535-Drew! Our Weird Car Bluesky Friend!

Dave. Ian. And Drew. Hello. Howdy. We are joined, this is Apex Adjacent, car show, music,

politics, blah, blah, blah, thus and so. We are joined today by our buddy Drew, who you may know

if you are like us as Team Radar Love on Blue Sky. Hello, Drew. Hello there.

We have been mutuals on the socials for a very long time. I think going back to weird car Twitter

days and now on Blue Sky because of the whole Nazi porn thing. But we haven't really spoken

to each other on like a human to human level before. And then you posted some stuff recently

that I was like, you know what? We should chat. So yeah, welcome. Can you explain to the people

you're sort of like cornerstone position in weird car Blue Sky? Oh, I shop for cars. I have been

shopping for cars for the better part of I would say 40 years now. And I've basically kind of taken

that probably to a bit of an extreme. I said some background on me. My first word was car.

I learned what the colors were by the classified ads in the newspaper on Sundays because they came

in color. So I've been in the game for a while. It's now a crutch where as long as I'm constantly

shopping for cars, I'm not buying cars and flipping out because I'm always looking for the next thing.

That was the next question. Yeah, yeah, two different things.

Uh-huh. No, like the cars that I've ended up with for the most part have landed in my universe.

And it's like an overwhelming desire to purchase and it just overcomes me. And you kind of like

black out and you like wake up and it's like, oh, I own a roadmaster now. Yeah, that one came to

me via DM from a good buddy on a discord and it was literally like, hey, you might be interested

in this. It was literally on a train the next weekend. So sometimes the spirit overcomes you.

I bought a big one in much the similar fashion. Yeah, everybody should do that.

All this like, oh, go get a PPI. Go put an Excel sheet together and figure out what you want.

No, do any of that. Take your brain out of the equation and buy it with your heart. Come on.

Oh boy. Okay. So yeah, I think you and Ian are way more similar because I'm when I bought the car

that we'll touch base on in a little bit here. Yeah, there was a spreadsheet. It was shared with

people. It was a whole thing. Okay. So we like, okay, I don't want to push us too fast too far.

But like, we got to talk about your spreadsheet because like, I have a list. I have two lists.

I've written a post-it note. I threw the post-it note away because I was thinking too much about

it. And then I rewrote another post-it note. And then I went and drove most of those cars

in a single day. And now there are new additions to that post-it note based on several bits of

feedback. So I have to ask what on earth was on your spreadsheet that you had that I can go ahead

and add to a third post-it note. So my spreadsheet, this is going to be the most boring version

of such a great question for me when we're supposed to be interviewing you, Drew. So

fuck off. First off, welcome to our show.

So also, I love the fact that it was post-it notes. And I'm just getting the whole vibe here.

So my spreadsheet was just other Lexus GSFs. It was which GSF because I was going to get one.

But it had tipped that threshold, right? Where like my wife and I were talking about it. She was

like, life is short. You've been thinking about this car for eight years. Just go do it. Make a

dumb decision. Okay, but here's the thing. That is not a dumb decision. That was of all the cars

that I've driven over the course of the last few years. I don't recall getting one that was more

of a surprise than that one in particular. I haven't driven an F product before. Full

disclosure. I've driven Lexuses before. I owned 100 series for a little while and I would

remarkable build quality, fantastic sedate, not exactly kind of scintillating in any way.

And I remember getting in the GSF and thinking, oh, this is like, I remember sitting down and

thinking like this is every bit as Japanese as the Julia is Italian. Like the way it feels,

the way it drove, the way it sounds like the infotainment was not nearly as bad as I was

expecting it to be. It was like, this is a unique way to interact with an extraordinarily special

car. Yeah, the right noise is the right sounds. The right, yeah, it is. That was the shocker of

the group. I was going in expecting it like that was, I didn't even have that batting cleanup. I

was like, I had that sandwich between what I thought my favorites would be and that one immediately

sticks out. That is such a special thing. Yeah, let's back up and explain because we,

so I reached out to you after you posted this and I put it in the talk about Steve. Yeah,

I haven't pulled up here. Let me share it here. Yeah. So Dave recently bought for the listeners.

Dave just recently bought a GSF and then you posted that you were doing some, you said,

today was educational and you had a picture of a Julia, a Chevy SS, which I'm very curious to hear

about, a GSF. And then is this a CT4 black wing? Yes, yes, CT4V black wing. Yeah. So the question

that I asked myself was, if I had a set number of dollars to spend on a vehicle and I wanted

something, I've got a couple of dogs and that's about it in terms of my responsibilities.

Like, what would I get that had four doors that was in this price range? And when you actually

sit down and go through the mental math of, okay, what all is in this segment that you could get,

it's an embarrassment of riches. Like there are some really spectacular items to take a look at.

So like, I've spent some time with an SS. I spent a long weekend with an SS a couple years ago.

The Julia, the CT4V and the GSF, that's all brand new to me. But like, basically, if an M5 or,

you know, an RS6 don't really do anything for you and like anything past the E39 doesn't really

do a lot for me. There's some really weird stuff in here. Just bizarre. Like, how do we even,

I don't quote me on this, but I believe that the only reason why we had the Chevy SS was

some like labor dispute between Holden and General Motors headquarters where they said,

hey, you're going to export some percentage of these. So basically, like we randomly wound up with

what is maybe one of the best sports sedans in the last 20 years. Yeah, just on a whim.

Yeah, I mean, look at that thing. It looks like a rental car. There's nothing like,

it is the biggest dude magnet on earth. Like if you absolutely want to be completely ignored,

except for the one time that you run into a gas station with somebody who knows what it is,

and you're going to spend half an hour talking about it, like this is the car for you.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I mean, I've seen these on the road a couple of times. Yeah. And

both times I was like convinced it was a Malibu. Yeah. Oh, wait. That's not there was,

there was a movie with Dak Shepard. I can't even remember the name of it. I don't know if it's

worth remembering the name of it. But there was a scene where they actually there's a car chase

with a Chevy SS and then blows up at the end and they you can tell when they blow it up,

they're blowing up a Malibu. And it is, it's like intentional unintentional continuity error,

maybe, but yeah, like it's, it doesn't look like anything. But it's, it's brilliant. They're,

they're just the build quality is, but it's charming. They're very, very charming.

Interesting. Yeah. I haven't driven one of these. I have a lot of time in a Julia.

More time to date. Yeah. Because I only got to ride in it,

you ran it out of gas and we had it at a racetrack and it was a Quadrifiglio. So yeah, thanks Ian.

Look, on the one hand, I completely understand how that happens. I do not want to give the

keys back for one. I have a co-worker who had a Stelvio Quadrifoglio and sold it at the right time

before it did an Alfa Romeo. And who we, that is everything everybody says about that car.

That is, it's, yeah, it, it feels alive, which does probably warranty issue, but like it does

feel alive. I mean, even the base model does, right? Like, yeah, yeah. You know, I probably need to

drive one of those, but given what resale is on those, I definitely don't need to drive one of

They're really cheap. The two liter is legitimately very fun. Like on a twisty road,

like it does the same like dynamically thing of where it feels like it's like attached to your

hips like this. Yeah. But without the crazy power of this. Yeah. That would, I mean,

I'm a pretty stoic person except behind the wheel. So for the most part, I'm pretty responsible. But

this thing, you could get in trouble quick. It was, it was a pretty, as you could see,

it was a kind of a wet morning. And it was, there were a couple spots where I was like,

oh, that's okay. We have AIDS. This is good. This is good. I have little nannies that are

helping me not kill myself in the car that I don't own. Even with the nannies on it,

lets you know, like it comes up and pokes you in the chest and is like, Hey man,

just so you know, you're still waving a loaded gun around. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just this

one in particular, when it would pop the hood on it, there's a second coolant reservoir for

that was almost completely empty. Have no idea when we stopped the car that one of the tailpipes

was was smoking. I mean, your guess is as good as mine. But the Julia forums were full of solutions

for it. So yeah, I don't know. I'm ready to get hurt. I'm ready to have my heart broken.

That might be the one to do it. Burn bright, burn bright, man. Right. Yeah. Look, if you're

going to go out, yeah, like life is short. We don't have a lot of time. I want to know what your

morning looked like when you were like, I'm going to drive these four cars today. Like what was,

yeah, give us some basically a fever dream. Like I was sick at the time. Like, and it was kind of

like, I need, I need something to power through this. So I got searching, like I figured if I was

going to go test driving, I'd like to drive stuff back to back. I love everything that I drive.

