A “car launch” is when a car company holds an event to show off a new vehicle. The hosts are saying these events can be so over-the-top that people end up talking about the experience more than the car itself.
The Ferrari Luce is a Ferrari model that the podcast talks about. The episode suggests there are clues you can use to recognize or understand it based on specific details. It’s mentioned because it’s something people notice and discuss.
“Curated launches” means the event is planned very intentionally—where it happens and who gets invited. The point being made is that the guest list and setting can reveal what the company really wants people to focus on.
A Range Rover is a luxury SUV from Land Rover. The 2013 model is a specific year of that SUV, and it’s known for being able to handle rough roads and trails, not just city driving.
The DB12 is an Aston Martin sports car meant for fast, comfortable driving. In the conversation, it’s being used as an example of the kind of fancy car you’d bring to a big movie-style location.
Location scouting is when a movie team searches for the right real places to film. They pick spots that look good and work for the scene they want to shoot.
“Stick” means the car has a manual transmission. You use a clutch pedal and a gear lever to choose the gears yourself.
Term
bumpy roads
“Bumpy roads” means the pavement is uneven. That makes the suspension do more work, so it’s a good test of how stable and comfortable the car feels over rough ground.
Lane Keep Assist is an ADAS feature that helps keep the car centered in its lane by steering corrections when lane markings are detected. Some cars allow it to be enabled by default, while others require the driver to turn it on each time.
The 350 GT is an older Lamborghini sports car designed for long-distance driving. In the episode, it’s mentioned as a kind of classic car that shows up in dealer and collector circles. The point is that it’s a notable vintage Lamborghini people seek out.
A “Coyote motor” is a Ford V8 engine family. It’s known for making strong power and torque, which is why the car can feel like it cruises well without constantly shifting.
A “five speed gearbox” is the manual transmission with five gears. More gears can help keep the engine in its power zone, but this car’s torque means you may not need six for everyday driving.
“Six speed” means the car has six gears instead of five. The idea is that it can keep the engine in the right RPM range, but the hosts say this particular car’s torque makes extra shifting less necessary.
The “torque band” is the RPM range where an engine produces strong torque. The hosts are saying that, because this car has long, usable torque, you don’t always need extra gears to keep the engine inside that sweet spot.
The “center tunnel” is the raised structure running down the middle of the cabin that often houses the drivetrain components. The hosts note that, in this car, the center tunnel is effectively the gearbox housing, which affects packaging and interior space (like right-leg room).
A “tube frame” is a car’s skeleton made from metal tubes. It helps keep the car light and stiff, which is why many lightweight sports cars use this kind of frame.
“Full body is carbon” indicates the body panels are made from carbon fiber composite. Carbon fiber is used to reduce weight and can improve stiffness, which is especially valuable on a lightweight roadster where every pound affects feel.
A “side hinge hood” is a hood that opens by pivoting on hinges mounted at the sides rather than swinging forward from a front hinge. This can be used for styling and packaging, especially on low-nose, track-inspired cars.
In this context, “hinged” describes seats that pivot on hinges so the seatbacks can fold forward. That design creates extra cargo space behind the seats, effectively turning part of the cabin into a luggage area.
They’re talking about how the car feels when you turn the wheel. It’s about how responsive and predictable the steering is.
Concept
Caterpillar racing
They’re using a comparison to describe how the car’s steering feels. The idea is that it doesn’t instantly react—it seems to follow after a brief delay.
Carbon body means parts of the car are made from carbon fiber. It’s lighter and stiffer than metal, but it usually costs more and can be harder to fix if you crash it.
A tube chassis is a car built on a frame made of metal tubes. Instead of relying on the body panels to be the main structure, the frame does that job, which can make the car lighter and easier to build in a custom way.
An off-the-shelf motor means the engine isn’t custom-made for that car. It’s a regular production engine, which usually makes it easier to get parts and keep running.
A solid rear axle connects both rear wheels with one rigid bar. When one wheel hits a bump, it can influence the other wheel more than on cars with independent rear suspension.
A “straight pipe” means the exhaust isn’t muffled much, so it gets louder. The host is saying their muffler lost packing, so it started sounding like a straight-pipe car.
“Hybridized” means the car gets both a gas engine and an electric motor. The host is talking about the industry moving toward that kind of setup.
Person
Thomas Holland
Thomas Holland is a car creator who talks about cars online. The host is mentioning him because he’s connected to a popular conspiracy-style idea about cars.
Term
double tank
“Double tank” is ambiguous in this context; it could refer to a manufacturing or logistics setup (two separate tanks for a process) or be a mis-transcription. There isn’t enough surrounding detail here to define it reliably for listeners.
A Remastered 911 is an older Porsche 911 that gets restored and updated. The idea is to keep the original 911 style, but improve parts so it feels more modern. The episode brings it up as a restoration approach and business model.
Carbon fiber is a strong, lightweight material used in some high-end cars. Here it’s mentioned as something a small builder might start making or processing themselves when they scale up.
