We Got Updates - DWA! Podcast Ep. #908
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69:05
Car
Hyundai Santa Cruz
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a new type of pickup truck that combines the features of a truck and an SUV. It's designed to be practical and comfortable, making it great for both work and everyday driving.
Car
Volkswagen Santana
The Volkswagen Santana is a small car that was made for many years and is known for being reliable. It's a practical choice for people who need a simple and dependable vehicle.
Car
Mazda Tribute
The Mazda Tribute is a small SUV that people liked for its usefulness and space. It's a good option for families or anyone who needs a reliable car for everyday use.
Car
BMW E30
The BMW E30 is a popular version of the BMW 3 Series that was made in the 1980s and early 1990s. It's loved by many for its style and how fun it is to drive.
Term
Vintags
Vintags are special tags on a car that show important information about when and how it was made. They help people know if the car is original or has been changed.
Term
OEM fenders
OEM fenders are replacement parts made by the same company that made the original parts for your car. They fit perfectly and work just like the ones that came with the car.
Term
original paint
Original paint is the paint that was put on the car when it was first made. People often prefer it because it shows the car hasn't been repainted or altered.
Term
resprayed
Resprayed means that the car has been painted again after it was originally made. This can happen if the car gets damaged or if the owner wants a different color.
Term
visible seam
A visible seam is where two parts of the car meet and can be seen. It might show that the car has been fixed or worked on, which can be important for its value.
Term
chipping
Chipping is when small bits of paint come off the car, usually from things hitting it while driving. It can make the car look bad and can cause rust if not fixed.
Concept
patina
Patina is the way a car looks when it gets older, showing signs of wear and tear. Some people like this look because it shows the car's history.
Part
Euro front bumper
A Euro front bumper is a type of bumper that is designed for cars sold in Europe. It usually looks different from bumpers on cars sold in other places, like the U.S.
Part
M tech air dam
An M tech air dam is a part that helps a car move through the air better. It can make the car look sportier and help it perform better.
Term
tariff
A tariff is a tax you pay when you bring goods into a country. For car parts, this means you might have to pay extra money when buying parts from another country.
Car
Toyota Celica
The Toyota Celica is a small sports car made by Toyota. It was popular for its sporty look and good performance.
Part
carbon fiber hood
A carbon fiber hood is a car part made from a special lightweight material called carbon fiber. It's used to make cars lighter and improve their performance.
Part
cowcatcher air dam
A cowcatcher air dam is a part at the front of a car that helps it move through the air better and can make it look more stylish. It's designed to help with airflow and cooling.
Concept
incentivize
Incentivizing means offering deals or discounts to encourage people to buy something, like cars or car parts. It's a way to make the purchase more appealing.
Part
magnesium BBS wheels
BBS makes special wheels for cars, and magnesium wheels are lighter than regular ones, which helps cars go faster and handle better.
Car
2002
The BMW 2002 is an older model of a small car that people love for its fun driving experience and sporty design.
Car
Volkswagen Vanagon
The Volkswagen Vanagon is a roomy van that people often use for camping or road trips. It's loved for its space and the fun adventures it can provide.
Term
VW emblem
The VW emblem is the logo for Volkswagen cars. It looks like a 'V' on top of a 'W' and is usually found on the front of the car.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that people love for its speed and style. It's been around for a long time and is known for being really fun to drive, which is why it's often talked about in car discussions.
Car
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a super-fast sports car that was made in the 1980s. It's famous for its cool technology and speed, making it a special car that many collectors admire.
Term
964 seals
964 seals are rubber parts used in certain Porsche cars to keep water and dirt out. They help make the car more comfortable and protect it from damage.
Term
alignment
Alignment is about making sure the wheels of a car are pointing in the right direction. If they aren't, it can cause uneven tire wear and make the car harder to steer.
Part
custom exhaust system
A custom exhaust system is a special set of pipes and parts that help the car's engine breathe better and sound different. It's made just for that car to improve how it runs and sounds.
Car
Alfa Romeo Super Sprint
The Alfa Romeo Super Sprint is a beautiful old sports car that many people admire for its looks and speed. It's a special car that collectors really want because of its history.
Car
BMW E30 M3
The BMW E30 M3 is a special version of the BMW 3 Series car that is designed for better performance and racing. It's popular because it's fun to drive and has a classic design.
Concept
classic rally
A classic rally is a fun event where only older cars, usually from before a certain year, can join. This makes it special because everyone gets to see and enjoy vintage cars together.
Car
Ford Country
The Ford Country Squire is an old-fashioned family car that looks like a big wagon. It was popular for taking families on road trips and is remembered for its unique wooden sides.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a classic American sports car that people admire for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for many years and is often featured in movies and car shows, making it a popular topic among car lovers.
Car
Volkswagen Caddy
The Volkswagen Caddy is a handy van that people use for work or family trips. It's known for being spacious and practical, making it a good choice for carrying lots of stuff.
Car
Cupra Born
The Cupra Born is a new electric car that looks sporty and fun to drive. It's part of a trend where cars are becoming more eco-friendly, which is important for the environment.
Car
Mazda CX-50
The Mazda CX-50 is a type of car called a crossover SUV. It's designed to be comfortable for families and good for driving on different types of roads.
Car
Porsche Cayenne
The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV that offers both luxury and performance. It's designed to be comfortable and powerful, making it a great choice for those who want a stylish vehicle that can handle different terrains.
Car
Lexus Rx
The Lexus RX 350 is a nice, comfortable SUV that offers a lot of luxury features. It's designed to be family-friendly and is great for people who want a smooth ride with plenty of space.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a sporty car that people love for its powerful engine and cool design. It's been around for a long time and is often seen as a fun car to drive, especially for those who enjoy speed.
Car
Porsche 944
The Porsche 944 Turbo is a sporty car that has a turbo engine, making it faster and more powerful than regular versions.
LIVE
The Driving While Awesome podcast is recorded live to SD card at the Beeline
Motor Club in Santa Cruz, California.
Where am I?
And where are you?
Can you imagine his head?
I can't see his little head.
Egocidal vehiculum.
There's no doubt. Courettes are fast.
What about the people that put in their fingers over the license?
Keiichi Tuchiya.
Those cars have such a cute little face, you know, it's like a little
like a little salamander or something, you know, I'm riding dirty right now.
Off the record.com.
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Welcome to Driving While Awesome.
My name is Warren.
I'm Lane and I'm Mark.
We're really doing it.
It's happening.
Dude, I almost forgot it was my turn.
Oh, how does that work?
You just kind of have pulled in our grapes.
Yeah, they pulled an art.
You're just like staring at like an email or something that just came through.
I almost forgot to pick up my microphone.
Oh, I've done that before.
Yeah.
I've been talking and then realized like the mic is yonder.
Yeah, you hear it in your headphones.
So it's like, yeah, we're doing a little inside baseball,
but we're all recording remote today.
So it's a little, a little off.
Yeah.
Well, and it's a morning podcast, which isn't super rare these days,
but it's earlier than usual.
I still have a beer, but you know, oh, look at you.
Yeah, right.
Just kidding.
Yeah.
I have a Guava, Sao Paulo, La Croix, not really like into La Croix these days,
but it just, it was in the pantry and I went for it.
Damn.
I did want to say though that speaking of inside baseball,
it is very nice to be able to hear you guys perfectly clearly.
It is, it's kind of, it's kind of a nice.
I know, I, you know, it doesn't actually hurt to do these remote like this
because you're gone anyways art.
So it's like, unless we're meeting up, it really doesn't matter to me.
Yeah.
It's kind of nice to be able to do it from home and have really clear audio and all that stuff too.
Yeah.
And like not as many air compressors turning on.
Exactly.
I mean, we've talked about it, Warren.
I could, I was thinking about bringing the board over to my house anyways,
because it's closer to you and it's actually a better scene here.
So yeah, we could start, we could, we could start changing things.
I like it full circle back to Lane's pad.
Dude, well we need like a yeah.
We need like a 10 by 10 room with a circle table, a whole cut out in the middle.
Mike stands, dude.
I saw one of those photo.
I don't know.
I was looking.
I don't even know where I saw that.
Oh, might have been on our YouTube or something because we had the video.
We still have the videos from when we did a few live podcast or you know,
we did recordings of like video recordings in that room.
By the way, 10 by 10 is very generous for that room.
Oh God, I don't think it was 10 by 10, but it was fish.
I can amounted to the bookshelf in the corner and then like when Jason Camisa was on,
I think we did it and there was a couple others maybe, but maybe when Jay Lam was there,
I don't know, but it was like we had guests.
We put them or it maybe was just a certain period of time that we were doing.
I think it was during covid.
We were like, hey, how do we do this thing?
Yeah.
Yeah, we were.
I think it was during covid because we were.
Is it during covid?
I don't know.
But anyways, that was really funny to have guests over because they're like,
alright, this is it huh?
Yeah, come on in and it's like, I mean, I think probably more like an 8 by 8 room
and then bookshelves on two corner on two sides and then plywood floor painted green
with like an Aztec princess in the middle and then we had carpet down
and then we had a round table that I cut a hole in the middle for all the wires to go through.
It was pretty, pretty sweet dude.
It was pretty sweet.
It worked out totally worked.
I remember the chairs were beyond uncomfortable.
Yeah.
What were they?
They were just like, you know, oak, whatever chairs, but then we had like the worst pads for them.
They're just like, I do remember.
Yeah.
Yeah, just terrible.
Where they weren't Marenos level or sorry.
Not Marenos, Hacienda level uncomfortable.
Nothing will beat Hacienda's chairs.
Oh my God.
Art, you need to check these things out next time you're in town, dude.
Are they like, I'll take a picture.
They're like a fucking stuff with like a they're beyond vertical, dude, and they're or they're ornate.
They're ornate.
So they stab into your back.
So they have like, yeah.
So you basically don't want to lean back.
So you're leaning forward.
You're hunched over.
Yeah.
You can't lean back, dude.
I think it's to basically like, hey, don't get comfortable here.
Yeah.
Let's get eat, eat and rest.
Like we don't need you hanging out all day.
Isn't that the McDonald's philosophy?
Like it's like, like it's like super bright.
Like the AC is a little too high.
And then also the colors, right?
They say like the yellow is like, it's not a comforting color.
And it's just so plasticky everywhere.
Whereas like you look back in the 80s, like you look at a McDonald's and it was like warm.
It's like on said, I mean, fucking shag carpet in there or some shit.
You know, like ash trays to just relax and hang out and the fireplace.
I have the same.
Who knows?
Totally little massage chairs.
I have the same theory about the beds that you get when you're having a baby in the delivery room.
They give the husbands or dads a fold out like a piece of IKEA furniture from 1990
that is vinyl and not even flat.
I think it's sketchy at past.
It's like a hospital comfort plus, you know, that's about all you get.
But I have a theory like, why do you think you should be sleeping?
Don't get, we're not going to give you a freaking bed, like a king size bed
with like great sheets and good pillows.
Like no, you're, you're dealing with a newborn here.
Like get ready for action.
I guess.
Yeah.
But you think they're thinking that much dude.
They're just cheap, right?
But dude, they wouldn't take much to upgrade that.
That is at least the ones that I've experienced.
Since they are either a love seat, the size of, you know, a 30 back seat, I think I'm
going to say is the size of a thimble or like a fold out recliner that essentially
is like a glorified fold out recliner.
That is just not, you know, it sounds like you just need to be more prepared dog
and you bring your own gear.
You bring your little temper, pedic then topper to go on that.
And then you bring a little cozy stuff.
Oh, dude, my, my mask, my eye mask and like earplugs.
Maybe yeah, like take some sleeping pills.
Don't wake up for a few days.
Yeah.
No, I think that's the right move.
I was watching like Giants playoffs during my first daughter's birth.
That was kind of nice.
What are you looking at right now?
I'm just on the computer.
Oh, cool.
That's great.
Just fantastic.
Great.
I gotta go.
I actually got to see office space again.
I'm going to play that soon at some point.
It holds up a hundred percent.
It's a great one.
Yeah, that he kind of can't miss.
I mean, that guy, he yeah, he's like judge.
He hit nothing.
He makes his success, but he can't miss.
I mean, I don't know if that's true.
Well, it's not a success.
The box office beginning, right?
Right.
Right.
But I think if you looked at like probably his overall, you know, gross revenue
for what he spends like those movies probably aren't idiocracy is probably pretty expensive,
but Silicon Valley.
That's a really popular show.
I mean it sure did well.
And so it's not for many.
King of the Hill has been on forever and like syndicated like crazy.
I'm sure did you guys ever get into that?
No, I never got into it either.
I mean, I get it, but I didn't really.
I'm not a big cartoon guy in general, but you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I know his, but his movies like idiocracy flopped office space flopped
like you look at these movies, these movies he made.
They like, I think there was another one in there.
Beavis, America.
Come on.
I mean, that was probably a decent success because he was about had was established.
Yeah, but yeah, his movies kind of flopped and then they became these like cold classics.
Totally.
I was looking at we watched Napoleon Dynamite the other night.
Andrew is Napoleon Dynamite for Halloween.
Yeah.
Did you do the dance?
Yeah, a little bit.
If you really get them in the right mood, but that movie was made for somewhere around
500,000, 700,000, something like that.
And it seems too high gross.
Yeah.
Well, that's what it was.
And it made 50 million or something.
It was like one of the highest grossing, you know, per all the budget, the margin, the ratio,
the R and I think it probably still makes, you know, a ton of money on like rentals and
syndicate.
Who's that?
Who made that?
Jared.
Jared.
Kushner.
Jared Hess, right?
And yeah, and the costume that Sarah bought for Andrew was still licensed 20th Century Fox,
like on the tag.
There's still like cashing in on every little piece of it.
I'm sure you can get generics, but that was the one we happened to end up with.
Anyways, this isn't a movie podcast.
The hell's going on over here.
I mean, that movie does have a sweet van in it though.
Speaking of sweet vans, so that's a Santana in that one.
I think it's probably like late seventies, maybe early eighties.
I think so, yeah.
I've never looked it up.
It's on the cusp.
We'd never had one at Radwood.
It would be, I think we would probably allow it, especially if it was a tribute like that.
I had the van again out for a week recently.
Actually, we had lunch.
Lane and I had lunch together.
I drove it down there.
Just a good time to be in the van.
Wow.
It was beautiful weather.
Got the double arm rests.
Good view out, you know, small tires.
Don't tell anybody about that.
But yeah, van is doing great.
I just want to report to the listeners that the van again is out and about.
Cool.
But now it's tucked away because of the rain, right?
I put it back in the garage.
Yeah.
It's back in the garage.
Never come out again.
Next summer.
Yes, exactly.
We winterize our cars here in Santa Cruz.
We take all the fluids out and, you know, what else?
Gets below like 50 sometimes.
Yeah, exactly.
Hey, man, there's snow up in that mountain up there every year.
Unsalted roads though.
Well, dude, I think there is still an opportunity here for you, right?
I think to go through that rust, you know, removal process.
I hear that Beeline Motor Club.
They have an entire paint auto body restoration business there as well.
I'm starting with some stuff I can actually tackle, which is like the door panels,
which I've been saying forever.
Just little stuff, but they actually rust.
I mean, the only thing is just driving your nuts because like I feel like that
shit expands, right?
And so it's just going to continue getting worse.
It's just, it is a big jump to go into that.
Like, yeah, because the van kind of needs a full paint job.
It's not just that like front cowl, which actually go west.
He sells those sections lane.
You know how bad all Volkswagen's are?
Yeah, all of them.
Shield base.
They sell replacement panels like the corner of the windshield.
Just the corner.
Oh, no way.
That section?
Yeah.
They sell that section.
Oh, whoa.
Makes sense.
I thought it was about the whole nose like a whole front.
But no, it's just the, it's just like the corner, the A pillar, a little bit of the
windshield base and it's super cheap.
I mean, that's, that's, you know, obviously that's just your barrier of entry there
getting, getting that piece, but it's a, it's great.
Like that's, that shows you how much this is happening.
And then the van really needs a full paint job.
Like that's just time.
Be line motor club and have a full page.
But I think it could get away with the rest and then doing just the cladding,
the, you know, the body kit portion, which is all plastic and that's all faded.
It would look so much better.
That and like a new vinyl stripe.
Speaking of rust art, how about your E30 fender?
Dude, the E30 fender is there.
It's looking great and it has not expanded on my end.
So what Elaine is referring to on the E30, the entire car is totally rust free
except for the driver side fender at the very bottom and the front corner,
like it got eaten up there.
And so I definitely need to do something about that.
And this is also a situation where I would rather have that section cut off and welded
because it is original.
Like, you know, all, all of the panels on the car have original Vintags.
And so it would be nice to keep it if I can, but at the same time though,
just as you're describing, you know, that, I mean with panels and shit like this,
like there is dot, you know, the DOTR, like, you know, OEM fenders out there
that are, you know, plug and play and is technically a BMW part.
And I don't even know if I'll ever sell this car.
Oh, did I just say that by next year, how important is it?
How important is it to have the tag?
I don't know. Like I go back original tags.
Who cares, dude?
But why don't you just source a used fender that's good and white?
They're around, but this is a this is an option.
So the, I go back to the paint situation.
Now what Warren's describing is for me, like I was about to throw down an E30 update,
which I'll get to in a second, but I don't want mismatch panels.
And so I feel like if I'm going to like do that fender, I'm going to match it to the hood,
which, you know, we can do like, you know, that you use the spectrometer or whatever
the fuck that tool is called.
And so that's fine.
But like getting another fender, just like, you know,
getting a used fender that color is irrelevant.
Really? If I'm going to do that, like I'm on the fence.
Like if I'm going to put like a good use fender on there, why not just put like a
brand new one on there that I can source?
Yeah. I guess I would think there would be, you could find an actual white fender with
original paint and just slap that on.
Yeah. So that's my thinking.
Right. So the thing with this car is that it's not all original paint.
And I don't, and I, so not, yeah, the panels are, you know, they, the back has been resprayed.
And I've noticed in the trunk, like that's, there's visible a seam.
So I don't know why I have no record of any damage.
It is an Arizona car.
So obviously sun baked out there in the dashboard is really like a testament to that
because it's super cracked, which is covered.
But yeah, I mean, I think I just keep going back and forth on that.
Like if, if I'm going to do that piece, like I almost would want to just like what I was
going to get to is if I can just cut that section off, get another piece welded there
and then blend it.
So it's like way less visible because the way that you, if you look at the fender,
the bottom, the very bottom where it's rusted is actually it's black.
It has like that, what do you call it?
Like that protective coating, you know what I'm talking about?
Like it's a crinkle.
Yeah.
So the rubberized kind of stuff.
Yeah.
So that kind of shit.
So that goes along the bottom of the entire sill.
So like if I were to just, let's say we cut an inch above that, whatever the buffer is
needed to cut it and then the, you know, that gets welded in there and then that little
strip gets blended in.
Like I would be happier there and just rock the car as is because if I'm like doing a whole
panel, then I'm like, all right, might as well.
Do I just respray the whole front end?
Because the front is kind of chipped up and I don't know, just kind of snowballs from
there.
So maybe it's my turn, you know, I'm being a hypocrite to send this and do the B line
restoration.
I mean, dude, I think that's like not even a rest.
I mean, that's a pretty seemingly minor quick little thing, right?
Especially if you're, if you're saying you don't want to go full, you don't want to
open a bunch of, you know, you don't want to do a bunch of other stuff.
Just isolating it to that.
I feel like you could get that.
Yeah, I would be happy with that because, because I mean, like, just like Warren is
saying with my car, like it actually, the paint is okay.
It's not perfect by any means, but the front has a lot of chipping on it.
The hood was just resprayed because, you know, they fixed some dents and then just
resprayed the hood and, you know, now like the both fenders on either side have chips
on the leading edges of them.
So I don't want like one fender to be like really clean and nice and then the other one
to be kind of like patina and so it's just like this mental hurdle of like, like if I'm
going to do something like I want to either be, have it be as like minimally impactful
visibly as possible or just do a lot, you know, like just like maybe redo the entire
front end if I can get it matched up because that's where the most kind of like patina
is on the car.
The rest of it is pretty solid and, and I have considered that because dropping a bomb
here, I am going to do a Euro front bumper conversion finally.
So yeah, so I ordered the Euro front Euro bumper because I do have a Euro rear bumper,
which I got during COVID imported from Ukraine pre-war edition.
And I ordered the front bumper and I got an M tech air dam that's going to go with it.
So it's basically going to be like a cleaner, more like, what's the word I'm looking for,
less tidy, prominent, tidy, yep, tidy version of the cowcatcher air dam because the M tech
one air dam looks very similar to the one that we got as a cowcatcher here, but it's
just it doesn't protrude so far where it makes the car look like it has a huge underbite.
Like it actually like is sort of angled back and it's tidy exactly.
So, so that's happening.
And the fun thing about this is the bumper is coming from Latvia because there's a company
out there that is reproducing these bumpers to a very high standard and just the metal part.
And then they use OEM trim and rubber and all of that and lights and they build those
kits and ship them out.
So they're very expensive and I'm going to see what I have to pay tariff wise when it
lands because I was on Reddit just checking to see if like, you know, it was on an e 30
look at an e 30 subreddit thing about importing parts and someone two months ago ordered a
bunch of parts from this particular seller classic year.
I think it's called classic Euro parts, something like that they do a ton of stuff,
not just e 30s and they said they got hit with a 30 percent tariff dude on like I think
I got a twenty five hundred dollar order, which is super lame.
Yeah, so thank watch this space.
You know, this is all part of the experience that we're dealing with now as car people.
I had a conversation yesterday with our but Johnny he is a used to be CS all track on
Instagram. He's got like a fully built Celica all track that was featured on Larry Chen's
channel years ago and he was saying that he was trying to import a carbon fiber hood
for his car and it was going to bump the price from like sixteen hundred to like twenty
eight hundred to import it from the UK.
So he just like held off because like he's waiting to see if there's some changes here,
but which is unlikely, but so you're telling me the other countries don't pay the tariff.
Is that what you're saying?
We pay the tariffs and the companies don't either.
That's like been crystal clear since day one to me, right?
It's like I don't know.
Ain't that crystal clear to me?
I'm I don't know about yeah.
So but yeah, but now the people we got to, you know, get up up in arms here and make
the regional local companies in the US to make these carbon fiber hoods and bumpers
for us, you know, because then we don't have to pay these tariffs.
They would only be like seven grand for that two thousand dollar hood.
Yeah, exactly.
But yeah, so I'm really excited about that because it is it is really going to
transform the car in some ways.
You know, like it's just it just cleans up the entire car.
It makes it more cohesive.
I have the rear end, the rear is all Euro spec now, but I I mean, I've just been
holding off because I really do like the cowcatcher air dam.
Like I think it's it's really cool.
It's a great look.
I know it's it's unique.
It's a one year only thing.
All that and it's it's specific and it's it's it's original to this car to a lot
of people put them on after the fact, you know, so yeah, but rip that thing off.
But that Euro bumper does tidy it up a ton, dude, wait, wait, I know what you
have going on. It is.
Yeah, it's too bad that you couldn't like swap them easily back and forth.
If you're like feeling cowcatcher today, throw that bad boy on.
Well, I mean, you know, during covid and we're like, you know, all cooped up.
Lane and I were talking about like figure out a way to sort of like because the
issue that I have with the cowcatcher is that it sticks really far forward.
You know, it's really deep so deep that it put the ass to sleep, you know, and
and so when you look at it from a profile, it looks ridiculous.
It's like it looks really unbalanced because it goes really far forward when
like it should be half the depth, but they did that to compensate for the
gigantic bumper that stuck out originally, right because it goes further
forward than the front end of the car, a ton like than the headlights, which is
like weird. Yeah, so weird aesthetic a ton. Yeah, and so in the European cars,
it's like, it's literally half the depth, which is in line with the headlights,
you know, which you would normally have in any, which is what it should be.
Yeah, exactly. So, but three quarter front, direct front looks killer.
Like I actually really like it and it looks like very motorsporty.
It's like very aggressive and all that and it is totally functional too, which is
rad. But so yeah, so we're going to go through the motions here and yeah, we'll
see what happens. I mean, supposedly it was, it was going to be, I asked the guys,
I DMed them on Instagram because they weren't responding on email. Great sign.
And they said, they said two weeks is typical from Latvia to California, but we'll see.
So just a little, a last time I got something from overseas was probably two years ago,
I got a Porsche design watch and I ordered, you know, I ordered on, you know,
this reputable site and everything. It's like a used, used watch from the 90s.
And dude, the biggest freaking nightmare to get it here. Like, like everything about it was like,
I was like, I don't think I'm going to get this thing. Like I made, I was probably on like 20
calls with UPS and all these kind of sites and no one that you could talk to,
spoke in English. It was so hard dude. And it was all about like the, it was all about bringing it
over, you know, it's all about the custom stuff and the biggest, but the biggest hurdle really was
that when they put in my address, the zip code was one number off, which, but it said Santa Cruz,
California. It says the address. It's like everything's correct, except instead of,
instead of a two at the end, it's like a seven or something, which like, and it's like getting
that changed was gnarly dude. Like basically I wrote it off at one point. One point I was at
Disneyland with my family on a fucking hour long call trying to figure it out and it still, and
then you think you get it settled and then it's like no, and then you get a, a like a notification
that the thing is being bounced back to Germany. It was the most frustrating thing. And then I,
and I paid the tariffs like, you know, I guess the tax import taxes at the time, it wasn't tariffs,
right? It's import taxes, which is tariffs. I don't know. Anyways, I paid those online,
like did the whole thing. It was like 350 bucks. Then I finally get the thing delivered, dude.
And I'm like, Oh my God, it's being delivered. And the UPS driver is like, Oh, and you need to
write a check for this amount for the, for the taxes. And it was exactly what I had already
paid. Again, I already paid it. Yeah. I'm like, here's the receipt. I already paid it. And he's
like, Oh, okay. And I actually know our UPS driver because we went to high school with him.
And I'm like, well, I'm keeping this thing, dude. You're not leaving with the package.
I'm like, I don't give a shit, dude. And he's like, I'm like, dude, you're gonna,
I'm like, someone's gonna have to fight me to take it. You know, like whatever, my God, you're
like, make sure you're like have both arms on it like this. You're like,
I mean, I was just like, it's such a crucial piece, you know, like for your child to live,
to have that, like you need to know, but it was $3,000 I spent on a thing. No, dude,
it's like, that's brutal. I mean, that's a lot Warren and I had already paid fucking,
I already paid it. And it's like, I dealt with it. It was like, it was a, it was a
probably a month. It was a month and a half at least dealing with it. Like once you said 20
phone calls, only that's the most phone calls you've ever made about anything.
Dude, it was, I worked fucking 20 hours a week on this thing, dude, for like, you know, like
a long time. It goes back to like, if, if America was making used German watches,
I know, dude, you wouldn't have this problem. They were making used Portia Design IWC watches
from the nineties. We did for the nineties. You'd be fine, dude. But anyways, the way I ended it
up, I actually wrote a check and then they like fucking erase that check two months later.
Basically, you know, I see, but it was yeah. Well, hopefully I don't have to deal with that.
It was fun, dude. It will see now. I'm so like every time anything's overseas. I'm like,
it's a thing, man. It's a thing and it's hurting these guys big time. Like, you know, I was so
yeah, I've talked to a couple people about this and it is a problem right now, like because
they're trying to figure out ways to like sort of like discount stuff in advance, you know,
like to, to incentivize people to buy, you know, and it's like these guys, this is not like,
you know, a big OEM, you know, like, you know, exporting like to capitalize on millions of people.
This is like literally like mom and pop businesses selling like components that we all need. Like
for our classic cars, they're filling a niche and then and the hard thing is that nothing's
transparent, dude. That's the biggest, the hardest part. It's like there isn't a, there
isn't like a guy. It's not like you do this and this and this is how much it's going to be exactly.
No one knows, dude. That's the hardest. Yeah, dude. Remember when, so this is like pretty all
this crazy tariff shit, but like when I bought those, those magnesium BBS wheels for my 2002,
I got those from Eastern Europe too. I think I got them from Estonia and it was on Facebook
marketplace. Some dude, he's got like a page and you know, really cool rare wheels and he
restores them and they were super nice. And I went through the motions like initially he was
very, very communicative and everything. I paid for him and then he went completely dark on me
like for like three, four weeks and I had no idea. Like did I just totally get ripped off at this
point? Like what the hell happened? And then they just showed up. Like they just were there at my
like one day they were just at my house and so there it was weird because I got everything
delivered. Like they were sitting on my, on my patio when I live in San Francisco and then
later I got a letter in the mail that I needed to pay the tariffs or whatever you know the
import duties. So I don't know how this is going to pat out. Yeah, like if it'll be like you're
describing like where it's all in advance or like I have no idea like I have zero idea how
this is going to work. Like are they going to call me? Am I going to receive a letter?
Like I don't know. I tried looking into it and it's, it's all varied too and it depends on the
shipper too. Like and I also like went down because eBay has a little thing when you go,
if it's a part overseas, there's a little section that says like, oh, like, you know,
import duties, blah, blah, blah, tariffs due to these changes, you should check like here
for more information and I click into it and it has like this crazy ass spreadsheet that has
like a bunch of information and it specifically said that like UPS is no longer shipping or
handling shipments from, from Latvia. So like, and so who knows what, what this is coming
or what they're using as a, as a shipper at this point. I haven't received a tracking number or
anything. So it's a mystery, but the good news is that this is like the, or I should say these
guys are like the, like the dudes that handle this specific product. Like no one else makes this.
There's a company in Taiwan that's trying to reproduce them and they make components,
but not like a full kit like this. And so it's like they're a known entity and like
pretty much all new, at least new Euro bumpers in the U S that you see for these cars are from
this particular vendor. It's just a matter of, yeah, we'll see how it all pans out, but
to be continued, but yeah. Best of luck. Questions time. Got a couple on our Instagram here.
Do you guys, would you like to answer them? I like to answer questions. I would like to.
Yeah, that's cool. All right. Walter Michael Woods says any project car updates or down dates?
I was going to add something to the van again, not a project really, but they go Westie sells.
I was looking for new badges because the back plastic badges say Vanagon GL and Volkswagen,
they come with like metallic on the top of the plastic, you know, so it looks like it's metal,
but they're not. Well, they reproduce just that part because the badges are fine. It's just the
metallic part that fades away over time. So they make sticker sets that you just overlay onto your
existing badges. So they, for all different Volkswagen's, not just Vanagans, but really nice.
So the badges are no longer available as a whole. You can find used ones, but they probably need
the same treatment. So now you can just buy a whole set comes with like the VW emblem, the
script that you need, whether it's synchro or whatever, and then you can just apply it. So
it's kind of a nice little update. Did you do it? I have it on order. So I'll let you know how it
looks. Yeah, it's kind of cool though, because the badge can stay on the car. I don't have to mess
with it. I could just apply it on top of it, you know. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's cool. Yeah. Not the
VW emblem though, right? The Volkswagen emblem, because that's like a real chrome. That's a real
metal one. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it's like flat surfaces. So it should be easy to apply.
Lining up. How do you line it up? I don't know. I'm going to see. I think it's going to be just
based on your jittery hands. All right, dude. Yeah. A lot of those have like little, I mean,
there's like a template, right? That you like place. I mean, I don't know. It just goes on top
of your badge. It's on the car. You can't, I don't know how you would get it templatized, but maybe.
Yeah, we'll see. Template. We'll see. Thanks, man. I mean, that's a good, yeah. Vinyls replace
paint. Like that's like, that's like one of the advancements we've had, right? With like
vinyls and stuff, which is kind of cool in some areas. Sometimes it's not good, but yeah,
that sounds like a good application for a good place to use it. I have a, my 911 is at the
aforementioned B line and I got the distributor rebuilt and that's in and then I had when it's
there. I haven't picked it up yet. I need to pick it up probably today or tomorrow, but
the, I had the cowl seals replaced, which is those. So it's a see the fender to cowl seals.
So I don't know if you know, like those, they're like rubber, they're black rubber and they kind
of, so mine were like at one point in one area, they were sticking up by over a quarter inch,
like in the center, they were just been like, you know, over time they get kind of tweaked and
stuff and dried out. So I had those replaced, which is kind of a nice little, it's just one
of those little nice things, you know, you feel fresher. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if they
have, I don't think they have to loosen. They might have to loosen the fender a little bit
and pull it out. I'm not sure. So the way it is, it kind of wedges in and then it has a top cap,
like it has a wider mushroom top cap, basically it's and it's, you know, it's a stop
rain and stuff to get from getting in there. So you don't have the Volkswagen problem.
I think she tacked it specifically. No, I think it's just like a what's it called? Like button.
Oh, okay. Creamy, you know. Yeah, yeah, the little basic ass mushrooms.
Yeah, but it's a so what they do is so Kevin over there, B line is like a he's, you know,
he was like Mr. 959 at Canepa and he kind of knows all the little tricks about body work
on these poor shows and stuff like that. So what he uses is nine, six, four seals, which is like
a different. It's a it's more pliable than the old one. Not a crammy need. This is more of a
chanterelle. Maybe you're exactly. I'm just upgrading my shrooms and so it's more pliable
and it has like a bigger, a little it's a little thicker. So it kind of squishes in there better.
So yeah, we replace those and it looks good. And it's kind of like a nice little, you know,
it's a nice little feels good, dude. It feels good to like it feels good to like because the car,
like the paint works just getting worse every day because I'm driving it.
But like to keep stuff like this nice, like the little trim pieces and stuff feels good. So
yeah, that's cool. Yeah. I mean, there's nothing like replacing like a simple little
gasket that's visible. That's cracked with a fresh one like that little stuff like that. It's
like and every time you look at it, you go in the car and initially if it is damaged or if it's
like dried out, it bothers you and now it's a positive man. It makes you feel exactly. Yeah,
every time I wash the, every time I wash the car, I'm like, oh, those things are gnarly.
Fucking mushroom tips, mushroom tips, dude. No, I get it, man. It didn't go drip, drip, drip though.
It did not. Okay. Do you have any E 30 updates other than what you've already discussed bumper
wise? Not really. Oh, well, speaking of mushroom tips and hood alignment, I did. I did notice
something while the car was at Radwood that when I put the hood back down and I hadn't really paid
attention to this, but you know, the hood was redone and then reinstalled and I feel like I
need to space up the front a little bit like it sits lower than the fender line on, you know what
I'm talking about? And so that's like an adjustable thing. So I just need to like bump it up like
maybe quarter inch, something like that, like, and just to make it, you know, look right. And it's
one of those details where it's like, you know, most people don't notice, but I see the car
often and especially when I go in the garage and I was like, huh, yeah, that needs to be adjusted.
So I'll tweak that because especially if you look at the fender line from the back of the hood to
the front, like the back is correct and then it sinks. It's like, so yeah, that's pretty yeah.
So I'll I'll adjust that, but otherwise. Yeah. I mean it's there is. I have an idea
and I talked to Schneider about this because the car is going to go in for an alignment next week.
I I want to do something based on some advice that I got. So as you guys know, this is a custom
exhaust system and, you know, the graciously put together by our boy over, it was the kind of a
guy, but not not Kevin, right? It was a different dude, the guy that did all the exhaust there.
And so it's a super nice, you know, stainless steel custom deal, but it's three inches all the
way from the collector all the way to the tip. And so I think the idea was like they saw this,
okay, well the collectors three inches, we'll just go three inches all the way back. This is
actually what they've done in the past, you know, some of other people with swaps, including k-power.
So seemed like the right thing to do, you know, it's a high performance build, blah, blah, blah.
But then like I've been doing research and every single aftermarket e 30 exhaust is a narrower
dual setup, which sits higher up. So it gives you more clearance and this one I scrape a lot and
my car is not that low. And so I took it to an exhaust shop here in town and he basically
told me the same thing. He's like, yeah, dude, I have, I have no room to put in a resonator
and all aftermarket e 30 exhausts. This guy's been, this shop has been here since the 80s. He's
like, yeah, they're all like a dual, narrow setup, like super sprint, isam, and all these guys. So
I was looking at e 30 m three exhaust systems because effectively this is what I'm running now,
right with the high performance for Sander. So I talked to Schneider auto house and I'm
like, yo, like, what if I get an e 30 m three, like performance exhaust? And then you basically
hack off, hack off the section where it connects with the header and the collector and we mate
those together. Like, is that a possibility? And they think so. So I'm considering that as an option
to basically go to the next evolution of this exhaust because as much as it was nice to have
this custom thing made and it's really pretty and all that, it's just, I'm just unhappy with the
sound still. It's still a little too loud, but which is not the end of the world. It's just,
it sounds like shit. And then also I'm scraping a lot. Like I, I'm damaging it like, and I'm just
driving around town, like not doing nothing crazy. And it's just, it's, there's no way to tuck it
up further into the body. It's just, it hangs too low because it needs the clearance based on the,
on the diameter, you know, so, so yeah, I mean, and then an exhaust system like one that's built
for the 30, it's specifically designed for that underside too, right? So it'll be like,
you know, hung exactly where it needs to be and all that. So, so yeah, I, I sent them all the
information and they're, we're going to talk through it and see if they, if they think it makes
sense. I don't see why not, but that's likely what I'm going to end up doing. And then you go giant
Moogan tip. That's right. And maybe a, yeah, four and a half, 10. Oh yeah. Okay. Like with the one
where you can put the CD, he held up the CD next to it and just to show that it would fit a CD in
there and it's got to have the Moogan font. Well, ideally you also have it where it's like that,
like burnt titanium look or whatever where you have the, the it's a purplish, he treated exactly.
So that's what you're looking for. So that's a another detail and the other thing that I had
not mentioned is I did replace the throttle body and I fixed the weird like rev hang issue, but
and that was sorted. But unfortunately my high idle issue persisted and you know, and Nick mentioned
this. He just, they just ran out of time. He's like, yeah, I think it's, it's something with
the timing advanced at idle and it's part of the tune and it's something that they couldn't really
get to in time. So I did more research. I talked to K-Power about it. They're like, yeah, that's,
that's a known problem as well. So once now that I've done, gone through the motions of changing
all these different pieces with the throttle body, that's all smooth and great, but I'm still idling
very high, like at 1700 RPM. So I talked to the Schneider on a house guys to to see if
they're willing to tinker on it. If not, I have to figure out next steps on that, but because
it is annoying. So that will be sorted. So watch the space. We'll see when I, when I get that
squared away. I have a, I have a little thing. Maybe you guys can give me your opinions on it.
So the 9 11, my 9 11, the day, day after I got it, I guess I was heading home from LA
and I got rear ended. Do you guys remember that? I do remember. Yeah. Yeah. And the, the bumper,
the overrider, which are huge on my car, right? The big American overriders on the back. Yeah,
the bumper rats. One of them got a little, it has like a little Preston tear, basically a little
Nick, right? Yep. And those overriders are crazy money, dude. Like I want to say like 300,
350 bucks each, but I did buy a set of Euro ones, which were way cheaper because people make them
aftermarket and all this. And I bought, I bought these Euro ones for like, I don't even know,
$50 each or something. Whoa. But when you put the, when you put the, and I bought those like
three years, three and a half years ago when I bought the car, but when you put those on,
they only take two bolts and the stock bumper has four bolt holes. So I was like unwilling to put
them on and then have like two little plugs right there, even though my car is black and I don't
think it would be the worst thing, but it feels a little too like going down that aftermarket
rabble like space that I didn't want to go with that car. But what do you guys think? I mean,
I was thinking, you know, with access to beeline to them doing bodywork and stuff,
I was thinking, having the holes filled and then having those overriders put on,
do you guys think that's a good call? Or is it, I mean, and it would look way, I mean,
obviously looks way better. They stick out half as much and they're a third the size.
They're way narrower. It's so much cleaner, dude. So much narrower. Yeah. I would totally do it.
Yeah. I mean, I feel you on the plug thing. It looks chintzy. I mean, realistically,
can you try it? Can you try it with a plug first and just see? I just know I don't want those four
plug holes, dude. Yeah. I mean, so it's like, I, and I know what it looks great without it,
obviously. It's like, you see these, but it's just a matter of like going down the whole like,
but I mean, I guess it's not like the cars, some like pristine example of a nine 11 or anything,
but it is pretty stock, but I don't think, I don't know. I'm like, that's not, this is like not
even OEM plus. This is like OEM Euro, which like, yeah, that's a, that's a beneficial thing. I think
it's like Euro bumper. Yeah. You're like, you're a bumper conversion. I'm checking right now. Yeah,
to see like, yeah, you're, it looks like you can get a Euro bumper. They're about a thousand
bucks, but like, I mean, realistically, you know, it's the same thing. It's just no holes. Yeah.
And there's good used ones. I mean, like for 500 bucks on eBay, but you still have to ship them
and whatnot. Well, and I don't have to have it painted regardless of filling that hole is like
the filling those holes is minor. Yeah. There's no other differences between a Euro and a US
bumper. Yeah. And I mean, and so I can't picture it right now, but basically would you then respray
the whole bumper black after you do that or just blend in that section? No, you'd respray the whole
thing. Oh yeah. It's like, it's a small, yeah, it's a pretty small bumper, right? Like overall,
it just, it has the big rubber strip in the middle and then it has the accordions on the side.
Right. So you just assemble that, right? That's, I mean, I would totally do it. Yeah. I think it's,
it's a big improvement and it's not super invasive. It's not like getting into the body or anything,
right? And, and it's also like a welcome upgrade. I don't, it's kind of like, like in this situation
with my car, right? It's not like anybody is seeking out the E 30 with the big ass diving
boards, right? Like if you put Euro bumpers on it, it improves the appearance significantly
and the, and ultimately the value, right? Like I think it's a, it's kind of a win-win really.
The only thing is really kind of downtime, but I mean, I don't know how, you know,
if that's like a one day job really winter, winterize it. I mean, it's definitely not a one day
job because you're painting a bumper and stuff. So it's probably, you know, a week and a half or
something. Oh, there you go. In reality, I was thinking 20 minutes, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Zephyr
Zephyr J says, just want to say camping while awesome rally sounds rad AF out of the three of
you. Who's actually camping? Well, crickets staying in there. We're glamping cabin. Well,
I think my family is going to come down. I'm hoping at least one night. So
that makes it a little trickier because I'd have to like, instead of just a little one-man
tent and myself, I have to bring a bunch more camping gear and stuff. So no, I think we are
probably going to be bunking up in some way or another, but you guys are camping people Warren.
We are camping people, but I think for such a short time, it would be like one night. It's
so much stuff to bring. So that's where it's at. If Andrew could take time off and like come on
the whole rally. That's a different story, but yeah, it doesn't sound like it. So I think we're
probably going to do, we were talking about it internally here, but like each of us will probably
get a room and then decide how we want to furnish it with said people. Yeah, I know. It's my wife's
birthday. So I think they, my wife and kids might come down for at least, they probably will come
down for at least one night as well. Yeah. And I saw like Dante's, Dante's wife was interested and
I think it'd be fun to make this more of like a couple slash family friendly event.
Definitely sets itself up well for that. So if you didn't hear,
didn't see on Instagram, we've announced our Camping Well Awesome rally for the very beginning
of May, actually the last day of April. We'll do a pre-hang and then May 1st through the 3rd
in Parkfield, California, Camping Well Awesome rally. It's a classic rally,
so 1999 and older cars only, no exceptions. So you have time to buy a car and put in a
case swap in it and exhaust and bumperettes and bumperettes and all that stuff.
And a very limited, very limited rooms available. So camping is the default option.
And we need to talk about that too, because I think people are really going to want some,
a lot of people are going to want rooms and we have such a small supply that we'll have to come
up with a creative way to make sure that's fair because I mean I have creative way is just putting
it up on the website and first come, first serve, right? You could do an auction for the good rooms.
We got to go to 825 629. You could do a lottery. You could do a raffle. You could also just do
first come, first serve. Seems like the fair could do that. I mean, none of them you're not first
come. Well, I mean, yeah, I know and there's also options up the road to like that's a secondary
thing, but then we would have to communicate that too, right? It's like you have like the
accommodation, but then you're we're being we're divorcing the group, you know, like
no, I think we could also integrate that to like possibly have a dinner up there. Yeah,
maybe yeah, there's some some angles. We could also do a full build out, maybe just build like a
little just to trailer, bring out a bunch of air streams, you know, and then yes again auction,
you know, built if bought. I love it. Bobby Reed with Oh, I was going to say registration
will open somewhere around the new year. So you have time, but save the date if you'd like to come.
Bobby Reed with the cars says when I was a kid in the 70s, I would go to drive in movies and my
parents Ford country squire wagon. Did Bobby Reed seems just like the all American car guy? I know
it's like a Ford country squire seeing such classics as Corvette summer, dirty,
merry, crazy, Larry and vanishing point. Did you see any drive-in movies when you were a kid,
which ones and in which car? Yeah, we had a drive in in town. So did
wait, was there a drive in Watsonville in Watsonville? Yeah, there was a it was Starlight and
then sky view the Starlight right there. Yeah, ours in Cal or in Santa Cruz is classic.
Really great. It had three screens. I think you're right. Yeah, three can't remember.
And you it was just the classic, you know, it had the big metal speaker you would hang on your
window and where you could tune in on the radio. And, you know, it was sort of like
end of the drive-in era was sort of like when we first started driving. Like it wasn't
super popular later. I mean, my last memory of it was in high school. Mine as well. Going
and my friend Raven had a 92 Toyota pickup two wheel drive single cab and we would pile it full
of pillows and blankets in the back and all hide underneath all that. So we'd have like four of
us coffin style with blankets and pillows and then he would drive up with, you know, one person
in the cab and we had like six of us total and you pay for two and then we'd all like jump out.
That's classic. I mean, I think everyone has that same exact story. So I remember going in my
Volkswagen rabbit with a bunch of people. Somehow some people hid and we went and saw happy Gilmore.
I remember that one. Nice. That was a good one. And then I don't remember what movie we saw, but
I remember going in my friends, his dad's 59 Caddy convertible. So that was like a that was
like definitely a big memory. Pale yellow 59 convertible. Jeff Parnell, if you remember him.
Oh yeah. That's when the car was new. You were doing that. Definitely not when it's new. We
are the same age one. That's true. You were born at home. We have no records. In a little,
what do you call it in a barn? Yeah. Yeah. But that one we had people piled in the trunk and
everywhere you could think of and blankets down and all the all the tricks didn't paid for three
people or something. That's so fun. Oh, here it is. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out the last
time I was there because I went. Remember during COVID, some of the theaters in the Bay Area did
it. I went to the one in San Jose where they have the flea market and I was looking through my email
to see the confirmation because I can't remember what movie we went to see, but it was definitely a
kid movie. You know, it was for my kids. It was an animated movie. I don't remember what it was,
but that was the last time I went, which is not that long ago. I guess that was like five
years ago. And I was just super, I was just going to say during COVID, I did. I did a
driving at the boardwalk. Oh, nice. Yeah. And then on our road trip after we bought the Mazda
CX 50, we drove to Yellowstone and we hit up a drive-in in Great Falls, Idaho. Oh, okay.
And that was still in business, still going. I think we saw Inside Out 2 or some animated film.
And they've really kept it classic too. It's nice. Like even the Snack Shack is very, you know,
60s vibes in there. So very cool. And I don't really remember the movies I saw, but I do recall
that if you're really a cheap, cheap skate, you could go to the elementary school, the Catholic
school that was right against the drive-in property and you could sit on the jungle gym. Oh,
wow. And you could see the screen and then someone could bring a radio and you could listen. I mean,
this is well, you could probably tune in, right? Yeah, it was right. Yeah. Wow. That's that's ghetto,
dude. Hey, we're we're talking about saving like 250 or something. Yeah, but you also needed a car
and all of that, you know, elevated pricing at that Snack Shop. Dude, you know that popcorn was
10 bucks versus two. That's all they've got. So they get you. But what I was going to say,
though, with the radio thing, it was super annoying because we were in the Cayenne and
that's when I had learned that the Cayenne's radio doesn't stay on. So I know the Mazda's
every 20 minutes. You had to like recycle it, like climb in and like fucking press the thing
and yeah, it was whatever about a time it was. So it was super annoying and we I think we went
one more time and I brought a broomstick. You could like tap it. I could tap it from the back.
Nice. I had automotive omnipotent. Oh, sorry. Oh, I was going to say I had something like
that. It was something like that when we did it in the Lexus RX we had. I forget what it was,
but it was like very frustrating, dude. It was like it was like the car kept turning off basically.
Yeah, which makes sense. But we've talked about this in the past that there should be a camping
slash driving lights also like modern cars, you know, like we have different they turn the lights
on. Yeah. So that was a whole thing. Like we had a couple people that were just like, you know,
blowing up the spot there with their freaking lights and they couldn't figure it out. And it's
like now. Well, then if you have to, if you bring it up, then now you have to help, you know,
solve the problem, then it's like fuck it. So you just kind of deal it.
Automotive omnivore says I've been heel towing in cowboy boots for years and it's finally paid off
camping. Well awesome rally at the ranch. How did the idea originate to do it with a v6 ranch
as a home base? Well, I think it was just this last rally we talked about. I talked about it with
the owners of Parkfield and just kind of running it by them. And we've also built up a relationship
with these guys over years now. I mean, we've used their property for gosh, how long has it
been when we first 2015, 2014, 2015? Oh, no, it's 15. No, 16. Sorry, 16. So almost 10 years of
relationship building. It's gone from the parents. Now it's the kids that are kind of running the
show and they're all just awesome people. I don't even know how it tells to describe them. They're
just so positive and cool and they get what we're trying to do. And then when, when I kind of floated
the idea, they were all on board. So it took some, you know, other wrangling. Obviously we had to
figure out how it's all going to work and we're still kind of putting pieces together. But
that's sort of how it went. And then, you know, we've used this area for routes. And just we have
all of our kind of areas dialed here to do the rally out and back. And it all seems to make sense.
So the real thing I was going to say though, is that as we've done more of these, at least for
the three of us, I think, you know, we've driven all these roads quite a few times now in all
different cars throughout the years, right, different groups of people and everything. But what
we really value and the reason I think we keep doing this stuff is the hang, like we really
hanging out, you know, and like, it's a vacation, right? We want to have fun and do that. And it's
hard to do that in a car. The roads are great. It's what kind of brings us together, the cars. But
if people were shitty and we were at the end of the day, like looking around going like,
I don't want to hang out with all these people, we wouldn't keep doing it, right? Or we'd do
something different. But that's not the case. We love it. And it's such a great group of people.
And I think a lot of people have become really good friends
outside of, you know, Lane and Art and I, they've just made friendships and it's like a whole
community. So how can we increase good hangs and parking lot hangs and doing the thing? Let's all
camp together. Well, and also we have a precedence of doing this. So we did camping while awesome for
several years at the racetrack at Laguna Seca. And then we got a little bit like priced out
slash like deterred by bad attitudes there. And we've kind of, and we've always kind of wanted
to do a thing like this. Like we talked about doing it at a friend's property of North and
a camping style, you know, rally. And it finally all came together with the Parkfield thing,
which is yeah, super exciting. And it's, it's nice too to have the option of not everyone has to
camp, right? We've talked about that as well. Like if we did a campground rally, maybe there's a
hotel down the road that people could stay at as well. Like ideally everyone's together, but you
know, some people just aren't set up to camp. So that's totally understandable. This gives the
option. And then having a great cafe and like the food is awesome too helps a ton. So
it checks a lot of boxes. Yeah, that's kind of it. And we, the camping while awesome stuff,
like we've, we wanted to do more of that in the first rally that I ever put together was just
three cars. And but night one was camping. And that was sort of the idea. It's just hard to get a
place that will allow for 100 people to camp at and has the facilities you need. And you know,
yeah, food and all the stuff. Like it's really tricky to find that property. If you have one,
if you have a property like that or no one, like Holler, we could, we could talk.
Yeah. Well, and most importantly, roads, right? Like it's, it's, it's like situated in a really
good location that gives us access to a lot of really, really awesome roads. And it's great for
hub and spoke stuff. So it's a good. Yeah. I think one of the cool things about Parkfield too is
like we're basically taking over the whole town, not population 18. I think it's 16.
It's an 18 on their website. Oh really? Okay. Okay. Yeah. Maybe it changed. Maybe two people.
You're probably right. I've just been saying 16 for so long. I think. Yeah. Yeah, but it's
rather just take over the whole town. Like because we're taking over the hotel, the restaurant,
like the things we aren't taking over is the school, the tiny little school and the fire
department, but fire station and the school. We will not harm. Yeah. Hopefully. But everything
else is like kind of ours, dude. And it's like, I know all in this whole area,
like different parking layouts, stuff like every, there's going to be a bunch of little
like car show zones. And there's such cool stuff. Uh, 62 Roadsters also stoked on the idea. And he
said, where's the nearest auto parts shop? Well, it's Paso Robles for sure. But, um, or maybe
San Miguel, but, uh, one time we were on a rally, this might have been our first rally there,
second and Marvin's, uh, Camaro broke down. Uh, the, it didn't break down. The exhaust was like
falling apart and he needed some hardware and a guy drives up an old timer, just looks like a
handyman pulls up with like a work truck. And on the side of his work truck is an entire assortment
of nuts and bolts fasteners, every different size you can imagine. He like didn't even talk to
him. He just like pointed to it. Marvin's like, Oh my God, found what he needed. I think Marvin
tried to pay him or whatever. And he's like, nah, I didn't say anything drove off. Like that was it.
So there's miracles can happen. You know, the, that time you need a rebuilt 911 distributor,
someone might just pull up, hand it to you like Eric, uh, in his 944, uh, turbo driving at the
end of a really long road in middle of nowhere on the coast, north coast, the car dies completely.
He coasts to a stop in front of some people on the rally had no idea what was wrong with it.
Someone said, I bet it's the DME hands them a relay. They put it in the car. It fires up.
That's what it was. It's a pretty common rally miracles, folks rally miracles.
I know, but Eric didn't have one and, uh, he had no idea those people would be there with
it. Oh, that's what the timing is. Yeah. It's fantastic. That's amazing. It would have just
been a full like day slash rally ruiner. Um, yeah. So anyways, that's a camping,
well awesome rally 2026. It's coming folks. Um, anything else before I get to questions
or a trivia? I mean, no, I think we're good dude. All right.
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, on Friday, November 21st,
who is playing at the midway in San Francisco? Which musical artist that's been featured on
this podcast as a joke broke for free? No, wow. That's not a joke.
SpongeBob SquarePisher. Oh, that's a good guess. No,
as a live coming to live feature from the midway. It's been talked about, joked about.
What's we? It originated from our trip in Scottsdale. Oh, Timmy trumpets. Oh, no,
no. How did you find this dude? I was served an ad on stuff.
Are we going or what? We got to find the Uber driver though. He's so he's the biggest fan
live and direct at the midway November 21st. Timmy trumpets and if the listeners don't know
this story, we were basically held hostage in an Uber and this guy are not art and I were
faded and blasted. Timmy trumpets. I like how I was there in that picture. Well,
Lane wasn't faded. Only art and I were paid apparently. No, no, you were there too. But
I remember art for some reason was getting was this the guy was like, yeah, he just he was
obsessed with where I was from and for some reason he really wanted me to say that I was
Middle Eastern. Well, not for some reason because he was Middle Eastern and he's like,
you know, he was he was named. He's I look Lebanese. I look Iraqi. I look all his other
shit and but then he his whole interior was lit up like a fucking rave. I mean, he had
like all this crazy lighting and shit and then he's like, dude, it was strobing and
what did he say? Did he ask us if we knew or or what music we liked and and then he put
down he did and then he put on Timmy trumpets and he was it was blasting. Yeah, so loud dude.
It was in our last one. Last one. The list of the 50 best hotels in the world came out.
I don't even know who puts this on, but it looks fairly legit.
Top 10. Give me some cities where you think they are. I'm sure the Amman properties are
going to be on this and one of them is in page Arizona of all places negative. Okay,
Tokyo, not even top 50.
Nope. None in bullshit. That's one. I'm sure California Japan
in top 10. Zero Kyoto, California zero. What the frick Bangkok, Thailand. There we go.
And Bangkok has three in the top 10. This is paid by big Bangkok. I'm telling you
pay for it. Big bank. So just for reference, number two on the list, four seasons, Bangkok.
Number three, the Capella Bangkok and number seven, the Mandarin Oriental Bank. I've stayed at the
Mandarin Oriental three of the top 10 in the world are in Bangkok. Hmm. Time to take a trip to Bangkok.
I know. I would never have thought Singapore.
Negative. Hmm. I mean, are we are we talking like
just city? Give me a city London. Well, I don't know you negative. No, I remember it's kind of
thing Dubai is on number six. The Atlantis Atlantis. The Royal is what's called Mexico City.
Yeah, there's no, but there's Yucatan. Oh, okay. Mexico. Chochola. Sure. And it's
that's the best host hotel in North America. The Chochola. It's called the Chable Yucatan.
Okay. Chochola is hanging out. It's pretty sick. Yeah. Chochola is doing. Hmm.
Two on the top 10 you haven't listed yet are in the same city. New York, New York City of Dreams.
Nope. Chochola is the only one that's in North America. I can't believe it's not on this.
Shit. Switzerland. Negative. Wow, man. The one closest to Switzerland is Lake Koma. Oh,
a false maybe. No false. Nope. Iceland. Wild. No. All right. It's an Asian city.
It's a big city. Shanghai. You're getting closer. Beijing. No. Hong Kong. Hong Kong.
Number one, the Rosewood Hong Kong. Rosewood properties. And number 10, the upper house Hong
Kong in Hong Kong. Round out the list, four seasons in Ferenze, Florence. And that is it.
Oh, Singapore. Wait, there was a Singapore. Sorry.
But you know what? I missed it. It's called raffles. Oh, the raffles is sick.
That's where they invented the Singapore sling. I've been there. Do you think they also serve
ruffles? They probably do. Yeah. So the raffles hotel, the the bar at the raffles hotel is like
you remember. You remember James Joyce here downtown. They had the big peanut barrels.
So they have peanuts and you can just throw the the husks on the ground and they handle it for you.
Sounds very high class. Very high class. Number one, Rosewood Hong Kong. Number two, four seasons
Bangkok. Number three, the Capella Bangkok. Four, Pasalacua, Lake Como. Five raffles. Six,
Atlantis in Dubai. Seven, Mandarin Orient Bangkok. Eight, the Chable, Yucatan, Cholos, Chola.
Number nine, four seasons, Ferenze. And number 10, Upper House, Hong Kong. And then
you're going Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, America, Beijing, Tokyo, London. So 16th place London,
Claridge's. Amazing. There you have it, folks. Dude. Well, I'll say this relevant. Ken Block, RIP.
And I'm a big GoPro crew and I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok for
what was it that? Remember those Red Bull? It was it was a race of champions.
I can't remember. It was one of those like where it's like, you know, disciplines in one and
Sebastian Vettel was there and another memorable thing is I saw out front.
Whatever Lamborghini was the great, you know, big, fanciest and greatest at the time. I can't
remember. This was like 2013, I think. And I was talking to the valet and he said that it was in
Bangkok or sorry, in Thailand because of the tariffs and import duties, it was worth 3.5
million dollars. And then we ended up, I ended up learning that, you know, all cars are super
expensive. All foreign imported cars are very expensive. What car was worth 3.5? It was some
Lamborghini. I don't know. It was like whatever the top tier Lamborghini was that maybe is
a 6 event on maybe. I don't know. I can't remember, but it was yellow and it was not very good looking.
But it was the best hotels are in Bangkok. Maybe there's some other stuff going on there that
make them very special. If you know what I mean, you know, potentially like really good food.
That's the podcast folks. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time. Bye. All right. Bye.
About this episode
Updates on automotive projects and discussions about car culture take center stage in this lively episode. The hosts share personal anecdotes, including their experiences with car repairs, modifications, and the joys of classic vehicles. They also delve into humorous stories from past rallies and the upcoming Camping While Awesome rally, emphasizing the community aspect of car culture. The episode features engaging debates about car parts, restoration processes, and the quirks of owning vintage vehicles, making it a fun listen for anyone interested in automotive adventures.
Original notes
Warren is out there exercising the Vanagon, Art is finally getting a Euro bumper on the E30, and Lane's car is getting sealed. We also just announced our next rally, so get excited!
Thanks for listening!
Driving While Awesome
Lane Skelton, Warren Madsen, Art Cervantes
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69:05