Throttlecast: Episode 15

Introducing ThrottleCast - Powered by The Ride Lounge - Episode 15

In this episode of Throttle Cast, hosts Dave and Grant sit down with Jason Cummins, the owner of Buckhead Imports, a legendary automotive service and performance shop in Atlanta. Cummins discusses his journey from a technician starting in 1995 to eventually buying out his mentor, Lloyd Hildreth, and establishing the shop as a powerhouse for European performance.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back. Grand Bam Brewer, another episode of Throttlecast. I think Dave rolling 14 or 15 now. Got a great friend of mine, Jason Cummins, Buckhead Imports. Welcome. How are y'all? Doing great.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Good, good. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

We're excited to have you here.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Yeah, no, man. Thanks. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

This thing sounded awesome driving in too.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Yeah, we'll have to get into a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yeah, yeah, no, that'll that's beast to be.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

I'm trying not to get long-winded on it, but it's uh it's got it's got a splist. When you were pulling in, there's a big diesel truck that was driving bats out. We're like, was it the diesel truck or what did this thing sound like?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Because it went by and I heard the diesel whistle and then then I kept hearing it. Yeah, we're like, the whistle didn't go away.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yeah, it was still there.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It was a two-part funny kind of occurrence there, but uh the wine is kind of gives it away a little bit. Yeah, it's uh it's it's a cool sound.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

You had this for how long, by the way? Fifteen years. Fifteen years. Yeah, 15. Still looks great. Like I said, we'll get into more of the car here in a bit, but uh great looking car. Thanks for bringing it. Thanks for coming by. Absolutely. Uh, we've known each other for gosh, seven to ten years, something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

It's probably been probably been that long.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I think I met you before I left motor cars. We'll just say that. But I I remember seeing more of you after I had left motor cars, uh having been the McLaren brand manager there, and then uh took the general manager spot at a independent exotic car store where we were selling Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, you name it. And you're the you were the go-to shop. I mean, every I mean, I have never seen not that you are known for being cheap or anything like that, but good value. But I mean I've never seen uh a Rolls-Royce Phantom drop head go get an annual service, and I looked at the bill and I'm going, wow, that's not bad. Right. Like it was actually pretty reasonable, you know. So we've we've definitely it's like the automatic installment payments are like you drop one of those off and you know it's gonna be five figures at least, and it was it was four.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, yeah. Um we're not the cheapest in Atlanta, but I'd I'd say that you know we get the job done and get it done right and get a timely manner. I mean, I think that's how you build your business.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

That's it, yeah. So I guess at that point, this was probably 2019, 2020, something like that. I mean, just describe where you were at that time, like what did things look like?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Uh, you know, I I had uh I had a full-blown performance shop um earlier, you know, prior to that, that uh I was running just my my main shop that was in the middle of Buckhead, and I and uh I've been there since 1994. So we've been 30 plus years uh there. Now I went in as just a technician for you know X amount of time, um, you know, slowly worked my way up. But uh, you know, Bucket Imports was uh one of the hot spots, at least for me. Uh it was right in the middle of all the you know the bar areas, and but it was you know it was where a lot of the the people that would work on their cars in the neighborhood, and you know, we kind of kind of got our feet wet in there. But uh for for me in general, um, you know, my father, I'm going to try not to go too far back, but my father's was in the parts business. He actually worked for a a big company called World Pack, and he got a phone call one day from one of his clients, and his name was Lloyd Hildreth, and that's who started Buckhead Imports. And he asked my father if he knew of any technicians that were oh funny, you know, were looking for a job because he was starting to get too busy to where it was. And so my father said, Hey, my son's, you know, working at a Euro shop, you know, in Marietta, and you know, he it might might make a you know a good a good meetup. And so I met with Lloyd, you know, knowing that he knew my dad and the whole nine yards, and I mean that was you know in late '95, you know, and started kind of getting on up there. But uh, you know, I worked there long enough to start to get some sweat equity into it. And uh Lloyd was wanting to, you know, go off and go sell in someplace, and and uh we ended up making a deal on the business. And I mean, just going back, I I was really setting myself up for goals. You know, being a mechanic, it I didn't want to be just at that. I wanted to try to, you know, own my own, you know, business, you know, bucket imports. And uh, and we ended up striking a deal and and I ended up buying it. Um, but you know, in that year models and and makes and and the whole nine yards, like you're saying, you know, we were cooking back then. I mean, that was when we were building cars like this, and um, you know, service work was coming in pretty heavy. We started getting into a little bit of the exotic stuff. So we were I said I you know, started you gotta buy all the equipment to work on all these cars. I mean, scanners were not cheap, you know, especially back in the day. Um, you know, anything that you were doing with Ferrari or Maserati or you know, Lamborghini, I mean, you had to you had to jump head first into it. It was either all or none. Um, but you know, once you got into that technology and started, you know, working on the cars and you know, talking to some people and and getting your name out there and working, it's I mean, dude, it was good. It's it's good.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah, it's just grow, grow, grow, grow, grow was was was my motto. You know, now before we get into any like the the major automotive stuff, you know, I want to introduce you as Jason as a person, you know, because I think that's what makes everything else make sense. So you know, how would you describe yourself to let's say the outside of the car world?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Uh well first and foremost, um at least right now, my you know, my faith. Um I think that that's been the the thing I've been really concentrating on more as I get older. Um I'm 51. Uh I got three boys. I got an 18, uh 16, and a 15. And uh they're all into cars, imagine that. Uh dirt bikes, you know, go-karts, I mean you you name it, if it's something that we can get in and and go raise some cane on, um, you know, we're we're good, we're good there. Uh, I got a wonderful wife that supports me with all of this craziness. Um, she's I mean, I have dragged her to drag strips and want-na-go fast events and coffee in octanes. And I mean, when they had the the the uh exotic car show at Lennox, I mean I mean I had her getting up with me at 4 30 in the morning and loading up a car like this and three others. I mean, it uh it, you know, your family's your family's where it's at. I mean, and it's uh she's she's been she's been amazing. Um and my kids, you know, um just uh my 18-year-old, I see a lot of myself in in him, and it's scary, uh, but it's it's really exciting. I've had a bunch of proud moments, but he's going through the school of hard knocks right now. I mean, I you know, my other technicians that are at the shop because he's working in the shop a little bit now, um, you know, they're they're treating him like a redheaded stepchild. You know, and it's good for him, right? But that's what I mean it is good for him. In this car industry, I mean, you gotta you you gotta dig. I mean, you know, it's you you gotta learn. I mean, you gotta clean the bathrooms, you gotta get in the you know, sweep the floors.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Um, you know, when I was over the years.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. But, you know, it it um you know it it puts you, I think, in a in a respectful place to where, you know, you're working on cars that are like this, and I mean you you gotta be respectful, you got to you gotta know what you're doing. You don't need to carry a wrench around and be flinging around. You know, there's there's multiple avenues of of this this business and and how it works. And he's he's starting to get his feet wet, which is which is which is great. But my other two kids are fantastic. I mean, uh my middle son's real big into stereos, which is kind of funny. Um, you know, you just had Imron from Cartoons of Atlanta. Um you know, it's uh he's been up there drooling on everything, you know. So it's I see him kind of getting maybe into that and and maybe into the shop. And then uh my youngest is uh he's into guitar, so we hadn't figured out what he's gonna do yet. But maybe maybe he'll be a musician. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

