The hosts dive into nostalgic car talk, focusing heavily on the BMW E30 M3 and the allure of engine swaps, especially the S54 swap. They share personal stories about their youth, memorable cars, and the challenges of modifying classic BMWs. The discussion covers technical details about the S14 engine, swap costs, and the appeal of different M3 models. Alongside this, they touch on the culture of finding and appreciating overlooked cars, the excitement of upcoming events, and tease a future episode about the classic film American Graffiti.
This week, Alex talks with Beck and Zac about a formative pair of BMWs in Zac's neighborhood growing up; a snowballed BMW project threatening to be come a full avalanche; a very quick turnaround; a curious Bay Area car-buying ploy; Alex's odd but steadfast list of cheap childhood cars he'd buy if only he could find them; (misplaced?) nostalgia for late-1980s Ford performance cars and keyless entry code buttons; and attainable transaxle Porsches.
The team goes on to describe a brief history of the Toyota celebrity support race at the Long Beach Grand Prix; impressive feats from a 190E 2.3 16-valve; Gene Hackman's side gig; Tommy Kendall, an all-around decent guy; a good color change; an interesting museum collection sale; and current watchlist favorites punctuated with Porsche whale-tale nerdiness and shame.
"I mean, do you want to talk about S54 swaps? I thought that was an interesting topic. ... So to recap, I have always wanted an S54 and an E30."
The S54 engine is a type of powerful motor made by BMW. People like to put it in older BMW cars to make them faster and better to drive.
The S54 is a high-revving inline-six engine produced by BMW, famously used in the E46 M3. It is known for its strong performance and responsiveness, making it a popular swap choice for older BMW models like the E30 M3 to improve power and reliability.
"Well, I actually didn't know you wanted a six-cylinder swap that car. This is in the E30M3. ... I've also always wanted an E30M3 ever since I was a little kid. My neighbor had one."
The BMW E30 M3 is a special sporty car made by BMW a long time ago. People love it because it drives really well and looks cool. It's a classic car many fans want to own.
The BMW E30 M3 is a high-performance version of the 3 Series produced by BMW in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is renowned for its motorsport heritage, sharp handling, and iconic boxy design, making it a highly sought-after classic sports car.
"I thought that was the point too. And it's so good. Because I'm not an S14 fan, but your motor is good."
The S14 engine is the original motor in the E30 M3. It's a special engine that can rev high and was made for racing, but some people prefer newer engines instead.
The S14 engine is a four-cylinder motor developed by BMW specifically for the E30 M3. It is known for its high-revving nature and motorsport pedigree but is less favored by some enthusiasts compared to later six-cylinder engines like the S54.
"And also you have more S14 equity because you do the swap and you sell the S14. Right. So that's been in the back of my mind. ... They're sort of the experts in the S54 swapping world. They at least have the most notoriety and they have their own proprietary swap kits"
An engine swap means taking out the car's old engine and putting in a new or different one to make it better or faster.
An engine swap is the process of replacing a car's original engine with a different one, often to improve performance or reliability.
"We've had a couple cars come through from Castro Motorsports in SoCal. They're sort of the experts in the S54 swapping world. They at least have the most notoriety and they have their own proprietary swap kits"
Castro Motorsports is a company that helps put newer BMW engines into older BMW cars to make them faster and better.
Castro Motorsports is a specialty company based in Southern California known for expertise in BMW engine swaps, particularly S54 swaps into older BMW chassis.
"I'm just going to make the S14 as good as I can and do a carbon air box and a standalone ECU and make that 25 just rip."
A carbon air box is a part that helps bring air into the engine. It’s made from a strong but light material called carbon fiber, which can help the car perform better.
A carbon air box is a lightweight, often performance-oriented air intake housing made from carbon fiber. It helps improve airflow to the engine and reduces weight compared to standard plastic or metal air boxes.
"I'm just going to make the S14 as good as I can and do a carbon air box and a standalone ECU and make that 25 just rip."
A standalone ECU is a special computer that controls how the engine works. It can be adjusted to make the car run better or faster.
A standalone ECU (Engine Control Unit) is an independent engine management system that replaces the factory ECU. It allows for custom tuning and better control of engine parameters, which can improve performance and drivability.
"I actually had the Evo flywheel just laying in my garage. I didn't even realize I had almost like threw it away. I was like, just get this junk out of here."
A flywheel is a heavy part inside the car’s engine that helps keep the engine running smoothly. Some special flywheels are lighter to help the car feel quicker when you press the gas.
A flywheel is a mechanical device attached to the engine's crankshaft that helps smooth out engine pulses and maintain rotational inertia. Performance flywheels can reduce weight to improve throttle response and engine revving.
""I've ridden in one in anger during Autocross, back when you used to just sort of like wait at the entrance.""
Autocross is a type of car race where drivers drive through a course made with cones as fast as they can, showing how well they can handle the car.
Autocross is a timed motorsport event where drivers navigate a course marked by cones, focusing on handling and driver skill rather than outright speed. It is popular for testing and enjoying cars in a controlled environment.
"And so I was like, let me run you down the hill here at Laguna Seca. And it was me, him, and Roland in the car."
Laguna Seca is a well-known race track in California where people drive fast cars and race. It has tricky turns that make it exciting to drive on.
Laguna Seca is a famous race track in California known for its challenging turns and elevation changes, including the iconic 'Corkscrew' corner. It is a popular venue for car enthusiasts and professional racing.
"But it's an M10 block, right? Just with a twin cam head."
A twin cam head means the engine has two parts that open and close the valves to let air in and out. This helps the engine work better and faster.
A twin cam head refers to an engine cylinder head design with two camshafts, one for the intake valves and one for the exhaust valves. This setup allows better valve timing and higher engine performance.
"Well, so I had a 2002 TII with an M10 block and very commonly people swap out bottom end internals."
The BMW 2002 TII is an older sporty car with a special engine block called the M10. People like to change parts of its engine to make it faster or better.
The BMW 2002 TII is a high-performance variant of the classic 2002 series, featuring an M10 engine block. It is a popular car among enthusiasts for engine swaps and modifications.
"Well, so I had a 2002 TII with an M10 block and very commonly people swap out bottom end internals."
The M10 engine block is the main part of the engine in some older BMW cars. People like to change or upgrade parts inside it to improve performance.
The M10 is a BMW inline-four engine block used in older models like the 2002 series. It is popular for engine swaps and modifications due to its robust design.
"People put the S14 head on M10 blocks, don't they? Not really worth it. You can, but it's much, I think there's a lot of modifications you have to do to make that work."
The BMW S14 engine is a special, powerful engine used in the E30 M3 car. It has two camshafts which help it run better and faster.
The BMW S14 is a high-performance four-cylinder engine used in the E30 M3. It features a twin-cam head and is known for its racing pedigree.
"I mean, I presume an S14 is an aluminum block, right? No, you're both right. It's an M10 block with a shortened S38 head. Yeah, it's an iron block. Okay, even an S14 is an iron block still. Interesting."
An iron block means the main part of the engine is made from a strong, heavy metal called iron, which lasts a long time.
An iron block refers to an engine block made of cast iron, which is durable but heavier compared to aluminum blocks.
"K-swaps have more of a lower dollar connotation to them. You could do one in just a regular, like a 325 or 318 or something, but you don't get all the flares and cool stuff."
A K-swap means putting a Honda K-series engine into a different car to make it faster and more fun to drive. These engines are popular because they can go fast and have many parts available.
A K-swap is an engine swap where the original engine is replaced with a Honda K-series engine, known for its high-revving nature and strong aftermarket support. This swap is popular for increasing performance and reliability in various cars.
"But there's a couple out there, man. There's a K-swapped 997 GT3 out there on the forest."
The Porsche 997 GT3 is a fast and sporty version of the Porsche 911 made for racing and fun driving. It has a strong engine and special parts to help it go around corners better.
The Porsche 997 GT3 is a high-performance track-focused variant of the 911 from the 997 generation. It features a naturally aspirated engine, lightweight components, and enhanced suspension for superior handling.
