S2 Ep159: New Dodge Charger, Updated Toyota GR Yaris, Driving A Buick Roadmaster And Honda Beat: RAC #159

Five years ago, I was paying $65 a month for my subscriptions.

Today, those same subscriptions cost $111, and I don't even use half of them anymore.

That's why now I use Rocket Money to manage my subscriptions for me.

The app gives you a list of all your subscriptions

and reminds you of upcoming payments so you're not hit with any surprise charges.

On top of that, it also sends you alerts when subscription prices go up,

so you always know the price you're paying.

If you decide you no longer want a subscription, you can cancel it right from the app.

No customer service needed.

And the best part is, Rocket Money even reaches out

and tries to get you refunded for some of the money you lost.

On average, people that cancel their subscriptions with Rocket Money

save $378 a year.

And overall, Rocket Money has saved its members $880 million in canceled subscriptions.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another week of rambling about cars.

We do not have Mr. Chris Smith with us today.

He is actually on a business trip,

and some of the stuff he's doing is still under embargo.

So I can't actually tell you where he is or why he's there.

But we have a wonderful guest host this week.

We have Victoria Scott.

Yeah, looking forward to the show.

Victoria, go ahead and introduce yourself.

I know you've been a guest on the show before,

but that's before you were a motor one employee.

So yeah.

Thanks, Chris.

I have been an automotive journalist for, oh my god, it's about three years.

Like in the next month or so.

And I've freelanced and worked at a bunch of places before, including motor one.

And I've been on this show in the past to talk about a couple of things.

I think I've been on it a few times.

The last time I remember, I had just done that crazy Nissan off-roading trip.

Yeah, that's right.

And drove out the Mojave Trail for like a couple hundred miles,

and I was dying to flood.

It was great.

But yeah, in January, I got a full-time job here as a staff writer.

And so I've just been writing for you.

So, you know, you can tell me as the episode goes on,

if I'm doing a good job or not.

And you can tell me that too, but I know you're doing a bad job.

So that's fine.

And thank you to all of our loyal ramblers out there, Ted Adam Green.

Hey, Grupa, we love a cheap car challenge.

And Grupa responds, I got a tetanus shot in preparation for the cheap car challenge.

So all good fun there.

But yeah, Victoria, we usually ramble just a little bit before we get started.

So what have you been driving?

What's the last car you drove?

Oh, my God, the last car I drove was the Buick Roadmaster I wrote about

that we're going to talk about.

That was the last thing I was regularly driving.

Well, that and the Miata that I wrote about for us.

Those are both loaners from Friends of Mine, because I recently,

freelancing, as some of you might be aware, is not a lucrative profession.

And so I had some catastrophic car issues.

And I live in downtown Seattle, so I don't desperately need a car.

So I don't own one currently.

I would like to fix that as the year goes on.

But I was not going to dump thousands of dollars into a $600 Camry.

So I decided it was better to just use the bus for a bit.

So yeah, it's been mostly like friends cars and then occasional press fleet stuff,

which is weird.

It's the first time since I was 20 years old that I haven't owned at least one car.

Usually I've had three or four, and they're all horrible, obviously.

But you're not having a car was actually the inspiration for this week's cheap car challenge.

You said you were looking for, you said $6,000.

I upped it to seven, but you were looking for a vehicle that one could take off road,

preferably with locking differentials.

So for anyone out there who wants to play along for the end of the show, that's the thing.

$7,000 off road capable.

You got locking diffs that that's an extra plus, but not.

It doesn't have to be there.

I would also accept any AMC Eagle four by four.

I have the weirdest interest in those.

I don't know why I'm obsessed with them lately.

I want to drive one really badly.

I think it's the roadmaster like the wagon thing got in my bloodstream.

So my parents actually had an AMC Eagle wagon four by four briefly.

I have vague memories of it for at one point it had, you know,

the fake wood panning along the side.

It's so.

Yeah, the perfect spec.

It was quite a thing.

Hey, for northeastern Ohio winters, to my knowledge, unless my parents have a story,

otherwise it did fantastic.

So it was a hell of a lot better than my mom's SN 95 Mustang that lasted all of one winter

because she drove and she's like, I'm never driving this in winter again.

It's not happening.

So yeah, so without further ado, let's get into the show and speaking of muscle car-ish type

stuff, because I was just talking about my mom having a Mustang, we got the best look yet.

The best look we're probably going to get before it actually debuts of the new Dodge charger,

which is weird because Dodge just showed it to us without any camouflage,

which I've been doing this for 10 years plus.

And there I haven't seen a whole lot of instances of an automaker just coming out

and saying here it is without announcing like, oh, and then we're going to fully debut it next

week or three days from now.

Yeah, like the traditional headlights teaser in a deal, like the Acura just did with the

electric SUV last year.

They had the grille first and then tail light detail, and then they ended up doing the full SUV

like a couple weeks later.

Right, this clearly is not that.

This is just here it is.

And we've actually seen a little bit more of it.

I'll share a rear end photo here in a moment.

But so Ramblers, I know we just talked about this vehicle.

I was looking at it was either two or three weeks ago, but it's kind of fascinating because

now we know what the production version looks like.

Like this is clearly it.

It's just here.

So I'd love to get your guys' opinion on it just because.

But Victoria, what do you think?

What's your stance on the new charger?

The thing that's weird about this press pack is if you go back to that previous image

where they took the frontal shot of it, the full front,

that it's like they use a really long lens and it kind of still gives it a spy photo type of

vibe.

And I wonder if they were trying to make it seem more organic than it.

I have no idea.

It's confusing from a press launch because it's just like it's not the images that I'm used to

seeing as an introduction for a new car.

It feels like this something more clandestine or at least aiming for the vibe of trying to be

more clandestine.

So that was strange to me off the bat.

I mean, I think it looks fine.

I was never a huge fan of the Challenger charger, you know.

I know actually it's not a while since I drove a charger, but I drove a Challenger and it was

fine.

It wasn't for me.

It wasn't my kind of car.

I'm curious to see how Dodge takes sort of the muscleification of EVs because I think

that they will absolutely have the most, if not innovative, at least novel take on sort of

adding machismo to EVs, much more so than like say the Mustang Mach-E, which I think really

didn't.

Yeah.

See, these pictures are so strange.

Right.

Well, you were talking, I was pulling this up.

This is the actual image.

So we cropped it down for us because obviously it has that weird spy shoddy stuff going on

on the right hand side.

So we cropped it down when we did the story to like show you the car.

But yeah, you're right.

The image is it's like they tried to do a spy shot and weird thing happened.

Yes, a weird kind of the whole way they're building hype for this just seems strange to

me. And I'm not like immediately a hater for it.

And I think that like it could actually be something really novel in the EV space, just

given Dodge's entire background and who they sell cars to and who they build cars for.

And their ethos from, you know, they were the last true holdout of building, you know,

big V8 screw you muscle cars.

So it'll be interesting to see that mentality applied to EVs.

I just this, I don't know if I, how I feel about the styling because the shots are so

strange. It's difficult for me to be like, Oh, how will this will?

How will this look when I see it driving past me on the freeway?

So I guess that's kind of my take on it.

And I'm curious to see if they go with the the front sonic exhaust chamber that they

teased. And I am actually genuinely curious if they go with an 800 volt architecture because

that was the thing they talked about without a lot of detail.

And that would make them, I think the third major OEM behind Porsche Audi and Kia Hyundai

Genesis to go with an 800 V architecture.

And I would be very curious to see it because it's just, it's better.

It would be, it's the next wave of how things should be going.

It would be, it's just a step forward for cars in general.

So I think that'll be really cool.

So the image I've got pulled up now is the best image we have of the rear end.

And the folks that we work with have, I have heard both comparisons to a Dodge Intrepid

and also a pre-refresh Dodge Charger, you know, the sedan.

