A Banker Collides with Classic Ford Mustangs: Paul Croswhite

Get ready to meet Paul Croswhite, also known as the "Mustang MD," in this captivating episode. Paul is a remarkable individual who effortlessly combines his roles as a classic car outlaw, banker, investor, collector, and all-around great guy. His passion for vintage Mustangs is unmatched, and we delve into his fascinating journey in the high-performance hobby.

Paul is the proud owner of an impressive inventory of cars and trucks from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, including street rods. With approximately 60 to 80 cars in his possession, his collection is nothing short of extraordinary.

Join us as we explore Paul's unique background, his relentless pursuit of vintage Mustangs and other classics, and brace yourself for intriguing stories, surprising discoveries, and a deep dive into the world of the Mustang MD with the one and only Paul Croswhite, the master of all things Mustang.

Interesting article about Paul: https://www.motortrend.com/features/ccrp-0601-shelby-clone/

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Paul: I sold that and doubled or tripled my money on that car. It just started, started making sense and dollars also. 

[00:00:08] Craig: Haha!

[00:00:37] Maury: What's up Craig? 

[00:00:38] pd: How are you doing, my friend? 

[00:00:40] Maury: I'm doing well. Hey, everybody out there? What's going on this week? This is a terrible intro. I was trying to do an intro, and this is a terrible intro. It was in my head, and it's not going well. So everybody, my theme based, and I think we've talked about it a little bit. 

[00:00:53] Craig: You're just gonna, you're just gonna plow right through that? You're just gonna 

[00:00:55] Maury: Yeah, I'm just gonna plow right through it. 

[00:00:56] Craig: No, no, no. Solid. Perseverance. Go ahead. 

[00:00:58] Maury: Because we're all here together, and 

[00:01:00] Craig: Yeah, yeah. Don't stop. 

[00:01:01] Maury: Well, I'm trying to be polished for everybody, which is the pressure you feel, so let's, let's get real, right? 

Oh God, and now I just said let's get real. This is a train wreck for everybody. I hope you're all enjoying it. Alright, so, having been, and we've talked about this, having been doing this podcast now a couple of times, you get to listen to yourself. Some days you're like, oh, that's good. Other days you're like, 

What I'm working on is sticking the landing. 

And all of you are going to get, 

[00:01:30] Craig: Please, wait, I've got to jump in. Please, listeners. What? Go back and listen to the Dave Nagler. And there's one section where Maury asks a question. He starts his questions like a gymnast vaulter hauling down that runway. He hits the vault, he does an enormous kind of twisty twist in the air, and literally flies out into outer space. He never actually, he never actually gets there. It's brilliant. It's fucking brilliant. 

[00:01:57] Maury: And, , that's pretty much it. There's like, the stadium disappears, the vault disappears, I don't know what happened, and I'm looking at my toes, talking about toes, and, somehow, the guests have been great so far, and from my question, they actually have an answer. There's usually an awkward pause, though, right before they speak. Either they're wondering... 

[00:02:16] Craig: They're kind of like, was that a question? Was it? 

[00:02:18] Maury: Was there I'm not quite sure what just happened. 

[00:02:20] Craig: Okay, so you're working on sticking the landing. That's great. 

[00:02:22] Maury: I'm working on sticking the landing. It's fun. 

[00:02:26] Craig: I love when you fly off into outer space during a question, it's fuckin one of my favorite parts of this whole thing. Alright, here's what's going on for me, my belly button birthday is coming up, and for some reason... More and more and more, I don't like it. I don't like it. And there's a time, maybe it's cause I'm old, I don't really think it has to do with, my own mortality thing. 

Honestly, it's something to do with I don't like I'm a guy who loves attention, which is really weird. I love attention, but I don't like the attention of my birthday and like the big table and everybody's there and it's kind of awkward. I don't know. There's something about the energy of like, I'm an adult. 

Let's come out for my birthday dinner or something. I re I can't really articulate it, but my birthday's coming and I really don't like how I feel about it. So. I'm trying to be nice to myself and say... I'm worth celebrating, but I do think I have a critic in, inside me still, after lots and lots of years of work, that's just like, Eh, you're not that, you're just not cool a guy, or, I, I don't know, I just have a, I have a loud kind of negative voice, and something about my birthday triggers it, where I don't really want to celebrate me. 

So there I am being honest, but you know, that's the truth, and that's kind of what we're going for. 

[00:03:48] Maury: It's weird, you celebrate others so well, 

[00:03:51] Craig: Yeah, I'm good at giving, giving the love. I'm bad at kind of receiving the love. Yeah, something like that. 

[00:03:57] Maury: Are you just trying to hustle gifts? 

[00:03:58] Craig: Maybe, yeah. 

[00:03:59] Maury: I think that's what, I think actually that's what you're trying to do. 

[00:04:02] Craig: With the guilt, like a reverse Jewish guilt trip. 

[00:04:04] Maury: Yeah, like, oh, I'm so sad, and my birthday, and I'm so sad, and I don't feel valued, and so people are gonna be like, here. 

[00:04:12] Craig: Well, you know, you figured me out, so I guess no gift from you. 

[00:04:16] Maury: I, but that's a weird thing of the skill, a skill we have that you have. You are an amazing cheerleader. You have been an amazing cheerleader in my life. You were the first one to sit down and say, let's talk about what's going on in your life. Tell me all about it. And you want to know all the nuts and bolts and nooks and crannies, and it's really fun. But for some reason there's a block on doing that same energy for yourself. 

