Joe Fattorosi: Urban Jeep Outfitters - Custom Jeeps & Broncos (@urban_jeep_outfitters / urbanjeepoutfitters.com)

On this episode, Chris and Joe discuss how a family owned body shop became one of the most prominent Jeep and Bronco custom shops in the country and how the synergies between a mother, father and son have lead to their success.  This special interview hits "close to home" for Chris, as Urban Jeep Outfitters happens to be a mile from him and he has the pleasure of being personally acquainted with their amazing family and shop.

From their state of the art shop in the picturesque beach town, Avon by the Sea, NJ,  Urban Jeep Outfitters grew out of a family owned and operated body and collision shop, J&E Auto Body, founded in 1987.  About 10 years ago they elevated the brand to include Urban Jeep Outfitters, dedicated to building and customizing Jeep Wranglers.  They first started with the JK Wrangler platform, eventually adding the Jeep JL Wrangler and JT Gladiator platforms.  With the addition of the new Ford Bronco, they have also added those to their list of vehicles they build and customize.  Every Jeep and Bronco they build, no matter how big or small the project, is executed to the highest industry standards of workmanship. 

Thank you Ryan Frechette ( @luckytobelost ) for requesting the topic and guest for this episode!

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

0:05

Hello, Classic 4x4 Podcast listeners. It is official. We are halfway through season three. This season, as everyone knows, is dedicated to listener-requested guests and topics. And today's topic is actually a parlay off of a topic we did on episode four with our guest Drew Norman from Jeep Farm where we talked about bespoke and custom Jeep builds. But... I quickly realized that in that episode, and obviously not only what I know, but also what Drew knows is CJs, SJs, or I should say Jeep CJs, Jeep SJs from the Kaiser and AMC eras. So one thing that's unique, and we actually alluded to on that episode is the fact that YJs and TJs are actually technically classics now, which is absolutely mind blowing because... My first car was a YJ as everybody knows. TJs came out like when I was in college. Man, there's nothing like making you feel old when the cars that were driving around your high school parking lot are now classics. But hey, that's neither here nor there. So a listener actually requested this topic which was to hear about YJs and TJs. And I said, you know, who do I really know that, that Knows YJs, knows TJs, knows LJs, JKs, JLs, and JTs is the guy that refuses to work on CJs and SJs and will only work on YJs, TJs, LJs, JKs, JLs, and JTs. And that is the one and the only Joe Fatterosi, my friend, who I've talked about a lot on the podcast before, dropped his name several times. And as many of you know, he is one of the owners of Urban Jeep Outfitters in Avon by the Sea, New Jersey. New Jersey, which is a town north of me. I could walk there. I actually pass his shop every single day on the way to my garage. But for those of you that don't follow Urban Jeep Outfitters on all the social channels, check them out. It's at Urban Jeep Outfitters. Also check out their website online, urbanjeepoutfitters.com. And also follow Joe, his handle on... on all the social channels is Joey or at Joey Jeeps. But Joe, thanks for joining me today, man. So this is gonna be a super fun episode because we've known each other for several years. We hang in the same circle of Jersey Shore truck and car guys. So I'm excited to talk to you today. And I gave you a little burn earlier about the guy that doesn't work on CJ's and SJ's because I'm always begging him to work on my stuff. And my stuff is... Not doing it. It's gotta be new. you have built some really cool YJs, TJs, and even some more amazing, you know, JKs, JLs, and JTs. I mean, your build quality, the organization in your shop is absolutely amazing. I've been in it on multiple occasions, actually on probably a monthly basis when I pull up behind your back door and say hello every once in a while. But... I'm excited to talk today about not only Urban Jeeps history, a bunch of your builds, and some of the stuff that you guys do over there. But before we do so, I want to make sure I give the credit where credit's due for today's episode, and that listener is Ryan Frichette. Ryan is from the great state of New Hampshire, and you can also follow him on all the social channels at At Lucky To Be Lost. So, Ryan, thank you for requesting this topic to talk about YJs and TJs today. But hey Joe, what's good man and how you been? You working on anything fun, anything in the shop today that you were working on that was fun? What was I doing? I was fixing a JK top from Bermuda that we got shipped in. Um, the whole JK got shipped in and, uh, we're doing a full build on it. Um, it's almost done. We're kind of getting there and then, uh, that's being shipped back out, put a new motor in it, new paint, everything, interior, lift, all that kind of stuff. So I had to do a few things that I thought I got dirty with fire realists and, uh, and this client is in Bermuda, is based in Bermuda? Yeah, it was in Bermuda. He's one of the builders in Bermuda. So I guess nobody builds Jeeps in Bermuda. So that might be one of my, you know, retirement, go to Bermuda kind of thing. But there's nowhere to go, you know, there's nowhere to go there to have it, you know, completely redone. And we tried finding him a right hand drive JL to do. And that was almost impossible. That was pretty hard to find. So he was like, huh. I'm just going to ship mine over to you and you just do it." I was like, all right, cool. And like three days later it showed up. I thought it was a way like, I was away like two months for it. And it was like three days later it was at the door. And, uh, yeah, they do like, uh, yeah, they do like a loop. They'll go from like North to go to South Carolina, go to Florida. And then they hit Bermuda on the way back. And then from Bermuda, it's only like, you know, probably 20 hours to get here by boat. So it's really not that far. So like two days later, the thing's there. And yeah, we're doing a full thing on it. So that's pretty cool. And it's right-hand drive, which is, I can, every time I go to get in the car, I go to the left-hand side, it's like, I still can't figure it out. You know what I mean? I love how you nonchalantly talk about engine swaps, like, oh, you know, we're just swapping like a 392 or a Hemi into it. What are you swapping into this one? He just wanted we just went straight three six just went right back to the three six So his was kind of knocking a little bit is a little old so we just kind of put a new motor and freshened it up and then Because like I don't I don't think ripping through Bermuda with a 392 two-door JK is like, you know They're a little bit strict over there with you know what they allow and all that kind of stuff So I like I have to keep the tires, you know kind of within the fenders and you know all that kind of stuff so We just put it back, you know, it wants to be reliable because, you know, anything happens, he's got to send it back to me. You know what I mean? So, but now, yeah, we just did a 392 swap and a JL. That was pretty cool. Um, and that's something we really want to, we're going to really start getting into. Um, so there's a bunch of, um, people who provide the swap package. Um, there's a couple of them. And. There's one big one, which is AMW, and we're trying to be the only people in the Northeast who actually are certified through them. So we got a couple