Car Trends We Expect to See (+ HUGE Announcement!)
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Car
Datsun 240Z
The Datsun 240Z is a well-known sports car from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's famous for being stylish and fun to drive, and many people love restoring them.
Car
Mazda Pro Formula
The Mazda Pro Formula is a type of race car that is built for speed and agility on the racetrack. It's used in professional racing and is designed to be very lightweight and fast.
Concept
Formula Atlantic
Formula Atlantic is a type of car racing where drivers compete in small, fast cars with open wheels. It's often where new drivers start before moving on to bigger racing leagues.
Part
Renesis 13B
The Renesis 13B is a type of engine made by Mazda that uses a unique design called a rotary engine. It's smaller and lighter than regular engines, and it can spin really fast, which makes it powerful.
Part
Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox
A Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox is a special kind of transmission that helps race cars change gears quickly. Instead of moving through each gear one by one, you can shift up or down in order, making it faster and easier to drive.
Part
MoTeC ECU
A MoTeC ECU is a computer that helps manage how a car's engine works. It makes sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently, especially in race cars where performance is crucial.
Term
carbon fiber monocoque chassis
It's a lightweight and strong frame made from carbon fiber, which helps the car go faster and handle better, especially in racing.
Company
BBS
BBS makes special wheels that are really good for racing because they are light and strong.
Company
Hoosier
Hoosier makes tires that are designed for racing, helping cars grip the track better and go faster.
Company
Ohlins
Ohlins makes special parts for the car's suspension, helping it handle better on the track.
Term
Formula One car
A Formula One car is a special type of race car used in the highest level of car racing. They are built to go really fast and have unique designs to help them perform well on racetracks.
Concept
SEMA
SEMA is a big car show in Las Vegas where companies show off new car parts and accessories. It's a place for car lovers to see the latest trends and meet others who are into cars.
Concept
PRI
PRI is a trade show that focuses on racing and high-performance cars. It's where people in the racing industry gather to learn and see new products.
Car
Toyota LS 400
The Toyota LS 400 is a comfortable luxury car that was made by Toyota. It's known for being very reliable and smooth to drive, making it a popular choice for those who want a nice ride.
Part
coilovers
Coilovers are parts of a car's suspension that help control how the car rides and handles. They can be adjusted to make the car sit lower or higher, which can improve how it drives.
Car
Subaru WRX
The Subaru WRX is a fast car that can handle well in different weather conditions. It's often used in racing and is known for its powerful engine and all-wheel drive, which helps it grip the road better.
Car
BMW M4
The BMW M4 is a sporty car made by BMW that combines luxury with high performance. It's designed for people who want a fast and fun driving experience.
Car
Nissan Skyline GT-R R34
The Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 is a famous sports car that many car enthusiasts love. It's known for being fast and having great handling, making it a favorite in racing and car shows.
Car
Nissan R34
The Nissan Skyline is a famous sports car that is known for being very fast and having cool features. The R34 model, in particular, is loved by many car fans and has appeared in movies and video games. People talk about it because it’s considered a classic and has a strong fan base.
Car
Ferrari F430
Car
Honda S2000
The Honda S2000 is a small two-seat convertible sports car that is known for being really fun to drive. It has a powerful engine that can go very fast, and it’s light, which helps it handle well on the road. People mention it because it’s a favorite among those who love driving.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower measures how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and more powerful the car can be.
Part
bumper
A bumper is the part of the car that helps protect it in case of a crash. It's usually found at the front and back of the vehicle.
Part
tensioner
A tensioner keeps the belts in your car tight so they work properly. If it's not working, the belts can make noise or not function right.
Term
full cage
A full cage is a strong frame inside a car that helps keep everyone safe if the car flips over or crashes. It's often used in race cars to make them safer and stronger.
Part
fuel cell
A fuel cell is a special tank that holds fuel for the car. It's made to be safer than regular tanks, especially in case of accidents.
Part
custom suspension
Custom suspension means the car's system that helps it ride smoothly and handle turns has been specially changed to make it better for driving. It can help the car perform well on the road or track.
Part
turbo
A turbo is a part that helps an engine get more air, which makes it more powerful. Many car enthusiasts add turbos to their cars to boost performance.
Term
Tokyo Drift
Tokyo Drift is a movie about street racing in Japan. It shows a lot of cool cars and racing styles, especially drifting, which is when drivers slide their cars around corners.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that has been around since the 1960s. It's known for being fast and stylish, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Term
dyno
A dyno is a machine that tests how powerful an engine is. It tells you how much power the engine can produce, which is important for tuning and fixing performance problems.
Term
S chassis
The S chassis is a type of car made by Nissan, famous for being fun to drive and easy to modify. Many people use them for racing and drifting because they're lightweight and have rear-wheel drive.
Company
Martini Works
Martini Works is a business that sells car parts and accessories. They have many options for different types of cars and needs.
Car
Mazda Rx8
The Mazda RX-8 is a type of sports car that has a special engine called a rotary engine, which is different from most cars. It has unique doors that open differently, making it easier to get in and out of the back seats.
Car
Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is a fast and stylish sports car that was made by the Honda company. It’s special because it was one of the first supercars that was easy to drive every day, not just on racetracks. People talk about it because it shows how good Japanese cars can be.
Car
Honda Beats
The Honda Beat is a tiny convertible car that is really fun to drive. It was made in Japan and is special because it’s very small and light, fitting into a category of cars designed for city driving. People mention it because it’s a unique and playful car that stands out.
Car
Chevrolet Corvettes
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car from America that has been around for a long time. It’s known for being fast and having a cool design, making it a favorite among car lovers. People often talk about it because it’s a classic example of American muscle cars.
Car
Subaru Brzs
The Subaru BRZ is a small sports car that is designed for fun driving. It has a rear-wheel-drive system, which means the back wheels get the power, making it great for sharp turns. People talk about it because it’s a good choice for those who want a sporty car without spending too much money.
Car
BMW 335S
The BMW 335 is a sporty sedan that combines luxury and performance. It has a strong engine and a nice interior, making it a good choice for people who want a comfortable car that’s also fun to drive. People mention it because it’s a popular option among those looking for a stylish and practical car.
Car
BMW M2
The BMW M2 is a sporty version of a small BMW car that is made for people who love to drive fast. It has a strong engine and handles really well, making it fun to drive on both regular roads and racetracks. People mention it because it’s a great mix of being practical and exciting.
Car
Lancia Delta
The Lancia Delta is a car that was built for racing and became famous in the 1980s. The Delta S4 model is especially known for winning many races and has a unique look. People talk about it because it represents a great time in rally racing history.
Car
Porsche Cayman
The Porsche Cayman is a sporty car that is known for being fun to drive and having a fancy feel. It has its engine in the middle, which helps it handle really well on the road. People talk about it because it’s a great option for those who want a thrilling driving experience.
LIVE
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Martiniworks podcast.
I am back.
I'm so excited to be here.
Special guest, Alex.
Yep.
With the Kota and Gels.
I'm over here.
Yeah, we're really excited because by the time
this video comes out, it will be Friday.
It will be the Gatlinberg weekend.
We're down there.
It's Gat Friday, baby.
Yeah, it's Gat Friday, which is very, very exciting.
I liked one post on TikTok, and now my entire feed
is just Gatlinberg content.
It's happening.
It happened a lot last year leading up to it.
And I feel like this year it's going crazy.
Everyone's got something to say about Gat.
Yeah, everybody's got an opinion.
Including us.
Yeah, which we're going to spend probably most of the time on.
But before we do that, ladies and gentlemen,
we get to officially share that it is, I think, almost nearly live.
We have it on the table in front of us.
And if you're listening in, you don't know what we're talking about.
But in front of me is our limited roast batch, Martiniworks,
Caramel House Blend Coffee that we're dropping at Gatlinberg 2025.
So we worked with some local roasters here right in Appleton, Wisconsin.
And we've probably spent the last, gosh, like six months working on this.
We have two different flavors, Caramel House Blend and then an Espresso Carbon Blend.
So the Caramel House Blend is more of like a smooth,
I would call it like medium light roast.
And then the Espresso Carbon Blend is obviously more of like a medium dark roast.
So we actually have a bunch of content that'll be coming out on it here in the next,
well, probably already did, or is going to come out in the next couple of days.
You've probably seen some stuff of it, but man, you haven't smelled it yet.
Oh my God, it smells so good.
We have like 800 boxes of this sitting in the shop, and that's all I can smell.
Yeah, it's not a bad thing.
It's awesome.
We were really excited for this.
We worked with a company called Motovator, who's a local company as well.
We just had them on the podcast.
Yes, yes.
You guys know them.
We spent a good amount of time trying to make sure that we did this stuff right.
I think we went through like six or seven different versions of the coffee that we did.
It's all ethically sourced stuff.
We actually got to tour the entire facility.
We walked through the entire process.
I think I actually packaged almost half of the Carmel House blends.
Damn.
Put you to work.
With Maria, who was helping on the line.
So it was actually super, super fun.
I've always wanted to do something on the coffee side of things, mostly just because
we talk so much about car parts, and cars, and cars, and cars, and cars, and cars.
But I wanted to do something that was kind of like adjacent to everybody that does
enjoy cars.
And I would say a good amount of folks are coffee drinkers.
I was going to go into tequila business, but that's expensive.
Dwayne The Rock Johnson's already got such a strength.
