S2 Ep161: Mazda CX-70, Lexus LBX Morzio RR, Dream Car Challenge, Saying Goodbye

The holidays are expensive.

You're paying for gifts, travel, decorations, food,

and before you know it, you've blown way past

what you were planning to spend.

Don't start the new year off with bad money vibes.

Download rocket money to stay on top of your finances.

The app pulls your income, expenses,

and upcoming charges into one place

so you can get the clearest picture of your money.

It shows how much to set aside for bills

and how much is safe to spend for the month

so you can spend with confidence.

No guesswork needed.

Get alerts before bills hit.

Track budgets and see every subscription you're paying for.

Rocket money also finds extra ways to save you money

by cancelling subscriptions you're not using

and negotiating lower bills for you.

On average, rocket money users can save up to $740 a year

when using all of the app's premium features.

Start the year off right by taking control of your finances.

Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.

That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.

Today on Rambling About Cars, it's the final episode,

but we aren't going quietly into the night.

We've got a Mazda CX-70, a GR Lexus LBX to talk about.

We've got three years of episodes

that we're going to try to condense here

in a reasonable amount of time.

And of course, we have a cheap car challenge,

but I don't know how cheap it's going to be.

We're going to find out.

So, righteous ramblers.

Without further ado, let's roll, friends.

It's podcast time.

I am Christopher Smith.

And wherever you are at right now,

all around the world, wherever you're listening,

if it's days from now, if it's live right now,

please rise, standing ovation to co-host Mr. Chris Bruce,

everybody.

Woo!

I'll take the nice words.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, just for everyone out there,

we're at the game show or the game show.

The game plan for tonight's show is,

we're going to do about 15 minutes or so worth of news.

We still wanted to do a little bit of news

during the show, since we've always won that.

We're going to do a segment where Smith and I

are going to talk about our favorite shows that we've done.

And I'm going to talk about some of the favorite guests

that we've had on and kind of show off some of their stuff.

And then we are going to do our

not at all cheap car challenge,

where we tried to find our dream cars currently for sale.

That is the rule, is that they had to,

although I cheated because one of mine

wasn't currently for sale,

but I'm going to show people pictures of it anyway,

because it is my actual dream car.

It could come up for auction at some point.

Perhaps, yes.

It could come up at auction for some point.

But before we go any further,

my friend, Chris Bruce here,

I've said this a couple of times on the podcast before,

giving you a standing ovation because,

one, you're an amazing person,

you're extremely knowledgeable on cars,

you are witty, you are creative,

but we are on episode 161.

That's 161 weeks of rambling about cars

a little over three years.

You, sir, have not missed one week.

You are the hardest working podcaster

in the podcasting world.

No, that deserves a round of applause.

I've missed a few days here and there.

I had some moves, I had some sicknesses,

I had some vacations.

You are, you are the chief,

so you are rambling about cars.

Before we get into the news,

I was thinking about something before the show,

and if we want to do this later, tell me,

what do you think we did right?

What do you think we could have done better?

Yeah.

Podcastarmotor1.com is still open, folks.

You can still email us.

We won't be on the air,

but podcastarmotor1.com will still be there.

You can email us, or, hey, email us directly,

chris.smith at motor1.com, chris.bruce at motor1.com,

or is yours Christopher?

Christopher.

Mine's Christopher.

Dot Bruce at motor1.

So I refer to myself as Christopher

because Chris Smith is stupid.

That's a holiday, that's not a name.

Oh, okay, yeah.

But your email address is Christopher Bruce.

Okay, I see how it is.

Right, mine is, although I go by Chris, obviously.

As do I.

But no, sir, if you want to do the question later, we can,

but just, you know, let's break this down.

What 161 episodes would we do right?

What could have we done better?

That's a throwback to my old agency days

after we were doing an event.

We would have a TGR, TGW report to fill out.

Things gone right, things gone wrong.

After every event, it was a TGR, TGW report.

I don't know, keep that in mind.

Let's do the news first.

Yes.

And then, as we're talking about the show,

think about that.

Because I think it's worth doing.

I think it's, you know.

It gives, I want to, I have a story,

a behind the scenes story I know I want to tell.

So, yeah, so.

Well, we'll get there, but news first.

Yeah, let's talk about the Mazda CX-70.

And I know my brother-in-law is going to be listening

here at some point, his family out there.

They've been thinking about a new Mazda, Mazda CX-90.

And now we have the Mazda CX-70,

which is the, which is the air quotes smaller SUV

that's actually kind of the same size as the CX-90.

It looks like the CX-90.

It has the same engine as the CX-90.

It's got slightly different front and rear facias.

There's more black trim.

And there's one fewer row of seats.

It's basically a five-row, or a five-seat CX-90.

Five seat, not five-row, it's not a school bus.

But yeah, not a school bus, my mistake there.

But yeah, CX-70, this just debuted

and it's been getting some attention.

I pretty much just told you all it's different about it.

It's really essentially a CX-90

with a bit more black trim.

Right.

With a bit more sporty look,

because it's supposed to be the more sporty version.

It's gonna be a little bit lighter,

but we don't know exactly how much,

just a little bit lighter.

The new front and rear bumpers.

The new fit and power trim specs.

Do you want me to hit that real quick?

Yeah, go ahead, because I mean, it's the CX-90.

It is, but maybe people don't know what the CX-90 has.

So we should tell them.

Yes.

So base engine is turbocharged, 3.3 liter inline six.

That's right.

Mazda has been doing its inline six for two years now.

They're about right.

Sounds about right.

So base trim that makes 280 horsepower.

There's also a 340 horsepower version.

There's also a plug-in hybrid

with a 2.5 liter four cylinder

and a 17.8 kilowatt hour battery.

And that makes a total of 323 horsepower.

So all pretty potent in terms of numbers.

Like 280s right there with the turbocharged outback,

which I feel is kind of what this is competing against.

They're both five row.

They're both, not sporty, I wouldn't say,

but they're not, there's something slightly more interesting

about them than your Chevy or Ford or whatever.

In my opinion, that's just, but I own an outback.

So maybe I'm supposed to have that opinion.

Possibly.

No, I mean, it's Mazda.

It's got sort of a sporty ambiance about it.

Being the CX-70 with just two rows,

there's a lot of space in the back.

I mean, I suppose you could fold down the third row

and the CX-90 still have some space,

but a lot of space in the back of this.

Price, you ask.

We don't know that Mazda hasn't revealed any pricing yet.

We're estimating that it's probably gonna start somewhere

in the high 30 range, like 38,000 thereabouts.

It'll be available later on this year.

But Brian and Vicki listening, thinking about CX-90?

No, there's a CX-70 to put in the mix.

If you don't necessarily want three rows.

Do you think that this is a better vehicle for them

or the CX-90?

Because if they're already thinking CX-90,

would you steer them towards a CX-70?

Do they?

Well, they have a minivan now.

And I don't know how often they use the back row,

the third row.

If I remember correctly, when we were visiting,

they were like, yeah, this might be the first time

anybody's ever sat back here.

So maybe the five row, or five row,

maybe the five seat two row.

I know I keep thinking of that party bus

that I found on the cheap car challenge

like a month and a half ago.

That's right, for the Thanksgiving episode.

Yeah, the family oriented Thanksgiving episode.

So I bet the CX-70 might be a little bit better

because it should be a little bit less expensive.

It's going to have a little bit more of a sporty feel to it.

You'll have the same powertrain choices.

You'll have gobs of space in the very back.

But for those odd occasions where your in-laws come to visit,

there might not be extra seating in the back,

which means I'll have to come in with a big ol'

five row party bus next time in Illinois.

Exactly.

But yeah, I think that does it for the CX-70, right?

Like that's basically what it is.

It's a CX-90 for someone who doesn't want a three row.

Right.

For whatever reason.

Yeah, and it's got more black trim.

Yeah, that's sure.

And that's pretty much what you need to know.

So let's just move it right along

because we've got a lot of other stuff to talk about here.

We do.

And this comes in from a Rambler request.

If you are in the chat and you are the person that requested

to talk about the Lexus LBX,

feel free to raise your hand and announce yourself.