[00:04:36] Craig: That is it. I am doing a little Shrinky Dinkage on that and trying to figure it out. That's the truth. And so I'm trying to enjoy my birthday, but honestly, I'm not. But I'll tell you what, I'm gonna enjoy . I'll tell you what I'm gonna enjoy. Uhhuh, I'm, I'm going to enjoy this week's interview and I'll tell you why. 

Today we get to talk to Brother Paul. Brother Paul Croswhite, who on his business card, it says Mustang MD and I must tell the story. So a couple years ago. Nicole and I, we had a situation where we're like, Hey, maybe we could get a classic car. 

I know nothing about classic cars. Nicole knows nothing about classic cars. So we go on the internet and we're looking up cars and we're like, what about this one, about this one? We see the convertible Ford Mustang. And we're like, yeah, we want a convertible Ford Mustang. Both just fell in love with it. 

So I get introduced to Brother Paul, the Mustang doctor. Brother Paul is a guy who specializes lives, embraces everything Ford Mustang. And when I say everything, I mean everything. This guy works. on a place called the Mustang Ranch near Magic Mountain, just north of Los Angeles. And he's a guy that will consult you on getting into a Mustang. 

He restores Mustangs. His entire life is the Ford Mustang. And he is a fascinating, fascinating dude. He's from like another time, another world, another place. He's a guy that 100 percent has lived, pursued a passion. So, without further ado, everybody, Maury and I are fired. Not fired. We are fired up. We're fired up. 

Like firing up a Mustang to introduce you to the Mustang doctor, Paul Croswhite. 

Ah! 

[00:06:25] Paul: Hey! 

[00:06:26] Craig: Yay! How you doing, brother? 

[00:06:33] Paul: Good, brother. How you doing? 

[00:06:35] Craig: I am doing so great. I'm so happy you're here. 

[00:06:39] Paul: Sorry, it was a learning curve. Called and it was asking for the, a number followed by pound and so it wouldn't show both screens. So I'm still learning the master of the phone, I guess. 

[00:06:51] Craig: Yeah. Well, you're trust me. 

You're not here because you're the master of a phone. So don't worry about that. Hahaha, All right, I wanted to tell you that when Maury told me about this podcast called Everyday Masters, you were amongst the first people that came to mind as somebody we wanted to talk to, because you have such an extraordinary level of mastery and such a super cool thing. 

So we are. So excited to talk to you, and thank you for taking the time. 

[00:07:23] Paul: Well, brother, you know, I love you, and you know, I just, anything I can do to help you, whatever, you know, whenever. 

[00:07:31] Craig: Alright, brother. Okay, so we're going to kick it off. The first, quick question I want to ask you is, when I said to you, Hey, Paul, I'm doing a podcast called Everyday Masters, and I would like to interview you, what did you think? 

[00:07:47] Paul: I thought, Me? I'm not a master. I just like doing what I do and I do it. That's all. I'm nobody, you know? Who am I, you know? 

[00:07:59] Craig: Tell us who you were in your life before you fell in love with the Ford Mustang. Walk us through who you were then, what happened. And kind of get us to, to where you are today. 

[00:08:11] Paul: You know, I, I haven't always been infatuated or loved Mustangs like I do now. 

Kind of since I was 16, liked cars. And my stepfather, you know, gave me a oil wrench and a oil filter and... Six quarts of oil, and he said, Go figure it out, that car needs the oil change. I just figured it out, and then, So I wasn't afraid of fixing cars, or working on them after that. I went through a lot of different jobs from 16. 

I grew up in Yuma, Arizona. One of the first jobs I did was pick cantaloupes. 

[00:08:47] Craig: I never knew that. Okay, so you were a cantaloupe picker. 

[00:08:50] Paul: I graduated to grapes, and those are a lot easier. 

[00:08:53] Craig: Well, that's, that's a more sophisticated type of situation. I'm happy, I'm happy they, they moved you from cantaloupes to grapes. 

Go on. 

[00:09:00] Paul: You know, so, I don't know if you've ever been to Yuma, Arizona, but... It seems like nine or ten months out of the year, it's 120 degrees. Dad was a college professor, so I went to college. And in college, they had a program where you could earn college credits and work for the government too. So my next big job was working. 

At Yuma Proving Grounds in their data acquisition or reduction, basically running their computers. Really? Yeah, I was a computer geek back when computers were the size of Kmarts. But it got to, to get to that job was going across the desert for 45 minutes to an hour from Yuma, the city, out to the proving range. 

And an old Datsun pickup truck at, you know, 110, 120 degree heat with no air conditioning. 

[00:09:50] Craig: Wow. 

[00:09:50] Paul: I did that for about three years. After a while, I got tired of that and said, you know, I've got to find something air conditioned. 

[00:09:57] Craig: We've learned from our listeners, especially younger ones. They're interested in. 

In the journey of somebody's, like somebody's journey to, to mastery. The first one was simply based on air conditioning. Is that safe to say? 

[00:10:11] Paul: Yeah, that's it exactly. 

[00:10:14] Craig: Okay, perfect. Very strategic. Okay, keep going. 

[00:10:17] Paul: Well, it was United Bank. It was in the center of town and they had a good air conditioning system. 

