Charge Forward Podcast

Marriage, Motors & Millions of Views: The Story Behind ‘Driving With Melissa’ (Part 1)

• Jim Cripps • Season 2 • Episode 23

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From Marriage to Motorheads: How a 2-Week Engagement Turned Into 37 Years of Life, Love & Jaguars

James and Melissa Smith of Driving with Melissa join us on their 37th wedding anniversary for an unforgettable ride through love, business, and horsepower.

💍 Married on June 4th, 1988, they skipped their own reception to move to Nashville for new jobs—just one of many bold moves they’ve made together.
 🚗 From their early days with a Volkswagen Scirocco and yellow Mustang to what’s now called “the rarest modern Jaguar collection in the world,” their journey is anything but ordinary.

🎖️ James spent 20 years jumping out of planes in the military just to pay off his car.
 💼 He later bought the HVAC company he started in the warehouse, building it into a business serving thousands.
 📱 Along the way, they accidentally built a social media empire, with their Facebook Reels topping 60 million views/month.

Their garage now holds rare treasures like the Jaguar XKR-S GT, Project 7, Project 8, F-Pace SVR, Porsche 911 4S, Audi R8 V10, Z06 Corvette, and a well-loved Bronco Raptor—all driven, not just displayed.

But the real story is about partnership, grit, and shared joy.
 As Melissa wisely says: “The more a husband involves his wife in the car community, the more likely the next car will come.”

Tune in for real talk on:

  • 📈 Scaling a business from scratch
  • 🛞 Car culture that builds connection
  • 📸 Social media lessons from viral fame
  • ❤️ Marriage, Family, longevity, and life on the road

🏎️🏁 Want to connect with Driving with Melissa?
🌴  Linktree https://linktr.ee/Drivingwithmelissa
🌐 Youtube: @drivingwithmelissa9757
📘Facebook @drivingwithmelissa
📸 Instagram: @drivingwithmelissa
📍 Threads: @drivingwithmelissa
📱TikTok  @drivingwithmeliss


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Speaker 1:

And so I signed us up for that and in two days we hit the number of views. We made $530. Remember, I came to you and I said I think we're going to make real money.

Speaker 2:

I'm like we're going to make.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we're going to make $500 a month, and the next month they bumped it up to from 500 to 10,000. And so we made $10,000 the next month, and then it went up.

Speaker 2:

Hey team, jim Cripps here with the charge for podcast coming to you from hit lab studios here in Nashville, tennessee. I have a fantastic treat for you today. I have James and Melissa Smith with driving with Melissa the channel on YouTube. You're going to love it. You need to check it out, subscribe and check out those videos. Team Welcome. Thanks for having us. Absolutely so, james. We met maybe close to a year ago. I know we were both at the Annie Rose um event which is coming up just this next.

Speaker 1:

Saturday yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I know you guys are really passionate about that. You'll been a sponsor for a large number of years. You've been what sponsor for a large number of years. You've been what, probably the last 10 years.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we may have only missed one drive in 10 years.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so for people that have no idea what that is, if you will kind of give them the scoop, what is that?

Speaker 1:

Sure, ross Robinson is the organizer for that and he has two daughters. Ross Robinson is the organizer for that and he has two daughters, and Annie Rose is one of his daughters that had leukemia and she's a survivor. And Ross is also a medical doctor and, having gone through that experience with them and coming out the other side, they're very empathetic to the community and what cancer does to families, and so he started a benefit rally here in Nashville, tennessee, that has grown to epic proportions, actually to the point that he's had to dial it back now. But basically they raise money for cancer research, cancer care, for the local hospitals. They do not just money but they also do like a clay drive where they'll get tens of thousands of cans of clay to take to the kids.

Speaker 1:

And so we've had experiences both of us have with cancer in our family at one time or another, or friends definitely. So I think it's our our number one cause and it's just a great reason to get a bunch of car people together, because the cars are the, the type of cars that show up to this drive, are the cars that a lot of people where it may be the only time in a year that they'll get these cars out and they are uh, it's the big ones. I mean, you'll see, just uh, xj two 20 S is one of six in the world, kind of things. Uh, just that it, but it's all. These guys have been doing it. They're all like local business owners or Titans football players or whatever, and so it's that one really epic supercar event that happens every year in Nashville.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I didn't realize until probably about a year, year and a half ago, just how big the exotic car scene is here in Nashville bowls and bagels at the Lamborghini dealership which we have.

Speaker 1:

A. We've had a Lamborghini dealership maybe two years now, which I think they actually just received award for number one in used car sales and number two for new car sales for all of Lamborghini America, Wow. But I remember the first Lamborghini I ever saw was probably 35 years ago on Lebanon Road. It was a white Countach Anniversary Edition with the big wing and that just really stuck out with me. You would never see that where we grew up in Alabama. But yes, and I don't know if it's just because we're in the community that we're around it more and you see it and you become a little chase to it, or if it's, uh, um, there's just that many cars here in Nashville Cause you, it just takes a little event and and it's I mean dozens and dozens of Lamborghinis and we're talking about exotic cars. Uh, mclaren's is very big presence here. Uh, I think getting a Lamborghini dealership and a Ferrari dealership has really opened the doors, especially for those two brands, because they can get local service, because that's always the issue.

