John Hovis Explains How The Hemi Hideout Became A Charity Powered Car Landmark

0:00from the broadcast studios in Texas USA it's the in-wheel time car talk show just ahead we're gonna have a mystery guest that's uh let's just get on with the show is you know get it on ladies and gentlemen here he is the creator of the hemmy hideout John Hovis in front of in front of a fireplace which I think is kind of ironic since it's about to turn a hundred degrees I think but it's perfect for you John it is indeed olamigos how are you my friend Sonny Del Rio are you is that where you are near nearby anyway I am yes just down the street yeah just down the street well so you're out there and are you vacationing out there we're just kind of listening to our arteries hard and today there is that well I mean can you pull that mic just a little bit closer to you yep sure can very good there you go there you go got it oh and it's a

1:02professional microphone you've been in touch with you've been in touch with David Ainsley haven't you no I've been in touch with my grandson one in the same kind of yeah same thing anyway John Hov you been all good buddy miss you guys we need to get together again I didn't realize it's been a whole year now so yeah it is well you know when somebody picks up the funds is hey we're having an open house out here you guys want to come we'll be there okay we'll be spring we'll do that again okay spring well the last time we were out there is when we were we were ranging to studios that's correct he afforded us a place to stay that's right we were hidden in a closet which was perfect for us and that's where we came from anyway we appreciate yeah so let's talk about the hemmy hideout how things are going out there all's going good we've got a lot of visitors coming you know Monday through Friday you do the tours and getting busier busier busier all out as busy as I want to be well that that's right because you've been quote unquote in retirement for a number of you actually I met you

2:05and you just had been in retirement for a couple of years I think you are correct that's been almost 15 years now oh my gosh well you're a young buck back in those days yes I was not anymore no none of us are as a matter of fact so let's talk about the hemmy hideout for those that really don't know and we we continue to have this influx of people that come and visit us either on our live broadcast or mainly on podcasts and the hemmy hideout is located just outside of Brooks True Texas and it's a fabulous place that John has built as an homage there's a word for you and homage to the hemmy culture and mainly late 60s early 70s right John that's correct that's my love of my life yeah and but here of late and I say of late meaning the last I don't know seven eight years you've kind of backed off of the cars and you're into the signs now yeah I end of the sign just getting a little cozy in there now so even that's

3:08starting to slow a little bit but we still put things in almost every day so you know special things so fill in the holes yeah well let's go back to the cars for a second and tell everybody what what is the what is the collection what is it made up of okay so basically my love when I was 18 years old 1970 and the muscle car era was in full swing as we all know and for me I had a Dodge super bee and I love the Dodge and Plymouth most cars I loved all the cars but a hemmy hideout is certainly got a theme behind it because of my love but collected the cars try to get one of each model from say 68 to 71 that was my heyday so that's what I've basically done all 446 packs and hemmy's except for 1 340 duster which is my favorite yeah leave it to me to be the odd ball out right it's it's in the will okay pal I appreciate that but don't look for

4:11today yeah you also have a super bird in there amongst the selection sure is that an original that's an original that's a I'm the second owner is got like 38,000 miles on it it's a 446 pack and out of the 1840 that they built only 277 had the 446 pack so that made that kind of special 77 had hemmy's and the rest were all 444 barrels interesting and I guess yours is the got the most horsepower well mine's a 446 pack so it's underneath the hemmy oh I see yeah there's a there's a lot of these more part shows or car collector shows or do any of these folks that think they know what they're doing contact you about any of your vehicles that maybe want to buy them or maybe sell you one they do Jeff but you know I'm really not a professional I need that I'm just the ultimate enthusiast so I sometimes I get called out on some of my facts that I spill out yeah I'm just an enthusiast really and not a professional but just

5:15love those cars but yeah we get calls all the time people wanting to buy one of those cars or trade or sell one so let's get it's cozy in there now so it's almost a full-nash yeah and when you have an event out there that isn't really car theme related you also have other events in there that you have to move some of the cars out and allow room for the tables that's right so we you can rent the place out for a private event and we do that well whenever normally for corporate events is what it's mainly for but you can come and have a 50 person lunch and it's very affordable if somebody comes out and rents a place we match the funds and all of it gets donated to local charities so I don't want to run I don't want to have a full-time business but it's fun to share it with people anyway so for a nice size let's say a corporate Christmas party how many people comfortably can you hold in there two fifties perfect anything under 125 it kind of runs out of the pizzazz you got to have the party atmosphere

