First Car at 8, Ferrari Dealer at 30: Colleen Sheehan's BMW Story

Learning manual transmission is nerve-wracking. Learning it the day before driving your first car across the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance podium at age 11? That's how classic car dealer Colleen Sheehan started.

Her first car was a 1930 BMW—nicknamed "Sputter"—that her father took as commission when a collection buyer said, "I don't care about that car." Colleen got it at age 8. At 11, she earned 3rd in class at Pebble Beach.

Sputter is extraordinary: wooden frame, cable brakes, 35 mph top speed. "If you hit a possum, the whole thing shatters...and the possum walks away cussing." Possibly the oldest BMW in America. She owns 2 of the estimated 4-5 in the US.

That passion led to Next Generation Classics, her California dealership specializing in Enzo-era Ferraris and exotic cars. While her twin brother chose computers, Colleen chose restoration, sales, and the collector car world. She names all her cars: Lancia Delta Integrale rally car "Guido," Tahoe "Betsy," second BMW "Putter."

Her dream car? Ferrari Competition Daytona 365GTB4c —only 15 ever made.

Philosophy? "I'd rather drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow."

Sputter sits in her garage, never to be sold.

Listen to Colleen's favorite episode, Dora's Datsun here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/14948807-from-datsun-to-range-rover-what-dora-s-first-car-taught-her-about-success

*** 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.

Chapters

• 0:02 Global Shoutouts And Banter
• 2:10 DeLorean Regraining Deep Dive
• 6:15 300ZX Paint Choice Reveal
• 7:38 Reviews, Site, And Linktree Plugs
• 8:27 Meet Guest Dealer Colleen Sheehan
• 10:25 Launching Next Generation Classics
• 12:14 How She Sources And Sells Cars
• 14:05 Repair Networks And Parts Logistics
• 17:28 Talent Pipelines And Restoration Schools
• 19:49 Where To Find Her Inventory And Videos
• 21:05 First Car: 1930 BMW At Pebble Beach
• 24:22 Rarity And Survival Of Early BMWs
• 25:49 Ferrari Comp Daytona Lore
• 28:55 How Different Ferraris Feel To Drive
• 32:24 Vegas 348 Spider Storytime
• 33:56 Lancia Delta Integrale Obsession
• 37:15 Joy Of Slow Cars And A Willys Truck
• 39:11 Car Nicknames And Sign‑Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:02

Welcome back to All the Cars I've Loved Before, your authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia where our guests are unique. Each auto has an era, and every car tells a story, so you know what time it is. Time to plug in, get a little grease under the nails, and slip on that favorite car theme t-shirt, hat, or jacket. Uh let's welcome back our listeners from all over the world. Get ready, Doug. We're gonna go around the world. One of my favorite parts of the show here. Frankfurt. So these are the people that have listened in the past week to any of our country. Well, um, wherever you get podcasted, listen to the podcast there, our YouTube presents, uh, different stories. So here we go. Uh Bern, Switzerland. You've heard of that one, right? Frankfurt, Germany, Stockholm, Sweden, Canada, Italy, Los Angeles, California, Wichita, Kansas, Toronto, Canada. And welcome back to everyone in New York, New York, and Brooklyn, New York. So uh let's see. A lot of repeat listeners over the past week in Switzerland and Germany. Maybe it was we did that uh chocolate-themed car show. What do you think? You remember that? The old Toblerone GTS? Love that. Oh, and I have one for you. Check this out. Okay, so we had listeners over the past week. We've never had this kind of neat in Zurich, Switzerland, and also Lake Zurich, Illinois. Do you think those two are related? Related by marriage? By what? By by boat, by something, wouldn't you think? Some transplants in the world. Some transplants. I love it. Old New York, New York. Love it. Dig it. So anyway, well, welcome back, Doug. How you doing, partner? I'm doing great. Great to be here. And what's working? Yeah, indeed, indeed. And what is with the so how much time did you spend in the garage over the past weekend? With one or many or all or none of your of your automobiles?

SPEAKER_02: 2:10

Pretty much none, but I do it's been a busy couple of weeks, I know. I do I do have a quick uh story about a garage. So um, as all all our listeners know, um I own a DeLorean. So I had to pick up my DeLorean from somebody in New Jersey to uh transmission repair work. So I drove it back to my DeLorean buddy who lives in uh northwest of Baltimore, and he had the authority because DeLoreans are stainless steel, he had the authority, worldwide authority, uh make sure I get his name right, Chris Nichols in from Australia in to regrain. Yeah, re-grain the stainless steel on cars. So there were probably 15 DeLoreans there. Now they had to leave before I left, but I got a lot of pictures, and my friend had just finished this huge garage. I think the garage itself can hold about 15 cars.

