What Drives YOUth?? Interview Series - Jake Wilson: Driven To Antique Automobiles

Ride along with Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr and John CustomCarNerd Meyer as they talk with Jake Wilson in the latest What Drives YOUth?? Interview

Norman Altizer of Picture Car Coordinator Service suggested we talk with Jake Wilson, a young man he has been mentoring who loves old cars. He doesn't just love old cars, this kid has old cars coursing through his body. He has the knowledge and the drive to keep the automotive hobby and industry alive! He's truly an old soul. This is a MUST listen to episode!!

#WhatDrivesYOUth #WhatDrivesYOU

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Transcript

You're listening to the get out and drive podcast with John custom car Nerd, Meyer and Jason old car guy car.

We'll be bringing you gearheads everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage.

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Jason

Welcome back to another episode of Get Out and Drive podcast. My name is Jason OldeCarrGuy car.

John

And I am John customcarnerd, Meyer. Jason We're always talking about passing on our wealth of automotive knowledge down to the next generation, right?

Jason

Absolutely,

John

all of our social media posts we use the hashtag What drives youth? Because we want to know why Why do younger folks care? Why do they want to care about getting into the automotive industry to a lot of people, this is just a greasy, nasty old car smell To some people, kind of a gross and disgusting industry.

Jason

Well and just to others, they're brought up into it There's something either a family member or a friend close family friend that's brought them to the scene Of cars, that's kind of piqued that interest. We like to think of it as gasoline running through our veins.

John

Yes, yeah, definitely. So I know a lot of people grow up and they have mentors to bring them into the hobby into the industry And I know we spoke recently with Norman Altizer about his ties with providing vehicles for movies. He spoke to us about Jake Wilson Somebody that he said was A person that's in the neighborhood we talked to Norman and said man, this would be cool to talk to this kid get his perspective on things. Especially because Norman is his mentor and I thought it would be great to have Jake on the show today, so we've definitely got him here with us. How are you, Jake?

Jake

Very good Sir, how are you?

John

Glad to talk to you today.

Jake

Well, thank you for having me on I Do quite appreciate it,

John

now how do You know Mr. Norm

Jake

Well, Sir, I joined my local ACA group and by chance he happened to be in it and one day he saw me sitting in the back of a meeting and said Hey Jake, do you want to do some work on an old Rusty Ford, and I said yes.

John

Do you have a vehicle or your own?

Jake

Yes Sir, I have a 1971 Ford F-100 With a 302 V8 and a C4 automatic transmission two tone boxwood and seafoam green.

Jason

That's awesome, you gotta love a 2 tone 70s pickup truck.

Jake

Yes, Sir.

Jason

So earlier before we went and started recording, you said one of the neat things I thought was pretty cool is you named your truck?

Jake

Yes, Sir, her name is Lola After my dearly departed great grandmother.

Jason

That's awesome as most of our listeners know I have a YouTube channel and every vehicle I have on my channel I name as well. What is it that leads you into this truck? Why is this particular truck so special to you?

Jake

Well, when I was first Starting to get around 15-16 around the age that I could start driving, I began to drive my dad's 2001 Toyota Tundra. Now it's simple. It's ridiculously reliable, as all Toyotas are, but I'd always had a love of antique cars. I was into steam cars for a while in the early 1910s. I then slowly evolved into Model T's and other more high class vehicles of the 20s and then that sort of evolved into this sort of redneck love of pickup trucks, which I mean I'm In the South So I kind of have to by law.

John

I see that I and it's and it's one of the things that if you don't have a vehicle without wheels on it, the local h.o.a.’s will supply one for you.

Jake

Yes, Sir, nice.

John

Definitely good. What kind of mentally led you to be interested in older vehicles? 'cause I asked that because a person that's eighteen 17-18 years old it’s out of the norm For being interested in those vintage vehicles 'cause you have no direct mental connection to it.

Jake

Yes, Sir. Well I had for a very long time a love of steam trains and something. So I had a really little kid I've always loved them that by proxy led into a love of early steam cars from the early 1900s to 19 tens, and I was absolutely obsessed with them. Well, I then had a chance encounter With a gentleman by name of Bruce A. Elder, he ran an antique automobile dealership well, A business In Staunton VA and he happened to have this amazing collection of early 1900s, nineteen 10s all the way up through 50 sixty 70s. Pretty much any kind of car you Could think of He had in his Shop and he gave Me a tour Of the shop and actually gave me a book on Steam cars and that sort of evolved more and more into a love Of just normal gas automobiles.

