Mustang Memories & Automotive Nostalgia | From First Cars to the SEMA Show with Rob

In this episode of our automotive podcast, hosts Christian and Doug sit down with Rob – a passionate car enthusiast and photographer – to share automotive nostalgia and memorable car stories spanning decades. Rob talks about his humble first car – a bare-bones 1986 Chevy Spectrum that even helped four friends pass their driving tests – and how it sparked a lifelong love for cars. The conversation then shifts into high gear with Mustang memories, as Rob recounts owning a Fox-body 1987 Mustang GT and a modern 2018 Mustang EcoBoost convertible (complete with custom mods and a Maryland flag under the hood).

They also dive into the restoration of Rob’s prized classic 1966 Ford Mustang in rare Emberglow – a family classic car handed down through three generations of car lovers. Along the way, Rob shares his experiences in the car community – from photographing vehicles at local car shows and Cars & Coffee meetups to attending the famed SEMA Show in Las Vegas, where he rubbed shoulders with industry legends and witnessed cutting-edge car builds. This heartfelt conversation highlights how some cars become more than just transportation – they’re rolling memory machines that connect family, history, and car culture. Tune in for a joyride through personal car nostalgia, life lessons learned behind the wheel, and the enduring bond between a petrolhead and the vehicles he loves.

Rob's favorite episode is https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/16548659-from-mustang-gt-builds-to-pontiac-gto-restorations-weber-state-automotive-tech-education

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Cars Love Podcast
• 2:42 Cars in Media and Literature
• 7:40 Meeting Rob: Car Enthusiast & Photographer
• 16:09 The First Car: 1986 Chevy Spectrum
• 23:08 Mustang Evolution and Modifications
• 34:17 The Family Connection: Grandmother's Mustang
• 43:37 Car Shows and Community

Transcript

Christian: 0:03

Welcome back to Planet Earth to your authoritative podcast where motor mounts meet memories. It's to all the cars I've loved before Carslovecom, where we take a walk down memory lane and meet some wonderful people, some pulled from our past, some we met just today. And thanks to everybody for taking this ride with us, whether you are listening from around the world or down the street. We wanted to mention that we would, if you can, follow the show and I say that a lot, we say that a lot but ensure that it shows up in your library. Doug, can we just take a second and talk about the follow mechanism? Now it's where you have to go to the show page and hit the little plus that says follow. I don't know why. Sometimes I feel like they make it so small. Is it just me? But if you click that, I believe it shows in your library and then you're always informed when a new episode comes up. Right?

Doug: 1:06

Correct and our cadence, we've been 100% consistent. Has been every other week on Tuesday morning. Well evening, right? Oh no, when the episode drops, sorry, yes. Correct, correct, you're talking about recording. So, yes, but who knows, maybe we'll start doing more. But yes, if you want to, if you want to be alerted to the first, first, new, latest episode. When it drops, hit, follow. It also helps us know that what we're doing is valuable to the listeners.

Christian: 1:42

Absolutely, you're enjoying it. You want more? Yeah, so is the follow mechanism also the same with different platforms, streaming platforms?

Doug: 1:54

You know, maybe they don't call it follow on, Selma, I only use Apple, but Spotify has a follow, I believe, or something similar.

Christian: 2:06

So we're on all the major ones. Yeah, yeah. So if you like what you're hearing, please, it helps complete the feedback loop for us. You can always email us, but please do follow the show. That way, you will always be aware of the stuff that we do and as we move into new platforms, we can engage in those places moving forward.

Christian: 2:26

So this is the place where we talk about life lessons through cars. Again, please follow the show. Reach out over mail. We're getting more and more mail christianatcarslovecom or dougatcarslovecom. We continue to buy as many domains as we can, but those are the best email addresses to get to us. So I think those are the calls to action.

Christian: 2:47

But, doug, there were a few emails that I got in with some listeners saying hey, you know, you guys sit comfortably at the intersection of memorabilia, automobilia and media. And I got to thinking about that and we always you know, whether you're sitting around with your kids and you're seeing automobiles, cars in movies, in TV shows, in music, in books they really do permeate past, present and future. And it got me to thinking of what are what are some ways that? What are some ways we come across All right, whether it's Miami Vice, cars in that show as a kid, knight, rider, starsky and Hutch depends on how. Car 54, where are you now? How far back do you go? Andy Griffith's show, right With the police cars and that sort of thing.