Like I have, I'm not a reliable narrator on food. I am not a reliable narrator on things that I

drive. I love cars. Just period. Like yeah, I have the worst car I've ever driven. I would

still probably take home and give a loving, a loving home too. So I want to drive everything

back to back to actually like get out of my head and say, okay, we have to go see what the next

thing is. You've got to go see what do you like it? Do you want to take it home? What are the

pros and cons here? You're speeding cars, Drew. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. If you're going to do it,

right? Yeah. Like basically made a, made a series of phone calls around the city of Seattle, Tacoma,

Federal Way, all the, you know, basically all up and down I five and found a series of cars that

I think, okay, this would be a fun collection to go take a look at and go get an honest appraisal

on. So I think what's not pictured here is there was also an E 63 wagon that was thrown in the

mix. So I've got a little bit of experience with an E 63 wagon too, but the, yeah, the Julia,

the GSF and the CT4V were all brand new to me. Yeah. And they're, oh, you, gosh, I will be entirely

honest. If you took home any one of those four, you did great. You made the right choice for you.

You cannot go wrong. You really can't. Yeah. Yeah. There's no such thing as the best car. There's

the right car for you. Right. Right. And like best paperwise doesn't always mean it is the best

car for you. Right. No, no, Aston Martin exists. Like, there is no such thing as like, on paper

is irrelevant. It doesn't matter. That's such a great retort to that. Yeah. Yeah. I've loved

every Aston Martin that I've ever driven. And they're all just like parts been specials.

Like it feels like one of those highlights games where you're looking at it and you're like,

okay, where's the parts? I know this is in something. Yeah. You know, this is an AC switch.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Right. Okay. But those cars are also

greater than the sum of their parts, right? Like they, they have a feel to them. Oh, yeah. No,

they're like, and that, I think more than anything, the older that I get, like I used to be the kid

that was like, you know, well, well, the C6, Z06 can go around the Nurburgring in seven minutes

and 42 seconds, but the CR1 is going to be faster. And it just like, I love that kid. I've made peace

with him. You know, like it doesn't, it's kind of how it makes you feel. I think like that the

first time I drove a Bohnstock Neata, it was like this, this revelatory experience of, oh, this is

like, this is great. I've driven special things. I've driven expensive things. I bought this car

for 350 bucks and it is like, it makes me feel like a billionaire. This is unbelievable. Yeah.

I love that. Okay. Yeah. Now, we, we, I want to take a little tangent here because you said something

that, that, um, maybe think about something, which is, so you are, as we've established, a Denzi, you

know, the internet. Um, now when you, we talked about this is like kind of like a dating thing,

but as we know, like when you get married, you don't just marry the person. You also marry into the

family. Which one of these four online families that you will be spending a lot of time with on

the forums, do you think would be the best? So the, the dirty secret here is that I'm a Corvette

owner and I've been a Corvette owner for years. So I know self loathing. I am acutely aware of

how to be a part of a fan base. That is kind of miserable. Um, I love Corvette owners. Corvette

owners are great. They're wonderful. Like they're delightful. Um, they're old. Um, but, uh, of these,

and for audio only listeners, we should tell you, tell you that Drew is not wearing any Corvette,

uh, apparel, unless like maybe you just, the boxers that we can't see.

Tattoos. Like I do, I do not have Corvette tattoos. That is not, I have not taken things that far

yet. It's just a new balance tattoo. Um, yeah, I, gosh, these four, like I almost feel like the

GSF, if you were marrying into the family, the GSF might be your best choice just because I,

I hear the least about these in terms of performance sedan. And like to me, that's the,

I don't know, am I a hipster? Is that what this is? Am I? I might be an automaker.

Right. Yeah. Like going back and looking at the reviews of these things and it's,

everybody's like, well, it's slower than an M five, but it's, it's slower than M five,

but it's fantastic. But yeah, I mean, I kind of feel like you are in a very, very special club,

especially from, um, I think in terms of like imports, there were what, 2000 of these things?

Yeah. 2400. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we're, we're like, uh, the, the, the unit of measurement that I use

in my head is, is, uh, the F 40. I think we had about 1200 F 40s that were ever made. So that's

like two F 40s. Um, that's kind of how I think about these things. So, um, yeah, there's, there's

like, that's not many at all. Like you're, you're in like CTSV wagon space, um, with those production

numbers, which is like, it's, it's a special day when you see one. Um, yeah. And then like,

there's not a bad color to get them in the interior is wonderful. They drive great. The,

that engine, everybody, like everybody's right about that engine. That is, that is special.

It's so weird. It's so good. I have to ask, did you drive it in eco mode when you had it?

Oh, no. Oh, yeah. No, this, this one's gotten aftermarket exhaust on it and it's like,

so does mine. Yeah. I have to tell you, eco mode is the weirdest thing in it because it almost

turns it into an LS. It's crazy. That's cheating. Come on. I know, right? Like it's almost too good,

right? But then you can still kick it over to manual and blip everything or just go sport,

sport plus when you want to get wild. It's, uh, it's a whole thing. I mean, I like, yeah, yeah,

driving this thing makes me think that like all time greatest top five two guard garage solutions

is this in an LFA. Like there, this car is just, I am absolutely convinced that if you

needed to do a thousand miles today, you could do it. And I think on a back road, you would,

it'd be a riot. Yeah. It's a ton of fun. It's big, but it's, yeah, there is sharp.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a wild car. Yeah. And, and you're with wild

competition here. Like I, I have not driven a CTSV or a V line Cadillac. I've, I've driven

that like the standards and really liked them. You've driven the standards too, right, Ian?

Yeah, I have, but yeah, I've not driven a V ever, um, any of them.

Back in the day, uh, the first sedan that I ever bought was a first gen CTSV wagon, um, bought it

with a whole bunch of miles on it and it was a bit of a mess. Um, but just a lovely little

science project. Like this, this is, I, I'm a GM apologist. I love everything they do. They're,

like, I don't think they throw any pitches down the middle of the plate. Like it's, it's either

absolutely spectacular or just a miserable failure. Like it is, it's like the, the company

that brought you the GM diesel is the same one that is out here bringing you the ZR one. None of

that makes sense. Like none of that makes sense. Like, sure. Uh, this, this is wonderful. Like the,

the V, the black wing, everything that they've done, this is, this is like, this is BMW. This is

what, if you, if you can draw a straight line from an E39 M5, close your eyes and get in V

products, that's what it is. It's fantastic steering, great powertrain. Um, yeah, it's great.

And Q is dead. They killed Q. Q is dead and we shouldn't talk about it anymore. Cause that

single-handedly, I think, sank the ATSV and prior CTSV products.

Right. You talked about the infotainment. Oh, yeah. It's the worst thing on earth. It is,

it is just a heinous thing to interact with. Um, like, yeah, like I, if you, if you were to like

drill a TI 83 calculator onto the dashboard, it would be a much simpler and more logical, uh,

user interface. Yeah. I love that. I think it's only the only one that's been worse that I've

seen in like around that same era was the infant. The infinity one was truly awful.

That bad? Oh no. You had three screens. You had two screens in the middle. You had one in the

gauge cluster. You could do some things on all of them, some things on none of them. It was, it was

some were like, you could do the same thing on two different screens in two different menus.

You could get to the same feature and then some other things were one screen only. It was a fucking

mess. There's a reason that you'd have an intersect with one of these, because I think like

there's been like a guardian angel, like a car guardian angel keeping you away from these in

your life. So this is, this is dangerous because, and just maybe collectively we can work this out.

Yeah. How do we feel about the first gen FX 35 and 45 right now?

So I had a 2006 M45. So I went, I went M45, 2008 LS, GSF. Of course you own a GSF. Of course you

do. Right. Yes. You understand the, they built none of these and this is the, this is, yeah. Oh,

yeah. What a phenomenal, what a like wild looking car. And Dave's like, Dave's like back into

fast to dance was, was weird too, because he was a front wheel drive boy. He was a sob guy

before all of that. And then the M, how did you come across? How did you come to own the M45?

I don't even remember. Like how did you land on that? Did you, were you just searching for stuff

with the V8 and you just happened to find that? It was back when I was going into the office every

day. My wife and I were still new in our relationship and we were, we were living apart,

like on opposite sides of Denver. And I was spending tons of time in the car and an automatic

transmission and 335 Nissan horsepower sounded pretty rad. Right? Yeah. Okay. I mean, and golly,

I mean the, the M all the way through was just a spectacular looking car. I mean, yeah, like

lightly brutalist. It's like, it's like a brutalist iMac. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Like it,

yeah, it, it looks intentional. Yeah. Yeah. Like kind of like a Subaru legacy, but not

but different enough. Right? Yeah. It's a legacy that did its postdoc. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So,

yeah. So I, I became a V8 sedan Japanese, like luxury sedan enthusiasts. Like I always knew that

that was a thing and it was like, Oh, no, like once I had the M45, it was great. And it was like,

Oh, well, I'm just buying an LS after this, you know, because it, I will go to the mat saying

that LS is the greatest sedan ever made period. Okay. Okay. Have you read pursuit of perfection?

No, I have not. Okay.

