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The Iced Coffee Hour
“I Need To Stop!” Hoovie’s Garage Breaks Silence on Getting Scammed, Losing Money, & Starting Over
02:21:58
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- [00:00]
Hoovie
There was a point where I'm driving a Bugatti Veyron and I have less than $1,000 in my bank account, literally. Welcome to Hoovies Garage, the dumbest automobile channel in all of YouTube.
- [00:12]
Jack
So do you think then your viewers like seeing you in financial distress?
- [00:16]
Hoovie
Yes. To buy this thing, I did have to sell a couple of my cars. I think people love to think, wow, I am not as dumb as this guy. Like, okay, at least I'm not that stupid. We're gonna put it running. That's all the fuel.
- [00:30]
Graham
How many cars have you sold to pay your taxes?
- [00:33]
Hoovie
I don't know. It's usually like 6 to 20. To sell to pay taxes. Me, how bad it is is literally.
- [00:38]
Graham
Every single penny just going into cars.
- [00:40]
Hoovie
I'm not that bright. What can I do next to make myself, you know, flail my arms? Look at me. I'm buying a Bugatti, you know, because that's what everybody was doing. And I thought I needed to chase that to continue to get the views, to continue to get the growth. And the Bugatti was just. It was just dumb. I got myself a Bugatti Veyron and then got myself in tax Trouble. It's been 10 years, man. What do have left to prove? What do I need to accomplish? Why do I need to chase jar into his level of insanity? Still going to be a lot of water in it.
- [01:09]
Graham
Yep.
- [01:10]
Hoovie
This is the. The pivotal moment, the turning point of just like, I can't. I can't operate like this anymore.
- [01:21]
Jack
Hoov's Garage, the dumbest Automotive channel on YouTube. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
- [01:27]
Hoovie
Thank you. I am so surprised to be back.
- [01:30]
Jack
Well, we've been told you sell supercars to pay your.
- [01:34]
Hoovie
Yes, I saw all of Doug Miro's episode and, yeah, a bit of Tavares. So, yes, I see why you wanted me to come so quickly to speak. But let's talk about you guys for a second because it's been three years since I've been here. Yeah. Unbelievable growth. Mr. Beast, Mr. Wonderful. The guy that spanked Marty supreme, you know, Timothy Charlemagne, the guy that spanked Shalom. You got to have it on the podcast. Even like, Mr. Looks. Maxine. I watched all that, like, I want to do the chin thing now, you know, get all. You know.
- [02:00]
Graham
So you actually have a good chin.
- [02:01]
Hoovie
No, you have the chin, man.
- [02:03]
Graham
No, no, you have the chin.
- [02:04]
Hoovie
Well, you can compare ins later, but it's all so riveting. I feel like you all are young enough to, like, know what you know, younger people want to know. Also you have so much life experience and you just know things that you know the questions to ask. So it's like the perfect mix of like, not some old blowhard, but also someone that's, that's wise. And I, it's. I usually don't miss. So thank you guys so much for your content.
- [02:25]
Graham
We got to know, how many cars have you sold to pay your taxes?
- [02:28]
Hoovie
It's every year, man. I don't, I don't know. It's usually like a 6 to 20 to sell to pay to estimate how bad it is. Last year was definitely the worst by a lot. It was because of a big mistake that I made over a Bugatti Veyron.
- [02:42]
Graham
And how big was that mistake?
- [02:44]
Hoovie
So I structured it as a lease. It was a $14,570 car payment. And in order to make the deal happen, I traded in my Lamborghini Countach. I had that car for four years, and I bought that along with the Diablo. It was the best car deal I ever made. I paid $250,000 for both cars. Diablo VT Roadster and Countach is about what this guy paid for it about 10 years ago. And he just wanted to get rid of it quickly, coincidentally, I think to pay taxes. So I wrote that check. I sold the VT Roadster for 300 after spending some money fixing it, and I had a free Countach. So when I sold it, it was a zero. I sold it for 500 grand or whatever. And with the lease, I couldn't just roll it in. The down payment has to go year to year to year to year. So I had to pay the full gain on the countage and then only write off one year of it because I structured the Veyron as a lease. And then my accountant said, oh, hey, you owe $500,000 in taxes this year, along with other things. So that was, that was, that was 2020, you know, March 20, March 15, 2025, when he said that, you know.
- [03:56]
Jack
And so, you know, it's interesting, I believe for long term capital gains, I believe cars count as collectibles. Right. And there's a slight tax variation that you pay a little bit more being a car when you make money on it.
- [04:11]
Hoovie
That's. Yeah. So it. Because I had it over for years. So it was like long term capital gains, I think. So I was okay there, but it was just that I had zero money because I traded it all in and then had to pay the gains on. Even though now it's nice because I sold the car, the Counta, I sold the Bayron, and then got the 300SL gullwing. But I did a collateral swap, so it's the same lease. So now I get that $100,000 every year now for the next four years.
- [04:37]
Jack
So how much did you buy the Bugatti for?
- [04:39]
Hoovie
The bugatti was like 135-something- like that. $1,350,000 because I thought I needed to be like, you know, keep it up with the Joneses because everybody's on YouTube, like, next leveling. What can I do next to make myself, you know, flail my arms? Look at me, I'm buying a Bugatti, you know, because that's what everybody was doing. And I thought I needed to that to continue to get the views, to continue to get the growth. And the Bugatti was just, it was just dumb. It alienated my audience so much that was used to me buying hoopties, used to me buying junk, you know, and aspiring to make them nice again. Something that was cool 20 years ago, that is now down on slack. And I try and bring it back and sometimes succeed, sometimes fail. The Bugatti Veyron is. It was never not cool. It was never down on his luck. It's.
- [05:23]
Jack
So you bought it. So the Bugatti was like a reliable car for you?
- [05:26]
Hoovie
Well, no, but it's not something that's like someone per se. Okay, you can buy a Lotus Esprit V8 for 30, $40,000, but should you. But it's like, yeah, you can buy a Bugatti for $1,350,000. Here's what it's like to own. That's not how I built my brand, my audience and all that stuff. And I kept going up and up as I became more successful in YouTube, buying these more higher stakes cars. And it was the same. Return it. If I buy a $5,000 car, if I buy a million dollar car, they both have the same potential in views. And it just, it made no sense from a financial standpoint other than just me wanting to flex and I didn't need a flex anymore.
- [06:03]
Graham
So you spent $1.35 million on this Bugatti, right?
- [06:06]
Hoovie
Yes. Well, it was trading in the Countach, so there's, there's, you know, it's a little bit of horse trading, negotiating there. So it's a little complicated. In my head, it felt like that's what I paid for it.
- [06:13]
Graham
What'd you get out of it?
- [06:15]
Hoovie
So I traded more or less straight across. I got a 5 9. 9 in there just to help with the down payment, but about a million and a half, because that's the goal wing is what I paid for it. So. So you traded again.
- [06:26]
Graham
So you did well?
- [06:27]
Hoovie
Yeah, I did fine. I. I did fine.
- [06:29]
Graham
And you made money on the content as well.
- [06:31]
Hoovie
I did make money on the content. It's, you know, a lot of the videos got over a million views, but it. And it definitely worked. But the problem with it was I'd had it for 10 months, and the guy with it was buying it from me. Very generous. He traded a lot of Bugattis, and he wanted to inspect it naturally before he purchased it. So it got shipped up to Connecticut. They inspected the car. It was leaking oil, it was leaking coolant, it was leaking transmission FL. And they want another eight hours of diagnosis. Diagnosis. About $3,000 to look at the transmission. Probably need to be resealed. Probably staring down the barrel of a $200,000 repair bill on the car. And he still took it, mercifully at the same price.
- [07:07]
Jack
Did he try to negotiate the price with you?
- [07:09]
Hoovie
He knew that I was in. I was in bad shape and, like, either because I was trying to sell the car outright, and I actually. Actually called back the dealer that had sold me the car and said, hey, I need out of this. Like, I'll take a little hit. And, like, just, you know, what do you want? And he just ghosted me. He didn't want the car. Totally. Just didn't even reply to my text. Not even nice enough to say, like, hey, you know, probably not. I have too much inventory or some other excuse or whatever, just ghosted me. So Ed Bolling was nice enough to actually set up this deal because he knew that my ultimate dream car was the 300 cell gullwing. And he also knew that his friend Matt Ivanhoe, the cultivate collector, had just gotten one out of a state that didn't run. So it was it. It worked out. And the guy loves Veyrons, so he had. I think he has three or four Veyrons in inventory right now.
- [07:50]
Jack
So how much does it cost to inspect a Bugatti?
- [07:53]
Hoovie
$5,000 for a good one.
- [07:55]
Graham
How long does it take?
- [07:56]
Hoovie
About. Yeah, eight, ten hours, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
- [08:00]
Graham
Well, that's like, what, nearly $1,000? That's like $500 an hour. Is it, like, a specialist? It's not just any mechanic.
- [08:06]
Hoovie
They have. Yeah, it is at the Bugatti dealership, and they do have to peel off a lot of stuff to see, so back wheels have to come off to get all the underbody panels and everything off to really look at the car. And honestly, I didn't know that it was leaking because all those underbody panels just catch all of it. So then when they take it off and take it down, I never saw a drop on my garage floor. It was always running great. And then they take it down, take a picture of that drip pan, and it's like a. A collage, like an abstract art painting of fluids and. Yeah, not good.
- [08:33]
Graham
What I don't understand is how you didn't end up having the cash to pay your taxes, because at the same point, you must be making some pretty good money on YouTube and is literally every single penny just going into cars.
- [08:43]
Hoovie
I'm not that bright. This is a problem. So I had a really bad year before that because I got carried away. The home renovation. I bought this old farmhouse in Kansas and I wanted a few acres to be able to put up a steel building. And it's zone agricultural. And I wanted to be like, I saw Stradman in his videos in his house and how far overblown you guys talked about it in depth with his podcast. I was like, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be the smart guy and buy the house already, and then it's going to be zoned properly where I can put up a cheap agricultural kind of metal building and just finish it out inside and not spend a whole lot. And then I decided renovate the house a little bit. And then I ended up basically doubling the square footage and it just, it snowballed into house property for $800,000 and then wrote checks for a million dollars in the home renovations, in the building, the building actually about 420, $30,000 all in for a 6,000 square foot building. Heated, air conditioned, insulated is beautiful. But the house, I'd never done a home renovation before, and these people just. Oh, I think they all got together for beers afterwards, all the subcontractors and just laughing at ripping me off. It was, it was so bad.
- [09:51]
Jack
You think they saw the YouTube channel, they saw the Bugatti and they're like, oh, we could just charge whatever, because this guy has like 30 cars.
- [09:58]
Hoovie
I didn't. So he, I. He came out and I said, hey, I'm not wanting to spend more than $300,000. If it's around 300 grand, then I'm just not gonna do it. It's like, yeah, it should be fine. And it turned into $700,000 and another 200,000 in landscaping and things. It just went into it.
- [10:12]
Jack
$200,000 on landscaping?
- [10:14]
Hoovie
Well, it was the pond and different things and, like, the concrete driveways and stuff. And it snowballed, man. It was.
- [10:22]
Jack
How did you not catch this when you were going in and, like, quoting this out?
- [10:26]
Hoovie
So it got the stuff hit the fan about July. I was six months into it. The house is all torn apart, like most people find out. And then so they were adding onto the house a new wing, and we were actually taking the existing garage and making a master bedroom. So it was existing square footage. We just needed a little living room sort of to connect it to where it made sense for the layout. And so that was the new addition. And they were redoing a lot of the roof to make all the pitches and things work. And it wasn't that much, you know, maybe covering 3,000 square feet of roof. But it's a little different because the house is sort of old and it's metal on the sides and vinyl on top. And I got $100,000 bill for that. The contractor, it was somebody they'd work with a lot, and it was somebody that I sort of knew, friend of a friend or whatever. And they didn't bit it out. And I didn't know because I wasn't paying attention.
- [11:13]
Graham
Did you fight it at all? Like, hey, how'd this get to be $100,000?
- [11:16]
Hoovie
It turned into. It turned into a fight. But it was kind of like he wanted to sit me down and show me how much everything cost and, like, how he only made 10 or 15 grand on it and was, like, very offended. And so it may. He may have been right. But then a lot of times when people get really angry and offended, usually then they're just trying to get you to go away. And I was smoked anyway. What am I going to do? Like, the job was done. I didn't get it quoted out beforehand. I thought that was the job of my contractor to do. And, like, let me know. And he just said, you had a.
- [11:44]
Graham
General contractor, not a subcontractor. General contractor is supposed to talk with the subs and get bids to make sure stuff gets done within the budget.
- [11:50]
Hoovie
And I. I wasn't paying attention, and I didn't know I hadn't done this before. So he just called the roof guy that he knows and said, hey, we need to fix this roof here. And he did it and said, didn't.
- [11:57]
Graham
You tell your general contractor the budget, though?
- [11:59]
Hoovie
Yeah, that's what we talked about it.
- [12:00]
Graham
But then what happened? With him, because that sounds like it's kind of his fault. Like, that's his purpose. You could go direct to sub, right? Or you use a general contractor to make sure it gets done properly on the timeline, and then also at an effective cost.
- [12:11]
Hoovie
The house is all torn apart, and I get the roof bill in, and I'm already at $300,000, and the inside of the house is studs. So what do I do? Like, this guy's started, he's got to finish it. You know, it's a tale as old as time. Like, you guys are smart. You do real estate and all this stuff, But a lot of people are in these similar situations where this happens to them. And I thought, you know, I thought I was smart enough to avoid it and not get screwed. And you think with someone with a, you know, a little bit of a public Persona where you wouldn't do that. And I also think that this guy was a bit older, and I don't think that he realized how some things were costing now as far as the changes with things. So I guess it was sort of a friend of a friend again that had done some work for, I think, my dad in the past, like, a patio thing. So, like, I knew that he did good work and the quality work was great, but obviously things went way out of control.
- [13:02]
Graham
Now that you have your dream home, was it worth it?
- [13:04]
Hoovie
I am just now getting used to not looking at something and thinking, I got screwed there. I got screwed there. There was one chandelier in the master bedroom where Restoration Hardware accidentally priced it at $600 when it should have been $6,000. And I hit the buy button on it, and I was like, is this thing actually going to show up? And it did. So that's the one great victory of the house. In the master bedroom, every night, I can look up at that chandelier and just go, I got him there. And that's. That's about. That's about all I got. Otherwise, I just look at all this, like, oh, my God, this about just ruined me.
- [13:38]
Graham
So help me understand exactly what's going on then. Because you couldn't afford taxes, so you had to sell a bunch of cars, but you're still buying cars, which you could argue are assets.
- [13:49]
Hoovie
I have to.
- [13:50]
Graham
So you have to.
- [13:52]
Hoovie
Because that's the content. That's Hoovy's Garage. If I run out of things to talk about my existing cars, I buy another car.
- [13:57]
Jack
Yeah, but you have, like, 30 cars.
- [13:59]
Hoovie
Yeah, but you run out of things to do. And once again, YouTube has changed so much to where you can't just do a little bit. You know, like a check engine light comes on and you say, oh, it has a oxygen sensor code. Let's go get a pizza. Like you have. There has to be a lot happening in a video to compete with. With the level of content, the quality that's been raised in the last five years of YouTube where it has to be a pretty significant event when you post. And I'm sort of a twice a week, a weekly video type of thing. So now for me to keep up, there has to be a lot. It can't just be the buy and everything's wrong and then, you know, fixing things and checking in on it. Like, it all sort of has to be roped into where it's 30 minutes of really compelling content now for it to compete with. With generation of stuff.
- [14:44]
Jack
So do you think then your viewers like seeing you in financial distress?
- [14:48]
Hoovie
Yes, yes. Bad is good and good is good. That's the wonderful thing about me, is if I get a good car and it all works out fine, video is not too exciting. I get really excited about car. This is amazing. What a deal. All that stuff. Great. But then that's one video where I get something really terrible. Like most recently, this lotus esprit v8 where the seller didn't mention anything when it was on bring a trailer and then sold later at auction, where the transmission's crunching and all these issues. I know, like, okay, this car sucks and people are going to love that. This car sucks. And me having to go through and suffer through making this thing work again. I know that it's going to be compelling content. So really, I win either way.
- [15:24]
Jack
But how much of that is purely watching you and misery when something happens and the audience is just like, enamored.
- [15:31]
Hoovie
By that, I think people love to think, wow, I am not as dumb as this guy. Like, like, okay, at least I'm not that stupid. And so. And I just. I just like playing into that. Like, why would he do it again? Why would he buy the site on seen it at auction, do it again. Like, again, really? This turd? And then they're like, okay, my problems aren't so bad. I think that there's a bit of that.
