Episode #192 - Saving Nissan

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

Hey, Ian.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

Ooh.

Wow.

The noises of a podcast.

Mmm.

Is there, I mean, help me out here.

Is there such thing as podcast ASMR or are all podcast by definition ASMR or like if we like

fuzzied the mic and like popped peas and like did like really gross mouth noises and just

like got like really into it, you know, like eating like an overripe peach into the mic.

And I don't mean that as a euphemism.

I mean, like actually eating a delicious stone fruit.

Uh-huh.

Like do you like, I don't know, maybe there's maybe there's something here.

The only questionable thing I just saw was how you eat a peach.

For those of you who can see the video, he was kind of just grinding what looks

like a softball sized object into his face.

Give the peaches what they want.

Okay.

There's billions of them, you know.

Yeah.

Put there in a can by a man.

I know where that factor is.

Yeah.

That's right.

That's the one.

Yeah.

How, how are you?

Have you devoured any delicious stone fruit lately?

No, not really, uh, admittedly, uh, and sadly, no, no, I'm more of a, I'm more of a plum

over peaches guy.

Let's tell you the truth.

Ooh.

How about peach versus nectarine?

I mean, it's pretty close compare.

Yeah.

I still take a peach.

I'll take a peach over that for sure.

Yeah.

For some reason, like peach in my mind and, and, and thanks, thank you everyone for tuning

into the stone fruit hour.

Um, peaches are like an kind of any time of the year kind of thing.

A nectarine for some reason is like specifically spring, summer, and I don't even know if that's

one to ripe, but like in my mind that feels, I think that tracks, I think stone fruits

usually the beginning right before summer kicks off.

Yeah.

If I remember correctly.

It's like late April, early May kind of deal.

Yeah.

So interesting, man.

That's weird.

How you, why are you going to typecast your stone fruit to you?

That's the big question.

I know.

And then if you want to get really crazy, you grill, you grill your stone fruit.

You ever, you ever do that?

No, dude, we're going to get canceled if you put like, and then you put like some

sort of like cream base, like a burrata on top of it or something and some cracked

pepper, a little olive oil.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Just, just, and then you eat it loudly and sloppily into a microphone on a

box.

You grind it upon your face like you did earlier.

Exactly.

With your demonstration.

Got it.

Yes.

Cool.

Anyways, what's new?

Should we talk about car things?

We should probably steer it in that direction, I think so.

So I've got a listener, an unusual listener request that we're going to do.

We do listen to the people.

Even in this case, if the people doesn't listen to us.

So I've got a friend of mine, Mario, if you're out there, yeah, regular in real

life, super in your hearts.

But he, what's interesting is, he doesn't really listen to the podcast yet.

He'll like occasionally be like, oh, you guys should talk about this on the

podcast.

I'm like, oh, you mean the one you don't listen to?

Right.

And so he wanted, he was just like, oh, you guys should do, you know, like

a saving Nissan.

I was like, what we've, we've sort of talked about it a little bit, right?

Sure.

I haven't done a formal saving Nissan edition of the pod.

We've discussed the downfall and failures of infinity.

And we've talked about the Z cars when the new Z launched, which God, has our pod

been around that long?

Right?

We've new Z launched and we talked about it.

We're putting some years on, man.

I know that thing is old.

So yeah, I think that's, that's what we're going to do.

We're going to satiate listeners who aren't even listeners.

That's how.

That's how good we are.

That's how strong our reach is.

Exactly.

Yeah, we're omnipotent.

Um, so why don't we do, why don't we do that?

Say impotent.

Omni impotent.

Yes.

Oh, we're limp for everything.

We're so fucking limp.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

It's just forever limp.

So baby, I'm so flaccid right now.

God, I couldn't be any more flaccid.

Um, yeah.

Just like weeping because you, you, you can't get it soft.

Oh, I'm sorry, babe.

I can't even, I can't even.

We can't stop.

I can't even maintain a not erection.

Um,

See, this is stuff we gotta say.

We gotta say for the after dark episode.

Right.

Spoilers.

Yeah, I know we're given the best stuff out for free.

What we should actually give out for free is our opinions on how each of us maybe

could co-operative co-operatively.

I'm trying to speak words today.

Collaboratively.

That thing.

Yeah, it's going for it.

It's, you know what I'm drinking today?

Topo Chico.

It's just like bubbly sparkle water.

I'm, I'm, maybe that's it.

Maybe I'm not, I'm not nearly buzzed enough.

Anyways, how, how, how are we saving Nissan?

It's taking us like 10 minutes just at this point.

How are we saving Nissan?

Yeah, too long.

PLDR, this episode is about us saving Nissan.

We did save Infiniti, so Nissan's upper crusty class cousin, if you will.

I think Nissan, I think we all can agree that Nissan's a fantastic, not now, but

Nissan historically is a fantastic automaker.

Some absolute gems in some periods, they absolutely killed it.

They killed it.

One of the, one of the more memorable brands I'd say from the late 80s, early

90s era, for sure.

I think that's when they were probably firing at their best.

They've had, you know, shining moments before then, some after, but I think that

was their kind of heyday, to be honest, if I was going to break it down.

Today, horrible.

It's, it's, it's absolutely, it's, it's so sad, the state of the company.

What do you think, today's Nissan, what do you think is their most potent?

Or impotent, incidentally, where Limp is now good in our universe here.

Yeah, hell yeah.

What is their otherwise best product right now?

Well, like, what do you think, if you had to pick a single product of theirs,

if you, if they have product, I mean, does anyone really know?

But like, what do you, what do you think is their best product right now?

Low and, what is it?

Low and lazy always wins.

But no, best, best product, it's got to be, it's got to be their CVT

transmission, my friend.

It can't be, can't be any worse than their old one.

I still see paper plates on Centra as an ultimus, so they're still pushing

it, somehow, I'd probably say like a rogue or something to that effect.

It's probably one of their, their best sellers without looking at numbers.

That's just a, that's just a take from the heart.

Yeah, I mean, like, what do you think is it, like, if you were to pick

out a product like, oh, that's actually almost competent as a hundred percent

of Z, a hundred, and I would enjoy it.

I know I would enjoy that car.

Yeah, yeah, but that's not, that's, they're not selling those.

I feel like the current Centra, which I think is, it's been out for a minute

now, pretty decent.

I think it's actually an okay car.

For what it is, which is, you know, no one else will sell you a new car.

And whatever your parole officer or somebody like demands you have a new car,

you can't get a used car.

I don't know.

There's some scenario where you have to get a brand new car, dude.

And we, we had one as a, yeah, we had one as a rental in Hawaii.

And that was, it was more than capable.

Good little, it's like 72% of all Centra sales.

Yeah, right.

They're all rental flights, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, I thought it was pretty, pretty nice little car.

They look, they look nice.

Interior is cheap as all shit.

But yeah, no, right now I don't think the company's doing too well.

