How do you top building the hero cars for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift? Follow up by building the hero cars for all the subsequent FF franchise movies. That’s just what Dennis McCarthy did and continues to do at his Sun Valley, CA shop Vehicle Effects. 

Dennis McCarthy

CarStories is committed to bringing you the best interviews and automotive stories from celebrities, racers, enthusiasts and listeners around the globe with James McKeone.

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Mike Hallmark is a lifelong car enthusiast. In addition to his role at Hellwig Products, he is a hardcore gearhead. He is devoted to Volkswagen, and as an Englishman, I am proud that he owns a Land Rover. Mike was kind enough to turn up in "The Operator", which is the perfect vehicle for the four seasons. Mike also staked his claim for the longest podcast, so make sure you check it out

Mike Hallmark

Donnie Callaway has spent over 30 years restoring collectible cars, most of these hail from Maranello. It all began with him growing up in Los Angeles, living and breathing sports cars before taking a job at Hollywood Sports Cars, and soon thereafter, spending time in Hawaii with an uncle learning to hand form aluminum bodies. He completes restorations to concours level. Donnie has worked on pretty much every Ferrari model made including 512 BBs, 365 2+2s, TDFs, James Coburn’s California Spyder, and many, many others. Host James McKeone was happy to accompany Donnie in his newly restored and immaculate Ferrari 308 GTB Quattrovalvole for a run through in the hills of Malibu.

Donnie Callaway

Matt Farah is a seasoned automotive journalist and watch aficionado. Besides being an incredibly nice guy, he is also one of the most prolific automotive YouTube stars on the planet with his One Take video series and, of course, he is the man behind "The Smoking Tire" podcast. With his One Take series recently coming to an end, Matt is moving into a new venture - his new "Watch and Listen" podcast with CarStories guest alum Cameron Weiss. James enjoyed the ability to relax with Matt thanks to his heated leather seats before popping and crackling through the hills of Malibu in his Mountune Ford Focus RS.

Matt Farah

Cameron Weiss developed his affinity for timepieces back when he was a young child. In 2010, Cameron attended an apprentice-style program at the Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School in Miami with a Swiss curriculum. The ten years of passion drove him to fine-tune his designs and goals before launching Weiss watches in June 2013. On this episode we feature a special guest Jules who was kind enough to let James sit in the front seat as the trio took to the road in Cameron's 1959 Volkswagen Beetle for a good talk about watches, travel and the reliability of classic British vehicles.

Cameron Weiss

Elana Scherr has a background in composite fabrication, is incredibly handy with an engine stand, and has a soft spot for Mopar muscle and one off vintage race cars.  She was the former Staff Editor at Hot Rod Magazine and Executive Editor at Roadkill Magazine before stepping into the freelance world so she can write about cars, motorcycles, planes, boats, racing and dogs. Elana gave James the time of his life in her 1971 Opel GT. Hope you enjoy the talk as much as he did!

Dennis McCarthy

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