How To Go From a Lvl 1 to a Lvl 99 Car Enthusiast | S3 E39

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the MartiniWorks podcast.

It is Black Friday, ladies and gentlemen.

The American consumerism capitalist day of the year is here.

Yeah, let's buy stuff.

Yeah, buy stuff.

But really, it is a good day, because if you have been

saving your money and you're looking to modify your car,

I feel like today, through the weekend, and to Monday,

is probably the best time to snag something.

I'm not obligated to say that.

We do have a bias for it, obviously.

But we see deals come and go all the time throughout the years,

throughout the months.

And Black Friday cyber money deals, statistically,

are always the deepest deals of the year, so by far.

Yeah, some of the companies wait all year just for Black Friday.

Airlift, for example, they almost religiously only on Black Friday

have a big sale.

And they do have one this year on 3P and 3H.

What is it?

So we had to do it a little bit funky on our site,

because they specifically had the management on sale.

But we don't sell just the management.

Why would you want just the management?

We sell them as kits, right, with the struts and everything.

So if you purchase a kit from Martini Works,

you get $335 off of a kit, a 3P or 3H kit.

Which is a good chunk of change, all things considered,

especially when you're spending like three grand

on some air suspension.

I mean, that's kind of the cool thing.

Obviously, at Martini Works, our big thing

is to only choose the good deals.

We don't want to put everything on sale

or accept every deal that gets sent to us.

Because a lot of stuff gets sent to us,

and it's typically like blowout stuff for like 5% off.

And you guys don't want that.

If you didn't want it before it was Black Friday,

why the hell would you want to know?

It's usually three wheels if they're like 40 that they have.

And it's like a 17 by 8.

Yeah, we got a 20 by 8 and 1 half plus

56 on sale for 5% off.

That's silly.

So if you guys are looking for stuff,

obviously today's the day.

We hope you're enjoying the podcast.

Go check out the website.

We got some cool Questlog stuff that we

did to kind of make the Black Friday deals really fun.

We got exclusive promotions that you can't actually

find anywhere else with brands like Konsei and Koenig and BC.

And Fortune Auto has free coilover covers.

If you pick up a set of Fortune Autos from Martini Works.

Like I know it sounds silly.

Coilover covers are really nice.

Coilover covers are such an underrated mod.

Yeah, 100%.

Especially up north.

If you drive on coilovers and you're not covering those threads

and you try moving them bad boys in the spring,

it is disgusting.

I've been running them on my BMW actually

for the last few years.

And every year I switch over to like a different set of like

when I put my winter tires on.

I give them a good check.

And yeah, they're holding up really, really nice.

It's so nice.

Because then you can obviously like,

I know you can put like almost like a grease protectant,

right?

Yeah, you can do like that liquid film or whatever.

But the covers really help a ton.

So if you end up like $130 typically,

but you get them for free right now only at Martini Works.

If you pick up a set of Fortunato Coilover.

So they're also on sale too.

They're also on sale.

Yeah, they are, which is actually super cool.

We know that obviously Fortunatos

are a little bit more expensive.

Yeah, they got up there.

They have climbed quite a bit,

which has been a tricky topic throughout the year.

You know, really just waiting for car parts and milk

to come down in price, maybe one day.

But today, we only get to see one of those two things

come down.

They're not running Black Friday deals on milk.

They're running Black Friday deals on car parts.

I have a problem.

You don't get free milk if you're brave enough.

I have a problem on, I get locked up on Black Friday.

I get scared too much.

You get sensory, like almost like analysis paralysis.

Yeah, well, it's like,

because there's so much I want to buy, but that's true.

I also don't want to like buy something.

And then been like, oh shit,

I should have bought this other thing that's on sale.

Because like there is, they have deals scattered all over

and it's gotten so inflated over the years

where like companies just mark everything on sale.

And half of it, like Alex was saying,

is just kind of like BS sales.

It's not even really anything you would ever care about anyways.

So I think that is an important note

that we took the time to, you know,

like showcase some of the really good stuff.

And we have some like surprisingly really good sales.

Like Apex was one that surprised me, like up to 40% off.

And we were like, oh, up to 40.

They'll have like one set of 40.

No, there was actually some solid ass deals on Apex.

I had those, I had the SM10RS on my Supra.

I really like those, their fitments for their platforms

are next to none.

The wheels come out perfect.

They fucking kill it.

Cause we got the VS5RS's for Maggie's Type R.

And it's like, dude,

those are literally the perfect wheels for that car.

Like it's so good.

I'm glad we went with the 19s too.

I know a lot of people go down to like the 18s.

They had a video on their website that was,

that showed a Type R with the lowering springs

that we had in like that 19 size.

And I'm like, dude, that's it.

Like that is what we want right there.

And yeah, do they kill it with their sizes and offerings

and like, you know, they're literally perfect.

Yeah.

I'm a little bit more of a tired guy myself.

I think one of the big ones

that I would probably jump into right now is,

if I was trying, cause I'm in the position right now

where I should probably spend more time,

like fixing my cars than buying more parts for said cars.

Yeah, same.

You don't say, yeah, shut up.

Which means for me,

I think I would probably focus more on the tire side

of things if I had like a daily driver.

So Continental has a $110 rebate right now.

It's a ton of rebates.

Which is really cool.

And we got the Viking Contact 8,

which is a banging winter tire.

We've seen a lot of people actually pick those up

on the website.

So hopefully you guys and gals are enjoying them.

I got a little, I got a little bone to pick

with some random anonymous person on Reddit though.

Somebody made a really nice post about us.

They're like, hey, just want to let everybody know

Martini works is like the go to place to buy car parts

because they mentioned that our customer experience

was really great that they,

we credited them a discount between the price they paid

and like a sale price that we didn't have on the website.

We just automatically processed it for them.

And then we just like let them know, which was really cool.

I was like, that is a really nice thread.

So I went in there and I said, thank you.

And I was kind of checking some stuff out.

And somebody's like, yeah,

I really like Martini works too,

but I really wish they didn't glaze Continental so much.

They're so biased because they're actually just paid

by Continental to say they're a good tire.

When they're objectively not a good tire

and nobody runs them at the track.

Friend, you are wrong.

I have ran Continentals on track.

I ran the DWSO6, I've run the ECSO2.

I ran the ECSO2 on a street show setup with tiny sidewall.

I think it was a 30 sidewall or 25 sidewall.

I think it was 30 sidewall.

I'm back as M4 competition for a good life weekend

knowing damn well that I probably should have had

a much more beefier sidewall to do anything fun.

And those tires held up like a champ.

They're absolutely fantastic tires.

I think a lot of people almost get paralyzed

in choices for tires.

We did that tire pyramid video,

which I think has helped a lot,

but no, if you guys are on the fence and you're like,

man, I just don't know if I should run Continental.

And you wanna like get like an unbiased opinion.

You can go literally look online at anybody else

that's talked about Conti tires

and they're gonna say that they're fantastic.

You're gonna be closest compared when you look at Contis

as like an upper premium like everyday tire as like Michelin.

100%.

And I mean, to be fair, like dude's not wrong.

Yeah, the Continental is a sponsor of the podcast 100%.

But like I think we've said on here multiple times before,

it's like we are running them and supporting them

and learning about them before the podcast

was even a twinkle in our eye.

We chose them to be a sponsor.

We asked them to be a sponsor.

They didn't come to us, we came to them.

Yeah, they're a fantastic tire and see them all the time.

When we go to track events, like we were down to VIR,

there was plenty of people around,

especially like we mentioned to you,

like when in the wet, you know,

it's like rain comes out at the track

and all of a sudden you see people, you know,

if they're not running Continental, you know,

they're swapping over to the ECSO2

because they just do really good in the wet.

Official partner of the World Racing League.

So you can't say that they're not in racing, they're in WRL.

Let's see, what else?

Any other good stuff?

There's a lot of good stuff.

35% off Koenig.

Thank you.

That's a good one.

And plus their Ford stuff.

35% off Koenig.

Which is huge too because like their Ford stuff

is already such a killer deal.

And they came out with some killer designs on the Ford stuff.

Like they're good looking wheels.

I think people are sleeping on the Koenig forged

a little bit right now, just because for whatever reason,

I don't know, I don't see much like talked about,

but they're good.

They're really good wheels and the finishes look awesome.

