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HEATSOAKED is a Florida-based car culture podcast hosted by Cris and KT - two 30-something year old car nuts who live the stories they talk about. What started as two friends having late-night conversation about dream builds, blown budgets, and heat soaked engines turned into a platform for the culture that raised them.
This isn't about perfect cars or polished influencer content. It's about the grind behind the build. Cris and KT bring real conversations about the 90s and 2000s era tuner scene, passion-built machines, and the culture that keeps them alive. Every episode dives into the journey of a typical gearhead; including the victories, mistakes, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps the culture moving.
HEATSOAKED - because nobody remembers the cool nights.
KT (00:02)
Hey, what's up everyone? Welcome to another episode of Heat Soaked. I'm KT. That's Cris right there. ⁓ And yeah, we're Heat Soaked and before we get into it, we actually got this made today.
Cris (00:08)
What's up guys?
Yeah, we got some stickers. We're starting out. We're rolling, man. man.
KT (00:19)
We're on our way.
So before we get into it, what's up with you?
Cris (00:27)
Oh
man, nothing crazy man. It's cold as hell out here man. I hear you It's one of the colder scenes What is it? It was 20 something under 20 something degrees last night for the first time in Florida in a while Yeah, very rare. So, you know usually getting down here getting into the 30s is rare. So getting colder down here man is definitely loving I'm sure the cars are loving it, you know All that dense air getting into that get into those areas. So
KT (00:40)
That's rare.
⁓
So no, he's soaked.
Cris (00:57)
Yeah
man, no heat soak at the moment but I'm sure it's gonna come back. Growing up in Miami we sure have the heat and those guys down there, the coldest they got was like 50, 60 so, 40s maybe. That's it man, how you been?
KT (01:13)
Good, making progress on this guy. Yeah. ⁓ I the fuel system in a while ago, working on getting the rear subframe back in. I put together my differential, so I replaced some axle seals. I resealed it up like after cracking it open, just checking in, making sure I didn't have any like broken teeth or anything within my differential. So that thing sealed back up. I was just going to paint it a little bit, assemble it back on to my subframe. I got some poly bushings. ⁓
Cris (01:16)
Yeah.
KT (01:42)
And then Subframe is going to go back in the car soon.
Cris (01:44)
Gotcha man. you guys want see that subframe man, reinstall, you want to see what the underneath of this bad boy looks like. It is like a wet dream for any car mechanic going down there. So hit that comment button guys, hit that subscribe. We'll go ahead and see if we can get that added on. But man, what are we talking about today? Let's talk about it. It's one of those crazy things, man. So I grew up a little bit around the world, man. But it's one of those things where I mainly grew up in Miami. Miami was called home.
bright lights, the crazy music, the trumpets going crazy. You know, you wake up, you go to a, you know, cafe and you have a coffee in the morning with a pastelito, you know, you hang out and all the families all around. You hang out with your cousins, man. But let's talk about the cars. Yeah. Man, Miami was a crazy scene. It was one of those things where, you know, all of the old school guys back in the nineties, the kids of the
you know, 70s and 80s, they all had the muscle, old school muscle, still a big deal down in Miami if you have the classics, all the open shirts, know, little chest hair everywhere, the gold chains, man, that's the style down there, man. But having one of those and knowing a guy with a nice old school muscle car, man, that's one of those things. for example, my family had a 67 Mustang Fastback in green.
It was beautiful and my I I had to get rid of it at one point so It's definitely a miss but on the other side of that scene. I didn't grow up anywhere. There was snow
KT (03:23)
Yeah, I was born and raised up north, ⁓ so Philadelphia, Pennsylvania if you guys don't know, but ⁓ a thousand miles away from Orlando.
Cris (03:26)
So let's talk about where you're at.
Philadelphia's
are there. Let's talk about that. Let's pause for a minute and really have a discussion. Sorry, you told me that earlier. I had to say something.
KT (03:43)
You
But ⁓ there were some similarities, but honestly being over a thousand miles away, even though Philly, Miami, both East Coast cities, regionally we're different.
Cris (03:59)
100 % absolutely we had beachside meets and neon civics early on you know we had new round cruising I'm sure you know you guys had you know
KT (04:09)
deal with all the weather elements. ⁓ We had snow. We also had really hot, humid days just like here in Florida. But yeah, the culture there was kind of different. being in a big city and being in that densely populated geographical area up there, you have Philly, New York, Baltimore, DC. It's a lot of big cities up there.
Car culture was really big up there. For me, what I noticed most was the tuning car culture. And that's why I am in this particular era of cars, tuning cars. So, EVOs are really big up there when I was growing probably in the late 2000s when I really had the ability to take notice and afford cars and like look at them rather than being like a child.
