Today we’d like to introduce you to Dallas Deschatres
Hi Dallas , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started detailing in 2015 from my parking space on the West Side, in a little neighborhood called Castle Heights right behind Hamilton High. My car at the time was a 1999 Saab 9-3 Viggen—1 of 426 for the North American market that year. Back in 2000 this was my absolute dream car, so I wanted to keep the Lightning Blue paint looking new as I roamed the Southland in this rare example. In LA, the real flex is daily driving a vintage car.
So I learned about paint protection and paint correction. I bought an orbital buffer and restored the shine. I took immense pride in having a 17 year-old car that presented as new. People started approaching me to give their own vehicles a similar treatment.
Around the same time I started making YouTube videos about my cars and the process of acquiring them. I bought another rare Saab, a 2009 9-3 Aero XWD SportCombi, in Boston and flew in to drive it back to LA. I made a 45-minute documentary “Saab Across America” about the trip mostly for my own entertainment and was surprised by the number of views.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Certainly not. A big part of the struggle has been my reluctance for self-promotion. I prefer to make people aware of my services and if they desire them, I’m happy to provide. I’m not a fan of the hard sell or spray-and-pray marketing methods so I’ve dealt with significant downtime. My enthusiasm for cars also led me to pursue an Associate’s Degree in Automotive Technology as a (very) mature student. I was grateful for my wife’s patience and support as I attended the full-time program and then almost immediately after I graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors, she unexpectedly filed for divorce. That was over two years ago and every day since has been a fierce battle for my mental health.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an Automotive Detailer, Maintenance and Light Repair Technician, and Content Creator. I love the process of making old (or older) cars appear and operate as new. My content is different from other creators in the realm in that I focus more on storytelling when it comes to the places where I travel and the people whom I meet. I like to refer to my channel, The Sigma Workshop, as a modern-day “variety show,” where the format isn’t rigid and can be prone to randomness. Unlike other automotive YouTubers, I’m an open proponent of walkability and public transit. I sort of view driving as a last resort, as a way to go *between* cities, not within them. I’m also an avid road cyclist and my happy place is Griffith Park. When I was in top form I could climb from the Los Feliz Blvd to the Observatory via Fern Dell in under 11 minutes.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Transplanting myself to LA was a massive risk. I started road cycling in Chicago during the summer of 2012 and I quickly realized I didn’t want to stop doing this during the winter. I wanted to climb big mountains on my bike. And it seemed LA was the ideal place to do it. At the time the concept of the Influencer wasn’t as clearly formed as it was today, but I started making videos to promote my streetwear brand DownTown Fashion Los Angeles or DTF.LA. My then-girlfriend and I rode our bicycles from our apartment in Rampart Village to the Watts Towers and documented it on YouTube. Unfortunately I had no idea how to scale such a business and I was undercapitalized so it ended up being nothing more than a vanity project.
At the time I was in such peak physical form from cycling so I thought about trying show business. I started seeing this gal Misty Upham, a Native American actor from the Blackfeet tribe of Montana who had recently wrapped a location shoot in Oklahoma for August: Osage County starring Meryl Streep. She was looking to form an acting troupe and I readily volunteered. It was surreal driving up the 101 with Misty in my passenger seat on the phone panicking while explaining to Quentin Tarantino that she’d missed an appointment with her publicist. Misty promised she’d get me into SAG and she even spoke of me being her date for the Oscars. All I really wanted was a way to pay my rent so I could keep riding my bicycle in Griffith Park. Misty had another guy she was keen about and I didn’t want to compete. About a year later I got the news that she had passed and to this day I regret having left her side because I feel like we would’ve protected each other.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesigmaworkshop
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@thesigmaworkshop
