CarStories

Mike Hallmark is a lifelong car enthusiast. In addition to his role at Hellwig Products, he is a hardcore gearhead. He is devoted to Volkswagen, and as an Englishman, I am proud that he owns a Land Rover. Mike was kind enough to turn up in "The Operator", which is the perfect vehicle for the four seasons. Mike also staked his claim for the longest podcast, so make sure you check it out

Donnie Callaway has spent over 30 years restoring collectible cars, most of these hail from Maranello. It all began with him growing up in Los Angeles, living and breathing sports cars before taking a job at Hollywood Sports Cars, and soon thereafter, spending time in Hawaii with an uncle learning to hand form aluminum bodies. He completes restorations to concours level. Donnie has worked on pretty much every Ferrari model made including 512 BBs, 365 2+2s, TDFs, James Coburn’s California Spyder, and many, many others. Host James McKeone was happy to accompany Donnie in his newly restored and immaculate Ferrari 308 GTB Quattrovalvole for a run through in the hills of Malibu.

Matt Farah is a seasoned automotive journalist and watch aficionado. Besides being an incredibly nice guy, he is also one of the most prolific automotive YouTube stars on the planet with his One Take video series and, of course, he is the man behind "The Smoking Tire" podcast. With his One Take series recently coming to an end, Matt is moving into a new venture - his new "Watch and Listen" podcast with CarStories guest alum Cameron Weiss. James enjoyed the ability to relax with Matt thanks to his heated leather seats before popping and crackling through the hills of Malibu in his Mountune Ford Focus RS.

Cameron Weiss developed his affinity for timepieces back when he was a young child. In 2010, Cameron attended an apprentice-style program at the Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami with a Swiss curriculum. The ten years of passion drove him to fine-tune his designs and goals before launching Weiss watches in June 2013. On this episode we feature a special guest Jules who was kind enough to let James sit in the front seat as the trio took to the road in Cameron's 1959 Volkswagen Beetle for a good talk about watches, travel and the reliability of classic British vehicles.

Elana Scherr has a background in composite fabrication, is incredibly handy with an engine stand, and has a soft spot for Mopar muscle and one off vintage race cars.  She was the former Staff Editor at Hot Rod Magazine and Executive Editor at Roadkill Magazine before stepping into the freelance world so she can write about cars, motorcycles, planes, boats, racing and dogs. Elana gave James the time of his life in her 1971 Opel GT. Hope you enjoy the talk as much as he did!

Michael Axon, a CF 200 Member, and originally from Manchester, has a passion for Jaguar. He ended up in California after he created LaZerCAD, a system to measure, draw and 360 photograph buildings. From there it was a hop and a skip to Malibu to dive deep into his "Mancave" which includes a collection of classic British motorcars both old and new that he regularly makes use of in the Canyons around him. Michael established The English Car Company to share his collection with organizations that serve those in need. He tells a great tale or two so make sure you stay till the end. Enjoy!

Larry Chen likes to take pretty pictures for Speedhunters, Hoonigan, Hot Rod magazine, Pikes Peak, Formula D, Global Rallycross, King of the Hammers and many, many more. After having his initial interview with Kyle, Larry spent time with James in Ole Orange Bang to discuss his time as a paparazzo, old cars, new cars, being a Canon instructor, and the luxurious life of an automotive journalist. Larry is always a joy to be around, and it was a great drive up the coast through Malibu.

Derek Hill has a long history with cars. He is the son of America’s first Formula 1 World Driving Champion, Phil Hill, and he is the current Master of Ceremonies for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance which he has attended since birth. Like his father, Derek initially pursued a career in motorsports, earning class wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, as well as many other races. He has also pursued historic racing at the Goodwood Revival and Monterey Reunion. Derek was kind enough to show up in a family owned Pierce Arrow that was used most recently to take him and his wife on their first drive as a newly married couple. The trip through the Malibu Canyon was certainly not what Derek expected but he did very much enjoy it, and we hope you enjoy it too!