- [15:52]
Jack
What's the most that you've lost on a car?
- [15:55]
Hoovie
Well, Doug was nice to end the video of my most recent one when he was on interviewing where I let a car go for apparently $40,000 short. So for recapping those who didn't see it. So Doug told A story about he really wanted this custom Cadillac elder rod that GM built. And I had bought it from an auction for I think 12 or $13,000 and made all the custom stuff working in the door poppers. It was like shaved and channeled. Really cool, like an old school custom hot rod, but modern. Cadillac, an el dorado from about 98, 99 or whatever. It has sold three times in the last 15 years for around 13, $15,000. It had no title because GM actually commissioned this car and it was custom and they didn't want people driving on public roads for liability reasons. So they sold on a bill of sale. Can't be driven on public roads. So I figured it's worth 13, $15,000. A friend of mine who's a car dealer got this dream escalade that I've always wanted. It's a unicorn to find one with very low miles and all this stuff. I'm an escalade nut. And he proposed a trade with a bunch of other cars, and he valued it at about the 13, $15,000 that I bought it for. Had into it. Made sense, okay, get rid of it. It sold a bunch of times. I'd uncovered all this cool history about the car and made videos and things and made it all work. And it was ne aspect. And then he put it on bring a trailer and sold it for $50,000.
- [17:14]
Graham
Immediately after the trade.
- [17:15]
Hoovie
Immediately after the trade. Did nothing to it. Took pictures, put on bring a trailer. Two total nut jobs bid it up to 50 grand. And Doug was so mad at me because I'd mentioned maybe selling it on cars and bids, and he really wanted to do a video on it. But the car is on a bill of sale, and I never thought I'd bring that much money. And this guy thought it was cool and really wanted it. And I didn't have the money. I didn't want to buy another car. So trading made sense because, like, okay, get rid of two to get one. Like, okay, this makes sen. And turned out I had left $40,000 on the table. But you never know because it was just like from. From like 15 grand to 50. It was too complete.
- [17:54]
Jack
Was that just random chance?
- [17:56]
Hoovie
Random chance, yes. But you can't help but just two guys.
- [17:59]
Jack
Just two guys just wanted the car equally as bad.
- [18:02]
Hoovie
That's. That's the fun part about these auctions. Like, I've worked for Barrett jackson collector car auction for six years now, and you just don't know with two people in a room, they've had a bit to drink with Unlimited money. And you just see things that you never would think are possible. And this has happened to be on an online auction where this happened. So. But obviously I kick myself because of that.
- [18:23]
Jack
So do you think that's the market value of the car or was that a fluke? That just two guys just had an ego and it's like, well, I'm gonna outbid this.
- [18:30]
Hoovie
This over there. Yeah, this boomer, he'll die. Or he'll want to sell and get bored in a couple years and he'll sell for 15 grand again. Like, it's, it's, you know, it's just. It makes no sense.
- [18:38]
Jack
Although, really quick, now that it's the new year, a lot of people finally feel ready to start their own business. But what winds up holding a lot of people back isn't necessarily the idea. It's all the paperwork. Like, a lot of people say, oh, just go and start an llc. But very few people explain exactly what that means and how to do it correctly.
- [18:55]
Graham
And that's exactly why we've partnered with Busy to sponsor this podcast, because I've used them myself. And I gotta say, I could not believe how easy it was setting up my LLC. Literally took less than 10 minutes. And I just knew everything was getting filed properly and professionally, which made getting it filed way less intimidating.
- [19:11]
Jack
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- [19:32]
Graham
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- [19:42]
Jack
Make 2026 the year you finally start your own business. Just go to busy.comich to get started. That is biz e-e.comich with the link also down below in the description. Bizzy.comich but was that the most then.
- [19:59]
Graham
That you've ever lost on a car?
- [20:00]
Hoovie
I'm trying to think that's. I mean, that's the one that sticks in my head a lot recently. But yeah, there's never been ones that are more than 20, $30,000. I don't think so. On depreciation. Things. I try not to be that dumb. There's a lot of five or $10,000 losses, but not nothing. Extremely crazy.
- [20:18]
Graham
Then technically your portfolio is literally just cars. So when you have spare money, you buy a car and you hope, even if it just stays the same, it's like a forced savings account. If it goes up in value, that's great because your investment had gains over time and if it goes down, it's like, okay, fine, usually it's maybe five, ten thousand dollar loss. So actually financially you're kind of doing the right thing.
- [20:39]
Hoovie
For me, I think kind of it's content though.
- [20:42]
Jack
Everything is content. Like every car has an ROI. If you spend 50k on it, you could probably make back a certain percentage of it.
- [20:49]
Graham
It's just not clear cut, you know, like a lot of people would see this, like, oh, clear cut, he's doing the wrong thing. But in this case I think that there's a little bit more nuance to what's going on.
- [20:56]
Hoovie
Yeah, it makes sense because if I put the money in stock market or whatever or different kind of investments, I don't make videos or content on that. So the cars sit there and they're pretty stable in, in value relatively. And I have sponsors that are paying every video sponsored that pays 10 to $15,000 for me a video. And then there's the AdSense and all that stuff. So it makes sense from that point. And yeah, If I lose 10 or 20% on the car, most of them are not expensive cars. So we're talking on a $50,000 car, five or ten grand at the most. So it makes sense. If I get three to five videos out of it, then obviously it makes sense as a business. But it's still, when you take out the YouTube business side of it, it's just a car collector just buying broken cars and screwing up for. On the surface it looks a dumber, obviously.
- [21:41]
Jack
But you said before that you actually have an addiction buying cars. You said you had hoarding tendencies.
- [21:46]
Hoovie
Yes, yes, because I was a car dealer before this. So I was so bad as a car dealer because I wanted to keep all the good stuff. It was like a drug dealer, like just doing a mountain of like, like Tony Montana just, you know, instead of selling it. And that's what I was doing instead of selling cars and making money that way. So it made a lot more sense for the YouTube perspective. So when I closed up my car dealership and went into a totally different business and then started writing and doing videos on the side and that all blew up. And it, it's the same thing that I was doing before. So it wasn't, it wasn't that different. I just started documenting it and it turned out to be a, like a genre defining thing that is my mark on the world. Hoovy's Garage is the guy who bought the cheap exotics or car that was once cool, that's now really cheap and trying to bring it back. And now it's a very copied, tired formula at this point. But I'm still doing it 10 years later because I don't know what else to do.
- [22:33]
Jack
But how serious is this as an addiction that you can't help but keep buying cars? Because you were talking recently, recently about Barrett Jackson and how they'll pay you.
- [22:43]
Hoovie
Doug was so mean.
- [22:45]
Jack
They'll pay you to go and speak and narrate Barrett Jackson, but then you just spend the money back on the auction.
- [22:50]
Graham
Plus they're making money off of you.
- [22:53]
Hoovie
I never thought about it like that before until Doug laid it out in his, his podcast very clear. Which is so nice that he still cares so much about me. To spend half of his podcast with you guys talking about me being an idiot, which is wonderful that my daddy cares, but I, yeah, that's. I never thought about it that way. So when I got hired for Barrett Jackson six years ago, they had just made a transition on networks. They had moved over to the FYI on the History Channel. And my TV show was briefly on the History Channel for one season before it transferred over to Motor Trend. So I was known there. And they hired me and they offered like they, they wanted to bring in their own talent. Like a lot of people on a new network. Like we want to bring in some of our own people. So new young people, oh, we know this guy from the show. Let's hire him. They offered me, me $500 a day to come do Barrett Jackson for the first time. Which not a lot considering. I mean for television and for where I was at, you know, as far as social media. I mean it's. A lot of people would kill to make 500 a day, obviously, but, but in that world it wasn't, it didn't make a lot of sense. But I really wanted the experience. I'd never done live television before, so I said yes. I think I asked for a little bit more but then said yes when they kind of like, just like, like this is it, like try it or not. And I just dreamed of. This was my dream job. I wanted to be on TV. I didn't know YouTube was a thing. I'm a bit on the older side, so I'm turning 40 this year, so I'm still sort of, like, in that old school. Like, TV's cool. And so my parents are like, oh, he has. He does TV. He has a real job versus a YouTuber. Not somebody that's actually working. They're just, like, putting a camera in their face and goofing off, you know? So I'm sort of on the edge of that generation of looking at it, so. So I thought it was neat. And I'd watched the speed channel coverage of it, the speed channel when I was a kid, and Barrett Jackson was the first to do it in, like, 98 to go on there. And I was glued to it. I was fascinated by it. I begged my dad to go in person to the auction the first time in 2004. 16 years old. Were you guys even born yet? Barely.
- [24:49]
Graham
Jack wasn't. I was born six years old.
- [24:51]
Hoovie
Okay. I just dreamed of going, and it was the first time I had ever saw a 300 SL going. That was the most beautiful car I ever seen. That was an incredible event. I watched these guys on TV forever, Knew how the show worked, knew how they talked, knew how they kind of go back and forth, talking about the facts, doing their commentary and things. So to get the phone call to come do this job, I was so over the moon, excited. That was the motivation. And they'd known me before, so it wasn't like, let's give this junkie some money at the casino. Like Doug DeMuro said, let's have this guy and give him, like, $2,000 credit at the casino and watch him hang himself into $200,000 in debt. Was. There was a. There was some legitimate connection there, and it was definitely a dream job. And it's. It's evolved to where now I'm up on the block for Subaru Saturday last week, and we sold a gold wing for $2.6 million. When I was a kid, that basically that same goal wing sold for $200,000. So it's really neat to be a part of it now. Yeah.
- [25:50]
Graham
So they paid you, say, fifteen or so hundred dollars that first time you.
- [25:53]
Hoovie
Did it that first time? Yeah.
- [25:55]
Graham
And then how much did you spend at the auction?
- [25:56]
Hoovie
Oh, that first. I didn't buy anything the first couple of auctions. I don't think it took a while for me to get com, because I was really focused on, like, doing this. Well, I'd never done live TV before, so right now, like, to have a podcast. I wasn't naturally good at this either, because in YouTube, you can screw up, you can jump cut, you can start over. You know, you could. You kind of joke about a little bit where you sometimes mess up and say, hey, Graham, it's guys here. You know, like, like in YouTube, you, like, you goof up and you can really cover it up very easily. You guys edit your podcast a little bit to stuttering too, when somebody kind of just blanks out. So. But with, with Barrett Jackson, it's live. So my first time, we're wearing masks. It's 2020, and you can't see my mouth. You can't see him speaking. And I take a deep breath right before I go in. Air. Okay, go. I take this deep inhale. The mask goes in into my throat. I'm choking. It's. This is my first time on live television and I'm like choking on a mask. And then that same day, we're walking around a car and I'm talking about what's cool about this car. And then I forget my train of thought thought. And I blank for 3,5 seconds. Eternity. And I come back on and then the tech guys come out and they take my microphone. I was like, what are you doing? Well, you dropped out for like five seconds. So we think there's something wrong with your microphone. So we're going to check everything, test everything. I didn't tell them because I couldn't see my mouth moving. They didn't know. They thought it was just the microphone that dropped out, that I had just brain farted for five seconds and like completely lost my train of thought and just, just like stared at the camera blankly. So in that five or six years, I've come a long way and learned a lot. And it's made me better on YouTube as far as editing myself and things like, where I can go a little longer and not. There's like a 30 second wall before where I like, okay, I forgot what I'm saying. What am I going to say next? And then go from that. Even with YouTube, like starting out, I would print off a piece of paper about this long and read down the paper. And you could see it in my early videos where all of a sudden, like, my eyeline's getting lower and lower and lower as I'm reading. And then I reached the end and. And then it jump cuts, you know, the next thing, because I taped the next thing on and sometimes the wind would catch it like a sail and like blow my camera over and just smash it, you know, so it's it's helped a lot.
- [28:02]
Jack
So do you identify more as a car owner or as someone who likes to fix problems?
- [28:07]
Hoovie
I am a definitely a car owner collector, enthusiast, more passionate and the, the, the it's a champagne taste on a beer budget. It's always been like that for me where I've always wanted to have these cars, but I'm very happy with the crappy versions of them and just, you know, having I guess, quantity over quality. But. And it's definitely an addiction too where I feel like, you know, I'm getting like, okay, what's okay, I haven't bought a car in a week. Like, let's just, you know, let's, let's see what's out there on Marketplace and definitely a thing as well.
- [28:36]
Jack
What does it feel like when you buy a car like that when you had that itch and then you just buy something.
- [28:41]
Hoovie
It's a junkie, it's full out junkie. But it's also, it's always exciting, exciting and it's a never ending well of content. So I started doing this 10 years ago. Those cars that were brand new 10 years ago are now turning into total junk. It takes a shorter amount of time for modern cars to turn into junk with all the electronics, the hybrid stuff, the turbo stuff and it's just not built as well to where all this stuff that take 20 years old for a car to fall apart is now taking five or 10 years. So it's this endless well of especially modern European stuff that just falls apart so quick and it's like, and depreciates so hard that like, oh my God, this was, this was a $200,000 car 10 years ago and now it's 10 and it barely moves. Like this is incredible. And it just, just that it's so exciting to me to figure out what's going on with it and the process and like just getting into why these things are just falling apart and like, let's. Can we save this one? Like maybe we can bring it back. Maybe we can bring this one back and make it usable again and, and it works out most of the time.
- [29:44]
Jack
You know, how much is the satisfaction of fixing something up though?
- [29:49]
Hoovie
It is so I'm not a wrench. That's the other part where like I have the car wizard. I have, you know, different things of different people to use for different things. And I just sort of document it, which is so much easier. And I, you know, I have some technical know how and a lot of experience to where like I understand what the problems are. And I understand what the parts are, I understand how to do it, but I'm just not that hands on. And it's. I'm much better tasked at, like, breathing down the mechanic's neck, filming, which is annoying for a lot of mechanics, and talking about it, and then understanding from a layman standpoint, like, how this works and explaining it in a way that they understand and the process and all that stuff. If you're a wrench in doing the work like Tavaresh, it is so hard to not only do the work that's hard, but then have to document it and stop and move the cameras and talk about it and everything. And it just triples the time it takes to do something or more. It just makes it so much more difficult. And then you're also thinking about the YouTube aspect of it and the story aspect of it, rather than fixing the car. Why? You know, Freddy is three years into his P1 because it's. It's such a. The scope of the project, so insane, but then also having to document it and, you know, meaningfully move things along and at a budget, it's. It's very difficult.
- [30:58]
Graham
What's the easiest and the hardest car to work on?
- [31:01]
Hoovie
Well, I feel like my 2005 Cadillac Escalade is my daily driver in Arizona, and I have one in Kansas as well. It's just such a simple, easy thing. And it's the right amount of age where it has modern electronics to make it easy to diagnose. You know, unlike an old car where you're, like, trying to figure out the carburetor and the points and, like, different things. It's like, check engine, lights come on, replace the crank sensor. The crank sensor takes, you know, you have to take the intake off, but it takes an hour. Like, it's all very straightforward, very easy. It was still engineered to a point where it's all very accessible. And I go back to, like, 80s Mercedes diesels. That was the first car I ever bought with my own money for 2,500 bucks. And it's just all mechanical. It's like Legos for grownups. And once again, they engineered the things to last forever and to be serviceable. So, like an 85 Mercedes diesel, like, everything's reachable, everything's easy. Like, there's. There's no, like, gotchas where you have to take a whole nose of the car off to reach, you know, to take a belt off, like on a modern Audi or whatever. As far as, like, difficult ones. Hard to imagine anything more difficult than A Bugatti just because. And it comes down to, I think, dealer support and how much they're willing to let people access the software to fix and program these cars. And that the modern cars, the new stuff, where the dealers are keeping that all close to the vest, where the right to repair is a very important thing that people are talking about, where dealers keep the software and the programming, all that stuff to themselves and don't let the normal consumer be able to buy a module and program it. So, for example, like my Bentley Conan L GT, it's an Audi Volkswagen $50 airbag module. We tried a bunch of different ones. We couldn't get to work. We couldn't get to the program because Audi, Volkswagen keeps it, Bentley keeps the programming. $3,000 for the same part from Bentley, just with different programming to work in the Bentley Con lgt. And there was no workaround. There was nothing we could do to figure it out. And that's where I think it gets really annoying is the ride to repair. Freddie's dealing with it right now with McLarens and Stuff and Matt Armstrong recently, where Bugatti doesn't want to give up parts on cars and things and take it outside of their service base. So that was the other part of the Bugatti where it's like, I can't really fix it. Some parts match up, but I can't really fix it myself with independence because they just, they just don't want to share the intelligence of how to do it.
- [33:13]
Jack
Is that just about money?
