Elevation changes are when the ground goes up and down on a track. This can make driving more challenging and show how well a car can handle different heights.
Suspension is the system in a car that helps it ride smoothly over bumps and keeps the tires on the ground. It helps with handling and comfort while driving.
The Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is a pickup truck that can handle tough off-road conditions, similar to the Wrangler but with a truck bed for carrying things.
A disconnecting sway bar is a part of the car's suspension that can be turned off. When it's off, the wheels can move more freely, which helps the car grip the ground better when driving on rough surfaces.
Car
Jeep
Jeep is a car brand famous for making vehicles that can go off-road, like the Wrangler. They are built to handle rough terrains and are popular among outdoor enthusiasts.
Locking hubs are parts on some four-wheel drive vehicles that let you choose whether the front wheels are connected to the engine. This helps save gas when you don't need four-wheel drive.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a larger SUV that can handle rough roads but also has comfortable features inside, making it good for both adventures and everyday driving.
The Ram 1500 TRX is a special version of the Ram truck that is built for both tough work and fast driving. It has a powerful engine that makes it great for off-road adventures.
The Oldsmobile Cutlass is a car that was made by the Oldsmobile brand from 1961 until 1999. It was very popular in the 1970s and sold millions of units, making it one of the best-selling cars in American history.
The Dodge Ram is a type of pickup truck made by the Dodge brand. It's known for being tough and good for carrying heavy loads, making it a favorite among truck buyers in America.
The Chevrolet Silverado is a big truck that started as a higher-end version of another truck in 1975 and became its own model in 1999. It's known for being a good all-around truck.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast and stylish car that many people think of when they imagine a sports car. It’s been around for a long time and is known for being powerful and fun to drive. People talk about it because it’s a classic American car that many enthusiasts love.
The GMC Sierra EV is a new electric truck that runs on batteries instead of gas. It’s designed to do everything a regular truck can do, like tow and carry heavy loads, but without polluting the air. People are excited about it because it shows how trucks can be more environmentally friendly.
The Ford F series pickup is a popular type of truck in America. It's been made since 1948 and is known for being the best-selling vehicle in the country.
The Ford F-100 is an older model of pickup truck that people loved for its strong build and reliability. It was made for many years and is now considered a classic, which means some people restore and collect them. It’s often talked about because it represents a big part of American truck culture.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a large park in the U.S. that is famous for its beautiful mountains and nature. Many people visit to enjoy the scenery and go hiking.
The Honda Ridgeline is a type of truck that is designed to be comfortable and easy to drive, almost like a car. It has a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo, and it even has a special storage area in the bed for tools or gear. People talk about it because it’s a good option for those who need a truck but also want something that feels nice to drive.
A convertible is a car that can have its roof taken off or put back on. This lets you drive with the top down when it's nice outside.
LIVE
Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast.
Yes, this is the 43rd annual Houston Auto Show.
And welcome to the In-Wheel Time car talk show coming to you today live from NRG Center
in the heart of downtown Houston.
Just ahead, we talked to another guest from this year's new car show.
Later in Jeff's car culture, the top six best selling American cars of all time.
Yeah.
And in driving directions.
Mr. Mars has five scenic road trips for the spring.
Getting ready to get out?
Got a plan ahead.
What?
Got a plan ahead for some of these.
Scenic road.
Why?
Because they're a long ways off.
Okay.
Howdy along with Mike out of this World Mars down there.
We always need more Jeff Zekin right here.
Chief engineer and...
Two finger guy.
Magic fingers.
Magic fingers.
Magic hands.
David Ainsley is here with us.
I'm Don Armstrong and sometime known as Bad News Don.
Anyway, thank you very much for joining us today live from Houston Auto Show.
And our next guest in the hot seat.
He doesn't know it's the hot seat.
What is your name?
Nick.
Nick what?
Hoy.
Hoy?
Hoy Palloy.
All right.
Nick Hoy.
Thanks for showing up.
Where are you from, Nick Hoy?
I am from Michigan.
Really?
Where in Michigan?
Like right in between Lansing and Detroit.
Okay.
So Lansing that would be Oldsmobile?
Is that right?
Yep.
Lansing is, you got tech centers around there.
No, no, but I mean, didn't they used to have a factory there?
