00:15
All right, welcome back to another pointless automotive podcast, Chadwick and Frank with
00:23
you again for another installment of this lovely little thing we do. Frank, how does
00:27
this evening find you? It finds me turgid and strategically swollen. How about you?
00:39
Hungry? Thirsty? I don't know how to react to that statement. I feel you. Yeah, well,
00:46
I'd like to. No, no, you don't. Anyway, let's get that out of the way. No, let's jump right
00:53
into it, man, because what are we doing? We've done we've done these and it's been a while.
00:58
I think we checked back. It's been it's been a significant amount of time that's passed.
01:02
Automotive grudge matches. We like to match and we're not. We're not. There's no scientific
01:08
like methodology to this. This is just us pitting two OEMs. Usually, I guess we could do models
01:15
and I think we have done that before, but we just kind of come at this conversation
01:18
and going at it again. No rhyme, no reason. Sinking into the madness. This one, my friend,
01:26
we have done. We have done some classics in Ford versus Chevy. We've done Subaru versus Mitsubishi,
01:33
Mercedes versus BMW, and that's all lightweight bullshit compared to what we're talking about
01:38
today, buddy. And I think this needs to be done. We're going to do Mercury versus Oldsmobile.
01:46
And yeah, dude, I think this is a reflection of us. I think this is a reflection of this podcast
01:53
because we're outdated. We're defunct. We don't have to pasture. Yeah, this anymore. And these
01:58
these two OEMs don't in Mercury and Oldsmobile. So let's fucking get into it, buddy. And
02:05
historically, I tend to do like I pick like a category or subcategory and I kind of pick
02:11
two models that are best representing that quality in that OEM and sort of hard with these
02:17
ones. So it is hard. I got creative and by creative, I mean lack of sleep, too much work,
02:23
and I kind of just wrote some bullshit down. Okay, lots of cocahina. I'm going to start off,
02:29
my friend. This is it. And I welcome your criticism of this breakdown. But Rad and obscure is how I
02:39
title this one. The Mercury Capri XR2 versus the Olds Quad 442. I mean, they're wildly different
02:49
cars wildly, but wildly both cool fucking cars in their own rights. You know what's interesting?
02:56
Both of these cars is I'm curious what production numbers are. If there are production numbers
03:02
out there on them. No. I see Mercury Capris of this era, which for the uninitiated is an Australian
03:14
built Mazda engines, front wheel drive, 2C convertible, although frequently sold with a hard
03:24
top in NA or XR2 turbocharged guys. Mazda as correct. Whereas the Olds Quad 442 is a front
03:38
wheel drive, two door, four seater, pseudo luxury front wheel drive performance, you know, dual overhead
03:49
cam quad four. So two very different cars. And you would think the practical, the more practical
03:59
when I should say the Olds Quad 442 would be the one that you would still occasionally see.
04:04
But for me, I absolutely occasionally see Capris. I don't know if I'm sure I have. I cannot name
04:13
a time that I've ever seen an Olds quad 442 in the wild. The quad 442s were actually pretty rare.
04:21
Any of the I can't remember seeing a quad four powered Oldsmobile, whether it be a Calais or
04:27
whatever, right in the wild to tell you the truth. And to be fair, I see Capri in Capri XR2s for sale
04:34
here and there, but I don't I don't really ever see them out in the wild. Oh, I do. I see them
04:40
occasionally. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I see a couple of year. Get out of here. A couple of year.
04:46
This guy. So apparently roughly 1360 is is the production number of a quad 442.
04:56
Insane. Although then this is around 2000 units. So who knows? But let's just say 2000 units.
05:04
And then they made like a high performance one with 204 produced.
05:10
But yeah, so yeah, pretty pretty uncommon thing. I'm such a sucker for that quad 442.
05:19
I've got to go with that. And I think I'm going to say that because it's
05:24
believe it or not, I feel like it's a more unique thing.
05:28
More wait time out more unique than the convertible front wheel drive turbocharged
05:35
Australian built domestic badged Japanese powered car. Yes. Hey, you know how many domestic badged
05:46
Japanese turbocharged cars were in the 80s. The Australian part. No one cares about the
05:50
Australian part. Australians don't care about the Australian. Yeah. The ghost of Steve Irwin
05:58
does not care about the Australian part. Two fucking soon. Come on. It's not like it got hit
06:03
by a Corvette Stingray. The thing is in the 80s, there were tons. There were lots of convertibles
06:12
from every manufacturer had a had a convertible.
06:17
Various sizes, two seaters, four seaters, whatever.
06:23
A semi luxury high revving twin cam manual domestic coupe. Yep.
06:34
It's a pretty rare bird. That's a pretty unique offering.
06:41
And then they slap on the 442 badge, which is like a throwback to the muscle car era,
06:47
which is totally like an anachronism to kind of the car. Hang on. But I'm in support of the
06:55
anachronism. I think it's dope. So Old Summable, you're picking for this one. I'm going, yeah,
07:04
because Quad 4 fires up the old, the old loins region better than just about any other power
07:11
plant out there. And the quads for 442 is probably like, is that pinnacle Quad 4 application? It's
07:18
right there. It's right there. Body cloudings. Production car. Yeah. I mean, there's the
07:25
Achiva SCX, which was pretty special. Yeah, we're talking S tier, right? On a tier chart.
07:32
The Capri XR2, though, I got to say a couple of things. Yeah, it's an alt for a Miata,
07:39
kind of. Front wheel drive, sure. We'll take it, but you get a 1.6 turbo. Yeah,
07:43
Lotus Salon, budget Lotus Salon, if you will. Back seat. It's got a back seat. Oh, it does?
07:50
Okay. Oh, you're right. It does. Yeah, it does. Was it optional or did they all have them?
07:55
They all had them. So I could chewhorn my kids to add another level of torture to their lives.
08:03
You just bust in the back seat. How fun would that be? They would fucking love it.
08:08
I don't know. It's got pop-ups. It's got a turbo. It's convertible. It's got a back seat. There's
08:14
so much to love about it. It's so unique. There's nothing else really like it. Mercury badge and
08:21
all. It's too much. Both of those cars equally want. I couldn't pick a winner,
08:28
but I just wanted to shout out how when you say Mercury and Oldsmobile,
08:32
you don't jump to these kind of cars, but how cool. Even though you picked Oldsmobile,
08:37
they're both immensely rad cars. Can I pick the next fighters in the battle here?
08:49
Yeah, round one or round two. Minivans. Shit. Here we go. You go in. You go in Silhouette.
09:01
You going... Come on. It takes a villager. Yes, thank you.
09:08
Mercury villager, which again is another re-badge. There's going to be a lot of re-badge battle
09:15
probably why these OEMs don't exist anymore. But yeah, we're putting that piece of the puzzle
09:19
back in there. I'm trying to think, were there ever... Because you could also go... You could also
09:25
go... Not quest. I mean, you could go quest. I thought you were going to say quad four powered.
09:29
Oh, that'd be sick. That's like quad swap. Okay, no. If I woke up with Bezosian
09:35
Monning, quad four turbocharged quad four powered swapped Silhouette. God damn, all wheel drive.
09:45
Yes, you do one in the rear as well. So you have a front rear dual quad four. Oh, boy.
09:55
God, that'd be cool. But yeah, no, minivan. You go in your Nautica villager or you go in
10:00
your Silhouette. They made that buttercup yellow color you can get with the singing doors that
10:09
play the little chime when it... I'm team villager because they had so many variants. You're right,
10:15
they had the Nautica, but they also had... There were a couple other ones there. I'm a real sucker.
10:20
I almost bought a really clean gold because you get two tones. It was gold and green,
10:26
that bright kind of forest green with gold badging option. And I thought that looks so
10:32
fucking good. So I go Mercury villager in this contest, my friend. I think undoubtedly the villager
10:39
is the better thing to own because it won't die as frequently. I think today you roll up into a
10:49
Carson coffee in a perfect villager or a perfect Silhouette. Either way, yeah. You are getting
10:57
the honeys, if you will, in the Silhouette. And by honeys, I mean men like us. If you roll up in a
11:09
perfect Silhouette. Oh, God, yeah, dude. I think... And at this point, that is really the only reason
11:17
you own one of these cars is to win the Carson coffee, as they say. So with that, I think I'm
11:26
going... I think I'm going to counter you on this. I think I'm going to go Silhouette. Silhouette? Yeah?
11:30
Yeah. Ooh. Have you seen the Silhouette of a Silhouette? It's... It's interesting. It's an
11:38
interesting Silhouette. It's like Adam Driver's Silhouette. You can't... Okay. I don't think we need
11:46
to unpack that. It's like Adrian Brody's Silhouette. Now you're stretching, buddy.
11:53
We've talked about stretching last episode. We're not doing that again. We're not going back there.