And I started, started doing teller. And I worked my way up from teller to head teller to vault teller to... Found that I liked banking because it was dealing with successful people. There was a little bit of sales involved. It was money. It was like learning what works or what, how to get ahead. You know, who is successful, who wasn't. 

Taught me a lot about people. How some people will act like they have a lot of money, but they're really broke. And some people will... Look broke, but have a lot of money churning my thinking all around. I liked the interaction. I liked the air conditioning, you know, a lot of, a lot of pretty women, you know, 

[00:11:02] Craig: Air conditioning and pretty women. Now we're starting to get into it, 

[00:11:05] Paul: but we still have Yuma to deal with. And it's still 120 degrees, you know, in the summer. So I moved out here to California and I. I worked at Lloyd's Bank in Beverly Hills, and then Western Federal Savings, and then Wells Fargo, and so I did a lot of different banks. 

[00:11:22] Craig: How long total were you in banking? 

[00:11:24] Paul: From 81 to 92, and I worked my way up through all the ranks and did everything other than operations officer, and I ended as a loan documentation officer. Running around closing loans and selling insurance. And doing what bankers do. 

[00:11:39] Craig: How old are you at this point in your life after you've been banking for 10 years? What, 25? You were young, you're cooking in the banking world. 

You're doing great, you're moving up, you're bopping around, you're not in the middle of the desert. Things actually look pretty darn good for Paul Croswhite right now. What happens? 

[00:11:58] Paul: I had a boss that rubbed me the wrong way. And I was already restoring cars as a sideliner. You know, in my spare time. 

[00:12:07] Maury: Catch us up on that, but when did the restoring car piece kick in or start? 

[00:12:12] Paul: Well, I've always liked fixing stuff, taking things apart, making them better, putting them back together. I've always been intrigued with fixing things. 

[00:12:20] Maury: Yeah. 

[00:12:21] Paul: I, when I get home... I used to share this, in the banking world, that dirt doesn't wash off, it's all up in the head. 

Did I sell the person the right instrument? Is he going to lose his life savings because I told him the Putnam Fund was the best fund on earth? It was kind of my therapy. I found I really liked doing that. And this is the time, when I left, back in 92, savings and loans were in trouble, this one boss, he was a lot of, I thought, unnecessary things, action plans, and how you plan on getting more business, and I started basically weighing it all out and counting the costs, if you will, And I said, well, I'm making probably just as much by buying this Mustang, having it painted, doing the interior and selling that as I make in three months after taxes and whatever. 

So I said, and it's taking up eight to 10 hours of my day to do that kind of to go to a job. So I said, what if I just did what I really liked doing for that eight hours a day? Because it came down to, I get two, basically two weeks paid vacation for selling my soul for eight to ten hours a day, five days a week. 

[00:13:39] Craig: Let me get this straight. You suddenly had an aha moment. You were making as much money... Restoring and flipping Ford Mustangs as you were kind of working in the bank and suddenly you're like, I could make as much money and really lean into my passion. 

[00:13:54] Paul: Yes, or, or even make more because of the time that I, I have to do it now versus going to... The job. 

[00:14:03] Maury: Did you realize at the point that the Mustang was your thing that you were into? 

[00:14:07] Paul: Well, backing up, you know, Glendale Federal was one of the only institutions that would do classic car loans. 

They had this, this value guide called the CPI Guide, and it valued Ferrari and Lamborghinis and Stutz Bearcats, and pretty much every. Kind of cool, classic car you can think of. And my dad was the owner in a 67 convertible. A lot like, actually like your car, Craig. And for giggles, I'm looking at a CPI guide and I'm seeing this car and I said, I wonder what dad's car is worth. 

And I looked it up and I don't know, remember the exact numbers, but let's say it was 10, 000 back then. And every quarter you get a new guide and I started looking at his car Appreciate 2, 000 per quarter. And I said, you know, I've got 10, 000 in the savings account earning me 0.05%. 

[00:15:04] Craig: Ah, got it! 

[00:15:06] Paul: And it takes me a whole year to earn a half a percent. 

[00:15:09] Craig: Right. 

[00:15:10] Paul: And his car just made him 2000 last quarter. Why do I have my money in something earning me half of a percent when I could be earning 80 percent a year? 

[00:15:20] Craig: Was this the moment where. You went classic Ford Mustang bonkers. 

[00:15:26] Paul: Oh, I sold my Mercedes and I bought a Mustang convertible. 

[00:15:30] Craig: Okay. What was your first car? 

[00:15:32] Paul: A 1970 convertible because I couldn't afford the 67 or eight at the time. Because they were twice as much as the 70s were. And then I like, I started restoring that, and a friend that I had bought some parts from told me, I got another 70 convertible if you like those. And so I bought that one so my wife could have one and I could have one. 

And I just saw the values continue to rise. And I said, I was talking with a guy down in Culver City that I was buying parts from, and he says I have a hundred Mustangs. And so my, pea brain went, a hundred Mustangs earning a thousand dollars a month, that's a hundred thousand dollars a month. 

[00:16:11] Maury: Wow! 

[00:16:11] Craig: Were you still working at the bank now, or had you like really taken the leap of faith that this is what you were going to do? 

[00:16:17] Paul: I just knew that there, there was a way out of the bank because I saw a hundred thousand a month or whatever. Appreciation on assets that are purchased versus, you know, continue to work and I, and now keep in mind, I'm doing loans now and there's guys coming in getting home equity loans and whatever and they're saying, I rent stuff to the studios, you know, I rent lighting equipment. 

