Los Lunas blind car expert goes viral on TikTok

Mike Postlethwait can do what most car fans cannot: identify a classic vehicle by touch alone, down to the make, model and sometimes the year. The 36-year-old Los Lunas native, who was born with Leber congenital amaurosis, has turned that skill into a viral TikTok presence that is drawing attention far beyond Valencia County.

Postlethwait, known online as The BlindHound, learned cars the hard way and the lasting way. Growing up around car-loving family members, he memorized the contours of fenders, doors, beds and headlights, building a tactile catalog that now lets him recognize a vehicle without seeing it. A Journal video description said he grew up memorizing the shapes of fenders and trunks, and the skill was on display at the Supernationals Father’s Day Weekend Car Show, where he used his hands to feel out the details of a 1966 Ford GT40.

That same hands-on knowledge has made him a local draw at car events and a digital one on TikTok, where he and his wife, Jenn Postlethwait, post identification videos as The Blindhound. Their clips have pulled in hundreds of thousands of views, and the account has surpassed 100,000 followers in less than a year of posting.

The appeal is not just novelty. At a recent Old Town Albuquerque car show at the Albuquerque Museum parking lot, Postlethwait correctly identified a 1957 Corvette. He had a harder time with a 1952 DB Drophead Coupe, a rare British model that the story noted had only 500 built, according to the Daimler & Lanchester Owners Club. That range, from instant recognition to careful hesitation, shows a real body of knowledge built through memory, repetition and touch.

Postlethwait’s rise also speaks to New Mexico’s car culture and the overlooked expertise sitting in communities like Los Lunas. Albuquerque Journal placed his story in the broader context of Route 66 and the state’s reputation as the Lowrider Capital of the World, where classic cars are part of local identity, tourism and small-business activity. For restoration shops, museum programs, car shows and tourism events, a figure like Postlethwait offers something rare: authentic expertise that can bring in crowds while widening access for people who have been left out of car culture’s usual assumptions.

KRQE reported that since going viral, Mike and Jenn Postlethwait have received invitations to car shows around the country, including a recent trip to Las Vegas, Nevada. For Valencia County, his attention is more than internet fame. It is a reminder that skill, inclusion and economic opportunity can begin with a blind man’s hands on a fender.