- [33:15]
Hoovie
I think it's about money and then also, also the control of it. And they want the cars fixed to a certain spec and a certain degree in these high performance cars. And they don't want people like me cobbling them together and keeping them going. Especially, you know, the liability of building a car that goes 250 miles an hour. So, you know, like $60,000 for tires in the Bugatti Veyron. Insane. It's, it's nuts. They need to, they're.
- [33:37]
Graham
What do you think is the material cost on that?
- [33:39]
Hoovie
Not much, but it's just because of the mounting. There's only two machines in the world that can mount them to these tires. Ed Bullion's talked about this, you know, a lot. And it's just, it's just, it's, it's just because it's so scarce and they decided to make it a wheel specific to Veyron and they didn't make it. They just didn't make it easy. That's where the, the Chiron Improved a lot. Where they made it a lot more serviceable in that aspect, where there's not 12 different drain points to do an oil change, where you have to take the car half apart to just do an oil change. That's why it cost $15,000 on the Veyron. So they, they learned a little bit, but they're still, they're just not independent mechanic friendly. But then even Ford's getting harder with that. Even mainstream manufacturers are figuring out, hey, why do we give up the keys to the castle when we can just force people to come to the dealer to fix the cars? Which is going to suck. When they get old and cheap and kids are trying to keep them going. It's going to be terrible.
- [34:28]
Jack
Are they making cars more or less reliable?
- [34:31]
Hoovie
I would say less reliable. And it's all down to just the high strung four cylinder engines that they're putting in cars to get the most efficiency and more power and they just don't care about the longevity of it. And then also trying to get out as few warranty repairs as possible and to make the initial warranty as far as the cost of regular maintenance as low as possible. All they care about is when they sell the car, is it showing on Consumer Reports as reliable and is it showing as low maintenance? So they don't care to say it needs 15,000 mile oil changes. They don't care that things are not built well to last. They just want to make sure it lasts through the warranty. And they're really not caring about how easy it is to work on any of that kind of stuff. So it's their motivation to just not do that anymore, obviously for a lot of other reasons. Obviously they want people buying more cars.
- [35:21]
Jack
And what causes a car to lose so much value? Like you're talking about these cars that are like 200 grand that you can now get at like 30. Why do certain cars lose so much?
- [35:31]
Hoovie
I think it's just the things are getting so dated so quickly when it comes to software on cars and things that the early infotainment cars like the original BMW iDrive system is just so clunky and you get in it now and you're trying to go just, just change the stereo from FM to satellite or your ipod or whatever. I'm getting old now, see, it's all mixing around. So I'm saying things like that. But it's so clunky and it evolves so quickly. And even Tesla, you know, they try and upgrade. It's nice that Tesla upgrades the cars like with my 2017 Model X, they were able to update the cameras and everything and make it to where normal FSD works in it. So it's nice. But most manufacturers don't care. The cars just, they age so quickly because of the software and also because of how complicated they are. And the serviceability costs are just, just insane.
- [36:20]
Jack
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Graham
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Graham
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- [37:17]
Jack
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- [37:23]
Graham
Description that is F R A travel.com Ice Coffee and be sure to tell them that we sent you. Once again, tell Ice Coffee Hour sent you@foratravel.com Ice Coffee link down below. Thank you so much to Fora for sponsoring this episode. How many cars have you bought and sold in your life?
- [37:39]
Hoovie
I don't know. Well, the car dealership, it makes it complicated, but it's over that thousand.
- [37:42]
Graham
You bought over a thousand cars?
- [37:44]
Hoovie
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Easily. Yeah.
- [37:46]
Graham
So you've probably sold like 900 and.
- [37:49]
Hoovie
Yeah, pretty close to a thousand. Yeah. Somewhere like that. Yeah, that's.
- [37:53]
Graham
You probably sold 500 then, right?
- [37:54]
Hoovie
I know if I had 500 cars, man, that'd be something. But no, I, I tend to keep 20 or 30 at a time just, just with me. But before that I had the car dealership, so I was turning, you know, a few hundred cars a year for, for years. So yeah, there's, there's a lot of cars.
- [38:09]
Graham
Is it sometimes slightly maybe like a negative thing in your life to be such a car fanatic. Because I have another friend that has a similar thing, a massive car purchasing addiction. And they just want to get the newest and nicest and best thing. And it kind of puts you on a bit of a hamster wheel because nicer cars are always being made. Old cars that are extremely expensive consistently go up in value, espec. Especially as of late. And so it just like. It's just like this thing that you're constantly, constantly chasing in life. And if you could want it just a little bit less, maybe that could add some. Some peace to the life.
- [38:45]
Hoovie
I'm so grateful for people like your friends that buy the cars new and take that hit. So at least I'm not as dumb as that to like constantly chase the new thing and need that and taking these massive depreciation hits. But I have bought some new cars recently, like the new Corvette Z06. I bought that and sold it very quickly before those started appreciating. Like, I sold for 15,000 over sticker new GT500. I took. Took that brand new, sold it for a little over Tesla Cybertruck. I was the first one of those to get those. I sold that for 10 or $15,000 over sticker before they just completely blew up. So I like, I knew like, if I could get it and make videos and get out of it before they took a big hit. But I've always been okay with losing money on fixing them and not on depreciation as much. So that's where I've always operated in, I guess.
- [39:33]
Graham
So you love your addiction?
- [39:34]
Hoovie
Yeah, I don't. I don't see anything really honestly that wrong with it. Especially now. If I wasn't doing YouTube and before, it was obviously a problem, the YouTube enabled it and that. I'm very grateful. Very grateful.
- [39:47]
Graham
So if a normal person did what you did, they would go bankrupt.
- [39:50]
Hoovie
Right. And that's. I am a horrible influence. Horrible. And people tell me stories. They come up, oh, I bought this car because of you. I'm like, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. It's. Yeah, I. I feel bad.
- [40:02]
Graham
Have you made money on all of the cars you've been owned?
- [40:05]
Hoovie
No. Well, overall, obviously I've made some money.
- [40:08]
Graham
Like, generally speaking, if you were to collect the entire cost that you've spent buying a thousand cars and then the amount that you've gained selling a thousand and the current value of your car portfolio, if you will, I would say.
- [40:21]
Hoovie
It'S, yeah, probably up about, I don't know, Everybody looked like a hero during COVID you know, where everything was going up in value. So, like everything I bought. And I think this is where a lot of YouTubers got in trouble, including me, where it's just like you were on Unstoppable, because every exotic you bought, you could own it for six months or a year and it would gain 20, 30% in value in that time. It just seemed like the party was never going to stop. Of course it was going to at some point. And I think a lot of people got caught in. In that and. But overall, I think I. I think I'm. I'm pretty close to even or maybe a little ahead.
- [40:53]
Graham
What's the most you've ever made on a car?
- [40:55]
Hoovie
The Countach deal, for sure.
- [40:57]
Graham
It was that. Yeah. You walked into $500,000.
- [40:59]
Hoovie
Yeah. I mean, the car at the time, time, probably each of them were worth about 200 to 250. And I bought that on the last day of 2020. So the timing was excellent for rapid. Incredible depreciation or appreciation on the Countach.
- [41:14]
Jack
You're so used to saying depreciation.
- [41:16]
Hoovie
I know, I know.
- [41:17]
Jack
In value, you're like, that doesn't compute.
- [41:18]
Hoovie
Incredible appreciation on that car. SLS amg, a great appreciation on that car. But then there's ones like the SLR McLaren, sort of, you know, the previous generation Hyper. I own the car for. For from 2022 and just sold it a few months ago and sold it for what I paid for it. So that, like that. You'd think an SLR McLaren would be something special. And I bought it really well. I thought it was only 2,000 miles on it, but it just. They never moved.
- [41:43]
Jack
Why? Because I think that car's undervalued. It's so special, you never see them. It's iconic.
- [41:49]
Hoovie
People think that the service costs on that car are astronomical. And if they take it to the Mercedes dealer, they're right. So, for example, Nick, the guy I sold it to, is a friend of Doug Demiro's. He had the alternator fail when he drove it to Arizona for Arizona Car Week, and he needed it fixed quickly. He took it to the Mercedes dealer. They said, sure, that'll be $13,000. It's the same alternator on every other Mercedes. It's not that hard to reach. There's this big SLR text at the dealer for no reason. So he takes it to an Internet shop, and I think it's fixed for under two grand. The brakes? Yes, the brakes are $50,000. They're ceramic brakes, they're very expensive. They never wear it out. I have a Porsche Panamera with ceramic brakes. 115,000 miles. They're fine as long as you don't track the crap out of them. But Most of these SLRs are low mileage. You never have to worry about the brakes. So a lot of this stuff, it just, it doesn't make any sense. So that's, that's the negative perception. Also the fact that it's a slush box automatic and not a gated manual. Manual, like a Carrera gt, that, that definitely, I think held it back a little bit. So the perception of that, like kind of weird. And the looks have always been a little polarizing on that car. Feel, I think it's gorgeous.
- [42:53]
Jack
It looks like an slk. That was the one thing I felt that held it back.
- [42:57]
Hoovie
Yes, yes, they did. You know, they did that race car, Formula one nose on it. That looks a little phallic. And then they made the mistake of putting it on the slk, which made it look, you know, even more ridiculous. And I think that definitely hurt.
- [43:08]
Graham
So as someone who's owned a thousand cars.
- [43:10]
Hoovie
Okay. Yeah.
- [43:11]
Graham
What is the recipe for making sure your car doesn't depreciate a ton?
- [43:15]
Hoovie
Oh, I mean, it's just buying one that's already depreciated. But it's, it's, it's, it's a no win scenario for the most part. Because, because you're either going to pay the car payment and the depreciation, all that stuff, or you're going to buy it cheap and basically have a car payment in at least something nice and expensive with the maintenance. I mean, anybody can buy a 20 year old Toyota Camry and not lose money and just keep it going. But I mean, if you're getting something cool and interesting, it's one or the other. It's either maintenance or depreciation. Just take your pick.
- [43:39]
Graham
But also in terms of adding miles on it, Graham was saying he bought his Ford GT at how many miles?
- [43:46]
Jack
7,500.
- [43:47]
Graham
7,500 miles. And he, he's horrified at making a.
- [43:51]
Hoovie
Can't go over 10,000 miles. You can't do it.
- [43:53]
Graham
Exactly. Because apparently as soon as you do that, you immediately lose a bunch of value.
- [43:58]
Hoovie
Yeah, 400 right now to probably what, 350?
- [44:00]
Jack
No, it's going to go from 485, 475 down to probably 425.
- [44:05]
Hoovie
What color is it?
- [44:06]
Jack
White with blue stripes and red calipers. 475.
- [44:10]
Hoovie
We sold a yellow car just turned to 10,000 miles for 440. So the yellow is the rarer color.
- [44:16]
Jack
At Barrett Jackson sells for less than the white. Yeah, every color has their own little price.
- [44:22]
Graham
So then what other tips and tricks, aside from like breaking a certain mile number, do you have to not lose a bunch of money?
- [44:28]
Hoovie
Well, I mean, it's just. It's just buying it at the flattest of the curve, which is usually, you know, 10 or 15 years in. And it's something that was really cool and desirable. It's something that was magazine covers that everybody was talking about that's now 10 or 15 years old. That's at the bottom of the curve, which I think the Ford GT at one point, that was what, 5ish years ago. Of course, there was a time where a Ford GT was $150,000, so under its MSRP. But as far as the flatt, there was still a point where you get them for under $200,000 for a minute, like maybe a six or seven years ago. Now, right before 2020, I remember like Stradman and I were looking at the same one that he bought in, in Hawaii. And I was like, I'm going to hit the button on that. And it was gone. I was like, oh, crap. And it ended up being James who bought it. You know, I got the SLS instead and obviously would have been way better to go with the Ford gt, but the SLS did fine. So I think, I think there's a certain age mark where it's 10 to 15 years old. Some. Something that people thought were really cool. So you could take for example, like even not something expensive like a, like a Mazda Speed Miata from 2005 where they put a turbo on a Miata from the factory special body kit and all that stuff. And they have been 10 to $15,000 cars for a while now. There's no chance of that car ever depreciating because there's a little bit more limited production and run and they haven't done it really ever again. So there's a lot of things like that where it's like, wow, this is, this is a cool car that they made during this time that you can seek out.
- [45:49]
Graham
So if you want to get a really cool car that ideally could appreciate but hopefully also just stay flat, definitely not depreciate at 25,000, 50,000, 100,000 and a million, what would that look like?
- [46:02]
Hoovie
I see. I don't play. I don't play that game that much. As far as what, what wouldn't depreciate so 25, I feel like some of these analogs, these, these last sort of manual cars that they still make that, that don't really make anymore. I think it's pretty safe to get something with the manual transmission. A lot of, a lot of Corvettes and some of the cooler and stuff where there's around 25 grand right now that, that would definitely work like a C5Z06 might be tough to get around 25. That'd probably be a great one to get 25 should be doable on that one. Still, C60 wouldn't be able to do it. 50 grand. I feel like right now what I just got was the AMG gts and it's a great car, incredible car. So I don't feel sad about selling my $300,000 SLR or my $200,000 SLS AMG, because I got this. It's the same platform as the SLS for 50 grand and for 500 horsepower, dual clutch. It's beautiful. It's stunning. Yeah. The doors don't go up all cool like my SLS and SLR, but it's so amazing for 50 grand and there's nothing that's going to be a $50,000 driving experience for less. I feel like there's no way it'd be less than 50. Nobody's going to ever say that. That basically AMG's purpose built supercar is going to be a 30, $20,000 car. It's impossible. It's not going to happen. But then you go up to 75.
- [47:17]
Graham
No, it could be like between 100 and 300.
- [47:19]
Hoovie
100 to 300, 300, I think. Yeah. You could still, once again, the gated cars. A gated Gallardo, a gated R8, something that's still analog, that's still serviceable, that's not into that hybrid tech and all that stuff where I feel like there's going to be a big rejection of that as they age. And you're seeing the trickle down of what once was the hypercar holy trinity. The McLaren P1, the Porsche 918 Spider and the Ferrari LaFerrari getting down into the north. Normal Porsches now are hybrids. The 911 Turbo is going to be a hybrid. Now the normal, the ferraris, like the SF90 700,000 car that's depreciated 300 grand in a couple years. All this hybrid tech that people are rejecting and then when they're 10 years old on a normal Ferrari, you're gonna spend 100 grand on a battery replacement. People are going to reject that thousand.
- [48:07]
Graham
Dollars on a battery.
- [48:08]
Hoovie
It's. It's 2, $300,000 to do on a lot of Ferrari. 2, 300, 000 to do it on P1.
- [48:12]
Graham
How much of, how does the. The cost of the battery?
- [48:15]
Hoovie
They charge six figures for the battery. It's. The labor is still expensive, but they charge an unbelievable amount.
- [48:19]
Jack
Do you have to take it to like Ferrari or McLaren to fix it? You can't take it to an independent who could tinker with it and mess with the software.
- [48:27]
Hoovie
It's not like a Prius or, you know, all that stuff where you can rebuild the cells or like the Tesla Roadster where you can rebuild the cells and balance them back out, all that stuff. So, and, and they upgraded as well. So, like, they're going to be stuck with that. So I feel like people are going to go by like, I want the days where like, I can just change the oil on this thing and fix, you know, change spark plugs and still go, like, until. So these last Audi R8s that are still somewhat analog, they don't have to be manuals. But as far as just not that crazy level of technology to where it's still a normal independent dealer scan tool can access it and still keep it going reasonably, I think there'll be a big appreciation for those.
- [49:00]
Jack
How many cars have you regretted selling?
- [49:02]
Hoovie
You know, it's tough. Cause I do regret a lot of it. But unfortunately, I'm not wealthy enough like Jay Leno's garage, where I had outside income of something else, you know, during the tie show for 20, 30 years or whatever, to where I can keep the things. So if I need to recycle and do fresh content, I have to sell. So I would love to keep the sls, Le, slr, the Countach. Oh my God, that Countach. I had the Countach for four years, which is a long time for me because I loved it so much. And Doug Demiro says it's his favorite car. I agree with him. But I had to like, okay, I'd done everything. I hadn't done a video on that car in a year. And it's like it's sitting there. It's half a million dollars. Like I could put it into something and have a whole new wave of content. So unfortunately I have to move things along, even though. So I guess that doesn't make me quite a degenerate, like, as, you know, an addict as I thought, because I know I need to keep the. Keep my hamster on the Wheel as far as going with that.
- [49:52]
Graham
But your portfolio, your net worth year over year is still growing, right? It's not growing.
- [49:59]
Hoovie
I lost. I lost a lot. I lost half of my net worth just with some mistakes financially. And things were the typical stuff where people, People get. They get this hubris like the party's never going to stop and you just personal decisions and different things where obviously we talked about the home renovation and some other bad moves business wise and people take advantage of you and things and. Yeah, I lost millions, man. Yeah, I did.