And they're giving me these W 2 forms, you know, and I'm going, this guy made a hundred grand last year, just renting equipment. He didn't do any work. He just rented the equipment. And I said, why don't I just start renting cars to the studios? 

[00:16:58] Craig: So a lot of it started as like a practical way to work smarter, not harder. 

[00:17:04] Paul: Sure. Yeah, definitely. I bought a third convertible. Which was a 68. I want to say it was $2,500 at the time. I ended up buying another car that had a nice interior. 

So I swapped the interior from that car into that car. And then I painted it and sold it. And I want to say I got $12,000 for it. I basically netted $10,000 in six months. I was on my way at that point because the car that I had bought is the donor car, the one with the nice interior. I sold that and doubled or tripled my money on that car. 

It just started, started making sense in dollars also. 

[00:17:45] Maury: I'm hearing the money stuff, which is great, but how are you feeling at this point? 

[00:17:50] Paul: Well, and I'm still working at the bank at this point. I'm starting to do better on the side than on the paycheck side. 

[00:17:58] Maury: Right. 

[00:17:58] Paul: And I'm now getting grief from my supervisor, boss, and I basically kind of did a lot of praying, saying, God help me here. I don't know what to do. I gave them my two weeks, you know, it was a blind leap of faith, really. I said, I don't know if this can work. I've got three kids and one on the way. You know, I don't know how it's going to work. 

My wife doesn't work. You know, I've got a mortgage. I started running ads in Craigslist, and I don't think it was Craig, I think it was Recycler back then. 

[00:18:28] Craig: Yeah, I remember the Recycler. I remember the Recycler. 

[00:18:31] Paul: Upcaps, wheels, bumpers, and just started selling. Mustang parts and you know, the, the studios things. I went around to the different studio places and said, I've got cars to rent. 

[00:18:43] Craig: I think you get this, but just to make sure, when Paul says studios, he means Hollywood movie studios. And his Mustangs over the years have been in music videos, movies, commercials and ads, and television shows. Of note; music videos: The Call, movies: Men Seeking Women, Super 8, Martial Law. Commercials: Citibank, and Ford. That would make sense. Ads: he's been in Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Abercrombie Fitch. And On TV: he was in ER, General Hospital, and most recently, where I saw Paul's Mustang, was in a show with Billy Bob Thornton called Goliath. You should check out Goliath, it's a cool show. And Billy Bob Thornton drives one of brother Paul's cars. 

[00:19:30] Paul: I was shotgunning it, you know, going every which way that I could just to make a buck. 

[00:19:36] Craig: I met you as brother Paul, the Mustang doctor, but had your dad owned a different car? Might it have been that car? Did you just by happenstance fall into the Ford Mustang being like the centerpiece of your life? 

[00:19:52] Paul: I mean, and it's not that I preferred Ford over Chevy or anything else. 

It was just. The Mustang, I kinda knew now, because I had learned by restoring that first one, and having two more that I was restoring at the same time, that I liked the way it was designed, how it went together, very few tools, you can pretty much a Phillips screwdriver and a half inch wrench do most, most work on a car, you know, it just made sense because I didn't have to relearn or reinvent the wheel. 

[00:20:24] Craig: So now cut to 35 years later, on the Mustang Ranch, so Paul has a property, it looks like the set from a really cool movie because on it, it has, I'm gonna guess here Paul, 70 or so Mustangs in different states of having love, getting love, needing love, is 70 the right amount of Mustangs that are on the lot now? 

[00:20:50] Paul: Probably, probably right around that, that many, yeah. 

[00:20:54] Craig: Got it. And then, still to this day, you are constantly working on restoring for customers like me. I met Paul randomly. You help consult them to get into Mustangs. You'll restore Mustangs. You'll build Mustangs. 

[00:21:10] Paul: I'm not as young as I used to be, so it takes me sometimes a little longer to do things that I used to do pretty easily. 

But yeah, I still love restoring the cars Using them when I get called for a movie or music video or whatever. Yeah, I, I, anything to do with the Mustang. I still get excited going to car shows and seeing other people's cars and, you know, helping them with when they have questions about how does it work? 

[00:21:39] Maury: Did you ever fall out of love with it? Because your story is amazing because you were banking and then you found this other passion this amazing life that took care of you and your family and you went for it and did you go through any other chapters where you felt like no i need to go do something else? 

[00:21:55] Paul: Since then there's been no looking back there's been a couple of dry places where I had to help a friend paint an office building or something just kind of as a temporary to make ends meet, but yeah, not really. It's, just been Mustang's. 

[00:22:10] Craig: Yeah, like where I would say you are an absolute master. There is not a nut, bolt, screw, or fuse that you haven't dealt with between what 64 and a half and when in the 70s. In which car? 

[00:22:23] Paul: 73. 

[00:22:24] Craig: So if it's between 64 and a half and 73, is it safe to say you're a Ford Mustang Master? 

[00:22:32] Paul: I still don't know that I like that word, Master. I think we're always going to have something to learn, you know. And for me, the Master is somebody that doesn't need to learn anymore, you know. 

[00:22:43] Craig: Got it. So are you still learning? Are you still learning? 

[00:22:45] Paul: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm always learning. I think the day I quit learning will be the day I'm, you know, passing on to the next life. 

