Ted Gushue (Photographer, Car Guy)¶
Published on Mon, 15 Oct 2018 10:00:00 +0000
There really is nobody quite like Ted Gushue. He could be described as a "man of sort-of-leisure." He works hard – really hard, in fact – but at the kinds of things that most probably wouldn't consider work at all. Ted is currently something of a nomad, traveling the world taking pictures with his Leica M10, driving the coolest cars from nearly ever era of automotive history, and helping brands reach new audiences. To say Ted's got a dream job would be something of an understatement. He sat down with HODINKEE Founder Ben Clymer and host Stephen Pulvirent for this conversation. Enjoy.
Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinkee Radio features a wide-ranging conversation with Ted Gushue, a digital strategy consultant and the official global brand ambassador for automotive culture to the town of St. Moritz. Hosted by Stephen Pulvirent with Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer joining in, the discussion explores Ted's unconventional career path, which has included stints as a professional DJ, party reporter for the New York Observer, founder of the men's lifestyle site Supercompressor, and editor-in-chief at Petrolicious. Throughout the conversation, Ted shares stories from his travels around the world, from driving vintage BMWs in the Mille Miglia to experiencing the dangerous Cresta Run in St. Moritz, all while documenting these adventures through his popular Instagram account.
The episode delves into the intersection of car and watch culture, exploring how social media has united enthusiasts worldwide and created new opportunities for storytelling and community building. Ted discusses his approach to digital content creation, emphasizing the importance of quality over quantity and removing barriers to content consumption. The conversation touches on his family's connection to watches through his architect father's work with jewelry stores, his personal collection including a cherished 1976 Porsche 911S gifted by his father, and his philosophy of only doing things he's passionate about. The episode concludes with cultural recommendations and a preview of The Graynato podcast, which is joining the Hodinkee podcast family.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | Hey everybody, before we get into Hodinki Radio episode 15 with Ted Gashu, we've got a pretty exciting announcement for you. The Great NATO is becoming part of the Hodinki podcast family. If you're not already a listener, this awesome podcast is about all things adventure, travel, and watches. And it's hosted by Hodinki's senior writer James Stacy and longtime Hodinki contributor Jason Heaton, two guys who you're probably pretty familiar with if you read the site on a regular basis. They've been producing the show for a little while now, and it's not really gonna change very much. You'll get a new episode every other Thursday, but now with a story featuring bonus content and some show notes on Hodinky, just like you get with Hodinky Radio. Stay tuned after this episode for a special preview of the Grey Nado's next episode, their first after a summer hiatus, which will come out this Thursday, October 18th. It's safe to say that there's nobody quite like Ted Gushu. I mean, he's a world-traveling, photograph-taking, Instagram-commenting man of sort of leisure, I guess, but he's become a total staple in the automotive world. And that's the same wherever he goes. It doesn't matter whether it's Cars and Coffee in suburban Connecticut or whether he's at the Mila Melia. I've known Ted for five or six years now, and although he's playing funny, kind of verging on goofy sometimes, and plenty charming, he can also catch you totally off guard with these little bits of wisdom. He's sort of a nomad these days, but during a recent trip to New York City, we were able to get him and our founder Ben Clymer into the studio to talk about traveling the world, modern media companies, and living that bucket list lifestyle. I'm your host, Stephen Pulverant, and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's episode is brought to you by Hook and Albert. Stay tuned later in the show to learn more about this global travel brand and their range of travel accessories. You can also learn more at hookandalbert dot com Thanks so much for being here, Ted. Guys, the pleasure is is really mine. I mean, to have the three of us in a room, sitting down, talking shop. It feels good. It feels really good. I gotta be honest |
| Unknown | . I'm just so proud to know both of you |
| Unknown | . This is a way to get starting early. We're like 10 seconds in. He's already clean to get back. I uh I I'm I've known you what for eight years now? Yeah, something like that. Uh since we produced that bizarre photo shoot at the Soho Ground. You were fo |
| Unknown | urteen, I think, back then. Yeah. Fourteen, fifteen. Look how far you've come. Yeah. All grown up. All grown up. So cool. Yeah, the first time we met was it was before the photo shoot. We we hung out at the s you were a promoter at the at the So Grand. Yeah. Yeah. But that was like somehow a f |
| Unknown | ull time job for you? I w I make it listen, I'm I'm a I'm a strapper. Well I guess the technical term is I'm the official global brand ambassador for automotive culture to the town of St. Morris. And is that is that a paid position? I am paid a salary annually by the town of St. Mars. Are you serious? Genuinely. So you choose cards? I don't have cards yet. Oh you gotta get cards. It it all started I I started working with an event there uh that I went to last year called the Bernina Gran Turismo, which I think you're trying to come to this year, hopefully. Uh which is a a hill climb race uh for vintage cars, um kind of like the most ridiculously beautiful, expensive uh classic cars you could ever hope to see uh driving full speed up one of the world's most iconic mountain passes called the Bernina Pass. And uh I don't know. It's just something that kind of came together organically and and now I just I wrap them up a little bit. |
| Unknown | So why don't we hit pause for a second here and actually ask Ted to define what it is exactly you do for a living? Aaron Powell I don't know how to de |
| Unknown | fine what I do for a living. Um I have a criminal amount of fun. Like uh uh and I'm sure at some point it has been criminal. Uh But I I I've done everything I've ever wanted to do and I I get to do it every day. So uh for instance right now I'm pr my primary business is digital strategy consulting at the point at this point. Um I worked full time for Petrillicious, which you guys know very well. Sure, which I always like to say was the hodinky of the car world. Um and that was an except an exceptional two and a half years. Uh but it got to a point where I, you know, I I was invested there only in the sense that I really loved the team and love the work, but I I really needed to do something on my own. Uh but Ben's told me many, many times that the only way to forward for someone like me is is to be independent um and to own the product that I'm working on. So I I I now get to still work with petrollyus and uh I work with other brands around the world, uh watch brands, uh car brands, and uh I I help them reach specific audiences. So I guess digital marketing is probably the more accurate way to describe what |
| Unknown | I do. Okay. But from from the outside looking in, it looks like you travel around the world to beautiful exotic places, you take pictures of the world's most beautiful cars and you post them on Instagram. That's about it. Is |
| Unknown | there I mean, is there more to it than that? Uh yeah, no. So a lot of the stuff you don't see that happens behind the scenes is boring meetings and advising people that what they're doing marketing wise is crap. And uh I try to help them get to a point where they're creating something that they should |
| Unknown | be proud of. So what do you think the things are that are kind of prevalent in the industry that are crap that you want to make better? Aaron Powell I think that people in general are very |
| Unknown | bad at being objective with the content they're creating. About saying like, does this really need to exist? Like does this should can we make this ad more beautiful? Can we make this a piece of content, this video not suck. Like they they make there's a lot of self-important content being created uh across all genres, and I just I I really hate it. So it's more of like uh I just want to help them, I want to fix I want to see great stuff. So you guys are the benchmark for me in so many ways for so many different things. But yeah, I I don't know. I get I get to work with a lot of exceptional people that do a lot of really great work and I've been lucky enough to help them. But yeah it's it's been a winding road. I mean as as you've watched as as a friend of mine, um, like I said, I was a professional DJ for two two or so years. Uh then I was a management consultant for a year working uh I didn't. Yeah, I was while I was DJing I, also had a full day job working at a at a small firm called Accompli, which um was basically C suite uh leadership training. Um so at like age twenty two I was uh hidden side of Tengushu. No I, I we we our clients were uh Dow Jones, NASA and Arriva, which is uh the the um what do you call it? Um they did nuclear reactors. So essentially we uh I would be brought in as an associate in this firm to help uh companies that had really big teams of people that were kind of not talking to each other in the right way. So that was an interesting year. Um did that for one year. Did that for one exact year. Uh and that ended with me not wanting to go back to business school, which was the only path forward to become a partner there. So after that, I a friend of mine was uh managing or she was running the New York Observer. Right. Yeah. And I became a party party reporter. Okay. Yeah. Technical term, party party reporter. No, I take the shoot party reporter. I don't know. Yeah, I I just went to every single party in New York City for a year and wrote about them. And this was the New York Observer. New York Observer, which iser it? Kushn pro |