Leslie Kendall is the chief historian at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Born in San Diego, California, Leslie has had an insatiable interest in automobiles and automotive history from a very early age. Leslie joined the team creating the Petersen Automotive Museum in April 1993 and has never looked back! Leslie and host James McKeone took to the streets of Los Angeles in the incredible Honda N600 Serial One, which is the first Honda automobile imported to the U.S.! The car was restored by Tim Mings of Merciless Mings, and James and Leslie really enjoyed their trip around the backstreets of Los Angeles.

On this episode of CarStories, we meet Jeff Rodrigues, the Track Operations Manager at The Thermal Club - a private motorsports country club in Palm Desert, California. Jeff’s passion for cars and motorcycles started young and eventually led him to the desert to run one of the world’s most exclusive racetracks. In this episode, guest host, Brad Speers goes for a ride in Jeff’s 2004 Final Edition Lotus Esprit to find out more about how Jeff became the “jack of all trades and the master of motorsports.“

Charles Fleming writes about automobiles and motorcycles for the Los Angeles Times’ Business section. He also writes the urban hiking column LA Walks. A former staff writer for Newsweek, Variety and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, he is an author, a teacher, and a great raconteur. Charles turned up at the museum in a McLaren 720S and he and host James McKeone headed out to the Hollywood Hills to dig deep into his love of motorcycles and walking LA. We have a feeling that we are going to need a follow up with Charles, so make sure you listen to round 1. Enjoy!

Twanna Rogers and her husband Tim Rogers are the owners of The Thermal Club, a private motorsports country club in Palm Desert, California. They are both Petersen Automotive Museum Checkered Flag 200 members and avid car enthusiasts. In this episode, guest host, Brad Speers goes for a tour around Twanna’s exclusive motorsports club in her 1932 Three Window Chop Top Ford- one of her favorite cars. They even make it on track. Be sure to buckle-up for this ride. 

Bruce Meyer is the founding chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum and is still a very active board member. He is part of the Bonneville 200 MPH Club but host, James McKeone, was able to slow him down for a drive in his 1957 Outlaw Porsche. They took a trip through Beverly Hills where Bruce is not only the unofficial mayor of the city but also houses his collection of cars, which makes him the ultimate 'Car guys car guy.' Enjoy!

Pushkar Modi is the Director of Engineering at Turo. If you haven't heard of Turo, it's an incredible Car Sharing service that can get you behind the wheels of all kinds of cars. It also allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles online to help grow their collection. Pushkar is a huge Porsche fan and when he booked his flight to Los Angeles he made sure when he landed he could get behind the wheel of something fun and the Porsche 911 GT3 was his car of choice enjoy!

This week, Spike Feresten stops into the Car Stories studio to talk about how working with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman channeled his passion for cars aka "Porsche". He also gives Kyle and James his insider tips on flipping cars and what ultimately led to his own show, Car Matchmaker.

This week, Vaughn Gittin Jr drifts into the studio to talk about his rise from getting his first car to finding a love for drifting to competing against the best of the world before becoming a two times Formula Drift champion. Kyle and James then talk about what is next for Vaughn and his Ultimate Funhaver, his partnership with Ford and the all new RTR Mustang.  

Sara Price is a Hoonigan who loves to burn fuel be it on two wheels where she won medals at the X Games. 4 wheels where she has made cameos in movies for her skills behind the wheel, UTV's where she crushes it in the dirt or now on Hill Climbs, where she tackles "street". Kyle and James were glad to get the chance to stop by the museum to tell us all about her need for speed, enjoy!

This week on CarStories, Ryan Millen drops in to tell Kyle & James what it’s like to be a pro rally driver for Toyota Racing and what went into his incredible undefeated 2017 season in the mighty RAV4. We also talk about the land of the Long White Cloud and the Leadfoot Festival. Listen in!

Sam Smith is the superstar editor at large for Road & Track Magazine and former editor at Jalopnik. CarStories host Kyle peered into Sam's creative process as a globe-trotting automotive journalist and got him to recount some of his most memorable experiences from the driver’s seat.