Jason

Jake, now I'm not trying to give away anybody's age. We've already established you're 18 years old, but when I was a kid at your age, I was brought up into the love of cars because my dad was a car guy. My dad was in the car business as a transmission mechanic and jaws not that much older than I am, but Growing up as kids, it was like if you were a boy You know hunting, fishing, and Cars was just kind of your thing So I know that we're kind Of all about the car show, but what else Over and above this car Do you do that Might be outside the norm as an 18 year old today?

Jake

Well, I'd say probably my association with the ACA obviously as well as I am an Eagle Scout. So I just completed all of my scouting career which is a huge help to me. I've also volunteered my local church I Do a lot of A lot of construction work with them. I've done tin roofing, I've done a lot of Manual labor in that sort of regard.

John

I can see the way you carry yourself that you are different than most other 18 year olds that I've run into I see that quite a lot and I think that has to do with having been an Eagle Scout. It's important and some people think it will, but it won't will or won't I think it will get you further in getting a job when you can put on your resume that you are an Eagle Scout And you graduated Went through that program and listened to everything that you're supposed to do. Did the manual labor you know aren't afraid of dirt and that type of thing? I think that's going to help further you and get you a bigger jump starting in a career. Whatever path you decide Go down, I think as an employer myself, I would look to hiring someone who has been an Eagle Scout More so than other people who did not go through the through the Scout program.

Jake

Sir, well has been a great help for me. It's taught me a lot about endurance resolution about forcing yourself to do things, even if they're not fun. But also it's taught me a lot of good things, like how to start a fire and How to not die in the woods?

John

Yeah, that's good. And that and that makes you stand out. Because if if you're getting into the workforce and as an employer, I ask you to take the trash out, you're not going to look at me and go Oh God, you know, be silly You're going to say this is part of my job and this is what I'm going to do with no questions asked And that's important, and I'm and I'm, and I applaud you for going through that and finishing.

Jake

Well, thank you.

Jason

Yeah, and like one of our recent guests as well, we had AJ where on one of our podcasts and he's a former Marine. I shouldn't say former marine 'cause once you're marine you're always a marine and that was some of the things that he talked about to moving forward into his career Was that what he learned There helped him move forward and gain Respect and accomplishments where he's where he's at today. What is it that you aspire to do as you move on your career, you're getting ready to get a high school. I can assume you must have some career plans. What do you plan on doing once you're done?

Jake

Well, currently the plan is to attend the Virginia Military Institute out in Lexington, VA. I've just recently received a full ride scholarship for my all four years. I'm planning to study mechanical engineering and hopefully get into the automotive industry.

John

Congratulations, that is that's a big feat.

Jake

Yes, absolutely.

Jason

Well, thank you, I'm pretty excited to hear that because I too started as a young fellow in the in the Army cadets, I never did pursue a career in the armed forces or anything like That, but learning that stuff helped help me move forward in life. I think that joining the army and being a part of that is going to further you that way. As a car guy Moving forward, what do you see This mechanical engineering or being in the automotive industry? Where do you see that fitting into Your hobby as a Car guy well hopefully.

Jake

It'll allow me a Better opportunity to understand the mechanics of behind an automobile to better most likely rest Restore them or just Do regular maintenance. One of my long term goals if it If the Lord Wills would be to start my own heavy equipment and diesel Shop. one thing It's one of the most profitable industries around Because truckers, you know they need to truck things and if they're not, they're losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. And two, it's one of the only hands on mechanical things that anyone can make any money out of it anymore.

John

Yeah, that's exactly True and I'm glad to see you kind of give me a little bit of spark. A little bit of light shed on the younger folks that are going to say that they actually know where they're going I don't want to get off on the tangent than every kid staring at an iPhone and walking around like a zombie. You know, you actually give me hope that there's a few out there That are willing to build the corner office.

Jake

Well, I've been told that a lot, funnily enough I'm considered the old man of the group because I actually will look people In the eye and Have a conversation with them.

John

That's great to hear that's and I'm sure you hear it a lot from others.

That's rare and thank you for That

you know, Jason, we sure get to. Talk a lot yes, and some of us. More than others who me? I'm not pointing Any fingers, yes you are well, we want to hear from our listeners. Just go to our website. Get out and drive com. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the listener hotline button. We want to hear from you. Cool stories. Breakdown stories. Questions comments, hate mail, even hate mail? Even hate mail. You get a car show in. Your area let us know Tell us an interesting story Let us know what you like to get out and drive.

