The MuscleCar Place

This weeks show is with Tim Kollasch from Alumna Trailers, an Iowa company that makes arguably the best aluminum car trailers on the market for collectors, enthusiasts, and gearheads likes us! They pioneered many of the designs that are now common place, have quality open, tilt, and enclosed trailers, and do so with all aluminum designs that stand the test of time without rusting out in the first 5 years!

This episode presented by Title Sponsor National Parts Depot! https://www.npdlink.com This weeks show is with Fred Kappus, owner of Fast Freddies Rod Shop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Fred's shop is campaigning a stellar '69 Road Runner called "Hellrunner" in the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Cars series, with it competing really well against the smaller (and more prevalent) Camaros and Mustangs. This is akin to an aircraft carrier competing against fighter jets.... but they're doing it and doing it well and I wanted to learn exactly HOW! This episode also supported by associate sponsors Wyotech https://www.wyotech.edu, Holley https://www.holley.com, and Aluma Trailers https://www.alumaklm.com

Subscribe in iTunes Listen in Stitcher Listen on Google Play ====================================================== FEATURE INTERVIEW: Blane Burnett Holley’s House of Speed – Fuel Injection, Carbs, Ignition, Exhaust, and Super Coolness! This weeks show is with Blane Burnett, the Advertising and P.R. Supervisor at Holley Performance. Blane is a previous guest from our 2016 SEMA Show Special and […]

This weeks show is with Kevin Hellman, the Dodge Challenger brand manager.   He was previously on the show in episode 403 as a part of the Roadkill Nights episode but I wanted to find out more about keeping the classic muscle style cars alive in new car packages. Kevin grew up playing with almost anything with an engine just outside of St Louis Mo. He headed into college knowing he wanted to work in engineering but was not sure what. He added his Bachelor in Business later so he could know how to be a better brand manager. Kevin mentioned that the brand manager position is like being at the center of a wheel where all of the aspects of a brand radiate out and the manager is facilitating the connections making sure everyone communicates. Classic cars have always been an extension of ones personality and the current line of muscle cars is no different. Kevin noticed that many people make their twitter handles or email addresses a description of their car and think that owners love and identify with their vehicles on a basic level. Dodge is working hard to keep the personal choices coming with eye catching colors like GoMango or Plum Crazy and performance options like the Hellcat and wide body packages.

This weeks show is with Jordan Zlotoff, the Chief Executive Officer of the M1 Concourse in Pontiac Michigan. Perhaps just a few years ago not many people had heard of the M1. Today however, times have changed! Thanks to a multiple great events and it's strategic placement near the automotive capital of the world, the M1 is gaining international attention. We were onsite at the recent (and massive) Roadkill nights event there as mentioned in Episode 403. Jordan is leading the way on the high visibility of this fantastic place and I wanted to find out more about it.

This weeks show is with WyoTech President and CEO Jim Mathis along with the VP of Admissions Troy Chaney. Founded in Laramie in 1966, WyoTech provides concentrated training programs  such as Automotive Technology, Collision Refinishing Technology, Diesel Technology, Interior, Restoration and performance, and other areas as well. Jim is a graduate of WyoTech and previously held the office of President up until 2002. Wyotech has changed ownership over the years, but Jim was able to purchase the school just a few years ago and returned back into family owned hands. He intends to keep it that way. For those that have ever considered attending an automotive trade program this will be a MUST LISTEN TO interview.

This weeks show is with Dan Cheveralls, an engineer at a tools company and a fellow Dukes of Hazzard fan. His experience as a product development engineer brought him into the fold of using 3D printing for the development and evaluation of new products, and he has successfully integrated this into his personal life by creating "one-off" parts for his own restoration projects. Since the viability of 3D printing has been a common question as of late I asked him on the show to share the process! On this edition of Ask Rick we dug into the opposite side of the 3D "one off" discussion and jumped full bore into the process, timeline, and (frankly) large expense of mass market restoration part manufacturing! I wanted to know about some of the intricacies surrounding the creation and sourcing of a new part.

In this weeks show we sent The MuscleCar Place staff writer Scott Stap to Pontiac, Michigan to attend the amazing Roadkill Nights event, presented by Dodge! Listen in for feature interviews with Kevin Hellman (Dodge Brand Manager), John Hammer (Dodge Experiential Manager), and Roadkill's own David Freiburger & Mike Finnegan!

This weeks show is with Cody Young, owner and operator of Cody Crafted specialty shop. Cody grew up with a passion for cars and speed, which led him into racing and building race cars. He traveled around and did some wrenching or sales as well as stand in racing for some teams. After years of living life in the fast lane, it was time to settle down and pick a reliable job to support his family. Cody started working in a dealership and after a few years there, he realized that the Saturday hours were causing him to miss his boys growing up. His realization that life was slipping through his fingers, he knew it was time to start his own business so he could call the shots. After working in a fab shop, to learn how to do the work, he started Cody Crafted and is able to spend time with family while still building vehicles that fire his passion. Check out Episode 359 where I talked to Jeff Teel from Holley regarding the Terminator Stealth fuel injection system. This system looks like the old school Holley carb just like what was used on the General Lee. I have been talking about installing this injection system since even before the Kibbe Lee was purchased. Cody, being the consummate listener, noticed that I had a lot going on and he thought that this is his time to step up and lend a hand. He has installed a few different injection systems in various cars and trucks and knew that he could help out with a little expertise. I greatly appreciate the offer to help and thought I should have him on the show to learn more about CodyCrafted. If you would like to know more about Cody and what CodyCrafted can do for you, check out his page at CodyCrafted.com or on Instagram.com/codycrafted. You can keep up with the latest happenings on Facebook.com/CodyCrafted.

