Episode #190 - Also Rans From Japan

In a world with entirely too many shows about cars, this is another Pointless Automotive

podcast.

I'm good.

Oh, yeah, you are.

So good.

Are you good?

How are you?

I'm okay, man.

I mean, thanks for checking in, dude.

You're the one person foremost.

That is honestly part of this whole thing, just checking in on your car friends, making

sure they're all right, making sure they haven't bitten off more than they can choose.

Just one second.

I'll be doing a lot better.

Oh.

There we go.

Got that middle light.

I like to say it's a rich, bold taste, but we all know it's not.

It's just refreshing.

Yeah.

It reminds me of some British comedy show, and they were talking.

It was a joke, and it was simply, what does American beer and having sex in a canoe have

in common?

It's a good one.

No?

You got a guess?

No idea.

I got nothing.

They're both fucking close to water.

That's all.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

Brilliant is what the Brits would say.

But yeah, I, however, am drinking a chili lime pineapple polar sparkling seltzer here.

Jesus.

It's really swanky.

It's got a pattern on the can.

I am comfortable in my own skin.

And yes, no, otherwise, no, things are good.

I'm working, if you are partaking in the video feed, you can see our favorite little

white hatchback.

That is a Chevy.

It's really a Suzuki.

And maybe I'll go into that a little bit during project car progress or not.

I don't know.

But it's a Suzuki.

And you have a rebadged Suzuki product in your mitts.

I now have a not rebadged Suzuki product in the 2000 Vitara.

And, you know, we're fans of off, if you will, called off brand cars.

And for a moment in time, Suzuki and, and, and, and even the likes of Daihatsu were beyond

also, better than also rands.

I mean, Daihatsu was always here in the States.

But Suzuki, Azuzu, they were real players and now they're very dead unless you're

buying box trucks or motorcycles.

So I don't know.

We, you had the thought of, like, hey, why don't we just talk about these brands?

Yeah, because, A, they're not in the market anymore.

They exist globally, for sure.

And when they were here, I think their impact is big.

Like you said, GM borrowed from them.

They made, they made themselves a little bit of an impression then.

But yeah, Daihatsu with Suzuki and Suzuki for a while.

These automakers, some of them.

You might as well just do Daihatsu and get them out of the way because they only

lasted what, like four years, something to that effect.

It was like, and they only had two models, I think, ever sold here in the States.

Yeah.

So you had the charade and the rocky.

Yeah.

The charade was like a compact and then the rocky was like a kind of compact

off-road of truck.

Yeah.

That's all they brought to the table.

Samurai competitor.

Kind of.

Yeah.

They're pretty cool.

I've drifted so many times and had to like walk myself down from buying a rocky

because they are, dude, they just do the right things, right?

They do, they got the big bulgy fender flares.

They look cool.

They're the right size, but it's, it's now getting tricky to source

some of the componentry, like some of the parts fail.

It's like suspension components.

I've heard her a nightmare.

You have to know like a forum person or import it from another market

where they were active longer.

The old Japanese Yahoo auctions, are those still a thing?

Yeah.

I think they still are.

I remember those back in the day for like sourcing like weird OEM wheels and.

Yeah.

Just one hour of stuff.

Yeah.

Cool shit though.

But yeah, Daihatsu was probably the shortest lived.

I don't know if you have any, like, anyone.

I don't want to charade.

I don't, I don't really feel like I, it's really a charade at the end of the day.

It is.

And so interesting.

So yes.

And the charade was a, I mean, very much akin to the little sprint behind me.

Three cylinder.

I believe also one liter in those.

And just, you know, 50 horsepower commuter shipbox.

Yep.

And for the uninitiated Daihatsu is a subsidiary of Toyota.

That's why Toyota in Japan doesn't have any K vehicles because they do through all Daihatsu's.

Daihatsu.

And so yeah, stateside, we only got the shipbox charade and the Suzuki Samurai competitor

in the Rocky.

So was the Rocky like marginally bigger than, than a Samurai?

I feel like it's slightly bigger.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

It was bigger.

It's like between, it's between a side kick and a Samurai.

Mm hmm.

Yep.

And they are cool.

They got that blocky.

They very much.

It's funny both of those cars, we got them stateside.

And I think part of the reason why they failed was both the Rocky and the charade

seemed like probably to the marketplace here in America knockoffs of the knockoffs, right?

Right.

Yeah.

Where, you know, like people like, oh, like, you know, a Suzuki sidekick is like, you know,

it's not as desirable as a Toyota or a Honda, but it's a little cheaper.

And then this was like, oh yeah, we can even cheaper than cheaper.

And whether it was cheaper or not or better or worse, I think was immaterial because

it just seemed like the knockoff of the knockoff.

Right.

Same with the charade.

Like, oh, it's a Geometro, but worse.

Or it's a Chevy Sprint, but worse.

And yeah, whether they were or not, I think, was ultimately the fate was sealed.

Is this kind of like the Kia Sportage being the imitation, not as good sidekick or tracker?

The original?

Yeah.

I think so.

I think that's exactly it.

Yeah.

And Hyundai.

Hyundai?

Hyundai.

Like Sunday was the old number.

Hyundai.

Like Sunday.

They, you know, they stuck it out.

They did.

Versus Diopso was, you know, whatever, two or three years in the market and they're like,

yeah, no, we're out.

We're not going to, we're going to take a brawl and go home.

We'll get that out of our system.

But as soon as you though, the other one of the three underrated automakers,

they kind of had a huge position in the States for a while.

They were doing really good.

It's so good as a major automaker, straight up rebadged one of their trucks and called

it their first SUV.

The, let's call it the Honda Passport is the Asuzu Rodeo stealing effect.

But hey, I love, I love how it outsold.

It outsold the Rodeo and people are like, man, it's easy sucks, but check out my

passport.

I feel like they, they do this.

They talk the same shit about GM now as they're driving a Honda prologue.

I kind of feel like that same kind of sentiment is being spewed today.

If only they knew.

And what's funny is, you know, like, you know, you mentioned Azuzu partnering up

with Honda, right?

Which they did in that instance.

And then they also did with the Acura SLX, which was an Azuzu trooper.

Second gen.

Yes.

Yeah.

And really pretty thinly veiled in both of those.

Both.

Yeah.

Like it's really, especially it's a badge slap.

It really is a badge slap.

Yeah.

And the Honda, it was a straight up badge slap in the Acura.

It was like a badge and leather slap.

Like that, you know, like some chrome trim, like the door handles are chrome.

It's luxurious.

And stuff like that.

