Eric Kendricks (NFL Linebacker, Top Notch Car Enthusiast)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Smoking Tire – Episode with Eric Kendricks

Release Date: June 17, 2025

Guests:

• Eric Kendricks - NFL Linebacker and Car Enthusiast
• Hosts: Matt Farah & Zach Klapman

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Introduction to Eric Kendricks

In this episode of The Smoking Tire, hosts Matt Farah and Zach Klapman welcome Eric Kendricks, an NFL linebacker known not only for his prowess on the football field but also for his deep passion for cars. Eric shares insights into his impressive car collection, blending athleticism with automotive enthusiasm.

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1. Restoring a Legacy: Eric’s Grandfather’s Viper ([03:05] – [07:00])

Eric delves into the heartfelt story of his grandfather's first-generation Viper. Originally a daily driver for his grandpa, the car had fallen into disrepair, plagued by issues like flat tires and rodent damage. After his grandfather's passing, Eric inherited the cherished vehicle.

Eric Kendricks [06:01]: "The first thing I did was take out the seats and scrub the interior, paint it. We took the dash off and everything. But now it's running so strong."

Eric recounts the meticulous restoration process, emphasizing the emotional connection and the importance of preserving family legacy through his Viper.

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2. Car Modifications and Upgrades ([07:00] – [16:00])

Moving beyond restoration, Eric discusses the various modifications he has implemented to enhance his Viper's performance and aesthetics. From upgrading to Gen 2 ACR wheels to installing a Lou Bellinger Race Exhaust, Eric ensures his Viper not only looks formidable but also delivers exceptional performance.

Eric Kendricks [09:14]: "What is Lou Bellinger Race Exhaust that sounds… it's a different car. I mean, the brakes are still, you know, we got new brakes on it."

He also touches upon the challenges faced during modifications, such as unexpected assembly requirements, highlighting the hands-on approach needed for such projects.

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3. Navigating Minnesota’s Harsh Conditions ([16:00] – [30:00])

Eric shares his experiences driving in Minnesota's extreme weather, detailing how he adapted his vehicle fleet to handle snow and icy roads. Transitioning from a Jeep to a Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro and later to a Subaru STI, Eric explains the rationale behind each choice, balancing performance with practicality.

Eric Kendricks [23:49]: "I did end up wrecking it. So I'm like, it was good."

He recounts a particularly memorable incident where his Jeep slid off an embankment, underlining the unpredictable nature of winter driving and the importance of vehicle preparedness.

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4. Balancing NFL Life with Car Enthusiasm ([30:00] – [50:00])

Balancing a demanding NFL career with his passion for cars, Eric offers a glimpse into how he integrates these two facets of his life. From attending car shows to collaborating with fellow enthusiasts, he emphasizes the sense of community and fulfillment derived from his automotive interests.

Eric Kendricks [41:08]: "My buddies Daniel Hunter and Byron Jones, my good guys as far as we go on drive. They have a great collection. They have great taste."

The conversation also explores the potential for NFL players to transition into roles within motorsports, highlighting the competitive and team-oriented nature of both fields.

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5. Audience Q&A: Car Advice and Insights ([50:00] – [68:00])

In the latter half of the episode, Eric addresses questions from listeners, providing valuable advice to young car enthusiasts and NFL players alike.

• Biggest Car Buying Mistake: Eric reflects on opting for top-of-the-line models versus making cost-effective choices, ultimately advocating for informed purchasing decisions based on research and budget.

  Eric Kendricks [66:27]: "The least thing you should do is just go on the Internet and try to find five versions of the cheapest version of the car that you can find before you go to the dealership."

• Favorite Cars on His List: He shares aspirations for acquiring models like the Ferrari 458 Speciale and the Ford GT, expressing his admiration for their engineering and performance.

• Hardest NFL Player to Tackle: Eric praises players like Saquon Barkley and Chris Carson for their formidable presence on the field, recognizing their physicality and skill.

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Conclusion

Eric Kendricks exemplifies the harmonious blend of athletic excellence and automotive passion. Through his engaging stories and insightful advice, listeners gain a deeper appreciation for the dedication required to maintain and enhance a diverse car collection while excelling in a professional sports career.

Follow Eric on Instagram: @erickendricks

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For more detailed car reviews and automotive discussions, visit www.youtube.com/thesmokingtire. Follow The Smoking Tire on Twitter @thesmokingtire and @zackklapman, and on Instagram @thesmokingtire and @fakezackklapman.

Transcript

[Matt Farah]

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Smoking Tire podcast. This is Matt Farah and we are, as always, brought to you today by off the Record. I love off the Record because they are looking out for me and they are looking out for you every day. When we are on the highway together, presumably we might do one or two things that go slightly outside what's printed on the signs. And when that happens and you get caught, don't plead guilty. Because it's not just about paying that fine and moving on. These things follow you. Your insurance, potentially your employment, who knows what else. You don't want points on your record. That's why off the Record is called what they're called. They send a qualified attorney to fight any moving violation you might get. And as a result, almost all of the time off the Record keeps those points from your record. All you have to to do is go to offtherecord.com TST and upload a photo or a scan of the ticket along with a brief description of what happened and where it happened. Off the Record will then connect you with a qualified attorney who will fight that ticket for you. You don't have to go back and go to court. In fact, you don't have to do anything and win. The best case of scenario you just get a text or an email a couple months later that say, hey, by the way, that thing that you've forgotten about, it's gone. Now. Occasionally it's not quite that good, but usually in my experience the resulting text or follow up email is good news. So go to offtherecord.comtst to get 10% off all legal services booked through off the record. That's offtherecord.com TST 10% off from everything at off the Record. Now let's get on with today's show. This is a cool one because Eric Kendricks is a heavy hitter. If you know about NFL football, which I don't. I imagine he's very good at the foosball. But that's not why he's here. It's because in his spare time he's basically also a car influencer and a really good entertaining one at that. And so Eric is awesome and we have a great 90 minute chat about his incredibly interesting car collection which is a Fox body. He's got a Viper, he's got a Porsche, he's got the stuff that we all want and this is a great chat. And yeah, also they tell me the guy plays some football. Eric Kendrick is in studio with us. It's the Smoking tire, let's go. That's the show. Here we are. Eric. Welcome. You've all.

[Eric Kendricks]

You.

[Matt Farah]

You made. You made quite a statement by rolling up in the correct vehicle.

