Episode 218

Tony Gonzalez

Tire Group International and Cosmo Tires

Tony Gonzalez is the Chairman, Founder, and CEO of Tire Group International (TGI), a global tire distribution and manufacturing company behind Cosmo Tires. His career traces back to a multigenerational tire business rooted in the 1940s, giving him decades of hands-on experience in product development, brand positioning, distribution, and dealer partnerships across the automotive aftermarket.

Known for challenging conventional pricing battles, Gonzalez speaks directly about how value tire brands compete, focusing on product confidence, warranties, marketing consistency, and long-term dealer relationships rather than chasing the lowest price.

In this episode…

Price wars dominate the tire industry conversation, yet constant discounting erodes margins, weakens brand equity, and trains customers to expect cheaper options. Tire dealers face pressure from online competitors, national chains, and aggressive private-label programs that reshape buying behavior.

Tony Gonzalez breaks down how value positioning changes the game. Brand trust, warranty support, product innovation, and consistent messaging define how value tire brands compete today. Shops that understand this shift protect profitability, strengthen customer loyalty, and build more resilient multi-location operations.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[01:00] Introduction of Tony Gonzalez and his role at Tire Group International

[02:37] Family tire business origins and early industry exposure

[06:03] Cultural background shaping business mindset and values

[10:07] Launch of Tire Group International and development of Cosmo Tires

[13:34] How dealers connect with the brand and distribution channels

[15:49] Building a value tire brand without competing solely on price

[18:03] Warranty strategy and its impact on customer loyalty

[20:13] Early warehouse work shaping leadership perspective

[24:46] Importance of storytelling, branding, and cultural influence

[33:26] Creation of the Kool Kat mascot and brand identity evolution

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“We’re a value-driven brand, but we’re not in the market of competing solely based on price.”
“We give road hazard on all of the products we sell, and we stand behind them immediately.”
“The goodwill you get by giving that kind of warranty and guarantee is next to none.”
“Know what you’re worth and make sure you’re not wrong.”
“We really take pride in our marketing and how we represent our brand.”

Action Steps:

Audit tire lines carried in every location and identify where stronger warranty-backed brands improve margins and customer trust.
Train service advisors to explain product value clearly; customer confidence rises when the conversation moves beyond price alone.
Study how value tire brands compete and apply similar positioning to shop branding, service packages, and customer messaging.
Strengthen supplier relationships that provide marketing support, training, and consistent product quality to stabilize long-term growth.
Review warranty communication at the counter; transparent guarantees drive repeat business and referral momentum.

Transcript

00:00
There’s a difference between being an exile and being an immigrant. And Cubans are true exiles. When they came here, they thought they were going back, you know, next week, next month, next year, because Fidel wasn’t going to last. And here we are, almost 65, 70 years later.

00:16
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, the official podcast for tire business. I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privilege of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives and other thought leaders of our industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations, down to five locations. Get a professional, unbiased opinion and let.

00:43
Tread Partners review what you’re doing.

00:45
It starts with a simple conversation. To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let’s get started.

00:56
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. My guest today is Tony Gonzalez, chairman, founder and CEO of Tire Group International, AKA tgi, which owns the tire brand Cosmo Tires. Tony, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast.

01:12
Thank you, Mike. A pleasure to be here, brother.

01:14
Man, glad to have you. So were introduced graciously through Don Detour with tire business at SEMA 2025 this year. That was awesome.

01:25
Great guy.

01:26
He is. You guys had that booth right behind where I was doing some podcast recording in the tire business booth and y’ all had a nice display there, man. That was awesome.

01:35
Appreciate it. Yeah, we really take pride in our marketing and how we represent our brand. So everything we do with a lot of love and a lot of passion.

01:44
I could tell. And I’m. We’re going to talk about the cool cat in a little bit. All right, so before we get started. Well, I do want to tell my audience this because I do, I, I do tell when somebody stands out with me and usually I do a preliminary call. I do, I always do a preliminary call because I think it’s important to get to know my guests a little bit before I interview them. Makes the interview nicer, easier, etc. They get comfortable, etc, get to understand what format and all that. And I, and I tell people usually my preliminary call goes about 15 minutes. We just get to the nuts and bolts. Tony and I talked for about an hour, I think.

