Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
51:30
Topic
24 Hours of Le Mans
A famous 24-hour race in France where sports cars compete to see who can drive the farthest distance in a single day without breaking down.
Brand
Jeep
A famous American brand known for making rugged off-road SUVs like the Wrangler, originally created for military use in World War II.
Car
Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler is a rugged, four-wheel-drive SUV made by Jeep, which is owned by a large European-based parent company called Stellantis. It is designed for driving on rough, unpaved roads and features a roof and doors that can be completely removed.
Company
Stellantis
A massive global car company that owns many famous brands like Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram.
Car
Jeep Brands Jeep
Car
Ford GT40
A famous Ford race car built in the 1960s to beat Ferrari in a famous 24-hour French race, which it successfully did four years in a row.
Person
Carroll Shelby
A legendary American race car driver and designer who helped Ford build the cars that beat Ferrari, and who also created the famous Shelby Cobra sports car.
Person
Ken Miles
A highly skilled British race car driver and mechanic who worked closely with Carroll Shelby to develop and race Ford's legendary GT40.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette (C3)
The third generation of the Corvette sports car, famous for its curvy body shape that looks like a classic Coca-Cola bottle.
Part
T-tops
A type of car roof where you can take out two panels over the driver and passenger seats, leaving a central bar in the middle that looks like the letter T.
Part
side pipes
Exhaust pipes that run along the bottom sides of the car under the doors instead of exiting out the back, making the car look and sound very aggressive.
Car
Duesenberg Model J
An incredibly expensive and luxurious American car from the late 1920s and 1930s that was so impressive it inspired the phrase 'it's a doozy.'
Part
straight-eight engine
An engine with eight cylinders lined up in a single straight row, known for being very smooth but extremely long.
Car
1984 Dodge Caravan
The original modern family minivan, introduced in the early 1980s, which completely changed how families traveled by offering tons of space in a vehicle that drove like a normal car.
Person
Lee Iacocca
A famous American car executive who helped create the Ford Mustang and later saved Chrysler from going out of business by introducing the minivan.
Concept
Chrysler K platform
A basic car design that Chrysler used in the 1980s to build many different types of vehicles, from sedans to minivans, using the same underlying parts to save money.
Term
minivan
A boxy family vehicle with sliding doors and three rows of seats, designed to carry lots of people and cargo comfortably.
Car
Chrysler Pacifica
The Chrysler Pacifica is a family minivan made by Chrysler. It is designed to carry up to eight passengers and features sliding side doors for easy access.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a sporty, two-door car built by Ford. It is designed for fast, fun driving and is famous for its sporty styling and powerful engine options.
Car
Buick Roadmaster
A massive, classic American family car, most famous as a giant 1990s station wagon with wood paneling on the sides and a powerful V8 engine under the hood.
Term
station wagon
A passenger car with an extended roofline all the way to the back, creating a large cargo area behind the seats instead of a standard trunk.
Car
Ford Country
The Ford Country Squire is a large, classic station wagon made by Ford. It is best known for having decorative wood-like panels on the sides of the vehicle.
Car
Chevrolet Suburban
The Chevrolet Suburban is a very large SUV made by Chevrolet that can carry up to nine people. It has been in production since the 1930s, making it one of the oldest vehicle models still sold today.
Car
Chevrolet Bel Air
The Chevrolet Bel Air is a classic car made by Chevrolet, most famous for its models built in the 1950s. It is easily recognized by its large rear tailfins and shiny metal trim.
Car
Ford Bronco
A classic, rugged two-door off-road vehicle built by Ford to compete with Jeep, highly prized today for its boxy vintage look.
Car
Shelby Cobra
A famous, extremely fast sports car made by stuffing a big American V8 engine into a tiny, lightweight British roadster body.
Car
Ac Cobra
The AC Cobra MkIII is a classic, high-performance sports car from the 1960s. It was created by putting a powerful American Ford engine into a lightweight British car body.
Car
Daytona Cobra Daytona
The Daytona Coupe is an extremely rare, high-performance race car built in the 1960s. It was designed with a sleek, aerodynamic body specifically to beat European racing teams in international sports car races.
Car
Mercury Monterey
The Mercury Monterey is a classic, large luxury car made by the Mercury brand, which was owned by Ford. It was designed to be a comfortable, stylish cruiser with more premium features than a standard Ford.
Car
Ford Model T
The historic car that 'put America on wheels.' It was the first car built on a moving assembly line, making it cheap enough for regular working people to buy.
Car
Ford Model
The Ford Model A is an old car made by Ford in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It was the car that replaced the famous Model T and introduced more modern controls like a standard steering wheel and pedals.
Car
Ford F150
America's favorite pickup truck, which has been the best-selling vehicle in the country for decades because of its toughness and versatility.
Car
Ford F100
The Ford F-100 is an older model of Ford's pickup truck that was made for several decades before being replaced by the F-150. It was designed as a simple, durable work vehicle.
Car
Buick Le Sabre
A large, incredibly comfortable American sedan from the 1990s known for having an extremely reliable V6 engine that can run for hundreds of thousands of miles.
Car
Plymouth Superbird
A wild-looking 1970 muscle car built for NASCAR racing, featuring a pointed nose cone and a giant rear wing that stood several feet above the trunk.
Car
Dodge Road Runner
The Road Runner is a classic, powerful two-door muscle car made by Chrysler's Plymouth division. It was designed to be a fast, affordable car with a fun theme based on the cartoon character.
Person
Richard Petty
A legendary NASCAR driver who won seven championships and is widely considered the greatest stock car racer of all time.
Car
Plymouth Voyager
The Plymouth Voyager is a classic family minivan made by Plymouth. It was one of the very first modern minivans ever sold and became highly popular for carrying families and their gear.
Car
Chrysler Pt
The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a small, five-door car made by Chrysler that was designed to look like an old-fashioned car from the 1930s. It was built to be a practical and affordable family vehicle with a unique shape.
Car
Tesla Model S
The Tesla Model S is a large, luxury electric sedan made by Tesla. It runs entirely on battery power and is known for its high-tech interior and very fast acceleration.
Car
Tesla Model 3
A popular, relatively affordable all-electric sedan made by Tesla that helped make electric cars common on everyday roads.
Concept
over-the-air software updates
Wireless software updates sent directly to your car over the internet, just like how your smartphone gets updates, allowing the car to get new features or bug fixes without visiting a mechanic.
Car
Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird is a classic car made by Ford over several decades. It was originally a sporty two-seat car but later became a larger, comfortable luxury vehicle.
Car
Tesla Model
The Tesla Model Y is a fully electric, mid-sized SUV made by Tesla. It is designed to be a practical family vehicle with lots of cargo space and a high driving position.
Car
Polestar 4
A modern electric luxury SUV that has a very unusual design feature: it has absolutely no rear window, so the driver has to look at a digital screen showing a camera feed instead of a normal rearview mirror.
