Spike's Car Radio Nov 8, 2025

Audrain Concours with Jay Leno

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Concept

concourse

A concourse is a special car show where really old and fancy cars are displayed and judged. People come to see these beautiful cars and see which ones are the best.

Car

Auburn

Auburn is a brand of cars that was popular a long time ago, known for making fancy and stylish vehicles. They were especially well-liked in the 1920s and 1930s.

Concept

A barn find is when someone finds an old car that has been sitting unused in a barn for many years. Car lovers often get excited about these finds because they can fix them up and make them nice again.

Concept

Vanderbilt Cup

The Vanderbilt Cup was one of the first big car races in the U.S., starting in the early 1900s. It was named after a rich guy named Vanderbilt who loved cars and wanted to promote racing.

Car

Porsche 911 GT3

The Porsche GT3 is a special version of the Porsche 911 sports car that is built for racing. It has a very powerful engine and is designed to be very light and fast on the track.

Term

burnouts

A burnout happens when a car's tires spin quickly while the car isn't moving. It creates a lot of smoke and shows off the car's power.

Term

60 miles an hour

'60 miles an hour' means the car is going fast enough to cover 60 miles in one hour. It's a way to measure how quickly a car is moving.

Car

Ford Gt

The Ford GT is a fast sports car made by Ford. It's famous for its cool looks and speed, often seen in car shows and races.

Car

Ferrari

Ferrari is a famous brand that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their speed and style, and many people dream of owning one.

Car

Lincoln Continental

The Lincoln Continental is a fancy car from the 1960s, known for being very comfortable and stylish. It was a popular choice for people who wanted a luxurious ride.

Car

Imperial

The Chrysler Imperial is a fancy car that was made a long time ago, known for being very comfortable and stylish. The 1967 version is one of the last models made before the car line was discontinued.

Car

Plymouth Belvedere

The Plymouth Belvedere was a type of car made by Plymouth, especially popular in the 1950s for its stylish design and tail fins.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that many people love for its speed and cool design. It's been around for a long time and is often associated with American car culture.

Car

Lamborghini Countach

The Lamborghini Countach is a famous supercar that looks very cool and was popular in the 70s and 80s. It's known for its unique shape and fast speed.

Car

Doble steam car

A Doble steam car is an old vehicle that runs on steam instead of gasoline. It was made in 1925 and is famous for being very advanced for its time.

Car

Mercedes-Benz SL

The Mercedes-Benz SL is a fancy convertible car that is stylish and fast. It's known for being very comfortable and has a lot of high-end features.

Car

Chevrolet Corvette

The Corvette is a fast sports car made by Chevrolet. It's famous for its cool looks and speed, making it popular among car enthusiasts.

Car

Mercedes 280 SL

The Mercedes 280 SL is an older sports car known for its stylish look and good performance. It was made by Mercedes-Benz and is considered a classic today.

Car

Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla is a small car that many people trust because it's known to last a long time and use less gas. It's very popular around the world, which is why it often comes up in car discussions.

Car

Yanko Stinger

The Yanko Stinger is a special version of a Chevrolet car made for racing. It was built to be fast and compete with European cars.

Term

four-speed transmission

A four-speed transmission is a system in a car that helps it change gears. It has four different settings to help the car go faster or save fuel.

Term

horsepower

Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful an engine is. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster and accelerate better.

Term

Unsafe Speed

Unsafe Speed means driving too fast for safety. It can cause accidents, especially if a car is not designed well. This term is important when talking about how cars are built to keep drivers safe.

Car

Chevrolet Corvair

The Chevrolet Corvair is a small car from the 60s that had a different design than most cars. It's talked about because it had some safety issues but also had a lot of fans.

Car

Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that is very popular among car lovers. It's known for being fun to drive and is often seen as a great value for the performance it offers.

Car

Mazda Miata

The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is fun to drive and easy to handle. It's popular because it gives you a great driving experience without costing too much.

Car

Honda 50 Cub

The Honda 50 Cub is a very popular small motorcycle that many people have used for transportation. It sold a lot of units, making it one of the best-selling vehicles ever.

Car

Spikes Car Radio starts now.

Here we are. Welcome to the show

everybody.

>> Hey. Hey.

>> We're broadcasting. We're recording.

>> On the road. This is taking the show on

the road like when Johnny would go to

Vegas. [laughter] Yeah.

>> Well, we were at Pebble Beach uh a few

weeks back and now we're here on the

East Coast. Is it fair to call this

event like the East Coast Pebble Beach?

Is that a fair

>> I guess it's fair to call it that. I

mean, to me, I think it's Pebble Beach

1978 when it wasn't so crowd. I mean,

there's so much room here. You can

really move around the cars. You can

talk to people. I I love Pebble Beach,

but it's gotten so big and so crowded. I

can ask a question. I It's like that all

the time. Whereas here, you can take

your time and take a picture and talk

and and uh Yeah, it's great. I

>> I think for more normal people, however,

Pebble is still pretty fun.

>> No, it is. No, it it is fun. It is f It

is great, but it's just uh

>> it's not as commercial here.

>> I think I would call this, you know,

I've never been to this event, but if I

were to give it a separate name, it

would be Jay Leno week.

>> Everywhere I go, it's Jay Leno. Jay Leno

opens it with stand up.

>> I can't help with that. [laughter]

>> Show you how desperate they are.

>> But you you you did open it up uh with a

standup gig, right? Yeah, we did. We do

two hours. You know, the Audrain gives a

lot to local charities here with Boys

and Girls Club and cancer. You know, it

is funny. A city like Newport, it seems

like everybody's a gazillionaire. It's

not. You have like 15% of the population

goes hungry. Isn't that unbelievable?

>> Yeah.

>> Is that unbelievable? I mean, a city

like this. So, there's an awful lot. We

do stuff with the food bank and it's

great fun. It's great fun. And it's a

really nice New England community. It's

different. Everybody's suspicious. Yeah.

Hey, the Hollywood guys coming in.

[laughter]

>> I'm not a Hollywood I I grew up not far

from here. I was born in Fall River,

Massachusetts. I fished the waters of

Tverton, Rhode Island, under the bridge.

Thank you very We have a small audience

for those at home that are crowded

around us.

>> Say hi, everybody. We can probably hear

you. This is a place I get New England

compliments.

>> Oh,

>> here's a New England. I had this

actually. I'm on Malboro Street. This

guy says, "Hey, Jay Lo, my friend met

you in California." Yeah. He said,

"You're not an a-hole."

[laughter]

I said, "Oh, thanks a lot." He goes,

"No, he said that really. You weren't."

Oh, thank you. Thank you. You know,

[laughter] just all that New England

hair. What's

>> Larry David gets the opposite of that.

Hey, there you are. You're the

You're that guy.

>> I was going to say back to Jay for a

second. Uh, the mayor of Newport

yesterday proclaimed October 2nd Jay

Leno Day.

>> Wow. How about that, lady? [laughter]

>> Well, I So, is this

>> I believe it was the governor, but

that's all right. No, the governor was

there.

>> Well, the mayor [laughter] was being

indicted. That's right. He couldn't make

it.

>> Is that Buddy Cian? Where? Who is Buddy

Ci?

>> Buddy.

>> Buddy Cancy was provident. He brought me

a job as spaghetti sauce on the Tonight

Show. [laughter] You just gotten out of

prison. Hilarious. Cuz all all the

Everybody in New England goes to prison

and they run again [laughter] when they

get out to show that you're tough. Show

that you can take it. [laughter]

>> That's a real politician right there.