You two and maybe whoever's listening to this are the only people that I can actually recommend

this book to because it is, if you're not in this world, if you like, it might be the driest thing

you've ever read, but if you're in this world, it's the most fascinating bit of development that I've,

I've ever read pursuit of perfection, relentless pursuit. Okay. Maybe it's relentless pursuit.

I am, I should probably that's okay. Let's pursue the perfection. There we go. Okay. Yes. Yeah.

It is. Yeah. The relative, I think relentless pursuit, there's a book it is,

I don't know where you would even get a copy of this book. I think I got a used copy off of

bookshop.org and it is phenomenal. Like the development of the LS, everything that you've

ever like heard or read about it is like, it's, it's, it's not hyperbole. They, they did everything.

They bought a house in California. They sent people to California to go like evaluate how

Californians live. Like it's an SNL skit. They, like this was, this is the most bubble era car

of all bubble era cars. Like their, their design mandate was go make the best car that's ever

existed, which sure. Okay. Yeah. Totally. And then they kind of did. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I,

I will own one of those before I die. Just, just to, like, I feel like knowing the background

behind it, you would get in one and just think, this is the most well built thing on planet earth.

Like this, when this thing landed in the nineties, it just had to be, I mean,

there's nothing like it. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I cannot imagine like what it would have been like

to just, yeah, to have that just thrust into the market. Like if you were Mercedes at that time,

like, holy shit. Yeah. The W140 S class. I love W140s. I, I like anything,

basically the pre-merger AMG era. I'm, yep, I, I am happy to speak chassis codes.

Yeah. Absolutely spectacular car. Yeah. Everything that came after it was, we have got to figure

out a way to cut costs because we've got to catch up to folks that just kind of came along and just

dropped the bomb in the middle of the segment. Right. Yeah. I mean, I, if you like, this is the

car that they based the, the Maybach offer. They did not base it off of the W220. Despite the fact

it looks like it, this is the one they based it off of. Okay. Yeah. They're spectacular.

Bank vaults, everything I am certain goes wrong on one. I know that there's going to be an S500

that looks at me wrong one day and I'm going to have to take it home. Yeah. Yeah. I like your

automotive approach. It's like the saddest shelter dogs. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Don't go to

Mercedes. Yeah. Yeah. We have, we have a bloodhound with three legs. Yeah. That, yep. Yeah.

Yeah. The exact same thing. Yes. Absolutely. I can, I can fix it. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yep. Or it can

fix you. Who's rescuing you really? Who? That's somebody who in an E38, a 740i, let me tell you.

Oh boy. I was rescuing it. That was, that was, I mean, I say rescuing it like we got to talk

about dying with dignity. Like that is, yeah. You're a hospice. Yeah. It wanted to die. It really,

really wanted to die. You were shoveling money onto the bonfire. I just want to have words with

whoever designed those valve guides. That's it. I just want to talk. I just want to talk. It's fine.

You know, when you change your oil and it looks like gold schlager, I'm sure it's fine.

It's pretty. It's shiny. It's sparkly. It really brightens up your day.

Sir, there's a man here named Drew. He wants to talk to you about valve guides. I'm not here.

There's a button on his desk. People will see the floor. Yeah. You can hear this fine witness

protection. I'm coming for you. Other than that, absolutely fantastic car. It's the best $1,500

seven series you can buy. Yes. Okay. I love that. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Eyes wide open.

So, I mean, I get big sedans, big engines, or fast sedans here for it. What do you think is like,

though, we always kind of talk on the show. We know we're not doing well mentally. When we

start looking for Maserati Quattroportes on Craigslist, what do you think was something

that you were shopping for that you look back on and you're like, I was not okay.

This was less a searching, shopping thing and more of a cry for help. Yeah. Okay. No,

let's play the game right now. You're opening a spreadsheet. I may have a couple of tabs open

on my phone. That's what I do most of my shopping. Shall we see how many tabs we have open for

TBR right now? Oh, no. This segment is called Is Our Guest Okay? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've got

30 open right now. I have 30 open tabs. Are there 30 TBRs in the country? Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no,

no, no. These are not TBRs in the country. I would be importing one. Yeah. I know a guy now.

I didn't know a guy and then I said something and somebody DM me about it and they're like,

I know a guy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I posted on piston heads. I've had to count on

piston heads for like 15 years. We all get bored in college and we want to go shopping for little

French hatchbacks. And so I made a post and a guy up in Seattle messaged me out of the blue and is like,

yeah, I live in town. Let's go grab coffee, come drive my car. So, you know, I have now,

I can now say that I've driven a Chimera. It's Chimera. Chimera. And it is like,

I love Aston Martins. I love Jax. But there is always like a little something missing from the

British driving experience. And if you didn't know what it was, it's that it's a Chimera. Like

the TDR is, it is as rowdy as you think it is. It is, it is absolutely brilliant. The build quality

is not that bad. Now, keep in mind, I grew up in the backseat of a 1982 Chimero. So like,

right, let's put some, let's put a box around that. But it is a brilliant experience. It is,

it's wonderful. It is, it is every bit as, as visceral as you want it to be. But it's not like,

I'm certain that at the limit, it will kill you. Like I, it'll kill you, I'm sure. But getting there

is going to be great time. It'll be a whole lot of fun. And like for the most, it's really strange

because you talk to TDR owners. And for the most part, they will tell you like, when they came out

of the factory, they were about as bad as they were ever going to be. And ever since then, it's

been a bunch of, you know, retired engineers who have basically kind of come up with every

aftermarket fix for these things. So in terms of like, hey, you know, these, all of these for

three years used to overheat. Well, we got a fix for that now. So like when you search, and I don't

know, maybe that's just a collective delusion because they all own TDRs. But yeah, like there,

there's a fix for forever. I got a list of shops and folks to talk to. And he was, he was really

nudging me into either Tuscan or Subara territory because we don't have a ton of those here. And

he would like for somebody to go figure out how to fix one. So there, it's basically just a nearly

complete hit car. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like they're remarkably better than you, than you would think

they are just based on like all of the feedback that I've heard that like it's built in a shed.

And it was, and that they're just completely unruly and it's unruly, but it's not, I mean,

it's not crazy. And I don't know, maybe that's just because we live in a world of, you know,

700 horsepower is kind of the baseline these days. But like, yeah, it's real good. And it

makes no sense. Like that is, that is the, like, I will bring one home at some point. I will absolutely,

yeah. My impression of these is like, so my dad has an Aston Martin VA vantage, like the 2007 one,

right? Yeah, love it. Yep. My impression of these is that this lives somewhere between that

and like a really fast Mustang, like where it's like heavier and kind of very like every,

like the inputs are all big and, and that sort of thing. Is that actually feels lighter. I would

say you're, you're close, but I would say it's almost like between a VA advantage and a like a

Cobra kit car. Like that is like, I adore the VA advantage. I think the VA advantage, like if you

could hear the sound of my voice, go buy a VA advantage. They're like, just they're absolutely

brilliant to look at. They're a lot of fun to drive and they eat miles, but the VA advantages is

geared a little bit more toward a GT relative to what the Cerbera is, like it, or at least

the Chimera is. I imagine that the Cerbera is a little bit, from what I understand, they're,

a little bit easier to live with. I mean, take that with a grain of salt. I don't know. It's

probably an absolute nightmare to own one since there's like one shop in the United States that

actually works on these things and it's in Las Vegas. Wait, or do we have two now? Are these all

most of them? Were they Ford engines? Most of them? Rover. So there's, there's, well, okay, there was

was the AGP V8. So there's a Rover V8 for a while. That's, that's the one that you're going to find

in Chimeras, but they had their own home cooked V8 and straight six. So the speed six. Oh, that's

right. They did have a straight six. I can't remember if it was the speed eight, which like,

sure. Yeah, absolutely. Homebrew your own engine. Have a great day. Why not? What could go wrong?

Small British automaker. Just, yeah, they're, everybody that I've, that I've talked to about

owning one of these things has said like, well, you want to own the speed six because the speed

eight is a nightmare or you want to own the speed eight because the speed six is a nightmare.

But they're, I mean, for the most part, it sounds like a lot of the stuff has been worked out.

So take that with a grain of salt. This to me, I'm getting like vibes that this is like the

arch Linux of cars. Like, oh, yes, there was like a kernel, right? And now like there's just some

dude updating the man page for W get for the rest of his frigging life on the money. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. This is, this is a car for somebody who really wants to work on their car. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I saw one of these in an automobile magazine, I think when I was maybe

12 years old or 13 years old, I got to work the math on it. They were in Gran Turismo as well.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Was a GT2, I think these were in. And just, yeah, I mean, monsters. And after having

now driven one, yeah, they were, they are absolutely monsters like in period. Oh, goodness.