Yeah, he's got a big strength hold on that.
So does anybody that's got to touch a gray in their hair.
Yeah.
George Clooney, tequila brand.
Rock has no hair.
So rocks don't have hair, Charles.
Exactly.
Anyway, good tequila.
I like it.
But if you don't want tequila and you want coffee, we have it.
And it's really sick.
And I'd really love for you to give it a shot.
I think I broke them for a second.
I needed a couple seconds to reload.
I was stuck on the pause screen.
I heard the dial up tone.
Yeah.
Coffee's really good, though.
It turned out amazing.
There's a lot of work that went into it.
It's such a weird thing, because I feel like so many people have done coffee.
And it's always like, oh, well, they just rebranded this.
And it's like, no, it was a lot more than that.
It was a crazy amount of work to go through.
It was so cool we were able to have it made in Appleton.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that was a big thing for us, is we wanted to do it local.
Then we wanted to make sure that the beans that we sourced it from were local.
So we went with there were three different types of blends you can go with.
You can kind of go with a commercial grade.
You can go with a premium grade.
And then you can go with a plus premium grade.
And we went with a plus premium grade, which means coffee shop grade.
We go through a different group of farms and growers in Central America
mostly, because a lot of beans require high elevation and very particular
weather to grow.
But we got to hold these beans with our very own two hands.
And then we got to watch them get thrown into a machine.
There's a lot of machinery.
And we got to see them get toasted up to 910 degrees Fahrenheit.
It was all a very quick process.
It was really neat.
Then we got to play around with how much water was getting added to this one
versus this one, because actually when you go and you roast something
and you go to add in water after the roast, it absorbs.
And depending on how much water you put into it afterwards can actually
decide on how strong, how concentrated, and how
balanced the flavor of the bean actually comes out.
So it was really, really fun.
It was actually a whole process.
I'm just rambling about coffee now.
But I'm really, really excited for this.
It's a cool, cool product.
It's super cool.
We've never done anything like this before.
And I think bringing something like this to Slanden
of Sevierville, Gatlinburg is really special.
And I really love that we've really introduced the Wisconsin
aspect in a lot of this stuff.
Even just looking on the side here,
roasted with passion and pride right here in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Some of the merch that we're going to have has
Appleton, Wisconsin on it.
And I really like that, because a lot of people
think we're from California.
Dude, every time.
We're not.
Every time.
Every time we travel.
They're like, oh, so you didn't.
Must be a long trip from Cali.
Yeah, you guys are in Cali, right?
It's like, no, no.
And they're like, oh, Florida.
We see a lot of people move down there now.
They're like, no, like Texas?
No, Wisconsin.
Yeah, we have a lot of, I mean, by the time
you guys are watching this, I mean, hopefully,
if you're not going to go, some of the apparel
will be already on the website, if you'd like to snag some.
Because it's absolutely banging.
We spent a lot of time on this, too.
But we have Slam, Sevierville, Eventes.
And then we have two different exclusive designs
that we're kind of just dubbing the Senatee
and the Datsun tea.
And you can take a look at them.
They'll be on the website.
They look absolutely killer.
Both of them are in retrospect to two vehicles
that we're bringing to Slam and us, Sevierville.
One of which you guys may have heard of,
which is that Datsun 240Z, that series one
that we're bringing back to life for Chad and his family
that they own for 50 years.
And then the second one is our very own.
We can finally talk about it now.
Hiding in the back there is a pro-formula
open-wheel race car called a PFM.
It's crazy.
Yeah, I bet none of y'all guessed that.
We saw all the comments.
Some people were guessing crazy stuff.
Nothing.
They were all wrong.
I don't think anybody could get that one right.
We have...
Chad, tell me about this frickin' thing
because we've had this for a while.
Surprise!
We've had this for a while and it's fucking crazy.
Yeah, we drove it last week, it was sick.
So yeah, so we are now the proud owners
of a, right around 2015, pro-formula Mazda,
which is an open-wheel race car
that now would technically race
in the Formula Atlantic series of the SCCA.
And it's not powered by some sort of four-cylinder
or straight six.
It is powered by a Renesys 13B.
Rotary!
Hell yeah, baby.
Straight up, you guys wanna know?
Hell yeah.
You wanna know the first thing we did with it
when we bought it?
Fucking flooded it.
I had no part of that.
Immediately.
I warned and I asked and I warned again
and we still flooded it.
Yeah, so it's really cool.
It's 1,200 pounds.
It's got a Hewland six-speed sequential gearbox in it.
It's got a MoTeC ECU, paddle shifters.
It's a carbon fiber monocoque chassis.
It's got BBS center lock wheels.
It's got some Hoosiers on it right now.
It's a fucking race car.
Olin suspension.
Yeah, Olin suspension.
It's a full fucking race car.
Oh yeah.
That's crazy.
Oh yeah, she slaps.
She's fun.
We were like moving stuff around in the shop
and anyone that would come into any of the other businesses
around here, we'd have to roll it outside or something.
People are just like, what the fuck?
Yeah.
I can't formula one car sitting there.
It is very much a looker of a car
because it is so just polarizing to see in person.
And guess what?
You can see it in person if you're gonna be at the show
because it's coming to the show.
Gonna be in the booth?
Yeah, it's gonna be debuting at the booth.
So you'll have to check it out.
We're putting some stickers on it
and we got a whole new thing
that we're pretty much announcing.
Kind of adjacent to Martini Works
which is just called Martini Works Racing
which you'll start to hear a little bit about
as we go into the winter months.
But essentially a group of the guys here at the shop
are super dedicated to sim racing, IRL racing,
drifting, even like the truck side of things
and the dirt side of things.
And we wanted a place where we felt like the team
could kind of share that passion
in a place that Martini Works could then support it.
And so we're really trying to create a space
where we can almost put all this stuff
under this makeshift racing team
which is because we know we're gonna lose money.
But then you'll see content over there
that's more about like sim races
and drifting and motor sports
and the PFM and stuff like that.
So if that's of any interest to you
and you wanna see more,
I would almost call it like technical in depth stuff,
maybe not quite as much of like the aftermarket
more than it is motor sports,
that'll be over at Martini Works Racing.
So it's kind of a cool thing.
If you wanna foot race me, you can.
Yeah, yep, open the foot race.
I don't wanna foot race.
I jumped off the PFM for a photo
and my knees hurt for a day.
Yeah, they keep asking me if I wanna get in it.
I don't wanna go.
I don't wanna go.
It's not a big deal.
I think getting in it might be a big deal.
I don't wanna go through that trauma.
We went through, I mean, it's pretty crazy.
I mean, Gatlinburg is a big step for us.
We've gone for a long time.
We've supported it for a long time.
We support the car culture.
We have always supported the car culture a ton.
And so we're really happy to be there.
And we do treat Gatlinburg kind of like
the car show version of SEMA.
And then we treat SEMA like SEMA.
And then we treat PRI like the fun SEMA.
That's kind of how I go about it.
Ever been to PRI?
PRI is awesome.
Performance racing industries.
Where is it?
It's in Indianapolis, the home of Speed.
Nice.
But that's a great-
My show Speed lives in Indianapolis.
Yep.
No.
Oh, no.
No, no, no.
But anyway, yeah, that's what we got going on.
That was a lot of information.
What questions do you have?
Hit me.
The car weighs 1,200 pounds.
So we're bringing a race car to a stance show.
I think that's going to go over.
It's going to be sick.
Like they say, not all show cars can be race cars,
but all race cars can be show cars.
But not all race cars can.
Some are clapped.
I've seen a little bit of, like you said,
everybody's got an opinion with Gatlinburg.
And I think everybody's taking it into their own hands
and deciding what should or should not go.
I want to be really honest with you guys,
just go and fucking hang out and vibe and enjoy it.
There's not like a stipulation.
You don't need to gatekeep the car show.
It's a fantastic weekend.
Be safe.
Don't be dumb.
Drive safe.
Be safe.
Have fun.
There needs to be no other rules besides that.
People are like, well, if you don't have a modified car,
but listen, some people do and some people don't.
That doesn't mean that they can't go and enjoy the show.
Go with your friends.
If you guys got a town and country that's brand new,
$10 says you're going to be way more comfortable
than the guy driving the LS 400 just bagged on the ground.
I don't know if you've ever seen the entryways to some
of the cabins and places down there.
It sucks.
Everything's on a hill, mountain.
Yeah, we have to take off the front clip
to get that car anywhere.
Yeah, I bet.
Yeah, that's going to be really fun.
But yeah, if you've never traveled for a show,
I think this one's definitely one worth.
Yeah, 100%.
That and Riverside, which are both in Tennessee,
Gatlinburg or Severeville, just phenomenal who
shows up there.
I get the angle that people are coming at.
It's like, oh, you get all these people,
they're ship boxes and they're just
taking over the strip at night and something
that causes an issue.
It's like, yeah, obviously, just don't be dumb.
Yeah, I mean.
Drive what you drive.
That's fine.
Come enjoy the show if you want.
Don't feel bad for being there if you don't have a crazy
car, but just don't be an idiot.
The problem with that assumption
of saying, don't bring your daily driver.
And then the person that's saying this
is driving WRX on coilovers.
And it's like, at Gatlinburg, there's
going to be 2,000 of those cars.
So it's like, kind of sort of, I hear what you're saying,
but don't make it more difficult than it is.