>> That's right. That's right. Yeah. I

remember Buddy Siani. Yeah. So, uh, what

is it? October 1st is Jay Leno Day or

October 2nd?

>> October second.

>> How do we celebrate Jay Leno Day? What

does that mean?

>> In a myriad of ways. [laughter]

Yeah.

>> I heard you celebrated it by taking

Johnny to your home, your new guilded

age mansion. I spent I spent Jay Leno

Day at Jay's house, which was really

cool.

>> And what is that like, Johnny?

>> Well,

>> a modest cottage.

>> So, [laughter] we're driving I never

I've never been in Newport before. So,

we're driving down, you know, the summer

cottage row and I'm marveling. The

houses are incredible. And then I see

one and I go, "Look at that place." And

David goes, "Uh, that's Jay's." And I

started laughing. I go, "Okay, I'll stop

once we get in." He goes, "No, Jay

laughs at it, too." [laughter]

>> Oh, yeah. It's hilarious. I wish my

mother. My mother was from Scotland. Oh,

Jamie, what a ridiculous house. My

mother [laughter] would just think it

the most ostentatious. Oh, Jamie, look

>> Yeah. I I told you when I got the

Tonight Show, it was the Tonight Show

starring Jay Leno. And for the first two

weeks, my mother, oh, starring Jay Leno.

Oh, Mr. Big Shot started. [laughter] I

go, "Mom, that's what they do in

Hollywood." Oh, starting you can't do.

So, I said I said, "Mom, so I changed

the Tonight Show with Jaylen." Mother,

that's much better. You don't need to

say you're started and everything.

>> There you go. That's exactly right. My

mom used to get down on me for cleaning

my car. You LA people cleaning your cars

all the time.

>> [laughter]

>> Why do you clean your cars all that?

What do you call them? Details.

>> Yeah. [laughter]

>> She uh then called me a year later and

said, "You were right about cleaning

your cars." And I said, "Why?" The salt

had eaten uh the underside of her car

because she never washed it right there.

And she learned her lesson. There you

go. So, she learned something.

>> Thank you. Good night, everybody.

>> And that's our show.

>> Yeah. We have a lot of folks here. This

is really good. Um Johnny, um you're

here judging.

>> Yeah. Let me uh just so everyone knows.

Yes. Uh Johnny Judge right there. So

yeah.

>> What is Jay? Have you ever done that?

Have you ever judged a concourse like

this?

>> You know, I did judge. I would never do

it again because you know why he won?

Cuz he's a friend of Lenos. I [laughter]

don't know. I DON'T KNOW THE GUY.

>> I NEVER MET THE GUY. It's unbelievable.

It was always a reason why

>> you think somebody crooked. I have no

friends. This will work out great.

>> I tell you my favorite concourse story.

I'm in Pebble Beach and I'm a judge and

a guy's got an Auburn and the judges

come around and they got, you know, the

checkbook and one of the judges says,

"Hey, your clock's not working." The guy

goes, "Oh, well, hang on. Let me get my

restore." And he he calls him on the

phone, goes goes to voicemail, goes,

"Well, suggest, I'll tell you what. I'll

go down the row. If it's fixed by the

time we get back, we won't deduct any

points. But if it's not fixed, I got to

deduct." Yeah, that's no problem. That's

no problem. So, he's kind

judges come back about 20 minutes later.

He got a deduct for guys just screaming

where the then the restoer shows up with

a sandwich and a you know he's got a

Coke or something in his hand. He goes

the clock doesn't work. You know you

you're supposed to get this thing and

the guy said did you wind it? What?

[laughter] Did you wind it? I thought

it's electric. No, it's a W. It's the

1928 or whatever. It's a wind. And all I

had to do was turn the bezel.

[laughter]

>> And there it was.

>> And it was. Yeah. Just just made That's

I always That's I like people who know

their cars. That's to me that's fun.

>> We were told though, we're not looking

for ticking clocks. That's not what

we're judging on.

>> Yeah. What are you doing? Like how do

you feel confident? If someone asked me

to do it, I go, I'm just not qualified

to do it.

>> I've always judged.

>> We've always said that about you.

[laughter]

People say it in the comment section all

the time. That's why you're on the show

and you. But so what do you have to do?

like what is it? What did what did they

tell you in the judges meeting?

>> We were told basically like, you know,

when you see your class, just flip over

the judging sheet and just first

impression, write down what you think

the top three are and then flip it back

over and then talk to the other judges.

And they were saying, you know, nine

times out of 10 that will be the

finishing order anyways, right?

>> And so this is we're judging, you know,

just what they look like. It's a

>> How many judges are there?

>> 64.

>> 26 classes, I think, of cars. Boy, there

are 64 people here right now. [laughter]

>> That's the judge for every car.

>> Who wants a medal?

>> See, I thought there should be a written

test, [laughter]

>> you know, because you have a lot of

owners who buy a car, they give it to a

restoration shop, they the restoration

promises it'll win.

>> Yes.

>> It doesn't win. The guy's all pissed.

They don't They haven't enjoyed the car,

they haven't used the car, they don't

know the history of the car. I mean, to

me, I I I used to give out the rattle

can award for the person who [laughter]

use the least amount of money, right?

Because you got a lot. See, in

California, you got two or three guys

that have hundreds of cars. You come

back here and you got hundreds of guys

that each have one car, right? And then

you talk to them, they realize, oh, they

bought it in high school and then they

got married and they had kids, so they

put in the garage and they're going to

restore it when the kids get out of

college. I mean, that's the kind of

stuff I [laughter] like, you I mean to

me that there's there's a bond with the

car and they got a story and it really

makes it a lot of fun and and and they

know the car inside out who designed it

what they what year they know went to a

generator on September the 17th instead

of an alter alternate instead of a gener

you know so to me that that's what I

would do if I

>> well that's we were told though that's

part of it is you have to talk to each

owner try and find the owner not the

mechanic and get their story and make

that part of your judging as well

>> you know um this event is very new to me

and the odd I've been doing a deep dive

I watched the that Gilded Age show on

HBO.

>> Oh, I love the Gild

>> with my wife. We love We [laughter] love

the Gilded Age, right?

>> And luckily, I wrapped it up right

before I came here.

>> My house was in there.

>> It was which which episode?

>> Oh, it's just And you say they go buy it

and you see it.

>> It's not really a house. It's a mansion.

It's a It's a much different thing.

>> It's a lovely home for two people.

>> This is almost as big as Jay's house.

[laughter] It's close

for two people.

>> Can I just ask you one house question?

Yes.

>> Like, all right. I I live in a compared

to your that house. I live in a small

house, a real house, like a house,

right?

>> And dust is still a problem. Like in a

in my closet, [laughter]

dust

in your mansion. Do you have like a dust

guy?

>> No, it's so windy the [laughter] dust

just blows away.

>> It's a serious question.

>> I'm in the ocean. The one that the salt

takes the other half.

>> Do you shut down like half the house and

just live in one side of it?

>> Oh, no. No. Hardly at [laughter] all.

No. No.

>> You're not going to tell me.

>> No. No. It's fine. There's no gas.

>> Do you do any of this stuff yourself

around your M?

>> I do. I enjoy working on it.

>> What was the last thing you fixed there?

>> Uh, a leaky faucet. Just put a gasket

in. I

>> That's good, right?

>> Place a couple of the You know, you

can't Here's one of my pet peeves. If

you ever worked on a toilet, especially

old houses, they're brass and you have

the brass ball and they get a hole in

them and you can solder it up and you

can use it again. You buy these stupid

plastic things at Lowe's or Home Depot

and you know they just sort of they kind

of float but not really. They don't they

don't work. They last maybe two years

and got to get them.