"And it's making, I think, over 400 horsepower. With a turbo. Probably."
A turbo is a part that helps a car's engine make more power by pushing extra air into it. This makes the car faster.
A turbocharger is a forced induction device that increases an engine's power output by forcing more air into the combustion chamber. This allows for more fuel to be burned and more power to be produced.
"Like a beater. SMG. Have you enjoyed SMG? Right, a beater."
SMG is a type of transmission that changes gears automatically but lets you feel like you're driving a manual car. It can be tricky to use and sometimes needs expensive repairs.
SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) is an automated manual transmission used in some BMW M3 models, including the E46. It allows for manual gear changes without a clutch pedal but has a reputation for being less smooth and requiring costly maintenance.
The Acura Integra is a small sporty car that many people like because it drives well and is fun to own.
The Acura Integra is a compact sports car produced by Acura, known for its sporty handling and popularity among enthusiasts, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Toyota Supra is a fast and sporty car that many people like because it can go really fast and can be customized easily.
The Toyota Supra is a famous Japanese sports car known for its powerful engines and strong aftermarket support, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts and tuners.
"The other hilarious one I got on was obviously Julius Beter Jetta with the smashed windshield
and then it up had the same note like Xeroxed and everything."
The Volkswagen Jetta is a small car that many people use for everyday driving because it's comfortable and easy to drive.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a compact sedan known for its European styling and practical design. It has been popular worldwide and has multiple generations with varying performance and features.
"My dad used to get them on his terrible Super High Mileage 2000 Civic SI. They got a 450,000 mile SI with its original clutch, so good luck to them."
The Honda Civic Si is a special version of the regular Civic that is made to be more fun to drive. The 2000 model is well-liked because it is reliable and can be made faster with some upgrades.
The Honda Civic Si is a sportier trim of the Honda Civic known for its performance-oriented features. The 2000 model is part of the sixth generation of Civics and is popular among enthusiasts for its reliability and tuning potential.
"They got a 450,000 mile SI with its original clutch, so good luck to them."
The original clutch is the part that helps the car change gears, and it’s the same one that came with the car when it was new, which is rare for a car with many miles.
The original clutch refers to the clutch system that was installed in the car when it was first manufactured. Having the original clutch at very high mileage is unusual and indicates the clutch has lasted an exceptionally long time.
"There's a guy doing a bare metal full strip down restoration of my dad's old car. No way. Yes, of the Civic, which you wrote in one time."
This means taking the car apart completely and removing all the paint so you can fix it properly and make it look like new again.
A bare metal full strip down restoration involves completely disassembling a car and removing all paint and coatings down to the bare metal before restoring or repainting. This process ensures a thorough restoration and addresses any rust or damage.
"And he's saying things like, California car. You can tell his car was loved. I was like, yeah, it did live in California."
When someone says a car is a California car, it means the car lived in California where the weather is dry, so it usually doesn’t have much rust or damage.
A 'California car' typically refers to a vehicle that has spent most of its life in California, often implying it has less rust and corrosion due to the dry climate. Such cars are generally more desirable in the used market.
"You knew it was yours because of the vin? Vin and color and then like the small details of like, oh, I bumped the garage there."
A VIN is a special number that every car has. It helps people know which car it is and its history.
VIN stands for Vehicle Identification Number, a unique code assigned to every vehicle. It is used to track the car's history, ownership, and specifications.
"but the CLK hatchbacks, which I think came with a V6 and a six-speed at one point. I mean, it's not a CLK, just the C-Class hatchback. Is that what it's called?"
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Bring a Trailer podcast. Alex here. On today's episode, I am joined by Zach and Beck to talk about cars from our youth, cars we miss, cars we'd like to re-experience, but we also chat about some of our favorite listings that have been on the website recently.
I also want to plug our upcoming event in Houston, Texas, in conjunction with Alara Garage. That event will be on March 21st. We hope everyone can make it out.
Also want to tease our upcoming podcast on American Graffiti. That's part of our popular BAT at the Movies series. We really enjoyed it. It's just an amazing movie, a great classic. So give that a re-watch and then check out our upcoming episode on American Graffiti.
Thanks as always to our producer, Chris Baxter, and hope you enjoy this episode.
To Bring a Trailer podcast.
Should we talk about cars?
I don't know if I have that much car stuff to talk about.
Okay, well.
I'm running through my car roll-a-dex.
I mean, do you want to talk about S54 swaps? I thought that was an interesting topic.
And four subjects.
Okay.
We can.
Well, I actually didn't know you wanted a six-cylinder swap that car. This is in the E30M3.
I thought that was the point too. And it's so good. Because I'm not an S14 fan, but your motor is good.
So to recap, I have always wanted an S54 and an E30.
Always, always. Over 10 years, that's like what I had my sights set on.
The Maroon car from 2017, I still think about a lot. But that was an S52, right?
Of the bar sticker.
And that's lived in my head ever since, along with some other cars we listened to in the early days.
And I've also always wanted an E30M3 ever since I was a little kid. My neighbor had one.
I think I've talked all about that before.
But I'll still say, my neighbor had a red, black E30M3.
And his dad was like a BMW CCA instructor.
And he had a black E46M3 right when they came out.
And it was the sickest pairing on the street. And I was so envious.
Was it like open the garage and those two cars are there?
The red M3, the E30 was street parked all the time.
And then actually the black E46 was in the driveway too.
So you drive by every morning on the way to school.
He d-badged the BMW badges. In hindsight, this is horrible.
I'd put AC schnitzer badges over the BMW ones.
But I thought it was so cool at the time.
So anyway, I've been hunting for a while.
After the green came and got crushed by a tree.
And after I had my disheartening, speck me out of experience.
I was like, maybe I'll just commute in an E30M3.
So set my sights there with the plan of getting one to swap.
And I bought one with the 251.
Because it's like, maybe I might actually like it with the 25.
I'll see what the best version of this engine is like.
And also you have more S14 equity because you do the swap and you sell the S14.
Right. So that's been in the back of my mind.
I'm like, man, I do like the 25.
We've had a couple cars come through from Castro Motorsports in SoCal.
They're sort of the experts in the S54 swapping world.
They at least have the most notoriety and they have their own proprietary swap kits
and air boxes and all the stuff that they use.
So my car is cosmetically scruffy.
A couple months ago, I was like, man, I just feel better at this
if the bumpers are a little more cleaned up.
And if I had some good Sport Evo bits.
So I sent it down to Castro, just playing on painting the bumpers,
the mirrors, doing a Sport Evo lip and spoiler, and some other small stuff.
So obviously that's ballooned now.
And it's like 3X, maybe even 4X what I really had planned to spend.
And I still don't have a six-cylinder into it.
And my dilemma, which up until a couple weeks ago, the solution was,
I'm just going to make the S14 as good as I can and do a carbon air box
and a standalone ECU and make that 25 just rip.
I actually had the Evo flywheel just laying in my garage.
I didn't even realize I had almost like threw it away.
I was like, just get this junk out of here.
And that's like, it's like $1,100 or whatever now.
So I did the flywheel, we're going to optimize it.
And then on Craigslist, this complete clone of my car popped up two weeks ago
with an S54 and a carbon air box.
So it's red, black, already done, has the Evo front lip and rear spoiler.
I sourced a set of 16s, and I painted the center's Nagarro like the Evo cars.
It had those 16s with the Nagarro centers.
It was just everything I wanted.
I was like, man, maybe I should tear the seats out and do the Evo seats.
It had the Evo seats.
And was it done by the place that you have your car at?
It wasn't, which I'm telling myself,
hopefully it was just like a horrendous pile of crap.
I needed a bunch of work.
Let's all just assume that.
Yeah.
And he wanted, his ask was pretty reasonable,
less than I have in my car with two more sandletters.
So anyway, then I spiraled out of control, took so long emailed the guy.
I kind of was like, it would be so funny to buy this car and take it back.
