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Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
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For me to you, it is Christmas season, 2025.
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And before you go out there and buy your favorite car person,
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their favorite car gift, today we got seven gifts not
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to give that car person.
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They're gonna hate it.
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Find out right now.
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["Merry Christmas"]
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Hey, what's happening?
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How are you doing today?
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Thank you so much for being here and Merry Christmas
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and happy holidays to you.
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It is that time of year.
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It is Christmas time right now.
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And if you're thinking about like what to give as a gift
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to maybe me, well, I always take cash.
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It's always good, you know, gift cards, whatever.
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Or just a big thank you.
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Hey, listen, if you wanna get me anything,
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all you can really do is just subscribe to the show
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and that would be an amazing Christmas gift to me.
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But seriously here, if you're gonna gift somebody
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something that is a car guy
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and you don't really wanna screw that up,
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but if you weren't a screw it up,
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I have seven of the top gifts you do not.
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And I repeat, do not wanna give a car guy this Christmas.
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So the top seven things you do not wanna give
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as a gift or get as a gift
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if you're a car enthusiast or a car person.
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Here we go, starting off with the number one on the list.
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And that is if you're gonna give them some kind of like
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fuel shark or some kind of similar science gadgets.
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And what are these things?
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Now these things are basically devices.
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They often plug in some kind of like 12-volt socket
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and they promise to save gas or boost performance
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through pseudo science.
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And with no actual, actual effects really happening here.
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I'm guessing these things are like miniature,
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like the miniature turbos or some kind of like plug
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into something or whatever.
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No true like car person really is gonna buy anything.
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It's like a, you know, a pseudo science gadget thing
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you plug into your cigarette lighter or whatever
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to help boost your performance.
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I don't think how these things even work.
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I just know that if you are a real true car
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enthusiast and you get one of these like fake
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like fuel saving devices that plug into something,
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you know, like a cigarette lighter kind of deal,
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I can't imagine that they work.
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And you're probably like, oh gee, thanks.
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This is perfect for my white elephant gift.
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I'll give out later.
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Okay, moving on to number two.
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Now this one, I mean, it's okay.
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Cause I wear a lot of swag.
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I wear a lot of car t-shirts.
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I've, every time I go to the Shelby place up in Vegas,
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I, you know, spend forever at the gift shop
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picking out the perfect t-shirt I want to buy
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or a few different t-shirts when I'm there.
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So this is actually low quality generic branded apparel.
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Now, when they say low quality stuff,
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we're talking like maybe stuff that was made at like
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one of those like, you know, tent sale swap meet style
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kind of like t-shirt stuff.
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If they have say a Chevy Corvette or Chevy, whatever,
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and they, you know, you get them some kind of like
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generic Chevy t-shirt, you know, it's,
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It's on this list because probably because, you know,
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maybe a t-shirt featuring their, you know,
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favorite car logo might seem like a good idea.
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But if the fabric is cheap or the graphic like cracks
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and fades, you know, we wash it a few times
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and then poof, it's gone.
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It's like all faded and crap looking.
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Then it becomes basically like, you know,
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something you, you know, sleep in really is what it is.
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It's not really a shirt you wear out anymore
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or if like a shrink, I've had, you know,
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some t-shirts I bought that weren't really
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of the greatest quality and they shrink up
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And now it's like, what do I do with these things?
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I know I give it to the kids and the kids have some
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of my shirts and sweaters I've bought
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that were pretty much low quality stuff
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that were car related stuff that doesn't quite
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So that is number two.
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Okay. Moving on to number three.
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And that is these universal fit accessories.
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You know, some of these like these generic
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like steering old covers, maybe the generic
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like seat covers to say they fit everything.
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Or I know how I like those floor mats.
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You see these floor mats and say,
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oh, these floor mats are custom made
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for every single vehicle.
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One size fits all, they're good.
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They fit every single thing.
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Well, the problem is they rarely,
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like rarely actually fit well.
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They're not really designed for that particular vehicle.
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And they also kind of look cheap.
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Like if you are a car enthusiast,
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you probably don't want like cheap feeling material
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I remember a while ago, I mean,
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long time ago that I think about it,
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probably in the 90s, maybe, yeah,
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like late 90s really is when they had the carpeting
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on the dash was all the rage.
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Of course there were companies that sold
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like generic ones or whatever like this,
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but there were one companies that were actually like
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designing them for particular cars.
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Like it was custom made, custom fit for your car.
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It was like Velcro Don or something like that,
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but it was on the dash of your car.
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And I remember everybody had them on all their cars.