| Unknown | perty. Did you ever hang out with the Kushner? Uh I met him a couple times. Yeah, how was he? I have nothing positive. |
| Unknown | You guys should see the look on Ted's face right now. He's like, how much do I want to fuck with the I was really in love with the New York Observer and I thought it was the most beautiful publication and that should never have ever made money. And it didn't. It still still doesn't have to be. I don't think it does. Yeah. But yeah, no, I I j I loved because I loved the um it was basically a clearinghouse for for blue chip uh writers to go through there. Um I mean it had also been r responsible for some of the most incredible content that had ever been created. You know, Sex in the City was a column that started there. Um all there's so many great people that were that served there that were now important in the New York literary world. So uh Graydon Carter started there, for instance, was an editor. serve time there. And uh I totally fell in love with that concept. And I and I'm not a terribly good writer. I I think I I I can write um but it's it's didn't come naturally to me. But but that learning how to do learning to flex that muscle was a really interesting activity Launch a magazine for them online. Uh which we did successfully and uh I actually ended up hiring all sorts of Van Dyfair contributors from the past and paying paid cash on delivery. So if you if you wrote a story for me, you got cash the same day, which is the best way to get people that don't want to do things for you to do things for you. Especially writers. That's as you know, running a publication like with the paying freelancers, it's always a a shit show. Um so I would I got uh like people that were friends with Graydon Carter in the eighties that like hung out with John Belushi at Odeon and just had them write these nostalgic stories about New York City. And uh and they they got traction. They were getting picked up by Gothamist, they were getting picked up by all these publications. I started getting notes from from Graydon Carter. And then he we've actually he and I've never actually met, we've emailed extensively. But he um he put me in touch with no he was having a meeting or something with Ken Lehrer, the guy who was behind the Huffington Post, and who is the son of uh the the father of Ben Lehrer, who founded Thrillist. Um and Thrillist was looking for a lifestyle uh men's lifestyle publication concept uh that would allow them to kind of tap into a higher-end ad market. Um I had the balls at twenty-four to put that package together and uh and they funded my first real big project, which was uh supercompressor.com. Sure. I always thought that that came to be from the dinner that we hosted with Cartier in Ben Lear's apartment. That was it was actually separate. Uh and then I think when Ben got t mentioned uh my name to uh yeah, when he heard my name, then it I think that synced that he was like, Oh I met that guy at the Tardia thing. That was a great dinner. That was a great dinner. That was a wild dinner. I think I'm still hungover from that dinner |
| Unknown | . Yeah, that was an early Hodinky event. Yeah, that was that was really early Hodinky. No offense, Ted. No, no, no. That's the story of my life. |
| Unknown | Scott Koenig cooked that dinner for us in like Ben Lear's home kitchen. In Ben in Ben |
| Unknown | 's apartment. That's how I feel about being on this podcast. It's just all all these incredible people and then and then me. Uh and then super compressor kinda kind of was a big deal for a little while. Yeah. Uh we grew to two million unique users a month, which I was really pleased about. Uh a team of sixteen, fifteen. Uh most of which were either still at Thrillist or still working in New York media. Um I actually ran to one of the guys that I employed today at uh Esquire. Uh no, he's at Ment's Health, same same desk though. And uh yeah, that was that was an incredible ride. But I was totally burnt out after that experience. You know, we were I was going seven days a week um and that was just uh so much I learned so it was it was like going to business school. It was like the best paid business school I could ever possibly go to. And I just wanted the chance to focus on something because we were doing cars, tech, lifestyle, travel, sex, dating, whatever. Like it was a whole online uh destination. Um but then I uh I got an email from Avchin Bania at Petrillicious and he said you know, I'd love to meet with you next time you're out in LA. So I I ginned up some reason to be in LA and uh stayed at the Chateau of my mom, stayed up way too late the night before, and then uh got to brunch, very hungover, and uh and we had a great brunch, and and he and I just hit it off and we were just like, This is this is a dream chance for me uh to focus uh on one specific thing. You know, I I grew up in a car family, so I uh I was always passionate about cars, but never had the opportunity in the way that maybe before Hodinki, you didn't have the opportunity to dive deep on watches. Uh and I just I |
| Unknown | What was it like to go from you know like you said supercompressor was was really about kind of wrangling everything, distilling out the good stuff, and then kind of throwing it at at the readers in a kind of smart synthesized way. How did you go from that to doing something super focused that was much more about like long form storytelling and like really Uh I loved it. I loved |
| Unknown | every second of it. I I was I was so sick of doing mass content. Yeah. But it worked. It worked. Um paid bills. Yeah. But to be able to sit down with Derek Bell for three hours and just interview him and then print basically a transcript of that interview unedited and have it look like it's it people thought that was the full edit because that is it's every word he said that was just the full like to be and to have people point out that there was a uh a typo in like the third to last paragraph of a twenty thousand word interview with like uh with a guy who's won Lamont five times who outside of cars isn't very well known um but in within that car world is a legend. And uh I don't know to be able to do stuff like that, that was the bigg |
| Unknown | est gift. Two quick things about supercompressor that that many may not know. First is that named after a a watch case. Correct. Right? Supercompressor case. Second, you shared a desk with the fat Jew. I did. Which is kind of amazing. I I forgot about that. |
| Unknown | He only had two or three hundred thousand followers then, so uh Josh Ostrovsky, he goes by Josh Onassis, uh is uh one of my oldest friends in New York. Yeah, he's he's a total character. Uh I met him first through John Munson at the uh Soho Grand who I threw parties with. Sure. But he yeah, before the fat Jew is who he was now, he was he was still the fat Jew. Uh but but but but he but he was uh yeah, he was just a character, like a New York City Upper East Side character. He comes from a really lovely family. Uh and he just but he the strange thing about him is everyone thinks he's like this kind of d delinquent, you know, uh gatabat kind of guy. But he's actually the most lovely friend and uh and really um how'd I put it like he worked incredibly hard. What was he doing at Thrillets back then? Uh he was working at this website called the Crosby Press doing uh viral video. Right. Uh and the Crosby Press ev everything got consolidated. So once I left Supercompressor, it got consolidated into Thrillist. And so basically you s you know you know how what Thrillist is today. But different pieces of that role there. But yeah, that was that was he's he's a character |
| Unknown | . And so I think people know Petrelicious as it exists now and that that kind of really has your fingerprints all over it. But what was it like before you got there? Like what did you inherit when you took it over? |
| Unknown | I inherited an incredible um Um an incredible backlog of video content uh that that had set such a standard, I think, in uh industry wide for what high quality video should look like. And I know for a fact that it has influenced uh more people in in media For a niche product. I I think that the video work that Avshin uh and his uh and and the team do there is just above and beyond. And just and for me to know the budgets they do it on, it's just staggering. Uh and and I I I was so in love with that product. We I I I I'd shared so much of their content they created at Supercompressor. Um and then that that's how we got in touch initially because I was just a a total fanboy. And there there was a there was an online magazine that had like the bones of something that could be really good, but it didn't have the the infrastructure or the framework or you know the the habituality. You didn't need to read it every day. Um, but you wanted to watch that video every week. So I said, look, if if they've already got this this many people desperate to see the f the films, I know for a fact I can deliver uh an online media product, uh uh I mean a a word product that could ladder up to that. And I I I think I did. And I think the team that uh we had working on it um you know while it was on a shoestring budget, like was still uh capable of creating really high quality uh automotive content. And uh they still do a great job. And I'm still proud to know them and I'm still proud to work with them. So no, uh it's it's a really it's a it's a lovely thing. And it's done to uh uh to in a fashion that almost just feels like a gift. You know, you you barely would ever notice there's an ad on there |
