What’s it like to drive a 1940 FORD WOODIE WAGON? Smooth…
I’ve been in this town for more than 30 years, so when a name pops up like Andy Cohen, you know that cool cars are within reach.
And knowing that Andy loves cars like I do, it was an easy fit when he said that his 1940 Woodie Wagon should be today’s ride.
Welcome to the world of Andy Cohen – a longtime Malibuite, lover of all things on four wheels and a driven desire to spread Autolove across the globe via his cool business, Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories (www.beverlyhillsmotoring.com).
BHMA is an online, high-end auto accessory business helping people who love cars make their rides even better – but that’s not where Andy stops.
He’s dedicated his life to creating ways for car guys and girls to share what they love via his car shows.
If you’ve been to Andy’s car show, you know that the rides are the celebs. But every now and then, complete unknowns like a guy named Jay Leno (who?) shows up with cheapy old cars (you gotta have a mix, right?). But beyond the show, Andy can be spotted cruising through the Bu in his 1940 Ford Deluxe Woodie Wagon. A near stock version, sans the drive-train components and a few minor changes ;-). But let me tell you… this Woodie hauls ass and here’s why…
Last week, Andy invited me up to his Pad for a spin in his ‘family’ wagon. We shot an episode of my Vlog and here’s how it went.
As we jumped into the Woodie and headed back south, Andy brought me up to speed, literally.
“This Station Wagon has a ‘63 Corvette 327 Motor,” he grinned evilly, and his grin even got wider when he mentioned the independent front suspension, power four-wheel disc brakes, power rack and pinion steering, hidden air conditioning and all original wood. Then he floored it and we were gone.
“I’ve had it since 1971 and traded it for some old Ford parts. It goes with the Malibu surf vibe, and since surfing got popular in the 50’s, Woodies got popular in Malibu in the 50’s too.”
So what’s the best part of the car?
“It drives like my Maserati Quattroporte,” he said.
Well that seems to be a stretch, but having scooted around town in that Woodie Wagon, I can attest to it’s awesomeness. Andy went on to tell me that the car has been in the family forever and he actually brought all of his kids home from the hospital in it. But now, he strictly uses it for weekends in the Bu, Car Shows and daily trips in the sun. But then came a cool story.
“I used this car for a delivery vehicle when I started my Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories business in 1976,” he said. “Now, a few hundred thousand miles later and a new ground-up rebuild, I still use it as a promotional vehicle for the same business which I now do with my 19-year-old son Kevin.”
So, he’s had the car for 45 years minus a short decade of letting someone else “borrow” it (watch Vlog #212 for that story).
And it’s right here folks where cars become the glue for love. To be able to work with your kids in a business that you love and driving what you love is what this is all about.
Andy is certainly grateful for being a Malibuite. But it’s more than just being grateful. He realizes that gratitude is actually what causes all these wonderful things to happen. I feel blessed to have him and so many friends that both inspire and charge me with positive energy. And Andy’s energy regarding cars and this town is certainly infectious. Not to mention that his favorite movie car is Jimmy Bond’s DB5.
I want to give Andy a big thanks for taking me for a spin. I have a feeling there’s more driving coming.
Watch! VALERIAN Final Trailer will leave you speechless…
VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS is the visually spectacular new adventure film from Luc Besson, the legendary director of The Professional, The Fifth Element and Lucy, based on the ground-breaking comic book series which inspired a generation of artists, writers and filmmakers.
In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are a team of special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories.
Under assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha—an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and cultures with each other.
There is a mystery at the center of Alpha, a dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
In Theaters July 21, 2017
Cast: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, John Goodman, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu
What’s it like to drive a 1980 MERCEDES UNIMOG 406? Bitchin…’
What’s it like to drive a 1980 MERCEDES UNIMOG 406? Bitchin…’
Every now and then at Malibu Cars & Coffee, this unbelievable truck would show up and leave jaws dropped. But to say it was a rugged off-roader would be an understatement, and you’d also expect that it would be driven by a beer guzzling, pot-bellied, semi-driving, chew spitting kind of guy. Well, you’d be so wrong.
