Natalie Returns! HighLift Off-Road & Gear Vehicles Full Interview

🎙️ Jeep Talk Show Interview: Natalie Returns! HighLift Off-Road & Gear Vehicles Girls, it’s time! Natalie is back on the Jeep Talk Show and we’re diving deep into her journey from frustrated JK owner to full-time HighLift/Gear team member. From legal work to becoming one of the most passionate voices in the Jeep community, Natalie shares how a simple steering upgrade led her to her dream role. We break down everything you need to know about **Gear Vehicles** — the turnkey, dealership-friendly Jeeps packed with the best aftermarket upgrades: – Rock Slide Engineering steps, bumpers & more – Bilstein shocks & Mopar lifts – Mickey Thompson & BFGoodrich tires – Baja Designs lighting – Cat Skin leather, Racing Optics windshield protection – Warren Winch and so much more! Whether you’re a new Jeep owner or a seasoned wheeler, this episode shows how Gear makes building your dream Jeep easier, stronger, and more fun. **Topics Covered:** – How Natalie got started wheeling in 2019 – The birth of Gear Vehicles on the trails – Why enthusiasts make the best team members – July 4th Red Rhythm and Boom event + upcoming Jeep shows – Training, safety, and the Jeep lifestyle Tune in for laughs, great stories, and real talk about taking your Jeep to the next level without the guesswork. 👉 **Gear Vehicles Website:** https://gearvehicles.com 👉 **HighLift Off-Road:** https://highliftoffroad.com Follow Natalie: @gypsy_jk_red4x4 (Instagram) Drop a comment: Would you buy a Gear Vehicle? First, Second, or Third Gear? 🔥 **Timestamps:** 00:00 – Show Intro and Upcoming HighLift Talk 00:28 – Gear Off-Road Vehicles Overview 01:12 – Natalie’s Path to HighLift 01:58 – Steering Upgrade and First 101 Experience 02:43 – Growing Obsession and AI Scoring Joke 03:37 – Mike’s Role and Hiring Enthusiasts 04:31 – Passion, Feeling, and JK Modifications 06:05 – Steering Issue Pulls Natalie In 06:42 – Part-Time Start and Women’s Team-Building Event 08:28 – Balancing Work, Family, and Law Background 09:01 – Dad’s Reluctant Retirement and Mike’s Skills 10:10 – Jeep Collaboration and Aftermarket in Dealerships 12:00 – Mopar Advances and Explaining Gear Vehicles 12:59 – Rubicon vs Gear: Next Level 13:33 – Rockslide Steps and Customization Options 14:31 – Dealership Purchasing and Installation of Gear Parts 15:18 – Baja Design Lights and Partner Products 16:37 – Catskin Leather Interior and Badging 17:02 – Gear Badging and Jeep Identity 17:34 – Gear Vehicle Serialization and Success 18:01 – 2026 Model Success and Upcoming Gear Meetup 18:21 – Warren Go Prepared Partnership and Daily Jeep Use 18:39 – Personal Jeep Stories and Lifted Jeep Discussion 19:01 – Off-Road Light Partnerships 19:35 – Legal Considerations for Off-Road Lights 20:22 – Aux Switches and Light Installation Guidelines 22:07 – Partner Brands and HighLift Jack Discussion 22:43 – Gear as a Sales Tool 23:35 – Sales Strategy and Dealership Support 25:14 – Dealership Excellence and Turnkey Jeep Offering 26:16 – Lift Kit Options and Owner Concerns 27:25 – Community Events and Future Jeep Invasion Plans 32:31 – Jeep Booth at Invasion and Color Choices 33:41 – Branding HighLift vs High Off-Road Lift 34:08 – Event Promotion and Weather Remarks 35:30 – Mike’s Personality and Interactions 36:23 – Closing Remarks and New Friendship If you enjoyed the show, please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and hit the bell 🛎️ New episodes every week — stay in the Jeep community! #JeepTalkShow #GearVehicles #HighLiftOffRoad #JeepLife #Wrangler #Gladiator #OffRoad #JeepFest #SmokyMountainJeepInvasion #ToledoJeepFest Visit our website: https://jeeptalkshow.com/ Watch/Listen on Spotify: https://jeeptalkshow.com/spotify Join our Discord Server: https://jeeptalkshow.com/discord Subscribe to our newsletter: https://jeeptalkshow.com/newsletter Help Support the show via Patreon: https://jeeptalkshow.com/patreon

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00:00 – 00:00:03:13]
(Music)

[00:00:03:13 – 00:00:19:15]
and girls, it’s time for another G Talk Show interview and I know you know this face, I know this face from many times recording with her here on the show and also Chick Chat. It’s Natalie, oh, I should have flubbed your name. Oh, I know, try again, here we go. It’s Nancy, you know.