| Unknown | . Yeah, I mean petrelicious for us. I mean I'll just speak about what what we've kind of referenced it. I mean, from the very beginning. I mean I remember the first time I saw a petrelicious video, it was the Kuntash video back in the day. Oh man. And it was just so beautiful. I sent it to Will who wasn't a full time employee at the time, who now is responsible for for all of our content. I was just like, We need to do this. Like th this was stunning. And it was as simple as buying a slider and like these little technical things that like hadn't really done hadn't been done before in in like a digital way, you know in in anything short of an actual you know feature film. Uh and you know petrelicious has been so kind of impactful on us and so many other platforms out there. Yeah. I remember in two thousand thirteen I did an Apple talk at the Apple store and I was being interviewed and blah blah blah. And they said, who do you really look up to? And even back then, and this is 2013, I've I mentioned petrelicious. |
| Unknown | Yeah, the the only drawback with petrelicious is the is the scale. You know, we wanted to be a lot bigger. Uh and we wanted we needed |
| Unknown | I've talked to I've seen uh about it many times is you know, you guys are petrelicious was always playing in a really crowded market. Like there's motor trend, there's a drive arm, there's uh there's mo there's hearst owned products that are competing with you guys. There's really not that in our space, you know? And that that's been a gift to us honestly. Yeah, it really has been |
| Unknown | . Yeah. Well you guys invented the wheel. So uh I I I think that that's th there's a reason that you have the volume that you do. Um how big is your audien |
| Unknown | ce now? Uh we see about a million people a month across our channels. That includes, you know, page views on the website, that includes people watching videos, interactions on social. It's a little over a million across channels. |
| Unknown | Which is really amazing considering who the audience is. Like it's all like it's all people that like don't really exist in the real world. You know, it's like really like thoughtful, educated, wealthy people that are all like nice. Yeah, the eyes don't care about stuff for the wrong reasons. The eyeballs are so high quality. They're they're exceptional eyeballs. Yeah. Yeah. World class. The most beautiful eyeballs. The best eyeballs. We love those eyeballs. We do. Thank you. Thank you, eyeballs. But back to you. So how did you go from Petrelicious into what it is you do now? I had an o |
| Unknown | pportunity to go work on an even more niche magazine, which is like a dome within a dome, uh Triple Zero magazine. Sure. Which is I think maybe the highest quality, most uh obnoxiously specific um kind of publication that's ever existed, which is uh just about Porsche. So uh but it's uh Pete Stout and the team over there um they they basically they charge a lot of money for it. You know it's not a cheap product um but it is it is like receiving an incredible book uh every four months, uh or every three months, whatever it is. Um and I just I fell in love with it again. And it's uh but they needed to help kind of growing their online presence and uh we use Instagram as a marketing tool. So I I help them grow their audience from zero to twenty or thirty thousand, whatever it is now. And then uh and then unfortunately just because the way they need to allocate their marketing budget, we're we're not working together at the highest level anymore. Just but I still do uh a couple monthly posts for them. Just keep that that channel alive. But um they they are it's a it's a really cool thing. I don't know if you you've seen it. We have them in the office. You're a Porsche guy. Yeah. And then similar |
| Unknown | ly to petrelicio,us it's another one of those products that if you're in this general space, like you really benchmark against the quality of the content is insane |
| Unknown | . If you meet Pete one day, uh you'll you'll understand why. Like he is the most fucking diehard Porsche guy. Yeah. Like he has anecdotes dating back to the eighties of just, you know, insanely specific, weird little stories with people that to him are like Michael Jackson, but to the average guy are just, you know, you could never pronounce their name. Uh |
| Unknown | i it's it's a really cool thing. It is. It it's amazing. There there's all these guys I've seen from Petrolysis, Pete with with Triple Zero. They're all kind of in our orbit. We've exchanged emails and and and phone calls before. Uh and the creative director is Jeff Zwart, whose car I own. It's all kind of a closed circle here. I love that Porsche. It's really beautiful. How's it driving? No, it's amazing. Not terrible. I love it. But no, Triple Zero is something that again we we really admire. I mean there is it I don't know how they're making money because it's just it's almost too beautiful. Uh and as somebody that's publishing kind of a low batch or a small batch magazine, it's it's not so easy to make money in printing it. No, not at all. Uh we we've've been very lucky and got brands that are really behind us, but you know, it's short of Porsche underwriting triple zero. I th I would imagine it would be difficult to turn a profit on that one. |
| Unknown | Aaron Powell Yeah. I I can't speak to their business model. Um but what I can speak to is just their model of quality. You know, and and that's uh more and more in life uh you seek out people and products and things that are just of uncompromising quality. And that's the only I mean that to me is what what getting older is all about. It's just is only finding those things that really high quality and uh th that are just fueled by passion and and that's one of them for sure. And I was really lucky to work with them. |
| Unknown | Yeah. So let's talk about cars a little bit because you're a car guy. I mean I, think we kinda we kinda have to with Ted here. And pretty much ninety percent of your Instagram posts are cars. And so you travel around the world. I'm trying to lifestyle. Okay. Trying to create a brand here. Uh so so tell me like w how how do you find these cars? How do you go out there and and find these things to shoot for for your Instagram? How do you find these watches? Well, I mean we have a whole team built around us to do that. We have a whole industry built around us to do that. Uh it's a momentum thing. You know, |
| Unknown | uh initially, like on day one, I I had no idea. I had to call in favors or I I had to go through people that I knew through other channels and be like, oh, you know, like you I know you have a cool car, so let's do a story on it. Um but the for me it was once once you get to a certain level of notoriety on a platform, the stories come to you. Um so uh I go to a a city around the world that I've never been to before. I was in Bangkok, for instance. I'd never been there in my entire life. I take a photo uh of the the skyline um out of my the window at the Peninsula Hotel. And uh essentially within 15 minutes I receive a message from a guy named uh on Instagram Tenster, who uh is a film director and who lives in Bangkok and collects Porsches and he goes, What are you doing tonight? And I go, I don't know. Um he goes, I'm picking up in 15 minutes uh and I'm gonna show you some crazy shit. And I'm like in Bangkok. I was like, Wow, how's this gonna end? Like this could be great or terrible, yeah, or like this is you know, I I I sent my dad a text, like, hey I'm doing some crazy things tonight, uh just love you, you know. Uh so yeah, uh and he picks me up and uh in a an RWB tuned Porsche, which is like I don't know if if for those who don't know what that looks like, it looks like a Porsche on steroids. Um a vintage Porsche on steroids. Widened. It's it's not particularly my style, but uh the the people that are into them are really passionate. Um and then he takes me out to uh visit his friends. And he's uh uh uh that that night we we uh to own a car in Bangkok for instance, i it cut is four hundred percent tax on cars. So if you own a car, like any car, like it's a big deal. Like if you own a jalopy pickup truck, like you you you're you had to really want it. Um and so we end up meeting some of his friends, uh and his friends were all people that controlled entire industries. Um but that like so for one guy uh he I'm like so what do you do? He's like, I do I do chicken like and he's like yeah, like what? Like he's like, no, I do all the chicken. Which means that he gets to have something like a six D car collection. And he had the cars that he had in there were some of the most incredible uh j JDM, like Japanese domestic market uh tuning cars that you could ever possibly see. Uh then this other guy who's who'd restored his Diablo by hand, and he owned Singha beer, for instance, everything. Yeah, Singha's great. Yeah. Should we make them the official beer of uh Hudinki Radio? The official beer of the specific podcast. Right of this episode of Hudinky Radio. Yeah, no, and and but you this all happened because of Instagram. And I'm still in touch with these guys, and I'll go back and visit them soon. And uh you end up just meeting people so quickly and so organically because it's it strips away all the bullshit. There's no there's no question as to what you have interest in because it's obvious. It's like oh we can sit there and geek out for days about cars. Perfect uh |
