528-Dave's Fiat Gives Cold Shoulder and Ian's VW Gives Creepy Crackles
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Car
Volkswagen Alltrack
The Volkswagen Alltrack is a type of car that looks like a station wagon but can handle rougher roads because it has all-wheel drive and is higher off the ground.
Term
limp mode
Limp mode is when a car's computer detects a problem and makes the car run slower to prevent damage. It helps you get to a mechanic safely instead of breaking down completely.
Part
throttle position sensor
The throttle position sensor is a part that tells the car's computer how much the gas pedal is pressed. This helps the engine know how much power to provide.
Term
handbrake
The handbrake is a lever that helps keep the car from rolling when parked. It's also used by some drivers to help control the car during certain maneuvers.
Term
turbo pressure
Turbo pressure is how much extra air the turbocharger is pushing into the engine to help it run better and faster. If the pressure is low, it might mean something is wrong with the turbo or engine.
Term
part throttle
Part throttle means you're not pressing the gas pedal all the way down. It's a way to control how much power the engine uses, which can help save fuel.
Term
smoke tester
A smoke tester is a device that helps find leaks in a car's parts. It sends out smoke, and if there's a leak, you'll see the smoke escaping, which helps mechanics fix the problem.
Term
bad ground
A bad ground is when the electrical connection in a car isn't working properly. This can cause problems with things like lights or the radio not turning on.
Brand
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes many popular cars. Some of their cars have had problems with electrical systems in the past.
Car
Abarth
Abarth is a brand that makes sporty versions of Fiat cars. They are known for being fun to drive and having unique designs.
Term
OBD scanner
An OBD scanner is a device that connects to your car to check for problems. It reads codes that tell you if something is wrong with the car's systems.
Company
Euro Compulsion
Euro Compulsion is a company that makes parts to make cars perform better, especially European brands like Volkswagen and Audi.
Car
Nissan Frontier
Car
Nissan 2002 Nissan
The Nissan Frontier is a small truck that is good for carrying things and driving off-road. The 2002 version is one of the earlier models of this truck.
Part
bushings
Bushings are small rubber parts that help connect different parts of the car's suspension. They make the ride smoother and quieter by reducing noise and vibration.
Part
sway bar
A sway bar is a part of the car's suspension that helps keep it stable when turning. It connects the wheels on either side to reduce how much the car leans during a turn.
Car
Chevrolet S10
The Chevrolet S10 is a small pickup truck that people often use for work or everyday driving. It's known for being easy to fix and maintain.
Part
pitman arm
The pitman arm is a part of the steering system in a car. It helps turn the wheels when you turn the steering wheel.
Part
ball joints
Ball joints are parts of a car's suspension that help the wheels move up and down smoothly. They connect different parts of the suspension system together.
Part
wheel bearings
Wheel bearings are parts that help the wheels turn smoothly. They support the weight of the car and need to be kept in good condition to avoid problems.
Part
OEM shocks
OEM shocks are the parts that help absorb bumps in the road and keep your ride smooth. They are the same ones that the car had when it was new, made by the same company that built the car.
Term
timing chain rattle
Timing chain rattle is a noise that happens when the timing chain in an engine is loose. It usually occurs when the engine starts up and hasn't built up oil pressure yet, which can be a sign of a problem.
Part
distributor
A distributor is a part of an older car's ignition system that sends electricity to the engine's cylinders to help it start and run. If it's leaking, it can cause problems with the engine's performance.
Part
O-ring
An O-ring is a round rubber piece that helps seal parts in an engine to stop fluids from leaking out. It's important for keeping everything working properly.
Car
Toyota Camry
The Toyota Camry is a type of car that's great for everyday driving. It's known for being dependable and not costing too much to keep running, making it a favorite for many people.
Car
Lexus LS
The Lexus LS is a large luxury car that is very comfortable and packed with features. It's known for being smooth to drive and is a top model for Lexus.
Car
Lexus GS F
The Lexus GS F is a sporty version of the Lexus GS, which is a luxury sedan. It has a strong engine and is built for better handling and performance, making it fun to drive.
Car
Subaru Outback
The Subaru Outback is a car that can handle both city driving and rougher roads. It has a lot of space inside for passengers and gear, which makes it great for trips or adventures.
Car
Audi Q5
The Audi Q5 is a fancy SUV that feels nice to drive and has a lot of high-tech features. It's designed to be comfortable and stylish, making it a good choice if you want something a bit more luxurious.
LIVE
Ian, Dave, Apex and Jason, Automotive Podcast, and we're getting close to the end of the
year, Ian.
And what do we need people to do so we can do our year-end show?
People need to show us their cars.
They need to send us pictures of their cars and little stories about their cars, but most
of the pictures.
We want both.
We want both.
Yes.
Show us your cars.
We will collect everything that folks send us and a few that I forgot to add last year.
And we will put them all, we'll bundle them up, we'll put some wrapping paper on them.
Ian, can you do a bow?
I'm not so good with the bows.
Oh, I can do the, I can, I can twirl the ribbon.
Yeah, the scissors on the ribbon, curly cues.
Okay.
Yeah, you do that.
Yeah.
And then we have our last show of the year, right?
Show us your cars special.
Absolutely.
And you can send those to us, 720-515-1391.
You can text them with SMS technology or you can email them to us at apexadjason at gmail.
You can send them to me on Blue Sky if you want to media the socials.