And that part, I found less humor in, but telling Julia Julia would sit in it
and just assume it was the same car.
She wouldn't even tell the other.
So I was kind of laughing about doing that.
But anyway, that's how I got to where I am today of,
I think I'm just optimizing the S14 for a little while longer.
And if I get tired of it, maybe I'll toss the 600 in it.
Obviously your car, you bought as a two-five,
how do you driven an E30M3 with the regular two-three in it?
I haven't.
I've only heard Alex's comments about being really underwhelmed.
Have you ever driven one?
I've ridden in one in anger during Autocross,
back when you used to just sort of like wait at the entrance.
And like, if anybody wanted to,
you could just open the door and hop in and go for a ride.
And was a BMW CCA at Alameda years ago.
Road shotgun in one.
It felt great in that expense.
I mean, it was, you're never breaking 45 miles an hour in that zone though.
So I don't know what it would be like for the type of driving
that we're doing on back roads.
They're fine.
I hope Randy never listens to this.
I had an opportunity to drive Randy's old car.
Like lot, is that lot number one?
Lot number two, the three.
It's one of them.
It's one of the first three.
The white, it's a stock white, he's a very nice car.
And I love them too.
I think they're really cool looking.
And Ryan Zaman, our colleague, shout out to Ryan,
if he listens to this, really wanted one.
And so I was like, let me run you down the hill here at Laguna Seca.
And it was me, him, and Roland in the car.
And I was like, okay, I'm going to rev this out through the full power.
Now, admittedly three dudes are going up a hill, but he's like, that's it.
I'm like, yeah, that's all it's got.
They're fine.
It's a great motor.
I'm sure it's great in an autocross setting.
Power standards on four cylinders were very different in the late 80s.
But I just like, I'd rather have an M20.
I'd rather have a modified six cylinder.
The more you learn about the S14, you understand why
it appeals to the stereotype of BMW owners.
It's like a super mechanical complex engine with a lot of like metal on metal
and high vibrations that they made.
It all work.
But do you know where the 14 comes from in that engine?
Oh, no.
No, I don't need, I don't either.
It's, it's an S38 with two cylinders cut off, isn't it?
Yeah.
Okay.
When you learn where the 14 comes from, it all makes sense
because they had to build the motor for motivation reasons in 14 days.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Okay.
That's also.
But it's an M10 block, right?
Just with a twin cam head.
Oh, I thought it was the whole block cut down from an S38.
I mean, now I'm talking out of turn.
I have no idea.
Well, so I had a 2002 TII with an M10 block and very commonly people swap out
bottom end internals.
You can make a 2-2 stroke and then additionally.
People put the S14 head on M10 blocks, don't they?
Not really worth it.
You can, but it's much, I think there's a lot of modifications you have to do to
make that work.
But you get twin cam instead of single cam.
Yeah, but there's timing cover issues and that sort of stuff too.
More importantly, there's a lot of accoutrement to the bottom end that you can put in
if you want to stroke the M10 from 2-2-2.
Or additionally, what I did and a lot of people do is the E30M3 starter on an M10.
It just helps it kick over faster.
I don't know.
Little upgrades.
I mean, I presume an S14 is an aluminum block, right?
No, you're both right.
It's an M10 block with a shortened S38 head.
Yeah, it's an iron block.
Okay, even an S14 is an iron block still.
Interesting.
Okay.
Now Alex is going to tear that thing out of there with you, dude.
I'm losing.
This is like blasphemy.
I know.
I'm like, now this has been sunk lower in my estimation.
I know.
Well, now this is great.
But I will say your 2.5 in that is great.
I was going to ask something really blasphemous and I hate to be a onto fanboy, but that's
what I am.
Is anybody ever put a 2.4 liter in one of those?
They're common.
They're cool.
The problem is now that E30s are just so expensive that the crowd that wants to do a swap.
K-swaps have more of a lower dollar connotation to them.
You could do one in just a regular, like a 325 or 318 or something, but you don't get
all the flares and cool stuff.
But there's a couple out there, man.
There's a K-swapped 997 GT3 out there on the forest.
What?
And it's making, I think, over 400 horsepower.
With a turbo.
Probably.
Can't be an A, right?
Or a supercharged or something.
Okay, but back to me.
The other mental math I've been going through to make myself feel better about all this money
I've ignited and not buying that S54 swap car was the swap for the motor alone before you do
brake, suspension, all that.
It's like 35 to 40 grand.
And I was like, why don't I just buy a whole E46 M3?
Yeah.
Like a beater.
SMG.
Have you enjoyed SMG?
Right, a beater.
And then I can send it to a shop and then pour another 30 grand into it and be in the same dilemma.
Yeah.
And then maybe sell me the shell and I'll put a K-swap into the E46 shell.
So anyway, that's where I'm a little like, maybe I'll just do that.
But we'll see how it all goes.
Man, great stuff.
Good problems to have.
You mentioned earlier, was it a childhood friend where the E30 M3 was parked on the street?
It was my neighbor and it was the same high school.
He was like a year or two older.
I remember seeing E30 M3s when they would still be parked on the street.
That's like sort of a weird phase of when you as an enthusiast are seeing stuff that's being
just sort of left on the street.
Do you remember that from a few weeks ago when I would drive around and throw into the shop?
No, I mean like just loose out in the wild.
There was one by your Berkeley house.
Wasn't there a crappy E30 M3 on your street by your...
First I was like, yeah, dude, that's mine.
No, by the place you and Julia lived when I first met you,
that was like in the little corner of that cul-de-sac.
Good memory, close to campus.
There's a white BMW M3 and the rumor is the woman that owns it bought it new,
but she's at least had it for a couple of decades.
And it's white with red seats and a handicap placard.
And three parked, right?
And it looks like it has been washed in 20 years.
It moves occasionally and then in the passenger seat,
it's just a mound of crumpled up notes of people asking to buy it.
One or two of which are definitely mine.
I got one of those on the Extera recently.
Oh, you were driving the Terra today.
Terra is here.
But it was one of those where someone's obviously,
they hand-wrote it to look like it's really casual,
but then it's also clearly been Xeroxed.
Like someone's got a bunch of these and they've clipped them out and like taping.
Yeah, our old Toyota Corolla used to get them all the time when we was street parking,
but yeah, the Extera got one recently.
So I get those occasionally,
which is a sign that I need to wash the car that it's on.
I just got one the other week and this made me laugh.
On the Integra?
Not on the Integra.
Uh-oh.
On the Supra?
And then-
Somebody's like, this guy doesn't know what he has!
And then-
What a clown!
Part of the street.
I love your perspective.
That guy doesn't know what I have.
And now I'm like defensive about it.
The other hilarious one I got on was obviously Julius Beter Jetta with the smashed windshield
and then it up had the same note like Xeroxed and everything.
And then in front of it, the blue 72911 was on the street overnight
and someone left one of those.
I'm looking for my son's first car or whatever notes on that, so that also could be-
I didn't realize this is like a little cottage industry of people trying to buy cars.
I've never gotten one of those notes ever.
Not one time.
I've got it several times.
It's sort of like fake handwritten or it was handwritten, but then Xeroxed over and over and
over again and they've clipped them out, taped them to side view mirror.
My dad used to get them on his terrible Super High Mileage 2000 Civic SI.
People would try to buy that.
And he did finally sell it to one of those people.
For like five grand or three grand or something.
Exactly.
That's what they're fishing for.
Yeah, totally.
They got a 450,000 mile SI with its original clutch, so good luck to them.
Actually, did I tell you this?
Somebody found-
There's a guy doing a bare metal full strip down restoration of my dad's old car.
No way.
Yes, of the Civic, which you wrote in one time.
I did.
With its belt squealing and everything.
Somebody bought it from the guy my dad sold it to who worked at Cal Poly Camp.
But this is how I got traced.
One of my buddies, Stevie, who you've also met,
knew the guy who worked at Cal Poly who bought the Civic from my dad and then he sold somebody
else. And as I recall, his Instagram handle is something like SI restoration or something.
