🏎️ BMW E46 inspires Building an AI-Powered Podcast Platform for Car Junkies
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
🏎️ BMW E46 inspires Building an AI-Powered Podcast Platform for Car JunkiesTo All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History · Apr 28, 2026
Sim racing means racing in a video game with real driving controls like a wheel and pedals. People do it to get better at driving techniques and learn how cars behave before trying it in real life.
P1 Sim Racing is a facility in Annapolis, Maryland where you can race in high-quality driving simulators that feel close to a real sports car. They have leagues for people who want to compete regularly. Doug visited and drove a virtual Porsche Cayman GT4 there with a manual transmission. Web: drivep1.com — Instagram: @drivep1.
The 718 Cayman GT4 is Porsche's most performance-focused Cayman. While other 718 models switched to a smaller turbocharged engine, the GT4 kept a six-cylinder engine that revs high and sounds great. You can still get it with a manual transmission, which is rare for a new performance car.
Car Curious is the website and app that Ryan built. It plays car podcasts and shows you helpful explanations and pictures as the hosts talk — about cars, technical terms, brands, anything they mention. You can also follow specific cars (like the BMW 3 Series) and get a feed of every podcast episode that talks about them. Ryan walks through how it works later in the episode.
A six-cylinder engine where the cylinders lie flat on either side instead of standing up. Porsche has used this layout in the 911 for decades, and fans associate the sound and feel of a flat-six with the brand's most enthusiast cars.
A four-cylinder engine that uses a turbocharger to make more power. Porsche switched many of its 718 sports cars to this kind of engine, which made some fans miss the older six-cylinder version.
PDK is Porsche’s automatic transmission that shifts very quickly. Instead of waiting for one gear to finish before the next starts, it prepares the next gear in advance. That’s why it can feel faster and smoother than a traditional manual.
When BMW fans say "E46," they mean a specific version of the 3 Series — the one sold from 1998 to 2006. Every generation gets its own internal code (E30, E36, E46, F30, G20), so enthusiasts can be precise about which car they're talking about. Porsche does the same thing with numbers like 996 or 991. This is exactly the kind of thing the app explains for you while you listen.
The DeLorean is the stainless-steel sports car with doors that open upward. It only made about 9,000 cars before the company went bankrupt, but it became famous as the time machine in the Back to the Future movies — which is why hosts joke about "hopping in the time machine."
The GLC was a small, basic Mazda from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The letters stood for "Great Little Car" in Mazda's US ads. Ryan's was bright yellow, found through a newspaper ad in Oregon, and turned out to be unreliable — so he and his family called it "the lemon."
A "lemon" is car-people slang for a vehicle that turns out to be a constant headache — breaking down often or having problems the seller didn't disclose. Most states even have laws called "lemon laws" to protect buyers. In Ryan's case, the GLC was both literally lemon-colored and a lemon by reputation.
Buying a car “sight unseen” means purchasing it without personally inspecting it first. That increases risk because you can’t verify condition, mechanical issues, or accuracy of the seller’s description—something the story highlights when the speaker arrives home to find the car already in the driveway.
Before the internet, people sold used cars through small ads in the back of the local newspaper. You'd flip through pages of one-line listings, call the seller, drive over, and look at the car in person. Ryan's family found his first car this way — a very different experience from the online auctions he uses now.
The RX-7 is a Mazda sports car best known for one thing: instead of a normal engine with pistons going up and down, it uses a "rotary" engine with spinning triangles. It revs very high and sounds different from any other car, which is why fans love it — and why a "redline alarm" was a relevant feature.
The red line is basically the “don’t go past this” RPM on your dashboard. If you get close to it, the car may warn you because going too high can be risky for the engine.
In the 1970s, the US passed strict pollution and fuel-economy rules. Carmakers had to add catalytic converters and tune engines for cleaner exhaust, which often made the cars feel slower and more basic. Enthusiasts call this the "malaise era." Ryan's 1978 Mazda GLC was a typical car of that period.
Term
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is the line of mountains in the Pacific Northwest that includes Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier. Crossing them means long uphill drives, which is hard on small-engine cars. That's why a low-horsepower car like Ryan's Sentra struggled to make it over.
For most of the 20th century in the US, Nissan sold cars under the brand name "Datsun." Around 1981 they decided to retire that name and use "Nissan" worldwide. The switchover happened gradually through 1986, so a 1985 car could be badged either way — which is why Doug stumbles between "Nissan Datsun" and "Datsun Nissan" when asking about Ryan's Sentra.
The 1996 Accord was Honda's mid-size sedan, in its 5th generation. It became famous for being reliable, comfortable, and easy to own — a common "step up" car for people coming from cheap commuter cars. Doug mentions being the first in his family to buy a Honda, which was a typical 1990s experience as Japanese sedans took market share from American brands.
A model-year refresh is when a carmaker updates the same model for the next year with small visual changes — different headlights, a different grille — without redesigning the whole car. The 1996 Accord is a refresh of the 1994–95 design.
Term
Accord trim levels (DX / LX / EX)
Honda sold the 1996 Accord in three "versions" or trims: DX (the basic one), LX (with power windows, AC, cruise control), and EX (the nicest — sunroof, alloy wheels, anti-lock brakes, more powerful engine). Both Ryan and Doug had the EX, which is why they were comparing notes.