11:57
Yeah, we are. But no, you can't lose. You can't lose. If you can find a clean example,
12:04
I'm telling you that villager... It was like a BMX off-road park and it was like these dudes
12:10
rolled up and they were younger. So it's like a family-inherited vehicle and you could tell
12:14
grandma's fucking treasured piece. And they were just like casually like pulling their bikes out of
12:19
it and shit. And I was like, what's the story, guys? And they're like, no, we can't sell it. I'm
12:24
like, fuck. It was... It was such a good combo, like that green and gold with the gold badging too.
12:30
Oh, brilliant combo. The gold wheels. Can you imagine? So it had the silver, you know, the
12:35
gold wheels on the inlay parts. Yeah. It was so clean, dude. Like didn't have a scratch on it.
12:40
Can you imagine the people that do come up to them about like trying to buy their car like you
12:44
just did? Just the most like unhinged, unwashed, like swath of humanity coming up to them. Can I
12:52
buy your minivan? You just perfectly described me, by the way. Yeah, exactly. I came out. I saw it
12:59
as I was going into the porta potty and I just about faced still pants half off. I just had to
13:05
make an offer, man. Yeah, as one does. By the way, I like how like heavy hitting. We've started out
13:11
with minivans and the quad 442 and the... Look, we didn't mess to represent on this grudge match.
13:19
It's Mercury versus Oldsmobile, my friend. This is as good as it's going to get and it's never
13:24
going to be this good again. But I'll see you thinking. So budget performance sedans. These cars,
13:32
these automakers both had two that come to mind for me. And I had the pleasure of owning one,
13:41
but so you're... I think you like this one more than the quad 442 a little bit because you mentioned
13:46
this one a lot. The Olds Cutlass Calais International, which you could get as a sedan because
13:51
this is a sedan competition with a quad 4 and a manual. And those are pretty fucking rare,
13:57
like to be brutally honest. Those are insanely rare. And I love how they look. I love... Yeah,
14:03
they're cool. They're boxy. They're upright looking. The competition, the Mercury Tracer LTS, which
14:09
smaller doesn't look as good still a sedan. But the Mercury Tracer LTS is hidden weapon is Mazda.
14:18
It's got a Miata BP engine, which would have been in the NA8 starting there with that 1.8
14:24
liter dual overhead cam screamer of an engine stuffed it in a small sedan with a Mercury badge.
14:29
That's wild. The luxury Touring sedan, right with a five speed manual and teal. If you shop
14:36
wisely. There's probably zero for sale in the country right now. Both of these are both rare as
14:41
fuck. Which one? I don't want to keep going back to the well, but I think I got to go Olds on this
14:51
one. I think I got to do the international series. It loses... Well, it's funny because it's got the
14:59
more luxurious accoutrements, but it still probably loses on NVH because of the quad 4.
15:09
It's like an old single cylinder BSA or something. This whole thumper is just rattling around.
15:13
But both of these cars don't look like they would have a high revving power plant and they both do.
15:19
You got to remember the Tracer LTS 7000 Redline, baby.
15:24
And again, it's probably the better car to own is the LTS. Reliability, 100%, right? Like
15:31
Mazda gearbox, Mazda BP engine. Yeah, so easy to work on. It's an Escort protege if you need body
15:39
panels and other parts. I also pick Oldsmobile, even though I've owned the Tracer LTS. I picked
15:45
the Cutlass Cali International. Such a clean looking car, dude. And to pop the hood and see
15:50
a quad 4 in that nice little thing. Yeah, it's like the red, the red, thinned valve cover.
15:56
So I'm curious what a... Do you think those are a 60,000 mile timing belt interval?
16:02
Yeah, I think they are. Yeah, I would say. I mean, there was some stuff in that era would be like
16:06
30,000 miles. Like I know 924s, I think are 30. Oh, yeah. 924s and 944s. Yeah, they're like...
16:14
Yeah. If that, right? They're even smaller than I think. 15. Whenever you drive the car.
16:20
Instead of oil changes. But no, it's both of those cars, like I said, the Tracer LTS,
16:26
still near and dear to my heart. I kind of missed that car because it was so
16:31
nothing else like it, right? No, it's a Miata-powered little sedan. Don't worry about it.
16:35
Like the guy that bought it, was he local? He or she local? Or are they far away?
16:39
So the story, I thought he got an update for some reason. He sent me an update. I can't remember
16:45
that one. But the funniest thing was him and his friends were doing a cheap car like road trip
16:49
challenge and it had to be a domestic for like under a certain price point because I sold it
16:54
pretty cheap. I got it for nothing. The thing was, it's kind of fucked because it's a Mazda,
16:59
right? Like he's cheating like big time because if everybody else showed up with like Cavaliers
17:03
and actual, you know, Ford made domestic parts. Sure. Or like a, I don't know, what else would
17:09
be horrible? A Dodge Shadow, which I love, but not a great car. Not a great car. Dodge Avenger
17:14
without a Mitsubishi power plant. Right. Yeah. So the Tracer LTS was kind of cheating and but,
17:20
you know, it is so obscure you can get away with it, right? Like your friends aren't going to call
17:23
you out unless they hear you hitting like 7000 RPM on a manual. No, it's a, it was an interesting
17:31
dude. Did it survive the drive? I think, oh yeah. I think he held on to it and he said something
17:35
like he sold us some other crazy guy that was like fiending for like fiending for one of these
17:40
things. And I'm like, yeah, drop, drop his name somewhere down below because we need to talk.
17:45
But yeah, no, it was a, it was a cool, cool sale. Okay. Can I, can I cook up another,
17:53
another matchup? And this is going to be a matchup of lineups. Okay. I present to you
18:03
the final debt. So the, like the death note year for each manufacturer. Oh, so would you rather
18:10
have the 2004 Oldsmobile lineup, which was the last year, or would you rather have the 2011
18:18
Mercury lineup? And let me read them to you. Unless you know, do you happen to know the lineups
18:24
for each? I can guess, I can, this is my shit-box knowledge base, dude. I think I could name a
18:30
lot of these. I bet there's a, there's going to be an intrigue, right? Well, okay. So let's go,
18:36
Oldsmobile. So you're going to start with Oldsmobile? So, okay. So 2004 there was not an
18:40
intrigue. Oh, they had just very intriguing, but no intrigue. So they had the, what was the
18:45
Grand Am counterpart? The, I could, I could draw the car right now. It's the, they offered it in
18:53
Coop Incident. They did. It's a Grand Am. It's a Pontiac Grand Am. The Oldsmobile.
19:01
Something. Alero. Alero. Alero. You had the Aurora still? No, Aurora was dead. Well, fuck them.
19:10
Aurora. No Bravada. It was a three model. They dare called it a four model lineup because they
19:16
broke the Alero into Coop Incident. But really, it's a, there are three models. The Alero is one.
19:23
No Bravada. Bravada is one. Okay. And then the Oldsmobile, did they keep the silhouette to the
19:30
end? The silhouette. Good. There's the 04 silhouette, which was a rebadge of the uplander.
19:37
Or was it the Chevy Venture then in 04? It might have still been the Chevy Venture.
19:42
Might have been. Yep. Uplander or Venture. The 04 Oldsmobile Bravada.
19:47
And Ford Escape. Yeah, exactly. I'm sorry. Not Ford Escape. The GMT360 trailblazer.
19:55
No, that's trailblazer platform. That's true. They switched, but yeah, that was along for a
19:59
long ways here. Yeah. And then the Alero. So would you rather have that lineup or can you
20:04
guess the 2011 Mercury lineup? Also three vehicles. Oh, Mercury. Fuck. That was not one of them. No,
20:15
the Mercury fuck was out of production. No, you did get fucked. They were out of
20:17
fucks by then. They have sold all of them. I think they kept the Villager, didn't they run that to
20:21
the very end? There was no Villager. Villager was gone. Mariner. There is a Mercury Mariner,
20:28
which they named after the main character from Waterworld.
20:33
I heard that movie really capitalized on its huge budget.
20:37
It did. They spent it all on Jack Black. Kevin Costner's sex drugs. I don't know.
20:44
Yeah, probably. It's got a rumor here.
20:48
That's why they filmed it at sea. So it's in international water. So we can do deeply terrible
20:54
things. Human testing. Yeah, okay. So yes, the Mercury, Kevin Costner's Waterworld Mariner.
21:01
Two others. Sable. Mercury Sable at the end, right? No Sable. We're Sable-less. The Milan, sorry.
21:07
Yeah, the Mercury Milan. Shout out to this year's Olympics. I can't remember my mom's birthday.
21:13
So I don't, I'm assuming it's pushed out by this knowledge base. So the Milan, how many vehicles?
21:19
They have like, you can get a five speed in them. You can get a believe even in a six
21:23
cylinder. You can get a five speed in those Milan's. That's not true. No, a six speed. It was a six
21:27
speed. It might have been only in the four cylinder, but you could get, you could get a manual. I've
21:32
seen one. Now I'm going to look. I've seen one. And then there's one more, the Mercury that would not
21:38
die. Was there an end? No, it's not. Not an endeavor. Why am I thinking endeavor? That's
21:45
a rumor. And again, just, just like the end of Oldsmobile, it was also platform shared with
21:49
something else. Mercury. Not that, well, the Mariner was deeply platform shared too.