6:19you know so we know that you're the party got I'm old but I did yet take a care of his arteries out there yeah yeah I got to keep him breathing out there well and we're gonna get to the signs in just a minute but you got a good friend that actually put us together on by the name of Bill sites and Bill painted this beautiful thing for me for for my current Corvette and so I said you know Bill I really have never done anything for you and Sharon I said let me run some spots for you guys and your autobiographics business and so we're doing that and I don't know he probably has gotten hate calls because of it but whatever the case may be but Bill was instrumental in helping you build the him behind out he's a prince of a guy as you will know just like you three guys

7:20you know that's it I mean come on but did he say that he's he's fabricated stories but I think I don't want to know a bill played a major role and really was the catalyst that got me going I'd still be sitting there talking about it if it hadn't been for Bill and it's been a wonderful journey for me Bill really all of us you guys for everybody the car industry has really been a wonderful ride for us in our lifetimes well yeah and you know the man I met Bill back in the car club days when I was actually a member became a member of the San Jacinto Corvette Club and I'll never forget meeting him Sharon out there and I think it was the town and country whatever hotel was out there at the time for the monthly meeting where they read the minutes and all the all the garbage that goes along with that but you know that was 1978 I believe it was and Bill and I've been friends and gone to every kind of event when it comes to cars that you

8:23could possibly imagine actually we even started our own club called Corvettes of Houston which is from what I understand or has been at least a Corvette dealership if you want to I think it's still there yeah anyway so we and it was Bill that said Don listen I'm involved in this project with this guy that I met and it's called the Hemi hideout and we're in the process of building it right now and as soon as he gets built we want you to come out and take a look at it I went out there it was blown away are you kidding me and it looks like a church to cars in there and you know and you have to explain briefly exactly what the makeup of the actual building itself is oh me well okay so the building is a 21,700 square foot car venue if you will it's also neon signs and different memorabilia things of the good old days it's a Cesar Arch Timber frame building

9:27which is kind of unique for the Texas area because all the timbers have to come from the Pacific Northwest so in this case Idaho and you bring the trees down most people will build like a gazebo or a great room but very few people will build a whole building out of timber but it made just gave you the wow factor naked before anything ever went in there it looked beautiful everybody said it looked like a church or a cathedral yeah and then as we started to hang the neon signs originally 15 years ago we had collected 240 neon signs there's 342 neon signs in there now out of 4,500 pieces but when people come in they think they're all neon signs only seven percent of those signs are actually illuminated wow what inspired you to go with that kind of the timber frame technology I always wanted to build a like a log home or some kind of wood structure and then when I so-called retired I thought well you know the clock

10:30ticking if I'm gonna do it I better do it now and I'm glad I did it when I did I wouldn't do it today you know why wouldn't you do it today well I'm an old goat now and you know I wouldn't have enough time to really enjoy it or it doesn't it wouldn't make sense it really didn't make sense then but I'm I'm so proud and glad that I did it well you've got 15 years that you've been able to enjoy exactly yeah so and as and more important than all of that I think is the fact of all of the people that you through the Hemi hideout have brought together it's a people place yeah it is it it really is and we continue every day we get new people come by and tour and they bring other people we don't advertise it it's about word of mouth so every day we have bus loads of people that come out community centers church groups whatever again we collect a $10 fee when they come we match that all that goes charity too so it's fun to share it and we're having fun all the reason for the friends to get together

11:31and we explain what all that stuff is because when people walk in most people don't know what is this they look at it like what in a heck happened in here that you guys know you recognize a lot of people just don't get it they don't understand what they what they love it but they don't know why they love it is just pretty you know I find myself when I've walked into it is just you don't talk for a few minutes you just kind of look around your eyes about this big and you're going wow this is incredible I wish somebody like that Jeff that's when we go get them because we're going to have a lot of fun talking and you do you your staff is very knowledgeable on all the details of all the things that you have in there and they give tours and there it's just amazing how they can remember all that since you keep adding and changing things you talked about corporate events do you do weddings and we've done weddings but we try to steer away from those because we don't allow kids under the age of 12 I got you for law for law suit purposes but yeah we do rehearsal dinners and we do reception so those are pretty popular but again you're limited to no

12:33kids under 12 and that usually mixes the the wedding venue right right yeah got you yeah we don't want little Johnny scratching up the superbird or a dark Armstrong I was gonna say that the word got out of my mouth oh you would know me too well oh yeah yeah exactly so you you have a lot of help and you have these volunteers it's a staff of volunteers I say staff because it really is a staff an unpaid staff because they love coming there helping you and they love meeting the people and the people love them it's a it's a it's a big love fest going on out there it's a win-win-win all the way around we just have a great time so onward through the fog we go yeah so let's talk about the signs here before we get out of time okay what it what have you got since we saw you last and by the way we saw you last August could have been I think it was August