And I think it's pretty bad when they bring us in, right?

They task us with bringing it back from the dead.

You know, I know, especially since we actually charge a lot for our consulting here.

That's the only reason the podcast days afloat is, is for our consulting piece.

We don't need sponsorship.

I don't know.

Unless you got something, Holler.

You know what I, you know what I forgot, you know what technically is still not dead

somehow, the GTR.

Isn't that wild?

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, it's been, it's been like the, what the last challenger and charger

where it's been the last call, final edition.

We're going to sell it for one more year, red eye, brown eye edition.

And they just like, keep stretching it out like goat's the edition and it just, it won't die.

Oh, would you now, that's a good one.

Would you take a GTR or a Z?

Do I have to pay for it?

No.

Money is no object.

Yeah, but which one would you enjoy more?

Think about it for a while.

Obviously you can't get a manual with the GTR.

Right.

GTR is like stupid fast, but also just kind of stupid at this point.

I do like the way the new one looks.

They've got the whatever fancy special green color, heritage green or whatever it's called.

It's like a, and they've really jazzed up the interior to try and make it

because it's like 140k.

Yeah, like not.

Dude, they started at like 65 and now they're more than double.

Yeah.

Thanks, Obama.

But like, I don't know, maybe the Z performance package.

And I know they just announced the Nismo is finally going to be available with a manual.

Yeah, that's 420.

Got a minute.

419 got a minute, right?

But no, 420 horsepower.

I think it is the, I don't know.

I'm just scratching, scratching numbers out of thin air.

But I think the Z is something I'd probably want more to like enjoy.

As it currently is until, you know, even without the Nismo package,

I think I want to roll my own in that car.

I do think the Z is their best product.

But and I think it's been an abject failure.

I think there's no doubt it's failed in the marketplace.

Whether you think the car itself, the product itself is good or not.

How it's done and how well it's done in the marketplace has been brutally bad.

And I don't think it's fault of the car.

No, original NSX, same thing.

Well, I think the difference is if you wanted an original NSX,

you can walk into an Acura dealership, have a decent to good experience

and buy one for probably around sticker when that car was new.

When the new Z launched, A, there was limited supply

because of supply chain constraints because of the end of COVID.

Yeah.

And you had to deal with a fucking Nissan dealership.

But that's a byproduct of the times.

Yeah.

But the Nissan dealership experience was always been bad.

It's still bad.

It was the only competent product they had.

And it was the only product that brought in people

with actually decent credit scores and money.

And so every one of those had like a 50% ADM on top.

Don't get but hurt when you have to bring your Z in for like regular maintenance

and they give you a Versa as your loaner car.

Right.

We're not even that stupid.

And you go to try and buy it and they're like, oh, these are special.

Like we wouldn't even let it.

He would test drive it.

Yeah, the MSRP is whatever, 48.

But we're going to ask 68, 69.99 plus hit you up for perma plate

and low jack and a bunch of bullshit.

And you just can't, you can't get into the car.

So then you go down the street and you get a Supra,

which is more powerful for the same money or cheaper.

I'll take a Z.

Yeah.

It's still going to Z, baby.

I like it.

You don't see them.

I see like one a quarter.

Every once in a while, yeah.

Yeah.

Which is, it's a shame.

So how else, what would you, what would you do to save?

Would you, what's in your, I'm going to lay out, I'm going to lay out my plan.

It's easy.

Nissan listen.

Flop it onto the table, my friend.

Take this plan, put it in the musical instrument box,

have a special forces guy help you guide it back into the plan

to the dealership headquarters.

We're going to talk about it right now.

Dude, four vehicles.

We're going to start off small.

And I think, I think it's what we need to do.

I think we need to narrow it back down.

Sentra and like the funny thing about the Sentra Ultima,

remember when they had Sentra Ultima Maxima

and each one of those was clearly a different vehicle class.

Like, yeah, so easy to tell.

Now the new Sentra is way bigger than the old Maxima used to be.

And the ultimate is like massive.

If you look at it compared to like a first gen Ultima.

So let's just, let's just have one,

let's just have like two sizes that are very different.

I miss, I think the Maxima was a great car.

I think the Maxima and its time sold very well was well received.

It was the, you know, it was a, what the four door sports car

originally even had a little badge that denoted that.

So we're going to stick with the Sentra and Maxima

for our sedans because we're still living sedan life.

I don't care about crossover city.

We'll get into that in a little bit.

So you're murdering, you're getting rid of big Ultima energy.

Yeah, we don't need a middleman.

We don't need a middleman.

The Sentra's big enough now, right?

No one looks at a modern sized Sentra and says,

boy, that's really a, that's a real small compact you got there.

It's not, it's plenty room.

Yeah.

So, but I am, I am bringing back some excitement.

I want the return of the SCR badge.

Sure.

And that shouldn't be a surprise coming from me.

I love, I love little sporty Econa boxes,

little front wheel drive, high revving SR20.

I don't know if that's coming back, right?

Right.

But something similar.

I want to keep it NA.

I know like it's, it's contemporary competition was like the Honda Civic.

All the sporty Civics are turbo now, right?

Whether it be a Sport SI or Type R,

which we're not going after obviously,

but I keep it manual NA, high revving,

just think of a cheaper Civic SI fighter.

And, but also the Sentra itself make a little more sporty, right?

Even the base model back in the day,

like the B13 base model Sentras were pretty decent cars.

Like they weren't, they weren't wallowy messes.

They were pretty tight.

Those cars just went out of production like five years ago in Mexico.

Right.

Exactly.

The Suru.

But no, keep that, bring it back.

The way it used to be.

So kind of take that, because the Sentra right now is nothing special.

I think the last special Sentra we got was the Nismo.

Do you remember that guy from like 2019, 2020 with a turbo?

The turbo.

But good lord it.

It was just kind of neutered and it wasn't super exciting.

The suspension wasn't that great.

Still had the CVT, right?

No, you could get a Manuel.

Okay.

Yeah.

And that was the only saving grace,

but apparently the engine was pretty anemic.

There was nothing cool about it.

Yeah.

So that was the last, and that was, yeah, we're talking five years now at this time.

The Sentra doesn't have anything super exciting.

So bring that back.

I also want the four door sports car to come back.

I want the maximum to come back, but I want to mix it up a little bit.

What were the original Maximas?

What kind of advantage did they have over?

No, what did they have?

The advantage over the following Maximas.

The drivetrain baby, rear wheel drive.

We're bringing it back.

OG, OG.

Yeah.

We're going OG.

Because Infinity has plenty of rear wheel drive sedan platforms they can borrow from.

So the cost savings are there.

Let's talk to the bean counters a little bit.

I want to do this.

I want to drop that Z engine in a maximum.

So it's kind of like the Red Sport.

Yeah.

We'll make it more affordable, right?

We'll focus on handling.

I think that Red Sport wasn't a super handler.