Christian: 3:45

So, doug and I are big readers and I just finished a book here by Bob Lutz I'm holding it up for the camera and I read a book of his a few years ago, car Guys vs Bean Counters, about this push-pull between leading with your gut and sort of constantly being micromanaged by either the dollar, the widget, the metrics or the KPI, and I enjoyed that one so much that I bought this one, and it took me kind of years. My to-be-read shelf is groaning with books. Under the weight of the books and this icons and idiots, bob Lutz does something really interesting and he of course has held executive positions all over the world for car companies all over the world.

Doug: 4:34

Ford of Europe, chrysler, gm. They kept bringing him back out of retirement. He had something to do with the Dodge Viper.

Christian: 4:42

Absolutely, absolutely. And in this book he talks about kind of some Opel let's see, he worked for BMW for a time, that's correct Talks about working for the. You know Philip Caldwell at Ford Everybody knows red polling at Ford Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, eaton also at Chrysler, and just on and on. And then ultimately Richard Wagner at General Motors and he kind of talks about I wouldn't say it's a no-holds-barred. You can see I've dog-eared so many pages. Lutz is really a natural writer and a great turn of a phrase and he just talks about sort of the pros and cons about these people's leadership style. There are some sharp observations but really it's very interesting. I was surprised by the depth of this. I don't read a whole lot of business books, but I don't know, I just find myself kind of. You know I tend to read pretty widely, but I thought this book was really interesting. So, doug, before we introduce today's guest, any books you've read recently, kind of, to start, the media, kind of the media.

Doug: 6:07

Go ahead. Well, a book I have on my shelf that I've read and then started rereading and then stopped, is called the Gold-Plated Portia, and so that book was written by. Let's see, give me one second, I'm actually going to walk over and grab it.

Christian: 6:27

Yeah, I was actually looking on my bookshelf as well for the car guys versus bean counters. I couldn't find it. Maybe I lent it out. I need to stop doing that. He was editor of Car and Driver.

Doug: 6:37

Road and Track no-transcript, but he loved doing it and it. It actually is the book that got me really interested in the intersection of cars and media, which actually question you know. The next step was the book I was gonna write called to all the cars I've loved before that you talked me into turning into a podcast, which I'm so glad you did. Amen, because it's not lonely writing that book. Yeah.

Christian: 7:30

And yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

Doug: 7:32

And we get to meet people, like our next guest actually, which is a great, great one, perfect segue, well done.

Rob: 7:41

Go ahead, hey, charles, good, good evening.

Doug: 7:45

Good evening, good evening. Good evening. So with us is Rob, who we haven't officially met in person except over the interweb. But Rob and I connected over Facebook, if I remember correctly, via City of Annapolis Cars and Coffee post that I did for our podcast many moons ago. And yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself, rob, and you know your early, early goings and you have some great car stories I hope we can get to. I hope we can get to at least three of them, if you have about 30.

Rob: 8:23

Yeah, yeah, so again, again. My name is rob. I was, uh, born and raised in the baltimore area. Um, and uh, I've always been sort of excited about cars and always sort of had a special place in my heart for mustangs and, um, so at this point in my life I've owned, I've owned a few mustangs, which has been I've been really fortunate in that in that regard. And uh, now I do try to get out, to get out to cars and coffees and car shows and things like that, because I just like going out and seeing cars. It doesn't matter to me to make the model whatever, I just want to go out and I want to see what other people have done with their car. What are, are they proud of? And, um, you know, hear the story similar, similar to what? To what? What we're doing here? That's that, to me, is what the community is like all about.

Doug: 9:16

Yeah, and that, um, not to take it away from you, right? Um, but one of your hobbies, um, from you, right? Um, but one of your hobbies, um, intersected with cars, and back to media again is, as a um, and I'll say this, this may not be accurate as a amateur, uh, car photographer, right?

Rob: 9:35

Yeah, yeah, I I I've done a little bit of professional photography. Um, but I do I. I, by doing some car events, I I've now done some photography for two different online magazines or online websites whatever carshowscom as well as Stang Magazine. They really helped me get me started in this business and I've been really fortunate that through one of those, I got a connection and I was able to attend the SEMA show two years ago in 2022. And that was a real eye opening experience. Pretty, pretty amazing stuff out there.

Doug: 10:50

Yes, so for the listeners, I'm familiar with SEMA. I haven't been to it. I think it's always in Las Vegas. Yeah familiar with SEMA? I haven't been to it. I think it's always in Las Vegas, yeah, and tell everybody what it stands for and what you've seen there, or what the experience is like. I mean, it's like the super rock stars, if you will, of custom automobiles. Right, I'll leave the rest to you.

