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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 Pea Green Trucks to Johnny Depp | Brian’s Love for Cars
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
What links a flame‑painted 1954 Chevrolet school bus from Johnny Depp’s cult classic Cry Baby to a modern 2020 Hyundai Venue, a 1958 Chevy Apache, 1973 Chevy pickup, and a cushy ’96 Mercury Grand Marquis? Maryland enthusiast Brian shares the full ride.
In this episode of To All the Cars I’ve Loved Before he recalls rescuing the movie‑prop bus, daily‑driving a $500 Ford, and swapping a police‑grade Crown Vic comfort for sub‑compact practicality—while still dreaming of late‑’60s muscle‑car torque. Along the way we dig into the mechanics of three‑on‑the‑tree clutches, the allure of vintage paint colors, and how small crossovers like the Hyundai Venue replace hatchbacks without killing driving fun. If you’re into classic pickup restoration, movie‑car history, or affordable enthusiast ownership, buckle up for a coast‑to‑coast conversation that proves great stories can start in any parking lot.
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Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia, where every car tells a story, every car has a culture. Hey, it's time to plug in dust off and let's fire up this beast and see if it'll start in cold weather. Speaking of cold weather, I'm a little under the weather. I'm here in the panhandle of Florida. It is going to snow tomorrow. That hasn't happened, definitely not since I've been down here. But wherever you are, I hope you are warm, safe, dry, driving the car of your dreams and it fires up every time you turn the key. Let's welcome our new listeners In Winchester, illinois. Welcome In Mesa, arizona. Welcome. Feel free to. We always love getting emails from the new folks. Let us know what you think about the show. Ensure, please to write a review. If you like what you hear, tell a friend show. Ensure, please to write a review. If you like what you hear, tell a friend forward to the degree possible. Let people know that we are on your preferred podcast platform, streaming device of choice here, and we have some new special listeners. Again, the show is international. This is my favorite part. We have some listeners in Nigeria. Welcome. We have some listeners in Nigeria, welcome. Feel free to reach out, email, send us a picture of what you drive. We love having international guests, as well as Pakistan on the other side of the world. So pleased that you're aboard. Feel free to reach out, be part of the conversation in community. Speaking of community, my co-host, doug, how you doing? Partner, doing great, great to be back here with you.
Christian:Look good, sound good and by looking good, I dig the shirt, and if you're listening to this as opposed to seeing this, you will. You got to check out his shirt. It's a Freesia Brothers of one. Oh, let's see Greenwich, connecticut. Greenwich, connecticut of one. Oh, let's see greenwich, I don't know, greenwich, connecticut. Uh, guinevere freesia, who's on the show, had been on the show. Uh, just a delight, wonderful person, really good, champion of helping us spread the word. And let's see, can you, are you standing up right now? Can we get a full shot? It's really a great shirt too.
Christian:All things air-cooled For those who can't see it. That's right, vintage VWs. I think they'll do anything. They'll from the top to the upholstery Greenwich Connecticut. They can handle it all. Feel free, if you're in the neighborhood, to stop by and we're going to. Is it untoward to say that she's going to be back with a special guest sometime soon? Should we keep that under the hat?
Doug:I think we should keep it back under the hat just in case, let me tuck it behind my ear. Yeah, Established in 1922 before Volkswagen's, but one of the first companies in Greenwich Connecticut to service Volkswagens.
Christian:And that is what they're known for. So check it out. Really nice website too, and Guinevere is all over the socials. Fun to follow Again, a wonderful person, and we like to take care of our friends because they take care of us. What is happening on the marketing side before we cue in today's guest, doug? I know that we had been posting some content on YouTube and we kind of took a break over the past week or two, but we have a flurry of recordings coming up here in the next week or two, anything we want to share with those in listener land.
Doug:New website coming up soon. Uh, there'll be more video and pictures and testimonials. Uh, total redesign. So it doesn't look like a 12 year old, did it? I guess I'm the 12 year old and emotionally 12, a grown man.
