release tilt adjustable steering column quartz digital
clock tachometer and trip odometer blank blank blank
sports sedan $7,795 with an asterisk with an asterisk
and I don't know where the asterisk goes.
Oh, but but but MSRP dealers and then free catalog tells
more we'd like to send you a free copy of our 30 page
full color catalog describing the new blank series.
Just send your name address city state zip to
the following address and mention that you'd like the
blank catalog mailing and marketing incorporated
PO box 5960 Orange, California.
Attention blank blank offer blank.
The more you look, the more you like.
This is tough.
So in bright.
This is for car of the year.
This is pretty spicy import car of the year.
This is definitely I feel like this is mid eighties again.
Sure.
It just hit me there.
I can't recall halogens halogens are good.
Halley's who two leader overhead cam.
So they won't they wouldn't be saying about a duo.
They would not leave dual overhead cam out.
So I think this is an error before do overhead cam being
very prevalent sedan.
Yep.
Sports sedan import sedan.
Two liter trapezoidal link.
That's a version of multi like that's an old version.
So I think that 84 makes sense.
Sports sedan is interesting.
Five speed optional three speed.
Yep.
Five speed man.
You well that zero to 60 not very impressive.
No, no, no, that was 5050 crying the quarter mile got
significantly worse though.
So okay.
Let's take a shot.
Sports sedan.
Mm hmm.
Two liter.
Two liter car.
This is a 1985 Nissan Maxima.
Final answer.
Ooh.
Um, this is not a 1995 Nissan facts.
Sorry.
85 Nissan Maxima, which I believe is a car only available
with a six cylinder.
Huh.
I believe the Maxima was only the VG 30 from the path
finder we didn't purchase.
Um, but the rest of it kind of tracks.
I think the auto and that was a fourth beat not a three
but long story short.
No, it is not a Nissan Maxima.
Okay.
Um, I will give you this as a hint.
Um, this is for the sports sedan.
Um, but as it says, uh, that you could order a full
color catalog describing the new blank series.
Mm hmm.
It was indeed also offered as a sports coupe.
Interesting.
The ad is only for the sedan.
I found a very, very, very similar ad.
Just sure it's just subbed out some of the details
and called it a coupe, but it's it's basically also
available as a coupe.
It's also available.
Okay.
That didn't help.
Um, that price tag made me think Japan versus Europe.
Mm hmm.
Could be wrong.
I don't know what the budget Volkswagen, but.
Boy, I don't think Volkswagen had anything exciting
going on the rear suspension for quite a while.
Right.
They had a because of live axle rear end.
Right.
I wish it was.
Um, boy.
I don't know.
What was the price again?
It was like seven, seven.
Yeah.
Seven, seven, ninety five.
Call it 78 if you wish.
Get the optional floor mats.
I think it's Japanese.
Sorry.
I'm stretching my goodies.
No, that's good.
So coupe sedan was my hint.
There's also a coupe.
Um, four door in this ad.
So two liter overhead cam.
Mm hmm.
Five speed.
God, the price is so low, though.
It's a good deal.
Gotta be Japan.
Gotta be Japan.
Um, I don't picture a Volkswagen that fits this description.
Um, could be though.
Ah, tripped each other up with Volkswagen's before.
It doesn't read like a Volkswagen ad though.
Experience.
Sports sedan carpeted trunk.
Hey now.
I mean, what would it be?
80s.
No, it's not.
It's not your rush.
It's not going to be your, it's going to be.
Japan.
Oh, no, man.
Uh, I have nothing to go on.
So coupe sedan.
The ultimate wasn't around yet.
Oh, I think it's early.
Yeah, mid 80s is probably the later part of that from
what you were naming.
Um,
you stopped me, dude.
This is way spicier than seven, by the way.
Um, coupe or sedan, two liter engine.
Epizoidal rear suspension.
Epizoidal rear suspension.
Fuck.
The more you look, the more you like.
Front wheel drive.
Hmm.