I think it looks slightly better than that in both examples, but it is kind of,

it does seem like just from the photos we're looking at the front and the back seem to be

doing two very different things. The front is like really like future forward and,

you know, retro futuristic in a good way. And the back is just super traditional to my mind.

I really, I really want to see a full side on projection view because the thing that's

really messing with me in these pictures is the overhangs look very different.

The rear overhang looks like it's about a foot and a half and the front one looks like it's

about four inches. And that is going to make the car's proportions feel really strange.

And I don't know why they would do that other than some sort of weird packaging thing

with their EV platform, which theoretically should just be built for this.

So I don't, that wouldn't make any sense.

But I mean, from the rear three quarters, it looks kind of like a 70s NASCAR turned electric.

And so I'm okay with it. I like, it's, you know, I think that the challengers,

for all of my complaints at the Challenger and Charger line, they did actually age pretty gracefully.

So there's not like a ton that needs to be changed. And I think that we're very solidly out

of the era where like EVs need to look like the future, whatever that is. I was looking,

I agree with that. My roommate has no interest in cars and we saw

first generation needs on leaf the other day. We were walking and I was, and she was just like,

what is that? And I'm just like, oh, you know, it's a leaf. It's from when they thought EVs

had to look like weird future bubbles. And you know, it has aged terribly. So I think it's

a better that we're moving past that, you know, I, again, I'm hesitant to say that this is not

good until I see it in person because I don't think it is. I think it might actually be really good.

Right. The other thing is, is that it seems like, so we've only seen it, what was it not,

was it last year's seam or two years' seam ago where they showed it in that really bright red

color that really lets you see the lines. Otherwise, it's always been kind of dark

greys or dark silvers like this or blacks or stuff like that, that really flatten any detail that

you can see on it. And so I just want to see it in the white or red or some sort of brighter color

to really get a good idea of the lines on it. Plum crazy. Plum crazy. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah.

But in terms of specs from everything that we're hearing, it sounds, you know, good-ish for any

ramblers out there. We've kind of, we talked about this just a few weeks ago, but, you know,

theoretically from what the information we know now, the electric version is going to be anywhere

from 450 to 880 horsepower, depending on what spec you choose. And then later on, the rumor is

still going that there's going to be a regular charger, that EV would be the charger Daytona

and that would be a regular charger with 450, maybe closer to 500 horsepower from a twin-turbo

inline six. So that's the hurricane, right? Yeah. That's the hurricane in line six. That's

so, you know, kind of it's an intriguing vehicle. It's a vehicle that despite the fact that we are

seeing it uncamouflaged, we still don't know everything about. You know, we still have only

seen, I was writing this up for a story earlier today, we've seen a little bit of the interior,

but that was the concept and who the hell knows whether, you know, the concept interior is going

to be the same as the production version. So well, and this is way tamer than the original

concept Daytona, they tease to do anyway. So I would not be surprised if it ended up being a lot

more, I would be, I would not be surprised if it looked like an iteration of the previous,

the outgoing charger and challenger, just because, you know, their customer base is not

people who are necessarily excited, excited EV adopters. You know, this isn't somebody, this

isn't Kia who can just go after like an entirely new clientele of like people who maybe were previously

buying Teslas. This is people who were probably buying muscle cars who now are like, well, all

right, if they're making an EV one that has 800 horsepower, I'll do it because that's what they're

chasing after is like speed and the ability to do like a wicked burnout, which if it can do that,

I think it'll get accepted quite nicely. I mean, with 880 horsepower from it, if it can't do a

burnout with that, then what's the point? But you know, yeah, it's, it's really interesting to see

how they're presenting this vehicle. And it's kind of in the weeds thing where you start talking

about like automotive PR and how you strategize and do stuff like that. But

Well, I'm just looking at it from a photographer's perspective, because this is just to me,

the other company I saw that's done this a bunch is Honda did it when specifically the new Accord,

but like with a bunch of their new stuff, where their initial press pack photos are very underwhelming,

because they try to aim for whatever specific vibe, whether it's like a futuristic one or a very

polished one. And so it makes the cars look less interesting, because you end up flattening out

all the styling lines and stuff, you need to put the car in an environment where it feels alive,

like as a photographer, not Detroit on a really great day with a guy, I mean,

yeah, so it's very hard to judge when you see it drive past you in the reflection shimmer over

the body. And I think that's going to change a lot of how it like feels to behold. Sure.

Yeah. It's an interesting one. I'm looking at the comments here.

We need to see Dom Toretto in one and then we can really appraise if it's truly an appropriate dodge.

You're not wrong. Dalton Miller says it really looks like a charger and challenger mixed. It really

does. Again, you're kind of taking the words out of my mouth here, Dalton, because I wrote today,

it looks like a modern challenger and a 68 to 70 charger just got mixed up somewhere along the

line. Yeah. So, yeah. They're worse things. Yeah. It could be way worse. It could be an

80s challenger. Which one's a Mitsubishi? Yeah. I only remember the Sapporo.

The Plymouth Sapporo. Yeah. Yeah. That's the only one I'm certain of.

But no, there was a time in the 80s where it was, maybe it was the charger. I think it was

the charger that was a Mitsubishi. But yeah, not good times for that nameplate whatsoever.

But yeah, I think we'll move on here. And that is going to bring us to the new Toyota GR Yaris.

And you guys might wonder, why are we talking about a vehicle we can't get here? And we're going

to kind of get to that in a minute because for anyone out there, the GR Yaris, it is a small,

compact, hot hatch. However, Toyota has brought out the GR Corolla to the United States. And those,

the GR Corolla and the GR Yaris, they have a lot in common in terms of drivetrain stuff. So,

could it be that the changes we see here come to the GR Corolla? We can't say for certain, but

it's interesting to think about. So, yeah. Victoria, you're laughing. Why are you laughing?

Why are you giggling? Oh, just because, I mean, it's having hypotheses about upcoming products

is always like, it's just funny because Toyota should just build more of what they already had.

And I think that would make people a lot happier. And so, it's always funny to me when it's like,

ooh, we're going to get this update. It's like, I mean, two-thirds of the people I know who wanted

to buy a GR Corolla couldn't get one anyway because the ADM was $50,000 because Toyota built like

six of them. So, it is, I mean, yes, there could be changes and it could be exciting. We could get

more power and stuff, but also it's just funny because they should consider building enough of

them to first actually buy or just give me a Yaris and I'll just stop criticizing them.

I mean, why not both? Yeah, I mean,

but yeah, styling tweaks are actually really minor. I actually did a story for us where I

compared them side by side and I'll probably show that here in just a minute. But the mechanical

stuff is really the heart of the upgrades here. So, it still uses that 1.6-liter turbocharged

three-cylinder engine that I have not gotten to drive a vehicle with that engine yet, but everyone

just says it's a peach that just they love it. So, it now makes 300 horsepower, 295 pound-feet

of torque. That's an upgrade over pre-update. The earlier model made 268 horsepower, 273 pound-feet

of torque. So, you know, not groundbreaking, but in a vehicle this small, an extra, what is that,

28 horsepower, 22 horsepower, that's a, I think you would feel that. And the bigger update yet is

that we've been hearing about this for ages and ages and they've been testing it and it's been

rumored. You can get this with an eight-speed automatic transmission. So, the six-speed still

there for all of the manual purists. You can still get a six-speed, but for the folks who,

you know, don't want to deal with a clutch or they think they're going to have to, you know,

drive this in crowded traffic, you can get an automatic. And that feels like a game changer to

me. That's going to open up this to a whole other group of potential buyers.