02:19
So.

02:21
We’re not going to have a problem talking today?

02:23
No, we’re talking for about 20 minutes before this. You start, you put the record button on.

02:28
So needless to Say, I like Tony, and we could talk. We’ve covered a lot of topics, but we got to get on tires right now. But before we do, Tony, I want to know a little bit about you, where you grew up and how you got in the tire business. I think one of the cool things about our industry is even the newbies in the industry like to know, hey, how’d you get in? You know, because I know everybody knows how they got in, or maybe they were, you know, fourth generation or whatever. But how Tony Gonzalez get in the.

02:55
Business, in my case, it’s literally in the blood. I mean, my family’s been in the tire business since back in 1942 in Cuba. During World War II, there was a tire shortage on the island, and my uncle and my grandfather got together as a. As a side business because they were really in the restaurant business, the catering business, actually. They used to deliver meals to all the factories in the little town where they were at, which was the industrial hub of Cuba. That’s where, coincidentally, Goodyear was there, B.F. goodrich was there, Firestone was there, Owens, Corning, Dupont, you name it.

03:28
And they started this little side hustle with mainly my uncle, and then my dad ended up starting to work there at the age of 13, 14 years old, where they were reclaiming tires from landfills and revolcanizing them and putting them together, patching them, tires inside of tires, whatever would hold air, basically, because it was World War II and all the tires were going towards the war effort, even the ones produced in Cuba, obviously, because they were American companies, and everything’s going towards the war effort. So that’s where our family got the start. And then after the war, we became Goodyear Distributors, and by the 1950s, were, I think, the second largest Goodyear distributor on the island. And. And yeah, in 1959, when the revolution came about, my father, obviously eventually left Cuba.

04:18
I think he left in 1961 after having been arrested various times for counter revolutionary. You know, stuff like that. You know, trying to get back Cuba from Fidel after he had declared himself a communist and all that. And I was born in 1968 in Miami, so I was born here, but. But very much raised in the culture, because there’s a big difference. And it is something that, you know, I think people don’t understand. There’s a difference between being an exile and being an immigrant. And Cubans are true exiles. Cubans, when they first came here, and that’s why Miami is so Latin, so Cuban, going back that far, because when they. When they Came here. They thought they were going back, you know, next week, next month, next year, because Fidel wasn’t going to last, not with the US against them. And.

05:09
And, you know, every. All the Cubans in Cuba were up in arms and they didn’t want him. And here we are almost 65, 70 years later, and that hasn’t changed. But, you know, were brought up basically speaking Spanish at home. Obviously, we learned English in school and stuff like that, but our culture was very much alive with our foods and our, you know, our.

05:31
I love Cuban food.

05:32
Yeah, right.

05:33
I do.

05:34
You had the Cuban coffee?

05:37
I think so, but I. I got off coffee a long time ago. I.

05:40
Okay. I was gonna say you’d remember if you had Cuban coffee. It’s a little shot about this big, like an espresso, but.

05:45
Oh, no.

05:46
All right. No jet fuel, but I don’t drink it out with waters.

05:54
Well, that. That’s an interesting. I didn’t. I didn’t realize that, you know, that you guys, once you got here, that you. You were looking forward, like, it was like, hey, we’re going back. You know, man, that’s so interesting.

06:05
Most come don’t. Don’t want to. Like, immigrants come and they want to reestablish, and they don’t necessarily. They want to meld in. Let’s call it, you know, like I said, Cuban. The exile mentality is different. The exile mentality is we’re only here temporarily. We’re grateful that were allowed to come. You know, my parents were. And they became American citizens within a few years back in the 60s, and they were super grateful and as American as anyone. I mean, my father and my mother, you know, they would sing the national anthem, and they were totally about it, but they always longed for. For Cuba to be free. But as. As they, you know, after they raised their family here and.

06:45
And spent 20, 30, 40, 50 years of their lives here, even towards the end, my dad goes, I would never go back and live in Cuba, no matter what. I mean, this is my country now. So.