21:54
They all were. Yeah, they all were. Every one of these cars is a platform shared car.
22:00
Intrigue? No, that was, that wasn't Oldsmobile. I'm crossing my cross streams. Never cross streams.
22:07
I'm dead. I don't know. Give me a hint. I better get it. You're going to kick yourself for this one.
22:12
The Mercury Grand Marquis. True. Yep. Panther platform. Yeah. So would you rather have
22:22
11 Grand Marquis, Milan and Mariner, which are all kinds of M's, right? Grand, but Marquis,
22:30
Fair. Milan, Mariner or Oldsmobile, Alero, Bravada, Silhouette.
22:38
I think I go Oldsmobile because you get, you kind of get a truck, you get a minivan, and you get
22:45
a piece of shit. But Grand Ames are cool. I have a soft spot for Grand Ames. I can, I can
22:50
kind of get behind that. Honestly, like the Alero Coupe doesn't look too bad. No, they, it's, it's a,
22:56
it's a Grand Am without bodyclimbing. It's all it is. A little bit more sleek looking. Exactly.
23:02
You know, more leathery leather, I guess, grounded to the ground. I don't know.
23:06
Would you say Connelly leather? Yeah, not Connelly leather, not Rich Carinthian leather,
23:11
not harvested from children leather. Wheel penis. Yeah, not whale penis leather interior.
23:18
Your shout out to the darts prom brawn or LeBron. LeBron's leather. No, nobody wants that.
23:31
So Oldsmobile. I think, I think, I think I go Mercury. Really? I would get a Mercury,
23:38
Mariner hybrid feels like it would actually be a reasonably okay daily. And you get a four by four
23:44
if you really wanted to get crazy. Yeah, yeah. The Milan is a completely, I think, I mean, it's,
23:53
it's a, I think a Mercury Milan, a 2011 Mercury Lawn is a better nothing than the, than an Alero is.
24:00
No, get the fuck out of here. The Aleros, you could get the manual. That year you had that
24:04
three, four GM corporate V6. You get the, you don't want the three, the, the three liter
24:10
of Duratech. Come on. No, I don't. Come on. You don't actually don't. You don't want half an Aston
24:15
V12 as a bunch of clowns like to claim. Nope. I absolutely don't want that. And I think you
24:20
can get a hybrid in that too. Come on. Get some MP Jesus. Come on. Oldsmobile in this one, buddy.
24:26
You know what? Here's the thing though, death nail, the absolute slam dunk in my favor on this.
24:31
In Mercury's favor, I should say. Panther platform. Yeah, it's a good one. It's a good one.
24:38
Mercury Marauder was the best. It was, it was gone by 11, unfortunately. No, for sure, but
24:44
still the best Panther. Have you driven a Marauder? I haven't driven a Marauder, like so many Crown
24:49
Vicks, so many grand marquis. I want a Marauder and I need, I will not drive a Marauder without the
24:55
leather jacket on. I came with it with the, the kind of dope like Mercury logo, like the, the
25:02
side profile of Mercury Head. You can't, don't even come at me if you're wearing a Marauder jacket.
25:10
I mean, invitation is open. Don't come at me with a Marauder jacket unless you've caught at
25:14
least three domestic charges. Like that's all I'm going to say. Don't, don't fake that shit, dude.
25:19
Be real. Real, real, real Marauders. The real motherfuckers out there. Yeah.
25:24
You see, I just imagine you're like in some seedy bar in the middle of nowhere and you're
25:29
sitting there and all of a sudden you're like the, like the, the shitty half door flop open.
25:35
Yep. Some guy walks in and he's like putting a cigarette out on the fucking heel of his boot.
25:39
He's wearing a Mercury Marauder jacket. Oh, dear shit. Fuck. Look at that badass motherfucker.
25:47
Just like totally. Yeah. It's just like the, the baddest man in town just rolled in. It's so bad.
25:53
It's so bad. I have driven one not far. I just ran one down the block and back.
26:00
Kind of like outrageously disappointing. Of course. It just drives like, oh, I guess it
26:08
feels faster than a normal Grand Marquis. Like it doesn't, it's not sporting at all. But they look
26:14
cool. The bumper with the Marauder engraved is, it's fucking cool, right? Yeah. They look great.
26:21
I honestly think it would be great to, to buy one and then just put a, like immediately put
26:26
a blower on it. Not cheap anymore. Not cheap. I don't think they were ever cheap. Honestly.
26:31
They dipped. Yeah. Everything kind of dipped. I think, I think that was the car to buy in like
26:36
2012. I think you could score one of those, probably the bottom of that. And then people held
26:41
on to it. Right. Wasn't Matthew Marauder trying to save us from the end of the world in 2012?
26:45
Yeah, but not in Marauder. That was a major oversight by the filming.
26:50
They should have done that. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck them.
26:52
Well, they couldn't have done it in 2020. Yeah. Yeah. 2012, famously the year after
26:56
Mercury died in 2011. How about this? What you got? Bro. We'll call this one clone wars.
27:05
Both of these vehicles have near infinite amounts of like bad sharing, name changing,
27:11
exact platform sharing. Bravada. We have Bravada taking on the Mercury Mariner.
27:18
Oh, okay. But like full line. This is why it's called clone wars. So these are,
27:24
they're two like full on trucks, right? Like these are truck-ish. Sort of. For the, for the,
27:29
for the brands. The Bravada is far more truck actual body on frame. Correct. Then the Mariner.
27:38
But both of them represented SUVs during that initial SUV craze, right? Like, well,
27:43
not the initial one, but the second coming of SUVs in that time period. Would you,
27:48
what would you do? Would you take the S10 Blazer clone, the earlier Bravado?
27:53
Right. Bravada against the Ford Escape clone, which is the Mercury Mariner.
27:59
We're not talking about them. Don't get it mixed up with the fucking Mazda.
28:03
Do you think anyone, do you think anyone has ever actually been
28:07
in a Mazda tribute, right? Like sitting in a parking lot and someone comes up and is like,
28:11
hey man, sick Mercury, uh, you know, sick Mercury, uh, Mariner. And they're like, no, no, this is,
28:19
this is, this isn't, this isn't a Mariner. This is just a tribute. Do you think you've ever
28:25
ever pulled that off? It's brilliant. My buddy, a good buddy of mine that I'm still buddies with,
28:29
Steve from grad school, where I met him. He had a Mazda tribute, which we called the Mazda
28:33
Roddy, which is very fitting for a Mazda tribute. Um, no, I think he's the only one I've ever known
28:38
that driven, has driven one of those fucking things. You don't even talk about a vehicle. You
28:42
don't, there's a clean, there's a clean one on like right down the road from my, my kid's school.
28:47
And like when we, we walk to school on Fridays and we, when we walk, we walk right by it every day.
28:52
It's a green tribute hybrid.
28:57
And, uh, the cool interesting, that, that had to have been Mazda's first hybrid, right?
29:05
It has to be, right? I think so. I don't know what else it would be.
29:10
And probably the only one for a while, because like, they have a CX, what CX five, CX 50 hybrid
29:17
now, which is actually just the powertrain from a, a RAV four hybrid.
29:21
Yeah. But those are all like super modern. Yeah. What, what did they,
29:25
that's a good question. Mazda was not, and still is not big on the hybrid game.
29:30
Didn't have it in a B2, 200. That's for sure.
29:32
No, that is for sure. Um, so we are going widely off script, which is what we do here.
29:39
Well, what are we doing? You doing bravada?
29:41
Mariner. I think I have to go bravada. I like them. I actually, I like that last gen Mariner.
29:46
Um, the boxy one. Yeah. That's just a, an appliance. That's what it's good for. They're
29:52
pretty well, like they're pretty well built. Those hybrid ones are actually pretty reliable
29:56
because it's a Mazda tribute to Mazda engine, but all the hybrid components are all licensed from
30:03
Toyota. Right. So, and then like, Oh no, a window regulator broke. It's like $11 because
30:10
it's just a Ford part and they sold those for ever. So I, as a, as I, an item to use in like,
30:17
as a thing, probably the Mariner, but I got to go bravada. Even the end run bravada, we just kind
30:22
of dunked on a little bit. Uh, the trailblazer stable mate. Good little truck. Yeah. Yeah.
30:28
Those are, those are reliable. Those 4.2 Atlas, six cylinders, pretty good. And then the earlier
30:33
ones, like the, like the four three, you know, those are like, talk about something that looks
30:39
dated today. Like those look, they're always in that like kind of eggplant meets burgundy purple.
30:49
Hey, I wish, I wish they had, you could get a manual. That's the only like strike against the
30:55
the early ones. They're S 10 blazers. I wish GMC Jimmies for all your hardcore folks out there.