>> Yeah.

>> I wish somebody

>> But doesn't that feel good? Don't you

feel now connect I fixed a towel rack

last week and they're just in love.

>> So did I. So funny.

>> So did I.

>> I remember when this was a car show

years ago when [laughter] I first

started.

>> We're going to get there. As you know,

we like to do a little preamble for

about 10 minutes and we're right at that

point. Let's get to the beginning. All

right.

>> Of Newport and its relationship uh to

cars because Newport, as I've learned,

has a lot of interesting first.

>> The first car races are right here in

Bel.

>> Exactly. Right. And that was uh

September 6th uh of 1900.

>> That's right. Well, that's what's fun

about Back East. You go to California,

like my wife, I go to her old

neighborhood, her school is not there.

The hill it was on is not there. It's

been leveled and there's 60 houses on,

you know, you can't find you can't find

anything pre-1948. You come back here

like we moved to Andover in 59. We're

still the new people, [laughter] you

know, we're the new people, you know,

like the pilgrims are here before,

[laughter] you know, but I mean there's

a barn in my town like built in 1691 or

some crazy thing. So that's what's kind

of fun about here. And there's still

stuff hidden. Mars Anderson Museum in

Brooklyn is one of the oldest car

museums and the guy stopped buying cars

like 1906 or something. So, it's just

really cool old stuff and it's it's fun

to see and visit.

>> Yeah. I mean, in my town in West

Bridgewater, I remember in school

reading all the names that of the people

that came over on the Mayflower and they

were the same names in the the first

grade class, [laughter] right? Like

there's Linda Adams. Wow. How

interesting. Um but getting back to this

race.

>> Yeah.

>> Um

>> what do you know about that race? like

why did it start in 1900? I know this

guy Vanderbilt.

>> Vanderbilt obviously very with rich

young car enthusiast who could afford to

buy whatever he wanted and he

>> uh Nick has one of the original Renault

racers from the period and I think he

bought seven or eight of them and gave

them to his friends and they would all

race against one another. Yeah. I mean

it's like imagine you could just buy

every Porsche GT3 and give come on you

guys [laughter] just buy one for

everybody and you all go racing. I mean,

that's that's where it was.

>> It sounded like it was a mishmash of

vehicles, too, because reading about it

last night, there was a motorized

tricycle of some kind in the race.

>> Anything that rolls, explodes, and makes

noise was pretty much eligible. And you

had the DD own tricycle.

>> I mean, nobody knew what was going to

catch on. I mean, in 190 five and six,

>> electric was a third, gas was a third,

and steam was the third, and nobody knew

which one was going to win, right? So

everybody is always hedging their bets.

You know the Stanley brothers, the local

company bought Stanley because steam is

the way to go and they had it like two

years and then the internal commuting is

making such strides. Loco just gave it

up and sold it back to the Stanley

brothers for 10 cents on the dollar

because steam was pretty much done at a

time. It had run the it had run the

world from 1811 to 1911. Everything was

steam. I mean, you still have steam

powered ships now, but as a car, the

mode of transportation fell out on 1911.

>> And so, how long was racing going on

here in Newport after that?

>> I think for the first five or six years

until the neighbors went, okay, that's

[laughter]

>> Yeah. Right.

>> I mean, it's just like today. Enough of

it. Oh, yeah. We have some some

teenagers coming over. Okay. Then

they're doing burnouts and riding their

Plus. Cars got faster and they got more

dangerous. Yeah.

>> You know, you had situ, you know, nobody

could guess the speed of a car. So they

would stand in the road and watch it and

the car would be going 60 miles an hour.

Now remember, nobody had gone much more

than 12 miles an hour in their life. So

you see something coming at six and

boom, they would get hit and people just

got run over in the streets. They just

or they thought they could run across

the road because nothing could come at

that speed. Cars have always been fast.

They just couldn't stop or go around

corners. But that 1907 Renault, I drove

that. I think I took the 65 or 70 and

it's like, oh my god.

>> And there's no seat belt.

>> No, no seat belt. There's no barely a

seat.

>> Cars are relatively new.

>> Stopping as a suggestion.

>> I forget the year, but there was it was

like 19

>> 20 something before an airplane went

faster than a car.

>> Yeah, that's right.

>> You know, cars had a land speed record

of like over a 100 miles an hour and

planes were stuck at 80 for a long time.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. It took him a while. You know, I

was happy that you called me about the

horsey horseless.

>> That's right. when we were Johnny was

talking about it there and uh

>> the horsey horseless was a a horse's

head [laughter] you could buy to put on

the front of your car.

>> Oh, wait. So, it was just the head. You

didn't buy the vehicle with it.

[laughter]

>> It was a company

>> the company that did make the whole

vehicle, but the idea was it wouldn't

internal combustion engines scared

horses.

>> Mhm.

>> But if but they had a horse's head on

the horse would go, "Oh, okay. But draw

can you just draw me a line just because

I don't know much about this event in

this week which I'm growing to love and

I didn't even know it was over six days

you know draw me a line for the

beginnings where that race was to to

today like where did I know the Audrain

Museum gets founded in maybe 2014

somewhere around then

>> yes that was I think it was a bank or

something before that but the races were

>> you know there were 84 mansions that

were just demolished right

>> because they thought no nobody wants

these big stupid I

beautiful houses. When you see the ones

that are left

>> Yeah.

>> 84 of those are just wrecked. So,

somebody said, "Whoa, whoa, hold up

here." Cuz even back in the 80s, my

house was being turned into

condominiums. And luckily, the guy went

broke and somebody else bought it and

had the wherewithal to bring it back as

a house. But that's kind of where it

was. You couldn't give land away here.

It's really cheap. When I when I bought

my house in 2016 or 15, it was the most

expensive house ever sold in Rhode

Island. Now it's it's not even not even

the top 20.

>> Do you have like a Downtown Abbey staff

downstairs? [laughter]

>> Yes.

>> Of folks that come up and Mr. Leno.

>> Yes, he does. Yes,

>> he does.

>> No, no, he [laughter] we had uh No, he's

like See, I don't understand how this

thing runs.

>> My house was called Hurricane Hut

because in 1938 there was a huge

hurricane. An unbelievable hurricane. In

fact, it it took a boulder the size of

an automobile. It threw it over the

house and it killed two staff members

that were trying to escape, trying to

leave the property in a car and crushed

them. I mean, just unbelievable. Wow.

>> And there was a there was a big metal

peacock on the lawn

>> and that got swept out to sea. Okay.

Well, the lady who who owned it in 1930,

she sold the place. She went back in

1950 to see the new owners 20 years

later

and she saw the peacock on the lawn and

said, "Where'd that come from?" And the

woman said, "Oh, we had a hurricane

about a year ago and it just showed up."

So, it got washed out to sea, stayed

under the sea for 25 years, whatever it

was, and then and the next hurricane put

it back.

>> Also, I saw the peacock statue. It's

about 4 feet tall. It probably weighs

300 lb.

>> It's made of like brass or bronze or

something copper.

>> So, um,

>> when did you get involved in this event

with Donald? Well, it's because Donald

Osborne like, you know, again, I'm just

trying to untangle my own knowledge

about this and folks that don't know

about this event. He he's ahead of the

Odd Drain Society, I guess. The the car

museum.

>> Yeah, I guess that's true. Yeah.

>> And then and the museum spawned this

event. Is that how it works?

>> Did we spawn? I'm trying to think.

