Is your build too nice/expensive to drive?
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Ford Explorer
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Chevrolet Camaro
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Honda Civic
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Acura Integra
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Nissan R32
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Nissan 370Z
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You know, I'm sitting here thinking of myself the other day.
I'm at the soccer field and I go out to the car after we wrap up the game and there is
a massive, massive door ding on my wife's 2023 Explorer in black.
So of course it shines like the, you know, you can see it from halfway across the parking
lot and it's right on that lovely door seam.
And I'm starting to think to myself, like, how do these guys that have a fully done paint
job, fully beautiful car, how do you still use your car?
How do you still get out there and get behind the wheel and trust not only are other drivers
not going to completely blindside you at a red light?
You know, what is the, what's the anxiety and stress of getting into one of these,
you know, beautiful, fully completed project cars?
Like it's starting to give me anxiety about finishing my car and then driving
around on the streets of Long Island and kind of taking the chance that I don't come
home with that car.
Yeah.
You know, it's funny because my, my neighbor has a really nice SS Camaro, like an old
school Camaro, and he bought it already, you know, modded out like it's got wheels
and it's got a bigger engine and some interior work and the whole nine.
He drives it a lot, like a lot, a lot.
So he'll take the kids to school in it and pick them up and a lot of stuff.
And he's like, man, you don't, you don't take your cars, like, you know, to
get your kids and stuff.
And it's like, I see where it's coming from because it makes sense that the car is supposed
to be driven.
And I fully, you know, I fully believe that, but at the same time, like trying to maneuver
up and down the driveway, like at my kid's school, the risk of snapping a lip or, you
know, whatever, you know, getting hit or something, because there's always something
that goes on.
Somebody gets bumped or, or something like that.
I can't even like, bad them.
I can't even think about, about doing that.
But you know, when the time comes, like, you know, the weekend or something, I'll drive
the car.
I like driving it.
But there's only so many places I can go, right?
I can't go to the grocery store in it because I'll be away from the car for 30 minutes or
40 minutes.
It'll be gone.
I can't, you know, I just have to be careful what I'm doing with the car.
And it's not like it's a Porsche or something.
It's just, it's a little Honda, you know, who cares.
But if you know, if you know Hondas, if you know, you know, this world,
you know, you, you have to, there's limitations, right?
You can't just go where you want all the time, at least not in SoCal.
I don't know how it is where you are, but you can't just, you know, you can't do that.
I would imagine if you went to the city, like you went to the city, you got to be careful.
You got to worry about where you're going to park, who's around you.
Is the car going to be there when you get back?
You know, there's all these different factors.
Yeah, there's, there are still, you know, obviously, there are bad spots that, you
know, if you bring a car into that, there's always that risk factor that you're coming
back with that issue.
The good thing is like, and maybe I'm talking completely out of the blue here, but
I feel like the Honda stealing factor has come down quite substantially in New York
Yes, no, you're, you're, you're right.
It used to be a lot more popular where you couldn't even go into the corner store
without, you know, coming out to the car being gone.
So right, but, but just to be fair, what you're seeing, I believe is accurate, but
you have to keep taking consideration.
How many new vehicles you're talking about versus like, let's say, and I know
I bring this up all the time, and I apologize to the listeners, like the
nineties era vehicles, I bring that up because those are the most popular
to modify, right?
So if you have like an FKA given newer type R, right, the chances of that
getting stolen compared to like an older Integra or maybe like a civic
hatchback, like a mid nineties hatchback, it's not nearly as great, right?
Cause they're, they're tougher to steal on number one.
And with the nineties vehicle, there's a better chance if you get, if
somebody steals that, they can get all the parts from it.
They're going to make a lot of money off of the engine swap and the
interior and you know, whatever else, I mean, not to turn this into a
who can steal cars better situation, but there is something to be said
though, with the, with the modern technology on how these guys are just
cloning the keys off of the R signal and they're walking right up to the
car, opening up, jumping and driving away.