[00:22:55] Craig: Here's a story I'd like to share with with the listeners. Through our very close friend, Craig Ford, we all, we all are very close friends with Craig Ford, a wonderful guy. He introduces me to Brother Paul, and my wife and I, who know nothing about cars, and Paul actually consults Nicole and I as we're buying. We fall in love with the car, and I will tell you, first thing I learned from Paul, is man, these cars, you fall in love with these cars instantly. 

Isn't that true, Paul? The way these cars look, the design of these classic Mustangs is irresistible. So, it's irresistible for the average bear person like us to look at them and not fall in love. The first thing Paul taught me... was to say no. You know, he was telling me to look for rust, to look for accidents. 

We were looking at where the car lived. He taught me how to read the door tag so I could understand where it was manufactured. And in a way, the first bit of mastery I learned was like, all that glitters is not gold. We probably looked and said no, you know, 20 something cars. We would look at them online, and he would just go, no. 

And I mean, Maury, I'll tell you, looking at these cars, you would be like, "YES! I want that in my driveway." And Paul would say, no, that's not your car. 

[00:24:13] Paul: I call it a pig with lipstick. 

[00:24:16] Craig: Yeah. And I'm sure a lot of your coaching and being a master to help people buy these cars is actually saying no. 

[00:24:23] Maury: You can just walk up and look at a car and go... And see its nature. Like, that's a good one, that's a bad one, buy this one. You, I mean, what are you looking for? How do you know? Those are the, you know, those are the things from years of expertise that you've just got that ability to see something as it is. 

[00:24:41] Paul: Sure, yeah. We gotta keep in mind that, you know, you want a California car, or a car that's lived in, in California, or Southern Arizona, or Southern Nevada, because the other 49 states, or 47, whatever, are potentially rusty cars, unless they've lived in garages for their whole life and not driven on salty roads in the winter and that kind of thing, cause rust, salt, and water eat metal. Ideally you want to start underneath the car, looking at, you know, the points where panels are welded together. I never buy a car with a pretty paint job normally because I figure I'm going to paint it anyway. I'd rather see a car that's. Live 10, 20 years without getting a paint job. 

Because a new paint will hide Bondo and rust. Combine that with, options. Cause adding air conditioning or disc brakes or power steering to a car, if you need that or want that, can be expensive. So it's really better to wait and get the car that's right for you. And whether it's, you know, a Dodge, Chevy, Datsun, Toyota, whatever it is, you know, get those. 

Those years they were built simple, reliable, it was about building the best car they could. Not about making money at our sake. For me, computers and sensors and relays and smog pumps and catalytic converters and all, all that nonsense, to me it's nonsense. It's, it's just something to break and cost you a lot of money to fix later. 

And if you never had it, you don't have to fix it. 

[00:26:21] Craig: So we find Rubee, our '68 red convertible Mustang, we find it online, we get a good feeling, we call Paul, we live in San Diego, we say Paul, meet us in Ventura, it's the first time we met in person, remember that, we had talked a bunch on the phone, we'd never seen each other, by the way, for the listeners, Paul is the coolest looking outlaw Mustang master you could imagine, we're talking denim shirts and long hair and he's just the coolest looking dude ever. 

I was just so happy you looked like you, you really looked the way you were supposed to look, so I was really pleased with that. We get there. 

[00:27:00] Paul: My wife is still not happy. She, she says I married a vagabond. 

[00:27:03] Craig: No, no, no. You went the right direction. You just play Mustang outlaw perfectly. 

I love it. So we get there. And I'll tell you this, Paul, I don't know if we've ever talked about it. Nicole and I were kind of like in love with this car and we go, Paul's going to help us, right? He's going to be the poker face and he's going to help us negotiate. And we walk up and there are these two women that were selling this car for their deceased father, that was his collection. 

Let me provide a little color here. When we walk up to the car behind the house in this little cute neighborhood in Ventura, there are these two, four foot eleven, eighty seven year old sisters, and they've got their arms crossed in front of them, they're barely making eye contact, and they have the overall demeanor of nightclub bouncers. 

From the minute we got there, we knew they knew what they were talking about, they knew what they had. And we were in trouble. We needed Paul's help. 

And we're like, Paul's gonna play it cool. And then you walked up to Rubee and you go like this, Oh, this is an awesome car. And you said it right in front of them. 

You said it right in front of them. And we were like, Oh God, he was supposed to play it cool. And so then, and then you're like walking around the car and you're like, "Well, you know, normally..." 

[00:28:11] Paul: I know I need to make amends to you for that too. I remember that. 

[00:28:15] Craig: Well, it was so, no, no, no, it was so funny. 

[00:28:17] Paul: Did I say, if you don't buy this, I'm buying it? 

[00:28:19] Craig: I think, so at one point, Maury, we're walking around this car, the women are hearing everything. Paul's eyes are like, wide like saucers, and he's like, this is a nice car. And we're like, Paul, shut up! We're trying to negotiate here. And, 

[00:28:34] Paul: A nice interior, air conditioning, eight track, disc brakes, power steering, automatic. 

Yeah, it's an amazing car. Still this day, I, I, my heart jumps and skips a beat when I see that car, you know. 

[00:28:47] Craig: Right, me too, by the way. So Maury, Paul actually says that. He, at one point, he goes, Look, man, if you don't buy this car, I'm going to. 

 We end up negotiating. We hug. 