Christian:But no, I, I thought it looked great. What are we changing about it? Just a little refresh.
Doug:You'll have to wait and see Total refresh. Oh wow, it'll look like a 20-year-old, did it?
Christian:Do we have new pictures? That's funny, do we have new pictures of us, or is it the same?
Doug:We're going to have to get some. We'll figure it out, don't worry it out. Don't worry, I'm taking some now. But uh, um, we do have a top five episode playlist on YouTube under the podcast. So if you want to hear our top five as voted by our listeners, you can find that there. Um, kind of surprised me, but uh, I'm super happy with uh the list. It's all from season one, which means we need more people listening to season two and three.
Christian:Yeah, good point, good point, Good stuff. Thank you for that. Should we mention the link tree here? I'm going to mention it real quick, please do. Yeah, our link tree is really our digital switchboard direct shoot of all of our presences out in the ether L-I-N-K-T-R dot E-E, slash Cars, loved. We'll get you to the Instagram, all the socials, the YouTube, where we are published on the podcast, et cetera, et cetera. I think that that gets us. That brings us to today's very special guest. And Doug, how did Brian? How did he come to land in our garage, so to speak?
Doug:So I bumped into Brian almost literally, but not exactly. Brian saw me in the parking lot at Annapolis Harbor Center in Maryland and of course I was in my DeLorean. He pulled up beside me, asked me some questions and then, christian, you may remember this, I go into Barnes and Google and I called you and I said, hey, this guy just asked me a couple questions. He's like God, I hope you can find him, give him your business card. And so, sure enough, I turned around, there was Brian and I gave him his business card, my business card, our business card, and we just stayed in touch and you know it turns out Brian's pretty interesting cars. He's got a great history, native Maryland guy and his dad's real interest in cars. He grew up with them and there's a family thing that has been on the big screen that we'll talk about later today.
Christian:So, Brian, welcome. How are you this fine afternoon?
Brian:Thank you, I'm doing well. Thanks for having me Also trying to stay warm. We we got some, uh, very cold, frigid temperatures come in the next 24 hours in maryland but no snow, but no snow there was going to be an inch or two and they took that away. So maybe next week, I guess we'll see you sent it all down to florida, thank, you for that.
Christian:You're very welcome, not really yeah, I have no idea what's going to be happening. Kids in the streets with snowmen?
Doug:Yeah, they won't know what to do, no snow shovels on sale in Florida.
Christian:I tell you what the last thing before I move from the mid-Atlantic to Florida is. I had about three or four snow shovels and I pitched them in the garbage can. It was very poetic and I said never again, never again, as I pulled away laughing and that's you know, karma coming back around. But speaking of karma coming back around, yeah, there were some very interesting early cars in Brian's world. So tell us a little bit about some of your first cars, brian, and how they came about, where you got them, and I find a lot of your backstory interesting.
Brian:Oh, thank you. Let's see, I started driving I guess 99, 2000. I remember going with my mom we fueled up the car. Uh, I guess it was the last day of 1999, in case Y2K, in case everything went down and you couldn't get fuel and all that Um. And then you know, luckily nothing happened. But so that's kind of. When I started Um, the first vehicle that I really started driving was a 1973 Chevy pickup, this God awful like, like puke pea green kind of olive green color, but it was.
Brian:It was. My dad bought it for like $250 from a work colleague and so you know I didn't have a lot of money. So that was a good know, it was a, it was beautiful. You know, I was very blessed, um, that's kind of. When I learned, started learning the mechanics on how to keep a truck going, um, and that one was one of the ones that, uh, was three on the tree up on the column, so it took me a while. My dad, dad, taught me how to, you know, drive a manual and then, like I said that, up there on the column Later on, actually the clutch linkage started falling apart and we put in a floor shifter and if you didn't exaggerate that pattern it would get stuck on one side or the other, either first reverse or second and third. So that made it interesting too. But definitely a lot of cool stories with that old truck and kept it going for probably about seven, eight years before I finally killed it so what?