Yeah, I think those are all the methods.
Yeah, if you're sending us a bunch of pics, email's the best because texts don't really
compress the hell out of them.
So yeah, feel free to email them if you got a bunch of stuff, apexadjason at gmail.com.
Absolutely.
Yeah, show us your cars 20-25, year in special, it's happening.
Yes.
Your last episode of the year will be that.
Yeah.
Please send them our way.
Dave, what else are we doing today?
Ian, we have a bunch of stuff to talk about.
I've been a busy car boy, Ian.
You have been a busy car boy.
Yeah, up top, do you have any garage updates?
What's been happening with you car wise?
We have a mystery gremlin in the all track.
In the all track, really tell me more.
It is a thing where it happens when Jenny is driving the car and I cannot replicate it.
Oh, OK.
And it happened one.
We had something happen one time.
The car went into like a weird limp mode and put a weird message up on the dash months ago.
No, no codes.
OK.
No other indication that something was wrong.
Uh huh.
Didn't happen again.
OK.
And then, of course, I went out of town.
Sure.
And now Jenny reports that it has happened to her maybe two or three times in the last
two months.
OK.
But it's preceded by and it's like an electrical thing where it goes in a limbo to restart,
fixes it immediately.
OK.
It's preceded by a crackling sound in the cabin.
Oh.
And I am quite perplexed.
And then like the car goes into limpo mode.
Yeah, like no power.
Right.
Yeah, it was an error message that when I looked it up, it said one of the common
things is like a throttle position sensor or something like that.
Like there's some sort of sensor issue.
Yeah.
I cannot make heads or tails of it, especially the crackling thing.
The crackling thing can't get it to work.
And every time it's happened twice while I was out of town.
Yeah.
And every time I come home and I take it for a drive and I try to replicate.
Right.
And I try to like replicate like every I put I go like full throttle.
Right.
Yes.
And then I parked the car because that's the only way I drive it.
Handbrake.
Yeah, I'll try to I'll try to do like like I'll put it into like six gear at a low
speed and like put my foot to the floor to see if it's like I throttle.
Low turbo pressure.
Yeah.
Nothing.
I try driving around in second gear and see like is it a high rev issue?
No, I try and like just like part throttle and overlap the brake.
Nothing.
I'm trying everything.
Can't get it to replicate.
OK, I have one suggestion.
OK, you don't drive the car.
Oh, just ride along with Jenny.
Ride along with Jenny.
Yeah, probably.
Yeah, I think that that's the best first step in my opinion, right?
Because you know she's not doing this stuff.
She's not putting it in second gear.
She's not like putting it in sixth gear.
Right, but she is like she does, you know, she puts her foot into it.
Right, sure.
But she's not like making manual gear selections.
Right, right, right, right.
Yeah, because I think that there's going to be some kind of thing
that inspires it to happen that like maybe you just don't naturally do car wise.
It could be. It could be.
Yeah, I've driven around with her before trying to get it to happen.
But like it just hasn't happened yet.
I think I think this is your passenger princess era, Ian.
I think you just need to you just need to embrace it.
You get to DJ the radio stations.
Yeah, right, yeah.
She'll be thrilled to hear this.
Right, yeah.
She's going to be like, well, dare said, you have to drive.
She's like, but why are we married, though?
Isn't this one of the things?
This is the major park.
Yeah, I think I think I would put her in the cockpit, man.
Yeah, right.
OK, OK, beyond that,
the only other thing that I can think of is
is doing some kind of smoke test.
So I did get a smoke tester, you know, and maybe there's a tiny vacuum leak
that's kind of like doing something or contributing.
Who knows? Yeah.
And so if you want to bring it over sometime
and we just do a quick smoke test on it, real easy to do, man,
it takes like no time at all.
Yeah, it's probably worth it.
Yeah, yeah, the crackling thing is.
Yeah, the only thing I can think of is that there is some sort of like
electrical issue and it's feeding back through the speakers.
Yeah, in some way. Yeah.
No, and my mind goes to like a bad ground,
like a ground that's working its way loose, something like that.
Yeah, you know, yeah.
So Volkswagen with electrical issues.
Who knew? Huh?
See, I didn't say it. I didn't say it.
You know, I thought it, but I didn't know.
I know you did. Yeah.
And what about your garage updates?
Because you have a lot.
I have been busy, buddy.
So I have to tell you, first off,
I legit had to hit the horn in the abarth
the other day when I was driving and I had completely forgotten
that we put your Italian fucking, like, let's see if I still have it on the
soundboard. Not that one.
There we go.
That shit.
Holy shit, it scared me.
And I think a little bit of pee came out.
It scared you. Yeah, it's scary.
And I'm the one with the horn.
Did it scare the person you were honking at?
I think so, yes.
So it's not crazy loud.
It's just more like the tone, like, right?
Yeah, it's like, oh, shit.
Yeah, like, that's the thing.
Yeah. Right.
So thank you European police are after me.
I wanted to tell you again, thank you for getting me that horn
because it is hilarious and I love it so much.
It's God.
Yeah. The second time I hit it, I was a little bit more prepared.
But yeah, the first time I hit it in traffic,
somebody was like trying to close the box on me,
getting onto the highway, like, completely inappropriately.
They're going like 12 miles an hour on an entrance ramp.
Yeah. Of course I'm passing them and they like,
they just start heading over into my lane, buddy.
And so it was.
No.