Speaker 1:

But there's talk about McLaren coming this year and I think, the Pagani service is actually here now, really, yeah, so they've done it. 111 Motor Cars, yeah, and so what? There's probably 11 or 12 Pagani's in town. It's one of the highest concentrations of Pagani's in the United States. Yeah, is right here in the Nashville area. It's combination You've got to. It's not just your country music singers and your medical people or the football players, there's just a lot of success. So successful business owners, people like that that love the car community.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, nashville just in general is a pretty easy city to navigate, and I'm not saying we don't have traffic, but you know, major airport, you've got three interstates that come through Nashville and kind of intersect. There's just a lot that goes on here.

Speaker 1:

We also have. You can drive a car 12 months out of the year here. Uh, there's always going to be a day or two in January, december and February where it will be in the sixties and you can get a car out, even if you've got those cup twos and you're worried about that 32 degree mark on it. Um, and then we have the roads we have. Say what you want, california, but uh, I think we have the best roads in the United States.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we do. We've got some good ones and we've also just we've got some great people in the car industry whether we're talking about 111 or, you know, the guys at Exotic Autosport. Those guys are fantastic and again, I had no idea that this was this big a scene and Don Napier over at Import Alliance.

Speaker 1:

He's my favorite.

Speaker 2:

Don's great. We worked together 25, 30 years ago.

Speaker 2:

I had no idea, yeah yeah, and we met just because our kids were going to the same school and I had not seen him in 25 or 30 years. And somebody called my name at a turnaround and it's Don, and I forget which 9 11 he had at the time and he's like you know, you need to get your car out. And at that time, uh, it was. It was not a, it was not the typical scene. I had a, uh, uh, mark eight that had been built by one of the guys, one of the engineers at Ford, and with the uh built by one of the engineers at Ford, with the Cobra supercharger and it only had 17,000 miles on it. So anyway, don was like you've got to bring that out and came out and I was like I'm not in the same realm. I didn't know there were this many exotics here and so just being around those guys, it opened my eyes to just how many cars are out here.

Speaker 1:

It's a very accepting community also. There's not just some Ferrari owners that get together and block the parking lot off. These guys get their cars out. It's funny what you see during the week that's what's amazing to me is you always see exotic cars during the week? That's what's amazing to me. Is you always see exotic cars during the week? Yeah, uh, cause if you get a good day like today, uh, now people just step back into the garage, kind of like our Fridays where we get together at Perry's. It's just a great way to end the week by, uh, grabbing your car and getting out there and just having that fellowship with all the other car guys and hanging around for a bit, without having an official car show to go to.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, and it really does look like a car show out front of Perry's every Friday. I mean weather permitting, right, right. But also with that, you know, and I shot you a message on Facebook for this one is, you know, two weeks ago my son was out of school and he knows that I, that I go to lunch with you guys Castle.

Speaker 2:

Castle, so Castle joined me and you guys were fantastic with him and of course you know he's he's not your average 11 year old. You know he's. He's carrying on conversation and asking questions and those types of things, but um, just a just a great group there on Fridays.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Melissa has been. My daughter goes occasionally. Uh, you get, uh, it's not exclusively a guy's a a guys club at all. That's right, I think the more the community involves their kids and involves their wives, the more a husband involves his wife in the car community, the more likely the next car will come. We like to get two at a time. She'll get one and I'll throw one into the deal. Is that how it?

Speaker 2:

happens.

Speaker 3:

Somewhat.

Speaker 2:

Well, melissa, the one that you are in today, you picked out just this fall right.

Speaker 3:

I did. It's the 911 4S. I love that car. It's so fun to drive.

Speaker 2:

Now, and if I'm remembering the story right, you guys were looking at ordering one and they had this one on the lot. That was almost exactly what you were getting prepared to order.

Speaker 3:

It was only a lot less expensive. It's the perfect car.

Speaker 2:

I love it and you said something earlier. The reason that you feel comfortable driving the Porsche is why.

Speaker 3:

You're just telling on me. It's because you can get parts and you can fix it. Oh, because if there's a pothole or anything like that, I want to make sure you know. Uh, that's why I don't drive the collector cars. Bad luck I understand.

Speaker 2:

Uh, you know my dad is is a big car guy, but he's he's in the rest of my side of things. So, um, very spot on with what you said about involving your spouse, because the first one he bought he was in the hospital and they'd given him a 4% chance to live, just period to the end of the week, wow.

Speaker 2:

And I talked to him about a week or so after that and he was first time. He was lucid and I said you know what are you going to do when you get out time? He was lucid and I said, uh, you know what are you gonna do when you get out and he goes? I'm buying the most beautiful 55, 56 or 57 I can find. And I was like, okay, and so, because it was during COVID, um, you know, they did the car show in uh in Gatlinburg, the big tri five event, and the show winner was for sale. I think it was best of show and it was for sale, but so few people showed up it didn't get bought and a friend of my dad's was there. My dad was getting out of the hospital that day and he said this one can be bought. Send him a picture of it. They negotiated and literally dad got laid down in the back of his friend's car to ride up there because he couldn't even sit up yet and bought it. So it's full ls, swap a couple.