But I'm a family man.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

I that's that's that's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Let's go all the way back. Where did you grow up? What was that environment like? Was there any car culture in your household, or did that come from somewhere else entirely?

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Uh yeah, so um we grew up with not so much money. Uh my father worked at a uh Napa uh uh part store. You know, basically that's where he worked. That's how you put food on the table. But we had a two-bay garage behind our house. And he rebuilt every air-cooled Volkswagen bug type three van again, you know, thing. Yeah, that's cool. You know, that that you could imagine out of our backyard. Um, and mom I, you know, I can't remember this, but my mom my mom tells me that I wanted to be with dad. And she would take me out there while he was working at nighttime, and he would dump a bucket of bolts and nuts out on the table, and he would show me how to sort all the bolts and nuts out. And I would sort bolts and nuts out when I was three or four years old, you know, while my dad was working on cars. So, I mean, I that goes pretty far back.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, I mean, that's well, you remember seeing one of those Volkswagen things. Like, what was your first impression of that car? You're like, what is this?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Listen, that the best story I've ever got is you know, dad was doing side jobs, you know, he'd work all day long, and then he would come home, he'd do side jobs at the in the uh in the two bark two-car garage behind the house. Yeah, I got to where I could drive. You know, dad showed me how to you how to you know run you know a manual gearbox, and and I would take the Volkswagen things out. One of the one of the most fun ones I and it rained. What age was this?

SPEAKER_02 9:41

I'm like, what's the over-under on 10?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I'm gonna go with the 10, 11, 12.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

This is a common thing with our guests on here.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

10 or 11 or 12. And I backed, but he was I knew that he had been working on it, he did some engine stuff, and I knew it was running, and I went and gotten that thing, and we lived on like an acre of land. But we had this backyard and then the back backyard, and then we had like a back backyard, and we had two apple trees that were in the back, and I would take that thing out and do doughnuts.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

And he never, you know, dad was never really back in that port portion of the yard, but I we've brought it up, you know, as we've gotten older, and he goes, Man, I could never forget and figure out how much mud would get up into the back of the wheel wells of the Volkswagen things. And and you know, and now we all laugh about it and think it's hilarious. But I mean, for me to remember that, I mean, I just I would get that thing and I would just drift it around the trees in the backyard. I mean, it was and then I'd put it back before mom and dad got home, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So was it was it safe to say that was the first car moment where you're like, hey, this is gonna be part of my life?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, yeah, that's I would I would probably nail that one pretty good. Yeah, that's that was probably you grew up in Marietta, is that right? Yep, born and raised, born and raised. So Marietta, well, West Side Elementary, um, Marietta Junior High, and then Marietta High School, and then uh from that I just I went to Botec schools and some schools.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

And Atlanta's right. I mean, you're basically in Metro Atlanta, let's call it. I mean, did the city's car scene reach you early, or was that more a solitary thing at first?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

You know, I I I got into Volkswagens, imagine that, because of my dad. Um, but I got into the water-cooled stuff. And so uh, you know, I we I had a couple of people that were, you know, in like out of high school and some things, but I I jumped out of high school, you know, working at a place called Marietta Foreign Auto Repair. Um Right out of high school. Yeah, right out of high school. Um so I was um I did the work program. And so I, you know, from there I was jumping right into, you know, working on cars. But I mean I I mean I was my senior year of school, I was I was doing time about belts on Nissan Maximas and and you know, all kinds of Volkswagen stuff, but the air-cooled stuff I got pretty heavy at. But there wasn't I you know, there wasn't a lot of a lot of car meet type stuff then. I mean, you know, you met up at your gas station, you know, with all you know, all the school guys and you know, you know, kind of hung out and some stuff. But I think I was I kind of feel like I was a little alone on that. There wasn't a lot of a lot of car guys, I guess, in in the school, like towards the later latter part of my school work, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

So but uh so working on European cars specifically, let's talk BMW Mercedes. That requires I think at least in from my perspective, a completely different mindset than domestic work. You know, what did those platforms teach you early on that shaped how you approach a bill like every build today?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Honestly, yeah. I mean, I I'm I I look towards those cars because I wanted to make more money. I mean, I I you know, I wanted to work on I at the shop that I you know grew up in in in high school and I you know, we were working on you know, like Nissans and Toyotas and Volkswagens, and I mean we were, you know, I was killing myself, you know. I'd I'd rebuild a whole diesel engine on a Volkswagen rabbit, you know, uh f for pennies, you know. And when my dad got my foot into the door, you know, down in down in Buckhead, uh and I could see what kind of money I could make and and stuff, it was that that changed that changed a lot of my outlook on on on where I knew what direction I kind of wanted to go with. Um it it you know the exotics have been have been fun and I I I like them to an extent. Right. You know, I mean it's uh a lot of them, there's a lot of panels, a lot of motor taken out, a lot of you know I mean, you know, anything that goes wrong with those cars is it's pretty heavy duty. Um but you know the BMW, Mercedes, Jag, Rover, Porsche, I mean, those platforms are just they're they're they're easy to work on. You can you can do the same exact job multiple times. Um and then where you can walk up to your toolbox and like throw all the tools out of your toolbox. You already know what you need. You already know what you need. I mean, um, you know, I feel like like I did a clutch on a you know Lamborghini Golardo not too long ago, and you know, you I you try going back and forth to the you know, and I guess maybe I hadn't because I hadn't done a hundred of them, you know, but I mean I could still, you know, pull in uh, you know, uh a 1992 BMW, you know, E36, and I could pull every tool out that I needed to do a clutch job, you know, for that car. Yeah, the book stays closed. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, and I you just I don't know if it was burnt my memory, but those cars I've had, I've I've really enjoyed working on, making money on, um, you know, fixing them, you know, watching the customer, you know, be happy about it, you know, uh learning all the little things that you know some of the other shops may not do, and and you know, you would go the extra mile to kind of do to make sure that car runs. I mean, and then I was obviously buying you know BMWs and I was owning them, and so I knew what kind of worked. They're great when you first get one too.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

