Mickey Andrade - EP.84

In episode 84 we get to talk to the legend, Mickey Andrade about his come up in the automotive industry. Including, helping create the drift program for Falken, and Throtl. Listen along and learn.

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Transcript

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Hey, and welcome back to another episode of the right hand drive guys podcast the podcast for guys who like right hand drives I'm your host Bobby. This is your other host Aaron. Yeah, yeah, and we are super pumped to be back here today with another guest episode Oh, yeah, man. Who is it? Well, you see this guy is actually somebody that we personally got to meet in Japan on our last trip He was at the top rank Track day before the top rank owners and so he purchased his 34 from there and we were of course there in my 34 and You know, he is somebody that I'd known about for quite some time, but you know, I saw him like hey, dude Like you want to do the podcast and he's like hell yeah, and I was like oh shit. Okay cool. I'll hit you up and Unfortunately sometimes everybody's busy. It took us to solid six seven months to finally get here But we're definitely pumped about it Who is it? It's Mickey Andre Mickey Andre, and otherwise known as one of their creators or the creator of throttle right? Right. Yeah, he's very busy, dude man. He's always wrenching on something. Yeah, he really is. I think he's done a hundred million project cars But yeah, so we're excited to finally get him on here again It's been a long time coming and I know he's definitely got plenty to say so what do you say we get to it? Dude, let's get right to it. All right episode 84 with Mickey Andre All right, and we're back with Mickey. What's up Mickey? What's up, man? Thanks for having me on guys. Absolutely man. We appreciate you coming on You know ever since we met at Fuji Speedway the iconic Fuji Speedway We've been looking forward to this so it's definitely a pleasure to finally get you on here Yeah, man. That was what January auto salon time. So it's been a few months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely and I can't imagine You know how much is really changed for you in that time A lot but so okay, man, so you know we we kind of know about you But some of our our listeners may be in the dark So just like let us know like who even is Mickey really you know what I'm saying Yeah, man for sure so For those of you that aren't aware of me as a automotive enthusiast I've been working in the automotive space as a basically behind the scenes as a marketing guy or whatever for 20 plus years at this point kicked off my career in the state of Ohio Akron area University of Akron graduate and I owned a sticker shop making vinyl stickers in Ohio Did a bunch of work a shop in in California called modern image sign works saw some of my some of my work and Move me out to California to work for them Shortly after I started working for them. I moved on to a marketing position. Have felt entire Where I was one of the first guys brought in to work under a gentleman named Nick and We promptly started the the drift program and I worked my way into managing that drift program up to a 12 car team When the blue and tear was all over the track you guys probably remember that back in the year 2000s That was a great air so that was a really fun time in my life I was in my early 20s mid 20s traveling the country and the world Drifting with all these Japanese drivers and all the up and coming American drivers just really cool So really close relationships with the Chris Forsberg the Vaughn Gittens The older guard from FD and I came up with them basically at the same time, which is really neat And I wouldn't trade it for the world After moving on from Falcon I worked at a wheel brand. I've worked at an air suspension brand So I've got got a pretty well-rounded background in automotive That leads me to starting throttle with a couple of my buddies who I met working at the wheel brand. I worked at Came up with an idea. We want to start this brand called throttle We want to help Enthusias who buy and sell use car parts Find them easier without having to go into the forums and put your passwords in every time and all that stuff So we basically develop the scraper That would find the part you're looking for for sale in the forums bringing into one place We found out that a lot of people weren't finding the parts they wanted so we rotated it over to new parts Started selling new parts start marketing on YouTube, but here we are today So that's kind of the long and short of my history. There's a lot more to it than that of course Crawl intense and purposes. That's the high-level stuff. So yeah, it's been You know an obvious journey, you know in that sense and you know, I can't imagine just all the The little experiences that you've had that have kind of led you you know in this direction Man, yeah going back to the early 2000s when we were building the drift cars for Formula D Which was I mean back then they were basically street cars Yeah, and no rear-mounted radiators no angle kits. No none of that crazy stuff So I learned pretty much everything I know from the Fabricators that we hired to build those glorified street cars for for what they were back then I owe a lot of debt of gratitude to all those guys They you know let me come down and sweep the floors after work and learn how to weld and cut fenders and Chop knuckles and you know all that little stuff that you don't learn unless you just get in there and do it so that journey