The Sentra is Nissan's small, basic, fuel-efficient sedan. Ryan's was a 1985 model he bought in college for $1,500 he saved up from a night-shift inventory job. It only made about 69 horsepower — barely enough to climb mountain passes — but it was reliable enough to get him through college and a long-distance relationship with his now-wife. He even found an envelope of cash the previous owner had left in the glove box, which he returned.
Bring a Trailer (BaT) is the biggest online auction site for enthusiast used cars, founded in 2007. Each car is reviewed by the site's editors before being listed, and the auctions run for 7 days. Its commenter community is famously detailed — they often catch problems sellers don't disclose. BaT trends toward vintage and high-end cars, while a similar site, Cars & Bids, focuses on more modern enthusiast cars.
Cars & Bids is an online car auction site started in 2020 by car YouTuber Doug DeMuro. It focuses on "modern enthusiast" cars from roughly 1980 to today — newer than the vintage stuff that dominates Bring a Trailer. Ryan bought his BMW 330i ZHP here, sight-unseen, for around $5,000. The format is a 7-day public auction with reserve.
The E46 M3 is the high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series sold from 2001 to 2006. It has a special high-revving 6-cylinder engine, can be had with a manual transmission, and is widely considered one of the greatest BMW M cars ever — fans call it "the last analog M3." But it's expensive to buy and known to need pricey maintenance, which is why Ryan ultimately bought a 330i ZHP instead.
When E46 BMW owners talk about "the big three," they mean a specific list of three big repair jobs that almost every E46 eventually needs: (1) replacing the cooling system (water pump, thermostat, hoses), (2) rebuilding the VANOS (the part that controls when the valves open), and (3) reinforcing the rear subframe (a metal frame that can crack over time). Together these can add several thousand dollars on top of the car's purchase price.
Car
2004 BMW 330i ZHP
The 330i was the top regular E46 3 Series, with a six-cylinder engine. The ZHP was an option package that added a little more power and a lot of sportier parts — suspension, seats, steering wheel, body kit, wheels. It's the specific car Ryan bought, and BMW only made a few thousand of them between 2003 and 2005, all for the US market.
"Mini M" is enthusiast slang for the BMW 330i ZHP — a standard 330i upgraded with sportier parts (suspension, seats, steering wheel, body kit) that make it feel almost like an M3, but cheaper to buy and own. It's the "M light" car for people who want most of the M experience without the full M cost.
A "sorted" car is one that's already had all its major repairs done — cooling system replaced, common problems fixed — so the next owner can just drive and enjoy it. Sorted cars cost more, but you save the money and hassle of doing the work yourself.
"Sight unseen" means buying a car without going to look at it in person first. Online auction sites make this common — the warning is that you can't catch problems like rust or hidden damage. Ryan's first car (a 1978 Mazda GLC) was also bought sight-unseen by his dad through a newspaper ad. Both cars came home without him meeting them first.
"E46" is BMW's internal code for the 3 Series sold from 1998 to 2006 — the generation right before the brand started using turbocharged engines and electric power steering. Enthusiasts call it "the last analog 3 Series" because it still has hydraulic steering and a naturally-aspirated inline-six, which they associate with the classic BMW driving feel. It's the specific chassis Ryan was hunting for.
VANOS is BMW's name for the system that controls the timing of the engine's valves so it can run smoothly at both low and high RPM. The seals and oil lines inside the VANOS wear out over time and cause rough running. Replacing or rebuilding them is one of the standard repairs on an aging BMW E46.
The E46's rear subframe (the metal frame that holds the rear suspension) is bolted to a section of the body that's thinner than it should be. Over years of driving, the metal can crack where the subframe attaches. The fix is to weld reinforcement plates around those attachment points. Ryan's previous owner already did this work, which is one less worry for him.
As you listen to a car podcast, this app shows little cards on your screen at the right moments — pictures of the cars being discussed, quick explanations of jargon, links to learn more. The text is generated by AI from the show's transcript. Ryan got the idea from Apple Podcasts' feature that scrolls the words of a song or podcast as it plays, and decided to add visuals and explanations on top of that.
Car Curious is the website and app that Ryan built. It plays car podcasts and shows you helpful explanations and pictures as the hosts talk — about cars, technical terms, brands, anything they mention. You can also follow specific cars (like the BMW 3 Series) and get a feed of every podcast episode that talks about them. This very episode is on the platform.
In a normal podcast app, you follow a show. On Car Curious, you can also follow a car — for example, the BMW 3 Series — and the app will automatically pull together every episode from every show that talks about that car. So instead of hunting through podcasts to find E46 BMW content, you just follow "BMW 3 Series" and the episodes come to you.
Bring a Trailer (BaT) is best known as a car auction website, but they also produce a podcast. What makes their podcast notable is that every car the hosts mention is linked in the show notes to its actual auction page — so you can immediately go look at photos and details of the car you just heard about. Ryan calls this out as one of the inspirations for Car Curious.
The Countach is the iconic 1980s Lamborghini supercar — sharp wedge shape, doors that swing up like scissors, a huge V12 engine in the middle of the car. It's the car most kids of the 1980s and 90s had a poster of on their bedroom wall. The pronunciation that throws people: it's roughly "KOON-tahsh." Ryan has a Countach Lego model in his video background.