Did they like swerve and like they didn't swerve,
but they stopped the progress, right?
Yeah, it was like just enough that I could still get around.
No problem. Yeah.
So good. Yeah.
So thank you again.
That's such a such a kind and hilarious gift.
So I I hope that you use it at autocross.
I do the beep, beep horn.
I do my little meat, meat, horn at autocross.
I think you should do a meat, meat ball.
One time. Yeah.
When I'm when I'm checking in, going through the gate,
they get a beep, beep when I'm rolling up, you know, yeah.
Pass the check in, they get a beep, beep, you know,
for the blooper with the scanner for your helmet, they can get a beep, beep.
Yeah.
I my wife and I sold a treadmill or an elliptical a little while ago
to some people that I know from work and they have a like a three year old daughter, right?
And so like they came with their car and, you know, the kid and I was like,
I just put a new horn in my car and I need you to test it out for me.
Could you please hit this little red button?
And she was like, OK, you know, like super like, you know,
bluey stuffy thing in her hand and like just all about it.
And I was like, OK, like, could you please just push this?
I need to make sure it works.
And like, she was all about it.
And like before they left, I was like, could you just test it one more time?
She was a little beep one.
Yes. Yeah. Uh huh.
Yeah. So, you know, kids, kids love it.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's great.
Yeah. So thank you for that.
Man, uh, dude, speaking of the Nuggy, Fiat's going to Fiat, man.
Guess who got emissions tested?
Nice.
Yeah, the above. No, not nice, because the OBD scanner couldn't read my car yet.
What? Why?
This is the first time that's ever happened.
And I have an OBD reader plugged into it all the time.
So I think it might be the aftermarket tune
because there's like the ready sensors or whatever ready.
So I'm going to flash it back to stock, drive it around for a week or so,
take it to get tested and see what happens.
Gotcha.
So. Yikes.
Yeah, right.
There was. What happens if it doesn't work?
Do you just fail?
So I was marked as incomplete, just like my college career.
And it didn't cost anything.
OK. And they didn't put it on the rollers.
They essentially just drove it through.
So I was, I actually left like right after the person in front of me did,
I just basically had to wait for them to move so my car could get out.
Right. When's that ever happened?
Yeah. And so they said, oh, you know, like,
if you've disconnected your battery recently or if you've, you know, had worked on,
like you have to your car typically for the OBD, like readiness checks,
like you have to like drive 15 minutes with above 70 percent fuel.
You know, like there's these kind of like stage gates that the car has to cross
before it's like, hey, I'm ready.
Like I'm I've been normally operated, right?
You know, which means like some testing queries can happen.
Which seems weird to me.
I don't know, because it's like I can pull codes from my scanner.
So you might ask the guy that you got the the thing from the company
and just be like, hey, has anyone else had this issue?
I will. Yeah. Euro compulsion.
So it's like a name brand tuner, you know.
Right. Yeah.
So I don't know.
We'll see because there's got to be those things where you go to the website
and it's going to be like a big banner, like just just so you know, guys.
Yes. Yes.
Just like when I had that was that you could be like, how did I miss that?
Right. Yes.
Like when I had that the vent hood for my range and they and on the company site,
they were like, check to make sure these art tape shut before you even bother us.
And guess what? They were taped shut.
Yeah. So I bet hopefully it's something like that.
You know, yeah.
So Nugget going to Nugget, right?
I had a guest in the garage in.
Oh, our buddy Sal brought over his pick them up truck.
Oh, that's right.
Yeah.
So Sal brought over his 2002 Nissan Frontier.
And I, in addition to just like sticking my head
in and smelling the interior the whole time because it made me think of my pickup trucks.
I had a delightful time going through it with him.
Nice. Yeah.
So here I can pull up a picture.
So he has, I think that XE is a two wheel drive.
Yeah. Oh, God.
That's that's an old one or a new one.
We don't want to look at new ones.
We want to look at the old ones, buddy.
Yeah, here we go. This is just exactly just about.
Yeah. Yeah.
He's got he's got the he doesn't have the crew cab.
He's with the four doors.
He's got the two door.
King. The little jump seats.
Yep. Yeah.
Yeah. The perpendicular jump seats that fold out from the sides.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I put together a little spreadsheet of parts for him, you know,
for us to kind of go through or to replace.
It's so easy to work on, Ian.
It's so I admit I do miss pickup trucks, man.
Yeah. Right.
Yeah, like suspension stuff is super easy.
Yeah. Yeah.
The sway bar, like bushings, it's like, right.
You don't even need to lift the car.
You can just slide under it and do it, you know.
Yeah. That was honestly, like when I was on the S10 team,
that was the best part about the easiest thing to work on in that car.
Yeah. Was the suspension stuff.
Like it was not that hard.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
And I I didn't know the name for some of the stuff, like the pitman arm
and like the can't remember the big link that goes across the front, you know.
But yeah, so basically, like just a whole bunch of worn out ball joints.
Yeah. And sway bar links, sway bar bushings,
something that I mean, like the sway bar links are God.
I mean, I bet. Yeah.
Because it's I don't have you driven it because it feels it's pretty loosey goosey.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's going to feel like a brand new truck when he's done.
Well, so also wheel bearings, but he's going to have a shop do it
because that's like the whole repacking and all that stuff.
I don't, you know, I don't want it anyway.
Yeah. Right.
But yeah, but we can we could do sway bar links in like six minutes on that thing.