But really Azuzu, when I think of Azuzu in bed with a manufacturer, they

were always extremely tight with GM here in the States.

Truth.

Yeah.

With, like, and I, boy, we talked about it, I don't know, 10 episodes ago.

Are you going to mention how much love they had for one another?

Well, that there's that.

I feel like we also, in that same era in the 70s, I forgot how it came

up, we talked about, I think we talked about it on the pod.

Is there was a whole vehicle?

I had no idea existed until whatever it was 10 weeks ago when it came

up is the, I think it was like 75 to 78 Buick Opel.

By Azuzu.

Like that was the name, the Buick Opel by Azuzu.

And it was an Azuzu, like a Gemini.

Kind of.

I was going to say, I think it was a Gemini.

And then rebadged as the Buick Opel, which was weird because it was

like the Buick Opel Azuzu.

Because it was a Buick, but it was built by Azuzu.

And then they named it after a GM European product in Opel.

It's like an absolute bizarro thing.

But yeah, and that was, that was Azuzu from then and forever,

including the Chevy Love, as you mentioned, were kind of together

in dealer networks and parts networks and stuff like that.

Kind of until they worked no longer a thing.

I love those love triangles, like the Mercury Capri XR2.

LVV triangles?

Yeah.

That's it.

Mercury Capri XR2, which is a Japanese car.

It's a Mazda built by a Ford company or badged as a Ford product

as a Mercury, but built in Australia.

I love how that sometimes works out and cool car too.

But yeah, similar situation with that.

That's such a weird thing, man.

I wonder how many of those exist, those Buicks by Azuzu.

The Buick Opel?

Like I think it was a two or three year only thing.

But how many can be still preserved today?

It's got to be astronomical.

I kind of pride myself in knowing about weird shit boxes.

And that is when I did not know existed until like shockingly recently.

Yeah, that's a weird one.

And so I've certainly never seen one, but that would be rad.

Like it's very similar to like, it's basically like a Plymouth cricket.

Yeah.

In that whole 70s era of, oh my God, the fuel crisis is here.

Japan is taking our lunch money and Volkswagen at that point, honestly.

What do we do?

Oh my God.

Fuck, oh God, oh fuck.

And then they just like, let's just whitewash.

Badge slap.

And take note, right?

They weren't badge slapping on a cord.

They weren't badge slapping a Toyota.

Because they were already very successful in this marketplace.

So what do they do?

Right?

Even, you know, Chrysler went to Mitsubishi.

Yep.

I was going to say Dodds and Mitsubishi in bed.

Yeah.

And Chevy went to Izuzu and later a bit to Suzuki, right?

Oh yeah.

In the 80s with the sprint you see behind me.

Not to mention Geo, right?

Like Suzuki and a Suzuki.

Yep.

And a little bit of Toyota.

And they did.

Yeah.

And that was less, you know, them trying to take advantage of a smaller manufacturer

to get a good product and more of like, hey, we're going havesies on this plant

in Fremont.

That Uncle Elon is going to soil in a few decades.

Why don't we just build some shit together?

And so we ended up with that and the vibe and other stuff.

But like, and then Ford was like, fuck it.

Let's just buy a huge share in Mazda.

Right?

Yeah.

And so that's how Ford did it.

And Volvo.

And Volvo and...

All kinds of interesting in bed partners here.

Yeah.

But how about a Suzuki though, man?

There's some cool stuff.

Yeah.

What do you...

You have not yet to christen the fleet with a Suzuki product.

If you were, if you were, Frank, like, what do you think you're...

Well, if you're gonna, you probably should.

I think you actually probably should.

What as Suzuki product can you see yourself owning?

I would be Impulse RS.

Impulse RS is a one, but even just like a regular, regular...

One of the trim levels was XS.

XS.

And it was the base one.

I kicked my...

That was it.

So you could get XS or RS was all they had for impulses.

So I looked at an XS.

Yeah.

It was just an NA.

I thought there were two NAs, like one with like 10 extra horsepower or something, like

one third.

Not that I know of.

I think the Impulse only got the XS and RS.

So I looked at an XS when I first came out to...

And I was listening to NXS.

Well, choking yourself in the closet.

What was it?

Porno for pyros.

I can't remember who I was listening to, but it's a similar vein.

Never go full Kennedy.

So I went to check out an Impulse XS.

And I had to walk away from it because it was so rough.

So I don't...

You know what that means.

So interior completely shattered.

And this is before they even became any...

They weren't of any value, right?

They were asking like 2,500 bucks or 3,000 bucks.

And I thought it was out of this world.

Sure.

Yeah, it'd be like 2013 or so.

And it was just like dash instrument cluster.

Everything's trash, sheets, trash, paint, trash.

Bumper was hanging down by like two screws.

They riveted to the side of the body work.

That kind of scenario.

But I love them.

I passed on my infamous story where I passed on an Impulse RS

like decades ago that had a Mountain Dew can

for the intercooler piping.

And it was rotted out like rust seriously.

But they're so rare.

You can't find those cars anymore.

But I'm kind of with you.

If I could find an Impulse RS, of course, I'd scoop it.

But I sure like those iMarks.

The iMark turbos.

Yeah, those are turbo.

I think those things are killer, like cool, boxy hatchback,

decent enough power.

I think the Impulse RS is the play for performance.

Yeah, although a stylus.

Was it a stylus RS, too?

Where you got the turbo motor?

They never made it.

Not for the States.

We only got the regular stylus.

And I also, because I'm a horrible shit car guy,

I left a note on this.

It had to be an old lady because the interior of the car

was like, it looked like a lady lived in there.

Or blankets and stuff like that.

And an older lady had a Walmart here in California

when I came out here.

And I left like 15 notes.

Like, I will pay you way more than your car is worth.

Like, I just, I really care about these cars.

I mean, it was Bone Stock Original Plates stylus.

Okay.

Manual.

Rad.

I know.

That's fun.

She was probably like, dream on, shit head.

Dude, I had a similar quick tangent.

I had a similar thought today.

I decided not to accost the old lady.

I saw her loading groceries into her car

in the handicapped stall.

But this was a, God, I think it's a one year only color.

I don't remember the year.

Oh, he's Corvette Guy.

He's Corvette Guy.

No, it was like a later NA Miata in metallic green.

But like the more, the slightly more like

goldish or metallic green.

More yellowy green?

Yeah.

Like a lighter, yeah, okay.

No, it was still super dark.

Right.

But a little bit of, a little bit of lightness to it.

Yeah.

Like not British racing green.

Like more, more kind of goldy flaky to it.

There was an SC in that color, I believe.

It must have been what it was.