And he's got it in his driveway stripped down to the shell and he's restoring it.
And he's saying things like, California car.
You can tell his car was loved.
I was like, yeah, it did live in California.
And my dad did take pretty good care of it.
But anyway, that's fascinating.
I hope he does my prelude next.
Do you know what became of that after Leo's kid had it?
He sold it and then there was a random jalopnik article about it for sale somewhere.
Really?
Like a way that was like, hey, check out this cool car and an uncommon color.
You knew it was yours because of the vin?
Vin and color and then like the small details of like, oh, I bumped the garage there.
And then I don't even think I can bring myself to really read it
because it still like hurts my soul a little bit.
I saw that car.
You drove that car to the old office.
Yeah, sentimental about it.
Have you ever had the chance to buy a car you used to have?
No, we talked about this on the pod recently.
And I mean, if we really want to go crazy and you want to know the opposite of Zach
having these awesome cars, like I had a pain in my stomach this weekend
because I wanted to buy a Taurus SHO so badly.
And that is the kind of thing I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to relive the cars of my youth that I didn't have,
but that I would have liked to have had.
So I've got this list, which I'm happy to read you guys.
Please bust it out.
Okay, SHO Taurus, SVO Mustang.
I have stories for all these.
Slower.
TurboCoupe, which I've talked about a lot on this pod.
87 TurboCoupe.
Yep, loved that car.
Would love to know if I would still love that car.
There was a 4,500 mile maroon one on the site last week, but it was an automatic.
I remember you talking about that.
SVO Mustang, SHO Taurus, 318 Ti, BMW, a car I desperately wanted as my first car.
Also very hard to find.
We haven't listed one in months.
You mean the E36 hatch?
The hatch, E36 hatch.
What else is on the list?
Corrado, which is like no longer.
I kind of want it to be the,
you can buy the best one in the world for under 20K thing, right?
Like the Corrado has jumped this ship, but the-
Care which engine in the Corrado?
Yeah, I need a VR6.
The G charger four cylinder is not supposed to be great.
But the SHO this weekend was a 89 first year maroon with cloth seats, 19,000 miles in Colorado.
I was like imagining driving it back and putting 10% of its total mileage it's ever had in like one
weekend. You know, I've also graduated to fancy your car, Zach.
And now I kind of want like the Civic or a Civic would be another one.
Well, like my dads, although those are getting expensive too.
We're not done off the list.
But I do have to say it is hilarious that you said the fun stops are on 20 grand because
the Taurus sold for 19,250.
I know, I'm aware of what it sold for.
But also that's like the nicest 89 SHO like in the world, right?
So Corrado's are too expensive.
Like a really nice Corrado is now 30, 40, even 50 grand.
So for a VR6.
So that's not going to happen.
But anyway, to your question back, I've wanted to relive the cars that I wish I could have had.
But the TurboCoop would be a car that I actually owned.
And then we talked about this with Randy and he like wants specific vins.
You know what I mean?
Like he wants his car.
For me, it was always longing for the better version of the car that I had.
So like I had an Alfa Romeo Milano, but I had the Silver, which was the 25 and,
you know, kind of a little bit dumpier, but they made a Verde.
There was a three liter and a limited slip diff.
And those are the kind of things that I was like,
when you go deep into researching the car, when you first get it in your teens or early 20s,
and you're reading all the marketing material, they're always talking about the one that you
don't have because that's like the extreme version of it.
I had an E30.
What's the nicest like the nicest Milano in the world?
Is that like 10 grand?
It's a little better than that.
I don't know.
But it's like 15 to 18.
That's also another thing that doesn't come up very often, right?
Or 164s.
Those come up a lot.
Like that was sort of like the much prettier version, although it's front wheel drive.
But they made a beautiful.
They have that beautiful engine in them too.
They're beautiful.
The same engine just flipped laterally.
Well, Alex, to your question of the nicest Milano in the world would probably be the
one we sold in December 2024 for $50,000.
Okay.
Never mind.
Oh man, it is nice.
It is nice.
We sold an 88 Milano Verde for $28,000 also in 2024, man.
Okay, Beck.
So could I cheer you up now by just slapping an AMG badge on the back of your Benz wagon
while you're working away?
For sure.
Well, you'd have to go to the shop right now to go put it on because it's getting
quite a service happening right now.
So what's the Taurus SHO history, Alex?
I don't know why I'm so attracted to these late 80s Ford Performance vehicles, but I really am.
So the TurboCoupe I inherited from my uncle, my dad's brother, RIP John, my uncle John,
who also gave me the Karmangia, my first car, my dad's little brother.
They had many, many car dealings together.
His family still has our C36, Zach, our 95 C36.
It has like 300,000 miles on it.
They've rebuilt the motor.
That's a car I'm kind of just talking about.
Yeah, those were on you now.
Those are cool.
So he had the TurboCoupe.
He was a private investigator.
He had like limo tent on the back.
He was using it for private investigations.
And somehow it ended up in our family and was given to me.
And I daily drove it for like a year when I was in high school.
And I freaking loved it and had a lot of great memories in that car.
He later had a Taurus SHO, which I drove also in high school.
And I just always liked them.
And then driving one was really fun.
It was a five speed and early one white, like a lot of the early ones are.
At Yamaha V8.
I am laughing because I'm pouring over the gallery now.
And you know the door code, which I'm also a little nostalgic.
My T-bird had the door code.
Yeah.
We just left the code in the listing gallery.
So now if you see that Taurus on the street, you can just take it.
You can bump start that thing.
Yeah.
Be off.
Because I don't think you could reprogram those, right?
That was like set from the factory.
I can't remember.
We had a Ford Explorer in 97 that I believe.
Did you use it all the time?
I used it all the time.
Well, when you're the kid, you don't have a key to the car.
But like I was off in the one, I know, I don't know about you guys,
but was desperate to get in the driver's seat,
even if it was an Explorer.
And so my trick was I'd always do the code, sit in there.
I was allowed to start the engine like well.
To warm it up.
Just to just sit in there and start it up.
Yeah, warm it up on those cold San Francisco mornings.
The climate control is so high-tech on this.
I freaking love it, dude.
The other thing I worry about is that all these cars will be a huge disappointment.
The turbo coop Thunderbird is going to be a disappointment.
I mean, it was crappy in the late 90s.
It was not a good car.
But I also like it could be a tremendous amount of fun.
It might be.
You know what I mean?
I think it would be both.
I think at 318, 836 would be a phenomenal swap for an S54.
Having that like body style and having the hatch on it would go.
Are they shorter wheelbase too?
They have E30 rear suspension as I recall.
I don't know if the wheelbase is shorter,
but they had to change the back half of the car to make it work.
Our colleague Steve Richards had a S52 swapped.
One with all the M3, you know, some stuff on it.
Basically made an M3 Ti.
You ever seen the front end of the E46 Ti that never came to the U.S.?
It's in the air.
No, have we ever even listened to one of those?
Ugly as hell.
Oh, you know what I have?
They have like quad headlights.
Correct.
Enclosed headlights.
It's a Hatch E46.
I didn't know that.
I didn't know they made that.
Let me see.
It looks like it's asking to be put down.
Oof.
Not good.
And they're probably little 316Is, that kind of thing.
Another car that I just was again this weekend thinking about that.
This is maybe even too weird for me to want,
but the CLK hatchbacks, which I think came with a V6 and a six-speed at one point.
I mean, it's not a CLK, just the C-Class hatchback.
Is that what it's called?
Early 2000.
It was sort of like they were going down market.
It had the glass on the trunk portion of the hatch that you could see.
Totally right.
I loved those two.
Correct.
I'm still nostalgic about those.
Is it a C?
It's not a CLK.
It's a C-Class.
It's a two-door hatchback C-Class.
And I think you could get in the supercharged four and the six.
I think that's right.
And I think there were manuals on them, which is fascinating.
Yeah.
C240s.
Yes, that's the one.