Speaker 2:

It's got a crazy backstory on it. The couple waited till they retired and then they spent three years having somebody build this car for them. They picked out every single item, and 19 days after it was built, it was stolen and it was stayed in the police impound for over a year. And so when they finally got it back, the woman was so heartbroken she was like I want it gone. And so it went to Gatlinburg and dad bought it. But the next one the next one he was it was he'd come across a 55 that had just been built from the, from the frame up, and, um, my mom was very reluctant, reluctant to go. Now we're going to go buy another one. And I called and said you know, hey, how's it going? And she goes. If he doesn't buy it, I am. I was like, excuse me, and she goes. It's beautiful, she's like we're coming home with this car, so, involving your spouse and your in your vehicle selections, it's a. It's a fun, fun, fun event.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we, uh, we did go down that route with the old car we had a, just taking a step back in time to get me there. And back when I was in high school, my brother was a year behind me and we, he had a friend that his dad had three Jaguar E-types in Florence, Alabama, which you know that that was a, he was like an orthodontist or something, so he was the guy with those cars, that's right, and we saw those, uh and his, so that that kid would drive those to high school. And so, uh, I, I saw he brought up, I believe, a 72 E type two plus two coop, and I told my brother I said I'm going to buy one of these one day. And that just sounds so ridiculous as a high school student in Northern Alabama, Sure, Uh, but that has always been in the back of my head. So when you would see, see something out there we'd never see them on the road really, Uh, but you'd be see something in a movie or something like that. It just kind of re reignites that.

Speaker 1:

And, uh, we, we bought our first Jag when my daughter, who's a fellow bowler, got a full-ride scholarship for bowling to Martin Methodist and we had saved her entire life to put her through high school, through college. So we had that all set up. So when she got that scholarship, we used a little of that money and we bought our first Jaguar, an 08 Jaguar XK convertible, fantastic, beautiful car, Um and uh. And then we bought her a Honda Civic with some of the money too. Sure, that was fair, Uh, but that just kind of got. So you would take that car to cars and coffee and uh, it would.

Speaker 1:

And that's where I met all the jag guys. I'm at car for the first time, at cars, and kurt actually started the cars and coffee here in nashville, along with, uh, tanner, mashburn and I think bow and ben were one of the couple of the original guys also, okay, uh, who now run nashville cars and coffee. Um, but when? But I would show up out there and there was Kurt with his red 60 Corvette and I had no idea it was even there. I was out picking up biscuits at McDonald's and saw that next to the movie theater, and so I took my car out there the next week, hung out with the Jag guys, and then somebody brought an XKR in and I'm like, oh, now I've got to have one of those.

Speaker 1:

So, we drove to Texas and bought the XKR in and I'm like, oh, now I, now I got to have one of those Drove to Texas and bought the XKR. And then I brought that to cars and coffee and someone had an XKRS and I'm like, oh gosh. So we drove to Chicago and bought an XKRS and it just I don't even know how it happens. But then you just look in your garage one day and you went from one, one jag to four and there's eight cars in the garage. Uh, but the, the 72 E type. Um, we started doing Kurt and I were doing started full octane garage and uh, we were shooting videos on cars and uh, there's a. There was a restoration company in town called GC performance. Uh, jeremy Carpenter and his dad and they had an XJ220 in the shop that they were doing the maintenance and all putting it on the road.

Speaker 1:

And that's a year-long process for that car. It takes a long time to get the parts. There's a lot of work to be done. It's about a $100,000 service that has to be done on that car every six years. It's got fuel cells rather than a fuel tank, and so those cells have to be replaced. The injectors have to be done. There's just a lot of stuff and there's only uh, there were only 22 or so in the United States that were shipped here. And uh, so I stopped by his shop to talk about shooting a video on the two 20 when it was coming out of service.

Speaker 1:

And he got a phone call while I was there and it was this gentleman named Chuck that had an old 72E type and he was a purity milk truck driver from Amarillo, texas, and once a month his route would take him into Nashville and he was trying to restore this car and so he would stop by and just ask for advice and then just talk to him. And uh, I just happened to be there when he called and said I can't do this anymore, it's not going to happen. Do you have anybody that wants to buy the car? And Jeremy looked at and he said you ever thought about buying an old E type? And I'm like, yes, let me see a picture of it. And it was a silver on red E type. It had had some body damage on the front end and the front end was out of it, all those suspension and wheels and stuff. I said, well, what do you want for it? And he said nine grand. I said well, I'll just, I'll just say yes. I said what do you think you think we can put it back together for 15 or $20,000? I said what do you think? Do you think we can put it back together for $15,000 or $20,000? Yeah, well, never ask the guy that's going to restore your car whether you should buy the car to restore. Just kidding, jeremy.

Speaker 1:

It was a fantastic car, fantastic experience and kind of deep into the six figures later. That car, you loved it, didn't you? It was fantastic, it was the car of my dreams and it was kind of like a boat. You know, the happiest day was when I put it on the road and the second happiest day was when I saw a drive. That's right, that's right, but uh, yeah, so I'm not day.

Speaker 1:

We, we, melissa and I. Our whole social media is built around just uh, our experience together as a? Uh, married for 37 year old, uh, 37 years happy uh couple that are now in our fifties and living our, living our life. And uh, sharing these car experiences together. And uh, that was one of those experiences that we'll never do again. Uh, but it's. And I had met Kurt during that cars and coffee situation from full octane garage and, uh, he's actually the genius behind this one. I guess if you talk to him at some point we'll, we can go into depth with that.