And we got to check them out at SEMA

and we've even had a few in for review.

And yeah, the fact that they're doing those on sale,

go someone please for the love of God.

Go scoop up some forged Koenig wheels.

Send us a picture when you get them on

because I haven't seen enough of them on cars yet.

Just they're so new.

A monoblock forged option for I think they're like they're

what mid 2000s or something like that for like a good size.

That's a killer deal.

It's great.

It's a great deal.

If you want to hop into your first set of forged wheels,

that there's like no better.

Otherwise you're paying, you know.

Go with the name brand and not counterfeit dog water.

I'm not kidding.

Like Koenig forged is a great, great, great, great, great.

Speaking of which, I have a real quick story

about counterfeit and not counterfeit.

So when my wife and I go to the grocery store,

we always get into a debacle about buying brand name

versus, you know, the copy of whatever.

Always.

She loves to get the no name stuff and I am a brand whore

and I'm like, no, I am getting regular frosted flakes.

You can kiss my ass.

But this time, this time we needed to get some new ziplock bags.

And she's like, just get the off print.

Like it's literally like over a dollar cheaper

for the same amount.

And I was like, I didn't have a good argument

on why I wouldn't get the cheaper one.

So I'm like, fine.

Okay.

I get home.

I used it once and that fucking zip broke immediately.

One zip.

It wasn't even packed full or I did nothing.

I did the lightest little zip and it just tears on like,

there's no way.

Are you serious?

So there are circumstances where yes,

just go with the brand name.

But it looks the same.

It looks the same.

It's the same thing.

They get it from the, they get it from the same supplier.

It's the same bag maker.

It's just brand.

I think you did it really aggressively to prove a point.

No, I didn't.

I swear in my life.

I swear I was, I didn't even think of it

because I was kind of with it for this one.

I was like, okay, this one makes sense.

Okay.

I'm for it.

No, nope.

I'm going back to brand name whore.

Damn.

So I think there's a lot of people,

obviously it's a Black Friday day.

But like 2025 has been kind of hard in terms of like saving

money and you know, kind of affording life and existing.

So I figured, I don't know if we had a plan for this podcast,

but I want to talk about just for a couple of minutes,

unconventional ways that you've managed to make money

to afford your car part hobby.

Oh man.

I'll let you think about it.

Well, I started off with photo shoots.

Okay.

So you used to do, you used to be a photographer.

Yeah.

How much did you charge for a session

before you complained about it on Facebook

that everybody else does it for free

and that's why you're running out of business?

I was the guy doing it for free and.

Oh, so you ran people out of business.

Yeah.

I did get some of those comments actually,

like undercutting people.

But it was like, I always felt like guilty for a while

because I didn't know anything about photography.

I was all self taught.

So it's like, I remember like it started getting the

point where it's like, how much I owe you or how much

for this shoot and I was like, holy shit,

like all these people are offering to pay.

Like I'm kind of stupid if I don't start charging.

So I started off like 50 bucks a shoot

and I would do rollers.

We would do fricking six different locations,

probably around 40 edited photos when you're done,

50 bucks flat rate.

And it went up a little bit incrementally

through the years, but never really got like super crazy.

I just love doing it so much.

It was like, I can't believe I'm getting paid to fricking.

Do this.

But that would definitely help fund the car part,

especially on my like EVO and focus ST.

That's how I was hustling to get some parts on there.

I remember when I was younger,

when I started getting into the car scene,

I was kind of past like the RuneScape account buy and sell phase.

But what I had moved into was photography.

I had something called AM Productions.

I remember did the same thing.

I used to charge my, I used to do it for free.

I did it for free for like a year, I remember.

Then a year after that I started charging $40.

That was my base price for an hour.

But I didn't do like rollers and stuff.

And I did like portrait photography.

So I did like couples and senior photos and stuff like that.

And then did that from, gosh,

it would have been like 2012 to 2017, 2011 to 2017.

I mean, to be fair, you took our engage before.

I did.

I did. Yeah.

Yeah.

I also married you and Maggie in my living room.

Okay.

There's more to unpack there.

Yeah. I did it.

I was first.

Everything else after that was just.

Yeah.

So everybody that went to Gels and Maggie's wedding

just know that I did it first.

No.

So I did that.

And then I remember my first wedding photography that I did.

It was eight hours.

I charged $300.

I think that was kind of how I afforded car parts back then.

And then obviously over time it went up.

I think in 2017, when I kind of like sunsetted it

because we were starting in Appleton,

I think an hour photography was, I don't know, like 150 for a session.

And then weddings were like anywhere from.

That's where the money is.

It is.

It sucks.

Anywhere from 1500 to three,

depending on like how many shooters and how many shooters in time.

There was one time like Becca used to hustle it with me.

Back when I was in college, I remember one time doing

three weddings in five days.

It was a Thursday.

It was a Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.

That paycheck had to be crazy.

That was crazy.

Yeah.

Then if they paid in cash, bro, like this is chat, GBT, AI.

This is not Alice talking.

If they paid in cash, what?

What's so rich?

Why?

You know, make 30% more.

Why?

Why would you make more money if you paid cash out?

Listen, I was a 19 year old hustler back then.

There's a certain individual that's going through some stuff right now.

I'd be careful with what you're saying.

Really, you're going to be walked out in cops in a minute.

Oh, yeah.

I forgot.

That's crazy.

I, you know, I always think.

Got whistling gasoline over here.

Yeah, whistling the 85.

No, I mean, that's kind of what I did back then.

I think everybody kind of has their own thing.

You do bring up a good point that I think is worth talking about.

The drama of being a photographer, especially in the automotive space,

when people are like, I can't, I can't make this a business

because everybody else keeps doing these photo shoots for free.

Remember those days?

I used to do that shift for free all the time.

That's how you get your name out there, big boss.

You know, if you want to make money and if you want to keep your business.

I remember one time I was at a bar and I had a guy get mad at me.

And this is well into my photography career.

This is like probably fourth.

Can you tell the, can you just tell the class what your photography name was though?

Because this is really important.

First name, last name, photography.

Oh, yeah.

Let's go.

It was Dakota Stone photography because I've been told by,

I can't even tell you how many people say I have a movie star name.

Dakota Stone.

Yeah.

It's kind of a movie star name.

Yeah.

I hear that all the time.

Always like the lady at the checkout, I'll give her my debit card.

Whoa.

That's a movie star name.

Oh, man.

Thanks.

My parents gave it to me.

But yeah, anyways, I'm at the bar.

I'm like five years into shooting at this point,

doing shoots religiously and this guy comes up to me.

I remember seeing him one time in high school, like walking through the halls,

if that, and he was like two grades below me.

And he's, hey, man, how you been?

Talking to me like I've fucking known him my whole life.

I don't know.

And he's like, I want to get a photo shoot.

I'm like, oh, okay, cool.

Yeah, shoot me a message and we can set something up.

I'd be down.

He's like, all right.

And yeah, like you think you could do it just like for free?

I'm like, what?

No.

And he's like, well, we went to like school together and he got so shitty with me.

Because I wouldn't do it for free.

And I don't even know this dude.

I think he was just drunk.

Probably.

But yeah, I mean, you shot pools for a while too, didn't you?

I did a lot of pool shooting.

That was a hustles because I won't do people.

I hate taking photos of people because like if someone is very worried about how they look,

no matter how good the photo is, they will just hate it.

There's always something wrong with every single type.

And I don't know how to pose people a car.

It's like put it in good.

You always had really good angles when you did car photography though.

Because I remember you used to shoot because everybody when they start in car photography,

they'll do like front straight on, rear straight on side, maybe a three quarter shot.

And then they would like take random macros of random things like side mirrors and door handles

and stuff.

And I remember because when I used to start doing automotive photography,

I couldn't quite figure it out.

And I remember I had my white Z and it had the Rota whatever's on it and some Cooper tires.

And it was white had the black bumper and it was over in Eau Claire.

And I remember I was like, God damn, you know, like Dakota takes really good photos.

And I remember I was doing this photo shoot.

And it's when I learned that like you used to take photos not like all the way down,

not like on the ground, but you would always take them like just a little bit below like

the headlight level.

And it gave this like super cool look.

And so one of the first shoots I did with the Z when it was repainted with the front bumper,

I copied one of your photos with my 70 to 200.

