Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 8, 2025 - The "What If?" Scenario - Hour 2 - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline
Ron Ananian The Car Doctor
Ron Ananian, The Car Doctor - November 8, 2025 - The "What If?" Scenario - Hour 2 - (855)560-9900 24/7 Hotline
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Car
Toyota Camry
The Toyota Camry is a popular car that many people buy because it's dependable and easy to drive. It's a four-door sedan, which means it has plenty of room for passengers and luggage, making it great for everyday use.
Car
Ford Fusion
The Ford Fusion is a type of car that is bigger than a compact car but smaller than an SUV. It has a comfortable interior and is often used for family transportation.
Car
Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a smaller car that is easy to drive and good on gas. It comes in different styles, like a hatchback or a sedan, making it popular for many drivers.
Term
transmission
The transmission helps your car move by sending power from the engine to the wheels. If it breaks, your car won't work properly and can be expensive to fix.
Term
lease
Leasing a car means you pay to use it for a few years instead of buying it. It's often cheaper each month, but you have to return it at the end of the lease.
Brand
Kia
Kia is a car company from South Korea that makes different types of cars, often at affordable prices.
Car
Nissan Pathfinder
The Nissan Pathfinder is a type of SUV that is good for families and outdoor activities. The 2024 version has new technology and safety features that make it a great choice for driving around or going on trips.
Car
Buick LeSabre
The Buick LeSabre is a large car that is comfortable to drive. The 2001 version is known for being reliable and good for long trips.
Term
alternator
An alternator is a part of the car that makes electricity while the engine is running. It keeps the battery charged and powers things like the lights and radio. If it stops working, the car can have electrical problems.
Term
disconnecting the battery
Disconnecting the battery means taking the cables off the battery to stop it from providing power. This is usually done when you need to fix something in the car or replace the battery safely.
Company
Optima
Optima makes batteries that are popular among car enthusiasts because they last longer and perform better than regular batteries.
Term
memory saver
A memory saver helps keep your car's settings safe when you take the battery out. It makes sure things like your radio stations and car settings don't get lost.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is a type of car racing that features very fast cars and takes place on special tracks. It's one of the most popular and prestigious racing series in the world.
Brand
Mercedes-AMG
Mercedes-AMG is a special division of Mercedes-Benz that makes faster and sportier cars. They take regular Mercedes models and add more power and better handling to make them more fun to drive.
Car
Mercedes Hammer
The Hammer is a powerful version of a Mercedes car that has a big engine, making it very fast.
Term
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a type of car engine that has eight cylinders and is usually very powerful.
Concept
German touring car racing
German touring car racing is a type of car racing that uses regular cars that have been made faster and better for racing.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a high-performance sports car that many people admire for its speed and style. It's designed to be fun to drive, and it has a unique shape that makes it stand out on the road.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a classic American car known for its speed and cool looks. It's a two-door car that many people love for its powerful engine and sporty feel.
Car
Bmw M
The BMW M Coupe is a sporty version of a regular BMW car that people love for its speed and handling. It has a unique look and is often considered a fun car to drive.
Term
Daytona 24
Daytona 24 is another long car race that lasts for 24 hours, held in Daytona, Florida. It's a big event in sports car racing.
Company
HWA
HWA is a company that builds racing cars, started by a person named Hans Werner Offrecht. They help teams that want to race Mercedes cars.
Concept
24 hour race
A 24 hour race is a long car race that lasts for a whole day. Teams take turns driving to see who can go the farthest in that time.
Part
6.2 liter V8
A 6.2 liter V8 is a type of engine that has eight cylinders and is very powerful. It's often found in fast cars and makes a loud noise when running.
Car
Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a sporty car that was made a long time ago. It was liked for its good looks and how fun it was to drive.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that many people associate with speed and racing. It has a bold design and is built to be fun to drive, often seen as a rival to the Ford Mustang.
Car
Mercedes-AMG One
The Mercedes-AMG One is a super-fast car that uses technology from Formula 1 racing. It's designed for the street but has incredible performance.
Car
Chevrolet Express
The Chevrolet Express is a big van that can carry a lot of people or cargo. It's often used by businesses to transport goods or by families who need extra space for trips.
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Now, start your engines.
The car doctor is in the garage and ready to take your call.