Car
Polestar 2
The Polestar 2 is a fully electric four-door hatchback made by Polestar. It is designed to be a premium, high-tech daily driver with a minimalist Scandinavian interior.
Car
Polestar 1
The Polestar 1 is a rare, high-end hybrid sports car made by Polestar. It uses both a gasoline engine and electric motors to produce a lot of power while still being able to drive on electricity alone.
Car
Bmw I4
The BMW i4 is a fully electric four-door luxury car made by BMW. It is designed to look and drive like a traditional gas-powered BMW sports sedan, but runs entirely on battery power.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq 9
A brand-new, very large electric family SUV with three rows of seats, built by Hyundai to carry up to seven people without using any gasoline.
Car
Hyundai Ioniq
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a fully electric SUV made by Hyundai. It has a distinctive, blocky design and can charge its battery very quickly using specialized charging stations.
LIVE
Welcome everybody to this week of the driveway. It's a special week, as you can tell by the
color in the walls. It's America's birthday. Happy birthday, America.
Thank you. 150 years. You don't look a day over 100.
Not even a day. Uh, yeah. So we seems like we're here to celebrate a birthday.
This is a car podcast. In the room. We have Natalie. We have Dave. We have Matt. We're all
here. We're feeling good. We're all excited to chat. We got some red, white, and blue.
We've got some denim. I thought we were going to have more. I thought you would have more.
What? Well, thanks to Amazon. That's French. There's French on your shirt.
You know, but the 24 hours of Le Mans is not an American race, but a true American spirit.
It's French and we walked in. We were like, we're the best ones here. We're here to save the day.
We were supposed to have more decorations. I ordered them on Amazon. Thanks, Jeff Bezos,
for screwing that. It says it was delivered. There's a photo that says it's delivered.
I've taken it all around the building and no one in the building. It's a last mile issue.
That's not a building. I don't know where it got delivered, but it's not. Imagine this has
streamers and balloons and 4th of July, happy birthday. 250. What are you going to do if you
find that stuff like later today? Are you going to bring it home with you? Sure. You did pay for it.
The episode is for the 4th of July. Right now, we're in the middle of June. You'll decorate your
house. It was $10. I'll never see it. What is the banana cost anyway? We're not sure which
department at Cargher's paid for that, but someone at Cargher's paid for it. We're going to get our
use out of it. Let's decorate the office. You guys can use it for actual 4th, but anyway,
happy birthday America. We're all in some variety of red, white, and blue.
I'm also supporting the World Cup American team, so let's go. Nothing says America like soccer.
Inept men's soccer. Nobody has won more World Cups than the women's US team.
But the men not expected to do that well, but they are ranked 16th in the world,
which is more than a minute. But they're not expected to perform. But Natalie and I will be
going to see the number one expected team to win, which is France, which I could just
turn this around a little bit. That's right. Just rotate it 90 degrees and cover the US.
So we're talking about America. We're talking about the United States. We're talking about today,
the greatest US cars ever made or the most important iconic. Let's talk about that.
Pretty deep. What do you mean by American first? North American United States. Okay.
That's what we're talking about. Can we talk about Jeep? Don't get too technical. I'm just
clearing it out. Everyone knows what you mean by when they say American. Okay.
Because somebody in the comments is going to let us know that actually the Jeep Wranglers run by
a European company. They're going to go in the comments and say that. I got some burners.
His burner account. Exactly. That's one that I always. So yes, these are brands. So I was like,
maybe technically Jeep is owned by Stalantis, which is in what, Belgium? Holland? Netherlands?
No one's really sure. It's a made up country. It's a made up name. Everyone knows what we mean.
All names are made up. Right. Everybody get down to it. American brands. Jeep is an American brand
by sort of historic association and all that. The vibe of Jeep is very, it's America. It's
United States. So don't get too technical with the comments. We don't want to hear it. In fact,
there's a special America 250 edition of actually several different Stalantis vehicles.
Anything to boost the sales. Durango.
So what we did is we're going to, we're going to just go down the line and talk about cars that
we think are iconic or important to the United States. I did struggle with that question of
iconic versus, versus best, like the mandate was best. I'll say the way I thought about it,
however you think about it, the way I looked at it was most important, which isn't best necessarily,
but that's how I kind of framed my thinking. So we're going to end up with like 10 to 12 cars here.
Country has been around for 250 years. Cars have been around for over a hundred.
This is an impossible task. Like don't talk about the comments. Don't come at us.
We know that. Yeah. Yeah. It was part of the plan. So we're going to kick right off. Okay.
In the comments, we would like to hear what people think should be on the list if they
were doing this list. Sure. Just like, be nice. Just be civil. Okay. Yeah. This is democracy.
We're real people. We have real feelings. Yeah. You're, your, your vote will be counted.
We've been doing this for a year. There's a lot of wounds. Who's going first? You are. Hey. Yeah.
Me. Mr. Lemont. Okay. Um, well, gosh, should we start with it? Let's do it. GT 40. Let's do it.
It's in terms of just like, dare I say, American exceptionalism. This,
this was the biggest like, you know, Europe has hurt our feelings. So we're going to go over there
and we're going to win. We're going to spend a holy amount of money on the holy amount of money.
We are going to buy some victories. But in, in the best engineering way possible. Yeah. Um, 1966
LeMont is where the GT 40 really like made its name, became famous, but it did actually exist.
Oh yeah. They raced in 65 and 64 and they were disastrous. So what did they do? They persevered.
They fired that guy and they brought in a cowboy. Yeah. So Carol Shelby takes over the program,
brings in Ken Miles as the driver. You guys can see this word first. Yeah. Matt Damon.
Um, and not only did they come back and win 123 in 66, but they won in 67, 68, 69,
four more years, four more years. I just, the, the GT 40 is one of those cars that as I was
getting into cars, I actually did not like, I didn't grow up in like the car guy family. It was a
very organic, just like, Oh, actually, I think I like these and the GT 40 is one of those stories
where I was like, these things can be awesome. It was, it was such like a, it's tough to say like
true underdog story, but like it's really, I now know it's really hard to just build a race car.
Yeah. I've never been able to do it. Go to the biggest race in the world and knock off the people
on top and like, well, they were so ahead of their time in terms of design and technology.
And I mean, that's still such an iconic shape. It's so cool. It just looks amazing. I mean,
look at it. Yeah. They just look badass. They, as a, what, 60 year old car, they still look badass.
Yeah. Yeah. If this rolled off the line in 2004, it's still, oh, it did. Oh yeah, I mean, the GT is
awesome. And then again, in whenever what, 2013? Yeah. Although to be honest, that car, while
unimpeachable, the latest version, it does not speak to me like the GT did.