things coming up. Hopefully a Gladiator 392 swap that we're gonna make into a factory looking truck, like it should have came from Jeep like that. And then we'll kind of go from there, see what we can do. That's super cool. I mean, you have enough, definitely have enough experience swapping those 392s and those hemi's. I feel like every time I'm at your shop, there is a, the front end, the front clip is taken off of a JL or a JT and you guys are, there's just a frame and there's a fully dressed 392 sitting next to it, right? On the dolly ready to be popped in. So that's cool. So talk to us about Urban Jeep. What is the history like? I know it literally started out as a Ma and Pa body shop in downtown Avon by the Sea. And what's interesting is like our listeners, it's tough for them to, exactly. And that's exactly what I was just about to say. It's tough for any of our listeners to really picture like Avon by the Sea is a, this quaint little cute beach town in. coastal New Jersey that the downtown, like the last thing you would ever think in a million years was on the main drag was a body shop, let alone a custom Jeep builder, right? right. Well, there goes the, you know, that's the problem of getting people through the door is like, you know, you drive, what is it? I think it's six blocks long by six blocks wide. I mean, it's nothing. But it's big money. You know, huge money place to live, you know, you ain't getting a house for under$2 million and have on. So you would just think like, oh, there's like, you know, cute stores here and you know, coffee shops and all that. And then there's this place that has like six G's parking up from take it up parkings and you know, yeah, right. that was like, so you're, you're like, you're, you're the third generation. It was your, your parents had it, which your parents are still very active. I see them there every day. They're great people. I'm very fortunate to know them, but it was your, it was started by your grandfather, right? It was started by my dad and his dad helped him. My grandfather wasn't like a car person, but he helped my dad out. So they bought it in 1987. And in 1991, I believe he passed away from lung cancer. So him and my dad had it. My grandfather was the... He like helped fix things around the shop and you know, he would change a light bulb and do this and do that. He wasn't the person who really worked on cars too much. That was my dad's passion really was the car stuff. So, you know. ran the show, which is pretty much the role that your mom plays these days. Hey. like, I think, you know, I didn't, I was only three when he passed away, you know, so I didn't really know him, but, you know, from what my, he just kind of putz the round. That was kind of his, that was his deal. You know, he'd sweep up, you know, he'd keep everything nice and organized. He'd do this, he'd do that. Um, and my dad, you know, he liked to fix cars and he's been fixing cars since he was 14 years old. You know, if you're ever at the shop, he'll tell you. His first car was a Corvette and all that kind of stuff. And that's what he liked to do. So he opened up this shop. I don't know how he found it because they're from Woodbridge, which is an hour north. And he just, I don't know, somehow rolled upon this shop and bought it. And we've been there ever since. But when I got out of high school, collision work is not really my, you know, it's boring. I mean, I'm good at it now, you know, it's what I do, but it's boring. You know, you're putting cars back to where they were. It's, you know, and the insurance companies don't want to pay you any money. And it's not an industry where a mom and pop place can really go anywhere. You know, it's, you're kind of, you know, pigeonholed into this little niche, you know, of customers. You know, you're never going to make enough money, you know, to do anything. So I said, you know, we got to do something else, you know, and, um, I always love custom cars, you know, and all that kind of stuff. I love trucks. And so I was like, let's start doing custom stuff. And, uh, I got out of high school. We started building custom cars and trucks and I started doing wide body Dodge chargers. And I built the first. wide body 300 in the world. And I built that for a customer in Chicago. And his friend worked at a Jeep dealership at Seaview, which is five miles away. And they contacted me and said, do you wanna build a Jeep for us? And let's see if we could sell it. So I was like, yeah, whatever. Like I'm cutting cars apart and putting them back together. I think I could. handle building a Jeep, you know what I mean? So I built it and they sold it within like two days. And I think we painted everything. We made it, you know, like now, which is a high altitude JL or a JT, which is smooth and painted bumpers and handles and mirrors and all that. And we did that to it to make it look like more of a soccer mom type of truck because We don't really have, you know, off-road stuff here. You know, it's a, it's a beach. Yeah. You can drive on the right. know, there's a little bit of the Pine Barrens and Wharton State Forest where we can drive in. That's continually getting limited, but you know, this isn't like, we're not living in Colorado where we can just, you know, go out, leave on a Friday night and drive hundreds of miles out on the BLM landing camp. That's not our world around here. you know, where you got Roush Creek and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's like, so we made a bougie version of a Jeep and then we called it the urban Jeep. You know, that's the, that was the origin of the name. And once we started building them, we just started building more. And then we just kind of phased out everything else, you know, except for collision. Even today, we still do collision. And then we, because we have 36 years of customers and then I have customers with jeeps who have accidents and they don't want to go anywhere else. So they come to me. So I kind of get it double there, but that's where it started and we've just been rolling ever since. That first one that you contracted to sell that sold in 24 hours, what was that? Was that a JK? It was a JK and it was Phillips silver. And then we did everything too. We put 22s on it with 35s and you know, I thought it looked cool. So sold it and then I did a white one and then that sold. And then I just kept rolling them. And then I got our, you know, we started getting our own customers and then it just kind of snowballed from there. Hey, every single business, and I talk about this all the time, starts with a passion, man. And that's where your passion was, and that's why you're successful, and that's why people are sending you these Jeeps from all over the, I would say the country, but now it's the world because you're getting them internationally, right? To this, it's amazing. And our listeners have to go on Google Maps and look up Avon by the Sea, look up Urban Jeep Outfitters. Because all this is happening in this quaint little quiet beach town in New Jersey, which is absolutely wild, right? It's on Main Street, it's a 7,000 square foot shop. I mean, it's pretty big, but it's just plopped in the middle of a place where you work out and a dentist. It's... Yep. That's too funny. So let's talk about, you know, you do a lot of JLs, JTs now, obviously, that's your bread and butter, but in the past you've done YJs, TJs, and let's talk about some YJTJ builds you've done. I don't wanna talk about your personal one. I'm gonna leave that one for the last one we talk about, but... off the top of your head, you know, what