John

does your does your brain kind of work as a car guy are you bouncing things off of the older guys in a CA club And kind of saying hey, I'm interested in this and what do you think about this? Because it's the best Thing to do? And I say this 100 times to learn with your mouth shut and absorb information from elders from people that were there in days gone by and that did a task and had a problem on the roadside and they fixed it with a wire tie and an old screw that they found on the highway. That's important things to learn because when you're blowing down the road with your car in 19 airbags and everything in it, and you can't hear Anything 'cause it has triple sealed doors. You don't get the road feel You don't get what's happening like you do in a vintage car You don't feel the road as much with the steering wheel. I think a lot of younger folks are disconnected from the way a vintage car makes the road feel to a driver, and I think they get lost and I think driving an old car is something that a lot of younger folks should do because it makes them a better driver. Do you see that? Or how do you feel about that?

Jake

Well, I definitely agree with you there. I hate it that every day I'll look by and see people. And I mean Toyota Corollas, which are fine cars, but they're just. They're not interesting and whatsoever. Even I mean the most interesting cars. Right now, the Porsches and all that are trying to imitate their former glory, which they've seen thirty 40-50 years ago. And there's something about an old car. When you sit down you smell the vinyl and you smell the 87 non ethanol and you're cruising down the road with both the windows down 'cause you don't have air conditioning with the smoker Windows open. This is something that makes it's just. A pleasant sensation that I just can't describe.

John

It's a driving feeling and being in the automotive industry has given me the ability to drive all sorts of different cars, and we've spoken about this quite a lot on our show A car will tell you how it needs to be driven You'll drive a gasser. 55 Chevrolet 2 door post Different than you'll Dr A6 Cylinder 3 speed on the column 55 Chevrolet 2 door post And it's the exact same car to the layman, any different than a brand new Porsche will drive completely different than a 50s mg-td and you will feel different as a person driving those vehicles and it's hard for me to explain and I'll let you explain how you feel About it How and why do you care about this appliance that gets you from point A to point B? To break it down like that, why do you care about cars? What drives you? What's your spark?

Jake

I would just say the people around me and I've always had a love of history and when people around me started introducing me to automobiles, that gave me an even better appreciation for history as well as just the enjoyment of simple things. In my opinion, there's nothing better than to be a clear, sunny day to me to get in my truck just cruise along town and to say hi to everybody like pretend to be a farmer for from 1971 for a minute and just relax Listen to my golden oldies. Sit back on the big vinyl vinyl bench seat. Smell the gasoline and just Enjoy the day those simple pleasures that we Just don't get With a new car and two, I think you've mentioned this before, but older cars are different in How you drive them. In my opinion they have more personality. Me, I've seen highly tuned Porsche 911 and things like that from the 60s and 70s that are very finicky They are very precise, but when you drive them just a certain way, they will just sing and have more performance You can ever imagine with my truck she Likes to go the speed limit, that's what she Does someday she has good days. She'll run Even better, someday she'll have bad days where she doesn't want to run at all and it's more like having interaction with A person like Shaking hands with an old friend rather than getting into your washing machine and expecting it to work.

Jason

John talk about your guests with an old soul.

We're talking to an 18 year old man here today about his car and his passion for cars.

And if you didn't know better, you'd swear you were talking to somebody our age who has been around the industry who has been around the block a time or two.

It's so great.

To see that youth.

And you in particular Jake.

Taking such an interest in the cars, we all share the same passion with.

There's not a word that you just spoke that I didn't disagree with because I feel the same way at my age.

I'm sure John does as well that, you know, once you get behind the wheel of that you know that pre.

We talked about earlier the pre safety even asked back down a car.

You know cars were made to cut, you know get you from point A to point B.

Trucks were primarily what you said farm trucks they were.

Just made to haul.

Hay or or whatever it happened to be.

And people don't get that if you're not a car person, whether you're a guy or a girl.

If you don't get it, you'll never understand.

And chances are you're probably just not even listening to us right now.

But the idea is.

If you've got it, you've got it.

Jake, I see and I hear in your voice and your experience at such a young age that you've got what it takes to be a car guy.

I want to.

Know a little bit about.

Your relation your relationship with Norman Altizer who we've had on the show a little while back.

He's what brought you to us so tell me a little about your relationship with him and how he experiences or how your experience with him.

Kind of feeds that passion for your love of cars?

Jake

I met.

Norman Altizer.

Through my local Antique automobile group and one day he needed a little bit of extra help in his shop and he happened to live right down the road from me.

So he said, hey Jake, I need some help with some brake work on a 76 Super Beetle. Would be interested in helping and I said sure, why not?

So I went on down on my dad's tundra. I got greasy obviously. You know the moment you touch anything underneath the car, your hands magically turn black and then you have an itch on your face so you have to pee.

