C7 Corvette, Porsche 930 & Car Trailers: Towlos Startup 🏎️🔧

C7 Corvette track days and Porsche 930 history. Matt Jones on launching Towlos, the "Airbnb for car trailers"...

In our newest episode, we sit down with Matt Jones, an orthopedic surgeon turned entrepreneur and the CEO/Founder of Towlos (towlos.com). Matt shares his incredible automotive journey, from learning to drive a manual in his dad's '73 Datsun to buying a 2018 C7 Corvette Grand Sport right before the pandemic used-car market exploded. 

We dive deep into the origin story of Towlos—a peer-to-peer trailer rental marketplace born out of Matt’s own frustration trying to transport his track car to iconic raceways like Road America and VIR. We also discuss the timeless debate of "cars as art," specifically why a Pagani or a Porsche 930 "Widowmaker" provides an immersive, multi-sensory experience that a painting on a wall just can't match. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• 🥶 The Bridge Spin-Out: Matt's terrifying 180-degree spin on an icy bridge in his first car, an iron-powered Chevy S10. 
• 📈 Beating the Market: Buying a C7 Corvette Grand Sport with just 3,500 miles right before the 2020 used car market went completely crazy. 
• 🏁 Track Day Intimidation: The nerves of taking your own car to the track for the first time, and why you always need an "enabler" buddy to push you out of your comfort zone. 
• 💡 The Birth of Towlos: How buying a massive triple-axle trailer that sat unused in the driveway sparked the idea for a two-sided trailer rental marketplace. 
• 🎨 Cars as Art: Why spending millions on a hypercar like a Pagani provides a mechanical, G-force-inducing masterpiece that you can actually experience. 

Don't miss the episode Matt referenced with Adam from Xtreme Xperience, discussing how to get everyday enthusiasts out onto the track! Whether you're a seasoned track veteran, a tech entrepreneur, or just love a good story about solving everyday problems, this episode is a must-listen.

🔗 Links & Resources:

• Rent a trailer or list your own: Towlos.com
• Have questions? Email Matt directly: matt@towlos.com
• Listen to our 75+ episodes on LinkTree 🔗🌲 https://linktr.ee/carsloved

📢 Join the Conversation: What is the weirdest thing you've ever had to tow, or what car do you consider a true "piece of art"? Let us know on Instagram @toallthecarsivelovedbefore

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Transcript

Cold Weather Updates And Shout Outs

Dave 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. It's time to plug in, get a little grease under our nails, and slip into our favorite car theme t-shirt, hat, or jacket. Welcome back everybody in Listener Land. I am Dave here with my faithful friend Doug. And today we're going to talk to a wonderful guest, but first, we need to see what's going on in our own lives. I honestly don't really have much to share in news, but I knew I know that Doug has some stuff that he wants to share with our listeners. And so for that, I want to pass it on to Doug. Hello, Doug. Welcome back to our podcast. How are you doing, friend?

Doug 0:50

I'm doing great. Great to be back here with you on this, depending on when people are listening to it. It's November and it's cold. Cold in Maryland.

Dave 0:58

Yes, it is cold in Maryland.

Doug 0:59

Yeah. Yeah. But colder, colder elsewhere. So yeah, I think what's new, couple, couple things. So we just had that episode. And I had the pleasure of having Drive the NIV and review, because he lives in Maryland, review my DeLorean. And I got to go along with him and kind of see the see his process for how he did videos. And he's got a production background, so his videos are really good. But he does it all with a phone. He edits it in Adobe Premiere and that's it. So if you want to find the video, and I do make a cameo, it's on uh Drivein' Ivan's web page, youtube.com slash at Drivein' Ivan. D-R-I-V-I-N, I V A N. And for what it's worth, Drive and Ivan's episode, we're gonna need about five more because the guy owns twenty nine cars. Maybe it's down to twenty-eight right now. He has several for sale. We'll put them on our website. There you go.

Dave 1:56

Yeah, we'll plug the uh the car sales and and get to Ivan some some business. But I I would have loved to be there myself just to see how I love how stuff works. It's half the reason I got into cars. I love to know how things work. And to see someone, you know, that's that's had success in the YouTube world and see how they do things in the background would have been amazing for me. So I'm a little jealous, but I'm also super stoked that you got to to show off your DeLorean because I know that you love showing off your DeLorean idea. So it was mutually beneficial. So I'm excited for you. I'm excited. Sadly, I haven't got to watch it yet, but I'm gonna watch it. Life gets in the way sometimes. Yeah. Uh but and apparently we have a an update from Christina's garage that you wanted to talk about.

Doug 2:42

Yeah. I just want to share one of our past guests, past interviewees, has not been published yet. Christina. And she has uh Christina's garage, Gearhead and Training. So I bought a sticker, kind of my holiday present for somebody from her website. And she sent me this awesome sticker and she sent me this handwritten note just thanking me. And, you know, we're all contributing, helping her with her refinish her late Father 69 Camaro, which was gonna be a father-daughter project. She's continuous, continuing it. And uh, Christina was was great. So I can't wait to get that episode out. But for now, on YouTube, Christina's Garage, Gearhead and Training.

Dave 3:20

I was along for that interview and it was great to talk to Christina. So I I can't wait for our listeners to hear that story because I really enjoyed her story. She was an awesome guest to talk to. But yeah, and it's awesome that she takes the time to write these notes for people, which is great. And then one other thing we mentioned before we get into our beautiful guest today is one download locations. We wanted to talk about our download locations.

