The Ford Model T is a very old car from the early days of automobiles. It’s known for being one of the first cars that many people could afford. It often gets described by its vintage body style and simple, carriage-like design.
The Miata is a small two-seat convertible made by Mazda. It’s designed to be light and easy to drive, so it feels fun even at everyday speeds. People mention it a lot when they’re talking about a simple roadster style.
The Bronco is a Ford SUV made for driving on rough roads and trails. It’s known for its tough design and off-road focus. People bring it up when they’re talking about identifying a specific kind of classic SUV.
The Firebird is a sporty Pontiac car that was built for performance. Some versions have roof options like T-tops, which let you drive with the top partially off. People mention it when talking about a specific kind of muscle car with an open-air feel.
The Scion xB is a Toyota-made car with a very boxy, upright shape. The hosts mention it as an example of a certain style of driver, not as a technical review.
The Ford Festiva is an older, small Ford that was known for being cheap and basic. In this part of the podcast it’s mentioned mainly for the joke, not for performance or tech.
The wheel liner is the plastic cover inside the wheel well. It helps protect the car, and the host is talking about cutting an access opening to reach the headlight.
CAN bus is the car’s internal “communication network” that connects computers and sensors. The host is saying that this kind of modern wiring/tech can make it harder to work on the car or replace parts.
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Rose EP50 1: Wowee, welcome back. It's Wednesday, and you're here at the Pile
Emily EP50 1 : Please listen? Please. Well, it's working. People are listening. Yeah
Rose EP50 1: A darn right infallible act, that is, to celebrate your nephew's birthday. You made him an empty package as a gift?
Emily EP50 1 : No, I just, you just said it twice.
You Emily EP50 1 : Yeah Rose EP50 1: be real Rose EP50 1: We'll just do this one, though. Uh, Kyle was lucky to finance his fuel with the 50/50 raffle. But a good gambler says, "I'll, I'll just double my money real quick by, you know, gambling."
Emily EP50 1 : Mm-hmm.
Emily EP50 1 : No, Halfstro's stupid. Just, yeah, I got it. Half-astro.
Rose EP50 1: Yeah, the one when it was just me- Yeah ... and Brandon and Adam. Brandon showed up on his motorcycle. Adam showed up in his car. And then it was me and then, uh, a couple from, uh, Seattle who were super cool, and they were on their way down to Bend, and they had, like, got an Airbnb nearby just to come to Van Night. And then there was, like, one other guy, this young guy, and then some people in a lifted Astro, I think with that young guy. Bad showing, Rizzo. He was out buying a motorcycle
Emily EP50 1 : a plot and they sell an episode. Yeah. Uh, I was just gonna give it back to the club.
Rose EP50 1: four hours and some change. And I talked to Chad about the 318, and I said, "If you need a hand, I'll come up there and help you do the cam break-in."
Emily EP50 1 : Yeah, there was, used to be a Sears store in our mall here. Well, I'm s- we- there's more than one mall here,
Rose EP50 1: But then we also took a three and a half sweep, and we drew the line for the bottom of the rocker, and that means that's where we'll turn the edge over to go under the car, and that defines the bottom edge of the car. And I'd told Rizzo I'd been losing some sleep over that because the panels weren't necessarily...
And on ours, that is quite accentuated, and ours really has that, like, carriage... It, it's, it's a C-cab Model T. So it, it has a step-in door opening, and it's really got that, like, just post, uh, stagecoach, post-carriage. Uh, and the way that the body kinda sweeps up at the back, which is something that we drew out yesterday, is like, it really has, like, a kind of a sled look to it.
Rose EP50 1: it's another. That's-- Yeah. Well, it's custom, right? So anyway, we, we just got a bunch of, like... We moved lines around and basically tipped the back of the car in at the top, and this is basically just drawing lines and defining where the edges are. And then we made some pieces for the top, and now we can pattern and make a couple...
Emily EP50 1 : Pride Happy Pride People, some people just wanna make sure they're not driving one Rose EP50 2: Going, going... A lot of people say, "Don't read the comments." Everybody knows I do read the comments, and the place that I love to go to see how do the real people feel, where are people really arguing with bots, and where are bots really arguing with real people, and that's the comment section.
Rose EP50 2: I went around the block and, uh, I was already thinking Miata immediately. Like, I didn't tell you that, but I was immediately thinking Miata. That was top of my list, and then a Miata came down the street, and then there was a guy who looked straight as hell, Milwaukee Tools hat on. Looked like, you know, he was in his project Miata. Like, it was white and spray paint black, like, in places. But I was just like, it was meant to be.
Rose EP50 2: It keeps rolling ... I have, from this, from the Reddit thread that I was in- Yeah to support this, somebody, CheetahsNeverWin is the username here. This is a three-year-old thread, but again, I'm treating this like first-rate research. If it is first-rate research.
Rose EP50 2: think that's pretty solid. Uh, again, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna treat, you know, um, I'm gonna treat Reddit as gospel
Was he gay?" I, I think I did ask that. I know it wasn't... I mean, it's not a dig, but, um, I just think, I just like have to wonder, like, is it still scoring points in the community? Yeah. Um, and what are they driving in Zoolander when they have the gas fight at the gas station? Like, Rizzo, or I think Rizzo said that was like a Bronco or something
Emily EP50 2: little Jeep Rose EP50 2: First, my first thought on that is, like, The Simpsons, John Waters is in a convertible car, like the scene where he's like, "Zap," and he has the little toy gun. Uh, which I d- I believe winds up living rent-free in Homer's head, like the zap moment bothers him a lot. But going back to my Reddit thread, again, the gospel here, uh, goozyhero said, "Fun fact, at one stage in Canada when they were trying to find gays in the military in civil service, one of the 'signs,' in quote marks, of being homosexual was owning a white convertible car."