Yeah, compressors.
I think there were C230.
CL class.
CL, okay.
But in the US, they just called them.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Did I ever tell you I rented a SLK?
What was the supercharged SLK or 230, right?
The first gen.
Yeah.
So in Europe, in 2001, 2002, when I lived in France for a summer,
my dad and I rented a CLK 180.
So it was also supercharged for a cylinder, but smaller than they sold here.
And we put the top down and drove it to the eastern part of Germany.
It's the only time I've ever driven on the Autobahn.
And we went as fast as it would go.
And it was like 100 and no, so it was 240 kilometers an hour,
which I think is like 130 or something like that.
That's pretty decent.
Yeah.
We had the top down.
What we're doing is, you know, that was the first of those little
folding hard top things.
I had a remote control car of that.
You could actually, with the remote control, you could put the hard top up.
The top worked on it.
The top worked on it.
That's hilarious.
It probably broke at the same rate as the actual car too.
Totally.
Man, Zach, your shame always works on me.
My desire for a shit box has gone down, but I really wanted one.
But like the nicest of the shit boxes, you know?
It always bothered me that Ford didn't have as good consistency with the branding
of their performance variants.
Yes.
Like SHO, SVT.
SVO was the other one.
Yeah.
All these different ones.
It just seems like there's no connective tissue through the generations.
Once they got to SVT, is there still an SVT?
Or is it all Shelby's now?
What does that mean?
It's Harvard.
They did RS for a little while.
And then, yeah, they were ST also.
And now, I think there was a Shelby naming rights dispute.
Yeah, but the pickups, they've been having Shelby 150s.
Oh, and then if you get a hot truck, it's a Raptor, right?
There's that too.
And then if you get, but it's not an SVT Raptor.
That's why they went to Dark Horse, I think, right?
Oh.
Because you can't use the Shelby name anymore.
Can you not buy a Shelby Mustang anymore?
There's no SVT Mustang anymore, right?
Correct.
Yeah.
There's no Cobra Mustang.
SVT was pretty sick.
That was pretty good.
Special Vehicles team.
I don't know when that version of the Cobra, I guess,
was the Terminator chassis came out.
I was probably in the prime target to start paying attention.
I kind of liked that there was an SVT contour and an SVT Mustang
and SVT lightning and a Focus.
Like, it felt like there was this, it was an M brand, right?
It felt like it was.
That's what they're going for.
You could associate with all these things, and they just dropped it.
And that seemed always with a loss.
Toyota didn't have the foresight.
Toyota racing development.
Oh, yeah, I know.
It's tough.
It's really tough.
That's another, OK, I'm adding this to the Alex Shitbox
list, the last Celica they sold here, the little angular one.
I've always really liked those.
With the fake hood scoop?
Do they have a fake hood scoop?
I can't remember, but they're pointy, and they're kind of little.
Yes.
And you could get them with the 180-horse, high-revving motor,
and a six-speed.
I'm so nostalgic about those.
Every one that we list goes on my watch list.
What's the chassis code on those?
Well, I don't know what they're called.
I really like those, though.
I do too.
I mean, you're used to it because you drive a 308,
but the A-pillars are like your 308.
And it is kind of a rebodied.
I've never driven one.
Have you been in one?
Oh, all the time.
That was such a high school car growing up.
Did people have the six-beads with the 180-horse motor?
The only friend I had that had the GTS, it was an automatic.
GTS, OK.
I bet those felt pretty quick back then.
Oh, they were sick.
It was always me trying to hunt those down on the Prelude
to see which was faster.
Oh, totally.
That's the T230.
Oh, look at that.
We showed that with the...
Is that the action pack?
The turd package.
And 30 grand low mileage.
This was an automatic.
Oh, interesting.
No, I think you got to have the six-beads.
Oh, for sure.
But I think you could get TRD engine performance parts for those.
Maybe even...
Wasn't there a TRD supercharger for those?
Maybe?
Maybe not.
I might have been.
OK, now we're really on to...
Now we're turning on a my list,
but you know those were Long Beach Grand Precars?
I'm not sure I knew that.
Long...
Like the Celebrity Procars.
Oh, you're sure?
Yes.
Yes.
I didn't know that.
They used Scions around that same time when those were out at one point.
Whatever the little...
The Scion was the successor to these.
OK.
And I would love to get next Long Beach Grand Prix Celica.
Man, that would be cool.
Man, that would be really cool.
I saw just recently somebody fed me on Instagram a big list of celebrities from the Celebrity thing.
And it's a really great name.
It's going all the way back to Jason Bateman when he was like a kid.
Yep, he was in it.
Yeah, I've heard him talk about that on his podcast before,
but some other really great...
Stephen Baldwin with like long blonde hair must be like Biodome era.
Stephen Baldwin, some great stuff.
Alfonso Ribeiro, some really good ones.
OK, I'll pull up the list of attendees.
Do you have some faves?
Back, I want to hear what's on your list.
Yeah.
Other than Milano, which apparently like Carrotto has disappeared from...
For sure.
I mean, there's driver ones out there.
But wouldn't you want the nicest one?
Because you said that you'd want to experience like what you couldn't have.
I mean, quality of the car is probably second to two, the variant of it.
You'd want the one that branding-wise was the one that you just couldn't have for whatever reason.
Definitely, that's a model page that I follow,
and I just always want to see what a Verde might bring to the table.
I've been recently looking more and more into the transaxle Porsches
as something that would be in that same vein of like under 20K is a hard space to find,
especially if you're trying to look toward your youth,
because a lot of people in our age right now are buying stuff from their youth,
and it's shooting up all these prices.
Yeah, specifically 944s would love a twin cam of some sort.
Oh yeah, you were talking about 944S's, which is interesting.
The one that is on my list that you can again have the best one in the world for under 20K
is the 924S, which is 944 Mechanicals, but in the Dumpy 924 body late 80s.
I like those a lot.
Honestly, it just got sparked in me.
You ever have it where like you're just driving around in a car that you've not even thought
about for a long time, just like passes you casually and just is like the right stance
and the right condition.
And then you think about it for like eight months.
That's been by one.
It's been the last two months for me.
I was on my way to O'Reilly's and in the parking lot pulled right in front of me,
parked right down, was like a dark blue 944, just a base 944,
big old front bumper, the whole thing.
And it was so wide and it was so low.
They're great.
Look, I was like, holy cow, what am I doing?
Never driven.
They're so fun to drive.
Have you driven one, Zach?
Any of the transaxle cars?
Yeah, that was another car I begged to get in high school that my parents would
let me get.
But my good friend that I grew up with, he had a 944 S2 and he was a super handy wrench
and his dad was also into Porsches and they had a lift and they had kind of their own side
hustles.
So they actually swapped a 968, three liter into it at one point and he still has it.
I ran into him on an array.
We're talking all about it, but that car is pretty modified, sweet.
And then while he had it, he separately just bought a 944 Turbo.
So he had both of those next to each other for a while.
944 Turbos are really fun too, but that's another car that like nice ones are really expensive.
That one's a tough one.
That one's that was also complicated and that'd be tough to work on.
But you sit deeper in them.
I mean, they have some Porsche characteristics, but they don't feel at all like a rear engine car.
And you sit deep in them and the sill is high in the middle and the shifter is real rubbery.
I drove lots of them.
They're really fun to drive.
And the cluster, like the instrument cluster, just the view from the driver looks totally
different.
Totally different.
And so I wonder if it would feel different enough from my 911, which is obviously a
completely different generational car, but still it feels a lot more modern.
It feels much more like an 80s car, like a Japanese 80s car or something like that.
But also the first time I ever got into a perfect neutral four wheel slide was in a 944.
And so that's like imprinted into my brain that a car doesn't like want to loop around or kill you
when it breaks loose.
I was like, Oh, this is what people are talking about.
I slid the SC once at an autocross event and it worked beautifully.
And I was able to transition to the next quarter.
And then I had like five more laps and it never worked again.
That's right.