[laughter]

>> Yeah, I don't remember spawning. And if

we I did, don't tell my wife. But no,

actually Nick is really Nick Shaw is

really the guy behind this and uh behind

the museum and he loves cars

>> and uh you know I love it when guys can

take their hobby and make it a business.

So it's not like a like a business at

all.

>> That's what this is.

>> Yeah. And it probably breaks even every

year. It might make a few but it raises

a lot of money for charity and it and it

brings an awful lot of business into

town and more people come in. And you

see this place got popular again once

people realized they could work from

home. Co really helped the real estate

prices here because people realized

>> oh I I could talk to New York from from

my co-free Long Island Rhode Island you

know that kind of thing. So that that

was another reason.

>> And this is uh Friday. This is an event

called the gathering. The cat feels like

the quail a little bit.

>> Feels like the upscale kind of relaxed

fun champagne.

>> What's the right crowd with no crowding?

[laughter]

>> Is that what this is? Like what what is

today about?

>> Well, today, you know, it's fun just to

go to a car show that's not judged. You

just look at cars and you ask people

about their car. And if you you don't

want to show up because I don't want to

get third place. I think my car, you

know, so so you don't judge anything.

It's exactly it's exactly it's my

favorite kind of car event because it's

not about judging a car. You you might

like this one more than that one. That

guy might like that one more than yours.

And maybe a Ford GT is worth more than a

Ferrari or maybe not. It doesn't matter.

You're just you're just looking at cars

and it's it's such relaxed atmosphere.

There isn't that people put pulling, you

know, blades of grass out of the tread

with tweezers because the judge is

coming, you know. So that that's what I

like about it. Yeah, it's cool. Are you

gonna show something?

>> I'm not showing anything right now.

>> Do you ever show cars anymore?

>> Once in a while I do. Yeah. Yeah.

>> I mean, I know people are coming through

your place in uh

>> I I did pebble a bunch of times and we

went with with a couple of the dudes and

but I like to restore them up to 100

points, drive them down to 10 points

[laughter] and then then restore them

again. Bounce

>> them back. I mean, that's the fun part.

>> Yeah, it is perfect.

>> But you don't you don't keep cars on the

East Coast. Your cars are all in Berlin.

>> Mine are all in California. I'd like to

be [clears throat] able cuz I would be

somebody's touching my car, you know.

>> Yeah. But how do you not load the

mansion up with some stuff like an old

[laughter] series 2A or something

mansioning?

>> Well, yeah, but you I'm right on the

ocean. It's I'll come back and think

it'll be like a piece of

>> I know, but you're a car guy. Like

something some I mean, I would buy five

cars just for that place.

>> I'll tell you something. I

>> Nick has 400 cars and I can [laughter]

He has no idea I've snuck them out in

the middle of the night.

>> First of all, yeah, Nick has more cars

than Jay. He does. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> Well, when he a few minutes ago when he

was talking about there are three guys

in LA with 100 cars. I'm like, okay.

Seinfeld, Jay, who's the third guy.

Who's the other guy?

>> So, he's got 400 cars.

>> Uh, more but yeah, around there.

>> No, but it is different. It is different

here. Here you do find a lot of guys

that have

>> one car and it's it's a family heirloom.

It was their grandfather. I mean,

there's collectors, too, that just like

to collect. But here, you just get more

of that because, like I said, I like to

meet regular people that

>> sanded the car themselves in the garage,

you know, and another 600 with sandpaper

and blah blah blah. And the paint isn't

perfect, but boy, it's good enough. It's

good enough.

>> We were we were chatting this morning

with a judge who I I won't say his name,

but I was saying, "What what are you

looking

>> Well, I didn't want to give away his

special sauce." What he's

>> It's not

>> how he judges a conqueror. was pretty

interesting though. This Concore in

particular, he was looking for someone

who had a connection to the car like

that. Yeah.

>> Not the guy's guy who

>> but we were we were told we were just

like talk to the owner and make sure

that that story comes into your thinking

when you're judging the car.

>> Well, my favorite thing about I guess 15

years ago, we took a camera crew and we

sort of had the judges speak off camera.

No, tell us about the worst

losers and just just like millionaire

guys. One guy, his car came in second.

He took the trophy, put it under the

rear wheel and ran over [laughter] on

the judging stand. Another guy went back

to his room, urinated on the ceiling.

[laughter]

He just trashed the whole hotel. You're

kidding.

>> Oh, where's that guy?

>> Oh, [laughter] yeah. When When you're a

gazillionaire and you come in second

Oh, I It was like It was like the

funniest thing. We couldn't give any

names, but they were all true stories.

That's fantastic. Just Oh, yeah. Really

funny. Really funny.

>> That's really good. Are you worried

about that today, Johnny? Do you think

>> Well, I was going to say if anyone has a

car on Sunday, uh if you get second

place, I'll come up with some ideas for

you. [laughter]

>> Well, I mean, from what what we're

hearing this morning from Jeff, it was

just, you know, or like someone's true

love and passion for a thing that

they've had

>> that they weren't bringing. Well, let me

just finish. you know, a car like you

were saying that was a family heirloom

that they had a connection to, that

they've had spent time with, that they

were passionate about, and they wanted

to talk about. Let me tell you the

story. And stories with car collecting

is really big. I I've always thought of

you as a stories car collector. Like

whenever whenever I would talk to you

about cars in your collection, you would

tell me this great story about how you

found it.

>> Well, you know, I got a 66 Lincoln.

I'm not really a Lincoln guy, but this

woman calls me. She's 94 years old. She

was Marilyn Monroe's roommate. They came

out here in the 40s to be movie stars.

Wow. Marilyn got famous. She didn't, but

she was incredibly beautiful.

>> So, she said, "My husband bought me this

car. I So, I go over to look at it. She

comes down the stairs like Loretta

Young. She's got the cheekbone. She's

94. From the back, you'd think she was

18." I mean, if you looked at it, you

go, "What are you about? 53?" No, she's

94. I mean the just beautiful bone

structure, very classy, you know, and

and she she got this car and she would

go Beverly Hills, nail salon, country

club, hair salon, supermarket, and home

and do that three times a week. And she

put a,000 miles a year on this car for

like 50some years. And it's it's brand.

It's perfect. Had it serviced at the

dealer, you know, you know. So I would

go over to see her and when I got it it

it I went through it and cleaned it up

and you know brought the paint out a

little bit more and went back to take

her for a ride and she looked like she

was 18. She was so excited. I mean she

was just you ever look at an old woman

and you see the beautiful girl that was

in there. You know what I mean? That's

what I love cuz this woman was 94 but

she she when she saw the car she smiled

like I realized I I fall in love with

this chick. You know what I mean?

It was really funny, but she really

loved the car and she had it 60 years

almost.

>> See, that's that's what he's looking

for, John. He's looking for those

stories.

>> Well, we Jeff was saying that he's

excited because one of the cars that

guys owned it for 51 years, right? You

know, which is pretty good. That's, you

know,

>> I had a guy call me. He was a movie

producer. Hey, that kind of movie, you

know, was [laughter] with

>> from the 20s.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, what he did was

>> he made African-American films

>> for African-American audiences. Okay.

>> And he had like uh he had like the black

Clark Gable. He had that who's that

famous black cowboy that just died? He

was like 102 or something. He had that

guy and he had all these pictures, you

know, and so I go over and he's got a 67

Imperial.

>> I'm not really All right, let me go look

at it. So, I go look at it and he said,

"I bought this car and he said, "Well,

you see what I got in the" And he opens

the garage door next to me and he's got

spare windows, spare bumpers, spare

fenders, every part he needed if he ever

damaged the ever damaged the car.