I know who it is, so I'll wait and see.

We'll wait and see who's really listening here.

But this is my request.

Lexus LBX Morzio RR.

This debuted what, three weeks ago?

When was Tokyo Auto Salon, Bruce?

First week late in the first week of January.

I think it was the January 12th, 13th, 13th.

So I mean, we're about three weeks or so,

three, four weeks out from that.

We passed over this back then.

But we're giving it another look because we had the request.

And I mean, as I was taking a little bit deeper dive,

this could be a really neat thing for Lexus

because we have the Lexus LBX,

which is basically the Toyota Corolla Cross,

if I'm remembering correctly.

That's dressed up a little bit.

It's a luxury small crossover

that isn't sold in North America.

I don't know if, I can't recall if there are plans

to bring it over at some point.

Not available.

I don't think.

Yeah, not available here.

But what they did for Tokyo Auto Salon,

they took the little turbocharged 300 horse,

three cylinder out of the GR Iaris

and plucked it into the sucker.

So now you have just this little hot Lexus running around.

And you know, Bruce, we talked about the new GR Iaris

with its updates and its interior,

which you thought looked all right.

And pretty much the rest of the world

thought it just looked kind of ridiculous.

Or do I have that backwards?

Nope, no, I thought it looked fine

and everyone disagreed with me.

It just had kind of a cheap feel.

Well, what if you could have that powertrain

and something with a Lexus interior?

Yeah, then that theoretically would quiet a lot of people.

And you look at this and the LBX is sold as a crossover.

Because like we said, it's based on the Corolla Cross.

But you look at this thing

and this is not some high riding,

you're gonna take it off road.

Like look at this photo right now.

Like, yeah, there's a little bit of a gap

between the top of the tire and the fender, but not much.

Well, I mean, it doesn't just have the engine in there.

I mean, they stiffened up the suspension.

They made it a little tighter.

They made it a little wider.

So it just has a really neat stance to it.

I mean, we're used to thinking of Lexus performance

generally at the very high end.

Could something like this grab attention

maybe of younger buyers?

I don't know.

Because it depends on the price point.

But I mean, GR Yaris, I mean, it's not super expensive,

but it's not like a bargain basement hot hatch either.

I mean, you're paying a little premium for that engine.

I mean, we get the GR Corolla here

and so that kind of fulfills that.

I mean, it would take several steps.

First off, we should say this is not a production vehicle.

This is something they made for Tokyo Auto Salon.

It's a concept only.

Showing what is possible

because the GR Corolla and the Corolla Cross

obviously share things that it's not that hard for them

to take the regular hybrid engine out of the LBX

and slot this engine in there.

That that's pretty doable.

So first off, we would need to get the LBX from Japan

to the U.S., which might take some doing.

Then is there a market for a tiny high performance crossover?

I mean, Mercedes and BMW say yes.

Right?

That's true.

Audi says yes.

Are you?

Maybe you got a point here.

Maybe you've got a point.

I mean, theoretically, you know,

the Lexus might be a hair cheaper than, you know,

like a GLA AMG or something.

Yeah, maybe like I would like them to try Toyota.

You know, they've been,

if you look at Toyota over, especially the past five

to 10 years, they have been trying

to have more performance options in their lineup.

We're still not back for sure to the 80s

where you had, you know, AE86 Corollas and Supras

and, you know, MR2s and everything.

We're not back to that point yet.

But we're getting close though.

I mean, there's the coach built BMW

that's now the Supra, right?

I mean, I mean, it's a Toyota body.

So I mean, technically you could call it a coach built BMW,

but there's the GR86.

Right. And there's the GR Corolla.

And the GR Corolla.

So, you know, we would be remiss

if we didn't talk about the TRD Avalon,

which is our boss, Jeff Perez's favorite car

in the entire world.

So I'm not saying that's the best option out there

or, you know, it doesn't exist anymore,

but still that was an odd vehicle that, you know,

maybe might be a collector's item someday,

just based on rarity alone.

But Toyota has actually been trying.

So maybe this would be the next good step in doing that,

especially since it seems like, you know,

development would be, you know,

automotive development is never easy.

But if you grade it on a curve,

this is an existing vehicle and an existing powertrain.

And we know the chassis work together.

So putting it all together isn't that big of a hurdle.

So, you know, so yeah, maybe it would work.

Maybe you tuck me out of it.

Well, I mean, we have a familiar face here in the chat,

Mr. John Neff, who used to be our boss,

who is now living the camper life all over the country,

who says, just can't get behind Lexus' new,

even larger, decidedly anonymous looking grills.

I've, over the years, I'm sure the Ramblers know,

the longtime Ramblers especially,

I have never been a fan of the whole Lexus spindle grill thing.

But John, I don't, I don't see where you're at on this.

I don't think the, I don't think the LBX looks really that bad from the front.

Bruce, what's your take on that?

I agree.

Like the spindle grill is, this is a perfect picture.

It's like a vestigial spindle grill where it's still kind of there.

But having the license plate in the middle helps to separate it,

I think a little bit.

Maybe, maybe that's why it doesn't, it doesn't hit me quite as hard.

But this NB Black helps, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry, John, I don't think it's really that anonymous, but he does say,

I actually think it's good from a product standpoint,

it's a crossover, it's electrified,

and there's something special about it in the powertrain.

This is an electrified, John.

Well, the regular version is.

The regular version is, but we're not talking about the regular version.

We're talking about the hot 300 horsepower version.

Correct. Yes.

But yeah, I think that's enough LBX talk.

Let's get into.

Let's get into the meat of the show and what I've been looking forward to.

The meat of the show, which is rambling through the years.

Yeah, you know, like we just said, 161 episodes.

We've never missed a week.

There was one you've never missed a week.

Well, no, the show has never missed a week either.

Yeah, the show has never missed a week.

We had one we had the one Christmas where I think we did it a couple of times.

We taped a couple of episodes before we were doing them live.

We taped a couple of episodes and just had them in the can and then scheduled.

So we weren't working over Christmas.

Right. But still, the show has never missed a week since we started.

So, you know, good stuff there.

And yeah, again, which do you want to do first?

Do you want to do like some of our favorite stuff first

and then kind of do the breakdown of how we think things went?

I mean, let's hey, let's just I mean, let's ramble.

OK, that's what that's what we do.

That's the name of the show is rambling about cars.

All right, I remember you.

Well, before we do that, I want to ask you a question.

OK, I was thinking I was thinking about this earlier.

And I'm sad to say I cannot remember.

What we did a we did an unerred pilot episode.

We did two unerred pilots.

Oh, my God, we did two. Yeah.

I don't remember. I only remember one.

We I must have been I must have been drinking a lot more back then.

We did. OK, so we did two unerred pilots

just to test it out to see.

OK, get used to the the the format to see how things were going to go.

And I cannot remember what we talked about.

I can't either. I mean, no, I cannot remember

what we talked about.

Neff is in the comments saying I made you do pilots. OK.

Yes, you do. You did. What did we talk about?

What did we talk about, John?

But he's got question marks next.

So he doesn't remember. I don't remember either.

But no, one as a proof of concept for the tech,

because we did a full episode in StreamYard and recorded it all and did everything.

And then we did a second episode that was a pilot.

That was the actual show with all of the intros and everything.

And obviously, there was no audience.

It was just you and I talking, but it was a full on show.

And then that's when Neff gave us the green light.

And then I think it was two or three weeks after that,

we started and actually did rambling about cars.

We we started episode one.

And if you look back, that was January 8th, 2021.

Right. Man, that seems like a lifetime ago.

And we talked about the was at the Jeep Wrangler 392 at that point.

I can't remember. I did not go back and look at episode one.

I pulled up some favorites,

but I don't know that I would ever say episode one was a favorite,

because I think we were pretty raw back then.

We were pretty raw.

It was it was really clear that I was drinking a lot of energy drinks

because I was starting every episode.

It's like, it's podcast time, you know, you know, into the top rope.

But we did a segment on that first one.

That we never did again.

And I don't really I can't remember why

it was a segment called What Were They Thinking?

And we started off.

It was it was it was like a like a like a pretty a pretty opinionated section.