You know, so easy.
We did the bounce test on all four corners for his
for his shocks or struts or whatever they are.
And great. And I think that they're OEM shocks.
Oh, wow.
Like it did not go past like that, like initial settle, you know, and keep going.
Great. Yeah.
We were on all four corners.
Yeah. And then there was one where we were trying to troubleshoot a squeak
when he was for when he gets in and gets out.
And, you know, so he's like, he's bouncing on the car and I'm underneath.
I have a screwdriver up against my ear, like on metal pieces, trying to hear
like where the sound's coming from.
And I think it was I think it was a sway bar link, but yeah, yeah.
So we're going to we're just going to replace like
to basically rebuild the front end of that suspension and not the shocks.
It's like 150 bucks on rock auto.
What? Really? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
And sway bar links are the cheap sway bar links.
If you want to go cheap on the sway bar links, they're $2 and 60 cents a piece.
What? Really?
The the proper Moog or MevoTac or whatever they are.
Yeah. Those are like six dollars a piece.
That's amazing. Yeah.
God, nothing called six dollars.
I know we can get a cup of coffee for six dollars.
That's crazy. Right.
That's great. Yeah.
So I had I had a blast.
Like, first of all, Sal's a super nice guy.
And he's great to talk to just in general, right?
He's just a nice dude.
And then like just to like sit on the floor while he and I are just like
looking through all this stuff because he you know, he's a sponge.
He soaks up knowledge, like wants to know like how all this stuff works.
So I describe sway bars and like and yeah, now it's locked in this, you know,
Sal vault. Yeah.
And so, yeah, so he's going to order some stuff
and then we'll just find a day to knock it all out.
That's great. Yeah. Right.
Yeah. Being able to work on that stuff and like
to just be able to like lift one axle on the lift or to work on it
while everything is bearing weight.
Dude, it's a game changer, man.
I'm so thankful for the lift. Yeah.
Yeah, it makes so much easier.
Yeah.
Is he going to do as far as there anything else that like he's he wants to do
that you're like, we're we're going to weigh down that or
that you don't want to help him with.
He's getting a little bit of timing chain rattle at startup before oil pressure builds up.
And I think that there is I think that he was leaking.
He had a pretty consistently going out of like the distributor.
Because, yeah, like, you know, where it goes down into the block,
there's like an O-ring or two and I used to have an old, old Toyota Camry
that had a real bad like distributor rod link leak and so that.
But, you know, like, I think I think he had his oil overfilled.
And so I think he was like blowing a little bit like too much blow by.
That was another thing.
But like the timing chain, if there's a little bit of rattle at startup
and it goes away to like Luther did that from day one.
And I put, you know, over forty some thousand miles on that car and it's fine.
Like as long as it goes away super quick, you're fine, you know?
Yeah, so don't really want to do like timing chain guides or anything.
But I don't think we have to.
Yeah, great. Yeah. Right.
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I think there's been a couple of things
where he's asked me about it and I'm like, I think that's probably fine.
And it's just old car stuff, you know, right?
You know, so that's great.
I just you just love that simplicity, man.
Like it's so refreshing to see, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
And then I think I texted you and Peter because I did sell the LS to CarMax, dude.
And I legit teared up.
Yeah, I mean, you did a lot of a lot of big things with that car.
Right. Yeah. I.
I think that like looking back on it, I think some of my enthusiasm was kind of like
for the G.S.F. was kind of like dampened a little bit by like the grief
that I wasn't quite aware of with the LS departing.
Yeah. And like Kelly and I like sat in it together one last time.
Like that took us to Palm Springs.
Like we signed our.
Oh, no, that was in my old man's day.
And we signed like our marriage documents and stuff like that.
You know, like it got us through COVID, you know, like all of those things.
Like, yeah, it just really hit, you know, and I asked the lady at CarMax.
I was like, have you ever had anybody cry as I'm like truly tearing up?
And she was like, yeah, one other time. And I was like, OK.
And like, and the CarMax is close to me.
It's like maybe a mile, maybe like two miles away.
So like I just walked home and I listened to like some real peaceful music
on the walk home, you know, and I just.
Yeah, like I the grief of of Luther departing really hit.
You know, and I get that.
Right. That was a very good companion for you for a long time.
Right. Yeah.
Never ever once like broke down, stranded me, anything like that.
Yeah. You know, with starting at 136,000 miles.
Yeah, that's true. Right.
Never once. Yeah.
Do you know anything about.
Luther's fate, is it being, is it going to get go for sale at CarMax?
Or is it I can go.
I don't know.
I don't know. I would assume auction just kind of like the general age of it.
Right.
But yeah, I haven't put the VIN in like a Google alert yet.
I need to do that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So.
Yeah, crazy, man.
But, you know, we've talked about it on the show before, like grief is absolutely part of the.
The automotive ownership experience, you know.
Yeah, totally. Right.
So going to your pet, it's going to die at some point.
Right. Yeah.
Like there's heartbreak built into this this thing and like and something can't be special.
And you not have grief when you don't have it anymore.
You know. Yeah. Right.
Totally. Yeah.
So, man, but I got the GSF dialed.
I got the title.
I got the bill of sale.
Unfortunately, the key fob popped through the envelope while it was in transit.
So I had a key fob from when it was transported, but the owner had why I kept the second one.
So I have to like open a claim with UPS for the fob and all that.
But but at least I can drive it.