Doug 3:44

Yeah, so as my as my phone wakes up, because I was so smart, I turned off my phone so it wouldn't interrupt us. And of course, it kind of interrupted me. So and now it's choosing to update. So the locations I recall were Ontario, Turkey, and a country I was not familiar with. Not that I would know, Abuja. Hopefully I'm singing it right, in which is in the central part of Nigeria within the Federal Capital Territory or FCT. So that's a new one for us. Hope you enjoy the podcast, everyone.

Meet Matt And His Big Pivot

Dave 4:17

Well, welcome to all our listeners that are in our other countries. I'm so happy to hear that we are literally reaching corners of the world that we've never really even heard of. That's exciting for me. But without further ado, I wanted a lot of things we want to talk about together. But at the same time, I I want to know how did we come in our virtual garage, as we used to see or like to say. And I also want to just say thank you, Matt, for joining us. And Matt, hi, welcome.

Doug 4:43

Yeah, pleasure to be here, guys. Yeah. No, thanks. Thanks for joining us, Matt. And you know, to answer your question, Dave. As the podcast has gained popularity, we have been lucky enough to be approached by, I guess I would call them publicists, podcast publicists, company publicists who are trying to book book a guest, if you will. And so Matt luckily is our guest. Matt has a bunch of great car stories, and what he's going to talk about is kind of that's where Tolo started.

Speaker 2 5:10

That was the birthplace of Tolos was in Chicago. And this actually, this picture right behind me is my C7 Corvette on Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, right by Lake Michigan. So currently live in in Denver, Colorado. I have uh the best wife in the world, and this is where she grew up, so that that's what brought us to Denver. And then we have I have three little kids, eight, six, and four. Great. It's kind of a it's a cool kind of age for them. You know, we're out of we're out of baby country. So it's been it's it's been a fun, fun time kind of for a dad. They still like me most of the time. So it's it's been good. But yeah, I'm an orthopedic surgeon by training. I I uh have kind of lived all over the country with undergrad medical school and then residency and fellowship training. So that's allowed me to see many places in the U.S., which is which has always been fun. You guys mentioned that you're in Maryland. Are you both in Maryland, Dave and Doug?

Doug 6:04

Yeah, yes, we are.

Matt Jones 6:05

Okay, yeah. Okay, so you're on Eastern Time Zone on Mountain Time. And so I I worked as an orthopedic surgeon for 10 years after training and then took a very unconventional pivot into starting a a tech company called Tolos, T O W L O S, about four years ago. So there's a lot of overlap with cars, and so we can we can get into that in whatever angle that you guys want to. Yeah. Yeah.

Denver Car Culture And Porsche Friends

Dave 6:28

But happy to be here. Yeah. I'm I'm glad to be here. I'm glad you're here, rather, because you know, these are these stories that we we hear about from people that come from all walks of life. But one thing that we seem to all have in common is we at least have one car story, let alone more, but also that the the the car cultures around the different, you know, areas of the country are awesome to hear from. And of course, you know, like you said, Chicago is is known for their car culture, but you wouldn't think Colorado would. I'm sure there is, you know, like a genre of cars that seems to be popular in your area.

Matt Jones 7:03

Yeah, I mean, I I don't know if I would point, I could point. I don't know enough to probably point to one particular type of car. I mean, I was just really impressed with just the enthusiasm. There's, you know, there are just tons of car shows around here, everything. There, I let's see. If I had to pick one, I I mean, let's be honest, I I probably I get a s a slitver of the actual, you know, car culture. So I I guess I'll just tell you what I'm exposed to, which is a bunch of Porsche butt buddies. So I've I've just become friends with a bunch of guys who are I I don't personally own a Porsche. That might be uh I'm kind of a wannabe Porsche driver, but I have a bunch of buddies who love their Porsches and I've they you know I've gotten to drive a bunch of their cars and everything from kind of the newer gen, you know, Porsches all the way down through the 993s, the 964s, the 930. I have a good buddy who has a really cool 930 turbo. Nice that's just that's a fire breathing dragon. And so the yeah, it seemed but but I mean I I've become I've friends with several, I have a couple buddies who who have F40s around here and and a bunch of supercars, you know. One of the new one of my buddies has an F40, an F50, and one of those new Daytona, Ferrari Daytona SP3s, I think, you know. The I mean, so it's I was I was I expect this in LA or Miami or Chicago or something. I just didn't expect that kind of talent in in Denver. And the other thing I love about this group that I've kind of gotten to know recently is a lot they they drive these cars, they work on these cars. I know how to drive. I've you know have quite a bit of experience on the track. And so and I also know how to wrench a bit, you know, and and I that's one of the things I know uh you guys, you know, you guys love. And and so that's I think that maybe that's helped my cause a bit.

Dave 8:46

But I was really impressed with, and I have to kind of shout out for anybody that's any of any that are listening in, I really have it's been a it's been that's been a if you ingratiate yourself with that crowd, you are gonna inevitably buy a Porsche because the more you're gonna be around them, the more you're gonna want one, and then the more you want one, your and your friends find out the next thing that they're just saying. Yeah, well, they're gonna find they're gonna see one that you might not have seen yet and be like, hey, hey Matt, look at this over here.

Matt Jones 9:11

And yeah, regardless, you're gonna keep telling me, like, hey, it these things only appreciate. And I'm like, Well, yes, you are right. So you're exactly right. Yeah. Oh man.

Doug 9:21

Yeah, it it's funny you guys mentioned Porsches because just last night I was watching somebody who's driving up in the mountains, maybe in California, and uh he went from a uh Miata set up for the track to a Cayman and rented a boxter, I think it was 2020 on Turo. Last time I was in San Diego. It was a fun time, but it had the four-cylinder, just not my thing. Flat six is the way to go. Yeah. But uh Matt, here's a question. Your friend with the 930, do you know what the nickname of the 930 was?

Matt Jones 9:53

The Widowmaker, baby.