Speaker 1:

But uh, um, I'm just not mechanically inclined and not many people can tune a four barrel, a four carburetor V12 engine. It's kind of like being a doctor. Yes, yes, uh, but it's. You know, there's only two or three in the country that are really good and it's every time that car I mean it's a 50 year old car and stuff happens. But when it does, it's it'll run for three months, it'll be down for three months waiting to go into service and then we'll be. The parts will be on order for three months and then, uh, it takes three months to fix it. So we were driving at three months out of 12. Uh, and that just wasn't that.

Speaker 1:

We like the, the driving community and the driving aspect. Um, I think there's you almost have to like test every car guy once. They officially call themselves a car guy, um, and say are they? Uh, do they officially call themselves a car guy and say do they like trailer queens and car shows and lawn chairs, or do they like to track or are they a car, rally people type things, and that was more our thing. I'll drive four or five of them a week. During a regular week I'll just go in there and grab something, something, and I'll go out for 15 minutes, you know, just to put the miles on them to keep them running. It's just that it's almost like therapy. 100% is therapy. Yeah, just like detailing them is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, sometimes it's just good to go out there and turn 1980s music on, and Polish, that's right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah turn 1980s music on and polish, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, one of the things that I found interesting when we were starting to talk about the YouTube channels is you and Kurt were working on a full octane garage and it was really kind of born out of the haters on that. You know. Those posts is why you created driving with Melissa, right, um?

Speaker 1:

you created driving with Melissa, right, um, yeah, full octane garage spawned from more about the car builds and, uh, um, the, the, the mechanical side of the cars. Uh, and that's mostly been Kurt's like the smart guy that knows how to work on it and I'm the sidekick, the funny sidekick on the side. It's still magical to me. I don't know, understand what he does, but like he's building the 60 Corvette Resto Rod right now that he started a couple months ago, which was a perfectly good, absolutely beautiful 60 Corvette. Before that he had already built. Yes, right, it's a fantastic build that he did, but he wanted to be more of a driver. It's a fantastic build that he did, but he, uh, he wanted to be more of a driver. So, uh, he's doing a full running chassis underneath it and all and uh, but he'll be done in another. I think he's putting together in the next couple of weeks a body party he's already solicited, where you'll get 10 people over there and we'll pick the body of the 60 up and go over and set it on top of the new rolling chassis and he'll have it up and running in a couple of weeks. And I just uh that that would. I could work my entire life and that would never run. It would just never run. So I I just I just think that that's magical that he gets that done. But yeah, so we uh I was posting some of the more the activity that Melissa and I were doing, just, uh, the drives or the experiences with the cars, and they were getting pushed back from the community there that was not really interested in the female participation in the whole thing, and so I started.

Speaker 1:

Now this is, this is where all this gets twisted is it's driving with Melissa? That's what it's called and my intent from I. When I said I was going to do this with Melissa, I said what do I call it if all we're doing is basically I'm out driving with Melissa all day long? So I called it driving with Melissa. It's not Melissa driving, although Melissa has driven everything but the 06, right.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so she does drive, and she does drive the sports cars or dailies of pace, sbr, a 500 or 550 horsepower SUV but it's more about our experiences together, driving Right and, and it has kind of evolved into like we have a condo in Cabo, so we'll do, we'll do a week in Cabo, if that's where we're at, that's where the content comes from. Sometimes she'll do like clothing try ons and things like that, and if that's what it happens to be, that's what it is. If we go to we were in Moda Miami a month ago. Well then, that's what it is. It's more of a vlog than it is anything, but it's basically centered around our life with the cars, generally speaking. I think it is funny, though, because you'll still get people that say I don't see her driving and you do.

Speaker 3:

I do.

Speaker 1:

You've driven the tail. You drove your Porsche on the tail of the dragon.

Speaker 3:

I do. You've driven the tail. You drove your Porsche on the tail of the dragon, I do Right. But just to you know, get it all out there. I don't like driving with him in the car.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

And every wife out there probably knows exactly why Because I do not drive like he does, but I can still get from point A to point B.

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Speaker 3:

Just fine.

Speaker 2:

So see, look, All right. So was the Porsche the one you were most excited about buying, or has there been other cars that you were really excited about?

Speaker 3:

Really the Porsche.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

This is the third one, the third Cabriolet too. We had a 996 C2, which was a fantastic stick car. I sold it locally.

Speaker 3:

If I had another spot in the garage.

Speaker 1:

I'd almost want it back. I just liked it that much. Uh, and then we fell into a 13 four S cabriolet, with six years old, with 5,000 miles on it. Um, and we had that for the last five years or so, had 25,000 miles on it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it took a lot for me to. When I find something I really like, it's hard for me to get rid of it. I'm I really am resistant to change.

Speaker 1:

Cause she's used to it and she's she's very comfortable in the car.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we had the audience um S five that was a cabriolet and we traded that for the first nine. Well, the second nine, 11. And I said it's going to have to be perfect. I love this car. It's a convertible, I can put my groceries in the back, it's just perfect. And then you know, you get the first nine, 11.