[Eric Kendricks]

And it was. It was just in my garage too.

[Matt Farah]

So it was just there.

[Eric Kendricks]

I mean, I had just like kind of brought it for the week and.

[Matt Farah]

It was on rotation.

[Eric Kendricks]

I honestly forgot that I was on this until like midweek. And I was like, wait, I think I have something on Friday checked in. So I was just. Perfect coincidence. Yes.

[Matt Farah]

You rolled up in a. In a 93 notchback. Black. Black. With the correct sounding cam, the correct looking wheels. And when you're tired of this vehicle, you give your friend Matt. We will make a. That's so you can see me in the photo that Zach took right there, just going, yeah, it's basically the adult version of the car that I built like 10 years ago.

[Zach Klapman]

Really is.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

I was gonna go two ways. You know, I felt like keep it kind of super clean, OEM plus or gotta go hard on it. But obviously they make. They make chassis for them now or like the racing chassis. I don't know if you saw that.

[Matt Farah]

Maximum Motorsports, they have a full aftermarket independent rear suspension, if that's what you mean.

[Eric Kendricks]

I'm talking about like an actual. I forgot who makes it.

[Matt Farah]

I had the tubular K member front thing.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, they make a full like.

[Matt Farah]

Like front to back. Oh, you just plop it on Roadster shop. Roadster shop.

[Zach Klapman]

Among others.

[Matt Farah]

It's not about to get expensive.

[Eric Kendricks]

Oh, they just look so good. You know, I feel like.

[Matt Farah]

I mean, I would like a roadster shop chassis website.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. But I felt like I was just. I was waiting. I was looking for one for years.

[Matt Farah]

Real quick, we had this shawl. The only thing that's up that works on this webpage is the price tag. It's just a white fucking thing.

[Zach Klapman]

That's what you're supposed to see. And then you click it and then it goes nowhere.

[Matt Farah]

It's gone. If a company has a website that bad, you know, their products must be real good.

[Zach Klapman]

I bet the fabrication's excellent. Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

That's what they're focused on.

[Matt Farah]

So wait, you. They keep telling me that you play football, but if you look at all of your social media, you're actually a car influencer for sure. Like also plays some football on the side.

[Eric Kendricks]

It was like. I feel like this offseason. I mean, the, like early in my career, I was kind of nervous to lean into the car thing because I wanted to be like, I'm Focused. I'm humble. I don't know. Like all this fake, you know. I love cars. I love cars.

[Matt Farah]

So awesome. And I don't think, I think people who know cars, you. You're not buying like poser rich guy shit. You got a first gen Viper. You rolled up here in a Fox body. You've got a Skyline. These are cars of people that they know what they're looking for.

[Eric Kendricks]

I appreciate that.

[Matt Farah]

You don't buy a first gen Viper. Cause the guys in the locker room told you that was cool. That's not.

[Eric Kendricks]

Unless I'm wrong, it was actually my grandpa's.

[Matt Farah]

Get the fuck outta here.

[Zach Klapman]

Exactly.

[Matt Farah]

Get the fuck outta here.

[Eric Kendricks]

So I kinda grew up knowing my grandpa had the car and know as I, as I got older and I went to. Was able to go visit him because we lived in different states. It was like in bad shape. It was in the garage. It was. It was on, you know, flat tires. Had had mice and stuff running through it. Oh. So I, I gotta, I gotta like take it over and kind of just clean it up to where it's at. Now.

[Matt Farah]

Did your grandpa ever have a time where he was like cool Viper guy and then he just stopped driving at some point or always garage.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, he, he, he drove it to work and, and back every single day. I mean daily.

[Matt Farah]

To Viper. He.

[Eric Kendricks]

Daily. His work was super close. You know. It still has pretty low mileage.

[Matt Farah]

Cool. That all right. That's cool grandpa.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. All right. And mice.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. I mean we, we cleaned it up big time.

[Matt Farah]

I.

[Eric Kendricks]

The first thing I did was like take out the seats and like scrub the interior, you know, paint it. We did took the dash off and everything. But now it's like. I mean there's little things that I've done to it now. I mean we put new coils on it this off season. Wheels. We put the Gen 2 ACR wheels on it.

[Matt Farah]

Oh that's so.

[Eric Kendricks]

It looks like.

[Matt Farah]

I thought it was an acr.

[Eric Kendricks]

Still looks like you know like factory sh. Air box, spark plugs.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Exhaust.

[Eric Kendricks]

I saw that fuel filter just, just, just keeping it running and it's running so strong.

[Matt Farah]

Is your, is your grandpa still with us?

[Eric Kendricks]

No, he passed away.

[Matt Farah]

So did you properly inherit the car?

[Eric Kendricks]

I mean, he, he. I inherited the car. It kind of was just like my, my dad, he was kind of just telling me this, this car is going to be yours. And I would kind of go visit my grandpa and I'm like this car is in rough shape. Like, you know, like just stop telling me that unless you're like, unless it's like a real. Yeah, I don't know if this is real. So like stop telling me that.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

And then like two weeks later my aunt was like, hey, I'm going to send you the title. And then like. And then you like figure out shipping. And so I figured out shipping, you know, got a battery, jumped it, got it on a flatbed, got it to Minnesota and then I just started right up, Started tinkering it.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, you jumped in and started right up.

[Eric Kendricks]

I wish it was that easy, you know, but. But it's. I mean now it's running so strong. I took it.

[Matt Farah]

There it is.

[Eric Kendricks]

I took it to Angel's Crest last week.

[Matt Farah]

Do you like driving it?

[Eric Kendricks]

I do.

[Matt Farah]

I feel real unique flavor of first gen Viper.

[Eric Kendricks]

Especially with the new exhaust. Now it feels like a proper. Like is it, what year is it? It's 95.

[Matt Farah]

So does it have side pipes?

[Eric Kendricks]

Side pipes?

[Matt Farah]

It does have a side.

[Eric Kendricks]

Absolutely.

[Matt Farah]

Does it have a hard top? It's an RT with a hard top.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's the one you take off.

[Matt Farah]

Soft top.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, it's not a soft top. It's a hard top. But it comes off. No door handle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Matt Farah]

No, no exterior door handles.

[Eric Kendricks]

No exterior door handles. Got to reach in. You know, it's all like glass windows. No, no glass windows. No window insert. The window inserts.