Ari Soffer’s 1980 Mercedes Unimog 406 is what any off-road enthusiast would dream of having. And, of course, living in Malibu, we have one. So, I reached out to Ari and said “I need to see this beast up close and feel what it can do.”
Ari is a long time Malibuite and manages that by being an incredible Jewelry and leather designer at www.sofferaristore.com. His standards are very high and when he snagged this Unimog, it had the potential that he wanted.
“I’ve owned it for three or so years and bought it on Ebay with 1,600 original miles,” Ari said. “It came from a guy in Chicago who bought it from the Mercedes dealer there and was never titled because it was used as a snowplow on the dealer lot and was never driven on the street. After they were done, it sat for a while until they decided to sell it at auction. It’s technically a tractor.
We removed the snowplow which weighed 3,500 pounds and recycled the metal in Chicago. The truck arrived here in Malibu on a car carrier and I had it titled as a pick-up truck. Spent the next two years restoring and rebuilding it into what I have now.”
And it’s as military spec as it gets, with 125 horsepower, 5.7 liter military diesel inline 6 with a “hot rod tune.” Ari advanced the timing and turned the diesel pump up which brought the power from its stock agriculture tuned 75 horsepower up to 125horsepower. Night and day difference.
He then raised the rev limiter from 2200 rpm to 3100 rpm. This, along with the taller tires, brought the top speed up from 45mph to 58mph. The entire truck has been gone over with a new leather interior and a custom Ipe wood bed on an aluminum frame.
There’s a custom spare tire carrier, crane mounts for a little military grade crane and hand made parts all over the truck.
“Blood sweat and tears went into this truck,” he said.
“It’s the most unique and cool looking truck anybody has ever seen,” Ari said. “It’s also the most fun to drive, more than my Turbo Porsche. It’s slow, but the 4 wheel drive and air locking diffs let it climb straight up anything in front of it.
I had always seen them in the mountains in Europe and loved them and they have an almost cult like status. I wanted to take my then-girlfriend to dinner in it.”
Ari runs to pick up pallets of chicken feed as well as hay and alfalfa bales for his goats and horses. It’s also used for moving his motorcycles to and from the mechanic and any heavy lifting. He built a crane attachment point on the back so it can lift 900 pounds straight up and swing it over and onto the bed.
“We took the truck to the Rowher Truck Trail near Santa Clarita.” Ari’s said of his best story with the truck. “Along the way, there were other trucks being pulled out from being stuck — small caravans of off-roaders helping pull others out, all heading up parts of the trail that I couldn’t understand why they were unable to navigate without getting stuck.
And we are just idling by them at a steady fast crawl so easily. When we got home at the end of the day, I looked up Rowher Flats in a trail book I had at home. Apparently this trail is rated as an ‘Expert Rated Trail.’ Extremely steep and rutted; a long and relentless climb up one side of a mountain and down the other.
The Unimog barely flexed its muscles getting over the trail. The truck drove up and over this trail barely above idle. It’s so impressive, it turned an extremely difficult trail into a Sunday drive.”
Ari’s favorite thing about driving in Malibu is all the dirt roads and little hidden areas of off-roading that nobody but a handful of people know about. For me, that would be worth searching for.
And if he got his hands on a favorite movie car?
“The Bandit from ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’” he said. “But if you are speaking about trucks, which would be more appropriate for the interview, then we should never forget the 1982 Ford Bronco named Pepe. The Little Mule from ‘Romancing The Stone.’”
Ah, yes. I’m familiar with that as the writer of that movie actually owned my house before me. That script was written in the office were I’m currently writing this.
RIP… SIR ROGER MOORE leaves us
Sad news today from the family of SIR ROGER MOORE. He has passed at 89.