Oldsmobile?
Probably.
So I'm from Dearborn.
You would know you're too young.
How old are you?
27.
27.
I'm 27 too.
Up here in my mind.
In dog years.
In dog years, I'm sorry.
Oh God.
Well, Nick is with Camp Jeep.
Yes.
I'm the track manager over there.
Track manager.
So you get to wave the checkered flag or the red flag.
Yes.
Or the green flag.
All of them.
All of them.
So you're in charge.
You're in control of the event.
Pretty much.
Yeah.
So a different company sets it up and then we come in and run the show for them.
Gotcha.
And so do you work for Jeep?
Do you work for a company that does all that?
Yeah.
We're just contracted with Jeep.
Oh yeah?
Yeah.
So how much homework did you have to do to get this gig?
A lot.
So we got to pretty much memorize everything about all the Jeep vehicles.
Yeah.
So we got to be spot on with our product knowledge.
Okay.
So first of all, for those of you who don't know, there's a big track back here.
You can't see it.
Well, I'm going to say it.
Yeah.
Anyway, that track has elevation changes.
Goes around corners and does all sorts of suspension things.
Yes.
We have six different obstacles that you're going to get to experience.
We've got a log crawl.
Get to climb up some rocks, show off the suspension, and then we've got the hill climb.
It's 13 feet tall, 30 degrees up and down.
Showing off the attraction, the brakes, everything like that.
See, this is what happens when you're 27 years old and you still have them.
You get to memorize all that stuff.
I like it.
Okay.
So how long does it take to go through the track?
Your typical ride will probably be about two, two and a half minutes.
That's significant.
Mm-hmm.
And just as I predicted, here they all come.
Everybody's coming over here.
Oh yes.
They know where to go.
Yeah.
They're coming right through here.
What kind of vehicles you got over there?
So we have the Wrangler Rubicon, Gladiator Rubicon, and Wrangler 392.
So the 392 has a 6-4 hemi in it.
You really know.
So you're going up at 30 degrees and coming down real fast.
Yes.
You hear it.
Yeah.
But it's in idle.
Oh.
It's only idling up there.
It's got so much power.
That's right.
What is it that makes this thing so popular with everybody?
I think you just actually get to get in and actually feel the vehicle and experience what it's built for.
You don't get to drive it.
You do not.
So we have professional drivers.
There is the ride and drive outside where you guys can drive the vehicles.
But over here, we have drivers for you.
Are the jeeps out there?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, OK.
Mm-hmm.
Did not know that.
You're a jeep guy.
I didn't know the jeeps were out there.
I came in the back door.
Oh.
Yeah.
So indoors will drive you around.
Get in with the professional driver.
They'll tell you about the vehicle and what you're driving over and how it's handling.
And then outside you get to hop in the window.
You can do the things you can do with the suspension and things.
Mm-hmm.
And it gives the opportunity for those that are in there going for the ride to ask questions.
Correct.
So all of the drivers have to be well-schooled and well-healed at their jobs.
Yes.
That be the articulating suspension.
And they have a line that's already backed up.
Yeah.
We do.
Oh, yeah.
And take them long.
So since you're well-schooled in all of this and obviously you can vocalize, what exactly
is the disconnecting sway bar and what does it do?
So it is held together by magnet once you disconnect it.
Basically it just allows the front tires more room to travel independently.
So the Rubicon...
Why is that important?
So you're creeping the wheels on the ground so you're getting as much traction as possible.
So you're not sitting there spinning one wheel or anything like that.
Yeah.
And there's just a couple of buttons that you need to push to make that happen.
Yeah.
There's just one right in the middle.
You'll see it as a sway bar.
Once the light's on, it's disconnected and you're good to go.
You know, the Jeeps today are so much easier to handle all of that stuff than they used to be.
Yeah.
Because if you remember correctly, I had a Jeep one time and it had the locking hubs,
but you had to get outside and go out there and lock up on lock up.
Total pain.
And if you didn't get the pressure off of the axles and stuff...
You had to go backwards to lock it in.
Martha, get the pliers out.
I can't get the thing to...
I can't get it to turn.
Martha's a go-to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Always.
She's pretty good.
So today, there's so much of that is controlled by electronics in the dashboard.
Or should I say the screen?
