Mid Life Confusion

Good evening, Bill.

Good evening, Stanley. Hello, listeners, and welcome back.

At last, it's Season 7 of the BS Car Guys podcast.

Yeah. Alright, let's keep going with that.

It's Ryman. BS Car Guys, turn the speakers up loud.

Laughing in the shop while we burn rubber clouds.

Old school rides, new school takes, still keeping it true.

If it's cars and it's wild, then yeah, we're talking to you.

Bill on the mic, talking value of the trade.

Been around machines since the toolbox was made.

Stanley rolling hard with the trivia. Yeah, he keeps it neat.

Keep on the mic, calm on the mic like he's not a freak in the spreadsheets.

We debate, we BS, yeah, we keep it real light.

Arguing Chevy versus Ford every other Thursday night.

No filter, no scripts, just the truth with a grin.

If it ain't broken the driveway, yeah, we've been there my friend.

BS Car Guys, yeah, you know the routine.

Clean content with that shop flow sheen.

From the engine to the ego, I'll talk no woe, hit play, buckle up.

BS Car Guys are a go.

Your microphone cuts out, you're clapping.

Oh, clap. Background noise.

I hope it didn't. I had no idea that was about to happen.

I know, I was trying to surprise you.

I did not authorize that.

MC, we want to work on that.

I'm coming with one in a second.

I must ask, was that a chat GPT in the.

The help or was that a.

There was no creation.

Well, the idea to do it was a bill idea.

The chat GPT offered some suggestions for some rhymes that would match what I was going for.

So it was about 50, 50.

What so essentially you're doing better than most of these music artists out here now because I don't.

I'm sure they all those songs are either written by most of those songs now either written by or sung by or produced by or something.

So you're doing better than them. See, you missed you missed your calling.

I did. I did. Yeah, no, clearly I didn't miss my calling as a rapper because I couldn't even get through that without messing up.

And I messed up on the line that was my favorite that I came up with, which was you rolling hard with your trivia.

Yeah, you keep it neat. Calm on the mic like he's not a freak in the spreadsheets. That's hilarious.

I collect myself up when I wrote it.

That is pretty good that now see now I have to write something not right now and to try to outdo you because that's another thing that we do sometimes.

And you may have missed your calling for as a rapper. I think you did. I mean, we do know a decently well known white rapper from your area.

Which is another reason why I'm certain that I didn't miss my calling because Ty is really good and I'm nowhere close to as good as him.

See, if y'all would have hung out more, you would have been. And we grew and we grew up at the same place at the same time.

And so if if I haven't made it and he has, then that place holder for our world has already been taken.

As he is, he earned it. He can have it.

I was talking to you right. You probably you probably right. I was talking to somebody about you and your the group that you kind of grew up with or the group that you that you associated with growing up.

And I was like, it is like in this small town, they have like one of everything.

We really do. We got I mean, there's a there's a dude I grew up with play baseball with.

He's a he's a lawyer.

We got another do this a pilot like we really do got like one of everything.

Yeah. And even the one of everything includes weird stuff like white rapper from North Carolina.

Who who by the way is from the country part of North Carolina.

Right.

And Mandarin and and perhaps in Mandarin.

Exactly.

It is a photographer.

Yes.

And a visual artist.

Yes.

I don't know.

And you know what you did, Mr. Collin as is the comedian. I mean, that you did.

Okay, so so I'll sort of agree, but also I'll throw a flag and say I didn't miss my calling as a comedian.

I'm in a comedy adjacent industry, which is sales and salesmen really have to be a comedian because you got to be quick on your feet.

And you got to go out there and tell the same joke or sell the same thing over and over and over again.

So you're basically delivering the same pitch or, you know, set over and over and over again.

So I think that I'm in a comedy adjacent industry.

And also I make people laugh every day.

So I feel like that makes me a successful comedian just because I'm not getting paid for it.

Doesn't mean I'm not a comedian.

True.

Yeah, what do you call somebody who never takes things seriously?

You're like, man, that guy's a joke or he's a comedian.

Well, that's me.

I'm a comedian.

I'm just not getting paid for it.

Maybe you are.

But in your analogy, you are getting paid to be a comedian.

So there.

That's a good point.

Yeah.

So yeah, so yeah, build a comedian.

If y'all don't know, you should.

I'm a one day somebody is going to dig up that video or recording of you and your set in a school.

It's going to happen.

I mean, those there's like, I might have sold a dozen tapes tapes, mind you, not CDs, a dozen tapes back in the day.

So yeah, I mean, odds are.

There's a better than not chance that all 12 were lost, thrown away or destroyed.

I don't think I have an original.

I may have an original mini tape recorder version of the set, but but I doubt it.

I imagine they're all gone.

What was the comedy club?

Do you remember now in the comedy club in Mother Beach that we tried to talk you and going to do go do amateur night or whatever?

No, it was around the time you got married.

Was that like shenanigans or something?

What was the name of the club down there?

I'm trying to say it's definitely not there no more.

Yeah, very little is I mean, it changes a lot.

But no, I don't remember the name of that club.

I don't know why you didn't do that.

Why did you do that set?

I mean, you were doing you were doing the set for us.

I mean, you know what you did miss your car?

You could have been an actor to you could have been a character actor.

Maybe.

I've seen you switch characters.

I actually I was involved in at least one of those occasions where we got pulled over.

Statue of limitations is over.

Anywho, while we're reminiscing again, that was a different opening and we appreciate it.

And I just thought, you know, starting season seven, we do something a little different.

Change it up, you know, absolutely surprise you with something.

So you're going to do that next week?

No.

So you have to do it for so there's a new rap every episode.

No.

It was a one one and done and it really wasn't even like done well.

So it's just one and half done.

What you do is you get with Ty and you lay them bars down and you let him produce it.

Theme song.

Ooh.

Okay. Yeah, that's an idea.

I don't know if it's a good one, but it's.

I can tell you it's not a good one, but yeah.

So yeah.

Hey, everybody is starting a rap career at 45.

Is a bit of a midlife crisis idea.

And with that in mind, that's what we're talking about tonight.

