Cars Yeah With Mark Greene

Brandon Mason is the Operation Manager and Sales Specialist for DriverSource. He is also the Assistant Chief Judge and a Board Member of the Keels & Wheels Concours d’Elegance. DriverSource, Fine Motorcars of Houston, Texas has been focused on pursuing and preserving fine automobiles and motorcycles since 2005 and they are a leading specialist in the classic collector market. They offer a unique concept of sales, service, storage, and detailing that is tailor made for the enthusiast automotive lifestyle. They have an emphasis on fine sports cars and carry an inventory of spectacular vehicles for sale in their secure, high-security, climate-controlled environment. 

Matt Anderson is theMatt Anderson is the John and Horace Dodge Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. He oversees the development, care and interpretation of the museum’s collection of nearly 300 motor vehicles. Matt also oversees the museum’s collection of horse-drawn carriages, railroad locomotives and rolling stock, as well as aircraft. Matt will take office as president of the National Association of Automobile Museums later this year. He has previously worked at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland; the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana; and the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul, Minnesota. Matt is a VIP judge at the Keels & Wheels Concours d’Elegance.

Michele Straniero is in the head of International Business Development of the Italian Automotive Design and Engineering house ICONA, head-quartered in Turin, Italy. Previously he covered the same role for the legendary Pininfarina and even before for Comau, the robot and automation unit of FCA Fiat Chrysler. For both Comau and Pininfarina Michele pioneered China markets arriving to opening their start up operations in Shanghai in 1999 for Comau and in 2009 for Pininfarina. Always championing and promoting Italian creativity in automotive design and engineering his restless travelling brought him to relocate and work in Canada, Brazil, India, China and now in USA. In all these countries his passion has always been to contribute with managerial creativity in putting together ideas and resources in order to bring beautiful cars from the drawing board to the road.

Mitch Katz is the Founder and CEO of Premier Financial Services located in Woodbury, Connecticut. Back in 1997 he transformed the leasing industry with the introduction of the Simple Lease and Early Termination Program. This allowed the exotic and luxury car consumer to payoff or trade their vehicles at any time providing flexibility of financing and the tax benefits of leasing. Mitch’s love of the automobile began at an early age and that passion continues today. He loves the driving experience of vintage and exotic cars and you’ll find him on the road in his 1965 Alfa Romeo participating in numerous vintage rallies, including the Colorado Grand, Going to the Sun, and the Copperstate 1000. He also coordinates the annual Premier Financial Services Vintage Rally.

Jon and Andrew started PetrolBox in June of 2016. Their concept was to highlight and promote businesses and products within the automotive community that they could stand behind. Realizing that the automotive subscription box market was extremely limited, their goal is to revolutionize the market by including items that are appealing, of quality, and useful for authentic automotive enthusiasts. Friends since they were 12 years old Jon attended school for automotive technology and became a mechanic and today works as a parts manager for Toyota. Andrew studied IT and is well known in the VW and Toyota car community and enjoys racing his Honda Grom.

Dean Polopolus is the owner of Polo Motors in Temecula, California. Dean was inspired by Porsche design and engineering so much that he created something beyond what Porsche had to offer.  Much like Dr. Ferdinand Porsche who said, “I couldn’t find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself.” So did Dean. He designed, cast, and built the first Porsche 911, 4-cylinder engine and would fit it in to a 356 A model Porsche. For over 30 years Dean continued to develop and perfect his design, testing it on the street and on the track. Then Polo Motors produced the world’s first 911 air-cooled engine in a 356 Porsche Outlaw, equipped with modern day suspension and brakes. Today Dean and his company are known throughout the world of Porsche enthusiasts for their engineering and powerful Polo engines for vintage Porsche 356 and 912 models.

Jorge Perez is the Founder of Sierra Madre Collection in Los Angeles, California, your source for Classic European Auto Parts. He provides this customers with a comprehensive Porsche parts inventory supplying quality products to owners and professional shops. Founded in 2007 out of his garage while restoring his classic Porsche, Jorge realized a need for one place with exceptional service for enthusiasts that share his passions. In 2014 he opened a new fulfillment center to house his rapidly expanding inventory and to increase the speed of processing orders for his cutomers. Jorge’s company mission is to offer the absolute best quality while providing his customers with an easy shopping experience. From pre-A 356 Porsche models to the latest 991 models, you’ll find what you need at Sierra Madre. 

Andy Savakinas is the owner of Parts Online Network where he and his team help automotive parts shoppers connect with the best price for the parts they want. His goal to live in a world where you can easily find the parts you need at the lowest price possible and in one easy-to-use location. Whether it’s replacement parts or performance modifications Parts Online Network is your one-stop source. When Andy isn’t helping others find parts you’ll find him in the shop fixing, repairing, or modifying performance vehicles.

Doug Buchanan is the Owner of Renze Display in Omaha, Nebraska. His is a company he purchased from his father in 1987. The company goes all the way back to Doug’s grandfather Gus who purchased the Renze Company in 1935. Doug’s company specializes in large format graphics, tradeshow exhibits, and interior branding. Doug recently launched Garage Graphics.net where they produce very large automotive art working with top automotive artists from around the country. He works with his wife Dawn and their children so the Buchanan family business continues to the next generation. Doug is also a vintage racer.  

John Kolesa is the Founder of American Endurance Racing, known as AER. The idea was born out of a desire for an inclusive endurance racing series.  John’s goal is to provide a fun, safe, racing experience for drivers to participate in endurance racing using any production-based racecar. The races are multi-class with cars competing against other in-class cars and wins are based on the total number of laps completed. His goal is to allow for a huge amount of track time on the best tracks with minimum prep rules at a reasonable cost. It all started in 2014 when John, who was an amateur racer, decided there needed to be an endurance option for people like he and his racing buddies.