Christian:what was what was so compelling about the pea green color in the 60s and the 70s? You? Just want to get your thought, because I'm going to circle back here in a second. Any it, the, the. I've mentioned this on the show before. But this dull yellow, yeah, this, like you said, exactly right, pea green and this pepto bismol pink, what? Why that aesthetic, in your opinion, brian?
Brian:well, I'm not sure, because I was born in 83, so it was about a decade before my time, but I I've noticed that you either had that weird orange color, a lot of things were orange.
Christian:Oh, orange, I forgot that or that weird green Yep and I don't know that's a good question.
Brian:I'm not sure. I guess that was just the rage during the time. The palette of the day yeah. I think about that it was everywhere.
Christian:My old house, built in the 50s here has this pink tile in the main bathroom and sometimes it's charming and sometimes it makes me want to grab for the nearest sledgehammer. The one thing I want to circle back on is nowadays you'll see new cars, or it's all the rage, or it's all the rage. It's not this deep forest color, but it's kind of this duller, almost not. It's kind of a lighter shade of green. I've seen it on Toyota Land Cruisers. I've seen it. I was looking at it a Shelby Cobra. This is way out of my price range. It's right around the corner these days, but I don't know. There's something about that green now. That's right around the corner these days, but I don't know there's something about that green.
Brian:Now, that's beautiful yeah, I've noticed some different, newer cars have different colors that are almost like two different colors merged in you. You almost can't decide if it's yeah, it's, it's nice because it's something. For 20 years you've had just the standard, uh, you know almost primary colors, uh, but it's it's. You're almost looking at it, it catches your eye and you're like wow, what's that? You know it's, it's, it's nice to see something new hitting the market, something kind of that stands out um interesting point.
Christian:I like the way you put that. I had not thought about that before, but I think in a lot of and we had uh tom, one of our guests from I I think it was last season mentioned, you know, the technology of, of colors. Yes exactly, exactly, and how they get these glitter effects. And you know, I don't know anything about that, but interesting what you just said. It's almost like it's a couple of colors merged or it's this hue right between one and two.
Brian:I think the Tesla is maybe some of the first to do that. Depending on the light, it almost looks one color, and then if it's sunnier out, it looks a different color.
Doug:It's interesting. In the I want to say, mid to late 90s, Ford and others had these colors, if you looked at it a certain way, including on Mustangs and, I think, Ford Probe GT second gen. It was a different color and my only thought about that was, wow, if you get in an accident, how do you get that fixed? The right way. But nowadays, of course, you can make your car any color you like just by a wrap job and it could be far out there. It could be neon green, it could be chrome.
Brian:I saw a.
Doug:Subaru the other day. That was probably the color of Brian's truck. It was a newer Subaru. Whether it was factory or not, I don't know, but somebody liked that color.
Christian:I just keep it vintage and we're off on a tangent, on a tangent, on a tangent. But I have to throw in here a friend of a friend has a 57 Bel Air and Chevy Bel Air and when he bought it he bought it maybe five years or so ago, wrapping around and fulfilling that childhood dream, I want to say the rear driver quarter panel with the wheel well rusted, kind of a known issue. That car was decades old anyway, I think the fellow he bought it from was original owner, all rusted, rusted through. So they had to cut out that whole panel and they got a new one from someplace in California. That fabricates all this. They were able to color match it exactly.
Christian:When I saw it I said there's no way You're telling me they were able to color match this exactly. How'd they do that? He said you'd be surprised at what body shops can do these days. He said you'd be surprised at what body shops can do these days. He said you'd be shocked, and all right. So before we move on to the next car, I'm going to hand it over here to Doug who wants to climb in the rest of your cars here. But yeah, what is it with the? And we mentioned this before in previous episodes when did buying a $250 car stop? I think that's the greatest thing in the world. I wish they'd bring it back. I just bought my little son his first car. When did that stop, and can we bring that back? What do you think, brian?
