A Service Drive Revolution episode (hosts: Chris Collins, Christian, Jeremy) discussing Car and Driver’s list of the most influential cars and taking audience questions about shop operations. The hosts read Car and Driver’s three picks (1955 Chevrolet, 1957 Lotus Seven, 1960 Austin Mini), debate omissions (Model T, VW Beetle, Corvette influence), then answer a listener (Jake) who asks how to get Ford dealership techs to work on non-Ford used cars. Practical advice: hire a dedicated used-car technician, pay roughly $20–$22/hr, reduce gross and recompose the shop mix; episode offers swag/prize for comment participation.
Hire a used-car technician and pay approximately $20–$22 per hour.
Service Drive Revolution T-shirt, mug, and $100.
A listener named Jake.
Chapters
Hey, do you want to hear a construction joke?
Is it funny?
No, I'm still working on it.
Was that the joke?
I stepped in it.
You totally did. Both feet.
That's funny. I like it. Okay. Top cars of all time. Christian. So.
Our friends over at Car and Driver pick the top cars. There's only three on their list. The top cars, most important cars of all time.
Guess what they are. I'm not actually. Don't even guess. I'm just going to tell you because you would never guess in a million years. The 1955 Chevrolet.
That's. That's the first one. The second one. These are top most influential industry changing cars of all time. The 1957 Lotus Seven.
Wow.
And then the last one is the 1960 Austin Mini.
Those are the three on the list. That's it.
I. I don't even know where to start. So we pulled a Lotus. It was to name the most obscure cars in history or the most important.
Most important. Like, I get that The. The. The 1950s Chevy, like, that was a game changer because of racing. Right. It was V8, and it. I think it won a bunch of races. It was Chevy's first victory in nascar. It was a big. It was a big deal. And it kind of. That kind of propelled the Corvette. That's what that engine and all that became. The Corvette.
Yeah. So the Corvette. The Corvette would be on my list of one of the most influential cars of all time, for sure. And how do you. How do you rule out the Model T?
Well, how do you rule out the Model T and then how do you rule out the Volkswagen Beetle?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Like that kind of flipped everything on its side. I don't know. It's one of those. It's one of those conversations that, like, you know, greatest quarterback of all time or best album of all time? It's really hard to say because there's so many different ones. But I propose Everybody go to YouTube and find this episode. If you're listening to it or if you're on YouTube and post in the comments what you think the greatest car is of all time. And we will. We'll pick one and we'll send you some swag Service, Drive Revolution T shirt, mug, and a hundred bucks. So go in there and post in the comments. We want to see what you think because we're a little stumped. If you just asked me that without this weird list, I could have come up with a bunch, but this list makes me question my questioning. It's weird.
Kind of interesting. Okay. Let's go to the voice of God. This. This. He's blessed with the voice of God, unlike you and I that sound all nasally. He's got the voice, this booming, booming voice of God, and he's gonna ask questions from the audience. Remember, if you. If you're posting a question, sending us a question and we read it on the big show, we will send you some service. Drive revolution swag.
The voice of God is here.
You scared me.
Sorry.
Glad that light's flashing at you.
Are we ready for some questions, gentlemen?
Yes.
Yes.
Okay, this first one comes from Jake. Hi, Chris and Jeremy. I've got a question for you guys. I work at a Ford dealership that also sells used cars. I've had a hard time getting my techs to work on anything other than a Ford. Any tips on how to get the mindset changed in the shop so we can get our customers taken care of? All your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Jake.
Good question.
That's a great question. It feels like something we talked about recently, you and I did.
Oh, we did.
Yeah.
I don't. I don't remember.
We were on it. We were on a call with. With a group in the east coast talking about the same kind of thing.
Okay, here. What's the. God. What is. What is the name of the person asking the question?
His name was Jake.
Jake. Jake the snake.
I like it. Oh, did you say snake?
Yeah.
How do you measure a snake?
I don't know.
How do you measure a snake?
In inches? They don't have feet.
Okay, Jake.
Listen real carefully. Jake. Get your ear right up to the speaker. I'm gonna whisper in your ear.
Hire a used car tech.
Screw up.
That's it.
You don't need to get them to do the work. Hire a used car tech and lower your gross. If you run an ad for a used car tech, you'll get a lot of people that apply because it's a job. A lot of technicians want a lot of technicians. The technology's passed them by. But they're good at reconditioning used cars. And you can pay, like, you know, 20, $22 an hour. They'll. They'll produce and you. They also can take overflow from the shop so they can do other stuff. So I say don't try to convince them to do it. Hire a used car tech and save gross profit and then watch what happens. Like magic. They're gonna go, oh, we would have done that. Why'd you hire the other tech? We want to do it. And then and then you can maybe get rid of your lowest performing.
Pain in the ass tech. Maybe. I don't know.
Well, that's another thing too. Yeah, you never see that used car tech is always your top hour person. Like, the discussion completely changes in the shop is that not only did they do all the work that nobody else thought they wanted to do, they do it so efficiently that they out book everybody else. It's so fun to watch.
Yeah. And it's the thing that that's funny in that situation.
So we ran into this in Ford stores where they specialize, where, like.
If you don't understand what that means, like, there will literally be Ford techs that are just suspension and they only want to do suspension. And if you give them an oil change or brakes or anything else, they're like, no, I'm only doing suspension. And they sit around and complain that there's no suspension work, but they don't want to do anything else. And then their wife's car breaks down and all of a sudden they know how to do brakes and water pumps. And so that's what I always say is, well, if it was your wife or your mom's car, would you work on it? Well, yeah. Okay, well, let's just pretend all these customers are family and, you know, let's pretend all these used cars are family and let's get to work. But that's always a funny conversation. It seems like it's pretty much exclusive to Ford.
Thank you, Jake, for the question. We're gonna send you some swag.
Good stuff.
Thank you so much for watching this clip of Service Drive Revolution. Now you can catch the full episode on YouTube, iTunes or Spotify or wherever you consume your podcast. If you have any questions, go go ahead and post them in the comments below. Make sure you subscribe and hit the bell icon so you're notified when we post new episodes. I'm Chris Collins and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram at Chris Bulldog Collins, and I'll see you again on the next episode.
