Coilovers are suspension parts that let you adjust how high or low the car sits. People use them to improve handling and to get a more aggressive stance.
Saibon is a company that makes aftermarket car parts. The host is saying they’ve recently started carrying their stuff, but they don’t detail the exact part in this clip.
Car
Volkswagen GLI
The Volkswagen GLI is a sportier Golf with a turbo engine. It’s popular with car modders, so there are lots of parts and tuning options available.
The Volkswagen Golf is a compact car. The GLI is a more performance-focused version of the Golf. The episode mentions carbon fiber, likely referring to upgrades or parts that can be added to a GLI.
Brand
CTS
CTS here sounds like a company that makes car parts. The episode doesn’t say exactly what CTS stands for or which parts they’re bringing, so it’s best to treat it as a parts brand mentioned in passing.
Brand
034034
034034 is a brand name the hosts are talking about adding to their site. They don’t explain what parts it makes in this short segment, just that it’s coming soon.
JDM means “Japanese Domestic Market.” It’s a term people use for cars and parts that come from Japan, and for the style of modding that’s popular in that scene.
Term
weather contingent
They’re saying the car feels different depending on the weather. Things like hot/cold air and humidity can change how the engine runs, so it can feel better on some days than others.
A “time capsule” car is one that feels like it’s from the past and hasn’t lost that original look and vibe. The host is basically saying the car feels like a preserved piece of that older era.
The Porsche 911 is Porsche’s famous classic sports car. In this segment, the host is saying that the 911 is the more expensive, more sought-after version, and the 912 is the cheaper alternative. So the 911 is the benchmark for what people want from that era.
The Porsche 912 is an older Porsche sports car. It’s related to the 911, but it’s considered a different model with its own identity. The episode mentions it while talking about how these cars are collected and priced.
EPA is the U.S. agency that tests and reports things like a car’s fuel economy and emissions. The host is saying they just finished talking about those official test results.
The Mazda RX-7 is a sports car known for its unusual rotary engine. In this clip, the host is basically saying it can give you a similar vintage-cool vibe to an older Porsche, but it’s powered differently.
A rotary engine is a different type of engine than the normal piston design. Instead of pistons going up and down, it uses a spinning part, which is a big part of what makes some Mazda sports cars special.
“Slow car summer” is basically a challenge to enjoy driving a less-fast car. Instead of chasing attention online for the newest, quickest stuff, you take time to enjoy the car you have and the moment you’re driving.
Horsepower is a number that describes how much power a car’s engine can produce. Higher horsepower usually means the engine can push harder, but it doesn’t tell the whole story about how fast or how fun a car is.
The Cadillac Fleetwood is a big luxury car made by Cadillac. It’s designed more for comfort than for sporty performance. The episode brings it up as a familiar luxury car name.
“Stock and factory” means the car hasn’t been heavily modified. It’s basically how it came from the factory, so it tends to feel more original and consistent.
A Bluetooth transmitter is a gadget that lets your phone send music wirelessly to your car’s stereo. It’s useful when the car stereo is older and doesn’t have Bluetooth built in.
They’re talking about a tire-and-wheel setup that looks more chunky and squared-off. “15 inch” means the wheel is 15 inches across, which changes how the car looks and how the ride feels.
“Stock steering” means the steering is still the original factory setup. People like it because it keeps the car driving the way it was designed, and it can make the car easier to sell later.
Power windows are windows you move with a button instead of turning a hand crank. In older cars, having them can be a sign of a higher trim or a different version.
Power mirrors let you adjust your side mirrors with a switch, instead of moving them by hand. It’s another feature that can differ depending on the car’s trim.
A hatchback is a car where the back opens like a door that swings up. Here, the person is saying the opening is mainly the rear glass, not a whole separate back panel.
The RX 7 is a Mazda sports car. It’s known for having a special engine design, and here they’re talking about an older (first-gen) one and how the rear hatch/glass area can be a problem if something goes wrong.
Here, “struts” means the support parts that help hold the hatch up. If they’re worn out, the hatch can fall faster than you expect, so you may have to hold it up manually.
On older cars, a choke is a lever you pull to help the engine start in cold weather. It makes the fuel mixture richer so the engine can catch and keep running.
A carburetor is the part that mixes fuel and air before it goes into the engine. When it’s cold, the choke helps send extra fuel so the engine starts and runs.
Modern cars use a computer to control how the engine starts when it’s cold. Older cars often don’t have that help, so you have to do things like choke it yourself.
Lowering springs are springs that make the car sit closer to the ground. That can look better and feel more stable, but it can also make the ride a bit firmer.
Ride height is the distance between the car’s body and the ground. Changing it affects aerodynamics, ground clearance, and suspension geometry, which can influence handling and how easily the car scrapes on driveways or speed bumps.
The coolant level sensor checks whether the engine has enough coolant. If it’s leaking or not reading correctly, the engine can overheat, so it’s something to fix soon.
In wheel talk, “fitment” means whether a wheel and tire combination properly fits a specific car—clearing the suspension/brakes and matching the correct offset and bolt pattern. Good fitment avoids rubbing and helps the wheel sit correctly in the wheel well.
Term
lined grain structure
This is about how the wheel’s material is shaped internally during forging. The host’s point is that the internal structure helps the wheel resist damage when you drive hard.
Autocross is a timed driving event on a course made with cones. It’s hard on tires and wheels because you’re turning quickly and stressing the car a lot in a short time.
A lug socket is the tool you use to tighten the lug nuts that secure your wheel. If you hit the wheel while using it, it can chip the wheel’s paint or finish.
Many wheels have a clear protective coating on top. “Clear fades” means that coating starts to lose its shine or look uneven after lots of heat and use.
Topic
ref tracks
“Ref tracks” sounds like test driving locations where they run the cars hard to see how things hold up. The host is saying the wheels still look good afterward.
This is a classic Mercedes-Benz convertible (a “roadster”) from 1980. The big deal here is that it’s a V8-powered version, which gives it a more exciting feel than smaller engines.
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders. More cylinders usually means smoother power and often stronger acceleration than smaller engines.
Term
R170 generation
“R170” is Mercedes’ internal label for a particular generation of the SL. It helps people know which version it is, since different generations have different parts and layouts.
The Mazda RX-3 is an older Mazda car. It’s known for using a rotary-style engine, which is different from what most cars use. In the episode, it’s mentioned while talking about cars that might be easier to get into and how they compare.
This is a 2013 Mazda 3, a small car that can be a good value. The hosts are saying it’s a turbocharged, more modern choice for around $7,500, and it hasn’t been heavily modified.
The O2 sensor checks the exhaust to help the car burn fuel correctly. If it fails or is reading wrong, the car may run poorly and trigger the check engine light.
The check engine light is a warning that something isn’t right with the car’s engine or emissions system. A mechanic can read the code to see what the problem actually is.
Cutting off the muffler changes the exhaust system, usually making the car louder. It can also cause warning lights if the exhaust/sensor readings end up outside what the car expects.
Torque steer is when a front-wheel-drive car’s steering feels like it wants to pull to one side under acceleration. It happens because the two front wheels don’t always get the same twisting force.
The Acura RSX is a sporty compact coupe from the early 2000s. The Type S is the stronger version of that model. The episode mentions a 2002 RSX Type S as a car that sparked someone’s interest in cars.
Mileage just means how many miles the car has been driven. Here, they’re saying the number is high, but the car still looks well-kept underneath and in the engine area.
The underbody is the bottom of the car. If it looks clean (not rusty or neglected), it usually means the car has been cared for and isn’t hiding serious corrosion.
They’re talking about Facebook Marketplace, where people sell used cars. They’re warning that it’s easy to get misled or overpay if you don’t verify the details.
The Toyota Supra is a sporty Toyota car made for performance and driving fun. People talk about it a lot because it’s known for being quick and exciting. In the episode, it’s mentioned as a comparison point to other Toyota cars.
This is a 1991 Toyota MR2, a small sports car with the engine placed near the middle for better balance. The “turbo” means it uses a turbocharger to make more power, and the T-top roof gives you open-air driving. The host is saying it’s a great deal for the money.
T-top means the roof has removable panels. You can take them out to let in more air and make the car feel more open, like a partial open-top experience.
“Under 15” here means the car is supposed to cost less than $15,000. The host is saying this MR2 fits that budget while still being a fun, desirable setup.
A “second gear grind” is when the car makes a rough/grinding sound when you try to shift into second gear. It usually means something in the transmission or shifting system isn’t working smoothly, so it’s worth checking on a test drive.
The Honda Civic is a small, everyday car made by Honda. It’s often a first car because it’s easy to live with and parts are usually easy to find. In the podcast, it’s referenced as a phase in someone’s driving history.