And I was like, Oh, this is how he gets really good shots.

Like I remember that because Dakota used to take absolutely insane photos still does.

But like we used to do competitions in the WCC car group.

And like Dakota would just like randomly drop in a photo of his Evo X or his Evo 10.

I'm sorry.

It's like the railroad.

That one won like all the time.

Every time winter would come around, dude.

Dakota would drop and get like 600 likes.

All right.

Well, I guess Dakota's car was always a competition drop photo.

And it was like the like the banner for the month.

Yeah.

And that photo is so cool too.

Because like at that point I was shooting so much.

I literally just had my camera in my passenger seat because I would always just shoot.

And I pull up to a railroad genuinely.

I was just going somewhere and there's a train coming like, Oh, that's cool.

So I just got out and I grabbed my camera and right as it passed a beautiful train yellow

and then the American flag on it.

And it just was so cool because like I had the Japanese flag on the wing of my Evo and

then the American flag and it was snowing out.

And it was just like right place, right time.

So that was a super legendary photo.

I still think that like finding a way to make your love for cars like work financially is

like such a trick in and of itself, you know, because it's changed over the years.

But I think it's been really fun to watch like people.

Now they're doing more videography like content creation.

100%.

50 bucks for an edit of your car or something.

It's for as many people as that were hopping into like photography to do, you know,

fund their projects or like get out there and do stuff back then.

It's like now it's, Oh, I'm going to start uploading to a Tik Tok.

And if you have a phone, you can do it.

Right.

It's so accessible.

Absolutely.

It's so accessible.

So I mean, yeah, that's what I mean.

I was doing for a while.

It's like when I was consistently working on cars and actually doing shit, it was like,

you know, I just set up a phone.

I'm like, I'm gonna make a video on this.

It's like, I, you know, 3D printed an airlift holder for my RX 8 or whatever.

You know, and it was like, I feel like this would be cool.

Yeah.

I just, you know, recorded it and showed the process.

And I love doing that stuff.

Like just showing like, Hey, this is what I'm doing.

You know, and that funded itself.

Interesting to hear how the era has changed and that makes so much sense.

Cause like when I was getting into photography, it was like when Instagram like just started,

then everyone was a photographer, right?

And I think that's what fueled a lot of people was because Instagram was promoting like,

show your best photo, show your coolest stuff.

And so it was like photos were the big thing and no one really cared about video because

the video is like the niche of YouTube, which at the time was just a select few, you know,

video wasn't even on video on Instagram.

Video is absolutely king.

So I bet you, yeah, there's a lot more people out there.

They're trying to learn how to do edits and yeah.

Edits are huge, you know?

So it like starts with like, you know, your cap cut templates and shit.

And that's like, okay, you know, learning how to make something like those templates,

you know, how do, how do I actually just do that?

I think it's been fun.

There's a lot of people that like try to find a good starting point for those hobbies.

And we've, we've brought on a few like newer creators within like martini works or meta

martini in the past.

And if anybody's trying to get in there and like trying to figure out how to get started,

the number one tip I could always give you is, and this is going to be a little controversial,

but copy someone first.

If you're trying to figure out like what you like or what you don't like,

whether it's photography or videography, start off with like a reference of something

and try to see if you can figure out how they got to that point,

whether that's in photo or that's in video.

If you're stuck creatively, like if you have a creative block, for instance,

like if you want to go out and you want to shoot a photo and you're trying to figure out like,

I want my photo to look like this guy's like,

try and see if you can take the same exact shot and then go into post and figure it out

and try it out and play around with it.

Same thing with cap cut.

There's so many people out there that will see a really cool edit.

And then they're like, God, I wish I knew how to do that.

It's like, well, go and just like watch it like scene by scene frame by frame by frame

and then copy it.

As you go through and you copy it, you start to learn how they did it.

And then you can start to decide if you even like the style because you don't want to make a

bunch of copycats, I guess, but there's so many people that I think get stuck on

wanting to be the best right away.

They don't really know how to start.

My tip has always been like, go copy someone for a little bit until you figure out what

you like and what you don't like.

Yeah, I think there's obviously in the age of digital media,

inspiration is endless.

You can go out and find as much as you want.

And I think inspiration is important.

It's a good ground base to start from and it'll help you grow your skill set too.

Like you said, if you're chasing and trying to figure out, okay, how did they get this?

How did they get this lighting?

How'd they get this angle?

What equipment did they use?

It helps grow your skill set.

And that'll take you to a point.

But then to go to that next level, you need to be unique.

You need to do something to stand out and be an individual.

Yeah, it's like you said, as your class.

Yeah, it's like you're getting to know the platforms.

You're getting to know your camera.

You're getting to know the shots.

You're getting to know the editing program, whatever it might be to utilize those tools.

You know, it's the same thing.

I used to fuck around in like FL Studio back in the day, making beats and shit.

And it was like, I don't even know what the hell half of this stuff is.

But it was like, I like this song.

I'm going to try to recreate this song and figure out how the hell to make a sound like this to

do this with the equalizers or all that kind of shit.

So yeah, 100%, I see that.

Like use it as a tool to teach yourself.

But then I agree with what Dakota said, too.

Or it's like, OK, now that you know how to actually utilize it,

how are you going to make it your own?

Yeah, I think that kind of extends into the automotive world, though, too.

You know, if you're starting off and you're building a car, you're getting into racing,

that's why they do lead follows at track days.

Right.

You know, people are like, I want to go out and I want to be a fast driver.

You know, they watch F1 or they watch something and they want to go race cars.

And that's great and awesome and dandy at all.

But a lot of folks, like they don't want to read a book anymore, right?

They don't really want to go through the motions of practicing the basics.

They just want to get out there and pretend that they're the winner.

And so these track days, they do something very simple.

It's like, OK, well, before anything else, we're going to teach you turn in exit,

we're going to teach Apex, braking zones, that sort of stuff.

And then you're going to follow an instructor.

And they'll always tell you they're like, the requirement for a lead follow is,

you know, you stay two car links behind, follow my movements.

And if I see that you're behind me where I am, we'll speed up.

And if you listen to my instruction and we go back and forth, we'll speed up.

If I notice that you're outside of line, if I notice that you're not in control of your car,

if I notice that you're shaking, you know, we're going to slow down.

And so a lot of people don't like lead follows because they feel like they can't go as fast

as they want to go.

But the whole point of a lead follow is to see if you even understand

where the car is and where you're supposed to be.

And so I think that kind of applies to like photography or videography, you know, art

is everybody just wants to go in and be good right out of the gate.

And it's like, sometimes you need to follow somebody or learn from somebody who's willing

to teach you like the action.

And then once you get that down, you can spend a little time in practice,

you know, going out there on the track and finding a line yourself.

You can't get first place, though, if you're following the whole time.

That's right.

That's a good analogy.

I like that because yeah, you use it to follow.

But with photography and media, it truly is just practice.

You just have to go do it every waking second you can try different shit.

Bring your bring your camera everywhere you go.

And I think one of the best things is as you practice, you get better at letting things

roll off your tongue, whether you want to become a videographer or a YouTube content

creator, which allows you to plug partners into content that you create, like continental

being the official partner of the Martini works podcast, which we're so excited for to share

in this podcast episode with all of you.

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Martini works podcast and appear back.

I have a confession.

Oh God.

I know.

I, I was wrong.

Oh, whoa.

Yeah.

Is this going to follow up with an apology?

No.

Is this an I'm sorry video?

No.

Get the ukulele.

Dang it.

Okay.

It's been so hard.

All right.

Make this section black and white.

Uh, I, I feel like I may have been a little bit too critical about KDM cars.

Really?

Mm hmm.

What's, what's the sudden change of heart?

What's not a sudden change?

It's been gradual for the past, over the past year.

So you've kind of heard me soften up about Korean made cars, Monday, Kia, Genesis.

Um, so back in February, uh, I went to the New York car show.

Got to see the GMR 001.

Okay.

Genesis Sizz, Genesis, hypercar, which is going to be racing this upcoming year in WEC,

in the LMDH category, super red car based on an Orca chassis.

And then the engine is two of their rally car engines merged together twin turbo charged.

Sounds like an absolute screamer.

I'm listening.

Yeah.

It's sick, right?

That does sound really sick.

So I'm like, okay, okay.

That's cool.