Yes, so...
So explain what all is that you can do in the 4x4 Wrangler.
So with the Rubicon, you get the electronic sway bar disconnected like you talked about.
There's an off-road plus button which will change the gearing so you can go a little bit faster and four-low.
And then you also get the locking front and rear axles.
So like you guys were talking about, you literally just push a button out and it locks.
Yeah.
So you don't have to get out, turn the hubs or anything like that.
It's all controlled by the computer inside.
And then, obviously, you get the backup camera.
You also get a front camera.
So it's kind of like a built-in spotter.
So you can see where you're going.
Right.
It has the guidelines.
So it shows you where your wheels are going to end up as you're turning the steering wheel and everything like that.
You've got it made now.
We did all the hard work before you came along.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
I think it's great.
And I think part of the reason that people like that so much, particularly like now,
we don't have a lot of rock climbing down in our part of the world.
We've got a lot of mud and a lot of sand.
But to go out and actually be able to climb the hills and get into something that will do the articulation is kind of unique.
You don't have to hear in Houston anyway.
It's probably 50, 60 miles to the closest places you can do that.
Well, I remember back in the day when we belonged to the same organization, they had an event and it was in the spring.
No, it was in the fall.
And it was at a ranch out in the Texas Hill Country.
And they had a rock climb that was very tight, very close.
And you had to really know what you were doing.
And after a couple of days of practicing through this thing, it worked so well.
It was fun to do.
But that Jeep Wrangler killed everybody else.
They couldn't hold a candle to it.
The Jeep Wrangler has come such a long way since its inception in World War Two.
And being able to disconnect the sway bar, it was a huge thing.
Because the way that this particular turn, it was a 180 and you go up and it was tight and you go up the thing.
And then at the top, then you'd come back down the other way and talk about putting all of the pressure on the entire suspension and the engine combination.
It was pretty impressive.
And of course it always won.
There was one girl, she was told, do not venture out into the river.
You can keep it up next to the bank, but don't go out there.
What'd she do?
She went in.
Sunk it.
They took the air cleaner element out of it, shook it out, left it to dry out there, cranked it right back up in a way she went.
It's truly amazing that vehicle is.
We have great Jeep clubs here around the Houston area.
Lots of people.
You can have them up near Lansing too and all through Michigan.
Oh yeah, there's a bunch.
Do you own one?
I do have a 21 Rubicon myself.
I could have not get one after doing this.
Sand dunes in Michigan, they got Big Bear out there.
You've got Big Bill, Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
I've been out, I was a little kid and they got those dune buggies.
We put 868 people in them.
That was a blast.
Like I said, I was a little kid back then.
Good stuff.
That's a lot of fun.
And you know, the other thing is too is that other Jeep vehicles have similar equipment on them to be able to do things that you normally wouldn't do with, you know, other vehicles.
Yeah.
So each model has at least one trim level that can do something equivalent to what we're doing here today.
Yeah.
And maybe not should have.
And they shouldn't maybe be equipped with that because what it does is it entices you to do stuff that you're not ready to do.
Oh yes.
Yeah.
You probably go out and do it.
I can do that.
I'll bet you you've had a time or two with your Wrangler when you first got it, didn't you?
Did you ever get it stuck?
I have not, thankfully.
We leave that up for the corporate ones.
You've got to work on it to get it stuck.
You really have to try.
You've got to go out in the middle of the river where you're not supposed to be.
Next year, do that.
And then next year, come back and test it.
I'll tell you guys all about it.
I'll record it so we can see video.
I'm thinking that, you know, folks get in these things and they test them.
I got the big shot up.
They buy a Jeep, whatever features they want on it.
The first thing they're going to do is I'm going to find a hill.
Exactly.
I'm going to go find a hill.
And it could be the side of a median.
It doesn't have something to find me, some big curbs.
All you've got over here to drive is Wranglers, but some of the other Jeeps, like you said,
could basically do this.
Oh, yeah.
The Grand Cherokee is a big one.
So that has an air ride suspension.
You can actually raise and lower.
All of them are going to have the steel skid plates underneath, so you don't have to
worry about the undercarriage getting damaged or anything like that.
But everything besides the Grand Wagoneer can do this.
That's more luxury.
