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A conversation about cars, trucks, tugs and other machines of transport that flows like an ADHD fever dream, hosted by Hoonigan co-founder and 321 Action Action director Brian Scotto. Enjoy, it’s gonna be a bizarre ride.
S3 E22 Audio
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[00:00:00] What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Very Vehicular, brought to you by Vyper Industrial. As always, I'm your host, Brian Scotto, and today we have a really, really fun episode. Joining us is none other than the rest of the Ballast Boys. That's right, Vinny Anatra, Ron Zaras, all of us together, and we, we're doing something a little bit different today.
I don't know, it's kind of like a topic roulette. We got a bunch of topics, put them in a hat. That's right, they're all right here. We run through all of them. Some of them we get pretty deep into. It's a great show. Enjoy it. I did. Everybody knows wearing sunglasses at night is for douchebags. Fortunately, Heat Wave Visual also makes apparel.
They've got great designs on everything from hats, hoodies, T-shirts, and even socks. But what they really kill at is their collabs. For example, they have an ongoing series with Chevy that includes the Heartbeat of America shirt I'm wearing now, plus a rad series with Chevy [00:01:00] trucks. They've also worked with my friends at Isenhouer Racing, and who knows, maybe one day there'll be a Scotto edition.
And if you want to see that happen, head on over to their Instagram @heatwavevisual and get to pestering them. Thanks. What's that old saying? Don't ever meet your heroes. Unfortunately, this applies to cars, too, as my buddy Ken Block discovered when he bought his Ford RS200. To say it politely, the suspension sucked.
So we went to KW to fix it on their seven-post suspension rig. Some say it was misappropriated in the middle of the night from an F1 team, and it once knocked out the power grid of a small village. But what we do know for certain is that this machine allows KW to create any test conditions needed to best develop their suspension across the entire product line.
Go check out kwsuspension.com and get yourself a kit developed on this insane seven-post technological torture device. I, I mean, suspension rig.[00:02:00]
Back, boys. Hey. Actually, welcome back, defending champions. Of? What? I don't know. Just, like, one of the better shows I think we've done. Ballast Boy, defending ch- ... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was a good show. Yeah, it was a good show. It was a good show. Early energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? It was good.
It was good. A bit of reunion feel. Yeah, it's all downhill from here. Oh, God, yeah. But whatever. We've devolved a lot since the last pod. Yeah. I love that insider trading. You're like, "It's one of the better shows. It's my show." No, no, I don't mean my show. I mean the ones you guys were on. Yeah. Like, they're good.
Like, the fans enjoy the Ballast Boys back together. Cool. So obviously, like, we both know what the hell you guys are doing. Yeah, so we don't have to get into that. Yeah. We're not gonna talk- We wanna know more what we're doing today ... we're not gonna talk about life. We're not gonna talk about what you've been up to, unless you've got something- We'll probably get into it on some crazy tangent
super special. Yeah, we [00:03:00] can get into it. But we're gonna try something a little different today. Uh, I don't have a good name for it. If you, we wanna name it while we're going today- Hmm ... we can start it. Um, it's not that it's a new show. I wanna be very clear. I know I, like, it's like there's firing order, there's very vehicular, there's, like, 19 versions of Daily Transmission.
Another show. I know people don't like that, but in, this is just a variation of the show so that I can bring back my good friends on the show all the time, and we don't run out of things to talk about. We're the guinea pigs. Yeah. Let's be honest. Yeah. You wanna call it Hat Trick? Well, okay. Brian just said we're gonna put stuff in a hat and pick it out.
Here we go. We're ready to go. We're ready to go. That's all we got. That's all we got. Oh, no. Oh, since it's Heat Wave, a Heat Wave hat, Hot Topics. Oh, but, but they ... I mean, come on. Are you getting paid extra from them for that one? That's pretty nice. Um- Yeah, I'm gonna get a choker after this ... I mean, it's kind of like a, it's, it's more of, like it's more of a- Yeah, like a- He meant Heat Wave, and you said Hot...
You were thinking Hot Topic. Hot Topic. Yeah. You're like, "You're [00:04:00] gonna get a choker." Oh, oh, oh, yeah. I, I was on the Hot Topic mind. That would've been sick. I'm gonna get a Led Zeppelin shirt and a choker. That would've been sick. That's gonna be my inspiration. And a lava lamp. Yeah, and a lava lamp. All right.
So the idea here is this is, like, topic roulette, right? So this just guides the conversation. It's not like a Q&A. It's, like ... And also we can let, we're all allowed one pass. Mm. So something comes up and we're just like, "Nah, it's not really that good of a topic." Hmm. These topics are something, some of this is stuff that the Patreon came up with.
Some of it are just things that people have been like, "It'd be cool for you to talk about this." And then, then other topics are things I threw in there. All right. So- Let's get into it. Yeah. Who wants to pick out the first topic? Ron. He has the better luck. He'll get something good. I don't know about that.
One car, one track, go. Wow. Uh, so I think the idea there, 'cause I wrote it short, is like- Yeah, yeah ... you have one track, one car. Okay. What are you gonna do? Okay. Like, y- you get [00:05:00] that choice, that it's your super holiday. Any car, like race car, like- Any car you want. Any car you want, any track in the country or the world, like where are you going?
I don't think we can all say Nürburgring, but you can go first 'cause you pulled it out. Honestly, Nürburgring wouldn't be mine. Really? No, I love it, but it's like, I was there recently, and someone was like, "You need 1,000 laps before you're fast here." At least. Yeah. At the very least. So it's like you're, you're just going to a canyon day at the Nürburgring until you're- But, but like isn't that still good though?
It's great, yeah. It's awesome. I mean, like, like I don't think you're, I don't think the thing is, is one tr- one car, one track, set the fastest lap. It's like just a good day. No, I know. But here's my thing You're not really pushing at the Nürburgring. There's not a lot of, like, fun oversteer moments and stuff.
It's just, like, high speed and butt clenching. Hmm. Yeah. I don't know. I like, I like that. Okay. Oh, but, but if we can get into it. Yeah. We can get into it. You wanna start, Ron? I do not wanna start 'cause I need a minute to think about this. I need a minute. This is- No, I'll start. I've, look, I was- This is challenging
but, but without, you don't have to get right into it. You can get into the pieces to think about. Yeah, 'cause I mean, [00:06:00] I haven't driven it in real life, but Fuji Speedway is really, really fun on the sim. You've driven it in real life. I just drove- Oh, did you? Yeah, I just drove Fuji in January. How is it in real life?
Uh, I didn't love it. It's really big, right? It's a lot of, um, decreasing radius and, like, off-camber. Mm. So a lot of, like, turns where grip sort of falls away. Mm. Now, granted, I drove it in a 992 GT3 Touring- Okay ... on Cup 2s, and it was really cold. Oh, yeah So the tires, like, wouldn't heat up. Mm, and it's not a car that you wanna warm up.
But holy shit, Fuji is the nicest racetrack I've ever been to in my life. Not only is it in this, like, insane area that's, like, incredibly beautiful. They have a huge hotel- Mm ... that is one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in in my life. And you just, like, come around the track, and there's just, like, Fuji Sun right there.
It's so wild. That's sick. And you're like, "It's so sick." It's the coolest track. I, I- Wow ... like, we go to Buttonwillow here. It's in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. It smells like cow shit, and it's 400 degrees by noon. Yeah. And then you go to [00:07:00] Fuji, and you're like, "This is an option?" And aren't, like, most of all the major tracks in Japan all within a few hours from each other, too?
That I don't know. That- But Japan's small, so I guess. Yeah. Like, there's just, like, a collection of a bunch of good tracks all near each other. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, out there, for sure. Very, very close, yeah. The back half of Fuji before onto the main straight, so hard. It, like, seems really simple on paper, but it's incredibly difficult.
Oh, that corner's always been really challenging. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh. Okay, so- Here's a question before we get into it. Yeah. What is everybody's, like, favorite American track? Like if, like just a track you really enjoy driving. Hmm, I mean, that I've driven? Yeah, yeah. Laguna Seca, probably top. Same.
Laguna's up there. Uh, I personally really like VIR. See, I never got to drive VIR. VIR's the... Ah. So mine would be VIR, Laguna, and Barber Motorsports Park. Barber is sick. Barber's really- So much good undulation ... it's, it's a close second to VIR, but VIR- Well, it's bigger ... the uphill, the uphill S's- No, the S's ... is like- [00:08:00] The, the S's- Bump, bump, bump, and then-
makes you feel like you're, like, a race car driver in DTM or Supercar. 100%. 'Cause it's just a d-d-d-d-d, like you- Yep ... pretty much just drive straight there. And you're, you're matted. Yeah. And then the corner after it is a big balls corner. Yeah. Like, big commitment everywhere. Yeah. And then two really technical corners, that's a big one for me.
So I was gonna say, like, I don't know, so many cars to choose from, but, like, a, like, a Corvette, like, C7R at VIR. Mm. Uh, and then my other one would be, like, a F40 LM at Road America. Mm. Road America. Road America. Yeah. Have you driven Road America? Yeah. Because- You have some scary moments at Road America
because that car is, like, I've seen footage of it, and it's, like, just raw, straight lines, like, animal, and everywhere else you kinda gotta putt around. And that back straight, going uphill, and then you kinda crest and then go down, like, fuck, dude. Yeah, Road America's fun. I've always wanted to drive Road Atlanta.
That one seems fun. Oh, yeah, I've never driven Road Atlanta. Me neither. Yeah, yeah. I actually don't think I have. I think that's... I haven't either. Mm. But C- That's an easy- ... C7R is [00:09:00] fun, yeah. Yeah. I think, like, a big power rear wheel drive- Yep ... V8. Yep. Uh, I took my C6 Z06 to the track- Mm ... like, last week, and I was like, "Wow, this car fucking rules."
They're so good. Uh, I've never... 'Cause, like, I haven't, I only had one big power track car, and it was my E36, but that thing was, like, a handful, 'cause it's, like, a car and a- Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah ... you know, myself. Yeah, yeah. It was, like, too many variables. For sure. But the Corvette was, like, that's, I don't know, driving, like, a fast V8 on track, dude, is just insane.
Now imagine, like, the... 'Cause gearing on that car's super long. Yeah. Right? So at Buttonwillow you probably only shift once or twice. Like, third and fourth the whole time, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whereas, like, in a C7R, like , you know? Yeah, it'd be nuts. Just ... So yeah, for me- Yeah ... uh, my quick, easy answer, I'm sure I'll want something else way later, but today, right now, VIR, C7R.
So, like, just so we're cl- so the Pratt & Miller C7R- Yep ... full-blown race car? Yep. 'Cause I've driven the Pratt & Miller C6 [00:10:00] road car- Okay ... which was a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. I like cars that are a lot. Yeah, I know, I know. It's, it's a lot. I like cars that are just, like, that you really have to pay attention- Yeah
the entire time. And at VIR. At VIR. Of all the tracks in the world, VIR. I don't know, but it's tough 'cause, like, I haven't personally driven that way Yeah, I feel the same way ... a lot of European tracks, you know? I feel the same way. 'Cause, like, there's tracks I think are cool, but then when you drive them, you might not really enjoy it that much.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 'Cause, like, I'd love to drive Monza, but- Mm-hmm ... you know, I've... I don't know, maybe in real life. Whatever. Yeah, I feel like I gotta pick tracks that I have driven. You think Monza's a track where you meet your heroes? No. No. And you're like, "Oh, you know what?" Absolutely not. "I'm flying home.
Doing one lap." Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I've been there, but I haven't driven on the track there, and it's sick. Yeah. It's really cool. 'Cause, like, my... I think I would pick Laguna Seca because I've driven it a bunch, and I really love that track. You have a lot of confidence there. Yeah, I have a lot of confidence.
Yeah. I also, when... I always tell people, I'm like, "It just feels like racetrack to me." Sure. Right. Like, like, if I had to, like, cartoon sketch a racetrack, it's like that's what that feels like. Yeah. It's just so- And corners where [00:11:00] you have, like, uh, the track working for you for grip. Yeah, yeah. Like, you really super commit to the uphill left-hander.
Turn, turn six. Turn six, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's so much fun. Oh my God. Oh my God. And you have good runoff, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one. I feel like I would do that in a modern, like... I f- I would wanna do that in a 991 GT2 RS. Mm. Hmm. It's, like, big downforce, tons of fucking power. Yeah. Rear wheel drive, PDK.
Like- Mm-hmm ... just, like, something you can just smash, like- Yeah ... one, like, sub 1:20s in or something, you know? Like- That's sick. I... So I think for me, I'd wanna do something that- Pull up. I know. I wanna... I almost want to. Can I guess? Can I tell you? I almost... Okay, you, you guys go ahead and guess. Wait, this is- You guys go ahead and guess
this is Brian, Brian's ideal track day is, um, driving the Lime Rock go-kart track- Yes. ... in a Mk1 Rabbit. But wait, wait, I, wait, I- Which is exactly what I was gonna say ... love that ideal track day. And it was really good ... but he has to, he has to swap the suspension the night before, so that morning- This feels like Daytrotter Boom
he's only had two hours of sleep. This feels like Daytrotter Boom. But it has [00:12:00] the stock exhaust- So it's a fever dream ... so he could be on a call- Right ... while doing it. Okay, no, I'll, I'll... Okay, I'll tell you the car. We're not that far off. No, we're not. So I'll tell you the car. I'll start with the car. Uh, the Audi D11 V8 DTM car.
Cool. So good. Because, so... And this is a bit, a little bit of backstory. We went to Audi Tradition, and they brought out a bunch of cars for Ken to drive. Yeah. And, you know, Ken being the rally guy, like, he was most excited about driving the rally cars. And he... We started making the list, and then I said, "Hey, Ken, we should add that to the list."
And he was like, "Mm." And I was like, I was like, "It's gonna be cool, DTM cars." He's like, "Yeah, but it's not, like, the cool era looking DTM car." Yeah, yeah, yeah. "Like the later ones that look like-" The 190E Evo II- Yeah ... or, like, you know, the... Yeah. And I was like, "No." I was like, I was like... He's like, "All right, fine. If that's the car you want, uh, to drive, like, if you want, like, we'll, we'll do it."
What did he say? It was the best car he drove that day. He said it was the best car. He drove the Group S Audi, uh, rally car. Which, like, probably, like, six people in the world have driven. Have ever driven. He drove the Audi S1 E2 [00:13:00] Quattro. Yeah. He drove what el- Yeah ... like, just of all the legendary stuff. He- And of all the cars, he just...
He did laps until Audi tradition was like, "Okay, go." You, you gotta stop, 'cause he was four-wheel drifting through every big corner. Every corner. Like, big fast. So you said 190 E, and whenever I play Assetto Corsa- Yeah ... my go-to track car is the Sonax 190 E DTM car. Yes. By the... Yeah. Did you... Yeah. And that would probably be the car I wanna drive, because it's like, I didn't even think about DTM cars.
I was thinking, like, production cars. But- That's the tough thing about this, 'cause, like, real race cars- No. So I'll, I'll tell you the other car that I was thinking of. But the- Because the DTM cars are not fast enough to be, like, scary, and I bet they're hard as fuck to drive. But they're really fun to drive.
And, like, awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So the other car that was in my list was the HWA 190 that they just ran at the Nürburgring. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Did you see that? They ran the Classic 190. Well, we got to... The three of us were at the Historics, a 24-hour Nürburgring. Yeah. And the coolest thing was watching the DTM cars.
Yeah, that was cool. I mean, they had the Sonax 190. Yeah. The- 830 M3 ... Pal Sonic R32. Yep. Like, dude. They even had, like, the little later, like, the [00:14:00] C43 AMGs. Yeah. Yeah. That was sick. I, I saw this thing today. Uh, Max Verstappen was quoted, like, "You give me, like, a, a shopping cart," called a shopping trolley, "and, like, I'll drive it to the limit."
Sure. He's... And, and someone commented on it, and they basically said, "It's not about how fast you go as a race car driver. It's about being on the limit, and nobody wants to not be on the limit." Mm. Like, it... Like, like, being on the limit is more fun- Yeah ... than going fast, which is, like, I've always said. Yeah, totally.
Sure, yeah. Being on the limit is fun. So anyway, that car I think at Bathurst Wow Because go- Dude ... sketchy, sketchy. But, like, I'm also, like, I'm, I'm fine to, like, drive at, like, six tenths- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... and probably still have a good time. Although I say that, and then you go. But, like, Bathurst is just, like, one, there's only four races there a year, so, like, it's not something you have access to.
But Bathurst was one of the coolest... Like, it's one of the only other tracks I've been to that's not the Nürburgring that I'm like, "This feels special." Yeah, yeah. Like, [00:15:00] it just, it just feels so, like, I, the- It feels so non-racetrack. Yeah. Like, nobody would build anything like that today The, the amount of elevation climb is insane And how narrow it gets Like, super narrow.
Yeah But, like, the elevation climb, I mean, like, you feel like you're climbing when you go to Laguna, and then, like, you realize Laguna is Hunter Mountain and Bathurst is, like, Vail. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? It's like literally, like- Yeah ... it's East Coast/West Coast mountain size instead of, like, how high up it is and how big you are and, like, all of that.
That being said, like, I don't have the skillset in that car to really put down any- It doesn't matter Like, it'd probably be more fun at- It doesn't matter. You're not racing anybody ... it'd probably be more fun at Laguna- Yeah ... where there's actually some decent runoff. Yeah. But, but I don't know. If you're talking dream situation where it's about the story, that's it for me.
Of course. Yeah. Yeah. All right, anything else? No, let's jump into the next topic. Move on. Yeah. Yeah. That was a really hard one. Yeah, I can't... My brain- A hard starter ... whenever you have, like, unlimited parameters- Too much selection ... I'm like, "I don't know." Yeah, yeah, yeah. A hard, a hard starter. Okay, this one, I think this is one we've talked about in the past Is California car [00:16:00] culture actually dying like people who are not from California say it is?
No. No. Not even close. It's honestly too big. Yeah. It's annoyingly big- Yep ... in all the wrong ways. So, uh, but let, let's rewind back to, like, the point of it, which is everyone wants to say right now that Calif- like, California's the worst place to own a car. It is. I hear it all the time. And I think it is. How is it that that is true?
I would say second-worst. Where do you think the worst place is? I just, I just spent a week in New York City, and there's no way. Like, horrific place to own a car. Do you follow any of, like, the, the brands out there that are doing events like Wheels of NYC? Dude, great turnouts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. They- Really good turnouts
they put super cool cars in areas that I know are a huge pain in the ass to get to. Yeah. The... And, and you have- Like, you drove down Delancey to get there? Oof ... you have such a different car enthusiast over there. Obviously, we're biased, but it's so much harder to own a car there. Like, you got guys that have a car that have garages, like, deep, like, in the Bronx or in Brooklyn or whatever.
You know, you- Oh, I've done it ... we've all done it. We've all done it. Like, you spend, like, $700 a month [00:17:00] just- And you, and- ... for a parking space where, you know, like, it- And a T- two-fare to get there 'cause you gotta get a bus and a and a subway- Right, right ... to get to your garage. And then you have a limited window to operate it in.
Every street in New York City is like a rally stage. Like, it's challenging to own a car. Horrible. Yeah, really tough. But, but I think, like, just physically owning a car there is tough- Yeah ... but, like, the laws and crap is so much easier in New York. It is. It is, yeah. Like, it's not as bad- Yeah ... as out here and, like- Here, emissions-wise, like, and now, like, with the flock cameras around and all the dumb shit, because it's gotten so big, you have all these kids that treat the Canyons like it's a track day.
Mm. Like it's an Assetto server. Like, it's... It makes it tough to be- Yeah ... like a, like a genuine car enthusiast, you know? I, I, I think about this a lot 'cause I've asked this, or had this conversation with so many different people because as someone who came from New York City and has been to almost every single state in the nation going there for car culture purposes- Yeah
and been all around the world, like, there's just something special about California. Yeah. Like, it feels you, like, you can [00:18:00] uniquely experience stuff here. Dude, absolutely. Yeah. But I also do realize that, like, in order to be a... You have to be a criminal to enjoy car culture here. Yeah, that- You have to break the law.
That, and I think, like, the one thing that was so obvious to me when we did my, like, GTI reveal or- Yeah ... whatever at, in Connecticut, was, like, we did an event in Like April, on a Wednesday in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and 500 people showed up. Yeah. From all over. People, people came from- It's crazy ... Long Island.
And that's not- Which meant they had to drive through New York City to get to Connecticut. And I'm not saying like, "Oh, it's 'cause I'm a big deal." It's like FCP Euro and I put on this event, and like there's nothing else going on. People show up. So people are, like, excited. Yeah. Not just 'cause people heard I was there, but whatever, keep going.
