The Porsche 993 Turbo is a special version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It has a turbocharged engine, which means it gets extra power from a turbocharger, making it faster and more exciting to drive.
Opportunity cost is what you give up when you choose one thing over another. For example, if you spend money on a car instead of investing it, the money you could have made from the investment is your opportunity cost.
The Porsche 918 is a very fast sports car that uses both a traditional engine and electric motors to go super fast while being more efficient. It's a special car that many people admire.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a supercar that many enthusiasts admire for its speed and design. It's known for being very powerful and is considered a collector's item.
Tire pressure monitors are tools in cars that check how much air is in the tires. If the air is too low or too high, they let you know so you can fix it and drive safely.
The tire warning light is a signal on your dashboard that tells you if your tires might be low on air or have a problem. It's important to pay attention to it.
Car
Mercedes-Benz E320
The Mercedes-Benz E320 is an older luxury car that many people like because it's comfortable and lasts a long time.
Aftermarket wheels are wheels you can buy that are not the ones that originally came with the car. People often get them to make their cars look better or perform differently.
The Acura NSX is a sports car that is famous for its speed and advanced technology. It's designed for high performance and is popular among car enthusiasts.
The G-Wagon is a fancy SUV made by Mercedes-Benz that can also be a convertible, meaning the top can be opened. It's known for being tough and stylish at the same time.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a type of SUV that can handle rough terrain and is often used for both everyday driving and outdoor adventures. It's known for being spacious and comfortable.
A four liter engine means that the total space inside the engine's cylinders adds up to four liters. Bigger engines usually produce more power, but they can also use more fuel.
Car
Mercedes-Benz G63
The Mercedes-Benz G63 is a fancy SUV that many rich people like to buy. It's known for being powerful and stylish, making it a popular choice for those who want to show off.
The Toyota Sequoia is a large SUV that can carry many passengers and has a lot of space for cargo. It's built to be tough and can tow heavy things, making it great for trips and adventures.
The Lexus TX 500h is a mid-sized luxury SUV that uses both gas and electric power to drive, which helps save on fuel. It's roomy and has lots of technology for families.
The Toyota 4Runner is a smaller SUV compared to the Land Cruiser, designed for off-road driving and outdoor activities. It’s strong and can handle tough conditions.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can handle rough terrain and is built to last. It's popular for both off-road adventures and comfortable driving.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can run on electricity and gasoline. You can charge it by plugging it in, which helps save fuel and is better for the environment.
The Lamborghini Murciélago is a fancy sports car that has doors that open up instead of out. This can make it hard to open the doors if the car is in a tight spot, like on a lift.
Car
Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon
The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon is a fancy SUV that is built to handle rough terrains while still being very comfortable inside. It's popular among celebrities and car enthusiasts.
Fuel injection is a way to get fuel into the engine. It helps the car run better and use fuel more efficiently than older systems that used carburetors.
And the banks cost less, by the way, than your Kuntosh.
You know, a lot of cars at Quail cost less than my Kuntosh.
My banks is a fucking, is a game genie cheat code to a whole bunch.
Where was your car parked?
I didn't see it there.
I'm just kidding.
Speaking of Quail, you guys were there.
How about the 14 Shelby GT35?
Like at some point, and I love that event.
At some point, aren't you like, you know,
nine is the, they all look, they're literally identical.
Were there all nine F50s, I think?
Oh, I liked those though.
That was good.
No, have you ever been to a DeLorean club?
Let me tell you, hey, where did I park is the real issue.
It must be because they literally look the same.
Having that car at Carbic was so much fun.
I bet.
So much fun.
It was your, it was the only car.
Yeah, it was the only car I brought.
So we were like filling it up at 9 p.m.
It was so much fun.
Was it okay with the traffic and stuff?
A couple times after some really spirited drives,
I had trouble restarting because I think the starter
motor got hot, but you just let it sit for a couple of minutes.
It cooled and it was fine.
That's awesome.
I think that, I think that's how they were.
Like my suspicion is that, that's, you know.
You're asking it for something that it wasn't really built to do?
I mean, we did, I did almost 300 miles,
five days, like just, you know,
it runs down the PSA.
I just mean all the traffic and stuff.
All the traffic was a lot.
The Manx happens to be very good in traffic.
And so the Manx.
What trans is in that?
It's like a four speed Porsche.
It's a manual?
Yeah.
But like the clutch is so loud.
Yeah.
You wear headphones?
If I'm driving it by myself for any kind of distance,
I will wear earbuds,
but like for most of Car Week, no, I didn't.
Damn.
You legit.
It was awesome.
You're way more legit than I am.
No, no, no, no.
No, you are.
But Carintosh for Car Week is fabulous.
That was pretty much what I am legit at.
I'm going to do that one of these years,
but like, because that's like, I don't mean to like be
I don't want to sound like elitist
in terms of like the value of your car.
Like it's not about that.
Like like what kind of and I'm glad that like
young people are into hypercars.
I'm glad they're in fucking something.
Right.
But like the sort of hypercarification of Pebble,
like like I have like our friend,
our friend Sam who has been on the show.
He's he's part the head of the group
that bought Willow Springs.
He's redeveloping it.
Fucking loaded.
