My Car Guru Podcast Nov 18, 2025

Miscellaneous ramblings: A crazy, fun, sad and enlightening day of a newly minted 69 year old car guru

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22:53

Term

T-boned

T-boning is when one car hits another car on its side, making a shape like the letter 'T'. It's a dangerous type of accident because the side of a car has less protection than the front or back.

Car

Chevy truck

A Chevy truck is a pickup truck made by Chevrolet, a popular American car manufacturer. This particular truck is from the year 2005, which means it is an older model but may still be in good condition with low mileage.

Term

insurance company

An insurance company helps people pay for damages or losses, like car accidents. They decide how much money you get if your car is damaged.

Car

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is a fancy sports car that has been around for a long time, and it's famous for being really fast and fun to drive. People talk about it because it's not just a car; it's a piece of automotive history that many car lovers admire.

Term

39 inch screen

A 39 inch screen is a large display in a car that shows maps, music, and other information. It's bigger than most screens in cars today, making it easier to see everything.

Term

automated driving

Automated driving means that the car can drive itself without you having to control it. This technology is being developed to make driving safer and easier.

LIVE

Hey folks, Lenny Lawson here, The Car Guru and I just had an interesting day with another

car guru and that's my brother.

My brother, we both have a career to start with the word car.

Mine is car salesman and his is cardiologist.

His took a little bit more training than mine did, but I think mine was more fun.

But that being said, we had a good time.

He drove up from where he lives, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and we just spent one of his retirement days.

See, I don't have that luxury.

I still work, but he was a cardiologist, so that makes sense.

But anyway, we had an interesting day, interesting because we went to lunch.

We went to the Mennonite store and they have incredible food there.

And so we decided the sun was out, it was warm, their picnic table's out there.

Let's have a picnic.

So that's what we did.

We're sitting here chomping on our chicken wings and okra, fried okra.

And we look over and there's this guy rolling up to us.

When I say rolling up, literally, he was in a wheelchair.

He was an amputee, his right leg was gone, overgrowth of beard, and didn't look real clean.

And as he was getting closer, he was asking me for something, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.

And what he was saying, he needed to borrow my cell phone.

And I said, well, what do you need my cell phone for?

He said, because I need to call a taxi to take me up to this hotel up here.

And I said, okay, well, what's the number?

He had a business card, so I dialed the number for him, handed him my phone.

And the guy said it was going to be two or three hours before he could pick him up, if he would ever pick him up.

And I looked at my brother and I said, okay, I'm going to call up at Green Outdoor, which is my outdoor business,

and get one of the guys to bring the shop truck down here.

We'll load up his wheelchair and we'll take him to the hotel.

So I made the phone call.

Here comes my employee.

We load him up, take him to the hotel.

I said, I'll meet you at the hotel because my brother and I agreed.

Let's just go ahead and buy him a few days or a week in the hotel.

And so we get to the hotel.

The doors are locked.

I said, can you open the door?

You know, they have this little, it's almost like one of those little pass-throughs that you would see at a ticket window.

I guess they have some interesting characters come up and want to check in.

But this was like around lunchtime.

I thought that was weird.

But he unlocked the door and I said, could we get a room for this gentleman?

He said, no, no room for him.

I said, what's the problem?

He said, he broke rules.

And so he didn't speak English really well, as you can tell.

I was trying to imitate his accent.

And so he broke rules, burned bridges there.

I said, so he went back out and said, okay, they won't let you stay here.

He said, I've got cash.

And I said, I don't think that matters.

Where else do you want to go?

So he named another hotel.

So we loaded him back up, took him to the other hotel.

He's banned from that hotel as well.

So I'm seeing a pattern here.

So my poor employee, I said, okay, let's take him to one more hotel.

And then let's take him to where a lot of the homeless people get food and such.

So he went to the other hotel, banned, went to the food place and, yep, banned.

So apparently this guy was quite the character.

I guess one of the things that really got to me at first was he rolls up when he rolled up the first time.

He said, are you Lenny Lawson?

I said, yes.

He said, I used to work for you.

And we talked about that.

I'm sorry, but I didn't remember him.

But that kind of got to me a little bit.

So that's what started the whole journey.

I think it ended at Walmart.

That's where he wanted to go.

So we took him to Walmart, dropped him off and I have no idea what's going to happen with that person.

You know, this homeless situation.