Still not super convinced about the rest, right?

Sure.

Then in July, go to Le Mans, hang out with Michelin, hung out with iDeck Sport,

who Genesis is a partner with, got to see all the stuff that they were doing behind the scenes.

And all of a sudden I'm like, oh, that's pretty good.

Then this past weekend, they're like, yo, Alex, do you want to come to Marseille

and check out our new GV60 launch?

And I said, sure, why not?

It'll be a fun experience, but to be clear, if I don't like it, I'm going to tell people.

They're like, that's fine.

You know how most manufacturers are not fine with that?

They want you to think everything is perfect and awesome all the time and they're the best in the world.

So I went and flew into Marseille and it was awesome.

It's actually like the soap capital of the world.

The fuck does that mean?

Soap capital?

It's a big soap.

It's a soap city.

Like it's the bath and body works of the world?

Yes.

I didn't get any soap, but I'm assuming so.

Okay, I didn't have time for soap.

The soap capital of the world, you didn't get soap?

I know.

I'm sorry.

1.3 million people live there.

It's the second largest city in France.

It's the largest port in France, actually.

And it was pretty cool.

I was actually doing this because I was trying to learn why the hell anybody would like live there,

because I didn't quite get it.

Super clean.

Seizing 300 days of sun in Marseille.

Okay, I'm listening.

Even when it's cold, I thought that was awesome.

So anyway, we get up there and it's the day of and we're doing this unveil.

And I'm sitting there and we're in this airport hangar at the Paul Ricard circuit,

which is an X Formula One circuit, really cool circuit.

And Luke and the executive team go out and they're like, well, before we show you the GV60,

we want to show you some of the stuff we've been working on.

I'm like, oh.

So first they roll out their new X-Gran Berlinetta concept car,

essentially this grand touring car from Gran Turismo that they did back for GT7.

Super cool, super long, very wide, sound sick concept car.

So you're like, oh, that's neat.

But like, I get it, whatever.

Then they introduce the G80 Magma and the G80 Magma Track car that they use for their car.

Magma is like their racing line.

That's like their premium line.

So they have Genesis.

So essentially you have Hyundai.

This is, it gets a little tricky, right?

So it's Hyundai and Kia.

Yep.

Wait, they're the same.

Yes.

Put them on the same floor.

Okay.

Oh, okay.

And then you have Genesis above that.

That's like the premium line.

That's like Toyota and Lexus.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

And then within the Genesis lineup is the Magma line, which is a performance floor,

but special office.

Is it a trim?

Or is it a whole other?

It's not necessarily a trim.

Because a Genesis coupe Magma edition would go hard.

I know.

That sounds sick.

I was kept trying to talk to him about it.

But that's still a Hyundai.

Oh, fuck.

Well, yeah, but they changed it now where Genesis is its own thing.

So it would be its own thing.

It's like the Scion FRS in the GR86, but now it's just Toyota.

That's how it would be, okay?

So Genesis coupe Magma.

So then they have this Magma.

They have the G80 Magma.

But then they have this Track G80.

And I'm like, what is that?

Because it sounds sick.

It looked sick.

And they're like, yeah, we use this car to test for this car.

And I'm looking at it.

It's got side exit exhaust.

Jesus.

Bucket seats.

Completely shaved interior.

Plop-on steering wheel.

It's a Dodge Viper.

It's fucking rad.

Over fenders, these big tires, big wheels, Brembo brakes.

And then they show this.

Then they announce, I think it was the G70.

And they're like, oh, by the way,

this car is going to be the official track taxi

of the Nordschleife Nurburgring for next year.

And I'm like, that's kind of sick.

They're like, yeah, so we're investing in the Nordschleife

and making sure that that stays going and running.

I'm like, that's really cool.

Then they're like, yo, we want to show you this GT car

we've been working on.

And they drop a, it's called the Magma GT.

Two-door coupe.

People think it looks like a baby Kona's egg.

I don't really see it, but it's got the up and down doors.

It's got a V8 in it, right?

Forged wheels, which are HRE with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs.

Tri-exit exhaust, like Nakaducting, the whole nine years.

Everybody loses their mind over this car.

And it looks properly good.

And Luke, the chief creative officer, during the round table goes,

we will be making this car.

Like this will happen 100%.

We're like a car that you can actually purchase.

Go and buy.

Yeah.

Oh, shit.

All right.

He's like, and we're going to have trims for it.

We're going to have the GT3R version,

which will be the race car version.

We're going to have the GT3.

We're going to have the street version.

We're going to have a base model version.

And I'm looking at this.

I'm like, sick-ass sedan, sick-ass concept car, sick-ass GT3 car.

Then they drop the GV60, which is a sick SUV.

It's a dual-motor electric performance SUV

that goes 0 to 60 in fuck all seconds

and has 400 millimeter front brake discs.

It has 650 horsepower, 700, and I think it's 90 foot

pounds of torque, simulated 9,000 RPM red line.

And then it's got paddle shifters in it.

So they've got this new thing now because they've been,

people got so far to the right with like EVs

that a lot of people said like they're so disengaging to drive.

So then the Hyundai group essentially came together and said,

OK, we're going to make the flappy paddles for you.

And then we're going to build in essentially the feeling of a DCT.

Yeah, I know.

They've been trying to, they've been doing that.

Honda kind of did that with like the CVT now with the prelude.

Honestly, it feels, it almost feels too consistent,

which I think is just the part of what it is.

It's all so simulated.

It's all electronic.

It was crazy.

We went out with the drivers of the GMR team

and they took us out with the GV60s.

And at no point did he ever turn that off.

So we're going through the track, we're going through Paul Ricard

and all of a sudden he's like on the gas, on the gas, on the gas.

Well, not on the gas, but hard on the throttle, hard on the throttle,

hard on the brake, downshift twice.

You hear the boom, boom, and you can feel it.

Like it, it gives it this thing.

And you're going around the carousel and he's climbing back up

through the RPM range.

And as he clicks it, you hear what?

So what does it actually face?

So the electric motors are in the ECU,

are actually cutting out intentionally to give it that feeling.

So it's actually hurting performance.

Yeah, yeah, it's inhibiting performance.

But the point of it is that you can be more engaged

in the driving process.

And then he's like playing around with it afterwards

and he obviously turns all that stuff off

and then obviously just goes to whatever it is.

But it was really cool.

The interior is like stitching.

It looks like what every R32 Volkswagen owner

wish their interior looked like

because it's like super nice plaid seats and it's all bucket.

Oh, wow, they went with plaid?

Yeah, it's cool.

And then afterwards, what do they do after that?

Then they showed the whole lineup, which was super cool.

But I was like, through this whole process,

I was like, maybe, maybe I was a little bit harsh on them.

So what would you say to someone that said,

Alex, you were wine dined and 69 to like Hyundai.

What would you say to them?

I wasn't 69.

Oh, OK.

You were a cold mushroom denigred, though.

For those that don't know, I really enjoy world cuisine.

I love food.

I like trying different food.

The food, if I were to be wine and dined,

I don't know if they should have put all their effort on that

because that would have not been a positive experience

because some of the food was not terrific.

Alex showed us some photos of the food and it didn't look like photos of food.

No, that would have made me hate Genesis.

Yeah, it was different.

But no, I think obviously there's always a bias towards it.

There are some things that I love.

There are some things that I don't love.

I still think that one of the biggest defining traits,

I will say this, that changed my perspective about Genesis,

had nothing to do with this drop.

I would say the biggest transition to me going from being a person

who maybe didn't like it that much to being a person who really did like the brand

is when Genesis defined their own design language.

The two headlight front, the two headlight rear.

I do fuck with that.

I love it and I love that it looks different than other brands.

Hyundai for a long time was like,

we need it to look like another company.

We need it to look like another company.

And they were trying to find that design language and I don't like that.

It's why I don't like the counterfeit wheel conversation.

It's why I don't like people just straight up copying forever.

It's like, use it as a baseline then go find your thing.

Genesis literally did that and now they have their own design language.

And I think because it's in their entire model lineup

and because they're trying to do it their own way,

I almost have more respect for them now

because they're taking a real risk in what makes them them

versus taking the safe route and just like picking,

oh, well, BMW has got a cool front end.

Let's just copy that.

Okay, this person's got a cool back and let's just copy that.

You know what I mean?