Concept
robots are assembling cars
This is about using robots to build cars instead of mostly people. The claim is that bigger production numbers usually require more automation in the factory.
The Nevera is an electric supercar built to be extremely fast. The episode mentions a special version that’s related to the Nevera and talks about how it’s presented. It’s discussed because it’s a high-performance EV that stands out.
Term
e-building factory
They mention an “e-building factory,” meaning a factory set up for building electric cars. The point is that it sounds like a real, large investment.
They’re talking about a factory expansion in the Ferrari area (referred to as “Marinello”). The idea is that Ferrari is building new space specifically for electric-vehicle work.
In high-demand car sales, “allocation” is the limited quota of cars a dealer is allowed to sell for a given model. The host claims these rumored Luce units may not yet be tied to any formal allocation, which would help explain why there are “zero orders.”
The Porsche 917 is a famous old race car from the 1970s. It’s known for a very aggressive, track-focused shape, and the host is saying this newer car borrows its look but isn’t identical.
The Carrera GT is a very rare Porsche supercar built for high performance. It’s the kind of car enthusiasts talk about because it’s special and hard to find. In the episode, it’s brought up as part of a lineup of famous Porsche cars.
A restomod is an older-style car that’s been updated with newer tech so it drives better today. In this case, the host is saying the car is a 917-inspired restomod based on a Carrera GT.
GT means “Grand Touring.” It’s a racing category for sports cars that are more closely related to real-world car shapes and ideas, rather than being one-off prototype race cars.
Term
swayed seat
They’re talking about the car’s seats looking special—blue upholstery with a tartan (plaid) center. The exact term is unclear in the transcript, but the takeaway is the unique interior styling.
“Modded” just means the car has been changed—like adding upgrades or changing the look. The hosts are talking about the argument between people who want the car left alone and people who want to personalize it.
The point here is that car people like to personalize their cars. Even if a car is already great (and expensive), owners often change it so it feels like their own.
Emissions here means pollution that ends up in the air. The host is talking about pollution linked to tires, like tiny particles that come from tire wear. The idea is that changing tire behavior can reduce that pollution.
Tire particles are tiny bits that come off tires as you drive and they wear. Those bits can end up floating in the air. Some laws try to reduce how much of that pollution tires create.
Minimum performance standards are rules that say a product has to meet a baseline level of quality or safety. Here, the idea is to require replacement tires to be efficient enough and to grip well on wet roads. That helps stop “bad” tires from being sold.
Wet grip means how well a tire can hold the road when it’s raining. Good wet grip helps you stop and turn safely on wet pavement. That’s why regulators may require a minimum level so you don’t end up with rain-unsafe tires.
Tire grooves are the channels in the tread that help move water out of the way. Shallower grooves can make the tire roll more efficiently, but they can also make it harder for the tire to handle rain. That’s the tradeoff the host is describing.
Rolling resistance is how much effort it takes for a tire to roll down the road. Tires with lower rolling resistance waste less energy, which can help your car use less fuel.
Off-road tires are built for dirt and rough ground, with tread that helps them grip where pavement tires struggle. They can behave differently on wet pavement compared to regular street tires.
High performance tires are made to give better grip and more responsive handling. They can be a tradeoff versus fuel-economy or wet-weather behavior depending on the exact tire.
“Replacement tires only” means the regulation or rating applies to tires sold as replacements after a vehicle is already on the road, not necessarily the tires installed at the factory. That distinction can change how manufacturers comply and how many tire models are affected.
The Ford Falcon is a car model from Ford that’s been around for a long time. In the episode, it’s mentioned in connection with tires and how cars are used or tested. The point seems to be about the Falcon’s place in that kind of automotive world.
Concept
factory equipment
“Factory equipment” means parts that come installed on the car when it’s built. The idea here is that if the rule only covers replacement tires, car makers might offer certain tires from the factory instead.
“PS4” is a brand/model of performance street tire. It’s meant for good grip and handling on regular roads, not just a race track.
Term
triple 8's
“Triple 8’s” sounds like a specific tire model. The important part here is that the discussion is about how tires might be labeled for off-road-only or temporary use, which can affect whether you can legally drive them.
“Off-road use only” means the tire is meant for dirt trails or other non-street use. The host is saying that if a tire is labeled that way, you might get in trouble if you drive it on public roads.
“Temporary use” means the tire is intended for short-term driving. The host is discussing how that label could affect whether you’re allowed to use it on the road.
A 1994 Miata is a classic small roadster. The host is using it to show how new tire rules could make it harder to buy the right replacement tires for older cars.
“Hoosiers” means Hoosier tires, which are often used for racing. The host is saying that if you can’t get the right legal replacement tire, you might end up with something more track-oriented.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car. The point being made is that Porsche designs the car’s safety/handling systems assuming a certain level of tire grip.
Sports tires are performance-oriented tires tuned for grip and handling, often with different rubber compounds and tread designs than efficiency-focused tires. The key point here is whether those performance tires can still meet efficiency-related standards like rolling resistance.
This refers to a regulatory phase-in schedule where tire manufacturers must meet new requirements by specific future dates. The episode frames it as something to plan for rather than an immediate reason to panic about current tire availability.
