Driving The Colorado Grand w/ Tazio Ottis — Carmudgeon Show w/ Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 208
The Carmudgeon Show
Driving The Colorado Grand w/ Tazio Ottis — Carmudgeon Show w/ Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 208
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Company
Stellantis
Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of cars, like Chrysler and Jeep. It was created when two car companies joined together.
Brand
Chrysler
Chrysler is a car brand that makes different types of vehicles, like cars and minivans. It's part of a larger company called Stellantis now.
Term
Tiger Shark
The Tiger Shark is a type of engine made by Chrysler that is used in some of their cars. It's designed to be efficient and perform well.
Part
carburetor
A carburetor is a part of an engine that mixes air and fuel together so the engine can run properly. It's important for making sure the engine gets the right amount of fuel to work well.
Concept
IMSA
IMSA is a group that organizes car racing events, especially for sports cars. They have different types of races where fast cars compete against each other.
Car
Chevy Turbo Sprint
The Chevy Turbo Sprint is a small car made by Chevrolet that had a turbocharged engine, making it quicker than many other cars of its size. It was popular in the late '80s and early '90s.
Concept
shipbox rally
A shipbox rally is a fun event where people drive older, cheaper cars together. It's more about having a good time with friends than racing.
Car
MG Midget
The MG Midget is a small, sporty car that was made a long time ago. It's light and fun to drive, which is why many people like it as a classic car.
Concept
Colorado Grand
The Colorado Grand is a long car rally where people drive classic cars through Colorado. It's a fun event where you can enjoy beautiful views and meet other car lovers.
Car
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint is a classic car from the 1950s. It's known for its beautiful design and sporty performance, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
Formula Mazda
The Formula Mazda is a type of race car that you sit in like a small sports car, but it's built for racing on tracks. It uses a Mazda engine and is often used by people who want to start racing.
Term
big bore kit
A big bore kit makes your engine bigger by allowing larger pistons to fit inside the cylinders. This usually helps the engine produce more power.
Company
Megacycle
Megacycle is a company that makes special parts for engines, like camshafts, which help the engine run better and faster.
Term
drum brakes
Drum brakes are a type of brake that uses a round part called a drum. When you press the brake pedal, parts inside push against the drum to help stop the car.
Part
five speed
A five-speed is a type of car transmission that lets you choose from five different speeds while driving. It helps the car perform better and save fuel.
Term
custom spring rates
Custom spring rates are how stiff or soft the springs in a car's suspension are. They can be changed to make the car handle better or ride more comfortably.
Term
raw aluminum bumpers
Raw aluminum bumpers are bumpers made from aluminum that haven't been painted or coated. They are lighter than regular bumpers and can help the car perform better.
Term
reproduction bumpers
Reproduction bumpers are new bumpers made to look like the original ones that came with a car. They are often used when someone wants to replace old or damaged bumpers.
Part
lightweight bumpers
Lightweight bumpers are car parts that are lighter than regular bumpers. They help make the car faster and handle better because they reduce the car's weight.
Term
wide open throttle
Wide open throttle means the gas pedal is pressed all the way down, letting the engine get as much air and fuel as possible for maximum power.
Term
torque
Torque is how strong an engine is at moving the car. More torque means the car can start moving faster and pull heavier loads more easily.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower tells you how powerful an engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster a car can go and the quicker it can accelerate.
Car
Ferrari 250 SWB
The Ferrari 250 SWB is an old sports car that was made in the 1960s. It's famous for being fast and is very popular with car collectors.
Car
Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa is a famous classic sports car from the 1950s, known for its racing success and unique look. It's a very valuable car today.
Car
Ferrari 500 TRC
The Ferrari 500 TRC is another classic racing car from Ferrari, built in the 1950s. It's known for being light and fast, making it great for racing.
Car
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL is a famous old sports car that has unique doors that open upwards. It was one of the first cars to use fuel injection, which helped it perform better.
Car
Mercedes-Benz SL
The Mercedes-Benz SL is a fancy two-door car that looks really stylish and is fun to drive. It's known for being high-quality and has some cool features, like special doors that open up like wings.
Car
Porsche 356S
The Porsche 356 is an old sports car that was made a long time ago. It's popular because it's fun to drive and not too heavy.
Car
Ferrari 410
The Ferrari 410 is a rare sports car made by Ferrari in the 1960s. It has a powerful engine and is considered a classic, with very few of them ever built.
Car
Jaguar Dtype
The Jaguar D-Type is a classic race car from the 1950s that looks really cool and was built to go super fast. It won a lot of races, which makes it special among car fans.
Term
voltage regulator
A voltage regulator keeps the electrical system in a car stable. It makes sure that the power supply is not too high or too low, which can damage parts of the car.
Car
Mazda Miata
Car
Datsun 280Z
The Datsun 280Z is a classic sports car from the 1970s. It has a powerful engine and a stylish look, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
Car
Miata
The Miata is a small sports car made by Mazda. It's known for being fun to drive and is often used for racing or just enjoying the open road.
Term
0-60 time
0-60 time is how long it takes a car to go from stopped to going 60 miles per hour. It's a way to see how fast a car can speed up.
Car
Jaguar XJ6
The Jaguar XJ6 is a fancy car that is really comfortable to ride in and looks very elegant. It's known for being a nice car to drive, especially if you like a bit of luxury.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can go almost anywhere, even off-road. It's also comfortable and has a lot of space, which makes it great for families or trips.
Car
Toyota Tercels
The Toyota Tercel is a small, budget-friendly car that is easy to drive and saves on gas. It's a great choice for people looking for a reliable car without spending too much money.
LIVE
What is that?
That's a Tatio Otis.
What is a Tatio Otis?
He's my business partner.
Does he speak English?
We don't speak English.
What does he speak?
Carburetor, Weber, French.
Weber? Weber is Italian, I thought.
No, Weber and French.
Weber, comma, French.
Bonjour!
And welcome to this wonderful edition of the Carburetor.
Can we do another intro in French?
We did this again already.
I'd like for you to do one in Weber.
Okay.
I don't speak Weber.
It's just going to be a bunch of explosions.
Tatio Otis, my business partner,
professional mechanic, racing driver,
and most importantly,
rally attendee with me.
Most importantly, he's a fan of the shitbox.
Yeah, that's implicit.
In rally attendee,
he's motoring shitbox.
So we will,
on this episode of the Car Margin Show,
discuss two rallies that we did,
which were very similar.
And by very similar, I mean...
Not at all.
Not at all similar.
Similar in that you took old cars on roads.
Yeah, I guess that's about where things end,
in terms of similarity.
That will be the Colorado Grand,
a very premium event,
and I don't even know if we have a name for it,
but it was the $2,000 shitbox rally.
The first ever annual OTS rally.
So we'll talk about those events,
and I will...
I'm going to play with the battery tender bobblehead
while you clap.
I'm going to do the clap,
and we're going to get the jingle.
That one was genuinely good.
That one was actually like a solid B+.
Thank you.
It's your presence. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you for helping him clap.
You need to talk.
Okay, on to the jingle.
Derek, are you doing homework?
Always.
Don't let me interrupt you.
No, no, please.
What are we looking at here?
We're talking about the battery tender charge and start.
Oh, unless you're from Michigan.
In which case it's...
It's a charge and start.
Oh yes, of course.
Are they from Michigan? I don't think so.
No, but they are, I think.
Listeners are from...
Can you say charge?
Charge and start.
If you can say that, you can work for Stalantis.
You can work for Chrysler because you have the tap shift
and the tiger shark and the big stab buyers.
That's how Detroit people talk.
So the name charge and start
implies that it both charges and starts.
So it's an all-in-one...
Charge and start.
If you're in Detroit or Upper Midwest generally.
I do believe this is an industry first,
the first jumper box that also...
Tends your battery?
Tends your...
Did you say battery or bowery?
Battery.
Your T's were...