has been amazing and You know the throttle journey, which is what most people see because of our two and a half million the viewership on YouTube That most will know me from that they don't realize that I have 15 years prior in the industry before that it just didn't happen overnight We just spun up a YouTube channel and here we are. Yeah, super de-lot of work Yeah, with anything like any time you see someone that's had some level of success or enjoying their their Position that their job is because they've probably put in a lot of work. It didn't happen overnight for the most part So that's one thing that a lot of people don't get they just say oh must be nice. You're right. Well There's a lot of digging behind it. Yeah, yeah, it's nice now for sure. It's maybe it's nice now, right? Yeah, I mean Yeah, you ever really ever happy Right right right now. I feel like I have to do better and and help more when you can so that's That's the next step for me is to start to give back the automotive community more than I have already and continue to build cool stuff and and learn continue to learn Yeah, and in turn people will learn from you which is is also an excellent gift to have in the sense of Being able to pass that on the platform that you have Yeah, I hope so and And so you know like it like I mentioned man. We we met in Japan like Japan is oh gosh I mean Japan is Amazing it's hard to explain Japan to people that haven't been there without getting way too excited, right? Yeah, I mean I do it often I try to to sort of explain What makes it so magical or so special to me? And everybody that goes there I think understands it after they get there and there oh now I see what he was talking about But until you go and really experience it it's hard to explain for sure Yeah, it really is and and so How many times have you been over individual trips now? Man so starting in 2004 was my first time going We when I worked at Falcon we shipped the Vaughn Gettin's first Mustang over there for Tokyo Auto Slon. Oh wow So total trips I think I'm at about 8 or 9 now since in 20 years which isn't a lot I've been going a lot more recently and last two years I've been doing a lot more and that's because like yourself I've been acquiring some vehicles over there Before they're eligible here in the state so it's nice to go over there and enjoy them and You know the place we buy the cars from is gracious enough to register them as rental cars for us and let us come there and drive them before they're shipped here to America Which is amazing. Yeah, that really is You know and I would say when I bought my car You know top rank really did stand out solely for that purpose. I knew I wanted to create those memories in Japan because that really connects you To the car to this level That's maybe just a tiny step above you know buying one that's already landed here You know you just have all that all those KMs man like all of them. Yeah Yeah, yeah, and all the tolls But yeah, no, I mean believe me. I've got two vehicles that are eligible to come here in October and December And I'm really contemplating not bringing one of them here As much as I would love to have it here in my shop and The ability to drive it when I feel like it. It's also kind of nice knowing I can fly into Japan Get a cab over the top rank pick a car up and just go drive I don't have to rent something. I don't have to lean on anybody else literally just boom cut and dry go there Have fun drive and that's the thing like I don't know about you But I was leery about putting cams on the car like oh, I'm gonna run the miles up Who cares man? Yeah, it's a car. It's meant to be new way to right? Yeah, now I agree I got 8,000 on mine in Japan right now Like as far as that I've put on there so you put on it Yeah, and so you know, yeah first I'm like oh, it's an R34 I should you know limit these miles, but then like you said man I mean it's a whole different level of freedom when you're there, you know, and you have that car to walk out and like you said just Take off it's definitely amazing man You're experiencing Basically a dream world it was a dream world for me in the beginning when I first started in the automotive industry to go to Japan and drive a Skyline there whatever you know whatever you're into and to be able to do it Whenever you feel like it is is it very cool and and very reward rewarding And so I know that you have traveled you know beyond Japan, you know quite a bit for just different Things that you've been into, but you know, what is it would you say that just really stands out about you Like what is it, you know that just maybe I would assume makes Japan one of your favorites You know, this is gonna probably not be the popular answer, but I'm gonna say it anyway. It's the people honestly Yeah And not even just the people the culture I think even further like to go down that road is like We could learn a lot from the Japanese and their culture there and how they care for one another Simple instance you get on the public transit and Someone maybe coming down with a cold. What do you see? They're wearing a mask. Oh fair. They're not wearing a mask to protect themselves They're wearing a mask to protect the others around them and To me that's like the ideal For that culture like it. It's just they care about one another. We simply don't People care about one another in America, but not at that level And you know you care about your family you care about your close Friends and that sort of thing, but a stranger Whatever you think it's sick. They could sit but in Japan is