wild YJ or TJ builds in you. I did a TJ build for a local customer and I've done a couple of them. I did one in Mustang. It was like a Mustang blue. I painted it. That was pretty cool. And that was a nightmare when I got into it. But I like that one. But then I did a coded one for the home builder in Dave. let's talk about Dave's TJ, because Dave drives that around, and you did, it drives it all over the place, and, yeah, he drives that, he loves that TJ, and you did that, that's actually a fun thing to talk about, you actually trail-coded that. Before trail-coding was cool, and now trail-coding is sadly not so cool anymore, right? So you, yeah, well, I mean. It depends on you. I'll put it into this. I take it from the marketing side, right? And when you have to resell those things, it's tough, man. It is definitely tough because you're not ripping that trail code off very easily. I know, right? But that's when, that was at a time where that Blue JT was insane, right? But that was also the time where it was very popular. We've kind of seen the world come full circle, but. That was the first time I actually ever saw anyone trail coat a vehicle in general, let alone a Jeep. So how did you end up trail coating? What did that JT start at? Or I'm sorry, what did that TJ start as? And what did it end as? I can't tell you what color it was. I don't even know what color it was to begin with. But it was, I think it was like a bluish, like a steel blue kind of color. And then we did the top, we color matched everything with it, but everything's coated on that truck. Nothing's painted. So he wanted that easy to take care of. Like that, you just hose it down. There's no waxing, there's no this, there's no that. And he keeps it outside and you just hose it down and that's it, it's a done deal. And I love it because I hate waxing cars. I hate cleaning them. I hate it. Like it drives me crazy. And that's why I coated my JT in that. And you just hose it down. I just took a power washer to it, you know, and just blew it all off and that was it. It was done. It looked brand new every time. So now his... was pretty cool. That JT that you trail coded, that blue was insane. Yeah, it was like Pepsi Blue and then we did a bunch of, you know, had four inch lift on it, 40s, you know, it was out there, but it was cool. to Dave CJ, did you do any modifications on that or just it was just literally stripping it down to nothing and painting it, trail coding it and putting it back together piece by piece? stripping it down to nothing. On those things, you always find something. His was no exception. But yeah, it was a nice truck. But I did a YJ for a customer in Deal, which was, it's like jet black. And then we put, I don't know what, it had all the stickers running down the side, like pinstripe kind of things. Mm-hmm. But we just repainted it all to black, kept it stock, new wheels and tires that were stock. I like that. I thought that was pretty cool. That classic look is definitely super cool. And man, YJs are coming into their own. People want square headlights these days and those things are doing numbers that I never expected. Especially the Saharas and the Rio Grands, man. People are running those things up in the market right now and they're hot. And the more original they are, the more desirable they are too. Right, yeah I had a customer come in last week and he wants to repaint his YJ. You know, when I don't do that, you know, I just don't do it anymore just because I have too much other work, you know, with the newer stuff and it's a lot easier to do newer stuff than it is to get involved in that older stuff. So... How many CJs have I begged you to paint? That's it. Yeah, that's it. I get out of the car. Nope, nope, nope. No, I did. You actually were the first person I asked when I built that ground up CJ eight scrambler. You were the first person I asked to do the body. And at the time you're like, ah, there's not a lot of body work. but there's no body work because it was a new fresh tub on a plot around customs frame. But you were like, I'm busy, you know, and that, I think that was also around the time where word started to get around, uh, the, uh, oh, there is a level anonymity here cause you do have a lot of celebrity clients, but word started to get around the locker room of a local NFL team that, you know, this guy, Joe down and Avon by the sea is building these insane Jeeps. And then you have everybody in that locker room that wants an insane Jeep. Right. That's the way it goes, right? and some TRX is in there, right? There are to say the least, there are several urban jeeps in a NFL local NFL parking lot. Yeah, and some TRX is to yes. So there's a build that I absolutely love that you did. Again, it's not a classic four by four. like a YJ or a TJ, but it was one of the first custom JT builds I ever saw. And it was, and all of our listeners out there, you have to check it out. Go on Joe's social media, check it out. You built a JT and it started out, I believe as a white Jeep gladiator JT, like what a 2020 or 2021. Yeah, 2020, I believe. 2020, right? Brand new Overland, uh, addition just stock and you turned it into a retro scrambler. And I still see it in the city all the time. The guy lives in the city. He parks on the street in the city every once in a while. Like, you know, uh, it'll go viral on some, you know, social media, um, account where somebody sees this crazy Jeep parked in, in downtown Manhattan. But walk us through that, you know, 2020 Jeep, Jeep Gladiator JT that you took from a stock Overland edition and built it into a retro scrambler. Like that thing was bonkers. Yeah, that was cool. You know, and, uh, he's Jeremy, his name is Jeremy. He's from like South Africa or something. And, uh, you know, he's got a crazy accent and all that kind of stuff. He's super happy all the time. And, uh, he just called me on the phone and he was like, you know, I heard you do these things and, you know, I have an idea for what I want to do. And I was like, all right, well, hit me with it, you know? And then he's like, I want to build a scrambler JT. And I was like, all right, cool. You know, so he started showing me all the pictures and, you know, white one. And he wanted all the retro decals and, you know, all that kind of stuff. So then, you know, we started looking into it. And then, you know, we put on wheels that were white, you know, with orange, you know, accents on them. And yeah, two inch lift on that thing, 37s. And then I had that crazy rack in the back, crazy bumper in the back I did with some. custom stuff on the side to incorporate all the stripes that came through it. And I tried to make it as close to the scrambler as possible. And then the hard top we painted that camel color that came on him. And then we matched the interior to that camel top. So it's full inside, it's all camel color, the top's camel. He's got lights all over that thing and it's cool. I mean, there are more LEDs and they're so tastefully done too. It's like, we're not talking about like, you know, you know, that we see the memes with like the 30 light bars, like, you know. probably 30 lights on it, but it's hard to tell that it's got them. And you, you Frenched a lot of them in like, you know, I mean, but when you're wiring that many LEDs, how are you, how do you have a centralized switching system? That one was a pain because it has a rack, you know, it has the big fan force rack in the back that has, I think the rack has 10 lights in it. And then it has the rack that's on the roof that has like, I think it has eight lights, eight light bars on