Exactly. You wanted to, you hit it.

I was going to try to roll into it, but you, I think you did a better job.

Just like you're a better rapper than I am.

So yeah, we're going to talk about midlife crisis.

See, how do you say crisis implore?

Crisis.

Crisis. I couldn't get to that.

Again, everybody remember where we are both in the south.

We probably didn't learn that until we was in our 40s.

We're going to talk about that a little bit.

Is it real?

Is it a real thing?

And we're probably going to talk about some other things that have nothing to do with cars or all the things to do with cars in the middle and around it.

So I got an opening question.

All right. What is it?

Do you believe in the midlife crisis?

Yes, I do.

I do believe in the midlife crisis.

It is currently being held hostage by Bigfoot.

Yes.

Yes, I believe in the midlife crisis because, but I don't think of it so much as a crisis.

So here's my thinking on it.

I think it is a compulsion.

I think it is a midlife urge or compulsion.

And I think it strikes everybody differently.

I think there are some people that hit their mid 40s or 50.

Let's say it runs anywhere from 40 to 55 these days.

But you hit this age where you have a longing to be doing something other than what you're doing.

And that could be doing something other than what you're driving or, you know, all my kids play baseball and I really want to go spend more time on the golf course.

You know, it could be a bunch of different things, but I do think it's a real thing.

I think men have it and I think women have it.

For sure. I mean, I feel this, I agree with you now.

You would have hit me a few years ago.

I was like, yeah, that's, that's where a middle class, upper middle class, white dudes.

You got time.

We got work to do. I got time for a midlife crisis.

Exactly. Because I don't, I mean, now they spend a whole lot of time around my pops, but I spent a lot of time around men in that age group.

They didn't have time to have no crisis.

And if they did, they had to go to work the next day, you know, so always growing up always kind of it was that was something that they did on TV, you know.

Yeah.

Well, I do think, I do think it gets perpetuated in on social media and the news and on TV.

It's kind of like made into a bit of a gag and a joke, but, but I do think it's a very real thing.

And I think, I think your point about like thinking it was fake and that it only happens to a certain demographic of people.

Well, I think that's accurate because it does.

It's one of those things that is more likely to impact you and hit you harder, the more comfortable and the more like, I don't know.

What's the word I'm looking for?

I don't want to say fulfilled, but yeah, like if all your needs are met and you're not really in the midst of any kind of real struggle financially or, you know, interpersonal or whatever.

You have a little bit more free time to sit around and dwell on the what else would I rather be doing.

And so I do think it kind of sneaks in more easily, the more comfortable you are.

And maybe that does lend itself a little bit more to a certain demographic, but I'll say this with the joke is always about the sports car.

And I figure that's what we'll talk about.

Yeah, we're going to talk about that a little bit.

But I think the guy who has a midlife crisis sports car is far less dangerous to his marriage than the guy who doesn't have a midlife crisis sports car.

Yeah, because he having a different midlife crisis.

And we know a few of them.

I mean, when you're speaking, when you're talking to this now, I was thinking that's like, man, we know people who had who essentially had midlife crisis crisis.

See, I'm messing up the word.

I'm going to continue to mess up that word and plural.

So you just got to deal with it.

People got to deal with it.

And his mid to late twenties.

Remember Chad?

Yep.

Well, to be fair, though, Chad's hair was in midlife, even though his age wasn't correct.

But he also did the thing where he had he had, especially from a car perspective, he had the low ride of truck that was hooked up.

He had a small car that was hooked up.

He had the Pontiac WS six now was was essentially at a time was one of the big dog cars that Marines could afford.

I mean, it was above the bag.

It was above the Mustang.

I would say it was I would say it was above the average car that a Marine could afford.

I mean, we all looked at it like how did he pull that?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's revisionist history say that car, the only American car.

That was above that car in my mind at the time was Corvette.

Yeah, and even then, it would have to be a very specific like higher performance Corvette because you were not that car was legitimately.

I don't know how it got approved to be made like for the money.

I don't know if there was a better car for the money at the time.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, the rule that Jim can't build a car faster than a Corvette, but they get really, really, really close.

And it doesn't take much.

It doesn't take much for the person who bought it to get it over, get it over that little hump.

I mean, that car was real.

I mean, I think this maybe and I'm not a GM fan boy at all, which I think our illustrious history on the podcast would show that.

But I think if you took a tight low mileage, you know, good shape version of that car, there's probably not any of those left.

But if you had one and you put a modern set of wheels and tires and and brakes on it, I bet it would perform as good as the last generation Corvette Stingray.

You know, a standard stock, not a zero six or ZR one or anything like that, but just just a standard Corvette Stingray like C seven.

If you took them to a track, I guarantee you that WS six is with intense of that car.

Yeah, I wouldn't say it'd be faster, but it'd be closer than most people.

100% 100% that's exactly what I'm saying.

Like it would be close enough people would be like, we had no idea.

Yeah.

And the crazy thing is, so even though we're not saying like these people, I don't really play it, watch your concert that much.

But I remember fast, fast lane cars or whatever fast lane they did.

They had an episode a year or so ago, and they took one that was not in good shape and race it against like, I think it was a Toyota Camry hybrid or Toyota Harlow Kord hybrid or something.

And it didn't win.

It didn't win.

I was watching the video at shop.

I was like, that that's not a good representation of what that car is.

It's like, I've been in that car.

Yeah.

It's like, I don't know what was broke in that car today, but but I'm sure all of it is.

But again, that's what I'm saying.

Like I doubt that car had modern upgraded brakes, wheels and tires, right?

I mean, that's the drive train alone should be more than enough to compete.

I mean, that car with a manual, it was like whatever T 56 six speed transmission.

That was a solid transmission.

Yeah.

So you can't knock the engine.

I mean, that engine has went on to now be, you know, the standard go to starting point for all builds.

Now you start with an LS based engine.

So.

Well, I was just looking on bring the trailer.

Why were we talking about that?

A month ago, essentially.

Somebody sold one.

Oh, two yellow one.

For that.

It was only 30 grand.