JDM means "Japanese Domestic Market" — Japanese cars built for sale in Japan. People also use it loosely to mean "Japanese performance and tuner culture" in general. The hosts mention it because the next cars they talk about (the Nissan 300ZX, the Mazda Miata) are JDM-era legends.
"Cars and coffee" is a casual weekend car meetup — people drive in early Saturday morning, park their cars together, drink coffee, and hang out. The format started in California in 2005 and spread worldwide. It's where you can see exotic cars like a Countach in person, which is what the hosts are getting at.
The 300ZX is Nissan's 1990s sports car — Doug owns a 1990 model. The high-end version had a twin-turbo V6 making 300 horsepower, which was huge for the time. It's part of a legendary group of early-1990s Japanese sports cars (alongside the Toyota Supra and Mazda RX-7) that fans still chase today.
The Miata (also called the Mazda MX-5) is the small two-seat convertible that Mazda has been making since 1989 — over a million produced. It's lightweight, simple, and famously fun to drive, which is why it's the most-recommended "first sports car" or "first manual-transmission car." Doug had two of them.
Car and Driver is one of the oldest American car magazines, founded in 1955 and known for sharp writing and head-to-head comparison tests. Before the internet, monthly delivery of magazines like this was how car enthusiasts kept up with new releases and gear. Doug holds up a vintage issue with a Mazda Miata and Nissan 300ZX on the cover — a snapshot of the early-1990s Japanese sports car peak.
LIVE
Welcome back to All The Cars I've Loved Before, the podcast where we park the specs and stats at the door, and then we focus on the stories that really matter.
You know what time it is.
It's time to throw on that faded car t-shirt hat, get a little grease under our nails, or step back in time.
We're here to talk about that very first car, that sense of pure freedom with the windows down, the music pinned, and your best friends piled in the back.
Because at the end of the day, every car tells a story, and these stories reveal who we actually are.
Whether it's the forgotten beater, a lifelong project sitting away in the corner in the garage, or the one that got away.
We're diving into the personal history behind the metal.
I'm Doug.
I'm going solo tonight without my co-host Dave.
He is here in Spirit.
But this is where the car culture meets your life story.
So without further ado, we're gonna get into it.
Just a quick update on my part.
Spent a little time this past weekend.
One sim racing and driver development in Annapolis.
This is your F1 lounge.
I can't tell you enough great things about it.
I can't wait to get back there.
I strapped into a GT rig and drove a Porsche Cayman GT4 with a six-speed manual and tons of fun.
There were father-sons there, there were siblings there racing against each other.
They have leagues.
Definitely worth checking out if you're in the Annapolis area.
Of course, these are not unique just to Annapolis, they're all over.
And for their site, it is uh drivep1.com.
Again, P1 Sim Racing and Driver Development in Annapolis.
Now we want to drop in to talk about our guests.
Our guest today is Ryan Williams.
He's a software engineer who self-proclaimed, came into cars late.
He got interest in podcasts.
And like myself, he was looking for a hobby that would get him off his daily ride.
Daily ride being his computer, just like myself as a network engineer, aka computer network plumber.
But Ryan has taken on a really interesting, really interesting quest, if you will.
He has started a podcast player, that's how we connected, called Car Curious.
And Ryan, how are you today?
I'm doing great, Doug.
Great to be here.
Yeah, yeah.
Thanks.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm gonna have to ask you to explain the 718s you came in at some point during this.
Well, it was a virtual one, but yeah, it's a cool, cool car flat six versus the turbo four, amongst other things.
But yeah, kind of set up for set up for racing.
Um in the case of the P1 sim racing, they let me choose if I wanted to do a stick shift or a PDK, as Porsche calls it, the manual transmission.
Yep.
I chose stick shift.
I don't actually know if the GT4 actually comes with the stick shift or not.
Porsche only makes so many stick shifts.
Everybody's gone to the super amazing automatic PDK, which is quite amazing.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you hail from, and a little bit about Car Curious, and then we'll jump into your cars and then we'll circle back and talk more about Car Curious and where that's going.
Yeah, absolutely.
Happy to.
So just real quick, yeah, I'm from Portland, Oregon area.
Have grown up and lived in the Northwest most of my life.
Kind of a dad family man, been raising a family for the last two decades, four kids ranging from 21 to 11, and have just been, you know, really busy with work and family and over that time.
As kids start leaving, we find ourselves with more time.
And of course, like you said, how do we how do we find something that's not on the computer?
You know, health and physically and mentally requires something else.
So, you know, I'd always just, you know, and might be an admirer of cars, but not super handy.
And then, you know, I got this itch kind of like, you know, everybody talks about manual.
So let me like, you know, explore what this means a little.
Started listening to a few podcasts and it just kept talking about it and talking about it.
And, you know, after a while.
But like to our earlier conversation, like there were so many terms thrown out, like, you know, the transmission, different transmissions, the the on the Porsche's, the different model codes of the Porsche's, the different model codes and chassis codes of the BMWs, that I was just like, what did these all mean?
And then like you switch into Google, and I'm like, well, what if there is a way I could just, you know, have something explain or show me a picture of that car they're talking about as as I'm listening?
And so that's that's what got me more curious.
