Supercharged Fun In Michigan And Andre Eats Something Weird!

Hey, Andre, I heard you just drove the most fun truck that you've driven in the last,

what?

A year or two?

A year, I would say.

Yeah.

At least a year.

Yeah, so you just came back from Detroit where you did a lot of trucky things.

Exactly.

And the most fun thing you did was you drove a supercharged V8 F-150 Lobo.

Exactly.

So Ford's been doing this for a while, right?

So they've been offering kind of dealership installed aftermarket, I'm calling them aftermarket

because it doesn't come from the factory, right?

Superchargers for their five-liter vehicles, including the Mustangs and of course the F-150s.

But I drove a kind of a special version and there's a lot of news related to that.

Yeah, so in this podcast we're going to chat about Andre's trip to Detroit.

And I got to drive, dude.

I got to drive a Durango Hellcat in the snow in Vermont.

Wow.

So we should talk about that, too?

And apparently I don't know what you ate, but you ate something weird in Detroit, so we'll

hit that as well.

We'll get to your questions.

And of course we're going to have to dive deep into the truck that isn't a caterpillar.

Exactly.

And also talk a little bit about RAM as well.

So preview something that's happening next week.

And also we are live on patreon.com slash tflcar.

So thanks for joining us and as always, any feedback or questions, we welcome that.

And if you're not a Patreon member, supporter of TFL and you want to help us provide more

truck news to you, then consider becoming a member.

And of course the trick there is you have to go to patreon.com slash tflcar.

Yeah, because we only have one account on Patreon.

We started it before we thought it through.

Yes, because we should have called the TFL studios, right?

Yeah.

Not TFL Car.

But anyways, just go to TFL Car and you will support everything TFL, including this podcast,

including everything we're doing on our off-road channels and everything else.

And if you do decide to become a Patreon and you don't want a penny of your money going

to car content, just shoot us a note and we'll make sure that that happens.

Okay, I guarantee.

We're going to buy some sandwiches.

I guarantee we won't put a penny toward car content.

So tell me about this new Lobo that Ford is building because it is super interesting.

And I think for a long time, people have been kind of curious.

Let's call it supercharger curious about how they could supercharge their coyote and now

Ford has kind of gotten into the game themselves more directly than having to have you go through

a dealer.

So tell me about the Lobo first.

Tell me what it is.

So Lobo came out last year, right?

So it's basically a little bit more of a street-oriented F-150.

Is it lowered?

It's lowered in the back only.

So here's the thing.

So F-150 is what it is.

It's a four-wheel drive truck, right?

And usually the front is a little bit lower than the rear, right?

Yeah, I know what Kent would call that.

Let's not talk about that.

And then basically that's done for payload, right?

So when you add a lot of payload to the truck or towing a heavy trailer, here's one of the

images we have here.

So if you're watching this.

It's triple black.

Look at that.

Oh my gosh.

It was sinister as heck.

So what they did, do you see how it's now a level stance?

So really, I think it's not low enough really for just really street-custom look.

What size are those wheels and tires?

Twenty-twos.

I know.

I mean, it looks like they're rubber bands around these wheels.

Holy cannoli.

So that's another thing you get with the Lobo, right?

You get twenty-twos.

You get really kind of low-profile tires and a level stance and a unique grille.

Do you see how that LED light kind of runs through the front grille?

Yeah, it looks like a bunch of like colons, right?

Or like a hash marks.

Like a bunch of hash marks.

Yeah.

So it's like, you know how Tesla has now the light that runs across the entire front?

This is like that, except that it's broken into little sections.

Yeah.

And I'm getting a little tired of continuous lights on everything, right?

Everybody is doing kind of continuous light bars.

So this is kind of a unique look and it also has kind of a treatment, you know,

the lower grille treatment and a little chin spoiler and kind of the side skirts.

So it has a, and of course, it's difficult to see on this one because it's all triple black.

So can I ask you this?

What trim level is a Lobo?

Can you get it in various trims?

Can it be XR?

No, it's only one.

So so it's basically STX.

STX.

STX, which is basically a kind of a work truck with a little bit more pizzazz, right?

So there's still the XL, which is a base base work truck.

Then the STX adds a little bit of color to the interior.

There's different stitching, you know, the different badging.

We had that.

Didn't we have that Ranger?

Wasn't that an STX?

Remember, we had that old Ranger that we traded in a Tesla that we did all the lights on.

Yes, you mean the black one?

Yeah.

Then we did a sunset color pattern.

Yeah, that was an STX.

Yeah.

So so it's that except now you can also add a Lobo package to it.

And with that, of course, you get the five liter Coyote V8.

But now it's a little bit easier, actually, to get a supercharger installed

on this F-150.

So what used to happen in UNI test drove actually a supercharged F-150

about a year ago, maybe.

So what used to happen is they have a Ford performance.

So you could see a picture right there.

Their Ford is working with Whipple.

This is a three liter.

So the supercharger itself has like a volume, right?

A measurement.

So it's a three liter, generation six supercharger.

And it really adds a lot of power to 300 horsepower it adds.

So you over 700.

Yeah.

So you go from 400 to 700, basically.

And the way it used to work is you go to a dealer and the dealer

installs it for you, right?

And it comes with its own warranty, but it also comes with a lot of caveats.

We can discuss that too.

Well, so before we get to the caveats, let's let's talk about our experience.

Well, my experience and then you kind of compare and contrast it.

So right before we bought our Coyote last year, F-150 tremor, we test drove

one of these supercharged Ford F-150s from the dealer,

which was like a lariat, right?

It was a mid grade.

Yeah, I think I think what happened was our dealer had Brighton Ford, good people.

Yeah.

Had, I think he said it was like somewhat, it was a used, maybe

hail damaged truck, and he thought it'd be fun to slap a supercharger on.

Do you remember that?

Yes.

Because the price wasn't that crazy.

No, it was like under 70 grand, maybe.

Oh, it was a lot less than that.

OK, maybe I don't remember.

Yeah, this was a used Coyote that I think he had traded in on, and then he

decided to supercharge it using the Ford supercharger.

And then we drove it, and this is why I'm talking about it.

And it was quicker, but it didn't like blow my, you know, my skirt up.

It wasn't like exactly like a TRX or a Raptor.

It was fast, but you didn't necessarily get that sense of like the supercharger

wine coming in from the front.

And then they had a great exhaust note.

It just felt like a quicker F-150.

It was civilized.

Yeah, it was civilized.

It's the way you're putting it.

But I think that's a wrong thing for this type of truck.

So tell me about the Lobo.

Is it different than that?

Because it's basically the same setup.

Yes.

So I don't know what the difference was, the one we drove and the one that,

because they're using technically the same supercharger, right?

But you could hear, so we have a video coming.

So if you want to enjoy a little bit more, you know, video version of this,

there's going to be a video on TFL truck.

So you can check out all TFL as well and check it out.

But you have wonderful supercharger wine.

It was crazy quick.

So you and I drove it in Denver-ish, which is like elevation is a little bit higher,

right?

So I drove it in Detroit, which is the elevation is a little bit lower.

So I don't know if that was a difference.

We'll do a burnout.

Oh, my, oh, it has two-wheel drive mode and all-wheel drive mode for a basic truck.

That's pretty cool.

And Cole and I burned some rubber, actually.

Did you?

Good for you.

Yeah.

We, we try to do it in the most, you know, just PC way possible.

Yeah.

But you, but you're saying you'd like to see this thing get slammed.

You want it to be like a true, like California slammed street truck.

And this just feels like, you know, an F-150 that looks sinister.

