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welcome back to the gentleman's garage so here
we are today's actually kind of a unique day
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uh there's this video that's been floating
around the internet there's a very very good
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chance that you've seen the video well before
now of a bunch of cars uh flooded in a [Music]
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garage I this this video was posted inadvertently
without my permission uh back in late 2017 and
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obviously uh I was not on social media in any
way shape or for I didn't have Facebook I didn't
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have Instagram I don't even know if I was really
watching many YouTube videos back then thought
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way would finally come forward and say hey here's
where this video came from it was originally shot
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at my house my wife took that video and today
we're going to tell you guys a story behind that
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video what it was all about what came from it and
where due to that video we are today relative to
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uh not only our car collection but also my watch
collection which we've been beginning to share
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with you guys a little bit more and more August
2 7th 2017 uh hurricane Harvey dumped biblical
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amounts of rain uh on the Southeast region of
Texas namely Houston our house we we are on a lake
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uh but our foundation is 14 ft above the bulkhead
of our Lake and from my back door to the bulkhead
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is 120 yards uh I know that because they make golf
balls full of fish food and uh I like to put a
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little mat down hit a gap wedge uh from the the
back door and hit balls into the lake feeds the
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fish and it makes uh you know some little catch
release fishing off the dock even more fun that
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being said with our house being so far removed
from the bulcan is so much higher than the bulcan
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and no one having any idea that that har Harvey
was going to just stall over that portion of Texas
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and just dump rain endlessly for days my younger
brother uh and his wife came to stay with us we
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thought we wouldd hunker down for the weekend uh
we were going to have a big cook off there was a
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big UFC fight that that Saturday and we're just
going to kind of make a little weekend party out
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of riding out the storm and no big deal little did
we know that uh within 3 days we would be getting
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rescued out of our home and that's exactly what
happened the water just kept rising and rising
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and Rising uh and at first we really weren't that
concerned uh again because we're so far from the
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bulkhead so high up we felt like uh we we were on
high ground and the water continued to rise and
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then it Rose to the point where started getting
into the streets of the neighborhood and little
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by little our home started to become a little bit
of an island a lot of cell towers were damaged and
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knocked out and uh and we had lost um internet and
Wi-Fi it was very very difficult to load any any
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websites or get text messages in and out to find
out you know what's going on what's the forecast
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looking like finally I'm up on my on a second
story balcony of the house and you know finally
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held the hand in the right position and got
just enough cell signal to load the website that
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tracked the lake levels and would forecast where
the lake would Crest at that point it's just basic
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math and I realized that means we're going to
have about 3 and 1/2 ft of water in our home and
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uh so that was that was a a uh very hard moment to
absorb and and and soak in so uh we decide okay we
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need to to pack some Essentials uh there there
were rescue boats starting to run in the lake
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and we're going to have to uh flag a rescue boat
Bo down we knew that the rescue boats would only
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take you so far and then if they were able to
get Transportation you would usually end up in
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a shelter somewhere so we really thought we were
going to end up in the George AR Brown Convention
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Center when we got rescued out of the lake so now
we're presenting with this quandry I've got cars
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the water's too high up in my driveway because
I did have lifts at the time and if you look at
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that video there's some really special cars on
the first level of the garage uh I just bought
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the 2005 4GT and of course you see right there
in the middle the 458 specialia per a very very
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very special car uh and then over to the right is
the 488 then of course we had uh we had our G63 G
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wagon uh my wife had a uh another little Mercedes
and my brother had his truck uh which at the time
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was his most prized possession in our driveway and
uh but at that point the water was too high that
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if I were to try to shuffle for example I'd love
to have gotten the the special sh aerta and the
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and the 4 GT up on the lifts and sacrific uh the
two Lambos that were up top there was not enough
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room to pull them out and not not get them in the
water and have room to pull another car out and
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then back up on the lift so and then I was afraid
that if I did pull them out and they got wet like
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that that you know I pulled them I drove them into
water and that you know would that be insurance
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fraud and I definitely wasn't going to play with
any of that so if they flooded they flooded it
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was just going to have to be what it was um and I
couldn't I couldn't change things around the way I
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wanted to so we've got a pack of we know we're
probably going to end up in the Georgia Brown
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Convention Center we're going to try to take some
of our most prized possessions with us but look
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like we don't have anything so we had my wife and
I had some very very uh I'll call them sentimental
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values I don't want to go into detail with what
they were but also uh my watch collection and back
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in 2017 my watch collection uh was probably about
$3 million in total in my watch collection so we
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packed up some of the valuables that that were
very very important to my wife and I they were
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Irreplaceable quite honestly and and we dressed in
clothes that made us look very plain very simple
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we had suitcases that were not fancy at all um and
uh now we're trying to figure out where to put the
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watches so my brother's wife has a makeup bag so
we stuffed all these watches in the makeup bag
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and my my younger brother he's a big dude 6' three