Rob: 11:16

Yeah, so SEMA is the Special Equipment Manufacturers Association. So they're the advocates for anybody trying to make aftermarket parts for cars. They're the ones. By the way, if you have a car with a loud exhaust, they're the ones that are fighting so you can still modify the exhaust in your car if you want to get it tuned. They're the ones going to court for for you. So, um, good, good organization to support, but at the show. The goal of the show is that all these aftermarket equipment manufacturers come and want to show off their their latest um inventions and thing and products to the you. You know, no matter what it is, if you're into trucks that you can put campers on, there's 10 or 12 people making campers that fit on top of trucks. There's people making all kinds of paint and paint protection and um tires and wheels, and you name it. Um, the show is just absolutely massive, though. It covers seven um conference halls.

Rob: 12:18

Um uh and I was only able I was only able to cover two halls a day. So the show, because I had a media pass, I got in on monday as a preview day and then tuesday, wednesday, thursday, I walked the show every day. I probably walked 10 miles, 10 miles a day looking at all this stuff and you're seeing all this equipment that the manufacturers have out but the manufacturers also want to show off like this is what our product could look like on your car. So that's where you start seeing all these builds. People bring in these really high-end builds. You know builds that are two, three hundred thousand dollars. Um, you get all the major players are there. Like I met. Oh, my gosh, blanking can dig it. Um, uh, can't, can't think of his name off the top of my head. Um, but met him there. Um, in fact, one time I went into the bathroom and I turned around and there's chip foos.

Rob: 13:09

I was like I didn't want to bother him while, while he was there, but afterwards I was like hey how you doing, you know, and um thanked him, just for you know what he I like to thank.

Rob: 13:20

I like to thank him for what he does for the, for the industry, Cause I think he's sort of a um, you know, a champion for the industry and just you know the way, the way, the way it should, it should be done, um. But yeah, they also have competitions for builders. So, um, they have cars um parked all over where people can can enter their cars into, into a competition. Some of them are, you know, very professionally judged Um, and you have cars there, like the one car won the Riddler award in Detroit that year. It was on, it was on display, and the crazy part is there's so many cars you go outside and there's cars parked outside that people probably have a hundred $200,000 in these cars. There's just not enough room in the halls, cause that's where they're showing off all the actual equipment. People are parking you know,000, $200,000 cars outside, just so they can be part of the show that, otherwise these cars may never see the light of day.

Rob: 14:17

It's amazing. I dig it.

Christian: 14:19

Now is it true that SEMA is not open to the public, so it's kind of a business-to-business true industry.

Rob: 14:27

Yeah, you got it In order to attend, in order to get a ticket to walk in the door you have to prove you're a part of the industry so you have to work for, for you know you can buy a ticket if you work for, like, an automotive repair shop or a paint or a body shop kind of a thing, or whatever. Um, people in the media get in that are, um, you know, into um media and and doing stuff for for the industry.

Rob: 14:52

But on fridays the public are allowed in that last day the public is actually allowed in um and it's only like a half day event. It's kind of cool. Some of the cars. They do a big rollout event, um at the end of the day on friday, so you see some of the cars sort of like parading out and stuff like that. Um, I should mention too one of the things I forgot is so wild like while you're there, they had two different drift tracks there outside and they're doing exhibitions all day and um.

Rob: 15:22

I may or may not have snuck into um one of the booths so I could get closer to the track. But pretty, pretty, pretty amazing stuff there.

Christian: 15:33

Fantastic memory Good deal. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. But we have to step into the way back time machine and let's transport back to when you were younger and how it all started. What was your first car? Where did it come from? What?

Rob: 15:50

was it? It was a 1986 Chevrolet Spectrum in dark blue and my dad put a red pinstripe on it. And this car, when my mom got it, it was meant to be like an Econobox, super cheap car. So when my mom got it she got like the bare bones version. I don't know if there was any options on the car, so it had, you know, crank windows, manual locks, um, everything was just very manual and basic about the car. It did have air conditioning, which was really nice, um, and in fact when it came from the factory there wasn't even a radio installed in the car. And so my parents, when they bought the car, told the dealer you got to put a radio in it. So they went back a week later and had the radio installed.