Post economic, you might say.
He drove a 1952 Hudson Hornet NASCAR for Pebble for Car Week.
You know what I mean?
Like a little it required a little something,
a little something extra besides money, a little risk.
Right.
Maybe it's going to break down.
Maybe he's going to find some fucking side
of the road shop to fix this thing.
You know what I mean?
Like a little money can't buy.
Right.
Je ne sais quoi.
This is interesting.
And actually the car wasn't even all that valuable
because who's even looking for these things?
Just look like Doc Hudson.
I agree.
That to me.
Nice.
You know what I mean?
That to me is like the special thing.
Yeah.
And driving that car up there, I will say,
despite the hypercarification of Monterey,
kids were obsessed.
And it was cool for me because I was one of those kids
not long ago, like literally was one of those kids
like sleeping in a station wagon,
like taking pictures of all the cars,
like to be able to see,
to be able to actually drive it.
And it was cool.
Like the kids with the kids respect and recognize it.
Now I was a little disappointed.
In San Diego, I have the only Kuntash.
Nobody that we know has any other Kuntashes.
Like I go to Gary Babeloff's shop,
which is down there.
He doesn't work on any local ones, but mine.
There's none.
It's me.
So I go up there.
Literally, I'm pulling in.
I land at the airport, get my car,
drive down to Ocean Avenue and Carmel,
and another one pulls right up next to me.
And then a mirror.
Yeah, yeah.
Nothing here.
Yeah, you can't out fucking compete any of these folks.
There's no car.
Just don't even try.
Yeah.
That's why the Manx, again, it sort of exits that system.
You're not even trying.
You're just doing your own thing.
It's just a weird other thing.
That doesn't mean ideally, maybe next year,
I could celebrate the car being back together
by driving it up there.
Like I would.
I would fucking drive it no problem.
Right.
I would do it.
It's a great highway car.
You would take it all the way up there?
Like a helmet on?
What?
Well, you put like a helmet on.
Are you talking about a Manx?
Yeah, the Manx.
No, no, I meant the Kuntash.
No, I meant the Kuntash.
You can't drive that.
No, I would not drive the Manx up there.
I towed it with a Bentley.
The Kuntash, you can't drive up there.
It's too long.
What do you mean?
It's too long.
Why?
It's too long.
From San Diego.
It's longer from San Diego.
So there's another 120 miles,
but also it's just like a lot of time in that car.
Plus, don't you kind of feel every time you're driving
your Kuntash like you might be on borrowed time?
You want to make sure these miles count.
You want to have the miles go up there.
You don't want to break down the moment you're pulling in.
I mean, to a degree, yes.
I won't like run errands in it and just go into traffic
because that feels unnecessary.
But no, I would drive it up.
I would take the 101.
I wouldn't take the 5.
I would make a thing of it.
I would do it because a couple of years ago,
I drove the 328 up there and then used it.
And it really was a total package experience that was very special.
Yeah, if I was in LA, I might consider it.
It's 240 more miles.
Yeah.
I would do it with my 4GT, for sure.
That car is dead reliable.
That's big enough.
I sometimes fantasize about driving that car all the way across the country.
I genuinely think that my Kuntash, when it goes back together,
should be pretty bulletproof.
Once I get through the initial, what you call the 110, 101,000,
when you put a car back together,
something happens in mile one and you fix it.
And then something happens in mile 10 and you fix it.
Then you get 100 miles.
And then once you get past 1,000 miles, your car is bulletproof.
I got my Kuntash back from George Evans, luminary.
I didn't have any issues.
He pulled the motor out.
We did 50 grand in work.
No 110, nothing.
And I've been nervous about driving that car,
like all Kuntash owners are.
And it didn't break down on me until 2,600, 2,700 miles
into the experience.
And even then, it was just the distributor
and they had it fixed in 24 hours.
What my distributor went, that was the only thing
that actually put me on the side of the road ever in four years
with the car was the distributor.
We have that in common now because it's the only thing,
it's the only problem I've had.
Did you have to get yours rebuilt?
No, they had one and they were able to.
Oh, they did.
I don't even know that the distributor's like the gears.
I didn't exactly look in.
I was at a town rental hat when it all got fixed.
But it wasn't that expensive and they had it done in a day.
We had a mine got like basically just gunked up with shit.
Like those, the gears inside it were like gunked up
and basically seized.
Yeah, it's the greatest.
It will be great.
It will be great again.
I heard a video of it running on an engine dyno
and it sounded absolutely beautiful.
So I'm very excited.
There were things I was told that I could do
by somebody at this company that I was later
once this person no longer worked at the company,
told were actually not possible.
For instance, I was told that I could do
European camshafts instead of the US ones.
And that I could do one or two other things that,
oh, European exhaust manifolds rather than the US spec ones
which look like wrapped hams.
They're really strange.
Yeah.
And I was told that I could do those things
and it could make more power.
Well, it turns out you actually can't.
It turns out that the European cams do not work
with injected engines like they just don't.
And it turns out that beginning in 87,
they had the same exhaust, European,
and they all had the US spec exhaust.
So the European exhaust doesn't actually even
fit properly on this car.
So yeah, no, there would be no point to doing it.
So anyway, here we are.