it. And then the wires have to go through the roof, you know, to keep it super clean. And it has to be disconnectable, you know, in case he wants to take it off. Or if you want to take the top off, I can't wire it all the way to the switch. So I have to put in all these connectors. I put them all into one. So it was just one connector that he unplugged. I tried to make it as nice and as easy as possible for him, but he's never taken that top off. I know that. But in case somebody ever did down the road. I made it as easy as possible. But with all our wiring, we try to keep it clean. We're very particular. Me and my guys are very anal about our wiring. It's got to look factory. Now, is there a certain brand of centralized relay and fused relay like switch panel that you use? That was all done off the factory switches. So we ran, I don't think it had it to begin with, but we added the factory switches in that one. And then the factory switches has 40 amps, 20 amps. So it's got plenty to run these LEDs, which are, you know, they're like half an amp, right, each. So it's, you can run a million of those things on a switch. So inside that truck, there's no obtrusive, you know, aftermarket panel. It's just clean factory switches. factory switch. Yeah, and everything's all tucked away. Everything's got special wraps on the wiring that look like factory. It's got that snake skin kinda, that Chinese finger trap stuff on there. And everything's shrinked and everything's wrapped in test-a-tape, which is what the factory uses. So we just, I have test-a-tape. I got... like about 50 rolls and we just like, you know, every time we, you know, we just go through it and, you know, but it looks factory and that's how we like it to be. You know what I mean? Is that the first time you use the retro CJ wheels that are, I think Quadrochak makes them for the JLJT? Yeah, that was the first one, but I've done them since then. Some people like that. Like I just did one from the Hamptons. I did a truck from the Hamptons. I think you saw it with the white wheels on it. Yeah, with the rack on it. And then people are like, I know. reason I've had Danny powder coat like more white for me. And when I talk about Danny, Danny France, who, uh, who owns, um, a, our, a local coding and, uh, Dayton, yeah, Dayton customs, uh, which is, yeah, which is, uh, he, he does all of our powder coating for us, all of our plating for us. It's an amazing operation. So you gotta look him up. And we got, and Danny's going to like our, our shout out, but, uh, Danny always jokes with me, man. He's like, he's like, Chris, you're the only one I do more white powder coating for you than I do for anyone else. But I think I've ever done. Right. I think I had them powder coat all the, we did the rack and white on that. Yeah, I had them do that. I had to do the rack and white, the T-top, the top rack and white. I think we did the bumpers or we did some other things in white that I had them powder coat. I think we did a couple suspension stuff while we were doing it that I had them do white. But yeah, I mean, that was pretty cool. I like that build. I like when people come to me with things that are, you know, different, you know, cause I do the same thing every day. You know, it's, it's always, you know, just JL getting lift wheels, tires, it's JT getting lift wheels, tires. When somebody comes to me with some wild stuff, I like it. Even it, you can't get wild enough for me. I'll do it. It doesn't matter to me. You know, like I just did, I did that JL that was like all pink. I did all the pink stuff. Oh yeah, I did the Barbie. I'll do a million of that, babe. It was. No, it was for the wife of a past customer. He has a TRX that I built for him. And then his wife wanted this. She sent me pictures of like, like we're painting things pink. And I'm like, I had to tone that down from where it started. Cause it was wild. Yeah, it was wild. Yeah, it was toned out from where it started. It was wild. Did you post any pictures of that on your, oh man. Yeah, all the listeners have to check that out. Yeah, of course. It is super cool. Yeah. I love, and she loved it. It was like, you know, it's like, that's what she wanted. She want, and if you saw her, you would understand, you know, she's got red hair, you know, she's just eccentric. She loves that kind of thing. Fits her perfect. That's what she wanted. And listen, if you're paying for it, I'll do whatever you want. Like I'm gonna, I'm gonna kind of guide you a little. You know, I'm not gonna like, make it look stupid. But I'll do whatever you want. You know, I had this, I did, I forget, what did I do? Oh, what did I do? Oh, I did, I did a JK. Was it a JK? Yeah, I did this JK and I did a four inch lift on it and I did white 24s and you gotta look that thing up. That thing was wild and it had like It was wild right and then I pulled into the dealership and a local dealership I won't tell who was and they you know the guys in the back were like harassing me like I Can't believe you built that like you know you should be ashamed to yourself You know they listen I was like listen. I'm gonna tell you right now They put more money into it than you make in a year So you know what I mean? And I don't even, I don't like, if that's what the customer wants, that's what I'm here for. I don't, I'm not gonna go, no. Like, I do whatever the, of course. I'm here to make them happy. That's what I'm here to do. And I'm also of the thought process where it's your build, it's your money, whatever you want that when you open up that garage door in the morning or you walk out into your driveway in the morning and put a smile on your face, that's what matters. What other people think doesn't matter. into that like, you know, gee, people are tough. You know what I mean? Like, you know, oh, like you shouldn't, you know, like, oh, like, like you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't do that. It's like, listen, it's your money. Do whatever you want. You know, what are you worried about? What other people think? I don't, you know. The most important thing is having the right person build it and build it right. That's something that you and your father and your mother do is you bring it to a whole other level, which is amazing. Like if you have a request, like, I don't know, I put an iPad in the dash of one, one time, you know, I've done just, you know, ridiculous things that you wouldn't even think of, but you know, I love that because it's, it's fun, it's different, you know, and allows me to do different things than, you know, listen, you're going to get the same amount of attention from me, you know, it doesn't matter if you're putting lights in your you know, JL or you're doing a $50,000 bill that doesn't matter to me. You're getting the same amount of attention. But I like when people do like, you know, like I just had a guy with a Bronco. We're doing this wild Bronco build, you know, he's spending tons of money, but he's just like, make me the coolest Bronco you can think of. And I was like, all right, cool. Like, I like that. I like when somebody just, you know, gives me car block, do whatever I want, you know, and, you know, but that's, uh, that's fun. And if you want to like it in the end, if they're like, if you roll it out and they're like, oh, I'm not really into that, it's like, well, sorry, you told me what I gotta do. And here's my bill, by the way. Yeah. You literally have painted them pink. You built a JL Barbie Jeep, which is amazing, which is a cool belt. did a, I did a 392 in purple. You know, I don't, yeah, I forgot. Yeah. Cause I wasn't