Wow.

That was the performance bargain right there.

Yeah.

It was a that was on the third and then somebody sold one for 35 on the eighth of last month with that was a manual.

And I mean, it's one of them cars that people sleep on and to be honest, most people probably don't even remember.

You're probably right.

I mean, honestly, I would probably forget about it if we didn't know somebody who had one.

Exactly.

I mean, I think the best addition of that car was the white one with the blue wheels because I'd never seen somebody at the time.

I've never.

Original manufacturing equipment, blue wheels.

Right.

What nobody was nobody was doing that.

That's back when that's back when Pontiac was a driving excitement.

That's back when Pontiac was a company.

But yeah, yeah, so we I'll bring all this up because I got it, you know, I'm a man of a certain age.

You're a man of a certain age and we are surrounded by people in our age group, some a little older, some a little younger.

And man, I think I had a person.

I think it's safe to say every man is a man of a certain age.

The people know what I meant by that.

See, that's you.

That was that's comedian bill coming out.

That's that's a joke.

That's a joke for Lucas's dad.

Gary.

That was for you, Gary.

Love you, Gary.

But yeah, I mean, so we were, you know, we we've talked at link last year about, you know, this thing.

Get the car with a manual and I've talked it over my head.

I talked over my wife.

I talked myself in into cars and out of cars.

I've gotten the money ready to go get a car and turn the deal off and I've done a bunch of things.

And then I was I was driving.

I think I was driving back from Earl Beach after Christmas.

That's like, I think I'm going through a midlife crisis.

I'm pretty sure it is.

First of all, I can't make a decision right now and I don't understand that.

That may be a big part of it.

I mean, I think I think as a car, as a true car enthusiast, I think you're always thinking about the next car.

Absolutely.

Like, I don't think it's a dissatisfaction.

Right now, I really like our lineup of cars.

Like our the Cranford fleet is in a good place.

I like what we got.

We got two Land Cruisers, a truck and my and my Golf R.

And I like all four of them.

Does that mean I'm not online looking?

No, I'm definitely looking when I'm killing time.

I'm on Marketplace or bring a trailer or, you know, cars and bids or Hagerty or cars.com or cargo ruse or I'm looking at cars.

That's what I do.

I don't I don't look at women online.

I look at cars and and I'm like, what would my life be like with a wagon?

Yeah, yeah, having a wagon or speaking of which slight detour was coming back from an appointment today.

My wife and a young man passed me in a Volkswagen, a vote, a brown Volkswagen Jetta wagon.

Oh, yeah.

That was lowered.

Oh, yeah.

With a manual.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It sounded it sounded horrible.

But it was it was a brown, my first brown wagon of the year and it had a manual.

There's only there's only so much you can do with a one point eight.

But listen, man, that that brown, that Volkswagen wagon brown, that's a good that's a good brown.

It is the right mix of light and dark brown.

That's a good brown.

In our lifetime, was there a bad brown for a car?

Can you think of a bad brown?

They're so brown.

Browns.

You get that joke.

I said, Leroy Brown was a bad bad bad bad Leroy Brown.

That's the only one I could think of.

Yeah.

In our lifetime.

Yeah, I was going to give my BMW painted candy cinnamon brown.

I'm not acknowledging your bad joke that you just made.

No, I don't think there.

I don't know that there was a bad brown paint for a car that I can think of.

I legitimately was looking at what with the BMW, if I was going to get it painted and do be able to do the things I wanted to.

It was like, I think the name of was candy sitting candy cinnamon brown.

Right, which which is also a stripper.

We knew, right?

No.

Okay.

So.

Okay.

Listen, in all fairness, talking about bad browns, I am not a fan of of our four Land Cruisers brown.

It's not brown.

It's gold, but it's old gold.

I think what I don't know what they call it.

They call it champagne brown or something.

I don't know champagne gold.

What, which is also a stripper, you know,

but because it's now.

You are telling me yourself.

I know.

Because it is now 22 years old, like most strippers named champagne brown, it has not aged well, like.

It just keeps going down there.

It won't stop.

And so it's not the best color gold anymore.

It is kind of more of a brown color now.

And it's it's like a sad brown because it used to not be brown.

So it's like it's like it's like a sad gold that wound up brown.

I think it may be true that all gold cars end up as brown cars in the landfill.

I think you're on to something.

If you think about it, wasn't your BMW like a gold color that was on its way to sad brown town?

Yes, it was 100% was.

Yes.

So there you go.

I mean, I think you're on to something.

I think all gold cars become sad brown cars.

And at the time it was only like.

Broke out.

Do you know why I really got rid of that car?

Have I told you why I really got rid of that car?

Giselle made you because you're going on deployment.

You got a flat tire or something.

It couldn't move it.

I was already.

Stupid.

It's so stupid.

I had a flat tire.

You should have just took the tickets.

They were going to tow the car out of TT.

Well, that's fine.

They would have just put it in the impound law and all the other Marines would have thought you had got arrested.

And then I came back four or five months later and it would.

It would have looked like it looked.

It was right.

It was sitting there with flat tires and he just been flat tires in the grass.

And flat tires and I mean, it would look the way it looked.

Anywho.

So sad and almost brown.

So, yeah.

So unlike most people who go to most people who I know because they're who go through this, because they have Marines or some kind of active duty military or former retired military or former active duty military.

Most of the people who I've been around here lately, their real life crisis is a motorcycle, some kind of motorcycle.

Yeah.

A lot of them want to go do the Harley thing.

I know I have a friend who is all of five to and he rode the biggest Yamaha Cruiser thing.

He couldn't even put his feet on the ground.

He still wrote it.

Ronnie, I love you.

That thing was too big.

That motorcycle was bigger than him, his wife and his three kids all at the same time.

Wow.

That's impressive.

I mean, he should have talked to our buddy Steve Dirling, you know, you just you buy a little Buell motorcycle.

When you're a little guy, you get a little bike.

Oh, he wasn't trying to hear that.

His dad was a motorcycle dude.

He couldn't stomach that.