Speaker 1:

I'm like, okay, we're going to keep this one forever, you know let me say that the most beautiful that she has ever looked was, uh, we were laying in bed one night and she's got her iPad in front of her and I just happened to glance over and she's on car gurus and she's searching Porsches. About a year ago and I said what are you doing? She said I'm just, I'm just looking at Porsches and there was a little tear that rolled down my eye onto my pillow as I said let me help you with that. And I said let's jump over to the new Porsche page. And what you and I said this is what you should do. I said build the perfect Porsche and then we'll go find it, rather than just looking and picking something that might not be everything you want. And so she sat there and built the perfect Porsche in her mind and I I might've thrown a couple things like suspension and sport and stuff like that in there, just to make sure that it did what you wanted it to do. But uh, and so we'll go down to the dealership and we'll go order this Porsche.

Speaker 1:

And uh, we were talking to the salesperson down there awesome guy who was in the middle of the process and she's talking to him and they're looking at the computer and I just look over my shoulder out in the parking lot and I said what's that? What's that car right there? It's Carmine, red, black top. And he said, well, that's a four S Cabriolet. And I said, well, that's what we're ordering, it's a 24. We were ordering a 25. And I said, well, let's go look at that. Besides, the fact it was $35,000 cheaper brand new than the other one was Sure, and it was right there.

Speaker 1:

That's the thing with Porsches, like with Kurt Debbie when they ordered theirs. If you order a Porsche and have it built A year, it could be, and you think about what's going on. I don't want to get into the political side of it, but what if you'd ordered that car Beforehand and then the tariffs hit? Same thing we looked at buying we being me, looked at buying the Jaguar TWR SuperCat. Did you see that Just on? It's fantastic. They take an old XJS coupe and they tear it down to the very frame and they build it up completely modern 650 horsepower, v12, front lift, all-wheel drive. It's just. It looks like what a 12-year-old would draw when they're drawing a car.

Speaker 2:

And y'all have got a video. Y'all drove that one, right?

Speaker 1:

I sat in it and talked with a Magnus Walker Okay, because that's kind of he's the Porsche guy, but this is a pet project of his that he's working with TWR on, so we spent a while talking about it and then we went, I shot a video where he was actually headed on stage and he was reviewing it and I just really started hammering through the numbers on there and I'm like I could sell a couple Jags and that would. No one else will ever have anything like that. It'll be spectacular, uh. But you start adding in the conversion, because it was in pounds and you had you convert that to dollars and then you throw in another 60 for the build itself and all and it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, to the point.

Speaker 1:

I was like I just and it was, I think, the la the latest reservation was the last quarter of 2026. Okay, uh, and I was like, well, anything could happen then. Well then, I mean, what if I'd done that?

Speaker 1:

yeah it was like 500 000 car. What if I'd done that and then the tariffs hit, and the tariffs stuck, yeah, and it was another 125 right now, or whatever. Whatever was going to happen, it's just a weird time right now to be doing something like that, to be ordering something that far out, right yeah, cause there's just there's so much going on, you just never know. So, uh, now we had to had to let that one slide. I can't say that I don't regret it, but maybe not, maybe.

Speaker 3:

I don't need another old car.

Speaker 2:

I got you, even if it's a new one. So what's in the garage right now? What's your favorite?

Speaker 1:

My favorite. So I'm going to say this for a couple people out there that eat lunch with us, that make fun of me for saying it, but it's the quickest and easiest way to introduce us is we're the Jaguar people, obviously in town, um, and it's. We have what's considered the rarest modern Jaguar collection in the world right now. Um, they, they made special vehicle, svo car, special vehicle operations cars, and, uh, we have the have the pre-car, which is the XKRS GT. That's one of 43 in the world. The Project 7 is one of 250. There's 50 in the States. And then we have the Project 8, which is what we're taking on the Tail of the Dragon next week, nice, and that's one of. They're supposed to make 300. They only made 220. They're supposed to ship 35 to the States, and that's one of. They're supposed to make 300. They only made 220. They're supposed to ship 35 to the States and they only shipped 19. And so, uh, it took us about five or six years to put those cars together and then they're all matching spec to.

Speaker 2:

They're all white, uh, and so we've got those and they're squeezed into the garage. You saw that video.

Speaker 1:

I made it work. That's right. That was always the thing she said. You can't buy another car because you can't get it in the garage. And I pulled the tape measure out.

Speaker 1:

I'm like just start looking for smaller cars. We got those and she's got the fourth Jag is the F-Pace SVR and then on the driver's side, which we do drive those you have on the driver's side, which we do drive those, um, you have to or they'll. They'll die in the garage, sure, but uh, on the driver's side, primarily, we've got a, uh, um, r eight V, 10, rws or RWD, rear wheel drive that we've, mike down at exotic, put a valvetronic, um titanium exhaust on and we threw the wing on there. That car's fantastic. I think we put 12 or 13,000 miles on it in four years.

Speaker 1:

Um, it's an excellent rally car because it, uh, you have the frunk and the coops have, uh, um, you got room behind the seat to put three more bags, if you, you know, like crushable bags. Uh, so we've taken that for a week at a time. Crushable bags, uh, so we've taken that for a week at a time. Um, she's got her Porsche and then we have a. We just bought a recently a new Corvette Z06, which is another, and I I never did get the whole Corvette thing with Kurt, I mean for years, for years that I've known him.

Speaker 1:

I was like that's nice for a Chevy.

Speaker 1:

And then we bought that last C8, that Z51, and they're so good at everything that they do and there's so much storage. You can drive that thing for a week, even with what Melissa brings with her. It's just such a great, usable supercar. And then the Z06 just adds three levels to that. It's uh, it's phenomenally quick, uh, it's, and it just looks meaner in every way. It's, that's, uh. I think it's one of the best bangs for the buck.

Speaker 1:

And they're getting people talk about the depreciation. Depreciation is your friend If you want to buy exotic cars, um, there's nothing wrong with a car if you buy one that depreciates over a couple of years or so. That's the way to do it, really Sure. And then, what's the last thing? We traded a Hummer EV this year, which was our first electric car, for the Bronco Raptor, which is. I put almost 20,000 miles on that in seven months. Oh, wow, and it's fantastic. That thing is so much fun. Between that and the SVR, you don't feel like you're missing out on not driving a sports car during the week because they're so good in what they do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love it. Well then, is it Kurt that's got the Raptor R, or who's got the Raptor R?

Speaker 1:

Jeff Davidson the other guy that comes to lunch with us. Yeah, he's got the. Uh, I think that his son's got the Ranger Raptor. Okay, he's got the Raptor R and he has the Bronco Raptor all in shelter green. He's the reason. I mean, I, I, uh, I'm very I don't know. He's the one that steered me towards the Bronco. I, I don't know that he's the one that steered me towards the Bronco. I just didn't realize I was buying his exact spec truck.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, we have pictures of those sitting together. Same thing with the Hummer EV. I bought that Hummer EV and then a buddy of mine, patrick that's another car enthusiast that we hang out with he bought the identical Hummer EV same color, same spec. I think that's fun. Yeah, some people don't like it, but I like the hashtag twinsies, hey it's all good.

Speaker 2:

Um, you know, I think when you get into not just a drive car, you know just a point A to point B car, when you get into something that's an enthusiast type type vehicle, uh, I think it's fun when you, when somebody has the same car, because it's like, oh my gosh, you could have picked anything and that's what you picked, right, yeah. So, uh, backing up a little bit, I mean, um, you know, this comes, this comes to play on just about every single episode. It wasn't really planned, it just kept popping up, but it is how important spouse selection is to overall success and happiness. And you guys have been married 37 years. So you know how did y'all meet? I mean, you know we'll give it, give us the story. You want that one.

Speaker 3:

No, you go ahead. Somebody wants to hear me talk.

Speaker 1:

Um, uh, my best friend in high school was dating a girl and, uh, right after high school and she had two roommates, um, one was Melissa and another one was a young lady named Sheila, and, uh, all the they had their own apartment and so we would go over and hang out with my best friend and the rest of them and, uh, during the course of the next couple of years or so, he married that roommate, I married Melissa and then my brother married the other roommate.

Speaker 2:

It's so Alabama, is it not?

Speaker 1:

Um, but yeah and uh. So I mean. So we met not long out of high school and then almost immediately afterwards I went into the military. Yeah Right, um, basically just, uh, looking for a way to pay for school. Well, we weren't even married when we went in the military. Right, we were dating.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, so I went into the military because I had a Volkswagen Scirocco which that's another thing with Kurt, kurt and I had all the same original cars back in the day, but one was a Volkswagen Scirocco and, uh, I wanted to pay for school and I needed to make a car payment or two. And I. So I just went into the recruiter and I said, give me the longest school that you've got. And he said, well, you can be a parachute rigger. And I said, I don't care, I don't care what it is, just sign me up for whatever. I want to pay the car off while I'm in the army during training. And so it was like what, 11 months or so? Well, parachute ranking means you have to jump out of airplanes. That does not really something. That wasn't my decision-making process until I got out of basic and I was on the bus on the way to airborne school and it starts settling in. You know, uh, but still a great experience. Um, you know, uh, but still a great experience. Um, I was in that unit for 20 of my 21 years, so I jumped out airplanes for 21 for 20 years. Uh, and it's the type of people that do that type of thing. Uh, cause, uh.

Speaker 1:

In the reserve system, the only active airborne units are special forces units and parachute rigging units primarily, and so when people come off of active duty and they go into the reserve system and they still want to be on jump status, they would come to our unit, and so our unit was primarily combat arms. From there were army infantry, special forces, army rangers, and they're all just nuts, they're all just crazy. And it was just uh, they're, it's the funnest, most loyal, competent group of people I've ever met. And uh, I'm the one that puts together the reunions every year or two for them. And, uh, it's just uh, they're still my best friends. Yeah, and I got deployed for Desert Storm in 1991. So I spent a year in just about everywhere over there Saudi Arabia, kuwait, turkey but it was just an amazing experience. I stayed in a lot of places that you wouldn't want to go, but you're glad you did it when it was over, uh, and then we got deployed again not a while after that after nine 11, after nine 11.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, so I, uh, I started working for the company I own now, right about the time that I signed up for the army. Like we got, we just married.

Speaker 3:

Okay, so the proposal was.

Speaker 1:

I'm not the best. I'm not the best, but obviously 37 years, remember 37 years.

Speaker 3:

Yes, go ahead. But so we're sitting around and he's like you know, we're never going to make any money in Florence, alabama. I said I know, and so he said I think we should. His sister lived here in Nashville. His reserve unit had moved from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Nashville and he said I think we should go to Nashville and find a job. You know, and that was back in the day where you had a newspaper, you circled it, you called, you made an appointment. It's not. There was no. You know, go online and put your resume out there. You had to. You know, my first job. I was on the streets of Florence handing my resume to businesses to try to find a job. And I'm like, what happens if we find one? He said, well, we'll just get married and move. And I'm like, well, okay, so it was obviously you were very.