[00:00:21:16 – 00:00:29:13]
(Laughing) So Natalie has agreed to come back. We haven’t talked about high lift or gear, is it gear off road or?

[00:00:30:16 – 00:00:31:00]
Gear

[00:00:31:00 – 00:00:33:29]
(Music)

[00:00:33:29 – 00:01:46:01]
sayings, Tony. You know, the thing that people don’t understand is if you don’t like sales or you love sales, it doesn’t matter, you’re always in sales. Everything you do, day after day, whether you’ve got a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband, a wife, the barista, when you’re getting your coffee, you know? It’s like, most people don’t act the way they feel, especially before they get their coffee. So you’re always in sales, that way the coffee doesn’t get thrown at you. So, you know, it’s just a matter of how much sales you wanna get into, so. Absolutely. Speaking of that, I was curious, I know, I feel we’ve talked about this before, but I don’t remember the answer. How did you get started with high lift? Because you had a job doing something else, you were working in legal. I was, and you know, I still feel like you never give it up, you know, the law is always with you, but– Yeah, sales, yeah. Sales, exactly, the ultimate sales. We were, you know, we’re a need, not a want. So, you know, that’s the life of a, you know, fake lawyer, I like to say, practicing law with my dad’s license, but, you know, when it came to high lift,

[00:01:46:01 – 00:01:48:20]
(Music)

[00:01:53:20 – 00:03:18:19]
So you were a customer, you were coming in, because you were having serious issues, okay? I was a customer, I needed some upgraded steering, I had worn out the Mopar parts on my JK, you know, drive it till you kill it, one of those, and I did, and you know, I messaged them, and Mike Bailey’s like, come on in, you know, the good old Facebook messenger, and that was about four or five years ago, and then just kind of kept going from there, and those, I couldn’t leave anybody alone, I wanted to go wheel with everybody, I wanted to keep teaching, and sometimes you realize where you’re meant to be. So you were doing the, obviously you were doing the wheeling before you started with high lift, were you doing the teaching outside of high lift? I was, with a great group called Trail Team Off-Road Adventures, that’s who taught me how to wheel, they hosted 101s, and the moment I went to my first 101 in 2019, which, thank you Facebook for the memory reminder, just the other day, and it was just, as we all say, downhill from there, the obsession started. How did that conversation get started with Mike Bailey? I mean, he wasn’t the one working on your Jeep, right? I know you have this bubbly personality that we all love here on the show, were you angry, Natalie? Because angry Natalie is kind of rough. It can be rough. You were getting the steering fixed, you were getting the steering fixed, so I can see how you could be angry, well you know, fix this

[00:03:18:19 – 00:03:27:22]
I know, right? And by the way, we can curse, because the software I use bleeps things now, this letter go, if you feel the urge.

[00:03:28:29 – 00:03:32:01]
I might, but I want a bell, can you ring the bell for me when I do it though?

[00:03:33:15 – 00:04:01:07]
(Laughing) It needs to score it, yeah. We need to have AI score it. So, was Mike in there helping with the stuff? I mean, I get the feeling that you had to have some Mike time for him to see the benefit of having you being part of the team. You know, absolutely, he’s so hands-on with all of the brands, and you look at him and you maybe wouldn’t think, does he know automotive? Like he has the business brain, right? But I mean, that guy– He’s like that gas monkey garage guy, you know that guy that the money guy doesn’t know a

[00:04:01:07 – 00:05:30:07]
thing about cars. Yes, well this guy does, and I’m very lucky that he does, from the import scene to the off-road scene, he, that knowledge has just been going for so long, and as enthusiasts, sometimes we are the best mechanics, and that’s how everyone feels that when– Well you care about the vehicle. I think enthusiasts care more about the vehicle than somebody that’s making a buck. They do, and that’s something that Highlifting Gear pride themselves on is we hire the enthusiasts, essentially. Like you have to have passion to do what we do, and it’s a feeling, and that’s something that I portray with Gear every day to the dealerships and the community is, we operate on a feeling, and Jeep gives you that feeling. From the spirit of the venture to the ruggedness, and it’s just like this weekend being, America’s 250, July 4th, it’s the feeling. So that’s something that Highlifting Gear both do, and that’s how Gear was born. You know when I contacted you about doing the interview, I thought, July 4th is coming up, she’s off, she doesn’t have anything to do, it’ll be a good time to get her back on the show, but you’re doing something for July 4th for Highlifting and Gear. Yes we are, so we have a great community event here in Cincinnati called Red Rhythm and Boom, and it’s a huge event up in Mason, Ohio, and we always go to that with our full setup, all the Jeeps are gonna be there, of course in red, white, and blue, including the Warren Go Prepared Edition, and my JK is making an appearance, I’m pretty excited.