I'm from California.
In general, American people say water
instead of water.
We don't pronounce the T's.
We pronounce D's.
That's an American thing generally.
When British people are making fun of American accents,
they say we say D's instead of T's.
Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
We're talking about the battery tender.
Unless you're from Philly in which case you say water.
Sure, that's also true.
And I think they do that in Australia also.
Australia?
Welcome to the accent episode of the...
No.
The idea with this charge and start
being that it's two devices in one
and everyone needs a jump starter with them at all times.
It is a good idea.
It's a really good idea,
especially with the shit boxes that we drive.
That's absolutely true.
Don't forget to get
20% off now at batterytender.com
with a coupon code Hagerty20.
All right.
As you can see, this episode is sponsored by
Battery Tender.
They can see that.
They can potentially see it too if they're watching.
They should also be able to see that there's an intruder.
Yes.
We will have already introduced him.
Yes, Tazio Otis.
Tazio Otis.
Tazio Otis Racing.
Taz Otis.
Yes, all of these are acceptable to me,
but probably not to him.
So Taz is my business partner.
Why don't you start Taz and introduce yourself?
Tell us just, I don't know, a couple minutes
about your automotive history,
where you're coming to the land of cars from.
Sure.
My dad's Patrick Otis.
He started for our restoration shop
well before I was born.
And I ultimately was born into that
whole entire world.
When I was six,
he would give me a carburetor to put together
and take apart and put together
until it was time to go home after school.
So I got used to doing that type of stuff
and then I really fell in love with what cars were
and what you could do with them.
I started racing
go-karts when I was 12.
I continued that into
racing prototypes in IMSA
and some touring car stuff.
And I still play with shipboxes
today with you.
Yes, we do.
What I love the most is that you just said
shipboxes when you're also working on Ferrari's.
But the first time I met you,
actually, this is many, many, many years ago
at this point, I pulled into a gas station
New Year's Eve at New Year's Day
at like seven in the morning or something
and there was a red, correct me if I'm wrong,
red Chevy Turbo Sprint.
Yeah, lost my mind.
And I'm like, what moron is out
on New Year's morning
and we were going in the same rally as it turns out.
Yeah, it's a bummer because
I feel like there's a lot of these cars that I have regrets
that I got rid of and that's certainly one of them.
We just did a shipbox rally
this past weekend and that car would have been so ideal for it.
Shipboxes is the way to go.
I mean, you know, your family
is all about the Ferrari and I love that you have it.
Did your dad like want to disown you
when you pulled up with that thing?
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a regular occurrence though.
I just drove an MG midget
that I got for $1,800 into the shop
and I don't think he talked to me for the day.
I love that.
I love that.
Snow's son of mine is going to drive this.
Yeah, but he has certainly
some of the shared characteristics of you and I
which is interest in driving
whatever it is
to whatever it can do.
And beyond.
So we intended for this episode
to be about the Colorado Grand
because we just did it together
and that's the car that we did it in
which is, we'll talk about it in a minute
but we also just did a shipbox rally
so we'll maybe talk about that also
to see the full spectrum.
Right, it was because the opposite financial.
Definitely.
Yes, one rally probably
should have paid us to do it
and then the other one we paid to do
a non-trivial amount
because, you know, you stay in nice hotels
and they feed you and all that.
Not familiar with that concept.
That was not what happened on our rally.
So, yeah, we did the Colorado Grand
is a thousand mile event
that happens in Colorado
that's the name
limited to cars 1960 and earlier
and we did it in this
1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Sprint
which has basically
built.
So you tell us the story.
I think your dad found this car.
Yeah, this car was
regular at the All Italian Car Show
in Alameda that just happened yesterday.
A guy named Earl
had it. He was
I think a welding teacher perhaps
for years. He had this
and a little
SZ as well
and they stayed in a hangar and Heyward
and my dad followed the car
bugged him all the time if he'd ever sell it
and eventually he bought it new.
He was
he wasn't the first owner but he was the first registered owner.
So technically
he was the first real owner.
I think another guy maybe through a dealer had it
for a couple years or so and then he was the first registered owner.
So that made
my dad the second registered owner.
So you've had it
for I think we did the math
it was like eight years or something like that.
And what did
what has happened to it since you bought it?
I should probably back up my first real car
that I bought
got for free
when I was 14 was a regular Sprint
it was a dark blue regular Sprint
that rolled over on the California Miele
and I resuscitated it.
92? Yeah, 92 before I was born
and I resuscitated it
I found a topic and all their shop that I welded on
painted it
realized I didn't want to do body work for the rest of my life
and
ultimately I sold it for a Formula Mazda
and that was one of those cars that I regret selling to this day.
So when we got this car
I ultimately went on a journey to do
everything that I'd ever wanted to do to that car
which is a very long list
and I don't know if I should bore the
podcast with it.
Engine, I mean
Hot engine, big bore kit
pitatory cams from Megacycle right down the street from here
I did a two liter rear end in it
welded the axle tubes to still do the drum brakes
did three shoe brakes up front
Five speed
Five speed, light and GTA
gear set
How big is the motor now? 1500
Big block
Because normally they're 1300
Yeah, fully adjustable conies
that you can't tell by the shock bodies
because it's all internal
custom spring rates
front and back, it's got a whole bunch of
Giulietta, lightweight, it's in bobs on it
Yeah, everyone
who knows those cars freaks out about the bumpers
because they're the raw aluminum bumpers that were for the
lightweight
and they are real
One of our friends has a real lightweight
and he was going to throw those bumpers away because he got reproduction ones
that were newer and shinier
Yeah, so we grabbed those
That's cool
Yeah, that's probably the
the whole thing is pretty hard to reproduce but that's one of the
more special parts of the car
the lightweight bumpers
So we did the
Cal Mille in the car
We shipped the car to Denver, we did the Cal Mille
in April in the car, April May
I guess
and then Colorado Grand
So this is the year of the high
high dollar rallies
for us for this car
now that we can afford to do it after starting our business
because we don't know, we've started the business
not even two years
There is nothing actually
You better do it quick before the IRS finds out
that you're trying to write that off
There's lots of photos with us in our
OTS swag
Back off IRS
And the organizers of the grand
So there's a bunch of things about the grand that are really cool
and we both had a really great time
on the event
and I think one of the defining characteristics
of the event that distinguishes
at least from Cal Mille
which is the only other high dollar event that we've done
is there's a sort of orientation
towards community that the event
has which I was
not expecting and so it's like it's heavily
for good reason obviously
they
sponsor the Colorado
Highway Patrol
and so you get a motorcycle
escort of
CHP, they are also called CHP
Colorado Highway Patrol
and so there's the guys out who are with you
running the entire event in motorcycles
providing an escort
which is kind of neat because the event
it's a charity event and so they raise all this money
and a lot of it goes to Colorado Highway Patrol
but they also
give money to
various local small towns and communities
and so there's always
a coffee stop in the morning and in the afternoon
and the coffee stop is always in some community
where they have given a bunch of money
and so you'll stop at like
a health center or a college
or something where they have contributed
over the course the event's been running since 1989
so it's almost 40 years
at this point
they've contributed millions of dollars of charity
to these various small towns
this one was like the only health clinic
within 60 miles of this
is here and they paid
for a substantial portion of it or whatever
so the
and the other thing that they do
which I think is quite neat
is that they issue a
Colorado registration license plates
that are good for the duration of the event
which means that
a bunch of people who have cars that aren't street registered
can bring their car
on the event and so all these like
kind of race cars are just there
with like a license plate on it and
it says Colorado Grand on the plate
he had one made for us that says
OTS on it which we were
delighted by if you were
friendly with the organizer he would get
something suitable for your license plate
that was you know appropriate
so our business name was on it
so like you know some people got their last name
on their plates or something like that
so normally it's just a number which is cool because you're running around
with a license plate that says like 71
it's like a two digit license plate
so that community
orientation was kind of neat
and that was really smart
yes yeah definitely
although it didn't stop tasks from getting speaking tickets
yeah I think you get a false sense of security
in the event because you know
day one you're introduced all the motors
which is what they call the CHP
and they tell you that they're going to protect you
but don't be stupid
but you have to be nearby for them to protect you
and local cops
don't realize that you're being protected
as nice as they might be
yeah we were running well ahead of
the first escort and that was the problem
that's the whole point of an escort
they go first
he didn't want to get stuck in traffic
look so we learned this lesson in the Kalimile
where if you start like middle of the pack
you're just going to be stuck behind
things going 20 miles an hour
under the speed limit
yeah there's 70, 80, 100 year old cars
yeah so there's these group of people
with 70, 80, 100 year old drivers
having a great time and experience with their cars
and using them which I think is fantastic
but you know if you want to be out there hauling ass
he drives the way that we do
on our rallies
but most of the people on these events don't do that
because the cars are old
and the drivers are usually older also
and they're just not doing things
the way you and I do
or has obviously
but if you jump out in that front pack
typically there's like the five guys in the front
that kind of leave a little bit early
and are hustling
and so you want to get out with that pack
but as we soon learned
that
gives out speeding tickets
big one or moderate one
moderate
if you pay early enough
it's a point reduction which is nice
so anyway that was a learning opportunity
what other notes about the Colorado Grand
the types of roads are very different
and the cars
we can talk about I guess both of those
so how many days is it?
