Lee 1 - Part 1: Who, How, And Where Did Travis Bell Find The First General Lee??

Ride along with Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr & John CustomCarNerd Meyer as they put this episode into gear with Travis Bell as he recounts the story of how he found Lee 1. Yep, the General Lee from the Dukes Of Hazzard!

Travis Bell has quite a story! He wanted to find and buy Lee 1. Ride along as Travis details a 4 year journey that led him to Lee 1.

Stick around for the whole episode for some Listener Shout Outs and another edition of Trade SchooleD.

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Academy Of Art University - Auto Motive Program
RPM Foundation

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Transcript

Travis Bell Lee1-p1.mp3 

Transcript 

John 

Stick around for the whole episode. We found the first General Lee, Lee one. There's going to be a new edition of trade schooled and we'll have some listener shout outs. 

Announcer 

You're listening to the Get Out N Drive Podcast with John CustomCarNerd Meyer and Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr will be bringing you gearheads everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage. Are you ready to Get Out N Drive? 

Jason 

Guys welcome back to another episode of the Get Out N Drive podcast my name is Jason  OldeCarrGuy Carr

John 

And I am John  CustomCarNerd Meyer

Jason 

Folks, if you grew up in the 70s and 80s and you had that favorite TV show and you ever sat there and thought, man, I'd love to be a. Part of that one day. Well, I was one of those guys and I followed the Dukes of Hazzard like. Clockwork like crazy. I wanted the car I loved Daisy Duke. We love the police chases, and we even like flash the dog. We've got a fella here today that's willing to talk a little bit. A boat. The Dukes of Hazzard and specifically. Than generally and even more specifically. The very first General Lee welcome Travis  

Travis 

Thank you guys for having me. I hope everything's above average wherever you guys are. 

John 

So far so good. I've been following a lot of things you've done and one of the things that has most interest me is your story of Lee one and finding it and rescuing it and and and the whole situation. My biggest first question is. Did you know that that car was gonna take on a life of its own? Did you? Did you know that it was gonna blow up as much as it did after you found it? 

Travis 

And the sometimes the hunt is better than the find. It's almost depressing when you when you spend so many years looking for this thing we were back and forth, of course, to Georgia. The first five episodes of of the Dukes of Hazzard were filmed in Georgia. After five episodes, they had 51 totaled vehicles. And I knew that that through photos and things that they had arrived with three General Lee's and left with three General Lee's. But clearly in all the photos, the two out of the three that they left with were 68's. And they were. Converted so that means they had left something behind. So we spent years and years and years. Chasing down the people that had worked on the show and remember for such a short period of time, these are not the episodes that were in California. This was just a a couple two-month gig to film a pilot that no one would ever, you know, thought would take off like this goofy magical orange car that flew and. Of course, dodge never built an airplane, but you know, whenever it was in the air, it was never came down swell for lack of a better term. So we started chasing down the body shops and the people and the transportation directors and even just extras. Anybody who happened to be there like they would hold up the school bus. Route to jump a car down like Main Street and all and, you know, piss off all the parents because their kids. Aren't home yet so. I had no idea that it would. Takes so long to figure out how to spell Schisler because Don Schisler was the transportation captain and he was still very active. He's in in the business, so anytime there was a NASCAR commercial, him and his son John would, you know, tow around an old Winston Cup car back then and and shoot commercials and things so. He created camera cars and different things and just a very interesting fella and had no reason to be nice to me. I was just some Yankee from, you know, up north looking for the the, you know, pride of the South. And after I had found Mr. Schisler he. I locked everything and his daily driver before I met him was was one of the wagon Queen family Trucksters cause he was the the camera operator on National Lampoon's Vacation, so he had two of them, actually. And then when I got there to his shop, he had a whole bunch of blue Ford Tauruses. From the. Movie Road Trip, where they had like the short bus and a bunch of them, had like the wheels blown off and everything had a couple of weird grand nationals, but he had a suburban with a with a gun turret on it. It was from some Cindy Crawford Baldwin movie that was terrible, but this was his daily driver and I was like, man, this guy's rad. Like let's you know, please be my dad. You know? Right. So he was the one that unlocked everything and he was just. Nice enough to know how to play the game to figure out he knew exactly what I wanted and he helped us along the way. 100% and without him, it would still be in the woods or it would. Probably be gone by now. 