| Unknown | what do you find are the the kind of like unifying traits of car guys, right? Like whether you're in Bangkok or whether you're in Austria or whether you're in Bavaria or the UK, like what are the things that like all car guys kinda have in common? My experience i is that they're incre |
| Unknown | dibly generous with their time and uh and with their friendship. Um car guys I find be because it it's I I don't I I'm I have ex roughly the same experience in watches for instance, but um in order to own a car, you have to be so committed to the whole process of it. And it's like a watch, you can you can have half a billion dollars worth of watches in a sock drawer. Uh uh cheapest cars still cost real money to maintain and and and have somewhere. So you have somebody that's very dedicated to something. Uh and they're they're they're I don't know and to be able to share that and when they recognize that in someone else, it just like I said, it it cuts away all the barriers. So it's this incredible community that just is really, really really generous, um and and and really thoughtful and and I've been very lucky to be part of it |
| Unknown | . And now let's take a look at this week's sponsor. I'll be real. I roll into work with a backpack or a tote bag most days, but sometimes you actually need to act like a grown-up and carry a briefcase. Luckily, Hook and Albert has your back here with the laptop briefcase. This is a new school take on the briefcase with a softer profile, a shoulder strap for when you're running to catch a flight, and tons of internal pockets for all of your stuff. It actually fits a lot too, I was kinda surprised. It's sleek and pretty compact. My favorite is in the Alpine collection, which is made of a beautiful pebbled leather that you can match to other Hook and Albert products like the Garment Weekender. To see all the options and learn more about the laptop briefcase, visit hookandalbert.com. Alright, let's get back to the show |
| Unknown | . Who's the most interesting person you've met on Instagram? On Instagram? That has now become a friend. Matt Jacobson for sure |
| Unknown | . Like there's no question. Because he owns Instagram, actually. Well, I I I mean it's not on his balance sheet, but it's on he definitely uh signed a check at some point. Uh yeah, I uh Matt Matt's an incredible human being, um that I'm very privileged to know. And likewise you guys. Uh y there's no other way I could I could describe meeting people like that, th than just be like total serendipitous delight. Um I got him hooked on uh on Porsche's. Mm-hmm. And now he's got a few. He's got yeah, the well he has this one in, one out rule when he buys things. Uh uh eventually I'm assuming you'll have him on the podcast. I hope so. Probably. Yeah.' Thats a no-brainer. Yeah. He's for for those who don't know who Matt Jacobson is, he uh he was like the CEO of Quicksilver, I want to say. Yeah, something uh before he retired and then got a a an introduction to um Zucker. Yeah, Zuckerberg when they had five employees. And he uh he traded uh time for equity. And is the longest employee |
| Unknown | besides Mark Zuckerberg? He is, yeah. He was employee number seven or eight. He they could not he was as as Ted said, he was either the CEO or CMO or some senior position at Quicksilver. He was an exec at Sony, I believe. Yep. Uh and you know he was making real money and twenty century fox. Twenty century fox. Right. That's right. Fox, not Sony. Yeah. Exactly. So he was already doing well and Zuckerberg couldn't afford him. So he was like, just pay me an equity, man. Yeah. Uh and it worked out. But I had a nickel. It did okay |
| Unknown | . Yeah. He's a great guy. Uh there's just endless people like that. And uh so many of them are in your orbit specifically. So uh uh for me to call out any particular one besides Matt doesn't feel like I'm doing anyone justice. Sure. But uh especially also through like the Leica world and the watch world. Like I I've I've met so many so many passionate people that all like are secret car guys too. Uh I don't know. It's |
| Unknown | it's Yeah, I mean people can't see it, but Ted has a uh a Leica M ten with a fifty millimeter Sumalux sitting on the table in front of him and I don't think I've seen you in years |
| Unknown | Aaron Powell Well the the only way that that is possible is by carrying a camera that looks as beautiful as this. Because if I had to like lug an SLR around, I I'd be unemployed. The city of Samaritz does not tolerate it. It's true. It's true. Exceptional. And you guys I know are very passionate about them. Stephen now is uh um on Skid Row because he's just spent all of his money on on cameras and lenses. Yeah, it's uh definitely true. Uh but yeah, I don't know how how to describe it. It it's it's changed my life. Um to be able to capture what I capture and to be able to do that every day and to be able to do it with an object that looks as beautiful as this is one, uh something of great privilege for me. Uh but two, it's it's so liberating. I'm I'm welcome around the world now because of my lens. And that's I wouldn't have that without without Leica. I I bought a Leica Q. Um was that on your recommendation? Maybe. Probably. It sounds like something Ben would recommend. I really believe that. The best all-around camera. And this is how I I always rationalize the purchase, which sounds like a total drug addict way of rationalizing it. is if if you buy something that's this expensive, and these cameras are comically expensive and way I would almost say overpriced. But if you use it, the price is justified. It's like buying a pair of a pair of George Cleverleys or something. Yeah. You're like, yeah, it's a you you're gonna take bite the bullet up front, but you'll get so much use out of them. Yeah. For the rest of your life. The rest I mean, this camera will be beautiful and functional in twenty years. I mean the the lens at the very least. Yeah. And uh and to to be able to to use that is is I'm I'm really lucky. |
| Unknown | So I mean we were joking a little while ago that you know ninety ninety five percent of your Instagram is is pictures of cars. But there's watches in there. Yeah, there are. And what you're what you're documenting really is kind of bigger than that. Um and not to make it sound too too grand, but like you're documenting a bucket list lifestyle. Like you're doing the cresta run, you're doing the mil millilimilia. Like you're you're going hard. You're checking a lot of boxes off. And not just for you, but for other people, right? Like other people get to experience these things through you. You're Dickie Greenleaf. |
| Unknown | Oh boy. Well wow. I don't know. Which one of us gets murdered first? No, no. Tom was the one who killed people. That's great that you know that. Well, I don't know. My whole life has been um a fake it till you make it kind of thing. You know, I I I I've never asked for permission to do any of these things. I've just kind of done them. Um so like I didn't ask for permission to go to St. Moritz to do the Quest to run. I didn't go to the Millimilia. I was just like ripped the band-aid and did it. Like, oh wow. Um and so I don't know how how to describe uh that feeling other than just being able to see and they are book bucket list things. You know, these are these are things that the top one percent of the top one percent uh of people in the world would be lucky to do. I mean most of them don't even know about them. Right. That's the beauty of it. Yeah. Uh and I just try to I try to act as gracious as possible w while still like screaming on the inside that I'm getting to do it. Um it's it's a really I'm really lucky. Uh but I th I think it's maybe if I had to say why I'm able to do these things, I |
| Unknown | Do you ever have a day where you wake up and you're like, oh shit, I have to get in a nineteen sixties Porsche and drive through the Alps again? Like just stay home and watch Netflix |