So I mean, don't get me wrong, they used to have to at least pry up
the hood on the Honda Civic to get to the battery because you guys
put cutoff switches and all that and they're sitting there jumping it.
So there was a little bit more work for those guys to, to do it, I
think, than some of the new stuff, but that, that is one scary factor.
But I'm, I'm even more concerned of like, I went with my cars.
I, I get really attached to them.
They become part of me.
Um, I don't know if the viewers can see it, but like I have fairly
to Z tattooed on my arm for my 300 ZX.
Like they are part of me.
All of my projects are.
And to have that get like, for instance, like blasted from behind
cause somebody's on their phone texting and driving out of red light.
It wouldn't only be a financial and time hit, but like emotionally, I
feel like I lost like a pet, like a, like something that that I've
grown up with that I've had and, and to see that loss, I don't know
if that's something that everybody can relate to out there.
But like, and I know some people are like, Oh, it's just a car.
And that's kind of where I'm trying to find that differentiation of where
is it, is there a point where it might not be worth driving those
vehicles on like a daily, not necessarily regular basis.
Yeah.
Like a regular, like a regular basis versus just, you know,
using them just to go to the Sunday cars and coffee event and then drive it home.
Right.
Where does that line start to take place?
Like, do you, you know, that's where I'm starting to ask questions.
Yeah, I hear you, and I hear you and like, you know, to my, to my neighbor's
point, like the car is meant to be driven.
Like, regardless of what you're doing to it, you know, it's built
to be driven and enjoyed and I really should enjoy it more.
But I, I can't, I can't find a scenario where I'm like, Oh, I'm going to
go to Trader Joe's and, you know, pick up a few groceries and leave the car out there.
I just, it just, even with the layers of security that I have, it's just so risky.
And it's interesting because I had a game last night at the local sports park
and, and I get there and there's this red Integra that I've been
seeing all over town and the guy drives it all the time.
And it's really nice.
JD in front end, he's got nice wheels on it.
It's, it's like just the right, right height.
It looks really, really good.
And I see him driving it everywhere and, you know, walk in the distance
from the parking lot to like where he was on the baseball diamond.
I was on a different field, but I recognized the guy.
I mean, it's, it's far.
It's really far.
It's a far walk.
So he has no, like it is, you know, he has no cares and no worries.
He just does it, you know, and that's, I admire that, but I just
don't think that I can do it, you know, I don't think I can leave
the car for that long, you know.
So I guess it also changes over time because when you only had the one
car or you only had the, you know, that was a different world too.
Yeah, I have to drive this car.
I, you know, I just put, you know, $4,000 worth of parts in it.
But guess what?
I'm still driving it because I have to get to and from work.
And I think that's also different when you have the option to take the
other, you know, the daily driver versus the toy.
Is it, are we doing ourselves a disservice in doing so though?
Is the question like, are we giving up part of what makes owning that car
enjoyable by saying, Hey, we're not going to drive it because we're
worried about X, Y, Z versus just, you know, getting behind the wheel
and enjoying the car and getting out there.
Yeah.
But then on the flip side, like, you know, you're, you're a parent.
And so I think for you, you want your kids to be comfortable, right?
If you're going to, uh, whether you're taking them to soccer practice
or you want to take them to school, whatever it is that you want them to be
comfortable here, it's like right now we're, it's, it's pretty warm.
It's like pretty close to 90 most days right now.
So it's, it's pretty, it's pretty warm.
And I can't imagine putting my kids in the back seat of like my
Integra, no AC and then just like, you know, making them suffer as we
go, as we go to like, you know, the Champlain Park or whatever it is.
You know, on Sunday, Gretty held an event at their headquarters here in
Irvine, which is like, yeah, it's not too far from me.
It's like maybe a 35 ish, 35 minute drive or so.
And so I decided to go check it out.
And, um, you know, I brought my Civic out and I, you know,
that doesn't have 10 of windows.
It doesn't have AC, doesn't even have like carpet or anything.