13:34because we that was when we were in the position yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so since last August have you acquired anything that your money proud of well we got a new sign we're working on now you remember Bill Prokopik he's absolutely restoration guy yep and we've got a really cool sign that's gonna go up here in a couple of months and it says everything is bigger in Texas it's a porcelain sign and Texas is great big with two X's and it's got a cowboy laced a big giant jackrabbit yeah 10 by four and it's it's gonna be a neon it's gonna look really cool yeah it'll be it'll be hanging probably in in the front entry you know Mike where where you drive in under that port sure because we're running out of space I love the house to be outside under the roof and pretend to be on the roof but it'll be cool and say

14:35everything's bigger entry yes talk about it entry yeah yeah you know before you go I did want to mention to everybody that John's last name is Hovis and when I moved to Texas into Houston back in the 60s it was Hovis furniture and I know that your your family has a rich history here in in Texas and especially out in the Brooks area because I was at your grandparents that had the mercantile out there that's right that was in 18 late 1800s when they moved from Armenia and then in 1920 moved into Houston started star furniture company and then we sold out of three people that started star and in 1939 my grandfather sold out and we started competing against star we lost the war in 1972 that was the end of Hovis furniture company and a few years after that it's when I started my manufacturing company yeah and and you you went to memorial high school I did I was a legend over there when you were mine when you were under arrest I've seen

15:43pictures of you including your I think it was your high school graduation picture well you know I'm here hippie man I was I was driving a 1970 yellow superbee hair down to my past my shoulders and rolling stones on ride open so it was a good old days John we have a question that came in from the internet yes sir the question is once somebody wants to know somebody named Diane Hovis wants to know if you're planning on selling any of this stuff I don't know who you're talking about wrong number hang up quick she'll sell everything for half price she's got a sign in there it says this is not a museum everything for sales see Diane hey like like like get her number yeah get her number yeah right yeah listen we love you guys and we thank you so much for taking the time to join us today I know you were gonna sleep in late today but guess what the in-wheel time car talk show came a knockin and we

16:46sure appreciate you spending the time with us I appreciate you guys your friendship and all man thank you guys again you're a great big part of our ride that we've had so thank you all love you both love you too man John thanks we're talking again soon John appreciate you just more a minute and a review of the electric GMC Sierra when the in-wheel time car talk show continues right after this quick break the tax max dining experience is defined by loopy tortilla your destination for Texas is best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas since 1983 loopy tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients at mysterious part of the award-winning experience at loopy tortilla all developed in a little house near highway six in I-10 in Houston visit any of the loopy tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location starts your loopy experience with queso flamiozo and guacamole along with a classic frozen margarita done on famous loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette or a

17:47fish or vegetarian entre and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert find loopy tortilla in Houston college station Beaumont Austin San Antonio and Dallas Fort Worth there's a Texas location near you the recipes are authentic in time testing the ingredients always fresh loopy tortilla East PD good Apple or Android in-wheel time podcast can be found everywhere on the stream and through downloads whether you're on the road or at home and searching for a fun car talk show give in-wheel time a try honest new car reviews fun informative interviews with real car people weekly automotive news features like Jeff's car culture Mike's driving destinations all on in-wheel time check us out on series XM podcasts I heart radio or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon music in wheel time dot com has a list so check us out honest for the live version of the in-wheel time car talk show every Saturday at a regular time 10 to noon central on in-wheel time dot com YouTube and

18:50Facebook or you can grab a 30 minute podcast of our show lots of them on there from your favorite podcast store it is free and it is wonderful time now for Jeff's motor minute Jeffrey there you go well everybody knows Bert Reynolds right they know the Pontiac Trans-Am and the movie Smoky and the Bandit in General Motors well hey anything more iconic than that movie especially for the car while the amazing success of the film led General Motors to gifting a Pontiac Trans-Am to Bert Reynolds every year for the rest of his life so that went on and sure he was getting them and and most of the time he was giving them to family and friends but he kept one for himself obviously the 77 but the deal was much better than expected love in the car and he went on to to be other success in other movies so GM did something a little different after the fifth year the six-year comes and Bert Reynolds didn't get a car so he called General Motors and he got the new Pontiac president on the

19:53phone and he said you know we're just checking to make sure it was a car stolen and something in transit what happened and we still gonna get a car and the new Pontiac president said well that was the predecessor of me did that and we're not gonna do that because I don't like your movies so cut them off they cut them off and he's told them we love Bert Reynolds pills but we just don't like you so that was it that was the end of it so he got him for five years he gave him away to family and friends but no more well wait a good GM there you go Pontiac no go ahead time now for this hour's car review I got to drive the Toyota CHR do you know what CHR stands for find out it stands for compact or coupe which is not a coupe in my mind but a compact high rider compact high rider I had no clue yeah I thought how does that