I got it titled, you know, it's in my name.
I got a temporary tag.
You will not believe how much I had to pay for out of state
for taxes on an out of state purchase.
Do you remember how much it cost you when you had your tubo X?
I do. And it was not a very expensive car.
So I can't even imagine.
Are you like, oh, I this is why people register their things in Montana.
Yeah. Yeah.
This is what I get for being honest on the value of the bill of sale,
the value of the car on the bill of sale and like actually registering it in the state that I live in.
Fuck, dude. Yeah.
It it it cost me almost as much as I don't want to say it on the show.
I'll tell you later.
But it cost me almost as much as it cost me to completely repair
and upgrade the abarth.
Including the purchase price of the abarth.
Like it's the abarth, but just taxes.
Yeah. Yeah.
There better be some good fucking fresh paved roads around like directly in front
of my fucking house, man.
This is how Dave goes from being vaguely leftist to a libertarian immediately.
Oh, no. I expect a return on that.
I will I will put your kids through the public school education system.
My tax dollars will do that. That is a fucking investment.
Yeah. If I'm giving somebody my tax dollars, which I am happy to do,
I just need to at least see something.
Yeah. Holy shit.
I need to see fresh tarmac in front of my house.
They should have fresh pavement rolled out in front of me like a red carpet event.
Oh my God, Ian.
Oh, it was one of those dollar values that you hear where you're like, that's not right.
Yeah. No, no, it was right.
Oh my God. Yeah.
So anyway, I'm very thankful that I could pay it, that the car is mine.
I swapped the lowering springs.
I put the OEM springs back on.
I kept the aftermarket rear upper control arms
that provide like that full like camber adjustment for the rear.
And I took it to the Lexus dealer up in Frederick this morning.
And I got a few, this is what we all want as car guys.
The guy that was putting me into the service bay came around and shook my hand.
He was like, dude, this car is nice.
He was like, this is so nice.
And I was just talking to him for a minute about it.
The service writer said that everyone told everyone said that they were jealous
when the car got pulled back into the service for me.
My wife and I had to pick it up.
It got cat called.
I've never been cat called.
I've never cat called anybody, but my car has now been cat called at the Lexus dealer.
I love it.
Um, like as car guys, that's all we want is just like, we want like the mechanics
in the text to think we have a cool thing.
Right?
Yeah, totally.
You know, yeah, that's, that's, that's all we want.
But yeah, so I got that.
And so they dialed in the alignment.
They didn't have to put the stock parts back on to dial them in.
And so I drove it like a grandpa up there because I was like, if this thing
is on like crazy tiny contact patches on the rear, you know, like, yeah, because
of how the wheels were angled, much better.
After you got so much better, like a completely different car, like completely
planted, just hooked into the road.
Yes.
Um, yeah.
So the drive home was nice.
I took it to go get sandwiches tonight.
Um, Ian, holy shit.
It's a crazy car, Ian.
It's so nuts.
It's so fast.
It's so stupid fast, Ian.
And like, and it's so like, it is deceptively quick.
You just, yeah, I don't know.
I, I cannot wait for you to come over for you to take a ride in it, to drive
it, you know, I'm very much looking forward to, uh, to sharing it with you.
Well, we will talk about that after the show.
Absolutely.
We will.
Yes.
So that's, dude, it's been all, that's been all my car stuff.
Some fails, some crying, some tears, some legitimate laughs with friends.
And then, you know, and then a GSF just kicking in the door.
Amazing.
You know, yeah.
So, um, what else you said?
Now you said that you had a, another topic and on the talk abouts, you
have written Roman empire and I am quite curious as to what this is all about.
Yeah.
I've talked a lot on the show.
So I do want to kick it over to you for, for some of this stuff
because I have questions for you.
So I think you know how I can like obsess about things, right?
Our whole like Toyota and 19 Toyota, Lexus 1998 conversation.
Yeah.
Right.
Like, so I, so the, I mean, the whole like Roman empire meme, like describe,
describe the Roman empire meme for anybody who doesn't know about it.
Yeah.
The, the meme is basically that, that men will think about the Roman
empire, like once a week or something like that.
And then people were sharing like what their Roman empire is that they
think about all the time that nobody, that they're sure that nobody else does.
Right.
Yeah.
And so I wanted to see what like contextualizing like my Toyota, King
of the Hill, you know, on some other shit in 1998.
That was absolutely my Roman empire and I have a music Roman
empire that I always think about.
It's Coachella 2023.
Right.
With Skrillex and Fortet and Fred again, coming in for Frank Ocean
when he canceled the show.
I think I legit think about that at least once a day.
And I think about an Instagram comment on a, on a picture of it
where a guy said, my kid is going to be so pissed when I name him
Fred again, Fortet and Skrillex Coachella 2023.
That's how much I think about it.
That's like my car Roman empire, my music Roman empire.
Given that frame, what do you think of car wise Roman empire wise?
Like what, what are the things you keep returning to pleasant otherwise?
You know, I think my Roman empire thing, and I've talked about this
on the show before, I know is that is the whole like living with
the legacy of the Gilded Age thing.
Okay.
It's like, especially like the physical parts of the internet.
Oh, yes.
Like, but I actually just listened to the NPR had a story on
tonight about the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
And it's the same path that they use for fiber optics now.
Okay.
Like exact same path.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And then like the, the railroad lines that were, you know, bought
up by the rail barons and done with all those massive government
subsidies and stuff.