It was awful.
It's right.
They're hard to drive well.
You probably just blew your diff out on that one slide.
Zach, what else is on your...
You've achieved some of these E30M3, not that those are shitboxes.
You have your Type R, which I love.
Yeah.
I bought that RSX for like a minute.
Oh, that's right.
It was in the office.
Yeah, what office?
You had a black one, right?
Black Type S, black black.
They're a facelift.
Really nice.
It was a really nice car.
It was a nice car.
Why did you move on from that?
I just never used it when I had it.
That's the problem I get so hyped up about.
Oh, I've always wanted to really use or I want to drive it.
And then I get it and I'm so spoiled.
It'll be like the only set of keys I never touch or something.
So that's part of the problem.
I still have a running list of all the stuff.
Oh, good.
Bring it up.
Good.
Do you have any others back from youth or that you want to read?
The other one for me is a GLI Mark II Jetta, which I had very briefly.
I had my aunt's GLI Jetta.
And I actually prefer them to Randy's 16 valve GTI,
which is what everyone wants.
But I actually want the Jetta version because of nostalgia.
No, it was pretty much just the various 80s BMWs would be a big one.
I had an E30 as well.
Various back.
Yes.
I mean, definitely E30 M3 would be an interesting opportunity to try and tap into that
that I missed out on.
But it sounds like it's something I should avoid.
E28 M5?
E28 M5.
And I never got to drive Randy's.
I would have liked to just sort of try that.
Oh, the 535?
Yeah.
Well, that's right.
It wasn't an M5.
Well, Mike Barron.
Next time we're down there.
Just got to talk to him.
All right, Zach.
What's on the list?
Well, this is actually funny that I just put this on there
because I've been thinking about, even though I don't want to, I'd never use it.
It's still fun to think of a car that suits the task for a New York car.
And we had an R53 Mini growing up.
Oh.
And you can get those pretty cheap.
And it's just so delightful as a city car.
And quirky.
That interior is so unique.
The supercharged motor sounds cool.
So yeah, I've been kind of on one of those.
E46 M3s are big down that rabbit hole.
I went deep on the Cosworth Mercedes.
Oh.
A really good 2.5 16 valve came in.
I would have a hard time not jumping on those.
Those are awesome.
You were talking about your autocross experience in an E30 M3.
I went to an autocross one time in the 912.
I think it was a PCA autocross at the Passel Robles Airport.
So it was mainly Porsches.
And there was a couple of guys with those 914s where they chopped the roll bar
and those were so fast.
But of the street cars that people drove in with just amateurs like me driving them,
the fast car of the day was a 2.3 16 valve, really ratty with a young guy in it.
And he almost always had four people with helmets on in it.
And it was all stock because I remember it leaning like crazy.
And it was so much faster than anybody else could be.
And I was like not terrible in the 912, but it was really fast.
What a psycho because I mean the US 2.3s are kind of underpowered.
But like the E30, if you just keep it at 6,500 RPM the whole time,
you know, first and second gear at the top, I don't know.
It was fun to watch.
He's got talent.
Yeah.
The E30 has like 30 more horsepower and I think 300 pounds less of weight too.
Yeah.
This dude had all his buddies in there too, which was another thing that was fun about it.
Those are cool, Zach.
Did you see, we had a pretty nice one today that didn't sell, that was a really...
It was a 2.3.
Oh, you have a 2.5.
You have committed to needing a 2.5.
Yeah.
That was the rule for a number of passengers in the car was the number of doors that you have
at Autocross, which was, you would kind of hope that someone thought your car was cool enough
that they would like, hey, can I come in for a ride?
Never happened to me.
But there was one time at a PCA event, there was two Cayenne turbos that showed up.
Wow.
And like people wanted to go for like a backseat ride in that and they came out
giggling and laughing at the end of the lap because it was just insane what that thing could do.
I did the thing in Vegas that Zach turned me on to where you drive like...
Speed Vegas.
Yes.
They give you a one...
So you got to be more specific of the things in Vegas.
Sorry.
Yeah, sorry.
The super car driving experience in Vegas.
No, we won't talk about the other things we do there.
They give you a lap around the track first and it's in a Cayenne turbo.
And the instructors are obviously like super fast because they're there all the time.
And I was like, very impressive.
I thought it was rad to ride around the track in one of those and hilarious.
Cayenne GTS 6-speed.
Oh, yes.
I kind of like to own one of those someday.
You were talking about a...
The V6 6-speed isn't so cool.
Yeah, which was like little dinky wheels and stuff.
Yeah, kind of grand clearance, nice sidewall, good in the city.
Awesome.
I've got the list of celebrity winners.
The best pairing on here of a race...
What year is the first year?
How far back does it go?
Is it like 77?
Wow.
So it goes back really far.
It doesn't say what the...
I guess it was a Celica then.
And pairing meaning you what, did half the race with one driver, half with another?
Oh, you know, I think they're all on track with actual pros and...
I think it's a mix.
Yes.
So I think there's a mix of pros and celebrities.
They haven't distinguished between pro winner and celebrity winner.
But in 1980, Hardnelly Jones was the pro winner and Gene Hackman was the...
Oh, that's a pretty strong one.
Gene Hackman was, as we found out after his unfortunate passing, there was a car guy
and had like a 964 and some other interesting things sitting in his garage.
Oh, I didn't realize what was in his...
Yeah. Do you remember what else he had?
He had some kind of interesting modified cars.
I think he had a Corvair with a V8 in it.
He had some interesting cars.
There was a picture of him, Zach, in that Instagram feed.
And he's like, you know, pretty stern guy.
He looks so happy when he's getting out with his Toyota racing suits.
They have cool racing suits too, that series.
Okay. 87 was Jason Bateman, and this is a sad statistic, but Juan Manuel Fangio,
the second was the pro driver.
No kidding.
Unfortunately, like one of the more notable race wins of his career.
Wow.
Fast and nephew of Fangio.
Wow.
That's a hard family tree to be a part of, I think.
It really shows you that even if you're not the top tier of pro racer, you're so much better
than everybody else.
I mean, he had some great seasons in IMSA, two back-to-back wins.
I didn't know there was another Fangio.
I didn't know there was a Fangio too.
Did I miss this that Gene Hackman drove in the 83-24 hours of Daytona?
No, I didn't know that.
Drove up Toyota Salica for Dan Gurney's all-American racers team, the GTU class.
Retired early to a gearbox failure.
I'm again, speaking out of turn, but I think some of the people who raced the
Long Beach Grand Prix Celebrity Race that Toyota does get bitten by the bug,
if I recall correctly, Jason Bateman got pitched into racing the pickup truck series.
What was that?
Was it an SCCA series?
No, but they were road racing trucks.
We've listed one before.
They had the little Jeep.
They were like little mini trucks, but racing on road courses.
And he raced professionally in that and got hurt very badly here.
I'll see if I can pull it up.
Zach hit us with some other winners.
On which side?
Give me the celebrities.
The pros are fine, but I want the celebs.
Only one former podcast guest on here, sadly.
Who's that?
Celebrity and Eraser, Tommy Kendall.
Oh, Kendall.
TK, we love TK.
97.
Great guy.
Great guy.
He is someone who bought his car back on the site.
Yes, he did.
He did.
His GTU class Pontiac.
Or was it a Beretta?
I think it was his Beretta.
He bought the Beretta back.
Did you listen to that episode?
He also has his OG IMSA RX7 still.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah.
I can't remember the total story, but he has one of his early cars.
He's the best.
Did you meet him down in LA?
Zach TK is awesome.
I met him at the bridge.
What a good guy.
Great guy.
What a good person.
We love him.
Just a nice guy.
I'm a nobody to him, but if you're talking to him,
he gives you his full undivided attention no matter who you are.
Just a good dude.
Alfonso Ribiero won on the celebrity side in 94, 95, and 2016.
Whoa.
It's not even fair how well he knows the track at this point, I guess.
I mean, he must be like a car guy, right?