I drive this car home. I'm like, 15 inches above land. I'm so ecstatic and giddy. And I remember the next day, another huge moment where I think your master Paul, as I called you and I'm like, I don't know, man, I'm terrified to drive it. Like, you know, can I drive this car? It just felt like, it felt like too special or something. 

Like I felt overwhelmed by how. Amazing this car was. And Paul said something I'll never forget, Maury. He said, you don't light a candle and keep it under a tarp. He's like, if I own that car, Craig, I would drive that car and enjoy it every single day. Everything on that car can be fixed. We can get through anything. 

Drive that car every day. Enjoy that car every day. Do not leave it in the garage. Do not leave it under a tarp. 

[00:29:50] Paul: Yeah. 

[00:29:50] Maury: That's great. 

[00:29:51] Craig: Paul, I gotta tell you that I'll never forget you kind of saying, "Enjoy the car." Don't get a car and just stare at it. Enjoy the car. Drive the car. 

[00:30:00] Paul: Yeah. There's no point in owning something so beautiful and nice if you're not gonna use it. If you're going to do that, buy a Picasso, you know. 

[00:30:08] Craig: So Paul, a question we ask everybody is, no matter what you think, Maury and I believe you to be the Mustang Master. And so, for the classic 1964 to 1973, you know, in your mind, what are three keys to Mastery? 

[00:30:27] Paul: I, shoot, and that's a great question. And I, I think that, it's following your passion, of course. You gotta love what you're doing. And somebody once told me, if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. You know, because experience is probably a good one, having the time to perfect your craft, your skill. 

The third one, I, I want to say higher, something to do with higher power, and it probably should be your first one. We only have so much time on the Earth to do something we love, that we want to continue to do. Humility, I think, is a big part of that, is to, and I think we kind of touched on it with, never quit learning. 

Because I, I think pride goes before the fall. When you say you're a master, or you're, you're the best, that's usually when someone will say, Oh, yeah, well, what about this? I guess being humble and continuing to just enjoy the time that we have on this Earth to do things that we love doing. 

[00:31:31] Craig: Beautiful. 

[00:31:32] Maury: Paul, another question we like to ask people. Do you ever get bored? 

[00:31:35] Paul: No. It's always challenging and, you know, I think if you get bored, it's time to look for something else to master. 

[00:31:43] Craig: Speaking of which, Paul, is a master collector, Maury. And it's not just Ford Mustangs. Paul, tell them what else you collect. 

[00:31:54] Paul: Well, I've been going down the watch rabbit hole. You know, I like watches because maybe it's back to springs and wheels and gears. I don't know, but I'm a smaller... Level I've got into watches. 

[00:32:06] Craig: But listen to this, Maury, Paul, how many watches do you have right now? 

[00:32:14] Paul: More than I have cars. That's for sure. 

[00:32:17] Craig: Give me a number. Give me a number of how many watches you have. 

[00:32:20] Paul: I have not counted. I want to say between five and eight hundred. 

[00:32:24] Maury: Whoa! 

[00:32:26] Craig: I like that range between five and eight hundred watches. That's good. Where do you keep, where do you keep eight hundred watches? 

[00:32:34] Paul: You know, they're small. They can, you know, you can, they're not, they're not real big, you know? So it's a lot easier to say, I think you can master whatever you want to master. If you willing to do the work and put in the time and effort. 

[00:32:52] Craig: Do you think that's really true? Do you think like... Anyone can master anything? 

[00:32:57] Paul: I really believe that if, if, if you really set your focus and your talents toward doing something you, you want to do, you can master it. 

[00:33:08] Craig: I wanted to change directions real quick. It just, something occurred to me. I love many things about your brother, Paul, but one of my favorite things is you're like, a vintage dude yourself. It's interesting to me that you started with computers probably before most people even knew what a computer was, but you're like the most vintage analog guy that I know. 

 In a way I want to say you've, I don't know if you've rejected technology, but you're like uninterested. You're, you're interested in a classic, a classic vibe, a classic life. You're not all that interested in modern tech, even though you were probably a pretty early adopter to computers and technology. 

What's that about? 

[00:33:47] Paul: I just think that if, if you've got something that works great, leave it alone. And why try to improve it? And there's an analogy I use with the mousetrap. You've got a, a spring and some peanut butter and you put it on the little thing and now we go and say, we got to make this mousetrap better. 

We're going to put sensors and electric eyes on it. And, you know, all this new technology just to catch a mouse. In reality, that sensor goes bad or the electric eye goes bad. Next thing you know, the mousetrap's not working. I think some things are just meant to be left alone and, you know, if it ain't broken, don't fix it. 

And for me, the cars are like that, I've got four wheels, I've got a motor, a transmission, a rear end. You know, the blinkers work, you know, it's simple, it's, for me, that's more reliable than trying to get something with three or four times the moving parts and expect that to be more reliable. 

[00:34:45] Maury: One thing, Paul, I just wanted to point out that I feel like I'm just really respecting you because I feel like you mentioned it in at least two instances which sounded pivotal in your life story. 

And the first was when the bank started to ask you to do things, which I think the words you used was a little, were a little bit sneaky. And that didn't sit well with you, which sounded like that impelled you to start looking for other things and being open to a life change. And the second was when creators, designers, sellers of Mustangs also started to cheapen that product. 

 I respect that greatly in you, that both those moments drove you to do something else or to change, or to in terms of the Mustang, realize, you know, the years of that car that you really respected were, had a lot of integrity, which I think speaks to a lot of integrity in you. 