The rear bumper is the part on the back of the car that takes hits in low-speed accidents and protects the body. They’re saying it shouldn’t be too expensive or hard to replace if you need one.
A “low-ball” is when you offer a seller a price that’s noticeably lower than their asking price. They’re saying if a car is listed at $12,000, the seller probably expects offers closer to $10,000.
This is a sporty Volkswagen hatchback (the Golf R) that’s built for strong acceleration, not just commuting. Here, they’re saying you can find one for around $13,000 even with high miles, as long as the condition is decent and the price is right.
Rust spots are places where the metal has started to corrode. Where the rust is located (like near a door handle) can hint at whether it’s from normal wear or from water getting in after a repair or accident.
This means the car’s engine has been swapped out for a different one. That can be a good thing if it was done properly, but you’ll want to know what engine it was and whether the work was done correctly.
Sometimes rust can show that a car was damaged and repaired before, especially if water got into the area after the repair. The hosts are trying to figure out whether this rust is from normal leaks or from a past crash repair.
A window seal leak means the rubber seal around the window isn’t keeping water out. If water gets in, it can cause rust in the metal underneath over time.
Compression is a way to check how well an engine’s cylinders are sealing. If the numbers are low, it can mean the engine is worn out or has leaks, which matters a lot before buying.
This is a BMW 3 Series wagon from 2000 with the 323i engine. It’s the kind of car enthusiasts like because it’s practical (wagon) but still feels like a driver’s BMW.
“Pre-facelift” just means it’s the earlier version of the model, before BMW made a mid-cycle update. The car can look slightly different and may use different parts than the later version.
The “cluster” is the instrument panel/cluster of gauges behind the steering wheel. An “M3 cluster” typically means swapping in the M3’s gauge layout and sometimes different warning/indicator behavior, which is a common interior upgrade on enthusiast BMWs.
“S chassis” is an enthusiast nickname for a Nissan platform (the 240SX/related cars). It usually means they’re thinking about trading into a Nissan that’s popular for modifying and driving hard.
Car
GTI SE six speed manual
This is a Volkswagen GTI, a sporty “hot hatch.” The SE trim is a nicer equipment level, and the six-speed manual means you shift the gears yourself, which many enthusiasts prefer.
A clutch is what lets you smoothly start and shift gears. A “stage two” clutch is a stronger, upgraded version, and “daily” suggests it’s meant to feel reasonable for everyday driving.
EQT is a company that tunes cars. “Stage one” usually means a software update that makes the engine produce more power without changing a bunch of parts.
Apple CarPlay is an in-car interface that mirrors a compatible iPhone’s apps onto the vehicle’s infotainment screen. It’s commonly used for navigation, music, calls, and text responses while keeping your phone functions integrated with the dashboard.
Term
RPF ones
They’re talking about aftermarket wheels. Wheels like these are popular with car people because they look good and can improve how the car feels to drive.
“Accident reported” means the car has been recorded as having been in a crash. Even if the paperwork still looks good, the repairs might not be perfect.
A wrap is a vinyl covering put over the car’s paint to change the look. They’re saying it can be risky because you can’t easily tell how good the original paint is until the wrap is removed.
The 2008 Subaru Forester is a small SUV/crossover that’s popular because it’s practical and good in bad weather. People often recommend it for the money because you can sometimes find one within a tight budget.
LIVE
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Martini Works podcast.
I am your host for one last time before I'm gone forever.
What? Going to the Koreas.
Nope, just one of them. Oh, I must have misunderstood that.
And we're so happy that you're here listening in.
If you guys and gals don't know, this is Martini Works podcast.
We talk about car parts, modifying your car, current trends, communities,
recent builds on our build threads, any sort of breaking news.
And then we catch you up on what's going on with our car builds every once in a while.
And if you're looking for car parts, don't forget to mod your car at martiniworks.com.
You can get yourself wheel and tire coilovers.
You like it all at once? Which one was it? Wheel and tire coilovers?
Yeah, wheel and tire coilovers. Stroke? I might have.
Are you already speaking the Koreans?
You can't say that.
Wheel and tire packages, coilovers, intakes, exhausts, tunes,
cooling systems, and just recently now,
Saibon parts, which is pretty cool.
That carbon fiber.
If you have a Volkswagen GLI, you'll be happy to know that we're also working on getting CTS,
i.e., a couple of other ones that all are acronym based companies.
Or numbers. Our numbers are 034034 onto the website here very soon.
So if you can be patient with us, we promise that more parts are coming.
Yeah, we've worked really hard on getting the JDM guys and girls taken care of.
And then we realized that there's a lot of other cars out there than JDM cars.
And there's a lot of people modifying those cars and we don't have the parts to sport them.
So I thank you for those have reached out and being like,
Hey, I know you guys don't have this, but can you get it because we can get it?
But we're going to make that a little easier.
That's right. And these brands on board.
So it's exciting.
Dakota. Yeah. Start us off.
I'm here, but I think Gels has bigger news than me.
The Gels, the fight has been fought.
Dude, the battle has been won.
Anya is singing.
Yes. And yes, I never want to buy a car off.
Bring a trailer ever again.
Damn. She's OK. Am I wearing the hat?
No, no, I'm wearing a different hat.
I have a bring a trailer.
I do too.
I mean, bring a trailer is fine, except for the fact that they lie to me
about the whole car shipping thing, but that's that's whatever they lied about it.
Well, so, yeah, so I was bidding on the Sarek 7
and the whole time it's like, yeah, shipping is available.
We we offer like the shipping stuff like we have drivers.
We have like companies that we work with.
I'm like, it's super sick. Awesome.
Make this really nice and simple all the way up through the checkout process
of like paying for the vehicle, paying the deposits, getting like all my
information sent over, going through like it's like their secure checkout thing.
It was like, OK, now time for the delivery aspect.
And it's like, OK, yep, here's the address for it.
Here's where I want it delivered, filled out all this whole thing,
information sheet.
And then it's like, ah, we don't we don't have delivery for this vehicle.
I'm like, what? That's what happened.
I mean, what do you mean?
It's like, no, we just we don't have psych.
We don't deliver for this.
I'm like too far.
We only ship 10 miles.
So we were really hoping you were located in Los Angeles
and you're going to Santa Monica.
Yeah, so yeah, sorry about that.
So, you know, good luck.
By the way, we're going to send you an email every fucking day
saying that your vehicle is ready for pickup. Oh, my God. Every day.
So yeah, it was a long fought battle, but we got her here and she's here.
I need to actually give a shout out to the company that did it
because when I reached out and was asking for
suggestions on who the hell can actually pick up this car for me
because I was running into a literal brick wall every direction I went.
It was horrible, literally to the point where someone was supposedly
on their way to go get the car and I had like the pickup scheduled
with like the seller and everything like that.
And then the driver just went MIA and never picked up the car.
It's fucking weird.
The coach collective LLC, I think they're based out of like Lake Geneva
or somewhere in the Wisconsin.
Oh, is a Wisconsin base? Yeah. Nice.
They were absolutely incredible.
Mason huge shout out to Mason.
He's who I got in contact with and he set everything up
and it was the most communicative, easy process that I've ever gone through
in my life. Everything was like easy to like take care of like moneywise
and transferring the driver was actually super communicative to like Texas.
Like, yep, I'm going to be there tomorrow.
This time he gave me a time window.
The day of it was like, yep, I'm an hour out. Cool.
He was there while you think it should go.
How you think it should go?
Like I'm saying this and it's like, man, that isn't that just expected?
It's like, no, apparently it's not in the world of shipping a car.
So huge shout out to Mason and the coach collective.
Ever need a car shipped?
I guess check them out because they did an incredible job
and it was a huge nice like enclosed trailer.
Rag about it.
Yeah.
It was about yours.
Well, give us the the deeds.
What's your first impressions of the first generation RX7?
Tell us what it's like.
It was owning one of the slowest cars in human existence.
Dude, about a 10000 horsepower on a good day, I think right now.
Literally on a good day.
Like this is not like a joke.
This is like weather contingent.
It was cold this morning.
It was humid.
Yeah, it better felt good today.
Good this morning.
Breathe with both lungs.
Dude, by far, yeah, the slowest car I've ever owned, but it's so freaking good.
Like it was hard because, you know, I bought this car like over a month ago.
It's like I made a payment on it and I still hadn't even had it in my freaking hands.
Yeah, like that's not fun.
And it's like, what is going on?
Like it doesn't feel like the excitement kind of wore out.
But then when I heard it like fire up in the trailer and I was like,
OK, I'm back and like rolled out.
I'm like, dude, it's it's so good.
It is insanely, insanely well taken care of.
Like I said, it was a one owner car.
