Episode #207 - The ES300 Hour

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

podcast.

God damn it.

Quick on the draw.

Welcome.

As usual.

Back to another Pointless Automotive podcast.

Hi.

Frank, how are you doing, man?

Long time.

Are you drinking a Mountain Dew Hardstyle there?

No.

No, you got to pay to play to watch us drink.

Crushing these bad boys.

Hard Mountain Dews.

The smell.

Should we talk about that?

Yeah, let's hint at what happened last night and the wee hours of the night.

Yes.

First off, hint.

Because we can't completely spill the beans because what happens on APA podcast

Late Night Confidential.

The confidential part, yeah.

Yeah.

It stays confidential.

And this is our new year, new us, I suppose.

We have an announcement.

We finally did the thing we've been teasing for God knows how long.

Which is we have.

We've got a Patreon now.

It's a thing.

Hey.

There's not a whole lot there yet, but it will continue to add to it.

And this is it.

This is going to be the quick elevator pitch.

And then we'll get to all the other shit.

But we have a Patreon now.

Go to patreon.com slash APA pod.

And yeah, check it out.

You can just get all our typical episodes for free.

That's normally there.

But if you sign up to buy us adult beverages, namely really bad adult beverages at a $5

a month or a $10 a month tier, depending on how many horrible beverages you would

like to purchase us.

You then get to unlock a once a month bonus episode, if you will.

We're calling the APA podcast late night confidential.

And we've just recorded two last night, as you just said, Chadwick.

How did you feel?

How did you feel that went?

Sir.

Yeah.

No.

We had so alcohol of choice was Mountain Dew hard spoiler because I think I showed

the can already.

Not good.

Code red was OK, surprisingly.

Sure.

But we did we did do a full review of the Mountain Dew hard lineup.

Check that out.

You got it.

You got to see this stuff, guys.

Yeah.

But you got to pay to play.

Yeah.

What do we talk about?

The the pope.

Oh, yeah.

We just did a little the polls.

We did to catch a predator come up.

I feel like it did.

You should have came up more.

We talked about OEMs ruining cars way more aggressively than we do.

Yeah.

I believe I compared Saturn to Obama and that's the manufacturer.

Not not the not the planet.

But yeah, it was it was it was a rousing good time.

You're lost to be there.

I thought I thought we were doing the planet.

Yeah, exactly.

No, no, he's come on.

He's Jupiter.

Many moons.

I don't even know what that means.

But I don't know.

It was far more unhinged than normal partially

because we drink terrible beers.

And so yeah, we're still going to keep doing what we do here.

So keep listening to to this.

But if you want even more debauchery and you want and you

like what we do here and you want to support it, support it further

by poisoning us, you can do so.

So in fact, we would encourage it.

So go check it out.

Please do.

And yeah, and we're going to try.

What is it again?

Frank, it's a huge deal here.

It's a Patreon, Patreon.com slash APA pod podcast, but pod

like pod people or iPod or God, what else?

There's other other pods.

Jason Podzemski on the on the Warriors.

I don't remember first name.

A milkweed pod, if you will.

Sure, metapod. Oh,

from Pokemon, big shout out to our friend, the metapod

stage one, Pokemon. Exactly.

Who becomes metapod?

It's a cat or pee, I think.

Is it? I think it's cat or pee, dog.

I thought cat or pee becomes butterfree, dude.

Yeah, but are there choices?

The metamorphosis in the middle, right?

He go maybe maybe you can't just go from caterpillar to to to butterfly.

You got to you got to know you can't you got to meta your pod.

You got to have you got to you got to pupate my dog.

Oh, OK, there is a pupa tar, too.

That's another another tar.

We're going too far.

I remember when I hit pupa tar.

I put the tar in my pants the other day.

Oh, we're reverting.

We're reverting back to last night's activities

with the the late night confidential unhinged takes.

So yes, check that out.

We'll try not to make a huge deal of it every week.

You know, we might know I feel like we'll, you know, spend 15 seconds

dropping it in for those who care.

But we're not we're not here to shield our services.

We're just trying to get this operation into the black, frankly.

Yeah, let's just let's just drop it in the plug section every time.

But yeah, I do want to bring us into what we're going to talk about today

because I drove a fun car today.

Yes, I think Frank is partially responsible for this one.

It is the APA podcast.

1993 Lexus ES 300 Manwell edition.

And you finally got to see it.

See it. I got to drive it.

I got to experience it.

What a nice car.

What a peach.

Unbelievable condition for what it is.

These things, in case you're not into the know, and you should be,

the ES 300 manual was extremely limited, right?

We're talking what I've heard numbers like two to three hundred total ever produced.

Yeah, I've kind of seen it all over the place.

I've seen basically anywhere any number between two hundred and two thousand.

And who who really knows?

I don't just not.

Sadly, they didn't get a gold number plaque on the dash, like our favorite.

Yeah, right. It's a lower number than that, though.

I'm almost very sure that especially 93, I think was the rarest one.

I think the majority of them are 90 T's for some reason.

And we got the stripper edition.

So no sunroof, cloth interior.

That's good. It's so good.

You know, a couple of things.

So before I just go deep dive on Lexus, Lexus, this is Lexus

still establishing their foothold in the country, right?

Sure. Model year, 1990 was the first for the LS 400 and the ES 250.

But this is 300, which is the second gen of the ES.

Dude, it's a little touches that you don't find in modern Lexus.

Like you can put the windows down

and not get air buffeted into a state of deafness.

Like I love I love that on those cars.

They paid attention to that stuff.

Modern cars don't give a shit because there's HVAC, right?

Modern HVAC, the windshield wipers

tucking down a little bit further after they're done doing their cycle.

You know what? You know what I notice on that car that I really love

is and I don't know if this is only a cloth interior thing

or if it's also on the leather.

But if you look at the lower dash,

like the lower dash, it's carpeted.