Brian:Yeah, Well, I don't know if we can go back. I do know that about around 2019, I want to say my dad and I did buy another truck for $500. It's a Ford, I think that one's an 85. Somebody that my dad worked with. He lived out in Frederick, maryland, and he said hey, you know I got a truck, I'm selling it, you know I don't need it this. And that my dad finally asked me I don't really need. We got a couple of trucks, but how much you guys? Well, for $500, it's yours. He says I can bring it next week. He said, okay, and you know, sold he goes. Do you want pictures of it? He said, said if you can drive it from frederick to pasadena, maryland, I don't, I don't need to see it, I don't care what it looks like for 500 bucks, I'm not picky. And that's uh, that one is actually the two-tone, the brown and green, and uh, that one's another. Another manual, which I actually prefer manual overall. Overall, it feels like you're more one with the machine absolutely and five hundred Absolutely, and $500.
Brian:Now that one means a distributor. He's a little work there, um, and then, yeah, 500 bucks, I went have Z's, he went have Z's. Uh, I really feel like COVID the, the economic, the fine, everything got turned upside down. You can't find things for under four or five grand. Now, it's hard, you're reading my mind.
Christian:Yeah, exactly that that's what I said, doug. We have to print on bumper stickers or a t-shirt or something. I don't know the exact wording. But what is? 500 bucks? I don't need pictures. I think that is a brilliant life rule. If you can get it here, yeah I for for five c notes I'm all about it, but give me 10.
Brian:Give me 10 of the proceeds. Yeah, you got it. It's you got it, it's brilliant.
Christian:You got it. Yeah, there is something magic I'm finding here around. There's something magic about that $4,000 number. It's almost like four grand now is like the $250 of 20 years ago. I forgot all about this. I sold a little compact of mine for like $300. Go ahead, Doug.
Doug:No, I was just writing it down. It's a great book Before we move on, I got one other local.
Brian:It was one of the local lemon lots where they sell used cars. A couple weeks ago I found it was a Dodge Shadow. I thought it was a Dodge Spirit at first, but it was a Dodge Shadow $93 93, I want to say with 55,000 miles on it. He was asking 2,500 bucks. So I called the guy because my niece is getting ready to drive. I said what's up with this? I said did an older person have it? He said bingo, older person had it.
Brian:It was hardly driven. It's older. None of my family wants it. My kids don't want it. So my sister said her daughter same thing. You know, if it doesn't, it could be a little ugly, but it's not $20,000. It's 2,500 bucks. I called back a day or two later. Somebody from the Eastern shore actually came and looked at it, gave him $500 deposit and said I'll come back with a trailer tomorrow. So we missed that. It was a unicorn for 2,500, and it's running. Who cares if it's 30 years old? You might have to, you know. Just a couple little things here and there, but it did look nice.
Christian:So it can happen, but it's very hard.
Doug:I dig it, I dig it. They're out there.
Christian:They're out there for sure. So I think Doug wants to know and I will hand the baton off. I will hand the three on the tree off to doug. Doug wants to know what happened to that first car, and then he wants to get into that next car yeah, uh, well, op green.
Brian:Actually, what finally killed it was I was going to aacc. I was going to school and I was driving around the back parking lot and somebody ran the stop sign. I could see they were not going to stop and I mashed that brake all the way and the the, the booster broke. That plunger went through and I lost. Actually I lost my front brakes, I believe I only had back brake power. So the drive home later was a little dicey only having back brakes, brake power. So the drive home later was a little dicey only having back brakes.
Brian:And, um, seeing as my dad bought that one for 250 dollars, uh, I just felt like it wasn't worth putting any more money in that one. I was able. My dad had me cut the transmission out because it was a rare short transmission and he said somebody will want that. You know, there's a whole bunch of stuff we were going to take to carlisle. Here in another year or two we could sell a whole trailer full of rare things.