SPEAKER_03: 3:14

Man, that's big. Huge. Okay, so very interesting. And before we bring in today's guest, all right, so the re-graining thereof, when you get very close up on your car, um there's just this very um, I guess very characteristic or very unique detail to the stainless steel. So what does regraining mean? Did you see the machine that did it? Is it some sort of uh uh standing or what? What's what is it?

SPEAKER_02: 3:43

Uh I think it's called a wolf's wheel, is the at least the the type of um pad that's used, and it's really it's just a process. And somehow this Chris Nichols is just he's renowned for it. He knocks things out, he just knows how to do it, but you know, it's very he takes away just a very thin amount and he just has the recipe to success so much that people I mean people from Maryland, DC, Virginia, and and Pennsylvania were bringing their cars to this one location to have their cars worked on by Chris Nichols. And what's interesting is supposedly his he's so well known, I've actually seen it advertised. They say that if you have your car re-grained by him, it actually adds value to the car.

SPEAKER_03: 4:31

How interesting. Yep, yep. Okay, so so uh have you communicated with him at all? Do you think we could get him on the show? Uh it's possible.

SPEAKER_02: 4:41

I did I did meet him. I shook his hand. Well, it's great. But I bombed him. So yeah, we can talk to him. He's back in Australia now, so we can figure that out.

SPEAKER_03: 4:52

Just in town for the work and maybe a quick visit. Wonderful. Okay, so you got pictures. Do we have them up on the website yet? We don't, but we will by the time this comes out. Lovely. Okay, uh, fantastic. What else are we gonna get into? Um, what's going on with the shirt? What's you always have the best wardrobe. What's happening with that shirt? I'm always always on the show. In honor of today's guest, obviously.

SPEAKER_02: 5:18

Yeah, so it says Tahoe Road Rally. It is a Ferrari something uh kind of a Ferrari Daytona, I think. Okay. Probably not the right uh Daytona not being the real name, but we have our expert on who will set a straight.

SPEAKER_03: 5:35

But you know, you get these shirts at Old Navy, and they say, you know, the Topeka, Kansas Maserati rally, and it's a bunch of goofball baloney. There's no such thing, but it sounds so interesting. It pulls people in. And what do you expect for a nine-dollar shirt, after all? Oh, so we have a new news page on the website for our press releases that come out. I'm sure we're gonna be picked up in the Wall Street Journal Eating Day now, correct? Uh it's it's in the works. Absolutely. It's in the works or the Main Street Journal. One of the two. What else do we have? I think that's I think that's all the housekeeping. Oh, you were gonna ask me about a color. Oh, yeah. So what's what's up with the car? Did you choose a color to paint your dream car, your dream car from high school that's now your nightmare car sitting in your garage? Let's hear all about the color choice.

SPEAKER_02: 6:27

So the 1990 Nissan 300ZX. So it is black or it was originally black. As you know, I'm a fan of silver cars. Yes. So I spent a lot of time thinking about it. My kids are like paint it silver. Somebody else said paint it back to black. So I decided to go in totally the opposite direction. So there was a pale yellow when those cars came out. And I had to look it up before the show. It's called a yellow pearl glow or a yellow pearl. And it's just a beautiful color. You don't see it very often in the Z's. At least I don't know that I've ever seen one in the last since I've owned the car at least. Okay. And occasionally I do see Zs, but so yeah, it's like a pale yellow.

SPEAKER_03: 7:16

Wow, it sounds very distinctive.

SPEAKER_02: 7:18

Yeah, yeah, it's gonna stand out. And you know, it's funny in the past I never would have owned a yellow car or red car ever again because of speeding tickets, but now it in my 50s, I don't drive that fast, so I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_03: 7:31

Beautiful. Can't wait. Can't wait to see, would like to see some swatches of the color moving on. Thank you for sharing that. Um, everybody, ensure that you're checking us out at carslove.com, carsloved.com. Uh, leave a review if you like what you hear. Please share with others, helps us grow so that you know maybe when everybody on this planet is done listening to us, hey, we can start on Mars or the moon, something like that. So we'll really are trying to grow the fiefdom. Uh, carslove.com, check it us out, but what about the link tree? You want to get in the link tree? Sure, you bet. L-I-N-K-T-R dot eeslash carsloved. Beautiful. And you can leave a review uh wherever you get your podcasts or on the site. Uh email us, Christian at carslove.com, Doug at carslove.com, if you have anything to share. And with that, I think we're done with all of our housekeeping and mindless banter. Off to the green room we go. So, Doug, how did today's special guest make it to our virtual garage?