It's not just even the dashes that like, you know, leather printed, soft,

textured vinyl, vinyl, vinyl plastic. Yeah.

Yeah. But the lower, it's carpeted.

And it's like it matches the interior.

And it's like, oh, that's that's a nice touch.

Also at a spot you just aren't looking at the dash is like a.

Is it a purple purple?

Here yours like a I don't know if you call it like a purple or taupe.

Of mom. Yeah.

Egg plant periwinkle egg plant wizard from a plant emoji.

Yeah. Captain Nintendo.

It's something I don't know.

It is different, though.

It is a different color.

But the carpet itself, too, is like that kind of purpley color.

It's not just faded black like you'd find in cheap cheap cars in the 90s.

Yeah, it's very it's very nice, very roomy visibility.

That's what always gets me in these old cars.

And I'm going to say something.

The driving dynamics and being in the car, the quality of materials

does not feel like a 93 car.

No, it really feels much more modern.

And when I drove it down the place was the first time I driven it in a long time,

because, frankly, I bought it and parked it.

Everything you do is technically, frankly, isn't it?

It is, it is just me by me by virtue of the name.

Yes. And so.

But just like driving it down the highway in the rain with like moderate traffic.

And it just got down the road and it felt like a comfortable,

modern vehicle, the automatic HVAC system worked perfectly.

Which you put together well.

Really, really well, which is this is not a surprise to anybody.

But it's just such a well thought out, well engineered thing.

It really illustrates how and why Lexus

became as successful as they are today

when compared to the German competitors,

which is what they were aiming for at the time, which is BMW,

namely BMW and Mercedes and Mercedes Benz product from 1993

compared to a Mercedes Benz product from 2023.

So much, much, much better engineer, so much better.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so they were punching they were punching at that level

at a better price point and doing a little bit more, you know, parts

been sharing, especially on the yes with with the Camry.

But yeah, what a what a cool what a cool thing.

Great car.

And I keep talking because I'm trying to look up.

I have a picture of the trim code on my.

Oh, interesting.

I want to look up the what that trim code is.

Also, what's the color?

I can't remember the exterior color.

Amethyst, it's like this metallic.

Are you sure it's not like dark?

There's a gray, purpley.

There's like so many different weird colors for the yes.

It's actually kind of shocking cars used to come in colors, guys.

It wasn't I know what a concept.

A monochromatic life.

I do want to say, though,

small little things aside, this car is ridiculously clean.

Like Frank pulls up with it.

Usually when he pops the hood, it's it's what you'd expect,

you know, like Black Widow webs, oil splatters,

a rat skeleton and five pieces.

Definitely skeletal remains.

This is a common theme.

This one was insane.

Every bolt of bolts all had their original paint,

like their torque paint marks.

Everything was shiny, like not fake,

like someone used a bristle brush and shined it up.

Everything looked like factory fresh for a car with 130 K,

which I often am quoted for saying that is my sweet spot

on cars from the 90s.

That 130 to 180 is my favorite mileage to buy in

because the cars are seasoned.

They didn't really sit too long

and it's just a great mileage to have for a driver.

Yeah. And this one is just.

Yes, so they call it.

It's the exterior color is dark amethyst pearl.

OK.

I'm still working on the interior.

But yeah, like the the cool thing on those is purple.

Let's just say it purple purple, purple and purple, purple drink.

Oh, and then later it became amethyst mist.

Oh, I found a brochure clutch.

But yeah, so like 130 is great.

But like the interior of that of that.

I'm sorry, not the interior of the engine bay of that car.

Yeah, ridiculous.

Just absolutely obscene.

Just like not all effectively no signs of corrosion period.

Nothing. Yeah.

No oil.

It's either from the top.

It's not leaking anything that anyone best we can tell.

Stereo sounds good.

Noises come out of all the speakers.

The paper speakers aren't blown.

It just it all works.

As it would as especially a Lexus product from that period.

They're just they're put together so well.

Also zero NVH to report like on on both my commutes to and from work.

Oh, you drove it to work today.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it lined up perfect, right?

So it's a short little commute 15 minutes each way.

But zero like rattles zero like anything clattering around any weird

suspension noises just absolutely shocked how well that car is put together.

So I'm pumped.

It's really just a you know, an addressing and I shot him a little.

I always do a little like trouble list

when I drive a car, you know, I'm like, oh, these little teeny things.

Nothing alarming.

Some of the what was it?

It's is it phosphorus needles?

What did they call their needles?

The lake? Oh, it's like it's something.

It's not it's something like that, though.

Phospholuminescent or some shit Lexus called its light up.

Yeah, there's some flicker on a couple of the needles,

which is kind of cool.

I think that's neat.

Yeah, a little bit of idle surge, which can be a little vacuum

leak or something fun like that, a little rough idle and idle is a little low,

which could be a couple of things we could check the idle out.

But again, vacuum leaks, I could check for spark plugs, wires.

Who knows when those were done last and it's never a bad thing to throw at a car.

So there's there's some loving we can do and it's been well maintained,

obviously, but it's just like a car this nice deserves to have all those

all those things addressed, you know, new fluids, fun stuff like that.

And bring that paint back, baby.

Yeah, what a like on my way down, though, I was like, God,

I'm so tempted to just like keep it as a daily.

I just feel like you said that.

And I and I said, man, because like popular opinion is you don't want

a manual as your daily.

Everybody says, oh, stop and go traffic.

You're clutch, you're you know what?

When you drive a car like that, it makes you forget about like

because it's so easy.

It was such it's such an easy, effortless car to drive.

And I've owned a few cars like that.

Like I think the Fiesta ST was kind of like that.

That was an easy manual.

But I could see I could see what you're saying because it's comfortable.

Yeah, it's cool.

It's a good place. It's just cool.

And it is cool.

It's so it's such a usable, comfortable.

I love those cloth seats.

Dude, no sunroof, no headliner sag.

It's just what a well put together car.