and probably about 300 lb so he's he's he's a unit
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he's something that he's a forced to be reckoned
with for sure my little brother puts the makeup
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bag in a duffel bag puts it across his chest and
and he looks at me he's like no one's going to
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get this bag off of me now as much as I love my
younger brother he's one of the sweetest people
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you'll ever meet so our demeanor and temperament
is very different uh I can be quick on the trigger
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obviously I I I kickbox growing up and I have a
a very uh uh let's say Lean Forward mindset and
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mentality and demeanor we go to get rescued out of
the house we wave down a uh a rescue boat we had
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to wait out the water was so high at that point
we have a basketball court in our backyard that
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the the the river boats actually drove over the
top of the basketball go they didn't even know
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it was there the water was that high already at
that point it hadn't quite gotten the home at
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that point but it was only three or four inches
from getting inside the home so we get rescued
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out and fortunately uh my brother and I were able
to get a hold of my dad my dad found a way went
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the wrong way down a bunch of closed roads was
able to get to the exit point where we thought
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the the Riverbats were going to take us get us
out of the lake so fortunately we did not end up
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at the George AR Brown Convention Center we were
able to end up back at my dad's place which was
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very grateful for we're we're disheveled we're
wet I'll never forget the moment as I'm in the
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rescue boat I look back at my house and the house
was all lit up and I realize that uh Mother Nature
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is the ultimate equalizer amongst men uh doesn't
care who you are what you've accomplished in life
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none of that mother nature uh she's going to do
her thing and what a powerful force we spent the
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night at my dad's house meanwhile I realized okay
the whole Community is going to be devastated I
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need to get ahead of this so everybody's going
to need three things uh that live in in our
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community they're going to need make insurance
claims obviously uh they're going to need a
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place to stay so we knew we were going to need a
rental home and they're going to need a builder
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or contractor to rebuild their homes so I knew
those were three things that I want to get ahead
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in line to get myself or get our claims filed and
to to to secure those other things so by the time
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time we had dinner that night uh I had found a
home in the community that I could rent fully
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furnished I knew based upon where the home was
located that area is almost impossible to flood
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um I'd already got in touch with uh my insurance
agent we' already filed insurance claims he said
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well is is the house flooded the cars flooded I'm
like you know it's just math it's guaranteed if
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they haven't at this exact moment they will be
by in the morning uh and then uh I got a hold
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of the Builder that originally built their home
home and I said hey uh it's inevitable my home's
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going to flood I want to be first on your list to
get your crews out there start demoing and try to
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start putting our house back together and uh so
we finished dinner uh uh we uh the next morning
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I I finished getting all all the business talk
that I just talked about taking care of and we
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go to the rental house that uh I had just secured
for us at that time all of Houston was completely
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flooded it was still pouring rain uh the rain
had not let up at that point and uh so we get to
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the to the rent house uh you know we'd all been
jammed in and up under one another so everybody
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need a little bit of space so my brother and his
wife took one of the guest bedrooms they went and
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showered and put on fresh clothes my wife and I
we went and did the same thing so I walk into the
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kitchen of the the home that we had first day in
this house that we had just rented and I see the
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duffel bag and I see my brother standing over and
he's frantic he's panicking and he's looking like
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underneath t-shirts and he's lifting them and
I'm like uh what's going on and he's oh nothing
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nothing everything's okay no problem don't worry
about it everything's fine and uh immediately
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I realized he's looking for the watches and I'm
like uh so where where where are the watches and
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uh he's like oh they're here they're here you
know I've been wearing this bad cross my chest
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the whole time they haven't gone anywhere this
and the other and I'm like all right uh we got
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to start retracing our steps so uh he's like well
I'm coming with you I'm like no no no I need space
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right now uh my entire watch collection missing
in the midst of all this getting rescued out of
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the river going to my dad's house uh and then
then finding this rent house getting the rent
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house so I'm like I'm going to go find this
myself um cuz I need to calm down so I drive
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back to my dad's house we looked everywhere it
possibly could be watches are not there so uh I
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get back to our rental house and I realize so did
anyone need to get anything out of the duffel bag
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before we left and meanwhile finally his wife goes
oh yeah I wanted to put in fresh contacts before
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we got in the rescue boat and I'm thinking for
the love of everything holy that means that for
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her to get to her fresh contact she would have
gotten that duffel bag that's where the watches
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were inevitably the watches must still be back at
my house which at this point I know is at least
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3 ft or more underwater my concern was looting so
I I figured it was a race between me getting back
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to the house finding my watches and and getting
them out of the house before the looters do so
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we got in touch with some friends of ours live
in the community we've got a couple of jet skis
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uh the water was so high on so many streets we
just went to the end of a cuac launched the jet
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skis at this point we're our rental house is on
the opposite side of the lake of where our home
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was so my wife and I jet ski all the way back
to our house tie off the jet skis get down in
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the water walk back in the house sure enough uh
there's 39 in of water in the home my entire home