>> Yeah.

>> And he takes me through his house and

it's a brand new 1948 house

>> and there's a picture on the wall of a

beautiful woman, you know. I said, "Oh,

that woman's very beautiful." "Oh,

that's my wife." I said, "Well, she's

very beautiful." I said, "She, oh, yeah,

she's still with us." And then he goes,

She don't look like that no more.

[laughter]

I said, "Oh, no. I I" I said, "I

understand." [laughter] He knocks on

door. Can you come out, honey? No, I'm

not right now. I You know, she didn't

want to come out, but it just it just

made me It was just a great story, you

know, just that kind of guy.

>> Is that your Imperial? The the white

one?

>> No, the the the one that looks like Mr.

uh Dale, the gold one. The gold one.

Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> All right. Let me ask you some other

questions. What was the first car you

saw that made you fall in love with

cars?

>> Me?

>> You?

>> Him?

>> Oh, well, actually the first You can

answer two.

>> The first was actually I remember as a

kid

>> and there's a picture of a a 1956

Harley-Davidson

with these with the with thericcolored

windshield, you know, tinted at the top,

clear in the center, and then the and in

the center there was one of those decals

of a girl with a [laughter] with a

two-piece bathing suit like this, you

know. I said, "Mom, look at this

picture." And she never mind look at

that. You know, [laughter] it wasn't

she's in a bathing and I don't care

about the girl and I'm looking at the

bike. Never mind. She just took it away

from me and that [laughter] was but I

said oh I always wanted to find that

bike. It just seemed like a cool

>> So it was a motorcycle for us that

really got you going. Yeah. Me too. Me

too. Mine was a Hodaka Combat Wombat.

>> Oh yeah, the wombat. Yeah.

>> My uncle had it and he left it in the

garage with a wink and he said you can

start it up every month. Keep it going.

Wink wink. And it became my bike. Well,

I came home from the hospital in 49

Plymouth and I went with my dad to

Crabtree Motors in 1957 to buy the the

Belvadier black and white with the fins

and I'd sit in my dad's lap and he would

steer, you know, of course now the that

happened. The child's services were

taking you away from my parents,

[laughter]

but back in those days,

>> letting your kids sit in your lap while

you steer the car, you know, was kind of

cool. So, those are the those are too.

>> They don't I've been doing that with my

kids a lot. Yeah, my kids ride

motorcycles, so they don't have their

driver's license. They're fine.

>> Mine was uh My dad's from Montreal and

uh we were back, it must have been like

' 82 or ' 83, and we were in Oldtown

Montreal. Yeah. And it has like just big

big gray cobblestones. That's what the

streets are made out of. And there was

an orange count

just sitting on these gray cobblestones.

And I just in my mind, I would stood

there for 12 hours. Probably my dad, he

let me look at it for like half hour,

but it it like rewired my brain. I was

just like, "This is possible." Like you

could have a spaceship on Earth,

>> you know? And that's

>> it's funny when you that feeling is like

obsession. I remember seeing my first

Ford Mustang and feeling that way and

just thinking about it for months and

months and riding my bike to the local

car uh used car lot to go look at it. It

wasn't even one of the better Mustangs

like the 72 Mach like Yeah. You know

that big hulky kind of ugly one. It was

that. And I was and I'm 12 and I'm just

thinking I got to save my lawnmowing

money to get that car that that that

place got closed down by the FBI in my

hometown.

>> They were welding cars together

>> which [laughter] it was like how does

that even work? I couldn't even

understand that. Yeah.

>> I have a story too. Yeah. I was in

Hollywood and I was I had to hitchhike.

I didn't have a car or anything

>> and someone said to me, "Well, Rod

Stewart visits his girlfriend down this

count." I had never seen a Countach. So

I went down there and I saw it on the

street. I looked in, there were crumbled

up bags of potato chips on the carpet

and I went, "Boy, that's living."

Driving to Countach and eating potato

chips. [laughter]

That would be the coolest thing. Just

eating potato chips in a cage. I just

thought that was like

>> You had one of the coolest existences

though. I mean, I had it for a few years

when we were doing Seinfeld. We had

three years where we were only at work

and we would just drive cars to work and

drive home from work. And it's there's

something about that drive when that's

the only fun thing you do.

>> You're doing the Tonight Show

>> for 22 years,

>> right?

>> Did you drive a different car every day

on that drive?

>> I think of steam cars and all kinds of

crazy stuff to

>> So, was it every day that you would

change? In fact, if you watch that

famous uh Donald Trump tape where he

says, "Grab him." You know, uh you'll

see my 1925 doble steam car right

[laughter] he's standing he's standing

right in front of it. I can watch a

Trump thing with my steam car.

[laughter]

>> Well, now we're going to have to go back

and take a look. Yeah, my steam car's

right there. Yeah. Yeah.

>> If only Billy Bush had known about

[laughter] the steam car, not gotten

saved his career. Saved his career.

That's great. Did you know and Johnny

would I remember I think I was on that

lot a little bit when Johnny was hosting

the show. He would

>> Different Johnny. Yeah.

>> What do you mean that? No, not you.

Yeah. Johnny.

>> He had an SL.

>> He had a white Corvette.

>> And he had a white Corvette. Yeah. Did

he switch every day or did he just

drive?

>> No, he drove one and he drove the

Corvette. You know, Johnny was a a

mid-American guy. He he not a Ferrari

guy or flashy like that. A Corvette was

>> aspirational. Even when Johnny made

those suits, the Johnny Carson suits.

>> Yeah.

>> They were sort of mid-range. They

weren't high-end. Yeah.

>> They were Montgomery Ward. They were,

you know, you know, sort of nice normal

department store kind of suits, you

know. So that's what he did. So, he

liked his Corvette. And in fact,

Johnny's father bought a 1939

Chrysler. And when you watch this

special called Johnny Goes Home in 1982

or 83, uh, they find the car and NBC

buys it and gives it back to Johnny,

exact the same one his dad had. And you

see pictures of Johnny polishing the car

when he's 12, Johnny taking it to his

prom. And then, and this was kind of a

nice surprise, Johnny passed away. And

then to reading of the will, he left me

his 39.

>> No way.

>> Chrysler. His dad. His dad's car. So I

got it at the garage and I take it out

of the house.

>> Oh, I've never seen that.

>> Oh yeah. This

>> I'd really love to see that. You have to

bring that by the show sometime.

>> Jeff Sats was his nephew who worked on

the Tonight Show and Jeff learned to

drive.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> But yeah, so I I you know, Johnny was

kind of a quiet guy. He was not like a

flashy

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. I left you this, you know. Yeah.

He didn't tell me he was leaving the I

had no idea. Right.

>> So, that was kind of cool.

>> He was a tennis player, too, Johnny.

>> Yeah, he played some [laughter]

>> Are any of the dead spike? Any Come on.

Are any of the the the current late

night host car guys? I know Seth Myers,

I think, has a Mercedes 280 SL that he

doesn't talk about.

>> I don't know.

>> But I don't know any of the other guys

are doing that thing.

>> No, I don't think so.

>> Yeah, maybe it's just cuz they're in New

York.

>> Well, they have lives.

>> They have lives. Gimmel's in LA. I don't

think he has a car.

>> I don't No, I don't think he's not not a

big car guy. I took him for a ride in my

73 911T early on and scared the hell out

of him hitting an exit pretty hard. He

He wasn't He was pretty afraid. I wasn't

going that fast.

>> And he was tight with Corolla forever.

So if you wanted to be a car guy, he

could have a big car guy.

