TMCP #444: Holley MOPARTY 2020 Special #1 – YouTube Sensation Dylan McCool and “Mr Norm” Kraus, The Biggest MOPAR Dealer Ever; Ask Rick – The Return of Events in 2021

FEATURE INTERVIEWS:

Moparty 2020: Dylan McCool and Mr. Norm

This week is the first of several interviews from the first ever Holley “MOPARTY” event held in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Friend of the show (and Holley marketing superstar) Blane Burnett was able to line us up with some great interviews at the event with some famous people. MOPAR lovers young and old will recognize the names of many of our guests. Since SEMA was a no go this year, I was determined to make the Holley MOPARTY a better than fitting replacement to our yearly special segments live from the event.

Dylan McCool: To many people YouTube has become the go to location for many genres of automotive content. Dylan McCool fits right into the “drag out a barn find and fix it” trend that is happening, but he has a twist, he likes to drive his cars after he resurrects them. The latest project is a 1973 Challenger that started life as a base model, three speed, 318 car, which then got parked and forgotten. He has created a great series of videos where he retrieves the car and then shows how he upgraded the car with better brakes, transmission, and yes, he even installed a Gen III Hemi! Holley helped him along the way by providing a way to control the newer engine and making it run and drive within the older metal. Dylan said he grew up loving to make videos and work on cars so it was only natural to put the two together and create some great content.

Mr. Norm: It is hard to imagine a history of muscle cars that did not include Mr. Norm and the Grand Spaulding Dodge dealership that started so many trends in the early years of horsepower. He told me about the early beginnings where the dealership location was little more than a rented corral with a handful of cars. In the mid sixties things started moving quickly and Grand Spaulding soon made a name in the horsepower business by selling anything that moved fast. They were selling cars around the nation and even flying in customers as part of the deal. Mr. Norm said they were doing social marketing and long distance advertising before the internet was even thought of. It was great to hear the stories from a time when our cars were brand new and it was possible to purchase creations such as a 383 or a Hemi Dart. He promised more stories the next time we meet but for now, listen in and relive the dawn of muscle. You can follow Dylan McCool on YouTube.com/user/hotroddart or on Instagram.com/dylanmccool. You can follow Mr Norm at MrNorms.com

Thanks for being a part of an amazing first annual Moparty!!!

-Rob Kibbe

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This interview sponsored by our pals at National Parts Depot – your premier source for muscle car restoration parts!

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“Ask Rick” with NPD’s Rick Schmidt!

In this month’s “Ask Rick” I asked about what he thinks will happen with future events and car shows, both in 2021 and beyond. He stated that while some shows and events are a business production, many others are done for the hobby and passion (i.e. a break-even or financial loss). He does believe there will be some change that happens as a result, but that the hobby is so red hot right now that there will be a lot of “finished product” cars that people completed with all of the time off. They will be more than ready to show off their accomplishments and meet new people that appreciate the same kind of vehicles. A listener wrote in and asked about how the Ford exploded parts diagrams came to be in the NPD catalogs and where they came from. Rick said that in the beginning they simply used Ford technical drawings in the publications. Needs changed however and NPD ended up creating – completely in house – their own exploded drawings instead!

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