it's four driving days
so two hundred ish
two to three hundred miles a day
some of these old cars
I'm guessing that car is bullet proof
and you don't even think twice about
we weren't without incidents
there was intervention a little bit
yeah we heard
so Colorado the Grand
is different from California
because California's roads are very tight
there's roads that we are very familiar with
very technical which suit that car
the Colorado Grand starts at
eighty one fifty feet
and you go up to twelve thousand
at times
so
they jetted the car down before it left
and had to do some fettling
but there's not much air up there
so you're not making much power
there were times where you were continuously
wide open throttle for four or five minutes
like matted
for four or five continuous minutes
in fourth gear
at five six thousand rpm
just flat
just going up some hill
for those of us who drive slow ship boxes
that's not all that uncommon
so
the roads are fast
and it favors a car with horsepower
and cubes and torque
and this car doesn't have that much of
any of those things especially at eleven thousand feet
I think that's the reason there's the escort
and all that as well because you have cars
like
there was three Jaguar D types
right
there was some heavy hitters
but some high horsepower stuff there too
for the period
and those things on those roads
are capable of doing one hundred and forty miles an hour
cruising
all day long
we were not
the cars are really extraordinary too
maybe even a notch
above the Calmiles cars
not maybe honestly definitely
a step
so we saw the six 250 SWBs
the
three D types
there was a 250 Testerosa
there was a 500 TRC
a thousand miles on a 250 TR
and all these cars
it rained pretty much every single day
and those are not coupes
and they don't have an emergency roof
they don't have side curtains
they don't have a windshield
there's no wipers
and these guys are in there with their goggles
and leather helmets
or maybe sometimes helmets
and it's pouring rain
it's the same kind of shit that the guys
who raced the cars at the mall in period
were doing
it's pretty wild to see those cars out there
getting used like that
and for perspective for those who don't know
what a 250 Testerosa is worth
I don't know
it's between twenty five
and fifty million dollars
so these guys are driving
a thousand miles in the rain
very quickly
in a car that's worth as much as my neighborhood
and the neighborhood
next to it and the rest of the county
and like history too right
I think that specific car won Nürburgring
the thousand kilometers in Nürburgring
it also won SeaBring
it was driven by von Neumann
and it was unrestored
so it was kind of scruffy
that's cool
kind of a little bit rough looking
but very very honest and very real
and so the cars are heavy
I mean there was probably
I think registered there were seventeen
three hundred SLs
yeah
that's like the uniform
I mean the three hundred SL makes sense
because it's got fuel injection
and it's got cubes and power
they actually work at eleven thousand feet
they're cruising along
they were from airplane engines
so they were designed specifically
to accommodate altitude
that's so crazy
yeah lots of three hundred SLs
that was the uniform cars
three hundred SL because it's good
but still a seven figure car
and then obviously less expensive stuff
like our car
and Porsche 356's
and some Jag XK's also
those are the sort of like entry point cars
because they all cost under a hundred thousand dollars
which is inexpensive
for this event
but really heavy
and there were two Ferrari 410's
of the 35 that were made
like it's just
it's really wild to see all these cars
getting actually used
I think we made point to go walk
through the garage every single night
at least once yeah
just to see them all
and they get progressively dirtier
and you know
some have mechanical issues of course
and like the
Cal Mille there is
an entourage of mechanics
and tow trucks and stuff like that
which they're happy to help
and a lot of cars fail to proceed
I was going to say what was the
finish percentage
I don't know it seemed
there's 130 cars
big event a lot of cars
yeah huge
I would say at least 75% of the cars
finished yeah I think over a hundred
for sure yeah and
you know the event is sponsored by
Mercedes-Benz and so
they provide loaner cars
if your car fails to proceed
and then hopefully the mechanic team
can get it running again by lunch
or dinner or overnight
or whatever the circumstances maybe
I think there was 21 new cars
like new entrance
new first timers
but if you think about that that's 110
literally regulars that are going on this
yeah and it's a tight knit community
but I think that they also know how to prepare
their cars and know what the event's about
for the most part yeah there's a couple of
clueless people who will say well every time
I go to cars and coffee it works fine so it's probably
okay good luck with that and then
you know they're doing a four day long rolling restoration
which is
you know not the mechanics preference
obviously
but yeah so I think there was a concerted effort
this year to introduce you know I have
younger people attending the event they're worried
about the long-term viability
for of this event generally
which is reasonable for
you know something where the newest cars
are 65 years old so I mean
it's good to be prepared for that
but there was a lot of people who
you know were there and they would say
I specifically bought
a car of this vintage so that I could
do this event like it's such a cool event
and it requires you have an old
car and so and I think it's doing a
meaningful part of keeping
the interest in cars of this era
live which I'm obviously super keen about
cool
what else to note
very fast roads incredible scenery
you know it's I in
I honestly did enjoy it more than the Cal
Melee despite liking the roads less
and despite not being in the
right car which is a
high horsepower car there's just something
about it that feels very
epic I guess
like hardcore yeah hardcore
I mean I think you really feel like you're going
somewhere you really feel like you're on a mission
every single day feels like a big day
there's something that we were talking about
compared to the Cal Melee the Cal Melee
you could shortcut each day
let's say you just want to do the morning it would be some
figure eight where you do the loop and then
you go to the spa and hang out and have
a cocktail and this you really
had to like all the checkpoints and
waypoints were at the extremity of the loop
yeah let's go far away from where
you started so you had to have to do the
day in order to fully experience it
and I think that was really rewarding
yeah because I think we were one of the
few that did every single possible mile
on the Cal Melee and everyone did the
whole event here and I think you saw
that in the cars that people brought like Charlie
Nierberg brought his 300 SL
on
the Cal Melee and then he brought his D-Type
on the Colorado Grand
yeah
so it's more
it's a little more hardcore it's not quite
as polished or plush but it's still
very nice event but it's like the
difference between like you know five
stars and four and a half stars and
technically I think the places we stayed were probably still
five stars but it just
there was less of the sort of
like image and
and yeah felt a little
bit less high
end but still high end
and I certainly didn't miss
that and it was cool to see
so much of Colorado because I hadn't really driven around
in the Rockies at all so that was
there may be some novelty there
also for me did it start and end
in Veil
so you started 8,000 feet
and then I think we had nights
in Steamboat which are
at a mere 6,000 feet but you go over a bunch
of 11 plus thousand
foot mountain passes
I told you in the route book I can't remember the number but I told
you how many times we went over 11,000 feet
in the final day that's crazy
there's a lot of up there
but yeah
really really incredible event highly
recommend you get also three more years of eligibility
California Mila is 57
and Colorado Grand is 1960
and so it introduces
a tranche of cars that
you wouldn't see which was cool so that's why
all the SWB's were there and that's not an eligible car
on the Cal Mila
so highly recommend
the event
the car did great
aside from I think
we went into Wyoming
which was also very high speed
and we kept hearing
this was day two some
popping sounds and we looked at each other
what was that sound
I don't know
so day two came and went
and then day three partway through we were like
the starter doesn't sound like it's
cranking quite as enthusiastically
and I think also in part of day two
we started running out of fuel
like long periods of wide open
throttle like into the minutes
the car would start to run out of fuel
we just thought that was a float bowl problem
we didn't realize at that point
or that like the stress testing that we had done
we'd never spent four minutes at continuous