Rob: 16:36

But I mean, that's how you know it was something, it was a car that at the time that you know they needed a car, they bought a new car and I was. You know that was where, that was where, where it came from. A few years later, when I became of age to be able to drive, my dad fortunately um had been given a company car because of what he did for sales, um, so my mom took his 1988 Ford Taurus station wagon, another, another cool, another cool, retro.

Christian: 17:08

Absolutely.

Rob: 17:12

Turn all the heads, yeah, um. And then I got, I got her, uh, I got her a spectrum.

Doug: 17:15

So nice, nice and um you, you mentioned the didn't come with the radio, did have ac, it had crank right. Were there any? Um looking towards your future, were there any mods that were done to this unique chevy spectrum, or bare bones with the red pinstripe?

Rob: 17:35

yeah, yeah. So, um yeah, my dad um out of a jc whitney catalog ordered a little in intermittent wiper module and he installed that one one weekend. So eventually it had intermittent wipers, which today, of course, is standard, unlike every car, but in the 80s that was a, that was a feature, you know yep um yeah, it was. And when I got a hold of it um the radio of course came out. I put a tape deck in it.

Rob: 18:01

I cut some bigger holes in the rear, in the rear deck lid, put some jensen six by nines in the back deck lid and um put it to pieces yeah, I had some fun with it, um, but all in all, all in all, it was pretty stock, but it got me from a, from from a to b and got me to school, and I was very, very lucky to have a car at that yeah, not not only from that, but my favorite part about this story and about the spectrum is that it seemed to help several of your pals in the neighborhood pass their driving test.

Christian: 18:33

I've never heard anything like this, so walk us through how that happened.

Rob: 18:36

Yeah. So it was a. It was a good, a good luck charm. That um, myself and three of my friends all passed their driver's exam the first time in that car. So a couple of my friends were just like you know, I want to go, go, get my, get my drivers, get my driver's test. My parents don't have time, I'm like I'll take you after school, let's go. So you know the one girl, she you know we went up, we went to a parking lot. She practiced parallel parking once or twice, whatever, and went up and passed the exam. We stopped in McDonald's on the way home. It was a thank you and that was kind of cool.

Rob: 19:13

And actually one of the girls I ran. I ran. I ran into her at a, at a reunion um over the summer, and I saw her and I said you know, I remember the story, I remember you passing. She's like that's a funny thing you mentioned. Like my parents were really into, you know, letting me go out and do some of the driver's exams, but they were not going to take me for my license. She's like if you didn't take me, I don't think. I don't think I would have had my license to this day, like wow, so, um, it was pretty cool, so yeah man, you did a good turn.

Christian: 19:43

Now, one thing that you said that didn't strike me when we were first talking about this, or or when this story first came to light, was so there was an element of this car being good luck yeah, which I love. So everybody said, hey, well, you know, whether it's, whether it's, you know, willing something to be true, or it's easy to drive, or just kind of somehow the, the, the car willed the person testing you to pass you because you look responsible in it, I think that's pretty neat, you did somebody a good turn to be sure.

Rob: 20:16

Yeah, so remember four people passing the exam with no power steering either, because that's back then that was an option.

Christian: 20:26

Yeah, that's great. So you didn't have to go to the gym either. You were getting your workout fighting the steering Lovely.

Doug: 20:33

My second car didn't have power steering and by my choice, it was a stick shift Boy. That was a workout, let's see. And if memory serves, chevy Spectrum was not actually made by Chevvrolet.

Rob: 20:49

Right, it was what we'd call badge engineering by a close uh gm partner yeah, my understanding is that I, that is, I was actually designed by asuzu and sort of rebranded and, um, I think azuzu co sold it as their own their own, I don't remember what they called it I?

Doug: 21:09

I think it was the iMark.

Rob: 21:11

That sounds right.

Doug: 21:12

Yep, yep and GM owned part of Isuzu, so there were a lot of those.

Rob: 21:18

I'll say partnerships, competition, fun fact, fun fact about that car. It actually had another name because it was the Chevy Spectrum from 86, I think, to like 80, or 85, to like 88. And then the Geo brand came along, it became a. Geo Spectrum for like a year. Good call yeah.

Doug: 21:43

I know somebody on this podcast who owned a Geo. I did.

Christian: 21:47

I love that little car. You could go anywhere on a tank of gas.

Rob: 21:52

Was that the?

Christian: 21:53

little convertible Gio.

Rob: 21:56

No, I wasn't that cool. I wasn't cool enough to have a convertible Gio, but yeah.