A fantastic Bond in film, Moore was truly the only bond that I felt had a clear sense of humor. And that humor, mixed with action sequences like the above made him a star. We will miss him greatly miss him as a true inspiration.
Sir Roger George Moore (October 1927 – 23 May 2017) was an English actor. He played the British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films between 1973 and 1985. He is also known for playing Simon Templar in the television series The Saint between 1962 and 1969.
Moore took over the role of Bond from Sean Connery in 1972, and made his first appearance as 007 in Live and Let Die (1973). The longest serving Bond to date, Moore portrayed the spy in six more films:
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), and A View to a Kill (1985). Appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1991, Moore was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for “services to charity”.
In 2008, the French government appointed Moore a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the same year he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
What’s it like to drive a 1969 AUSTIN FX4 LONDON CAB? Cool, that’s what…
It boggles the mind when you realize how similar and how different people are. Similar in that we all want the same thing, but we go about it in infinitely different ways. One example is that we all want cars to get around in — most of us — but our tastes are as diverse as you can imagine.
The other week, I was at my show Wheels and Waves, admiring the cool rides like the muscle cars, exotics and customs. And as much as I appreciate them, it’s always nice to see something unique. And what was it that caught my wandering eyes?
John DeRoy’s 1969 — maybe 1970 — Austin FX4 London taxi. Yes, a taxi. And a green Taxi, at that. So the question popped into my pea brain, “Why would someone want to collect a London cab?” Now, they are very cool, but that’s a given. So are Ferraris. But John’s kills it.
“As a kid, I went with my family on a European vacation,” John said. “In London, I went nuts over these and when we got home, I badgered my parents to get one. But they nuked that idea pretty quick…”
“Fast forward several decades to 2012, my wife and I took our 10 year old twin daughters to Europe. We were riding around in London and Edinburgh in the newer version of the taxi, and all of a sudden I was 12 years old again. So when we got back I started poking around and found that I could have my fantasy — aka, mid-life crisis — at considerably less than the cost of a Porsche — and finally bought this 3,500-pound hunk of steel.”
Ah, this must be AutoTherapy.
In the past, John was a business analyst — “number cruncher” — for a large biotech/pharmaceutical company, but became a licensed marriage and family therapist while attempting to become a social entrepreneur.
“I realized I wanted to help people parent better, deepen and improve their relationships with their kids, and impart those kids with the kind of emotional intelligence needed to thrive in today’s world.” Part of that is taking them for a ride in a cool car, I always say. Nothing that wind in your face and your tongue hanging out won’t solve. Wait, OK, that’s about my dog, but kid’s love cars too.
But John has had this gem only about a year and bought it from a guy in St. Louis, who ironically had purchased it a few years earlier from a guy in California. Nearly all the mods were done by the two of them. Wait, mods on a taxi? Let’s get into this.
RHD, 4-cylinder diesel BMC engine, automatic Borg-Warner 3-speed transmission, drum brakes, Lucas (“Prince of Darkness”) wiring, 15’ L x 5.75’ H x 5.75” W. But it’s been modified and now has a Chevy Blazer V6 Vortec with the accompanying automatic transmission, Edelbrock manifold and Holley 4160 4-barrel carb, Proform 67080 distributor, new plugs and wires, Carter GP4594 electric fuel pump, Lokar throttle cable, new radiator, rear end gears of 4.00 to replace the 5.00 ones, rebuilt front end, top-of-the-line radial tires, seat belts, dual exhausts and some “mellow” mufflers. Power brakes and an extra cooling fan sits in front of the condenser.
John drives around town 3-4 days a week and has the time of my life. “It never fails to get a lot of smiles, waves, thumbs-up and great conversation with total strangers. And I love taking it to car shows and letting people climb in and sit in the back. I say, ‘Touch — have fun — but please be gentle.’”