wide open throttle
because you can't really do that
around here
but at 11,000 feet you can
it was climbing or that's
just like
there was a couple of roads where it was just straight
for as long as you could see
and you're just out there
and that car does what 100
I think we didn't go
quicker than 100 very often
and
obviously the higher you are the lower that speed is
really should even out
shouldn't actually be changed
but you have less horsepower
but you also have a less wind drag
the only thing that doesn't change is
rolling resistance which is a small portion
I think you can get there it just takes a lot longer
exactly
I guess we didn't have long enough pieces of road
to accomplish that
in any case you know you see a
slight incline coming and you charge the hill
to try and build speed before you get up it
and hopefully that you can make to the top
of the rise while still in fifth gear
today was the first time that I drove that car
again since the Colorado Grand
and I was shocked at how much power it has
Sea level does that
okay so what was the
the pop and what was the running out of fuel
they were all the same yeah
yeah when we got to lunch on
day three the car wouldn't start
because the battery had depleted
because
the voltage regulator had exploded
which was the pop which was the
pop and it wasn't
there wasn't enough electricity on board
to power the fuel pump which was why we were running
out of fuel wow okay
and no charge light on it I guess
we had it we had it on the beginning
of day one and then it went away and we never saw it again
I think maybe it that was a pop too
I think the way the voltage regulator
blew up eventually
sent no return signal
anymore to that would be the Italian way
to wire it well if the whole system
goes away there's no warning light telling you
that the entire system is
yes there's not enough electricity to light up
the dynamo light
so we
just gave the battery to the mechanics
team and they gave us a new battery
and that got us through the rest of the day
and then we the whole day
we just swapped the battery at the end of every day
a whole day
actually one day and a half
and the wipers were going and everything
so clearly
the generator was actually working
because I disconnected the generator
so it wouldn't backfeed
I can't
it's got to have the most efficient
spark plugs
that's amazing
so we could make it through an entire day
on a fully charged battery
you tried that in a modern car
and you have
like running
three minutes four minutes before it'll start
cutting systems
there's not many systems in that car
we had to have the wipers because it was
wipers use a lot
I am shocked
I mean they're probably
horribly inefficient but still like six watts
that's amazing
wow
so you've never fixed it
until you got home
yeah I think it's only fixed just now
wow
and what else
the elevation in Colorado
is really wild because you're just driving up I-70
which goes to the Eisenhower Tunnel
which is at 11,158 feet
which is the highest vehicle tunnel
I think in the United States
and you're like driving along
and through these towns at 9, 10,000 feet
and like
I kept having my mind blown
because in California
Lake Tahoe level is 6,200 feet
and you know the
settlements kind of go up to maybe 7,000 feet
and you think of that as high
and just to drive by like a fucking
Taco Bell at 9,000 feet
you're like what is this place that I'm in
how do they cook, how do they stand up
how does the water boil
and so I was like I wonder what the tallest
highest Taco Bell in the world is
and I looked it up and I turned out the route went through it
so I made us take a photo in front of the highest Taco Bell
That is the one photo I saw that you posted
so like you can see how much time I spent on Instagram
right, like I saw it I was like why are you
why highest Taco Bell
I mean highest elevation
not highest Taco Bell I'm sure that there are other Taco Bells
that are higher than that
everyone at the Taco Bell is high
yeah so that was pretty cool
and the towns
that we would stop in for lunch were like sort of
you got a sense of place there
the locals would be there and serving you food
and they'd be like thank you so much for coming
and they'd tell you about the place that you were in
and serve you food that was sort of representative of the place
and you got more, I got a very strong sense of place
unlike Taco Bell
I got a strong sense of place on this event
which I thought was really
quite neat
that was the Colorado Grand
I want to go
yeah you should do it, I recommend that
everyone do this if you can find a way
if you can afford it that's I think
I'm not going to ask you what it costs don't tell me
I'm just going to fantasize about doing it
it costs two thirds as much as
the Cal Mille
so I only have to have mortgage two thirds of my house
I'm kidding
and buy a car that's eligible
yeah I was going to say do you have something that
and I think it keeps the market
and going
it keeps the market in interest of
these cars alive
I think that these cars of this era would be much less
interesting because there's plenty of guys
which I was pleased to see who were in their 40s
and maybe even 30s there
and
they buy cars of this era
so they can do this activity
which is I think critical to their
continued interest and it
introduces people to a new frontier of car
use
that I think is important to do
so I
certainly recommend it unreservedly
there are somewhat picky about cars as well though
they would like a sporting car
they want a sporting car
like I asked them when
I was talking to the organizer before the event
I said do you want the alpha or the jag and he said
definitely the alpha
and I was like oh okay
oh it's got four doors
yeah but it's probably way faster
it's definitely torqueier
and quicker and faster
yes
the sporting saloon is not enough
more help in the chassis department
I think now that we've proven that we aren't jackasses
I hope
then they will maybe have us back
with
a less appropriate car
maybe you won't get such a big speeding ticket this time
maybe we'll get a bigger one
because the jag has more oomph
and more pre-war cars also
God that's a big commitment
yeah
that's super cool though
in the fucking rain
they were like five or six pre-war
bentleys
and they like to be tough
they don't want to take their top up
they don't want to take the time to do that
they want to just power through
I don't know how much I want to do this event
they're like oh you put your roof up
what are you going soft
fuck had its raining
they don't look kindly on that
the bentley people
the things are like steam locomotives
they're hardcore
that's so cool
but the leather will get wet
and
yeah
if not for that then for what
I get
I think that's very cool
it is, it's incredibly cool to see these cars
because we always carp about how the cars get
squirreled away and hidden and all that stuff
there's just nowhere else that you can see the cars
getting used especially
hard like that
I think that's the appeal of some of the good wood stuff
you can see these cars really getting driven in anger
we don't have anything like that
I think this is the closest thing we genuinely have
in the states to that
we're just not spectatable
that's the only issue right?
yeah, you gotta go stand on the side of the road
or know where the route's going
there were lookie-loos coming through the parking garage
and just looking at the cars
they're interested and obviously very respectful
but just wandering through
cars were in a parking garage
every night, they never spent the night outside
why live empty?
they could get wet
Derek?
missed on them or something
but nobody obviously was giving a shit
that's so cool
yeah, I think
I don't think I've ever done a motoring event
that I've enjoyed more than that
even more so than
our shitbox rallies and we'll get to your shitbox
rather than you guys do
clearly very different
they're very different
maybe I like our rallies more
because it's a small group and our friends
and so it's less of a like
doing this activity
and more hanging out with friends
it's just us and we of course enjoy
hanging out with each other but it's not the same thing as if you have
the whole family together
so we're finding ways to bring more cars
next year if they'll have us
and bring the whole company if we can
our rallies and the hangout time
at the house afterwards where you're just hanging out
the house is obviously
really enjoyable
obviously I stay at five star hotels
all the time
but you know what I do prefer is cooking
and there's something really nice
about the way we do our rallies
we're just all in one Airbnb
and now you know what I'm talking about
because we did our company OTS one
for the first time last weekend
we got back yesterday
so these are two in a row
I love how you bookended the financial spectrum
of the automotive world
that wasn't my idea
that was Taz's idea
just from hearing about all of our
shipbox rallies all the time?