I think that was the biggest criticism that car got,

was that the engine is plenty of power.

400 horsepower, no one complains.

But I don't think it handled like a sporty car.

And I'm being careful because it's not a sports car.

So the aspirations were a sporty car.

And it wasn't even hitting that.

It wasn't a sports car.

Come on.

Yeah.

So the Maximas can do that.

So we're borrowing the rear wheel drive architecture, handling, performance.

I want to drop a manual in that, which is something that they didn't do.

Right.

And I think that's cool.

I think we bring the SCR badge on that too.

Remember the SCR?

Yeah.

We had the Ultima, but the Maximas never really got an SCR version.

Yeah.

So maybe we see.

Yep.

Maybe we do an SCR version with that 400 horsepower motor.

Drop the manual in there.

I think that'd be kind of fun.

Rear wheel drive in this parking place with a Nissan badge.

I think that could get a lot of people excited to tell you the truth.

And then even without that motor, put a nice stout, whatever,

Infinity V6 is running.

Keep it rear wheel drive.

So it kind of goes a little upmarket even.

I kind of like that.

But keep it not focused on, I don't think anyone's ever called a maxima opulent,

but don't focus on any luxury aspect.

Let's focus on sporty stuff and just keep it down to earth and sharp looks.

We'll redesign it, make it look nice.

Cool.

So this is my two sedans.

That's your sedans.

The other two, super easy.

A truck we've been talking about, the Pathfinder.

Yeah.

We need a Pathfinder.

We need a real Pathfinder, my friend.

A budget off-roader, which the original Pathfinder was positioned in the market to always be,

because it battled with the four runner did pretty good.

At the time, the market was pretty hard.

As Susie had like the rodeo and trooper, there was a lot of competition in that space.

Bring it back.

I want to make it like similar designs.

I want the three spoke wheels.

I want the cool little triangle window.

I want all the things we like about that truck, even a manual,

but more stripped down, more actual off-roading and borrow from like kind of the Bronco

playbook with the retro styling.

Sure.

I think this market would do well with something like that.

And that's a good batch to take back.

So I think Pathfinder is a recognized model.

So I think that would do pretty well.

And then here it is, baby.

Armada.

We're going for the three-row, kind of have a three.

Everybody's into big trucks again, right?

Dogs like trucks.

Yeah, and they love armadas.

The armada has been pretty rough for a while.

They're not good looking, dude.

And it's infinity counterpart.

When I see him, it's just like probably one of the uglier big vehicles on the road.

Yeah.

The original QX-56 might be the ugliest car ever produced.

Horrible.

SUV anyways.

It's horrible.

It's in the newer ones.

You know the second hand was brutal.

They're all bad.

Ugly vehicles.

That big chrome thing in front of like under the mirror.

Absolutely atrocious.

Yeah.

It's like a auto-zoned gluer on.

The weirdly shaped word glass situation.

Yeah.

Horrible truck.

So the early ones were pretty cool.

The armada, I'm saying.

Yeah, the armada way more than the QX.

Yeah.

Bring back the armada.

I say we do the boxy styling still.

Kind of borrow from that again, but just kind of reinvent that name.

Because I think armada is a damn cool name.

So I say we rock that.

It's like a deeply discounted Lexus GX at this point.

And then we just, you know, three-row.

It doesn't, I want to make it a little more off-road capable.

I hate like the faux off-road truck thing.

So we keep it honest.

Obviously it's downmarket from the Lexus.

But just to bring some of that three-row authentic off-road capable,

but still cool-looking truck.

So the market wants it.

Let's give it to them.

So we have our layout.

That's all I got, man.

I got four vehicles.

And that's how I bring Nissan back.

All right.

From beyond the gray.

Simple.

And I think, you know, the glaring omission is a sports car.

I think the Z needs to-

Are you keeping the Z or are you burying it?

I like the Z.

I didn't want to move the Z.

But I think we need to do something different with it.

I think it didn't deliver on everything we thought it was going to be.

Right.

And I think the original 240Z was probably the actual sports car

of the entire Z history.

Right.

The rest were kind of grand tours.

Sure.

But they had some sporty moments.

I think the Z32 twin-turbo was actually a pretty good sports car.

Yeah.

It was a pretty good blend between a GT and a sports car.

Right.

It was a little shorter, right?

The 2 plus 2 was obviously the GT variant.

But like-

Huge power bump over the previous Z31, right?

And two-seater.

Yep.

Kind of pure.

T-tops.

I think we do the Z, but I don't know, man.

We got to do something to spice that up a little bit.

Like either cut some weight out or do something to it.

Cut the price.

Find a way to make that thing cheap, you know?

And make it an actual approachable sports car.

But the Z name still applies because the Zs were always a great deal.

Like from a financial perspective.

Like if you're looking to buy a sports car,

Nissan always had you covered, right?

It wasn't the fact-

It was never the fastest.

Except for that Z32 was pretty quick when it came out.

But the Zs were always just that great sports car

that didn't break the bank.

Yeah.

It's funny that you mentioned that.

Find a way to make it cheaper.

Because I think that's, for me, if I got to be given a magic wand and wave it

and everything is implemented for the 2026 model year,

I think that's the main change I do to the Z.

Is it stays the course, but you have to find a way to get your dealership network

to chill the fuck out and be like,

okay, you put ADMs on these Zs and you get penalized.

You're no longer able to qualify for Nissan financing or whatever.

I don't know what teeth Nissan of North America has,

but if they can figure out a way to be like,

hey, we have Zs in stock and we're not cranking the price up

and we're making the dealer sell them at or under MSRP and not add a bunch of horseshit

you know, add-ons and then market the car a little bit.

I think it could be viable.

I think you're right there.

Although my approach is like, don't cheapen the car,

just slap the shit out of these dealers.

Yeah, I think it could be cheapened though.

I think we could take a lot of the tech out of it.

I think we could pare it down a little bit.

I'd like to think that we can, but I think buyers won't.

Yeah, I'm not talking, well, it's just two seat sports car, right?

I know, but we don't, and we like that, but we're also not buying new cars.

We love that, but no one that's buying that car is like,

I need my daily commute grind vehicle.

I'm not going to Nissan and buying a Z, right?

Like it's, and it's terribly, it's terribly not a good fit for the commuter, right?

Like it has like not the best storage space.

It's probably ergonomically challenged to almost every respect.

I mean, you got it.

Yeah, you the only, in my opinion, the only hope for that car is

that you try and have it do everything the Supra does at a 25% discount.

Yeah, so it may be at 75% of the car that the current Supra is.

And I don't love, love the current Supra, the Supra.

But if it can be a cool thing and you're buying it from a competent dealership,

instead of one who's M-O to try and pick your pocket the moment you walk in,

because they assume you're buying a clapped Ultima.

And I do think the other biggest thing that'll help the Z is, are you there?

Yeah, I'm here.

Your face froze with an O face, which doesn't bother me in the least.