But I think out here it's tough 'cause there's so much going on every weekend. Yeah ... that, like, you can't even stay on top of, like, going to it. And a lot of the events are now just, like, flooded with, like, idiots because- Yeah ... it's, like, the wrong type of people going there, like having two step [00:19:00] competitions, and everyone's vlogging everything.
Yeah. And it's just, like, I don't know. But I will say, like, in California, compared to anywhere else, within, like, a 50 mile square radius, you could have the pinnacle of 2000s JDM. You could have the peak of '70s Porsche racing. You can have Singers and you can have whatever, like everything is here. Whereas anywhere else in the US, like good luck finding more than one R34 anywhere close to you.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, look at our local Cars and Coffee. It's nuts. Like all makes is- And we're talking hyper local. Hyper local. Like Long Beach only. Yeah. Which by the way, if you're listening to this and you are, let's say, from New York City, Long Beach is the equivalent of, like, outer Queens to the rest of Los Angeles.
It's the Bronx. Yeah. You know, I- Like, like- Yeah, I always see that people call, uh, the Valley Queens, and I'm like, "No way." No, Long Beach is Queens. Yeah. Yeah. Long Beach is Queens. I... Th- Anyone who does that, they do the map where they're like, oh, whatever, Long Beach is Queens. Like y'all don't live here. Yeah.
Or you haven't lived in New York. Yeah. You [00:20:00] know why? 'Cause there's not enough of a dangerous element in the Valley to a- to make it feel like sections of Queens, 'cause in Queens you're like, "Wow, it's really nice h- oh wait, where are we?" I don't know. Have you ever been to Canoga Park? You should get out.
Sorry, Canoga Park residents. Just catching strays, literally. Yeah. Hey, hey, look, people talk shit about Long Beach all the time. Canoga Park sucks. I like that people talk shit about Long Beach. I don't want people to move here. I'm good. No, it's great. I'm pretty stoked with how it is right now. It's, it's great as is.
Yeah. Got Michelin stars- There's a- ... no one knows about. It's sick ... there's a barrier to entry, yeah. It's sick, sick. So yeah, I think it's cool. I think it's a bit too much. Uh, I think the laws here- You've talked about leaving- ... are fucking brutal. Um- You've talked about leaving California. Yeah, I- But you haven't
in my dr- I dream about leaving California. Mm. Yeah. Just 'cause, like, I mean, I'm, wanna do this car dealership thing. Where would you, where would you go? Uh- Or do you not wanna talk about it? ... Tennessee. Tennessee. Georgia, North Carolina. Okay. So you think you wanna move to Tennessee? Yeah, I've- He's- Ron, I've been-
from Tennessee ... I've been to Tennessee once. I don't even know what it's like there. It's great. It's a wonderful state. Yeah. It's a wonderful state. But [00:21:00] car culture-wise, and I don't know, I haven't been to a car meet there in a really long time, whatever, but you run into the same thing. Like, they're muscle car heaven.
Right. Right? Like, highway cars all day, street racing, great scene out there, not that I partake in that. Um, but, like, for the stuff that you like, it's a lot more challenging- Yeah ... to find those kinda groups of people and groups of cars. Oh, I know it. Like, it's, it's way tougher. I think the, the problem here, 'cause I wanna start selling cars more for the dealership, is I like modified cars, and I would love to be more of, like, a RMC Miami style thing- Mm
while also doing, like, higher end Porsches and, like, whatever- Yeah ... supercar bullshit. Um, but the problem is California is fucking dealers right now because Top Rank just got audited. Oh, really? Like 500 cars because you're not allowed to sell cars in California 'cause they won't pass emissions. Right, yeah.
But people in California want the cars, so they have LLCs in [00:22:00] different states. Oh, interesting. Yeah. But unless they physically ship the car out of state- Right, 'cause you need like the bill of lading ... they have to eat the sales tax. Yeah. So now it's like if I buy a m- modified car, I pretty much have to exclusively sell it out of state.
Sure. Which I do a lot of, but- Because to sell in California you have to sell it smogged. You have to sell it smogged. It has to be smogged, yeah. Has to fu- pass emissions- Yeah ... do all the shit, so it's like a lot of cars that I get that I love, I just have to be like if a California person wants to buy it, be like, "Hey, you could..."
You're- You have to have an address out of state and ship it out of state ... your biggest audience I don't care what happens to it- Yeah ... after that, but, you know, it's like- Do, do you feel like, 'cause I know right now everyone's talking about how CHP's cracking down, there's like a mandate to crack down on plates, all these other things, um, do you see that more?
I ask it because like I'll be honest, like I don't really drive cars that like cops wanna pull over. Mm. Like unless I'm driving the 911 or the Ferrari, I don't drive them that much. Yeah. So like when I'm cruising in my Rabbit, like a cop ain't trying to pull me over. I don't know, but like- But like you're driving cars that like fe- like when you're in a 3 RS, [00:23:00] like that is I feel like a bit of a target these days.
Yeah, but I'm like a bald white guy in my like- Yeah ... el- elder 30s, you know? Like- We need someone to come on who drives a G37. But I, but I also drive- We all wanna ask them what it's like to be a car enthusiast in California. Yeah. Like I drive pretty, I drive super normal. Like I don't really get pulled over for moving violations in general- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah ... so it doesn't matter. But if you're an asshole, like, you know- I remember the time you and I went to a meet and you got pulled over with like a different plate on your car 'cause you had just bought it. I got pulled over with a fucking Hoonigan plate, and they almost impounded my car. That's right.
Yeah. I remember. Yeah. Uh, I will say, uh, driving to the gym the other day, there was a roadside sniffer test- Whoa ... where they were- No way. Yeah, on, um, uh, like right off of Katella. What? What's that first street that you take a left off of Katella? I don't know. Whatever. Um, the, where Mooney's is. Mooney's Pizza.
Yeah. Wow. There was a sniffer test, and what they do, and I read about this, you don't actually have to pull over for it. You don't have to, you don't have to do it. But they have a sheriff right there to intimidate you- Right ... apparently- Yeah, yeah ... to go do it. [00:24:00] Yeah. But like if you're late for work it's like- But I was like, oh, man, like what?
Yeah ... but I got pulled over there the other day, like right in that same area. Yeah. I'm driving the Corvette- ... and I have dealer plates so I swap them on and off cars. Yeah. I just forgot to look. Uh-huh. Like, you know, just I forget everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forget one thing when I leave the house all the time.
I do it all the time too. Yeah. So I'm driving the car and it like hits me as I'm like driving, I'm like, "Fucking don't have a license plate on the car. I know I forgot to put it on." So I'm like coming over the hill and I see a cop posted up And I, like, clutch in, and this thing is like, sounds like a NASCAR.
Like, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap. You're doing, you're doing the idle pass. And I'm like ... And he sees the plate, immediately pulls out. So I like- Oh. I shut the car off- Yeah ... and, like, rolled. Oh, like you'd just finished a run on a track strip. And it's like- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pulled over. Yeah. And he let me go. Yeah. He was super nice.
That's awesome. I was like, "Oh my God, we were just taking photos of the car," and I had the ... 'Cause the license plate was on, but it was flipped around. Oh. Oh, oh. And I was like, it just flipped backwards. I was like, "I forgot to flip it," whatever. I'm like, "I'm going to my [00:25:00] shop," whatever. And look, most of the time, like, they're doing a job, you're d- you're living your life.
Yeah. And if there's a mutual respect there- Yeah ... like, you're fine. Yeah. Right? And I was like, "I'll get out and flip it right now." And he was like, "No." And I was like, "Oh, shit." He was like, "Pull in the parking lot and switch it." Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, "All right, cool." That's fine. But he let me go. Yeah, yeah.
It was really nice. That's cool. So I think, like, cops here aren't that bad. No. Like, if you're not being a huge piece of shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, it's every, every state in my opinion has its barrier to entry to be a car enthusiast. I think California's is still the lowest, but that barrier does suck sometimes.
Yeah, yeah. And, like, doing it legit, you know, having modified cars is hard. It's very hard. You know? Like- Someone DM'd me the other day and was like, "I'm moving to California. I have a VR turbo in a Mark 2, like it's currently registered in such and such state." And I was like, "Should I," he's like, "Should I try to register it in California?"
And I'm like- You won't be able to. I was like, I was like, I was like, "I'm not gonna tell you what to do, I'm just gonna tell you you won't be able to register it." Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's it. And it's like, it's hard to, for people to hear that, and then for us to still say it's one of the, it's [00:26:00] the greatest place in the c- in the country to live for car culture.
Yeah. I mean, Ron got state ref'd. And I say this 'cause, like, everybody's a criminal. I got it. I got, I, I was with him when he got state ref'd. Yeah, yeah. And they tried to state ref me for my 1975 Volkswagen. I'm like- Which was the best argument you ever had. Yeah ... it w- I was like, I was like, "Dude, first off, it's a '75, you can't state ref me."
I'm like- Yeah ... "It, I literally could have, like, a f- um"- Jet engine in here ... a jet engine. That's what I- I think that's what I said to him ... yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, "I literally have a jet engine in here. There's nothing you can do about it." And then I popped the hood, and he was like, "Uh, it's like that engine's smaller than, like, what's in my moto- on my motorcycle," 'cause it was like CHP.
It was a, it was a bike cop. Yeah, and I was like, "Yeah, I know." I'm like, "That's why it sounded so loud, 'cause it was trying its hardest to get up the hill." Yeah. It sounds like you're going flat out. Yeah, he's like, "I heard that. There's definitely something under there. I know cars." Yeah, yeah. That's what he told me.
Yeah. And I popped the hood, and he was like ... I was like, "It's a single ca- it's a single barrel carburetor, my friend, on a 1.5 liter." It's a half a cam. I was like, "I have a"- It's not even a single cam ... I was like, "I have, like, I, I have, um, you know, I have power tools that make more of a" ... More [00:27:00] torque, for sure.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the little Milwaukee half inch? Yeah, I got a Milwaukee here that'll run it. Oh, come on. Yeah. So yeah, I think in conclusion, California is a blessing and a curse. Yes. Yeah, it is How do you feel about it in general outside of cars too? Yeah. I don't know if I... I'll tell you what I don't think I'd wanna be.
I don't think I'd wanna be a young car enthusiast in California. Mm-hmm. I think while there's a lot of opportunity, like that's when you get pulled over. I mean, I got pulled, I used to get pulled over in New York once a week in my slammed GTI with tinted windows because it was just... or actually it was golf.
But like, it was still, I used to get pulled over once a week 'cause they couldn't see through my windows. I never really got tickets, but I would get pulled over all the time, and then I think the minute they realized that like I like had my registration, like everything was fine, it was cool. But I think as you get older, you're just like kind of immune to it.
Yeah. I would say if you're big- Oh, shit, guys, we're, are we- ... if you're really big into modding, it's, that's where it gets really, really tough. 'Cause if you're a car enthusiast of like I really like this type of car and just put like a cat-back on it, whatever- Yeah ... and wheels and tires- Yeah, easy ... and suspension, you're great.
Yeah. You're golden. Or if you like muscle cars. Yes. 'Cause you could literally- Oh, you'll get- ... be [00:28:00] running on alcohol with an with like an 8:71- A blow one stacked to the roof ... coming through the roof, and there ain't dick- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... all they can do about it. No. They'll pull you over just to talk to you about it.
Yeah. Yeah. I got pulled over in the Nova leaving my house in Venice, came ripping around the corner, cop lit me up 'cause I ended up in the wrong lane, and he came up to me and he was just like, "Blah, blah, blah," all these questions, and was with me. And he's like, "What's going on?" And I was like, "Well, uh," and I like gave the guy like some bullshit excuse.
And I was like, "But..." He's like, "What's under the hood?" I was like, "It's a '70, like, 2. It doesn't really matter what's under the hood." And he's like, "What's under the hood?" I was like, "Ah, it's a 555." He's like, "Well," and then we start talking. He's like, "All right, well get back to the house and take care of this stuff before you get back out on the road again."
And looked at the cop and went, "You're fucking kidding me, right? You're gonna let him go?" And I was like- ... "What the fuck, bro? What the fuck?" That's such a thing to do. And I was like, "What do you want, dude? What?" And he's like, he's like, "Why do you always get off?" And I was like, "I don't know, man. I don't know." So maybe we're just lucky.
Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. 'Cause I'm sure there's somebody else who had their car impounded who's listening to this going, "Fuck those dudes." Yeah, probably. That sucks. That was it. All right. [00:29:00] Next topic? Yeah. Next hot topic.
Perfect day as a car nerd Hmm. Honestly, pretty easy, for me at least. Go. So it's like- Uh, I w- can I not disclose a location? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like- You can just, like, you don't, you have to... You can gate keep. Uh, yeah. Let's take, let's bring gate back. Keep keeping. There's, yeah, honestly, 'cause I don't want all these fuck faces to ruin it.
Yeah, yeah. Not that probably any of them listen to your podcast. No, definitely no. So I'm sure all, actually all you guys are probably welcome. Yeah. Probably, like, pretty situated humans. Yeah. DM us. Yeah. Yeah. DM us for the spot. Um, so I'll just say it then, yeah. I think for me it's, like, a morning in Malibu.
Okay. It's just the best. I love, like... I mean, I hate it 'cause it's so far from Long Beach- Yeah ... that I never wanna go, but like, morning in Malibu, cruise- Over, over, like, ACH. Yeah, all day. Yeah. Cruise up the coast, get a coffee, hit some canyon roads. There's, like, a car meet up there- Yeah ... somewhere and then you, like, jam back down, drive down the coast.
It's, like, the best. That's my favorite. That's good. And there's, like, no real traffic [00:30:00] over there. Like, you're just cruising. Yeah. It's great. But, but I just did that, uh, or this past weekend, and it was A+. It's the best. Phenomenal. That's, that's my, that's my, like, ultimate car nerd day for sure. Okay. When I still lived in Venice, Ashley and I used to do that on Sundays.
We would go run the canyons, run, like, Payuma, and like, you know, all the way down, and then, then, like, drop down into Malibu, and there was this one restaurant we would always get brunch at, and we would do the exact same thing every Sunday morning. That's awesome. And it was, like, just the best. Yeah, I love that.
Yeah. It's a good routine. And it was just this thing that we did, and, like, it was, like, just take the 911 out. We'd run it all the same time, and, like, it was always good. Yeah. And, like, it was, like, just enough, like, fun roads to drive. Mm. Not too much traffic. Yeah. And then, like, cruise w- Mm ... look at the beach on the way home.
I used to live right off the 10- Be home by, like, 11:00 ... in Santa Monica when I first moved to California. Yeah. So I used to do it all the time, and it's my favorite thing 'cause it was, like, I was one exit from the PCH, and you're just cruising up. But now living in Long Beach, I mean, you're talking about, like, an hour and 20 minutes of grueling- That's-
shit traffic to get home ... super rough, yeah. So you're just like- Yeah ... I don't really care. It's a [00:31:00] lot. You gotta, you gotta pay a large toll to do it. There was one time Ron and I were doing, like, ACH on Fridays. Oh, yeah, every Friday, yeah. It's, like, pretty re- Yeah, yeah ... pretty often. But- You know what I... I mean, you're talking leaving at 5:30 in the morning to beat traffic, and then driving home at noon and still taking an hour and change to get home.
Dude. Was, like, brutal. The one time I did it in the Evo sequential, gutted, carbon doors, hot- Mm-hmm ... no AC. Oh my God. Oh, we went up that one day. I had the biggest headache. It was super hot. You had- Oh my God ... the, the Evo ... I was so miserable. I was like, "Ron's gonna die." It was like 100 in the canyons on the way up.
I lost, like, 15 pounds. Easily, easily. All right, um, perfect, perfect day as a car nerd. Uh, for me, new car purchase road trip. Ooh. That's a good one. Love it. That's a top, top three for me. To me, like, there's no feeling like you just bought a car. It's a car you've been thinking about, like, you've been looking for it, you find your perfect example, and then you gotta drive it.
You get to know it. You do fun roads. You do highway stuff. You really, really, like, immediately [00:32:00] get that satisfaction of driving that thing- Yeah ... in all different situations. Like, I bought my Evo RS way back in the day, 2012. Uh, I was living in Utah. The car was in San Jose. Mm-hmm And we drove through Tahoe, we drove through Nevada, like all the, the, and then like the mountains in Utah.
Like dude, I still think about that road trip to this day. I love that, 'cause I think that when you get a new car, or like it's kinda similar when you buy like a project or you finish your project car- Yes ... there's like the first run jitters, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It takes you a little while to like shake it out.
Mm-hmm. But I think it's cool to buy a car and drive it really far first, 'cause then you get it home and you're like, "Oh, this thing rules." Yeah. Like, it works. Yeah. You know? Then you get over it. Yeah. For me, like that was this experience, was picking up the Ferrari. Mm. Tony and I fly up to San Jose, or, uh, San Mateo.
We went to San Francisco- Okay ... to get it, and then we just dre- we took 11 hours to get here. Like think of how out of the way you have to go to go from San Francisco to LA- Yeah ... and do 11 hours, and we just drove. That's just a standard Scotto road trip, though. Yeah, but we were just like, you know, Route 1, Big Sur, like bounced around, bunch of stuff.
Stop for photos. Stop for photos, like just cruise the whole [00:33:00] way. Yeah. Just like enjoy the ride. And it was definitely like the first hour I was nervous, because like every light that like goes on or weird noise- Especially in those things. But like... Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, God, yeah. But like once you're on hour nine of like driving, you know, an Italian car made in the '90s, you're like, "This thing, I'm invincible right now."
Yeah, yeah. You're like, I got to LA and I was like driving like a New York City cab, like I just didn't care. Yeah, yeah. I was like in it. And honestly like it's the best moment I had in that car. Like I haven't had a moment since then. Yeah. Like it's cool to cruise around- Yeah ... with my buddy with another Ferrari, but like other than that, like I don't know.
It's like I just like haven't had that same experience. Yeah, yeah. Like that, like that served. But for me- I would say nothing's better than, like, whether it's finishing a project car or just getting a new part on a car- Mm. Getting it done, like, around 6:00 PM, and getting out and cruising with the boys just as it's starting to get dark.
Mm. Like, high- like, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, and for me, that's more of, like, I don't know if I have those as California memories. I [00:34:00] have them as, like, Queens and Long Island memories. I was gonna say- Like, heading to DPA ... I feel like that's like, that was, like, young, young life of, like- Yeah ... you're working on your car all day.
Like, you spend the whole day working on the car- Yeah. And then just to finish it- And it actually, like, hit a car meet at night ... and it just works. Yeah. And then it's like- Man ... you get to cruise, like... And then, like, you get to meet up with everybody. With all your new stuff. Four or five cars. With all your new stuff.
Yeah. And like, that- Yeah. That's solid ... and, like, it's working. That's solid. Like, that's, like, a really, really, really good day. Yeah. Yeah. That's nice. I was thinking about that the other day 'cause I was like, I was like, "I don't know if I, like, have really enjoyed cars in, like, a couple months now." Mm. I told, I told Brian today that I, I worked on a car without any sort of video.
Like, I just did it in my garage. Oh, man. Yeah. And it was like, "Ah, man, I miss this." Like, just, like, doing it. That's all I've been doing. Yeah. It's great. And it's great. Yeah. It makes you enjoy it again. Yeah. I, I don't know. Like, recently I just, I don't know. Like, everything is either to make content or I'm just, like, too busy to just do the simple thing.
Yeah. Or it's, like, fixing something I don't wanna fix. Which is the worst. Fixing annoying things sucks. Yeah. Yeah. Like, oh, like, I don't really wanna do this. Yeah. I was like... But I, and I was thinking about this just the [00:35:00] other day, of like, man, I miss, like, the simplicity of putting on, just lowering your car- Yeah
and just being like, "That's sick." Yeah. Like, all of, everything I do now is, like, too big. It's like, it's so big that, like, when I get in the car, like, I'm so, I, not only am I nervous something's gonna break, something's gonna break 'cause I've, I've turned- I've turned too many nuts and bolts for it not to.