They came out in the, I think the early thousands and certainly the GT 40. It just,
it was a little too like forward. Yeah. It became like a super, super car instead of like,
this had some of that like muscle car vibe to it with the big block VA and
yeah. Good choice. America. America. If you want to see one of the, the GT, we have that at the
Lars Anderson Auto Museum right now as part of the poster cars exhibit. So yeah. And I,
I got to be the one steering it while we were moving cars around.
And then I got out and I bonked my shoulder really hard on like the shape of the door.
It is impossible to open the door. So the GT 40 was 40 inches. I don't know if the GT was as
well, but the doors, cause they, they cut in. They cut in so much. It's almost like a tea top
up situation. And you can't get out. Like if you parked in a regular parking lot, you can't open
the doors to get out because the door has a roof. Also the handbrake will like will smash your
knuckles. It's, yeah.
Yet again, Natalie is the coolest car person on the show, man, proves it every week.
Well, that's my pick. I liked it. I liked the Ford GT 40 solid.
Great choice. That was the one thing that, so I was probably the last one to get my choices in.
Elliot had to nag me. Oh, I was second to last to get my choices in. And that was,
he's coming from California. Dave's in a different time zone.
But that was the one that I chose that Elliot was like, Nope, pick something else. That's,
that's the best endorsement of a pick you could get. Oh, Natalie wanted that one.
So quick peek behind the curtain. Everybody tells me their picks so that I make sure that we don't
double pick, but these guys don't know anything other than what they picked. I happened to know
what's coming. This is not how we do drafts. So no one knows in drafts.
Yeah, this is different. Good pick. Great pick. Great way to kick us off. Yeah, Dave.
All right. So this one, this list, I mean, we would get just destroyed in the comments
if we had this entire conversation and a Corvette was not on that list. So not only is this,
I'm picking this specific generation of Corvette because it's my favorite, but
I also want it to serve as sort of a proxy for every generation of Corvette has been
incredibly meaningful and impactful on the car industry. They all are like dollar for dollar.
You're not going to find more fun at a better price and better performance.
Every single generation that it's out, maybe like there's some argument like late C3 is like
getting a little old, but like they're all incredible. I love them all, but my favorite
is the C3. So that's the obviously the third generation. This is coming out in the late 60s.
To me, that's like the, that's where like the curves of the car are just seductive, right?
It's like that's a three dimensional car of like just sexy hips and lines and
it is the adult film star.
What's nice is that kind of no matter your budget, you can get a decent one for starting at 30 grand.
They're also super rare editions that will take you well.
No matter your budget, but starting at 30 grand.
If you're considering a classic car, 30 grand is approachable.
That's less than I thought you were going to say and you're going to get your money.
They retain their value. The, you know, the community behind them is incredible.
And then you can spend hundreds of thousands or over a million on them.
If you want the super rare engines, but, and then like they have T tops, there's convertible.
Some of them have side pipes. I personally, I like the, like the very early versions of the C3.
C3 was around forever. I think that went into the 80s and sort of had some,
had some issue, if he years later in the years, they have gas crisis area.
Yeah. And like the emissions sort of really hampered the performance of them in the 70s
a little bit, but all in all, just a delightful car. I will own one. They are on my bucket list.
And like I said, 30 grand, not totally on a table, unattainable.
You know what I like about the Corvette? What's that?
I like that it's the nine time GT class Le Mans winning Corvette.
But there's that consistency there, right? It's always, it's always been this attainable
super car, but also has all the street cred and racing cred to back it up.
I always like the Corvette 31 button. I was like the Corvette astronaut connection.
Like that was the car they gave the astronauts. There was a local dealer who like, yeah,
there's a marketing idea. Yeah. Because who's cooler than an astronaut?
Not many. No one is cooler. You know? Yeah.
And then they were all cruising around Florida.
The three stingrays on the beach, on the Daytona beach.
Yeah. Very cool. That was a brilliant marketing move.
Cool choice. I love that so much.
Marca. All right, Natalie.
My turn. Okay. Your turn.
So I'm going in a.
BMWs were not made.
But it's the ultimate driving machine. No.
I didn't even consider it. Although this is, this first one is a German sounding name.
Dusenberg. Oh, wow.
Yeah. So first, first of all, very like legend has it that this is the source of the phrase.
It's a doozy. Yeah.
According to, according to Miriam Webster, that's actually documented usage before the car came
out, but like four years before. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
That's the American philosophy. Yes.
A particular model or just.
Well, so there were three. There was the A, the X and the J.
But I actually want to talk about the race car that was the first
American international win in motorsport racing.
And it was at Le Mans, but it was at the time it was the French Grand Prix.
And so that was 44 years before the GT40 did it.
Wow. She beat you there. Sorry to do it four years in a row.
No, it did not. But yeah, it was still kicking today.
Yeah. It's at the Simeon Museum.
Actually, it's a sister car. The sister car is at the Simeon Museum.
You can see it. I've seen it. So that was 1921 with Jimmy Murphy driving the Dusenberg race car.
The old Jimmy Murphy. Jimmy Murphy. Yeah.
The German name right there. One hell of a wheel man.
It's a World War I ace bomber pilot as well.
Yeah. But just a couple other cool things about.
So Dusenberg was the first mass produced car with a straight eight.
So that's kind of cool. I miss the era of straight A's.
What was the last mass produced car with a straight eight?
I don't know the answer to that question, but I will try to find out.
They had like straight twelves.
That's a lot of numbers in a row.
And they're gigantic too. They're like seven liters.
Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So that's my choice.
But Dusenberg was like the ultimate in luxury for a long time.
They were up against Bentley's and Bugatti's in the era.
Yep. Yeah. Those are cool.
All right. Wow. Good historical choice.
I feel like we all just learned something.
Yeah. Thanks.
Well, I am going to ruin that.
So I'm also kind of making a Le Mans connection a little bit.
I'm known on this pod as maybe the everyman, the practical.
It's like, if you say, I am choosing then do it.
I am. It would be, it would be inauthentic of me to not choose.
You do you.
The 1984 Chrysler minivan program.
I knew that would come out of which I am choosing the Dodge Caravan.
Yes. Okay. So I don't know if you guys know this.
I'm waiting for the Le Mans.
I really can't see where the dots are going to come out.
It actually did not race at Le Mans.
But Lee Iococca famously portrayed by John Bernthal admirably
in Ford V Ferrari, of which is where I get most of my knowledge of this era.
He was CEO of Chrysler at the time and championed the minivan program
because they had the K car platform.
Talk about platforms.
Yeah. Talk about platform.
What else can we do with this with parts that are sitting around?
And they invented an entire segment.
It became the default American vehicle at the time.
And I have I have a couple of stats.
Chrysler has sold 15 million units.
I think that's since then.
So that's that's a lot of time.
Nine year one.
Through the 80s and 90s, Chrysler controlled more than half of the US minivan market.
So like they were they were the people.
Now Chrysler currently is still essentially only a minivan company at the moment.
So they've stuck to their roots.
Dave, we actually saw the new yesterday.
You know, the the minivan or the Pacifica, right?
