TMCP #407: Kevin Hellman – Dodge Challenger Brand Manager and the Future of Halo Cars – Ask Rick, Those Crazy 70’s Cars!
This weeks show is with Kevin Hellman, the Dodge Challenger brand manager. He was previously on the show in episode 403 as a part of the Roadkill Nights episode but I wanted to find out more about keeping the classic muscle style cars alive in new car packages.
Kevin grew up playing with almost anything with an engine just outside of St Louis Mo. He headed into college knowing he wanted to work in engineering but was not sure what. He added his Bachelor in Business later so he could know how to be a better brand manager. Kevin mentioned that the brand manager position is like being at the center of a wheel where all of the aspects of a brand radiate out and the manager is facilitating the connections making sure everyone communicates.
Classic cars have always been an extension of ones personality and the current line of muscle cars is no different. Kevin noticed that many people make their twitter handles or email addresses a description of their car and think that owners love and identify with their vehicles on a basic level. Dodge is working hard to keep the personal choices coming with eye catching colors like GoMango or Plum Crazy and performance options like the Hellcat and wide body packages.
TMCP #383: Auction Insights! Bret Voelkel from Ride Tech at Barrett Jackson, and NPD’s Ask Rick Segment on the Growth of Mecum
This episode marks a fun trip to the January auctions! Our intrepid show producer Bernie McPartland was our man on the scene at Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale Arizona and while there caught up with Bret Voelkel of RideTech. To follow up with that, we had Rick Schmidt on to get his opinion on the auction world as a whole, both from a marketing perspective for NPD and as a buyer and seller of cars. I also really wanted his opinion on the higher-than-normal sales prices of “Resto-mod” Corvettes at the Barrett Jackson auction (which he does watch annually) vs their fully restored counterparts.
TMCP #382: “Small” Front Tire Cars Have a Shot Again! Ed Capen on The New Rules Changes for the 2019 Good Guys Autocross!
This weeks interview is with Ed Capen, Vice President, Sales and Sponsorships for Good-guys Rod & Custom Association to talk about the new rules for the 2019 racing season. Ed has been on the show previously and we got straight into the rules. Good-guys is first and foremost a car show with an Autocross added on. The customer is the car show attendee and the goal is to make it fun and so that car owners do not have to build their cars specifically for this race series.
The new rules are very exciting and make it possible for a normal or slightly modified classic car owner to be able to compete against other similar vehicles. Classes such as Pro-X now exist but the massive tire, super lightweight, race specific cars are not competing against Joe Normal’s heavy car with smaller tires.