That first one you're like, oh man, yeah, yeah. Grab that steering wheel, and it's like I'm never going back, you know? Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. There's something to them for sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah, yeah, no, it's uh good, cool platforms to work on. I really like them.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

So how how old were you? You're getting started when do you want to go to the ownership side versus just working on them side?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

So I started working down a bucket when I was 20. And um after about got to l towards my late 20s, I I really started seeing that my my boss was not really enjoying the job anymore, and and he was introducing me to a lot of customers, and um, you know, I I don't want to say that he was you know kind of getting burnt out, but I think he was kind of getting burnt out. Uh and so I I really started looking towards that, and then one day I I can remember one day he just said, you know, look, I'm I'm not gonna own this business very much longer, you know. And he goes, Would you be interested, you know, in in buying it? You know, maybe we can work out some kind of deal. And I think when he when he originally like threw that on the table, I was that's all I could think about.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

I mean, I like I just I mean, day and night. I mean, it was that was my next goal. Yeah. I mean, it was and I didn't know how I was gonna do it. I didn't know where I was gonna come up with the money. Um, I didn't know I didn't know I just didn't know how it was gonna work out.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

But there's a way.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

But there's a way, there's a way, there's a way. He's telling yourself it's gonna happen, you make it happen. Well, it it my Lloyd Hildreth was the guy that started Bucket Imports, and he was my mentor. I mean, I I can't tell you what I learned from that dude. I mean, from from working on cars, from knowing how to talk to customers and how to run a business. Yeah. Um we he was he was handwriting spreadsheets like with pencils. And I mean, and you'd have to get that right. And that's he taught me how to do that. I mean, I know that sounds I mean that that's that's some crazy stuff. I mean, you're I mean you but you know where every penny went and where where it was going. And so um he was he was just a smart dude. I just uh there's things that I just learned from him that was that were crazy. And so he knew at my age that I was not gonna be able to come up with you know any amount any amount of money to to do that. And so he sat down with our corporate lawyer and he figured out a five-year buyout plan. And I can say this now because it's all done, and I mean this has been years ago, but um but he figured out what the amount of capital gains tax and normal tax was on on a paycheck and figured out where there was a common ground, and we figured that out in a five-year buyout. And so how that worked was he came back as a mechanic and he had an he had a check for you know what he did at the shop, and I owned the business and he worked for me for a while, and then we figured out uh there was a buyout check that I had to make sure that the shop was making enough money so that I could pay in the buyout check. Wow. And in five years I owned that place. He wanted you to have it. He wanted me to have it. It was clear. Yeah, no, it was it was very clear. So it was he was a cool guy. I mean, there was a lot of there was there was just some some really cool stuff. I mean, I without getting into super great detail, I mean, we ended up I ended up having to do something for uh that I I had to actually call my father about, um, but I ended up having to fire him. What? I mean, and I know that sounds crazy because I'm going and telling you the how much I love this dude, and he was my mentor, and there was all this stuff, but he he got to a point where he was he didn't like some of the decisions that I was making and and doing, and so there would there got to be a little bit of clash. I mean, does that make sense? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, somebody that owned the business started it whole nine yards, and then I took it over and I was starting to do some things and really bring some stuff up. Change, right? Change. Yeah. I guess that's probably the the better.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Finding an entrepreneur that owns a business and then can become an employee. Yeah. Most of them become unemployable. Yeah. So it's it's impressive if you did it at any amount of time. No, it was.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I mean, it's it was it was an it was a very it was a very interesting time in my in my career. I mean, that's I I mean, like to right now I'm getting goosebumps because it that hands down, I have been screamed at. I have I have been kicked down, I have I've done all this crazy stuff in my whole career. That was the hardest thing I ever did. I bet. Hardest thing I ever did. I mean But you know you had to do it, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

I do it, yeah. I do it.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

And to this day, I mean I I'd I would do it again because it was the best decision for both of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

So but the growth of the company, right? Right. Overall vision.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Trials or tribulations of what I came from and how I got it, and then I did this, and the five-year buy, I mean, it would just, it was, it's it's been a roller coaster. I mean, but you know, it's it's cool to sit down and talk about it like this because I don't think about it a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, how how long was it from when he he brings up that first conversation to then you close on the business? Like you're thinking about it day and night for six months?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Seven, eight years. Yeah. That was, I mean, and and at the end of seven the seventh year, I'd owned it. You know, I had bought it in the whole nine yards. But there were there was two, there were two solid years that I was that's all I I mean that's and and and honestly, now that I'm thinking about it, there I mean, he when he said he was gonna have this contract ready, like he didn't, you know. So and we were making you know some good money and you know, building our clientele and everything up, and I think he had second thoughts about it. But at the end of the day, I think he knew that he was, you know, he he needed to he already kind of told me that was how that whole thing was gonna lay out, and it was time. It was and it was time. I mean, it it really was, it really was. So good.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

He had to take old yeller out back. Yeah, I know. I was uh I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