I had the original wheels, chrome, factory hard top,

tan leather, super clean.

Yeah.

It sounds like an SC 97 maybe?

Yeah.

It was, it seemed like a late run.

Yep.

And so she was like loading her groceries in it.

And I was just like with my family.

I was almost like, you guys stay here.

I got to take care of something.

But I decided not to be that guy.

Because I'm sure she gets it all the time.

Sure.

I think it's a good color.

It was a clean car.

And not hard top alone.

So like two, two, three grand right now.

Yeah.

Fucking bonkers.

So hopefully she knows what she has.

But anyways, I did not do what you did to impulse.

I just left notes, man.

Passive aggressive.

Each one got more passive, more aggressive, less passive.

She cheers you a little bit.

Yeah.

Like super, yeah.

Just terrible.

Horrible, dude.

But no interesting.

And what's, what else is cool is like, it's funny

because when I think it is, I don't, I think trucks

and I think most people think that's fair.

I don't think cars, but yeah, they had a run.

Right.

You can get an eye marked diesel, which is insane.

Which would be rad.

But as far as trucks, I strongly considered getting a via

cross as a daily for a while.

And I never, I never bellied up to that bar,

which is a shame.

But, and now they're like kind of finally getting their

just desserts and like finding a clean one for like

under 12 is kind of hard.

Yeah.

Yep.

And so, yeah, I don't know if I'll ever live out my via

cross dreams.

See, I'm more trooper.

I've always preferred the boxy original troopers to the

via cross.

It's like a more like truck truck.

You can get a manual.

I agree.

You can get a manual with a via cross.

Weird.

It's, I don't know if it, I mean, when do you,

weird, maybe, maybe, but when do you see like troopers

just roll it around?

You don't see a first gen trooper at all anymore.

And for good reason.

Sure.

These things rusted out like just a tin can tossed on the

side of the brook.

Yes.

No, but there, I do like the, and the troopers were

interesting.

The second gen ones had that like split that like

almost like 40, 60 split rear door.

So did they first gen?

Yes.

True.

The second gens are a little softer, a little more

trying to be like a Land Cruiser four runner type

looking vehicle.

Which you get the two door RS.

Yeah.

They're impossible to find.

89.

That was the first gen 89 RS, the only year.

Those things are pretty neat.

Yeah, shorter rubies.

I thought you can also get it for like one year only

in the second gen.

I don't think so.

Not in the statey states.

I swear, I swear I saw a left-hand drive one

out of Radwood and I thought it was like

they made like 1200 or something and then that was

89.

I think 89 is the only year.

The year after mine.

React in the comments.

Tell us.

Was Frank hallucinating?

Completely reasonable.

There was an 89 RS, which is the only year I know

we sold in the states.

Yeah.

That's first gen.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Yeah, I do think the troopers, especially the

earlier troopers are far more iconic.

I don't know though.

The V-across is pretty iconic.

Auto Gearbox takes a lot of the fun out of

the recipe for me.

That's fair.

V-across is like a cool six-speed manual.

That would be kind of neat.

Yeah.

They're really pricey for what they are.

You know an Axiom guy?

Mr. Axiom?

That's kind of weird.

You know what's funny?

The Axiom is really funny because that's

one of the things when it came out and in

my head canon, thinking back to when that

came out.

Sure.

I was like, oh, they're so over styled.

It's crazy.

The future.

Wow, they're so.

And then you go back and look and it's

just tame looking, just not.

It just has like a slightly goofy front end

and you're like, oh, this is just like a

bog standard.

Yeah.

The front end is cool as shit.

It is pretty futuristic looking, man.

I kind of like the front end on those

though.

Yeah, they don't.

And in my mind, they're crazy and

like, oh, that'd be so sick.

The daily and Axiom.

It's a bad name.

It's got this crazy avant-garde

styling and then it's like totally

blasé with like, yeah, kind of

kind of wonky looking front end.

You're like, oh, it actually, we were

just like, we just had no taste.

Yeah.

I still like them.

I don't think they look that bad.

I don't think they look bad.

They don't look bad.

They just don't look.

I expect like when I like, I don't

know, I just, you go back expecting

it to look like bad.

Like it was like out of control.

They would deeply over styled it.

And then you're like, oh, it's

just like, it's just an object

like whatever.

Two kinds of people drive a CZU Axiom.

People that have no idea they're driving

in a CZU Axiom and then someone that

went way the fuck out of their way

to drive in a CZU Axiom.

It's like, that's the only two camps

for that truck.

Are there any, are there any left?

Let me see if I can find an Axiom.

Oh yeah, they're always for sale,

man.

I always see those sons of bitches.

Do you?

And they're dirt cheap, dude.

It's going to be like three to

four grand.

Like it just looks, it just,

like here's a really nice one for

five grand.

It looks good.

You know what it just looks like?

It's just like.

The future.

It looks like the future.

Just accept it.

Okay, here's a goal.

Don't say no to be like that.

No.

No, it's just, I don't know.

It's like, it's like a bitchy

beachy, was it endeavor?

Is that the one that replaced

like the Montero Sport?

Yeah, it's bigger than an

Outlander.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just fine.

I don't know.

Axiom, Axiom truthers get in

here.

Dude, it's, it's a good little

truck, man.

I'm trying to remember what other,

I mean, they had the Ascender,

which again is another GM.

The Ascender?

Yeah, the ass, the ass eater.

And they just, it's just a

rebadged trailblazer.

It's part of that.

Yeah, yeah.

That one got rebadged like 30

times.

Yeah.

But what about?

Axiom.

You go, you go, take an

axiom on the rally.

You know what?

Here, let's do this.

Well, we'll each pick one of

these automakers.

You take a Suzuki XL7,

I'll get an axiom.

It'll just be the coolest dude's

ever that no one will give a

fuck about those vehicles.

What motor, what motor was in

the axiom?

I think the axiom got the

356, which was a pretty damn.

Yeah, that was.

Via cross motor,

essentially.

Yeah.

Via, I was in everything.

I mean, it's a better motor

than the, the two seven

that you got in the XL7.

Yeah, definitely is.

Yeah.

Definitely is.

It's an OK motor, but it's

like 170 horsepower or

something.

It's like not better than

the one, the, what the

two six in my trooper with 120

that felt like 30 horsepower.

Right.

Yeah.

Well, yours had unlimited mileage

on it too.

So.

Yeah.

Well.

Yeah.

And then what's, what's

Suzuki doing for you?

Oh, boy.

Besides sidekicks, which I

love and geotrackers.

I don't know.

Original Grand Vitara.

If you can find one in a

manual.