[Matt Farah]

Oh yeah, grandpa. Daily that.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's all the corky stuff.

[Matt Farah]

That's crazy.

[Eric Kendricks]

I mean it was dying the first like it kept dying like after two days of me not starting it. So we had to get like a plug in for it.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

And every time it died, the alarm trigger would trigger and you had to take off.

[Matt Farah]

It was the alarm that was draining.

[Eric Kendricks]

You have to take it, take off the rear wheel to get to the battery. It was, it was so annoying. It happened like three times until I finally like, okay, we gotta fix this.

[Matt Farah]

You have to put a hole and make a connector from the outside. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

So now it's dialed, dude.

[Matt Farah]

Every couple of months I see, you know, on bring a trailer or cars and bids or whatever, a first gen Viper that goes cheap and I'm like, oh, now the time to get in on one of those things with, with.

[Eric Kendricks]

The new exhaust in the little things that I've done to it, it's a different car. I mean the brakes are still, you know, we, we, we got new brakes on it. But I would say that I would be. The next thing I do is upgrade the brakes.

[Matt Farah]

But what exhaust is it?

[Eric Kendricks]

What is Lou Bellinger Race Exhaust that sounds. And I was going to get.

[Matt Farah]

Sounds like some fucking the Goombas like.

[Eric Kendricks]

That I was going to get. I was going to get the cargo shorts.

[Matt Farah]

He is ready to go.

[Eric Kendricks]

I was going to get like the modest version and my buddy was like this. No, you don't get that on this car. So we open the box and it's like in pieces. We're like, I'm like dang. Now I need a welder. Because they're just expecting you to like know how to do that.

[Matt Farah]

I'm like some assembly required.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, we thought it was just plug and play, you know. So we. I was like dang. But now it's like it's. It unlocked the car.

[Matt Farah]

But are you're pretty handy then you're doing lots of work.

[Eric Kendricks]

So I have a buddy in Minnesota who has been working on cars his whole life and he like works on everything. So he. I kind of get the one on one time with him like that's that we.

[Matt Farah]

He comes to you.

[Eric Kendricks]

So we started it when I was in Minnesota. I played for the Vikings for eight years. We started in like the springtime. This time when we would have practice, we would be done at 12 and I'd be like, what do I do with myself? Well, I learned how to work on, you know, some cars. So I would just go to his garage. Worked on the Mustang. We worked on the. The Viper. Got it, got it super dialed and so he comes out to LA now and we have since I have a garage, your garage.

[Matt Farah]

You got a lift and tools and shit, Everything. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, import the tech set them up.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, Harbor Freight hooked me up with some tools.

[Matt Farah]

Hell yeah. Couple posts.

[Zach Klapman]

Good.

[Matt Farah]

Hey, can I do four posts for a four post? Homie, let's. That's crazy. I have a friend who's in product placement and I overheard a phone call that they were on this morning about a certain product that was gonna be placed in a really popular artist's music video. Okay. It's two artists that are collaborating on a new song and they're both really popular. Okay. And it was a product placement and it was for four non contiguous seconds in the music video. Four seconds. So just straight on non contiguous. Now I don't know what that means. Like it's not a 4 second shot. It could be two 2 second shots or four 1 second shots. They didn't specify. Okay. How much do you think it costs to put this product? Which probably I guarantee you has nothing to do with with the music or the video. It's like a gratuitous product shot. How much to place that for four non contiguous seconds in a music video with a list. How popular is the A list? A list right now?

[Eric Kendricks]

200 grand.

[Matt Farah]

200 grand. So that would be 50 grand a second.

[Zach Klapman]

I'm going 500.

[Matt Farah]

500. Okay. I may have built it up a little bit. You both shot a little high, but it was super 20k a second.

[Eric Kendricks]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Not super low.

[Matt Farah]

This is an everyday music video, but for a big artist, that's expensive. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

20K a second.

[Matt Farah]

I was like, damn, those rates are good. Getting a set of tools in the lift though.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's pretty good right here.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, like, wow.

[Zach Klapman]

Taylor Swift uses a Harbor freight.

[Matt Farah]

Interesting. Oh, yeah, yeah. Maybe B list. Not Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift probably would be closer to what you're talking about. Importing your mechanic, though, to your own shop is excellent. Like someone you trust. That's a good time. And you guys are chilling.

[Eric Kendricks]

We're just hanging out. We're boys, you know, and some of the stuff I do myself and then some of the stuff I'm like, FaceTime them. Hey, what do I do with this?

[Matt Farah]

You know, NFL players are just like us. Or like Zach, actually, not like me. I don't even try. Yeah, I'm a proud. I'm a proud patron of experts.

[Eric Kendricks]

I enjoy it.

[Matt Farah]

Shit's broken here. I don't trust me to fix that.

[Eric Kendricks]

See, if it's out, if it's out of my league and it's out of my comfort zone. I don't. I don't mind having like, you know, with. With my GTR. I'm not. I'm not messing with my GTR.

[Matt Farah]

Black R34. That looks quite spicy.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, it's very special. The story of that car. I bought it 2020, I believe. I bought it from Japan, obviously. Went to Canada. My wife's Canadian.

[Zach Klapman]

There you go.

[Eric Kendricks]

And then I got it into the US last year.

[Matt Farah]

Officially the Skyline Underground.

[Eric Kendricks]

I said that. I said that like, like, it was like, easy. Super stressful.

[Matt Farah]

No, no, no.

[Eric Kendricks]

Super stressful. People are. People are taking care of your car that, you know, you have to put trust in. And I mean, ultimately you get to like, when the product gets there. But I mean, I'm so pleased with it.

[Matt Farah]

Believe me, I know. I'm in that business. Yes. I'm in the trust business. It's hard. It's stressful being on your end, for sure. So, I mean, how old are you?

[Eric Kendricks]

I'm 33.

[Matt Farah]

Okay, so you're 10 years younger than me. But what is it? So is it. Was it Gran Turismo? Yeah, I mean, Gran Turismo, it's all Gran Turismo.

[Eric Kendricks]

It was the start of it, you know, getting the. Getting familiar on the video games. But it was really just the. When. I think it was ludicrous. I got a guy, you know, too fast, too furious.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

He pulls up. He started the Ludacris song is bumping, and he's just kind of sliding through traffic. I was just like, yeah, I need a. I need a 34.