06:55
Yeah, yeah, it’s. That’s a great story, and I think. But. But you guys are also. I mean, I think Cubans are a perfect example of you guys. When you got here, you’re. You’re contributors. I mean, you. You really hardworking. Put it this way, I haven’t met a Cuban I don’t like. I mean, and I mean that in the most sincere way. But there’s something about your culture that’s just. It’s solid, man, and I love it. And it’s, and it’s very, but it’s very American. I mean, you guys came at the live the American Dream and there’s a lot of that in South Florida. And I’ve witnessed it myself. No.

07:32
And some of the top executives of Fortune 500 companies have been Cubans. For example, Goizra at Coca Cola was the CEO for almost 25, 30 years. The head council of Pepsi Cola is another guy named Nelson Carbonell. As a matter of fact, in Henry Kissinger’s autobiography, he mentions that if he ever needed advice on something, the guy that he would call was Nelson Carbonell, which was the lead counsel for PepsiCo for about 25, 30 years. How big time this guy is. And to give you an idea, we’ve had two, two Cubans run for president. I mean, Ted Cruz and Michael Robu and Marco Robu right now is the Secretary of State amongst his many titles. So, yeah, Cubans are go getters.

08:17
And it’s unfortunate what’s happened to our culture because over the last 70 years, being raised in the system of socialism and communism now it’s not the same breed of people listening to.

08:29
Yeah, I got family members that were like, my mom’s side family are a lot older than she was, the bottom of eight kids. So her, she had older brothers and stuff that still remember traveling to Cuba for vacation. They love Havana and they thought it was terrible. I mean, obviously everybody did. But they hated it when that thing with the whole Fidel Castro thing took place because it did, it changed.

08:52
This would have never existed, Mike, if Cuba would have been there. The only reason the gangsters went to Vegas was when they got kicked out of Cuba. They said, we’re never going to invest in a foreign country again because we can’t control things and we’re going to get kicked out of it eventually. And that’s when Meyer Lansky and those guys went and started Vegas back in that era.

09:15
It’s an amazing story, but unfortunately, if people don’t understand, and I don’t want to get in politics, but it’s a perfect example of what happens to communism. A country in a micro level with the, you know, here’s a country right south of the United States that was capitalistic thriving. Everything’s going well. I mean, your family was doing well. And then boom, the communist takeover.

09:39
Queso in 1957 was worth about 3% more than the US dollar. That’s how strong that economy was. The first nation outside the US were colored tv. The telecommunications were Cutting edge, the railroad system, none of that. Well, they controlled 60% of the world’s sugar. Think about that. Today they’re net importers of sugar.

10:03
That’s crazy.

10:04
That’s nuts. I know.

10:06
Well, anyway, so let’s get. Let’s get back to tires. So you guys. You guys got into tires, but along the way, Tony, I mean, you were going to school in Miami. You grew up in the tire business. How did you get to. Because you ended up starting TGI yourself in 1993, correct? Yeah. And then you ended up starting a tire brand. What made you start the tire brand? Cosmo Tires.

10:30
Well, when. When we first started tire Group in 1992, we started obviously distributing other brands, and were really more focused on export than anything since our inception. But by about 1994, we started to talk about having our own label, mainly on bias truck tires and light truck tires that were exporting to South America. And that’s when I went. I first went to China. And in China, I cut a deal with the factory and bought about, I don’t know, 40 bias tire molds to build. 10 twenties, 920s, 12 twenties. You know, all those old bias sizes, 750, 16s and, you know, 650, 16s and eight and a quarter 16s and all that. And that’s how Cosmo was born. It was born as a bias truck tire that were mainly exporting to South Central America and the Caribbean.

11:22
Wow. Okay.

11:23
Yeah, so that was in 1995. So this year is actually Cosmo’s 30th anniversary. Obviously, since then, we’ve expanded the line tremendously. Today, as of. As of right now, I believe we have 296 SKUs. Obviously, bias truck tires and light truck tires are no longer really part of it. I wonder where those molds are. I’m sure I could find them. That factory’s still there in Laiwu, China. Were really close to where Confucius was born, actually. Oh, wow.

11:54
Okay.