[00:05:31:17 – 00:06:43:13]
She’s coming out of the garage. So that JK that had the steering problems, which I’m assuming they fixed, has been really very heavily modified by Highlift off-road, which I think it’s been a while, so people may not remember, but Highlift actually does modifications, extensive modifications on Jeeps, including installing V8 Hemis, that you can drop off and come back and have a room for them. So that’s not what happened to your JK, but certainly a lot of modifications have been done on it from Highlift. And very much so, and thank you to Sears Smarts, they got me really into the game, so I know we’re both Sears Smarts fans, so really happy to have them on my Jeep and on the Gears as well, but yeah, so the steering, who knew a steering upgrade and honestly, onboard air, so I did an ARB under the hood compressor because I’d never wanted to be without air. Yeah, I agree. That was my favorite, it’s still my favorite upgrade. Next to everything else, I love knowing I can always inflate my tires or help a friend on or off the trail, and it’s happened, it’s definitely happened. So, I got sucked in with the steering, here we are.

[00:06:44:20 – 00:08:15:21]
All right, so you’re in there, you’re getting the steering fixed, you have some Mike Bailey time, was I envisioned the police being called because you won’t leave, and they say– Pretty much. And then Mike says, would you, I love this tenaciousness, we need you working here. A little bit, yeah, so he ended up having, it was right time actually, he had a great call with Bill Stein, corporate, and they were looking to host a women’s weekend for 30 of their employees, and he asked me, have you ever done any type of team building or anything like that, and I have. So, I worked with the YMCA for many years, and that’s all we do at the YMCA, is team building. Oh, I remember now. Team building’s inspired. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. So, I helped him develop Off-Road Weekend, locally here in Kentucky, and we took 30 of their employees out with 10 of our vehicles, and Bill Stein vehicles, my personal vehicle, Mike’s vehicles, and we taught them how to Off-Road and really enjoy the shocks that they make, from on-the-line workers to the CFO, some of the corporate from Germany flew in, it was such a beautiful experience seeing these women, and honestly, just people come together and help each other, it was four per vehicle, and they would rotate drivers, and some of them had just gotten their license that week, like it was, they had way more than they bargained for, and I did ask that one person, “What vehicle are you in?” She goes, “That red one.” I was like, “I’m gonna put you in the white Bronco.”

[00:08:16:27 – 00:08:42:15]
(Laughs) So, all good, but it definitely changed everything, and that’s when I realized, this is where I’m meant to be and to make a shift, so. And you started part-time with Hi-Lift, because, I think this is okay to say, because your daddy was ready to shoot you, if you left helping him. Yeah, I know. So, you had to work, you had to work two jobs, it was only relatively recently, was it two, three years, whenever you went full-time?

[00:08:43:24 – 00:09:33:03]
2025, January 25th, so going on, I’m in my second year now, so, and going on my third, fourth year, I can’t even count anymore, so third year, third year, 2023, so yeah, I mean, I love the family business, and I will always, I’ll always be with my dad, but man does not wanna retire, you never fully retire from law, we can’t stand it, so. Oh, somebody’s gonna ask you legal questions, and they probably ask you legal questions, and you’re not even at the office anymore, I mean, the legal end of things is just so confusing, and some arbitrary laws that are out there, but anyway, I don’t know. And we’re Italian, we’re not Quitters, so, you know, he’s gonna keep going, and I love it, he keeps it so sharp. That’s great, he needs something to do, yeah. Exactly. So, okay, so now you were with Hi-Lift full-time, and then you gotta know the curveball,

[00:09:34:11 – 00:09:41:21]
and we keep talking about gear, and there’s people out there that do not know what gear is,

[00:09:42:27 – 00:09:48:21]
so, gear vehicles, which is, I was really impressed, Natalie,

[00:09:49:29 – 00:09:56:19]
of whenever that came to be, because it’s a Jeep corporate big deal.

