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(bright upbeat music)
- Hey, what's going on guys? Lawson with custom offsets.
I stopped by SMG to meet up with CJ,
to ask him some questions.
We're here at Lone Star Throwdown.
It looks like you're having a blast out here.
- Oh yeah.
- Yeah. It's a great time.
- Great time.
- Booths packed, biggest show.
Obviously after 2020,
everyone just want to come out
and just be in the environment,
in the show scene.
- They're from everywhere right now.
All up North, East coast, West coast.
- Yeah.
- Just trying to have a good time,
without all the craziness from last year.
- Absolutely.
We're going to sit down.
We're going to ask him some questions.
If you guys need wheels, tires, suspension, accessories,
customeroffsets.com
Let's get into it.
Alright, CJ, tell our audience a little bit
of who you are and what do you drive?
Obviously, you've got quite a bit,
but what do you drive?
Who you are?
- CJ. I own a Skoops Marketing Group.
I manage builds all across the United States.
I've got some in Florida
all the way up to North pole, Alaska.
Um, I drive a,
currently I drive a 2021, 450.
Um, I have a,
well, my wife's 2020, 250.
I have a '67 Cadillac,
'95 old body soft board.
And I just purchased another old body soft board
dually.
So obviously I had this thing for, for Old Body Styles.
- Yeah
- What else do I have?
The 77, F-250 that I'm building out in Florida.
- [Lawson] Yeah.
- [CJ] Right now with a Cash Bred and RKB.
- [Lawson] Awesome.
- So, I've got a few vehicles scattered everywhere.
- Yeah, yeah.
It just proves that you eat, sleep,
breathe this, you know, this lifestyle.
- I love it. - So it's super cool.
So, all right, now let's kick it back a little bit.
A question that's not so much about the truck scene.
We're going to get a little human here.
If you could only choose one food to eat
for the rest of your life
every day, every meal, what would it be?
- I don't know about food,
but I know about like,
you ever heard of Ghengis Grill?
- Yeah.
- It's like Mongolian food. - Yeah.
- I love Mongolian.
- Really? - I do.
- All right. There you go, Mongolian food.
(swoosh sound) All right.
So tell us a little bit about SMG.
What it's about and how you got started.
- So, I started actually construction
with the family business
and I, I've been doing this since,
(sighs)
since I got a, a, a, a
a license.
- [Lawson] Right. - As soon as I got my license,
I started doing builds
and I've gone to this show,
probably for the last
eight years, six years,
somewhere around there.
And I was like,
"Man I need to try to turn this into a business."
And... because I'm spending all this money
traveling and going shows and marketing for companies,
I'm like "Let's try to turn this into a business."
And I knew some people that already marketing
and stuff like that.
So I was like,
"I'm gonna to try and get my feet wet
and see how I like it."
So I did a couple of fields for SEMA.
I think it was 2017 or 2018. (subwoofer sounds passing by)
And I was like, man, I like this.
- Right.
- I like it.
And construction just (subwoofer in the background)
it's tough working for a family business.
So I was like,
"Man, let me try to figure out how I can do this full time."
- Right - Full-time
So 2018,
I did probably about 27 builds, 30 builds for SEMA.
And I got on my flight back and I was like
(loud music and subwoofer sounds in the background)
"I think I can turn this full time."
So I called some companies up when I got back
and I said,
"Hey, what if we market builds for not just SEMA,
we build them for LST.
We build them for Orange Beach Invasion.
We build them for Lifted Truck Nationals.
And every one of them was like,
"Let's do it" like, - Dang.
- "I love that idea."
So I got back from a SEMA
2019,
and I said
"Let's do it full-time."
Stopped the construction,
started doing,
started immediately working on builds for LST,
and I've been doing it since.
- That's awesome.
- Love it
- That's crazy.
That's actually funny.
'Cause I used to, I laid concrete
for like four years before I joined custom offsets.
- Really? - Like I lived that
construction life
and like waking up in the morning.
It's not your love.
It's not your passion,
not what you want to do for the rest of your life
- You're right
- So then to see you actually be able to, you know
get into your dream, your passion.
I can definitely relate to that.
It's super cool.
- Everybody doesn't realize how,
how much goes into it.
I'm always on my phone and stuff like that.
But I did it for the most part because
I get to wake up when I want to,
I get to go wherever I want to travel.
Everything's through my phone.
And the biggest thing is I get to watch my daughter grow up
every step of the way.
- Right.
- So that was my biggest thing.
- Yeah, absolutely super cool.
All right. Let's kick it back a little bit.
You obviously talked
about all the vehicles that you have.
They're like all Fords other than the Cadillac.
- Yes. - Why Ford?
Why not Chevy?
Why not Ram?
- I think it come from my father.
He was into the Chevy's and stuff like that.
And he got a Dodge.
I was probably six years old.
He got a Dodge and it stayed in the shop
more than he drove it.
- Oh no.
- He's, he sold it
and traded it in for a '01 Platinum 7.3
which probably people have seen me driving around.
It with my work truck,
and which nobody knew platinums were even existed then.