[Matt Farah]

Like, I. I'm older than you. But when it was Gran Turismo 1 and 2, my friends and I would race each other. And it was Nurburgring. No skylines, Right, Exactly. They were we banned from our friendly competition because they were too good. And like, finally, when I got to go to Japan for a gig and drive an R34 Skyline, I was like, wait a minute. It's really that good? That video game, like, wasn't bullshitting me. I was like, oh, fuck, they weren't kidding. It was a game over.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. People ask me all the time, like, what's it like to drive? Or like, is it hyped? Is it worth the hype? And I'm just kind of like, it's my best car to drive. So, like, obviously my Porsche, my GT3 RS is like the most track focused. It's pure. You know what I mean? But the 34 is like, the seats are comfortable, you know what I mean? Like, my wife can ride in it and she'll enjoy the feel of it, the sounds of it. It's a little bit nostalgic, but it's also super planted. It's fast.

[Matt Farah]

Like you can do anything.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's checking all the boxes, all the feelings.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, they're. They're fucking so rad. I had a 32 in like 2014 and 15 for like a year. And I lost my storage and had to like, fire sale a bunch of cars, which is why I started this business so that hopefully never happens again. But I miss it. And one day I'd like to get another one.

[Eric Kendricks]

32S are sick.

[Matt Farah]

No, I would get a 34. Those weren't available at the time. This was before you could really get them. I should have bought one in Japan. Fucking sat on it. That would have been the move. That would have been the move. Everyone I drive is great. Is your super modded or not really?

[Eric Kendricks]

No. So I got it completely stock.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

So I got it completely stock, and it just has like, Nismo. Nismo parts. So Nismo intercooler exhaust shoe has a haltech, you know, E85 conversion.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

Super, super.

[Matt Farah]

Like, do you put E85 through it? Oh, you do.

[Eric Kendricks]

There's a bunch of, like, space spots.

[Matt Farah]

There on the Valley. Yeah, I haven't they around here.

[Eric Kendricks]

They don't sell it now. You gotta. You gotta search.

[Matt Farah]

You need to get an app or something.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, there's an app for that.

[Matt Farah]

Do you have an app?

[Eric Kendricks]

I have a. There's like, a website. I forgot what it is, but I can send it to you.

[Matt Farah]

Can you. Can you real?

[Eric Kendricks]

And it's pretty solid because it has, like, USKR.

[Matt Farah]

Can you see what. Where we can get some E85?

[Eric Kendricks]

It'll have, like, little reviews.

[Matt Farah]

I need it to be easier than that.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, e85 app.

[Matt Farah]

Is there. Is that an app?

[Zach Klapman]

That's what. That's a link for.

[Matt Farah]

That looks new e85 app on the app store.

[Eric Kendricks]

I. I just use the. I go through the hard way. I do one of those links that you.

[Matt Farah]

All right, well, I have to try because it's. It's. People keep telling me I need to use it. I need to use it. I can't find it around here, but. All right, so you run that.

[Eric Kendricks]

I run that clean. It burns quick. You know, every time I drive the car, I need to fill back up.

[Matt Farah]

Is it. It's not. Is it flexible? Can you run regular gas in it?

[Eric Kendricks]

I run 91 or E85. So it's. It's kind of nice. If you're in a pinch, you can just put 91 in it. But, you know, and it knows what to do.

[Matt Farah]

Or you have to do math.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, it knows what to do.

[Matt Farah]

All right, good. Yeah. Math. Math in your fueling.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. No, you don't want to. I just. I just try to keep it up. But the E85 is going to be have.

[Matt Farah]

No, by the way, Zach, I think we have to do. We have to put a little bit of Boost stain in that alpine.

[Zach Klapman]

I was wondering why that bottle was in the car.

[Matt Farah]

In case I needed it. Yeah, it's just like. I just had to turn 91 effectively into 93. Okay, so just like a little splash of Boost.

[Zach Klapman]

I thought you were sipping it or something. Or.

[Matt Farah]

I mean, it is delicious.

[Zach Klapman]

It looks like whiskey. It's not my Spider.

[Matt Farah]

I had to use that. The octane booster stuff for a while, and now I don't. And it's better.

[Zach Klapman]

Is OEM plus kind of like how you like to mod your cars. You don't go too crazy on it.

[Eric Kendricks]

I Mean, I thought when I was younger, I was gonna be the guy who went crazy in certain ways, but the. Like, I like to buy cars that look cool to me, first of all, but also, like, are functional. And what better way to. Like, I want to keep the value of the car. I try to buy clean cars. I want to keep the value of the car. But also, we don't mind a little oem. Plus, we're drivers, so it's like, you know, for the person who. I don't want to sell any of my cars either, but, like, if someone were to have my car after me, they can appreciate the modifications that I did to it.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Also, you can look in a rush to undo. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

But also you can look to look. To look at the car and be like, man, that's a. This is an original. Like, I don't want to. I don't want to lose that. Like, that. That factor. Especially when you open the interior and you see everything. I want it to look like it's, you know, from the factory.

[Matt Farah]

We were talking a recent show about, like, someone asked, like, what's the sign of your maturing? And I was like, you stopped doing interior delete, you know, mods. Like, that's like. I regret every. Every bit of interior I've ever taken out. I regret.

[Eric Kendricks]

The hardest I ever went on a car was my Jeep. My very first Jeep.

[Matt Farah]

Like a Wrangler.

[Eric Kendricks]

I had a Jeep and I had a Subaru, which I kind of sti.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

So my first year in Minnesota, I was.

[Matt Farah]

I don't know why you said that. I pictured an Outback for some reason. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

You looked at me, I was like, sti. Which year I had the last year? So I think it was 21.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

And so my. My rookie year, I was like, man, I'm gonna go to get a Subaru. Funny story.