So back to the computer and have been came up, you know, with some ideas of exploration, also, you know, using all of these amazing new AI tools that we have at our disposal to see if I could like, you know, build a product that would would kind of, like you said, scratch that itch and and help me kind of learn more about cars and deepen my interest and understanding as well.
And so we launched that a couple of months ago on the web and building a mobile player because of course not everybody wants to listen to podcasts on their uh computers.
So finding some finding a way to get it into a native format as well to serve that that audience that's out on walks doing dishes, you know, doing chores, and then maybe they can glance down at the at the player as terms come up.
And and that kind of led us to to meeting as you know, I was exploring the market and of course was just kept expanding and finding uh more and more great stories out there around cars and car podcasts.
So it's a great community, and yeah, I'm just excited to kind of see uh where we go.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm I'm excited to have you here, not only to talk about car curious, because being a podcast, having a podcast about cars like perfect fit.
And I and I love what you're doing with it.
But let's uh hop into my time machine, my 1981 DeLorean, without all the time machine stuff, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you feel about it.
And let's hop back to your first car.
Tell us about it.
It's a Mazda, which was my second car.
Tell us about your Mazda, what what year, make model, color?
Yeah, I think it was my one and only Mazda.
It was the 1978 Mazda GLC yellow.
And, you know, affectionately or not referred to as the lemon, kind of fit the bill, you know, in many ways, both in terms of the the way it looks and of course its actual performance and and reliability.
So yeah, you know, as a as a teenager, of course, we all kind of dream of what car we're gonna drive once we get our license.
You know, I'm was driving my parents for a little bit, and then of course they they wanted to have their cars back, and they ended up helping out and and buying it.
But sight unseen to me, I came home from practice one night and and there's this yellow car in the driveway.
I'm like, what's that?
And it's like, oh, that's your car.
And I'm like, okay, well, was not super thrilled with it, but it was transportation, right?
And and a really thoughtful thing that that my dad had done.
And so back then we had what newspaper classified.
I think that's how he found it.
And we lived a little bit out in the country, so in the Eugene area in Oregon, and he found it there, brought it home.
Next day, went startup, right?
So tried to one thing led to another.
I think he tried to return it to the guy, and the guy's like, no way.
I don't think you I think you guys just changed your mind.
There's something wrong with the car, but oh man.
We were stuck with it, I guess.
But the one thing he had going for it was, you know, it's easy enough, not necessarily for me, either then or now, to fix, but pretty simple mechanically, I think.
And so we got it fixed up and I think it ran ran again through most of my high school days.
But yeah, certainly didn't win any uh full car awards.
And you're uh for though when when people see the YouTube version of this, right?
We do audio first and we do YouTube the following week, you're really smiling talking about it.
What great memories do you have of that car besides the wonderful color?
And I'm joking about the color, but certainly you're being surprised, but there had to be some great memories, like just thinking back.
Like what what popped into your head when we started talking about this or when you filled out our intake form to talk about your car?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a great question because it was certainly, you know, a fun time driving around with friends, lots of trips for baseball practices and games.
I was like a big baseball player in high school, that's where I spent most of my time.
Okay.
You know, got to learn a little bit about like changing oil, you know, and my dad would show me that.
And so, you know, memories with working on it with my dad and like just talking about cars or or being around the car were s were some of the fun things.
I think, you know, there was I think I was pulled over one time, may have received a citation for which was kind of notorious because I was not like a a drinker or anything, but there happened to be something in the car that was not supposed to be there for teenagers.
That was that was certainly a strong memory, being less rewanna call it.
Yeah, just hanging out with friends in our high school days and good memories there.
Yeah.
And uh I think we were talking before in the preamble, before we started recording, and you mentioned something about barely making up a mountain on your longest uh baseball trip.
Yeah, a good one.
Yeah, I think it was like the end of high school, and there was a uh all-star game like two hours south of us.
And so me and my buddy that were on the team, for whatever reason, we decided to take this car.
Not one of the better.
Yeah, no cell phones, right?
We're in the C Lage group.
No, well, this is like what 95.
And then but there's there's a little bit of hill, and so the trucks, you know, were slowing down and they've got their flashers on and and pulling off to the side, and I didn't know if we were gonna make it or not, but not a lot of you know, horsepower there for sure.
But we did make it eventually, and then got to do the ride home or got to do some downhill, you know, once we got to the top.
So that's always the fun part, right?
Yep, yeah, yeah.
Coast coasted downhill.
Was it manual or automatic?
It was a manual, yeah.
All right.
So that was the way I learned.
And yeah, just that coasting that was always a fun thing.
Yeah, yeah.
No, just the engagement with the manual.
That's the best part.
Just being more plugged in.
Was there any unique?
We'll we'll go on to your second car in a second, but I always think back was there something unique?
And I could think of my own Mazda, first Mazda, I had four Mazdas, but was there anything unique about that car?
Like maybe it was something Mazda touted, or like in my case, I had a Mazda RX7 with my first stick shift car.
I was a beaten up one, but I had a Mazda RX7.
And it had something that I just thought was cool.
It had an alarm that went off when you got close to the red line.
And I'm like, that's so cool.
And of course, my dad's like, you better not set that alarm off because that's not good for the engine.
But it's there to warn you.
Was it a gimmick?
Absolutely, right?
But it was cool.
Do do you remember anything about your Mazda having that?