Very quick.

Well then I started doing brake work on this miserable little super beetle.

It had rust holes that Fred Flintstone would like to stop with and well, The funny thing was with this old VW the exhaust is completely rusted off.

It was just a whole.

It was completely open headers.

So it sounded like Camaro going up the street.

It was absolutely hysterical.

But from that.

Those experiences, those good memories.

I had a love of working on cars just because, well, for one thing, older cars are simpler and you can work on them and to having that knowledge of doing, you know two second repairs.

It it comes in handy.

John

It seems so simple, but it makes for good memories.

It makes for the ability to survive and and I believe that very well because we love break down stories.

On our show we always talk about survival on the side of the road, taking a piece of plastic or something off of a telephone pole and fixing a fuel line with it and things like that.

Have you done anything like that with your truck?

Have you done any immediate roadside repairs?

Jake

Well, thankfully I haven't had any breakdowns.

As of yet, the only.

Major problem I have with my truck.

was the original starter from 1971, finally gave out.

So I obviously called Mr.

Norm up and I said, hey, I don't know what's going on.

He came over and two seconds later we figured out it was the starter.

Then he said, well, you and your dad can just.

Fix in the driveway.

It will.

Just take 2 seconds.

Well, it did take 2 seconds except I ripped my hand open in the.

Driveway, but it was fun.

I got it done and it.

Showed me that I could do a lot.

More with my truck than I realized.

John

Well, that's good.

Is Norm Norman been relying on you more and more because he sees something in you?

Does he see that you are respectful and see somebody that you can count on?

Is he asking you more and more to work on vehicles with him?

Jake

Unfortunately, Mr.

Norm doesn't deal with a lot of projects on a daily basis.

We're not a.

High volume shop.

But I have definitely been pulled into more and more tasks. Actually, I had the great honor of he had a 1947 Ford Flathead V8 of an F1 truck that were hot rodding up. We've put what is it. New crankshaft, new camshaft, different forge lifters, new valves.

Forged Pistons, a twin Edelbrock setup, it's basically what the early 50s early to mid 50s hot rodders would have done, and it was the absolute joy to work on because.

I'd be sitting there adjusting valves with an old wrench and a screwdriver to get the lifters up and just sitting there having the time of my life.

Though it didn't come without my battle scars.

I was I was adjusting valves on this Flathead engine.

If you know anything about Flatheads you know they don't or they're not like overhead overhead.

Valve engines.

They are actually internal and The funny thing is in.

The V of the engine is well, you.

Can actually mess with the valve.

So I was addressing some of the valves 'cause we need to get the tolerances down to 10 thousands of an inch and I had this old shop light with a 10 shroud on it sitting in on top of the of the engine to.

Give me some.

Light so I could.

Actually see what I.

Was doing while I was sitting there, my arm was up in the air, my.

Screwdriver was picking up the.

Lifter so I could adjust it and I put my hand down on that tin shroud and well he might not be able to see it on camera, but there's a little that's not a birthmark.

Yeah, I became Kentucky Fried Jake there for a while.

John

Yes, and those are the things you learn not to do twice.

Jake

But it was fun.

John

Yes, you learn how it is and there's so many people that I talked to that have not taken a transmission out of a vehicle and laid it on their chest and had to crawl out from underneath the car or truck.

It's amazing to finally talk to someone that is your age that has not only the want to.

But a complete drive and you're going to go and do this stupidity again and again.

And that's amazing.

Jason, you like cruising around the Internet, just searching for projects that you don't need.

You do.

That I do.

It's probably my second job.

It is your second job.

I know I get smacked all the time 'cause I've got plenty of projects and I I secretly still look for things other than that.

Things that are in my dream.

Anyway, what's wrong with us?

I don't know, it's definitely a sickness, but you know, one of my favorite places to visit is racingjunk.com.

I go there a lot.

I probably shouldn't, but I go there a lot.

It's like a little secret hideout.

I get really good deals there.

Yeah, I'm sorry I'm saying this on the podcast.

I'm going to let out the secret, but I'm getting much better deals there than I am on a lot of other websites.

Yeah, and not only can you buy and get good deals, but you can also sell your own junk and put money right in your pocket.

Yeah, that's right. They don't charge any transaction fees. This is 100% of what I make through my ad.

I keep.

That's funny.

So if your wife is at you to clean out your garage for spring, you can post all your junk on racing junk com.

Wow, I'm going to.

I'm going to stop talking now.

I'm going to head out to the garage and I'll I will be back in a little bit but I'm gonna head out and clean up some stuff I know I've got a ton of stuff.