So that drive, like it, it sounds like it should be miserable because,
you know, it's so hot, but it actually wasn't bad.
Like I really enjoyed driving the car.
The car runs so well and it just, it's razor straight.
So like I really like driving the car, but if I had my kids in there,
you know, if I had an interior and I had my kids in there,
I mean, they would be miserable, you know, it would be terrible.
So I wouldn't, I wouldn't do that hit the daily, you know what I mean?
So there's always that, that sort of factor, too, of, of, uh, not just
yourself, but thinking about others.
And I think for a lot of listeners, if they're, if they don't have a family,
if they don't have kids, it's a little bit different.
Like I just drive the car, but if you do have kids or you have a significant
other, you got to think about that too, you know.
So much so that I had designed a Vanity plate for my Z back in the day,
which was, uh, forgot my kids just because of needing to, you know,
drive home that the car wasn't meant for them.
And that that's kind of where, you know, you see that, um, where the,
the, the older gentleman that you're referring to your neighbor, you know,
I feel like those cars were more of that cruising, you know, you could throw
them in and just kind of drive down and pick them up.
You drive to slam slammed out car.
Like I drove to pick up something from the store the other day
and I'm on the phone with the wife and I bottomed out on a giant
pothole and sure enough, she's like, well, if your car wasn't lowered,
you wouldn't have this problem.
And I'm like, I understand that, but I like a lowered car.
I can't help that.
Right.
So you were talking about like you, you've had to put safety
features in place without going too in depth.
Like what are kind of those factors that you've put in place?
Like, um, I know a lot of guys have started using like the ghost
key on, um, on the setups.
I know that that seems to be pretty effective.
I mean, I'm sure we've come a long way from putting a club
on the steering wheel and a pedal lock, but that being said,
it's funny that that integrity I mentioned earlier,
that the parked at the sports park he had a club on.
I was like, you're really old.
You got a club on there.
They're crazy.
That's okay.
Cause the new kids would get there and be like, what is this?
How do I take this engine device off?
Right.
Right.
Plus they'd be like, what's the stick thing?
They wouldn't be able to drive it anyways, but no, yeah,
it's, it's, uh, it's a good point.
Like, like you mentioned the ghost key.
That's from, um, from JDI.
Um, most guys do really, really good stuff.
I actually have, um, some of their products
in, in a few of my cars and, uh, it's really, really good stuff.
Very like easy plug and play stuff, but you do have to layer security.
I think it's important whether it's a Honda or any other,
any other car you're fixing up.
Um, I mean, you can have the detachable steering wheel,
but like, especially with the hubs, everyone has those, you know what I mean?
So that's not really that, that much of a layer of security,
I would say they just bring their own steering wheel with a quick release
and just pop it on and drive away.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, there's, there, um, I have multiple things in, in all of my
vehicles, I guess out of fear of, you know, uh, of what could happen.
And even when they're in the garage, they're, they're fully ready to,
you know, they're, they're completely shut down.
I'll just say that.
So they would be tough to get.
Um, and I think everybody should take that into consideration.
If you're building a car, especially putting some money into it,
you know what I mean?
Like you're, you're making a lot of mods on it.
You got to think about that stuff.
You know,
Luckily I, I haven't had that problem because if your car never
runs, it's really hard to steal.
Oh, there you go.
So it's good.
It's up on, you know, when it's on jack stands, it, you know,
they have to come out like a, you know, forklift to get it out.
So we're good on that.
I don't have to worry about my car getting stolen, but yeah.
Oh yeah.
Of course the, but see the problem with the air tag is Max is that
everybody with an iPhone is just going to go bink and they're
all going to ping it and see it.
Ah, see, that's the key.
I don't, see, I don't have an iPhone.
I don't, I don't know how that works, but apparently Max was
saying you could always just put out the, uh, the air tags in the car.
Yeah, there are other things you can use that are similar
to that idea, uh, for, that I have, for example, that, um, same idea,
but not an air tag that, um, you can track your vehicle.