So I guess the question is one of the questions are is what ideally do you see as maybe not the specific car, but the type of car that's going to be your midlife crisis car.

Okay, so I thought you might ask.

I've prepared a small presentation.

So let me do a little screenshare for you.

Now I'm going to start with presenting to you.

Is the is the golf not your midlife car?

I mean, I think I think it is serving that purpose right now for sure because it has a manual transmission.

But I think there are other cars that could also serve that that same purpose and serve it well.

But what I would like to offer up to you and our listening audience is what I feel are the three current reigning champions in midlife crisis cars and I have broken them out into budgets.

So let me just pull up the first offering, which is my sub $50,000 midlife crisis car.

We talked about this legitimately 15 minutes before we know what 15 minutes a little more 15 minutes and we have a presentation.

Well, sort of.

So for under $50,000, I give you the 2025 Mazda MX five Miata RF club.

This is I can take it.

This is well equipped.

I have even opted for the recaro seats because nothing says midlife crisis like squeezing your overweight self into an uncomfortable but sporty seat.

Ask me how I know I have a golf bar.

Okay.

I also have love handles.

So this is my under $50,000 offering and I feel like the Miata has been existing in the midlife crisis arena for a while now.

And I think it holds its own.

I think it's still a good value for a midlife crisis car.

But I agree.

And I would also say it may be the rare thing, the rare car that could be the midlife crisis car for both men and women stereotypically.

Dude, I think you might be onto something.

I mean, it really does fit fit well into that area.

Now, I then moved to the $50,000 to $100,000 category and there were a couple of offerings here.

So it actually became a little bit of a tough decision.

But ultimately I landed on the Nissan Z.

Nostalgic and sporty.

I like how you expect that car.

That's pretty good.

I didn't know you could expect that car that way.

So this is a new offering for 2026.

This is the Nissan Z Heritage Edition available with a six speed manual transmission.

It is only available in this color with these bronze wheels and I don't hate it.

I was a little disappointed in this car, all things considered.

But this car comes in right at 60 grand for 400 horsepower.

I think it's a pretty good bargain and it ticks the midlife crisis boxes.

It's hard to get in and out of.

It's got a manual.

Yep.

It looks flashy.

You know, it gets you the attention you're looking for in your midlife crisis.

And I think this is more of a guy's car than a girl lady car.

But I was torn between this and a BMW Z4.

Those were the two that I really went back and forth.

So we'll give it like an honorable mention.

And then at the top of my price point, we've got the Corvette E-Ray.

Undefeated.

I even selected, I believe they call this color on the Chevrolet website.

I think they've officially made this new balance white.

This is a new balance white with the chrome wheels for that little bit of bling.

And then this is my 100 to $150,000 price point car, which is insane to think because I just,

I have a hard time believing in a midlife crisis.

You can just drop 130 grand on a car, but people do it every day.

Every day.

And along that same lines, I mean, stare typically for me, you know, when I was younger,

this was the midlife crisis car.

We joke about it all the time.

The only people you ever see in Corvette are old dudes and the dude who rarely see the person

who actually drives the car the way it's intended.

It's usually old dudes that who could go to the store, go up to the Chevy place and it's like,

Hey, give me that new balance white one right there.

You don't want to talk about this.

Give me the car.

Go get the keys.

I don't want to talk to you.

I don't want to talk to you, Chad.

Go get the keys.

Now, now for me personally, I made myself do a little soul searching and said, okay,

if I'm going to buy a midlife crisis car, I'm going to break it down into one of two categories.

So 100 or over 100.

So my sub 100.

I present to you a Mustang.

Dark horse in white with the bronze appearance package.

And you remember when that car first came out and we we saw the side.

It was just, I think it was side straight side pick up it.

It was like this car is shaped exactly like a BMW for series coupe.

Yep.

And it still is.

And to be honest, that might be the only car that it really competes with.

Yeah, I think you're right.

I mean, I think the, the, the like the Jason Camisa video, I think the gap between the Mustang and the M is so small now.

It is crazy.

And they've almost flip flopped positions in the market.

I mean, for seven for 70 grand, like our conversation earlier about the WS six for 70 grand, I don't know if you can get a driving experience as good as this and anything else.

You get a, you get a naturally aspirated five liter VA that makes all the right noises.

You get a manual transmission.

You get two doors, but you still have a backseat.

So you can take the kids with you in case you wind up with them in the divorce and you've got a performance car.

But I just don't think there's anything else they in that price point that offers the same driving experience that still feels like an authentic old school driving experience.

I was going to say, maybe we need to rehash our muscle car episode from back in the day.

But I was thinking about it and it's like, it's like one, two levels.

So maybe we shouldn't.

And then, but because I don't even call, I don't even know if you can call that a Mustang spec that way a muscle car anymore that that's a sports car at this point.

I mean,

Yeah, I think you're right.

And for my above $100,000, you of course have Porsche Cayman GT for and I wouldn't have a new one because you can't get a new one with a manual.

So I'd go this one right now is available and bring a trailer.

It's a 2020.

I'm almost disappointed in you.

Why is that?

I'm almost disappointed because no sane person doesn't like 718.

All same people like 718.

Somebody said that way.

There's no confusion.

Where's the 911 bro?

I would rather have this.

I don't know if I'm ready to hear that.

If it's a midlife crisis car.

I'd rather have this.

And I'll tell you why because I would buy this and immediately take it to a qualified individual and have the gearbox gone through and regeared.

And this car would be faster than an 11.

This car is limited by its gearing.

These cars with a manual, because the gears are so long, they struggle to put down the performance numbers that a 911 do, even though this is a better balanced chassis, even though this is a lighter weight car.

This is a more manual feeling car and it produces just as much lateral grip.

It has nearly the same horsepower, a little bit of engine tuning.

You don't have the same horsepower.

And if you fix the gearbox problem where it's not doing 92 miles per hour in second gear, it'll feel faster than a 911.

I would almost say at this point that car is more traditional than a 911 is now that.

I agree.

Even though everyone knows the Porsche from Reagen, the Reagen 911, that car is made engine, but it is almost more traditional.