Yeah. Like, there's something so nice and simple about that. Another one I also enjoy, and this is because it's the masochist in me, is I enjoy an all-night haul and the car starts at 4:30 in the morning. No, when it w- actually, when it actually fires and you've, like, been up all night- No, because you know what?
and it fires, it's great. 'Cause if you're doing that, well, we're different people drastically. 'Cause if I'm doing that, it means that everything has been going wrong. You know? Like, if I'm in that position, I'm pissed off. Like, I'm not like- Yeah ... "Oh, what a good day. I'm at the shop at 4:30 in the morning." For Scotto, it's everything's gone right.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's your ... We just operate different. I had, I had one night when I was young where me and [00:36:00] Jay Slack stayed up all night trying to get his car ready, and then I think it broke, and we drove a different car to H2O, and it's still a great night for me. See, I think, I think- I just, it was so fun
I think if you're, if you're doing it, like, with the friends in, like, a, some like, you know, like- It can't be, like, work related ... fever, fever dream type shit- Yeah ... then, like, it's fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. The closest I've gotten to that was, uh, when I finally got the Evo done and dynoed. The dyno day took- Yeah ... all day.
As it does, yeah. As dyno days do. Yeah. And at that time I had the carbon doors with nothing on 'em. Yeah. So it was just the skin. The car was gutted, no headlights. It was nighttime. With the wonkiest alignment. We're in the middle of an industrial park. The wonkiest alignment on earth. And I remember doing that pull.
It, it had just done, like- Yeah ... 800 some to the wheels, and it was cold, the tires were cold, and I did second to third, and it broke all four loose in third, and it was all over the place, and I was like, "Ah, this is the sickest thing on the planet." I, I gotta say- But, like, a week later, though, we went to that c- like, that Cafe 86 meet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we all cruised home from that. That was a great one. And that was, like, [00:37:00] just, like, that moment- Yeah ... the stick stuck out. That was really good. It was fun. It was like- You had the FD. It was spitting fireballs. Yeah. Yeah. I was in the RS2. Yeah. Zac had the, his Z06, and you had the Evo. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the, the feeling of your car making it through a dyno day and then getting to rip your project car- Rare ... for the first time ever is one of the best feelings ever. Like, when I- Yeah ... built my 1JZ 14- Yeah ... and, like, we dynoed it, and it put down 550 wheel, and then I got to go out on the street and, like, hammer it, dude.
It's hard to beat. Nothing feels better. It's hard to beat. Yeah, that's a good fucking feeling. Yeah. Yeah, I wish I knew. All the cars I've gotten to that point still don't run right. Like, when we did my LS E36, and we tuned it, and then brought it back to the yard and just, like, ripped second gear burnouts in it.
I, I have that. I was like, "That was sick." I s- I, I was going through old iPhone stuff the other day, and I, I gotta send it to you. Yeah. I found that clip. That was sick, 'cause it, like, again- That car sounded so rowdy ... it sounded so rowdy. [00:38:00] It's still not completely together. Yeah, it had, like, no fenders on it, no hood.
It's, like, no fenders. Like, things are getting held on by, like, clamps. But you gotta rip it. Yeah. And that's such a sick feeling. Oh, that's a good feeling. Yeah. All right, next up Next up. All right, what do we got? That's a longer one. Oh, wait. Did that one go back in? Yeah. It's the California car commercial.
They're like, "Wait, hold on. I'll-" That one went in ... it'd be funny if we just ran it back. Somebody in the comments- Had that idea ... saw that happen and is like, "I probably did it." And they're probably like, "That's gonna get picked again." What we got? What we got? All right. What car sold today is a future classic, and why is it not affordable now?
Not affordable now? Yeah, so I, I truncated this, but it was basically like why... Like, are th- well, I guess it's really like a multi-question. Like, are there any future classics that are normal cars today? Hmm. And I, like we obviously have waxed poetic [00:39:00] on like the GT86 and- Oh, uh, I know one ... but like- C8 ZR1 is a fucking historical car
but that's not affordable. Oh. What was the- That's the point, I think. Oh. I guess the point is- Oh, okay ... is like are there any modern classics- Oh, that are easily accessible- ... that are actually accessible cars today ... that we're just sleeping on 'Cause like all of the cars that people are dreaming about now were not that- Not all
a lot of the mus- a lot of the- But like muscle cars and stuff ... not even muscle cars, like M3, like a- Oh, yeah ... those were not there. E36 M3- Was an af- was an approachable- ... was a whatever car for the longest time It was an, it was an approachable car. Yeah. Like you, there were kids in high school who were getting them because their parents were rich.
Then no, I don't think so. But they're, but like now everything feels like really, really unattainable. Like I think cars like the G87 M2 and things like that are just gonna like, they'll just like be old cars. Yeah, a lot of those- And I don't think anyone's gonna like sought after them ... a lot of those, uh, they're just really like inaccessible now too.
Yeah. For a lot of people, you know? Like they're expensive. Yeah. Maybe- Maybe a Mark 5 Supra? I don't know. Kinda. They don't really- That's like right [00:40:00] on that limit ... they don't like hit for me in terms of like thinking like people are gonna like go back and get them from- Look at it as a classic ... I don't know.
I, I think the GT86/BRZ will be the modern Miata. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. Where you're like, "Yeah, that's a really great car." It's like was, it's affordable then. It's probably still affordable. There's a t- there'll be a ton of them out there. Yeah. But like nothing, where like I knew when I drove the Evo VIII and the Evo IX they were gonna be modern classics.
I knew the Z06 was gonna be a modern classic when I drove it. Yeah. Like even just the regular C6. Like there's just a bunch of cars from that, from a different era. Like- Yeah, I can't really think of anything- I know you don't- ... that's affordable. Today. Like, yeah. Yeah, the whole, uh- I mean, all new cars are so expensive too All new cars are so expensive, and especially all new performance cars- Yeah
are just on a level where like most people, it's just not realistic to have. Yeah. What, what's being made that's cool, new, that's like affordable? That's, I think that's the question. That's af- that's- I think that's what the question is ... the that's affordable now is the biggest challenge, yeah. 'Cause there's [00:41:00] a crazy amount of performance cars that are really good, unbelievably good- Yeah
that are being made right now, but all of them are like six figures. Yeah. Or close to it. Yeah, totally. It's just kinda like the, you know the old saying of like, um- Everyone used to have horses. Mm-hmm. And when the car came out, only the rich had cars, and now only the rich have horses. Yeah, love it. Mm. Like, if you think about that, there's this world of, like, all cars used to...
Everyone had a manual transmission car, and then, like, the automatic came out and everything else. And now, oddly, like, only the most expensive cars are available in manual- Mm. Yeah ... and they're limited spec. Yeah. And, like, r- you actually pay for rawness. Yeah. And I remember, like, when we all used to talk about this back in Zero to 60 era of, like, it's crazy that the RS America charges you more to buy less.
Yeah. And now that's, like, normal. Yeah. EVO RS, same thing. You know? Like, crank windows, no radio, no AC, but you pay such a premium. But was the, was the sticker more though at the time? No, it was less. No, it was less. Yeah. But now you [00:42:00] actually, like- Pay more ... pay more for- Yeah ... like, more of a raw experience car.
Absolutely. Yeah, totally. I think, uh, of, of all the ones that come to mind right now, I think the GR Corolla is probably the closest thing I could think of. You've, you've driven that a bit. I haven't actually driven that. I've, I've spent a lot of time in them and, uh, like, look, people aren't... Like, they have their own enthusiast crowd I think driving wise there's nothing else at that price point that's anywhere close to driving as well as that does Yeah, I think Toyota's really the only one hitting, like, the affordable- For sure
new fun car with the- Yeah ... Corolla, the 86, the Supra. Like- I brought this up in another- Great lineup ... I brought this up in another episode. Toyota went from, like, one of the most boring brands when I was at the magazines to now probably one of the coolest brands. Yeah, I mean, I say that- Yeah ... like I, my favorite generation of cars is like 2000s.
Yeah. Yeah. Toyota didn't exist. No. No, they had nothing that- The MR2 was, like, the only thing that was even formidable. Yeah, MR-S. MR-S. Yeah, which I didn't like the MR-S and I didn't think, like- And the Celica. Yeah, but you know what I mean? Like, everyone was making bangers. Like, if you look- Yeah ... at 2004, you're [00:43:00] like every manufacturer- Everybody was odd
was making the coolest car ever- Yeah ... and Toyota was, like, asleep. Count, they were counting Prius money at the bank. Yeah. And, and- Yeah, that's true ... by, by the pallet load. That's true. Yeah, they were, they were- Priuses and Tacomas. Yeah, but no, it's, uh... No, like, they were so boring, and now they're, like, one of the few companies that you're like, "They give me hope."
They've got the 86. I forgot, I can... I for- I don't know why, it's just not on my radar. The GR Corolla? The GR Corolla. Yeah, I, I think that's probably, like, one of those things- But I feel like that would've been- ... is like most people don't really think about ... I feel like that would've been one of those cars that if a version of that came out in the mid 2000s, it would be the rave.
Yeah. Oh, and if it came out at the peak- Their ass dad hatch ... of, like, the rally car battles with, like, Evo versus STI, and if Toyota came in the game around that time too- Yeah ... like, i- in, in America. In Europe I know it was, like, you had the GT4 and you had all those other- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... but, but US market, like.
And, and, like, Nick loves the Celica GTs. I don't know why. Do we, uh- The Celica. [00:44:00] Yeah, but- Do we think that the Hellcat will be a future classic? I think so. I think for some people, yeah, for sure. Are those affordable? Are those sub 100,000? No, no, no. I don't know if they're sub 100,000, but they're, they're right there on the edge.
'Cause I feel like- They're affordable if you're ready to get into the most predatory loan humanly possible. Yeah, yeah. Have you, have you ever heard of 32% APR? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Damn, that good, huh? And do, and do you have military ID? But yeah, those I feel like classics. Yeah. Do you think that there's a point where, like, we look back 20 years from now and realize that we weren't a part of what was actually cool car culture during this moment?
Uh. Because everyone looks back and it's actually everything Dodge is doing, that is what's cool. I think about it sometimes, but it doesn't- Not, I don't mean takeovers ... yeah ... I just mean, like, they're, like, like- I, I, that's another thing that like lives in a blind spot for me is like all new modern Dodges.
'Cause like it's just a big car and I don't like big cars, but- Dude, I would daily a four-door Hellcat ... it's incredible. Every time I- Ooh ... remember we [00:45:00] had that Hellcat? That like for like a week? The orange one? Yeah, we had like a- Uh, excuse me, Ron, the name- Oh my goodness ... was Cinamon. Whoa. With an S. With an S, that's right.
Oh my God. 'Cause it's, it's devilish. Oh, it's devilish, yeah. Ugh. Yeah. Because you're probably carting around a stripper named Cinamon in it. Yeah. Dodge is def- they're like, it's definitely like the new metal of muscle cars. My, my like- Yeah ... my drinking game at home is, uh, look for clean title ones on Facebook Marketplace.
Oh, good luck. Dude, wasted and going to bed by 9:00. Good luck. It's great. Yeah. Literally every single one a salvage title. Yeah. From theft or crashed. Yep. Oh, man. I do, you, you do bring up an interesting point, 'cause I think about that, too, of like are the cars that we're into, like are we just old heads now?
But- We, we are old heads ... but I will say, like I see still a lot of young kids liking the cars that we still like from back in the day. Yeah. Like again, the E36 M3 has such a [00:46:00] status now with younger kids. Mm-hmm. And- And so does all of the- And that's a- ... Japanese golden era cars ... still, right? Yeah. Like we liked Supras, Mark IV Supras when we were young, and kids still glaze over Mark IV Supras, right?
And like that's kind of a crazy thing is that that car hasn't gotten any younger. But I think that's, I think that's no different than we kind of still glazed over cool muscle cars. Like maybe not all of them. And look- I ran Zero to 60 and the st- rule in Zero to 60 was no muscle cars. Right. 'Cause I was sick and tired of reading about muscle cars.
Sure. But that didn't mean that I didn't respect- Mm ... like a dope Chevelle or something, you know? Yeah. See, I didn't. I grew up, like my teenage years I was in Long Island, so muscle cars ran that shit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I was pretty aware of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, especially- Fox Body Mustang was the hero.
Right. It was the hero car of EPA. Yeah. 100%. Yeah, you got a Vortech P1SE on a 302 with a E cam, you were picking up dudes left and right. Yeah. You were fucking, you were swimming in them. [00:47:00] Swimming in dudes. Yeah. You were- With gold chains. Yeah. Yeah, they probably had gold chains, maybe plaid shorts with like a- Yeah Definitely wore- With like a striped shirt and some Crocs
definitely were, definitely- You know? Definitely showered in Cool Water. Yeah. Oh. Or Aramis. My favorite- Or maybe Curve. Yeah, or like the, my favorite, this shit was so sick and I know you guys know it. Gelled hair slicked back, but it's like spiked. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Woo, shit. But you can see scalp.
Yeah, you gotta see the scalp. You gotta, you gotta see scalp. The gel. It has to have the perfect separation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like, it's like a, a crop field. Yeah. Can we also talk about during that era where everyone had an Italian flag on the back of a Mustang? I'm bringing that back. That when I was like eight I thought Mustangs were made in Italy.
Like growing up in Queens- Man. Hell yeah ... I was like I rock Zs and Mustangs are clearly made in Italy next to Ferraris. I was, uh, I was not, I was not a part of that scene. I was not a part of that scene. Hell yeah. Yeah. So, uh, we, by the way, we walked out of that saying that the Corolla GR is the only affordable, [00:48:00] and, and the GT86 that may be a future classic.
The only one that comes to mind, I mean, I'm sure again there's probably something that's being made right now that might be a future classic, but I can't think of anything that's- The affordable thing kills me. If we have- Sub 80K. Honda CTR. I like the Integra Type S. Okay. Do you? But will it be a cl- I think it's beautiful.
Really? Such a cool looking car. Yeah. I saw one today on the way here and I was like, "Sick." It's got like wide old fenders and stuff. Wow. I think it looks cool. Nick's got something. I got one for you. Um, Alfa Romeo Giulia. If they're still running. Right. I, I, like, I, and I love an unreliable car. Like- Yeah
that is my weakness. But everything I know about them... Didn't Matt, Matt just got one? He did. Yeah. Yeah. Matt's the last guy. My neighbor has one. My neighbor dailies one. They're great looking cars. Yeah. And it's always- They sound good ... it always comes home not on the back of a flat bed. Yeah, he's got a, he's got a loaner right now.
'Cause, uh- Recently ... no, every, recently- No way By the way, does the a- is the Alfa loaner just a BMW? No, it's like a, it's whatever their, like s- It's just a 3 Series? 'Cause every time I see an Alfa I'm like, "Is that a really good... No, no, that's just [00:49:00] an Alfa," 'cause it looks too much like a BMW. But he's got, he's got one and he dailies it and it's been fine, but just recently I heard him come home and it ha- sounded like it either had rod knock or an exhaust leak.
And it's probably got like- Ugh ... 19,000 miles on it. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't know, Alfas are interesting. At least he- Alfas are always in their, in their own world. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Like, I don't think Alfas ever cross over into the general car public classic like- Wait, hold on. Do they still make those? Is that a new car?
Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The- Yeah, they're still in production. Um, they're sub 50K. What? What? Yeah. Wow, I thought they stopped making them like- Well, well, base, base, base pack ... 2014. Wow, that's a lot of car for sub 50. That's a lot of car for 40, yeah. I mean, granted you only get to drive it for- Doesn't matter
one quarter of the year- That's still a lot of car for that price ... 'cause it's in the shop most of it. Wow. But that's kind of sick. Yeah. You know. You get it with a really good warranty. I gotta say, though, if they have loaner cars it's great, 'cause I had a gen two Raptor that was in the shop every- ... other week.
That's right. And the Ford dealership, I used to take my bicycle with me and then ride home- Are you- ... 'cause they didn't have like a loaner- Oh, my God ... or they didn't even give you a lot. I've told that move before. They didn't even give you a ride. Like... I will say the Lexus [00:50:00] dealer gives you a brand new Lexus- That's nice
even if you're just getting an oil change. That's nice. Yeah. Um, are d- are you Raptor-less at the moment? Yeah, I have no daily. Whoa What do you mean? You have the- I have no vehicle Don't- That's Amy's car. I drove it 'cause she's home tonight. Oh, sick. Yeah. Yeah. Man. I've been, I've been dailying the Corvette- Sick
and the GTR. I mean, the- And the 360. That's just a- The Corvette's a pretty dale- dailying car. The four-door? Huh? You've been dailying the four-door GTR? No, no, no. Oh. I bought a R33. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I just got it. Oh. Like, recently. Oh, congrats. Nice. Yeah, I think this is the first time anyone's hearing about it.
Yeah. Nice. Um, no, the, the, the four-door, please, anyone out there want to buy it, great car. Yeah. Give it to you cheap. Um- No, I just, I have a drift car. I don't like it. Wait, you bought a four-d- oh. 34 GTT. Oh, really? I traded my S15 for it. Oh, you told me about that, yeah. But yeah, so I've- I forgot you even owned the 15.
Yeah. I've just been dailying Nonsense, which is good, except I- I daily Nonsense every day, except Fridays. What's, what's the specs on the 33? Uh, I got it from Brad, uh, Brad Nielsen. Nielsen. Yeah. Oh, good dude. Yeah, yeah. He had to sell some shit, hit me up. Wait, it's not his super modded one? [00:51:00] No, it's a white R33.
V spec? Yeah. Sick. V spec. It's got GT2860s, Haltech, R35 coils. Wow. Some other shit. I gotta ride in that thing 'cause, uh, our one that we had at Hoonigan was a little tired. Yeah. This one's cool. Yeah. It needs to be tuned, though, 'cause it came from high altitude, so I haven't ripped- Oh. I haven't ripped on it at all
Oh, that's right. Brad from Utah? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good dude. He's got a ton of stuff. Yeah. Cool guy. Yeah. I, I don't know. I was just like, he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I was like, "Fuck, I'll buy this thing." Nice. So yeah. Good. Yeah. It's cool. Uh, you gotta drive it, 'cause I know you've wanted one for a long time.
Yeah, yeah. It's like the one ... It's 'cause it's a actual Japanese car I fit in. Yeah, it's a big car. Yeah. But you're a big no right-hand drive guy. No. I, I, I- I gotta say, I don't mind it ... every once in a while Tommy will send me, like, a link to, like, a left-hand drive car because they made them for- Oh, interesting.
For UAE ... the Middle, for the Middle East. Yeah. Yeah. I really don't mind driving right-hand drive except for talking to people about it. Like at a light today- Oh, yeah ... some dude's like, "Beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep." Is that- "I like that you're driving on the other side." I'm like- Is that from London? ... [00:52:00] cool. Yeah.
You're like, "I don't care." Well, it's ... You know what's always interesting to me? And it's, like, whenever someone says this to me, I, I ... To anyone who listens to the show, I'm sorry, but if you come up to me and we start talking about my RS2, and I say I imported it from Europe, and you ask why is it not right-hand drive, I, my response to you is gonna be, "You need to travel more."
Yeah. Because, like, for some reason people think everything outside of the US is right-hand drive. Right. All right, before we go on to the next one, we're gonna take a quick little break because Vinny drank too much water before he came on. And it's hot in here. It needs a little more AC. It is hot. It's so sorry, no AC.
Yeah. Guys. Join the Patreon- Join the Patreon ... 'cause we need money for air conditioning or we ain't gonna make it through the summer. And it's not put the mini split. Oh. Send a mini split over here. Actually, I got, I got such a a- I got the weirdest ad that came into my email, but I can't do it, but it's for a mini split unit.
They want to promote- Yo, are you kidding me? Yeah. Why aren't you- I'll send it to you. 'Cause where the hell am I gonna put it? Oh, I'll put a mini split in the garage. Yeah, Seth- My garage is a fucking tank If you guys- Like what, what are you gonna put a mini split [00:53:00] in it? It wouldn't do anything. If you guys hear me shilling HVACs next week, you know why.
All right, take a quick little break. Oh, hey everybody. Here we are for another story time interruption, brought to you by my good friends at FCP Euro. If you're at all familiar with my builds, you know that I'm not really good at, um... Let's just say this, I'm the king of scope creep. I had an Audi Coupe Quattro that I was gonna build into a 500 horsepower driver.
It was a pretty simple, established recipe to do this. But no, instead, I decided to make it into a 1,000-plus horsepower race car that still doesn't run. The bad news is, is I also scope creep maintenance. The other day, went for a nice drive in the RS2. It was a spirited one, hit some canyon roads.
Everything was great, till I went around one corner and I heard a very familiar clunk. This clunk, to Volkswagen and Audi guys, is nothing other than a blown strut bearing. It happens a lot, especially when driving slammed cars. And while most people would probably [00:54:00] be dismayed at the tedious task ahead of them, not I.
I saw this as an opportunity. Yeah, an opportunity to finally fix that clicking CV joint, get after the bushings or the brakes that needed an overhaul. You know, head on over to FCP Euro and just fill the cart with everything I can find underneath suspension, brakes, and even steering. Hey, why not? And, you know, then take apart other parts of the car and probably never put it back together.
