125. The Pile Up EP13: Best / Worst

All right, all right, all right, here's the tune.

Hi-la, hi-la, hi-la, hi-la, hi-la, hi-la.

Hi-la!

Presenting by Codd Rush.

Wednesday, October 1st.

Welcome to fall.

It's October.

What?

No, it's not.

Is it?

That's right.

September 28th.

It'll come out on the first.

Oh.

Wow, lady behind the curtain doesn't know.

I thought it was Wednesday.

It's my secret plan.

It is Wednesday.

We're going to record it on Sunday and release it on Wednesday.

In case you haven't heard.

Secret plan.

It's a conspiracy.

Yep.

We're listening to the pile up.

Pile up.

Sorry, I interrupted you to say that.

Pile up.

That's cool.

That's not a big deal.

Pile up.

That's Queen of the Vans.

Yep.

That's M dog nightmare.

Here we are.

The hell's an M night.

Yeah, it's a rocktober.

So for me for this month, I'm going to do a mystery science theater marathon.

I think I'm going to watch one every day.

Wow.

You're really committed.

Yeah, I might start with one of my favorites.

One of the worst ever giant Gila monster.

Oh, okay.

Oh, it sucks so much.

Why do you put yourself through the torture then?

Because if Joel can suffer, I can suffer.

Oh, you're suffering in solidarity?

Yeah.

Okay.

He's stuck up there on the satellite a lot.

It's true.

I do love the intro to that.

So I guess the intro is growing on me.

I like all the props.

No, I actually love it.

I like all the props.

Yeah, it's really cool.

They went all out.

Yeah, he's good.

You know, he's like, he's a good prop comic.

That's why they do the invention exchange with the mad scientists.

So you can do his props.

I don't know if I've seen that because I haven't seen much.

Well, when they open the episode, they always have like this invention exchange with the

mad scientists.

Oh, I didn't know that they did it differently.

I've only seen a few.

Yeah, they always have these invention exchanges.

Joel invents a junk drawer for one.

It's like a junk drawer you can buy.

It's like every house has a junk drawer.

That's true.

I've got one.

It was pretty good.

I don't have anywhere to put one.

Yeah, I got a junk drawer.

Where?

In my desk.

Oh, yeah.

You do have a drawer.

Highly utilitarian junk drawer.

Wow.

It's got like a little hammer that came with some cheap furniture.

Really?

You've got a hammer with some furniture?

Probably like a deck.

Yeah, it's like a really very small.

Yeah.

Oh, it looks.

Sounds cute.

It is.

Yeah.

It's highly impractical in my opinion, but you know, you keep it.

You might need it for something.

In a junk drawer.

You might need it for a tiny, tiny nail.

Yeah.

For the past four weeks, we've done odd rods.

Yeah, we've done it.

We've talked about a lot of odd rods.

Yeah, we're not going to do this week.

So I hope that doesn't make you sad, but we thought we should do something different.

Yep.

It was very fun to talk about because we're just talking hot rods or show rods.

They're fun.

They're cool.

They're amazing.

They make your mind think or whatever, but you know, we mix it up here.

Give you a little something different to listen to.

But Emily picked the best car of all time.

Yeah.

It's actually shocking.

We had some other stuff to talk about, but I think there's enough in this topic.

Okay.

And we might just get it.

You're going to have to write in because surely you have a story about this car.

Yeah.

We haven't said what it is yet, but surely you know.

Yeah.

And if you do, please DM at carcrush, C-A-R-U-S-H.

Yeah.

Reach out.

Are you ready for what it is?

Fail.

Give us the, what it's the best to me.

This is the best worst car.

It is.

General, please.

The Chevy Chevette.

It's cute.

Which suspiciously is very close to the Corvette.

In name only.

Not features.

Name only.

Not accessories.

Not speed.

Not power.

Not design.

It's actually nothing to do with the Corvette.

Other than those last little letters there.

Yeah.

There is a funny part in King of the Hill where Peggy and this prostitute are going out to

lunch and unbeknownst to Peggy.

She doesn't know this girl's a prostitute.

And the girl says, I wrecked my mom's vet and she, and Peggy's like, your mom had

a Corvette and she's like Chevette.

Yeah.

It's pretty good.

I like that character because she gets Peggy to like dress and like in something really

sexy, which is, you know, on the verge of slutty, but like Peggy feels good about herself

and Hank thinks she looks hot.

So I'm kind of like, what's the big deal?

But I get it.

Sometimes I go out and I feel like I look hot and then people are like, what are you

doing?

Oh yeah.

Sometimes girls tear each other down.

It sucks.

Sometimes.

It sucks.

So anyway, I kind of like that episode because like I said, Peggy feels good about

it.

Yeah.

No, I love that episode.

She doesn't think anything of it.

Yeah.

And then Frank gets a pimp hat and it's great.

Hank, you said Frank.

Frank Hill.

Frank sounds more like a pimp than Hank.

Frank the Hank pimp.

Yeah.

All right.

I'm going to say that this, first of all, the video that I watched, that we watched

together was the shocking truth behind the Chevy.

It's probably a crap AI video.

Yeah.

It was an AI video.

Super obnoxious.

But they did have a lot of good information.

I wonder if it was compiled by AI.

It probably was.

I lived it.

My grandparents had an 80s chivette.

Did you get to ride in it a lot?

Yeah.

We drove it all the time.

I think it was a four door.

It was white for sure.

Did it have a hatchback or was it?

Yeah.

It was a hatchback.

Yeah.

Because sometimes in my, I sometimes think it's in my mind.

I think it's a citation, but it was a chivette.

Yeah.

Well, they did say that everybody has a, in the video.

Because also my, one of my high school besties had a chivette.

And it was like a red rusty color.

I mean, there was a period of time where I really wanted one to put a big engine in.

Doesn't that just turn everything on its head?

They're great.

Yeah.

Tiny little cars, stuff of V8 in it.

That's cool.

Well, we did see a couple of that were drag cars.

We did see the video.

Or at least one for sure that was a drag car.

The video opens with a clip of a pro chivette.

Yeah.

Big fat steam roller tires underneath it, almost meat.

Roll cage.

Did it have a cage?

Yeah.

I don't know.

I said, oh, it looks like it's got a roll cage.

I'm not even listening.

Yeah.

That's okay.

You don't have to listen to everything I say.

I'm so sorry.

As you roll your eyes.

I like the 80s one because it has a much more square chin spoiler.

Oh yeah.

Yep.

I mean the 70s one.

It's cool.

It's smooth and styling fits each era, but I like the really sharp one.

It's a big chin spoiler too.

Yeah.

I think they're just cute as hell.

The hatchback one.

I don't like the sedan as much.

The sedan is English.

It's not even really a part of this.

It's a Vauxhall.

Was it the Vauxhall?

Yeah.

Well, we can just kick the sedan out of bed.

If that's pronounced Vauxhall, sorry.

Oh, okay.

We don't know.

I think it might be Vauxhall.

We don't care.

I think it's Vaux.

Oh, okay.

Just Vaux.

Vauxhall.

They have the Vaux amplifiers.

So wouldn't be that weird.

But that's just spelled V-O-X.

Yeah.

All right.

Well.

It's Vaux.

I'm going to kick it out of bed right now because I don't care about it.

Okay.

So it's, yeah, it's an ugly four door car that we're not going to talk

about.