here to take the final pictures for that thing. So it's not even like really floating around, but that was from upstate New York and they sent the truck to me and she wanted purple and you know, at first we were going like purple rain, which comes on the new ones, but she didn't want purple rain because you could just go buy one in purple rain. So she actually sent me, this is how wild people are. First of all, she sent me a pot holder, where you don't burn your hand, it's like the rubber. So she sent me a pot holder to match. That's the color she wanted, the truck was a pot holder. And I was like, all right, so I just started mixing up colors and then we sent them a bunch of colors. And then she sent me a sweatshirt that she really liked. So I matched it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, so, you know, we had the paint company come down and we scanned this shirt and we came up with colors and I matched a 392 Wrangler to a sweatshirt. That is super cool. I love to hear stuff like that. The other thing we got to talk about too is how you guys are manufacturing the gladiator badges for the tailgates of the JTs. Cause I think that is super cool. Like where did that come from? Well, we built a gladiator to sell. And at the time there was another company who made a badge kit for the rear that just, you know, it said gladiator and it was one piece. And we wanted to add, because the truck was gray and black and red. So we wanted a gray badge with some red trim on it. And we had a laser. here at my house because my wife started her Etsy business with the laser. And, uh, she's really smart. And, uh, she was like, yeah, I could do that. So we just started, you know, it took us forever to make it because you got to make, you know, it's two piece, um, comes with it each, you know, letters, two pieces that fit within themselves, uh, comes with you know, a cardboard template, a thin cardboard template that, you know, so we had to design all that stuff to work. And then we made it for our first one. And, uh, people were like, yeah, that's pretty cool. You know, I've never seen a gladiator badge that's two piece where you could pick a different trim and a different center. Um, so we just started making them, you know, and my wife was, you know, she's the, obviously she's very intelligent. I'm pretty stupid. So. You know, she's good at designing that kind of stuff. And, you know, so now she's, I have a two gigantic lasers in my garage and I have a laser sitting over here, the little one that we started on, but I have one in the garage. It's like half the size of a car. And, uh, but my wife, she's, uh, you know, she's like, uh, she don't do it. She, she, I do it, um, because she's, she has her own, you know, she has her own Etsy business and she's, uh, You know, she's top 1% in the world on Etsy, and she's extremely successful with that. So she has no time to do this anymore. And so I had to learn, you know, how to manufacture these. And I do it, you know, it's, you know. Hey, we're gonna hold on a second. So I just gotta tell my producer, hey, Brent, if you can cut this out, just give me a second. fucking neighbor with his brings his fucking dog up on my front on my front porch and of course caught my wife is out there because I'm recording inside right now my wife is out there with Carl and he brings the fucking dog up and the dogs just start going wild man so it is what it is alright so hey Brent you're listening we're gonna we're gonna parlay this back in so you can cut this up so So Joe, your wife has the Etsy business. You're building these Gladiator Tailgate two-piece badges, which are super cool. And for our listeners to really visualize this and understand this, when you buy a brand new or use Jeep Gladiator JT, which is, for most of you do know, which is the pickup truck version of the Wrangler, on the back... tailgate it has a Jeep emblem, right? It just says Jeep on it in, you know, those four letters and you guys built a package that actually says the word gladiator but it can be customized so that it's two pieces to, you know, accommodate two core accent colors within it. So that is pretty cool that you did that and like I know I've seen these kits before I've seen you put these kits everything, instructions on how to remove the Jeep, the original Jeep badge, put the new gladiator badge on, and I think it comes, it even comes with like fishing line, right? Or uh... to take it off, 80 pound monofilament to take it off. It comes with everything, soup to nuts to do it. Yeah, it was cool. She did, listen, I'll give her all the credit. She designed it and she just got too busy. So I had to do it and I do them. I wake up at five o'clock in the morning and I make Gladiator badges and ship them all over the world. I ship them to Saudi Arabia. I ship them to Australia. I ship them. England, Japan, I think I've hit most countries with them. And it's cool, I think that's pretty cool, you know, that somebody could just, I came up with a dumb idea, you know, and then somebody in Saudi Arabia buys it, I think that's pretty cool. So, but, but we don't, yeah, but we don't, you know, we don't sub it out to anybody else, we do it, you know. So that's like, you know, one of the key things about us is, you know, we're a family. You know, when you call the shop, nobody answers the phone but my mom. Um, she's been doing it for 36 years. Uh, God could call that phone and nobody else is going to pick it up. Um, so if you, when you call, you talk to an owner, you know, when you order a gladiator badge, you know, we put it together and we ship it out. We don't sub anything out, you know, when a car gets painted, my dad paints it. You know, so, you know, he's getting a little older, you know, he doesn't really want to do too much of that anymore. That's why we're trying to steer a little bit away from painting and doing you know like odor swaps and all that kind of stuff because it's you know it's a lot of work when you know when you start painting cars and so especially in the summer when it's a hundred degrees you got to walk into a hundred twenty degree booth you know it's tough you know So for all our listeners out there, if they're interested in the JT Tailgate Gladiator badge, how do they buy it? You just go on UrbanGVoutFitters.com. You'll click the link that says Gladiator Letters and it'll take you to a page where you can buy, you know, Mojave matching, where it has the orange on the, you know, and the middle is painted. We actually paint the middle of the letters and then ship them out. So you're not getting like something that's close. It's like super close. We color match that, you know, we do all that. paint everything you get Rubicon matching which is the red on the outside with a painted center and then you can go wild you know I just shipped that one that was pastel pink outline with a hot pink center you know so you could just get you know you can get crazy with it so there's like lot of pink Jeep stuff recently, man. There's, maybe there's a whole nother business in there. So I got I got shot down, but I wanted to build a Barbie Jeep. Like straight Barbie. Pink. White. Yeah. Well, yeah. the one that we talked about earlier that you did for the client. like a OG Barbie Jeep, you know. So that was, but that was shot down, you know, by the higher ups there, so. Yeah, but you had to, the thing is, it was, you had to do it pretty quick though, you know, like, but I mean, everybody likes, you know, like, Barbie Jeep, you know, but in the Barbie movie, I'm sure you saw it, Chris, in the Barb, yes you did. I don't, you