Cris (04:57)
started interacting more than usual.
KT (05:01)
Yeah, exactly. So ⁓ Evo 8s, Evo 9s, all-wheel drive power up there. So you had a ton of STIs, WRXs floating around up there. It's a lot different compared to what you're saying with all your muscle cars and your neon light civics down here. And granted, we still had civics. We had muscle cars up there. But I think the climate dictated a lot of
the culture up there as well. So a lot of all-wheel drive vehicles up there. You had a lot of Audis, S4s, A4s, like I mentioned, the WRXs, STIs, the Evos. was still that unique culture up there. And people still were gravitating to just cars in general. Now, that was also like
20 years ago, so I know our car culture has evolved since then. Absolutely. But let's get into it specifically. Let's talk about today. Let's talk about tuner car culture. And let's also talk about what you had mentioned, the muscle car culture.
Cris (06:01)
I think there's something I always want to ask people. like, guys, what was your first car obsession? Was it muscle? Was it import? Was it European? there's all these styles and all these ⁓ types. I grew up around muscle. KT grew up around imports and washing each other. And of course, I I got a joke with you, must have really sucked for cruising around.
Because there's really nothing you can do when it gets that cold out there, you know?
KT (06:32)
Once the snow hit the ground, if you had an all-wheel-drive car, you could have some good fun. And even with a rear-wheel drive, you know, a snowy parking lot.
Cris (06:40)
⁓ yeah, you had that fun man. Well, I mean, I guess we had the rain on one hand and we didn't need neon lights to find our cars at night because everyone decided that bright orange was the best color.
KT (06:52)
We had to deal with rust buckets
Cris (06:54)
Yeah,
that's true. That's true. You guys have the snow, the salt.
KT (06:58)
the
salt that they put down on the road and yeah
Cris (07:02)
If
you lived in Miami and you have a sea spray, anytime you live near the water, that's the same kind of thing. It's just a different kind. It usually gets on paint, but you'll see it underneath if you drive near like the beaches, stuff like that. But what's the first thing that comes to your mind when we talk about muscle cars and inboard cars? For me, muscle cars, it's raw V8 power. It's that American heritage, good old US of A, know, it's drag racing. It's exactly big motors.
KT (07:25)
straight line speed
loud noises
Cris (07:29)
steel, know, yeah, the burning tire and every light in the not independent axles. You're looking at one solid axle on these drum brakes, you know, carburetors, all the fun stuff, man. That's it. That's what I think of when I think of muscle.
KT (07:45)
Yeah, that's the stereotype. And then on the flip import cars, specifically like JDM import cars. we're talking about typically smaller compact vehicles. was a time where front wheel drive was a big thing. Front wheel drive, but all the drive trains, but they're typically smaller engines too. But turbos slapped onto them.
or just high revving four cylinder engines like your Civics and S2000s VTEC, know? Typically, people associate those import cars with precision driving. So we're talking about like track driving, even drifting in comparison to your muscle cars that are like straight line drag strip type cars. So the contracts is it's almost like a night and day contrast. But once we kind of like dive into it, you realize
Cris (08:16)
It
KT (08:37)
It's really not that different, honestly.
Cris (08:41)
I mean, you're right. It's really not like, is it weird growing up in a car scene where I've seen like a 69 Camaro right across the street from a Civic with green lighting underneath because they watched Fast and the Furious once. They were like, this is it. This is my moment to shine. know? Yes. Is it weird? Yes. Absolutely. But it's, one of those things where, you know,
KT (08:59)
Hahaha
Cris (09:03)
I think about all the things that muscle taught me. The first thing you think of muscle is superchargers, stripes, headers. You don't think about all the induction types, or don't think about coilovers or neon lights. All that stuff was for those kids in those things. That was me. That was my style. So having family that loved those muscle cars and growing up.
looking at 67 GTOs and 65 Mustangs and looking at just beautiful, beautiful cars. We're talking about the old steel body cars with just big old motors, man. It was just what it was. The Impalas, the everything. I can just think of a million cars I could name.
KT (09:50)
I think you're hinting at it, but it's kind of generational. It is. So you're talking about 60s, 70s muscle cars. Absolutely. And we were talking earlier and the focus of our podcast is like 90s and 2000s. explain to me. So obviously a 60s, 70s muscle car on paper is different than a 90s, 2000s like tuner car. But in reality, like what is so different about them?