totally different. They look out for everyone Regardless they know them or not and to me that's really cool and Very humbling and one of the reasons why I love going to Japan because I feel like That's where I should have banned my whole life Yeah, I could relate to that Yeah, it's very Interesting and then you know obviously living the car car culture lifestyle over there going to die cook who Going to the Toto gay and checking out the the after hours activities and stuff like that is just That's kind of like a cherry on top for me and that's like man. I'm living in a dream world at the moment So every time I go there I get I get giddy and and just enjoy every second time there Yeah, it's almost like a reset, you know like you go You experience that and it doesn't even have to be lavish or crazy, right like and no and literally you come back with almost like a Renewed sense of I don't know what to call it But I definitely feel a lot more charged and I'm always of course I'm instantly like how to immigrate into Japan Yeah, no, I can only imagine man My trick on our last trip we're driving on the freeway and I look around said You're down to move here with me. She looked at me and she Yeah, I actually am and she won't go anywhere. She's in California girl born and raised San Diego Loves it here would never go guys San Diego and she's like yeah, I would move to Japan honestly Dang okay, you got around bored. That's what's up, dude Yeah, no, and that that's what I hear the challenge definitely is And so you did mention, you know, you got two cars over there. They're coming to be eligible You know, we know you got multiple cars You know back here at home in the states. Yeah So my question is because we kind of have something in common. We're both going for the the white 3 GTR collection, right and you know, maybe more but you know stage you kind of fits in there 35 kind of it's in there But why white man like I got to know like I know why I like white, but but why does Mickey like white? Well, there's a couple reasons why and so for me white cars show the body lines the best to me I Have a couple pictures of my R33 that I could send you that I think any other color The body lines on the car wouldn't appear the way they do on a white car and white cars always look very clean to me And I know clean is kind of a cliche word in the car scene like oh, that's clean But it means different things right so to me clean is like it stays clean like it doesn't look dirty As opposed to a black car or darker color car which captures all that road dirt and looks very dirty White cars you can get away with a few extra days without a wash and still looks pretty tidy So to me the crisp cleanness of a white car is why I like them now the reason I went for that was because I was inspired by No potato ton of Gucci way back in the day back in like 2003 he was basically building a collection of S chassis and they were all red I remember seeing an option magazine with them all laid out S13 S14 S15 86 Corolla he had everything they're all red and I think even at an FD maybe but Don't quote me on that but anyway, I was inspired by that I thought it was so cool that he had all these premium JDM chassis in all red and just looked so slick so When I was able to start buying cars I started buying white and I was like you know what everything I buy is gonna be white from here on out So I buy a pickup or sports car. It's white. Oh, yeah, and in that That two so it's a 260 RS is it that you have over there? Yes, I have a Stasia all tech version 260 RS Which is probably the cleanest Cleanest of all the cars that I have Yeah, arguably is the lowest case. It's the most original as far as like it wasn't modded at all when I bought it other than a grounding kit on the chassis So very happy as a one owner car and that's the one I was starting to feel guilty about putting the case on but It's so good man and the more I thought about it like I could let this car sit in a rattle way and not enjoy it Or I can just get in and enjoy it and not care that I might not get that extra five grand on top of sales price if I ever decided to sell this thing Let's be frank. I'm not buying these guys a selling. I'm buying them. Join him. So right? I'm gonna drive him and that is you know kind of the the difference between not I don't even mean to say this but like a Real enthusiast right like is buying these cars to experience them so to speak as opposed to just kind of Storm you know and look at him and show their buddies, you know Exactly these are all cars I used to drive in Gran Turismo and you know really popular video games in the Late 90s release 2000s and these were like I'm a little bit older than you guys so I to me I was in my like getting ready to buy my first car or had my first car I was like these were aspirational vehicles for me big time man, I remember driving the aughtack version Ford or R33 and Yellow one in Gran Turismo being like what the heck is this thing a Ford or GTR? I actually was able to buy one and like to me these are pocket list things like I never in a million years were thought that I Could own something like this one because of the geographical challenges is getting it here and to having to wait out the 25-year-old and then also being able to afford it and then maintain it so I've been very fortunate last few years and found a good one and bought it and I'm not gonna look back man. I'm just gonna enjoy it and Those you know this is a common theme between a lot of the guys that we Interview right like they would be in their prime right in these