That's where the telegraph lines were put in because it was a right of way.
And, and then that big, those became telephone lines and then
they became data lines.
And so like we're just still living in the late 1800s.
Now, like we're that the, we're talking right right now over some
of the same transmission lines.
Basically, right.
Like the same pathways.
Yeah.
But the same geography right that people were sending telegrams
to each other in like 150 years ago.
Wow.
That's right.
I think about that all the time.
Okay.
Yeah.
And I will never be rid of the golden age basically.
Like we just, and we keep repeating all those same, all the same mistakes
and all the same victories just over and over and over and over again.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like, and it has manifested itself in insane ways like governing
the size of airplane fuel salages because that was like the way that
they could fit them on train cars to transport them and like the tunnels
that they could fit them through like they couldn't make planes bigger
than a certain size because of these like pathways that they had to navigate.
Yeah.
Like all of these downstream effects because some dude with dynamite
was like here, here.
Basically.
Oh shit.
Okay.
There's a lot.
There's a ton of stuff like that.
Wow.
Okay.
Okay.
Oh man.
Do you have any like non infrastructure?
Do you have like any pop culture kind of like my pop culture one is
music related and it's the but it's also culture like larger culture thing
which is the whole if you remember in the early like two thousands
there was the rockest versus pop demist debate where like the music
review sites like pitchfork and it's like the like more kind of
eliti snooty indie rock sites got a lot of flack for not covering
pop music.
Okay.
And it was framed as like a like a sexism or a racism thing.
Okay.
And so but now we've lost like the pop demists when the pro like pop music
people were called pop demists and they sort of like won the argument.
Okay.
And so like now like pitchfork will cover and all the music reviews
as we'll cover like you know hip hop and pop and all sorts of genres
which is great.
It's good but also there's no differentiation anymore between things
that are like churned out for mass consumption.
Okay.
You know and things that are more considered you know whether those
are like in the pop genre but like like you know more artistically valuable
or just like whatever autotune slop gets thrown out you know.
And I think about that in terms of like like a lot of culture has sort of
been won over by that where like there's no there's no like object objectivity
allowed anymore.
Okay.
Okay.
I don't know.
That's it.
Yeah.
No but like the the thoughts that like we return to every now and then right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I think about that like you know the like Marvel movies are now
considered like high art or whatever which I do not agree with.
Right.
Yeah.
Basically I'm bemoaning the fact that I'm not allowed to be a slobby anymore.
Well, even if you're not allowed to be I think that you've still found a way
life finds a way.
Right.
So then do you think that that diminishes guilty pleasures?
There is no such thing as guilty pleasures anymore.
That's what I mean.
Like that's yeah.
That's why I asked that right.
That means everything.
I think it goes along with like making everything.
The same right?
Like content is rewarded for being more like the other things you just
watched right instead of like being rewarded for being different or doing a
different thing.
Yeah.
Right.
Like a new intellectual property.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
I get that.
Right.
That's it.
Do you know I think yeah.
I think it's definitely connected to like the whole like infinite scroll
algorithm thing where you get noticed for being more or doing the meme that
30,000 other people did.
Right.
You get rewarded more for that than you do for inventing something new that
no one else is doing.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
You just get shoved into oblivion.
Yeah.
Right.
And I think that there's some connection with the populist raucous debate.
I haven't quite landed that plane yet, but I think about it all the time.
Okay.
I can see how that might be something you'd noodle on in the shower.
You might get wet with Ian on that one.
Yeah.
We're getting we're getting damp so far.
Yeah.
Not fully wet yet.
Getting dewy with Dave.
Okay.
Okay.
But yeah, I was curious to see if you had those things because you know, I just
want to know like where your mind sits in free time, you know, like the I don't
know, I mean, I've got, I could do that.
I could do this as a topic for hours.
Okay.
I've got lots of these.
Any other car related ones that you can think of anything like regarding F1 kind
of like or like maybe the kind of the more motor, motor sport centric things.
Like if you had to tell somebody a crazy story that you just happened to know
that happened in like automotive history.
What do you think you would like retell?
Like what what was a cool kind of thing that you've told Nico that kind of thing?
Like, yeah, it would probably be either the like Toyota rally cheating thing.
Yeah.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
That's a really good one.
Uh-huh.
I might be all cheating ones and then or like or the the IMSA drug running thing.
Oh, yeah.
Or there's one that's been going around lately actually about Ferrari and the pit
crew thing.
Have you, have you heard about this?
No, no.
So apparently in the nineties, there was a hospital in England and I'm like
retelling this.
So I'm going to get, I'm going to fuck this up, but like, there was a hospital
in England that was doing, did a lot of surgeries for children and children had
a really high mortality rate going from the surgery to the ICU to recover.
Okay.
And they couldn't figure out what was going on and, um, but it was always like
a really chaotic time.
Oh, yeah.
Over and some doctors were like watching F1 in the waiting room and saw
the pit crew and they ended up asking the Ferrari pit crew to come coach them.
And they found like all these things of like people like talking over each
other or like inefficient movements of like two people reaching for the same
thing at once and like people not having like really defined jobs.
So they consulted with this like children's hospital and like they, their
mortality rate dropped by some like outrageous percentage and it was like
a resounding success and it was a direct result of just like motor sport influence.
Okay.
Like seeing amazing logistics in coordination and translating that into
just another area that needed logistics in coordination.