I went down to Andre's bakery that was right down the street, and I had a cup of coffee, and I walked in and and he was at his toolbox, and you could just tell he was already fuming, you know, and I looked him dead in the eye and I said, Are you happy? Like I just I mean, just a simple question. Yeah. And he would just answer no. I said, Well, maybe we need to change something. Yeah. And that was, I think that was when I really put some big boy pants on, and then and then he was gone, and I was like, Wow, like this is me now. I didn't have everybody lean on. I mean, you know, I mean, I it wasn't it wasn't like, hey, I'll call Lloyd, all right. Let me see, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so did you get a digital spreadsheets after that? I did. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, no, we definitely definitely went uh went up the ladder a little bit. We ended up getting to like a management, uh, new management, you know, software and stuff, you know, that went through. They probably like half the shops. Oh my gosh. Are you talking about you know making your life easy? Uh you know, it was it was it was night day. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, funny, funny, funny, funny.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Uh let's talk about the the AMG build era, and I guess at that rate, we'll talk about the M era as well. Um I want to go back to that because the reputation that you built in this community is real. Um what are some of the builds that define that chapter of the shop?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Uh you know, the E55 platform is is so underrated. I mean, I even think to this day, uh it's it's really crazy. That that V8 supercharged motor that you could throw pulleys and tunes and all kinds of stuff. Um, you know, I I guess that when we really started hitting our strive was was one of go fast. I mean, uh, did y'all remember any of that? Oh, yeah, went to several of them. Um, you know, it's uh I mean it was up in Clayton County on a drag strip, I mean an airstrip. Yep. I mean, in the most beautiful setting that you could ever imagine. Stunning. I mean, it was just absolutely Heaven's Landing. Heaven's Landing, yeah, yeah. And Blake Hutchins, um, I think is what his name was for the Wanna Go Fast event. I mean, dude, we you could bring your car, whatever you wanted. It didn't matter if it was a Honda or a Lamborghini, and you could line up and you could do a dig, start off dig, and drive your car as fast as you could for half a mile. It was insane. I mean, it was I mean, it was unbelievable. I mean, the first two years was I mean, it was hilarious. I mean, everybody was, you know, I mean, you C10 pickups, I mean, you know, up against uh Maserati or, you know, some I mean it was wild. But uh during that time we built um we built an E-55 that we ran um upper and lower pulleys, which you'd you know, larger crankshaft pulley, upper, smaller supercharger pulley, uh, long tube headers, usually straight piped. Um we were running full meth on them. We were putting a three-gallon water tank in the back that we were feeding a separate system where you could pack ice in it before you did a run, and it would it would freeze the front mount intercooler and you'd keep the the I'm gonna try not to get over over everybody's head here, but you want your air intake temps to be down as low as they can so you can have as much horsepower going through the engine as you can. But we built some monsters. Um and I'll the third year that they had the want to go fast event, we ended up building, I'll never forget this guy. Um, he was a uh he was a surgeon down at Piedmont, and he wanted the fastest G55 that was out there. I mean, he he said, I don't care what it takes. And we ended up doing some stuff with WiseTech Engineering out in California. We ended up putting a WiseTech blower on it. We did, you know, a fully built engine. This is a G Wagon. G-Wagon, yeah. This is a brick. This is a brick. This is trying to push a brick through the air. Yeah. And we took that thing to want to go fast, and when I tell you we whooped the speed on it.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Ah, 150s. Wow. That's incredible. I mean, 140s is pretty pretty moving up here.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

No, the Lego brick. I mean, I mean, I mean, you gotta I think the only reason it really did as well as it did is all dry. Oh, yeah. Squat and go. Squat and go. I mean, but it sounded like a I mean, uh just a super pissed-off V8. I mean, it and then you start to hear the WiseTech blower whining all the way. I mean, it was singing at the back of that thing. Um that that was that was a cool build. Uh the E55 um that we built was uh a good buddy of mine. Uh he won I think the first year wanted fastest forward or then I think I won the second with this, and then the G-55, well, it it was fastest SUV. Uh Blake was pretty cool because he had weird plaques like that. I mean, you know, fastest forward or fastest this, fast, you know. So everybody kind of got involved, you know, in that in that event. But that was that was a really fun time to build cars and then to be able to take them and show them all. It's a great event, too, man.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Are there any other fast SUVs though? Like what they have for you.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

I saw a Trailblazer SS up there. Yes. I think uh uh one of my old friends, Cody up at Knoxville, he brought that down. It was really fast. SRT was it SRT? Yeah, they were SRT. SRT, yeah, SRT. Yeah, SRT was out there. The first gen.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, yeah. I think that was so new they didn't have a whole bunch of performance stuff out on it. But that thing were fast, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Oh, absolutely. The old was the old like Chevy Typhoon. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

That was uh I don't know that I don't know if I ever saw one of those there, but that should have been there. Yeah, they were cool. That was a pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

I tell you, one of the coolest things was like during halftime. I remember somebody had this learjet and they did a low fly over.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

You were they just I mean, right, right, I mean it was 20 30 feet off the ground. It couldn't have been 20, 30 feet off the ground. I mean, they just go fast too. Oh, yeah, it was just a spectacle to see. And then I think the the thing that was that always just blew my mind. I mean, I would always think about this stuff like driving back home. I mean, I'm I'm towing a 45-foot enclosed race trailer with a 3,500 dually. I've got them loaded down and I'm just sitting there thinking about all this stuff. But we were doing well over, you know, cars are doing over 140, 150, 160, and then, you know, um underground racing came one year, and uh Henness, uh there was a couple other vengeance, but I mean they had all these people are like 20 feet off the runway and they're driving this fast. I mean, now I want you to I mean, think about the safety of the situation. If any car at that time railed off, it was gonna be catastrophic.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Well, I think it was ultimately that was their demise in the end. I think so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

The cars, the cars started going over 200 miles an hour, and it was like, we gotta, we gotta, it becomes uninsurable.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

You can't yeah, I mean, it's all the fun. But man, what a cool event that was. I don't know. I mean, we were always looking forward to it. I mean, months out we're going. I mean, I've already got my tickets, you know. We're playing. I took Anita and my wife out there like first three months we met, you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

We had one of the first days like, honey, you're gonna love that.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