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It was kind of a cool thing to do is like,
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you had this carpeting, like it wasn't like plush carpet.
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It wasn't like, you know, shag carpet.
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It was like a thin, like really low,
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like carpeting kind of fabric on your dash.
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And that was kind of a thing here.
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So basically they're saying is that don't buy anybody,
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anybody who was a car enthusiast,
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cheap fitted universal fit things for their vehicle.
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Because I think that a true car guy
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who's got like say a particular Corvette,
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a particular BMW, they would rather have, you know,
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things from BMW or from Chevy for the Corvette
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that are specifically designed for that particular car.
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So it fits perfectly.
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Okay, next up we have moving on to number four.
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We are moving into the novelty gag gifts.
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Oh, I know what these are talking about.
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They're talking about ever seen like a big like lifted
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truck and hanging off like the back bumper,
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hanging below, what do you see?
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You see some truck nuts.
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That's what I'm talking about.
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Good old fashioned truck nuts hanging off
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the back of your bumper.
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Those kind of things are funny.
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They're probably more of a white elephant gift.
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But if you have a big truck
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or you have a lifted truck, I have a truck.
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Do not get me truck nuts on the back of my truck.
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I could not imagine hanging those off the bumper
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Truck nuts, come on.
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Those are all gag gifts.
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And I get that to be fun and be funny,
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but don't take it seriously.
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Don't make it like the thing you're gonna gift somebody.
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Truck nuts, come on.
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I mean, once you really hate the person,
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I don't know maybe, you know, like something,
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it can be your thing.
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Maybe you guys get along that way
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and it's your whole funny thing.
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You give each other funny gifts, things like that.
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I could totally see that happening,
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but or maybe like those joke like decals
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or it's like the one person peeing on the other vehicle,
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like the Chevy peed on the Ford
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and the Ford peed on the Chevy or whatever,
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things like that, stickers like that.
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I've gotten some stickers like that once
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for my cars before.
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And it's funny because when I get stickers as a gift,
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I rarely ever like put them on anything.
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And I think about it.
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Like I'm not a big sticker guy.
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I kind of used to be,
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but maybe that's like a younger person's thing
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is to put stickers on everything.
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I don't really do that anymore.
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I used to, not so much anymore.
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And when I did put stickers on my trucks and cars,
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they were pretty much like the parts I have installed
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on the car, kind of like part stickers,
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that kind of stuff, but that was pretty much it.
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So, all right, moving on to number five.
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Now this one, I've gotten a lot of these gifts.
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I'm sure you have too.
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And that is incompatible or useless tools.
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If you've ever gone to like the dollar store
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or you've ever gone to one of those like bargain bin baskets
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at like any shop right now during the holidays for Christmas,
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you'll see a lot of these like,
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quick gift ideas for guys who work on cars
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or guys who need tools.
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And a lot of these are just basically like,
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they're just super cheap, super cheap tools.
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And no true car guy really ever uses those on their car.
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I mean, this little gadget is a screwdriver,
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a socket, it's a wrench, it's got all kinds of things.
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And it like has a flashlight built into the thing
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all the once and it fits your pocket.
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And it was only five bucks, you know what I mean?
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Like nobody really actually uses a wrench on a car.
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They're more like just something
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going to give somebody who's got a car.
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Oh, I'm going to give this person, you know,
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this cute little like tool thing because why not?
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I found it at the checkout counter at the store here
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and they like cars and this thing, you know,
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So I guess you use it to make work on cars.
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Yeah, makes sense, I guess.
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So, but if you are a car guy and you get this,
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it goes in some junk drawer somewhere.
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And then when you move, you realize,
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oh, I actually have this thing.
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Oh yeah, I remember I got this for Christmas
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like four years ago.
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So don't get anybody these weird,
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like weird knockoff tool kits.
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You know, I remember this one on TVHSC
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where it was like, it's called like something
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like any socket socket kind of thing
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where it had this teeth that kind of like,
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maybe it was a spring loaded kind of deal,
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but somehow like it formed around any nut
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and you probably saw infomercials for things like this.
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That's the kind of stuff we're talking about here
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because that's the kind of stuff you find
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at those little quicky counter, you know,
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they've seen on TV kind of places
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or seen on TV, you know,
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end caps at some of these stores,
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you know, gadgets like that, no true car guy
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probably will ever use those.
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So it's best to say, do not give those as a gift.
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Okay, moving on to number six, what do we have here?
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Now this gets into like the car wash,
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like I don't say car wash,
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but like if you go to car wash
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and you're waiting in line for your car to be finished
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and as you kind of like wander around
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the little store at the car wash,
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what do you see a lot of?