This is kinda what I'm known for. If you too are like this, you can go to FCPeuro.com and scope creep even the most basic maintenance. FCP Euro doesn't judge. They'll be your plug to this horrible, bad habit we have. All right, and we're back. One of my favorite things on the planet was, uh, like Scotto, when you have a conversation with him and he pulls out his phone and he's clearly texting or emailing or doing whatever, the secret code is you can still talk to him, and it gets processed and filed, and it goes in a line, and then he'll put his phone down, do [00:55:00] whatever, and then just look off into space, and then answer your question, like 20 minutes later.
It's crazy. It's crazy. Usually if I pull out my phone, though, I just want everyone to know, it's usually, like, a full panic moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's when I realize, like, "" I didn't do X. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, and it's like, it's either, like, something really important or it's like, "I was supposed to pick up my kid."
Oh. I guess we should finish the podcast first. Yeah. I was gonna say, it's like, you always- He's, he's six. He can figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's pick out of the hat.
All right. Okay, this is a, this is an interesting one. I, we might be able to get through this one quickly, but it's a multiple choice. Uh, good car on crap tires, blah car on great tires, or okay car on okay tires. And, like, we don't have to call out brands, but, like, we all, like, everyone has driven a car on absolute garbage tires.
I'm going on C. 100% C. Okay car, okay tires. [00:56:00] Yeah. Like, you feel like at a certain point it's good enough. GR86 on 300 tread wear, having fun. Yeah. Uh, Subaru STi on whatever ti- you're having a good time. But having a great car, having a shit car on great tires is gonna be whack, 100%. That was gonna be my choice.
Really? My choice is A. No, A was, uh, good car, bad tires. A is- A is good car, bad tires. Yeah, yeah. I lo- I love, I love good car, bad tires. No, I said bad car, good tires is wack. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, yes. Yeah. Completely agree with that. But you like the, you'd rather just, like, middle of the road. Yeah. Like, middle of the road car, middle of the road tires.
Yeah. Mm. Good time. Yeah. Mm. You're thinking good car, bad tires? Yeah. Yeah. Example. Um- Chris Harris driving a Mercedes, I think it was a C63- On space savers ... on space savers- Which is great ... was, like, he basically said it was, like, the thousand horsepower hack. Like, it made a 400 horsepower car- Yeah ... feel like it had a thousand horsepower.
E92 M3 on all seasons. Like, it's like driving in the [00:57:00] rain or in the snow, but a little more predictable grip, right? So, like, you really get chassis dynamics in a way of, like, you could be on the limit, but you're not, like, at 100-plus miles an hour. Yeah. See, I guess I don't like it 'cause I don't wanna be in a car that feels capable, but the tires aren't.
Which is fair. Like, that's scary- Yeah ... to me. Yeah. Like, that, that feels like you end up in a bad spot, but I guess it depends on the situation. It depends on the car a lot, too, but- Now, we know Scotto's going with B. I'm going with D. D is crap car on crap tires. All right, but let me m- let me make the argument for it.
No, I have a good argument for it. Let me make the argument for it. You guys remember my blue wagon? I kind of- The ugly blue wagon. I, no, I've erased it, and it was green. Yes. I, right, yeah. But it had- That thing was absolutely green ... okay, okay, okay. Yeah. So it had- Oh, my God, blue ... uh, it had... Yeah, I guess it was green.
It had, like, dry rotted Blizzaks. Oh, yeah, I remember. It had dry rotted Blizzaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That car wasn't allowed to not have dry rotted tires. It had dry, it had dry rotted, it had dry rotted Blizzaks, [00:58:00] and this thing was so much fun. Yeah. Like, you referenced it as a thing. Because it drove, it drove like it had- That's what it was
it, it, like, it drove like it had 1,000 horsepower. But because it only... Uh, be- I mean, it still has, like, 220 or whatever, but, like, you, you really couldn't get yourself too out of control on it. Like, a good car with crap tires, you can find yourself in a really bad situation. Yeah. Probably. Right? But with this car, it was like it made the crappiness of it actually kind of fun.
Yeah. Like, it was a proper handful. Not too much of a handful. Mm. Like, you ha- you're in, like, a, like, a Z- you know, like, a, like, what you were saying before, like, imagine driving a C7 R on crap tires. Yeah, no, horrible. Like, you have a miserable time. Or- Or just cold slicks ... that's extreme. And cold slicks suck.
Yeah. Yes, absolutely. But- But s- ... like, there's something about, like, you can make a crappy car actually fun with crappy tires. Yeah, 'cause I, I had that E30 M3 for a bit- Yeah ... and I was, like, really underwhelmed by it, and I was like, "Yeah, this car's just, like, I don't know. It's not that much fun." And someone said to me You have too good of [00:59:00] tires.
So- 'Cause they were like, they didn't... I had Yokohama AO52s on it. Mm-hmm. And they were like, "They didn't make tires that good back then." Sure, yeah. So, like you're driving this 170 horsepower, brake horsepower car with gripped up race 200 tread wear tires. Yeah. Like, you need shit tires so that it's like all over the place.
AO- AO52s- Yeah ... AO52s now are what that era's full-blown race slick used to be. Right. Right, right. Or probably even better. Probably better. Yeah. So they were like, "You needed a c- you need a tire that's like loose." Something that you like, the car plays around and gets a little like- Yeah, and you can really feel it.
Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense." Mm-hmm. So I got to test this because those dry rottered tires like rotted. Like, like they don't actually hold air anymore. So I was like, "Oh, I have to swap them off." So I had a set of Toyo, like R1s or whatever, which is like their track... It's like better than the Triple Eight R or whatever.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I, I had those sitting on a set of wheels mounted that were 5 by 112s, and I put them on the 200, and I took it for a cruise, and [01:00:00] it just made the car sound like it was breaking. Because like every corner- Yeah, 'cause- ... I go into, like all, like the tires- The subframe is ripping out ... wouldn't go anywhere, but like all of the, like any kind of f- like flexibility- Pushing or whatever
pushing- Yeah ... anything. Yeah. Any compliance, and it just like, it felt horrible. Yeah. It like ruined the car. And I was like, now the car feels really crap. Yeah. Look, I'm, I'm sorry to do this, but we're on the topic, and it's staring me right in the face, and I cannot say it. Oh, this car is a good car on crappy tires.
You have the most Bunzo tires ever on this car. I know. I know. I know. I know. They're just some bullshit- Like, I want to change them for you. And the worst thing is, is I have good tires for the car, I just haven't mounted them yet. They would even just look cooler. And this is why center locks are not actually cool, even though I won't get rid of them, even though I could.
Mm. Because center locks are a pain. It's not as easy to just take my wheels off. I have to like go find the tool, I have to do this, I have to get like a friend by to torque it. And it's step one- No, I'll come by with a gun. Oh, you have the gun now. I have the Hi-Torque guns. Oh yeah, that's right. Oh yeah. I [01:01:00] do.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll, we'll bust those puppies on. Well, you gotta get, you gotta get the key first. I gotta get a set of Toyos for it now, so... Oh yeah, we gotta find the key too. There, there's that problem. Do you want to tell the, do you want to tell the chat about the- No, they know. I told them the last episode.
And I, I told them with saying, "By the way, if you happen to work at a Ferrari dealership, I could use your help," and no one reached out, which means no one who works at a Ferrari dealership- Doesn't Mongo work there? Uh, he, he says he could probably help me, and then obviously, um, Victoria Bruno said that she could help me too 'cause she worked across the street.
Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So... I was gonna say Sally, but I don't think she works there anymore. All right, moving on. Moving on, moving on. What do we got as the next one here?
Scotto, you have such nice handwriting. Do they know that you have nice handwriting? Yeah, it's 'cause I wrote- This is all- It's 'cause I wrote graffiti ... graffiti tags. It's the one upside of writing graffiti. Uh- Being ran through the system at 13 is not much ... the manual transmission is facing extinction. Does it matter anymore?
So I'm gonna be straight up. I added this one because it was a topic I wanted to talk about with you guys when [01:02:00] we got into the dri- best driver's car, and I was saying, like, "I don't think it could be on the list 'cause it's not available in a manual," and you were like, "I don't think that matters anymore."
Yeah, it's tough 'cause I think it's another one of those, like... I don't know. It's hard because Toyota, again, is doing a great job with manuals. Like, the 86 is fun to drive in manual. Yep. I think- And they put the Supra out with a six-speed manual. I haven't driven one of those. Have you? It's good, yeah. Yeah?
Mm-hmm. That's cool. Yeah. So I don't think it's going extinct because, like, those Mustangs, which I think they got a little too soft. Like, I, I didn't actually love the manual on the Mustang. Hmm. It felt too, like- Yeah ... you could just, like, throw it into gears. Mm-hmm. And the clutch is too easy. Porsche still doing a pretty okay job with it, although, like, when you're in sport mode it won't let you, like, heel...
It has to rev match for you and shit, which is stupid. Oh, interesting. You can't turn that off? No. Yeah. Wow. Remember w- you and I drove that, and we talk about this, like, I feel like every time a Mustang comes up. When we drove that one Mustang where it was like it was [01:03:00] doing too much. Hmm. Like, the manual was blipping.
Like, you would just- Well, you just dump the clutch ... all, all you had to do was slightly lean on the shifter and it would blip the throttle. Whoa. Yeah, it was pretty wack. So- Yeah ... I think- Kind of defeats the purpose in a way. Yeah. I don't think it makes it extinct, though. I think that there's still some good ones out there.
But I, I think the question is is, like, does it matter if the manual really goes away? A- and I, I think, like, where my position on this is is that I still drive cars from 20, 30 years ago where automatic sucked. Hmm. Like, I'm in the process of buying another car That like I really have wanted for a long time, but it only is available in the US in an auto, and I need to manual swap it.
And the manual swap is actually not easy. Like, it requires cutting the tunnel out. It must be. It's some Audi. Has to be some nonsense. Has to be an Audi. It's a- But whatever ... it's a green wagon thing- So- ... but newer ... so it's, it's, it's just a car I've always wanted, but like it was only... There was very, very few manuals sold, and they're like hard to find.
[01:04:00] And but like an automatic from the '90s is like unbearably bad. Yeah, it's terrible. Like it- Is it a car, is it a car that's already been brought up today some- somewhat? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I know exactly. So you know what it is. Yep. So let the- Okay ... let the chat figure it out. Let the chat figure it out. But- Uh, I have, I have a Mark 4 Supra twin turbo automatic.
Oh, you still got it? Oh, I still have it. Oh, oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. It is the worst driving vehicle- Yeah ... ever. Yeah. An automatic '97 Supra. Yeah. Holy shit. Dude, the JZX when I bought it had that same exact auto. Same trans. Oh my God. Same transmission. And it was- Oh, I remember that ... garbage. Like- Like, it just like you even want to just, you know, you ought to manually shift it.
It just- No ... it's- There's- Slush-box comes with all the right, you know- But then you have like- Yeah, there's a reason it was called a slush-box trans. Yeah. But now it's not bad anymore. Now the DCTs and like all the dual clutch things, and even like some of the like Toyota automatics- Dude, no, the 8HP is- The 8HP is-
savagely good ... crazy good. Yeah. But- And by the way, for those [01:05:00] who are not that familiar with the 8HP, so the 8HP is a ZF, uh, transmission that's an eight-speed, and they have learned to basically create a simulated clutch for it. So you can tune it where you can actually put a clutch pedal in the car that works like on- It's kind of like an on/off switch- Yeah
but still, like- No, you can... Yeah, they- Oh, you... Oh, they have it- They have hydraulic controls for them now- Oh, interesting ... where it literally moves hydraulic that then moves like a potentiometer- Wow ... to, like, control the clutch release. Yeah, it's insane. It... I mean, the amount of programming that's, like, going into that.
Like, people are not doing sequentials because- Oh, it's way cheaper ... it's cheaper. They're, they don't need services. Yeah. Yeah. But they're heavy, they're big. Sure. But you can also- Lacks soul. They don't clunk ... but you can go to the track, like, sequential shift every corner- Yeah ... and then you can throw it into automatic, and, like, cruise home and eat Chinese food on your lap.
But my thing is, like- Like, you know, like- ... 'cause I, I'm, I'm doing a manual swap in the Supra, and I decided I want to just put a V160 in it, the original six-speed trans. Yeah. And everyone is like, "Why not ZF8 swap it?" Yeah, yeah. Whatever. [01:06:00] Eh. Yeah. That's how I feel about it because it's cool and I appreciate the technology.
I drove Ron's Evo sequential. If you want a sequential, you're not gonna be satisfied doing this. No. With the, a little joystick thing. Like, you want a sequential 'cause you want- You want the experience ... to smash that synchro in- Yeah, yeah ... and, like, feel it. Like, you want all that stuff. If I don't, then I just want a manual, and if I don't want that, then I just want an automatic.
Sure. Like, I don't want this, like, weird- In between ... mid old thing. Like, what are you getting out of it? I don't know. That's a great option for guys that are building track cars that are trying to get faster. Yeah. That, you know, better options are- Well, a big reason that people started to develop them was because they could handle so much power.
Yeah. Oh, right. Yeah. So, like, they can handle well over 1,000 horsepower. That's cool. And, like, a lot of other transmissions just can't. Yeah. I mean, that's just like fall apart. I mean, I'm buying a B160 swap off someone because they put an 8HP in the car. Wow. So, like, I think there's a time and a place for it, but, like- Mm
my case use- my use case for stuff is, like- Yeah ... I don't... I'm just... No, I don't want it. I don't know. I, my, my opinion on it is, is that, like, it's very, [01:07:00] very car dependent. Like, some cars really should be DCT 'cause they're engineered around it, and some cars absolutely need to be manual. And, uh, I think a lot of the new cars are engineered around, like, a dual clutch style.
Like, think about the ZR1 that you drove- Yeah ... the C8. Yeah. Like- No, you don't want manual ... you don't want manual in that. No. It, it would be a, it would be a disaster, right? Yeah. Like, it would kind of defeat the purpose of what that car is. I... So I think this is, like, where I have... Like, I am definitely aging- Mm
past you guys 'cause, like, for me, I don't give a fuck if it, like, holds the power band for, like, an extra 300. Like, I, I enjoy shifting. Yeah. Like, I, I just enjoy that part of it, and I enjoy driving manual transmissions that aren't fun to drive. Mm. Like, Ashley's F100 was manual. Yeah. It's trash. I'm trying to buy a new farm truck right now.
Mm. And it's like, I want another manual. Actually, one of the vehicles I'm looking at right now is a manual with a high-low rear, which means that I... [01:08:00] It's a force... It's an eight speed. But yeah, no, I'm, I'm- Like, like, and it's like, it's not... Do you know how difficult and annoying that'll be driving- Oh, yeah ... up the hill to my farm?
Oh, yeah. It'll suck. You're shifting like 60 times. But I don't know. I kind of like slightly enjoy it. I know, but I like that too. I'm super about that, but I think some cars actually become worse if they're a manual. Yeah. What's your stance on, like, a manual G80 M3? I don't want it. Yeah. Really? No. It's like a new modern thing, like the...
I just- It just feels out of place. Yeah. Like, I'm... I, I feel like similar to you, I feel like a little, like- like, traditional in the fact that it's like, if I want a cool, fun manual car, like I wanna shift the gears, I don't wanna play with like a- Of course ... like a retrofitted, like, auto that mimics a manual.
Like, I don't give a shit. Yeah. You know? Like, I'd rather just blow this transmission and put another one in. But with, like, newer cars, like I want the thing that's better. Like, I'm not gonna get a manual G80 because I'm like, "Oh, it's six-speed." But you're like, "Yeah, but the auto's better." Like It's way better.
You know? Like, that car is such a big, nice, like, luxury car- Yeah ... I think [01:09:00] auto probably suits it better. But you like your Ferrari more gated? Yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, that's a car ... That, yeah. I don't- And, and I like single clutch. Like, I think- I've driven both. Like, I, I ... Mine, like, it's kind of annoying sometimes, but, like, it's, it's, like, pretty fun.
Yeah. It's pretty fun at anger. Mm. It's actually the opposite. Like, it's un-fun in traffic. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I, I tell people all the time, like, I love the gated car. I think it's super fun. It's like, you know, if you want it, you want it. It's a big expense. If you do a challenge TCU in that car, dude, it's awesome.
Mm. And single clutch, again, is this weird thing where it's like it's fun because it's this weird point in time where they were like, "We're gonna make a manual transmission, but it's gonna shift with paddles." That was the highest tech at the time. Yeah, and it's like, it's cool for what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's like, it's not the fastest, it's not the smoothest, but it's like, it's unique and it's fun. I, so when I was a journalist was the introduction to the DSG, the DCT, right? Like, all that stuff was just coming out. Yeah. Like, Mercedes d- you know, Mercedes had SMG, [01:10:00] and, like, everyone was, like, introducing- Yeah
these, like, automated manuals. And I, you know, in the beginning they were all kind of clunky, and there was the, there was always those journalists who were gonna be like, "But it shifts faster than you can. You can't shift that fast." And I'm like, I don't know why I care. Like, I'm not- Yeah ... on track every day.
Who's, who's the ... Is it everyone the get some bitches guy, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, it's just like, you know? Like, bro, what are you saying? My absolute hero. Yeah, hero. That dude's a, that dude's amazing. Yeah, he's a legend. But like, who care- you know, like, the, the, the shift time- Yeah ... thing is, like, crazy to me.
Yeah. And I'm like, I'm like, I don't know, like, if I, if I care that much. And I think that I got to experience those when they were still all slightly clunky- Yeah ... and I didn't feel like- They were crappy ... the experience was there. Yeah. Um, g- learning, you know, getting to kind of learn their ... I don't know if I've, like, driven, other than, like, in super cars, like a modern system that everyone's like, "Wow, this is, like, really good."
But, like, in a super car, like, I don't really care. Like, I, I- But which one- I would almost rather have paddle shift 'cause it feels appropriate to the car. And that's what I mean. Like, it, it's very [01:11:00] appropriate to the car. Like, the C- even just a base C8 Corvette. Yeah. Like, that- I will say this though, 'cause I own
I mean, that was technically my car. Yeah. We won't get into that, but, like - That's a whole other story ... that's a whole other story. Fuck you, Jefta. But, um, but that was ... Like, I will admit there were times I wished that car was manual- Hmm ... 'cause it, it was kind of boring just driving around town. That transmission is actually a, a good point to talk about, like, the single clutch being more of an experience.
'Cause the DCT in the C8 is so good- Yeah ... that it leaves- It's too smooth ... y- three-quarter throttle, you shift, and it just ba ba. Yeah. And you're like, "That's insane." And it's really nice. Mm-hmm. Like, it's incredible for a car, but, like, it loses some of the soul, right? Yeah. 'Cause, like, you owned a DCT E92. Yeah.
That was, like, this weird like almost smooth but still raw DCT. It was like weird It's like they wanted to leave a little bit of kick in it. Yeah, like it still kicked gears and stuff. Like it's just eh, eh, yeah. What do you think about [01:12:00] like the opposite, which is retrofitting like automated manuals into old cars.
Not down. Like- That's just like silly. Yeah, not down. But like, I mean, like people are like, you know, p- uh, so complex Yeah, if you're building a hill climb car and you need the tenths- Right ... sure. But like for- Wait, wait, wait, what are you... Wait, you said- Like, like I mean people are putting, you know- 8HP in a Mark 4 Supra.
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's an example of- Oh, that I'm okay with. I thought you meant putting like a single clutch automated manual into like a muscle car. People are, I mean, people are putting, obviously Volkswagen kids are putting DSGs into like older cars and stuff like that. That's crazy. Um, which is crazy 'cause there's like a lot of sensors you gotta get to make- Yeah
that work well. Um, people are putting like PDKs into other cars and stuff like that, which is kind of crazy. Mm. Yeah. So, but yeah. I'm all for hot rodding. Like, I think it's cool if that's what you wanna do. It's just like I'm not as into it as I was 'cause I don't really have the same amount of time to like dial stuff in like that.
Yeah. You know? Like putting an 8HP in a car means you're gonna sit there and fuck with calibration for weeks, months. I- You know? Yeah. Like, and I just [01:13:00] don't- I have this like 8HP dream that I realize doesn't exist. Hell yeah. You know what I'm saying? I think it's like, it's like the threesome dream. Like you think you're gonna have a threesome and it's gonna be fine, and it's not gonna have drama that follows it.
Then you're just disappointing two people. Yeah. But, but or like, like in the end it's just weird. Like everyone knows that story, right? Yeah. Yeah. Where is this pod going? That's always where the pod goes. We're past an hour. We're moving into it. But like- ... but like, but you know what I'm saying? Like you think it's gonna be great.