Mike Paul is the is the Founder and host of The Motor Madhouse Podcast where as he says, “Car Junkies Get Their Fix.”. He grew up in a household of automotive enthusiasts where they specialized in buying, restoring, and selling 1968 to 1972 GM A-bodied vehicles. His background includes work in aviation maintenance, engine building, and as an automotive auctioneer. He’s bought and sold snowmobiles, atvs, dirt bikes, rare muscle cars parts, plus classic and sports cars. Mike set a goal to own 25 different cars by the age of 25, which he did. By the age of 27 he’s owned 38 different cars and he’s on his way to owning 50 by the age of 30. 

Malcolm Welford is the Co-Founder at Morris and Welford, a JD Classics Company with offices in Newport Beach and Connecticut. Together with Miles Morris they operate a specialist historic car consultants and brokerage business. Morris and Welford invite consignment and outright purchases of fine classic, sports, and racing cars. Born into an English car enthusiast family he enjoyed his first race at Brands Hatch in 1966. His career includes time at British Car Auctions as Head of the classic car division, Christie’s International Motor Car Department in London and then Beverly Hills. He’s raced vintage cars, driven the Mille Miglia, Tour Auto, the Colorado Grand, and the McLaren F1 tour. Malcolm sits on the FIVA Technical Commission committee as well.

Mike Quincy is an automotive writer and specialist at Consumer Reports. He writes for Consumer Reports Magazine and their on-line title ConsumerReports.org. Mike is responsible for ensuring that all automotive data and information is accurate and up-to-date for their readers. He also edits the monthly automotive technical report for CR and edits content for the Consumer Reports Cars blog. Mike’s purchased over 140 cars for the CR test program and appears regularly on CR’s Talking Cars podcast. You’ve probably seen him on shows including: The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, CNN MSNBC, and Fox & Friends.

Shellie Stewart is a long-time mechanic who has been part of the NHR since 2014. She is co-owner of the ARCA Race Cars and serves as Crew Chief and Car Chief at all NHR events.  Shellie also works in the Xfinity and Monster Energy NASCAR Race Series as an Assistant Car Chief and Assistant Crew Chief. She also prepares and buys and sells vintage race cars for the NHR and Shellie builds performance engines as well. As a life member of the AACA, a certified race car judge, Shellie holds a VSCCA license, an ARCA Racing Series License, and drives in many vintage racing series events She also crews for Bruce Larson in the Nostalgic Nitro Funny Car Series. Shellie also works with soldiers returning from war that have disabilities helping them learn to overcome injuries and readjust to civilian life. 

John Lyons and his wife Jessica are the Founding Partners of the Newport Concours d’Elegance that started back in 2006. Today John and Jessica are the Founders and John is the Chairman of the New England Concours d’Elegance, now in its second year taking place Sunday, June 24 at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut.  John brings over 20 years of senior leadership experience in the wireless industry and has a life-long passion for cars and the collector car hobby. He has served on the advisor board of LeMay, America’s Car Museum and contributed to other significant museums in the country. He has consulted in the antique car auction industry for years and is a past contributor to Sports Car Market, Car Collector, and Old Cars Weekly magazines.

Ashley Shoemaker is the Market Sales Manager for the Pacific Northwest & Arizona for Hagerty Insurance Agency LLC. She's worked in the insurance industry for 12 years of her career thus far, the past 8 years with Hagerty. In the past 8 years, she's really immersed herself in the classic car industry and collector car community. Not only has she attended practically every major car show or event throughout the PNW, she's had the opportunity to work & experience many large national events for Hagerty including the Grand National Roadster Show, Hot August Nights, Scottsdale Auction Week and (for the past 8 years in a row) the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Ashley grew up in Bellingham WA and graduated from Western Washington University. Ashley lives in Seattle with her husband Sean and their dog, Coco. 

Mark Greene is the Producer and Host of the Cars Yeah podcast. His is a five-day-a-week show where he interviews Inspiring Automotive Enthusiasts. These are people from around the world who have wrapped their passion for cars, motorcycles, trucks, racing, and more in to their business’s and lives. Cars Yeah was founded almost four years ago and since then Mark has shared stories with over 1,000 guests.  I was Mark’s 500th guest back on May 2, 2016 and today you get to hear his story and how Cars Yeah came to be.

Harvey Petroder is a resident of Algoma, Mississippi who recently won his local Lion’s Club Charity Giveaway, a Bugatti Veyron. He’s been a welder, a hay bailer, and enjoys sitting around the kitchen listening to the cows moo. He’s a fan of home made moonshine and making late night runs to neighbors delivering his White Lightening.

Jeremy Hunziker is the Brand Specialist at O’Gara Group La Jolla. They are an award winning factory-authorized dealer for Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Jeremy joined O’Gara five years ago after circumnavigating the glove prior to college graduation. He is an avid motor sports enthusiast who also enjoys diving, and surfing. The O’Gara Group is a proud sponsor of the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance which takes place April 6,7 and 8 overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Ellen Browning Scripps Park at the La Jolla Cove.  

Chris Erickson is a real estate professional in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Years ago he started the Secret Car Club, a weekly gathering of like minded enthusiasts which quickly grew in to social gatherings and events. From that he has created the Secret Car Club Events venture where he and his team create private experiences throughout Southern California. They incorporate vintage cars, boats, aircraft, equestrian events, and delicious food for people with discerning tastes. Whether yours is a small private party or corporate event, Chris creates unique and thoughtful outings that are easy and fun. Chris is also in his fourth year as the Tour Chairman of the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance. He was a Concours Judge for the event for the past three years.