Has a new face.
Very key face.
One drove by yesterday.
I didn't know they were out yet, but it drove by.
I saw its profile.
So I missed the face.
Dave, what did you in in in person?
No better.
Dave's not on your fan.
Because the outgoing one, I think it's a very classy.
The Pacifica looks great.
And maybe that mid-cycle refresh.
I thought it also looked great.
I don't know what happened to this.
They took away all that class and it just looks like a Kia.
And they're like, not a good Kia.
Like a very angular, digital, not classy.
Nope.
Well, we'll see what it does.
So didn't do it for me.
In the beginning, I mentioned my picks were were important rather than a seminal vehicle.
Yeah.
So I I I skewed important rather than like exciting.
Yeah.
That needed to be on the flip.
Yeah.
I'm done.
I'm just going to leave.
All of our childhoods have minivan.
Yeah.
Dodge caravan was a big part of my probably right.
A friend, even if your own family.
My aunt had a dodge caravan.
I think it was it was either green or purple.
I can't remember.
But it was a we were in that car a lot of that van a lot.
So you're very much a minivan.
Matt, my question is, does that count as a limon connection?
Absolutely.
Honestly, now I want, I want like the Ford versus Ferrari follow up.
Yeah.
The Lee Iacocas.
Where Lee goes over and Bernthal reprising his role.
And just you just getting people amped up about the minivan program.
Also, I mean, talk about this is going to change everything.
I mean, the man created one of the, I don't know if it's going to come up.
Do we have a Mustang on this list?
Because I had coke.
It can't be brought up without talking about the Mustang.
I will.
I will say, I also said, you know, before we started rolling, a surprise for me was that
the Mustang did not come up when they went out.
It would have been on my list if we had a few more cars.
I just, there's other others I wanted to get to.
I have one that's very personal.
Yeah.
Probably doesn't need to be on the list, but I probably would have done much.
I think maybe we all assumed someone else would pick it.
I think that's what happened.
Like I was like, why bother?
I'm super late getting me.
Each person that sent in their list, I was like, huh, still not a Mustang yet.
So we love Mustangs.
We acknowledge their contribution to history.
Don't get upset.
We all made too many assumptions that everyone is going to choose it.
And then nobody chose it.
I have something related.
Yeah.
Sure.
Okay.
Well, the minivan again, rain supreme.
Love it.
Matt, you're up again.
I almost want to pick the Mustang because the car that I want to highlight here,
I am highlighting based on what I consider it's, it's tied to an American zeitgeist.
1957.
Well, I know where you're going with this.
The war is over.
Yep.
We've moved to the suburbs.
Babies are booming.
We are exceeding.
You know, you know what the great, the great vacation is?
A road trip.
Road trip.
Oh, we love a road trip here.
You've got a 364 cubic inch V8 pulling 18
feet of chrome behind you through the Utah desert.
Wow.
Zion.
Wow.
He's taking me somewhere.
He's just hanging out the window.
And you're saying.
He's writing right now.
This is the greatest country on earth.
Wow.
How could it not be when that is out the window of my Buick roadmaster?
Look at that.
It, obviously there were other station wagons of the time.
Ford country, Squire.
Yeah.
Nomad.
Can't think of what the Chevrolet version of it.
I thought about the suburban for a minute.
I've been around since the thirties.
The roadmaster name actually had also been around since the thirties.
He came back in the nineties.
There was a road mass house near my first apartment in Boston that had two
roadmaster station wagons, one on the street, one in the driveway.
And I'm convinced it was a donor car just to keep the one on the street.
Yeah.
It is, it's a vehicle that, that I think it really defined like what life in the
United States was like in the middle of the, we're all going to be driving everywhere era.
It was, you know, we, cars became the lifestyle of the country.
And Buicks were pretty, pretty posh at that time.
They were pretty nice.
They have fins.
They were kind of our today, but like they were definitely huge.
To what I love about the roadmaster.
So you've got the portals, the little vents on the hood.
You could tell the size of the engine because if it was a V eight at four,
and if it was a six, it had three.
Really?
I love that.
That's something that's for my dad.
That's cool.
Was, you know, Matt, you mentioned it here.
What year did you say?
Or is there an era?
57, I think it's kind of like the peak of classic roadmaster.
But if I like, if I'm being honest, I cannot look at a 1996 roadmaster and not say,
maybe that's the move.
Those are cool.
You can find those on like bring a trailer.
With the wood paneling.
The reason I asked, I Googled Buick Roadmaster just to see an image of it.
And this 96 one is the one that it defaulted to.
You know who else said maybe that's the move about that?
Nicola Bulgari.
If you go to the collection in Allentown, he has one.
And he has to have it shipped to Italy to drive it at full speed because he's dropped
some kind of like insane motor in it.
Can't drive it legally in the US.
That's, that's a wild story.
He's a huge American like fifties collector.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Incredible.
That's cool.
I thought we were going to say Chevy Bel Air, which is 57 is like that's the iconic
like drive in, you know, diner kind of car.
But they, I mean, they're platform mates.
Look at them.
And they look, they, you know, the sheet metal as a resemblance to one another.
But yeah, good choice.
Thank you.
Yeah.
All right.
Cool.
Hey, we're, we're batting a thousand here.
We're batting a thousand.
Let's keep it going, Dave.
I'm going to take the Mustangs off-road cousin Ford Bronco.
But not the new ones.
New ones are great.
They're cool.
But I'm saying in terms of like impactful, kind of iconic, fairly unique, because like
the Chevy didn't really have one.
I mean, I know there's the Jeeps of the time, but the, they were sort of different beasts
later.
So I'm thinking like first gen Broncos.
Like 70s.
60s to 70s.
60s, 70s.
So like the Ford, we had lasers.
No, no, no.
Yeah.
Not that one.
Not that one.
Yeah.
They're just, I mean, think they're, the demand for them today speaks to how impactful
they were.
They're expensive.
My gosh, they are expensive.
More than 30?
Well, well, yeah.
I mean, so there's like the sort of the more original versions are, you know, anywhere
from like 50 to 100 grand that have been like slightly restored.
And then guys are taking them and dropping Coyote five liter V8s in them and like a six
speed transmission.
And those are going and like redoing the interior.
So it's like a total wreck.
It's like not even that car anymore.
Oh no.
And there's a, those will sell for like 170 grand, like all day.
Do you watch shrinking takes place in the town of Pasadena?
He's got a very pristine old school Bronco.
Yes.
I watched the first season that I remember watching it be like, oh, okay.
So he's a rich character.
He's like doing quite well for himself because that's like a very pure version of the Bronco
that like most don't look like that anymore because guys have modified them.
But yeah, those, there's, there is a demand for, you know, purists who are like, that's
what they would want.
And that's, that's a, I mean, he's never shown it with a roof.
Well, they made a truck version and they made, yeah, we don't know.
Yeah.
Have you heard of it?