have not? Yeah, right. say, no, and I'll tell you where that comes from. My wife is not the biggest fan of going to a movie theater. So I will, I'll end up seeing it once it comes out on demand. There's no question. I agree with you. it was a, it was a, Barbie had a Jeep, you know, that was it. And when you go and wait to go see the movie, Barbie has a Hummer now because it's sponsored by GM. So, you know, that's not right. You know what I mean? It's like, you got it, you got it. Barbie's got a Jeep. So I wanted to build a Barbie Jeep that was super true Barbie, pink interior. I wanted to go wild on it, but I got shot down on that one, so. Hey, there is a but for every seat and you know, with your... out there who wants one, I will build it. I have no shame. I'll build it anyway. That's awesome, man. And do a great job doing it. But let's, when we wrap up talking about builds here, let's talk about the TJ build. So you built years ago, a TJ for yourself that was absolutely insane, right? I think the body had like over 200,000 miles on it, but the only thing that was really original from that original TJ, cause you did a frame off custom build on a TJ, which, For anybody else out there, it wouldn't make sense. There's nobody else out there that could do a custom build, TJ, and it make any type of financial or economic sense. You fortunately have the ability to have, you know, all the resources, your own labor, your own know-how to do that, right? And the buyer, you actually, we'll talk about that. You recently sold that. The buyer, if they were to build that Jeep, it would have not even come anywhere close. You sold it for good money. come close to if somebody contracts, exactly, right? But you have the ability to, and the resources to build something like that. So talk about the bill. How did that TJ start and where did it end? Well, my wife again, she wanted it for some reason. She wanted a TJ and I don't know, she thinks she thought it was cute or something, this little jeep. So I was like, all right. So we went out and bought one and I started doing like, I don't even know what I was gonna do to it. I was just gonna do a couple things to it. I think I was gonna put some fenders on it, put some wheels and tires on it, put an interior and that was it. And then I took the fenders off. and they had rust and I was like, oh, I can't leave that. And then, you know, I pulled the body off. I was like, yeah, well, you know, I got the fenders off. Well, you know, you might as well just pull the body. It's only like six more bolts. You might as well pull the body at that point. And then I was like, you know, I had the bare frame there and I was like, well, I might as well paint the frame while I'm at it and you know, and then, yeah, that was a. That was a whole deal. You know, it took me a year and a half. I pulled the motor out and I powder coated, had the frame powder coated and everything was brand new, putting it back together. New suspension, factory, you know, but new. The suspension was painted to the color of the truck. The motor was painted to the color of the truck. It was like, you know. I don't know when to stop, that's the problem. So, you know, it's all stainless steel brake lines and, you know, it was beautiful. It had a beautiful interior in it and custom matched roll bars and, you know, it was nice. It was painted in 2012, Chief came out with a color Winter Chill, which they haven't come back with yet. And there was a one year color and it's a beautiful blue. So I was like, oh, well, you know. She liked that color, so we painted it that with a nice camel interior. And then that was it. And then a year later, I blew the motor, I put a piston right through the block. So we put a brand new motor in it. So the truck's got 175,000 miles on it, but the only thing that has that is the axles themselves, which are painted, and the trans. That's it. Everything else is brand new. I love how you kept it classic too. You didn't lift it through the sky. You didn't do anything crazy. You kept it classic. You kept it as original as possible, but there were all these little Easter eggs all over it where, you know, that's what really impressed me the most about it. shaved the lights, I shaved the lights and the fenders. Um, I shaved everything on the hood. Um, I put JL tail lights in it. Uh, I shaved the, the gate and then I put a CJ seven fold down gate on it. And, you know, I kind of made it, you know, like you looked at it and you were like, what the hell is that thing? You know, and then, you know, I had some guy come up to me and he goes, is that the new 20, 21, you know? And I was like, It's a 2001, you know, so I love like messing with people I guess yeah, I love messing with people with that thing, but that's so you know, it's a And living my wife drove it like three times, you know The whole time she drove it like three times and I would drive it back and forth to work, you know just cruise the beach with it, so Yeah, but that was a That was fun. But now you know her business she took over my garage You know, so I have nowhere to put it And I can't keep it at the shop because the old man yells at me because it's got no doors, no top. Every time it rains, I got to bring it in and he's yelling at me. And actually, so we have a funny story. You're the reason that I ended up selling the one that I said I would never sell, which is in my collection, which is the 1981 Omaha Orange CJ-7, right? You're actually, you were the impetus for that. And we should tell this story because it's a funny story. So you had reached out to me in what? It was like May of this year, May or June of this year, I think at some point, and you had said, hey man, you knew that I was... you know, marketing and doing sales advisory and representing the sale of classic custom modified trucks, right? Um, which I've recently, um, I've been doing for many years. I actually have done for several listeners. Um, I did it with classic.com for, for a while. And now I've been out on my own and really expanded the classic four by four brand beyond just the podcast to do classic custom modified truck marketing and sales advisory where basically I sell your truck for you. I handle every aspect of the sale from start to finish. So you knew this, you saw that I was, I was repping a few trucks out there and you reached out to me and said, hey man, will you help me sell my truck? And I said, yeah, of course. And we actually worked at a pretty cool barter where you were gonna do some work on my J-10 for me. I was gonna handle the sale of your truck. And the first step is the preparation, right? Preparation is the most important part of selling a vehicle, a classic custom modified. or any vehicle in general out into the market. And the first thing I did was I called my local photographer and I scheduled him to come and have you or I was gonna pick your truck up, your TJ, and we were gonna go have it photoed. And like two days before you called me and you're like, hey man, I gotta do a couple of things. I want this thing to be perfect. Whoever buys it, I have very high expectations. I need to do a couple of things. can you hold off on doing the photography? And I said, yeah, no problem. And I already had the appointment. I didn't want to cancel on the photographer. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna have him go. I'm gonna have him go and we're gonna go up to Asbury. And it was actually the day that the Canadian wildfires literally took over the New York Metro region in early June, which makes for great pictures. But, and. absolute horrible situation for humanity. But hey, that's different. I had amazing pictures of my CJ-7. So I had the photographer. Yeah, it was crazy. And if you look at those pictures, it was insane, right? But I had Morgan Downs, my trusty local photographer, who actually is, that was the first truck he had ever done. He's a surf photographer. Yeah, by trade, he's a Belmar surf kid. You know, he, oh man. but he's a surf photographer, he does weddings, he does different events, but I had him, I said, hey man, will you photo this truck? And you had canceled, I did the CJ7, I had this great photo set of hundreds of amazing digital images, and I was like, you know what? You know what, let me do this. I'll just throw it out into the market. Yeah, let me throw it out into the market, see what happens, help out my friends at 4B, get a cool auction, and next thing you know, Bam! It went through a 10 day auction and it sold for an absolutely amazing number. And at that point I was committed to sell it, right? So to all our listeners out there, Joe from Urban Jeeps is the reason that I sold the truck that I said I would never sell. It's like, I wanted to do some things at a truck and it's Monday and I turn around, it's Friday already. And it's hard to work on your own stuff. What's the saying? The shoemaker's kids always go without shoes or something. That's us, we're just, I just never be able to work on it. Yeah, they do, yeah, right. But, uh, but you ended up postponing it. And then I got busy throughout the summer, uh, which is code for, I was traveling and fishing a lot. Uh, and then you said, you know what, I'm just going to throw it out with sign and talk about your, and I think this is a real, a real thing out there. And a lot of people really forget that it's very easy to buy a truck. It's a lot of fun to buy a truck. Uh, it's exciting. but selling it is not fun. So like, you know, walk through your process, walk through that process. Cause it, it took you a loan. What? You just sold it what? Last week, last week. So it took you what? Over four months to actually sell it on your own without any help. you know, everyone wants to buy it, you know, until it's for sale. Yeah, I'll give you 30 grand for it. I'll give you this. I'll give you that. And then it's like, you know, it's for sale. And they're like, oh yeah, let me talk to the wife. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, okay. You know, so. it's funny you say that and I agree with you is everybody wants to buy it until it's time to sell it. And then they have to write a check and nobody wants to write the check. And I agree with that. And you deal with a million lookie-loos from every marketplace and platform out there, classified listing site where you deal with that. And that's the advantage of what I do is representing vehicles for classic, modified and custom trucks for sale is I handle all that from start to finish. You know, the preparation. the valuation, the preparation, the strategy, going to market, managing all the listings, executing the sale and then handling all the post sale. Because once it's sold, you still have to get paid, there's transportation, there's documentation and that expertise, there's value in that expertise. And I love doing it, I just absolutely love doing it. But you did it on your own. I keep myself busy to say the least, but. Yeah, hot fishing and we're doing all sorts of stuff. so it took you four months to sell that thing on your own. And I'm sure you dealt with a bunch of looky-loos and, and insane people. Right. Alright, well I could have sold it two days after. The guy came and looked at it, he wanted to wire me the money, but it just wasn't enough. And you know, he was playing games with me and you know, oh yeah, let me know, let me see if I could, you know. First of all, he rolled up to the shop in like a Panamera, and then he's like, you know, the truck was for his beach house in Ocean City. So okay, and then he's like, let me see if I can like scrape the funds together. I was like, yeah, okay, whatever. Yeah, it's like, come on, dude. Don't play this game, you want it or not, you know? You want it? Yes. I was like, yeah, whatever, you know, I'll let you know, you know, and then I was like, you know, after that, you get a couple people here and there, you know, but yeah, I sold it to a customer in town. He lives in town. And, you know, he drove by it. I have, you know, I stick it out there. I got to stick it outside during the day. Because, you know, I have to bring in customer cars. And you know, you know, Main Street's pretty busy there. And, you know, I just stuck it outside with a for sale sign on it. And You know, he came and, you know, we talked about it, you know, and all this. And then, and then, you know, he showed up one day and I thought he was going to be like serious and all that kind of stuff. And he came in and he shook my hand. He said, listen, I appreciate it. You know, good luck with the sale and all that. And, uh, you know, uh, you know, I, I wish it had like a fifth wheel on the back and, you know, a couple of things here and there, but, you know, I appreciate and let me know how it goes, you know, you know, thanks. And I was like, I ain't letting this dude go. You know what I mean? It's, yeah, it was like, and the problem is I gotta sell it because I don't wanna store it. Nobody's gonna buy that thing in a winter time. You know, then I have to store it all winter and then I have to start again in the spring. And then I don't wanna do that. I just wanna be gone with it. So, you know, I texted him like, you know, like a day later, I was like, hey, I found the fifth wheel for it and. You know, I could put a bumper on air for you for nothing and let me work then and a deal and all that. And then it came back the next day and he gave me a deposit. So, um, you know, I told, I told you, I said, let me try to reel this guy back in here. And then, uh, if, if it doesn't work out, like, I'm just going to give it to you. Cause I'm just, I'm not doing it. Yeah. I'm not doing it anyway. So. after four months of those trials and tribulations and you're somebody that's in the business, right? That builds custom four wheel drives and trucks, right? Do you see the value now in having somebody with expertise execute the sale of your truck? Yeah. you know, that's, that's a hard, people don't realize, you know, they think they're just going to like, Oh, put it out there. And the guy walks up and cash gives it to you and takes it. You know, that's never that easy. You know, you might have a deal. It definitely happened to me. It did. I found them. in the haystack. That is a local buyer in town. Like is a very needle in the haystack buyer. um, he's a little bit older. Um, he's retired and he just wants to kind of cruise around town, you know, in it and he's going to keep it in the garage, you know, not going to drive it in the winter, you know, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, I felt it was going, you know, I put a lot of work into that truck and I wanted to somebody like, not like go take it off road the next day. You know what I mean? It's like, I don't really, you know, I got paid, I don't really care, but I would like to see it. you know, do what I did with it, which was, you know, I cruised around, you know, I'd go to the beach, you know, so right, I enjoyed it. So I, you know, and I knew he was going to enjoy it like that. So I kind of wanted to, you know, sell it to him and it's going to be in town. So I'll see it, you know, so, but, you know, it was a, that's a, you know, selling things is, you know, we tried to sell