Christian: 22:00

I was lame enough to have a regular Gio for a moment. Geo.

Doug: 22:04

Metro.

Christian: 22:05

Yeah, in my misguided youth I spent a lot of time without a car and having a bum ride. I bought whatever car I could afford by scraping change out of the nearest sofa. But wow, bringing back memories. Good times, yeah. But that didn't last long because we moved on to the first of many pony cars, right, yes, sir, yeah.

Rob: 22:28

So I had the opportunity when I was in college. My parents were like, hey, if you want sell the spectrum, buy you. You know, I had some money that my grandparents had given me through the years and said to buy a car. And I was like, you know, I got, I got some money in my pocket. Can I afford a mustang? I'd always been dreaming of one. So I bought an 87 um mustang gt with the ground effects kit and that big spoiler on the back and, uh, 50 yeah, it was 50, that one, that one, the car, the paint on it was terrible, it was white, it was like peeling and all that kind of stuff. So we knew when I bought it that it was gonna get um painted. So I got it painted a really dark gray which was a factory color, but they normally did like a two-tone. I did the whole car solid in it and the painter even said like I'm not so sure about this, but when he was done he's like this looks really solid.

Christian: 23:16

He really liked it um so where'd you get it painted?

Rob: 23:21

um, my dad, like knew a guy, that knew a guy and somebody did it like in their spare time borrowed somebody's booth and painted it like overnight and it didn't look terrible.

Christian: 23:30

You say it looked good. It looked pretty good. Yeah, custom painted metallic dark gray.

Doug: 23:36

Golly I wish.

Christian: 23:37

We had a photo.

Rob: 23:39

Love to see that yeah.

Doug: 23:44

So that car I'm sure was a lot of fun, but maybe not a lot of fun in the rain or the snow or a long trip. Is that true?

Rob: 23:53

Yeah, that's very true. Yeah, that GT suspension. You got on the highway for 30 minutes and you knew you were driving a GT. It like banged you around. That ride was no fun. And then, in the rain and snow, forget it.

Rob: 24:07

When I was in college, I had to get the car. I had to move it for a spring break. It was snow, there was some, but you had to get it out of the school lot for spring break. So I was going to put it behind my buddy's house a half mile away and I had to get out of a little parking garage parking area and there was this little tiny hill and it took me a half hour of trying to get up this hill, back up and gain as much speed as I can to drift over the top. And then I finally got out of that lot. And then there was this big long hill that had to go up and that car just wouldn't do it. There's no weight in the back, too much torque. The tires weren't really designed for it. So my friends pushed me up the hill and that's how I finally got a part.

Rob: 24:45

So, um, comically, um, my, my grandfather, um, he passed when I was in, when I was in college. But he had a 79 jeep, cherokee, um, four-wheel drive. Yeah, my parents were like, hey, since that car, since the mustang's so terrible in the winter, why don't you take, take the chair, take the? Uh, take the cherokee back.

Rob: 25:09

And this thing, my grandfather said, hey, why don't we get it painted? So he gave it to a local guy to paint and he said paint it yellow. And it was like it was already like a 70s yellow. But the guy painted it like really bright yellow. I can't even describe how bright this thing was yellow on the bottom, black on top, um, it was, it was, it was something. Um, so that thing, that thing was fun though that um. I was dating a girl in college. She lived like an hour away. So over over a difference, over a different break, I, um and I drove up to her place and I'm driving back on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I hear this sound as it goes flap, flap, flap, flap, clunk. I was like what the heck was that.

Rob: 25:53

I look up and there's something spinning right in the middle of the road. It looks like a two liter bottle of soda spinning in the middle of the road. I'm like what the heck is that? And so I pull over and I look at the car and like there's no lights going on, the battery's still charging. I'm like that just might be the starter on my car. So I open up the hood and I double check and like all the belts are still connected and stuff, and said I'm pretty sure that's the starter, said well, let me go claim it. So as I'm walking back like the quarter mile to claim it, a semi truck, 18 wheeler truck, is coming down the turnpike. He sees me on the side of the road so, to be polite, he's like he starts switching lanes. So and as he switches lanes, sure enough he hits that thing. You hear this bang and I was like he probably got a flat tire and it was bad.