You know, we were, I was thinking about that bagel recall conversation thing that I was
talking about last week and the week before and the price of bagels.
And you know, by the way, for the record today, today's bagel run because there's a seminar
going on that I was trying to help get started.
And they purchased a half a dozen bagels, a half a dozen muffins, two cups of Joe, you
know, not Joe, the big things of coffee where it holds 10 cups of coffee, two 10-cup containers
of coffee, a quart of milk, lunch for one of the guys and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
And they spent $126.
And you just, where does it, you know, how it's just, it's mind boggling.
But I started thinking about what Danny and I spend every week in the shop.
And then I'll get going, I promise.
What we spend every, you know, every day Danny and I have, we have breakfast, you know, 10 o'clock.
And then we go out to the local bagel guy and we, you know, I don't know, 10, 12 bucks.
I started adding it up.
If we spend $12 a day, some days it's more, some days it's less.
We spend $12 a day times five days times 52 weeks.
We spend $3,200 a year just on a quick breakfast sandwich.
And, you know, what's everybody else spending?
Because I see the same people at the bagel store every day.
But nobody complains about the price of bagels.
Nothing against bagels, but let's keep it equal, right?
That's my whole point.
Let's, let's keep an equal footing.
Anyway, yes, this is the car doctor, not the, the bagel hotline, 8555609900.
Coming up down around the bottom of the hour, Matt DeLorenzo, Matt wrote this really cool
book about Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AMG.
And he's going to explain what AMG stands for.
And I'm not going to really try to because I'll butcher it.
But it's all about the Mercedes-Benz hot rod division and how Mercedes-Benz decided
to go racing so many years ago and what it's become today.
So it's a really great conversation.
You're going to enjoy it.
But right now let's go talk to Lee up in Maine and see what's going on with her
in a row six Camry.
Lee, welcome to the car doctor.
How can I help?
Well, good talking to you.
Um, I have, uh, my 2006 Camry and it has, it's just my mechanic told me that it was
all rusted and I think he's being cautious to, uh, work on it.
Right.
Afraid that something else might go wrong.
And he, uh, I have a small leak.
He said it was quite small because he had a hard time finding it, but he
starts digging, uh, apparently the fluid is also flushing back to going back to
other parts of the car and where it's all rusted.
My question to you is that I've been looking for a car and I'm 82 years old.
So God only knows how long I'll be driving.
I'm still, yeah, my reflexes are pretty good.
But, um, I have, I was looking at a, um, uh, what is it, uh, shoot 12, 13 for a Ford
fusion.
Yeah.
Ford fusion.
Focus, a focus recalls, right?
A fusion, a fusion or a focus, Lee.
A fusion, a fusion.
Okay.
And a 2014 has 35,000 miles and he wants 9,000 and, um, he said it was his
mother's and then his mother died and now the dad was driving it.
So it looks clean and what have you.
He has covered the bottom for, uh, with, uh, what was it, bro?
Diesel oil, I never heard of that.
And another thing too is, um, uh, I'm kind of leery.
I mean, it's very reasonable.
The price is very reasonable.
It was 35,000 miles, but it's, uh, I'm 82 years old and that, you know, I'm
not working anymore.
Right.
And, uh, so I would like your opinion.
So you don't need the surprise, right?
You don't need the what if because you have to play, you have to play
what if with this Carly.
All right.
Let's say you get it for nine grand and it's a great car and it's wonderful
and it's everything he claims it is.
And, you know, he, he doesn't know of any defects and it doesn't have any.
And then six months goes by and the transmission fails.
And it's five grand to put a trans in that car.
Right.
Well, maybe it's, maybe it's, maybe it's three, nah, it's probably four
grand to put a trans in that car in Maine in New Jersey.
It's probably six, but regardless.
Okay.
Um, you know, it's, it's bigger than a breadbox, as I like to say, would
you put the four or five grand into it?
Apart, apart me, would you put the four or five grand into it?
If it needed a trans?
Oh gosh, probably not.
I don't know.
So it's time.
It's 82 years.
Are they going to give me a license in two, three years?
Well, right.
So, so let's attack this from a different angle.
All right.
Um, and you know, you tell me where I'm wrong.
So trying to stay within some kind of a budget.
All right.