Yeah.

Which is, which is fine.

But yeah, sidekick.

Mm hmm.

You know, get a, you know, a

tint or even like a samurai

tin top would be sick, but.

God, the prices.

Yeah.

And then you just, you end

up swapping it out for a

16 valve sidekick motor anyway.

Like, right?

So.

Yeah.

Just stick with the sidekick.

I do like, I don't think

the XL7 is bad.

I think if you need an

affordable three row like

cool SUV, I think you can

do for sure.

Yeah.

Right.

They're, they're body on frame.

They're reasonably reliable.

Parts are reasonably available

and cheap.

Yeah.

No, for just like if you

do like a shift probably a

Swift G.

Yeah.

Swift GTI is probably the

Suzuki if I was to pick one

Suzuki.

Yeah.

And like I said, I almost

wouldn't got that one in LA.

It was just way too shady.

Dash cluster didn't match up.

You sent me that one the

other night.

And I'm like, oh my God,

even this is a regular Swift.

They didn't even have attack.

I'm like, okay.

Here's where you don't

highlight your high revving

engine.

But yeah.

Those things are,

they're always fucked

because they're like

worthless.

Like to the absolute 99%

of the people, they're

worthless.

Yeah.

They have no value.

So people just abused them

but they are so cool, man.

Like out of all those

like little cars like that,

I think that I've always

favored the GTI as the

one I want to own.

I feel like there's some,

I love you sprint turbo.

What is the,

what was,

I'm trying to remember

like early 2000s,

like utterly forgettable

sedan that they had.

They had a few of them

actually.

It was like the Verona.

You're not talking about

the, the Essex,

not the Essex four came

after the Ario sedan was

here.

No, it was the Verona.

I'm thinking the

Suzuki Verona.

Ah.

Gotcha.

Again.

My Verona.

Yeah.

Dude.

The Reno,

the Suzuki Reno.

And then guess what?

Guess what?

Just stuff nobody knew

about the Suzuki Verona.

It was actually a rebadged

debut as it turns out.

That makes sense.

It's not even worse.

Yeah.

It's okay.

So we've discovered

the worst Suzuki.

Yeah.

Has to be closed.

It's horrible.

That's horrible piece of shit.

Yeah.

But no, that, yeah,

definitely switch GTI.

Boy.

They made some cool stuff.

Yeah.

I do like the Essex fours.

Yeah.

I like the Essex four

all wheel drive

because you can get it with a

manual and it's selectable

front and four wheel drive,

which I think is kind of cool.

Yeah.

And they're neat looking.

They look like a little like

they kind of look like

a hot hatch mini crossover.

I think they're kind of cool

looking.

Yeah.

And then what's funny is,

you know,

I was just going off on this

thing about

the axiom

and how in my mind

it was this over styled

monstrosity that was like

taking chances

for the sake of taking chances

because they're a smaller player

in the space

and that's what they have to do

and then going back

and being like, oh, it was

actually not crazy.

It was pretty tame.

The Suzuki Kizashi

is the exact same thing

in my mind.

Yeah.

And that thing came out

and was like, whoa,

look at that thing.

That's all swoopy and crazy.

And then you go back

and look and like,

oh, that's like a rental car.

Like it just doesn't,

it doesn't look impressive

at all.

But in the moment,

it was like, whoa,

Suzuki's making moves

and taking chances.

And it was just like,

a blip on the radar

and no one cared.

Even the name was like

some kind of like ninja character

on a fighting game

at the time, right?

Like Kizashi player one.

Yeah.

And it's like,

battling seizure robots.

Yeah.

Good episode.

No, Suzuki,

I think probably

out of all these,

man, it's hard to say.

I'd probably say Suzuki's

probably had the most success

state side

out of all three of these

because they had a long run,

right?

They started in what

the mid 80s with the

first samurai.

85,

84,

85.

Boy, it's tough

because I think

if we're just talking

about stuff that is sold

badged as

what it is

and not counting

like a Geo Metro,

it's sold well.

Didn't have a great rep,

but it was a

well,

a good selling product

or Chevy tracker

or assender

like not counting that stuff.

Boy, that is tough.

I'd be really curious

to see which one had

more sales

because like in my head

is like, well, they sold

a bunch of troopers

and they sold

a bunch of rodeos.

A ton of rodeos,

but they sold a bunch of

sidekicks and they sold

like,

you know, not counting

the impulse

and the veronahs

of the world.

I mean,

Suzuki's got their motorcycle

division.

Azizi's got their truck

division.

Dahatsu also truck division.

I think

but Suzuki lasted

what,

85 samurai

and then all the way

to like 2012-13

time period with like

whatever the hell they had.

What was their last truck?

What is their last vehicle?

I'm looking at their last model year.

It's got to be like

12-13.

2013.

Okay.

Cool.

That's a pretty long haul, man.

85 to 2013.

Yeah.

That's a good haul.

Yeah, that is,

that's a good haul

and it looks like

they started selling

in 2000

to 2005.

Yeah.

The samurai,

I just couldn't remember

exactly what year,

but yeah.

Yeah.

God,

what else did they have?

Now,

I'm trying to figure out

what did they have

that we missed out on?

So,

they had the Swift,

of course.

Yep.

SX-4,

Kizashi,

Gran Vitara.

Oh,

we forgot a re-badge.

Oh.

What if I told you

it's a Nissan?

Wait,

re-badged is a

Suzuki?

Yeah.

Let's see.

Can you guess it?

I don't think I can.

This would have been

2009 to the end

of 2013.

Okay, yeah.

So, at the end,

they didn't have original

Suzuki's really.

They just had re-badges.

It was a,

it wasn't like a Versa,

was it?

It was a

Suzuki Equator.

It was a Versa,

though?

Nissan Versa?

No.

You don't remember

the Suzuki Equator?

No, but

it was a Frontier.

Okay, yeah.

Nice.

Like, very sloppily

re-badged.

Like, it was not fooling

anybody.

And then you had the Reno.

That is right.

Yep, the hatchback.

Yeah, the

Forenza was the

sedan version.

We had the

esteem.

Oh, it's right, yeah.

Better Call Saul drove

one of those

if you've watched that program.

Yeah, that's not good

for one's self-esteem.

Yellow esteem.

And one that,

like,

almost should be

unofficial mascot of the

pod.

The

two-seater

SUV.

Oh, X-90.

X-90.

God, I want an X-90,

badly.

They're so cool.

They're just so less

functional than, like,

a sidekick.

It's wildly

impractical.

They're cool as fuck, though.

They are cool as fuck.