The 911 is so many things that is, to some people, I guess it's almost, it can be so many things that it's almost,

you can't really define it.

I don't think you can say that with a Cayman, any version of a Cayman.

Cayman is a sports car and that's what it is, all the versions under it.

I agree completely.

It is more of a sports car where the 911 has somehow managed to create its own category of not a GT car, but not a sports car, but not a super car.

It's just sort of at this point.

All of those things at the same time.

Yeah, yeah, it's really weird.

It's really quite bizarre.

Yeah.

I didn't thank you for your presentation, sir.

I didn't quite go through the presentation like that.

But how things usually work in our conversations, the things that you just said bleed right into the things that I was going to say.

So, there was having my moment of clarity, this thought.

For the record, I also got in trouble because I just stopped talking on a drive for like an hour and a half.

And my wife was sure I was mad.

And she just stopped talking to me for like the rest of the day because now she was mad because evidently I was mad and I just was in deep thought.

I was having a moment with myself.

And that wouldn't authorize at the time.

And the way she describes it, I was mid sentence and just stopped talking.

Sometimes a rabbit runs by and you got to chase it.

Exactly.

So, I was sitting there thinking because we, when we were down on the beach, I went in, I went to go.

It wasn't the time that I wanted it to be because I had to do some things that I unfortunately had to do with some health issues with some family members.

But so I didn't go, I didn't get to do a thing that I wanted to do while I was out and no, I'm not quite ready to tell you exactly yet.

Well, I'm going to tell you, it's going to come out in the story.

So I didn't go drive this car.

I did go see it, but we had a time point so I couldn't drive.

And so that led to a conversation with my wife and I about why I wanted a manual so much.

So now I got to think about why I want a manual so much for two hours.

And I just told you how I got in trouble with that.

And I kept coming to this thing, man.

And then I thought about a little bit more.

I spoke with a couple other people this week.

I still want a manual car.

I don't know if I want to keep it.

We've had this conversation for a while.

I was like, I don't know if this is an itch.

I want to scratch one last time.

Or this is the car.

It's just going to be in the garage until my grandson is on the next drive.

And he's going to be the last kid old enough to drive a manual.

That knows how to drive a manual because I'm definitely going to teach him.

Or, and I had this epiphany earlier this week.

Am I searching for an old experience or a new experience in this midlife crisis of mine?

And it's kind of confusing me.

So I'll tell you what I was going to go drive.

And I'll tell you how that went.

So one thing, things that I want in this car is I want it to be comfortable.

I enjoy comfort.

I enjoy premium to luxury experiences.

And I wanted a manual and there's only like two cars that really fit this.

That I go and bill it in the price point that I want to be.

So I look down there and they have a Mazda Mazda 3 manual.

They have two of them in Motor Beach.

First of all, no, I had three of them when I first looked.

First of all, it's rare to see a dealership with one of them in my area.

And they had three of them.

And so I was going to go down and see it.

The money wasn't really an issue because everything fit.

And it's just the car, the one that I preferred was sold by the time I got there.

And it was only this great one left with red interior, which you would have,

which I didn't bother me, didn't bother me, but it would bother you.

But I was thinking, I was like, this car checks all the boxes.

So why am I having such a, I have the money.

Why am I having such a hard time doing this?

Why is this bothering me so much?

And I think I can't, I was, again, I was thinking and talking to people,

it's definitely like, do I want an old experience with a manual compact car,

which is my favorite kind of car, which this car, that car didn't check one box.

It's a hatchback and you're the hatchback guy and I'm more of a sedan dude.

But I'm not kicking it out of bed for eating crackers.

But I came to this point where I have a hard time getting by,

which is why we're talking about it here.

Do I want a new experience or do I want to be nostalgic with an old experience?

And I say that is, I was running down the cars because I asked somebody else this question.

I was running down the cars in my head and things that I've owned.

I've never actually owned a sports car because the car that I've owned the Skyline,

but it was the four door turbo.

Right, not really a sports car.

I've driven the turbo as a coupe, but it really wasn't my car.

It was fun.

And I didn't own one of the pre-loos.

I had a Civic and I had all these other things, but I never actually owned a sports car.

I've never truly owned, because I wouldn't say that car was really fast,

because I was surrounded by cars around me that were faster.

I've never actually owned a fast car either.

I just drove slow cars fast, which is the better way.

Agreed.

The type of car that I've really never owned is I think it's the car that I appreciated more,

which is the sleeper.

One thing about me is I never really wanted to drive,

even though I appreciated what everybody else was driving.

I always wanted to drive something different.

I wanted to drive something that was special to me.

You didn't have to know what was under the hood or in the trunk or none of that stuff.

It just needed to be special to me.

Right.

So sleepers always had this place in them.

I was like, I've never actually owned a sleeper.

The car that nobody saw coming.

Name a sleeper car out there right now.

What is a sleeper car right now?

I don't know.

In the newest, in the newest, because you know, I don't mind getting a used car,

but in the modern times, which sleeper car?

Okay.

Bold statement coming.

Bold statement.

I think the closest thing to a modern sleeper we have is a minivan.

I need to, I need, I need to understand.

Here you do.

You spend this.

I got because, because right now current minivans are pretty stinking fast.

They've got 300 plus horsepower.

You had to spend a lot of money when we were coming up and not midlife crisis.

You had to spend a lot of money for 300 horsepower out of the box for

off a dealership lot.

And now they put them in minivans.

And now it's common in a minivan.

So if you're wanting the, the, the butt dyno feel of a 300 horsepower

front wheel drive burnout from your younger days,

you could just buy a minivan and scratch that itch as you put it.

Yeah.

But I think what, what I have noticed driving a manual for the last two,

two and a half years between the two volts wagons that I've had manuals in

now, what I still matter to you about the first one's like for the record,

I am still upset with you.

I get it.

So what I notice regularly is I do have moments where I have a physical

connection through the experience of driving the manual.

Like it, it transports me somehow back to my younger days of rowing gears

and my terrible Saturn.

Right.

And just that was amazing.

I will not take, we will not.

The last few minutes.