Well, I mean, it was just, you know, an old tin can, right?
Special to it.
I don't even think the you know, we tried to hook up some stereo stuff as teenagers like to do.
Sure.
So it was kind of an experimental test set a little bit, but like nothing gotcha, nothing that was super stood out on that one.
Yeah.
But it had lights and things like that, right?
Yeah.
This was the era of what like post late 70s, like cars were just kind of being stripped down to minimal like requirements.
Yeah, it was all about emissions and yeah, yeah, and white, being white in that case.
So yes, yes, yeah.
So cool, cool.
Kept it in one keeps.
Yeah.
Well, thanks for sharing.
I'm glad uh the old lemon got you through high school and whatnot.
And uh yeah.
And so tell us about your about your second car.
Yeah.
So I think went away for college my first year.
I was kind of gone for most of it.
The summer following that first year, time to get a job, you know, baseball career had kind of wrapped up at that point.
But I like had to get to the job.
I had a girlfriend that I had met my first year of college, now my wife as well, after all of the amazing years with her.
And so, but she lived two hours away, right?
So it's like, what are we gonna do in the summer?
Yeah.
Trying to figure out like all those logistics of like getting to see each other, spend time with each other, getting to work.
So found some random jobs again in in the classified.
Doing, I had done like some security work at school, but never really had a real job, right?
So found doing inventory, like where you know, those people late night in stores like doing inventory, like oh yeah, they were hiring.
So did that.
Of course, you can kind of get as many hours as they can provide because they always need people.
Managed to save up, I think, 1500 bucks, right?
So within within a few weeks and and bought a 1985 Nissan Tentra, because I needed I needed to get, you know, to Portland very frequently.
And again, I think we found it in the classifieds.
Funny story, I think the previous owner had left a an envelope of cash in the glove box.
It was like, you know, a hundred bucks or whatever, but you know, as somebody who just spent 1500 bucks on a car like that's significant money, right?
So it's like I did get that back to the owner though.
Yeah.
And but another manual, another very low power car, but you know, it was super, super reliable for the most part and able to to get me everywhere I needed to go that time in my life.
Yeah.
So those were definitely, definitely great cars.
And in your uh intake form, you mentioned it had 69 horsepower, which was a full 10 more than the Mazda.
Could you feel the most definitely?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Later on, I think it did some out we did some mountain trips.
Yeah, I think we so in the northwest we kind of have a the Cascadean mountain range where people want to go to like to Central Oregon or going to skiing or the mountains or whatever.
So I think that they get over there a couple of times and it it could it did a lot better, right?
But it was also like, you know, I remember times when you're running low on gas or whatever, and you definitely like start coasting down the hill as as far as you can too.
Yeah, and the little yellow light would pop on, probably, right?
The little fuel light.
Yeah.
Nowadays it's some fancy warning system, early warning system.
Back then it was like there's a gallon left, maybe.
Yeah, right.
Yeah, you're lucky you'd be lucky to get a light of any kind.
Yeah.
So just that little, yeah, like you said, that that not even it's just like the color on the on the gauge, right?
So for sure.
How long do you have that Nissan Dotson?
Dotson Nissan.
Nissan, yeah, yeah.
I think so I ended up keeping that all the way through college.
Okay.
And then got my first job out of college and drove it another few years, I think, until we bought our our first house, and then kind of were able to get something to learn nicer.
We did have a nicer car that my wife would drive to work, but I was I didn't have a long commute.
So I just kept the centra, you know, to get my five miles to work and worked out great.
You know, for a time there, I think we so moving to the third car transition, there was kind of a, you know, we were engaged and then we ended up nice right before our senior year, and then later, well, we did a study abroad program together in Japan for three months in the fall, and then came back from there.
And I was still driving it around doing some, you know, baseball stuff at our school, coaching and and on a club team, not a varsity team.
And I was having to do a lot of driving, and then we wanted something a little nicer.
So we ended up getting a 1996 Honda Accord.
Yeah.
I think I had a 96 Accord too for very cool.
Man, that was I was I don't want to take your thunder.
I was the first person in my family to buy a Honda.
And then slowly, like my sister got one.
My dad and my mom, who only had American cars, they started buying them.
Next thing you know, everybody had a Honda.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I bought mine used.
It was one of the best cars I ever had.
It was just reliable.
It was like mostly a base model, but it was just a great car.
It had just enough of everything you needed, right?
Not too much, but just but more than enough, but but enough, right?
It had enough power and uh it was an amazing car, really legendary status.
But yeah, and the 96 was great too.
Like, I don't know how much like you remember the difference between the 95 and the 96, but like I don't know, it's just it had a a cooler feel, like the lights and the the taillights and everything.
I think it was the same model, but it was a like a slight refresh, if you would.
Yeah.
Mine was light blue.
That was man, that was a great car.
Yeah, ours was black and and being the EX, like going from but I think you know, engine-wise, I don't know.
I couldn't even tell you the difference between what is it, the so the LX at EX and then the the base.
It was like a DX, which is actually mine was at EX as well.
Okay.
I bought it used.
It it was a great car.
Yeah, ours, I think ours is used, and you know, of course, financing a car when you have no job is always interesting.
Again, fortunate to have co-signers and and whatnot to get us through those last few months of college.