It's never what you think it's gonna be likely, and then you have this whole situation where like- It's like project cars in general. No, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like my, but like my dream with the 8HP is that I could build something that I could flip a switch and it just becomes a normal car. Oh, yeah.
And then it can become rowdy, you know? Yeah. Mm. Like for example, I've researched 8HP all-wheel drive systems for my S8 because, like, that's a car that I'm conflicted doing a manual on because it's a nice, big, large car- Yeah ... that is kind of- Mm ... nice as an auto. [01:14:00] But it's also sort of like... But you can't really...
It's not fun unless you can shift the gears 'cause the- Yeah ... like, you know, it's just, it's one of those things where- Yeah ... it'd be cool to have best of both worlds. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a rare... I think that's a rare, uh, example of it where I- That's a, that's a car that the doing a crazy trans swap in, the juice is not worth the squeeze.
You have to obviously do everything else to go along with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you, you'd need like a couple hun- you'd need like a couple more hundred horsepower to make it worth it. Well, you'd need a V10- Yeah ... in there. Yeah, okay, yeah. Yeah. So let's say V10 swap- Oh, yeah ... 8HP- For sure ... all-wheel drive.
Yeah. Dude, definitely. And but then thinking that that's just gonna, like, mosey on in traffic is where it was where the- Yeah. Yeah, that's the whole thing. It's like- ... is where the, is where the threesome dream falls apart. Yeah. Whenev- yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's where, like, project cars, maybe it's the... Maybe it goes back to the California question.
But to me, like, project cars change so much because here where we live is no matter where you wanna drive it, you're gonna sit in the absolute shittiest traffic- Mm-hmm. Yeah ... relentlessly no matter what. Yeah. If you wanna take your car out on the weekend- It's a good point An old guy that wakes up at 6:00 and is home [01:15:00] by 8:00, like you gotta build something that traffics well.
Yeah. And I think that's what maybe changed project carring a bit for me, because I'm like, man, building a good road-going car in California means, like, it's gotta be comfortable. Mm-hmm. It needs air conditioning. It needs to, like... You gotta just sit. Yeah. You know? It's gotta just idle without overheating.
I, I- Like- Like right now, I'm in between, I'm like starting to feel like I have to buy another car. What? Like, like this- No, no, no. Second time you've said that. No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. But you already said you are in the process- Let me, let me- ... of buying another car. Yeah, the other one's already bought- Okay.
and being delivered to somewhere right now. But that one doesn't count. No. Yeah. It's, like, basically a parts car. Okay. I'm glad nothing's changed. Nothing has changed. Nothing's changed. Nothing has changed. It's funny 'cause I've b- I've spent, like, the past, whatever, 20 some odd episodes telling people I'm gonna cut down the fleet.
No. But then something came along, and I just had to- They know better ... I just had to have it. Of course. But- I- They need to know. Just tell them ... but- All right. Don't say it ... you're, you won't even be excited by it. No, you're right. It's not even something you care about. Yeah. Here's the worst part, I've already owned it once and [01:16:00] sold it.
Oh, God, it's that red fucking Audi. No, it's not. But close. But close. But close. It's the fucking white one. No. What? Oh. The D11? The D11 V8. Yeah. No. Yeah. What makes you buy that ba- How does it get a- It doesn't even move. How did you get it moving? Did you spend more? Did you spend more? No, no, I didn't buy the same one back.
Oh. I bought another one. Oh, okay. I bought, I bought another one- All right. All right ... that's a bit cleaner. Okay. Oh, okay. I support that. But got hit in the front. But I just so happened to have- Wait, was it fixed or it's still- Cleaner, but- Cleaner, but it in an accident. No, it's like a small accident. But I just so happened to have the hood- Oh, my God
the fender, and the bumper in my storage for that. And it's like- Of course you do ... there's, there's not that many of those cars left. Of course you do. I can at least put it back together. At least I put it back together and then move it back into this world. Oh, because you- Let someone else take it ... that's what you have to do with your time- I have no time for that at all
is saving Audis? You need to... Yeah. I, I d- I am 100% Captain Save a Hoe when [01:17:00] it comes to Audis. Oh, my God. I will look at something and go, "I could fix that." That's like him seeing a kitten on the street and being like, "I gotta rescue this thing." I, I am- I can't ... I am an Audi rescue. Yeah. That's basically what it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Wow, you- Yeah. That's a shirt. Yeah. That's a shirt. I wish... I, I always, I think about, like, if cars could talk, you know? And, like, Brian's like, "I'm gonna save you," and it's like, "Oh, great. This rich guy's coming to save my life." Finally. And then he drops it off at a farm next to- Yeah. Yeah
all these other cars. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, "Oh, fuck." Oh, my God. "I'm never leaving." It gets to the farm, and it sees the shed. And all the parts, and they're like- With the Ferrari and the 911 ... "We've never seen them here at the farm."
That's a good, that's a good children's book, if you want to write it. Oh, my God. Let's start writing it. A children's horror story. Getting parked next to the XR4Ti. Oh, no. I used to be nice. Why is the hood open? It's so rats can't eat me.
Oh, the realization that my, that like a bunch of my cars are [01:18:00] basically living the movie Saw every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you still have that yellow Golf that sat on top- Yeah ... of the container? Yeah, I still got that. I got big dreams for that one. The Foster car comes over and sees that thing. Yeah.
They're like, "Don't look at... No, don't, don't, don't look over there." Why is there an electric, uh, motor behind him? Don't ask. Yeah, don't ask. Don't ask. Is that a mail truck? Oh, God, no. I forgot I had that. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Is it still in the garage? No, I moved it outside 'cause the, the Synchro's in the garage now, so.
Oh, wow. Um- Holy shit Have we even picked anything out of the hat? No, no, we're- No ... we're, we're, we're still on the automatic transmission, manual transmission. Oh. I'm gonna bring it back. I wanna land this plane. Okay, so I have b- for the past year- Those are crosswinds, so just put it down quick. Let's get into it.
So for, for, for about a year now, I haven't owned, like, a daily car, like a daily driver. Every... Like, I either drive the Vanagon, the, the, uh, Rabbit- Mm-hmm ... the RS2, which I haven't driven in months. I left it at the farm thinking that that would be a good idea, 'cause [01:19:00] I would drive it more, and then I just don't, which is dumb.
So I need to bring that back here. Plus, it has no air conditioning. Um- Sick ... and then the S8. So, like, that's, like, a rotation of stuff that I've been driving recently. Um, and I don't know, I just am, like, starting to be like, I'm like, "Why do I live such a difficult life?" Do you know what I'm saying? Like, w- 'cause like- Wow
'cause, like, I've had to have, like, like, just some of it's just, like, some days are just really difficult. Yeah. Yeah, I d- I mean, I'm- Some days you just gotta do business ... feel the same way. And I'm, I, as you said that, I was like, "Fuck, me and Scotto are so similar in the weirdest way." What? You know how you always say we have, like, the same cars- No, you, you're like-
but different format? You're like bizarro me. Yeah, but then- 'Cause we did, we do own the same cars ... but then I'm like, I'm literally dailying nonsense. Yeah. And I was going to drive the GTR here until I realized, huh, I just forgot to put insurance on it. Yeah, that happens. Oof. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, that's"... I was gonna get in and I was like, "Oh, this is stupid.
I need to call my insurance company and wow." Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Cause, like, you have a two-week grace period from when you bought it, and I think it's, like, up today. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, yeah." But I'm [01:20:00] like, you know, we're on the same wavelength on a lot of things- Yeah, yeah ... oddly. So, but, but here's, so here's what I was sort of narrowing down to.
I either was going to buy, as you know, 'cause I've been searching them, is a RS4. Yeah. Right? Hmm. Love it. But then there's a piece of me, and maybe this is, like, this, like, practicality or something, I don't know what, I don't really know what to call it, that, like, maybe just owning, like, a big automatic car again would be, like, a good car to own.
Yeah, I can't- Like an A... 'Cause I, I loved having an A8L. I gotta say, the- The D3, the D4, like, it's just, like, it just does regular life okay. You turn it on, it goes. You turn it off, you don't worry about it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Dude, this is a whole other topic, but, like, I c- I wanna buy a daily. I want, like, a car just to drive.
I cannot decide on a vehicle that I'm willing to spend my money on that I wanna drive, like, as, like, a car. Hmm. No, I, um, it's not- There's not a single c- I almost bought a brand-new Prius, and then I was like, "Eh, I can't do that." If you had to buy a brand-new car right now as a daily that was, like, under 60 grand, [01:21:00] what would you buy?
Hmm. Under 60's tough. Under 60. That, and that's the thing, is everything's so fucking expensive. But, like, yeah, I mean, but, like, any, like, 'cause under 60 is in, like- Under 60, I think I would get a new 4Runner Those actually, the brand new 4Runner- They look cool ... is great. They're nice. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'd buy a new 4Runner.
I drove the Tacoma- But I heard, like, but- ... with that motor and it's great. Yeah. But don't all, like, the o- like, don't all, like, the off-road people hate it? It doesn't matter. 'Cause it's, like, not like a real 4Runner 4Runner. I'm just saying it's, like, a whatever. It's, like, a nice vehicle for city girl. Yeah. It looks good.
Yeah. We're not off-roading. Yeah. I mean, I, like, I, I have the GX, the GX 460, and it's great for that. Yeah. It is oil changes and forget. Yeah. That's it. And it's ... When I need to drive somewhere, yeah, sure, sometimes it's sad that I'm not driving something cool. Like, right now the Lancia, like, all the panels are off of it getting repainted.
The Evo's doing Evo things. Like- Yeah ... I have nothing fun to drive right now other than the FD. But, like, the GX is always there. It always works. It'll haul whatever. Like, it's great. Yeah. It's great to have. I love it. Yeah, I need another truck. I can't decide what truck to get. Mm. Mm. New trucks [01:22:00] are too expensive anyway.
New trucks are too expensive. Yeah. That's a, that's a whole other topic. Yeah. All right, hats. Back into the hat. What do we got here? Pick something out. Wait, was I up? No, I think you were up. Yeah, yeah, you're up. I read the most recent one. Or was, did you read that one? Oh, whatever, he can get it.
Your favorite automaker and the car you wish they made. Ooh, nice. Hmm. You wanna kick it off? Sure. So I think just to set the rules for this, right, it's like- Ron's gonna say Mitsubishi and then just say cars in gen- I was ... cars in general. I was thinking about it. Dude. Mitsubishi Evo XI next. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mitsubishi- Dude, no, I s- ... cars. I, I almost strictly own dead brands. Lancia, they make one car, and it's god-awful looking. Oh, man, I just realized that about you. Yeah. Yeah. Dead car guy. Dead car guy. Dead car guy. You are... Don't you also, like... Wasn't there, like didn't you also like a dead auto, like American brand?
'Cause you were talking about building a muscle car, didn't you [01:23:00] want like a Pontiac or something? Or- No, no, I wanted a Chevelle. A Chevelle. I wanted a- Oh ... '66 Chevelle, Smokey Yunick style. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, those things are sick. Um, ah, man, yeah. Favorite automaker and the car I wish they made. I mean, technically Lancia's back, so they're build- they still build cars somewhat.
They still build cars. They build one car, and they have a Rally2 car that's actually pretty sick. It's, it, they sold like 60 of them already. Hmm. It's crazy. But that's race car stuff. Um, God, I don't know. That's a hard, I- I mean, what are you, what's your favorite automaker? Current automaker. I mean, I don't care, you can make it you can, this is make believe.
I mean, of everything they have, like as a whole, probably Toyota. Okay. Um, c- obviously Porsche is pretty close because, like the Cayenne Diesel, absolutely sick, 3 RS, like nobody's arguing against that. But Toyota, like the entire lineup is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. I, I [01:24:00] really- Toyota goes so hard ... they go so hard.
Current gen Toyota, sick. So the Toyota, current gen, and the car that I wish they made now is like a two-door, all-wheel drive, light six-speed turbo car. So- Yeah, of course ... I mean, so basically their like- Current GT4 ... what the GT4, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause the Corolla, it's cool, but it's too big. They make the Yaris overseas, which is amazing.
Which is super cool. Yeah. I wish we got that here. But it's also like a little stubby whatever. Like I think something like the GT4, like a little more closer to- Yeah ... Supra shape, all-wheel drive, four cylinder turbo, light. Yeah. That'd be sick. Yeah. By the way, I g- I don't know if I can share this, but I'm gonna share it.
S- one of the listeners of the show sent me a photo of a Yaris GR parked in Texas outside of Toyota. I have seen that. Yeah. Yeah, but I think the... So they have- The one I was like, I was like, "Ooh, are they working on development?" But he... And next to it was a GT4. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, so they have a big center in Eagle Rock, I think it's called.
Uh, they have a proving grounds there- Yeah ... which is pretty new. It's really, really sick. [01:25:00] And, uh, the GR, like, dudes, the development people for GR are there in Texas. Yeah, yeah, I think that that's what he sent me a photo showing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Yaris will never make it here, though. I know, which is such a shame 'cause that thing's so cool.
Small cars just don't work here. It's so sick. I know. They bring them here, and they don't work. I know. The smart car didn't work. The Fiesta didn't work. You go to Japan, and you realize how big all of our cars are. Yeah, dude. I know. It's crazy. It's crazy. Like, an R35 in Japan feels like a fucking- Oh, yeah
monster truck. Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. Yeah. What are you? Audi, we know it. No, actually, uh, no, a- actually, I think the one that would be cool is, uh... I, I, I think I'm split between two. Um, I don't know. Like, Audi's like the w- the one, but, like, I don't know, like, what I would want Audi to make. Like, they've gone, they, they've gone so far from what I like that, like, I just don't even know if it fits in their package anymore.
You know what I'm saying? Like, the R6, like, that's cool. Like, I don't know. It's just not like- But this is Dream World ... it's not me. Yeah, I know. I, I just, um- It's like, to, to- but to ask Audi to build basically a [01:26:00] GD STI is what I would want. Right. Mm-hmm. Or an Evo. Totally. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. But like I just- I think that's totally fair
I just think that's so outside of the brand for them now. But, uh, the RS 3's close-ish. I, I guess so. Like, if you made the RS 3 a little more- Yeah ... like athletic. Yeah. But I'll give you the car that I wish. It would be a low buck, rear wheel drive, VR6 powered Volkswagen. Like- Modernized VR6. Like, like, like, like imagine if the Scirocco was a rear wheel drive car.
Yeah. Yeah. You can never- With a, with a, with a, with a, you know, like if you, if they were able to build something that's basically a Volkswagen version of the GT86- Yeah ... I think would be super cool. Because I, one, I think that that market needs competition. Mm. And I think the best place for that market to get competition is from the Germans.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. So like I think being able to bring something like that over- Mm ... would be good. And I think that they could still build a somewhat raw car as Volkswagen, where like I don't think BMW can build a [01:27:00] car that raw anymore. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Like that, when I say raw, it's really just, like, it's really just simple.
I think that that's just a, would be a really fun car. And a part of that, and it's kind of the conversation that you and I got into about the episode we're gonna make for your channel, is, like I really love the simplicity of like my old Volkswagens, but like, I wouldn't wanna not own a rear wheel drive car either.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like the, I think like just a better sports car. That, and I like Volkswagen, so like it works well for, that would work well for me. Mm. So that would be, that I think would be the one for me. Like, I'd love to see Porsche build another front engine transaxle car, like a new 944. Mm. I think that's cool, but- It'll never, yeah, it just- No, it'll never happen.
Yeah. Yeah. But that's what, I guess that's what this question's about. Yeah. Yeah. Dream it up. Yeah. The Volkswagen I think would be the one for me. Okay. I think that would be it. Like, and it doesn't have to be a VR. But like a VR would be pretty cool Yeah, VR format. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the brand I've always found myself going towards for the longest time, BMW.[01:28:00]
Yeah. So I would go BMW, and what I'd want them to make would be something that took inspiration from Bangle era- Mm ... and put a sick fucking NA motor in something. Yeah. Oh, yeah ... Bangle era BMW made the craziest road-going engines for pedestrian cars. Big screamers. Just big screamer, like small displacement, lots of cylinders- Yeah
ITBs. Like, do something like that in a car like, you know, the M2 or something. Mm-hmm. Sure. Make it a little raw, but like less power, tons of revs. I mean- Mm-hmm ... that's it, you know? 'Cause I've loved BMW as a brand forever, and I think they always make incredible engines. I mean, even currently- Yeah ... like B58 took the world by storm, you know?
Yeah. Like, I, I just think that they kill it. It would just be cool to see, like a more analog, uh, naturally aspirated take on it. Do you think they're not building those? Or, or may- maybe the reason... I, I would imagine the reason they're not building them anymore [01:29:00] is just fuel efficiency stuff. Yeah, fuel efficiency.
Oh, just emissions. Yeah. Emissions in general. Like, you have to do... Yeah, fuel efficiency is a horrible one too, 'cause like, to get that kind of power, you need crazy compression, and you need the, like... Catalytic converters have to be whatever. Like, I don't think- Yeah ... in modern emissions era, and like all the gas mileage that they have to reach- By the way, I, I- Yeah
I don't want to call you out, but I love that like the minute we start talking about new cars and emissions, you're like, "Yeah, the like, the secondary air pump, and like the cat..." I don't know, just these things they have to do- Yeah, the garbage ... that just suck. I don't know. Yeah. You're like, "I don't know, all the things we take off our cars."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like, 'cause it's all the hybrid systems and stuff they'd have to put in place so you can- Yeah ... fucking skirt around, you know, miles and stuff. Like, it's all nonsense, right? Yeah. I mean, like auto stop/start was like a feature that they were like, "Oh, we could game-" the miles per gallon- Oh, yeah
because if you're not moving and the car's off, then you're not zeroing and you move. Interesting. Yeah, yeah. Easy, and now it's like then we hybrid- By the way- ... for all that shit, but like- By the way, s- auto start/stop is my least [01:30:00] favorite feature in any car. The dumbest thing ever. Because, as people are probably starting to realize now, is that those only really work on brand-new cars that work well.
Mm-hmm. My A1 would auto start/stop, and then not restart. Yo. And then- Yo ... would just start- That's- Would start just doing this really cra- it would, like, freak itself out, and I would have to pull off, turn the car off, and recycle it, because the ECU would just bug out. And sometimes it would happen because I just stalled, and then I would stall, and then, like, I would go and, like, press the clutch- Wait, it was manual with auto start/stop?
Yeah, yeah. What the heck? Yeah. Yeah, the second you clutch in- Yeah, and then when you- ... it does it. Yeah. Yeah. And then I would clutch in, and then- I forgot ... it would stall, and it would try to be restarting as I'm trying to restart the car. Yeah. And I'm just like, "Stop." And then you, then you do the starter buzz.
Yeah. Luckily- Ding ... luckily you can go in with the, you can go into the, um, whatever, VDAC, whatever that one's called- Yeah ... and, uh, and you can delete it, turn it off. I just, I j- the second you said that, I just imagined, like, [01:31:00] you have some, like, hot start issue, and you have start/stop, too. So you pull up to a light, and your car turns off, and then it tries to turn itself back on.
It's like, "Yih, yih, yih, yih, yih, yih, yih." And everybody around you just takes off. You're like, "Fuck." Uh- I can't imagine- I currently that's gonna do well as cars become less reliable and have that I currently have a car like that. Uh, it's not mine, but it's something you l- it's what I drove to dinner that night.
You're like, "It's something you're gonna love." Yeah. So- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ... my friend bought a flat Top Range out here. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, uh, he was like, yeah, he wants to come out and drive it. So, you know, I was like, "Oh, I'll just cruise it around." Mm. So I drive it to and from the shop every now and then until it left me stranded, uh, at Mitsuwa.
And- By the way- I literally walked to the shop and then rode my bicycle back, because it does the thing. Ready? It drives fine. Yeah. Slides fine. But sometimes if you, like, don't step on the gas in the perfect procedure- Yeah ... to either not bog it down or goose it too hard, uh, it'll stall. And if it [01:32:00] stalls, it won't start until the engine cools all the way back down.
Oh, it vapor locks. Mm. Is that what it does? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So- Is it, is it the V8? Yeah. Yeah. Yep, yep. So on- it has to cool all the way down, and then it starts, drives fine. But if it's... A- and it'll run for, like, an hour. Like, I left it running. I drove it around. It's fine. Yeah. But if it stalls, it will not start back up.
Yep. We are both- We both have the light- Garbage aficionados. Yeah, we are garbage aficionados. There is a- Yeah ... Land Rover 25 feet that direction on the other side of the wall of that Ferrari that, like, I keep forgetting actually works now and I keep forgetting to drive. But I think back to, like, how bullshit that V8 is.