Maybe that's why we stepped away from it,

because we we moved away from opinion a little bit.

But we were talking about BMW's design direction.

Yeah.

And hearing all of this feedback from people saying,

we hate this, we hate this, we hate this and BMW's is like,

well, this is this is how we're going to style stuff.

So, you know, that's it. What were they thinking?

And then, of course, we we get the sales stats for 2023.

And look, everything with the ginormous grill, the sales are way up.

So maybe it's probably good we didn't continue that segment.

But Bruce, you've got some stuff there.

I do have some stuff.

But now I want to show the BMW sales thing that you just mentioned,

because here I just found it because I think we were proven wrong,

at least in terms from a business standpoint.

Yeah.

That was pretty shocking when the sales numbers came out.

Yeah. Here is that story.

Just ran January 4th of 2024.

Sorry, Internet, the big grill thing seems to be working for BMW.

And yeah, BMW 7 series sales were up 80 percent last year.

Four series sales were up 37 percent.

So clearly, you know, now to be to be completely fair, though.

The auto industry was dealing with still some left over from

the pandemic supply chain issues.

Yeah. So sales over all were down.

But to see things come back like like 80 percent with the seven series.

I mean, clearly, there are some people that don't mind the big grill.

I mean, even enjoyed it like that.

But yeah, one of my favorite guests that we've had on the show,

he's been on twice, Myron Vernes, and I especially loved the episode we did

with him talking about his book, A Quiet Greatness with

Mark Brinker is the co-author of that.

I've got the episode pulled up here.

Just fantastic conversation.

I've got it muted here, but those guys were super fun.

And I've actually got some news about A Quiet Greatness.

Myron just posted on January on January 20th, so about 10 days ago.

They are down to 50 remaining copies of that book.

So. Oh, that's it.

Better act now.

If you looked at it and you wanted it.

To my he has not said anything about doing like a republish

or another print run or anything like that.

So they are down to 50 copies as of January 20th.

So if you wanted one, you move quick.

But just, you know, super nice guy.

He has been great to both of us.

And, you know, in the past, like he sent you that mercury.

Oh, my gosh, brochure.

Hold on a second.

OK, you got it.

So, yeah, so you've heard me talk in the past

about the Taurus show love that I have.

And I've talked from time to time.

I had a 1987 Mercury Sable LS station wagon

and had a show swap in it, the show V6 five speed manual.

It was built by Ford engineer.

It was it was just an amazingly.

Well done engine swap.

It felt like this is how the car would have been

from the factory for to build one, which they didn't.

And I sold the car several years ago.

And then sadly, the person that I sold it to,

he lived out in California.

I got caught in one of the wildfires out there.

The owner was fine.

Car is dead.

But Myron, being the amazing person that he is,

found this in his archives and he sent it to me.

And it's just a simple brochure, a Mercury model line brochure

from 1986, which is the year of the Sable debuted.

And I mean, I was still a kid at that point,

but I remember when that car debuted, it was the freaking future.

I mean, nothing else looked like it.

The Sable, especially the entire front end lit up.

It had the marker lights, the headlights,

and then that bar in the middle had lights in it.

The whole front end lit up and it was round.

It was the future and it was just amazing.

And it just stuck with me over time.

And Myron, if you're listening, I hope you are.

Thank you again for sending this over to me.

Look at that.

So I would get that piece of automotive art right there that is a 19.

I mean, it's it's aged pretty well.

It's it's it's it's actually kind of getting better with age

because there was a point in like the late 90s where

I think it looked kind of dumb, but it's now like coming back around the circle

and it's getting to look much better again.

And in my opinion, the first the first generation there

from 86 to 91, I think were the better ones, at least with the Sable.

The Taurus, I think, got all the Taurus was good for that first generation.

And then the second generation up to 95.

The Sable just looked kind of kind of awkward from 92 to 95 to me.

And then everything looked awkward after that when Ford went with her hole.

Let's put an oval on everything and.

Comes down. But yeah, my running.

I will recreate the Sable show wagon one day when I'm rich.

So someday it could exist again.

But here, let me share my gift from Myron.

And I would have to run out of the room to get the actual copy.

So I'm just going to put up his tweet about it.

And so he somehow acquired this poster.

I do not know what year it's from, given the fact that there's an XK 120 on it.

It's got to be early 50s.

And for anyone out there who is not watching on YouTube or some sort of visual means,

it's it's Northeastern Ohio sports car races, five races,

including a ladies race, airplane and automobile displays.

Sunday, October 10th, from nine to five, rain or shine,

refreshments at the Akron Municipal Airport and Mission Includes parking.

Reduced price advance tickets.

Richman's, I assume that was probably whoever sponsored it, Akron Cleveland.

And he made copies of these and sent me one.

And so I have a full size that I'm definitely going to get.

I need to get it, you know, matted and put it in a frame.

And it's just really cool because for anyone out there who doesn't know,

I grew up in the Akron area.

And so it's just a neat piece of automotive history from my area.

And again, it's just just so nice that, you know,

just he emailed me out of the blue, like, hey, what's your address?

And I said, oh, you don't have to send me anything, but I gave him my address.

And so I've got a copy of this poster and I can't wait to hang it up

because it's just such a, the art's really good.

There's a really good sense of speed.

I love the fact that, you know, there's an XK 120 on it.

So it's just super cool.

And Bruce, I think you need to clarify this for Group FBC.

Yes, sir.

Says, wait, need clarification.

Is the ladies race one of female drivers or literally ladies racing on foot?

I think they're lady drivers.

Probably lady.

I hope they're lady drivers.

Was there Akron in the early 1950s?

There's a chance it's not.

It's there's a chance it's just women racing.

But I think they're driving.

Yeah, I was going to ask, was there a year on that?

There was not that.

That's why I was guessing from the XK 120 on it that I.

I bet it's early to mid 50s.

I had to throw a number, you know, 55 ish.

I but yeah, I don't know what specific year, but it's just so cool.

Neff, I hope you're still watching because I know, obviously, you grew up in Cleveland.

So I think you would appreciate that as well.

The fact that they used to race at the Akron municipal airport,

which is actually even a place that I've been.

So Ohio, cool.

Yeah, Ohio, let me let me share one really quick.

Yeah, no, that's what we're here for.

Speaking of Taurus show here, I mean, we had we had Zack right on a few times

a couple of times as a guest, of course, Zack,

owner, driver, builder of the world's fastest Ford Taurus.

He ran an eight second pass with his blue 1995,

still shifting five gears manually.

God bless his soul, blowing the hood off of the car.

Oh, you've got you've got it pulled up, too.

I was about to share that.

OK, yeah, no, yeah, I that was one of the episodes I pulled up because Bruce Bruce

to it. Well, not only was it a good episode,

it's officially the most watched rambling about cars episode.

We're up to fourteen thousand seven hundred and fifty seven views on that,

which, hey, you know what, in the world of millions of views on YouTube,

it may not rank, but it matters to us that there are a lot of people

who have seen that that particular episode.

That was the first time he was on talking about his experience, not only drag racing,

but he was on Getaway Driver, which, if I remember correctly, was on Discovery Channel.

It was like like a reality TV series where they had Michelle Rodriguez

from Fast and Furious fame.

She was the host and the whole point was they're in this kind of like post

apocalyptic business part kind of place, and you have to escape.

And if you could escape, you would win five thousand dollars.

And people were showing up to compete in this.

I mean, like drift cars and like big muscle cars, these these just huge

ass built up cars with big motor, big, you know, big tires, big horsepower.

And he shows up at a Ford Tourist.

Now, granted, I mean, it's a show.

So it's got a little bit more power up under the hood, the front wheel drive.

He shows up in that.

And he. I mean, he won, I think three or four times in a row.

He won more than anybody.

He was like the only guy that was able to do that.

I mean, he just kind of showed up.

And it finally, I think it was the last episode of.

Of the run where, you know, they finally trapped him.

And he almost got away then.

So it was great to have him on.

It was great to talk about that experience.

And of course, we had him on again just a little while ago.

What was it?

Well, it was towards the end of last year, I think.

Yeah. Yeah. Or maybe maybe late last.