If you see the pictures, if you're watching this on YouTube, it's just a black

out truck with a lot of cool kind of lights across the front of it and a

supercharger, but it doesn't feel like a street.

It doesn't feel super slant.

It doesn't even feel like the Maverick.

You know, the Maverick, the low.

We also have a Lobo.

Yeah, the Lobo Maverick, which is, you know, if that one feels like it's slammed,

this one just looks like it's normal ride height.

Kind of normal.

Yes, especially in the front.

Except for the 22s.

Especially in the front.

Yes.

So Cole, can you go to a website?

Can you look up Ford custom garage?

All right.

So how much does this all this cost?

So all in, so the supercharger addition costs 10,250 bucks.

And then under vehicles at the top, Cole, find the Ford.

Like, yeah, enough on 50.

And then the Lobo itself costs about 61.

So you're at 72.

So for 72,000, that was a lot of fun we had.

I mean, this is an important question.

Yes.

Do they do it at the factory or does a dealer still do it?

Neither.

Okay, that's confusing.

Well, Joe's, Joe's garage, does it take it over to your local Ford aftermarket?

No, it's not, it's not Joe.

Okay.

Who is it?

It's not Joe.

It's Fox factory.

Oh, Fox factory.

Yeah.

So Fox factory is a separate company, but they do work very closely with

many pickup truck, OEM manufacturers.

And so what they're doing, what's different now is that you could order it

via your dealer, right?

Let's say you're buying a brand new F-150 and then it will, before it gets

delivered to the dealership, it will go through the Fox factory facility.

They will actually, and they specialize in this, right?

They do superchargers every day, all day long, right?

So it'll go through them and it gets delivered supercharged and you will pay

whatever the money is.

In this case, it's about $72,000.

Okay.

Now, the reason I asked that is because our friends over at Edmunds did that.

They bought a dark horse.

Okay.

Mustang.

Mustang and they supercharged it and via dealership.

Yeah, via dealership.

The dealer did it and then they did their U-Drags, which were a lot of fun.

And you guys go check them out.

Basically, it's a drag race that they go down the airstrip and then turn around,

come back.

It's a really interesting and smart idea for a drag.

Yeah, I'm jealous guys.

Anyway, they had this dark horse.

They supercharged it and they felt like it never had the right amount of

performance.

And then I guess they took it to the track and the thing through all kinds of

lights and then they took it back to the dealership.

And what they figured out was that when the dealer had done the install, they

hadn't gapped the spark plugs correctly for the supercharger.

Because you're adding pressure, basically.

Yeah, and basically they were blowing out the spark plugs, which is bad.

Yes.

And they could have, in fact, wrecked the engine.

But I guess the coyote is very stout and it didn't break.

But once they had it gapped right, then it felt like it had a lot more power.

But I bring this up because I always worry about a dealer doing these kinds

of major installs because let's face it, they're set up to do a lot of repairs.

Yeah, repairs and warranty stuff.

But I kind of feel like knowing me, what would happen is I take it to the

Ford dealer and I'd be like, Hey, can you supercharge this for me for what?

$11,000, $12,000, and then they'd be like, Yeah, no problem.

And then their master mechanic be out to lunch.

And then they'd be like, Hey, where's Joe?

And then they'd be like, Oh, Joe's not, he's an intern.

Yeah.

How about Steve?

Oh, he's sick today.

Well, give it to Pete.

Nothing against Pete.

But this is the first time he's, and I think this admin story kind of tells

that tale because according to them, the dealer they took it to in California had

done a bunch of these and yet they didn't gap the spark plugs.

Right.

So I worry about, you know, having that much on the line with maybe a mechanic

who has never done it.

Okay.

So now we get to the caveats, right?

So first of all, we're showing a couple of things.

If you're watching this on TFL talk channel, so you can kind of see exactly

the price of the supercharger kit.

It's available for 2021 through 2026 F-150s with a five liter.

Yada, yada, yada.

Does that $10,250 install or is that just the kit?

Well, that's a little bit interesting.

I think it depends on when you order it.

If you order it on a brand new truck, I think it's included.

If you are, if you already own an F-150 and you want to make this upgrade to it, I

think the installation will be extra because you have to actually take it

somewhere to a different dealership or certified facility for this.

So that's why I'm saying there's, there's a lot of little caveats.

I just wish this was a factory truck.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, why not just do it at the factory?

I'm for those how to install a supercharger.

Yeah, they have the Raptor R.

I mean, they sell that, you know, every day.

Yeah.

So it seems like the obvious thing here is just have them do it when they're, you

know, just go down the line and then this one gets a supercharger.

Well, this must be, it must be related to maybe emission standards and or

there must be some reason.

So it's kind of like the prospector, right?

If you, if you're doing a prospector, RAM prospector, then what you do is you

buy the RAM from RAM and then it gets shipped over to A.E.V. in Michigan.

And then they do the, you know, they do the suspension, the work suspension,

the big tires and, you know, all the bumpers and all that.

And then you pick it up from A.E.V.

Or I think they can sell it.

Oh, they ship it to you.

Yeah, they ship it to you.

So it's kind of like that.

So yeah, so that's kind of the way it works.

And then our good friend, Charlie Miller, he was on the show, right?

He came out from Texas.

He's a great guy.

He runs a wrecking service in Texas.

Exactly.

So amazing.

He had one of these trucks, right?

He had a two door.

It was amazing.

It was.

Remember how loud it was?

It was so cool.

So cool.

Charlie, thanks again for bringing it up.

Yes.

What did the drag race with it?

So he had the dealer installed Supercharger.

Basically.

Yeah.

So he worked through a dealer, bought this brand new truck.

It was lowered.

Remember, it was slammed.

Yeah.

He basically built his own mobile.

It was slammed.

We have a video of that on our YouTube channel.

And anyway, this story does not have a happy ending.

No, it does not have a happy ending.

Because he, he wanted to switch it out.

He wanted to trade it in and get something else from Ford.

And he found out that the three year warranty that Ford, you know,

is including with the Supercharger, which is what you would buy.

It's factory warrantied.

So you feel confident that if you're Edmunds and you blow the engine

because you didn't get the gap right here, there's the video.

Yeah, it's non-transferable.

Oh, so, so really the resale value suffers quite a lot because the dealer

now told them, oh, by the way, you know, it's been only a year and the warranty

is not transferable to the next owner.

As such, we're not going to give you as much value for this truck as it

otherwise would have.

So that's kind of a big deal.

And I reached out to Ford about this and they said they're working on this.

So they're trying to actually include a transferable warranty.

Why do they have to work on it?

What is there?

Did they just go?

I think they check a box.

It's transferable.

I think it's between them and Whipple.

Oh, so Whipple provides the Supercharger, right?

I see.

So, so I don't know what the business implications of this is for Ford or Whipple,

but the customers, us, we are the consumers.

Here's the biggest caveat.

When we bought, I think, I shouldn't say the biggest, one of the big caveats.

I think that this non-transferable warranty is a huge one.

But the thing that kept us, when we initially bought the Tremor, we thought

we should probably supercharge it.

So own it a little bit, do all of our usual stuff.

Because we haven't seen one, right?

Yeah.

And then you quickly come to the realization we just had this happen

when we were actually selling it.

And that is there's no value in that supercharger if you go to sell it to a dealer

or if you go to trade it in on something else.

They will give you no additional money for it.

So you've just spent $12,000 for the experience.

Or maybe more.

Or maybe more for the experience of having a supercharge.

And in your mind, as a guy, I'm thinking, hey, this thing has seven horsepower.

So when I go to the dealer, and I go trade it on an F-250 diesel,

they'll give me that money.