I mean, you realize it's a Buick engine that was, like, sold to Rover in a really bad deal that I think, like, I think that there's some blackmail that forced Land Rover to keep using that engine forever. Or it was just a really sick deal and the castings were so used that the blocks [01:33:00] were getting porous.
So you had a brand-new block that was getting porous- Yeah ... and it was dropping cylinder liners. Brand-new engine, but the casting was so old. Yeah, and let, like, and like- Yeah ... Nick, close your ears, but, like, the British are great at a lot of things. Yes. They're really good at making brown food. Yes. Um, they're very good at dry humor.
Gravies and such. Very good at dry humor. Yeah, yep, yep. Right? Um, they're good at colonialism. I was gonna say empires, yep. They're, they're good at that. Yep. They're good at that. Yep. The one thing they're not good at is anything that has to do with electricity. Yes. Which is great. Wait, wait a second. Nick runs, Nick runs all the, runs all the- I will, I will actually cosign on that.
I will, I will caveat that, like, it's, it's just cars. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I will also die on the hill that British home electrical is GOATed- Hmm ... and there are so many reasons why. Our plug is safer. Go Google it. It's boring. But electrical in cars, 100% cosign. I'm with my American brethren on this.
I would rather, like- Yeah ... chew glass than do a British car's wiring, and I've [01:34:00] done it. Yeah. And I will say, I met Nick- When you start- ... because he saved my ass on a wiring job ... that is true. He saved your wiring. I did wiring. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know. Well, they get really good at it because they have a lot of practice.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But when you were starting the car that night- Mm ... the headlights were flickering like a '90s rave. So you were- Like Stranger Things? Yeah, like, it's like do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do- Yo ... and then it started, and I looked over and I just gave you the thumbs up and was like, "I have never been happier to drive a vanagon home tonight."
Dude, driving the Range Rover makes every trip- into something that could ruin your day Of course I literally was going- Or an adventure ... to the shop to do a one-minute task, and I was like, "I'm hungry. I'm gonna stop and grab something to eat." Then my fucking car didn't work, and I waited, and I tried to start it, and then I got it to run, and then it died, and I had to fucking pay some dude five bucks to help me push it into the parking lot.
What? And then I had to walk with like- Wow. Scotto loves this, by the way Then I had to eat my lunch in the car [01:35:00] so I could carry my laptop- With no AC ... to the shop. Yeah, with no AC, just sitting in the sun. Yeah. Then I have to walk to the shop. It ma- it changed the course of my whole day. Yeah. But, but the thing I don't understand about it is that these cars are goaded for, like, driving through Africa and safari.
Yeah, but that's, but that's like the diesels, and they're figured out, right? They're really ... They're ... The diesels are very simple, the non-turbo diesels especially. Yeah. They're made to be fixed with a screwdriver and farm equipment. The LTDs, yeah. You know? But, like, we ... Ashley had a problem with her Land Rover where the ignition, like the actual key- Mm-hmm
wouldn't, like, click over. Yeah. And it's, like, a known problem. Yep. Right? It's a known problem- I had it too ... and you have to, like- In my D2 ... you just sit there and you have to just shake the key. Oh, my God. Shake the key. I borrowed- And it'll, and it'll eventually start But, but you do the steering wheel too But you're, you're doing the steering wheel- Yeah, yeah
you're doing the key. And there was one time where, like, her and I went camping, and we were, like, out in the middle of nowhere, like BLM land, and we sat there for an hour and a half- Yeah ... just doing this- That's where that many are like ... clicking [01:36:00] it. And you're like, yeah, and you're just starting to go, "It's get- Uh
it's getting dark." Yeah. Like, it's getting dark. I borrowed that truck once- Yeah ... to go pick up tires. Like, I don't even remember why. Sounds about right. But I picked up like a million Toyos in it. Yeah, sounds about, pretty much. Uh, we like strapped them to the roof and shit. I don't even understand. But I, I took it, and I was on, like, Abakeni or some shit, 'cause I picked it up from your house, and then went and grabbed coffee.
And then I'm like, I get in it and I can't get the heat to turn. It won't, yeah. And I'm like, "What the fuck?" So I call Ashley, and she's like, "Oh, yeah." She's like, "You know, it's like the G-spot. You don't really know where it is, but it's up there." "So just turn, just, like, push the key up and jiggle it- That's amazing
until it goes." And I was like For like 10 minutes and when it worked- And then you couldn't- ... you guys was like, "All right, I'm never turning the key off again." Yeah. And that's a glimpse into conversations with my wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, it, you, you, you eventually finesse it, but you never like i- it, it's, you never get it on the first try.
Yeah. Like, you, you get close, but yeah. All right, hat time. Oh yeah, back [01:37:00] on the hat. If you're anything like me, whether or not you have a real shop space or a lift at your disposal, you still end up working on the floor. So when I saw Vyper's new mini creeper, I knew it best suited my idiotic and often anti-ergonomic way of working on cars.
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So, I, so this has actually been, like, a big topic the past two weeks 'cause a lot of things have happened. Yeah. So there's a fight right now in, I think, Troy, New York, and where basically... Oops, I just put that back in there. Um, where the city council has, like, banned the flock cameras, but the police don't wanna turn them off, and they've actually, like, f- they, they've actually entered a state of emergency in the town because, like, it's this huge fight.
I don't know much more detail on that, but I read the headline. Um, but right now, like, everything is about, like, the introduction of flock cameras because things like takeovers and street [01:39:00] racing is a reason to put flock cameras in. What is it gonna do? Well, this is- What are they gonna do? Dude, do you know, you know how crazy they are with flock cameras?
So let, let Ron run with flocks- Yeah ... 'cause I think- 'Cause there's a lot around our neighborhood. Um, the second you start, like- Well, Long, Long Beach is one of the cities that's turned flock cameras on. Yeah. And, uh, they not only read your plate, your registration, see that you're driving it, but also see marks on the bumper.
They have telltale things where even if you cover up your plate, they can identify who's driving it, where, what days. And thankfully, there's a law still in place right now where that data can only sit around for something like 30 days, and you need a warrant to access it. Yeah. But still, like- That's what I mean, like nothing's gonna happen from all this shit
but it all exists, and once it's all there, like, nothing's stopping them from being like, "Oh, okay, well, you drove your car without a plate, you get a ticket immediately." Yeah. Uh, or, like, "You missed your registration, you get a ticket immediately." Or- Scary window into life in the UK, [01:40:00] boys. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. And it's happening everywhere.
I mean, you guys live that, yeah. And it's like, to me, I think that's the grossest violation of human privacy that we have right now in the world. Like, I, I, I'm firmly on destroy 'em all. Like- I'm, I'm- What if, what if instead, though, it's, like, just for, like, calling people out for, like, running black wheels, as I sit here with a black wheel car behind me?
By the way, I haven't changed them 'cause it's just annoying to take the center lock- Flock, flock trolling, flock trolling would be- That'd be incredible ... unreal. Yeah. You get an official state letter saying that you run black wheels, please change the color. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Paint your body kit. Uh, do suspension before you do wheels.
Yeah. Like- I th- I think it's a tough one because, like, part of me is like, it'd be great to fucking eliminate sideshow culture and shit that ruins cars. I agree. But there is, like, all types- But you realize none of those dudes are running plates anyway. But also- They're all running Hoonigan plates. Sorry.
Yes. They're not gonna- Hoonigan ... they're not gonna catch these people, they're not gonna do anything. The problem with it is that how I feel with, like, everything, and I'm a big, like, AI [01:41:00] doomer right now. Yeah. But it's like- Big AI doomer ... all the fucking, all this technology is just gonna get, it's gonna progress, and then they're gonna use it to do things like you were saying before.
Yeah. And then it's like, then we're just getting ticketed for everything- Yeah ... and we can't do anything fun- 'Cause it, it seems like it's a safety thing ... and nonsense, nonsense. Yeah. And I agree. Like, to a certain extent, like, if someone gets kidnapped or if a car gets stolen, they could track it. Yeah. Like, that's great.
Yeah. But that's great in a perfect world. Yeah. And that never, ever- No ... pans out that way. Yeah. It just doesn't. I mean, I, I'm, I actually am curious of Nick's opinion on this because, like, I read MAX Power in the late '90s and early 2000s, and that was the beginning. What was like, what were they called, Gatsos?
What was the, what was the name for the camera? Yeah, Gatso is a generic speed camera. Yeah. It just identifies the plate, and it's triggered by speed alone. Yeah. They've subsequently introduced average speed cams. So there are gates every mile or couple miles, and it does the time calculation. So you can't even slow down.
So you can't game it. Yeah. However, this is why in the UK everybody runs the gel [01:42:00] plate. If you Google this- Mm ... it's a type of plate with raised lettering, which is aesthetic, but it tricks the camera, and it can't see it. It's like hairspray on the- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah ... on the plate in the olden days. Yeah. But from a, from a sort of more general, like, privacy point of view, we're so, like, the frog in the hot water in the UK with it.
Yeah. We're just used to, if you drive into a gas station, and if you don't have tax and registration on your car, bam, a cop will show up. Yeah. Because they get summoned. Car, cop cars driving around have, like, the cameras in 360. They scan all the cars- Yeah ... they drive past. And you have- And they've had that here for a while- The car-
for finding, like, warrants and stuff like that ... the cars with Flocka on the car, yeah. The, the last piece of it is that it's the slippery slope towards pay per mile. It's really a backdoor- Right, which is what California- ... to pay per mile ... is trying to do. If California does pay per mile, it'll be the thing I, I'm, I'm out.
Yeah. Like, that'll be the, the straw that breaks the camel's back- Yeah ... for sure. I'm, I'm not, I'm not taking defense of pay per mile, but the reason for pay per mile is because our roads are serviced by gas tax, and there's so many [01:43:00] EVs that they're not paying the gas tax. Hm. So what has to happen if that happens is we either get rid of the gas tax and then everyone goes pay per mile, or we, or we figure out that only EVs pay pay per mile.
Yeah. Because, like, that's the whole- It's an easy one ... the whole reason is, is like- Yeah ... and there's also an argument that EVs weigh so much that they're actually creating more- They are. Yeah ... and that's why, like, your registration costs more for your truck than your car- Yeah ... because it's all weight-based, because it's damage to road.
I, and look, I'm not sitting here defending California and the w- their misspendings in any way, but that is the r- that's the reason behind it all. Yeah. So. Okay. Yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, the, the flock camera thing I think is, like, I think to your point, it's like- I get the reasoning why, but I actually think flock cameras can destroy car culture faster than anything.
Agree. Hard agree. Because the minute that you get a ticket because your headlight is not X number of inches off the ground because you've illegally lowered the car, like that's stuff that [01:44:00] like cops won't pull you over for, but is a crime. Right. And like that's the thing I think a lot of us don't realize is there's so many crimes in the book.
But if AI is attached to flock and just anything that is- Yeah. Imagine you have a decibel reading. I mean, decibel reading, like- Easy ... like, I mean, anything that they can be- A sniffer. Yeah. Yeah. All of those things become something that now- Yeah ... and, and then you can attach it to Just a- a- Which out, out here would be hard, 'cause I know, like, you talk to, like, guys in New Zealand- Yeah
and they're like, "Can't drive shit on the street." No, that's Australia too. Yeah. Germany. Yeah. Similar. But like- I mean, that's why, that's why cool ones become so cool ... you know, you think about it, but you think about it happening in- Yeah ... California, and you're like, "Dude, the closest racetrack's three hours away."
Yeah. Yeah. You know? There's not a single drag strip. There's not a single racetrack. Yeah. There's not a single anything, so, like, what do you do, you know? Yeah. Uh, a lot of people, I mean, just the car culture thing, um, I have a friend who's from Pittsburgh, and he- pit race just closed. Yeah. And he's been, like, buying up cars over there because, like, [01:45:00] these guys are like- "What am I gonna do?
I'm broke as-" Like, older guys are like, "I have all these-" "... track car, but I'm not gonna go to Summit 'cause it's too far of a drive." Yeah, and they're like- Yeah ... "I don't wanna drive this on the street. Like, I bought this car to be a track car." Sure. Yeah, yeah. And they just sell them. Wow. 'Cause it's like, you're just like, "Well, I'm over it.
What am I gonna do?" Hmm. It's like, what would a lot of Californians do if you're like, "I literally can't drive a fucking car on the street"? Oh, the industry would be decimated. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and like, I do agree, like, in the deeper side of it, you're talking about, like, it's just bad for, like, our, our rights.
Yeah. Because, like, you live in a surveillance state. Right. And it's like it's so- and, like- Because anybody can buy that, that data too. Right. So they know all of a sudden, like, what your habits are, where you go, what you do every single day, and that just gets sold, and it gets sold to the highest bidder, and then, you know, you're getting active ads on, like, where you're driving.
Yeah. It's the exact same thing about having accelerometers and black boxes tied to insurance. Yeah, yeah. So if you, if you accelerate too hard, your insurance gets dinged. Your premium goes up. Can you imagine? Yeah. I, like, that was something that people voluntarily put in their [01:46:00] car. Could you imagine being that much of a wet noodle?
That you're like, "Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll take that." Yeah, yeah, yeah. "I'll, I'll take that feature." Yeah. Like, could you imagine being like- To get two bucks off a month. Yeah. Yeah. "Got my good driver discount." Yeah. Like I just can't even imagine- Ugh ... being- Yeah ... being like, "Yeah, that's what I want in life." And not, like, that's the tough thing is we're not going around and like, "We break the law," you know, this and that and the other.
It's like, no, we just wanna enjoy our enthusiast cars- Yeah ... and it's such a small percentage. And that's why I made the joke earlier today of, like, to be a car, to be a car enthusiast in California- You have to be a criminal ... you have to be a criminal. Yeah. You're not actually committing crimes that matter, but you're a criminal because you've illegally lowered it.
You've illegally done this. Yeah. And it's like n- all of that stuff isn't against the law in Arizona, but it's against the law here. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, that becomes a weird thing. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, flock cameras, so- I mean, I, like, yeah, I mean- Flock 'em ... flock 'em. Flock 'em. So yeah, it's, I don't know if, like, if you guys still follow, like, Jalopniks and [01:47:00] those- I did
oh yeah, I forgot. Anyways, like, that's a big conversation right now is just- Is it? ... like, where that's all going. Yeah. Because, like, it will become a question of, like, you'll, you can never do something. What do you got right there? Yeah. Shut the fuck up. We're on to the next one. All right, fine. Fucking great.
Talk about... Are muscle cars still cool? Yeah. Of course. I say so. I, I don't, I don't think they're as culturally relevant- Yeah ... now. Like, old school muscle cars. You're talking about, like, '70- I'm, I'm, I... yeah, I think what the question refers to is, like, you know, everything from a '55, you know- Mm-hmm ... Chevy- Mm-hmm
to, like, a mid-'70s muscle car. See, I guess, yeah. Like, I wouldn't include- I think they're cool. I don't think they're culturally cool ... I wouldn't, I, like, I wouldn't say a Fox Body. I wouldn't say anything like that. Yeah. I think it's, like, what we think of as, like, our dad's era. Yeah. It's one of those things where, like, 'cause I just built my dad's Chevelle, and I drove it around, and, like, kids don't, like, go crazy about it, but I think there's, like, a respect.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know? It's like how when we were kids, like, you probably weren't into, like, [01:48:00] Model Ts and shit- Mm-hmm ... but, like, if you see one- Right, right ... you're like- Right, right. Oh, it's cool ... "Oh, cool. Old car." Yeah, it's, yeah, very unique. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I will say, like, when I first started coming out to California, like 2012, like, '13, whatever, and you had the Nova, everywhere we would go, it didn't matter.
People would go nuts- Yeah ... over your car. The, the Nova- And I feel like that has started to get a little less and less ... the Nova is the only car I have ever owned that has ever attracted a girl. I was, I was on- Yeah ... I was on, um, Abbot Kinney and Venice Boulevard. Yeah. And I was sitting at the light, and a girl walked by.
She, like, looked at the car, looked inside, winked, and then, like, walked over and started to talk to me. And I was like, "What are you doing? Like, why are you here?" Yeah. Like, uh, do, do you wanna know- Do you have one of these, or? Like, like, do you, like, do you know how many... Like, do you know, like, the cubic inches?
Like, what do you wanna talk about? You wanna talk about rear ends? Like, I don't- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... what are we talking about? 'Cause I don't know why you're here. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it was such a, [01:49:00] like... For so many years of building cars thinking girls thought they were cool, and then I was like, "Wait, is it happening?
Is it a muscle car that makes it happen?" But I don't think that would happen today. That happened in, like, 2011. Yeah. Uh, that happened to me today in the GTR. I went to a place- See, but this might be the argument. But, but, but, but, but- That the GTR is the new muscle car now, yeah ... but I, similarly to you, was, like, very taken by surprise.
No, I was dying not to do. Uh, and I was like, like, this girl's on the street, and she, like, waved and was like... And I was like, "Does she think I'm just, like, weird for driving a car on the right side?" Yeah. Yeah. So I was like, there's no reason that any- Yeah, yeah ... like ... No, but culturally, GTRs are super hot. Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And I think, I think a lot of that space with muscle cars is gone now. 'Cause I think about this when I look at movies because I think there's still this, um, like there's still like this expectation of like, "Oh, we're gonna do this really cool chase scene and it's gonna be in a muscle car."
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And it's like n- that's because like 60-year-old directors and actors think that's [01:50:00] cool. They just want their moment. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I just... Like, 'cause I've, I've worked with other people who are like, "Oh, it'd be cool and we could be like an old Camaro or Chevelle." And I'm like, "No." Yeah. Like, like an old 190 or like E30 or 911 is like way cooler now, or a GTR or- Which is so fun to like- To see sliding through the streets
when you see that happen in movies, like as our generation, you're like, "Ooh, yeah, yeah." Yeah. No, and I think it's 'cause it's just speaking to like a different audience and I... So someone actually asked a question, um, someone asked a question on one of the earlier pods when I did like a Q&A, and I think they asked me like what do I think is going to happen to older car culture?
Like, will it continue? Which I thought was actually a really good question and, and- Prices have gone down. Prices have gone down, but I was talking about how like there's certain things I think won't go away. I think traditional hot rods will always be cool because they created hot rodding. Yeah. But I don't think Duesenbergs will continue to have- No
an audience. No. Right? Um, I think that Chevelles, Camaros, like, [01:51:00] you know, that era, Super Birds, whatever, like those standout cars from that era will continue to be cool, but I think there's a lot of other stuff that'll just disappear. Like the '40s era cars will disappear. I agree. Yeah, 'cause that's nostalgia stuff.
Yeah. But I think you think about stuff that has like real culture around it that isn't just like nostalgia culture. Yeah. 'Cause I mean, I know a group of dudes who are into like Shovelhead and Panhead- Yeah ... Harleys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course we know. Yeah. But, but that is- Like- ... but that is their muscle car.
Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. But I think that like there'll always be that respect for the thing that was cool. Yeah. Like, muscle cars were inherently cool. They're always gonna be cool. Yeah. And there's always gonna be kids who are young that are like, "Oh, I like-" you know, old American fucking iron. Like- I, I just feel like I see a lot less of that now.
For sure. It's definitely on a downward trend Where, like, where, like, it was definitely like, oh, you turn 19, you go get some old shitbox '70s car and, like, start building it. But that's the thing, too, is those- But now everyone's buying shitbox- The cool people got priced out ... '80s and '90s cars. Yeah. It's always, it's always that one...
It, it, the cycle [01:52:00] is, is that whatever's cheapest today is the kids that have a ton of style but can't afford it. Yeah. They make it cool. Then it just evolves to then people with money, like, just kind of culture vulture the thing, and then overdo it, and it dies off, and then the cycle repeats itself. I think it's like, I think there's also an element of less and less pop culture talks about it.
Mm. So, like, when you were playing Gran Turismo, there wasn't an option to drive, you know- There were, like, two, and they were horrible to drive anyway. Yeah, and it's like that wasn't it. Yeah. Everyone was driving GT-Rs- Yep ... or, like, cars that aren't cool, like 3000 GTs. Yeah. They're cool, but just not as cool as they seemed they were in GT.