God, I thought, I thought I had maxima there, but you're
right.
Yeah, I think that we only got it with the, I think it
Japan, it did have a two liter option though.
Maybe.
Yeah.
Dude, this is, this is rough.
This is going to be some obscure fucking car.
They sold 200 units of.
It's one you heard of.
Hmm.
Yeah.
How about a Toyota Cressida?
Final answer.
Ah, this is not a two liter Toyota Cressida.
I have literally no idea.
Definitely.
We're not from wheel drive.
The Toyota Cressida.
True.
We're drive only.
Um, okay.
One more.
I got this.
I got this.
So you're right.
You are correct.
It is Japan.
Yeah.
Yep.
Um, what else can I give you?
Two liter.
Anything.
I'll take anything.
Um, but, but, but, but, uh, motor trend magazine.
Uh, I mean, 1983.
Yeah, I just got, I don't think it can be a, we're
preludes that cheap.
Maybe.
Preludes to Dan.
Truth.
Um, a cord.
In the prototype integra.
Yeah, I don't know.
Let's go, uh, the Honda Accord.
Final answer.
Uh, no, it's, it is, it is not perfect on the Accord.
You cannot get a Honda Accord coupe in 1983.
I had to wait until 1986 for the Accord coupe.
Uh, this would be, um, the other hand, I was going to give
you, but it would, it was probably a little bit too heavy-handed.
I found an alternative to this ad that said it, um, derived
to the front suspension off of, uh, the Mazda RX7.
Oh, still nothing.
This is the 1983 Mazda 626.
Of course it is.
Sports sedan.
That would have been my 20th guess.
Yes.
Good one.
These are actually, they're actually good.
Have you, have you never driven a 66?
Uh, no, I've, uh, I've driven the MX6's, uh, the Turbo and
then the V6 version based on the Ford probe.
Yes.
Yeah, that came later.
So this, yeah, before they had the MX6, there was
the 626, which rank concurrently, but before it was
like you, but there was no MX6.
So you got the 626 coupe horse sedan and I think
you can get a coupe until like 87.
So nice.
Um, let me send you the ad.
Yeah.
The MX6 was early nineties and the, uh, later one based
on the V6 probe was the mid nineties.
Both pretty good cars though.
Yeah.
I mean, they were both, the Ford versions were just
basically a rebadged Mazda version.
I mean, they, they owned a majority stake in Mazda.
Let's look at this thing.
Oh yeah.
Look at that.
Yeah.
A wheel drive.
Mazda 626.
Yeah.
I had a, um, I had, uh, I had, uh, a
buddy in high school who had a, the generation after
this is a little bit more kind of roundy little tighter.
Um, I think it was an 88 626, black, gray interior,
five speed.
Um, and I think boogie.
I remember at the time being like, Oh, this thing
is way more impressive than it should be.
Um, good, good little car.
Like it was the sporty alternative quote unquote
to, uh, you know, a Camry or a, you know, a
quarter or anything like that.
Very nice.
Don't sleep, don't sleep on Mazda.
Yeah.
That two liter was in a few things, I think too.
Yeah.
Two liter.
Yeah.
Um, I don't know the ubiquitous two liter, two liter
overhead cam bitch.
Nice.
Um, I don't know if we're getting worse at this
game because we've been missing so many lately
or we're just getting into the bottom.
I think two things are a play.
I think, I think, I think we're, we've
cooked our brains a little bit, um, as well as
we're getting, I mean, we've been picking some
minutiae, you know, Mitsubishi, uh, courtiers of
the world from time to time.
But, um, yeah, we are, we are getting more
lost in the weeds.
We're slipping.
Um, yeah, I don't know why that, I guess the
two liter was like too vague.
And then I was like front wheel drive sedan could
be a coupe was like everything at that time.
Yeah.
And 83 couldn't have been trying to think what
it could have been because a lot of stuff was like,
you know, the coops were a parts bin from other
stuff and they didn't name it the same.
Accord was, but not till later.
