Penske’s racing team is a well-known auto racing organization. The story is about how they take race weekends very seriously and look extremely prepared.
Concept
OSHA approved
OSHA is a U.S. agency that focuses on workplace safety rules. The comment is a joke about whether pajamas would be considered “safe/appropriate” for working.
Trans-Am was a U.S. racing series where different manufacturers competed with race-prepped cars. The hosts are talking about cheating tactics that helped teams win in that series.
The Shelby crew is a racing team connected to Carroll Shelby. In this story, they’re the group accused of using a cheating method to make their cars lighter.
The “dipping” described is basically removing metal from the car to make it lighter. The hosts say teams would then hide the damage so officials wouldn’t catch it.
FCP Euro is a website where you can buy car parts for European brands. They also sell pre-packaged kits so you don’t have to figure out which parts you need yourself.
“OE aftermarket” means the part is made to be like the original factory part. It’s an aftermarket product, but it’s meant to work the same way as what came on the car.
An “assembled kit” is a package of parts that are chosen to go together for a particular repair. It helps you avoid missing a part and having to place a second order.
A “lifetime replacement guarantee” means if the product fails or wears out, the company will replace it for a long time—often tied to how long you own the car. It’s basically a strong promise beyond a typical short warranty.
The Model Y is an electric SUV made by Tesla. Instead of using gasoline, it runs on electricity from a battery. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because someone bought a brand-new Model Y.
Car companies often use hidden codes to track the exact version of a car you ordered. “Juniper” here is that kind of internal label for the specific Model Y setup.
Topic
Tesla store vs dealership
They’re comparing Tesla’s own store setup to the usual way you buy cars at a dealership.
Concept
test drive (car driving for us)
They’re implying the car did more of the driving than usual during the test drive, using driver-assist technology.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an electric pickup with a very unusual, boxy design. The hosts are talking about how it can feel impressive, but they personally don’t like it as a daily driving experience.
The C10 is an older Chevrolet pickup truck. People like it because it has a classic look and can be fun to drive. In the episode, it’s used as an example of a truck you’d take for a quick errand just for enjoyment.
The Porsche 911 is a classic sports car from Porsche. Kris is saying he drives his 911 every day—like to the store and hardware runs—because he genuinely enjoys how it feels.
Air-cooled means the engine is cooled mostly by air flowing over it, not by circulating liquid coolant. Kris is saying he likes the distinctive smell that comes with that kind of engine.
A twin overhead cam engine uses two camshafts on top of the engine to control the valves. That can help the engine run more efficiently and feel more responsive.
“Smog certified” means the car is legal to drive because it meets emissions rules. If it uses a carburetor (instead of modern fuel injection), getting it certified can be a bigger deal.
A manual transmission means you choose the gears yourself using a clutch and a shifter. Some cars are much rarer with manuals, so that can make them more desirable.
The Mustang is a sporty car made by Ford, usually as a coupe or convertible. People like it because it’s built for driving enjoyment and performance. In the episode, it’s mentioned while showing the interior and seat setup.
DOHC means the engine uses two camshafts in the head to control the valves. It can help the engine run better, but it can also make the engine more complex to service.
Timing chain guides help keep the timing chain in the right position. If they’re worn or broken, the engine timing can get messed up, and repairs can be expensive or hard to do.
Offset fenders means the fender position is adjusted so the wheel and tire sit better in the wheel opening. It’s often done to prevent rubbing and to get the look right.
Reverse rake means the car looks like it’s “squatting” in the back—lower in the rear than the front. It’s mostly about the car’s stance, and it can also influence how it drives.
A gray market car is basically a car that was brought in through unofficial import channels. It might not meet local rules out of the box, so it can require extra steps to make it street-legal.
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car made by Volkswagen. The podcast mentions a Rabbit convertible, meaning a version with an open-top design. The speaker is talking about owning one and sharing their experience.
Climate control is the system that automatically manages the cabin temperature for you. The speaker is saying this car uses a simpler setup instead of the more annoying automated one.
Part
HDR springs
Springs are part of the suspension that support the car and help it ride over bumps. “HDR springs” here sounds like a particular aftermarket spring choice that changes how the car sits and rides.
Part
Coni(e) suspension
This sounds like an aftermarket suspension setup from a brand like Koni. Upgraded shocks/struts help the car control how it moves over bumps and during cornering.
The Golf is a compact car made by Volkswagen. It’s designed to be practical for everyday use, like commuting and errands. The podcast mentions upcoming information about the next “Golf” generation.
A “platform” is the shared set of design and engineering underpinnings a company uses to build many cars. “SSP” here is Volkswagen’s future EV-focused base that multiple models can use.
Volkswagen uses “platforms” like a common blueprint for many models. “MQB evo” is an updated version of that blueprint that supports newer Golf variants.
A modular platform is like using the same basic car “kit” and rearranging parts to make different models. It helps manufacturers build cars faster and cheaper.
A “VR6 diesel” is a VR6 engine that burns diesel fuel. Diesel engines and gasoline engines behave differently, so the sound and character can be quite distinct.
A diesel conversion means changing a car so it runs on diesel fuel instead of its original setup. The host is talking about a conversion that made the engine sound and behave like a diesel.
Carfax is a website that gathers vehicle history information into one report. The hosts are talking about how having that paperwork organized can help you understand a car’s past.
Limited-slip is a drivetrain feature that helps the car put power down better when traction is uneven. Here, the host is saying the listing/claims didn’t match what was actually installed.
A fuel accumulator is a part that helps keep fuel pressure steady so the engine gets the right amount of fuel at the right time. It’s mentioned here as part of the car’s updated fuel setup.
Dealer laws are rules about how car companies are allowed to sell cars—whether they must go through local dealerships or can sell straight to customers.
Direct-to-consumer sales means the car company sells to you directly, instead of using a traditional dealership as the middle step. The episode discusses how laws can affect whether brands can do this.
Zero percent financing is a car loan where the interest rate is 0%, so you don’t pay extra interest on top of the loan amount. The total deal can still include other costs, so it’s worth checking the full price.
Ceramic coating is a protective layer you put on your car’s paint. It helps water bead up and can make the car easier to clean and less prone to getting dirty.