But, but I mean, you do get that nostalgic feel.

So I don't disagree with you about that.

I'll give that some validity and say, yes, that's accurate.

But I think it's also a new experience because there are days where I'm driving

that car and I had a lot more speeding tickets as a young man.

Just a couple.

Right.

Just a couple.

But I also spent many a day worried I was going to get a speeding ticket.

Yeah.

I'm now at the age where I don't worry about it constantly.

Yeah, I'll probably still get one and my wife will shoot me and I'll have to

sleep in the car.

Shoot you.

That's not personal enough.

But it doesn't, it doesn't like it doesn't threaten my life the way it did

when I was a young man.

You know what I mean?

So, so I think I just view it differently now.

And so I drive the car with a little bit more of a sense of freedom now

than I used to.

And so I think I also have a new experience in the car versus what I did.

Plus, plus now I can buy good tires.

You know, I can fill up whenever I want.

I'm not like, I don't have enough money to fill up.

So I got to stay at the house this week.

You know, you know, all those things like if you know, you know, you know, you

know, and so, so I do just drive it with a little bit more freedom and

enjoyment now, which is a new experience.

So I think it's both.

I think you get both, which is what I'm trying to say.

You get new experiences, but you also get those old experiences you get to

relive and there's not been a day now if we're going somewhere as a family

unit and we need to buy something that takes up a lot of space, then yes,

we're not taking the Volkswagen.

We're taking the truck or one of the Land Cruisers that has more room and capacity,

but haven't had a manual for two and a half years and driving in Atlanta and

Charlotte and Raleigh and Greenville, South Carolina and Columbia and every

back road in between, you know, I haven't had traffic where I was just like,

God, I wish I'd have never got a manual.

I haven't.

I still like it.

I'm not put off by it.

Now other people might be, but I'm not.

I still am like, yep, don't regret this decision.

I'm so glad I have a manual again.

I understand you.

This is the weirdest place that I'm in.

I'm going to tell you two cars that I looked at before we got to the

spark.

And before I decide, oh, I had to do, I'm trying to resurrect a dryer at the

same time.

I'm going to tell you two cars that I looked at and actually both of them in

North Carolina.

So I did my search again because the Mazda three that the manual that I was

looking at was red and to be honest, before my wife asked me that question

and I heard her this time.

In our reality, that was the car.

I don't necessarily need or want a turbo car.

I wanted to still be comfortable.

I wanted to still be manual, but I still want to have all the modern features

and stuff.

So that car just hit all the clip, hit all the boxes on the other car that

kind of hit up, hit all those, I clicked all those boxes and was in the

budget that I wanted to stay in was the Acura Integra Aspect manual.

But now we're dealing with the turbo car again, which I don't really care

about the turbo car part.

And the Acura does that because it's a nicer car than the Civic, even though

the Civic had a bad car.

I think for you though, I think the Civic Si is a better fit with a manual

because it's a sedan and the Integra is a hatch.

It is, but it looks like a snare.

Yeah.

But honestly, I think if you bought the Civic, you'd be happier with it than

the Integra.

I may be the other.

But at the same time, I say not that I really care about people looking at me.

I'm like, man, I'm about to be a 50 year old driving a Civic.

This is weird.

I'm a 45 year old driving a Golf.

I don't care.

My happiness is more valuable to me than other people's opinions.

Correct.

Another car that kind of fit in this same space.

Probably, well, I can't say probably it's not as nice as the WRX.

Yeah.

I sleep on the WRX because they just don't offer a wagon.

If they just offered a wagon.

Yeah.

Dude, I'd be all about it.

I'm here with you.

I understand.

I think again, like everybody with some sense, there should be a wagon WRX.

They missed a bus on that one.

But explain to me how I am comparing and I'll have them both open at the same time.

Of 2026 Mazda Mazda 3, which is a horrible name, preferred.

Preferred manual red, which is in Wilmington because I found one in Wilmington to a black 2021

Chrysler 300 S with 55,000 miles on it in Greensboro.

I don't know because that Chrysler don't have a manual.

No, it doesn't.

But everybody, everybody knows chargers with V8.

They just think the Chrysler 300 is an older car.

That's just as fast most of the time.

But to be fair, it is an older car.

It is an older car.

I'm on the verge of being an older.

But at the same time, it almost both cars feel like me at the same time.

I do not think you should get a Chrysler.

That was just the car I was looking at today.

I mean, I looked at Lexus LS's.

I looked at Lexus GS's.

Just like, do I want the big sedan that's a sleeper car?

The car that's faster than most people think and as comfortable the way I want it to be with recently modern tech?

Or do I want to be more youthful with the manual?

I don't know.

As much as I appreciate like sports cars, I'd be honest.

I don't know if I ever have a sports car.

That never really felt like me.

You need to buy a Lexus, any sedan Lexus sales with an F in the title.

Oh, yeah, I looked at them.

That's what you need.

That's what you need because you get your VA, you get the sleeper status.

You get your luxury, you get your comfort and you don't get all the problems that come with buying a Chrysler 300.

Like blown engines or bad transmissions or being pulled over by the cops constantly because you crossed an intersection and they thought,

is he crossing it or is he trying to take it over?

I'm telling you just buy Lexus with an F and you're good.

Also, I have a confession or acknowledgement for you.

Completely off subject.

So I was in North Carolina for a bit, you know, went up to Fayetteville, I see my son and then I went to see 45 Banseron house.

You were in Myrtle Beach.

Oh, at Thanksgiving?

No, I thought you, no, you weren't in Myrtle Beach for Christmas.

No.

Anyway, so we were up there.

So you were 45 minutes from the house.

That is not 45 minutes from your house.

It is 45 minutes from my house.

Is it 45 minutes from your house?

All right, yell at me later.

So Marquis took me to a Charlotte Hornets game.

So I probably drove, I did drive by Asheville.

I saw the sign.

We had a time, we had time limit.

He got off at three.

We had to be at, we had to be, you know, the game started at seven and then we were driving back because I had to be in Myrtle Beach the next day.

I'm sorry.

Wait a minute.