I just said I want to do a rally as a company
and Taz is like that's not hard enough
he says the mechanic right
you do realize you're going to be fixing everything that's broken
surprisingly everyone's stuff
held together
with some intervention
some intervention
it was a little touch and go with Robert's car
going into the rally
but I think once it got there
hold on isn't this the same Robert
who's blown up every unblowable engine
yeah he blew up his Miata
and he blew up his M20 engine
he's got a knack for blowing up
and that's why he now thinks he's unstoppable
oh Jesus Christ
so what cars were there?
so the premise was
I think that was your idea right?
we should put a cost cap
and everyone has to bring something
so the cost target was $2,000
because it wasn't hard enough
just to try and do
600, 800 miles or whatever
of hard motoring in the weekend
so you said $2,000
and Taz wouldn't reveal
what the car was until
right when we started basically
what yours was?
everyone knew what mine was because I already had it
did you fucking cheat it?
well it's not my fault I was the only one of us who had
some $2,000 car already
that's not entirely true
Calvin had
a $700 Miata which we were
going to try and he paid $700 for this thing
that
it looks like it fell down a flight of stairs
so I thought okay he'll bring
the Miata
but he didn't bring the Miata
he actually blew the budget
but it was a pre-existing car because he
rode the train like an hour to go get the Miata
and he realized he didn't have the key to the Miata
and so he said
rather than take the train home an hour
and get the key to the Miata
I'll just bring the other car
which is a 1976
Datsun 280Z
which is not
the one you want 76 because
it has to be smogged it's the first year
fuel injection and the last year the four speed
so it's just the worst of all worlds
which is part of why he did blow the budget
by paying $3,200 for the car
but he owned it already
it was more appropriate than the Miata because
it was certainly less of a sure thing because
he bought the car and it hadn't been on the road since
1991
2 I think
well the sticker was 92 so my assumption was
that sticker was applied in 91
but anyway
35 of almost years
since the car had run
he bought it in college and spent all of college
fixing it
so it's not like he just got the car
no no he's had it for a while
and at the end of
college he finally got the car running
and then he left
and so the car had never left campus
while he's owned it
because he went through every system
and it, fuel injection
radiator
brakes
the transmission came out
I think the engine never came out
but basically everything you need to do to get a car on the road
that's been off the road for 30 plus years
so this was really its virgin voice
he said he'd never driven the car
off of the college campus
oh my god
just getting it to the shop
getting it to the shop was like 40 miles
or whatever it was
first freeway experience
that's courageous
so that was that car
I had my $1,300 salvage
C280
which we bought as a rallycross car
18 months ago maybe 2 years ago
and vetted quite well
yeah it's gone all over the place
on snow tires
the car's lifted and on snow tires
and I don't think we've done any maintenance
besides changing fluids
to it
thought it was really really slow
and we did like a timed 0-60
and then we changed the air filter
and then the 0-60 improved by 1 second
oh my god
the hell was in the filter
well off the off-roading detritus
but yeah the Mercedes was fine
and then Taz bought
where did you find this thing
Facebook marketplace
where I spend most of my evenings
what is it
it's a 72
MG midget
oh okay that's the midget
super happy car now
wasn't when I got it
I went up to Vacaville
it was in a barn for many years
with spiders?
yeah lots of spiders, Faith was really upset about all the spiders
yeah he brought his fiance
and you're still engaged
still engaged, happier than ever
even though she didn't drive it the whole time
which she was upset about
she should have
but I bought the car
on the premise that I only needed a clutch slave
and I got into my house
and I did all this at my house
because I couldn't possibly bring it to the shop
because then they would see it
well this owned by his father
and also the other rally attendees
would see it
so it ended up being like asked
to work on that car in my garage
because it ended up needing the engine
and transmission to come out
it had no second gear, third and fourth were questionable
I had to find a couple transmissions
to blow apart for spare parts
how much did you pay for those?
zero, they were free
it was within budget
how much did you pay?
for the car, 1850
and I lauded myself
like I painted the engine to make it look like it was freshly rebuilt
that was like
$17 can of green paint
for moss motors
so I lauded certain things into the budget
to get it up to $2,000
he took the budget similar
seriously unlike some other attendees
I mean safety equipment
I think didn't count similar to Lemons
so I had retires, no worries
brake stuff, no worries
but performance gains had to be within that cap
so the
clutch slave was not just a clutch slave?
no, the release bearing
had imploded
and so when I took the motor off
there was just pieces
of bearing all throughout
the bell housing
so it needed a clutch
and then you rebuilt the transmission
yeah, it needed that too
well, how long of a kind of rebuilt?
yeah, it pops out a third
but
if you can drive one handed it works well
but at the time, I mean it's pretty good most of the time
yeah, it stays in second mostly
third it will not stay in unless you hold it
oh really? unless you're full throttle
if you're full throttle it stays
what was your runway
for how long did you have to do this?
I had like two months
I bought it right before car week
that's not a long time
it ended up consuming my life
because the transmission
is apart on the bench
and he has cars going to Pebble Beach
that he has to show them
to the judges at Pebble Beach
and he's got an MG transmission blown apart
I'm more surprised that I'm still engaged
from getting the car prepared
not the rally itself
because there was many nights I'd come home
and work on that thing until
I don't know, midnight or so
one of my friends came over
and we didn't have a cherry picker at the house
so we pulled the engine out ourselves
just muscled it out the front of the thing
which you can do with a 1.2 thing
yeah, it's a big block, 1275cc
it's iron, isn't it?
it's heavy
but I think lighter than that thing
what else did you do to that car? brakes?
I think that was a lot of work to do in two months
yeah
I just did general service stuff
okay, so we have
the Datsun, the Mercedes
MG Midget
which has a beautiful British Leyland badge on it
so you know it's going to be good
we've talked about Leyland before
garbage cars
and we had two British Leyland cars
attend the event because the fourth rally
attendee, our third founder of the business
Robert brought a Triumph Spitfire
and
what day of the week did he buy that car on?
was it a Wednesday, I think?
the event started on a Friday
and he bought the car a week
and two days before the event started
it was a whole week plus two days
I figured, no, it was just two days
two days prior
so the Triumph Spitfire
is a lovely
77, so also smog
requiring
1500cc
and it's choked down for smog
so it's got a single carburetor
a single Stromberg carburetor
and
all fresh emissions equipment but nothing else
about the car was fresh
someone spent a huge amount of time
trying to get the car to smog because it had license plates on it
brand new
catalytic converter
brand new smog pump
brand new charcoal canister
evap canister was new
everything else about the car
if he had bought it more than 10 days in advance
I suspect but
if you wanted to register in California
somehow somebody smogged the car
and it was registered in California previously
a remarkable achievement
for sure
a lot of the car is remarkable
there are no boots left
on any of the tie rod ends
the steering rack boots are
the left one is made of duct tape
the right one is
so deteriorated
that you can see the part of the rack
that comes out of the end that's supposed to be covered
by it
it'll just wear faster it's fine
what else did we have
with that car
it had a pretty significant shake
due to some driveline
really an aggressive driveline jutter
for sure
it was factory wasn't it
they all come from factory that way
my British Leyland product definitely has that
so I was thinking the Rover SD1
I was looking for Rover SD1s actually
if I had been able to find Rover SD1
in time for the event
once I knew that they both had British Leyland products
I was madly
scrambling looking at every British Leyland product
I could possibly find
no one ever
that was an entirely new sentence
and Taz actually did find
a Jag XJ6
in LA
for what was it?