- Right.
- So it was a 2001, only year they made it,
and that's what sold me on it on a just Ford,
because we never had a problem with since then.
And like I said, it come from my father.
Having a dodge that stayed in the shop more.
I needed something that I could drive.
And I, I guess Ford is it,
other than everybody says
"found on road dead," - Yeah.
- but I've never had an issue.
- Absolutely
- no issue with Ford.
So if I had to go with a second choice
it would probably be Dodge,
just 'cause I don't like independent front suspension,
in Chevy's,
unless you're like doing rides,
- or something like that, that's good. Good for travel
- Don't attack me, all right. - I'm not attacking you.
- You're about to go to a super dude.
- I'ma to get ready.
Yeah, absolutely.
All right.
If you had to choose between Bud Light and Busch Light
which one would you choose and why?
- Dos Equis.
- And so neither,
(Lawson laughing)
I'm obviously close to Mexico.
So that's my choice of beer.
So my wife's from Florida.
The further I get away from Texas
it's hard to find
- Yeah. and I'm a Dos Equis guy, so...
- Awesome.
- neither of those those,
Dos Equis
- Well, when you get to Florida
you got to scoop up some Yuengling, that's my favorite one.
When I'm down South, so.
(swoosh sound)
All right, So what is it, what the OBS's?
Obviously you have a lot
of history around the OBS's.
I've seen, you know your love for the OBS on the internet.
What is it?
What does it for you?
- I've always loved them, just to look of them.
'95,
I purchased my first '95 to do for SEMA in 2016.
And, and ever since then, it's just the 7.3 sound.
I've I actually enjoy pulling up
to a fast food restaurant or a fast food place
and having to turn off the engine cause they can't hear you.
- Yeah.
- It's just made it.
It's like a time machine in general.
So when you're driving them around,
(police siren)
you just go back to your little,
back in the mid 90's, late 90's
- Right.
- around an old body style board.
I, it just, I love new trucks, but it's just something...
I got a brand new 2021, 450 limited,
massage seats,
heating and cool seats
and I wake up
and I'd rather jump in my old body soft board
- Yeah.
I, I just got that red spoolie
and I'd rather jump in there over driving the new truck.
It's just something about them.
I love them. - Sure. Awesome.
What is the next build on the plate?
So obviously you've mentioned it a couple of times in this
what's the, what's the next build
that you're focusing on the most?
- Personal? - Yup.
- So I have,
we've we've finished this one
up for the most part.
We're going to take this one to SEMA too.
I have a, the 2021, 450.
We're putting a lift on that.
Kind of have it matching everything.
The new theme this year is black and red.
So everything's going black and red.
So my personal one,
the dually 450,
and then I'm working on that '77, F250
that we're putting a 12 valve in
- All right
- putting twins on it
and that's getting built in Florida right now.
So I actually have a matching trailer.
You might've seen the rendering.
I posted it.
So we're working on those for SEMA, this year.
- Awesome. That's crazy.
All right.
Last question.
What build do you miss the most that you did and why?
That you wish you could just have back
- [CJ] the joker
Because I think Winston just kind of helped out
with the whole situation, but everybody just back then,
I mean, having a, a full Iraq truck that went up 22 inches
and this was before 42's were around.
So 40's were the biggest tire we can get on there.
And I had 50-15's on there,
which they were so tight - Yup
- in the rear.
And I think just the overall hype that, that truck got
obviously I was really big
into doing the theme build and stuff like that.
So obviously, Been Dead.
The Joker,
people might not remember the
the white one I had, but it was White Lion.
I'm big on just doing theme builds.
That was my biggest attention,
theme build that I've done.
And through that whole situation with Winston
it just got the most attention and stuff like that.
So if I could have it back or maybe,
maybe rebuild another one of those.
- Recreate!
- Recreate just like we did with the bar show vendetta
I do it just because I think
that grabs a lot of people's attention.
And that's what I found out,
a lot of people picked up on me after that whole situation
and walking around places and people like,
"Man, you're the guy that had
and sold that truck to that, that, that one guy."
- Right.
- And I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, that's me."
Yeah. Just the attention that overall truck brought
and just being a massive truck.
It just, it, it grabbed attention.
And that's what you want when you build a vehicle
you want it to grab attention.
- Right.
Yeah. I was going to say, I remember, I remember it.
And even to this day, you still hear
about The Joker build
and it's definitely puts you on the map
and it's one of those iconic builds.
That'll go with you for the rest of your life.
So super cool.
All right.
We'll see, CJ, thank you so much for stopping by man.
- Appreciate it.
- Appreciate you coming by Texas.
- Absolutely.
It's hot.
- Enjoy the weather for now?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah
- Because we're going to go back to snow and ice.
- I think it's,
I think it's warming up - They can have all that.
We don't want it anymore. - I think it's warming up.
It's like 35 degrees back home right now.
- Free trial of Antarctica.
- Yeah. Yeah. - No more.
- Yeah. So thank you once again.
If you guys need wheels, tires, suspensions, accessories,
customeoffsets.com.
We'll see you guys on the next one.
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