They won't.

And it happened to us with the Tremor because we put on some lights.

Our friends at F-150 light.

LEDs.

Great, by the way, if you're looking for some cool ass lights to put on you,

check out F-150 LEDs.

Those guys are incredible.

Just, I mean, just beautiful.

Little different options.

Yeah, lit up the front of the truck like daylight.

We did a video with that.

But I went to sell that to a guy, I know, who buys vehicles for another dealership.

And he actually said that they would give us less money for the truck

because we installed seven and a half thousand dollars worth of LEDs on it.

And I don't know if that's dealer shenanigans or if that's real,

because part of it could be like, you know, let's face it, when you buy something,

you don't want to buy someone else's creation.

You want it?

Yeah, because it's that person's vision, right?

That may not translate to another person's vision.

Exactly.

So it may be that, or it may just be that, because I say that because have you ever

gone to like a, let's stay with Ford, but it's also Ram and Chevy, not Honda.

And you go to the dealership and there is some massively lift the truck

sitting in the front of the dealership with, you know, Smitty built parts on it

that some like local fabricator had put together for the dealership.

And now the truck is $25,000 more expensive than it would be if it was just stock.

So it's kind of this double message where you go to him, you say, Hey,

I've done what you're going to do with whatever shop you're using.

I did it myself, but they'll be like, Oh, no, no, people want, you know,

people want our stuff and they want, they want the stock truck.

But then you're like, but you're selling one for 25 K more, which is, which is

lifted, which is lifted, which probably has no warranty, which is done by

somebody that I've never heard of with questionable, you know, parts or parts.

Yeah, it's certainly not, you know, the Cadillac of parts.

And you're asking 25 K for that, but that's okay.

Versus the fact that, you know, we professionally did ours, you know, we put

on great LED lights and we didn't do it in our garage.

We went to a professional overland, a professional who's done this a lot

because that's what we do here.

I mean, we are kind of at the top of the spear here at the tip of the spear

when it comes to products that we have.

And yet you're going to discount the value of this truck because of that.

You know, the same thing happened to our, remember, our listed Cummins.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.

So we put the suspension system on the Cummins Ram 2500.

We put AV bumpers on it.

We put lights.

We put, gosh, we're like $15,000 of stuff, not a single penny.

And the same thing happened when we sold it, when we sold our Gladiator to an

individual.

So we had a Jeep Performance kit on it that the dealer installed and

warrantied, we had a rooftop tent and we had the deck system.

And I don't think we got any more money for that Gladiator than if it had been

completely stock.

So the lesson there that we've learned and the reason we didn't supercharge

our tremor is we're just going to take because we're one going to keep it for a

very long time.

No, we're going to take $12,000 and we're going to, you know, go poof.

You know, and we're going to smile, smile for a while, do some videos, which

you'll make, you know, a couple hundred bucks, maybe, because that's YouTube

world these days.

Yeah.

And then, you know, we'll end up spending 11 to make two.

Exactly.

Maybe.

So for us, it didn't make sense.

Yeah.

But if you want, if you're buying your dream truck, right, and if you want to

keep it for five, 10, 15 years, right, and then pass it on to your children or

whatever, that maybe that makes sense, right?

You're keeping it for a long time.

If you're one of these guys or gals who like keeps their stuff forever and you

want that, then that's great.

Then that doesn't make sense.

But then you're also like now, you know, overnight gas prices apparently this

week went up 11%.

Yes.

And now you've got this big old supercharger that's sucking fuel like

it was paid to play.

You got to pay to play like it was out of style.

By the way, the supercharger requires premium fuel.

There you go.

Yeah.

91 octane or above.

Yeah.

You're going to be going to Costco quite a bit.

So Sam's.

So yeah, so it also depends on the year of your vehicle.

It's also like, you know, Carp States, right?

And California Air Resources Board.

So some of them are approved.

Some are not.

So you really have to be care, you know, read the fine print when you're doing

a lot of this modifications.

Read the fine print.

Make sure the state you live in, you know, it's approved.

All that is fine.

And the biggest caveat is that it's the most fun you've had in a truck.

And the biggest caveat, Cole and I were laughing the entire time.

Like two little boys playing with toy trucks.

We were like graduating from high school.

I mean, we're we were living high.

Andre, how much is youth work?

How much is re-living your youth?

Apparently 11,000.

At least 11,000.

There you go.

So, so forget everything else we said.

If you want a huge smile, if you want to go and do some badass burnouts and be

the biggest F 150 on your block, then this is the way to go.

Yeah.

So that was a lot of fun, dude.

Do you want to tell what happened with in Vermont, dude?

I had more fun than you did.

No way.

Yeah.

And I'll tell you why.

So I got to go drive the new Ram.

I got to go drive the new Ram Dodge.

I'm thinking it's the same thing.

Yes.

Yeah.

All stilensis.

And there's, I'm, look, I was, I was editing myself as I was speaking

because it's under embargo.

So I just, I can't talk about driving impressions of the new charger.

Okay.

So there's a new charger and it's the RT.

Okay.

And just, it's a little bit more affordable, right?

I'll give you the pricing breakdown and I'll talk about why I'll go.

I'll get, I'll turn this truck really quickly.

But so there's a new RT, which has 420 horsepower.

This isn't driving oppression.

And basically what it is, is a $49,000 American muscle charge, straight six hurricane.

And then if you want the scat pack, which has the high output hurricane,

which gives you another 130 horsepower, then it's 54 starting.

And then if you want the EV, the Daytona, then it's 59.

So 49, 54, $5,000 increments.

Okay.

And then if you want four doors instead of two doors, if you need the space in the

back, then it's $2,000 more.

So for $61,000, I'm sorry, for $51,000, give or take, you can have a four door

muscle car, which is pretty good.

And that's before any incentives, it looks really badass.

So I got to drive that in the snow in Vermont because we have no snow and

Vermont does.

Uh, and then if you want to know how it drives, come back next week or go to

Val TFL, and I did a comparison of the RT to the scat pack, uh, to, uh, the Daytona.

Can I do a little rant here?

Yes.

Do people like my rants?

I'm going to do a little rant.

Uh, and I actually spoke with the CEO of, uh, of Dodge about this and he put up

with my rant.

So if he can put up with it, maybe you guys can too.

And I'll ask you this question.

I'll see if you think I'm right here.

All right.

Maybe you too, Cole.

Okay.

So, so what my, what my beef is, is they've gone crate.

Okay.

So first of all, let's take a step back.

I love the fact that they're using real names, Daytona, scat pack, right?

It's great.

It's better than, better than like, you know, ZX 15, you know, TI.

Yeah, I don't, I love real names.

I love real, but they've gone overboard.

Right.

So in this lineup, you not only have a six pack, but you have a scat pack.

You have a Daytona, you have an RT.

I think you're going to have a Hellcat or a Hemi or something.

You have a demon and I, I'm just, I'm just scratching the surface with like, you

know, you have a jailbreak scratching the surface of like names that they use.

And it gets very confusing.

Cause like the, the, the, the chart, it's a charger RT or six pack or scat pack.

You see what I'm saying?

It's like too much, too much of a good thing.

And that, that was my rent.

I'm like, just pick, pick a designation or model or name and stick with it.

Like, like make it Hellcat, you know, like how Prius tried to become its own

brand and didn't quite work, but how about Hellcat everything?

Just, you know, it's a Hellcat or Hemi everything.

Or that's another one.

Hemi, right?

Hemi everything.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Just, you know, well, yeah, I see kind of, you see what I'm saying?

And then there's a bumblebee on one of them, but I love their, but I love their

logos.