I mean, we're just a small town in East Tennessee.

And it's, it's, I don't know if it's out of control, but it's not good.

And I don't know what the answer is to it because, you know, of the behaviors that some of these folks have.

I think some of them just prefer it.

Is that being judgmental that they just prefer to live outside and borrow or bum money from other people?

I don't know.

Maybe it's just that total lack of any type of responsibility or accountability.

Who knows?

Maybe that's what got him there in the first place.

But I pray for that person and for all the homeless people that, that especially as the weather gets colder.

So anyway, that was an interesting way to start my brotherly visit.

But after that, my brother and I went and sat down at my house and we just talked about life and what's going on with their families.

He's the one with 15 grandchildren.

He had four children and 15 grandchildren and I have, I had three children and six grandchildren.

And I think I enjoy my management situation a little bit better.

It's less intrusive.

I do feel sorry for people who never get to see their grandkids where they live in a, you know, across the country or something.

We moved here from West Virginia.

We lived across the river from my grandparents and we lived there for nine years, I think.

And then we never lived very far from them.

But then we were moving to Tennessee and I know it broke their hearts.

So I feel for you and I'm grateful that mine just lived one mile and seven miles away.

And that's, and then the other one lives up in Cincinnati area.

And we don't get to see him much.

We used to see him a lot until he got a girlfriend.

Okay, I'm going to take my first break.

I'll be back in just a minute.

Okay, I am back.

So my 17 year old grandson, who is a junior.

So I think he's an old junior.

I was 17 in college.

So anyway, he's 17.

Junior already had one accident, car accident or truck accident.

He was in one of those situations where, okay, somebody is sitting in their car and there's a space between them.

And they see my grandson trying to approach from the left, trying to move over a lane to get into a turn lane, which is to this driver's right.

And so he just, he waves my grandson on over.

And as soon as my grandson gets into that other lane, bam, he gets T boned in the door of his 2005 Chevy truck with 12,000 miles on it that I gave him.

And the insurance company wanted to total it.

But because of what they thought it was worth, you know, because it was a 2005, but it was like a brand new 2005 truck.

The guy that bought it always kept it in the garage, never drove it.

And I sold it when it was new back in 2005 and it was just worth more than that.

So I paid the difference between, you know, what the insurance would pay and what the actual bill was.

But that, that being said, my grandson's already had one accident.

God forbid he doesn't have any more.

And he's wanting to drive from just barely south of Cincinnati, 272 miles to Greenville, Tennessee for Thanksgiving over the Thanksgiving holiday.

You know, and I really want to see him.

And my wife really wants to see him and his cousins want to see him.

But I'm sorry, I said, no, I said, you are not driving.

You know what he said?

Then I'm not coming.

Now we have always done a handoff in Somerset, Kentucky.

That's about a halfway point between what he lives in Burlington, Kentucky and Greenville, Tennessee.

That's about halfway.

And so we've always met and handed the little boy off.

He's not a little boy anymore.

And he's independent minded and does have a girlfriend now.

And he just feels that he can make that drive safely himself.

And he probably can.

But I'm sorry.

That's just a twisty road.

It's four lane all the way, but it's just not a safe drive.

And the way traffic is and the holiday weekend, am I wrong?

I mean, I just don't understand.

I do understand his wanting to do it.

I just hope he understands why I don't want him to do it.

I wish he would relent, but I don't know if he's going to.

He lives with his other grandparents.

And I think that he's been worried a little bit and just feeling a little guilty.

So maybe it'll get to him before next week and things will work out.

But I mean, we have to think about it as parents and grandparents.

There's a lot of grandparents raising their grandchildren, unfortunately.

But as parents, when you got teenagers like that, just how much freedom are you going to give them?

And just what a detriment the cell phone is to their safety.

We give them cell phones, I guess, too early so that we can communicate with them.

It makes our life easier to know exactly where kids are so that they can contact us after football practice

or basketball or ballet, whatever.

And we use that cell phone, that real early age cell phone, I think is taking advantage of technology

and allowing us to, like I say, know where they are all the time and track them.

We think we can control what they're seeing.

You can't.

She may not have things on her cell phone, but their friends do.

You know, my nephew, Max Lawson, the third, my dad was Max Lawson.

My brother's Max Lawson, and so this is number three.

And he's my general sales manager.

He does a great job.

And he decided, well, his children aren't getting cell phones until they're 18.