Pasadena.
Pasadena.
Lovely place.
I'm gonna spend some time there.
But yeah, the Bronco, it's just, it, it was all the things highly capable.
My parents had one back when they were cheap, you know, and had a lot of rust issues.
I think the, to the point where like the bolts that held down the rear seat somehow rusted.
And so then the rear seat, if there were people sitting in it, it would just slide back and
forth.
If the car, his car just started driving.
Like adaptive suspension.
Yeah, yeah.
It's for weight balancing.
Yeah.
Yes.
Right.
Yeah.
You need more traction.
But yeah, I think it's just such a cool car.
Iconic to this day.
Very cool.
Big fan.
Cool.
Yeah.
Good choice.
Yeah.
Natalie, you are, you're next on the list.
I still think we're about 1000.
I'm about to learn something.
I feel like I'm about to learn.
Cool car histories that I didn't know.
I think you know, you probably know everything that I'm about to say and feel free to chime in.
So, and actually, maybe I should have, maybe we should have an argument about this,
but I'm going, I'm going Shelby Cobra.
And now the reason I'm thinking like, should,
should this be up for debate is because like AC Cobra was British, but Shelby Cobra is.
I think that's American.
So, AC Cobra with an American heart.
Yeah.
What he did to it was so American of taking this like small, lightweight thing and being like,
screw that.
I'm putting power.
289 or what a 347.
You're going to talk to a 428.
428.
That's right.
289 or 428 or let's look this up before we.
All right.
So we, we like this choice.
We like, we're happy with this choice.
Okay.
So we're not going to have to argue about it.
Let's start there.
Shelby is in the name.
And this is what I was saying.
I said I have something that's kind of connected to the Mustang.
Like Carol Shelby's.
My mistake.
Obviously got the big connection to Mustang.
Like this got him a lot of leverage with Ford and brought him into their program.
So yes, the Shelby Cobra, a couple of things.
You might see Shelby Cobra's at car shows like all summer.
They're almost in various.
I've driven a real.
You have.
Doing a story at the LA times.
There was one coming up for auction at RM Sotheby's.
For some reason they saw fit to let me drive it.
Such a pure experience.
Cause the 427, it gets a little, what's the word?
Not cartoonish, but like it's a lot.
It's like very theatrical in like a almost excessive way.
Whereas like the 289 seemed a little more kind of natural.
It was very, very powerful, super fun.
But like connection to the road.
You weren't worried that if you looked at it wrong,
it was going to break your back the way the 427 is like, oh, that's a lot of car.
289 was just, oh yeah, that was a delightful experience.
What did that one then sell for?
I could look it up.
I mean, those are not cheap, but like around a million.
Oh no, I don't think it was that much.
No. Okay.
So I'm just looking at like recent bring a trailer results are like 925.
For a 427 or a 289.
Yeah, this is the 289 sold for 925 and 2022.
Yeah.
Okay.
Cario Shelby's personal Cobras has sold for 5.1 and then 5.5.
And so here's a 0 dollars.
Here's a fun story about that.
When he was doing the press tour,
he would paint the car different colors to make it look like they had a bunch of them.
And so when that first one went up for auction and was being restored,
there was a question about like, what is the original color?
Like, what's the right choice for this car?
Which photo came first?
So this is the article.
This is back in 2012.
Are you looking up your own article?
I'm Googling my own name.
Paywall.
Paywall.
I look behind it.
It's a true name.
Hey, Dave's worth it.
Well, if you think card enough, I'm sure you can remember.
The pre-sale estimate was like six or 700 grand.
Okay.
This is 2012, you said?
2012.
Okay.
Yep.
Okay.
It was a Mark II, 271 horsepower, 312 pound-feet of torque,
which doesn't sound like a lot, but that car weighs as much as this table.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, I could probably pick it up.
Even if my kid wasn't underneath it, I could probably pick it up.
Yeah.
It was just a joy to drive, just very honest.
And so, let's talk real quick, then, about the Cobra's racing history,
and then Simeon Museum has the Cobra Daytona Coupe,
so that's another Ferrari beater.
Sorry, a real one?
Yeah.
Simeon Museum is all racing.
Aren't they like, I think there's only like five of those left.
And doesn't one of the Walton, who's the Walton heir, the Walmart guy,
is Bill Walton, his big car guy, races one of those.
Now, Bill Walton is a basketball player.
No, there's a Walton.
What about the TV Walton?
He died.
You guys are, you know what?
I'm a smartphone, big, grateful dad fan.
Anyway, Natalie, because you will appreciate this.
There are only five of them.
They're worth, I don't, I mean, tens and tens of millions of dollars.
I'm amazed that they have one.
They have one.
Yeah.
That is incredible.
Yeah.
And it's next to the Ferrari that, like, there's, yeah.
One of the Walton's raced one and then crashed it.
And when you've got Walton, you know, Walmart money,
you can just go and have somebody restore it
to its pristine condition.
Well, like how I did not know that.
Yeah.
Let's look that up.
Yep.
Wild.
But that is an incredible car.
Yeah.
And consider performance wise, just, yeah.
Yeah.
It's just such a high watermark.
And it's really interesting to see them next to each other
and see like one is so rough and clearly like riveted together.
And then the other one's like, this is machined shaped metal
and like a nice body.
So it's like the scrappy version, the winning version.
Rob Walton.
There we go.
Yeah.
I was going to say.
Rob Walton crashes rare, multi-million dollars.
65 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe, one of six ever built
at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports reunion.
Oh, God.
What a mistake.
That's like a lot for everyone else to have to see too.
So my pick, look at any list of most important American cars
that's going to be on there might be number one,
might be number two.
It's from way back.
I've actually never driven one.
Natalie, you probably have.
It's the Model T, the Ford Model T.
How do you say no?
How do you say no?
You can't say no.
Have you seen one?
Has anyone touched one, seen one, been in one?
Have you sat in one or driven one?
Yeah.
You can sit in one at the Heritage Museum.
You can.
What's fascinating about this car to me is they made.
You've driven one like powered?
Like I've sat in one.
I haven't driven one.
They're so old that it's not like driving a normal car.
They're like pulling stuff, you're slipping stuff.
And there's like levers and things.
They made so many of these things.
And yet I feel like they are not in every car museum in the world.
Yeah.
Like what happened to us?
We're not sexy.
Well, and I think that what happened is like they got purchased by regular people,
which are driven all the time.
And I mean, there's still a big enthusiast.
Yeah.
Community around these of guys who drive.
They put straight 12s in them and take them down.
So I've never, I've never been in a Model T.
So I have some facts and figures.
So the cheap, it looks like it launched at around $850 in that in that day's money.
Not sure what it was, but the lowest it ever got in 1924,
it was sold for as low as $260.
So it actually got cheaper as the assembly line,
mass industrialization kicked off.
And 260 in 1924 is just over $5,000 today.
Wow.
So that's pretty cool.
