“Behind the Wheel” is a series of interviews that will be an ongoing theme with TCF, interviewing not the CEO’s and chief designers of the automotive industry, but rather those who report on them.


Previously, I held an interview with SaabKyle04, detailing how he started his career and where it has led him. View part 1 & 2 of my interview with Wes Siler of Indefinitely Wild and previous /DRIVE Ride Apart. That’s the theme of these current and future interviews.

This is part two of two.

Regular hadn’t thought of monetizing his videos. Up until the first Miata video, he hadn’t, and that was one of the most successful videos on the channel.

I was just amazed that I made one video that said “hey, give us cars.” And holy crap, they did. We didn’t start making serious money until – and by serious I mean … $1000 a month for two people? So, RCR is not at the point yet where I can live off of it. If I was doing this all myself, yeah, but Roman and I, we split the money, even though it’s my company now. It’s Regular Cars LLC. For tax purposes, he’s considered an independent contractor. Although he wasn’t there for the beginning. It was just me. Once it started picking up speed, what I thought was: “Okay, don’t screw this up. You’re going to be your biggest roadblock now.” You’re only as good as your next offer. So … I let it ride. I just kept as if nothing was happening.


The conversations continued, talking about Orlove’s Baja Bug, to a pyramid-scam job he was offered, to working as a photo technician in a department store. Regular’s plans for RCR include learning more about tax laws for his LLC and what he can write-off. His ultimate goal is to be able to use whatever money he receives from RCR to support himself and Roman in their everyday lives.

The goal is to turn it into a career. I want a garage. I don’t want to park on the street. I want a ranch house. A ranch house, single-floor, garage. I want a place to work on a car instead of having to drive back to your parents’ house to use their garage. I wanna find out what a career really feels like because all I’ve been doing is working Joe jobs up to this point. If there’s a goal to RCR, it’s to improve the quality of automotive journalism writing. Because automotive journalism is really starved for anybody who can wield a mechanical pencil pretty good, and I know we’re damn good at it.


Then things turned odd, when we both mentioned our interactions with SaabKyle04.

In the beginning, I was incredibly jealous of SaabKyle. Like, “this guy doesn’t write.” And of course I judge everything as a writer. Because if you can impress me with your written word, I’ll follow you into battle. You know video editing, how easy everything is if you don’t have to edit everything. Not even color-correcting stuff. Just throwing it up. But, gosh darn it, there is an audience for people who just wanna see what a car looks like. You know, basic facts, and that’s what he gives in spades. And I used to trash him. And then he writes me an e-mail, unsolicited, he just said: “Hey, I’m SaabKyle, this is what I do. I’m a fan of your stuff. If you wanna come by, and do some of my cars,” you know … Because it’s like it’s that awful thing where you’re trashing on someone, and they turn – they’re nice? It’s like “God damn it, I wish you were a dick. Because now I’m the asshole.” And he sends me really nice photos. God damn it! There he is, making me look like a God damn jack-off. Like, I know. He hasn’t … I wonder if he’s ever had a jealous thought in his life.


At this point of the interview, I noticed a theme that kept occurring when we were comparing himself to other people. From what I could infer, it looked as though Regular was idolizing people like his doctor friend Tom or now-doctor Kyle Lindsay (SaabKyle04 for those that don’t know). What was this all about? Why did he have this complexion? What was he trying to accomplish to make himself happy? Then it all made sense:

You want to know the real goal of RCR is? Financial complete independence. If my very religious parents find out I’m doing this and disown me. First of all, Dad, I’m 33. Right? I don’t live here. What are you gonna do? Second of all, I’d say “Dad, remember how much drumline meant to me in marching band in high school? And how depressed I got when you said I should quit marching band until my grades got better? This is my marching band.”


And if Regular were to hit it big, I asked him what he would buy with his hard-earned YouTuber monies.

I’d search high and low to find an ‘89 Supercharge AW11. My dream garage would have that, it would have a daily, like a Subaru or something. An AW11, and a 1961 Ford Falcon with the 144 cubic inch straight six, the two speed automatic. And then cloth bench seats and a four-door. Because that car fits into history like 1961 – I think 1961 was the first year the Beatles first performed in the Cavern Club. Number one song in 1961 was I think “Stand By Me.” That’s – since now we’re talking 2016, late 2016 – we would have a touring car, which would be a Ford Falcon. You can buy those things for like $2,000. It’s a Mustang, it’s what the Mustang was based off of, which everyone cares about the Mustang, nobody cares about the Falcon.


Remember how I said I was pretty much lost throughout the interview? Well, I’m not sure how we got on the subject, but we ended up talking about Regular’s job as a photo technician in a department store. Regular began talking about his past jobs and how he always ended up in an awkward talk with an HR rep over things he’s said in the workplace.

Is this a thing, is this weirdness that you have, finally doing something good? Because everytime I got into trouble with any of my Joe jobs, flipping burgers, shlepping packages, anything career-related, it was never anything I did, it was always something I said. “You said something weird. And someone got upset.” And you know all the weird jokes that I do? Eventually I’d say something horrible. I thought: “Okay, I’ve been here at this job a good four or five months, I can tell a joke.” God damn it. I usually say something weird. Or non sequitur. Or I’d just be bored so I’d talk in hyperbole for a while. So now we have to have a talk with HR about your attitude lately. God damn it.


When on the subject of his popularity in the automotive world right now, we got on the subject of Mr. Harris himself.

I see some other people doing car videos. Chris Harris. I can’t drive a car like he can, but I can write better than he can.Y eah, I can do what Harris can do. I don’t know that I could be as charming as him on camera, because you’re talking to someone who isn’t on camera. I have a background in radio. How good-looking I am, I don’t know. But during my more caffeinated moments, I know Roman and I are better than almost anyone. We can write better than almost anybody. Maybe if I could just stop doing the gross jokes.


I hope that throughout this two-parted interview with Mr. Regular that you learned something you didn’t already know about him. YouTube is changing. Channels like /DRIVE are now hushing down about their paid content and they’re selling more subscriptions than ever, The Smoking Tire crew is lowering their editing quality with “one takes” and increasing views at the same time, and finally we have the single resident of a small town in rural Pennsylvania rustling the leaves with his unique content.


The one question I still have, which no one will be able to answer until that time, is what will Regular Car Reviews be like in five years? One part of the interview I didn’t write, mainly because it wasn’t too broken up among other conversations, was whether or not Regular would keep doing this if he got a better-paying job in his field. He said he would still continue RCR because he still has Patreon and the support of the community.

If I was going it alone, I may not need Patreon, I could eke by. I live in a one-bedroom apartment. It’s not very expensive to live where I live. I could get by on what it’s making right now, I could just get by. I woudn’t be saving money, but I could live very simply with my bag of rice, and my rice cooker, and my frozen vegetables, and buy in bulk food, and living like a college student. I could get by.


This has been part two of two of the interview with Mr. Regular. Upcoming interviews for Behind the Wheel will be looking into some /DRIVE characters such as Michael Spinelli, Alex Roy and a few MotorTrend folks as well.