Cris (10:20)
dude, you're talking about like... Man. Alright, so I guess back in the day, right when our parents were growing up, or when they were getting their first jobs and finishing high school, 60s and 70s were going around. So like, they were building these cars, these giant steel, you know, ⁓ machines that are running around. V8s were the rave. You know, if you didn't have a V8, you just didn't have enough power.
You talk about luxury, talk about when you had a... These are times when all the windows were, you know, you had to roll them down manually, you know. had to, you know, sometimes your tack gauge was on it, for example, on a GTO outside on your hood, you know. You're talking about the culture of just the boomers, you know. This is a culture of hard work, hard earned. Back when houses were $90,000, $80,000.
and a car was maybe three or four grand. Yeah. And you could buy a brand new one off the lot for that. And it's just the craziest thing you've ever think of. But when I think about muscle, right, I think about that old Miami feel, old Miami style of like there's ⁓ there's, you know, lots of so my family is, you know, Cuban. So it's like it's different. But growing up in that style, you have, you know, everybody growing up pulling into a yard.
Some of the clunkers are still running, all the uncles underneath the car or underneath the hood, trying to work on it, trying to tune that carburetor, trying to make sure that of course us watching and being like, what's that? know, let's turn, you know, and starting to learn what a wrench is. Growing up in shops, things like that are what muscle remind me of raw, loud V8 power and just steel bodies. Dude, you could take out a building with your car and your car might have a broken bumper.
Like, but.
KT (12:14)
The common element between them and the time period that we're talking about is still the fact that people are wrenching on these cars, whether they're wrenching on a 50 year old car or a 30 year old car, it's still a physical engine. It may have four less cylinders in it. But yeah, but you're still they're still turning a wrench. They're still crawling under this changing fluids. And I think that's that's what's
kind of cool about the car culture in general, As the car culture evolves from muscle era to tuner era to eventually like EV, hybrid era, there's still this group of people that have this one thing in common, which is fixing something, messing around with something, making something look cool, personalizing it. ⁓ Personally, me, the muscle era was just something that I've never gotten into. And you know it.
by now, but I'm kind of like into aesthetics a lot. And I just, it was just the aesthetic of that era. It wasn't really for me. You know, I can appreciate the design language back then, but not for me, I think overall, like when we talk about that era, there are certain things remind us of what that is. So you had mentioned V8 engines.
loud noises, but let's get into like the 90s and 2000s era cars. So what about those cars in particular that kind of like set off that era and how does it contrast?
Cris (13:48)
Man, okay, so I think I want to make this similarity, right? Like when we talk about motors nowadays, like we're getting back into the era now where more is not better, right? We're looking at hybrids, we're looking at electric cars. So our generation now is going through something a little different or something a little similar. Yeah, efficiency. then, more was just better. Like you had a 6.6 liter V8,
KT (14:08)
world about efficiency.
Cris (14:16)
you know, replacing three, three 89s. They only had 335 horsepower, maybe a four barrel carburetor on it. if you want a high output and these things are, we had like three speed hydromatic automatic transmission. So like literally it's a three speed. Yeah, it's, it's, it was all about the beauty about, of, ⁓ how beautiful you can turn steel around and how you can make it bubble and things like
KT (14:33)
can fuel
I think there's a lot of simplicity involved in it, but not in a basic dumb way. It's just simple in that it was easy to produce, easy to work on.
Cris (14:54)
It
was there was parts aplenty you can stop by anywhere and probably get a part to be honest and somebody could sneeze and a part would appear like yeah There's just the similar parts were everywhere So it's like very interesting when you see it But growing up and seeing that similarity that you're pointing out, you know And then seeing like one of these parked on the curb, you know and beautiful beautiful red, you know for example I say GTO a lot because it's one of my it's one of ones that are near and dear to my heart but a 67 GTO, you know
parked in red with a, you know, white or black top. And then you see a Civic right across the street. Back then, like, you just, you followed what your parents kind of told you and you had what your uncles and your cousins thought was cool. And back then I was like, man, that's awesome. But then I look over after I see Fast and Furious and I'm like, that's kind of, I can't say no, I'm not, you know, but it's kind of cool. You know, you see the green lights, but I think it's the first time you saw like,
For example, if you're ever on a track or ever on anything like that and you saw like a 240SX with engine mods, Vita Camaro, as you were standing on the strip getting ice cream, you're like, there's another world to this? There's horror? What's your first time in Philly seeing an old school car compared? It's one of those crazy moments where I'm sure you saw them around, but they were like the unicorns and you weren't really looking. You looking at the other side. That's kind of where...