Jason 

So you talked earlier. About how long of a hunt and how long of a search this. Was to find this car. And I mean, the biggest thing that comes to mind was, you know, how long were you prepared to keep hunting for this car to see if it actually even existed? 

Travis 

So it it took four years, multiple trips back and forth down to Georgia and we're talking like driving Buick Century's, just like stuff disposable cars that that, you know, it was no fun driving lots of Covington newspaper articles and finding the people that took the photo in the Covington newspaper article. So the the car was jumped at Oxford College. Lee one was jump jumped on Oxford at Oxford College and they jumped it on Veteran's Day because they knew that there wouldn't be very many students and or faculty on staff that day. So they had told the College, Oxford College. That they were just going to do some hard driving scenes and that was it. And so it appeared in the 79. Oxford College yearbook. And so then I had to find out the the folks who were on campus that day. So I chased down the class of 77 or 78, nine and 80 for alumni, and they all had terrific. Stories and some of them actually had cameras. And they said yes, I was there that day. So I ended up with tons of footage and photos that no one had ever seen before. I chased down the original Dean of students who was lied to his face. You know, they they lied to him. And of course, the students were there and heard all this going out outside their their dorms. And like, what on God's green Earth is going on out there? And so of course, you know, everybody has a. Phone and or came on the phone now and to have a 35 millimeter camera and things back then it was pretty rare but there were you know so they so in the the 79 yearbook that appears, the jump appears in in the Oxford College campus. Yearbook. But but it also says who took the photo. You know, so lots of, you know, grassroots investigation and that led me to a lot of an interesting people that that really helped us go down the right path. And I was prepared for the long haul on it, but I didn't know it was going to take. I mean, you know, you never give up, but I didn't know that was going to take that long. 

John 

So no, no pun intended, just like poking through the woods and and and asking everyone and fishing with a wide net. 

Travis 

Yes, and, oh, very much so. 

John 

That's that's how it happened. 

Travis 

Making like little cards and putting them in places, diners putting, putting a sign up says a General Lee or jump down this hill On this date if you were here, you know, e-mail or call this number and, you know, we found it such a, you know, we found it when we found it. We found it in. Gosh, so 0103, we jumped the car, so we found it. In like 2000. And that was not very prevalent back then to have emails or camera phones or, you know, non dial-up Internet, you know, so getting people to cooperate meant seeing them face to face. 

John 

Did you have? Let's call them kooks. Did you have people that weren't involved with it that that, that, like, wanted to be involved with it and you found out that their. Story was bull. 

Travis 

Oh yeah, I mean, so there's a there are still two to stay that or there are a lot of people that believe the Dukes of. Hazzard was a documentary so. We ran and do a lot of that there. Some, but you you gotta. Remember Covington and Conyers, GA, was Hollywood S They filmed in the heat of the night down there. Of course, lots of Smokey and the bandit stuff in and around there, and the movie Cannonball Run, they landed the plane on on Covington Square. When they went to go and get a 6 pack of beer. But that is also Hazzard county. So there was a lot of things in it and so people will cross forget that the Dukes of Hazzard was not the heat of the night. Was that so? We had a lot of contamination there for lack of a better term. But a lot of the original historic photos and the things that appeared in the yearbook and the Covington news that was, that unlocked a lot of things. And then a lot of photographers and then, you know, we ended up with scripts and things like that, and it would, it would say, who was the prompt and the set set director and things. So then you start trying to figure out if these people are alive or. You know, if if they'll take a phone call from some idiot that's chasing them a show that they only worked, you know, five episodes on. 

Jason 

So take us to the point where you either got the phone call or the whatever it was that said. I think I know where this car is and like, take us from that point on like that. The phone call comes in and like, are you jumping out of your shoes and and and getting your car and trucking down to Georgia like, right? Immediately like what? What took place as soon as you got that phone call? 