Yeah. Um, but I, and I think that, I, I, but I just wonder, like, in 10 years from now, will we be even so far removed that it, it does feel like the Model A or the Model T to, like, the younger generation? I don't think it will. I don't think it will. I think also there's like a, I don't know, maybe I'm looking too deep into it, but there's also, like, kind of a polarization of Americana.[01:53:00]
Like, really, really heavy Americana is kind of, like, a polarizing thing to some people. Mm. You know? Oh, I see what you're saying. Um, and, like, a muscle car is, like, really, like, American flag, like, rah, rah. Right. You know? I don't know. Maybe that, that's more, like, a fringe thing. But I- But like, but, like, even when you look into the guys who love American cars- Yeah
like the, sort of the, the whole audience around guys like Cleetus and, and, you know, Westin and all of that. Yeah. Like, they're not building '60s and '70s era cars. They're not, no. Like, they're into the '80s cars now. The oldest, the oldest car I think Cleetus has built was Mullet. Maybe, no, he had- The Mullet?
like a '67 something with a diesel swap. Yeah. But, like, his fast cars, yeah, Mullet was '80s. Yeah. And, and, like, I mean, Westin has built, like a, he built, like, an old Chal- a Charger or whatever. With the RV motor in it. Yeah. That was sick. Yeah, yeah. And I think you still see a spark there. Like, I don't think that'll ever go away.
Yeah, yeah. Right? Um, like, and, and aesthetically there's some brands that are entirely based around that. Right. Like ruggedness, old school Americana style. Yeah. And that's [01:54:00] cool. They're doing a good job. But I think the JDM stuff and the Porsche stuff has just gotten so popular. I mean, like, there's people right now who do nothing but watch Tony Angelo's Stay Tuned and, and, and- You know, that's a really good point
and Finnegan, who are like, "What are you talking about?" All the Roadkill guys. Yeah, we do- But- ... have a limited window, I guess, sometimes. But I just don't feel like I see it as much anymore. Uh, but also I talk to Tony, like, every day, and, uh- He, his audience is older. Yeah, I know. Like, Tony, Tony's audience is, like, he says it all the time, they're, like, in their 50s.
Yeah. So- Mm-hmm ... you're talking about- That's what I mean is- ... are they cool to, like, younger generation? When I say cool, I mean, like, is it cool, like, we're not cool anymore 'cause we're older. Yeah. Like, is it cool to young kids? That's, yeah, that's what I was thinking about. Like, if you were walking down the street and there's a Chevelle, like, just- Yeah, 'cause we can't say is it cool to us, 'cause of course we're gonna be like, "Yeah, no shit."
Yeah, right. Like of course it's still cool. I was just talking about a Smokey Yunick '66 Chevelle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like- Yeah, no, no, and I, that's what I think the question is, is, like, do they stay cool forever? 'Cause when I was a kid- The muscle cars seem perma-cool. Yeah. Like it just- Yeah ... was like th- and that's, like, when I, I wasn't [01:55:00] a muscle car guy.
I moved to California and was like, "I kinda want one." I got my Nova, and I still look at my Nova and g- feel like that may be the coolest car I own. Mm. You know what I'm saying? Like it- It's up there ... like, it may not be the car I like the most, but there's just something about that car that I think is really- Yeah
really cool. I don't think, I don't think they'll ever be, like, as, it's hard to say, like, a Model T is uncool. It's just, it's not uncool, but it's not cool. Yeah, right. You know? Like, you wouldn't, like, if someone's like, "Yo, you wanna take my Model T for the weekend?" You'd be like- D- not a stock one. Like a, like a, like a Model T, like, hot rod's cool.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a '50s era hot rod. Yeah. For sure. Yeah, yeah. But, like, I've driven Model Ts and Model As. Have you? Yeah. Like, it's like it's, it's n- saying it's a novelty is nice. Like, it is some dorky ass shit. I'd rather have the horse. Yeah, I'd rather have the horse. Yeah. I'm just like, if we're going to Model...
If I'm gonna drive a stock Model T, I'd rather go- By the way- Give me- By the way- ... a couple years back and get a horse Yeah, yeah, yeah. No knock on the man, no knock on the man. He probably is listening, but like ACP has [01:56:00] a Model T. Like, that's the person who enjoys Model T ownership. Yeah, and he likes wearing a tweed hat when he drives it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, that's cool. It's a, it's a bit of co- That's what you're into ... it's a bit of cosplay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And again, it's not uncool, but it's not cool. Yeah. And I think a muscle car will forever be cool. Yeah. Like, you see one going down the road, like last time we did the pod you drove your dad's car here.
Yeah, dude, sick. And I was right behind you, and I was like- Yeah ... that has so much just presence. Yeah. Yeah. And just chugging along. And that's never gonna change. Yeah. Do you think that's because culture made that car cool? Meaning like at the time when that car was new, like you had all these movies, Grease, and like all these things- Sure, but it's fundamentally cool
that like, that like just made it cool. Yeah. No, I, it, yes, but if you think about, like, if this were a math equation- Yeah ... and I'm bad at math, it's like you have big powerful motor. Yeah. You have cool looking shapes. Shapes, yeah, yeah. It's got chrome. It's got racing stripes. It sounds mean. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's fucking like- Yeah
you know, like on a very granular level. It [01:57:00] checks the boxes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's like if you're, like, baking a cake and you're like- Yeah ... it's got chocolate chunks. God. I love it. It's got icing. Fucking A. It's like are, are speed boats ever gonna be uncool? Yeah. No. No. Absolutely not. No. Yeah. Speed boats will always be cool.
No, speed boats will always be cool. Just like cocaine. Yeah. They go together. Exactly. Muscle cars, same bucket. On that note, back to the hat. Yeah. Wait, wait. I, I wanna, I wanna hit one last thing on this. I wanna hit, I wanna hit one last thing. What time- Sorry, I feel like a project car in LA traffic. My temp meter is, like, getting towards the red, so like...
Um, I wa- now I think I lost what I was gonna say. All right, back to the hat. Nice word. Nice one. Back to the hat. Nice. Back to the hat again. It's up to Ron. All right. Um, there's only 10- Ron's the fucking- Oh, is it, is it up to me to pick? Wait, is it you? Oh, okay. Yeah. I was last. I think Vinny picked that one.
Yeah. All right, cool, cool, cool
Silver cars, discuss. Wow. This was actually someone sent this to me as a DM. Wow. They just said, it just said, "Silver cars, yes or no?" And that was it. And I was like, [01:58:00] that's ac- like- So tough ... you and I had a conversation about it this week- So tough ... so it came up. I love silver cars, but it depends on the car.
100%. Yeah. If you asked me even three years ago, I would've said absolutely not, never- Yeah ... ever. Yeah. But some cars, 996 Turbo, great in silver. Beautiful. H- h- hold on. I'll ta- CGT. CGT. Silver. I think it, I think anything other than silver, you bought the wrong color car. Which I normally- Yeah, yellow, yellow's cool
it is, but it's not the silver. Yeah. I don't know what it is- Yeah ... but that car, it just works. Porsche did silver really well- Yeah ... in GT silvers. If you own a CLK whatever GT1- Yep ... whatever that was- Yep ... like, it has to be silver. Yeah. It has to be silver. I, I love silver cars, I just think it's like, it's very case dependent.
Yeah. 'Cause I had that silver 997 GT3, and I loved the way it looked- Mm ... but I wanted a more like fun car- Yeah ... and I was like, the silver doesn't hit for me on it. Yeah. But like, I think it looks beautiful. You texted me the other day 'cause you said, "I have a R8 for sale," and you were asking me if I was interested in it.
Yeah. And it's like you were... I was like, "What color?" And you said, "Silver." And it's like weird 'cause I actually, when [01:59:00] I close my eyes and think of an R8- It's silver ... I see it in silver. Yeah. Yeah. Like that is the color for it. Well- Is that, is that what the press car color was? Like what they launched with?
What was the one I gave you when you were- Silver ... an intern? It was a silver one. Silver. Yeah. So when I bought my 360, I had drove up there to go look at the car because I thought it was silver, and I was like excited for that 'cause I thought- Oh. Oh, wow ... I actually really like, like, crazy looking cars in dope colors.
In silver. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which you didn't know, you didn't know- And then I got there- You didn't know it was champagne? No. I've never heard this story. And I got there- Do tell. ... wow. Yeah. So you got there and she was wearing champagne. Yeah, yeah. Then what happened? Well- And you were like, "Oh." ... they, he was part of like Hagerty's Drivers Club, so they took pictures inside.
It must've been like fluorescent lights- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ... and like very cool tones. Yeah. Now they went over and they were like, "Pull out the sepia." Yeah. So I was like- It, it's not selling- Yeah ... uh, pull it back. So I was like- Temp down ... "Oh, it's silver, great." And I got up there and I'm like, "Oh, it's kinda like a champagne."
You're like, "I didn't even know they made that." So I was like- Yeah, I was like, yeah. I thought you bought that on purpose. [02:00:00] I mean, I did 'cause... No, no, no, I didn't- You bought it 'cause of the price. No, I went to go look at it and I was like, "Oh, this is like gold, not silver." Yeah. I thought it was silver. So that was like another thing.
I was like, "Ugh." But I think like the 360 in silver is beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. Ferrari Grigio is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Solid silver. Yeah. All right. So I think it's really easy to pick cars that are great in silver, but what's a, what's a bad silver car? I think if it's, like, a sorta boring car, silver, like, makes it worse in some ways.
Most M3s. Yeah. Like, I don't like- Yeah ... silver M3s. I, I... Like, the weird one for me is, uh, B5 S4s are iconic because the race cars were silver. Mm. But I don't think I'd want a silver B... Like, like the Imola yellow, the Na- Nagaro blue, even the red, they're, like, such good colors on that car. Yeah. I think you said it.
I think that's it. I think it has to be a really cool shape- Yeah ... for silver to work. Yeah. Yeah. Silver is, like, a complementary color to a cool car. Yeah. I, I have, like, silver 911s [02:01:00] are just, like, a ugh for me. Like, I- Mm ... and I, like, they work. Like, it makes sense, and I get it, but it's just, like, I would never- See- I think 'cause there's just too many of them
see, I think silver base 911, not into it. No. Right. Older, like, G bodies and stuff look good in silver- Mm-hmm ... but, like, a 997- Yeah ... newer 991 whatever in silver, gross. Yeah. But then you see a GT3 RS in silver, beautiful, 'cause it's got fucking vents and flaps and- It's got a lot of black accents and stuff
carbon and like, yeah. I will admit, like, the new GT3 RS, I saw one pass me the other day in black. I mean, in silver with all the black details. Yeah, it looked nice. Yeah, it looked really sick. Yeah, it's insane. 'Cause the car's kind of insane. And it was on br- it was on the bronze wheels. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And that looked really good.
It's like if a car's kinda crazy, but it's got silver, it kinda, like, helps tone it down a little bit. I don't know, I like it. Yeah, it's not as flashy. Yeah. I think the problem with silver is that, like, owning a silver car is actually great. No, the problem with silver is that we just overdone it, and here's my new- 'Cause, like, G35s, G...
Like, that whole era was all sil- Mm. It w- it was variations of silver and- Mm ... charcoal. You wanna hear my new lukewarm take? I like lukewarm takes. Uh- We're at the, yeah, we're at the draw mark. Go ahead ... what [02:02:00] happened to silver is what happened to pastels now, is because silver's a great color and it looks beautiful on a lot of cars, but we fucking ruined it when every single car came in silver.
Yeah. Hold on. You're saying silver is flat black? No, I'm saying the pastels. No, but I'm saying, but, like, flat black's the same thing. Flat black was really cool until everyone did it. No, no, no. No, no, no. I actually disagree with that. I think it's pastels, because flat black wasn't, like, mass adopted by f- uh, automakers.
Right. Mm-hmm. Like, remember back in like 2010- Yeah, you're right. Like, on- like, only Mercedes and some 911s you could buy. Yeah, like, like 2010s, flat, uh, pastels were cool, and now, like, every Kia Forte is, like, you know- Yeah, and they just- ... pastel green ... and they do them so badly too. Yeah. Yeah. Every, every truck is offered in a- Every Jeep
Sahara Tan. I, I feel the same way about, like, Nardo Gray. Hate Nardo Gray. But it's a really good color. Yeah. I thought you love Nardo Gray. I hate Nardo Gray. No, wow. But, but it's- Yeah ... it's a- I actually, I wanna buy a car, and one of the colors it comes in is that, and I'm like, "I don't want that." What car is it?
A Gallardo. Mm. [02:03:00] Oh, Nardo on a Gallardo is kinda nice. I love it. Nardo on a Gallardo? Nardo Gallardo? But I don't, I don't want it- Man ... because it's, it's tasteless supercar meets tasteless color. Audi owner. You know? And you're like- But wait, you- ... it's just too bad ... but you painted your S14 Nardo. That was 10 years ago now.
Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's like, like Ashley's 944 is Dolphin Gray, which is- Yeah. Right, right, right ... basically the '70s version of the Nardo Gray. I got... And I mean, my 3 RS was the gray, black. Close enough. It was darker. Yeah, but I mean- Yeah ... that's, like, a pastel, and I l- Yeah ... I, I love it, I just think that it's, like, the same shit kinda happened, where, like- Mm.
It just becomes too cool ... if you think about, like, from 2000, like 2000 to 2010, like, you drive on the road, every car was silver- Yeah ... pewter- Oh, yeah ... gold. Like- Yep ... you know? Or black. And now I think it's- Or hunter green. Yeah. That was '90s. Yeah, yeah. '90s was hunter green. Yeah, '90s. '90s had good colors. '90s had great colors, yeah.
The post-2008 financial crash color change is a documented thing. I'll throw the graphic on the screen. Oh, nice. Yeah. Wow. It has to do with the cost of paint. So paint, it w- it's cheaper to paint a [02:04:00] car, like, white, black, or silver. Mm. So, like, they, the push to do that instead of having colors because colors are more expensive.
Yeah. Like- Like now I'm just- To produce and to paint, and like, and they offer all the car... Like, they don't charge you more for a red car- Mm ... unless it's, like, a special c- option color. So, like, they, they really push those cars more. Yeah. Yeah. I love a good color car now. Yeah. Like, I'm a, I'm, I'm in a big color car phase.
Rem- me before, like, the Rabbit changed me because before that white 911, black Nova, black S8. Like, all my cars were either white or black. Yeah. I had the white Audi. Like, the coupe I was originally planning on painting white. Mm. Like, everything I had was not a color, and then I bought the, I bought the Rabbit, and I was like, "I never want to buy a car that's not a color again."
Yeah. Now I only have white cars pretty much- Yeah ... except for the 360. Oh, really? Everything's white or black. Mm. Mm. Kind of sucks. I think colors, they also, I, color is just, and not that I care about resale clearly 'cause I'll never sell anything. [02:05:00] But without a doubt color cars just sell better. Depends. If it's a good color.
Depends. I love red cars. If it's good and rare. I love red cars. Yeah. You know what doesn't sell well? Red 911s. Really? Mm. Yeah. They're almost, like, always a hard sell. I think red 911s are quite cool. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. But I get it 'cause the red's a Ferrari color. Yeah. Cole, Cole had a red 996 Turbo, and he had a really hard time selling it.
I wanted it so bad. Yeah. I thought it was so cool. Yeah. And he was like, "Yeah, people just don't want it." Yeah. Crazy. All right. I think we've got- One left? Yeah. I actually thought it was gonna take us longer to run through this. I figured- What do you mean? It's been two hours How much longer did you expect this to go on?
And you invited us at night? I know. Every time. Past my bedtime. Every time. Okay. This is a question that I get in a lot of different forms. Ooh, this is great, 'cause it's the last one and we got a veto so we can just be like, "Nope." Oh, we all still have a pass. Sick! Whatever it is, just read it. Uh, yeah, sorry.
There's a bylaw. Oh. A bylaw, section 1974- Of course. Of course ... part C says that you cannot pass on the last one. Okay. What [02:06:00] is it? Okay. This co- this is, this is a culmination of a lot of people asking me- Love a statement that has a pre-statement ... to do something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and this is sort of my response to it, and it's a, it's a really good question, and the question is is could Top Gear exist today?
And I think when we say exist today, I mean, like, could that show come out today and do what it did? No. But, and I ask it because, one, like, they're always trying to relaunch that show. Like, it's always like, you know, what's the new one? They've obviously got Grand Tour with the guys from Throttle House and the Train Kid.
Yeah. Like, that's coming out. Um, a- and, and you, the three of us, which is something I don't think we, we talked about, we had a conversation about applying for the Grand Tour job. Yeah. And the three of us were at first, like, we had a group chat going about it. You remember? We gotta do it. And, and we were like, "We should do it.
This would be great." It was right after Hoonigan, and we were like, "What a perfect time." Well, it was, it was right after, uh, Carcaine Abroad, which felt like filming a Top Gear episode. No, but it was, it [02:07:00] w- Hoonigan had ended. Hoonigan had ended at this point, and when we did Top, when we did Carcaine Abroad, all the comments were like, "This is, this feels like Top Gear."
Yeah. "This is like Top Gear. You guys should do that." And when the Grand Tour opportunity came up, like, I went as far to reach out to people I knew who were at the Grand Tour to be like, "Hey, what's going on with this?" So on and so on. And then the next day it was either you or one of us was like, "I think this is a really bad idea."
And we started talking about, like, the Chris Harris situation- Yeah ... of how, like, it was r- it's really difficult to stand in the shadow of the three amigos, especially in an era when, like, those shows, like, th- those shows worked 'cause YouTube didn't exist. I mean- Those shows worked because it was the only thing that good.
Yeah. And, like, now, I mean, you l- look at just how much content is out there, and, like, people on YouTube are doing crazy shit. Oh, yeah. I mean, you look at, like, everyone from, like, Cleetus to Adam to Whistlin' Diesel. Whistlin' Diesel. I mean, Whistlin' Diesel is, in a weird way, the closest thing there is [02:08:00] to Top Gear.
To certain segments. Cer- segments, yeah. Like, like- Yeah ... him doing the whole Hilux thing- 'Cause they, they also- ... which obviously is inspired by that ... like, if you think about it, it's just gotten so much more segmented because most of YouTube is individual, like, single people, right? Yeah. And the three people is a little bit tougher.
We even saw that at Hoonigan at sometimes. Like, it was tough to get, like, everybody, you know, around all the guys. Yeah. So, and then you have single focus type things. So Top Gear was, like, a little bit of Whistlin' Diesel, a little bit of Cleetus, a little bit of Kamisa, a little bit of, like- Yeah ... you know, car reviews and, like, adventures, and it was a mix.
Yeah. It all in one episode, and it always came out on the TV on Sunday. Everybody was ready to go watch it, you know, like in the UK. Yeah. Like, I don't know. I think a version of it could work today. I think- It would have to be formatted a little different, but I think something like that could still work.
The problem is, is like, like you said, every- if, if somebody sees three people trying to do car stuff, they're just gonna compare you to it. [02:09:00] Mm. And it's never gonna compare to the nostalgia. If you go back and you watch a lot of those episodes, some of them were not great. Especially the early seasons. Yeah, the early seasons.
Yeah. Were not great. But there were some super magical, like- Yeah ... amazing, amazing episodes. If, if you read And Then The Bombshell, like they talk about- Yeah ... what's his face? I'm forgetting his name at the moment, but like he talks about how- Andy Wilman? Yeah. No, not Wilman. I just bought Wilman's new book, by the way.
Oh. I haven't read it yet. Yeah, yeah. It's literally just showed up two days ago. He had a great podcast recently too. Um, yeah, but the... I just bought that, but no, the, one of the writers- Not, um, Po- Johnny Porter? Maybe it was Porter. Sorry, Richard Porter. Richard Porter. Richard Porter. Oh. Richard Porter. Richard Porter.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Richard Porter wrote a book called like And On That Bombshell. Yeah, I read it, yeah. And it was like the story of that. And like they talk about how like in the early, like it wasn't really... I mean, realize the original crew was not season one. Yeah, yeah. Season one was- Yeah ... all these other people like Tiff and everybody else- Yeah
who was in it. Um, it took them a while to find that, and then they got there. The BBC was an extremely unique situation because, you know, it was public funding. [02:10:00] They could say whatever they wanted. They could shit all over- Any manufacturer ... any manufacturer- Yeah ... and not fear, you know, the, you know, repercussion.
Where like you can't, like Whistle and Diesel I think is like the one person who kind of, whether you like him or not- Yeah ... um, Whistle Diesel's like the one person who kind of just goes out there and lives completely on the like I don't mind being hated. Mm-hmm. Let's be honest, the rest of us all have to get paid.
Sure. So there's only so much that you can shit on something. Yeah. You know? Or you have to be so respected like Chris Harris. Mm-hmm. Like Chris Harris can shit all over a new car and still get invited back to drive the next car. Yeah. Because like how do you not have Chris Harris- Sure ... drive the car? Yeah, yeah.