I think being safe and being respectful
is way more important than anything else,
no matter if you're bringing one car or 10 cars.
We just loaded up two semis worth of cars
that are heading down there right now.
It's pretty cool.
Well, the R34, the F430, the Ferrari, the M4,
the Datsun, yeah, and then the PFM.
It's a good lineup.
That is a crazy.
I feel like it's a pretty decent lineup this year.
The Datsun, how's that been going?
My God.
Is that a good my God or bad my God?
It's just a my God.
My Jesus.
The car is fucking crazy.
Yeah, so the good, it runs.
Let's go.
It drives better than the S2K right now.
It survived the dyno, unlike the S2000.
Same dyno, right?
Yeah.
Oh, that's scary.
And on pump, on pump it made just a touch under 500 horse power.
Geez, God damn.
The thing is a screamer.
It is wicked fast.
So much for that car.
And prior to an alignment, it was scary.
Yeah.
We drove a tune from the alignment
and I'd like tap the gas and the whole car like crab
walked and I'm like, OK, no, no, no, we're just,
we're just going to get the alignment shot.
We're not going to mess with anything.
But it's been so cool.
I mean, we just finished it up.
I mean, really, we were putting the buttons on it on Sunday
night, just last weekend.
And that was last night, by the way.
I know.
I'm trying to frame it for them, not us.
We put the fender mirrors on.
We realign the hood.
We put the bumper on.
We put a new tensioner on.
It still squeaks like a baby.
Yeah, what's going on with it?
I don't know.
It doesn't really squeal.
I'd have to fix it.
Belt sizing is such a bitch
with different engine setups like that.
It's such a.
It's like, I don't even know if I need to go down in size.
I don't think I need to go down in size.
I think like the whole thing is just not tight enough.
I think I need to like move.
I feel like it might be too tight.
You think so?
Yeah.
So sometimes it could be like too tight
and then it's like it's binding up almost.
Maybe it could be doing that
because I did tighten the fuck out of it.
Yeah, you started it up and I was like, yeah.
Yeah, so that's not good.
That's what's not going well.
And then the front lights, the front fog lights,
the bumper is in a good spot.
But because everything on this car is old
and nobody makes anything anymore,
getting our fog lights to work and fit properly
means one of the bolts can't be used,
which means it kind of doesn't have the greatest placement.
But besides that, it's running, it's driving.
Sounds fucking insane.
The little cam in there is absolutely incredible.
It's such a cool car because it's like
in the state right now, obviously,
it's like a little beat up.
It's patented.
Yeah.
It's like, oh, it's old dots.
And that's some nice wheels though.
Sits nice.
And it's like you walk up to it and you see a full cage
and fuel cell in the back.
And then you're like, oh.
And then you kind of peek around the back
and the entire underside is brand new
with like complete custom suspension.
And you're like, wait a minute.
And then you pop the hood and it's just a fully built
fucking RB26 with a huge ass turbo.
That thing's sick.
It was really fun.
I told you, we took it over to our alignment shop
over here.
And you had the bumper off of it yet
and the hood was off of it yet.
And you were behind me when we were rolling down the road.
Like, dude, this reminds me of like,
it looked so much like the scene from Tokyo Drift
when they were like shaking down the RB Mustang.
And they had the hood off.
And it looked so, I'm like, dude, that literally
looks like that fucking car.
Like that's crazy.
It was so cool because we finally got to put on the trailer.
And I was so happy to see it on the trailer
because it's been a lot of work.
And a massive shout out to the people
that have helped Carl from Lindgren Supercars.
He had three people on that car for nine days straight
to sort out the dyno issues that we were having with that car.
I mean, we had so many issues with that car.
And they just did not give up.
And then Jackson as well.
Jackson, Hazen, he's over here in Appleton.
He's kind of like, I always call him like our resident
S chassis mechanic.
But he is just like, he's a jack of all trades.
And he helped me out a ton with getting
some of the stuff sorted.
He's very creative in terms of making things work and fit.
And that bumper would not look as good as it does
if it wasn't for Jackson.
Yeah, he put work in on that bumper making her.
Yeah, he worked like a full day and then would just come in here
and work another full day.
And then go home and work another full day.
So shit, yeah.
So it's been a lot of work and we're really happy
to have it down there.
But none of that matters more than Chad, the previous owner.
We're trying to get him down to see it for the first time.
And our hopes are that he can come to the cabin to see it,
kind of unveil it, to start it, to sit in it.
And hopefully, I'd really like to get him to drive it
if it feels comfortable because it'll
be the first time that that car is driven in, I mean,
I want to say just short of a decade.
So I mean, it's a 50 year old car in their ownership.
They didn't have a driving for the last like five to 10.
So it should be really cool.
Like it should be a nice full circle moment
seeing the car on the ramps was sick because I kind of looked
at it and I want to paint it.
I do.
But it's gray on gold wheels.
And then we put the Ferrari on the trailer too.
And it's gray on gold wheels.
And I'm like, look kind of sick.
Looks kind of cool.
I mean, you can repaint it gray.
That's OK.
No, no.
I feel like it's in bad shape.
Honestly, it's not terrible.
I know it went through like a ton of like on the underside
subhead, like a lot of like rust repair and everything
like that.
So it's like super solid.
Like there's no rust or anything on it, which is really nice.
But yeah, the outside, it's like it looks right for some reason.
I don't know how to say it.
Touch of gray.
Yeah.
It's got that George Clooney action going on with it.
You're like, it works.
I'm really excited for it.
I want to get some miles on it
when we're down in the mountains.
You will.
The Ferrari is running super nice now, which is fantastic.
So I'm really excited to have that down there for the first time
this year, like running properly well.
Because I think that'll be really fun too.
Yeah, it's cool because we get to pick out an award again
this year for like, you know, best story.
Best build story.
Yeah, which I'm glad that we can bring something
to our booth too that has a really nice story
attached along with it.
And I think you have some videos
explaining that on your own channel
if you want to see the in-depth story of the Datsun.
It's really cool.
You know, a little bit heart-wrenching for the guy.
And I'm excited for him to see it and check it out.
And it's cool that we're able to bring it
to like this national show and showcase it.
Because it does have a good story.
100%.
Yeah, it should be a really fun time.
And it's been an absolute ton of work, which everybody,
like you guys and the whole Martini Works team,
have put in a ton of hours to make this year feel
really special.
And our goal is that we can always come back
to these shows to make it feel special.
So we're really excited to show you the booth.
It's got SimRigs.
It's got coffee.
It's got a bunch of limited merch.
New booth layout this year.
It's got more carpet.
No grass.
I wish it had grass.
A little bit of grass.
You want me to bring the grass?
No.
There's a little bit of grass on the tree.
I can bring more grass.
I don't want more grass.
Why don't we bring the grass?
And if we don't use it, we'll leave it.
Sounds like a guy that doesn't move the grass, Tom.
Yeah, you ran away to Japan last year.
Left Us Deal.
Yeah, that was real convenient.
Well, we moved 6,000 pounds of turf.
Yeah, well, somebody's got to do it.
It was you guys.
I can't help it.
No one has to do it.
We burned the turf.
Yeah.
Burned the turf.
It looks cool.
I won't melt.
Like having cars at the convention center
and the GTT party.
It was a vibe.
The yellow, the green, it contrasts.
Looks good.
But moving that shit, hell no.
It's going to be, I'm really excited for the booth this
year.
Yeah, me too.
I think it's going to be exciting.
I was really excited for it last year.
I'm really excited for it this year.
I'm really excited for Continental Tires.
Yeah?
Yeah, the sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.
Ever heard of them?
I have.
Yeah, they're really good.
Yeah, we've been right.
Thank you for the little ad.
Let's do a welcome.
Yeah.
If you guys are interested, go on over to Martini Works,
filter by Continental.
Look at all the offerings that they have,
because they have just a plethora of sizes
available for you guys.
And then great options for whatever you guys need.
All seasons, sport tires, winter tires.
W words coming up soon.
Check that out.
The Viking Contact 8 is new this year.
I'm excited for us to rip in the snow on that and really
check it out, because the Viking Contact 7 was probably
one of my all-time favorite tires.
Good-ass tires.
Actually, I'm going to judge the Viking Contact 8
really hard, because I love 7.
So they got to do something to make it better.
We'll see.
But yeah, check it out.
There's a bunch of warranty stuff
that they offer with their tires, which is really cool.
They won't leave you hanging.
Continental has been a sponsor of the podcast
since the beginning, and we love working with them,
because we love their tires.
So if you're interested, check them out over at martiniworks.com
and thank you to Continental.
Listen, I'm not even lying to you guys,
even though this is definitely going to help me if you buy it.
This coffee is so good.
It's hot.
Yep.
It's all so hot, because coffee is warm.
That's weird.
Well, those don't drink warm drink,
but you like iced coffee, right?
I like iced coffee.
Warm drinks are fucking gross.
Warm drinks are gross?
Weird.
You're weird.
Hot drinks, weird.
There's so many people out there giving tips for Gat.
Everybody in their mother's got an opinion on what Gat should
or shouldn't be.
We've been there for a while.
Sure have.
We also have been a part of the scene for a while,
dare I say, long enough to have a good amount of experience,
specifically in the car show scene.
So now it's time for us to drop our half-baked opinion.
Yeah, but like three-quarter-baked, like a baked potato.
Yeah, like a nice chocolate chip cookie.