Here we are.
Stock engine.
Look at that.
Look at that beautiful car.
Worst thing you have to deal with is stock
Coontosh engine.
Boo.
You know, mine's, I got forged pistons.
Mine's been bored and stroked.
By the, by the.
Really?
Yes.
I got a built motor in my Coontosh
and I want my Mark 4 Super Turbo to be stock.
That is weird.
That's a little bit of a blast owner to that.
The only owner the car ever really had did it.
This was a 5.2?
I don't know what it is now.
It was, you know, a 4.8 liter V8
like they all were at that time
and it's bored out to some larger amount.
And I wonder what it is.
I got forged pistons,
which all this stuff I think has
enhanced the reliability of the car.
I was told that when the car went in for the,
in 2005 for this massive service,
which was 70 grand,
which probably about the value of the car,
basically the motor had started.
There was like corrosion or something
needed to be done.
It needed to be rebuilt or something had to be done.
And so they boarded out a little bit
and put in the forged pistons.
So I got a built Coontosh motor.
Boom.
I wonder what.
You got an R34.
I got a.
So wait, yours is an S, right?
Yeah.
Side draft 2 valve S.
I wonder if.
That's how God intended the Coontosh.
I wonder if, if yours,
so have you ever seen the spacer plates?
Yeah, from you because of you.
Yeah.
I wonder if yours had different spacer plates
and they, or they put different spacer plates.
That's a good question.
I don't know.
To make the cylinders, that's interesting.
I should call George Evans is the one who did it.
And he said he used to do it a lot back then.
I'm just, I'm going to sound like a fucking idiot.
There's got to be a test that they can do
to determine the actual displacement of the engine.
Well, I mean they put the pistons in.
So like they know the, that's, I'm like, they must, right?
Like the, but I don't know.
But it is bored out.
So I'm going to say, yeah, I got a five and a half.
Big ol.
There it is.
Do you remember last time I was on this podcast,
I insulted Joe Saki.
I regret it so dearly.
Okay.
Joe Saki, a visionary in the car world.
Okay.
So I'm always looking for a cheap F40.
I'm never going to do it because the cheap F40
has now become too expensive for me.
And Joe was sort of looking for one for me.
Like he, I didn't commission him to do it,
but he would text me every six months or so,
being like, I found this one.
So he like kind of knew that if he put the right car
in front of me, I might bite.
And then I made fun of him on this podcast,
but I haven't heard from him since.
Shit.
I don't think he listens, but maybe someone told him.
Someone sent it to him.
Someone told him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Look, there's some F40s.
No, I was just at this guy's collection yesterday
and he had a 45,000 mile F40 that he apparently
sent to DK and had them do the full mechanical thing
and like leave the rest of it rough.
And apparently he rips on it.
They're gone.
They're gone now.
The Gas Monkey F40 came up for sale.
Oh, well.
I went real hard on it to try to get it.
Really?
And what did it go for?
I don't know.
It was at a dealership and I lost it.
I offered a pretty low amount,
but they were kind of interested.
We went back and forth and it didn't end up working out.
But that car, the Gas Monkey F40,
is back to red with stock wheels and stock interior
and you would never know.
No way.
And in fact, at one, I spoke to Houston
Cruster who was a previous owner of it
and he told me that a couple owners before him,
there was a guy who bought it who didn't know.
That's so funny.
How many owners have it had since then?
I don't know since Gas Monkey,
but a famous baseball player bought it
after Gas Monkey went to Barrett Jackson.
It sold to somebody legit like Reggie Jacks.
Somebody like that bought it.
And then it got caught up in a scam.
It was seized by the government.
And then a couple people,
then this guy who bought it who didn't know,
there's the Gas Monkey.
I mean, it's had a path.
Oh my God, this is great.
And that's the car for you.
But that is exactly the car for me.
And if not you, it's not you, Ed Bolian, for sure.
And let me tell you, yeah.
Houston told me that it drove well.
When he added it, it drove well.
It was like totally fine.
But it was just a little too expensive even for me.
It had serious damage.
The car was in a serious accident
and then there's a scene.
And this is the thing that will dog this car
for the rest of its life.
Maybe you remember this,
but there's a scene in that Gas Monkey
where they're putting it back together.
And they've done this computer simulation
of exactly how where everything should fit.
And they take the chassis and fit it in this exact spot
so everything to the millimeter matches up.
And they get the car and they're putting it all back together.
And one of the engine mounts is this far off.
Completely doesn't fit.
And they're like, eh, just weld it.
And so they like either cut the chassis
or weld it in some way.
And that was how they solved that problem
and they just moved on.
And who knows if that was just a TV thing?
TV build F40, dude.
Who knows if that even happened, right?
But that story will always be told about that car.
That's crazy.
Yeah, yeah.
No, shit happens on TV.
It happens forever.
Right.
Like a Bob Ross paint.
Right.
That's on YouTube now.
That clip would go around YouTube.
And I told a couple of people I was interested in the car
and they were like, did you see this?
And you're going to have to defend that.
15 years ago.
Even if it was like,
even if the whole thing was repaired properly,
you'd have to tell that story forever.
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, you want to do some questions?
No, I just, I was closing a tab.