They were good at carrying

giant cans of Red Bull, though,

if you remember the

Red Bull cars.

Yeah,

decidedly so.

But yeah, it's just like,

God, I just,

I don't want a sidekick,

but I don't want functionality

to be an important thing

in my life.

Yeah,

I love them, though.

Yeah, which you're already, like,

walking that line

when you're buying a sidekick

or a samurai to begin with.

I love the track or sidekicks.

I think they're fun.

Dude, I think for off-roading,

you can't beat the visibility, man.

And plus, your footprint's

so small, you know

where everything is.

Why?

What's interesting is,

like, I do think,

I've got,

and now I've got,

we'll talk about it on PCP.

On PCP.

Already there, man.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

But

I've got,

I've just, with mine

and tooling around a little bit,

because they're so affordable.

Like, it's,

the combination of,

with like a tracker

or a sidekick

or the Tara

with any of these,

especially in two-door

guys,

preferably soft top.

Mm-hmm.

They are just so,

the dollar per

like,

smile on other people factor

is extreme, right?

Yeah.

They're pretty practical.

They get good fuel economy.

They're easy to work on.

Parts are easily available

for the most part.

Easy to work on.

And like,

because the value's so low

and like any,

you show up anywhere

in one of those people

like,

Oh, what's that?

And just,

yeah,

you know, a tracker or whatever

or people know what it is

and there's like,

Oh, cool, you have one of those?

And you're like,

yeah, man,

I bought it for three grand

and it's perfect.

Exactly.

And,

and so

what also is appealing

about that is like,

you can customize those cars

and not lose any sleep

about whatever you choose

to do with the car.

Yeah.

Raise it,

put it on mud terrains,

slam it,

do Zoku it,

just put like a

DB drag setup

and just blow,

you know,

ridiculous subwoofers,

whatever.

And people will still smile

and give you fist bumps

and it costs

nothing to do so.

They're such a cool little canvas.

They're so cool.

They'll never exist again.

No one will ever make that again.

Like,

I don't know because of safety,

but for one thing,

but you're right, dude,

it's,

but they're never perfect though, right?

Like finding a clean one now

is actually a very serious challenge,

right?

Yeah.

Like a lot of them

because they bottomed out on price,

I don't know,

a decade ago,

probably more than a decade ago at this point.

Yeah.

Two years,

two years after ownership

began the first model,

but

bought them out

and they got really converted

to four-wheel drive ones

even more so

got converted to off-road

like beaters

were stripped out,

big tires,

our lift kits,

the body was torn apart,

interiors were gutted,

that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

I think you find that way more.

The two-wheel drives

you can find a little bit easier,

but still like,

when anything gets like,

bottom dollar,

it gets harassed

by the wrong folks.

Yeah.

Yeah, the good news

with the two-wheel drive ones

is they weren't scooped up

by people to have like,

the quarter panels

cut out of it

so they can run

huge mud terrains

and like,

re-gear them with like

six or something.

That's my point.

If you want to

truly a original clean one,

you should be gunning

for the two-wheel drives,

but they are still,

and they're a blast to drive

and they're fun to drive.

Yeah.

Yeah, they're silly.

Easier to maintain

stuff, so.

Yeah.

Cool trucks.

But yeah,

dude, I thought this was a good

episode, man.

I thought it was really good

to shine some light

on these companies,

and they all had

really cool stuff,

like, right?

Like,

especially if we're looking

at small, small

SUVs, right?

It was super kind of bigger,

but all three

of these had

some pretty big hits.

Yeah.

And who knows,

maybe we'll talk more

about Suzuki products

during our project

car progress.

I don't know.

I don't know for now.

Probably going to happen.

I think we should

get on down the road,

but I just want to,

like,

one last parting thought

is like,

it sucks that they're no longer

selling cars in North America.

I don't know if there ever

would be a path for them back,

kind of like Fiat came back

and Alfa Romeo came back

and then immediately

failed again,

because they kind of

aren't making anything new.

At least not that anyone buys.

I would like to see them

come back.

Who knows?

Maybe they get bought up

by GM or somebody,

and then they bring them

in for a new

era.

But I'm here for it,

because I'll ask you to point out,

let's go.

Oh, God.

Yes.

Fair enough.

Let's play a little game,

my friend.

Are you going to quiz

over my neck and chest?

God damn right.

I've been saving it up

since two weeks ago,

so that's going to be

plentiful.

This is going to be fun,

dude.

So I'm going to

pull up a nasty little

ad for you.

It's actually not nasty at

all.

This is probably a,

let me assign a spicy

level before you explain

the game.

Okay.

So this should be,

this should be quite

gettable.

If I'm on my A game

and let's face it,

I never am.

And what is it

that I'm game for you

might be asking?

Well, Chadwick pulls this

up.

He's going to dig up

an advertisement,

and it will be

my job to

hear

the type copy

from this ad.

So Chadwick

is going to read

the type copy from

the advertisement.

He will redact out

using the power

of his mind.

Anything overly

identifying

it will then be

incumbent upon me

within 10 minutes

and three

guesses

to try and figure out

the make model

and approximate

model year

of the vehicle

this advertisement

is trying to

shill to us.

Please play along at home.

It's quite fun.

I'm ready.

It's born that way.

How about you, Chadwick?

Oh, I'm ready

to stumble through

this one.

This should be fun.

Let's see if

I can zoom in

because it is hard

to read this one.

Two page spread.

Oh, wow.

Direct

side view of the vehicle.

Okay.

Passager side.

Background.

Cloudy.

Sky.

Looks wonderful.

Beautiful day.

Chance of meatballs.

The big catchphrase

at the top

is the new blank

convertible.

Now open to the public.

Okay.

All right.

Access requires

a driver's license,

a set of keys

and an open road.

So hop in

and see for yourself

just how much recreational

hardware the blanks got.

There's a sequential port

and port field injected V6.

Sport suspension.

Sport is a word.

Front and rear stabilizer bars,

integrated rear spoiler,

a four speaker sound system

and the big one.

A factory installed,

fully lined,

power rag top.

Oh, wow.

Power.

But blank isn't just sporty machinery

and a blast to drive.

If you can consider that.

It's thoughtfully designed too.

It has an ergonomically correct

cockpit.

Okay.

One with all the important buttons,

nestled close at hand,

including the one for instant sunshine.

That's a reference to the convertible top again.

A glass rear window with

electric defogger.

I can't read the next one.

It's a security system.

They call that the specific name.

And equipment not found.

Do we have the name?

Or is it like?

I can't say it.

Yeah.

It's specific to the automaker.

And equipment not found on any other car

in its class.

