the shop, which is way more fun than laying on the ground, and between the electrical knowledge and the mechanical knowledge, I can build a Windows-powered twin-turbo Mustang, because that's just the kind of thing that Weber teaches you.
Speaker 2:Well, not specifically, but the knowledge that Weber gives you. That's only for the second semester.
Speaker 1:Evil geniuses amongst us, but yeah, I mean it's dual.
Speaker 3:There is a crossover with computer science right Very much, so, very much.
Speaker 4:Kate, and Dallas, yeah, yeah, so there is a big crossover between computer science and automotive. So now you guys are dealing with well, us as automotive technicians and you guys, as consumers, are dealing with ethernet, cables and vehicles and, um, we have canned communication lines and all the modules, like your vehicle can now have upwards of 100 modules in your vehicle that all need to communicate with each other. So you have to be able to diagnose that as well as still your base engine concern of misfires and drivability concerns, uh, squeaks and rattles, suspension clunks and all that good stuff too and now that we've pivoted to mr kade what?
Speaker 2:how did it all start for you?
Speaker 4:how did it all start? For me, it was a pretty um pretty amazing dodge, dodge, neon right yep, yep. So, um, when I was 16, uh, my automotive career started with a 1997 dodge neon sport had dual overhead cam in it, so that's what made it a sport. Um made my insurance go up a little bit higher because of the sticker on the side of the car.
Speaker 4:Ended up driving that for probably about a year and a half Um, after about a year of owning it, though, my reverse went out and end up having to park it in places that I can either pull forward or just pull it back out of the football or out of the stall. Um, I was a football player, so it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was a light car, so car, so um, but, yeah, started off with that, ended up getting, uh, selling that for three dollars to my uncle. Um, we then moved into a nineteen did you say three dollars?
Speaker 4:oh, yeah, yeah. So that happened because it was. I bought my blazer and then that car just sat off to the side of my house just more or less gathering dust. And my uncle came by and he's like hey, are you wanting to get rid of that car? And I was like yeah. He's like well, how much? And I was like how much do you have in your wallet? And he opens it up. He's like three bucks and I was like yeah, sure, I'll take it.
Speaker 4:And he drug it out of there, put it on a trailer and took it and fixed the transmission in it and um drove it for a little while, ended up getting in an accident with a jeep and getting that fixed, and then blew the head gasket on it and wiped out the timing belt and they decided that was enough for the neon. So the neon lived a very generous life after I was done with it, of course, after abusing it as a high school kid. So but yeah then. Uh, then I got my blazer, um, the blazer off, opened up a little more doors for me because it was four wheel drive. So uh, started doing some off-roading a little bit there.
Speaker 4:Um, here in Boxeller County, before they started building the houses more and stuff up on the side of the mountain, there was a dirt bike track up there and me and a few of my friends in high school were just up there messing around and we were doing a little bit faster than probably what we should have on the side of the mountain. Um turns out, uh, we ended up right into one of those dirt bike tracks and I ended up jumping my blazer probably about 30 feet maybe, getting about six foot of air out of it. Um, landed it. My buddy just pulled up next to me. He's like are you all right? And I was like I think so, and got out, looked the blazer over and uh, still in one piece, still drove fine, no clunks or rattles anything after that. So, uh, the blazer held in strong.
Speaker 3:You never told you, uh, did you turn around and do it again?
Speaker 4:Oh no, I was, I was a little scared after that one, After, I mean, I mean a surprise jump scares anyone a little bit Well speaking of surprise jumps you.
Speaker 2:You jumped over a 2004 car that you own. Then this, this, this one really excites me now. Now is this one black too.
Speaker 4:So this is the start of all my black vehicles, okay there we go.
Speaker 4:So, um, now they call them like vision boards or dream boards or whatever, the ones where you put your goals and stuff on the boards of your school where you're like, hey, this is what I want to achieve. You can put your house up there, cars, whatever you want to achieve your life goals that they want you to do. Well, I did one when I was a sophomore in my computer sciences class, funny enough, and I put a 2004 Pontiac GTO on there. Oh yeah, she's seen it. And I was black and everything. It was the car I wanted. And she's like, oh, that car is too expensive, you won't have that. And I was like, oh, ok, well, whatever, we'll see. So I mean, I, I held on to that little notion, she told me. Anyways, fast forward into graduation day. As a graduation gift to myself, the day before graduation I went out and bought me a black 2004 pontiac gto with the black interior that I've always wanted my.
Speaker 4:I drove that to my graduation and I showed my instructors a picture of it in the parking lot and I was like, look, this is what's parked outside yeah, hence the vision board man, when somebody tells you you can't do something, you put it up there on the vision board.
Speaker 2:You look at it every morning and that's fantastic.
Speaker 3:We used to call that the five-year, five-year plan, right? Or what did we call it?