And I said, you know, Max, that's different compared to society as a whole.

I said, you do realize that he's seeing stuff on his friend's cell phones when he goes to spend a night.

Stuff like, yeah, I understand that, but he's not going to have a cell phone that's going to distract him while he's driving.

And that's just a line in the sand that they have drawn.

Now, they did give him an Apple Watch, so they know where he is.

They can actually make calls to him.

He can call them if he's close enough to a cell tower.

They're not as powerful as an iPhone or, I guess, an Android device as far as the antenna is concerned.

So it's a little bit limited, but it allows him to do what he needs to do.

How many students do you know that are in high school that don't have a cell phone?

I mean, he says he's the only one in the entire high school that doesn't have a cell phone.

You tell me, would high schools function better if none of them had cell phones?

You know, what if they have a big shoot-up at the high school?

Well, that's rare, and I understand that it does happen.

That's the excuse, folks, that I've heard.

I don't know what you've heard, but I don't think they should have cell phones.

I think it's a big mistake.

I think my two daughters are going to rein that in.

They're going to use the Max Lawson strategy.

I think I really do.

I think it's worked out well for them.

And I think it's a huge distraction in the car.

It is for you.

I guarantee most of you that are listening to this text when you drive.

Not some of you don't, but most of you do.

Admit it.

I can tell.

I can tell by the way you're listening.

My wife, if I even hint, like she's in the passenger seat, I'm in the driver's seat.

If I even hint that I'm getting ready to look at my phone to either start a podcast

or to read a text or something, she's grabbing for it.

She's telling me to do that, and she's 100% right.

So what I'm asking you today as a listener to the My Car Guru is to start using your brain

and stop using your cell phone when you're driving in a car.

In any way, you'd be better off opening your trunk, throwing it in there.

The world is not going to end if your kids or your husband or your granny can't get in touch with you.

See, that's the way my kids think.

If dad doesn't answer a text or a phone call, I mean, it's like call 911.

What's happened?

Of course, when you have a big shock in your life like we had and a life-altering shock,

then, yeah, your antennae go up.

You tend to worry about things a little bit more.

And maybe if they have a cell phone, then maybe you'll worry a little bit less.

But I'm telling you, you probably need to worry more if they have a cell phone

because of what they're saying and experiencing and how it's impacting their lives.

It's a terrible problem in my business.

And I know it is with a lot of businesses about just the share of mind that you don't get from your employees

because they're on their phones.

I mean, they haven't propped up in their office, on their desk.

I see salespeople out there on the lot.

If there's no customers out there that are not weighing anybody, they're on their cell phone.

They're not trying to expand their product knowledge, do any prospecting or anything like that.

No, they're just watching Fox News or CNN or some shocking video on YouTube.

And, you know, there's nothing good there.

There's nothing that's going to benefit them, enhance their life, make them smarter,

make them really more informed.

I don't need to know what's going on in Washington anymore.

I eliminated the Fox News app and the CNN app and the AP app, Associated Press.

What else did I have?

BBC.

I mean, I was just a news addict.

I'd get up out of bed.

First thing I'd do, okay, Fox News, CNN.

You know, I want to see what the opposing views look like.

And I would be on that phone and not talking to my wife and not reading something productive,

not doing Bible study, just involved in that stupid phone.

And it's tearing this society apart.

I truly believe that.

Oh, Lenny, you live in a utopia.

No, well, I don't know if it's a utopia.

We did fine for many years without cell phones.

My wife knew not to call unless it was an emergency.

She did call.

I knew something important was going on.

I needed to answer it.

They would page me.

Or if I wasn't there, they'd just write it down on a note, put it on my desk.

Now, heck fire.

My phone knows where I'm going before I even get in the car because it knows what time it is.

And it knows that, well, Lenny usually goes home this time.

So I'm just going to go ahead and when he gets in the car, there'll be a map that appears on his dash.

I'm serious.

That says or that shows him how to get home.

And I know how to get home from my office.

I've done it a few times.

And when I get into my truck in the morning, up comes a map how to get to work.

There it is.

And it gives me alternate routes.

I've taken all of them.

I know how to get there.

Now BMW just announced that they've got this new car coming out and it has a 39 inch screen.

So basically it goes all the way across the dashboard.

And if you're in your house on Amazon and watching Prime Video, like watching a show on Prime Video.