But the difference between, of course, the centra and that was you know night and day, which was such such a joy and and pleasure to drive.
I mean, it was like a luxury car when you're coming from like the you know, a 10, 12-year-old car.
It was probably well, by the time we got that, it was pretty incredible.
And so even during some baseball trips, like uh we didn't always have vans that the school would let us use, so we'd have to get our own transportation.
And so I let you know one guy drive the Sentra over the mountain while I drove the corn and it's like he made it, but he was like, How about doing that again?
Yeah.
He's like, I'm glad it, I'm glad I made it because I don't know how we were gonna get back, right?
Yeah.
So we talked about your old cars and obviously many cars in between as a a family, family of four children, family of six, right?
And that you had mentioned uh in the intake form about Honda Pilots and and other vehicles, right?
That work for family.
But but recently, I think it was the end of last year, maybe when we started talking, you had bought a BMW and inspired by Car Curious, right?
A little bit of eat eat your own dog food, so to speak, in my terms.
Yep.
But yep.
Tell us about the year, the color, what's special about it, because there is something special about it, not just how you and how you got it, right?
And the significance of it.
And it's a unique model.
They only made a certain certain number.
Yeah, exactly.
So I think, you know, so darn cool in my opinion.
Uh and just having that classic like analog feel like you were talking about, right?
And you just hear it over and over.
But how do you go try that out?
Like you don't go on test drives of a of a 20-year-old car.
So you you start looking, right?
So one of the things that had become evident were were all of the auction sites, you know, bring a trailer and cars and bids and people talking about those.
And so I just started following like different cars on those and would see some pop up, starting with you know, the M3, because I think everybody thinks when they think it's like you think M3, right?
First, at least I did coming new.
I know everybody that knows these cars now knows a lot more, but you know, you see over and over, it's like, well, you know, they're they're gonna be, you know, maintenance problem, you know, you got to take care of the big three, which can be expensive.
And, you know, they're they're also they take a little bit of money to get into in the first place.
As it turns out, I was working with a guy who lived in Latvia, and BMWs are cheap to fix there, and they're a vummet, right?
So he invention, like, what about a 330?
And so uh, it's like, or 330i.
And so I just started watching those instead of just following M's.
And, you know, some would come up.
At one point, this one came up on cars and did.
It's a 2004 330i ZHP.
And so the ZHP is a little bit higher.
You know, it's got 10 additional horsepower and some additional like styling upgrades, steering wheel, lifter, that kind of bridge, it's like a mini M, right?
M Light, I like it.
And I was like, oh, this, and so oh, this is great.
Like I had seen a few ZHPs come and go, and I'd seen them usually go like around like anywhere between like 12 and 16.
You see them on marketplace, and then you know, a good one, uh kind of a kind of a sorted one would be, you know, mid-teens.
And this was like sitting at like five, five or six thousand dollars with you know, just a little bit to go.
Maybe this this this is the one.
And so I put I I put a bit in and I, you know, was expecting to get beat.
I do I was not beat.
It's like soon enough, it's like, oh, you won the auction.
And you know, it was a bit I was pretty comfortable with, but you know, again, I hadn't I did it kind of you know off the cuff and didn't like have a big conversation around it or anything with with the family.
So they I mean my wife was supportive and knew like this was an interest of mine and and definitely was excited for me as well.
But yeah, so you know, and we can we can even link to the auction at some point, it's still there.
Yeah, love to.
And I had no idea what to expect from that point, but the seller was outstanding.
I think you know, we had title and money like exchanged within a week or two.
The problem was it was in Cincinnati, Ohio, right?
And I'm in Oregon.
So we did have to get well, so the debate was was like, you know, do you fly and drive, which was initially was thinking, but like driving from Ohio to Oregon in the middle of winter in a 22-year-old BMW that you don't know how how strong it is?
Right, right, sight unseen, right?
Right, yeah.
I mean, you you definitely I am the the thing they warn you about with all those auction sites, buying a car sight unseen and not inspecting it, but you know, right, people are doing it, and and so far, so good, right?
I know people have bad experiences, but there's also people having good experiences.
And solar was great.
The shipping on cars and bids was a little extreme, in my opinion.
So my wife's uncle kind of is big in the cars, he knew kind of knew shippers and was able to connect me with the shipper who got it here.
We got to like watch it kind of travel across the country and showed up in the area, but and I was expecting it to be literally on Monday and like it wasn't coming and they weren't calling.
It I think I don't think it was until like Thursday that they finally I think they had like dropped it off somewhere and then like did local distribution on there because it came on a different truck here and it yeah, and it showed up so pretty exciting.
So I finally had in my hands, right?
Like kind of analog E46 ZHP and got to take it for a drive and was pretty pretty thrilling to take that kind of first drive.
I live kind of right on the edge of the growth boundary, and so I can get up into some country roads pretty fast and just had a blast with it.
Yeah, and it's been solid knock on wood so far.
So far, it's been good.
Yeah, I mean it's it mostly sits, right?
It's kind of the weekend car, which I don't have a garage for.
And my wife's like, what are you doing?
What's yours?
What is your plan with this thing?
So, you know, got it.
It did get really dirty on the way out over the mountain, so had it detailed, looks great, can can send some pictures along too.
And took it to a local DMW mechanic that's you know, the guy's been working on BMWs for 40 years.