A dealer markup is extra money a dealer adds on top of what the car is supposed to cost. It’s basically an added fee that can make the same car more expensive depending on where you buy.
In some states, you can’t always buy a car straight from the manufacturer online. Certain laws require dealerships to be involved, which changes how the purchase process works.
Instead of the car company selling straight to you, they often require sales through local dealer businesses. Those dealers have special permission (a franchise) to sell that brand.
Sometimes sellers try to structure the paperwork so the sale is legally treated as happening somewhere else. That can change which state laws apply to the deal.
Some Native American land is governed separately from the surrounding state. That can let businesses operate under different rules than normal state dealership laws.
There are laws being debated that would let electric-car companies sell straight to buyers, instead of going through regular car dealers. The idea is that gas-car brands would still use the old dealer system.
Ford is a long-established car company. In this discussion, it’s used as an example of how big automakers used to strongly influence how local dealers operated.
General Motors is mentioned alongside Ford as a historical example of how large automakers dominated the auto industry. The segment argues that dealer businesses were heavily dependent on manufacturers, which changed the “balance of power.”
“Antitrust” is about laws meant to keep markets competitive. Here, the idea is that certain rules may make it harder for car makers to sell directly, which could reduce competition and affect prices.
Direct-to-consumer means the car company sells to you directly, not through a local dealership. The claim is that it can make pricing and the buying steps simpler.
Direct sales is when a car company sells cars straight to you, instead of using local dealerships. Some states have rules that protect dealerships, so companies that try direct sales can get into legal fights.
Leaving a car underwater for a very long time can sometimes slow the usual rust, but it can also cause other damage from mud and moisture. They’re pointing out that this one looks better than most similar cars you’d find because of how it was stored.
Low oxygen means the water is less “rust-friendly.” The hosts are saying the pond conditions likely helped prevent the car from corroding as badly as it would on normal roads.
Insurance fraud is cheating the insurance company on purpose. The story says people staged damage to luxury cars and then claimed it was caused by a bear so they could collect money.
The Ghost is a very high-end luxury car made by Rolls-Royce. It’s designed to be comfortable and quiet for long drives. The episode mentions a 2010 Ghost because there was a claim about damage to the interior.
A search warrant is a legal order that allows police to search a specific place for evidence. In the segment, investigators use one to search the suspects’ home and find the bear suit used in the staged attacks.
LIVE
You
We have a fun episode for you guys today. I got all kinds of this is this is a I don't want to say it's random but it's a grab bag and I'm excited about it.
It's I think it's all good stuff. It is all good stuff. So I had a landmark thing happen to me in my like like a light. Well, first of all, I was not home, which was a bummer. I was at I was at air water, which was not a bummer.
I went to air water the drive that I overcrested for Pat and mobile one there. And while I was gone, we'll talk about air water in a little bit. But while I was gone, Irene went on her first day.
Yeah, first date. So I get this I get a text message. She's 12. So it's literally like go to the movies and watch a movie and come home. Right.
But it was with a boy. Yeah, it was with a boy. It was with a boy. He asked her to go. You know, she asked her to go and the mom went with and sat like a couple rows back, you know, these this kind of thing.
She sends me a text message. She goes, Dad, he he's wearing flannel pajama pants and Birkenstocks and a sweatshirt. What do I do?
What do I do? I just walk away.
I if I would have been there, I would have been like, yo, what's up, buddy? You all dressed up to take out my daughter. How what's going on? You got the Sunday best on. You're good to go.
Like, kind of like, okay, come on, dude. Can we show up in something a little bit, you know, a little bit nicer than that?
So I'll let you finish. But that immediately reminds me. So Rhett and I were, I think at, I don't know if we're at Fleet Farm or somewhere and Red is four years old now.
So he's just a chatterbox, doesn't know social norms. And so we're walking around and there's this other dad with a son who's probably that age, probably in his teens or whatever.
And Rhett looks to me and goes, Oh, dad, I have the same pajamas as him. And then the dad hears this looks at him. He goes, Bro, you just got called out.
Yeah, big time. I don't understand the pajama thing. I just don't understand the lazy pajama thing. And it's I is I'm feeling old right now.
Look, I think like the thing is, is a lot of that leisure wear is really expensive. So like really expensive pajama pants and sweatpants and whatever.
It doesn't matter. I don't care. People can wear whatever they want. But if you're going to show up to take my daughter for a date, you are not wearing pajama pants. I would have shut the door in his face.
No joke. Go home, change. Go see a different movie. You're just not not kidding. She would have not left with the boy.
Anyway, but this reminded me the reason I bring this up is reminded me of this anecdote.
I don't know. Yeah, maybe I would have just teased him a little bit. Maybe I would have just teased him. But this reminded me of an anecdote of, you know, Penske's racing team, right?
Yeah, they are renowned at showing up at races. And they are the best looking crew there. That's looking crew.
This is the opposite showing up in pajamas. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if that would be OSHA approved to show up in pajamas to to work on cars.
But it did remind me about an anecdote that I heard where they would intentionally bring the cars into the pits and they would just detail them.
Everyone else is like working on their cars, checking oil pressures, checking oil levels, stuff like that. And they would just polish the car, polish the car, polish the trailer.
We're so far. We're so ready and so far ahead of everyone else that all 100% 100% because if you've got if you've got time to clean your race car, you are ready to go.
And it was intimidating for other drivers. But it's just the point of showing up, putting the best foot forward that you possibly can, because these impressions matter.
Don't show up to pick up a girl wearing pajamas. Don't show up to the track with and try to wheel. That is the equivalent of showing up to road America and needing to do a wheel bearing before the race starts.
It happens. Maybe. Yeah, but it shouldn't have to.
You're one practice lap or something. I don't know. This isn't the 24 hours of Le Mans, dude. This is dating my daughter.
This is not 24 hours of lemons, rather. This is dating my daughter, which is more closer to the 24 hours of Le Mans.
Don't don't don't show up with a bad wheel bearing expect to take my daughter out. Treater like Penske racing treats treats the treats the race cars.
But this did I kind of like was doing a little bit of rabbit holeing as as does happen. Have you heard of the acid dipped cars?