3500
it had the Union Jack graphics on it
but the person said it had passed smog
and that it had a clean title
and was functional and if it had been
local I would have gone and looked at it
which means I probably would have bought it
so the triumph what did we do to the triumph
coolant flush
yeah we did coolant flush
not a rust came out of the radiator
the oil
looks like shit
the brake fluid also looked like shit
a lot of suspended particulates
in both the coolant and the brake fluid
when you say like shit
you mean like actually like brown and chunky
or like
you don't mean poor quality
you mean actually like feces
it looked like fecal matter
the U-joint
Robert and I did one of the U-joints
it had like a half inch of play
so when you were driving it
it dunked the whole entire time
so we did do that
which I think was wise
otherwise it would have cracked in half
our target departure time
was noon
and at 11.45 the car was on the lift still
getting a fuel line replaced
because there were like visible cracks
in the fuel line
by the tank
so it was pretty touching
you were trying to make it not spit fire
yes
it was quite literally
over the muffler I think
you could have ended this
this whole misery so much earlier
had you just left that fuel line
yes that is all true
but then where was the fun in that
on video
I do not advocate torching your cars
it would have done it itself
that is true
so that was all the prep
so where did you go
so we went north on 101
just transit we decided to make day 0
or day 1 a transit day
just to get to the house
I think Google Maps says it is 2 hours
and 130 miles
or something like that
which it was not
it was by far the hardest day
everything
the Mercedes I am guessing never did you
well
you know the Mercedes was tough
because there was a pretty annoying rattle
from the sunroof
that was really
pretty difficult
to live with
the other problem was that day 1 was quite warm
which taxed all of the cars
and the air conditioning
in the Mercedes was not working properly
so
the third
one of my 3 co-owners
in this car also
co-owned the SD1 with us
and he is inclined to perform
engineering at times
and to get the AC running
the compressor would periodically just switch off
and it would never stay running for more than a minute
at a time so the air conditioning wasn't cold
and so he had the bright idea
of running power
hard wiring power to it
which he
pulled off of the left front
side marker light
so it only has AC when the lights are on?
yes
so it was easy for people to tell
whether I had the AC on because the parking lights would be on
also the windows are closed and you're comfortable
so that was a fun feature
but at least I had AC
and then somehow in the course of doing this
I'm not sure why this was introduced
but if you turn the car off
with the AC
with the parking lights on
it would stay running and you could pull the key out of the ignition
and then you'd have to turn the parking lights
off for the engine to turn off
what?
backfeed bullshit is go wow
I don't know so you have to use both
ignition switches if the AC has been running
in order to turn the engine off
the Mercedes was otherwise faultless
one of the
actually the air conditioning
indicator flew off
so I lost my air conditioning
partway through the event
the air conditioning indicator
the parking light flew off
thus resulting in no air conditioning
customer states
the turn signal has departed
therefore I have no AC
so the Mercedes was otherwise faultless
I'm guessing no one else had air conditioning
definitely not
which was
but the cars were generating enough heat on their own
I think it was very taxing day zero because it was like
80 degrees 90 degrees
it was 95 at some parts
I wouldn't know my temperature gauge says it's
136 degrees always
not in the car
not if the headlights are on in the car
it was quite hot and there was a gradual climb
most of the day you were constantly
doing this uphill battle
which
hurt every single car
minus the Mercedes
this is the trick you always just
any cheap car economy challenge
you just buy a Mercedes
it was $1,300
with a salvage title and it works
perfectly for the air conditioning
which
I think quite literally all of us thought that
we weren't going to make it past day one
I think there was one point where we thought
we were going to get to the house
we did stop a number of times
so we stopped for lunch
and we came back from eating
and there were puddles of coolant under both of the British Leyland cars
that's normal
it was like the size of the front end of the car
yeah it was like half the size of the car
and so thus began some concern
but it was ultimately nothing
I know that my car
certainly
developed a crack in its overflow tank
which made it a zero pressure system
so
we got to a really cool crystal
rock shop
like a rock store
where I also noticed that
my temp gauge was pegging
at 230
so we pulled off there to look at some rocks
and once it cooled down I found out that
I had a crack and that I had no coolant
in my system
so I think went through a lot of water
went through a lot of water to get it to an Apple store
or buy some JB Weld to resolve that issue
but I think Robert's car also
in high temp like that climbing hill
is pressurizing the cooling system
and also expelling water in a different way
therefore head gasket
for those who are not mechanically inclined
yeah but at 50 horsepower
and like on a cool day I don't think there's enough
low by
yeah actually have it be an issue
plus he could have
if he was nice siphoned off some of that
excess cooling system pressure with a small hose
over to your car
and pressurize your cooling system thus raising the boiling
point and solving your issue but he's
holding hands and our cars could be as well
next to each other
45 miles an hour on the highway
and then
you had a number of other issues on day
one with your car as well
yeah
you had a
the car
started running quite poorly
and so we pulled over on the side of 101
and
it was only doing it under load
and so you thought it was an ignition issue
so we did a roadside coil
which didn't fix the problem
you had one with you clearly
he had a spare coil
yeah
and then it turned out that it was actually running out of fuel
because
the rust from the fuel tank
had occluded the fuel filter
there's a little one of those clear jobs
that you can blow through and keep going
well you couldn't blow through it because it was so occluded
okay let me just remove the filter then
no problem
I think
the total filter
number I went through was six
on the rally
think of how much rust you removed from your tank it's halfway fixed
yeah yeah no keep going
another rally it'll be all done
so
was that the extent of the issues I guess
for my car it also was consuming
I burned up axle seals
on the final day
so it was leaking differential
we did the section of road that you and I particularly enjoy
that ends right at the coast after
a long extended section of
ass hauling
we did it downhill
and Taz gets out of the car
and he's like great piece of road
man this car really loves to be sideways
and I was like what
isn't it rated at 65 horsepower
and then I looked at the rear tires
and there's grease all along the sidewall
it's got the tire shine in a radial pattern
because the axle seals had failed
and there was just
gear oil all over the tires
and that's why he had rear
nobody could keep up
actually
when we were really moving along
of course nobody could keep up the road is greased
he's literally doing an oil slick
yeah
that's probably true
so
for most of the time actually everyone was able to
maintain pace
on snow tires the Mercedes has very little grip
perfect
but a huge amount of control
it is amazing
I made Taz drive it up on our hill climb
that we always do
the non-center line bumpy one
and well you can share your impressions
yeah I mean you can just have that thing
completely
coming around at a low speed
and it's a riot
people sleep on Mercedes chassis tuning
but they were
every Mercedes I've ever hustled on a back road
especially the shittier the tires the more assy they are
they're really really really good
it was one moment where I was just feeding it
and seeing what it wanted to do
and it resulted in a little bit of a tank slapper
coming back around
but it was a riot it was super fun
and like all this is happening at
35 miles an hour
nothing can possibly go wrong
almost
you say that
it's very good at four wheel drifts
it's quite neutral but you can provoke it
with weight transfer which you saw me
doing you both observed that I sort of
flick the cars in which I do to upset them
to try and get them
a little out of shape for amusement
lift turns tab
exactly
and the tires were
very loud and the grip was so little
interestingly on a good road
as long as the horsepower wasn't a factor
the MG was almost exactly the same
speed as the Mercedes
the tires were the great
equalizer because on grippy tires
the Mercedes would have
it would have been boring
so I was glad to have the snow tires
the tires chunk apart in the heat
they definitely
they look pretty good to me
they definitely didn't sound good
on the highway on the way back
yeah
they aren't as round as they once were
but they look okay
yes I think that's right
I still have yet to see this car in person
I'm hearing about this for like two years now
but it's really good
it's pretty funny
especially when you consider the price
so yeah that was
day two by comparison
was like the actual driving day
did we have any
incidents on day two? just some fuel filter
replacements? yeah fuel filter
