Automotive Journalist: Matt Stone

• Let’s talk about your petrol-head origin story? The who/what/where/when/how of Matt Stone? Did you come from a car family? What made you into a Petrol-head, did it start as a kid? How? Or did you come into it later in life?
• A California native and spent most of your adult life in Glendale, so just that alone has exposed you to a number of spectacular cars – what are some that you’ve owned, what are some highlight cars you’ve tested at MT, what are some of the dream cars, and why those cars?  Tell us about the worst car you tested?  What do you think the ugliest car ever built might be? 
• Your journey to MotorTrend
• Chief Class Judge at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a judge at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, and officiates at other shows and events. What does “being a Concours Judge” mean, what are the responsibilities?
• What’s next for Matt Stone?  Are you working on any new books?

and much, much more!

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Break Fix Podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder how did they get that job or become that person.

The Road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: Our guest has been a professional automotive journalist and photographer since 1990 and has evolved his career from managing editor of MotorTrend Magazine and the editor of MotorTrend Classic Magazine to becoming a freelance journalist, author, and broadcaster with numerous titles and credits to his name.

Don Weberg: That’s right, Eric, an in typical break thick fashion. He’s here to tell us how it all started, how he became the Matt Stone we all know today, and what’s next on his agenda. So with that, let’s welcome. Matt to break things.

Crew Chief Eric: Welcome [00:01:00] aboard.

Matt Stone: If I had any clue as to how I got here, I’ll tell you, but I’ll make something up to fill the void.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, as Bill Warner likes to say, the older we get, the faster we were. So that being said, let’s fast forward through your Petrolhead origin story. How did you become the Matt Stone? We all know and recognize, did you come from a car family? Did it start as a kid or did you come into it later in life?

Matt Stone: No, it was a mutant gene from pretty early on.

My dad was the quintessential car guy and he had hot rotted flatheads and then sports cars, and then muscle cars and all kinds of stuff. And to his credit, and with the approval of my long suffering mother, we always did car things. We fixed old cars, we detailed cars. We went to car shows, we went to car dealerships, we went to races.

We just did all of that. Young car guy stuff. And I either credit or blame my father for starting me on this path, although, uh, there was a big stutter step in the middle because I actually started [00:02:00] out in the real estate business, which was my parents’ business as well. Photography was my hobby because it was my dad’s hobby.

So we used to shoot together races, cars, pictures, dealers, whatever. And it just kind of all started growing there. And I started out in this pursuit as a photographer, although I did ultimately have a minor in, uh, creative writing in college. And I used to enter the creative writing contest, wrote all kinds of stuff, and sometimes even won.

And one day I’d gone to photograph a race at the late Great Riverside International Raceway. So the editor calls me, he said, well, hey, got your picks. They look great. By the way, the writer didn’t show up, so could you do a thing? Uh, sure how, how, how many words in this thing? And that’s kind of where it started.

And then from there it was club newsletters and club magazines and concourse programs and all other kind of amateur kind of stuff. Until one day I got fed up reading some crappy [00:03:00] car magazines and I kind of threw it across the room and my long suffering wife, Linda said, well, what’s the matter with you?

I said, this magazine is just crap. She says, well, stop complaining and see if you can do better. Here we are 30, however many years later,

Crew Chief Eric: and we’ll get into that story more as we go along.

Don Weberg: Matt, you and I both born and raised in California. I know I was exposed to a lot of really, really interesting cars.

What are some of the highlights that you’ve owned?

Matt Stone: My first car being a guy that grew up in the seventies, of course, had to have 4 55 cubic inches and a hears dual gate. And dual exhaust and cold air intake and everything, and that was my 1971 olds 4, 4, 2. That was my first car, right in the middle of the gas crunch.

First timing, everything because they were cheap. I mean, I wanted it no matter what it cost. That was a used car that got sucky gas mileage. In the mid seventies and didn’t cost a lot. So luckily the muscle car [00:04:00] thing played right into my tire burning hands at the time. So my 71 4 4 2 is always will hold a special place in my heart.

And after that, now don’t anybody laugh. Came, uh, Porsche 9 24. Do not be making fun of that car because even though they weren’t fast, they handled just like a car on a rail. They were beautifully balanced, had great weight distribution and very neutral. I mean, I really learned to drive a sports. And then following that was my 72 screaming yellow zonker.

Dick Tomaso Pantera. Oh, now that one is the one that got away. I would have again, if I could afford it. And I love that car. It’s probably the car that I am most identified with.

Crew Chief Eric: And you know what’s funny is you share that in common with one of our previous guests, John Davis from Motor Week said the same thing.

He’s identified with his Pantera and it’s one of the ones that got away.

Matt Stone: Yeah. John and I have had that conversation. He said like, yeah, how smart were we to [00:05:00] sell those cars when we thought getting, you know, 21 5 was a lot of money for it. And after that has come a, a succession of other things. I mean, there’d been a lot of mustangs, another pair of Porsches and I had a sun bean tiger.

And, um, just trying to kind of walk through the mental catalog

Crew Chief Eric: growing up in California, especially Southern California during the seventies and eighties, there’s a particular car culture there. You weren’t at the beginning because the beginning was really the hot rod days and you know, post World War ii and then there was the shift still being in California.

You’ve seen car culture change over the years. How has it changed for the better and what do you miss from your time growing up,

Matt Stone: we had it all here. We had exotics, we had muscle, we had rods. There was racing, there was economy cars, there were pintos, there were Vegas, there were gremlins, all sorts of stuff.

I mean, it was all here and whatever was your flavor, you saw it, you could learn about it, you could buy it, drive it. Spa over whatever. We were so lucky that it was all here.

Crew Chief Eric: The [00:06:00] cars you appreciated as a kid. Are they still, the cars you appreciate today, especially having test driven and written about so many cars, was there a car that really got you excited?

Matt Stone: I would say yes, but it’s only added two. It hasn’t necessarily been replaced. The cars that I went for, you know, it was like most of us muscle cars and, and the fast and dangerous stuff when we were kids, the poster cars and all that that I loved than I still do. But all the cars and events and people and stuff that I have met in the ensuing 30 years, I found more things to love.

So it isn’t like as cars got faster meaner and more dangerous. They replace the old ones. It is just a different perspective on the same brand of lunacy and to have it and what do I miss or what’s better, that’s tough. ’cause it’s never stopped being fabulous to me. I’m not jaded in any way by being in the business.

I still love it. I love the cars, I love the people. I love the places and all the culture that goes with [00:07:00] cars and cars and TV and movies and commercials and all that stuff. All the pop culture stuff. What has changed? You know, I probably don’t go out hanging and banging with buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, trying to see if some young girl would find us attractive, which didn’t happen for me too often, very early, but fortunately came along later.

I mean, that was all so much fun. And that’s when a place called in-N-Out first opened up. You know, we used to go to In-N-Out and for, you know, then I think it was about 59 cents. Got you. The double, double the fries and the drink. I will also say that I thought very important at the time and I think is legitimate today, but maybe not always, but should be.

You are car guys and gals. Nobody judge you on how much money you had, whether you were black, white, purple, green, Jewish, Christian, none of that matter. Your car guys and gals were your friends and that’s it. And some of ’em had more money than the rest [00:08:00] and some of ’em had less and some of ’em did the best they could with what they had.