Yeah.

In America is what we're talking about.

Yep.

It's a hatchback.

And apparently GM got on it because they already had it in three countries.

They already had the platform.

There was quite an emphasis about the car being a globalist.

Is that what Donald Trump talks about all the time?

The globalist.

Oh yeah.

It's a bad thing.

Yeah.

I don't know.

That's a bad thing being a globalist.

Yeah.

Even though he's friends with Russia.

The globalist car.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

They were called in this video as a globalist car.

So they were able to get it on quick on design wise because there was a gas crisis at this

time.

I believe it sounded like it.

I'm going to sound ignorant here as far as history goes, but it seemed like it started

from the early seventies to the clear into the eighties.

Okay.

Look, I'm down with that.

I'm down with just speaking from where you're at.

Yeah.

Well, we get the news wrong here.

Yeah.

There's a reason that we say that like it should just be okay to just say some

shit wrong sometimes.

Yeah.

We're not trying to be like a definitive source here or just talk about stuff we like.

Okay.

Yeah.

If you want to write in though and you've got it right, like, yeah.

Yeah.

Tell us.

We'd love to hear.

Yeah.

Where we went wrong.

Yeah.

They called it a new kind of American car and it had no power steering.

And they were marketing it as owning a car without a crushing debt.

It had practicality gas mileage and it was a compact car.

It was 2899, which was about 16,000 in 2024 money.

Now I was enticed by the slate truck because it was going to be mid twenties with government

incentives, which don't exist now.

Yeah.

Thanks, Trump.

Or they're just running out at this time.

But by the time the truck comes out, no.

So anyway, about 16,000, that's cheaper than what the vehicle that enticed me.

I think, yeah, if Chevy had a $16,000 car, I'd be interested.

Yeah.

I feel like you would too, because you weren't diced by that slate.

Yeah.

I mean, I think the slate looks good.

Yeah.

I think if I saw a Chevette, I think it's cool.

I on the other hand, cannot imagine buying a brand new car off the lot, but it is hard

to fathom.

I don't know.

It seems like such a crazy thing.

And also it just, it reads car loan to me, which comes with full coverage insurance,

which always is usually more than the car payment, in my opinion, which could be a fact.

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Not sure.

I was trying to look and see if the Chevette is one of the villains in Cars 2, because

it's got all the lemon cars, but it doesn't look like it.

Maybe because it wasn't a lemon.

I just wasn't sure if it was like, you know, it's another one of those small

cars that everybody likes to shit on.

Like the Gremlin.

Why are they shit on the Gremlin?

Because it's a cult classic.

Yeah.

Something else they said in the video was that it was a lot of people's first cars, which

I think my high school bestie that talks to her experience.

It wasn't a new car because it was the 90s, but it was her first car.

Also something funny they said it was the first car that people learned how to fix

on the side of the road.

So maybe it did break.

I called bullshit because the Model T was the first car, but also people definitely

worked on those on the side of the road.

All right.

Well, it was an AI video.

It's true.

Yeah.

There was something in this video that I want to point out that was really funny

is they showed a picture of modern people waiting in line for gas.

Like one guy had a smartphone in his pocket.

Yeah.

And it looked like it was taken to Mexico too.

They're waiting in line with gas cans, not cars.

Yeah.

I mean, it's definitely a stupid AI video.

So total run is from 76 to 87.

Right.

Okay.

They almost made it to the 90s.

So like just in 80 alone, they sold 449,000 of both combined three door and five door.

That seemed like a lot.

Was that a lot for production number?

I think it's quite a bit.

So I was looking at the total production numbers and they have 2,791,030.

Is the one on Wikipedia.

Whoa.

So that's 1,378,197 of the three door hatch.

And then 1.4 million of the five door hatch.

Oh, so the five door was more popular?

Oddly it is.

They sold more.

Yeah.

They sold 100,000 more almost.

I mean, not quite.

It's like 50,000 more.

That's not that much in terms of a million, is it?

Not really, no.

Barely.

Barely made it.

It's just about 3 million cars.

And then I was trying to get the total on the Model T production to compare, right?

Because I wasn't sure.

Because the Model T and the Beetle are 1 and 2 as far as production.

But then I got to look at the Model T and they made a million and a half and 26.

And then they made it to almost 2 million and 24.

Wow.

They made almost 2 million and 24.

Yeah, so 24 through 26, they made more Model T's.

They made basically, they made 1.9 million and 24, 1.9 million and 25, 1 and a half million

and 26, 2 million, over 2 million and 23.

Like, now the Model T crushed the.

Yeah, it definitely did.

Crushed the Chevette.

I mean, it was like a project, not a project, but it was a product of its time, right?

Because there wasn't much competition.

Well, there were, in that time, in the early 1900s, there were like 2,500 automakers in America.

Oh, crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, but there were.

But it was different because you would buy a chassis, you know, you'd get like a Packard

chassis and then build your body on it, like a coach building shop.

But like the Ford Model T, is that what we're talking about?

Yeah.

It could just go to everyone.

Well, yeah, you could also have it, that was the thing, it's like, you could

get a Model A, but then you could get a Model A built by another shop in a different

style of the body.

Oh, okay.

And it would still be a Model A, like there are all these drawings, like there's posters

where you could go in and get a touring car or a Fiat 10 or a Solon Fiat 10, you know,

or like a, just all these different versions.

Oh, okay.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah.

It's kind of confusing.

It's in that Century of Style book.

But yeah, you could go to like somebody like Briggs and be like, yeah, can I order

the, can I get the 27 LaSalle touring car?

But I want your version that's a little bit nicer than the actual LaSalle one.

Yeah.

Sure, we'll build you one.

Oh, okay.

That's if you're fancy though.

Oh yeah, you're a little bit fancy.

Yeah.

Like maybe a movie star.

Well, that's kind of why the car didn't take off.

We're a merchant.

Because like America didn't have like the land barons, you know, had average working

people.

You rat me.

Did you say rat?

Ravage.

Oh, Ravage?

Okay.

I think I was going to say regular.

Anyway, so the Model T production, I mean, 1909, there's 10,000 and then it creeps

on up by 16, it's half a mil, you know, every year, and then they do 940,000 and 20.

So I mean, it's like just the T just crushes that.

That was just my curiosity.

I know that we're like, the total says 14 million, 14,689,000 Model T's.

Ford said the last Model T was the 15 millionth produced.

Wow.

So, I mean, that puts the beetle up there.

But anyway, the Chevette 3 million, that's pretty good.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

For a car that's not easy to find.

Yeah.

And at the time, Americans were driving big cars.

But then the gas price, I'm actually surprised they didn't sell more because of the gas

suggestion.

Yeah, it makes me want to compare it to something like the Chevy Astra, right?

Like, okay, so there's just a little bit under 3 million Chevets made.

So, but I feel like you run into Chevy Astros all the time.

So let's find out.

Let's compare.

Let's hear it.

Yeah.

And down here to the old computer machine, it doesn't have a real obvious table.

Oh boy.

You're going to have to fill in the blanks here a little bit.

Oh, geez.

For those of you that don't know the Chevy Astros, hella cute.

And Rose has one.

It's got a gold wing door.

The Chevy Astro, the chassis front suspension is based on the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

station wagon, which is what I came home from the hospital in.

I think we talked about that in another episode.

Yeah, we did.