That is just like you do you do Toyota Camry levels of maintenance,

which is it's you can get away with ignoring it,

but the car is too nice to do that literally to the camera levels of maintenance

and parts. Yeah, parts are cheap.

Parts are available, always will be available.

You know what it makes me?

It makes me want.

It makes me want that Camry SE coupe manual,

who, which is another rare bird.

You like the older one, right?

You like that same generation, which is that 90, 92 to 96.

Because you could get the manuals after with the Camry's, too.

You couldn't in the yeses, but only in the four cylinders.

You write them in the six.

The Accord did that to us, too.

Remember that? Yeah.

But but in then just like the same model years with with this.

Yes, the same 92, 93.

You can get a Camry SE V6 coupe manual.

Yeah, off interior.

Beyond impossible to find.

Sure. But I want what it makes me

really, really, really, really, really, really want.

Can I be honest with you? Yeah.

Yes, 300 manuals impossible to find.

Sure. But it's funny.

Been looking for decades just now.

I shut up. I searched.

I searched just looking for the interior color

and I found somebody posting on making a Facebook post back in July

of the car that our purple car sitting like, wow, look like.

What? Yeah.

Sharing like a sale ad or they sharing?

Yeah, sharing the ad from the from the guy I bought it from.

So yes, three hundreds.

And you know, it's unusual.

They're usually all automatic

and have leather interior and sunroof.

Here's an unbelievably rare V6 five speed cloth interior, no sunroof.

And people like there's 23 comments on it.

People like, oh, my God, that's awesome.

But some had some had leather too with a manual.

And one guy's like, I have one. It's sick.

Dude, I wonder if Lexus could give us the production numbers of the,

you know, non sunroof cloth interior ones, manuals,

because that looks six.

And, dude, it's got to be a small ass.

No, it's so ridiculous.

Yeah. What's the take rate on one of those who went in there

and said, let me get a camera with a Lexus badge on it.

Essentially, let's be honest.

I mean, our particular one, I remember,

I think the only options it had are carpeted floor mats and wheel locks.

Wow. So absolutely stripper.

Basically, yes, our our person specced it out.

Either they specced it out and like order me the cheapest one fucking possible

as long as it's purple or some dealership somewhere said,

hey, give me the cheapest one possible.

And that's the one we're going to put in the classified ads

and the Super Saver or something to like starting at whatever it was like.

You're saying it was 2499.

It was that Lexus dealerships, affordable housing like rolled it out

next to the expensive LS 400.

Yeah, yeah, that would have been the cheapest new car by a lot

that they would have offered a hundred percent.

Yeah. God, could you imagine?

It's just so funny like to say, oh, you got to check out my Lexus.

It's cloth interior, no sunroof manual.

And they're and everybody would be like, what the fuck is that?

Like how many?

I don't think there's another one.

There's another Lexus that was sold like never.

That's the only one like as a like super stripper.

Yeah, as a stripper cloth, manual, no sunroof.

I don't think there's another Lexus product sold like that.

Could you get a cloth?

No, that was me thinking I wasn't frozen.

That was just me thinking.

Oh, God, exactly.

Although I suppose it's either one apparently makes for terrible listening

because it's just me frozen in time.

Right. But like I just, God, I mean, could you get

you to say like an I.S. could you get an I.S. 250 with cloth?

I don't think so, because I almost guarantee.

I know you can get a manual.

Right. That's pretty rare.

You get no sunroof.

Yeah. Oh, I don't think you could get.

I don't think I've ever seen cloth in any of the modern

I.S. iterations to tell you the truth.

I don't think it exists.

I don't think so, Frank.

Man, yeah, I just I know what I was going to say.

The GX 450, but I think they all had sunroofs

and no manuals could.

No, correct, correct.

But I'm thinking like a stripper, like even a cloth,

no sunroof vehicle from Lexus is the hardest.

You've been the manual.

I think you might have been able to get a cloth

interior early, like the first gen G.S. 300.

Really? I think you could have gotten.

I think I would be shocked.

Yeah. Without a sunroof.

Yeah. Slick top.

What are the kids call it?

Yeah, automatic still.

You couldn't get it.

Yeah, no, it's definitely the only cloth.

No sunroof manual Lexus has ever sold.

Yeah, we've got it, baby.

We've got it, baby.

I've done the fucking work.

It's purple on purple.

I really I have to say I really love I love those seats

and how how well is that foam held up?

It's so comfy.

The seats are completely perfect.

Yeah. And the materials like really robust,

like the textured pattern and everything.

It's like very soft.

Yeah, it's like.

Chef's, but it's not wearing through the interior.

I'm serious, guys.

Nothing rattles in this interior.

It's it's so well put together.

Yeah, let's just hope we don't have the clutch in it.

We'll be great.

I don't say things like that, bro.

Yeah. Yeah.

The one hundred and eighty five horsepower seems like a little

not one eighty five.

So I don't know if it felt about

it felt about one eighty five.

I can get some light car.

It's not super heavy, but it's not super heavy, especially.

I probably want thirty one hundred pounds.

I was going to say, yeah, between three to thirty one.

Sure. I mean, it is a sedan.

They are they are not small, but it's also a stripper one.

We have no sunroof.

It does have power.

Everything, which is nice, like the windows all work perfectly.

Great, great car.

It's got the little spare height key,

like the credit card key.

Yeah, that's super original Lexus one.

Yeah, super cool.

Yeah, man, it's just it's funny, though, you think back like

today, like any luxury, near luxury brand.

And I know in Europe, it's like you can get like a Mercedes Benz.

That's a stripper edition, right?

But in the states, like finding these stripper editions

of luxury and your luxury cars is kind of like rare

across the board, right?

Like, can you think of another like luxury branded vehicle

that's kind of similar?

And I forget that we're going to ergo the manual

because that's just an abstract way to approach this.

But how many other like what's the most stripper Mercedes you can get?

Well, they killed off the A class, right?