Like you're not mad that it's medium-rare.
Yes, that too.
OK.
But these people are already at Gatlinburg.
If they're listening and they're going to Gat, they're there.
True, true.
OK, so let's say you're there.
Yeah, it's Friday.
You're waking up in the morning.
Good morning.
Your internet sucks.
That's the first thing you realize.
There's scorpions in Tennessee.
Yeah, the second thing you realize
is that if you've got a shitty cabin,
there's 100% some sort of large insect inside of your cabin.
You just don't know where it is yet.
Or even a nice cabin there will be big insects.
Yeah, also true.
You're probably going to realize within the next 24 hours
of listening to this podcast that bears being close to you.
That's real.
That's a real thing.
And Sasquatch does exist.
Gell is actually.
I found one.
He found one last year.
Do you remember that?
I found one hunting, barely.
I kind of remember it.
Why were you inebriated?
No, no.
It was just a traumatizing experience.
Yeah, yeah.
We found out the little camera Dustin had.
It had night vision.
I mean, Gell's went outside and found a Sasquatch.
It's crazy.
All right, let's drop some real knowledge, though.
Number one, if you guys are going to the show on Saturday
and Sunday, the line is astronomically long.
It's a lot.
It's a lot of people.
It's a lot.
If you want, get there early, my recommendation.
Get in there.
Eat beforehand.
Eat beforehand.
The convention food sucks.
I can say that without a shadow of a doubt.
Exactly what you think it is.
It's the most garbage thing ever.
And it takes forever.
Yeah.
And it's expensive.
We will not be selling finished coffee.
We will be selling coffee bags that come with a free cup
of coffee, if you're interested.
Exactly.
Do your walk around, I'd say.
Have some fun with it, do your thing.
Apparel, if you're looking to get something,
especially like an event here, something like that though,
and you're going both days, get it on Saturday.
Yeah, then it'll go fast.
Yeah, Martini Works pre-orders their stuff.
So when we're out, we'll essentially
just put it in the backlog, and then
we'll do another order of stuff.
But if you want to leave with a t-shirt.
If you want to go in, you got your cash ready,
you're like, I want a t-shirt for the event.
Do it Saturday.
Yeah, do it right away.
Do it right away.
That would be my opinion.
Our stuff sold out before the first day was even over.
Yeah, it was crazy.
And we love our stuff.
And other people have really cool stuff too.
Like everybody brings some really rad stuff.
I know Card Drugs does cool stuff.
I know Grip Royal always has some good stuff going on.
They did always have some good stuff going on.
And so there's definitely ways to spend money there.
Oh, yeah.
And the one Easter egg I'll drop, if you mention Martini Works.
Get a wristband.
Get a wristband.
Oh, yep, be exclusive with that.
Yep, yep.
That's it.
That's it.
That's all you want to find out.
You'll learn if you know.
Yeah, talk to us at the booth,
and ask us about the wristbands,
and you'll find out more.
They are really pretty.
They are really pretty.
Actually, we took inspiration from when
I went on the Rolex trip to the quail,
because they do a very similar wristband.
And I really, really liked it.
I hate the plastic ones on your SOS.
What's another good tip?
Let me tell you it.
Gell inserts in your shoes.
Gell inserts in your shoes.
There's people that will drive their car show down,
and they're accepted into the show,
and then they'll get rejected at the show,
because they absolutely demolish their front bumper,
or fenders, or whatever.
So I know it's cool.
If you don't want to risk it, just lift your car a little bit.
Just a little bit while you're cruising around.
And then when you get to the show, then you
can lower it afterwards.
That's my opinion.
I mean, yeah.
Try to think.
Find just dedicated spots.
Just go sit down for a little bit, too.
I'm telling you, it's so frickin' brutal on the feet
walking around that show, because it's
like you want to be there for the whole time.
It is a long show.
Yeah, both days have different cars.
Both days have different cars.
That's also true.
A lot of people don't know that, either.
Saturday's cars will be completely different
from Sunday's cars.
There might be a couple.
Our booth cars will stay, but they
do a full swap out.
All those cars leave at Saturday.
New cars come in on Sunday.
Sunday is actually, they call it the upperclassmen day.
So that's where you'll see, honestly, some
of the really crazy stuff come in.
There's crazy stuff, either way, but Sunday, I really
like Sunday.
Sunday's a good day.
I will say, probably, another good tip
that people probably haven't told you yet.
Everybody always looks in the front lot
to see the cars that are outside, the parking lot,
things like that.
Go behind the convention center.
Can people go back there?
Yeah, people walk back there all the time.
Yeah, you can walk back there.
You'll walk across the side of the building,
and you'll see a lot of staff and vending vehicles
that are parked up back there.
There's some really cool stuff that's back there every single
year.
This year, the 430 will be back there,
because it's not in the show.
And I don't want to park it up front.
I just want to get in and get the hell out of there
when we're all done.
But there's some really cool stuff.
I know the haulers, people bringing their truck and trailer.
And there's some people that got some pretty dope trucks.
If you're a truck guy, you'll see some really cool stuff
back there.
What else?
Dakota, what do you got?
Talk to people.
Go around.
There's a lot of cool stories there.
People are showcasing their vehicles,
so they'd love to tell you about it.
Ask questions, meet up with people.
We have people coming from all over the country
to go to the shows.
One thing that's really cool this year
is Crispy's going to be there.
He's going to be filming, which I think is super easy
to make a banger fucking video.
So there's a lot of unique opportunity
to have conversations with your favorite car content
creators, maybe a car you follow on IG, any of that stuff.
Come say hi to us.
We're there to chill with you guys, talk to you guys,
see you face to face.
So take advantage of that.
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's a really cool opportunity,
because one of my favorite parts about going
to these shows and stuff like that is there's
friends that we've made through the years of doing this.
And it's like, we really only see them face to face once a year,
and it's always at an event like this.
And it's always so fun catching back up,
seeing what they did different to the car.
They got a new car.
So yeah, take advantage of it, because it's
a really, really cool opportunity
to just meet new people, see people
that you haven't seen in a long time.
What's your favorite?
I think we've brought this up before.
I'm just curious if it's changed.
We got a long drive coming up here.
Well, I mean, we'll be there while this is out.
But on the drive down, what's your go-to snack?
What are you getting?
You got to stay awake.
You're leaving at night.
Ian Joel's leaving.
We're leaving.
Butt crack in the morning.
Early morning.
Like 3 AM, probably.
Oh, I have it.
I have it.
What do you got?
I'm on this new kick.
Yeah, what you got?
That guy hasn't made them that much,
so I'm kind of a little upset about it.
We'll talk about it after the podcast.
But she has these, and they're great.
They're like oatmeal peanut butter balls
that have a little bit of coffee grounds sprinkled on them.
So they got a nice grit to it.
Those in the mornings or late at night, all they hit.
There's a peanut butter taste delicious.
And then you got the oatmeal.
You got a little bit of protein in it.
And then the coffee as well gives it
that nice little zaza that you need in the middle of the night.
So those are my go-to.
Anything that has oatmeal, peanut butter,
and then something on top of it is just a go-to.
A beef jerky boy.
But I can't anymore.
I don't know what is.
What's changing?
It's stuck in my teeth constantly.
It drives me fucking insane.
If I'm driving, I don't got a toothpick.
I ain't doing it.
So I'm skipping on the jerky.
So that's why I was asking for some tips.
I usually go for jerky.
I feel like jerky's a good one.
It takes some work.
Yeah, if not that.
Like sunflower seeds, honestly, keep me awake.
That's a good one.
They're really good to keep me awake.
It's just like you got this fucking cupful of like
spitty shells.
And it's kind of like tip it over.
And then it's a nightmare.
Yeah, don't do that.
But that that's like typically like last ditch effort.
Like, oh, my God, I'm struggling through this.
And I'm already like three energy drinks deep.
And if I have another one, I might fucking like go
into code on the side of the road or something.
Yeah.
So sunflower seeds, a good one to break out.
I look to get excited for like the road trip part of it.
We're like, OK, I just get to eat fucking junk shit
for 12 hours straight.
Yeah.
I've found.
I don't do that anyway.
I know it's weird.
It's probably going to sound so basic.
But Becca's on this huge water kick
has been for like the last six months.
That's cool because I can't do it.
She's got this big old water jug.
Nice.
But we fill that thing to the brim with ice.
And early in the morning on like late at night drives,
like I'll do coffee.
And it works as like a flavor thing.
But it never really feels like it can keep me awake.
So like I'll crack the window open a little bit
and just try to get some air in there.
Like ice cold water.
Drinking that at like 2 in the morning, 2.30?
Oh, it's perfect.
It's part like that.
Because it's like fresh.
The one thing I hate about long road trips
is you eat like shitty junk food.
And then like four hours later, you
feel like the air smells like how you feel, which is just shit.
Yeah.
I know what you mean.
I know what you mean.
I mean, I'm stopping at Bucky's, right?
I mean, we have to.
You got it.
Last time I stopped at Bucky's, I wasn't hungry.
I ate anyway.
It's on the way, right?
Yeah.
Pretty much.
Last time we went to Riverside and we were like,
you had to kind of go out of the way.
But for Gatlinburg, it is on the way.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm definitely stopping at Bucky's.
Rare pull.
Let's talk about food down in Gatlinburg.
I know you got to go.
If you can find some local places, definitely do it.