My wife is running. I mean, we got our kids there. I mean, I got all three, I mean, my little all three of my boys could have been, you know, two, three, four, five years old, and we've got them out there, and they just thought it was the coolest thing. It really was. It was I mean, it's you could I mean the whole family. I mean, it it was it was really it was really a neat event. It was uh super, super cool. So that's though that was that was I feel like those were my golden days with you know with all at least all of this stuff. Um yeah, you know that's when you're like building you're building race engines at that time, building these cars. Yeah, no, the the performance shop that we had, um, I had an all-wheel dyno, I had an in-house fabricator, I had an in-house tuner. Uh we were doing one-off builds that nobody would touch. Uh you know, some of them were great and some of them were awful. I mean, it was just they were just, it just seems like the build would never get finished. And I mean, it it's a there were a lot of sleepless nights. I mean, I I there I I signed the lease on my my second location, and my wife was about to go into labor with our third son, and she goes, You sure you can do all this? I'm like, Oh yeah. You know, I mean it, you know, I'm in I'm in my 30s. I mean, I'm ready to roll. I mean, I was, you know, you just think you're invincible, you know. And it it uh after six full years, it it took a it took a big it took a big toll, which kind of led me into where I'm at now. Uh the the the shop where Buckhead Imports is at right now is in the middle of Buckhead. It is smack dab in the middle of the Buckethead Village, right? Yes, yes, yes. And so the uh the owner of the property calls me one day and I'd already had a bad day at the performance shop. I mean, I I think something got blown up on the dyno. I mean, it was just it's just one of those days, and and he calls and um he goes, Hey, uh, I need to talk to you about something. I said, Okay. He goes, Um, you need to get your shit together. Excuse my French. And I was like, Okay, what what's is everything okay? And he goes, I'm gonna sell the bucket property. He goes, You need to, you need to get ready. What? And so I uh I said, Okay, well, what what's what I mean, how long do I have? And he goes, Well, you need to you need to get something together because you need to buy it. And and at that point, I think that you know, over went home over the weekend, and I remember waking up at like, I don't know, it was four o'clock in the morning to go to either cow coffee and octane or go to another car show or drag strip or something, and my wife looked at me and she goes, How much longer do you think you're gonna be able to do this? Because it was every weekend. I mean, we were we were building and and and just grinding and grinding and grinding. I mean, I can't these performance shops that are all I mean vengeance and you know um us and I mean uh top speed. I mean, I mean there it's it is a it's it's a it's a rough it's a rough go unless it takes a lot of endurance. It does, it takes a lot of endurance. But going back to the property, I mean I had to sit down and ask myself a couple of really hard questions. And it was, you know, you're gonna keep trying to be the fastest kid on the planet, or do you want to start looking towards your family and taking care of something and you know looking towards your future? And I did. And so I that was about the time, you know, when I got that phone call. I, you know, wasn't six months later and the performance shop was was keeping the doors open, but we weren't like printing money. Right. I mean, there were some there were some months that were awful, and some months, you know, you'd get a couple builds done and you'd you'd have a bunch of money in the bank, you know, and patting yourself on the back, and then the guy'd go out and blow the car up three weeks later. So it fed itself. So I decided to shut that place down and concentrate on on buying the property. And, you know, um I've owned a property in Buckhead now for six and a half years.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Looking back, that was the right move, obviously, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yes. Family's happy, business is thriving, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yeah, no, it's it's it's it it took a full that was a that was a uh that was a real hard business, you know. Yeah, you gotta look at yourself in the mirror. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, and and you're looking at your kids grow up and you're not there, you know. Um, if my if my kids were here right now, you know, they'd say, Oh dad, you're always yeah, it's because I was dragging them to every drag strip. And I mean, it would like now listen, that's probably what fed them as well right now, because they they they like all this. And I wouldn't I probably wouldn't change it for anything.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

But now you're more into their world, which is correct, yeah. Correct. Instead of dragging them into yours, yeah. Yes. I mean, I've I've learned the hard way as well, just being in automotive sales over the years, and it's like at a certain point you just got to hit the pause button and say, let me recalibrate this a little bit. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Yeah, it's it was it it was it was a a grew up moment. Uh, you know, I mean, and I'm not saying that I, you know, wouldn't want to go to a drag strip in this tomorrow, should I? Uh right now. But you know, I my son would probably would have loved to drive it. You know, no, and now I get to probably revisit and re-entertain all that stuff with my kids, you know, and except you know, kind of be on the hey, you should try this or you know, steer them in a little bit in a little different direction to where I learned something the hard way, and now you should do it maybe just if I can push them to do it a little bit different, you know, and some some certain things, you know. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

Yeah, yeah. Any of those builds come back around and they're like bring it to your service shop now. Like, hey, remember when you did this?

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Uh yes. Believe it or not. I mean, I've got I've got some guys that they, you know, they're like this. I mean, this stays in storage most of the time, it doesn't really come out, you know, very often, but it's it's always cool to see a project that we you know that we built and still run and all that good stuff. Yeah, yeah. I mean, all of my performance customers were give it hell. I mean, it was I mean, you build something and it they tear something out. They you just find out where the weakest link was on the next go. I mean, these guys were towing the cars to I mean you you gotta I mean you're showing up at a drag strip with this and an E 55 on drag radials, and and these guys are in, you know, full-blown caged, you know, Camaros and you know, challengers, and I mean, and you're going out there and you're running you know in the tens and I mean in full weight, you know, I mean it's just hilarious to to see that. I mean, now listen, uh we were just talking about the G eighties and I mean these cars are going down the drag strip now, you know. Ridiculous. I mean, eight, seven, six, I mean, they're going in the sixes. I mean, and it's unbelievable what they what they've what they're doing. I mean, I mean, dude, when I hit the 11s in this, I thought, holy cow, man, I mean, I am moving, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

Think about the same time you were doing 11s in this, I was running like a 15-2 and a B16 swap EG, you know, and I thought I was doing something.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Right, right, right, right. No, it was it was there was some it was you know, it's it's funny. I was talking to somebody the other day, and you know, if you 600 horsepower now is nothing. It's nothing.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

I mean, it's I mean, it's you you can tune just about anything. Um, you know, we're talking to Jim Florick.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I mean, he's got a 01 on the way. I mean, you talk about a 01X, it's 1,200, 1,300 horsepower with a Monrone label on the side of it that you can get with a with a warranty from the from the dealer.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

From the dealer. Insane. Yes, no, it's it is it is absolutely uh the game, the game and where it's at versus where I mean uh ten years ago, ten, fifteen years ago. I mean, it's just we were still building in. Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Where do you go now?

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Yes, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

What's the next step?

SPEAKER_01 36:01

2,000 horsepower? I mean, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

I mean, what's you want to just daily you want a daily, a 2,000 horsepower car? I mean, I just it's it's it's I mean, look, seven, seven, eight hundred horsepower, I mean, is all you would ever need, and you can't use all of that on the street.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Well, and that's I think that's that's for me, for me, that's that's the biggest difference, is because this is so much fun to drive. Uh it's so controllable. You can get out there and goof off in it and and lose the rear end, and you can just be in total control. These cars now with these massive turbos and stuff, well man, when that stuff hits, buddy, you you better you better be knowing where you're going. Yeah, all conditions have to be met. Yes, yes. I mean it's find out quick. Yeah, find out real quick, and then you're gonna learn that we'll be using it. Correct, correct, correct, correct. So uh so yeah, no, it's um I mean the the game's changed a lot, but I've I've had a lot of fun. I I had a lot of fun in in in in those errors and times.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Speaking of the game changing, can I talk a little bit about this E60 M5?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Are we allowed to talk about that yet, or are you still keeping a it's listen, I I'll I'm just gonna I'll be completely honest with you. Um I've got a um an A plus plus plus plus plus plus plus technician that works. I'm not gonna say anything electrically it's impressive. Um so we I I'm an M5 guy. I've got I've got an 88 E28 M5, I've got my sun drives around uh, you know, a 91 E34 M5. Uh this is a 2002 M5. I never like the V10s. And the the biggest problem with them is the SMG transmission. And everybody's gonna tell you, anybody that listens to this, I mean, that SMG transmission is awful. Nobody loves it. It takes 10 minutes for it to shift, it's never fast, and it never really brought out what that V10 could could really do. Um and we've we've and there's a lot of guys out there right now that are trying to trying to make this work 100%. I mean, it's all over the internet. Uh nobody's really been successful doing this, but it's it's converting and taking an E90, E91, 92, 93, DCT transmission and and mating it up. It's it's the same block. It's just the V10 has more cylinders. The tra the DC transmission just bolts directly to it. It's the same bellhousing, the same everything. But to make that DCT, if anybody's driven a DCT, you know, M3, it is awesome. Oh, they're great. I mean it it it it's fast. The downshifts, the blips, I mean, everything about the DCT is just absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