Okay. Yeah. This thing, this thing had turned and burned. Yeah. It did keep up with the

64 and no problem. So would this be a replacement for the Corvette?

Yeah. I don't know about that. I love that car. I love my Corvette. I love my C6. I bought it.

I needed a bright part of my day and I ended up with Corvette. That one was,

um, I, it's a big dumb Labrador Retreater. That's a good way to fix that problem.

Yeah. Um, I think this would be a supplement to it. I've just got to figure out space. Like,

like most car people, it's, it's, space is the limiting factor here. But if I, I'm sure I could

rent space. Why not? Yeah. Absolutely. It's just money. I know a guy that can do lifts. So, you know.

Ah, do not give me that number. I don't need that number. That's a terrible idea. Yeah. Yeah. I

think the, the Corvette will be with me one way or another. I, whether, whether or not we're,

we're in a second car that can do everything or I just need a third car start a situation.

My, my partner has developed quite the affinity for the Suzuki Jimny at this point.

Oh yeah. She is absolutely correct. They are quite marvelous. And so if you've ever found

yourself in a garage trying to figure out what you could fit in a garage long enough to fit a

roadmaster with the Jimny. Um, yeah. So that, uh, that last weekend I was driving a 106 GTI that,

one of the local Seattle importers brought in because I think I could fit two of those in

that spot. Um, but these are, yeah. I mean, I could use something cute and adorable. I could,

I could do three cylinders. Sure. Absolutely. I'm like, I can't be the first person to cross

shop a Jimny and a, and a TDR. I think you might be. You are. I think you might be mentally. The best

thing about this is not a cry for help. The best thing about this is I think you could probably,

and you could probably, you could blow some minds and really alienate yourself from your

adopted family by towing this with the Corvette. I love the way you think that. Yes. That is exactly

what I need to do. Yes. Yeah. I actually, I do need to put a tow hitch on the, on the Corvette.

I don't know why I haven't done that yet. They're, they're, um, so, uh, I do a lot of like, you know,

long rallies, long drives with that car. And when you're, when you're out with a group of people,

there's not a great way to put like a long whip antenna on a Corvette. So there are a bunch

of folks that have got tow hitches on their Corvettes so they can, uh, they can bolt antennas

to them. Yeah. And now I have become one of the Corvette people by giving you our, our CD tips.

So, yes. Well, I think a lot of the, like the one lap of America guys do that. They'll put the

tow hitch on and that's how they carry the tires. Oh yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, yeah.

So I like the way you think. Yeah. But I mean, a Corvette,

holding a Jimny would be fucking hilarious. That's the only way to fly. Like that's,

that's, that, that, like I want that. That's, that's a lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. That might even

be a spirituality. I don't know. We've got to explore that. So if you're looking for a TVR

when your self-assessment is coming back, okay, like, that's the point. I mean, do you have,

do you have any re, I know that you've loved them all the cars that you've had, or like,

do you regret, like, what's the, what are the ones that got away? Like, what are the,

like ones that like, you know, kind of, kind of give us that like, maybe, maybe I shouldn't have,

but, you know, but I'm going to make the best of it. Give us that kind of like topology of your

experience. So we're going to have a moment here. You and me are going to share one and I

apologize if this is like, we're now shared trauma, but for about 48 hours, I owned a 1986

stop 900 s. Okay. Yep. Five speed four door. This was like, once upon a time, me and some

friends decided we were going to do kind of a, took a page out of top gear and said,

hey, let's go do a cheap car challenge. So basically, we all bought tickets to Milwaukee and

we said, you're not allowed to go look at Craigslist, Facebook, any classified ads until 24 hours

before we fly. And then 24 hours after we land, you've got to meet in a hotel parking garage

with what you've been able to buy. And this is what we found. And I like, I was expecting it to

be quirky. I was expecting something that I would, you know, just it's, it's a few hundred bucks. And

I'm not going to fall in love with it. I'm not going to have mechanical sympathy for something

once. And whoa, did we screw up? That was big mistake. That car is in my blood. Like, I am,

I am, I am absolutely convinced that that is what would happen if you ran BMW e 30 through

Google translate. Like, why is the key between the seats? You know, why, why, why are all of these

buttons where they are? None of this makes sense, but it kind of does make sense. Like it's, it's,

it's a car that somebody described over the phone. It is just marvelous experience. I don't,

I didn't get the sob thing. And then I drove one and it's, oh, wow. That is, I mean, for a car that was,

you know, just about as cheap as you can buy, it was absolutely brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. Did you drive

it back to Seattle from? Oh, no, no, no, no. So that we had, we had a whole plan with it. We were

going to buy him in Milwaukee. We were going to, we're going to donate him to charity in Grand

Rabbits and we would go up the long way. So 700 miles in something that you could buy for whatever

you can pull out of an ATM. So you went around the north side of Lake Michigan. Yep. Yep. So you

the most remote, desolate part of the country to do your cheap car? We were of two minds and that

is, that is like, if, if we're going to die, I don't want anyone to find my shame. But also,

if the car dies, I don't want to hit anything. So we're thinking this would be somewhat remote.

Also, it's, it's Michigan in the summer. So, you know, what are you going to do?

Yeah. So I think we, we, we obviously, from a love standpoint, we, I think we won. I think the,

the other participants, there was a 2001 Volvo S80. Yeah. List price was 800 bucks. They could

only pull 400 out of the ATM and the guy said, get it off my property and I'll take it.

Oh, wow. That was an indication. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, the, there was an automatic, automatic,

Iron Duke Fiero that made it there. Yeah, you have that reaction. I see that reaction, right? No.

That is like, I have driven slow cars. I have never driven a slow car that looked fast. That is

that slow. That is a special kind of slow. Yeah. Woof. Yeah. Real, real oddity. And then there

was a, there was a couple of guys that showed up in a fourth gen Camaro V6. The teatops were

removed and the air conditioning was disabled because they would have been the only ones with it

and we didn't feel like that was fair. Well, short belt for everybody. The teatop came off

the second they bought it. I don't know if it ever went back on because that's just,

when you own a Camaro, that's the life you leave. Right. Yeah. You just ripped the sleeves off of

each other's shirts and put on Van Halen. No, they did. They did. They absolutely did. Yes. I think

they both went sleeveless. We spent the night over at Mackinac. Mackinac Island. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Just absolutely brilliant. So the moral of the story is go buy a sob. Go buy an old 1980

sob. Go put some rally lights on it and, you know, go pretend you're a rally driver. They're so good.

So I drove, so I've driven sobs before, obviously. And then, but then a couple years ago, I got to

drive an air cooled 911 for the first time I drove a 993. And I was like, Oh, this is what sob was

trying to recreate. It felt, it had a really similar vibe. Like all the inputs and stuff felt

very similar. And I was like, Oh, the seating position. It was very similar. Yeah. Like, I...

It's a front wheel drive air cooled Porsche. Yeah. As somebody who is very keenly tuned in to their

capacity for self-loathing. Wow, air cooled 911s are really good. I know I'm brave to say it,

but... Where do you find the courage? Oh, thank you. Thank you. Somebody had to say it.

True. Yeah. They're wonderful. Yeah. I mean, look, when you're making the same car for,

you know, 30 years, hopefully you get good at it. Right. Turns out they did.

But I would say, I mean, if you could get like an SPG sob, for like several orders of magnitude less

than a 993 911, right? I think you would have, I think you would get sort of 70% of that driving

experience for, I mean, a tiny fraction of the price. Absolutely. They're just, they're so unique.

I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing like when you get, if you close your eyes

and you get in one, you know you're in a sob. It feels like a sob. It smells like a sob. They're

just, they're marvelous. Yeah. Yeah. And impossible to maintain now. Yes. Well, the good news about

living in the Pacific Northwest is that I think other than Vermont, we bought all of them. Yeah,

I was going to say that you are sob central up there. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah,

sobs and super is what we do. I will tell you that we used to race against a Limmons team that

had a Pontiac Fiero with a sob T5 engine instead of the Fiero engine and it all worked. They won

their class like seven PSI through the turbo because it didn't have the wheel speed sensors.

So it always just thought it was in first gear. Yeah. I am more fascinated with the group of

individuals, engineers. I'm just going to go ahead and out on a limb and assume that decided that

was like, well, this is what I have in the pantry. Wonder if that'll fit. Yeah, somehow you rated the

pantry and you came up with ceviche. All right. Who knew? So what did you run in lemons?

Oh, we've had a sword. Limmons passed. We had a Chevy S10 with a big bunch of different V8s.

We've had a Chevy HHR with a variety of ecotechs, a Volkswagen cabriolet with the original engine,

and Ian's driven a Foxbody Mustang that had a first gen RX7 shell.

On the way around. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was a shell tacked on to the top.

Well, no, it was an RX7, but it just had a 302 in it.