Travis 

So what had happened is. Referencing Mr. Schissler Don Schissler, he had gone off and I had called. Told him and I said, Mr. Schisler, it's Travis Bell again. And he, of course I was. I was always very property to tell me to call him Don. And I was like just, you know, you don't you don't call a judge Steve, you call him your honor. You know, so it always got. It was always weird for me to call him Mr. or Miss Don. So he was in Alaska and I said. So what are you? He was filming something up there. He was on something and he just said, hey, I will be back. His shop was in Beaufort Dam, Georgia, and I'll meet you down there and we can talk, Dukes of Hazzard and settle. I ran down there about the same time, you know, gave him a couple days to get home and. I said, you know, after. You know the 23rd of December 1978 and having 51 total vehicles. I just simply asked him, I said, what the hell did you do with them all? Like, where did they all go? And he said on that day he called a gentleman by the name of Cliff Shaw, who owns a transmission recycling company up in Dawsonville, GA, and he just had to get rid of these cars. And I said, well, when was the last time you talked to Cliff Shaw? He said on the 23rd of December 1978. And he basically had traded them all four to him for, like, a future transmission job or something. Just come get these things out of. My life and he said yes, I remember we had. I had three police cars. This car, another car, a wrecked A71 race car and and you know, at that point, I'm like, oh, well, you know, tell me more about this rec. 71 race car because I had known that, of course the Duke boys in in one of the episodes is chasing down an engine from a wrecked Richard Petty race car. And back then the the roof of it, said John Marende on the roof of it and had 70 ones on it and John Marende was one of the transportation captains on the Dukes of Hazzard, and they had were for, and it did set it, said H&H Body Shop on the quarter panel and and 70 ones. And it was this green wrecked race car which was originally. The very first General Lee that they repainted green because they of course had no budget and they just knew that they had already been in the sky and it was worthless at this point. So Warner Brothers went even further to take center blocks and beat the hell out of the car to get the word John or the name John Marende off the roof. And then they scuffed all the way down to H&H Body Shop, because of course, the H&H Body Shop was the Henry Holman is H&H Body Shop and he was the one who painted all the cars and saved them when they needed needed the damage repaired close to Buford Dam and social Circle and Covington and Conyers. And so Needless to say, they were not going to give him. Priceless advertising on a show that's about to be hopefully picked up by net. More and they beat the car up even more. And so in that episode they just simply tow the generally the generally toes that generally around that is a repainted generally into a green 1969 charger with 70 ones on the door. And it looked terrible, but you could still tell that. Something wasn't right, and there's a parking sticker in the window that you can see in another episode when the car was orange and a lot of these things kind of connected the. So I just simply asked Mr. Schisler, I said. Where does Cliff Shaw live? Or where's his business or whatever? And he said it's in Dawsonville, GA and I said, you know, what are you doing? He said we're about to go get in this suburban. That was in a Cindy Crawford, Alec Baldwin movie with a gun tour on the roof, and we're going to go visit Mr. And I said, man, you're my guy. Right. But so all the way there, like Mr. Shaw or Mr. Schliser, he Don he knew how to play the game like he knew. What I wanted? He knew I wanted the cars. He knew I wanted information on what the heck happened to the cars if they're. There and he knew how to like. I'm gonna run traffic on this guy while you go look this way or whatever else. Like he knew how to play the game. And so we got down Lumpkin Campground Road. And apparently no one lives on Lumpkin Campground Rd. Cause there's like a nuclear locomotive buried like. In concrete or you know if you want to have children like with four eyes on one head, you like live on Lumpkin Campground Road or something so. We went down this place and to the left. I mean, it's just it's typical Georgia, not dirt Rd. but old paved Rd. And just on both sides, just pine trees as far as the eye could see going up hills on both sides and. Shaw lived up that road and up a heavy gravel driveway that went up about two acres up a hill. But when Mr. Schisler turned in there. As far as the eye could see was cars in the woods just cars in the woods and pine trees going through, you know? And you know when, when when trees grow against cars and denting cars and cars in the woods. But then what was bizarre is transmission stacked with the bell housing down. But then a an empty. Coffee, like empty soup can on top of the of you know the. Tail shaft. So. But they're like just tombstones. Like, as far as the eye can see and just transmission after transmission from 727 said you know everything just it was weird like it was just creepy. Weird. Place, but he lived way the top of this hill. And nicer home. Like a smaller cabin looking home up there. But you know Mr. Shaw had done well for himself. I mean, he understood transmissions and he was a a very, very nice gentleman too. And when we got there, you know, I've got this proper speaking, how y'all are, you know, voice and. Don knows how to play the game like he is. He's very proper too, but he can turn it on. Turn the southern on if he has to so he bangs on the door. And his wife, Cliff Shaw's, wife June. For some reason her nickname was Looney. And I still don't have any idea why, but June answered the door and said, hey, is Cliff home, you know, blah, blah blah. And he should be here sometime. He's at work. Yuck XYZ. And hey, you know, June it's it's it's, you know, Don Shisler. Blah blah blah and they kind of, you know, he said. I'm gonna run traffic for you, Travis, and I'm like, cool. And I said, you know, Mrs. Shaw I said is there a green wrecked like Richard Petty race car race car here on the property she saw. And I'm like, oh, yeah, she goes, yeah. If you go back down the driveway to the second Pinto. Mind you, not the first Pinto, but the second Pinto and just start walking in toward the road. The road that we had come in on, and I immediately turned on. I had like a. High 8 Sony Camera where you can literally hear the tape going through the camera and I just turned it on and started walking down the road. And you can live or hear me breathing on the thing like I'm like, you know, after four years of looking. If this lady named Looney at the top of the hill while Don Schisler's keeping her busy, if if she is correct, I'm about to, you know. Behind the Holy Grail of television star cars in the middle of the woods in Dawsonville, GA, and after above 20 feet in from the second Pinto, there it sat with pine needles to the moon on it, missing one of its doors, but still had the Los Angeles Southwest universe, or college parking sticker on it, and then had. All the identifications that it was the original General Lee. And so I had. I had just found the first General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. And then what do you do? So that's it took a while, but Mr. Schisler was so rad. And he was. He walked down and he said, yeah, this is. It and I was. Like cool. So that's how we found it. 