Energy performance standards are regulatory targets that push tire makers to improve efficiency-related metrics, such as reducing rolling resistance. In this discussion, the host references a phased timeline (phase one and phase two) for when those requirements take effect.
Smog controls are emissions regulations intended to reduce air pollution from vehicles. The host uses California smog controls as an analogy for how regulations can initially change things but later lead to improved outcomes across the market.
Direct injection means the engine sprays fuel straight into the combustion area. That lets the engine control fuel more accurately, which can improve both power and efficiency.
These are special tires made for warm weather. They’re built to grip the road really well, which helps handling, but they’re not ideal for cold weather and can wear faster.
Stopping distance is how much road you need to come to a full stop after you hit the brakes. Tires matter a lot—good grip helps you stop sooner, especially in the rain.
Tread depth is how much “pattern” is left on the tire. Less tread can mean the tire can’t clear water as well, so it may grip worse in the rain.
Term
rolling resistance tires
Rolling resistance tires are tires engineered to reduce the energy lost as the tire rolls, often by using harder compounds and/or specific tread designs. The goal is better fuel economy, but the design can reduce wet traction and worsen stopping performance if the tradeoff isn’t balanced.
An all season tire is meant to be used year-round. It’s a compromise tire—good for many conditions, but not as specialized as a dedicated winter tire or a track-focused tire.
Michelin is a well-known tire maker, and Primacy is one of their all-season tire models. The host is talking about how many miles those tires lasted in real use.
That’s about how far the host drove on the same set of tires before taking them off. They’re using it to show that tire wear can happen faster than some people expect.
Tire life expectancy is how long a tire is expected to last in miles. The host is saying that the optimistic estimate they saw doesn’t match what they’ve experienced in real driving.
A 1994 Corolla is a basic, everyday Toyota compact car. The point here is that even on a simple commuter car, the host doesn’t expect all-season tires to last extremely long.
The Lexus LS 430 is a luxury car from Lexus. It’s the kind of car people buy for a smooth, comfortable ride, and here the host is talking about someone who sells only that specific model.
This is the idea of a car shop that only sells one specific model of car. The benefit is the seller knows that car really well and can find the right parts to fix them up.
The Ferrari 550 Maranello is a classic Ferrari sports car with a V12 engine. The host is basically saying it would be his dream single-model dealership choice.
This is a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The “992” is the generation of the 911, and the GT3 RS is the more hardcore, track-oriented version with a lot of performance-focused tuning.
This is a car that shifts like a manual, but you don’t have to press a clutch pedal. It uses one clutch, so the shift can feel a bit slower or have a moment where power drops compared to some other designs.
LIVE
What's up everybody welcome to the smoking tire podcast today's episode is brought to you by off the record
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You know what I mean? It's a it's a sober text from your attorney saying you can breathe now off the record dot com slash
tst that's off the record
Dot com slash tst if you get pulled over don't plead guilty get off the record on today's episode of the smoking tire
I talk about a cool custom built car out of argentina. They could potentially be the future of a
Retro future if you know what i'm saying we talk about a viral instagram video in which almost nobody is actually checking the primary source material
And a whole lot more it's the smoking tire podcast. Let's go
Mm-hmm. Did you think it was weird that blink 182 played at the Mercedes that launch you did. Yeah, I was just like, oh, that's how money works
I just well, I mean
No, I didn't think it was like just strange weird. I mean, I you know
I've seen multiple artists that are now dead play at the gran teresmo party at sema
So like, you know scott wyland and a fucking fur coat and shit, you know, I doubt he cared much about gran teresmo
Wasn't like but like yeah, it's a bit of an odd choice. Yeah, because like
Like here's the thing about blink 182
Like I'm like, do you like blink 182? I do
Like I like and it's okay if you don't no, I like blink 182 also, but like
It doesn't
Uh
Seem like the right
music for
German car launch. That's what I mean. It's not that having that level of band is weird. No, I agree that actual band
It's it's an odd like blink 182 music even though these guys are like in their fifties is like juvenile music
A lot of it's like high school. It's high school
It's just better
Musically than a lot of their competition was so I think that's why part of why it was catchier like it was
Yeah, pretty pretty great. Um
But yeah, a lot of it's like nobody likes me right now
Well, yeah, that might you could say that about the Mercedes super sedan
Very funny point. It's like it's like pandering to so Cal aggressively like hey, right your so Cal royalty is here
Do you like the car? Like no, but I like the band and they're like, yeah
Sixth Street Brit. So therefore you like the car, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah anything to it's a it is a distraction
You know how they say
like if you have a really like
Ridiculous lavish over the top wedding like you're you know, your marriage won't last very long renew your vows after two
That's I think that science applies to car launches
If you have like no, it's not one to one, but like there's you know, you could do a pretty
Pretty over-the-top thing for a sort of where it's like please talk about not the product
Toyota sienna was the invite was hawaii
And from what I didn't go but my colleagues that went they were like most of the time we spent doing hawaiian activities
Yeah
Harris talked about this when they did like an emergency podcast about the luce and he's like you can always tell like the more
curated
The launches both in terms of where and who they bring
Like he's like they didn't bring a lot of drivers to that launch sure they probably they brought tech people
It was a lot of tech because yeah, so it's all very they brought people that were more interested in seeing
What is johnny ives next thing than what is ferrari's? You know next thing
I mean, it's not always like sometimes a brand
Has a very important product like I point to like
The 2013 Range Rover when they went to almond we gearie like that was pretty crazy
But like we then went out and did very Range Rover-y things like in the cars
Like we did some pretty sweet off-roading out there actually and so it was it was like both or like the db12 in monaco
But like when you shut down a city infrastructure
You know to launch a car. It's like oh, there's
This is a little more than normal, you know the 6th street bridge. I mean that's is that the most
It's an oddly famous part of la like it's been in a lot of movies
The old bridge the old just gone and now we have the new bridge
But like it is a funny thing like hey remember in t1
You know terminator two when they shot at each other on this bridge like yeah, like would you like to have a car?