Well, and it's got the longer wheelbase and there's a lot of reasons it can't get that
tight.
But I'd like to see the Grand Cherokee.
I like the Grand Cherokee size.
I like that vehicle.
It's got a little more builder.
I get the more I appreciate it than what the Wrangler would be.
But, you know, it's for what I do, the Grand Cherokee would be just fine.
Hey, you can take it off road and you can get a massage while you're off roading.
There you go.
Best of both worlds.
David, you didn't hear that, did you?
He didn't hear that.
It is real big.
David just bought two Wranglers.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm sure he did.
Can't take you anywhere.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's get back to your job for a minute.
Did you start?
Where did you start with this?
Did you start, you know, taking tickets or I mean, how did you get to being the track
boss?
Did you go to Michigan State up there?
I did not go to Michigan State.
So we started, we had a one off event out in Warren, Michigan.
So we brought everyone from the factory so they could actually drive the vehicles that
they built because surprisingly, a lot of them haven't even sat in the vehicles that
they built.
Sure.
So we brought them out to show them that we appreciate them.
I was a spotter, so I was just doing this on the course, then you left right.
Yeah.
Then I worked my way up to a driver and now I'm the track manager.
And how long did that period of time take?
So I started when I was 18.
So 18.
Nine years.
About nine years, yeah.
Good job.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And how many cities do you visit?
We do anywhere from like probably 10 to 15 a year.
What do you do the rest of the time?
This pretty much keeps us busy.
So auto show start in probably about September ish and that carries us through to May and
then we'll do some state fairs in the summertime for Ram.
Like we have the track back here, but.
Oh, the same company.
The same company up.
We're one in the same.
So we run both of them.
Okay.
Okay.
Chicago starts next week.
Chicago.
You're going back to Chicago.
Yep.
So flying to Chicago on Tuesday to do the same thing.
Wow.
So you pack it up here Sunday night and then you get on the plane and ready to go on Tuesday.
Yep.
Clearly it's not the same track.
So they have another one.
Yeah.
So we have an A kid and a B kid.
So when they overlap, we kind of try to figure out which one can go where.
If this is a B is probably in holding for the next event.
Yeah.
We also have the way to Chicago or something.
We actually have three kids now that I think about it because we have Philadelphia going
on right now as well.
So we have a track out there.
Nice.
Interesting.
Do you get to pick which one you go?
For the most part, we know pretty much what shows we do throughout the year.
So as long as they're not overlapping.
I think we get to decide, I think I'm going to go to Houston this year.
I want to go to Philly or for the most part.
I would.
Where is it going to be warm?
Where is it going to be warm?
Oh, yeah.
I thought it would be warm here.
But I brought the whole body with me.
It will be on Monday.
When I leave.
It will be 67.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
There's that.
So.
Okay.
We got this over here.
The right.
The drive part of it.
Then you've got the ride and drive out front.
But you've also got the display inside.
Yeah.
So we have product specialists all throughout the displays.
They can answer any questions.
Feel free to hop in any of them.
All the screens are lit up so you can play with the screen.
There's some people right there.
Yeah.
That's Caitlin.
She's our star product specialist.
So she can answer all the questions.
What are you eating?
I mean, we're pretty hungry too.
Every single sauce.
So it's got to be some sort of a taco or something.
What did you say?
Kava.
Kava, yeah.
Mediterranean.
Mediterranean.
Did you get that at a food truck out front?
Just Yonder.
Just Yonder.
Just Yonder.
Yonder.
Where are you from?
Scottsdale.
Where?
Scottsdale.
Scottsdale.
Yonder.
You just, did you just finish up the Barrett Jackson last week?
Great.
Great time.
Yeah.
Okay.
So, so when people come in and we're looking at the cars here in the display and we've
got product specialists around, the doors are typically closed, but I just saw somebody
open a door.
So it's okay.
When you walk in, you want to look at the cars, you want to open the doors, you want
to look at it.
Go sit down in.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, you can do that while you're here.
Yeah.
Even though the doors are closed, you know, open them and check them out.
Yeah, they're all open.
We even have the new TRX on the floor for you guys to check out.
He saw that.
This is the second show with it.
Didn't we drive that?
I drove one.
Yeah.
When it first came out and you had the real motors in it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got a chance to drive that.