video games and they're playing these cars and it almost gets like burned into their brain and And like self manifests right after 10 50 20 years and all of a sudden, you know these guys are actually driving, you know, they're aughtack 33s Just like they were you know in that grainy Gran Turismo, you know, PlayStation game Living that life that we couldn't live back then just doing it now Yeah, and it really is amazing and and I know I can tell you are and I'm definitely enjoying it, you know while This time in our lives is like fresh in here. I try to take it in because These will be the good old days for sure I can tell just these Japan dress and yet acquiring the cars and stuff So and now that the 34 sorry another 34 is legal in America We're kind of seeing the heyday of of skyline activity. I think you know Sadly until probably 2027 when the 2002 has become available and they stop coming it's kind of slightly declined probably and the novelty is not gonna be as great but I agree I guess the time will tell yeah, and I think you know I wouldn't say the novelty is quote unquote like wearing off, but I think it's Saturating in right now, you know like when these first ones of course started landing and everybody's in Japan driving theirs and you know I think people are kind of starting to get used to it a little bit even You know So I know Aaron had a good little little challenge question We we got something for you little fantasy action here, so you get to keep all of your current cars But you have to swap the same motor into all of them. Oh, what would it be? What motor is it gonna be? Easy answer are be 26 are be 26 and so there it is They already have it That I was gonna ask what car actually doesn't have that right now. Yeah, yeah, I have you But so I haven't have the RX 7 which we know that's an upgrade already. Yeah, although I am I am putting a different engine in my RX 7 will be rotary but not a 13b, but I would gladly change that for an RV However, I won't because I'm a purist so S14 S15 which have SRs and I would gladly change those to RVs so I have to say RV RVs still have the freak though I do it does not belong to me though. Oh, I see I see that's a project car. I see what you're saying long story But that car belongs to throttle. I so in the beginning it belonged to me But there was some business activities that had to have had to happen and I had to basically sell the car to throttle So that car is rad and that car has my second choice motor that I would put in every car if I had to so it's got to be a K series Yeah, I have K20 NA it doesn't matter. K20 is Man, I hate to say this but it's probably one of the best motors ever built in my opinion It just does everything well holds boost super reliable Small contact lightweight Can be used in rear wheel drive configuration for a draft configuration all wheel drive configuration It's just it's like the four-banger LS Yeah, yeah, and they're like 800 bucks on Facebook marketplace. Yeah, yeah, I bought the engine in the freak I think for 600 that was a good five years ago now that six years ago Yeah, they're just super cool and bulletproof man Like you really got a rag on them to pull them up and stuff so or not take care of them so Are Yeah, I mean those are definitely two solid motors by two solid manufacturers. I mean you really really probably couldn't go wrong So we heard we heard through the grapevine you could say we heard You're what we would call a hunter and and I'm not talking about Venison or deer or anything like that. We're talking about the rarest of the rare we heard you're no one now who options Well, this is just within reach of me. So let me reach over here. This was my haul from yesterday. Oh So I collect really weird random stuff from Japan. This would have been a mid-logo decal that came with an exhaust I see way dude It's been something you stuck on your back window your rear bumper or something But I also this room that I'm sitting in it's actually gonna be called the skyline berry I'm gonna have to bring you There's gonna be a lot of shelves on the walls in here and I am a mad collector of Nissan catalogs and books instead of Scott or the S15 catalogs from the dealer I have every nismo Siparts catalog from 90 sorry 89 to 2020 when they stopped printing it Every log for every nismo car or any Nissan car ever made even down to the special edition stages and stuff like that And I have a collection of very old Magazine stuff. This is I don't know if you guys realize who that is. That's Paul Newman. Yeah, yeah Oh with his guy. I actually saw the Paul Newman R31 at top rank. Yeah, all this alone So that's the car right there. Yeah, that is sweet. That must have been this is it Yeah, I mean this I mean stuff's available you can find it, but I just I don't know why I'm in this two or three years ago I started you know getting into the skyline super heavily and you know when you're scouring for parts You end up finding stuff like this and this is this is probably like maybe a hundredth of what I have I literally can pack shelves in here with stuff and I have this space that is my own personal space. I call it my hobby shop, but When I'm not a throttle building cars with the boys. I'm here at night and on the weekends and I'm gonna eventually open this up to allow people to come visit and thumb through the catalogs and you know if you have a question about when I Certain duffel bag was made by Nismo you can scour through all the accessory catalogs and see what year it was and Just stuff like that. I really the history of all that stuff And