So, I think that is just very cool. 

[00:35:34] Paul: I would say you nailed it. You took the words right outta my mouth because, I feel that if something's good, then it's good. I mean, there's a, there's a point where you can actually make it worse by trying to make it good. 

[00:35:47] Maury: It's an element of mastery to respect the thing at its best. Right. To be able to see that and know that. 

[00:35:54] Paul: Okay. Yeah. I never thought of that, but yeah. 

[00:35:57] Maury: And just so you know, the people we've talked to so far, all have been very uncomfortable with the term Master because all of them have said, yeah, that implies like there's an end and I, and I'm, I'm still learning. 

We're still learning. We're still open and humble to. Finding the next thing. You're not alone. 

[00:36:16] Craig: I got the big, potentially unanswerable question. What is so amazing about a classic Ford Mustang? 

[00:36:25] Paul: You know, and I don't think I can answer it in the time we have left, but I want to say cool factor, plight of ownership. 

Simplicity, style, there's so many different ways I can go with that. You know, I drive a classic everyday. It seems like no matter where I go, somebody says, what a cool car. And it gives you that sense of, I did something good, I did alright. 

[00:36:50] Craig: I can agree with that. 

[00:36:51] Paul: For just a normal guy like me and you, and I'm just enjoying the car, you know. 

[00:36:55] Craig: I want to wrap with one final story. I had Rubee just for a couple of weeks. I go into the garage this first time and the car won't start. It just won't start. I am losing my mind. I, my stomach drops. I'm like, oh no, what happened? I call Paul. It's like late at night. I actually think Paul is out to dinner. 

He goes, hang on, Craig, calm down, calm down, hang on, Craig, calm down. I think he gets up from the table and he's like, Craig, "Check the cables to the battery. Check this. Check that." We do this. We do that. We look under the hood. He's like, hmm, this is interesting. We get into the car about 10 - 15 minutes later of troubleshooting and he goes, "Craig, is the car in park?" 

And I go, "No." And he goes, "Put the car in park." I put the car in park. Starts right up. I go, Paul, I'm so embarrassed. He goes, he goes, don't worry, brother Craig. It happens to the best of us. They put that in as a safety mechanism. And here's the thing I want to say about you, Paul. I have literally never met somebody in my life that has always been so gracious with your time. 

Just a joy to talk to. You've been a joy to get to know. We've had personal conversations, but on behalf of everybody that calls you panicking because their Mustang won't start. And you have to be slow and patient and gentle with us as a Master. And pass on your passion, which you do amazingly. 

I have picked up your passion because you're the guy that introduced me to the classic Ford Mustang. And on behalf of everybody that you've done that for over the past 30 something years, we owe you a huge debt of gratitude and a huge, huge, thank you. 

[00:38:41] Paul: Thank you, brother. I love you. You know that many times, any, anywhere we just, you need something, you let me know. 

[00:38:48] Maury: Well, now I want one. 

[00:38:49] Craig: Get one! 

[00:38:50] Maury: Yeah, get one. 

[00:38:52] Paul: You gotta get one, Maury. 

[00:38:53] Maury: Because I called you, because my wife is doing this, you know, tiny little film, and you showed up for that, too, and you didn't need to, and we were so appreciative, so. 

[00:39:02] Paul: It was a pleasure to do, and, you know, I, I enjoy... I enjoy helping out wherever I can. 

[00:39:08] Craig: Paul, well, thank you, my brother. You are the best. You are a Master, and we love you for taking the time to talk to us today on Everyday Masters. And you can bet your sweet, Mustang loving butt I will be calling you in the future to ask you something stupid, and I count on you to be nice to me. I love you, my brother, and we will talk to you soon, alright? 

[00:39:30] Paul: I love you too, Brother Craig, and Brother Maury, I'm looking forward to meeting you. 

[00:39:35] Maury: Yeah. 

[00:39:35] W-U Song: And now, it's time for the Wrapper Upper. 

[00:39:40] Craig: Brother Paul, to me, is just such a unique cat. He just has, really followed a passion and followed a life that... is so out of the ordinary. When you meet him, I know you have a buddy, maybe we'll, we'll talk to sometime that's a rancher or a kind of a real cowboy. 

And it's like, very interesting to meet people that make choices that are so unique and almost. Counterculture is the wrong word, but he is just not a mainstream dude. He was a mainstream dude. And then he just said, I'm going to take this leap of faith and has lived this kind of Mustang outlaw life as, as this sweet guy. 

And it's worked for him. I mean, it's just, to me, it's just so inspiring in a way that you could be true to yourself that way. That's one thing I love about Brother Paul. My personal Wrapper-Upper, I have to tell everybody, if there was one thing I thought we would get in this interview that was a no brainer, and I've had lots of talks with Paul, I've known him for a couple years, spent a lot of time, we talk a lot about, my car, Rubee, and other cars and stuff, and I've gotten to learn more. 

I thought for sure Brother Paul's passion would be around that he fell in love with the Ford Mustang, the classic Ford Mustang, when he was younger. He loved the car. He always loved the car. It was always about the car, the design, the engine, the 289. I just thought. When I ever really sat down and asked him, the no brainer was going to be that he loves the Ford Mustang very spiritual, high level way. 

And what was absolutely fascinating to me was the serendipity of how he got there. Like how at first it was about just finding air conditioning in the desert. Everything was just to get him out of the heat. And then he got into the bank, and then he was there, and then it was about an investment. 