If you like drinking and you're not planning on driving,
they do those whiskey samplers.
What is it like, old Tennessee?
You do old Smoky.
And then I actually really like Sugarlands.
Sugarlands is good.
It's in that like corner.
It's kind of like hidden.
Yeah, Sugarlands.
If you've never done that, it's a good time.
It's like five bucks.
Yeah.
Sugarlands is awesome.
You can get a bunch of moonshines.
It's five bucks, so you get a pretty liquored up for five bucks.
And then you get the five bucks off of a bottle of moonshine.
So it's like.
That sounds like an ad.
It's not.
It's just they genuinely make it a good time.
I do it every year.
My favorite part of Sugarlands is,
because we'll do old Smoky.
And I like old Smoky a little bit more.
I don't know what it is.
Less for me.
I know.
I'm sorry.
Very all fun.
But then I'll leave.
And then Becca always wants to go to the other one, Sugarlands.
And I don't want to do the tour twice,
because I'm already a little warm, you know?
And I just don't want to deal with it.
And so I will sit there.
And I will listen to whatever musician that's
playing in that little corner.
And it's always super good.
Yeah, they always have like some like bluegrass band
out there.
It's really cool.
We did the Titanic thing that one year.
We did that.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
The Titanic tour.
They have like a big Titanic museum.
And there is actually some cool stuff in there.
And then they had it where you could feel the water.
And they have it at the same temp it was.
And it was like, holy shit.
It's like crazy how cold it is, though.
Like it hurts.
And then they got steering wheel and you spin it.
Then they give you a character card.
And you go through and then you find out if you make it.
Or not.
I fucking died.
I got fucking.
Yeah, I think we all died, actually.
Yeah, I think most people get it rigged.
Probably par for the historical course, don't you think?
Yeah, I guess.
I just wanted to be the only one that would be kind of fun.
Someone lived.
I'll keep going until I live.
That's how they get you.
Yeah, you get the rare pull of like, I survived.
Oh, my gosh.
There's some really cool rides you
can do when you get downtown area that take you up
the side of the mountain.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that quista.
And a quista is our favorite.
You ride like the ski slope thing, like the lift?
Yeah, there's the one that goes up the bridge.
Yeah, the big bridge one.
That's really cool.
I like that one.
The Anacista one.
That was the first time that we did it with you guys last year.
That was really cool.
I love Anacista because every time I go up, I see bears.
Yeah, we saw a ton last year.
It's always kind of a weird, I like Anacista.
I think it's like the coolest thing to do.
It's kind of like how we close up our trip.
Usually we go on Monday night.
And the service is always like way hit or miss
because we'll go up during sunset.
And they close at like nine.
It's like some ridiculous hour.
And so by the time we get up there and we get a drink
and we're up there to get a drink, it's like 7.30.
Bro, there have been times where I've asked for a drink
and the bartender acts like we just shot their dog.
They're so upset.
There is something.
Maybe it's just the Wisconsinites in us.
But everything shuts down hella early down there.
It's super early.
Like you said, it's like eight, nine o'clock.
Everything's shut down.
Gone.
It's like I'm just getting warmed up, man.
What the hell is that?
We just left the convention.
Yeah, for real.
That's not even a joke.
I will say if you guys are really looking
for some quick wins and let's say you want to go,
you want to get some good food fast.
It's not local, but Mella Mushroom I've always really liked.
That was really good last year.
Feeds a lot of people really fast.
What we do for Martini Works is we all stay in a cabin
and then the company and the brand,
we buy everyone food and then we do family lunches
and dinners and stuff like that.
But then a couple nights we'll go out
and we'll eat at certain places.
And Mella Mushroom is always an easy one
because you can bag like 30 people in there.
They don't even think twice.
One of the coolest things I think we did
is I love when we did like the ramen night
and you like make your own ramen
and you can add your own little toppings and you,
but that's fun.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
That was something we started a year ago, I think.
Yep.
And I think it was last Gatlinburg we started at.
Yeah, at Gatt and then we did it at Riverside.
And that was really fun.
Yeah, because it's like two people are responsible
or two to three people are responsible
for cooking that night.
And then a couple people are responsible
for cleaning up and then we do breakfast in the morning
and then we do dinner again at night
and that's a ton of fun.
Yeah, it's just, it's cool because
if you guys are going to Gatt,
you're spending a good chunk of change on a cabin.
And all you're doing there is at the cabin
is pretty much just like sleeping there
and then you have a parking space.
And so it's totally not worth it
to spend a whole chunk of change
if that's the only thing that you're gonna do.
So we try to make the space fun
and I found like the best way you can do that
is either having a couple drinks with your boys,
having some food with your boys.
Or both.
Or both at the same time.
Shockingly enough, when you do that,
everybody loves to hang out at the cabin.
And it's super fun.
The one that we stay at has a huge main entryway,
tons of space for people.
We bring some of our friends out on Saturday night
after the show's over, some of our vendor friends
and sometimes like I think last year,
who was it that came over?
The guys from Dress Up Bolts came over for dinner
which was super fun.
They're all some people.
And yeah, I mean, make it about the memories.
Make it about the memories.
Don't get caught trying to create so much content.
You forget why you went there.
Sometimes that happens.
I've made that mistake.
There are some really cool photo spots.
Oh my god.
Yeah, absolutely.
Get out and explore the area too.
There's just some absolutely beautiful scenery out there.
Anywhere you go, it's like, at least, again,
we're from Flatass, Wisconsin.
This is absolutely gorgeous any time we're down there.
Tell the Dragons only a few hours away
if you want to make the jump.
If you've ever wanted to do that, that's relatively close,
probably closer than you normally are.
So there's ever a reason to go.
Probably go do it.
I've always been a big fan of when
I travel to wake up early because you get to do more
when everything else is asleep.
I would challenge you guys if you're open to the advice.
Try getting up early.
Start your day a little bit earlier in Gatlinburg
and kind of see how it goes.
Because I feel like you can enjoy
a little bit more before things get chaotic.
Because if you start your day at 1 o'clock
on Saturday in Gatlinburg, you're not going to like it.
If you're just there for the night meats
and whatever the hell goes on,
you're missing out on a whole lot more.
Yeah, we cruise, we'll check some things out.
But for us, we'll go cruise and drive.
I think that's always the most fun for us
is as much as I love hanging out in a parking lot.
We've been in a building nine hours each day.
I want to go drive the day.
It's almost like we're going to see you on Saturday and Sunday.
See you on Saturday.
Get out there, drive.
It's beautiful.
Keep in mind that the floods and stuff from last year
are still impacting some of those roads.
So some of that stuff has shut down.
And then the one thing I'll say, obviously,
Lars and I, we love to drive.
And sometimes we drive a little bit wilder
when we're out by ourselves in the backcountry roads.
But we always spot our roads before we go when we drive them.
So if you guys are going out there
and you want to have some fun with your car,
obviously be safe, be smart, follow the speed limits.
That's what my legal team would tell you to say.
But don't ever cut the double mustard.
Don't do that.
Don't do it.
Don't ever drive hard on a road
that you've never been on before.
There's so many cool roads out there, but the embankments
and the dip.
They don't fuck around.
There is no safety net.
And those things are deep.
Like, they are crazy how aggressive they are.
It's literally cliffs.
Yeah.
And a lot of people understeer because they'll
slam on the brakes mid-turn and they just kind of go off.
So be careful.
Have fun.
Please be careful.
If you've got a cambered car,
you're definitely not going to have a good time
if you're trying to cut it up or whatever they say.
Cut it up.
But that said, Dakota, what's the biggest mistake
you've ever made going to a car show like Attenberg?
Oh, that's a great question, mistake, mistake.
Oh, I got one.
It's tough, though.
It is a little bit beneficial.
But cleaning your car before you go really
ain't that much worth it.
You get to the show and you realize,
like, you want to wipe it down while it's at the show.
Like, I just need to fully fucking detail this again.
Dude.
So car shows are, sorry, car washes are also
a little bit harder to come by than what you'd think.
Especially like any sort of like self-serve one.
Yeah.
And it's like, even if it is, it's
like a pretty good clip away from the show.
It rains five times a day in Tennessee, it seems like.
So everything just gets dirty constantly.
You're always throwing mud or dirt up somewhere.
Yeah.
Keeping the cars clean down there is a fucking nightmare.
That's kind of what I was thinking, too, is just, dude.
You can try to keep it as clean as you want.
I'd say they want to make.
Get to the show early and fucking start
wiping down your car.
I want to make a little extra cash.
Set up like some sort of car wash outside the conventions.
So we've done that before.
There's, I think it was Riverside.
Yeah, they do.
We did that one time.
It was like a mobile detailing company coming in.
Like guys were awesome.
Yeah.
We stay at a cabin that has a mile and a half dirt road.
So it did not make a damn worth of difference the time
we got back on the normal road.
But they were really, really good.
Yeah.
My biggest mistake is a mistake I make every year.
What's that?
Starting things too late.
Yeah.
Try my best to get ahead.
This time actually worked out really well
because when we initially went to tune the dots in,
I was initially planning on tuning it last weekend.
And then when I was doing my planning for the videos and stuff,
I'm like, I want to give myself a three week buffer.
So then I took everything and I blew it back by almost a month
and we finished it yesterday, or it would have been
Sunday afternoon.
So I'm glad I did that.
Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this talk.