So yeah, those are, those are definitely available as well.
And team JDI does some stuff like that as well.
We actually had a client with a R32 and I hope he's listening to
this cause it's, it's pretty funny.
Um, three o'clock in the morning one night, my boss gets my
former boss at the shop, got a phone call.
Um, hey, my, my car's moving all over the place and he's
like, what are you talking about?
He's like, it's locked up in the shop.
He's like, no, no, no, it's, it's around the corner at the 7-11.
And we're like, no, like it's locked up in the shop.
And then not even 30 seconds later, it jumps like 200 yards down the
road or a half mile down the road or whatever, then it jumps over here,
it jumps over there.
So apparently there was a problem with the satellite or whatever they use.
And the car is sending them alerts at the cars moving all around at
like three o'clock in the morning.
Meanwhile, it's locked up in the shop.
So I could, I could imagine that poor man woke up freaking out.
So like six text messages from his phone telling him that his car was being stolen.
So I can only imagine how his night went that night.
But, but that's, that's the problem with that technology is that you do run that risk.
I mean, um, yeah, it's not common though.
It's not common, but yeah, that can certainly happen for sure.
Um, but for you, for, you know, with your car for the Nissan guy, is that
the plan?
Like once you get everything finished up and ready to go to have
multiple layers of security or you just like, I'm not going to be out of my
kind of, kind of fill you in on, on the way that I've done it in the past is I
run the main battery cutoff switch.
So there's no ground power to the car at all when it's in, when it's in off
position, um, you have to find out where my cutoff is for the ground off and
then put the key in and activate that.
Um, more times than I will show a diagram on screen here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, show the diagram and locations with arrows.
Um, so, so that was always a big one.
And then, um, remote cutoff switch was always tucked in and that that
was always it, um, sadly, Nissan's aren't the most desirable cars to steal.
I mean, the Infinities are in three seventies and stuff like that, but the
300 was never one of those cars that people were going out of their
way to kind of go find.
Um, so it was always kind of, uh, the bare minimum, but just enough to
kind of keep honest people honest, you know, it's like the lock on the
front door, like you're just keeping people out because at the end of the
day, Nissan only use like, I think 20 different ignition patterns, key patterns.
So if you know enough, you can pretty much get into any of the doors, any of
the ignitions you want.
There's not, there's not that much hard work for the nineties Nissan cars.
Um, I've had buddies start other friends, Sylvia's, you know, two forties
by just bringing the key and walking over there and starting it right up.
So there were, there was some fun that went on with that back in the day,
but, um, yeah, no, I, I definitely think that security is important.
I just wish there was a way to kind of keep other drivers.
So I, I guess our fears align differently because mine is the typical
New York driver, not paying attention and, and wrecking my car.
And you have the opposite where you're worried about somebody taking it.
So it's kind of funny that we see the two different perspectives.
Cause I don't even, I barely ever think about the theft aspect.
And I, I really do genuinely fear.
I mean, maybe it's cause I've been rear-ended before just sitting
at lights and multiple times here, but that being said, you know,
it's, I feel like it's more common that we deal with people that are,
not paying attention to what they're doing around this area.
Yeah.
I mean, that's, that's like, that's anywhere, uh, but I would imagine,
especially where you are, uh, especially in the city, it's going to be,
it's going to be pretty crazy.
Um,
you get into Queens and Brooklyn.
You start getting on the parkway.
You get, you get the guys cutting up and, uh, flying around you as
you're driving, you know, driving down the belt parkway, doing the speed
limit and somebody passes you at 120.
It, uh, it wakes you up real quick.
Uh, it does happen here.
So there are those risks as well.
So there's, there is definitely the, uh, anxiety factor.
What kind of, what we just talked about, right?
But then what about in the performance realm, like if you're
building a car and you started putting too much stuff on there,
you're getting maybe too much power or using parts that are not
conducive to like, I won't even say daily driving, but like
general, uh, comfortable driving.
Have you run into that before?