- [50:31]
Jack
What's your advice for people watching this? To make sure they don't fall into the same issue.
- [50:37]
Hoovie
Oh, it's. I, I think I sort of talked about with, with me, it was trying to level up and do the next thing. So I had to do the big house. I had to do all the cool, crazy things that everybody else went on YouTube was doing. I. I never thought I'd be that the Hollywood guy that loses it all, you know, So I, I didn't lose it all, obviously. I'm still doing fine. But I made the. The stupid mistakes for sure.
- [51:00]
Graham
Do you own any stocks?
- [51:01]
Hoovie
No. I mean, a bit little like a mutual fund that I haven't put any money in in years. And it's. I mean, it's less. Less than $50,000.
- [51:08]
Graham
But it's grown, right?
- [51:09]
Hoovie
Less than 50 grand, probably.
- [51:10]
Graham
But you watch it grow over time, right?
- [51:12]
Hoovie
I haven't actually looked at my. This mutual fund, does it exist? Come to think of it, it's with Morgan Stanley. And I think like, I haven't like even opened up the envelopes to see how much money is in it when they send statements in a while. Yeah.
- [51:27]
Jack
You know what I'm thinking? We got to create an email who. We needs help.
- [51:30]
Hoovie
No, don't do this. You do this for Dimash.
- [51:32]
Jack
No dot com. We did. We have a. Graham needs help. Here's my idea. I was thinking how great it would be to create a. Bring a trailer of hoopties, because I know bring a trailer.
- [51:47]
Graham
Their.
- [51:48]
Jack
Their threshold is pretty high. Cars and bids is like unique cars. I want to see hoopties. I want to see cars that, like, might not be running.
- [51:55]
Hoovie
I wouldn't compete with my daddy. I don't want to compete with my.
- [51:58]
Graham
Daddy, but I don't know if Young loves that idea.
- [52:00]
Jack
He's not doing it. Hoopties.
- [52:02]
Hoovie
Oh, you don't want to do hoopties because nobody would disclose honestly how bad hoopties are. But a lot of people don't know. They either. They lie either out of omission. Or ignorance or they're actually it's malicious. That's when I buy a car they what's wrong with it? They list the things that they know but then there's so much they don't know. So there's no hoopty thing. There's a, that's a no win scenario because like you, you don't really know.
- [52:22]
Jack
How often are people lying when they're selling a car?
- [52:25]
Hoovie
They're all lying but like some of it, I mean some of it's by ignorance so they don't know that they're lying. Especially on an old 20 year old Lotus or something like that. So like when I bought this Lotus at Barrett Jackson there's some things that are kind of shady. So on bring a trailer he disclosed that the car didn't have a roof which is kind of important. But with Barrett Jackson when he put it up he didn't disclose it because you're supposed to disclose things are wrong but not having a roof sort of ambiguous. And instead he put a piece of Lex, wrapped it really nice in a blanket and taped it up and then put this in the property room as roof so it shows that it comes with a roof. And he did crudely make a roof out of Lexan. Like just cut it out but there's nothing to secure it. It's a piece of plastic. But like the 1:2 transmission crunch when I posted the video people are smart enough to go to bring his trailer, find the old listing, find the guy's handle and then just start blowing this guy up, tagging him, hey, you're shady, you're terrible. Like how you not disclose these things like you're a crook. I could honestly believe that the guy didn't know that the transmission was screwed in this car because it takes 15 or 20 minutes of driving for it to warm up and that 12 shift becomes a. So he didn't know but he also didn't care enough to drive the car any kind of distance or know to really get to know the car's issues.
- [53:50]
Jack
How do you know he didn't know?
- [53:52]
Hoovie
I could believe that it's possible. Like let's say A dealership has 100 cars. They're not going to be able to go and drive every single one for a couple of hours and figure out every single issue with the car. So they, they can't like and a mechanic can inspect it. They don't have a crystal ball to look inside the transmission and know that the synchros are shot. You have to go drive the car like really put some serious driving in it to really know a lot of these problems. So I can. You. You can sort of the same time, like since the roof thing was kind of shady, I'm wondering how much he knew. And he said like in the start of video and bring a trailer, the airbag light goes. Goes off. It never goes off. So I. It might be a combination of just not caring and a little bit of malice, but. But either way, like every seller lies. Unless. Unless they are just totally nuts and go get the car, you know, fully inspected before they sell it and. Or something, you know, very new.
- [54:39]
Jack
See, I like the guys and you. You could tell usually because they post on bring a trailer and every little nick that I would never even notice they mentioned, mention it, right? And they put like a penny or a dime next to like this little nick that's on the back kind of like on the under part. And they're like, there's a little scratch right there.
- [54:57]
Hoovie
Yes.
- [54:58]
Jack
Or this little scratch.
- [54:59]
Hoovie
Like people exist like, yes, but with dealers that really care and then they, you know, bring a trailer and others have really like preferred dealers with like they, they have an extra thing, you know, and Cars and Bits has regular dealers that you know. But a lot of them just buy the car at the auction and there is always a reason, especially on something cool. Why did this person trade it into CarMax? Why would somebody take a like a 2010 million GT and trade it in a CarMax that's obviously there's something wrong. Like you could go take it on Facebook Marketplace and, and sell it or you know, there's so many other options where you, you take the quick wholesale money. Some people are lazy and obviously they don't, they don't care. They're that rich. But most of the time if they're trading in a car, especially in this day and age where people are kind of strapped financially, there is a reason reason. And then the cars get dumped at auction and then there's. There's a multiple degrees of separation where the person who traded in knows what's wrong, but then the selling dealer doesn't know. And then it goes to auction and that dealer doesn't know. So it filters through a couple people and they just. You don't know until you buy the car and start driving it. So like I don't usually get mad at people when I get seriously scammed. There's some where I've gotten like a deservedly just blast the people because I mean it's obvious that they were being really shady. And I know sometimes when I bought the cars that they're like, oh. Because they know it's going to be on YouTube and I'm going to be talking about it. And some of them are smart enough to, like, not even respond to me when they figure out that it's me, because they don't want to get involved in that. But.
- [56:20]
Graham
But have you ever recouped anything from someone that you put on blast?
- [56:23]
Hoovie
No. So there was one time that bring a trailer actually refunded all their buy fee to me. That was nice of a Bring a trailer. And it was on a plymouth Super Bird 1970. This guy had two superbirds, and. And this one was a Hemi Superbird. Very rare, but it was a shady one where it had been wrecked at some point, and it was a partial rebody, and it had a modern Hemi in it. It was built for sema. It turns out the car was never drivable. It was one of those cars that was built for SEMA and never worked. And so this guy had his driver Superbird, and then he dumped this one, and the suspension was too low. It had a rake on it. So for the sail, he jacked the suspension up, but then it didn't work. So it was. It was, like, solid. So you drive down the road, and, like, the wheels would leave the ground because there was no suspension. Bong, bong, bong, bong. Down. Down the road. You drove it five miles, immediately overheated. It did. The car didn't work. Basically. They had basically decorated the radiator to the point where air wouldn't flow through it and work. So this car never, ever worked. This guy. There's so many other things. The wiring was a mess. None of this stuff. And so when I won, I called him up and I said, hey, I want to drive this car. Car home. Like, it'd be a really cool store for me to drive it back from Chicago or wherever it was back to Kansas. He's like, man, I don't think you want to do that. Because, like, the Hemi, the racing Hemi that's in it, it's pretty crazy. And it only gets, like, five miles to the gallon. Like, he'd be with a small tank. He'd be stopping for gas every 50 miles. You don't want to do that. Come on. Whatever. So the car shows up, and it's such a disaster. It's like so many things that just aren't disclosed. That is so painfully obvious. But it's a SEMA show car. So it looks beautiful. The photos looks beautiful. The components are beautiful. It's just all stuff that was just dropped in and slapped together for a show car. And he completely head in the sand, buried, broke all contact, didn't care. He just got to. He got to dump the car. It was.
- [58:12]
Jack
Why did you have. Why did you have to buy it?
- [58:14]
Hoovie
$130,000.
- [58:15]
Jack
Couldn't you just show up, see the car and say, I'm not buying that?
- [58:18]
Hoovie
I wired it and the car was shipped to me. So he already had the money shipped to me.
- [58:22]
Jack
So he told you a story and then you believed the story about the five miles.
- [58:25]
Hoovie
I believe the disclosure on bring a trailer. So he said don't ship it because it's really hard to drive. Drive like, like it's. It's a crazy racing engine. All this stuff. If it gets back. So I believed him. I sent him the money and he shipped it to me. I think it's $115,000. So I paid for it.
- [58:37]
Graham
But did he get banned off bring a trailer?
- [58:39]
Hoovie
He did get banned and then bring a trailer. Gave me back the $5,000 fee. But he did not give me any money back.
- [58:45]
Jack
Well, why is there no repercussion for lying?
- [58:48]
Hoovie
I mean, what am I. If I. He's in another state. What am I going to do? Suing the guy? Like, it's. It's not. It's. There's no point.
- [58:54]
Jack
What'd you do with the.
- [58:55]
Graham
The car?
- [58:55]
Hoovie
So I fixed it. So we fixed the cooling system, we fixed the suspension. We got everything working. We got the wiring sort of as much as we could. We got. I had to retune redino the car to where it actually accelerated in a normal fashion, all that stuff. And then at the same time, hemi superbirds blew up at Barrett Jackson. There was one guy, he was 80 years old and he bid up 1 to $500,000. And then he was so mad that he didn't buy the next one. He said, I'm buying the next one one no matter what. And let everybody know. And it got bid up to 6, 700 thousand dollars. And then he decided to jump the bid 300 grand. Said 1 million bucks. Set a record for a hemi superbird. Oh my God. Like just one guy single handedly took this super bird market from two or three hundred thousand dollars to a million dollars. And then so obviously it's like, okay, time to sell mine. I took it to the next office auction and I couldn't quite get it ready because the hubs were different so I couldn't put the stock wheels back on it. And mine was a partial rebody, so it had been modified and all that stuff. So I had, I think I sold it for 130, 140, something like that and hadn't spent that much fixing it. So I actually made a profit. But I also single handedly crashed the Hemi Superbird market because then after that they didn't bring the money. And this guy happened to just die recently. He died like two years ago and his family was selling the estate and sold that Hemi Superb that he bought for a million bucks and it sold for like $300,000. Oh, so like this one guy single handedly like just, just blew up the market. Sounds crazy.
- [60:29]
Jack
It sounds like the car market could be easily manipulated.
- [60:31]
Hoovie
Yeah.
- [60:32]
Jack
So what's to stop somebody, what's to stop me from listing my Tesla Roadster? Have Jack, you know, bid the thing up to like $300,000 and then you know, we, we do Jack and I do a deal, but it shows that it sold for $300,000. And now all these cars are worth way more because one sold.
- [60:51]
Hoovie
It happens all the time. Not at br, not at Barrett Jackson where I work for, because Barrett Jackson is 100% no reserve auction. So you don't see much of the sh. People like to say, oh, there's money laundering. When something goes crazy, that's not the thing. The other auctions where there's a reserve, then the people know what the reserve is so they'll, they'll set on realistic reserve and then they can bid it up to that comfort level and then, oh, reserve not met at $700,000 on the Tesla Roadster. Oh, what a shame. And then couple months later the car pops up for sale. Oh, it's for sale for $600,000. But I saw it got bit up to seven. This is a deal, I better buy it. These people should have taken the money like wow, what a deal. And so obviously there's some of that going on. Yeah, obviously if you want to start doing it, go ahead. I mean it's, it's, it's pretty obvious. Yeah.
- [61:37]
Jack
Now I've noticed February is a time where things generally slow down a little bit. It reminds us to look after ourselves and the people close to us, especially at home, during the moments that really matter the most.
- [61:48]
Graham
And that's exactly why we are so excited to be sponsored by Cozy Earth. Their mission is super simple. It's to make everyday life better by turning simple things like sleep and downtime into something you really look forward to.
- [61:58]
Jack
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- [62:12]
Graham
And the classic Cuddle blanket is exactly what it sounds like. Plush, cozy and extremely comforting. When I took it out of the box I honestly could not believe how heavy it was, which is perfect because I love a blanket it with a little bit of weight to it. I put it at the edge of my bed and it makes my cave of a room honestly just look so much more welcoming and inviting. You could also obviously put it at the end of a couch. It looks great anywhere. You will love it.
- [62:33]
Jack
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- [62:43]
Graham
It's also completely risk free to try because they give you a 100 night sleep trial so you could just test it out and see how it fits into your life. On top of that they also offer a 10 year warranty which just goes to show how much they stand behind.
- [62:54]
Jack
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- [63:11]
Graham
So to all you little lovebirds out there with Valentine's Day on the way, celebrate everyday love with comfort that makes the little moments count. Thank you.
- [63:19]
Jack
Now when Jack and I first started the Iced Coffee Hour, we had to figure out everything ourselves. From the best cameras to use, the best editing equipment, how to get guests, the best audio audio, the best mics, everything. Every day was a new challenge. That's why if you're starting or growing your own business, you know how valuable today's sponsor is. And that would be Shopify.
- [63:35]
Graham
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Jack
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- [64:12]
Graham
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Jack
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- [64:46]
Graham
Link is also down below in the description. There is literally no reason to not start that business idea yet. You've had you could do it for $1. Shopify.comich thank you so much to Shopify for sponsoring this episode. Would you be willing to make any compromises in your current life? Maybe to spend a little less money, buy a few less cars in order to save and invest more money?
- [65:07]
Hoovie
So I talked about like my money problems are are everything's fine. I things are behind me. I didn't, I didn't bottom out. But there was a point where I'm driving a Bugatti Veyron and I have less than $1,000 in my bank account. Literally, like literally. And I'm thinking I have to get a car loan on something to pay my bills. That's how tight things got because every month I was putting away every dollar I had to pay back these taxes to get caught up because obviously I'd love to pay and be caught up on April 15th. I wasn't able to pay any quarterlies that year before that because of the home renovations going so out of control. Instead of that money I was putting away to pay quarterlies, it was going to into the house. So that's where it got. So like a 500 grand for 20 paying 2025. So every dime I had October, I I had to, you know, I had to pay it. So like I was giving myself no margin whatsoever and Bugatti pay Ron at the same time.
- [66:01]
Jack
You know what does that make you technically the poorest Bugatti owner on the planet?
- [66:07]
Hoovie
Yes, I, I made that joke all the time as the World's proud or the world's. World's pro poorest free and sale gullwing owner. So that's why I was like, okay, I need to get out of this Bugatti. And that was the thing. I made this deal on the Bugatti in November of 2024. And then my tax thing hit like I got through the helm renovations and thought, okay, I'm done, I'm good. And then like let's, I'm used to spending all this money every month. Like I'm comfortably able to like spend 100 grand a month. Let's continue this theme and keep, let's just keep the party. Like, what an idiot. What an idiot. So I got the Bugatti Veduron and I obviously then the tax thing popped up and I had no cushion because I had a $15,000 car payment. I had an $8,000 mortgage now and 20,000 year property taxes and 8,000amonth mortgage and all these other expenses that were just like before that. I had a reasonable mortgage and all this disposable income to spend on cars and that's all I did. And I just, I took my overhead to this like 10x my overhead for. Stupid. It was so stupid.
- [67:08]
Jack
How do you deal with the stress of that?