Because it was him and Victoria Scott.

They were both on together.

So and Victoria now works for motor one officially.

That's why I mean, I mean, what a great turn of events that's been.

We were talking about Zach, because he had a custom aluminum billet block made

for his drag car and he was he was getting that built up.

He was doing dyno runs.

He sort of blew up that block a little bit.

It's out getting repaired.

That's the last update that I have from him on that for those

curious about the world's fastest,

quote unquote, blue turd for tours.

But no, Zach, right?

We love you, man.

Thanks to you.

The best rambling, the most viewed, not the best, but the most viewed

rambling about cars episode that we had in our three year run.

OK, Bruce, pretty good.

So Smith, you let me to shut up if I'm sharing too much on this one.

But it's one of my favorite episodes that we've done.

So I kind of this.

Play into the background for me.

I hit the wrong button.

I kind of discovered John Fry on Instagram because I followed him

because I just thought his automotive art was exceptional.

And so we reached out to him not knowing that he worked for Honda at the time.

And he's like such a great.

I love this story.

Like, I don't want to talk like about any Honda stuff.

I just want to talk about your cool drawings.

And so he's a super talented artist.

And he does.

I mean, he has like a sci-fi slash anime slightly vibe going on with his work.

You get like late runner vibes.

Very industrial, a lot of Sid Meade kind of inspiration.

Yes, and he does everything like he does planes and he does fictional race cars

and just like all sorts of cool stuff.

But so we contact him because we really like, you know, the race car stuff that he does.

I'm going to try to fast forward here into this video and kind of show off some of his stuff.

And but we didn't know he also did work for Honda.

So there was this entire background conversation where Honda sat in on the episode

to make sure we weren't talking.

But like and you and I were like, no, we don't want to talk about Honda.

We want to talk about his other stuff.

Yeah, we want to talk about his other stuff.

But yeah, so for that episode, when you go back,

do you know which episode number it is by chance?

John Fry and his automotive art.

We did. We apparently were not putting episode numbers on the things.

The name is John Fry and his automotive art, motor one podcast.

It's from two years ago.

But yeah, so that episode, while we're sitting there recording,

there were two Honda PR people just just listening in the background.

Yeah, I mean, they didn't have cameras or anything.

Obviously, we know we did have cameras.

I think they had microphones, but I don't think they had any or if they

I think maybe I miss remembering, but it was it was a it was a little awkward.

And and I mean, obviously, I John, if you're listening,

I hope it didn't put you on the spot too much.

Because yeah, we had no intention of talking anything Honda.

But to make sure to make sure he wasn't spilling any secrets

or we weren't asking anything that might go the wrong way.

Yeah, we had a couple of Honda Honda reps in the background listening.

And that was that was an interesting show.

But I mean, it was it was a great one.

His his art is just phenomenal.

And I will say I want to share this as well, just as an update.

So I do not know, honestly, whether or not John is still working at Honda.

But I do know over just recently, he was teaching art in Paris.

And he's a fantastic follow.

If you have threads, it's Fry work, F R Y E E R K.

And I'm sharing this thing from him.

And he's been posting pictures of just cars he's been seeing on the road in Paris.

So here we're looking at like a Ferrari 308 and a Fiat 500 and a Porsche

three fifty six and an Alpine of some kind.

And then this is the one I love.

Oh, this is not the one I love.

Let me get to it.

Someone in Paris, a two C V.

Yeah, but someone in Paris is driving a Chrysler LeBaron

of all the cars of the Renault's, the Citroens, the Peugeot's,

any other European brand that you can think of.

Who the hell thought I'm buying a LeBaron?

But you're now now I'm going to get I'm going to get the hate mail.

Podcast, a motor one dot com.

That's still open. You can still email me all the hate mail you have there.

I like the LeBaron.

I really I always liked that era LeBaron with the two door.

I mean, they also made the LeBaron that was kind of chunky

that you could get with like the wood grain on.

But that era, like like the late eighties, early nineties,

they put the three liter V six in it, which was, you know, kind of a

I was never a fan of that engine.

But you can get them with a two, two turbo and a stick.

Yep. And and it's front wheel drive.

But I always I thought they were a good looking car.

I mean, that era dodged weren't necessarily the most reliable.

But they could be a fun vehicle to just scoot around in the two, two turbo.

I knew a guy who modified one of those with parts from a freaking fishbowl.

And it was fishbowl.

He had like he took like he had like fans or pumps or something

that he took out of his fishbowl.

And he he did something with the turbo where he was able to up the boost

a little bit because he had one of those.

And this is they were stupid, easy to to modify and make faster.

So yeah, I you're not going to get LeBaron hate for me.

If you're in Paris and you want a LeBaron, I salute you.

Well, this is another this is another threads.

I don't know what we call a threads.

You there's it's not doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely as tweet.

But this is another one and it says one of the most fantastic fantastic

things to happen to me is to be invited to teach art in Paris.

It's the ultimate endorsement of my hard work and talent.

And I love every second of it.

It also fills me with joy that the students are still interested

in doing things the hard way, engaging the brain and the physical skill

of using analog tools, pressure on the paper, the gesture of the arm

or the wrist to make curved a stroke, plain air, car sketching, Don Le.

Oh, the foot, the fifth are in Desmond.

And he's got a photo of his students literally just sitting by the road

drawing cars like that's a cool job.

You know, yeah, that's a pretty cool job.

So, yeah, so, but yeah, Frye work is a great follow on threads, if you're on threads.

And that was episode 56, by the way, episode 56 of rambling about cars two years ago.

We were just well, we were just over a year old at that point.

We were just we lads.

And I like Group FBC amusingly.

The French name for the La Baron is the Baron.

The quality joke.

Um, so the ramblers are the best.

Can I call it a second one?

Because I want you to talk about it, because you're the one that set up the show.

Sure. Um, the Knight Rider historians, guys.

Yes. That was all you.

You, you know, pursued that you tracked him down.

You got him on the show.

That was all you.

And that was a great episode.

And AJ, I mean, AJ Pompgren is who we had on the show.

He's just one half of Knight Rider historians.

And I mean, hey, I'm a Knight Rider fan.

I mean, I'm a child of the eighties.

You can't really be a child of the eighties and interested in cars

without at least being aware of Knight Rider and the.

I've never met super fans like these guys.

They have a couple screen used transams, the kit transams.

That's a big deal because people who know the whole Knight Rider saga behind the scenes.

Pontiac gave them all kinds of transams to use for filming during the show.

But they were involved in like a train crash where they were they were

loaded up on a train for shipping the train derailed.

So they weren't necessarily terribly damaged.

But because they were in this incident, they were not allowed to be sold.

So Pontiac said, here are all of these cars.

You can use these for filming, but here's the stipulation.

When filming is done, the cars have to be destroyed.

So tracking down original car, it's a very tough thing to do.

So they have some of those and then they went like a step further.

They found one of the original screen used semi trucks.

You know, they did that pulled the trailer that would drive in and out of.

And then they found the freaking trailer.

They found the actual screen used trailer that's being restored right now.

The truck is also being restored right now.

They're still posting content on Knight Rider Historians on their YouTube channel.

Pretty much on a weekly basis at this point, I've never met super fans like them.

And I mean, I think I joked on the show.

It was like, can you guys help me find the TV remote that I lost like 10 years ago?

Because they seem to be able to find anything.

And it was like, we can't help you find that one.

But we can help you find the remote that was used on Knight Rider that was lost.

We can help you with that one.

Yeah, just that was a phenomenal show.

We and by we, I mean, primarily me, Bruce, because I know I'm the fan here.

And I apologize to you for really monopolizing that episode.

No, I could have talked for hours on that one.

Hours, hours on that one.

Yeah, that episode.

And you're right, you kind of you were the one that put that whole thing together

and it turned out fantastically.

So, you know, no, you're not getting any fight from me.

No, no, thank you.

Thank you for bringing that up.

And that's and, you know, that's one of the things that maybe I'd like to point

out doing rambling about cars a few years for the last three years.

We've had opportunities, I think, to speak with people that.

Normally, you just you just wouldn't have you wouldn't have the chance.