Oh yeah.
Um, prime example, I think I had this conversation with Scott
about the OS guy can triple disc on the three 70, we had a customer
and that was probably one of the least enjoyable, um, clutches to drive
because it was on off switch.
You would, um, you would start to let out the clutch and the
bite was so hard that if you didn't load up RPM into it and
really slip the clutch, the car drop right on its face.
Um, that big camps, obviously anytime you start doing cam tuning,
you start to get a little bit of that idle control and, and
initial tip in issue where it doesn't feel as good as a, a stock car.
You know, um, when you go off the line, automatics and electronic
throttle bodies have kind of eliminated some of those headaches.
I know that a lot of us still have cable drive and stuff like that
with older ECUs, but you can, you can tune around a lot of that
stuff now, um, give it a little bit more throttle crack when the,
you know, they see this X, Y, Z, that type of thing.
And, and that stuff's been eliminated.
But yeah, when you start getting to the really high horsepower
cars, and not to mention the maintenance and the risk of breaking things.
Um, I don't know if everyone realizes, but the higher the performance
car, the more stuff that breaks.
Um, I don't know if anyone, I don't know if this is a mystery
that's, that's been unlocked yet or not, but, um, that's, and
that's even whether, whether you're like driving it extremely
hard or not, like, you know, that's exactly what I meant.
Yeah, no, you could be, you could be babying it.
And actually that might break things even sooner.
And that's what's crazy is they're, they're tested to
be, a lot of the products in the high performance realm are
tested to be used as a race component or as a full tilt at
full tilt, banging off for emblem or getting the crap beat out of
it, getting heat cycled properly.
And now, oh, I'm going to start it up and I'm going to drive to
the corner store and back.
You're not properly getting the engine up to temperature.
You're getting fuel that's not burning off in the oil and
water vapor that's not burning off in the oil.
And that's causing corrosion and problems.
And, you know, so on and so forth.
I mean, I could go on to this.
I could, I could literally go down a rabbit hole with it, but
the, the main concern is, is, is if you're building the car in
that aspect, if you plan on driving it, you have to take
that into consideration.
If you're not using, are you doing that yourself with
your, with your car you're building right now?
So that's part of the reason why the 370 or the decision
to go with the 370Z motor took place.
Um, I can get more power, uh, pound for pound out of it than I
can with the VG 30.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, electronic throttle bodies, um, give me a lot more, um, adaptation
and things to change to be able to get the car to feel the way I
wanted to feel, um, then going with the eight HP with the
transmission, like every decision that I've made has become kind of a
way to update the car and make it so that it was something that
I could get in and drive, my wife could get in and drive, you
know, anyone could hop in and even though the car makes five to
600 horsepower, it still feels like a stock ish car until, until
you're ready to be on power in the car and it just flips that
switch because that's the good thing with the, um, with the
Vival control and all that.
It means similar to V tech.
If you're not in that power band, you're not really abusing the car.
You're not really forcing it to, to breathe harder to do things.
It's just kind of like, I'm here for the drive until, until you
want it to make power and then it wakes up.
And I think that that's always been the key with me.
It's like, I enjoy the driving aspect.
I want to just get in the car, go down to the beach, drive
ocean parkway and go home, you know, spend an hour driving
around just cruising and enjoying it.
And if I can't do that, I think I will be able to appreciate
the car and because I can't appreciate that aspect of the
car, then why even bother?
Yeah, right.
You know, it just becomes a driveway ornament or a
car show ornament.
And that's never what it's been about for me or even
worse, the dyno queen, which I really don't want.
I don't want that late work of it only drives to the
dyno does the power pole and goes home.
I don't want that.
You know, I want something that I spend more time behind
the wheel than I do staring at it in the garage.
Right, right.
Yeah, the, you know, my, my civic, I don't make nearly
that kind of power.
It's, it's, you know, it's naturally aspirated setup.
It's pretty, it's pretty, pretty standard.