31:00
I wish you could get a five speed stick in them, but still that three vortex, quite a motor.
31:05
I wonder, and I'm going to try and search it up real quick. Could you ever get a Mercury
31:10
Mercury Mariner in a manual? I don't think I've ever heard of that being a thing.
31:17
Could you could get earlier early escapes? You could. Yeah. Base, base escapes. You could get
31:23
her the Manuel. I don't know if a Mercury badge vehicle would do that, but we have trace rail
31:29
TSS. So why not? Apparently specifically 08 and 09.
31:37
There was a very rare, like you could apparently actually spec one. You had like custom orders
31:45
or some shit. According to the internet. Yeah. Oh, six Mercury Mariner on motor trend on the review.
31:50
Five speed manual in the four cylinder only. It was available. Huh. I don't know. I'd like you to buy
31:57
me. I'd like you to buy that and try to get that hype train going. Guys,
32:01
I'm here with one of the rarest Mariner variants you could get. And then you have to subscribe.
32:07
Hey guys, welcome to Mariner TV. Like it's all like an only Mercury Mariner based YouTube channel.
32:14
Let's face it, it didn't get more traction than mine does. So yeah, I was fair. That's what I do.
32:18
You're like, not a lot. We do it in an interior like pan and then you go back to the manual and
32:22
you're like, smash that fucking button. Yeah. As I one guy in one jar, the manual shifter here in
32:28
my Mercury Mariner 2008, 2009 only. The market's going up. Yeah. No, it's not. I'm gonna find one.
32:38
And then you get them along. You are not. You get them along manual. I promise we can't find either
32:43
of those fucking vehicles, dude. They're gone. I've seen CardoNation got in a, this is probably
32:49
two years ago. They got in a manual Milan 25 4-cylinder. It was in decent shape, but I think
32:56
there was something terminal with it. Like it had like a rod knock or something. Both of those
33:04
vehicles. There's one no-name company that makes a clutch kit for it when your clutch goes. And
33:08
you have to use that one. I guarantee it. There's no... Knowing Ford, it's probably some clutch
33:14
kit for like a Ford Mondeo that they sold in droves in Europe. But not in the States. Yeah,
33:19
yeah, yeah. That's how I'm saying it. You're gonna find it. Yeah, you just got to order it from like
33:22
the UK division of Ford. Ford Europe, you got to like pay fucking tariff on it. Yeah. Horrible. But
33:30
yeah. Did you decide? Are you Team Provada or are you Team Mariner? I am. Yeah, for that reason
33:34
that 4-3 Vortex is like a better motor in my opinion. And the early ones were epoxy. I kind of
33:41
like it. I kind of like it. I can do it. I'm an assembler, guys. So do it. I'm into it. Yeah,
33:47
brilliant. Have you as your well run dry? Because I got another one that's kind of...
33:54
I do want to get another one. I'm just kind of debating, why don't you do yours first? Because
33:58
I just want to like... The one I wanted to talk about is just like the history of each brand.
34:07
Just pinning that. But I think that might be best served as like a dessert. So why don't you do
34:13
yours? Okay, let's do this one. This one's called Deliveries in the Rear. So this title, besides
34:19
being a layup for a grinder joke for you, pits two rear wheel drive cars. Like the piece of their
34:25
EMS. Of course. Yeah. They all hit all circles back to that, doesn't it? So rear wheel drive.
34:32
So both of these automakers really produced front wheel drive majority of their existence
34:37
in modern times. Well, the modern. Yeah. Yeah. What'd you get to like the 90s? Because before
34:42
that. It was really hard. Yeah. No offerings, right? But that's not true. In the 90s, there were two
34:47
vehicles and each one of these OEMs had one. You had the Mercury Cougar XR7, right? And then the
34:56
Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, which was their Caprice rebadged wagon. Both of these cars,
35:03
rear wheel drive and very different. I think we can agree. But the last, these were the last
35:10
breaths of their rear wheel drive offerings, not counting like their base model SUVs, right? So
35:14
we're talking like just rear wheel drive cars. This is, this is what is, this is it, baby. The
35:19
last breath for these guys before they went full front wheel drive or wrong wheel drive,
35:23
is mostly wrong. Fuck, dude. Where are you going with this, dude? All right. If you came, if it
35:31
came down to it, like which one would you pick is the better vehicle and something you'd probably
35:35
want to own? Boy. And actually just really quick thinking back to the Bravada versus Mariner.
35:44
Do you can't let it go, Ken? Yeah. Well, no, I just just had a thought. Do you think the real
35:49
matchup should have been Bravada versus Mountaineer? That's fair. Like for the size.
35:55
For the size, body on frame. But it was called Clone Wars, dude. I think, I think the Mariner
36:01
definitely had more like rebadges. Right. Cause it was really just, well, I guess two
36:08
in, cause you had obviously Explorer and kind of the Navajo, even though that was earlier,
36:14
that was the first gen. Still counts. Still counts. Either way. Okay, task at hand.
36:20
Sorry, there's too many Oldsmobiles and Mercury. We thought this was a jerky grudge match. It's
36:27
legit. Exactly. Fucking serious, bro. Hey, I need you to lock in. Yeah, head in the game. The,
36:37
okay. So the XR7 question, they did, they did a variant. They did a Cougar variant of the
36:47
Supercoupe, right? You can get an XR7 with a Supercharged six owner. I believe so. And not
36:55
simply the, could you get there? You're referring to Thunderbird SC? Yep. Yeah, the Thunderbird
37:01
Supercoupe. I got to look this up. I hate to spend like a bunch of time just fucking googling
37:06
bullshit, but I'm going to, I'm going to do it. God damn it. Cougnut XR7 Supercharged. I think the
37:19
one I was referring to in the nineties was the modular four six, right? Well, they did both.
37:26
So you had the 5.0 for a while and then the modular was the end run. Yeah, you could. Yeah,
37:34
so they did the Supercharged XR7. Could you get a manual? And you could get that in a manual.
37:39
Yeah, so they just took the Thunderbird SC. Yeah, but they just made it, you know, restyled it.
37:46
So that versus, which is wildly different, wildly. See, the only problem you could have about the
37:55
V8 in a wagon. Yeah, the only problem I have about the Vista Cruiser is that that car only ever
38:01
got the 305, so the five liter V8. Whereas the Roadmaster, which didn't have the cool like glass
38:15
panels in the roof. Correct. But the Roadmaster you got with a little bit later, you got the LT1
38:24
in it, the 260 horse LT1. At the very end. Yeah, yep. So and it's not defunct brand Buick,
38:32
but pretty much. Yeah, I mean, it's beyond a zombie Buick. So I, I love, Vista Cruisers are
38:41
very cool. I think I got, I think I got to, I think I got to go with the Supercharged manual
38:45
Cougar. And I don't think I don't think I want to, but I'm gonna. Okay. I've never driven one of
38:52
those in Supercharged form. I've driven them in the five liter V8 or no, four, six. I drove a
38:59
four, six one. And it was utterly uninspiring. I think as an auto, I think the XR7 looks cool.
39:08
Yeah, I think it's kind of a cool looking car, right? Just like this, I think the Thunderbird
39:14
Supercoupes are fucking super cool looking cars. And they had the turbo one before that,
39:18
which was also pretty cool. I think a big car, big car, but yeah, cool car. I'm with you.
39:24
I'm with you on this one, man. I think personal luxury coupe Cougar XR7.
39:29
I think Cougars are cool in general and cars, but I think, right. Yeah. No, we've established a
39:37
couple of episodes ago that I think, you know, Cougars for us are now just like just our peers.
39:42
Yeah, exactly. Our wives are freaking appropriate individuals to court.
39:51
It loses a little glamour, doesn't it? A shout out though, and I know you're gonna go through a
39:57
history lesson here and I can't wait for it and I'm into it. But the new Cougar deserves a little
40:03
shout out too because that was probably one of the wildest design exercises Mercury did in their
40:08
modern like going out of business era. The 99, 2000, yeah. Which I think I would get a yellow
40:13
V6 manual and I would actually enjoy that car. Those are pretty sweet. I like they have like
40:18
denim blue. Okay. I think that would be like there's a denim blue, they have like a dark
40:25
metallic red that's pretty good. Okay. But I don't know that yellow just is it's so cool.
40:32
The two five manual, yeah. It's like he I'm trying to I try to be PC. It's really challenging for me
40:39
guys. But the I feel like it's a how do I how do I say this a an undeveloped second gen eclipse
40:48
in the style department. I think they tried to shoot for that, right? And it just it came out
40:52
a little a little behind the curtain under on the intelligence scale. But that being said,
40:59
I think they're cool. And I think they kind of pair well with that second gen Tiburon
41:04
V6 manual. I think those are a lot of that similar design. Yeah, a lot of a lot of overlap
41:09
in what you're looking for with those two cars. So yeah, no, those are cool. And I think
41:16
God, now I would like to get my hands on one of those supercharged for 38 manual.