And I'm really grateful for that.

I'm really thankful for that.

I thoroughly enjoyed that Knight Rider episode.

I've I've enjoyed.

There isn't a single episode that I haven't enjoyed to a large degree even.

I mean, some obviously stick in my mind more than others. Exactly.

Do you have anything pulled up from Jonathan Benson by chance?

I did not have a Jonathan Benson one pulled up.

I can Jonathan.

I mean, he was he was one of our earliest here.

I had I had a mention to talk about, but then I didn't pull up any of the

of the episodes he was on.

Jonathan Benson is the man behind tire reviews.com.

And I am a huge tire nerd in that.

And I don't even know where it comes from.

But it's just like the design, the technology that goes into it.

It's not just a piece of rubber with some squiggly lines cut in so you don't lose.

I mean, it's extraordinarily complex.

And the more I learned about them with Jonathan's help,

the more fascinated I became.

And it turns out there are a lot of people that share the same interest

because just about every time we write a tire post at motor one,

we get a fair amount of feedback from it.

We get a fair amount of traffic coming back from it.

And yeah, he was one of our earliest guests

just talking about some of the things that he does.

Some of the testing procedures I've never met anybody

that does such a thorough, comprehensive test of a tire.

And by that, I didn't realize how early of a guest he is.

He's on episode seven.

Episode seven. Yeah.

That's that's phenomenal.

I didn't know it was it was that early.

It was that early. I would have said it was in the 20s.

He's on episode seven of this show, man.

Wow. I'm trying. I'm trying to bring up the.

Oh, you got it up here right now.

As I say, I'm trying to bring up.

But it wasn't it wasn't coming through here for me.

But let me just kind of spell us out here.

Sure. We covered we covered one of his snow tire reviews.

Now, the average person, you think, OK, you have wet roads.

OK, you have dry roads.

That's fair. You have snowy roads, right? OK.

He's testing in like dry snow.

And then he tests in wetter snow

because the dynamic is a little different.

And then he's testing on ice, but not like.

Completely smooth ice, but like rough ice, where you might have a little bit of traction.

And then he's he's testing on like really slick ice.

So then he's testing on ice with a little bit of water on top.

I mean, and you get different results.

And depending on where you live, I think that information is invaluable.

It taught me quite a bit about just, OK, what should I look for in a tire?

What are my needs specifically going to be?

And so many people take it for granted.

And you shouldn't because what's the one thing

between you in your car and the ground?

It's the tires that should be the single most important thing you're thinking about.

And he also made this point because I remember I asked him once about price.

And he said, you know, you can go to a tire store.

You can probably buy an inexpensive set of tires that I mean, they'll have good tread.

They'll hold air. They'll grip OK.

But there might be one point in your life where you need to stop five feet sooner

or you need to have something that will hold grip

through a really, really quick left, right transition, just a little bit quicker

to avoid a car, an animal.

It might only happen once in your life, but that moment could save your life.

So is the extra two hundred dollars you spend worth saving an injury or a life?

And that was I mean, that was just like the biggest

mind blown moment that I've had in recent memory.

If you're talking about a difference of two hundred dollars or so

for a really well thought out, well designed set of tires

that will give you an extra foot or two stopping distance.

That'll give you a little extra control in emergency situation.

It's not about how quick you can do the slalom, you know.

Hey, I can hold on with an extra point to four.

Jeez, that doesn't matter.

What matters is the one emergency maneuver you need to make where you're going to need

every ounce of grip, every ounce of control from the tires.

And that could be the difference between life and death.

And is that worth two hundred or three hundred dollars extra?

Well, yes, it is.

And I don't even I don't even question it now when I go into the tire store.

Don't even question it.

And that's because of Jonathan Benson, who was one of our first guests on the show.

He came back later and and he's a friend of mine now.

We still have occasional conversations just just out of the blue,

just out of the blue conversations.

He's doing great stuff over at tirereviews.com.

Definitely want to go check him out.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

And yeah, great guest.

I love talking to him about racing as MR2.

Oh, yeah.

And Neff, thanks for joining us.

Got to go, guys.

Thanks for all your effort on Ramble over the years on the new adventures.

Thank you so much.

Thank you much very, very much, sir.

And we will be seeing you shortly.

I'm sure whatever comes next, because Neff is just he's Neff, right?

He's yeah, he's and he's he's been around.

He's seen a thing or two.

He knows a thing or two.

And while we continue going, Group FBC, can I

deputize you as a producer for a moment?

Because I know you asked me or you said, for me,

Bruce's impassioned plea about the stripes on the Porsche are one of the moments.

I know it's the episode where we had to pick our week auction cars.

And I was just while we were talking, I was trying to look it up

and I cannot find the episode.

I know the segment, it's the moderate car week cars,

but I just can't find the episode.

So if you can find that in the next few minutes, throw it in chat

and I will I will share that moment happily.

That was that was that was a moment.

I got to say that was a moment.

They're painted.

That's repainted.

I know I the thing is.

And the wonderful thing is, is that even my parents told me I was wrong.

So that's that's that's rough, man.

That's that's that's I was there with, you know, I'm not angry.

I'm just disappointed, disappointed.

I do want to call out our buddy, Brad Hansen.

You were talking about how you and Jonathan Benson

kind of have a bit of a friendship.

I kind of consider Brad and I friends now.

And I he's someone who just hold on one second,

who he's someone I would have never met if we weren't doing the show for sure.

And just a super nice guy, super fun car collection.

I do think it's hilarious that right before the last time we were on

the last time he was on the show, we were talking and he's like,

yeah, I need to get a new car because me and my wife's cars are both two seaters.

So whenever someone comes in, we got to get take two cars.

And he just bought another Corvette.

So I know he's a little more seats, so we'll get another Corvette.

Yeah, so he replaced the C four with a I think it's a C six.

But yeah, super just a great guess.

Super fun guy, super knowledgeable, especially about that

Bradwood 80s to 90s era of vehicles.

Also the only member of the three timers club

if of people not for motor one, like we've had Jeff Perez and we've had Brad Evans.

And we've had motor one people on more than three times,

but he is the sole three time guest.

But yeah, just, you know, super fun, always great when he's on the show.

Always love having him on the show.

Always love talking cars with him.

Great photography.

He's another really good Instagram follow where because, you know,

he's constantly doing car stuff.

He lives in Southern California, Los Angeles area.

So he and his wife are just doing car stuff constantly.

So let me actually vamp for me for just a hot second.

And I will tell the people what his Instagram is.

I think it's just Brad Hansen.

But before I tell people that, I want to be sure.

Well, I will go ahead and vamp for you by mentioning the podcast number one hundred

and thirty four, where we talked about the twenty twenty four Ford Mustang,

the Toyota Landcruiser and the Mitsubishi Trident Honda S 2000 rumor.

Brett Evans was our guest.

And guess what we were talking about there?

We were talking about it was our million dollar cheap car challenge.

Do you remember that, Bruce?

Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It was our million dollar cheap car challenge.

And you picked a Porsche 911 with painted on stripes.

Yeah. I did.

And there I know I did.

Look at that. You're sure that right now. They're painted on Bruce.

I still don't think that car is hot as hell.

It's a good looking car.

It has a real nineties feel to it.

But a million dollars for painted stripes or a million dollars

that went into the painted stripes was a part of that.

It's just like, you know, right.

It wasn't just the paint, but it was part of it.

And now that I'm looking at that car, I don't know that I was wrong.

I think that's a strong pick.

I know people are going to tell me I'm wrong.

I know people are thinking I'm doubling down on a bad decision.

I still like that car a lot.

It's a nice enough car.

Million dollar cheap car challenge.

Ted Adam Green has got you, though, your nine fifty nines or generic comment.

Oh, my God, they so are that I will I will fight that to the grave.

And then I will call.

I will claw out of my coffin and continue to argue that point.

OK, the wheels look like the wheels look like something from Pet Boys.

The wheels look just completely generic.

It's got that big, flat wing.

It's like, that'd be a great place to sit and have some lunch on, you know?

It feels like a little picnic table.

Just Porsche, you know what?

You know what Porsche needed to do?

Paint on some stripes.