But that stuff adds up because then when
you go to Gatlinburg because it is such a good show,
I feel like sometimes people don't notice the little things
until they're looking at it and like, great deal.
Oh my god, I forgot to bolt that.
Oh no, that's not installed right.
Oh no, I got to switch that out.
Oh no, that's loose.
I got to do it.
And the next thing you know, you've got 10, 12, 15 things
that you got to get done.
Gels?
Biggest mistake going to Gatlinburg?
Oh man.
Honestly, pack some tools with you like 100%.
Luckily, I wouldn't say it was a mistake,
but we were kind of like prepared for it.
And if we weren't prepared for it,
I would have been probably kind of boned,
took the RX-8 down a couple of years ago,
drove it all the way down, and a caliper like seized up on me.
And we had to drive it back to Wisconsin
at the end of the show.
So we had to get it fixed.
So spent like a whole day sourcing apart for that.
Luckily, we had Dustin, you know,
the trailer packed with tools because we just,
we typically don't go anywhere without a majority
of our tools with us, just for those instances.
And that can ruin a trip really, really quick
if you can't fix your car that you brought
to have a good time with at the show or even in the area.
So just pack like a little go bag of like,
I know the car has like these sockets,
like needs these sockets, have a little portable jack
with you, just like an essential bag.
Throw it in a car somewhere, keep it with you
because it'd hate to go all the way down there,
especially spend all that money
and not be able to enjoy yourself with your car.
So, honestly, like a little portable air pump too, huge.
Oh, portable air pump, portable air dryer thing.
Oh yeah, that too.
Yeah, that, anything, yeah, anything that you would seem
like, yeah, be nice if I could have it, just pack it.
Which is a good segue because I do want to spend
a little bit of time talking about
how to actually prepare your car
for like a Gatlinberg style car show,
almost like awards, which is actually a really big thing.
Cause not everybody's going to win a trophy,
but there are some like tips and things to keep in mind.
If you are wanting to do a good job this weekend,
maybe you're listening in,
we'll give you some tips and tricks
on how you can make your car look a little bit cleaner.
But while we do that,
we do want to give a huge shout out to our partner,
Fortune Auto, an absolutely incredible coilover company
who's been a part of this podcast for a good long time.
Fortune Auto, they make modular coilover systems
built for you.
They're tri-trude and tested right here
in the United States.
They build them over in Virginia,
which is actually pretty awesome.
And of course, if you guys need something custom
for your coilovers, they'll actually be able
to do that for you.
They ask you a few couple, two, three questions
to make sure that they're building them
the way that you want.
They're the same questions that we ask,
plus to make sure that you actually
are getting what you think you need.
They have Fortune Auto 500, which is their entry level,
and they have the 510s.
And if you're getting into more
of the motorsport side of things,
they have two-way, three-way adjustable coilovers,
which are fantastic for really dialing in
your compression and your rebound behavior,
especially if you're changing tracks,
you're going to different races.
High speed, low speed.
Yeah, it's all awesome stuff.
And once you dive into that,
it's really nice to have a set of coilovers
that actually react to the inputs you give it
and the things that you change.
And Fortune Auto is a really good job
in making sure you can feel it
when you start changing those things around.
So if you're interested in picking up
a set of Fortune Auto coilovers,
you can actually go snag those over at martiniworks.com.
I'm gonna say thank you to Fortune Auto
for being a sponsor of the Martini Works podcast.
Be right back.
All right, so we've been to get,
we've seen it multiple, multiple, multiple times.
We've seen winners.
It's always, yeah, we've seen not winners.
There's always a little bit different every year.
Oh yeah.
I feel like the crowd that shows up,
what do you guys expect and what are you thinking
is gonna be the trends of this year?
Okay.
What's rolling in, what style vehicles?
I feel like we've been pretty good about it.
Yeah.
We nailed it on the head.
Most times not to toot our own horn, but yeah.
I feel like a lot of BMWs this year.
Yeah.
I feel like every year there's more and more BMWs.
Was it a really bad thing?
You know, I like to see it.
But I think, I think a lot more BMWs this year.
I've had enough of it.
Change your platform.
Just kidding.
No, it's more.
BMWs are good.
The BMWs are great.
There's a reason.
I would say I think every year I see this,
a certain group of folks always come back
and you see different teams, like Team was at Tensei
and obviously they waited a lot.
Yeah, Team Tensei goes crazy.
Yeah, and those guys, they always bring out
some heaters of cars.
As long as you ask them, sometimes it's hard to know
what they have going on with their cars
if you just look at them.
You look at NSX and it's like, cool, it's an NSX,
but it's an NSX.
You have to ask them and all of a sudden
they'll tell you how rare the car is or the kid
or who owned it.
And a lot of those stories are really cool.
It's one of the things why we enjoy
the build trophy we give off.
But I think the upperclassmen, the Sunday show this year,
I think seeing Josh Freeman bring that,
that station wagon that nobody really knew
was even a thing, I think we're gonna see
a little bit more of that.
I think we're gonna see more people
trying to dive further into JDM car culture.
Like the really abstract.
Wonky pics, I'm sure we'll see more Honda beats.
I think we're gonna see more cappuccinos.
I think we're gonna see more Estates.
I think we're gonna see more Laurels.
I think we're gonna see less just GTRs
and I think we're gonna see more outside of that landscape.
I wanna see some vans.
I want like dope JDM vans.
You know what I could go for?
I wanna see that.
A clean VR4.
That'd be cool.
I would really love this.
I don't think I have seen an actual clean VR4
in a long time.
Even Galant VR4 or 3K VR4.
Yeah, yeah.
I just don't see them.
Yeah, there was a 2G there last year
that was really cool to see.
It was decently clean.
So that was kind of cool.
But yeah, like a lot of that kind of stuff
you just don't see anywhere.
I think we're also going to see
some more new Edge Mustangs.
You think so?
Yeah.
I don't know what it is.
I've seen them pop up more
pretty much across everywhere.
Especially in drifting.
I've seen them more in like auto cross stuff.
I've seen them pick,
a lot of people pick them up
with just like daily drivers now
and then they throw a little body kit on it
and they just like let her eat.
I think those are getting pretty popular.
They're really affordable.
They're fun.
They sound decent.
They come in a manual.
I think we'll see more of them.
We're going to see the continuation of SUVs,
maybe a little bit more.
And then I think where the tides are turning.
I think we're going to start to really start
to see these older cars and stuff.
Stock body, more wide body flares.
I think that's slowing way, way, way down.
You're still going to see them.
Still going to see a lot of kits.
I think that, I think I said it maybe
a couple of years ago when we sat down and did this.
But the rise of like OEM Aero
and that kind of stuff like anything
that was like provided from the dealership
or from the factory that was like an add-on option
starting to sound a lot like Corvettes at this point.
But like, you know that kind of stuff where it's like,
oh yeah, like I found this front.
Like I had to get it from Japan for my S chassis
because it was like OEM Aero.
That was like an option or whatever it was.
I think that stuff is super cool.
So yeah, instead of like the crazy wide bodies,
it's like, yeah, it's got a kit on it,
but it's this, you know?
I think I love it.
When we were making the video series and the Datsun 240
like the first or second video, I asked my audience
because it came with the carbon fender mirrors
and I asked if should we do it
or should we keep it stock body?
And I'm way more of a stock body guy nowadays.
I just think they look cooler
even like the 430 same thing.
And everybody's like narrow body, narrow body, narrow body.
Do not, do not add fender flares to it.
Like every Datsun deserves fender flares
do not put fender flares on it.
So I agree with you.
I think seeing stock bodies is going to be cleaner.
The old Mercedes, we saw a couple of them last year.
Love those cars.
I would kill for that car without even a shed of guilt.
Like early 70s, dumped, triple chromes.
Another thing I don't think it's going to slow down at all.
And we're going to see more of is the brand liveries.
Yeah.
Yeah, like taking like old school brand
or even new brands and just any brand.
Any trending brand.
Twisted T and...
Yeah, Twisted T, like...
There's a girl that has...
A lot of red bull ones.
Coors light I see in there, remember?
Lots of red bull ones, different colors.
You know what I haven't seen?
What's that?
I haven't seen somebody copy my favorite,
one of my favorite liveries all the time.
That C5, like Le Mans, 2000 and like three ish four.
Le Mans livery, when it was like yellow and black.
And then they carried that over
into the American Le Mans series.
That car, that Corvette is C5R, C6R.
Dude, best American livery of all time.
Sorry.
The liveries will still be big.
I think we've seen like a real rise
of like those like drift style liveries come over
to the show scene.
Yes.
More of that too, yeah.
I think we'll see quite a bit of that.
I think I have a feeling that that'll start to die
a little bit, just with a how wild some of them got.
I still love to see it, I think it's cool.
How many Alibaba wheels do you think we'll see?
That, I feel like you're going to see one set at least.
We're going to play a game.
Let me find the Alibaba wheels
that made it through the review audit,
because people don't call them Alibaba wheels.
They call them Apex Alibaba wheels,
or like BBS Alibaba wheels,
and then they just take the Alibaba part off when they apply.
Yeah, they're BBS'es.
Yeah, they're BBS'es.
That's crazy.
GMR was really big last year.
How many GMRs do you think we're going to see?
GMR was taken over.
Everywhere.
Yeah, very affordable chrome wheels.
Yep, reps.