So I I've heard of it. And this goes with the long line of I'll let you get into it, but of like the really creative ways that cheating happens in motorsports.
Yeah. Yeah. We should do an episode of like the top 10 craziest cheats. And this is probably one of them.
Didn't we do that? It's possible. It's been long enough now, but if I don't remember, we could we could do it again.
Others probably don't either. So I just like I wrote something up to tell this story, which is kind of fun. So in 1967, if you wanted to win in
Transam, you ran a Mustang. Penske and Donahue had Camaros and they were getting beat. Not by a lot, but just by enough.
Then someone let it slip. The Shelby crew was sneaking their Mustangs into Lockheed Martin Aerospace at night and dipping the bodies in acid.
The kind of bath aircraft parts get to shed weight. Steel comes out thinner and the car comes out lighter. And nobody notices.
Donahue and Penske went and did the same thing. They called it the lightweight. And it won the last race of the season by lapping the entire field.
Tech inspection. Tech inspection found it to be 250 pounds under the minimum.
Oops. Donahue was in the bath a little too long.
Yeah. Donahue was about to lose the win until Penske walked into the stewards offices and quietly suggested that Chevrolet might lose interest in
Transam altogether if his car got disqualified. The win stood for 1968 series.
Hold on, though. That's his competitor saying, Hey, by the way.
No, no, no. This is Donahue. They're running a Camaro. They're saying, Hey, Chevy might lose interest.
Okay, I guess.
So he's like, Hey, you know, we got these Chevy cars here. You know, we might not have Chevy and Chevy might just not be interested anymore.
Probably you probably went in there. It was like, yo, we know everyone else is doing this.
Maybe we left ours in the bath just a little too long. Okay, maybe it was in there a little time.
So in 1968, SCCA wise up, every car got weighed. So Penske ran the same lightweight 67 Camaro slept 68 girl and tail lights on it, painted identical to a brand new legal 68 car and set the legal one through tech twice.
Oh, wait. Yeah. How do you even do that?
They just made duplicate cars. Once is number 15, once as number 16, then he raced both. One of them was 250 pounds light. Donahue won 10 of 13 races that year.
The dipping about the scramble there, though. So like you send the car through, it says number 15 on it. Yep, here it is. Good to go.
All right. Where's your next one? Oh, yeah, that's back of the pits. I think I'll tell you ready.
I'll tell you guys. Yeah, you're ready. We didn't know. You go back quick, like peel off the vinyl or like who knows. Yeah.
There probably wasn't a hand painted letters. That's for sure. So the dipping never stopped. They just got smarter eating the metal off the body and adding ballast back in spots that helped the car turn right.
The crew had to warn anyone walking through the paddock. Do not lean on the Camaro. It will dent.
By 69, the roof panel got dipped so thin that it wrinkled. Penske covered it with black vinyl roof and told SCCA that he just liked the look.
Inspectors spent the whole season convinced something illegal was hiding under there. There wasn't just damage. He pulled off the vinyl late in the year and went, look, it's just wrinkly.
Yeah, Chevrolet won its second straight championship. This is the same Roger Penske who built the reputation for transporters and race cars that you could eat off of and crews in pressed uniforms.
Penske perfect. Penske pristine. Not a fingerprint on the chrome. Donahue wrote about all of this in his book, the unfair advantage, which is worth pulling off the shelf if you've never read it.
This car still exists. It's restored shows up at vintage events. If you walk past it, have a look, but don't lean on it.
That's cool. That reminds me of a story. Again, one of the cheats that's amazing is in NASCAR. I forget what it was.
Basically, they made a seventh eighth scale chat of whatever this production car was, and when the tech was like, something doesn't look right here, the race organizer, the team principal was like, well, I happen to see a few of them parked out in the parking lot.
Why don't we go right out? And he also had a seven a scale stock car made and parked in the front spot of, you know, the track, which is like nobody's allowed to have any fun anymore.
Are they no fun? Well, here's the thing though. These stories don't come out. What are you looking for the book? I'm looking for the picture of you at seven is standing in front of your truck.
What do you have that printed out? Why are you looking? Yeah, it's prints. It's hanging in my garage here somewhere. Are you serious? You want a print of that? Why?
Yeah, all my friends are hanging up in my garage.
Oh boy.
Anyways, what I was about to say is I don't think you know about the cheats until later. They don't come out right away.
I don't think it's just too hard now though. It's too hard that it's you can't the manufacturing of the cars is so involved from a technical standpoint that as you can't just add dip it in some acid.
You know, they're not real cars anymore.
That's true.
At least not in the series like this. You know, there's like if you want to go down to some of the lesser series where they're just regular cars driving on is fine, but they don't have the prestige that necessitates this kind of cleverness.
True.
True. Good points.
Yes. So we have both bought.
You want to tell us about FCP Euro before we get into the cars that we bought one which FCP Euro makes parts for or carries parts for and the other one that does not have any parts made for it by FCP Euro.
Sure. Yeah.
FCP Euro is your source for online OE aftermarket performance parts made specifically for European cars from BMW, Porsche, Volvo, Audi, Volkswagen, Tesla and more.
Their catalog is a one stop shop with over you didn't catch it to do.
What? What did you say? Did I miss it? What I miss?
You did.
From BMW to Porsche, Volvo, Audi, Volkswagen, Tesla and more.
No, they do not.
No, no, no, no. Sorry. I was daydreaming. No.
No, I know your word. I knew where this is going.
They have expert assembled kits.
Send all all Tesla owners send send angry letters of to Jake at overcrestproductions.com. That's that would that will work.
Yeah, that'll work.
No more wondering if, you know, you need an extra part with an oil change or some other fix you're doing.
They take the guesswork out of the process with all their expert assembled kits.
Plus, every single product they sell is backed by a lifetime replacement guarantee even where I am.
It's like wiper blades, brake pads, oil filters.
They're shipping from both coasts now serving most of the country in three days or less with free shipping.
Check them out at fcpuro.com.
Take advantage of free shipping on any order over forty nine dollars.
I should have bought my wipers from there because this has happened two times in one week, two times one week.
Is I forget that I have auto sensing wipers on the on the wagon and I go through the car wash and the thing comes out and the thing just rips the wiper off.