and cooling periods
for both my car and Robert's
to let them cool off
but the JB weld repair held
there was definitely night
wrenching
and because his axle seals failed
and he was lubricating his tires
he added
diff oil
my car was consuming a quart
of oil every
130 miles
that's substantial
yes and we have no cat
what year was your car? 72
72 yeah no cat so who cares
that's fine
I think everyone behind us was getting a little
they're all dead now
between the oil slick and the smoke screen
malaria has been eradicated
because there are no insects left
all the mosquitoes are dead
the goal is to win the rally right
however you
tackle it
so was there a timed portion of this
a race? no
there was a drag race
there was a drag race in a 35 zone
and no laws were broken
let me guess Mercedes one
no there was just a two car drag
and we haven't talked at all about the Datsun
because nothing went wrong with it
it had a long brake pedal
it had a very long soft brake pedal
despite all the brake components
that's astonishing
for zero shakedown
the house we stayed at was at
a two or three mile
long washboard
unpaved road
and the cover of the
MAF has a barn door
which I was surprised by
EFI in 1976
it looks like a
Bosch
metronic looking barn door thing
that had to be one of the very first cars to
hold on
there was something else recently that I saw
super early
DJed is technically EFI
but it doesn't have a barn door
since this means L
which is
I thought Rover was one of the first in 1980
so that's
he said it was a Bosch system
I didn't confirm it was Bosch
but it was a barn door that looks like a metronic barn door
when I did a Z episode
now I'm thinking
I think that car might have been one of the first ever
to use that system
in any case there's a plastic cover
that falls off
and apparently you lose throttle control
when that happens the car was just idling
and it was unresponsive to the throttle pedal
oh normally it's just a plastic cover
you pull it off and you can
clean the contacts
but
anyway the car had no throttle after that
and then we taped it back on
and the car ran beautifully for the remainder of the two days
fuck weirdness
vacuum
that's bizarre whatever
so that was the only issue with the Datsun
and it was just shaken apart by the unpaved road
that we were on
that road was impressive
it was quite long and it was quite steep
and the poor
rear wheel drive cars
my car had to be throttled the whole way up
he's like in a cloud of dust
my car had
oh shucks I feel so bad for you
you have to drift the whole way out of the airbnb
my car did this on several occasions where
if you needed to get over
a bumpy section of road or dirt
it would start to kind of pogo
and you would feel like you're on a dirt bike
where you're making it over
and you kind of get these moments of
free spinning
traction searching
it's hilarious fun
but I could tell that the car
wasn't thrilled
the Mercedes loved it
how lifted is that
it's probably an inch and a half
two inches lifted and they were off-road
to begin with yes and it has the snow
tires but I you know
when we were leaving
when we wouldn't be having to go back
I was kind of power sliding up the hill
I didn't do it on the first day because I didn't
we'd have to go back but you know
when you're leaving the house for the last day
so I had a great time
cool
the cars all made it
some intervention required
it was an adventure
more of an adventure than our rallies
are a different adventure
different kind of adventure
less motoring
less motor
probably less pace too
much less pace
but more limit
I definitely haven't spent as much time
being sideways
or in four-wheel drifts
on our other rallies
as I did this one because the Mercedes
race prepped Porsche
no I mean the other Mercedes
you didn't do the large barge when I was in the R129
but that car
had much more grip
so it was not as much sideways
so when this episode goes live
but this week the R129 revelations episode
will have done gone live
and the driving sequence at the end
I did all three cars
so this was, if you guys haven't seen the episode yet
I have a 300 SL
so the five-speed
dog leg, six-cylinder R129
plus a 500, your 500
plus a 600 V12
and I beat the shit out of all the cars on the way up the hill
because they're all owned by friends
and so I don't have to explain
and the Mercedes-Benzes
and the 300 was the most fun
I think mostly because the tires just never shut up
you just hear this
terrifying
the entire way up the hill
sounded like a whale being
tortured
being tased in the balls
yeah fun
fun times to beat
it's a good activity yeah
what was your impression of it
you've attended your first Derrick rally
yeah I really liked it
she complained about the route he gets very upset about that
the route was good
it was a lot of transit
but we needed it to be
I thought the route was actually very good
damn it
but I was really happy
I mean that car
really appreciated his route
so I said something other
you wouldn't be honest
we cut out some of the more
I would have loved cars that were more durable
so we could do more of the roads
that I wanted to do
but I'd say tax the cars
as much as was appropriate or feasible
and I was hugely impressed
especially by the Triumph because the Triumph got almost no prep
I mean you are a professional
and spent two months
prepping your car
the Triumph we changed the fluids
and you did a U-joint
and a fuel line
and it was 25, that was $2,500
that car
did knock the cap
there was that one cap
at the end of day one
the Triumph started running like shit
and we pulled
the spark plugs out
actually what we did is
we started sequentially pulling off spark plug leaks
so I was like this thing doesn't sound like it's running on four cylinders
and so I said
sequentially pull the spark plug leads off
and see where that makes a difference
and
it's a single carburetor
with a shared intake manifold
but there's two branches
one that goes to the front cylinders
and one that goes to the back cylinders
and we pull off the front two plugs
and the car definitely runs shittier
and you pull off the back two spark plug leads
and it still sounds like shit
and the rear plugs looked
no all the plugs looked pretty decent actually
we pulled all the plugs out they all looked decent
but we noticed that it only started running like shit
when you pulled the rear leads
or it made no difference when you pulled the rear two cylinders leads off
and so I don't know
how long did you guys spend
probably like
I felt bad because I left Robert
to his own ways with the car for a little bit
and Robert struggles to eat an apple sometimes
you know he's going to hear this right
sorry he's not here
no but eventually
I wandered out there and we were looking through
and it became apparent that
there was like some vacuum leak or something
so
ultimately there was just this nipple
that was just too
atmosphere
on the back end of the manifold
that was just completely unplugged
kind of sucking in air
yeah there's supposed to be like a little cap over it
which is covering this hole that
it's emitting you know unmixed
unfuelled air
and there's this
pretty terrific sucking noise of the air being drawn
into that hole
so anyway I put my thumb over it
and then the car started running perfectly
and I consulted
old pictures and there was a rubber cap on there
then obviously he had
departed
I was lucky he didn't pop the motor running that lean
yeah he
this must have happened right as we were getting
off the exit to our house
yeah right and he had to climb
a pretty substantial several mile
hill
full throttle there's no vacuum
I think it was getting
unmeasured air in
for sure but at least it will get air in
you have to get a running start to make it up one
of the hill
I was like where is everybody
and then turned around and went back and the car
perched on the side of a very steep hill
running like shit
there's this poor sweet old lady on FaceTime
watering her plants
he was revving
the car right in front of
there is video
of this and we listened to the video after the fact
and we were like what does this sound like
and eventually I was like it sounds like an airplane
because it's a wide open throttle going by
and the revs aren't climbing because it doesn't have enough
power up the hill for the revs to climb
so it just sounds like an airplane because it goes by
continuous same RPM
full load 2500 RPM
yeah
and so it was a little bit
sad but anyway
we fixed it
with a
in the course of driving up the hill
a screw popped out of his dashboard
and ended up in the foot well
so he took that screw
and put painters tape around it
and then put it into the hole
and turned it in and then the car ran fine
for the rest of the event
fixed with higher quality materials than British Leyland
would have built the car initially
we wanted to use JB Weld
and I was like let's do something reversible
you need that port
it was factory capped for some reason
for a vacuum
gauge
was there an optional vacuum gauge for it
diagnostic
probably
yeah there was some adventure
but yeah we got there
anyway I don't know what the point of all that was
but we had a great time
sounds like fun
wasn't any less fun than doing it in real cars
maybe
it was more fun in some respect
and I only would have liked
us to be more confident the cars were going to make it
so we could have done more miles
so are you guys all keeping the cars or are they
I mean I know you're keeping yours
I'm keeping mine
I think the Johnson will stay forever
because it's sentimental
I like my car
I have dreams and aspirations for it
did your father know that it exists yet?