I was working for BMW when that car came out.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great. I I I was privileged to go up to the BMW um plant and Greenville. Yeah, Greenville, and I got to drive a brand new M6, a brand new M5, and then they had the the E90 and E92, M3s there, and we did a full track day. And all the professional drivers were so bummed that this car was gone. Yeah. Because they love that V8. They could slide that thing all over the place, and the V10 was just not driver friendly. And so we were my my guy that works for me is working on doing a complete, you know, tune for and and to still it's I mean, to still use the electronics that the car came with and make that work. Um so it's you know, if if if it's it it changes the whole game. I mean, my I haven't we we there's four of us or five of us that have an E60 M5 and we've all done this swap already, and it drives and runs.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Oh, it does.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

He he met me for lunch in it, so it drives at least that good. Yeah, so I mean it and it it's it's hilarious to drive now. That V10 is just I mean, it's I mean it's it's it's like turning on a light switch. It's unbelievable. It's like the way it should have came. It makes the car fun to drive. Um and believe it or not, BMW came out, I mean, they they came out with a DCT version of that and tested it, but it never it never went to production. And so it was uh we I've we've been doing a lot of homework, I've been doing a lot of homework on it. But um, but I we're we're you know, my my guy's you know working on something. It's close. It's close, it's close, it's close. So that's that's gonna be a cool thing that's got that's kind of coming up.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

So how long has that been taking the process?

SPEAKER_01 40:32

He's been working on the the the tune for it for three years. Wow. I mean, and I can't I cannot talk enough about these electrical guys that can you know go into you know the the data and in a in a tuning, you know, uh uh on a laptop and look at all of the the data and be able to change that and know what each line of coding is and how they how they have to incorporate things, it's it's it's way that's not that's that's above my pay grade. Yeah, it's it might as well. Totally it's a totally different thing. That's a whole different animal.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

What's the story about uh Lexus Racing USA and you guys at Bucket Imports? Give us some give us some data there on that.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

So my uh my social media director, uh his name is Mike Forsyth. He owns the Forsyth group. He is awesome. Um you know if you look him up on any, you know, social media platform, he's uh his his his uh favorite passion is is Lexus, uh, and he's always been a Lexus dude. And he has worked hard enough and and has been uh close to the Lexus uh platform for so long that he's kind of got his foot in there a little bit. And we and Mike and myself are building what uh what they use, what Lexus uses at the IMSA races as hot lap cars. And so we have the privilege of getting you know some brand new IS500s that we uh put coil overs on, you know, get the car to where it handles better. Uh you know, Mike's got so many you know feelers out for for people that he knows. And I mean, we've been able to do some different wheel and tire packages. Uh BBS has been the latest one that we've put a couple of their newer model wheels uh on that are just absolutely fantastic. Uh such a tried and true company. It is.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

I mean, I just it's uh And they've been through their ups and downs, but absolutely as far as the wheels go. Yeah, it's them and HRE I put it at the highest regard for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Absolutely. I uh just the the the way that they build them and and put them together and and the way that they just the the fitments and how they look, I I love everything about them. I mean the the BBS is is absolutely fantastic, but um RSR is the suspension that we've been putting on these IS500s, and I mean they're they're absolutely fantastic. Um you know the systems go straight on the the the cars have uh electronic dampening on them and they actually have the shocks that are that plug right into the dampenings and and they're able to to uh adjust the shocks. I mean a straight bolt on so it doesn't mess with any of the electronics and stuff, which has been fantastic. And then we've uh you know been able to do some aero mod type stuff to them. But uh, you know, if you go to any of the IMSA races and you jump in any of the Lexus hotlap cars, that's uh we've we've we've uh we've we're the guys that that actually build them, which is kind of cool. Uh I was behind an IS 500 just the other day.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

I didn't see too many of those things right there, but they sound great.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

I mean you get some exhaust on them. Uh oh that's the other thing that we that we do. We actually put a lot of the the uh exhaust systems on there.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

So the RSRs were as well.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

No, the the one that that I like personally uh uh the most is the the G-Hoss. Is uh man uh that that it's it the Mastercraft is It's just absolutely the deepness of it that they've gotten is just it's it's it's awesome. Um I I've I've the fit and finish on them is absolutely fantastic, which is cool. Um, but it's uh I mean it's funny. You get the cars back after a tra you know they're they're I mean you took those they get professional drivers in those things to take you know civilians out on on the on the track, and I mean you get them back and they have just beat the pants off the tires and uh some the Michelin pilot sports that that we stick on them and they just chew them up and they're I mean they're just rolled up on the edges, which is uh which is cool. But I mean yeah, listen, that means you you got a car out there that they've they've been able to beat them.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

So durable, aren't they?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Dude, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

It's just uh you look at these ISFs on the marketplace today, like 200,000 miles to think's mechanically perfect. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

I've got a friend of mine that took a RCF and there's uh uh I can't think of the company right now, but they make a supercharger kit for it, and he he he tracks it. That's all he does. It's so supercharger on a stock motor with no internals, no, no nothing that's been built, nothing. And he had been beating that thing up for uh I mean uh two or three years. I mean two or three years. Zero issues and uh yeah, yeah, no. I mean, it's it just blows my mind. I mean, it's but I mean wrap your head around that. I mean, I I don't know if I mean I supercharge this, but I don't think that you know, I don't I don't think it could do track events every single year. No, probably not. I don't think that that's gonna be that's gonna happen with that one, but uh no, it's it's that listen, I I think that they make a uh amazing product. Um, you know, the the interiors are you know getting getting to be nice. I mean uh Lexus back in the day for me was more of a luxury, you know, larger grandpa car, but uh you know that some of their cars that they've come out with uh you know lately, and I now they're going to you know GR is coming out. That's the that's the new platform, so get ready, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