Because we had the A220 for like two model years, right?

The CLA was and the CLA for a long time.

Is that gone?

Oh, I don't know if they kept that one.

That was front drive by default, correct?

It was like the first like in the states, front wheel vehicle.

Yeah, the only way you got all wheel drive was

the claw via the claw.

No, just the AMG.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Not the glow, the glow.

I think you said the claw like a claw machine.

Totally froze. You really froze.

That's that was that was not acting.

You're good now. You're like, OK.

See, CLA is probably the cheapest, but I doubt you could get cloth.

I just don't think I can picture a modern Mercedes with cloth.

The the newest Mercedes that I can think of that you could get cloth in

because even then it wasn't cloth.

It was MP Tex, which was which is like fancy pants vinyl vinyl.

Yep. But the only ones I can remember with cloth or 300 D.

No, more modern.

So you can you can get a stripper ML 320

like a 98 or a 99 ML 320 with cloth.

OK, 90s patterned cloth.

Got a sunroof, though, doesn't it?

More like a sail cloth, almost, probably, probably.

And then you can also get a.

Do you remember the C like the C230 and C320 coupes?

Oh, yeah, those are the cloth.

You get a manual in those.

Oh, can we get a manual?

No sunroof cloth.

Me, yeah, that.

Probably because I think some of them you didn't.

You got like a I think you got like a non opening glass

panel roof, I think was an option on that's right.

So I there was a yellow one pretty cheap recently.

I don't think I sent it to you.

I think I sent it to a couple friends because I never see him.

It was yellow manual.

It was leather, though.

I think a lot of more leather.

Yeah, especially the higher the higher trim ones,

like like the two thirties you can get cloth on.

I don't know if I've ever seen cloth in a three twenty.

Yeah, no.

Yeah, I don't think we can get stripper luxury cars anymore

or luxury brands.

What is I wonder, like, what is the closest

thing produced that has been a stripper luxury car?

Like, is there like a like an only fans edition

or did they ever make a I can see that they would have

maybe made like a like a Hooters Mustang convertible or something like that.

Not the Hooters waitresses or waiters, I suppose, are necessarily strippers.

But like, what's the closest like a like a Gavinci Cadillac Seville?

Like, I don't know.

Yeah, it's a good good point.

Nothing modern, right?

Yeah, probably one of the play, probably one of the play.

Then you do like Playboy, like Playboy Edition, whatever's,

where like it'd be a pink, I don't know, a pink sixty five Mustang or something.

It could be.

It could be like a bang bus G wagon or something, right?

Yeah, just that could be that could be a thing.

BMW.

Well, you could get a three 18 TI.

Yeah, back in the day, you could get a cloth, no sunroof manual.

Good. Good. That's that's kind of a thing.

Yeah, I mean, we really it kind of early late 90s, early 2000s,

I suppose, was like the last time you can get such a such a creation.

I kind of want one of those, by the way.

Man, we've mentioned it before, the end of the death of the junior executive car.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Oh, what was your executive SUVs?

Is that a thing now? Junior executive.

Cross small crossovers, probably.

Yeah, X one, right?

Yes, it doesn't.

It doesn't have the same.

I just got promoted to middle management vibe.

No, well, which is a shame.

But what is but I'm gunning for area manager.

What what is that vehicle today?

What is a junior exec today?

I honestly, what are we looking at?

It's a model three performance.

Oh, gross. Yeah, that's it.

And maybe it's maybe like that or like a like a deeply used Rivian.

How about like an Audi?

An Audi crossover kind of has that vibe, too.

Like an S key five or a key five.

Yeah, it kind of has that feel because crossovers are at life now, right?

Like no one buys cars.

Yeah, are people still doing like GLE 63s?

It's part of the segment.

I don't pay attention to it all.

So I don't know.

Oh, but like junior executive where it's like,

yeah, the bottom, the bottom of the luxury brand

with that's like a little bit like

sprightly impossible to get, you know, IS 300 or IS 350.

Yeah, accurate TSX back in the day, definitely filled that void.

I will say the TL, the current TLX,

not a car that I necessarily want to own.

But I think it looks pretty good.

They're gone. They ended it, right?

Did they kill they killed the TLX, my friend.

It's gone the way of the sedan, my friend.

I think it's either this is the last year or last year was the last year.

I did like the the TX.

They did they have a type S on that one?

I can't remember.

They definitely had a spec and I thought they looked great.

Yeah, no, I thought they were.

I thought that was a sharp looking whip.

Can you confirm it's confirmed or deny it's passing right now?

Yes, TLX sedan has been retired for the 2026 model year.

So look at that, look at my finger on the pulse.

So there's going to be the Integra, the RDX, the MDX, the ADX, the ZDX and the RSX.

So we have a compact.

I mean, I guess that's the current Integra is your junior executive.

Right. It's a good way to look at it.

That's definitely you have an SUV, an SUV, an SUV, an electric SUV.

Yeah, dude, the MDX aspects are pretty nice if you've peaked into one of those.

It like leans in on the sportiness a lot more than luxury crossover.

So they're pretty sweet.

Yeah, that's a shame because the TLX was really nice.

Good looking vehicle.

Yeah, I kind of I still I know I've mentioned it before.

Oh, I still kind of want to do terrible things to a first gen RDX.

Dude, they're cool.

They're weird, like lowered a little bit and just boosted boosted to the moon

and get like seven miles a gallon out of a daily.

Was that a two, two, two, four?

Can't remember. I don't remember.

I think it's a two, four.

I want to say two, four.

I think it's a two, four with like some rudimentary turbo on it.

I mean, it's a CRX turbo motor.

Yeah, all wheel drive, essentially, right? Yeah.

Yeah, kind of like those things had some weird proportions, though.

They were cool.

The front end looked like it had like the vampire fangs in the early ones,

right, that little that weird design kind of attractive.

They could scoop.

Yeah, it could scoop.