Doug 9:55

Yep, yeah. And tell tell everybody why. I'm glad you know that.

Matt Jones 9:58

Yeah, I mean, my understanding, you'll correct me, is that I mean, what is it? Was it a 3.6? It's gotta be something around about a three 3.6 liter, something like that, right?

Doug 10:07

Yeah, I think uh three point between 3.0 and 3.3.

Matt Jones 10:11

Okay, let's see when it came out. Okay. This one, I think his, if I I think his is like maybe an 85, that if that sounds right. Four speed. Yes, exactly. Exactly. And then, you know, is that it has that big turbo on it that just takes forever to spool up. And then once that power hits at at whatever 5,000 RPMs, and it just then it just really goes. And so by the time by the time that hits, you know, I think that's I guess why why that car has been dangerous because it's it's a little bit unpredictable when that when that boost hits you and you're not ready for it. Yeah, you're yeah, you're spinning around. Yeah.

Doug 10:50

Yeah, especially with the weight, the weight in the back and the weight transfer. Yeah, just imagine being in a turn. I mean, there's old 9-11s. If you if you you're pushing it and you lift off the gas in a corner, it it just a little bit, it could spin right around.

Matt Jones 11:04

Yeah. Which is so weird because it's that's your temptation is to come off the gas, or you know, you know, it's like until and that that's what initiates that weight transfer. Yeah. So yeah, he the the isn't is it kind of the famous, it's the whale tail is kind of the famous one, but then my buddy was calling the one he has is called what do you call it? Like a a tea table or a tea it's it's uh very similar, but it's it's like I guess it technically it's like, and I'm you you should look up the somebody should fact check us on the on the real name, but it was tea, it was almost like a olal day or something. Uh something we'll we'll we'll think.

Doug 11:40

But that was he's out in Chicago, actually.

Track Confidence And Great Instructors

Matt Jones 11:42

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:43

And so I really enjoyed listening to that, which was not that was a pretty recent episode that you guys did with Adam. Yeah. And it was just kind of cool to hear his story and the you know, the traction that they've gotten. And they they've, you know, yeah, they started in Chicago. And and I mean, I it it resonated with me because that was really my first, I think that was my first time ever driving on a track. And he talks about this, which is lowering those barriers of entry, you know, to kind of everyday average Joes like you and me onto a track. And I love the way and one of my good buddies who was one of the lead instructors with Extreme, his name is Cal. He's in in Atlanta, he lives in Atlanta now, but he was, you know, he took us into the classroom, and then he really kind of gave us the confidence, both kind of in the classroom, and then when we went out onto the track for that first time, he he was the I I really credit him a lot with giving us the confidence of being, you know, being able to late break and be on the gas. I mean, the you know, pushing cars way harder than I ever kind of realized and realized was possible. That was, I mean, it was that was really cool kind of hearing Adam's story just recently. Yeah, yeah.

Doug 12:51

Adam is an entrepreneur as well. Sorry, sorry, Dave.

Dave 12:55

No, no, no, you're fine. I I really enjoyed listening to that because he you can almost hear him giving instruction behind the wheel because he had one of those calm demeanors. So I I wasn't in on the interview for that one, but uh, you know, I'm I'm a fan of our podcast too, so I listened and I just I enjoyed listening to his his recount of the stories, and you can just hear, you know, you can hear that calm, you know, like just he he wouldn't be one of those those pressure guys that if he was giving you instruction, you wouldn't be like overly intimidated. You'd want to you'd almost like want to make him proud. Does that make sense?

Matt Jones 13:28

Right, right. Like not so much a football coach, but more of a of a you know, uh, a calm father or something. Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. More of a well, we'll we'll think of a good analogy. But yeah, and and I mean I as you guys know, I mean that's important as a track instructor is to be able to have be able to kind of both be assertive, but then also calm. So there's that kind of that combination, which is probably much more effective than somebody who's kind of panicking, right? So I I give a lot of credit to all those all those instructors that throw themselves into the right seat and then you know, people with no track experience are out there and they, you know, there's no pedals where they are. They they have to control the the car through someone else's hands and feet.

First Cars And An Icy Bridge Spin

Dave 14:12

Yeah, and almost through mentality, right? You know, it has to be in that mindset. Well, that brings us up to the next part. I'm gonna I'm gonna throw you into Doug's time machine so we can go back and we we love to ask everybody about their their origin story and their first car. So let's go 88 miles an hour and let's talk about your first car.

Matt Jones 14:33

Do we have to talk about my very first car? Does it have to be my very first? Does it be the my my most memorable?

Dave 14:39

Well, at least if the if the first one wasn't the most memorable, just for curiosity. I'll mention it.

Matt Jones 14:45

My very first car was a Chevy S10. Okay, but it was brown, and I think it had like a 2.5 liter, I think it was an inline four cylinder, probably.

Doug 14:54

Iron G the iron powered. That's what they used to call it. Really? So many cars had that engine, Jeeps, Furos, yeah. You you name it.

Matt Jones 15:02

That was all across the GM line, probably.

Doug 15:05

Yeah, yeah. Yep. And they sold it to Jeep. A AMC was buying it, Wranglers had it for a long time. Yeah. The Iron Duke. Iron Duke, yeah.

Matt Jones 15:14

Is that right? It wasn't a 2.5 liter. Does that sound right? Yeah, that's right. So quickly got rid of that one and then got into another car, which was not still, you know, this was this was not a big step up, but it was my grandma's Toyota Selica that I bought from her. That was kind of a fun car, you know. And that was I think again, it was the GT, so it was not the what's what what what's the famous Toyota Celica of that era? It was like the GTS. GTS. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't the GTS, but it's a car. Yeah. And I was proud that my grandma owned it before me.