SPEAKER_02: 8:31

Yeah. So, in a roundabout way, through all the social media and YouTube and the fact that Ferraris are awesome. We and and uh as it turns out, some mutual people in the industry who uh work on Ferraris and restore Ferraris, we found Colleen Sheehan.

SPEAKER_03: 8:55

Yay. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. How are you doing, Colleen?

SPEAKER_00: 9:00

Welcome. Hello, great to be here.

SPEAKER_03: 9:04

Thank you. Leave it to me to step all over the introduction, but fantastic to have you here. And um, wow. Please continue, Doug. So what uh how how did you reach out? How did she respond?

SPEAKER_02: 9:16

And and yeah, I think uh I think it was just uh via email, and uh you know, just sometimes you uh get people on the right day, and she responded right away. And we did some coordination, and here we are, and we're talking to Colleen live from California from her shop with a for those of us who who uh see it on YouTube, there's a beautiful, beautiful fish tank behind her.

SPEAKER_00: 9:43

Yeah, yeah. Cars, fish, dogs, yeah. Simple person.

SPEAKER_03: 9:49

Anything with wheels, yeah, for sure. Love it. And I'm sure that during the interview I'm going to get caught just sort of mindlessly looking at these hypnotic, beautiful looking at him. So if if there's just complete silence, which you absolutely don't want in any interview show, it is due to me. That's all right. We we rolled with it. Fantastic. So what do you want yeah? What are you up to these days, Colleen? What's your latest project? What's what are you doing these days?

SPEAKER_00: 10:25

Well, so uh I've always been around you know cars my whole life, and uh I've been in the sales business for over 12 years, 13 years now, I think. Uh and I last year I started my own dealership uh called Next Generation Classics. So, you know, that's pretty much my uh not nine to five, like seven to ten.

SPEAKER_03: 10:56

But you know easier to sell the hours that you don't work, running your own business. I imagine running your own dealership. So, what kind of cars do you specialize in? What kind of clients do you specialize in? Do you take on new clients? Do you have a book of kind of a closed book of business? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00: 11:15

Uh so my specialty has always been Enzo era Ferraris, basically kind of like the 70s and older Ferraris, but that's just my my real specialty. I sell all kinds of stuff, newer Ferraris. Uh currently I have like a Ford Model A, a couple of Panteras, I just sold a uh Porsche Turbo S. So, you know, all kinds of stuff, a fairly wide variety.

SPEAKER_03: 11:48

So, do you have a showroom? Do you will you broker things virtually? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00: 11:54

Yeah, I have a showroom and basically uh there's kind of three different ways that people normally um sell cars, like when they're in the industry. You're a dealer or um a broker or you consign. And so I do a little bit of all of it. You know, I'm a licensed dealer, uh, but I also, which most dealers own their own inventory. Uh, so I have some of that, but then I do some consignments. I have clients, you know, just recently I had another client, I sold him a 1966 uh Corvette, and he's sending it back to me to sell. Um and then a little bit of brokering where, you know, somebody says, I want a F40, and so I find them one and just kind of the middleman in the process.

SPEAKER_02: 12:50

Yeah, it's uh it's amazing to me, uh, just not not just how connected people are, but just for instance, and I'll I'll go down to the simple thing, but I have a friend on the eastern shore of Maryland who's he's a Z guy. He's got tons of Z's, he's got a tractor trailer full of parts, and he always hears about Z's. And why is that? Because all his network knows that he is the Z guy, so he'll find out about cars that just aren't for sale. And and I'm sure it's like that for you with uh these exotic cars, including Ferrari, and all around the world too.

SPEAKER_00: 13:29

I mean, I sold a um Lamborghini Diablo SBR from Australia, you know, last year, and just random guy emailed wanted to sell his car and happened to know who might be looking for one. And you know, so it's it's um when you have that real specialty, you know, you get all the people calling you about it.

SPEAKER_02: 13:55

Yeah, yep, and that niche. And uh I I did want to ask you, so you you find these cars, some of them are some of them uh may need some work, right? When you find them, how do you how do you get them repaired?