One of the things I always really enjoyed
when we did the Japan Auto Legends show
with Driver Motorsports a couple of years ago
is if you guys know Driver Motorsports,
they are some picky people
when it comes to the parts and their wheels.
And rightfully so.
And we also disagree with them to be super transparent.
I argue with Chris all the time
because he only thinks that a work or a Volk or an SSR
should be on any car from Japan, period.
But what I did really like about that show
when it was held at VIR
was how particular they were about that.
Like all the name brands on those cars
were always 10 out of 10.
There's always HKS, Gretti, Trust, Blitz, Michelin,
and things like that.
And it's like, I like that.
I think when people spend time put money on,
especially from like a show perspective,
I think that if you're going to showcase something,
you want to show like the best of something.
I think it's cool.
Yeah, 100%.
I'm trying to think of what else would have been,
trying to think of like what I've been seeing
start to like circulate.
What do you think the car is going to be?
The car of this year?
The car, yeah.
GR86.
Still raining king.
It's hard to say that you're not going to see
just a boatload of BRZs and GR86s.
And 335s.
335s?
I was going to say like, I feel like a lot of people
scooped up like the new M2.
Not like a lot, but like,
I feel like you're going to see a handful.
True, yeah.
Because I even see like quite a few of them
around here in Appleton.
And it's like, damn, a lot of people
did go and pick up that car recently.
I think I'll see any, I feel like the C8
is such a popular one too.
Yeah, but it's too old for the audience right now, I think.
That's what I'm thinking.
Someone would have to go kind of crazy with it.
I don't know if anyone really has.
I think outside of like the pandemic, like wide body.
I think there's been a couple there in the past.
Like, and they've always been like, you know,
that the pandemic kits and stuff,
but or Liberty Walk, whatever.
Yeah, there's some really,
there's some fantastic cars there.
I think one of the things
that always kind of bums me out again
with like all the opinions kind of coming around
is there'll be like camber or a stance car.
Like that's not a build, you know,
or people like start getting particular,
but like what defines a build?
It's like, we need to reset.
Gatlinburg is a car show.
It's a static car show.
Like that's it.
That's the only thing that happens for those two days.
So by definition,
like you're going to see stance cars.
You're going to see cambered cars.
You're going to see the most insane out of pocket picks.
You're going to see people that have taken their entire car
and turned them into season eight of Game of Thrones.
And that is what you'll see.
Like you will see so much different stuff.
It's a great opportunity for people to like open their mind
rather than close their mind.
And I would, I think you,
anybody who wants to experience it all
should really take it all with an open mind.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Because if you go there like, oh, that was so lame.
I can't believe that car won.
It's like, well, let's go drive your car.
You're going to love it.
You're going to forget about the trophy in 10 minutes.
Go for a drive and you're going to love it, you know?
Let's talk real quick about if you are going to be in the show.
What are some ways that maybe you can score some
quote unquote additional points, you know,
in the judging world.
If you have something done to your car
and you can't see it, find a way to showcase it
or like find a judge like,
cause you'll see them walking around
when they start to judge your cars and things like that.
You know, if you know when that time is going to be,
hang out by your car, if there's like something specific
that like it's hard to showcase and talk to them,
show them that because they have literally hundreds of cars
that they need to go through.
We've judged shows in the past, it's a lot
and it is a hefty task to take on.
And you have a show this big with as many eyes on it.
It's like, it's a lot to go through.
It's a lot of weight on the shoulders of the judges.
So they're trying to do their best.
They're trying to get through stuff
as fast as they can though.
So if it's not, if you have a killer air setup
and your trunk is closed, they're not gonna see that.
You're not gonna score any points for that.
If you have an all chromed out engine bay,
but your hood isn't popped, they're not gonna see that.
If you're, you know, got some crazy stuff going
on on the interior, some nice seats,
but you got a mirror tint, they're not gonna see that.
You know, like make sure like there's a way
if like you have all stuff done
that like you care about enough to talk about
and put on a build sheet and you wanna get judged on it,
you gotta figure out a way to show it.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a really good point.
I think I would also go as far to say like clean,
clean not just what you see when you're looking at it,
but clean the stuff that you don't typically see.
Like there's so many people, they'll spend a ton of time
cleaning the faces of their wheels
and then don't clean the barrels, you know?
That's a tough one.
Or like the inside, especially with like chrome stuff too.
It's like, if you really, and this is again,
if you're trying to try and win an award,
that's like your goal.
You wanna do a good job with it.
It's like you clean your door sills,
clean your like, if you have a hatch and you're opening it
like your trunk or whatever, you have it open for your set up,
clean the fricking, you know, area around it.
Like you gotta get in there.
Yeah.
What would you say doesn't matter?
Doesn't matter.
Everything matters.
I think if you're trying to win an award,
everything does matter.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's not like, oh, you can have,
you know, your fenders roughed up or.
No.
I got one bent wheel.
Nah, it don't matter.
So it adds up, especially when you're going
to like a caliber car show like this,
like you're competing against people
from all over the country.
Yeah.
So it's like, you gotta be on your A game.
100%.
Yeah, I wouldn't say anything.
You can just like easily look over.
One thing that might, I don't even know why I'd say this,
but like disconnecting your battery.
I feel like that's one of the requirements.
Yeah.
I don't think there's a soul
that actually does it at the show.
Yeah, yeah.
We totally do.
We all have different like power.
Yeah, I have an external battery on my car.
You're supposed to like come with like quarter tank gas
and then once you park it in the show,
you're supposed to disconnect your battery
for the fire marshals.
You can't, you can't even do that in some cars.
Yeah.
Like some cars, you can't even do it anymore.
Then you go walk around.
Every other car has their RGB lights on.
I was like, hey, TV's playing in the bag.
Yeah.
So no one does that.
So I'd say that doesn't matter.
I don't think.
All right, let's go.
That's not advice though.
Don't follow what.
Yeah.
Let's just real quick.
Yeah.
Just for the funsies of Gatlinburg.
All right, what you got hit me with it?
What is a car that if you built a certain way
you think could win something
at like a show like Simon of Gatlinburg?
Like if you're like to start over, right?
You had infinite money
and you wanted to build something specifically
for when a show at Gatlinburg for 2025,
what would you build?
Oh my God.
Oh man, that's hard.
It is tough.
There's so many different options, right?
Oh, there's a ton of different routes that you could go.
Cause it's like, immediately I think of,
kind of like what we talked about earlier,
it's like you want to hit them with something weird.
You want to hit them with something different,
but still dope.
So it would be.
What would you build for Gatlinburg?
I'd build some sort of like VIP thing, I think.
That's the route I would go.
And that's a tough one too,
because it's like a lot of, you know,
there's a lot of Lexes, there's a lot of LS 400s.
There's a lot of, you know, I would say like centuries
are starting to come out more and more.
I got it.
Yeah.
What would you build for Gatlinburg?
So we've seen a lot of the low rider culture
come to the stance culture, right?
I would build a low rider
that came to the stance culture.
So it would be a low rider traditional,
you know, like fantastic paint job
and etching and stuff on it.
But then I would have it more set up for like a stance car.
So rather than the small diameter wheels,
small diameter tires, bigger wheels, better fitment,
just lay it out.
That'd be crazy.
Yeah.
Do something a little bit different that way.
That would be sick.
That'd be cool.
That'd go really well.
Huh.
What about you, Alex?
I don't know.
You know what'd be cool too?
I haven't seen one, like to bring like a rally car.
Yeah.
Like an actual.
Like an actual rally car and have it.
The reason I say that is because I remember at Auto Motion,
which is one of the bigger shows in Wisconsin,
Battle of the Imports was a show inside the show.
And what won that was a Subaru Baja.
Oh yeah.
With an STI swap.
It was like 99% all stance cars that were there.
But then what won the whole thing was this Subaru Baja
that was done extremely well.
Like it had a bunch of modifications.
But then STI swapped.
And I think it was just because it was so different.
It wasn't your typical WRX or STI was an STI swap.
And that was so neat.
So cool that I think you need to do something like that.
100%.
Yeah, I think I would do something VIP
but like go find like something a bit different.
So if that's like a weird wagon
that we've never heard of, if that's like.
VIP wagon would be sick.
VIP wagon would be so dope.
But then, you know, we talked to like Richie
and stuff like he has the Laurel
that's got like all the custom engraving.
Like figuring out a way to do something like that
where it's just like something that flows
throughout the entire car and makes it its own.
Whether that be like chroming
or some sort of like paint or something.
I think that would be dope.
And I fucking love wagons.
I think I would build a Lancia.
Yeah, that'd be sick.
Like a S4, like a Delta S4.
I would love to get my hands on one of those.
Doesn't have to be the full like homologation spec Lancia.
But so many people will go Japanese car,
Japanese car, Japanese car.
But I've been really trying to find ways to get
like old European cars into the United States.
And I think one of our next builds in the springtime
will be an older European car
that's older than 25 years.
But Lancias are so cool, man.
And they're, you see them in person
and you're like, my God, that is a gorgeous car.
I saw, I think it was an S4 EVO
when I was in Japan last year, literally around this time.
And it was red and it had this three spoke steering wheel
and it was hot.
It looks so good.
I remember there was a, we talked to him, I believe,
but he had the, I think he wanted the Ward.
It was that tan Mercedes convertible.
Absolutely gorgeous car.
He won Best Fitment, right?
No, not Best Fitment.
He won something.