>> Maybe that's Adam took over the whole

car thing. Went in the other direction.

While you're here, okay, I want to ask

you some more questions, Jay, because

you're you're really you're the uh the

king of the car world.

>> Not really, but go ahead.

>> You have a castle now, so you're the

king of the car.

>> October 3rd. But you're one of these

guys, you know, there's so many of us

out there and so many people who listen

who have cars, one or two or small

collection, and they don't know how to

make decisions about what to do and what

not to do. It comes up a lot. I mean,

we've had billionaires on the show. It

doesn't matter an amount of money, they

still get lost. We had someone recently

with a cracked dash on a 73 and we're

like, "Okay, that's something we need to

fix." How do you make a decision on what

to restore and what to leave as is?

>> Oh, well, that's interesting. Um, well,

if something is too far gone, obviously,

right, you start, but I try to keep it

like I've got a couple of Corv which I

really enjoy. It's it's a great car.

It's the most misunderstood car. I think

it's one of the greatest American cars.

In 1966, it beat Porsche at CCA Racing

uh with the Yanko Stinger, and it was

their attempt to make a European car. It

had 180 horsepower, four-speed

transmission. You know, it was it it was

a pretty good car. I mean, the whole

Ralph Nater thing, you know, it's so

funny. The time Ralph Nater wrote that

book, they sold more copies of the book.

I mean, they sold more Corv than they

did copies of the book.

>> And Corv was only one chapter, but

because GM was so insensed

>> that this young 28-year-old

>> attorney was going after them that they

tried to catch him in a scandal. They

had a hooker sent up to his room or

whatever and later is like Mr. Asexual.

Yeah. [laughter]

Yeah. No thank you. It's like so so he

he didn't fall for it. And then then it

hit the fan when why is the biggest

corporation in the world going after a

28-y old lawyer. What does he know? You

know, and that's when it blew up because

>> Unsafe Speed was really about the

Volkswagen. The gas tank was right in

front of your face or right here in your

chest. The engine was in the back. It

had the swing axles. It was way way more

dangerous than the Corvette.

>> You're sort cuz that's I've read that

book and it's that's the first chapter

is the Corvair. The second chapter is

about parking uh you know prindles and

how you have to standardize that, right?

>> And he he's talking about the 60 uh to

64 Corv, not the when they redesigned it

in ' 65. So GM

>> screwed themselves. I know that's

>> no one would have ever heard.

>> The cover up is always worse than the

crime. [clears throat] It's it's that

way with everything. Yeah. Do you think

um there are cars right now that are

coming out that in 30 years will be

collectible?

>> Yes.

>> Like what? Like the GTD? Maybe the

Mustang?

>> No. The Miata.

>> The Miata.

>> Well, you know when the Mustang came

out, I remember

>> I remember

>> one guy's really happy.

>> That's Miata guy.

>> Whenever you say the word Miata, he

applauds.

>> I remember car

collector saying the Mustang would never

be collectible cuz they sold millions of

them. Right.

>> Well, that's precisely why they're

collectible. You know, we're a

disposable society. The most

manufactured vehicle in history is the

Honda 50 Cub. They sold 50 million. Find

one because we Americans, you drive

[laughter] it in the ground, we throw it

away, and then we cry too yet 10 years.

Oh, I want another one of those. You

know, I I I was in England once and

staying my aunt's house, and the vicer

comes to see me. He's got a 1961

Bentley, you know, one of those Honda

>> and I said, oh, it's beautiful. Do you

ever store it?

>> No. I bought it new. You bought it new

in ' 61. Yeah, I'll take care of it. You

know, we don't do that in America. We

throw it in the garage. We get something

else. We get something else.

>> But yeah, I think the Miata will be I

think

>> there's a Miata right there, Johnny.

Look to your right. There's a What? Why

is that on the lawn? That's an

[clears throat] NA. That's the first.

>> Here's one you'll give me about first

generation Priuses. They will seem so

cute.

>> Oh, wow.

>> And so simple compared to

>> That's a pretty crazy prediction. You're

saying first generation Priuses?

>> Yeah, first generation.

>> Our collectible Prius guy.

>> He's excited.

>> Pri girl. Pri girl. [laughter]

>> I I love the Prius. You know, we

>> Somebody offered me an EV1 for half a

million dollars. I didn't take it.

That's the general That's a general.

>> Yeah. Because

>> that's the birth of electric cars.

Really? Rebirth?

>> Yeah. But you know something like you

have this thing called Radwood now,

which is '9s cars. Yeah. And I went to

one and I just thought I was at the

Walmart parking lot, you know,

[laughter] it's all cars. I I What did I

miss? Well, my dad had one and every

Sunday we go for ice cream and he take

me to the games and Oh, and there's a

reason why people bond with certain

automobiles.

>> And you're right about the the Prius

like like you know Volkswagen bugs like

those were Priuses of their day kind of

just cheap.

>> I don't know.

I'm not there yet.

>> What is the first year for the Prius?

Does anybody even know? Prius guy, what

is the first year?

>> 2003. 2003.

>> God, how did he know he's really a Prius

guy?

>> I'm a Prius guy, apparently. Wow.

>> Prius. Prius was developed by GM. And

with the failure of the EV, they

thought, well, nobody wants these. And

they sold it to the Japanese.

>> Yes. True.

>> And so the Prius is really an American

invention. Yeah.

>> No, I I love I do love the car. I My

favorite

>> I think Taurus shows, you know, that

high performance frontwheel drive, baby.

>> The SHO super high up. That will be a

collectible. I was I was going to Toys R

Us. You know, you do things in your cars

that make you love your cars. And I was

in my wife's Prius and I was going to

pick up an electric car for my kids for

Christmas and then realized, "Oh, I've

got to bring this thing home." And the

guy brought it out to the parking lot. I

said, "That's not going to fit. It's not

going to fit in that thing." I go,

"Let's try it." Push the seats down,

open the hatch, it just slid right in.

That was the moment. That was the moment

right there that I loved that car.

>> There you go.

>> And drove that home.

>> Do you think we'll see more electric

cars on concourses like this

>> eventually? It's going to It's going to

take Well, yeah. I have a 1909 Baker

electric. I have a 1914 Detroit

electric.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but I mean the new

stuff you'll see

>> aside from Prius guy, it was a lone

applause break without the 70 other

people joining in. Like what electric

cars?

>> I think a Hummer will be hysterical in

50 years.

>> Yeah. Yeah.

>> A 10,000 lb [laughter] electric.

>> It's only 8,900 lb.

>> Well, Johnny, you host a whole show

about electric. What cars? Just pick

three that stand out as collectibles.

>> I think the the the Tesla Roadster

that's going to definitely be a

collector. It already is a collect.

Those are fine one.

>> Well over 100 grand now.

>> Yeah. I think I think you'll see a lot

of you'll see a bunch of like with the

Model S. You'll see classes like oh

that's the P90. That was the first sedan

to hit 60 under 3 seconds. That's the

P100. It was 25. That's the Plaid. That

was 1.99. You know, so that you have

that kind of thing. And [clears throat]

as a Rivian fanboy, I think there'll be

uh, you know, original four quad motor

Rivians.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. That will be very collectible.

>> Yeah. I remember when I was in Tonight

Show, we had an intern and he was like

21 years old. He said, "Oh, Miss Leno, I

collect collector. I got a collector

car." I said, "What do you have?" He

said, "A 91 Miata." And I kind of

smiled, but he was born in 1990.

[laughter]

>> So to him that,

>> look, for the record,

>> that's when he was born.