so you know when you're looking for parts you find the stuff so I started buying it and It's just become almost an obsession for me. See I you could call me a hunter He's a hunter and so I mean that's very valuable to our community though because You know like you said this stuff's available, but in one place where you know Whatever you've put in a hundred hours looking for something on the internet, but you can go to Mickey's place and what do you know? It's right there. Yeah, like this one right here. This I just got this yesterday. This is 2007 This was the only volume that has eluded me for two years Wow, you just it's not in perfect condition which I don't care because the Reason for this this collection is for people to enjoy and the last thing I wanted to be great about getting fingerprints and stuff on it And that's why I showed you this The silver catalogs. These are so via S15 dealer brochures This one is brand new so it's in a package and I've left it that way, but I bought another one the second one Thumb through it and actually see like what I mean this is so cool Japan is so awesome This is all the stuff that was an option on the car. Oh, I love how they break stuff down man, it's it's addictive and It's it's become an addiction for me to find all this cool rare stuff and be able to have it here so that people can enjoy it at some point So yeah, I think that's a You know like a great goal to have to be able to share because you know we buy these things and when we just keep them to ourselves like you know It really limits you and in But okay, so what I want to know is what's the rarest part like your pride and joy? What's the pride and joy Dang it. I would have known you're gonna ask me that question. I would have brought it here today But it's I keep it actually in the in a climate controlled room that's dark Oh I have a disease anyway So obviously I bought the Autec r33 and I Love mid-Logo stuff. So as I showed you guys this this is the logo. I like So when you find the round logo, which is he knew maru is what that means. It's the Japanese circle from the flag That's my favorite era of Skylands which is basically the golden era which was the r32 r33 and r34 And then they switched they had the old logo before them well partially into the r32 And then the new logo towards the end of r34 But to me the sweet spot was that he knew maru logo or mid logos Americans call it And so I started hunting parts for the 33 Autec version which is really difficult because Some stuff works from a coupe but a lot of it doesn't and there's a lot of trial in here I found out a lot of really cool things of what actually fits a two-door and a four-door The same which is pretty cool like the side skirts for a two-door fit the four door exactly the same Oh, wow, that's it. So wheelbase is the same the size skirt length is the same Which is weird you wouldn't know that unless you tried right well in hunting for parts I found the carbon Outer door Covers I don't know if you've seen the application that go on the 34 B pillars behind your glass So I think a car a carbon with a clear gel coat over and it says nizmo at the bottom I Found a set for a four-door which oh wow is ultra rare Because you know, that's what that's a part that you bought for a car you bought for your car you stuck it on Once it's stuck you're probably not gonna be able to remove it in one piece or nicely and it gets ruined I found a brand new in the box set of all so because it's a four-door it has six pieces So has the front door pillar the rear door pillar and then the little triangle in the rear glass window and that's where it says nizmo Super trick piece if I pulled out one of those other catalogs over there I could show you it in the catalog. It was only present in the catalog for two years and It disappeared So finding a brand new in the box to me. That's like treasure hunt of all treasure hunts I don't even want to use them. I bought a used set I found a used set piece it together and I refinished it and put that on my car I won't even use the set I bought brand new wow Man that is that is wild to really think about because that was such a limited car that parts like that We're lucky they were even manufactured let alone you know actually Spares yeah, I mean that's brilliant heard of I mean Yeah, and so there's another there's another part to that just don't I mean so the rear wing for the 33 Autek version because the trunk as you know is a 33 owner the trunk is sunk down right on a coupe and then the Fenders come up and so the wing from nizmo or from Nissan Sits in that recess and makes it flat Well on the sedans it's straight across there is no recess But nizmo did make a replica wing that looks like the GTR coupe wing Without the recess lower portion. It's basically just two stands and two uprights and a wing lit or element And I found one of those so again only in only in the nizmo catalog for one or two years and they may have made ten of them I don't know they may have made two they may have made a hundred. I don't know but finding them is like Finding hen's teeth. They're just they don't exist So I was able to find one though so it that gives you idea where I'm going with my 33 build Yeah, dude, I think it's sick. That's probably one of my favorite R33s Really yeah, yeah, the all 33s are hot, but dude yours is just like with the T.E. is the white The white on why so nice? Well, it's about to get changed up a little bit boys, but yeah, I'm actually behind what I'm looking at on my computer screen If you guys interviewing me is a picture of it