It was some bigger, like it was a pretty big award.
One of the Ford, it was one of the Ford.
Yeah, it's such a good fricking car.
Yeah.
So I get it.
I get it with the old Euro stuff too.
I think that stuff is definitely underrated
because you brought that up a few times
and then like I've had to go like edit a video
like for the short or whatever.
And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go pull some B-roll
of like some old 70s like Mercedes.
You can go get these cars for like three grand
and dump them on some wheels.
I'm like, that's exactly what these people are doing.
They're going and buying like these fucking huge
luxury Mercedes like three grand
and they're not in the best of shape.
But you dump them on some fucking baller wheels
and they're so sick.
I love them so much.
Let's see what else.
I feel like that's gonna start happening with rally.
It is the same way that like time attack
has came into the car scene recently.
I think rally and it's arrows.
Like you get the roof scoops.
You got the big old lights that are typically
on the front and usually widen fenders stuff.
I think that's gonna start bleeding
into the style of Stan's culture soon.
I don't know when, but I always felt like
the coolest thing on those like rally cars
like the rally cross cars.
Like you look at the Subaru hatches
like the Fiesta's and like the focuses and stuff
like had the wing, but then they had like
all like the vertical pins and wing
and just like this massive just like grid.
I was like, that's fucking sick.
I don't know why I was so cool school.
I'm just like picturing like something like that.
But like really, really low.
Yeah.
I still think sitting in a shuttle.
I'll be sick.
I think to also kind of call that out.
I do think the drift culture
or like drift cars haven't quite made their way
into like that show scene either yet.
I mean like obviously S chassis are super popular
and we've seen drift cars before
and we see three for these season things like that.
But when you go to something like final bout
and you see like these liveries,
these insane concepts, these crazy builds,
the static setup they're like, how in the hell
does this car slide sideways?
Like it looks like a show car.
I haven't seen those make their way into Gatlin's
or quite yet.
I don't know if they're fucking with the show.
I don't think they are.
But I mean, I think they'd rather be out driving.
I think it would be cool to see that though
because I think we're lucky
that USA is less than an hour away from us.
So we get to see cars from New Zealand and Japan
and you know, even Europe and stuff like that.
But like New Zealand drift cars are gorgeous.
They are so cool.
And their style is so interesting.
There was, we were up at final bout
and I can't remember what team they were on
but there was that S 2000.
And dude, it had, it was drifting
and it was probably some of the best fitment
that I've ever seen on an S 2000.
And I could not believe that he was driving the car
the way that he was.
He was driving it hard.
It was like fender to lip fitment.
And the fenders weren't fucked.
And the fenders weren't fucked
and he was throwing it down on the track.
I was like, that is so sick.
It was so sick.
He doesn't have coilovers.
It's just like a tube.
Honestly, that might be the case.
It was, I couldn't believe it.
There was magic.
There was magic.
It literally looked like someone
was standing in the stands car out there.
People don't usually drift S 2000 to begin with.
So it's like everything was an anomaly.
About that car, he gets out, opens a door
and it's just fucking vert, vertical doors.
Vertical doors do it.
Also his right hand drive, wasn't it?
I can't remember if it was, but it wasn't,
it wasn't boosted.
It was NAA.
Yeah.
Which I thought another was.
That's insane.
Yeah.
It was insane.
Like you're saying, like he was going harder
than some of the people, you know,
heading behind it.
He was throwing it down and it was sick.
Every time he'd like go out,
I was like, yes, yes.
Because I was like, that's so dope.
It was perfect.
Insane.
So yeah, 100%.
They would fit in perfectly fine.
I mean, especially like I said,
like with the liveries and stuff making their way into,
you know, whether that be a brand,
whether it be, you know, drift related,
whatever it might be.
Yeah, I just, I think that crowd
just doesn't want to go sit
in a convention center for eight hours a day.
I think drift people, the drift community
does liveries way better than the car show community.
100%.
I think because they lean on so much heritage though,
I think that has a lot to do with it.
Like the, the drift scene is using a lot of like
the early 90s, early 2000s,
like Japanese livery designs.
And then they just take that.
And like, there are a few fantastic designers
in the United States that can emulate that.
Like there's a few people that everyone uses
and the stuff that they make is insane.
But it all follows that same flow design,
like the highly chrome with really bright colors
on the side.
And then it hides stuff really well.
I've never noticed how good a flashy livery
can hide imperfections on a car
until you like get close.
You get really close and you're like,
oh, this thing's fucking insane.
This thing is, there's a dent there.
I didn't even notice that before.
Yeah, that's a good point.
I would like to see more European, I think, influence.
Not, not just like new European,
but like old European car heritage kind of make their way.
You look at like,
you look at like the, like the alt race stuff.
And it's like, dude, some of the stuff over there
is just fucking insane.
So I'd like to see some of that make its way over 100%.
Yeah, I think there's people that have gotten really close.
I know there was like,
there was an orange Cayman that was a part
of the Vated Mob group.
That was a really nice clean take
that kind of felt that it was going in that direction.
But you see, you see like alt race
and you're like holding these cars.
It's another level.
Smokes, these cars.
And I think it feels like another level
because it's a different style.
It is. It's a completely different culture.
And the body kits are different.
And the styling cars are different
and the colorways are different
and everything is very monotone,
but still very bright, you know?
The one car I think I would,
I would like to see at Gatlinburg one year in my life
is I've always wanted to see
the Apple livery Porsche wide body.
Oh yeah.
The gorgeous car, you'll see him.
Yeah, the Macintosh livery.
I mean, it is probably the coolest livery
in my opinion of all time
because it's just such a funky thing to look at.
And it accentuates the body lines
of the Porsche super well, so we'll see.
Yeah, it's an icon livery for that car.
You know what's one thing you need at the car show though?
What?
Melco.
True.
Because you gotta clean it like we were talking about
and it just so happens that Melco
is one of the sponsors of the Martini Works podcast.
I promise you we're gonna be loading it up
and bringing it with it.
I think we're doing a gift basket even.
So someone's gonna win a gift basket of Melco.
Yeah, we got it in and it's down there.
It's a gift bucket.
Oh, hell yeah.
Big old bucket.
Legitimately, like that's what we're gonna use
while we're down there.
Yep.
It's what we like, what we love
and we're very thankful Melco is a sponsor
of Martini Works podcast.
So if you guys are interested,
you head on over to Martini Works.
Like I've talked about before
is you can pick it up in packs.
We have pre-made packs for you.
So that way you got everything you need.
Otherwise, if you do wanna pick up individual items
you can do that as well.
But yeah, we're gonna be bringing the quick detailer
pretty much everything.
Yeah, I was gonna say,
we're actually, we'll have some stuff for sale too.
So like if you guys forget
and you need some cleaner,
you can stop by the booth.
Well, love.
We'll help you out.
But it'll cost you price of a bottle.
We did forget to tell them
if you guys are looking to win a set of wheels,
there's gonna be a set of wheel giveaway
that we're doing at the Martini Works booth.
It's set of conics up to 18 inch in diameter,
anything that's in stock.
So if you pick something up from the booth
on either Saturday or Sunday,
you're automatically entered in to win.
Shit, hangar.
So if you're looking to partake in that,
huge shout out to Conig for helping us out with that.
Obviously all of our partners as well.
Melco's sending us some stuff.
We've got a bunch of goodies
from our friends over in Japan.
We've got some goodies
from our suppliers here in the United States.
Liquamalli's hooking us up
with a bunch of air fresheners, this, that.
And the other thing, some coffee cups for our coffee.
And then we also have just a whole bunch
of different stuff going on.
So we're super, super stoked
to have so many incredible partners.
You'll see some stuff from Continental.
You'll see some stuff from General Tire.
The booth should be an experience
and we're really, really excited
for you guys to hopefully come by
and we appreciate the support.
Thank you for continuing to allow us to live this dream.
It's fun.
It's a lot of hard work, but it is fun.
Yeah, really looking forward to it.
Again, happy Friday, guys.
If you're in the area coming down for the show,
make sure to stop by the booth.
We'll be there tomorrow.
It's gonna be a great time.
Oh yeah.
See ya.
Bye.
Don't.
About this episode
Excitement fills the air as the MartiniWorks team gears up for Gatlinburg weekend, unveiling their new limited roast coffee blends. Special guest Alex joins the conversation, discussing the challenges and triumphs of creating the coffee, which is ethically sourced and crafted locally. The episode dives into car show culture, with tips for attendees, insights on trends expected at Gatlinburg, and the introduction of Martini Works Racing. The hosts share their experiences with project cars, including a Datsun 240Z and a pro-formula race car, while emphasizing the importance of community and safety at car events.
Original notes
Support the podcast by modding your car at https://martiniworks.com/If you're reading this, we're at Slammedenuff Gatlinburg (Sevierville)! So today we're discussing what car trends we expect to see at the show. Also, we have a HUGE announcement. Venturing somewhere we never thought we would. Hope you enjoy todays episode! #cars #automobile #podcast A HUGE thank you to Continental & Fortune Auto for being the official tire and suspension of the MartiniWorks Podcast! Let us know if you need a set of tires or coilovers. 🏎️Check out the main channel!🏎️: @MartiniWorksOfficial 📦We also have an unboxing channel 📦: @MartiniWorksUnboxed Follow Alex @alexmartini.Follow Dakota @dakotastoneFollow Gels @akagels
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