And it's frozen on my end with an O face.

Is it still frozen on your end or no?

Yeah, you're frozen, bro.

Should we just go with the frozen and see if I unfreeze?

As long as the audio is good.

Okay, well, this is fun.

Yeah, okay.

Anywho, and that was distracting because O face me is staring back at me

and I don't know what to think about it.

Oh, you're locked on your own screen?

Yeah, even on my screen, I'm locked.

That's what I don't understand.

Anyways, this is all fun.

Yeah, welcome to the wild world of podcasting.

Tell someone to hang up the phone at your house.

They're using all the bandwidth.

Yeah, my 28.8 modem just can't hang.

So should I just dive into my case here or should we take a break

and try and fix the brokenness just in case it stops?

I am getting good audio.

Okay.

I don't know how we maybe click your video on and off.

I don't know what happens.

Oh, can you even interact with your screen or is it?

Yeah, I can.

No, it's just let me.

Let me.

What if I do this?

Yeah, troubleshooting live.

Can I turn it off?

Let's see.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, that's off.

Let me turn it back on.

Oh, hold on.

Start video.

That's what I want to do.

Oh, we might have lost you indefinitely.

Oh, nope.

Oh, see, we just had to restart it.

Let's go.

Let's fucking go.

Anyways, this is going to be a very interesting episode.

Like I work in the tech industry or something.

I know.

Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?

Actually worked.

Yeah, hey.

So, okay, no, I like your approach.

What's funny is there's a lot of the approach is similar

or frankly, the same.

Just I have in my mind, I've got some different angles.

First off, what you kind of hinted at but didn't outright say

is I think one of the biggest steps to save Nissan.

And I say this as just a few days ago, Nissan announced that they are

axing their entire North American and South American design centers,

which includes their design center in San Diego,

which has been there since I think like the early 90s.

Like I think a lot of stuff came out of that design center.

I think the 350Z came out of that design center.

I believe the, I don't know, the Cube sounds like that was made in Japan.

But yeah, it's like it's a very, you know, it'd be like if Toyota

axed Calty down in SoCal in their design center.

So it's kind of a big deal.

And in my mind, I think they would be better served firing something else.

And that's they should just murder Infinity, kill Infinity.

Yeah.

They have all that money.

And instead, what you do is you make a couple of more upmarket Nissan offerings.

And that's where I agree with you with regards to the Maxima,

where not that there's a huge amount of money in a flagship sedan right now,

but where Infinity was at its best is when they were making the G35 and G37 sedans

and Coupes, but really the bread and butter for them was a sedan.

And the G20s, sure.

And so I think if you just eliminate all of Infinity,

which is just selling a bunch of crossovers that are indistinguishable from one another,

like, there's no reason for anyone to walk into an Infinity dealership today.

None other than getting something deeply, deeply, deeply discounted.

So you might as well have that be something in a Nissan dealership.

And oh, no, we have to sacrifice the one

Infinity dealership in the Tri-County area, whatever.

I don't know, buy them out and fucking figure it out.

You've got money from closing your design tenor.

So you utilize the savings, but I think you get rid of Infinity.

You do bring back an Infinity G35, 37 equivalent in the Maxima,

which is largely what you were advocating for.

So you've got a slightly more upmarket offering almost to like when

like Hyundai launched the original Genesis, right?

And that was their upmarket.

Like, wow, look what Hyundai can do for you.

Look at this awesome thing.

And you kind of bring a little extra cash aid to the brand.

The diesel has no cash aid, right?

Yeah, the Genesis 50R spec.

Yeah, hell yeah.

The Tau V8.

And so, yeah, so whether you make it, you know, rear-wheel drive and or all-wheel drive,

you know, you recycle the transmission and powertrain offerings out of the Z.

As old as all that shit is, like it's still usable.

My thought is you're a dying brand.

There's hemorrhaging money.

You're not going to...

Okay, let me put it this way.

Do you follow hockey?

I do.

Who's your team?

I know you grew up on the East Coast.

Bruins, my friend.

Oh, Bruins Coward.

They've been so horrible with the best season ever two years ago.

Yeah.

Or shit.

Tim Thomas is a clown.

The Sharks Baby.

Anyways, there's a famous clip of one of, if not maybe my favorite San Jose shark of all time.

Mr. Joe Pavelski himself.

Have this little Joe where they were down a few points and fighting for a playoff space.

And they got down like three nothing after the first intermission.

Right?

And he's in there, like everyone's all downtrodden in the locker room.

And there's a filming in there.

And he's going around to the locker room and he's just like, we're in a playoff push.

You can't take a shift off.

Like, and he keeps yelling soft shit doesn't work in the playoffs.

Like you have to, like this is crunch time.

Our backs against the wall.

This is basically a playoff game for us.

Right? Our chips are down.

Soft shit doesn't win in the playoffs.

Let's go.

You have to take chances.

And that's what I think Nissan is at.

Their back is against the wall.

They've got a bunch of shit that they can lean on with their heritage.

Now they just killed their design studio.

So maybe it'll be harder for them to take design chances.

But I think they have to.

They need to capitalize on what Honda has not been doing.

We talked about Honda a little bit ago and how they just refuse to take chances.

They're just mailing it in.

They say like they're going to take a chance.

We're relaunching the RSX.

And then it's a fucking crossover that no one cares about.

And so I think if Nissan does take the chance.

They don't have a choice at this point.

Right? They have to kind of shoot the moon.

And so I think if they make a somewhat aggressively styled.

Even if you're recycling powertrain from the Z.

And you have a rear drive sports sedan.

It will be the only one coming out of Japan.

You use that as your upmarket offering.

I think you keep the Ultima being the Ultima.

And getting you some bullshit basic level.

Sure.

Servicing your existing customer who oops.

My 2018 Ultima blew up because I ran it out of oil because I'm an Ultima owner.

And then they come in and they.

Oh, let me just get the new Ultima.

It's still like 10% cheaper than the rest of the competition.

And it's been refreshed and it's functional.

Great. I'm leaving the Ultima alone.

I like as much as I said earlier that the center.

I think is a is a is a decent offering actually.

It's a little long in a tooth.

I think they're redoing it now ish.

I don't know. I don't keep up on Sentra news.

But I think the brand name of Sentra.

Has no cache.

Has no brand value at all.

In fact, it's almost it's almost a negative value.

So I think you again in in in the theory of taking taking some chances.

You redo the Ultima.

You aggressively style it.

And I want to bring back the 510.

Yes, it was a Dotson, but everyone knows what it really is.

And do you remember?

God, what was it 10 years ago?

I want to say they had there was like a 510 concept car that they put out.

It was like a con compact kind of boxy blackout front.

We all knew in our hearts of hearts that they weren't going to make that thing.

I know.

Got it was cool.

It was cool.

But like imagine one of those now to be defunct design studios, but yeah.

Correct.

Yo, I promise you, right?

