Classic 4x4

Eric Rothenhaus' career as a designer and passionate collector intersects to yield a collection of impeccably designed Jeeps with unique livery.  Presently designing products and fashion for Kayne West and formerly for Swiss Army and Jansport, Eric utilizes his "creative eye" to acquire, design, restore and build an epic Jeep collection.  Growing up in New York, at a young age his experiences with his surroundings, m...

At only 28 years old and with a shop founded 5 years ago, Charlie Pitcher has gained prominence as the premier classic Dodge truck restorer, fabricator and collector.  Starting with a passion that turned into a profession, Charlie and his team at Metal by Charlie build bespoke classic Dodge trucks that maintain their original character while incorporating modern engineering and amenities.  On this episode, Chris and Charlie discuss...

Building a global Jeep collection that spans bi-coastal locations in the United States and locations in Northern Italy, Paolo d'Ammassa has curated one of the finest Jeep collections in the world!  Dovetailing off of Eric Rothenhaus' interview where Chris and Eric discuss their common friend and "Jeep Nut", Paolo.  On this episode, Chris and Paolo discuss how his European upbringing influenced his love for class...

Iconic automotive designer and artist, Chris Piscitelli, turned his childhood dream into a successful career as a Jeep, Dodge and SRT Design Manager.   He developed a passion for cars and drawing very early on and pursued this passion at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied industrial design.  Upon graduating he immediately moved to the motor city where he pursued a second degree in automotive design at the College f...

Jared Friends, Founder of Merritt Motors Co., is an expert at the forefront of dry ice cleaning and preservation.  He also restores and collects classic Chevy and Ford trucks with a Harvester or Porsche thrown in here and there for good measure.  Merritt Motors Co. in Kannapolis, NC specializes in utilizing the latest minimally invasive dry ice cleaning and preservation technology and techniques on various automotive and industrial...

Dan Hayes, Founder of the Binder Boneyard, is a preeminent International Harvester light truck restorer, builder, historian and collector.  The Binder Boneyard is a full-service restoration, sheet metal repair, and modification shop focussing on vintage International Harvester products, as well as the manufacturing home base for the Harvester Hardware line of products made specifically for IHC light duty trucks.

On this ep...

Josh Kauffman grew up in New Jersey but made his way to Nashville via Florida.  Through his travels, he has amassed a classic 4x4 collection that "checks all the boxes".  From International Harvester Scouts, Land Rover Series, Toyota FJs and Jeep CJs and FCs, Josh's diverse collection has a little of everything and a cool story to go with each one.  Husband, father, collector, successful professional and great guy, J...

When Eric Tessmer isn't on the road touring with his band, he is planning epic trips to buy and tinkering on early International Harvester light and medium duty trucks.  As a Wisconsin native, growing up in the International Harvester homeland, Tessmer developed his love affair with music and classic trucks through a kind of familial osmosis.  Both his grandmother and father played guitar and his father and uncle always drove ...

Seth Hensler embarked on a mission many years ago to save old vehicles from the junkyard one day at a time.  He is successfully accomplishing that mission through a couple of Willys Jeeps, a crew cab dually GMC square body and several other interesting modes of transportation.  His days as a teacher are long gone and his life is now dedicated to his family and sharing his passion and projects in the Red Eye Garage with the world on...

Paul Potratz spent the majority of his career building a successful media and advertising agency before following his passion to build the finest Land Rover Defenders known to many and founding Helderburg.   Helderburg was born from the passion of hobbies and interest of making a Land Rover Defender a modern daily driver and grew into a Bespoke Program with clients throughout the World.  Helderburg works with select individuals to ...

Being an 80s kid means much more for Chris Lott than just being a geriatric millennial.  Chris embraced car and truck culture early and developed a love for what some credit as the greatest Ford truck years, 1980 - 1986, the bullnose era. Chris and his father spend copious amounts of time together hunting, restoring and curating an epic collection of Ford trucks and Fox Body Mustangs, with some Dodge Ram Chargers, Jeep SJs and IH S...

As a dedicated professional First Responder and classic Jeep historian, Josh Card is always following his passion to serve his communities.  Whether saving lives from fire or keeping factory correct AMC Jeep era history alive, Josh's altruistic lifestyle deserves the utmost appreciation.  Josh launched Survivor Jeeps with the mission to preserve history and be the premier information resource for factory correct AMC era Jeeps....

Josh Human launched Working Class Trucks to preserve the heritage and pay homage to the reason manufacturers started building trucks, to work!  Josh and Working Class Trucks are dedicated to the noble and powerful fuel chugging steeds that are driven to work each day to bring home the bacon.  Josh's love for working trucks was instilled early when he entered the workforce and utilized trucks every day to get the job done.  As ...

2022 was a pinnacle year for classic cars and trucks, marking one of the largest transaction volumes in history with a major shift in where those transactions are taking place!  Classic.com and Fourbie Exchange are at the forefront of the market providing transparent market data and a specialized truck and 4x4 marketplace.  Classic.com was founded in 2017 as the preeminent aggregator of transparent classic car and truck market valu...

The Fourbie Exchange Co-Founders return to tell their story of how three friends with a shared passion changed the way enthusiasts buy and sell rare, custom and classic 4x4s and trucks.  Founded in 2021, Fourbie Exchange has become the premier marketplace offering enthusiasts curated and elevated rare, custom and classic 4x4 and truck classified listings and auctions.

On this episode,  Chris, Brian and Garret discuss how a...

The FJ Company was founded by Nelson and Juan Diego Calle, two brothers who grew up riding in the back of their grandfather’s FJ40.  When their grandfather passed in 2009, they partnered to return their grandfather’s FJ40 to its original glory.  They didn’t stop there.  Soon, their hobby of restoring classic Land Cruisers transformed into The FJ Company.  From start to finish, every project is custom-built in their production facil...

Square body builder and collector, Robbie Purser, and his crew of confidants keep it real in the garage.  All patina and no paint is how Robbie rolls with his ever evolving collection of Chevy square bodies.  2 wheel drives get dropped and 4 wheel drives get lifted, but they all have bow ties.  Robbie and his crew created United by Trucks to unite like minded patina enthusiasts to share in their passion for trucks.  

On th...

Whether it's the diesel engine that gets the least amount of credit or the rarest of all Jeep CJs, Dakota Black restores and collects them both.  The elusive Nissan SD33 diesel engine might be underrated, but it had a place in time when it powered American cars and trucks.  Most think the CJ-6 was Jeep's rarest CJ model, but the uniquely designed, purpose built and misunderstood CJ-10 holds that title.  Dakota Black and h...

When he’s not searching for stories or poring over copy, Caleb Jacobs is usually driving dump trucks or wishing they were running so he could drive them.  He was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks, and he lives there today with his family.

Caleb is The Drive’s truck editor.   He started with The Drive right out of high school, joining as a freelance contributor. From there, he began his tenure as the site’s weekend edi...