Launched there like your brain is wired. I mean they just it's like a famous thing
It's almost become a meme of like if you shut down 6th street bridge and shoot on it
Yeah, that's a cool thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, you know black double black location scouting
I suppose, you know it highly advanced
Highly advanced what it hurts to laugh
Yeah
Double black. Yeah location scouting. That's like that's like what scato does, you know, yeah
It's that kind of thing you do it just to say you're doing it
but like
If they really thought the carb's gonna be fucking
Super super well received by everybody
They may not have gone to the lengths of hiring blink 182. Do you think they just gave them each a car?
No, I think they took cash. Yeah, I think yeah, but like, you know George Russell's there. They have to be oh, sure. It probably
Wanted or had to be so
Yeah, I mean he probably because is there's gonna be a sequel to the film
Right, they're heavily invested. I yeah. Yeah. So um, so yeah
Think the film is like a total f2
Yeah, f1 2
F12 how do they get into this conundrum because f2 is uh, they can't do f1 colon two
They're gonna have to call it something. Mm-hmm. But but f2 just means something completely different. They're gonna call it f1 season two
Maybe I hope not. That wasn't I certainly hope not. I don't know. Listen, it's brun these guys can figure it out. They're smart boys
And girls. Yeah, but uh, hi everybody
Podcast time. What's happening? It's it's monday
It's monday. Um
Uh, I hope everybody is doing all right had a nice weekend
Uh drove I was gonna drive my own car and then one of my customers was like, can you please take my car out?
He's out of town for like a month. I'm like cars gonna be fine
A lot of cars sit for more than a month. It's all good. He's like, please. So I
Took out his gt3
Sent him pictures of it like it was like I was babysitting his dog, you know proof of life, right? Yeah, you know proof of can proof of canyon
proof of proof of beach
But it was a you know, it's a dot two dot two gt3 with a stick and so
uh, it's I uh
I haven't driven a dot two in the homeland yet and drove it in in spain where the roads are fucking perfect really good
drove this one in uh
In malibu and I drove it up some pretty bumpy roads
God, it's so much better than the first one on the bumpy roads. They took that st
Programming right they did a little command c command v and it just tracks straighter. It handles bumps better
What a fucking delight and the bucket seat the folding bucket seats now. They have new seats. They're really good
um, just a fucking great thing and actually the
Eight uh the adas the full adas did not come on
On the restart. So I think they have
Uh, given the north american market potentially a little under the table, uh, fucking handy. Nice. Yeah
They have done a little reach around and just tickled the balls just for us
Uh, it's got a trunk full of preservatives that they they're not allowed to have that's what's an adas off. Yeah
And uh, so yeah, you don't uh, I think that it does have limited adas
But the lane keep assist does not seem to turn on by default which I am fucking 100 down with cool in a sea of
Fucking adas shitification
Everywhere, you know, it's nice
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Um, this is called the sp 40
Resto mod and the reason it's
Like awkwardly named resto mod is because these guys are argentinian. English is a second language
Um, so these guys are the company behind this thing have been sort of like another per sang like a competitor building
You know pre-war type replicas
and they were had they had been building a replica of
The edsill ford special roadster. I think it's called
Searched it looks like so edsill ford son of henry ford went to europe
and saw some
Some ground pre cars basically and was like yo, that's the shit and came back to america
And that's the only picture we got and it's called. Yeah, the model 40 special speedster
um
So he said he asked the ford special people to build him this really dope
European looking
Speedster thing. It's pretty sick
Yeah, it's very cool. It looks like 34 combo of like a 32 4 with like a like a morgan seating position
Though you're sitting almost on the rear axle super long nose
And then these cool lower lights
Let's go back to european so and then the current one
Actually does look you know proportionally a lot like it. It's a little lower nose. It doesn't sit quite as tall a little more aggressive
But generally it's got that same speedster shape with the radiate the uh the sort of rounded front radiator
And it's almost an open wheel actually the front wheels are open you see the open control arms
They have covers, but it is an open wheel front car
um
It's got a coyote motor in it. Whoa
And a uh a built a five speed gearbox a tremic five speed as longer gears they thought
You know it weighs 2600 pounds
So they said they built one with a six speed
and they said that a
It was a lot of shifting and it was so much power that they did one with a five speed and they're like, oh actually
This is kind of better. Yeah, uh just long torque. It's not a you know, it's not a race car