So that would be kind of why I would say I've been more of a fan of it.

Plus they're in motorsport.

Like you get an automatic highway to me liking you when you're more involved in motorsport.

They've been straight up just doing cool shit, it seems.

A lot.

Like they're really going out there.

They've been trying hard.

Yeah, when you listen to their team, you know,

how we always talk about how they stole everybody from BMW and Bentley.

And then you meet the people that were quote unquote stolen from BMW and Bentley.

They have absolutely no hesitation on telling you

that they plan to make Genesis like better

than everything that they've done before in the past.

Like when we were talking to Luke about the Magma GT,

like he owns multiple Porsches and he's a straight up studies.

Like I own more 911s than I probably should.

Sure.

And he goes, and I have worked for these companies.

I've done these things.

And he goes, the Magma GT is not meant to supersede a 911.

You can't beat 70 years of heritage with a brand new car.

He goes, but we plan to make a competitive

fun car that people can get into and can properly enjoy.

And it's cool to hear that where it's like,

they're not pretending to go out there and say like,

we're going to be better than Porsche, you know, right out of the gate.

And so I, and I love to see it too, because now it's like,

you know, the world is looking at Genesis and that includes

all these other manufacturers.

And it's like manufacturers have been sitting on their ass

for the last 10 years.

I feel like we're looking at them be like,

shit, what they're doing is kind of work, you know,

kind of gets them into gear a little bit to like,

hey, maybe we should try something new.

Maybe we should, you know, do something.

So I think, I think if that kicks up and kind of stirs up the,

you know, stuff a little bit,

competition is always good.

It always drives that innovation.

And I think that's really cool.

What about this?

What about this fucking wagon though?

I've been seeing stuff about this crazy wagon.

Yeah, viral wagon.

Yeah. The, the wing back.

Yeah. That's another car.

What about that?

So if you've ever heard this, the chief creative officer talk,

he obviously like led most of the discussion.

Bro's a wild card.

Like you can tell that.

Like Hyundai Motor Group gave him keys to Brunet,

however he wants to.

And he is 100% taking advantage of that.

Because he's, because he's literally said he's like,

I love wagons.

And he made a wagon.

So I'm making a wagon.

He goes, I like that guy.

He goes, I know that America loves their SUVs.

And I know that Europe loves wagons, but I also know.

Did you tell them America also loves wagons?

Well, he goes, he goes, I know there's an audience in America

that likes wagons.

And he goes, and I want there to be an option for that consumer.

And so that one's based off of, I think it's a G90,

which is a super huge SUV or not SUV sedan.

And then the, the wingback concept is on their long wheelbase,

their LWB.

So it's seven and a half inches longer than their already long car

that they then made into a shooting brake design.

It's, it's hot.

It looked crazy.

It looks like super hot mobile.

Yeah.

So just, just some fun facts.

Hyundai Motor Group is the third largest automobile company

in terms of volume only beaten by Volkswagen Toyota.

That's interesting.

And then they're the second most profitable automotive group

as of Q3 2025.

More than Volkswagen.

Tick and sitter.

Isn't that crazy?

Is that a good thing?

In terms of profit, I don't know.

I mean, I think it's, I think it's good in the sense.

Are you ripping us off?

Well, I mean, they have to make money.

I know, I'm just kidding.

I think there's another like weird.

I think they're ripping us off.

Bro, there was one.

So one thing I was trying to figure out is like,

how did they, how do they sell the cars for the price they do?

Right.

Cause something doesn't quite make sense.

You know, like we're pretty pricey.

Yes.

The Genesis ones are like,

Hyundai isn't.

No, Hyundai is cheap.

Yeah.

Hyundai is a good deal.

Anything in their lineup is pretty affordable.

Have you guys ever seen like the, the robotic dogs

that could have been a black mirror episode?

The Boston dynamic things.

Yeah.

The ones that they like try to kick them over.

And they don't fall over.

You know who owns that?

You do.

Did you get one in France?

I want to take a guess.

I bet it's Hyundai.

Hyundai owns Boston Dynamics.

Wait, what?

Yeah.

They own 50 different companies underneath the Hyundai motor group.

I mean, yeah, isn't it?

Yeah. Jesus.

So they don't like third party source practically anything.

Everything that they need to make their vehicles,

like outside of a few components are theirs.

Well, then that makes sense with the profitability.

Yeah.

So like the differentials, the transmissions, the ECUs,

the fulfillment centers, the automation, the autonomous robots,

like all of that stuff is Hyundai.

That's crazy.

It's not like third party stuff.

So like they have their own marketing company.

They have their own like sheet milling companies,

like making the metal.

They have.

I suppose you got your own way to manufacture literally everything.

It's all in your control.

Yeah, it goes crazy.

Hyundai Steel, Hyundai B&G Steel,

Transis, Mobus, M's, Glovis, Hyundai Construction and Engineering,

Boston Dynamics, Supernal, like all these companies.

I see a Mitsubishi air conditioner once.

Yeah.

I mean, I've seen a Mitsubishi A6M50 once.

Ooh.

So that was kind of cool.

Anyway, overall, I thought it was good.

I think I'm slowly converting.

To be fair, though, it's also because it's really hard to be anyone with money in 2025

because of how expensive everything's gotten.

So I think when those things happen,

obviously the brands that are striving for more price conscious consumers

start to really thrive.

Hyundai is obviously not price conscious.

It's a more expensive brand.

But I think because of the success within Hyundai, it's allowed.

I mean, Genesis.

Well, no, Hyundai has thrived.

And I think because of that,

Genesis has been able to thrive because of that.

Hyundai walks so Genesis could run.

Yeah.

The tipper on walked.

So then I do like that.

Like I think I've discussed this before,

but like when you think of Hyundai, I don't know.

I always think of just like a 2000s brand.

Yeah.

It's not.

Hyundai's been around for a long time.

The problem is when they first came out, they had a lot of issues.

And that's where that initial stigma came from with Hyundai's.

Oh, they're unreliable.

Oh, they're cheap.

Well, yeah.

In their frickin' humble beginnings, go look at the beginnings of Hyundai.

It was very much just a humble beginning of Korean car manufacturers.

Go check that out.

Learn up a little bit.

And then see that they were like,

they step back and were like, hey, yeah, we messed up a bit.

Let us fix this.

And they've really worked hard from an outside perspective.

I've never done anything or been affiliated with Hyundai in any way,

but to see them glow up over the years and take pride in what they do

and really push to go outside the envelope with things has been cool to watch.

100%.

I remember when I was first introduced to the Genesis brand,

I think we went to the Chicago Auto Show.

And of course, Sean Burr was like, oh, dude, yeah, those are Hyundai's.

And I was like, what?

And he's like, yeah, those are literally Hyundai's,

but it's like their new brand, it's like Genesis.

I was like, that's crazy.

And then we had like sitting them and doing like, dude, these are fucking nice.

And then there was a person I worked with at a previous job.

She was like the lead graphic designer or whatever.

But she was like, yeah, I bought like one of those first like Genesis vehicles.

And she was like, I love it.

I'm going to get, I'm going to trade in mine to get the new one.

And she was like, I will buy these like forever.

They are like the nicest car.

Yeah, I think they look good.

Obviously, I think some of them might still have issues and stuff, but.

Everything does.

Everything's got their fucking quirks to it.

I love seeing the investment.

I always think if you're invested in motorsport, you get a little extra love.

When I start to look at the brands that I really do like, Acura, Cadillac, Renault,

I like Genesis, I like Mazda, Nissan, I think in Japan still has some presence there, Toyota.

Like all of these brands are invested or involved in motorsport.

And I think that's a good, a good thing.

A hundred percent.

It's hard for me to like a brand when all you're making is something that gets you from point A

to point B.

So are we getting the wagon and will it be less than a hundred grand?

And I have one.

I really hope so for the first one and definitely not for the second.

Well, then fuck it.

I don't even care.

Yeah, stupid.

I know, I'm sorry guys.

Unless they depreciate like a Mercedes, I don't know.

I'm trying to, there was one car that I was looking at where I was like, my God,

that thing's depreciated.

Oh, Audi e-trons.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I forgot that even existed.

I was looking at them.

Apparently they're like the new, new one is like the Audi S6 e-tron over there is apparently

the cat's ass.

They're very expensive cars.