They were like, You bought it where?
Like they had never, you know, had never heard of these auction sites, I don't think, either.
Gave it a clean bill at health, did did a couple of vanos line repair, brake flush, auto, power steering flush, and some other things.
They did it was kind of cool.
He put it up on the rack and like showed me underneath.
Like there's like it was in Cincinnati.
It's got 130,000 miles on it, but it only had three owners, so not a ton of miles and owners.
And the previous owner did a lot of work on it as well, like subframe reinforcement.
But there was a little bit of rust, right?
And so that that was the one thing I was worried about, like how substantial that was.
be he didn't he didn't he wasn't concerned about it if he you know I'm sure if I go to sell it at some point I try to get it cleaned up a little bit I don't even know what that looks like yet but you know we're gonna find out a little bit right any any plans enhancements anything in mind or right now just just drive it and enjoy it definitely drive it I think I I would like to you know continue to get it cleaned up I think it's gonna be fun for a year or two you know whether you know my kids want to like you know have fun with it as well you know or not and then maybe move into like something a little newer
or something else you know in a couple of years once we try this but clean it up you know get the like the roof the head unit is sagging the there's a tear on the and then maybe do some of the work myself like on on the mechanics of it and just kind of understand again the whole point of this is get are your kids excited about it like I could see a lot of parental bonding going on.
I mean if you didn't have a uh kid that's interested in cars maybe they're like yeah check out my dad bought that's kind of interesting right 16 and four years whatever the date is right and they're eyeing the car eyes it up so to speak.
Yeah I don't I don't think they they quite it remains to be seen right I would like I would like to do that a little my my older son like like sees cars very maybe it's just more that's generation too like very utilitarian right it's a point A to point B thing.
But yeah you did buy a unique car and you know I can't wait to hear your episode or watch your episode with via Car Curious and what would we see when we go through it like in your mind what would you expect to see because we're talking about a unique car.
We talked about a few unique cars including of course my DeLorean there'll be lots of information but what would uh listeners who listeners slash watchers expect to see when they listen to your this episode via Car Curi get Car Curious.
Yeah I love that question.
And just thinking like as as we've kind of gone through the story is like you've been talking about Porsche's and then we talked about like old Mazdas and Nissan and so I don't know if you've like looked in one of the inspirations here is like in the Apple Podcast app itself like whether you're listening to music and the lyrics are scrolling by, now they do it in podcasts as well as as you're listening to the podcast it'll scroll the transcript up but it's just just the text right.
And so you think about that and then overlaying like now you've got as the screen moves down as you're listening oh there's a picture of that car.
To be freeze.
Sorry a little bit of an excerpt about summarizing or like doing a quick summary or explanation of what that term was or what this car means.
And those are all you know generated with prompts and context you know through the AI engine, but using the voice of like the podcaster and kind of shape that that summary as well.
So you'll see things on the screen popping up as as you're listening it's gonna show it and then if you want to link off and and learn more about that it'll it'll let you do that as well.
So the the images are coming still from various sources that I could find.
I would love to like people and maybe we can try that out before this is published where we're actually uploading photos ourselves that we can attach to even tie it more directly to and then from there like you know as you kind of evolve in your enthusiast journey now for myself like you know three series BMWs are are the model that I'm interested in so I can subscribe and follow that that car model on Car Curious and any any podcast now that mentions the three series will show up in my feed and it's like oh
here's here's a podcast episode talking about BMWs.
And if you want to do that with the the Kn GT4 you can do that as well.
Right?
Yeah I I I love that I mean that's really taken the podcast to a different point.
Podcasts on YouTube have gotten popular in the last years like mine the audio automatically gets uploaded no matter what through my podcast distribution platform.
People are just publishing just like we're gonna do with this episode people are putting the video out there.
So how about having the video and then all these facts and then you click you know not my product but I'm excited about it you click a link and it takes you to some more detail maybe it takes you to Wikipedia.
Maybe it takes you to an active auction or a past auction.
Maybe it's your past auction on the car that you bought right that we were talking about so yeah I can really see this the sky's the limit on on get car curious.
Well you it's funny you mentioned that yeah one of the kind of most visual podcasts that I would saw from the audio standpoint because yes YouTube is huge right and and getting bigger maybe but on the audio front like the Bring A trailer podcast they don't do video but their show note links lead to every single auction that they talk about right and so yes if we put that link in the show notes like that's one of the things I built when I started was parse all the show notes, find the links to the cool things in and then
pull whatever you know imagery we we can from there too.
So let's yeah we can definitely give that a shot.
Yeah well it's I mean there's no limit to the creativity and when it comes to car enthusiasts like I mean there's there's no end to how deep you can go right I'm super excited to see where things go with the go with get car curious.
I can't wait of course to see to all the cars I've loved before on there.
Absolutely so and from the get car curious feed of course but yeah what is that the the Lamber Lamborghini Kuntosh.
I cannot pronounce it maybe you can pronounce the the quarter chord to Ray out we'll figure it out.
Lamborghini Kuntosh you said it right yeah yeah exactly but there's the yeah the the br the the trim on it anyway but one of these just went on bring a trailer for almost a million dollars as well.
So plot twist that's not the car I picked up even though that's the one in my background.
But you know being a dad and having the Lego experience as you see with the map and the car this is this is where we start right with with our dream cars.