But I remember when I was putting this car together, I
would share some of the process or some of the
progress on, on my Instagram.
And then at one point I showed the intake manifold,
which is pretty big.
It's got, you know, it's got a big plenum and
then a 90 millimeter, I'm sorry, 90 millimeter
throttle body.
And then I got a lot of messages from friends like
that you're going to hate that throttle body.
It's not going to drive right.
You're going to hate it.
The tip and all the stuff, but, you know, I was
talking to my buddy, Jeremy at Redzone, who, who
did the remote tune for me.
He tuned it for me when I was on the street, he
was in Hawaii and you just did like remote tune.
And, and he got it, he got it smoothed out.
It was great.
I don't have any issues with it at all.
So I think it's just one of those things where
like, with stuff like that, you kind of have
to do a little bit of research and dig it in.
Cause that one guy or those two guys that had a
terrible experience might not have had a good
tuner and they, you know, they had probably, you
know, like hesitation issues or, or, or tipping
issues or whatever.
Um, there's none in that car.
It's great.
It runs perfect.
So that's the whole point of the, the tuner though
is that's their job is to take what's there
and find the best possible.
Make it all, make it all work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Make it all work.
And yeah, I mean, I, I've seen it go both
ways where you've done those modifications and,
and civics are pretty common for that actual
death row by thing.
If I remember correctly, they've had problems
with that in the past.
Um, so it's not uncommon to see, and especially
when you get into those big log manifolds, you're
filling up a lot of volume and it, it can be
problematic, but if the tuner has had the
experience necessary to say, Hey, I've seen
this a million times.
I know what works.
Then you've spent your money in the right
way, but if you have somebody who's never
seen that before or never encountered that
before, it's going to be a learning curve
for them if they can solve it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think you, like you, like you
mentioned earlier, you've got to really take
into consideration what you're going to be
using the power for.
If you want to drive it on the street
regularly, you got to keep that in mind.
If you have some massive turbo, like you
see these supers with the crazy, like
there's massive turbos and they make
insane amounts of power, but then kind
of, uh, pin the butt to drive on the
street, you know what I mean?
To, to find that kind of that middle
ground, it's definitely tough.
So you've got the anxiety of potentially
being hit on your side of the
world. And then on my side, getting
your car picked off and stolen, you've
got the hassle of going too far with
your performance parts, maybe making
the car undriveable or, or not a
pleasure to drive.
The last thing that I would, I would
say they kind of affects this whole
thing is like police presence.
So, so that, that part, it's
always, it's always a worrisome,
right? So like when I went to the
Gretty event or the weekend, I took
the toll road because there's less of
a chance of like, you know, cops
being out there. And there's also less
people too. And then, you know, it's
just kind of like an easy drive.
And so that's in the back of my head
the whole time, right?
I've come a back down to
my house and then like maybe, I don't
know, maybe a mile away, a cop goes
by and I'm just like, you can just
stop like automatically because I'm
just like, man, if he turns around
right now, it's not going to be
good. You know, and I'm not, you
know, near my house, I'm not
driving like crazy first and I'm
driving like, you know, just mellow
just, you know, just kind of enjoying
the day. But there's always that
risk because the car certainly stands
out as louder than other cars.
It's, you know, it's lowered and all
that kind of stuff. So yeah, definitely
in your neck of the woods, as we
talked about previously, it's very
easy for them to just come over and
be like, Hey, you know what, have a
nice day and really mess up your
life. Luckily, we haven't gotten
to that level here in New York.
Yeah, you use all tickets and stuff
like that. And most of the time, I
gotta tell you, you know, New York
cops, they might get a bad rep
and I'm not the biggest, you know,
fanboy of this, but they
tend to be a little bit fair with
that. I've had got I've had them in
the past be like, Hey, the exhaust
is too loud. I'm going to write you
a ticket, get it fixed, bring it in,
show proof, blah, blah, blah.
They'll rip it up. You know, that
type of thing. You go in, you go
have your day in court. Guy doesn't
show up. Judge dismisses the ticket
because you actually have a thing.