It's a fucking cruiser. So I've never driven the Cobra and thought I need six gears
You know a lot more shifting, you know to really stay in this torque band
Yeah, I mean some some cars you clearly do want five you six gears
But in this car they said it really wasn't very necessary and the the fact that the the center tunnel
Is effectively the gearbox. I mean, it's just a housing around the gearbox
They said the the physical case of the six speed was much bigger
And with the five speed you actually have a lot more room for your right leg
Oh, because like leg room was it was kind of an issue
So yeah side hinge hood the full body is carbon
it's a tube frame
and uh, it's got the the the aesthetic of the interior is that like
That kind of vibe they had in like 2005 where it was an art deco like like that cobra
Concept with the v10 that we that I drove around and curated. Yeah, remember that. Yeah, like that kind of vibe
05 4gt
idea
But and then these seats it's pretty cool. They're these sort of high back buckets, you know vintage looking
But they're hinged and actually the backs fold forward and you can put a bunch of luggage behind the seats in that trunk area
Oh, cool. So it's actually sort of like
You know, there's no roof, but you can you can tour a little bit in it
It looks pretty awesome. Yeah, I heard they want you to drive it. Did you talk to uh, yeah
I think I'm gonna go drive it on thursday. Cool. You want to come maybe we don't have to film it
Yeah, but just like getting it out of cars right now. It's not great. And sorry that doesn't look
Particularly, it's very cool though
Maybe I will I don't know it's it's you know
It's worth coming along and fucking having a little just take all the time on the morning
2600 pounds and
460 horsepower
I bet I'm really curious to see how it feels steering wise because we've talked about the morgan
You steer the front end turns you wait a second and then you go with it. You know, it's very much like it almost feels like you are
Doing your own. What is it called like?
Caterpillar racing, you know demo dirt where they tie two cars together
It's a little bit like that. So this is you know, you're sitting all the way at the back. Yeah
And way out front. It's definitely unique. So yeah
But it looks very cool. It looks cool. I fired it up. It sounds mean as hell. It's like a better looking dunk
Dunker fort dunker fort. Yeah. Yeah, those are always those have gotten
A little extra in the design department. I mean, they're they're fast and keep going
They've got a little extra word. Yeah, they're fucking hard
Well, you know the comments on the uh in my instagram are pretty mixed. Marco's pretty fucking salty on it
Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, the car the car looks like the answer to a question
You know, he's he's in the middle of a remodel of a building right now
He's a little fucking salty his comments appear across my feed and he's he hates everything right now
You're not gonna find anything on the internet that's making him happy this week. Sorry, Marco fucking you're you're
You're the the edge and your comments. It's standing out to me right now
Um, but people, you know, it's it's expensive because of course it is
They say it's 500000 dollars
Yeah
No, like I don't have that kind of money to blow in a car and if I did I probably wouldn't buy this but
That doesn't mean it isn't cool as fuck. It's very cool
That does I'd have to look at it in person because the specs are like carbon body with pretty simple panels
I'll say I mean the louvers might be a pain in the ass, but like it's a the design is
It's you know, it's a curve like
Simple radius and then flat simple radius and flat and you've got like a coyote motor
So it's an off-the-shelf motor. It's a tube chassis
500 grand seems a lot. I agree. But no, no, dude
You're you're telling me. I mean, I suspect it costs that much because that's what they think they can get for it
There's probably, you know, good margins in it
I mean
Look just sitting in it it and poking around it. It looked screwed together very nicely
Um, I don't know how hard it is to
Make this thing I said, is it a solid rear axle?
And they won't know and they showed me photos of a pretty complex rear suspension architecture that that was fully independent. I mean
There's a chance that this thing drives really good like a chance like I'm not I don't it probably won't be
You know a McLaren, but there's a chance this drives like
Beautifully sure, you know, so
I'm not I don't need to fucking say something is worth money if it's not but like
There's a chance this is amazing
Like I don't know. Yeah, I would like to be optimistic because it looks cool
I was pretty stoked on it to just see it out and about and it it it seemed to be put together nicely
The shifter feel was good the steering feel
I mean just moving it back and forth sitting right there was was nice
The sound was really cool because it's side pipes, but they're very long and they're muffled
So it's not
Insanely loud like, you know some fucking meathead in their cobra
It sounds about the volume of like
A viper maybe a little a little louder than viper
But about about that, you know, it's not like insane insane, right?