Brian:But yeah, I cut that out, cut, I think, the seatbelt out as a little reminder, a little memento, and I don't remember if I got some money for cash. I think somebody might have come and picked it up for $200. So we actually got $200 back from it and uh, yeah, I just didn't feel like fixing the. You know, I actually mothballed it once before because I had a 95 or 96 grand marquee and then, june 6th of 2003, I I totaled that I wasn't paying attention, didn't look at the light, and so, uh, I only had that for a few months and I wrecked that, and so I went back and apologized to the truck, pulled it out from and I said, well, you're, you're getting, you're now my primary vehicle again.
Doug:Yeah, and you have a. You have a bunch of parts right that you're going to take and, and, and maybe for our listeners. Um, I know about Carlisle, but maybe you could talk about it real quick and, if you've been there before, yeah, I've actually.
Brian:I don't think I've ever been my uncle, other people in the club, the car club, the other guys that we associate with it's come up and I just know that's a big meet on the East Coast that you can go and get all kinds of odds and ends, things. Now of course this is all pre-advent of the internet and stuff, but still just the culture there. And you know, I brought it up to dad. I said there's a lot of stuff here that you know I don't know about. You know, one day, when you're not here, you know, unless you label everything for me I'm not going to know what all this stuff is.
Brian:And I said we need to maybe go. We can maybe make a few thousand. We can bond, take some stuff up there and maybe sell some stuff, give it new home. I'd love to see it. You know the heart beating again and something else. And you know it's great we can make a little bit of cash, clear up some stuff, less work for me to do, however, many years down the road and, like I said, just a good bonding experience and and it's just a big, big car swap meet and you know, I'm sure I could get some good merchandise, maybe get another cool shirt or something while I'm up there.
Doug:Yep, yep. And they also have certain days where it's only certain types of cars or making models right, like they might have a Ford specific show or they might have a 50s specific show where they have those vendors.
Brian:Yeah, I think that's right Okay gotcha.
Doug:Okay, I guess I knew more than I thought about it, but Carlisle, pennsylvania, so that's a big end of summer event, if I remember correctly. But yeah, so you had some interesting cars, but you're also a motorcycle guy, right?
Brian:Yep, yep, I have a 95 Harley Electric Glide with the Evolution motor. We wanted something. You know we were looking. I wanted a bike, I wanted a real bike. As a younger man I had a Honda Enduro and I had tags on it for a while. But I wanted a real bike. So found one for I think it was like $4,000 or something, and my dad's hey, it's carbureted stuff we can work on without needing a 5,000, $10,000 computer. That can, you know, do everything. So, um, you know, went ahead and bought it. Um, a few years back, about three years back, I went and got it it needed. I got basically what I call the super tune up, took it somewhere it was a little bit outside of my area. Um, when it safe mainly. I have two, two younger kids, so I wanted it safe. So I um, basically bought it back again. It was almost four grand for everything I got done new tires, this and that.
Christian:And was it? Yeah, it was well, yeah, not too bad.
Brian:It was a local guy um down in Calvert County, so um yeah, and it was a local guy um down in calvert county, so um yeah, and it was. The main thing was is that was, and it rode so much better I said wow.
Brian:I said when you, you kind of get, but kind of like, when you're, you're, you're nose blind to certain smells that you're used to and stuff, you're like man, I didn't realize everything was tight again, everything was nice and uh. So, yes, I enjoy, and it's the wind therapy, like there's nothing like getting out there and you can't tell people if you're upset or having a bad week. You can't stay mad on a bike, not for long.
Doug:Yeah, that's interesting. I never had a bike. I did have a friend who had one probably shouldn't have had one that I rode around the back with him without helmets and all that dumb stuff. But I mean it could be 100 degrees out and you would go out and you would go out and you would cool off so quickly. Uh, I was a convertible guy back in the day. I'm still hoping to get back into a convertible again, but yeah, the the bike was pretty cool.