So not to say that they're that
they don't write the tickets, but
I see that they don't bust the
shop, bust chops as much now window
tent on the other hand, they
will understand.
They will make our lives so hard
and and even on my daily, I have
30% on there and
they have written me tickets
for that. And I'm like, it's barely
even dark. Like you can't even I
roll my window down. It's like,
it's like barely even darker than
my sunglasses. And I'm like, you
know, cut me some slack.
They write you five tickets, you
know, the two sides on both sides
on the back. So
it does happen. That that's
the one thing that I gotta tell
you, like, that's the ball
busting mentality that that does
suck about it is that the tin
tickets. And that's what they
look for. And that's kind of
where so you're you can get away
with it. If you have a modified
car, you pull all the tint off
of it and you look stock, but you
make a ton of noise, believe it
or not, they probably won't bust
your shops, which is really
weird about it. It's it's that
standing out aspect. It's the
why can't I see into the car?
Why can't I see what's going
on? What are they up? I can
kind of I can understand if
you're a police officer, you
want to be able to see inside
of a vehicle, you're pulling
somebody over, you don't know
what those went on. I get it.
But it definitely is is a factor.
I know it it takes away from
kind of the enjoyment of you
know, I'm just driving. If I'm
just driving normal, I'm just
cruising around. See, I have my
son in the back. We're just
kind of cruising, you know,
anything wrong? I'm just
driving. Yeah. And you know,
I'm not I'm not, you know,
I'm barely hitting boots and
the Integra. I'm like, I
have my front plate on, you
know, my tags are current.
Everything's good. But it
doesn't matter, you know,
you can still get you and I
know the risk going in because
what I'm doing is not it's not
technically it's not legal,
right? Like I know that going
in, you know, I'm supposed to
modify anything and I'm
modified everything. So it's
my own doing, you know, I get
it. But at the same time, it's
like, you know, when I when
I consider what I'm doing, if
I'm, you know, if it's a
Sunday, we go to cars and
coffee together, we're just
hanging out, whatever, we're
just cruising. And then, you
know, a beamer flies by
and they're doing the
couple tune thing through the
neighborhood and stuff like I
would think that would be
what they would want to go
after. But I would hope so.
It's just, it's just, you
know, it's just by chance.
You never know what's going to
happen, you know. So when I
see the stories all the time
on Instagram, I pulled over
for this and I got rough for
this and that. And it's, man,
heartbreaking, heartbreaking.
So on a funny note, I guess
I should ask this. So have
you ever had the cop that's
pulled you over and just to
admire the car or check out
what you have done just just
as a friendly. So my example
of this is I was on the
southern state heading home
from work way back in the
day and I'm driving the Z and
I get lit up and I'm like, I
was going the speed limit.
I was doing everything right.
Like, why am I getting pulled
over? I couldn't figure it out
for the life of me. He pulls
me over just to tell me that
he used to have a poster of
the Z hanging on his wall as
a kid that he drives a
turbo and Tegra when he's
not at work, you know, just
give me the whole rundown and
I'm like, dude, you scared
me half to death.
Like, I don't know if you
realize, but this was not
supposed to be a social
call.
Yeah. No, I've not had
that. Thankfully, I don't
want that.
But I have had a situation
where we have a local cars and
coffee here that's like, it's
really, really big for for
so-called huge.
And there was a couple of
officers that came over and the
hood was up and then they were
asking questions and I was like
sweating it out, but they were
actually really, really cool.
And they're like, yeah, you
know, like my uncle had the
same exact car when when he
was in college and they kind
of know the car from that.
And they're they're cool,
but I was like, I was
nervous that I got a lot of
questions. Definitely start
sweating because you're like
what was like, you know, it
can very easily turn into, oh,
I gave them information and now
they pulled me over. So I left
out of here and now I'm state
rep. I get that. And that's kind
of like my concern. Like the
guys pulling me over to talk
to me about my car.