Um, but th- I think now it's like, I think it's, it would be hard to make that show without the right partner, like the right funding. Mm. Like, like a BBC that- Exactly ... that feels immune- Neutral ... to outside things, 'cause that's part of what made the show good. Yeah. But I also think that like it was a perfect time for those dudes to do what they [02:11:00] did.
Mm. 'Cause I, look, I- I, this is something that I would love to do a Top Gear type show, the three of us. Mm. I love traveling with you guys. I think we, we became this group at Hoonigan that would go do these things together because we just had a shared similarity. Yeah. And I actually think that maybe that's bad for a Top Gear show, because, like, we're actually probably too similar.
Like, we can fight over nuances, but, like, at the end of the day, like, none of us here were talking... Like, we were like, "What's a Hellcat cost?" Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, we don't even know. Like, we clearly live in a particular window- Window, yeah ... right, that, like, fits. Um, I think if you put enough people together that, like, they're all over the place and, like, you become that broader audience, like, I don't know if it's, like, as good of, like, a chemistry.
Like, those dudes just, it just worked. I don't know, though. And it was, like, a good time. I, I, I feel like we're different enough, and it's, like, the adventure stuff to me that I think would work best, right? Like, I think that's where you could still do really unique things. Like, you look at what Gears and Gasoline did- Yeah
with their Alaska [02:12:00] road trips and stuff, and that- Yeah ... has that, like, w- really well-filmed, like, cinematic type experience, and people love that. Well, like, that, that- That did great views ... and that's just two dudes. And that's just two dudes. I think that's the movement. Yeah. But I think that's the reason why the Throttle House guys, and I, I, I have, I do not watch their content, so I- Yeah
can't speak to it. But I do know that they did, like, the GTI and the AE86- Mm ... where they, like, drove that. I think that was Throttle House. Like, like, I- But, but Throttle House is a big production, too. It's not just, like- Yeah ... a couple dudes filming. No, but it started as two guys. Yeah. But they have, like, a bigger thing now.
Yeah, they, they really evolved over the years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But, like, I think, like, they have that thing. But I don't, I don't know, it's, I mean, it'll be interesting to see how The Grand Tour show does. Obviously, a new Grand-ish Tour just released. I haven't watched it yet. Mm-hmm. I didn't know. But, like, I still, like, I still f- and I, I, I...
Like, those dudes, like, put out a promotion. It was, you know, on Instagram, and it's- Yeah ... like, the three of them talking. And I just have nostalgia listening to them, because- Yeah ... they formul- they formulated so much of what I wanted to [02:13:00] make in content when I was at- But that's- ... 0-to-60. But that, I think- But I just don't know if it can be recreated
that's one of the biggest parts that's missing today. So I'm, I'm super lucky. I got to work with them twice. Yeah. And the biggest- So did I ... the biggest, like- thing that surprised me a lot was we were doing these shows in South Africa where it was Top Gear Live. And those dudes, the day before the show, would come in, sit down on the table, cartons of cigarettes, beer and wine, and they would spend the next eight hours poring over a script for a three-hour show.
And then they'd be like, "This part, I don't think it really works. The audience might drop off. Let's change this. Let's bring this guy in." They go, they do a show. The next day, they rewrite everything based on how yesterday went. Right, how it landed. And they put in so much work, so much scripting work. They cared so much about every second of the show, where YouTube is like, "Dude, you gotta film it.
You gotta knock it out, and [02:14:00] you gotta do next week's episode next." Yeah, yeah. Like, it's so much harder to spend that much time writing an episode where I, I, I feel like if s- if you were able to spend journalistic time writing a good story and then letting certain parts play out, I think that's the magic that's kinda missing today in some stuff.
What are your thoughts? Uh, yeah, I sort of just feel like it was created in a time when there was less, and it was fucking awesome. So we put it on this pedestal, and it forever lives on that pedestal, you know? Like- Mm-hmm ... nowadays there's a ton of good content out there. Not saying anything's on that level, because, you know, the YouTube rat race is that you got people with small teams- Yeah
making videos, not making television shows that they're going through and writing scripts and going back and revising them. Mm-hmm. And then the cinema on top of that too. Yeah. So like- Does that seem weird though to you? Like, how is it that, like, we live in this world where... In a- [02:15:00] automotive is almost over-indexed on YouTube now.
Mm. Like, the amount of automotive creators versus a lot of other spaces. Like, you compare it to, like, BMX creators. You compare- Mm. Makeup's like its own whatever. That's almost- Yeah. Honestly, I- I think- But, like, automotive's a really, really big segment now. It wasn't when we first got into it. Mm-hmm. When we first got into it, it was small, and we felt like a small piece of it.
Dude, it was like, it was like Adam LZ, DDE, TJ Hunt. Yeah. And like- Donut, um, us, um, Mighty- Well, Donut, when we started, Donut wasn't even making it ... Mighty, Mighty Car Mods. Mike's Right Mods. But it was like a handful of creators. Obviously, obviously Roadkill. Yeah. Cletus was just getting started. Was Roadkill on YouTube yet, or was it- They're 20...
They're 13, 20. 13, 20. Yeah. Rest in peace, Kyle. RIP. Yeah. Was, uh, was Roadkill even on YouTube? Yes. Yeah, you... Roadkill was already out there. Oh, okay. We came after Roadkill. Donut was- I thought they were, like, a- Donut was out too, but they weren't doing Up to Speed yet. They were doing other shows, and they had just...
They started Up to Speed about the same time we did, but they were still gaming the Facebook model. Yeah, yeah. They were still... That was still performing for them better. Yeah, just, uh, it's super saturated now, so I think it's hard for anything to stand out that crazy. But I think the thing that's interesting to me is, [02:16:00] like, you have this...
Clearly there's this thing that's working in automotive content, but, like, no one's produced a good American show. Mm-hmm. Like, the, like, with the effort that has gone into Grand Tour- Yeah ... or gone into that. Like, the closest, like, the closest thing we've seen to, and I'm not saying it's the type of show, but, like, you and I talked about this last night, was, like, Hyperdrive.
Mm-hmm. Is, like, the most... That's the only thing I could think of that had, like, a real budget that wasn't a reality show. Wasn't Top Gear, like, the largest budget TV show ever? I wanna say it was in, like, 250 million homes at one point because- But I think it was one of the most viewed in the world too.
Yeah, 250 million homes. Yeah. Because it was, like, not just in England. It was, like, it was, it was everywhere. Yeah, but I mean, like, I think that's probably why, 'cause, like, you ran a content business. Like, it's pretty hard to make margin on- Yeah ... big productions, right? Yeah. So, like, how do you make those so consistently, you know?
Yeah, I think that might be the speed that that just doesn't exist anymore. Yeah. Like, there's not a, there's not a thirst to go spend [02:17:00] millions of dollars to go make something. Yeah. I mean, you think about, like, the London thing with Ken, right? Yeah, the London special. The London special that, like, you know- mistakenly people call- It was like a mini Gymkhana for a segment of a show It was a mini G- it was a mini Gymkhana for not even a full episode Which, it's a whole other podcast, but we kind of got hoodwinked into that a little bit.
Yeah. A little bit. But- But that was a segment in a show that cost- And they spent all that money ... I, I'm sure they s- what? Any- 4 million bucks making that? No. Maybe not that, but they prob- Not four ... they probably, they probably ... But maybe two. It was not low budget. Yeah, it was a low budget. It was not low budget.
But for a segment. We had a Chinook. We had a Chinook. We drove through the Royal Palace. Yeah. Like, we were shutting down London Bridge. And even- Like, it was a serious crew ... even the early stuff that Ken did with, um, with, with- Oh, yeah ... with, with May- With the Reliant. Yeah, where like- Oh. The- Oh, th- that's the
Where they went and shot out at, um, at, at- At the airfield ... yeah, at, uh, Mojave. Yeah, at the graveyard. Like, like that was like- Airplane graveyard ... like that was still- That was a big production, yeah ... it was probably a decent sized production. Yeah. Like, to come and do this thing with this new person who was a shoe salesman at the point, that's- Well, was never actually a shoe [02:18:00] salesman, but that's what- Yeah
that's what they used to, like, call him, the Shoe Tycoon. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. I, I, I, I get asked this a lot because obviously as being someone who- Mm-hmm ... headed Hoonigan- Mm-hmm ... but is also someone who constantly talks about content and creative- Mm-hmm ... everyone's like, "Why aren't ... Like, you should make the next K- Top Gear.
You sh- like, why don't you go do that?" Mm-hmm. Funding. Funding is one. I think the other one is, is l- like, it just was done so well that, like, it's almost hard to recreate. Yeah, how do you hold a candle to it? How do you hold a candle to it? You really have to have a different- And I think that, I think that that was-
a different format I think, I think the Scotto take on that would be don't recreate something. You make something new. Absolutely. 'Cause you can't, you can't do a trio to compete with the, the greats. You can't be a- You gotta just make something else ... it, it can't be a trio. Yeah. Yeah. So- Maybe it's a, maybe it's a mob of people.
Yeah, it's definitely ... As we learned earlier in the show, it's never a threesome. Yeah. It's not how it works. Yeah, you need seven guys. It's gotta be a murder. Yeah. It's a murder. What's a murder again? Is that- Crows. Crows, thanks. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. I don't know. I, I, I still think that there's a [02:19:00] place for it, maybe even more, like, as the future gets more and more choppy, more and more, like, low attention span, maybe then eventually something like that can stand out.
You know what? Hoonigan reunion show is the, uh, pilot for it. It could be. It could be. 'Cause- By the way, we haven't updated anyone on that, and, uh, I think I'd actually, I think I'm g- it's gonna happen. Really? Yeah, based on the stuff I told you yesterday. Wow. Which I can't talk about 'cause I'm NDA'd on it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, like, I, I think that- Wow ... we've got people who are willing to make it happen. 'Cause if you think about it, like, in one of Willman's podcasts that he had recently, Andy Willman, the guy that was, like, the behind the scenes, you know, brain of Top Gear with Clarkson. Producer. Producer. The producer.
Yeah. Yeah. Like, the dude. Um- Who, by the way, wore the same pair of underwear on every single shoot That's crazy. Oh yeah, you don't know, you didn't know that? No. Oh, he wore, like, his lucky underwear, and they were like, I mean, literally the definition of threadbare. And we were on set [02:20:00] with them, I guess, for Robin Reliant, whatever- Yeah
and someone was like, "Show them your underwear." And he, like, just pulled the band out, and it was just, like, eight strings. Oh, God, that's horrible. And it's like he was lucky underwear. Wow. I don't know the background to it. Yeah. Like, he'll probably talk about it in his book. But he's one of those, like, brilliant geniuses, whatever.
And in that podcast, he talks about, like, Clarkson's Farm and why it works so well. Mm. And his biggest takeaway is that, like, we didn't think it was gonna work. We were like, "This is insane. Like, who would spend money on an old man on a farm? Like, that's not interesting at all." He's like, the characters that naturally came, like Gerald- Mm-hmm
Caleb, the accountant, all of them, that was just real-life people. Mm-hmm. They weren't actors. They weren't cast. They weren't anything. Mm-hmm. And he's like We have a show. I- And Hoonigan, and Hoonigan was like- Was no casting ... the shittiest boy band of car guys. Ugh. Like, unscripted. It was just, we all just kind of showed up and had our own little lanes.
Like Zac, muscle car guy. Hurt, drift guy. You, track guy. You, absolutely obscure- [02:21:00] Fucking oddball boy ... encyclopedic oddball. And I was just, like, rally type stuff, and, like, it worked. And even JP, I remember when he came over to Hoonigan, he was like, "That, I'm so jealous of that. Like, you guys have this, like, how did you guys make this perfect group of guys?"
And I'm like, "What? I don't know. Zac showed up one day." And just- So, a, a really interesting thing, 'cause when we first launched YouTube, we were hanging out with a bunch of BMXers. Mm-hmm. So we were hanging out with all the guys from the come up. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So, like, you had, like, K- Quanbeck ... Caleb Quanbeck.
Yeah. Like, Adam22. Yeah. Like, all of those guys were, like, hang- um, Alfredo and Cuzzo. Oh, Matt Cuzzo, shout out, yeah. Like, those dudes were all doing YouTube. And, uh, John Hicks. Like- Mm-hmm ... so, like, we were asking them questions. Like, I remember sitting at the building one night talking to, like, Hicks and Adam and a few other guys, like, just being like, "Okay, so how's, like, the YouTube thing working?
'Cause we're trying to launch Daily Transmission." And that's why if you go back to those early ones, a bunch of those guys are in those early episodes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I think doing one, I think- Yeah, I think John Hicks was in one ... John Hicks did, like, a, it was like Jump Over You. Threw bars over a burnout.
Yeah, yeah, burnout and stuff like that. Yeah. And, like, and [02:22:00] those dudes were all there in the early days, and Caleb, like, after it started moving, and they were all bigger than us, 'cause they all had their own little followings- Mm ... and whatever. And one day Caleb came to me and was like, we had to put out like episode six or seven, and he said, "You guys are gonna be giant."
And I'm like, "Well, I hope so." He's like, "No, you don't understand. You built this thing where, like, I don't have to like you. If I like Vinny, I'm gonna watch the show." Sure. He's like, "If you don't like me, you just don't watch, you don't come back to the show." Yeah, yeah. He's like, "You gave," and, like, what we used to refer to in magazines was like you gave so many entry points.
Hmm. And it's like, and it, we, we was like, it was not planned. It wasn't the, the idea, but it was like some people watched the show 'cause they liked Kakawa. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And it was like that kept them there. Yeah. You know? And I think we all, some people hated me but loved you, or like- Yeah ... you know, hated, you know, Hurt, but loved Vinny.
Like, you know, or not hated, but it was like they were there for different people. It's just not their vibe, yeah. And it was just the perfect accident that just sort of worked. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I, it's funny 'cause a lot of people have asked me that question. Like, "Oh, how did you [02:23:00] put together a good gr- group of people?"
And I'm like- It happened. Yeah, and I use Vinny a lot as an example, and maybe Vinny, maybe Vinny later on will ask me to cut this out, but I, Vinny was just a really good dude. And I bounced him around the company through, like, 19 positions because w- I couldn't figure out what Vinny was good at. But Vinny was really good at being just Vinny.
Yeah. So it was like, "All right, we'll try Vinny out here. Oh, Vinny'll move here." And, like, I mean, how... You had, like... You hold, like, nine different jobs at that company. I had, like, ev- I worked at, like, every position. Which is probably- Yeah ... why you're so good at doing what you do now. Because you literally got, like, the full experience.
You had, like, the whole... Yeah. Well, it's like the, like, when you're, like, um, a nepo baby and your dad's like, "You have to work in all the different positions at my hotel I own-" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah ... "so that you learn." It was like n- 'Cause I was, like, the- But it wasn't n- I was, like, a, I was, like, a jack of all trades guy.
Yeah. Like, I wasn't great at anything, but I was like... You threw me in any situation- You end, you end up being- ... and I was, like, good at it ... you end up being really good at the biz dev thing at the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think that was definitely your calling. For sure. But, like, but it was this thing where it was like Vinny checks the...
Like, I hate to sound like, you know... The v- he, [02:24:00] the vibe check was there, and it was like, "All right, let's just fucking find a place for you- Yeah ... that way you can keep moving around." Mm. And that was that while where I let the two of you guys run marketing in the shanty, which was probably the worst period of you two at Hoonigan.
I just- No way. We had some great stuff that came out of that. Dude, the thumbnails that came out of that era, the Mark Kitting team. You all, y'all lived on the back of Chris Miller at that point, but whatever. Well, listen. Listen. And we had the, this pond. He carried some weight. Let's get this thing wrapped up.
Running on rosemary savory bars. All right, now we're getting too inside. Yeah, that's far too inside. We're at two and a half hours. Yeah, yeah. People don't know what the fuck we're talking about. All right. All right. When we made a, a, a certain employee- Anyway ... that got banished work from a, uh, like- ... a hospice table.
I was just gonna bring that up. He basically just- Yeah ... worked from, like, the tray they feed you applesauce at at the hospital. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's your computer. Yeah. So, um, anyway. Last note on that- So what, what, let's wrap it all up ... is we had a, we had a AC exhaust duct into our office, so it was hyper heated.
And there [02:25:00] was- Bro, he... Uh, uh There was also the favela wires that used to run. The CFO, the CF- It was so hot in this building. We- It was unbelievably hot ... had air conditioning, which was- We had air conditioning, and it didn't work because it was filled- It cost 40 grand, and it never worked ... it was... No, no
'cause it was filled with- I'll tell you exactly why it didn't work, 'cause nobody changed the filter and it was filled with tire gunk. From just burnouts. So our CFO, me and Vinny are in this, like, shitty corner which we called the marketing shanty/favela, and, uh, it was so hot in that corner. And, like, we would, we would just sweat, no shoes, no anything, and he rolls in this portable air conditioner.
And we're like "Jeff, to thank you. You're the best. Yeah." And he's like, "What? This isn't for you." We were right by the server room, and the server was overheating, so he was cooling the server off, and the exhaust was going onto us. That was insane. And we were ... It was- That was an insane time ... our ambient temp went up, like, 40 degrees.
That was crazy. He's like, "Fuck you guys, the server's hot." That, [02:26:00] and- That was- ... that bathroom taught me how to shit on the road. Yo, do you remember the ladies- Oh my God ... that worked for the bus company? Oh. Do you remember that? We still listen to that sometimes. Wasn't it a bus company by day, but, like, early OnlyFans by night?
That was the, that was the dump truck company that moved in afterwards. Oh, yeah, yeah. It definitely was shooting porn over there. Which is a great OF- But there was, there- ... crew name, The Dump Trucks. It was. Yeah. But those dudes had the most stylish dump trucks. They were, like- Oh, yeah ... slammed chrome, like, like- That's dope
candy paint jobs. Oh, wow. Sick. Like, they were really, really fresh. But there was the school, the school, uh, ladies, and if you remember, because the building was, w- probably eventually built for, you know, it was like a factory for men to work in, there was, like, the women's bathroom, which was, like, two toilets, and then there was the big men's bathroom.
Yeah. And w- you'd go into the big men's bathroom, and it was just filled with the, like, rowdiest women who drove school buses, who would just, like, shit all over the toilet seat, 'cause they would squat, but, like, just spray. Wow. Do you remember that? Yeah. I don't know why I do. I don't know how this is still on the podcast, but anyway.
[02:27:00] What card was that? All right, yeah, so anyway, Top Gear. I guess it can't exist these days. Nope. Yeah. But shit on the toilet seat. I still think it can, and shitting on the road's easier now. Yeah, this is the bo- for anyone who listens two and a half hours a week- Yeah, this is- ... you get a little snack at the end.
This is what you get. You get a little bit of this. This is that part where you've left it on, and then your family member comes in and just goes- Yeah ... "All right, so we had these chicks that were just shitting all over." Yeah. And they're like- Or you, like, fall asleep ... "What are you listening to?" You fall asleep- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
while listening to the pod- Yeah ... and this wakes you up- Yeah ... and you have, like, some weird lucid dream, and you're like- This is what you ... You get a bonus nonsense at the end because- Yeah ... Brian didn't bring snacks, so we didn't have snacks. Yeah. Yeah. I had to deprive these guys. They're like boxers, you know?
You c- you let them have a snack, and then they get sleepy. Like, you gotta keep the h- you gotta keep the hunger in them so that they keep going. 3:00 AM, I'm sleepy now. Let's go. Yeah. Well, boys, thank you again for coming on and testing out a new model. If you guys- Anytime ... if you guys enjoyed this, this random topic No, h- I mean, maybe we should just call this the, uh...
What was the thing we did [02:28:00] for Zero60? The, uh- Oh, man. Um- Uh, the hodge- hodgepodgery. Hodgepodgery? Yeah, yeah. This is a hodgepodgery if I've ever heard one. Maybe we have to bring back the hodgepodgery. So- There you go. He said it wasn't gonna be a new show, but it's a new show. No, no, no. It's still very vehicular.
Welcome to the new show. It's still very vehicular. It's just very vehicular hodgepodgery edition. It's like a mixtape. 'Cause it rolls right off the tongue. Yeah, yeah. Super easy. So, um, if you enjoyed this, uh, and you want us to do more, because that's a good format to bring back people who've been on the show before and just kinda have, like, you know, the crew gets down.
Uh, hit us with some more topics that we can run into, uh, next time, 'cause these guys are almost always available to come by the house. Mm. Always. Highly debatable. Yeah, this- it took, like, three weeks- It's, yeah ... to plan this 'cause they're never available. It was all sarcasm. But we'll always show up for our boy Scotto.
How many topics did we do today? 11. What a, what a number. Yeah. 11 tents. And on that- See ya. Thanks, guys[02:29:00]
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