I wasn't sure.
So let's go with a couple of questions.
Because, oh man, we've been on it.
What time is it?
It's 11.30.
What time do you have to go?
I don't have a time.
OK, cool.
This is the most wonderful time of the year.
Doug has eaten eight almond joys
and three Milky Way.
This is my Christmas.
You know what Christmas is like at my house now?
There's screaming and toys
and the Lego gets open
and has to immediately be put together
this is my Christmas.
Sure.
You're welcome.
I'm happy to be welcome.
I'm surprised.
It doesn't even look like
that bowl of candy's been touched.
I just, even this is, I'm like,
I don't do that.
Audio is Doug is flying right now.
It's like Cookie Monster.
Do you know that Cookie Monster,
you guys probably don't watch
the Sesame Street,
but Cookie Monster,
you know how he used to eat the cookies?
Yes, yeah.
Apparently he now is converted
to being like a gluten free.
Yeah, he's like salad eating now
because they didn't want to teach
the children this bad habit.
And that's me now.
I want to tell all the listeners out there,
I've only done this for the sake of tradition.
And entertainment.
It is, I mean,
when they're all laid out in the pile there,
it does look a little bit
compulsive almost.
It's, it's, it's, it's, yeah, wow.
Okay, let's go to the people.
Let's go to the fucking people.
Patreon.com slash the Smogentire podcast.
If you want to ask questions of our guests,
if you want to get the show early,
if you want to get the show without ads,
watch it live
and get extra show,
Patreon.
How many people, how many people you got on Patreon?
Do you announce these numbers?
Or is this a private company?
We don't say.
You making big bank from it?
Huh?
You making big though.
It does good.
You'll find it in the Panama Papers too,
otherwise we're not telling anybody.
Yeah.
Daily and Explorer ST says,
what can we fans expect
from each of you in 2026?
What are you doing in 2026?
I'm not doing anything.
I didn't shouldn't have bought this
993 Turbo.
What are you doing?
Well, I just, I told you before
about this Mercedes project.
Uh-huh.
That's gonna be cool.
Fun LA cruiser.
The hypothetical E500 Cabriolet.
Yep.
Uh, hopefully finishing the Countach
finally after three and a half years.
It'll be four when it's done.
We were thinking maybe instead
of Car Week this year,
Dream Cruise.
Oh my god, I know.
One year I wanted to do.
Do you want to go?
I'm almost certainly going to be
on the East Coast this summer
for both of these events, but,
Yeah, but you could leave Nantucket.
For a weekend.
Detroit.
We don't leave.
I have a rule.
I don't leave.
Watch it there, you see.
I literally, that is like
literally my rule.
No traffic lights from June and July.
I, Dream Cruise is the same week
which is such a shame.
Yeah, I don't know why they do that.
Have you ever been,
have you ever been down Woodward
on just a normal Saturday night
in the summer?
Yeah, yeah.
It's, it's like.
It's crazy.
It's a good time.
It's so cool.
Yeah, I haven't been to Dream Cruise
in 10 years, but I like to go back.
You have been before.
I've been, yes.
I've been two or three times.
It is fun.
Yeah.
And I think if I go this year,
I want, I want like,
I want to drive like concept cars.
Like I want to go like,
I want someone to pull some
shit out of the museum.
Can I tell you something?
I drove a Cadillac,
go to, can you go to my Instagram?
I drove a Cadillac concept car
from the 80s.
This is the greatest thing
that ever happened.
Scroll down.
Wait, not that one.
That's the one from
Demolition Man, dude.
Okay, it turns out
the two door was from
Demolition Man.
This is the four door.
Oh, you're right.
Look at that.
God damn.
Look at that.
I drove that.
Was that one called?
This is called the voyage.
The two door was called the
the two door had some other name
that made you think
it was going to go anywhere.
But in truth,
it can't leave the
General Motors Technical Center
campus,
which is ironic.
Oh, because you all,
you also drove the new one,
the new, the new Cadillac.
I drove the Celestic.
Yeah.
Was it awesome?
It is so good.
Like it is absolutely
Rolls Royce Bentley quality.
Yeah.
And they'll sell none of them.
They'll sell none.
Who's paying $400 for a Cadillac?
Have you driven one?
No, I'd love to.
It was amazing.
Like my video's coming.
Watch the video,
even though I'm going to talk about it.
I don't care, actually.
It was so good.
It truly drove like a Rolls Royce.
It was so comfortable.
The fit and finish is unbelievable.
It is a $400,000 base price.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They'll sell none.
They'll sell none.
And they're going to depreciate.
I really would love to drive one though.
Oh, that might be the depreciation station.
Yeah.
That's that's where we need to go.
Pick one of those up for $125
next Thursday.
Yeah, yeah.
That could be the move.
But I drove the concept car and what I learned is,
you know, none of them,
you don't want to drive a concept car.
Oh, no.
It's hot probably, right?
Windows don't open.
It's hot.
No HVAC.
It's hot.
There's no HVAC.
They don't.
Okay.
So that you see a front wheel spats.
Okay.
So you're turning radius a little fucked up.
On the contrary, this particular car,
one of its futuristic inventions was
that it had the covers of the front wheels
for aero for fuel efficiency,
like they will in the future.