Dave 15:47

Yeah.

Matt Jones 15:47

That's a cool grandma.

Dave 15:49

Your grandma, I was gonna say, I my grandma's never had Toyota Celicas. Did your grandma buy it new or did she?

Matt Jones 15:56

Yeah, she bought it new.

Dave 15:57

So you were a second owner. Nice.

Matt Jones 15:58

Yeah, you know, I think it was a 1985, and I don't think I bought I don't think I had it until 1997, 98, something like that. So, you know, it was 13 years old, but of course it was probably I think probably had maybe what eleven thousand miles on it or something.

Doug 16:16

Yeah. Sounds like my mom's car, current car. Yep. It was pretty cherry. And you since you mentioned the S10, I think in you in your intake form, you told us that was your most hated car and you had a experience with it. And since we've been talking about weight transfer and all these other things and cold weather, Cago, but if you could share with the listeners.

Matt Jones 16:41

Oh, yes, my with that S10. You know, this is the typical, yeah, there's no weight in the back. And this was I was in Ohio, and of course, you I think we went on this hour-long drive. And then by the time we turned around and we're heading back home, a storm came in, and so now the roads were dry when you were driving outbound, and now you're heading back, and so now it's like the roads are getting, you know, kind of slippery, not too bad, but then over a bridge, there was just no traction. And so, yeah, I totally went, did a 180. That I you could see people that were not in S10s, so just regular trucks or cars that were kind of just on the side of the road, and so just a matter of trying to miss miss them. But yep, that was my kind of my first real experience with, you know, what do they say, bridges ice faster than the roads or icy when icy when cold or something. So bridges iced first. Yes, that was a lived experience. Fortunately, went, you know, went 180, so going backwards down the road, but but that was about it, and then just kind of hugged the guardrail, just kind of going backwards. And so there's a couple scrapes over on my left driver's side, but I mean, pretty unscathed, really.

Dave 17:52

So it definitely could have been worse then.

Matt Jones 17:54

Yeah, we were very fortunate that we didn't hit them.

Dave 17:57

So I'm I'm guessing it's safe to assume that that's not what your introduction to orthopedic surgery was then.

Matt Jones 18:03

Not no no, not not yet. Uh-huh.

Dave 18:06

Thank God, right? Yeah, thank goodness.

Doug 18:08

I was thinking the same thing. But no, right? Thank goodness. Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful.

Dave 18:13

Now, yeah, and and a lot of people don't put into context that even if it can still be above freezing in fridges because or bridge fridges. Bridges, because of the air that's moving below it, it doesn't carry the same warmth that the regular road surface does. So they can freeze so fast. But yeah. Do you think that uh spin out gave you any kind of respect for physics that you keep in mind when you drive today?

Matt Jones 18:37

Absolutely. Exactly. Especially if I drive a winowmaker.

Dave 18:41

Wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful. Well, now that we've talked about cars, where what was that that drive and that that factor that got you into vehicles in the first place?

Matt Jones 18:52

Yeah, you credit, credit goes to my dad. You know, we we grew up pretty poor, so we never really had vehicles that were nice. So it was more of just kind of we lived vicariously through a couple friends who maybe had some nicer cars, or maybe we just kind of talked or dreamed about them, you know. But I mean, I remember learning how to drive when I think I was 11, and I would just drive, you know, we we were in we were living in South Carolina at the time, and we'd kind of go off these these back roads, kind of private roads, you know, not public roads. And then I'd learn to drive my dad's uh 73 Dotson. It was a manual, so you have to learn, you know, had to learn the third pedal. And that was kind of where I learned to drive. But certainly my my love for cars and my love just for m things mechanical. And Dave, you mentioned how you uh you love learning how things work either way. I mean, I I love understanding the process just as much as the finished product, and sometimes almost more. And whether that's a car or I also love architecture and design, and so I love walking and seeing buildings. I I do some real estate development also, and so I love to see buildings that are kind of in in progress. The cer certainly the finished product is also pretty is nice, but I think you have such more appreciation for what the car kind of went through or what the home went through or what the building went through when you when you're a part of the process.

Choosing A Manual Naturally Aspirated Corvette

Dave 20:14

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I what you're saying, and I agree with it wholeheartedly. So we I I see in here that you've mentioned the Corvette. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Matt Jones 20:25