Start making money today.

Get out in racing junk com, sell your stuff, get money, stick it in your pocket.

Jason

And it wouldn't.

It wouldn't be a exercise or a, uh, it wouldn't be a work project without blood, a dirty rag and some electrical tape.

You know you.

You're going to cut yourself, you're gonna hurt yourself and you don't want to get cleaned up just to go inside and look after the blood.

No, you're going to.

You're going to.

Carry on, you know those are those are battle scars that we talk about and you know good on you for remembering that exact time when that happened.

Oh yeah.

John

Yes, I remember the first time I ate a greasy ham Sandwich.

Jake

The grease adds.

Flavor, don't you know?

John

It does, it does and the and ever to everyone out there.

The blue Loctite tastes better than the red.

I'm a I'm a blue loctite guy.

I love the blue loctite.

Everybody red pill, blue pill, yeah, blue loctite.

Jake

Oh yeah.

Like how I learned that uh, bearing grease tastes better on sandwich.

John

Yes it does.

It does.

It is so much better and you just put it on there like some peanut butter.

It's fine.

Jake

Oh yeah.

John

Fill a donut with it.

I mean, it's really tasty.

Jake

Oh yeah.

Also to beware of the green coolant because that one doesn't taste so great.

John

No, the green coolant no.

Just make lemonade out of it.

It stretches really far be it'll be fine.

Jake

Oh yes.

John

It'll be fine.

Jake

Actually having a story.

Jason

I think.

This is a time where we put the disclaimer in here for anyone listening, do not.

Drink the coolant.

John

Aid yeah, do not drink The coolant aid well

Jake

Good story behind that one. I was working on this was it was a 63 Rambler American, miserable little 60s carb flat 6 that was designed in probably 1952 because AMC had no money.

Well, we had just been sitting for about 20 years, and Mr.

Norman I had finally got it to run.

Relatively decently, you told me to jump in the car to fire it up.

Let's see how it idles for a while.

So I jump in, I turn the.

Key and I.

Let it I start getting it up well.

It's running fine.

I'm all excited to see one of my first revivals actually come to life, and two seconds later all I see is white smoke.

Well, I opened the door and jump out and try to find a fire extinguisher 'cause I figured an electrical fire or something had happened.

Well, turns out we hadn't adjusted one of the hose clamps on the bottom of the radiator properly and it started building up air and just popped out.

Well guess who was stuck cleaning it up so I was down there.

I was about to readjust the fitting on it and I just got a nice big couple drops in my mouth.

It was, it was real fun.

When I started feeling loopy for two hours after.

John

Yeah, I've I.

I have done that siphoning diesel fuel, siphoning gasoline siphoning all sorts of things that you should not ingest.

It's sadly part of the job.

But it's fun nonetheless. I know you say you had a 1971 Ford truck. are you interested in any other vehicles in particular?

Jake

Yes Sir,

Well, I would say my my view on cars has changed a lot when I was really new in the hobby.

I was absolutely.

Enamored with 1910s and 1920s cars.

You know the simplicity, the elegance like the old rolls royces or the duesenbergs of the late 20s and early 30s.

I then started to shift.

More and more.

Into the 60s.

And that's when I discovered my love of trucks.

Currently, I'm absolutely enamored with F1 hundreds, probably well, pretty much all F1.

Hundreds as well as C.

10 Pickups, Dodge pickups, pretty much anything that has a bed and it's.

4 Wheel drive I like.

I also love what is it?

The Willys CJ two ways.

That's probably the next one.

On my list, if I had to choose.

John

Very cool and just maybe Jason knows this.

Do you know what AMC stands for?

And it's not American motors.

Jason

Then no, I do not know this answer.

John

It stands for all makes combined.

Jason

No, you're not wrong.

John

Yeah, you look at an AMC and it has a Chrysler ignition key and a GM column and a Ford wiring harness.

And you wonder what has happened.

Jake

Oh yeah, it well.

Heck I mean, even in the what in the 80s the AMC Eagle that was just an entire amalgamation of anything AMC could get their hands on.

John

I, I think the only thing worse than that than to me like put together just slapped together stuff other than American Motors car in the 70s was a checker cab.

Oh man, I've seen and worked on a few checkered cabs and you wonder why does this thing have a chevette steering wheel?

And then you drive it and you realize why?

It's a terrible machine.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Jason

I got to repeat myself.

I think it's absolutely great that we.

Get to talk to an.

18 year old man here.

That sounds like we've been talking to somebody who's got 20 years experience on him.