Rob: 26:40

So I finally you know traffic, traffic, there wasn't any traffic I ran out, grabbed this thing, picked it up by the um, by the pigtail electrical cord, and it's all beat up to crap now because it's been run over by an 18 wheel and I'm like, looks like a starter. So I just get back and get back to the truck, throw it down in the seat, drive back the to school and I'm like all right, here's the plan. I'm gonna pull into the gas station, leave the car running, put the car running, put gas in the truck, put gas in the truck. Then drive over to my dorm, leave the car running out front, grab all my stuff, all my dirty laundry from college and then drive back to my parents' house because I still had more time on break and let my dad help me deal with this problem.

Rob: 27:23

And it had a shifter on the column, automatic. And I get into the gas station out of habit. You just grab the shifter, put it in park, turn the key and I go to get out. And I go, oh no, and sure enough, I turn the key and nothing, nothing at all. That was the last time I drove the car and the last time I saw the girl. So Well you raise.

Christian: 27:44

You raise a good point, though you don't really need a need a starter if you never turn it off exactly, yeah, I mean as long as you have endless access to fuel, like I think you're really on to something here yeah right, solar panels on the roof and well. I dig it. I dig it. Well then, one of many Mustangs from what I see from the file we have on Mr Rob.

Rob: 28:14

Yes, sir, yes sir. So right now I daily drive a 2018 EcoBoost convertible. It is red, black, interior. It's a premium edition, so it's got some really nice upgrades just from the factory. Then I've done some work to it and it's car show worthy from the outside. From the outside, I like to think of it as it looks like it should have come from the factory. If you look at it and go did that come from the factory that way? And then you open the hood and you go, okay, that's definitely not factory anymore.

Christian: 28:51

And, yeah, what he's describing and I'm looking at it, so we're trying to describe to listener land what he's done, the hood line right, so he opens the hood real nice and wide here, and what it is is, if you're not familiar with the Maryland state flag it's the best state flag out of all 50, I have to be honest, it looks like a coat of arms. It's four quadrants. The upper, left and lower right are kind of this yellow and black check that looks like a racing car flag, and then the alternating quadrants on top, right and lower left are almost like this, would you say. It's sort of like, uh, either a sword or a cross.

Rob: 29:29

It's a cross, yeah, maybe, maybe like, maybe like a knight's cross or something exactly, exactly that's what I was going to say.

Christian: 29:36

It looks like, uh, like a, um, like a medieval castle flag, something we flying over, and I think it's is it. Let me get this wrong, but is the? Is it called the the john? Is it the john calvert family crest or something? I think that, uh, we can look into that later. We can have somebody fact check us. I'm not big on the fact checking, but in the middle of the so the hoodliner is the flag and in the middle of the flag it's the mustang, the pony that looks like it's flaming. It's it's. It's kind of stretched out in streaks. It's going so fast and it actually is a callback to the little pony on the front grill of the car. It's really something else. It's very distinctive and, if it's okay with Rob, we're going to put this up on our site because I've never seen anything like that before. What do you think, doug Ditto?

Doug: 30:24

ditto. I've never seen anything like that before. What do you think? Doug, ditto, ditto. And he's also got some nice red accents underneath the hood which are colorful and about the same color as the car, but they're also mods. So you've done a couple mods to this Mustang as well.

Rob: 30:43

Yeah, I've had the front bumper off of that car three or four times now. I put an aftermarket intercooler. It's got an intake. I had it professionally tuned so factory it was like 240 horsepower to the rear wheels because again it's a four-cylinder turbo car. Um, it now puts about 290 to the wheels, which, oh wow, at the crank at the crank that's like 330 at the crank, factory and now it's probably close to 400 um, which a gt is like 460. So I'm I'm getting closer to gt territory. I'm never going to compete with the gt. I know that um and that's fine, but it just makes the car a little more, a little more fun to drive, a little more kick yep, yep, a little louder probably, and uh, yeah, yeah yeah, actually I try to keep it down like four cylinder.

Rob: 31:26

I'm not a big fan of exhaust on there, unlike my 87 Mustang where I had the mufflers removed and I ran straight pipe and that thing was would like wake the neighbors. But this car, this car, I keep it quiet Like I'm like trying to be a good neighbor, yeah, a good citizen.

Doug: 31:45

Yeah, I hear you, I hear you I hear you, so yeah, so go ahead, doug. No, no I was going to say, and there's another Mustang. So I think we're on the fourth one, maybe.

Rob: 31:59

Third one, third one.

Christian: 32:01

Yeah, I love how he starts in the 80s in 87. No-transcript. How would you even describe it, rob?