Standard dual airbags

and anti-lock brakes.

All of which is wrapped in a body

that won't quit.

I fucking love.

Oh, boy.

These tips don't lie.

And ask that won't quit.

Why did that go away?

It's so good.

It finally quit, I guess.

Would they paint job so advanced?

This is a good one.

This is the best part of this ad.

Ready?

A paint job so advanced.

Mercedes Benz.

In case you thought this was a Mercedes,

it's not paid to visit us

to see how it's done.

Damn.

They don't qualify.

That's a true story or not.

So it's no wonder.

Blank comes with a blah, blah, blah, warranty,

deductible, blah, blah, blah,

roadside assistance.

365 days.

Blank convertible.

What else would you expect?

Right?

Or say these paid to see how this car is painted?

Boy.

So there's a 10 minutes on the clock.

There's a few things that come into mind,

come into mind.

Just makes and models.

So real quick, refresh my memory.

Sure.

Did you say multi-point fuel-injected V6?

Or was there more to that V6 that I glossed over?

You're kind of close.

Subtrential port fuel-injected.

Okay.

So it's not like a batch fire bullshit.

Okay.

Didn't give a horsepower, didn't give a displacement.

No, V6, though.

V6.

Convertible.

So this could be...

First year of the convertible, too.

Correct.

So it was a coupe.

And then it ushered in a new era.

I don't know if the original...

And here's the thing.

Dual front airbags, yes.

Okay.

In the same sentence, they mentioned ABS.

A lot of safety.

So this has got to be like mid-90s,

because there wasn't a whole lot.

And that's at the earliest.

Dual airbags.

Initially, I was thinking maybe this is an

Infinity M30 convertible,

because that started as...

I believe it was a coupe on launch,

and then the following year,

you can get that ASC built convertible.

But I'm pretty confident those never...

I'm not even convinced they had driver's airbags.

They might have had a driver's airbag.

I really don't think they had a passenger airbag.

So I'm gonna like...

I don't think it's the M30.

Could it be a Chrysler Sebring...

I think it could be.

And this would have been like a 90...

God.

Did they do the dual airbag thing?

I don't know.

A 95, 96?

You know what? Probably a little later.

Probably like a 97, 98.

I can see them having dual airbags.

So it could be that.

Could this be a Camry Solara?

It doesn't quite read like Camry Solara had.

But it could be.

No real transmission talk that I picked up on.

Nope.

Other V6 convertible.

The whole sequential port thing,

that almost does sound GM as well.

I know a lot of those early 38...

I don't know.

The early 3800s were all batch fire.

So not sequential.

It's no TBI, that's for sure.

No, not TBI.

No, not traumatic brain injury.

Okay, just to get the party started,

I'm going to say what the first thing that came to my mind

before the M30, which was...

I'm gonna say this is a 1990...

let's call it a 1997...

Chrysler Sebring convertible.

Perhaps a JXI...

Trim level.

Final answer, Bob.

That vehicle is not open to the public like this one is.

Sure.

Okay.

So it is not the Chrysler Sebring.

How can I help you, my friend?

Feel free to ask for any advice.

Oh boy.

That is asking for too much.

Mercedes Benz came in and...

I see how you went with Chrysler, you know.

Is...

Golly.

I don't think I can ask if it's a North American.

That might be too much, huh?

It's a lot, but...

Is it a domestic manufacturer?

Well, let me just...

I won't answer that.

Or you give me a good hint.

How about if I don't tell you yes or no,

but I say,

what else would you expect from the country that

invented rock and roll?

Okay.

All right.

Does that help?

I don't know.

I don't know those...

It's in there.

Have you seen those like hardcore Japanese greaser guys

that like really do the whole greaser look thing

in Japan with like the leather jackets

and like this...

They all look like a whole bunch of Johnny Bravos out there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, like those guys.

So who knows?

Boy.

So also of this era, so okay,

Chrysler, they never...

It's stablemate the Avenger.

I don't think ever was available in a convertible.

I don't know if Dodge was doing convertibles of that era.

Certainly no Plymouth, not named the prowler,

which is not a prowler.

No prowlers.

Ford at the time.

What the hell were they offering as a convertible?

I mean Mustang.

Is this a V6 Mustang convertible?

Like New Edge?

No.

SN95.

Who says New Edge like that?

Brood.

Whatever.

Never been an SN95 or New Edge guy.

Although like Cobra.

Cobra is cool.

Crab is dope.

I don't think it's that.

I don't...

I like the Mokwon.

Mokwon is sick.

Is that it?

Yeah.

Mokwon is sick.

Super sick.

GM Land.

I don't think that's stupid 2.8.

This son of a bit.

I'm about to shut this podcast down.

Oh, that motor sucks.

It's one of the best motors GM ever.

That motor milks.

Talk about motors that had so many applications.

Right.

That might be the one.

None of them could.

So I don't think this is like an earlier V6 Cavalier

and that's horseshit.

Golly.

A 4 out of 10, huh?

I don't know.

I just, I'm struggling with, you know, could it be a cutlass

supreme convertible?

Maybe.

Front and rear stabilizer bars.

Come on.

Oh boy.

Be still in my chart.

Or speaker system.

It's got rear.

It is a power top though.

Yeah.

Whatever.

I'm very grumpy right now.

All right.

Well, let me, before I run out of room and make everyone leave

this podcast because I'm just here mumbling and grumbling.

Mercedes paid to see this thing painted.

Also.

Yeah.

No, go ahead.

Yeah.

Sure they did.

God damn it.

Okay.

I'm just going to say this is a, I'm going to say this

is an old cutlass supreme convertible.

Yeah.

1997, finally answer, Bob.

It is not that.

And you need to go back in time about four years.

Okay.

To help you out there.

With dual airbags, huh?

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

God damn.

If you knew, if you knew how hardcore sequential port

fuel injection belonged to a certain automaker, that

would have got you right there at the beginning.

That's why I gave it a four out of 10.

And I was actually not going to say it.

SFI, huh?

They did.

SFI.

That's a very, that's a actual.

I mean, that's a GM thing, right?

That's a GM thing, right?

Absolutely is.

Yeah.

What can I do to help you get there?

I don't know, man.

Like, without like giving it, hmm.

Sporty V6.

I mean.

Sporty V6.

I would actually agree that this is a more sporty

V6 than most of the other GM V6s out there.

Read into that as you will.

I think this is Warve sports car.

Right?

I mean, fucking V6 Camaro.

If this is the first year that that one came out.

When did they roll the convertible?

Did they do convertible for that?