Right. Yeah, it was a Foxbody Mustang underpinnings. Is there anything better than wheel

to wheel racing? Is there any experience like that that you can actually get as a human? I've

run lemons and I've run World Racing League. Yeah, I don't know if there's anything

quite like endurance racing. That is like, yeah. I don't watch motor sports. I don't watch sports

period. I don't watch F1. I don't do anything, but like, and I don't drive wheel to wheel.

Wheel to wheel. I'm an autocross boy, right? I'm a time trial guy. Oh, yeah. So Ian's the shoe.

He's the driver. I'm the mechanic. But when like, when the team is out there and like,

I'm watching times on race monitor, like I've never watched stats ever in my life, it's,

it's infectious. Yeah. Yeah. Not even driving. I need to be there. Yeah.

Yeah. I think like, if there's one thing that I could advocate for, it's get out to your local

like amateur racing. The, the things that you can see and like the access that you can get,

you know, I've been in NASCAR races. I've been to the Indy 500. I've never done F1. I,

I am, I am sure that the TV show is very addictive. But I like, I can't watch motor sports on TV.

Like going to just let your local SCCA, even if it's just to go shag cones at an autocross,

like that's the one thing that I don't think anybody tells you is like the best view of an

autocross. If you want to see really fast cars going really crazy is to go like work the field

at an autocross. It's, it's awesome. And everybody, everybody there is just wonderful and marvelous

and kind. Cause they're all scrapping for, you know, four minutes of seat time for a day.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I have core memories of like, you know, somebody that I know in one of my

favorite cars, like entering the slalom and just seeing like this perfect counter steer

and like cone, like just the edge of cone kiss. Like it's magical. I'm going to remember that

for the rest of my life. Yeah. Like I was not a Honda person. And then the first time you've got

a CRX on three wheels that's going to the corner, it's like, I stand corrected. I'm a Honda person.

Dave is also won over a ton of people at autocross with the Fiat. He has a Fiat 500

Abarth as his other car. And it is like in hilarious to see that little guy.

Yeah. I mean, look, we talk about how, how like notable the, the, the BMW

burble tune and the, you know, the WRX sounds or VQ, but we really need to like in terms of like

memorable exhaust notes in a good way. Like that Abarth is so good.

Top 10 exhaust note period. Absolutely. Like I think that one of those is going to be responsible

for giving me whiplash one of these days because you just hear it and it's like, that is,

that's marvelous. So have you ever shopped for one? Of course I shopped for one. Oh yeah.

Like I'm willing to bet that there's like a 595 that's, that's for sale on here. Let's find out.

Who knows? Yeah. Yeah. Actually, yeah. So Liberty Works has got one right now.

Okay. For sale. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just keep me away from my. They are, they are a goddamn delight.

They're so fun. Yeah. I'm not competitive because I've modded it the way I've wanted to mod it,

but who the fuck cares? It just toots around and yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I've, I've,

I've never driven a 500. I'm a little afraid to drive one because if you want to talk about

something that would fit in the space behind a gym. I was just going to mention that. Yeah.

You want multiple cars in a single space. My wife, my wife, uh, did like the test drive for the

500 E when Colorado had a zero dollar lease thing. Did you hear about that? Uh-huh. Yeah.

Oh god. What? What? Yeah. It was a zero dollar lease for 27 months. Like they,

a dealer here figured out how to game the book so that like basically you were paying like,

I think like, what was it like? It was like $2,500 down or something like that. And then it was

like a zero dollar. It was truly a zero dollar lease because of like the energy credits and

stuff like that that they were getting because it was a lease. They could get them because they

bought the car and then they knew that they would get it back to sell or, you know, whatever. But

yeah. So we went and test drove one that was like, this is before I had my lift. And it was like,

we could really fit this. Like it fit this in our garage with my, a bar. I mean, for that kind of

Well, if you do go test drive a V500 and just know that you won't fit in it,

but that's because nobody does. No one does driving. It's the, it's the, so Dave and I are

very different sizes. I'm five, eight. He's six, four, very different builds. And both every time

I get into his car, I'm constantly like adjusting the seat, trying to like, what? I can't get this

to feel comfortable because nobody can. It's perfect. That is strange. Yeah. That's the perfect

Italian driving experience. Like the driving is not supposed to be comfortable. It's, it's supposed

to be, you're supposed to feel alive and you can feel alive if you're not in pain. It's very Buddhist.

Ultimately, we really kind of drive the car in the same seating position. We do. Yeah. I usually

think that there's something where you've had to kind of like rule it out on, you know, like,

unfortunately, and you're really bummed about like having to rule it out. Like I couldn't fit in

like a Ferrari 360, not that I would ever buy one, but it did like one of those rental driving

things. And I had to pick the Nissan GTR over the 360 because the guy looked at me as like,

yeah, you're not fit in the 360, right? You know? Yeah. I, I took home a Miata because I, I could

kind of shoehorn myself in one. I don't know. Like I, I wake up, I do yoga seven days a week. And

part of the reason why I do that is because it feels great. The other part of the reason why I

do that is because I'd like to fit in fun stuff and I'm not built for it. I'm 6'3". Like I am,

I am built like a tree. I don't fit in fun stuff. I, I'm trying to think if there's anything that

I've ruled out. I know that I've cried one first gen Audi TT that was like I, I had trouble with

back when I was like 15. Can't imagine that that got a whole lot better, but I really like

baseball glove leather. So I don't know. Are the TVRs big? Are the TVRs like people-friendly?

I fit in TVR. I fit, I will fit. I believe I fit. Yeah. Yeah. In 2026, you're practicing foot binding.

Yeah. I like, like I, I am the Katnick cardboard box in my fits. I sense that. Yep.

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, look at that thing. Just brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. They were really cool.

Yeah. They were really cool. Yeah. They were really weird and they're, I, I love weird. Yeah.

Yeah. Let's see. What else has, oh, have you driven a Lotus Elise and is your body the same

after that? Because mine isn't. Yeah. I, I have never driven one. I've sat in a handful. I got,

I got a few laps around a track. I had a buddy who had a, an exige, second gen exige. Second gen

exige? First gen exige, I think. First gen exige was based on the second gen Elise. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

And they're, I mean, I, getting in and out of one is, is a fantastic experience. And I think

everybody should try it. Like, like it's a ninja warrior level. Just trying to get like, you don't,

you don't get out of one so much as it gives birth to you on the pavement. There's just no graceful

way to do it. Out of the back of it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That is, I, yeah. I am slightly afraid

of what would happen if I were to actually drive one. My Miata, when I was done with it, was

like pretty spicy. And I'm a little bit afraid that this is kind of the next logical step.

It is. Yeah. It is. Are they as good as, it's as good as I think it is. It's one of the first,

like, nice cars I ever drove. And it was on an autocross course. It like the word, it was just

telepathic. It was just telepathic. That's it. Yeah. Like, you know, you've, you've already done

what you've needed to do before you even realized you needed to do the thing.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can't imagine what I'd feel driving it today. That was like 15 years ago.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I think and like the S1s now that they're legal for import are,

don't go look, if, if you can hear me, do not look at prices for S1s in the UK. Don't do it.

You're going to want to, you're going to be curious. You're going to think, what could he

possibly be talking about? You will black out and you will wake up and there will be one on a

container ship. They're like, like, if you, if you find a slightly ratty one in the UK,

they're not bad. Really not bad. Now that everybody has kind of mastered the, the case swap

in these things, now you can just throw a Honda motor in it and be done with it.

Yeah. Don't do that. Don't do that. Or do that. I don't know. Call me.

Slide into Drew's DMs.

I'll go in with you out of shipping container. I got a TVR to bring home. Let's go.

Stack them. Yeah.

No, this makes me think of something that Ian says about his, his folks like at R32 is that

like the thing about like, he's not going to give it up because he's more stubborn than that is

hard, right? And I feel like you're taking this approach to like your impending TVR purchase.

We're just going to go ahead and call it what it is. Let's call it, let's call it what it is.

We can be honest with each other here. Yeah.

Mark five, mark six. What do you even got?

I have a mark for R32.

Oh, you have my favorite one. Yes. Yes. I, but my, my first track day, there was, there was a,

I don't know what you even call that blue, but I remember the absolutely spectacular blue R32.

And I, I just remember thinking, yeah, this is, this is all unique. This is the, like, this is

the daily. This is the track car. You could do everything with this.

And I do. Yeah. It's my, it's my mountain car. It's my kid. It's my kid hauler.

It's my track car. Yeah, it does. It's a Swiss Army knife. And yeah, it's several shades of red.

Yeah. Perfect. And a very, a little ratty.

Yeah. Yeah. It goes through oil pans regularly.

As is the Volkswagen right of passage. Yes.

I like the H2O.

What, what, have you had something that you've modified that you wish you hadn't modified,

like, or like had a modification that was like a super, like you're okay?