11:55
Yeah. But, yeah, we started really focusing in on the US Market about eight or nine years ago, during a period which actually Penske owned us. We were bought by a private equity arm that Penske controlled called Transportation Resource partners, back in 2018, 2011, and then in 2022, I bought tire. Our family bought Tire Group back. So we own it 100% again now since 2022. But in that interim, Penske started changing us from mostly an export company into a more domestic focused company for many reasons. And Cosmo was part of that plan. And we started to expand the line I say we because I was still involved in the company. I just wasn’t here day to day like I am back today and enjoying it tremendously.

12:45
But, yeah, we started making Cosmo a US centric brand and started expanding the line into radio passenger, radio light truck, you know, radio truck, and growing the gamut offerings from, you know, ultra high performance touring to, you know, all terrain RTs. I mean, we have it all now and plans are by the end of 2026, we’ll probably have closer to 4, 400 SKUs with all the molds and all the product development that we have on order now.

13:17
Well, let’s talk about one of the things that we like to do here. The podcast is we want to, you know, promote the brands of the industry and the people behind them. Let’s say somebody’s listening right now and they say, man, I like Tony Gonzalez. I like this conversation. I like, you know, I know a little bit about the Cosmos tires. What about, how do they find your tire if they want to get involved with your tire? Who do you distribute through all those.

13:42
Questions about the easiest way, if you’re in the industry, obviously, is just, you know, give us a call. I mean, we are in all the industry trades, advertising, all that time. You could come to cosmotires.com and, you know, fill out a contact email and it’ll come to us and we get back to you right away. You could call us directly. We have a 1-800-number and I don’t know what it is. Oh, my God. But our direct number, 305-696-0096. That one I do know. But with that said, yeah, we’re really easy to reach.

14:17
And, well, here’s your, hey, here’s your Cosmo Tire 800 number. It’s 833. Cool cat. Let’s start with a K for K O, O L. And then Kat K, A T. That’s right. That’s 566-5528.

14:33
The only thing we use to see is the actual name Cosmo. Everything else has K’s in it. That’s been kind of a fun marketing part. But yeah, we’ve got distributors, wholesale distributors in most of the country where we don’t have our own distribution. We, we control our own distribution in Florida and in Oregon and Washington state because we have distribution centers in those areas. We have currently three distribution centers in Florida. Well, I should say it’s only two, but January 6th, it’ll be three because we’re currently filling up a warehouse in Orlando that we finally took possession of like eight months. What a nightmare with all the permitting and we had to do some like construction there and stuff like that to get it how we wanted it.

15:19
And then in Portland, Oregon, we have 100,000 square feet that supply Oregon State and Washington State. Okay. So but outside of that, we work with other wholesale distributors that represent our brand. So if you’re a small retailer and you want to reach us, we will guide you to the proper wholesaler in your area. If you don’t already know him. And if you’re just looking to distribute in an area where there is no Cosmo as a wholesale distributor, we’d be happy to talk to you as well.

15:48
Awesome. Well, from a dealer standpoint, let’s say I’m a dealer and I’m listening because we do have a lot of dealers that listen. What’s the advantages if they’re looking for a new line to carry? What’s the advantages of working with Cosmo tires? I mean, why would they want to carry it?

16:02
You know, we’re a value driven brand, right? But we’re not a cheap brand and we’re not in the market of competing solely based on price. Yeah, we’re going to give you great value, but we also as a brand are marketing ourselves and well, first off, the quality of the product, we’re really building above the entry level stuff. And we have entry level stuff. We have other brands we distribute exclusively. We have one called Land Brigade. You want to battle on price, that’s the one we’ on price with. But Cosmo sits really a lot higher than that in the marketplace. And it’s because again, the brand quality, we overbuild our brand. When you look at our tires and compare them to the competition, it’s evident in the warranties we give. We give road hazard on all of the products we sell.

16:55
We have mileage warranty on all of the products we sell up to 70,000 miles on our premium touring tire. And then that comes with an all hassle aspect to it. Whereas we don’t even have our dealers deal with that. If a consumer has a problem with one of our products, they call our 1-800number or they get on our website and we immediately take care of that problem by sending that customer a brand new tire. We don’t ask for paperwork. It’s, it’s, you know, like the coolest guarantee in the business. It’s how I would want to be treated. And I learned some brands that I’ve dealt with as a consumer, whereas you have a problem, you call them up and they say, no problem, so don’t even send it back. We’re sending you a new. A new one. And I’m like, wow.