Speaker 3:

I said yes, you know. So that's what we did. We spent a long weekend in Nashville with his sister and we both had job offers by Monday morning. I came to work in Nashville first. He was in Florence. My mother did the wedding, his mother did the reception and we just lucked out. We got. You know, it was a two-week engagement.

Speaker 1:

We got married on Saturday On.

Speaker 3:

Saturday and we moved Saturday afternoon. Apparently, our reception was a big hit and we missed the whole thing. So we'll let you know either our 40th or 50th anniversary. We're going to have another one.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's awesome and we're going to stick around for that one. That's great.

Speaker 3:

And enjoy all of it, but my dad helped us move that day.

Speaker 1:

We got married at 9 in the morning and we went to work on Monday morning. We didn't have a honeymoon or anything, we just got up, went to work. I worked in a warehouse and she worked for a financial company.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and it worked for a financial company. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Uh, and there's just a matter of uh from there. We, we didn't know we were poor. Nobody said you know, we thought we were fine, she had a uh, you had a must. I had a 79 yellow Mustang when we got married, which we immediately we traded on a CRX, SI yes. And my daddy said you're going to wreck that and it's going to kill you.

Speaker 3:

And I said, daddy, I didn't buy it to wreck it, I'll be fine.

Speaker 1:

I would drive that car right now. Oh, loved it Absolutely. And then I had the Scirocco, so we had two really cool cars as far as we were concerned, and a uh, I think that's what I made for the first three hours. The three years that I worked for the company I work for now, and I did get deployed during that period. They were great. So, you know, uh, brought me back and, uh, excellent, I work.

Speaker 1:

I own American heating and cooling. That's where I started out in 1988. And it's it's always been a family owned company. It's I have a business partner. It's still a family owned company. They've been super through the whole military thing. I've got a guy that just started back today, uh, that just spent a year in training to be a combat medic and he went into the reserve system. So I just got him back today and I just, uh, I just love that, yeah, that whole story. But I just I don't know it worked. Yeah, we just outlasted everybody. Basically, I worked every position in the company, went to school at night for what 15 years or so, but didn't graduate, done MTSU, and we just kind of put it together and we made an offer on the company 10 or 12 years ago. We actually just really finished paying it off a couple of months ago.

Speaker 1:

Well, congratulations, yeah, that's fantastic and the the, the driving with Melissa side of it. Well, kurt and I, uh, when I met Kurt at cars and coffee and we started hanging out, um, that's when YouTube was in its beginning and you had people like, uh, supercars of London and uh, shmi is coming out and uh, matt Farah with the smoking tire, and I was like you know, we should just well, we already, we were around the cars and we're going to the events. We should just video it and throw it up and then we'll just make money too. Uh, and I think those original videos, if you go all the way back to the beginning of Full Octane Garage, we had a GoPro Hero 3 Silver and it's complete garbage. It's hilarious.

Speaker 1:

The audio is garbage, the video is garbage. We look like a couple of idiots, but we left them up there because I find it entertaining now. But we just hammered and hammered. We told Melissa and Kurt's wife Debbie that we were going to make money at this and it took us a year and a half to make a hundred bucks and we were we were so proud of that $100.

Speaker 2:

That's right, because it's the threshold. Yes, you've got to get to $100 before they send you the check.

Speaker 1:

Right and so that was such a look. We may make $100 a month. Can you believe it?

Speaker 1:

We'll just put in 40 hours worth of work a month and we'll make $100. And so Full Octane Garage got some legs. That was growing. But yes, we started the driving with Melissa as a separate thing and that was literally just a landing spot for us to post pictures of what we're doing. Sure, you know things like that and I was steering it a little bit towards like over 50 lifestyle, maybe mix in some health and you know type stuff. Yeah, like health over 50 kind of thing. Obviously Melissa's got that figured out and health out over 50 kind of thing. Um, obviously Melissa's got that figured out and I'm still a work in progress.

Speaker 1:

Uh, but it was right about when Facebook reels came out. That's in it for anybody out in your audience. That's talking about doing social media and all that's something that I kind of figured that out, you know, pretty early on and we were very early getting into the. We were invited to the Facebook reels program and, uh, it, uh and I'll talk some dollars, but we won't hammer it all out but uh, we probably had 20 or 30,000 followers on Facebook and Facebook was the bigger um media by far than Instagram and we really hadn't done anything on YouTube at that point in time. Uh, and they had a. You could make $530 in a month if you got X number of views, and so I signed us up for that, and in two days we hit the number of views when we made $530. Remember, I came to you and I said I think we're going to make we're going to make, we're going to make.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we're going to make $500 a month. I'm going to start spending that right now, you know. And uh, the next month they bumped it up to from 500 to 10,000. And so we made $10,000 the next month and then it went up. I mean, it was it. It went up exponentially. Yes, now it was. It was some some solid five figure numbers a month for a bit.