Yeah, just boost one to the moon and then turbo turbo Honda products

from that period, pretty bear.

Yeah, for sure.

It's kind of like it really kind of ushered in the factory turbo

charged Honda bits.

Ah, good call. Yeah, that kind of was right.

What they have in the States, tons of stuff overseas, right?

Exactly Honda City turbo and stuff.

Oh, yeah, all the fun K car stuff they did.

But I take a two door RAV4 as well, or two door old school CRX manual.

Those are those are proper fun.

Yeah, man, here we are back to just like full circle.

Maybe shopping and meanwhile, we have this.

Yes, we are talking about that.

We haven't touched and we're already like shopping for the next thing.

Oh, yes, that's what you're for.

That's what you turn in to watch us make poor life choices.

Yeah, I do. What a cool thing.

What a cool machine.

I like it a lot, dude.

It's it's cool.

It's, you know, admittedly, it's been on my bucket list

for damn near two decades.

You just don't, you know, you have your cars, you look on marketplace

and this was a Craigslist searching car back in the day

and never could find one.

I think one time it had to be like, I think it was eight years ago

and it was a salvage title and they were still asking like fifty five hundred.

It had a hundred and sixty five thousand miles.

It was white and silver, which a lot of them were.

The interior is a little rougher compared to ours.

It's like half half the quality, right?

But just the fact that it was salvage title and everything

and they were still asking that much kind of put me off.

Yeah. And it's sold.

It's still sold within two days, which, yeah, they go fast.

They don't they don't hang out.

Yeah, this one is, man, I don't know what to make of it.

Other than it's it's really interesting and endearing.

Neither of us, like it doesn't really fill a need

other than just like the car geekdom of

here's the thing that shouldn't exist, but it does.

And like you own half and I own half or whatever.

Like, yeah, that's cool, but like.

But is it is going to go to get out on a back road somewhere?

No, but is it is it a perfect car?

I mean, it's that platform is one of the most reliable

like the Camry of that vintage with that motor and that gearbox.

That's all reliability.

Yep. Like, unbelievable.

And it looks quality.

Does it look for it?

It looks like a spaceship from 93.

Yeah, projector headlights, all that.

Oh, man, unbelievable.

Yellow fogs, yellow fogs.

So cool.

I was going to mention the greenhouse, too.

The greenhouse is the one thing and we say it from time to time.

But you don't understand like you're I feel like my waist is at

the the window bottom, which is an interesting feeling.

But, dude, I was like backing out of a spot and like it's a long

there longer than you expect, right?

Like it's a pretty long car.

I kind of I'm kind of curious what the wheelbase is.

But backing out, I just turn around and I'm like, holy shit,

this is near convertible levels of visibility.

Yeah, doesn't exist anymore.

And I love that.

There's like it's like it's.

I want to say it's like a passive safety thing,

because it's always there, like being aware of your surroundings.

Right. Yeah.

Killer, killer feeling when you have that.

But that's when I noticed it when I was backing out of a spot,

because modern cars, when you back up, that's why we have backup

cameras, right? Because the designers at this point,

they don't even give a shit, right?

Like that you don't need to put your physical eyes on anything.

We got a camera.

Well, also, too, in like 70 percent of just random

ass Americans are driving a sky jacked, you know,

F 450, you know, whatever super mega power duty.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's just like you have to have that.

Otherwise, you just like accidentally once a week,

you could just like back over a litter of kittens or something.

Oh, why kittens?

I did notice the the competency in steering was pretty good, too.

Like I'm not spicy or anything like that.

But, you know, we're in the usual 93.

I don't want to say Ford Escort, because I love them.

But if you take a 93 Ford Escort that hasn't been

upkept and go around a corner, you feel all the rolling,

all the horrible feelings.

Great compose this car.

So they really dialed this one in.

So I can't I can't stop singing its praise.

And when we polish it up even more, it's going to be.

This is going to be like an all time car for sure.

Yeah. And it really doesn't need much.

I mean, you know, I mentioned, you know, the clutch

needs some hopefully just simple adjustment and some

some maintenance on the hydraulic system, worst case scenario

to clutch, which is frustrating, but not fatal.

Right. You know,

spit, spit, shine the paint.

Oh, a couple of spots and need some touch up stuff.

But like the brakes feel good.

Brakes feel really good.

The suspension feels really good.

As you mentioned, steering feels really good.

There's a slight low idle situation to chase down,

which is it's going to be something pretty minor.

Yep. Yep.

And that kind of is hopefully it.

We don't know the status of the timing belt.

Yeah, you have to figure that out.

So it's on the original timing belt.

It kind of has to get done.

Has to. No, no questions.

Yeah. But otherwise, like.

Two other than a clutch and a timing belt surface.

Tune into your local favorite restoration YouTube channel

for a 300 time belt job coming up.

God, I wonder how many are out there.

Right. The camera, you'll probably be the place

to look for that video.

Yeah, there's probably 70 of them.

But yeah, I just, you know, the clutch would be annoying.

Hopefully it doesn't need that.

Oh, yeah, that's a that's a buzzkill right there,

if that's the case. But yeah, cool.

Cool car is 300.

Check it out our second, right?

Our second podcast car.

Right. It's our mascot.

I feel like I feel like it's definitely as as good of a

as good of a machine as that you 30 was and had a good story.

And we made a little bit of money on the other end of it

when it went on on bring a trailer.

This one is very much more our ethos.

Yeah, our flavor, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's more on brand.

Look at us with our like late 80s, early 90s cools to dance.

I know we are.

We are the junior executives.

We have to talk to a payroll.

Exactly. Yeah.

Maybe that's maybe that's what the name

for our our fan base should be the junior execs.

Does that demographic even get catered to in the car market?

I feel like it doesn't.

I feel like it's they don't mention that shit anymore.

Right. Yeah.

Model Model 3 Integra

two thirty two thirty.

I or two forty two forty I am or whatever.