It's a very like, it's just a very close to me car that way, but also I put that clip

under my 67.

So it's kind of funny having the...

You got two Chevy Astros kind of.

Yeah.

I drive an Astro, then I've got the 67 with the Astro clip.

Dad had the Custom Cruiser wagons.

I've been riding on that front end for most of my life.

It's basically what I'm getting at.

Yeah, I love that.

It's the Rose Mobile.

Well, I can't find a definitive number for the Chevy Astro production to compare it to,

and it's not much better.

One of them was like a million, right?

That they posited?

It was a little over that, but they were only, they could only go by, there was no

like, just obvious answer.

No, but not even Chevy knows.

We found a, yeah, we found a Modestrian article that no four, it was 41,000 in the first

10 months of the year.

So that's pretty crap.

That's pretty crap.

Yeah, that's not good.

So it looks about three, four million, maybe five, it's not very much higher, but you sure

see a lot more Astro vans than you do Chevets around.

That's true.

Do you think that's because Chevets went to the drunkyard?

Yeah, I mean, it says they were pretty rusty.

They must have been, maybe people must have hated them.

Did it?

I thought the Vegas were the ones that were rusty.

I didn't hear anything about the Chevets.

Yeah.

Okay.

You're right.

In the AI video, which could have won.

Yeah, the example in the AI video was the Chevette.

So bad comparison, bad example, but anyway, it seems like I guess a low

number of cars compared to the Model D is 15 million, but it seems normal for a badge

like that to not see them very often, like 79 to 87.

Is that what we said?

Or 76?

Yeah.

And I see Astros and safaris all the time.

Yeah.

Maybe safaris more.

Granted, they ended in 05, but yeah, 76 to 87, so get an 11 year run.

Yeah.

Yeah, you just never see them.

They're like a 1.4 and 1.6 four cylinder.

Just a tiny little.

Just sipped gas.

Yeah.

According to the video, it's sipped gas.

That's 89 and 97 cubes.

And then the diesel was 110 cubes and the diesel was like the zero to 60 time on that.

Oh yeah.

21 seconds.

They said you didn't need a stopwatch.

You needed a calendar.

Yeah.

Brutal.

There was some clever things in that AI in that video.

Brutal takedown.

Yeah, exactly.

I mean it's.

Yeah.

Is AI going to come after us because we're sort of making fun of it?

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

It's scary out there, people.

Yeah.

Related cars.

Okay, this is from the Wiki.

It's the Opel Cadet, which I think looks pretty cool.

The Asuzu Gemini, DeWoo Mepsi, or Mepsi of Valhalla Chivette, GMC Chivette, Opel K180

and the Asuzu Piazza.

Oh, that sounds like an Italian car.

No, it's a baseball car, Mike Piazza.

Oh, okay.

Was he Italian?

No, there's no way.

Okay.

Leaning Tower of Piazza?

Piazza.

Doesn't that sound Italian?

Pizza?

Piazza.

The Asuzu Pizza?

Piazza.

Yeah, that sounds.

All right.

I mean, are you mad that Asuzu did it?

No, not at all.

I just thought maybe they were marketing it in Italy.

I like that.

It's fusion.

It's world peace.

Automotive fusion.

I love that.

That's new.

Let's go to the new fusion dealership.

What about the woody model?

The Chivette did a woody model?

They really shit on it.

You know, there's the Canadian Akkadian.

I don't know what that is.

Well, it was the Chivette in Canada was called the Akkadian.

Oh, okay.

Did it also come out in the woody model?

Yeah.

Because it apparently didn't do, did it do good in Canada?

Well, one of the ads we saw in the video said the Akkadian, but it showed the

woodgrain.

Oh, okay.

I wasn't paying attention to that point.

I see.

I think.

I certainly didn't take a note on it.

No.

I didn't take a note on it.

The wood model was so cute.

It was really cute.

And that was with five O's.

And then they shit on it.

They were like, no.

Yeah.

It apparently didn't do well.

And they only, what, they didn't even release it for a year?

Yeah.

I guess it was like a year.

Yeah.

They said it was a wagon playing.

It was a hatchback playing wagon cosplay.

Okay.

Now it, yeah, but it got people mad.

There was controversy, controversy from other automakers who said they just

did that to show a lower advertised price and they don't actually intend to sell them.

Oh yeah.

I did hear that.

And they sold 5% of their total run.

Were those cheap?

Wait.

I thought that was the scooter.

Oh, that's the scooter.

My bad.

Yeah.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

All I had to say about the wood he was, it was cute.

And it was really cute.

It is cute.

And they kind of shit on it because they said it was too much wood for too little

of a car.

Yep.

But it did have.

Someone said that.

Which we thought was funny.

It is funny.

It's good.

Someone said an automotive journalist said that and it did have a luggage rack on top

which I thought really tied the package together and it did have wood grain probably sticker

on the inside.

Yeah.

Paneling.

But the scooter.

Okay.

You gotta talk about this car.

I love the scooter.

The Chevette scooter.

Yeah.

It had no glove box.

Open glove box.

It opened glove box.

Fiberboard door panels.

Door poles instead of arm rests.

That's fine to me.

Door poles make more sense.

I didn't think about that as an option that you'd save money on as a dealer.

No back seats.

No back seat.

Just a matte.

No.

Two-sitter.

Black carpet.

Two-sitter.

Stickers instead of badges.

Oh yeah.

Yep.

That's a real cheap way to go.

You don't think of cars with stickers very often.

Yep.

Oh and the passenger side had no sun visor.

Yep.

Blinded.

You know what I bet it didn't have to was a vanity mirror.

I was expecting that to follow and say like this became a popular fleet car or

something.

Yeah.

I know it didn't.

You know I expected us to see like some plain white ones that like I don't know the post

office bot or who knows.

Yeah but it didn't right.

It didn't sell well.

Yeah.

Didn't see that.

Yeah.

But it was one of the cheapest new cars at the time.

Yeah.

That's something that Portland would do.

Portland would buy a whole fleet of Chewbets.

It would be the Portland city car.

Yeah.

The city that works.

Yeah.

In tiny Chewbets.

There's all those Priuses.

There's all like the parking Priuses.

Oh yeah.

There are.

Yeah.

Uh huh.

Yeah.

That's probably why it went 0 to 60 in 21 seconds.

Yeah.

And didn't the other ones get 29 so it was like 29 and 39 or is 29 city and 39 highway.

I'll believe that.

And it got like the reviews were good.

I would think so.

29 is great.

Yeah.

If you can wait.

It's great if you can wait and remember in 78 what they do.

I was going to say 79.

And the hood stops going down to the bumper and you have a grill now.

Oh okay.

I didn't like the grill so much.

I kind of like the grill.

I mean I liked it.

The hood goes down.

That's what a 55 Chevy looks like.

Try fives look like that.

The hood comes down to the grill opening.

Yeah.

I like that.

So it's kind of interesting that they did that.

It's very, very old school.

Yeah.

20 year callback.

What did they do in 77?

78.

They did the electro vet.

Oh.

Okay.

It went 53 miles per hour.

Top speed.

It's all electric Chevette.

We didn't look up what the speed limit was at the time.

So this was just, this wasn't a production car.

What year did I can't drive 55 come out?

Oh.

Because that's the whole like the advent of the 55 mile an hour speed limit is a part

of the gas crisis.