17:35
And I constantly talk about those brands, and I’m like, hell, that’s who we should be. Because we have so few problems. I mean, last year we sold many, many tires. And I think we had 138 claims, and I’m talking about multiple seven digits in sales in terms of units, and we had 138 claims.

17:53
That’s nothing.

17:54
That’s nothing. And the word of mouth that you get, the goodwill that you get by giving that kind of a warranty and guarantee is. Is next to none. So, well.

18:03
And the biggie you. The biggie you get is that guy that. That had that problem, he becomes a lifetime customer now.

18:10
Exactly. That’s like that old fab. Remember that old Faberge commercial? They tell a friend and they tell a friend, and there were like 50 girls on the screen at one point. That kind of, you know, idea I was always thinking about. But going back to the reasons to do business with us, and then actually the. The product innovation. Just in the last month, we’ve received three federal patents on. On, you know, innovations that we’ve designed into our tires. And, and we’re super proud of that. We have another four padded pendings currently, which we should be getting in short order as well.

18:45
So we’re doing things that not even some of the majors have done in the past in terms of, you know, tread patterns and sidewall designs and functionality within those components, especially with something that we call GE Metric Isolation, which we also have trademarked, where our. The sound signature on our newer products is best industry. I’m talking about beating, you know, tier ones on a all terrain tire by about 20% in both the first and second harmonic area, which is where the human ear hears vibration. No humming. Yeah. So we really. We really do a lot there. And it’s. It’s.

19:23
It’s really some big stuff, Tony.

19:25
It is. It’s cool stuff, man. We’re. And that’s where I get involved. I love, I love being on that end of it. The creativity of it, making sure that something looks good and that at the same time has functionality. So again, been doing it all my life. I remember playing at home. My dad wouldn’t Be able to fit tires in the warehouse. And our backyard had tarps with stacks of tires. And as a kid, me and my friends were playing hiding, go seek, hiding, and, you know, barrels of tires. So I love it.

19:55
Hey, I’m sure you never saw any snakes in there either. Did you know.

19:58
You know, Miami is not a really a snake spot.

20:00
I mean, I thought it might be.

20:02
No, no, no. Miami, very few. And if they are, they’re those black garden snakes. But Miami rare. Rarely would you come across a snake.

20:11
That’s cool. So you kind of alluded to the fact that you might have a story for me about how much you got paid in the family business as a kid. Well, I think you made. I think you. I think you said you went in.

20:22
The hole a little bit. Yeah, Back. This is back. Imagine I was always a big kid. And this is back very late 70s, early 80s. I’m. I’m 10, 11, 12 years old, so. But back in 1978, I’m 10, I’m already working in the warehouse, and. And my dad would get to the office a little bit later. He had other businesses as well, et cetera, so he wouldn’t necessarily always go straight to the office. I had to be picked up by someone from the warehouse so I could be at the warehouse at 7am when it opened, just like everyone else. And my dad was very strict about this. And at the time, I really didn’t appreciate it a whole lot, but now I certainly do because it was all about, you know, having a commitment and making sure you. You live up to that commitment.

21:06
And he taught me that from a very young age. So I remember that I would get paid back then. Back then, it was probably only 40 bucks. But let’s just round it off right now to. Let’s say I’m 11 or 12 at this time. I’m getting paid 50, you know, 1981. 1980. So I’m getting paid 50 bucks a week. Remember, I would have to pay. The guy would pick me up 10 bucks a week for his gas money. So that’s 10 bucks off the top. That was gone. And then every week, I used to have to give my mom $20 for room and board because.

21:34
Holy.

21:36
And this is during summer vacation. So I would get out of school on a Friday. Summer vacation, all your friends are out screwing around. I was at the office at the warehouse that Monday. I had no time off. It was from school to work, finished summer vacation, back to school. It was constant, like, no time to screw around. Now, if the Family went on vacation. Obviously I was going on vacation for two weeks or whatever in the summer. So it wasn’t like it was militant. Militant, but it was pretty militant. So 20 bucks, 10 bucks for this, the guy that’s picking me up. 20 bucks to my mom, right? That’s 30 off the top. Yeah. Guess how much Burger King was every day?