John

Jake, I know you have a lot of interest in older cars.

Do you have?

Of younger guys and girls that are your age that you you hang out with that have older cars or an interest in older cars as well.

Jake

Oh yes, Sir.

Definitely I have.

A small group of friends in.

My school, we're all obsessed.

With old cars and pickup trucks.

We'll talk cars all day I.

Got a buddy that.

Has a old 51 F1 rotting out. Old no, no 49 F1 pickup that's rotting on the field that he's been meaning to.

Hot rod up.

I also actually have a girl.

And about my age in my ACA group, that's very into cars. It was a 2014 Toyota Tundra lifted.

Kid Rock crawl all the all the.

Modifications and then another buddy of mine has.

A 66 Ford fairlane

His dad is a mechanic, so he's always been kind of into cars. He's got a 66 fairlanes that they're throwing a new engine into that he's been hot rodding up with his dad, and that hopefully should be done pretty soon actually.

So I talked a lot about cars.

A lot of the younger folk.

Unfortunately, we just don't.

Get out to like car shows.

And stuff like that.

John

Nice, well, that's always fun to have people to hang out with and go to car shows with and kind of talk.

Cars and kind of share information about what you think on how this affects you, and do you guys ever talk about the fact that you're in a ACA crowd and you're like the youngest one there?

Jake

I definitely made a few jokes about it. I'm usually I'm. I'm walking around in the next person. Youngest is probably like 45-50, but it's a great experience and I definitely highly recommend it for anybody who's hoping to join an ACA group.

John

If I have to say anything it is.

Buy old tools.

Go to garage sales, go to flea markets, go to swap meets. Go to things. I have a lot of tools that I cherish that have a mechanic's name on it other than mine.

Mostly because I'm a thief.

Somewhere somebody is looking for the wrench I have, but if you hold that wrench, you know that it's 30s, Forties, 50s.

You see that wrench?

That's something that someone repaired a car with repaired a tractor with repaired things with they made a living.

With that they fix things.

They got food on the table.

That's a big deal to me to see that person name on something.

It's just a weird energy and I can sit in the car and Jason and I have spoken about.

This quite a lot.

All cars smell different.

I open books and I smell books.

I smell tools, I smell cars, vintage cars.

When you restore a vintage car, it doesn't smell like an original car again and you can't get that smell back.

That's all that I have to say.

Is somebody that's kind of been through this situation a lot by old tools.

Jake

Well, actually I've been, uh, I'm really blessed. My great, my grandfather on my dad's side. Unfortunately, he passed away right about the time I was born, but he was a huge.

He wasn't a mechanic, but he had millions and millions of tools he could fix anything and.

Thankfully, I was able to inherit a lot of these tools, so.

I know exactly how you feel when you.

You look at.

That wrench and you see those initials and.

You know, hey.

You know this guy worked for a living.

He knew what he was doing.

As for the smell, I know exactly what you're feeling.

My truck is actually all original.

She's never been touched since.

1971 and when you get in and you smell that you smell that old vinyl.

You smell the the old transitions and.

The old wires going through there, you just have that connection with.

People that you don't really get.

John

That that's true.

Have you been in older vehicles and you can tell that a dodge smells like a dodge from the 70s and that use of 60s Volkswagen?

Smells like a 60s Volkswagen and why have you?

You've experienced that?

Jake

Oh yeah, particularly with walks like because this work.

Mainly what we work.

On but yeah, you can tell the difference between some of the lower class ones of the upper class ones.

I've been in a couple Ford products and I can always tell you know this is not as expensive as this one and this one is a little bit different, you know?

John

Yeah, I've. I've seen that quite a lot sitting in mid 60s GM cars. My brother in law has a 64 old 98 two door and I can sit in that vehicle and it smells amazing and it's an old musty thing.

But it smells amazing and I know somebody is going to rip my idea off.

But I want.

To make you know car scent, you know, hanging off the rearview mirror that says this is a vintage Chevrolet, and it smells like a vintage Chevrolet.

Yeah, I will do that soon so.

Jake

They gotta get patent that before somebody steals it.

John

Yeah, no more new car smell, so if one of our listeners is out there that makes car fragrances or makes fragrances and they want to contact me, I can make little hanging scented trees in the shape of a C10 that smells like a C10.

Jason

So if we're if we are giving out advice Jake, John gave you the advice of, you know, collect old tools and you said you had some.

If I was going to give you some advice, it's going to be simply this.

As a young fellow, never pass up an opportunity to talk to somebody about cars no matter what age they are.

Obviously if they're.