Yeah, totally.
Wow.
Okay.
Yeah.
I vaguely remember something like this, but I like, yeah, I didn't.
Yeah.
It was the Ferrari pit crew and like a hospital in England in the 90s.
That's amazing.
Okay.
That's really cool.
Yeah.
So like something like that probably.
Yeah.
Nice.
Nice.
I would like to hear what other folks like what their automotive
centric Roman Empire is.
Yeah.
You know, curious about this.
Cause I need some new ones.
But after that, like that's, that's why I put Roman Empire on there.
I was just kind of recontextualizing my obsessive thoughts to try to tell
myself they're a little bit more healthy.
Yeah.
But I also think about the, the, the Eagle, um, the AMC Eagle wagon as the
first crossover.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And how it doesn't get credit for that.
Yes.
Right.
When, yeah.
When the Subaru Outback commercials came out with, what's his name?
Paul Hogan and he was like the world's first sport utility vehicle.
And it was like, no, it's not motherfucker.
AMC has been doing this shit for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, that was the exact thought that I had.
No, it's not.
Like I was a kid leaning over on an Ottoman, like with my head up like this
that like, if we sat like that as adults, our spines would be wrecked.
Right.
Yeah.
The positions we used to watch console TVs in back in the day.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
I remember being very upset by that.
That's really funny.
You know, yeah.
But anyway, I have a license plate game for you, Ian.
I would love to have it.
Yes.
Ian, this one.
Oh man.
Oh, we got a bunch of, we got a bunch of my eyes.
I forgot to add in.
So we're going to show those next, next time.
But Ian, this, this license plate game, Ian, is license plate game number
132 for you.
Okay.
All right.
This one is just called you be you.
You be you.
Okay.
Okay.
And here we go.
Okay.
All right.
So we've got an Audi Q5 up top in black.
We've got a Rivian R1 T in like silver.
And then we've got an Ionic five in that like slate bluish silver thingy.
Yeah.
Like desert bluish.
Yeah.
We do have some context clues, but the plates are be real.
They, it took me a while to get this one.
Be creative.
Nice.
Nice.
Be creative and be weird.
Oh man.
These are great plates.
None of these are mine.
These are all listener submissions.
Okay.
And be creative is spelled BCR eight I VE right that shit down
and see how long it takes someone else around you to get that be creative from
that because it took me like at least a minute.
That's a pretty good one.
Okay.
I need some zoomies and enhances.
You got zoomies and enhances coming right up homie.
Okay.
So we've got a Colorado plate on the Audi.
Nothing else to speak of a silver, just a very simple silver license plate
frame.
I will call out one thing about the license plate frame.
It's missing the diagonal screws.
They just have two of the screws holding it in, right?
The upper right and the lower left.
And usually people will just do the uppers.
Right.
I've never seen that before.
That's an interesting.
Yeah.
Maybe creative.
Bold move.
Q five.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
And then we've got okay.
So the R1 T doesn't have much to go on, but it does have and it's an Illinois
plate with a white socks specialty plate, right?
And it's an Oklahoma state dad.
Oklahoma state dad.
Okay.
I want you to know that my kid is also sucking in the Midwest.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
And then the Ionic five.
Uh-huh.
Colorado plate with the, with the stickers on incorrectly.
Oh yeah.
They are on incorrectly.
Yeah.
They, they're, uh, the month and year.
Yeah.
Like they, the month sticker is on the upper right hand.
It needs to be on the lower left.
Yeah.
I didn't notice that.
Good eye.
Yeah.
And it needs to be washed.
Yep.
Yep.
Pretty dirty.
There's no license plate frame.
Raw is just slapped that.
I got my neighbor to get a license plate frame for their car.
Like I was like, I'm just going to say this once.
They were showing me their new car.
They bought a two, uh, uh, a Z four.
Like I'm just going to say this once.
Kind of get a plate frame.
They did.
They did.
I still haven't son of a bitch.
Um, okay.
All right.
Oh, this is tough.
Yeah.
This is a tough one, man.
Because let's, I just want to say like none of these are
especially weird cars, right?
Or creative cars.
Yeah.
By today's standard is not like it's, there's like a Citroen
DS with like, you know, Pikachu heads duct taped all over it.
I think the Ionic five is the weirdest car here.
Okay.
I think for whatever reason, I think be real is on the Rivian.
Okay.
The white socks play.
I just feel like the combination of a white socks, plate, electric car
and Oklahoma city or Oklahoma state thing feels somebody like
somebody no nonsense a little bit.
Okay.
And that is also be real from Cypress Hill driving that Rivian.
The problem with that selection is that it means that either be
creative or be weird ends up on the Audi and that car is neither
of those things.
Right.
But I have a real strong feeling that the Rivian has be real on it.
Okay.
Okay.
I think, I think be weird is on the Ionic and I think be creative
is on the Q five and I think that the Q five is the type of person
who spent a really long time diagramming out how they could get
that onto a license plate.
Okay.
Okay.
Like that is a plate brought by persistence and like hitting
submit on the DMV thing many times.
Right.
Okay.
There's a spreadsheet involved.
Probably.
Right.
I may have crossed paths with them when I was trying to buy a G.S.F.
Right.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
That's where I'm going.
Okay.
Ian, I think that you will be mostly pleased and the rest, the remainder
amount, you will also be pleased because you got them all right.
Oh, man.
Yeah, I think I was going to get that one.