It's fun.
It's fun.
Yeah, it can be.
It's kind of like a 392 Wrangler.
It's a different level of fun.
It's so funny because obviously I was always a hot rod guy, high school, all that stuff.
Now, it's rare that I actually put my foot to the floor.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
It's rare.
I'll tell you stories off air.
It's rare when I do it too because the light changes to red.
They don't even give you cars anymore.
I'm surprised you even have a driver's license.
It kind of comes and goes.
That's it.
Depending on how many tickets you've had that year.
Exactly.
You got to kind of check that.
Yeah.
Officer, I'm sorry.
I didn't.
I couldn't see the gauge.
I don't know.
I don't know what happened.
Lost my way.
It was Don's fault.
So if you come into the car show, you're going to come in the front door.
Auto show.
Auto boat of show.
You're going to hang a right and come to the very back corner back here.
You'll see it when you walk in.
You'll see it.
Which is where we are.
Yeah.
You'll see all signs.
It's got lots of big signs and it's really kind of follow the flow of the crowd right now.
Pretty much, yeah.
Well, I will tell you that we have known a lady by the name of Kimberly Schultz.
Are you familiar with her?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Dear friend of ours that goes by.
Actually, I remember when she first got the PR job out of Dallas.
Yeah.
Golly, that was a long time ago.
2000.
Yeah.
Something like that.
Yeah.
So we've known her for a long time.
So she allows us.
And sometimes we've had to kind of twist her arm.
We really need a place to do the car show.
Can we go over to the Jeep booth?
Okay.
One of those kind of things.
But she's also learned that after she does press day on Wednesday, she leaves.
She gets out here.
By the time we get here, she's gone.
Well, Nick, it's a pleasure to meet you and great fun.
Great job.
We envy you.
Yeah.
I'm not too sure about where you stay in all of these cities that you go to.
But I did the drag racing tour for a year and I can tell you some of those places I
wouldn't.
Yeah.
You can only imagine.
Oh, yes.
But there's a big difference between racing and car shows.
Big difference where you stay.
Mm-hmm.
Different demographic.
Nick Hoy with Jeep and Camp Jeep.
Thank you so much.
Of course.
Thank you guys.
Appreciate you, buddy.
We'll come see you.
Perfect.
We'll get you on the ride.
Come see us.
Come see us and say.
There you go.
Just ahead, Jeff's car culture.
Good, Nick.
Everybody's brought Nick on there.
Yay.
We've got a whole audience back there.
You've got fans.
Jeff's car culture and six of the best-selling American cars of all time.
Plus, Mr. Marz has driving destinations five scenic roads for spring trip planning.
After this break here on the In-Wheel Time car talk show.
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Hey, In Will Time, invite you to join us 10 to noon Central Time every Saturday for our
live show about all things automotive.
And we thank you for joining us today here at the 43rd annual Houston Auto Show.
We're back here right in front of Camp Jeep and the Ram Experience and we invite you to
stop by and say hello and we got lights up and we're like we're important or something.
Auto Boat of Show.
Okay.
The boats are down there.
And we are doing the Houston Auto Show.
I can see them over there.
I can see the boat.
I know.
But that's over there.
Okay.
Over here is the autos.
That's in the south.
That's on the east pass to the next hour.
Over there on the east.
We should move all this over to the boats for the next hour.
Whatever you'd like.
We'll wait on you.
All right, buddy.
Time now for Jeff's Car Culture 6 best selling American cars of all time.
There's about 30 but I took the top six.
Here we go.
For number six on the list is the Osmobile Cutlass.
First introduced in 1961 the Osmobile Cutlass was the most popular car in America by 1977.
They sold 632,000 plus units that year.
It eventually was phased out in 1999 leaving a lasting impression on the automotive world.
They sold 11,900,000 vehicles of the Osmobile Cutlass.
Oh, yeah.
Next one, Dodge Ram.
How fitting.
The full size Dodge pickup has been in production since 1980 originally as the Dodge Ram.
Before Ram became the standalone brand, the Ram pickup has a reputation for smooth, comfortable
ride, reliability, powertrain and spacious interior.
They sold 12,135,000 Ram pickups.
Number four on the list who would think of it but it's the Chevrolet Silverado.