Some of ’em did the best they could, that mom and dad bought them. And we didn’t really judge much by that. We were all friends in the same pot. I don’t know if that’s true much now or not, but it really was then. And I valued that. I mean that was, I think a great lesson and great fun. ’cause we were all there for the same enthusiasm and it just, The rest didn’t matter.

Don Weberg: I think being a car guy part for me, that was always really fun. I noticed I didn’t have to know your name. You didn’t have to know my name. We would just meet up at Bob’s. We would meet up at car night, we would meet up at Merkel’s. We would meet up at whatever. We’d know each other. Oh yeah. Yeah. You’re the Porsche guy.

Oh yeah, yeah. You’re the fiat guy. And we would just know each other. If a cop asks us for a name, wow, we have no idea. We can tell you all about the car he drives, but forget about names and all that stuff. We don’t deal with names that Pearl Blue, they’ve got. Wow. That was something else. And I, I always love that about car guys.

We don’t have to know each other’s names. [00:09:00] We don’t know much about each other outside of the cars. I always thought that was terrific. A terrific comradery,

Matt Stone: instant connection. Yeah. Through that conduit. We were all the same. And I remember, just to back up a little quarter of a step, I was talking with my dad about all of this kind of thing when I was first getting into it.

And he was saying, you know, back just after World War ii, he said, same thing, your car guys. He says, you know, my best friends were Japanese, they were Armenian, they were black. They were Mexican. He says We were all poor. We were all car guys. All that stuff didn’t matter and it truly didn’t. And my father, to his credit, lived his life that way on purpose or unknowingly and grand dead in me.

And I will always appreciate that because his attitude was, we were just poor car guys looking for gas money, how to get another set of carburetors and better tires and you know, blah and blah and blah, and they have date night money and all that. He’s, we were just poor kids that love cars. It didn’t matter from W you can’t.

And I think there’s an egalitarianism [00:10:00] about that that I think is particularly bitching. Nobody told ’em to be that way. That’s how it was. It was organic and it was a great thing then and, and I think when it’s prevalent, it’s the great thing. Now,

Crew Chief Eric: we’ve talked to other guests on the show about the difference between car culture on the East coast versus the West Coast, especially folks that have moved from one side of the country to the other.

’cause the East coast is riddled with historic racetracks. Everything’s much closer together on this side of the country, per se. But there’s something interesting about California, and it’s the dichotomy that exists between the north and the South. That being San Francisco versus la, if you kind of break it down to those two major N F L cities, Car culture in LA seems to combat carb out of the north because you see it even today.

Where does the EV revolution or the evolution as we like to call it around here, stem from Northern California and in Southern California? You’ve still got guys all over the place in Temecula and Riverside and so on, [00:11:00] building hot rods. So it’s kind of weird how that coexists, but at the same time influences the entire country.

So I’m wondering in your eyes, Matt, as you see the EVs coming online, even since you’ve been reporting about them since the early days of the gm EV one up until today, how has that changed car culture?

Matt Stone: Yes and no. My motto is horses for courses, no right tool or right job. There are a lot of jobs. In other words, commuting your transportation cycle, your whatever you do, where an EV is the perfect vehicle.

I don’t want that taken away, the 4 27 Cobra, but there are times and places where that EV is the right and a very good choice, but yet I don’t believe in terms of US enthusiasts it will ever replace our hot rods and pickups and cobras and all that stuff. I don’t know that, I don’t believe that gasoline will ever be legislate it away, or they’ll make us park all those cars in garages and museums.

I truly don’t see that happening. I don’t. [00:12:00] I think they can coexist. My wife drives a plugin hybrid Hyundai right now and she wants the Pure electric Hyundai next time because for the way she drives, she just loves the fact that she can go however many dozens and dozens and dozens of miles and not using a gas.

I think there’s value in that. How we make the electricity of course impacts the whole thing. And what do we do when we have to recycle all these batteries? I mean, the equation is not fully formed, but I think there’s value there and I don’t see it replacing the enthusiasm that we all love. It may alter it may change, and the guys and gals that love their customized Teslas good for them.

If they’re automotive enthusiasts, that’s fine with me. I’d rather have them in the tent.

Don Weberg: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with that too. It’s not so much a breaking up of the community. I like EVs. I like hybrids. I think they’re interesting and they’re fun. Like you, I don’t think they’re gonna replace anything, but they do sort of open the door for a new dynamic.

The [00:13:00] hobby and maybe even a new type of personality to join the hobby. More of the tech people, the younger people, et cetera. I mean, let’s face it, most 25 year olds, they don’t relate to your Pantera. They don’t relate to your 71 4, 4 2. They need something that they can relate to. And hey, the Prius, the Tesla, the Lucid, all these new EVs that are coming out, they speak to them and I think that’s great.

Crew Chief Eric: If money was no object and you wanted to buy an EV today, is there one that you would lean towards?

Matt Stone: Hmm. I will speak for the household. I suspect my wife’s next car will be an ionic five ’cause that’s a terribly well-designed and clever automobile. Beautiful to drive. You put it in sport mode, it ain’t quick.

It is fast. It’s fun to drive and it is just great to go, you know, for hundred miles and not pollute the air. I see great enthusiasm in it, I suppose. Uh, one of them little ty hands would be kind of fun to own.

Crew Chief Eric: I often recommend to people that ask value for money. I [00:14:00] think the Mach e is a very good choice these days.

Matt Stone: I was going right there and you beat me to it. A lot of people scoff at that. A friend of mine says, well, you know, Ford goes and builds an electric S u V and calls it a Mustang. What’s your problem with that? Well, it’s not a Mustang. Well, you know what it is, and Bill Ford says it is, and it says Mustang right on it.

And they have said publicly and often that this is only a new Mustang in the corral, not replacing all the other horses in the stable. If that remains to be true, then why not? If they made a Mustang SS u V and powered it with gas, there’s still people that wouldn’t like it, so why not make it an interesting technology platform?

You have driven one of those. They are a hoot. I mean, that thing is fun to drive. It handles the packaging. The technology is magnificent and it flat hauls

Crew Chief Eric: butts. And then the naming debate, I mean, their alternative was the Pinto. And you know, we all know how that turned out. So we don’t need to go there again.

But [00:15:00] let’s talk a little bit more about California and it’s the IT place for car culture. But before we get into who’s who in the zoo, I wanna talk about how you and Don met.

Matt Stone: Well, let’s see. I think I saw him face down drunk in a gutter somewhere.

Don Weberg: I wondered if you were gonna tell the real story. I didn’t know if you were gonna go there.

Matt Stone: I tried to pick him up, but I couldn’t. So we just talked for a little while and then finally he got up and stormed away. No,

Don Weberg: no. We Lincoln people, that’s all we do is run around and drink. That’s it.

Matt Stone: That’s true. We are both confessed Lincoln Fools. And I’m not apologizing for that. I was on staff. I believe as senior or maybe executive editor at MotorTrend at the time.