But when you turn the wheel,
an electronic actuator came out,
opened up the things,
and you could turn no problem.
Well, that's pretty cool.
That's what they told people as the concept car.
In reality, when you turn the wheel,
what happens is the electronic actuator
is your front wheels.
And so you turn them and they push it up.
Wow.
Yeah.
Otherwise, the actuator would react so quickly.
Like in a parking garage or something.
Yeah.
The car is a fapping concept.
Yeah.
It's absurd.
Oh, that's so funny.
That's so true.
Any trim on the steering, it would have to pop up.
Autofrost.
Yeah.
Is there a little roller on the inside of it to the tire?
There is something like that.
But you could hear it.
Like you're driving around.
I'm halfway through the drive.
I'm like, what is that?
He's like, oh, that's the wheel pushing on the...
I'm like, I thought there was an electronic actuator.
That's so funny.
Yeah, it's hot.
This car has a rear-view mirror camera that works still.
No way.
This car had some really advanced stuff.
This is like 94.
It was like 89.
Oh, was it that old?
Somewhere in there.
I don't remember.
I had the video go up in like a month.
And I got used to it.
That front end is very much the Associate Bob Demolition Man car.
Yeah.
The two-door one looked basically identical.
But you don't want to be...
And the other thing is the automakers.
I actually have to give huge...
I think our relationships with the automakers
should be a little bit more adversarial than it is.
But you have huge props to GM for letting me do this.
Like, they gain nothing from this.
Like they're letting me review a 30-year-old concept car
that is...
You can make fun of it if you wanted to.
Yeah, yeah.
It doesn't represent anything they're doing right now.
And it's not furthering anybody's goals.
But I did it and it was cool.
But it's just whimsy.
It's for whimsy.
What am I...
Yeah, that's right.
What am I going to do in 26?
Nothing.
Cool.
Jill, you're going to start using the word winter as a verb
as well as the word summer.
Dude, I wish my kids school.
Not one of my steak.
The school schedules are real disaster.
Yeah.
Rage against the mock E.
Should manuals and SUVs come back?
No.
What did you think of that Cayenne sale?
That green Cayenne we sold for 125.
I am extremely confused by it.
It makes absolutely no sense.
You don't think that makes no sense?
People all the time are buying these cars
for ridiculous money on the auction sites
that are just absurd.
A V6 Cayenne?
What are we doing?
You're going to find a green manual?
You're going to find a green manual?
Why would I want a green manual?
Talk about an overpriced driving experience.
Why would I want...
Why would I want half the cars out there, okay?
You see that Philip sent his Cayenne
back to Sundervunsch to have it redone?
That's a...
I have opinions.
Post-economic.
Whatever, man.
Whatever you want to do.
Dude, I got to tell you.
I don't know if you've been paying attention,
but like among the Courage GT owners...
So a lot of Courage GT owners
have been sending their cars back.
The results have been
some of the ugliest things
that you've ever seen in your life.
I'm going to show you this picture.
Okay, so I was in...
I'll send this to you so you can post it.
I went to Porsche Atlanta
to Porsche Classic
and they wouldn't let me take pictures.
And they showed me inside their
restorations for a variety of cars.
There was multiple Courage GTs.
There was a bunch of GT3RS 4.0s
that people wanted in other colors
besides white or black.
Couple of them were cool.
One or two were cool.
I saw perhaps the ugliest Courage GT
I've ever seen.
What color was it?
It was a Jewish racing gold champagne
but not done well.
Okay, check this out.
Because this has been going on.
And I got to tell you,
I honestly think that someday
having this silver car
that it hasn't had this done to it
is going to be valuable.
This Courage GT went back
and the guy wanted all purple carbon.
But they couldn't do the front bumper
because the bumper wasn't carbon.
Because the bumper is not carbon?
So you have this shut line?
I'm sorry.
Is this just a plastic bumper unpainted?
This is a multi-million dollar
recommission.
That's finished?
This is finished.
That's insane.
The carbon and the bumper,
they meet and they're at odds.
And so it emphasizes the fact
that the hood and the bumper
are different colors.
Like a guy who's got a junkyard
parked for his Toyota Celica.
Like Magnus' 996?
Yeah, right.
That's crazy.
Two million?
It looks like he had a leather bra on it
for 10 years and took it off.
In fact, they'd wrap it in one layer,
you know, one outer layer.
Right, just wrap it.
Know what, in one layer of carbon,
for that kind of money.
For that kind of money, do that.
The one layer of carbon on the out...
What the fuck?
And that isn't even the worst.
Someone sent me a picture.
That's about the worst I've seen.
It's pretty bad.
Someone sent me a picture.
Someone did a guard's red one
and they switched it into orange
with black wheels
and the windshield eight pillars are black
and it's like guards red.
They're all like fifties.
Yeah, guards red is pretty good on a career duty.
I would not take that out.
That's when people were like,
yes, I saw Philips build there
and it was a...
Not what I would have done.
I think Philips has pretty good taste and stuff.
I think the way he sees color and texture is really good.
I think that Porsche really wants as much money
as they can at this current situation.
They're at a juncture where money is nice
and they are saying yes to everything.