And breaks it.
So I've spent, I don't know, probably a hundred dollars in wipers.
So I'll be on my third set now, basically.
What a waste of money.
So I'm very excited to hear about your new car and make fun of you.
Do you have it yet?
No, Saturday is our delivery date.
And what and what have you purchased?
Do you have a photo of the exact car?
We've already talked about this a little bit, but no, it's not on the podcast.
We haven't.
Yeah, we have not talked about this.
No, I don't think so, dude.
I'm pretty nobody knows that you now bought a Tesla.
You bought a brand new Tesla Model Y, right?
Where yeah, I swear we talked about it because it is I went into it again.
If this is whatever, if we can't remember other people can't remember either.
It is a brand new Tesla Model Y.
The quote Juniper is the internal model code.
And where is it?
What is it saying?
I was going to look at a photo.
I mean, it's just like it's the premium with the black and it shows up in the app.
It's there's not much to really look at.
And there never will be.
No, no, that's fine.
But I went, we went to the Tesla store, which we'll get into later, not a dealership.
And I was vehemently against this.
My wife wanted to take a look at them.
Why were you against this?
Why were you against this?
What was the problem?
Just the principle.
We've made fun of Tesla.
We've talked about it forever.
It's like I'm Tesla bro.
And when we went on the test drive, which literally was the car driving for us.
I was like by the end of the test drive, I said to myself, I don't see any reason
than anyone would buy anything else for just an everyday appliance car.
Like, no, this isn't, it doesn't have heritage.
This isn't some, you know, super, I mean, it is super fast, but it's not, you know,
it's not a performance car.
It doesn't have, I'm not buying it for anything else other than, I should say,
for my wife to do her commute in.
Like it just sounds like you're making, you're justifying, you're justifying
and making excuses rather than having it just be on merit.
You're making excuses.
No, here's what I'm saying though, is 100% it is based on merit.
Like I don't think you should buy any other car.
There's no reason to buy any other car.
Period.
If you're looking for just an appliance car or a truck.
So one thing that I always kind of will always push back on is that cars are just
baseline appliances first.
I just want to enjoy the place that I am when I'm driving around.
I want to feel like I enjoy the vehicle.
And I just, I've driven a Cybertruck now and I'm like, holy shit, this is unbelievable.
But I don't like it.
No.
It's kind of like, why would I want to spend time?
Life is too short to drive boring cars.
Is that what you're thinking?
Not necessarily.
It's more of like a morale thing.
Do you want to know why Chris?
Because you don't spend five days a week in rush hour.
That's why.
So then instead I'm spending five days a week in rush hour like with my hand like having
to touch the wheel every so often.
You can't like, you can use it, but you can't like look at your phone and you can't just
fuck off.
You can.
Literally, we got in the car.
Hey, Grock, take me to the nearest target.
Okay.
Didn't do anything.
Didn't do anything.
I know you didn't do anything, but you have to pay attention.
It's monitoring you.
It's monitoring you, but there's a lot of leeway.
Like you can be on your phone.
I was on my phone most of the time.
The last thing I need is more phone.
I know.
Like what you could be getting work done or something.
I don't know.
It's, I agree.
If you want to drive, don't buy a Tesla.
Great.
Yes.
But I just don't, I don't like, I don't like the way it feels to go a two and a half hour
drive one way once a week at least.
And like it's, if you're commuting and you're doing boring drives, it's great.
I don't know, man.
Even on a boring drive, I kind of like the ritual of just driving.
You know, I've been, I've experienced the self driving.
I have.
I've experienced it.
It's like I'm talking from a place of like, I don't understand.
I just, I don't think I would use it.
I think I would still drive.
I get in my truck.
Here's the thing.
If I want to go, I also don't like your truck.
Like I wouldn't get in your truck and be like, yeah, I want to get in and feel like, yes,
this is something that fits.
It fits my taste.
It fits my personality.
It's a tool that does what I want it to do.
And it, it fills these buckets.
Your truck is like utility if I need to tow something or whatever I understand.
But like the Tesla doesn't fit.
Like I don't like it.
It's a tool that does fulfill what I needed to, but I don't, doesn't fit my taste.
And I don't like the way that it looks.
I don't like the interior.
It feels sterile.
It feels like some sort of future dystopian thing where like,
if I was going to be driven somewhere and dissected, it would be,
someone would be driving me there to Tesla.
Why are you being dissected?
I don't know, but it sounds like future.
I don't want to be in that.
Look at the, there's nothing there.
Yeah.
And it would be the same.
Like all the styling cues in the operating room of,
of where I'm being dissected in my organic organs are being disseminated into space to,
to be investigated by another race.
Yeah.
That's the way that it would look.
It would look like the inside of a Tesla sterile, clean.
There'd be a screen that they would pull over.
This is the anal probe is what you're saying.
It is the introduction to the anal probe.
That is right.
A Tesla.
If you like Tesla's, you're going to be anally probed eventually.
Wow.
Wow.
Okay.
That's quite the reach.
You know what I mean is I'm just, I know I do, but I was going to go the other way with
it.
When I'm driving my new truck, it's not to go have fun or be on a spirited drive or
even like, Oh, I'm going to go to the hardware store, but I'd like to have fun.
If I want to go to the hardware store and have fun, I'll take my C 10.
If I'm taking that truck, I wish that truck self drove to that's where I was going with
this.
Good.
Fucking Lord.
Are you kidding me?
No, not at all.
It isn't even the truck anymore.
It's not the truck.
It's something else.
You don't like the truck.
You don't like your truck.
You want it to be something else.
I'm not.
It's an appliance to me.
It's an appliance.
I have an appliance vehicle.
Your seat.
I have fun vehicles.
Your seat.
You said she said, I said, if I wanted to take a fun truck to the hardware store and
still be utilitarian, I would take the C 10.
I said, or if I want to go for a spirited drive, I'll take the 9 11.
But if I'm just like taking the new truck somewhere to go get something or lumber supplies
or something, I wish that self drove to because in my mind that is still just an appliance
vehicle, the new truck to my to my own personal self identity.
And it's not like I need to do this to be this way.
It's just kind of like more native.
It's like a native feeling.