>> Yeah. I love the Miata. most race car in

the world. Terrific car.

>> You know, it's what Lotus could have

been.

>> Lotus invented it. It was their idea.

>> And then Jim Hall, not that Jim Hall,

but another Jim Hall worked for uh for

Mazda said, "Why don't we do a Japanese

version? Just make it reliable like the

Japanese like the Japanese did." Yeah.

Bob Hall.

>> Jim's a brother. Yeah.

>> Like the Japanese did with the uh with

the motorcycle. Hey, Americans like

motorcycles. Why don't you make them

safe with electric starters and you

don't have to they don't leak oil and

you you wind up running the business.

What have you seen here at this event

that you like? Have you seen a car

that's kind of blown you away? And you

>> Oh, I I like it. You know, it's so

funny. I always see the the Ford GT40.

>> Yeah.

>> That's like you never want to meet your

heroes, you know? Yeah. It's the

greatest car. I drove one once. I'm like

I'm like a dog with my tongue out the

window. It's got [laughter] there's no

air condition. Little I'm trying to

drive this thing. It's so hot. It's like

It was like the horrible to drive.

Horrible to drive. It just It just made

me laugh. But I still love it. Yeah.

But, you know, it's like being with the

wrong woman. You know, this is not

[laughter]

>> It's just like that.

>> Exactly.

>> Too hot with your tongue out [laughter]

the side window.

>> Out the window.

>> Exactly.

>> That is I love that car, too. They I've

never driven one.

>> Oh, you know,

it'll it'll it'll ruin it for you. But

>> Well, hang on, though. I I've driven

like the Superformance version, which is

>> No, no, not Super Performance has more

leg room. You drive the Mark III. came

out with I think in was it 67? It was

$17,500

which is really well over $100,000 now.

It had the they tell you do not put

chocolates in the trunk because they

will melt,

>> you know. They had all these kind of

warnings. Don't carry butter. Don't go

to the market, you know. [laughter]

Yeah, cuz it everything will just melt.

I mean, and I love the look of it, but

it is so uncomfortable. What other cars

have you driven that kind of ruined it

for you? For me, Porsche 9006 was

terrible. Really? You're kind of laying

on your side. At least the one I drove

outside my side trying to race is

difficult.

>> Not a good car. Not good driving.

>> Actually, I got 70,000 on mine. I

>> You like it?

>> Yeah, I like Did you put all 70 mirrors

better?

>> Did you put all 70 on there?

>> Yeah, I just Well, mine is an 80 86. I

bought an 87. So, you know, I mean, you

drive $7,000. That was crazy.

>> I was I was playing tennis Tuesday night

and then this guy's like, "What are you

doing this weekend?" I go, "I'm going to

Newport. I'm going to interview Jay

Leno." He goes, "I just saw him driving

his C count.

>> You had just been driving it that

Sunday." Stopped and chatted with him.

You're so nice to everyone. I I don't

understand it, but you are.

>> It's a great It's a great car.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah. So, he is, you know, like I've

like I've always when I the second I

moved to LA, I would see you driving

every day either to or or from work or

the Tonight Show.

>> When you go buying a car that's on

>> and you you would yell at me. You didn't

know me or anything, but you would yell

at me what I was driving. 66 Triumph of

Bonavville [laughter] go by 73 911 RS

Jay Leno.

>> There you go. There you go.

>> Yeah. And it was part of the you know

really fond memories and really made me

feel like I was in the right place. I

had left New York to drive a car.

>> Yeah. Right.

>> That was my I was telling you the car

this morning.

>> That's so funny. You know whenever I

have journalists from New York come this

is going like I had journalists come and

show them my motorcycles. I have a a

Bruff Superior motorcycle with a side

car.

>> Yeah.

>> And I said, "You know what that is?" Oh,

yeah. Okay. I guess he's not interested.

Jaylen has a motorcycle with a canoe

attached to it. No, it's not [laughter]

a canoe.

>> It's a side car.

>> Do you have like a couple minutes to

answer some questions?

>> Well, yes, I guess.

>> I'd love to turn it over to everybody

here in the in the audience. There's a

man with his finger. You

>> have a question, sir?

>> I'm going to repeat your question for

you. He's written it down. Go ahead,

>> Mr. Leno.

>> Mr.

son is a huge fan.

>> He's a big fan.

>> What keeps you motivated to keep uh

collecting and touring?

>> Well, what you mean in show business or

>> in show business and with cars?

>> Well, look, I've had real jobs. They

suck. [laughter]

>> You just talk and people give you bags

with 20s in them. [laughter]

>> Yeah. You know, you go, "This is great.

This is a great way to make a living."

Write joke, tell joke, get checked, get

checked. Write joke, tell joke. A lot of

people can't follow that simple.

[laughter]

>> No, it's so good.

>> No, it is. And the joke's fun. Oh, you

get a check and Oh, thank you.

>> Now that you figured out and and others

like you, Jerry and the to just get one

of these and some people and a

pillowcase full of cash comes.

>> That's wild.

>> Exactly.

>> Yeah. You don't need anything but you

and this.

>> Yeah, that's right.

>> Yeah. Very good question. Somebody else.

>> Yes, sir.

>> Uh, who do we have right now?

>> That gentleman was second.

>> The Honda S2000.

>> What do you think the Honda S2000?

>> I think the Honda S2000 Honda guy is

also Miata.

>> Well, I have a Honda 600, which is 1964.

>> 1400 worse.

>> It's 600ccc's.

The red line is 9,400 RPM in 1964.

overhead cams, roller bearing

crankshaft. If this said Porsche on it,

it would be a million-dollar car. Yeah,

it's 57 horsepower. It weighs maybe

1,700 lb, faster than an MG or a

Triumph. And but it just it just

[laughter] it just screams at 9,400 RPM.

It's a fabulous car. When they came out

with the 2000 again, they had the same

problem. It was a high revving engine.

And Americans don't understand high

revving because they think I'm going to

short shift it and save the I don't want

to hurt the engine by revving it. But it

really runs better at higher RPM, but

you can. So they re then they reissued

the 2000 a couple of years later and

lowered the torque and brought it into

5500 to 6,000 RPM and it wasn't as much

fun. But the first generation 2000 I

thought was a great car. Great.

>> Miata guy had a question.

>> I did.

>> Yes. What is your alltime number one

favorite car? Practical or not?

>> What would you say?

>> All time number one favorite car?

>> Well, I you know, the McLaren F1 is

pretty good. I mean, you [clears throat]

can't beat that. I mean, but that's not

practical and anything you do is a

house, you know. [laughter] I mean, it's

so ridiculously expensive to to repair,

>> you know. I was on the freeway at that

>> and I downshifted to third and nailed it

and and I sl tires are spinning. I slid

across two lanes went [laughter] hey,

you know, get back in the P1. It's got

all the safety controls, got ABS, you

know. So, I'll come back.

>> We had I I remember we were in Malibu at

that car show during the co thing and we

went for a drive in that with Tony

Rackley who uh imports cars. It was me

and Tony and Jay Maskless Tony

>> and Jay took us for a ride in that car

with knowing the F1.

>> Yeah. Oh, okay.

>> It was so special. It was so fun.

>> It just screamed. It's just a fabulous

car. It's just, you know, right into my

memory.

>> Gordon Murray is like the ultimate

uh engineer. He's so weight obsessed. He

has that Kenwood uh stereo CD player,

>> but he was he he thought the iron

magnets weighed a couple of ounces too

much.

>> So, he replaced them with aluminum

sprayed with just enough iron filings to

be magnetic and save 4 ounces per

weight. Wow.