Jason 

We want you to ride along with the get. 

John 

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Jason 

Pitch in any amount you want, but if you fill our tank with a $10 subscription, we'll send you free stickers from the get out and Drive podcast. Old car guy, STL pinstripes, and racing junk as a thank you. 

John 

Find links in the show notes and at getoutndrive.com My biggest question hearing hearing what you're saying is. Why Travis bell? Why did no one get this car prior to you? Was no one as interested and ruthless as and and and driven as you kind of. Do you have any any idea why no one had found the car prior? 

Travis 

I mean, there is automotive archeology and. Some people are. I know I don't know some people. I don't want to say they're lazy. But you know when Wayne Whitten bought those, the 17 General Lees from Warner Brothers in the 90s, you know, there were seventeen real ones. And but you know, these cars are absolute relics. They are and I mean, of course. They sat outside with the windows down since 1984 and then they were bought and purchased in 91 or. 92 so. And they were sun baked and whatever else. The the reason why no one, of course, everybody just went and looked at the filming locations, they didn't really, you know, let's go to the board, nurse, let's go to Uncle Jesse's house. Let's go to whatever else they didn't really fathom that anything would let was left behind, and I had already done all of the homework where I you know, you can see. All the pictures of. Of the cars leaving H&H Body Shop and go into the values they ranch, which is Gene Autry's, Melody Ranch and the values they zoned it. The values are famous for any kind of military vehicle that you saw. You know they for the 80s and any movie, they're the ones that provided all the tank. But then they also got the contract to build all the general leads for the Dukes of Hazard. So I had already done all the homework and realized like I said, that that they had showed up with three left with three. But Mr. Schissler had informed me that he had built two and actually built three and but he had built two, so they they left with with the ones that they showed up with, and little did they know. That there was a little, you know, shell game there where they actually didn't leave with the cars that they. Showed up with so. Why no one went looking for it before? I just really don't think that they had put, you know, connected enough dots. And I had spent a lot of time on some AOL dial-up kind of stuff, like connecting some serious dots and, you know, just some terrible printouts and lots of phone calls because. You know, a lot of people are afraid to call somebody out of the blue, and I'm still that guy. Like I, you know, give me a phone. I have no problem. With, you know, because even on Facebook marketplace this day, when people will make you an offer on Facebook marketplace and haven't seen it yet, that will make my skin crawl. I'm like, you know, will you pay $500.00 less for it? I would if you come out here and look at the damn thing first. But so you know, I I have no problem with making a lot of. Phone calls and I it took. Four years where the phone calls to get to that point in the in the woods in Dawsonville, GA. 