New car.
A new car.
That's insane.
It put America on wheels.
It transformed production.
It reshaped American cities.
It brought people to the suburbs for better or worse.
I guess we'll see.
15 million, the car I mentioned before,
the Chrysler Minivan sold 15 million since they started.
The Model T between 08 and 27, 15 million sales in that,
like what is that, 20 years, 19 years?
It did have a very long run.
Like that, I feel like that's one of the testaments of the vehicle.
19 year run.
At its peak, roughly half of all the cars in the world were Model T's.
Wow.
This is my point though.
That's such a cool fact.
Chevrolet has made less than 2 million Corvettes in 70 years.
And yet if you go to, like literally anywhere,
you can find half a dozen Corvettes.
That's crazy when you look at it that way.
And then Ford made 800% more, like so many more Model T's.
And they are relatively rare.
And I think that's because it was the car of everyone.
It was just the working man's vehicle.
No one was thinking we should preserve this.
It also held the title of the world's best selling automobile for nearly half a century.
So Ford had the Model T and then they went to the F series
and they've just had a couple really well selling vehicles.
This is also part of why, because you said reshaped American cities,
part of why we wound up sticking to gas power when there was electric and steam.
And I mean, not for nothing, but electric was like cleaner and better.
And yes, the Bailey, like women could drive it.
You didn't have to crank it and risk breaking your arm to start the thing.
There's an ultimate universe where we stayed with electric cars and never went to gas.
Because if you think about it, what would you rather have?
You're sitting on an exploding fuel tank of liquid energy
or this like thing where it's like you got a battery and you charge it up.
Let's talk a little more about what makes America America.
You're covering up your clothes so they don't get like stinky from the fumes.
Yeah, like it's kind of amazing.
You have a special costume for that.
Right, right.
Yeah, it's kind of goofy.
We went down this path.
I'm thinking about the range of electric car we've been making them for 100 years.
Yeah, yeah.
It'd be insane.
Do you think we should bring back driving goggles?
I mean, for what purpose we have windshields?
Well, maybe that's the problem.
Hell yeah.
Really?
So that's the model T.
I'd like to drive one someday if we can find one.
A must include.
Yeah.
You can't have a list like this.
My list was I looked at as most important and there's arguably no car more important
than the model T, at least to America.
Well, historically, but I might make the argument with my pick that today the most
important car is the F-150.
That's where I'd go.
Honestly, it is, I mean, it's the best.
Are you picking an era though?
I mean, I know in general what you mean, but what do you like?
That's sigh.
Well, if I were to pick the F-Series, I really like the F-100.
I feel like that was like when Ford established the working man's pickup truck.
But I said F-150 because they don't make the F-100 anymore.
When did the F-150 start?
That's a great question.
Come on, Elliott, we don't know.
No, I know that because the F-150 was potentially one of my choices.
1975.
Google says 75.
Yeah, 75.
Position between the lighter duty F-100 and the heavier F-250.
I would counter your question by saying that the F-150's inclusion is largely based on the
fact that you don't have to pick an era.
It has endured.
It's 40 plus years of sales leadership.
He thinks he has.
He thinks he, at one point in his career, he was paid to do that.
It truly is.
It's the working man's car.
I, when I was thinking about it, I thought about it as, you know, kind of synonymous with
productivity and I feel like America is obsessed with the idea of productivity.
And whether it is, you know, on a building site or a farm or, frankly, today, like white-collar
job office park, you're going to find F-150's.
Parking lots are full of them.
Just like the Model T over, you know, 100 plus years ago, I don't think you can talk about
the most important or significant or greatest American cars without including the F-150.
Yeah.
It's a great pick.
Thanks, Sands.
Great pick.
There we go.
Mine's going to make no sense.
Okay.
Deeply personal and highly subjective.
Love it.
Can't wait.
Let's tell stories.
What is it?
It's a 1995 Buick Le Sabre.
Two Buicks.
And when we, when we turn this into a written article, we'll be dropping that in favor of the
Ford Mustang.
You will not.
You'll do no such thing.
And here's why.
So we, you know, growing up, we had, you know, we were a normal middle-class family that had the
worst luck.
We never bought new cars and we always bought used ones that seemed to implode one way or
the other.
We also lived on a dirt road in upstate New York.
So we beat the snot out of cars.
It was not a friendly environment for them.
A lot of rust issues or just random reliability issues.
And then my grandfather, who also lived in upstate New York, bought a 95 Buick Le Sabre.
Unfortunately, about a year later, he had a stroke.
He was not able to drive anymore.
And at that time, my dad, his son, needed a new car because he was commuting quite a bit.
So he's like, all right, Dad, I'm going to buy your car from you.
Buys this Buick.
And in the context of us getting new cars or not new cars, used cars somewhat regularly
because they just kept being a nightmare.
Dad had this car for, I think 10 years, put almost 200,000 miles on it.
We hit eight deer with this one car.
And it kept kicking.
One of them, it was on the highway.
Our whole family was sound asleep.
It was at night.
We were coming back from, I was a rower in high school and college.
Come back from a race.
Everyone's asleep.
The deer apparently jumped and like wasn't even touching the ground.
And Dad's doing, you know, 70 on the, on the highway hit the deer midair.
And I'm surprised the car wasn't totaled.
I mean, there was like caught it on the fly.
And the crazy thing is that the state trooper who responded to the crash,
pulled my dad aside and was like, do you want the deer?
That's wild.
Because that is upstate New York.
It was fun.
It was a good season.
And it doesn't count towards your quota if you hit the deer with your car.
And so the state trooper, I think, took it home in the back of his car.
Oh, man.
But anyway, this car was comfortable, big old, or I don't know if it was a big old
six cylinder.
You could sit three across in the front, three across in the back.
I love that.
I love a front row.
So we have a whole family.
Everyone in it, super comfortable.
And yeah, we built, you know, Dad drove it forever.
And that car just has a special place in my heart is like the most reliable thing we ever
owned. And we had it accidentally.
And everyone in our family hit deer with it.
And it survived all of those winters and dirt roads.
And it was fantastic.
So we're talking about a LeBaron right now.
Le Sabre.
Le Sabre.
Le Baron.
Le Baron people there.
I think this is a big disconnect.
I'm sitting over here being like, that doesn't make sense.
What is he talking about?
No, you have a Le Sabre.
200,000 miles of Christ.
It was delightful.
It was a big squishy comfortable car.
I took it to college for a while.
Yeah, that car lived a life.
Big fan.
Not a Le Baron.
Matt, it's not a Le Baron.
It's been a week.
It's been a week.
I've already picked my three cars.
I'm just waiting for what's in your driveway.
Matt has checked out.
No, I would never check out.
That being said, Natalie, it is your time to check in.
Okay.
So now I'm thinking it was too focused or somehow wound up with all my choices being
like motorsport inspired.
But when I was thinking best, I guess I just went to winningest.