[00:09:57:20 – 00:13:18:27]
It is. I don’t know. Mike must have some amazing ways of talking. He does. (Laughs) Because that’s a big deal, it’s like, yeah, yeah, I can do that, oh yeah, we can do that, or I don’t know how he does it. That’s really cool, you know, to actually get Jeep involved. It is. I mean, unless you’re throwing the mass quantities of money at somebody, and I don’t think that was the situation, it’s like, I got an idea, so. You know, some of our best ideas are born on the trail, and that’s where gear was born. There was Smoky Mountain Jeep in Bay-Gen, you know, the right people really wanted to go out on a trail ride. If we’re at a Jeep in Bay-Gen in Tennessee, you wanna be in the woods a little bit. You wanna get out of the La Conte Center, you wanna go on the trail, so, you know, Jeep Performance Parts approached us, and Mopar said, “Can you guys take us out “on a trail ride tonight with Bill Stein?” So we got some vehicles together, we got our little twin, my favorite, Hydro Blue Princess, which is now a third gear together, and we took them out on the hurricane trail, and we were on this huge cliff side, overlooking the valley, and that’s where gear was born. How do we bring this to the dealership, and then to you as the public and customer as a turnkey option? That’s gonna be horrifically difficult, because it’s such a, the openness, the being scared of falling off this cliff, even though you’re not going to, but it’s– There’s metaphors everywhere. Yeah, you’re so, you know, like, oh my God, and it’s like being on a roller coaster, you’re safe, but it’s like being on a roller coaster, how do you get that feeling for the gear vehicles? And the safety, the relative safety, as long as you don’t see the, as long as you see the salesman come in at you, and you go to the bathroom, the relatively safety of the shopping environment at the store, at the shop. Absolutely. Well, and what’s great is, you know, the best of the aftermarket is now at your local dealership, from rock side engineering to rock crawler suspension, the Bill Stein family of shock products, and Mopar, Mopar has stepped up their game. It’s not just about grab handles anymore. They’re lift kits that feature Bill Stein 5100s and 5160s. Those kits I put up against anybody. I run the Mopar two inch lift with the 5160 Bill Stein shocks on my warring gladiator, the Go Prepared Edition, and it’s sitting on 37, Mickey Thompson, Baja Boss, and I wheel the heck out of that. Done the hardest trails and Moab in that thing with that lift, and it held strong. So, you know, Mopar is, they’re in the game now. They’re ready, they wanna be with every, but they’re bringing, we brought all our best friends together and created vehicles, right, for you. The turnkey option, you can finance some of it, and the warranty is there. Three year labor from gear, you can’t beat it. Cause gear was actually born from the Jeep Performance Parts logo. I don’t know if we can see that, but it’s a gear around the logo, the gear. So let’s get a better description about gear vehicles, because I still don’t think people would, the newbies will not understand. So I think the way I used to put it, and you correct me on this, is, so Jeep has a Rubicon, and the Rubicon has things that, you know, come on the Rubicons. There’s some things I think that you can add to the Rubicon, but you know, you get a certain set of things for a Jeep Rubicon, whether it’s a gladiator or a JL, JLU.

[00:13:20:00 – 00:14:08:18]
Gear is like the next step up. It is. Because not only can you get things that you may get on a Rubicon, but you get these aftermarket things that a lot of people use. So you mentioned, oh crap, the Rock Sliders? Rock Slide. Rock Slide, Rock Slide. You mentioned Rock Slide. So a lot of people look at these things, and they’re basically electric controlled steps, so that when you open the door, power steps, so when you open the door, the step drops down, but they can take an abuse off-road, which I always tell people, don’t get things that hang down. But actually, it’s so funny that Rock Slide actually did that. They put stuff on there that hangs down, but they made it removable, so you can use it and take it off.