SPEAKER_00: 14:09

Uh it depends. So there's a few different shops in my area. Um and it depends what it is too, right? So if if it's a new Ferrari versus an old one, you know, there's definitely two different shops for that. Um so you know, and if it's a Corvette, it might be different. If it's, you know, so each one uh there's a different shop that specializes in them. The nice thing about where I live in Southern California is the it's car mecca. Uh, you know, we we have no lack of cars and exotic shops to work on them here. Uh so there's pretty much a shop for anything around here. I mean, even with uh with your DeLorean, there's a guy who specializes in DeLoreans out here. And I've been to his shop and he has like 30 of them there. And it's kind of crazy to walk in there and it's just a fleet of DeLoreans, but there's a specialist for everything.

SPEAKER_02: 15:14

Is that in uh Huntington Beach? Okay, yep. I haven't been out there, but I know that I know the guy or know of him. So yep. Yeah, have you ever had to ship a part ship a part in from somewhere, let's say Italy?

SPEAKER_00: 15:32

All the time.

SPEAKER_02: 15:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 15:34

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02: 15:35

Yeah, yeah. And um, yeah, you know, I'm just coming from my knowledge of we had uh we had that past episode with uh Tom Young, and uh I know you know Tom, but just the amount of the perfectionism that is involved in in that craft that you see the end result of, he's restoring cars for people, you're selling them, and just like a scratch in the window that couldn't be buffed out. He had to have the window recreated, not just the window, but the stamp in the window.

SPEAKER_00: 16:10

Yep.

unknown: 16:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:11

Oh yeah, it's when you get into all the the real details, it's it's crazy. Uh it's cool when you know all the little details too. Yes. Uh, I mean, I know a lot, you know, I'm still learning, but uh it's that's part of the fun is learning all the new little fun details like every single day.

SPEAKER_03: 16:33

So uh oh, sorry, Doug, I just want to hop in here. That is so interesting to me. Do supply chains ever get snarled? Do you ever get stuck waiting for a part and somebody's sort of stamping their feet? Are there deadlines in your line of work? Or can you kind of put people off? What how how does that uh how often does that happen?

SPEAKER_00: 16:53

Well, um, luckily, because I sell the cars, um usually I'm not overseeing too much of the restoration process or service work.

SPEAKER_03: 17:05

Got it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:05

Although sometimes I am, and that like right now I have a De Tomaso Pantera I'm selling that's having some engine work done, and some of the parts got uh, you know, caught up waiting on them and ended up uh the potential buyer found a different car in the meantime, uh just because it took too long to get the parts in. So that definitely happens and that is never fun. Um yeah, I have so one of my personal cars, I have a uh Lancia Delta Integralle, and um that the cambelt snapped a while back. So it's a whole top-end rebuild, and getting parts for that, luckily you can find them, but they're you know overseas and gotta get them shipped in. So it's part of the chaos of exhaust cars.

SPEAKER_02: 18:05

Yep, yep, and the and the challenge and the and the fun, right?

SPEAKER_00: 18:10

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 18:11

And uh I you know, I started asking you about uh getting the cars repaired, and so we talked about parts, but we we've been Christian and I have been fortunate enough to have people interview uh students and instructors from uh both Weaver State College, uh, they have an automotive repair or automotive tech program, and then most recently uh McPherson College in Kansas when their auto restoration program. Do you ever do you ever um seek out those type of candidates for car repairs? Or have you seen that done where this guy came out of McPherson and I gotta have him?

SPEAKER_00: 18:52

So I have right and I have uh seen some of the shops are definitely looking for because it is getting harder to find uh qualified mechanics for these kind of cars. Uh, if you think of any mechanic working on modern cars, it's mostly computer work at this point, um or simple oil change and like the kind of basics. Uh so the the kids coming out, the people coming out of these colleges that specialize in these classic automotive cars, it's uh very desirable for shops because you're getting somebody who you don't need to train them from the bottom up. They've already learned a lot and are qualified. Uh and each, whether you're going to like a Porsche specialty shop or a Ferrari specialty shop, there's some finesse for each that you're gonna have to learn, you know, the little minute details of the different kinds of cars. But in general, uh, if you're coming out of one of those colleges, then you are leaves and bounds ahead of anyone else they could hire.

unknown: 20:05

Good point.

SPEAKER_03: 20:06

Yeah, that that's such a good point about Weber State because their program is actually co-located with the IT of the computer science program. They share the same building as uh because as you you right rightfully said, you know, working on a car now is like working on a computer. So it's just just very different from some of the some of the early models.