And they, I think, were so...
They're trying to find a way to do an Atelier type of thing
because imagine how mad you are if you're Porsche.
That singer can build a 930 turbo today.
And charge three million.
And sell it for a million.
And the other thing is the unsaid thing here
is that all these people who are...
whose primary interest in Porsches
is the colors and the stitching and the leather.
On those cars like career duty,
they were all silver basically.
So you couldn't do that
even if you had been able to buy one new.
You couldn't have done it really back then.
Page of Sample was barely available.
And so here's the opportunity to let your Porsche flag fly.
Sure.
Harlequin E63 AMG is the online enthusiast car auction marketplace
going in the wrong direction.
High-end stuff still commands a premium
and reaches the right bidders.
But is there a concern that the watering down
of the marketplace is driving it to become eBay motors?
I'm not sure what the evidence is for this question.
What do we got right now that looks watered down?
We got good stuff, I bet.
Has it been watered down?
I think that.
I don't see anything on the front page
that is not at least reasonably enthusiastic.
I think there's another auction site
that has started selling a lot more.
It has been interesting to watch.
Parts and eBay stuff, which has been surprising.
The parts.
That but also it has been interesting
to watch what's happened to bring a trailer
ultimately with new ownership
who's trying to maximize value.
I've been surprised by it because
we've seen cars that we've rejected show up there.
They've definitely started to do some kind of lesser.
Not that we don't have.
I think the truth is, though,
I don't even hate them for that
because ultimately there's an enthusiast for everything.
We have this guy who works with us, Kenan,
who's obsessed with the E39M5
and occasionally will run one that's really rough
and he gets mad.
He's like, we shouldn't be the site selling this.
I'm like, yeah, but someone wants to make a track car.
Someone wants it to do a build.
Or I don't know, there's a market
for the salvage title stuff.
I don't know.
I don't think it's watered down.
You look at that crossblade.
You want one of those?
The crossblade, you know, at the right price.
You know what it is?
It's the wrong price.
The right price for me is like $5,000,
but they're worth like $50,000.
They sell for $50,000.
Do you believe that?
I went hard on one that we had.
Well, remember that shitpile smart car,
SEMA build that I had that you ended up selling?
I mean, that's the same thing.
That's fucking, he got $30,000 for that thing.
I gave it away.
I gave it away for basically nothing.
Kind of awesome actually.
These, we've sold, this is the fifth one we've auctioned.
The fifth one.
I went really hard on the third one
and tried to get in there.
I thought I could get it for like high 30s.
And it's sold for like 57.
This would be a fabulous stand-tucket machine.
It would be so cool.
And that's what I was going to use it for.
Bro, do you know what I just saw?
Hannah just found this.
There's these guys, the fucking these homies,
that are getting little tykes cozy coupes
and making like a frame for them
with big gold, like Dayton looking bicycle wheels
and driving these fucking things around.
They are the sickest, they're so sick looking.
But they're so small, like they're not enlarging the cozy.
You know, they're like adults and these things,
like fucking cruising around on these gold Dayton wheels.
That is amazing.
Can you pull this from this side?
I'm trying to find it.
Alfa Romeo Montreal smoked meat.
What is the Mount Rushmore of glaring
automaker missed opportunities,
such as Chevy not launching a Raptor competitor
and Nissan killing the X-Terror
right before the mark got hot?
Those are two good ones.
Ferrari not doing manual, I think it's crazy.
Ferrari not making manuals.
I think I get that it's slower and all that,
but like they would make,
if they came out with a limited edition of 200 manual,
whatever, people would pay, whatever.
Yeah.
I think that's pretty wild,
especially for a public company.
I think it's wild that they don't do that.
That is actually, I can't think of a bigger one
than the revenue that they could be making,
just doing manual,
a tiny percentage of manual versions of their regular stuff.
You have to get it certified.
Whatever it would cost,
I guarantee you could make twice that back.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Meanwhile, Lambo hoars out everything,
like they'll bring the Countach bag,
like let's do whatever we can
to make a little bit of money.
I'm here for that.
That's what Lambo has always represented.
My girlfriend grows to another school in Montana.
Who are fast wagons really for?
Nobody with the ability to buy a fast wagon
is limited to only one car.
You know, that is such an interesting question.
That's a good point, actually.
Right now, I have, as a press card,
the new E53 AMG wagon.
The 53 engine is kind of nice, isn't it?
It's nice, but I was asking,
I was thinking the exact same thing.
I took it to play tennis and I got out
and I was thinking,
I either want to be in a comfortable car
right now because I'm exhausted,
or a sports car to have a nice ride home,
and it's neither.
Yeah.
And I do wonder that,
like, unless you're in New York City
with literally one parking space,
it's kind of a weird thing.
Our E450 station wagon does 0.60 in 4.6 seconds.
And it's 10 times more comfortable
and half the price as an E53.
It's like, how do I justify
why would I want to get into those AMG cars?
It's no longer this performance delta
where it's like you either do 0.60 in 10 seconds
or you get an AMG.
Like, our station wagon is really fast
and comfortable and I get the third row.
I just, I don't know.
It's a good question.
I agree.
They seem like a good idea.
Right.