that JL that we painted Porsche Miami blue. First off, I love that color. People hate on that color. I absolutely, I love Miami, Portia Miami blue. they didn't, they didn't, the old man didn't help putting a white interior in it. You know what I mean? It was like, I know, but you took a Jeep, you took a, you want to talk about getting hammered. You took a, took a Jeep and you put a white interior in it, you know? And that was, you know, I was like, well, you know, whatever. Listen, that's, you know, you did it. I'll be able to give you a hard time about, you know, your decision. You know what I mean? You know how we are at the shop, you know, it's a lot of banter back and forth and all that kind of stuff. So, but, you know, we sold it. Took us a while. It took it took us almost a year to sell that truck, you know, and, uh, cause like, yeah, we sold the first one, you know, we rep that at a local dealer. Um, and we sold it in like two hours. You know, we painted it that Tiffany blue with a camel interior. actually still drives around. She's local too. I see her all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. she loves that thing. And then the woman who bought, first of all, a lot of my customers are women. A lot of them, like I would say 60% are women. And what helps is you call the shop and Lori answers the phone. You know what I mean? It's not like you're walking into a shop where it's like a bunch of grease heads and... You know, they're all dirty and, you know, looking at you. Yeah, no, it's like, you know, you call the shop, it's Lori. You walk into the shop, it's Lori. Um, but the woman who bought the Porsche Miami one, we had it at a, at the Porsche dealer. And, uh, it was sitting next to a nine 11 in Porsche Miami blue. And, um, but the problem with Porsche is they're not allowed to really advertise. that something like that is for sale. So it's like, it just sits there. You know, it's like, you gotta have to trip over and ask and say like, hey, what's this thing doing here in the same color, you know what I mean? So she saw it at Porsche, and then I put it at Porsche for about a month, and then I took it back because it just, you know, you can't really sell anything without a for sale sign on it, you know what I mean? And without them even repping it. And then I guess she drove past the Porsche place and it was gone. And she was like, that's it. You know what I mean? It's like somebody bought it. And, uh, her husband went to the plumbing place across the street from the shop, which he, which he never goes to. And, uh, he pulled up and he was like, is this the same Jeep that was at the Porsche dealership? I'm like, yeah. So he called his wife and she's freaking out on the phone. She's like, Oh my God, I can't believe it. This must be like fate, you know, all this kind of stuff. And she came down, looked at it, and she bought it. And she loves it. She was in there yesterday. I was putting rhinestone license plate covers on it because our new plates came in. And she loves that thing, like absolutely loves it. She's like, this thing gets so much attention, this and that. And it's like, that's what I love. I love when people tell me that. Miami Blue and I'll tell you, I have a story. The first time I ever saw Porsche Miami Blue was a good friend of mine custom ordered a 911 GT3 RS in Porsche Miami Blue with the white decal package and the white interior, right? And I gotta tell you, so, and I will tell you, he took so much flack from our other buddies about it. And they actually started calling him I won't say it on air because it's not very nice. And, and, but they started calling him a derogatory term for Papa Smurf. Right. I'll put it to you that way. Right. And he, and he finally actually, and I used to say to my buddies, I'd say, be like, guys, do you realize like his, like he built this, he loves this and outside of the money that he spent on it, like why you got to bust his chops? Like he loves it, that's all that matters, right? But when all your butt, you know, it's all guys, right? They're all gonna mess with each other. And then finally one night, and he's a very mild manner guy, like, which is weird, because a guy that drives a GT3 RS in Miami blue is usually not very mild manner, but he's a very modest. Yeah, he's a very modest, mild manner guy, and he'll never, you know, throw back at everybody. One night we were sitting around a fire pit and we were having some cocktails and... a couple of my buddies just drilled into him and they started, and I finally sat up, I was like, guys, let's be real for a second, right? You're drilling into him, it's getting a little aggressive. That car costs more than the down payment than all of you put down on your houses combined, okay? So give him some respect, show some respect, all right? Outside of the fact that he loves it, show some respect. And you know, from that day forward, none of our other buddies. ever busted his chops ever once, right? And he still thanks me to this day. He's gotten rid of the car. He's driving a McLaren now, which I feel like that's like the new thing. Everybody drives a McLaren. Oh, our buddy Danny France is driving a McLaren, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, our friend Mike, who owns the detail shop. Why did I just blank on the name? Evolution Auto Spot. area. getting rid of his turbo for a McLaren. I feel like that's the new hot car. But Danny France said something to me once about that McLaren, which I thought was hysterical. He said, you know what? Cause he had an R8 beforehand. Yeah, well that's a VOS, but he had an R8. He got rid of his R8 for that McLaren. And he said to me, he goes, man, he goes, you know what bought this? I was like, what? He goes, powder coating black wheels. He's like, he's like. of them. I know, he goes, there was, I mean, and people still do it, but there was like a good decade where that was super cool. It's not that cool anymore, right? But it was a trend and man, it bought him a beautiful McLaren and it is a gorgeous truck or a gorgeous car. 392 wheels to him yesterday that he's doing for me. He's doing like these Vossen wheels and the customer who has them acquired, he ordered the Vossen wheels in silver and then he didn't like them when they came in silver. So now he's getting them like this cool bronzy color. So Danny's gonna do them in that. But I like Danny, Danny's cool. Danny's young, he's motivated. He's getting out there, so I like him. He's a good dude. Yeah, man. So everybody out there got to if you ever need any powder coating or plating done chrome plating any type of plating I gotta call our buddy Danny France at I'm sending them the bill for this shout out. Yeah, he's gonna be our newest sponsor on the Classic 4x4 Podcast. But I call our friend Danny France at Dayton Costumes. We have a good crew here of Jersey Shore, younger, more vibrant Jersey Shore, car and truck enthusiasts, me, you, Danny France, Mike D'Alessandro who owns Evolution Auto Spa, which does all of our detailing for our group of friends. I'm very, I will say, we'll end on this. I'm very, you know, thankful to have such a great crew of buddies, but they're also enthusiasts that share the same, you know, the same love. And we all have this amazing passion for cars and trucks. And hey, you're one of those. So I, and I definitely appreciate your time today too, Joe. All right. here. So dude, thank you so much for your time, your participation and thank you for telling our listeners all about those unique builds and especially those Barbie Jeeps, man. All right, buddy. Have a good day, bud. Rock on.