And Don joined as an intern helper all around helper guy, wrangling cars and getting cars to the test track and cars that needed to be serviced or washed or gassed or tested or photographed or whatever. And we just kind of met there. And the, at the MotorTrend water cooler, been friends ever since. And, [00:16:00] uh, that was a good day.

Don Weberg: I do miss my MotorTrend days. Those were fun. You know, one thing I really admired about you, Matt, or maybe not admired, but I I was more fascinated by, were all the people you knew. My God. You get a call in the front desk. I’m, I’m looking around for that shrimp, uh, you call Matt Stone. Oh, yes sir. May I ask who’s calling?

Carol, Shelby. God damn. Put him on the phone. Yes, sir. Right away, sir. Holy cow. Tom Sharda, Bob Peterson, on and on it goes, you just drop these names. It’s like, oh yeah. Matt Stone. Oh yeah, Matt Stone. Oh yeah, Matt Stone.

Matt Stone: Okay. Now all of the listeners are getting nauseous at this point, but yeah, I have met my heroes.

Even a few enemies, mostly heroes. When I chose cars as my life, not just a job, but as a passion and a hobby and a consumption, along with it came the most fascinating people, places and things. I have done car things around the world, and that’s no exaggeration, and that has [00:17:00] made for more memorable memories, Don than I can think of is all the people that I’ve had the chance to come in contact with and befriend and work with and interview and report on, and just come to know his friends.

I can’t calculate the value in that.

Don Weberg: You and I have spent a little bit of time talking about the ghosts that haunt us. I brought up once that I couldn’t get away from Clark Gable. The man follows me as a ghost. Every time I turn around, there’s some writing projects, some photo projects, something that comes up.

Clark Gable’s all over it. You know, we looked at a house long time ago, big Dream House. We could never afford it, but this thing was out in Encino. I wanted to go see it. It was an old house. Looked really cool. So we go marching out there all the way out to the valley. Sure enough, it’s Clark Gable’s old house.

I mean, it’s just little things like that that always I trip over and I was telling you about this one day, and you told me that you had a very similar ghost with Steve McQueen. Did you ever meet Steve McQueen personally? I know you know Chad, his son. What about Steve himself?

Matt Stone: No, I did not. [00:18:00] Steve McQueen passed away November 7th, 1980.

Early days in college. Then I think I saw him one time somewhere at some event or a race. I never meet him, didn’t know him. Just was a fan. I thought, you know, when I was at the CAMA Dome Theater, the closest thing we had back then to an IMAX experience. Really giant tall screens, gigantic wraparound screen, very immersive with incredible sound.

Mm-hmm And, and when I was 10 years old in 1968, my father took me to see Bullock. And I will never forget getting queasy from the in-camera shots of that Mustang bouncing down Taylor Street in San Francisco. I got nauseous ’cause it was so real and I thought, you know, this guy erases. He is stupid, handsome, ridiculously sexy.

Impossibly cool and a good actor and he can obviously drive a car. I was [00:19:00] magnetized by his style and his nest and uh, that’s why I’ve written three books and countless articles about Steve McQueen as a car guy and a motorcycle enthusiast and racer, because I just thought this is about the coolest dude that ever worked.

And actually there’s one that I have come to know in person that’s even cooler, but we can come back to that. But Steve McQueen just rattled my cage big time. From about 10 years old and once I got into this business, I found all sorts of interesting things to know and learn and write about Steve McQueen and about his cars and bikes and all that.

Don Weberg: How did you meet Chad McQueen then? How did that happen?

Matt Stone: Yes. There was one of Steve McQueen’s cars that had been kind of languishing and hidden somewhere. His RI two 50 G T L Luso that was purchased and then restored to absolute Pebble Beach levels. I think it was the restorer, Mike Regalia who contacted us and said, Hey, you know, I have Steve McQueen’s old Ferrari and I’ve just restored it to [00:20:00] Pebble Beach Quality and you know, would you guys for your MotorTrend Classic magazine, maybe wanna do an article on this?

Well dur. So I said, of course. And so we picked a place to meet for the photo shoot and then he says, oh, and by the way, son, Chad’s gonna be there too. ’cause he is never seen the car. The car was there, the restorer was there, the photographer was there and Chad and I were there and we met, been friends ever since.

And that’s been probably 15, 20, maybe long time.

Don Weberg: Tom Sharda each one of the greatest. You were actually very, very close friends with him. How did you come across meeting him? How’d that happen?

Matt Stone: I owned three cars that he designed. I had my de Tomaso Panera, my di Tomaso long shot coup and my de Tomaso Deville sedan.

And uh, we covered at the time greatly to deep extent all of the International Auto Show. And Tom and all the designer guys that I got to know would go to them, gym, nva, tur, Frankfurt. All the designers would go to see what all the other studios and car makers were doing. And [00:21:00] the media was there. And usually the designer preview day and the media day were the same.

So one time I just walked up to him and said, Tom, I’d like to introduce myself. I have one of your cars. Which one, what color? And we became fast friends. He unfortunately died five, six years ago. I. And got to know each other very well. We met several times in Italy and we could sit and talk about cars for as long as you and I can, or maybe longer, but what a brilliant, brilliant and fine, fine gentleman and designer.

So, Tom Char, one of my, one of my automotive industry heroes and a hell of a nice man.

Crew Chief Eric: So, you know, it’s funny, you guys are, are talking about this and who you know and, and who you’ve met and who you’d befriended and Don was talking about every time he turns around you got Clark Gable and talking about designers like Jada and I, I have a similar sort of thing and came to me later as a student of history, I like to sometimes focus on some of the more odd cars or some things.

People would maybe consider more germane. And [00:22:00] so what I realized is every time I turned around, there was one name that always surfaced. You look up cars, even supercars at the time, like the Morro or the Mangusta, and you travel over to Germany and you talk about the Rocco and the Gulf or to Italy to the launch of Delta or the Fiat Panda.

And even the DeLorean DMC 12 and one name is behind all of those cars and it’s often overlooked. And that’s Gito Juro again, one of my personal heroes that I’d love to meet. So I wonder, have you crossed paths with Juro?

Matt Stone: Yes, I have. Who’s an amazing, amazing guy. Absolutely the greatest car designer ever.

Period. And to date, I think when you look at his portfolio, the depth and the breadth, I mean, he made as many fast and dangerous cars as anybody, but of course the early golf and that original panda with all flat glass. I mean, this man is a transportation designer, par Excellence. I’ve met him, he’s as enthusiastic and he’s 84 years old now, and he just emits [00:23:00] energy and karma from every pore in his body.

And what’s amazing that you would appreciate Eric, is you talk about some car and he’ll grab this piece of paper and he just whips out a pencil and he starts sketching. And there it’s whether he designed it or not, he makes four lines and all of a sudden there’s a car. And it’s a car you recognize and it’s good.

A magnificent guy, your taste I admire and I concur, I believe is so far the best ever. And there have been a lot of great ones and I’ve been fortunate to meet a few of them, but I don’t think anybody has done more and more better. Than Giro

Crew Chief Eric: and like you, having owned several Gira cars, I’ve personally owned several Giro cars and test driven plenty as well, because maybe you know better than most.