Christian:Yeah, one of my favorite saw this. Oh, this was on a Harley and I did a double take and the timing wasn't right. I think I had no money. Three kids probably had something to do with that. But right on the bottom of the windscreen it said have you ever seen a motorcycle parked in front of a psychologist's office?
Brian:or a therapist's office.
Christian:It was something like that and I just thought it was brilliant. Again, that was kind of a beautiful green color to that one. I think I went back the next day and it was gone. But such is life you snooze, you lose, and I like to take naps. It is what it is. What can you do? What was that? Now, I was was gonna ask you, boy, we got so much to get to. We're gonna have to have you back in the future, brian, but I had to.
Christian:I know doug's got a few other things here, but I'm curious about the, uh, the 96 grand marquee. What was? What was that car like? Because one popped up. You know what I do sometimes when I, you know, after work, uh, and I like to ramp down. I just go to craigslist and I go to cars for sale and I sort from lowest price just to see what's out there. Um, and a grand marquee popped up and, I think, a town car of the same vintage, not not too long ago. So so that's a big v8, that's an enormous american car. Of course they don't make mercurys anymore. What was that car like? What do you remember from that car?
Brian:it was nice, it was funny because I mean I was 19, 20 years old, so I mean my, my dad got one for mom, so it's basically the hand me down. When my mom was done with it or started having some issues, uh, then you know I, I would get it, it would become mine, and it was just so smooth. People teased around said, oh, you're like that's an old person car, that's an old. But it was nice, it was very smooth. Uh, it was safe. Like I said, I got in an accident, was already thinking about the weekend, it was friday and uh, and it's safe. I mean it was like a little tank. You know, I got t-boned. The guy that had the right-of-way hit me, uh, airbags deployed and that was the worst injury was my cousin got a little bit of airbag burn, uh, but everybody walked away. Everybody walked away um it was a great car.
Brian:It was, um, you know, like you said, it was the v8, but you still, if you, if you babied it and didn't get too crazy with the gas, you could get close to 20 miles a gallon yeah 20 with highway because I don't think it was a big eight I want to say it was like maybe a 4.6 liter rear wheel drive.
Christian:So those cars, they just drive, man steer, no torque steer, just as smooth as butter.
Brian:It's basically the crown vic platform absolutely the local officer for the longest time police officer.
Brian:We had the crown vics I love them and then we switched over to a couple other things. Now we all have the ford explorers, um, and you know, it's good, it's a lot of room, it's nice to not have to crawl out of a vehicle. You hop out, it's good on your knees, um and uh, yeah, I always like the crown vics, uh, or, in this case, you know, the marquee is basically just the higher model, um, a couple extra bells and whistles.
Doug:It's funny. That brings me back when I was, uh, post high school. I was doing some work with some uh who's actually repairing atm machines or refilling them, um, and it's near uh, near um anterondo county police headquarters. So it was a lot of uh, uh county police officers when they were not working. That was their side job, if you will. And I remember talking to one of them and I said hey, why do you? You know that's when the toruses started coming out, or?
Doug:tori and I and he had a crown vic and uh, it's had to be probably 1992, ish 91, uh, yeah, 92. And he said, sit inside, sit inside the crown Vic. And he's like the Taurus is not this comfortable, not even close, and so that was his thing.
Brian:We also went with the Chevy Caprice a little bit. And for a few years there we had some of them had the uh, the Ford Taurus. I mean the crown, also the trunk. I like the layout of the Crown Vic's trunk. The Taurus was deep but then you can't get to some of your equipment back there. It was just, you know, it was wide, big, a nice trunk. Like I said, the steering, the handling, it was luxury.
Christian:Oh, yeah, yeah, good point American luxury, I like that, I like that. So I tell you what is we? Oh, go ahead. Doug wants to hop in here, but all I wanted to say, doug, is I know we got to wrap up here in the next few minutes. Doug will talk to you about cars all night, brian, so I'm trying to get you out of here on time, but I would like to chat a little bit about the 2020 Hyundai Venue. But, doug, let me toss it over to Doug. There's something else interesting in the passion we've got to get to.