It's available in a full size truck, chassis cab truck or medium duty truck.
It was originally a top trim level Chevrolet CK truck introduced in 1975 before coming
its own in 1999 which remains in production today.
Although the Sierra's GMC's branded sibling, the Silverado is great all around truck.
A 14,075,000 units for the Chevrolet Silverado.
Ford Model T. Who would have thunk it?
Model T was the first mass produced automobile and it's third on the list.
It made car travel reliability available for the middle class.
Its assembly line production enabled Ford to sell Model T's at a much lower price than
Ford's.
15,000,000 units of the Model T.
Chevrolet Impala is number four now.
It's a good number.
It's a good car.
And number two.
Bala shot color.
Chevy's popular flagship car during its long production run.
It was built in 1957 to 1950.
Although production, the Impala took a break from 1986 to 1994 and again from 1997 to
1999.
The Impala was the first car to use SS designation making it a pioneer in the muscle car craze
of the 60s and 70s.
16,700,000 Chevrolet Impalas out there.
And the last one we all kind of know this.
We do live in Texas is the Ford F series pickup truck.
Blowing the list out of the water.
The F series is the best selling American automobile of all time.
The truck has been in continuous production since 1948.
The 40th million truck rolled off the assembly line in January of 22.
So we're calling it 40 million units of the Ford F series pickup.
How about that jazz?
That's major right there.
There's more out there.
I mean, you've got other manufacturers are in that but they're 7, 8, 9.
Mom and dad had those cutlass for quite some time.
All right, time now for Mr. Mars.
We're going to talk about the five scenic roads for spring trip planning and driving destinations.
Yeah, I kind of thought that, you know, some of these are a little far off.
We didn't just stay in Texas.
So you might need to have a little more time to make some plans.
And so I wanted to start with the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Now a lot of people have heard of this.
It's in Virginia.
It goes up through to North Carolina.
And it's often called America's favorite drive because they're in the spring, flowers bloom,
the mountains shake off the winter and it really greens up.
469 miles from the start to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wow.
Goes through a lot of ridgelines, overlooks, valleys, you got dogwoods, red buds.
So you got any kind of body, any kind of foliage you want to see in the northeast part of the country is there.
Now it is a rather curvy and it does get crowded.
So it's got a lower speed limit, but it gives you a lot more time to do relaxed cruising to see some things.
And it's a great place to go in the motorcycle or on your convertible.
Then going on to the Sun Road, going to the Sun Road.
That's actually the name of it.
It's in Montana.
Now this is part of the Glacier National Park.
And it's kind of a dramatic drive in America because of the way it opens and closes during the winter
because the 50 mile route crosses the continental divide at Logan Pass.
So you get a lot of views.
You get a lot of edge of the road driving.
I don't need that.
I don't need to be on the edge of the road.
And a lot of that is because of the waterfalls and the melting ice.
And it kind of gets you some narrow lanes and some sheer drop-offs that kind of keeps you focused on the road.
Then for something that's a little more relaxing, go back to the other side of the country, the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Now this goes through three states.
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama.
It's 444 miles.
And it's part of an old corridor that used to be used by Native Americans and early settlers
whenever they were going across the country and exploring.
Now there's really no commercial traffic on this road.
And they've got general curves and it's peaceful.
It's a nice, easy drive for long cruising and very relaxing.
You can stop, take short hikes.
You can pull off into scenic areas to turn around and enjoy the whole destination.
You ever done any of this stuff?
I've been on part of that parkway and part of the Blue Ridge.
Back you go with you.
Was that another girl ago?
She was with me.
We used to get to travel quite a bit.
Also been on part of the Pacific Coast Highway.
Oh, I have too.
The PCH.
Yes, I was there with you.
Love it.
If you remember correctly.
That was a Mazda event that I'd really like to forget.
I did until you just said that and now it's all coming back.
Yeah, let's forget that.
So the PCH, you know, I really want to go from the top to the bottom of it.
I really would like to do that.
It involved liquor if you want to know.
Oh, no.
Large quantities.
So you go down the PCH.
It goes from Southern Cali.
It goes down through Big Sur and goes down along the ocean cliffs.
You got crashing surf.
You got a lot of horizon views.
And with the spring, it's kind of less tourist there than there are during the
summer.