I just want to drive the thing that is who I am.
Like I can't parse.
There's no difference for me.
There's no like driving the thing I'm driving every day.
I want the same thing.
It's the same as the thing that I like when I am driving for fun.
Like I I've driven my 9 11 a lot.
I've been driving it every day.
I get in it.
I drive it to the store.
I go to the hardware store.
I go to Home Depot.
I bought a bunch of trim and cut it up at Home Depot so I could fit it in the car and
like and just used it and didn't really think anything of it.
It was and I and I just I like being around I like being around the feeling of my car.
I just everything about it just makes me feel good.
It's part of who I am.
You know it's the it's the smell it's it's not even something I think of.
I don't get in the car and be like I love this smell.
It smells like oil air cooled smell like oil I really like it.
It's not like that.
I just get in and I like it.
It's not even something I think about liking but when I get into a Tesla I think about
not liking it a lot like I'm like I do not like this.
You know what I mean?
It's like I don't know.
It's really indescribable almost of of the the feeling I know you're coming from because
I used to also be like well I I I get so much my identity out of what I'm driving and I
need to be driving something cool that I identify with all the time and I kind of grew out of
that.
I don't know why I just I think part of it too is having a kid.
I have a four year old Rhett being four and very tall like he doesn't fit even in the
McCann that was part of the reason also we're getting rid of that and like I can't take
them in the 9-11 so I don't know hold on a second Jake your kid is four you can fit full
sized adults in the back of a McCann yeah but not when they kick your seat constantly well
that's a behavioral problem that sounds like someone that takes off takes after his father
with energy levels is what it sounds like it's just always muddy which is also very much
like his father yes all right I I also have purchased a car okay which is not which is
not a Tesla I have a I have one photo to show okay I left the price on that's okay let's
see here nope that's not what I want to do at all I'm not I wish Mrs. producer Mrs.
producer is not available today so it is me this is what I have purchased behold okay
in 1983 Mercedes Benz 280 SL which has which has the engine that I said I never wanted to own
again oh it's just the M110 aspirated diesel no no this is not a diesel this is an M110 it's
the twin overhead cam oh engine yeah that came in this car right behind me yep that's right okay
and that's the one this blew up I I hate this engine I really really do but I was willing to
make a an exception do you know why can you tell why by looking at this ad the red wheels I don't
know three I don't know about the red wheels uh imported the Nileys
200 just keep looking at miles what how are you skipping over this so obviously the bumper
the bumper is something it does special bumpers are great it does have a zender body kit
it's a full zender kit which is really dope but but keep looking you're missing it you
glossed right over it maybe you don't realize how reowner 83 Mercedes imported in the early 90s
and fully carb smog certified do t combined we don't care about that we don't care about it
oh manual transmission manual transmission interesting rare ball super duper rare all right
yeah I'm gonna run I didn't even yeah totally didn't even it super rare like the the transmission is
worth like a huge portion of the value of the car which I'm very excited about um see I got all
the other photos I'm gonna just run through and you can tell me what you think of the car uh there
it is I actually called up the owner super cool guy like really nice dude I was like hey man cool
photo I do what I always say is look you need to tell me if there is anything that when I show up
to buy this car I am gonna go oh no and not want the car anymore save yourself the time
save me the time and just walk me through the car and he went majorly overboard he's like he went
through like every switch the door handles went like he's like let me start on the left
side of the car and go around it was awesome so far it has been a great buying experience um
someone's gonna go uh mr. Sutton Morris is that this car is located in California okay and he's
gonna go look at the car for me tomorrow and uh maybe execute the transaction amazing many many
thanks to Sutton Morris for Morris Motors for helping me out going over there all right show me
more of these tomorrow afternoon okay yeah let's go through here um another kind of this is the good
side of the car um so does it have a hard top a removable it does have a removable hard top I like
that yes so they make a they make a uh an s lc and then a an s lc I believe is the just the coop
it's just the top doesn't come off right and I'll show you what one of those looks like in a minute
here it is here's the interior it's got like Mustang recarles in it which are they're okay
and here is the engine that I despise and the reason I despise the M 110 is one they're not that
reliable um it was a really advanced engine for the 60s it's engine block cam box cylinder head
dual overhead cam in late 60s was like pretty hot shit and as a result they're kind of a
bear to work on it's really hard to get parts the uh I had a hell of a time finding timing chain guides
for the ones that I built so here she is right here um she needs some fog lights here I can tell
we need to gotta put some of those in okay the wheels are fine they're like ronal petals like
AMG pentas color matched pentas they're 15s though I'd like to see 16s I think I think it
would look a little bit better with like a slightly bigger wheel really offset fenders on this thing
look how low the rear the rear fender I see that yeah I was gonna say the rear fitment is great
the front the front needs the spring pads need to come out it kind of has some reverse rake to it
yep well he might be on it who knows maybe he's shifting through gears um so he's got a really
nice message the car is actually a white market car not a gray market car so it was imported but it was
done properly I guess sure so um and so it's a properly car compliant so that means yeah which
all of that stuff needs to come off all that car stuff needs it was done right so it all needs to
be removed yeah so it's got a AMG rear spoiler it's got the full zender kit is it faded oh yeah
this side is like super chalky I'm hoping it'll polish up I think with just like a buffer you
might be able to polish this thing up a little bit okay it's got exhaust on it the guy has put
like a ton of work into the car the shift knob has aids as you can see it looks wow okay really
really bad it is it's it's really really ugly how long is how long he's had it like is this
six years oh okay he's had it for he's the third owner um the air conditioning all works which
I guess I don't really care if it's convertible but hey it's all a super functional air conditioning
which is kind of kind of dope um obviously rust free I don't this is kind of interesting
because that's is that supposed to be a rear seat or no I think it's a jump seat yeah it looks like
it goes up doesn't it I don't know maybe I would hear that or you just lift that that looks like a
custom yeah that's some of your speaker box situation I've never owned one of these before
so I don't know what the backseat of one of these looks like but look at a little cute little
window crank right there oh yeah okay window uh oh well what else we got I want to see
soft top obviously tucks into here have you tucks into the back have you ever owned a convertible
never oh once I got I had a rabbit convertible once okay before the cabbie there's there's that
yeah so one cool thing about this is because it's the import it doesn't have the super annoying
climate control that these things usually have it's got the regular turn the knob do you would
you like the air to go here oh like the air to go here because otherwise it was like the the h