Yeah, I don't know.
In the late 1980s, Jason Bateman competed in the Dangerous Coors Race Truck Series,
an SCCA series featuring modified small pickup trucks.
It's like road racing mini trucks.
It's a really interesting thing.
Yeah.
Keanu, Adam Carolla, that's kind of blurring some lines there.
Totally.
Well, what's been going on the site for you guys?
What's been going on the site?
We had another SHO live with that one, a 92, also low mileage,
also the kind of .2 version with cleaned up end caps and stuff.
Also a five speed.
Those are rare.
The Conan O'Brien spec.
Have you seen his car?
He had a green early 90s SHO.
I think they're 3.2 liter instead of 3 liter,
and most of them are automatics, and they have the five spoke wheels.
It's like the update of the SHO.
And Conan, somebody sent me this video recently.
He's had one since new, a green one with a five still has it.
And he still has it.
And he makes jokes about how he bought a Taurus.
So I'm like, yeah, but it's an SHO.
It was actually like a pretty rad car.
I think the sticker on our red 92 that we had on the site
also sold for around 19 grand stack.
It was like a $28,000 window sticker at 92.
So it was like not a cheap car, rad car.
Nice.
Did you catch the M1 original owner that we sold?
The kind of pearl white one.
Repainted in pearl white, which you know I was drooling over.
I actually think the color looks awesome on that.
It's so good.
I mean, just look at the way the light hits this thing
with the wheels.
Looks so sick with those wheels.
That's what we call a good color change.
Not that the white was bad, but man, that car looks sweet.
The 89C4 SCCA Challenge Cars Act that we were all talking about splitting.
Yeah, like going four ways.
Although that actually sold for 55 grand, so that did quite well.
Shout out to a collection that's live on the site this week,
the Gilmore Car Museum.
Heck yes.
Is listing five cars with BAT.
They plan on doing more as well.
They're not closing.
Don't worry.
They've got some goals and sort of, I think,
realignment that they want to do.
They've got a few cars that they're looking to find new,
Alex's favorite word, custodians of.
So they're doing one a week this week.
All closing next week from the Gilmore Car Museum.
Feel free to subscribe to their user page,
because your plan is to keep this going over time.
It's in the collection.
Right now, there's a checker that was, I believe,
from the original owner that donated to the museum.
1961 checker station wagon.
But there's going to be a few more mid-century Americans,
some even earlier stuff as well.
There's a 1930 Hudson Model T,
and then a 57 Pontiac Chieftain,
as well as a 66 Lincoln Continental Convertible.
Everyone swears by the Gilmore.
I've got to get out there at some point.
Everyone says it's like one of the best places,
but I've never been, would love to.
You helped put that together, didn't you, Beck?
Yeah, that came in the door.
Sort of our new venture of trying to help with collections
that don't necessarily need white glove,
but just need some sort of logistical support,
and the client services department
was helping them move those through.
Love it. Love to support them.
Not to brag, but we make no money on those.
We're going to donate all of our fees to the Gilmore.
Keep it going. We stand behind places we believe in.
On my watch list also,
did anyone see the 93 Geo Drecker with a track system on it?
Wow, that guy should have listed that thing
two months ago when the blizzard hit.
Totally.
This is amazing.
It's Manhattan in that thing.
It's got tank treads all around.
Tank treads, Geo Tracker, 4x4 as well,
which I guess we're all Geo Trackers 4x4?
Yes.
Superb.
Good speed.
Good color combo, too.
Great colors.
Pink and blue, blue and pink.
With a barbecue hanging off the back.
And it comes with wheels, though, if you want regular wheels.
Oh, it's like you can just put those things onto the axle shafts.
Okay. Wow.
No, missed that entirely.
I'm too busy looking at toruses.
Zach, did you see the R-Code Galaxy in blue,
or did either of you, in Guardsmen blue?
No.
R-Code galaxies are on the very short list for me,
but they're almost always white.
And this one's in blue.
Four speed, big 427.
We had that green one a little while ago.
Yes, that was also excellent.
I would really, really like one of those.
And not that I need another one, Zach, but...
And that pulled up to ask for that, too.
It's really good.
Blue, red, color combo.
And GTBs are even rarer in 328s than they are in 308s.
It's pretty sweet.
I could see you in that, Alex.
Yeah, I was similar to your M3 thing.
I'm like, how long would my marriage survive
if I bought another Ferrari Coupe mid-engine V8?
Just had to, like, just alternate between the 308 and 328,
both fixed roof.
Yeah, just when one's in the shop, you drive the other,
and then you just keep driving them back and forth.
You just trade it.
You don't even need to take an Uber,
because you just take one to the shop
when you're going to pick up the other one.
It's free parking.
It is.
It is.
This one has red interior, though.
I mean, come on.
That is pretty amazing.
Did you guys catch the Venom F5 bidding at 2.1 million?
That's the neon green thing.
Can you explain that to me?
Is that the replacement for the little Lotus car
that was so fast?
Wasn't that also a Hennessy?
Yeah, exactly.
Okay.
Like, Hennessy, you could call it a halo car,
even though they're not a production manufacturer.
He's just going for the fastest thing on the road, right?
Yeah, really leaning into his brand there.
Did I read like 1,700 horsepower or something?
And it looks like it's the size and weight of an Elise.
You undershot that 1,800 horsepower.
1,817 horsepower.
So that's like a 300-mile-an-hour car, 280, something like that,
probably, with an open roof.
That's tough, though.
Once you get like, I forget the actual equation,
but your drag goes up massively in relation to speed.
And so the amount of power you need to go from 280 to 300 is.
Yes.
I've been thinking about this a lot.
What is the speed at which an aircraft starts to lift off the ground?
It all depends on the airplane, yeah.
But it's below 200.
Way below 200.
Even an airliner, it's less than that.
But like in a Cessna, you rotate it like 50 knots,
which is like 60 miles an hour.
So what is it in a Venom F5 Scotta airfoil?
Well, that's like who was the driver in the Mercedes LMP car that flew up?
Oh, the CLK GTR, Zach's dream car.
That's like, oh, man.
Zach has a fear of flying, and then his favorite car, CLK GTR.
Could you guys imagine if that happened today?
Everybody would be like, that's AI, bro.
Totally.
I'm trying to think of what else I've been watching that I really, really liked.
Oh, Cosmo.
There was a really good Cosmo that came across the site.
Yeah, it's sold strong.
Sold strong.
I watch every LM002 that hits the spot.
Oh, yeah.
What was the American?
Yeah, tell me what that is.
I don't know what that is.
I saw those words, and I didn't know what it meant.
I mean, it's just an American variant for the American market, is it not?
I have no idea.
I believe so.
I presume that's what it was.
The model name for it.
Clearly, I asked the wrong people.
I like those a lot.
Are they all five speeds, or are they coming in automatic?
I would venture to guess all five speeds, but I think you're right.
We don't put five speed in the title.
Which means they were all five speeds.
I bet the Sultan of Brunei has the one automatic one that they made.
I noticed that the shifter is buried in the console,
so your hands would be in between two big pieces of upholstery when you're shifting.
Okay, I will go on and say I don't know what American actually gets you,
but I do feel like the LM002 is one of the things where everyone from the factory
may have been slightly different.
Oh, I'm sure it's one of those type of cars.
What are there, like 200 of them, something like that?
301, 60 of which were built to American specification.
Gotcha, so very, very few.
Maybe it's just emissions.
Were there what, like early 90s?
What years are they?
Yeah, this one is a 90.
Yeah, okay.
I remember seeing one.
It's a very early memory of mine, so it was probably right around then
at the Santa Barbara Concourse Delegance that my dad took me to,
which is on the polo grounds in Montecito.
And I remember there were two.
There was a white one and a red one.
And I remember my dad being like deeply offended,
like deeply offended that that existed.
And he still holds the same, like, and, you know,
I was influenced by him for a long time.
I thought they were kind of grotesque.
Now I totally dig him, but he's still absolutely appalled that that exists.