You drive close.

You drive by me all the time.

And I call you every single time.

Or I stopped by unannounced.

That's not the point.

Why are we talking about me right now?

Why are you making this about me?

I'm trying to make this about Ultimus.

Oh, oh, oh, did you learn something in North Carolina?

There is a distinctly different thing between a North Carolina ultimate and a South Carolina ultimate, I think.

Did you have this conversation with your son?

We actually did have this conversation.

And did he back my play?

We every ultimate that we drove by was damaged.

All of them.

No matter how new it looked, it looked from one angle, there was damage on it.

What are you guys doing?

What is going on in North Carolina?

Well, we only sell them to people named Cinnamon.

In the comedy world, folks, that's called a callback.

So, so, yeah, so I don't know what we're doing except for the fact that there is.

And there's probably some sort of like Harvard Medical School study being conducted on this that they probably received like $4 billion in grants for.

But I suspect my hypothesis is that there is a direct correlation.

I mean, matched perfect correlation between the level of your driving ability and your credit score.

Hmm.

I don't know if I don't know if I agree with the results of this is being not a study, because I know people who had horrible credit scores.

Again, in your area.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Well, one of them.

Let me back up.

I don't have a name that sounds like we'll we'll Branford.

Let me back up.

Well, I would say my driving got better as my credit score went up.

They probably increased incrementally together.

So, so let me just say this too.

I much like I like to say, right, because you know, everybody knows I'm not an Apple fan.

I'm an Android guy.

I'm here with you.

So green bucks.

So I like to say I don't own an iPhone because I'm not a 15 year old girl.

And then I backed that up with I'm not saying that every person who owns an iPhone is a 15 year old girl.

But what I am saying is that every 15 year old girl owns an iPhone.

Right.

So much like that same statement is a blanket statement and racist and true.

It is also true that not every low credit score person is a bad driver.

And an ultimate driver, but an every ultimate driver is a bad driver and has a low credit score.

That's what I'm saying.

You there may be some truth to that statement.

But either way, North Carolina and Nissan has a horrible relationship.

I don't know what I don't know if it's horrible because it's got to be good for the Nissan dealerships and the body shops, but we will say it is an abusive relationship.

I agree.

I was we were legitimately driving.

And it was like, even when we were in Charlotte, we were the worst.

We were in Charlotte.

We were in Fayetteville.

We drove through the country to get there.

And I was like, is there a whole Nissan Altima?

I mean, they're not rare.

That's the other thing.

There's literally thousands of them and they're all damaged.

Yeah, I don't get it.

It's weird.

But I guess the, I guess the, I guess the whole point of this conversation is, is like, dude, I think I'm going through a midlife price.

As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I am.

And I don't know.

Exactly.

And how I know I am is I am looking at two completely different cars that are almost opposite ends of the spectrum.

And I see myself in both.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's, I mean, look, I, like I said, I literally have that thought regularly.

And to the point of, I have seen a few newer Camaros and been like, I've seen myself driving that.

And I would never buy Camaro ever.

But I would, when we were, when we were going through the process with Fayette's car, they had a, an SS there, a white SS there that was, I think I don't have like 9,000 miles on it.

And I was looking at that car.

I was like, I could, I can see myself in that.

I can really see myself.

I can do it.

I think I can pull that off.

But yeah, man, I just, I think that's also an indicator of the whole midlife thing is that you just, you're, you're looking at the world around you with a different perspective.

You start thinking, what more am I going to get out of this before the clock runs out?

And so you look at everything a little bit different.

Would I buy that car?

It'd be fun to have that car.

I'd enjoy that car for a little while.

Yep.

And then also at the same time, I'm driving this, the CX-5 on a daily basis.

And I'm completely satisfied with it too.

I don't know who I am anymore.

I need an intervention.

I need something.

I think now I'm not, I'm not a licensed anything really.

But I would argue that if you are keenly aware, you need an intervention that negates you from actually needing an intervention.

Possibly true.

Or does it, just because you're aware of a thing doesn't mean that you are qualified to deal with it.

Well, I mean, that's true, but let me tell you how I had a daughter once upon a time, 21 years ago.

And I thought I was, I was ready to be the father of a daughter.

I'm not 21 years later.

And you, you are halfway to where I am right now.

And bro, I, if you think you have gray hair now.

Oh, I'm so not ready.

Dude, I'm so not ready.

Just wait to the, the one day when she brings this, this boy home and she's like, oh, this is my boyfriend.

And you like, first of all, I didn't authorize that.

And second of all, what is that?

I don't, this is, this is what qualifies as a boyfriend.

What, what, what is this thing?

Well, so, you know, just, just for our listeners out there, in case you haven't picked up on it or heard us mention anything that references our age, we are of a certain age, as Stanley said earlier.

We, we are of a different generation than most and, and, you know, Stanley's kids are, for the most part, they are appropriately aged relative to his age.

My child, on the other hand, has much older parents than the majority of her friend groups.

So, so her friends.

Right.

Her friends have completely different reference material to base their life experience off of.

So a few, a few weeks back is a couple months ago now, I was having lunch at school with my daughter and we were eating outside.

So normally you don't sit with the class.

You just sit with your kid, but we were having lunch outside and everybody was together.

And this was for Anna's birthday back in November.

And, and, and so we, I had brought some like cookies and, you know, we were handing out cookies and, and so Anna and I were having lunch together and her table had some of her friend group at it, of which there were a couple of boys at that table.

One of which, you know, has a little thing for Anna.

And, and so.

You should have burned them with fire right there.

So, so somebody made it one of the other little girls at the table.

She got her little boyfriend sitting with her.

And, and they said something about it or whatever.

And I just said, basically the comment I made was, yeah, the first boy that shows up at my house better really be comfortable with hard manual labor.

Because I'm going to make him dig all the holes for all the other boys.

And the boys at the table didn't get the reference.

But one of them did.

You know, one, one boy got it.

And he was like, I don't think you're allowed to say that at school.

And to which I just turned and looked at him and was like, the people at this school that would have a problem with me saying it, they'll fit in a hole too.

