VINwiki’s Ed Bolian Shares His Thoughts On Filming Car Trek

The past year has been crazy for a long list of reasons, but there have been a few bright spots. One came to us from three automotive content creators in the form of Car Trek, a show sponsored by AutoTempest that pits Automotive YouTubers Tyler Hoover, Freddie “Tavarish” Hernandez, and Ed Bolian of VINwiki fame against each other with a variety of questionable exotic cars.

We were recently able to ask Ed a few questions about his experience, and quickly found out that the show became a big part of the hosts’ lives and allowed them to live out the automotive fantasies that many of us had growing up. It’s telling that, after several episodes and numerous comedic mishaps, Bolian is still excited and ready to make more car content with his two co-conspirators. His answers are below.

What has been your most memorable moment filming Car Trek?

The most memorable moment in filming Car Trek was getting off the ferry at Amelia Island with the three cars and the crew. The feeling that we had really done it, survived the trip, and reached the finish in such unlikely cars. In that moment, we had the opportunity to look back on how crazy the adventure had been and it was truly special. The drive along the coastal roads was one where the hairs on the back of your neck never lay down. True and utter perfection.

What have you learned during filming that you think will influence how you work with cars going forward?

Cars are all about their stories. When we buy and sell cars we account for the stories they have but we discount the opportunity we have to make our own stories with them. Car Trek is about blending friendship and adventure with cars we already love. The recipe is tried and true but that doesn’t make any of the miles less special. It is the total opposite of your normal road trip. We expect calamity, struggle, and discomfort and once you recalibrate your thinking to anticipate those, the possibilities are endless as you roll with the punches.

If you could do anything over again about Car Trek and your participation, what would it be? 

I wouldn’t change a thing about how Car Trek has gone. It happened with the right guys at the right time and the right sponsor relationship to make it possible. It is a premise that fits us really well and is the manifestation of how each of us approach car ownership. It really is a situation where we have to stop having fun for long enough to tell the story the audience about what we are experiencing.

What has been your favorite car from the show so far?

The flood Gallardo is definitely my favorite. It has all the elements I want in a car – rarity, purity, a haunted past, reconditioning required, and impressive next anything it is parked near!

Is there anything you’d like to add from your time filming?

Car Trek draws its inspiration from a lot of places, certainly and squarely from Top Gear. You could say that we are trying to replicate Top Gear and that might be fair but in reality we are trying to play out the Top Gear fantasy that all of us had growing up. The social media platforms and the sponsor relationships make this possible but this is truly something we do for fun. Not for money. Not for views. You can use a platform to do a lot of different things but what I am most proud of is that we were able to use our day jobs of creating our own brands of automotive content to create the opportunity Car Trek is – the opportunity for us to play Top Gear in a way we truly never imagined would be possible. We have our audience and AutoTempest to thank for that and we could not be any more grateful.

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