Yep.
I thought Accord was the biggest trap.
Uh, yeah.
Yeah.
Good times.
So close.
Cool.
On that note, bitches, um, have you, have you
been productive with project cars?
I actually have.
So, uh, with the geotracker, the 95 geotracker, I
actually finally got around to doing the interior
restoration, which I needed to do, uh, on my car.
It's actually a really fucking perfect shape to
tell you the truth.
Uh, the driver's door handle was broken, uh, which
was really fucking annoying.
So you had to roll down the window, open from the
outside.
So replace that really easy to connect just a
simple linkage to the lock, uh, got an OEM
replacement handle, which was kind of cool.
Still silly packaging.
Install that.
It's like three screws.
Good to go again.
Uh, things, I love those kind of fixes.
Those are the kind of fixes that like, I think
they're huge value ads because I think it's
like a pain in the dick if you can't open
your door.
So that was a big one.
Uh, detailed the interior and put my new roof
on.
Oh, so, uh, dude, just like when you do a
Miata or any other convertible, it does not.
It does not fit.
So you put it outside, you let the sun get
on it, making a little more shred.
You just keep working it to get it on there.
Uh, but it looks so good because it had a
white roof, uh, but it had kind of, you know,
white roofs over time, we'll get that kind of
mildew spots and all that kind of shit.
So I had that going on and all the plastic
was like completely opaque.
I couldn't see through the rear glass, rear plastic
at all.
So just the, the life improvements of having
clear plastic around.
Wow, who knew?
It's freaking cool.
I can see out of the vehicle again, uh, but
just the Velcro is perfect.
It doesn't rip the stitching when you open
the Velcro.
Oh, it's killer, dude.
It looks, I can't wait to do the wheels
white, uh, cause I think that contrast
between those, well, not contrast, but that
kind of matching between the glossy white
wheels with the new bright top.
The top is so bright, dude.
You don't notice how much white fades
until you replace it.
And it's like, it's ridiculous.
It's like teeth whitening for a tracker.
So, um, big, big deal, dude.
I think this thing's going to pop the
bright red with the cool tracker fucking
decal on the side and, uh, brand new
white roof, huge difference.
Uh, but again, they're getting harder to
find, uh, the roofs for these things.
So.
Yeah, I know.
I've had no luck yet on roof for my
Vitara.
Um, though, I haven't, I've, I haven't
done anything on that car yet because
I made a little bit of progress on,
uh, the rally bobeel on the focus.
Nice.
So not one of them says, right.
So, okay.
So I got the, I, I finally was like,
okay, let me spend a little bit of time
with this car.
Mm hmm.
So I just first like, first thing I was
like, let me just, let me, let me just
like baseline this shit.
So I plugged my scanner in, right?
And lo and behold had, um, the, the
aforementioned, uh, oxygen center.
That's right.
That's right.
Um, sitting there stored code, but
then it also had a pending P zero
four two zero, which is, um, uh,
catalyst inefficiency, inefficiency.
So I said, okay, this is a well.
Hmm.
Um, that could be, I mean, that kind,
I suppose could be related to the
oxygen sensor, but let me, let me clear
it.
I'm going to clear the fault.
If it pops right back instantly,
then I do know, like, oh yeah,
like something did mess this up and
it needs a new sensor, but I know
he'd only replaced the center like
12,000 miles ago.
That's crazy.
And he said, he's like, oh yeah, I
think, you know, blah, blah, blah,
like I think, you know, something
paid it or whatever because I got
this fault again.
So I clear, I cleared it.
It doesn't come back immediately.
Right.
I was like, okay, it doesn't come
right back.
Let me do a drive cycle.
Just see.
So I do a drive cycle, park it
and no faults.
It set the oxygen sensor.
Monitor.
Oh, he did, he did, he did, he did
oh two and the oh two monitor set EGR.
It just didn't set the cat monitor
and like evap.
Okay.
Let me, let me let it cool down
and we'll try it again.
So I do.