Yeah. Anything that I've ever modified at some point in time, I'm like, well, that was a mistake.

The Corvette right now is too stiff, too loud. It's just right. Like it is on a, on a, on a,

on a great day, it is like, there is just nothing like it. It, all of the inputs are heavy.

The, the shifter is clunky and deliberate, but it's, it's a Corvette. Like it, it's supposed

to feel like you are, you are driving a mech with analog steering. Like it is, it's fantastic.

The Miata was a bit of a monster. That was, when I was done with it, it was forged internal,

supercharged. You know, I think I think it was, it was 250 at the wheels, which is just enough

double the stock power. And yeah. Yeah. I mean, manual steering, just yeah.

Yeah. You went big. You went big.

Well, I blew it up and then I went big and then I blew it up again and then I went nuclear.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I would recommend that experience.

Everybody's got it. Like everybody, you, you, you should over modify car at least once.

You should do it. Yes.

Go through that experience. I think that's part of the reason why I find myself shopping for

fast sedans is because I look at one of those and I'm like, I'm not going to modify that.

It's not going to modify that. Maybe the SS, I should stop talking.

I've never wanted to leave a car so stock as my 2008 LS. Like, yeah. I've never felt that way

before. Yeah. I mean, they got it right. They got it right right out of the factory.

Yeah. Like there's, what are you going to mess with perfection?

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

And I did put my GSF back to stock. It was low, it was on lowering springs and on

inch bigger wheels with lower profile tires. I had, I was a stance boy when I drove it off of

the shipping truck to my driveway. Nothing wrong with that. All, all, all respect to all of our

friends who are out there laying the frame static or otherwise. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. But yeah,

put it back to stock. Yeah. But that is, yeah.

You driven the IS 500?

Ah, okay. So that's the first question everybody asks when you driven a GSF is,

have you driven an IS 500? The answer is no, I have not. But given, given the number of

people in Discord that have said, oh, have you driven one? I have to ask,

do I need to go ahead and follow that experience up?

You don't. I've driven the, I've driven the IS 500 and I can say that it,

it doesn't feel the same as a GSF. But, but I want to hear Ian's take. Yeah, for sure.

Yeah. I think, I think it has the same, the engine has that same magnetism to it.

Yeah. It doesn't feel, I agree. It doesn't feel like as a complete package,

just don't think it feels quite as special as the GSF because the GSF does feel nicer inside

and everything. And it feels like a big fast sedan, whereas the IS 500

just feels like a really fast car, you know, like, but the engine is a fucking blast. Like it is

very, it wants you to just like slow down to go to speed up again, you know,

that sort of thing. We drove it in the mountains and it was one of the faster,

we were on like a press thing and like, we drove that and a bunch of other stuff, but

we drove it back to back with the Integra, remember? Yeah. Yeah. Integra type S. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And the Integra is definitely on a, like on a twisty back road, the Integra was the

fastest car by far, but the IS was like silly and fun, you know? I was in Japan over Thanksgiving

and I had a GR Yaris to go drive around in Mount Fuji and I remember we stopped at a little spot

and ended up pulling out behind a guy in a fully Tom's Kitted IS 500. And it was like,

we made it two corners and he was gone. Yeah. Yeah. That I was a little bit surprised that

that thing was like, I knew they were quick, but that is, yeah, just wild package.

I think if I remember right, we did scare the Lexus rep a little bit with that car, right?

Like they were riding along with us and it was really easy to kind of lose track of how

much fun you were having in that car. Like it really, it wants you to be a moron, you know?

Like that's what provokes us. That is, I mean, there is no greater gift a car can give you than

a moment of just a temporary loss of consciousness. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

That's an expensive gift, potentially. Yeah. Like the GSF, I kind of wonder just how many IS

500s are roaming around in the US. I am curious because every time I see, you know, what I think

is an IS 500, I turn around and it's, you know, some f-line or whatever. Right. Yeah. F-sport.

Yeah. F-sport. Thank you. F-sport. F-sport. Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild.

I bet you have. You just didn't notice it. That's the thing about it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the benefit. Yeah. The GSF, you definitely like, that's a GSF. I know that line. Like that

body kit is subtle and sharp. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, so we had a wild experience

watching the IS 500 disappear from the rear view mirror while Ian was driving,

and I want to know if you play in this space at all, Mercedes-Benz ML 550 AMG

on a mountain back road and Ian. Very tight. Very tight. Very tight. Tiny road. Ian, drop them like

a sack of potatoes. But like, yeah, so give us like the bit, your whole take on like the big,

powerful SUV space and like curiosity there. And if it's not your thing, that's cool. That's cool.

No, no, no. I would say I'm curious about them. I am definitely curious. In my brain,

I understand that mass exists. I understand that if I am looking for the single defining

factor of any vehicle, it's going to be mass. And so I do not understand, ever since the ML 55 came

out, how exactly we have overcome that. I think I remember the first time that I saw it with

third gen, fourth gen, whatever. The X5s that came out where it's like the stock tires on this

are like 315s. Yeah. But I do remember back in, it must have been 2012, I think. I was doing,

I was out on a spirited drive with my Corvette. And I remember there was a guy there that showed up

in the then brand new X5M. And I remember like dropping out of a corner, we were

keeping pace and it was like, it's the scene in Star Wars where there's a Star Destroyer

that just drops out of hyperspace and it is behind you and it is on you. That is like,

yeah, I'm large SUV curious. I am large like this generation SUV where it's like that will

bankrupt you. Like I'm looking at that and like that is like great recession era and it will take

you right back to it. That is ruin. I am curious about what that is to drive. So I think I can

answer this because we've had a couple of experiences in big fast SUVs because we also did a track day

with a, this is a while ago, it was a long time ago. Durango SRT. Okay, yep. And it was the same

thing with the ML63, the AMG. We're like, it is super fun to make something that big go fast.

Once or twice, but it's not like, it's a different experience than a sports car. It's a different

category even. It's less of a thing you go to do to enjoy than like a, hey, watch what I can do.

It's like a feat of strength, right? Everybody should go out on Bourbon Street

and forget your name at least once. You can do it once. You should go do that.

Yeah. I would never own one, but I am curious about the experience. I think I look at something

like an Escalade V and I think that's anti-social. Sounds great. Not for me. Absolutely not for me.

So driving that Mercedes, that was my takeaway. It was like, I feel like an

portal asshole in this thing. And then I drove it like one, but still,

it was, you feel very conspicuous. And then when you arrive at a corner that you have to break for,

you again feel very conspicuous. I'm about to introduce myself to the agriculture

around here. You arrived on the scene. You continue to arrive deeper than you think you should.

Yeah. So I will say, I think the only one that I'm really curious about,

I know Brabus V12 swapped a handful of first gen MLs, which is real silly.

Yeah. 7.2 liter ML.

Yes. I think what is the M120, I think, that they put in one of these.

So if you want a Pagani motor in your ML, just know somebody did that. I don't know why,

but somebody did do it. A Pagani motor in a car that was co-built by Chrysler.

It's a Pagani motor in like, if you want the cheapest AMG product on planet Earth,

go to your local Craigslist and type in ML55. You can find one for like three grand.

Now imagine they put a Pagani motor in that. Great idea. Nothing that could go wrong with that.

The CL, I drove a CLK55 AMG several years ago, and I really liked it. And those were,

it was cheap then, and those are crazy cheap now. And they look great. It's in that like the

Pujo 406 world of like, this is the two door coupe that is just right. It looks like the Apple

mouse. Yes, exactly. Absolutely brilliant. Everything that came after that was kind

of a little clunky, but yeah, I am Mercedes Curious. I am very Mercedes Curious.

Most of these, you've been like, yes, I want those too. I will try anything once. I will

absolutely do that. I've arrived at a very like unique place in my life where like,

and this is the part where I get to advocate for policy. I, my daily driver is my shoes,

that or the 40 route or the 62 route. I am, my daily driver doesn't exist. I walk everywhere

or I live, I live in a place with enough density where I can, I can actually like use public

transit. And like, let me tell you at the manner of terrible decisions that you can make when you

don't have to worry about getting to work in the morning. You can go test drive a TVR and remind

yourself, I'm going to go walk to the grocery store later. It'll be fine. Yeah, I can, okay,

this is like psychic Dave. Like, I'm going to guess that within the last

12 months, you have had a browser tab open that had the word Fisker in it.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Are you kidding? They can't kill that car.

Like, it's, it's, it's existed in all sorts of like, it is, it's a, it's like the Pujo 404,

like they built this on like four different continents at some point in time. You know,

yeah, like they are, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. I would take one of the fire damaged ones,

like let's go, let's get you. I saw one moving under his own power today. Yeah, yeah. And not

gravity? Are you sure? It was going downhill at the time, but it had to go a little uphill from

the stoplight and then down. So, yeah. I, is it like, I don't think they're going to be like

spikers where we, we come away from it and think, you know, this, we, we all missed it at the time,

and now you see it and realize it. I will say, I traveled to New York a good bit in my current

day job. And the, like, if you haven't been in Manhattan recently, you would not be wrong to

think that the, that the Fisker Ocean is one of the best selling compact SUVs. Really?