17.

I would say.

Yeah.

It's 678, right?

I'm going to just look up.

I'm going to save myself with the microphone.

Oh my God.

I was trying to get it closer.

Yeah.

Whoopsie.

Wind podcasting gets physical.

It's anything, but I feel like I'm melting the chair for an hour.

Just let your thoughts fall out.

Oh my goodness.

It's sitting on the mental toilet.

Okay.

According to the AI, it's all, it's an AI show.

So it's wrong.

That's fine.

According to Google AI, it was 55 miles per hour and enacted by Congress in 1974.

Okay.

74.

This one went 53 miles an hour.

So you can be sure in the electrovets to not get a ticket.

You would definitely get a ticket for going too slow.

For holding up traffic two miles an hour slower.

Come on.

Yeah.

I guess it's fine.

Come on.

I'll allow it.

Come on.

Again, this wasn't a production car.

They went 40 to 50 miles on one charge.

And it charged in a few hours on 110.

No.

It charged in several hours on 110.

Oh my God.

So you didn't have to have an electrician come over and wire it all crazy, which

is kind of cool.

Two legs.

Well, you know, it's, it's a whole nother outlet in your house where you could just take it

out.

Your garage has got plenty of, I mean, your garage also might have a washer and dryer.

So maybe you got a 220 out there.

I guess you do with a washer and dryer.

Sorry.

I'm just, yeah.

You just are obsessed with two.

Now the 110 is cool.

It's good.

You like two legs.

Yeah.

I use them every day.

You certainly do.

Yeah.

And you got nice ones.

Oh, thanks.

What I want to say about this is it has real fun graphics.

I love them.

It does have really good.

It's got like a yellow lightning bolt on the side.

It's got a lightning bolt.

It doesn't look like a, it's from 40s Germany.

Yeah.

It's cool.

It's fun.

And then it has, did it have orange stripes after that that were like reminiscent of the

lightning bolt kind of, but in stripes.

Yeah.

In stripe form.

Yeah, it's cool.

Yeah.

It's got good graphics.

Yeah.

It's neat.

I mean, you had a good, when we were talking about earlier, you had a good note about

like, you know, people don't like who killed the electric car.

Oh yeah.

Right.

Cause people, I think blame GM for who killed the electric, like the GM sort of killed the

electric car, but GM in the 80s put out two, they had two electric car prototypes.

This one and then the other, what was it?

EV1.

Yeah.

But they also did the.

Which was a production car.

Yeah.

EV1.

Yeah.

People actually drove those.

Yeah.

Sort of.

And then they did the Chevy van.

They did the early model van with batteries in it.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

So they did three.

Uh-huh.

And people say they killed the electric car.

Also, I've not seen that movie.

So I'm just speculating here.

Yeah.

Unreal.

I mean, yeah, it's like a click bait title, but.

Yeah.

Who killed the electric car?

They've been trying to build one for years.

Yeah.

I think that is a fair point.

Yeah.

It's kind of like saying aliens keep crashing on earth and it's like, really?

They traveled across the universe and they got here and they bailed.

Just a crash.

They blew, they're idiots.

Maybe they ran out of gas.

They just can't stick the landing.

They're like skaters.

Just keep it bloating.

Right.

No.

Yeah.

I think that's a solid one.

Just can't land.

Well, that's all I have to say about the Chevette.

The world's greatest car.

Yeah.

I mean, my grandparents had one.

I liked it.

Yeah.

Like I said, it was fun to ride it.

I liked the scooter.

I think that's what I'd get.

Yeah.

You definitely would.

The diesel option is kind of funny.

I mean, it really sounds like.

They really downsold it.

I mean, I helped a friend go look at a car to buy.

You know that I'd ask Faye Butler.

I was like, Katie, you know anything about these cars?

He's like, yeah, they're cheap and they're considerably louder.

He's like, to save money that there's less insulation.

And so you hear the transmission more.

And it was like a Honda or something.

And like once he told me that if it's like, you know, it was like cardboard insulation.

And you could, you were, you were listening to the engine and transmission.

And it's like.

Well, then you know something goes wrong.

Good.

Yeah.

But it just wasn't an aspect I really had put a lot of thought into.

Yeah.

Made a big difference.

It felt cheap.

Yeah.

It felt cheap.

Right.

Did it feel like you were driving a tune again?

It felt like a golf cart.

Oh, okay.

It felt like an insulated golf cart.

A barely insulated golf cart.

Carpet and cardboard.

Yeah.

And so like, yeah, it makes a difference in a cheap car when you like strip it down.

Insulated by a child.

But in high school, all my friends had civics and it stripped all the interior

out of them and all the door panels.

Oh, so they could go fast.

And the civic is known for going fast.

They felt like death traps.

Yeah.

I had a couple civics.

I had quite a few civics.

I think that's part of it.

Right.

You like make the car less safe.

So it feels faster just for being unsafe first.

I never stripped my interior down though.

I think that's how you start, right?

Yeah.

You get a Del Sol stripped the interior and people like, oh, you go racing this thing.

I had a friend that was selling his Del Sol.

And so like before he sold it, he was like taking off in every gear.

Oh, wow.

Like fifth gear.

Yeah.

Dang.

He's just staying on the clutch.

I was like, what are you doing?

He's like, I'm about to sell it.

So.

I'm just going to burn it up.

I mean, he did it.

I famously don't have a front passenger seat in my Honda Accord.

And I've had people ask me if it's for racing.

It is a heavy seat.

It is for hauling stuff though.

Yeah.

You're like, that seat's worth a tenth of a second.

Yeah.

Listen.

It blew all the clear off the damn thing.

It sure did.

It's gotten on left.

Poor car.

I didn't bring a lot to the table this time.

And once you brought out the Chevette, I was pretty stoked.

You were excited about it.

Yeah.

Because it's like in the category with like the Gremlin and the Pacer and the Vega.

Oh, yeah.

And the Pinto.

Yeah.

In that part where people were like, oh, they just made that scooter to make a

lower advertised price.

They're not going to sell any.

And then Ford came out with that Pinto to match.

Oh, yeah.

And it was.

It was $4 cheaper.

It was a $4 cheaper.

Yeah.

And it came with a back seat.

Yeah.

So for four bucks more, four bucks less, you got a back seat.

I wonder how many people's minds that changed.

Because Ford also, I mean, is it true?

Less cash, more ass.

Weren't they known for.

You got to make them go together.

Exploding.

The Pinto.

Yeah.

We had a Pinto when I was younger.

Yeah.

They said if you got hit in the back.

Yeah.

You always heard that.

Yeah.

But it says that the gas tank was close to the bumper.

And maybe it was closer than, I mean, my Trans Am is the best.

Yeah.

Lots of cars are like that.

Gas tank is in the back.

My car line.

You can just see it hanging out the bottom.

Oh yeah.

You definitely can.

I mean, that's a different breed though.

The original one didn't.

But like there's just a roll pan in front of it.

It's not like.

Well, I guess it wasn't bumper.

Not anymore.

Mine's got so much rake.

The gas tank would be on the hood of your car.

Do you think it would explode?

No.

I think the hood would cave in.

I think it might be.

A 22 gauge hood would just.

I think it might be actually hard to make a gas tank explode.

Well, you've got to get a spark.

And then it's got to be pretty hot for just a second.

Yeah.