[Matt Farah]

Guys, we gotta take a quick break from the action because support today is incoming from Deleteme. I've been talking about Deleteme for months now, and they've actually. They have kept their word because Delete Me does all the hard work of getting your personal information from data broker websites, which is where most like text assaults, fake calls, marketing stuff, spam, emails, phishing. A lot of that comes from data broker websites. Right. And so what Delete Me does is you tell them what your data is, which I know does sound a little counterintuitive, but they go to work on every data broker website out there finding and making automatic, like, deletion requests to take down your information because These sites do have to do that on requests request and so Delete my Delete Me then once a month or so sends you personalized privacy reports showing what they found, where they found it and what was removed. All right, they did this with me. I gave them my old addresses, my old phone numbers and email addresses, the contact info for like my parents and my family members, places I used to work, things like that. And man, did they send me. The first report was like huge. It was 1500 things that were deleted and the next report a month later was like 500 and the two after that have been like 300. So I guess that's the amount that comes up every month. But it's ongoing. It's not a one time thing. Delete Me is working for me all the time, monitoring and removing the personal information that, that I don't want out there. And you can do it too. It's very easy. Take control of your data and keep your private life private. By signing up for Delete Me now, a special discount for our listeners, you can get 20% off your Delete Me plan when you go join DeleteMe.com Tire and then use promo code Tire at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com Tire and enter code Tire at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com Tire CodeTire. We are also brought to you today by Cargurus. And Cargurus has one basic mission. Okay. Making car buying decisions smarter, easier and more transparent. Right? Because buying a car is hard. You never know where to look. You never know what's real and what's fake. You have ads that seem like they're designed to make you second guess guess yourself. Is this the best price? The right choice? Where is it? With car gurus, you don't have to wonder. They have the most inventory of new and used cars, so you can find the best deal. And with all unbiased deal ratings, price drop alerts and in depth vehicle reviews, you'll make a decision you can feel great about. Because a big deal should never feel like a big risk. The way it works is that Cargurus connects you with trusted dealerships when you're ready, ensuring a transparent and hassle free buying process. They have over 4 million listings, meaning CarGurus has more listings than any other major online automotive marketplace in the US So you can find the best deal. Cargurus gives you the control to shop how you want to shop with the tools, information and data driven deal ratings that you need. And it's no wonder that similar web estimated traffic data shows Cargurus is the number one most visited car shopping site. So you can buy your sell your next car today with CarGurus [e-mail]. that's right. Go to CarGurus.com to make sure that your big deal is the best detail. That's C A R G u r u s.com cargurus.com and now back to the show.

[Eric Kendricks]

I go to the Subaru dealership, and they were like, you can't drive this. This is our Viper. And I'm like.

[Zach Klapman]

I'm sitting there, like, they still do that.

[Matt Farah]

Did you drive in in the Viper?

[Eric Kendricks]

I called my agent. Exactly. No, this is my bike. I called my agent. I was like, hey, they're not. He's like, how's the car shopping going? I'm like, they didn't let me drive it. And he's like, what? He called him. And then next thing I know, I come back and the car is pulled out in front flatbed at your house. But anyway, I'm going to Minnesota, and I'm scared of, like, the snow and everything, rightfully so. So I'm like, I can go two ways. I can get a Jeep and just like, thug a Jeep for a couple years, modify it, have it fun, and then, like, sell it and get another car in a couple years. And I went that route. Got a. Had a matte army green, big tires, 36s or something like that.

[Matt Farah]

Have that, like, Tyrese grill thing on it. Like, it had a weird grill on.

[Eric Kendricks]

It, but it had the good one. It had the good one that kind of just was like, oem. Plus, for some reason, I feel like I got. I feel like. I feel like, yeah, it had a little nose. Had a little nose on top. You know, a little aggressive with the. But anyway, I actually did slide down an embankment from the top of it, like on an off ramp. After it had rained all night and it froze over. I literally just couldn't do anything. I was. I was gonna try to turn, and then I would have got hit in the side. So I kind of just straightened it out and just. Just plowed into the person in front of me. So I did end up, like, I didn't do anything to the Jeep at all, not even a scratch, but I actually did end up wrecking it. So I'm like, it was good.

[Matt Farah]

It's.

[Eric Kendricks]

Fast forward, fast forward. My last year in Minnesota, My wife is pregnant, and I had a 4Runner TRD Pro. So I upgraded from the Jeep to a Forerunner.

[Zach Klapman]

And Jeep, she's crowd right now, so. Man, what do you mean?

[Matt Farah]

No, I'm yourself.

[Eric Kendricks]

I bought a baseline Jeep and then modified it so it was like, at the end of the day, it was just a baseline G. So, you know, I got the trd and then I was. It was. My wife was pregnant, so I'm like, you know what? You drive the. Here, here, babe. You know what? You're gonna need this. You're gonna need this for the season.

[Zach Klapman]

Protect our child.

[Eric Kendricks]

I'm gonna get a different car.

[Matt Farah]

Sure. And then Jim Conno, 27, came out.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Then I got a STI. Put some Blizzax on it. Yeah, buddy. It was so sick. It was so sick. Got a map Performance gave me a tune, and they gave me an exhaust, and, like, I had TES on it.

[Matt Farah]

It was snow to play with.

[Eric Kendricks]

It was my. My Blizzax, I had. So I had like, like bridge, like Bridgestone duelers on my. My four runner. And then the Blizzax, I had the actual snow tire for the. For the sti. And, like, it was crazy because I got in my STI and I was. And I was ripping, like, way better. It was so grippy.

[Matt Farah]

The difference between a winter tire and an off road tire is. Is a big difference.

[Eric Kendricks]

And my forerunner was great in the snow. Like, so it was. It was. It was cool. Like, it was safe and everything. So with that.

[Matt Farah]

With the difference with a Blizzak, that rubber is a different compound. So even when it's dry and it. It's like having a summer tire. And you can go. You can go full kill in the cold. It was nice.

[Eric Kendricks]

It was great. So ended up. Ended up. So my rationale for getting the STI was, look, if I get a rental car for the season, I'm spending in Minnesota snow, spending, like, at least minimum two grand a month on a rental car or, you know, get a lease, start a lease. I don't want to do that. So I'm like, I can buy a last year sti. I can drive it for the whole season, put 10,000 miles on it. And then I sold it to the same dealer for the exact same price.

[Matt Farah]

Dude. Car, man.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Wow.

[Matt Farah]

Very nice.

[Eric Kendricks]

So because I got. Because I got, you know, I got all these things from these, you know, for free. That upgraded the car a little bit.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

But I took the wheel, I took my TE's off, kept those, and then, you know, put the stock wheels back on. But the people who I sold it back To. They're getting, you know, he got a PPF wrap, you know.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, they got some upgrades, too. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

They got a little tune, a little exhaust. So it was like. It was a win.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, that's great math. Is anyone else in the locker room rolling an sti?

[Eric Kendricks]

No one was.