I love most of their names.

A lot of it.

You know what I'm saying?

Oh, it's also a Fradzonic.

So you also have that.

Oh, yes.

You also have the Fradzonic thing on the front of it.

The little symbol.

So, so potentially you've got a charger, six pack, scat pack, Fradzonic.

Wow.

That's what you've got there.

That's like four, four brands in one.

It's too much, too much.

Anyway, anyway, let us know what you think.

Yeah, let us know what you think.

Am I off base?

Maybe, maybe like Andre, maybe you love all this stuff.

It's fine.

It's better than, like I said, QX15, ZX25 or whatever the hell, you know,

Alphonse Numeric stuff.

So, so I did get to drive the Durango Hellcat.

Jillbrake.

It's $95,000.

Yep.

And yeah, there's recently had it too here, but not in the snow.

Not in the snow.

Okay.

But I got to drive it in the, in the snow.

Is that embargoed?

No.

Okay.

No, it's not embargoed.

I don't think it's embargoed.

I don't think so.

The, the, it was such a hood, Andre.

I mean, first of all, um, okay.

Did you feel like you broke out of from jail?

I did.

I felt like I broke out from jail.

The design is getting a little dated.

Uh, and of course, of course, uh, they got sued because they said that they were

going to only Hellcat some of them.

And then, you know, this is the fifth year now that they've Hellcat at them.

Yeah.

Because it was like the final edition.

Yeah.

The owner said, Hey, we lost over money and, uh, the judge ruled that that's

on you, the manufacturer.

Actually, it's interesting.

So the owners who bought them said, Hey, you said you were only going to build.

I don't know what the number is.

Let's say it's a thousand and only for limited time, right?

Only for a limited time.

Uh, and in fact, you went and built them for the next five years and that took

the value out of ours because we bought ours as an investment.

And the judge came back and he said, at the time when they said that, they

believed what they were saying.

So you can't sue them.

That was basically the ruling.

Wow.

So if you believe what you're saying at the time, so if there was

no plan to build more.

So at the time, I think caniscus said, yeah, this is going to be it.

And then, and then things changed.

And then the dealers came to him and said, these things are selling like hot

case.

Okay.

And then caniscus thought about it and he said, you know what?

We should make another model year, but at the time when he said it, that's

what they were going to do.

Okay.

Well, the judge, that's what the judge said.

Yeah, I'm not, I'm not a legal eagle, but that's how it, uh, anyway, anyway, I

love the truck and I'll tell you what I love about it.

I counted the number of buttons in the center council.

Guess how many buttons it has in the world of all screens.

Guess how many buttons this thing has and dials 21, 26 buttons.

Wow.

And three dials.

Wow.

That's a lot of buttons.

Yeah.

And I loved it.

It was so refreshing to like just be able to look and see, oh, there's a little

icon of an air conditioner or a seat seat.

Or he did see, you know, it says AC, I hit it and the AC comes on.

How refreshing.

I, you know, you don't know what you've lost until you've lost it.

You don't have to scroll through 15 pages.

You don't have to figure out.

You want to turn something off.

You want to turn off stability control, push a button.

Easy peasy.

Yeah.

And of course I forgot, I forgot God, Andre, it made me want the TRX so bad.

I forgot just how intoxicating.

Well, it has the wine.

Oh, you drove a supercharged V8 and I did too.

Oh, you just, that, there's that perfect harmony of intake, wine and exhaust note.

Yes.

Where it's like, you get this wonderful supercharger.

It's spilling up.

It's like, right.

You can hear those RPMs and then out the back, you can hear, you know, the God

laughing, the God laughing and the exhaust note that is almost perfect in my mind.

And the combination of the two, oh, I would use a big O for that.

Andre, every time I floored it, it was so gratifying.

Uh, and back then the gas was still cheap at the beginning of the week.

So I wasn't too stressed about, you know, just burning like four gallons of fuel

every time I stepped on it.

Did you go sideways?

Were you on ice?

Uh, I didn't, I didn't for it on ice because it didn't have snow tires.

That would have been just, well, that would be useless then.

Yeah.

I waited till we got off the snow and then I floored it.

Uh, what a, what a wonderful experience that is.

And I had only, I think Dodge made the claim that this is the highest performing

most powerful three row you can buy.

That's internal combustion.

I believe, but I believe that somebody can fact check me on that, but I believe

that's the case, right?

Oh, a three row, three row.

Yeah.

Because the escalate V is also supercharged, but it has a little bit less power.

Yeah.

So they said it's the most.

So I was, I was, I was kind of, I was like, oh, I wonder if that's true.

Uh, it's not true if you compare it to the Rivian R1S quad motor, which I think is

or the Hummer CV, right?

But those, oh, but the Hummer is two row.

It's not real.

Well, you know, R1S is three.

Yes, it is, but it's electric.

So I think, I think they said internal combustion.

So I give it that little like, you know, I hate when manufacturers do this.

They're like, we can tow the most except in this segment only on a sunny day.

You know, that's no, that's, by the way, Jonathan has a couple of comments.

Um, and we'll say the comments on Patreon, I think.

So Jonathan says, if you're making modification, sorry, I have hard time

reading because it's being blocked by the camera.

If you're making the modification, it has to be reversible.

You know, so otherwise you will lose a lot of value, right?

So that's the comment that Jonathan is making.

Then you got to spend money to reverse it.

I know you have to spend money to reverse it.

And then you got to spend money to store that crap or sell it.

We have, we have a, we can't, you know, at the ranch, we have a container full of

stuff where we've kept it.

I was just in there because I, you know, we had to clean out, we should talk about

you, we should talk about that too.

We should talk about the cool car this weekend.

We have a really cool video.

Uh, Andre's uncle gave us a car.

Yes.

Such a cool car.

He gave us the car.

I've been looking for this car.

We'll, we'll get to that.

We've been looking for this car for like the last 10 years and he just, out of the

blue, he just said here, take it.

Cause we were renting his garage and I paid, he has to move.

Yeah.

He has to, yeah, he's moving.

He's, he's, he's staying with his daughter in Italy.

I think that's fair to say.

And so he's selling the house and I paid rent for the full year and he's

such a nice man.

So instead of giving me the money back, he said, you know what?

Just take the car.

Uh, and, and I would rather have the car actually than the money.

Cause it's useful.

The car is so cool.

It's such a cool car.

Anyway, uh, the reason I was talking about that is because there was so much

crap in there, right?

That we, that we saved.

Yeah.

Where we always took it off because we were modified because you're not sure

if you're going to use it again or whatever.

Yeah.

Like this, like this guy said, right?

To save it.

And so then he's just like, huh, like in our container at the, uh, uh, at the

ranch, we have this giant set of, uh, Ram side steps.

Remember where we took the side steps off?

What do you do with those?

They're just, they're huge.

They weigh like 50 pounds each and they're just sitting there,

cluttering stuff up.

Yes.

All right.

What are some of the other comments?

Well, Don is actually, I think looking into the future because, uh, down on our

list, um, Don, uh, Megahan wants us to talk about the cat truck.

Okay.

Yeah.

What's the other thing to talk about?

Yeah.

We did a video and I screwed it up.

So I'll, I apologize.

So we'll, we'll talk about that in a second.

We had to take a video down and Elliott says he appreciates your

hands.

So thank you.

Thank you, Elliot.

I need any on Patreon.

Any, uh, this is it.

Yeah.

All right.

For now.

Well, thank you.

So we'll, we'll talk about what did Tommy publish this, uh, my uncle's car video.

No, it goes up Sunday.

Okay.

We'll talk about that.

So let's talk about the cat truck.