- [67:10]
Hoovie
Just not well. Yeah, I, I had a, it happened very recently where I had a bad week. I had a really bad week with the 300 SL gullwing. I just come back from a trip and it was supposed to be kind of a recharge trip and it was with family and kids and with the kids, you know, you're kind of. You have to do things for the kids. So it's not as relaxing. You're playing in the pool. It's fun to play with your kids and all that stuff, but. But you're not like chilling and reading a book and just watching the waves and all that stuff. And then, and then there's all the flights back and the flights are really long ways back with two connections. You know, it's so you're, you're exhausted from, from travel. We get home, the wife wants to take down Christmas right away and I'm a dummy. And right before Christmas I put my 300 cell gullwing in my living room with the doors up and did an unwrapping because it's just come to Kansas and all that stuff. And I'm just so burned out from, from just all the. December, because December is the busiest month for or the biggest month for ad revenue, ad rates, all that stuff. So I had to put up so much content there and all these sponsor obligations. And then I took a week off, which was really hard for me to do, and I had so much things I need to do. But then, but then the car had to get out of the living room so we could take down the Christmas tree and all that stuff. So I just wasn't thinking. I went and just pushed the car out with the doors open and it caught my house and almost ripped the door off of this $2 million, 300 cell Goldwing. And it's just because I've such. I'm so tired and brain fogged and burned out. These aren't the kind of mistakes that I'd normally make. Like I make stupid mistakes on YouTube in a haha life, but not stuff like that. And it's just total brain fart, brain fog. Just so stupid. So stupid. And. And then that same week, I get home and I pick up the kids after a really hard, long workday. And I'm so brain fogged. And April had just left my wife for a trip and she took my laptop charger and I needed to get going on editing. The other laptop charger was in the back shop and all that stuff. So I went to get it. I let the dog out and then forgot, came back in and the dog ran around to catch me because he never goes to that side of the house. House. And I came inside, I plugged in my laptop, I started going and I went, oh, the dog went out. Dog's not his normal spot. He had come around and I saw in the cameras, he came around to me, he's very excited to see me. Daddy's outside, comes to the door right as I slam the door in his face. I never saw, I never saw him. But then he's on that side of the house, right by the road. And he wanders out in the road, gets hit. He's killed. He's killed. He's serious killed. So. And I come out, I can't find him. He's not in his normal spots. I know there's like a. The wolves got. The coyote's got a goose over. So I think maybe he's going over there sniffing that dead goose or whatever, what's left of the goose. He's not there. I'm like, oh, crap, I have to go out in the car and find him. And I go out and I pull to the end of the driveway. This, this thing that just loved me, worshiped me is oh my gosh, all because, like, I've got To get editing, I got to get all this stuff. I got to like, oh, got the kids, kids, the food, all that stuff. And normally I'm such good at multitasking. So good at like, like, like, and careful. And like, I felt like I lost half of my. My brain function. Like, I feel brain fog. I feel this lower operation of my brain because I've been just foot on the gas for so long, going so hard. And that was like, obviously devastating. Just devastating. But then at the same time, I'm just like, this is reset. I talked about it. Like, I had said it before in a previous video. Like, this reset's happening and I need to take it easier. And that was the whole point of selling the Bugatti and just trying to make things easier on myself rather than like, I have to do this or I lose everything. Like, I didn't have a cushion. And I just realized, like, okay, we're resetting. This is the pivotal one with the turning point of just like, I can't. I can't operate like this anymore. And so I. You're seeing the new me. I mean, this, this is the. So I did Barry Jackson. I, like, I couldn't stop. So the dog unfortunately got hit. And then I had to go the next few days and go do Bear Jackson. It was.
- [71:06]
Jack
How do you keep it together?
- [71:08]
Graham
Something like that.
- [71:09]
Hoovie
I had. But I just had to do it. So I did Barrett Jackson and, you know, so that's very grueling. It's five days of television. The last two days are. Are 10 hours each. So I'm doing 20 hours of live television in 34 hours or something like that because there's like a. There's like a 14 hour break in between and you're 10 hours non stop television. And you have to think of something to say on every single car. And the last day on Saturday, the main announcer, the main. My main co host loses his voice and I have to kind of not. I've almost quarterbacked the thing, but there's other guys that can do a great job, but a lot more work for me and no break for 10 hours. So then like, okay, I need to reset. So then I get invitation to go speak in California, and it involves Google and aaa. It's an amazing opportunity to meet Google executives I'd never met before and some things. And it's a really cool opportunity. So I had to say yes to that. But that meant home for two days on a plane again. And then you text me up and say, hey, you got to come on this Podcast especially after doing Doug demuro. I'm home three days, I have to do it again. This is the last of that whistle stop tour of me. Like Doug demuro talked about it so well, about him being able to take his foot off the gas, focus on family and how, yes, he did that so hard for so long, but you just can't forever. And I am at that point now where I've made some moves and made some steps and everything is good now. An immediate wait. I knew I had to get through all this stuff, but I already know things are so good and everything's so amazing. Amazing at home with my kids, with, with April. It's just so incredible to have like a new outlet for my YouTube as far as doing a second channel with, with my, my wife April Rose, who has a, you know, big media background. We met working at Barrett Jackson, all that stuff so that like the pieces are there for this amazing wonderful life. And it just requires me to not be as frantic and for me to simplify things at least 30%. And it's so doable and I, I, so you, this, this is. You're seeing the, the page turn right now. Right? So.
- [73:19]
Graham
Well, we really appreciate you coming on the show. I had no idea that it was in the middle of such a chaotic.
- [73:24]
Hoovie
No, I mean it's, No, I, I really wanted to do it, especially Doug. Like, I was like, man, man, like, you know, Doug, you know, you were talking about something else other than other than me and it's like, okay, I gotta find up some revenge Doug DeMiro stories. You know, since he's decided to just re. Really tell hoovy story. So I got, I got one.
- [73:41]
Graham
What's the story?
- [73:42]
Hoovie
I got one. So my first time ever meeting Doug DeMiro, you know that Doug's a little, little off the wall and, and like a little unfiltered, you know, as far as like, you know, his takes, especially when the cameras are off and like his, he'll, he'll, he'll say zany things and like, like almost like Seinfeldian kind of observations with a little bit of that kind of stuff. So his behavior is somewhat that on YouTube but then in person joking around with his friends and he's, it's, it's next level of observations. Like we were having dinner and he's like commenting on the dinner and the weird things about it, the quirks and features of dinner and stuff. So I had worked with him for, I don't know, six months or a year. I'd followed him from Jalopnik over to Autotrader. I begged him to hire me at Autotrader and like, send him a cold email and. And he was kind enough to get me on to write with him on our trader. At the time, I hadn't really done many YouTube videos yet, but we're six months or a year in and. And I'm in New York for something. And I know he's in Philadelphia, which is relatively close, and he said, let's meet up in Princeton, New Jersey and have dinner. So I drive down. I had a rental car. I think, like, I was making fun of a Mercedes cla rental car. Sort of like what I do today. Rent something on Turo or whatever. And on Turo, you can make fun of someone else's car cause you're renting it versus, like, having to take a dealership's car and say nice things about all that stuff. So we meet in Princeton, New Jersey, and I'm with my girlfriend at the time. And the first thing out of Doug's mouth, he's like, you know, to gay men, you are very handsome. I had this gay friend that thinks you are the most attractive car YouTuber on the planet. And if you are single and interested in men, he would date you in an instant. Are you single and interested in men? My girlfriend's sitting right here, like, with me.
- [75:16]
Jack
And like, did he knew that you were in the relationship?
- [75:18]
Hoovie
Yes. Like, this is his opener to like, like his icebreaker with me. We're first meeting and then. And then he. Through the night. You know, it's like, oh, you know, I bet. Just making little jokes about this gay man thinking I'm so beautiful that he's friends with and just. And little Inyunda was there and things like that. Like, this is very odd. Like, this is very strange. And obviously we're having great car conversations, all that stuff. But he's so fixated on his gay friend that it finds me hot. And then. So then we get and we leave. And my girlfriend at the time, that was really weird. And it actually made her uncomfortable because, like, hello, I'm sitting here. I exist. And he. At le. He says two times that he mentioned it. It was at least four, five times where, like, where he would circle back to it as a joke. And I'm playing along and maybe I egged it on a little bit. I was like, aha. You know? So like, okay, that's nice, you know, But I don't remember exactly. But for whatever reason, that was my first encounter in person with Doug Demiro. And it's a working relationship where he's kind of my boss. So it was a very odd. It's very odd. Yeah. Obviously we, you know, we're. We're close and we get along and text all that stuff. So when he started telling these stories about me, I was like, okay. And I texted him, I said, I'm doing the revenge story, like, and I'm doing this. And he's so there. I got it out. So I got you back.
- [76:34]
Jack
Doug, didn't he used to pretend to be a wealthy buyer? Ferrari chat?
- [76:39]
Hoovie
That was before I knew him. That was before I knew him. But, yeah, he didn't have any cars and he's like, in high school or college or whatever and pretended to be have every single rare Ferrari allocation and talk about what it was like to own them and drive them and all. All that stuff. That was before I knew him. I was a fan of his from Jalopnik and loved his riding and wanted to sort of emulate him because I was sort of doing similar things, but at a cheaper level. Well, back to when he was doing, like, the CarMax Range Rover. That really put him on the map, you know, I bought a Range Rover for less than a CarMax warranty and then tried to fix it. So I was doing it on his vein for articles, for writing. And it wasn't doing videos at the time. So he was the one that encouraged me to do YouTube videos along with my articles. And that. That was the explosion point for me, was sort of riding Doug's coattails with that and being encouraged by that because I was getting paid for the article. And so doing a video along with it made sense. And that's what gave me the discipline to write two articles a week. And then I would just do a video talking about whatever I said in the article, like, about my own cars or something else. And that's how my YouTube channel started. So I have Doug to thank for that.
- [77:41]
Graham
But you did mention that you've made some changes that have immediately rewarded you with a higher quality of life. What were those changes. Changes you did?
- [77:48]
Hoovie
I sold some things to where I have a bit of a cushion and that that helped. But it's just a matter of, like, now I can. I've gotten through all these obligations that I said that I was going to do, like, show up to this wonderful podcast, which I would love to do anyway, so. But. But then now that I'm through with all these obligations, I know, like, okay, I've got myself through the home renovation, through the Taxes through the dumb, through all the dumb stuff that I did. I've gotten myself through all of it. I've come, come out, I've survived. And now it's back to building up a war chest, doing some responsible things. I don't need the help whov12mail.com or something like that. But there's going to be a cushion there and then there's going to be an ability to say no. There's not going to be me selling six brand deals in a month or eight brand deals to where I know I have to make eight videos and hustle to do that. And I don't need to say yes to every single travel opportunity and be, be on 20 flights in, in 30 days, which you guys are tough on that too. I can imagine with your podcast. A lot of traveling and meeting with people. That's what you have to do. But man, airlines are just so soul sucking and that. Like I think I had my first ever thought I was having a heart attack, but I think it was a nervous breakdown on a flight because I bought the gullwing and I had a film crew to film this gullwing thing and the flight was delayed and I was gonna miss the film crew that I already paid for and miss this opportunity with the car all blown apart like in a thousand pieces and the, and were waiting for me to get this car together in three days to where I could go to a rally and because I'm stuck in this plane because the catering didn't show up on this thing and it missed a connection or whatever and it's just like I don't need to, I don't need to do that to myself. So. And then just, just being, just, just just slowing down also getting like lab work done and things and I think all the stress definitely lowered my testosterone a lot. As I say, like when release a bunch of cortisol it lowers your testosterone and that gives you the brain fog and all that stuff and like harder and droopy and all that stuff. So like I hadn't seen a doctor in years as far. Not just, just, just to like get me checked out. I, I'm healthy, I'm reasonably fit. But I like the, the brain fog and the tiredness, the fatigue and everything and then just making these stupid mistakes and, and the impatience and it's just, it's just, just slowing down. And I have all the pieces of a wonderful life and there's so much to appreciate there's compared to where I was, you know, just some. Everything's in place for things to be amazing and it's time to start enjoying it. And that. That is just like a switch flip.
- [80:24]
Graham
It absolutely does start with a mentality, though, too. Like, the mentality is the first thing to change that will actually make a real impact in your life. And you know what that reminded me of is I would find it difficult for me to find myself in that same position because I have so many people in my life that tell me no. Like, if I'm going to do something that's like, hey, like, I'm going to exhaust myself, my mom will be like, don't burn the candle at both ends. Or like, Graham, should I do this? He's no. Or he'll even say, hey, I'm gonna do this. And Graham just says, no, don't do that. He won't be like, oh, interesting.
- [80:53]
Hoovie
Why?
- [80:53]
Graham
Like, people will just straight up tell me, no.
- [80:55]
Jack
Jack got. I mean, I remember this. You got upset when you wanted to walk a hundred miles or it was like walking from Vegas to la and you were excited about it. And I was like, jack, that's a. That's a bad idea. Don't do that. That's dumb. Why would you do that? I shot it down. I didn't even give a word of encouragement. Not a single. Like, oh, that's interesting. Why would you want to do that? Nothing.
- [81:14]
Hoovie
I just. Yeah, well, guess what?
- [81:16]
Graham
I did that.
- [81:17]
Jack
He did it.
- [81:17]
Graham
I did it, and I loved it. So, like, that was one of the things where I stuck to my guns. But a lot of the times, like, I do have people in my life where if I say something, they're like, absolutely not. And I think that that helps. And I don't know if you have people that you're receptive to some sort of criticism. Like, if you have a best friend that's like, hey, I noticed you've been a little bit like, why don't you.
- [81:33]
Jack
Go see a doctor? Why don't you?
- [81:35]
Hoovie
No, I mean, the marrying April has been an amazing support system for all that. And since she comes from the. This level of, you know, entertainment and media and all that stuff and all the things that she's accomplished in her life, she understands and gets it. So that. That helps a lot. But I think a lot of it was also me just wanting to not decline as far as the views, wanting to stay relevant, wanting to continue to grow. And it's been 10 years, man. Like, what, what, what. What do I have left to prove? What do I need to accomplish? Why do I need to. To to chase Tavares into his level of insanity or you try and keep up with Matt Armstrong that's rebuilding an exotic every single week. You know, like, why, like they can continue to do that for as long as they want and eventually, and you know, of course they're exploding and doing incredible right now and it's, it's their moment in the sun. Why, why can't I just. I can't. I don't have to be that guy all the time forever. It just, it's not necessary. And they're chasing clout and chasing all that. I put way too much focus on, on basically staying relevant and still having clout. It doesn't matter.
- [82:47]
Jack
So have you made this change already or is this like the last thing you're doing before making the change?
- [82:53]
Hoovie
This is it. That's why I said this is sort of the last stop. And then I've just decided that I'm going to limit myself and keep myself, like, focus on the videos like that are going to make me happy and put out videos that I want to put out rather than ones like, okay, I have to get a video out because I have this sponsor for this, this, this. So the ones that I really like, they've been with me for a long time. I'll, I'll stick with them. The, the ones that are a little edgy and like, oh man, do I really want to say yes to that. I haven't done too many of those. It's just the sheer quantity of it.
- [83:23]
Jack
It's, you know, it's really, really, really hard to turn that off. I've told myself the same thing so many times and I get a little better at it. But then some opportunity comes up and I'm like, well, I can't say no to that.
- [83:34]
Hoovie
I know.
- [83:35]
Jack
And then I do it and then something else comes up that's equally as good. I'm like, well, I can't say no to that. And then another thing. And then all of a sudden like, well, I would be dumb not to do these things because what else am I going to do otherwise? And then I just load up.
- [83:49]
Hoovie
Yeah, but for YouTube, for me, with the car stuff, because, because there's other YouTubers that are doing so much more now in their content. It's much longer. It's not 10 or 15 minutes videos for, for car, YouTube. It is 30, 45 minute videos where you're doing so much in one video. And it's. I have to get these out for the sponsors. I have to cut it off here before there's like a good payoff before. Like, okay, we know everything that you wrong. Let's try and fix one thing.
- [84:14]
Jack
Or, you know, but that you could negotiate in.
- [84:17]
Hoovie
It's not the placement. It's. I have to post six videos a month. And so I have to get this video out and I can't delay it. I can't, like, if I, if I don't. So I have to like, okay, it's going to take a week for this part to come in. I can't delay the video because I have the sponsor obligation. So I have to get the video out even though it's like, okay, this isn't like, especially with cars that nothing ever really goes to plan and things can go sideways and it doesn't work out. Like, you have a plan to do this today with this car and it doesn't go right, but you, you want to persevere. And that's where, you know, Tavares Freddy, he goes three months without posting because he knows when I post, it needs to be an event and people will tune in because, oh my God, Tavares just posted a video. It's an Update on his P1. It's not going to be him sitting and just twilling his thumb. He's going to do something real and I need to do that. But also, it's just, I also want to do something that I enjoy. And if it's six sponsors or seven, eight sponsors, like, then I'm like, racking my brain, oh, my God, what am I going to do? What I'm going to do versus, like, the, the creativity, the organic like, of just like letting opportunities present themselves and letting cool things. But rather than, rather than having to just create it or, you know, clickbait or whatever, just get people to tune in to watch me standing in my garage flailing, talking about, like, here's my collection and here's everything that's broken this month. And like, I want it to be how it was before. Before where it was, it was, it was real. But also, I know I have to do more in the videos to, to do well.
- [85:43]
Graham
So would an added level of, like, financial comfortability be of, like, use to you, like an improvement to your life?
- [85:53]
Hoovie
Yeah, it would. And that's, that's the other part where I need to do that. And now that I've gotten all these big obstacles out of the way now I, I still have that level of income, and let's say I have it for two years. Let's say I have it for five years, five Years now is the time to make a plan and be smart and just not feel stressed about that and living on the edge. There's so many channels that operate that way. And that's how. I mean, you guys have interviewed Mr. Beast, and he has no money in his account, obviously. He's a billionaire on paper, but he's happy to spend every dime that he makes next leveling his content. And that's how he built up so fast. And the Mr. Beastification of YouTube, that's what everybody else had to do. And I just felt like I needed to keep up. And then at the same time, I made some bad decisions financially that I thought, you know, I have another bucket. And it just didn't work. So.