I mean, they had, I suppose they could have done

Coupe and T-Top in what, 93?

And then 94 rolled out the convertible.

With that 160 horse dogs in quality three, four.

They're sporty.

It's got a spoiler and sway bars.

Ooh.

What was the main tagline again above the whole thing?

Now open to the public.

Sure.

New blank convertible.

Yeah.

I mean, that's going to be the guess I'm going to make.

It's a, call it a 94.

I saw a really nice one today, actually.

A 94 Chevrolet Corvette V6 convertible with no mention

of an optional V8 because why would you finally answer Bob?

You meant Camaro, correct?

He said Corvette.

Oh, what did I say?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Camaro, Camaro, Camaro.

Let's Corvette V6.

I don't get a 34.

There's something to have.

I think I led you to water, my friend.

The new Camaro convertible.

Now open to the public.

This is 1993, Frank.

You know, I've got, I have.

Let me tell you something.

Whenever there's an ad and they talk a great looking ad.

It's a good looking car.

And they talk about sort of profile is not my favorite on those

convertibles.

I don't know.

Dude, you got to get, you got to have more overhang in your life.

I was going to say overhang.

So much overhang.

But no, like I tend to get tripped up on ads where they,

whatever reason make no mention of higher trim offerings.

Right.

Like they didn't even say like, you know,

V6 or optional V8, they're just like,

it's got this really special V6 and just like,

don't gloss over the fact that there's like a big dog motor

ahead of it in the LT.

I agree, but I think the convertible only launched with

the V6.

So I will fight for the Camaro in this case.

And I don't think the V8 came out to like a couple years

later.

Look at those wheel covers.

I know, dude.

Man.

I don't know.

Those might be real blades, bro.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I had a, I had a friend of mine who had a 90,

it was a 93 or 94 Camaro V6 manual coupe tea tops.

And that was his like high school car.

His fair, it was his second car.

His first car was an escort, an early escort GT,

like an 84 escort GT, white, white on the tan.

That's my kind of.

And then he sold it and got a Camaro.

And the Camaro was like that,

like Eucalyptus green color, gray cloth.

And he kept this thing perfect.

I mean, it was immaculate.

Wow.

I think eventually he, he had it a long time.

He had it like four years, three, four years,

put Flowmasters on it.

And, and I think that, and then the,

the, the, was it the Panasonic stereo with

like the dolphin swimming on it and stuff,

the dolphin graphics.

Pioneer, I believe.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

I think you're right.

I think it was a Pioneer.

But yeah.

Yeah.

So not a great car, but I've got a,

I've got a soft, a fond.

I think fondly on it.

Very cool.

Well, you got there.

That's all that counts.

I will hold, I'll hold your hand on that one.

I thought it was going to be easier just because I thought

you were going to immediately jump into GM land.

But interesting.

Yeah.

They only launched with the V6.

So worthwhile car to talk about.

And what did they call this?

What did they, was it the Delco,

was it a Delco stereo?

Cause you said there was a stereo.

Oh no, it was the pass key, their security system,

pass key to GM.

Oh that's security, security.

Yeah.

Remember the little keys with the little, yeah.

Pass key, yep.

So I had to at least cut that one out for you.

But yeah.

Good job, man.

You could have given that to me as a hint.

I would have tripped on it like SFI.

All right.

Brad.

How about we celebrate nonetheless with a little PCP,

otherwise known as Project Car Progress.

Yeah.

Have you turned any wrenches, my friend?

A little bit.

Okay.

As much as I need to.

That's going to be hopefully soon because I'm running out of time.

That's the podcast theme song, I believe.

Oh yeah.

Turning wrenches when you have too many.

Not as much as I need to.

I've been turning wrenches on Suzuki products,

which is apt.

So two things.

So I think last we left our heroes,

I had picked up the Suzuki Vitara.

And did I mention it not passing smog and my theory

on how to get it to pass smog?

You went into your,

it was basically Dr. Ian Malcolm doing chaos theory.

It was weird that you were doing it on my hand.

That was off camera.

We didn't record that part.

Yeah.

No, you did.

You did your chaos theory.

Yes, well.

Wrenching finds a way.

And so I did find a way to swap out the thermostat

because that's what my chaos theory on why it was

not passing smog.

So that's what I did.

So I got the thermostat and the replacement housing,

popped the thermostat out.

And right as I pull it out, I'm like,

oh, somebody's recently replaced his thermostat.

Part of the nation didn't do it.

But it was an aftermarket Moto Rad 192 degree

thermostat, completely identical to the other one

I had just purchased and was holding it in my hand.

But I also had noticed that for whatever reason,

because it's got this thermostat.

It's pretty small thermostat, but it's got like the baked

in rubber, like kind of o-ring gasket.

Gasket.

Yep.

And that's all you need.

It's a three bolt housing.

You pop the housing off.

You pop that out.

You pop the new one on.

You put that in, add some fluid, send it.

Somebody had, for whatever reason,

RTV'd that rubber o-ring.

Which is like, never, never do that.

That's probably why it was leaking.

Because the housing itself, it's a little plastic

housing, three bolts, real simple.

Just a little water neck.

Yep.

Looked fine.

And I think it also, too, was a replacement.

So I got the new one.

So I cleaned up the RTV gray, put it all back in.

It looked like a pretty new part.

Didn't look like it had been in there all that long.

Put it all back together.

All right.

Well, that's not promising, but let's see.

So get in the car, plug my scanner in.

Sure enough, the cat monitor still has not set.

One drive cycle.

I did one drive cycle in the cat monitor set.

Boink!

Just like that.

Like eight miles, I think I drove.

And then bang, set it.

And that's all it was.

It just, the ECU was not running the catalytic converter test

because it was not seeing the exact operating temp

it wanted to see.

And on the gauge, even after I replaced it,

the gauge still went like a hair under the midpoint

just like it was all the whole time before.

I was like, shit, it's going to do the same thing.

It's not going to set.

Boink!

It's set.

Nice.

So the chaos theory, it worked.

So I just, the next day, took it, got it smogged,

paid my registration, got my tag.

It's tagged till the end of 26.

Hell yeah.

It's great.

So I took it on a drive yesterday.

I drove up to like outside Santa Rosa and back 70 miles

each way, drove great.

Windows down.

I didn't, I was in a rush.

I didn't get to take the top off, but windows down.

The only, you know, perfect, ran perfectly.

16 valve in yours or is it?

16 valve.

1.600.

I think it's 96 horsepower.

Wow.

Big power guy.

That's a big block.

That's right.

So yeah.

And then also just real quick touching on the sprint behind me.