Older, the more stories they're going to have because someone who is of, say my grandfathers age or John father age or whatever are going to have different stories than John and I.

And certainly different stories than you.

There's so much history to be told with every single vehicle that was ever built.

That is ever still driving. Today you can see over my shoulder like 79 Chrysler Cordoba and I pull into a car show. People gather around that thing and they've all got a story about Mom dad.

On uncle friend, somebody who had one of those cars and take the time to listen to those stories, you're going to gain an awful lot of information and a lawful lot of knowledge from people who have been there and done that.

Jake

Well, yes Sir, I've actually already started to.

Get that with the few times I've been out to.

Car shows in my.

Truck I heard one story actually from Mr Norm.

Early on when I was looking for a truck, my father and I had an agreement that if I found it, we would talk about it and figure out a decent price for both of us.

Well, he was so concerned about.

Safety 'cause you know I'm an 18 year old kid, I'm gonna try to drift around corners and or something like that.

Well, he was always worried about brakes because these old trucks, most of them don't have disc brakes.

Well, my boss Mr.

Norm was able to put that to rest with a story about how him and his I think was his uncle.

I had a truck.

Just like mine, except it was 2 tone.

Bermuda Blue and wolves and white instead of my the Greens and they went down a hill with.

Probably three quarter.

Ton of hay over the cab and just stepped on the brakes the entire time and they were able to get down to a problem.

John

Well, that's good, yeah.

Have you have you seen a lot of the Chevy Square body Chevrolet commercials where they're they've got other trucks stacked on top of them and they're driving?

Up the hills.

Jake

Or like that old Ford commercial from 84 where they.

Had a was it?

It was a.

C10 in the bed and.

Towing a Dodge pickup up a gravel Rd.

John

Yes, that is exactly correct.

If you look up on YouTube and things all the commercial the Power War commercials and things in the 70s, those were wacky, just wacky commr.

Jason

Oh good.

Jake

Yeah, it's like that old ad with a C20.

Towing a 747 yeah.

John

Yes, that's exactly true.

Jason

Well, it's funny too, because in 93 I think when dodge come out with what's now coined as the second Gen.

But didn't they drop one of those things from like a?

Like a huge cranes like that.

And it just come down.

And it just bounced on.

The ground for a.

Oh yeah, if you look really, really close to the windshield, you can almost see the dash cracking.

When they do that.

John

Yes, that is exactly right.

I was at Ground Zero working at a Dodge dealer when that truck dry.

And it was.

It was crazy because we had to go out and we had to head because it was a new vehicle.

I had to go out and get customer training on this brand new Dodge truck and we had these other square trucks that looked like they were from the 70s and the 94's came out and it was just it was amazing change.

And absolutely amazing change.

Oh yeah.

Yeah it was.

It was groundbreaking for trucks in general.

At that time.

Jason

Oh goodness well.

Jake

Heck, in the late 80s and early 90s the evolution of trucks was just absolutely amazing.

Went from these sort.

Of boxy utilitarian, you know man you.

Know grandpas truck.

To something what we see more of the modern.

Pickups, for instance in the 1990s.

Is the new Chevy's the was the CK series. They actually came out with the extended cab which was Chevy.

Never really did that.

That sort of revolutionized what we thought is a pickup truck.

'cause now you have a little bit extra space in the back.

So if you had a young family, well, we might be able to, you know, put junior in.

The back while you go out and drive.

And two, with the popularity of Crew Cab pickups that slowly kind of transitioned into what we see today, we're now a new F2 fifty 2500 Chevy or a 2500 Dodge both RAM now, which makes sense to me.

They're now, you know, everyday vehicles that you know.

Heck, you see, you know, women going out with their kids just in this huge truck.

They don't need it, but it's now the new SUV.

John

That is exactly true and I see that quite a lot, and that's like exactly what you said.

The turning point was.

1991

Everything past that is different with the CK.

The way the body fit and the way the cab was constructed and the way everything worked and GM laid everything out, it immediately made the previous model years look like an antique.

Jake

Oh goodness, you can actually see that.

Even more with Dodge.

Is the transformation from the?

The W series to the second gens and then third gens was absolutely astonishing. I mean, heck you look at a 91.

Dodge W-250 Cummins truck. It looks like it's from 1981 when you look at a second Gen it looks like it's from you know 9901 or something like that.

John

That it was ahead of its time for that type of situation and I'm glad that you see this and you hone in on that.

And the things that changed because we spoke about this previously, a moment in time we spoke about it with AJ where I was.

I was there at working in a Dodge dealer during the neon launch.

Yeah I was there for the for the 2nd Gen Dodge pickup launch.