Doug:Well, we were talking about these, you know, the Grand Marquis, the Crown Vic, right, these big vehicles, right. And I just think about a bus and Brian, you told us, you started telling us a great story. We had to save it because we want all our listeners to hear it. But tell us about the 1954 Chevy school bus that your family has owned for I don't know how long, and it was in a famous movie yes, so it actually ties into the shirt.
Brian:I'm wearing an old Cumberland shirt. Out in western Maryland they have the Labor Day weekend, the street rod roundup, and that was my introduction to old cars. Ever since, well, my dad had been going since the late 70s. So as a baby I think I was almost one. One was the first year that I went and it would have been 84, um, but yeah, so my dad went out there with some friends. They slept in a tent that first year. Um, actually they were close to the railroad track. They said the train came by like the midnight or 2 am train I guess it was the 2 am because they were still, you know, partying at midnight. But um, it came by and they thought they were on the tracks and they said they made sure they weren't on the tracks. And after that weekend they said man, sleeping on the ground is no fun, we need a camper or something. And somebody I think it was my dad's buddy Mike somebody said, hey, this bus is for sale and it's already. It was converted as like a camper anyway. So they all three of them went in six hundred dollars for this bus. They all went to two hundred dollars and bought this bus and it was the perfect camper.
Brian:Um now, and I want to say 90 or say somewhere around 1990, and I forget the producer, but they wanted to do this movie cry baby johnny depp was in it. And they came, somebody, how? They found my dad and they said look, this is the the only running full-length bus that's still running on the east coast that we can find. Can we, you know, use it in this movie now? At the time the bus was beautiful, paint job, flames, it was black, with flames and, and my dad said, well, I don't know this and that, and they finally came worked out a deal monetary value. And my dad said, well, I don't know this and that, and they finally came worked out a deal monetary value.
Brian:And my dad had them, in short, for I think it was 10 grand. And he and he said, well, if we run a truck into it, you're filming and something happens. And you already said it's rare, you know, yeah, he said he was so, so, so, uh, concerned, tempted, no, he's so tempted to go up there and set it on fire one night and get 10 grand. But uh, but no, so, uh, he got it back and then it was yellow, obviously for the movie. And you can tell in the movie. It's only the first five minutes of that film, but you can tell because if you look on the passenger side as it pulls up there's a vent in there, the side, I think, for the stove that they had had in there at one time, and so you can tell that that was an aftermarket, that square vent for the stove. Um, but yeah, and then, and then my dad got some more money out of them because when it came time to paint it back that was in the contract tell you, you paint it back in flames. He goes smart, for five hundred dollars I'll paint it back.
Brian:And at that point that I think it was the enron paint. It was cheap, it was, you could get a gallon for you know whatever. It was the Enron paint. It was cheap, it was, you could get a gallon for you know whatever it was. And then environmental concerns in the 90s started going up to hundreds of dollars a gallon for this paint, because you know whatever was special about the oil. It's kind of like the old fuel when it was leaded and it smelled different than the gasoline in the 80s and the gasoline now. But but yeah, so he got it back and it was yellow for years. Actually it was. Uh. It was so much fun every year washing the bus, getting it ready, do a little work, get it, getting it ready to make it up to the mountains again for the, the show and um.
Christian:Yeah, so the producers? Yeah, I thought this predated, I thought your ownership, father's ownership, kind of predated the move. But no, the producers came to your father that's yeah.
Brian:Well, the movie was just set in the 50s. The movie was set in the 50s but I believe it was 1991, somewhere around.
Christian:There is where when it came out yeah I remember I saw that in the theater. I saw that in the theater me too.
Doug:So I I was just looking up there's something called the internet movie car database. Now I'm going to spend all my time on this now that I've found it. Oh boy, it is a 1954 Chevrolet. Advanced Design is what it's called In the movie Crybaby from 1990.