“I used to drive it to my last job which was on a big corporate campus. To get into the parking structure, you’d have to swipe your badge by a reader for the gate to open. But the reader is on the left side. I solved that by buying a 4’ long grabber, and all I need to do is lean over and shove the end of the grabber with my badge out the window and up against the reader.”
My final question to John was in regards to dark or milk chocolate. He had this to say, “Ah — another trick question. Average dark is like a Ford; good dark is like a Porsche; great dark is like a Maserati or a Lamborghini. Milk is like a Yugo.”
That would be a pretty awesome answer if I didn’t love milk chocolate so much. And with that notch coming down one, the car is still too cool to ignore.
DICK VAN DYKE visits today’s amazing Wheels and Waves in Malibu…
Yes, master comedian and entertainer DICK VAN DYKE joined Fireball’s Wheels and Waves for 40 minutes, perusing cars, talking car stories (especially Chitty) and hanging with fans. He must have taken a thousand photos. DON’T MISS TOMORROW’S VLOG RIGHT HERE!
Also on hand was Hollywood Stuntman Stuart Wilson, LIVE Radio Show Horsepower for an Hour, Delorean Triplets and close to $20M in cars.
**Fireball Tim’s Wheels and Waves happens at The Malibu Country Mart every third Sunday. Next show is June 18th, Father’s Day.
From WIKI… Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, singer, dancer, writer, and producer.
He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke; his entertainment career has spanned almost seven decades. After gaining recognition on radio and Broadway, Van Dyke became known for his role as Rob Petrie on the CBS television sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961 to 1966. He also gained significant popularity for roles in the musical films Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Mary Poppins (1964), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). His other prominent film appearances include roles in The Comic (1969), Dick Tracy (1990), Curious George (2006), Night at the Museum (2006), and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). Other prominent TV roles include the leads in: The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971–74), Diagnosis: Murder (1993-2001), and Murder 101‘ (2006–08), the latter co-starring his son Barry.
Recipient of five Primetime Emmys, a Tony and a Grammy Award, Van Dyke was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995.[1] He received the Screen Actors Guild‘s highest honor, the SAG Life Achievement Award, in 2013.[2] Van Dyke has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard and has also been recognized as a Disney Legend.
What’s it like to drive a 1949 OLDSMOBILE ROCKET HOT ROD? Ask my buddy Chuck…
Over the last decade, I’ve had the pleasure of calling Chuck Schauwecker a friend. A man dedicated to putting smiles on the faces of thousands through his love for cars.
Or maybe, his love for just one specifically: “RODriguez.”
The year was 2005 when Chuck bought this stunning 1930 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan Kustom directly from Builder Junichi Shimodaira in Nagoya, Japan – phenomenal Japanese builder with a truly unique vision for design and fabrication.
Yes, Japan.
Retired from a McDonald Douglas Aircraft stint since January of 1995 – the day he turned 55 and after 32 years of service – Chuck celebrated by snagging this one-of-a-kind Hot Rod with a 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 303 Motor.
It was around 2007 when I met Chuck and we formed an alliance for the love of this car. Over the next decade, his baby won just about every show across the Western Seaboard. First Place, Best of Show, from corner Car Shows to Concours Hoyty Toyty’s.
There just was no one out there that could beat him. So much so that he had to set aside a room in his house for all the trophies.
“She’s a true work of art,” Chuck said. “The only one like it in the entire world.”
And although Chuck uses it for Car Shows and Charity events solely, I’ve had the pleasure of having it at several Major Auto Shows and personally seen the faces of those that get the smile disease.
“When I bring her to an event,” he said, “and watch all the different people look a her for the first time and see them smile. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small child or an elderly person, it just seems to make them happy and they come up to me, shake my hand and thank me for bringing her to the show.”
Awesome. The entire point of having a cool car, wrapped up in one single run-on sentence.
RODriguez is simply the coolest built Hot Rod on the planet, and now it’s emblazoned in the Malibu Surfside News for all of you to enjoy. Or, just Google it and you’ll see that Chuck’s got himself a shiney-goldenbrass masterpiece. And as you look at the photos, you’ll see the smile millionaires all around it.