22:12
Burger King was like four or five bucks back then for a Whopper and fries and a Coke and then maybe a chocolate bar with a lunch driver that would. You know, the little roach coach that would come by, that would probably be another buck, 50 or 2 bucks a day. By the end of the week, the $20 I had left were a hundred percent gone. So by Friday, I would have to, you know, not beg, but I would have to ask someone to buy me lunch. Luckily, my dad bought lunch for most of the company, mostly every Friday for the company. So I would get my lunch then. That went on until I was about 13 or 14. And I remember once just confronting my dad, which was the secondary lesson here. And I said to my dad, hey, this shit ain’t working, bro.

22:50
I’m making 50 bucks a week. I’m in the hole. I already have money for my fireworks because I would work all summer to order fireworks from a catalog up from North Carolina because back then they didn’t sell them down here in Florida. And I go to him, I need more money. He goes, how much you need? I go, at least 70 bucks. I have 20 bucks a week left. I’ll get them. I might be 12 or 13 now. And he goes, sure, okay, 70 bucks, fine. I go, why didn’t you give me that from go. Why are. You know, I had to ask. He goes, well, now you know your worth. You’re you. Yeah, I was a secondary lesson in this. He’s like, you know, speak up for what you think you’re worth and have a, you know, talk about it, and let’s negotiate.

23:28
So next. Next year, I go, hey, I’m not coming for less than 120. And then, you know, I eventually started making more and more. And it got to a point where he actually absolutely said, no way. This is where. This is where we’re at. But I didn’t move up every year after that. That.

23:44
That is a great lesson. Made you ask.

23:47
Yeah. Yeah.

23:48
I love that.

23:48
True story, man. It’s. It’s.

23:50
But yeah, you’re sitting there sweating bullets, and then finally you’ve had enough.

23:54
Yeah, exactly. And he says, sure, no problem. I’m like, dan, why didn’t I ask before, you know, years or three years to build up my nerve. And he taught me a lesson, always, you know, you’re doing work and you ask for what you’re worth, you know, and I tell the kids when I go talk at high schools and stuff, it’s, know what you’re worth and make sure you’re. Make sure you’re not wrong because now you’re going to get fired quicker than quick.

24:19
That’s awesome.

24:21
But, but if you’re, if you know what your worth is, then go out there and claim it. Get it.

24:27
Well, before I let you go, I do want to go down this one rabbit hole because I get teased about this everywhere I go. I’ll get people that don’t even know me go, what’s your favorite movie? Because they know I like to ask the question, but. Or any of these other ones. I do, but I already know your answer because we did touch on it. But what’s your favorite movie?

24:46
All right. Godfather. I mean, it’s such a classic for so many reasons. We talked about it prior and I’ve actually been in the film industry. I’ve done, I’ve actually directed and produced. I’ve actually won awards as a director, which they call the telly Award. Won four of those for directing three commercials I did for McDonald’s. So again, I look at as. When I look at movies and I look at film, I look at them with a different eye. You know, I’m looking at not only what the characters are saying or character development and stuff like that, but I’m looking at the lighting, the way that camera angles, the grain. I’m looking at all these different. And man, the God of father is just epic. Epic.

25:25
Yeah. You got a, you got an educated opinion on it. And that’s what’s interesting because it is one of my all time favorite movies, but I probably, I’m not educated in the film industry. And you look at it from a technical stand or you can look at. I know you like it. I know, I know you like the story too, but you, you like the technical aspect, how they put it on.

25:43
The beauty of the Godfather is that it all came together great writing, great story. I mean, the story, the writing, the acting, the, you know, the. And, and then you have this beautiful lighting. Some people would argue it was lit a little too dark, but, man, it just created this, this emotion, this, you know, this feeling within the film. I, I thought, I think it’s epic and there’s so many life lessons in it. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s, it is about the mafia. But, you know, there are codes that men live by whether you’re in the mafia or not. And those.

