Erik Barnlund: Maxlider Brothers - Custom Broncos (@maxlidermotors / maxliderbros.com)

On this episode, Chris and Erik officially debunk the myth that his and his brother Kris' last name is Maxlider, the wild story that lead to the Barnlund brothers becoming known as the Maxlider brothers and how they built the premier official Ford Bronco custom up fitting program.

After the band Maxlider broke up, Erik and Kris decided to re-launch the Maxlider brand and focus on their love for vintage Broncos and old Ford trucks into a business.  Out of their 25,000 sq. foot shop in Bloomington, IL they build and restore custom classic and new Ford Broncos.  With the Bronco becoming one of the most popular classic and new trucks, they became the largest Bronco builder and customizer in the country.  Not only are they the officially licensed new Ford Bronco up fitter and customizer, but they continue to build bespoke investment quality classic Broncos.  Their high-end Bronco builds have earned numerous awards at top auto shows across the country, including SEMA.

Thank you Carson Knight (@bronco_raptor_4) for requesting to hear a Bronco episode and Brian Ellis ( @3bellis / @fourbieexchange ) for requesting Erik as the Bronco topic guest.

Follow, Like and subscribe to the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and your podcast listing platform. Check out our website at classic4x4.com and reach out if we can help you sell your classic, vintage or collector truck or 4x4. Thanks for listening!

Transcript

0:01

Hello, classic four by four podcast listeners. We are continuing our season three listener request episodes with a very fun and interesting guest today, which I'm about to blow everyone's minds on this one. Our guest today is the co-founder and CEO of Max Lederbrothers, but are you sitting down? One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that the Max Leiter Brothers, Bronco, investment quality Bronco builders, that their last, the misconception is that their last name is Max Leiter. It's actually not. And where the Max Leiter name came from, we're actually gonna talk about in this episode because it's a wild story. But I wanna introduce our guest today, Eric Barnland, CEO, co-founder of Max Leiter Brothers. What's up, Eric? Hey Chris, how are you and hi to your listeners. Man, I'm super stoked to be just on this and get to share a little bit about, you know, what's going on in classic 4x4 world, specifically the Bronco. I hope we get to talk about, you know, where my best gear for you. So thanks for having me on. of course, man. I thank you for coming on the show today. I appreciate it. Broncos are very hot topic, which we're gonna talk about. And MaxLighter Broncos are a very hot topic because not only are you the premier classic gen one Bronco builder, investment quality Bronco builder out there, but you also have the licensing agreement for the current generation, new Bronco. for all their upfitting through Ford, which is a huge, absolutely huge accommodation to an achievement out there. But before we get any deeper, we obviously have to give credit where credit is due for this episode. So we're actually gonna credit two listeners today, one for the topic and one for the guest recommendation. So the first credit goes to listener Carson Knight. His Instagram handle is Bronco underscore Raptor underscore four. Uh, Carson. Yeah. I think actually Carson does have a Bronco Raptor or what people are calling the Raptor these days, uh, for the new generation. Um, so follow Carson, thank you for recommending that. Uh, we talk about, uh, Broncos today. And then the, uh, listener that gets a credit for having Jeff and actually who introduced, not Jeff, I'm sorry. Jeff works with the MaxLeader brothers, but for having Eric and introduced me to Eric is Brian Ellis from ForB Exchange. Again, the premier classic custom and unique four by four marketplace out there. So thank you both for, yes, Brian. And Brian, you know very well because you actually launched his auction platform. You know, good group of guys. Brian's awesome and excited with what he's doing with that platform. They are they are against a ton of traction. They have a couple. So they have their classified platform, which has been hugely successful and they launched the auction platform. And it's a key to the success is the fact that they're doing a handful of very curated auctions and getting a lot of eyes on some really great trucks out there and have some excellent sell through. So again, if you're all out there, check out, follow 4B Exchange, go to 4BExchange.com or 4B.com. and check out their classified listings and auctions out there. But, Now, Chris, for the listeners, how do you spell 4B exchange? So it's F-O-U-R-B-I-E. Exchange, so 4B. Yep, yep, 4B, that's awesome. There's a little confusion there too sometimes, just like when everybody thinks that your name is Eric Maxlider, right? That's very similar. Yes. So Eric, let's start with you. I mean, everybody wants to know, uh, the person behind the business, like where did this passion for Broncos come from? Like as, as a young buck, as a young child and you and your brother, Chris, your brother, Chris is your business partner is a, you know, a master Ford technician. He runs the operational side of the business. You're the face of the business, but like you guys grew up together and you both, this passion came from somewhere. So where did this Bronco and Ford and come from for you guys as Young Bucks. so I can sum it up with a picture for those watching on video. And if you're not watching on video, I'm showing a picture of my uncle, Dick Conrad, who is changing a wheel and tire on his 1966 Bronco. And it was a little springtime yellow, Canary yellow kind of Bronco was the first Bronco they ever sold at our local dealership back in 1966. And everyone thought they were ugly. And so I guess he walked into the Ford dealer one day and he says, what's it going to take to get that piece of, uh, off the front of your dealership lot. And, and, and allow me to take it home. And so the dealership owner put a deal together with him and he bought it. And it became kind of an infamous Bronco because when people were, um, you know, Back in the sixties, everyone had these big heavy vehicles that were, uh, rear wheel drive and it's snow and people get stuck and there was tricky dickie running around the countryside, bailing people out of ditches and taking them to work. And so, um, he proved very early on when