John 

So you're just you're you're going to put it to tenacity and and. And the fact that you were. 

Travis 

Very much so. It's, you know, it's had it had to be and. You know over a few screws loose. But you know. 

John 

All of us, hot rodders have that. I can tell you that. 

Travis 

Very yeah. 

Jason 

Well, I think sometimes too. Part of that might come as a point of like someone like me if I just out of the blue said, you know what? I wanna go find the very first Daisy Duke Jeep. In my mind, in the back there somewhere, somewhere I would understand that that Jeep likely just does not exist anymore or it's been long gone because that was 40 years ago. I'm not even gonna bother. 

Travis 

And that's true. And that and that's that's you. You have it. If you talk yourself out of it. And where I would I refuse to talk myself out of it. And you know, I I, you know, like I said, automotive archaeology for me and star cars and things. You just proved a perfect point. Where is day? The shape, gosh, where do we begin? And then you just kind of you know, you stack everything up before you even jump over the 1st wall so. 

Jason 

Yeah, it's like it's like trying to solve a murder. You know, you gotta you got to start somewhere and you start asking those questions. I guess I want to go back to Don Schissler and Mr. Shaw and you got to the point where. You physically, tangibly, have your hands on. 

Travis 

The car, yes. 

Jason 

You you knew at that point you had to have it, obviously you you. You. I got to. Do this. I've got to. When when did the words come out of your mouth that says I want to buy this? How much like or how did you get to that point? 

Travis 

So, Mr. Schissler, Mr. Shaw had come home like June had said. What, you know, drive drove past us up the driveway. It's starting to get dark out at this point. Of course they had the LE1 stamp by the by the windshield. And basically it was just to keep track of those cars. There was Lee, 1-2 and three that arrived. Lee won was the most, you know, used vehicle. It did have. A little bit more of an option, more options than most of. Them did but. And also had the goofy Chrome rocker panels that were not very popular back then, but it had it on it, so we all walked back up myself. Schisler walked back up to meet with Mr. Hey, how you doing? And he was not one of those people that leave like the IROC Z in their yard till you know, it rusts away and says I'm gonna get to it sometime. But I just simply said, hey, Mr. Shaw, I'm very interested in this. This Richard Petty wreck race car. And he goes out with the. So Lee, I go ohh, you know, because of that, at that point, you know, he knows that it's just not some old junk stock car. 

Jason 

And of course. 

John 

He's on to you. 

