This special episode was recorded live in front of almost 100 of our Avants Charter Members at the incredible Rimmer family warehouse! We welcome Steve, James, and Josie Rimmer to the show as we get to know the family behind DirtFish Rally School and their stories. Alternative working titles for this episode are "Whatever Josie Says" and "Josie Rimmer and her Dad and brother." 

This week we talk to Joe Potter, founder of Vintage Underground in Eugene, OR all about the fine art of converting vintage Jaguar E-Types into modern, electric masterpieces. Vintage Underground may be based in Eugene, OR, but this is no mom and pop restoration shop. Vintage Underground is a cutting edge restoration shop that specializes in British and European cars and is now a pioneer in the electric conversion business. Tune in to hear all about them and their current work and the exciting work around the corner.

This week on the show we welcome Steve Bortolotti, General Manager of the IMSA winning team Pfaff Motorsports! You probably know the Pfaff livery even if you don’t follow IMSA racing since they have the best looking Porsche on the track in it’s clearly Canadian plaid wrap. Steve tells us all about the high and lows of racing, modding his Time Attack RX8, and a whole lot more. We can’t wait to see what Pfaff does in 2023 in the new 992!

Continuing our trend of long overdue interviews, this week we have Michelle Miller! When she’s not busy co-driving for Lucy Block at Hoonigan, Michelle is an instructor with our friends at DirtFish. Listen in to hear all about her exciting life in both the driver and passenger seat.

In this interview that’s about 5 years overdue, we talk to Matt Bell, founder of The Shop Clubs. Matt talks about being able to “scratch all his creative itches” with The Shop Clubs, his expansion to Texas, motorcycle trips through Europe, and so much more! Matt is a true enthusiast who does a lot for the car community and a great partner for Avants that you should know. Be sure to check out The Shop at https://theshopclubs.com/.

We drive everything here at Avants, but a lot of us ride everything too! Dan’s been riding basically his whole life, and even worked in the industry for a while, and Nick’s done just about everything you can think of to his Monkey and CRF450RL, so on this episode we discuss some of our favorite and least favorite mods. We think you can use this episode to get some fun Christmas ideas too. We recommend a Grom or a Monkey since they fit comfortably by the tree.

This week we talked with the very talented Christi Schimpke, owner and designer at Crash Jewelry! Crashing your car rarely is a good feeling outside of a figure 8 at your local track, but Christi has taken tragedy and turned that twisted metal into jewelry you'll actually want to wear. She sells special items she has curated herself through her connections in the autobody industry or you can work with her to design a special piece from your own crash or restoration. Christmas is coming, so here's a great idea for all of our listeners looking for something special and different.

If driving around Europe isn't on your bucket list, it definitely should be. Dan spent almost a month doing just that and has some great tips to make your life a little easier as you navigate around hidden speed cameras, tolls, roundabouts, and other things it may take you a little while to warm up to in Europe. He also talks about learning how to blow from a tall, beautiful Viking and really likes Chamonix. 

We work a lot with Marketing and Events Manager Brian Dallas at DirtFish. From Avants Off-Road, to WagonFest, to the DirtFish SummerFest, and MANY more, it seems like we're always at DirtFish and we wouldn't have it any other way. We get to know Brian a little better and talk about his love for Minis, cycling, and of course all things Rally. We even got a few surprise visits from some other friends at DirtFish while we were there! 

In this very special episode of the Avants Podcast we team up with Bring a Trailer Co-founder and President Randy Nonnenberg to announce a very special partnership with Avants! Randy shares his favorite BaT memories, his cars, the Covid car buying boom, and more on this surprise episode!