I do another drive cycle.
It sets the cat and the evap
monitor.
It's small, ready.
Now it's got a pending fault for
basically like fuel trim related
to not coming to operating time
quickly enough.
Okay.
Kind of exactly what I was fucking
saying about the Vitara where
I think maybe it's a thermostat
issue.
I don't think this car has a
thermostat issue, but I know the
guy was rarely driving the car
and when he did, he would just
go to the, you know, whatever
go go down the hill to the
grocery store and back just
enough so like you can dodge
parking tickets and things like
that.
I think he just never really got
the car properly to operating
time to smog it.
Yeah.
And it just, and it eventually
was sick of a shit and through
an oxygen sensor fault and a
pending cat and efficiency
code because it was never
seeing proper operating time.
Now I did look and you can
see the thermostat housing has
been leaking a little bit.
Okay.
Like not actively, but there's
you can kind of see there's
some dried coolant.
Yeah, around where the temp
sensor goes in and it's a weird
setup.
It's a big blocky plastic housing.
Oh, I hate those.
I hate those plastic housing
and these fittings like for
the sensors.
They don't thread in.
It's like it's just like
clipped in with like a metal
clip.
Yep.
And and so the moment either
the clip the clip fatigues or
the the O ring seal there
dries up a little bit starts
to leak.
You start to leak a little bit.
I don't think it's enough to
cause this, but
I might just
I might just do the housing
and the thermostat anyways.
Not a bad idea.
Yeah.
But it's not all the monitors
and even with so anything 2009
or older, they'll pass you
even if you have a pending
fault as long as it hasn't
kicked into a stored code.
Hmm.
They'll pass.
So it's like shit.
So I drove over there.
I just like fingers crossed
rolled it up.
Didn't shut it off.
I'm like
here for a smog.
Past.
Here you go.
Sweet progress.
I got my new sticker.
No registration.
It's no longer on a P and O.
Nice and and and that pending
code went away.
So
it wants to rally.
I think it wants to rally.
Now I still got to do an axle.
Yeah, I still have tires.
That's like bear as minimum oil
change, wiper blades, basic, basic
shit.
And I did today get the windshield
replaced.
Oh, nice.
So now it's got a new windshield.
So they're the one with a horseshoe
crack right in front of your face.
It was 200 bucks installed.
Not bad.
Not bad.
So
I have a replacement oxygen sensor
just in a box now.
Motocraft one.
I don't have a use for it.
It'll just live with the car.
But yeah, that's an easy fix.
Oh, yeah, drive like do a proper
drive cycle and actually drive it
like it's a car.
Cars like that sometimes.
Go figure.
Yeah, yeah.
So I made some progress more to go.
But that was because that's that
that was part of why it was like
selling it so cheap is like, oh,
you know, check engine lights on.
I've already dealt with it.
I can't deal with it again.
And here you go.
So it seldom works out that
it's easier than you think.
That's nice.
Well, I haven't touched the other
shit, right?
Like I could go to do the axle
and it now needs a hub and bearing
and it needs like, I don't know.
Like I haven't gotten in there.
It does.
It feels great.
But and I'll probably find some
like, oh, I need some sway bar
and links or whatever.
Like tough.
Right.
So we're both about equal right
now with our rally cars
because we both passed smog.
We don't have any outstanding
codes, but we haven't done
any of the mechanical stuff
that needs to be fixed.
Got it.
Got it.
Yeah, I just drove my shit.
So that's cool.
Not exactly turning wrenches,
but just like, hey, I'm going to
put a little bit of thought into
this and see if doing what
you're supposed to do to get
it to get it to operate.
Like it wants to be operated.
That's freaking amazing.
That is amazing.
Well, dude, congrats, because
that's like we talked about it
in the secret cost of project
our episode.
We did not too long ago is
that like one of the biggest
hurdles to overcome is
getting your car smogged,
getting it able to be
registered title in your name
and getting over that first hurdle
is huge, man.
So yeah, yeah, $2,000 car.
