The Gearhead Project

If you like R/C or scale model cars, you’re going to love this episode.

If you want to work in the automotive industry (beyond sales or service), you will too.

If you’re an adventurist with a thirst for experience over stuff, boy howdy. We’re on fire.

Today on The Gearhead Project, Andy Lilienthal talks about how he ended up working for Warn Industries, started SubcompactCulture.com and CrankshaftCulture.com, and how his quest to break into the automotive industry began with scale models.

I had no idea going into this one. We had so much fun I forgot to ask him about his Delica.

Welcome to The Gearhead Project.

Two things I took away from Episode 2:

1.

The M in M3 stands for Magic.

2.

The big question is “Do you?”

We’ve been hearing how great the BMW M3 is for, what, 40 years now? BMW says it. Magazines say it. Owners say it. And yet, most of us will never own one, let alone drive one.

My long-time friend Greg Wallace used to race sport bikes. And then he started playing with and racing Mitsubishis—a 400hp 2GNT Eclipse, a Lancer Evolution, a Galant VR4, a 1G Talon TSi AWD—he’s even got an old Starion kicking around. In 2017, he bought an M3 and told me he would never buy anything else ever again.

I know, right? Really? The M3 is that good? Let’s hear a real wheelman’s take on an icon.

Stick with a project long enough and you’ll run out of aftermarket support.

That’s kind of what happened to Scott Glassbrook. A long, long time ago, he got tired of running 11-second ETs in a DSM making 10-second jam. In a friend’s garage far, far away, he cut the rear subframe out of his first generation Eagle Talon TSi AWD and began building a nasty RWD dragster.

Where we lost interest and picked up something new, Scott doubled down. Where we gave up and moved on, Scott stayed the course. And now, Scott’s racing one of maybe a handful of DSMs that need a wheelie bar.

And it’s awesome.

This is the Gearhead Project.

Why do some gearheads start businesses? How do they get started? What does it take to succeed?

Most of us know a gearhead who went into business for him or herself. We see how they set their own hours, call their own shots, and do their own things—and we want that kind of freedom for ourselves.

What we don’t see, however, is the opportunity cost, the challenges, the sacrifices. It isn’t easy to evolve beyond the mod list. And maybe that’s why we don’t see more gearheads do so.

Today, a conversation with Joshua Mead, co-founder of Adventure Driven Design. He’s an old school Mitsubishi enthusiast who went from playing with DSMs, Galant VR4s, and old Colts in the US Midwest to providing some of the most robust aftermarket support the Montero community has seen in years.

Why did he do it? How did he get started? What does it take to succeed?

Welcome to The Gearhead Project.