[00:14:09:19 – 00:19:10:26]
I saw that, I couldn’t believe that Rock Slide was putting stuff that hangs down off of the Rock Sliders. I know, but they make it detachable and it’s so strong, and that step, I love that step. So that comes on the first gear. It’s great for a Sport S or a Willy package, and that step, and you can put on Rubicons too. It’s whatever fits your personality, and not only can you find them standard on gears, but you can go to your dealership and get the product, and they will also install it. So you have other avenues now to purchase your items, and you see where it directly goes back into the dealership family, or your techs that work so hard in the back, they’re installing your product, and you’re not just getting it from a distributor, we’ll say the big A, Amazon. I know we all love Amazon, but there’s things that you just shouldn’t get on Amazon. Cry once, build it right the first time, and then you don’t have to worry about two years down the line, or even one year later, replacing it again and spending more money that you could have put toward something else. Right, and the cool thing about this is, you can go get the Jeep that you want at the dealership. Yes. It’s not like I want to get this, I want to get this. You guys have already done the thinking for the new– We have. Or you– We have. You need this, you need this, you need this, and this is what comes on the gear vehicles. Give me, we mentioned RockSlide. What are some of the other manufacturers you’ve teamed up with with gear vehicles? Sure. So RockSlide not only does the steps, but they also make the bumpers for gear, so front and rear, in two different versions, as well as one of my personal favorites, windshield defense by Racing Optics. I always say it’s the best part you can’t see. So we’ve always put screen protectors on our phone, but why not the Jeep windshield that is so prone to cracks? It’s like we’ve all come to terms with it, but you don’t have to. So windshield defense by Racing Optics is a great three-layer film that goes over the windshield that we install for you. They come standard on all gear, family of builds, and essentially it’s a layer a year that you would peel off. Now I just peeled mine off on the Gladiator, I spent some time in Georgia, and the bugs down there in May, oh my gosh, they are just embedded in that windshield. That was a godsend, that was a godsend just to be able to peel it off. Yes, and now it’s like, wow, brand new windshield. So not only is it protect from the cracks, the nicks of their daily drives, but the bugs. So that is one of my favorite products, and they’re such an amazing partner, and to have the technology of Formula One Racing behind you in a Jeep, heck yeah. And then also cat skin, cat skin leather. We have some amazing different levels of combo builds that we’ve done with them, and everything is all about the partnership and the badging, so it says Mopar Cat Skin, and I think that’s really important too, in the leather. I know one of the things I was really impressed by, and I knew that the gear vehicles was a big deal, when I saw the seat had the gear icon in the cat skin leather. The embossing, yes, it was so good. That was really cool, don’t leave that part out, because the badging, there’s a lot of badging on the gear vehicles, which makes it stand out. And be honest, when you have a Jeep, you want it to stand out. And when people see that gear logo, what is this? I haven’t seen this before, you know, it makes people ask questions, it makes people curious about your Jeep. And we all love to be flattered by people being interested in our Jeeps. Absolutely, and it’s still yours. So that’s something about the Jeep, it’s the ultimate Lego, and you wanna make it yours. No matter what gear build you get into, it feels like home and it feels like you did it. And that’s why we built them. Hylift has always had the secret sauce. And I know Mike is the cause of that, we know that, or the route. And that’s where these builds come from. These are builds that we’ve been doing for years. Let’s just make them first of all, dealership friendly, and you know, customer friendly. So, and that’s what we’ve done, and they’ve just been, they’re beautiful, and they’re flying off the shelf, which is great. Model year 2026 has been extremely successful, and we wanna keep it going, because at the next Jeep invasion, I wanna see a gear meetup, not just color meetups. So we’re pretty excited about it. Okay, so Rock Slide Engineering is on there. I think you mentioned Worn. Is Worn a partner? Yes, Worn is a huge partner. Yes they are, they have the first ever vehicle for them. So we have the Worn Go Prepared by Gear Edition, and it comes on the Jeep Gladiator. And it is absolutely amazing, it is my daily right now, and I love every second I get to spend commuting to work or on the road. Who knew Tony, after all these years of talking to you and you bought your Gladiator, now I’m in one. I love the Gladiator. I’m surprised it’s not doing better in sales than what it’s been doing, because it really is a very nice vehicle, very Jeepy. It is Jeepy. So, okay, so we’ve talked about the getting in and out of the Jeep, a lifted Jeep. Oh, I think you mentioned tires earlier. I did.

[00:19:12:01 – 00:19:58:15]
Mickey Thompson, Baja Boss of course, and 35 All Terrain and 37 Mud Terrain, but we also utilize the BF Goodrich family of tires. It’s from 35 to 37. Those come on the Ready Series, which is more of an OEM plus. It’s all about suspension and your wheels and tires, utilizing Mopar V-Lock capable wheels for your Gladiator. So I don’t know about this, Off-Road Lights, are you a partnership with anybody for Off-Road Lights? Oh yeah, so Baja Designs, coming in bright with all of the lights, from LP6s to the A-pillar lights, also utilizing Rock-Saw Engineering for the cowl bracket, but where they really shine, no pun intended, bell, bell, bell.

[00:19:59:17 – 00:22:06:04]
They are on the worn go prepared edition on top of the sport rack. So there’s five lights on top of there, and wow, those things really shine. The backlit red, you can’t drive with those on everybody, but you can be the shining star of the parking lot or on the trail, of course, for Off-Road use only with any type of Off-Road light. There’s that legal piece. Yeah, the law there, making things not, where you can’t have the fun that you’d like to have. Absolutely. So I was just curious. I don’t know that I’ve seen anything about this, and I see a lot about the gear vehicles on social media, on the website, oh, what’s the website? Let’s tell people about the website. Gearvehicles.com, gearvehiclesonsocial. You’ll see a yellow background with the G. You can’t miss it, and you might see a blonde on there every now and then. (Laughs) So how do you turn those Baja design lights on and off? I’m sure you can get the auxiliary light switch panel that comes from Mopar with the G, but how do you guys handle that stuff whenever it doesn’t have that, or do they all have the switch panel? So we utilize when the dealerships are making the order with me, or a customer, because you can order yourself as a customer, just give me a call, I walk you through the process, and I make sure you have the best build coming from the factory and utilize, we wanna keep your MSRP down. That’s the goal, right? Because you’re already upgrading it with all these great products. So we do utilize a switch panel that comes in the Rubicon for those lights that’s on the worn or the third gear. We can install a switch panel if one does not come with it, because I have done the Baja design light package on, sometimes the Willy won’t come with it. You have to make sure you select it when you’re going through the factory build, but we are able to install one for them, and it’s still the Mopar factory switches. So those aux switches are auxiliary. Yeah. So then now that gap that’s in there gets, we fill the gap for you. And it looks nicer too. It looks like a more complete build. It does. When I ordered my Gladiator, I special ordered it from the factory, and I had the aux switches, because I know how I am about lights. So– Me too. And I’ve already run out of buttons, the aux button, they’re all full.