I mean, I say this as a guy with a Tycon wagon,
but I don't have the fast one.
I have the four.
The slowest, softest one.
It's basically the equivalent of your car.
It's basically the electric that.
I don't see them.
And I've seen four or five of my clients here
go through RS6s as dailies.
They keep them for six months
and they learn they're boring.
They're boring.
They're kind of boring and they beat you up.
Yeah.
And feel, you know.
Way too stiff.
You know that they're way too stiff
and like as a family car,
when I drive around my kids,
I'm not trying to,
I just want to chill
because there's a lot going to happen.
Yeah.
Also, do you know the M5 Touring
is EPA rated at 13 miles per gallon combined?
11 city.
That's the same as the Escalade V.
That's crazy.
Think about that.
Wow.
Even the E53 is 22 combined.
What's the 4GT rated?
That's a good question.
Probably very close.
Probably like 17 or 18.
That's nice.
13 combined.
So like, I know people
at that price point
probably aren't usually thinking about it,
but like at some point,
that's like.
Yeah.
They think about the price of crude
going up and down,
not necessarily the price of gas.
Right?
But still, like I would,
if I had one of those cars,
even though I'm not really thinking
about the price of gas,
at some point on your mind,
like what am I doing to myself?
I'm getting beaten up every day.
I'm paying for fuel every other day.
Just so I can drive around
in this fast car.
I'm not really using the performance.
Yeah.
It's crushed up Cheetos in my car.
Cars are, I was just thinking about,
cars are, because I just had
the Rivian Quad.
And we're going to talk about that
independently on our next show.
I've driven all the other Rivians.
None of them.
Have I ever used full throttle
for anything outside of the video
production process,
nor would I.
Right.
There isn't.
Completely agree.
Bro.
A thousand horsepower,
three row on knobbies.
What are we doing?
They sent me a quad.
And it was really cool.
But like,
my neighbors who saw it,
oh, what is this new Rivian?
Yeah.
And I tell them,
should I get it?
No.
You should get it.
You should get a dual.
Yeah, yeah.
You, my neighbor,
an attorney, should get a dual.
Yeah.
This is insane.
I think Rivian wants to do it
because they like winning
those Jason Camisa drag races.
It's really good press.
But like, come on.
And it's absurd.
It's, if you happen to get the
chance to go off-roading with a
quad, and I didn't get to do
with Rivian, but I did get to
do it with the G-Wagon
and the old Rivian,
amazing.
Yeah.
Really, really amazing.
Wheel control.
Right.
Precision and all that kind of
stuff.
But, and I,
and I totally understand,
because we've been through
a million times,
that like, it's,
it's so cheap to add horsepower
if you have the battery thing
that it just makes sense
to have the thing to brag about.
But like, I think we might
need to use some restraint.
Flooring it in that quad,
I'm sure you'll talk about this
when you do, but it's like,
and me and my buddies took it
to dinner.
So six of us in there.
And flooring it with all six,
I'm like, this is just sketch.
Yeah.
This is just on a level
that I don't need to be in.
You have an S or a T.
A SUV or the truck.
So the S also I,
the S has, I believe,
the same steering ratio as the T
and 18 inches less wheelbase,
which makes it drive
like a car with a cut wheelbase
like an Audi Sport Quattro
or a Lancia Stratos
or like one of those cars
where they cut the fucking
wheelbase like for rallying.
So the way it moves.
That's so true.
It did feel like that.
If you know what it felt like
was the VA Defender 90.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Where it's just like,
actually, defenders are the
same way.
The 110 feels normal
and the 90 feels like a car
with a cut wheelbase.
Yeah.
So it's and now you have
a thousand dollars.
With this,
the way it moves,
it can be like,
so if you get in over your head,
you jam on the brakes
and you try to steer.
It's like, whoa.
Right.
Right.
That's exactly what it's like.
It's a cool car.
It was super cool.
I like Rivians.
This is that's in the middle
of an otherwise positive
review of a well made and
the dual is the one.
Yeah, yeah.
For everybody.
Just nobody needs that.
Right.
Man, that's our fucking,
that's our show.
That's almost.
Oh my god.
Is that an hour and 45?
Right.
Is that?
Give us one more good question.
All right.
Challenge Stradale Lama,
which is a fabulous name.
If you could each be on a TV
game show current or past,
what would it be?
I'm price is right till I die.
Really?
Price is right till I die.
Did you ever,
I mean, it's like locally.
When I first moved to LA,
I did go see the prices
right and get in the
audience with my.
But you didn't get chosen.
You did not get on.
No.
Huh.
I don't know.
Jeopardy.
Oh,
American Gladiators when I was
younger for sure.
Gladiators.
Hyperdrive would have been fun.
Hyperdrive would have been fun.
But now I think I do make some
noise on Dropout,
which is like a silly improv
game show.
There's no prize money.
I'd be a guest on
Zach Klapman's
driver's test.
Which you will be.
Which I will be next week.
By the way, we didn't discuss
that you won this award.
We were going to talk about.
We didn't talk about it.
It's very, it's so important.
It's so important.
It just rules over everything.
I don't think this can live here.
It's very heavy.
You want, you beat me.
I don't think we were.
Were we up against them?
Yeah.