| Unknown | . uh the the way the way I get to experience life is is exceptional. And I'm very I'm very very lucky. So let's get specific here. Tell me about the Mila Milia. The Mila Melia uh in its current form is a uh basic it's more of a rally than a um than a race. But the the original race uh was one of the ballsiest, craziest, uh most insane things you could ever possibly do. So you had guys like Sterling Moss, uh legendary racing drivers, uh driving at top speed on dirt roads through Italy, um doing a thousand miles in under 24 hours. And uh which today is not that much of an accomplishment. Like you can kind of do it, but like these guys were going like a buck thirty on bicycle tires uh with uh boat engines strapped to the you know, like the the the the cars that they were driving were just totally, totally mental. And um I was very lucky to do it for the first time uh and I've been a few times now, uh in a nineteen thirty-eight BMW um three twenty-eight bodied by Touring Superlegera. Nineteen thirty eight. I mean think about how old that is. It's a twenty five million dollar car from the BMW Museum. U And they let you behind the wheel. Yes. And unfortunately we had a slight mishap. Slight mishap? Well, i we came around the roundabout um uh after some rain and the car fish tailed, I corrected, but not not perfectly. And uh we we clipped a guardrail. How'd that feel? Uh expensive for them. Deeply, deeply expensive. Uh I have not been invited back by them. Uh but I I d that's which is not to say I don't have a great relationship with BMW. Um Ben Voss runs their um their vintage department over there and he's just an incredibly lovely guy. Uh so he we still we still hang out. But uh yeah, that was uh that was a tough one. Ac actually I was crying, uh j genuinely 'cause I was so passionately in love with this car and uh w once it happened I uh I I I I stopped the car and my my co-ridver was uh Dr. Marcus Schramm, who is the director of strategy for L B and W. So he's like the number two or three guy there. Uh and he he was like, You fucked up. When that guy looks at you and says you fucked up. Six six foot seven chain smoker who's run who runs ult ultra marathons, incredible guy. Um but then the the mechanics uh walked up and they were like, That's kein probleme. Uh uh Schnellos, this is a race, like you have to go. Like and I I I was just like, uh, okay. Um yeah, I had a really uh crazy experience with that. But I I've been lucky to go back for a few times as a photographer. I was just doing it uh with my friend Marco Macus uh the other day, who's the official voice, which is quite fun. And you're about to go on a rally, right? Right after you leave New York. Uh yeah, I'll be out in uh Monterey, uh working with Hackett actually for this this one, uh Hackett and Aston Martin. Uh and then uh I'll be in an Asmartin V8 Vantage Zagato on the Quail Rally, uh which is uh an event that's put on by my friends who own the peninsula's uh hotels as well. So the Kidori family, um Sir Michael Kidori and his son Philip are are close friends of mine. And they uh they are again, colossal car people, uh to the extent that they probably have one of the most uh no notorious collections in the world. Um but they they put them on these really great events around the world to celebrate car culture. And you're driving an Aston Martin Zagato. Yeah. Really cool car that's owned by our friend Matthew Ivanhoe from the Cultivated Collector. Who's also a client. Indeed. It's nice when that works. Yeah. Uh no, it's it's a really cool event. Um and the people I've gotten to know through their events and around the world in that community, like guys like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd, uh uh his his son-in-law, Marino Franchiti's become a really good friend, Dario Franchiti, uh the race racing drivers. Uh you you you get you get to meet people that you would otherwise have nothing no reason to meet. Um but because you're all car guys, uh it's not a big deal. It's it's totally just s there's there's like there are no celebrities within car guys. It's just and it's roughly the same with watches I, I'd'd have to assume. Is it's you you're you're all on the same playing field. Uh and it's it's it's the real it's really the great equalizer, you know. Like any w no matter what your income level is, no matter what your what your official title is, no matter if you're royaltyy or povert. If you're car guys, you have something to talk about. And that's you know that's been the case for me around the world and I really dig it |
| Unknown | . I mean in addition to being a car guy, you're also a watch guy, which helps help since we're having you on this show. But uh w how did you get into watches and how how does your love of watches relate to your love of watches? My dad, Ron Gashu. He uh my dad's an architect |
| Unknown | and shout out to Ron Gashua. The butt uh Instagram, the button-down biker. No, he he's he's such a dude. He um he his one of his biggest clients is man Freddie Jewelers in Greenwich. Um and before that he's worked with Batteridge for years. Uh he's he he does great architecture, but uh his only real retail uh endeavors are with jewelry stores. Um and so we've grown up uh always having the most ridiculous kit coming through the door. Uh but back when these things weren't hyper-collectible, back when you know early 90s when buying an emergency wasn't like a big deal, my dad was like, Yeah, cool, I just picked one up today. Um but we we've always been able to like buy things at cost and like you know, do the do the buddy system kind of thing like that. Uh just because of his you know he he has coffee once a day at Manfreddy in Greenwich. Um th they're like family. So we were always s surrounded by cool watches. And uh it was just, you know when you when you're a kid you you re you recognize the objects around you, not for their value, but for what they mean, the kind of like like what they mean to you in terms of familiarity. So like I just have all these great memories of my dad wearing it, beautiful GMT when you're like throwing me around in the pool, you know, like stuff like that, or like uh trying to explain to me the complexity of the Brightling Emergency. Sure. Um or his Nava timer or any of these watches he's ever owned. And and now we sh we share a collection. Um so he's got some of my stuff, I got some of his stuff and we're very we're very open that way. |
| Unknown | It's like hey wanna wanna borrow that for like cool, take it. Yeah, last time I saw him, so he so I have a house upstate and I saw him at a Cars and Coffee not too long ago and he was wearing your shop part from the Milla M Yeah, the Millie Millie one. Yeah |
| Unknown | . What if you you just picked something up, didn't you? Yeah. Uh my buddy Hamilton Powell down at Crown Crown and Caliber has a list of watches that I ultimately need to own. And he uh every once in a while we' justll he's like it's here. Uh so I got the Kermit, which um uh my friend Jera Venables, who I do some car deals with, um is uh worn for years and I've always just admired it. And f we were together the other day. Uh we had like a six-hour road trip, round trip um to Wales uh in the UK to photograph a GT2R Evoluzione uh Portia 993. And I just stared at his watch the whole time. So I uh Hamilton said he had one for me and I I I pulled the trigger. It's it's such a cool watch. I th you know be I'm I'm I'm not a huge Maxi guy. I I don't love the the big maxi cases, but I do love this era. And I've got I've got a bunch of other Rolexes. Uh I have a sixty-seven uh GMT, a five five one three for my birth year, um, I've got a couple DJS, um sixteen oh three. I'm really bad with these uh with cod codes. I have no idea. So far so far you're you're bad in a thousand. So uh yeah no I'm just uh I I'm I I I like sh |
| Unknown | apes. I don't like numbers. All right. And y you have you know, we we've often tried I'm a car guy obviously. I've I've s several times tried to bring the car world into into what we do with watches and online to to moderate success. I was even mediocre success. Uh in print better. But you have somehow been able to bring wash intoes cars with petrolishes. You did a Jaeger video, you did a few other things. You did something with Langa. I find I |
| Unknown | found and I I understand what you mean when you say you've had some success because uh I find that the watch the guys that are there to consume watch content might not be open to car content. But guys who are there to consume car tank content uh want so much car content that they're happy to have a little extra car flavored watch content because it's just they want more. So I think the appetite of of the of a car enthusiast consumer, which is why there's 75 publications in that are focused on cars, might mean that I got to get away with having uh a couple watch articles in there. But you know, so so much of the DNA of what makes these watches iconic is is automotive. I mean Paul Newman's Paul Newman wouldn't Paul Newman's Paul Newman without Paul Newman being Paul Newman. And that was why you had people that were interested in buying it that were not just watch guys, that were, you know, big ticket car guys. You know, I I know for a fact that like some big collectors that I know personally were were making bids and guys that through who can write that check who who have you know who are used to buying hundred million dollar car kind of things. So yeah, it it's it's an interesting uh it's interesting crossover. But obviously, you know, so much of the DNA that you guys write about is is automotive related. Trevor B |
| Unknown | urrus What do you think about watches that you know maybe aren't like the Daytona, which have some, you know, longstanding history with cars, but watches that are created today kind of inspired by cars, this idea of like the automotive genre of watches |
| Unknown | . Um I I genuinely support uh almost everything about people trying to do something new that that has the that or g uh naturally pulls on good heritage. You know, I think the like the guys at Baltic, for instance, do that that beautiful little watch. Uh nice looking watch. It's super cheap, but it's pulling on like a classic kind of uh Paul Newman uh vibe. Um I'm totally cool with it. And and I think it's it's I don't know. Like I said, I I I genuinely support uh anyone who wants to further publicize what makes the automotive community interesting and rich and deep and and w have stuff of heritage around |