Oh, yeah, I'm picking up what you're throwing down.

Yeah, like a four or some of the four forty I. Yeah.

Yeah, but I don't know.

Yes, 300.

Do recommend. Agree.

Oh, boy, should I try and embarrass you publicly?

Please, it doesn't take much.

Now it is right.

OK, are you pulling up a print ad?

Is I will let me dig this up.

Well, you tell the good people at home.

Oh, what the hell we are up to.

OK, we're about to get into some shit, guys.

Frank is digging up a automotive print ad.

It's a usually in a publication magazine from the 80s, 90s, mid 2000s.

He's going to read to this advertisement omitting anything that gives it away.

It is usually about a make and model that matters.

We try to pick cool cars, but sometimes we just pick obscure

pieces of shit to fuck each other over, which is a very endearing relationship

trait we have, but it's it's going to be pretty fun.

I get three guesses.

When I fail on each guess, I get to ask for help.

Frank is the worst lifeline in the world.

Don't ever rely on him.

He just kind of laughs, which has never helped me.

It just adds stress to it in 10 minutes on the clock to figure out

what the hell he's talking about, Frank, roll that beautiful bean footage.

OK, I'm trying to think I have two possibilities.

One is one has more.

Details. OK.

But the other one, the language is more ridiculous. OK.

And I'm torn.

I'm going to go, I'll save.

You know, I'm going to save the more flowery, more ridiculous language to one.

OK, for another day. OK.

Give it to me straight, Doc.

I'm going to go with this one.

They're two different cars, so I can save one.

Oh, good.

So this one, it's a one page ad.

The bottom hat is a poorly lit ad.

It's very dark and like mysterious.

Oh, is it showing up some body lines, perhaps?

No, no, it's just it's just being it's just being aloof.

OK. But the bottom half, we've have the the vehicle in question.

Kind of tight front corner wheels

pulled, steered to the passenger side.

Headlights with fog lights are on.

It's coming over the crest of a road.

Oh, and then it says how a luxury car should behave.

Blank. It's not a luxury car.

Yeah, blank, blank.

When it goes, it goes quickly, very quickly

with a zero to 60 acceleration

that will make the most serious driver smile.

Blank's engine is a five point o

liter high output V8 rated at 200 horsepower

and developing 285 pound feet of torque.

Quite a mouthful, quite a hoodful.

Is that in the ad?

Yes, that brilliant.

And I'm assuming it's it's I'm assuming

it doesn't mean clitoral hood.

I'm assuming it means like the hood of the car.

But OK, so that that goes against what I originally thought, too.

Right. Yeah, no, that's why I wanted to clarify.

I want to make sure the clitoral hood.

Exactly. Yeah.

When it's not referring to the clitoral hood.

Got it.

Yeah, when it stops, it stops quickly.

Yes, very quickly. OK.

Without the wheels locking, without swerving, without skidding.

Blank has the most advanced brake system in the world.

The anti lock brake system.

It can shorten stopping distances by up to 40 percent under the heaviest braking.

And that's on slick surfaces.

As car and driver said, it's if it's peace

and quiet, blended with excellent roadability you're after road.

No further. That's that's that's a word.

And I don't know if our driver invented that word, but it, quote,

excellent roadability.

I'll say they lost me.

We're good at clitoral hood and roadability.

We're good at what was the other year for road headability.

OK, Blank, the spirit and credentials of a sports

coupe and all the luxury of a blank.

Blank, what a luxury car should be.

For more information, call 1-800-822-9292.

Buckle up together.

We can save lives.

Buttercup.

Chadwick, you got 10 minutes, my friend. OK.

Did I hear five liter V8 with 200 horsepower and then metric?

What was the torque?

It was a two little fair amount of torque.

Quite a mouthful, quite a clitoral hood full.

This is tough.

I don't think this is European originally.

What was the last five liter?

We did a SL 500, I think.

Yes. Does it sound all right?

That was that was the that was on the the race car.

You won. My brain's not working.

But you know what I mean?

The silver almost a silver bullet, silver arrow.

God, I can't wait till we upgrade to drinking silver bullets.

Is that what is that upgrade from, Frank?

What is that an actual upgrade from hard Mountain Dew?

It's a significant one.

Fair enough. Everything's everything's more lateral.

Let's see what we're talking about here.

So luxury car.

It can't be.

Five liter V8.

So you think like maybe a Camaro, maybe a Mustang.

None of those cars have ever been called a luxury car.

Hey, Berlinetta trim. Come on.

I was going to say Berlinetta for funsies.

Oh, are you sure we haven't?

I thought we did this car.

I thought we did, too, but it ain't on the list.

Have I updated the list?

Well, I thought we did a long time ago.

So five liter V8 didn't say what drive it is.

I'm assuming rear.

It did not.

I struggle to name a five liter front wheel drive vehicle.

What were the North Star?

What was the biggest displacement North Star?

Four six.

OK.

It might have been a four eight.

I thought there was a four eight later.

I digress.

This is so immediately I thought.

And I still think this might be the fit,

but it's not really a luxury car per se.

The spirit and credentials of a sports coupe.

Let me shoot the luxury of a black.

Let me shoot my shot.

I'm good.

It's not a Mustang. It's not a Camaro.

It's five liter V8.

The horsepower specs are sticking in my craw.

I think I know what motor it is.

OK, let's go Mercury Capri RS.

Five oh, final answer.

It is not a Mercury Capri RS.

OK, I went a little upmarket from the Ford Mustang.

You did, which was the right move.

OK.

But it is not that you are.

You are God, how do I give you a hint

without just feeding you the fucking answer?

Am I on the right team?

Is it team? I'll give you that.

Or do you?

You're on the right team, which is a monster hint.

But I'm just OK.

Yeah, well, it's going to go like I can't think of another

five liter V8 with that kind of that horsepower number.

Sure, to tell you the truth with a multi port sequential.