[Matt Farah]

They're all doing just big trucks, right?

[Eric Kendricks]

Big truck. I mean, big trucks. That year, actually, one of my teammates had a Urus, a Manzuri Urus, and it started getting a little bit colder, and I started being like, hey, bro, it's time to put the car away or it's time to get some different tires because, I don't know.

[Matt Farah]

PC conversations.

[Eric Kendricks]

I don't even know.

[Matt Farah]

I have all wheel drive. What's the problem?

[Eric Kendricks]

I would just go around the parking lot and be like, dude, like, you got. You need new tires. You need new tires. Like, you guys are out here tripping. Like.

[Zach Klapman]

He's like, but I have all these carbon fiber wings. Aren't they going to keep me on the ground?

[Matt Farah]

I go to car shows and I shame people who have old tires. I'll sell. Look at people have, like, old Vipers and Ford gts and Diablos and stuff. And I'll be like, yo, your tires are from 99, bro. Like, you're going to die on the way home from this.

[Eric Kendricks]

True, true story. My right, when I got the Viper, the story I'm telling, I got the Viper. We got it running. It was. It was. It was good to go. I took it to a car show as soon as the sun came out in Minnesota. Took it to a car show. A kid, maybe 13, 12 or 13, he came up to me as soon as I parked, and he said, hey, bro, you have old tires. You need to change your tires. And I. And I. And in my mind, I'm like, the Viper's running. I just got it. Like, I hadn't even thought about that.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

And I. I looked down at the tires and then I looked at him, and I'm like, you're absolutely right. Wow. I got some pilot sport cup twos the next week.

[Matt Farah]

Yo, if that kid is listening to this show.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Well done.

[Eric Kendricks]

He. He came right up to me. It was like, really? He's like, get new tires, bro. Like, you don't want to happen with, you know, Paul Walker.

[Matt Farah]

Wow. The youth. The. The youth is there. Kids are all right.

[Zach Klapman]

That's amazing.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, I like that car. Was a whole other world when you got those tires.

[Eric Kendricks]

Oh, yeah. I mean, that.

[Matt Farah]

A car like that from the 90s. Well, that's a different car.

[Eric Kendricks]

The new tires actually makes. It makes, like, the biggest difference.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, them cars aren't scary when you put modern tires on. They're. They're great. They're nice linear now, suspension and T.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's what I'm saying. Like, the brakes is, like, now it's like the brakes are, like, obvious. It's okay. That's the last. Last thing I do every two months.

[Matt Farah]

I'm like, yeah, I think so. And then I'm like, no. Does when you pull the handbrake, does it. Does it almost touch the roof?

[Eric Kendricks]

I almost. Almost. There's a sign. Please don't bang on the table. I almost just bang on table. The fact that you know about the handbrake and the Viper when I was parking it for this past season. I played in Dallas this past season when I parked the car to, you know, my last. Turn the car off.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Pull the handbrake. Pow.

[Matt Farah]

Snaps.

[Eric Kendricks]

Because, you know, you pull it back far. Snapped it. Just fix it. Right now I have a. I have like a. A wheel block in my car. My handbrake, it's fixed now, but it just needs to be tightened. But, dude, if you. Like you said, it goes back far.

[Matt Farah]

So I see a Viper, dude, a viper handbrake picture. This is. It's. It's up. Dude. It's like. It's up to, like, here.

[Zach Klapman]

It's like the lever's too long.

[Matt Farah]

So long. It's so. It's so weird.

[Eric Kendricks]

I think that's why. Because it's like, for me to pull it that far back, I just get used to it, you know? And then. And then I'm in. I'm lifting weights. I'm ready to see.

[Zach Klapman]

You're doing a row.

[Matt Farah]

It's the kind of you expect to be on the floor of a Ford Aerostar. Like, it's crazy that that's.

[Zach Klapman]

But also, if the lever is that long, then it's way more pressure on that little cable.

[Eric Kendricks]

And that's the. That's. That's exactly how I snap it. And that's why I'm gonna make it tighter, you know?

[Matt Farah]

But I snapped that and vanquish one once, too. And the cable was eighteen hundred dollars, because of course it was. Why wouldn't it have been?

[Eric Kendricks]

When I took it to Angel's Crest last week or like two weeks ago, though, I had the blocks with me, so I just, like, parked the car first gear.

[Matt Farah]

When you go to Dallas for a season, do you send a car or two down there to enjoy?

[Eric Kendricks]

I sent the RS this year. The GT3RS. I feel like that was a good one to send.

[Matt Farah]

Do you have to do any Texas track time while you're down there?

[Eric Kendricks]

I didn't do any Texas track time. But like everybody drives so fast in Texas because the freeways are so wide.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, they're nuts.

[Eric Kendricks]

Everyone's driving ridiculously fast.

[Matt Farah]

Like almost like highway poles.

[Zach Klapman]

Whoa. With six lanes and your perception, speed.

[Eric Kendricks]

The thing that scares me the most in Texas driving is the big modified trucks. People smash in those trucks like when they don't 500 and they don't care. Like, like you're in the way. Like, get out my way. I'm driving fast. Like it's. It's like different.

[Zach Klapman]

I was lifted.

[Eric Kendricks]

Anytime I saw a truck like come in being aggressive, I would, I would easily get over, let them go by. You don't know what they're packing. I'm not trying to have no road rage.

[Zach Klapman]

Really, like ill fitting wheels.

[Matt Farah]

You're like, dude, they're on like spacer, you know, 50 millimeter spacer just waiting for a stud to snap.

[Eric Kendricks]

I mean it would, it would be like I'll be at a like a standstill and there would be trucks that like blew by me and it would be like I was scared. Like I'm literally scared of trucks out there. I was staying away from them. They're fast.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, some are really. So I went to the Ford Lobo launch last night and they had some of the like fast supercharged turbo trucks outside, like the ones that used to run it. Hoonigan's this versus that. You know, they show up, they run nine second quarter miles, F150 short bed. But that thing's £6,000 and it's as fast as a McLaren. That's a lot of energy. If it hits something, it's cool but terrifying.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's what I'm saying.

[Zach Klapman]

I know, I get it.

[Eric Kendricks]

And so I'm thinking I hit for a living so I know how things work.

[Matt Farah]

You know, you're like, I can see.

[Eric Kendricks]

And I'm like, I'm like, man, these guys don't care. Like they're out here, one arm on the wheel, like, this is my road.