The relationship between John DeLorean and Giro has always been a mystery to me, and there’s definitely design language in the D DMC 12 that leans a little bit. Audi a little bit, B M W, some Volkswagen, definitely Hyundai Pony, [00:24:00] 1974 from the etal design portfolio. John DeLorean was known as a car designer, you know, the father of the G T O and all these kinds of things, and a masterful engineer.

But he outsourced the car to this Italian guy. How did that all come about?

Matt Stone: He really wasn’t a car designer. He was a, as you say, a car engineer. A car, conceiver a car, brainstormer for sure. In his autobiography, which I have now read front to back to back to front, he talks about that. ’cause he said he felt at the time that Jja was the best man in the business for designing that type of car.

And he wanted to go to the best. And he knew that his company was too small to warrant building a design studio and staff to take on such a huge job. And he says several places in that book that he felt Jja was the best man in the industry designing cars, period. I think that reason answers itself, plus whatever he paid him was cheaper than building his own in-house design [00:25:00] studio and hiring people of that talent and that caliber, which would’ve cost a lot more than just contracting him.

It’s my understanding, of course, from reading John, he just felt Juto was the best, and especially because he had done so many exotic and gulling type cars that he was the man for that job.

Crew Chief Eric: Do you think there was a conflict of interest between Giro and Chapman who were both working on the DeLorean project?

Matt Stone: Not that I could identify. John in his autobiography was very effusive in praise to gi, very happy with the job he did for him, and he certainly had clashes with Chapman. Although I don’t believe it was created because of the relationship with Jro. I think Chapman wanted to do certain things, certain ways, and John DeLorean wanted to do other things otherwise, and they didn’t always meet in the middle at production or reality.

That’s where I believe that stemmed from. I have never found evidence, I should say, that the [00:26:00] relationship, that triangle between Juro, DeLorean, and Chapman was ever an issue.

Crew Chief Eric: So I bring this up, especially for our audience that’s listening to this, and they’re probably wondering when are we gonna talk about Matt’s time at MotorTrend and all that exciting stuff.

And we’re definitely gonna get there, but we’re taking a little bit of a circuitous path, only because you’re actually working on a book right now about DeLorean, and so I wanted to explore these thoughts as we were talking about designers and folks that you’ve met, and it’s all part of your research for your new book.

Do you wanna expand on that just a little bit or even briefly about what you’re doing? Yeah,

Matt Stone: there have been a lot of DeLorean books written and published. Some of them are good, some of them are not. None of them are very recent. And none of them are really comprehensive. There are some that are nuts and bolts and nuts and bolts and guts about the car and the development in the company.

And there are some that are very biographical about John DeLorean’s career. General Motors, post General Motors, all sorts of embezzlement schemes. Gm, yeah, blah, blah, blah. [00:27:00] And I don’t believe anybody in anything recent has written anything that include the cars in the movies, how the company and the car came about, why it failed, what it means today.

That’s critical. Fools like Don and I just love them. As a matter of fact, Don beat me to the punch and he owns one. And I don’t. But no matter that is my program, I’m, I’m coming at this from a very much of a journalistic attitude. Although I would say as an enthusiast, not a giddy, over the top, everything was perfect.

’cause that ain’t me, that’s not my style at all. Nor am I coming with any intent of destroying or trashing his legacy. I’m trying to follow the path, follow the story, wherever it leads me, and including the common threads like companies that are trying to rebirth. Mark, all these new DeLoreans that are supposedly gonna be built, and some will and some most likely will not.

Some are just vaporware. Nothing’s been written about that story as it’s evolved in 10 or 15 years, so [00:28:00] that’s kind of where I’m going.

Crew Chief Eric: That actually does lead us back to your time at MotorTrend because nobody starts at the top, and so let’s talk about. How you got there, how it all started. You got your degree from Cal Poly Pomona, you know, major in business with journalism, marketing, things like that.

You talk briefly about how you got into the real estate business, which was your parents’ business and you ended up working in magazines. ’cause you said, I can do better. So you get to MotorTrend, but that’s not the MotorTrend we all know today when we turn on the TV or we stream it off the internet or we pick up the latest copy of Roadkill or Hot Rod or whatever it is.

What was it like back then?

Matt Stone: How did I get there? Well, it’s a, a long path. When I first decided to get outta real estate and, and do this freelance journalism and photography thing as my vocation. I did that for some number of years, and then after a while, the editor at the time, uh, van Toon, who was editor in chief of MotorTrend said, you know, we’re gonna do a retrospective on the first four generations of Thunderbirds, and you [00:29:00] understand classic cars, Matt Stone, and why don’t you write that piece for us?

So I did. Right about that time, he said, you know, uh, we’re about ready to open up a staff position here as a features editor. And I thought, well, you know, I’ve learned a lot about magazines and stuff on the outside of the business, but I could certainly learn more on the inside. So he offered me the job and I took it and 15 years later I was still there.

It was a great ride. And then I was features editor and then senior editor and became executive editor. And then also I was editor of my own title called MotorTrend Classic. In the beginning the focus was on making the best car magazine that. That was authoritative hopefully in the business and the industry.

And we had very, very legitimate and outstanding performance of Dynamics testing. We said that card did zero to 60 and six eight, that’s what it did. ’cause there’d be five runs to back it up and two different radar guns tracking it and, and everything else. So, uh, the testing was very, very important at the time.

Crew Chief Eric: And at that same time, a lot of the TV [00:30:00] programs were also coming about. So were you involved with that as well? Did they feed each other or were they totally independent from one another?

Matt Stone: Oh no, they were definitely connected. I mean, it would be pretty rare that we’d go out and do a car of the year competition or a three or a five car road test that we didn’t have a TV crew along with us.

We would learn how to voice that stuff and how to drive a camera and do all that jazz. That was actually a lot of fun. Sure burned down a lot of time. If anybody has ever done prerecorded television, it doesn’t generally go quick. Although our camera people and producers got pretty good at not slowing down what we were doing, they captured what we were doing.

It was very seldom we would have a discussion or do a drive thing and they’d say, oh, you know, we don’t like that. Stop. Do it again. Like, no. We just did it. We’re gonna do this now.

Don Weberg: You touched on how it could slow you down, working at MotorTrend, having the TV crew kind of tagging along. Can you expand on that a little bit and tell us how the TV crew maybe complimented the print version and the internet [00:31:00] version, how the three of them kind of work together as a sphere to create one.

Product that delivered news.

Matt Stone: We were still learning all that at the time because the internet was fairly new. Television was seven local channels and cable, and that’s what it was. Right. We didn’t really know we were learning it at the time, but the point is, You wanted to be consistent of the message. I mean, it was still all the same MotorTrend.

That’s what the consumer, the reader, the viewer, had to surmise that this was the same entity talking to them. And at that point, one complimented the other. And there would be times we’d say, Hey, if you want a longer look at this story, pick up the June issue of the magazine. Or if you wanna see these three cars out on the road moving and burning rubber and doing whatever, check out MotorTrend television on Tuesday.

So there were chances for a little cross pollination there. And as long as you were consistent of message, then they worked together pretty well. And it was worth the extra effort and time to do all those platforms as we were learning [00:32:00] about. And it was fun ’cause I learned a lot about television and that, and went on to do a lot of various television projects over time.