like the very early h vac thing yes yep this is the I don't even know what that is don't like
yes that's yeah strange um what's the trouble to include a photo of I think that's that's it
however I did want to show you this thing this is the yeah this is the s lc look at how dope is
this dude I love those wheels I know this is what I would like to find for it I already want new
wheels which is a problem that's a problem it's a problem it's already got hdr springs which is
awesome they're partner bars and it's got like conie suspension the guy has put a ton of work into
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download on x off road today oh we got a little bit of news uh vokes wagon is finally doing something
right maybe not right there's kind of goes both ways um it's more of a take what you can get at
this point i think for good news um folks we're gonna share new details of the upcoming golf
nine mark nine which is insane uh mark nine in interviews with motor one spain ceo
tomas schaefer and head of technical development chi grunitz confirmed the design is roughly 97
finished that's very german to say roughly followed by exactly 97 percent well specifically for him
would probably be like 97.65 forces to us he saw the proportions of the model and told the design
team quote don't touch anything the mark nine launches in 2028 as a fully electric model on
vokes wagon's new ssp platform the architecture meant to underpin most of the golf vw group's
future evs sorry the combustion golf is not going away though production of the mark
8.5 moves to mexico in 2027 where it will continue on the mqb evo platform as the home of the next
gti however the golf r itself is expected to be electric only on the ssp architecture
which is a shame i'm guessing ssp is just like the new mqb which is what like the tig wan and all
the yeah they just stretch the platform exactly just the modular yeah we can't make anything just
nice we just have to make it cheap now because everything's have 4 000 bells and whistles and
yet we're already at an average car price of 45 000 which is absolutely insane ridiculous the
reference point folks wagon for this is reaching for the mark for golf okay for design does that
even mean what does i mean well size for design i think not size we know it's going to be bigger
than that but i just want to look at the shape here and you tell me if you think this looks like
a mark for golf do you think this looks like golf ish i mean i guess the rear hatch needs to be
more vertical yes i agree and it kind of needs to be a little more boxy still that's
it's also it seems like the wheelbase is way longer it's very long that's what i'm looking at too
that is not no that is not mark for at all no i i don't i don't think so are there so i think
they're full of shit but i guess we could wait and see um the uh the mark for what that looked like
was the mcconn that's what that looked like well it looks like it's tough to tell the difference
between a crossover and hatchback now i know pretty much pretty much the same thing anyways the mark
nine will launch alongside the current golf rather than replacing it outright giving volkswagen
two golfs and shrooms at the same time uh one electric and one combustion that's great but hey
check this out i wanted to show you this um oh i'm gonna have to log in as my other google otherwise
we won't have sound let me grab this i wanted to see what you what's the what is the best volkswagen
engine in your opinion ever ever easy the vr six obviously i want to show you something okay i agree
i agree but i think this is even better you can tell me this
you know what this is oh i can't hear it very well but yeah that's the vr six diesel that
that guy converted it is a diesel your favorite your favorite engine has been converted to diesel
your audio is very weird right now so what's interesting about that is the vr six was actually
designed from the onset to be a diesel which is why it's so like overbuilt um but that's the only
time it has timing chains it has chains instead of a belt right because it was supposed to be a diesel
but yeah i did see that where the guy actually made it to run as a diesel which is
and fantastic uh sorry if the interesting there that was that was the best part is that it sounds
like a diesel a little vr six was that it that's totally unrelated to the mark nine that we were
talking about it is but i saw a vr six and had to pull that up it's just to make you feel bad
okay do you care about dealer franchise laws i kind of went down a deep hole on this because
i found this interesting well i don't know if we want to tell me about common gear first before
we get into this yeah we've we've got time actually all right yeah we've got time first a little bit
more news all right the common gear is a online platform where it basically puts all of your
digitized records together the story of your car matters just as much as the machine every receipt
late night fix rally mile and maybe this spreadsheet that this dude uh has for chris's new Mercedes i
think that should definitely be uploaded it's uh it's actually a perfect place for it it really is
yeah it's all organized searchable all digitized all in one place common gear is basically a platform
built for car people buy real people most of it is you know most of us have our history of our
vehicle scattered everywhere and that's really what this solves and if you've got decades of paperwork
all on a binder they've got a white glove service where they digitize everything for you remote
or on site you hand them chaos and they hand you a complete car history it adds credibility
adds value wow yeah really all the stuff he's done yeah there's a couple things that are like
not installed like i was like oh it's got a limited slip but he he didn't actually install that um
are all the parts coming with it yeah well yeah well they're all installed like installed yes yes
all this stuff is new in the car very fuel accumulator fuel pump fuel filter well you
said a couple of things it didn't like the limited yeah there's a couple things like this it says no
not installed that's limited slip what's this one the cage that means he bought it yeah this is
stuff he bought and installed you don't do a dry belt or alternator belt that's fine put all this
other stuff this is exactly exactly what needs to be wow in uh in the common gear so the common
gear dot com it's a free account you can start building your car's legacy today yeah i'm i'm
excited for this car dude i'm very very very very excited okay okay so i so here's what i want you to
do for me here here's what i want you to do for me for this dealer thing i want you to tell me
why does this matter to me so when you talk about like the dealer laws kind of maybe explain what it
is and we can have a conversation about rather than do this read that you have i just want you to
tell me it's a good why i prepped it all yeah no okay well here's the reason i kind of went down
this rabbit hole is the fact that like when we ordered or bought the tesla it's a totally different
buying experience and it's actually this whole concept is under a ton of scrutiny right now
from a legal perspective so right now there's a quiet but very real fight happening over how
cars are sold in the united states new eb brands like scout motors rivian lucid and of course tesla
are all fighting to defeat to defend their ability to sell cars directly to consumers so that means
there's no dealership there's no middleman literally place the order online or in the app
and it shows up and so that's what my wife and i did we went to the tesla store not the dealership
that's the distinction so we're when you were in there can you can you tell me what the buying
experience was like then because yeah versus buying from a dealer like what was the difference like
what did it feel like did you prefer one or the other it was very i would say similar i i liked
the store better because there was no salesman there were employees there but they were just
like i would think of it more as best buy almost where they just know the products really well but