And do you still own it? It's sitting behind me. For those who are watching on YouTube, you probably could see it. It's a C7 Corvette 2018. And so the story here is this was many, many people could probably relate. You know, it's 2020, so we all know what's going on, what the world is experiencing here. Oh, yeah. And I am like kind of freaking out. I'm just, we're living in Chicago, we live on the 33rd floor of a condo. You're really exactly. And so we are just it was it was just a kind of a mess. And so I'm just kind of getting anxious, and I started kind of thinking, like, okay, I'm we're jumping around a little bit here, so I'll have to fill in the audience with my my story, I guess, a little bit. But that by this time, I'm I'm an orthopedic surgeon, been been working for if it was 2020, for about eight years, you know, nine years. And so, you know, kind of into the career a little bit, and I thought, you know what? It's time for me to get a sports car. I had some, I had had some Audis and some other nice cars before, but never really a sports car. And so I had a couple criteria. I guess maybe I had four criteria. One, it needed to be a naturally aspirated engine, because we all know that those are those are we're not gonna be able to s know how to say naturally aspirated here in about five or ten years. It needed a manual gearbox. My price point, I it was somewhere maybe between, let's call it 40,000 up to 80,000. So certainly some of the wide range. Yeah, fairly wide range, but also not 100, 120, 2000. I mean, you know, yeah. I couldn't get, you know, some of these GT3s that I kind of maybe drooled over that just was out of my price range. You know if the car you know because there's some my I m one of my other good buddies here in in Denver drives a nine nine seven boo GT3 RS which is kind of the last isn't that one of the last analog manual with the still have the Mesger engine. So yeah four liter yeah three point eight I think his is a three point eight I think the very last one was a four point oh four um but uh his is a three I think it's a 3.8 manual GT3RS 997.2 what a machine so that was out of my prey range I mean all those cars are were out of my price range right so but those those were my criteria and so I started looking around you mentioned a Cayman I was looking at some of these Minogen cars you know those those looked awesome I've never been a Corvette guy before and so I was looking at Mustangs Caymans Corvettes what else would fall into the into that criteria guys oh the other the third or sorry the fourth criteria is I wasn't I was kind of leaning towards like a 2010 car or newer I wasn't you know looking to get a a an 85 or a 95 or something so some something that was relatively newer because I I thought I'd probably I don't know if I would daily drive it but something that had some creature comforts in it. So I don't know if you guys can think of other cars track as well sorry to interrupt you oh no I didn't I did that comes later perfect that came later exactly yeah yeah daily drivers something fun to ground in right or maybe not just a maybe not a daily driver but something that would just kind of be you could you know get be have some a little bit of spirited driving and and and have some fun out in the country. And so I mean I just kind of landed on this on this grand sport the C7 Grand Sport. So for for people who don't know the grand sports are kind of that in-between model for the Corvettes where they still have the same naturally aspirated power unit. There's no forced induction but then they have some of the upgraded arrow and tires and suspension that the Z06s have. So there's a little bit of that kind of that that hybrid. And that's that's what I ended up with. Not again not because I'm been a Corvette guy for a long time but I kind of came across this one at the price point was pretty pretty good and and bought the car I think we had about 3500 miles on it so basically new three I think three three years old maybe and barely broke in. Yeah exactly and I got it right before remember when all those prices just started going crazy. I mean I think they've all kind of come back down the used car market went crazy. It went nuts for about a what year 18 months two years? Two years yeah yeah yeah during COVID yeah because just getting a car yes was hard I mean everybody else was experiencing the same I mean they were all having the same anxious feelings that I have and I just happened to pull the trigger a little bit before before the the madness. But yeah I never so I got that car guys with never really any intention of tracking it even though I had done a little bit of tracking with extreme experience but that you know taking your own car to the track I think was just really intimidating. And so it wasn't until I, you know, you always need a buddy right you always have to have a buddy. You got to have an enabler and my buddy was named his name was Trent. And so met met this guy Trent he and hit he had a couple he had a Corvette he just had a C7 Stingray so kind of that you know the the base model but he was a former Oval track racer. So he he had done some a little bit of professional racing on on oval tracks as a teen teenager in early 20s and so he he was you know familiar with just you know how to slide cars around um and so he's like hey have you ever you know have you ever tracked your car would you ever want to and I was like no that isn't I mean it sounds awesome but I don't think I could ever do it he's like hey we're going to Road America you know in a couple months you you should come with us we just need to we'll swap out your brake fluid other and you're and then you're basically like set to go you just need to get a helmet you know so that was my entrance into into driving on track.

Dave 25:46

I I wish there was more stuff to do like that in Maryland. There's not a lot around here really right here yeah and I would I don't have any cars that would be qualified for a track because all of my vehicles are either old and decrepit or slow and and you know silly. But at the same time I would borrow my brother in law's Porsche he's got a 718 box yeah the the the latest I think it's a 20 he bought it new it was a 23 and he he barely drives it and I would just go steal the keys from that. Me and that's a great car.

The Trailer Problem That Became Tolos

Matt Jones 26:21

It's a great chassis mid-engine.

Dave 26:23

Oh man that'd be yeah so we're you know we we want to get to the the heart of our story here with you and and we want to talk about this massive shift in your life you spent you know a decade or so as you said an or as an orthopedic sea surgeon sorry how did we get to Tolos?

Matt Jones 26:42

I don't want to say it wrong you said it right man yeah tolos exactly exactly to w l o s so I started with that Corvette you know we we were my buddies and I this is obviously a a street car is not a race car so we could drive our cars to those to the racetrack and we did we drove that to Road America which was about two hours away and then we just caught the bug so then we were like all right we would love to get to midOhio get to NCM get to VIR you know get to Daytona get to Rhode Allan you know all these iconic tracks that you just are are five to 15 hours away and so that was where like okay that doesn't make sense we don't want to put all the miles on the car we don't want to you know just we didn't want to risk getting stranded there if something broke and then just not being able to get back. And so we were like okay let's just rent a car hauler we knew that U-Haul didn't have the right type of trailer that we needed we were we were personally we were looking for a double car hauler because my buddy had an F 450 so very capable truck that could basically you know they can haul a mountain. And so we we were looking for a double car hauler one whose fenders were low enough so you could open the doors over the top right and so it we we were looking for the right tool for the job and we just couldn't find one. We couldn't find one to rent and it was very it was a little bit of a surprise for us because like what is this is 2021 and we you know this this should just this should be a thing. And we just we couldn't find one. So we bought a double car hauler triple axle double car hauler you know big old steel trailer and that's what we that's what that was kind of our solution. And then so we you know we had want trailer trailer problem number one which is hey we can't find the right trailer to rent to to you know help us have the fun that we want to have and now now we backed ourselves into another problem and trailer problem number two which is now we have an asset we have a trailer that we know we won't use all the time that we'll use it four or five six weekends a year and then it's going to sit the rest of the time. And so that's when that kind of that concept of a two-sided marketplace kind of entered my head and I we kind of thought about is there a way that we could serve two different populations and provide value to do two different customer sets. One, you know, providing the right true trailer at the right exact time to basically help people our one of our motto is you know we would we're just here to help people have more fun with trailers. And then on the other side is to give these folks who maybe didn't even realize they're an entrepreneur, give them an opportunity to monetize an asset that they already own. And so you know that's the whole Airbnb or that you mentioned Turo. You know that's we we patterned a lot of our design and our our peer-to-peer marketplace platform after Turo. So you'll see some if you see if you jump on Tolos.com you'll and if you've ever used Turo before it'll it'll look and feel a bit like Turo.