More like an original cobra for 27 cobra is not a particularly loud car. That's true. Yeah
The replicas are all way louder
Well ours was quiet and then all the all the fiberglass packing blue like literally flew out of the muffler and now it's like straight pipe
Um my accident. So I get it. So this isn't that loud. This is this is bearable
But I don't know. I mean look if if if the mainstream oems are are going to become hybridized and
You know if if ferrari's gonna fucking drop this an electric egg
Somebody needs to fill in the gap of interesting cars. And so it's gonna be
Weirdos like the chimeras and the fucking these and whatever else, you know
Yeah, weird Thomas Holland of a throttle house had a conspiracy theory. He wrote about that went got pretty popular
He thinks the luce is ferrari intentionally taking a dive. Yeah, I read this theory
I read this theory. I thought it was a very fun theory. I don't know if it's true or not
They're just for people who didn't read it. He's basically saying ferrari goes. What if we build it?
So what if we build an ev that's so undesirable?
The whole market moves away from evs and then they can say see no one wants these we have to go back to building cool cars
Yeah, it's pretty uh a bold play. Uh, this is the plot of major league
If the team does bad enough I get to move them to miami
That's what this is. It's an he thinks is in the the conspiracy is an intentional tank
Mm-hmm, which would be like
amazing
Except that no publicly traded company would ever allow if if like literally
I can't believe i'm saying this
Elon musk would do that
That is an elon musk move you need to control
Everything to be able to do an intentional dive like that a publicly traded company
Is would never risk an intentional dive. I think that's probably true because you have the because the board can't afford
To invest this much money and show this kind of loss unless
Second conspiracy for real unless they want to move the company back to private or half private
Oh, so they're tanking the stock to buy the stock which is a thing that people do
Yeah, I mean financial crime is legal now. I don't know if that's a crime
It's just like that does happen where the public think tanks and then someone buys it back later
Or like the value of barstool. I don't like them because their business operation
But like
They you know Dave sold it at 400 million and then whoever took it ran into the ground and I think he bought it back for like
A dollar some ridiculous number
so
double tank
Yeah, um, I don't know
It's a fun conspiracy to think about
And I brought I mentioned it because I had breakfast on sunday with maz
And he was like dude
That would work
If you were us and maz when he says us is his singer and this was not a confidential conversation
He's like basically, you know, we were like we were talking about scale and we were like look to go from
a company that builds
20 cars or 40 cars a year like konigsig or pagani
To one that now builds like 200 cars a year
Quote excuse me restores 200 cars a year like like a singer vehicle design
He goes you basically take the the same systems you have and just like multiply them a bigger shop
More technicians, you know, maybe some some better machinery
Maybe you bring things that were outsourced in house like your paint or whatever, right?
and then
Uh, maybe your carbon fiber becomes in house. He's like but to go from
a couple hundred cars a year
To like what ferrari's talking about he's like with you know to do a couple thousand cars a year
He's like now you're building a factory and not one where
Humans are assembling the cars
You're building a factory where robots are assembling cars. He's like in that
He's like that type of investment
You couldn't you couldn't do that to do an intentional tank. Yeah, that's true
You know, he's like if they were if they tried to build a
He goes if they try to build like for instance, he said if the pin in remember the pin and farina batista
Which is the italian bodied version of the nevera
The remak. Yeah remats. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there's the italian one also. They made like three
If if if ferrari said this is the electric
And they had some minimal investment
They made the body but it was dropped on the skateboard from somebody else, right, right, right, right
And they and then nobody wanted it. It was a total flop
Then you could go to the board and go see even our most hardcore customers are not buying this
What makes you think anybody so that's how you you would engineer a tank. Yeah, but they are building it at a new
E-build it's called e-building factory in marinello. So they've made the building or they're making it next door
To their other factory and like it's going to be very serious. Yeah. Yeah. No, so it'll it'll be a
It it'll it might be a tank that they see coming from a while away
But that's different from a fucking intentional because I got an instagram dm a fans friend works at a
For an exclusive dealership and I won't hear say your honor, but okay
You're saying that's true. This is all alleged
but
Their friend alleges that they've had a couple of luches sitting like in the back so they could show
You know fancy customers early and they have zero orders for them
Yeah, and they're and they're also allegedly not attached to any sort of allocation yet at least there's so when this came
When this came out we're like, maybe it's so you can get the sf 100. Yeah
Doesn't seem like there is an sf 100 at least known by this person yet. So
You know cool, you're right
It's gonna go well. It's an interesting choice
Anyway, we can move on but uh, it's I post your conspiracy theories in the comments
Yeah, no the conspiracy theory is fun. It is the kindest theory. I think it's like hey, what if they're doing what if
Farah hasn't lost its way. Yeah, they're on top of it. That's what this is. No, I mean, I mean
I think the truth is so much simpler, which is that