He goes, well, you can go find like the generation old ones for a pretty good deal.

I didn't believe them, but I was surrounded by journalists all weekend.

How many issues do they have?

First generation or something like that?

Always dangerous.

But I did find it quite funny because again, there's like 130 people at this activation.

I'm the only guy there that seems to be like talking about motorsports stuff and everybody

else is like a journalist.

But dude, these journalists, they're crazy.

What do you mean?

Like automotive journalists are fucking wild.

In what way?

The things you would never expect somebody to care about with a car.

It's their job to care about.

And it is insane how much they remember.

And then it's also insane as to like how like picky they are about stuff.

You know, I was talking to these guys where it's like the one of the gentlemen I met,

his first activation with a vehicle manufacturer was with Ferrari for the F40.

How the fuck?

Jesus.

That was his first journalist activation.

Yeah.

And he's been doing it that long.

And I feel like that's a pretty, how do you, how do you top that?

Okay.

So I'm like, I'd be picky too then.

Yeah.

But it's like, I'm listening to these guys complain about like the most insane stuff.

What was like, what was like one of the most tickey tackiest things that you've heard?

One guy complained that he didn't like how his finger fit in the window regulator.

Valid.

We need to speak about that more.

What do you mean?

He didn't like.

I know what you mean.

What do you mean?

If, if that's an issue, I feel like it needs to be talked about.

Like if your finger don't fit, you're fucking it up.

Listen, I got pretty, I got pretty fat fingers.

Yeah.

I've never had an issue.

Yeah.

And now imagine you did and now imagine you did.

It'd be a big deal, wouldn't it?

I don't know.

You, I don't know if I would even recognize it.

You would because like you just said, you're like, I've never been a vehicle where,

you know, my finger didn't fit.

So imagine you get in one and this stupid little fucking button won't even let your

finger go in it.

That'd be the most, you'd be like trying to flick it and your, your fingers flipping off

of it because it doesn't remember the whole Volkswagen Golf R how the volume knob turned

with and you didn't understand it at first.

Then you got in it and you're like, holy shit, that's really fucking dumb.

That's what that situation.

My mother still screams at me when she comes down to visit and she has her passat.

And because of the podcast and because you mentioned that now she knows about it.

So it is always set perfectly.

But I get in there and she's got the music.

She's got like fucking Siri sex on blast.

And I'm like, okay, all right.

And she's like, don't touch my stuff.

I'm like, shit, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Yeah, you got to do it with the steering wheel.

Yeah, I'm like, sorry, sorry.

She puts it back.

It is the worst design flaw ever.

That is stupid.

I get it.

I get the crash out over your finger.

Not fitting in the limit.

I mean, they're critics and you can tell that they're, they're critics man.

That was, that was something that was fair and a little bit different for me that I wasn't

quite used to.

Let me review some of that shit.

I'm a rip it apart.

Dude, they do like they, they don't, some guys do not hold back.

I mean, some good, I guess like some guys, some guys, I'd rather have that than

people just plays everything.

Like dude, I learned, I learned from the team that I was with on the last day because my

flight got delayed a billion times and that sucked.

Dude, you have the worst.

I know, we'll get to that.

Airports are bad right now.

Some, one of the guys I met on this press trip has to write 20 articles a week.

I would throw up.

Yeah, no.

20 articles a week for their website.

Then I talked to another girl.

She said, she's had to write upwards of 10 articles a day.

What?

I'm like, how do you even find 10 things so right about it?

She's like, you don't.

You just have to fucking make shit up.

So anyway, with that being said, we're going to take a small break.

But enough for talking about our next partner, the martini works podcast, Dakota.

Yeah, it's us.

Go shop our black Friday deals right now.

We have a ton of them.

They're all listed out.

Like Alex said earlier in the podcast, check out the quest log.

We tried to make the deals like actually fun and interactive.

So if you go on our website, click the top bar, you'll see the quest log and you can

go in, enter your email and then track which ones and go through all the deals and check

them out.

Got a little reward in there and stuff like that.

So do it.

It's different.

We tried to be different than everyone else and do something fun.

Shout out to Schnell on that.

He's the mastermind behind our website and putting that up and I thought it was really

cool.

But again, we have a lot of really good black Friday deals and today is the day.

This is the big one.

So go on over there, check out the deals, scoop something up and then leave something

in the order notes saying you listen to the podcast and I'll make sure to share it on our socials.

Yes.

Oh yeah.

All right.

So I've been playing RuneScape recently because I've always been playing.

But they released sailing.

Hell yeah.

New school and RuneScape.

Not a joke.

New skill.

Yeah.

It's been fun.

I've been enjoying it.

It's been really fun.

The level area.

30.

31.

30.

What do you do?

Sail.

No.

So it is cool though.

They made a bunch of different ways to train it.

Like they know the community.

They know how they play.

So you have very hardcore ways where you can do like tick manipulation to get the fastest

XP per hour in your fucking psycho and you can do that.

I don't know.

I don't do that.

And they made an AFK way.

So you can go and you can go to shipwrecks.

You drop your hook and you just collect stuff artifacts.

And then you go clean them off.

You get XP doing that.

But it's AFK.

So you click and you just let it go.

And then there's like the the barracuda race trials and you race your boat through.

And that's actually really fun.

So I'm just thinking of the sea shanty song.

No, it was really cool.

They killed the music too for it.

Sea shanty.

Sea shanty three.

No, no.

Sea shanty.

If that song were to come on at a bar at any point, I would go feral.

I have that song on vinyl.

Do you really officially licensed?

It's badass.

It's shit from the UK.

That is awesome.

But what that made me think of is how do you go from a level one to a level two car enthusiast?

And I think the best way to start talking about that is what is a level one car

enthusiast.

So you're looking at level one beginner novice car enthusiast.

What's their car look like?

How's it modded?

Easy.

I was there once.

I was there once too.

And then I've been there a couple times.

The car of Tutorial Island.

The car of Tutorial Island right now.

Are you buying it yourself or your parents buying it for you?

Both.

All right.

So let's say it's on your situation.

Okay.

So if you're buying it yourself, you're probably jumping into like maybe New Civic.

Maybe you saved up a little bit.

Got an FRS.

Whoa.

FRS.

Is it first?

I feel like people are doing it.

I had a $3,000 PT Cruiser.

Those are the days of your generation, old man.

Okay.

But well, now they have $14,000.

Well, $14,000 in 2025 is like $6 in 2006.

The FRS is the equivalent of a PT Cruiser now?

No, no.

I think a Honda Civic is probably more online.

But still older.

What's like a base model BMW, what range?

Like a three?

You get like a 328?

328.

328 is like the base like an early one though.

What would we say like 2010, 2012?

For like what generation?

I don't know.

I get sold lost with her.

I feel like that's what kids are starting off with now though.

Everybody I see is starting off with a goddamn G80M3.

I don't know how.

What?

I don't know where these kids are getting this money.

But that's because you're chronically online.

Dude.

Actually, what are some of the most top modified cars on our website right now?

Accords are surprisingly popular.

Subaru's.

Subaru's are still super popular.

Subaru's, Honda's, like the like the Kord sports and stuff too.

Toyota's, dude.

I think a WRX falls in the level two category though.

I think a level one category car right now under 10.

Probably is just like an old ass BMW.

Yeah, that's why I meant.

That's why I meant.

Yeah.

But I don't I don't see him.

I guess I don't see him that much.

Maybe I am chronically online.

I don't think I am.

But I would say level one is get the car.

Don't know how much you're going to pay an insurance because you don't care

because you have a car.

You just want it.

Because you just want it.

You're going out there and you're realizing for the very first time

that your car is not the highest trim car option

and you realize that you got to make it look like it.

So you go from the yellow headlight bulbs to the fucking blue ones

because that's the cool shit.

You got to make the excuse of oh I didn't want to pay that extra money for that trim.

When I could put that money into my car.

So you go and you grab the HIDs off of Otto's own that are absolutely 100%

not meant for the housing that you're in.

You have to cut them to make them fit.

Yeah, they seep and get fucking.

Now they're just blasting light in just one general direction

that you have to do.

Then you're like man Amber is a stupid color to have on a car.

So you go and you take your turn signals

and you're going to nightshade them bitches for 14 bucks.

And the tail lights.

Then you're going to realize I don't need people to see my tail lights

because they don't need to know when I'm breaking.