Um, you know, I don't I don't know how much more Lexus will be, you know, in the in the racing aspect of it, but GR is going to be the new the new thing coming up. So you know everybody might want to jump on, you know, looking at those and and and seeing what's going on there because it's it's coming, it's coming.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

That's good. Yeah, yeah. Uh I mean you've been running bucket imports for years now. You've seen everything that rolls through the door. What's the story that still gets told around the shop today? That I mean, you just at least once a year you hear it, you reminisce about it, you'll never forget it.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Oh I'm I'm I I I think probably one of the uh the ones that sticks in my mind, which is kind of a uh I mean, we've had some crazy stuff that we've had, you know, that we've done builds and stuff, but this one that stands out with a mechanic that I'll I won't mention. He's uh he's he worked started working for me when he was a kid, and um he had just bought a brand new, his first brand new snap-on toolbox. I mean, it was just beautiful, you know. He's just uh all just over the moon with his toolbox. And um we we work on uh Land Rovers and Range Rovers, and um this particular technician was working on uh an old uh Land Rover manual gearbox car. Oh wow. And um and uh he cranked the car up and it was in gear and it took off and and just nailed his brain. No.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

I mean, uh, you know, it just You'll never live that one down, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

And I mean it and it had, I mean, this is an old defender, and it I mean it had the brush guard on it. I mean, oh yeah. I mean, I like I think it scuffed the the brush guard, yeah. But I mean it it just completely smashed like three drawers that he couldn't open anymore. It's like $20,000, $30,000 boxes, right? Listen, when I tell you there's as a mechanic, you know, I mean you have your car and your toolbox. I mean, I know that sounds crazy, but I mean you you got your car that you've put all this time and effort in, and you love it, and you'd hate if anything ever happened to it. You're as a mechanic, man, your toolboxes. I mean, these toolboxes now, I mean, they're custom painted. And I mean, this one was like a I mean, it it it was it wasn't it was a little lighter than a British racing green with you know these chrome handles and I mean it was brand new, but like he didn't have this toolbox like a month or two, you know. So I mean I you know not you know could I talk about you know putting a clutch in a Galardo at the shop? Absolutely, but I you know that wasn't as memor memorable as you know, I mean his face. I mean, you guys, you just I mean I I like I almost wanted to cry. Like just watching him go, did that really happen? I mean, you just hesitate for a second, like really right. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that was that was I mean, that was that was one moment that that hurts my heart, I guess, a little bit at the at the old shop. You know, that's uh that's something we uh we always laugh. Hey, remember that time you know the you want to check the defender ran in the in the toolbox, you know? So we gotta laugh about it. We laugh about it now. It's good. Nobody got hurt. There was nothing, you know, nobody, nobody got hurt.

SPEAKER_00 49:11

He's probably looking out every every Thanksgiving party and every Christmas party, like, please don't tell the story again. Right, right, right, right, right. That's good, though. Absolutely. So what's next, man? Where's where's Bucket Importetted now? I mean, you've you've done so much over the years, you guys are legendary in the city. I mean, what's what's the next chapter look like?

SPEAKER_01 49:27

I mean, we've been on we've been on a bit of cruise control right now. Um you know, the shop we we when I bought the building, uh I didn't when you don't own the building, you don't want to really want to fix it up too much. So um when I bought the building, I did a you know reface out front. Looks great. We got uh you know, with Liquid Molly, uh they were able to help us out a little bit on the side of the building. We've got these big posters that run over all the windows and you know, car, you know, pictures of stuff that we've built over, you know, the times and you know what we work on and and some things, which is which is kind of cool. But uh you know, I got my kids. Uh you know, I think that's probably the the next big step, you know, just try to get uh I know my oldest and my my middle will definitely be they'll they'll grow up in the business. Yeah. You know, whether they'll own it or you know, one of my guys sell it to one of my guys, or you know, I stay in it for the next 20 years. I don't I don't know. Um, you know, we'll we'll see. We'll see. I mean the other you know obstacle that we have is we you know we own the property, so we're not going we don't have to go anywhere, but man, buckhead's growing fast, fellas. I mean it's it's it's not gonna, you know, I don't I don't know how much longer that we'll be able to you know reminisce at that location, but you know, hopefully it'll be for another 10 years and you know we'll keep going from from there. But you know, it's uh I've been starting to have a lot of fun with uh Aston Martin, you know, which has been which has been kind of cool. I've seen some stuff on the gram. Yeah, yeah. So I'll I'll drop the name uh velocityap.com. Y'all should check it out. It's a uh uh awesome performance company that's based up in Canada. Um there's a couple guys that I've been doing a bunch of stuff with, but they've uh you know, I've been in the performance game, I you know, I've been I've I've tried every performance shop and tuner and you know, been there, done that, won the trophy. And this this company's been kind of like a brush breath of flesh, fresh air because everything that we get and do from them has been straight bolt-one. It works. You know, the tuner that works for them is fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

Uh, you know, they guys just did some headers on something, a V12.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Yeah, we we've we've got a two we had a 2011 uh Vantage in that's that's a V12, and it's a he the owner and I I've got to do some digging, and I think I was we were just talking about it earlier, but uh they they only made 150 of them, I think, around in that in that error that was manual gearbox, which is just and that's I mean, I'll have to tell you, it the the automatic version of that car kind of reminds me of the SMG car. I mean, I'm not not not I don't want to you know throw that under the table, but the manual gearbox with that V12 and some long tube headers and midsection and a and a nice rear muffler is I mean it's it's music. I mean it's it literally I I was just telling you, you know, it's uh we were at the at the IMSA race, you know, and the the Valkyrie was they've got their race car out now, and that V12 running down the back stretch. It dude, this car sounds just like it. I mean, I I drove it around and it's I I'm smiling like and laughing at myself listening to this car with that with that exhaust on it. Um so but we've got a 2017 that's in there too that we're about to do a big power pack on from Velocity. And uh, you know, it's it's the auto, so it's gonna be a little different, but um, but it's gonna it'll sound and scream just like it in the higher RPM. So that's that's that's that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 52:49

So if you want if you want kind of that SV SVJ sound for I mean I maybe not on a manual, but I mean you could probably get the job done sub 150 with the car and the parts. Correct. So for anybody out there's looking, that's that's what you need to do. That's the formula for the dollar.