And you know it cut just kind of goes back to the those 80s and 90s of our youth and like the posters we have on our walls and the shows and the and the magazines I remember getting like a Lamborghini magazine.
At some point you know in middle school or whatever that was just the power and the speed and you know the looks right like they're pretty amazing just when you see one still at cars and coffees or car shows or whatever.
Yeah they are they are I as I understand not very easy to drive and not comfortable but that right that it sold in the 80s you know it was all about X XS right.
And you think about stock brokers and just every all the exciting things that were going on in the 80s.
Yep I I have been digging in and I like to share this with people because just popped into my head when I bought my 300z X 1990 Nissan 300Z like man I would love to have some old magazines.
So of course you can find all this stuff on eBay and whatnot.
Hopefully it'll show up on the screen if you're watching on video here's a car and drive what's on the front a Miata and a 300Z well I owned a Miata I actually owned two back in the day and now I own a 300 ZX and I remember reading this exact magazine and I had for those who are watching us live another plug I have glasses on and so I used to read these cover to cover and now print media is kind of dead and in looking at it and this magazine is in great shape
I actually have trouble reading the font would it somebody my age did they have that problem or are we just spoiled from you know being able to make something quicker easier to read and I I'm I've I've become admittedly a huge Kindle fan.
I prefer a book but you can't go wrong you know it feeds the itch.
You can get anything you want right away you don't have to go to the library but yeah exactly yeah I'm new to glasses as well and so I I'm definitely on the Kindle train because I don't have to to wear them when I read and whatnot.
But yeah I even found he's got a magazine too I think this is my life now of like you know just going to the store and like seeing this and it's like huh that looks cool I'll check it out.
Yeah no I I love it and you you know you've taken like a couple things you love right and and the car thing is growing on you right and and your interest right computers applications podcasts and my favorite thing cars and you're doing something with it and that's you know right or right wrong or indifferent there's nothing wrong with it and you know that's why I started doing the podcast I mean thanks to Christian who helped me but I need something else as
I get older and I'm not so focused on my career anymore.
For good or bad I'll say winding down.
It's been a great career for 30 plus years doing computer networking.
Now I get to have fun with cars and meet people in the car space and whether it's a somebody who loves cars and works on them and is always either trading up like we had John Clock on or if it's somebody who's uh Porsche Cup driver we're gonna have Saber Cook and her father Stacy Cook on.
Or it's somebody like you and I who are just cars are the outlet.
Right.
And it's just that mutual love.
So thank you for being with us tonight Ryan.
I really hope to have you back again soon talk about more cars hear more about Get Car Curious, link Car Curious with this episode and others.
And you've been riding shotgun with To All the Cars I've loved before this is the podcast celebrating the metal that shaped our lives and the stories that keep them running.
And if today's podcast sparked a memory of your own ride or a project gathering dust in the corner or you want to hear about it, tell us, drop us an email you can send it to Doug at carslove.com
but also stories at carslove.com
I think is a little easier to remember or you can find us on social media Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
And again special thanks to Ryan for joining if you want to learn more about Ryan and his project it is getcarcurious.com
and for anybody else if you're listening if you enjoyed going down the memory lane today with us follow us, tell a friend leave a review on Apple Podcasts that's the best way to help our community grow.
And if you're looking for one central place to go to to find all our content go to our link tree L I N K T O E slash Cars Love that's our digital switchboard as Christian came up with is a great saying and you can find links to our YouTube our email our podcast intake if you want to be on a guest we have it all there.
Until next time keep the windows down and the stories move
About this episode
Doug chats with Ryan Williams, a software engineer who came to car culture later in life and turned that curiosity into Car Curious, an AI-powered podcast player that helps listeners identify cars, terms, and model codes in real time. The conversation mixes tech and nostalgia, from Ryan’s Portland background and family life to his first car: a yellow 1978 Mazda GLC that barely made it through high school but created lasting memories with friends, baseball trips, and wrenching with his dad. They also touch on sim racing, manual transmissions, and how podcasts sparked his deeper dive into cars.
How do you transition from a "utilitarian" view of driving to chasing the perfect analog feel of a 20-year-old BMW?
In this episode, Doug sits down with Ryan Williams, a software engineer who discovered his passion for cars later in life while searching for a hobby that would get him off his "daily ride"—his computer. Ryan shares the story of his "lemon" yellow 1978 Mazda GLC and the reliable Nissan Sentra that powered his college years, before diving into his recent obsession: a 2004 BMW 330i ZHP bought sight-unseen from an auction site.
We also get an exclusive look at Ryan’s new project, Car Curious, an AI-driven podcast player designed to deepen the listener's journey. Imagine listening to a car podcast and having the specs, chassis codes, and photos of the exact models being discussed pop up on your screen in real-time.
Buckle up as we discuss:
The "Mini M": Why the E46 ZHP is the perfect "bridge" car for new enthusiasts looking for that classic BMW feel.
Auction Anxiety: The thrills and perils of buying a car from Cincinnati and shipping it to Oregon in the middle of winter.
The Future of Car Media: How AI tools are helping new fans decode the complex language of car culture and "scratch the itch" of curiosity.
Generational Shifts: The struggle of passing the "car bug" down to children who see vehicles as strictly utilitarian.
