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Rick Schmidt – Ask Rick:
It is Spooooky October and time for another riveting Ask Rick segment where I ask him the tough questions! Halloween is less than a month away and the candies and chocolates are in all of the stores. This month I Ask Rick what kinds of treats are his favorite as well as many other hard hitting topics.`
Rick’s Take On Meeting Heroes (Famous People) :
Recently I met Catherine Bach who starred on the Dukes of Hazzard as Daisy Duke. I have wanted to meet her since I watched her on TV as a kid and finally got to do it as a part of our other show, the Kibbe and Friends Show. I know Rick has had the opportunity to meet some famous people through his associations with NPD and the automotive collection so I wanted to know who he has met and who he would have liked to. Rick said he was offered the opportunity to meet Lee Iacocca while NPD was sponsoring the Iacocca award. At the time Rick was so busy with business trips that he never made the time and regrets missing the chance to talk to the automotive icon. He said he has also been in the same room with Carroll Shelby but never forced his way into a meeting with the racing legend even though the opportunity was there. He would rather wait for a chance to meet famous people in a calmer setting then to add to the confusion that usually surrounds them at events.
Rick did meet Burt Reynolds in his final years and he could tell that the intense focus on him was taking its toll. Instead of hounding Burt Rick chose to just wait for a possible meeting, but but not concern himself if it didn’t happen. Eventually Burt’s assistants asked if he would like to meet the Bandit and Rick did get to sit down in a quieter setting and talk about the Trans-Am that Mr. Reynolds previously owned. The car was the first of the set of three that Pontiac gifted to Reynolds for his part in making the black Pontiac a household name. Today it is a prized part of the NPD collection!
Rick’s Take On Truth in Government – AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act:
Recently there has been a push by OEM automakers to remove the AM radio feature from its vehicles as (supposedly) a cost cutting move. There has also been talk about the difficulty to have a quality AM radio signal in EV’s as well, to some degree. Recently some lawmakers have stepped up to ban this move via the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2023″ as banning AM would leave a countless number of rural listeners without access to quality radio emergency news and weather services. I asked Rick about comments from elected officials supporting the removal of AM effectively as a media outlet and he said there is very little cost in leaving this in current vehicles and the motivation to remove it is obvious (i.e. it’s a push against the content of the broadcasts not the cost of the technology). Rick pointed out that the high powered, long distance stations that broadcast on AM are also the non music talk radio programming that includes sports, racing, and of course conservative political media and religious shows.
Rick’s Take On Weird and Modified Investment Cars :
Our audience does like weird and/or modified cars…..and while some are better than others, they all have a value to someone. I asked Rick pick from these three cars and decide which has the best return on investment in the next five years!
Car #1:
https://bringatrailer.com/
Despite its oddity, Rick believes this 1965 Mustang Hardtop Convertible is just another driver quality Mustang that has an odd shape due to the roof conversion. He said there were not a lot of these made but since they were not a factory option the rarity factor does not add much to the value.
Car #2:
https://bringatrailer.com/
You could tell as soon as this car came up that Rick was in love with Cobras. This is a Cobra replica but done at a high level and accurate to the original vehicle so it will be a head turner forever with proper care. He thinks that the body lines are timeless and you cannot go wrong with a well built Cobra like a real racing car like this one is. It is also possible that five years from now you can no longer build replicas like this so the value would increase even more. This vehicle was Rick’s choice for best ROI.
Car #3:
https://bringatrailer.com/
The Ford Bronco Rick admits is a popular truck right now and this 1966 is a great example of how good they can look. He does not understand the almost $100k price though. He says it is a cute truck, but it is no Cobra as far as looks. For actual long term investment Rick think this price range may not hold up.
Bonus Auction Car – The Indy Mecum auction is coming up….and they have an inside line on the “Powers” collection of Cadillacs and Lincolns! Ricks dad has an affinity to buy as much car for the money as possible. I sent Rick a couple to guess on that head to auction the day before this episode airs so you can go over there and see how close he got!
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