00:00
This week it's Thanksgiving and it's a that car show holiday greatest hits show.
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Since you're probably sitting middle seat on a Southwest flight as you listen
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to this, say hello to Tori or maybe halfway across Nebraska in a Genesis
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GV70 maybe with a whiny dog and a cranky family in tow, we figure you could use
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three hours of enthusiast content. First up our very first that car show
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episode we we, which if our analytics are too we believed, you probably haven't
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heard. Jeff Bezos' key party on the other hand is another early show that's
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proven to be a popular favorite. Just make sure you grab the keys with the
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Porsche file. And we end on my conversation with my pal Sasha Celepinov,
00:46
founder of Nilu 27, a hypercar which is very much having a moment. He's on Jay
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Car Show and have a fun and safe Thanksgiving holiday, everyone.
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02:33
Is it Motel 8 or Motel 6? Maybe it's Motel 6. Motel 6, okay, yeah.
02:37
It's more of a 6 than an 8. Yeah, tops out as a 6.
02:42
On this week's episode, Lindsay goes to France, Porsches are blowing up, we make
02:47
green cars great again and Stellantis just keeps killing it.
02:51
Don't forget the pate and always be driving. It's that car show.
02:56
It's that car show. Hello, guys. Good evening. Bonjour.
03:04
Someone made a last minute trip to the continent. Someone did. Yes.
03:11
Got a retro-mobile. There and back again.
03:14
This is one of those things that just sort of existed in, you know,
03:18
my world of someday and, you know, like Car Week and Amelia Island.
03:23
And but this is one I have yet to check off and yet you were just there.
03:26
I was. Yes, it came together exceptionally last minute.
03:31
And it is. I knew it was a big event,
03:34
but really the extent of my knowledge was Instagram, you know,
03:39
seeing friends post when they had been in years past.
03:41
And same thing. I went, you know, kind of the FOMO was getting more and more
03:45
every year when I would see it. Oh, that's right. I really want to go.
03:48
So it is a showcase for the classic car sectors, the way they talk about it,
03:54
bringing together more than 2000 cars and motorbikes from a huge range.
04:00
You know, there were modern. There was a 992 GT3. We saw GT3 RS.
04:05
And then Citroën from World War Two.
04:09
There was a huge display of those.
04:11
And then kind of everything in between motorbikes, bicycles, cars,
04:17
you know, miniatures, collectors items.
04:20
There were some booths that had books, like, you know,
04:24
big displays of car books, memorabilia.
04:29
I mean, it's the scale comparable.
04:32
No, I mean, the scale was was stunning.
04:36
I it's like you remember how big the LA Auto Show,
04:39
which is several halls in the convention center.
04:42
That's how retro mobile is.
04:45
And they had three halls and it's just sort of there is so much.
04:52
It's massive. And there's something for everybody.
04:56
And just there isn't there isn't anything like it here,
05:01
which is part of the reason they announced while I was there,
05:03
that they are bringing it to New York in November.
05:06
Oh, really? OK, interesting.
05:07
Interesting. It was really fun to be there with that announcement
05:11
because they're all really excited to bring it here.
05:13
So I have so many questions.
05:15
So it's an exhibition.
05:17
There's an auction component.
05:19
Yes, there's a concor like a judge component.
05:22
No, like what like they did.
05:24
It seems like everything to everyone.
05:26
Yeah, it really was.
05:28
I mean, that was, you know, even after just a first a few minutes there,
05:32
I went, OK, it's it's a combination of all the events that we have here
05:36
that are standalone events, because it reminded me.
05:39
I was like, OK, there's there's a little bit of,
05:42
you know, there there are elements of car week.
05:45
It's a very different venue,
05:46
but the classic car element is similar to car week.
05:49
And then a little bit of SEMA, a little bit of Porsche Lit Week,
05:55
because that's so focused on, you know, the books and collector items
05:58
and the, you know, matchbox cars and that kind of thing.
06:02
So there's that element.
06:04
And then in, you know, a couple of the different halls,
06:08
they had they had the live auction that was going on onsite.
06:11
One of the auction houses in Europe, Art Curial Motor Cars,
06:16
they were the onsite auction company.
06:17
And then in that same hall, they also had space for enthusiast clubs.
06:23
And of course, I ran across the American muscle car French chapter.
06:29
Without even talking, I found them.
06:31
Yes, they just drew me in.
06:34
And then the club that was across the aisle from them,
06:38
a lot of the members were sitting there.
06:39
I mean, this was this was the charm of RetroMobil
06:42
is they're sitting there at a table having pâté, just,
06:46
you know, just enjoying themselves.
06:49
I mean, it's it's it has elements of a lot of the different events here,
06:53
but with an incredibly European flyer, as you might expect.
06:56
And, you know, there were one of the booths had.
07:01
There was a there were some musicians, live musicians.
07:03
And then they're at one point there were people in, you know,
07:08
Retro, you know, turn of the century, almost clothing on old bicycles
07:13
riding through the show.
07:15
Pickpockets everywhere. Right.
07:20
It was it's all indoors.
07:22
It's all part of one complex.
07:23
So it's not like you're going off site for anything, right?
07:25
No, it was just like if you've been to a convention center
07:28
and you move between the halls, it was like that was, you know,
07:32
a standard experience.
07:34
But yeah, I mean, it just was like you have to see it to believe it in a lot of ways.
07:39
Yeah, the the outskirts of Paris or in the center of Paris, where it was held.
07:44
It's at the Paris Expo Convention Center, which is I was in
07:48
I was in a neighborhood in Paris and it was about 25 minutes by Metro.
07:52
So it's on the edge of the city, but very easy to get to.
07:56
It was I was there for such a short time that it was nice to stay in Paris
08:00
because then for dinners and the one day that I took to sort of soak up Paris,
08:04
it was easy to see, you know, to get to the different places
08:08
that I wanted to check off, but it was really easy to get to the event.
08:13
So going into this like completely ignorant to the history of this thing,
08:17
how long has this been going on?
08:19
Is this like the future of the car show?
08:20
You mentioned it's going to New York.
08:22
Like we all know like the, you know, the decline of the New York auto show, right?
08:26
I mean, is this going to take its place for people like us?
08:31
I mean, I think it's going to compliment it because it's so different.
08:33
It's not it's not a modern auto show in that sense.
08:37
So and I was able to meet the gentleman who is heading the New York event.
08:45
Jeho and I got to chat with him for a bit.
08:48
And it was his enthusiasm was, you know, contagious
08:51
and they're just so excited.
08:53
And he said, part of the reason they're so excited
08:55
is because we don't have anything exactly like that here,
08:58
even with all the events we have.
09:00
Denver was not on their shortlist.
09:02
It wasn't, but it was it was, I mean, I it was so nice to talk to him
09:08
because obviously they're in the middle of the event.
09:10
We all know how busy that is,
09:12
especially if you are on the team putting on the event.
09:15
You don't have a lot of breathing room,
09:16
but he took the time to chat with me and talked about why they landed on New York.
09:23
And that's because they wanted something they want to draw from Europe and the U.S.
09:28
So they thought that was striking a balance.
09:29
It's not to it's not extremely far for one or the other.
09:32
And hopefully they can draw from both.
09:35
And, you know, they didn't want to compete with like, obviously,
09:37
you're not going to do it in August because you have car week, yeah, that kind of thing
09:41
where they looked at when are the big events here that they don't want to compete with.
09:45
They want to have their own space so that people would actually come and enjoy it.
09:49
Well, and I think New York is underrepresented.
09:51
I guess what I was getting at, I mean, Denver was a joke, right?
09:54
But, you know, I would be like the first shoot your shot.
09:59
Right. But I mean, New York does make sense.
10:02
You know, and do you know how long this has been going on?
10:04
Because I feel like I've heard of I've heard of it for a while,
10:08
but increasingly more in recent years.
10:10
Like I've heard this is the place.
10:12
There's like a flea market component.
10:13
Like if you need like a yes, a dash switch for your Oscar, Oscar, whatever,
10:17
you know, that's where you find it.
10:20
Esoteric part. Yeah.
10:21
And that's I guess that like we're sort of illustrating the point without without
10:26
planning it is how many different elements are represented.
10:29
It makes for such a unique event and unlike anything we have here,
10:33
because there are there are parts brokers and there are classic car brokers.
10:40
And then you have, you know, you have it's like every element of the car hobby
10:45
in one giant event. Yeah.
10:47
So so it's been this was the 49th year of the event in Paris.
10:54
Yeah. I mean, so who's it's who's behind it?
10:58
Is it like it's just the it's a group.
11:00
And I'm I'm going to pronounce it the Anglicized way, obviously,
11:05
but it's comics posium.
11:08
So my friend, Ramon, is the director of the event.
11:13
And I've gotten to know him at Car Week,
11:15
and I definitely didn't pronounce that correctly, but hopefully he'll forgive me.
11:21
So then I'm so Ramon runs
11:25
RetroMobile Paris and then Gerard runs.
11:29
He will be running RetroMobile New York.
11:31
Amazing. Do you know what?
11:32
Where in New York it'll be?
11:34
Oh, no. Interesting. OK. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah.
11:38
Yeah. So they work with Teamsters yet.
11:44
Don't know about that.
11:46
Yeah. But you know, one of the things I had a chance to talk to
11:50
Ramon quickly and he was saying the you know, the prep had gone very smoothly
11:56
and I think attendance was up 24 percent, maybe from the year before.
12:01
Like he's he has run the event for the last three years.
12:05
And before that was part of the organization and, you know, learning the ropes
12:10
and just he was he was really excited because a lot of young people came this year to.
12:15
And so it's nice to see that because the show can continue on.
12:20
And obviously it's drawing in the next generation of enthusiasts.
12:22
And I know that's something that we all think about and so it's good to see.
12:27
Sounds amazing in context a little bit.
12:30
Obviously, we have a researcher for the show and the researcher tells me
12:34
that there were over 100,000 visitors to the show.
12:37
So did it feel like 100,000?
12:41
And I was I was doing a little support research to back up our very hardworking
12:47
researcher and the figures that I saw said more than 146,000 people.
12:53
And it's a so it started on the 5th.
12:55
They had a preview on the 4th for media in the evening.
12:59
And then it was the 5th through the 9th.
13:01
So it's over the course of the entire event.
13:04
Yeah. And is this a pricey ticket?
13:08
I see you got to get to can be if you buy, you know, if you buy the pass for the full event.
13:14
But you can buy a one day pass and, you know, you can you can do it in a way that makes sense for you.
13:21
And I should correct myself.
13:23
It was up 12 percent from 2024.
13:29
Did you run into anyone?
13:33
Yeah, so so my friend Laura joined me to go.
13:37
You know, her Instagram is that Porsche girl.
13:39
So she was able to join me and go with me.
13:42
And then we ran into Steve Cereo, who's based in Boston.
13:46
You know, he's the real bond group on Instagram.
13:48
He's the broker that works with Cam Ingram and Peter Brotman.
13:51
So we ran into Steve and Peter on the floor of the show, like not long after we got there
13:56
and had a chance to catch up with them.
13:58
And that was super fun.
14:00
And then once I really realized the scale of the show, it's remarkable that we ran into them.
14:07
Yeah, yeah, it always happens there, right?
14:09
Well, of course, you know, everyone too, which it was so perfect.
14:11
Well, and we had been in touch ahead of time, both of us are, you know,
14:15
saying we want to get together because we knew we were all going to be there.
14:18
And then we just happened to see them right away.
14:20
So it was perfect and got to chat with them.
14:23
And Peter has that gorgeous lime green mirror that was all over Instagram, I think, last year.
14:29
And we ran into them right by there was another green mirror that was gorgeous,
14:34
but it was more of a it was sort of like a teal British racing green hybrid.
14:40
But the even more remarkable was that the interior was full green,
14:46
like steering wheel, seat, carpet, every.
14:51
So I don't want to change the subject too much, but I've become obsessed with green cars all of a sudden.
14:56
Like it's shopping for a Lexus, you know, gold package and stuff.
15:00
But I just I really have fallen in love with that, like a Brewster green or something.
15:04
And, you know, I was on the GT three configurator and I thought,
15:07
cool, that'd be to do like a green interior, like with a green,
15:11
like such a like a nod to like the 70s or whatever.
15:14
But it would be impossibly expensive, you know.
15:16
But if we're going to it was there was an orange Aston Martin on auction there as well.
15:21
Did you see that? That was like everything was working that one in person.
15:25
And so that's what we're going to go. Go all out.
15:28
That's what I was saying.
15:29
You know, initially you kind of go, that's a lot of orange.
15:32
And that one actually had color matched the wheel.
15:34
The center of the wheels was orange, too.
15:38
But, you know, it would be such a conversation piece at a minimum.
15:42
You take that anywhere.
15:45
It was a conversation piece.
15:46
And that one was all orange.
15:49
And it's like, you know, you got to appreciate the commitment to the color
15:52
because like you said, it was orange steering wheel, orange headliner, orange
15:55
upholstery, orange carpet, orange wheels, you know, center of the wheels,
15:59
the color, obviously the exterior color was orange.
16:02
But what struck us, too, very unexpectedly was so we went to Bonham's first
16:08
because the big auction houses do auctions in Paris the week of RetroMobile
16:11
because everybody's already there.
16:13
And the Bonham's auction was happening the day I got in.
16:17
So we went there and they had a Ferrari 400 that was, I mean,
16:22
if you want a green car, Ryan, this is the green car for you.
16:26
I have a thing for the 400. I really do.
16:28
OK. Very much of an era.
16:31
It was and this one in particular was just so charming
16:34
that I kept coming back to it because so they had the way Bonham's was set up.
16:38
It was at the Grand Palais in Paris.
16:40
The auction was inside and they had a display outside with five
16:45
not not hero cars, but featured.
16:48
Incredibly rare historic cars
16:52
and then another display outside just below those and then others were over in
16:56
another like a storage area and so you take a shuttle to that.
17:01
And this Ferrari 400 was in the group that you had to take the shuttle to.
17:05
But I kept going back to it because so green exterior,
17:09
completely green interior.
17:11
Again, you know, green steering wheel, green upholstery, green carpet, everything.
17:15
Green carpet in the trunk and then green window tint,
17:19
which I've never seen before in my life.
17:21
That's that's that's like that's taken to another level, right?
17:25
You know, it's kind of like the watch roll, though,
17:27
like the funky stuff in the long term is the stuff that really keeps its value.
17:32
And yeah, I wouldn't have even known about that orange car,
17:34
but a buddy, Maurice Merrick at Horsepower Heritage had Eric Minoff,
17:38
I think his name is Eric Minoff from Bonham's,
17:40
who talked about some of his favorites and that orange car was one.
17:44
But I think there's something to that.
17:45
I always like those like those OG AMGs, you know, like the Hammers and all that,
17:50
where everything was like red right down to like the grill and the star.
17:53
You know, I think that's like, if we said red, if we said this color, you know,
17:57
you can count on well.
17:59
And what was certain customer, what was so funny?
18:03
Well, and I have to say Richard Stafford was one of the auctioneers
18:06
at Bonham's who works that particular auction, you know, and they trade off.
18:10
They have a few different, but he happened to be at the gavel
18:13
when the when the 400 came out.
18:16
That's the clip you posted.
18:17
Yes, he had, I mean, probably my favorite quip of the whole trip,
18:21
make green, great again.
18:26
That's a hat for me.
18:26
Yeah, it was it was so funny.
18:28
But so that was the first green car.
18:32
Then we got to the event the next morning and there's this mirror
18:35
that has almost the same interior, like the leather looked the same,
18:39
you know, full green again.
18:42
Yeah. Then when we finally made it over to the other halls, there's another
18:46
there's a vintage Porsche turbo with a full green interior.
18:50
So I think there was some stealth collector who's just been
18:52
like, yeah, dripping, you know, drips and drabs.
18:55
His collection is being released and or there was something going on
19:00
in Europe in the 80s with the green interior where they're like, you know what?
19:03
This is the business.
19:06
But there definitely felt like there was an unintentional theme for sure.
19:11
Well, that's where you're going to see that kind of stuff.
19:12
Yeah. And then there was a Skoda Felicia, which of course, I just could.
19:16
I don't even know what that is.
19:18
I got to look that up.
19:20
I don't know what they said when it rolled off to the right.
19:23
But it was a green.
19:27
So green was a theme through the through the trip, which was fun.
19:32
But I'm looking this up.
19:34
I'm looking at pictures of this four hundred.
19:37
I think it's definitely.
19:41
Skoda Felicia is like a little kind of box.
19:43
Oh, yeah. But it was cute.
19:44
It was like brilliant green.
19:47
You know, it's like when it's like anything, when you see something,
19:50
then we're like, there's green everywhere.
19:51
But, you know, these three examples
19:53
with the green interiors really stood out like really special.
19:59
But again, we've talked with this before.
20:01
That's not like a second or third car.
20:03
That's your sixteenth or seventeenth or right.
20:06
That's in first or whatever.
20:08
And it's same, same with the orange car where you're like, you buy that
20:11
just because you're like, it's so bad, it's good.
20:14
And I want to have it when I feel like going to cars and coffee
20:17
and just sort of causing a scene and looking absurd
20:19
and just like making everybody smile.
20:23
Yeah, this is so what would you call it?
20:25
Oh, yeah, there's the green.
20:26
I'm looking at the bottoms car now, the four hundred.
20:28
Yeah, you know, that's that's pretty great.
20:31
You know, like you got to place in Palm Springs or something, right?
20:35
You know, that's that's that's the car right there.
20:38
Were they all automatic or did they do a stick one?
20:41
There was a manual.
20:42
Yeah, yeah, but it didn't have a skated shifter.
20:44
Yeah, it had that bag shifter, right?
20:47
Which just doesn't quite have the same, you know, cachet or whatever.
20:51
There's no clunk click, is there?
20:53
But but I think the argument has been made that, you know,
20:55
that maybe the automatic is where it's at.
20:57
It's kind of like a 928, like a Porsche, right?
21:00
Where maybe the automatic suits it, you know, in some strange way, right?
21:04
It's a GT car, right?
21:06
I mean, it's right because it's got, you know, it has a back seat.
21:10
So, you know, that's that's your vintage family Ferrari.
21:14
Can you imagine they're like just we've talked about this again before,
21:17
but like loading up like, I guess in this case, your family and heading to,
21:20
you know, I don't know, the, you know, the south of France or whatever.
21:23
I mean, it's just right in your green on green on green on green on green.
21:28
Ferrari, no speed cameras.
21:32
Everyone in the cars got a cigarette, including the kids.
21:35
It's just like that was living, right?
21:39
I don't know, guys, I'm approaching 50 here.
21:41
I got to start doing a little more.
21:43
Maybe it starts with a green 400 I Ferrari, right?
21:47
No more GT silver Porsches for me.
21:49
So which color, if you guys were going to pick a car and commit to it or pick
21:54
a color and commit to it the way that these commendable collectors did.
22:00
Yeah. Which color would you pick?
22:03
We know what's the car because you get to choose.
22:07
You get to choose and I don't think that's as important.
22:09
And it's like, what color would you want to be surrounded by?
22:14
Like every element of the car?
22:16
Like the name was a Greg blue came up, right?
22:19
Before we started recording and he's obviously his name is blue.
22:23
It's blue cars, right?
22:24
He's committed to blue.
22:25
Blue is kind of his thing.
22:27
Yeah. So you're going to commit to something.
22:29
Yeah, it is, it is.
22:30
And so no silvers, no blacks, no.
22:33
No, it has to be a color.
22:35
Like if we want to get really crazy, we could say primary or secondary.
22:38
But yeah, yeah, if that makes it easier, my idea is out of the water
22:42
because I was going to go for silver Mercedes, like a classic silver Mercedes
22:45
arrows car. Well, that suits the the car.
22:49
But what about like a tobacco brown?
22:51
I just thought those looked great on old Mercedes cars and brown interior too.
22:56
Brown interior, like full brown.
22:58
Yeah. Yeah. So much brown.
23:01
It's a lot of brown.
23:02
How hard, how hard is it going to be to keep it clean?
23:05
That's where I start.
23:06
Brown, maybe the easiest thing to keep clean.
23:09
Yeah, black terrain.
23:12
I was in a real Muirblau kick.
23:15
So, you know, it's that deep, non-metallic, almost, you know, very dark,
23:19
you know, blue on portion.
23:22
But I think Jeff Zwart has sort of co-opted that as his his color.
23:25
But that is a great color.
23:27
Our buddy Tom Horan from the Grand had a GT3 touring 991.2 that it just I fell in love with.
23:32
If I had the money, I would have bought from him.
23:35
So I know that it's OK if that's your color.
23:38
I mean, you can you can emulate the life.
23:41
Mr. Green, you know, need approach.
23:42
Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
23:43
There are a lot of things I could emulate right from him.
23:47
But Brewster Green is sort of, for me, surpassing Muirblau lately.
23:50
You know, the Porsche configurator could you could you commit to that?
23:54
If it's Brewster Green for everything, I think I could.
23:57
And I would do painted wheels, right?
23:59
Like, you know, you can't often do you have to do special wishes
24:03
on a Porsche, like a green interior, you know, a GT car or something.
24:06
But yeah, I think I could do Brewster Green.
24:09
I've always had a thing for green cars.
24:11
And you guys, I alluded to Lexus before, but you your children of the 80s and 90s.
24:15
Right. Yeah. Well, they had that black jade color that was black.
24:18
And then in the sunlight, it was the dark, dark, dark.
24:20
Yeah. Yeah. Off the BMW had that Oxford green.
24:26
Was that what it was?
24:26
It was a metallic one, too.
24:28
They had like a darker.
24:29
It wasn't called wasn't as dark as black jade.
24:32
OK, but it was like a dark metallic green and like a ton of cars were that color.
24:38
There were, but they're hardly any anymore.
24:41
And I think it needs to come back.
24:42
But I and I'll tell you about this later.
24:45
But I was invited with some of my pals to check out Blue Chip
24:50
here in the Denver area, and they had some amazing cars.
24:53
But one of my absolute favorite cars was they had this beautiful E39 M5.
24:56
And what I think was Oxford green or something like that.
24:58
And I think very few of those are made.
25:01
You know, a lot of those cars were black, blue, whatever, you know.
25:04
Yeah, that wasn't an M color as much as regular five series.
25:10
It's just, you know, something about those cars, those are just the
25:14
those just peak BMW in my mind.
25:16
But yeah, well, because then that that was immediately followed by the
25:20
Bangal era, which made everybody love the preceding ones so much more.
25:24
Yeah, I still struggle.
25:25
And that was the era that BMW did those BMW films.
25:29
Like the BMW advertising was on point, the design was on point.
25:33
The drive, the driver series, because it was Clive Owen with the driver.
25:37
You guys remember those?
25:40
And the caboose was on point, too.
25:42
Those are those are those are something those this question.
25:45
So I I'm going to commit to Brewster green or some some, you know,
25:48
I'll tweak it just a little bit to make it my own.
25:51
Call it barky green.
25:52
But what would you go?
25:54
Which OK, so what popped into my head was, I don't know
25:59
if you guys saw so Bo Bachman has that pink chroma flair GT3 RS that he
26:06
and they just posted a picture of when it was picked up.
26:08
And I hadn't seen the interior before.
26:10
And it's, you know, it's this magenta sort of unicorn, really unique exterior.
26:16
And then in the interior, he did purple leather with purple and teal plaid inserts.
26:22
Which now that breaks my rule, obviously, but let your freak flig fly, right?
26:27
Like, I mean, you can always count on Beau for amazing colors and like very
26:32
bright and cheerful.
26:34
I mean, he has the the bowberry Ford GT.
26:36
That's that metallic pink or metallic magenta, just gorgeous.
26:41
I mean, I think I would have to go with something pinkish.
26:50
Yeah, I mean, then it has to be pink interior, too.
26:55
If I'm following my own criteria, yeah, so I could do, I would do a whatever car it was.
27:03
I would probably go with the magenta chroma flair exterior or the
27:08
bowberry metallic magenta so that it was like a dark, like a raspberry interior.
27:14
That's, I mean, that's a color they know you're coming.
27:17
They know you're rolling up.
27:19
Dan, Dan, do we get a commitment?
27:21
I mean, we're backing forth on the silver and brown.
27:24
If I can't have silver, then the yellows that are found, like the yellow bird.
27:31
And in fact, with the logo from my company, I took a sample of the yellow bird
27:35
and used that yellow for the company logo.
27:38
So that's the perfect choice.
27:40
Yeah, that's a great color.
27:42
You know, Don, the fellow who owns Porsche Colorado Springs, he's a speed yellow man.
27:47
And so he has everything in speed yellow.
27:49
I'm more of a signal yellow guy myself.
27:51
But I like, you know, I appreciate that.
27:54
And he's made it his own.
27:55
And I, I could see you and doing a rock and a yellow.
27:57
I think the biggest challenge is though, I probably get double the amount
28:00
of speeding tickets that you would get starting out.
28:03
Like, I don't know, I mean, have you seen that GT color?
28:08
It is pretty notable.
28:10
But I love the yellow idea because it's so cheerful.
28:13
And I think it would lift your mood, you know, even if you were having a bad day
28:17
and it would brighten everybody else's days around you.
28:19
So that's, I think that's, and I don't think you'd get tired
28:22
of it the way you might some other colors.
28:25
I think it has more staying power.
28:27
Yellow, though, guys, is a very form specific color.
28:31
And this came up, our buddy, Dan McKinnis, who has a Python green
28:36
spider, among other things.
28:39
But he said he's not a fan of yellow cars.
28:42
And I said, you know, it's kind of car dependent.
28:45
And I really like signal yellow because the color just looks so different on different,
28:50
especially that speedy yellow.
28:51
I had a friend, rest in peace, not him, the car, a beautiful 993 C4S with the arrow
28:58
kit back in the day.
29:00
And I don't think I'd ever seen a cooler car up to that point.
29:05
But again, a 991 or a 992, I don't think speedy yellow looks nearly as good.
29:09
There's just too much square mileage.
29:12
Not enough breaking it up.
29:15
Yeah, you know, you got to have that, I don't know.
29:18
It's that's a color that on bigger cars just doesn't work nearly as well.
29:22
Do you remember the Miata, the any Miata, the sunburst or whatever you could get.
29:25
It was very similar to a speedy yellow or a signal yellow.
29:29
And that's just that was a cool looking thing.
29:31
I think maybe the difference is because every now and then I will see an F,
29:36
you know, 250 or 350 quad cab, long bed raised up.
29:40
There's a handful of those.
29:41
And the official color from the factory was called Screamin' Yellow.
29:46
Screamin' Yellow, right.
29:47
And it is it's sort of remarkable in its grandiosity.
29:52
And I think there's one in Seattle.
29:54
There was one down here for a bit.
29:55
And every now and then I see it.
29:57
And so I wonder if it's either it either has to be quite small or enormous.
30:02
Because they're like a school bus.
30:05
But every time I see one of those trucks, I smile.
30:08
Like they're just because they're just so sort of big.
30:12
And maybe because it's like an adult talk of truck.
30:16
Dan, do they have school buses in the UK?
30:19
We do, but they're not.
30:21
They're just like coaches.
30:22
They're not dedicated.
30:24
OK, that's an American thing.
30:25
Yeah, because we had some friends from Germany visit us one time.
30:28
And, you know, there were certain things they wanted to do.
30:31
They wanted to take home an American mailbox.
30:33
So like your classic red, you know, put on a post, you know, kind of
30:38
rounded at the top and they had a really tough time finding a red one for every
30:41
And then they got the carry on.
30:45
Yeah, I don't know what you do.
30:47
And then they wanted to see a school bus.
30:49
Like they got really excited to see an American school bus.
30:51
Like that was like a real, like just sort of iconic American thing.
30:55
I mean, I guess like a double decker bus or whatever for us.
30:58
It's like we all have it shows you what your definition of another country is when you
31:03
go and you're like, OK, these are the things I want to see.
31:05
Because in my mind, this is what makes up this country.
31:08
It's each his own or her own.
31:09
But I think there's something too that when you have a lot of metal,
31:12
you know, you start thinking school bus with yellow and especially non-metallic.
31:18
Well, and it's funny because this one is you're right.
31:20
Like it's not school bus yellow, but it just works.
31:24
Like I think just because it's so big, but yeah.
31:27
Would you to bring this back to RetroMobile, would you go back?
31:32
What would you do differently?
31:34
Or what did you miss that you'd want to see next time?
31:36
Or because I think in this is a that that car show field trip, you know, 2026.
31:44
I mean, at a minimum, the New York show, that makes it a little easier for sure.
31:49
That's more accessible for us, obviously.
31:51
But they will be at Car Week.
31:54
So I will introduce you.
31:56
We can we can hang with the boys and learn more.
31:59
I definitely would go back.
32:01
It's because it's so diverse and it changes every year.
32:06
And, you know, I definitely didn't see everything, even though I covered a good chunk of it.
32:12
And, you know, I mean, and bring the party, right?
32:17
Paris is always a good idea.
32:20
So if it's if it's a question of, do you go to Paris?
32:23
Yes, you always go to Paris.
32:24
Yeah, yeah, right on.
32:25
The answer is always like you think.
32:28
And you're saying sorry.
32:30
Yeah, I was just going to say that I think a couple of days before the show was the fat ice race.
32:35
You could do that combined.
32:40
Yes, I was immediately kicking myself for not realizing that sooner,
32:45
because that would be the ultimate itinerary is go to that ice race and then make your way to Paris.
32:49
And then you're there for the retro mobile preview and then the RM auction,
32:58
because that was happening.
33:00
I was in the air when that happened, so I didn't go to that one.
33:03
But then you could definitely go to RM.
33:05
You could go to Bonham's and then you would still have a couple of days of the event to go to,
33:10
you know, and if you went to the preview, you'd get to see a lot of it with fewer,
33:14
with a smaller crowd, too.
33:15
So yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:18
I was a little disappointed to speak in a fat ice race that apparently they're not doing it here
33:22
in Colorado this year.
33:23
Maybe it's going to be every other year thing or something.
33:25
You know, let's let's let's not let's not joke.
33:31
It's an excuse to get together.
33:33
And I mean, well, I mean, there's some racing going on.
33:36
But did you hear that at the one in Austria this year, one of the cars rolled in the ski race?
33:43
Yeah, one of the cars pulling a skier and one of those cars rolled.
33:47
And they managed to everybody got it, ride it and carried on its way.
33:50
But can you imagine being that skier?
33:54
But it was like you think about the cars that they had there.
33:59
Luckily it was a B2, I think the wrong.
34:02
So they were able to just flip it over and, you know, carry on.
34:07
Imagine if it was a Ferrari 400.
34:14
They're already looks like a pancake.
34:15
So it's, you know, it's a shoe.
34:21
Well, it's not like an awesome time, you know, against squad goals, you know.
34:26
I know I was you were both very missed.
34:29
It would have been amazing to have you with me.
34:31
One thing that I wanted to say about Bonham that I wanted to share about Bonham.
34:35
So they had these five cars displayed up above outside at the Grand Palais.
34:41
And the history and the experiences of those cars combined was unbelievable.
34:49
And one of them was a Ferrari 166 Barquetta, which is the car that I drove behind
34:56
when I drove the Cobra in June for the car show.
34:59
I was following a 166 Barquetta.
35:02
So I walked up to, you know, these five cars and I went, wait a minute.
35:05
I've been on the road with one of these.
35:10
So there was a Ferrari.
35:12
What's interesting, and I want to find out more about this because it had two years listed.
35:16
It said 55, 54 to 55 Ferrari.
35:20
It's a Tipo 555 F1 racing single-seater.
35:25
So I don't know why it would have a year range.
35:28
I need to look into that more.
35:30
They may have competed it in two seasons from in one.
35:34
Oh, that would make sense.
35:36
Yeah, that's a good theory.
35:38
But yeah, you know, and seeing that combination of cars in that setting,
35:44
and then those cars are still actively being driven.
35:47
A lot of them had Milimilia stickers.
35:49
They had, you know, Monaco rally stickers,
35:53
stickers from all over Europe.
35:55
And I mean, one of them had 10 or 20 stickers on it.
35:57
So they're being driven to this day.
35:59
Well, this conversation I mentioned with Eric Aminoff of Bonhams in her Palmarese,
36:05
they hit on something that I don't think has talked about enough.
36:07
But it's something that has, we talk a lot about within the grand circles.
36:12
But, you know, a car's value with all now the events, you know,
36:16
so you've got the California Milia, the Colorado Grand, Milimilia,
36:20
all these other things, you know, years in cutoffs.
36:24
So you can have one model.
36:25
But if it's a year or two new, you can't run it, right?
36:28
In one of these events.
36:29
And that can affect the value by 50% in some cases, right?
36:33
It's really interesting.
36:34
This has become such a thing now to run these cars.
36:36
Which is awesome, right?
36:38
It's what the cars want, right?
36:40
Yeah, it's very in line with all of our philosophies.
36:43
Yeah, really interesting how it's affected values.
36:47
And this Eric, you know, made a good point too.
36:48
You know, if the car originally ran in the event, you know,
36:51
that even extra points, right?
36:53
Oh, that'd be amazing.
36:54
He gave an example of one car where, you know,
36:57
you get a 64 version or whatever, and it's a $30,000 car,
37:01
and you get a 59 version, and it's an $80,000 car or whatever.
37:04
So it's interesting.
37:05
And I think that that experiential stuff,
37:08
whether it's the fat ice race,
37:09
whether it's, you know, any of these rallies, these tours,
37:12
that's kind of where it's at, right?
37:14
And so I think, you know, any of these cars that are eligible
37:18
are just, you know, that's where you should put your money,
37:21
but that's my two cents.
37:23
I do wonder if there'll be some rallies
37:24
that'll be for newer cars, right?
37:27
We've talked about this before.
37:28
The Colorado Grand, it's 1960 and older, right?
37:30
And that is not a sliding scale.
37:32
That will always be.
37:34
But when the Grand started, I think in 1989,
37:37
a 1960 car that was less than 30 years old,
37:40
and you think about, you know, what a 30-year-old car is now,
37:43
that's a car from the 90s.
37:45
Like, that's crazy, right?
37:46
So I don't know, maybe we need to start our own rally.
37:50
Well, I'm just saying.
37:51
And you can run, or run, Beretta's.
37:55
Right, GMC Typhoons.
37:57
If anyone has a GNX that they want to let me drive,
38:00
I'd be open to that.
38:01
Well, now none of us can afford those,
38:02
because Kendrick Lamar, right?
38:05
And what, is that the only one that was
38:06
bothered by him walking on it?
38:08
Yes, did you see the clip of the Detailer
38:11
who had worked on it after the show?
38:16
So it's an independent guy in LA,
38:18
and he said he was contacted a couple months
38:20
before the Super Bowl, and they didn't tell him
38:23
whose car it was, didn't give him any details.
38:25
They may have told him it was for the Super Bowl,
38:27
but just like, hey, could you work on this car and prep it?
38:30
So he said he worked on it for six hours,
38:31
and as he was working on it, he kind of put together
38:34
who it was and what was going on.
38:36
And then he said, you know, so he worked on it
38:38
for six hours, got it immaculate and beautiful.
38:42
They shipped it off, and then he was watching the show,
38:44
going, oh, and he's standing on the roof.
38:46
Oh, and he's standing on the hood.
38:47
Oh, he's scratching.
38:49
What was that beautiful E30 M3 that Zuckerman had
38:53
that ended up in the top video?
38:54
Oh, that was a Travis Scott.
38:56
Yeah, that's what it was.
38:57
It was one of the best examples,
38:59
most original low mileage examples in the world.
39:03
I don't even like, I struggle with like junk yards
39:06
Because I don't like these cars.
39:09
I attach emotion to them or whatever.
39:12
But at the same time, I'm glad to see these cars driven too,
39:16
right, in the rallies and such.
39:18
Well, and of course, I found a 289 Cobra.
39:24
They had a line of cars below this magical display,
39:27
and there was a Cobra, and then they were loading a Porsche 930
39:31
into the transport.
39:32
So that was kind of fun to see too.
39:34
I take a 289 over 427, says the man who's driven neither.
39:40
Although I want to drive a 427 before I.
39:43
Yeah, since I've only driven a 289,
39:46
I can say that's absolutely the right answer.
39:50
Anything else to put a bow on?
39:54
I'm not even trying to say French.
39:55
It was just magical.
39:57
So cool you got a chance to do.
39:59
It's like one day you weren't, no, I hadn't heard a thing,
40:02
and the next day there you were on a plane.
40:07
Sometimes everything just lines up at the very last second,
40:09
and you find yourself in Paris for two and a quarter days.
40:12
I'm going to segue Paris to Paris to Dakar.
40:17
See what I did there.
40:19
Dan, you mentioned, I didn't know this,
40:22
the Dakar, the Porsche Dakar or Dakar,
40:24
have you want to say it?
40:25
And I say different ways, different days, apparently.
40:28
One of my driving highlights over the last couple of years,
40:31
I fell in love with the thing.
40:33
That's a car I would buy if I had the budget in the garage.
40:36
But you said they're going to do a new one.
40:39
It's been confirmed, and it's a hybrid.
40:41
There's rumours, there's rumours.
40:42
Okay, so now it gets to the Porsche.
40:43
I know who we can ask.
40:47
But the Dakar is based on the GTS,
40:51
and we know that the GTS is now a hybrid.
40:56
So the rumours that are literally in the last couple of days
40:58
are that they'll do a, I guess it's a 992.2 Dakar,
41:04
and incorporate that hybrid technology.
41:08
I think they're still selling for way above sticker,
41:11
right, $100,000 or something, right?
41:13
So it makes all the sense.
41:15
Glad I don't own one of the early ones,
41:17
but maybe I would be, right, being NA.
41:20
Hey, they'll sell everyone they can make, right?
41:23
I mean, it's an awesome, awesome concept, right?
41:29
So what does that get you?
41:30
Do you think that gets you a little bit more range,
41:33
like miles to the gallon,
41:35
and a little bit better performance?
41:37
Because it's a really small hybrid engine, isn't it?
41:41
Yeah, I think it's more of a performance thing, right?
41:44
But yeah, I think you can go battery only for five miles
41:46
or something, right?
41:47
And at least you can on the current hybrids,
41:49
and so there's that.
41:51
But yeah, it's nominal range.
41:54
Yeah, did it need more performance when you had it?
41:58
It definitely doesn't have, like, because I had driven,
42:00
the day I drove, spent some time in that one,
42:02
thanks Porsche Corolla Springs.
42:04
I was in a 992 Carrera S, also PDK,
42:10
and it definitely eats a, you know,
42:12
what's the difference in power, you know?
42:15
It's, I think, the point one, it's not a lot.
42:18
Did you feel it when you were in the cars?
42:22
I felt like they felt similar, right?
42:25
And I think because you've got the big tall tires and stuff,
42:28
right, I mean, it probably saps a little bit,
42:29
rotational mass and all that.
42:31
But I also feel like you're not,
42:33
at least I wasn't comfortable in pushing it the same way
42:35
that I was the standard car, right?
42:37
Just, you know, it was a very expensive car,
42:39
wasn't mine, it was raining out, right?
42:41
You know, but I kind of have a sense of the standard car,
42:44
the Dak car, you're just, you know,
42:45
you're sitting up higher and all that.
42:46
No, I thought that was a very strong,
42:48
it felt like the right amount of power.
42:50
I guess that's the more important question, right?
42:51
It felt like the right amount of power.
42:54
And I don't know if, I don't know if a hybrid would take away or not.
42:56
I'm sure it wouldn't, I'm sure it wouldn't, right?
42:59
It's such a seamless thing,
43:00
but no, I don't think it lacked for power.
43:04
Yeah, that's the remit right now.
43:07
Well, watch this space.
43:10
Probably with Porsches guys, sir.
43:11
I'm going to go for a little rant here.
43:14
F.O., you'll lose an allocation.
43:17
Here's the thing, you can get an allocation,
43:20
but it's still going to cost you, right?
43:22
And as we learned from John and Justin,
43:25
but, you know, they've just gotten so expensive.
43:29
They've just gotten so expensive.
43:30
And, you know, it is, it's just, you know,
43:33
I think it's another reason to probably have this GT-4 for it,
43:35
because it's probably the last of the cheap GT cars, right?
43:38
You know, this thing has 6,000 in options.
43:40
You can't do 6,000 in options in a Porsche anymore, right?
43:43
No, that's like half of one.
43:45
Because it's packages, right?
43:46
It's packages now, right?
43:48
And if you want the lightweight seats,
43:49
and if you want the special...
43:51
It's just, and before you know it,
43:53
you're adding 50% or more to the cost of the car.
43:56
And I just, you know, it's,
43:58
and it doesn't change the driving experience.
44:00
And here's the thing, if you can't spec one,
44:02
if you don't get an allocation,
44:03
you're buying something that's been specced for you.
44:05
And you're not buying too many, you know,
44:07
base cars, right, off a lot, right?
44:10
So that is my biggest thing.
44:11
I've just had, it's like everything.
44:13
Eggs, real sticker shock lately,
44:16
pricing out Porsches,
44:17
like at least on the configurator.
44:19
So I imagine a, you know,
44:21
even a sticker on a new Dakar is going to be,
44:24
I don't know, what, 250, 300?
44:28
I think it's over three, I think.
44:31
I don't know about sticker or like used prices right now.
44:34
Yeah, yeah, maybe both.
44:35
And maybe they won't do a limited,
44:37
because at the moment they're a limited run, right?
44:39
Yeah, or effectively limited, right?
44:41
I think they're all...
44:44
But yeah, so maybe hopefully they, you know,
44:48
imagine if they didn't do it as a limited car.
44:51
Would you, would one appeal over the other to either of you?
44:53
I mean, would you rather have the NA or...
44:56
I'm not a hybrid hater.
44:58
No, I don't, I don't have any strong feelings
45:01
about hybrids either way.
45:02
I think NA is just more of what I'm familiar with.
45:05
So I'd probably, but I would want to drive both of them.
45:09
I don't like, I've got no liking of my neighbors
45:14
So that's the only application I could see.
45:16
Of the hybrid of the Dakar.
45:18
Well, going on battery like so you don't wake the neighbors up,
45:26
Wake up the neighbors anyway?
45:28
I think when you were in a building where that matters
45:31
or a neighbor that matters, you know,
45:33
it's sort of, there's an applied like, you know,
45:35
all right, you're not living out in the country, right?
45:37
Yeah, let it some the HOA and stuff.
45:42
For the record, I love the Dakar.
45:43
I don't care for your hybrid.
45:45
Give me one tomorrow.
45:47
You'll just take one.
45:48
Well, so you're spending a lot of time
45:50
on the Porsche configurator.
45:51
Any particular models that you're focused on?
45:55
I mean, I would love a new GT3 Touring.
45:58
I would, you know, it'd be one thing
46:00
if you could go in and get one for Sticker,
46:02
even that I can't afford.
46:03
But like, you know, there's a $100,000 markup, right?
46:05
You know, if you're going to get one.
46:07
And, and, and, you know, our friends,
46:09
John and Justin Porsche,
46:10
spring said, you know, you're getting a wing car.
46:12
You're not even getting a touring.
46:13
So that's just, that's out of my league.
46:15
But it is fun to, it is fun to configure.
46:18
It is cool that now they have all the,
46:20
you know, the paint, the sample colors and stuff,
46:22
although highly inaccurate on screen.
46:24
But I don't know what you're supposed to do about that.
46:26
But man, you can spend so much money so quickly.
46:29
You know, I mean, it's just, it's, it's wild.
46:32
But that's, I guess, what I would get in the current lineup.
46:34
If it wasn't an ST, right?
46:38
But that's a good choice.
46:39
I went into a dealer last week.
46:42
So I've been thinking about downsizing the Corolla
46:45
and just getting a box store.
46:49
So my previous experience is,
46:51
and I'll keep the dealer anonymous,
46:53
but I will say it's part of the Auto Nation group.
46:56
And I went in and asked for the chap I'd always worked with.
47:02
And Ron, it was the guy and Ron's always been great.
47:04
Like when I thought that my Corolla wasn't going to appear,
47:08
I was talking to Ron and Ron walked me over to the Assister
47:11
dealership, which is a Mercedes dealership, which is next door.
47:15
And he took me through a couple of used cars they had.
47:18
So the point here is that he invested time with me,
47:21
even though why I potentially bought a car.
47:24
And two, he was thinking about the long-term relationship,
47:27
which is obviously what the guys do down in Portugal
47:30
And we talked about that.
47:31
So anyway, I went in to ask for Ron.
47:34
Ron no longer works at the dealership.
47:36
So I got talking to another gentleman who will be anonymous.
47:39
And I said to him, I hear that you may have a SLK55 AMG,
47:48
but I'm looking at something like a Boxster or stuff.
47:51
So I guess the first point of the story is that he didn't listen to me.
47:56
So what I mean by he didn't listen to me is I said,
47:58
well, I used to have a 2009 Boxster as I loved it.
48:03
Anyway, a 2009 car pulled into the car park.
48:08
And he started to explain to me why that 2009 was better
48:12
than a base previous model.
48:14
And I went, well, yeah, I used to own one.
48:19
Also, don't you know who I am?
48:21
It's just a listen.
48:23
It's an exciting listening, right?
48:25
So anyway, two days ago, or maybe yesterday,
48:29
I saw that they had a 1999 911 for sale that had just come in
48:37
with the body kit, had the, you know, the taco wing on the back.
48:41
That's kind of rare.
48:42
I got a perspective from Mr. Deiste and he spent a bit of time
48:46
telling me what to look out for, what not to look out for.
48:49
So then I texted the gentleman,
48:51
and maybe we called him Stephen for this exercise.
48:56
And I'll re-fire the text because it was quite funny.
48:59
Is it the Seattle Auto Nation Mercedes dealership?
49:05
Hi, what's the situation with the 1999 911?
49:08
Just come in possibly at Mercedes next door.
49:11
Do you know a thing about this car?
49:13
It looks like they took it in on trade.
49:16
Would it be possible to get some pictures of it?
49:18
For that one, you'll have to call Mercedes.
49:21
So whereas Ron previously would have probably got me the pictures.
49:26
He was not interested at all.
49:28
Oh, John or Justin, you want something down at the Jeep dealership?
49:31
They'll look at it and take a picture for you.
49:34
You know, because it's about the.
49:35
Well, it's long term versus it's, uh, some people have vision
49:40
and this chap apparently did not.
49:43
This is when you find a good one.
49:44
You got to stick with it.
49:45
Whether it's a dealer, whether it's a salesperson, a service rider,
49:52
That's my dealership story of the week.
49:57
Ron, where are you?
49:58
You know, Ron, where have you gone?
50:01
You know, it's come on.
50:04
Well, uh, at that Jeep aforementioned Jeep dealer, uh,
50:08
you may run into something that I didn't know was a thing
50:10
until you told us both tonight, Dan.
50:14
Jeep has apparently crossed a line you just don't cross.
50:18
With their customers.
50:20
Something that boggles my mind.
50:24
If it's true, what's true?
50:26
It's definitely true because there's evidence.
50:28
Do you remember when BMW said, I think we're going to do
50:32
a subscription service?
50:37
All the hardware is there now.
50:39
But you weren't going to be able to activate it.
50:40
You have to pay like a monthly amount, right?
50:42
You have to activate the feature.
50:44
It appears like Jeep have said, hold my beer.
50:48
Hold my, my American watery.
50:53
Um, because some Jeep owners, as they're driving along
50:57
in their cars, are getting pop-up ads on their screens.
51:01
I mean, that's just wild.
51:03
So does it say that it's happening while the cars are moving?
51:07
And this is Jeep trying to upsell.
51:11
And Jeep have said it's a glitch, but come on,
51:14
you don't get something on the screen that says,
51:17
Purchase piece of mind.
51:18
Mopar vehicle protection.
51:19
Wait, so you have to hit a button in some cars that says,
51:22
I accept the liability of using this infotainment system.
51:26
But apparently an unsolicited pop-up ad is okay.
51:30
Well, I'll let you do a Bluetooth call.
51:33
So it's obviously a planned motion.
51:36
Well, yeah, because you have to, the ad has to be created.
51:41
Like somebody wrote the ad and produced it.
51:43
That's a max headroom pop-up.
51:45
Well, and that violates NHTSA guidelines.
51:48
Like this was a huge part of when I, my role at Ziva was
51:52
creating the in-app content.
51:54
And that was a huge topic for discussion.
51:57
Because one of the features of the platform that we were
52:00
creating was that it could suggest offers,
52:04
like as you move through your day, to make your life easier.
52:08
Like if it knows you've just finished work, picked up the
52:11
kids at soccer and you're headed home for dinner and
52:13
there's a pizza restaurant on the way that has a great deal,
52:16
it could let you know that.
52:18
But the crux of it is like, okay, but we can't do that
52:21
while they're driving because we can't distract them.
52:24
So what I'm wondering is, because you know,
52:27
NHTSA guidelines too, that governs how much text can be
52:30
on the screen, how many steps a feature can take,
52:33
because it's, every time you take your eyes off the screen,
52:36
it's two seconds, or it can be no more than two seconds
52:39
of your eyes off the road.
52:40
Which is still a really long time if you're at freeway speed.
52:44
And so I wonder if the ads are supposed to be appearing
52:48
when the vehicle is stopped, but maybe that's the glitch.
52:51
But they shouldn't be appearing at all.
52:53
And I suppose it's some line item written into, you know.
52:56
Like if it's at a stoplight, they can show it to you if the vehicle,
53:01
because like there's some features in my truck where I can't do,
53:05
like I can't go through the pairing process if it's in motion.
53:08
But if I'm stopped, you know, that kind of stuff,
53:10
because it's more involved.
53:11
So there's a way to control when you have access
53:14
to certain features or when things appear,
53:17
because they can tell when the vehicle's moving or not.
53:18
So I'm, it'll be curious to see how this unfolds,
53:22
because I wonder whether it's true or not,
53:25
if they're going to say, well, they should only have been showing
53:26
when it was at a light or a stop sign or something.
53:30
Because they had to make the ads.
53:33
Yeah, and I'm like envisioning trying to like get the little X
53:35
in the top right corner to get it to go away.
53:37
It's just like, that is just wild and it seems wildly dangerous
53:42
and it seems wildly unethical and just bad business.
53:46
And you know, you think they, you know,
53:47
I know Jeep's a little slow sometimes,
53:49
but you think they would learn from BMW, right?
53:51
You know, you know, that is just wild.
53:54
You can't be, you can't be serving things to people
53:58
while they're moving, because that's,
54:00
that's the peak of distracted driving.
54:01
Price is killing it these days.
54:06
Tesla would have monopolized it already, right?
54:09
It's like the poll star that we have that it never shut up about
54:12
because I really do like it for what it is.
54:13
When you get in and it knows that it's eight in the morning,
54:16
it knows you're going to school.
54:17
So on the nav, it'll pop up.
54:18
That's the first suggestion, right?
54:21
That's additive, right?
54:22
Is that an Apple thing or is that a Pulse?
54:24
No, it's yeah, it's so there is Apple CarPlay,
54:27
but only if you connect your phone
54:28
through a wired connection, which is interesting.
54:32
Honestly, God, we don't miss, we don't miss it
54:33
because they have their own proprietary system
54:35
and it's effectively the same, you know?
54:37
Well, and if it's predictive
54:38
and it's offering helpful stuff,
54:40
like the traffic on the route
54:42
that I know you drive on weekdays in the morning,
54:44
that's super helpful.
54:47
I found a cool little thing,
54:48
which probably the last person in the world
54:50
who drives a pollster has figured out
54:52
because it's literally a button on the steering wheel.
54:53
But do you remember Saab?
54:55
And do you remember, I mean, I hope you do.
54:59
Does it have a Kachow button?
55:01
What is, what is Kachow?
55:03
You know, in Lightning McQueen in cars,
55:06
he has a Kachow button.
55:08
No, but it has effectively a dark mode button, right?
55:12
So do you remember in old Saab's,
55:13
you could do a dark mode,
55:14
so it would dim everything but like the speedometer
55:17
and it comes on your phone.
55:17
Like a dial, you would like.
55:21
I thought it was a button, like it was,
55:23
but maybe different models or whatever.
55:26
Yeah, and so this has a button,
55:28
it's not quite dark mode, you know,
55:29
because you still have the screen in the middle,
55:31
but it basically simplifies the screen in front of you,
55:36
So like what it displays.
55:37
Right, so it defaults to like having a second map,
55:41
which, you know, I guess is good,
55:42
but you hit this button
55:43
and then you basically just get the very basic instruments.
55:47
It's really, I don't know,
55:48
it's very like Scandinavian and nice
55:50
and now it's a preferred driving environment.
55:53
It's, I'm wondering, just on a different tangent,
55:56
if we can reach out to Jeep
55:57
and get them to put an advert for this show on the car.
56:01
Is that our, is that our target podcast?
56:05
Hey, Daimler Chrysler people,
56:08
have we got the show for you?
56:11
Welcome to the most distracting podcast you'll hear today.
56:15
I'm really going for that, that Hornet market personally, right?
56:21
Yeah, that's the demographic you think.
56:22
That's the one I want.
56:23
Yeah, I think the only thing I just want to,
56:25
I just want to confirm that we're not liable
56:27
if an ad for our podcast pops up
56:29
and somebody has an incident
56:30
while they're going to train to turn the podcast off.
56:33
Definitely a Jeep problem.
56:34
They see our headshots
56:35
and they're distracted one way or the other.
56:39
Who are these people?
56:41
Just when you think some of these American car companies
56:44
can't fuck it up more, there they go, you know,
56:46
it's just like that is just so, you know, wow, wow, wow.
56:52
Tesla should have been the one, right?
56:57
I suspect what they did is they built it into the systems,
57:00
but didn't want to release it.
57:02
And they've accidentally done something to release it.
57:05
So like the functionality was always there in the background.
57:08
Something's happened and.
57:10
Somebody checked the wrong box.
57:12
Yeah, that's some nut down with that at all.
57:15
Well, hopefully they get that sorted
57:17
before there are any issues because that's crazy.
57:20
But I'm hearing just like reading articles about like Jeep engines,
57:26
like, you know, dying at four miles and like,
57:30
I mean, I just feel like there's some real issues.
57:31
And then what they were talking about
57:33
on the latest Spikes car radio,
57:34
wasn't that a Jeep plant or something
57:36
where there was a problem with someone in a bathroom?
57:40
I don't want to go into details, you know,
57:42
but I just think there are larger issues there.
57:44
Maybe they shouldn't focus on pop-up ads
57:46
and focus on the fundamentals for a minute.
57:51
I like the idea of a Wrangler, you know.
57:55
It's such an adventure vehicle.
57:57
There's something about it, right?
57:59
I drove one from Denver to LA and back
58:01
and we stopped in Moab and did some light off-roading.
58:03
I mean, it was a hell of a good time.
58:05
I mean, it's just, you know, I know death wobble or anything.
58:09
I really enjoyed the thing.
58:11
But then there's that kind of stuff, right?
58:13
There's unknowns or just, I don't want to roll the dice, you know?
58:19
Dan, did you have a Wrangler?
58:26
You've owned a lot of cars.
58:27
I don't know about that, but yeah, this was 2018.
58:31
So it was the newer shape.
58:33
The only thing I did to it is I got them to put a bigger brake kit on it.
58:36
So they do it from the factory.
58:38
They do a bigger brake kit in case you're going to do lifted wheels
58:41
like the bigger wheels.
58:42
I didn't put bigger wheels on it,
58:43
but I just felt the brakes needed something.
58:46
So I just paid, I think it was $1,000 at the time.
58:49
A bigger brake kit on it.
58:51
But yeah, lots of adventures.
58:52
It wasn't, you know, handled like a boat, but that didn't matter.
58:55
You know, it took me across multiple states and I slept in it a couple of times.
59:01
Yeah, it was great.
59:01
Well, we know how Dan loves sleeping in cars.
59:05
It was more comfortable than the full day.
59:09
One way or another, Dan will find a way to sleep in the car.
59:13
And sometimes when I'm lying awake, you know,
59:15
ruin my life decisions or whatever, and I can't sleep,
59:19
I think about sleeping in that.
59:24
No, we had a Ford Edge.
59:26
That's what it was.
59:26
They all blend together.
59:27
So this was like peak last year, right?
59:30
And we got up early to go up the mountain and realized
59:32
that we've got a good parking space,
59:33
but there was nothing going on for a few hours.
59:36
So we slept in the car.
59:38
But I opened up the boot.
59:41
I opened up the boot.
59:41
And just lied in the boat.
59:47
Well, it was kind of that weird sort of like, you know,
59:49
if you're a kid and you go to the dentist
59:51
and they give you what do they call it,
59:52
butterfly gas or whatever, it's, you know,
59:54
it kind of knocks you out halfway.
59:56
You know, it's kind of like that, right?
00:00
You're kind of in a twilight zone.
00:06
That's what that was.
00:06
When no pop is consumed during that trip.
00:11
We could have used one, but yeah, that's,
00:13
hey, that was a great time.
00:15
I see that media credentials are coming up for bikes peaks.
00:20
I've started getting the emails.
00:21
I don't have to, if you, if you either,
00:22
one of you want to, want to make a, you know,
00:25
it's no retro-mobile, but we had a good time.
00:28
I wanted to make you sleep in a car.
00:29
We just go to all the events, right?
00:31
There's no discrimination.
00:34
Well, I think what we need is we need a airline sponsor.
00:38
We need a car rental sponsor.
00:42
And then maybe a hotel sponsor.
00:45
And that way our lives would be a million times easier.
00:48
So if you're listening spirit or Delta or whoever.
01:06
The micro-tel is always an option, right?
01:12
If you want a hotel with nothing but fluorescent lighting,
01:14
that's your move, right?
01:19
Is that a show guys?
01:22
It's a damn year and an hour.
01:25
I think we've reached that point.
01:26
I think we've reached that point.
01:28
We're going to France next year.
01:34
Is it Motel 8 or Motel 6?
01:38
It's more of a 6 than an 8.
02:00
You'll get there one day, Ryan.
02:03
This week, Lindsay doesn't miss a beat with dispatches from both
02:07
Airwater and the exclusive Slate Truck Launch.
02:11
The end discovers that he's not really a Bronco Raptor guy,
02:14
despite his hairy chest and tough guy demeanor.
02:17
I get bougie and bolder with the fuel fed set,
02:19
and we debate the car we choose from hell's own rental counter.
02:24
It's that car show.
02:25
The kids are all right,
02:26
and we are coming for your forerunners, Eli.
02:30
Well, welcome to this week's episode of that car show.
02:33
The gang is all here,
02:34
but I wanted to start off by introducing a phrase
02:37
and a little bit of information.
02:40
In the UK, we have a phrase called parish notices.
02:42
What does that mean?
02:43
Well, that means it's a traditional British phrase
02:45
that's often used to make a few announcements before things start.
02:49
So in British tradition,
02:51
I'm going to start with some parish notices.
02:54
And the very first one,
02:56
yeah, you guys will be using it in all the meetings that you go to,
02:58
and they'll be like, what's this?
03:00
I've become more British.
03:01
It beats housekeeping.
03:07
Yeah, I want to hear where you've used it.
03:09
So firstly, on a serious note,
03:13
on the 28th of April,
03:16
the legendary engine builder Ed Pink passed away,
03:19
and we just wanted to send our respects.
03:22
I don't think any of us actually knew Ed himself,
03:25
but we were familiar with his work.
03:27
We were aware that he had a reputation
03:31
and was known as the old master.
03:33
I think anyone in life,
03:34
if you get a reputation,
03:35
and you get some sort of recognition
03:38
as being called the old master,
03:40
you know that you've really kind of hit your craft and made it.
03:46
We didn't know him,
03:47
but we did know the impact of his work.
03:50
He built engines for IndyCar, for Porsche,
03:55
some of the Kramer engines,
03:57
interscope engines.
03:58
And more recently, he worked on the singer,
04:04
Let's get that phrase.
04:08
So we send our respects to his family.
04:11
He also passed away at the age of 94.
04:14
So as we would say in England,
04:15
a fantastic innings referring to cricket.
04:19
So that was the first one.
04:21
The second parish notice,
04:23
and I'm going to wear a dog collar next week, I think,
04:25
is that we had a lot of people on the social medias,
04:30
either give us feedback.
04:32
They shared some of our posts,
04:34
and I just wanted everyone to know
04:36
that that didn't go unnoticed.
04:37
We're incredibly grateful of everyone who has shown
04:41
real interest in this podcast really early on.
04:45
Please continue to subscribe and add comments, reviews,
04:48
all that sort of stuff really helps us.
04:49
But thank you for everyone so far.
04:52
This is where I say amen.
04:54
And I wanted to say specific thank you to my friend,
04:56
Wendy, who's her Instagram is BritPorschaGirl.
04:59
She has been an immediate early supporter and just so genuine.
05:05
And I think friend of the show, Tori Alonso, as well.
05:08
They've both been immediately on board and genuine
05:11
and very helpful, and we appreciate it.
05:16
So Wendy's going to get the parish notices
05:18
straight away without any change?
05:21
And Wendy lives in Sheffield.
05:26
They make watches up there?
05:29
I mean, I think we know a guy, right?
05:33
So last week was a big week in the car world.
05:36
And in particular, a new manufacturer came to the table.
05:40
And they brought potentially what is going to be
05:42
one of the most revolutionary cars to market, to awareness.
05:47
And we were lucky enough that Lindsay was there on site,
05:51
got an invite to the press launch.
05:53
So Lindsay, tell us all about Slate Automotive.
05:56
So Slate Automotive, they had their reveal on Thursday night.
06:01
It was at the Long Beach Airport in one of the warehouses there.
06:05
And it was very cloak and dagger.
06:08
You had to respond with a password to RSVP.
06:12
You didn't even tell us for the record.
06:15
I didn't tell anybody.
06:17
I had my dear friend, Derek Powell.
06:20
Everybody knows Derek Powell.
06:22
I feel like there needs to be a bell.
06:23
When we say Derek Powell.
06:25
So Derek and I knew that we were going.
06:29
He was the only person that I even acknowledged that I was going to.
06:32
Everybody else found out after.
06:34
So anyway, thrilled to be there, thrilled to be included.
06:38
Our friend Kat Savill, who was at the Peterson included me.
06:42
Now she's at Slate.
06:44
And so they had several of their executives,
06:49
the head of design, Tisha Snyder, Jeremy Snyder,
06:51
who's the CCO and Tisha.
06:55
I don't know that that's her last name now that I think about it,
06:58
because they're not related.
06:59
So they may have the same last name and I didn't pick up on it.
07:03
So I apologize if that's not the right name,
07:05
but she's the head of design.
07:06
And it was really fun to see a woman speaking.
07:09
And then their CEO is a woman, Chris Barman.
07:11
And they all spoke about the company and the mission.
07:14
And that they want to bring an EV option to the under $25,000
07:21
range of the market because there's a lot of people that would be
07:24
interested, but so far EVs have been inaccessible to them
07:28
simply because of the cost.
07:30
And so it's under $25,000 after government rebates.
07:34
The trucks are all assembled in the U.S.
07:36
And they have four different variations.
07:38
They have a single cab.
07:39
It's like a short bed pickup truck.
07:40
But then you can either configure it and have Slate assemble it
07:45
the way that you want it, or you can buy the pickup truck itself
07:48
and buy the parts and put it together yourself also,
07:50
which is an interesting concept.
07:52
Well, that's still be under warranty.
07:54
So that was part of the discussion afterwards
07:57
with several of my friends who are automotive journalists in LA
08:01
was if you have people that are installing it themselves,
08:04
how does that impact or does it impact?
08:07
Can you still claim that you have a five-star crash rating?
08:09
Like if you're not the one installing it, where does it change to?
08:15
Well, this was an aftermarket part.
08:17
So that's one of the early stage kind of like, okay,
08:21
there's definitely some questions that people have.
08:24
But in general, I think everybody loves the idea of expanding
08:28
the accessibility of EVs.
08:31
And this one is particularly cool because it's so versatile.
08:35
There's the single cab pickup truck.
08:36
Then you can add a shell on the back and a second row seat,
08:39
and it makes it kind of a new Bronco two-row SUV, very similar.
08:44
Yes, I said Bronco.
08:46
Three minutes in and I've already said Bronco.
08:49
I'll do it this way.
08:51
Then they have another one where you can add a second row seat
08:55
and basically roll bars so it makes it kind of Wrangler-esque
08:59
or new Bronco where they make the overlanding type.
09:04
Oh, we have a new buzzer this week, I think.
09:07
And then the last one reminded me of either the big Range Rover
09:12
or Range Rover Sport because it has a cab on the back,
09:14
but it's sloping, so it's another two-row SUV.
09:18
But the lines are a little more luxury SUV.
09:20
So there's all different configurations.
09:23
You can add different levels of trim.
09:26
You can design a wrap.
09:28
You can have slate, apply it.
09:29
You can do it yourself.
09:31
It's a modular sort of take into the extra.
09:33
It's very modular, yeah.
09:34
And so you can design it to fit your life and what you need.
09:38
So one of the things that they talked about is that,
09:40
you know, the way they describe it is that they're built in the U.S., assembled in the U.S.
09:45
And not just the U.S., but Indiana.
09:48
That's like extra U.S.
09:51
Ultra, ultra America, exactly.
09:54
So they say that they are manufactured here.
09:57
One of the points of discussion afterwards among the people in attendance was some of the parts
10:03
the U.S. has not had the capability to actually make those parts in 30 years.
10:07
Yeah, but that's anything, right?
10:10
So it's a little bit semantics because they are being assembled here, which is super cool.
10:15
And, you know, that, like, I love to see that because obviously,
10:17
hopefully it helps create jobs and all of that.
10:20
I think that's only positive.
10:22
So it's more like what's, I guess, you can parse out what your definition of
10:26
manufactured versus assembled.
10:29
And then, yeah, I mean, definitely some early stage questions, but their team,
10:35
I mean, listening to them was really inspiring.
10:38
They all have, like, several of the executives and a lot of the team have EV experience,
10:43
especially at Tesla.
10:44
So they've been in the space for a long time.
10:46
They've seen an organization like that grow.
10:49
And I think they're applying everything they've learned, you know,
10:52
what to do and what not to do.
10:55
And they just really seemed excited to bring this to the market.
11:00
And it was really, really well done.
11:04
The excitement, you know, everybody was very palpable.
11:07
Some people had seen spy shots.
11:09
They had done a, they dropped one in Venice, California the week before.
11:14
And again, you know, I'm not telling anybody.
11:16
So I'm like, wait a minute, what's going on?
11:17
So I sent it to Derek and I'm like, is this what I think it is?
11:20
What's going on here?
11:22
How big is this thing?
11:23
Like, what is this?
11:24
It's not big, like it's tiny.
11:27
Because I'm sort of under the impression it's the size of like one of the old school Ford
11:31
Rangers or something, if not the new one.
11:34
I think a small pick up truck.
11:37
It's like a light truck size.
11:41
Is it the Suzuki Jimny, the new one?
11:44
Not that small, right?
11:45
It's not that small, but it's definitely, it's, yeah, it's light truck class.
11:52
Like it's not a full size pickup truck.
11:54
And I think that is going to be, I think that's going to help because it may have
11:58
a broader audience.
11:59
Not everybody wants to drive a full size pickup truck,
12:01
you know, or doesn't need it necessarily.
12:03
Dan, can you ask our off camera assistant when the last car available in the U.S.
12:09
was where you, you could opt for roll windows, roll down windows versus
12:15
Because I believe that you can actually get rolled down windows.
12:18
That's how functional this is.
12:20
Oh, on the, on the way.
12:24
Yeah, because like this is very much a form follows function vehicle, probably
12:30
more than just about anything else we've seen.
12:32
I think we have a lot of vehicles that are designed to look that way.
12:36
But this really is, I wouldn't say it's the prettiest thing in the world,
12:40
but I kind of love it for that.
12:42
It's sort of, it's like, it's so functional, it's cute.
12:46
And it's like, and the size, it's very adorable.
12:48
And it's like the little engine that could because it's like, I'm here and I'm
12:53
What's not to love.
12:55
And they, it was, they had a great swag bag at the event and we got.
13:00
What was in this swag bag?
13:02
But those of us who weren't invited.
13:04
That was part of the mystique they said in the RSVP form.
13:07
They said, if we were to surprise you with something with like your name or
13:13
whatever, what would you put on it and what size are you?
13:16
So we got jackets with whatever name or phrase or whatever you wanted embroidered
13:21
And then we got slate hats and then a really fun little activity book,
13:24
which my junior car reviewer immediately took and then, um, yeah.
13:31
And just, there were a lot of, you know, who's who of LA automotive media.
13:35
Mark Vaughn, who does a radio show and he's running for auto week.
13:38
And then Derek Powell, like, you know, obviously, and, uh, John and Mira Childenko and Jeff
13:43
Glucker of Hooniverse and Sean Winograd from car and driver.
13:49
And I think Mounder trend, maybe.
13:50
And now Kat and then yeah, a lot of fantastic.
13:54
What did you learn, Dan?
13:55
Yeah, I kind of feel like we should be paying our researchers.
13:58
I know we're not in the minute.
13:59
So, uh, let's, let's maybe all chip together and tip them a little bit.
14:03
You won't believe the last time, let's just start with a year.
14:08
So the last car you could buy with roll down windows,
14:11
the car stopped selling in 2023.
14:14
So up to 2023, you could still buy a car with roll down windows.
14:17
It's a car versus a light truck.
14:19
Well, I mean, it's a Wrangler sport.
14:21
So it's both, right?
14:23
That's, yeah, that makes sense.
14:27
So you could buy a new car 2023 brand new.
14:33
And an honorable mention to the Chevrolet Spark, the base LS trim, had manual windows,
14:40
but was discontinued in 2022.
14:42
Have either of you driven a Chevy Spark?
14:45
And those stuck around way too long, 2022.
14:49
They were, would you say Dan?
14:50
I would rather walk.
14:52
Well, no, I, that's it.
14:54
That's, I think that is a viable alternative.
14:59
If you've ever been in a Lotus Elise, if you're driving your shoulder,
15:03
we'll be next to the shoulder of your passenger.
15:06
And that's the only other car that I've ever driven that experience.
15:10
Well, isn't that what they said about the Gordon Murray car though?
15:13
That like they, when Dario was driving it, like, I know Johnny said,
15:17
I thought he had to put his arm around Dario almost to sit in the passenger seat.
15:21
Well, that's different.
15:28
I'll sit in someone's lap, the Gordon Murray car, but a Chevy Spark.
15:32
Did you ever think you'd hear a Chevy Spark and a Gordon Murray car in the same set?
15:38
So yeah, it was great that you were there Lindsay.
15:40
And it was, it was cool to be, you know, the forefront of the action.
15:45
Happy to represent the team, right?
15:47
I do have more questions though, if I may.
15:49
This is a rear wheel drive only vehicle, at least at first,
15:52
or can you opt in a front, like an all wheel drive module or.
15:57
So they didn't go into that much detail at the launch, but I, yeah,
16:02
so I don't know about that specifically.
16:05
Because I'm thinking, you know, rear wheel drive, electric truck donuts, right?
16:10
What's not to love.
16:11
Yeah, you know, and anything about it where you think they missed the mark?
16:17
Like was it, I'm shocked that they kept it the secret that they did really for as long as they
16:22
really remarkable because I know certain people have known about it for years at this point.
16:28
So well, no, I just, I mean, yes, you're absolutely right.
16:33
That's exactly correct.
16:37
No, I think, I think as they start to roll out that may those types of things, you might go,
16:44
they could have done that differently, but at least for right now, because it is still,
16:49
it's not a concept like they will be building them, but because it's not live yet.
16:55
Everything so far seems like they're like it's aligned with what they are trying to deliver.
17:02
And hella timing with the tariffs, Jeff Bezos.
17:06
Yeah, probably conversation there for a few times.
17:10
The man can build a rocket and launch a car, huh?
17:12
And that's political as we're going to get.
17:16
It reminds me like if Ikea made cars.
17:20
Yeah, it's that idea was like you, you take only what you need almost and you can
17:25
heavily configurable to whatever your purpose is.
17:29
I mean, that part of it is incredible because there's so many people that have
17:34
different needs and jobs and to find something that you can customize exactly for what you want.
17:39
That's the only vehicle like that new right now without having to do a bunch of work.
17:44
I think they're great. I'd love to have one as a third car, go to the hardware store and all
17:47
that kind of stuff. You don't, you know, I don't want to throw a big emulsion to the Porsche or
17:51
the Polestar, but, you know, yeah. Well, and I just, we talked so much about, you know,
17:57
rebodying when Logan was on and how much that happened. And I'm sure you could do a version
18:03
of rebodying with the slate. Like, so this might be the new coach built.
18:08
Would even have to be a truck. No, like you could decide for whatever reason.
18:13
I don't need the pickup truck right now or maybe go back and forth.
18:16
Yeah. And that would mean that Ryan would have to update his article about convertible
18:21
electrics, maybe the master of the, of the sick way. There we go. I got it in there.
18:27
Is it $10 per mention of the fact that he's a published writer? Is that how this is going to
18:32
work? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you speak it, it's so right. There we go. I think that works.
18:37
That works. Now in Denver, I think there was a launch. Is that right? Ryan, you attended the
18:45
launch of, um, it was a kickoff. Uh, was it fuel fed kickoff? Oh yeah. I love Colorado. Not a whole
18:58
lot of the new car, uh, you know, launches here, uh, though apparently I know, uh, slate motors
19:04
was like Denver LA Denver LA. Hotly contested debate about where to do it. Yeah. Uh, you know,
19:12
how much I love fuel fed and fuel feds is this group that I've been a member of since I was the
19:16
very beginning back in Chicago and now they have a, an arm down in Fort Lauderdale and then Mike
19:21
Burroughs started up, um, uh, fuel fed Boulder out here a few years ago. And for a group that's
19:29
still kind of under the radar, it was a huge, huge turnout. We had a beautiful day. Uh, I think
19:35
this was the first year that they did this with the blessing of the city, right? Lesson learned.
19:41
If you want to do something, don't ask for permission, right? If you want to build that
19:45
addition to your house, you start building and then you, well, now we're building it. You can't
19:49
tell us to stop now. And that's kind of what they did, right? Um, obviously this is a much more
19:53
benign sort of, you know, benefit, beneficial sort of event, but, um, but yeah, sure enough, they,
19:58
they, they had the official barricades and, and a couple streets open, much more room.
20:03
And the cars that show up are just incredible. Obviously there's some good, um, some good money
20:09
in Boulder, right? Um, but also the enthusiast scene is, is, is incredible and, and just, it's
20:15
always, it's always amazing what rolls up. Um, and just seeing, you know, all the, the friends
20:21
and, and, and folks you haven't seen all winter. Uh, it was just great. It was great. I, I only
20:25
wished I'd had stickers, uh, to hand out for that car show. This didn't arrive till today. If you want
20:31
one, uh, slide into our DMs, I guess, uh, and we will send some off or just find us at the next
20:38
FuelFed event or Crystal, uh, Cove or, uh, Exotics, right? And, and Seattle. So, um, but to bring it
20:47
back to FuelFed, just a great event. If you're in Colorado, I mean, it's worth the drive. It's,
20:51
I think, uh, once a month now through fall, um, on Pearl Street in, in, in Boulder. And, uh, it was
20:58
just, I mean, just fantastic. There was a, a Tester Osta next to a TR, right? A 512 TR. So
21:04
I've never been able to sort of compare and contrast, right? You know,
21:08
and especially in real life with your own, yeah, in person. Yeah. Yeah. It's, and you realize,
21:13
oh yeah, there's some significant differences, right? Like the, uh, the engine cover in the back
21:17
is painted black on the 512 TR and it's also about half the height. You don't pick up on that stuff
21:22
seeing one, you know, in isolation, right? The lights are front, at the front, the lights are
21:26
different, aren't they? That's the lights are different pop up to glass perspective. Yeah.
21:31
Yeah. Yeah. And then there was, what was the final 512 TR that had the twist wheels and everything?
21:35
It was the really special one. I, I don't know what that was. It was the M. That's what it was.
21:40
Yeah. That's what it was. So maybe next fuel fed, there'll be one of those and you can see them
21:44
all, but just stuff you just don't see anywhere else. You know, I've got a buddy who brought us
21:49
his Lotus Elite, right? Just, uh, I don't know. That's where you'll see an Arial Adam or, um,
21:56
you know, a random vintage Bugatti, you know, may or may not be drifted, uh, for Logan, but, uh,
22:03
you know, it's just, it's an elite group. You know, you know, it's one of the special events
22:08
that hasn't been commercialized, right? You know, it's, it's, uh, you know, it's still fun. Um,
22:14
you know, it's a mature group. No one's ripping out of the, you know, the lot at the end of the
22:18
day. It's just, uh, it's just, uh, a great group of like-minded people. There, there are people,
22:23
they're that car show people, right? If you follow. So speaking of people, you also bumped into a
22:30
friend of Lindsay and mine, right? Oh yeah. Shout out. Well, a couple of them, but I think you're
22:36
referring to Eric, right? Eric from Dream Drives for Kids. Um, he had the shirt on and everything
22:42
and he recognized me. I put two and two together with the shirt and he and his wife, uh, is it
22:48
Amity? Amity, I think. Yeah. Lovely people. Really, really cool people. Yeah, I love them. Yeah.
22:54
Yeah. It's such a small world sometimes. And it really is. They went on and on about, uh,
22:59
you Dan and, and, and how much you've helped them with their fundraising and all that. You're
23:06
just there as well. I think Lindsay actually was one of the few that bid when I was like,
23:09
my hand in my pocket. Oh. Well, the funny part was there were, yeah, there were a few things that
23:16
really kind of hit home for me and, you know, especially they had the one where you could just
23:21
bid to put together the boxes that they give the kids that get to go do the tours. Um, and I had
23:26
my daughter with me at that event and she started getting into it. She's like, mama, I want you to
23:31
have this auction item. We got a bid. Yeah. I was prompted some interesting discussions about
23:39
fiscal responsibility versus charity versus, you know, what's the happy medium and also helping
23:43
people. Auctions are dangerous. Well, the one that really caught my attention was the photo shoot
23:50
for your car. And I bid on it and then I immediately got outbid, which is what you hope, right?
23:55
Because they're raising more money. And, but then my daughter said, no, I really want you to have it.
23:59
She kept trying to raise her hand. It's a little bit about the actual charity.
24:08
Yes. You'd be the best one to do that, I think. I mean, Lindsay could obviously do it as well.
24:13
But so Eric has been very fortunate enough to collect a large number of fantastic cars,
24:21
right? But he made a decision to do something with them as opposed to just showing them off
24:25
for cars and coffee or, you know, taking them for drives. So we got in touch with local hospitals
24:31
in his area and basically said, if there are children that are on a journey of sickness, so,
24:38
you know, they're either fighting something terminal or long term, he wanted to put a smile
24:43
on their faces. So he would turn up with one of his super cars and take the kid out for the day
24:50
in the supercar. And the auction item that we're referring to is that at the end of this
24:56
experience, the child gets a replica of that car as something to kind of keep, keep them motivated,
25:03
keep them thinking. And, you know, he's gone beyond that now. He signed partnerships. We were help,
25:07
we helped sort of sort out the partnership in Redmond, Lindsay and I.
25:11
But there's partnerships all over the US now, and it's only getting bigger. They went to some
25:16
Porsche racing at Cota with Patrick Dempsey and he's now supporting the charities. So,
25:21
yeah. And my friend, my friend Andrew Florin, who puts together the Ollie and Bob cars and coffee
25:27
in Santa Monica is connected with Children's Hospital in LA. So he and Eric are now connected
25:32
and we're building that. We, they are building that one out. So that's going to be amazing. But
25:38
it's, yeah, it reminded me, you know, listening to Eric and Amity talk about all the kids that
25:43
they've met. And, and we all, you know, you can imagine the impact that has not only on the child,
25:48
but the whole family is impacted, especially if they're siblings too. It just changes everyone's
25:53
lives. And it reminded me the school that I've driven with up here, Proformance Racing School,
26:00
they used to take a team to Daytona and do the 24 hours circuit Daytona Le Mans. And so when my
26:08
daughter was a year old, we went to the Daytona 24. And I remember standing there because they
26:14
raised money for children's for Seattle Children's Hospital and the cardiac care unit. And it hit
26:19
me, you know, I'm incredibly lucky that my daughter's healthy. But people donate, I think you, you get
26:25
involved if you've experienced something like that with your child. Or if you realize how lucky
26:30
you are that your child is healthy, you donate to help the families that have are dealing with these
26:34
situations. So I love the work that they do. Yeah, can you imagine, you know, if you're a kid,
26:40
you're sick, and, and that comes into your life. I mean, it would just, I think it would just, it
26:45
would be healing, right? I mean, it would be, it would just, it would just change everything, you
26:50
know, it's just, and the lovely people and just a great organization. And, and, and yeah, so
26:56
need to finally meet them. Yeah, that's so fun. Small well when it comes to good car people, right?
27:03
That's true. There was some other, I think, chance meetings, though, over the last week,
27:08
if I'm not mistaken. I want to hear about air water, Lindsay, too, but, but you ran into our
27:13
pal Dan McKinnis. I was going to say, there was a lot of like cross pollination, Pacific Northwest,
27:19
California. Everybody was in the wrong spot. Yeah, Bermuda Triangle going. Yeah, don't we?
27:27
That's, I know. Well, I mean, I've said it before, you know, Crystal Cove is my favorite spot in the
27:31
whole world. I was very lucky to grow up there in my detective trailer on the beach.
27:36
We need a theme song whenever that gets mentioned, right? Yeah. And so, you know, I had the unique
27:45
luck to be able to walk up the hill and cross PCH to one of the original cars and
27:51
coffees in Southern California. Or one of the bigger ones that then went to the Ford headquarters.
27:58
But Crystal, and so the shopping center is kind of, that's what's left as far as places I can go
28:03
there. And there's no formal cars and coffee there anymore, but it's an amazing car show
28:09
any day of the week, any time. I mean, I was there Friday afternoon. And, you know, it's just
28:15
unbelievable. There's a Super 90 like pulled in and there's a Porsche Super 90 speedster next to a
28:21
like 65 convertible Mustang and then an Urus and all kinds of stuff. But yes, so I got a cup of
28:30
coffee and I'm walking out and I hear my name. And I think, what's this? And it's Dan McGittis, of
28:36
course. If he was with our friend John Nasser as well, I think, right? It was a whole crew. There
28:41
were two Johns. And then David Reichman, who's wonderful. He's got a gorgeous, it was his speedster.
28:48
I didn't know that. Okay. I had seen in the parking lot. It was so funny because Dan said,
28:54
you know, we connected. And then he said, yeah, and she's on the podcast with Ryan and everybody
28:57
perked up. Well, I know Ryan. Wait a minute. Yeah, you're being kind. But it's funny because I was
29:05
walking the dog here in the neighborhood, I guess it was probably a few days before that. And who
29:10
did I see? But John Nasser walking down the street. You know, John, you don't live anywhere near here.
29:14
He said, well, I just, I went, I went to go up to this place up the street. It's an ice cream
29:18
shop and he's going to walk back to his house. It's like two miles. It's like, these guys get
29:24
around, you know? That's so funny. You get out more. But no, I love those guys. David's a neat guy,
29:28
too. And yeah, I ended up talking to him for a bit at Auto Kennel. Okay. The morning after
29:35
Airwater, excuse me. But it was so funny. Once I saw Dan, then I realized because I'd been going
29:41
south on PCH, coming up to Newport Coast Road, or yeah, Newport Coast Road, which is a really fun
29:48
driving road. That's where I took the Guntherworks Speedster, one of the first places. It's big,
29:53
sweeping turns and just amazing. Wait, we're playing that now for the Guntherworks? I just
29:58
felt like playing it. Yeah. You got to hold it closer to the mic. We had the full impact. I have
30:02
already the voice of the audience, you see. Right. There we go. There we go. Like we get it,
30:08
you got to drive the Guntherworks. Yeah. But anyway, I had been driving south on PCH,
30:14
and I saw this green Porsche turn from Newport Coast onto PCH, but it was far enough. Yeah.
30:20
And then as soon as I saw Dan, I'm like, I saw Dan like an hour ago, but I didn't know him.
30:25
And that guy, his car, everyone takes a picture of his car. I know. So anytime he's anywhere,
30:30
I turn on Instagram, I turn on Instagram, open Instagram. I guess you flip the switch to Instagram.
30:35
Yeah. Yeah. And his car is everywhere, right? You know, he always, he always makes the Instagram
30:40
Reels. He's got a hundred thousand now, hasn't he? I think it's 90. Just turned over 90,
30:46
but yeah, super fun. He's been to like Denver and back since then. He came, yeah, he left,
30:52
he went back Saturday. Yeah, I think he sent me a picture from the road, right? It was 9,000 and
30:57
nine. Wow. Or sorry, 90,000 and nine. It's not quite. So funny. Boots or something or whatever,
31:04
but it's, you know, it's pretty impressive. Well, and Dan, and I mean, that's what's so insane
31:10
is that I, you know, my official address is Seattle. Dan's is Colorado and we run into
31:15
each other at Crystal Cove regularly. Yeah. I don't know what you do with that, but
31:21
some people have it figured out, I think. And I'm still working on it myself.
31:26
So another event that was taking place in Southern California last weekend started
31:31
with a damp outlook, didn't it? The air water started with more water. What was going on?
31:37
Yeah, everybody was calling it like, okay, when, you know, it's just water, water this time.
31:42
It was, it was cool in the morning and then it started spitting and it was like, all right, well,
31:49
and then just real downpour. So it definitely, you know, it drove people inside. The nice thing
31:54
about the fairgrounds is that it's a mix of interior and exterior. So especially the, you know,
32:01
broad arrows, the auction partner, and they have a big auction room where they hold it. So you could
32:05
get in there and stay dry, be comfortable. And I actually got to go to the auction preview on
32:12
Friday and just check everything out, which was nice because it's quieter. There's fewer people
32:16
and you can really see the cars. And like, I got to catch up with some of the broad arrow and
32:22
Hagerty people. And yeah, I mean, it was a good mix this year. They had a real 906, which was one
32:29
of the cars that was featured in Ford versus Ferrari. Okay. And, but my favorite favorite was
32:35
an 87 dark blue turbo with like a marine and beige leather interior. I could not get enough of this
32:42
car. And I thought, yeah, it was non-metallic. So just a 3.6 or something? Is this like a really
32:48
special? I think it was just a regular turbo. I mean, those are special, obviously, but 3.6
32:55
would have been later, I guess, 964, but yeah, it was, I mean, I just like it kept drawing me back
33:00
to it. Like I'd go to walk away and I'd realize I had walked back to this car. I mean, it was just
33:05
stunning, but that that was it about the car, the color, was it the color was what drew me in. And
33:15
it was a non-metallic blue. Oh, interesting. There and then the next day at Auto Kennel,
33:19
there was a 996 dark blue turbo. So that was the energy of my weekend was flat, you know,
33:27
non-metallic navy turbos, I guess. But yeah, just it's just such a beautiful body style. It was
33:36
very like it was a color still, but it was understated. And it just like it really spoke to me.
33:42
I mean, it seemed like you could just sort of be under the radar. It's very car enthusiast.
33:50
You know, you could just drive it and you could kind of you could get attention if you wanted to,
33:54
but you could also just if you know, you know, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was a good mix of that.
34:00
Yeah. And then they had a yellow GT4 RS, which was beautiful. They had a silver Carrera GT, you
34:06
know, those are always stunning to see. Another favorite was I don't know if you remember a few
34:12
years ago, Porsche redid one of the Carrera GTs, like took it down to the metal, took everything
34:18
apart and redid it so that it was as if they had built it, you know, like three or four years ago.
34:24
No, but it would be. And they finished it in this color that is it's a little it's a it's
34:31
slightly less bright than like a Miami or Mexico blue. They called it speedster blue. Okay. And it
34:36
was very like it was all over, you know, social media at the time. Broad Arrow auctioned it then,
34:43
but it was actually there too. Wow. Okay. It was up for sale again. So I got to see it again.
34:47
This is familiar now. This is coming back to me. Yeah, it's it was a unique story.
34:53
They had a 911 E, which is like that's kind of a cool story. They had a roof. And then I don't
34:59
know if you remember the story of that. I think it was a speedster that Jerry Seinfeld had bought
35:02
that turned out to have some, you know, it was the Franken car, the Eurasian green. So they had an
35:07
an 01 Eurasium green Carrera four with that's what was interesting this time is a lot of the cars
35:13
in the auction had really unique interiors. So it was fun. There's a fiend here. Yeah. Yeah, they
35:20
picked up on that at RetroMobile. And right, it was like a little more visual interest. You know,
35:25
there was one really beautiful red 911 and it had the interior was a mix of this like red and black
35:31
houndstooth and then tan leather, which was a really interesting combination, you know, drew in
35:36
the red from outside. And this Eurasium green one had this beautiful green and blue plaid interior.
35:42
So it was just a lot of interest, like when you got up to the cars to drew you in even further.
35:48
Didn't Porsche just announce that they're bringing Pasha back is like a standard option.
35:54
It's an extra. It's not standard. It's an extra, but sure. Right. But it's not available.
35:59
It's like $8,000 or something. You know, worth it. When I saw Eric and Amity, she had a shirt on
36:06
a blouse that was Pasha and it took me a second to realize like, Oh my God, that's
36:11
I know what that is. Yeah, sly sly. Yeah, you were staring at her blouse for five minutes trying
36:16
to work it out. Right. I was gonna say eye to eye for five minutes. And then I happened to, you
36:27
auction, was it successful? Did most cars sell? I don't. I haven't seen actually. Yeah. What did
36:34
you buy? No, I mean, I was sorely tempted. But oh, but what I was gonna say is it was fun to go
36:39
to the preview on Friday and then get to walk around the grounds a little bit too, because they
36:44
had a 935 that was in one of their, you know, their iconic kind of platform displays. And
36:49
they also had the AO racing, Rexie and Roxy dinosaur Porsches, which are those are my
36:55
daughter's favorite we let go. So I got to see those up close before the event. And yeah, I mean,
37:01
it was fun. Well, you know, you know, got to see Trent Abbott, which is always a treat like
37:05
he's hilarious. And then Paul Kramer was there, Matt Farrah. So Saturday, it was nice in the
37:11
morning. I got there really early and then started to rain. But before it started raining,
37:16
we got to see Matt Farrah, Sarah Trimble, and then Peter Brotman, who is a friend of mine that I
37:21
saw at RetroMobile. So that was really fun. And he was just about to go on the Cal Mille. So he's
37:26
going to have some more stories from the grand. So yeah, yeah, he's awesome. He's his Mura is my
37:32
daughter's favorite car. Awesome. He's a good car. Well, because yeah, I mean, it's almost like the
37:36
people are the best part, right? Like with anything, right? It's it's the cars are just the
37:40
kind of Well, and with the rain, it's sort of illustrated that even more because like it dampened
37:46
it a little bit in the sense that you couldn't just move freely. You had to be a little more
37:49
strategic, but it also didn't really because you're running into people. You know, I saw Dan
37:54
McGinnis again. We had talked about it. He was going to be there. But my two favorite cars that
38:00
they are, I should say four, two favorite displays, they had two of the GT3RR, the Rensport version
38:08
that they debuted at the last Rensport at Laguna Seca. So they had two of those. One was full carbon
38:14
and one was this really beautiful blue, you know, graphic, livery, gorgeous. And then on the other
38:19
side of the wall, they had a liquid cooled car. And then have you heard of the artist? It's Joshua
38:25
Vitas and he does the black. It's a white background and then black, like it makes he makes the cars
38:31
look like drawings, like a cartoon car. Yeah, yeah. They had one of his cars there. And I had seen,
38:38
you know, pictures and articles like Derek Powell wrote an article about them. And it's the videos
38:44
I'd seen, you know, you see somebody get in and they start to drive it and it's like an optical
38:47
illusion. You're having to tell yourself, it's a real car because of the effect and the impact it
38:53
has. So they had one of those and it was really cool. Very cool. So air water, is this like, is
39:00
this something that you feel like you need to go to every year? Is this like, you know, because
39:04
you can only do so many things each year, right? Is this? I think it is because it's one of the
39:12
few that's actually in Orange County. Okay. And, you know, I've known some of the people on the
39:16
team over the years. And so that was I wanted to go and support my friends, obviously. And,
39:23
you know, in the broad arrow and the Hagerty team, I know a lot of that team as well. So it's also,
39:27
again, going back to the people, like it's a good way to see a bunch of people that are not
39:30
normally in the same place all together and catch up, which is really nice. But yeah, I mean,
39:37
it's really nice because a lot of the events do take place in LA, which is still accessible
39:42
for me, but it's much more of a drive, like to be able to go 15 minutes down the road and be at
39:46
this one. You know, and I went last year with my parents and my daughter and we had a great time.
39:52
And I think that speaks to the event because my parents' focus is more Ford and Shelby.
39:58
And they left and they said, that was delightful. Like it was really fun. They put together good
40:02
displays and the people. Well, I like the new stuff too. Like, you know, I like the old stuff,
40:08
but I also like the new stuff, right? Yeah. It's what I buy, right? Well, and they had what was
40:14
cool this year. And I don't remember if they had this last year, but they had a Myers-Manks display
40:20
in the mix, which was really fun. And they had, there you go.
40:26
Yes, magazine here. Yeah, which is, well, and that was a recreation of a magazine cover from the
40:32
80s. That photo, it was a Carmen Gia. If you can't, yeah, if you're not watching the video,
40:39
apparently a few of you do, last week where there wasn't a video, but there is, it's the latest
40:44
DeVance magazine and there's like a guy in a BMX bike. I don't know about 12 feet up in the air
40:49
flying over a Myers-Manks with a man in the Myers-Manks who looks as amazed as he does,
40:55
afraid, but it's a great show. It's a great photography, isn't it? Yeah, it really is.
41:01
Yeah. So that one, you know, Ryan, you got to go to Bassam's book launch with Myers-Manks. And so
41:06
it's, again, I mean, we always say the car world is so connected people-wise and even all the
41:10
vehicles are so connected. So they had their bus, which was also featured in Ford versus Ferrari
41:16
in the background. And then they had three Manx, one had a radial engine, one had the
41:21
four cam Porsche engine, and then one had the VW. Cool, cool. And yeah, I mean, it's so fun. I got
41:26
to meet Mike from Manx and then Matt was there and he's getting his radial. And so then he came
41:32
over and they were talking about it. Yeah, we got to see his- A little story. Yeah. And we got to
41:37
see his spec and it's in process. So yeah, it was just really fun. You just realize how important
41:43
sound is in a car, right? And I just can't imagine what that sound right behind your head
41:49
must be, right? I mean, you're like a red baron or something. I know. That engine
41:55
in a vehicle that light, that's got to be a hell of an experience for sure. Absolutely.
42:01
Shall I bring us back to reality for a little while? We have to. It's a fun idea.
42:06
I think it's, you know, we get all these great experiences, but also they want advice,
42:11
they want insights. And they came here, right? I mean, I guess our heads are in the clouds.
42:17
A last chance to loon. That's the car show. So I had a dilemma this week. I was down in LA for
42:27
business meetings and I got to the rental car lot. And I want to know what you guys would do.
42:33
I'll explain my process afterwards, but you get to the car lot. Yeah, you get to the rental car lot
42:39
and they say, right, here's your row and you can pick any car from the row.
42:45
And the row was right near the front. So it means it wasn't a great row.
42:50
These are the sort of cars. Immediately no. I'm lucky it wasn't.
42:54
It's funny how we all understood. Yeah, but it was like new look to me and said, yeah, just yeah.
42:59
And it was like no walk at all, right? But the row consisted of a few cars and I'll name them
43:06
and tell me like, which would you pick? What's the one that really, you know, you would go for
43:11
or maybe even fight someone else with their luggage. This is not the president's circle.
43:15
Okay, this is a rental car cage match going on. Maybe we can make the next UFC millions out of
43:22
that, right? So the cars were, and I say cars, they're kind of more like mini SUVs, the Hyundai
43:28
Kona. Okay. Okay. The Chevrolet Equinox. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, right. I have a story about that.
43:38
The Jeep Compass. Yeah, also, no, the Kia Sportage. Yeah, that's that's sounding better in this
43:46
in this group. Like cheese. The Ford Escape or the Nissan Rogue. So man, that is like a
43:57
what was the last one? A Rogue? A Nissan Rogue. It's like a Rogue's Gallery, right? Yeah, this
44:02
is this is like the Rogue's Gallery. It's like, this is the one I must really like,
44:09
careful here, right? Because two weeks before I went to Enterprise, and I'd used points and I'd
44:15
booked myself a Corvette, and I ended up driving off the parking lot in a brand new 911. So
44:20
Enterprise are great. Just this week, I was on a budget. Right. Well, yeah, sometimes you hit it
44:26
and sometimes you don't. I will say, I was just talking to someone who has a Kona and had had
44:32
an EV before that, and was raving about it. She said, for what it is, it's very simple. It gets
44:39
me around. It charges quickly. It's comfortable. You know, it's it does a good job. I do the Kona
44:45
in that group too. Yeah, I've driven it. I've driven every other one of those. It's my process
44:52
of elimination. Kona it is. Yeah, I know as well. I would, I would take the Kona. I did have a Jeep
45:00
Compass. I mean, in 2015, as a rental car. And I had a little bit of a I think I have a soft spot
45:08
because I had a little bit of a final destination moment in that car where traffic suddenly came
45:13
to a stop and I looked in the review mirror and there was a semi fish trailing towards me from
45:18
behind it. And I was able to get myself out of it. So the Compass, you know, did its job.
45:25
Yeah, okay. Yeah. So would you go for the Compass or would you go for? I think I would go for the
45:31
Kona because I would want to try something new. Interesting. Do you want to break down why each
45:35
one of those models is awful? We've got enough time on the podcast, definitely. But let me explain
45:42
my process again. So how did this all shake out? Well, I landed in LA and it's sunny.
45:51
It is. As I'm walking along the line, the first thing I'm looking for is a sunroof.
45:55
I actually don't care what badges on the front sunroof and none of them had a sunroof.
46:04
So immediately fresh off the 911. Fresh off the 911, which was convertible.
46:09
Immediately I rolled out the equinox. I don't know why it just does not appeal to me.
46:15
Maybe I'm a brand snob, I don't know, but like that was straight out the window. So then
46:20
the Ford Escape, I've got friends who have big engine problems with their Ford escapes.
46:24
So I was like, no. I'd actually take the equinox over the escape at this point.
46:29
Yeah. I just haven't seen one of the current gen. Like I drove one of the first generations
46:34
for a bit and I used to joke that it was made of Legos and I love Legos.
46:38
Yeah. Those first generation ones were kind of cool. The boxy ones, but now they're just like
46:43
they're, they're like, they were just super light. Like there wasn't a whole lot to it,
46:47
you know, not, no pickup. Are we still talking escape here? Yeah. Yeah. Not much escape in the
46:53
escape. I once took one of those first generations off-roading and ripped off the whole underbody
46:58
and I returned it and no one was the wiser. So I don't know if I do that in a new escape though.
47:03
That's a little too cross over then. That was in 2004, right? Oh, you're good.
47:11
Maybe earlier. Yeah. Back to the, yeah. Was it an escape we took to Pikes Peak?
47:17
No, that was an edge. That was an edge. Not a terrible car in this company. Yeah. That's yeah.
47:23
The edges are good. Yeah. So the equinox was out. The escape was out. The sportage was out.
47:29
I'd had rogues before and I thought, well, what's going to be the most comfortable to sleep in?
47:38
We're the buzzer, Ryan. We need our own.
47:43
But I went for the, I went for the Jeep just because, you know, it's, it's a known quantity.
47:49
It's relatively comfortable. Right. You know, it was not terrible. Yeah. It was fine.
47:56
Yeah. It did the job great. These are like, these are like threes, right? For cars though,
48:03
all of them, right? It was like a row three. It's like better than, slightly better than nothing.
48:09
What was it in plane strains and automobiles and you couldn't get a rental car and he's like,
48:12
I'll take a Datsun. I'll take a Toyota. I'll take a Ford. I'll take anything, right? I mean,
48:17
that's, these are those cars, right? Yeah. Just need to get somewhere.
48:20
Right. Your case is a very important business meeting.
48:23
A really important business meeting. But yeah, so there's no wrong answer, right? I mean,
48:27
the only thing is getting you ready to be these days. Modern cars are good, but yeah.
48:32
But it, yeah, I mean, it's always interesting. Like sometimes you really hit it like with your
48:37
911 and sometimes you don't with the rental cars. I mean, I had one a couple of years ago
48:43
in Monterey, I was chatting with the rental, with the counter agent. Oh, I see. Are you the cutest
48:48
rental travel agent in the world? I bet you get that all the time.
48:54
But I got, I ended up getting a brand new forerunner with only nine.
48:57
Well, there we go. Nice. I have yet to get a forerunner from a rental counter.
49:01
Well, and then when I went back for Rensport that year, the guy was still there and I
49:05
thanked him. I said it was so, you know, really made the week. And he's like, well,
49:09
I don't have that one, but I do have another one. Would you like it again? Yes, I would.
49:13
Nice. Nice. Nice. This one's a TRD pro. Right. No, the first one was.
49:18
She'll work her magic and charm. Right. Right. This is why we all need to travel together.
49:23
Yeah. Eli at the Hertz counter in Monterey. Eli, what's up, Eli?
49:27
You know, Eli probably listening, so. Right. Obviously. So I had to say hi.
49:31
He's managing now. He's got all the forerunners.
49:35
She got fired after slipping these forerunners to all the pretty ladies.
49:39
Custom the rental company. Right. Shoot. Oh, man. That's a good time.
49:45
Yeah. Rental cars. It's a weird lottery. Well, if you've flown into Monterey,
49:49
like for car week, it's a tiny airport. Right. Like, you know, maybe that's,
49:54
it's in notoriously bad rental cars because they're just like, yeah, beaten to crap. And,
50:00
you know, yeah, lots of threes. I think they step it up for car week. Yeah.
50:06
Not for me. They had, there was a Maserati. Oh, there was.
50:13
Yeah. It's calling. I actually think that Eli was showing Lindsay a different part
50:18
of the parking lot to where we went. Yeah. That was just somebody's car.
50:23
No, you guys. Yeah. I think we got the budget end of the car. Right. Right.
50:29
But yeah, car rentals. What can you do? I've got an English phrase when I go to my check-in at
50:35
the car rental. And I just say, have you got anything fun? And usually they kind of go,
50:41
okay, well, this person might be a car person. Let's see what we can find out for them.
50:44
Well, aren't you pulling the, I'm a car journalist thing like I did?
50:49
I'm not as well published as you, Ryan. Five, five articles I'm up to. Come on.
50:57
What point is it official? But I think you should slide over one of those new stickers.
51:01
And those. Yeah. But yeah, I work with Ryan Barkley.
51:07
You may have heard of a little show called that car show.
51:11
I don't know if you know, I'm kind of a big deal.
51:13
Yeah. Also, I'm British. Parish notes and all the rest.
51:18
The adventures in car rentals continue. Watch out for the next instalment.
51:23
Sorry. Also, do you have anything fun as a Britishism?
51:28
I don't know if it is or not, but it kind of feels like the person at the car rental place is like,
51:34
oh, maybe this person's a car post. Maybe more of a car, like the surprise and delight or something.
51:41
I'll let you know how that goes. Well, let's just throw down, this is a challenge, right?
51:46
The next time we travel, okay, fly to an airport or something, get a rental car,
51:50
who can come back with the best rental car without paying extra?
51:56
Yes. Without. That's the key. Okay. So it's an ongoing challenge.
51:59
Yeah. So it might not be, you know, I'm not going anywhere tomorrow, but, you know,
52:03
maybe next month or maybe next month. That makes one of us. No.
52:09
And we need to make sure that Eli is not included in this.
52:12
Or else we're going to lose straight away, right?
52:15
I can't use, I can't leverage my resources.
52:20
Well, Eli, I'll never forget that name now. That's a good one.
52:23
Yeah. Well, he was so nice, you know, and yeah, just super helpful. And it really did.
52:28
I mean, because it was a brand new car practically. And, you know, you hear things about forerunners,
52:34
especially the first gen, like underpowered or whatever. This one was perfect all the way around.
52:41
Eli will see you in August, buddy. Yeah. I love it.
52:45
First to see him. I test drove a car last week. Oh, what did you drive?
52:51
So, you know, sometimes you kind of look at a car and you're like,
52:54
I wonder if it drives as it looks. Yeah. And I managed to get my keys, the keys too.
53:01
And I don't know, we should use a buzzer here because it's me saying it, not you Lindsay,
53:05
but the Bronco Raptor. Oh, wow. Or the Braptor.
53:11
And it's a divisive, divisive car, divisive. Okay, so what did you think, Dan?
53:17
Yeah, so my expectations were incredibly high. I told a couple of friends that I was going to
53:24
test it and both of them said exactly the same thing. Individually.
53:28
It's too big. Yeah, it's too big for you. You won't like it. It's too big.
53:31
So were you test driving it with an eye to possibly purchasing one,
53:35
or was it just the opportunity to drive it? Yeah, so just what Dan does for fun.
53:39
Yeah. I mean, me too. That's why I'm clarified.
53:43
So I was thinking about swapping in the Audi and the Corolla and getting one do-it-all car.
53:50
Yeah. So it's something that has performance that you can take the top off and, you know,
53:54
can store your tires, all that sort of, I'm not sure whether you get the tires from the Bronco
53:59
in the Bronco because they're not on the Raptor. Yeah. So it's almost like a Lambo Rambo Lambo
54:07
size. Yeah. Yeah. Like massive. So anyway, I went to the dealer and I'd specifically asked for a
54:15
used Bronco Raptor to test drive. I get there and the dealer has the brand new car waiting for me.
54:22
So clearly he's already thinking about the upsell. Right. So I'm like,
54:27
how many miles have you got on this thing? I'm really happy to drive the used one.
54:31
And he's like, oh, no, it's here now. So we get out to the car park. And this thing was, yeah,
54:38
you have to climb up into it. And Lindsay, you drove one of the... I did. I had a lot of show
54:43
when we were there. Yeah. Yeah. So you literally, you almost need to take some crampons with you to
54:49
get into this thing because it's so high. So that was the first thing. I didn't realize how high they
54:54
are. And you then get in it and it's very familiar, Ford controls, paddles, all that sort of stuff.
55:03
You've got all sorts of extra buttons for auxiliary things like lights, etc. But you're
55:08
pretty high up. You're kind of truck level high up there. So took it down the road.
55:13
My expectations were that this thing was going to really, really rip. And it didn't really, really
55:20
rip. And it did not. No. I mean, you think that because it's got the Raptor brand associated
55:26
with it. And it was nippy, but it wasn't like, I was kind of like hoping for a kind of, holy
55:32
shit, this is quick, right? Right. Like put your hair back. Well, it's not 500 horsepower. It's like
55:36
470 or something, right? It's not crazy. It's a V6, isn't it? They didn't put a V8 in it because
55:42
it wouldn't fit. Right. But the V6's are faster than the V8's, if I'm not mistaken.
55:46
Is it the V6? Is it the EcoBoost? I'm not sure. Now you're testing me. I remember it was a V6.
55:53
I don't even know what EcoBoost means, honestly. I think it's just the turbo, right?
55:57
Yeah. That's just, that's the name that they came up with for the V6 turbo engine.
56:01
Ecologically boosted. Yeah. That's what's in my truck. Okay. Yeah. So I don't know if it was,
56:07
but anyway, so this thing, it didn't rip like I wanted it to rip. It didn't, I can imagine it
56:12
handles really well in the sand. You know, I can imagine that you just don't realize that you're
56:16
going over sand, et cetera. Which I hear about not at all. Right. And how often do you find sand
56:23
at the car park, right? Right. I hate to admit it to Jeff Lincoln and everyone else that told me,
56:32
but it was just too big. But is that because it's the Raptor and you like extra wide or
56:37
would the standard Bronco, because you can't get the Raptor with the manual, right? But you can
56:42
the regular Bronco. Correct. But the width, it's got extra width. Even with the standard is, it's
56:48
just okay. Because in my mind's eye, they're closer to like a Wrangler, but I guess they're not. I've
56:52
never driven one. The Raptors are, there's, they have a volume to them because of the,
56:58
the additional, just everything, and the tires and everything, everything is, it's like jet puffed
57:06
a little bit. So last week, it was constipated. This week is just like me. Love it. Absolutely love
57:15
it. Stay puffed. Marshmallow Bronco. I can imagine. If you're in Montana, or if you're
57:23
somewhere like where there is a lot of space, I can imagine it's a great car. Yeah. But yeah,
57:29
it just wasn't. Well, and if you're, you know, when you look at where you're going to be driving it,
57:34
you don't want to have to pause at parking garages. Right. Right. Right. You know,
57:41
yeah. You want to be on Menden fences and that thing. Right. Well, and that's, I know it's
57:46
interesting, Jen, because I know we talked about it at the time. And I was also very excited to
57:52
try it out and had high expectations. And that was probably one of the most interesting car test
57:59
drive days for me because I drove the F 150 Lightning, the Brapter, the Explorer ST, and then
58:08
the Mach E GT. And if I had had to rank them ahead of time, probably the Bronco and the Lightning
58:14
would have been tied in what I expected to be first. And then the Explorer and then the Mach E.
58:20
And the Mach E was my favorite and the Bronco was my least favorite.
58:23
And what's a Bronco? What's a Brapter go for? It was about 70, 80?
58:27
It's a bit weird at the minute. I didn't even want to answer that, but
58:29
no, I don't know. Actually, so to counteract the tariffs, Ford are doing something called
58:35
employee pricing. Yeah. So in essence, you're getting, I think, between 15 and 20% off.
58:41
Okay. But also, yeah, these cars aren't selling. So, yeah, so there are bigger deals to be had
58:48
on these things. So I think you could pick a new one up for probably about 85.
58:53
Okay. But an MSRP would be about 100. Okay. And there's a lot available at that price point,
58:59
as we know. And I think that's maybe the thing working against it the most. I mean,
59:03
you're talking about, I don't know. Yeah. Well, I mean, you're getting close to,
59:10
what's a Jeep wagon started? The Jeep has the, what do you call it? Is it the 392?
59:16
Yeah. So that would be also like kind of panned though, like people never really got crazy about
59:21
those. But I think people like that because it is a V8, right? Versus the V6. You know,
59:28
you could have something very quick from Porsche. Yeah. I'm sorry. The G-Wagen starts at $148,000.
59:36
So nearly double. Okay. Yeah. Ryan's ability to stay with the common people is drifting about
59:43
slowly. Hashtag unrelatable. Well, I've never priced the basic, you know, the base G-Wagen.
59:48
It's the G63 or nothing. Well, and I will say when I did the women's off-road day at Dirtfish
59:55
with Avants, there were several brafters there and they were amazingly capable. Like they chewed
00:02
up the course. The people had so much fun driving them. They looked really cool. So I think it's
00:07
one of those two where they do look cool. They're really designed to be off-road and that kind of
00:13
thing. And so when you drive it on the street, it's a little neutered. You're not really fully
00:17
experiencing what it's been designed to do. Yeah. But that's tricky because if you're buying,
00:23
if you're going to have one car, you're going to be driving it in context that it wasn't necessarily
00:27
driven for if it's a purpose-designed vehicle like that. Yeah. And you want to be able to
00:32
enjoy it, especially people like us. Right. I do not have an assistant. I have to type my questions
00:39
in. You'll get there one day, Ryan. I believe in you.
00:45
Yeah. I'm sorry. Now I'm punching in G550 prices and talking about Gulfstreams and that's a whole
00:50
other. But according to this, Namg is only 40,000 more. So why limit yourself to the G550? Just
00:58
saying. I'm hauling. I mean, while we're at it, that's pretty funny. Well, and one thing, I mean,
01:03
speaking of like crazy cars, there was one last little footnote I wanted to say about
01:09
all of my visits to Crystal Cove. I met a group of young kids. I mean, they're probably 18-ish,
01:17
but young as far as compared to me. But you know, there's a big discussion and we've all talked
01:21
about this, about like our kids interested in cars these days and kids not getting their licenses
01:28
and whatever. And these kids were so fun and so enthusiastic, just like true car people.
01:35
One of them was named Kendall and she has a Supra that's wrapped half and half hot pink and
01:41
matte black. And she ended up walking us around the car and showing us all the little Easter eggs
01:45
and they had put, you know, stickers under the wrap and then they put the wrap on. So it looks
01:50
like it's embossed. Wow. And just super cool. And then one of her friends has a Mercedes convertible
01:56
that's covered in purple Muppet hair. Oh boy. So very distinctive. Yeah, good on them. Good on
02:04
them. I know. They were just, you know, and then, yeah, it was, it was very fun and very,
02:10
you know, good to see like, okay, the next generation is alive and well and kids are
02:15
still in the car. Yeah, absolutely. 100%, 110%. Yeah. Yeah, super fun. And then we saw him the
02:26
that was the thing. So we saw it Saturday and they're like, it's a little dirty from the rain.
02:32
It had gotten rain. That's all the fur was kind of depleted. I mean, do you use like detergent
02:37
that like laundry detergent? Conditioner. Yeah, from getting, you know, dry. Come on. But yeah,
02:46
so car girl Kendall with a K, she was very cool. Yeah, and they were about to swap out the
02:51
kids are all right, aren't they? Exactly. The kids are all right. Whoo. Have we got a show title
02:57
in that? Yeah, maybe I use that once for the road. The kids are all right. And
03:04
and Muppet Mercedes. Yeah, Muppet hair. I think we're at a show on me. Thanks. I think we are.
03:12
What do you think, Ryan? We, uh, Oh, we can keep talking on the
03:18
I'm all hopped up on any beers. I mean, at least a half a case of non-alcoholic beer left. What
03:25
am I supposed to do with it? Well, no, he's going to knock three of those over at least.
03:31
Two down one to go for our listeners. Let us know where else we should introduce the buzzer. I'm
03:45
Chris McCove. I mean, we could end up with a show that's just buzzer, buzzer, buzzer.
03:50
For every time I spill a beer. Yeah. Well, it's like, you know, John and Justin had to do that AI
03:55
show. We might we're like, we may have to fall back on just a show that's an entirely the buzzer
03:59
if we have an issue. Well, noises. We'll get that. So that's a show I think who is going to leave us
04:06
with our famous catchphrase. Ryan, would you like to? Yeah, this is that car show. Always be
04:13
driving until next time. Excellent. Thanks. Thanks, everyone. We'll see everybody next week.
04:39
We have reached peak car. We're not in a situation where we're looking for peak car. We have reached
04:46
peak car. Today on that car show, Sasha Salipanov Sasha of course is the automotive designer behind
04:53
many of your favorite modern super cars and hyper cars, including the excellent Lamborghini Urachan,
04:59
the innovative Koenigsegg Jamira and of course the epic Bugatti Chiron. We talk about what makes
05:05
a car great why the Germans are sometimes scared of their own shadow. Why Freeman Thomas's original
05:10
Audi TT was so good in why the company's new Concept C is a return to form.
05:15
Of course, we also go deep on Sasha's current project, his Neloo 27 hypercar,
05:20
and why I think it's the most exciting hypercar in a long time. Here's a hint,
05:24
it's got a V12 that goes to 11 and a gated manual transmission. This is a good one and
05:30
Sasha's story of growing up in the Soviet Republic to creating some of the most iconic
05:34
enthusiast cars of our day is a great one. It's also a reminder to get off your ass and do something
05:38
with your life. Stay tuned, tell your friends and make sure you follow that car show on Spotify,
05:43
Apple podcasts and YouTube. That car show is brought to you by Sheffield Watches. Sheffield
05:49
is the storied watchmaking brand that was revived a couple of years back by her good friend Jay
05:53
Turkbuss and it's seen wild success in both the car and watch enthusiast communities. Sheffield
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offers a wide selection of watches, many inspired by the iconic designs of its 1960s dive models,
06:04
most notably the one that Jay's parents gave him in 1970, which ignited his lifelong passion for
06:09
watches. Sheffield watches are high quality, reasonably priced in a great value. Sheffield
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has truly become the car guy and car gals watch of choice. Order your Sheffield watch at Sheffield
06:21
watches.com, give them a follow on the gram at Sheffield underscore all sport underscore watches
06:27
and tell them that car show sent you. The first time I saw Sasha Salipanov's Nelu 27 hypercar,
06:35
I was blown away. I knew immediately that it was something special. It was familiar, but it was also
06:40
unlike anything I'd seen before. It was kind of like every car crush I'd ever had all rolled up
06:46
into one, but it wasn't derivative. It wasn't overwrought. And it wasn't an homage. It was a
06:52
truly original modern hypercar, one pure form and one that really connected with me emotionally,
06:59
which makes sense because the car's creator Sasha has one hell of a resume. Born in Tbilisi,
07:04
Georgia, Sasha moved to California at the age of 17. And after attending Art Center College of
07:09
Design, Sasha was hired by the Volkswagen Group, where he was part of the Lamborghini Huracan
07:14
team and designed the exterior of the incredible Bugatti Chiron. He later go on to Genesis before
07:19
becoming head of design at Koenigsegg, where he was responsible for both the Jamira and the CC850.
07:26
But back to the Nelu, because its specs are truly impressive. A hot VV12 engine that makes a thousand
07:32
horsepower, over a thousand horsepower at 11,000 RPM, which is incredible, a top speed of 250 miles
07:39
an hour, zero to 60 in under three seconds, of course. And oh, it's got a gated manual. It's a
07:48
burn your village. So it's that car show. And today it's just me, Dan and Lindsay are off doing
07:55
amazing things, but I'm doing something even better. I'm here with Sasha himself. So Sasha,
08:00
you've been on top gear, the smoking tire motor trend, the list goes on. It's great to have you
08:05
join us here on that car show. Welcome. It's my pleasure, Ryan. Thank you very much for this
08:09
incredibly kind intro. I'm blushing already. Well, hopefully I got all the facts correct.
08:15
But it's great to have you. I'm a big fan of your work. And so what is the Sasha story?
08:21
Where did this need to create, this drive to create come from?
08:26
No, I just thought I think most of the kids are kind of born with it. But the society, the
08:33
warm embrace of the parenting home and experiences in school kind of
08:39
stifled the creativity and killed the dreams a little bit for most kids.
08:43
But in my case, I was very fortunate. I had the environment and speaking of my family right now
08:50
that really nurtured that obsession of mine and made sure that a lot of compromises, sacrifices,
08:56
and effort was invested into supporting me on that journey. So I think I was just lucky like that.
09:03
Yeah. You were one of those kids, I'm sure, that had the posters on the wall and all the rest.
09:07
What was on your wall as a kid? What were you drawn to?
09:11
I think that part of my kind of, part of my motivation right now and part of the intensity
09:17
that I feel when it comes to sports cars really takes roots in how, in a way, depraved my childhood
09:23
was because growing up in final death rows of Soviet Union in Georgia, either the best car
09:33
you could see out in the streets was a lot of Niva, which is actually a really cool car. But
09:38
that was the best. You would never see an import. You would never see a sports car.
09:45
Those things only existed in rare kind of magazine clippings that I could find somewhere.
09:50
The fact that I never was exposed to those cars, although I dreamed of them daily, but I never
09:56
had the opportunity to actually hold on to them in any meaningful way, that hunger and that
10:04
fascination is what really fueled me throughout my life. I'm still weak in my knees when I see
10:10
something exciting on the road and jump out of my car and run after it like a total adolescent.
10:16
I love that you still do that. Glad I'm not the only one.
10:20
Most recently, I most recently was driving somewhere in Hollywood and there was an F40 parked
10:24
facing the wrong way on the road. So I am driving seeing all those back ends and all of a sudden
10:34
first, I don't know, not even a parking spot, just bio hydrants and then ran out and started
10:41
taking pictures and spent half the afternoon just sitting there on the curb looking at the car.
10:46
You can't help it. It's an obsession from early days. And F40 was on the bed on the road.
10:53
Yeah, yeah. It's one of the greats truly, isn't it? Yeah, I still get a little weak in the knees
10:57
whenever I see one too. You got a car week and you see them everywhere and it's just surreal,
11:02
right? It's just surreal. At that point in time, it gets like this experience of,
11:08
you know, like if you have all these craft beers, by the time you're on your fifth one,
11:12
you really can't tell. Like if you did it, it's like the ride. That's the car week experience in
11:17
the nutshell. It's always saturating for my senses. I love that analogy. Yeah. So,
11:23
Tbilisi, like a beautiful part of the world, but obviously it was a real culture shift moving to
11:27
a city like Los Angeles at 17. So you had spent your form of years in this former Russian Republic
11:32
and now you're in Los Angeles. And I mean, your head must have just exploded, right? With everything
11:36
you saw and experienced. Not quite, I would say, because first of all, from Tbilisi, my family moved
11:41
to Moscow when I was nine years old. So I spent between my nine-year-old and my 17-year-old self.
11:49
It was Moscow. And Moscow is a really bustling metropolis with more intensity, more New York
11:55
than LA if you had to draw a parallel there. So for me coming to LA from Moscow, definitely exciting.
12:01
Car culture is amazing. Climate was wonderful. Plenty of experiences that were, you know,
12:07
kind of impressive, but I was missing a little bit of the intensity of the big city in the New
12:13
York kind of way. So that was a culture shock, obviously, also because it was my first time
12:18
having to speak English from morning to evening, never having the opportunity to switch back to
12:23
the comfort of my native language. And yeah, I still remember it was a massive culture shock,
12:29
but not because of the size of the city. Yeah, okay, interesting. Yeah, yeah. You know,
12:34
and I bumped into you a couple of times. I think the first time last year at the LA Auto Show,
12:39
where your car was front and center, first time I saw the car in the flesh and was just really,
12:42
really floored by it. But I bumped into you again recently at Car Week at the Hagerty House,
12:48
I guess, what they call it. And you gave this really insightful presentation into your design
12:53
philosophy. And I guess what I really appreciated about it was your complete lack of pretense,
12:59
like in a, in a week of lots of smoke and mirrors, sometimes literally, you know,
13:03
you really cut to the chase and you almost made it sound like the secret to car design is actually
13:07
very simple. I think it is. I don't know. I do believe that we overthink things too much sometimes.
13:14
And the first impulse is more often right than we give it credit for. So yeah, it's over complicated.
13:22
It's driven by too many cooks in the same kitchen quite often. There's too many interests at play.
13:27
The investments are so large, you know, nowadays to bring a mainstream production car to the road
13:32
is, you know, maybe even north of a billion dollars. So when the investment is that high
13:39
for a road car program, you inevitably have a whole bunch of different stakeholders in the game.
13:45
And very often the designer is kind of the receiving point of all the different conflicting
13:52
feedback. So then it's up to you and it's on your shoulders to make sense of it somehow.
13:56
And again, very often the designer is relatively narrow minded. So they only have, you know,
14:02
they just want to focus on making something quote unquote pretty, and they don't fully embrace the
14:06
complexity of the process. So it is both simpler and more difficult. I don't know how else to
14:11
summarize it requires certain amount of certain amount of intelligence. And if you have that
14:17
intelligence, then hopefully it's a good place to start. You broke it down into some some components.
14:23
And one of them was seat shape and seat design, which I thought was really interesting, right?
14:28
And I think as you said, at most car seats kind of look the same, right? And but the body's not
14:33
built like that. Plus, you need to sort of lower the roof of the car, the center of gravity and
14:37
all that. Can you go into that a little bit about how important seat design is? Because
14:40
the human like our body really becomes part of the of the unit, the functional unit, right?
14:44
Once you're in the car. Yeah, that's a very interesting point. Obviously spent a long
14:48
time thinking about it. And generally speaking, when you're working with established car companies
14:53
and OEMs, you have ergonomic sections that are being given to you. So you can't actually be
14:57
creative when it comes to changing some of the ergonomic requirements that the company has,
15:02
like DW has very strict curves that are already predefined for human comfort and for human safety.
15:10
So if you deviate from those curves, you'll be approached by the engineering team and they'll
15:14
tell you, yeah, your design isn't compliant. Please make sure you respect these tried and tested,
15:19
decades old, matured through generations, comfort sections, we won't accept any deviation.
15:25
And I was actually at Conex the first time I realized this stuff is up for grabs. Christian
15:29
had some wonderful ideas when it came to human ergonomics. And I realized, wow, I mean, he's so
15:34
creative when it comes to these topics that were taboo in my previous life. And I kind of took that
15:40
as a challenge for myself to also think outside these, you know, regulated boxes and be creative.
15:46
Obviously, safety is, you know, top concern. So we will, I will never do anything that compromises
15:52
that. But when it comes to some of those comfort sections, they are built along straight lines,
15:56
like the seat back, for example, in most passenger cars is a straight line. And that's not what our
16:02
spine looks like. So creating a shape that accommodates the spine more is both more comfortable
16:07
and eventually lowers the head a tiny bit, and you are packaging a bit tighter around the head.
16:12
And you're getting, in my mind, a sports car anyway, should feel a little bit like a tightly
16:16
fitted glove. You kind of want that tailor made feel in that interior. And the areas that you
16:20
come into contact with with your body, let's say, you know, with your elbows, with your knees,
16:25
with your hands, obviously, they should be designed as literal offsets of your body parts so that you
16:31
have that cocooning effect and the feeling of purpose built interior, other parts that are
16:37
more about, you know, making inputs into the vehicle, toggle switches, shifter, all those
16:44
other things, they need to provide both the haptic and the touch feedback to you. So you really need
16:49
that click back, you really need that cold touch to understand that you're not on the,
16:54
you know, your hands aren't on the leather anymore, they are on something that controls
16:58
mechanical function of the car. So I want that cold touch to come back to you at that point.
17:02
There's a lot of thinking that goes into designing an interior very far away from just
17:08
drawing lines and coming up with cool things. That's not it. You really have to think through the
17:13
user, through the driver's perspective, what is the experience that they're about to have,
17:20
both from the external point of view, approaching the car, getting into the car, being in front
17:24
of the wheel for the first time, your first eight seconds as Etienne, who is my wonderful
17:29
friend and interior designer, says first eight seconds are the clear kind of yay or nay decision
17:34
point for the potential buyer. But then how does this thing live with you throughout your life?
17:40
Are you going to be looking to sell it in six months because it is a pain and you're not comfortable
17:44
with the experience or is every new opportunity to drive the car, you know, making you fall deeper
17:50
in love with it? And it really is gratifying on all those levels, both the first wow factor,
17:54
as well as, you know, the decision making point, but then the life with the product and learning
18:00
something new. It's like every relationship, you really need to create those experiences and layer
18:05
them and sometimes even hide them so they come through later down the road. And yeah, seatback
18:10
is part of it. Sorry, I'm going to deviate it now. Well, you mentioned the tactile and I don't
18:14
think there's a screen in your car, is there? No, well, we have one screen, which is the rear
18:19
view mirror, the central mirror just in the cabin here, because the firewall is, there's no
18:23
transparency there and the engine bay has this massive top facing exhaust, so you wouldn't see
18:28
anything out the back anyway. So we do have one screen, and it's the only screen that I'm personally
18:33
comfortable with in a super sports car. The last thing you want to do is while you're driving,
18:37
have to kind of look away and fiddle with something on the screen. So that mirror is all you get.
18:43
Okay, interesting, interesting. And you mentioned Etienne Salome as his name and I think you worked
18:48
with him on the Chiron, yeah? Yeah, he was the interior head and I was the exterior head,
18:52
so we were sharing that responsibility. And later on, he became one of my best friends,
18:59
but also joined me on a bunch of other adventures, including a periodic work at Connick's Egg.
19:04
While I was heading up, design there, Etienne was one of the contributors. And then with Nelu,
19:08
the interior was, again, us sort of working together and him driving that very much, but I
19:14
also had a strong hand in it, obviously, being my brand. Sure, sure. One of the things in the
19:19
interior, I think, that I've seen is the wheel is pretty small, right? So the dials right are
19:23
offset right to the left and right and things like that. I mean, everything's considered and
19:28
just appreciate that. Something else I really appreciate is wheel design. And I know when I
19:33
saw you at the Hagerty house, there was a question and answer session, and there were only a handful
19:37
of us journalists types. And so the pressure was kind of on to ask a good question. And I asked
19:42
about wheel design, because on the Nelu, it's a simple design. It obviously works very well.
19:48
It's beautiful, but it's not overwrought, right? Again, it looks the way it does, because I think
19:53
you said it was how a wheel looks when you make it as strong and as light as possible. And that's
19:58
the result you get. Is that right? They kind of capture that? In a nutshell, you definitely did.
20:04
So wheels are incredibly important for vehicle performance. They're obviously on sprung weight.
20:11
They also generate quite a lot of rotational energy. So they're in a way like a gyroscope. So
20:18
a wheel that is spinning at 200 or 300 or 400 kilometers per hour is an incredible amount
20:26
of energy stored in that rotation. So the more mass that wheel has, the more complicated it is for
20:31
the suspension to do its job. The more complicated it is to get good steering feel, because obviously
20:36
it doesn't want to change direction. It continues spinning in the plane of rotation and doesn't
20:40
want to be changed. So light weight is crucial for wheels. That is really part of not only weight
20:46
saving in terms of just numbers game, but also the outright driving experience benefits a lot
20:51
from your wheels being wider. So you can run algorithms these days that generate wheels with,
20:59
if you input the parameters of the material that you'll be using, if it's a composite,
21:02
or if it's a forged, or the methods of production, and you get shapes that are
21:06
lightest for that input, for that material, for that vehicle weight, for that driving kind of
21:11
scenario, you get designs out of predictive software. So technically you should be just
21:15
taking those, producing them, and your job's done. But of course, as a designer, there is an
21:20
aesthetic value to it. And I do believe that form following function delivers most of that value,
21:24
but you still should do your homework a little bit, making things neat. And a classic five spoke
21:28
is one of the simplest and most efficient shapes when it comes to distributing the load paths
21:33
and providing the right rigidity and strength and lightweight. So starting with a five spoke
21:37
made sense. And then I wanted to keep the face of it as clean as possible, so you don't actually
21:41
see the complications. And this is also part of the way I like to tell stories. I don't like when
21:45
things are all at once, statement intensity, just thrown at you, right? I want to create
21:52
a step ladder where you appreciate the design thinking, oh, it's a simple five spoke wheel,
21:57
probably seen something like that before, but you get close and you're like, oh, but not quite.
22:00
And then, and then you look at it from, from, you know, closer up and then you see that, oh,
22:05
it's all cross drilled and there's so much weight saving going on. And there's all these crazy
22:09
angles that the drilling is happening from the CNC machining. So they must have come up with
22:14
intricate new ways of accessing those angles too. So the more you know, and the closer you get,
22:19
the more you appreciate what you see in front of you. While the first read remains instantaneous,
22:24
as I call it in the undertales, punch to the gut, you know, you need to deliver that bang.
22:28
And you can't, you can't deliver the bang with a lot of like noise. The bang needs to be, you know,
22:33
intentional. You're the first car designer spoken with that really almost talks about a car with
22:38
a story arc, right? Or is having a story arc, which I appreciate. And speaking of wheels,
22:43
it must kill you to see like Cadillacs with these chrome 24 inch wheels, just knowing like how much
22:47
those things are hurting the performance of the car, right? I mean, like to every vehicle,
22:52
there's different set of guiding principles, you know, for some, for a vehicle that is primarily
22:57
just a fashion symbol or something that is just lifestyle choice. Fine. But we're talking about
23:02
super sports cars. So there's still that kind of, you know, you need to, you need to deliver on the
23:06
performance side as much as you do on the on the aesthetics. So I don't want to necessarily kill off
23:11
the entire car culture that is, you know, not necessarily following function per se. There's
23:17
so much exciting stuff on the road. And I really just appreciate stuff that makes me stop and think
23:22
a little bit, you know, and it could be both really pretty and quite ugly. But I love the kind
23:27
of the wow factor that I kind of experienced when I see something that breaks them all a little bit.
23:31
Yeah. Well, speaking of that Genesis, I know you were with Genesis for a while. And I think
23:35
Genesis has some of the best wheels in the game, maybe, you know, not all performance wheels,
23:39
necessarily, but but really doing some different stuff with fractals and all this kind of thing.
23:43
Did you have anything to do with that while you were there? Yeah, we did. So maybe you remember
23:47
Genesis Ascension, the concept? Yes, absolutely. So that had a pretty wild wheel and that car was
23:52
done in my studio. I was responsible for that, for that show car. Fantastic. And the wheel I
23:58
still remember because our boss at the time was constantly pushing us to come up with something
24:02
even more expressive for the wheels. And I was like, guys, come on, we got to like, this is it,
24:06
you know, let's let's just make sure that we produce something that is wild. I still really
24:11
wanted the first read because I'm a fan of first read. I think first read is very important.
24:14
But the intricacy was taken to really the next level without essential wheels was nuts.
24:19
Never done a more complicated wheel in my life. And then we did the mint as well,
24:23
which was the follow up show car to the Ascension. That also had a crazy wheel. And I still remember
24:27
sitting in Alias and actually building up the wheel myself. That was one of the personal
24:31
contributions. I was like, okay, I'll do the wheel. Yeah, that's awesome. A detailer's nightmare,
24:35
but a great looking wheel, right? That's the best. Three or four days of work where normally I spent
24:41
like, I don't know, half an hour on the wheel, but this was a heavy one. Wow. And you mentioned
24:45
you're not a clay model guy, right? You are a computer guy. I don't know, maybe that's just a
24:50
generational thing or whatever. But but it does affect the output, doesn't it? I don't think so.
24:56
I think that the key kind of guiding parameter that I have for my own output and for my teams
25:02
is you shouldn't be able to tell how it was built. Like when someone sees it, like an experienced
25:06
tech guy comes up and says, how did you guys do this? They should fully believe that it was done
25:10
using their preferred method, you know, their dream approach. They should not be able to tell
25:15
how it was done. Because I don't think that the final product should reflect the tools that were
25:22
used. The tools should be used to create a perfect product. And you should find tools that do it
25:26
for you. But the product should not necessarily headline with the approach that was taken.
25:32
That somehow devalues it to my opinion. For example, a 911 rear fender, a clay modeler will
25:38
always tell you that's only possible in clay. I can build that in maybe 45 minutes. There's
25:43
really no problem with that rear fender. It's two patches, and it's pretty easy to control that
25:47
highlight. It is a really beautifully mathematically controllable surface that unfortunately most
25:53
alias modelers or most CAD modelers build it not the right way. And then it becomes a very tedious
25:58
piece of work. And then the clay guys take advantage because they can do it with their hands and
26:03
with their kind of magic. But if you understand the underlying math behind it, it's actually a
26:07
very simple shape. Yeah, interesting. So what are some of your pet peeves when you see other cars,
26:12
cars that you weren't involved with, right? Whether it's, you know, I don't know, BMW or Tesla or,
26:17
you know, what are these? Is this some funky stuff going on? So what are some of your pet peeves?
26:22
How much of this is laziness? How much of this is just trying to do something different?
26:25
So my main problem with the entire industry as a whole is this complete disconnect between
26:30
what the object is supposed to do and what it looks like. So the kind of mental game I play
26:36
with myself sometimes is close your eyes, come up to a car, put your hand on any part of that car,
26:41
open your eyes and ask yourself, what's this for? And chances are in a large percentage,
26:47
there is no purpose. It is just there to create visual fascination, quote unquote,
26:51
but it doesn't fascinate me. I just look at it and think, well, why is this thing just stuck on
26:55
the car? That has to do with fake exhaust lamps, fake air intakes, fake, I don't know, matte black
27:02
moldings or shiny pieces or sometimes they're even placed on the car in a way that defies
27:07
function, where you think, well, yeah, I would appreciate a non-scratch surface on the front
27:12
bumper, but where you placed it in an undercut where a body color panel is overshadowing it,
27:17
it's obviously not going to prevent my bumper from getting scratched. So there is this kind of
27:22
substitution of meaning, you know what I mean? Where instead of honesty and design, it's anything
27:28
but honesty and design, it's a complete outright lie. So that's what I don't appreciate, but I'm
27:34
not ready to pin that on the designers' shoulders and say, yeah, it's because those guys, they don't
27:38
know how to do their job. No, it's because of how this industry works. Quick refresh cycles,
27:42
constant need to bring something fresh to the market. Two year old car is too old now,
27:46
we need a refresh, but we can't invest money into it, so we can't actually just come up with a brand
27:50
new design. Let's take it as it is and just stick something on top of it. Just make sure that we
27:54
differentiate with low hanging fruit quote and quote, just put something on there that doesn't
27:57
cost us that much money. So you're being forced as a designer into the territory that none of us
28:02
graduated with dreams of doing these kinds of Christmas tree ornamentations. We all graduated
28:06
with dreams of, oh, I'll be like Giorgetto Giugiaro someday or I'll be like Marcello Gandini someday,
28:11
but they work in a completely different climate. Right now with the pressure that the corporate
28:15
world has upon the design department, yeah, your heart pressed to do your job and stay dignified.
28:21
Yeah, yeah. And what's your sort of take on, you know, Jaguar obviously got so much grief
28:25
earlier this year with their, it wasn't just a car redesign, it was really a brand overhaul,
28:30
right? And I think a lot of us struggled with that because, you know, Jaguar is a legacy brand,
28:35
right? There's an expectation for Jaguar. Here you are, clean slate, right? How is that different
28:42
designing for a legacy brand versus a brand new entity like Nilo or even Koenigsegg, you know,
28:47
relatively new? Well, just a couple of words on the Jag. First of all, I would never speak negatively
28:53
of someone who took chances and showed bravery. So from that point of view, hats off. I think it's
28:58
wonderful that they did. I think the brand has been in a crisis mode for not one, not two, but
29:02
like, I don't know, four decades at this point in time. They've really not had a chance to stand firm
29:07
on their feet. And, you know, the Ford platforms were horrendous and over-bloated, kind of fatty
29:14
designs with tiny little wheels pulled all the way in. These cars, they didn't look good. So it's
29:19
not like the designers came in, took this beautiful refined jewel of a brand and screwed it up.
29:25
That's not what happened. The brand was struggling. So it needed reinvention. Now, do you think,
29:30
you know, do I think that I would have gone that particular route with Jaguar if I was once given
29:35
a chance? Probably not. But I really appreciate that they did and that they stuck to it and that
29:40
they came out strong. And there are many areas on that car that show incredible design quality
29:44
and sensitivity. And interior is beautiful. Some of the detail treatment is beautiful.
29:48
Overall proportions, squint your eyes, look at it. It's a beast. In my mind, Jags should be a bit
29:54
more feline with a little bit more kind of flow and sculpture and a little bit more general beauty
30:00
to them, right? Not just slap-sided, monstrous, kind of brutalist designs. But again, heads off,
30:05
they tried something different, and they tried to rescue an otherwise failing project. So, yeah.
30:12
I think the Jaguar design language had been taken as far as it could go, right? I think Aston was
30:17
in that same position, right, a few years ago, and they had to do something different.
30:22
I do think that you kind of start with a strong manifesto with like a declaration of intent and
30:29
the message that is very clear. And that message is verbal, but there's also usually a set of
30:34
images that accompany it, you know, like you start off kind of programming the brand
30:40
for a new era. And then as you iterate, as you go, first product is always the celebration of
30:45
that new vision. And then you're pressed by, you know, the market demand and the fans and the media,
30:51
you know, how do you kind of continue that development? And the first few products are
30:55
usually a good continuation of that original manifesto. And then somehow, one way or another,
31:00
maybe some people leave, some new people come in, it gets diluted. So there's always a kind of a
31:04
strong, you know, intent at the beginning that somehow slowly glides down, down to a point where
31:10
a new kick is necessary. And that's also why I think that perhaps rotating chief designers
31:17
and rotating CEOs is not such a bad thing. I don't know, like after 15 years in a brand,
31:22
if I would personally have any more new ground to break, you know, already kind of digested the
31:27
brand's meaning, I contributed my vision, I did a generation of cars, two generations of cars,
31:33
three generations of cars, how much more can you do? I think it's time for fresh blood.
31:36
Yeah, absolutely. So I guess supercars are one thing, hypercars are one thing. It's probably
31:41
even that much more challenging to your point to design like an everyday car, right? So are there
31:46
any daily drivers out there that you think really get it right, you know, past cars, current cars,
31:52
I'm not generally like a super big fan of current cars. Like if I think of some things,
31:56
things that I like, they always are strangely from the past, you know, and like I remember
32:02
you know, one of the formative experiences of like a regular car, seeing something in you was
32:09
a regular car, was the original TT when that came out. And then the Golf Mark IV, which was the kind
32:16
of same generation as that TT, was the first car with clear headlights. No, no, no, not foggy, you
32:22
know. And that was so clean and so pure and the shut lines, the way they were laid out. And that
32:28
was the time when I was already not super little, I was maybe in my early teens, but very formative
32:33
to me as a designer of just how neat and how organized and how precise their shapes were.
32:38
And I really kind of still to this day, hold those cars at a very high level of respect.
32:47
Today, when I see stuff, I just want to clean it up. That's my only kind of foundation. I'm
32:51
like, look, this is almost perfect, but just remove all this design, like remove all that stuff,
32:55
like I don't need it. Because I'm pretty cynical in respect. No, I'm not sure that's the right word.
33:01
When I get in the car in the morning, and I'm not necessarily in the mood for visual
33:07
bonanza, I just want stuff that doesn't piss me off. Like I want stuff that I get in and it's
33:11
just there perfectly resolved. Like, sorry for the example that is overused, but like the freaking
33:17
iPhone. I don't need stuff that streams at me on Monday morning. So it's like, check me out,
33:23
I got this feature, I got that feature, and I got this like, my shifter looks like a leaf,
33:27
and it's got this little chrome trim, like who cares? Give me something that I can actually grab
33:31
and does his job and looks pure and simple. And yeah, that's what I like.
33:37
It's funny you mentioned that Volkswagen because I remember the first time I saw one on the street.
33:40
I remember where I was. I remember what the car looked like. And like it was a Kuntosh or something.
33:46
At the first time I saw Lamborghini, it had that sort of impact on me. So I'm glad to hear that I'm
33:51
in good company. And of course, the TT you mentioned is interesting because the new TT concept was
33:56
just released today. And it shades, if I think it was the Audi Avis car, the concept car of my
34:03
youth, I guess. So thoughts on that because it's getting a lot of press and people seem to really
34:08
love it, especially the back end. I'm a big Audi fan. And as you know, I spent 12 years of my life
34:14
in Volkswagen group, a big chunk of that I was at Audi as well working on some production programs
34:18
there. So big fan of Audi. I struggled with the management there for many years because I thought
34:23
they didn't fully embrace Audi DNA. For me, Audi DNA is much more Germanic, much more Bauhaus,
34:30
much more kind of two tonic, strict, fundamental, almost brutalist. There is something about Audi
34:38
that is German to the core in this no nonsense kind of way. And when they were over styling it
34:43
and putting a lot of styling lines and putting undercuts and overcuts and chrome bits and this
34:47
and that, then again, going in the Christmas tree direction with the cars, I personally felt
34:52
disconnected. I felt like that Audi has such a wealth of DNA behind it. Come on guys, let's just
34:57
do something more pure. And my proposals were always on that more pure direction. And then
35:02
eventually they weren't getting into production because they were seamless, just not right for
35:06
the brand. In fact, I was being offended by being told, you're not on brand. And I'm thinking, no,
35:11
you are not on brand. None of you are on brand. You don't get the brand. I need to shake you guys.
35:17
We're not doing rebadged BMWs or rebadged Mercedeses here. This should be different. There is a
35:21
quality of design that needs to be respected. And that Abus concept you mentioned was obviously a
35:25
big inspiration, JMA's early 90s wonderful car. There was also the Audi Sport Quattro coupe concept
35:31
back then also with this round roof orange car, a spider and coupe that were wonderful. Then
35:36
the TT came, then the Steppenwolf was incredible as well with a Raphael Prentice as a designer.
35:42
And there was a whole plethora of cars that for me set the standard for what Audi design should be.
35:47
And then there were a lot of newer cars already under Walter De Silva and then Stefan Zilow,
35:52
and then Wolfgang Egger, and then Mark Lichter, incredibly competent designers. But some of
35:58
that original design manifesto got watered down. And remember I just said a minute ago how like
36:03
you start high and then you kind of need to restart. Well, maybe this is what's happening now,
36:07
maybe bringing Massimo on board. They are really kind of returning back to this more
36:13
austermanic roots. From that perspective, I love what they did and I'm really happy to see it.
36:17
Yeah, that design language works so well in a way that it wouldn't I think with Jaguar or something
36:22
else. It just looks right. It just looks right. It's hard to put your finger on, but that explanation
36:27
of the history and all that just that explains it I think. And was it Freeman Thomas who did the
36:33
original TT? Freeman is awesome. Yeah, he did the original TT. He worked on the original
36:40
new Beetle as well. That's right. I remember that round Wolf one. And yeah, to his day,
36:44
he's an inspiration, great designer. Was he a teacher of yours at Art Center?
36:48
No, he didn't teach, but he's prominent. So he always stopped by and gave his opinion here and
36:52
there. And sometimes I go out to see him and run whatever I'm doing by him. Just you got like a
36:58
He's a hell of a nice guy too. I bumped into him a couple of times at the Peterson Museum
37:01
and other places. And he's always got time to say hello and talk with him. But I have to say he
37:05
on a philosophical level is very much the core of in my mind of Audi DNA. Like you would go to him,
37:12
to Derek Jenkins as well, another very prominent designer. I respect a lot for this Audi DNA.
37:18
It was an interesting thing. I need to mention this. The Germans themselves struggled to understand
37:22
the quintessential part of Audi DNA. You had to be a foreigner to see it. And the fact that those
37:27
guys were coming from the States and they grew up with a completely different understanding of what
37:30
VW is and what Audi is. And there was a whole hippie culture tied into it. There was a whole West
37:35
Coast kind of fun culture attached to it. Germans see their past with heavy guilt. So when you tell
37:41
them let's take inspiration from the 30s it's like are you nuts? Like why would we do that?
37:45
Please anything but. So it really takes a person who is not part of the guilt train
37:53
to reference some of those cars and celebrate them in a way they should be celebrated because I
37:57
don't think the cars are guilty of the dictators, you know, actions. You're the first person that
38:03
I've ever heard say that Sasha. And I think that's really important and that explains so much,
38:08
right? I know Mercedes-Benz has this amazing repository of their history that they keep under
38:13
lock and key, right? And obviously I understand some of it but it's still your history, right?
38:17
And I like that point of being an outsider looking in to really understand it. That's fascinating,
38:23
you know. So you mentioned Volkswagen, Audi TT, some of these other cars. I'm very fascinated
38:29
to find out what your daily driver is Sasha. What do you drive? The guy that designs the Neloo
38:34
27. What does he drive every day? Well, my favorite daily driver that I had to sell when we moved to
38:41
the States for the second time was the R35 GTR. That was my kind of perfect weapon. I loved it.
38:51
I loved every moment of it. I would take kids to school and drive on the German Autobahn and
38:55
max the car out every single day. So it would literally go 195 miles an hour on the way to school.
39:01
And then onto the off-ramp, completely de-restricted. So you brake late, you kind of throw the car in
39:06
and then floor it on the exit. Let it slide a little bit. The kids are partying it out,
39:10
celebrating. And perfectly legal. And perfectly legal. So that was an experience. I loved every
39:16
moment of owning that car. Right now I drive a 2021 or 22 Land Rover Defender, which I really like.
39:24
It's a very pure, clean volume. Again, referencing, by the way, this is another car that the current
39:29
Audi chief designed back in his Land Rover days. So there's some taste of his that I appreciate
39:34
in that car as well. And so my daily needs doesn't upset me. I don't feel like I need to scream and
39:41
yell at it. The reliability sucks, but the design is good. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great design. I love
39:46
what was it, the Heritage Edition with the steel wheels and all that. I don't know which one you
39:50
have, but I love those are great. And they drive really well too. You don't always notice until
39:55
you get out of something else before you realize how good those Land Rovers ride. And you mentioned
39:59
the R35 because I think it was just last week that they announced the last one was rolling off the
40:04
assembly line. I had to stop and think about how long that thing has been out. I think that was
40:09
released in, was it 05 or 08? 08? 07 were the first cars on the road. But the concept was a
40:16
couple of years before that. And then there was another concept another couple of years before
40:19
that. So I would say the journey of that R35 project probably goes back to early 2000s.
40:25
Really? Yeah. And I remember when it came out, this was the death of analog, right? This new
40:29
digital car. And now we look back and think, all right, this thing's pretty damn analog.
40:34
Pretty damn analog, right? Exactly. Compared to today's cars. It's got a ton of character. I don't
40:38
know what people talk about the fact that it's like driving a PlayStation cars, but it really
40:42
isn't. The thing is tons of joy and can really kind of, I wouldn't say it punishes your outright
40:48
because it does catch you if you're too stupid. But there is some like snap oversteer moments I
40:52
had. What was that all about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's nice. I think the proof is in the
40:57
pudding and that the fact that those cars are holding their value really, really well. I sold
41:02
mine for more than I bought it for. Really? Which is incredible because a seven-year-old car,
41:06
fractionally, but it still didn't depreciate. Sure. Like it's a Porsche GT car or something,
41:10
you know? Okay, so you're in Southern California, LA area, I assume. Indeed. Yeah. So where are
41:15
your go-to roads? I know when I'm in town, I always try to do Angeles Crest and Little Big
41:19
to Hunga or whatever those roads are. They're pretty fantastic like roller coasters. Where do
41:22
you go? What are your proving grounds in SoCal? I don't have any proving grounds because I don't
41:26
have a car that is worth the proving grounds. Okay. Good answer. The Land Rover is about to tip over
41:32
every time I'm on an off-road so I don't feel the need to take it anywhere more extreme than that.
41:37
Yeah, for sure. But obviously some gorgeous roads. I am not a fan of necessarily hooning around
41:43
public roads. I am decent as a driver. I'm not great and I don't want to be a liability on that
41:50
road and I don't want to drag anybody else into any kind of accidents with me. So track day and
41:55
then some days of preparing with a set of courses and getting a few laps in to understand
41:59
all your braking points and then go off to the track semi-educated and do some fun laps on the
42:05
track. That's how I normally get my kick. It's a great point. One of the reasons I moved to Denver
42:10
to Colorado here 10 or 11 years ago was before the roads and I just turned 50 about a week ago.
42:15
I know you're a few years younger than me but it's becoming less and less important. I've got
42:19
nothing to prove. It's just about going out and having a good time. If I was involved with something
42:25
even indirectly that hurt someone, I couldn't live with myself and so it's funny how your
42:30
priorities change. Anymore, it's more about the drive and the scenery. But it also outright
42:37
scary especially in modern high performance cars because to tap into their actual performance
42:42
envelope you need to be so far above and beyond anything that is legal in terms of speed limits
42:47
and then you're throwing this car in and you're hoping that it doesn't understeer a fraction
42:52
more than it normally does and that you'll bite into that road but if you don't then it's a cliff.
42:58
Coming out of the corner you're a bit sloppy with your throttle and then the back comes out and
43:02
there's no room for error and I don't understand people when I see them driving as recklessly as
43:07
they do. Are they superhuman in their trust, their abilities or do they overestimate their
43:12
abilities and then they are risking because I don't like it. I mean Pike speak on YouTube
43:18
is more than enough for me to get my palm sweaty and my back sweaty. Yeah, I'm with you and that's
43:26
everyone else too right? It's the person coming the other direction or whatever as you know.
43:30
Then there's a motorcycle you know leaning into the other direction so they're across the lane
43:36
divide and you're on the limit of your grip so what are you going to do then? Exactly, exactly.
43:40
You mentioned Pike speak. Have you ever been out here for Pike speak? No, I would love to. Okay if
43:44
you'd ever want to come out please do let me know. There's nothing else like it. It's this world
43:50
class event but it's still very much sort of a locals only kind of thing. I mean it's a generational
43:56
thing and then the diversity of cars is amazing because you'll see some 1950s pickup truck
44:02
with you know 900 horsepower next to some concept vehicle next to someone in a you know
44:07
bone stock GT4 or a Corvette or something. It's just a fantastic event and just to see too the car
44:12
slow down the higher it's right with atmospheric power loss. There's nothing like it. You definitely
44:17
don't need to convince me. I'm going to make an effort to be there. Please let me know. Please
44:25
something else too. Kids once you have kids write your priorities change and I know that Nelu I think
44:30
is named after your two kids. Is that right? Absolutely yes. Nika and Lucia and I know you.
44:37
In the number 27 has special significance for you as well. Would you share what that is?
44:44
Yeah so that was that magazine clipping that I was talking about a bit earlier that I got
44:47
my hands on that kind of pivoted me and made me fall in love with cars for life and that was
44:54
Jules Villeneuve's number 27 Formula 1 Ferrari and when I started watching F1 about a decade later
45:02
when they started showing it on Roshi television I also saw number 27 Ferrari and I thought that
45:07
probably was the same driver but of course I did I wasn't it was John Eze and Ferrari fan as a kid
45:13
and always kind of drawing cars with number 27 on them so I figured it's kind of my lucky mascot
45:18
and now we're starting a company and calling it after our kids my wife and I and why don't we
45:23
just put that number 27 as our little mascot you know some companies have a prancing pony other
45:28
companies have a raging bull and we just have that number 27 that carries our emotional kind of
45:33
message across. I love it I love it and I'm sure you see 27 everywhere now right? Oh all the time
45:39
every time I pick up like a number from my table at a restaurant. Yeah I know that for me it's 22
45:45
but it's the same kind of thing you know I know it's going to be a good day like if I get you
45:48
22 on my cup of coffee or something you know it's funny how that works you know.
45:53
So I want to talk a little bit my background is actually graphic design and I know you have a
45:57
design consultancy as well and it's not just automotive design it's hardline 27 I think is
46:04
what it's called right and graphic design is part of it which I think is so cool. Can you talk a
46:09
little bit about the importance of I guess kind of the convergence of design disciplines when it
46:14
comes to car design and what you do and I guess what you offer as a firm as well? Yeah so I do
46:20
firmly believe in kind of a holistic approach to design I really don't like it when things look
46:25
like different cooks and different departments did you know different things on a car. You want
46:32
everything again sort of referencing back to the tech world you want the OS to look harmonious with
46:40
the external shell of the phone right you don't want them to be designed by two different philosophies
46:46
and that's why we have a very holistic approach we have people on board who kind of own certain
46:54
subjects but there's also tons of cross-pollination so it isn't like you know they're working in
46:59
silos it's really teamwork everybody comes together discusses the briefing discusses the
47:03
vision for the product discusses the vision for the brand understands how to approach it from
47:07
an interior designer's perspective an exterior designer's perspective brand design we don't call
47:12
it graphic design we call it brand design because a lot of it is corporate identity for us right it's
47:16
coming up with a refreshed set of corporate identity guidelines the logo and the logo type or
47:21
colors or or fonts and typography or bespoke typography as well but it all has to fit into the
47:27
kind of the the the metaphysical uh uh procedural that the company and the brand represents right
47:34
it all has to be part of the part of the the the corum of that of that of that faith you know like
47:40
it really needs to communicate the vision and I really appreciate that we are small lean agile
47:46
and around me I have people who work in the same kind of way that I do which is very hands-on not
47:51
not delegating the work but sitting down doing it ourselves and hardline set three years of very
47:56
successful operation we had in total recently counted close to 30 clients in the three years so
48:03
on average about 10 clients per year ranging from top of the line tech companies to OEMs that
48:09
everybody has heard of sports car OEMs and eventually a few very interesting startups that had some
48:16
very novel ideas they wanted us to help them kind of germinate and and illustrate very rewarding work
48:22
really appreciated it allows me to have my hand on the pulse of the industry a little bit because
48:27
it's very easy to get sort of sucked into your own daily grind and to lose track of what is everybody
48:32
else up to what are things that are happening around me in this industry and having hardline
48:36
obviously the work is NDA then obviously they're a super secret and all but I still am exposed to
48:41
a lot of it and I can then kind of contribute to those brands in a meaningful way because I have
48:48
a landscape in my mind I understand the lay of the land a little bit and you can really tailor
48:52
make your offering we've done programs that range from outright production cars that are kind of all
48:57
the way taken into a release of panels and finalizing the design but we've also done plenty
49:04
of work that is front loading work which is more on the concept stage coming up with core pillars
49:09
for the brand and illustrating them into you know the guiding principles of what their what their
49:14
you know stories should look like all kinds of work but very exciting we're picky we're kind of
49:22
at this point in time just take on any any any project for example I had a dream to do a muscle
49:28
car work for a long time and kind of tap into the American scene and we have a client in Florida
49:34
that allowed us to do that and there's a couple of exciting projects coming out with them soon so
49:38
we're picky but I embrace a lot more like nilu is quite quite you know narrowly focused sure
49:47
and hard line is the opposite and then they kind of yin and yang each other in that way
49:51
and in my mind yeah they they create a more I'll say wholesome experience for me as a designer
49:57
as an entrepreneur yeah it sounds like the perfect balance it sounds like a dream job right I mean
50:02
it's it's something I've learned as a graphic designer is you really can't isolate yourself
50:06
any longer right it has to be that convergence it has to be a holistic approach or it just doesn't
50:11
work it's just not how how the world works anymore right those days are those days are done
50:16
what an exciting thing I mean it's just you know then you're not locked into the car thing all the
50:20
time either right it's it's you've got something else going on but back to the car because I think
50:26
you've got a production schedule now right I think you first 15 cars or track only coming out next
50:33
year 26 well we will make some announcements soon but according to our engineering team
50:42
it might not be that 15 track cars are first it might be that we are slotting them into the
50:46
production run here and there so we're still working on the details of that there is logistics
50:51
there is a supply chain there is a let's say the the business side of things at play here as well
50:57
but yeah we we are committed to 15 non strictly speaking legal units and 54 homologated road
51:05
legal cars here cool cool cool and I guess your potential customer what makes an elu customer
51:11
different say than someone who'll just you know at least theoretically go into a Ferrari dealership
51:15
and drop similar coin on a like a Daytona sp3 right how is your prospective customer different
51:22
well I don't actually think that they are because most of our customers are are pretty
51:27
big connoisseurs and collectors of that of that type of vehicle so
51:32
some of them for some of them it's the first it's a first purchase we actually have
51:37
concluded the sale with one such customer recently very recently the first time
51:43
hypercar buyer that's very exciting for us but most of them are seasoned hypercar collectors and
51:49
they really have a pretty well trained eye and expectation level and they kind of know the
51:56
experience all too well so yeah I do think that there's a general shift happening at the moment
52:01
where our message lines really well with our perspective customers the message of back to the
52:07
roots the message of decompressing the vehicle less reliance on the electronics putting the
52:12
driver back in the driver's seat like you earlier Ryan started with listing out the specs of the
52:19
nil we don't headline with that stuff on purpose I mean for me the headline is the driver is in
52:23
the driver's seat yeah and with you as a driver can get out of it if it's a sub three second
52:28
zero to a hundred kilometer acceleration I'll applaud you for doing that but that just means
52:32
that you found the perfect day the perfect road condition and you timed your shifts perfectly
52:37
and you worked that clutch and you worked that throttle pedal and it's more of your accomplishment
52:41
I mean obviously it's in the car the car can pull it off but it won't do much to help you either
52:45
so so you know that that headline spec isn't something that we advertise on our front page
52:52
because it's up to the driver that's what we want to talk about and in that sense it's finding a lot
52:58
of traction and a great reception from the customer community because they are tired of these soulless
53:03
car as an appliance car as a technique tech gadget approach that has even trickled
53:12
over to hypercar world from the teslas and the and the lucid so this world it has also
53:17
trickled into the hypercar world now and the customer doesn't want much of that in the future
53:23
perfectly coinciding with my own dream and my own ambition you know I've always wanted to do just
53:27
that and all of a sudden the market seems very ripe for it can we talk a little bit about car week
53:32
because I think for someone like me or for the average person that that comes to car week it's
53:36
just kind of fun it's it's you know it's a show but for someone like you you're working you're
53:40
actually selling cars right Gordon Murray or you know a singer they're they're selling cars so
53:46
what's your what's your take on car week from a from your perspective I mean you you're selling
53:51
cars right of course we are I mean yeah that's what we're here for we're trying to build a
53:56
successful company we're early days still but that's what we're doing and the experience is
54:00
you can't you you just can't miss car week you cannot not go you know it's such a it's such an
54:08
incredible melting pot gathering of both the industry and the clientele and the media so
54:13
you know if you're not there you're missing out on effectively the highlight of the year
54:17
it's intense it's tiring it's actually quite grueling like the schedule there and you're kind of
54:24
every day wondering how much can I bear this for but but it's a must you really can't can't
54:31
not go so what are the highlights well for me first of all my wife and I we went for the first
54:38
time to a monoray for car week when we were students and we just went and like you know
54:43
rented a car got a few of our friends together went there without any tickets to anything and just
54:48
kind of BSed our way into most events and climbed under the fence with the others and cheated our
54:54
way for you know the rest and that was our first experience in bumping into some legendary designers
55:00
they're saying hi I'm Sasha and like can I have your autograph basically so now you go in there
55:05
and it's a whole different experience last year we presented our car at the awards ramp in Pebble
55:10
Beach and I'm just standing there pinching myself thinking holy crap you know like I was here as a
55:15
kid just just fighting for an autograph I was here as a designer for all these amazing companies
55:20
presenting their output or being part of the crew with the car there some cases with Kennec
55:26
saying for example on the stage presenting as well but here I am with my own creation something
55:31
that's lived in my mind for such a long time and here we are it's a small team tiny team is just
55:36
my wife myself and a couple of other people and we have to do everything from loading unloading
55:40
to repairing to putting up beach flags and looking for sandbags and repainting the
55:46
scratched paint on the on the floor but like all that stuff we have to do but what a reward and
55:51
you stand there at this awards ramp and you really wonder did I just did I just present my car to the
55:56
world here like that's just you can't you know can't I can't imagine what that must feel like
56:03
I just that you have that you've come full circle like that that you are the guy now
56:08
you know signing autographs much it must just be the coolest but I try to not forget well I don't
56:13
forget the humble beginnings and I think that most of those people you know approaching now with
56:19
with a comment or a request for an autograph or a picture they're slated to do some great things
56:25
in their life so you have to kind of you obviously have to treat everybody with respect and with
56:30
dignity but these people show their passion they wear it on their sleeve so they'll they'll
56:34
they'll do great things I have no doubt yeah I love that I absolutely love that can I ask what
56:40
were some of the automotive highlights for you at car week this year some of the work of others
56:44
that you thought was pretty great I think one car really stole the show and it was the s1lm
56:50
my client f1 remake that Gordon Murray's team pulled off I felt that looked fabulous and really
56:56
pretty and I really enjoyed kind of so I celebrated that result together with a couple of people I
57:03
know from that project so it's a very impressive car it also shows to me that sometimes running
57:10
after new new new isn't isn't necessary we're not in we have reached peak car we're not in a
57:16
situation where we're looking for peak car we have reached it so the innovation for me at this
57:21
point in time is kind of a lot of the times just watering down what the peak car should be as far
57:26
as sports cars are concerned and that they are kind of looking back at history and wondering
57:30
did we throw the baby out with the water like no we should really celebrate the other good that
57:35
there was in this beautiful McLaren f1 is obviously a legendary car so that they recreated it with such
57:40
respect and with such quality I find very attractive I did similar well we did similar
57:47
at Kenneckside with CC850 and that was a dream project for me as well to kind of celebrate the
57:52
brand's true design kind of beginnings in an even more mature and refined way people have
58:00
an issue with retro they always say how about that but so what's wrong with that if it was good
58:04
why throw it away is everything that is tomorrow better than everything that was yesterday is that
58:09
like always the case I'm also sure about that yeah yeah I love the CC850 because of that right
58:15
because it pays you know tribute right to you know what came before it and it's done so well so
58:22
and what about the GMA the 33 and the 50 what are your what are your thoughts on this because in a
58:26
lot of ways they're probably some of the closest analogs right to the Neloo 27 but like I absolutely
58:33
love them as far as the concept is concerned I think Gordon's concept is incredible and then he
58:37
doesn't need my approval we all know that he's a he's a legendary name and knows for sure
58:44
and and the engine drive train combination is wonderful I love the kind of scaled down 12
58:49
cylinder lightweight wraps you know to infinity wonderful packaging is great tight tiny packages
58:57
that are cocooning and just right for the driver great view angles on the exterior design side
59:03
for both cars underbaked I think the the LM really sets a standard for Gordon Murray I didn't
59:10
quite like the both exteriors I felt they were a bit too tame I'm not I don't think that every car
59:16
needs to scream that they it wants to burn your village not at all but but they weren't executed
59:22
to their fullest potential there are areas which are a bit if you like that rear end for me was a
59:26
bit if you on the 250 narrow tall not doing itself any favors with the way the graphics were applied
59:32
emphasizing height instead of width in some cases but again from everybody else out there I think
59:38
these are very compelling products I mean on the log manual perfect sound wonderful packaging
59:44
and now with with new iteration of cars I think they've also unlocked the the nest on the design
59:50
side as well yeah yeah well I think that's what's so great about your car it's got a presence right
59:56
that even those two wonderful cars don't have and I I think for someone my age it just it presses
00:03
the right buttons right it gets me excited right you know you walk around at every angle is a good
00:08
one it's an event right I can't imagine what it's like to drive but just even looking at it as an
00:13
event it's special I know it's the beginning it's it's it's such a cool thing and again it must
00:20
feel so amazing to know that that's yours that that's your baby but I know no small amount of
00:24
hard work you know has gone it's behind all this and so congratulations and something pretty
00:29
wonderful thank you thank you very much it's a it is a huge challenge it's the challenge of our
00:35
lives to to succeed but we are doing everything right and we're supported by a very passionate
00:44
group of people around us and that group is growing and there will be some very important
00:48
announcements coming up soon about the progress that we've made in the last year so epic
00:54
journey really lost every moment of it so far and then we're still at the beginning I'm gonna
00:59
I'm 42 now but it still feels like the mountain is there for me to climb even after all the years
01:05
and all the other smaller mountains that that's that's that were successfully navigated there's
01:12
still a big one in front where do we find you your cars your consultancy online Sasha well
01:18
ours nilu27.com consultancyhardline27.com both are pretty active on instagram look up hardline
01:27
27 official or nilu27 official for our instagram accounts I also have a private instagram account
01:32
Sasha Zolipanov that I'm sometimes active woman they they do they do all have very different
01:37
narratives to tell so we're speaking to you right now I'm saying things also as a private person
01:44
not only as a representative of nilu or hardline but there's there's there's some split in the way
01:51
the narratives are handled there cool excited excited to see new followers always yeah absolutely
01:59
absolutely and you're a great follow and all the pages are fantastic fellows as well one last
02:03
question for you're a music fan are you not yeah big time I've seen you in some concert t-shirts
02:08
yeah so what are you listening to when you're designing what are you putting on so that was
02:13
actually one of the very formative things in my life and in my career from the early days
02:19
my mom used to challenge my brother and my brother is actually a composer and a serious kind of
02:24
usually now but as we were kids she would always challenge us to close our eyes and imagine a visual
02:29
narrative for any piece of music that she would play and then she would stop the music and have
02:33
us retell what we imagine so for me this connection between visual and oral is actually very strong
02:39
so I do find the right sub-genre of metal or each project okay I love it you can get the right
02:48
vibes from but I mean we can laugh about it because metal maybe some people is very kind of
02:53
homogeneous in a way but it really isn't because there are things that are incredibly slow-paced
02:58
landscaping and very abstract and there are things that are fast-paced brutal and and there are things
03:03
that are very mathematically driven with complex time signatures and polyrhythms and then weird
03:08
kind of shifts and then there are other things that are monumental and huge so depending on the
03:14
project you really can find the right kind of soundscape that puts your mind you know in the
03:22
mode that creates visual forms and language that coincides with the music that was originally
03:30
picked out to guide you towards the results for that particular project yeah
03:36
I love that I love that well Sasha Selipanov I thank you for joining us on that car show today
03:43
we cannot wait to see what's next thank you so much I appreciate it Ryan it was a pleasure
03:48
thank you very much and thank you to all the listeners