Yeah.

Watch was our boy, Brian Nesbitt, who actually designed it.

So here's the thing.

I think you.

Oh, did I freeze again?

Damn it.

Okay, let's try this again.

Hold up.

We'll do this in real time.

I'm really good at it now.

Thanks.

Fantastic listening.

Wonderful.

So 510, you bring back the 510.

Like it.

And my thought is, you know, when the, you know, I guess it was what they originally

called the 86 or GT 86 or FT, it was the FT 86.

When the Scion FT 86.

FRS.

Was it FRS?

Yeah.

See, it's had like 11,000 names.

Who the fuck cares?

Scion even, whatever.

Dead brain.

But if you have like, that was a successful callback to a cheaper, lightweight, rear drive,

entry level sports car.

And it was successful.

Now it hasn't sold in huge droves, but it's been successful and splashy.

Yep.

And they tried to make that be like the halo car for your entry level offering, which

was Scion at the time, which, you know, you weren't going to save Scion.

And they just think of like the matrix or some bullshit.

No.

So Scion's dead.

No one, no one wept.

But that model lives on.

And so I think if you kind of take that same thought of saying we're going to

make an exciting, inexpensive entry level car.

And it's going to be our center of replacement, right?

It's going to be a sedan.

I'm not going to make a two door.

I don't care.

I'm just doing this to like, how do I, how do I have a, an exciting

entry level?

Yeah.

Cause there kind of aren't any anymore.

What's the most exciting entry, like four door entry level daily?

Oh boy.

And by entry level, I mean, you know, starting at 20, call it 26,

which is there's like no cars right now.

Nothing, nothing competes in that market.

Yeah.

But like maybe 30, you can't get a GTI that low.

It just doesn't have to be.

Yeah.

It's probably it.

And you only need that amount of power, right?

Or civic SI even.

And so, but I want it to be a little smaller than that.

Cause you said it, like these cars have all gotten to God damn big.

So I want it to be a little smaller.

I want it to be aggressively boxy styled.

I want a wagon variant.

Right.

Even if it's basically a four door hatch, you call it the wagon.

Now it's a wagon.

Right.

And if it's styled right and it's price right and you call it the

five 10, maybe you can include the, right?

The five 10.

Um, I think that would do, I think that would be, it would

absolutely be a, a fucking flag plant by Nissan.

Be like, we have our heritage.

You even do like an old red, white, blue, like heritage

livery for some special edition shit.

Um, that's what, so I was just thinking, like, what if they

did a heritage edition?

You could slap a dots and badge on it from the, from the factory.

Yeah.

How cool would that be?

Yeah.

Or even just like, you know, like, like a blue and white two

tone with like red hockey stripes down the side or

something like that.

Um, again, like taking, taking chances.

Um, and leaning on their heritage cause they've got

nothing else left.

There's nothing else for them to lean on.

They don't have the money to do this huge development stuff.

And I think if you're, if you have an okay dealer network

and you have kick ass styling and good and decent pricing,

like, as long as it like meets cafe, which apparently

doesn't matter anymore.

Fuck it.

We ball like just like nobody's going to care.

We're like, oh man, they just reuse this engine for like

idiots.

Like you and I might care, but the market won't care.

Yeah.

So I think just do it.

Styling rules a day.

Um, yeah, I do like, I do like,

I do like bringing, they have to get back into the proper

off road game.

Mandatory.

Um, I think you keep this, I think you keep the pathfinder.

I think the pathfinder has gone too far down the path of softness.

So I think you, you have to keep a, you kill the rogue.

The rogue is a piece of garbage.

Nobody likes a rogue.

Um, the rogue has gone rogue.

Let it die in the desert.

And you, you keep the, you know, whether it's a two row or two

and a half row SUV as a pathfinder, unibody, but you do bring

back a frontier based X Terra as your butch off road offering.

And I, I think the X Terra is like classic quote unquote

enough at this point, it's been out of production long

enough and that second gen was in production well beyond

its shelf life to where people, you say X Terra, people might

even think about the original version more now.

Um, and so you, you, yeah, you capitalize on that.

You're like, you know, however you want to market it, you

market it aggressive, you style it aggressive.

Um, it's funny.

We think of the forerunner is this like kind of conservative

thing, but if you look at the styling of a new forerunner

it's pretty fucking aggressive.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

And I think you need to match.

You kind of need to match that energy.

You, you have a lot of throwback styling to the original one

with like big plastic fender flares and, um, and you've

got the first aid kit bump on the rear gate and you have a

roof rack with like the bump on the roof, you know, almost

like an old disco, like the original X stadium stadium

seating.

Yeah.

And, and yeah, you make a, you bet, you basically make a,

a true forerunner competitor like the X taro was.

Hmm.

Um, and you part share with, with the, the current

frontier, which is, I think it's falling victim more to

more so like, here's my thought.

I think it's a decent product.

I've never spent time in one.

They seem okay.

They do look, they look nice too.

I think the new frontiers look pretty nice.

Like the pro four X's look pretty sharp.

Yeah.

I think they don't, I don't think, I don't think they sell

all that well because, because they don't head sub

because they have Nissan Edge.

That's right.

And Nissan has such a bad rep, but if you can make some

splashy offerings, like the five 10 and, you know, you

kill off infinity and bring it in house, the Maxima

and maybe you have, you know, a fancier option three

row and whether you call it the Armada, I don't

love the Armada name.

I'd like to like something, bring something out.

Maybe, I don't know if you bring a name out of

retirement, like what are you going to, the quest?

Like what the fuck are you going to call it?

The Cedric.

And yeah.

And then, and then kind of go from there, right?

Like if you find some traction with that, then

yeah, maybe you make a two door five 10, right?

Or you keep, you'd have that same chassis and

you, you, you make a different bodied coupe

based on the same mechanics and you call it

the 240SX or you just call it the Sylvia, right?

Enough kids have played video games that like

they'll know what that car is.

They'll want to buy that car.

Right.

But they have to take chances.

They have, they have to take some, you got

to swing for the fence.

Soft shit doesn't work in the playoffs.

Dude, I haven't had a solid bowel movement

in a decade.

I hear you.

Yeah.

It's the, the, the bathroom playoffs.

Always win that game.

Let me, let me do this again.

Apparently this is my life now.

Exactly.

No, I like it.

I like your takeaway is taking risks.

Mine is going back to when the car company

was actually successful.

I think, I think truthfully they have to,

I think they have to drink from both of those

Kool-Aid punch bowls to make something happen

here because literally treading, they've been

treading water for, I don't know,

what feels like probably at least 15 years.

Yeah.

As a brand, they've kind of just been

just going through the motions.

They need to get excited.

They didn't get excited about their products.

They need to make us excited about their products

again because that's what counts.

I like what you did there.

I think the X-Tera is a good one,

but I just can't let Pathfinder go.

I think we need to be like, and when it returns

be like, guess who found their path again.