41:23
Those are a car though, I bet. Boy, those would be hard to find though. I bet you they're hard
41:28
to find. And there's a lot of cars that are hard to find. And when you find a good one,
41:33
they're like, probably more than you want to spend, but not like unhinged. Sure. I've got a
41:39
feeling that every one of those XR seven manual, late run Cougars, like a 97 or whatever, 96.
41:48
Every single one of them is probably owned by someone who I know what I have and they want
41:55
$28,000 for it. No way. I was going to say like eight to 10. I was going to say eight to 10 for
42:01
drivers. They should be like a perfect one for like eight, but there's going to be someone who's
42:04
got like, you know, they only made like however many of these and this one's got 66,000 miles.
42:09
And it's in the one, it's in the red color over tan, which with the polished wheels were only,
42:15
you know, like it's going to go full Corvette Corvette. And so it's going to be, yeah, that's
42:19
going to be the same owner. And it's going to be the same ass like, Oh yeah, like I know what I have
42:24
and they've had it for sale for like 17 years. Yeah. Those for quadruple, what it's for Cougar
42:29
manual. God, I bet the take rate was so low, dude. Like, right? Yeah. But it doesn't mean I don't
42:37
want one. And I would love, I would love a great one at eight grand and drive it around for a year
42:42
and then sell it for eight grand. That back flat glass kind of like a Chrysler New Yorker. It's
42:47
got the absolute like fucking up and down perpendicular rear glass. I love that shit,
42:52
they'll never do that again. Speaking of which, oh, what do you got that? So that's, that's part
42:58
of what I wanted to discuss. It's like some of the more a some of the more classic stuff,
43:03
but then just the general history of each brand, like which, which, you know, CV, if you will,
43:10
from each manufacturer. Okay. Do we think is like the superior one, right? And you mentioned that
43:18
upright glass because there was a chunk of time, I got, I want to say from like 63, like 68 ish,
43:26
somewhere in there. Yeah. Mercury had their, have you ever seen these? They call it the breezeway,
43:32
where on, I think, most of their models, I don't think on the comments, but on like the
43:39
the mercury Monterey and on like the mercury meteor and on the mercury
43:46
Park Lane and some of that like shit that like neither of us really know anything about, right?
43:52
They would have, if you've ever seen one, it's bonkers looking where it was the rear glass. So
43:57
you'd have like a sedan, right? Like a pillarless sedan. And the rear glass wasn't just completely
44:03
vertical. It was actually canted forward a little bit, like, like it kind of checked back in and
44:10
it would power recline just down into, but like behind the rear seat. So you would have your door
44:18
runner almost, right? Exactly. But in a sedan with a, like where the bottom is sitting farther forward
44:25
than the top. It's wild. And so it can't forward and you power recline it. And it was the breezeway
44:31
because the concept was you roll the wind, all the windows down, you roll that down and you're
44:34
just air through kind of like on a forerunner. And it's a very cool thing. And both of these
44:39
companies in the sixties, seventies and way earlier have some really crazy stuff.
44:47
Yeah. Oldsmobile, whether it's like rocket stuff, it's ADA, all that kind of crazy shit.
44:51
Yeah. And 99. Yeah. And the turbocharged, like the old jet fire, which together with the Corvair
44:59
were the first production turbocharged vehicles. And back earlier. So like old started in, I went
45:09
like 1897-ish. Right. Yeah. And I want to say Mercury was like 1937-ish, maybe a little later.
45:18
I think late thirties. And until, you know, until their demise, you know, almost 100 years later
45:26
and over 100 years later for, I guess, for old. So like, there's a lot to unpack there of the
45:35
stuff that we didn't discuss. Right. Where they were talking the actual, like the, like a 1968
45:42
Hearst Olds, you know, like 442 or a Mercury Cyclone or the Mercury Comet or the fucking
45:52
Olds AeroTech. Yes. Content for which I am obsessed with. I love like fucking out of control.
45:59
They had like, they made like a few different ones, like longer tail, shorter tail. And they
46:03
set, what was like the bonkers speed record they set in that thing? It was like 170.
46:08
It was the Bonneville Salt Flats too, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With a turbocharged Quad 4.
46:13
So cool. And just like the body of work, like both of those, when we talk about, you know,
46:22
the 04 Olds and the 11 Mercury and how kind of like middling and sad those lineups were,
46:30
as compared to all of the earlier accomplishments, it's easy to forget about how impactful and
46:37
powerful those brands were for like a hundred fucking years. Yeah. So like, what do you, like,
46:43
if you had to just pick a body of work of like this versus that, what do you, what do you think?
46:53
It's, it's tough because like you said, there's, there's some pretty good stuff there. I got to
46:57
go Oldsmobile, man. I think I just think they've got the wider breadth of design was wild. But just
47:05
they've been around so long. They did so well. And then even the Aurora couldn't save them.
47:10
Even Tiger. Tiger Woods couldn't save. Couldn't save it. Maybe he was driving one.
47:17
His wife said golf club strikes wouldn't have been as critical. Could have been. Yeah.
47:23
Critical damage. Yeah. I give Oldsmobile, and I think psychological damage inflicted.
47:31
Oldsmobile won it for me anyway, by the way, on this competition. I think they
47:35
edged out Mercury. I, you know, in, in like thinking back and where we started off with
47:40
the obscure stuff too, I, I like, I like what both these companies did in their oddball,
47:46
like 80s and 90s stuff. And then it was absolute just garbage after that, right? Like they just,
47:52
they stopped, they stopped being inspiring any degree. I mean, I'm saying like, I like an Aurora.
47:58
It's cool. It's a grand am. Technically, the original one is not an Oldsmobile.
48:05
Technically. Right. Right. Just like the original Comet for like the first couple
48:08
of years was just the Comet. It wasn't a Mercury. The Aurora. The Aurora, right? Was one of those
48:15
like the Buick Riviera? Same kind of thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. And want to put the badge on there?
48:21
Yeah. So I think, I think I have to agree. I think I have to agree. Because you had like,
48:26
even like, like pre-war shit, which Mercury didn't participate in. I mean, technically,
48:30
I guess like whatever, 39. But pre-war, pre-war, you had like the curved dash
48:36
old and drove like a tiller and like crazy shit and like brass era stuff. Yep. And then, you know,
48:45
as I said, with the turbocharged and, and, you know, the diesel stuff, which gets a really bad
48:50
wrap. And a lot of that is very earned, you know, but like the Oldsmobile diesel stuff
48:56
is certainly interesting and was as flawed as those were. They were, you know, cutting edge
49:03
for, for, for their time. Good stuff. And, and yeah, until like the, the, the AeroTech and the
49:11
Quad 4 and stuff like that. So, you know, as much as it's like, not like talking about like the old
49:19
cutlass, like rebraged, you know, the fucking Malibu or, you know, the Delta 88 and run stuff,
49:32
the Malays era, you know, both of these manufacturers were a pretty bad spot in the
49:36
Malays era. And then they kind of flashed in the pan for a moment in the late 80s to mid 90s. And then
49:44
yeah, a sad, a sad ending to two powerful brands. But yeah, I think I got to go, I think just on
49:50
innovation, I got to go with our, our friends at Oldsmobile.
49:54
And I'm with you. This grudge match started off kind of a joke. It ended as a joke,
49:57
but it's, there's still some cool cars to be harvested out of these two OEMs. And I'm not
50:02
talking during heyday. I mean, historically, yeah, they had some legitimately, like these were two
50:07
recognizable brands that did well, right? But there was still during our lifespan,
50:14
some pretty cool offerings wearing the badges. Now I'm not here to check the DNA
50:18
to tell you whether they were actually from that OEM or badge engineering operations. But
50:24
at the end of the day, we can agree there are some pretty damn cool cars that wear these badges and
50:29
go get yourself a Mercury link links XR2. Come on. XR3. That's what I meant. Sorry. XR3. Yes.
50:35
God damn it. XR2 is the, I've had one saved on my marketplace forever. That's an Escort GT,
50:40
first gen. That's silver one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's been sitting in a motton. I've seen it.
50:45
Yeah. It's been in a while. I saved it day two because that's my jam, Escort GTs. But the, it's
50:51
just, you know, I think you can still find something fun with these automakers and they're
50:55
not going to make anymore. So secure them now, bring them back, have some fun with them because
50:59
they're gone. They're gone forever, guys. We should do, we should do a resurrection episode
51:03
at one point. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. We don't have. Yeah. Not an erection episode. That's on the
51:08
late night confidential. You got to pay extra. That's going to save every episode for me, but
51:12
okay. Fair enough. Yeah. Well, no, that's, it's the reveal, if you will. Or like, um, it's a,
51:18
it's a short for me. But you ever see like, um, where, um, God, what is it called when you do
51:23
like a, like a bear with me? We don't have a choice. Maybe not when you, but when people,
51:29
they do like a rub. And by that, again, bear with me. Where you, where you get like, what is it?