I had to go to training for a neon to explain.

You know color infused bumpers to a customer and how they're going to last forever and they only lasted six months.

And I had to go through all of this type of stuff and I was there at that time and all I thought was it was a Tuesday and I did not realize that.

30 years later I was going to be here explaining these cars to you and I was there.

No, it was just my job.

It was just my work and now I have all that information stuck uselessly in my brain and now I'm transferring onto you and now you're you have more useless information.

Jake

Yeah, I've actually heard a lot of that from, you know, the old mechanics so they'll look at.

Actually, I've seen a lot of people, particularly older people.

They look at my truck and they're like, oh, it's a it's another trick I used to work on those.

All the time.

That's usually what I.

Get right and it's just amazing to see that sort of transfer.

Of information where people you know it's a shame.

You see a lot of the.

Older folks saying, you know they don't care.

These younger kids they don't care, we do.

We really do.

And when you have a vehicle like that, or any sort of older vehicle particularly.

When you're my.

Age you really crave the older people to tell you what you need to know because you can't look up.

You know how to the carburetor on the.

Side of the road from YouTube while YouTube.

Is nice, you can't learn that sort of tactile.

Stuff when you're sitting at home on a laptop.

John

That's exactly right. And like I kind of gave you advice previously, TuneIn and go to that quote UN quote old guy that's sitting in his chair by himself behind the same Mustang that he's owned since 1977. He can explain to you about What Car he traded that for, where he's been, What Car?

He gave up to be married, all sorts of different things that you can.

You can kind of gain that knowledge.

He's sitting by himself.

He's aching to speak with you, but if you just walk by and go ahead and keep on going, he probably won't seek you out and speak with you because of your age.

But if you go up and say hi, I know your car.

I see your car.

These are really neat and This is why I think this is like this.

You'll have a friend for life, sometimes bad 'cause they talk forever.

You'll gain the most incredible information from these folks.

Jake

Well, trust me, I've dealt.

With worse than you.

But yeah, I mean, heck, it was my short time being into cars I've.

Heard some amazing stories.

I was at a Concours d'elegance event.

You know, out at the Greenbrier Hotel, and I met this couple that had this 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang and it was amazing to hear how they traded there.

In 1965 Mustang to get this and actually drag raced it in period up until the early 70s and just stick.

Well kept this beautiful car just throughout the.

You know 40-50 years?

And it's just amazing to see.

That sort of commitment to a car.

John

It's it's great to see that type of stuff because in in our industry I call it used to have because I I drove an Edsel station wagon for quite a while and it was.

It take me half an hour to put gas in it because I would be putting fuel in the car and.

I'd hear, yeah.

And the guy would come up and he talked to me and he.

Tell me how he took his family across country in an edsel, but it was amazing to listen to these guys and listen to the story.

And it, it's fun.

And it has to be that way.

Driving your truck because people don't realize someone you're they don't think it's real when they see someone your age is going to be driving that truck.

Do you see that a lot?

Do you see the people?

Surprised you drive that.

Jake

It's amazing to see I'll go down to my local gas station. Well, the only one in my area that has 87 on ethanol because carburetor.

John

Right and.

Jake

And I'll, I'll.

Park it for 2 seconds and then magically.

A 66.

F 10 4 by 4 will show up and then a square body and then another square body and then some.

Be like hey I had one of those back.

In 78.

Oh yeah, I love.

That truck it.

Was the best thing in my life and then somebody will start throwing numbers around and then I'll peel out of there.

John

That's fun.

That's fun stuff.

Jason

Jake has been an absolute pleasure in getting to hear some of your stories.

You don't get to do that very often.

John, when you're talking to an 18 year old kid who shows any interest in cars at all.

Not only does he have an interest.

He has knowledge and he's willing to share that with us, and I appreciate you taking this time.

Jake and you know, for for being here tonight, being able to tell us a little bit about what you're up to a little bit about your truck a little bit what you're doing in the future.

Thank you so much.

For being a part of the get out and Drive podcast.

John

Great stuff Jake.

Jake

Oh of Course, well, thank you all Again, for letting me on.

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You know, Jason, I know you're new to the get out and drive podcast.

Don't you have something else on you?

Tube like every Thursday.

Yeah, we have a podcast style live stream that happens on YouTube called the car guy and six fan show.

It's myself and grant Tommy, who goes by Straight 6 fan on YouTube and we talk a lot about cars only. It's live.

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WHAT DRIVES YOU?

Get Out N Drive Podcast

What Drives YOUth?? Interview Series - Jake Wilson: Driven To Antique Automobiles

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