Doug 29:35

Yep that that was exactly what I thought but I didn't want to say it because I know I know there's a lot of original rent from your neighbors transparent pricing any trailer for any need and you know the big thing like you said you got a trailer sitting use it make some money.

Dave 29:52

At least help somebody else get to where they're going right that's the whole point is you were in that that that rock and hard place of you want to get your car from point A to point B. You can't find what you need and now you're opening up that market for the people that were in your position but also group bringing this resource to you know everybody that the person who owns the trailer gets to make some money the person who needs the trailer gets where they need to be I mean it's a wonderful idea.

Doug 30:19

And it it's definitely underserved I'm sure that's a great idea. And just just looking if if I may at your site like browse trailers by type car hauler dump enclosed horse trailer these are things I wouldn't have thought of utility trailer gooseneck toy hauler boat trailer and and the list goes on and on trailer that's cool.

AI As A Tool Plus Weird Trailers

Matt Jones 30:42

So yeah and that's we we we do offer the RV trailers but that's not really our focus there are a couple other peer-to-peer marketplaces outdoorsy and RV share are probably the two biggest peer-to-peer marketplaces that really are in the kind of the camper and travel trailer world. We tend to focus on more of those utility trailers the car haulers the enclosed trailers the dump trailers horse trailers boat trailers that's been kind of that that's the emerging market for us that that's a it's been our we've been able to start to reimagine the way that those types of trailers are rented. And we now have trailers in I think every state in the US and so it's been it's been a really cool journey and and like a little bit like Adam with with extreme is that you know he was decreasing the barriers decreasing the friction for people like you and me to kind of get a a really a supercar onto the track where we see ourselves as as doing exactly kind of what Dave was saying was like you're you're offering opportunity to people who just never before had had just maybe even thought of it. They never before had that opportunity because it was like well I have a sports car I have a race car or and this gets out into you know like people who have who are looking to pick up cars that don't run you know your grandpa's your grant your old grandpa's you know old Mustang it doesn't run it it won't really fit on a U-haul hauler how do I how do I go get it and you know so now people can just jump on tolos. You find a car hauler that has a winch a lot of our haulers have have winches and you can you know you can winch it up on there and and it just what we found is that at the end of the it's about the connection it's about the community it's about humans. I mean that's one of the reasons I love doing these podcasts is you know I'm getting to know you two guys I've never met you get a chance to kind of get a window into my world and and at the end of the it's about the connections the human connections that we make and if Tolos can help foster that with trailers then I think we're we're really on to something. So it's it's been a it's been really challenging. I would say it's a bit tougher than medical school and the reason is because there's just no guarantee of success at the end. So there's it has taken you know I tell I tell people that I've got a degree in in a grit and you know a a major in grit and a minor in fulfillment or something. So that's been it's been it but it's been a real really really cool journey and we see I mean this is a pretty pretty fascinating time to to be in kind of the technology space and especially with this AI revolution and this is I think it'll be interesting to see to look back on this time in five years from now ten years from now and to see I mean I I just I personally think a couple kind of big bets that that we're kind of making that and we'll we'll see if if things pan out but there's I think things are going to look a lot different. What do you guys think? I mean you guys think in in what ways do you think things will be different kind of in our worlds in the next five to ten years.

Dave 33:41

For me I feel like I as much as I use AI to help me in in my daily life I almost feel like it's making people a little dumber. I know that sounds terrible to say I think you're right man I've experienced that we don't we don't use our problem solving skills anymore. That kind of sucks but for the you know the outcome of different other things though I think it's gonna it's gonna be that double edged sword where we're gonna have a lot of things that's gonna help us but there's going to be a lot of things that kind of hurt us. But and I just wanted to make a mention of a a quote that you said if you do nothing you guarantee the outcome which I think is beautiful honestly. But yeah and and my one question that pops up and and we're gonna slowly guide our podcast to the off ramp here I have to ask for my own personal curiosity but I'm sure our listeners are going to want to know what's the weirdest thing you've seen listed on the platform? Yeah.

Matt Jones 34:33

Yeah good question.

Dave 34:34

If you if you've spent any time on Airbnb or any of those you know you rent kind of platforms you see some crazy stuff. Gotta be something weird that's come across your platform.

Matt Jones 34:46

Yeah we get a chance to kind of vet all the trailers that are listed and and a few of them and and I I have a a team that that does most of that vetting these these days but when I was doing it a couple years ago a couple cool things like one one that I saw not too not too long ago was this it's it is a trailer but it's it's out in Napa California and it's like it's all kind of decked out for you know for for like I think it's like it's like a mobile bridal suite or something like that. And you know it's like a for for for a you know for where where the bride and and her bridesmaids can kind of get ready or something.

Doug 35:22

Gotcha out in the wine country. Yeah to say it was the mobile booze cruise but I guess kind of that too.

Matt Jones 35:29

Well there's there's some of those also yeah and then you got your you're like your barbecue trailers you know your specialty barbecue trailers that you know you can kind of host the spit the rotisserie and the smokers. Yeah so people have it is amazing you're right Dave how people find their way onto you know different and I I mean I love that. I mean that's one of the things I mean I'm I'm pretty biased. I think we live in the greatest country in the world but I think we're all we have all varying degrees of that entrepreneurial spirit.