51:34
You get like a crayon and you put it on its side or a chalk and you like put a piece of paper on
51:38
you like rub over it so you can see the outline. I'm blanking. I know exactly. I think it's called
51:42
like a, like making a rub. I think it is a rub. Like you could do like a maple leaf would be a
51:49
standard one or a gravestone or something. Anything that has any kind of like dimensionality to it.
51:54
Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's, yeah. So that's how we're going to do the reveal is we're going to do a
51:58
rub. I usually reveal more after a rub. Yeah. Not during.
52:06
It takes a while nowadays. My friend, right, right, right. Fair. They make pills for that.
52:11
If I remember, remember, um, if you, uh, rub for more than four hours, um, with no results,
52:18
consult a physician. Fair enough to seek medical attention. Um, speaking of seeking medical attention,
52:25
hopefully I will not need medical attention after this, um, uh, game what we're going to play,
52:33
because I will get it right and I won't be so sad at myself for getting it wrong.
52:38
That I make poor decisions and will require medical attention. Um,
52:43
they call that a segue, uh, for our game chat. Do you have something ready and, and I'll can.
52:48
I do. Uh, walk, please walk our, uh, wonderful listeners and viewers if you're on YouTube.
52:53
Hey, how you doing? Walk them through what we're about to take a magical journey on.
52:58
Ooh, come with me and you'll see, um, a game show that we're going to play, uh, called our print ad
53:07
quiz game and what, uh, Chadwick has already found, hopefully, uh, an ad from some sort of, uh,
53:13
publication, uh, print ad from the eighties nineties to the two thousands. He's going to read the type
53:19
copy from this ad. I will then have, uh, roughly 10 minutes, roughly three guesses.
53:24
I get hints in between if I need them to try and figure out deduce based on the type copy
53:29
and the conversation and details they're in to come up with the make, model and approximate
53:33
year of the car at hand. I'm ready. Chadwick is ready. Are you ready to your listener? I don't
53:41
know. Play along at home. Let's go. It's good fun. Um, yell at your TV. Yeah, beat Frank at this. Uh,
53:45
so my friend, here's what I got for you. Two page spread. You deserve nothing less. Uh, vehicle
53:52
is kind of front and center. We got passenger side, three quarter angle, uh, cool shot behind it,
53:59
chalk drawing, kind of like pastel crayons. We have bicyclists competing in a race and
54:05
swimmers competing in a race. Oh, and it says, are the swimmers racing towards an egg? It's,
54:11
it's human ejaculate and cement. Oh, good. Absolutely. I saw the, saw the bicyclists oddly.
54:17
How do they get there? So the tagline is get in the game. So I, this, this print ad is horrible
54:24
quality. So I'm going to be, uh, put the old peepers on because we're not getting any younger.
54:28
What do we get in here? Um, so it is a two pager and it says, oh my God, this didn't make it any
54:33
better. Uh, hello microphone. Come to me. Uh, every great team needs a serious starter. So that's
54:42
the reference to the, uh, the little, uh, team based relay and the blank is one ambitious competitor.
54:51
Did they not want to call it an anchor? Well, that would have been because here in the anchor
54:55
position, you're the fastest. The anchor is always the fastest. I know, but they didn't say,
54:59
they didn't want to call their product an anchor. They didn't, they didn't want to say,
55:02
hey, every team needs an anchor. You know, who could do that mercury mercury could get away.
55:06
Exactly. Yeah. They're at the bottom of the sea from car batteries. It's taught in parentheses
55:12
like a toy. Good. No, I just, I made that part upside. Uh, it's taught athletic exterior to
55:18
a flexibly spacious interior. Okay. Question. Is there any way that you can do it more into the
55:25
mic while also reading that? Is it that quiet? I'm sorry. This is a little bit. Let me try to read
55:30
this. This is going to be this note. I can't let me see how far my microphone can go or I can
55:35
hold my other laptop up. Okay. Here we go guys. This is, yeah, there we go. It's just, it's just
55:39
sexier. Do you need me to start over Frank? No, no, no, you're good. Okay. So we'll start off the
55:43
last one. I'm going to say Todd again. Uh, from it's taught athletic exterior to it's
55:49
flexibly spacious interior. This nimble three door coop is that's interesting already is cross
55:58
trained to handle almost any event with grace and style with a tech specs incoming 1.9 leader
56:08
engine tuned for more power. And I'm going to leave the pricing up for now. Okay. That's
56:15
right on the mark. The blank is a perfect. Pardon me. There is some, would I show you this? It's
56:28
perfect for active individualists who individual take something, take their fun and their value
56:38
seriously. Wow. I will not read the tagline because that'll give it away. So we've got
56:44
some stuff there. That is the ad Frank. Okay. Wow. Not a lot. I got a 1.9 powered. We've done
56:50
worse. Sorry guys. Oh, for sure. That was challenging. 1.9 leader, three door coop. It
56:58
didn't say sports, but sort of. And it's for the, the adventurous rugged individualist
57:07
who also enjoys a value. Yeah. So when I hear 1.9, I immediately think of score GT 1987.
57:17
Kind of. Yes. So I think of Ford. How dare you in the escort. I think of Mercury in its links.
57:27
There's not a lot of 1.9s. I can't think of a Toyota or Honda product. That's a 1.9. I can't
57:37
think of a Mazda product. I can't think of anything from Japan. That's a 1.9.
57:46
I think in the spirit of, I can't think of any Chrysler products. I can't think of any GM.
57:54
1.9 is such a, such a small, it's a unique, such a small pool to draw from. There's like
58:00
Nat buzzing around. Came out of nowhere. John Cena, Nat. I think I'm gonna get in the spirit of
58:10
out of nowhere. I'm thinking I'm gonna go, I'm gonna say Mercury. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say
58:23
this is a 1986 Mercury Lynx. I didn't feel, it didn't feel sporty enough for me to lean into the
58:33
aforementioned XR3. So I'm just gonna say this is a 1986 Mercury Lynx LX. I guess. I don't remember
58:41
the other, the bass drum. Final answer, Bob. This is not a Mercury Lynx. That would have been great,
58:49
though. What if, what can I do to help you? Let me see if I say anything. I can help direct you.
59:00
Without asking too much. I mean, I just like pretty, pretty blatantly assumed this was a
59:06
domestic manufacturer. Is that correct? You did. You did do that. It's, it's not. Okay. We're not
59:12
domestic, my friend. Not domestic. So a 1.9. I can't think of a Volkswagen that was 1.9. There was a
59:27
1.7. There was a 1.6, 1.7, 1.8. Don't think they had a 1.9. Well, they might have. And then the two
59:36
liter forever. I can't think of an Audi product that had a 1.9. I can't think of a Mercedes Benz
59:46
product that was a 1.9. I can't think of anything from,
59:55
God, was there a Volvo or a Saab that was a 1.9?
00:03
I thought I got it. Was there a B19? I can't think of one. I don't know. B20, B23, B18,
00:10
Volvo products. So could it be Japanese?
00:20
God, is this like an obscure Mitsubishi, like the, like the ghost of the Mitsubishi Cordia?
00:27
Three door coupe too, remember? Yeah.
00:34
Mitsubishi Priestsies, however, I never knew how to pronounce that thing.
00:41
Which, God, it could be,
00:47
could it be a Hyundai XL? I don't think that was a 1.9. Riddle me this.
01:00
I mean, I, the entire, like this entire exercise is dependent on me knowing 1.9.
01:11
It is. Well, it leans in. It's, I will say this car only came in a three door coupe configuration.
01:19
Sure. So that, that helps a little bit. It's also leaning on a sporty attributes.
01:24
Sure. Man. 1.9. 1.9 is interesting. The displacement is very interesting.
01:33
But you are, I will tell you, you're missing some 1.9s for sure. I, clearly. Not just this guy either.
01:45
Boy, I mean. You got two strikes left. I'm trying, yeah, I know. And I'm trying to think if there's
01:50
a Volkswagen, if, if I frequently forget about Volkswagen in their catalog, I'm not a Volkswagen guy.
01:56
You're kind of famous for that. I'm not anti-Volkswagen. I just never, and there's some
02:01
stuff that I would love. I just haven't, that's what anti-Volkswagen people say, by the way.
02:06
This is true. Yeah. They're called not Nazis. Wait, what? Antifa. Big. Antifa is anti-Volkswagen.
02:17
Oof. Boy. I'm just going to have to, I'm,
02:27
is this a? Golly. Is this a Volkswagen? Is there, trying to think if there's some Volkswagen
02:41
golf, if there's some dumbass golf variant that somehow is, has a 1.9 in it.
02:49
Because I wouldn't be a GTI. It would be more sporting and injected and bullshit, I think than this.
02:56
It's sporty, but not that sporty. This is not a G60 Corrado. I don't think it's a
03:10
Scirocco. Fuck. Three door, quote unquote, coupe. This is making for impressive listening,
03:17
I'm sure. Yeah, it is. This is a tough one. But you are missing quite, I'm not saying you're missing
03:22
like some niche 1.9s, but you're missing some big ones. You really are, buddy. They're not that
03:37
good. Golly. Take a stab, Captain Stavell.