SPEAKER_02: 20:26

And then you have McPherson who's on the totally opposite scale, right? We're you know early 20th century cars, right? We had Cash on, right? What is Cash's daily driver? I think it was a Model T or Model A. Um, and when we had Chris on Chris, like that. Yeah, and Chris had a family of Model Ts. Like he used to go on family trips where they would tow the Model T behind them, the family. He got a Model T. His daughter has a Model T. It's just so incredible to talk to them. And they they had a great win uh about two years ago at Pebble Beach, actually, with their uh I want to say it was a 30s Mercedes, it was a big win. So that that really put them on the map. But it's I love it. What's that? 1953 bins, I thought. Uh yes, yes, 53. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 21:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Colleen, before we go back in time and start talking about your your earliest automobiles and the ones that made a great impression on you. Is there a way for our listenership to find out what cars you have for sale? How can they learn more about what you do and what you offer? Is that public knowledge?

SPEAKER_00: 21:44

Yeah, definitely. So uh my website is nextgenclassics.com. And I have some of my inventory on there uh and my contact information. But I also post a whole bunch on uh social media. Yeah. And so you'll see a lot of stuff on my Instagram. If I get a new car in, you'll definitely see it on Instagram long before you'll see it on the website because when I get a new car in, I like to do a full video for YouTube on the cars. And I don't want to do sales pitchy videos. You know, if you want to buy a car, you're gonna call me with questions. I want the videos to be informative and to go over like the histories of the cars and what makes each car unique and special. So uh that takes some time to get done. So it takes a while to get a car up on my website. So uh most of my new inventory you'll see on my Instagram or TikTok or one of those social medias.

SPEAKER_03: 22:53

Yeah, and and a big shout out to your YouTube channel. I love how you kind of play with the format um in one of them. I don't know if it's the the Euraco where you're kind of driving the car, you just get to listen to it. And it's only a minute or so long. It's just a wonderful little piece of of film, as well as you I love that they're almost like little documentaries where you give a history lesson and the difference between these two. And these sold this many units uh here uh versus the the its its next model successor. So I think that's very well done. So I would uh and you'll see this in the show notes if if you're listening to the podcast, but it's really compelling content. Go check out her YouTube channel. So what do you think, Doug? Are we ready to to to to plop her in the DeLorean and take her take her back to the future? What do you think? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 23:40

And we're gonna take her back to age 11, although I think she owned the car before then.

SPEAKER_00: 23:46

Yeah. Yep. So um my my first car, I mean, you know, my whole car history is definitely not your typical um, you know, first car story. And I uh so my dad, the my dad's the reason I got into this business. And uh when I was a little kid, he was selling a large collection of cars. Uh, and most of it was more, you know, the like Lamborghinis, Geraris, that kind of stuff. And one of the cars in the collection was this little 1930 BMW. And the buyer of the collection was like, I don't really care about that car. You know, it doesn't really fit. And uh, so that's like, you know, I'll take it as part of my commission. My kids will love it. So uh I got the car when I was eight years old. And um, when I was 11, Pebble Beach, the um Concourse de la dance, was doing a uh exhibit with Austin Sevens. And BMW had bought the rights to basically recreate the Austin 7. Uh, so the very first BMWs were they look a lot like the Austin 7. So it fit into this Austin 7 class. Uh and so when I was 11, the car was entered in the Pebble Beach concourse. Uh and I ended up driving it across the podium. We got third in class, um, which has a fun story behind it all on its own. Um, but so I ended up learning how to drive in that car.

SPEAKER_02: 25:38

And your uh twin brother was with you, right? As well. Yes. I think I I saw the I saw the picture. Uh, did he he learn to drive it as well?

SPEAKER_00: 25:48

Uh no, actually. So funny enough, uh my brother never really was super interested in cars. You know, he he thinks they're cool, but he's more into technology and computers uh and that kind of side of the world. Yep. Uh whereas, you know, I always wanted to get my hands dirty and learn how to wrench on cars and drive cars and anything that smelled like rubber and gasoline.

SPEAKER_02: 26:17

Yep. Yeah, and it just uh, you know, just you saying that and talking to you reminds me of our uh talk with Cat DeLorean where uh Christian, what did she say? Her veins were full of gasoline. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_03: 26:31

I think that's what I was just maybe it was transfiction fluid, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 26:34

Yeah, true, yeah. I'm just thinking about the the the very special uh you know father-daughter bond, right? And and how wonderful it is, and I'm just you know, hearkening back, I I wish my kids, both of my kids were interested in cars, they're really not, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:54

Well, I mean, at least I was and are one of us, yeah, yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 27:00

And uh I I do have to ask, so uh 1930 BMW, what was it like to drive that? Because right, it didn't have any modern advances, right? Probably had an electric starter, but beyond that so um basically if you could drive that, you could drive anything, uh including a tractor, probably. Yeah, oh yeah, probably very similar.