For me, like, muscle versus import has a different place because I never chose a side. I appreciate them both, you know, but I first of all, it was started off muscle, man. Old school muscle, you know, when you see the Camaros, you know, when you see the just anything, anything with those beautiful steel bodies is gonna be something that's always in my heart. It's just, it's a style. It's a memory. It's of a different time. And that's what I was.
⁓ Introduced to influence by you know that different time that our parents went over. Yeah, that's what I enjoyed, you know It is it is it's kind of cool man. It's like you hear the stories, right? So we're all we're all developed, you know as kids and we all look around other things But we talked about cars and bringing it back. It's all about the stories that you hear, know, for example, like he was very famous It's very well known for like having
Cars still running to this day. Yeah, they have a boat battery and you know one less, you know, carburetor than needed, which is one. But they're still keeping them running. There's old school cabs. There's, you know, ⁓ Carmen Diaz. There's a lot of different vehicles that a lot of people had a lot of ⁓ faith in. It's what their families grew up in. So when they saw the new cars coming through and all these classics moving on, for them it was
Disgust factor they hated the import scene. Yeah, and then of course when we grow old enough, what do we do? I like the stuff that you hate And that's kind of how I landed on both sides of the tracks man, it's it's a very interesting setup But I you know, I appreciate both super superchargers and turbos, you know, I appreciate headers coilovers aero kits and big rims know, I appreciate the neon lights, but also appreciate a classy like blue car with a white stripe, you know
KT (17:54)
You
Cris (18:16)
We all had test drive five, you know, we all appreciated that. So it's interesting, you know, seeing a body kit from a Civic dragging the asphalt and then seeing, you know, one of your uncles get like a, a car with a homemade supercharger and blew the engine. Don't know why that happened. I don't know why I remember that, but it's funny, you know? It's, and you hear about the fails and you hear, but it all comes back to one thing. Cars as a culture.
and guys working on cars, know, like the people, me, men and ladies working on cars and going from there. Back then it was just the stories that developed us that we heard that, I'm sure you heard growing up, know, it's just a different era. It's exactly what they kind of know from. And then Fast and Furious came out, Gone in 60 Seconds came out, and we were like, this is kind of cool, I'm gonna roll into this.
KT (19:08)
So knowing what you know now about building cars, fixing cars, would you get into a project car from that muscle car era?
Cris (19:18)
⁓
So yes, and I'll tell you why. Because of my love of muscle cars and even my love of imports, there's something different about driving around in a classic. If you find anything from 60s, 70s, it's just driving around, it could be a boat for all you And they are, most of them.
KT (19:43)
Mostly boats, mostly rust buckets if they're gonna be restored.
Cris (19:47)
Finding anything not rusted out. That's of course if it's in the north it hit snow Unless it was garage captain if it hits no it wasn't washed off right that salt gun on what a salt do melts and rusted out So they're all rusted out buckets, but we'll look what a charger is selling for find me a 69 charger body Just the base under $30,000 Guarantee you it's insane. You won't find it, but that was the car that Dominic Toretto was driving in the Fast and Furious So he made it famous so it's like
But I think about like our different areas. In like Florida, we had year round cruising. We had beach meets. We had a really diverse culture, right? You can go eat some Italian food and then be on, you know, in Little Havana and you could be just kind of cruising by. You really see like a bunch of old school cabs and 59s, know, some things, things that really would really shock you. But it was also the culture that I was in. That's just for me. That's how it was in Philly. I'm surprised you didn't have like a
a lot of muscle car dominance and seasonal needs and you had, but you had urban drag.
KT (20:50)
We did. So in the suburbs, there's a lot of open land. It's not that different than Florida in terms of the countryside. So you go even beyond suburban land, there's farmlands, all of that. And that's where you'll find your muscle cars. You'll find all the lifted trucks, all that stuff. So yeah, we had exposure to it. But for me, it just didn't do it. But what I found to be really interesting is
When we think about today, a lot of those two cultures have blended together. The big term is like resto mod. There's so many resto mods of modern, somewhat modern day cars. The perfect example from a JDM standpoint is a Nissan 240Z. So ⁓ a 70s 240Z that gets resto modded to look a little more modern, but it's a 70s retro looking car.
The blending of aesthetics, but also functionality. So we talked about drag racing, muscle cars, drag racing, those in hand together, right? But we are seeing nowadays anything can be built to be drag racing. You can build a Japanese import car, you can build a European, you can build trucks to drag race, and then drifting. Traditionally, we thought, drifting is sort of like this.