SPEAKER_01 53:05

It is, it is. I mean, it's the the bang for the buck for sure. Yeah, I I think it's and it had that sound. I mean, it's I mean it's incredible. I mean it just uh you know I also I I mean I've driven a lot of Mercy Lacos too, man. I mean that just similar. It's it's got that just that screaming sound towards the I mean it's just it's it's like a symphony. Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

And in the higher RPMs, it really cylinders firing at the same time, and they have like just a slightly different octave. Correct, you know, and it just all works together.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

It is, it is, it is. The manual gearbox in that 2011 was so cool because you could you could just make it that the sound, you could make it just rev nice and slow up, or just yeah, it it was just that gearbox just drops into gear, too.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

It is, yeah, it is, it is, it is. Yeah, it's uh ready for some rapid fire?

SPEAKER_02 53:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

All right, let's do it. So greatest BMW M car ever built, no debate. E39 M5, which by the way, I'm gonna pause rapid fire for a minute. Tell us what you got here.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

2002 E39 M5. Yep. It still has the five-liter quad cam V8 in it, uh, but we we still sleeved it, we put uh raceware head head studs in it, we Ross pistons, forge pistons, uh Carrillo rods, you know, the bottom end's been blueprinted and balanced. Uh stock cylinder heads, but it's running a RMS stage three plus supercharger system on it, which is a YSI race blower that's running 22 pounds of boost through an R RMS intake manifold that's got a cooler in it. And then I've got a three-gallon water tank that's in the back that we packed full of ice on right before we did drive runs, and and uh it's been a heck of a car. It's uh the last time it was on the dyno with this motor, uh did 706 at the wheels. Gosh, that's just insane.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

It sounds like 700 horsepower, that's for sure. It sounds like more than that, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

It's uh it it you you when you see this car in person and you hear it in person, you just don't want to mess with it. Well, you just don't think it comes out of that car. You know, you really don't. But but I will say that this this S62 is what this motor designation is. It's it's awesome. Yeah. I mean, even bone stock, guys. I mean, this is this is one of the golden grail cars that I will always have. It'll either be this one or I will have a stock one that that I can run around in. Um I I mean I mean that's really out of all the M platforms. I mean, I'd I just I just love the way that this is. I I'm I've never been like a two-car two-door car guy. Um I just I I really I've always liked the M5s with the four. I like the sedan's too, man. Yeah, I just uh felt like I I don't know if it just makes it me feel like I got more round around me, but it's uh I don't know. I feel like this is more of a man car. Uh that maybe that's maybe that might be a better I don't disagree. I I think that'd be the the best way to to explain it.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

Good size up there. Greatest AMG ever built, same rules.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Oh, E55. Okay. Well uh the SLS Black Series.

SPEAKER_00 56:23

Ooh, yeah. Now we're talking.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

If we're gonna if we're gonna if we're going to go full all-year AMGs, um I had a customer that bought two of those cars and I got to do uh headers, tune, um, little suspension work and some things, and I think that's a to get in and out of that car with the doors and I mean and the wide stance of that thing and then to go drive it, it's the closest thing I think I've been to, like getting into like a full-blown race car that you can have.

SPEAKER_00 56:55

That's a whole lot of car.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Yeah, yeah. But the E55, I you know, I think because I've had so much fun with that platform too, that's a what a car. I mean, for the money.

SPEAKER_00 57:03

One European car that is deeply undervalued and the enthusiast world is sleeping on.

SPEAKER_01 57:16

That's gonna be a hard one. That they're sleeping on? Yeah. That's really not something that it's caught everybody's eye. Yeah, sure. Well, I would have said Porsche, like a an old turbo back in the day, but now it's now they're not being. They're just man everybody and their mother's like, you gotta get it.

SPEAKER_00 57:36

Yeah. Oh especially after the recent 997 turbo results, some of these auctions here I've seen approaching 200 grand.

unknown 57:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:45

You know, I'd probably have to go to the to maybe the vantage. Well, that'd be 12.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Good call.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

I mean, I know that sounds I mean, you know, I mean I think you're totally right.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

That car for the money, oh yeah, slept on.

SPEAKER_01 57:57

I mean, total slept on. I mean, it's there's just not a lot of them out there. I mean, in pre-AMG.

SPEAKER_00 58:03

Pre-AMG. Yeah, all hand built. Yeah, and actually pretty good cars reliability-wise.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

No, absolutely. No, they're they're they're actually it you just gotta keep the service up on them.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

Yeah, and I will say the Sports Shift gearbox, specifically on the V12, they're probably really similar, if not the same. But, you know, the software on the ECU that shifts that thing is from like a 90s winning Lamar car. Correct. Yeah, so it's a little better.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Um, you can get more in sync with it. The SMG kind of just does whatever it wants to do. Correct. Uh correct, correct. Let's see it. Dream three-car personal garage, right now, no restrictions.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Ferrari F-12. Uh E39 M5. I'd probably go to an E28 M5. Okay, that sounds crazy. Yeah, yeah, no, the the F-12 was I got to build uh a uh a NovoTech in largo wide body F-12 with a customer. And uh that car when it was done was that they scream. That that motor. I know. I mean, that that's enough. Then I I I should have brought that up earlier.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

We brought you. Yeah, Nova Tech System.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

Absolutely, yeah. I mean that thing, that man, that that car is screaming too. It'll blow your eardrums. Yes, no, it really will.

SPEAKER_00 59:25

It really will. And your next thing that's your neighbors will hate you.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

Yeah, no, no, no, no. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 59:30

Uh uh last one, if somebody's watching this, they want to find Bucket Imports, where do they go?

SPEAKER_01 59:34

BucketImports.com. I'm all over social media. Uh, you can check my YouTube page out, just look up Bucket Imports on YouTube and you'll see me on there. I'm I do a lot of uh mechanical, you know, know-house and stuff that you need to look out for for a lot of the early model BMW and Mercedes platforms and stuff, but uh BucketImports.com, you know, check us out. We're in the heart of Buckhead. We're almost right across the street from the St. Regis in in Buckhead. So we've been there for 30 plus years, man. It's a it's a good spot. Hopefully we'll be there for a lot longer. That's awesome. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

Jason, you're a legend. Thank you, brother. Thank you guys for coming on. Appreciate you. Yeah, let's go take a look at the catch.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

All right.