Like why?
I don't even know if they
knew exactly what they were
looking at. They just thought
it was like clean, like well
done. But I don't know if
they knew like, you know, they
see the turbo there. But do
they know a car that
old, you know, so maybe
they didn't know. But yeah,
I don't like that at all.
But they were cool, though.
They were really nice to just
man, I was sweating for sure.
Well, I mean, I guess that
covers. I mean, that that was
kind of like my I just want to
know your input because, you
know, seeing somebody who's
been doing this for a long
time. And I mean, I've had my
project cars, but most of mine
were never nice enough to
have to worry about anyone
stealing or destroying. So even
though they had fun little
like I've had the S 13 with
SR in it, and I had the
SRT or the Evos, but none of
my cars were like that nice
where it's like, oh, I have
to worry about the car. Now,
now with the Z, you know,
progressing and I'm spending
serious change on getting
things done. It's starting
to get concerning.
Yeah, you know, it's starting
to become one of those things
like, am I going to actually
be able to use this car when
it's all said and done?
Yeah, no, I hear what you're
saying. I think this
this weekend, it's been a
while since I've driven
outside of my area. I'm
usually pretty pretty close
to home. I don't have a
whole lot of time,
especially on the weekends,
but this is one of the few
times that I drove out a
little bit. It was
definitely kind of like a
throwback to kind of simpler
times. So it was fun to
just kind of be in the car,
even though it was sweating
it out, it was like 90
degrees. And, and, you
know, it was definitely a
warm, a warm Sunday, but it
was still just a lot of fun
just to just to be in the
car and just go out and try
for a while. I got to
grade it late because I
had a game in the morning.
So I got to kind of late. I
couldn't park because the
whole area was packed.
Like there's no parking at
all. People were like
double parked. There was
like, it was crazy. It was
just it was a madhouse
because that that's a huge
event. And so, but I kind of
just drove around for a
little bit and then I just
headed back home and just
be on the road was quite
more fun than hanging out
in the parking lot. You know
what I mean? So just just
driving the car as it was
intended with fun. And all
those things we talked
about all the anxiety
about, you know, police
and, and, you know, too
many mods and all that
stuff. It kind of just
goes out the window when
when you're behind the
wheel, I think, at least
for a little while. It's
nice, you know, yeah, I
think that's going to be
a wrap for today. Please
guys, leave your comments
down below about any of
your experiences, what
you've gone through with
your cars. If you've had
people run into you, if
you've had the car stolen
while allowed at pizza one
night, please leave
comments down below. Let
us know your horror
stories, horror stories
and what you've been
through. And we'll catch
you on the next one.
About this episode
Navigating the balance between enjoying a prized car and the anxiety of potential damage or theft is a central theme in this discussion. The hosts share personal anecdotes about their experiences with project cars, the emotional attachment to their vehicles, and the challenges of driving them regularly. They debate the risks of using modified cars as daily drivers, the importance of security measures, and the impact of performance upgrades on drivability. Listeners will find relatable insights on the joys and fears of car ownership.
Original notes
When does a build become too nice to daily drive? Is just driving to your local corner store a risk these days? Do you live in fear when driving your pride and joy? This one’s for you!
In this episode of the Konig Behind the Wheel Podcast, we dive into the struggle many enthusiasts face: the balance between enjoying your project car and protecting it from damage, wear, theft, and most of all, other drivers on the road.
From pristine show builds and modified daily drivers to high-powered examples, we talk about the gray area where a car might be too clean, too valuable, or too risky to casually take out. Do you risk the potholes and door dings—or keep it tucked away in the garage? Great cars are MEANT to be driven, but where do you draw the line?
Whether you’re wrenching on your first project or protecting your dream build, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.
Drop your thoughts in the comments: Do you daily drive your build, or is it a garage queen?
2025 Behind the Wheel Podcast | All Rights Reserved
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The post Is your build too nice/expensive to drive? appeared first on Konig Wheels Behind The Wheel Podcast.
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