03:46
Bold proclamation. Unless it is a diesel.
03:52
That'd be fucking weird if they never mentioned it was a diesel. They just call it a 1.9.
04:13
1996 golf Volkswagen Golf?
04:18
It is not a Volkswagen Golf. It is not a 1.9 TDI, which is the very common Volkswagen diesel
04:27
engine. Yeah. This vehicle, rural drive. Oh, that's a big drop. It did not mention that in the ad.
04:38
So we're not domestic. It's not a fucking Volkswagen. And it's certainly isn't a real
04:52
Although tech, I think technically Volkswagen did make a 1.9 real drive. Is it the very
04:59
earliest still air cooled van again we got, I think was a 1.9 before it was the Wasser Boxer.
05:06
But that's before a 2.1. That's before our fair game, right?
05:10
I think 81. Oh, was it? Okay. But also like, no.
05:19
But definitely not a three door coupe. Definitely not a three door. Decidedly so.
05:24
Yeah, like Brazilian, Brazilian market. So, rural drive. 1.9. What the fuck am I missing?
05:30
Not domestic. Not Volkswagen.
05:34
And this is one of the ones where you kick yourself after. Am I going to curbstomp my own
05:39
genitals in a fit of rage? We've done this to each other multiple times.
05:44
No, we've only curbstomped each other on genitals once. It only takes once, but it feels like a lot.
05:50
Because it is. 1.9. You're getting up against it on time.
05:58
Rear drive. I promise you I am.
06:03
What am I missing? It's a Mercur Scorpio. No.
06:11
The big block in that one. That's right.
06:16
Wasn't that a 2.9, actually? Yeah. Six cylinder. Yeah. The
06:24
1.9. Three door coupe. Rear drive. Almost out of time.
06:36
God, is this like an early 626 coupe?
06:43
I think those are two liters.
06:48
And then a 2.2. What am I missing? It's not a Honda, clearly.
07:00
I'm just going to... It's a fucking Cordia. This is payback for what he got me in the Mitsubishi
07:08
Cordia, which I don't think was the worst thing you ever stopped me on.
07:13
With those front drive? I'm going to need a final guess, my friend.
07:18
I'm going to say... This is wrong, but I'm going to say this is a 1983. It doesn't read like it,
07:29
but I'm just flunking out. I'm going to say 1983 Mazda 626 coupe.
07:37
Flailing answer. It is not a Mazda, my friend. What are we talking about?
07:43
What am I completely forgetting in existence? What if I said, did you know BMW had a bunch
07:48
of 1.9s in the 90s? In the three door coupe? 318 Ti. That's right. That was a 1.9, huh?
08:00
It wasn't a 1.9. I am so shocked that you didn't jump on this one.
08:05
We are talking about the 1990. That's right. That's the M42 powered car. 318 Ti.
08:11
Yeah, I completely... My brain was like...
08:17
The ad is cool as fuck looking. There you go. Oh, that's a good ad.
08:23
Yeah, it's killer. The font is horrible. It's like the resolution is dog shit.
08:29
Yeah, 318 Ti. We've talked about these cars a few times before. You could also get a 1.9,
08:34
wouldn't be a three door coupe, but you could get a... Well, technically,
08:38
the Z3 base came with a 1.9 as well. So BMW had that motor. Yeah, but not the coupe.
08:44
But still, it was a 1.9, right? But yeah, 318 Ti, my friend. Yeah, yeah.
08:50
You know what's really funny? And this is purely based on naming scheme.
08:58
In my head, obviously, an early Z3 has a 1.9.
09:06
Correct. Not as much obvious in my head is that the 318 is a 1.9. And I know it is a 1.9.
09:13
It's that same exact engine that's supplanted the M10. It is the M42, right?
09:19
M44. It's the 1.9, okay.
09:25
But yeah, somehow that naming scheme breaks my brain, which is not a lost thing on those cars,
09:34
because the Z3 2.3 is a 2.5. Correct. It's fuckery. It is all fuckery.
09:41
Yeah, damn it. Cool car, though. We both like those. Yeah, those are cool.
09:44
Those are cool. Yeah.
09:46
Yeah, the California roof with that little cloth section, right?
09:50
That folds back pretty well.
09:51
And Death Trappy would one of those be with anything swapped in it, like that last one.
09:59
S52, yeah, death instant. I'd like to say good job, but you know.
10:06
You let yourself down this time.
10:07
I absolutely did. Yeah, all of this taking a rub print of each other's genitals,
10:15
really kind of threw me for a loop. Didn't get my head in the game, or did it?
10:19
Could you save us Admiral? No.
10:22
Admiral, Admiral Akbar, and it's a trap, the 1.9.
10:27
The 3.18 was a trap. That's fair.
10:29
Naming convention didn't make sense.
10:31
Any PCP, which is project car progress for any narcs listening on your end?
10:37
Abusing some PCP. I have just like mild PCP.
10:41
Okay, so microdosing.
10:44
Yeah, exactly. We're close enough to Silicon Valley.
10:49
We can microdose hallucinogens for the sake of productivity.
10:55
Okay, so Focus SVT. I put it in the air.
11:04
You know, I often forget that you have that car.
11:07
Same. Where we last checked in, cooling system is officially sorted.
11:17
However, I still have that terrible wiggle wobble hucking over in freeway sweepers kind of
11:27
motion coming out of the rear end. It really feels like there's something super worn out.
11:31
So I put it in the air, checked up all the bushings.
11:36
They all look pretty good. I got a, I got a, I didn't have a pry bar,
11:40
but I just got like a big flathead screwdriver. It's what I had on hand.
11:43
I borrowed a lift, put it up there and just prying around on stuff and like stuff feels,
11:49
stuff feels pretty good. I don't see anything completely torn.
11:52
So maybe it is just the rear and they look to be the original shocks in the rear.
11:58
They might just be like hammered. Weird.
12:02
Which it doesn't feel like that. It's not like I've got wheels hopping up and down.
12:05
Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have any weird tire wear on the old tires. They were just really old.
12:12
No banging over like imperfections or anything like that. No.
12:15
I mean, you drove behind me when I was in that car and you saw your butt.
12:21
Yeah. The waves coming out of the back of that thing and it's not.
12:25
So I was just like, okay, well, let me just put rear shocks. I hate to do only the rears and not
12:31
also the fronts, but I'm not to the slippery slope. I'm going down. It's like,
12:36
I've already done both front axles, outer tie rods, sway bar end links in the front.
12:44
And I don't want to like pull all that apart now to put struts in it. I'm just not going to
12:49
in the fair. But in the rear, if it keeps it from like killing me or the next owner, I'm going to do.
12:56
What's interesting is going, part shopping on this,
13:01
like there's some parts, like I can cross reference part numbers, but on any parts catalog,
13:08
it basically is just like the fitment will only be like focus and it will just specify like
13:16
wagon or like standard, right? Or like, you know, it'll just say like...
13:22
God, because they had wagon hatch and sedan, right?
13:25
It'll just say like three door, five door or to say wagon and all these different manufacturers.
13:30
And some of them will say like SE trim, ZX3, ZX5, nothing like you go to rock out of the
13:37
entire catalog and there's a billion offerings. SVT specific. SVT isn't listed anywhere.
13:44
In anything. It never mentions like SVT as if it exists. And then even looking around online,
13:50
there's not a whole lot of information. Like anyone who has an SVT and they're putting shocks
13:55
and struts on it, they're doing like KYB HEXs or they're doing Bilsteens, they're upgrading.
14:04
And so like, oh, buy these, they're not like buy this like stock equivalent replacement.
14:09
And if I'm only doing the rears, I'm not going to put like Bilsteens or like
14:15
AGX adjustable and just the rear.
14:17
What were the stockers on that KYB or conies probably for the SVT?
14:21
You should see if you can see a manufacturer like print on it and see what this man...
14:25
So what I did find is the only thing, the only thing, so what I deduced a little bit
14:31
going through the rock auto catalog, there's one offering on there because I'm a rock auto
14:39
They do list one motorcraft offering for the rears.
14:43
Not even for the fronts, but they have motorcraft for the rear.
14:48
And the only specifies on there, it just says with heavy duty sway bar,
14:56
which would speak to me as SVT.
15:00
Click through and you can get on there, they'll do a part number cross reference.
15:05
And there's a part number cross reference, which is to another part number for the SVT,
15:15
which has then been superseded by a more modern part number.
15:18
So like kind of going like following the breadcrumbs, it looks like this is the
15:25
motorcraft SVT fitment for a factory equivalent rear shocks.
15:32
Then they were the SVT specific.
15:33
Were they the same for the SVT's sedans and coupes though?
15:40
Four door, two door, sorry.
15:41
Yeah, all of the, yes.
15:47
And they were not profoundly expensive.