You look like you belong in that car.
I just want you to know.
Appreciate it.
Like the sunglasses on and you just cruising.
Yeah, it's a job.
It's a gels car.
Do it for sure.
Slow car summer is here in full effect.
Yeah, it's right.
It's it's so good.
The interior is so immaculate and it's like it.
I don't know how to like have nostalgia for something I've never had,
but like that is what it is.
Like you sit in and it's like this just feels so right.
That it was such a good way to describe it.
I completely agree.
I bug gels for a ride when he brought it in immediately.
I was like, you got to take me for a ride in this whole experience.
And that's you nailed it.
It's you get in it and you have nostalgia, even though like you never had one before.
But it just feels like that time period.
It's like, oh, it's the feeling of like the cloth seats.
It's the the plastic knobs, the switches, everything.
It's all of that.
So it's like maybe, oh, I've never had this car before, but it's like it
reminds me of like my dad's van or like, you know, something, you know,
from back in the day.
And I think it's just super cool.
It's like a little time capsule.
You have such a beautiful car because to me, that Mazda era is like
underrepresented era that also is represented as in a different market
for way more money that people are falling in love with right now,
which is like that Porsche 911 II market.
You know, the Porsche 912 market is is one of my favorite car models to keep
an eye out for because it was the more affordable version of the 911.
It was slower.
It was smaller.
It was like more quaint, like dainty a little bit.
And there's a lot of people that own them right now that are like passing
away and they know that their car was like an affordable cheaper version
of a 911.
And so every once in a while, they kind of pop up.
And but it's the same era of car where it's like small, narrow.
It's very sports looking, but like it was also what year's yours?
81.
Yeah.
So like this is this is coming off of like the seventies of not quite
really knowing how to build a sports car super well for the American market.
Right.
So they're trying to figure it all out.
So they're coming off the EPA stuff.
They're trying to make this thing and you get these really funky cars.
And I think you have just a super cool car.
I think if you put a Porsche 912 right next to a Mazda RX 7,
I think they both look equally gorgeous and one is a fraction of the cost.
It gives me it does give me a lot of like old Porsche vibes.
Yeah, like I don't know what it is about it.
Let's be clear.
Porsche wasn't making great cars in the early seventies.
Okay. Like they were good.
The 911s were okay.
But yeah, it just feels like that.
It feels like it's what it is, but it's got a little rotary under the hood.
When I was young, I remember looking at 50 year old cars not to hijack this,
but like when I was young, it's like 2000, 2002, 2004, you know,
I remember seeing like cars that were 50 years old, you know, belayers.
Yeah.
The one that I was thinking of the cars from Greece.
Yeah.
You know, and now I look back as a fully grown ass adult still can't grow facial hair.
And you say that you have a 50 year old car and it's a seventies or eighties
arc seven is that it is really weird.
It is really weird because there's like 14 year olds and 10 year olds that are
like, that's an old car.
Like that's a 50 year old.
You know, it's only 40, but I'm rounding still.
Yeah.
And you round up a little bit.
Even 40 is crazy though.
Yeah, it is crazy.
Yeah.
By far like the oldest car that I've owned, I think the 240 is a 91.
So it's 10 years older than my 240, which is fucking crazy.
I need you to look at the camera.
Yeah.
You have 30 seconds to explain yourself and you need to convince the viewer to
get involved in slow car summer.
Go listen.
Social media really hyped up horsepower and really fast things.
You need to go buy the newest freaking fastest, most powerful car on the planet
because you're not cool.
I tell you what, I have gotten more conversation and looks and interactions
on my social media with my 40 year old RX seven that I have in any other car
that I've ever owned.
There you go.
Buy a slow car summer.
Buying a slow car requires you to take in the moment.
Driving a fast car just forces you to go through the moment.
Slow car summer is the disconnection from social media that is otherwise.
It really is.
But it's like it isn't in a way because it's like I've been more like motivated
to go do shit and go take photos and like go do stuff with dude.
You took a fucking sexy photo set of your cars the other day too.
That was super red.
I love the video that you made of the car coming out of the garage.
That felt that felt cool.
Yeah, it just looked cool.
The music was on.
Yeah, you listen to like Fleetwood Mac and you're like, all right.
Yeah, I will say I threw my up because it's everything is stock and factory
in there.
So there's you know, it's got the cassette player in it, but my Bluetooth
transmitter works well.
Oh, yeah.
So I was jamming to some little mixture of everything this weekend.
So now the car drives fantastic though.
It feels so solid like it.
There's no like creaks or rattles or like looseness.
I mean, obviously like no power steering in the car car going in power steering.
So that's new.
You know, so it just feels really, really freaking good though.
And it's like, I love how clean it is.
I love how like it was updated in the 90s.
Like I think the interior was gone through and like reupholstered and like
changed like some things around, but it's like it still feels very like old
school and just not.
It just feels like a time capsule.
Yeah, I'm so glad you got that.
It's a gorgeous car.
I can't wait to see what you do to it too.
Because it's like it's such a good era of wheels.
Such a good era of, you know, blocky.
You can get the blocky 15 inch tires that give it that really like squared off look.
Thirteen's on it right now, by the way.
Thirteen's.
They're kind of cool.
The stock was they're not that bad.
You're saying that the stock was in stock steering.
I was like kind of sick.
You kind of have to keep it all to because if you change any of it out,
you know, whoever you sell it to is going to want that.
Exactly.
Yeah, this is going to be it's definitely going to be a car.
I hold on to on to for a long time.
So I want to take my time with it.
Obviously want to do it right.
And it's like just like this car has made it this far this nice.
It's like I'd hate to be the guy that goes and like fucks it up after 40 some years.
So it's like I want to do the right stuff to it and that might take a little bit of time,
but I think it'll be worth it.
Because dude, even right now, I know it's lame, but in the stock form,
it is such a treat.
Like it's like I love it already.
We should get all of the cars, all the slow cars.
Well, let's get all the old cars out for a for like a cruise.
I think it'd be fun to get like the Z next to the RX 7 next to Lars's new car,
which hasn't been announced yet.
But you guys will hear about that probably next week because podcast gets it first.
You know, the Harlequin will be the most modern car out of all.
What year is that in 1996?
Oh, so okay.
So it's a 96.
But still, that's got 15 years on me.
Yeah, we're going to be like, what is that?
What is that sound deadening material?
What is that?
What is that?
How does that work?
I was honestly super surprised that the RX 7 has power windows.
It has power windows and power mirrors.
I'll have you know that my RX 7 that I had did not have.
Really?
It was manual.
Was it a GS?
I don't remember.
You remember what year it was?
Oof.
82.
Would that be?
Would that be FB?
Yeah.
82.
Because there's white, white, black side stripe, red interior, red carpet.
Manual.
Yes.
5 speed or 4 speed?
Ooh, probably 4, 4, 5.
If it was 4 though, it'd be pre 81, right?
I think so, yeah.
And then after it would be 81 or newer.
I think when they first came over, they were technically like an SA is what they were called.
Yes.
They were like a 79.
I think and then the 81 was I think the first year of the S2.
So like the series 2, which was officially like the FB generation.
Yeah.
Gorgeous car.
Super cool pick.
Thank you.
Yeah.
It's been a, it's pretty, I like I said, old people fucking love their car.
I bet.
It is, I pulled it out of the garage to film the video.
I had people slam on the brakes.
Yeah.
What is this?
We were going to dinner and they're pulling it.
They're like, we're talking at a light.
I'm like, okay, I got to go.
No, thank you.
You know, the old guys love RX 7s.
I would like to just publicly state that I have this weird interest in finding like things
about a car that I really enjoy.
Like not just like the overall look, but usually there's like a technology or feature
or thing that they did.
That's like really just kind of interesting.
My favorite part about the FB is the rear window and how it opens.
Oh, yeah.
It's the hatchback, but it's just the glass.
It's just the glass and the clasp is underneath the glass and it's just the badges.
Yeah.
And that's where the badges and it's just a super interesting design that they did back
then.
And I think the, even like the glass shape, like the rear glass shape is really cool.
Like you don't notice it.
Once you see it, you're like, that's why I like the back end.
I am absolutely terrified if anything ever happens to that back piece of glass.
Yeah.
It's gone.
Yeah.
I remember my dad saying that he had a buddy back in the day.
Jesus Christ.
He's got some hurry up.
I don't know if you'd hear it on the podcast.
Something's getting delivered.
It's a new car.
It's kidding.
I think he said a buddy has had a first gen RX 7 back in the day, but he would, they
were, you know, we were up in northern Wisconsin.
He drove it all year round and he said, he remembered he went to like close at the hatch
one time and it was cold and the whole thing just exploded.
Oh my God.
I'm terrified.