You got every single one.
See trust your gut.
You are, you are a psychic for this stuff, man.
Man, that was a tough one.
It was, but you, you honed in.
You tapped into some like ancestral knowledge, Ian.
I also think the, the, the, uh, the registration stickers being
in the incorrect spot on the Hyundai was a real clue.
Yeah.
Right.
That's great.
Yeah.
So our buddy, Mark sent in the Hyundai be weird.
Thank you, Mark.
Eric sent in the white socks.
Be real.
Mm hmm.
Uh, Rivian and, uh, Tara sent in the be creative Audi.
So thank you, Tara.
Thank you, Eric.
And thank you, Mark.
Boom.
Right.
Ian, well done, man.
Thank you.
Amazing.
Okay.
And if you have vanity plates, seven, two, zero, five, one,
five, one, three, nine, one, send them in.
Um, everybody, um, I have an album of the week.
Yes.
Um, this week we're going to go real weird.
I may have done this one before.
I don't know.
Um, sometimes you're in the mood to just be a little freaked
out and like a little just like assaulted by your music
choice.
All right.
And this, if you're ever in the mood to be assaulted for a long
period of time, this is the record.
Okay.
So this is from, uh, uh, 19, it was released in 1997 or 1977
originally.
Okay.
It's a 1974 live concert called Dark Magus.
So this is a Miles Davis concert from 1974.
Or a lot of Carnegie Hall, Dark Magus.
Okay.
Um, it is probably the wildest thing he's ever released.
Okay.
Um, it is, uh, very rock heavy.
So it's not really jazzy at all.
Okay.
It was deep into like, so this is like the bitch's brew era
of like the fusion funk stuff, but this is more like
rock heavy.
I saw somebody I was reading up on it.
I saw that a one, um, uh, pretty at the times basically said
it was like kind of like a can album.
So there's like lots of drum forward sort of things in it.
And there's just like 25 minute long passages.
Um, wow, it is a wild, wild record.
And it is, uh, like, I don't know, sometimes when I'm like
in a crap mood and I need to keep that, I need to roll into
that, like keep my productivity up.
I need to like assault the problems that I have.
Right.
You need a denial of service attack on your own head.
Yes.
Okay.
This is what I, this is what I'll do.
Okay.
Do you see a direct line between like this and your
Autech or concert experience?
Oh, I'm sure that there were people who were just way more
perplexed than I was at this show.
Right.
Okay.
Have you ever listened to the previous two Miles Davis records?
Yeah.
And then dropped into this shit.
You would have been what the fuck.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
And apparently the, so the story of the concert is wild too.
So I saw what they were, they said like he lived 15 minutes
from the venue and was more than an hour late.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
All right.
He fired hat, like some of the musicians, like the week
before the show and strangers.
And so they had like played together for the first time on
stage at Carnegie Hall, like Jesus.
And he was like deep into like cocaine years and sure.
Yeah.
He was in a rough spot, but this is, this is amazing.
It's really, really good.
Okay.
Okay.
Wow.
Okay.
Every now and then we're gifted with a fragment from like the
edge of insanity, right?
Well, and Miles Davis, like I, like I will rant about Miles
Davis for a long time too, because like he invented so many
genres on his own.
Like he basically invented fusion.
He invented cool jazz.
He basically invented hard bop, like not many.
I can't think of another contemporary musician who is
alive at the same time as we were.
That like invented several different sub genres of music
and then just like moved on.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, like more than Bowie, you know, like it's Bowie like
reinterpreted things or whatever he, this was like just
birthing new things right out of thin air.
It's wild.
And then, and this record is like, it was, I never really liked
fusion and this is like what unlocked me liking some fusion.
Okay.
Okay.
Was yeah, this record because it was very like, yeah, like I
said, like can or like Hawkwind even like there's some of that
in there and there's like a lot of funk in there too.
Like it's really, really cool.
I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to listen to some of
this.
I want to hear what this is about.
Yeah.
Just I don't think just listen to like the first 10 minutes of
it.
Right.
Right.
And I think you will dig it.
If you can put yourself in the same place that you list that
you are listening to like a, a live DJ set, it's structured
basically the same.
Okay.
Okay.
Um,
so don't expect, there's no vocals.
Right.
Yeah.
It's, you know, just, just music and it just kind of like goes
on and on.
Okay.
Dark Magus.
Yeah.
Wild.
Okay.
Yeah.
Links will be in the YouTube description.
Let's get into it.
Let's get weird.
Listen to this.
Tell us about your automotive Roman Empire that you can't stop
thinking about, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Um,
720-515-1391 shows your cars.
Apex adjacent Gmail.
I'm on blue sky apex adjacent.
Everybody thank you.
We love you.
Goodbye.
About this episode
Ian and Dave dive into their garage updates, sharing tales of mysterious gremlins in their cars and the challenges of emissions testing. Ian discusses his VW Alltrack's perplexing electrical issues, while Dave reflects on the emotional farewell to his LS at CarMax. The duo also shares amusing anecdotes about their vehicles, including a hilarious horn upgrade on Dave's Abarth. As the year-end approaches, they invite listeners to submit photos and stories of their cars for a special episode, blending humor with heartfelt automotive experiences.
Original notes
Car things are happening this week! The GS F gets lined up and driven, the Abarth decides to give Dave the silent treatment, and Ian's VW Alltrack crackles oddly. Weird! We love you!!!
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