| Unknown | it. Have you found any watches to be super prevalent amongst car guys that aren't the usual suspects like not Daytonas, not Speedmasters, you know, some something that like you didn't expect, but you see a lot of them. Hmm |
| Unknown | . I don't I I think the only common threat is Rolex. And that's that's largely I think one because Rolex is Rolex, but two, but because Rolex has such a strong commitment to motorsport heritage and current sponsorship. They're the largest sponsor of automotive uh races. Um, they do every single possible event of any noteworthiness. You know, they're f the official timekeeper for uh everything that matters in motorsport. So I I I'm never surprised to see Rolex. Um Then you have guys like Matt Jacobson who have ridiculous all kinds of uh funky things that he pulls out of the woodwork that have patina for days. So yeah, I don't I I can't identify a common thread uh other than Rolex. Okay |
| Unknown | . I mean one one thing that kind of joins the watch and car worlds is is this real sense of connoisseurship, right? And that's that's what you've been working on, I guess, for these last couple years, right? Is kind of like building that education. How do you think things like social media and the growth of publications like a petrelicious or a hodinky have have kind of changed that culture on the ground |
| Unknown | . They've united us. They brought us together. You know, w before we were a bunch of weirdos uh in our bedrooms like starting islands. Yeah we were total islands. Now we're archipelagos. Uh weird little archipelagos. No, I I I I love I love the beauty and the simplicity of Instagram because it it is so direct in connecting people with other people that have shared interests and passions. And I think that you know, my life has obviously been enriched by it. But just think of all the people that never would have known each other. You know, before you had forums uh which were really uh kind of grotesque and ugly in the w in their format. U buth the content they were creating was really rich and it was really specific. Um but now you have something that is really, really beautiful, really, really linear, and allows people with no fuss, no bullshit to go and and see something that they uh are interested in. And so I I I'm I'm so in love with the platform. I mean I'm uh addicted's the wrong term because I think addiction implies some sort of negative aspect. Uh m it's I have such a a beautiful relationship with it. I really enjo |
| Unknown | y it. Cool. I mean, so you're you're these days you're sort of based in London, but I say based in quotes, you know, you're really kind of kind of a nomad. Yeah. Uh what's like what's next for you, man? Like what are you what are you doing? |
| Unknown | Um there's a really big project that I've been negotiating for nine months. That's finally coming to fruition with a certain automotive manufacturer. Sorry, which I can't really quite talk about yet. Um but I'm really pumped on it. And that's going to be a bit of a game changer for me. And that's a content creation type of deal? Yeah, I'm basically launching an Instagram only magazine. Instagram only magazine. Yeah, there's another publication that just launched recently called Drive Nation, which I I really dig. Um and I I m my my core belief about content is that it should be you you should constantly be removing barriers to consuming it, which you guys do an amazing job with, with your app, with the basically a any anywhere that you want to consume hodinky content, you're there. And I think that in terms of a a branded content play for a car manufacturer, I think there's a lot you can do there. Um and I I because you're you you're just natively right where the people are. So that's that's probably my n my next biggest project. But uh this week I'm I'm I'm going to Connecticut to see my mom. What are you doing in like five years, ten years, what do you think? I'll have less hair for sure. Uh guaranteed. More money. I hope so. That'll be nice. Uh no, I I'll be having a lot of fun. Um you know m our our time is limited here. And uh my my my budget for shit I don't want to do is is increasingly limited. Um and I think that if if if you have that that principle kind of locked in, I think that's that's kinda th that's how you had to live your life |
| Unknown | . Now with those words of wisdom. Let's go to the other end of the spectrum. Just words of stupidity. What's the absolute craziest shit you've done in your life? We've known each other long enough. We've been involved in some of that crazy shit, but what's what's the absolute craziest story |
| Unknown | you are willing to tell the audience? Uh there the other just the other day I was with uh my friend Dominic Hildebrand um at Porsche in in Stuttgart. And they uh there's the Porsche Museum there obviously. But the Porsche Museum has its own storage uh museum that has about six uh the Porsche collection has about six or seven hundred cars. But this uh I saw that on Instagram actually. Yeah. I really did. It was sweet. It was truly incredible. Like prototyped stuff, everything. You have no idea. Uh uh th things that you never thought existed. Uh there they have a Mercedes there that has a an Indy 500 um uh Porsche design engine that they used as the test bed for the Panamera. Like there's all kinds of things that you just never even thought about as part of being part of the the the uh the development process of cars. They have them there. They have a drop top uh cayenne. Like really bizarre things. And then of course all the iconic race cars that were driven by the most iconic guys. So yeah, there's there's things like that that I I get exposed to that most people would never But could Steven go see it? I could I mean uh maybe if I was there. |
| Unknown | Ted was there. I need Ted to get me in. Yeah. All right. So the a question that that I'm often asked because I'm me is you know if you've seen so many watches what watch would you pick like if money were no object of all the things you've seen? What would be the car that you would pick if like if |
| Unknown | somebody wrote you a check of fifty? I drive it every every chance I get my uh so I was raised uh by my dad in uh this 1976, 911 S. And when I moved to LA, um it was um and I'll I'll tear up thinking about it, but he uh he said that he's like, Look, I know that this car is gonna change your life out there, and I know it'll make what you need to do much easier. And he gave me the um the keys. And so it's it's a silver car uh with a martini racing stripe on the on the front left wing. Um and he yeah, he changed he changed my whole career path by letting me use the car. And uh like I said we we we we share everything. We're very open that way. But uh that's the car. And it's it's currently being repaired after a slight mishap. By roof, no less. It's being repaired by roof and Pfaffenhausen. That's true |
| Unknown | . Sweet. Well, we're starting to run low on time, but uh we're gonna do a little like quickfire uh series of questions here. This week I,'m gonna have Ben answer these questions too. Because while we got you here, I I want your answers. So quick answers, one two words, uh no long stories. Let's let's keep it. Ted, you go first and then Ben. Okay, but really fast. Yeah, like quick answers. Like really fast. Really fast. Like the fastest you've ever answered a question. Okay. |
| Unknown | Ted, what watch has caught your eye lately? Uh the Kermit I'm wearing. All right. I don't know what that is. You don't don't worry about it. |
| Unknown | Some John Mayer shit. It actually is shit. St. Moritz. I'm I'm contractually obligated to say that |
| Unknown | though. He's not kidding. Uh would you be mad at me, Stephen, if I said New Chatel Switzerland? I had a great fucking night in New Chatel, like not long ago. Did you? Yeah. It was beautiful mind. I like the AirMS |
| Unknown | soap there, I gotta say. Precisely. |
| Unknown | What's your guilty pleasure, Ted? Uh I can't answer that. Ben? Cars. Cars. Ted Betts, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received and from whom |
| Unknown | ? I'm standing right here. |
| Unknown | I don't know. I'm sitting right here. It would have to be what I said earlier, which is you know our time here is limited |
| Unknown | . |
| Unknown | Uh genuinely I I I I look towards Ben all the time for inspiration. I'm gonna tear up here. To see how far you've come and you you inspire me constantly to do the to keep finding that that perfect balance of of work in life. That's very |
| Unknown | kind, Ted. I really appreciate that. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. He's a guy. |
| Unknown | I'm going to Disney World. Ted, what's the thing you are most looking forward to right now |
| Unknown | ? My parents and I are going shooting this weekend at Orvis San Denona um play sporting players so we're gonna have a really low key fun weekend smoking cigars and shooting guns. That's awesome |
| Unknown | . Awesome. Ben Uh so it's a little bit of a longer story, but I'm playing golf at Winged Foot with Adam Scott, uh the golfer, uh who's like one of the masters and all that, which is I I grew up playing golf, but I was I was never really good. I just liked it. Uh and then I become friendly with Adam over the past year or two and he's like, Hey I'm gonna be in town, you wanna play Wingedfoot? And I was like, Yeah. That's fucking crazy. Waying foot's a beautiful course. I mean it's it's it's epic. Uh and like Adam Scott has won the masters. So I'm gonna be playing eighteen holes with a guy who's won the masters, which is just wild. So just getting just destroyed. Oh my god. The entire drive by over I'm not exaggerating. It'll be embarrassing, but whatever. That's |