[Matt Farah]

Big gulp. Just my road. Yeah, there's. Do you driven like a really fast pickup truck like that?

[Eric Kendricks]

I have. The fastest I've done is an suv. I haven't driven a pickup truck.

[Matt Farah]

When you, when your seat is that high, the perception is completely different. Like, you ever drive a G63? Same shit.

[Eric Kendricks]

You just feel like you're on the road.

[Matt Farah]

You feel the speed and you can like 100 is like 60 or something else. Like I have an NSX that's like dropped about a half inch, like an 05 and it's like you're sitting on the fucking ground and 70 feels like 120. It's great actually. It's a really nice way to live. And this is the exact opposite. And when you're in like a lifted 2500, you don't even know.

[Eric Kendricks]

No.

[Matt Farah]

You're just sailing along.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

You're just floating.

[Zach Klapman]

I drove a Roush F150 was lifted. It had 650 horsepower. And you're way up tall, but you just floor it. You go, oh, wow. 100. Oh my God. How'd this thing do that?

[Matt Farah]

How is the, the Lobo, by the way?

[Zach Klapman]

Looks like a sport truck, you know.

[Matt Farah]

And what it, what is it?

[Zach Klapman]

It's like, it's an F150 with a coyote engine. They lower the back, almost went to that. So it's like a leveled thing. I mean the event was cool. They had these rad modified trucks out front and it looks good. If you're into like street truck stuff. I just think what those things are capable of now with the 10 speed trans and the drivetrain that holds up to all that boost. I mean people are going to take these and like. Thank you. And then they're going to shove a supercharger on it.

[Matt Farah]

Sure.

[Zach Klapman]

And just clean up at drag strips.

[Eric Kendricks]

How about the OJ era F150?

[Matt Farah]

The lightning?

[Eric Kendricks]

The light? Those first.

[Matt Farah]

I like three lightnings. My. Those are great.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like the fast and furious ones.

[Matt Farah]

Yes.

[Eric Kendricks]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

That's my. Those are my jam.

[Eric Kendricks]

I like the bottom.

[Matt Farah]

So I, I respect the style. The 95.

[Zach Klapman]

Then you like the logo because they added that like the front valence and stuff and it looks boxy.

[Eric Kendricks]

Er, cool.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Did you see that FX pack thing that Ford just announced for the Mustang? We were kind of shitting on it the other day because like a Fox body inspired thing, but like the gauges.

[Eric Kendricks]

And stuff like that.

[Matt Farah]

It doesn't look right though. Someone on Instagram. Someone on Instagram, by the way. Zach. Photoshop.

[Zach Klapman]

I saw, I reposted it.

[Matt Farah]

It was so much better.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

So this supposedly. Eric, this is supposedly.

[Eric Kendricks]

Is that the same green as the Fox?

[Matt Farah]

Yes, it is and I'll give them that. But these white wheels are supposed to look like the 93 GT wheels, which they fucking don't. And here they put it next to a 93 Cobra and it doesn't look like those fan Wheels at all. And someone on Instagram made a Photoshop of an updated version of that car with a new fan wheel and it looked sick.

[Zach Klapman]

There we go.

[Matt Farah]

There.

[Eric Kendricks]

How much better does that look? Okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Matt Farah]

See how hard was that? That's so much better.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, that's just the wheels.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Doesn't that look cool? Actually that's a nice looking wheel. Your car would look dope on those. Your black car would look sick.

[Eric Kendricks]

Have you seen that they do the CHP wheels now those are pretty cool too. But I would. Those wheels are sick.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, doesn't that.

[Eric Kendricks]

Oh yeah.

[Matt Farah]

See, there you go on the 93 Cobra.

[Eric Kendricks]

Just a good looking car.

[Matt Farah]

I do love me a Mustang. And you give me a notch back in that collar, I'm on board.

[Eric Kendricks]

So. Oh. So on the way here there was like a. Like a semi truck a couple lanes over and he honks the horn and then I look over and he's just like this. How much? So I kind of got over. I kind of got over a couple lanes and revved it for him and then kind of, you know. That's awesome. But I was just. It's just like that, that, that age group, that generation, they just, you know.

[Matt Farah]

Well, you're the three. The cars of yours that we've talked about so far, some real dude magnets you have. You have some serious dude magnet car, you know. You know the Skyline is the most dude magnet car ever.

[Eric Kendricks]

The Viper turns heads too.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Believe it or not. Yeah, but the Skyline for sure. I mean because. Because now, now like it's 8 years, 8 year olds, 13 year olds, you know, and then our generation like younger. Everybody loves that car.

[Matt Farah]

I don't blame them. What's. What is your. What's your Everyday run around CT5v black one. Oh God, you're a man of taste.

[Eric Kendricks]

Automatic too.

[Matt Farah]

I don't care.

[Eric Kendricks]

Exactly.

[Matt Farah]

I don't judge. Not for a daily. Hold on.

[Eric Kendricks]

You got the car seats in the back right now.

[Matt Farah]

That's a great car.

[Eric Kendricks]

Carbon seats with the car seats. My son has no idea.

[Matt Farah]

Massage. Massage seat. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

My son has no idea.

[Matt Farah]

They are superb.

[Zach Klapman]

How many cars do you have?

[Matt Farah]

Have?

[Eric Kendricks]

I have six right now.

[Zach Klapman]

Oh, okay. Like manageable number. You can drive all of them. You don't have to drive all of them.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, I can drive all of them.

[Matt Farah]

Ah, that's all right.

[Eric Kendricks]

My last one was. I got a Honda, I just got that.

[Matt Farah]

What kind of Honda? Nsx.

[Eric Kendricks]

What is it?

[Zach Klapman]

White crx was it?

[Eric Kendricks]

It's a black cr.

[Matt Farah]

Is it?

[Zach Klapman]

Those are fun.

[Eric Kendricks]

Something Wrong.

[Matt Farah]

There is a right hand or left hand drive?

[Eric Kendricks]

It's right. It's left hand drive.

[Matt Farah]

It's left. Is it, but is it a good, is it like a special CRX or is it sr? It is an sr. Did you have one back in the day or.