Hell, yes, Bruce, thank you.

If they put some painted stripes on there, I would be all over the nine five.

All right. And give it some give it some different wheels, too.

Right. OK.

Well, here real quick, I'm going to call out her buddy, Brad Hansen.

His Instagram is Brad Hansen media on Instagram.

And again, great follow.

And then here is his new Corvette that he bought to 2007 C6 Corvette.

He's nice Elvis, which is hilarious.

Because if you remember, he was on the show and we were talking about Elvis's

cars a while back, one owner, 12,000, 700 miles.

Yeah, it's it's a very nice car.

It's just hilarious that the guy who said, I need a four seat car, man.

People come into town and we have to take two cars.

Well, guess what? You're taking two vets now.

Well, no, because his wife's got the Thunderbird.

So no, no, no, just take the two vets.

Leave leave the Thunderbird alone. OK. Yeah.

Take the take the two vets sharing this.

Yes, there is his wife's Thunderbird.

Took the Thunderbird through the famous split rock and palm canyon.

I mean, I mean, out of respect, I'll say it's a nice color.

It's a nice. Yeah, it's again, not my favorite car, but.

Very nice and great photography.

So yeah.

Can't play to there.

Bruce, we talked about we talked about a lot of guests, but I mean, were there any

were there any subjects, any topics that you wanted that you wanted to revisit here?

I mean, clearly, clearly you are thinking of something.

While you're thinking of that, let me mention this.

One thing that I always wanted to revisit that we never had a chance to do

was vehicle classifications and definitions.

We did that a few times early on.

Yeah, where OK, what is this proper definition of a sedan or a hoop or an SUV?

Wagon versus shooting break.

There is so much of that, I think, to explore and just to have some really good

debate on, because obviously, things shift over time.

Right. We're talking about, in some cases, definitions that were established

decades ago versus things that just kind of.

Maybe blend in a little bit today.

I think shooting break and wagon kind of falls into that to some degree.

Well, as an SUV falls into that.

Yeah, that's changed since I've been writing about cars, where when I first started,

there was this hard definition of crossovers are a unibody chassis

and front wheel drive, and that's what a crossover is.

And SUVs were body on frame.

If you had an SUV, it had to have a proper frame underneath.

And now anything that sort of has a little bit of height

falls into an SUV category.

Yeah, we kind of just abandoned that crossover term because they became so

ubiquitous that the the line between a crossover and SUV just got blurred.

Yeah. And so it stopped making sense to kind of differentiate them.

I will say, and this was a while back, my mother-in-law went down the rabbit hole

of trying to find the very, very first use of muscle car.

And so we were trying to figure that out.

And we think we got really close.

Did you have it on until like the early 60s or something?

Yeah, it's like it seems like it's a specific magazine in 19.

I believe 63 was the very, very first.

But it was interesting in like doing that research with her that it actually

seems like supercar slightly predates muscle car.

Like the term supercar existed, you know, maybe in the early like maybe 6061.

And then muscle car came around just like a year later.

So but yeah, people are calling out my mom because she is in the comments.

So hi, Bruce, behave, Bruce, your mom's in the chat.

Yeah, she's here's the secret.

She's been in the chat most episodes.

She just doesn't always comment and then, hey, mom.

So yeah, I think we did really well at this show.

I think. Oh, the behind the scenes story I wanted to tell.

Oh, yes. I don't know about this one.

Yeah, I think you do.

I think we discussed it back in the day, but it's something that sticks in my mind

is early on we were very ambitious and we were like, OK, what guess would you

like to get on the show?

And the one I wanted to get on the show because he's the head

of the Department of Transportation is Pete Buttigieg.

And I tried.

I got as I think I got as close as any podcast has ever got to getting him on our show.

I contacted my state representative while I was living in BG.

He gave me his press secretary's contact information.

I exchanged several emails with the press secretary.

Unfortunately, just when it seemed like we might get there,

the press secretary left the Department of Transportation and went to the White House.

And after that, I could not get a single person in Buddha

to judge his office to email me back. Oh, yeah, I remember that.

And see, here's here's the here's the Bruce Smith dichotomy.

You're trying to get the people of that stature.

I was trying to get Cybertronic spree on the show.

You did. You tried.

And Cybertronic spree for those who don't know Cybertronic spree.

If you grew up in the 80s and you know anything about this toy phenomenon called Transformers,

Cybertronic spree is a band.

They dress up.

They have transformer costumes.

There's Hot Rod.

There's R.C. Shockwave.

Soundwave is in there.

So I mean, they had these costumes.

Unicron is their guitar player and like just a phenomenal guitar.

They do some great covers and they've they've gotten pretty successful.

And I mean, they they put on their costumes and they're doing like all kinds of cool 80s cover songs.

But it was like, OK, I'm a fan.

We're a car podcast.

What if we have some car transformers on the podcast?

And I thought that would have been super fun.

But the stars is never aligned on that.

The other I was I was I was trying to get Sydney Sweeney on back when she was a story.

OK, OK, you tell the story that back.

We we saw her her there was a

Sid's Garage channel where she was shining moment.

There was a brief moment have gotten Sydney Sweeney.

But we thought we were going to get her on the show.

I think we were the first to cover her rest of work on her Bronco and.

And then I was going to who was the head of motor one at the time.

He met her at a party and it was apparently talking up the show to her

and was trying to get her on the show.

But the best we could do was do like a just just an email interview

with her on her project, which we we did an article on.

We did. Yes. But I thought that would have been such a great show because

there's there's a lot of guys talking to Sydney Sweeney.

It's kind of a bit with the title of the year, but by here's what I want to do.

There's I'm just going to come out and say there's a lot of toxic masculinity

in the automotive world. Yes.

And here is this young,

successful, talented Hollywood actor,

female doing work on her vehicles.

And when you're watching the episode, it's not like she's sitting there

and somebody hands her like a little wrench.

And I mean, she's she's down there with fricking wire brush, clean and rust off the car.

She's taking things apart.

She's well, I mean, she's involved on this.

And I wanted and I wanted to share that.

I wanted to highlight that.

So, yeah, unfortunately, we couldn't get that start a line up.

But yeah, that's those are the people that I was going for.

And and Bruce is like Bruce is like calling the White House.

No, I'm calling hot rod.

Hey, I can come out with my rep my congressman and I explain the thing.

And we were close, dude.

I swear to God, we were close.

Well, you know, just actually, while we're talking about it,

when I was down in Charlotte, North Carolina, just a couple of weeks ago for the Ford event,

told me, yeah, I was there talking with Jim Farley, Ford CEO.

If you follow him on socials.

He's a modeler, guys.

He builds scale models.

He does really good.

He actually, we were talking and he said, yeah, I'm going to enter my first

scale model show he said here in the spring.

Really, you didn't tell me that part.

So I I didn't corner him.

It was just before he was about to give us a speech.

And I was like, so I would really love to have you on the podcast.

And I whipped out my phone and I started showing him some pictures

of this one twenty fifth scale semi truck, this custom built semi truck

that's right behind me right now, loaded, could conveniently loaded

with every generation Ford Mustangs.

And, you know, I'm trying to make a little bit of a connection.

I would love to have you on the podcast just to talk about the scale models

and the things like that.

That'd be a lot of fun.

He's like, yeah, that'd be really exciting.

And then I said, I mean, we'll probably have to ask you if you're going to make

a new Ford GT at some point.

But let's really talk about model cars.

And but obviously we're not going to have that opportunity here at this time.

But hey, who knows who knows for the future, right?

Who knows? Exactly.

Um, I think it's time to do the dream car challenge.

Are you ready for the dream car challenge?

Ramblers, now's your chance.

If you have if you have any dream cars that you want to share in the comments,

drop it in right now, whether you're, I'll say it one more time here,

whether you're motor one on YouTube, motor one com Facebook, motor one com Twitter.

Drop it in.

It comes into our little network here.

We will see it and we would love to share it if you have any of your dream cars.

Well, our stipulations for this challenge.

Deezer, you should know you can find us on Deezer.

You can't you can't share on Deezer, though.

You can listen. That's true.

You can listen on Deezer and then email us podcast or motor one dot com.