Currently it is clogging up my garage.

It has a slightly mysterious coolant leak.

I'm trying to hunt down.

I didn't notice that till I put it on jack stands to change

the oil and change out the two transmission dog bone mounts

called the torque shut arms.

It's probably that type of rubber.

It is.

Again, big block.

And they, rubber on those were torn.

I ordered one in.

I ordered both of them in.

One came in correct.

One came in incorrect.

Hopefully more correct.

Correct.

One will be here.

End of this week.

And so this is just sitting here.

And I got to get it booted because I got to work on the focus.

I might just end up doing that soon outside.

I don't know.

But the good news is.

Small issue solved for almost no money on.

Huge.

Which was, which was great.

The theory was true.

And that makes me feel really good.

But what doesn't feel good is the work I'm not getting done on

the focus.

So that's what's next.

Yep.

Cool.

It sucks to find a new issue, but coolant leaks, man.

Finding them before they become a real big issue.

Huge.

Yeah.

So it could have dodged a big one there.

Big if true.

Nice.

I have been putting in some, I wouldn't say long hours.

Like after hours is more aptly after work, trying to

sneak out in the garage, put the little baby to bed

and try to sneak out there and get it like an hour or

two and just not sleep has been working out great for me.

So we talked about the trackers phenomenon.

Remember I lubed it up pretty good.

Yes.

So I finally got around to the other side of it and I was

like, man, I don't, you know, I haven't been able to run it

because I did all this work to it.

So I took it apart again and I'm like, I'm just going to

replace the cable.

So when I pulled the cable out of the work connects to

the instrument cluster.

Sure.

There was first there was a ton of carbon like material

and I'm like, oh man, was it disintegrating in there?

I pulled out and there the metal section that goes in

is completely sheared off.

So that's why it was howling.

If I take you back when I drove it before it's like a

banshee dude, a banshee in the night just howled

in the fast you went the latter got the speedometer

still read.

So luckily it wasn't like a gauge cluster need to be

replaced, which is what I was fearing.

Brand new cable fixed it, but let me tell you the

job, dude.

So on these most of them are right hand drive, right?

In the world, right?

So the where it goes into the firewall is on the

passenger behind the drive, the glove box, which would

be where your cluster would be on a right hand drive

vehicle.

Not on this one, my friend.

So it goes in under goes, uh, snakes kind of under

the AC equipment and in the middle of the vehicle

then behind the gauge cluster up over there.

So it's kind of a pain in the dick.

So my theory was I the old one I tied to like

some bright orange paracord and kind of pulled it

through and then it made a high visibility.

I was able to work it through, but there's no way

you can one shot pull it.

It got hooked on everything along the way.

You can tell it was something that was definitely

not designed like that.

Like that cable was not meant to travel that far.

It's pretty long.

It's pretty long in terms of speedometer cable, but

dude, it fixed it.

The aftermarket cable I bought didn't have a

plastic press on it.

It had a metal one, which is an upgrade.

So everything was better fitment.

You're always worried about fitment was with

instrumentation like that.

I'm always so paranoid because you get there

and you're like, fuck, you have to route it.

It doesn't fit.

But no, plugged it in.

I have since had the vehicle down and driven it.

Perfect.

It's got to be one of those things where it's just like

it's so frustrating.

You kind of get used to it a little bit from

driving around, but it's always super annoying.

And then when you went, once it's silent, you're

like, oh my God, life is so much better.

It's so good, but I knew something was going

to foul or it was going to ruin the

speedometer, which is the biggest thing if

it like wears out the actual gears.

But yeah, that's it.

New, new cable.

I don't think they were pricey at all.

I still put some white lithium grease to it.

Cool little job, man.

And you're right.

Those are my favorite fixes to tell you the truth.

Annoying rattles, annoying things.

When you source those and fix them like motor

mounts, they're kind of weird because it's

like, I hate to do those jobs.

When you're done, you're like, totally worth it.

Totally worth the whole struggle.

Yeah.

I'm really hoping that's what's going to be

on the torque strut arm situation

thing on the Sprint.

Take care of your vibrations.

Yeah.

It's like, oh dude, it's so much better.

Yep.

We'll see.

Because all the other mounts look really good.

These ones aren't too hard to get to.

They're annoying, but they're not too bad.

Okay.

That's not bad.

But yeah, those are the, those like small

quality of life improvements are so good.

Yeah.

And you don't realize that you do it.

How big of an impact.

But cool.

Let's, let's end this.

Yes.

Guys, as always, thanks for joining us.

Another pointless automotive podcast,

APA podcast.

Check us out wherever you listen to your

podcast.

Please leave a review if you haven't yet.

We appreciate any feedback.

Just be truthful.

Or buy this thing.

We'll take lying at this point.

Yeah.

Definitely.

We're not egregiously, like obviously egregiously.

We have a, we have a pretty wavering

morals when it comes to most things.

So just go ahead and throw whatever you

want our way.

We also record every episode and put it

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So check it out there.

Subscribe if you haven't yet.

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Volvo V 50 rally car content coming

sometime.

I hope before the rally.

Maybe next episode even.

We'll see.

Maybe.

I don't know.

Frank, where can the good folks

follow your personal endeavors?

Don't.

But if you really want to.

Yeah.

Just the photographer's garage.

I'm taking pictures of cars.

That's what I do.

So tag along there.

But honestly, like tag along mostly

here because like if you want to

see pictures of cars, that's cool

and all.

So if you want to hear us ramble

on about more bullshit.

Do so here.

And then also our terrible, our

terrible Instagram at APA

podcast.

And always just check in.

Like send us messages.

We actually read them and

occasionally respond to them.

And it's appreciated even if

they're like thinly veiled

threats of violence.

Send it.

So I love it.

I think that's pretty much it.

Maybe we'll see you guys.

Stop veiling it.

Yeah.

Just wear it out in the

open.

We like it.

Bye.

Episode #190 - Also Rans From Japan

Suzuki Vitara

Suzuki Samurai

Kia Sportage

Chevrolet Tracker

Honda Passport

Honda Prologue

Acura Slx

Ford Capri

Chevrolet Corvette

Mazda MX-5 / Miata

Toyota Land Cruiser

Mitsubishi Outlander

Suzuki XL7

Porsche 356

Volkswagen Gti

Suzuki Verona

Suzuki SX4

Suzuki X90

Infiniti M30 Convertible

Toyota A90

Toyota Camry

Dodge Avenger

Plymouth Prowler

Ford Mustang

Ford Edge

Oldsmobile Cutlass

Chevrolet Camaro

Volvo V50

About this episode

Original notes