James and Kyle made their way north to spend two days in the valley, and had a chance for a great conversation with Beau Boeckmann President and COO of Galpin Motors. Inc. Beau practically grew up on the showroom floor under the tutelage of his father, Bert Boeckmann, who is widely recognized as the most honored and successful automobile dealer in America. Topics include growing up at the dealership, navigating USC, working in the industry and of course the legendary Pimp My Ride. Enjoy!

This week James and Kyle somehow managed to trick Mr. Adam Carolla into letting them into his podcasting compound in the San Fernando Valley and sitting down for an episode of CarStories. You know Adam from his many fine podcasts and television appearances as well as from his exploits with Dr. Drew Pinsky and from his work as a documentarian. Adam is a serious automotive enthusiast and has the world's best collection of ex-Paul Newman race cars and Kyle and James had a blast sitting down with him in his studio and picking his brain.

Monterey Car Week is legendary among auto enthusiasts for bringing out some of the rarest and most exciting cars from around the world. We set CarStories host James McKeone loose on the Monterey Peninsula and he managed to secure interviews with some incredible folks including Valentino Balboni, Marcel Massini, and Alan Galbraith. So sit down and prepare for an insider's look at the exclusive world of Monterey Car Week!

Will Roegge is an incredibly talented filmmaker/awesome human and you may know him has half of the team behind the documentary Keep Drifting Fun as well as being instrumental in capturing some of the craziest shots from Hoonigan's Gymkhana series and the newly released Climbkhana. Will stopped by the podcast to talk about his work with Hoonigan as well as with his mentor, Jeff Zwart. Kyle and Will also find time to nerd out over Russian Arm rigs and lots more. Don't miss this one.

Brian Scotto is the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer for Hoonigan Industries, best known for the crazy car exploits of their other founder, Ken Block. Brian is an incredible guy with a huge wealth of talent and knowledge when it comes to cars and car culture and he has helped turn Hoonigan into one of the world's biggest automotive lifestyle brands. Kyle and James were lucky enough to get Brian in the CarStories hot seat just days before the official launch of Climbkhana, the latest Hoonigan masterpiece which sees Ken Block rocketing up Pike's Peak in a 1200+ horsepower twin-turbocharged Hoonicorn Mustang. Brian is also great because he's one of those guys who if you can get them talking, they'll just keep talking indefinitely and typically end up saying some really interesting stuff. This episode is a long one, but it's one of our favorites. Give it a listen and then make sure to go check out Climbkhana on YouTube!

Loren Healy is an incredibly accomplished rock crawler and off-road racer who competes in the mind-bending Ultra4 racing series. A frequent sight at events like King of the Hammers, Loren has built a loyal following and recently left his day job to race full-time. He and his wife were in town for Nitto's Auto Enthusiast Day and we somehow managed to convince them to drive to the Petersen from Orange County to sit and talk to James and Kyle. 

Simon Kidston is one of the most interesting people you've probably never met. He is the owner of Kidston, a classic automobile consultancy unlike any other. He comes from a family of racing enthusiasts and pioneers and he has built a career and a life around his love of automobiles. Kyle and James were lucky enough to convince him to take a few hours out of his Los Angeles vacation to visit the Petersen and tell his story, and let's face it, when someone parks their Mercedes 300SL Gullwing in the parking structure after having shipped it from Europe, it's going to be a story worth listening to. Simon has an almost encyclopedic knowledge as as a well-developed set of opinions and tastes where sports cars are concerned and he's not afraid to voice them. This is one of Kyle and James' favorite interviews, please enjoy!

Gard Hollinger is the engineering and design genius behind Arch Motorcycle. He's been neck-deep in motorcycles since he was a kid and has gone on to found several businesses including the incredible ChopRod custom shop. Eventually, he hooked up with Keanu Reeves and built a bike out of Mr. Reeves' Harley Dyna and the rest, as they say, is history. Now Arch is a thriving "production custom" motorcycle company that designs, builds, and assembles its bikes here in Southern California. Gard and their new Sales Manager, CarStories alumnus Heath Cofran rode up from the South Bay to sit down with James and Kyle to talk about bikes, design, modern architecture, growing up in the NW, and much more. This one is super fun. Enjoy!