Six years ago, this was a really good idea
Six years ago. Everyone needed a super s you a super ev
like
Let's go back there. It's fucking
It's 2020
When is your super ev coming out? I mean that that was it. It just took them this long to do it
and like
And it's a ship that's hard to turn. I mean all of a sudden the incentives go away
The u.s. Market goes away and they're like well the tanker is on it is already headed there
Steely wheels they'll last a thousand years, but they're ugly and then people put what are called hubcaps on them that are made of plastic
To disguise that they've got steel wheels
The next step up from that is going to be
Cast aluminum wheels
These are your mass market wheels the vast majority
of all metal wheels on cars are made like this you can see the brakes through the wheels
they're like silver or black and
Basically
95 of the wheels you see on the road are going to be a cast aluminum wheel
They are
strong enough light enough and cheap enough to cover
The vast majority of the car worlds like needs
Up from that you have a month what's called a forged
Monoblock wheel and a monoblock wheel means it's forged from one
casting
Those are like sports car wheels pretty much like forged wheels. You'll see um
On yeah forged aluminum wheels, you'll see on a lot of high performance sports cars
But not like super super exotic cars
Actually, yeah
Yeah, your your standard super cars will come with forged aluminum wheels
um
Your your maclarons and your lamborghini's that have steel wheels. Those will have forged aluminum wheels
Performance wise up from that you have magnesium wheels, which are also forged. They're just lighter super light. That's it
They're not quite as strong as the forged aluminum, but they're strong enough that you can use them for racing
um
Carbon fiber even lighter than magnesium not as strong right so those two tend to not handle
Daily use where you might hit cracks potholes things like hard, you know hard hits like that right tracks tend to not have those
Unless you go off and come back on right which can maybe shatter a carbon wheel during a film shoot in 2017. I don't know
I don't know people are saying right
Uh a two-piece wheel
will have
typically a forged
center section
And then an outer barrel that you'll see that's like chrome or something
Most of the time that outer barrel is made from a rolled sheet of aluminum and then bent around
um a two-piece wheel
Has a fixed offset
A three-piece wheel is like a two-piece wheel except by changing
The size the relative sizes of each inner and outer barrel
You can change the offset of the wheel by using the same face
so like a company that makes
A three-piece version of a wheel can have one face and a virtually infinite
Number of offsets so a fit more cars. Yeah suspension setup stuff like that
Yeah, so like a lot of style wheels are three-piece wheels
Now hre has come out with this new thing called fmr, which is
A two-piece wheel
That looks like a three-piece wheel
But the barrel isn't rolled. It's forged. So it's a stronger
Wheel so you could put them on heavier cars
It can take heavier impacts and you can use them for higher performance applications
Then you might typically want to use
A three-piece wheel the wheels on my kind uh my excuse me on my tycon
Are fmr wheels. So they're a two-piece forged barrel wheel
That look like a a three-piece wheel
The wheels that were on my Acura nsx
Were not fmr those were actual three-piece wheels from their classic series that are made in the in the old school style
um
The wheels i am getting for the
Mercedes are not fmr because they do not have the technology to forge a 17 inch fmr barrel
I think their minimum for fmr is 18 inches. So I can't get those
On the Mercedes because we're doing 17s
Uh, have we missed any other type of wheel?
um
No cast yeah, yeah all that forged yeah
And it's you know, it's there's a balance right like wheels
Ideally you you want to reduce weight in your wheels that helps you
Do everything but if your wheel weight some types of wheels are heavier than others and you know
Style comes into play and your application and my apex wheels are flow formed, which I think hre also sells
kind of lands between
Like the cast wheel and the forged wheel in terms of price, but they're still really light and strong
You just don't have as many options with like the centers and they can't move the offset as much and stuff like that
So they make a certain number of offset and that's what they sell flow form is
Yeah, it's I don't know exactly how the process works, but it's somewhere in between a cast and a forge. Yeah
Fast back to the future. Oh future says, how do you feel about how what's our time right now about 90?
Yeah, okay. Let's do these two more and then we'll wrap it up fast back to the future says
How do you feel about cops strictly enforcing seemingly trivial violations like window tint out of date inspections and other things like that?
Uh park police have been very strict at the bare mountain Wednesday night car meets. Um
Do you see this in type of enforcement of seemingly trivial laws around you? I'm not talking about burnouts or obviously straight piped annoying cars
I mean, here's the thing dude
like
you can't
Drive your car on the fucking road and then like complain about cops
Seeing things that are illegal right you just like you just kind of can't do that like you can do it
Like i'm not gonna fucking call you out on it. I'm not gonna nark out
But like it's a bit like when they got capone on tax evasion. Yeah
I mean that's like they knew he was killing people and doing stuff
But they could only get him for this so you know
I'm not saying the cops know that you guys are up to murder or something
But maybe they've had complaints about people drifting doing burnouts around car meets. Maybe not yours. Maybe yours
So they go, okay. Well, what can we do? What can we do to punish these guys these people?