Yeah.
It's always stuck with me of like, so like whenever I close, I'm like, oh, is it like,
you know, push it down the struts for the back like need to be replaced to like the
actual like supports need to be replaced.
So it's like, you got to like hold it up and stuff too.
But yeah, it's super cool.
It's like, there's, yeah, there's no frame around it.
It's literally just just glass is nuts.
Yeah.
The car is a bunch of just really neat things like you have to choke it to start.
It's actual choke lever.
Hey, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm getting used to that.
I fucking like went to take me for riding.
It's like explain explain to everybody.
We just like what a choke does though.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Essentially just feeds more fuel into what?
Into the carburetor, which is, which is yeah.
What does that do?
Essentially, you know, like in modern cars, when you start it up, you know, like it'll
idle high and then it'll come down.
Essentially, you're doing that manually because there's no computer in this damn car
to tell it what to do computer computer choke the engine.
So essentially, yeah, you're just giving it some more gas on startup when
everything's cold to keep it running.
And I've I've fucked it up.
I'm learning it because I'm like, I don't know.
Like, you know, we want to take me for a ride.
We're going to go grab dinner and I like go to back out of the garage.
I start it and I like take my, you know, foot off the gas.
I'm like, oh, fucking that.
I said, and then I go to start and all it's like flooded and I'm like, God damn it.
Yeah, it's like, is it good?
I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
It's fine.
I'm like, I'm like, and it starts up.
It dies again.
She's like, is everything okay?
I'm like, it's fine.
It's fine.
It's old owning, owning a rotary car is just the constant reenactment of the
scene and transformers with Shia LaBeouf in front of that Australian museum
where he's just like, start, start.
And then he's like kicking the engine because like when we were started the
PFM, it was the same thing.
Like you have to like, but you can't flood it because once you flood it,
then you're in trouble.
Then the, the arc state is probably going to be the same.
But yeah, anyway, anyway.
Yeah, it's a, it'll be a learning curve.
There's a lot of cool things about it.
A lot of neat things about it.
I'm looking forward to doing stuff with it.
Yeah.
You're telling me plan to keep it stock for a bit.
Just enjoy the car.
But you do want to model.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
It's needs, it's got to have an exhaust on it at some point.
Obviously, suspension and some wheels will look really killer.
Yeah.
Have some idea of what I want to do for a coilover setup in it.
Even though it does ride really nice right now.
It feels like factory wise.
I don't know if he had like some upgraded shocks or something on it.
I would imagine it rode beautiful.
But yeah, it feels like really solid.
Yeah.
I think obviously some, some coilovers or even just some lowering springs for
the time being something to drop the ride height, some decent wheels, good tires.
I think there's just a little, little few things that need to be gone through.
There's like a, I think it's a coolant level sensor is dripping a little bit on
the top of the radiator.
So just some, just little things to clean up.
Just a little thing.
A couple clips like for like the hood prop and stuff that like broke and like the
shocks for the rear thing, like just some general maintenance.
Oh, when I'm over 40, you're going to have to clean me up a little bit too.
Yeah.
Things aren't always perfect.
I'm going to be leaking.
I'm going to be hitting like a couple years.
I know.
Oh, Jesus.
You're ready to clean me up.
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm telling you.
Giving you a heads up.
We're going to take a small break, but not before talking about our partner of the
Martini Works podcast, which is Motegi racing wheels.
Just wanted to say a huge shout out to those guys and gals.
They continue to give awesome fitments to a lot of their different wheel models.
We have, like you said, the Codions on the S15.
We're actually getting some, some different wheels on some different cars here in the
upcoming weeks and months.
I'll be running a different set of Motegi's here as we get further into the year.
But one of the things that I really like the most about the brand is always the sizing.
The pricing is fair and on top of it all, it's all rotary forged, which means it's
nice and strong.
The barrel is forged like it's got a lined grain structure inside the barrel, which
means you can actually thrash on them and not have to worry about them a lot.
And I really love that.
So far we have absolutely thrashed those Codions and then I've rinsed them off with water.
I've cleaned them and they look brand new, which is really nice because we've put a lot
of heat to that finish.
We've put a lot of potential stress to that finish and it has done absolutely.
If you guys and gals don't know, all wheels look perfect when they're not used and then
you drive on them and then you maybe go to an autocross and then you notice like paint
fades or clear fades or the paint chips or you go to put the lug socket in and you chip
the lug hole and you're like, how the hell I barely touched it.
You know, that's one of the things that makes Motegi super special is like a lot of the guys
they put a lot of love into the brand over the last couple of years, which means the
the finish is way stronger than a lot of different brands, which helps us out because
I sometimes smack the ever living crap out of a lug hole with my lug socket and it's
nice.
Right on the lip.
Yeah.
And it's nice to when those things happen that your finishes aren't ruined.
I like my cars to look nice.
Even we thrashed them at the ref tracks.
I like my drift cars to look nice.
So it's nice that the wheel brand also wants their wheels looking nice, even when they're
abused and used.
So if you're really going to get a set of wheels with tires or just a set of Motegi's
from martiniworks.com, you're going to get the lowest possible price at martiniworks.com.
And if you check out with Catapult, we'll give you 2% back up to $70.
Shoot us a message.
If you have any questions, hand me your Chris.
We'll be able to help you and we'll be right back.
So on my tombstone, there's really only a few things that need to be written on it.
Here lies Alex Martini.
Damn.
Lover of cars, cats, and finding bitching deals on Facebook market.
Oh hell yeah.
That's what I'm talking about.
Let me tell you something.
If they gamified the marketplace experience.
They have.
They'd be rich.
They've pretty much had it at this point.
It's really fun.
Play on it every day.
There's only one to two strong things about Facebook.
No offense.
Facebook.
It's Mark.
Zucky, if you're listening.
No, all the offense actually.
Number one good thing about Facebook is the memories.
I get to look at all the cringe things I posted 18 years ago because I've had the app for
that long.
But number two, marketplace.
It's the best thing to ever happen.
I feel so bad for Craigslist because I felt like you could find better deals back then.
Yeah, Craigslist is a lot.
Back when you couldn't actually post any contact information except some cryptic code for your
phone numbers, you didn't get a bunch of scam calls.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
M4F, looking for this girl I met at the Sparners Market.
All right.
Sorry.
It's true.
Back then, there was that stuff.
I know.
Dakota put us on a challenge.
Speaking of slow car summer, maybe you want to get your own or maybe you want to do something
like fast car fall.
I don't care what you want to do.
Fast car fall.
We had a homework to do to go find some of the best cars in our area in Wisconsin, Illinois,
Midwest, essentially, for under $15,000.
What's out there right now?
What can you go scoop up for under $15,000, Grant?
Yep.
I think we found some good ones.
Oh, I found some.
I haven't seen any of your guys'.
I didn't look at anybody's.
I got two bangers and I got one like, just kind of out there one.
That's kind of where I'm at.
Okay.
Two, I feel pretty damn confident about one.
It's like.
Let's pitch these.
All right.
I feel like we should pitch them to each other.
All right.
Yeah.
All right.
So I'll go first.
You hit me with yours.
Okay.
Do we have Link for your second?
Look at it.
Link number one.
Tell me about it and then I'll look at it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Here's my pitch.
Do you want a car that tells everyone around you that you know ball?
Do you want to be the living embodiment of the Tame and Paula song Dracula?
Okay.
Do you want to spend time just enjoying what life is about and never taking a bad photo
of it because it's impossible to?
Do you?
Might I interest you in a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL Roadster?
Why does it say hidden information in there?
Ready to cruise with the V8.
Damn.
She's got a V8 in it.
Yeah.
60 horsepower V8.
This, my friends, is the R170 generation that I've been hyping up for a long time.
This actually is really sick.
When Mercedes came to America, they said, we need to make something for the Americans
to like.
Why are they Russian?
I don't know.
And so they said, we have this cool V6 and then somebody in the engineering department
was like, nah, they don't fuck with the V6.
Give them the V8.
Yeah.
And they're like, well, okay, is it going to sell?
This became Mercedes-Benz's most successful vehicle launch they've ever done in America.
Look at that steering wheel.
Steering wheel.
Yeah.
Straight bitchin' is what this car is.
And you can have it for under $9,000.
150,000 miles only.
That thing's damn.
It looks like it's pretty well taken care of.
Funky wheels.
Something kind of going on by the glove box.
The AI description, though, is throw me off.
Okay.
Well, okay.
Don't think about that.
Write your own fucking for sale ad for Christ's sake.
The person who's owning this vehicle in current state is likely not capable of doing that.
I see a hole in the fender.
Which side?
Driver's side.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
It's a little scratch.
His license plate is M-Bennie, bro.