Shane Tecklenburg is a master of MoTeC tuning and over the years he has built himself a reputation as being the guy to go to if you have a fuel-injected race car and you need to extract maximum power from your current set up. Shane is a mostly self-taught tuner, getting his start with a Briggs & Stratton engine for which he cobbled together a fuel injection setup out of junk he found in his dad's shop. Now he spends his days tuning land speed racing motorcycles, 2000hp drag Supras, and much more. In this episode, Shane sits down with Kyle to geek out on fuel injection tech and talk about how he became the wizard he is today.

Taro Koki is the guy behind GTChannel, one of the most popular network of automotive channels on YouTube as well as the guy who convinced the producers of Japanese motoring video magazine, Best Motoring to let him do dubs and subtitles in English and bring the joy of their Tsukuba Battles to the world. Taro is an interesting guy with a lifelong love of automobiles and a willingness to jump headfirst into new technology before anyone else. James and Kyle were thrilled to sit down with Taro to talk about the genesis of GTChannel and much more.

Ari and Zack are lifelong friends who somehow, through the machinations of fate and the weirdness of the world, managed to end up as co-editors of the redesigned and rethought Motorcyclist Magazine. We were super excited to have them in the CarStories studio before they left for a trip up the coast on two tiny adventure motorcycles. In their conversation with James and Kyle, they talked about growing up with bikes and racing. They also went into what it's like to helm a modern, industry-leading publication and how they balance that with the increasing demand for video content. They also scheme ways to get James on a motorcycle in a way that wouldn't get him divorced. Gear up, this is a fun episode!

The Auto Club of Southern California is one of the oldest automotive groups in the world, with its inception dating back to the turn of the 20th century. The Auto Club has been instrumental in shaping the highways, byways and surface streets of Southern California through legislative efforts and even signing of roads! Morgan Yates and John McQueen stopped by the podcast to talk about the history of the Auto Club and its long-standing involvement with the Petersen. We hope to have these guys on again to help us dive a little deeper into the strange and wonderful automotive history of Los Angeles!

Forza Motorsport has been one of the world's best-loved and most popular racing simulator games since its introduction in 2005. Now, with the release of the 7th game in the franchise looming, Kyle and James managed to corner Dan Greenawalt, creative director of Turn 10 Studios while he was in town for E3 to talk about what makes Forza different and so special amongst racing games. They do a nerdy deep dive on some of the nuts and bolts of the games including tire physics, modeling, and more. This episode is a serious nerd's paradise and if you're even a little into racing sims, this is well worth a listen.

Bisi Ezerioha is best known as being a turbo obsessed horsepower freak who gets his kicks turning out 1000hp minivans and 850hp water-cooled turbocharged classic Porsches. A lot of people might not know that he is also a trained scientist and engineer and that he has more degrees than Phoenix in summer. Bisi got his start modifying cars soon after he got to the US to attend college. His first US car happened to be a Civic CRX and thus his love affair with Hondas was born. This led him down the slippery slope of modifying import cars through the SoCal import boom of the early-to-mid 2000's.Bisi is an incredibly friendly and intelligent guy and we were thrilled to sit down with him and pick his brain to find out what makes him so unique in the automotive landscape. Strap in, this one is good.

Evan Klein is an automotive photographer and is also a total hand-full. Turn the mic on and he just goes. He is a larger than life personality and he sat down with Kyle recently to talk about daily driving classic European cars, justifying the pain and expense of classics, being in love with cars and what it's like working as a top automotive photographer for print and online. They also talk about Evan's amazing annual Highway Earth car show and his work with Motor Trend, Motor Trend Classic, Octane, and of course the Petersen!