Travis 

And it had, you know, all the concrete and the trunk still and everything. I mean, it was just very, very had the center hoop bar cut cut out of it. But I know where it is now and everything. He was just very not interested in selling because his grandson Zach was a fan of the TV show and his grandson was probably 6 to 8 years old at the oldest. And I'm like looking him. I go. Dude, if you plan on restoring this. Thing Zack's gonna be my age by the time he's done with it. And he also notified me that over the top of the hill he also had the original police cars. And I was like, you have the police cars in this here. And he goes, yeah, if you just go through the gate over the top of the hill. So sure enough, we are out gate and there's goats and things up there and about another 50 yards down on the left, where both of the police cars, Roscoe and Enos's original police car parked side by side with the windows. Up so they were in much better condition and. I walked out of there knowing that I could not tell a soul what I had just found, because if you if you let somebody onto it, then they're going to be looking for it. And it was they were not for sale, but I left it on a very, you know, decent, good to see you. Nice to meet your kind of thing. And because if you, if you're a Star Wars fan and you find the Millennium Falcon. But it's not for sale. You cannot get on the Internet and say, hey, I found the one in Falcon because then people will start looking for. So I didn't tell a soul that I had found it, and I had only two or three people with. Me and you know the best crime to do is by yourself. Because loose lips sink ships, so we all we all kind of made a pact not to tell a soul. And I had to figure out how to get this thing off the hill in Dawsonville GA so. 

Jason 

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John 

Mike Narks is a great friend of the get. Out and drive podcast. We're excited to have him join us as a racing junk partner. Be sure to visit our site and get out and dr.com for a link to drag. And drive addiction. 

Jason 

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John 

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Travis 

How did we do it? So I mean I. 

John 

Mean cause I know you're it. It's it gets. A little dodgy but. How long until you first touched it? Until you started to move on it again and then and? 

Travis 

How so? You know, how do you even he's told you? No, this is going to be his grandson's car. And I knew his grandson's name was Zach. So I started sending him like the little 4 pack to that address to Cliff Shaw's grandpa's address. Like the four pack of like the Ertl Cars of the Dukes of Hazzard, and like the models, I would like, another month would go by and I'd send him all the models of Daisy's jeep and the General Lee and whatever else. You know, John Schneider and I are friends. If you if I ever lose my phone. Don't pick it up. And hit the word bow because it'll call John Schneider. So I would I would. Run into John at places and I couldn't even tell him that I'd found it. And I, you know, I'd, I'd say, hey, could you sign the picture? Says two Zach. Or could you sign a 1/18th car to Zach? So I started sending stuff down. There and this went on for eight to 10 months and coming up on a year. And I'm like man, I mean I have greased the wheels just enough where I it's probably time for me to attempt to make the phone call and on a Thursday. 

John 

But you haven't had any return contact from. Them. OK, OK. 

Travis 

No, nothing. And and all I all I had done is just blindly send a bunch of gifts to his grandson. 

Jason 

Can we say that the sending of the gifts to the grandson was sort of the? Shuck and jive of. Of of Weaseling in there a little bit. 

Travis 

The ultimate Shuck and jive. 

Speaker 

OK, carry on. 

Travis 

Yeah, it would. I would say that that is a a quality statement because it would be the modern version of Shuck and Jive and and. I was talking to my friend that was with me and. I was like. Man, it's now the time, you know. Do you? Because it can still be. No, it can still be you've just wasted, you know, probably $400.00 in trinkets or whatever else. And so I called and June answered. This phone and I said, Miss Shaw. I said, hey, so Travis Bell from Indianapolis, you know how you all are kind of thing and whatever and she goes Oh yeah. And and she goes. We sure do appreciate you sending Zach all this stuff down. Like I said, man, I know he's. A fan of the show and. Young man, I said. I'd love to come down and talk to Cliff about that old. You are and she goes. If you ever find your way down here sometime, you know, just stop on in. And she that was my green light. And that was not a yes. But it was not a no. And at that point. If you come to my property now so you can do the Earth my property. You're like, dude, Travis's got trailers and cars and he's just ridiculous at that point. I did not have an open car hauler. I knew we needed an open car hauler, and we had friends that lived in South Carolina that had a roll off a truck flatbed truck where tow truck. And I knew that we needed all these things at the right place at the right time. And so my friend came down from Chicago and we he has a truck. And an open. Trailer and we took off on a. Late late Saturday night so that phone call was on the Thursday on late Saturday night and in the rain and drove through the night to Dawsonville GA to get to his. I mean, we ended up at the chase. Elliott wins the Pool hall, the pool room. We ended up. We all said we're gonna meet there in Dawsonville. And so we pull up in probably 20 minutes later the the roll off truck pulls. And we go down to the old nuclear locomotive road or whatever it is, where I. That's probably what happened to my hair. I don't know, but I didn't have hair when this started. I guess I can't. 