And it comes back with that retro styling.

I just, I don't know.

In my eyes, I think that makes it sound

like they were like in rehab for the last

decade.

Dude, they, like you can take

and take like a first gen Pathfinder.

You have Charlie Sheen

like roll up and roll the window down

and be like, guess who found

their path again.

And oh Jesus.

And then he spits out like a

Fiat Abart badge.

Those commercials were great by the way.

But no, I think the Pathfinder,

I think the Pathfinder needs to come back,

but the X-Tera is another good one.

I think they need to take risk.

I think staying away from risks

has made them horrible.

So have certain CVT transmissions,

but that's besides the point.

They just, they need to start making things

we care about.

Nissan.

Yeah.

Just like just and, and what's funny

is like, I think they almost could

take a play out of

what like

Dodge and Chrysler has done

over the last 15 years.

While Nissan has been lost for the last

15 years and as much shit

as we can and do give

Mama Mopar

for what their offerings have been for the last 15 years,

which is basically the same fucking play.

Just run over and over and over and over again.

But it has worked for them.

They've been the ones who are

like zinging while everyone else is zagging.

Absolutely.

And it's kind of running out of steam at this point.

And which is why they've, they're really fumbling

the bag very lately.

But I think if, if,

if Nissan does some of that and says, hey,

like Toyota is

realizing everything and

Honda is just being

hyper conservative.

And even when they say they're going to take chances,

they, they don't.

Yep.

They need to be the ones to be like, you know,

whether the muscle cars back, not like

exactly Dodge, but like, you know,

you know, the Maximus back,

you know, the sports, the full size

sports and then it's back and the entry level

exciting car is back with some like aggressive

styling and the four wheel drive,

you know, anti Toyota tax machine

is back.

Like I think they can,

they can pull themselves up by the bootstraps,

if you will.

Yeah.

So yeah, I mean, they need to, right?

Like the writing's on the wall if they don't,

it's just, it's not going to be a very long

path left for them.

Pathfinder.

If you will.

Yep.

But I, it, how much they got in them?

Five more years.

Current trajectory is that

if like a fucking death

rattle of five years,

ticking off would be my best guess.

It'll just be, yeah, I mean, if they,

if they continue

sailing towards the shore,

which is pure rocks and,

and yeah, following the

Siren song of inaction,

then yeah, then I think

five years and they're, they go

all because they've got

some advantages, you know, they've got that long

storied history.

They have manufacturing facilities

in the United States, so they do not have

to get fully blasted in the mouth

by

not peanut north, but by the

the tariff gang, right?

Like if you're, if you're, you know,

Polestar and you make everything in China,

you are now ineligible for selling

shit in the United States effect, like

financially.

Nissan has manufacturing facilities here.

So they, they have

a lot that they can lean on.

They just haven't been

competing it competitively. So

come on. They got a chance. I want

Nissan to be good. We all do. I

love Nissan. I've owned some fantastic

Nissan's. I think in that period,

like I said, the doll even

extend to the mid the mid 80s to mid

90s. Nissan was

fucking on top of their game. They were absolutely brilliant

and they need to, they need

to get that back. They need to get that mojo.

We want that mojo, big mojo

energy, big ultimate energy.

Good. Well, we save that

brand. That's fantastic. Yeah.

Yeah. Check is, check is in the mail, I'm sure.

Yeah. Exactly. I cannot wait.

Yeah. Unfortunately, our PO box is a

paper shredder. Yeah, it is. Yeah.

It's a shame. Any

who. Yeah, let's, let's, let's move

on. Let's move on and do a little thing we'd like to

call the automotive print ad quiz

game. I'm going to post something

mild.

Well, moderate.

I'll call it, I'll call it in the five

in the five out of 10 range. I hate it when you do this

because then I'm going to like stumble and be like, I feel

like an idiot like halfway through you

reading it. I'm like, I don't get it. Fuck.

He gets it now. All right. Let's see. Let's

see. Get the pie in my face.

Let's go. So

Frank's going to walk you guys through what the hell we're

about to do. I try to dust off

this fine little advertisement.

All right. As he crop dusts that

thing off, I will tell you what we're

going to do, which is

it's a game. You should play along

at home. It's our print ad quiz

game. It still has a terrible name, almost 200 episodes

in. And

yeah, what it consists

of is quite simple. Chadwick here

in today's episode is going to find

a print advertisement from some sort

of publication from the

80s, 90s to the mid

2000s. The heyday of

automobile advertisement. And he

will read the type copy from that ad.

He will redact out anything

overly identifying such as make

model model here

because it's my job to try and figure out

what make model and approximate

ear of the vehicle in question is based

upon the advertisement type

copy. I get three guesses

and 10 minutes. Maybe some hints will

come my way. Maybe I won't need them.

Chadwick

read to me, baby.

You got that, man. So

coming your way is a single page

advertisement.

Very aggressive photo here. Vehicle

way full straight on rate

rate down your frigging face lined

up with your down to the forehead.

The main line if you will H1

if you're doing the HTML

please stay to the right.

Oh, so it's already in your face,

bro. Harrison butker. No, carry on.

Stay to the right.

It's not many luxury

performance sedans

that can scare traffic

into the slow lane on looks

alone. Oh boy. But that's

how the new blank is

aggressive.

The old

with a 32

valve

250

horsepower dual overhead

cam v8

ABS.

I like how they start with the motor and

then they've mentioned ABS time period

right leather

asterix

walnut and CD stereo sound

all of which make the left

hand lane a much more

like by blank.

See what happens when you demand

better.

Wow, okay.

Not wordy.