Then of course, as the internet came in and the company changed hands and changed hands and hands and hand and hands again, more and more, digital publishing became part of the mix. And the magazine has got lesser and lesser priority, but uh, when I started it was just the magazine and then finally came TV and internet and the digital Confluence has reshaped the way all of that came about.

Crew Chief Eric: There’s obviously direct competitors like Car and Driver and Road and Track out there. Did you consider Motor Week on that list? Did you consider other things as your competitors in the space or were you all respective of each other’s swim lanes?

Matt Stone: The competition for newsstand, single issue sales was fast and furious.

That’s what advertisers wanted. That’s what advertisers paid for. We didn’t adjust our content to please advertisers, but we adjusted our content to please subscribers and [00:33:00] particularly newsstand, single issue purchasers. That was the battleground. Car and driver and road and track were the evil empires.

Although we were friends with all those people, we traveled together on media trips and we knew each other and it was fine, but we wanted to beat them in the subscription numbers. On the newsstand. And then along with tv, I guess Motor Week was probably our closest competitor because they were both a feature and a, uh, a road test show.

And that’s what we did. But again, totally friendly with John and Lisa and all that gang. And we were friendly competitors in the digital space. Yes.

Crew Chief Eric: MotorTrend is part of the Peterson Publishing group, and obviously they’re home to many other titles, not just car related magazines, but did you ever interface with Robert Peterson or any of the folks at At the Top?

Matt Stone: Yes, I did. I don’t remember the last highest count. There was a time when Peterson Publishing Company P p c had what they call vertical titles, primarily [00:34:00] enthusiast titles along the lines of single sort of visions. There was ski magazine and skin diver and shooting and rifle and motorcycle, and four wheel and off road for any passion.

There was probably a Peterson magazine. Got to know Robert E. Peterson very well late in his life. Have nothing but respect for this man. He was a brilliant guy. He recognized the value of vertical publishing. I was pleased to do his last formal sit down interview before he passed away and subsequently wrote a book about the Petersons.

Their empire and their museums and their car collection and the publishing company and all of that. They were big, epic people, and I don’t mean that to say showy. Whatever they did, they did in grand fashion and with style. Made lots and lots and lots of money, had a a fabulously successful business, and then one day sold it for $450 million and sort of retired.

I missed them both terribly. Love them. Both immensely and have [00:35:00] tremendous respect for both of them too. Today. Even

Don Weberg: for our listeners out there who might be interested in becoming an automotive writer, where or how, what would you tell them? How would you tell them to, again, what’s the first step? What’s the stone that you throw in the pond to become an automotive journalist?

Crew Chief Eric: Would you like that?

Matt Stone: Pun the stone in the pond? That would be me. Although I’m not swimming at the moment. I’m glad, or sorry that our listeners can’t see that. But anyway, that’s a good question, Don. I would really have. Think about that. The media convergence, and by that I mean the advent of, of course, tweeter and Flake book, all the streamers and the internet.

I mean, all that has changed this landscape massively. How entities get their editorial, who they have do it, how they pay for it, has also changed massively. I would say it’s first incumbent that you love and understand the topic and find your space and learn how to write for goodness sake, every new writer thinks they’re gonna [00:36:00] be Shakespeare.

Don’t worry about your flowery, humorous prose. Don’t try to be Letterman or Leno or any of that. Learn how to write good, clear, solid, researched, documented, well reported copy. Go to a driving school and learn what a car does, when it’s going sideways or not, or why it doesn’t or why it does.

Don Weberg: I always kind of beat up Eric A.

Little bit now and then, because one little thorn in my side in recent years is today everybody’s media. I really hate that I do because it’s a real privilege to be able to tell a story whether you’re doing a biography on some political figure or some car figure, the fact that it’s on your shoulders to put this out is a major, major honor.

I think as easy it’s become through technology for anybody to become media. They’ve lost that focus. You brought it up, you go to the internet and there’s billions of reviews out there on any topic, including automotive. [00:37:00] And some of them are good and most of them are bad. So we as consumers, we have to sift through what’s good, what makes sense.

I mean, you know, Matt, a couple of weeks ago I sent it to you. It was some magazine that was doing a discussion about the movie Bullet. They listed the Mustang as a 67 Mustang. Remember that?

Matt Stone: Yes, I do.

Don Weberg: So it’s things like that that you just, to me, it, it’s worse than nails on a chalkboard, but I think that’s kind of the new generation that’s coming about, and it, it’s hard or harder, I think, for those shining stars that are actually really, really good at automotive writing to stand out because there’s now so much static on the AirWave.

There’s so many bad writers. There’s so many people who just wanna get their name out there and, and say they wrote an automotive column, whatever. I guess that’s why I asked, because I, I just wondered if you had any insight as to how to become one of those legitimate people. How do you get in front of a MotorTrend or a rodent track or a car driver and say, Hey, I want to carry the torch.

How do I do this? And I think maybe you hit the nail on the head, become a good writer, and maybe now become a good [00:38:00] speaker, a good presenter. That that makes sense too. ’cause it’s all on camera.

Matt Stone: It’s not all but a lot. I would also submit that you can’t really deliver much analysis or conclusive opinion in 140 characters.

You can say, oh, you know, here’s a picture of the so-and-so. Isn’t it pretty? Isn’t it cool? Isn’t it lawful? But there’s no analysis in a lot of those platforms. I agree that everybody could be media, but that’s not necessarily journalists. True. Uh, and there’s a distinction there.

Don Weberg: You’ve authored and photographed, gotta be at least 20 books by now that you’ve done.

Matt Stone: Who’s counting? But it’s truly 17.

Don Weberg: Okay. See I was close. I was close. I’m wondering if maybe that’s a way for people to get into automotive journalists. You know, forget about trying to step out in front of. The A Class magazine figured about going after whatever B-level outlet there might be, but maybe you start your own website or you start your own book writing or [00:39:00] something like that.

I wonder if that might be a good way. I

Crew Chief Eric: see where you’re going with that, Don. And we have had several other new authors on the show that are self-published through Amazon and things like that because it is expensive to put out books. But I personally am faced with the same challenge I think many people are.

You have this grand idea for a story that you want to tell, whether it’s truth fiction or somewhere in between. Your computer stares back at you with a blinking cursor and it’s like, how do I get started? Yes. I can take all the grammar and English classes that you could take, and then the ones that they brought us up through school, you know, write your framework, put your outline together, put all your notes down.

I know what I wanna write, but how do you go from nothing to a book? What are some of the shortcuts or some of the techniques or some of the strategies that you’ve learned after writing nearly a dozen and a half books that you could bestow upon somebody else to kind of help them move forward and not rely on something like chat G p T to help them get off the block?

Matt Stone: No, that’s true to me. A good book always starts with an [00:40:00] outline for the table of contents. If you understand your subject and you know what you wanna write, then you really need to be able to block that out into a table of contents and chapters. That’s important. And then of course, you’re pitching publishers or yourself publishing, whichever.

But to me, to structure that idea, that kernel into. An outline or a table of contents that’s, that meaningfully tells a story. You then you figure out what doors to knock on. But I, I believe crystallizing the idea into a, or boiling it down into a, an outline on a table of contents, that’s a readable story.

