Tom Gale is named as one of the people responsible for designing the car concept. The hosts are treating him as a key creative influence on how the car was supposed to look.
The Shelby Cobra is a classic sports car known for being fast and exciting to drive. It’s famous for its racing-style roots and distinctive look. People mention it because it’s one of the best-known performance cars from the past.
A V10 is a type of engine with 10 cylinders arranged in two groups that form a V shape. More cylinders often means it can make more power and feel smoother when it revs.
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders arranged in a V shape. Here, they’re saying the bigger V10 concept was based on the V8 parts or design they already had.
Term
double takes
They’re describing a styling intention—making the car so noticeable that people can’t help but look again. It’s about the visual design, not a mechanical feature.
The front fender is the outer panel around the front wheel area. The hosts are talking about how the shape and seam lines were designed to make the car’s look stand out.
“No frills” means the car’s interior is kept simple, with fewer gadgets. The hosts are saying it’s more about raw driving and power than fancy features.
Bob Lutz was a top car executive at Chrysler. The hosts are saying he was really into fast cars and even got access to a Lamborghini Countach through the company.
The Lamborghini Countach is a legendary supercar from Italy. The point in this story is that the Chrysler Viper was being designed to have a similar “feel,” and the Countach is treated like the gold standard.
The Detroit auto show is a big car event where companies show off new cars. The story is saying the Viper was introduced there and people reacted strongly.
A deposit is an upfront payment you make to reserve something. In this story, people sent money early to show they wanted the Viper before it went into production.
The Dodge Viper is a famous American sports car. It’s known for being loud and powerful, and people still talk about it even if they only saw one in real life or as a toy.
The Plymouth Prowler was a quirky, retro-looking sports car from the late 1990s. The hosts mention it because it helped Chrysler build a more exciting reputation during its comeback.
Stock options are a way companies pay employees with a chance to buy company shares later. If the company’s stock goes up, those options can become very valuable.
The Dodge Magnum was a Chrysler-era car that people associated with a more rugged, sporty style. The hosts bring it up as an example of Chrysler branching into more interesting models.
The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a retro-styled compact car from the early 2000s, famous for its “mini wagon” look and popularity with buyers who wanted something that felt different from typical sedans. The hosts mention it as a model Chrysler tried to build quickly for younger buyers, but couldn’t produce fast enough.
Gas and diesel engines work differently mainly in how the fuel gets ignited. Diesel engines usually rely on squeezing the air a lot so the fuel ignites on its own, while gas engines use spark to ignite the mixture.
High compression means the engine squeezes the air more tightly than a typical gas engine. Diesel engines use that squeezing to help the fuel ignite without needing a spark.
Term
diesel requires no source of electricity
The host is saying diesel engines don’t need spark to start combustion because they use compression instead. Even though modern diesels still use some electricity to start and control things, the “ignite the fuel” part isn’t done with a spark plug.
Diesel engines don’t use a spark plug to light the fuel. They squeeze the air so hard that it heats up, and when fuel is injected, it ignites by itself.
Flashpoint is the heat level where a fuel mixture becomes easy to ignite. In a diesel, the engine makes the air hot enough that the fuel ignites when it’s injected.
Volumetric efficiency is a measure of how well the engine can pull in air. If the engine can’t get more air, adding more fuel won’t keep making power efficiently.
Overly rich means the engine has more fuel than it can burn cleanly with the air available. That usually doesn’t make power better and can create soot and pollution.
Term
common six BT
This sounds like a specific diesel engine the speaker is talking about. The main idea is that some older diesels can run with very simple starting needs, compared with gasoline engines that rely on spark.
Term
one wire
“One wire” is slang for a very simple wiring setup. The idea is that you don’t need lots of electronics to get the diesel running—just enough to power the starter and basic controls.
The Rabbit is a small, everyday car. The podcast is talking about a diesel version, and the warning is basically not to let it run completely out of fuel. With diesel cars, running dry can make it harder to restart.
A diesel injection pump is like the engine’s fuel pressure controller. If air gets into the fuel system, it can stop the pump from delivering fuel properly.
People sometimes run certain diesel trucks on vegetable oil instead of regular diesel. The hard part is making sure the fuel lines and filters can handle it without breaking down or clogging.
If you run vegetable oil, you need fuel lines made from materials that won’t get damaged by that oil. The wrong hoses can wear out faster and cause leaks.