Not wordy, not a ton

of specs but some important ones which is really

the motor

you said said you said

luxury sports sedan

boy, I mean

32 valve

a 250 horse

immediately

the original

Lexus like the one use the Fe

jumps to mind

but it does not read

I would not call it LS

bold

and like scare shit out of the fast lane

type of shit

and aside show they're pretty scary

I believe God

the original Q45

had like

300 and then 290

and it did get downrated a little bit

later

in like 93, 94, 95

96 that era

to around

that horsepower number

SAE adjustments my friend

right

so that's a possibility

because that's an also a 32 that

kind of checks all those boxes

God could it be

the only

front wheel drive

modular Ford modular

application

which was you had the

the Lincoln

Continental

God Lincoln Lincoln

modern Lincoln naming has been

atrocious it is now

it's hard and it was in the 90s

because you had the Continental

and you had the Mark 8

and you had the town car

and a lot of that shit was

trims with one one another in

earlier instances and so it gets all wonky

but I think it was the Continental

which was the four door

with the in a tech VA

which is the 32 valve

Ford modular and that's right

around I want to say it was

like in the Mark 8 it was 260

horse or 265 but I think

it was downrated a little bit

in the front wheel drive application

so it could be that

God that does not that's not

an aggressive looking car

those are the three that popped to mind

32 valve VA

GM stuff

we ain't dealing with no

ancient push rod technology in this VA

right

like that's not it doesn't really jive

all the twin cam stuff

they were doing was like the quad four

and the LT

whatever the fuck you called it in the

the 3.4 V6

and the

in the front wheel drive stuff

you know I'm going to and

Dodge was out to lunch

they weren't playing in this space

neither was Mazda

certainly not Honda

not Toyota

proper but maybe the Alexis

it doesn't sound European

but could it be like an S type

I did not I did not hear

Sting singing in in this

advertisement so I don't think it's an S type

the 4.0 I'm

going to go you know what I'm thinking

I'm going to God

here's the thing if I've got three

leading the way in my mind

I get three shots right so

barring any hints that

clarified sure I'm going to say it is

I'm going to say it's the in a tech

VA powered

I'm going to say this is a

1990

God was color to

96

Lincoln

continental

final answer

this is not the in a trod

oh no VA

slow

office space shout out there

incorrect

what can I do to help you friend and this is actually the in tech

I just always call it the in a tech

I think it is the in tech from

from office space it's always

more like penetrode

exactly what can I help you with man

I guess that

I can't think of it being any other

potential domestic

domestic manufacturer am I correct

in that assumption

it is a domestic

is a domestic manufacturer okay

hmm

it's a big hit

could be the other Lincoln

I because I mentioned

I mentioned the S type

and that's got a stable mate which is the Lincoln

LS which I was thinking about

I thought

is that 250 horse

it's about that

that car famously you can get

a v6

manual

I wish you could get a manual with the 88

that'd be cool

God am I going to go back

to back Lincoln guess

there was no

VA 32

well

have I seen the North Star

lately

because it could have you

okay and that was why I was

talking about

could be Aurora too

located entirely within

my kitchen the thing is

GM loves

to talk about

ABS

and I do

talk about it or imprinted on every surface

yeah

exactly

Kali

what is more

aggressive

bold aggressive I almost

want to say we've done the Aurora before

but I don't know that we have

mm-hmm

she had this would have been the early Aurora

so it'd been like a 95

Aurora

certainly bold and aggressively styled

I don't know if I would call it sporty personally

um

and you know what's interesting

you did say

they called it the blank

by blank

which we've got

a critical reader here guys

because they were

that's that was Oldsmobile's thing then

they it was

it's back like when Chrysler it wasn't the Chrysler

Imperial it was just the Imperial

and then people realized like the fuck is an Imperial

so then it became the Imperial by Chrysler

the the Maserati

the TC by Maserati

by Maserati yeah yeah and they did that

and they did that with

with the Aurora so I'm gonna say

this is a 1995

Aurora

by Oldsmobile

that sick light bar and the four liter

you know

what do they call that motor

they would just call it the Aurora V8

mm-hmm

that they put in the Shelby Series 3 which is fun

um that's what I'm gonna say

95 Aurora

by Oldsmobile final answer

all of which make the left hand laying a much more

enjoyable place to be

Aurora by Oldsmobile

this is a 94

which is the first year 32 valve

it's a 4.6 so it is a North Star

what is a 4.0

nope 4.6 it's the derived from the

it's pretty much the North Star V8 that's in the Cadillac

I thought they down

I thought it was slightly downsized like the bores were a little

I think it makes a little less

power in this application but yeah

no that's the motor and fun fact

there isn't a single Oldsmobile

badge on the car

yeah I think the only place that has

it is

like on the

the cover of the owner's manual or something like that

the engine cover had it on there and a lot of times

they almost consider getting that out of there

so Oldsmobile

yeah have you have you driven one

so I've driven the newer one which I think is even

the second the rear is so

crazy the front end is really wonky

I mean the front ends wonky on both

but on the second gen it's got like the big

yeah

yeah it looks like if

if ET

was a blob fish

and like you pulled them up from the

depths of the ocean too quickly and you like turned into goo

like that's kind of what the front end would look like

happens to the best of us

this second I think the second gen was cooler

looking I think you're right the lower

front fascia and then the light

treatment on the rear of the second gen is

it's kind of cool and the huge

ovaloid exhaust

yeah they're interesting I've had some

seat time in one there's one I sold

on cars and bids

and go see Doug's review on

that car so I sent it down to San Diego

and Doug got some seat

time in it they're pretty interesting they

way more comfortable like I drove the

second gen and it's way more comfortable than sporty

all day

the first gen one like the one in the

ad there which is actually a very similar color

was like a purplish gray

and

really interesting the

dash layout was super unique like they were really

trying to do something different it was a little

bit more obviously GM in the second

one

and then they made a v6 variant

which was they actually

modified that same v8 and it made a 3.5

liter v6 out of

that 32 valve v8 so it was

like a bespoke v6

a shame when they got the

3800 Buick kicking around but whatever

yeah yeah that was a good one

that took

I had to dig through

the little bit of

you weren't thinking north star man you weren't thinking

north star at first that's not a north star

it's an aurora it's different

yeah

but no that's a good one it's

good little piece of automotive history

cool well good job with that

man you did well you did well the

aurora we hadn't done that one yet so

cool car worthy of a call out very

original design but let's

move forward into a little recreational

drug abuse this

is our pcp project car progress

section and have you made

any progress my friend on anything

um

god yes and no

so I

how much

my brain is soup how much

how much of update on

last episode did I give

on the

the fucking

project focus because I do have

you hadn't gotten to

your

where you're getting the pushback that you're getting

right now on that project you hadn't gotten into that

right yeah but I

want to say I did I had mentioned

that I did the driver's side

so I replaced the driver's side axle

oh yeah everything was going to the tires

everything was going swimmingly

swimmingly swimmingly I'm now

um

I don't know smashing my junk

with a claw hammer

figuratively so

yeah I don't kink shame so

no it's fine if you're into that

yeah I just I'd be ashamed if I got it up

because keeping it soft is cool

everyone's doing it the thing okay

so I swapped out the axle

and the outer tie rod and

the um

the

sway bar end link on the driver's

side right simple enough

it actually went

pretty pretty easily I did

have to run out

and get the sway bar end link and

the the tie rod end because

um

I didn't really see that they were as bad as they were

until they had the wheel off to do the axle

so I bought those

popped them all in mevotech

now I bought I got them locally

because I was like I just want to

get this thing back together so I can

get the project moving ahead

and so I did that

I bought that but if I'm going to do the

tie rod end and the end link on the driver's side

I'm going to pop the passenger side off and do that