Asian thing so yeah Japanese cars
Cris (22:16)
only like purists and all that. We have Mustangs drifting all the time now. It's actually one of the crazier like more competitive cars that they're using which is crazy to me you know a lot of people are using that but you know is it is that that's a heritage right just like you know a Corolla or an 86 is a heritage you know back then you know cars were made like Porsche for example like was used both in
KT (22:19)
Yeah, Mustangs
Cris (22:44)
to make a really fast car in Japan, but here wasn't really used much, so it really depended on where you were and what you were interested in. But the car scene was all about what you were driving. to be at a car meet back then, like your uncle or cousin bringing you to a car meet, and you're just looking around and you're like, whoa, there's all these cool, crazy different cars. Then you see all the muscle car guys on the left-hand side. You see the...
from the import guys on the right hand side and they're like, this is crazy. We're driving, you know, and you're like, you know, they're all talking smack to each other and yelling at each other and it's hilarious. Like making fun of each other's cars, you know. It was like, it was this modern day perspective that you might like, some people enjoyed both. did hybrid builds that existed, you know, all the cool stories you heard about the car being in families for many years. And you heard about like,
KT (23:22)
like a standoff.
Cris (23:38)
families working on their cars and the imports and personal stories. It's like it's this history that we learn from. Plus, you gotta remember, if you don't know much about muscle, a lot of the muscle cars developed a lot of the performance stuff that came by. Even American muscle had developments in Europe and Asia that they developed things into from there. Like power steering, AC, all belt driven at one point. It's just we all learn so much.
from the past. I think the most important for me is if you learn from the past, you honestly start looking at what the future always holds. Like, did we ever think we were going to get to Apple CarPlay?
KT (24:20)
Yeah, to your point, it's very much technological. And when I think about muscle cars, think Mustang is one of the first names in my head. And for a while, a Mustang was a solid rear axle. And up until, what, like 10 years ago or so, they went with independent rear suspension. mean, that's an evolution for that platform. But it's just keeping up with modern technology.
Cris (24:44)
Yeah, exactly. And you know, it's a fun fact is like Florida, right down here in Florida and growing up here, we hosted a lot of the early, early on US drift competitions. Yeah. So like being around that and like, OK, yeah, I get it too fast and too furious is all a part of. Yeah. You saw the drifting around corners. There was legit drifting going on down there and there was a real arrest that happened because of that. Listen, I don't ask any listeners that are listening. If you had if you were in one of those.
Or, you know, which car build from that era would you bring back or bring to that? But there was racing all the time. You're talking by Alligator Alley. There's a bunch of like just open road and you had a lot of guys do that. So it's just, I think, ⁓ I don't know which region, whether it be Philly or Miami would have the coolest meets or the craziest builds. But I think we each had something unique about both of those. And it's just something about that heritage in Muscle that I really appreciate. But
when it comes to import, was all about creativity. So everyone kept their cars relatively the same when it came to muscle, right? Of course, everyone had a blower at one point, know, that was for the crazy, you know, racing guys. But you had the Florida Knights and the Philly Streets, the creativity with imports, the tech that we were using when VTEC came out, right? And everyone was like losing their minds and started using VTEC controllers. it's just, you know, really interesting.
⁓ guess discussions and conversations that came up from all those meets that i think i think you you know you especially have some good memories from those times in watching this and everything grown up around that side
KT (26:24)
Yeah, for sure. And I know this is kind of a strange topic to talk about, but let's get into it. Like the people around those particular types of cultures. Absolutely. So we talk about the muscle car culture. What do you think about? mean, I'm going to ruffle feathers when I think about mullets. think about...
Cris (26:36)
Absolutely.
Rednecks,
clearly. my god. I'm excited to listen to where this goes.
KT (26:53)
No, but I want your opinion. in my opinion that I mean right or wrong. That's what I think about right muscle culture. There's a particular group of people. There's a particular aesthetic. Yeah, that's kind of like in my head related to that. older people, usually older guys.
Either mullets or classic Corvette drivers are all like 50 plus years old guys. And then on the flip side, when you think about tuner culture, you're like, they're younger people. They're usually either broke or all the money they have goes directly into their car.
Cris (27:27)
Well
it's funny, ⁓ like when you had muscle cars, you had a lot of different backgrounds come by. You could have a mailman show up and he's got like a cornet. You could have some interesting people, but what were they interested in? They were interested in restoring something that came back, the tweak of classic muscle cars. There's a lot of, like you said, resto mods, right? There's new LS's being put in these old school, you know.
⁓ cars being, you know, ⁓ supercharged, moving, you know, it's just about people. There was always a point we talk about people. Muscle cars, they love showing off their cars. Yeah, do what is their drag strip. Yeah, absolutely. Do they race illegally? Absolutely. Like, were we all teenagers once? Do they not understand where our love for car culture came from? Yeah. Car culture started back then and there was cars around, you know, they might not have been the fastest, but then again, they were some pretty quick ones.
KT (28:16)
I mean,
The tuner car culture has a lot of similarities too. And I think common elements you're talking about, like music is a common element. But in one culture, it may be country music. In another culture, it may be hip hop. But music still bridges that gap.
Cris (28:41)
I get it. Elvis was here back then. I think when you hear Elvis, the first thing I don't think of is a muscle car. I agree. But at the end of the day, you're right. all had our own music. We all had our own cars. all had our own stock. Exactly. You got it exactly. And we all had our own collectors and restorers, people that want to see these cars as heritage pieces, family heirlooms. And there were a lot of tight-knit communities based on that.
KT (28:57)
Yep.
Cris (29:10)
When I say like car clubs and local meets, like when you see those clubs or those places, I a lot of the same guys and uncles would meet around the same place every now and then. They'd have a bite to eat, a sandwich, a coffee, smoke a cigar. They'd talk about what life was back when they were growing up. And so when you're around that and you hear these stories, it's a lot of significant ⁓ things that you hear. really humbles you.
because you hear stories about like from everywhere else and it's it's it's it's they use their cars as a self-expression and they had pride in building or restoring or tuning and I think that's what I appreciate.
KT (29:47)
You
can tell a lot from a person's car, right? And then someone who's really into cars, they have a classic car that you know that they took really good care of, like a 60s classic car. For better or worse, you can kind of tell, you know, like what this person was about. And I think that goes back to what we were talking about previously. There's a lot of personality in cars, and that's why it is kind of exciting.
Cris (29:59)
You can kinda...
KT (30:15)
When we think about today and we think about going forward into the future, you you and I, love the 90s, the 2000s tuner car, but we know that we're going to be dated and there's going to be a new group that has a new style. There's new stereotypes that are going to be associated with them.
Cris (30:33)
Look what's happening right now, the K-Truck era. like it's one of those things where it's like, yeah, we love our speed, we love our hardcore racers and stuff, but there's a K-Truck era happening right now. And like some of our generation is all over that and we gotta love it. Like there's stuff coming from Japan that wasn't allowed back then. All I'm waiting for is all the cars they said no to. I just want them to come. That's all I care about. Of course.
They say you're lust for anything that you can't have, right? And in car culture, the Untouchables, right? All of those cars from Japan, were like, you can't bring over. We were like, we will do anything to get those cars here. So we're on the rule. But you had the car communities, you had the cruiser guys, you had the dragster baddies, and it's like ⁓ for every, I guess, and because you've got to remember, at the end of the day, that
muscle culture was the 60s and 70s. It was the automotive golden era, right? Those cars were coming out and they were, they were wanted for from every country. They were trying to ship them out and try and find them in Germany and Japan. You had one of those in Japan, you were the man, you know, like, but it's also about like really, ⁓ sharing your passion for cars, right? Is this something that we're going to do as we pass it on? Absolutely. It's why we're doing this.
You know, it's why we have these conversations because, ⁓ you know, in all honesty, with no one listening to us, but at the end of the day, you know, I think we had our own patience, we had our own nostalgia, everything that we learned about cars, either the hardware or the easy way, you know, there's always a unicorn that we're gonna find in every era.
And think that's important to remember where cars came from. That's why for me it's really interesting. It's also really interesting to see the younger enthusiasts, the kids that are growing up now, mixing with the old school muscle or our modern mods and really blending these aesthetics into cars. Like you said, there's newer cars that made them look older.
KT (32:28)
I agree.
there's
EV swaps, actually really kind of interested in taking a somewhat modern car and putting an electric drivetrain in it
Cris (32:49)
Yeah. ⁓
Yeah, and you know what's crazy is like so you like things like that like we're always made by like the car culture They were always like a club that did it like EV swap Probably a garage started it garage started a club and they started going crazy There's EV tuning now like yes, you can tune your EVs like this is a whole new thing We're talking about like along with K trucks and everything like that.
It's pride in a craft, right? It's people developing new skills for performance modifications. And we find them sacred, right? We love our turbos. We love our RVs. love our, you know, you don't touch what's right. that's it. I think that's cars are to look good. They're meant to sound good. And especially in sunny Florida, man, the streets are the stage. Like everyone tries to drive around with something nice. You know what I'm saying? Like that's what it is to be in car culture.
KT (33:48)
Yeah, I can totally see you rolling around in a classic like 70s or 60s car.
Cris (33:57)
$500. I'm just kidding. It's a 1967 Pontiac GTO, man. There's no other car. I just want a 6.6 liter V8 in it. I just want a 400 cubic inch. Red. All day long, red. That car in red, I forgot. It's not Renaissance Red, but it's another one. it's just, the thing had.
KT (34:11)
color.
Cris (34:23)
was such a beautiful car, so sought after. And remember, the fastest car back then, know, 0 to 60 in 6 to 5 seconds to 8.1 seconds, you know, you're doing, it's insane, but like it had a padded dash, there was a dual circuit master cylinder. It was like one of the high end cars back then. You had a GTL, you were the man.
KT (34:44)
And when we think about it today, 6. something seconds is not fast at all.
Cris (34:48)
For
a 6.6 liter motor, if that was made today, that thing would be doing like mid threes, like fours, max. Like you're seeing a monster come out of it.
KT (34:57)
It's the evolution of cars, and we have to remember it's about the experience.
Cris (35:03)
Well, back then it was about the displacement.
KT (35:05)
Well
that was quite the experience.
Cris (35:09)
But no, it's funny because the nostalgia that you were talking about, meets the modern times. The respect that we have for these classic cars, for me, is something that I learned, but I had to be willing to embrace the new tech, the mods, anything. When I saw my four cylinder and I started recognizing motors and things like that, I was like, what? There's a four cylinder in there? Little things like that.
Of course, as adults, have to learn passion over practicality.
KT (35:43)
Yeah, I mean, a lot of that paved the way for ton of future enthusiasts. But have you ever wondered what it was like being an enthusiast back then? their parents lusting after 30s and 40s cars and Model Ts?
Cris (36:02)
Dude, my old man drove a Studebaker. All right? Listen, when I say that, I feel like I date myself. But it's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's a piece of crap car back then, but some people keep them in collections and sell them for millions. And like you talk about the 1967, 65 Ford Mustang Fastback that my, you know, my grandmother had, you know, holy crap, dude, if I had that car this day, you think I'd hang onto it?
⁓ Yeah, like I can't even like say that enough. Absolutely. I'd have that and dude, I'd be polishing it every day. I would look like Bo Duke with his car like ⁓ the General Lee. Like it's crazy how like like it's a passion like he had an old school charger and like that car made it. And it's just one of those things where like once again, we talk about cars and movies, you know, talking about cars and movies, you know, you had
the Dukes of Hazzard that had the Charger that was a long, long time running. You had Fast and Furious for us. So it's just, we all had our portrait in our image that we think of cars. So when you think of car culture back then, oh dude, it's just guys working on a V8, doing carburetor work, you know, maybe pulling ahead because back then it was a little easier, less electronics. Like cold starting a V8, like just had to turn the key a little bit more than usual.
Sometimes when it didn't work, you kind of stomped on the gas. Sometimes you had the ability to get it running after just pushing it a little bit. Yeah. That's the fun part.
KT (37:34)
Do you think they knew what was coming in the sense that, we're living in this current time and I have this GTO and I can't see 40 years into the future, but a GTO now is just a GTO. mean, there's a ton of them around. I'm just driving around just like a normal guy with everybody else's car.
until we fast forward into today's age and you see a GTO, you you know, like that is a special car. But back then it's like, well, this is just my car,
Cris (38:03)
think a lot of cars now have lot of modern upgrades. I think fuel injection has replaced the carburetors for a lot of them. think modern suspension has made it smoother rides. Aftermarket wheels, LEDs, stuff like that. Maybe some exhaust tuning. But I think, dude, if you see a classic Camaro Challenger, older Chevy, on Miami, Tampa, Orlando.
It's gonna dominate the road. People are gonna stop and be like, even old trucks, man, old Ford F100s, old trucks. People are gonna bring their, know, restore their modified classics to the weekend meetups and they're gonna play some music out at home, some food, know, photo ops. People are gonna still love those classics because that's where our history in cars came from. And of course, social media's around. It plays a huge role. People take photos and detail them. But dude, it's hard finding a nice classic these days. And if you still find it, you're on the lucky side,
KT (38:58)
And that's kind of what some people do nowadays too. Buy modern cars in anticipation of them becoming future classics.
Cris (39:05)
⁓ Yeah, dude the collector and the restoration scene is insane their shops just dedicated to restoring all and like resto modding like you said Yeah, all their vehicles like there's a shop in Pensacola or for Walton. think no it's Pensacola, Florida They just do Broncos they resto mod Broncos man, and yeah, are they asking a bunch for it? Yeah, but it's rest of mine. You have a nice motor now. It's reliable You know I can't be one to judge. I haven't bought one from them
But I would love to talk to them and be like, hey, what started this? And it's probably a guy, had a bunch of Broncos, missed them, did it himself, and was like, hey, this wasn't as bad as I thought. And went from there. And lot of buy older cars. like ⁓ blending those old school aesthetics into the modern setups. Dude, classic cars still are still all over the place. The crowds love them.