[00:22:07:10 – 00:22:10:10]
All right, so what else, what other partners do you have there?

[00:22:11:24 – 00:22:39:28]
I mean, it doesn’t come with a high lift jack, does it? Do you guys do the high lift jack on the mountain stuff? No, no, no, no. (Laughs) But I always like to say it’s 10 brands, one vehicle, one, and the goal is to win, from the customer to also the dealership. So, you know, these are the best of the aftermarket brands with their own badging still included. And I think that’s a big deal. We’re not rebranding it. Yes, we add our own gear brand,

[00:22:41:03 – 00:22:50:05]
because it’s the gear, hello, and we’re proud of it, from serialization, so below the shifter, you’ll have your own custom badge with your own serial number.

[00:22:51:10 – 00:23:14:09]
The young lady that bought gear number one serial number, she and I are in contact almost weekly. She embodies all things the gear spirit, and I could not be happier with who number one went to. And number two, number two end up staying in Cincinnati. I was really excited. It was actually from Cleveland. I brought it down here, and it’s a Fathom Blue. I think you guys have seen that before on my socials.

[00:23:15:12 – 00:30:48:08]
She’s amazing, and she’s a realtor, and she’s incorporated the gear lifestyle into her business. I bet you that really, really sets her off different. It does, with the graphics on the side. Yeah, pull up to that G. It embodies her, yes. It makes you more memorable. So that’s another thing. You can actually use the gear vehicles as a sales tool. I mean, going back to sales. Not even correct. I mean, you don’t look at my Jeep. It’s like, the Jeep says, look at me. I mean, that’s the kind of cool thing. That’s very true. It does. All right, so any other big vendors that you wanted to mention that’s on the gear? I’m trying to encourage people to actually go take a look at this stuff, because it really is a big deal. And I’m kind of jaded about big deal things. I don’t like to say it’s a big deal if it’s just some sort of crap. But this impressed me. Well, we have several units on lot. And there’s a lot that have sold too. And there’s a lot of reorders happening. But if you are interested in gear, if you just reach out through our website or through the show, I can find you, if you’re asking for a certain color, I can direct you to any dealership that either has that color on lot, but also I have, I can show you anything you want and we can build it the way that you want as well and get you in the package. There’s eight different offerings. Jim Marsh out of Las Vegas, Chrysler Jeep out of Las Vegas. They actually, they did it right. They invested in one of everything that we do. And they’re all, well, some have sold already since last weekend, but they are all in the lot together. And what a way to see what do you really want in a vehicle? What do you like? It’s kind of like Goldilocks, right? Like which one is it? Or who was it about the Porridge? Is that Goldilocks? Who is that? It is, it is Goldilocks. They have three bears. Oh, it is Goldilocks, okay. So it’s kind of like that, right? So you want to know what really works for you and to be able to, we’re very visual creatures, right? So we want to see it in person. We want to touch it. We want to smell it, all the things. So being able to do that, I’m so proud of that dealership and they do great things for you as a customer, including their parts department. Ainsley is absolutely amazing. Go see her if you’re out in Las Vegas or in the West area. She can get you guys set up because they’re already utilizing those affiliate partners, not just on gear, but on other bills that they’re doing too. So if I recall, you have like, is it called gear one, two, and three? Yeah, the first, second, and third gear. First, second, third gear. Yeah, so those are the different package styles, but as you said, you can configure it the way you want it. And I want to make sure people understand this and make sure I understand it. You can go to the dealership and there may not be a gear vehicle on the floor, but you can order it there. And the technicians that you trust to work on your Jeep after you buy one, you can order the gear vehicle and get the stuff that you want on it or get the first, second, or third gear right there. So you basically have a fully operational Jeep that you don’t have to do anything other than get in it and drive and start snapping heads while you’re driving around. Yes, that’s part of driving a Jeep, right? We want everyone to do the turn. Well, I mean, Jeeps are great. Brand new Jeeps are great. But if it comes off with the big tires and all this other stuff, the Rock Slide engineering steps, the Warren winch, the Rock Slide engineering bumpers, it’s going to look different. It’s going to be, oh, we didn’t talk about lift kits. You guys do lift kits as well, right? We do. So we utilize two different ones, either the Mopar two-inch lift with the Bilstein 5100s or 5160s. And then the third gear, the little twin, as we call her, she is on the Rock Crawler suspension with Bilstein 8100s. So you are riding on a cloud and that is the