and maybe best buys the same way where they're incentivized to sale but it just it seemed very
different it was very maybe a better option is like the knife around an apple store right you
go there there are people there that know the product and if you brought your car in for
you know new tires or something because they do have a service center in back but it was not
you know you're walking the floor and someone's hey hey how's it going what are you what can i
interest you in today you know we got uh with a great deal zero percent financing you know it was
not that at all and so when i was like all right i think did anybody ask you to buy like ceramic
coating hey we can ceramic coat your entire car this is let me tell you the whole the whole process
which is crazy is after we're like dude okay i think we're actually maybe ready to move forward
and pull the trigger goes okay great got a computer right over there do you want me to like show you
how to go on the site in order or can you just do it yourself like literally that was it he's like
i don't okay i don't want to sell you anything so that was so it's not a commission there's no
commission no as far as i could tell if it if it was he was the worst salesman ever but also
maybe the best maybe he's playing chess and i'm just playing checkers there so regardless i think
it makes perfect sense this model why pay dealer markups simply for a middleman to be involved
in the transaction it's an antiquated model if you think exactly right you kind of needed someone
there was no you probably needed some to walk you through the process well let me it had nothing
to do with that you want to get into the history i know yeah sure but i feel like it was maybe in
the past it was okay but it's just doesn't the way that that you can wait the economy works now
with digital and you can just go and do stuff it doesn't yeah everything just fell over what i was
like what what sound effect was that that was uh that was this work fun falling apart it's so much
chaos here i just think it makes more sense now from like an economic model just like click
through and buy your thing like with digital currency everything else it just there's go away
exactly like the regular person can literally go on claud go on ai and be like hey here's what i do
here's what i need can you help me buy a car and it'll go out and it'll look at read reviews for
you everything else i can just tell you what that's what i did too and if you could just you can just
go okay i want that one and it just shows up none of this baloney with all the people and the process
and which yeah the problem is in a lot of states it's illegal to not have dealerships states like
texas michigan and connecticut have some of the strictest restrictions effectively requiring
all vehicles to be sold through independent franchise dealerships so manufacturers have
gotten creative i do like this they've opened galleries or showrooms in places where staff
can walk you through the car similar to how i experienced it but legally cannot discuss pricing
even or complete a sale on site so rather than just showing me a computer they're like great you
like it you can go do whatever you want at home maybe in order a car in texas for example the
process becomes a bit of a workaround you can take a look at a car you can talk to the staff but you
have to complete the purchase online which the servers by the way need to be located out of state
the car is then shipped in from a district distribution center out of state essentially
turning it into an out of state transaction to comply with local law there's even more
crazier solutions the one that i really liked was using tribal land so because tribal land is sovereign
literally state franchise laws don't apply tesla has partnered with groups like the onida indian
nation in new york and the nambay pueblo in new mexico to open full sales and service centers
on tribal land completely bypassing the surrounding state restrictions which of course looks very much
like how casinos operate on tribal land and then in parallel this is like the selling cars version
of dipping your car in acid basically well it's ridiculous like you have to go to such lengths
to do that um so there's of course ongoing lobbying for narrow car votes law that would
basically allow ev only manufacturers to sell direct so saying okay yeah yeah we can you can
keep your traditional you know dealership locked in but if it's an electric car then no well that
is just dumb why not just do away with it so it totally is outdated to your point it sounds like
it's it's what i didn't like is it's a very anti free market so why do these laws exist at all
so you have to go back to the 1940s so think about it chris companies like ford motor company and
general motors weren't just big they were like americana through and through this was american
manufacturing they were everything the balance of power in the auto industry looked very very
different if you were a local car dealer you weren't a business owner on your own you were
completely dependent on the manufacturer they could force inventory on you tell you what to put on your
lot they can change pricing at any moment they can terminate your franchise and say i wouldn't
like you anymore bob or worse open a factory owned store right across the street so there was no
protection no leverage state stepped in then and said all right manufacturers cannot sell directly
to consumers they must go through franchised independent dealers which was basically a protectionism
move and at the time made sense is that like something that was lobbied for by the franchise
franchisees did they say hey we need to be protected by big daddy detroit or what i guess i
also think it's a little bit of antitrust situation like they didn't want the entire process to be
monopolized but the entire premise is being challenged at this point to our point you know
the entire process of purchasing a car now is fundamentally different you you sell the car
online or buy the car online your updates for your cars are all over the air they require virtually
no maintenance you need to be in a first name relationship with your dealer and it's basically
argued that pricing is much cleaner and clearer you don't have to worry about what sale the dealership
is running the buying process is much simpler and the middleman is completely cut out and unnecessary
on the other hand dealerships argue that they provide a local service a create competition
between sellers which maybe is true and they protect consumers from manufacturer overreach
which i don't think really portes anymore because you basically to run any new car you need to like
log into their app anyways or they have your data anyways right you don't need to protect your local
service if you're providing a service that people want it shouldn't be well it will do just fine it
doesn't need to be protected essentially what they're saying is we need to protect our we need to
protect our local service you got to read between the lines exactly what we're really thinking
yeah it's i mean sometimes it works because you do get you know like undercutting deals below MSRP
but on the other hand you get absurd markups on something like gt3's remember there was like
dealer markups of 200k if it's direct to manufacturer it doesn't do that and it's not a theoretical
debate right now this is actively playing out right now in courts and state legislators across
the country tesla actually just filed a lawsuit against the state of north dakota challenging
the state's ban on direct sales arguing that the law shouldn't apply to them in the first place
and then dealer groups of course suing the brand's back like scout motors saying that they are
basically violating long-standing agreements it's it's all a lot of back and forth it's not settled
who has the power here
well it's the probably the manufacturers and why do they have that power because they have the money
and the lobbying and all of the yeah they just have to wait for them but they have an entire labor