SPEAKER_00: 27:26

Hey, if you could drive a countosh, you could drive a tractor. So, you know, that's not saying a whole bunch, but uh I think so. When I learned how to drive in that car, I had already been racing go-karts and stuff for a long time. So I had a basic idea of driving, uh, but I didn't know how to use a clutch. And so I learned how to drive manual that day, the day before the concourse. And um basically that car, and I still have that car to this day. Um, I'll never give it up. It's you know, it's just too special to me. But uh so that it doesn't even have drum brakes, it has cable brakes. I mean, everything about that car is so crude. Uh, it when you're going down the street, you kind of dribble, uh, and you're just working as hard as you can just to keep it in your own lane and it's fighting you, trying to bounce this way and that way. And it's so much fun. It's just it's exhilarating. And you know, it has a top speed of like 35 miles an hour, and that's if you're brave, right? Because the whole frame of it is wood. And so if you, you know, hit a possum, the whole thing shatters, but right uh, and then the possum's angry at you and you know walks away cussing. But I mean, it's just like this silly little car that is in no means is it like utilitarian or easy, but that's part of what makes it so much fun.

SPEAKER_02: 29:10

How how many of those are left in the or in the states even?

SPEAKER_00: 29:15

Well, I know of two. Um, both of them are in my garage.

SPEAKER_02: 29:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 29:22

Um I've only ever heard of a couple others. I actually haven't seen another one in person. Um basically mine was uh the oldest BMW in the United States, and uh it might still be. I think uh there's rumors somebody imported one that could be older than mine, but I haven't seen it yet. Um but basically they they made quite you know a few thousand of them. Uh but the problem is they were made in the very Late 20s and early 30s, and they were German. So a lot of them were destroyed in the war. So not too many survived. You'll probably find a few uh back in Germany, in Europe, but in the US, there's I mean, probably four or five of them. And I I don't know that for sure. I know for sure there's two.

SPEAKER_01: 30:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 30:27

Um, but I don't know of any others, certainly, you know. But there probably are a couple.

SPEAKER_02: 30:34

Pretty rare. And uh that that's really in contrast to uh I know it's not your second car, but it's your handle on uh Instagram and TikTok. The uh you have to tell me the year, but it's uh Ferrari 365 GTB4C. So we'd love to hear about it. I I think I know what the C stands for, but I I think our listeners and Christian would like to understand that whole line and and what the significance of that model is.

SPEAKER_00: 31:06

Uh so that is the uh the Daytona, so the uh Ferrari Daytona, but the competition version. So it's the comp Daytona. And um those were basically 1969 to like 73. Um, so the Daytona's are so interesting. They're one of my favorite cars. Uh basically there were about 1,300 Daytonas made, uh, and they Ferrari only made 122 uh Daytona spiders, but they only made 15 comp Daytonas. And there was a prototype, and then there were a few conversions done in period. Uh, but original there's only 15, and it was uh five each year. So there's three series of them. So um the series one, two, and three have some slight differences, all alloy versus um alloy, you know, doors and all that kind of thing. Uh, but they're just the most incredible cars. I mean, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02: 32:14

And what what year is yours?

SPEAKER_00: 32:17

Mine? I wish I had one.

SPEAKER_02: 32:19

Oh, I thought I thought you did. My my bad. But that is your dream car then. We kind of jumped ahead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 32:24

Yeah. No, I would I would love. I have uh six cars, and sadly none of them are Comp Daytona, but um, I would love to, I would love to have one.

SPEAKER_02: 32:37

Wow. And have you uh have you drift actually this is more the broad question. What's it like to drive these Ferrari? I'll say Ferraris just because, but you know, I I love the exhaust note and the sound and just in your videos, but what's it like to drive those cars? I mean, you look like you're having a great time, but you know, there's more to it than that behind the scenes, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00: 33:02

Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I I love them. So it depends on the car, they're all so unique, and that's part of why I love them so much, is they have their own personalities. And so some cars, uh, so like the Comte Daytona, for example. The the Comp Daytona is uh front engine V12 with no power steering, so it's very heavy, it's kind of a freight train of a car where if you need a parallel park or get around slow, you're getting a workout. It's it's a brute. But when you get up to speed, that's where you really feel connected. I mean, first you feel the power of it because it's a bigger car, but you feel just, you know, it's it's a lot more agile and it just comes to life. And the no power steering gives you a really good sense of connection to the cart or the road. Just you feel everything. Uh, and so I love it for that. But a lot of people don't like the Daytona because of the lack of power steering, because it is a difficult car to drive uh around town or at low speeds. It's you know, it's a GT, it's a grand touring car. Uh so you know, those cars are definitely a certain kind of feel, but it's a like a more masculine kind of car. Whereas if you think of like a 355 uh six speed, those are a lot more light and nimble and kind of go-kardy. And they they have less of a aggressive masculine sound to them. They have a much more kind of that high-pitched uh, you know, like you just feel like the speed and the everything from the sound of it. Just I love them both, but they're opposite kind of spectrums. So driving a Ferrari isn't like a one fits all. It's each one is so unique, and that's part of the fun of them.

SPEAKER_03: 35:08

Yep. That's so beautiful. That's that's so interesting the way she just explained connection and the different the different kind of souls and outputs and nodes of the car. That's really neat. We've I've never heard it described that way. That was that was great.

SPEAKER_02: 35:22

Yeah, I and I I would say uh um having owned two rear engine cars, like there's just something different about having the engine in front of you versus behind you. And and I'm not saying one's better than the other, but it's just so uh if you're used to having engine in front of you, like 99.999% of everybody else, when you have it behind you, it's just a different experience.

SPEAKER_00: 35:48

It is, yeah, it is, especially with uh how some of the cars are done, like the um the Dino, it's not a very fast or powerful car, but because the engine is right there behind your head, it sounds amazing. And it's just it's right there, you really feel connected to it, and then it has a shorter shift to it. So while you're not actually going that fast, you feel like you're going really fast. And I would rather drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow any day of the week. So driving something like a dino, and just when you're sitting at the traffic light and it turns green and you're in a dino, and you can really just stomp on it and you know, just go through the gears and try your hardest, and you're still not getting in trouble because you're not going that fast. It's so much fun.

SPEAKER_02: 36:41

Love that. Oh, so we we have a Ferrari story we didn't get a chance to tell you about. Um boy. Was it uh what year was it, Christian?

SPEAKER_03: 36:50

The fateful year of 2004. We were each married in 2004, but luckily it was two different women. But yeah, please continue.

SPEAKER_02: 36:59

So so Christian's wife wanted to get married in Vegas. I think it was her idea, not yours, right? Correct, correct. And so Christian's like, let's do a batch combined bachelor party. We just did it all.

SPEAKER_03: 37:14

And uh we the problem with a bachelor party is that only two people will fit in a Ferrari, but please continue with the story.

SPEAKER_02: 37:22

But that was just perfect. So we rented a 1994 Ferrari 348 Spider, which was an awesome car to drive, it was incredible. I don't recommend one without air conditioning in August in Vegas. Yes, when you've had a night of drinking before. Oh no, I could not wait to return that car. I hate to say it.

SPEAKER_03: 37:52

I just the morning was phenomenal. Man, I forgot all about this. But we went, yeah, we we picked it up, paid an outrageous amount of money, overinsured it, but that when then we drove it to Hoover Dam.

SPEAKER_01: 38:06

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 38:07

That was such a wonderful tip. We should get pictures of that up on the website. Yeah, you're right. Do we? Do we? Yeah, yeah, we should. But that was really a lot of fun. Boy, everybody was talking to us at red lights. We pulled up to the Venetian and we looked like superstars. Uh, too bad the license plate bracket said dream car rentals, which sort of blew the whole, you know, for those that that checked out the rear. But I forgot all about that. Good times, good story. But I want to talk about the funnest automobile in history to say its name, the Lancia delta Integrale. Yep. Let's hear about it. What was it like? How did you get it? What did you do with it? Where is it now?