No, this thing's pretty gangster and the price is dummy cheap and you still get a V8 out
of it.
The car will last forever.
That's my first thing.
That's a good looker.
Okay.
Take off the American Impact Guards, lower it a little bit, and you're set.
That's like a, I could see that in a music video.
Yeah.
I could see that being featured.
The thing is, you could see this in a rap music video, an alternative music video.
You could not see this in an Arctic Monkeys music video.
I'm pretty sure they used it in a commercial.
Maybe.
You could use this in a pop song.
Okay.
Uh, I got something even cheaper than that.
You got to rate it out of 10.
Oh, we're rating it out of 10.
Rate my choice out of 10.
Ready?
I would give it a 6.
Holy fuck.
I give it a 9 honestly.
I really like that.
Thank you.
69.
I think it's out there.
It's solid.
It's a good deal.
You're not going to see a lot of it.
It's unique.
I guess, yeah, it's just not mine.
Good price.
All right.
Dakota, you go.
All right.
You pick your car.
I'm not a big convertible guy.
That's fine.
So we're going more modern, cheaper, turbocharged, a 2013 Mazda Mazda 3.
Oh, I actually saw this one.
I didn't pick it.
7,500 bucks.
Here's the kicker though, guys.
It's fucking stock besides like what's it have, uh, coilovers?
Yeah.
Coilovers.
Oh, we like it.
We like a stock Mazda 3.
97,000 miles.
Yeah.
Under 100K in fairly good shape, 7,500 bucks or best offers.
You could get it a little bit.
That's a $7,500 car, maybe.
They do say it has a check engine light due to the O2 sensor because the muffler's cut
off.
Wait, why is it cut off?
Mazda things.
So overall I like it.
I thought this was a super good deal.
It's white.
It's not rusty.
It's in decent shape.
7,500 bucks and it's under 100K and it's unmolested.
Yeah.
I thought this was, I would buy this.
That's a good scoop.
I like that.
That's a good solid pick.
These things got torque steer from hell.
They're fun as hell to drive.
They're so fun.
So fun.
I love the exterior.
I love the white.
Usually I see them in black or red and like the red kind of started to get really faded
but I feel like you can do a lot with the white carbon fiber and stuff like that.
Clean this thing up a little bit.
Restore the headlights.
Yeah.
Put about 100 grand under the hood of this car.
Nope.
Don't need that.
This is also AI generated.
All right.
Rate it 1 to 10.
No.
There is, Facebook just does that for the like specs of the vehicle but the description
is gross.
It looks like he wrote it.
3, 2, 1, 10, 8.
Oh my God.
10.
And an 8.
Okay.
That's a bang and deal.
Oh yeah.
I thought that was a good one.
All right.
If you're just tuning in, welcome to Marketplace Fines where we rate marketplace cars for
you to go buy.
What do you think this is?
Why would someone just tune in now?
And then you send us.
Brother.
This thing is live.
It's not a radio.
And then you send us 3% of the commission.
Yeah.
Whatever it is.
All right.
Oh, you were doing an ad?
Yeah.
Oh, gosh.
It was a midroll.
All right, Gels, you're up.
We could help sell these.
All right.
Click on the first link here.
I got one of the cars that really got me into cars back in the day.
2002 Acura RSX, Type S, SportCoupe, St. Paul, $10,000, right?
OGTE 37s on this.
Come with it.
Come with it.
It's why apparently the price is 10K.
Holy fuck.
The biggest thing though.
Yeah.
No rust.
No.
You know what the biggest thing is?
Don't worry about it.
The fucking mileage.
It's a Honda.
She ain't worried about nothing.
290,000 miles.
Bro is asking for help from God to sell this thing for $10,000.
He's like, I got the Volks, please.
God, just give me the 10.
The biggest thing though, the biggest thing, and this is why up here in the Midwest, it
gets very difficult and prices do get a bit inflated sometimes, is look at how fucking
clean the underbody.
It doesn't look like a 290,000 mile vehicle at all, especially the underbody photo and
the engine bay.
This thing has been taken care of for 290,000 miles.
Facebook introducing comments on Marketplace is a terrible idea.
The first comment, bro, you got scammed if you paid 10K for that POS.
300,000 miles for 10K.
All right.
I'm good to rate it.
It's a pretty car.
Yeah.
I like it.
I think it's sick.
I'm giving this a seven.
I give it a four.
Only because of the mileage.
Miles kill it.
I wouldn't have seen the mileage.
It would have been close to a 10.
Yeah.
This was like 150K.
300K.
That would scare me.
It's scary.
It's sick though.
It is pretty sick.
All right.
Alex is number two.
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you the pitch.
Okay.
Let's say you do want to live life on the edge.
You want a car that you could potentially just throw yourself into a wall and blame
your tires.
You're maybe 19 years old and you think you're a good driver because you won an eye racing
race one time and you want to go give it your shot in a real car.
Might I introduce you to one of the best cars Toyota ever made that is not a Supra, the
1991 Toyota MR2 TurboCoupe.
Now, this thing is originally Turbo, 118,000 miles on the chassis, 76,000 on the motor
with associated paperwork, T-top convertible, clean for its age, some small imperfections,
nothing a good buff and a little elbow grease might be able to fix for you.
The back end has a little bit of damage.
Looks like it might have taken a little bit of a tap, a little bit of a tap.
And dare I say, the good old manual in there with the black leather interior is a iconic
combo for the car and you can have it for $12,000.
The reason I picked this one mostly for two reasons.
Number one, it's a manual.
Number two, it's a turbo.
So a manual turbo T-top MR2 in that generation under 15 is a good starting point if you want
to get into my car.
It's tough because I haven't been keeping an eye on those cars.
I don't know what they're typically going for.
So to me, that seems decent.
The damage on it though.
Yeah, it's a bit damaged.
It's not rusty from what I can see, which is good.
That's another thing.
Does it have a second gear grind?
I feel like that's pretty common.
Yeah, because people drive these hard.
I don't know.
I think it's fucking sick.
I got pretty hype seeing this.
I think they're like a good, like if you wanted to modify a car, let's say you're past
the first or second car.
Like you got done with the Civic era.
Maybe you picked up a domestic VA and you're like, ah, that was not real.
I want to try something that's a little bit trickier, but still worth it.
I think the MR2 is such a fun platform.
Yeah, it can't be too bad to get a new rear bumper for this.
No.
That's all it really needs.
12.
10 bucks says you can low-ball them to 10.
People that mark their cars at 12,000 really only want 10.
Okay, let's give some context because it's marked down from 15 to 12 already.
That's what they started at.
So to go past, I think it's a good deal.
These cars are, they're goofy.
I like them, though.
They are goofy.
I'd give that one an eight.
OK, I'll give a seven.
All right.
I'll take it.
I'll take it.
Dakota, you're up.
Oh, I'm hyped for this one.
We are at the upper echelon of the budget here.
We're at 13,000.
How many miles?
We're at a 2013 Volkswagen Golf R.
It does have 150,000 miles, but it's making over 400 horsepower, and it's relatively clean.
And it's got a little couple of rust spots.
There is a couple of little rust spots on it, but I was willing to have that because of
the over 400 horse.
It's got some aftermarket goodies.
Also, big deal.
It's manual.
A lot of these are automatic.
Engine was replaced on it.
Yeah.
Just needs a different door.
Scared of that door.
Yeah, that's a weird rust spot for that right by the door handle there.
I thought it was underneath the door.
It could be signs of, no, I usually rust like that would form from an accident.
It's not like, it's got to be just like a window seal leak or something.
Yeah, it's not like horrible, horrible, like rusted out hole in the body, but I would want
to replace that 1,000%.
But overall, though, for 13K, a Golf R?
Yeah.
And then there's a piece over $40,000.
That is kind of crazy.
And yeah, she's got some good mods done to it, too.
A paint pen comes with it.
Not that.
Can't imagine why.
I think for 13K, I would, I'd be whipping this.
The only thing I would really want to know before would be compression.
Yeah.
I like the license plate.
With the amount of power it makes, it's the mileage, the chassis, all those numbers,
compression test.
Sure.
It's not hard to get power out of them.
No.
They make good power.
I don't know.
I think it's good.
I would trust it.
But yeah, it would be interesting to see.
I have, honestly, this was me searching quick before the podcast.
I have seen other ones a bit cleaner for this in a similar price.
Probably like 15K.
You can get one completely rust free.
Like I said, though, it's just, it's tricky to find a manual one.
A lot of them were the DSG or automatic.
I rate it.
Wait, ready?
Yeah.
32167
Okay.
Okay.
The only reason is because it had a different engine in it.
It's a 2013 and it still has 400 horsepower.
They didn't learn their horse.