Dodge didn't really have a five oh, like with that horsepower rating.

So it had to be five to had to be GM or Ford.

OK.

Same. You said same.

So it's a Ford product.

Five liter, what did they shove the five liter in?

So it's not going to be Mustang, dude, stop.

It's not a it's not a Fox body.

Not a Capri.

It is the Capri RS.

OK, there is.

Yeah, there is a luxury variant.

These are pretty obscure and pretty hard to find.

You could never get a manual.

Is this the Lincoln?

Was it the Mark Seven, but it was more importantly, the the LSC.

Final answer.

And it had that fucking tire kind of shape in the back, which is absolutely

disgusting if I remember correctly, like a continental kit.

Yeah, do you whore?

And there was no tire in there, by the way.

That was just a pure design thing.

Anyway, I shot my shot.

Let's see, Lincoln, LSC.

Lincoln, Mark Seven, LSC, the spirit and credential of the sports

coupe and all the luxury of a Lincoln.

Yeah, what what what year do you think we're 200 horsepower

would have to be mid 80s.

So 86, I believe it's an 87.

OK, I'll take it because it jumped to like 225.

Yeah, later.

Hell, yeah. Yeah.

And what's interesting is, first off, job well done.

Thank you. Secondly, I found this ad on a.

It was an article about fonts.

And it's just like all these fonts fonts in use.com.

Independent archive of typography

made possible by sponsors like that, that, that, that, that, that.

Really? Yeah.

This is an article from 2014 discussing

the different, you know, the different kind of fonts

and trying to figure out what it is.

It's a type of Futura font by Paul Renner.

And like, OK, pretty close.

Interesting. Century Gothic.

Yeah, it's a whole thing.

So yeah, I was really leading on the Mercury

Capri RS based on the ad.

I could picture.

I love that. You need to go further upscale.

Right, right.

That bubble rear glass is so cool.

If it ever breaks, you're totally fucked.

But I thought we'd actually done this car before.

I thought we had to.

I'm that's why I said that's kind of why.

And I went and and there were no Lincoln's on the list.

Oh, and I was like, oh, OK, well, we've never done a town car.

Bullshit, bullshit.

Your command to F is not working, my friend.

I just I don't know.

I just I don't know what to say.

Hey, you know what?

Can we I'm going to take a a a a a a car related phone call

live on the pod, hang tight.

Oh, all right.

This is going to be questionable.

Hi, this is Frank.

Hello. Yes.

Perfect.

Yes.

Yeah, what what time will you be picking up the vehicle?

Yes, I'm interested in your extended warranty.

OK.

Stunning video.

OK.

OK, what did Frank sell?

OK.

OK, did he get rid of the focus SVT unable to fix it?

Is the Chevy Sprint Turbo short for this world?

Yeah, that sounds great.

Just give me a call or shoot me a text when you have an idea

and when you will be here tomorrow and we will go from there.

Let me know if anything comes up.

Can somebody offer five hundred dollars more and scoop the vehicle?

Very good. Thank you.

All right, bye.

Which vehicle was that fantastic listening?

Oh, and we do have to call.

We do have to call the phone number from the ad.

We still need to do that.

Oh, there is one.

Disgusting. Yeah, yeah, the whatever it is.

We get to play the game of is it is it a functioning automotive number

or is it porn porn?

It's almost always porn.

So while I doubt that, no, that was the the 69

international scout.

Oh, OK, and bids.

And I'm getting an eight 15 p.m.

phone call from a driver who's just letting me know

he doesn't know when he's going to be picking it up tomorrow,

which is. Oh, that's about right.

Our Russian accent, by chance.

Yeah, of course, maybe Belarusian.

I'm not sure. Oh, as always,

shout out to our fans in Belarus.

Yeah, but.

OK, the ad here it is.

Let's call this phone number.

Eight hundred eight two two nine two nine two.

OK, all right, let's see what we got.

Here it comes.

Are you looking for hot singles in your area?

That's what it's going to be.

Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Lincoln, Mark Seven, LSC hotline.

God, it'd be so sick.

Oh, dude, factory fresh ones sitting out back.

Well, man, I guess it is pretty late.

That's kind of after hours.

It's eight, eight, 17 p.m.

That's when the love line fires up, big dog.

Maybe that's it.

Maybe if it's just after hours, they switch to porn.

And before that.

What a pivot.

Imagine presenting that at the board meeting.

Yeah, we've got to monetize

our after hours call center is the only way we can afford

to keep these these hotlines available.

All right, I'm going to go one more time and then I'm giving up.

Yeah, four fifty nine.

All about Lincoln's five o'clock.

Welcome to the season.

Why are they calling them now?

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yeah, cool car.

Good car. Yeah.

I remember why do I remember doing that car, though?

Who knows? Yeah, I don't know.

But hey, you know, you figured it out, so so job well done.

What what would be really sick is,

I think it was a one year only option was the diesel,

the two point four liter diesel that factor in one of those.

Would it be awesome?

I think it'd be so cool to have one of these with the five oh,

though, and Manny swap it just for extra giggles.

Yeah. Oh, fantastic.

That tire thing in the back fucking undoes me a little bit.

I'm not going to lie.

I do not like that.

I do not like that touch.

And I'm usually into weird useless shit like that, but it's two.

It's too much.

I'll touch too much.

An uncle's touch.

Yeah, I just what sucks is I kind of we talked all things Lexus

and that was most of my PCP was like delivering you a Lexus,

which was just me putting a battery in it and then hosing it down

of like the spray and pray car wash place.

Nice.

And then bringing it to you.

So I don't really have a whole lot else to discuss, unfortunately.

How about you?

Have you made any any headway on anything

or you spent too much time hanging out with me

and drinking terrible beers in your too much of that?

For sure, which is always enjoyable.

My PCP would be that Lexus shakedown, which we kind of already talked about.

See, so where I really, you know, as much as I can look at a car,

I think a drive, even a short drive is a good way to assess anything

because it's really car in motion.