Who are there? Well, we can go around and write what we you know called chicken shit tickets
But technically if they write you up because you're breaking the law
Yeah, you know this happens in california a lot
I mean if some if your car's like obviously been modified and they don't have a justification to like pull you over
But they have but you have no front plate on or something like well one crime at a time, bro
I this this goes right back to one crime at a time
If you're only doing one thing wrong, you're probably not like
Is it annoying to see to have these these bullshit tickets like yeah, but like
Pay the cost to be the boss, you know the laws are there
Yeah, I I have a front plate because I didn't want to deal a lot of people with e46 is go
I just rocked no front plate. I don't want to deal with it. I don't want to get parking tickets or whatever
I just I I don't care that much
Um, I got a ticket for tint once I got pulled for expired reg
And then when the guy walked up and I rolled my window down he was like, oh
He did the fingernail test and like okay, but I just I paid the fine. Mm-hmm. And that's it. That's it. Yeah
So you got to understand that that might happen and it's going to be annoying
But it is think about training day. We just got to tax them a little bit
You know stick that pen up his mouth gotta fucking just gotta tax him
You know he's letting you're letting them operate. They the cops need their taste. Yeah, you know, they need their end
I saw remember when I went to Huntington beach to a car show to that fucking cars and copters and cops or whatever and fucking
That cop told the only black kid around for like a mile to pop his hood. Yeah, that's really shitty
Yeah, you should also check everybody's montana registration and see where they live
Yeah, I hear there's some conic zigs over there that whose owners might have not paid the full sales tax on these via probably
Um 50 rare shades of gray says what are some recession indicators in the car world recently?
So this is news from May 6 car payments squeeze americans as autodid hits 1.68 trillion
Um almost as much as elon will be worth next week once he dumps his company on everybody else
um
Basically more and more people are missing their auto loan payments. Also the uh
Do uh since 2018 the average typical auto loan payment has increased
More than 680 dollars in 506 like
Cars are getting more expensive payments are getting more expensive, especially when they draw out these loans for a really long time
I heard six year people. They're doing six years six years, dude
Oh, it's so bad
Average length. Yeah, the average length auto loan is six years. I think average when I bought my sti in
Excuse me, uh
Eight something like that. I think getting a five year loan was like
Whoa, you're really stretching this out a 48 month on my mini and look we made more money relatively things were less expensive
Um, and so this is the solution to wages remaining relatively stagnant
But everything getting more expensive. They go. How can we get people to sort of afford these things?
You stretch the you just stretch the loan terms out and but yeah
We might be seeing more people getting their cars repoed. Yeah, just the stats come out a lot. Yeah. I mean, I think there's
What we're it's not in so much recession indicators what I'm seeing is like
Gilded era
Like gilded age shit where you have crazy coach built super cars and luxury cars
The price of which is is going completely bananas
The number of cars that are available for seven figures right now is just mind-boggling
We've we've got coach building. We've got
You know companies building entire business plans, you know multinational corporations building entire business plans around
Selling 10 or 20 units of something a year
Uh, meanwhile we have what you just said
Where with what regular people are doing to get cars delinquencies are at a 32 year record height
So that's on y'all who financed
That's good. Yeah
That's good. That's just no problem there
Yeah, so bad. Those are a few now
Is does that mean that we're in a recession? I mean, there's so many recession indicators
And the joke is always like, you know, the last uh
Accurate recession in like person who predicted it. They predicted, you know, two out of the last 100
Or no, what's the inverse 100 out of the last two? Yeah, it's like they just they say it until it happens
But things aren't great everything seems yeah
And you know like the quote the stock market and the economy
Is essentially propped up on these, you know, four or five companies
Swirling the same like 100000000000 dollars around amongst each other. Yeah, it's a weird time. Yeah, it's good. It really is
Holy good. It's that's like no problem at all. I'm just saying just like chill, you know, it's fine
Don't vote everybody. Please vote. Mm-hmm. I voted
Me too
Uh, thanks everybody appreciate y'alls. Uh, thank you
To our patrons very good questions today if there were any left we can roll them over till next week
We have more show. I am uh, I'm taking a little mini road trip with the wife tomorrow
Taking the pink car up to santa barbara to see lord Huron
Uh, a band I
Struggled to describe on this podcast earlier this year and then I when I looked up the
The I looked up how to describe this band to somebody and it got like the craziest fucking description from the ai that
Made it seem like the ai was on the drugs. I hope to be taking at the santa barbara bowl
Yeah, we appreciate you guys. See you later. Bye
About this episode
The Smoking Tire bounces from car culture to practical ownership questions. They riff on how automakers curate launch events and on a “Luce” conspiracy theory about Ferrari/Lamborghini strategy and market perception. The hosts then get hands-on with Q&A: whether ADAS features like lane keep assist default off, how online auctions handle VIN/no-drama, and how much suspension/tire upgrades really change ride and handling. The episode also dives deep into California’s proposed tire rules—rolling resistance, wet grip, and what that could mean for replacement tires.
Matt Farah and Zack Klapman discuss the viral video about California's war on tires; a very interesting carbon-fiber roadster from ...Argentina?; Blink 182 and Mercedes; Bad Thoughts Season 2; and Patreon questions include:
Bronco as a winter commuter?
Quality consistency from watch brands
The one car we'd restomod as a business
First single-clutch auto we liked
Best FWD car fro the early 2000s
Worst track in the country
Mods that didn't improve our cars
This car is better than a 981 Boster GTS
Mazda's new "green"
And more!
Recorded June 1, 2026
Show Notes
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