So those are going to get tinted immediately.

Then you're going to realize the power of a Sawzall at some point

and you're going to realize I can either take it to a shop

and get it sawed off of my car, the muffler.

And I can put a Flowmaster on

because you're going to go to O'Reilly's or Otto's at least once

and you're going to realize that there's literally just mufflers there

and you can buy it and be like that's kind of sick.

I've heard of that name before.

I've heard of I've heard of you Borla.

Cherry bomb.

Yeah.

And so I had two of them in my Dotson.

And then you're going to do that.

Right.

It's just it's just a part of it.

And then you're going to realize when you get in the car

it's kind of a pile of shit.

Like you love it but it's kind of grimy and bold.

Couple things aren't working the way they should.

The CD player skips.

Yeah.

And you could you could left speakers out.

Upgrade it.

You know you like you get a different steering.

The only different seats or horn doesn't work.

You could just get seat covers that are red and black.

I never did the seat covers.

And then you can get just a steering wheel cover.

I've never did that.

And then you're going to be able to realize you can match all of that

with a new shift knob.

And then you're going to do that.

I thought about doing that.

But I realized my PT cruiser was automatic.

I didn't know how to get the thing off.

And then you would have though.

You figured out you're going to be like man people are going to be like

they're going to embarrass me because I have an automatic BMW.

So then you're going to take the Prindle cover off.

You take the Crown Royal bag.

Yes.

And you're going to cover it because you're underage.

You're going to put the Crown Royal bag on it because that's what

cool kids do.

I thought that was the coolest shit bag.

And then you're going to go find however the hell you can blast

your music onto that 35 year old deck.

What do they got for wheels?

Stocks.

Stocks or I would say some marketplace special where they got the right bolt pattern

but the width and the offset was not correct at all.

So they just look horrible.

Or the tire size is absolutely atrocious.

Yeah.

You don't know all the numbers.

You just know that the bolt pattern is what makes the wheel fit.

And I knew they were.

And I knew they were 17.

So I've.

OK.

So I think we did a good job of getting that baseline level one tutorial island part.

You cut the antenna because you don't want it.

But you didn't know that the antenna did something.

That sounded oddly specific.

Mine on the eclipse actually just didn't go up anymore.

So it was fine.

I think you can all picture what that vehicle looks like.

Yeah.

But I will say the one thing that a level one enthusiast is going to spend money on.

Window tent.

Yes.

But they're going to do it.

They're going to let their body do it.

That has done like three other cars.

And he's done a few times a little tent to form for cheap.

And he comes over and then you end up with the lines that you can see around the window

where the light shines through because it's not perfectly matched the window.

And then there's a few bubbles.

And yeah it's peeling in that one corner.

But but it was cheap.

It was cheap.

Yeah.

OK.

So what's a level two.

So yeah.

Now how do we take that.

How do you step up from that.

Get to a level two.

What is a level two car enthusiast look like.

Money.

More money.

You get a full time.

Yeah.

I'm not part time.

You moved from Subway to.

Charter.

Factory work.

A summer internship.

Oh I was going to say factory work.

No I think.

Yeah some.

Yeah factory work.

I think I think a level two car enthusiast is when somebody goes from making like that 735

number to like finding it.

Yeah.

Like that's what it was for me.

That's literally what it was for me.

They're making 14 bucks an hour or something.

Now they're like holy shit.

Dude I remember I remember specifically going from 725 an hour at Subway.

And then going to $12 an hour at a plastic injection molding plant.

And I was like dude I am fucking rich.

I was like.

My first big jump was.

Actually because I got paid weekly.

Yeah that's yeah.

My first jump was 735.

I remember I worked at McDonald's.

And then when I went to go move to RCU my base wage started out at 1525.

Damn.

And I was like.

Yep I went from 725 at Shopco to 15 bucks an hour at John Beer.

Yeah that was a lot of money.

Okay.

And I got paid weekly there too so and it was awesome.

I felt like I always had money and I'd always spend it.

But it was coming right back in a couple days.

So level two car enthusiast more money.

Yeah it's like.

They've gone through a level one build.

Are we going to upgrade the car?

Are we keeping the same car and then just.

Yeah.

You're keeping the same car.

Oh yeah.

But we're going at it from a different way.

Yeah yeah.

Okay so I would say I would say you're not getting the tape cassette slash bluetooth connected.

You're starting smoke thing.

You're getting the pioneer deck.

Oh yeah.

150 bucks.

Here's what it is.

Your level two is undoing all the fuck shit you did on level one.

A thousand percent.

That's what I was going to say.

It's like you start and you even might even dabble in a couple maintenance fixes.

Like this OEM part is broken.

I'm going to replace it so it is nice again.

And then yeah you're going to start taking off those mods.

You're going to start maybe scraping off a few of those stickers you thought were funny

but are in reality just really cringe and your car club doesn't exist anymore.

So we're just going to peel that off.

No longer locally hated.

Nice.

My favorite my favorite hobby is watching.

Car club start off and then get disbanded in the same year.

It's just iconic.

Such a normal thing it's like we're starting a club that accepts everyone

and isn't gatekeeping because we're all about the community literally three months later.

We've chosen to cancel our events moving forward effective immediately because

our administration team cannot get along.

It's like oh okay anyway level two car enthusiast.

I'm going to say professionally tinted.

I'm going to say they went to Z-Barts.

They got real window.

Yep.

I'm going to say that they got the Pioneer deck off Amazon.

Yes.

Throwing it in.

They're doing it themselves.

I'm going to say they put in actual lowering springs instead of cut springs.

Yep.

I'm going to say they actually bought their first set of real tires.

I'm going to say that's almost level three.

You think I feel like I feel like I remember because I remember when I did the eclipse

and I went and bought those fucking atrocious wheels off a marketplace because they were

black and they were 17s and I was like that's what I need.

But they came with like balloon tires on them and they were honestly like dry right of their shot.

And it was like I ran them even though I probably wasn't supposed to.

But then I remember like I want to get new tires for these wheels and that was like

one of like the first like real big purchases I did for that car.

Interesting.

You're smart cookie I think.

I think level two is also getting into knowing that you want to get good fitment for your wheels.

I don't think you're brand.

Understanding it.

Yeah.

I don't think you're brand specific quite yet.

No.

But I think you understand it because I remember after I had my first like car that I modified

was the 3000 GT and that had like the whole O'Reilly's bucket thrown at it.

And then when I had the Audi A6 2.7T I did the manual.

Okay.

I kept the manual.

I thought that was fun.

But then I remember I was like I want to get the right wheels.

And I didn't quite know how any of that worked.

But what I knew is that the Euro community loves putting other model wheels on older cars.

So I went and I found authentic RS4 wheels and then had them painted Mysticrome.

So like purple and gold and like there's a crazy color way.

And I had no idea what the off so was or anything like that.

But I knew I could make them fit.

And then we put I think they're like Neo Gen or something like that on there.

And dude I remember having it without the suspension.

And I was like this is the ugliest thing in the world.

So I bought ST suspension coilovers.

I remember getting the box.

My dad was like what is this?

Coilovers.

So I took my dad and I we went to a European shop in Minneapolis from Eau Claire,

dropped the car off, hopped on a train, went to the Mall of America for the day.

They dialed in the suspension for me.

They installed it.

I saved up my money.

It was $400 for them to do it.

And I remember getting the car back and I was like this is the prettiest car I've ever owned in my entire life.

Dude the fitment was perfect.

Yeah I'd say at level two car enthusiasts for myself.

I didn't know tire brands.

I didn't know what was good.

What was horrible.

So I wouldn't I wasn't on that was late for me.

The getting on the tire game was late for me which I wish would have happened sooner.

Yeah I will preface the tires that I got.

I'm pretty sure they're of Achilles.

Yeah I can't even remember what tires I was buying.

I went to like the one tire shop in town and was like I know I want this size.

What's the fucking cheapest thing that you have that looks cool?

Yeah like that's all that mattered.

Yeah so I'm gonna say maybe you get new tires but they're not a tier one, tier two tire,

probably tier three or tier four.

And then yeah you get some wheels and they're a little bit more entry level but I'm gonna

say you bought them brand new and the fitment's decent or it was close enough and you're adding

a five mil spacer.

Yeah I think the the spacers.