Rob: 32:37

it's a kind of a metallic kind of a kind of a copper color with like a little bit of extra orange in it yeah yeah, there was a.

Rob: 32:46

There was a plymouth prowler like factory color. That's close, but it has a little more orange in it. Um, the cool part about about this color you know ford. Ford offered it in 65 as a custom order color. About 400 people did it. So there's there's none hardly any of those left at all In 66, they offered it as a factory option. 12% of the cars were sold like that. So it's like 60,000 cars or so are this color from 66. And then they stopped. So the color is very unique, unique to the year, and that's actually the reason that I have this car. Car is because of the color. So when I got my 2018 convertible, um, my dad started seeing what I was doing with it and he started reminiscing about all the car, all the Mustangs he owned, cause he's owned several, but my grandmother he's loved before.

Doug: 33:41

Yes.

Rob: 33:42

He's on. He's owned a couple as well. But my grandmother, she bought a 1966 Ford Mustang in Ember Glow. It was an automatic car with the deluxe two-tone interior they also call that the pony interior and it had a center console in it. And my dad kept telling me stories about how gorgeous this like interior was and stuff like that. And I finally saw one at a car show and I was like man, one day I've got to have one.

Rob: 34:16

And so I went ahead and about two years ago I found um was diagnosed with cancer and I was like, oh man, I've always wanted one of these and I wanted to be able to make some memories with him and I thought I had like more time.

Rob: 34:32

You know, I was like I need to, I need to have one. So we, we figured out how to, how to be able to um afford one, um, we were lucky that we were able to to, to make make that happen. Um, and then um, so I got, I got, I got one of these cars. Um, my dad is now on the mend.

Rob: 34:52

He's doing, he's doing well, he's been treated and doing well, so that's really exciting. So now he likes telling the stories too, about, about the car. Cause I I kind of left I kind of left this out earlier that my grandmother didn't just own one of these cars, she owned two of these cars. She owned the first one was a six cylinder and my dad was coming home from college and, um, he ended up sliding on some ash that back then that they used to put ash down on the road for like track for um, traction in the winter, and he slid on that. It was dry, it was in Pennsylvania and the road, the road was covered in this, this stuff, and he slid on it and total, total the car.

Rob: 35:31

And he told my, he told my grandfather, he said you know, if I had more power I would have been able to sort of like power slide out of this thing or whatever. So I think so when they replaced the car, they got the V8 version, because my grandmother, my grandfather, literally went out to the crash site and looked and said, yeah, I think you're right, if you had more power you could have made it. So the second one, my grandmother got a second one, same color same identical car is what it sounds like, but with a V8 in it, but with a V8 in it.

Rob: 36:01

So this car, this car that I had start out pretty much like hers, her boat, but both of hers had a black vinyl roof. Black vinyl doesn't wear very well. It does terrible things for rust underneath and stuff like that, so this car.

Rob: 36:13

This car does not have the vinyl roof, um, but this car started out with the same two, two, two 89 motor in it. Um, someone did a lot of nice engine work for me, putting a four barrel carburetor and an intake and a water pump and a cam headers exhaust, so it rumbles a little bit that one will wake the numbers. So I try to be. I try to be really polite when I start and I have to leave for a car show at eight o'clock in the morning, um. But now I, over the winter I tore out every piece of the braking system and I put disc brakes up front and drum brakes and rebuilt the drums in the rear and upgraded suspension in the rear and um year by year it's getting getting some upgrades here and there. That my goal is. From the outside and the inside it looks factory, but the drivetrain, free game. I'm going to upgrade it and make it everything, everything I can, because I want to be able to drive and really enjoy the car. Um, so so.

Doug: 37:06

Yeah, that's a restomod to a degree.

Rob: 37:10

Right.

Doug: 37:10

Yeah, there's so many modern. Anybody who's heard me talk? I had electric power steering added to my DeLorean. Oh my God, it's like a different car. The new suspension too, but it was like driving a different car. It was so much, and it's uh, adjustable, um, in the in the amount of assist. But, yeah, there's. There's electric air conditioning, uh, condensers for cars, um, as you mentioned, just brakes make it, make a big difference. Yeah, there are just so many things that can make these cars just so much more enjoyable than they ever could have been from the factory, even though back then we had a different set of standards, if you will.