at Willis Springs and I can see it and so it's It is I love the way it looks now currently, but man I got I Saved up all the parts to basically I'll tell you guys here is exclusive I'm basically turning it into the all tech version nizmo model the only made one of I've scoured the world found every part to recreate the car Down to the decals that are on it Wow The nizmo car that was on display at Tokyo, Oslo in 1998 and only one exists is gonna be the color and it was yellow is the game It was the one I played in the video game that was the actual unit mine will be white Yeah, yeah, which I mean like you said, I mean that white makes it individual, but those parts man Nobody will have that which I know isn't the point, but I mean that's just wild that kind of almost have a one-of-one Yeah, and that's the goal for it, you know the car has some k's on it It did get a chassis refresh at Tokyo Prince Back in 2019 so it handles and feels like a brand new car But it has high k's it's not a cream puff by any means It's meant to be driven and and I'm enjoying the crap out of it I'm gonna mod it make it a one-of-one style car and who knows maybe I'll sell it someday, but I Really don't think I will yeah, I mean with that low production number and then those parts I mean and it kind of seems to be kind of a common theme like you get these cars and you know They're beautiful nice cars, but you turn them into drivers cars Not in like a negative way because somebody will use that in a negative way, but yeah, you know Understand what you mean you drive them you actually do drive them which it which is yeah, not the case for all of these cars that get brought over Enjoy it man like you only have one life to live You could be gone tomorrow I would feel terrible if I was gone tomorrow and I had all these cars sitting in the garage and I didn't get to enjoy I'm so that's my mentality now it is It took some years on me to to figure that out because I had cars in the past that I sat on and just Didn't enjoy because I didn't want to put my eyes on them It's dumb. Yeah, it's true. Especially if if you can afford them. Why not enjoy them, you know Exactly, I mean again, there's there's a case forever if you've got a one of ten Who knows what Porsche or 918? I don't know what it is, but like if you've got something ultra rare like that sure I get it, you know, I could be worth a million two million dollars at some point, but none of these cars I mean You know white GTR's the most common color pretty much for every GTR is white So we're not talking about anything super rare of course my 34s of V spec which makes it a little bit more special But is it really right they made a couple thousand of them? Yeah, I might as well. It's not that special Yeah, enjoy it All right, what is it would you have for him? Yeah, dude. What's up next for you? What's next for me? Yeah, so you know my rolls change a little bit of throttle We've got a good team there now Ricky and Quinn have been killing it in the shop and my rolls change is sort of the Project manager I basically in it has for the last year year and a half But not doing as much on camera now. I'm doing a lot more behind the scenes building the cars on spreadsheet Getting the parts or getting everything in so the guys have products every day to install on the cars And basically just planning the builds so It's what I really enjoy doing as you've seen on all my personal cars I take a lot of time and pick the right parts and put out the whole package together so it all works well together It looks nice and I'm really enjoying it. It's a bit Different because I'm not on camera every day, which I used to be still a content creator But doing a lot more project planning and building of the cars in the background So it's a little different world these days And aside from that as I told you previously I've I've got my own hobby shop now where I store all the cars and And I'm building my skyline very So that gets all my extra time I haven't been going to car meets as much which I need to be doing more of but I really want to share these cars with with all the local car Community here, so I need to do that more Which is like hard right because you want to be in the shop working on them But you want to have them at the me, but you know, yeah, it is that that balances tough and sometimes yet time gets away from you That's the thing so you got to keep in mind that like From nine to five every day. I'm at throttle or longer And then I come here after hours And do my own personal stuff. I don't know Saturday morning when everybody's rolling out the cars and coffee. I'm laying there and beg gone I've been working on cars all week. I kind of just want to go walk down by the beach or Yeah, grab breakfast or you know, it's not I Don't need to be doing cars a hundred percent of the time which I have done for like the last 20 years in my life, so Recently, I've been kind of pulling back a little bit, but I realize I need to To be more involved and really to help the community grow and to share these cool cars that you know, we've all collected So it's neat to get them out and let people enjoy them Yeah, and I could see you know the consumption like it consumes you for a long time right and In time time like goes by very fast and all of a sudden you are like, okay Well, I kind of need to have some of these other parts of my life be more of a constant as well. I could relate to that for sure so All right, we we were last night. We're like all right Yeah, we got we get Mickey on the show tomorrow like we're excited. You