SPEAKER_00: 38:46

Uh, so I got it. Um actually off bring a trailer. Uh oh, look at you. I've sold a few of them. Uh the works cars, you know, so the the factory group A cars. And I fell in love with them. Uh, the Delta Integral and then the uh Lancia 037 were two of my favorites. I mean, you gotta love Estratos, obviously that's you know, an icon car, but there's something about the uh 037 and then the Delta Integral and the S4, um, which is kind of in between those two. I just loved it. But the thing about the uh Delta Integral is when group B rally racing was banned, the uh Lancia already had the Delta Integral homologated and basically ready to go. And so when group B was banned and they went to Group A, Lancia was like, here you go, we got you. And all the other manufacturers didn't have anything ready. So the Delta Integral was and still is the most winning rally car of all time. Uh and it's just awesome, it's such a fun car. Uh, they made four basic variations: the eight valve, 16 valve, Evo one, and Evo two. Mine is a very basic little eight-valve, uh, but you don't have to spend a whole bunch of money to have a whole bunch of fun. And so, you know, this is on the less expensive end, which means I could just romp around and enjoy it and not worry so much about you know having a super collectible Evo too. Um, but these are also uh cam belt cars, and so it has it's belt driven and it's a uh interference engine, and the belt snapped, and it so it's at the shop right now getting a whole top end rebuild.

SPEAKER_03: 40:58

Mamma mia.

SPEAKER_00: 40:59

Sorry, go ahead, which is not not cheap, but you know, buy an 80s Italian car, they said it'll be fun, they said.

SPEAKER_03: 41:09

Yeah, but your face lights up when you talk about it. So there is that fantastic and good deal.

SPEAKER_02: 41:15

Yeah, I was just reading that it's the uh Italian version, because you said Evo, it made me think uh Italian version of a Subaru WRX or Lancer Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. So I guess it gets a lot of comparisons from that group B rally.

SPEAKER_00: 41:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh, I mean it's a homologated rally car. Um it's just so much fun. It's I have it's funny because you know I specialize in classic Ferraris and all that, but I have a very eclectic personal collection of cars. Uh and most of them, besides the lancia, most of them are extremely slow and just you kind of wouldn't expect it. But that's some of the most fun, you know. It's like, I mean, you know, it I prefer it that way. I I drive fast exotic cars for a living all the time. And so slowing it down a little bit. And like one of my cars I'm working on right now, I have a 1950 Willie's pickup truck.

SPEAKER_01: 42:23

Oh, oh jealous. Very nice awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 42:27

You know, I have it pulled apart in my driveway right now because I'm doing the front brakes. Uh, but you know, it's just granny gear, just you know, plunder down the road and everyone stops and loves it. And you know, I just love driving it.

SPEAKER_03: 42:45

Nothing like a unique car to put a smile on people's faces, it just happens everywhere around the world. It just happens. Well, Colleen, this has been a treat as we guide the podcast gently to the off-ramp. I have one last question for you here on the way out. Your first car, the 1930 BMW, had a nickname. What was the nickname? Why did it have that nickname?

SPEAKER_00: 43:11

I call it Sputter. So I I name all my cars, um, my personal cars, and it just kind of the way it runs and drives. Yeah, it just it names just sometimes come to me for these cars, and my BMW had to be sputter. Uh the other one is called Putter. Um, you know, my my uh lancia is uh Guido.

SPEAKER_03: 43:49

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 43:50

Um that is perfect.

SPEAKER_03: 43:52

What was the Nissan Maxima? We didn't even talk about the Nissan Maxima, but what was its name Max?

SPEAKER_00: 43:59

Well, I had that for three days. Uh so that didn't that didn't last long enough.

SPEAKER_03: 44:06

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 44:08

But I mean I have uh uh 05 Tahoe her name is Betsy. Um perfect, yeah. Just and it fits.

SPEAKER_03: 44:17

I love it. Well, thank you for sharing all of that and and for sharing some of your day with us. This was a real treat. She is Colleen. Check her out at nextgenclassics.com. Her social media, so the uh Instagram, the YouTube we talked about, and if you look at that site again, nextgen dash classics.com, you can look at the inventory and learn more about Colleen, who is a walking encyclopedia for all things Italian automotive. She's sitting right now, but believe me, this is wonderful. And we could sit here and talk to you all night, but we know you have to feed those fish, and then you have to have dinner yourself. So, Colleen, thank you for making time and spending a little bit of your day with us. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: 45:02

Thank you so much. It's been great being here.

SPEAKER_03: 45:04

Thank you. Indeed. You have just heard the high revving, low mileage late model heard around the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. He's Doug. Reach him at Doug at CarsLove.com. I'm Christian. Reach me at Christian at CarsLove.com. That was Colleen, and as I said, nextgen dash classics.com. A lot of great stuff. Check out her social medias. If you like what you're listening here, please follow and tell a friend. Uh check us out at carslove.com or our link tree at L-I-N-K-T-R dot E slash Cars Loved. Beautiful. I am sure we will see you at the next local car show, showroom, race stripper concor. We appreciate you taking a lap with us, and we'll see you next time.