And, and it shut him up real quick.

And I think all them boys right then and there decided she's off limits.

Yeah, I mean, that probably is way more that probably is way more legal to burn them or fire.

And then that'd be the cool story that goes that follows her through school.

Yeah.

But I mean, I do, I was there when a young lady that I know that I went to school with.

And when her father showed up at school and found her boyfriend that she didn't have.

And, and that was, that was an eventful day.

That was an eventful day.

That's, that's, yeah.

So yeah, I think that might be where I'm heading.

Yeah, so I got two last things.

It is the first one is not a consequence of the conversation is Jay Leno made a video with I forgot who and to have my one of my favorite your favorite movie car about your favorite movie car.

The race.

Dude, that video.

Yeah, I saw that video.

It was crazy.

It popped up on my feed.

I didn't.

Who is that?

Who owns that car?

Who is that in the car?

I, I don't forgot who it is now because it's been a while since I saw that video.

But it is an actor, comedian, comedian, actor, comedic actor.

It's getting late.

My words are struggling.

But I can't remember who it is.

I might have to pull the video up now just to refresh my memory.

But yeah, I saw it and they drove the car and the car is like, his goal is to make the car, you know, somewhat usable again.

But the car is a joke.

Yeah.

I mean the movie, the whole movie was a joke.

It was, but that, that made it awesome.

We were talking about that earlier this week too.

And buy some movies from our.

Oh, not an actor, not an actor, comedian, full on comedian, Jeff Dunham, the guy who does all the puppets.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, see, I just made me like Jeff Dunham even more.

But that, that, that movie, The Wraith is in my category of movies that we don't need a sequel to.

We don't need a remake.

It should just, it needs to stay where it is and live in nostalgia because everything.

You know what?

I'll be, I'll be honest with you.

I'm okay with if The Wraith goes the way of.

No.

Goes the way of Sinbad, the movie.

Remember that movie?

Wasn't that was it?

Shazam.

No.

Yeah.

Shazam.

It was a shazam.

Yep.

Was Sinbad.

The one with Shaq or the one, or the one with Sinbad.

The one with Sinbad.

I think that one was Shazam.

Yeah.

But people say that movie doesn't exist.

That that's like, what do they call it?

Like, um.

Oh, no.

It is.

It's a shazam.

Cause we think it's shazam, but it's a shazam.

Yeah.

So I'm okay if The Wraith becomes one of those where people say it doesn't exist, but there's

a few people that are like, no, no, no.

I remember it existed.

You know, like the Monopoly guy's monocle.

What are those things called?

A monocle.

I mean, sure.

No.

It's, what is it when it's called Mandela effect?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Mandela effect.

Like Mickey Mouse had suspenders.

And then they say, no, no, no, he never had suspenders, but it's like, I think he had

suspenders when I was a kid.

Like those things are all Mandela effects.

Also, um, the ventures of Baron Munchausen, uh, was discussed for an hour.

What?

Google it.

You've seen the movie when you were a kid.

Baron Munchausen.

Um, and the last little bit is, and I'm a, I'm a shut up because it's already an hour

about me and my midlife crisis and bill about going through his midlife price and maybe

already being in there because according to the Google's midlife crisis is, uh, range

in age from 40 to 60 and often triggered by the realization of mortality and life

that's, uh, well, I said 40 to 55.

So I wouldn't all far from what Google says.

And, uh, so it all comes back and all comes out of this.

Small mail, big sleeper.

I don't know what, I don't know what to do.

Somebody help me.

Somebody email somebody, somebody message somebody.

Uh, I'll put a poll on this one and some, somebody help me make a decision because

I can't do it on my own.

I'm not, I think I'm too adult to do it on my own right now.

Too adult.

Cause I mean, you know, for me, buying cars have always been a, what is, what's

going to work well for the family?

For 31 years, man, you got to put all that aside and just buy for you.

Buy for you.

You, you, you wait, give, give it 10 years and wait to Anna is in college or

something somewhere and you, and you and Kendra are walking around the house and

looking at each other's like, I don't know what to do.

I don't know what we should do right now.

I don't know what to do with my hands.

I'm on fire.

Uh, listen, I, I would, you know, back when I was buying the golf R, there was a

consideration to buy an S 2000 and one of the biggest factors in not buying the

S 2000, other than the fact that the guy who has it was wanting more money

than I was willing to pay for it.

Outside of that, we never really negotiated hard on it because I knew that

having two seats would pose a problem.

Yep.

And it was similar to that.

Having down because we have, we, we, we always, one thing that we have held to

is we want to downsize.

We don't need, we don't want a five bedroom house anymore.

We don't want a minivan in the garage in the driveway anymore.

We don't, we want a smaller house.

We want to change the way our life works.

And then we have, and the next sentence is, but what if, you know,

What if y'all, what if y'all have three more kids?

No, so the thing about kids is, and fortunately and unfortunately you don't

have more than one is they all come back at some point.

But they're not supposed to.

They're not supposed to.

We didn't, we, we didn't.

You and I did not.

All pretty much, pretty much everybody else.

We know D there's where we're messing up.

We didn't want to go back.

Correct.

We may get too inviting to go back.

Yep.

And that was one of the, that was one of the points is if we only have a

three bedroom house, then they can all come back.

Get a two bedroom house and buy, buy two cars that only have two seats

in them and travel constantly, always be gone, but learn to like it.

Because if you're not home and the doors are all locked, guess what?

They can't come visit and stay for a month.

They got it.

They got the code to the door.

Don't give them a code.

It's all fixable.

It's kind of like the conversation we're having before this.

That's right.

It's all fixable.

It's a matter of drawing a line and walking away from it.

And on that note, ladies and gentlemen, I am still conflicted, but we will end

this episode.

Well, midlife, midlife crisis or not.

I love you brother.

I love you too.

And it's coming for you.

It's coming.

I'm aware.

I hear that train are coming.

It's coming on to the end.

There is an old Ford Bronco in your future.

Yeah.

It's coming.

Yep.

Good night, y'all.

Good night, everybody.

Mid Life Confusion

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