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is destroyed uh and um we went to go see how
badly damaged the cars were and as we're kind
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of assessing that uh and I had another buddy
of mine with me that kind of was helping us uh
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maneuver things and do things on the jet skis and
and whatnot at the house um my wife took the video
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of the devastation just of the garage we took some
pictures inside the home and in that moment it was
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it was the craziest feeling in the world uh my
cars are I have so much passion behind the Cars
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and my car collection uh and to see some of the
most special ones in the collection at that time
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just underwater uh utterly destroyed um to see
my home furniture floating uh in the home uh my
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birthday was just a few days but prior to that so
looking at birthday cards that my kids had gotten
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to me that were floating uh in the living room was
heartbreaking um uh in in that moment I realized
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you know um the things that you know obviously I'm
grateful that that my wife and I were Safe Kids
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uh were safe uh but but but our Hess destroyed
uh until we found the watch collection that was
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completely gone my cars were were destroyed uh it
was very devastating um truly truly devastating
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it's it's hard to describe I I until I was in
that moment I couldn't appreciate how emotionally
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taxing and devastating losing essentially your
life your home and your your possessions uh all
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in one fail swoop can can be on someone so it was
it was it was heavy and profound good news was
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uh the watches were sitting right there on the
kitchen island and the water had come up just
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to the bottom of the makeup bag that we had
stuffed all the watches in and we were able
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to secure the watches and by the way speaking of
watches uh we're going to start incorporating a
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little bit more watch uh discussion into our
videos uh because I find that nine times out
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of 10 if you're a car guy you're a watch guy
and I wear a different watch every day today
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we're actually wearing my Paddock Philip uh
6104 uh this is definitely one of my favorite
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most prized possession watch is a very very
special piece uh real Marvel in in in watch
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making and and what this watch does uh uh from a
mechanical standpoint the entire dial rotates so
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you've got the exact Star constellation um and and
not only the phase of the moon but the position
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of the Moon and those rotate independently and
then of course tells time and date and it's got
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a gorgeous Diamond Battle Basel so didn't have
the watch at that time uh this is a more recent
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acquisition so we get the watches uh we jet ski
back to our rent house and then began the process
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of trying to put our house back together meanwhile
as I said back in 20 actually uh you guys my
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audience youall know until seven months ago I did
no social media I didn't have Facebook Instagram I
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certainly wasn't making YouTube videos or anything
like that two motorcycles had gotten flooded uh
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along with the cars uh one of those bikes was
bagger of the year at sturis in 2015 white bike
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gorgeous bike completely custombuilt bike so I
got in touch with the bike builder and I said hey
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these bikes have been ooded can we rebuild them uh
you know how do I even make an insurance claim on
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a custom bike didn't even know how that would work
with the evaluations and whatnot he goes well do
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you have uh any pictures of it I didn't have any
pictures uh but I just had that one video that my
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wife had made sent the video to the bike builder
I said you can pause and you can see how how you
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know just how much water the bike was under he's
the one that posted it online uh and then a bunch
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of buddies of mine started sending it to me uh
really upset me uh because that was uh very near
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and dear to me uh I didn't share that with anyone
on a public scale by for sure it was only sent to
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him to help him have him help me figure out how to
make an insurance claim or or can we rebuild these
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bikes and whatnot and so that's how the video
came to be all over the Internet uh gosh that's
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a little over seven years ago it's crazy to think
it's been that long now we did end up rebuilding
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the white bike it's still in our collection today
it's a truly amazing bike and I love the history
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of that bike it's been featured in some magazines
and whatnot uh I'm very very proud to own it today
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but yes we're finally getting to tell you guys the
source of that video where it really came from now
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this video is going to be a three-part Series
this is going to be really cool let's have some
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fun together on this this is a video one telling
you guys I'm first off I'm claiming the video it
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was mine it was my home it was my garage and a
little bit of the story about what it's like to
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get flooded lose your home nearly lose your watch
collection uh and certainly lose some very very
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priced uh cars there's two cars that were flooded
that you see in the video here that we have
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I will say replaced in the collection and so
the second video of this three-part series
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will be uh me telling you how we we sourced the
replacement for that particular car I'm going
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to do a full review on that car because in that
video there's two cars there that I'm going on
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record today saying they're two of the greatest
driver's cars ever made next video will be how
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we Source the replacement for one of those cars
and my complete review about why I think that's
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one of the greatest driver cars of of all time
and our third video will be very similar it'll
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be how we sourced the the second car how we
got it back in the collection and my review
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on that car of why I think it too is one of the
greatest cars uh of modern times or I would say
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maybe of all time so I hope you guys enjoyed
the video now you know where the mysterious uh
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flood car video came from and we're going to
share with you guys how we made Replacements
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got them in my review why I think they're two of
the greatest cars ever made and we're going to
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be bringing you guys along for it can't wait
to share the rest of it with you guys soon
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