So here's a banker that was thinking I could invest my dollars here, but my dad's got a Ford Mustang that's appreciating at a better rate than these products I'm selling in the bank, I think I'll do Ford Mustangs. You and I were actually trying to like, oh, but you know, tell us how much you love the Mustang Mustang. 

And to him, he said, he said something I wrote down like, and then the dollar started to make sense. I was like, how cool is that line? Brother Paul, who looks like an outlaw from the Sons of Anarchy that works on Mustangs in this lot, is actually a very savvy investor, I came to find out, who really got into this because he thought it was a smart place to invest his time and money. 

And I gotta tell you, as a guy that knew him and brought him here, I'm very, very surprised about that. And I'm not exactly sure what that means about mastery, other than, I don't know, I gotta think about that. 

[00:42:26] Maury: He was so great, and, anyone who you call for kind of a favor and says... 

Yeah, sure, I'll show up, you know, and he's big league to me, just in terms of what he knows and, and asking him for something like that, and he was like, yeah, I'll do it, and he came for, I think, nothing, and, and unfortunately his scene was cut from the movie and he was just super cool. 

 I was gonna talk about how you said that he learned to work smarter, not harder. But one thing I picked up is it sounded like he was working hard his whole life. There's that where they join and you, you get it. But it's only because he's been working harder, maybe that he got, got to that. 

But I think listening to you, Craig, what struck out to me is how he was really able to listen. He was paying attention as he went to be able to see one like, Oh, I'll make this on my return if I do this. Versus that, but he was also listening, and it's that thing I mentioned when we were talking to him. 

He was also, you know, it sounded like he was really unhappy working at the bank too, like he was reaching a place of real discomfort, not liking what they were asking him to do, it was getting real sneaky, and he didn't like that, and then there's this other thing. I think that is an aspect of mastery where you're able to listen and see what's going around you and then make a cool decision that ends up being sort of the rest of your whole life. 

But yeah, really, I mean, from Paul, you really get that it's all about temperature control. Mastery is about temperature control. That's it. Just, just, are you warm, are you hot? And, and, you know, warm, cold. It's like the game we played as a kid. 

[00:43:54] Craig: But, but he did, I'm going to riff off what you just said, what was interesting. 

I mean, he definitely has passion. I mean, like he, he loves this machine. This machine makes sense to him financially, working on it. It's always made sense to him. He said, put in your time. I mean, the guy is like put in his time. One thing that I mentioned in my stories that you heard, his love of it is so pure too, that he just is so patient to talk to you. 

Or anybody about the Mustang. Like you would almost think after 35 years of talking about this car, he wouldn't be as patient and wonder, and he will just spend as much time as you need to talk to you about whatever it is. And that, there's mastery in that. Because he has a never ending well of interest that he can draw from to talk to you about this thing. 

He'll always do it. He'll always call me back. He'll always talk to me. I never feel like I'm bugging the shit out of him. And I know I am. Because I bug the shit out of everybody. Like you, right now. 

[00:45:00] Maury: Yeah, you're sort of, I'm just like, horribly, you're like, um... steroidal? 

[00:45:05] Craig: No, go on. Were you gonna say something? 

[00:45:06] Maury: No, I was gonna, I was trying to think of like, how much of a mosquito you are. You know me so much. I lost my train of thought. . 

[00:45:12] Craig: That's, see, that's serious. That's serious. 

[00:45:15] Maury: I just, just for our first six billion listeners in between the time that we talked to Paul and we did our little Wrapper Upper, we don't always do those, just, you know, yeah, getting it all done, I got to meet Rubee. 

Yeah! And I got to go down and see Craig in person, and I got a ride in Rubee. And wow, what, yeah, that was a, that's an amazing, that's an amazing car. 

[00:45:36] Craig: It's a cool thing, right? I mean, it really... Changes your mood. It, there's something about being in a classic Mustang with the top down, listening to a cool retro, it is, it is really a fascinating thing. 

I'll tell you another thing, side plug for getting a classic car. It's the one thing in my life where people will come at you. They're smiling. They want to talk about it. It's a connector. I never realized that to own a classic Mustang, people walk at you, and they want to talk about the car, and they're smiling, and they want to share their story. 

We thought this car was for us to enjoy. It's kind of like a community, communal item when you take it out in the world. That's cool. It's great. I, I do, before we leave, I, I would like to say it would be super cool if you got a nasal decongestant too, you know, at one point, just, you know, maybe just to clean out your sinuses or something, but I mean, it's unrelated. 

[00:46:32] Maury: It's cool. It's cool that we can, it's cool that we can edit. 

[00:46:36] Craig: Yeah. No, I mean, cause you sound um, I don't know, I'm going to go with stuffed up. Amazing. Are you ever going to get better? Or is this, this is chronic? This is chronic. 

[00:46:46] Maury: No comment on your eyeballs. Thank God it's out of you. Um, We're, we're right. You're cutting all of that. 

[00:46:52] Craig: I don't know. You can get in. You can do whatever I want. I can do whatever I want. All right. 

[00:46:56] Maury: On that note, on that nose, uh, Paul was amazing. Thank you all for being here. 

[00:47:04] Craig: All right. We will see you next time on. Everyday 

[00:47:08] Maury: Masters! 

[00:47:09] Outro Song: Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters! Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters. Everyday Masters!