That's going to really tell the story.

So, you know, those little things like critique,

like the idle surge, the low idle, a couple of things like that.

We'll take care of that stuff, man.

That's easy, easy, peasy stuff.

I can adjust the clutch uptake probably a little bit where the pickup point is.

I'll look at the clutch, slave and master just to definitely the slave.

For sure, I can get a visible on that.

Make sure there's no leaking.

Those are the things you don't notice until you get under the car

when you see a little bit of fluid under the boot and that kind of stuff.

So we'll see.

I didn't feel any suspension or handling slop.

Like I said, like no outer tie rods are gone.

No ball joints are gone.

Yeah, tires feel really good.

I'll look after car for sure.

So that was kind of it.

And I'm pumped.

I've already started making my little list of what to do.

We'll check it against the car fax and anything that's been done.

I did see an oil change in the sticker, oil change sticker in the window.

From the dealer from over a year ago.

So that's, that's concerning.

So it's, it's, it's good on mileage, but not on date for sure.

I mean, I've had it sit for like four months or whatever.

Right.

And it's definitely not leaking because that plenty of time to get rid of that oil.

So all fluids, I'll just probably do just to be, you know, it's worthy of it.

I think it's such a clean car.

We should do everything we can to preserve it and keep it running long.

Like I think they recommend 30,000 mile fluid changes in the transmission.

So I'll do that.

What's your opinion on that radiator?

I, you know what?

It's original.

I don't fuck with OEM radiators as long as they're not leaking.

Like I aftermarket.

Yeah, the tanks are old, but they're not leaking.

The seams are the seams aren't seeping at all.

Like it looks really tight, but like it's that like, you know, the black plastic

becomes more of like a brownish.

Yeah.

And it's a, it's a, it's a 130,000 mile car.

If it was a 20,000 mile car and it looked like that, I'd be suspected

that thing holding out any longer.

But, uh, dude, I don't like to replace OEM radiators.

Even everybody said, oh, just get an old metal one.

But there's a build quality.

Isn't this good in the aftermarket a lot of times?

Unless you get like a mischie motor and then you're going to be spending too much

money, I don't fuck with stuff like that until it's leaking.

Cause it's easy enough to pull that damn thing out when the time comes.

And it doesn't, it's a manual.

You don't even have cooling transmission cooler lines.

You just, yeah.

No, super, super easy job.

Right.

Um, timing belt might suck a lot of dick in that transverse V six.

Uh, get at least movement engine mount and all that kind of fun stuff.

Um, hopefully that's fresh enough.

Um, but yeah, no, cool, cool freaking car, man.

I think I still can't get over the condition under the hood.

Usually even a California car, you get a little surface corrosion on

some of the bolts and hardware, especially if it's been like rubber.

That's like hard and, and, and, and whatever.

And this is like not even any of that, right?

Like any bolt that's been removed with the wrong size socket or like rounded

a little bit, it gets a little bit of corrosion rust, right?

Everything looks fat.

Like nothing's ever been, which probably means the timing belts original.

Uh, but you know, there's some positives in there, right?

It's a, it's really good.

And that's my home, and that's my homework assignment for this week.

Maybe I'll do that tomorrow is, um, see if I can walk into the dealership

with the title in my name and just like, Hey, like, can you guys print me out?

Cause the local, the dealership local to me is who did most of the

servicing on that car, right?

So I'd like print me up everything you got.

Um, and just see, see what, what there is to see.

Um, I just picture you walking into that Lexus dealership, like get that

SC 500 out of my way, manual.

He has 300 owner and just like, Oh my God, he's here.

It's him.

Yeah, he's him.

Um, God, dude.

Yeah.

So, um, I'll, I'll, I'll drag my chunk into there and just flop at

all under the table and demand my service.

He'll be, he'll be talking to the service manager.

Yeah.

It's a, they only made a few hundred of these manual is 300.

Guess what?

No sunroof and it's clock.

And the guy's like, I don't fucking know what you're

talking about.

The car was made here before I was born.

Please, please leave me alone.

Um, so yeah, so that'll be fun.

Um, cool.

Well, I guess that's kind of it.

You got, you got any, any parting shots here before we, we know it's

just, let's do our plugables.

Um, I think we mentioned the Patreon, APA pod, yes, Patreon.com.

Check it out guys.

Uh, no pressure at all.

You know, we still fucking love you anyway, even if you're

cheap, skate friends.

Um, but let's face it, we are your, we're everyone's

cheap, skate friends.

So no apologies needed.

Like just, you know, if, if you, if you put up with this, this

long and you want to, you want to throw something our way so we

can continue to make poor life choices, please.

Show your support.

Um, otherwise keep coming here.

This is great too.

Uh, and, uh, wonderful.

Fantastic.

Um, if you want to stalk me, I'm the photographer's garage

and all the things.

Chadwick, how about you?

Auto obscure garage on the tubes.

Uh, check it out.

Uh, more Volvo content coming to you, some tracker

content and more importantly.

Some Lexus ES 300 manual content, buddy.

So that'll be, that'll be a blast.

He blast.

Um, but that's it.

Check us out here.

Leave reviews.

We love you guys.

Check out our YouTube over a hundred subscribers.

Look out world big leagues are calling buddy.

Um, but yeah, we, we appreciate everything guys.

We love doing this and we love having you here for it.

So take care as always.

We love you and we'll catch you in a week, in a week or so.

Happy trails.

Bye.

Episode #207 - The ES300 Hour

Is300

Toyota Camry

Ford Fiesta St

ML-Class Ml320

Ford Mustang

G-Class G Wagon

Acura TSX

Acura TLX

Acura RDX

Acura ZDX

Acura Integra

Honda MDX

Toyota RAV4

Ford F450

Tesla Model 3

Dodge Spirit

Chevrolet Camaro

Ford Capri

Mustang Fox Body

About this episode

Original notes