the Bronco dropped in the sixties that it was capable and it kind of became a thing in our, in our area. His sons, um, My cousin Brian and my cousin Rick both had Broncos at different points. And they were a lot older than my brother and I, Chris, and we would go over to their house, watch them wrench on their Bronco. And they'd take us out and jump railroad tracks with no seat belts on in the back seat and no top on. My brother and I would be flying around and we just had a great time with them. And so it started at a very, very early age. the Bronco thing. And we've had a lot of fun with it. That's awesome. I love to hear that. Like I love when you know, this passion, every successful business starts in our world starts with a passion. I love to hear where that passion comes from. And a question I ask every single guest is what was your first car or truck that you had, whether when you got your driver's license or shortly after or before, you know, when you got your driver's license and you drove that drove that first time to high school all by yourself, what was it? Another photo prop. So there's two Thunderbirds right there. That's my brother and I, all dressed in denim. That's my brother's senior class picture. Okay? And that little red Thunderbird turbo coupe was my first car. And then my brother inherited that car when I went to college, and I upgraded to the silver Thunderbird that's in the picture. And we both had Thunderbirds. So did my mom and, uh, and yeah, very much a Ford family. The interesting thing is that was the first car I drove the first car I owned, which is really ties to the story. Um, I bought when I was 16 years old and, uh, happened to get a really good deal on it. The problem was it wasn't a Ford. It was a 77 Grand Prix with T-tops. And I got it because it was a really, really good deal. But when I drove it home, my dad met me at the door and he opened the door. And stuck his hand out and maybe in the jokes, I am, I gave him five. And I said, what's up G his name's Gary. Uh, and I called him G what's up G. And he says, you give me those bleeping keys and get that thing out of my driveway or you're never moving. or you're never coming back inside again. And I thought, oh my goodness, you know, I knew we were a Ford family, but I didn't know it was that kind of deal. So I literally handed them the keys. I sold the, I bought that Grand Prix for 400 bucks in a neighboring town. He forced me to sell it. I sold it for $850 later that week. And here I am a 16 year old kid made 450 bucks, you know, a long time ago, which was a lot of money. And I thought, well, there's something to this car thing, buying and selling cars. So we established that it's gotta be Fords and Fords all the time and hey, there's money to be made in the car business. So why not? That is super cool. I love that. What year was that Thunderbird? The red one and then the silver one. So the red one was an 83 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe. So if you're the turbocharged four cylinder and a motor trend car of the year in 83, by the way. And then the silver one was an 86 that was actually a V6. And that kind of became a famous car too because I would flip the car around when the Mustang guys or the guys with really fast cars would challenge me to a race. I would say, well, Anybody could buy a fast car, but how fast can you go in reverse? And so we'd flip around and I'd race them in reverse and I'd beat them. Um, and you know, cause that thing would move it, it literally do 60 miles an hour in reverse. Um, and yeah, almost died a few times, but won a lot of races that way. That's cool, man, I love that. That is the first time I've ever heard somebody say, you know what, I might not be able to win going forward, but I'll win going backwards. That's fun. So let's, I alluded to this in your introduction, but let's talk about it. One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that you and Chris's last name is Max Leiter, right? And I am fortunate enough to know the story, because you've told me before, when we were first introduced. months and months and months ago, we have a lot of common friends. You told me this story and I was like, this is wild. I love this and I'm so excited to hear about, our listeners to hear about it on air. But there's also like other misconceptions, like I dropped Jeff before, right? So, you know, there are the Barnland brothers that own Max Leiter Brothers, which, you know, is Eric and Chris, right? But then there's also Jeff. which is also kind of the face. And Jeff is like your right-hand man and he's the facilitator, he's the executor. Like, you know, the business doesn't, you know, it is, he's the glue that holds you and Chris together, but Jeff is not a Max Leder or a Barnland, right? Yes, right? So it's max lighter Jeff on Instagram. And it's funny because we he's now gotten to be such a thing that people Like we were down in Palm Beach for the Barry Jackson auction and we're getting off the plane and somebody came up and said, Hey, is that Max Lider Jeff? I want to meet, I want to meet him. And I thought, wait a minute. No, yes, you can. But we have a lot of fun with it because we're always doing, we're always going somewhere and there's always shenanigans and there's always a lot of fun and laughter and we have a good time posting it to social media. So. So Max Slider Jeff handles all of our modern Bronco customers. And we'll talk about that probably later with what we're doing with the new Bronco. But then Chris, well, he's always been my brother. He's my younger brother. A lot better looking, a lot smarter than I am. So he's the technical side. He's a senior master Ford technician. And he's just a really gifted. technical guy, technical mind. So he has the, as, as our CTO, he really spearheads all the technology that we develop and that we, um, we have on our Broncos, regardless of the year or the generation of Bronco that we build and supply at the shop. So all of our listeners are clear out there. Their last name is Barnlund, not Max Leiter. Jeff is neither a Barnlund or a Max Leiter. He has a completely different name, but he is a surrogate brother. So it's kind of like the triplets. We'll put it to you that way. But. Yeah, and there's actually like five of us. They're all kind of surrogate brothers. We're very family type of business, but yeah. That's super cool. So I alluded to this. I just talked about it. Now we're gonna talk about, tell us where the Max Lider name came from. Cause this is one of my favorite stories ever. It starts with a band in the eighties. Like this is super cool. So just drop it on us right now. Yeah, so Max Slider was a hard rock band that my brother and I had. Um, and we were very serious about it. We toured a little bit. We, um, competed in a lot of really, um, uh, high end band competitions and, and did very well. We're blessed to, uh, just have a really passionate, um, following. We wrote our own music and. And we'd go out and play cover songs and weave our original songs in. And, um, and yeah, it was a, it was a heck of a lot of fun. Um, the name Max slider is a really dumb story in that I misunderstood the lyrics of a toady song called back slider and thought it was talking about a guy named Max slider. And so when I found out that it was backslider, I thought, well, I guess I made this up, let's keep it as our band name. And, uh, And it just stuck. It has kind of a ring to it. And, but when we would play shows, people would want to know where'd the song, where'd this name come from? And you know, we'd get off stage and there'd be people like asking us questions and stuff, and it'd take me 10 minutes to tell the story and people were kind of let down because it's a really dumb story, so we just started telling people it's our last name. Cause you could say that in three seconds and they go, whoa, like Van Halen. Bond joke like Bond joke. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. And so we, we joked about it a lot that everybody in the band became, you know, Graham Max lighter or Johnny Max lighter, and, uh, those were some of our bandmates and, uh, we had fun with it. And when we started the bank, the, uh, Bronco business, or really tried to take it to the next level and, and create a brand around the Bronco business. We were having a hard time figuring out what we wanted to call it. And all of our friends said, are you kidding me? The name is obvious. It's Max Leiter brothers. And we thought, wow, that's, that's really cool. And because we're very, we're very genuine in what we do. We do Broncos not because they're cool. It's because it's who we are. And, and so it just fit that kind of genuine, um, authentic, uh, story that we. are in the process of writing. Cool, well you've done a great job writing it and you are now at a level which is pretty amazing. You know, when did you guys kind of formalize and start it? Yeah. I would be remiss if I didn't plug the fact that Max Leiter can be found on SoundCloud. And all of, we've got most of, I think, our whole second album, we wrote a couple albums, our second album is on SoundCloud. So if you want to hear Max Leiter, the band, go check it out on SoundCloud. There's some pretty cool songs. And if you're, you know, if you need a good workout, you know, album or something to get the blood flowing. Pop that baby in, you'll dry faster and you'll work harder. That's cool. Well, I hope after this episode airs that like your analytics on SoundCloud go through the roof and you get like thousands and thousands of streams and downloads for the old Max Later Brothers albums. That's super cool. So when did you and Chris really come together and say, Hey, this is going to be our future. This is, we're going to give this a shot. We are going to start restoring, you know, Gen one. Broncos and you've been doing this before anybody before number one before it was cool. Right. And when you could buy fully running Russ free gen one Broncos when nobody else wanted them for you know, a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars You guys you guys were leaders in this space. You were doing it before The quote-unquote Bronco effect took place over the past couple years. So when did you guys start this, you know? How did it evolve to eventually becoming the preeminent investment quality, classic Bronco builder, and then getting blessed and anointed by Ford, the manufacturer itself, to be the licensed upfitter for modifications for the current new Bronco? Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's been a long road spanning over, you know, five decades. Because we grew up with them, we just knew them better than anyone. And so we decided that we would try to turn it into a business, an actual business, when my brother came to me. He was changing from a tech... A technician at Ford moving over to BMW, they were recruiting him pretty hard because he's such a gifted technician. He was afraid that he just wouldn't do well because you're paid a flat rate, you're paid a book rate as a technician in a dealership. So he wanted to generate some extra cash and the band was done and over with. We decided to put a few thousand dollars together and start getting into buying and selling It was going to be Broncos and Mustangs at the time and some Ford trucks. We have a passion for Mustangs as well. But when we bought the Broncos, they would sell quickly and they had a lot better margin. And the marketplace obviously wasn't saturated. So we kind of found this, if you've ever read the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, Blue Ocean. filled with opportunity because you don't have a lot of competition. And, uh, and so we just didn't have any competitors. So I would buy a Bronco for a thousand bucks, 2000 bucks, something like that. We'd put a few hundred dollars in it. We'd sell it and make a couple grand and then move on to the next one. And at the time you started to see country music artists, put them in their videos and every now and then you'd see them on a, in a movie or a commercial. Um, and the interest level really started to ignite. Now, what year is this? Is this kind of taking place? Did you buy that first Bronco with your brother? That was, that would have been 2013, summer of 2013, we decided to really turn this into a business. It was a hobby for a long time and we just did it for side cash, you know, time permitting, but we decided that we would take it to the next level because we could tell that the market was starting to come around. You gotta remember that back in the day, no one cared about these things. They were utilitarian. They were pieces of junk that you would bounce off trees that you didn't spend any money fixing. They were farm rigs. They were utility, utility vehicles. And my high school plow truck was a 76 Ranger package Bronco that when I left high school, uh, back in 1992, I can't believe I said that out loud. Um, when I left high school, it had a rust, uh, rust holes in