It’s probably pretty early on in the process. ’cause if you just say, you know, Edsel’s really the coolest car I ever built, and you tell the publisher I wanna write, I think Edsel’s are bitching. I wanna write about them. Okay. Tell me. Putting it in the form of a tangible story, I think is about step number two.

And then from there, pitching, publishing venues. And there are so many platforms, like you say, whether it’s doing it on Amazon, [00:41:00] self-publishing, or your own website or whatever. A lot of paths forward, and fortunately people are still buying print books. I have this DeLorean project that we talked about. I have another idea or two in development, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to continue as long as people are buying books and people, some of ’em still like to just read ’em, not on the screen, but hold ’em in their hands.

We’ll see how all of this evolved and I ’cause, and I don’t know that answer, but as long as there’s good stories to tell, I’m hoping people wanna read them and buy ’em.

Crew Chief Eric: You hit it right on the head because your Edsel example is perfect. I mean, we oftentimes use the edsels, the butt of many jokes. It’s on our uncool wall.

It’s considered one of the top 10 ugliest cars of all time. Beauty is in the I beholder. We’ll just leave that where it is. It’s not the Edsel itself, it’s the story of its creation. Why does it exist in the first place? What was the impetus or the catalyst that caused that car to become what we all recognize today?

Good, bad, or indifferent? And I think to your point, that’s where the story is formed. [00:42:00] That’s where that whole ethos is constructed and what you, I guess, need to focus on rather than just say, well, Edsels are bitching. I need to write about it.

Matt Stone: Oh no, you’re right. The genesis and gestation of how it got to be so good.

So bitching so bad, so ugly, so beautiful, whatever. That’s the story that people wanna understand. Now it may not be on the 17th of May, 1957, the engineering department set a a memo to supply saying that that three quarter inch grommet and washer needs to become seven, eight. Nobody caress, right? But yeah, how we got to the beginning, the middle, and the end of the SEL story is part of that story.

And I believe it’s following the yellow brick road of so many of these cars and the people behind them and the places

Crew Chief Eric: you alluded to it. It’s the underlying point that there is a difference between the journalism side of the storytelling and the long format storytelling. In journalism, you’re finding that angle, that one specific thought, you wanna pull that thread and express it.

[00:43:00] But in a book format, you’re taking the reader on a journey. You’re showing them from beginning to middle to end, what the Edsel story is, rather than the hyper-focusing. Let’s say on why that seven eighths grommet was a seven eighth grommet versus five sixteenths, right? Because you could just hyperfocus on just that.

Matt Stone: Well, you could, but I’m not sure that that calls journalism distinguished from the storytelling. I think you can tell a long form story. Very journalistically, hopefully interesting and entertainingly, but it really needs to be journalistically, and that means backed up with good factual research, interviews, blah, blah, blah.

That to me is the journalistic angle. It’s not necessarily just a news bite or a piece or expanding on a piece. The journalism is the approach and the method and the attitude towards storytelling, whether it’s a long story or a short one.

Crew Chief Eric: One of the outlets that’s often overlooked, and I’ve talked to Don about this and I’m a member myself, is the Society of Automotive Historians, right?

There’s lots of extremely knowledgeable people there [00:44:00] that have done the research, are willing to share their findings and work with you. If you are looking to write a book or you have an idea for, you know, Edsels orbiting, and you wanna know from people that have done the legwork and rub elbows with them, that’s a great place to look over on auto history.org.

And there’s other resources just like the s a h out there. So I can’t recommend that enough to people that are interested in taking those early steps and maybe develop a longer story.

Matt Stone: When I first started on my mission, everybody overuses the word journey now, but when I decided, okay, I’m gonna do this better than that other Crap magazine did it.

I knew a couple of guys in the business. One of ’em had written a story about one of my cars and another one I knew from another connection. I went down and met with ’em, bought a couple of lunches, and picked their brains, and they gave me a lot of lessons about what to do and what not to do. The quickest way to lose a freelance gig is to miss your deadline.

You know why they call it a deadline? ’cause if you miss the line, You’re dead. And I mean, these guys drill that stuff into my head [00:45:00] and they told me things to do and not to do. And some of them I did anyway and it turned out okay and sometimes I ped their advice and stayed away from that and did what they told me.

Water seeks its own path or level, as they say about idiots and water. But yeah, if you can somehow connect with writers and be that chat rooms, writers, conferences, classes at the community college, but connect and avail yourself to successful writers. And more often than not, unless you’re interviewing for their job, they’re willing to help you.

They’ve swam that river. I swam it, and when somebody asks me for help, I mean to me it’s just paying it forward or backward, whatever, because guys, help me. That goes back a little bit to the point that you made before, Don. You know, what do you recommend? Find good people who have done it successfully and engage with them and you’ll learn.

Find the right people. Ask them the right way in a non-threatening manner, and they will, they’ll help you. I mean, I have gone up to deans, literally, of our business and ask for [00:46:00] help and of course they help me very unselfishly. I thank those guys Unendingly for making the time to help this. Rookie.

Don Weberg: I think that’s a big part of it.

Who do you surround yourself with? Who are the guys in your army who you can turn to and work on this stuff?

Crew Chief Eric: And to dovetail off of what Don said earlier about everybody’s media, my expectation these days is that I get to experience events that I may or may not be able to get to or be able to afford to get to vicariously through all the eyes on these cameras.

For instance, I wasn’t able to make it to Amelia this year, but I can go on YouTube and probably pull down a thousand different videos. Of one car, as an example from Amelia, from different angles, different perspectives, some with commentary, some without, and so that’s sort of nice to be able to have that.

Now it’s a bit much because it is coming from so many independent people at the same time. It makes me wonder, our shows are still a very big thing. They’re part of car culture. They’re part of what we [00:47:00] talked about at the beginning, especially growing up in California. Where are you going to meet up with your friends and show off your car Now, obviously the big ones, Amelia Pebble and so on.

This infiltration of let’s say amateur media in these events, does it take away from those events? Does it take away from the experience? Does it heighten it? And I ask this because I know that you’ve been a concourse judge before.

Don Weberg: Do you still go to cards and coffee? Do you go to concourse? Do you do things like that?

I know you used to work for Fox Sports.

Matt Stone: I do all of that primarily as an enthusiast, but also depend sometimes to cover by expanding the audience and sharing the message to people that ordinarily wouldn’t know or couldn’t be there. Now you wanna hope at some point that some of that content is good, well produced.

I mean, I, I will say that, you know, every once in a while you’re trying to enjoy a walk through the show with some friends and there’s a drone five feet above your head. Not crazy about that, but as long as it can be done relatively unobtrusively and professionally, [00:48:00] I see that as a plus welcoming more people into that tent.

And that to me is very important in terms of the auto sphere. We must congregate, not segregate. Agreed. And I agree. If you know the ticket to Pebble Beach, you buy, the day of the show is about 500 bucks. Not everybody can afford that. Therefore, there are lots and lots and lots and lots of dozens of hundreds of people that won’t go because of that.

If they can watch the show on a streamer and some YouTubes, and again, that material is gathered carefully, presented well, I think it’s a plus. I’m all for it.