They didn't learn their lesson.
A little bit like the rest of stuff, but it's like, still.
Do you guys ever go look at who's selling it?
Like it really depends on like, really depends on, so you had the paperwork and stuff.
So it depends on who did the stuff, how was it done, all that kind of stuff.
For my second one here, please click the third link.
Third link.
This one's a fucking banger.
This one's a banger.
I'm going to say it.
Honestly, I might, I might, there's a, there's a part, there's a part of this
that I might actually have to jump.
Joe's cooked.
Joe's is actually buying this and show this to Lars.
So we're looking at a 2000 BMW three series, three 23 I wagon, 10 grand in green
lowered with some really good stuff.
Lars is staring at us.
So it's a pre-facelift.
He wants to trade for trade for a nice chassis.
I know.
That's why I'm like, I might actually have to like jump on this, dude.
Factory fern green.
We got lowered on BC racing coil overs.
And there's so much stuff.
It has a ton of stuff done to M3 front seats, M3 cluster, M3 style bumper.
Short throw shifter, JBL speakers, breaks done 5,000 miles ago.
Dude, this car is fricking.
It looks so good.
It's a great looking daily.
And it's fricking manual.
Yeah, I would daily the show.
It's a manual green BMW wagon.
Yeah, that's pretty basic, which I think are growing in terms of.
Yeah, but it's got like the M3, like from bumper and stuff on it.
Do this thing is absolutely killer.
I saw this.
I was like, oh my God, I need to include this.
And then I saw the fact that he was a wants to trade for an S chassis.
This guy might be regional.
All right, I'm ready to rate.
Yeah, I'm giving this a nine.
Yeah, this gets a nine for me.
Oh, yeah, this is a good car.
And the reason I'm rating it so high, too, is it's good miles, functional.
It'll work for a lot of different stuff.
It looks good.
You'd be pretty hard pressed to lose a ton of money on it.
Right.
Some of the other cars that we've had, you know, if they blow up, you're screwed.
This would be a fun plane hauler, that's all I'm saying.
Yeah, true that.
All right, let's pick up Alex's third.
Third pick.
Third and final.
I can't believe I have to do this.
Oh, shit.
It wouldn't be a list without a Volkswagen if it's under 15.
And I went and I found one.
This one is for me.
I feel like if you just wanted to pick a car and be done with it,
this kind of seems like a good, good spot to be.
Yeah, it's wrapped.
It looks like it's got some, some, it's got 81,000 miles.
It's a GTI SE six speed manual, clean title, runs great, always been serviced on time.
It's got a stage two daily clutch, BC coils, EQT stage one,
strong engine, smooth shifting.
It's got Apple CarPlay, 13K.
Dude, this seems, it seems, you know, that's a really good deal.
81,000 miles.
Yeah, it's wrapped, Dennis and Green, you know, it's got,
it's got some good looking wheels.
They look like RPF ones.
Solid choice.
It's got Dakota's favorite shift knob in it.
It looks good for us industry shift.
Those are pricey.
It's like $150 shift knob, right?
Yeah, I mean, I love these cars.
A friend of mine, a best friend of my Dustin Korth actually, he had one.
And I remember driving it one day and thinking, holy crap, I love this car.
Like it felt fresh.
It felt really new.
It felt really nice.
And then all of a sudden, uh-oh.
And then all of a sudden, he was like, yeah, I bought it for like 10 grand or
something like that, like nine grand.
I was like, how the hell did you get this car for nine grand?
It's way too nice.
And then I realized GTIs are actually really affordable if you find the right
ones, and they're really, really nice.
Small caveat to this one.
Oh, I think Dakota found it.
There was an accident reported.
Yeah, it does say clean title, but it also on the car facts, which he
screen shot says accident reported.
So this vehicle has been in some type of an accident.
But I don't know what he's showing on the door there.
Yeah, I think that was the door photo on the back.
Yeah, and if that's the case, dude, 13K for this seems like.
It seems like a no-brainer.
It's a 2016.
This is the newest car I think I could like.
I don't hate the wrap color either.
I think it's good.
I like the wrap color.
I would hate it underneath.
I would personally hate to buy a vehicle that is wrapped.
Yeah, I would always kind of.
Because I want to see the original paint condition and stuff, and then you
don't know how it was wrapped, who wrapped all this shit.
There's so much that could happen with it.
You could peel that off and it could be a nightmare under there real quick.
But overall, though, I'm giving this a 9.5.
Give it a 8.
Hell, yeah.
That was a good ass find.
All right, Dakota, you got one more?
Yes, OK, so I cheated a little bit.
That's all right.
And also, you probably didn't see this come, but a Subaru.
Whoa!
All right, he's asking 17.
I think we can get him to 15.
I think we can get him to 15.
There was a rule.
You broke the rule.
I think we could message him.
I'll message him right now.
Yeah, yeah.
Would you take this?
I'll text him right now.
Dude, this thing is fucking sick.
OK, so I picked a Subaru.
I went against everything I've ever said.
A Subaru Forester 2008.
A Forester gets a pass for sure.
Oh my god.
It is gorgeous.
It has roughly 95,000 miles on it.
It's on bulk ZE40 wheels.
And right there.
Oh, oh, no, no, look at that.
15,500 with your own wheels.
OK, we're in it.
Technically, still over 15,000.
But he would take it.
He would take it.
This thing is lowered.
It looks like it's in super good shape, custom headlights.
It's on air suspension.
I've always loved this body style of Forester.
And yeah, this thing is sick.
It's got a bunch of mods.
I think Subaru Foresters look better.
I didn't realize it's fucking turbo.
Oh, that's not good.
It's probably going to blow us.
EJ255.
Six pages of notes for mods on this thing.
Yeah.
Six of the photos of these 15 are all the mods.
For 15 grand.
Damn.
And it's dummy clean.
Like, look at the car.
Like, everything is in beautiful condition.
This thing is sick.
I would drive the shit out of this.
I love this.
And Rilderally Blue.
I love this.
The best part about it is Tyler, who is selling this,
has 13 reviews on his marketplace.
And they're all five.
That's impressive.
Dude, this is a fucking thing.
I know we went over a little bit,
but we could get them to 15.
I know it.
I'll give it a 9, just because you broke the rules
a little bit.
I'll give it a 9, too.
Great choice.
I did also message Tyler to ask if he'd take 15.
Do you have one more, Gels?
I do.
OK, but we're going to skip.
You've got to power around this.
I'm scared because no one went this route yet.
Oh, what the fuck is this?
The judge will do this.
Oh, shit.
I saw this.
We have to go get this.
Yeah, I saw this.
And I'm like, Dakota had one of these.
I did.
And it's manual.
I think it's just kind of fun.
This is the worst thing I've ever seen.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser Limited Sport.
Sturkbeid clean.
With, I believe.
That does not justify the flames.
This was, OK, so this was the non-turbo.
They swapped in the G, like the SRT4 engine.
Yeah, they manual swapped.
So they did the whole thing.
They're turning into a PT GT.
Yes, this interior is terrible.
It's got like the chrome grills, the flames, the body kits.
Dude, I say we go get it.
The thing is, right, this thing was really, really well
taken care of.
Like it is in really fucking good shape.
And for that, for that level of care, it should be $8,000.
Ah, 12 fives.
These are becoming rare.
No, they're not.
It has a triple gauge pot on the A-pillar with two gauges in it.
You know that this guy took out one gauge
to put in a different build.
100%.
Oh, you're right.
Look at the underside of this.
When the last time you've seen a PT Cruiser this fucking clean.
And not to mention this thing got a full body kit, too.
It has a full body kit.
Yeah, I'd drive it.
I would drive it.
If it wasn't for the.
I would drive this car for $7,000.
OK, fair enough.
I know that 320 horsepower.
We could pump that up.
Yeah, well, that would be super fun, too.
I saw it.
I was like, I've never seen.
I haven't seen a PT Cruiser like that in a long time.
And thought we'd throw it in there.
12 fives, by the way.
So pricey.
The car is painted in PPG Harlequin Shade Shifting Paint.
The predominant color is electric blue
when you look at the car head on.
I thought it was black.
And then turns roughly seven colors
as you walk down the side.
Holy shit.
So it's a hell of a hand pin striped and three.
That's not final.
That's where we're headed.
This is a legit.
He is probably more 12 K in the paint.
Oh, absolutely.
Easy.
Yeah.
And the interior needs a little bit of love, but.
She'll scoot.
Very rare set of Koenig wheels.
10 sets were ever made.
All right, rate my PT Cruiser.
10.
It's a 10.
Thank you.
I knew it.
I win.
That was fun.
We're going to take a small break,
but not before talking about our next partner,
the Martini Works Podcast, which is, of course,
Continental Tire.