every panel and the frame was coming apart. and it died a slow, painful, rusty death. And so no one cared about them. Well, people in the early 2000s were beginning to do so, partly because if you remember this, Ford in 2005, they brought a prototype Bronco to a big car show. It was silver, but it was a throwback. It was like a futuristic look or... re-imagination of the Gen 1 Bronco. And at that point, I think that really ignited the marketplace to remember that first gen and, and begin to seek it out. Yeah. If you think about this and it's, it's kind of a joke, but it's not, uh, what most people thought the Bronco was at that time, the early 2000s. Uh, 2010, 2012, they, they attributed the Bronco to the OJ Bronco. And so when we see the white OBS, that's right. And so, and, and literally that was, uh, partly what killed the Bronco back in 96 was the expedition sales were really skyrocketing along with the Explorer sales. The OJ thing had just happened. And I think there was a negative connotation around that vehicle. And so Ford finally took it out of the lineup. Fast forward almost 10 years later, they do this prototype. It appears in a car show. People begin to get interested in it again and go, wow, those, those old Broncos were really cool. And so at that time we were getting asked because people knew us as Bronco folks. Um, we were getting asked to do more and more Bronco stuff. And we found that the Bronco sold a lot faster than the Mustangs when we bought them. The Mustang market is very saturated. There's a lot of people doing it, a lot of great builders out there. And so we thought, well, we really have a niche with this Bronco thing and, and let's, let's ride it. So one vehicle became three, three vehicles became five, five became 10. And I mean, I couldn't put him on my front yard anymore. And so, um, uh, because people were. driving by and stopping by a lot wondering what was going on. So we, um, we got a facility, a little warehouse, and we started to just store them there, but at that time, the customer was developing along with the marketplace and specifically the interest level in the Bronco, you had a lot of things coming together. The idea of the resto mod where people were taking classic vehicles and doing more modern things. Well. the popularity of the Bronco is growing and so was the appetite for more expensive projects that were more modernized. Folks wanted to put fuel injection in them and they wanted air conditioning, which is a whole other story that I could tell you about how difficult it is just to have air conditioning in a Bronco and about how we solve that problem very early on by designing our own engine that would allow you to have air conditioning. But And then it became the, let's put a coyote engine in the Bronco and let's put modern transmissions and, um, powered running boards and all the creature features. And, you know, at the time there was only a couple of us, uh, Jonathan Ward, who owns icon out in LA, who was doing amazing stuff. Brian Rude, who owns classic Ford Broncos and Columbus, Ohio, and us. And I remember Brian and I kind of had this contest a little bit, um, this competition, both competitive guys. And he'd call me and he'd say, Hey, I just had a customer sign up for a $50,000 Bronco build and I was blown away because I'd only been asked to develop a $40,000 Bronco build. Well, then I got called and someone wanted to do a $60,000 building. So I would call him and. He's, oh man, well, that's great. I just signed one up. And it wasn't that we were. We were trying to inflate the prices. It was that the scope of the project kept growing. It kept, um, and the, and the level of build quality that people desired was growing. And so we were just fortunate enough, the three of us to have the right team to be able to execute on those builds and help people, um, you know, really accomplish what they were dreaming of doing. And at the time we were fuel, you know, funneling new solutions to the Bronco marketplace, fixing Bronco problems. We, we, we joke about that at the shop. Let's fix more Bronco problems. Cause at the end of the day, they were designed in 1965 to run down a 55 mile an hour road, they had three gears. They were very inefficient. They were utilitarian. They, they rode and they steered pretty poorly and there was a lot of room for improvement. That's cool. That is, that's, that is funny. And I love to hear that you have relationships with your competitors. Like that is, that is all about community in itself, right? Cause yes, are the competitors and more competition that comes to a market is better for everybody, right? Whether people want to realize it or not, right? But most importantly, that you have that relationship and you're, you're comfortable, you know, throwing their name out there in an interview and stuff like that. That, that, I love that embraces community in itself. And I, I'm glad you brought that up. So you guys are doing early gen, you're building, you're surprised that people want build quality that would yield a$60,000 gen one investment quality Bronco build, which now I don't even, you can get something that is investment quality, but it's certainly not $60,000. It's a six figure build, right? Right. but it will have all the creature features and any of our listeners out there that listened to our mid-year market update episode that we did in between season two and season three, will know that the top, I think it was the top four or five classic truck transactions in the past year were all coyote swapped Broncos in the three, four, three, $400,000 realm, right? People love those coyote swaps. Yeah, absolutely. but how did you bridge the gap to the current generation, which the current generation is what? Gen five, right? Gen six, right? So how did you bridge the gap to the gen six and where, like, how did you end up with having that conversation with Ford? Cause that is a huge conversation. There are, for Ford to anoint anyone. and contract and license with anyone to be an official upfitter is not an easy process. But how did that come to fruition? Because that's huge. And that must have brought your business to a whole new level. This is not just something that like just happens overnight. There's an immense amount of due diligence. There's a whole process to become a licensed Ford upfitter. So, How did that happen? Where was the infancy of that? And how did it get to where it is today? Yeah. Well, so We've always been very passionate about helping Bronco enthusiasts. Um, and, and it, that wasn't a, we're, we're passionate about helping Bronco enthusiasts dot, dot that have the right amount of money to spend on these big six figure coyote builds. It was about, we want to be the foremost authority on the Ford Bronco. We feel like we have been. Um, just because we've been around them for so long and we've had a passion for him for so long. And so, um, we've always had $50,000 Bronco, you know, used Broncos that we, uh, that we offer for sale. It's not something we build, but it's something that we acquire and can upgrade or improve or go through. If the customer has a budget that's, um, you know, that's less than something they could have us build from scratch. So we've always wanted to help the Bronco marketplace in totality. We knew that the Bronco was being designed. You know, that wasn't a secret. It had been, it had almost come out two different times. This, so I may share some secrets because I can't remember what I can, I can't say at this point. So forgive me for the murder company, if you're listening, but so the Bronco had almost come out a couple of different times and it was scratched. um in the 11th hour for different reasons. Well, uh they finally decided they were going to do one and they knew that they wanted to build, they wanted to design a Bronco that they can, that was more than a vehicle. It was a brand for them. If you look at what Ford's doing, Bronco is becoming the Lincoln or the Mercury. You know, it's, it's a brand in of itself, just like Jeep is for Chrysler. Right. And so it had to be dominant in, because folks were going to compare it to the various, uh, Jeep packages, you know, JKJL on down the line. And so the, their design engineers were all driving Broncos or, uh, Jeeps and trying to, trying to determine, you know, what they can improve upon in the design process. As they designed it. The new one. Well, a couple of interesting things happened at that time for us. We knew we were gonna have to be ready because we were already getting phone calls. As a matter of fact, I joked with Ford that we were, you know, we were, I can't tell you how many free hours of time we spent on the phone just answering people's questions about the new Bronco because folks were coming to us. They weren't going to Ford dealerships because a Ford dealership hadn't had a Bronco since 96, they weren't calling Ford because, you know, for other reasons. So we were easy to reach, we were easy to ask. And so they were coming to us wanting to know, and before we ever even released a design or any details on what we were going to do with the new Bronco, folks wanted to get in line, they knew they were going to buy one, they wanted to get in line for a Maxlider version of a new Bronco. And they were ready to put deposits down. So we had people putting $500 deposits down, and they didn't even know what it looked like. So we were keeping a list and trying to keep track of all this stuff, and we were very overwhelmed at the time. And a couple of key things happened with Ford. One, the head of the design team contacted me. His name is Chris Spenson. And he said, hey, we've been admiring You know, your work for a long time, specifically what we've done with the four door Bronco, if you've seen that, most folks know us as the four door Bronco guys, because we built a couple for SEMA and Barrett Jackson, and I'm pretty sure on your list of the top sales were probably the, the Clydesdale four door we built and sold it and Scottsdale. Um, and those just really captured people's imagination, uh, when we started to do them. And. Ford was designing a new Bronco that resembled the Gen 1, but they'd never done a four door. And so they shared with me that they had pictures of the first four door we designed called the four horsemen. And they were kind of studying what that looked like and using that to kind of help them in the design process. And so... That was happening along with, I built a relationship with Joe Heinrichs, who was the president of Ford Motor Company at the time. And it became kind of a mentor and a client. And we were beginning to do some up-fits, design some parts and up-fits on other Ford vehicles as well. We had come out with a Ranger package that was pretty cool. It made the, the Ranger that was launched in 2019, it really took it to a whole new level. The Ranger market kind of flopped a little bit because it ended up being such an expensive vehicle that folks had a really hard time reconciling paying that kind of money for a midsize truck when they could just buy an F-150 and the F-150 was the market leader anyway. So, uh, we didn't sell many Ranger packages, even though it was a pretty cool product. But Ford took notice and they, they had asked if we would consider becoming an, kind of an authorized outfit or some things I can't share in terms of terminology and whatnot. But, but they knew that we were, we were going, we were gearing up to be ready for the new Bronco when it, when it finally came out. So. We were allowed access to some of the CAD files and some of the things that allowed us to design parts and to do and to prepare for the Broncos launch. So on July, whatever that was, July 13th, when in 2020, when they showed the Bronco for the first time, there was a big media event and at prime time, they showed the Bronco. Ten minutes later. I posted our rendering of the Max Slider version of that Bronco. And, you know, people really went bananas because they couldn't believe that we were able to do that fast. And, and so, uh, but it was, was something that we were working on for quite some time and the phones just lit up. I mean, literally Max Slider Jeff for a year did nothing but talk to people and help them understand. the difference between a big bend and a badlands and a wild track Bronco and what all these various packages were and why you would want one over the other. And they're calling their local Ford dealership and you know, there's a lot of information for someone who wasn't just in the middle of the Bronco marketplace to understand. So, so most dealership sales reps were very uninformed or under informed. Because they just didn't have the time and the anticipation the excitement was so great. So Our phones were going bananas with questions and requests for help So we knew we were on to something at that time And I'll tell you that first guy that called you to leave that, you know, $500 deposit for the Max Lighter gen five Bronco or new or