Crew Chief Eric: The concourse scene is a little different. I have had the privilege of riding the coattails of several concourses judges at some of the national Porsche parades, and I know what those are like, but I’ve never been to one of the bigger events and seeing how it all plays out.

And you having been a chief class judge at Pebble and things like that, what are you looking at when you’re judging these cars? How does that whole system work?

Matt Stone: That sort of varies from show to show, but generally [00:49:00] the big game top flight concourse. The judging is some parts art and some parts science.

And it is generally the apex of where originality meets authenticity style. After all, it’s a beauty contest, often with elegance and sometimes provenance mixed in. If that car was the one of one built custom body start at the 1938 Paris Sale on Auto Show, that’s worth talking about. We learn something about this car story, it’s history, who owned it, who designed it, who built it.

I mean, those are the things when I cover concourse in print or on video that I talk about. So to me that’s important. The living history of that car, those four or five things combine to let the cream rise to the top. And for anybody that wants to know, I will just tell you right now, we judge cars not.

Owners and in my 27 years as a Pebble Beach judge, nobody has ever been written down or de pointed for somebody seeing grease in a zerk, [00:50:00] fitting a little bluing on the chrome of a header or blades of grass and tire treads because those are evidence of the car being used, enjoyed and maintained. Those are not points off.

Don Weberg: Would you say points do get deducted for an owner who say, doesn’t know how to interact with his or her car? You know, I heard a story about a Packard, I think it was years ago, and it was at Pebble Beach. The clock wasn’t running. The judge asked, does the clock work? Well, of course the clock works well.

Can you make it work and show us? Well, I gotta call the restorer. So the restorer is off getting a cup of coffee. So he calls ’em on a cell phone and says, you know, why isn’t the clock working? It supposed to be working? And he says, well, did you wind it? Well, no I didn’t. How do you wind it? So the legend is that this Packard or Dusenberg, whatever the car was owner, that point’s deducted simply because he did not know how to wind his clock and make it work.

Are things like

Matt Stone: that? True? I strongly doubt that.

Don Weberg: Okay. So

Matt Stone: that’s an urban legend. Yeah. There’s another name for it too. And it starts with a [00:51:00] B ends in shi. Yes. And yes indeed. It is written in our judge’s manual that during the operation check a light doesn’t work, a gauge is dead. The clock, whatever it was that the owner has, the time it takes.

To judge the next car to fix it. Okay. So we’ll say, all right, we’re gonna hold the tachometer that turn signal and the clock out is outstanding items. We’re gonna go judge that Fuji Minu GT parked next to you, and we’ll be right back. That gives him 10, 12, 15 minutes, whatever, to sort that stuff out.

Mm-hmm. And if we come back and the clock works and the tack works and the light goes on, no harm, no foul. Some of these cars are not easy to manage, and if he needs to make a phone call or get somebody to come down and wind the clock or whatever, he has the time it takes to judge the next car. Nobody, I can certainly say at Pebble Beach suffers for that type of oversight if they can’t get it to work in 20 minutes.

Sorry, we’re rolling. But no, anything that’s under the category of Cheap Shot does not [00:52:00] happen. Not on any of my teams. That’s for sure.

Don Weberg: We’ve all been there, concourses, et cetera. Are all a little more biased towards some participants than others. What are the responsibilities of judging? In other words, what does that manual say?

Who wrote the manual? Where do we get the guidelines to create a professional concor event? What is it that sets Concord judging as the best and the worst? Why is it that Pebble Beach, Este, Amelia, et cetera, are considered, that’s where you want your card judged. Even if you don’t win a trophy, you got judged at those events.

Why is that such a big deal compared to the Concord down the street?

Matt Stone: Fair question. Those things have developed over time and been kind of codified as years have gone by and people have learned more and more about restoration, preservation, authenticity, originality, et cetera, and by getting knowledgeable judges that understand all this, you’re only as good as the guys and gals in the blue jackets and [00:53:00] the Bay Slacks.

The neighborhood hot rod show sometimes is, it’s a pretty car contest, and that’s okay because at that level it’s fine. But when you’re talking pointy, end of the stick, internationally, significant concourse, it’s those things I was talking about. It’s knowledgeable judges who understand the authenticity, originality, and provenance of those types of cars in your class.

And those judges are selected very carefully to match them with their knowledge base of expertise. And again, this is something that’s been developed now. Pebble Beach has been around for 70 years. It’s taken years to kind of develop those standards and those paradigms. It’s happened by people who care and who paid attention, made the effort to codify these standards in writing, and by getting people that understand them and know how to apply them,

Don Weberg: let’s just visually go to a Concor big shot.

Concor. Could be Pebble, could be Amelia, whatever. The guy who had the clock problem, he obviously knew something about Packard. He was obviously passionate about [00:54:00] Packard. That’s why he bought it. That’s why he restored it. So he probably knows stuff about this. There have to be moments where owners and judges.

Crash. Biggest upset you can think of. It

Matt Stone: does happen, but not often. What you’re hoping is that the owner and the car are prepared and they bring documentation for whatever they feel, why their car’s presented the way it is, why it has the heads painted gold and the valve covers are chromed or whatever.

And they usually have a book about the size of seven Bibles full of the letters and photos from the 38 parish salon and build sheets and photos from restoration. And you know, it’s really nice when they show up with that. And then the judges of course have to display some judgment and field manner to know how to inquire.

This one has tripped up a lot of people. Some cars, the rear view mirror is mounted at the top on the windshield header and others it’s mounted atop the dash. Mm-hmm. Judge who walks up and says, you know, that’s wrong, that mirror should be on the [00:55:00] windshield header. It doesn’t belong on the dash. Really?

How do you know that the way to handle that is sir or miss or whoever? We have a question about the placement of the mirror. Do you have any documentation saying as to why it’s mounted here or mounted there? Well, sometimes it’s simple of, these cars only came with one style of mirror. It only had one mount and it only mounts there.

Or here’s the brochure when the car was new and there’s the mirror. Either place, whatever. If you ask nicely, they’ll produce the documentation and those situations most often diffuse themselves.

Crew Chief Eric: More importantly, we all love a good underdog story. So obviously if Ralph Lorenz Bugatti Atlan shows up freshly buffed by Chuck Bennett over at Zamal, as you know, we’ve heard the stories in the past.

Is there an opportunity for somebody with maybe what we would consider a lesser car to beat out? Something like that? Does that happen often? Have you seen some of those types of upsets on the Concord field?

Matt Stone: Oh, yes, and it’s fun. When it happens. You find that you just get this surprise and delight [00:56:00] factor.

Like, you know that card, when I first read the documentation, I didn’t think much about it. But now that I see it, Wow. And you find out the story and the history and it’s a one-off, and it was owned by Elvis Madonna and Taylor Swift or you know, whatever. But yeah, sometimes that’s true. I mean, some of those really, really big, big game pointy into the stick cars owned by those collectors who have miles and miles and tons of taste and miles and miles and tons of money to execute it.

Sometimes that stuff is hard to beat, but I have seen it by more modest cars that were just more authentic, more beautifully preserved, less over restored. Just a better story. They can carry the day and it, it’s a blast when it happens.

Don Weberg: I think Jay Len opened it really well. Pickle Beach where a millionaire can beat a billionaire.