Speaker 4:the list, I don't know, but vision board just sounds so much better no, that's really does, I agree, I agree totally oh yeah, but um, so that's um, drove that for a few years, but at that time is when I started really getting more and more into mechanics. So growing up, I really like to just tinker on things. So I always like to modify and just take things apart and rebuild them. So like I've built PCs, guns and stuff like that too. So I just like to take things apart and build them and modify them. Well, I found out that I can do that with cars. I can express myself on visually with cars, modify them. I can take them apart, do something, do things the motor to make it faster, raise it lower it, do whatever. Uh, freedom of expression with cars. You can do anything you want with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. It's funny. You mentioned that we've had people on the show and their car is their art. It's a piece of performance art. It's a piece of themselves and you can drive that thing from here to Alaska and everybody knows something about you every time you drive by. So funny. You mention that you like to tinker, et cetera. Can you talk for just a little bit as we wind the show down here, about what you did at Ford?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So at Ford after graduating I ended up working for the Technical Assistance Center. So that's the center that is like if dealerships can't fix their car, technicians are having issues and they need like a different set of eyes or a different perspective on something, they can shoot us an email or call us. So I was the guy on the other end helping the techs fix your guys's trucks when they were down for an extended period of time. I was the guy on the other end of the phone when they're saying, hey, I need a contact ford for help. That's me, and my commodities were sync and module programming, hybrid EV, and so module programming, audio and EV Gotcha Good deal, good stuff.
Speaker 4:Did that and then COVID ended up hitting and after that worked back at a dealership for a little while as a service writer writer and then got the call for Weber State to go be an instructor.
Speaker 2:In full circle, and it all came full circle. Well, what do you think, doug? Do you have anything further? Any more thoughts to add?
Speaker 3:Well, I have a little piece of trivia, and this is more for Christian. By the way, christian owned a 07 Pontiac Solstice the Miata of GM, as I call it. So much fun.
Speaker 2:And that didn't end well either for me, but go ahead.
Speaker 3:Go ahead. You're not a rear-wheel drive guy. Let's end the read.
Speaker 2:Maybe not. Let's just say that.
Speaker 3:Nobody is. So two pieces of automotive trivia. Christian knows one of these. So John DeLorean invented it, came up with the Pontiac GTO. I don't know if you guys knew that the original GTO and it was actually an option package because at the time GM wouldn't let. You couldn't have a car with an engine that was either so big or had so much horsepower, a car with an engine that was either so big or had so much horsepower. So they made it an option on the Pontiac Tempest, I believe in 64. And then it sold like gangbusters and so it became the Pontiac GTO. Yeah, now I believe in 04-ish. Right, the GTO was reborn, brought back and 04 to 06.
Speaker 3:Yeah, gto was reborn, brought back and um, oh, four to six Yep. And I wanted to ask Christian if he knows um, but I'm going to ask, uh, I'm going to ask Cade to answer if he doesn't. Christian, where was the Pontiac GTO built?
Speaker 2:Pontiac Mission.
Speaker 4:Cade, not this one. This was built in Australia.
Speaker 3:It's a rebranded holden monero yes, yes, oh yeah, that's right, yep and then, and then, the uh I read about the g8 is a rebranded commodore and etc.
Speaker 4:Good pull.
Speaker 3:Yeah this, these guys, man, yep no at all, we can stump you, but not them.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what I think I think Cade and Alice need their own podcast, but can it please not be about cars? We don't need the competition, but I got to tell you it was so nice meeting both of you and having you on the show, so impressed. Thank you for telling us all about Weber State, and it was just great having you on.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having us thanks for having us yeah, thanks, thanks.
Speaker 3:We're looking forward to talking to your, uh, your colleague and, uh, one of his students. Uh, oh, yeah, actually we're going to do the recording tomorrow, so that that'll be fun.
Speaker 4:So you guys had the hard part oh, the the maiden voyage for weber state yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we're. We're huge fans of uh, of weber. What you guys are doing pbs news hour man, it's the gift that keeps giving. So oh yeah, who would have thought? And thanks to jessica and everybody for uh thank you to jessica responsiveness yep, that's's right.
Speaker 2:So we would love to have you guys back, maybe in a future season. As we hurdle through, I forget what season we're in. We're about to. We're either buttoning up a season, it depends. We have a lot of episodes in post-production right now. We sort of slice and dice and throw them out there. However, the evil genius Doug sees fit. So we're just so pleased to have you on. I would like to have you on in a future season to see Caden Dowse where you are. What do you think, gents? Maybe do it in a year or two.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we could for sure do that.
Speaker 3:Thank you guys so much. We'll hear about the Capstone project and see where you guys are.
Speaker 1:You'll hear how it works.
Speaker 4:We'll have that on to our stories.
Speaker 2:We've got plenty of them. Well, good luck to you both. Can't wait.
Speaker 3:Yep, and feel free to email us. Right, you guys have our emails because Christian will repeat them shortly. If you don't, it's what I do.
Speaker 2:I'm a broken record. You had just heard the high-revving, low-mileage, late-model.
Speaker 2:Heard-around the world automotive authoritative automotive podcast on automotive nostalgia. He is doug at carslovecom. I am christian. At carslovecom there were kate and dallas. If you like the show, please follow and tell a friend. That's how we, uh can keep the can, keep the velocity, the inertia going. Hey, if you want to be a guest on the show, go to our link tree. And hey, it's as easy as just sending an email setting up a time and we'll make it happen. Again, check out our link tree. Linktree slash carslovecom. It's a bit like the old yellow pages, but I like to think of it as our switchboard. I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show. And again, thank you for listening. Keep the rubber side down and we will see you next week. Thank you, listenerland.