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. They are, I do not, there is a, there's a blue sky account that is currently

trying to chronicle every Fisker Ocean in New York, but there are, there, they, there's a fleet

that bought them and is operating them as cabs and you see them everywhere. It is the most

confused, like it is, it is like stepping into an alternate universe. Yeah. Like you're in a, like

a sci-fi movie. Yeah. Like, like, it, like the first time you see like three in a day, it's like,

oh, that something is wrong. Yeah. It's the, it's the old riddle. Like how many owls would you have

to see over the course of a day to know something was wrong? Like how many Fisker Oceans would you

have to see in a day before you knew? Like something's all, something's gone wrong. Two for me. I

mean, yeah, just walk around Midtown. They're everywhere. Wow. These weird little like, oh,

this is their Honda Civic, right? Like this is their, right? Like, you know, like in Colorado,

obviously it's like Subaru, you know, something, right? That's our Honda Civic. I went to like a

Miami a while ago and it was like, oh, like the, a Black Lexus. Yes. Yes. You know, 350 or whatever

is like their Honda Civic, right? Yep. You know, yeah. Yeah. We, what's the, the density on the

good, like the, the Rivians, how many Rivians y'all got? Oh, a shit ton. Yeah. Okay. Rivians

everywhere. Because I like, I see more Rivians than F-150s on a regular basis. Okay. Which I am,

I like, do I live in a tech bubble? Yeah, probably. Yep. Yep. That's all y'all. Yep. Got it. Yeah.

Yeah. So I live in like Central Denver and it's, it's Rivians and Teslas. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah,

they're quiet. They look, I mean, it looks cool. I'm ready for the R3. Yes. On the R3. Yes. I agree.

Yeah. Maybe. What, what else is on the horizon that you're looking for that like it is on your

shortlist for, I'm going to need to drive that when it is available to the public.

What, well, because the R3 looks at the bubble. That's a great question. So I am, I am like one

of the world's foremost power users, I'm sure. I've been using the service since it was Relay

Rides back in the early 2010s. And so I am, I think on the list, this, this is the year that I drive

a CAZ06. I will find one. I've found a couple. I've got a trip in a 992 coming up here. I've

got a big birthday coming up and I've decided that I'm going to go grab one of those and take a road

trip. Yeah. I think in terms of like I, new stuff for me is like 2015. Yeah. Like I have a, I have a

working theory that like there's no Lamborghini that's, that's younger than 15 years old. It's

interesting. And as soon as they turn 15, they become interesting. That's like with most cars.

Once, once they kind of hit that depreciation trough and, and start to really experience problems.

That's where my codependency starts to kick in. And I think I can fix that. Yeah. No, Ian sent me

like a BMW 7 something a while ago. And we were like, Oh, I look forward to being the fourth owner

of that. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Like let's, let's get double digit pages on this car

facts. Let's talk. Yeah. Yeah. So given that kind of like sliding scale, like what do you think is

going to start shifting into view that like, yeah, that maybe you're excited about from like 2010.

You know, I, I am slightly horrified about like a CL, like those later CLs, like the,

was it W221, C221s, whatever the other kind of the like pets.com era C, CLs.

Yeah. That like something like that with like a like a twin turbo v12 that is just an

adobtanium to fix. You know, I remember there was a there was a shot back in Dallas when I lived in

Texas that was, um, they had a CL 65 and they literally were fused service on it. They were

like, the, the, the bill for this is greater than the cost of the car. And we, we like reject this

on moral ground. Like we're conscientious objectors to be a part of this like fendom relationship

you have with post modram G. We're not gonna, we're like, it's just sick. Yeah. This is,

this is not, this is not healthy. Seek help. Yeah. Yeah. You need, you don't, yeah, you don't need

a mechanic. You need a priest. Like pot meat kettle. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah. I, I, I don't know if

there's anything on the, on the BMW timeframe. Um, like right now my, my universe is anything

French for the most part. Um, those 106s are not a mistake. Um, I would, I would love to get one

of those, but like, is, is this the podcast where I get to, to talk about the bond time?

Like, yeah, it a hundred percent is. Yeah. Like what's on the 25 year sliding scale then. Yeah.

Yeah. So that's like, yeah, the, the, um, yeah, like that. Those are up this year, right? The

Aventines are? Yes, they are. Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you. Yeah. Yeah. It was me that's bring

this up to Dave actually, because I, I legitimately started searching for these. Yeah. Yep. I was

like, I think we could, I could get one of these. Like I want one. Yeah. Yeah. There was one that

made its way down from Vancouver to a car show. And I like, I was, I was with a friend and like,

I can be overwhelming in person because I'm a big guy and I tend to gesticulate pretty wildly.

You can see on the screen and I don't know if this very kind and polite couple from Canada was,

that ready that early in the morning for somebody to freak out over, over a, you know, 20 year old

Renault. Right. Coming in hot. Yeah. Yeah. They're huge inside. They're enormous. Like, it's like,

you get inside and it's like, it feels like a tennis court. Is that, what is, what is even

hot? Like, I don't think there's been a normal picture taken of one of these. I don't think you

could. Yeah. Like, none of, none of this makes sense. That shouldn't exist. It looks like,

it looks like the Renault Aventine is the thing that you see in the back of the picture where

you go, Oh, no, that's AI. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. AI could never take the

job of the Renault Aventine designer. You just can't. Right. Like this, there's like, why does

this exist? Who needs like the doors are super cool, by the way, like the way they open and the

way that, that, that inner panel there kind of opens out slightly. They kind of can't leave her.

So it's not a huge thing. Yeah. Oh, I don't, I don't know about this. Okay. Oh, oh, yeah. No,

this is, this is some like, uh, it's kind of some real subtle Connick's egg stuff that, that double

field sort of thing. But yeah, they, they open because like the doors are, you know, a football

feel long, kind of pop out and then open. Oh, like an old, like a created a problem. And then we

created a complex solution to solve it. Gotcha. Yeah. We're French. I love it. We, we're not the

manufacturers of the Ford 1996 Thunderbird. You're just going to open the door into, into the next

car, no matter what. Yeah. The logo is clearly placed on the front of the car. You know what

you're buying. Wow. Yeah. I was really thinking like, if I, if this was, if this was all wheel drive,

I could sell my wife on this being like a mountain car. Oh, oh, 100%. Right. Yeah. It's got decent,

it's got decent clearance. It's like, it is the, the sunroof in it is huge. Yeah. Like it is extremely

open. Yeah. I like, Ian, I will go habsies with you. Right. Yeah. Okay. Okay. They're brilliant. I

love the Renault does, which is to say not necessarily inspiring. That being said, the Clio V6 is, I

think, also coming up this year. I was going to say Clio V6. Yeah. Also, look, there's no B-pillar on

the Renault. Yeah. No, it's for B-pillars. Yeah. It's the best. I imagine it's so floppy. It's

got to be so floppy. It's got to drive like an 80s Chrysler minivan is what I imagine. I, I think

you could best describe that the chassis rigidity is al dente. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yes,

there is. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So Renault Clio V6 rear wheel drive, rear engine buddy. That's

got to be something. Yeah. You're curious about. The history on those is super fascinating too.

Yeah. I like, I did not realize that TWR did the engineering on those. And as like as a, a TWR

die hard. Yeah. If you're not familiar with the stuff that TWR has worked on over the course

of the years, it's kind of interesting to say the least. Still cut job. Yeah. Uh-huh. You keep

scrolling and let's get to the Swedish stuff because there's something in here that you will

recognize. Oh, well, the X-8220, of course. Okay. Oh, the Volvo 850 touring car. They were the ones

that, that, that campaigned the, the Volvo long roof. So the one, you know, that was apparently

it was a conversation they had getting like off of an airplane was actually the wagon has better

aerodynamics than the sedan does. I love that. Sure. Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah. And then they got super

involved in like Australian touring cars. So the name lives on down there. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean,

look at that. Right. Yeah. Right. That's, that's the perfect sedan. That, that like BTCC stance

from, uh, from the late nineties, that is, yeah, that's yes, please. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a

little terrified to drive one. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. There used to be a British

touring car championship liveried one, but it was like half liveried in this neighborhood across

the street from the, this garage I used to take my M45 to. I don't know the story about it. It's

one of like my unsolved mysteries in my head. It's still there, Dave. Is it really? Yeah. Because

yeah, my, my kid does gymnastics over there now. And yeah, it's still in that neighborhood. I still

see it every, every week. Yeah. If you can hear this, I would like to meet you. Yeah. We need to

leave a note. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those, those bricks are yes. Yes, please. They're so cool. Absolutely.