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You see a lot of these like branded air fresheners
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and like super cheap key chains, stuff like that.
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It's just like, you know, useless stuff.
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It's whatever, you know, it is what it is.
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Like I'm not a big air freshener guy.
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In fact, when I go to the car wash
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and they do give me a free air freshener,
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I usually stick in the door jam and I never use it.
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It just goes in there and like
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kind of a whole collection of them.
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So one day at work,
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I like dropped like 10 of them off
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on the kitchen break room table
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and said, free, everybody take one, go right ahead
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because I wasn't using them.
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They were like just like piling up.
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But I felt so bad, you know,
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turning them down to the guy would give them to me.
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I'd be like, yeah, I'll take a free air freshener.
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I appreciate it, you know?
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And then I just put it in the door jam
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and then eventually I just give them away.
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But I don't think that two gar guys
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really want like cheap like key chains
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that are kind of cheapy and kind of like plastic, whatever.
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Oh, this guy drives a Corvette.
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I'm gonna get him a cheap Corvette, you know, key chain.
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It might even be the Corvette he has.
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It could be like a total different brand Corvette
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different color, but it is a Corvette quote unquote.
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And it's like this cheap little plastic key chain
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probably breaks, you know, in one second.
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Then I don't know if the guy really wants to use that
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if he's got a vintage Corvette.
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I mean, there's certain sense and certain like key chains
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and certain things that car guys are really into.
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And if they're really into this one thing,
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I mean, you really gotta know your guy that is a car guy.
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You gotta really know what they're into,
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what a car they have, things they're really into.
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And I remember that I've gotten gifts for my Z
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that although they were for the Z,
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but they really weren't for my particular Z.
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They were for a different version of the Z,
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which I guess it's fine,
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but I just thought like be kind of cooler
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if it was for my particular Z, my 370Z,
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not some other model.
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But hey, I guess, you know, to them a Z is a Z
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and I was thankful for it anyways,
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but a true car guy knows what they like.
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And they probably, you probably should know
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what they like too,
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because you probably should know who they are
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and what they're into and what a car they drive.
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And if you are that car guy, you know, it's up with that.
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You know, you would not like
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putting kind of like crappy key chain on your car
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or anything like, you know, those fuzzy dice hanging
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from the window from the river mirror.
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Did somebody do that anymore?
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I don't think it is.
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And moving on to the final and number seven worst gift
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to give a car guy this Christmas
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is those drive and dine car caddies.
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You know, those trash can things, organizer, things like that.
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Like, you know, I guess they're practical items.
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Yeah, I mean, you know, they are designed
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for like eating in the car and things like that.
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I guess, but a real true car guy
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is probably not going to be eating in their car.
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Their car is probably not their road trip car.
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It's probably their special car they have usually,
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not always, but usually.
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And so, I mean, these like trash can, trash bag things
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are fun and all, but a car guy like myself
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who really values the other car
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and try to keep it clean like all the time
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that they probably wouldn't even bring trash
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into their car in the first place.
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That wouldn't even be a thing.
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So they wouldn't be eating in their car,
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throwing trash everywhere in their car.
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That's the thing about cars, let me tell you.
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I mean, I've been a lot of different people's cars
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and some people's cars are so ridiculously filthy
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that yeah, I would see, get them like five of these things.
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Seriously, get them like five of these things
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for the regular person that has a messy car.
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Yeah, get them these like trash can,
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like thingy bobbers that, you know, hang over the seat
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or fit in the cup holder, however they work.
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I totally can see somebody who literally works in their car,
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lives in their car, eats in their car all the time.
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Yeah, totally get them that kind of stuff.
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That would be something they would need to get, you know?
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But if you are shopping for someone
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who is a particular, a car guy that has a particular car
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that they take to like cars and coffee, they show off.
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You know, they got pictures of their car on the wall
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and they keep in the garage under cover.
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I do not think they're taking trash into their car
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unless they absolutely have to.
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For some reason, if they do, they're very first second.
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They're very first second.
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They have a chance they're throwing it out
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and cleaning their car out and vacuuming it out immediately.
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And there you have it.
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And coming up next will be the top seven things
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that you probably should get a car person.
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If you're a car person, you probably want these things.
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Listen on the very next episode
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and once again, Merry Christmas
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and don't forget to head on over to coolcarswithchrist.com
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where you can listen to all the episodes,
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subscribe to the show, leave me a message
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and links to all my social media
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are all right there at coolcarswithchrist.com
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and I will see you on the very next episode.