| Unknown | cool. Yeah. All right. Last one, and this is a special question for this week. You get one car for the rest of forever. That's it. What's the car? I drive it. Yeah, every day. Lucky |
| Unknown | you. Yeah, lucky you man. I don't know. I I don't need m I don't need much. Uh I I just I like the things that I like and that's the thing I like. It's m uh every time I get in that car it's it smells like my dad and it smells like my family and it it's it's really cool. I can't comp I can't compete with that. You can't compete with that. But it you gotta tr |
| Unknown | y. It would be it would probably be my my sixty five nine eleven, which I think is just the the perfect automobile. Like you know, Porsche's like Rolex, it's like it's never wrong. It's just always always right. Uh you know, I think in a perfect world I've got this as I mentioned on Spikes podcasts, I've got this Porsche Sigato coming actually next month. Uh that would probably be the one. I haven't driven it yet. I assume it's awesome. Are you shipping it here or are we doing the Bernita? Uh I'm gonna leave it in Europe at least till the end of the year, maybe ship it back over winter. Um or maybe just keep it till next year. Cool. But we'll see. But that that would probably be the one once I once I take delivery. |
| Unknown | Cool. Cool. Well to wrap things up, we're gonna do the usual, which is the cultural recommendation. So Ted, what is your cultural recommendation for our audience? Well as the offici |
| Unknown | al ambassador uh for automotive culture to the town of St. Moritz, uh I have to recommend you come to St. Moritz in September, uh at the end of September for this event that I work with uh called the Bernina Grantrismo, which I told you about. You know I've never been to St. Moritz. Me neither actually. No. Should we go? Should we go? I mean podcast in St. Moritz? Yeah. Live? Listen, uh St. Moritz is one of those places and uh there's a handful of them on this earth that actually live up to the hype uh that have the real the that when you when you're there that you can feel the energy in the air because it's it's so beautiful. He is literally being paid to say this. I'm I'll chill for whoever. Like I'm I'm cool. Uh but no it's it's a magical place and uh the second you're there you'll understand why. Um and that's the only way I can describe it. And you're there often. I'm I'm contractually obligated to be there six weeks here. That's pretty good. Wow. Six weeks. Yeah. No, it's it's one of the most fantastic I'll be there at the end of the month, uh then I'll be there at the end of September. Um I don't know. And it's timeless. And it's has so much heritage. It's where winter sport was invented. Um, you know, in the late 1860s, that that's literally what happened. That there was a hotel there that basically said to their summer guests, because it was a summer resort for wealthy English people. And uh essentially the uh uh Johannes Badrut made a bet with one of his like with his guests saying that if you come back here for Christmas for a month, this is back when you went on holiday for months at a time. If you come back here and uh and you don't enjoy yourself, I'll pay for the entire thing. And they uh all these all these English families came back for the for winter and then th that's where curling was invented. That's where like all these crazy sports were invented. Um you know, uh toboggan luge, all these things was that was there. So uh and to be around that history, and like you're in these hotels having a drinking a bullshot next to a photo of some guy who was losing in the 1890s. You're like, oh okay, yeah, I'll get drunk here |
| Unknown | . Can we talk about the Crestor Run quickly? Do we have time for that |
| Unknown | ? Yeah, we can do like 30 seconds. People know what the Cr |
| Unknown | estor Run is. You want to explain? Uh Crestor R |
| Unknown | un is one of the most stupidly dangerous things we've ever done, but it's it's just delightful. Also, it's been going forever since like nineteen oh two or something like that. Uh essentially it's a head-first skeleton uh uh on a man-made track um that several people have died on. Like like one or two people a year or something. It's it's it's deeply dangerous and very uh very like old school. Like uh most of the guys who do it there's uh th they wear like a tie when they do it. Like it's it's very uh very traditional. Um it's it's it's there's no there's no adrenaline experience I've ever had like it. Uh y y you're you're going sixty, seventy miles an hour head headfirst down uh a nice track. Um yeah. And it's it's not like the one the ones they do in the Olympics with skeleton because those are tracks you can't fall out of. This track you can fall out of. Did you fall out? I did not fall out. I'm too much of a pussy. Uh but there are guys who literally will will you know, fly fi sixty six, seven seventy feet out the track 'cause they're and they're wearing speed suits going from the top. Uh I wasn't allowed to go from the top because I was uh you have to prove that you're a capable enough writer. Yeah, it's it's it's one of the most old school badass things I've ever done. Sweet. Ben, what's your recomm |
| Unknown | endation? Oh, I didn't think of anything. Um What did you say getting to the St. Moritz, right? Yeah, just the town of St. Moritz. That' |
| Unknown | s what culture is in the town of Samaritz. This episode is sadly not actually brought to you by the town of Samaritz. I can make that happen. |
| Unknown | We'll see. It's a separate combo. So I mean the an obvious choice because the present company would be following Ted Gashu on on Instagram. You're up to eighty some thousand followers now, right? Yeah, something like that. Wow. What does that mean commercially for you? I guess once you hit a hundred thousand, that's like kind of a game changer. Uh commercially it's |
| Unknown | uh the stuff I get to do I've I've been doing long enough like before my audience is the size it is now. So I I I I it doesn't unlock any new experiences for me. Um it just allows me to connect with people more efficiently. Um and it allows me to be in a in a place I've never been to. And like I I I flew out of Quantet Airport the other day and uh flying to New York and um from Rhode Island and essentially I got a message saying, Did I just see you get onto uh alpha kilo um this this plane? And I'm like, yeah? He's like, hey dude, I I work on the C one thirties down down the road. Like I'm a big fan of yours. Like this guy was a mechanic working on a plane while I was taking off next to him and he was like, I just like stuff like that starts to happen. Where you end up now I'm in touch with this cool guy who's a mechanic who works on military planes who I never would have known in my entire life. And uh that's that's what it unlocks. Um budget stuff, yeah. I mean maybe brands want to do c full fun things, but primarily you you get to meet people, which is |
| Unknown | the coolest thing. There it is. Everything is. Which is I'm listening to a book right now on Audible by John Ronson, who's this amazing British journalist, uh who covers his whole thing is he covers stuff kind of at the extreme, so he has a book about psychopaths, he has a book uh about being publicly shamed. He's the guy who wrote uh The Men Who Stare at Goats. Oh wow But he does all these he's done all these crazy things over the years and he reads all of his own audiobooks and he's incredible. I actually think they're better to listen to to than read. Um and the one I'm in the middle of right now is is called Lost at Sea, the John Ronson Mysteries. And it's all these sort of short stories of these just like crazy subcultures he's kind of interacted with over the years. Uh and one of them is uh it's one of the chapters in the middle of the book is this story. It was an anniversary of James Bond and somebody pitched him a James Bond story and he just said, well I never really got James Bond, but I hate not getting something. So he's like, I have to figure this out and like understand what the appeal is. So he decided to recreate the drive from London to Geneva that uh Bond does in Goldfinger. No way. Yeah. So he borrows uh a brand new uh like I think it was a DB9 he borrowed. Uh and he drives it to Geneva and stays at the same hotels and eats the same meals like dish for dish. Uh, and does this crazy drive and the entire time is just completely dismissive of it. And r it's it's this sort of like story of what you think would be this like dream trip, uh, and it actually is like Interesting. And it's amazing hearing it from his perspective. It's hilarious. It's super well written. Really funny. Yeah. But I think you should do that, Ted |
| Unknown | . Related to that, James Stacy just turned us on to a bond Yeah |
| Unknown | , so it's a Bond script that Sean Connery wrote. Right. Uh that never got made. It's one of the many Bond movies that never got made. Yeah. I think they wanted his name on it to try to sell it. Interesting. Um but yeah, it never got made, and apparently that's a very good thing. Apparently, it's terrible. Interesting. How's James? I love that guy. Oh, he' |