You gotta learn from the old gear heads. They did it without all the stuff we have, the easy turnarounds. But once again, they also did it without technology. So if you want a car to run, if an EMP, electromagnetic pulse went out at any point in time, every car we have nowadays is fried because it's got a computer. If you want to jump in an old school car, hey man, that thing will start right up.
KT (40:23)
Not many of them left, but...
Cris (40:24)
I'm
out my own left, man. That's how it goes. It's a very interesting setup that we have.
KT (40:29)
And that's where it's interesting nowadays too, because with our global transition to hybrids and EVs, we're slowly going to phase out gas cars. We don't know how long it'll take for it to be phased out, but the cars that we take for granted today that we just see everywhere, and we know that they're fun cars like a FR-S or BRZ or a Miata or a 350Z, you we see them all the time and they're like, yeah, that's cool, but that's nothing special, right?
in 30 years, in 40 years, ⁓ that might be something special, just like how 50 years ago, your GTO was something special.
Cris (41:05)
Yeah, no, absolutely. 50...
KT (41:08)
that's even... yeah, sixty one... Twenty six plus fifty... Sixty years ago! Seventy years ago!
Cris (41:10)
Yeah
Are you doing math right now? I'll sit back.
70 something years ago man, some, the older generation, our parents are getting up there man but they still remember it. You know, it's interesting to talk about and sharing stories of their cars and listen to what your old man's first car was.
KT (41:32)
And then when we become, you know, 80 year old dudes, kids are driving around like EV. And we're like drooling over a BRZ because that was.
Cris (41:35)
that ⁓
⁓ they're floating, no, but...
It's
gonna be the Jetsons that are gonna be driving flying cars by then because Elon's gonna make every car have a rocket ship on it. It's gonna float and drive around. It's just craziness, man. ⁓ We're gonna see the fusion of the old and the new and we're gonna see everything just adapt. I think it's gonna be fun to see the future, ⁓ but I don't think I'm ever gonna get away from my love for our JDM culture. It's just what our culture was. I have mad respect and love for the...
muscle culture and I'm always looking for one, you know, in my range. But even my brother, for example, he's got a muscle car, you know, and I have one of my best friends, you know, on the East Coast has another muscle car, you know. So you see them around, they're still there and hopefully our generation's holding on to them and taking care of them and doing what's right by those cars and not, you know, it's because there is a restorative property to them. Some people just fix them, keep them.
and then wait for the sale, but they never get to experience the drive.
KT (42:46)
There's a lot of nostalgia to it at the end of the day, to your point. It reminds you of your grandparents, your parents, you know, and eventually when you become a parent, you become a grandparent, your kids are going to feel the same exact way.
Cris (42:56)
And
could you imagine the feeling of bringing your kids in one of those cars and driving around like that's something crazy like that It's a bunch of fun. That's the same thing with your you know
KT (43:04)
If they're
still around, like hundred years and they haven't rusted out.
Cris (43:08)
It's
interesting man, it's a definite mix and it's a, you know, we're always gonna see the collectors and I just, I have love for both scenes man. It is what it is, I enjoy it, all I want is, you know, garage to keep it all. ⁓ My list would be cars, more cars, a larger garage, more cars, you know, like so. That's usually how it goes, brother.
KT (43:30)
Yeah, for sure. I like it.
Cris (43:32)
Of course man, of course. But yeah, all respect to the muscle. You gotta respect the muscle. Todd brought us back. It's the reason why V8s are still a thing.
KT (43:41)
Yeah. Guys, let us know what your thoughts and opinions are on muscle cars and just car culture and whatever era car that you guys really like.
Cris (43:52)
⁓
Tell us about your stories man. We really want to hear it. Please leave a click that subscribe button for heat soaked FL man I want to hear your stories. What kind of car culture did you grow up in? Was it the muscle culture? Was it the import culture? If anyone talks about a you know anything we would definitely want to hear from you guys
KT (44:11)
Regional too, right? Like me and you. Over a thousand miles away and yeah, different experiences.
Cris (44:13)
Where are you guys from?
I
to what it was like in Arizona and California. You know, I want to hear what it was like in, you know, Canada even. I don't even know, you know, down in Mexico, the stories. I'd love to hear from all over the world exactly what car culture was like or, you know, what's still alive around you and why you like what you like. You know, appreciate it, guys. Sure. Thanks for listening to our BS chat. Let's have some fun. Peace out, guys.