Recently, I had Chuck visit us at our Wheels and Waves Show and although there were many truly outstanding cars, RODriguez’s own attractive powers kicked in right off the bat. If Hot Rods ever reach a million bucks, this one will be the first.
And what does Chuck love about driving in Malibu? The ocean and beautiful homes, or course. Don’t we all? But for car people like he, I… and you… the tryptic to that statement is a cool car in the garage.
Hot Rod, Muscle Car, Exotic, Rat Rod, Tuner or whatever. It completes me.
What’s it like to drive a 1957 LOTUS ELEVEN? Low, very low
When I first saw John’s apple green ‘57 Lotus Eleven at a car show, I was instantly transported back to the 60’s. Visions of what was on Channel 52 here in Los Angeles flooded my pea-brain in waves of delicious green apple pie. Make sense? No? Well, who cares; this car is awesome.
Met John in the parking lot of the Cross Creek shopping center where we scooted at 6 inches above the ground out towards Pepperdine. I thought we’d take a quick run, but soon forgot about shooting photos altogether and just had to figure out how to wipe the silly grin off my face. We were in the Mach 5, only much cooler. In fact, I’m pretty sure this car was racing against the Mach 5 in every episode with Speed Racer and was always around when Speed crashed somewhere.
I searched intently for the Oil Slick or Ejector Seat buttons. I wanted to scrape the paint to see if it was made of gold. I wanted to find a hidden panel with a GPS drone inside. But no luck.
All I found was that this car was full race spec, 5.5 inches wider and 4 inches longer than the original Eleven and less than 40 inches high. It weighed 1800 pounds with a near 50/50 weight ratio. Dyno tested at 120-horsepower at the rear wheels and 180 feet per pound of torque. And the only one ever built in this configuration. It’s got too many mods to list, so let’s just say “Woo Hoo” instead.
John found this little beast in Portland Oregon in 2011.
“Many years back, I came across a picture of a Lotus Eleven and immediately fell in love with the aerodynamic shape,” John said. “After doing some research, I learned how rare and expensive these cars were. They are almost exclusively raced, owing at least partially to their very light but fragile frames. Several years later I came across a Westfield — a British company which makes a replica using an MG Midget or Austin Healey Sprite as a donor car — but ended up not buying it as the price was too high.”
Jump forward a few more years and an disassembled kit showed up on Ebay.
“I was outbid. It seemed like it wasn’t meant to be. I subsequently owned several classic cars including a 1972 Austin Mini, a 1962 MGA coupe, a 1950 Cadillac, and a 1931 Ford Model A coupe. I still periodically looked for a Westfield Eleven but they were rarely for sale.”
Then it happened.
“One day in 2011, a Lotus Eleven tribute popped up on Ebay in Portland, Oregon that was not a Westfield kit. This unique car was listed less than 24 hours earlier, and I immediately emailed the seller who quickly replied back.
He wasn’t sure of the history of the car but had put in an incredible amount of time and money to make it a very fast, high-performance car. It still needed finishing and quite a bit of work but the price was right.”
Here’s where it gets good.
“During the purchase of the car, I flew up to Oregon to inspect it in person. The seller offered to pick me up at the airport, I assumed in his ‘daily driver.’ But as I exited out of the terminal, there was the brightest green car I’d ever seen, along with a man leaning casually on the hood and dressed in full period racing gear. The car was also surrounded by a boatload of camera-clicking gawkers.
We hopped into the car, only to feel the passenger seat wobbling beneath me; it was perched precariously on a wood block. He started up the engine, which was so loud the kids surrounding us jumped and squealed.
He proceeded to tear down the highway and then up mountainous roads, all the while tipping his head back wildly and laughing wholeheartedly as I reached for anything to hold on to — no seatbelts and the seat was now shifting back and forth with each curve. When ‘Tony Stewart’ finally parked the car at his house, I was sold.”