See, I see what you're saying, but I feel like if you're, if you're on the fence, I mean, there's

obviously, obviously like there's an accessibility thing here, right? Because obviously there's

certain people who cannot physically drive manual transmission and now they can get an

automatic and that's extremely cool. So, I'm not against it as like a machismo thing or anything

like that, but I will say that like the ethos of the Yaris especially was so much, here we'll sell

you a WRC car, that it's hard for me to imagine a bunch of people getting super excited for,

I can't imagine there were tens of thousands of people sitting on the sidelines waiting for an

automatic to drop, especially considering they don't sell it here. In America, if this, if somehow,

you know, an automatic transmission were to change our products in the future like you had

hinted about, I, you know, I think that that could move the needle more because Americans are so

manual averse, but for like Europeans, I mean, every nine out of 10 cars are manuals, it seems

like at least from what I've heard, I haven't been over there, I'm not cultured. So, I think yes

and no, I'm going to push back on that in two senses. First off, I'm going to push back on that

from a very personal sense in that I am married, my wife is very short and I have a mini Cooper

and she is so short that she cannot push the clutch all the way in on a mini Cooper. So, for me,

getting a manually equipped car that we could use as a family vehicle is essentially ruled out. So,

I am immediately happy to hear that you can get this with an automatic because not that I live in

Europe, but like you said, maybe it means a GR Corolla could come with an automatic someday and

that opens that up as a possibility for me. Yeah, that I will see, that is a good point.

You were talking about the WRC thing, the WRC car, the World Rally Championship car,

that has a sequential, like they're not using a clutch either. They should sell me a street car

with a quayf and I would shut up. But you know what I'm saying is that it's not like the argument

that the WRC car, it's like that. Well, no, it's not because that's a sequential manual. So,

it's its own thing. Yeah, I mean, that's entirely fair. It's not so much, I'm not saying it's like

directly a WRC car off the track. I'm saying that it's kind of the thing in spirit, which to me

has always been dominated mentally by, you know, manual transmissions. Although apparently some

of the comments are talking about how sports cars are kind of all automatics in Europe now too,

which is just surprising. Dalton Miller says, auto manual thing, U.S. year is interesting.

Europeans seem to love manual economy boxes and automatic sports cars. Americans are the reverse.

BNW, it kept making manuals because of the Americans. Group FBC. Group is from Australia,

by the way. I think automatics have become the default in Europe now too. Ted Adam Green,

another frequent commenter. Yes, that Lexus. What Lexus are we talking about? Oh, the Toyota,

I guess. I have driven an auto and I don't hate autos. It does open the market to more use cases.

We don't need to gate keep car enthusiasts out of here. Yeah, I don't. I'm not saying that we should

or that the choice is bad. I'm just saying that I can't imagine who was like the Corolla people.

Absolutely. It's going to be a huge boon. If it happens, we don't know yet, but it's the same

drive train. In that scenario, in that world where an automatic GR Corolla comes to the U.S.,

I could see that selling like hotcakes. I think that would open up to a lot of people who don't

want to drive manual. The Yaris was always advertised as such a hardcore thing. It's not

of, oh, hello. My cat is here. He says, hi, his name is Bert.

Where's Ernie? It's just Bert. I think that it was such a... Sorry, he's smashing his head against

my monitor. I think it was just... He does. This is me.

Just the positioning of the Yaris in the market, I guess, was such that it felt like

it was aimed at the type of person who wanted the most analog experience. I saw a lot of people

compare it to early evos or compare it to Lancia deltas and stuff. Those are cars that I can't

imagine people would have been skipping over because they were like, oh, I want an automatic

version. From an accessibility perspective, I think it's cool. I think in the U.S., if it made

way to the Corolla, it would be a boon. I just don't think that it's going to be... The Yaris

one is just more surprising. Also, just to say this while we've got this slide up, I cannot...

Well, no, that's our next topic.

Yeah. The other thing, and I think I'm an outlier here, all of... Well, I know I'm an outlier.

All of my co-workers hate the interior of the new Yaris. That's why I pulled up this image,

because I know it's going to be a talking point. They have reconfigured the way that the instrument

cluster and the center stack look. The instrument cluster is now a digital unit. I can scroll down

and show you folks. It's now fully a digital instrument cluster rather than analog. Also,

rather than the infotainment screen sticking up out of the dashboard, it's now incorporated

into the dashboard. I will agree. The surround around it looks a little tacked on and dumb.

I can't fight you there, but... It's like little tykes when at the interior.

Everyone I work with says that and hates it, and I don't think it's that bad. So, ramblers...

Do I have no taste? It reminds me of a low-rent way that the supers used to look.

I know what they're going for. My Mark III had that single big pod in a sideways L-shape

that people would put the radio and all of the climate controls and everything in this

driver-oriented pod. They took that to the next level with Mark IV, which was the swooping one

that was explicitly aimed at the driver. This is clearly going for the same effect,

but because of the material choices, it just looks cheap. That is unfortunately...

Which doesn't matter. I wouldn't care what the dash looked like if they would just

let me drive it. You can buy my silence. Clearly, I am wrong on this because not only

do my co-workers disagree, the ramblers disagree. Dalton Miller says it looks way cheaper looking.

Group FBC says, yeah, that dash is pretty horrid, and also says, Bruce, I'm usually with you,

but ellipses. Clearly, I am wrong in this case, and I can be wrong. I can accept being wrong.

I don't think it looks that bad, but...

Bert, what do you think?

Bert, is it bad? He doesn't seem to really have thoughts on this. He actually seems to want

me to put him down. Also, just to answer a group FBC, there is no Ernie Cat. His full name is

Bertholomew Reynolds, so he's named for Bert Reynolds because he likes cars, too.

Yeah. Is he a big Trans Am fan?

Yeah. Well, when he was a little kitten, I used to have a bunch of model cars sitting around

everywhere, and I would kind of play with him, and he'd bat him around and stuff.

So I was like, oh, he's like a little adventure, little car cat. Don't knock over my lamp, Bert.

That is not a scratching post for you. Oh, my goodness.

You hate the general layout. Do you like the new digital instrument cluster?

I have a theory about toyotas. I don't like the font they've been using for about a decade now.

It removes all the sensitifications. So their digital cluster is somewhat better,

because of the cool sweep thing. But I still think that it looks like they're using Calibri

that loads by default in Microsoft Word, and it makes the car look so much like there's no

occasion to it. You look at a Lancia, you know, Intagrale or an Evo or whatever, and the instrument

cluster is so... It burns itself in your retinas, and it feels so defining for the car, and this

just feels so generic. The new one is better, because it's got at least... Oh, shoot, Bert.

I'm sorry. Bert's killing you. He really is. He's decided that tonight he's going to be a handful.

Yeah, so I think that the new cluster is an improvement. Okay.

Had to ask. But yeah, so if you want to look on Motor1, we did a whole side-by-side story of

looking at the 2024 versus the 2020 GRERs. Since I'm just scrolling here real quick,

under the hood, they look basically identical. There's some slight alterations to the red trim.

Red trim on the 2020 got moved to some different places on the 2024, but as you can see, it's

basically the same. But yeah, I still don't agree. I still like the new one better, but no one agrees

with me. So I guess I got to be wrong. Were you their focus group? Is this why they came out with

it? They were like, all right, let's ask one guy. It's fine. Yeah. They're like, no, everyone said

it was horrible. What about this guy? He likes it. I'm like Mikey with whatever cereal that was.

Anyway. Sorry. Homeschooled kid. I had no idea what that was.

You don't know the Mikey likes it, the commercial, like we eat the cereal. Was it kicks? I don't

remember what cereal it was, but anyway, apparently not because you are giving me just nothing here.

Yeah, I'm sorry. All right, fair enough. Oh, Eric Nefron, thank you. It was life cereal.

Okay. Life cereal. Yeah. Yeah, no, I... So I'm not crazy. Anyway, but let's talk about your

travels recently. So you've been doing a retro car review series for motorways.