union to lobby as well exactly yeah so they've got a huge huge uh crony capitalist uh engine
although you could make the argument that the dealership network is so expansive that there's
a lot of labor there as well but it's not unionized so yeah i don't know it's yeah um just think how
much money there is in the dealership model from service to financing sales bugs me is that means
all of that extra servicing and money is just added price that you're paying
well yeah that's why cost of ownership is something to consider when you're buying a car
right yeah like future cost of ownership you know that's why they want to they want to get as much
your money and financing and everything out as they can straight away and that's yeah obviously
if you find it if everyone financed outside of the dealership they would go out of business
immediately yeah that's where most of their funding comes from of course um do you want
to do any more stories what do you want to do here i got this one let's do let's do one more
i thought this was really really interesting uh let me i gotta pull up a pull up a photo here
so you guys can see it uh out of lycaster massachusetts a fisherman pinged can you grab
this link and pull it up yeah i can do that i don't have to out of lycaster massachusetts
a fisherman pinged something on his fish finder this week it turned out to be a 1982
Volkswagen rabbit pickup truck sitting at the bottom of rockdale pond police pulled the vin
ran it learned the truck had been reported stolen the same year it came out of the factory 1982
that truck has been sitting at the bottom of was it a river or it's got to be a lake pond
it won't let me yeah percent for some reason but here i'll i'll grab it and pull it up here
real quick you just got it you got to see what this thing looks like
it sat down there oh wow for 44 years this thing has been wow at the bottom of the bottom of the
situation there from the pond it was in a pond state police divers in the lycaster fire department
got it out on tuesday bed empty cop nothing in it just like an empty truck cop said nothing of
interest was inside which i guess depends it's very interesting to me well okay hold on it's in a pond
but it was big enough for a fishing boat with a like depth finder a fish finder on it which
seems bizarre and also what do you think that looks like on the fish finder screen right like
i was thinking about a little like how did you know it was a truck dang erl is it this cast
the rod we got a big one down here yeah oh no it's a Volkswagen never mind here's the part that
should bother all of us we're ready yeah this truck if you know the trucks that come out of
Pennsylvania is cleaner than most mark one rabbits currently for sale anywhere in Pennsylvania
fresh water low oxygen buried in the mud 44 years of conditions better than the average Pennsylvania
roadway you know the internet's went to work immediately on this is ran when parked recently
washed one owner no rust six grand i know what i got somebody in Tennessee is already pulling a
different uh mark one truck out of the woods and trying to beat this one and my thought is this
thing is on bring a trailer by the end of next month you think so is i don't know why not rinse it
down and tell it was it's got to see what color it was i think it's it's like that green like that
forest well it's definitely green now chris that's called slime green i was gonna say algae algae
um do you want one more really short one you got a short one okay yeah i'm gonna i
thought you were gonna make a short show there but no sure um well it's not as short as you are
but hey oh there we go to the take us to the end of the episode i'm gonna show i'm gonna show you
this picture first and then you can uh we'll go from there oh boy what oh no you just explained
everybody what we're seeing that that is a bear costume i think that's a bear suit uh grizzly bear
costume okay is this like a furry thing are we going down that way or what is this uh no no this is
out of los angeles county comes this news story three residents were sentenced last week for
insurance fraud after staging fake bear attacks on their own luxury cars a fourth is a trial
the scheme worked like this on january 28 2024 the group filed a claim saying a bear had climbed
onto its 2010 rolls royce ghost up at lake arrowhead and torn up the interior they submitted
security camera footage of the bear rummaging around no plus photos of the scratches
then they did it again same driveways same date this time on a 2015 Mercedes g63 AMG
then again on a 2022 e350 three luxury vehicles yeah three separate insurance companies
three separate bear attacks all on the same afternoon total payout requested
$142,000 one of the insurance companies flagged it investigators pulled the footage sent it to
a biologist with cal 40 fish and wildlife determined that their bear was in fact a person in a bear
suit the search warrant turned up the suit at the suspects home three of the four were sentenced
to 180 days served a weekend jail program restitution in the $50,000 each range
california department of insurance commissioner said in a statement quote no scheme is too outrageous
for us to investigate what i don't like why you want to see that you want to see it again
you want to see that again why is that a police like a police evidence photo i could not find
yes this is the actual oh my gosh i could not find the footage i could not find the that would
be so amazing if anybody could find the security footage of the bear attacking the cars please let
me know why why chris what is the deal here why i'm coming up with this idea they're all sitting
around having a bit so elaborate like if you just want the car like the payout from the car
like there's easier ways to total a car that don't involve you dressing up as a bear hey john
john john were you a grizzly bear for halloween last year what are we doing thanks no sense and
why three look at the thing same time look at the bottom they've got the little things that they
held in their hands to scratch the car they held them in their hands and scratched the car dude
like you have to imagine the insurance adjuster was even like this is the weirdest like
rips in a seat i've ever seen from a bear i just why i why i do not know i do not know
all right guys that's all we have time for today next week i'm interviewing buddy levy he's the
author of nine books and his work has been featured or reviewed in the new york times
wall street journal npr usa today the watching to post watching designs pretty much everywhere
he's an english professor of writing at washington state university and an expert an expert on some
of the episodes of exploration that we've talked about in the past some of the polar exploration
he's written some books uh narrative historical fiction so i'm very looking very much forward
to having buddy on uh to tell you he's literally the guy that you're like you should find the guy
that wrote the book and talk to him about that like the the greedy yeah yeah this guy he wrote he
wrote the book so we're gonna have him on on next week and uh chat with him about this and see if
we could get you know what i'm really interested again is the psychology of why these guys you
know went and went and did all all of this stuff and maybe he can give us some insight yeah fascinating
all right awesome we will see uh we'll see all of you guys then and jake we'll see you soon
all right take care bye
About this episode
Kris’s new daily-driver debate centers on a brand-new Tesla Model Y and whether an appliance car should prioritize comfort and automation over driving feel. That conversation opens into a broader garage update, including a rare 1983 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL with a manual transmission. From there, the hosts wander through Trans-Am cheating lore, Volkswagen Golf future plans, dealership laws, and a wild insurance-fraud story involving fake bear attacks on luxury cars.
The guys chat Jake buying the dumbest of all cars, and Kris buying another grandpa car. Also, some interesting and obscure news on dealership models and bear fraud.