Yeah. One of my dreams real quick is a Puggio 206. Like because I was a huge Gilpinizzi rally

fan. Yes. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. If you're ever having a bad day, go, go and look the,

what was it? Rally, Catalina. Yeah. Where he did the donut on this, like that is like,

oh, we've talked about that several times. We both love, you know, when, when Speed Channel or

whatever was showing WRC, that was like just the best, the best way to watch motor sport ever. Yes.

And like that era was so good. Like a speed vision. Yeah. When it's like 11 o'clock at night.

Yeah. And it's, yeah. Oh, right. I mean, that's just, that's, yeah, that's,

it's a perfect automotive form right there. I'm going to build one of these someday. I will

build a 206. Yeah. Well, now I have something to shop for. Yep. Yep. There, yeah, there are a

couple of X-Works cars that have popped up. I will say the rally classified ads are very well

sorted and just awfully tempting. Don't go there. I'll send them to you. Can you? Right? I mean,

yes. Yeah. Well, that's, I mean, that's the, the, like the crux of rally is that like,

you got to be able to put a plate on it. Right. I volunteer out at the, at the Olympus rally

up here every once in a while. And like all of those cars have license plates. All of them.

Like regardless of how much flames they shoot, that is just kind of,

that's part of it. Yeah. Yeah. You're having a bad day. Yep. Right. Yep. It lives rent free in my

head forever. It's the best. Yeah. I think about that now as often as I think about the Coachella

2023 closing set. Yes. Yep. Yep. Okay. Yes. But I think Ian would like to play a license plate

game. He has a license plate game that he would like to show us. I am, I am,

I am ready to fail. Okay. So hard. I've made two of them. So we can figure out which one we want

to do. So I'll let you choose based on the type. Okay. Okay. The first one is giving you the bird.

And the second one is woo. And I should add who kind of feeling that second one there. Okay.

Let's do it. Let's pour some to this member jammer. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Dave has not seen these

either. So you guys will be playing together as a team. You got to match the life, the text of the

license plate to the car. I want to describe to people what you see. All right. I feel like,

I feel like there's one trick in here because I immediately like, oh, so we have a tour X.

Yes, it is. Yeah. All right. I am not going to derail this, but

we need to collectively have a discourse as a society about the regal tour X.

I, the bright red regal tour X, we've got a, what it looks like a Boxster GTS. Do I have that right?

Yeah, I believe so. Okay. We'll do some zoomies and enhancements in a bit. And is that, is that in

SQ5, SQ3, SQ5? You believe in an SQ5? Looks like it. Yeah. All right.

And then the plates that we have to match up are, we having fun. This is, yeah. Really nearly and want

to play. Woo. And I should add who? Good title, Liam. This is a tricky one because I feel like the

the want to play, I want to say it's on the Boxster, but like,

Right. I could see it being on the Audi too, right? Yeah, right. Because it's an SQ3,

like somebody obviously like, that's, oh man. Like it's a little bit like, come on, let's go.

Yeah. Right. I'm attracted to Willie Nilly on the regal. I don't know why though.

No, I get it. Like, I think that that's like, it's not necessarily like a dad joke plate,

but it's not like, yeah, yeah. Unironic Willie Nelson listening may happen adjacent to that car.

Yep. Yeah. Exactly. Yep. Yep. I like where your head's at. Okay. Somebody who also enjoys

unironic Willie Nelson listening. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. It's a Colorado plate. Yeah. Okay. Oh,

yeah. We'll do zoomies in with Hansie's. Was that backed into a spot? Yeah. It is that. Yeah.

Yep. There's stuff hanging from the rear view mirror. We don't know what they listen to this

podcast. I feel like you think there's a non zero chance that if you own one of those, you might

actually listen to this. Hello, whoever you are. Yeah. We're showing a picture of your car. We're

not weird. Okay. Okay. So this is this is a Boxster GT. Is that a GTS? Yes, it is. Yeah. Well done.

Whoever you are. Yeah. Okay. And it's a pure Michigan tag. So you bought the mid-engine

sports car in the good spec to go live in Michigan. Props to you. Where there's no corners. Absolutely

none. I mean, there's like four. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And the SQ, let's see what we got going here.

Yeah, I got a Colorado tag. Okay. Got a Colorado tag and like I am a, this is the hill I'll die on

is that you absolutely need to have a plate frame on your car. And so they have like a purple-ish,

maybe titanium-ish looking plate frame. Detail to pick up on there. Okay. Yep. Heavy tint too.

Fairy. Yeah. Okay. Does that stock like gunmetal? That's a good look. Yeah, not bad. Yeah. Looks

pretty good. Yeah. Hmm. Okay. I'm kind of like I, willy-nilly on the regal. I feel like want to

play like, can we zoom in on the rear view mirror on the Boxster there? Oh, yeah. You know, we're

getting in on this, dude. Yeah. I think there's a passenger too you can zoom in on. Yeah. Oh,

is there now? Oh, yeah. There we go. Okay. There we go. Okay. Okay. So I'm that, we having fun.

I'm thinking that is, that's first person plural and there is nothing more first person plural

than a Boxster. Yeah. With these people in it. Yes. Yep. Okay. Yep. And then, and then would it be,

oh gosh. Yep. Want to play for the SQ5? That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking it's like a little

goading. Like that's, yeah. Yeah. Right? Yep. How long did we get this? I'm excited to learn

just how that works. Yeah. Are you guys locked in? You got it? I am. Yep. I think so. Willy-nilly on

the TourX. We having fun on the Boxster GTS and then the SQ5 is want to play. Okay. All right.

You guys did okay. Well, you got one right and then you put two of them. So want to play is on

the TourX. We having fun is on, which is of course like it's two retirees. That's, that's a slam dunk.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. And then because that's all who lives in Michigan anymore is retirees and then

Willy-nilly on the, on the SQ5. Willy-nilly on an SQ5. I know, right? That's, somebody has whimsy.

Well, but I, and this one was tough. I will agree because I don't think an Audi, even a

slightly spicy Audi and a Buick, I wouldn't necessarily associate with frivolity. You know,

like it's not, those are not like, yeah. That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. It's not like a Lamborghini.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. They're not, they're not fun people cars. They're, they might be fun cars,

but they're not for fun people. Right? Yes. I think that's fair. I think the want to play

is because they're kids in the hockey. They got the TourX to, to shuttle like the, the sports kids

stuff. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. That's, that's the story that, that all right, now that I

have the answer, but Willie-nilly is still, I don't know. I don't think, I don't think Willie-nilly

should go on a German car. When the Germans go Willie-nilly, nobody's there. No. Yeah. That's,

that's nothing. Tonight's, we will go Billy and we will go Nilly. Werner, we're doing both.

Let's go meet up at Bergen. Oh man. Okay. Well, well done everybody. Yeah. These are,

I listened to these and this is like, this is, this is impossible. Yeah. Yeah. There's some,

you get some hard ones. You get some hard ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well done. Well, you did well.

Thank you for playing that with us. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. My pleasure. Yeah. Dave, I think we done

did a car show. What do you think? Oh man, we did one hell of a car show. I mean, yeah, it was

exactly what we needed it to be. We did some therapy with Drew. We did a mental health check.

He's looking at TVRs. He is, he is, he is winking and saying he's okay. Yep. I'm, I,

yeah. He's holding today's newspaper. Yes. I am fine. I am okay.

Okay. All right. We will, yeah, we'll have to figure out what the car is that you search

for that we, we do need to do a check on you at some point, but yeah. Yeah. If you, yeah,

if you find what, I'm, I'm absolutely convinced that once you get far enough down the car rabbit

hole, like there is, you just need to get weird with that. Like I think, like I can't remember

the last time I saw like a Huracan and it turned my head, you know, but if you showed up in a

twingo, like I'm, I will literally chase you down the highway on foot.

And you catch him. You catch him. Oh yeah. Yeah. Without question. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Meet you next break. Yeah. Break down. Yeah. Um, well, uh, where should people find you

on the blue sky? And are you on other platforms these days? Oh, no, no, it's just blue sky. I,

I, uh, I have, I have successfully, uh, curated my, my social media to where I have, I have one

place where I go do them, scroll. Um, and that's, yep. Yep. Um, and the, and the rest of it, you

will, you will see me on every car classified site under the sun. All right. Well, here is midnight

drifto, uh, at the blue sky. Team radar love is the, is the handle. Um, we are apex adjacent.

We're also on the, on the blue sky and, uh, apex adjacent at Gmail. Uh, if you want to send us

license plates or other terrible things for drew to search for, uh, seven, two, zero, five, five,

one, three, nine, one. Um, everybody thank you. We love you. Goodbye.

535-Drew! Our Weird Car Bluesky Friend!

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