Enough to reach the flash point and set off the vapors too.

Yeah.

I mean, maybe I just, I think Hollywood movies make us think that cars explode.

I think that's a lot easier than they do.

I think there's a lot of humor in The Simpsons with that.

We're like, Chief Wiggum is in the, he's in that beer stein outfit.

Outside the Duff Brewery.

You know, when Homer gets pulled over and Barney's like,

give him the breathalyzer.

Rest Homer for DUI.

And then this, Wiggum's like,

I think you can get this thing home and he's like,

sure thing, giant beer stein,

but he like hits Chief Wiggum when he's pulling off

and he rolls downhill inside the beer stein costume

and it gets to the bottom, it's a dream, it explodes.

So even in cartoons, it's exaggerated is what you're saying.

Yeah, definitely.

There's that episode of It's Always Sunny where Charlie

and Mack stage their own death and they try to explode a car.

They try to explode Dee's car.

I was going to say, is it Dee's car?

Yeah.

They can't do it.

Is it her new Range Rover?

No, that's what Dennis drives.

It's like a Geo Metro or something.

It's like a little car like that.

But they do put a grenade in it.

Then they also shoot the gas tank.

Just drains or what?

Yeah, just nothing happens.

Yeah.

Well, that's like in Jaws when they like he throws the tank

in the shark's mouth and shoots the tank or whatever.

Oh, yeah.

Oxygen.

I feel like people are like, no, that wouldn't happen.

So anyway, here we are to debunk the exploding car myth.

Yeah, it is funny though.

I feel like Simpsons does that a lot.

We're like, oh, there's one Simpsons where when Homer is

crusty and he hits the tree and then he like hits it so slow

he falls out delayed.

Like he hits the tree, the car stops, then he flies out of

the front seat and then like through the windshield.

Again, not an accurate description of what would happen.

Yeah.

And then he goes in and does the thing as crusty as he

does the birthday party.

It's to show how exhausted he is.

Like it's thrown through the windshield, gets up and goes in

to do the birthday party.

But yeah, they love that.

They have the, like when they're itchy and scratchy land and

Marge is like, well, like on TV, it's not an accurate

depiction of the violence that the kids are seeing and

getting used to.

They cut that cat's lungs out and next week he's on TV

breathing fine again.

And he's like, just like in real life.

Exactly.

That's a pretty long explanation, but let me get the point.

Now there's another one where Bart's like,

cartoons aren't released or just where a bunch of stuff

happens and whatever and somebody gets hit or

something like that.

Then Homer opens the door and hits Bart and he flies

across the room.

And those Simpsons.

Like when the, the suspension and disbelief is

sort of hijacked.

Yep.

Yeah.

I see that.

So what did you bring?

What did you bring?

Well, I wasn't going to ditch what I'd been doing,

which was watching locomotive videos.

Yeah.

We talked about that last night.

Yeah.

I've been watching a bunch of like the end of steam.

Oh, okay.

And what I thought was really interesting,

something I learned was that like our steam era

ended in the fifties and Britain held on and

Britain's era ended in like the eighties,

like the early eighties.

Oh, wow.

I think that went a long time.

And then like late seventies, early eighties.

If I'm getting that correct.

Cause they recognize that as their heritage,

but even they felt like they let go of it too soon.

And then China's steam age.

When do you think that ended?

The nineties.

Yeah.

Like when do you think they stopped using steam locomotives?

They still use them.

No.

Oh, okay.

The 1950s.

2005.

Oh, okay.

I was going to say 20 years.

Late nineties to early 2000s and I missed it.

Damn it.

I was right.

But I was wrong.

I was watching a cool like steam locomotive

compilation and had one from Portland in it right away

that I was like, I got to go see it.

And like it's free to go see.

Oh, cool.

The 4449 Daylighter, which was a train that ran

during the daytime from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

And it's a steam locomotive, but it's got these

Art Deco sheet metal sections added to it that

are orange and red and like run down the side of it.

And then the passenger cars are orange and red.

And it was designed that way to go with the like

ocean and mountain topography that it was going past.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

That sounds cool.

It's so cool.

It's such a pretty train.

Yeah, it sounds really pretty.

It just stays down here on MLK.

Oh.

Down where like the Pine State is on like division

or whatever.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it's like right by that.

I've never noticed a train just sitting there.

There's an Oregon Historic Rail Center.

Oh.

It's free to go to Thursday through Sunday.

Huh.

Didn't know that.

Yeah.

Never seen it.

Anyway, in that, there was on these like various tours

they were highlighting in this video,

they were two Chinese trains and they were two, five, two.

And like our biggest trains were the like the UP big boys

were four, eight, eight, four.

And that means that it's got four wheels up front

that are just steering wheels.

And then it's got eight drive wheels that are powered,

you know, by the locomotive.

Then it's articulated in the center for bends

because it's so long.

It's like 90 feet.

And then the description said longer than two 40 foot buses.

Why do you say how long it is?

So it's 80 feet.

Anyway, and then another eight drive wheels.

And then another four trailing wheels.

So four, eight, eight, four is our biggest train.

And then that was UP, right?

We had built Alco, American locomotive company,

made 20 of those in 41 and five in like 45

for Union Pacific Railroad.

China, the ones I saw in this video were two 10, two.

So two drive wheels or two steering wheels, I mean,

then five drive axles, you know, 10 wheels total

and then two trailing axle.

There's small wheels under the firebox.

And so...

What's the firebox?

It's where they've got their shoveling the coal into.

Oh, okay.

Like build the steam meeting against the water.

Okay.

One more question.

Trains have steering wheels?

Well, yeah, they're like, they can turn

and they're the front wheels to help them navigate the curve.

Oh, I kind of thought that the rails just sort of...

Well, that, yeah, it's not a steering wheel.

It's there.

The front wheels are called the steering wheels.

Oh, okay.

Because they can turn with the...

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

So nobody steers it.

Nope.

It steers itself on the tracks.

Flanges on the rails.

Yeah.

All right.

So we built 25...

Like UP had 25 big boys built, right?

Mm-hmm.

And then China had this train that they loved,

that they had basically figured it out, the 210-2,

which is different than anything we have, right?

We've just got four, eight, eight, four.

That's huge.

But the 210-2...

All right.

We made 25 of the UP big boy.

Mm-hmm.

How many of this 210-2 do you think they made in China?

We made 25.

Yeah.

Oh, they made at least 150.

Right.

And they ran until 2005.

Right.

2000?

4700 something.

Okay.

Well, I did say 2000 next.

4700 of the same train, basically.

That's a ton.

Is that because they're so utilitarian?

Yeah, I think because they use steam so much.

Wow.

Okay.

So steam always had somebody shoveling coal.

Yup.

I wonder how much coal they had to carry with them...

God, it was like...

...to get somewhere.

I forget which train it said.

How many train cars worth of coal?

It said 11 short tons of coal they could use...

Wow.

...in a trip.

How many cars do you think that was full of?

I don't know.

So do you think there was like...

How many people shoveled because you think somebody

shoveled from the front car

and then somebody probably had to shovel the other cars

or do you think that they funneled the coal to the front

or how did that work?

If it was multiple train cars,

how did you get the coal from the back?

I think it's just one giant coal car

to the front.

Oh, okay.

Typically.

But I don't know.

Or how many people got crushed by falling coal?

I don't want to think about that.