Yeah. What was the coolest or most bitching car you ever judged, Matt? What was the car that you got to judge it and you were like, [00:57:00] holy shit, I get to judge this thing.

Matt Stone: I have had that experience many times.

Crew Chief Eric: It was an Edsel he told you already, right? Yeah. So I’ll ask you one of our more favorite pit stop questions, which is, what is the sexiest car of all time?

Matt Stone: Well, I can only preface that by saying for me, Because everybody will have their opinion. I would say the ones that kind of come to mind would be the Shelby Cobra Daytona coup, the 365 gtb, four Daytona, and an early sixties jaar type, all pinging the sex meter pretty hard for me,

Crew Chief Eric: and I’ll have a very similar shape to them.

Long hood cars. I see a bit of a trend there.

Matt Stone: I’m not saying nothing, but maybe,

Crew Chief Eric: so the antithesis to that question, the ugliest car. Mm.

Matt Stone: Well, could that be, uh, a Yugo or a Treant or an Edsl or a Hmm. [00:58:00] I try to always find the positive in things. Maybe a citro and AMI six. Oh, nice pole. Very nice. Look at the AMI six.

The front of that car is like a, an old woman sucking on a lemon, you know? And, and I suppose it’s one of those cars like some other French cars, but not all. I don’t discriminate. It’s one of those cars that’s so ugly. It’s cute if you say so. I am hoping everybody’s out there googling up an image of a Citron AMI six right now.

And then you’ll see what I’m talking about. Go ahead.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s okay. ’cause it exists on our uncool wall so our listeners can go out and vote on how ugly it is compared to about 60 other cars that are on that list. So

Don Weberg: was there an owner that you remember, maybe the person was famous, was there an owner that stands out to you as one of the best?

Matt Stone: Uh, yeah, I’ll give you one quick one. I was judging a show in the Netherlands in. In the south of the [00:59:00] Netherlands. It was a, a very, very early und, aluminum bodied Porsche split windshield and single exhaust, I mean a very, very, very, very basic early Porsche with the hand hammered aluminum body. And this car was owned and restored by a father and son.

Son was, you know, 60, father was 85. And father presented the car to us and demonstrated it, fired the engine, did all the lights, did the turn signals, the traffickers, rev the thing up, look at the gauges, blah, blah, blah. This little old German guy who didn’t walk real well, but he got in his car, he opened up all the doors in the front and the back, and he presented that car to the judges perfectly.

He knew that car inside and out. You know why? ’cause he and his son restored it together in their own shop. Yeah, that guy sticks out to me, father and son duo. They were marvelous. And when they were, we were done. We asked our questions and they had. Relevant, smart, but brief answers. [01:00:00] And then when we were done, they came around and shook everybody’s hand and thanked us.

They stick out in my mind. Every once in a while you have an owner and you walk away and you think, God, what a tool. It happens, but we don’t judge people. We judge cars and just ’cause some guys got an ego and is maybe an idiot or whatever, we’re not gonna penalize the car for that. But you do notice it and we laugh about it a little bit and then walk on to the next one and it’s over.

I did judge one of Ralph Loren’s cars one time, and Ralph was the epitome of gracious, as you might expect, and I believe his restorer demonstrated the car. But Ralph stood right with us and answered our question. He knew that car, not with a manual in front of him. He knew that car and he was a lovely gentleman at the other end of the stick.

That’s one that stands out to me too. What a fine guy. Magnificent collector and collection with fabulous taste in terms of class and elegance and colors and presentation. As you can imagine, there’s a guy that you know, you would’ve thought he could’ve come off [01:01:00] as a real idiot, not Ralph Lauren. Could not have been nicer and more gracious.

Crew Chief Eric: As we wrap up our segment here, I have to ask what’s next for Matt Stone. You mentioned you’re working on a new DeLorean book and you got a couple others in the hopper. What else is going on? What else are you working on?

Matt Stone: Same old, same old. I’m gonna keep going as long as I can. The magazine business has changed tremendously.

As y’all know, there’s less magazines and, and a lot of them that I work for now are published overseas. England for some reason, great Britain knows how to publish and sell and make business out of plastic carbon. They’re tall, trim, size paper you can’t even see through the Britts do that really well and I have other clients around Europe and some in this country still, you know, I will slow down a little bit as I age out in time out, but there ain’t no retirement date on my forehead.

I wanna keep doing stuff that excites me and hopefully excites other people where I’m learning new stuff. Or meeting more of my heroes or driving or experiencing the cars that I [01:02:00] hadn’t made it to yet. I do have a couple of biographies that I want to do. I’m not gonna name any names, but there are some people out there that have never done their biographies and I want to do a couple of them.

That’s where I’d really like to go, but I’m gonna keep doing car stuff as long as I can. I am a car fool, just like all the rest of y’all out there. And Don can testify to that. I’m gonna do it as long as I want to and can.

Crew Chief Eric: Well with that, Matt, any shout outs, promotions, or anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t covered thus far?

Matt Stone: Uh, please visit my website if you like. Matt stone cars.com. You can’t spend any of your money there. There’s no place to charge it. It’s my

Crew Chief Eric: new favorite website then.

Matt Stone: Oh, thank you. Yeah, you can read stories, you can see what I’ve been doing. You can see photos, you can learn about some of the books I’ve done, interesting stories, fun stuff, weird stuff, et cetera.

Matt stone cars.com please visit. And the only other thought I. You make every day count because if not, you just [01:03:00] one away.

Don Weberg: Matt Stone. You’re right about Stone has in all manner. In recent years, he’s published some of the most prolific automotive books covering some of the most interesting personalities and vehicles in the industry.

To learn more about Matt, be sure to check out his website and blog over@mattstonecars.com or follow him on social at. Matt Stoner Ramma on Instagram and be sure to catch some of his articles on Garage Style Magazine too.

Crew Chief Eric: Yep. Well, Matt, I can’t thank you enough for coming on Break Fixx and sharing your stories with us.

I wanna borrow something you said earlier, originality, authenticity, personality. One of one I think that describes you, Matt Stone in the car landscape, in the auto sphere, as you called it. Many of us look up to you as a hero, whether you realize that or not. I know you’re an inspiration for all of us writers and aspiring journalists out there.

So like you said, you have no [01:04:00] expiration date on your mind, so keep doing what you’re doing. ’cause the rest of us are following in your footsteps

Matt Stone: until nobody cares or somebody says, stop. That’s the plan. Thank you boys. This was great fun, and to all of you out there listening and bored for the last hour.

Thank you and I apologize.

Don Weberg: Thanks, Matt.

Crew Chief Brad: If you like what you’ve heard and want to learn more about gtm, be sure to check us out on www.gt motorsports.org. You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Tour Motorsports. Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can call or text us at (202) 630-1770 or send us an email at Crew chief@gtmotorsports.org.

We’d love to hear from you.

Crew Chief Eric: Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here. We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted to remind you that G T M remains a no annual FEES organization, and our goal is to continue to bring you quality [01:05:00] episodes like this one at no charge. As a loyal listener, please consider subscribing to our Patreon for bonus and behind the scenes content, extra goodies and G T M swag.

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