“Energy per gallon” means how much “useful power” the fuel has in each gallon. If one fuel has more energy per gallon, it can sometimes go farther for the same driving.
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car, and the diesel versions are known for getting good mileage. The podcast is talking about how far it could go on a tank and how diesel owners manage fuel. It also mentions using “veg,” which suggests experimenting with different fuel sources.
Concept
alternative fuel idea
An “alternative fuel idea” means using a different kind of fuel than what most cars normally use. In this story, people tried it, but it didn’t last because it was complicated and not everyone liked it.
They’re talking about the plastic containers people used to hold the cooking oil. Even if the oil is free, you still have to deal with what to do with the empty containers afterward.
Boring is when a shop machines the inside of the cylinder to clean it up or make it bigger for new parts. It’s part of rebuilding an engine when the cylinder is worn.
Term
500,000 miles
The speaker is saying diesel engines can last a very long time—hundreds of thousands of miles—if they’re taken care of. How long they last depends on maintenance and driving conditions.
Here, “maintenance” means keeping the truck’s systems working correctly. The speaker’s point is that poorly maintained trucks can pollute much more than well-kept ones.
“Rolling coal” is when a diesel spits out a lot of thick black smoke on purpose. It’s basically a way to make the engine burn in a very smoky, polluting way.
Concept
diesels are easier on the environment
The speaker is talking about the common idea that diesel cars might be better for the environment. But the point they make is that diesels can still create serious pollution, especially if they’re not maintained or if emissions controls aren’t working.
EPA is the U.S. government agency that regulates pollution. When people talk about car emissions, the EPA is the group that makes the rules and enforces them.
A catalytic converter is a device in the exhaust that helps clean up the car’s fumes. If a car doesn’t have one, it can break emissions rules and lead to penalties.
Miles to the gallon (MPG) tells you how many miles a vehicle can drive using one gallon of fuel. Higher MPG generally means you use less fuel for the same distance.
Idling means the engine is running while you’re stopped. Drivers and operators sometimes leave it on so the vehicle can keep running systems (like heat or power) without restarting.
In a series hybrid, the engine mainly makes electricity, and electric motors use that electricity to move the vehicle. The engine isn’t directly connected to the wheels like in a normal car.
Torque is the engine’s twisting force. It’s what helps the car get moving quickly, especially at lower speeds.
LIVE
It is Friday. It's Friday. Do you know what that means? It's the brain bus. It's the
brain buster. It's the day where Emily and I put our differences aside. We stopped gritting
our teas at each other and recorded another show. That's right. The grudge match that never ends
by the two co-hosts that can't stand each other. Adam Savage and Jamie. Wait, that's myth busters.
Sorry. That's not us. What is he? They don't like each other? No, they don't. Oh, do they talk about
push each other's buttons? Do they talk about that openly or? Yes. Oh, are they being serious?
They've got a whole other lifetime of content out of it. Oh, I bet. Oh, Adam all the time is like,
the one thing, I love Jamie, but the one thing that Jamie... It's like weekly. Okay, so it's a
love hate thing? Well, Jamie doesn't push shit. I feel like online. Oh, Adam is always like...
Talking shit about him? Seemingly every week on his Instagram, he's got another like,
you know, I love Jamie and here's the thing, but you know, we would do these and I'm like,
oh my God, man. Let him go. Wow. Well, okay. Well, folks, you didn't come here to listen to myth buster
trivia. You came here to hear the answers to the questions that we posed last week. That is not why
people tuned in. Why did they tune in? We're going to read the lotto. I thought about buying a lottery
ticket the other day and then I was like, it's such a futile, futile, frutile. It's such a frutile
thing to do. Is that the wrong way to say it? Resistance is frutile. Is it futile? How do you
say it? Fue tile. tiles here. Fruit tile. Yeah, I was going to say you could throw
$5 down the toilet too. Yeah, exactly. It's fun to gamble sometimes. I mean, people win. It's fun
to gamble sometimes. People do win. You know, I read in a psychology book that people who lose a
limb and people who win the lottery report about the same quality of life six months later.
I heard that winning the lottery isn't like what you think it would be,
but then you're like, no, I would be different.
You'd be like that Joe Walsh song. Everybody's changed and I've stayed the same. Yeah.
Except for now I'm a million, a millionaire times over. Well, you know, there'd be some loans.
You don't get all the money at once though. Why not? I think maybe you can do a lump sum, right?
Yeah, you can get it all at once or you can get a trickle. I think the lump sum though. I think
if you get it all at once though, it's not as much as it's supposed to be. It's not because of the
taxes. Oh, right. Okay. Or you do a trickle. Yeah. What would you do? Trickle or lump sum?
Oh, I totally do the trickle and then I'd be like, I'm going to live off that much money every month.
I feel like Brewster's millions where he has to figure out how to spend
like this much money before a certain time, but have nothing left to show for it.
Is that a movie? Yeah. Sounds kind of fun. Richard Pryor. Oh, I've not seen it. His like,
his grandfather is a millionaire or something or his uncle and somehow he's going to inherit
the fortune, but by a certain date he has to not tell anyone he has the money, spend this much
money every day and have nothing to show for it. Wow. That sounds fun. It's pretty complicated.
Okay. Yeah. I kind of want to see that. What's it called Brewster's millions? Yeah. Millionaire?
Brewster's millions? Yeah. All right. Richard Pryor. All right. Ever heard of him? I have.
Okay. Yeah. Definitely. Don't know much about him. He's black. Heard about him. I knew that.
I knew he was black. Said his hair on fire. I like Michael Jackson. This is one things that
people don't like to let down. Did he set his hair on fire? Yeah, I guess so. On purpose?
I don't even remember. Oh, okay. All right. I know that that's
like a people like a rag on him for that. Oh, huh. Well. One of the greats, Richard Pryor.
Yeah. Welcome to the Brain Buster. Welcome back to the Brain Buster. Sorry. We're getting
the way off of the leads. Trivia all the same. Off topic. Well, hey,
you had an answer. You had at least one answer for your question from last week.
I did. And you know who it was? It was the faithful Joe Rizmo. Oh, I thought you got two in there.
I thought the one was just for you and I didn't get the other one. Wait, no, you got two. You
got three answers. Oh, I didn't see that. Where were they on? The comment section? No, they're at
the bottom of our shared note. Are you in our shared notes? Yeah, that's from the comment section.
I didn't see those. Oh, yeah. From the comment section. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So you got
three answers. No, my iPad's kind of on the fritz. Oh, so you can. 221 for life and Mopic
Camera Guy. Is that, is that as? Yeah. My Mopic Camera Guy. Yeah. Do you want me to read them for
you? Those are both regulars also. Just a note. Yeah. Regulars in the scene here. Thanks for coming
back. Should I read them for you? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Mopic Camera Guy said had to be 89 and I
think it was in January. Oh, whoa, doubled down on a date. They're getting specific. Very specific.
Okay. And then 221 for life. Oh, that's a tough one. I graduated the year they were released.
So the concept guessing five years prior, but he doesn't say what year he graduated. So we can't
do the math and say what was the five years prior. So he doesn't want us to know what the actual
answer is. And I even asked him, well, I said something like that's a math question,
but what year did you graduate? No, he did answer. I can't remember what he said. He said
mathing or something. He didn't answer with the year that he graduated. And then Rizzo, do you
want me to, there's another one for 1989. Okay. He thinks. Um, he didn't seem assured. The question
of the Dodge wiper come out. The Dodge wiper. Well, if we were in Germany, we'd change W's and V's.
Oh, okay. So it would be the Dodge wiper. It sounds like toilet paper. Viper.
So when you call it wiper, when you call it wiper, it's sounding like something to do with poo.
It's like the Jaguar and the Viper. Um, so listen, the truth is, once again,
ace up his sleeve, Joe Rizmo, 1989, but Moped camera guy also knocked it out. Yep. Um, and
I don't know what year, uh, if it was in January, you don't know what month. Oh, high school. Was
that in January? I'm not sure. Okay. But I think it is, uh, because Adorama is in December. And
then I feel like the new car show rolls up right behind it. But I don't know for sure. Yeah. If
it's a new car show, I guess that would make sense to be in January. Yeah. Um, and 221 for
life is just giving us an, uh, an answer that we can't get the answer to. Well, listen, partial
credit. There's no numbers in there. Partial credit. Yeah. Yeah. Rizzo coming through hard with
the good, I just thought that was a good one. If people would remember when the concept came out,
because Chrysler was crapping their pants at this time. They were, they were making really stale
cars. Uh, like we talked about before, Japan just whipping the American sales market and making just
boxy, shitty lame cars, which I think, I mean, sometimes when you read about these guys who
are like design freaks and then the stuffy shit that marketing is like, no, this is what people
are going to buy. Um, it, it's just sometimes you're just like, how, why did that come out?
Right. Or that's what people wanted, but they needed to prove that they still had a pulse.
Yeah. And, uh, Tom Gale, uh, is sort of the designer and Craig Durfee. And what the idea of the car
was was like a, it was, um, basically like a Dodge Shelby Cobra, you know, a Dodge version of the
Shelby Cobra. So an update to the Shelby Cobra and Dodge was developing a big eight liter V10
for the trucks at that time. Right. They're like, let's slap that in there, which is
made from two V eights and two V eights, huh? Yeah. Which did they each get cut off a couple of
it's uneven cylinders or was it V10 though? It's a V10. Yeah. So which, which one got cut off the
cylinders? I don't know. Okay. I'm going to say it's three and two
is my guess, but it is, it's based on a V eight that they had. Yeah. But yeah, that's the lore
is that it's made from two V eights. Interesting. I don't know that it's, you know, I don't know
that it's necessarily like factually like, Oh, they silicon bronzed two cast motors together.
Like, I'm assuming they, they put them together to make a mold off of the combination of a core
that already exists is what I think that means. And then the same thing with the head section,
the head. So it's a platform they already had. So they, they wanted to do this, the Shelby update.
Craig Durfey wanted people to make double takes at the car. So there's an obvious break between the
front fender and the door, which is where the door dips really hard behind the front fender.
Yeah. And that was done intentionally so that you would like double take at the car.
But I saw a video pretty recently that was a look at the inside of the car where it was just sort of
like really basic gauge set and no frills. Like I'm not sure if there's even a radio inside the car.
What? Yeah. That's weird. Yeah. Yeah. Super no frills. I can't remember the details of the video
I saw, but it was like a really basic gauge set. Just a raw power car was the deal.
Yeah. Interesting. Oh yeah. So they were just like kind of race car inside just nothing didn't
need to have anything. Pretty much. Yeah. And the thing was, you know, Bob Lutz was a chairman
at the time and Lutz was like a speed freak. And he would sometimes borrow a Lamborghini
Countach from the Chrysler engineering department. So apparently they just have bad ass cars in this
table. You know, if you need to go out and think about something, you need to go to the grocery
store. Yeah. So they wanted it, they wanted it to handle like a Countach. And so sometimes it says
that he would like, you know, on, you know, quiet mornings when there weren't a lot of cars on the
road, get the Countach up to 140. Just to wake himself up. Yeah. And that's what they wanted
the Viper to be like. And so they debuted it in the, at the Detroit auto show in 89.
And it moved people so much that they started mailing in thousand dollar checks as a deposit.
And the checks were made out to Liya Coco. Oh, okay. And they sent, they sent all the checks back.
But they were like, okay, let's put this car in production. Like let's make some. Yeah. Yeah.
That's so awesome. The people were just like, here's the money. Yeah. So they built it. There must
have been a little note that came with that too. That was like, Hey, this is for a down payment on
the Viper. It was probably like, Hey, man, I'm poor concrete only fucking car. Probably like blue
collar people are like, that's badass. You know, cause like when they, like even in this book,
when they talk about Carol Shelby, they're like Texas chili cook, Carol Shelby.
What, um, could a blue collar worker afford this car?
Uh, I think there were 90,000 or something. Oh, okay. So reasonable.
Yeah. Well, you've just got to think that like, I mean, like when did they come out in the 90s?
Yes. So I think that somebody, I mean, the concept's 89. And then yeah, they put it out
into production shortly thereafter. Okay. But I don't know the year exactly, but it was, they got
on it. Um, because it did make a difference for them. And I remember the Viper as a kid. I'm pretty
sure I had a Viper model. I know I had a prowler model, which we just talked about the prowler,
but I'm pretty sure I mean the Viper and the prowler to me, Oh, I know what I had. I had a,
there was a show Viper that was like kit, but it was a Viper and it had a red light in the dash
because it was like a sentient vehicle. And I had a slot car set of Viper, which was cool. It was
one of the coolest things I ever got as a kid. It was kind of amazing that I got it. And when you
would run it around the track, the red light would light up inside the windshield. Oh, interesting.
That's cool. So like these things, yeah, I mean, these were like, I mean, I was born in 87. So I
was two and the concept came out, but like as a kid, I wanted to, I thought the Viper was cool.
I wanted to play with the Viper, you know, as the slot car set. So I mean, yeah, that's a big deal.
Yeah. So the Viper and the prowler are part of what brought it back. I mean,
part of Chrysler's story is they were so poor at one point they couldn't pay people
and they paid people in stock. And then when they finally made their turnaround,
there were more millionaires walking around at Chrysler than any other company in the nation
because of their stock options. And like, so then they just were making fun cars.
Yeah. You know, that's how you get things like the Magnum wagon and stuff like that and all these
these cool, the PT Cruiser wound up taking off. They thought that would be popular with young
kids and it wanted to be in the ultimate boomer car, but they could not build them fast enough.
Yeah. So I mean, Chrysler does have a really good comeback story. And I think the Viper and
the prowler are a huge part of that. What about your question? I did see a Viper in real life.
Really? Yeah. You don't see him that often.
Yeah. Well, what's funny is this is back when I used to work at the snowboard camp
in government camp. Back when you're breaking rocks in government camp. In Gavi.
Yeah. This snowboarder, Jim Ripley, he had one. Jim Ripley. And he was a jock turned snowboarder.
And that wasn't like, that wasn't, that's not like a diss. It was like, he talked about it in
interviews and stuff. He grew up playing football and all that jazz. But yeah, he, he got, he had a
Viper. So you'd see him rolling around in it. That is not a daily driver. I feel like he was
using it as a daily driver. That's bananas to me. Somehow we got his snowboard. He must have had,
I don't know how he brought his, all his gear to come up and go riding. That's baller shit.
For real. Yeah. So that's when I saw, I think that's the only one I've ever seen though.
Did they make very many? No, there's not very many. Okay. I mean, it was low production.
And they, they, the funny thing, you know, like the prowler, this is what I think is funny is
that it's the Dodge Viper. I'm surprised it's not the Chrysler Viper because Chrysler is a little
more upscale. Right. Like Dodge is like their truck brand. Right. Yeah. Well, I guess you've
got like the Dodge Magnum, but I just, you would think that a, like a project car like that for
them would be a little higher up, but it's not. Whereas like the prowler was like the Plymouth,
which was there like, you know, in the 60s and 70s was like supposed to be there like for kids brand,
their teen brand. The Plymouth. Yeah. And like the, the prowler was like, they were trying to like
spice up the Plymouth name because they were doing things with Dodge. Yeah. You know. Interesting.
I wonder why they decided to do that. Yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm just surprised that it is,
I'm surprised it's not a Chrysler Viper. It doesn't sound good. Dodge Viper. Dodge Viper
sounds good. Chrysler Viper doesn't sound good. It doesn't. Maybe that was why. Maybe they were
just like, listen, they probably figured that out first, first time saying it. Somebody was,
they were in the meeting and then they were just like, you know, Chrysler Viper just,
it doesn't roll off the tongue. The Sebring, the Viper, the Intrepid. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do Dodge.
Let's do Dodge. Well, my question last week was, what's the difference between gas and diesel engines?
And first I got in here, Rizzo, again, long time listener, first time caller.
Diesel's have no ignition system and run on high compression alone.
Solid. Solid. Yep. Okay. And then we got Mopic Camera Guy. This is Mopic, right? Yes. Mopic
Camera Guy. Biggest fundamental difference has to be that diesel requires no source of electricity
to operate. It can be a fully mechanical system. Now I thought that was really cool and I thought
about it and I was like, I think he's right. I tried to poke a hole in that and then I was like,
well, if you had a crank start on it. Oh yeah. I mean, it's pretty high compression, but I guess.
Yeah. So you start it with the battery and then you take the battery out.
Yeah. What if it's a five speed and you push- What if you roll it downhill? What if you roll
it downhill? Yeah. Totally. Pop to clutch. So that's maybe- I mean, you can do that with a,
you could do that with a points car, but you would still have to have a battery to run the
ignition system. Right. But not with a diesel, right? No, because it uses compression to reach
the gases, the fuel air mixes flashpoint. Right. Yeah. For those that don't know, some gas mixtures
many have a point of compression that they would explode. Yeah. And that's what they're doing.
They're running a much higher compression and then that's how they're reaching the point of
ignition without spark. Yeah. That's always fascinated me that it's so crazy that they like
just are compressing it so hard that it, you don't need a spark. But what I also learned
while doing the research on this is that in the intake stroke, they don't, there's no fuel that
goes in. It's just air. Did you already probably knew that? No. Yeah. They're just compressing air
and the fuel goes in at the last minute when the air is too combustion temperature.
So probably much like a spark would when a spark, you know, one of the things that people love
about a diesel is that like, you can just keep adding fuel. You can just keep making power by
adding fuel. I mean, they're just such powerhouses because they will just like, if you allow them
to take in more air, you can add more fuel to that and just keep making power with it.
Isn't that with, is that not with a lot of cars? If you put more air and put more fuel,
you'll get more power? Yeah. I mean, at some point you run out of volumetric efficiency
and you're overly rich, but for diesel, I don't know. I mean, I can't explain that super
elaborately because I don't know very much about diesel, but I worked at this rod shop with a guy
that put a common six BT, which people love because it's like a one wire. You just like,
like the commentator said, you know, you have a starter to start it up and that's it. And then
it just goes. Yeah. And, um, and that was sort of what, uh, that guy would talk about. He's like,
oh, you just, you just keep adding fuel, keep making power with him. And so people make enormous
power. Yeah. They have crazy torque. I really, I'm, I'm just not schooled in diesel. Well,
I got a whole bunch of facts. I mean, okay, well, I'll give you, I could give you a few.
Well, I don't run them out of fuel. I would imagine
bleeding the injectors as a huge, on the farm, that was a big thing was like,
do not run the tractor out of fuel. Okay. Because you have to bleed the fuel system.
Oh yeah. I've heard of that. I had my friend, uh, my BFF in high school had a rabbit and she had
a diesel rabbit and you weren't supposed to run it out. She never did. The same guy from the rod
shop, his dad worked at the train yard and as a machinist, and he said that it would take,
like after a rebuild on a locomotive engine, that it would take them like a full eight hour shift
to get it bled and fired up. I feel like I've commented that and some people are like, maybe,
maybe not, but that's a long time. It's a lot of work. Wow. Uh, I wonder why that's weird.
That seems like, well, yeah, you get, you just get air in all the lines and the, I guess,
into the injection pump. Yeah. But that might be an oversimplification for a locomotive. Yeah.
Maybe, maybe not. Um, and then 221 for life said, oh geez, that's a tough one to keep
simple. Diesel ignites via compression, not spark. I'll stop there. Oh, keep going. Well,
that's where he's stopping, but I'm going to keep going. Um, let's see. So yeah,
diesels use heat and pressure to ignite. Diesels can run a vegetable oil. Sure. Yeah,
that's really cool. Um, I have a couple of friends that have had a lot of success with
veggie oil trucks. And really the hardest thing is to, um, get the proper hoses that,
because the oil eats up the hoses. So to be able to keep your hoses going is the biggest, um,
hurdle to that. Otherwise it runs, they run great and it smells like french fries a little bit.
It's got a, got a vegetable smell. Um, they're better over long distances, but not great for
starting and stopping. What else? Uh, more efficient than gas because they have more
energy per gallon in each, the sticker. I don't think, I don't know if that's why,
but it's just the, the chem, chemical makeup of it. And some of them can get up to 50 miles a
gallon. Yes. Yeah. That's definitely why the little Volkswagen diesels are so popular.
Cause people would like get 40, 50 miles again. Yeah. Yeah. The little rabbit. Diesel rabbits
a dream and then, and then on vegetable oil too. I mean, that was going to become a thing for a
while. Yeah. Kind of fell out of favor. Vegetable oil. Yeah. Yeah. It was really popular in like the
mid 2000s. Well, people didn't want to give it away. Yeah. People would steal it from restaurants
and there was the guy that had done it in like a state, tried to tax him on the oil,
but he kept all his receipts for all the oil he'd had and he was like, yeah, go ahead.
People didn't like that. That alternative fuel idea. Yeah. Yeah. The one guy that I knew,
I knew a couple of people here, but one guy in particular who had the tightest system that I'd
ever seen and he did it the most of everybody that I knew. Uh, he had a place that would just give
him the oil. He was lucky like that. He just had a place because he was taking it off their hands.
But this is really lame. He had all these, um, so that comes in big plastic jugs and then you
have to get rid of those and he didn't want to take it to the, uh, dump or wherever you have
to take them to get it recycled. I'm not sure. I think he thought it cost money to get rid of them
and, um, they got burned. It did not go well. It did not go well. Uh, because he's cheap and
the reason why he had fetched it was doing veggie oil wasn't because he was environmentally
conscious. It's because he's burning plastic jugs. Yeah. He, he didn't want to pay to take
him to get rid of them. No, it was pretty. Contradictory. Well, he didn't care. It wasn't,
he wasn't doing it for the environmental impact. He was doing it because he's cheap
and he was getting it free. I thought you just said he was environmentally conscious.
No. Oh, no. Yeah. He wasn't doing. No, he wasn't environmentally conscious. He would,
he did it because it was free. I like the symptoms where they go recycle a bunch of stuff to, uh,
uh, raise money for a field trip. Uh, and they are something like to go to a nursery about
planting trees or something and they recycle all these newspapers and they go down and they
like cash it all in and the guy gives back principal Skinner his money at the recycling
place. And for some reason it's like a hippie and he's like, that'll be a $6. And he's like,
$6. He's like, well, that hardly accounts for the fuel that we use to even collect these and
drive these down here and recycle them. And he's like, sounds like you're working for your car,
man. Simplify. That's pretty funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember. I don't remember the whole
story, but he was like, it costs money to get rid of those jugs. In the end was what it was that
he was like, I'm going to just burn the burning jugs. Yeah. And there was a lot of them. Yeah,
didn't go well. I just had a couple more little factoids here. Uh, diesel engines have sleeves
in the cylinders. So, um, yeah, they're sleeved. So if you, instead of replacing the whole engine or
block and boring it out, yeah, or boring it out, you just put in a new, a new sleeve. Uh,
and then they are built tougher. They can easily go up to 500,000 miles. Sometimes they go to a
million. If it's really well taken care of though, usually make it to 800,000. But yeah,
diesels are cool. I was reading it and I was like, man, they are really cool.
Worked for the California airport. And he said they would do the sniffing at like,
uh, the port at San Pedro. And he was like 90% of the pollution came from 3% of the trucks.
And it was trucks that people just weren't doing the maintenance on. He's like, these were,
he's like, these were basically brand new trucks for the million miles on them. He's like,
if you did the math on like when the truck came out and how much mileage it had,
it basically had never been shut off.
And he's like, those were the worst polluters. Oh, crazy. Just like trucks where they just
completely neglected to do maintenance random all the time. Okay. Yeah. And it was just a small
number of shit. Yeah. Because what I read and I, I guess, I guess you know this because you see
like when people are rolling coal, like obviously that looks like it's really bad for the environment,
but I thought that I always thought that diesels were easier on the environment for some reason,
even though they puke out black smoke. Um, but I guess now that they're now there's a lot of
crazy, uh, emissions. There's a lot of crazy emissions and Trump just pardoned some people that
were getting, uh, basically convicted through the EPA for altering emission systems. And he was just
sort of like people should be able to fix their car. However they see fit. And I don't disagree
with that really, but, uh, like there's a little, I don't know, there's some nuance in there.
They went to prison. Uh, it was people with shops that were altering emission systems,
which are emissions law. Okay. Right. And it's like, it's the same way you can get fine for
not having a catalytic converter on your car. Right. And I do think that there are a lot of
things that are wrong about the way that they will turn around and make the consumer pay for
things that like, you know, like the military doesn't have to do that stuff. And then you'll
see some people criticize the military for that. Like they should have to follow those
rules. And then other people are like, no, the military shouldn't have to do that and deal
with those things. Yeah. So I don't have a definitive answer on any of those. And to some
extent I agree. I think that, uh, I think it would be far more important if giant companies
did their part to not do, uh, wild polluting things and they didn't turn around and put
it on the consumer. Like I learned recently, I learned recently that, you know, like that ad
with the native American, like crying, seeing like the, the litter on the land and stuff
that was paid for by basically like the aluminum can business to get people to think about
recycling and cleaning up the environment because they didn't want to clean up the mess that they
had made. Oh, you mean like people littering? Yes. They didn't want to go out and clean up.
They didn't want to have to do it themselves. Right. And so they tried to make other people
think about it. The consumer basically feel guilty and do it ourselves. Yeah. And like,
listen, smoke, breathing smoke, it's not good. No,
Period. They think we have better gas mileage though, like we were talking about. Period. Yeah,
they do. I mean, you know, for big rigs, they get about five or six miles to the gallon.
I would imagine because they're pulling so much. Well, I think what my dad told me,
because my dad drove, I think what dad said was that the, like the KWs and the Peter
belts were getting like 43 to four, and that like volvos would get about five.
And then that's why people will put the skirts down the trailer and put the, the, you know,
moon discs basically on the trucks to try to get maybe up to 55 to six. Yeah.
God, how much gas do they carry? They must carry so much to be able to go. I believe it's,
I believe it's thousands. Thousands of gallons. I think in the, in their gas tanks.
Maybe. That seems like it would be a huge gas tank that you would see. Oh, maybe I'm
thinking of locomotives. Okay. Maybe I'm thinking, because locomotives have the,
have a tank between the trucks. And I believe those are in the thousands and maybe big rigs
are just in the hundreds, but yeah. Yeah. Locomotives. And you know, the locomotives,
because the diesels can just sit there and idle, they don't shut them off. And locomotives are
hybrids, right? They've got electric motors to turn the wheels and the diesel engines run a
generator that turns the wheels with electric motors. Oh, I didn't know that. So locomotives
are your early hybrids. And so they just like, they never shut them off. They just,
it's easier to just leave them running. Oh, crazy. Like when, like, all the time, just all night,
if they're, yeah, you go by a train yard, they just leave train running all the time. Oh,
they almost never shut them off. Interesting. I didn't know that. It's pretty rare. Yeah.
Just leave them going. Leave them going until they move them. Yeah, it doesn't cost anything.
Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah. That seems... Big rigs too. I mean, you'll go into a truck stop and
then just be sitting there idling. Yeah. I feel like sometimes at night too, maybe. Oh, yeah.
All the damn time. They're maybe to keep warm or something. I don't know. Well, they don't
necessarily make good heat, but yes. Yes. Sometimes it's to keep the heat going. But they don't,
like my dad drove a cab over and he was like, he liked it aesthetically, but he hated it because
he was like, I have to put cardboard in front of it. He's like, they already don't make any heat.
And I got to put cardboard in front of the radiator, try to get anything in the cab.
He would run, dad would drive... I mean, I'm talking about the like sleeper semis.
Yeah. Dad would drive California as a team four days of the week and they'd get home and then
they'd send him up to like Milwaukee and back. Did he have a sleeper cab? Yes. To drive teams.
Yeah. Somebody has to be in the back of sleep. Yeah. Oh, he would do it with another person.
Yeah. You have to by law. Okay. Okay. Yeah. When you said teams, I thought maybe
that meant there was like four trucks or something, like a team of trucks. No, a team
driving. Yeah. Him and Ralph. Yeah. Well, anyway, my question for next week is what is the concept
car that Chevrolet fired back with as their intended competitor for the Viper?
I'm tempted to reveal what year it was. I think that's important because it is a pretty obscure car.
So let's say what was the 1992 concept that GM made to compete with the Viper?
Wow. I mean, I'm going to say I have no idea. I think it's obscure. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see.
Yeah. Our listeners bring it. They bring the heat. They do. They do. Yeah. They're no schoolboy Johnny.
No. They know what's going on. They do. They're smarties. Yeah. Smartie pants.
Well, my question for next week is what's the difference between horsepower and torque?
Nice. Yeah. Getting, getting really bringing it in with these, with the basics. Well, that's
something that like I know in quote marks, I know the difference, but still like I could tell you
the textbook answer. But when it comes to me for really like having a deeper understanding of what
it actually is, it's sort of hard for my brain to like, I love the, I love these. Like I like that.
I'd like the very core. I like the very core basic necessity of your questions a lot of the times
because they, they always bring the light, something that I didn't know or wasn't thinking of or
whatever. And I always learn something and they are just like, they seem like the simplest questions.
And those are often the best ones. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Or, you know, again,
the listeners come in and come in with something that like I said, there's always something to be
learned. Yeah. So they're always, they're always good. There's, there's always some leaf to be turned
over. Well, and I have something kind of funny to say about it that I've thought about recently,
which I can't divulge right now, but it will be in the brain buster next week. So you have to listen.
Well, for now, you done been brain busted. You've Bye.
You
You
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About this episode
The hosts kick off with playful banter and a “brain buster” recap, then pivot into the answers from last week’s trivia. They credit regular commenters with nailing the Dodge Viper concept timing—especially Joe Rizmo’s 1989—while debating partial-credit math and dates. The conversation then turns into the Viper’s origin story: Chrysler’s need to prove it still had a pulse, the design intent to trigger double-takes, the raw, no-frills interior, and Bob Lutz’s speed-obsessed influence. They also discuss the Viper’s debut hype and deposits pouring in.