Yes, let's do it.

So I, we did a, so I was, I was grumpy and like, well, I think you and

I had a reason to be grumpy.

First of all, I was also grumpy.

I was grumpy and I was tired.

Yes.

Cause I had got, I had gotten up like at two in the morning and I forget what

happened, but I was grumpy and I was angry at, at Ram because we got a boat

ton of emails from, uh, viewers a few years ago saying that Ram was building

a pickup truck, uh, and everybody cat cat, sorry, cat was building a pickup truck.

Yes.

And everybody was asking us what we thought about it, why we weren't covering it.

And it was a bunch of AI that somebody had just put together a cat truck.

And then this week at the Vega show cat came out with their truck, uh, and the

truck, uh, was basically a rebadged Ford 450.

Yeah, exactly.

That showcased, uh, their technology because obviously with AI and with

technology, Caterpillar has gotten very deep into having a lot of remote control

stuff, a lot of stuff that's robotic.

Uh, and this F 450, uh, had all kinds of showcase showcase of all that technology.

And I was grumpy about it because I kind of felt like, uh, if they were going to

build a real, uh, let's say full size truck, they should have actually built it

and not rebranded and not, and then not in my opinion, done kind of, uh, a goofy

job.

I'm going to use the word goofy because I use something much harder, harsher than

that, but it was a goofy job on a F 450 in like yellow.

So what's your, we have some, I was also very grumpy, by the way.

Um, so can you show some other images like of the grill call?

So if you're watching us, um, you could see it, it's a drone on the roof that

it deployed is a drone in the roof.

So basically what happened a couple of years ago is fake news, right?

Because people basically spread this rumor that caterpillar is building a pickup

truck.

So, and caterpillar brand has a lot of value, right?

I mean, they make diesel engines for big trucks.

Um, actually they make engines for a lot of military vehicles as well.

Um, and so there's a lot of value, um, because pickup truck guys and gals really

appreciate, you know, bigger vehicles and also construction, uh, equipment, which

is I think really cool.

And there was a bunch of fake news, but now instead of addressing the fake news

that I felt like they didn't, right?

Uh, because I didn't cause we asked, I asked them, uh, they did this basically

rebranding a Ford super duty as a cat vehicle, uh, which is okay.

I mean, I understand that, uh, but they didn't quite explain, Hey, we're not building

a pickup truck.

We're just showcasing our technology.

You know what I'm saying?

That's why I was grumpy because there's so much fake news out there now that we

need to be very specific about what we're doing.

Yeah.

Uh, and, uh, I don't know if, uh, cat doesn't want to get into the business

of building full size pickup trucks.

Maybe, maybe, um, this is not their wheelhouse, which makes a lot of sense,

but I just felt, and I still feel like why I don't understand.

I just, I just don't get what, what this accomplishes for them.

I don't, I don't understand how, how this promotes their business.

Well, it promotes their business because we keep talking about it.

Yeah.

I guess that's right.

But you, you see what I'm saying?

I mean, they're not selling Fords.

No, but they're the people who own cats probably own Fords also.

But if, okay.

So let's, let's say you want to do the show and you want to showcase your

technology, why, why wouldn't you like show a skid steer or something that you

actually build at the show and then have that, that you control remotely or

yeah, have that, have that technology in the thing that you're selling.

Yeah, I guess I just, I just don't understand what the point of, uh, or

if you're going to showcase the technology, why rebrand the F 450 as a

caterpillar when you're not building it?

Why not just have an F 450 and stick the technology in a different color?

That's fine.

Yeah.

And say, Hey, if you drive to the work site, we've got all this cool tech.

Uh, you might be driving a Ford, you might be driving around, whatever it is,

but here's the tech, but why, why do this as branded as cat as cat?

Yeah.

And, and badly, like if you show that interior is like, they took the cat logo

and just covered it up, covered up the Ford logo with it on the steering

wheel.

Yeah.

That just seems, just seems like it just seems hokey to me.

So anyway, so that's where we were on this.

Uh, so did Don, can you show me the comment again, Cole, uh, on, on

how the Ford badges have been removed, but the cat doesn't manufacture vehicles

that can use their engines and transmissions.

And, uh, in the class of the vehicle, so partnering with a company like Ford

just makes sense.

Maybe Ford will put a cat logo on their diesels, like GM put Allison on their

trucks, but is this a partnership with Ford?

No, this isn't, this isn't like the Harley partnership where, where they

actually partner with Harley and then Ford or a subcontractor of Ford's bills.

This is all internally done with cat, as far as I'm aware, there's no Ford

involvement here and cat specified that later this week.

They did say this was not a partnership with Ford.

Yeah.

So this is just cat kind of going out there on their own, but they could, you

know, if this, if this gets enough traction, right, it's feasible according

to Don's comment also that, you know, Ford may, may want to use some of

this branding together, right?

Ford and cat could work together, but Ford has been so specific over the last

decade, they build their own diesels, they build their own transmissions, right?

And they're very proud of, you know, combining all that stuff by themselves.

So I don't, I don't think they're going to use cat, cat brand.

I mean, wouldn't it be worth a phone call?

Like maybe they're, that phone call took place.

But if I was doing this, I'd be like, Hey guys, let's call it forward and

let's see if we can do a partnership where we co-brand co-brand our vehicles

together because a lot of their customers are on our job sites and vice versa.

A lot of, you know, our machinery is that their, their customers use a lot

of our machinery.

So let's do something together because the problem I have with it, and

this is a personal thing, it just looks, it looks thrown together.

And to me, and I'm not being grumpy here, but I'm sorry, it just looks,

doesn't look good, you know, and I think Ford knows how to build a pickup.

So Ford, the designers had been there, they would have actually made this thing

look like something that's desirable as opposed to something that, you know,

somebody kind of just decided to like, like wrap a F 450 and stick some

cat logos on it and then throw a bunch of tech on it and a drone on the roof

and call it done.

I mean, it would have been something desirable.

I would love to see a Ford branded or Caterpillar branded F 450 or 350.

I think that would be really cool.

Hell, you know, if you're going to do it, why don't you at least put some treads on it?

Oh yeah, lift it up.

Not that hard, not that hard to do.

It's been, it exists.

You could buy those treads, all of a sudden, that's just, just off top my head.

That's like, you know, throw some treads.

I mean, Caterpillar has a lot, Caterpillar comes from treads, right?

That's, it's like a Caterpillar, a million little feet, right?

So go and look into your heritage and then go buy some of those treads that

you can slap on a pickup truck and start with that.

There you go.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right.

What's next?

Well, let's talk.

You want to talk about the very expensive trucks?

Let's talk about what you ate.

Yes.

What did you eat in Detroit on?

I have a picture.

We have a picture.

So Cole and I.

Can I take a guess?

Yes.

Before we show it.

Yeah.

Is it?

Okay.

Let's, I'm going to take some guesses.

Is it Rocky Mountain oysters?

No.

I didn't read it.

Is it alligator?

No.

It's actually not very exotic.

Oh, it's not very exotic.

It's not super exotic, but it's a little strange.

So Cole and I are.

Spaghetti.

Well, this is, this is, hold on a second.

He's showing a picture of the spaghetti.

Spaghetti door.

Yeah.

No, Cole and I are fans of M&M.

Okay.

We appreciate the music.

You ate M&M?

No.

You ate M&M's?

No.

We were on a mission to find mom's spaghetti, which is related to an M&M song.

So it's actually a spaghetti store.

Yeah, I know the song.

Yeah.

Um, and doesn't he say like, I have mom's spaghetti all over.

I'm all sweaty with, uh, my mom's are sweaty.