You do you.
What's more American than NASCAR?
Yeah.
I mean, you're talking my language.
Right.
So Plymouth Superbird.
The huge wing, the huge wing version of the road runner with the nose cone and the giant wing.
How long was that car?
I feel like the nose cone.
It's like built for Talladega.
That's cool.
Yeah.
So a couple interesting things about this.
I did not know this, but when I was researching it,
I found out the Aero package, it seems like Dodge might have been one of the first American car
companies using wind tunnel data to develop an Aero package, which I had no idea, but,
and haven't verified that with like many, many sources, but I thought it was really cool.
This was such a winning car that NASCAR had to change the rules because it was so dominant.
I don't know when that happens.
They're like, okay, you win everything.
This is getting boring.
Come on guys.
We're going to shake up the regulations a little bit.
And it was the car that Plymouth used to bring Richard Petty back to the team.
The Richard Petty Superbird, that shade of blue.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Immortalized in the cars, the Disney Pixar Cars universe.
Coming back to the theaters.
Strip Weathers, the king.
Yeah.
Strip Weathers.
Strip Weathers.
Have you seen the Stephen A. Smith talking about strip letters?
What an incredible clip.
You know he has either kids or grandkids.
Yeah.
But yeah, I googled that picture and I was like, I know that from somewhere.
Yeah.
It's the king.
Dynacos.
Dynacos, the king.
They're also not cheap.
I'm looking, here's like, seven are for sale.
They're all 200 to $350,000.
What are we seeing the road runner for?
Is that, that must be.
That's a name.
So when we lost Plymouth, like Plymouth is whatever.
You know, well, I shouldn't say that.
The first manual, the first manual transmission car.
Very dismissive.
Very Voyager.
But modern day Plymouth, you know, 90s, 2000 Plymouth.
It's not like they were light in the world of fire.
But by getting rid of Plymouth, we also got rid of any chance of them
bringing back that name.
And that's a shame.
Cause like.
Road runner is a good one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like there are versions.
There are a variety of road runners out there.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, you know, between 50 and, I mean, depending on the year and
state of them, you know, a hundred grand.
Yeah.
So kind of muscle car territory.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah.
Where it's like super, god, super birds.
I would have loved to have seen a super bird for the first time in 1970.
Oh my gosh.
Because I feel like we're viewing these through our eyes today.
And it's like, oh, that's cool.
Big wing, nose cone, the whole thing.
But like, I feel like in 1970, you see this thing, you're like,
Oh, what am I looking at here?
I would have.
Yeah.
That context would have been a cool viewing.
Yeah.
That's fair.
Yeah.
Cause talk about front and overhang.
Look at the, my goodness.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
They had to take the nose cones off to sell them.
I think nobody wanted.
Yeah.
It's like not usable.
Yeah.
You can't drive around public roads.
Cars were already huge then.
That seems to get in the way of a lot of cooling.
Yeah, dealers were like taking all the extra stuff.
For a while to your car burns.
Yeah, for a while.
Yeah, that's a good choice.
The Natalie of all people is the one to bring up NASCAR.
Like we were, we were sitting on the roof just the other day,
and you guys were poo-poo and NASCAR.
I just, yeah, I don't know.
I don't, I don't know why.
Way to help her.
More of a formula one, yeah.
We weren't poo-pooing it.
Yeah.
I just don't watch it.
Cause I don't really know that much about it.
Well, I've got good news.
You only have to watch one race.
And they'll, there's enough time that the announcers
will tell you everything you need to know.
And as they head into their next left turn.
Still going fast.
Informing about scoring.
Are we going to have to cut this part?
This is the America 250 episode.
So for the final, I wish this wasn't the final pick.
It might be, it might be controversial, but again,
my frame was important.
The Chrysler PT.
Chrysler.
Actually, I, no, I actually hate the PTR.
It was an impactful car.
But, but we did say best of all time.
We, we, we dabbled with my previous,
when I mentioned the Model T about electrification.
And the car I'm bringing is arguably the most,
the, the American car that most brought EVs to the,
to the forefront.
And it's, it's Tesla, you know,
whatever your opinion on, on the maker.
It's loaded with.
It's loaded.
It's a loaded choice.
However, you cannot debate its importance.
Oh my God.
I mean, some people argue it's the most important car
of the 21st century.
Model S.
I am going with the Model 3.
Model 3.
Because that is the one that was truly for everybody.
It was kind of the Model T of Tesla.
So Model S was 2012.
I'm looking at the 2018 Model 3,
which was when it really took off and really blew up.
I shouldn't say blew up.
That's really fair.
I remember somebody I worked with previously being like,
can you believe that guy bought a Tesla?
And I was like, I mean, it's a Model 3.
And she was like, wait, there are affordable Teslas now?
Like it was such a, like a rich person car until then.
Yeah. So I, you know, I have a couple of notes that it's,
it proved that EVs could compete directly with ICE cars,
both on speed and practicality.
The Model 3, you're talking about specifically here.
Yeah. The Model 3.
Over the air software updates became normalized with Tesla.
That's huge.
Which that's a big shift.
And it was the best selling vehicle globally,
the entire earth in 2023.
I don't think that's true anymore.
They've lost that, but yeah.
But that's a, a big deal.
And it came from America, undebatably American,
and hugely important.
Yeah. And influential.
Yeah. That's what I was looking for.
Thank you.
It's an important pick.
Yeah. Regardless of how one feels about, for sure.
All of the other things around it.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's kind of the American story.
Love it or hate it, it matters.
It's a big deal.
It changed a lot of things.
A loaded choice, but a, but an important choice.
Yeah. Good, good pick.
Okay. Those are, that's our list.
I think we put together a really good list.
You put the Model 3 on, but not the Ford Mustang.
Explain why earlier.
How many of our choices were Ford's though?
Like a good number of Ford's.
And there were more.
Like there were so many, I looked at like the Thunderbird.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know what I will do to wrap this section up?
I'll just read through what we chose.
How about that?
Go for it.
Perfect.
Okay. I'm not going to, I'm just going to do it in order as,
as how I wrote it.
Not the order we did it.
The 1984 Chrysler Mini Vans, Dodge Caravan specifically.
The Tesla Model 3, the Ford Model T.
Matt brought the Ford F-150, the GT40, and the Buick Roadmaster.
A lot of Ford's.
Yeah. Three so far.
Natalie brought the, is it Duesenberg or Duesenberg?
The doozy.
I want to say Duesen because I'm thinking Duesen.
Yeah, that's right.
Duesenberg.
The Model J, the Shelby Cobra, and the Plymouth Superbird.
And then Dave brought the early C3 Corvette,
the Ford Bronco, early ones.
And then the 95 Buick Le Sabre.
Not the Le Baron.
Two Buicks.
Two Buicks.
Two Buicks.
Who did it thought?
So that's.
Four Fords.
Yeah.
That's a good list of.