If I were, if we were standing at the counter, my advice and my question
to you would be, you know, can you get by?
Could you afford $200 a month or $300 a month as a car payment?
Uh, I probably could, but, um, I hate to do it at my, again, at my age.
Right.
Well, there's no free lunch, kiddo.
I don't have to tell you that.
You know that, right?
But if you could find a cheap lease and lease for three years, right?
If you, you know, I'm starting to see some cheap leases out there.
Kia comes to mind.
I saw one on TV the other day, a Kia something for $199 a month.
I didn't see what the downstroke was, but you know, $200 a month, new car, no worries,
no aggravation, you know, maybe you'll drive until you're 85.
I mean, unless you think you're going to drive until you're 90.
Well, I'd like to.
Right.
You know, well, yeah, listen, I get it.
You know, I'm hiding keys now so my kids can't take my cars away from me, but that's another story.
Um, you know, it's, it's, you know, do we, do we look at this from a lease perspective
or the other way around it is, okay, without going into a lot of detail, is there a family
member that, you know, maybe when Lee stops driving, they'll want to take over the car.
So we, we, we purchased something newer, better, a granddaughter, a grandson, somebody that's
going to need a first car.
And then, you know, with the thought process that this now, this now goes to, you know,
Johnny or Jill, so to speak.
So it's not, it's not wasted.
And, you know, maybe we look at that down the road and then, you know what, if you do that,
and then grandma needs to get driven somewhere, hey, you know, that car, I get, I need to be
picked up at two o'clock next Thursday.
I have to go to the, I have to go to the doctors or I have to go to the women's convention
or whatever it is.
Um, you know, that always plays a good hand to be a, you know, your grandma, everybody
thinks nice of grandma then.
But just options, right?
I would, I would rather see you buy a better car with the probability of less surprise
because you need stability as much as you need a vehicle.
Right.
And if, if you got hit with the $5,000 oops, or the
$3,000 oops, uh, you know, and, and, and, and at 82, I'm going to use your number for age
at 82.
You don't need the, you know, you're out, you're out six o'clock at night.
And, and that's late.
I get it.
You know, I'm catching up to you, Liam.
I'm not far behind.
And, um, you know, it's, it's, you don't need to be out late at night.
And all of a sudden there's a surprise and you got to wait for the tow truck and the dead
battery and the whatever and, you know, main winters and, you know, it's, it's,
you know, we, we, we want safety.
Yeah.
So I mean, that's, that's kind of how I look at it.
The price of what we pay for something now, or how can I say this, the, the, the inexpensive
price of what we pay for something now can come back to haunt us later on.
I'd rather pay more now and not have the aggravation.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
No, you're right.
My daughter said the same thing.
Right.
So, uh, so there's no, um, miracle that I could do with the rust to hang in it.
If it's, if it's that bad, if, if it's the SS Rustolium and you need a tetanus shot looking
at it, I think it's over, um, you know, there is no, there, there is no cure.
Well, there is a cure for rust.
It's called the scrap yard.
All right.
Yeah.
And it's, you know, it's, it's, I mean, the honest answer is because Maine's a very good
state in the sense that in Maine, I believe the car has to, you know, have, it can't be
rusted to the point of being unsafe.
Would it pass main state inspection?
He doubts it.
Right. Well, then this conversation, it was, it was fun talking to you, but the rest of
the conversation, it doesn't matter what we think.
It's, you know, coating it with whatever, because I know how Maine works.
You know, we have a regular listener, Steve, who runs the Brackett family markets up there,
and he tells me the story about the Beth Bridge in Maine that, you know, rotted away and I,
you know, the whole nine yards and, um, you know, I hear about these things all the time.
So Maine's a great state, but boy, you guys sure get a lot of snow and you put a lot of that
chemical on the ground.
So it just beats up your car or something fierce.
So all right, kiddo.
Okay. Well, thanks for your input.
You're very welcome.
Thank you very much.
And you have a wonderful holidays and stay well.
Thank you.
You too, dear.
Be well.
855-560-9900, Ron Aining, the car doctor coming back right after this.
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Hey, let's get over and talk to Carl in Wisconsin
and see what's going on here.
Carl, welcome to the car doctor, sir.
How can I help?
Yeah, it's good afternoon.
Yes, sir.
So in spring, back in April, I bought a used 2024 Nissan Pathfinder.
And we drove it around a little bit.
I have another car that actually a 2001 Buickler Saver that still runs great.
But anyway, so I let the car sit.
The Nissan Pathfinder let it sit during the summer.
We were camping and stuff.
And then the battery died.
And so I came to realize there's no voltmeter on this Nissan Pathfinder.
I have no way of monitoring if the alternator's working or anything.
And I asked the dealer about it, the sales guy.
He said, nope, no voltmeter.
And I thought, so is this standard on today's modern vehicles?
It's becoming, yes.
Isn't it silly?
It really is.
I want to see numbers.
I'm like you.
I want to see gauges.
I want to see, you know, there's a reason they call the midi at lights
when the component fails.
To me, it's useless because at that point, I don't see the fault before it happens.
It's just, it's yes or no.
Easy, easy solution for this, Carl.
Jump on Amazon.
Do you have a cigarette lighter in the vehicle?
Yes.
Jump on Amazon.
Get a charging port.
You know, they make, they make a, it's a, I call it a chachki, which is like a gizmo.
It's just a charge port adapter.
You'll plug into the cigarette lighter.
It'll have USB-C or USB-A on it.
But they also make them with the charge port for your cable, for your phone or your device,
whatever you're going to charge.
And they also make them with both of those and, you know, a voltmeter built in.
So it'll save, you know, 12 and a half volts, 13 volts and so on as the vehicle's running.
So that becomes the gauge.
And they're very, and it's, you know,
less than 20 bucks.
If you spend 20 bucks, you bought the super deluxe model.
All right.
You know, quick, easy solution.
It's, it's not, it's not great.
I agree.
We should have it built into the dash, but it's the cheapest, quickest work around
because they're not going to fix that.
And I think you're going to see more and more car manufacturers going to that.
I've seen Honda do that and I've seen Toyota do that as well,
just on some of the simpler models.
So it's, it's not uncommon.
Not uncommon, sir.
So, so, so related to that, should I be concerned about disconnecting the battery?
Because the battery that it came with is, is losing power rather quickly.
I mean, it was in a day, it'll go from 12.1 volts down to 11.9.
The next day it's 11.7.
And so I'm going to change out the battery.
Do I have to put in a memory favor?
Well, let's talk about that.
Now, are you charging the battery or are you counting on the vehicle driving?
I'm just driving it around.
Probably not enough.
So, you know, what I would do is I have, I think it's, I think it's the
Optima, I'm going to embarrass myself as the DS400, their latest battery maintainer.
Really cool little tool, right?
Couple of bucks, but you know what?
We like our toys, right?
That's who we are.
And, you know, for the vehicles I have sitting and, you know, it will show,
it will show current voltage.
It will show state of charge.
I can set it a number of different ways.
It does a great job of charging the battery and maintaining the battery when I'm not
using that particular vehicle.
And you may find that's the way you want to go because just driving it isn't enough,
especially on a vehicle that sits because you need a good charger on it like the Optima,
that's going to desulfate and clean up the battery electrically.
And, you know, that may rejuvenate it because a 24 is just, what, a year and a half,
two years old?
How old is the vehicle?
Yeah, it's a little over, I think it was manufactured in like August of 24.
Right.
So, that's kind of soon to be getting a battery.
Yeah.
You know, but I mean, if you have to, if you have to, no, disconnecting it, you should be okay.
You know, you should be okay.
There's a lot of appeals they say, do not disconnect the battery.
It's nothing but trouble.
Well, because they're worried about adaptives, they're worried about driving habits,
they're worried about, you know, how smart are you, you know, or how smart is the car
and is it going to understand that, you know?
But you can get out to, and it shouldn't be, listen, you get a dead battery.
All right, think of it like this.
Think of how many cars in America right now might have a dead battery, right?
Got to be a few.
Pretty big, right, pretty big country, all right.
Do you think it would be enough if every time somebody had a dead battery or disconnected
a battery, the car didn't run, didn't run properly, caused problems that couldn't be
solved by just driving it?
Don't you think it would have made the national news?
We might actually have something, we might actually have something interesting in the news
for once, right?
So, so, so, you know, yeah, you know, if you have to disconnect the battery and you don't have
a memory saver, then just be aware when you go to reconnect and just drive the car normal,
just put it through its paces, a trip around the block, warm it up, turn on the air conditioning,
turn on the high beams, put a little bit of electrical load on it, right?
And just go through its paces and within a very short distance, you'll find that that vehicle
learns its, learns its, you know, its adaptives and it will, you know, may take a little while
depending upon the vehicle, but it will, in time, do what it's supposed to do.
But in the meantime, if you do want to get a charger, go out to OptimaBatteries.com
and you can read all about, I believe it's their 400 model that will, that's their latest and that
will do what it's supposed to do for you and that's a great little charger, very handy to have around.
All right, sir?
All right, all right, thank you very much.
You're very welcome, very welcome.
Yeah, common stuff, right?
Common sense about batteries and that's, that's really what it's all about.
Coming up next, Matt DiLorenzo, I had a great conversation with Matt.
We carried on and, you know, in the pre-interview before the show, talking about Mercedes-Benz.
I didn't realize how big a deal Mercedes-Benz is as far as racers are concerned.
You know, you look at Mercedes, I think of Mercedes, well, I'm sort of tainted.
I remember somebody telling me once that Mercedes-Benz in Germany is like a Chevy in
Pala here, right back when we made in Pala.
So, you know, that's, that's how long ago I had this conversation.
But, you know, you think about Chevy and Pala's racing.
No, that never really happened.
But you think about Mercedes-Benz, you know, in the F1 formula series in, you know, Mercedes
factory support and what they do, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of an interesting story.
And Matt wrote this really great color pictures, the whole thing, hard cover.
If we're getting ready for the holidays, we need a book to buy for our favorite,
you know, car enthusiast, Mercedes AMG.
It's going to be available in November.
It's available now, I think.
I think we, I think we'll talk about that in the interview.
I'll have to make sure I mention that to him.
But just some good stuff.
And most importantly, I will get him to explain what Mercedes-AMG stands for.
Because I've always wondered about that.
Every time I put behind one of the stoplight, what the heck does AMG mean?
Matt's going to be here to tell us all about it right after this.
I'm Ron Ananey in the car doctor.
We'll be back.
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There's a lot of things I've talked to you about over the years and a lot of interviews
and we've talked about a lot of cars and we've talked about a lot of books.
And I recently came across Mercedes AMG and I thought, you know, there's something
we've never talked about, you and I, and we need to discuss it and understand just what is it.
You know, I think of Mercedes-Benz, a lot of people think of Mercedes-Benz and it's,
it's, well, I'll tell you what, let me, let me bring our guest on and get started here.
Matt DeLorenzo, he's written a book, Mercedes AMG.
It's available now on Amazon and we're happy to have him with us here.
Welcome to the car, Dr. Matt.
Thanks, Ron. I'm really happy to be here.
So, you know, Mercedes AMG, where do you want to, where do we start?
Right? Let's, you know, I think of Mercedes.
Okay. If I'm the average consumer and I'm going, well, it's a status symbol.
I drive a Mercedes. It's a nice, fancy, luxurious car.
But, but there's a hot rod side to Mercedes-Benz, right?
Yeah. And that's, that's the AMG brand.
And, you know, that perception that you talked about people
considering it just a luxury car.
That's what AMG led to the genesis of AMG to begin with back in the late 1960s.
There were two engineers, Hans Werner-Aufrecht and Erhard Melker.
And they were young engineers. They worked within Mercedes.
They wanted to go racing.
They developed some racing engines and built a race car and, and campaigned it
for a year while they were still employed.
And they were told either you win or you're going to lose your job.
They won. They kept their job, but Mercedes stopped racing.
And at the time people were thinking, well, there was nothing wrong with, you know,
Mercedes, the ultimate luxury car performances and part of the thing.
They went off and started their own company, AMG.
And they started building hot rod Mercedes for racers.
And they were very successful.
So, and the G and so that AMG is Offrecht, Melker, and then the G is
Grossadspach, which is the small German town where Offrecht was from.
We're, yeah. So, you know, is it that I would go into it?
Not to make this about how do I get one, but is it that I would go into a Mercedes dealer and
I want to buy an AMG or they already have them now.
Their relationship with Mercedes is, is, is so that the dealers just stock these vehicles,
so to speak. Right.
Right. Well, what happened was at first Mercedes wanted nothing to do with these
so-called garage tinkers and they kept a fairly arms length relationship with them up and through
the 1980s. And then they introduced this car called the Hammer that, that got everybody's
attention. It was putting a big V8 in a mid-sized Mercedes.
And then they started helping Mercedes with their German touring car racing and they were
very successful there. And then all of a sudden Mercedes goes, well, why don't we let them sell
our cars through our dealers? And that happened in 1990. And then about nine years later,
they bought half the company. And then six years later in 2005, they bought the rest of the company
and they turned it into the Mercedes AMG division, which is the performance division
of Mercedes. The late Don Imus, the radio host, was once interviewing and I'm quoting from the
introduction in the book by Sam Posey. And the book is phenomenal, by the way. I can't tell you
enough, the color pictures and the detail and the way you feel like you're at the racetrack
driving in some of these cars, right? The late Don Imus was talking to Bo Dietel,
the former New York City detective, and they were talking about a Mercedes in which, when
the buy in Don Imus said, buy a Mercedes S65 AMG and his reasoning was, that's just the most expensive
one. But that's not necessarily the only reason, right? Mercedes AMG is a real performance car
then as now. Right. And I think that that's the perception of Mercedes being a luxury brand
was around and that you had to have the most expensive one to have the best one. And AMGs,
since they have hand built engines, their engines are built by one technician
and then they're exclusive to the AMG car. So that's why they were sold at a premium
to other Mercedes. But as you say, there's a lot more to it. The suspensions are different,
the engine tuning is different. They have different interiors in different styling.
And there are actually now bespoke AMG models like the AMG GT, which is a sports car that
actually competes with the Porsche 911. And in your book, when you wrote this, Matt,
for those of you just tuning in, we're talking to Matt DiLorenzo, he's written a book,
Mercedes AMG, and we're discussing it at length here on the car doctor.
You know, Matt, when you wrote the book, how do I attack this question?
Is Mercedes your car? I mean, is this your passion? What do you normally write about?
Did you just wake up one day and say, I'm going to write about Mercedes Benz?
I've been writing about cars since the late 70s, actually. So and I've written a couple of other
books. I did a 100 year anniversary of Dodge. I did a book on Corvettes. I did a Mustang book.
So I've been writing again, sort of across the industry. I do like performance cars.
And about a year and a half ago, I was talking to my publisher and I said, you know,
I'd like to do something different. And he said, we want to do an AMG book.
They had done a book on BMW M, which is somewhat analogous to AMG. You know,
Performance Motorsports Division of BMW. And the publisher found that nobody has
really done a comprehensive history of AMG. So I looked at that as a great opportunity.
I knew quite a bit about AMG, especially since Mercedes had bought AMG. And I actually traveled
to Germany when I was at Road and Track and saw some of the early development on the SLS
Gullwing, which was the first pure AMG product. So I was familiar with that. I wasn't familiar
with the history. And when I went down the internet research rabbit hole, I was absolutely
fascinated by Offrecht and Melker and what they were able to accomplish.
You know, Chapter Six, the title from Road Back to Track. The chapter seems to cover that we're
taking everyday cars and we're taking them to the racetrack.
Right. And, you know, that's kind of a recurring theme with AMG because in the beginning,
they made race cars and the racers would come to them and said, well, we want to
we want to have you work on our road cars. So they started doing road cars. Well, during the
70s with the energy crises and all that other stuff, motor sports kind of went into a little bit
of decline and AMG concentrated more on road cars. They were doing body kits and wheels and
engine upgrades and primarily for road cars for the public. The 80s thing shifted back towards
competition. And that's when they got involved with the German touring car series, which was wildly
popular. Over 150 million people around the world would watch these races. And AMG took the
Baby Benz, the 190 Mercedes and won the championship, was very successful in there.
And that caught a lot of people's attention of that. You know, AMG is Mercedes or very closely
alive with Mercedes. Or vice versa. You know, what we're really saying here, in a sense, is
AMG is a factory hot rod. It's a factory race car. You can go out and buy something. Exactly.
Drive it to the track, race it around the track and then drive it home.
Exactly. They have a lot of track specials and they still compete heavily in sports car racing.
So the AMG GT has competed very well. It's one of its class at Le Mans, one at Daytona 24.
It's really, the two are interrelated. The performance aspect on the road and still their
ability to do really well in motor sports. And incidentally, one of the guys who's helping
Mercedes with that is Hans Werner Offrecht. And after he had sold the company to Mercedes,
he formed his own company called HWA, his initials, Hans Werner Offrecht. And he actually
builds a lot of the privateer GT racing cars for Mercedes. And his shop is located right where
AMG kind of grew up in Falterbach, which is north of Mercedes headquarters in Schuttgart.
Wow. A grassroots effort and liquid it became. Hey, Matt.
Yeah, amazing.
Let's take a pause. I'll tell you what. Stay right where you are.
When we come back, I want to talk about the flying pig. Don't say anything else.
Okay.
I want to give it away to the listeners. And I want to get that out there. I'm Ronan Aeney
and the car doctor. We're here today with Matthew Lorenzo and we'll both be back right after this.
Don't go away.
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And now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. Congratulations to Derek's High
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home field upgrade, a grand fitness weight room makeover, an epic 2026 tailgate party,
and a VIP trip to the SEC championship game. To every school that competed, posted,
and rallied your communities, thank you. And to T-Mobile for making it all possible.
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Congratulations again to Derek's High School Outlaws.
This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of
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a medicine company. Do pigs really fly? Hey, Ron Anini in the car doctor. I'm here with
Matt DiLorenzo. He's the author of Mercedes AMG, a brand new book. It's available out there on
Amazon. It comes to us from Cordo Publishing. And we're just sitting here chatting about Mercedes
and AMG and the performance side of it and the book and great book. I can't say enough good
things about it. Nice big colored pictures, a lot of history on Mercedes. First chapter, Matt,
this pig can fly. Yes. What are we talking about? Yes, indeed. What, flying pigs in a car book? What
are we talking about there? Yeah, we're talking about, hey, how AMG really got on the map in the
first place. Offrack the Melker had left the company and they were tuning race cars and they
were doing some road cars for people. Mercedes had put a V8 engine in their S class. It had
originally been used only in the big 600 limos. And they wanted, there were some engineers inside
the company who wanted to take it racing and they tried to take it racing and management kind of
put the kibosh on it. They tried to run that spa in 1969 in a 24 hour race. So AMG took up the
challenge and they bought a wrecked SEL with the 6.2 liter V8 and it punched it out to 6.8 liters,
painted it red and took it to Spa in 1971. Well, you had this big luxury car roaring around the
track with the V8 engine open pipes and people said, that looks like a big red pig. But the
crowd loved it and actually they finished second overall of Ford Capri one, but the red pig came
in second overall and first in class. And they actually, they were racing a couple of other V8
cars. It was a Camaro that had sat on the pole and a Mustang in the race and the red pig beat
them both and almost won the race overall. So it's a big sensation. Suffice it to say you pull
up to a traffic light and there's a Mercedes in front of you and it says AMG on the back. That's
just not fancy interior and better carpeting. No, it's a faster car and that was the thing about
those, the big luxury cars. And again, the hammer that they did later, they were sort of,
they were luxury cars, but they had these hot rod engines in them that would shut down 911s and
BMWs. So they really brought it when it came to performance.
The name of the book is Mercedes AMG. Matt, inside one of the chapters, is it AMG one story in our
final two minutes, they talk about, you talk about, they made an F1 engine into a Mercedes and it
was a hand-built prototype car or some kind of... Yeah, they did a hypercar for the streets and
they actually adapted the same Formula One engine that's used by the racing team. Now,
the racing team has actually run out of England and has minimal, it's more of a badging thing
between AMG F1 and AMG road cars, but they did develop this car together and they made a street
car that uses a current F1 technology, very difficult to do because it's a hybrid, it has a
battery that the kinetic energy recovery system, the CURS system. And it's like a,
it's a $2 million car. It's really amazing, but you talk to the engineers and they're like,
yeah, I will never be able to do this again because of the emissions. They had noise regulations,
emissions, even just starting the car, it takes 10 guys to start an F1 car.
This car, you go in and you push a button and it starts and it took a lot of engineering.
Took a lot of technology, I'm sure. Matt, in your closing thoughts,
where can the listeners go get this 20 seconds or less? What should they look for in the book?
What are they going to get out of it? I think they're going to get a great
background history on where AMG came from and kind of where it's headed with their next round of
products and you can find it on Amazon. Cool beans. Matt DiLorenzo, we appreciate you taking
the time and spending it with us here on the car doctor. We'll have you on again real soon and
you be well. All right. Thanks so much, Ron. It was great being here. You're very welcome. I'm Ron
Ananey in the car doctor. We're back right after this. When you own your own business,
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At CVS, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it.
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because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So visit us at CVS.com or just come by
our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store hours vary by location. This is Rob Gronkowski from
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invested over $4 million in prizes to help schools take their Friday nights to the next level.
The votes are in and now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. Congratulations to
Derek's High School and Derek's Arkansas, home of the Outlaws and your 2025 T-Mobile Friday Night
5G Lights Champion. The Outlaws and their community rallied to help them score a game-changing
home field upgrade, a Grant Fitness weight room makeover, an epic 2026 tailgate party,
and a VIP trip to the SEC championship game. To every school that competed, posted, and rallied
your communities, thank you. And to T-Mobile for making it all possible. This season may be over,
but the story isn't. Stay tuned for Season 3 in 2026. Congratulations again to Derek's High
School Outlaws. This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of
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to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly or if you spend your days
fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability, and concentration issues, it may be due to OSA.
OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep,
which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation.
Learn more at Don't Sleep on OSA.com. This information is provided by Lily, a medicine company.
Boy, what a fun time, right? Driving a factory hot rod or Mercedes that can do all the things
Matt was talking about. It's good stuff, good stuff. And I can't say enough about the book
if you're looking for a holiday gift for the car person in your life. You look at it and you go,
yeah, but you know what? It's got some, the color quality of the pictures and just the whole story
of Mercedes. And it's an interesting story, right? Not everything has to be a Black 55 Chevrolet
or a yellow Deuce coupe. Well, almost not everything, but you get the point. And kudos to
Research Kathy who reached out to me during the break and she was able to order the t-shirt for me
for Nate. So at least I know that the t-shirt Nate is going to the right address out there in
Oregon. So we thank Kathy for that. She's on top of her game as always. And she had a comment about
Lee. She said, you know, you wonder if she can lease a car at 82. Would they allow her to do that?
I don't know the answer to that. If anybody has the answer to that, is there an age limit on
leasing a car? I'd like to know. Is that, is that, you know, are they, are they limited by that?
I just, I just assumed that I never really thought about it, but that's why we have Research Kathy.
She's handy like that. She does a lot of the odd jobs around here and we'd be lost without her.
So, but just, just things to think about. What do I want you to think about? A couple things.
I want you to think about improving your relationship with your mechanic in the weeks to come.
I think I want you to also just be aware of, you know, cold weather is coming,
winter months, taking better care of the car. And if I can ask you, if you're in the position on
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About this episode
Ron Ananian dives into various automotive topics, including a lively discussion about the costs of everyday items like bagels and their impact on car maintenance budgets. He answers listener questions, providing practical advice on vehicle reliability, rust issues, and the importance of choosing the right car for different life stages. The episode features a special guest, Matt DeLorenzo, who discusses his new book on Mercedes AMG, shedding light on the brand's racing heritage and performance vehicles. The conversation highlights the blend of luxury and performance that defines AMG.
Original notes
This week on Ron Ananian The Car Doctor, Ron opens with a story about the “Price of Bagels” — and what a $126 breakfast says about the cost of living, value, and perspective. Then he takes calls from listeners coast-to-coast: Lee from Maine wonders if her rusted 2006 Toyota Camry is worth saving or if it’s time for a newer ride, and Carl from Wisconsin learns how to manage a weak battery and missing voltmeter on his 2024 Nissan Pathfinder.
In the second half of the show, Ron sits down with automotive journalist Matt DeLorenzo, author of Mercedes-AMG, to explore the hidden hot-rod heritage behind Mercedes-Benz — from the birth of AMG to the legendary “Flying Pig” race car and today’s hand-built performance machines.
It’s part car talk, part life lesson — all with that trademark Car Doctor mix of humor, heart, and horsepower.
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