How does it write?

There's a vomit on my sweater.

Mom's spaghetti.

That's, that's still there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes.

Cool.

As you see Cole, he's doing like one of these like, you know, face plans on the surface.

He looks calm and ready, but Cole's like, Oh, don't stop.

He's no rapping.

This is cringy as a caterpillar.

Pick up.

Okay.

So we really wanted to, uh, that song is like ancient.

Yes.

It's like 25 years old.

We're like showing our age.

Yes.

But we still appreciate it.

So I imagine there was a restaurant that you could enter and eat mom's spaghetti, which

is amazing.

Better than wax.

But, but, but it's, but it's a window serve.

So it's like, it's mostly like summer weather.

Yeah.

Summer weather where you come up to a window, you order a like a little box of spaghetti

and it comes in different flavors and you can go outside and just eat a little bit of

spaghetti.

It's kind of like a food truck with spaghetti.

Yes.

Exactly.

Which is amazing.

Except it was really cold.

Well, not really cold, but we wanted to sit down and, and so we, oh, here's the window.

So here's the window.

Do you see that sign?

This is downtown Detroit.

And this has a big sign says mom's spaghetti, which is really cool.

Okay.

So because we wanted to sit down, we decided to go inside the assembly place, the next

door place.

And I ordered a Coney pizza.

Is this a Coney Island hot dog?

Yes, but it's a pizza.

Oh, that's so cool.

So it's a pizza with Coney Island hot dogs.

Is that mustard on top?

Yes.

So have you, have you had a pizza with mustard?

No.

No, I mean, I did.

People, people think that like pineapple is, is the end.

Yeah.

That's where it ends, but you just went way beyond that.

It looks good.

Actually, I would eat that.

There's chili.

A Coney Island dog.

It looks delicious.

If you guys aren't watching this, you should be on YouTube because this is over at TFL

talk, the YouTube channel.

You could actually see this.

I'm Andre.

You're making me hungry.

That's, you've got a salad, a Coney Island pizza.

Yeah.

What's cold?

What we're eating?

Look, what were you eating?

Look at Colesplate.

Yeah, what's on your plate?

Colesplate has a gigantic Rubin.

Oh.

A giant Rubin sandwich.

And an ice, is that an ice to your drinking?

Uh, it was a Arnold Palmer.

Oh, it looks delicious.

Oh, wow.

I'm getting hungry.

Except for the onions on the salad, which I hate everything else.

I would snarf up.

So I looked this up cold because we were wondering why Coney Island, cause it's New York, right?

Was it good?

Yes.

But it was confusing.

Did you try it, Col?

Hold on, let me try it.

So, so it was confusing, Roman, because I ate a pizza slice, but it tasted like a hot dog.

So I wasn't sure what I was eating.

Well, first of all, the pizza square, which is in itself kind of unusual.

Yes.

So New York style.

So Col, I looked this up and Coney originated in the early 1900s with the roots heavily

tied to Greek and Macedonian immigrants in Michigan.

So it was, it was inspired by Coney Island, New York, but it's really has the history

is rooted in Michigan.

I mean, it's really clever.

It's like if you took a Coney Island hot dog, right?

And you splayed it open and put it on a pizza.

No, no, you splayed it open.

The actual bun you splayed open and then you square it off the bun.

Then that's what you'd get.

You'd have like an open face.

It's like an open face Coney Island hot dog.

That's what you ate.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

I might, I might add mustard and ketchup.

Did you eat that whole thing?

It's huge.

Were you able to eat that whole thing?

Yes.

I killed it.

That's got to be like, I'm, I would bet that's at least 1200 calories.

At least.

I'm not losing any weight anytime soon.

But it's cool.

Okay.

I would have never guessed that.

Okay.

That was so cool.

Cause it wasn't Rocky Mountain oysters.

And how much, what did that cost?

Oh, I don't know.

Did you build a company for it?

No.

No, we went out, we went out.

We went deep.

You could have built a company for it.

That would have been fine.

You should have brought one back for me next time.

Maybe we could order it.

Can they fly a Coney Island pizza over here?

I'm guessing it's not going to be as good as it is.

Andre's been to Detroit like every week in the last three months.

I love going to Detroit.

And except next week, look at this.

I'm going to Indianapolis.

Yeah, let's talk about the Indian preview.

And what am I going to eat there?

I don't know.

What's Indianapolis known for?

Stakes.

Okay.

Stakes.

The best steak I've ever had was in Indianapolis.

So you're there going for the truck work show.

The work show.

And let's do a little preview.

You're going next week.

What do you expect to see there besides a lot of big trucks?

No, trucks.

Stakes.

Why is Indianapolis known for steaks?

I don't know.

They have good cows.

I always think like Texas.

Do they have cows?

Don't they slaughter cows?

The cows are here and then they get shipped to Chicago where they do the butchering, right?

Where they have the stockyards.

How did Indianapolis get into this?

I don't know.

I don't know the history.

Maybe our listeners can tell.

I'm not saying they shouldn't.

I'm curious as to how Indianapolis became known for steaks.

Okay.

So I'm not really going for steaks.

I'm going because work truck show is really cool because you can see some unique vehicles,

big trucks, commercial vehicles.

So there is some news that I cannot discuss that are going to be shown there.

So there is some stuff from Ram, some stuff from Ford.

And I'm looking forward to many other news because it's not just the pickup truck manufacturers.

It's also the manufacturers that build different truck beds and different accessories.

I am looking forward.

Next week we'll have it on this channel.

I'm looking forward to your patent pending your walk around.

Yes, your wonderful walk arounds of the show.

So it's like being there, Andre.

It's like being there with an expert.

So I can't wait until next week till we can actually go hands on with a lot of these.

So if you love trucks and if you love knowing the inside take on trucks, this is the video that's coming.

Yeah.

So that's coming next week to our this channel podcast.

Is he going?

He went to the trailer show last year.

I wish he was going.

I should call him.

But there should be some big news from Ford.

And also Ram.

Yeah, so a lot of stuff going on.

And then there's a lot of cool insider stuff that you usually don't get.

It's very different from, let's say, the New York auto show or the LA auto show or Chicago auto show.

This is more of a work truck show with all kinds of like crazy, expensive, big trucks.

Exactly.

And didn't she drive something there one year?

They have a driving thing.

Yeah, tell me about that.

So, for example, in the previous years, there was really popular electrified semis.

So there's some electric semis.

There's people from actually Allison is a big player because Allison is not the person in the company.

The company Allison is dropping names.

Transmission.

We love her trucks.

Transmission's company, they also built other components.

They're from Indianapolis.

So they're huge there.

And so you could drive like vans, delivery vehicles, semi trucks.

Where's Cummins out of?

Oh, also, Cole, there was a company that longer exists, Canoe.

Remember, there was a really popular video that we had.

We had a Canoe video.

Where's Cummins out of?

Are they out of India?

Cummins is from Columbus, Ohio.

Columbus, Indiana.

I thought they were, somehow in the back of my mind, I got a feeling that Cummins is also out of.

Yeah, I get confused because there's Columbus Ohio and there's Columbus, Indiana.

But yes, anyway, so I rode in a Canoe electric vehicle that no longer exists.

The company went bankrupt.

So there's a lot of interesting stuff that can happen there.

Oh, yes.

The box.

The scrapyard of electric trucks.

Electric truck manufacturers along in wine detail of people with great ideas and not enough money to execute them.

It's hard to create an automotive company.

Yeah, we should do a whole podcast on that.

All of the companies that have tried, specifically even electric trucks, right?

There's many actually.

In the scrap heap of history.