| Unknown | s great. He's such a sweet. He's wonderful human being. I'm so happy he's working for you guys. Me to too.o. Oh, we are Very, very happy. Yeah. I was I was chatting recently, not not to go too long here, Stephen, but I was chatting recently with the CMO, this guy JP of Omega, who's become a friend, and he was telling me they obviously sponsor the Bond films, and it's really like a family run production. Like everything is dictated by the Broccoli family to this day. So it's like the car, the watch, what suit he's wearing, is all dictated by Barbara Broccoli and uh but it's still like legitimately he he's like consider it like the diner around the corner, it just happens to be the Bond franchise. Uh wild. And so apparently, like sometimes they're easy to work with, sometimes they're difficult to work with, but it all comes down to convincing like these two women that like James Bond should be wearing an Omega and not a Rolex or James Bond for you driving whatever an Aston Martin said of a BMW. It's it's wild. |
| Unknown | It's crazy. Yeah. Man. All right. Well Ted, I think we're gonna have Debbie back on soon. I think we'll have more adventures to uh talk about. Whatever you like. All right. Perfect. Thanks so much for cominging. Thanks for hav me, guys. Thanks, Ted. Thank you again to Ben and Ted for joining us. This week's episode was recorded at Mirror Tone Studios in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Corjonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show if you like it, it really does make a difference. Thank you again and see you next week. Alright, as promised, here's a preview of the Grey NATO episode 66, which will be launching on Hodinky this Thursday. |
| Unknown | We should probably talk about watches a little bit, right? I mean I think we both picked up something since uh since we last spoke, uh kind of on the inexpensive side, but I think yours uh |
| Unknown | takes the cake for uh for super inexpensive. I've got a couple um a couple cheap gold Cassios, which are maybe the most fun I've ever money I've ever spent on a walk. A couple. Oh I didn't know about. Yeah, so I have uh one that the piece is already on Hodenky. I can link to it. It's kind of a a world timer with a gold bracelet. It's plastic. The case is plastic. The bracelet's metal. I'm still wearing it almost all the time. Like I just really like it. Wow. And uh I'm I'm started sleeping with a watch on because these digital watches they weigh nothing and they have a backlight. Huh. Um so I've I you know I don't sleep that well. I'm not that great of a sleeper these days. So I'm I'm I'm up kind of at various times during the night and I find that these um I find that these ones with the backlight are actually pretty handy. They don't they're not as bulky as like a dive watch that has a bunch of loom. I can like I can't really sleep with a big Seiko on. Yeah. So I have this one, which is the A500 WGA-9 DF World Timer, which I really love, and it was 45 bucks. And I also have an F-91W so the F ninety one is very famous, it's like the entry level Casio digital. Yeah. Super, super basic. But I bought this one because it's a gold tone case that kind of has like a fully matte finish on a black rubber strap. If this thing weighs like 20 grams, I'd be surprised. And the other thing I like about it is it has like the even previous generation backlight. So like the the the World Timer one doesn't have like Indiglow, it has like an LED on the edge of the display that shines across it. Oh yeah. Which I like, but it's fairly bright. Yeah. But this um this F91 is even cheaper. Oh yeah. So it has a little LED on the edge of the display. It's just not that bright. So it's it's really this is a really nice watch, like to check what time it is at two thirty in the morning when you're yeah, you know, kind of rolling around in bed and not like this I get tired of like you want to check the time on your phone. Yeah. And it just it's so bright. Yeah. It's bright enough to wake up, you know, wake up the person next to you in bed easily. And uh and so yeah, I like these F ninety ones. I I just kinda enjoying cheap Cassios right now and and uh the the the one piece for the world timer went up and if you dig the style they make a steel one as well. I think it's a super handy watch, especially if you travel a lot and you don't want to carry something a watch that you're concerned about or or don't want to bang up around if it depending on you know how you feel about wearing the watch and uh I th I think these are fun. Uh super fun really. Yeah. Yeah it's funny you mention uh |
| Unknown | middle of the night time checks because uh I'm kind of in the throes of jet lag from my recent trip and and I find that that's when having some loom or some sort of a a time display in the middle of the night, you know, you wake up and it's so disorienting you we don't know if especially this time of year here in Minnesota, it's it's dark till almost eight o'clock in the morning and I'm like, is it three A. M. or is it five thirty? 'Cause a big difference when you're jet lagged. Like it feels better if it's five thirty and um yeah. So a little |
| Unknown | a little trickling sort of backlight would be would be handy. Yeah, I I I like them. I mean like I I don't know like if you can have more fun for fifty bucks when it comes to watches, especially as a palette cleanser where I'm normally wearing a Rolex or or I'm I'm addicted to wearing the Doxa. It's on yeah, pretty much wear it all everyy day, all da. Yeah. And uh especially if I'm home and I don't need a second time zone. But these are really fun to switch up and uh and I've been wearing the F ninety one while running because you don't even feel it on your rim. Oh yeah, yeah. And it has a chronograph, so I I know when to turn around. Yeah. But you picked up uh a vintage piece, right? I did, yeah. |
| Unknown | It was it was a bit of an impulse buy. In fact, I I think it was either while I was on my trip last week or or just before I left, um our our good buddy over there, Retro Watch Guy, um based in Colorado, uh Jordan, yeah, he had put up um something on Instagram uh about this little aqua dive dive watch model, I think it's reference five six six and kind of a quirky, kind of squarish case, um, really beautiful dial um with a big lollipop uh sweep hand. And um it it was in like perfect condition and it he even had the box, the papers, the receipt from the store where it was bought. You know, and that that kind of stuff usually doesn't matter to me, but it just it was it was just kind of the right price at the right time and I w I had been kind of chasing something else that was uh exponentially more expensive than that and sort of was a little disheartened when I came to the conclusion that I probably wasn't gonna get that one. Um and then this came along and I was like, okay, this'll this'll kind of you know, uh soften the blow a little bit. And uh it came the day after I got home and and it's just a fun little watch. I I haven't measured it, but um it's it's quite small and it's not uh it's not kind of a hardcore tool dive watch, but it's it's just the right sort of uh lightweight, fun little sports watch that looks good on a bunch of straps. And um funny, I was looking at the the kind of faded out little flimsy paper receipt and it was it was originally bought in nineteen seventy-five for fifty-nine dollars with tax from a place uh just a few miles from where I grew up. So I thought it was |
| Unknown | really really kind of a neat uh neat little neat little score. So that's great, man. It's a a really sweet little watch too. And Jordan's got lots of great stuff that's retro watchguy.com or retro watch guy on uh on Instagram. Yeah. He's got lots of fantastic stuff. I I showed you that uh chronograph that I missed. Yeah. Yeah. The gold one. Yeah. Yeah. Man, I shouldn't have slept on that. It was just c crazy like Wachman uh with bright colors and like a gold gold tone case. I would be wearing that constantly. Yeah. Uh w hopefully w you know one of those pops up uh sometime in the future. But speaking of vintage watches, I got to see a handful of great stuff uh went down for a week for that uh UTA pop-up with Hodenkey. Oh yeah. Um so I mean that was all over the site, it was all over my Instagram. So I don't know necessarily how much explanation is needed, but I did just want to say thank you to everyone who came out and you know, chatted me up about TGN and and came to say hi and and stopped by just to see the watches and and be friendly. You know, we had essentially office hours for a week at this space. And it was this gorgeous space. We did a couple of meetups. We did a couple of podcasts, and it came together really, really well. And you know, I I got a chance to essentially wear a gold AP all week, uh, like a vintage gold uh royal oak, which was super fun, like way too much fun. And uh it it didn't though because you know you can't lie a royal oak flat. Yeah, right. Yeah, it couldn't fit in the display cases, so I came across it in the stock for the the shop that they were running along with the pop-up and I was like hey what's up with this and they're like uh you can't fit it in the display case and I was like I'll wear it around do you guys a favor and uh and so yeah it was it was a really great time the the meetups were super fun. A lot of great people showed up and uh we had more than a handful of listeners uh that came uh you know just to say hi and offer some support and you know wish that the show was coming back soon. So nice. Anytime we get a chance to meet up with anyone who's a listener is uh super |