The original hot-rod kid is still playing with V-8s; but now he’s taking them off-road. Tim Ryan, owner of the V8 Swap Shop is revving up as your go-to guy. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
3:36 – I got knives pulled on me daily because they knew I had a nickel for milk money
12:08 – they organized the high school drags and all the high schools were invited to participate; me and my friends ran the show because we all had hot rods
21:52 – A buddy of mine had a CJ5, it was an eye catcher; we’d meet girls like crazy when in his Jeep, I was the same guy as the one in the old car, but girls liked Jeeps.
28:48 – My wife says she only wanted a guy with a normal nose and a small truck. Maybe God had a reason to make me buy that truck so I could meet her.
38:49 – So, I ended up ultimately back in the automotive world which is where my heart always was.
43:35 – When is it going to be your Independence Day?
51:22 – Each build is different, we’re not a cookie-cutter shop.
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.540] – Big Rich Klein
My guest this week on Conversations with Big Rich is a small business owner doing things his way. Having grown up in a hot rod family, he learned in high school that girls were more interested in Jeeps than hot rods. So he sold his ’57 Chevy Tudor and bought a 4×4. Good morning, Mr. Tim Ryan. How are you doing?
[00:02:01.580] – Tim Ryan
I’m good. Better than I deserve, probably. How are you?
[00:02:05.210] – Big Rich Klein
I’m doing great, and I deserve it.
[00:02:08.680] – Tim Ryan
Yes, you do.
[00:02:12.910] – Big Rich Klein
Glad that you’re able to be on the podcast. I want to say thank you so much for joining me.
[00:02:19.530] – Tim Ryan
Well, thank you for having me.
[00:02:21.670] – Big Rich Klein
So I’ve known you for, well, I think since the beginning at Trail Hero. So like nine years, I think is when we met Hit Trail Hero. I may have met you sooner, but if I did, I apologize that I don’t remember. But let’s start at the very beginning. And where were you born and raised?
[00:02:44.000] – Tim Ryan
I was born in Los Angeles, actually Torrance, California. Yeah, but we escaped. I always say before it was a thing. We escaped in the ’70s. Crime was bad enough back in the ’70s, and So we had some family in Salt Lake, and they said, It’s pretty good up here. So we left.
[00:03:06.170] – Big Rich Klein
Nice. And so the ’70s, you were… Was it early ’70s, late ’70s?
[00:03:14.150] – Tim Ryan
Mid, yeah. Mid ’70s.
[00:03:16.560] – Big Rich Klein
Okay, so you were around 10 or 12 years old at that point?
[00:03:19.920] – Tim Ryan
Yeah.
[00:03:21.760] – Big Rich Klein
What was it like those early years? I mean, you’re talking about the crime ridden. Was it more the family thing or Was school trouble? What was the- Well, I had to…
[00:03:36.860] – Tim Ryan
So we lived in Inglewood, ultimately. That’s where we left from. And it was pretty rough. Our front yard was the San Diego Freeway, and you know how the freeways are built up in Los Angeles. And so that big wall of Ivy was our front view. But we were right by two big streets. And I was in third and fourth grade and had to walk underneath the San Diego Freeway through the little tunnels and step over the winos that were passed out and the homeless, and walk past a junior high where I got knives pulled on me daily because they knew I had a nickel for milk money. READ MORE