know, we had This question for you which I didn't put in the outline. All right, if this is it. This is a surprise all right I hit me with it. Okay, is Mickey a Honda boy or a Nissan dude? officially I'm a Nissan dude. He's a Nissan dude He's a Nissan dude 100% okay Honda's man my first car was a Honda as a 1988 Civic hatchback. I bought it for I think three or four grand the year 1994 1993 I don't know I'm old but anyway, I got in the Honda's that way Of course I broke it my dad helped me fix it and I got the bug for working on cars and bought a young one SI I had more CXs than I could count A bunch of efs so yeah, I love Honda's man listen started my my love for cars and working on cars and and understanding how to work on cars because Honda's So simple to work on. Yeah, they made it fun It made it fun and not intimidating Had I started with a 3000 GT twin turbo or something like that? Yeah, I want to give a quick cars as much or a Volvo or something that's like a pain in the ass to work on so My obviously I've mentioned that I played a lot of Gran Turismo and stuff back in the day That's where I sort of grew into liking like you know grubay JGTC That's type of stuff and those type of cars and aspiring to own something like that or a street going version of one of those race cars fast forward To today here we are I'm able to now for those things and I want to Experience that in real life. So as we spoke about you know briefly previously That's where we're at and so I've become sort of I've graduated from Honda's to Nissan's I don't think I'll go back to Honda's although the FK8 and the FL5 are fantastic cars I've driven both of them and and completely blown away because I feel like Honda lost their way After about 2002 to about Damn almost recently Yeah Pretty much my whole career in automotive after I moved to California Honda really hasn't made a digestible platform for me So it kind of forced me to look elsewhere and I've always been you know looking at skylines But they've been on a battalion. So here we are now they're available I'm a skyline guy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's what's up man Absolutely making and and we we definitely appreciate you carbon out some time here for us tonight man Too easy guys. I love it. I'm sorry. It took so long to get on here. I'm spend busy and I'm glad you stuck with me here And thank God it's got us together. Oh, yeah, man. Well worth the wait and hey So did did I hear that your favorite NHL team is the Anaheim mighty ducks? Is that is alive? That's a lie. Who is it? I actually go to a lot of ducks games because I'm only about 30 minutes from the arena and I actually I play on the arena before some of the ducks games With this group that I play hockey with which is really cool experiencing a Fast-paced game on a professional arena is Is second to none like I it's right up there with driving the skyline The boards are so predictable the ice is perfectly manicured like you know what to expect when you bounce a puck off the glass It goes where you want to go legit like as we play at yeah legit lighting. Yeah Yeah, I'm actually a Pittsburgh penguins fan believer in our Pittsburgh fan. How yeah, man? So I get a lot of hate for that a lot of people hate the penguins because of their successes and some of the players that they've drafted and stuff But at the same time I grew up in Akron, Ohio in the as born in 76 so I grew up I started playing hockey started skating was 15 months old started playing hockey in our three and so I was a huge Edmonton, Williams fan because they were a Powerhouse back then with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Koff you know those guys and then Pittsburgh was only two hours away from Akron, Ohio So my family would take me to pens games once in a while when I was good and I played in some tournaments in Pittsburgh so I just became sort of a penguins fan by default And then right before I moved to California, Ohio got the Columbus Blue Jackets Yeah, and they've rivaled me to the penguins so I don't really care for the Blue Jackets too much But today's the diehard penguins fan just from being a kid and rooting for them and getting to see Mario play and you know I got the igloo and it's just it's one of those things, man It's just ingrained and you I'm sure you're the same way with your team. Now it's something you've cheered for your whole life and I'm a hockey fan in general. I'll watch any game that's on I'll watch the ruins. I'll watch the Nordic or they're not even around anymore Yeah, I watch any hockey dude. Yeah, and that's like passion, right? You know, that's like that real passion that stuck with you from three years old literally and until this day and a lot of people Maybe haven't had something like that and so you're you I you know people like us are definitely lucky to have experienced things like that Yeah, so I still play two or three times a week now in fact Some of your audience might be familiar with a guy named TJ hunt. He's actually a friend of mine And we actually play on the same beer league team So how are those knees holding up? His or mine yours Minor great. Yeah, those are fantastic I I'm 47 now and I'm playing in a league with guys in their 20s So I I'm still hanging in there and enjoying it having a blast and this the thing like most of you guys all know me as a car guy But I always tell people this I'm a hockey guy that's just in the cars. I'm actually Back soon about ice hockey that I am cars believe it. Yeah, and like you said it's that early like ingrained, you know from three years