Jason 

Put on that. 

Travis 

So we all end up down there and I didn't want Cliff to know that we had brought a tow truck because I didn't want to be like, hey, I'm here to take it kind of thing. And so we left the tow truck. Back at the pool. And I pulled up. And Mr. Shaw was driving down the driveway in his Astro van. And it's a gravel driveway. And it's, you know, Georgia, up hill. And he come down pretty hot and it's a, you know that that typical sound on gravel and stopping, realizing that it's me. He rolled down the window and he was not happy. I said, hey, Cliff. Hey, June, blah, blah, blah. I said I'm here to talk to you about that car, you know? And you know, you know what? And just giving me the the rights, like why the hell am I? Here you know blah blah. Blah blah blah. I mean, just really not happy with Travis Bell at that point. And I said well, Cliff, I said I, I just called June just the other day and she told me to come on down. And she was in the past receipt. And she's looked at him and like, well, yeah, I I told him to calm down. I was like. Man, this is not going real good right out of the gate and he informed me that he was going to church and he does not work on Sundays. He said. I don't know what you're gonna do or how you're gonna get it out of there. But you can see what you can do. Because he knew that he was going to have to tow all these cars out of the way because it was surrounded by a bunch of dead cars and it was in the woods. 

John 

But he had no idea that you were coming at all. 

Travis 

No, June never told him my, but June had my back cause she was in the past receipt and and I agreed that yes, I told him to come down and I also informed him that I just drove, you know, 600 miles to the rain overnight to be standing. In his driveway. 

John 

Wow. And he had just. Only seen you like I said. He didn't know you were coming. He only saw you cause he saw you in the driveway. 

Travis 

That's right. And I was walking up walking up the driveway as he was driving down to. Go to church. So yeah, it's it was not. He was not. And he looked good, you know, cause he was an overall kind of guy and and worked, worked hard like he had the I worked hard hands like he was just an interest. And fella. And so he was shitty with me, like mad. Like, yelled at me like I was his son, kind of mad and but after I had the green light to you can see what you can do because I showed up in a pickup truck. Knew that if I was able to get it out, I would. Have had to go on back and. He had heavy equipment on the property and he was going to have to work on a Sunday and he does not do that, so he takes off. We call the tow truck. They hauled down there from the pool hall and it's now starting to rain and we're on the side of a mountain in Georgia with pine trees everywhere trying to move this thing and we move a couple of cars out of the way and and to some things, we brought some BIG4 by fours and six by sixes because we have. There's no wheels. No tires on it. It's missing a door. It's a big block car on the ground and then somehow we had made enough room to get the tow truck around the front of it, scooped it under. Everything's on a terrible slant and we'd go about a foot and it try to slide off the bed and we'd push it and we got. There's just all of us working together to get this thing, and literally when we rocked the bed, it was really not at the right access, but it just got it up enough to where it would pull it up out of there. But then we had to get the tow truck out of there because now it's raining. Relatively good and there was one little goofy gate on the far end of his property. And we were. Able to zigzag through just about everything and got the gate open. You know you ask for forgiveness before you ask for permission, but I don't. I don't think there's a chain on the gate anymore. We got the gate open and pulled the the, the, the flat dot out onto the trailer onto the street on the the nuclear locomotive Rd. there and the Lumpkin Campground Rd. And the flatbed the trailer was sitting there. We just waited. We just waited for Mr. Shaw to come home. And at that point, like we could have hauled *** and then, like, peace out, you know, Mr. Shaw, you know. 

Speaker 

But yeah, go ahead. 

Jason 

Before we go any further, so let's just back. Up for a second. You you meet him. On the on his on the road. He's ticked off because you showed up. He doesn't want to do business on Sunday, but you you interpreted him as saying, see what you can do as. Move cars, load it up, get it ready to go. And so now you've got the thing on the flatbed. You're sitting on the road waiting for Mr. Shaw to come home. What expression is on his face when he sees the car sitting on the back of the tow truck? 

Travis 

Well, so now of course and it's raining, it's raining and. It probably we probably waited for him. Just a quick 20 minutes because it took us about 3 hours to move things around and get it out of the way and we'll move some, you know, trees are growing up and just it was bad. Like I can't there are there. And of course that same video camera I was rolling the whole time and. It's starting to overheat because of the humidity and and it's just bad, but we have footage of us doing it. It was ridiculous. So we're. Sitting there like. OK. And then so we hear something come down the road and not so many people live on this road and wooofff up the driveway, you know, here goes the Astro van. Ohh man. I'm like going. I'm like shoot man. Mr. Shaw is ticked off man like. 

John 

He passed right by. You did not stop. 

Travis 

Didn't say how y'all are peace out, Girl Scout. He didn't say. What are you damn Yankees doing down here? He drove past us. And up the driveway, which was about a two acre driveway. And of course, you know, it's the gravel that washes out with the ruts in it. Like it was just and you know, you guys, they had the Red Georgia clay peeking through all this mess, and now it's raining and washing down in this. And I'm like. And they're all looking at me like you go talk to him. I'm like bro, I don't want to say... 

John 

It's that time again. Time for trade school. Through our what drives youth initiative and partnership with the RPM Foundation, we strive to put an emphasis on the value of attending automotive trade school and passing down information to the next generation of gearheads. 

Jason 

This week on trade school, John learned a fun fact about the history of traffic laws. John, what did you learn? 

John 

You know how I feel about sharing the road with bicyclists who think traffic laws don't apply to them. We talked about it in our previous backseat episode. Well, just imagine that the very beginning of the invention of cars. Suddenly there are these motorized rolling machines barreling down the road at 8 miles an hour. Intermingling with pedestrians and people riding those tall wheeled penny Farthing bikes, the word that comes to mind is chaos. Anyway, I learned about the origin of jaywalking. Well, I found out the concept of jaywalking was invented by the auto industry in the 1920s to shift the blame of car accidents away from cars. To pedestrians at the time the word Jay was considered a slur synonymous with redneck or hillbilly. I know some people aren't too keen on history lessons. 

Jason 

But if you're thinking about going into the automotive trade learning vehicle history is important. So the get it and drive podcast wants. To encourage you to. Echo the Academy of Art Universities Automotive Restoration Program that focuses on hands on experiences to learn the art of preserving classic cars. For more information, visit academyart.edu or the get out and dr.com. For links. 

John 

I know many people may look down at someone in the automotive trade, eh, they're just grease monkeys, but there's a ton of knowledge that goes into a hands on job in the auto industry. You're going to be working in a car that someone is going to get out and drive in. It's your job to make sure that it's put together correctly and it's safe, roadworthy. That's a pretty important job, and that's trade schooled like I always say, the best way to gain knowledge and information is to learn with your mouth. Shut our Facebook group, get out and drive is just blowing up. We have new members joined every day who are sharing photos, car events and automotive services. 

Jason 

And the group wouldn't be successful. Without our Member contributions, we want to give a shout out to Chuck Callis, he posted in the. Though the most enjoyment other than building cars is get out and drive them and enjoy the car people, we couldn't agree more, Chuck. 

John 

And I want to say thanks to Joe Jesus Martinez cabassous. He is one of the biggest contributors to the group he's always posting. Pool car picks. 

Jason 

So head over to. Facebook and join the conversation in the get out and drive. You can also find the. Links@getoutanddrive.com. 

Announcer 

Cruise on over to our website getoutNdrive.com for all the info you never wanted to know about our podcast. Hit us up on our listener hotline, be the first to know what's happening, get industry news, and grab your get out and drive merch. Connect with us on social media. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Follow us on Twitter at get_out_n_drive_pod. 

John 

National get out and Drive Day is slated for October 1st, 2023. Have you signed up yet? Visit. GetOutNDrive.com for more details.