Speaker 1:

Uh, and it uh Facebook reels cause they were promoting it so much. It uh, uh. So that type of content got a lot of SEO and so it kind of blew up. And I think the other key part of it for us was, um, I have like sleep apnea and I don't sleep at night, and so I would wake up and do editing videos. Yes, I'd post between 12 and three in the morning. Uh, well, back originally, facebook reels was just a, an American product. It was not a product that the people in Europe or Mideast or whatever, could participate in. Uh, so I think that the American, the amount of views in those areas, was a lot more Uh, and so I was posting at one or two o'clock in the morning and so our audience blew up in Europe kind of prime time over there.

Speaker 2:

Everybody's getting their day started or they're about to have their first break.

Speaker 1:

And so it kind of I mean we don't, we're I mean in the grand scope of thing with other people and what they you know what people have done Doug, the Doug DeMuro's and all them in the world. We're, we're a very small piece of it. We probably have 700,000 followers over the whole thing, but we were getting like two or three months into it, we were getting 60 million views a month on Facebook, on Facebook reels, and so that's what kind of kicked it off. And it's not that it comes and goes like we had a big November and December and then it goes, uh, but we don't, we don't care, yeah, we don't, we don't work for it too. I still do it, I, I, I do the editing and all because I like to do the work and I like, we like, I like doing it with her and we like sharing that little part of our, our lives. Um, but it's never about I'd really don't care about the growth, I really don't care about the money if it, but it comes every once in a while and that's nice, but it's not.

Speaker 1:

Uh, cause, if, if I had to put a message out there, it's a.

Speaker 1:

If someone wants to make a living on social media. Uh, don't you know, uh, that the the one thing that people never realize until afterwards, especially the people that we talk to, is uh, uh, people are horrible. I mean, if, if you have, if you get 60 million views in a month and we were getting three or 4 million comments and then one out of a thousands a rotten comment, that's hundreds of rotten comments a month, you know, uh, and it just uh, so people can be awful or uh, vindictive or jealous or whatever, uh, and so you have to have a thick skin or don't read your comments. That always helps too, uh, but then the the other side is that, like with the Facebook reels, there were people that quit their full-time jobs and jumped onto there and they were making $35,000 a month that was the cap at the time Like hairdressers and things that were just you know, they stopped everything and jumped on there. Well, this is what you learn about social media. It's easy come, easy go yeah they moved the target.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they pulled a, they pulled reels the 95% of the pay for reels in May of 2023. I think they just said, yeah, we're done, good luck in your lives. Uh, and it can, it can. There's a moving target. You're right. You can kind of sometimes, you know, tick tock might be the thing, or whatever, or you'll just throw something up. You just throw enough stuff against the wall and something sticks. But it would always, if people want to do it, it's a great opportunity for a secondary income If you want to chase the money with it, if you like it, if you don't, you know, if you don't like what you do, you're not going to do it anyways. Or it's going to show and, uh, it'll, it'll, it'll falter, you know. But uh, as long as we like doing it, we'll do it, and there'll be gaps. Sure, we don't want to do it and then we don't.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, well, and it's, it's not, uh, it's, it's there to be a nice accessory for your life. It is not a driving force, right yeah.

Speaker 1:

But it's, it's interesting because it's the. It is the reason that we've met everyone we have. You know, even my personal business has been, uh, very successful. A lot of that in part because of the car community, um, and we've had opportunities to travel and see people and drive things, you know, have experiences that we otherwise wouldn't have.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, it allows you to really marry that and optimize your tax strategy too.

Speaker 1:

I mean, yeah, yeah, uh, really started working that about three years ago and yes, yeah, that's a, it's a big opportunity for that too. It's just, you know, anytime you can do something you love, yeah, but now I love my know. Anytime you can do something you love, yeah, but now I love my company.

Speaker 3:

American eating and cooking.

Speaker 1:

I wake up early to go to those meetings with those guys and ladies in the. In my meet we have a meeting every morning at seven 30 and it's all the management, salespeople and we just get in there and we just beat each other up. You know, it might be a little bit of a human resources nightmare, I guess, but it's the same rapport that I had with my military buddies for 20 years and with the car guys in the parking lot. It's just another group of great people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so do you do service or paint the picture of what American heating and cooling? Okay, what American heating and cooling?

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, we're primarily a residential new construction company, mostly single family homes. I think we did around 3,000 houses last year and it's an ever-changing, malleable business. You really have to be on top of the federal and codes requirements, not just for your county, but we do a 50 mile radius and so there's 15 municipalities that all do it differently, ironically, and just being able to do. We have 27 installation trucks and 20 service trucks and my main thing is one the customers are definitely our priority. If you don't take care of the customers, then you don't have a business. That's right. But the people are right there also. We have so many long-term. We have people that have been there 35 to 40 years Wow, and it's just, and everybody my whole management staff and the sales staff have all brought and brought up mostly through our organization, just like I did.

Speaker 1:

I started in the warehouse and worked 10 different jobs before we bought the company with my business partner and it's just. It's. It's that very homegrown scenario, but we put the customers and the people first and it would just really make an effort to stay in front of the technical side of it, which I think a lot of people struggle with. But it's a very good organization. I'm a spreadsheet guy. My business partner is the consummate sales guy. Believe it or not, I am not the sales guy. I love numbers and I love people.

Speaker 2:

Team is Jim Cripps here with the charge for podcast. I just want to tell you I love you, I appreciate you listening, I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the charge for podcast with people you know, know and you love, because that's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you are today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday.