Route 66 is a legendary U.S. road known for classic road trips. The hosts mention it because the event’s route is tied to that same “drive and explore” spirit.
The Jeep Cherokee is an SUV model by Jeep. Here, the hosts use it as an example of what it costs to buy a similar vehicle today compared with owning an older one.
A heated steering wheel is a steering wheel that warms up so your hands feel less cold. In this discussion, it’s mentioned as an example of an add-on feature that can push you into a more expensive package.
“Subscription options” means some car features may require a recurring payment to use. The idea is that you might pay extra after buying the car just to keep certain features working.
Right to repair is the principle that car owners should be able to get their cars fixed by independent mechanics, not only the dealership. It’s about having access to the parts and information needed for repairs.
Here, “junkyards” means places that sell used parts from old cars. The point is that if it’s harder to get those parts, it becomes tougher to keep older vehicles on the road.
“Keep older vehicles running” means being able to maintain and repair older cars over time. The host is suggesting that it can become harder to do that, which pressures people to buy something newer.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a large SUV built to handle tough roads and rough terrain. Older versions are popular because they’re known for lasting a long time. People talk about them when they’re discussing classic, dependable SUVs.
The Toyota 4Runner is a tough SUV that’s built like a truck. The hosts are talking about how they keep seeing the same kind of 4Runner—especially silver ones—everywhere.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is an SUV made for both regular driving and rougher conditions. Older ones can be kept running for years and used for trips and outdoor living. That’s why it comes up in stories about using a vehicle like a cabin or base.
The Chrysler Concorde is a family sedan made by Chrysler. The host is talking about a version from the early 1990s that had a very unusual layout, which made it feel futuristic.
“Cab forward” means the car’s cabin is moved forward in the body, and the engine ends up placed differently than usual. It’s done to make the car feel roomier and more modern, but it can also make maintenance a little different.
The transmission is the car’s gear box. It helps the engine turn the wheels in the right gear for slow driving, fast driving, and cruising.
Concept
LX platform
A platform is the basic “skeleton” a car is built on. If multiple cars share the same platform, they can be similar underneath even if they look different.
The Dodge Neon is a small, compact car. The podcast mentions it because the speaker had to explain it to customers, likely meaning people needed help understanding what it was. It’s brought up as a common model people ask about.
The “rack” is part of the steering system that helps turn the wheels when you turn the steering wheel. If it’s in a tough spot, it can make alignment jobs harder.
Car
Saturn
Saturn was a car brand that used to be part of General Motors. The speaker is saying the early Saturn models were really good cars, and they wanted to buy one.
Planned obsolescence is the belief that companies intentionally make things stop working or feel “outdated” sooner than they should. The host is saying that’s why cars might not last or be kept for a long time.
A salvage yard is where old or damaged cars are taken apart so parts can be reused. The speaker is saying that many cars end up there instead of being kept for years.
The “gas guzzler tax” is a U.S. federal tax applied to vehicles that don’t meet certain fuel-economy thresholds. It’s typically aimed at discouraging the least efficient cars, and the hosts mention it as part of their broader “conspiracy” framing.
OnStar is a service built into many GM cars that can use GPS and a phone connection to find the car. It can help with things like locating a stolen vehicle, even though it usually can’t “take over” driving.
“Buy here, pay here” is when a car lot sells you the car and also handles the financing. Some lots add GPS tracking so they can find the car if the buyer stops paying.
A steering box is the mechanical component that converts the steering wheel’s rotation into movement that turns the wheels (common in older steering systems). The host contrasts it with steer-by-wire ideas, arguing that the steering wheel may not be mechanically connected to the steering box.
“Fly by wire” means the controls talk to computers with signals instead of moving parts directly. In cars, the idea is similar: sensors and computers can influence steering rather than a purely mechanical connection.
The Tesla Cybertruck is an electric pickup truck, meaning it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It’s known for a very distinctive shape and for using electronic systems for steering rather than traditional mechanical parts. That’s why people often bring it up when discussing new vehicle technology.
Steer-by-wire means turning the steering wheel sends electronic signals instead of directly moving the steering parts mechanically. The computer then controls how the car steers.
A “kill switch” here means a feature that can shut down or disable the car. The discussion is about whether modern cars could be stopped remotely if someone is driving dangerously.
“22-inch wheels” means the rims are 22 inches across. Bigger rims usually go with thinner tires, which can look cool but may feel a bit harsher over bumps.
A Lincoln Town Car is a large, old-school luxury sedan. In this episode, the host is talking about the black Town Cars shown in the movie and saying they looked awesome.
They talk about the car industry and how they want to help keep the car hobby going. The idea is to make sure future generations still have a way to enjoy cars.
A “Crown Vic” is a big Ford sedan that’s known for being tough and comfortable, especially as a police car. Here, the host is saying their 2007 model is their wife’s daily driver and they think it’s the better choice versus a newer, smaller SUV.
The Jeep Compass is a smaller SUV/crossover meant for daily driving. The host tried to convince their wife to switch to a 2018 Compass, but they ended up preferring the Crown Vic.
The Toyota Crown is a sedan, meaning it’s a car with a traditional trunk and passenger-focused comfort. In the podcast, it’s brought up while talking about whether a certain car is a good buy. The main point is comparing value and what you get for the money.
The Chevrolet Suburban is a large SUV that can carry lots of people and gear. Older models are popular because they’re roomy and can last a long time. That’s why someone might mention a 1990 Suburban as part of their older-vehicle collection.
The Seat Cordoba is a small car meant for everyday driving. The podcast brings it up because the speaker likes older vehicles and is listing examples they own or admire. It’s included as part of that “older stuff” conversation.
LIVE
Hey, you're watching the Get Out and Drive podcast, and I'm Jason with AMV. Check this out.
It's Blinky, but it's not Pac-Man Blinky. My gosh, Eddie Yorov.
You're listening to the Get Out and Drive podcast, fueled by AMD with your host,
John Custom Karnerdmeyer and Jason Old Car Guy Carr. We'll be bringing you gear heads,
everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in
your garage. Are you ready to get out and drive? Hey, Jason, did I tell you about the guy who
was dressed up as a turtle for Halloween? He came into a bar and he's dressed up as a turtle,
and somebody says, what the hell? What are you dressed as? It's time to dress as a turtle.
So what's that lady on your back? He goes, that's Michelle. That's
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Get Out and Drive podcast, Fuel by AMD.
Jason, what have you been doing recently? I've been running around all over the place,
and I've been running around with Paul and hanging out, running the new car in the new
rebuilt Colorado. What have you been doing? Well, I'm still, I still don't have my suburban running.
Okay. Exhaust showed up on Monday, so I'm hoping that this weekend we can get the exhaust on it.
Did you get a kit? I just, it was a do it myself kit, so I just ordered the pieces that I thought
I could make something work. It's all stainless. Okay. From the great folks at Lyle's Stainless
Steel. Awesome. Just outside of Hamilton, Ontario. Yeah, so that's kind of hopefully this weekend's
project get that done so I can actually turn this thing over, start it for the first time.
Wow. Fingers crossed. But the whole plan this year was to do that LS swap in the winter.
Okay. To put a few miles on it so that I could maybe drive it from the east coast
to Chicago, start of power tour 2026. Okay. That didn't happen.
Even though John and Joanne were kind enough to open up a spare bed in the event that something
would like that would transpire, because as you guys know, power tour. I never agreed to that.
Oh, you never agreed to that? No. Oh, well, then you can't do that earlier. Earlier when I said it
was okay. It's not. Well, there you go. See, I know where I stand now. Thanks, Joanne.
Carmel. Welcome. So as you guys know, power tour
sailed through St. Louis, Missouri. If you've been watching YouTube or following hot rod power
tour at all on any platform, you'll know where that route was following Route 66 from Joliet,
Illinois, clear to Tucson. John, you and Paul actually had an opportunity to
make a day at worldwide technologies. How was that? That was pretty cool. We talked a little bit
about going and hoping that the newly revamped my 2005 Colorado, hoping that that was going to
be ready and going. But we had taken it a few weeks earlier to relax in the park. So it was easy.
All I did started go pick up Paul and took off to worldwide technologies raceway, hung out there
for a bit, talked to people. And that is a place, man, to be seen and see people. We saw tons of people.
There had to be a record number of people at this event. I heard numbers in the vicinity of
8,000 registered for power tour this year. Is that all every bit of it?
Because it was running on a on a route route, whatever you say, running on a route going down,
um, matching, uh, 66. Yeah. And, you know, get your kicks on Route 66 and 2026.
Everybody is, is running. So power tour decided to start in Chicago and they ran all the way down to Tulsa.
And there was a lot of, uh, a lot of neat rigs that I've been following
along, uh, this year. One of them, if you guys don't follow H H wheels on YouTube, uh,
the, what was it? What do they call it? The Coca-Cola? No, the denim.
Denim machine. Denim machine, which is a Levi's Coca-Cola Ford deal that happened in 76.
Yep. Uh, for the Biosentennial. Yep. One of these machines was unearthed from somewhere.
Original falling off paint, all that. Yep. And H H wheels YouTube channel, they went and got it for
somebody else and got it running and cleaned it up and they started power tour. Yeah. With this
thing. And I saw all kinds of pictures. I had to go looking for that H H wheels YouTube channel
because I only saw it on the power tour first. Right. And then I went back. Go check that out.
That is a great father daughter team that has put this thing together. Um, and the guy who owns the van.
Yeah, his name. Um, I think it's Jeff something. Anyways, he's going to completely restore this.
Yeah, that's it right there. They're going to, he's going to completely restore this thing.
And I'm not sure if he's going back to the original sucky flames that you see there in that image.
I, I, from what I see, he's going to make it back to the giveaway sweepstakes looking van. I mean,
that's the only way to go. That's the only way is, I mean, that's the whole style behind it.
Sure. But there's so many of those vans out there. I shouldn't say that
because there's only like what 14 or 15 left an existence out of the original like 300 or something.
Whatever. Yeah, whatever it is. I don't remember how the, how the giveaway or how the marketing went
or whatever, but he did meet up with another person that has one. That's the original owner,
recipient of it from a radio station. And he took pictures and he met that guy
wherever somewhere on the power to a route and he took pictures of both of them together.
And the guy happens to be a Coca-Cola collector and, and he won it back in 76 from a radio contest.
That's really cool. And you know what? We could probably talk all day about HRPT 2026,
even though it was the 100th anniversary of Route 66. Yes.
We're talking conspiracies in this episode. And there's one in particular that we're going to get
to here in a minute, but the moon, the moon landing. Oh, that was, that was totally fake.
Okay. Yeah. We're talking about conspiracies in the automotive trade. But before we kind of get
to that, one of the things that I just want to talk about is John, what are some of the
mainstream conspiracies that are out there that people fall for or are gullible enough to believe
are real or have zero faith in humanity? And this is, this is where we're at. And you can get
political. You don't have to, but throw something out there that's just off the wall. Area 51.
Yeah. Groom Lake, Area 51. Which area 51 exists. Yes. That's common knowledge. Area 51 exists.
Groom Lake exists.
Yeah.
It's not about, it's not about these places. It's about, it's about what's inside.
Well, you, you ask about that. And, and it is, it's
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So yeah, we were talking about Area 51 and we were talking about conspiracies and it's,
it's, it's, they think a spaceship crashed and landed, but everybody says it's a
Mylar weather balloon. There's conspiracies of little green men. There's conspiracies that
they think people live in the ocean. Conspiracies they think that people live in the caves and
Middle Earth. You know, the earth is flat. You know, there's conspiracies of the ice ring around
the earth being the earth is flat. The earth is a, is a dome firmament.
We're all in, you know,
a crazy like virtual reality, some sort of crazy Truman show.
Alternate University. The Matrix.
Some sort of matrix, some sort of something. And, and it's just conspiracy after conspiracy.
And I, I really fall into this stuff and I like to look at it on Reddit
all the time. What are you laughing at?
I went to a Missouri moof on meeting last month. You did.
I did. You, with my brother, you didn't take me. You,
you weren't a pilot. You booger. And it was all done through Zoom. Really?
But for those of us who, who don't know what move on is,
he's enlighten us. That's a 60s hairdo. Mutual UFO network. That's a mutual UFO network.
Well, I don't know. I'm sure one of our, one of our followers, listeners and viewers,
they're going to help us out with what move on is.
The July meeting should be pretty interesting because they're going to talk about remote viewing.
Oh, I like remote viewing.
Jason just decided that new podcast people.
We're all weirdos.
There are UFOs in Canada.
Never been to Canada.
I've seen, I'm not a doctor, but I've seen one on TV.
I drink Dr. Pepper.
So this is going off the rails.
This is totally going off the rails. So here's one last
conspiracy theory. So due to the fact that cows
create methane and methane is bad for the ozone or for the environment,
okay, people are questioning where does McDonald's get all their meat from.
If you go by how many burgers they sell in the run of a day, multiply that by 365
and figure out how many cows are on the ground in the US.
How much ground beef?
Exactly. How many cows per burger do you get?
Some people are saying the math just doesn't add up.
So where is the McDonald's beef coming from?
Brazil.
Maybe. So keep that in mind.
Okay, let's take the beef from here.
We'll just put it over here just for a second.
Ticks. Ticks are worse this year than any other year.
Supposedly the Lone Star tick is from Texas apparently.
And if you get bit by this tick and you develop Lyme's disease,
then Lyme's disease gives you an allergy to red meat.
I thought it gave you an allergy to margaritas.
That too. So if you take the allergy to red meat,
then you're not going to be able to eat red meat.
Where are the ticks coming from?
Some will say the government.
Oh, you think they're planting them.
So if you get Lyme's disease over here,
okay, you're allergic to red meat, you can't eat the McDonald's burgers over here.
If you can't eat the McDonald's burgers, you're not eating the cows that are dying to feed you.
Therefore, you're not growing cows who are creating methane that's killing the planet.
Definitely conspiracy.
Wow.
Follow my lead.
That went around the block.
They're calling it Alpha Gal Syndrome.
Alpha Gal Syndrome.
I've met a few of those.
And I have a family member that has it.
Oh, there you go.
I have a friend that has it too.
Yeah, so I know two people without Alpha Gal.
Apparently I do too.
Ah, okay.
By association.
So these are some of the things that's going around that you can either believe or not believe.
Choose to fall in line or choose not to.
In the automotive world, we all want to see our next generation of car enthusiasts come up through
the reins of guys like you and me and our kids doing what we do.
We also want to see those cars stay and be a part of what it is that we do.
But we also know that in places like Communist California,
that they're creating laws and rules that are against some of these older cars
that us are hobbyists, guys like you.
Okay, right.
So, cash for clunkers.
That happened because of the government.
The government wanted to give, in theory, give you and I a good lump sum of cash for our junky
cars so we would just go buy a new one.
Why do they want us to get into a new one?
Because they don't want us fixing the old one.
Thanks, Obama.
Right.
Oh, I remember.
Another conspiracy theory.
Were they trying to help us boost the economy by giving us $3,000 for a $300 junker?
They were trying to get the old cars off the road is what they were trying to do.
Green is go, go, boogity, boogity, boogity.
Here is your reminder to support the companies that support your right to get out and drive.
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Find those parts or list that stuff that's taking up space in your garage for free.
So recently, there's been lots of talk about certain fires
that are that are happening at certain junkyards.
conspiracy theorists would say that all these junkyards are burning because the government
is setting them on fire because they don't want you to fix your older car and keep them on the
road. They want you by a new ones. So one thing that's not a conspiracy is that these junkyards
are in fact burning. Right.
There's been well over half a dozen junkyards in the last couple of months.
And not just two or 300 car junkyards.
We're talking thousands of cars. Oh, yeah.
And and they're burning. Who's burning one, John?
Mother Nature, lightning strikes, people throwing cigarettes out the window, and the government.
So I don't I don't know.
That's the conspiracy theory.
That's that's a whole lot of goddamn coincidence.
I mean, we do know for a fact that in California, things are super dry.
Right.
Fires happen. Wildfires.
They're not prejudiced. They're not.
They don't pick and choose where they want to burn.
They just burn.
Sure.
Whether you're in the way or you're not.
So is that an easy one to believe?
Forest fire takes out a random junkyard, sure.
But a lot of junkyards.
Eight or ten of them in the span of a short period of time.
You said the forest fires in California, they they don't care what they burn.
They just burn wherever they want.
Why did it burn in the exact path of the light rail system?
Purely a coincidence, John.
Yes, because that particular system is follows the mountains.
Oh.
So in the valleys, that's where the fire is going to go in the valleys to follow that.
And that's got to be the reason, right?
I don't buy it.
I don't buy it.
Is the government out to get us?
Oh, yeah.
Any any chance they can to get in bed with somebody that makes money.
And they're certainly not making money when I'm driving around an 89 car,
an 89 Jeep Cherokee every day, instead of spending money with my bank and with a new car
dealer, having a bank note on a $75,000 car that's equivalent to my Jeep.
That's 35 years old.
And I don't have a note.
Don't have a car payment.
Don't have, you know, I'm not paying anything.
That takes me out of the loop of those people making money.
So when you buy a brand new car,
with the exception of you, me, Paul, Joanne, the buyers, there are three major entities,
three major corporations that are winning when you go out and buy that brand new car.
And who are they, John?
They are your insurance company.
Yes.
They are the bank who is financing for you.
Yes.
And the manufacturer.
Yep, the auto manufacturer.
Yep.
And we could actually even add in that fourth entity because when you buy a brand new car,
there's tax collected.
Where?
Right.
So the government is going to get their fair share of tax.
In Canada, when you buy a brand new car, not just the provincial government gets their
share of the tax, but the federal government gets a tax, which is in Canada is 5% federal tax
on everything manufactured.
But that's just to the end user.
Oh, for sure.
Tax the parts, tax the truck that's bringing it to you, tax the dealership for selling it.
Tax the delivery fees, tax the fuel.
Tax the delivery fee, tax on the tires, fuel, tax on everything, everything.
So in Canada, the Canadian leader of the opposition party is one of his new platforms is
no tax, no federal tax, the 5%, no federal tax on used cars.
Oh, at all?
At all.
So right now, if I sell you a car, you have to pay me to the dealer 15% over.
Yeah, well, that's the way it is here.
But 5% of that is federal, 10% of that is provincial.
So he's platforming on no tax, no federal tax on used cars.
Wow.
Here, you don't pay the dealer the tax you pay the DMV when you're
either way, you're paying the tax, like as a business, you would pay it to me,
right?
And then I would just remit that back to the government.
But if it was me personally selling you a car, then you don't pay that tax until you go to
register it at DMV.
Well, Trump just passed that thing about he's not going to tax rest augmentation.
I think it's called no tax on tits.
Eliminate the booby tax.
Save the boobies.
Save the boobies.
No tax on tits.
So who wins when you buy a brand new car in Canada, that base price on the cheapest car you can buy
in Canada today, it's pushing 40 grand, $80,000, which is about 30 grand USD.
So when you look at that and you want to go out and say, if I want to buy the equivalent
to my 89 Jeep Cherokee today, A, there is no equivalent, but B, in the grand scheme of
options and or size of vehicle, let's just use a new Jeep Cherokee today.
80 grand.
Well, base price is something like 54.
Okay.
Then you start getting the, well, it's nice to have that heated steering wheel.
In order to get the heated steering wheel, you got to get this, this, this, and this.
So there's 10 grand.
And every time you pay that, somebody's getting rich.
Certainly not because you're forking out the money for it.
That's correct.
You haven't even started about subscription options.
Yep.
Right to repair.
Talked about this in previous episodes.
Right.
So again, you get rid of the junkyards for guys like you and me to get those parts that we may
not be able to find new anymore.
Right.
Then what do we do?
We can't keep our older vehicles running.
We're forcing our hands to buy something maybe not necessarily brand new, but new ER or tech.
You and I don't know how to fix
conspiracy or just keeping up with the Joneses or keeping up with the price.
It's very, very, very hard not to follow the popcorn trail
right to the money because if everybody had, I mean, don't even ask me what an old car is.
I mean, my whole view of an old car is skewed.
You know, I think 20 years ago was 1997 or 95 or something.
I don't do math very well.
And I look around and I see the cars that are on the road in my area, major metropolitan areas,
St. Louis, Missouri.
And I'm seeing more and 90s, 80s and 90s, Ford F-150s.
I'm seeing XJ Jeep Cherokees.
And my wife and I, Joanne, we have got, I swear to God, I'm going to start a website
because it's not the same goddamn car every time.
There is some sort of group that I'm not a part of that everyone has a 1990,
96 to 2003 Silver Limited Toyota Land, Toyota 4Runner.
I can't tell you how many of these we see.
When Richard and I were in Wildwood at that event the other day,
those big windows where we could see out on the street, we were there four hours, we saw
six that were, six 4Runners, five were Silver, one was Orange.
Yeah, might have been wrapped or different.
We see Silver 4Runners everywhere and they're the Limited's and they're just perfect.
They're absolutely perfect.
And I don't know if that is the wealthy person's junk car or the wealthy person's knock-around car.
Like you watch any movie, any TV show recently and there's going to be an 80s era grand Cherokee
that someone has and that's their mountain cabin home car.
You know those things are 50 to 100 grand?
That's some wealthy person's mountain cabin home car.
My ass.
When was the last time you saw an Intrepid?
Oh, it's been a bit.
I have seen one.
We call them decrepids.
But it's been a while since I've seen a Intrepid.
In 1993, my parents bought a brand new Concorde.
It was top of the line.
LXI had.
I'm sorry.
Yeah, well, look, that was when Chrysler was coming out with cab forward design.
Oh, sure, put the engine under the dashboard.
Yeah, all their vehicles were sleek and sharp looking.
And I mean, I can remember when they brought this thing home, I thought,
wow, this thing is a spaceship.
It's so.
Oh, yeah.
Outside the box.
Yeah.
You don't see them today.
No, there's hardly any of them.
For a couple of reasons.
One, they were pieces of shit.
And the transmission fell out after 2000.
Well, they were they were made of ceramic.
I didn't know if you knew that or not.
That was a transmission.
Transmissions.
Yeah, my dad was a transmission mechanic for 35 years.
And he swears the transmission gears inside were made out of ceramic and glass.
Oh, they probably were put me through college.
It's a person that worked at a Dodge dealer all through the 90s.
I remember going to all of the production, the super wow, and we had to go get explained
to us so we can explain to the customer all the new features of all of the.
I think that was is it LX platform or something that's called or whatever?
I think that's what it is.
And we had to explain those.
We had to explain the Dodge Neons.
We had to explain all of that stuff to customers.
And the all the LX cars were sitting on the Dodge lot.
And they were still right next to a Dodge dynasty, brand new.
Well, and the dynasty in 1993 was the same dynasty that they came out with back in the 80s.
Yeah.
And they didn't change.
So they just looked old.
And when this new LX platform come out, everything was absolutely spaceship.
Oh, it was nuts.
But there's a reason why today, 33 years later, we don't see any of these cars on the road.
And if you do, they're, I mean, they're likely a POS still.
Yeah, yeah, but they didn't get any better with time.
They didn't last.
No.
Ask any alignment technician what the worst car ever to do an alignment was.
He's going to tell you those LX cars.
Yes.
Trepid Concorde LHS.
Why?
Because the rack opinion was on top of the transmission.
What was the Eagle called?
Wasn't there a wasn't there like vision?
A vision.
That's it.
Eagle vision.
Yeah.
So again, like in their day when they were new and actually when, when, when dad bought the 93,
he swore it was the best car he ever owned because back then he was buying one new every three years.
Actually, he kept that one till 98 when the new body style came out bought a 98.
Like a piece of shit.
Yeah.
To edit that ball, but it was a POS.
It was a terrible car compared to the air conditioning didn't work properly.
Just stupid little piddly stuff that, you know, some of us would say, oh, yeah, well,
that's that's what you get for buying a Dodge.
But the whole conspiracy theory started when all these cars that were meant to
save Chrysler or GM or Ford or whoever at the time, all these domestic auto manufacturers,
they just started disappearing.
For sure.
First generation Saturn's in my humble opinion, as a used car salesman for the past 20 years,
almost first generation Saturn's were some of the best cars domestically built
in our generation.
I thought they were good.
I was ready to buy one.
And then when GM took them over and they were just rebadged GM products.
Right.
Oh, yeah.
Thirds.
So when you take a good thing, when you take a good thing and you make it bad,
why do you do that?
Because it's too good.
Well, you're not buying another one.
That's why it's it's exactly what we talk about with the planned obsolescence with the refrigerator.
That's all it is.
That's all it is.
You can't tell me it's not.
That's why there's that's why there's salvage yards and they don't keep any cars and they
haven't since they were new.
They don't keep any cars past 1995.
Well, today is not about men and crush them.
Yeah.
But today at the salvage yard, this is totally off topic a little bit.
But in a salvage yard, it's not about being able to sell the parts and make money.
It's about following the weight of metal.
Sure.
Right.
You stockpile them until the price is high.
You crush them.
Sure.
Regardless if they've got any engines or transmissions out of them anymore.
Doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter.
You want to you want to use Hemi transmission or a used Hemi engine is going for today.
I have no idea.
150,000 miles on it.
No idea.
5K.
Why?
Canadian.
Yep.
So 5K Canadian, about 3,300 bucks US dollars for a 150,000 mile Hemi engine.
Why?
I don't know.
Really?
Yeah, not those Hemi's Paul, the new Hemi's.
Modern Hemi's.
They're just so bloody.
Those were expensive enough as it is.
I mean, what kind of car do you want it in?
There's a few that are out here by my house.
I can get you one.
Let's say you're driving a 2015 Ram 1500.
Just a standard pickup truck.
And because of the multi-cylinder displacement debacle, again, conspiracy fuel savings,
we're going to make your engine less reliable so that in 150,000 miles you're going to have
to replace the engine for a mere $3,500 USD.
That's just for the engine.
Now you got to pay somebody, give or take 10 to 15 hours to swap it out in your truck.
Oh, shops nowadays are charging 80 to 100 bucks an hour.
Want you to fix it in your trucks?
Especially the gas guzzlers.
Gas guzzler tax, conspiracy.
Well, sure.
I mean, didn't GM have the failed 468 in the Cadillacs?
Yeah, like back in the 80s.
Yeah, why try it again?
It still doesn't work.
I mean, I've driven a lot of cars that run on six cylinders and then sometimes they run on
eight cylinders, but it's not my fault.
It's not planned.
You know, like the stop-start feature that happens in all my cars.
So, I mean, what do you have any real proof of anything?
Or is it a conspiracy theory about parts being eliminated?
Yeah, well, again, I think what it boils down to is just that proof.
Do you have any hardcore proof or is it all circumstantial?
I think when it comes to conspiracy theories, if you can throw enough circumstantial evidence
together, you can make a case because your case isn't standing in front of a superior court.
Judge, your case is standing in front of the court of public opinion.
And as long as you can get enough people on your side to believe what you're saying is true,
you're the best damn salesman on the planet.
Okay.
So, do I think that the government has a hand in eliminating the ability for you and I to restore,
repair, carry on driving our 20, 30, 40-year-old vehicles?
To a point, I would probably say yes. I'm not a conspiracy theorist by no means, but I think
there's a lot of things pointing in the direction of we don't want you driving your old stuff.
We want you buying the new, better for the environment, planet, better
for you and me, more efficient, less cost, blah, blah, blah.
I have a hard time being on board with that because big industry and government have been
like this since the beginning of time. As long as big industry can get what they want from the
government and vice versa, they're going to continue doing what's best for them and not what's
best for John and Jason and Paul and Joanne and you who are listening to this there.
Again, I got no proof. That's just, that's where I'm at.
Ridiculous. Now, I mean, I was going to say something about
you were, oh, of the government having control of the features on your car. I'm hearing more and
more and more about that because when OnStar first became a thing, I can't remember 98, 99,
whatever it was, I don't remember. Do you remember when OnStar came?
They were pretty much standard on anything in 2000 when I was selling new cars, so I think it was
within 53 to five years before that probably.
And you used to hear new stories of all the time that, oh, someone stole my car and you
can stop it with OnStar or track it or whatever and they said, oh, no, we don't have the ability
to do any of that. My right foot, they certainly had the ability maybe not to stop the car,
but they knew where on our tiny planet that thing was at any given time.
It's no different than the buy here, pay here, billy bob lot trackers that you can put on a car.
So the little black tow truck knows where to take it in the middle of the night. And
it's amazing to me the theory of the government being able to stop your car
or steer your car because a lot of cars now, because I don't work on new cars at all.
People started talking to me about steering box is not connected to the steering wheel
like an airplane. The stick is not connected directly through the wings. It's fly by wire
and all that. And the computer, if you can get to it, can tell the steering to stop working or
can be taken over by something or whatever. I don't want a car that somebody else can drive.
It's crazy to see a Waymo without a person in it.
Well, and I think that was one of the biggest contradictions, not contradictions,
one of the biggest conversations with the Cybertruck when it first came out because
it is steer by wire. Right. It's not directly connected to the steering box.
So I think when the whole point, like to some degree, if you've got somebody who's
who's done a heinous act of maybe they murdered somebody or shot up a crowd of people or whatever
they've done and they've taken off in a car that's modern enough to have a kill switch on it,
do I think that the opportunity is there to stop that person from being more destructive?
Sure. But where does that line get drawn?
Right. Does that line get drawn? If I say something hateful or bad towards the president or the
prime minister on my social media, does my car now get shut down because all of a sudden the
ability is there to shut me down? Like, where does that line get drawn and who has that authority?
And I find it a very, very slippery road to be going down.
Have you seen the black mirror of the social, has the social score above your head?
That every single day is what we're going towards.
Oh, absolutely. And for those of you who are sitting here listening to us who are our age
and older can probably relate if you're if you're much younger than we are,
it might be a little harder pill to swallow. This is why when our governments talk about
going to a cashless society, it's because if it's digital currency, they know where it is.
They can shut it off. Absolutely. So don't think for a second that when you go to the polls in
November, if you're in the US or whenever your next election is in Canada, or whatever country
you're listening to, that that's not a thing. Bullshit. It's 100% a thing that if we go to a
cashless society that you are going to be controlled, you will have a social credit score.
You will be able to be tracked. You won't have to file your taxes anymore.
They'll know exactly where your money came in, where your money went out.
They'll know whether you sold something, whether you bought something. They'll know what you sold,
what you bought. Yeah. So again, I don't want to sound like I'm wearing my tinfoil hat here, but
boys, oh boys, if you're 45 years or older, chances are you're probably feeling the same
way that John and I do about this. Cash, in my opinion, is still King White because I damn well
control it. Yeah. I want to go out and buy. Jason, go ahead. I said I want to go out and buy,
or John wants to go out and buy, you know, $1,000 for the Hot Wheels carers of the yard sale for
$100. Sure. Let them do it. I guess what, cashless society? Nope.
Everyone's going to know that John did that. They're going to know that he made
five cents on every car that he sold, or he made $5 or $500 on every dinky.
Right. Right. That's where we're heading, folks. Yeah. See. Get off my lawn.
You know, we wore an onion on our belt because it was the style at the time.
Have you seen the movie Time with Justin Timberlake,
where he's got the time written on his arm? From like 25 years ago? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
They had a countdown. Yeah, they had a countdown. You knew when it was done? Yeah.
Yeah. A certain amount, you know, and you had no cash. You had no value. The only value was time.
And you bought soul with time. You bought soul with time, and you came up and you wanted a coffee
and you paid for it with what's on your arm. And it took a few minutes off of your life,
and people had to trade time for tangible goods, trading time for services, and things like that.
And it were moving towards that. The movie was called In Time. Oh, In Time. Thank you. Yes,
In Time. I knew time was in it, so In Time. The only, the baddest thing about that was the
was the Black Lincoln Town Cars on, you know, 22-inch wheels. There wasn't anything bad about Black
Lincoln Town Cars. No. It was awesome. But we totally went off the rails. But if anything,
I hope that we opened up some people's eyes to what's going on in the automotive industry.
Like, we're here as advocates to try and keep it moving. You know, we've got great sponsors like
AMD and Racing Junk. And some of these guys, the RPM Foundation, who are doing the exact same
thing, they're advocating to keep the ball rolling so that our kids, our grandkids, their grandkids
have a platform like this to share and to do what they want and to have the ability to enjoy
these cars in the future, like you and I are enjoying them now. You know, we don't just want
to be driving 35-year-old cars as daily drivers just because it's our only option. We have every
ability to go and drive and buy probably whatever we want. I don't know John's financial situation,
but I'm sure if he wanted to buy a new F-150, he could probably make it happen.
We choose not to. We choose to drive the stuff that we love. The newest vehicle in my fleet
right now is an 07 Crown Vic. That's my wife, my wife's daily driver. She absolutely loves it.
I tried to get her into a 2018 Jeep Compass. Some people are going to laugh at me and say,
yeah, that's a good deal or that's not a good deal. The Crown Vic is a better vehicle.
She drove it for three weeks and she's just like, I can't do it. I love this car too much,
so she's happy driving the Crown Vic. I have a 95 Chev 3.25-ton truck,
okay. 90 suburban, 79 Cordoba, 62 international. I love this older stuff. Why? People say,
Jason, why are you so against EVs and Tesla? Look, one reason, one reason only.
Nothing to do with the technology, maybe a little bit, but nothing really to do with the technology.
I can't fix it myself if something happens to it. Right.
I'm not an electrical engineer. I can't fix it. Yeah. I get frustrated when I look at a little
black box with 10 wires coming out of it and it doesn't work and I buy another little black box
with 10 wires coming out of it and I put it in and it works. I can't handle that.
All we're trying to do is raise a little bit of awareness of some of the things that are going
on around you that you may or may not be aware of. If you're not a car guy, chances are you're
probably not listening to us anyways, but if you are, you can relate to some of the things
that we're talking about and understand that digital currency is real. Ash for clunkers was real.
These junkyards burning in the desert. Yeah, they're burning. Do we know why?
Yeah, probably not. Maybe it's somebody who's running it that feels it's worth a lot more
burnt than it is selling the garbage out of it and collects it on the insurance. Who knows?
Maybe it's the government burning it down with a while. I don't know. Either way,
start using your brain, looking outside the box. Stop realizing that the government isn't
necessarily working for you. They're working for themselves.
What was that the Reagan said? He said the worst thing you could hear is,
I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Yeah.
Reagan said that. They're running the other way. Reagan said that.
It's not the devil with the head that turns around. Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan, president of the United States from 1980 to 1988.
Yes, that guy. 40 years ago. Yes, the movie star. Buddy said that.
And here we are now, 20 years ago when they said, if they said, well, who was the president?
And you said some actor, Ronald Reagan, people would laugh at you. Yeah, well,
at the day folks. Yeah, well, and whoever's listening to this, if you do have conspiracy
theories or some kind of crazy thing that you totally believe, but may not have exact proof
behind, let us know about it. I'd love to know automotive conspiracy theories, anything,
regular conspiracy theories about something that happened in the world that you know for sure,
and you're going to die on this hill, but you have no proof.
You got to let us know down in the comments. Let us know.
And Ralph Nader, if you're listening from the other side, this episode is dedicated to you,
my friend. Ralph. That's a whole other. Ralph Nader and Al Gore, we should
do a whole episode on those two guys. That's why they call that, you know, the Al Gore rhythm.
When you look up something and it comes in, that's because the internet was invented by him.
That's how he left his mark. Okay, John.
Anyways, that's a growner. That is an absolute growner. And we're going to end off this episode
by thanking everybody for listening to the get out and drive podcast fueled by AMD.
If you've got an episode for a show that you'd like to hear John and I bullshit back and forth
about, head on over to get out and drive.com. Scroll down to the listener section. What do we
call it? Listen hotline. Scroll down to the listener hotline and leave us a message. Tell us what
you think would be a great topic of conversation. And if we use your topic in a future episode,
we'll be sure to get you out some stickers and maybe a t-shirt or something like that,
because we really do appreciate those who reach out to us. And it's great listening and reading
those comments. So thank you very much. Make sure you guys wish John a happy birthday. And we will
see you guys today. Yes, it is my birthday today. As of this recording, as June
18, 2026. Yeah. So now that you've got his birthday, 55 years ago, I was, I was born into this
mess of a world. And if you're, if you're listening and you want his, now that you've
got his date of birth, you've got his social security. It's so 11725764.
Whatever those numbers are. His home phone number is.
Anyways, thanks guys for listening to us ramble on about conspiracy theories. I hope
you enjoyed it. And we'll see you guys on the next episode of the Get On Drive podcast fueled by AMD.
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About this episode
Running around with a rebuilt Chevrolet Colorado and waiting on an exhaust kit sets up the year’s build plans, including “that LS swap in the winter” and hopes for Power Tour 2026. Power Tour recap follows—“start in Chicago” down to Tulsa, with “numbers in the vicinity of 8,000 registered.” Then the show dives into conspiracies: moon landing “totally fake,” Area 51 as a spaceship crash vs “Mylar weather balloon,” and even “cash for clunkers” allegedly aimed to keep people from fixing old cars.