All right.

Two more objects before we wrap this up.

We're on top.

So Ram Tungsten 1500, you did a video on this, $94,000?

At least $94,000.

Tell me what makes a half ton worth $94,000.

So this is a truck you drove when you were in Detroit this week.

Exactly.

I also drove that with coal, and so we published the video.

So just to caveat that this is not like a TRX because a TRX can be more expensive.

It's a hurricane powered.

It's a hurricane powered luxury truck, which is a street truck.

Here's one.

This is a new color, by the way, Roman.

Molten red, they call it.

I like that red.

It's really nice.

It's got a lot of shine to it.

Yeah, and also it was a cloudy overcast day.

It's a little maddy.

But it still pops, right?

It still pops, even with low light.

And that truck looks very, a lot of chrome.

It looks very elegant.

I would say elegant would be the word that you don't usually associate with half tons,

but this one looks elegant.

I called it not quite a linebacker in the Tuxedo, but like an Olympian, an Olympic athlete in a nice suit.

I have to say it's refreshing that you have a top end truck that is like Western.

You know what I mean?

It's not, you know, we put some big old King Ranch stuff on it.

King Ranch horns on the front of it.

Made the interior full of all kinds of dead cow leather, right?

It's nice.

And crocodile.

Yeah, this truck, exactly.

This truck would look at home in Manhattan.

If you could actually afford to have a truck in Manhattan.

Or down the alley.

Well, actually, I think a lot of people have a lot of money in Manhattan.

And I've seen a lot of big trucks.

It's refreshing that they didn't go Western.

They also have Western.

They have long horns.

Yeah, I know.

But this is, and Cole, but I think the interesting part is the interior.

Because the interior is actually, it looks like it's worth the money.

You know what I'm saying?

Like a lot of luxurious pickup trucks, you kind of look at the interior and you're like,

okay, it's nice, but it's not that nice.

This interior, the materials they use and like, for example, the knobs, they're all metal.

You touch the volume knob or the start button.

I like the patterning on the seat as well.

The seat is nice.

It has massaging seats, of course.

So it's really, and the seat controls are on the door like Mercedes would have done, right?

The Mercedes have been doing that for years.

It has 22 speakers.

It has, I don't know, everything.

You see, there's a massaging button for the seats.

All right.

So I take it to get to 94,000.

You need a lot of features.

You need a lot of bells and whistles.

So massaging seats.

Got it.

Heated seats.

Ventilated seats in the front and the back.

Big-ass sunroof?

Yes, panoramic sunroof.

Heated steering wheel?

Yes.

14.4-inch display.

You got it.

So the other...

Brake controller?

Yes.

Okay.

I didn't forget that.

But brake controller is also digital.

You know, see, part of it is digital and part of it is not digital, which is kind of weird.

1500 cameras?

Lots of cameras.

Also, the tailgate.

It's got the fancy tailgate.

You know, the one that opens like a barn door or it opens downward.

You could see it here.

How about onboard power?

Not a lot of it.

Ford is better at this.

Yeah.

Oh, there's a tailgate.

Yeah.

There's a tailgate right there.

Ten-out cover?

Yes.

Ten-out cover.

It's got ram boxes on the side.

It's got side steps.

It's got...

So really, it's got 540 horsepower.

It has the same engine, the high-output engine that's in your SCAT pack, 6-pack...

What'd you call it?

6-pack SCAT pack.

RT.

What?

No.

RT.

I'm trying to make fun of it.

Jailbreak.

It's got a high-output engine.

So it's got the power.

It's got the looks.

Okay.

I guess there's one question that people are wondering about.

Would you pay $94,000 for a top-end half-ton, not a heavy-duty half-ton?

Personally, no.

Yeah.

It seems like that's a small...

It's a unique...

I think it's a unique customer.

I think...

I'm trying to think.

Maybe somebody who lives in Manhattan might do that.

But I think...

So it competes with like a Platinum in the forward world?

Platinum Plus or Capstone Tundra or even Denali Ultimate, the right trucks from GMC.

But this one...

I take your King Ranch and I spit on it.

Exactly.

But that truck feels expensive.

Some of these trucks, once again, you enter and it's kind of a sea of gray or black.

This truck actually feels expensive.

And it will tow 9,200 pounds.

So it's not a huge amount.

It's not the class-leading towing for this particular luxury truck.

But maybe you could tow your horses to the next Kentucky Derby or something like that.

I was just thinking about if I were building...

If you're going that expensive, could you take some of the...

Let's say some of the cues from the luxury car market.

Let's say Cadillac is doing this very expensive.

Rolls Royce does it.

Bespoke is a good word.

Cars that are $200,000 to $300,000.

Usually if you're going to go expensive in the truck world, you give it a bigger engine.

Give it more power, more utility.

But could you go the other route and actually give it more style and more bespoke,

more personalized creature comforts?

Because you don't really see that often in the truck world.

Exactly.

And I think you could.

Because in my mind, what's luxury?

Luxury is also comfort, which means space.

You have to have a larger vehicle and these Ram trucks and also the Fords and the Chevys.

They have a lot of room inside.

Like a different definition of luxury.

I'll give you an example of that.

When I was in Japan, one of the most luxurious vehicles you could buy there is a van.

And you think to yourself, a van?

What?

Because we think about mini vans and kids with Cheerios and dirty fingers.

Or we think about work vans, utility vans, but we don't think about luxury.

But in Japan, imagine this, you have a van and then that entire back area is devoted to the person

who is not driving it, but who owns it and who is passengering it.

So the first thing they do is they put this enormous TV screen at the front.

Like a 15th display, right?

And you can't see the driver.

So there's a wall there and that wall is all TV.

Then instead of regular seats, they put in the private airplane jet seats, right?

First class.

First class and they have a champagne cooler in the back.

Think of what you would think of in the back of a Cullinan Rolls Royce or a Bentley Bentayga.

And then it's all bespoke back there.

And then you have the thing that I suspect is the most luxurious of all, a lot of space.

Because space is luxury.

So you don't feel cramped.

You can feel like there is just a ton of space for you to feel comfortable in.

And then you have this thing quietly and luxuriously waft you through the middle of Tokyo

where you are completely enclosed in your own little luxury cocoon.

Exactly.

Maybe the scent.

Yeah, it's scented.

But can you do something probably not like that, but something similar

where you take some of those luxury appointments and put it into a pickup truck

and then you get over $100,000 and you give people a reason to spend that much money.

Or would you be like laughed off the, let's call it the work site

if you showed up in something that goofy?

I kind of feel like you would.

Well, I don't know if you're going to the work site though in a truck like this.

You might be going to your country club, right?

You might be pulling up to your golf, you know, with your golfing buddies.

This is where I think, and I've been saying this forever now,

but Toyota, I think this would sell.

Lexus.

Exactly.

I knew where you were going.

That's where I'm going with it.

But they look at me like I'm crazy.

And the first thing, whenever I say that, they say blackwood

and I'm like, Ford completely, you know what they did with the blackwood?

I should say Lincoln, but it's really Ford.

I didn't know this until recently.

They had a tan out cover and they had this, which is cool,

and they had this like real wooden floor.

But in order to hide the cutouts for the wheel wells,

they moved the whole thing up.

And they made the bed smaller.

And yeah, they took any utility space out of the thing

and made it into this like long, flat, narrow,

actually not narrow, but in height wise, narrow trunk.

Yeah.

I think, you know, I'll bless you.

You know what I was thinking as we're closing this episode?

Well, we got to get to your uncle's car.

Oh my gosh.

Don't forget that before we close this.

We got to tell him what your uncle gave us.