You gotta have a spacer on your car at some point.

Well there is a mistake though.

At a level two car enthusiast you're gonna get two things right.

You're gonna get cocky and then eventually you're gonna make a mistake.

I think I think you're gonna go in and you're gonna make a mistake with like your stereo system.

I remember the first time I bought a stereo deck thinking I could do it.

I remember tearing out my OEM one and then I looked at all the cables and I was like

what the fuck am I supposed to do here?

And so like you have to cut certain things and like put it to a new connector.

I ruined that whole process.

Yeah I remember there's like a week I went without my radio because I I didn't realize

what I was getting myself into.

No I had no idea.

I didn't know there was even that many cords going into a radio.

I just figured it was like a power.

Just plug a new one in.

I didn't know what a grounding issue was in mine and I thought I could not for life

me figure I specifically remember sitting in my fucking driveway at like 10 o'clock one night

on a Sunday.

So I had school the next morning.

My dad's yelling me to come inside and stop fucking with the car and I could not for the

life of me.

I had the old radio like sitting and it was something was still plugged into it.

I can't remember.

It was like sitting there and I had the new one and I'm like it's not fucking powering up.

Everything is plugged in.

Everything is connected to the right thing and I would set the new one on top of the old one.

And it would power up and I'm like what and I'd like take it off and power down.

I like said I'm like what the fuck is happening right.

It's I'm like I'm delusional.

It's too late.

I'm losing my mind and then I realized that there was the ground was still attached to

the old one and rounding it out when I said it out there.

I was like oh but I had to sleep on it though because I'm like dude.

I don't know what the fuck so I'm like I need to sleep because I think I'm imagining that

it's turning on right now.

I remember has there ever been a point.

Okay so level one.

Level two.

I have a question.

When does painting your brake calipers come into play?

Level one.

Okay I've never done that.

I did.

I do all the time.

If I have a non-upgraded brake kit even as like a fully grown adult.

I'm painting the bitches some color.

I do think like a level 20 car enthusiast goes for and I'm not I'm biased but I think

when you get up in the echelon of mods when you get like the big brake kit and you don't

paint it a bright color but you keep it really modest.

I think that is like the most subtle flex on a build.

You gotta do a quest to unlock that.

That's what you do.

Yeah yeah okay so the the question I have for you guys is is there is there like a thing

from your first car first car that you modified to now whether it's a tone or a style or a type

of mod that has always stayed the same throughout your builds like there's something about you know

the way you like your cars that you always try to keep it in every single car.

Ooh let me think well it's tough because like the first couple I did I feel like was me just

trying to find what that even was like what my style was I don't even think I had a style

until like I got to my cobalt and I think the one thing I could never really get away from was

I always wanted that shit low and tight.

I wanted that fitment fucking spot on whether it was tire the rim of the wheel

and I lowering it more than I probably should.

We have to give credit where credit is due.

Dakota in in Wisconsin had some of the best modified cars when you were like well when you

were when we were when we were well in that scene I remember even the cobalt dude I remember when

you had the cobalt and you'd post that up on WCC. Fitment was good on the cobalt.

Fitment was good on the cobalt then you had the Evo. Fitment was good on the Evo.

Rad on that then you had the Supra. You had the ST.

Crazy.

Crazy good then you have the Supra.

Which was like meaty tucked.

Crazy good. You've always had good fitment on your stuff.

Thank you. That is just something I've always really liked is getting that

and even like now too if you look at the 400 obviously I'm not lowering it but I got wheels

and tires are like flush with the fender. I just like how that looks. I like that.

Fills it out.

Nice. Yeah fill out. So I think that's what stuck with me.

Does he got one.

Oh I don't think so. I can't call anything.

You've kind of mixed it up with each car that you've gotten different styles.

I feel like I'm still in that honestly like figuring it out because I haven't really had

much of the opportunity to go do outside of like the RX-8. The RX-8 was like the first one that I

really went like all buck wild. That was like my first like real like I'm going to modify the

fuck out of this car. Like the FR-S was really good too but I do feel like I've always managed to

come back to like when I look at the FR-S specifically and then where the RX-8 kind of

wound up it was always like more like functional. Yeah kind of you know like the FR-S had like a

decent tire on it. It was like a very functional setup like had like some you know functional

air like the big like front splitter on and stuff like that. It was like a real chassis mount

splitter like engineer and yeah yeah it was. It was like if I'm putting something on the car I

wanted to make sense and like have a function to it and obviously I wanted to like look good too

but it was like it was always very like mild yeah but functional and the RX-8 like the first

rendition of it was super not that. It was super out there. It was super wild. It was very bright

very loud but then at the end of it's like I took the big wing off. You dialed it way back.

Yeah we cleaned it up. You know we went with just you know the black color on it like tighten the

fitment up. Got like the carbon lip figured out on it. Got the side skirts figured out on it. Got

like the rear spats figured out on it like just made it all like cohesive. It was a functional

show car. Yeah it was. You know when you drove it down to Tennessee and back and I think you had to

do that first rendition with the RX-8. I wanted to get it out of the way because you have to know

what you like and you dislike and you learn that by going all the way to one extreme and then the

other. Yeah yeah that that car taught me a lot and I'll be forever grateful of that car. What about

you Alex? What theme stuck with you between all of your vehicles would you say? I think I've always

enjoyed like finding the platform that is just like a little like one off. Sure. Like just a

little bit. Yeah I would agree. Different. I think I've never been good at finding cars outside of

ones that have like kind of fallen into my lap. I think most of my cars have always been like

I got this because this was the popular version and I wanted the non-popular version. I don't know

what it is if it's like the hipster like in that. I think it's just you know it's like you wanted to

do something different. Yeah like the like I remember I always say like the S4 era when that was like

a big thing is like I learned I found that the C5A6 had the same engine the same trans and I'm like

I'm gonna get that instead because I think it's kind of neat. I remember when people were going out

and like talking about how cool getting an early gen Camaro was like a 70s Camaro this was like a

huge thing back in the 2010s and stuff people were getting those old Irox and stuff like I really

loved the Datsuns. So like I was big into 240Zs and I loved the 240Z and I didn't think anybody

really liked 240Zs. Back then it felt like nobody had them around. Yeah I feel like you're the only

one that meets with them. Yeah I know I love it. It was like an older person car. Yeah it was like

oh yeah my dad had one of those back in the day. And so I think like I enjoy I enjoy that if I could

like the next era of cars for me if if I were to go into like 2026's I really want to find like

80s Alfa Romeo. I'd love to find an early 80s Quattro. I'd love to find an early 70s Merck

and like go backwards in time like go further back and find some of those fun looking cars and

just like make them proper. Like I still don't own a late or mid 70s Mercedes on air suspension and

that kills me. Like I want one so bad as a daily driver just something to like cruise around doesn't

go fast isn't loud but like you look at and you're like it'd be like it's just dope. The Gloria but

more calm. Yeah like the glory was another pull right it was like this weird. It was a goofy one

but it was good. People didn't quite know and so we got a I have a car coming it should be here in

like a week or so and it's a little bit more common but like the story is unique. So I think maybe

it's like you know fun stories. With that being said ladies and gentlemen it is it is Friday. We

hope you enjoyed and you had a good week. We hope that you have enough leftovers to stock your fridges.

Yeah. Happy Thanksgiving by the way. I know it's a daily but if you guys are looking for car parts

you know today and through the weekend into Monday we have a big Cyber Monday deals as well.

Definitely worth checking it out or at martiniworks.com. 35% off Koenig. Koenig forged. I think it ends

up being like what 10 10% off 15% off Fortunato. I know BC Racing BR Series $125 off Continental

$110 off tires Michelin $80 off. Yeah 15% off on ceramic TPMS. That's all the good stuff worth it.

We've got deals on Konsei. We've got deals on Enki. We've got deals stage stage Ferata's $200 off

for a set of four wheels which is absolutely awesome. Like we have been on such an incredible

journey this year with with all of you and we are so thankful to have the support. We really do

give a shit about doing this the right way and growing martiniworks into a place where everyone

can feel comfortable modifying their car and so we hope you guys and gals have enjoyed being a part

of that and if you're looking for stuff you know reach out we'd be happy happy to help and yeah

thank you so much

How To Go From a Lvl 1 to a Lvl 99 Car Enthusiast | S3 E39

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