- [86:44]
Graham
So what's your plan then? To get more financially comfortable?
- [86:47]
Hoovie
Well, not do any more stupid stuff for this starting point. But I. I think it's just now I'm at the point where I can start putting away. But here's the thing, though.
- [86:56]
Jack
It doesn't seem like you're making dumb decisions in the model. Like, like everything that you've talked about seems smart. It seems like the right choice on paper. It's just something happened along the way that, like, made it go sideways.
- [87:08]
Hoovie
Well, no, the. The. The leveling up of. Of cars. That. That Veyron. Because you gotta think, when I had that Veyron and before it, I had three Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, slr. Sls at the same time, I was. I was carrying heavy on that. And then rather than sell them at the very beginning, when things started to get weird, I started finding financing and had four car loans or something at once, and then did the lease, which was wonderful. But the Gullwing was too soon. It was my ultimate dream car. But it became stressful because the timing of it. I needed to get out of the Veyron. I couldn't find any buyer for the Veyron, but the Gullwing was like my ultimate dream car. So it was like, at least I'm stretching to do, like, the car that I've wanted my entire life. But it didn't work run. And it needed $100,000 in work that I had to pay. So that was. That was the other final. Just like, get that done.
- [88:05]
Jack
Didn't you get really lucky, though, with the Gullwing, with values just going through the roof?
- [88:09]
Hoovie
Yes, yes. So when I sell that plan, when I sell that car, that's the car where, like, it says, my end, all, be all, dream car. And then everybody's like, are you going to keep that forever. And I say, I don't know, I kind of like the Countach. That was my more realistic dream car of mine. I grew up with that poster on the wall. The Lamborghini Countach poster is actually my dad's poster from college. And I thought, you know, man, I got it. But then we're four years in. I hadn't driven the car maybe three times in six months. So what am I doing? I don't need to. I don't need to keep this. I don't need it. So I feel like the gullwing, there'll be all these amazing opportunities to do all the things I ever dreamed about with the Gullwing. Mercedes classic has been so incredible. Mercedes brand itself, as far as them being on board with a, you know, YouTuber that's not 80 years old, loving these cars and getting into it, and they see the value of that. So they've invited me out to the Millimea, put the car on a plane to come out and do this thousand mile race in Italy, this revival. And then I can go afterwards and drive it, you know, through the Italian Riviera and pull up to the Monaco casino and all that stuff. Like the things I've dreamed of doing my entire life. Once I've done everything with that car, will I keep it? That's the thing. I don't know. I feel like there'll be a point where, like, like, okay, I'll sell this and then have relief and just be. And just be okay and content. And content with like the photos and memories that I had the car. I don't need to. I don't need to hang on to it forever.
- [89:33]
Jack
You could retire with that car. At the rate the values are climbing, what do you think you'd be able to sell it for?
- [89:40]
Hoovie
Well, I almost ripped the door off of it, so it's in the body shop right now. That's the thing that, that car that sold for $2.6 million was really, really nice. And we sold one that was a fresh restoration two years ago for three and a half non alloy body car. This one had sat for 10 years. It got revived relatively easily with a paint job. This thing would be really. This thing already was pretty nice, but it's been 40 years since it had a paint job. It was a really nice restoration on a really nice car to begin with. With a paint job and some bright work, maybe 100 grand, it would be a $2 million car easily, maybe 2.2. Its numbers matching, everything, all that stuff. So, yeah, I'm sitting in it pretty good, but. And I could sell it right now and make some money. But I do think now that I have it, I should do the, I should experience the things with it. Now that I have it. That wasn't the goal to. I wanted to get out of the Bayron and have some, some comfort and some cushion and things. But this is, this deal worked and I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it and enjoy myself and be really happy. But also the thought of having seven figures in the. In my account sounds like really nice to just see it.
- [90:44]
Jack
I have been so tempted. There are these replicas of the 300 SL. It's the Tony. I forget the last name. We're going to put it on screen.
- [90:53]
Hoovie
Yeah.
- [90:54]
Jack
These cars sell for about 250.
- [90:55]
Graham
They do.
- [90:56]
Jack
My gosh. It is a one. It seems to me like a one to one of the thing.
- [91:01]
Hoovie
I couldn't do it. Yeah, well, it's not the right engine. They use a modern Mercedes inline six in it, which made sense of the time when they were building it. And it's the same horsepower and stuff. But no, it's, it's, it's not the same. I, I've driven enough the cars like it is a very special.
- [91:14]
Jack
How is it different?
- [91:15]
Hoovie
Well, it's just the drivetrain is different. It, it doesn't have that same direction injection. 240 horsepower. It's, it's a inline six Mercedes from the 80s or 90s engine that they use in them. And it's a great engine. I've had it in E320s and things like that. But it's, it's not, it's not the same. It. There's, there's enough modernization to where it's.
- [91:32]
Jack
Not the same because it's just reliable though. Or you can.
- [91:34]
Hoovie
Yeah, but you know, I mean that's, that's the thing about that car. It's the original, original supercar. So people say the Lamborghini, here's the original supercar they're gonna sell. Going it was originally a race car. And a guy named Max Hoffman, he's an American, told Mercedes like if you build this car like Sterling Moss set the record in this thing in the mill, me and all that stuff. Unbeaten record until they shut it down the race because it was too dangerous. If you build this car for production, I would sell every single one you make in the US and he was right. They, they made the production car with the gold wing doors. Even though that made no sense practicality wise and you know Every Hollywood, a Lister, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, this was the car. Like, oh my God, not only was it gorgeous, but it was the fastest car in the world. And it still drives modern because this is a tubular chassis with somewhat modern suspension. It's properly fast because it's 240 horsepower, but also very lightweight. So nothing drives like that car from that period. Nothing even close. You have to go decades newer to get a driving experience, experience like that. As far as the tubular chassis and how tight it is and the transmission, to be able to drive a car from the 50s and just row the gears like it, like your Ford gt, like you can't do that in old cars, but that car, you can.
- [92:43]
Graham
How much in value do you think you're going to lose driving at a thousand miles?
- [92:46]
Hoovie
Yep, zero. That's the thing. I haven't done the paint job yet, so I scraped the door and like almost ripped the door off and damaged it and all that stuff. I could have turned it into insurance and had a full repaint done and the car would have been gone for six months or whatever. And that would have made a lot more sense for me to do. But then I'd be terrified to drive it.
- [93:02]
Jack
Couldn't you just do PPF on the entire car?
- [93:04]
Hoovie
You could, but the car already has because of 30 years of some use. It has dings, it has scratches, it has a few pain imperfections and things. So I can drive it anywhere, get a few more scratches, a few more rock chips, all that stuff. Giggle, laugh all the way. Mileage doesn't matter on that car. It's probably already turned over once. Nobody really cares. Like there's no like this 300 cell going only has 5,000 original miles because it's almost impossible to know because it's only a five digit odometer. So it really literally mentioned that in cars. Like there's very few where they say this thing's documented low mileage car. It's not a thing with antique cars because. And also when they restore it full nut and bolt, they reset the odometers anyway on these cars they put them back to zero. So that's, that's not a thing. Like with 4 GTS and modern supercars and things where mileage is everything. It's not the same with, with these old stuff. So since it has a little bit of patina already, I can drive it, I can do all these things with it and then when I'm done, make it the night one of the nicest goings on the planet and then I could do the show circuit. I could sell it.
- [94:02]
Jack
Do you think they're a good investment? Let's just say you could find one today at today's market value. And your plan is to hold it 10 years?
- [94:09]
Hoovie
You could say that. But there's also. Is there enough people our age and younger that are going to appreciate a 300 cell going right now? Like I did the going rally and I was the youngest person there that was an owner by 30 years. All the owners are much older. And are they going to still appreciate that car? There are some younger people coming in. There's a lot of cool events like the Colorado grand and the California Meal, like thousand mile rallies that you have to have a car that's, that's pre 50 something, 1950 something to participate in. And it's, it's a really neat thing that younger people getting more involved with and also younger people are enjoying analog cars and things. So there's going to be always 300 cell Gold Wing is always going to be in Icon, but is it going to be. It's not, it's already old and it's not $10 million unless it's an alloy body. So it's not like it's going to go that way unless obviously inflation, you know. But $10 million cars is a million dollar car is what it feels like, you know, now. So I, I don't think so. I think there's a lot smarter cars to buy in the modern era that like we've seen recently with, with numbers on F40s and F50s and enzos and things where it's gotten so crazy that, that the smarter money would be in something a few decades newer, obviously in the 80s or 90s. But it's not the worst place to park money.
- [95:20]
Jack
So what do you think is a good buy right now as an investment?
- [95:24]
Hoovie
I don't really think like Doug Demiro and that kind of stuff where I saw he did some great ones and all that stuff. I don't really think like that because I've always just wanted to buy a car to tell a story and not lose my butt on. So it's not something that I'm constantly thinking about like, ooh, if I get this, this now, like it'll be something that goes way up. I know that's that you, you eat, live, breathe, that's all you think about. And it's not, I think about it like is this going to tell a story and am I going to lose my butt on it? And I try not to do that. But like the Ferrari 430 Scuderia seems to be one where it's. We're starting to see little blips of oneself for a lot more than the current 400. $450,000 that like. I think we're in the last few breaths of that the 3, 360 challenge. Stradale has already gone to a crazy level, so the 430s are starting to follow. Like the 458 special apparatus and all that stuff have already gone crazy. So this is that. That may be a little pocket there.
- [96:21]
Jack
I think the early Gallardo superleggeras very limited production.
- [96:26]
Hoovie
They're also very harsh cars in their e gears now that you can do conversions and stuff maybe a little better. But yeah, the gated Gallardos are definitely a thing. The R8 V10 gated cars are so comfortable and so good that that's something you'll never get again. So that, that any. Any that those older analog supercars are definitely safe, at least for sure.
- [96:49]
Jack
So how do you like the Lotus Esprit that you just purchased?
- [96:52]
Hoovie
Well, I, I have the lease and the Esprit right now, so the, the Elise was easy because it's the Toyota drivetrain to go through and sort it out. The, the Esprit V8. We're going to go and take it to the wizard inspection, all that stuff. But I've already reached out to a couple of shops to try and find. Find the trans someone who would rebuild the transmission and fix that synchro and they haven't replied yet. So this is one of those cars where the parts availability and the support is just. There's a lot of enthusiasts out there that are keeping them going. There's definitely some parts, but it's not like the. I need to research a lot more and I'm sure the answers are there and to figure things out. But right now it's a little scary because it's just not obvious to me because I haven't done anything with it yet. The car drives amazing. I mean it's twin turbo, flat plane, crank, V8, 350 horsepower. They originally supposed to be 500 horsepower, but they got the transmissions from Renault and they just couldn't take the power. Obviously mine's crunching, so that's the weak point of them. And the looks are just insane. They're insane. And that's a car that's I got for $40,000 and the exact same car. The highest sell point on bring a trailer was one for 3,000 miles for 220. So obviously, I'm sitting there pretty good and we talked about that guy getting scammed, scamming me and all that stuff. He bought it for 45 and then I got it for 40 and then he had to pay the fee. So he lost 8, 10 grand on the car. So I like, I know he lost money on top of that. So I'm sitting in it very well. If it can get sorted out, if I can get that transmission crunch to go away, if I can find a roof panel and fix all the other stuff up, it would probably be a car that I make some money on. But that's obviously an if. I don't know yet.
- [98:26]
Jack
So what car brands are consistently unique, unreliable?
- [98:31]
Hoovie
It's weird because I don't think there's any brand that there's always one that the model that's, that's an exception to the rule. And everybody's kind of up and down right now. You know, Lotus obviously was, was horrible for the unreliability. And then they went with Toyota engines and completely changed their image. So I'm trying to think of, of a brand that's just consistently bad. You know, there's all this stuff with, I guess Koenigsegg right now with, you know, with, with the serviceability and, and James obviously documented his journey. Big YouTubers talking about the, the toughness with that. That's a level of, of money and car that I don't live in or understand. But it seems like that's a really tough world to live in. The Veyrons are pretty reliable. It's just the service cost. They didn't make it very serviceable for things, but it's not something that's going to leave you on the side of the road. But you know, every automaker has its up and down. So like right now, Ford's doing pretty good and Chevy's doing terrible because they had those six, two V8s that had engine problems. And like every single GM 6.2 liter V8 right now is just a ticking time palm from 2014 to now. And they did a recall and they extended the warranty and changed the oil weights and all that stuff to try and fix it. But it's just a band aid until they redesign the engine. So total junk right now. Whereas Ford was pretty good. But then 10 years ago, Ford had an incredibly defective engine with their main trucks, the 5.4 liter V8 that had cam phasers and things. And those were blowing up 100,000 miles. So it's always like, it just. They kind of trade off in like oopsie as far as mistakes. But I guess BMW would be one where they consistently figure out a way to engineer something that just, just is a hand grenade. And when they solve that issue then they accidentally come up with another hand grenade and it's like, it's such a. But such a.
- [100:11]
Jack
But I hear some brands like Toyota just consistently like knocking it out of the park and they're so reliable. But like Toyota, someone else, they're not blown it.
- [100:19]
Hoovie
I was about. Yeah, Toyota was another one.
- [100:21]
Jack
This is new to me.
- [100:22]
Hoovie
Toyota switched from the V8s in their trucks and big SUVs to twin turbo V6s and they had to recall every single one of them. I think they replaced 100,000 engines in these trucks because it's this new thing of going from an old school gas guzzling V8 that pollutes to high strung twin turbo, four cylinder, six cylinder, all that stuff, putting it in these big, big trucks and then the new, changing the totally changing everything and then this high strung Twin Turbo V6 with, with weak parts that are getting boosted now with, with you know, 15, 20 pounds of boost and they just, they can't handle it and boom. So now even Toyotas are not what they used to be. No. And a lot of them are hybrids. The new, like the new 4Runner or the land Cruiser. The new Land Cruiser is now based as hybrid and it's, you don't want an off road hybrid, you know, four wheel drive vehicle like on the trail.
- [101:20]
Graham
Like it's just, it's this purely just.
- [101:23]
Jack
To get the miles per gallon higher.
- [101:25]
Hoovie
A lot of it. Yeah. Because there were federal mandates to get the mpg higher. And it's not just the US it's all over the world as far as building a product that meets these mandates for the European Union and for other things. Going electric and having these mandates where you have to be a certain mpg and certain electric and all that stuff. So they're, they're struggling with that. And, and also it's. Yeah, it's just what consumers are wanting. Fuel efficiency and power and obviously smaller packaging. It makes sense to have a smaller engine and cheaper to build I imagine in that sense. But it's so complicated. Like I don't know if they're winning or not because obviously the prices on cars have just skyrocketed as well. Because it's one thing in, in the 80s you bought an Oldsmobile, you know, Cutlass for 10,000 bucks, 8,000 bucks and it lasted you 10 years. Throw it away, whatever it Rusted apart. But now it's just $80,000 for, you know, a normal fullsize truck. And. And they don't make it 100,000 miles. It's. It's insane.
- [102:18]
Graham
So what car brand do you think is criminally underrated?
- [102:21]
Hoovie
I feel like Cadillac is one that is just low key, crushing it right now with their products. As far as like the new electric stuff, the Lyriq, they made actually something that's just beautiful. Normally electric cars.
- [102:34]
Graham
Are people buying them?
- [102:35]
Hoovie
Yeah, yeah, they're actually selling well. Really selling well, Very surprisingly well. You would not expect Cadillac to be low key like outselling so many other electric brands with the Lyriq and the Optique. And then they made the Escalade EV out of that platform where the Hummer EV was already there. And then the Chevy Silverado ev. Cadillac took that platform and actually made a really bougie SUV that's electric that people actually want and they're actually selling some of it. And then there's still making legitimate performance sedans too that you still get with manual transmission and all that stuff. So they're catering to enthusiasts more than BMW and Mercedes now offering twin turbo V8 manual transmission cars. And people like, oh, Cadillac old man brand, which they've been fighting for 30 years now, and I feel like they've finally made it. And also low key, turned things around. Where you see reports were like, oh, Cadillac's having big growth each quarter.
- [103:28]
Graham
It's interesting because we brought this up to Doug and we asked him who were even buying cars from Cadillac. Buick, Buick, Buick. Not so much from Lincoln, from Chrysler, like, who wants a new car? And they're like, okay, I'm going straight to the Acura dealership.
- [103:44]
Jack
Well, Acura sells decently well. They sell dx.
- [103:47]
Hoovie
They have a few cars.
- [103:48]
Graham
Why an Acura instead of anything else?