so I did I popped the passenger side

wheel off got the wrenching on that

right when I got the wheel off I was like oh shit this

actual this axle is actually bonked

as well

so

it was gonna take too long to get it from

rock

and so I ordered it

through Napa auto parts

they're the only one that can get it for me

because it's SVT specific

ooh

anyways they said oh yeah it'll be here in two days

I'd

five days go by they never called me

so I called them and they're like oh yeah man it's here

like they just never called me great cool

so I went there I grabbed it

I go to install it a couple of days

ago

and

the driver's side

everything went perfect pacified

everything's a fucking mess

I

cannot for the life of me

get the lower

ball joint to come out of the

knuckle I got it unseated

easy enough

it will not come all the way

out I've done a little bit of homework

beyond

reaching out to you I'm like am I

am I profoundly

stupid here and just can't figure I'm

missing something obvious you're like did you try this

yeah how about this uh-huh how about this

yeah I did that and this and this oh shit

and it just every single thing was just

like it just wasn't going to come out and I don't

here's the thing

I am

right up against it as far as budget on this

thing my my $3,500 cap to the

point where like if I don't spend another

cent on this car I still

might not be able to afford an alignment

which I have to have to

yeah I have to so I might have to take penalty

points on that I'm or just like

find some hood rat place it's going to do

like I might even just have to end up doing a

two like just a front end alignment

in order in order to stay within budget

because that's right now

if I get the alignment done

by the less swab down the street after

mountain balance it would be $47

over budget

um

and that's without me doing the valve cover gasket

so gotta do that

if I can

so we'll see um I might have to get a little

bit creative but at the end of it is

I had I had to the bolt

seized on the

outer tie rod end

where it bounced to the knuckle it got to the

top and just locked and then it's got you

know it's got where you could put the

like a like a hex

in the top to hold it from

spinning

stripped that out so I had to take an

angle grinder do it

and cut it off which was easy enough

but I always assume it's going to blow up

and like decapitate me oh every time I

hate those fucking tools so

um got that off still cannot

get the

lower control arm

off the knuckle and I just like

beating the bejesus out of it with a

like a five pound dead blow

can't get it to can't get it to come out

I've got I'm using

a huge breaker bar with a floor jack

under it to like

nope do nothing I just

every stupid tool

breaker bar with a cheater extension

on it nothing like I just cannot

get it to separate out and I can't

afford to trash that lower

ball joint because it's riveted

into the control arm and I don't have money

in the budget to replace the control arm

so

I bought a tool

for seven dollars and ninety nine

cents which all it is it's

a hook it's one of that

if you've seen it it's like a breaker bar hook that you just

hook on the lower control arm

and it's it's got like a picture like

a question mark except where the tail is

it goes into a circle so you put it on

lower control arm you put the pivoted

it up break breaker bar through it and

then you pivot it off the yep

yep and you just yank it was

Amazon it came this morning

I haven't had it I haven't had an opportunity

and I will have an opportunity this weekend

to deal with it but

I'm hoping that's it because otherwise I have

I'm pulling the entire lower control arm

from the subframe

or or I go the other

way and I take the

I take the strut out

which I don't want to do

yeah

I'd rather deal with the control arm

yeah it's just

so you know in those bushings

the subframe for the lower control arm

are worn are worn so like

that I can

I can damage the control arm from that

end right if that bushing tears

okay now I got to buy

a control arm and I have to like I don't know return

my windshield or like return my tires

and get some ling longs like I don't

I don't know

I gotta make budget so we'll see

what was like oh like a couple of

this or that

I don't know

but it's annoying

so we'll see

how's about you I think I think you'll make it

through there I wish I was

making a progress report on my rally car

because I haven't I haven't so we're going to

talk about the track right I actually got some pretty good

progress on the tracker I'll be real quick because I think

we're over on time but the

track right just did the wheels

last time they came out awesome

like I'm so pumped that I went it was a little risk

you know I always like to do like that I'm straight up

restoration guy and bring the staley's

back but I was like fuck it we're doing gloss

white wheels because it just pops to the white top

hell yeah red came out great

the paint is it was

it's single stage paint right so it's

like every other single stage red paint it's

like pasty chalky peak

right and everything fades

differently after 30 years paint just it just

you can't ever bring it all the way

back but do just taking a

d.a. polisher to it doing like compound

polish and wax so satisfying

on those red cars because it just it always

comes back

even if you think it's like oh I think this might come out

okay it will always come out better than

you expect it looks so good done

obviously there's some panels that are faded differently

the hood and sure you know but you're

going to get that but I mean the gloss factor

is there like that it just the difference of having

glossy paint versus like a flat matte

finish is huge with these trucks

so it looks the bright white

top the bright white wheels with that

glossy red paint it just looks

absolutely fantastic

it's worth every every because it's all time

right at that point you already have I already

have the materials it just

takes so goddamn long to do that stuff man

because you get all done you get done with the

compound right and you're like oh god now to

polish now to wax it just

takes it takes for fucking ever

and you get fucking compound in every little

crack on these old cars that have so many

huge seams that just fill

with that shit so yeah you gotta deal with that

but anyway worth every every I wouldn't take it back

for the world I think that's one of the best things

you can do don't old truck like that to make it look good

and to keep the paint on there that's

on there right because that extra gloss and

putting a good coat of wax will protect it

I did install my

spare tire cover that I imported from France

that says geo tracker with the white lettering

on the black tire cover

that it's all those little pieces that come together

when I do a restoration and I think

I think that really tied the whole truck together

it looks dude it looks so good

it looks so fucking good

I need to like put it aside

though to get the fucking rally car

done because I really want to finish the tracker so

the tracker is pretty much at

a finished date barring anything interesting

that's going to pop up which I'm sure there is going to be

no no never yeah I know

as a project ever finished but yeah let's

shut it down really quick style

let's go yeah guys thanks

thanks for tuning in this has been another

presentation of the another pointless

automotive podcast network a p a

podcast for those that know check us out on

YouTube we do publish every video

we play a little drinking game this time every

time Frank freezes take a shot yeah

you will be hammered red I got

myself a new podcast machine and

every time we record now there's a new

fucking hurdle to overcome which is great

I love technology don't you it's the

it's the cost of progress

yeah but please check us out listen

to us wherever you listen to your podcast

review that helps us out a lot I

am at the auto obscure garage if you want

to follow my stuff rescues restorations

reviews tracker content hopefully

Volvo tracker or Volvo transitioning

from trackers content

before the rally would be a nice time

to finish that car yeah

follow me there Frank working the good

folks follow your personal endeavors

boy yeah a

nightclub near you or

the photographers garage

that's mostly on Instagram a splash on

the YouTubes

you can uh but honestly like pay

most attention to me and us

here

I do you know once my

computer start stops fighting

me and the podcast

hopefully we'll have some more fun stuff

coming your way so stay tuned for

that and

yeah I'll see you all on the next

time take care guys as always

peace

fake freeze

bye

Episode #192 - Saving Nissan

About this episode

Z Cars

Dodge Omni

Dodge Challenger

Dodge Charger

Nissan Gtr

Acura NSX

Toyota Supra

Nissan Sentra

Nissan Maxima

Honda Civic

Nissan Pathfinder

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Infiniti QX56

Nissan Armada

Lexus Gx

Datsun 240Z

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