Larry Chen is a man that seems to be everywhere at once. Luckily for us, he tapped the power of his omnipresence to appear at the Petersen in order to sit down and talk to Kyle. Larry is best known as being one of the busiest automotive photographers working today. He is an editor at Speedhunters, a contributor to Hot Rod Magazine, the premier photog for the Formula Drift series and the designated heavy hitter behind the camera for events such as the Gumball 3000 and Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Larry is also a man with an insane work ethic and during his conversation with Kyle, he outlines his rise from being a nerdy California kid with a camera to the giant he his today. Larry and Kyle also get into Larry's fleet of project cars including his super internet-famous Datsun 240z, "Ole Orange Bang," and his daily driver manual-equipped FJ Cruiser. They also touch the nature of print magazines in the US vs Japan and the weird microcosm that is Japanese car culture.This is a rare look at the mind of someone who has made it his life to seek out car culture wherever it lives, whether that's Barbados or Gatebil or Laguna Seca. He's one of our favorite photographers working today and it was an honor to sit down and pick his brain for 45 minutes. This is a fun one!  

Today is Independence Day and what could better symbolize freedom than a motorcycle? That's definitely what Kyle and James thought so this week we're pleased to present our interview with Rick Mitchell. Rick is a fascinating guy, a lifelong Californian and Chapter President of the Pyrate Ryderz Motorcycle Club here in Los Angeles. He sat down with the boys and talked about his love of bikes and how his club got their start. He also goes into great detail about an incredible bike-themed trip to Cuba. This is a great episode, and Rick is one of our favorite kind of guys: totally unique and passionate about his interests. Enjoy!   

This week, Kyle and James sit down with Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage, the two men behind the incredible motorsport series known as Formula Drift. They get into what makes Formula D so appealing to a younger generation of car enthusiasts and why it's one of the last financially accessible high-level forms of racing plus a whole lot more. Jim and Ryan are great guys with a lot of unique insights into the sport that they helped popularize in America. This is a good one, strap in!

James and Kyle were invited to come down to Toyota HQ in Torrance, CA to judge the Toyota Dream Cars art contest along with several Toyota North America executives, Cheech Marin, Dave Kunz and more. They figured that since they were there, they'd sit down with a few Toyota folks and get a bit of a peek behind the curtain. Karen Ideno works in corporate social responsiblity, helping to administer programs like the Dream Cars contest. Susan Sanborn runs the incredible Toyota Museum and has a fantastic story of working her way up through the company to her current position. Both of these ladies were wonderful to talk to and Kyle and James hope they get invited back next year!

We were lucky enough to be invited to judge the Toyota Dream Car kid's art contest with Cheech Marin a few months ago and Mr. Marin was nice enough to sit down with us to record a short (yet sweet) podcast where he talks about his involvement with the Cars franchise, his love of Chicano art, lowriders, and more. This is a fun one and making it was an amazing experience for both Kyle and James.Keep an eye out for the rest of the CarStories Toyota special coming up soon!

Greg Hancock is one of America's greatest racers on two wheels. He is a four-time World Speedway champion, with his most recent championship coming in his mid-forties, almost unheard of in what is normally thought of as a young man's sport. Greg is also a fantastic human being with a ton of passion for racing and his family. James sat down with him at the museum to see what makes him tick.

We had Melanie Hellwig White on the podcast as part of our 2016 SEMA special and we had so much fun that we invited her back! Melanie is one of the titular Hellwig's of Hellwig Products fame and Hellwig has been making super high-quality suspension products for over 70 years in their factory in California. During her last conversation with Kyle and James, Melanie promised to deliver an epic off-roading shovel to Kyle to fuel his nascent dreams of overlanding and she definitely came through strong. This is a fun one, enjoy!

Nadia Fugazza is the editor and producer for Petrolicous. She is an extremely talented lady and she's behind many of your favorite Petrolicious films including the wonderful Derek Bell film that was shot in Sicily with the new 718 Boxster. Nadia grew up in Italy with an Alfa-obsessed father and eventually came to the US to study film at USC here in Los Angeles. She's a wonderful conversationalist and Kyle had a blast chatting with her.