That's true. That's very true.

But yeah, the dream car challenge, we said, you know what?

It would be the last one here for for rambling on motor one.

Let's just let's just go big.

The only stipulation got to be on sale.

Well, we're not.

I got the one that breaks the rules, man.

Yeah, well, we got to change.

We got to change it up.

Well, OK, I'll tell you why don't why don't you lead us off, my friend?

Yeah, for anyone who has listened to the last 161 ish episodes,

you will know that there's a certain car that I have an irrational love for.

And so if I can just own my dream car and just like have it,

I'm going to have a 914 in orange.

And this is a 914 six, which means it's got the 911 engine in it.

It's got Fuchs wheels.

You can find one of those for sale.

I find them for sale all the time for like like five grand.

Sure. No, you don't.

No, this one was on bring a trailer in what would that be?

August, September, September of twenty to twenty three.

Oh, it was for sell the dollars.

It went out. Yeah, no, it's bring a trailer.

It was for sale. What was that?

When did these get that expensive?

Dude, 914 sixes, the regular 914s are a fraction of the price.

But if you want the six, this is the going rate.

OK, OK, that's fair. Seriously.

It's just perfect color, perfect look.

Yeah, I never want to work on it because for anyone who knows about these cars,

they call this the hellhole because this is your access to the engine.

That's it.

There's so you get yourself a lift and you can work on them.

But otherwise, not so good.

But yeah, but I mean, yeah, it's it's the dream car.

It's the dream. Exactly.

It's the dream car challenge.

The the the stainless steel, the chrome front end that's polished

and you can like see yourself in it.

You know, they're not all like that, some of you know, just different looks.

Yeah, this is if I could put one car in my garage.

Yeah, that's it's this.

I mean, I can't I can't fall.

It's your dream car, man. I can't I can't go.

No, this is can we never see it with the headlights up again?

Because that looks kind of that looks like it's like ready to ready to audition

for cars for you know, it definitely looks better with the lights down.

Sure. Definitely looks better with the lights up.

This is my answer.

The color is spot on, though.

The color is spot on.

Bert Orange, yeah, with Fuchs wheels and yeah, just perfect.

So that is my cheater answer.

I did find cars that are actually for sale, but Smith, show me your first one.

OK, well.

We're going to change things up here just a little bit, I suppose.

You're going for the Porsche.

And yes, I mean, folks who have listened to the to the show,

you you probably know I've talked about it a few times.

You probably know what one of my dream cars is, at least

actually for for the for the million dollar cheap car challenge.

I had one of these.

1935, Auburn, eight fifty one speech or a boat tail speedster.

That's a good.

Now, this is for sale in St. Louis, Missouri,

nine hundred and thirty five thousand dollars,

which seems pretty cheap to me.

Of course, this is the supercharged model.

There are all kinds of replica and recreations out there

that look fantastic.

And to be honest, one of those might be a little bit better

if you wanted something to drive more often, certainly more affordable.

I found all kinds of really gorgeous replicas that had

five point three LSV eights with more moderate suspension.

Maybe that would be better from an overall

just enjoying to drive, but I want an original.

And that's what this is.

This is a thirty five Auburn eight five one speedster.

It's got the straight eight engine in there.

Look at that engine, that big old, long, gorgeous engine

with the big horns sitting up there atop of it.

Yeah, this this just pushes all the buttons.

It's got the chrome exhaust pipes.

Or just come coming out of the side there.

You can see the supercharger that's on top because, you know,

today we always kind of think of them.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Look at look at that weird supercharger design.

Yeah. Yeah.

This I mean, this was I mean, this was the supercar back in the day.

That interior, that red interior on the black exterior is just

just in the black gauge dashboard with those.

Yes. I mean, pinstripes.

I don't know how you describe that, but cars is gorgeous in every way.

Let me jump over here.

There's a plaque on the on the passenger side of the dash.

Let me read it here.

This certifies that this Auburn automobile has been driven

one hundred point four miles per hour before shipment

with the signatures cool with the signature that I can't read.

This is a nineteen thirty five.

I mean, 100 miles an hour today.

OK, this is a nineteen thirty five, man.

That's that's just gorgeous in every way.

To be honest, I wouldn't want black.

I would want a different color, but this this works just fine for me.

And it's for sale.

It's the only one that I was able to find right now for sale.

And I mean, it pushes all the buttons, the just the big hood ornament there.

There is nothing.

OK, maybe I would change up the wheels a little bit.

Give it some flash. No.

Yes, give it some flash.

Give it some wire wheels.

The cars with the wire wheels, I think that put put some put some proper wire

wheels on that black with the red.

I can't really I can't really go wrong there, man.

I can't really go wrong.

Absolutely, you can't. That's a that's a hell of a good pick.

And in fact, the sim racing cockpit that is functional that I have right now,

it's still a work in progress because I want to make it a replica boat tail

because really, have you have you ever seen somebody's

sim racing cockpit that looks like a 1930s Auburn boat tail?

No, everybody is making them like like like race cars or maybe they go to the

junkyard and they get the Subaru WRX dash and they they they set the dash.

I mean, some really nice projects.

I've seen people do them up like like Formula One cars.

Never seen anybody do an Auburn boat tail.

So I've got the I mean, I've got the core set up and I'm using it.

Now we just got to build the boat tail.

Got to build a little bit more of a front end to it.

I've got I've got some chrome pipes coming out the side that I use for

for routing cables inside for all of the equipment inside.

So.

Working on it.

That's a pretty that's a strong pick.

That's a strong pick.

So here is my second one.

You're just a car that is actually for sale.

This is a 19. I believe it's 73.

Yes, 1973 Citroen SM.

I think these cars are so cool.

I have I was lucky enough to have the experience of being able to sit in

a Citroen DS where it was running and you get to feel the the

hydro oleomatic, whatever it is, suspension system.

And it's like it's the most comfortable thing that you can imagine

sitting in in terms of a car because it just it soaks everything up.

And plus the fact that Citroen owned Maserati at this time.

So it has a Maserati V6 engine.

In just one of it looks like a spaceship on wheels.

I'm going to switch images.

The SM is just one of those.

It doesn't fit in any category.

It was ridiculously ahead of its time.

Right.

I mean, I don't know that I would call it a good looking car,

but it's not. It's very it's very distinctive.

Yes. And the interior is especially so here, actually, these are fantastic photos.

So here you can see what it looks like with the suspension all the way up

in its highest position.

And, you know, you can see there's a pretty somewhat decent ride height here.

And then here you can see how it looks all the way down and how hunkered down.

And it just looks like a spaceship sitting on the road.

Like, look at how just like low and.

Beautiful. It is.

Let me get to the interior photos here.

We're getting there.

I love group FBC's comment here, the hydro.

Oh, my gosh, is broken against suspension.

These did have a really just a really bonker suspension set up.

Yeah, because it's hydraulic, but with oil.

Yeah, it's a it is a very complicated set up.

And I know keeping them on the road is pretty expensive.

Let me make sure I'm sharing the right image here.

I am a properly Citroen.

I love your shift because

there it's a gear shift, but there's no like gator around it

or it's not slotted or anything like that.

There's just this piece of metal that moves with everything.

So you never quite see everything.

It's a it's just a fantastic design.

And I think it's one of the prettiest cars ever.

So, yeah, if again, money, no object.

And I, you know, was Jay Leno and I had infinite money to keep a car on the road.

I would have these absolutely for sure.

And I would love it.

You got me on this.

I was not expecting this.

I'll be honest, I expected the Porsche.

Oh, yeah, I expected the Maserati thing on the engine was not expecting this.

I'm impressed. Very good pick.

Yeah. Do you have a second pick?

I do.

But before I jump into that second pick, I want to jump over here to the comments

because we've we've been getting a few comments here on Dreamcars.

Ted Adam Green, ND2 Miata RF, less than twenty three thousand and thirty five

thousand miles. Next year, I am planning on pull that trigger.

You only live once.

Yep. We need to try to enjoy the time that we have, not stress so much.

Enjoy a little bit more.

Solid pick there.

Is the answer always Miata?

Most of the time, unless you're trying to carry 10 people to the soccer practice.