So but you also get a lot more greens on the hills and on the sides of the
mountains and areas like Big Speed Bridge become more enjoyable because the
road's a little bit more driver centric.
You can play a little bit more on it.
Then the Texas Hill Country will city loop.
It's a it's a short one.
Pay no attention to that behind the curtain.
I'm trying not to in Fredericksburg.
So this is a short loop outside of Fredericksburg.
But what it makes it so neat is whenever the blue bonnets are blooming and stuff
that's really colorful and this particular road is on private property.
Now it's not paved per se on most of it, but you can kind of cut through this
road and it brings you in between two highways and the landowner just allows
this to happen, but you can't really stop.
You just drive through it and it's really very scenic and it's considered a great
place, particularly with the blue blue bonnets whenever they're all blooming out.
So that's just some five drives that you can start thinking about because the
some of them will take a little planning to get to and to have fun on.
You want to go back to that Pacific Coast Highway?
We don't want to do that.
PCH 1.
I've been on PCH.
Matter of fact, I ran across a picture that you were in on the Pacific Coast Highway.
We were standing out there.
Were you holding his hair above the collar?
No, no, no.
It wasn't anything like that.
Yeah, it wasn't quite that way.
Anyway.
Was that the one?
Now you're all curious.
Say again.
There was a third person there?
Yes.
Yeah, there was a third person there.
Let me tell you about some of these other trips.
Yeah.
We've been able to see a lot of things.
California has done a lot of things to me, and most of them pretty weird if you want
to know the truth.
That's for sure.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
The end-wheel time car talk show will continue right after this quick break.
Stay with us.
Oh, not so quick.
Oh, okay.
Yes, here it comes.
From the 43rd annual Houston Auto Show.
Now you can hit the button, Mike.
There you go.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
About this episode
Live from the Houston Auto Show, the In Wheel Time Podcast features an engaging conversation with Nick Hoy, the track manager for Camp Jeep. He shares insights about the thrilling off-road experiences available at the event, including various obstacles designed to showcase Jeep's capabilities. The hosts discuss the evolution of Jeep technology, including features like electronic sway bar disconnects and advanced suspension systems. With anecdotes about Jeep culture and personal experiences, this episode highlights the excitement of off-roading and the community surrounding Jeep enthusiasts.
The line forms where the growl echoes. We’re set up beside Camp Jeep at the Houston Auto Show, and the first thing you notice is the 30-degree hill and the calm voice of a pro driver explaining exactly how a Wrangler keeps its cool. We brought the track manager, Nick Hoy, into the hot seat to decode the six-obstacle course, the Wrangler 392’s idle climb, and why a single button for sway bar disconnect can be the difference between spinning and sticking.
From there, we open the hood on modern off-road tech without the buzzwords. Nick walks us through the electronic lockers, Off-Road Plus, and the front-facing camera that turns a blind crest into a confident line. It’s a clean progression from the old days of manual hubs and pliers in the mud to quick, precise controls on the dash. We talk Gladiator, poke at the Grand Cherokee’s air suspension and skid plates, and admit that not every model is meant to crab-walk a rock garden. Still, capability shows up across the Jeep lineup, and the indoor course proves it in minutes.
We shift gears into memory lane with Jeff’s Car Culture: a countdown of the best-selling American vehicles of all time. The Model T’s assembly-line revolution, the Chevrolet Impala’s long reign, Silverado and Ram solidifying the truck era, and the F-Series towering over all—each nameplate marks a chapter in how America drives and works. The list is a conversation starter, and yes, the Oldsmobile Cutlass earns its spot.
To turn inspiration into miles, we map five spring road trips that reward any capable car or SUV: the flowered overlooks of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Montana’s Going-to-the-Sun Road drama, the quiet curves of the Natchez Trace, shoulder-season serenity on Pacific Coast Highway, and a burst of Texas bluebonnets along the Willow City Loop. These routes pair perfectly with a fresh set of tires, a full tank, and a curious mind.
If you’re at NRG Center, follow the signs to Camp Jeep for a guided ride, then swing through the indoor display to poke around the screens and seats—including the head-turning TRX. Listening from afar? Tap follow, share the show with a fellow gearhead, and leave a review with your pick: which Jeep would you take up that 30-degree hill?
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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