So his uncle.

No, no, I want to see a Bugatti pickup truck.

Okay.

Do you think that makes sense?

No.

Come on.

No, I think you're pushing the envelope of what a pickup truck

could be a little too far.

But space.

You could kind of get away with like a Bentley pickup

or a Rolls-Royce, but a Bugatti, no.

Something else.

Yeah.

Okay.

What about my uncle's truck?

Yeah.

What about your uncle's truck?

So his uncle gave us a, go ahead, tell him it's your uncle.

It's a 1995 Isuzu Rodeo.

How cool is that?

First-gen Rodeo.

Over 200,000 miles.

238,000 miles.

And manual.

Manual five-speed with low range.

And low, and roll-up windows.

Yes.

No air conditioning.

On Patreon, we have a video.

And also, I think the tires are 12 years old.

And bald.

And a tick.

It's got a tick.

But apparently, it's not a valve-trained tick.

There it is.

There's the picture.

I love this thing.

Oh, wow.

Tommy and Case did the video.

That's really nice.

We're going to do the classics video this weekend.

So if you want to see this thing go through its paces in your pit, Andrei,

then you got to watch TFL Classics or altff.com.

But what a cool bit of history.

Yeah.

So we called our friend Andy, who's also a mechanic.

He works on a variety of different things.

And Andy owns a Honda Passport first gen, which is the same vehicle.

Yeah.

It's basically rebranded.

And he's like, oh, yeah, the old tick.

Yeah.

The old tick.

It's a valve tick, apparently.

It's some sort of a valve tick.

So the engine's not blown on it.

We don't think.

Well, I drove it, actually.

And I drove like 50 miles an hour.

And it felt really nice and comfortable.

Doesn't shake?

Doesn't shake.

Doesn't wobble?

No.

The gears go through very easily.

It does drip some oil.

A lot of oil.

So I call him Uncle G.

So Uncle G, thank you.

Thank you very much.

That was very sweet.

And what a sweet, sweet guy.

There you go.

As the guys over at Smith would say, what a gentleman of a guy.

So if you want to learn more about the Suzurodio, stay tuned.

Yeah.

Or check out altff.

Any other questions that we can answer before we wrap this up, Cole?

Jonathan wants to see TFL food tasting.

TFL food tasting, Andre.

You could hold.

I think James May is doing that.

He's a big foodie.

He's good at that, yes.

But you know what?

I don't know if I'm good at this.

You'd be good at it.

I think you'd be really good at it.

Especially if the problem is you've got to find a lot more Coney Island pizzas.

It can't just be like, you can't be like, oh, I'm just trying another burger.

It's got to be something unusual.

It has to be something unusual, unique.

But you know what?

I think the ambience matters a lot to me.

Yeah.

So if you said, come over to my garage and eat a hot dog pizza and be like, oh, why should

I do that?

Actually, you could do it, Andre.

You could do it.

And you just put your finger exactly in how you would do it.

How?

Every meal you have to eat in a pickup.

That would work.

There you go.

Yeah.

Oh, you know how Ford has that folding thing where you fold the center console?

Yeah, literally.

It creates a table.

Literally fast food.

TFL food?

No, fast food.

Because it's moving.

And you'd have to do it while the self-driving is driving.

Exactly.

Or while you're driving.

You hold the drink awkwardly in your hand while you're here.

No, that's illegal.

But actually eating a pickup while you're parked is not a bad idea.

Hey, thank you, Jonathan.

Hey, we have the name.

Come on.

Cole, what's the name?

We name it.

Fast lane food?

No.

Fast food?

In a pickup.

What?

Pick up your pickup?

Pick up food.

Pick up food?

Yeah.

Yeah, pick up food.

Just keep it simple.

Pick up grub.

And that's when we go to mom's spaghetti.

I've been looking for, actually, I want to do this now because I've been looking for something

creative to do.

I've been kind of feeling like we've been stagnating, so that's why I'm pushing this

Willie Mammoth challenge because I want to push the boundaries of creativity.

But let's do an episode of pick up grub.

Pick up grub.

Let's seriously.

So I was thinking what we should do for a video and we haven't done it yet.

Remember how we used to do the Snarfs challenge where we would try to get it to navigate to

Snarfs?

Yeah.

And we'd go from our old offices.

Yes.

I thought it'd be fun to do a video where we actually go into Snarfs and actually show

us eating some Snarfs because people, after all those episodes, people might be wondering,

because Snarfs is a local Colorado chain.

Yeah.

So people might be wondering what Snarfs is.

You know they have some unique sandwiches, too.

Yeah.

So let's do our first episode of pick up grub and go to Snarfs and a pickup and eat it in

the pickup.

Are you guys up for that?

Let us know in the comments below.

Is that something you'd want to see before I go and recklessly try to pollinate that flower

as I zip too rapidly from flower to flower?

In other words, from concept to concept.

There you go.

Is that so?

Yeah.

I like it.

Hey, Andre.

Well, we need Nathan, too.

Unfortunately, he's in California.

Yeah.

So we could do an episode.

Maybe Nathan can do it from Los Angeles.

Well, he doesn't.

He can pick up some grub.

You need two people.

Yes.

So you need somebody in the driver's seat.

You need somebody in the passenger seat.

And then you need to eat pickup grub.

We can do this during Los Angeles at a show.

We can eat some grub with Nathan.

By that time, we'll have forgotten along.

It's not in the fall.

I'm talking about next week, dude.

Yes.

We can pick up grub.

All right, guys, well, let us know in the comments below.

We do read our comments.

If you'd like to see an episode of pickup grub and what pickup

we should use for the first episode, that's right there.

It's just a question.

You got it.

And now someone's going to steal it.

I'm going to be bummed.

I don't think we're the first ones to eat something on camera.

Have you seen an episode of people eating in trucks?

Interesting food in trucks?

You have?

That's like a...

Colses.

They were used in their car for something.

Oh, that's right.

Everybody who, like TikTok, they're always eating it in their car.

But not in their pickup.

They're always in their car.

But are they truck guys?

They're not truck guys.

But it is a thing in TikTok.

Yeah, it is a thing.

Yeah, true that.

All right.

There's no original ideas, I think.

Since Shakespeare.

Yes.

You know, there's that saying, right?

If you got enough monkeys together and just had them pound on a computer,

eventually they would create Shakespeare.

They could, potentially.

Eventually.

Back in the day, it was a typewriter, but now it's a computer.

And now it's going to be AI.

AI could create Shakespeare much quicker with the monkeys

than them pounding on typewriters or computers.

All right.

Head on over to altff.com, and we shall see you next time

where Andre's going to be walking around,

showing you the ins and outs of the work truck show from Indianapolis.

And then I'll be eating my steak.

Ciao.

If you're a podcast host, listen up this once for you.

My name is Ali Jackson.

I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast

that I've been doing for four years now,

sharing my positive and practical approach to dating

that's built on my own life experience.

And I wanted to share another experience that I've had,

my secret behind monetizing my show.

It's called Red Circle, and I was just telling my colleague

about how much I love their platform.

With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience,

but I also love the support I receive in ad sales.

It's not just typical ad sales, either.

It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life.

And the platform is super simple.

You just set your preferences, and Red Circle matches you

with sponsors that align with your show.

You can vet every opportunity, and their platform gives you great analytics.

More recently, too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities

outside of my podcast on social media.

To really augment the podcast partnerships,

bring them full circle, I just can't recommend them enough.

If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial.

That's redcircle.com for a free trial.

Supercharged Fun In Michigan And Andre Eats Something Weird!

About this episode

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from TFL Talkin' Trucks