It's on the Powerball list for me, for sure.
Awesome.
Oh, good MFI Carrera.
Oh, the orange one?
In Marin County.
Did you see the racing history on that car, like racing in the 80s and stuff?
Did.
And then they tore it all apart and pin it up really nice.
Yes.
But super interesting.
Do you see the cloth seats in it too?
It's non-sport seats, but there's like a weird cloth upholstery on it.
It's pretty rad.
And I think it's the way it was originally specced.
It's like a dark blue all cloth.
Yeah, from a distance, I just scrolled past not their leather.
Isn't that awesome?
I would love to have that car.
It's non-matching, so you don't have to worry.
You actually just drive it around and use it.
The restoration looks like it was done really nicely.
I like that car a lot.
Those are kind of on my list.
Yeah.
Beck, you're the whale tail expert.
In 74, could you get it with the flat?
Or are they all duck tail?
No, it's duck tail.
It's the same as 73.
And then 75.
And that's where the term career tail comes from.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's what I would like.
I would like the 75 RS with an MFI motor.
So I always refer to the career tails as the 3-2 tail.
That was the flat one to differentiate it from the T-Tray.
That was the turbo.
Because that was the only time there was two different spoilers that were available.
Yeah.
I have a hard time knowing the difference all of them.
There's duck tail then whale tail.
Right.
But the whale tail with the lip only at the back is my favorite.
But some of them are flat and some of them have the dip in the middle of them.
They're not all exactly the same.
So I'm sure some Porsche people out there with more knowledge than medieval fact,
check me on this.
But I'm pretty sure that 75 was the debut for this spoiler that you're describing.
I would call that a whale tail, personally.
Oh, interesting.
Okay.
Meaning because it goes down.
I don't know if you guys know this.
We actually have a piece of content on this for our website.
And I can't find it right now.
But we actually wrote a non-option piece about this and walked through all of it.
See how wrong I was?
Carrera tail, whale tail.
I can't remember.
Duck tail.
And then there's also, there's the IMSA tails, which don't have any rubber on them,
but look like a Carrera tail or the original whale tail, but not the T-Tray,
which honestly I don't love, which has the lip that goes all the way around it.
We've also listed a freaking ton of the wings on the back.
There's a 56 Bel Air with a dual quad on it that I really liked.
Did you process that one?
I did.
Mark Shaliro.
Yeah, he's maintaining a great pipeline through a white glove.
I always appreciate an MS Classic cars listing on the site.
Zach, I heard from our guy, Bill Goldberg via Matt DeAndrea.
Shout out to both of them that he was very happy with how everything went
with his 964 turbo sale on VAT.
Oh, great.
All right.
He's definitely been in the, maybe not a winner on the podium,
but I think he's participated in the Long Reach Grand Prix.
Interesting.
That would make sense.
He would be on the celebrity side, but also a car guy.
You said there's like a little bit of a blurring of the lines, right?
Like if you're Jay Leno or you're Adam Corolla,
are you on the celebrity side or are you on the serious driver side?
Newman can just take two trophies like this.
Takes both of them, for sure.
I may be mistaken about this Carrera tail thing,
and now I'm going to feel bad for the rest of the day.
That's okay.
I didn't know about all this till I worked at VAT, by the way.
I just called every single one of these a whale tail,
which is what I think a lot of people do.
73 is first-year Carrera, but that's a duck tail.
So it'd be a little bit in Congress to call the later ones a Carrera tail, right?
But so 74 still gets duck tails.
Well, that's the first impact, but Carrera is 72.
Correct.
Or even 356.
So there you go.
And then it's really when the 32 Carrera gets its own dedicated spoiler,
because if you ordered a spoiler on an SC,
you just got what was like the turbo spoiler at the time.
And then for the 32 Carrera,
they specifically made their own optional spoiler,
that that's what would come.
Yeah.
So that's why it looks different than the...
I mean, the whole reason they switched to it with the flat grille on top
is because the intercooler's under there, right?
Because the original ones on the Turbo Carrera is there's a dip.
76, 77 don't have an intercooler, 75 for Eurocard.
But the grille's not flat on top.
It like dips down in.
That's why it's called a whale tail.
It looks like the tail going down on a whale and then it shoots back up.
Gotcha.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
See, Zach?
You're here to be squadoosy.
Yes, for me.
Well, I mean, obviously,
the right way to spec all these cars is the spoilers.
I know, I know.
But I somewhat influenced by you, the mid-year Carreros
with the actual whale tail spoiler on them,
I actually really like.
74 with the duck tail is perfection.
Oh, that's it.
Impact bumpers, but still a duck tail.
The guys that buy them and then put a duck tail on it,
it's a little...
Yeah, I know.
My frown on there.
That's tougher.
That's tougher.
Trying too hard thing, you know?
It is.
It is.
Unfortunately, I'm living in that world a little bit.
Zach, I care deeply about what others think.
It's really a handicap.
We had a rare Carrera variant.
We had a 77.3-liter Carrera Coupe on the side.
Rest of world.
ROWs.
A predecessor to the SC, but a better one.
The neighbor up my street who says that he knows your dad has a red Targa 3.0-liter
rest of world car.
Sick, right?
And is garage.
Oh, sorry, the ice cream metallic one.
I saw that miss and I've always wanted to own that color.
It's a great, great color.
We had a Turbo Carrera and this is sort of like it was a weird offering for that color
for in that era.
Comes up pretty often though.
We had an...
I missed this Carrera in ice cream metallic that Matt Crandall sold,
maybe in like 18 or 19 that I'd love to see come back up for sale.
Dude, this Carrera is really good.
It has chrome around the windows.
Still chrome trim.
Yep.
So it's got a little bit more of a vintage vibe in that sense because chrome,
I don't think becomes the default until 80.
So it was...
I'm sorry, it was a blacked out trim becomes default and 80 and chrome becomes the option,
whereas pre-80, it's the opposite of that.
Man, I like this car a lot.
Yeah, ice cream metallic, little bumperettes, whale tail.
Yeah, the little rear bumperettes is big for me too.
So even though it's got a career name plate, it's not MFI, it's CIS injection,
but it's a Euro spec, so it's pushing the 200 horsepower, which is probably what the
much later SCs were actually doing even in the US once they got an O2 sensor.
But yeah, this is a fantastic...
Cloth inserts on the seats.
One thing, I don't love headlight washers.
I don't really like the way those look, but I would live with it for this car.
Ice cream metallic is such a good color.
Okay, also with headlight washers, lot number 37,652 was the car that Matt Crandall sold in
October 2020.
If that ever comes back, you're getting an email from me for sure.
Are you pro side script on Carrera?
On 74, 75, 100%.
I think if you have an 84 Carrera with a side script and a spoiler,
you're the complete stereotype of what I don't like about this car.
The second Carrera becomes just the name of the car and not the addition.
And this car is something.
Thinking of rolling this around in 1975, looking like that with the script,
you would feel like the coolest car.
I mean, this is amazingly cool.
These 75s with the whale tail, I like them again when they have wild...
I feel like we've had one that's green with orange script or like,
you know, the colors got wild on this contrasting colors by the mid 70s,
which I also really like.
Man, this is very similar to the other car, Zach.
Yeah, I'd rather have the 27 than the three later, personally.
Oh, really?
Yeah, for modification reasons.
I'd love to not keep one stuck.
Well, Zach has talked...
You've talked a lot about like buying one of these,
a US car and then building the MFI engine for it.
Yeah.
Basically want the twin blood version of what my motor was in the blue car.
Totally.
Man, awesome stuff.
All right, boys.
Thanks for doing this.
We got a movie pod coming up pretty soon.
We were supposed to do it today.
I don't know if Cam listens to these, but Cam really let us down.
And so we didn't get to do that today, but that is coming up soon.
Fun as always to hang out with you guys.
Thanks to everyone for listening.
As always, you can send feedback, questions or concerns to podcast at
bringitrailer.com and we will catch you next time.
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