And what else do we have over here?

Group FBC, maybe an E39 M five.

Just that's a good choice.

Balance of everything.

An E39 M five is a very good choice.

I'm very fond of that era of BMW.

It's a fun car to drive for sure.

And your second choice, Lamborghini Espada.

That's a good one.

I did actually look at one of those as I was.

I thought about some Lamborghinis because I've always loved the the the Mira.

And I also love the Countach, but none.

I just didn't feel like if I only had to pick two, I came to the conclusion.

I wouldn't pick either one of those.

The first was the Auburn Boat Tail.

That was in my mind right away.

It's like that's I can't.

There's no way I cannot have that in my garage.

The second one was a little more thinking.

And I thought, well,

the Auburn, I'm really nervous about meeting my hero in that sense,

because I love the way it looks.

Is it is it going to be enjoyable to drive a night, a 1935 car, nine years?

On the right day, it's going to be perfect.

On the wrong day, it's going to be hell.

But what's something that I'm what's something that I'm going to enjoy driving

that is certainly a dream car for me.

At least it might be affordable.

Group FPC might be on to something here.

Well, we got not an E39, though, an E24, an E24 BMW M6.

This is a 1988 model.

It's for sale, I believe, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bruce.

This one has done 91,990 miles.

The M6 is super rare in the United States.

Clicker, I can't tell if that's dark blue or green.

It's it's blue.

It's a gorgeous blue blue. OK, yeah.

Look, I mean, just just look at this.

Let me see if I can zoom it in a little bit.

I'm sure you can.

Yeah, that's it's it's just a gorgeous shade of blue.

I can't remember what it's called.

But blue, I mean, it looks 91,000 miles, but it looks fantastic all around.

Gray interior, of course, the manual transmission.

Yeah, there and it's beautifully, wonderfully stock.

It has the original, you know, the original style wheels on it.

It hasn't been tarted up at all.

I did find a couple that just they were lower in miles,

but I didn't like the color.

I didn't like some of the changes that have been made.

This thing just pushes every single button I have.

I know I would get into it and enjoy driving it.

I would then get out of it and enjoy looking at it.

Yeah, the 24 six series is right up there.

As one of, in my opinion, one of the prettiest cars of all time.

That's also dynamic and fun to drive that in line six sounds phenomenal.

It has good performance for its era.

It's a manual transmission that gives me the engagement that I want.

And the shark knows, come on.

Is there let me fast forward to another image here of the shark?

Come on, where is it to go up rather than down?

But oh, oh, there you go.

Perfect. Look at that.

Look at that.

You don't need a big grill there.

You just you just need nice subtle lines, clean, symmetrical.

No, that's pretty much for me and it's attainable.

I mean, it's this one is 70 grand.

Right.

But in an age where the average new car is almost 50 grand.

I mean, this is this is a dream car that that could be attainable.

I have to be missing a little more money than I make now.

Well, yeah, but yeah.

And that, you know, just fantastic pick.

I mean, a car that I love as well.

Just one of the best exterior designs that shark knows look that

it just your new over silver, gray leather

a West Coast E24 M6.

And again, the M6 in the United States, the E24 M6, super rare.

I don't know exactly what the numbers are.

Just about every E24 I see is a 635.

So to find this and that color, I wouldn't change a thing about that car.

That would be my choice color.

That would be my choice interior.

Yeah, you see a lot of these in, you know, black and silver seem to be

the two colors that you always see those in.

So it's finding one that, you know, the buyer, original buyer

got a little creative and went with something like that.

That's that's a good choice.

And I mean, it has 91,000 miles.

I don't care.

I found one that I think had nine or 10,000 miles.

But it had.

And I mean, it had aftermarket exhaust and it had Alpina wheels on it

and it was white. Yeah.

I mean, I could I could change the Alpina wheels back to just the stock wheels.

I could put the stock exhaust back on and white's not a bad shade,

but I they look pretty good.

But still, I would blue is blue is my number one.

Yeah, I agree.

And and that particular shade just does everything, man, just does everything.

Well, we're at just about an hour and a half.

So I think it's we got to wrap this one up.

I I think we're I think we're just about set here.

The final rambling about cars on motor one.

But we need to make this clear.

It's not the end of Bruce and Smith.

No, it's not.

We are going to take a few weeks off.

That'll definitely happen.

But this is not the end of us podcasting.

Right. It's just not.

We have we have stuff.

We have stuff working on in the background, among other things.

I have scale model rescue that I will plug now that I do.

In the final stages of just getting everything

sussed out for my recording, for my lighting,

because I want this to look pretty good.

Well, tell people what that's going to be.

Just in case they don't write for those who don't know.

I have a few scale plastic models here

in my in my home office workshop.

Fifty right.

More like two hundred and fifty ish.

OK, three hundred.

That's that's assembled and unassembled.

OK, a lot of these were built by my father over the years.

By my father in law over the years.

Me, primarily when I was younger, though,

I've been building a little bit more lately.

Some of these are built over 50 years old.

Some are in boxes still waiting to be built.

Fifty, sixty year old kits and I have a lot of junk kits.

And instead of just using those for parts,

I'm going to try to rebuild every single damn one of them.

And I need to up my skill a little bit to do that.

But I've created scale model rescue and I'm going to record my efforts.

So hopefully when you see things like this.

That looks pretty good, but isn't perfect.

This is one of the trucks that my father built.

That's a scratch built semi truck, by the way,

similar to the one that he drove way back in the 80s.

And then I look at some of these models like that,

that yellow sixty seven Mustang on the bottom,

I can see is missing the rear bumper.

Just they'll be little projects like that.

And then there'll be big projects

where I'm taking everything apart, stripping the paint all off

and doing all kinds of stuff.

So that's that will be hopefully a very, very long running channel.

And I'm going to try to start it in March.

And I want to incorporate some podcasting into that

just to talk about models and fun.

And guess what, everybody?

Bruce is a model or two.

So hopefully Bruce, you'll want to join me on an occasional

scale model rescue podcast.

Yeah, I think maybe there is an opportunity to do a short show there

that, you know, once a month when all of the new models get announced in Japan,

maybe we do a show where we talk about the new cool models that are coming out.

You know, we'll see what happens.

But I think I think there's an opportunity to do that.

And that's something that no one else is doing.

So, you know, maybe that's I've looked all over YouTube

and I know there is a lot to look at it.

YouTube, I see quite a few.

I mean, there are some great modeling channels.

Oh, yeah, I see.

I see quite a few channels where people are, quote, unquote, restoring things.

But it's mostly die cast cars that.

And I mean, no disrespect to any of these these content creators.

Looks like die cast cars that maybe they buried under the backyard for a month.

So they look dirty and rusty.

And then they just take them all apart.

They take the screws out.

They sand them down, repaint and put it back together.

And it looks great.

This is legit 50 year old plastic models, some of which were put together

by a six year old in the 80s who thought neon blue and neon pink was awesome on everything.

And all the glue you can put on stuff with all the glue you can put on.

And everything has a hole in the hood because you got to have something

sticking up through the hood.

So, yeah, I'm going to try to fix those as well.

OK. Yeah, sounds good.

Again, this is this is not goodbye.

This is see you later and we will be seeing you later.

And so for the last time on rambling about cars on motor one, but not the last time ever.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening or good night.

We appreciate that you decided to spend time with us

when there's a million and one other things that you could be doing.

And the fact that you decided to take your time and spend it with us is very special.

And I appreciate that.

So bye bye.

And I will talk to you all again soon.

We'll see you soon, everybody.

Bye bye.

Monthly and other limits in terms of supply.

It's time to get organized this new year with Menards.

Update your closet system and add style today with closet culture.

Choose from two closet finishes and four colors of shelf boards to create

a functional yet stylish closet solution that matches your home decor.

Check out all our closet culture closet kits or view our weekly flyer on

menards.com to see all the great deals happening now.

Save big money at Menards.

S2 Ep161: Mazda CX-70, Lexus LBX Morzio RR, Dream Car Challenge, Saying Goodbye

About this episode

GR Lexus LBX

Ford Sable

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from Motor1.com Podcast Network