three-inch adventure series kit. So with their full control arm set up, I mean, you are literally leaving that lot, never having to do another upgrade. Like it comes fully loaded. I mean that, we cured everything. Yeah, we just did a show about lift kits. Cheap, oh, she’s expensive. Because I personally think it’s terrifying for a lot of new Jeep owners. They’ve got the Jeep, they know that they want to lift it. They know they want the bigger tires, but what’s going to get me? And with going this route, ain’t nothing going to get you. All you do is hand over the fork over the cash and enjoy your life. Well, and it’s such an approachable lift. Both of them are. I mean, Rock Crawler, they’ve been in the game for so long. Jeremy out of Albany, the way his engineering brain works, my goodness. And talk about a trusted brand. And that’s something that was important to us. We aligned with the trusted brands in the industry, but with HiLift, we’ve already been working with them. We know what works. And that’s why we know we can put our name on it successfully because of what we’ve already been doing with HiLift. And that’s where gear was born from. And still, and lives there today. We have two different buildings, but it’s all the same work. Yeah, and I’m just going to loop this back to the first conversation we started today about Mike. Mike working on your steering issue. If Mike didn’t have a love and an understanding of Jeep, the gear vehicles wouldn’t have these great partners on it. And it’s like somebody else has already thought it for you. Jeep built the vehicle. Jeep put the lockers and stuff in it for the Rubicon. So you trust Jeep on some things. This goes to the next level because almost all Jeepers modify their Jeeps even if they don’t go off road. And why would you want to build a Jeep that’s not capable, that it’s less capable of going off road? Correct. So if you do- You want it to be as strong as possible. You don’t want to hear the snap, right? And even if you don’t go off road, you still want a strong vehicle knowing that if you need to go off road, so to speak, in your own grassy yard, you know you’re going to be able to get off the grass with confidence. Well, I mean, we have hurricanes, we have flooding events all over the country. There’s been a recent string of earthquakes. Yes, there have. When the road becomes an obstacle, you can play it safe, but sometimes you need to go forward or get your child, your family or whatever. So even if you don’t go off road, I think it’s a special skill having something to go off road with. And Natalie, this ties back to the training that you do. Do you still do training with High Lift and showing people how to- We do. We do. We’re working on our schedule for 2027. I know that sounds a little crazy considering it’s July, but you have to keep thinking ahead and Matt and I are ready to get back out there with the community. And then some I have worked with some amazing men and women right now. Our team has really grown and we’re ready to keep showing the passion and the joy, but also the safety. We want you to protect your investment, either it be with High Lift or with gear, or just in general, we want you guys to go wheel with friends or take that next step to go off road with confidence because that’s what it takes. You’ve got to be secure with your vehicle and understand your vehicle in order to keep yourself safe and the people around you. So we want to do that to help you. So I encourage you to, with Natalie or whoever, you’ve got to find somebody reputable though, to take some off-roading courses because the likelihood of you damaging your vehicle is very, very low.

[00:30:49:12 – 00:31:18:12]
And it’s even lower if somebody is training you, but you need to take these training courses so that whenever you get into a situation, it kind of becomes second nature for you to be able to do it. Hopefully you won’t have to do any off-road stuff if that’s not what you want to do. Of course, I’m going to warn you, once you go out to one of these classes, you may go, “That was easy. That was fun. I got to go off-road.” It was fun. Yeah, I got to go off-road. Get the bug. Yeah, and then they’re interested in doing some of the events that you guys do.

[00:31:19:14 – 00:31:29:11]
Yes. It’s the best cult in the world, Tony. That’s how you and I met. I mean, I never would have met you if it wouldn’t have been for Jeeps. So, and you’ve been a friend for life, so I appreciate it. Thank you.

[00:31:30:12 – 00:32:11:01]
So, right now you have an event that you’re going to. I think you mentioned it briefly. So let’s– Red Rhythm and Boom. Yeah, let’s hit the events. The one coming up this weekend, 4th of July. 4th of July. Toledo Jeep Fest in August. Everyone’s got to hit up Toledo Jeep Fest. It is really the up and coming event, and I’m excited to see everybody. It’s been going on now for a few years, but you get to go, you see the plant, you have the big Jeep sign. You get your Jeep, picture with your Jeep in front of the big Jeep sign. You pass on the highway, and then after that is Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion, the best.

[00:32:12:18 – 00:32:43:15]
Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay, and it’s an amazing event, it truly is. Justin, who operates it, does a great job. Are you guys going to be cruising around at Toledo Jeep Fest, or do you have a vendor booth, or how would people find you? Yeah, so more details to come, still working that out. But we will be at Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion inside and outside. We will be operating the Jeep booth, so pretty excited about that, and you’ll catch the whole gear lineup, including maybe something new coming out, featuring the Gladiator, but it might not look like a Gladiator.

[00:32:44:22 – 00:32:48:00]
I don’t know how I feel about that. That’s like– T’s, T’s, T’s.

[00:32:49:03 – 00:32:49:04]
(Laughing)

[00:32:50:20 – 00:33:28:24]
All right, so anything else that we didn’t cover that you wanted to mention? I think we covered the gear thing pretty well, though. I think we did. And what was the, I don’t want to misquote or mis-say the gear website. Is it gearvehicle.com? Gearvehicles, plural, .com, or come to our social, or find me, gypsy_4x4jk. No, that was wrong. You know, I say it wrong every time. Don’t even worry about me. It’s all about gear. That just rolls off. That just rolls off. Or high lift off-road really is. She is still the mothership, no matter what. It’s really important. It’s high, H-I-G-H, not the high lift jack thing. Not the jack.

[00:33:30:11 – 00:33:34:06]
High lift. All spelled out the way God intended it to be.

[00:33:35:06 – 00:33:43:04]
Absolutely. And look for the blue. We love our hydro blue. I was just gonna say, you guys need to change over to red. Would you agree with me? I know. I mean, maybe.

[00:33:44:12 – 00:35:18:04]
(Both Laughing) I may be selling a lot of red gears lately, but you know, I’m biased. So Wranglers, gladiators in the gear vehicles, that’s just those two models, right? It’s those two models for now, but we are working on some projects where the whole CDJR Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram lineup. So stay tuned. 2027 is gonna be a great year. Right, so check them out. Natalie, thank you so much for being with us here today. Thank you, Captain. Hope you have a lot of fun for your 4th of July, even though you’ll be working. But I mean, if you’re out there with the people, I know you enjoy interacting with everybody. I do. I do. It’s been a while since you’ve done a show or done a Chick Chat episode. Are people still recognizing you from the Jeep Talk Show at events? Or has it trailed off? No, I gotta be honest with you, it is not trailed off and it warms my heart. And I also get a little, I blush a little bit too every time, but I just can’t thank the listeners enough. This show is so important and it keeps everybody connected nationwide. And Tony, you started something amazing 16 years ago, and I’m just so proud to be a part of it. Oh no, I’m just glad to hear that people are still recognizing you. And I think that’s really cool. I mean, I love that aspect of it that you come on, because this is work. I mean, we have fun doing this, but this is work. So whenever you put a little effort into something, getting a little payoff of people recognizing you or, I think it’s really cool when they didn’t see a video, but they heard your voice. Yeah, yes, that’s happened. Yeah, and I remember. I’m like, oh God. And then, yeah, and then when they hear your voice, they go, it’s like squirrel, you know, Natalie.

[00:35:19:24 – 00:36:26:15]
I happened to EJS a couple of times this past time at the Sunset Grill Party. I had a big setup there with the gears and our tents. And of course it was pouring down rain. The weather this year was a little. That’s strange. But someone told me they were listening to our past episodes on their way, on their road trip to EJS. And I was so happy to hear that. Isn’t it amazing? I mean, does somebody pay attention to some of the silliness that we do? It’s really, really cool. There’s some silliness, for sure. Oh yeah, absolutely, gotta have fun. So let me, it has nothing to do with anything. I’m a foodie. So did not have Prime Rib at the Sunset Grill Wednesday thing this year? You probably didn’t eat it. Didn’t you? You know, they had lasagna. That’s what I heard. My heart was saying it, and it was so good. But you gotta go for the lemon cake. The lemon cake is famous, or is it orange cake? Whatever the cake is, everyone goes crazy over. Orange cake would be good. Yeah, it was pretty great. But I did, I will say Mike’s always great. He made me a plate. He always makes sure that I eat. Oh, that’s nice. Yeah, he can be nice. I can be. That’s gonna come back to haunt you. Can be.

[00:36:28:01 – 00:36:40:20]
So yes. We all know he’s not gonna listen to this episode, everybody. That’s true, that’s true. He’s got better things to do. All right, Natalie. Thank you very much, and have a great weekend. Thank you, bye everybody. Happy fourth.

[00:36:40:20 – 00:36:44:05]
You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.