>> And put it back in the car.

>> Yeah.

>> How much did that cost you? Ridiculous

[laughter] amount.

>> You know, my thing is I'll just skip a

couple of lunches if I want to

>> get a light.

>> Yeah, that's exactly right. That's the

German way of like Adrian Adrien Newi

says, you know, hey, a gram here, a gram

there. Suddenly got a kilogram. So,

there you go.

>> Yes, sir.

>> You ever?

>> Yes. I slept in a car.

>> My 55 Buick Roadmaster.

>> He was homeless. I flew to LA. One day I

was sitting in my apartment. I said, you

know, I got to get out of here right now

or I'll never get out of here. So I I

said to my ne my neighbors, just take

whatever you want. I flew to LA. I

landed in LA. I picked up the penny

saver. Oh, here's a car. Where's

Winchester? It's six miles from here.

Oh, I'll go buy this car. You know, just

being an idiot. Y

>> So I I take a cab to Winchester. The guy

wants 350. And being the negotiator, I

offer him 345. He took it. [laughter] I

get it. I said, I'll give you 345. Okay.

cuz I knew I'd have to take a cab back

to the airport. I s I bought this this

this Buick and I still have it to this

day. It's a great car.

>> And you spent the night in it.

>> I I I lived in it for the first couple

of weeks.

>> What I used to do

>> couple of weeks.

>> Well, you don't know the story.

>> No. What I used criminal

>> What I used to do,

>> I would search the paper for open

houses.

>> Yeah.

>> And they would have an open house Sunday

like 12 to 4.

>> Okay.

>> I would get there at 3:30.

>> I'd say, "Can I take a look around?"

Yeah. And then I go, "Thank you." And

then I'd slam the front door and get in

the closet. And then [laughter]

the realtor would leave. And they didn't

No houses had alarms back then.

>> So I would live in the house for two or

three [laughter] days.

>> So one day I'm in a house on Cold Water

Canyon owned by one owned by one of the

Beach Boys.

>> Yeah.

>> And it was I was I was there three days.

This is fabulous. I'm sleeping, right?

[laughter] And this realtor comes in NOW

IN HERE. OH, [screaming] MICHAEL.

THERE'S SOMEONE IN THE MIDDLE. I say,

"Sorry, sorry. What are you doing?" I

said, "Can I can Excuse me. Can I get

dressed? Sorry, just mistaken.

>> But you weren't Jay Leto. You're just a

guy.

>> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. So, yeah. But no

police.

>> But that was a great I mean, I never I

never stole anything. I never destroyed

anything. I always made the bed and

everything, [laughter]

you know. But it was great. I could do

that. You could do that

>> for a month. You could just live house

to house and in beautiful [laughter]

houses. I didn't stay in crappy track

houses.

>> These are all right. These are all

>> criminal with tapes.

>> Well, you always want a big mansion

that's got a lot of things. Yeah, you

want to have Yeah, [laughter] we could

get out of our hotel tonight, Johnny. If

you want, we could do this over at this

place.

>> He would never notice. Literally, we

could move in. He wouldn't know we're

there.

>> He wouldn't know. I want to chest that.

>> I'll take I'm taking the Elton John

room.

>> I am doubtful about the dust situation,

but I'm going to check it. Somebody else

here. Yes. Best, sir. Guy with the vest.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> Three years ago.

>> Saw some standup.

No, that wasn't me because I was I

wouldn't have had those back here.

>> Yeah.

>> No, it wasn't me.

>> I don't understand the question. Go

ahead.

>> He's talking about the Corvair.

>> He's asking more.

>> Well, the reason they don't talk about

them, [laughter]

>> he owns one. I mean, the ram side, the

trouble with it was the engine was in

the back.

The funny thing about the Corv is it's

right here. I mean, your knee is where

the headlight is. So, if you have an

accident, you're the first one on the

scene because [laughter]

you're you're 12 in from the accident.

>> Yeah. And the engine, the ram side was

was a huge hit with the phone company

because that that ramp would come down.

They wheel those big spools up in there,

but you couldn't load from the back cuz

the engine was back there. So, you'd

have to lift anything up up and over.

So, you couldn't get a motorcycle or

anything like that in. But the ram side

was not a success. The ram side was a

pickup truck. And Americans like their

pickup trucks to look like pickup

trucks. And when you come out with a

radical pickup truck, people don't buy

it. Yeah. I mean, the Cybert truck is

probably the first except next exception

after the Corvette.

>> I mean, there's going to be a new run of

of these uh affordable ones like Slate.

>> Yeah.

>> Wasn't there a second one, Johnny? That

>> Well, Maverick Ford, the new Ford

platform is selling great Slate might

happen. But the Cybert truck, I mean,

they they kind of stopped selling. I

mean,

>> why do you say Slate might happen?

>> Well, I mean, it hasn't happened yet.

And the other thing is, you know, this

administration cancelled the $7,500 EV

tax credit. So they start to get

expensive.

>> Slate's price went from 20,000 to

$27,500,

right?

>> And at that price point, it's pretty

sensitive.

>> And you were saying there was an issue

with battery prices as well.

>> No, battery prices are just continue to

plummet. Um, but it's just the price of

the vehicle went up by 33%. Like, you

know, like October 1st or whenever it

ended, September 30th.

>> All right, one more question. Who's got

the Who's got our final question? Yes,

ma'am.

>> [laughter]

>> The attractive person.

>> There's one. There's one here.

>> We've learned one thing about Jay

Leonard.

>> For [laughter] those of you,

>> he loves women.

>> Oh, yes.

>> What's the question?

>> We talked earlier about like you like

when owners have like behind their car.

So, which one of your cars has the most

sentimental value to you?

>> Oh, so she wants to know the car that

you have in your collection that has the

most sentimental value. Well, I mean, my

55 Buick I like cuz I met my wife in

that car and I dated my wife in that

car, you know,

>> and you lived in it.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Well, I'll

tell you funny. You know, my wife and I

first made love in that car when I was

living.

>> So, on our 25th anniversary, let's go

back to where we went.

>> Ah,

>> and we went to this is now Franklin

Canyon. And of course, there's now a

house there.

>> Yeah.

>> It's all houses now.

>> Yeah. Did you break in?

>> So, I said, "No, let's let's park as

[laughter] as close to the house as we

can." So, we start going at it and then

my head hits the horn. It's 11:00 night.

The porch light comes on. A guy comes

on. I'm going Christ sake. [laughter]

Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Excuse me.

Excuse me. Sorry about that. Sorry about

that.

>> The great Jay Leno. Everybody,

[laughter]

>> thank you.

>> He's unbelievable. What I love about

you, Jay, encyclopedic knowledge of

ours.

>> Yes. Well, I know

>> it's easy. And then all the sex stories

are fantastic.

>> More [laughter] like more like golden

book.

>> I mean, we interviewed last week and

I've learned more stuff about you.

[laughter]

>> It's unbelievable how how deep your your

car knowledge is and your car

experience.

>> Criminal history.

>> And we just love you. That's our show,

ladies and gentlemen, live from the

Concord at the gathering.

>> Those at home, we'll see you next week

on Spikes Car Radio.

>> See you then.

>> Thanks for listening to Spike [music]

Car Radio. Listen to new episodes every

Wednesday and be sure to subscribe.

Stay to the right, losers.

[music]

0:00

54:21

Audrain Concours with Jay Leno

Auburn

Ferrari

Doble steam car

Mercedes 280 SL

Yanko Stinger

Honda 50 Cub

About this episode

Original notes