If you guys and gals don't know, my wife
destroyed two tires on my Mazda CX-70 the other day.
No problem.
It's fine.
We're replacing it with Continental DWSO6 Pluses,
because Continental offers a wide range of sizes
for some of their most popular models, including the DWSO6
Plus, which means I'm rocking the DWSO6 Plus.
Because they're like, what?
And ECSO2 on vehicles like BMWs and my M4 that my wife loves,
and it's her car.
We got on those two-piece forged Continental ECSO2s.
We have, of course, Continental now on our 2026 Mazda CX-70.
21 is 22.
We're 22.
God damn.
Big Johns.
And they run even some smaller sizes as well,
which is one of the big things.
I love, you know, everybody always talks about, you know,
the parts that they want, and then they figure out
if it fits their car.
I like starting with what fits the vehicle,
and then figuring out what I love, which you'll find out,
especially as you get into these niche picks like RX-7s,
you are very limited in what you can actually buy and install.
So it's super awesome to see Continental support
some of the more heritage nostalgic vehicles
with their smaller sizes, and some of the huge stuff
that's coming on SUVs, sport performance vehicles
that are 21s and 22s, which a lot of you guys and gals
do own and run.
So if you're going to pick up a set of tires
and you want to get the best feel possible,
you can head on over to martiniworks.com.
If you want to package it with wheels,
you're more than welcome to.
You'll save up to $200 when you package wheels
and tires together on the website,
or if you just need some tires, quick ship,
right to your home, we can do that too.
So you can pick up your Contis at martiniworks.com.
I'll tell you what, it is a good deal.
What's a good deal?
Checking out the Martini Works build threads
because not only can you see some really dope builds,
you can learn a thing or two, or you can help someone else.
If you add your own build, and I tell you what,
if you do add your build, it's the best way to get featured.
Just like this guy.
This thing is so thick.
We just had a plug about big old tires on SUVs,
continental, and then you showed me a big ball of SUV.
This doesn't even have big old tires.
It just got big old wheels.
Yeah, it's crazy.
22 inch extreme contact DWS with 6s.
Anyway, we are taking a look at R-Line 86's 2020 Volkswagen
Tiguan.
Holy s**t.
This is the easiest Tiguan I've ever seen.
Dude, this thing, box.
I saw this come in, and dude, I absolutely
fell in love with it.
You're looking at some 22 by 10 Rotiform GRZs,
and I think that, like, multi-spoke.
It's so thick.
It's real, looks so good on this thing.
It's got the topper on it that's paint matched,
opens up with the rest of it.
It's on airlift performance, air suspension.
We got exhaust turbo inland pipe, inlet pipe, sorry,
bluff belt.
Damn, they even did bolt-ons.
Yeah, yeah, and it's tuned on a 91 octane tune.
Dude, we got the Max in front lip, custom rear diffuser.
We got the roof rack, like I mentioned before,
some clear side markers.
The sport roof box, that's color matched to the vehicle.
And we got some carbon fiber stuff on the inside.
Crazy, crazy clean.
This is gorgeous, dude.
Dude, the taillights go crazy.
They're clear but painted white, too.
Yeah, the dubbin is the plate.
I was going to say the lights are pretty solid.
Yes, dude, only dubbin if you're rubbin.
What?
That's the statement.
If you guys remember that, you know what I'm talking about.
Only dubbin if you're rubbin.
I absolutely love this thing.
I think this build was executed so well.
It flows perfectly with the clear tails and everything.
It's like the silver on white.
Everything is just clean.
I think the rotiforms with the multi-spokes
were a frickin' ball of choice.
Yeah, build choice was great.
And these photos are immaculate.
Great photos, great car, tastefully well done.
This is a Mark IV kid that grew up.
Absolutely, yeah.
This thing is absolutely awesome.
So a huge thank you to R-Line 86.
You can go check out this build thread for yourself
and take a peek at all these photos
and some of the information about it.
Of course, if you have a build that you'd like to showcase,
make sure to add it to the Martini Works build threads.
Like I said, it's one of the best ways
you can feature it either on the podcast
or post it on our socials.
We pick multiple every week.
Yeah, we do.
Photocare says we do video reviews of them.
We mention them on the podcast.
And it's a great way too.
You can connect your socials to it
and get your car out there.
Get your pages out there.
So get your car on the build threads.
Or else.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is great.
Breaking news.
What do we got?
Let's talk about it for a little bit.
I want to get your guys' thoughts here
because I'm hitting a conundrum.
Oh, boy.
When the Ferrari Luce dropped, the world went mad.
Me included made a video about it
and because it just seems so tone deaf.
And it just didn't seem like Ferrari
and it didn't match up at all.
Then BMW M released the M3 new class.
Now hear me out because my conversation
is not about the vehicle itself.
My question to you guys is the response
is completely different.
Is it though?
It is.
Here's what I'm seeing.
Obviously comments on the internet,
people are like on social media,
like, oh, no, I don't like it.
It's an EV.
That noise will always exist every time
a new EV gets released.
So you kind of have to shed that away.
You have to go a little further.
And there's a lot of people on Reddit
that have a lot more support towards this
because BMW just released why they're ruling out
a plug-in hybrid for the new class M3.
Essentially stating that a plug-in hybrid adds weight.
It takes away space.
You have less trunk space.
It just doesn't work with the chassis
that they're looking to do.
Either go I-C-E or you go EV, right?
And a lot of people are like thanking BMW for that,
saying, good, this is a good way to go.
You're better off just doing an EV M3
rather than a plug-in hybrid.
My question to you guys is-
No, you're not.
You've got Ferrari Luce making that weird thing.
You've got the M3 releasing this new class.
You've got Genesis with the GV60,
which is a electric, high-performance vehicle.
You got all these people really.
Do you think any of it is good?
It sucks because I haven't driven any of it.
Yeah, I can't really say.
I really want to know.
I can't imagine, though, that I wouldn't be smiling
behind a thousand horsepower fucking modern BMW.
So I'd like to think that it's good.
But I know, obviously, I do, as a car enthusiast,
prefer combustion engines and getting
exhaust and shifting gears.
I do love that.
I genuinely do.
However, I think it's a little bit ignorant to not just
accept the fact that the direction of vehicles
is going into EVs.
And I think there's totally potential there to have cool ones.
And we can live in a world that has both combustion and EVs,
and they can both be cool.
Because right now, yeah, I made a video just
kind of talking about that new BMW.
And I didn't really take a stance or anything other
than saying, like, I like how this one looks.
Like, it's finally a new thing.
It looks kind of cool.
It looks kind of cool.
Holy shit, I got ran through the mud.
My god.
Damn.
Yeah, styling-wise, I think.
Styling-wise, I think it is typical BMW.
I think it's a head a little bit,
and it'll come around in the next couple of years.
Yeah, I didn't mind the look of it.
The new Audi and then the Luce, I don't like the look.
Oh, I don't like that.
I don't like the look of the Luce.
I don't like the Luce either.
I think, again, if they would have just done more
pro sangue, it would have been perfect.
I thought it was cool to see BMWs like,
yo, this isn't a commuter car.
This is an M-trek car, and it's electric,
and it's over 1,000 horsepower,
but we kept the M-DNA in it because we want this car
to fucking perform.
I did.
And I thought that was cool.
I did throw your comment in it.
It was like spiking the water to see if we're gonna
all love it in six months.
And it's so true.
There's a lot of people that hate,
that are just like hating it to hate it,
but if you take your, I don't know how to explain it.
It's easy to hate EVs.
Yeah.
Oh, 100%.
It's really hard to be the person that you stand up
and like them, but BMW has made almost every single vehicle
that they've dropped recently.
For the last, I would almost argue three generations
have been fantastic.
The X3, the X5, the M2, the M240,
the M3, the M4, the M5.
I don't know anybody who buys an M6.
But then even like the N55, the S55, the S58,
the B58 that they worked with Toyota Super.
Like, I feel like if anybody's got a pretty good chance
of doing this, right?
It probably BMW.
Yeah.
To me personally, the route that they went with that car,
the way that BMW went about it feels BMW.
What Ferrari did with whatever the hell they did,
that didn't feel Ferrari.
That just felt really weird and detached from the brand.
Somebody said it'll still find a way to leak oil.
Yeah, probably.
All right, in other news, the world's largest automaker
that built its reputation on rock solid reliability
is now featuring a full-size pickup truck
that is swearing down that legacy.
I don't know if you guys heard, but Toyota
is dealing with a massive issue with its Tundras.
Also, the same engine that is in its Sequoia SUV,
Lexus LS, and Lexus GS, or GS, and they can't explain it.
They don't know what's happening.