26:21
Well, it’s broken. It’s interesting because, like, I made all my sons watch it and then my son in laws that I should have had them. I should have known before they married in the family whether they’ve crossed certain movies on their list, you know, because there are certain ones that just, they teach you a lot. But it’, because like my wife, she can’t stand. It’s not that she can’t stand it, but she just finds the movie slow. And I’m like, honey, you don’t understand. The undercurrent of the movie is like no other. You know, you could feel the intensity. It’s always underneath the surface so much that you’re like, for us guys that we get into it, we’re just, we just feel that power, that intensity. It’s sitting there the whole time. And you’re like, whoa.

27:02
You know, and that’s what I like about it. And my sons that have watched it, they’re, they know now they get it and they like that intensity of it.

27:12
Mike, after 33 years of marriage, I finally, in the last year, she’s finally sat down and watched it because it’s one of those movies I’ve seen over a hundred times anytime I still have cable or DirecTV rather than anytime it’s on and it’s on a lot, I’ll stop no matter where it’s at. Like Casino, all those old, you know, I know movies. I, I love that stuff. Goodfellas, I have to stop and watch at least. I also, I’m just gonna watch a scene, you know, let me just watch this one scene. And, and recently, literally a couple of months ago, she finally said, I go, I’m gonna change it. She goes, no, you don’t have to change it. I get it now. I like it. It’s, it’s cool. It’s.

27:52
So you did a double take? Yeah.

27:54
I’m like, is this new? For real? And, and part of the reason was, is I did have. Going back to your story about your sons, I did have one of my nephews over that’s about 16 years old. And Godfather 2 was on, which is, you know, is also arguably 1 and 2 interchangeable in terms of how good they are from all aspects. And I said, hey, let’s. It was Already on about half an hour in. I go, let’s watch this. And he’s like, this is too. I go watch it and we’ll talk about it as we go. And he got super into it and then he went off and watched Godfather 1 on his own and. And he called me and he said man, I love it. Thank you for making me. Because I’m not into watching old movies. You know, young kids now.

28:36
Yeah. Their attention span.

28:38
Yeah.

28:40
I’ll tell you a funny story. So I made my son, he’s 21. This is a year ago. I, I don’t know why he asked me because I don’t think he really wanted my opinion. But he said that what movies should I have watched by now? Or something like that. And I gave him a list or whatever and short list. It was only like three or four came off top of my head. And he had already seen the Godfather but I gave him Tombstone was in that list.

29:05
Great movie.

29:06
And he absolutely to this day still talks about it because you know, it’s. I saw Kurt Russell in an interview and he said we didn’t mean to have as many one liners we didn’t know we had. But that movie’s full of them.

29:18
You know Huckleberry.

29:19
Yeah. There’s so many. And now he loves all these shorts that people have done on Tick Tock and whatnot of. Of that movie with music behind it that is not relevant to the.

29:30
That’s a great film. That’s another one. I’ve seen Time. You know what’s another great film? Just totally out of that field because I saw it like two nights ago about 2 in the morning. It was on Kingdom of Heaven by Ridley Scott. It’s with Orlando Bloom. It’s about the Crusades.

29:44
Oh, I have to check this out.

29:46
Oh, it’s. It’s in the vein of. I mean it’s an epic. It’s just, it’s almost a three hour film and that film never gets talked about. Check out Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom. Really? Scott is the director, obviously. He did Gladiator and tons of great movies and his brother was a tremendous director. He, you know, he passed away at a young age, but his brother did Top Gun and did a bunch of other classics back in the 80s. But Kingdom of Heaven is one that, you know, have some popcorn ready, sit back and don’t get interrupted for about. It’s got Liam Nielsen in it. It’s got great actors, man. The other British actor that was in the second Die Hard, what’s his name. Whatever. I can’t do it.

30:35
Hold on a second.

30:36
Liam Nielsen. Let’s get these two confused.

30:40
No, I know who you talk. I’m going blank.

30:43
Whatever. I know. It sucks. I know. Anyway, it’s getting old real quick.

30:46
Before I let you go, one thing on the Godfather.

30:49
Have you ever watched the Godfather coda, the six hours, but in linear form, where they did. You know how Godfather 2 goes into flashbacks, right?

30:58
Yes.

30:59
Now you can watch it from. From those flashbacks all the way through.

31:03
I did one time. I did one time. Because that’s been out a while, hadn’t it?