You drove an NA Miata. You have driven a Buick Roadmaster that we'll be discussing right now,

and I am super duper jealous of you because right after we talked about the Roadmaster,

you got to drive not only a Honda Beat, which, okay, I could live with you just driving a Honda

Beat, but an S600. That one hurts. That's the one, like... It was pretty... Yeah, no. I mean, I...

It's better than good because if you tell me it's bad, I'm not going to believe you.

No, the whole crux of the story is just that Honda, part of the reason I am a Honda apologist and

have been a Honda fan girl forever, my most fondly missed car that I owned at one point that I got

rid of just because of life stuff, but it was an 88 Prelude SI 2.0. So it was the generation they

added for wheel steering. Mine was still two-wheel steering. I drove it to work every day. I drove

it across the country. It was the bright yellow Y49, the cursed Barbados yellow color. Five-speed

man. It was just like a beautiful car. I loved it. And so I... That car, like, converted me. I became

a Honda fan at that moment. And yeah, I just... I... Getting to drive an S600 is kind of like,

here, would you like to see where this, like, incredibly legendary company who makes all of

this stuff that you've loved began? So that was super cool. Let's talk about the Buick. We'll start

with the Buick. I'm sorry. I got going about Honda's. Then we'll get in the Honda world. We've got photos

of both. Yes. But, yeah. So I am sharing the Buick photos now. That story has already been

published that one up. Yeah. Last week or two weeks ago. Last week. Last week. Yeah. Yeah.

I think we can go today, actually. Yeah. So let's talk about you and the Roadmaster.

The Roadmaster is a really cool car. I know Smith, you know, my usual co-host. He has been

lusting after these for ages. He had the sedan version briefly. He's, you know,

autocrossed or something, right? Yeah, that sounds right. I think autocrossed. Something

absurd. Something absurd. Yeah. Yeah. Something dumb. Let's not call it absurd. Let's call it dumb.

He's not here. I can't do that yet. I don't want to... I don't... I just got here. I can't

be making enemies in the workplace yet. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. But, yeah. So

how... Sir, you said you've been getting cars from friends, from, you know, people, you know.

What's the story with this Roadmaster and what did you do with it?

Oh, okay. So my best friend who also moved to Seattle probably two or three years ago,

he walks to work every day. He's, you know, we have... And when he doesn't need to do that,

he takes the bus, you know. The transit here is pretty good. The city is pretty dense.

It's compact. So, you know, you don't really need a car for day-to-day life. But he's got...

He's got a couple of modified cars, and then this is kind of his hauler. This was... He's got,

you know, he's got some really big dogs. And so transporting them, you know, if you need to get

like a big wagon or an SUV. And he found this for, I don't know, like four grand or something a

couple of years ago. Picked it up and fell in love with it. And since I just moved to Seattle also,

and I didn't have a car, and I need... I started my life basically from scratch. So I had no furniture,

no bed, nothing. He'd let me borrow it for a week or two, so I could go buy stuff, so I could sit on

something besides the floor and sleep on something besides the floor. So it was really supposed to

be just a utilitarian kind of... That is actually on just really quick group FBC. That photo is

actually taken on a Nikon F4 with Ektar film. So it's very close to what a press image would have

been at the time, because it's... Like that was the press photography SLR of its era. And that, you

know, that was like the high quality Kodak stuff. I don't think Ektar was out in 96 yet, but it would

have been whatever the predecessor of it was, probably like Vericolor or something. Anyway,

I just... I really like film. But yeah, so I used it as a utilitarian, you know, haul stuff around

town kind of car for a week or two, and I accidentally fell in love with it. And I largely

did that because, one, it's... I mean, it's a hilarious riot. You've got a 4,500-pound wagon

with wood paneling. You know, it's got crushed velour blue seats. You know, I had four or five

friends at once at one point, and you know, I have to get merged into I5. I floor it. The nose

just kind of, you know, points up. We all just kind of launch forward, and then all of a sudden,

you know, in seven seconds, we're doing 60 miles an hour, and the person who was sitting next to

be in the 330i with M stickers on it was kind of like, how did you do that? So that was amusing

on its own. We should tell people why it can do that. That's because it has a detuned version of

the V8 from the Corvette of that period. It's got, what, 330-pound feet of torque and 270 horsepower?

Something like that. Yeah, and LT1, and it's got the towing package, which this one has,

has a limited slip of some kind. So it's like, it moves. It really genuinely moves, and the

gear ratios in the towing package one, at least, are not bad. So it hustles for what it is. Again,

it's in an era of, you know, every SUV gets to 60 in five seconds. It's probably not as

gargantuan and accomplishment, but at the time, and for what it looks like, it's hilarious,

which was enjoyable. And the way that it accelerates, too, is like, it's so softly sprung.

It's clearly not, really, the TM engineers were like, we'll build this for like, it's got 130

horsepower, and then we'll drop in an LT1, and congratulations, you can squat this thing like

it is a top-fuel drag. Like, you are, you need a wheelie bar when you're taking off. It's phenomenal.

It's like, that was amusing. And then also, you know, it's, I live in downtown Seattle. Parking

is very tight. There are lots of pedestrians. There are lots of stop signs. There's lots

of intersections that are tricky to get around. I've had some large trucks that I've borrowed,

and they are generally a nightmare. Like, seeing people, seeing, you know, little, you know,

pylons and stuff everywhere is genuinely challenging. And so I'm driving this,

which is sedan height, and, you know, my eye level is at Toyota Camry's mirrors, basically. And

it was a cinch. You could parallel park it really easily. I could fit it in my parking spot without

a problem, because the turning radius wasn't bad. I was never worried about, like, I could spot

pedestrian super easily. There was no big blind spots I had to watch out for, even with those

little tiny mirrors. It was genuinely just super relaxing to drive, not just because it was comfy,

but because of, like, the whole vehicle's ethos sort of prioritized, just easy driving.

Much more so than, I think, you know, a truck or a big upright tall van that I think a lot of people

would default to getting today if they needed to haul a lot of stuff. And so my whole, my whole

thing with this was just, I just, I miss this. You know, I want, I want relaxing driving. I want

cars that are relaxed. It's not just from, like, a suspension setting that you just press comfort,

but, like, the whole ethos of the vehicle is comfort to come back.

Smith and I have actually, I have had this discussion that, in my opinion, this is what

Cadillac should be, that Cadillac trying to do sporty cars is dumb, that you leave that to,

you know, you know, BMW or Audi or someone like that, because for 95% of owners,

that's not actually what they're looking for. That's what car journalists are looking for,

because we want to write about, oh, the dynamic handling and, you know, oh, you know,

the tail of the drag and it took the corner so well. For most people, that's not honestly

what they want. They just want something that's comfortable and gets them around,

but also has power that they converge onto the highway or do anything like that.

But, and that's exactly what this is. That's everything that this is. That's everything

you just described. It's, you just kind of waft along and you have plenty of power to do it.

It's not, you know, uncomfortable. In your story, you talk about the seats are like lazy boys

somewhere. And if you're not wrong, like, it's, it harkens back to, I'm not exactly sure

how old you are. I am 38, but it harkens back to the cars I remember riding in when I was a kid,

where, you know, someone's parent was driving. I wrote in like a lot of like Reliant K's and Caprice

classics and like stuff like that. And yeah, they were never powerful cars, but they were

comfortable. And I kind of think we need to get back to that.

Um, yeah. And so I, I mean, the lesson that I, the lesson that I tried to apply going forward

is like EVs could totally do this, like totally. You could absolutely package an EV like a wagon

and you could just spring it real soft. They're big and heavy already because they're EVs. So you

can like soak up, you can focus on soaking up bumps versus, you know, trying to add this,

add stiffness and make it into this sporty, whatever. I don't really know what

manufacturers are going with with modern EVs, but like the Mustang Mach-E could have very easily

been a country squire instead of a continuation of the Mustang name. And yeah, I think group

FBC is right. There is, there's a big disconnect between what buyers, I think the problem is that

people are inundated with information. They feel they have to make the most intelligent decision,

which means looking at a spec sheet or reading what, you know, what people like me,

like what, what auto journalists who prize handling say instead of just going out and

driving it and being like, well, I think this is more comfortable. That's a perfectly rational

decision for that person. If you think something is more comfortable, you should get it. If you,

if you want to be comfortable, and I think a lot of people do. And so I don't know. I, I don't

think it's going to, I don't think the market is going to change that way. No, I don't think

wish that it would. Exactly. It brings, so in our work chat, the Buick Regal Torax, which is another

kind of, it's smaller, but it's still a comfy wagon. And that one specifically is all wheel

drive. Well, this is rear wheel drive, but they kind of sort of. I thought the Torax is supposed

to be a little bit more tensed, like taught. It is a little bit, but as someone who has driven one,

it was a really good cruiser. And it felt like in our work chat, there wasn't a lot of respect for

sometimes you just want something on the highway where you set it at 75 miles per hour on the

cruise control and you just go down the road. Like that's a lot of what driving is. And if you can

get that right, then, you know, maybe you can forgive some other things. And I kind of get

the same feeling about the, the road master. But in short, I moved a bunch of furniture with it

and I loved it. So you disagree with me? Okay. No, no, I'm saying I, I, no, I'm saying I adored

this thing. I agree with you completely. I've given it back to my friends and said, but that's

my conclusion for the piece is I had to give it back because, you know, my friend needed his car

back, but I adored it. I adored it. And I, like, I don't need it that often. And I still kind of

want a sports car. So I don't know if it would be the car I would pick if I was going to get one,

but I did love it. And I would consider it if I could have two cars.

And like that and something else would be the perfect two car garage.

But speaking of sports cars, we have to talk about what you've driven most recently. And

this is a piece that has not gone up on motor one yet. You shared the text with me and it's a,

it's a fantastic piece. I recommend, I don't know when it's going to go up, you know, because it

podcast. Yeah, I think it should be this week. Oh, great. So yeah, fantastic. So look out for

that. But you got to drive not only a Honda beat, which I know I said this earlier. I'm,

I'm a little jealous of the beat, but you got to drive an S 600, which is where the jealousy

really comes up because that's one of the dream cars for me. That is just,

you know, that is kind of one of the elemental sports cars. It's kind of,

it's a Suchiro Honda in a box kind of in a way. I would argue the beat was too. Well,

I mean, that's the whole piece of the story. I'm getting ahead of myself, but yes, it was great.

Let me throw up the gallery here. And as I'm doing that, please tell us a little bit more

about the genesis of this story and we'll go from there. Sure. Yeah. Adam from Soto Motors

in Seattle had this, et cetera. And actually, I did drive these a little while ago. They were

not, it was the story's been kind of percolating for a bit. He had this S 600 for sale of this

Suchiro with one of the early F1 cars, just because I, I saw that picture and I was like,

I need to figure out when to put this in the story because that just goes insane. Like that man was

so cool. Well, not necessarily. I have spoken to some people who apparently worked with him.

And he, he sounds like he was a huge hard ass. Yeah. He might not have been the best boss.

Maybe he was cool. Like, but whatever, like this is an album cover. This man is about to drop the

hottest album of 1963. Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. You know, he, he, he had style, I guess is what I

would say. I don't know if I would speak. He had swagger is what I would call it. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah. So Adam from Sotomona, which is an import shop we have here in Seattle,

always gets really cool stuff in. He had this S 600 come up. He's a friend of mine,

so he let me drive it because he's incredibly cool like that. And then one of my other friends was

kind of lightly considering looking at it to buy and also own to this beat. The S 600 is

installed. That beat has now has since been stolen, which makes this kind of slightly depressing.

The S 600, I'm sure, went to a happy home. The beat was never found. I, that was, this was a little

while back, which is a bummer because like who the hell steals a K car. But anyway,

exactly, exactly. The world's slowest, the slowest high speed chase in the world.

But so the S 600 is, you know, Honda's first attempt at a mass market car.

They decided to put a 606 cc four cylinder with four, okay, and carburetors on it.

It revs to 9,500 RPM. It made it exclusively to a four speed or five speed and later revisions

when I drove was a four speed manual transmission with chain drives at the rear axle. So it's

powered by, it's got, it's got a single output shaft with its, you know, center one to one

differential with output shafts that go to chain drives with the reductions in there.

I mean, it's basically a motorcycle setup. It's, they took what they knew from motorcycles and

applied it to a vehicle. Pretty much. Yep. Yeah. And so the thing is, is, you know, the S 600 is

very much, I'm mentally benchmarking it as I was driving it against a triumph of the era or,

you know, an MGB or something else. Yeah, a mid sixties British roadster, because that's kind

of what this is aimed at. It's got 57 horsepower. It weighs under 1600 pounds. It's very much that

kind of like very lightweight roadster joy kind of experience. I knew they were light. I don't

think I knew that they were that light because like you're wearing MGB, that's like, what,

maybe 80 horsepower at most for the smaller displacement ones. And they're about 2000 pounds.

So the power to rate actually stays kind of similar. Exactly. What's funny is that it's an MGB

compared to a Honda S 600 is kind of like a muscle car. That's a big heavy machine with lots of power.

No, whatever. Yeah, exactly. But so, you know, the chassis is kind of, from that perspective,

the chassis is on par, right? It's nothing. Yeah. It's got the rear chain drive suspension thing.

The way it allowed them to set the suspension is it allowed for fully independent rear

without camber adjustment on compression, which was novel. And certainly probably would have helped

at the limit. But the rest of the car is not something that I would have been like, oh,

just take this $40,000 vintage machine and push it to the limit in the rain. It was kind of

it's not a confidence inspiring chassis. The motor, on the other hand, is a work of art.

Like it is everything you dreamed it would be. But like below 4500 RPM, completely gutless.

The minute you get above it, it's like, oh, I understand where the inspiration for VTech came

from because the entire character of it changes. It's a delight. And then you look down, you're

like, oh, my God, we're so close to red line. Like we, I got a shift. And you look down,

you're like 7500 RPM. You have 2000 more RPM to go. And it just pulls all the way there. It is

so much fun. So, you know, that car was kind of, it was very typical in terms of like the era

roadster sort of experience. I barely fit. So it wasn't like super comfy or anything.

But the drivetrain was just phenomenal. So that's, you know, that's, that's

Chiro Honda's first machine. That's his first, that's the first stab at building a car

that people outside of Japan would buy. Is this right here?

Well, so we had Myron Vernes and his co-writer on about, why did I just, the name of the book,

a greater. Oh, the Japanese classics, the Japanese classics.

Yeah, his book, but it's a greater difference, a greater, it literally was in my head and went

out of my. Was it Mark Brinker and Myron Vernes came on? Yeah. I did a lot of photography for

that book actually. The pictures in that book of the S600 are mine. But, you know, we had them on

and we were talking. So some of these cars were sold to soldiers in Okinawa, Japan, because that

was largely an American military base. And a lot of the ones that got to come over was because

you could, you know, if you were a soldier and you were there, you got to like kind of bring

over your car back. And so that's how the handful of them that made it made it to the United States.

That's how a lot of those cars got here. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this one was right hand drive. It was

just recently imported. So it was an original Japan spec car. Oh, that's a fantastic photo.

This one I love this. That's a film that you scanned or is that digital? No, this is, this

is digital. This was before I had gotten back into film again. And I'm really, really getting into

it more now just because I've got a full time job and so like buying these spending 10 bucks

in a roll doesn't feel as bad anymore. But so yeah, so I drove the S600 with the motor. The

drivetrain is incredible. The rest of the chassis is very much like it's a good first attempt. It's

very much a 60s roadster. And then you drive the beat, which is a 656cc motor built for the

K class. Oh, is that the book name? Real quick, I got to call it a quiet greatness. Thank you.

Okay. I don't, it was in my head and then it just like disappeared. But no, it's a fantastic book.

I highly recommend it. It won an award. I assume partially because of your photography. It's

great. Just great. Okay, continue. Let's talk Honda Beat. Oh yeah, Beat. It was, so it's a

656cc motor, a five speed manual transmission, mid-engined revs to 8,900 on paper and 9,500

if you hit the fuel cut, which I did because this one was a car that I had full carp launch to just

drive. And it is, the thing is, is like the drivetrain is still incredible, right? Because

it's still, it's still got a really good feeling manual transmission, just like the S600. It still

has a really nice, like the platonic ideal of naturally aspirated motors. This is actually a

three cylinder versus the S600's four cylinder. And it's still right in your ears because the

motors directly behind you, the induction noise is like directly in the cabin. It sounds amazing.

But then the chassis is perfect also. This car is so damn sharp. It makes the Miata I drove a few

weeks ago feel soft. I mean, genuinely, just like you can, like pointing the nose of a car,

of a mid-engined car with the throttle is something that you don't do unless you have

reasonable faith in the car's handling. And this car is, you can totally do that in the wet. I mean,

you're not going to be like lighting up tires and it's 63 horsepower, but you can absolutely,

like you get into it and you start working it and you can absolutely in second gear start aiming

the nose of this thing with the throttle. And it's just, it's sharp. I mean, it's just, it takes

everything that was wrong with the S600, which was very little and mostly related to like

material sciences in the sixties and fixes all of it. And this was, and the thing that's important

about this to understand is, you know, this comes, Honda had proven itself on a global stage. This

was solely for the home market. It was only ever going to be sold in Japan. It was an enthusiast

car first for, you know, it was a peak bubble economy, new rules for the K class they were

trying to take advantage of. And it was just, it was Satiro's final project. He was still involved

in the company up until his death. And this was the last car he signed off on. It wasn't the NSX.

It wasn't, you know, the legend or anything. It was this. This was his final car that he

personally approved of. And it just speaks to, these two cars are 27 years apart. They are

virtually identical in ethos. They're virtually identical in execution. The only thing that

changed is that Honda got better at making chassis, basically. You know, this is, this is 27 years of

refinement. The car is still exactly as much fun as it was to begin with. It's still, it still

sounds just as good. It still focuses on the driver just as much. It's just better because they had

gotten better at making cars. And so driving the two of them back to back was, it wasn't really a

shock. Like, oh my God, they improved so much. It was just kind of, wow, they never lost focus,

ever. Like they changed from, they changed from a company that made the S600 they sold 12,000-ish

total copies of in two and a half years of production. You know, they went from that to

having a factory in America, selling the Civic, selling millions of Civics, selling millions

of Accords, becoming this global powerhouse that was whose name was said in the same

conversation as Toyota, which Honda initially, like Satiro's first company was building piston

rings for Toyotas. Like he wasn't, they were already so well established. They were now

Hondas on the same level as them and they lost absolutely no focus in that entire period. It's

incredible. So honestly, like the S600 is a fun, like it's a classic car. I would never daily drive

one because I would not want to keep four carbs tuned. The beat, I would absolutely, if I found

one that was in decent shape, I would absolutely go buy it tomorrow and daily drive it. Dalton asked,

have you driven an S2000? Yes. Can you compare them? But I mean, now that you've driven an

S2000 feels big compared to it, but like it's very clear. That's hilarious. It's still the

same ethos. I mean, it's still, it's still the world's greatest feeling manual transmission

paired to an incredible naturally aspirated motor with an incredibly sharp chassis. I actually

prefer after an AP1 and an AP2 and I prefer the AP1 because the drivetrain is a little bit more

raucous and the chassis will kill you more. And I think that that's like the ultimate. I think that

that's just genuinely like when Honda's in its sweet spot is like if the car is just a little

bit, maybe wants to kill you. Okay. So I loved it. And as far as the S660 goes, I haven't driven one

of those yet. I got to wait 20 more years too. Or I got to go to Japan. Or yeah. Yeah. You got to

Hey, you're my, you're kind of my boss, right? Can I go to Japan? Am I your boss? No. Trust me.

I am not your boss. You're like a little bit. You've got more seniority, right? Yeah. We can

talk about that after the show. I'm not your boss. Don't worry. Yeah. But yeah. So fantastic pieces,

both of these are. They're wonderful. I really recommend people reading both of them plus your

Mazda piece that you did earlier. And I assume you have more on the way. Yeah. I've got a Defender

110. It was a Plumbers van in the UK. I drove it in the snow through Montana. Okay. That might,

I might write about that. You never know. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. After talking about the road,

I've written about cars so long that there have been so many companies. There have been so many

companies that modify or bring over Defenders and do stuff with them that I'm still more impressed

by the S600. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. No, the S600 is definitely like in my upper echelon of cars I've

experienced. But the Defender, the Defender's got a cool story. You'll have to read it. No,

no, no. I'm not saying it. It's just like if I get to pick one. Oh yeah. That's fair. It's the

cool one. That's the one I like. But I think we should move on to our cheap car challenge. And

I have to tell the folks, Victoria, you picked the topic this week or you roughly picked the

topic. You said you wanted an off-roader. You originally said $6,000. I upped it to $7,000.

And I kind of fell down and went boom on this one. For whatever reason, in the Columbus, Ohio,

and Northeastern Ohio area, if you want a decent off-roader right now, you're in bad luck, guys.

Like you can't find one. So I did my best. I found two very, very quirky vehicles, though.

Even if they're not the best off-roaders, I win on quirks. I don't like good cars. I like weird ones.

Okay. Well, I'm going to win on weird. I'm not going to win. Okay. Okay. Do you want to go first?

Do you want me to go? Go for it. Go for it. Okay. I'm going to ask you for me real quick just to

talk a second while I pull up this bookmark because I'm a dummy and I didn't have it open

beforehand. No worries. Also, Dalton, yeah, I personally, my favorite thing in the world to do

is wax poetic about Hondas. I've gone to the Honda Heritage Collection in Torrance, which is

basically there. I've driven the first Civic CVCC they sold here, the first Accord they sold here.

Some really incredible stuff. I really want to go back and just drive more of it. I just want to go see

everything they have. The company fascinates me because I generally tend to reject the great

man-of-history kind of thesis, but I will say, Satiro is personally interesting to me.

So here we go. Oh, hell yeah. Not the best off-roader in the world, off-road capable.

For anyone out there who's watching, this is a 1986 Toyota Horizon. It's actually

the Toyota pickup of the time, $6,500. So I'm under that $7,000 price range.

And it is a full-on camper. And I know our listeners and our readers love camper content. So I kind

of saw this and had to pick it. It's a scary looking camper. It's like a horror movie 1980s

looking camper, but it's a camper. And it's fully functional. And you could take this thing.

Could you take it off-road? Yes. Is it four-wheel drive? It's a duly. It's a duly four-cylinder,

four-speed with a 22RE. Yeah, I think this is a two-wheel drive. I could, I think it is.

I could, I could get it stuck some really good places. I will say that. That's the thing.

I could take it into the wilderness and at least live in it. Like I could, you know,

that again, my choices were really slim this time, folks, especially for $7,000 in either

the Columbus or Northeastern Ohio areas. There wasn't a lot available. And so I had to do my best.

But I saw this and I thought, yeah, sure, $6,500 for a quirky and weird Toyota. I got that.

I mean, you know, it's definitely like it's, it's, I could get some really cool horror photography

done in this. Oh yeah. You know, like that would be kind of cool. I could make some really, really,

really messed up books, like photo books out of this. I've done like a, but I've done my,

my previous book I've published was a horror photography collection. I'm just looking at this

like, oh, I could do this. This is, this is, this is, this is inspiration. But here's the thing.

If you get stuck, at least you got a place to poop and to eat. And that's kind of what all

you need in life really. Like at that point, you know, okay. Yes, maybe. I mean, I lived in a van

for six months. That was how I started my career. So I just dug a hole if I had to. Well, I gotta,

I beat you. I got a toilet. I don't have to go outside to poop. So

that's something. It's not a lot. It's not a great pick, but it fulfills the price recommendations.

It's a really cool Toyota pickup truck. Toyota pickup trucks last forever. We all know this.

You know, you're going to be able to at least take this somewhere and do something fun with it. So

again, I admit, I didn't do my best. Oh, are there good comments? It was the most recent

continent. Yeah. I'm with Bruce. My poop needs a home. Yeah. My poop does need a home. That's true.

That's fair. All right. So that's pick number one.

Real quick, I just want to go through the comments. Please tell me, Bruce, this is a Chrysler Seafring.

And I can't imagine the struggle to hold seven. I don't know that this is going to go 70 miles per

hour. I think this is a 60, I think this is a 60 mile per hour vehicle. I don't think it would

do 70 if you dropped it out of a C5 without a parachute. I agree. There's just no way.

Terminal velocity in that vehicle is about 65. Yeah. Yeah. No, I can't fight you. So

show me your other pick. Oh, my picks? Yeah. Well, you did two, right? I got three.

Okay. Well, I got two. I thought we were supposed to do three picks.

Two, two, three. Okay. I am an overachiever. I just started here. If you say two to three,

I got to pull up three. Okay. Well, okay. Let me share this and see if I can do it right.

And if you can't just put it in the private chat and I'll pull it up. Oh, there we go. I think

this should work. Can you see it? Yep. I can. Okay. So I just did this via

screenshots because I didn't want to try to keep Craigslist listings up. This is pretty normal

and straightforward admittedly, but like 3,500 bucks for a V8 Blazer from the good Blazer years.

It is a four by four. It says it's in great shape. The transmission's got a problem. It's

probably because it's a 4L60E with 245,000 miles on it, which means that they all have problems

because it's a 4L60E and they came from the factory with problems. But like, you know,

it's, I've got, that's a good pick. Yeah. It's, I mean, it doesn't have lockers. I don't, I mean,

these didn't have factory lockers, but like it's, it's all wheel drive or four wheel drive rather.

So it's got a low gear and you know, it's, it's Seattle. So there's no rust in anything here.

And it's two tone and it's two door, which like, it feels like this was my reasonable,

like if I was actually going to go out and buy a car, I would actually consider this because I

don't want like an enormous truck, but I do miss off-roading. That's the whole kind of overarching

thesis of this. Me trying to find a car is that like, I miss off-roading a lot. So, so yeah, so

that was, that was, that was number one. That's the, the, I think this is actually a pretty solid

choice and I'm half budget. So I can spend another 3,500 bucks and giving it a stupid winch and like

a lift and big ATs so that I can, you know, I don't, it's like get stuck further out.

Right. But you, so you're in Seattle. So, you know, there's, things are wet there. You know,

you need to be able to get around. It's, it's 40 minutes to some of the greatest off-road trails

I've seen in my life. We have, we have Snoqualmie like that way. And then we have the Olympic

Seattle Bay. We all know which way that way is. And that way is, that way is Mount Baker. I mean,

there's just, there's mountains everywhere. You can get, you can get stuck so easily, so many places.

Dalton has the right opinion here. It sucks that they didn't make more via crosses. Yeah,

it sucks. They didn't make more via crosses because I would love to have one of those that.

They seem cool. I've, I've only ever, the last time I saw one was at the Rebel rally.

Okay. I mean, it's a car that falls under the stupid but cool idea. Like you wonder how it got

made and you love that it got made. Yeah. I mean, it's just a blazer, but goofy you're looking.

It's not, it's a different platform than a blazer, isn't it? Somebody just made a purchase decision

in our chat. I saw that. Yeah. Train Geek 2000. Sadly, you use a word that we're, I will quote

Train Geek rather than put them up because we try to keep this PG-13. Crap. I might buy this.

Yeah. Well, it's AlexisGX470 for 6K. Unless it doesn't have a motor in it, you should just buy it.

Anyway, so that's, that's number one. Can I show you number two? Well, no, let me do number two.

Okay. Let me stop sharing. There you go. Yep. So I found, and this is why I was asking you before

the show, whether you would ever play the game SnowRunner. Yeah. And I asked you that because

it reminds me so much of the truck that I always use when I play SnowRunner. SnowRunner, I love the

Ford F750, which is a real truck, but like none of them actually really exists. This is from the

same era. This is a Ford F350 from 1989. It is essentially the color that I can best describe

it to anyone looking at it is rust. Like, I'm not sure where the rust begins and where the color

ends or vice versa. I see moss there. So like that's a good start. That means that there's still

plenty of oxygen. But as Smith and I talk about, it's always fun to talk, to evaluate a vehicle

based on the seller versus based on just looking at the vehicle. So I really love, I have a 1989

Ford F350 that I purchased from the original owner's son. This was a farm truck from Southern

Ohio. It has very little rust. You're lying, sir. I can look at this truck until you ask,

depending on your definition of very little rust. I mean, I live in Cleveland and like it's got,

if there aren't grapefruit sized holes so I can see how somebody in Ohio thinks that this is a

clean car. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio. This one is $5,299. I mean, that's a lot. What motor

do these have? An F350? It needs two new batteries. So it's got a two battery setup, but it will start

although the batteries are weak. It's got a new radiator. It's got glow plugs. So that tells you

it's a diesel. Well, yeah, but what diesel is this is pre-power stroke, right? Yes, this would

definitely be. This is like some sort of ancient alchemy. The man that said this has very little

rust. And then you look at this picture, like, sir, I don't know that your definition of little

rust and my definition of little rust are not quite the same. But still, if it suffices the

assignment, I would take this off road and I would feel like I was playing snow runner because

it's not too far from the truck that I use when I play snow runner. Okay. And also that generation,

that boxy, pre-new era pickup truck, new wave, whatever the hell they called it,

that those just aged perfectly. That is like the platonic ideal that you imagine what a truck

should be. And it's roughly that shape. That or GMT 400. Yeah. Yeah. You can see the dual gas tanks

like this is a truck. It is. It's going to just, you know, single cab. It's going to go places.

It's you, your wife and your dog. And you go wherever you got to go. And hopefully all three

of you make it back. Am I wrong here? No, I take it. I mean, I think it's a little expensive for

a lot of rust, but also I live in Seattle now. So like any rust here is like, whoa. So I get it. I

get it. Is it less than $7,000? Yeah. Yes, it is. So that, that's fine. I could use the rest of

the budget to weld in some steel truck. So like groceries don't fall through the bed.

All right. So what's, I guess show me your second and third picks because I only came up with two.

Okay. Okay. Here we go. Vehicle number two. Now, now is when I was pretty excited actually. This

it's seen it obviously, but this is, it says 350 V8, 1972 GMC K20 four by four. So

regular length bed, short cab. It looks cool as hell. It's got a nice patina on it,

but no rust holes that I could see. It's the description says, you know, TH-250 trans,

NP-205 transfer case, disc front drum rear, runs and drives, heaters work, heater works,

wipers work, lights work. Yes, it has rust. Yes, there are dents. Frame is in good condition,

though, and new rear end. And so I was like, okay, this is what I would actually, from what I

actually was looking, I would, the last one was intriguing. This one is like, I would actually

want to be in. This one is, the interior is like, the seats are still untorn. The dash looks pretty

good. The motor is clearly. What's the price on this one? Sorry. $6,000. Okay. The motor is like,

it's clearly a runner. It's not like an, you know, Adelbrock shiny everything.

Right. We built this to be pretty and win concourse awards, but it works.

There seem to be some random wires here and there, but yeah, it'll run.

I suspect that's, I suspect just based on where I see that stuff running, that it's like extra

thermostat stuff or something, because you got lines coming out of the overflow reservoir

kind of thing. Let's hope you're right. I think it's, I don't think it's anything,

I think it's, there's also like a radio, an e-fan for the radiator. So I think it's

something related to that. I would, I would wave it off as that, honestly. There's the

new rear end, which I don't know what that is. Actually, I can't identify rear ends by sight,

unfortunately. Same. But you know, it's beautiful. It's cool. So it's interesting because obviously

you're in Seattle. I am in Ohio. Yes. And vehicles rust in different places in different regions

for anyone for maybe our group at FBC who is in Australia, who doesn't know on the west coast,

a lot of vehicles rust from the top down because of the salty air, because of stuff like that.

Whereas vehicles on the east coast, because we use a lot of salt on our roads,

they rest from the bottom up. And so it's fascinating that you look at a vehicle like this

and the roof and the hood are rusty as hell. And I'm just not used to seeing that.

But you know the underside of this thing you could eat off of. There's not going to be,

there's not going to be any rust in the bottom of it because we don't salt here. And this car is

actually on the peninsula. So it's across the sound. So they do get a lot more salt spray there,

generally speaking, if you're close to the coast. So it kind of explains the whole, you know, the

top layer of the car. It's just this nice, it's that patina that you see in like, you know,

when people try to mimic patina, that's what this has. And like six grand, I'm just like,

this seems like a good price. You know, it's a 350. So you're not towing a ton with it or anything,

but I don't need to tow. I just want to go off road. But it's also a 350 Chevy, which means that

parts are literally everywhere. Parts are free. And you know, the apocalypse could happen and

you're going to keep this thing running. The only downside of this thing is it's going to be harder

to park than the blazer I had before, because it's long. You know, the turning radius is going to

be absolutely terrible. But it's, I would deal with it. It just, it's cool. Like the other thing,

too, is it has like, it has sex appeal. It's cool. Like this is, this is a thing that you show up to

the trail with and you get to take cool pictures and feel like a badass. Sorry, I need you to read

that comment real quick. Group FBC. What a contrast. Bruce's poop needs a home in Victoria

at EF of a chassis. Well, I will say, if you live out of a van, your standards decline very rapidly.

I'm like redomesticating myself still after years of being feral.

So this is vehicle number two, basically. Okay. So this is vehicle number two. I found two vehicles.

Show me your vehicle number three. Vehicle number three is the one that was a funny one. Solid

of excrement done to this truck. Obviously the biggest being the solid axle swap. I will show you

the, oh man, this, here we go. $1000 because it has a ton of parts in it. It has a ton of parts in

it and the frame is totally clean. It does have lockers. This actually fulfills the original

requirement, which is it is a sub $5,000 vehicle or sub $7,000 vehicle is six grand. It has lockers

in it. They're like lunchbox lockers, but they're still lockers. Now, is this something that I

would actually recommend getting? Probably not. However, is it cool as hell? Yes. Deliverance

is what Group FBC said. Yeah. And then also it's a disaster wood. At least you saved the worst for

last because I think this is great. That truck still runs good was my daily before I built it.

85 Toyota axles front and rear. Sure. Yeah. Well, because it does 40 miles an hour now. Hang

on. I'm getting there. 85 Toyota axles front and rear rebuilt with extra bracing and a new

bearings and races, seals and gaskets, rebuilt knuckles, rebuilt diffs of 529s and a trail gear,

29 spline pinions, lunchbox lockers for both front and rear. So I've got both of them there.

New master brake cylinder and a bunch of brake hardware on 37 inch tires,

five speed swap, Weber carb, electronic ignition, racing head gasket, working air conditioning.

Recent starter alternator, a worn 8074 winch and all the lights work. Biggest con is that it is

terribly slow in tops at around 40 miles an hour and it has homemade drive shafts and 37 inches

tires. So as he admits, it has some decent vibration.

So this thing's gonna go two to 300 miles and then just fall apart.

See, I don't I think that this is one of those vehicles that is truly maintains that the Chevy

mindset of it will run horribly forever. You know, this is peak GM. This will run like absolute crap

longer than I will be alive. Group FBC says the Blazer wins this round for sure,

but this is Magnus magnificently bonkers. Yeah, I think it was mostly just like this was too

druggy 42 says, Oh, the AC works. That's a deal breaker. The funny thing is, is keeping the AC

working in Seattle is kind of like we don't really need it that much is a week a year. It gets hot

enough to use the AC, but this was the most amusing to me. So I had to share it. You're right.

This is the most amusing, but I think you found the worst of the bunch on this one. I mean,

the thing is like I not for six grand, but like at four, I start getting bad ideas because like

the thing is you take this and you maybe go balance the drive shafts that they threw into it and you

go put on 35 instead and it probably actually will do 60 miles an hour. You can actually

get it on the freeway. I don't think it's a great idea, but it probably could.

I think that like a vehicle that can only do 40 is a little bit constraining. A vehicle can do 60 is,

you know, yes, it has a giant antenna. Yeah. And it could, you could just throw Tyco decals on it.

It does look like a little RC truck. It's like, it's like, it's a toy. It's a Hot Wheels car.

That's why it's great. Yeah. Well, I mean, I didn't come to this cheap car challenge with my best.

I think you won. I think I would still rather have that F 350. I think that's my pick of the

bunch, but you're right. The Blazer you found very good. This one, not for me, but just because

it's not for me doesn't mean it's not for anyone. The Blazer was actually nice. That we wanted to

actually buy. Agreed. The Blazer was, I think, yeah, one of the best of the bunch. But yeah,

I think that's going to be our show for tonight. Victoria, do you have anything that you would

like to plug? I know your Honda story is going to be going up. You said before the end of the week,

so Thursday or Friday, so we definitely want to plug that. But anything beyond that that you're

working on? I have a book coming out fairly soon that I'll probably post again on the site when

that comes out. It's my very long running project for a trans feminine fashion look book with an

automotive theme. I just submitted. I've been working on it for over two years and it's got a

publisher and everything lined up. I just sent out the final draft. So that should be coming

out pretty soon. And I'll post about that. It'll be kind of cool. I'll share some photos and stuff

from it. But that's about it. That's just kind of a fun little thing that I think people would

want to see. Okay. Very good. So with that, I guess, folks, Smith will be back next week. We will

talk about his travels. Like I said, because of embargoes and stuff, I can't say where he is,

but we'll talk about it next week. He's actually at Langley. The CIA called him. They needed him

to test a new spy car. Don't lie like that. He's at Area 51 right now.

But yeah, Smith will be back next week. So we look forward to that. But yeah, thank you so much

for everyone who joined us. Victoria, thank you for joining us as well as a guest host. You did

a fantastic job. Thank you. But yeah, otherwise, good afternoon or I'm sorry, good morning,

good afternoon, good evening or good night. We appreciate all of our listeners. We appreciate

the fact that you guys decide to spend time with us. Because you could be doing anything. You

could be watching a movie, you could be playing a video game. But the fact that you decide to

comment on this show and watch the show and listen to this show is really special. So thank you so

much. And that'll be it for tonight. So bye bye. Thank you.

S2 Ep159: New Dodge Charger, Updated Toyota GR Yaris, Driving A Buick Roadmaster And Honda Beat: RAC #159

About this episode

AMC Eagle

Honda That Honda

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Motor1.com Podcast Network