old How could you not be man? Yeah, and my fan is all hockey players like all my nieces nephews Figure skating hockey my dad was a hockey player my mom was a figure skating coach like wow it's just It was it was my whole life until I got into cars and that's where things sort of pivoted I moved to California and cars kind of just took over my life Took a couple years off hockey and immediately went right back to it and haven't looked back man. I just I love the game It keeps me grounded I love the the code of ethics that are involved with the game There's a game in a game going on all the time and and to me that's fun and a fun challenge and keeps Keeps things exciting. Yeah, and you know, it would if cars were it that would be it would be Too much and not enough at the same time, right? I mean you got to have those other Those other things that as you say kind of keep you grounded Yeah, and if you look at my social media, you won't see too much hockey content I am every time I post something though. I get a lot of DMs and hey more hockey content. Hey show us. Oh Yeah, I don't really because it's my private life and I'm a pretty private I don't put a lot of um What I do outside of cars on social media is because I it's my time and I don't want to feel like I owe anybody anything um as much as I know our audience and stuff appreciate seeing what we do outside of cars um To me, it's just a private thing and yeah Oh, yeah, hockey's my outlet. So like I just want when I walk into the rink man my phone doesn't come out of my pocket. I Don't know. I just I just turn off and I enjoy it. Don't spoil it for sure. Keep it sacred like that Exactly All right, Mickey. We'll let you get back to it back to back in the workshop over there But we definitely again appreciate you coming on man and uh hopefully maybe we'll see you in Japan sometime at the end of the year Is yeah Well, as you know, I blew up my R34. I wasn't gonna say it I'm too uh, oh man. I man. I have the video content from what it happened and I handled it so well Like I literally just I opened the door kicked it open and looked at my video guy and said well That's how it goes sometimes just door and walk away. We did. Now what can you do? Yeah, it is and the car is tired and old and now it's time for a new engine which I was planning to do when it got here anyway so um I'm gonna be going back hopefully the way it looks in September to build an engine um Hope capture that content so keep an eye on my Instagrams and throttles socials for that and Then I'm their top rank is planning on using my car for a ours meeting in October. Oh nice As they're just Showcase the engine we're gonna build um So it's kind of neat. I'm gonna go back a couple times I think before the end of the year and then of course I'm gonna go back and change your riff or autos lawn So it's a lot of traveling um, I don't need them prepared for it, but um The stuff has to get down and it's really cool stuff. So how yeah buck the more time I Yep Yep, awesome mammal. We definitely look forward to connecting with you again, man I really hope you enjoy the rest of your evening Thank you guys and yeah when you're ready to have me back on just shoot me a message. Oh yeah, man. Good talking. We're gonna much peace. All right. Thanks boys later Dude Mickey like Mickey Mickey Mickey is so cool, man I like when we're in Japan. We didn't really get to like hang out with him It was kind of an impassing thing and uh, yeah like That was that was a cool episode. Yeah, dude's a cool guy and he's got you know sick car collection Like you touched on the the white the YGTRs Building that collection. Dude is a tech 33 with some of the rarest parts like You know insane. I feel like the rarest part this man has is the true passion Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the true passion that true. Yeah, he like he really He's not like overboard about it, right? Like it's not like this like turn off. It's like Inspiring like wow, you know, he openly said he's 47 years old. He's his head is still in the game So heavily that he's Up late looking for the Nissan catalogues dude because he wants to share them And this is why I say like this is a rare part like he wants to share them He doesn't want them all for himself to hoard them to say I have all these catalogues now He wants to share him so that you can find what you need so that they can find what they need and It's a communal type thing. Yeah, dude. I mean Insane. Yeah, I mean that was what really stood out To me about him is you know, you know, sometimes when you have these guys that find success like that the YouTube You know Instagram all these different things they kind of forget about the community side of it because it's easy to get like kind of You know stuck in it of being about you. Yeah, but he really didn't do that and uh, yeah I mean, I'm excited. He he told us to make sure to hit him up to get him back on here and You know, we'll let him get that 34 motor bill and like let him get some progress and then we'll try to get him back on it and really talk about You know how he kind of went from a blown motor at Fuji to a total rebuilt car that is You know featured at the top rank booth. Yeah, probably gonna be sick. Yeah, it is. I can't wait So for episode 84 with Mickey. We definitely appreciate you listening along You know, we forgot to ask him his socials, but you can f it's you know At throttle at Mickey Andreid and you find him on Instagram pretty easily But yeah, we appreciate you listening along. I'm Bobby. This is Aaron. See ya. Peace[Music]