31:08
Yes, about four or six years, maybe seven years. I’m like that.

31:11
I did. I think I did one time. And it was very cool that they.

31:15
Added deleted scenes that never made the final cut. So you get additional footage in there.

31:19
Yes, to tell the story that again. I think. I think. I don’t know if I did it all the way through, but I know that I’ve seen. Starts out, though, with, you know, like De Niro.

31:34
With De Niro’s character.

31:35
Yes, yes. Very cool.

31:38
And then there’s something else that’s super cool, which is on YouTube, which is. I believe it was at a Tribeca film festival where the remaining cast, James Caan, Robert De Niro, the lady that just passed away, Keaton, Diane Keaton, Coppola, his sister, which is Tyler Shire. They all got together on stage. Al Pacino, the. Tom Hagen, what’s his name? Duval.

32:04
Yeah, Robert Duval.

32:05
Robert Duval. They all got together on stage and talked for about two hours about the filming of and the making of and all that. So that’s great. And one last one for your fans out there on Paramount tv, there is a series with this guy Teller, the guy that did the new Top Gun something. Teller. Miles Teller, the actor.

32:27
Miles Teller, Yeah.

32:29
He’s got a series, and it’s about the making of the Godfather, and it is excellent. What’s the name of that series? It’ll be easy enough to find. Just.

32:38
I’ll check it out.

32:39
Miles Teller. It’s Fudge. What? The name. What’s the name of that series? It’s excellent because it goes into the writing of it, the making of it, and how the Mafia was actually against it. And this producer, which he didn’t do the Godfather 2, you know what? He went out, he refused to do the Godfather too, because he didn’t want to put himself through the stress. So you know what movie he does instead? The. The. The one with Burt Reynolds in prison about football. That got Remade.

33:07
Oh, yeah. Yes. Longest Yard.

33:10
Longest Yard. He. Instead of doing Godfather 2, he went off and produced the Longest Yard. I mean, I think it was a mistake, but whatever.

33:19
No, but I mean, hey, he’s still a whole nother level, man. That is cool. But hey, real quick, because I wanted to find out more about this and I know we’ve gone a little long, but. Cool Cat. How did you guys come up with cool Cat?

33:33
Well, you know, since. Since we came up. And it was actually my dad’s idea, the whole Cosmo thing. And if you look at our other proprietary brands, Astronomy, Luna, they all have to do something with the stars and the cosmos and stuff like that. And then out of nowhere, my dad just proposed a tiger. So we registered a tiger and we had a tiger sketched. And it doesn’t have a rhyme or reason. Even my dad’s company back in the late 60s and 70s had a monkey as a mascot. There was actually a live monkey in the warehouse in a big ass cage. And this monkey was bad. I mean, imagine he’s hanging out all day with warehouse workers and truckers that are coming and visiting and they’re giving him cigarettes and, you know, little packs of sugar.

34:20
I remember that monkey would get wired on sugar, man. He was a nut. But he lasted like 25 years in the warehouse. That’s a classic. So I don’t know, the. The. The tiger just is here. And the tiger is here to stay, baby. Cosmo the tiger. It got approved.

34:39
I love it. Well, Tony, I tell you what, I’m glad were introduced. I’m glad you chose to do this interview with us. I really appreciate you being on the Gain Traction podcast.

34:48
It’s called the Offer, by the way. Paramount the offer. Check it out. Mike, watch that before you watch Kingdom event. You’re gonna love this if you’re a fan.

34:57
You got it, man.

34:58
All right, brother. Thank you for the opportunity and being able to talk to your audience and happy holidays to everyone out there as well. And, you know, let’s keep on trucking.

35:07
Amen. All right, guys, thank you for being with us as always. You know, we appreciate you. See you next time.

35:13
To all our listeners, thank you for being part of the Game Traction podcast.

35:16
We are grateful for you.

35:17
If you’d like to find more podcasts like this, please visit gaintraction podcast.com. If you’d like to make a guest recommendation, please email [email protected] this episode has been powered by TREAD partners, the leader in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. To Learn more about TREAD partners, visit treadpartners.com.

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1 In this episode…

2 Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

3 Resources mentioned in this episode:

4 Quotable Moments:

5 Action Steps: