The OctoberBeast Toyota Car Show and Nick Miller Chat
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Concept
hypercar
Hypercars are extremely fast and expensive cars that are considered the best in terms of performance and technology.
Car
Toyota Tundra
The Toyota Tundra is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and is good for driving on rough terrain.
Car
Toyota MR2
The Toyota MR2 is a small sports car that has its engine located in the middle, which helps with balance and handling. It's known for being fun to drive and is often appreciated for its sporty design.
Concept
NASCAR
NASCAR is a type of car racing that takes place on oval tracks. It's very popular in the U.S. and features cars that look like regular cars but are built for speed.
Concept
World of Outlaws
The World of Outlaws is a series of races that take place on dirt tracks, featuring specially designed race cars. It's known for exciting races and talented drivers.
Car
Scion Xb
The Scion xB is a small car that has a square shape, which makes it stand out from other cars. It's known for being practical and can be customized in many ways.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a popular sports car known for its speed and performance. Many car enthusiasts love it for its powerful engine and ability to be modified for even better performance.
Car
Pontiac GTO
The Pontiac GTO is a classic American car that was built for speed and power, making it very popular in the 1960s. It's often talked about because it helped start the trend of muscle cars, which are known for their strong engines.
Part
disc brakes
Disc brakes are a kind of brake system that helps stop the car. They work better than older types of brakes and stay cooler when used.
Concept
drift cars
Drift cars are cars built to slide sideways on the road in a controlled way. They are often modified to help them do this better, making it a popular sport among car enthusiasts.
Car
Infiniti G35
Infiniti is a brand that makes fancy cars that are more luxurious than regular cars. They focus on comfort and style, making them a popular choice for people who want a nice driving experience.
Car
Scion pickup
Scion was a brand that made cars aimed at younger drivers. The Scion pickup is a small truck that was popular for its cool design and usefulness.
Car
Oldsmobile Cutlass
The Oldsmobile Cutlass was a popular car in the 1980s, and the T-Top version has a special roof design where you can take off the top panels. It's a classic car that many people remember fondly.
Car
Oldsmobile 442
The Oldsmobile 442 is a classic car that was popular for its speed and style. It’s known for being a muscle car, which means it was built for performance.
Car
Pontiac Trans Am
The Pontiac Trans Am is a sporty car that is part of the Firebird family. It's known for its cool looks and strong performance, making it a favorite among car fans.
Car
Toyota Camry
The Camry is a type of car made by Toyota. It's known for being a good, reliable car that many people like to drive.
Term
Ram Air 2
Ram Air 2 is a special engine option that helps the car breathe better, making it faster and more powerful. It's a feature that many car fans look for in classic Pontiacs.
Term
Judge
The 'Judge' is a special version of the Pontiac GTO, a classic American muscle car. It was designed to be fast and sporty, making it popular among car enthusiasts.
Concept
drifting
Drifting is when a driver makes the back of the car slide out while turning, which looks cool and is a popular motorsport.
Car
Chevrolet pickup
The Chevrolet pickup is a type of truck made by Chevrolet. It's known for being strong and useful for carrying things, and many people customize them to make them look unique.
Car
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla FX is a small car that many people liked for its reliability and good fuel economy. It was popular in the past, especially for those who wanted a fun and affordable vehicle.
Car
Toyota Celica
The Toyota Celica GT is a sportier version of the Celica, which is a small car known for being fun to drive. The GT model usually has a more powerful engine and sportier design.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a car company from Germany that makes high-quality cars, often known for being sporty and luxurious.
Car
Nissan Titan
The Nissan Titan is a big truck that can carry heavy things and tow trailers. It's known for having a strong engine, which makes it good for tough jobs.
Term
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a powerful type of engine that has eight cylinders. It's often used in big trucks and cars because it can produce a lot of power, which helps with towing and carrying heavy loads.
Car
Toyota XB
The Toyota XB is a small car with a square shape that many people like to modify. It's popular for its fun design and how easy it is to change its appearance.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is a famous sports car that was first introduced in the 1960s. The 1964 model is known for its sleek design and powerful engine, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a small, uniquely shaped car that many people remember from the past, especially older generations. It was popular because it was affordable and easy to drive, making it a favorite for families and young people.
Concept
GR Cup
The GR Cup is a racing series where everyone drives the same type of car, the Toyota GR86. This makes it easier to compare drivers since they all have the same vehicle.
Car
Toyota GR86
The Toyota GR86 is a sporty two-door car that is fun to drive and is often used in racing. It's designed to be light and handle well on the road or track.
Car
AMX
The AMX is a classic American sports car made by AMC in the late 1960s. It's known for being fast and having a unique design, which makes it popular with car collectors.
Car
Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to run, which helps it save fuel and produce less pollution. It was one of the first cars to do this, and many people talk about it because it's known for being very good for the environment.
Car
Ac Cobra
The AC Cobra MkIII is a famous sports car known for being very fast and fun to drive. It was made in the 1960s and is loved by car enthusiasts for its powerful engine and unique design.
Car
Shelby Cobra
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a sporty car that many people love because it looks cool and goes fast. It's been around for a long time and is often seen as a symbol of American cars.
Car
Toyota RAV4
The Toyota RAV4 is a small SUV that many people like for its spacious interior and good fuel economy. It's a great choice for families or anyone who needs extra cargo space.
Car
Toyota Tacoma
The Toyota Tacoma is a smaller truck that's great for driving off-road and can be used for many different activities. It's popular with people who like adventure.
Car
Toyota Land Cruiser
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a big, tough SUV that can handle rough roads and off-road adventures. It's also comfortable inside, making it a great choice for families who like to explore.
Car
Toyota 4Runner
Car
Lamborghini Countach
The Lamborghini Countach is a super fancy sports car that looks very unique with its sharp shapes and special doors that open upwards. It's famous for being extremely fast and is often seen as a dream car for many people.
Car
Pontiac Solstice
The Pontiac Solstice is a small, sporty car that is designed to be fun to drive. It has a cool look and is lightweight, making it easy to handle on the road.
Car
Toyota GR Corolla
The Toyota GR Corolla is a sporty version of a regular Corolla that is made to be fun to drive and fast. It has special features that help it handle well on the road, making it a great choice for people who enjoy driving.
Car
Toyota Hilux
The Toyota Hilux is a strong pickup truck that people use for work and adventures. It's known for being very reliable and can handle rough roads and heavy loads.
Car
Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is a fast and stylish sports car that was made to be both exciting to drive and practical for everyday use. It's special because it combines high performance with comfort, making it a favorite among car lovers.
Car
Honda S600
The Honda S600 is a tiny sports car from the 1960s that is fun to drive and very light. It's special because it's one of the early cars Honda made that focused on performance and speed.
Car
Chevrolet C10
The Chevrolet C10 is an old pickup truck that many people love because it's tough and can be used for work or fun. It's popular among collectors because it has a classic look and can be customized in many ways.
LIVE
hey podcasters we were down in texas
we went down to uh... visit
russ's old haunts and attend the toyota
employee car show
and you're gonna hear some clips from that this edition
of the under the hood show
i'm trying to beat mix with the music in the background
how's it going
welcome to the under the hood show we are glad to have you with us we are on
the road russ evans shannon nordstrom i'm chris carter
shannon where are we
we are at october beast we are in the heat at october beast
in plano texas at toyota
headquarters
this is just
temperate for me i enjoy it
well it feels good but it's the heat and we are here with our partner berkeley
classics
berkeley won classics we're under a tent which is a good thing
and we are seeing some amazingly fun vehicles out here at their
employee appreciation day basically yeah employee car show they got
tunes playing there's food being served and everybody's out browsing at a lot of
really cool cars very cool and it's the employee car show and
there's it's funny how they broke the sections down
the sections are broken down by
toyotas
and then the others
you get imports and
and what was the other one well the hyper car section down here
and uh... we got the competitor
competitor that was it racing competitor cars
i thought it was competitor to toyota
i thought it was
competitor
it's not automakers ok
are you sure
i don't think so
i don't think they have any competition
when you bring your car to the toyota headquarters in dallas
yeah
they've got it all
they've been doing this employee event
for their employees for decades now and this is amazing you can bring anything
you drive
doesn't matter if it's toyota
it can be a
motorcycle there's a harley livewire electric down there
i didn't see that rush yeah that was the one i was standing next to i totally
missed it the first time until i read it and realized
there is even a boat
it's behind the truck
yeah i saw the boat i saw the boat i was looking at it
it was uh...
it was my attention was pulled away though by the complete
overlanding set up toyota tundra
we might get a chance to talk to
that person we were just
talking about that so we might get a chance to get him on the show
and find out what's going on there
and i really uh...
i'm enjoying looking at the different stuff here
and since we're here for berkeley one classics
we don't have to guess the color because they're right in front of us but there is
there is a variety of colors here
and i've always been a fan of yellow so there's a number of
fun yellow cars here
that have caught my attention
uh... the right hand drive
japanese mr2
uh... in that bright sunburst yellow
the lexuses
the rfc
right across from us that's a crazy car
that looks like it's got manufacturer plates on it so that must be one of
one of toyota's vehicles it sounds like
and we're outside right now but inside they've got a few cars
and they
did you see the rat rod truck in there i did
there's a rat rod truck it looks like your typical what you think of as a rat
rod but when you
peek through the side under the hood
it's got a modern fuel injected toyota v8 in it
it looks like it'd be comfortable to take anywhere you wanted to go it's
probably one i didn't look at that close to us but i'm guessing it's one of their
race engines that they probably use
right for nascar or for uh... they've they've they've got uh...
the world of outlaws they've got a toyota's buddy kofoid that won
our big race at home he he was running the toyota
and he kind of took all the money out of sioux falls south dakota when he came up for
for the high bank nationals
but uh... and he'd won before there too so that was a toyota
and so you kind of forget about toyota's
impact in motorsports when they jumped in
and inside a lot of those cars were like cars that were like used in a
celebrity
grand prix or celebrity race
i noticed with some of the names that were on there
just some really neat stuff here that we're getting a chance to look at we're so
honored to have this opportunity to be here at this place
the uh...
it's it is really
cool to see that it's all employees
cars are all employees but also at the show
any car show that had this crowd would be thrilled
and it's all employees and family of employees it's not a
it's not a public car show it's a pretty neat
idea and a pretty cool thing to see just everybody
enthusiastic about it
yeah for sure
also a little bit later we are going to have a chance to go in and do the
check out the museum here the toyota experience and do you know
i'm excited for that yeah that is not open to the public and we're going to have an opportunity to
do some video and take some photos inside there so that's really
something we're looking forward to
you're listening to the under the hood show we are in
plano texas at toyota headquarters
and uh... we are at the toyota october beast employee car show
what uh...
we all have
uh... an award to give away
we do
i've been thinking about that walking around and i don't
know that this is as easy as i thought it was going to be
i picked one i have to say
i am against the way it went i don't like this format
i thought we would pick one winner and i wouldn't be responsible
but we each have an award to give
and i don't
know if i can
take that uh...
that pressure you don't want that responsibility
i don't think i'm qualified
i'm okay with it
i have a winner though
i did have a
i do have i think mine picked out what
is in your top three
i don't know that i've rounded down that far yet
give me some
we got time
top three for me
probably a weird one
the little red sky on xb pickup we saw right when we came in
it's just so unique that somebody made that
it is
it's right in front of us right now and it's amazing
yeah i mean we saw that right when we came in and i kind of keep coming back and looking at that
because it's just so unique
what's it based on a scion xb
yeah the box
and it's
yeah it's modified
they cut the back end off
and they moved the hatch
to the back of the cab
and then they made a bad out of what was left
and rebadged it
so at first we couldn't even tell what it was
the front badge is not
an american scion badge
that's something you noticed or russ may have noticed i didn't notice it right away
but that was really really uh... that's on my list for some reason
it's
super noticeable
and if it's the
those weren't if it's the
i remember being everyone was surprised when their top level came out of that scion
and they're like that's not a
that's a like a hot hatch level
box
uh... so that's that's a cool one
i was surprised
at how much
my high school self
reacted to that supra the old supra over there
i didn't uh...
i don't think i
have any
nostalgia love for
old supras but when i saw it i was like
that's a great looking car
i must have walked by it, what year is it?
uh... eighty...
higher? eighty-odd year, i don't know
eighty-six. i think it's eighty-six. ok
so it'll be a smaller, a little bit smaller one
yeah i gotta take a look at that one
check it out
and there's also, yeah, there's some supercars over there
is there
is there any
okay here's a question
when you're picking are you just going overall or do you have, are you thinking
if it's a
stock supercar
are you, do you automatically go old
handled
old and and and work done
no. ok, you don't automatically. no it's gonna be something i just like
but do you
if you had to pick ten best stocks
if everyone you picked
got eliminated
it would all, it would all be older wouldn't it
a lot older ones
a lot older ones. we had a chance to talk to joe clark
who has
a gto in the show kind of
tell us about that car because that was cool
well russ was down there
chatting with him too and
we're both fans of pontiacs and russ has done probably more hands-on
work on some of those old pontiacs back in the day
but uh... that sixty-eight gto that he had
was a ram air two
from sixty-eight and he just recently found out from a friend as they were
looking at some, he was at a museum in las vegas he said
that his car is one of twenty-two built
and he said if it would have been, the line that he said
was that if it would have been
a sixty-nine
it would have been a judge
it was before the change
and
uh... he also, they were talking about uh...
when he learned about the rarity of the car
looking into the options on it
it might be
one of one, because there were so many options
the side marker lights
and power windows
uh... just the way it's optioned, it's got disc brakes
uh... but we're going to have that interview, we'll put that up
as an individual interview and that was
pretty cool
and the story behind it too
yup, that the car came from
his family
his dad bought it when he was
about four
and held on to it
did he tell the story about the
sideways drift and smile on our recording or was that afterwards?
he told it
okay
so what happened was
when uh...
they had the car and by the way he was just driving it
daily until he found out it was
one of twenty two
so before that he was just
he was just driving it every day
uh... and then
he
was able to
get it from his, when he bought it from his dad
he uh...
they got the car, he took it out on the street and his
son, four-year-old, was in the back seat in the car seat
and he went and got his dad
and they took it out on the road
and not on a private, I mean not on the road
yeah, I mean it was on a private
it was on a private area parking lot, he didn't go out on the road
and he lit it up, statute of limitations is passed, it's alright
and his dad smiled
and
said oh I remember when
when I bought this car
I brought it home and I went and talked to your grandma
I went and got your grandma, you were in the back seat and I drove this thing
sideways down the street
and my mom was like this is terrible what are you doing
with a kid in the back seat
and you had the same grin that your son has right now so that was
that's the cool, that's the greatest part right there
yeah it was, that was fun to see
and I've enjoyed seeing the number of
drift cars that are here
and there must be a
drift track or drift that people are able to get involved with around here
because that was neat to see, the Infiniti G35 down there that's like just
rugged
it's just rugged but that baby's a drifter
and it's set up, you can see the suspension and the tubing frame they've got
underneath on the front end
and that thing is set up to drift
it's a sleeper for sure when I walk by I'm like why is that here
and then I sort of look a little closer and I'm like ah, I see why that's here
I see why that's here
I love the
difference in cars here from
you know new Toyotas, new Lexus and then
there's just
that high level of
that front row over there is all just
high-level current cars
and they're just beautiful
and then you see the ones with the stories and it's so cool to just see
the difference here
in this show and to think that it's all in place is just kind of a cool mix
Russ, without giving your winner away, what's in your top
five
or three or whatever?
again that Scion pickup just jumped right out at us when we walked in
and that was right there
another one that
jumped out at me is there's a
an 84
old Cutlass T-Top car
that goes back to the high school days down on the end
a G-Body, 442 isn't it?
I think it didn't have 442 stripes on it? I don't think so. I walked by that pretty quick
I gotta go back and look at that again. No lightning rods in it, no Hurst doors on that one
there were a few of those around in the day
there's a 70 Chevy pickup down there
pretty cool custom on it
it's got badging from Iowa on it from the speed shop
old gas station
so it's out there
I noticed there were a couple of cars here that had California plates on them
the GTO had a California plate
a lot of transplants, people coming in and things like that
those are the big ones that jumped out
that black Trans Am jumps out too
there's just so much
cool stuff
there's a lot of cool stuff here
I'm gonna say something here and if this is just
me singing to the choir here
preaching to the choir, whatever you do to the choir
a lot of our listeners call in and many times on the show we've
talked about
Toyota being a brand of
hey, buy an older Camry or whatever, if you want to buy a car that's
less money, it's going to be dependable
the go-to for a lot of people is a Toyota
and you think of Toyota quality, Toyota's
way they do things
and that shows
I'm guessing it's one of their race engines that they probably use
for NASCAR or
the World of Outlaws, they've got a Toyota's buddy Kofoid that won
our big race at home, he was running a Toyota
and he kind of took all the money out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota when he came up
for the High Bank Nationals
and he'd won before there too, so that was a Toyota
and so you kind of forget about Toyota's
impact in motorsports when they jumped in
and inside a lot of those cars were like cars that were used in a celebrity
grand prix or celebrity race
I noticed with some of the names that were on there
just some really
neat stuff here that we're getting a chance to look at
we're so honored to have this opportunity to be here at this place
the uh...
it is really
cool to see
that it's all employees
cars are all employees but also at the show
any car show that had this crowd would be thrilled
and it's all employees and family of employees
it's not a public car show, it's a pretty neat
idea and a pretty cool thing to see, just everybody
enthusiastic about it
also a little bit later we are going to have a chance to go in and do the
check out the museum here, the Toyota experience
and do you know... I'm excited for that, it's not open to the public
it's a great opportunity to do some video and take some photos inside there
so that's really something we're looking forward to
you're listening to the under the hood show, we are in Plano, Texas at Toyota
headquarters
and uh... we are at the Toyota October Beast employee car show
what uh...
we all have
uh... an award to give away
we do
I've been thinking about that walking around and I don't
know that this is as easy as I thought it was going to be
I have to say
I am against the way it went
I don't like this format
I thought we would pick one winner
and I wouldn't be responsible
but we each have an award to give
and I don't
know if I can
take that uh...
that pressure. You don't want that responsibility?
I don't think I'm qualified
I'm okay with it. I have a winner though. I did have a
I do have I think mine picked out
is in your top three
I don't know that I've rounded down that far yet
give me some
well, top three for me
probably a weird one
the little red Skyon XB pickup we saw right when we came in
it's just so unique that somebody made that
it is
it's right in front of us right now and it's amazing
yeah I mean we saw that right when we came in and I kind of keep coming back and looking at that
because it's just so unique
what's it based on? A Skyon XB?
XB, yeah the box
and it's
yeah it's modified
they cut the back end off
and they moved the hatch
up to the back of the cab
and then they made a bed out of what was left
and rebadged it
so at first we couldn't even tell what it was
the front badge is not
an American Skyon badge
that's something you noticed, or Russ may have noticed, I didn't notice it right away
but that was really really uh...
that's on my list for some reason
it's
super noticeable
and if it's the
those weren't
if it's the
I remember everyone was surprised when their top level came out of that Skyon
and they were like
that's like a hot hatch level
box
uh... so that's a cool one
I was surprised
at how much
my high school self
reacted to that Supra, the old Supra over there
I didn't uh...
I don't think I
have any
nostalgia love for
old Supras but when I saw it I was like
that's a great looking car
I must have walked by it, what year is it?
uh... eighty...
higher?
eighty-oh-three, I don't know
eighty-six, I think it's eighty-six
so it'll be a smaller, a little bit smaller one
yeah I gotta take a look at that one
check it out
and there's also, yeah there's some Supercars over there
is there
is there any
okay here's a question
when you're picking, are you just going overall or do you have, are you thinking
if it's a
stock Supercar, are you
do you automatically go old
handled
old and work done?
you don't automatically? No, it's going to be something I just like
but do you
if you had to pick ten
best-ups
if everyone you picked
got eliminated
it would all be older, wouldn't it?
a lot of older ones
a lot of older ones
we had a chance to talk to Joe Clark
who has
a GTO in the show, kind of
tell us about that car because that was cool
well Russ was down there
chatting with him too and
we're both fans of Pontiacs and
Russ has done probably more hands-on
work on some of those old Pontiacs back in the day
but uh... that sixty-eight GTO that he had
was a Ram Air 2
from sixty-eight
and he just recently found out
from a friend as they were
looking at some, he was at a museum in Las Vegas, he said
that his car is one of twenty-two built
and he said if it would have been, the line that he said
was that if it would have been
a sixty-nine
it would have been a Judge
yeah, it was before the change
and
uh... they were talking about
when he learned about the rarity of the car
looking into the options on it
it might be
one of one, because there were so many options
the side marker lights
and power windows
uh... just the way it's optioned, it's got disc brakes
uh... but we're going to have that interview, we'll put that up
as an individual interview and that was
that was pretty cool and the story behind it too
yup, that the car came from
his family
his dad bought it when he was
about four
and held onto it
did he tell the story about the
sideways drift and smile on our recording or was that afterwards?
yeah, he told it
okay
so what happened was
when uh... he
they had the car and
by the way he was just driving it
daily until he found out it was
one of twenty-two
so before that he was just
he was just driving it every day
uh... and then
he
was able to
get it from his, when he bought it from his dad
he uh...
they got the car, he took it out on the street and his
son, four-year-old, was in the back seat in the car seat
and he went and got his dad
and they took it out on the road
and not on a private, I mean not on the road
yeah, I mean it was on a private
it was on a private area parking lot, he didn't go out on the road
and he lit it up, statute of limitations is passed, it's alright
and his dad smiled and
said, oh I remember when
when I bought this car
I brought it home and I went and talked to your grandma
I went and got your grandma, you were in the back seat and I drove this thing
sideways down the street
my mom was like, this is terrible, what are you doing in the back seat, with a kid in the back seat
and you had the same grin that your son has right now, so that was, that's
that's the cool, that's the greatest part right there, yeah it was, it was, that was fun to see
and I've enjoyed seeing the number of
drift cars that are here
and there must be a
a drift track or drift, you know, that people are able to get involved with around here
because that was neat to see, that neat, the Infiniti G35 down there that's like just
rugged
it's just rugged, but that baby's a drifter
and it's set up, you can see the suspension and the tubing frame they've got
underneath on the front end
and that thing is set up to drift
it's a sleeper for sure, when I walk by I'm like, why is that here
and then I start looking a little closer, I'm like, ah, I see, I see why that's here
I see why that's here
I love the
difference in cars here from
you know, new Toyotas, new Lexus and then like the
there's just
that high level of
that front row over there is all just
high-level
current cars and they're just beautiful
and then you see the ones with the stories and the, it's so cool to just see the
difference here
in this show and to think that it's all in place, it's just kind of a cool, a cool mix
Russ, without giving your winner away, what's in your top
five
four, three or whatever
again that
Scion pickup just jumped right out at us when we walked in and that was
that was right there
another one that
jumped out at me is there's a
an 84
Olds Cutlass T-Top car
goes back to the high school days down on the end
a T-Body, 442 isn't it?
Didn't it have 442 stripes on it? I don't think so. I walked by that pretty quick, I gotta go back and look at that again
no lightning rods in it, no Hurst or anything on that one, there were a few of those around in the day
there's a 70 Chevy pickup down there
pretty cool custom on it, it's got
got badging from Iowa on it from the speed shop
you know, a whole gas station
so it's
it's out there, I noticed there were a couple of cars here too that had California plates on them, the GTO had a California plate
a lot of transplants, people coming in and things like that
those are the big ones that jumped out, that black Trans Am jumps out too
there's just so much
cool stuff
there's a lot of cool stuff here
I'm gonna say something here and if this is just
singing to the choir here
preaching to the choir, whatever you do to the choir
a lot of our listeners call in and many times on the show we've talked about
Toyota being a brand of
hey, buy an older Camry or whatever, if you want to buy a car that's
less money, it's gonna be dependable
the go-to for a lot of people is a Toyota
and you think of Toyota quality, Toyota's
way they do things
and that shows
by the people we see here
and the vehicles that are in the parking lot that these people have brought in, for some
reason it resonates with me
when I'm walking through here
just the little details and it's typical to a good car show but
the little details
and then seeing the connection to some of the Japanese domestic market stuff
that's here
and the blend, there's a different feel to this when I look at it
knowing we're at Toyota
I had the same thought when I went that direction thinking
one of the guys down there, he's a designer
and an engineer with Toyota
and his car is
a classic muscle car and you think
oh, those guys are doing these
those guys that at home
have those old classics are building the other ones over here on this side
on the Toyota side
I've had to get my mind wrapped around that for some reason
and I guess it comes from being in the Midwest where we grew up
so heavily domestic
on our vehicles
we grew up wanting muscle cars
but there was part of me as I got a little bit older that I did definitely
venture into
the Japanese domestic market cars that have now became so popular
I had little
Corolla FX
things that I did as repairables when I was younger to make some money and drive
a little bit
Celica GT
fixed up a prelude for my wife that had been flooded
and so we got that going on and I just start thinking about back
about that now we have a BMW
I have ventured away from those roots so
it's fun to be here
just knowing how much of an impact
you know Toyota
we're not in another country, we're in Texas
right, yeah, yeah
American made we're in the heart of truck country and that's where they moved to
just look at the trucks you look at
you know American made stuff you look at these
full-size Toyotas
they're huge
capable trucks
if we went back thirty years
you don't think well I need a big full-size truck to pull my boat or my
cattle trailer with
and now
no, that's a whole different thing, a big Titan with a V8
it's a whole different game thing
hold on a second Russ
take your headphones off
we were over here, this is funny, we were over here just a minute ago looking at
these trucks and uh...
he said
alright listen, I have to tell you something about this truck right here
he goes, these are the things I don't like about
this truck because I don't like this on any truck, I don't like this
I don't like this or these, I hate when trucks have that
but this one
is really, he's like
I might not hate that, I really like that
was he looking at the blue one?
no, no, no
and when you hear the truck that he was talking about, if we go over there you're
gonna go
I never would have picked
Russ, that's this one, it was kind of neat
alright, you can come back now
he's talking about the truck that you pointed out the things that you normally
don't like but the whole package together really
made you like it
yeah, so I've
been a guy that
since I saw the first
truck running around with tires sticking out past the fender wells
like a street truck type thing
I'm not into that
this truck over here is just the perfect blend of everything including that
and I'm like, that's pretty cool
like, I drive that truck
alright, we're gonna take a break, maybe you'll hear it or maybe you'll
just hear us in a second
I do have a question
that's the 1794 edition, Chris
what is?
the ranch edition
oh, right there? that's the white, that white truck with the wheels sticking out
oh yeah, there it is
I have a question
when we do our Berkeley One Classics
choice
awards, each of us pick
are we going to just do it
live like we do the colors of the car guessing, the Berkeley One Classics
guess the color
and then how
if someone picks the color you were gonna pick you have to immediately come
up with a second choice, are we gonna
discuss what our choices are before we say them out loud or
are we gonna just go in order and there's a chance that you might get
picked off and have to pick a alternative
we'll have to have a pick off
right, we'll have to pick off
if there's a multiple pick
yeah, do we do it
real time or do we discuss it before we do it
there's so many cars
a couple of them stand out, but I think we're safe to just pick what we think
I think we're good
yeah, I don't think we need to discuss it ahead of time
alright, we'll do that in a little bit
it's more fun that way
alright, we got a guest on the Under the Hood Show, Nick Miller is the Senior Manager
Vehicle Marketing and Communities
this would be, is this Fall Under Communities?
yeah, I would say this falls under Communities, yeah for sure
pretty cool event, Nick Miller is our guest
let's talk, first of all, let's start with that, start with
the car show and this
this event is a pretty
is it a unique event, it sure seems like that it's a pretty unique event as far as
an employee
it's a unique event for Toyota, I would say
I don't know how long this has been going on, I've been with the company for
twenty four years and about as far as I can remember we've done some type of an
event like this, probably a little hiatus between when we moved from California
to here, but if I do recall, I think they were doing these types of events in
California as well, we've had our old headquarters
and this is, I would say this is a
when we talk about Communities, this falls nicely into our enthusiast
community, right, you've got a
whole bunch of cars out here that are either stock or, I'm looking at it
an XB over there, it's been turned into a pickup truck, right, so there's
caught our eye too, yeah, there's a lot of modified
vehicles here too and there's also non-Toyota stuff
that's present as well, which is amazing, right, we don't discriminate
inside the community, so enthusiasts are enthusiasts, they love cars, they love
cars, it doesn't matter what brand it is, typically
you're in the car business, which means there is an origin story, I bet
I mean, what was the thing when you were a kid that
you focused in on? It's funny, I was actually just talking to my
team about this today, we were wondering what kind of food was going to be out
here today and I'll get to that in one second, but
to answer your question specifically, my grandfather
was a general manager of a Nash dealership, Nash Rambler
and he used to bring cars home like every weekend, so my dad fell in
love with cars and then my dad is a collector of cars as well,
so I grew up, as far as I can remember when I could stand,
he used to hand me a little paintbrush and a little jar of gold paint
and he would let me paint the inside, like fill in the letters
on the tires of his Corvette 64 Stingray
and I think he did it to just keep me busy during the car shows because
they were probably, you know, boring when you're three, four or five years old
whatever, and then I remember getting a little bit
older, the story I was telling my team, we were walking around
and I had a styrofoam plate with a funnel cake on it and we were
walking by like a 46 Cadillac or something in the gust of
wind blew and it blew all of the confectionery sugar all over
the back of this guy's Cadillac, so my dad grabbed me real quick and
hustled me out of there, but those are my earlier memories of
cars and I've been a fan ever since. You were talking right before we started
about your grandma's Volkswagen. Yeah, she had a yellow
Beetle and my mom was telling me, as she was
learning to drive the car as a stick shift, she said it had a heavy
clutch pedal on it, but she got pulled over
one time by a motorcycle police officer and he pulled behind her with the lights
on and she got nervous and didn't put it in park or turn the
car, not park, didn't put it in gear and she let her foot off the clutch and
it rolled back and knocked the police car or the police motorcycle over
so she ended up getting a ticket. Was that a higher degree of ticket after
that? That's a good question, I don't know, but
it was in Maryland, no chips, I don't remember what they
called it in Maryland. Let's talk a little bit, you were
saying too that you were in the motorsports
section for a while. Yes, the official title had something to do with
motorsports special projects, but I've been in market, well I've been
with Toyota for 24 years. I came over to really start marketing
the vehicle side of it to launch Supra back in 2019, so I've
been involved with our GR line since 2019 and I think I
was able to build some nice relationships with
our counterparts in Japan and GR company.
So around 2021, I guess it was, I got pulled over to
motorsports to launch our GR Cup. So GR Cup is our single make race series
that utilizes GR86s, it's full-blown race cars,
for customer racing. I did that for three years. Oh, that's cool,
that had to be painful. It was a shock to my system
being gone over the weekends because clearly we race over the weekends,
it's 14 races over seven weekends at well-known tracks all across the
country, so got to meet some amazing people,
got to experience some amazing race courses, got to drive the race car a
couple times, just a blast, a blast.
Looking back on your entire life,
could you have done it? Did you have that in you when you would race,
where you're just like, I could have, I could have done this, I mean if
just one little star had changed, I would have been.
I say that every day, it was my calling, I should have been a race car
driver. I'm sure it means so many people, if you asked everybody out here in the
crowd how many of them could be race car drivers,
they'd probably all raise their hands, right? But when you get behind the wheel
and you're hauling around track, it's a little bit of a different story, and
then you add competitors to it, right? And that's even more challenging.
Right, how come my football team doesn't play like that every week because
they're not playing the Bengals without
Gilborough. Chris and I tried the, we thought we were professional race car
drivers, and we got on an ice racing course
up in Canada, and they were all-wheel drive
Subarus, supercharged, and yeah, you know, it was every
20 feet I was into the snow barrier, and he was too,
so not as easy as it looks. That's a whole other
layer that you're adding on there, the grip, right, or no grip.
And a studded Lamborghini that they brought around the ice track, and it was
like, and that guy was hauling it like, oh,
it makes it look easy, and we thought the Subarus would be easy.
So when you're out just to stay on that motorsports thing just a little bit
longer, what track did you find that was just
like, this is really neat? Was there one that really stood out for
you when you got to do that? Yeah, of the seven, Road America is my
favorite. It's a long track, it's like 4.1 miles
long, there's a lot of elevation change, it's very technical, it's very iconic,
right, other series will race there as well, but I really love the town.
If you go down to downtown, the downtown area there, you've got
Siebkens, it was actually on one of the turns on the old course when it
used to run on the roads out there, and you walk in there, it's just
memorabilia, stickers all over the place. The whole town is built around
racing, it's just, we do a parade there for the race every year, so everyone gets
in their race cars, they get police escorted from the track
downtown, they park, they give stickers and
autographs, it's just a really cool setting and a really cool
sensation to be part of it. Looking at both sides here of the show,
have you been involved with any builds or
restoration projects yourself? Yeah, I mentioned before my dad was a
big car fanatic, he's got a 69 AMX, and we did a restoration on that, so I
remember when I was younger, it was probably the most intense one we did,
we drove up to his cousin's body shop in Indiana
from Maryland with the car on the trailer, and we stopped along the way and
picked up rear quarter panels and chrome and
wheels and all kinds of stuff to go up and
actually get our hands dirty and work on that build for a little while.
Was it, must have been rusty from up in the northeast?
No, it really wasn't, it was just more
banged up than anything, I don't know where he got it from, but
it was actually fairly clean. Oh, that's really neat, as far as, I'm
going to go back and, we're going to your past right now, but
the launch of the Supra again, that had, once
again, that's iconic, and being able to be
involved in bringing that back again, I was at SEMA when they were
showing the early releases, I believe, at that point or something,
I just, when you mentioned that, it just resonated with me.
Yeah, so when I started the company,
started not the company, when I started with the company back in 2001,
I came in just, I think, after the last Supra that we sold, Mark IV,
and it was disappointing, right, because I think right around then is when
Fast and Furious came out, and the car became just an icon from then,
and I think, had we, I don't know, had things been different, the movie come out
a couple of years prior to that, that car may have stayed alive the entire time, I
don't know, it was, from my understanding, it was, it just
was harder to sell, the longer it got, it got more expensive,
people's mindset changed a little bit in terms of what kind of cars they were
buying, but thankfully we made the decision, or
Accio made the decision to bring the car back
in 2019, we launched the car after about
being gone for 20 years, and it was amazing,
you know, the response from the customers were amazing,
from the community, it was just a fantastic time to be with Toyota and be
a part of that project. I saw there's a launch edition over
here, it's got a great story, I don't know if
you guys read that or not, but there was only 30 of them of
something made, and he was on the design team,
okay, and he didn't win the lottery to be one of the employees to get to buy one,
oh yeah, so he was calling auto trader every day, we could get, he still had the
list of in numbers, and one popped up at a dealership in
somewhere, and he bought it within the hour,
and yeah, kind of, kind of a crazy story, we had an opportunity,
I don't know where, where they popped up from, but there was about 30
vehicles that were at Magna Steyr, at the plant,
and they became available for our associates to enter
into the pool, basically to buy one, so that's probably what it was, there was
something that got held back for, like, quality checks or something,
something like that, I think that might, might be the story, don't quote me on
that one, yeah, but I just read it off the thing, that's all,
yeah, yeah, so people who wanted them got to put their name in the raffle, and
it's the lucky 30 or 35, whatever it was, ended up walking away with a,
with a launch edition, did you, when that was going on, did you have
things that you couldn't, you know, tell your buddies about the
Supra, when there was, was there things that you knew that you
couldn't say, there's always secrets, that's what's going to be my next
question, there's always secrets, I was hoping you'd say yes, like, are there
things right now, there's still secrets, yeah, yeah, that's probably the hardest
part, is not being able to, to get excited and talk to people about
things like that, right, when you, when you know of future products coming, or
future enhancements coming, but what I can say is, it is exciting to
know that there are future enhancements, yeah, and things coming,
and that's about all I can say, what'd you do today, nothing, and I bet,
and I bet, since you worked at Toyota, your buddies are very free with their
ideas and opinions of what you should be doing, and what, you know, you guys
should do this, and you're just like, just gonna be quiet, and wait a year,
maybe, would you like it if we did that, that's usually the response that I,
I give to media and stuff, when they ask like, hey, when is, whatever coming,
you're like, would you like us to do that, and then you just kind of walk
away. Let's talk about that, as, I mean, we're talking about the car show and
kind of unique things, but what's, as we're in this weird transition period
between gas and full electric, where are we, what's, what do you, what do you
get, what do you see, what's gonna happen from here, I mean, it's not always a
direct line, but what, where are we at now? Yeah, so, I think, you probably know
or have heard this, but Toyota's taking more of a position of, we're gonna make
something for everybody, right, a platform for everybody, multi-pathway
approach, so if there's customers out there that want to buy electric vehicles,
we'll have electric vehicles for them, if they want to buy gas vehicles, we'll have
gas vehicles for them, and everything in between, right, I think, kind of put a nice
stake in the ground with hybrids, we've led the industry in hybrid
technology, dating back to the Prius, but, I mean, even if I'm looking around right
now, I can see in a hybrid, there's a hybrid Tundra right there, not really
built for a fuel economy, but best of both worlds, you know, V6 twin turbo with
a hybrid motor on it, there's a, I think there's a place for, for all of those
powertrains for everybody, Toyota's, right now, is testing through Motorsports
hydrogen combustion motors as well, to help with, with reduced greenhouse gas
emissions, to help clean up everything that's going on, so I don't necessarily
think that electric is the way to go for everybody, there's a lot of
infrastructure challenges that we have with it, they're expensive, so I think
having a good mix of everything is always a great option, now, when you talk
to the enthusiasts here, I'm just reminded by probably a couple of videos
that I've seen on, on Instagram, you know, where a father and son are at a car show,
and the son's, you know, four or five years old, and walks past something that,
that whispered by, and he starts crying, because it doesn't have that, that exhaust
note, that I think a lot of enthusiasts are, are really excited about, manual
transmissions, the exhaust note you were just describing to me, yeah, so talk about
exhaust notes, I asked Shannon if he'd ever driven one of those AC Cobra replicas,
oh yeah, and, or an original, and he said, well, no, I haven't, and I said, well,
I've driven one, a replica, but my favorite thing about the car was not the ride of
it, which was rough, not the power, the braking, or the handling, it was the sound
of that side pipe exhaust, and shifting through the gears on that four-speed,
just, just because of the rumble, so exhaust notes over the years, on whatever
car they are, whether it's a inline six, you know, you get an old, like an 84
Supra, yeah, an 84 Supra, and until the head gasket went out, and I put a 350
Chevy in it, it, it just had this sound to it, between the exhaust, and the, the
whine of that fan, as it would rev up so high, it was just, the sounds that the car
makes are so intriguing, and now with electrics, there are certain sounds they
make, and a different generation of people, even some of the older generation
starting to adopt it, but it's just the sound of the car, no matter what it is,
from a quiet sound, on up to a full-out roar, just really gets people's hearts
going, you know? Yeah, it does, and, and to your point, most, most OEs have
manufactured their own sound, right, especially on the, on the BEV side, right,
anything that's, that's battery-powered, I think by regulation, they need to have a
sound for pedestrian detection, but I can always tell when I'm in the
neighborhood, if my, if I'm doing something in the driveway, my back is
turned, and I hear something coming, I know, like, oh, that was my, my neighbor's
Cadillac Lyric, right, that's got a very, very distinct sound, where I can also
tell when our, when our electric cars are coming by, too, because they all have
their own distinct sounds, it's not like a, you know, a Fox Body Mustang with a
crossover, right, they, they have a very, very distinct sound, but, but yeah, most,
most of the cars, from an exhaust standpoint, you can tell what they are
coming, just based on the sound, if you're, if you're a true fan. I got that
sound of the Prius stuck in my head, because I've had so many in our shop, as
it, that, that little computer sound it makes, as it's just moving, uh-huh, just
kind of whirring by. Chris has had a couple of them, so they, they're, they're
in and out our shop a lot, and other ones, but that's an icon car, people, people
still, to this day, say, well, I'm thinking about buying one of those, it's got
200,000 miles on it, I've heard the batteries are a problem, it's like, well,
we've only put a couple batteries in our shop, in those cars, ever, and we've got
dozens, and dozens, and dozens of people with them, Chris put, what, 300,000 on
yours? I just had a conversation with the guy who worked on my Beetle, a while ago,
so, two years ago, and, uh, he said, I said, oh, you know, he, he knew I drove a
Prius, and he's like, yeah, I don't know about those things, I mean, you know, they,
I don't think they've perfected the technology, and I don't, I just don't think
you can go, I mean, imagine going, I don't, I don't know if I'd want to take that out
on the interstate, or every day, or anything, I said, well, I'm, I'm on my second
Prius, I'm about 700,000 miles, of 60 miles a day, at 85 miles an hour, and not
had any problem with it, ever, and he was like, we're, we're, what, you're, aren't
they new? No. No? He's like, oh, I thought they were untested. 22 years. I want to ask
a little bit about your Toyota marketing, where you're at now. Yeah. Because Toyota,
I think, slyly, has had the best marketing, just, they don't, it's not always over the
top, it's just so unique, the way that they approach their marketing. Is that, is that
something that is, is it a trend, is it a path that's been followed way back, or has
there been changes, or we just think it seems the same? But, is that, does that question
make any sense? I'll just say, thank you. Yeah. Right, was that a compliment? It was,
it was a, it was a compliment. From a, from a marketing, well, look, marketing is all
subjective, right, so I appreciate the fact that you're, that you enjoy our marketing
efforts. I think what we, what we try to do on, on our side, from a marketing standpoint,
is, is create assets, whether, whether it's imagery, videos, commercials, that just resonate
with, with the folks we're trying to connect with, in an authentic way, right? It's important
to be authentic, right? I think you can see through it, or smell through it, when you
see something, you're like, that, that doesn't make sense, or that doesn't, it doesn't work
like that in real life. So, I mean, our, our goal is to try to connect with people,
to show them that we, as Toyota, can help, help them, not just by marketing a car,
but by marketing ways that the car can help them in their day-to-day lives,
and then it becomes more, more than a, an appliance to them, it becomes part of their life.
What, what are, what's next? What are you guys working on now that we're gonna, I mean,
public, public now? Not classified stuff. What are we looking at right now? What are you guys,
what's, what's the next thing on your horizon that's, maybe even here, but is,
is the thing you're working on? Uh, so, I mean, I guess, when you look at,
when you look at marketing, marketing is a very broad term when it comes to what we do here
at Toyota. It could be everything is, low down the funnel is like vehicle advertising,
or what you might see on a website, or it could be a large partnership, like something
we've got going on with the NFL, right? Our partnership with the NFL, and everything in
between. Um, so, you know, we've, we've got new vehicles that are coming to the market,
like the RAV4. We can talk about the RAV4, because that's, that's been publicly announced.
So, you'll see some marketing campaigns coming, coming out, talking about the RAV4 to help build,
build awareness of the vehicle, um, help build, uh, interest and familiarity and consideration
amongst customers who may or may not be considering it right now. Um, so, we, that's
obviously a focal point for us when we've got new cars coming to market, but we're also taking a
different approach to marketing too, and we're looking at, uh, communities, right? So, there's
a, this term called community-based marketing, and it's not necessarily proprietary to us, but
what that, what that means in short form is that we, when you look at consumers from a
psychographic standpoint, most of the, of the general population that are buying cars,
you can drop them into a one of five buckets, uh, or five communities, as we would say, um,
and some of them may be more significantly interested in outdoors events, right? So,
that's a great opportunity for us to showcase all of our body-on-frame vehicles, Tundra, Tacoma,
Sequoia, Land Cruiser, 4Runner, and our marketing efforts will be more driven towards what those,
um, what those customers will do with their vehicles, as opposed to the vehicles
specifically themselves. Does that make sense? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it gives us an
opportunity to showcase five vehicles, as opposed to maybe a Tundra or a Tacoma, right? We, now we
can tell a story about a whole family of vehicles, and it gives us an opportunity to, uh, to build a
fun, emotional piece that connects with people, but it also allows us to, to bring more of our
vehicles into the mix at the same time. In talking about marketing in, in my business, it's kind of
an interesting time to see, we were talking about niche marketing, and how it's all niche
marketing now. Everything's a niche almost. I mean, there's not, there's not a sitcom that gets
40 million views. You're going after each niche, and it just changes so much of that job. Yeah,
um, I guess when you're talking about niches, maybe we're, we're talking about, um, the,
we, we call it like media fragmentation. Yeah. Um, with, with the advent of streaming technology
and all that, I mean, everybody has a streaming platform that's either free or you can pay for.
I mean, it's like, I've got Hulu and YouTube and YouTube TV, and I've got Netflix and Paramount
Plus, and right, so now there's all these different channels that people can, can, um,
can tune into and watch whatever content they want. Um, and what makes it even more challenging
is when, you know, you work with, within, um, certain properties, like let's say when I want
to watch a NASCAR race, or I want to watch football, you know, football's on three different
channels now, last time I counted. NASCAR is covered by, by multiple, uh, channels as well.
So it just makes it, it makes it more challenging to go out and, and build content for one platform
when it's not just one platform anyway. All right, going back to, uh, going from the head
to the heart again. One car, what's the dream? Old or new doesn't even have to be possible.
I've, I've always loved, and I wish I bought one a long time ago because they've gone up in value
significantly, but a 66 Nova SS would be, would be my ride. Yeah, well, let's, oh, let's, Berkeley
let's guess the color of his dream car. So when someone calls in with a question about a classic
car, we do the Berkeley one classics, guess the color. So 66 Nova SS, I'm good. I'm going first
because Ken Hilgert had one up the block, big, big slicks on the back,
or maybe I'm thinking of something. Uh, I'm going to go blue.
Yeah, yellow. I'm going to be, um, I'm going to be red. What's what, what are you picturing?
I'd go with black. Oh, okay. Yeah. He wins the hoodie.
It'll be great for him in January to wear it.
Not good today. Of the Toyota lineup as it's just straight across the board. Yeah.
What's your favorite one? So it's hard. It's hard to say. Um, I drive a Sequoia now.
I've had my aisle one for a long time and I, and I love it. It's a hybrid. Uh, it's got
so much power. I'd call it, you know, it's a rocket ship and considering how heavy they are,
they move. Um, so I've had my own that for a long time. The forerunner is absolutely amazing.
In my earlier part of my career, I was a field traveler out in our New York region and I,
we cycled out of them about every 5,000 miles and I had Buffalo as a territory for a while. So
I got to drive my fair share of forerunners, uh, forerunners, absolutely amazing. And then, um,
I mean, I love getting out on, on track too. Um, I'm a bit of a sucker for a Supra as well. So
it's, it's hard to say, I guess it depends on what day of the week it is. Maybe.
Hey, have you, we talked about, have you found yourself liking a vehicle at your age going,
how? I wouldn't, this was never, I never wanted to like this. Yeah. I'm trying to think about
what I had on the walls when I was a kid in terms of posters and whatnot. And there's,
you know, I remember specifically a Lamborghini Countach poster that I had.
And I think they were, um, you know, it's, it's, it's a, an aspirational car to have
and not so attainable. Right. Um, I don't know. I there's, if I, if I won the lottery or something,
you know, maybe, um, I love the, uh, what was it? The three, uh, the Ferrari, um, three,
three 80 GT, the best Ferris Bueller car that are like $31 million now. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, those
are amazing. The spider, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, that would be, if I, if I had all the money in
the world, that that's probably what I would have my eye on, but that's again, that's not
realistic right now. But then, then there's some people, you know, I realized when I get to a
point where I could obtain something, I don't really want it as much as anymore. Oh yeah. You
look and look at the guy with the rockets right down the road from us here. And, and, uh, he
really doesn't collect a lot of cars or any, I mean, what's, what's your aspiration when you get
there? But I might haven't changed it. I'm still waiting for that time when I can decide if I don't
want something I can now obtain. I find myself, the two-tone crown has become my, that's my
aspirational car right now as my fit. I just, I don't know. I know. I don't know. What are you
waiting for? Uh, that, well, that's one to be available when you were looking, that was the,
I recently totaled my second Prius and I was like, we got, let's, let's go and we can get
anything. And I wanted the new Prius and couldn't get one. And I was in the crowd was just a little
bit too up there for that replacement. So before, before Supra, uh, I was the manager for Prius
as well from a marketing standpoint. Um, and I inherited, I was brought onto the team right
about when all wheel drive was coming out. So my, my goal was always to try to help reposition
maybe some of the imagery on the car. Um, and now seeing the new one and hearing people refer
to it as sexy. It's like, I have to ask you, do you think it's sexy? Yes. The new car is a good
looking car. We always thought it was maybe purposely made ugly when it first came out.
It is the original generation. It seemed, it seemed to without offending anybody, it always,
it seemed to maybe fit into that category where people were looking to be different.
But yeah, it's become a little bit more mainstream, although it definitely has a
distinct shape to it. And a lot of that is air aerodynamically driven. Um, but there,
there was a, I think earlier in time it was maybe designed more inside out too. So they designed it
from the, from the inside and then the outside ends up being what it, what it is. But a lot of
it was driven by aerodynamics. Yeah, that, uh, my sister has been a Prius driver since the first
generation came out and she, she's had one ever since. She's got one of the new ones. She actually
just loves them. Oh, they're amazing. It's definitely my favorite car I've ever had.
Both of them. And they just, and we, the, the new Prius, when it came out, everybody,
all of them, everyone at the radio station immediately started to put ads in my cubicle
and they just were like, here you go, buddy. You got you. And so after seeing it, the new reveal,
I was like, I'm all in. And it was, I don't know how many times on the road a year later when I
when they were finally on our, where we, how many times I was like, Oh, what is that? Oh, perfect.
It caught my eye so many times. I was like, Oh, I'm, I'm right about myself. I do like this thing.
Like when I had the, when I drove the car in the, when I drove my Solstice in the first time
and your dad was like, what is that? I was like, Oh, perfect. He's had one. You've had one. And
your dad was like, I don't know what that was. That's how I felt about the Prius. I was like,
I like it in my brain. And then when I saw it on the road, every time I was like, what is,
Oh, perfect. Those are, I think the new ones are for me. Did you opt for a plugin?
No, no, I haven't. I haven't gotten one yet. I wouldn't. What would I do when I do a plugin?
I don't. Yeah. So I know this is your show, but I want to ask you why, why, why not on the plugin?
I would, I have no, no reason not to. And I wouldn't have turned it down.
You know what the range is on the plugin part?
He's a mainly highway. That's why I asked that question. I don't know why I want to say it's
like 40 of pure, pure plugin. And then I guess 50, 40 is usually my first over. Don't quote me on
that. So you could, well, and that is around town. I'll say that as driving the Prius,
it was never a perfect, we never drove it in town. So I'm doing 80 miles an hour for an hour a day
on it. So it was never that the electric part of it, I was rarely in just electric. Yeah. So that
like the plugin, I don't know if I would, I wouldn't get more assist on it because of the
plugin. I mean, it would have no, it would not be an impediment. But also like, even when I was
looking, they're just all spoken for it. They're not available where we are. So yeah, I would have
no qualms about it at all. When we talk about the Prius and Toyota's lineup, you know, we watch
as much as we can, what's going on in the world. And we saw the head of Toyota racing the hydrogen
internal combustion car. Yeah. GR Corolla. Yeah. And he took it out there and I saw the headline
and I thought something different until I read it. I was like, huh, you know, they're just
changing the injectors and there's a lot to it, obviously, but
yeah, instead of having to create a ton of expensive components to it with the, you know,
I mean, when you look at it from an electric standpoint, right, you've got electric motors
and then you've got the big battery as well. And that stuff's not cheap. The nice part about
hydrogen is when you make a couple of tweaks to it and all of our engine plants that are building
motors around the country and around the world, we can make a simple conversion and still continue
to use those engines to burn or combust hydrogen as opposed to petroleum. And hydrogen you can make
anywhere and it's transportable, right? You can make it in Australia, put it in container and
ship it somewhere as opposed to electricity, right? You're a lot more limited in terms of
where you can make it and where you can get it across the country, too.
And that I've, personally, we've talked about on the show, too, but just always respected the way
Toyota has approached things because their hybrids, we've said it all along, there are,
that is where we should be. You know, that makes sense. It makes sense. And you guys have perfected
that and now with the technology improvements learned from Battery Electric, putting those
improvements in the hybrids, they're that much better. And so I've just always respected Toyota.
It just seems like a more thoughtful approach. They weren't swung by the winds of anything
political. They just stayed the course with what they've done. And I think that's commendable for
what Toyota's done in that space. They're in a good position now. I'd like to see that truck
right there in hydrogen electric hybrid. That's me. And I've said this for years. I said, why don't
we have a diesel electric Prius, you know, or something like that, because of the extra
efficiency you get with that. But then there's more maintenance. It's running less like the gas
engine. And I, after we thought about it more, I was like, well, that may not work. I'm sure at
some point there may have been testing on every combination possible of every car out there. And
maybe it just didn't work. But as far as the hydrogen goes clean, readily available,
and we'll probably see that down the road somewhere, somebody hydrogen.
Yeah. If you, if the three of you here want to open up some hydrogen fueling stations around
the country, that would help. Where do you buy hydrogen outside of California in a couple of
spots? Yeah. I have a, I have a device. I got it. We could just clip it on there. It has magnets.
And I think I bought out the internet. It's going to be the next thing. I'm pretty sure. Oh,
awesome. Yeah. Well, I just, one last thing for me on the motor sports stuff. I just love
Toyota being involved in World of Outlaws, NASCAR, you know, being here in truck country.
Yeah. I just, I look at Toyota as a domestic now, you know, I really do from our standpoint.
It is a domestic. I know, but I mean, I look at it. I always, I never, you never thought that
when you were 20 years old. Not when we were in the eighties. No, it's a successful
conversion to my mind and reality of what happens. Yeah. We, we build quite a bit of product here
domestically. I mean, some of our vehicles are wholly produced here. Now, none of our,
nobody, no OE's have 100% American built content in their vehicles, but we do
build and assemble a good bit of our product here too. So I don't, in comparison to all the
other OE's, I'm not sure where we stack up, but I know as far as being American made,
a good bit of what we have is, is built here right in the U S. Nick Miller, our guest from Toyota.
Thanks for spending a little time with us today. Yeah. Thanks for having me. So the,
let me think about this. We were talking about the first Supra or when, when I was on the team,
when we brought Supra to market, the first production Supra that hit the shores here,
I don't know if you remember, it went to Bear Jackson and it was auctioned off. And it was,
it was purchased at a pretty high dollar amount. I think it was 2.2, $2.1 million and it ended up
going forward. And it was awesome because the proceeds went to two charities. That vehicle
had an engine cover on it that was signed by Accio Toyota. Oh, so the vehicle that we used
for the bear Jackson auction was, was a prototype, an exact mock of the actual car
because it hadn't gone into production yet. Right. And then the production car ended up
when it got built, it got sold to the bidder. The engine cover that was on it stayed on,
on that car. And funny enough, we, we got a call from universal studios and they asked us if we
wanted, uh, if they were okay with us, um, using the Supra in F9, fast and furious nine, right?
So you look, it was about 20 years later from, from when we had sold our last Supra. Now they
want to bring the Supra back and include it in fast and furious. And we're like, yeah, why not?
That'd be an awesome thing. Right? Great way to bring the car back. So they, they borrowed a
couple of our prototypes, painted them orange, and they shipped them off to, uh, to Georgia,
the country. And we got a call, we got a call from the gentleman who bought that first Supra.
And he said, Hey, I thought this was supposed to come with an assigned engine cover.
And we're like, yeah, it didn't, it didn't come with it. He's like, no. And we realized
that it was on that prototype. That was that bear Jackson that universal took.
And it ended up getting shipped over to Georgia. So we had a technician here,
uh, that got called last minute to, to go over and help the universal productions crew, um,
help ensure that the vehicle was able to do some of the tricks and stunts that it was supposed to
do in the movie. Cause I don't know if you've ever driven, uh, you know, a modern car out,
out on a track or tried to do J turns and three sixties and stuff. They don't want to do that.
They want to drive straight, right. It's what they're intended to do. So he, he was able to
get out there and help them with that. And I called him, I said, Hey, uh, your secret mission
is to go find this engine cover. So he and I touch base, you know, whatever, 12 hour time
difference or something. I kept reaching out to him and say, Hey, did you get a chance to
go look for that? He's like, no, they won't let me leave. They won't let me leave the set,
but this weekend they're not going to be filming. So I'm going to go look for it.
Uh, he ended up getting on a train and heading out to some town that the cars originated at.
And they were like buried in a garage somewhere in a crate. He pry bar this crate open and there
was the engine cover sitting right there. So he took it back to the hotel. He told him, Hey,
this thing's worth $2.1 million. I put it in your safe. I was like, no, don't tell them that don't
tell them. Um, and was finally able to get it set up with FedEx. But because of the size of the town
that it was in, it took FedEx like three weeks to get there before they had a truck full of
shipments and they shipped it back to the United States through multiple countries.
And it finally arrived in Houston right as a hurricane was hitting. And I just remember seeing
videos of things floating down the street. And I was like, Oh my gosh, my box is going to be there
floating down the street. And unfortunately all the flooding that happened down there,
but a long story short, we ended up getting it back, uh, probably a month and a half after this
whole process started and we were able to get it down back to the owner again, but it was a
crazy, crazy story. Just step after step trying to try to stop you. Oh yeah. Was there ever a
thought of seeing if you could just have him sign another one? Well, the first thought was,
I don't know if I'm going to have a job in a couple of weeks. I'll find this thing. So
might not be my issue that long. Yeah, but no, thankfully, thankfully we got it.
We, we did toy around with some backup plans. I'll just leave it at that. But, but yeah,
no, he, uh, he got it. Oh, that's awesome. That's a great story. I'm glad you.
It is time to pick the winners for the Toyota employee car show. Pay attention
over here. It is time. Are you picked? Did you have a spot? I got to look at my pictures. Okay.
I got to look at my pictures again. All right. So we each have an award to bestow
on a vehicle in the car show, and we're not going to reveal them to each other.
So if someone picks the car you picked, you have to pick something different. And I am going first.
You're not going to get picked. Well, yeah, I have to, I mean, I'm, I've got the run the
show and stuff, the volume. So I can't do that. I have to do, I have to go first.
I have to go first. Shannon, are you ready?
I am still contemplating Chris. All right. Well, while you contemplate,
I'm trying to look at my pictures and remember what I looked at
while you contemplate. I'll ask Russ, Russ, are you ready? I am. All right. That means Shannon,
your time is up. What you, you should be fine. Listen, pick three, just pick three random.
I got one. And what if one of us picks that? I'm ready. Okay. All right. My choice for
the Chris Carter. I don't, I don't know if it's called this. I'm going to call it
Chris Carter award for catchy, catching my eye. I am choosing the 1996 Toyota land cruiser fire
truck. Oh, that was, I just looked at that picture. It was cool by Eli Nesbitt. Yeah,
it's his vehicle and it is, it's really cool. It looks, I thought, I thought when we got here,
I was looking for a Hilux and there's a couple of cars that are a couple of trucks that I
thought might be. And this was the first one that, and when the more I got to look
at this vehicle, that was the one I picked. I am enamored with it. I'm ready. I'm ready.
Shannon, what is your choice? I have an affinity for yellow. Okay. Yellow catches my eye.
The 19, I believe it's a 91 Honda right-hand drive beat mini rear engine, mid engine.
It's pretty cool. And he has on his license plate. I didn't see the name on it because his
sign wasn't up, but he has on his license plate, mini NSX. And I got a chance to talk to the
gentleman and the car was launched at the same time as the Acura NSX. Okay. And it was at that
time, the only two mid engine cars that Toyota had. And then he went on to tell me when they
relaunched the newest generation of NSX, they introduced a, I think he called it an S600 in
Japan. Okay. Which is another mini car at the same time. Okay. It was only in the Japanese market,
but this is a right-hand drive Japanese car and it just really caught my eye. So that is my winner.
Russ Evans. All right. It's a 68 Chevy C10. It's kind of a, it's not a rat rod, but it's a,
like an old gas station kind of service truck. It's pretty cool. The paint's patina.
It's got a 350 Chevy HO engine with a Holley Sniper EFI on it. It's got MSD digital ignition
on it, rack and pinion. So, I mean, they've done some stuff. It's got air ride on it. It's really
sweet. And it's got a Sinclair dinosaur on the door and it comes with a matching motorcycle in
the bed of the truck. Also with the same lettering as the service station. Nice. The Sinclair dinosaur
on it. My wife likes that one too. So those are your Berkeley one classics. Jason Barney on that
one. Award winners right there. All right. And it says Iowa, the station service station. Oh,
cool. From Iowa. Not too far. Right. Was that the Newton Iowa? Newton Iowa. There we go. That's
neat. That's really cool. Thanks to Toyota for having us down here. Thanks to Berkeley one
classics for hosting us and just a blast. Thanks. You bet. Any parting words? Well, I see
some of these vehicles are pulling out. If we're going to catch our winners and get their gifts,
we got to do it. We got to do that. All right. Parting shots. Parting thoughts. I think we're
good. Let's go catch them. Thanks, everybody. With Russ Evans, this is Shannon Nordstrom
thanking you for tuning into the Nordstrom's Under the Hood Show. Have a great day and remember,
the opinions heard on this program, based on the many years of experience of Russ and Shannon,
are offered for entertainment value only and as a guide to your repair needs.
No claim to repair or cause is given or implied. Always consult with your own certified technician
and follow all safety procedures before attempting any repair. To be a part of the show,
call 866-594-4150. Find out more by visiting UnderTheHoodShow.com. Under the Hood is produced
by Prairie House Productions. All content is the property of Nordstrom's Automotive
Incorporated and may not be used without our permission. Copyright Nordstrom's Automotive Inc.
About this episode
A lively discussion unfolds at the OctoberBeast Toyota Employee Car Show in Plano, Texas, where hosts Russ, Shannon, and Chris explore a variety of unique vehicles brought by Toyota employees. From modified classics to modern supercars, the hosts share their favorites and engage with attendees, including a notable interview with Nick Miller from Toyota. The episode captures the camaraderie and enthusiasm of the car community while highlighting Toyota's rich history in motorsports and innovation in hybrid technology.
Ac Cobra MkIII
Acura NSX
AMC AMX
Chevrolet C10
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet Pickup Truck
Ford Mustang
Honda S600
Infiniti G35
Lamborghini Countach
Nissan Titan
Oldsmobile 442 Convertible
Oldsmobile Cutlass
Pontiac GTO
Pontiac Solstice
Pontiac Trans Am
Scion xB
Shelby Cobra
Toyota 4Runner
Toyota Camry
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
Toyota GR 86
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota Hilux
Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota MR2
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Supra
Toyota Tacoma
Toyota Tundra
Volkswagen Beetle
Original notes
The guys head down to Toyota Headquarters in Plano Texas and participate in the OctoberBeast Toyota Employee only annual car show. While there, they talk with Nick Miller about some really cool Toyota stuff you may not have known. Under The Hood show on the road
Under The Hood show
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