- [103:50]
Hoovie
Well, here's the thing. So Acura shares a platform with Cadillac, the Lyric. They have a Cadillac, Honda, whatever it is, it's some sort of Honda, like not Odyssey or something like that, but it's. It's the same platform built in America along with the Chevy Blazer ev. And the Cadillac Lyric and Acura has the same thing. They can't sell them. The Cadillac's doing better of the three, even though it's basically the same car underneath. So once again, Cadillac, I'm very surprised. And it's not just my bias because I have like an 05 Cadillac Escalade and all that stuff, but that's like the baller car for that period, you know, so but what if about a Buick Buick, they messed up big time. Like they, they tried to do a revival with the grand national in the 80s, having that one cool kind of Darth Vader car. And then they never really built a car since then because they went front wheel drive, that platform and they never built something that catered to enthusiasts. And now it's just like a budget brand, but it's not because it's more expensive than Chevy.
- [104:44]
Graham
So who's buying? Like I've literally never met someone who's like, oh yeah, I just got a new car.
- [104:48]
Hoovie
Buick. It's a value prospect where like they literally are selling a car from China or they were. I think they had a pumpkin deposit because of the, the tariffs and stuff. They had like a luxurious looking pretty thing that was built in China for 20 something thousand dollars, a crossover. So people were buying that. But, but Buick, they definitely, it was crazy that they dropped Pontiac but kept Buick. It was, it was because it sold well in China and Buick was a brand in China so they weren't going to drop that band. But, but brand, but Pontiac was, was such a cool enthusiast. We were like, we thought grand Ams were cool when we were kids. The G6, even though it was a junkie car based on the cobalt, the G6 was cool. You know, that's, that's where they, they messed up.
- [105:26]
Graham
So what car company are you extremely bearish on and you just think they're going to fail?
- [105:30]
Hoovie
I don't, I don't think anything's going to fail globally. But as far as pulling out of the United States, Volvo. They keep selling it and they keep changing hands to people that keep losing money. Aston Martin's another one where there's always seems to be some kind of billionaire that wants to own a car company that, that buys Aston Martin and just wants to bail it out and, and lose a bunch of money and then the next person buys it and loses a bunch of money. Lamborghini was one of those brands where it just kept changing hands to people that were just losing their butts and finally got absorbed into full tonality and finally turned a profit. But Aston Martin's one of those brands where like it just doesn't work in the US it's too expensive and the depreciation is just so extreme that they can't get rid of those cars. Maserati is another one where it's really tough because they were getting Ferrari derived engines and they were designed by Pin and Farina and now they don't get Ferrari engines anymore. Because Ferrari's building an SUV and, and you know, more, you know, consumer cars, they don't want to help Maserati anymore. So that those could all I could. I don't see them like disappearing, but I see them like pulling out of the US Fisker Ocean was the last big one. I suppose it was just recently. But there's all those little startups. There's electric car startups, obviously there's one that comes and goes all the time.
- [106:42]
Graham
But is there any car company that you think just shouldn't exist?
- [106:44]
Hoovie
Trying to think. I mean, Mitsubishi right now makes no sense.
- [106:47]
Graham
Like why does, why does it not make sense?
- [106:49]
Hoovie
It doesn't make any sense because they have, I think what, two cars that people don't want. As far as like the Outlander, that's an SUV that gets beaten in every segment. As far as like people that like, like Honda, Toyota build this car for the same money and it's a much better product but for a Japanese car. And then their Mirage, which I think they finally quit making. It's. It's a company that, that's only like, why are they even trying to sell in the U.S. it's kind of like Suzuki pulled out of the U.S. because they just like, why, why keep trying? Like, there's no point. Like our products don't resonate with an American audience. We mostly build little cars for, for countries that, you know, like need small cars, cars to like, because they're third world countries or whatever. So they just don't have the product lineup that Americans need. So why continue selling in the US Why, why keep trying?
- [107:34]
Graham
If you want to get a car with zero ongoing maintenance, what car should you get?
- [107:39]
Hoovie
It'd probably be Teslas, I guess would be really easy to just keep going. It's like a, like a used Model 3. I feel like it'd be really easy to. Just because it doesn't have the air suspension problems, it doesn't have the weird door handles, all that stuff. So that, that's probably one where it's pretty easy. What do you think?
- [107:54]
Graham
I would say a Tesla.
- [107:55]
Hoovie
Yeah.
- [107:56]
Graham
What do you think of people that drive Teslas?
- [107:58]
Hoovie
Doesn't bother me at all. I've had them all. I've had cybertruck, I've had models plaid. I have the Model X now. They're interesting things to me. As far as technology, I think you.
- [108:08]
Jack
Need a Tesla Roadster.
- [108:10]
Graham
In fact, if you want to buy one. Really, you might know someone.
- [108:13]
Hoovie
Yeah, yeah. You know, I'm a junkie, but that one's too Nice. It's not the cheapest one. It's not had any bad things happen. I guess you've already fixed all the problems, so what's the point, right? So. But yeah, the roadster's definitely interesting. It's. It's. Would I wouldn't mind buying a hoopdy one and trying to bring it back for sure.
- [108:28]
Graham
Which car stereotypes are absolutely true.
- [108:31]
Hoovie
I don't know if it's a brand stereotype, but definitely like the type I feel like, at least in Kansas, the bro dozer types, as far as the lifted trucks and the squatted trucks that muslin diesel makes fun of where it is a definite like look at me kind of thing at the cost of safety and practicality. It's definitely an individual that's. That's not. Not like obviously if they're willing to sacrifice like the stability in the ride of their car with the noisy tires and like a. A rough ride and having to climb out of the ladder and all that stuff just for attention, it's usually that type of person is. Is. Is pretty a little rough to deal with, at least in. In my experience.
- [109:10]
Jack
Now, one thing I'm. I'm curious about. What are you seeing at auctions right now are prices going up on certain cars.
- [109:17]
Hoovie
Barrett Jackson, six years now. Barrett Jackson, we just had the big Scottsdale. So they do four auctions a year. January is the biggest one. They have almost 2000 cars selling no reserve. That's the only auction where all the cars are no reserve. There's sometimes a few exceptions. When something's worth millions of dollars, they'll put a reserve on it. But unlike any other auction in the country, if it sells for a dollar, if it sells for a million dollars, you don't know. So the crazy part is that a normal Corvette. So like a blue chip investor. 63 Corvette split window with the factory fuel injection 3, $400,000. You take that car, you rip out all those guts, you put in a modern ls, you put in a roadster top chassis, you put in a beautiful modern custom interior, all the modern conveniences to where it runs, drives, stops like a new car, but looks like a success. 63 Corvette. It is 6, $800,000.
- [110:12]
Jack
Wow.
- [110:13]
Hoovie
So now we live in a world where the customs, the restomods bring more than these blue chip collectible of the. Of the exact same car where 10 years ago you never would have imagined that a custom car would be anything. Usually like people are building custom cars to their taste, and it's like, ooh, they're LS swapping it. Oh, that's kind of gross. But now it's, it's a whole industry of these guys spending their entire year of their lives building one car to bring to Barrett Jackson where the detail is just off the charts. And there's even been one, this guy named Jeff Hayes, where he got a million dollars for a 63 Corvette custom, nothing special. It was a car that probably, you know, started life. Like the frame was rusted and the engine was not numbers matching. Probably something he bought for like 20, 30 grand as a shell and built it into this thing that the components itself probably cost him, you know, $200,000 at the most. But obviously the craftsmanship, the hours he put into it, unbelievable. Takes to sell and, and gets a million bucks. And you just, it's just unbelievable what, what people are paying for to have that old school retro look and experience, but it doesn't drive like one. And that, that's, that's the. Been the biggest trend change in the collector car market. As far as with Barrett Jackson.
- [111:26]
Jack
How often is it that people try to sell stolen cars?
- [111:29]
Hoovie
Oh, it's not, not too much of that, honestly. At least at these collector auctions because they do a lot of due dil and things. And also on the, on the collector cars they have experts that come in at least at Barrett Jackson and some of these things. And there's, there's an expert for Mopars, his name is Dave Weiss. And he comes in and he'll look at say, my Hemi Super Bird when I sold it a few years ago, and he'll check not just the VIN number and the engine number, all that stuff, but he's going to check all the hidden places and make sure all the stuff lines up. Because you can VIN swap, especially on the collector cars. You just cut it off and put another one on. You can do all these things and a lot of people will do this because, you know, like there's so many Hemi superbirds that exist. So if you can find one that was crashed and the VIN no longer exists, but then you take one and like swap the VINs and things. So there was shady stuff that went on years ago, but now with these panel of experts coming in, and that's one of the great things about Barry Jackson and some of these other auctions, There's a lot more due diligence as far as really getting into and inspecting. Like he literally crawled in the trunk of my car and was looking up the parcel shelf and making sure that that number matched what henny Superbird was and everything. So it's very fascinating in that sense to see that versus, you know, buying online. And there's not that level of inspection usually.
- [112:37]
Jack
So what's the chance right now that you're driving a stolen car?
- [112:41]
Hoovie
Oh, I mean, pretty low at this point. It's. It's really sad with older cars when you buy them and you hear the stories of somebody buying this car that's fresh, restored, then they go and register it in a different state and it comes back as stolen when they inspect and find a different VIN and this person paid the money and the car's taken away and it's returned to this rightful owner 30, 40 years later. But a lot of states have. Have changed and Kansas was one of them where they now the states talk to each other. So they'll do a VIN search when you register a car from out of state and they'll check to make sure it's not listed as stolen or the. Anything's different in a bunch of different states. So it's not as big of an issue as it used to be. Like, I'm from Kansas and it used to be a thing where you could get around and get some shady title stuff done, and now it's Oklahoma. I think that was still. You were able to do it for a while, but I think they finally closed that stuff up.
- [113:27]
Jack
What about the car you're driving right now?
- [113:29]
Hoovie
Oh, so the Turo rentals. So that. Yeah, that's in a fun part because you could steal.
- [113:33]
Jack
That sounded too good of a deal. Like, it's worried some to me. Even like when you said when. When you said that you rented a Ferrari 488 for three days for $800 with a. Like a newer account on Turo, I was like, what?
- [113:46]
Hoovie
So I always look for stuff like that on Turo to. To do reviews on the second channel while we travel. Because it makes sense to the. You write off the rental and also make sense a video and make money, all that stuff. So I tend to look for the deals and a lot of times when you are. You're new to Turo and you don't have many reviews yet you set it for a lower price to where you can get the rentals and the positive reviews and all that stuff. And I feel like that's what this is. So it has a temporary tag on it that's expired now by two weeks. And they told me at the beginning, hey, we don't have the title yet. So we're still on the expired tag.
- [114:13]
Jack
That Sounds shady because titles are given so quickly in.
- [114:18]
Hoovie
In Nevada. I don't know.
- [114:19]
Jack
In Kansas, in Nevada, what I did, because I accidentally registered one of my cars, like on the.
- [114:25]
Hoovie
It.
- [114:25]
Jack
It expired and they just give you a printout immediately. Like, as soon as you pay, they say, here's a PDF that you could print out of your current registration and your. All your stuff. There you go. And then we'll mail it to you. And it's usually a few days.
- [114:39]
Hoovie
Wow.
- [114:39]
Jack
So sometimes you have a PDF printout like.
- [114:42]
Hoovie
Well, yeah, I have the registration, so they registered it. So I have that. It's in there. They just haven't. Or they get. No, they bought it from the dealership. So I have the temporary. The dealer they bought it from from another state, I think. I don't. I don't know what's going on. It's. It's. Yeah, it's. It's definitely weird. I've done some where I get a Turo and it has like in California, just the dealer plate on the back and no registration. So it's like one guy was using his dealer inventory on Turo until he sold it, I think. I hope it wasn't stolen. But that's. That's the thing with rentals where, yeah, they can steal a car from a dealer lot or something like that. And there was one recently in Arizona that had 20, 30 stolen cars that he was putting out on Turo. And he was. Every single one of them was wrapped in and just color changed with a wrap or something like that to where obviously, like, that's my car on Turo. So they would. They would modify it enough to where it didn't look obviously like a stolen car. But obviously, eventually they figured out and broke up a huge theft ring there. Which is interesting because usually on the exotic cars, they just take them down to Mexico and the cartel guys drive them around. So it's weird that somebody was actually keeping them in the US and renting them on Turo because that's more the issue with exotics and stuff. Stolen cars right now is I need my Bugatti, my G63, my nice car shipped from this place to this place. And you put it out on a dispatch to get picked up on this brokerage called central dispatch. And the person that picks it up is a scammer, takes it, hauls it to Mexico. The car never shows up at its destination, and by the time you know something's wrong, it's already gotten out of the country. That. That's the huge issue right now. As Far as with car theft is it is in shipping and dealers selling a car to deliver to a customer and it disappears somewhere between there and ends up in Mexico. And there's a, you know, a cartel member like posting on Instagram with your Rolls Royce Cullinan that you're supposed to get in Florida. You know that that's, that's a huge epidemic right now.
- [116:28]
Jack
So I've seen on Facebook these incredible deals on cars. But then in the description it'll say, I don't have a title but we'll do a bill of sale. And I remember screwing up screenshotting this incredible Mercedes eqs and it was like fully loaded. I think it was even like a 580.
- [116:47]
Hoovie
Yeah.
- [116:48]
Jack
And they wanted like 20 grand for the car.
- [116:50]
Hoovie
Yes.
- [116:50]
Jack
And it was a sketchy guy who like was wearing one of those face mask sort of things where you just see like the slits of the eyes and then it's like covered like you're skiing almost.
- [116:59]
Hoovie
Yeah.
- [117:00]
Jack
Newer account. What's the scam in that? Like you buy the car. Like how does anyone get around that with that one?
- [117:07]
Hoovie
I feel like it's a car. Like the EQS was $110,000 car. I bought one for $34,000. Used, depreciated. It's just three or four years old. The depreciation, unreal. So the people that got stuck owning those cars are so far upside down that they want it to get stolen. They purposely have it stolen. Either that or a lot of times they will sell their, the car for as much as they can get with no title and they're already screwed anyway. So then, you know, then the car's gone. It's, it's, it's. Rather than getting it repoed and getting collections there, then obviously they have the car stolen by some different means and they can, they can collect on insurance that way. With, with people that had gap insurance, there was the old joke. If you were a car dealer and somebody was way upside down so they owed 10 or 20 grand more than their car is worth, he'd say, you know, you're not going to get hurt if you drive into a tree at about 30 miles an hour and you aim for the front row ride of the car, then it definitely totals it out and you get insurance and you have gap insurance that pays the negative equity and then you can get a new car. So that was, that was one thing.
- [118:10]
Jack
Where you can advise is that actually people do that.
- [118:13]
Hoovie
Ton of that. Yeah, ton of that. Especially the flood. One is the most Common if there is, if there is a flooded area, all kind of cars get showed up and parked there so they can get flooded and collect an insurance and get done. And in Florida it is, it is like a national pastime to like, where's the hurricane going to hit? Let's park it on the street. You know, know that, that's, that is a thing thousand percent.
- [118:32]
Jack
Cuz I've seen photos of these like really nice cars just in the middle of like the water or like something happens and I'm usually thinking, oh man, that's unfortunate. So you're saying that they're, they're looking.
- [118:44]
Hoovie
Forward to these oper who street parks their Ferrari on, You know, on the coast when a hurricane is coming, like nobody does that.
- [118:53]
Jack
Here's another one. I've seen people have videoed some of these cars, sports cars driving through like three feet of water.
- [119:01]
Hoovie
Yes.
- [119:02]
Jack
And I'm thinking, oh man, they must be stuck.
- [119:05]
Hoovie
Yes.
- [119:06]
Jack
That could be insurance of like, hey, I don't realize how deep it is. Oh, it's four feet. The car is kind of ruined. I drive out of this thing. Oh man.
- [119:15]
Hoovie
Yep. If you have a Ferrari SF90 that you paid $700,000 for and you got cap insurance or an agreed value insurance and there's a flood somewhere and you're $300,000 upside down, you're going to do it. The most famous one is the Bugatti Veyron that went to the lake. It's like the original viral video. You remember seeing it where the guy said it was a seagull and he just happened to be getting filmed by people going, oh my God, that's a Bugatti Veyron. And it just splashes into the ocean. It's one of the most famous insurance frauds ever. And this guy went to jail briefly for it because he, and he just got a little tight on money and he just wanted to collect insurance on his Bugatti and happened to be in Florida. I think that it was. Oh no, it was Galveston, Texas. It was still Florida adjacent. Close enough. And this guy just splashed it in there. So it, it is rampant. It's also frustrating because insurance rates on cars are so high now. And I feel like there's, there's a lot of fraud with that where that, that's definitely a factor in, in why insurance is, is pretty expensive.