Yeah.
That's a good list of vehicles throughout history,
but not history in the past, history right now.
What is in our driveway right now?
What are we driving today as automotive professionals?
Who wants to go first?
Who's feeling?
Natalie, take it away.
Feeling good.
I don't have a car this late.
Natalie is the one that we don't have.
Well, let me check that one off.
Cool.
All right.
That's why I was shaking my head.
Yeah, Dave.
That's why I was indicating don't pick me.
Dave, you are going to go now.
Uh, something definitely not American.
Uh, the Polestar 4.
So that's, this is Volvo's all-electric sister company.
Yeah.
Owned by Chinese ownership, you know, historically Swedish.
Polestar 4 is this like four-door coop,
hatchback, sedan, light crossover kind of thing.
Actually really liked it.
Yeah.
I have not been a fan of the Polestar 2 yet and like,
I never drove the 3.
And for those wondering, yes, there's a Polestar 1 there.
The nomenclature is just the order in which they come out.
So there's no like.
Okay.
I know they just came out of the Polestar 5.
It's not like the iPhone.
It's not like the different.
I'm going to trade in my 2 for the 4.
It is like an iPhone.
No, no, no.
But it's the order in which they come out.
Yeah.
But they're also like different form factors.
It's not like the 4s.
There's a better analogy that can be made.
Anyway, he's a pixel user.
He doesn't bring up iPhones.
It's our, that's our domain.
He does have an iPad though.
I do.
You do.
All right.
You know what?
We're diverging.
We don't need to dive in on that right now.
I barely use it.
I don't even know how to use a lot of parts on it.
Oh man.
Parts.
Polestar 4.
Polestar 4.
I actually really liked it.
I think they did a good job improving the infotainment system I have never liked.
And they seem to have been doing these incremental improvements.
So that was great.
Very unique styling, right?
Like it, if you want maybe a BMW i4 or the Tesla Model 3,
but you want something different that not everyone's going to have,
this is it.
It has all kinds of power.
Yeah.
You can get it into wheel drive or all wheel drive.
Quiet, comfortable.
Good looking car.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good looking.
The only thing is it doesn't have a rear window.
That's the thing.
Now they claim there's no point.
They couldn't have fit it in.
It would have been usable.
I think it's a little bit of a gimmick because if you look at it,
you're like, you could have put one here.
So you're forced to rely on the rear view camera.
That takes a little getting used to, but you adapt quickly.
So yeah, I liked it.
It was a cool car.
It's a little Jurassic Park.
You wondered, you thought so much about whether or not you could,
not enough about whether you should.
It's like, congratulations.
You got this past our safety standards.
Yeah.
It was like in the concepts.
And then someone was too beholden to it.
Yeah.
I always had an editor who was like,
you write your story and then go back and take out your favorite parts.
Oh, I hate that.
They're probably excessive.
You probably don't need them.
You're just wed to them.
Wow.
And I feel like maybe that kind of happened with the designer standpoint.
No one took it out, but maybe they should have just put a normal glass one in.
I understand that sentiment.
And sometimes it's good practice.
I hate when people get beholden to that though.
It's good advice from a writing standpoint.
But sometimes you just do end up taking out the best part.
Yeah, but other people don't think it's the best part.
That's the whole point.
Yeah.
This is where you and I differ.
Everyone knows.
Oh, just there.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
What I'm about to say is the best part.
Don't cut this out.
Yeah.
I have the Hyundai Ioniq 9.
Yeah, you do.
I can tell you what the not best part about it this car is.
It's how it looks.
It's ridiculous.
It's not ridiculous.
I don't hate it.
Highly subjective.
Yes, it is highly subjective.
That said.
Sparks are flying in here though.
Well, I've come to a reckoning.
I don't particularly like how this car looks.
And that has impacted my ability to assess it overall.
And if I take away my bias, I can objectively say that
unless you're looking at like Rivian money.
The Ioniq 9 is the very best 3-row electric SUV to live with.
It is a phenomenal family vehicle.
It just looks disjointed.
So I don't know.
Take a peek.
Let us know in the comments.
Tell Dave he's wrong.
Very well executed.
I'll double click there.
I initially, we shot a full review of that months ago.
Maybe beginning of the year.
And I didn't love the way it looked.
I kind of don't mind the front.
The rear is where it kind of starts looking weird for me.
But I have, I've had it for a little bit this week.
So it's also kind of what's been in my driveway.
It is, it is, it's huge.
There's no cohesion.
Oh, sorry.
It's huge.
But it still feels super fast.
Like there's still so much power.
You can very easily get that like pushing your seat
feeling from this car.
And you wouldn't expect from something that big
for it to feel that way.
I will say we do have the calligraphy and it's almost 80 grand.
So that's some of that is probably the all wheel drive
dual motor setup of it.
80 grand isn't buying you more leg room.
It's not buying you more cargo space.
The interior is phenomenal.
It's cavernous.
It's like there's so much space.
It's a, it's a, it's a really good livable vehicle.
Yeah.
Really like it.
All right.
That's been what's in our driveway.
And that's also been the episode.
There we go.
We have reached the end.
I want to say this has been the episode.
Happy birthday to the United States.
Happy birthday America.
And you just play us out.
Everybody have a great weekend.
Have a happy 4th of July.
And we hope you come back next time.
Thanks guys.
Bye.
you
About this episode
Celebrate America's birthday with hosts Natalie, Dave, and Matt as they debate the greatest and most iconic American cars of all time. The team dives into the legendary Ford GT40 and its historic triumph over Ferrari at Le Mans, the timeless appeal and astronaut connection of the third-generation Chevrolet Corvette, and the ultra-luxurious Duesenberg. It is a fun, opinionated trip through American automotive history, exploring what makes these vehicles cultural touchstones rather than just machines.
24 Hours of Le Mans
Carroll Shelby
Chrysler K platform
Jeep
Ken Miles
Lee Iacocca
mini van
over-the-air software updates
Richard Petty
side pipes
Ac Cobra MkIII
BMW i4
Buick LeSabre
Buick Roadmaster
Chevrolet Bel Air
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Suburban
Chrysler Pacifica
Chrysler PT Cruiser
Dodge Caravan
Dodge Road Runner
Ford Bronco
Ford Country Squire
Ford F 100
Ford F-150
Ford GT40
Ford Model A
Ford Model T
Ford Mustang
Ford Thunderbird
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai Ioniq 9
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Jeep Wrangler
Mercury Monterey
Plymouth Superbird
Plymouth Voyager
Polestar 1
Polestar 2
Polestar 4
Shelby Cobra
Shelby Daytona Coupe
Tesla Model 3
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model Y
Original notes
Happy 250th birthday America! In this episode, we look back at our most important, most crucial, and BEST American cars of all time. Did we miss your favorite? Let us know, we've got over a century of cars, we can't talk about them all!!
The Driveway
CarGurus
0:00
51:30