Oh, I think they're nominated.
Well, you know, look, you make
more money than me.
True.
You make more money than me.
So I'll take this.
But wouldn't you rather have
the award?
No, I'll trade.
We can trade you the award
for your credit.
I'll trade you.
I'll trade you.
No problem.
I need to be recognized by
my peers.
I'll tell everybody you got,
you won and the whole thing.
You won't ever see me again.
Thanks, buddy.
Best time of the year.
Best time of the year.
It's my birthday too, you know.
Is that true?
When's your birthday today?
Oh, my God.
44.
44.
Wow.
What are you going to do to
celebrate?
Well, tonight.
Yeah.
You and Hannah.
And I and no, not me and Hannah
actually.
Tonight is boys night.
There's a chef who's pretty
well known and incredibly
talented, who was on chef's
table on Netflix last season.
He's cooking dinner for us
at his restaurant personally,
which is pretty cool.
That sounds fun.
That's going to be pretty
awesome.
Sounds sounds like it'd be it'd
be nice to to to be there.
Yeah.
And then I'm going racing.
I'm going to Texas this weekend.
I'm racing at Kota Endurance
Racing with what?
In an E92 M3 with with dude.
I'm my the endurance is so the
endurance of the engine.
My three teammates are this
dude Tato Siderman, who's like
a 22 year old fucking hot shoe,
who's ripping up super
Trofeo right now in the amateur
class, Tommy Kendall.
And Johnny Lieberman.
Oh, damn.
And I think Sergio Tato's dad
might drive a stint.
Was in Bell.
I don't have confirmation that
Justin Bell.
He might have to go.
He might have had to go to
work.
Can I tell you?
He might Justin Bell may or
may not be dry.
He may actually do something
that's productive.
Can I tell you something about
Johnny Lieberman?
I talk about Johnny a lot on
this show.
I can't wait because remember
on the show previously I've
said that he should start
his own YouTube channel,
which he's now done.
Which he's doing.
You're welcome.
You know what?
You know what happened?
The other day I was at the
Hyundai Design Center in Irvine
and you know who was there?
Johnny Lieberman.
And you know what?
First time I've ever met him
in my life.
No way.
And I hugged him.
And I hugged him.
And I think he thought the
hug was weird.
And to an extent it was
weird.
I've never met the person
before and I hugged him.
And I didn't really give
him a chance not to hug me.
Did you have a nice time?
That would my extent.
My interaction with Lieberman
was limited to the hug.
And then a couple of words.
He said I can't believe you
came out of your house for this.
And I said me too.
Yeah that seems like the thing
that you wouldn't go to.
Well you know what it was?
It was for the Hyundai Crater
which was a concept car.
And I will do some stuff
for concept cars.
I went to Detroit to film
that Cadillac.
Yeah I know.
You're in my level of
nerdery.
I like a good concept car.
Yeah yeah for sure.
I wanted to do the Cadillac
CN by the way.
So I'm.
One isn't it?
Yeah although apparently they
don't they don't have the
engine for it anymore.
Anyway Johnny Lieberman
I hugged him.
And that's my Johnny Lieberman story.
Well I'm going to be
he is in Portugal doing
something right now
and flying to Austin
and meeting us there.
So we're going to be
hopefully doing some racing.
Zach and I have one more show
before I leave
and I'll talk a little bit
more about the racing.
But that's our fucking show.
You know where to find Doug.
You don't need to ask me.
Cars and bids.
Driving around San Diego
in a 993 turbo.
Doug DeMiro YouTube channel
5.03 million.
But it's like stopped.
There's like no more growth.
No no no me too.
It's going to be 5.03
people are like what are you
going to do at 6?
I'm going to be dead.
Let's talk about what aren't we
doing in 2026.
Growing our social media
and YouTube channel.
Unfortunately accurate.
This is going to be the year
we pivot offline.
Make a magazine or a newspaper.
Oh for the for those of you
who did the Doug Candy
drinking game.
Wow you're probably wasted.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11.
Next time I'm bringing carrots.
11 parts.
I'm bringing carrots.
Doug DeMiro folks.
We'll see you next time.
Bye.
Pleasure.
About this episode
Doug DeMuro joins the Smoking Tire crew for their annual chat, diving into his recent purchase of a 993 Turbo and sharing thoughts on the current automotive landscape. The conversation touches on the value of collectible cars, the quirks of ownership, and the absurdities of the automotive market, including the rise of electric vehicles and the challenges of maintaining classic cars. They also discuss the implications of recent automotive trends and the future of driving experiences, all while exchanging humorous anecdotes and insights.
Doug Demuro joins to eat candy and talk about MANY things including: his Countach drive; that Whistlin' Diesel problem (and the Montana plate situation); why some people DON'T drive their cool cars' Ferrari 599 prices; the bad car he almost bought (ok, several bad cars); used car price trends; what's rising in value (and what isn't); his new Porsche 993 911; driving GM concept cars; the Cadillac Celestiq; and so much more!
Doug Demuro joins to talk about MANY things including:
Is the enthusiast car market heading in a bad direction?
Glaring car company mistakes
WHO are fast wagons FOR, exactly?
Which game show would we want to be on?
And more!
SHOW NOTES
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