Doug 35:59

I think that's part of the American spirit and so I love seeing how people are they have a craft they have a skill you know they they have a a smoker that's on wheels and they find ways to put it on put it on Tolos you know they just find it you know for the AI thing and I think Matt you you have young kids I have a daughter in college and I have a son who's 14 in eighth grade I think it's gonna change education and you know certainly there's the bad part but I I was kind of pondering this with a friend probably several months ago and I just talked to him today so it reminded me but if you think about the kid that could be falling behind in school or is not following or not keeping up but they're also too shy to raise their hand. They don't want to be that there's a I think AI's got a good market there for helping those students not fall behind. Right. And I mean you were in higher education obviously for quite some time you probably were in school for about 10 years, right? But you know they're they're I yeah I I should have given you the I I should have said 12 and I would have been closer. But yeah 14. 14 years after high school yeah yeah exactly and yeah I just see that as helping kids get over some something where they might get left behind. I also see it as you know an enhancement to Google if you will and that's what I like using it for to be honest. It's like the best web navigator on the web.

Matt Jones 37:29

But I no I think you're right there's actually a company here based out of Denver that is doing that in education in leveraging AI. And what's cool is that they can not only do it for English speaking kids but the way with the way that lar large language models you know can pretty quickly translate into different languages, this technology then can be quickly applied to other third world countries where they don't have good teachers. I mean we have you know we're fortunate to have pretty good teachers human teachers here but there's a lot of places across the they just have there's a lack of resources and so I think you're gonna see we're gonna see some real impacts especially you know probably even more so outside the the United States on the on on the effect of of educating and providing more maybe not totally personalized Doug but a a more custom kind of educational set I think because it can kind of stand some different needs and it can adapt you know you can you got one teacher and you know one teacher with 20 kids well AI in some ways it could be 20 teachers for each you know for 20 kids you know so there could be individual more of anything treatment plan.

Doug 38:36

Yeah.

Matt Jones 38:37

But I wanted to touch on something that Dave said earlier which is I think there is this temptation to become dumber. And so what I one of the things I'll encourage I encourage my team and I'll encourage all of our listeners is use AI every day. I've encouraged I mean I'm I'm a I'm you know I'm a techno optimist so of course I'm gonna say use tech use ai every day but you know it it it can be used in a good way it can be a bit of a crutch but I I would encourage those of us to go ahead and use AI but just be careful not to not to you know harness harness the the the power of it and let let it sharpen your critical thinking skills and I think you'll that'll that'll serve you well.

Doug 39:18

Yeah yeah that's that's that's great advice and yeah I I agree but like just keep digging into it asking questions that that's where it's healthy. Be curious just keep going deeper on the prompts. Don't just take it for granted and oh I move on.

Matt Jones 39:35

Yeah because it's garbage in garbage out it's it's it's the it's gonna be it's yeah it's it's it's a different type of garbage. Yeah that's right.

Dave 39:44

I'm one of those nerds that fact check my AI too because I'll ask it questions I already know the answer to and to see like how how close are you going to get to this and like I'll ask it and then I'll I'll correct it. I talk to Aye like it's a person sometimes especially when I'm doing the voice thing I use the voicing a lot when I'm in the kitchen because I'll be like okay what's my next step for this recipe and I make it talk to me while I'm working with my hands. Nice. But the and it's things like that. Like oh well you know because I I want to be old school to the point where I want to learn because I'm always curious right but I also don't want to rely on something to give me the answer. I want to know how to get to the answer not what the answer is. Does that make sense?

Matt Jones 40:24

Well especially if that answer is wrong. So yeah I think it's a good thing that you know you want to you're kind of fact checking it and you're understanding it's its degree of hallucination because it's out there. So no I think you're you're exactly right I I you know keep doing that. Don't don't give that up because yeah you just certainly don't want to get the wrong answer.

Dave 40:40

Right. Yeah well that's I I love your outtake on on helping individuals because of its its ability to learn. I personally don't have kids so I don't think about it in that aspect of of helping a future generation of my own but I do I I guess you brought another kind of perspective into my mind where it can it can be more of a benefit if we use it correctly. So I appreciate that from you and I know that Doug has the same feeling where he wants it to be used he wants it to be utilized but not relied on.

Matt Jones 41:12

And that's how any good tool is used. Right it's it's used for a specific purpose even just like a a specific car hauler right we can bring it back to Tolo so I mean you know you're using the right tool for the job not some U-haul hauler that's meant to haul a Toyota Camry you know exactly exactly and it enables all those barn find people that we know a good friend of the show Andrew who I don't know how many cars he has but he doesn't even know how many cars he has that's right he doesn't and I guess that's a good problem.

Doug 41:39

Yeah yeah well he makes some space he can free up some cars he can rent a Tolos trailer move those cars out make some space for the next car rent a tolos trailer bring it in there you go yeah well we we always ask this question everybody has you know like has the opportunity to answer before we wrap this up is what is your dream car Matt?

Dream Car Art And Where To Find Tolos

Matt Jones 42:03

Haha man can I list more than one or do I have to just pick one? If you could try to narrow it down try to narrow it down okay okay give me a second here. So I'm not gonna answer the equ your question very well so I'm gonna be circu circuitous here. So I love art. We love modern art contemporary art I some of it's really weird and abstract and so you need to know the story behind it. I personally that's I personally love automotive art and so as I've learned a little bit and I I'll be honest I don't I still don't know a ton about about some of these brands but Pagani comes to mind when you you know when you see the design I mean even even if this you know this this car is is stationary and you see it in some different lights you know and and you see the shadows I mean I would say just the the pure design is art and then and then you start to kind of fire it up and you see you know see you see that have you guys seen what I don't know if it's just the new one or if there he he's designed it with a couple of the old ones but you can actually see the mechanical linkages on the on the gear shift right and just the you can actually I mean it's almost like seeing the you know seeing the other side of the watch you know seeing that timepiece and and you see all the the movements within the timepiece but just the you know just I mean there's art within this is mechanical art this is art in motion so I guess I'll I'll say I'm I'm a fan of the Picani because I just I see an artist and his medium happens to be a vehicle.