- [120:10]
Graham
Now if you wanted to completely obliterate your personal finances, which cars would you buy?
- [120:17]
Hoovie
Well, I guess, yeah, every single new modern Ferrari and all that stuff. And he basically, yeah, going brand new Hard with a new Maybach or a new Rolls Royce Cullinan. Yeah, any, any of the McLarens, you know, all the, all the McLaren ones that are just unbelievable appreciation. Aston Martin's getting a $250,000 Aston Martin SUV and see it go down to like 80 in two years. Thousand dollars. It's crazy.
- [120:43]
Graham
So do the wealthiest people then buy these Aston Martins since they can stomach the depre, or are the wealthiest people just buying like the Cullinans and like the ridiculously expensive cars? Like a million dollar car even?
- [120:54]
Hoovie
Yeah, they're either so rich that they don't care or they're leasing them. And I think that's where, you know that it's a certain level I know obviously to sell cars, they're over allowing on that lease. And even these manufacturers don't even realize how bad they're losing their butts on, you know, the residual value of the cars. So they turn up in the lease returns with this massive depreciation. You hope like someone who did a $120,000 Mercedes EQS like we were talking about, if they leased it, they were okay, but if they bought it, they were smoked. They just totally smoked. And it's so funny because it's the same price as an S Class. And this is the electric S Class. The normal S class goes down about 60. These went down to 30. And you know, it's the electric car. It's.
- [121:32]
Jack
It's crazy because it doesn't look like an S Class.
- [121:34]
Graham
That's.
- [121:34]
Jack
No, it just looks like a weird kind of Prius Mercedes mashup.
- [121:39]
Hoovie
And the build quality isn't there. That was the other thing about, about me owning this car that was $120,000 worth, the same as a normal Mercedes S Class, which is the standard of the world for build quality. And I go and close the door. The door panel is loose and wiggly and my car was still under warranty, so I took it in the Mercedes dealer and said, hey, is this supposed to be right? And they're like, yeah. Unfortunately, that's a characteristic of the eqs where your door handle is loose and makes crunchy noises. Okay, that's not Mercedes quality. And so that was the other issue. I feel like with the car we.
- [122:13]
Graham
Have some rapid fire questions. Okay, so the first answer that comes to mind let us know, okay, which car has the most smiles per gallon?
- [122:22]
Hoovie
Miata.
- [122:23]
Graham
What's the best car ever made?
- [122:24]
Hoovie
300 cell gold wing.
- [122:26]
Graham
What's the worst car ever made? Do you go, what's the best daily driver.
- [122:30]
Hoovie
2005 Cadillac Escalade.
- [122:32]
Graham
What is the most Republican car?
- [122:34]
Hoovie
2005 Cadillac. No, not really. Yeah. Ford Raptors, probably big VA trucks.
- [122:42]
Graham
And what's the most liberal car?
- [122:43]
Hoovie
Most liberal car? The Prius.
- [122:45]
Graham
Unlimited money. Dream car.
- [122:48]
Hoovie
I did it. 300 or so going.
- [122:49]
Graham
That is truly it.
- [122:51]
Hoovie
Unlimited money, end all, be all. Dream car is always. Obviously, I'd love to have a car and then sell it for $10 million.
- [122:58]
Jack
But there's nothing even more than the McLaren F1.
- [123:00]
Hoovie
The McLaren F1 is an incredible machine. That is not something that I dreamed to own. I mean, it's so difficult, difficult to own and operate that car. The people that have it. As far as the, like, two techs in the world that fly around and fix it with a computer from 30 years ago, it's. Yeah.
- [123:14]
Graham
You might be the only car YouTuber to ever say that.
- [123:17]
Jack
That you.
- [123:18]
Graham
You did it.
- [123:18]
Hoovie
Yeah, I just. The 300 SL going was. That was. That was it for me. So I've done it. Yeah.
- [123:24]
Graham
Would you quit YouTube for $10 million post?
- [123:26]
Hoovie
Yes. Yes.
- [123:29]
Graham
You didn't even think about it.
- [123:32]
Hoovie
Yes. Yep. I think what I've achieved, I'm proud of it. I'm happy. I understand the ones that have gone out on top and not had this decline or become irrelevant. The Batman theme has always thought in my head, where you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain. And I've seen a little bit of that as I've gotten bigger and bought all the fancy cars and getting a little bougie and fancier for my aud and seeing them not react well to it. And like you, in the end, you want. You want your content to resonate with your audience and find it interesting. And I definitely alienated a lot of my core audience by going that fancy. And, yeah, I feel like I could. If someone said you get $10 million post tax at the end of the year and so you have this year to just do your best work, that would be a very freeing thing. I would. I would love to. That would be. I would be. Okay.
- [124:33]
Graham
What is your least favorite part about your job?
- [124:36]
Hoovie
Unlike a lot of other YouTubers, since I'm turning 40 this year, I've worked a lot of other jobs. I worked, like, real jobs before this. I was literally flipping burgers. I was teaching people how to flip burgers and opening Freddy's frozen custard stores. I was in operations for fast food. And that is so hard. That is so much work. Working as a car dealer, a car salesman. That is A constant grind you are constantly on. You're constantly thinking about Salem, making a sale, following up with customers and all that stuff. Like, it's, there's. There, there's. Every job is, is hard. So, like, yes, YouTube is hard, but compared to the things that I've done with my life before, it, it's, it's so much easier. Like, the, the kids that came up on TikTok and like, had YouTube and had no job before that, they, they, they don't understand, like, how hard the real world is for people. And that's, that's the other part where, like, I was, when I realized I was alienating my audience were like, I'm complaining about the repair cost on something that's so ridiculous that they'd never imagine to have. And like, oh, woe is me. I can't fix my Bugatti. Oh, no. Where they're like, I can't make rent next month. Like, this isn't entertaining to me. This guy's upset about his Bugatti and his car payments and all this stuff because he's, because he's over overextended himself. And like, I'm barely making it paycheck to paycheck right now. So I totally understand, you know, where my audience was coming from. Where, where I was, I was making some people mad at me.
- [125:56]
Graham
What would you say is the secret to a good life?
- [125:59]
Hoovie
The first, the having that foundation of, of a stable home and happy kids and not settling. That's where, like, what I have now I appreciate so much. I appreciate my wife and, and my kids and that dog, like, oh, man, that dog was unbelievable. Amazing. You know, so, like, just, just. Yes, you want all these things. You want all these shiny things. And you see people on YouTube wanting, like, having all this stuff that you don't have. And it just, it's frustrating, but. But that you don't need to focus on it like that. Finding the right person that works and not settling for something less than that with, with your personal life and, and settling for, you know, focusing on work and, and all the other stuff that just doesn't matter versus having, you know, a stable, happy home to come home to and just, just someone that, that just loves you deeply and unconditionally and as many people as you can gather that are in your camp, like, that is just so important.
- [126:58]
Graham
So here we have a tier list of car YouTubers.
- [127:01]
Hoovie
Oh, I like.
- [127:02]
Graham
So we're trying to farm some drama here. I want some harsh takes. I want to see a couple people in that f Tier.
- [127:08]
Hoovie
Yes. So, yeah, nobody is. Is bold enough to go, like, this person sucks, man. I. Okay, so is for build. He is amazing. And, you know, the adversity he's going through with his cancer and all that stuff. I would put him right here. He does a lot more JDM stuff for me. So, like. Like the kind of stuff that I'm not into, but. But the builds is similar to what I do as far as, like, this. This hopeless thing that he's gone through and rebuilt. And it's very interesting there. Cletus. I am not into the. The, you know, American street racing stuff as much and obviously incredible empire building there and don't follow NASCAR quite as much. So, like. But I love that he has, like, a character and a personality, so I probably do this a little faster. I'm gonna put him there just because, like, I love his personality. His character. The content just isn't where I'm at. Dde. So I would put them probably at A. I'd put them up at A. Because I love that they actually use the cars and beat the heck out of them. The confrontational stuff, I'm not that into. Yeah. Like when they get in police car, fight with the cops and all that stuff like that. Like, that's sort of not my thing, but I just love the ownership experience of the stuff. But the confrontational things, like that kind of clickbait aspect of it. It's good. It's good stuff. B is good, right? I mean, maybe be a little harsh.
- [128:30]
Jack
He's fine. No, be harsh.
- [128:32]
Graham
B is good. Yeah.
- [128:33]
Jack
Be harsh.
- [128:33]
Hoovie
Yeah. James Pumphrey is no longer with Donut. When he left, I'm putting Donut down there because they got bought up by Private Equity. And you could tell that these people are just getting forced and, like, foot on the gas and really hard, like I do. And they brought in a whole new swath of people, and it was like a casting call for actors. And there's some. There was some great stuff back years ago before all this happened and Private Equity came in and properly ruined that channel. There's still. There's still. There's some bright spots. Maybe that's a little harsh, but I.
- [129:04]
Graham
We need some Fs.
- [129:05]
Hoovie
I put them down. I have no idea idea who this guy is.
- [129:08]
Graham
Who's that?
- [129:08]
Hoovie
He's Doug.
- [129:10]
Graham
That's Doug Vargo.
- [129:12]
Hoovie
I have no idea.
- [129:13]
Graham
So he does this series. I explained the same thing to Doug demuro, but I think Doug had actually recognized him. He's the guy that flipping cars until I can afford My dream car.
- [129:22]
Hoovie
Okay.
- [129:23]
Graham
He's, he does that series. It's like every video is getting like half a million views.
- [129:26]
Hoovie
That's great. I mean, I, it's great content you should look at. There's other YouTubers that have done that before. There's, there's other ones that. But obviously he's, he's successful. I see that he has the hair that the kids like, you know, a little bit that broccoli had stuff that he definitely helps. So that's, that's gonna.
- [129:40]
Jack
Maybe you could bring back that haircut that.
- [129:42]
Hoovie
The broccoli hair is definitely fascinating. I had, I had the Bieber do 20 years ago, so that's pretty good. I don't know who he is, so should I put it in F like or should I just give him a. Okay, so I don't know. Ed Bolan, Mr. Ed Bullion. I would put him up here. Well, somewhere in between these two, I would put Ed Bullion because, you know, he needs to, he needs to do different things with Vinwiki. I feel like his. As far as. And he knows this. He knows that to take Ben Wiki to the next level, he needs to chase those guests and a lot of big car guys and then things take a show on the road, go to California, do all these things. But he's like me that also is content with his family life and what he has that he doesn't need to go to California and chase celebrities and set up a satellite studio there and a bunch of travel and stuff. So he's very content with where his life is and his stories are great. But I just. Obviously he is not going to like the crazy level now. So A. I haven't put anybod way up there yet. Me at this point in my life, I think in the last couple of years, I've probably gone down to here. Maybe, maybe Cletus, I don't know.
- [130:46]
Graham
Oh, come on.
- [130:47]
Hoovie
I think, I think that I got away from myself a little bit and I, I, I would love to get myself back up to this place. There was a period of time where I was on top of the world, but I think, I think right now I'm probably here in the living. Long enough to see yourself become a villain. I think so. And I'm trying to work myself out of that and also not seeing myself as a total villain. So. Shmee. Shmee is so consistent. So, so consistent. I put him up here, but he hasn't done anything insane. Huge man. A YouTuber specking out a 4Gt new 4Gt five years ago, like a YouTuber being able to do that, that was so amazing. But as far as like on top of the world right now, Steve Hamilton, I feel like, you know, it's a tool to prepare, promote his business. So it's not really a YouTuber. It's cool stuff that he's sharing all this stuff and really enjoys the cars and all that stuff. But, but it feels like, like I need to like do this to sell things. Put him, I put him here. I put him here. Stradman. Stradman's still up there. He's still like grinding super hard. And the thing that he's accomplished lately as far as like rebuilding an F12, Michael Jordan's F12B Jordan's F12 in his garage and, and all this stuff, like he is still killing it and his dad's truck, all that stuff recently. I love it, totally love it. Supercar Blondie, very commercial now. A lot of people, a big team around it. So it's not. Am I doing this too slow? I'm sorry. I'm actually thinking about it. Yeah, I put him, I put her with me because yeah, it's about the same. Freddy, obviously he needs to post a lot more. He's killing in it. If he could, if he could get.
- [132:25]
Jack
A couple of people that, with that email12mail.com.
- [132:32]
Hoovie
If he had someone help him manage the business and then someone help him where like to be consistent with the, the wrenching and all that stuff, he'd be up there. So right now I'd put him here. TJ Hunt is all tuner drifting stuff. I don't, I don't really like. I, it's all, it's all interesting, but it's just not in my world. Parker, I know Parker well. You know, Parker obviously had his thing similar to me where I feel like, you know, like he had a little crisis and he's dealt with it and he's come back and he's still really happy and positive and all that stuff. So I put him there with me probably right now whistling Diesel. I want to put him up here, but I also don't know if he's self aware enough to realize like the position that he is in. I, I would love, like we've talked, you guys talked about this with Doug, how much it would be amazing for you guys to go through and dissect him and really get into him and, and like if we know if this is a character, this whistle and Diesel is a character like where he's this ego and his bravado and all this stuff. But is he in real life not.
- [133:37]
Jack
But that's the mystery of it. That's why so many people want. I think if he revealed anything either way and I don't think it would help him.
- [133:43]
Hoovie
I think that he could be. It feels like the success has gone to his head a little bit and it's been harder to watch versus a couple years ago where like he's destroying a car and clearly doesn't care and it's so funny and, and just like he just clearly doesn't care about his audience or anything else and, and obviously loves like making the trolls and the people even angrier at him and feeding into that hate. And it was so good. But now like I feel like he's gotten. Gotten to so big in his britches that there might be a little bit of ego there, but I could be totally, totally wrong. Where's Doug, Daddy?
- [134:16]
Graham
I know. Well, we. This is the same tier list that we've used for previous videos. And so like we just kind of.
- [134:21]
Hoovie
Oh, so just imagine Daddy. I would put in A minus to B probably, probably because obviously like his content, like it had to be more focused for cars and bids and now he has people that he has to answer to and all that stuff and put out more content, do more videos that maybe he wouldn't do because the car is being sold on cars and bids. So that dings him a little bit. But obviously I still put him in an A, A who.
- [134:44]
Graham
Who would you say are the Mount Rushmore of car YouTubers?
- [134:48]
Hoovie
Mount Rushmore that paved the way. The four that paved the way. So it would be Doug Demiro, obviously it would be sob Kyle04 I think. So he's going around and doing little walk around videos with cars and all that stuff. So he's Jay Leno's garage. Definitely. As far as somebody having a collection and sharing it to that level that he does that, that is definitely a mountain rush for. And also legitimizing YouTube. Like Jaylen was on this with his collection, showing his cars. He's not doing that. Obviously. He had his TV show after that, but. And the fourth one, the fourth one who's been around forever. The Strat. Yeah, I think Stratus Solomon quit and like he had.
- [135:32]
Jack
Yeah, but he made that whole supercar thing. He was the one that got that Pagani delivered and that was groundbreaking video on YouTube.
- [135:39]
Hoovie
He did. But I think Stradman would be the fourth one because he was the first guy to say like Lamborghini, Gallardo at 20 years old, that type of thing and that like a kid stretching with his YouTube money to get into supercars.
- [135:51]
Graham
I feel like he sort of like was the pioneer.
- [135:53]
Hoovie
Him and him and vehicle virgins both bought Garos around the same time. But I feel like Stradman was the one that went from that to like Veyron and all that stuff during that period. So he's, he's probably the best known one to do it now. That's still around. So that, that would be my four for sure.
- [136:07]
Graham
Thank you so much for coming on the Iced Coffee hour, guys.
- [136:10]
Jack
Thank.
- [136:10]
Graham
His life is extremely busy right now and yet he still carved out time to come on this podcast. So we are endlessly, of course, grateful. Thank you so much for coming on the show. We're excited to go get some food after this. And to all the viewers out there, thank you so, so, so, so much. We could not do this without you, of course. So we are endlessly grateful for you as well.
- [136:27]
Jack
Big thank you also to our members who get these videos a lot of little early without any sensors, without any sponsors, no ads, no nothing. Big thank you to that. Really appreciate. And I'm responding to all the comments so you get me responding to you right now. Do you want the email? Do you want who we need? No, you don't need help.
- [136:46]
Graham
He doesn't need help.
- [136:47]
Hoovie
I don't need help. I don't have a staff. I tried having some people, it doesn't work. I just, I like being me.
- [136:53]
Graham
You are the only car YouTuber that does not need help.
- [136:55]
Hoovie
No, not. I guess not. I do, but no, thank you. Appreciate it.
- [136:59]
Jack
Not that type out.
- [137:00]
Hoovie
No, no.
- [137:00]
Graham
Thank you guys so much for watching. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Until next time, see.