So it's all done through your phone anyway.

If you have the app on your phone, you get into your car and you're driving to work and you get stopped in traffic.

Or you have to stop at a store, have to wait on something, whatever.

As long as you're stopped, up comes the movie where it left off at your house.

And so you can continue watching the movie until you put it back in, drive and take off.

And then it shut off because the manufacturers don't want to take responsibility for you watching movies while you're going down the road.

Now when we have full automation, automated driving, you know, when the car does all the work at some point,

you know, we can just do whatever we want to do when we're going down the road.

We don't have to pay attention.

The car will get us where we want to go.

Does that sound good to you?

Now to a lot of you people, yeah, that sounds great.

I can take a nap.

I can catch up on the latest news.

I can work on my book report or my business plan.

I can do anything I want to do while I'm going down the road.

I can make that productive time.

Really?

Do we need that much more productive time?

Don't we need to escape every now and then?

See, that's what I see driving as.

I mean, I just soon drive at the radio off and just the thought time is valuable to me.

But I'm not like everybody.

Like my wife says, people are different.

And maybe that kind of thing appeals to you.

I just read a recent study by JD Powers.

It says that it's definitely a generational thing that younger people could give a rip about driving.

They just want to stay connected all the time.

And if they if they can avoid putting their hands on the steering wheel and going down the road, then that's great with them.

However, then you get up into the not necessarily well, baby boomers are all kind of fading away like me.

But the generation X before me and then and then whatever my daughters are and that screwed up generation and the ones before them.

This or after them the Z those are the ones addicted to technology.

Of course, my daughter's generation is too.

They just cannot be separated from that phone.

So basically the car is an extension of the phone except it will go down the road.

And that's what that's what everybody's headed to as far as automaking.

It's not about the driving experience.

At some point they will stop worrying about how a car handles because you won't be handling it.

Now they probably still be concerned about ride quality.

But they won't be concerned about safety, you know, because cars won't run into each other.

Now that would be good.

I think that that's a lofty goal right there.

And the forecasters truly believe that all these cars will be going down the road maintaining equidistance between them.

They were all obeyed the speed limit.

Nobody's going to go faster or slower than the speed limit and nobody's going to be watching the road because it won't matter.

And cars won't run into each other.

And, you know, at a traffic light, it'll all be sequenced.

Matter of fact, there won't be any traffic lights because when you come to the intersection, cars will go when there's a spot.

I mean, imagine that that'll be just utter that'll look like utter chaos, but there won't be any traffic lights because the cars will communicate with each other.

And it'll be a timed thing could be frightening.

I guess if they do that, maybe they need curtains on cars so you won't have to watch what's happening.

Okay, I'll be back in one minute.

Okay, I'm back.

Well, thanks for listening to this edition of My Car Guru.

I know it was one of those miscellaneous rambling editions, but it was just a weird day.

I'm glad I got to be with my brother.

I'm glad we attempted to help this homeless person.

I learned a little bit about what hotels and motels go through trying to deal with these folks.

And it's a problem that I don't know if it's solvable, but I'll do anything I can in my capacity as a business owner to help.

I think that's what we're called to do.

We're called to be servants of our fellow men, but in many cases you try, you try to help and they just almost make it impossible.

But one thing that's not impossible and that's for us to be a little bit more diligent with our cell phones and how we interact and how we let our kids use their phones

and how soon we give them phones when it comes to their separation from us as parents because it's happening.

And I'm experiencing that right now and it's sad and it's something I have to pray about a lot.

My wife does too and just have faith that they'll make good decisions and that they'll be careful.

I'll miss my grandson on Thanksgiving, but sometimes you just have to take a stand and we did.

Well, thanks for listening. Again, if you need me for any reason, text me 423-552-2020 and go ahead and ask me for the My Car Guru guidebook.

Send me your email address and I'll send you a PDF of the guidebook or if you don't use PDFs and computers and cell phones, then you can call the operator here at Gateway Ford.

423-639-5151 and ask for a written cut.

Well, I'll print it out. I'm not going to handwrite it and I'll mail it to you. How's that?

Well, thanks again and I'll see you next time.

0:00

22:53

Miscellaneous ramblings: A crazy, fun, sad and enlightening day of a newly minted 69 year old car guru

T-boned

Chevy truck

insurance company

Porsche 911

39 inch screen

automated driving

About this episode

Original notes