Dave 43:33

Yeah well said I don't think I've ever seen a pagani that wasn't gorgeous. You know what I mean when they're not moving and the attention to detail yeah you look at them and you're just like wow that is like that's a piece of art.

Matt Jones 43:45

I mean it's no wonder that those things are two hundred million dollars or two two two million dollars you know but it's it's I think it's the reason is is because there's just such care attention to detail it it truly is a piece of art it just happens to be Made of, you know, titanium and carbon and all those other components rather than a canvas.

Dave 44:06

Me being me, if I was gonna spend two million dollars on something, I'd want to be something tangible that I could actually, you know, use if that makes sense. Because uh you're gonna drive it, you're gonna use it. Then I would be to buy a canvas that somebody put, you know, paint on and and I'm gonna hang it up and I'm gonna admire it. But whereas if I'm gonna spend two million dollars, I want to touch it. Right.

Matt Jones 44:26

You want to experience it. Yeah. Right? Yeah, you want to be like they talk about immersive experiences or something, right? This is an example of an immersive experience. You can actually be inside this piece of art and you can feel the g force. So it's it's so much more than just the visual. This is this is, you know, there's so it's it's it's multi-sensory, you know. And so to being able to experience art. I mean, that happens with with the 930 turbo. You can get that's a piece of art, and you get inside that thing and you feel the mechanical, the analog, you know, the gear shifts, and then you wait for that turbo lag to kick in. That's a piece of art in a different way, and you get to actually experience that.

Dave 45:02

So that was a great answer. I wasn't expecting the Pagani answer. Yeah. So that being said, Matt, where can people find Tolos if they need to haul their car home? What where are we finding you?

Matt Jones 45:13

Yeah. Just go to Tolos.com, T-O-W-L-O-S.com. We've we know that about 85% of our users are on their phones. We so we've made the the website mobile friendly, and then we're gonna be actually building a mobile app probably in Q2 of 2026. But right now it's it's pretty easy to use on your phone. You can book a trailer in your pajamas. So that's awesome.

Dave 45:37

Well, I want to thank you for joining us. Thank you for giving us the story. Thank you for creating something that's gonna allow people to move their their their work of art. Move what matters most.

Matt Jones 45:47

Yeah, yeah.

Dave 45:48

You know, it could be from anything from the old 86 cutlass, like we talked about pre-recording, to, you know, that in a trailer, you're giving you're affording them the opportunity to not have to go buy a trailer. And for that, I appreciate it.

Doug 45:59

And store it, right? And store it, yeah.

Dave 46:02

Yeah, store it.

Doug 46:03

Story.

Matt Jones 46:04

Well, it's been a real pleasure. Been been it's been great to to talk with you guys. And uh this has been a real pleasure for me. Thank you.

Dave 46:10

Well, it's been a pleasure for us too. Thank you so much. Thank you. Is is there anything you want to mention before we we close this up and finish it off, Doug?

Doug 46:18

Yeah. Super excited to have Matt on. I know he's been in the queue for a while, so and uh Yeah, Matt, you you didn't disappoint and you gave me some ideas about how to get my next barn find home because I don't have a trailer. And if I did, I wouldn't have a place to keep it because it would keep me from storing up more cars. So exactly.

Matt Jones 46:38

Everybody has to have their car, and their trailer is, you know, that's that's just like uh that's one of the things we love about it, actually, is that we get to serve, we don't, you know, we're not we're not beholden to just a particular brand. So even people from Porsche guys to BMW guys to to pagani guys, you know, they they all those guys need a trailer. And then we're also not not uh constrained to a particular industry. So we love how we can we we're obviously talking cars because we're car guys and we're kind of geeks that but there's this entire equestrian world. We I have some buddies, I don't know if you do, that do rock crawling out out in Moab, you know, and they're not driving their jeeps across the country, they're hauling them. So it's it is it's it's cool. It's like it does kind of decrease the barrier to allow people to have more a lot more fun and in just kind of a lot of different areas, including going to get that barn find. So go for it, Doug. I I'm yeah, you'll have to let me know if you and if you need anything, if you need any help with it, we'd love to help you. So please look me up. Anybody can email me at matt at tolos.com, M-A-T-T at Tolos. And you should certainly do that, Doug, if you have any trouble. We're we'd we're uh we're here for you.

Doug 47:45

Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Matt. I can see that happening in 2026, not too far away.

Dave 47:50

You know, it's the the running joke is like you know, you always you got a guy. You know what I mean? Like somebody comes to me like we got a guy, and we're like, hey, reach out to Matt at Tolos.com. Your trailer rentals made simple, right? It's right in the quote. So thank you everybody for listening. Thank you for coming back. If you're just finding us, tell a friend, tell a relative, leave us a like, leave us a comment. If you want to reach out to us directly, Doug at Doug Doug at CarsLove.com. I have my own new Cars Loved email. I am Dave at CarsLove.com. Reach out to us, tell us where you're coming from, where you're listening from, how you found us. And that was Matt. And you can find him at Tolos.com. Reach out to him and his wonderful company, Tolos, Trailer Rentals Made Simple. And you guys, thank you for joining us. You just heard the high revving, low mileage, late model heard around the world authoritative podcast on automotive nostalgia. And we'll catch you next time.