current gen Bronco must be the happiest guy in the world. Cause he's getting the first one out there right after you, of course. well, then, and to that point, we were pretty giddy, too. It's always, you know, we, I tell you, there's, as an artist, because I was an art major, there's nothing more gratifying than having something, someone appreciate, you know, things that you design or produce. And because we were known for the classic side of Ford vehicles and specifically the Bronco. We just weren't sure how people would embrace us or react to us doing the new ones. And for the most part, that's been, that's been good. Um, it's been really good reaction to our designs. Um, interesting though, uh, we have gotten a little flack for it over the years. Um, because folks thought that maybe we were, you know, quote unquote, selling out to the new one. And what I tried to help them understand is that for years. years. We've sold 1,500 Broncos. So the conversations with customers are oftentimes very similar. Folks want to buy a Bronco, but they want to drive it regularly. And I have to talk them out of doing that. When it's a classic Bronco, no, don't make it your daily driver or your only vehicle because it's still a classic vehicle. It's going to break. It's going to leak on the floor. It's going to behave erratically. There's nothing cooler. to drive in the world that a Bronco with the top off. I mean, I don't care what anyone says. Says a Ford guy. I might beg to differ a little bit, but hey, we'll let bygones be bygones there. Ha ha ha. You might have a taste for other flavors, which is okay too, but in our humble opinion, the Bronco is the pinnacle. But you got to have realistic expectations when you own any kind of a classic vehicle. The new Bronco finally allowed us to have an option for those folks who had to depend on it, who wanted to drive it across country, who wanted to do more modern things. And so we were, we were excited to have it. in the lineup. Now you got six generations of Bronco and there's something for everyone. And I'll tell you that sixth gen Bronco Raptor, the white one that you guys just finished building that you debuted recently, that thing is, and to all our listeners out there, if you haven't checked out or follow MaxLighter Motors on all the social channels at MaxLighter Motors or checked out their website at maxlighterbros.com, so it's maxlighter, B-R-O-S.com. You guys gotta check out this white Bronco. Raptor that they just built. This thing is out of control. Now, was that a customer bill? Did you sell that already? Or are you just driving it to drop the kids off at school these days? Well, actually we've built half a dozen of them already. So it's been a popular design force, that kind of wide on wide layout. And yeah, the Bronco Raptors have been amazing because they are, I like speed. I said I was a Mustang guy. And man, you get in that Raptor and you shift it into sport mode and she really wakes up and it'll... It'll get the, it'll haul the mail if you, if you know what I mean. And we've had fun taking it to a whole new level, um, with the bumpers that we've designed and the spare tire reinforcement system that we designed and all the lighting and whatnot and, and using the, the Raptor as, as a pallet, um, to, uh, you know, again, from an artistic perspective, do something that transcends the vehicle. We felt like there was a lot of opportunities. There was mixed feelings about the design of the Raptor because there's some kind of head scratching design elements. And so we worked on really bringing all that stuff together so that it was one cohesive looking vehicle. And that's been the biggest compliment from folks is that it looks like something that maybe they can buy from the factory and it's all purpose oriented. and looks great, performs great too. It also looks like it's gonna literally hop up and eat you. Holy, it is that cool. It is that bad ass. Ha ha ha. Yeah, it's funny because when we started driving the Maxlider modified Bronco Raptors around, you know, I have a tendency to watch people's faces as I'm driving, you know, into them, right, or passing them, you know, on a two-lane road, and the looks on their face, and then watching in the rearview mirror as they almost run off the road because you could tell that they're like, what in the world is that coming? It literally looks like it's going to come out. and bite you or swallow you. Yeah, man. It's like a look of like shock and then awe and then amazement, right? So. definitely, it's a lot of fun. Although it's never fun when you're driving in the interstate at 80 miles an hour and someone almost runs you off the road because they're gawking or taking pictures of video or what have you, but it's exciting nonetheless. So it's amazing how you built this business and you had the Bronco effect. And, and not only did the classic early gen Broncos have a huge, I mean their valuations were impacted heavily by the gen six coming out. You know, I call that the Bronco effect, right? You know, and I think we're actually starting to see that in the scout world right now where, you know, Scouts, now that Volkswagen is going to bring out this new EV Scout, we're starting to see Classic Scouts really run up in value and become almost unattainable, just like we saw Gen 1 and early generation. Even OBS Broncos right now have become pretty unattainable value-wise. But what I respect about you and the rest of the Max Lider team is you guys are very family-oriented, you're very community-focused. And when I... I've interviewed a ton of investment quality builders. And one thing all of our listeners should know is, my interviews are very curated. I've had several builders approach me and what I call the diversified builders, they'll build anything for you. They build to a very high quality, but they'll build anything. They'll build a Bronco, they'll build a Scout, they'll build a Jeep. They'll build anything and you're kind of a master of none. And I haven't never had any of those builders on the, on the podcast, because I just don't believe in it. I believe in focus, right? Being a master of one, you know, in, in our first season, we had, Paul Poetrats, who is an investment quality land Rover builder. He owns Helderberg. These things are insane. You know, we also had Charlie Pitcher from New Era Performance, who's an investment quality Dodge truck builder in season one. Season two, we had Rob Ida, who is just like, I mean, anybody out there who