Right?
Yeah, right.
And so yeah, yeah, that's good.
I hope I have the same luck
with the Vitara and its smog was
Yeah, that'd be killer.
I'm becoming like the smog whisperer.
It's someone needs to be.
I fucking hate smug.
I hate it.
It's it's interesting.
You got to get the get in the
mind of the ECU.
Do you do you?
Oh, shit.
All right, we're done.
Should we pull the ripcord on this
and let people get back
to productive lives?
We should guys.
Thanks again for listening in.
And gals.
This has been.
Yeah, yeah.
I just loosely use the term.
Yeah.
And non-binary friends.
Yeah.
We're still on the fence about
that one.
Oh, I'm not.
I'm not.
Bring it.
We want to join our club.
Also to include lizard people,
androids and yet we're we are.
We are huge in the AI community.
We are.
Yeah, we're going to be replaced
eventually by AI anyway.
So but not a matter of time.
No, not the mecha Hitler.
That guy doesn't.
He doesn't listen to us.
Son of a bitch.
Yeah, we don't know.
We we I guess we don't know that,
right?
Like it might be.
I don't know.
Anyways, I don't know, man.
I haven't heard.
I haven't heard his feedback
about the pod yet.
So hopefully hopefully reach.
Yeah, we should.
What will happen if we asked
any of these like chatbots?
Like it's opinion on our podcast.
Like what would it say?
If we have an AI?
Yeah, we could.
I bet someone's done that.
Someone's an AI.
I guess.
Yes.
If you're a listener, please
and you've got a subscription
to any, you know, AI of your
choice.
Let us know what
how it throw shade at us.
That would be lovely.
It's a slippery slip.
But anyway, thanks guys
for joining us.
Another pointless automotive
podcast, APA podcast for this
in the know.
Check us out on our definitely
abandoned Instagram page.
We also run YouTube.
So if you're not watching us,
watch us.
Obviously, continue listening
on your favorite podcast
service.
But on YouTube, we do put every
single episode.
You can see our fucking smiling
faces or well, not our
fucking smiling faces.
Yeah.
You know, that's the only
fans.
Yeah.
After the episode.
Sure.
But definitely check it out guys.
If you want to follow my
personal endeavors,
the auto obscure garage for
your rescues,
restorations, their reviews.
Tune in for tracker content.
Twenty twenty five.
Oh, yeah.
That scene where they zoom in
up Paul Rodney like looks up
with the microphone is priceless.
Tracker watch.
But yeah, please check that out.
Frank, working the good folks
follow your personal endeavors
on the social media's.
Peering through my bedroom window
is one method.
Although I would prefer
mostly on like Instagram occasionally
YouTube bullshit.
That's just at the photographer's
garage, taking pictures of cars.
It's a good time.
And this has been a great time.
So yeah, if you want to, you know,
follow us, tell we're big on word of mouth.
So go put our words in your mouth
and tell it to other people.
And hopefully they don't strike you
immediately.
Yeah.
That's all that's all I've got.
All right.
Cool.
Stay safe.
Take care of each other.
Love you guys.
Bye.
Boy.
Or don't.
You don't have to take care of each other.
Yeah.
Screw each other.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, that's technically
and literally
yeah.
Well, see you later.
About this episode
The hosts dive into a freewheeling chat covering everything from evolutionary musings on human intelligence to car week experiences featuring modern sleeper cars like the Ford Fusion Sport and the powerful 2025 Ford Expedition. They discuss the contrast between flashy supercars and understated rides like the Chevy Sprint Turbo, share project car updates including smog success stories, and explore quirky finds like a motorcycle-engine swapped Fiat 500e. The episode wraps with a fun vintage car ad guessing game and reflections on car culture's evolving landscape, blending humor, personal stories, and automotive insights.
Where we are going, we don't need any scripts. The fellas shoot the breeze and cover a wide vast of topics ranging from Neanderthals to maybe even cars. Guaranteed RAW content within.