Okay, we don't need to.

But they would have to stop along the route

right and add water back to the train.

Yeah, that was my next question.

How much water?

So like the end of steam is the beginning of diesel.

So we go to diesel trains in the 50s

and that's when we saw like some of those really cool

streamlined design trains.

I love those.

I don't really like the faceted look of diesel engines today.

You know, they're just, I mean, they're just flat planes.

They look like tanks.

Okay.

It's kind of cool, but I love the rounded...

I can picture it in my mind.

Yeah, I could picture it.

I was picturing it.

I love the lights like the daylighter from here

like has this like gyroscopic light, you know,

it's like constantly weaving left and right.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, and it's a really cool light.

A lot of trains run it on the front.

Huh.

I think it helps with them spotting fog basically.

Yeah, yeah.

But there was a photographer and one that like talked about,

he said this thing, it really stood out to me.

He was like diesel and sit there and look fast

going, sitting still.

He's like, but steam.

He's like the connecting rods are moving.

The smoke is up in the air.

He's like, you know, the steam's blowing out everywhere.

There's oil.

It looks tough.

He's like, it's made for imagery.

It's made for photography.

Right.

Okay.

So he shot them at night as the steam era was ending.

He was like, I better go do it.

You know, they were starting to come out with like last days

for trains and he was like, I gotta go.

And there was another guy in England that painted them

at the end of their steam era.

A lot of neat stuff.

Yeah.

I mean, I love machines and these are the big machines.

They are the big, heavy.

I mean, the next step up would be ships.

And ships are really cool too.

Yeah.

But I just have always thought locomotives were,

I know you love a train.

Oh yeah.

They're just so neat.

They're really wild.

They're clever.

The fact that we figured all that out, you know,

the available power in latent heat, you know,

like there's one candle power from like, you know,

between zero and two 12, there's like, you know,

one match, one BTU per.

But then when you get,

when you pressurize the system and go above,

that's latent heat.

Yeah.

So there's all this additional power.

I don't understand anything you're saying.

You know, once you pressurize the system,

like radiator, right?

Like steam is pressurized.

Yeah.

So there's all this wild power available

based on how big they can build a boiler.

And they run them at like 200 to 300 PSI.

Which is like, you know, like 15 bar.

Yeah, it's got to be a lot of power.

Trains are real heavy.

Oh my God.

It's, well, and then that's like,

attractive power, you know, like the heavier it is

than the more traction the wheels have

when they're taken off.

Oh yeah.

So like some of these trains,

they're top speed,

like the big boys top speed is like 60.

It's pretty slow.

That's pretty fast, though,

for something so heavy.

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

I mean.

778,000 pounds.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then.

Kind of scary.

Then there's other trains,

like the 3751 from Santa Fe.

Like I kind of got on this

because Davis that I was on Mythbusters with

had posted the 3751.

And I was like,

I got to look that one up.

I got to see what the deal is.

And that was the Santa Fe 484,

I think is what that was.

That train runs 100 miles an hour.

103 mile an hour is the top speed of that train.

Can you imagine?

Wow.

Okay, I did see in that video

of the Portland Daylighter,

it looked like it was going 100

because there were cars on the highway

next to it, like on a country road.

Uh-huh.

It looked like they were going about 60

and this thing was just like

blowing them down.

Wow.

To watch that train

running like that.

Oh my God.

The connecting rods on the pistons.

They take so long to stop.

Yeah.

I mean, there are those bullet trains

in Japan.

Sure.

I know a lot of,

do they have bullet trains

in just Europe in general?

Or is it mostly like Japan and China?

I don't know.

I've only been to Japan, so.

Okay.

Have you been on a bullet train?

Yeah.

Does it blow your hair back

when it starts?

You don't even feel it

because you're just in

a very modernized cabin.

Oh, okay.

I mean, going by,

you're like,

yeah, we're going fast,

but I had turned on my GPS

on my phone.

It was 90.

Okay.

That's still pretty fast.

I mean, I've been,

I'll say this.

Maybe 150 or something.

I've had a number of

Econolines up to 92.

And that feels pretty fast.

Yeah, I bet.

I think that I had

Mr. Mustard about 100.

Wow.

With the straight axle?

Hort's topped out at 92,

like wound out.

Wow.

And mine,

when I had the Chevy 250,

same deal, wound out,

even with a three to one rear,

just like there was

nowhere to go with it.

It's just done.

Straight sixes.

It's pretty fast.

It was scary fast

when the windshield's right there.

My God.

Yeah.

Kind of a daredevil, aren't you?

I mean, it was just an open road.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

You just come off the pedal

and it's out in the desert.

Still seems scary.

It is scary

because you know

what a rink eating piece

of shit it is.

Yeah.

But yeah,

I imagine a runaway train.

Oh my God.

That's like the wreck

of the old 97.

How does a train

become a runaway train?

I don't know the answer to that.

Okay.

I guess not enough

brake for how much weight

or going too fast

and having to come in

to stop and not stopping.

I mean, that's what happens to

semis.

You have a brake malfunction

or they get too hot.

Yeah.

Brakes get hot

and you have brake fade

and then you stop

and that's a race car problem.

Right.

Brake fade.

Yeah.

Brakes get so hot

you're just like

it feels like ice.

That's why they

get so hot in this reverse.

Yeah.

The brakes just feel

like you're on ice

and then

that's why they run

ducting to the brakes.

Steve Dalsich

had done his own

he did like some vents

on the backs of his

backing plates

and people were like

making fun of him

because the welding

was kind of shitty

and he was like

whatever it took

300 degrees off my brakes.

Wow.

Now imagine like

NASCAR where they have

up at the spoiler

and they plummet back

to the brakes

to cool the brakes

down from the

very front of the car.

How does he know

it took 300 degrees

how would you measure that?

I'm assuming he used

an infrared thermometer.

Like so he had it

on a dyno and then

braked it.

No I'm assuming he ran down

the road, slammed on the

brakes, measured it.

Oh got out of the car

and measured it.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you lost a little bit

of heat

while you're running to the

back of the car.

I mean the

iron is shit conductor

so it doesn't cool off

that quick.

Oh okay.

He's got iron rotors.

All right.

Interesting.

You know they're

not doing anything.

No.

I was just curious about it.

Well I wondered that

when I first read it

I was like

I wonder how you

measured that

and I was like

oh you can get these

thermometers for like

$10.

You just

you just stop the car

and then run out

and measure it.

Yeah.

That's cool.

If you did the test

it's like

Jean would say

when we would

measure a car

and we'd like

be sintering out a chop

he'd be like

same guy

that way

if you're like

guy or same guy

do it.

Oh the same person.

Yeah.

The same guy.

Okay.

All right.

So that you're measuring

the way you measured it on

the other side.

Oh I see.

So like

if Steve got out

and walked to his break

then Steve's going to get

out and walk to his

break the same time.

Yeah.

So the test is the same.

Yeah.

Okay.

I was actually

breaking minus two seconds.

I was just thinking

that.

I'm not saying that

just to make me sound

smart.

Yeah.

Yeah basically.

That's how I was getting out.

Yeah.

It's the same guy.

Yeah.

Just do it the same way

and it's I think it's good

enough for practical science.

You're taking data.

Yeah.

And you got something to show

I feel like as long as

you tell people the

methodology.

Right.