20:59what does that mean well there you go there's your definition okay so the CHR that I got to drive comes in two trim levels the SE and the XSE this is an electric only there is no gasoline or hybrid version of it yet reviewed trim level was the top of the line XSE all we'll drive and by the way all models come all we'll drive this is a small SUV two rows of seating in it I like the looks of that car exterior changes from last model year well this is the second generation now there was a gap between the first generation and this one so this is the second generation it is an all new model it shares which I thought was interesting most of its parts with the Subaru Uncharted which as you remember I had one of those not that long ago and I liked it I actually saw on the other day I like this exterior features overall modern design with

22:00split headlights creased side sculpture enhances bulging fenders optional two-tone paint gives it a more upscale look if you notice fast-back roof leads to a sleek rear glass kind of like a little hot rod but I like the overall exterior gets high marks in my book what could use improvement nothing interior that you're looking at there now dual phone charging pads see there I thought that was pretty cool rotary dial transmission selector good for you we don't need to have that big bulky steering wheel although they took up a lot of room with this thing unique cloth vinyl interior materials I'm not too sure about the cloth aspect of it tight leg room in the back seat it's a small SUV what I liked about it the sporty nature of the interior and the exterior what could use improvement another choice or two for the interior coverings you

23:04may like it good for you and that that's what they're hoping for that you'll buy engine dual electric motors 338 total horsepower through the system 323 pound feet of torque and by the way if you didn't know this is direct drive so it has no transmission okay on a full charge I could get up to according to the calculator inside the vehicle 233 miles I got 3.6 miles per kilowatt hour that would mean 417 miles well depends on how you drive it what I liked 0 to 60 time in 4.9 seconds it's a rock camera it is a screamer what could use improvement more that they should have a plaid version of it this is only with two motors but the battery battery is where it's at riding handling what I

24:08like the suspension is a little bit stiff but it kind of adds to the sporting nature the whole look of it the whole thing of this particular vehicle what could use improvement nothing don't change it is it heavy well no not particularly base trim price base trim price 39,000 price as tested 43 429 so it did have some options on it you can get into one of these same motor setup $37,000 even competitors well both the Toyota and this Subaru well the Subaru and the Toyota the same vehicle both come out of Iichi Japan Subaru Uncharted starts at 34 995 so the Subaru Uncharted is a little bit better deal it's its twin $3,000 less than the Toyota CHR now another competitor to it would be the

25:13Hyundai Ionic 5 it starts at 35,000 dollars these are all electrics now and the Kia Neuroelectric they're pretty proud of that one starts at 39 7 all of them under $40,000 well the base price anyway so that's my review of the 2026 Toyota CHR what does CHR stand for? high rise comedy beauty Laura bought a Toyota this week she got one oh really yeah she got a lot she bought a oh god you can't remember that wasn't the CHR probably something large yeah yeah listen Toyota makes hers is a hybrid she bought the hybrid and her head lights look just like the headlights on that car you just reviewed good choice yeah that's good choice that the hybrid is the way to go and it's pretty common I'm a I'm a I'm a big fan of the hybrids and you know Toyota makes so many different

26:13models and within those models they got a whole list as a rule of the trim levels so you want the cheap one they got that you want the one it's all loaded out they got that too and everything in between I saw the other day was dark out I really didn't get a chance to look at it but it's pretty blue dark blue yeah yeah they did good they build good stuff over there well I eat Japan isn't that when they had the earthquake yes yes they should be up and running I haven't I didn't see our story this week so what that tells me is that their planned restart of all of that after they closed for a few weeks because of the damage that was done that that apparently has happened okay hey if you'd like to get in touch with us we'd love to hear from you send us an email the address is info at inwheeltime.com we're back after this quick break your car is a direct reflection of you so don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance get rid of those terrible automated car wash scratches golf coast

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28:16sites will be happy to guide you through the process no matter what the day birthday anniversary or any day an autographics custom illustration adds an extra touch of class to any home call bill today eight three two nine two two oh nine six three that's eight three two nine two two oh nine six three that's it for this podcast episode of the in-wheel time car show I'm dot Armstrong inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook YouTube Twitch and our in-wheel time dot com website podcasts are available on Apple podcast Spotify Stitcher iHeart podcast podcast addict tune in Pandora and Amazon music keep listening and we'll see you soon