Rose EP50 2: Oh, really? T-top, huh? Firebird?
Emily EP50 2: Yeah. I'm gonna say that he, that's what he meant, 'cause Cabriolet is, is the gayest. Lauren said, "Whatever you're driving that day."
Emily EP50 2: I was just thinking because of the, the shape, the, the sh- the silhouette of it. Oh, yeah. And it's, like, kinda, like, compact and, like, uh, powerful
Rose EP50 2: That, talk about an ambiguously gay duo. Are they brothers? Sorry, I don't mean to, like, take it there if they're brother- I don't think they are,
2006 voted gayest car of all time by an international panel?
Rose EP50 2: yeah, like I just always think of somebody with like, uh, gauges in their ears and like basketball shorts driving the Scion xB, but it could be- Rose EP50 2: Who you know is a realtor. Um, well, there's one on the list here that, that he brings up that I thought of, 'cause I have no, uh, obviously again, no way to prove this, but like the Ford Festiva, just the name in general, and it's like
Rose EP50 2: I was a little embarrassed for you that you didn't know the ambiguously gay duo. I wasn't
Rose EP50 2: I read that. It was pretty funny.
Emily EP50 2: Oh, yeah?
Rose EP50 2: Uh, I, I, you know, I just wasn't sure how the list was gonna pan out, and I thought, "You know, if I got nothing, I'll lean on this," which isn't very funny at all. But, um, I just threw it in there. Uh, I... There is a-- Well, there was sort of a Michael Scott association with it where he tells this joke, like, trying to make a sale, and it's like, "What do these three people drive?"
Rose EP50 2: Yeah I mean, there, I guess there are some endorsements, you know, with some of these, like the Miata and again, the, the Peugeot.
Rose EP50 2: Well, and, and then a couple just these last two I just, I nabbed off. They were on the Reddit list, and I thought these were good contributions, which somebody was like, obviously the Ford Transit is the, uh, trans car, and that the, uh, the NB car... Or no, the bi, the, the bi people car is the bicycle. Bicycle.
Nuh-uh." All cars are gay. "No, I'm not. I drive a truck. I mean, shut up." Listen, that's science. That's science right there. That's, that's You can, you can write in, you can comment. We'll take more comments.
You learn so much about yourself and your craft by diving into those projects that make you a little nervous. My mentor, Hot Rod Jimmy, always said, 'If you find yourself not learning something new every day, big or small, maybe you're not interested in the craft anymore.'" Second time we've heard from Hot Rod Jimmy.
And I was like Damn us for just living our lives. I- it's nice to share it, but, like, we just get in here and we just work on it. And then at the end I'm always like, "Oh, we didn't... All we have are pictures," and everybody kind of... People seem to really like video or, like, respond to video, 'cause they want more information about what the hell they're looking at. But i- in the very classic sense of hot rodding is hanging out with your friends in the garage, Rizzo and I just get in here and just do stuff. And, um, anyway, that's a, that's a mountain to climb, building a body. It's something I've wanted to do for a while. We're like...
Um, and in a sense they're not. But, um, I mean, of course there's some welding to come and such, but a- anyway, I'm with you. I'm, I think anybody, you should be going after those projects that are a little scary. Now, Chris, Trees and Nails, wrote in and felt like the, uh, kinda took a side with me. Uh, really resonated with the episode.
But, um, Chris was like, agreed that the older methods, uh, and that's, I guess that's, like, something I didn't really elaborate is that I just, I like some of the old-fashioned ways. I don't mind polyester fiberglass. I like casting. I like silicone molds. Um, I wanna do some aluminum casting. That's a, that's one that is up in my head that I wanna get into, but I don't mind some of the old-fashioned stuff.
Rose EP50 2: I t-- which I totally, yeah, I totally agree because what I said was that I was like, "Yeah, I like their designs. Um, I just, I think the packaging is garbage." And he, the, uh, Sinister Customs said, "For sure they don't even get a place on the list when considering dealership window shopping for me anymore."
Rose EP50 2: That's, that's wh- that's where I'm like, old cars Yes. And so I said, "Why don't you come down to my shop?" So he's like, "Yeah, I'll be there." So he comes down to the shop, and it was... It needed... It seemed like a hole through the wheel liner, the wheel tub liner, would be the thing to do, would give you a straight shot into the headlamp. Yeah.
Rose EP50 2: Like, okay, so the deal with the, the Jeep Compass was that, like, you needed to be able to grab the light and twist it. Uh-huh. But they put a support strut where your hands, where, where, like, your f- your forefinger and your thumb would make a V to grab this thing and twist it.
Rose EP50 2: If that were my car, I would be making a, a, a door in the wheel liner to put my hand through it and do the headlight bulbs. And then there were these, like, xenon bulbs. They were huge, like big metal square, like, so you can barely get your fingers in it. Yeah. Uh, and also very expensive
Rose EP50 2: I just, I just, I'm not crazy about all these like CAN buses and stuff Rose EP50 2: So that's like the be- the beginning of its old life is seven years, is what I'm saying. Just, just, you know, just to give it some context.
Rose EP50 2: Yeah. I mean
About this episode
The hosts riff on online stereotypes and “what do these people drive?” lists, tossing out quick car associations like a Miata and debating which body styles feel “gayest.” The conversation then shifts into hands-on garage talk: how headlight access works on a Jeep Compass, including needing to grab and twist the light, and the frustration of modern CAN-bus electronics. They also describe xenon bulbs as physically huge and difficult to reach.