Ralph Hudson is a racer and a builder. He is a member of the 200mph Club at Bonneville and wears his red hat proudly. He's the fastest man on two wheels at El Mirage dry lake. He is also an accomplished road racer and generally an incredible guy to sit and listen to. He's got more racing stories than we have time for in one episode so we hope he'll come back sometime soon. Ralph is also something of a mentor to Stacie B. London, so she came in to help Ralph tell his story. This is a great episode, we hope you like it!

Max Hazan is a LA-based builder of exquisite one-off motorcycles that continue to set the custom motorcycle community ablaze. His recent builds have included a turbocharged Ducati and a gorgeous Art Deco-inspired BSA 500. Max is a unique guy in that he avoids looking at other people's bikes and custom builds all of his fixtures and tooling for each project. Kyle and James were thrilled when he accepted their invitation to come check out the museum and talk about his work.

Alex Ross is the founder of Sharkwerks, a company that is arguably the best tuner of GT-series Porsches in America right now. He is dedicated to taking Porsche's good work and cranking it past 11 without regard for cost or common sense. In that vein, Alex brought the exquisite Sharkwerks Cayman GT4 by the museum for Kyle and James to drool over. Magnus Walker is best known as the Urban Outlaw, a bearded and be-dreadlocked builder of air-cooled hot rod 911s. He has become an ambassador for the brand over the past few years and he's a regular feature at all the best Porsche events all over the world. He brought down his newest ride, a super customized Porsche 964 with all kinds of Magnus' personal styling touches.Together they sat down with Kyle and James to talk about the North/South divide in England, the air and water cooled divide in the Porsche community, and why Sharkwerks doesn't really have a business model. This was a super fun conversation, and we know you guys will love it.

Julia LaPalme got her start in the automotive industry as a photographer for Road & Track magazine where she stayed for almost 10 years. She shot cars all over the world and took part in some fairly insane adventures including driving a Suzuki Kizashi the long way from Japan to LA. She is currently the photo editor for the newly redesigned Motorcyclist magazine where she also does bike reviews. She's a super talented lady and a fantastic person to chat with, we had a ton of fun with her. Enjoy!

Jenny Smith is the real deal. Not only did she ride a ridiculously powerful motorcycle in the rain from her home to the Petersen to record this episode, she rode it in the rain to her office Ventura County after we were done. She pretty much taught herself how to ride bikes and has since forged her way through the industry to get to where she is now, Managing Editor at Rider Magazine. She's a fantastic storyteller and we were thrilled to have her on the podcast.

Donut Media is one of the hottest new content companies in the automotive space right now. They've built a reputation for creating outrageous and dynamic content for a variety of brands including Nissan, Gumout, Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and more. Two of the principals behind Donut are Jacob Agajanian and James Kirkham, long time friends with tons of industry experience who wanted to do things differently. James and Jacob stopped by the podcast to talk about the history behind Donut Media as well as some of their favorite pieces of content that they've created and lots more.

David Steele is the director of the American Hot Rod Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving the history of early hot rodding through interviewing the hot rodders themselves as well as restoring and archiving all of their ephemera. David is also a professional musician who has toured with artists such as Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch. It was during his time touring with acts like these that he began his quest to document the stories of unsung local hot rodders all over America and it was this quest that would eventually lead him to the AHRF. David sat down with Kyle recently to talk about the organization as well as some of the unifying threads that bring together car enthusiasts of all kinds.

Stacie B London is best known as one of the founders of the amazing East Side Moto Babes motorcycle club in LA. She's an avid road racer on her incredible "Triple Nickel 555" Honda race bike and she's getting into land speed racing. All this and she's only been riding for 8 years. She sat down with Kyle to talk about being a woman who not only rides motorcycles in LA but someone who is making huge strides towards increasing female ridership in general. She's an incredible lady and we're psyched she stopped by the podcast to talk

Rick Love is the executive vice president of Vintage Air whom you may recognize as being the premier supplier of air conditioning systems for hot rods, street rods, classics and customs. Rick is a huge hot rod fan and a generally affable guy so it was Kyle and James' good fortune to run into him while he was in town for the Grand National Roadster Show. This was a fun interview and we think you guys will enjoy it.