knows custom vehicles in general knows Rob Ida. I mean, he just builds the most amazing custom vehicles. He's known as a hot rod builder. We had Nelson Kaie from the FJ Company who builds these investment quality FJs and Land Cruisers. This season, we had Sean Barber. who builds, you know, international harvesters, predominantly Scout, Scout II, Scout 80, Scout 800s. He owns New Legend and anything Scout. We just had Drew Norman from the Jeep farm build investment quality Jeeps, both FSJs and CJs, and then obviously you today. So you guys are all focused and you know your niche, you're comfortable in it, you operate very well and you're very successful in that space. And I do that for a reason. But what makes you unique in comparison to all the other investment quality builders is all these investment quality builders, they build the best out there. And yes, Max Slater has the 150, 250,$350,000, Gen 1 or Gen 6 Bronco Raptor that you can buy that is just second to none, but you also build down market too, which I respect a lot. And I was actually looking at your inventory in preparation for today's. for today's interview and you have Broncos available for everybody across the entire socioeconomic spectrum, which makes you very unique as a high caliber investment quality builder. There were three that popped out to me. You have a Gen 1, 1967, highly original, nicely restored Bronco, and it maintains that classic look, but it's $59,000. right? You're asking 59. You have a 1985 Bullnose, very highly original that's been gone through by the Maxleiter team. It's got the Maxleiter stamp on it for 39,000. You have a 96 OBS, again, highly original under 100,000 mile that's been gone through that has the Maxleiter stamp on it for 25,000, which that's what makes me unique. So it makes you guys unique is you have... there is accessibility to a max layer Bronco that starts at 25,000, right. And goes up to three, 400,000. And that's what makes you. So tell me about that. Like, how did you start doing Well again, I use the word being genuine and authenticity being such a focal point for us. It's important to us to help Bronco enthusiasts, regardless of what you want to spend. So we never want to be accused of only K-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d- Um, and that, no, our, not all of our Broncos are $250,000 plus. Uh, we have something for everyone. Now you have to have the right expectations and I put you through kind of, and I still do it. I still in the, from a vintage Bronco perspective, I'm still the head sales guy because I, I feel that it's important to try to talk people out of buying it in the process of, of helping them realize what they want. Um. They're what they don't want because some people have just unrealistic expectations and our brand is tied to it. If it comes through our shop, even if we didn't build it, our brand's tied to it. So we want, we want to help people identify. And I've got a really short process that I put them through that asks them, how do you want to drive it? You know, and the types of speeds you want to go and the frequency you want to drive it. And then, you know, what's the timeline and what's the budget. And if I know that information, uh, I can. write a prescription to help them achieve their goal. And you know it's good advice because if I only had one lane to sell you on, I'm probably going to work you through a process that helps convince you that one lane is the best lane. And I certainly have my opinions on which types of build, anything that we build from the ground up and do 100% custom project with. that's going to be the best because we were able to apply all of our best practices and our years of doing it and doing it in-house. That's always the best option. But if you can't afford to spend that kind of money, we still want to help you fulfill your Bronco dream. And a lot of times, we do that. And it's a $75,000 Bronco or a $95,000 Bronco. We didn't build it. We acquired it. And we have a process in which we acquire Broncos. so that we know they're in the top, you know, 10, 15, 20% of available Broncos in that price point across the board. So they're gonna have better metal, they're gonna have better features typically. We really try to have a good representation of each price point that we choose to bring in house. But we can get that Bronco, we can. Uh, upgrade it. We can go through it and verify it. We can transfer the knowledge to the, to the new owner because chances are they're not a classic vehicle, you know, expert. So they need someone to help them understand, Hey, you know, the transfer case is leaking because the data transfer data, 20 transfer case is kind of like Michael Jordan, you can contain it for a short period of time, but you're never going to stop it from, from dripping. Right. And so we can help them understand that and then get something that's right for them. That doesn't put them out over our skis, out over their skis rather. They, a lot of times they'll call back in a year or two and say, you know what, this has been great, but now it's time to take that next step. Let's go ahead and build one or let's go to the next price range and let's, let's spec out something that I can get. If I spent more. And so we can have that conversation along the way. And sometimes people have bought two, three, four Broncos from us over the years and, um, and the relationship's been very long-term. I have to tell you, I have an immense amount of respect for you and Chris and your surrogate brother, Jeff, of course. I have an immense, yes, I have an immense amount of respect because as investment quality builders and high quality builders, as they mature, they traditionally automatically just start going further and further up the market. You know, the $100,000 truck turns into the 150, turns into the 200, the 250. And yes, you guys have gone up market. but I have an immense amount of respect where you're also making sure that you don't leave anybody in the dust and you are now as you mature or actually even going down market, to accommodate every enthusiast and collector out there. And I have an immense amount of respect because honestly, I don't know any other investment quality builder that's doing that. And I think just like you were a leader in building investment quality gen one. Broncos before everybody else before they were cool, right before the bronco effect took on I have a feeling that you're gonna be a leader in this in this area too where you have a