no he does know that it exists
because he's upset about it
but he doesn't know he thinks that it's getting sold
he tuts disapprovingly
it does need maybe a little more compression
the triumph is available
well look
it's vetted now
yeah I mean I said this
and I genuinely mean it
I think he added real value to the car
I think that a lot of freshly restored spitfires
like the most beautiful
restored spitfire went on Bring a Trailer
and reserved R&M'd for $5100
and the guy was asking 30 grand
for it on Facebook and then it's now 15 grand
and it's beautiful
you look at like the firewall
under the brake master cylinder
and it's all like pristine and gorgeous
and totally unrecognizable compared to the brown car
oh it's also shit brown
I should add that the spitfire is shit brown
well it also needs a diff though
yeah it maybe needs a diff
but it did survive just because it's making noise
or yeah it makes quite a bit of ruckus
but yeah I think it adds value to say that this car
just did I mean by my math
at 524 miles is what we did
and he was hustling it
yeah he was keeping up just fine
I think there was specially given the amount
of rubber left in the suspension bushings
which I would say is probably slim to none
it's not without needs
I'm amazed that the engine survived
with the history he has
of blowing up unkillable engines
well yeah and he ran it super lean for a while
ran it super hot for a while
and it still hasn't let go yet
so you know I don't know
it was an impressive feat
I like it
I think we should do another rally
a shipbox rally but everything has to be carburated
that's a great equalizer
I mean fuel injection is cheating
the morning first start
of the morning was always this like
the injected cars would just start up
and drive away and there would like I don't know
I think your car on average probably took
5
sort of attempts where it would run
yeah I think like one of the few things
I didn't have time to really get to
was besides the carburetor
and filter was the rest of the fuel system
so I had their original SU
fuel pump in it which wasn't very
active and the tank was obviously
shit so
it needed some coaxing
yeah and then the
none of these cars would ever start and stay running
on the first, second, third, fourth
or fifth attempts
none of the
car so all the injected cars would just
start on the first turn of the key
of course
yeah we take that for so granted
carburetor cars didn't work when they were new
yeah
and that was one of the conversations that we had
was I can't believe that just regular citizens
who just
wanted to not walk would have to deal with
shit like this in the 1970s
and before
I mean I was there in the very late
70s and early 80s
my dad had an 81
Land Cruiser
82
83, 4, whatever
why can't I think of it right now?
our Saab was an 81, what do you think it was?
a carburetor Land Cruiser and I would have to go out
and start it in the morning and keep it running
so that he could drive me to school
if it really snowed a lot that was the only time
my parents would drive us to school
and even that it was a Toyota
but if you didn't choke it and you weren't
tickle it just right
then you flooded it and then yeah
yeah
that was my mom
in 2000s
this is even crazier, my mom lived on Aruba
little tiny island
and in
2000
she bought four
she opened a car rental business
and one of their first purchases was four Toyota
Tercels and it looked just like
the US market Tercels except
if you'd get in it they had no
heater core because it never gets cold
on the island so the AC switch was
just cold to not cold
there was no red it was just
blue to white
and they had no rear defrosters and stuff like that
and I remember going to the dealership with her
I just happened to be there
to pick up these cars and she needed four people
four people to drive four cars home
and I just remember starting it
and they were
and they were carbureted
in 2000 they were new
brand new and I'm like
she's like yeah choke it Jason
oh my god
yeah
that was the end of the carburetor
and so they started but they just did long cranks
and I think they had
I think it was that sort of you tap the pedal
a little bit to set the choke and then tap it again
to undo it but yeah
we're spoiled
well that sounds like fun
it was great fun both the
uber rich version and then the uber poor version
they're different fun I don't know
what is your impression about the two
events compared to each other
it's interesting because obviously
the crux of it is that you want
good motoring right yes
that's what you want and I think both provided
that for me certainly
there was that one stretch on day
three two or three at the Colorado Grand
that I won't forget
probably was my
favorite moment of that whole entire
oh the morning yeah the morning
morning from steamboat was
yeah really fast sweeping section
we got it out wide open
almost yeah
really fantastic
but you know there was also
the
motoring day that we had in the mg midget
where that thing was like yod out the whole entire time
that car like
it was so shitty in every single way and had such
a little grip that you could be coming around a corner
having the thing sideways like just have this
really beautiful moment of being off throttle
where the car is rotating you just
swap on the throttle it spits
out some garbage maybe like
an attempt at a flame and then
chunk of dust
yeah but you just do that on a repeat
for what felt like endless miles
and you know that was also
equally as rewarding
it is I would say for me at least
it's gratifying to
you know obviously we interact with pretty heavy hardware
professionally
and to still get this much
joy out of something that
you know
costs about as much as a cell phone
or a computer
is pretty wild
I like Taz's agnosticness
you know obviously he deals with very important
significant multi-million dollar cars but
he is
at his core a fan of the shipbox
cool
absolutely cool all right well hopefully
we do another rally soon and we have more
to talk about and we can rub it in
our audience's faces that we're doing
everyone should do this
we say this every time we talk about rallying
but everyone should do this activity
if you're a car enthusiast you should do this
and you should do it in something that
you should move to somewhere where there are great roads
or do the thing that people from the Midwest
where they're like I drove the tale of the dragon
and I drove there 14 hours to get there
and had one good road
and it was the best day ever
or you could
you know we can just do that anytime we like
but we're spoiled
although you guys
did go all the way to Colorado for good road
and that was 14 hours
that's where the event was
same basic idea
not because we needed to
join us again next week
thank you for joining us for this episode
thank you for joining us
see if that thing starts
get the fuck out of here for the next episode
next episode is going to start with us pushing that thing
I'm totally kidding
listen to all the things we've said
does it speak English?
and it's not a Leyland product that's important
maybe jealous though
yeah that it didn't get to go this weekend
we can bring in another one
it's on a shipbox
very cool
alright thank you for joining us
see you soon
About this episode
Tazio Ottis joins the Carmudgeon Show to share experiences from two contrasting rallies: the prestigious Colorado Grand and the budget-friendly $2,000 shitbox rally. The hosts discuss the challenges and thrills of driving vintage cars, including a 1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint and a 1972 MG Midget. They delve into the camaraderie of the Colorado Grand, its charity focus, and the high-end cars that participated, while also highlighting the fun and unpredictability of the shitbox rally. The episode is filled with anecdotes about car troubles, scenic drives, and the joy of driving old cars.
Original notes
Which is more fun - running the Colorado Grand amongst million-dollar collectibles, or doing a $2000 budget car rally with friends?
The answer is complicated and may not be what you expect.
===
This episode is sponsored by Battery Tender.
Visit https://www.batterytender.com/ and use code HAGERTY20 for 20% off.
===
The Colorado Grand is an invitation-only vintage rally takes place on Colorado backroads each September. It’s not a race—just a scenic, 1,000-mile road trip for owners of highly collectable sports and racing cars, mostly built before 1960. Think Ferrari 250 GT SWBs, 250 Testarossas, Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwings, pre-war Bentleys, Aston Martin DB4 GTs, Jaguar D Types, and all kinds of other sporting classics touring the Rockies at their own pace.
Joining on today’s episode is Tazio Ottis, Derek’s business partner who joined him on the rally, and joins us to discuss the event and his 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint that he and Derek drove below and above 10,000 feet of elevation.
For contrast, Tazio and Derek also discuss their recent company 'Shitbox' Rally around Northern California - a very different departure from TCG comprised only of $2,000 cars. Derek brings his salvage title Mercedes-Benz C280, Tazio finds an MG Midget, and joining the old car crusade is a 1976 Datsun 280Z and Triumph Spitfire.
All this and more, on today’s episode of The Carmudgeon Show.
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