Brian:All right, well, memory's pretty good then, and it looks like it's painted bus number 37 for the movie.
Brian:Part of history, part remember history, buddy, they had to put seats in there. The first half of the bus, to you know, they put these bench seats in there and I remember helping my dad yank them out and when it was time to convert it back, and then at that point he put in a bed and he kind of we, we set it up how we wanted it for a camper and we put a table that would collapse to another bed and everything.
Brian:And now sadly we just use it as storage. Okay, I drove it, I think, in 2007. I took it to AACC. I had some finals coming up and I actually gave the physics professor a ride back to his car and some of my other classmates ride back to their car. But it means a whole overhaul. So I was hoping one day I got to find somewhere, I got to find somebody with some money and we could maybe partner up and get it restored and back on the road. We could do something with it. But we'll bring the bike back to it Part of Hollywood history.
Christian:That's fantastic. And now that Doug has the internet movie car database Internet movie car database. We got to get you out of here, Brian. He will keep you here all night, but you got to go feed your family. But real quick, let's talk about the venue, the Hyundai venue Where'd you get it? Why'd you get it? Hyundai Venue Where'd you get it? Why'd you get it? And I was looking at those.
Brian:They're nice and small and seem like they'd be great on gasoline. Oh, that's a fun game I play. I try to keep it over 40 miles to the gallon. It usually ends up around 35 because obviously, as you drive it and if you're local it's lower, but if you baby, baby it, you can keep it at 40 miles to the gallon. Um, so my, my wife, had a little kia rio that she loved. It was the first car she bought. I drove it. I ended up killing it in inclement weather. I got in an accident I I've roughed them up sometimes, you know and uh, it was such a short wheelbase I wasn't able I'm real proficient with driving in rain and snow and sleet and stuff, but there's nothing you could do to counter steer with that short wheelbase. So I ended up that car was, sadly was, totaled.
Brian:So we ended up getting the Venue as the replacement to the Kia Rio. It's a good car. Like I said, I use it as my little hopper. I'll run up to see dad in Pasadena and I'll take take, you know one of the kids in the back because it's a little small. Both kids are in the back and with the white it's a little tight and I put the seat all the way back anyway, so then they'll be kicking, you know, their feet will be right there. So, um, but yeah, it's a good little car, good gas mileage and, um, you know, now, like one day though, I have, I, I will and I'm getting to that midlife crisis point when I find a good two-door muscle car late 60s or 1970s somewhere around there.
Brian:Now it doesn't have to be a Camaro, it doesn't have to be this or that, an old Roadrunner or something. Anything will be good. That's something cool. One day maybe I can have that. It'll be mine, and then she can have the venue and then I can have a muscle car.
Christian:Well, that car is going to last forever. Oh yeah, my son my 16-year-old, I think is going to drive it. Absolutely, you keep the transmission. You change the transmission fluid. Keep that oil change. That's your child's first car easily. Yeah, fantastic. Well, we have had so much fun getting to know you. Brian, thank you for taking the time. This was a blast. Appreciate time. This was a blast. Appreciate the stories. A little bit of Hollywood, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.
Brian:So it was a pleasure. It was great meeting you and thank you for taking the time yeah. Thank you so much and I'd love to come back in another season sometime, absolutely.
Christian:You got it. You have just heard to all the cars I've loved before the high revving, low mileage, late model. Heard around the world. Authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia yes, heard around the world Nigeria and Pakistan. Again, welcome friends, reach out, let us know. My co-host is Doug. Reach him at Doug at CarsLovecom. I'm Christian. Reach me at Christian at CarsLovecom and he was Brian. Again, it was great. Thank you for being here. Please follow, tell a friend, check out our link, tree, linktree, slash carslove. Check out all the online presences and just an easy way to hit us up, get to know us and be on the show. Just like Brian, I'm sure we'll see you at the next local car show, showroom, race trip or concourse. Thank you for listening. Keep the rubber side down and we'll see you next week.