top quality investment quality builder that starts building down market too Because I think the consumers in the market itself will appreciate it just as much as I do so that's a hats off to you, man, I got to tell you that's a it takes a a very distinguished business person to realize the market, understand the market and cater to everybody and not just build up market, also build down market and have it accessible to all enthusiasts. That's rock solid, man. That means a lot, man. Well, we've been very blessed to be doing what we do when we do it. And that's timing. You know, I'll be honest, it wasn't our timing. It was God's timing. And we're just reacting to what we've been offered to Stuart. And we take that very seriously. Helping, helping, you know, we go to these Bronco shows and we're investment grade builder there and we do nothing but sit there and answer questions and give advice for the whole show. You know how expensive it is to do some of these shows. We'll sell $5,000 in t-shirts, but that doesn't even come close to beginning to pay our bill. The obvious question is, Mr. Businessperson, which I've never accused myself of being awesome at, why do you do it? Our answer has always been the same. It allows us to relate to the, the Bronco enthusiast, regardless of where they're at in the spectrum. And we just feel like it's our, we've almost taken that responsibility. Um, taking that on as our responsibility to be that, um, you know, to be the foremost authority in the Ford Bronco. And it doesn't mean with a $250,000 budget. It means. with wherever you're at. And so if we meet them where they're at, who knows? They may, they'll continue to be a customer. They'll continue to evangelize. We're just so fortunate with raving fans of what we do. And, and you know, we, we just want to continue to grow that. That's cool, man. And I gotta tell you, it says a lot about you, the team and your integrity and always giving back to the community. I'm a big believer in karma. You put good vibes out there, good vibes are gonna come back and you guys are, the proof is in the pudding, man. That's happening for you guys. So that's awesome. Well, Jeff, man, or Jeff, why do you keep calling you Jeff, man? Because look, I'm gonna admit, I'm gonna admit. I know you. Like you and I have known each other for like over a year now, like we have each other's cell phone numbers. Like, you know, I don't like to get you on this podcast. It wasn't like anything difficult. Just shooting you an email and you're like, oh, Chris, I know Chris, of course, right? You know, like I know you, I know you by your first name. Eric is in it. And why do I keep calling you Jeff? I don't know why. everybody wants to hang out with Jeff. I finally, so I fought it for years. I finally just accepted it. I hear it from the public. They love Max Leiter Jeff. And you can follow Max Leiter Jeff on Instagram at Max Leiter Jeff, J-E-F-F. And he's just a great guy. You know, he fits, you wanna talk about someone who fits the Max Leiter brand. Jeff spends countless amount of time helping people dissect and figure out what they should do relative for him. His perspective, the modern Bronco, because he helps all of our modern Bronco customers, and he's patient and he's very kind with his time. I tell you, I like to hang around him too. I'm not going to lie, Chris. He's a good dude. That's awesome. I love to hear that. It's great. Hey, nobody's successful without amazing people surrounding themselves with amazing people. Exactly. So that's awesome. And Eric, I can't thank you enough for the time that you spent today, all the amazing knowledge you bestowed on our listeners. And I wish you continued success. You're already successful. You will continue to succeed. And hey, eventually Ford's going to need an upfitter for the seventh We know you're gonna build something amazing there, just like you did with the sixth gen and all the previous generations. So man, thank you so much for your time. Ford's got some cool things in the hopper, uh, relative to the Bronco. And, uh, and I think you guys are all gonna, if you like, if you liked Ford Bronco, you're going to continue to love what they're, what they're doing. Um, but. Whoa, you heard it here first, listeners, right? A little nugget just dropped. a little nugget in the meantime, though, whether it's a, a starter Bronco that's 40, $50,000 or a competition bill, you want to win SEMA and you want to spend, you know, a lot. We can help you out, or maybe you want to go to your local dealership and order a Bronco. Then the order banks are now open for the 2024. And you can go to a Ford dealership. You can order a Bronco. You can use our drop ship code. You'll have to contact us first so we can work with the dealership. Order it, we'll give them our drop ship code. They will build it at Ford, ship it to us because we're an authorized drop ship location. We'll build it, send it to the dealer. And then you take possession of it. You can finance it there at the dealership. Wherever you're at or maybe you need cool parts because you already got a Gen 6 Bronco. We've got a full line of parts on our website. And take a look at those. We've taken a lot of time to design and manufacture them. So if you love broncos, just connect with us somehow, because we want to hang out with you, help you out. Awesome, man. That's so cool. And again, for all our listeners out there, if you don't follow Max Slater Motors on Instagram or the social channels, make sure you do. Check out their website, Max Slater Brothers. Check out their insane builds. Look at their inventory and hey, whether you, I'm sure a lot of people are gonna walk away from this interview saying, wow, I can get a Max Slater Bronco for under$100,000. Like, hey, you guys cater to everybody. So hopefully one of our listeners picks up, you know. one of those Broncos in every level of the market, the up market and the down market. So, hey, Eric, thanks a lot, man. I appreciate your time and appreciate you being on the podcast today. Thanks Chris for having me and you're doing a great job with this conversation. One of the fastest growing most popular podcasts because it's the coolest topics and the coolest people, well besides me, but you're doing a great job and so keep it up, keep up the great work because people love to hear what you're doing. I thank you for those kind words, man. I appreciate you being a listener too. And on top of that, being a friend. So rock on, bro. Yes. See you guys.