The rest is history.
What does John love about driving his Lotus in Malibu? The scenic coastline, beautiful weather and of course the great driving roads. And there couldn’t possibly be a better car to experience them in.
Part of the joy of writing these pieces is getting to experience someone else’s joy. Sure I’d rather be driving, but the next best thing in a car like this as a passenger is watching the bugs hit my teeth and glasses. Deee…lish! And since John didn’t seem to have a name for this little rocket, I’m officially dubbing it “The Green Meany.”
SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
AUTOMOTIVE INSPIRATION from Pixar… Appreciation comes from Experience
Being an automotive vlogger and filmmaker as I am, I get to do some pretty neat stuff and my “ride” can take me many unique places.
Although they are all cool, many stand out as being an experience that specifically is designed for me to appreciate life and those that dedicate themselves to adding some sort of joy into the world.
So when the people at Disney invited me to come up to Pixar near Berkeley to shoot a vlog (as an inside Pixar experience), my heart-motor jumped a beat. A few moments later and I was on a plane from LAX to SF with the anticipation of learning how Pixar works and getting an exclusive view of the upcoming “Cars 3” movie. They knew I was a car guy and had some serious surprises in store.
As we know here in Malibu, gratitude goes a long way in life. But appreciation is an aspect of gratitude when it comes to others doing things for you. So over the next 24 hours, I got a chance to do some things that very few people on the planet get to do, starting with a surprise visit from John Lasseter to explain his passion for cars and how that passion has permeated Pixar’s Cars franchise.
Growing up in Whittier in 1957, John Lasseter became an instant classic. The ‘57 Chevy sparked his interest in cars and peppered his life throughout the years. So when he put the team together for the Cars films at Pixar, his only stipulation seemed to be that those people shared that love of cars. They included head of the Cars brand, Jay Ward and Automotive Production Designer Jay Shuster.
Having had extensive conversation with these guys over the time there shifted my perspective about the films and my anticipation for the upcoming third installment. I did manage to see 40 exclusive minutes of the film with one scene nearly flooring me, being seriously muddy and fun.
But the day was also filled with the Pixar Studio Campus’ theaters, swimming pool, amazing cafes and a crazy cart race in the parking lot that I inadvertently managed to win. It was clear that these people not only appreciated their jobs, but each other for their creative prowess.
Each moment was filled with a new joy as we got exclusive presentations on the history of NASCAR, inside the Cars sculpting studio, animation evolution and car design process. Having done so many cars for film projects myself and being a Disney Imagineering veteran, I felt like I was home.
I so appreciate the Pixar Team, PR experts at Disney and the scores of people I met for giving me the gift of entering behind the scenes of an evolving world as the Cars franchise has become. It’s a world of inanimate objects that, if you’ll let them, might exhibit more life than most of the people you know.
By the time this article comes out, there will have been several episodes of my show posted for you guys to see most of what I saw while there. Of course, the two NDAs prohibited me from showing more, but you’ll just have to take my word for the fact that “Cars 3” will blow your mind … again.
Big thanks to Pixar, especially the three mentioned above for allowing me to see that vision. My experience there has enhanced my love of all things cars — as if that were even possible. Certainly, my octane rating just went way up.
Watch! TRANSFORMERS THE LAST KNIGHT Final Trailer… uh, huh
FROM THE DESCRIPTION… The Last Knight shatters the core myths of the Transformers franchise, and redefines what it means to be a hero. Humans and Transformers are at war, Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); Bumblebee; an English Lord (Sir Anthony Hopkins); and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock).
There comes a moment in everyone’s life when we are called upon to make a difference. In Transformers: The Last Knight, the hunted will become heroes. Heroes will become villains. Only one world will survive: theirs, or ours.
Transformers is coming to theatres June 21, 2017!
Directed by Michael Bay
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, Isabella Moner, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro
