The Chevrolet Caprice Estate is a large family car that was made in the 1980s. It had a distinctive wood panel design and was often used for road trips and family outings.
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that’s easy to park and great for city driving. It’s known for being reliable and fun to drive, which is why many people like it.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car made in America. It's known for being fast and having a unique look, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
The 1998 Subaru Outback is a type of car that can handle rough roads and bad weather. It's great for people who like to go on adventures and need space for gear.
A rally car is a special kind of car made for racing on different types of roads, like dirt and gravel. They are built to handle tough conditions and go fast.
The Subaru Legacy is a car that is known for being reliable and good in various weather conditions. The 1998 version is especially liked for its sporty look and good handling.
Symmetrical all-wheel drive means that all four wheels of the car get power from the engine, which helps the car stay stable and grip the road better, especially in bad weather.
The Subaru WRX is a fast and sporty car that can handle tough roads and weather conditions because it has all-wheel drive. People love it for its speed and the fun of driving it, especially if they like racing or rallying.
The e-brake, also known as the emergency brake, is a special brake that helps keep the car from rolling when it's parked. It can also be used to help stop the car in emergencies.
The Subaru Baja is a vehicle that looks like a mix between a car and a small truck. It was made by Subaru and is known for being different and useful for carrying things.
The Chevrolet Suburban is a big SUV that can carry a lot of people and stuff, making it great for families or trips. It’s known for being strong and able to tow heavy things, which is why many people like to use it.
A pickup truck is a type of vehicle that has a flat open area in the back for carrying things. It's great for moving stuff around and can also carry people in the front seats.
GVWR is a number that tells you how much weight a vehicle can safely hold, including everything inside it. It's important for knowing how much stuff you can carry without overloading the vehicle.
The Audi S6 is a fancy car that’s really fast and fun to drive. It has a lot of luxury features inside, making it comfortable and high-tech, which is why some people love it.
The exhaust manifold is a part of the engine that gathers the exhaust gases and sends them out of the car. It's an important part of how the engine works.
The 5.7 V8 is a type of engine with eight cylinders that helps the car produce a lot of power. It's commonly found in larger vehicles like trucks and SUVs.
The Chevrolet Impala is a large car that’s comfortable to drive and has plenty of room for passengers. It’s a good choice for families because it’s reliable and has a smooth ride.
The Honda Odyssey is a minivan that’s great for families because it has lots of space and features that make traveling easier. It’s known for being dependable and comfortable, which is why many parents choose it.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a small car that’s easy to drive and has a nice, comfortable interior. It’s popular because it’s reliable and gets good gas mileage, making it a smart choice for everyday use.
The Saab 900 is a type of car made by the brand Saab. The 1989 version was known for its distinctive look and could have a turbo engine, which made it faster.
The Chevy Trailblazer is a type of SUV made by Chevrolet. The 2002 model was popular for being roomy and good for driving on different types of roads.
LIVE
heard, I just heard that's what we were doing tonight. So I didn't have any
saying it, but I was in like, I mean, that's just sort of the way things
work. It's like, you guys, oh, we're doing this. All right. We're building the
Trebuchet. All right. We're doing this. All right. All right. We're going fishing.
All right. Then once we realize it didn't work, I think we were just on a mission.
We just really wanted to get those pancakes.
Hello LifeBossCars community and welcome back for this special episode. We have
three guests joining us and they are three of my close friends.
We all went to high school together and for today's episode,
they're going to be sharing stories that we had throughout high school,
particularly with cars, some of the shenanigans we got up to and much more.
So for this episode, I'm welcoming my good friends, Martin, Alex and Colby along with
Brendan. So thanks for tuning in and let's jump right in to the episode.
Colby, Alex, as I was saying to Martin, I thank you for jumping on here to have a chat.
Oh yeah. We just keep it loose, just chatting away and just recounting the glory days of all
the fun cars we get the tool around in in the high school era.
Well, I learned something today. I was trying to figure out what
station wagon I had sent Ian a picture of. I don't know if Ian remembers the wood panel one.
Oh, it's glorious. Yeah. It was a 1984 Caprice estate. Nice.
Let me down a rabbit hole and I don't know, Ian and Brendan, you probably know this,
that the older versions had the clamshell tailgate where the bottom and the top would
just disappear into the completely disappear like into the back and into the roof.
So you had direct access and then this was the one that pivoted two ways. So it folded down
like a pickup tailgate and folded out like a normal car door. Nice. Nice.
Yeah. Just saw one of those in Pennsylvania. I was there with my dad and brother and we went to
the car show in Pennsylvania and bought some cars. So there was one of those down there at the show.
Very cool. It's your old stopping grounds there, Alex.
I was going to say, was that in Carlisle? Yes. Yeah. We went to the fall Carlisle and then the
auction. Yeah. Yeah. I went to Dickinson College, which is famously in Carlisle. Well,
not so famously, but it's in Carlisle. My biggest regret from those years. Wow. Not my biggest.
That was going to sound like easy. Let's start with the top 10 list of Alex's biggest regrets
from college. Yeah. One of them is about cars and it's not going to the car show.
It's huge. I know. It's huge. I'm sure you knew when it was happening because a lot of people.
Yeah. And it was always, there was like, there were always like a couple of weekends a year
where there would just be, the streets were just filled with Corvettes. And that was just pretty
much it. It was just like in just this tiny little Pennsylvania town, it would just be
Corvette, Corvette, Corvette, Corvette, Corvette. Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. It's the car show.
Corvettes everywhere. But we all wish we could have driven the high school. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. What were the cars there, guys? I mean, I know them, of course, but I thought,
you know, what was the lineup? Oh, man. Yeah. So I had the 1998 Subaru Outback
with like the not functional, but very cool hood scoop. Yes. I missed that car.
And I mean, the color, this color combo was so good on that.
It was. It was like an ocean green. And like, I don't think it was the gold.
It was a little bit darker than like the Subaru Gold's two-tone bottom. Yes.
That was that was a cool car. Yeah. Yeah. Just a black interior, just everything black.
Was that a manual? No, I was automatic. Oh, I know. I know. I was 16. You're going to do.
Hey, that's all right. At least the hood scoop added at least another 10 horsepower. At least.
Yeah. That was worth quite a lot. Oh, yeah. Don't forget the giant fog lights too.
Oh, yeah. I did. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Basically a rally car. That was a solid car.
Wow. You came to that car? Oh, man. I think it was. So I think one winter,
I went over to Ian's house, just parking in his driveway. I got I got stuck in the snow
and I got out. And then when I got out, it left like a like a pool of like yellow, bright green,
like liquid in the snow. And me and Ian looked at each other like, that's probably not good.
And like, I think I checked my fluids and it was mostly all there. I was like, oh,
that's probably good enough. And then and then I went back to college and I came back in the summer.
I was like, Hey, where's my car? Mom and dad. And like, uh, we got rid of it. It didn't pass
inspection. I was like, Oh, I really like that car. That's brutal. Yeah. You know, it's it is.
That's like when my mom waited a week to tell me that my childhood dog died, but like 10 times
worse for you. That was a long time. Yeah, no, that was quite something. You know, I mean,
you get used to a grown up Vermont that that yearly inspections killed a lot of cars.
You know, I mean, I get it. Like, I wasn't, I have the money to fix it up. I have a place to
put a broken down car. So it had it had to go probably the majority of the cars that we all
had in high school are probably junked at this point. Yeah. And then, you know, living out west,
there's, there's not one state I know that does a yearly inspection like for Montenegro, Hampshire
do. I mean, they just, you'll see some real junkers on the road. As long as they got four wheels,
they're still going. Yeah. It's the rust that gets them. That's really a big reason. Martin,
I was just thinking about like, I was thinking about the outback and Colway and Alex, you probably
you may remember this. It was after our infamous stores pond camp out that one summer.
And it was after my top five biggest regrets was going on that camping trip.
And we, yeah, because we had been up till like probably two or three in the morning
that night. It's possible to be hung over on soda, but we managed to do it. We all managed.
Didn't we also hide from the cops despite not having done anything wrong?
Yeah. They pulled in the parking lot and used the big light everywhere. We'd like lean down
on the beach. Even though we, I think we were legally there. We're just camping. Right. I think,
I think the pizza guy shows up shortly after that. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. We ordered it to stores pond
and he found us sitting on the picnic table there. Oh yeah. Oh man. That was pretty much
nerd night and didn't need to derail you there Ian. Oh no. Gladly. I mean, what stands out to me
is when we got up hung over on soda and all packed into the outback and the smell just, it was
just so bad. That's right. All the windows down. I think because we, I think we all, we all had to
go to, I don't know where we had, I don't know where we all parked, but for some reason, I think
we all had to pile in the outback. I don't know why, but I have a memory of us all being in the car
and it smelled to. Was it because, was there like a number of cars you could park there? And that's
why we were like limited with how many cars we could park because I didn't drive because you
dropped me off first. Okay. I was only like an hour away. Oh yeah. Very few words were spoken
that morning. Right. Almost none. Yeah. Oh yeah. That is one of my core memories from that outback.
I love that. Yep. Oh yeah. Alex, you have also Subaru history as well. It's true. My first car
was yeah. My dad's 98 off good year for Subaru's 98 Subaru legacy. And it looked sort of like a
poor man sports car because my dad bought one with a spoiler on the back and it actually did
make it look pretty, I don't know. I liked it. I like the way it looked. And to this day, I don't
know if I've driven a car that handles better than that thing. I used to like, I used to have to try
to get that thing to skid out from under. And it's like, you know, you're in your teen years and
we're driving on these icy New Hampshire, Vermont roads. And that thing would not budge unless I
actively would really try to get it to go. And that thing was, I don't know if it was the tires or
if it was just like, I got lucky or something like that. But that was a nice, I, to this day,
I really missed that car. That was a really, that was a great first car to have all things
considered. I don't even know if I have a great memory of it. It was just, it was like, all of
them put together. I just really liked driving it. That's symmetrical all wheel drive. Thank you,
Subaru. There it is. I know I've had for years. Yeah. I know my favorite memory of that car is
it wasn't it wasn't with you in it because it was me and Colby took your car back from from the
driving range. Yeah, we switched cars. I don't know why we did that. He was driving that thing
like he stole it. I forgot about that one. I mixed memories. Yeah. I was trying to come up with that
story of I was thinking that's when we came back from ice cream, but I was in my own car. I was
in the suburban coming back from ice cream when me and strength erased, which we should get to
later. But coming back, it's somewhere from the driving range. Yeah. I don't recall if I
wasn't in the car, but if I recall, Martin actually reached over and grabbed the steering wheel
because yeah, it's a little bit out of control there because the car handles so well. You just
were trying to test it. Yeah, he was testing the limits. My recollection is that I thought it would
be funny to pass you on a double yellow right in front of Satan where those the fields on the way
from lab to Hanover. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure you got the pass in there. I think I did
complete the pass. Martin was not pleased. We all live to tell the tales. It worked out okay.
It was touching go there for a moment. Brown was a little shaky there from it, but we got
Oh, yeah. I didn't realize that they're both 98s. Look at that. I didn't know that Martin's was a
98 either, but I knew we were the two Subaru boys of our of our crew. This is evidence I
shouldn't be on a car podcast, but I would have told you that strength is car was like a WRX or
one of the sporty ones just because it had a spoiler. I had no idea that it was just like a
normal one. It didn't drive like it. It drove like a sports car. That's true. I can thank my dad for
that one. I think he was I think he was maybe feeling middle age a little bit when he bought
that one. He was like, I need to buy some functional that works, but I kind of need something that
drives a little bit better than a minivan. Yep. And you know what? Yeah, I'll get the spoiler too.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Did it have kind of like off gold wheels too? Was that or you know,
it might have, but that part I don't really recall. I just remember it was all black. It was
a black paint, black paint job, black interior. I thought, yeah, I thought it did have like gold
or like the off gold wheels. Like, yeah. Yeah, that was that was a cool car though. Yeah. I mean,
both of them. Those are I mean, again, peak Subaru, both of those. Yeah. Yeah. That model year for
both our cars was like was really some of the golden years for Subaru before the outbacks and
everything got like big and kind of bulky. Like the sleek little like late 90s outback look,
that was cool. And that interior just like all black, like black seats, black dashboard, black
headline and just everything black is just like the seat, like you like you sit in that seat,
like you like you sink into it and like you're like, I'm ready to drive. And it was, that was cool.
This is like also like the most New England conversation ever. You realize after you leave
New England that like there's like a stigma about Subaru's that like probably like, I don't know.
Half the people we knew growing up like all had Subaru's and like it was just totally normal and
sure enough, yeah, people from out of state came to New Hampshire and like reported back to me.
They were like, I've never seen so many Subaru's. It's, you know, it makes sense for the, for the
area. Yeah, that's what I told them. Absolutely. Looks like Norwich has a car dealership or Dan,
I think it's still there, right? There's a Subaru dealership in Norwich. It moved to,
White River Junction. Now it's the co-op service center where it used to be.
And do you, do you guys remember with that, when it was the Subaru dealership that they'd hang
the cars like off, like they'd be pointed down that hill? You remember that? That was so crazy.
They're just like showing off the e-brake at that time. How did those things not just go
tumbling off that thing? That was, that was so funny. Yeah. And I can see it very clearly.
Yes. Yep. Yeah. That was, that was wild. And who's buying those cars?
I'm pretty sure that cafeteria guy at the Hanover Hype had a Subaru Baja that he bought that was
pointing down the hill. Oh my gosh. A Baja, Baja has entered the chat. Wow.
Yeah. Yep. I've never owned one. Maybe someday. Yeah. I want to know, I want to know if there's
a smaller town that had its own Subaru dealership. I feel like 3000 people is pretty small to the
part. That's a good point. That's a really good point. And location though, perfect right off the
interstate. Oh, yeah. And also that it was just the car store. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was the car
store. Yeah. In those block letters. Yeah. Yes. Like literally in the square. Yeah. That's right.
Like what are we going to call our dealership guys? You know what? Car store. You know what's a store?
We sell cars. And it wasn't the only one. It wasn't a car store. There's only one. It was,
yeah. That was it. Well, I had a, also in 1998. No way. What? 398?
Interesting. What are you guys all the same age or something? Yeah, exactly. And I guess, yeah,
our parents upgraded because mine was the third car, the family's third car. I don't know. It sounds
like a piece of them designing cars to only last a certain number of years and so they knew we'd
have to buy another one. I think it's a conspiracy going on. That's right. They were all 10 years
old and got handed off when we turned 16. Yeah. Globalists. Yeah. I do. I love me a suburban
though. That's one of my favorite rigs right there. I'm sure you guys have some memories with that
tank. Oh, I had a question for Colby and Ian. And this shows I'm also not a car guy in any
shape because we is a suburban. Why did we, why did we slash you guys call it the truck?
When I think of a truck, I think of a back bed, but I don't recall your suburban having a back
bed. It was just three rows of seats if I recall correctly. And you could, yeah, you could take
the third one out, but it was still was obviously not a pickup truck, even with the third row
removed. I don't think it folded down. I don't think they had that technology in the 90s. So
you couldn't fold it flush like a minivan now. You had to actually pull the whole third row out.
Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. That looked like you had to take up right. I mean, Brendan would know
for sure. Yeah. To answer your question, Alex, the reason that they called it a truck is because
it was on the exact same frame and same GVWR as their pickups. So Chevy and GMC, they marketed as
a truck because it was same frame, same engine, differentials, everything. It just had an extended
seating and cargo capacity versus the pickup truck. So that's why it was marketed that way. I mean,
soon enough, like in the late 2000s, it just became its own thing. It was just the suburban.
So I was always too embarrassed to ask that question, but now I have no shame. Car people
is no shame. There are no dumb questions with cars. You ask away. Yeah. I marketed it as a truck to
compensate for my natural data mail tendencies. I wanted to drive a truck, not an extra large SUV.
I mean, it technically is. I mean, you know, it fits. Yeah. Three-wheel drive with a transfer case,
four-wheel drive. Yeah. V8, nothing better. That's true. Yeah. Since then, I haven't had a car that
you had to put into four-wheel drive. That was another fun thing. That one was a push button,
which was a bummer because my dad previously hung around. I got to drive it. It wasn't the primary.
It was like kind of on its way out. My dad had a 1992 Suburban, and that one had like the big old
stick on the floor. And if you wanted to put it in four-wheel drive, you just like, it was, I don't
know, like knob that you got to push. It was awesome. More importantly, if you wanted to take it out
of four-wheel drive to skid around a corner in the snow, then you also got to disengage it.
Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Something to be said for that. All the old cars had it. It was all manual
engagement. Yeah. A lot less to go wrong. So the 98 Colby. Yeah. So when did that
enter the picture? I mean, obviously 98, but... Yeah. My dad, I think, was still driving the 92,
and he had his... I guess he probably had his S6 by then. Yeah, sure. But he was keeping the
92 around, and then my sister started playing hockey, and they had practice at 5 a.m. So when she
turned 16, she also was the favorite child. She got a 98 Suburban just to take the hockey, basically,
and then she graduated, and I got to drive it. It was a good car. I also googled about an hour ago
what headers are to be able to say that it had headers. I wasn't sure the correct verbiage of
that. Is that correct? Yep. Yeah. Your dad put headers on it, exhaust headers? No. He bought it
with headers. We'll already put on. I wasn't sure if all cars had headers naturally, and it just had
like souped up ones, or if headers were a different thing that you add on. So maybe you could explain
to me. Yeah. It depends on the vehicle. So all cars have an exhaust manifold, which is basically
where the exhaust comes out the side of the engine. The exhaust gases are collected in the
manifold and then sent down the pipes to go out your tailpipe, right? The header is generally,
they call it an exhaust header because it's designed differently to increase the flow rate of the
exhaust out of the engine and out of the tailpipe. So they're a little more creative. Let's just put
it that way. That's the simplest explanation I can think of. Yeah. Most importantly, it makes
it sounds different. It does. It makes more power and yeah, they look good. That truck
sounded so good, Colby. I remember John and I were like, yeah, what's going on with the
Suburban? That thing sounds so good. Yeah, it was a good car. I don't remember how. It would have
been the 5.7, the 3.50 V8. I remember we were doing our high school assassin thing and rolling
around to lose yourself in front of the high school and the base all the way up, windows all
the way down, just squatting up. That thing was cool. It was perfect for that. Oh yeah. That was
that was a squad car. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that was the revenge mission.
When we talked about Alex's Suburban, we didn't talk about the duct tape marks, right? Did those
go away? They did eventually, yeah. I think either the rain washed them away or my parents
took it to a car wash eventually. Does Brendan know about that? Well, that was just more shenanigans
with assassin because that was the most fun round of assassin. That really was. Which is like,
I think that's very fondly on that round and not so much for the rest of them, but it sort of
transitioned from being about like shooting each other with water guns to just messing with each
other's cars. Yes. Yeah, that was fun. Those guys knew how to play the game. Yeah, they understood
Yeah, they understood the spirit of the entire yep. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
And anyway, no, no, it was Andrew. What's this? I can just bagels from Andrew has a nickname named
bagels. And bagels also had an outback, I believe. Oh, he did. He had a Subaru. I can't remember
what it was. It was a legacy wagon. It was like all we know is that he had he had a horrible
a horrible disease. It was called it was called crappy Subaruitis, which we let him know that
which we diagnosed him. It wrote it. We did. We did. And they they got us back by, I don't know
when they pulled this off. I think they got to my house at like four in the morning and just ran
and just went around and around my car with several rolls of duct tape and just went around it.
And they did it as a prank because it was funny. They didn't realize and because, you know, we were
all kind of stupid back then and they were exceptionally stupid. Yes. Thinking of thinking
of one guy specifically on there too. And and they didn't realize that the, you know,
the stickiness of the tape would basically stick on the car. And so after my dad went out and got
it off, it just had these lines of just like that tape residue on it. And I had to be like,
guys, like it went a little too far. And they they were very apologetic and very sorry about it.
And then eventually came off. So it was like no harm, no foul. But it was also like my dad was
pretty pissed off, like not like overly pissed, but just like, guys, like, come on, like, shoot
each other with water guns. Don't do this. Exactly. Yeah. And I remember it incorrectly,
it was I thought that the the crappy super writers mission was after the duct tape incident.
I thought I thought it was I think it was because I think it was before it was before
up the ante with the yeah, yeah, yeah, because because we were like, we went there and we we
wrapped it with plastic wrap, like tape and then duct tape, you know, like, we were careful. And
then they went and got revenge on Alex, but but they weren't careful. So we were all upset about
that upset. That's why I remember it. It was still very fun. Oh, yeah, no, it was a good time.
It was definitely I mean, looking back on like all three of us had crappy super so I don't know
what kind of position we were in. But it was definitely I'm definitely looking at my car with
a little bit of rose colored glasses. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, we all do. Yeah, absolutely. All right.
Well, Ian, you have to talk about your car. Yes. Yeah. Complete the lineup. Yeah. Yeah. The lineup.
So it was a 1996.
Yep. So it was a 1996 Volvo 850, affectionately known as the tank. It was a sedan. It was gold.
It was that glorious kind of I mean, the 90s colors for cars were just some of the best.
And it was in that 90s champagne kind of gold. I can remember it was a five cylinder and it had
a sport mode. I'm going to say sport and you'd click the little switch and go into five cylinder
mode. And so that was always exciting. But some of my some of the best memories I have with that car
is when we took it on that fishing trip. Me, Martin, Alex, just and my brother and joining
it and just like we strapped the boats to both the. Oh, and the outback and we have just a great
picture of us in front of Pat and Tony's and still we took the boats out and the snakes were
living in them. That was snakes on a boat. Oh, that's right. Yes. That was a good memory there,
Alex. Yeah, we yeah, we had pulled the yeah. So it was my core memory. Oh, yeah.
Flipping that boat over and all the snakes just came out.
Oh, yeah, that was snakes in a boat. Yeah, that was that same trip. And we still went out in
the boat despite having. Oh, yeah, unleashed having stood despite the potential there being a snake
in the boat still. Yeah, snake invasion. So I yeah, I still look back fondly on that car. It's
why I love all those in particular. And it was it was it was like it was a good one.
But partly part of the lineup. So you guys might remember the passenger side door that would
open like a shotgun. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah. It had the hinge that would it worked,
but it would pop. And particularly if you were in the Hanover parking garage that it would actually
sound like a gunshot opening it. It was a little startling to say the least. But that's right.
That was a notable feature of the car as it as it began to age. Yeah. And the Volvo also the Volvo
was Saran wrapped twice in our assassin adventures there. Yep. Boy, I don't remember. I don't remember
it being so. Was it maybe? Okay. So yeah, I'm remembering crying. It was first it was a Volvo
and then that was also the same period that I had the tourists that. Oh, you got your yeah,
you got your your Impala or your no tourists. Sorry. It was a Ford tourist. Yeah. And I was driving
and when the tourists was in the shop, which was often I would drive the Volvo.
Yeah, that's right. And so I think it was that it was the case that one week I had the Volvo,
it was Saran wrapped and then the next week I had the tourists and it was Saran wrapped.
Oh my gosh. Because they yeah, it was both times I was it was they got me at crew practice.
Yep. Yep. And I had come off of the water there and found oh, well, here we go. Didn't manage to
get me, but a lot of Saran wrap. So there are some close calls, but we came in there and scooped
each other up. Final four. Final four, baby. That's right. That's right. The thing I remember, I mean
and man, there's something about like cloth seats. I know, did you're I mean, I know,
Colby, you probably had leather in the Suburban, as I remember. Suburban didn't have leather,
yeah. Yes. But it's not about old cloth seats, just I don't know that that also stands out to me
in my mind from that car. Were there cloth seats in your dad's man van? Yes. I also had a van as
well, but leather seats and leather interior and my my family's. Yes, which I'm glad you brought
up that Odyssey, Alex, because that also brings to mind another comical episode that we had with
the tailgating. Wow. I thought about that. That is a I actually told the story about this to other
people. Yeah. I mean, every one of us could tell it wasn't really specific to the to the to the
Odyssey, but did you tell Brandon about this? No, never heard this story. Oh, yeah, it's pretty
it's awesome. Did we borrow the Odyssey specifically for that event? Yeah, it was I believe it was mine
and because we wanted to basically tailgate, but because we were good boys and we didn't drink
underage, we decided to try tailgate by cooking up pancakes on like a George Foreman grill.
Yeah, that's awesome. We ran into an issue. Yeah. Yeah. The issue being that we could not get
the griddle hot enough with the 12 volt plug. That's right. That's right. I mean, we shouldn't be
surprised, but we're like, no, this will work. This is all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. We went over to the as this was the the hockey arena there. Yeah. And I went over and
grabbed the wall plug. It's place was littered with them is every now there's a wall plug every
20 feet over there. So we grabbed a wall plug and we're sitting there. I believe it was. I believe
it was all the way at the back of the of the of the arena. Like, you know, there's like those those
fields back there. Like we were away from the parking lot. We were pretty much if there if you
didn't know there was a hockey arena right there, you would look like you were staring off into the
wilderness back there. Yeah. Yeah. So the farthest corner of of Thompson arena on the outside.
But were they chip pancakes or a variety of flavors? Yeah. Oh, good. We had chocolate chips.
I don't know if we have blueberry or not, but we definitely had those. Yeah. So we were we were
cooking these up and I think like we all saw like a couple of cops like I don't know 50 feet down
there. They're kind of like talking like maybe they glance our way. And I believe we saw them
also look like we could see in the window. And so I believe that they we could see in the window
that they kind of were like having a chat. Oh, I don't think they do anything. But no, I was
like, whatever, we're just hanging out. And you know, you're always stealing power.
They've been looking for those 36 cents of power. Yeah.
George Foreman. It's pretty one is the funniest part was was Taylor. He was right there. He was
the it was all of us and Taylor and we're all hanging out. We're all right there.
And the next thing we know we look over and and the cops are right there and Taylor is gone. He's
out of sight. He just disappeared. Absolutely like a ghost.
He's over the bank. Just gone. Absolutely. It was like January because we're all home from college.
Yes, it was. That's right. Yeah. So it was January in Hanover. So it was it was freezing. I mean,
oh, yeah, I mean, it was probably in the single digits. I mean, it was it was cold for sure. Yeah,
I mean, it was it was after dark. It was cold out. And I just they thought they had us dead to
rights. Which guys? Yeah, what are you guys doing out here? I've embellished the story to say that
they almost do guns on us. But they do. Hanover cops. I wouldn't think that it's like plausible
that they that they want to come in guns blazing. But they're there. Hey, what are you kids doing?
And like the like just like the silence after Ian just goes, we're making pancakes.
I think Alex goes you want some or I think Alex offered one of you did.
I did. Yeah. We have chocolate chip. We have regular we have pumpkin. Yeah.
And they were they were so disappointed. The most disappointed you've ever seen two cops.
Because for all the world here are the bunch of these these teenagers huddled in a dark corner
on the far end of Thompson Arena. Well, and I believe that in after about 30 seconds of our
conversing, it turns out that Colby you knew one of the cops personally.
And so he goes he goes Colby and you go, Oh, Officer Daniels, like nice to see you again.
I think I was I can't remember his name, but
yep, that's exactly right. Oh, man, there was a Dharma security guard as well, who was like
particularly fired up like thought he had the bust of the century. Yeah, was he the one like
covering the exit like when we ran inevitably from the cops, he was going to take us down.
And I if I recall, I believe one came around because we're sort of on the corner. One came
from around the corner and then one came through. Yeah. So they had it on both sides.
Yeah, they're trying to get a pincer over on us. Yeah. We could have spared them a lot of embarrassment
if we just knew that my Odyssey wouldn't wouldn't be able to support a George Foreman. That's it.
That's it. Back to the George Foreman. We got a red letter to Honda on that one.
Do better, Honda. Yeah. Where did that idea come from? That's what I try to remember. Well,
one to tailgate a hockey game and two pancakes tailgating. Yeah, I just heard I just heard
that's what we were doing tonight. So I didn't have any say in it, but I was in like, I mean,
that was just sort of the way things were. It's like, you guys, oh, we're doing this.
All right, we're building the Trebuchet. All right, we're doing this. All right, we're going fishing.
All right. Then once we realized it didn't work, I think we were just on a mission. We just really
wanted to get those pancakes. Oh, yeah. We glossed over the part of the story where it took us like,
I feel like an hour of trying. We definitely could have quit. We missed almost the entire game.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, we missed a lot of it, but it was worth it for the story.
And they were pretty good pancakes, I will say. I think we did well.
King Arthur? Sure, question.
Five bits quick. Oh, don't say bits quick. Come on. You got to embellish that a little
bit. They were homemade from scratch. Right next to the car store. Yeah, we went to King Arthur
next to the car store. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I want to hear more about this suburban. Come on,
Colby. You got to have another story for us about that. I feel like the other suburban story
was coming back from ice cream. Ian and I were talking with us a few weeks ago,
unrelated to the podcast, and I think we decided we went to Dairy Twirl beforehand.
And I don't know if you guys remember this, but the cars were parks. Your three cars in a row,
and I was the fourth one there because I was on Colby Clock. I rolled in a few minutes after you
guys. And I thought it would be funny to come flying in at like 25 into the parking lot and
jam on the brakes and pull up right next to you. And I almost messed up. And I ended up like six
inches from whoever car I was next to. Almost just like sideways. You've heard no reason.
The night didn't start off well. And then afterwards we, I think we were driving back
to Hanover on 120 with no ill intention whatsoever. We were just driving, but then we pulled up.
There's like three traffic lights between Lebanon and Hanover. And the first one,
there was two lanes. We, me and Alex happened to be next to each other. So we obviously started
rubbing our engines and screwing around. Yeah, as one does. Yeah. So who won? Well, and then we
went, there was a second traffic light. And so then we, we didn't actually like take off. We just
went to the second one and then we got to the third one. The next traffic light, that legacy can't win.
Then it was, it was the last traffic light Colby. The last one right in front of Sinterra. And you
know, it's two lanes and it goes down to one lane. Oh my God, the heat is on. I think if I had a
little more room, I could have gotten there. But if we were going to get into a crash, I think we
all know who would win between the suburban and my seat. So I was, I sheepishly backed off after
we hit like 80 or 85. I just had the much bigger car. And I just decided like I literally, I was
going to put my foot to the floor and I did. And I just held it there for as long as I could.
Yep. And it was bash into him if he gets in the way. And I wasn't looking at the speedometer
because I was very focused on not crashing. And then I jammed on the brakes. And as I was,
as it goes from like, as it goes from like 40 or 45 down to like 30.
Yeah, that's right. For Greensboro road changes to like a 30 mile an hour zone.
Yeah, I checked the speedometer on the way down and saw myself go through 80,
which is probably the fastest I ever went in the suburban within like a 30 mile per hour.
And then I could do not maybe five seconds later, like it goes downhill and curves around
right as you get towards Greensboro. And a Hannover cop came directly in our direction.
And if it was five seconds different, we would have been nailed for going like 50 over.
Yep. Yep. Not good. I don't know. I'm not having done that many dumb things in my car,
like truly not. That is far and away the dumbest thing that that I ever did.
Yeah, 100%. I'm proud of you guys. You've been pretty tame. You know, I got to tell you this
story because it's similar and it's on Greensboro road is when I got my license in 2005 with like,
who was it? It was like Danny freed and Hank beaten and a couple other kids, you know,
my class there. And we would go to EBA every Wednesday because they did that pizza special
buffet. Remember that? Oh, yeah. We'd go Wednesday night and then on the way home,
we would take turns drag racing each other on Greensboro road, like on that flat next to the
little pond before it hits like Aetna. Yeah. So we'd like stop if like cars were coming and
then wait and then line up and just like, it was so stupid. But it was so much fun.
COVID mine, like that's there's no like houses around. Like that's just like a long road that
could plausibly be like a 55 if they really wanted it to be a road like has like neighborhoods.
Like there's like, there's like, there's yards, there's front yards on that. Oh yeah. But it's
like 8pm. There was no one around. It's fine. Oh man. Yeah. Well, so what were you? Were you
running there then, Brendan? What car would have that been? So I had a car I drove in high
schools 2005 Chevy Impala. Before that, we had a 98, which I know the year crazy, a Volkswagen
Jetta that we named Jitters. Yep. And then it was my senior year. I bought Ian's neighbor's
Cadillac. Yeah, I bought his Cadillac from him. So I had a 2001 Cadillac for college and all that.
But but I remember racing what Danny Freed had a like a 1989 sob 900. We were racing that and then
Hague Beaton had, I think it was a, I want to say a trailblazer, you know, like a 2002
Chevy trailblazer or something. Yeah, but it's just stupid. Yeah. That's great. I remember the
shaking feeling like the adrenaline after seeing the cop. And I feel like that's the best. That's
the feeling you can only get or like in a car, basically. I'm still chasing that.
Yeah. Everyone every light after that. Yep.
I was going to say, speaking of Greensboro, one of my other misadventures in the suburban
started on Greensboro, picked up Buffer and John, and we were going to Katie's house and Lyme.
And I think this must have been like the first year back from college.
And I don't know if you remember, Brendan, you go out at night and then it turns into Hanover
center road. And then once you get to Lyme, it just turns into dirt as soon as you get the
Lyme town border Baker Hill crosses Goose Pond. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like I was aware, like I
had driven out there plenty of times. I was aware that it's basically like a jump because it goes
downhill, flattens out and another down. Yeah. It's like a down hill. Yeah. Yeah. And we were
listening to Mr. Brightside. Actually, I have a very fond memory of listening to Mr. Brightside
in front of the guard. Yeah. We pulled out a mixing story. It must have been in college, right?
It's going to be pulled into your driveway or maybe senior year. And Mr. Brightside had just
come on. I just remember sitting in your driveway for the full like three and a half minutes,
just singing at the top of our lungs, even though we're like, we're done. We just,
anyway, we need to sing the whole song. Well, you can't stop it halfway through.
Right. You have to finish it. Yeah. I was goofing around and going like 60 or something and 35,
but you're supposed to slow down when you go over the jump. I didn't hit it.
I love that you refer to it as the jump. It's not a jump.
It was, if you knew the road, you knew that you could go like 35 over it and you would get kind
of like a nice little like your stomach would jump a little bit. I hit it going like 20 miles per
hour faster than I had ever intended to. I just wasn't paying attention. The music was at full
volume. We were all talking and we were in the air. It's the only kind of, I think I've actually
gotten air. We were in the air long enough that the front of the car actually dipped down. That's
all I remember was that it was like, oh, the engine is, the engine is happy. Look back then, boy, it's
got a little fresh air. That's awesome. I hope you hit it on the way back though. You're just like
full send. Just like, let's do it. Geez. So it was this, I, the car came to a complete stop because
I was completely like shattered at times. Was the car okay? I think the car was fine. Yeah, it definitely
bottomed out. It is on that downhill. Like it is like a ski jumper landing on the downhill.
But it was the same thing like that, just adrenaline. Like I couldn't, yeah, I couldn't
breathe basically for a couple minutes afterwards. Oh, it's the best. Yeah. Just chasing that rush.
Oh, all the time. I think it was the headers actually that did it.
It just sounded so good. He just had to go 60 miles per hour everywhere. Yes.
Well, I can speak from experience that those headers did in fact sound very nice. Anyway,
thanks for listening in for part one of this episode with my friends Alex, Colby and Martin,
along with my co-host, Brendan. We have more content in part two of our conversation where
we talk about some other cars that we've owned beyond high school and into college,
as well as our many, many hours spent playing games like Need for Speed Underground 2 and
all the fun and shenanigans we had with those games. So please tune in for that episode coming
up soon. And as always, thanks for listening. When we look forward to curating more conversations
on the next episode, we'll talk to you then.
About this episode
A nostalgic dive into high school memories centered around cars, this episode features host Ian and his friends Martin, Alex, Colby, and Brendan sharing hilarious stories from their teenage years. They reminisce about their first cars, including a Subaru Outback, a Volvo 850, and a Chevy Suburban, while recounting wild adventures like pancake tailgating and mischief involving duct tape and Saran wrap. The camaraderie and humor shine through as they reflect on the joys and challenges of being young car enthusiasts.
Brendan and Ian welcome three guests to the Life Plus Cars Podcast for this special episode! Ian's three high school friends, Alex, Martin, and Colby, joined the conversation to look back, laugh, and regale about the shenanigans connected to their high school cars.
In this special episode, tune as the hosts and their guests discuss:
-the glory of Subarus from the 90s and how fun to drive they were
-why 1998 might be considered a peak year for hand-me-down high school cars
-pancakes, tailgating, and other mischief at a college hockey game
-testing the limits of a certain Suburban with loud exhaust headers
-camping trip tomfoolery and one very smelly Outback
Plus, will the guys figure out the mystery of the Honda Civic they call Silver Strider? Wait, who is Silver Strider? Listen to this week's episode to find out!
What do you think, listener? Which car did you drive in high school? What memories do you have with your high school friends? Email us with your stories at [email protected]