They've recalled over 270,000 trucks trying to figure this
out, something to do with their twin-turbo 3.4 liter V6.
Can't touch our trucks.
And it's not some precautionary move.
There's metal debris left in the engine during assembly
that is causing sudden and catastrophic failure.
Previous attempt to stop it didn't work,
and so far Toyota has had to replace the engines for free,
which is really interesting here.
So there's a lot of people that are,
I've seen Toyota start to get in trouble with this,
but I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on,
would you own an out-of-warranty Tundra right now
if this issue was happening?
Hell no.
Which goes to-
Is the recall been done?
If it was, would you feel better?
Well, no, not if they're saying we have no idea
what's causing it still.
That's true.
They're just putting the same engine back in,
hoping it's fine.
I mean, Tundras aren't new.
They've been around for a long time.
They were perfectly fine.
So something new that they did that changed it.
So yeah, I'm assuming they would,
yeah, I guess if they're just,
yeah, how the fuck are they fixing it
if they don't know what's wrong with it?
That's a great call-out.
There's a lot of people that are questioning
the price of Toyotas now, right?
Because one of the reasons that you spend more money
on a Toyota is for the reliability.
You know Toyota is a more traditional manufacturer.
Their stuff is older.
They take more time to adopt new technologies.
So if you get rid of that, what do you have?
You just got like an old new car right out of the gate.
Yeah, dude, Toyotas go through,
I feel like they go through it every now and then.
Like when the Tacoma had that huge issue with the frame.
Yep, they were replacing all the frames on the Tacomas.
I remember seeing Tacomas lined up like crazy.
Dude, I remember driving by the dealership
like on my way to work and dude,
like they would have literal trucks
just stacked with new frames.
I'm like that has gotta be the worst fucking job
in the world for these poor like mechanics
working at these dealerships.
Oh yeah, I gotta swap the frame on my 20th Tacoma.
I'm gonna give you guys one last one
and it's more of a community pick.
What is the least practical car
in the history of impractical cars?
I want you to think about this
so that I'm gonna name off a couple from the comment section.
I always think of that three-wheeled one on top gear
that I think it was Jeremy Clarkson was driving.
The lion robin?
Yeah, the robin, like on every turn.
Yeah, you can't even drive a damn thing.
AU rules says the Chrysler Prowler is probably up there.
Careful.
I think that as long as the weather's nice.
Yeah, that car did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Be a big hot wheel.
Exactly.
Get it, all right.
That's a decent one though, I get it, I get it.
Somebody said the Chevy SSR.
Wait, what's wrong with the SSR?
It's kind of in the same realm.
I don't know, they're like that weird hot rod modernized.
But they're functional.
Yeah, I wouldn't say it's impractical.
Well, because it's kind of a truck.
Right, but it's not a truck.
It's kind of bad.
Somebody goes, I don't know this car existed.
The light burn Zeta.
Never heard of it, never heard of it.
Looks like a small hatchback, but there was no opening hatch.
The manufacturer recommended you remove the front seats
to access cargo.
It was also powered by a two stroke,
was mostly made of fiberglass and had no reverse gear.
To reverse, you had to switch off the engine
and start it backwards.
So you technically, you had four speeds for reverse.
The fuel gauge was a glass tube connected directly
to the fuel tank that's behind the dash.
How old was this car?
I have no idea.
I don't even know if this car exists.
The Chevy Avalanche.
I think it was pretty impractical.
Yeah, it's in this weird gray area.
It doesn't know what it wants to be.
Somebody did explain that Chevy SSR is picked
because it's a pickup truck shaped Corvette
with the tow capacity of a Corvette, which is nothing.
Yeah, it's just a weird, it sits in that weird area.
It's like an El Camino.
Somebody goes, the SF90 has less storage space
than my toddler's Fisher price car,
which tells me that he owns probably an SF90.
What if you build a car
and you get a bunch of young people hyped up about it
and you make them want to modify it
and then as soon as they do, the engine blows up consistently
like a super WRF.
Yeah, that's pretty impractical.
The Pontiac Solstice Coupe had a removable roof panel,
but nowhere in the car to store it.
Your options were to leave it on, leave it at home,
or leave it on the side of the road.
That's fucking awesome.
That's cool.
The Lamborghini Countach, you had to get out
and sit on the mile wide door sill, the C backwards.
The clutch is set in concrete.
The windows don't even roll all the way down
because the door is such a crazy shape
and the entire interior was actually just a second thought.
Actually, the windows on the RX7 don't roll
down on the way either.
Yeah, they stick up just a little bit.
I think it's because the doors are just so short.
The first gen Dodge Viper had a lot of weird things.
You can open the hood from the front
but from the outside of the vehicle.
You can just walk up, open the hood on a first gen Viper.
I believe it doesn't have door handles.
Yeah, it didn't have windows.
And zero creature comforts.
My favorite thing about the Dodge Viper
is it is probably the only time
in the history of vehicle manufacturing
where a manufacturer made a car that fits right in,
almost one for one, as someone's own project car.
If I were to come to you and I say,
hey dude, I built a car in my garage.
Really quick though, you can access the engine
just by like opening the hood.
The hood just opens up, yeah.
I don't have doors on it yet.
I haven't installed the windows.
There's no AC.
I don't know how to work trash control.
ABS doesn't really work, but dude,
I put a D10 in this thing and it fucking rips.
That's exactly what Dodge did.
The only problem, you might throw yourself off a cliff.
It's like that came from a manufacturer.
And we all love this shit out of it.
We're like, yep, that's it.
There you go.
I'll take two.
That's an icon.
So you guys will have to let us know
what you think the most impractical car
you can find out there is.
And of course, thank you so much
for listening to Martini Works Podcast.
Now before we go, Gels has one thing he'd like to share.
Yeah, I'd like to talk about one of our first ever sponsors
of the Martini Works Podcast,
which is of course Fortune Auto.
Woo!
Based right here in the old United States.
We got to go down and see how all their coilovers
are made in-house right in Virginia,
which was really cool to see.
And it gave me a new perspective on what they do
as a company and the care that they put into pretty much,
well, essentially every product that goes out their door.
Really good stuff coming from Fortune Auto.
We've ran them for many, many years
among the podcast crew here and Martini Works
on many of our personal vehicles
even before they were a sponsor of the podcast.
We actually reached out to them initially,
be like, hey, we're starting this podcast.
You guys wanna sponsor us a little bit?
And they agreed, which was absolutely awesome.
But they make some really, really good stuff
from the 500 series, which is a great,
just all around fantastic, digressive piston coilover.
They can get you on the street,
do some track driving if you want to,
or if you wanna get something a little bit more
dedicated to 510 and up and get up
into the two-way adjustables and things like that.
All fantastic options too.
Backed by incredible warranty.
They're rebuildable.
You got upgradable options down the road if you want.
Some really good stuff come from Fortune Auto
and they're even expanding into the off-road stuff
a little bit.
So like the overlanding, like Toyota stuff,
if you're into that,
I think they're offering a few options for that too.
So they're constantly adding to their catalog
and they do an incredible job.
So if you wanna check out Fortune Auto suspension,
make sure to do so over at martiniworks.com.
You guys got anything else?
You have a great weekend.
If you have access to a Renesys engine somewhere,
shoot me a message, I need one.
Spoken like a true rotary guy.
Have a great weekend.
Bye bye.
About this episode
MartiniWorks Podcast tackles “BEST Cars For Under $15,000” with a mix of budget picks, buying strategy, and real-world ownership stories. They kick off with a Midwest homework challenge, then review specific cars like a 2013 Mazda 3 (turbo, mostly stock), a 1991 MR2 Turbo (manual, T-top), and multiple Volkswagen/GTI options with inspection red flags. Along the way, they share shipping/auction frustrations, “slow car summer” philosophy, and practical upgrade talk from coilovers to tires.
Enjoy the podcast every Friday? Support it by getting your car mods at https://bit.ly/4vtk1kyToday the boys do a marketplace challenge to see who can find the best car for under $15,000. Not only that, but Gels new to him FB Rx-7 HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! #cars #podcast #automotivePick up our Coffee here! https://bit.ly/3PIFl6JA HUGE thank you to Continental, Motegi, and Fortune Auto for being the official tire, wheel, and suspension of the MartiniWorks Podcast! Let us know if you need a set of tires or coilovers.Shop Continental tires here https://bit.ly/4ecbfAKShop Motegi wheels here https://bit.ly/4vp7VcgShop Fortune Auto suspension here https://bit.ly/4fnfqM8Check out the main channel! @MartiniWorksOfficialWe also have an unboxing channel @MartiniWorksUnboxedFollow Alex @alexmartini__Follow Dakota @dakotastoneeFollow Gels @akagels