Rob: 37:58

Right. Well, I have a throwback on this car, on my 66, that my transmission was acting up and I was, like you know, I could spend $2,500 or so and try to have the transmission rebuilt and reinstalled, but I knew one day I wanted to put overdrive in it. So rather than do that, I found a transmission, an AOD transmission, out of like an 89 Ford Mustang, had that rebuilt. I do not do transmissions, I know my limits. So had that rebuilt. I do not do transmissions, I know my, I know my limits, um, so I had a shop I had a shop locally here install that and saw that for me.

Rob: 38:32

So this car actually has um overdrive in it. Um, it has a custom valve body though. So I ha, I can select first gear, second gear, and then I have drive, you know third gear, slash fourth gear and I have a I use the factory fog light switch as my overdrive lockout so I can basically lock out fourth gear and keep the car in third gear, so I can drive the car out of a red light like a stick. First, second, third, I'm going 30 miles an hour and I want second gear. I can just pull it down into second gear and just go Um, but I don't have to deal. I don't have to deal, I don't have to deal with the clutch um, which I don't mind, I can drive. I can drive stick. You know, my 87 mustang was a stick um, but I wanted this car so I can also take it to parades so other people can can see it. I wanted so my wife can drive it. She's not very comfortable driving stick, so now the whole family can enjoy it.

Rob: 39:22

So yeah, it's a yeah, it's a good time.

Doug: 39:26

No, that's uh, that's awesome. And yeah, uh, uh. What do they say? Uh, necessity is the mother of invention. Is that what they said? So, yeah, you found. You found another transmission, you from another mustang, yes, vintage of your first mustang into the same vintage of your grandmother's mustang. You got it that your dad drove so beautiful and as we oh, go ahead.

Doug: 39:53

No, no, I was just going to say I I'm taking the words out of your mouth. Uh, christian, um, I can't wait to put these pictures up on our website. They, they're gorgeous. And you know rob saying he's a, you know, I said he was the amateur photographer. That was not fair. These photos, they are gorgeous yeah, well, the, the, the.

Christian: 40:16

The subject makes it easy, but the inside is just just a time capsule and in and just hypnotically beautiful. The thing I like about the interior, the seats, they're two-tone. So I believe Rob was saying that the white is called parchment, the name of the color is called parchment, and it's just so beautiful. So as we wind down here and there it is, he's showing it down. I love the center console too.

Doug: 40:45

Very 60s Just a little like rails going down front to back all the way full way.

Christian: 40:51

Yeah, so do you uh, and is as we uh are talking about the. The weather is changing here as we move through season three and make sure you get outside. Get outside with your cars, go to a car and coffee, go to a car show, talk to people about their, their cars, and so this one makes the round with you to car shows, rob.

Rob: 41:12

Absolutely. It was just out on Saturday, a couple of days ago, or Sunday Rather, it was at a car show to benefit a cancer or cancer support organization, which was an awesome, an awesome thing to do, and unfortunately the cars never brought home a first place trophy support organization, which was an awesome, an awesome thing to do. Um and um, unfortunately the cars never brought home a first place trophy. It's brought home a couple of seconds and thirds, um, but in the end I don't go to the car shows to get a trophy or to get the hardware. It's nice to be recognized, but really I go, cause I just like talking to people about their cars, just like, just like you, I want to go, I want to see what people are doing with them and um just check them out.

Christian: 41:50

Yeah, I can see you. You light up when you talk about them. Your enthusiasm is uh, comes right through the line. So, hey, it was great meeting you. Rob, I just want to thank you for taking some time, and I think that's a wonderful way to button up the show is to kind of book in with this Mustang your first, the one you have now and then you kind of went back in history to fulfill the dream and kind of bring it back to family with your grandmother and your father. So just great stuff. It was great meeting you and, if it's okay, we'd like to put some of this on the website.

Rob: 42:28

Yeah, absolutely Looking forward to it. Yeah, right.

Doug: 42:31

And you know you could say every Mustang tells a story. In this case at least three. Yeah.

Christian: 42:38

Yep, yeah, he's definitely, he's definitely got a type, as they say yeah, yes.

Doug: 42:43

Yep, all right.

Christian: 42:50

Well, no, say yeah, yes, yeah, all right. Well, no, I was just gonna gonna wrap up the show here. Uh, this was to all the cars I've loved before, thanks to our new friend rob and uh, check us out, if you like us, follow. If you really like us, tell a friend I'm christian at carslovecom, he is doug at carslovecom. Let us know how we did take the poll, take the survey, get involved, then have you on the show.