This weeks episode features a full show dedicated to a catch up on e-mails as well as our popular "Ask Rick" segment to discuss the two best things in car life: road trips, and buying cars on road trips! That led to the discussion of purchasing two of his dream cars as well; his '67 GTO and his 1969 Boss 429 Mustang. In the case of the Boss, it was his lifelong dream car. He had a feeling that prices were only going up so he borrowed some cash from his sister and put the deal together. Listen in to find out how prophetic that decision was....for both the GTO and the Boss!

This weeks show features the return of Jeff Allison, Owner and operator of Allison Customs, Airline Pilot, and You Tube sensation. I asked Jeff to be on the show as a fitting tribute as to how far the show (and Jeff) have come in the last 400 episodes. Back in episode 72 (Feb 2011) I announced that the Chevelle was going to be built and that Jeff had offered to build it for me. Since then it has not only been an amazing experience with the car but a fun journey with a great friend.  For a long time Jeff Allison ran a construction company as his main source of income and flew airplanes as a side business and had dreams of owning a hot rod shop. Jeff eventually moved up to captain and dropped building houses but now had time to work on cars as the side job. He said that eventually he wants to retire from flying and go full time in the custom business. The automotive jobs he takes are never rush jobs and the customers understand that it may take awhile since this is not the main source of income. Jeff Allison, Scott Bowers, Rob Kibbe, in the Ron Francis Booth As a car enthusiast, Jeff liked to fill his down time with automotive information and The Muscle Car Place became one of his main sources of entertainment. In January of 2011 Jeff offered to help bring my Chevelle dreams to life and so began a great friendship. The build was featured start to finish on The Muscle Car Place and over the next four years it went from mostly rust to a stunning SEMA show car that attracted attention for TMCP and Allison Customs as well as Ron Francis Wiring who hosted the car in their booth. Today I use the Chevelle as intended as an autocross car and it attracts attention where ever I drive it.

This week our guest was Seth Withers, our brand new sales director for The MuscleCar Place Network of shows. After ten years of building our network shows the shows to an amazing level of production and content, I knew that to achieve our goal of "big time" it would require a full time Sales Sales Director to place over the entire network. This person had to have a sales track record, be a real car guy or gal already, be a fit with out existing team, and (most importantly) be a true believer in our podast network already. As always, I asked my existing listeners for help....and Seth was the fit we needed. He is a long time listener of both The MuscleCar Place and the Kibbe and Friends show and he is anxious to start working with the team. He began a few months ago and we're now going public with it! Pro-Touring Update with Larry Callahan: Good Guys Columbus and Des Moines results, APOLLO Astronaut Corvette's, and the never ending saga of his '68 Camaro!

Happy 4th of July, 2019! This week our guest was Rick Love, the executive vice president of Vintage Air, manufacturer extraordinaire of cutting edge air conditioning retrofit products. Listen in to hear how and why they make everything - even their plastic - in house! Plus, hear what the NUMBER ONE issue that occurs after a Vintage Air installation (hint - it has to do with the way the system is charged).

This week our guest was Joe Opperman, Director Public Relations and Marketing at the Iola Car Show and Swap Meet in Iola Wisconsin. Iola is a very small mid-western town that once a year transforms into a massive car show that hosts around 120,000 people and is considered one of the best in world. Joe says he has worked with the show for around 29 years, and he is only 33. If you live in Iola you will either be working for the show or have left town for that week. It is a full community effort to put on the event.

This week I traveled to Warren Customs in Hamilton Alabama to hang out with Nathan Warren and pickup my freshly updated General Lee! I dropped the car off in January for the full "Season 2" Dukes of Hazzard conversion and after months of hard work he was ready to roll. Last week, he was done! This is the whole story of the restoration, soup to nuts. Even before I purchased  this car, Nathan had offered to be the one to do the work to make my dream come true. Creating this particular car seemed easy....but was really tricky as most of the subtle changes were fairly major.  Other than the fact that my car was already orange and wearing the GL uniform, cosmetically almost everything else had to change. In episode 353 of The Muscle Car Place I did the first full interview with Nathan where we detailed the plans how to make it as TV correct as it could get. Little did I know that things would go way beyond our simple plans. Kibbe Lee correct brown interior The General Lee is as much a character in The Dukes Of Hazzard show as any other cast member. Like most actors the role changes and the actor looks different over several years of filming. To be as accurate as it can be, a specific season had to be chosen and I chose to make the car a season two clone with all the oddities that time had to offer. Nathan was more than up to the challenge and even has parts he can make for other General Lee creators out there. One piece that REALLY pulls off the "Season 2" look is the amazing push bar that is the most accurate recreation I have seen. In order to make it that great it had to go through a couple iterations, and change more, even after it looked correct at first. There is a lot of work in any restoration but Nathan admitted that in some cases he made more work for himself by striving for the most accurate representation possible. Customers in his shop agree that he is a stickler and they trust him to make the job right.