15:50
I think they were...
15:53
What were they, like $48 a piece or something?
15:55
That's not bad at all.
15:57
And so I ordered them and they will be here this week.
16:02
I'm excited to hear this turns out.
16:06
They don't fit and they don't take care of the butt wobble.
16:11
They'll definitely fit.
16:12
Well, here's the thing.
16:12
So I ordered them, they were like $38, $48 a piece or whatever.
16:17
I also got replacement upper mounts.
16:23
Because it's got like a triangular hockey puck kind of mount on the tops.
16:28
And then a standard just round single bolt for the lower.
16:31
On the suspended, whatever, trailing arm side.
16:36
Um, it should be pretty easy to...
16:38
Pretty easy to knock out.
16:43
So I've got that coming and then I'm hoping...
16:45
Because here's the thing.
16:46
If we're gonna move on to the next challenge of the overlanding,
16:50
I kind of want like space and time and money to do this, right?
16:55
You just can't keep collecting the APA challenge vehicles, Frank.
17:00
So, um, yeah, so we'll see.
17:03
It's the usual land here any day.
17:05
I also got new oil filters for my daily, the Lexus CT200H.
17:12
Because the moment I finished changing the oil in my wife's car,
17:14
I got my service reminder on my daily.
17:17
So it's time to do that.
17:18
And so I threw them in.
17:20
I was already paying for the shipping.
17:22
Three oil filters so I can have some on stock on hand.
17:26
Added zero to the shipping.
17:28
Because they're light.
17:30
Same warehouse, all the same thing.
17:35
You know, you get the Lexus Toyota OEM ones at Walmart
17:39
It's so damn cheap, dude.
17:41
Like it's kind of wild.
17:43
Yeah, for me, continuation of the tracker drama
17:46
that's been currently unfolding.
17:48
So I got everything back together.
17:50
It's always fun to take your engine apart
17:52
just to peek at your timing belt and then put it all back, right?
17:55
Put the radiator and put the coolant back in.
17:58
What's the last time you used the timing light?
17:59
It's been a while probably.
18:02
So I think it's super fun.
18:05
Talk about a lost art, dude.
18:07
That in 20 years, no one's going to know
18:09
what the fuck a timing light is.
18:12
But let alone back in the day,
18:13
we think you have like the big huge box on wheels
18:22
Tuner and you have to like,
18:23
you're like setting dwell and shit on like mechanical points.
18:28
Yeah, those are fun.
18:28
But you know, timing lights are pretty straightforward.
18:31
You just have to find out where to connect it to,
18:33
whatever spark plug it is at one or four,
18:35
depending on the kind of engine.
18:37
But then you go ahead and shoot it on the tracker sidekick.
18:40
The eight valve motor anyway from this vintage
18:42
is at eight degrees for top dead center.
18:46
And as long as you're there, you should be good.
18:48
Now to vibrate like mine is the ignition timing
18:51
would have to be terribly off.
18:54
Would you be shocked if I fucking told you
18:56
I fired it up and it was dead on.
18:58
It was of course dead on.
18:59
So before, and when I had the time belt off,
19:01
I had perfect access to mark on the,
19:03
you know, the timing cover and do the eight degree line
19:06
and everything with a marker to make it nice and easy
19:08
because it lights up with that strobe really nice.
19:14
A lot of people are like,
19:15
dude, when you do the valve covers,
19:16
you should adjust the valve lash.
19:18
So I check because what I don't want to do
19:20
in every valve cover gasket job is like show people me
19:23
putting a fuel or gauge under every.
19:25
Because it's time consuming and it's boring
19:27
if you don't have to adjust.
19:28
So that someone was in there
19:29
because everything was adjusted perfect.
19:31
And those engines tend not,
19:32
it's not like a Honda motor from back in the day.
19:34
Remember you had to do it every time.
19:37
Dude, timing's per ignition.
19:39
So timing belt's perfect.
19:41
Ignition timings perfect.
19:43
It's got to be the other motor mount.
19:45
It's got to be the one, there's two more, right?
19:47
There's the transmission and there's the passenger side.
19:49
The passenger side's a pain in that dick.
19:51
So unfortunately, I think I'm there.
19:53
I think I'm there where I'm going to have to do that motor mount.
19:57
Well, that's the car behind me.
19:59
Like I've, I've, you can see on the roof
20:02
if you're watching video home,
20:03
that is a new transmission torque arm in a box.
20:06
Fuck it's hard on some of these cars.
20:09
It's not packaging.
20:09
Super difficult to do on this car.
20:11
But the one that came out of it didn't look that bad.
20:14
I pulled it out and it wasn't catastrophically pricey
20:18
to just buy a new one.
20:21
But like I'm, I, I truly think I'm going to put it all back together.
20:26
It's an aftermarket mount and all the other mounts look really good
20:29
and they're new because the motor in this car is not super old.
20:33
And like, but they're aftermarket and you can't get new, like,
20:37
so it might just be a function of the aftermarket mounts.
20:41
And maybe you're going to run into that too.
20:43
So, but the one I did replace the reason I did the driver's side
20:46
is because it was cracked.
20:47
Like the whole, all the rubber was like, it had the stress cracks,
20:51
which anything over 10 years will have, but it had huge cracks
20:54
and huge gaps and I could move it around.
20:56
So I'm like, this is definitely the culprit.
20:57
Usually when you do your bad one, it's, it shores up a little bit.
21:02
So you could play the whole chasing game.
21:03
And like on the NX 2000, I did all the motor mounts by dropping
21:06
that little subframe and putting them on the subframe and putting it back.
21:10
Now on this vehicle, you have to drop every bracket.
21:12
There's accessory brackets you need to discuss.
21:15
Take your accessory belts.
21:16
It's a fucking nightmare and it's a bad access.
21:19
It's hard access, right?
21:20
Because it's a very small hood area on the GeoTracker Suzuki Sidekick.
21:23
So it's one of those, you know, some things are easy.
21:26
Like I could do all the spark plugs in 10 minutes, but motor mounts,
21:29
which are easy on most cars are on a nightmare on this one.
21:31
It's just every car has its thing, right?
21:33
So right now I'm going to start the chasing motor mounts game,
21:35
which you're right.
21:36
Parts are cheap, but the labor can be a real pain in the dick.
21:39
And thank God, dude, there's no rest on this vehicle.
21:42
Because motor mounts, those download motor mounts and throw.
21:46
We've got it so easy on all this stuff.
21:48
Back home, you're cutting those fuckers off.
21:50
I'm not saying there's GeoTracker still back in the northeast
21:52
because they're all gone.
21:54
But yeah, dude, no rest because it's a pain in the dick.
21:57
But that's what I'm doing.
21:58
So hey, man, timing belt's good.
22:00
Ignition timing's good.
22:01
Yeah, motor mounts.
22:03
I love old diagnostic tests.
22:06
And your check engine light that tells you everything is okay is still okay.
22:08
Stayed off, stayed off.
22:09
So there's no, there's no faults.
22:11
The engine's running.
22:12
Vehicle feels great.
22:13
It's just, and I don't have a tack.
22:15
So I can't tell you, except when I had the timing light on, right?
22:18
Because I have one of the digital ones that has the tack.
22:20
And I'm like, it's exactly where it needs to be.
22:22
But you can usually tell when you're surging, right?
22:25
You can, you can hear it and feel it.
22:33
Speaking of mounting up.
22:37
Thanks for tagging along.
22:40
And yeah, if you want to continue to stalk us, please do listen along or watch along.
22:46
If you haven't checked out the YouTube, check that out.
22:49
If you're tired of staring at us, which you should be and you want to just listen to us
22:54
as a more palatable way to consume what we're putting on the table.
23:00
Great. Listen anywhere you listen to podcasts.
23:03
We also, we've got a Patreon now.
23:05
I don't know if we have sung it from the mountaintops loud enough.
23:08
If you want to watch us abuse terrible alcoholic beverages, pay for our Patreon.
23:15
That's patreon.com slash APAPod.
23:19
$5 gets you in the door.
23:21
We spend that money on terrible liquids to drink for your watching and listening displeasure.
23:28
Because you get access to a bonus episode or late night confidential episodes.
23:33
And those are fun and they're great.
23:35
So please play along and support us.
23:37
So one day we can stop losing money on this awful business venture.
23:42
Chadwick, if people want to, oh, also, yeah,
23:45
if you want to stalk me outside of this, you shouldn't.
23:46
But if you do, I'm at the photographer's garage on all the things.
23:49
How about you, Mr. Chad to the wick?
23:51
Yeah. Auto obscure garage, mostly on YouTube,
23:53
rescue's restorations, reviews, tracker EGR, possibly tracker,
23:57
more motor mounts coming up.
23:58
It keeps feeding me more content, but that's all I got.
24:02
But thanks for checking us out, guys.
24:03
And we'll catch you in like a week, something like that.
24:05
Yeah, give or take, give or take.
24:07
All right. Take care, guys.