You're like

I drove this fast

did this

whatever and then

cooled it

like would you go back

to the shop and cool it

down with the air

before the next one.

Yeah.

And then make sure you do

it the same again.

Agreed.

Or let it cool down

do it same day.

Same ambient.

That's how I'd go about

something like that.

Yeah.

That's how we would probably

do it on myth busters.

Like when we did

the chop on the van

we did keep all the stuff

we took off the van

like the mirrors

and whatever and like

we weighed all that stuff

like when we chopped it

we kept all the metal

that we cut out of it

and we weighed it

and it weighed a lot less

than you'd think.

Chopping it was only worth

like 50 pounds.

Oh wow.

That's not much.

I think well the roof

got longer.

Right.

Like a 14 inch section

of roof put in.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Because the car is wider

further down you go.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Or longer I would say.

It was wider and longer.

So it gained sheet metal

and lost sheet metal.

Oh yeah.

Because it's like a pyramid.

We took 12 inches out right.

We took 12 inch strips out

the full length of the van

but if I recall correctly

it was a window van.

Maybe it wasn't.

Oh yeah.

I feel like it was

but I don't remember.

I don't either.

Yeah.

Memories.

Yeah.

In one brain cell out the other.

Yeah I'm just yeah

that's how I would do my best

to try to like.

Okay here's the data

we're taking whatever.

Yeah.

Anyway locomotives

I love the design.

They speak to the era

they're from mechanically

speaking.

I mean diesel was just

cheaper.

Easier to maintain

longer intervals

between maintenance.

You know DC engines running

generators running

electro motors on the wheels.

Yeah.

So they're hybrid.

Yeah.

That's been the deal for long.

I mean some rail companies

had diesels they were just

the odds and ends

or they were switchers

to just move cars

around the yard and stuff.

So that's interesting.

I just love the designs

like Coop and I volunteered

at that railway

Orange Railway Museum

in Paris California.

His friend Kenny got us in

and we helped

we lettered

like the first car

that they got there

which was like the

Balboa Park.

They had say

they pounced it

they made a pattern

sorry.

They traced patterns

before they stripped the car

down

and then they rolled them out

for us.

They like had them Xerox

and they rolled them out

and Coop and I pounced them

and then take

it's a little wheel

that looks like a spur.

Oh, okay.

It puts holes in it.

You take a little sandpaper

and sand the little

hanging chads off of it

and then you use chalk

and you dust it

like you fill a sock

full of blue chalk

and go dust it

and then

we made it look

exactly the way it used

to look.

Wow.

That's so cool.

Balboa Park in the zoo

or something like that.

How much did you love doing that?

That was amazing.

Yeah.

And then they showed me

this other electric rail car

they're called different things

in different towns

like trolleys

and stuff like that.

So I remember what it was called

they showed me this trolley

they were doing

and they were like

this corner's torn up

and I was like

I do sheet metal

you want me to make

something like that

and so I made

a front corner

for this trolley.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

And they gave us a ride

on a steam locomotive

or they gave me

and Kristen

but I had gone back down

because they said

they'd take us out on one

they had a little

decent distance of rail

through town.

Oh, that's awesome.

It was amazing.

We sat there

with the fire box.

I was going to say

yeah, did you sit there?

Yeah, we sat in the locomotive

and they were sitting

there shoveling in

and it was.

Wow.

Was it intense?

The shoveling is a lot.

It was very hot.

It was so hot.

Yeah.

But they're probably

wearing long-sleeve shirts

and pants and stuff

for safety.

They're everything.

Gloves, denim overalls,

the whole usual engineer

fireman kind of look

you see.

And I think that the engineer

was a woman.

So we the engineer is at the

front and then the shoveler

is a different person.

Firemen's there

at the same place.

Engineers running the train

firemen's getting coal

into the boiler

into the firebox.

Are the firebox and the

engineer in the same train

car?

Yeah, they're standing

together.

Oh, okay.

So it's just hot all around.

Everybody's hot.

Sweaty.

Yeah.

That's what they talk about

in some of the videos.

In California where it gets

like 110 degrees.

Yeah.

Sounds intense.

I mean, yeah, they were working

hard to give us

just a fan trip, you know.

But it was cool.

Yeah, that's really cool.

It was neat.

I like it.

I don't know.

They're just the biggest

machines.

It's crazy.

I mean, they're scary

that way.

Yeah.

Like Tyler talked about

working in that train yard

and like this guy,

like his train was rolling

away and the guy like

for whatever reason put

his foot like putty.

Boy, just like a

thinking you're stopping

a car or something.

Yeah.

He said the guy was just like

I should go.

I got to go to the doctor

booth.

I wonder if he had to get

that part of his foot cut off.

Yeah, I don't remember

if it was crushed.

So I mean, there was another

guy that got his hand flattened

by a beam like that.

He's like, I just couldn't

see that stuff anymore.

He's like his hand just

looked like a bloody rag.

Wow.

So I mean, they're scary

because they're huge, but

they're really interesting.

Yeah.

I mean, that is like, I

wouldn't want to work in

on a train at all.

Like everything's heavy.

So it's like the danger is

so anybody working heavy

machinery.

Yeah.

And loud too.

Incredibly loud.

Best ear protection.

Kind of like your fancy

earmuffs.

I mean, I think that's

what I find interesting

about that kind of stuff.

It's just the like level

of mechanization it takes

to build that kind of

stuff.

I mean, the machining,

like the lathes in those

in the railhouses, like

they're just so big.

Oh my God.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, they are intense.

Yeah.

They have Ward Burton stuff.

They're at Orange Empire,

which was Walt Disney's

right hand man.

And he had a small scale

railroad that was called

Grizzly Flats.

And he gave it to them

when he passed away.

And so like they reassembled

his turntable or they,

maybe they built their own

turntable, but like

Coop and I spun

train around two people.

Whoa.

Because it's like

perfectly balanced.

So you just spin it

by hand?

Yeah.

By running it around?

Yeah, I just had big,

like four posts or whatever

and we just each grabbed

a post and just walked it.

Like an engine?

Just an engine car?

Or how many cars?

Just one.

It's an engine.

Oh, that's gotta be

so heavy.

That's insane.

Yeah.

It was amazing.

Oh, physics.

I mean, I saw that

in like lighthouses they

used to float the,

on mercury because like

something that's super dense

isn't as dense as mercury

so it floats on it.

You know, they'll do that

with like cinder blocks

and stuff.

Put it in a pool of mercury

and it'll just float.

So like yeah,

they used to put glass

from like a lighthouse,

the light bulb

or whatever the mechanism.

So it'd be easy to turn

without a bearing.

Oh, okay.

On a pool of mercury.

Whoa.

Yeah.

Turnt styles are

not on mercury,

but still

we had the technology.

Yeah.

Humans are smart.

That's wild.

Yeah.

I didn't know that.

It's neat.

Yeah.

There's just so much about trains.

I just think they're really cool.

I love the view of a train

just ripping along

out in the west.

Yeah.

Seeing like BNSF

blasting through like

New Mexico

against those planes

or like

against the rock.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

It's so beautiful.

I was on the road once

and there's this section,

I forget which state it's in,

and you're over the water.

You're on like a causeway.

And the train is too,

but the train's on the edge of rock.

Like they blasted it out

and the train's elevated

both sides of the highway

are uneven.

And so the train rides down

by this creek bed

is what it is.

And I was like

in the Akana Line

in Hortator

listening to Towns Van Sant

and a train's ripping through

and it's just dark enough

that it's got its light on.

Oh my God.

It was just,

it was so beautiful.

Wow.

And it's one of those things

like it was,

the road is way too windy

to be like getting a picture

or anything

just driving by yourself

is too dangerous to,

you know,

stop paying attention

to the road.

So you just have to enjoy it.

Just look at it

and try to remember it.

It's so pretty.

Yeah.

I feel like that's

sort of ingrained into us

like the western,

you know,

nature of like,

you know,

horseback riding

and trains side by side

as those eras end and.

Yep.

Train hold ups.

Yeah.

Steam,

steam turns into diesel,

you know,

and we,

cars kind of take over

and.

How would they make a train

stop with a hold up?

Would they like

blast dynamite

on the tracks?

And,

and like threaten?

D-rail them?

It takes,

so yeah,

but D-rail,

I don't know.

It seems so dangerous.

Yeah.

That are the,

I don't know,

get them at the station.

I feel like

in the movies,

they're doing it

out in the middle of nowhere.

That's a good point.

But that's also the movies,

which we.

They could blow up the track

and be like,

you know,

if you don't pull over,

you're going to wreck.

You can pull that train over.

Pull over.

They're just out there

with horses and gulls.

Pull over.

Pull over now.

It sounds like

a far side comic.

Oh boy.

On the note of far side comics,

Gary Larson doesn't like

people sharing

his copyrighted

on the tracks.

He's like,

oh boy.

It sounds like

a far side comic.

On the note of far side comics,

Gary Larson doesn't like

people sharing

his copyrighted art.

So,

he got,

he hassled

Reddit to like.

Oh,

because you love that.

There was a subreddit

that I followed.

There was.

Apparently he got mad

and

Reddit like took all the images

off of his subreddit.

So now people

are just

writing descriptions

of his comics.

Are you reading them?

Yes,

because I feel like

it's like this form of like

they're fucking with him.

How old is that?

Was that subreddit?

I don't know.

Not very.

Yeah.

But apparently he complained

and shit on his fans

and so they're like

they're just writing out

descriptions.

That's pretty funny.

Wow.

So he just wants you to buy it

and not talk about it

to each other?

Yeah.

Don't enjoy it.

Yeah.

Buy the calendar

that he doesn't want

to draw anymore.

That's too bad.

I don't know.

What do you think about that?

I mean there is like

artists.

He's fairly local

so I don't want to say

anything.

Have Gary Larson

turn up at my porch

middle.

To get on me

about what we said about him?

I mean at least

he was

he drew that coffee cup for

MC so.

That means

oh I didn't know that.

Yeah.

That means he was listening

to us though so I would be

honored.

I think he's a

Beaver State graduate.

Oh okay.

Dang did not know that.

Yeah.

Or he's over in Washington

across the river.

Okay.

Like a cougar or something?

Is that what their

college is?

Oh I thought

it was a cougar

Washington.

I don't know what

the college is called.

Anyway yeah

I think he's fairly local

so give us like

Jesus come after us.

Do you think somebody would

tell him

or do you think he's

actually listening?

He's listening.

Thanks Gary.

Gary Larson's out

there.

Anyway

pull that train over.

That's all I got

anyway.

I've just been

all up in my train

shit.

I feel like

that is that all we

that's all we brought to

the table.

I mean that's

that's you know we're

we've fulfilled you know.

We've talked in your

ear enough

people you know.

If you want more

go back and listen to

our catalog because this is

number 13.

Well thanks for listening

I mean.

Oh and thank you

for yeah we didn't

get any yeah we didn't

get any write-ins about

the last like two

odd rods so we

must have worn everybody

out on the topic.

Yeah we didn't

mean to you know

we were only covering

two cards

two cars

an episode

but we did

yeah it did take

you know.

And I do have

we're gonna just do

an episode on

which we don't need to

tell you about now

but here I am

we'll keep it yeah

we'll keep it under wraps

but it even has

some recent history

to add to it.

Oh yeah it does

so it's a good one.

Anyway

hope you enjoyed it

if you

had a chevette

please write in

and tell us

or if you used to

drive a steam locomotive

yeah then

really write in

and tell us

if you were a

shoveler especially

we want to hear

I mean I always

think of Tanner

when we talk about

I feel like Tanner

doesn't have a steam locomotive

no I don't think he does

we do have some announcements

although he and I

were talking about going to

a train museum

that's over on Russell

yeah I remember that

mm-hmm

we'll just

you should probably get on that

so maybe he does

have a locomotive

story

he might

he's a mysterious man

I don't know

if he's really that mysterious

but I thought

I would say that

hi Tanner

if you're listening

should we talk about

our announcements

that we have

for other people

van amounts

there are some van

events

activities

yes activities and events

Rolling Death Fan Club

has their annual

pumpkin run

it's Saturday October 5th

the meetup is

Park City Pub

at 10 a.m.

the cruise at noon

and it says come

gas up

yeah you can't get there

and then be like

I need to get

down to gas real quick

no because there's

no gas station

anyway that shit

like two days before

yeah

or a week

you got a gauge

I don't know if it's a

daily driver

just two days

probably got a gauge

yeah or if not

for sure fill up

by gas

you know

if you're not

filling up on the same

day every week

what the fuck

is your life like

support our economy

ask somebody else

to do that

the pumpkin picking

is at Bushells Farm

and you know

if you don't have a van

and you just want

to hang out with some

rad people

don't even think about it

well you can come to

Park City Pub

at 10 a.m.

and check out

all the vans

because they kind of

have a little van show

because there's a lot of

vans getting ready

to go on the

pumpkin run

and then there

was that

a show in

Bellingham

Park's over 11th

they did that

great commercial

vans

I don't remember

seeing that

oh you didn't see it

it's on Instagram

commercials

oh sick

it's good

yeah

it's well done

so what are we talking

about here

for the event

October the 11th

rolling coffins

Bellingham

yeah you didn't

start with that

you just said

vans vans

vans

that's not true

explain it to me

like I don't know

what's going on

that's not true

when you listen

back to it

and editing

you're gonna

see the error

of your way

I doubt it

you're gonna

that's in Bellingham

rolling coffins

I got three to nine

but I don't remember

where it's at

you look it up

look up rolling coffins

I didn't

I don't mean you

I mean like the listener

okay

you do a little leg work

if that sounds like

your thing

yeah if you want to

drive up to Bellingham

yeah it does sound

like a cool show though

get a little season

closer

outside of like

Vantababy

it's a nice

oh yeah

I really think it's

September, October

season closers

and it's about closed up

for the season by that point

yeah

and then you got your

hall parties

Vantababy's awesome though

I've only gone one year

but man

they really put it out

mm mm mm

mm mm

you've gone no years

no zero

but um

yeah they really did

zip

they bring it out

wow

but this rolling coffins

thing

yeah go up and check it out

it's a nice drive

we stop in Seattle

by some souvenirs

Bellingham's gorgeous

if you're so inclined

you can go to Canada

mm

you can really just make

a weekend of it

mm

oh

yeah

okay

on that note

great

you done been piled up

yeah you done been piled up

bye

oh we do have show notes

so

click them

cool condition

we'll have links to

buy your own locomotive

hahaha

you

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