[Eric Kendricks]

I didn't have one. My neighbor, my. So my neighbor growing up, they had a red S2000 and a rest a red CRX and they would just be outside tinkering on it when I would walk home from school. And I would just be, you know, hands on my backpack straps, walking by looking at them every day. So I was like man, I would. And everyone's like man, what kind of cars do you like? And I'm like I like Honda. So that's like my first go to. I like Hondas. That's how much I like cars. And they're like oh, what kind of Honda we like? And I'm like, like man, I gotta stop talking about it. I gotta start getting it.

[Matt Farah]

But I mean the best CRX in the world is like 25 grand. Like let's, you know.

[Eric Kendricks]

And, and honestly. So what happened was my, my. But one of my mechanic buddies in, in Minnesota, he had one and it was his personal one and I had offered him on, I mean we had talked about buying it, you know me selling it a couple years back but I never followed through with it. And then this past offseason, now he has five right hand drives. He has five like right hand, you know.

[Matt Farah]

That's cool.

[Eric Kendricks]

So I'm like oh, look at that. Yeah, that's it.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, it's got louvers on the back.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's got louvers.

[Matt Farah]

What wheels are those?

[Eric Kendricks]

I don't know. They look good though.

[Matt Farah]

They're like, they're like cool.

[Eric Kendricks]

They're like perfect too. Yeah, like untouched.

[Matt Farah]

This is like the CRX that wanted to be a Corrado, right? It's got like corral Volkswagen Corrado vibes.

[Zach Klapman]

It's cool. It's very different. You know you have like all wheel drive, big power gtr, the Vipers, rear wheel drive craziness. And now this is, is like super lightweight front wheel drive. No great. I mean you have a lot of the, you kind of COVID all the flavors in a six car garage for sure.

[Matt Farah]

That's fun.

[Eric Kendricks]

I know. I feel like I, I, when I sold my, I sold my Subaru to get the black wing which is like I sold my Subaru and I sold my 4Runner TRD to get a black with a black Wing living in California.

[Matt Farah]

Good trade.

[Eric Kendricks]

No so that's what I'm saying. You feel me?

[Matt Farah]

So.

[Eric Kendricks]

So I got. It was. It was. But now I'm like. Like the Subaru. I was like. I just think about it a lot.

[Matt Farah]

You do a Revy, you know, turbocharged or whatever, you know, high strung import. This is good thing.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's just good.

[Matt Farah]

It's a good thing and it's roomy. But mine is like the 2000 Civic Si Coupe. That generation. Those are. That's my jam.

[Eric Kendricks]

You like those?

[Matt Farah]

I do. That's what, that's, that's. That's what the cool kids had in high school.

[Eric Kendricks]

The, the. You talk about the like the two door. Like the two doors. Furious. The spoon ones. Okay, I got you.

[Matt Farah]

Yes.

[Eric Kendricks]

Those are sick.

[Matt Farah]

They're. They drove right.

[Eric Kendricks]

They're expensive too.

[Matt Farah]

Now I know because there's none left.

[Eric Kendricks]

Because no clean ones for me.

[Matt Farah]

And everyone else crashed them all. Not everyone else crashed them all. That and like B5s, 4s, everyone crashed all those. Those don't exist anymore either.

[Eric Kendricks]

B5.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

RS4 import it right now. That would be sick.

[Matt Farah]

They as a highway car spectacular. They don't handle very well. But they look amazing and they're fun as fuck.

[Eric Kendricks]

Actually been, you know, that was one of the ones I've been looking at this past year.

[Matt Farah]

An RS4B5.

[Eric Kendricks]

So good.

[Matt Farah]

They're. They're tasty.

[Eric Kendricks]

They have some good colors too. I mean good colors get sold high.

[Matt Farah]

But yeah, they're good painted wrap Paint it rapid. I drove a one that was like a safari prepped one that had like a lift on it and like over fenders and. Yeah, it was like a rally car. I drove it in winter in New York. Was amazing. It was so fun. Yeah. They're a good time and they're the right size.

[Eric Kendricks]

They're not too big. Throw a car seat or two in the back for a car show, you know, that'll be the excuse.

[Zach Klapman]

You know, you know they're problematic. So you definitely learn to work on cars.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's the thing. I was like going over the list of like, you know, things that they might need or problems they have. Okay.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah, just circle the car.

[Matt Farah]

Everything.

[Zach Klapman]

Not quite but like.

[Eric Kendricks]

Not that I have any better luck with my.

[Zach Klapman]

That's a good point.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. Yeah. Does anyone else that you play with have the similar kind of taste to you of the 80s and 90s? Interesting cars?

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. So my buddy, my buddies Daniel Hunter and Byron Jones, my good guys as far as we go on drive. They came out here like a couple weeks ago. We Went on a drive.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, cool.

[Eric Kendricks]

For like they came out here for a week and we drive all week. They have a great collect. They have a great collection. They have a great taste. Connor McGovern, he's a center. He has great taste. There's a bunch of guys who have tape. Like we're starting to band up. Like, I feel like it's like, tell.

[Matt Farah]

Me there's like a fucking WhatsApp thread or something of like NFL 90s.

[Eric Kendricks]

I want to be.

[Matt Farah]

I want to organize it.

[Eric Kendricks]

I want to bring it together, you know, at some point. You know, I think that that would be awesome for the, for the culture for sure.

[Matt Farah]

Calling all NFL players who like 90s and 80s who like, who like, who.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like actually are enthusiasts. You know, there is some guys out there for sure. Kenneth Murray is another enthusiast. I know Dakota Shepley, who I play with Dallas. You know, there's like, there's like one or two on each team.

[Matt Farah]

Patrick Peterson, someone from on tmz. One of the Lakers rolled up in a sick Typhoon.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, Booker. Yeah, Booker. And a really nice looking like Typhoons, like Cyclones. Those are the cars that I've been looking at since I got to the league. Like doc bodies if you.

[Matt Farah]

Typhoons, dude, I drove the nicest one you've ever seen. They drive horrible. They're. They're hopeless to drive, but they look awesome. There's just. It's 97 attitude.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, yeah, those. I mean, come on.

[Matt Farah]

Normally I'm not about white on white wheels, but I think that's the one right there.

[Zach Klapman]

Well, it's got the good style of like the two door Tahoes, but it's just a little smaller.

[Matt Farah]

And by the way, that is not the stock wheel. That's an oversized wheel, but that's made to look like the stock wheel. So respect that looks good.

[Eric Kendricks]

Oh yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Plus there.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, we like those.

[Matt Farah]

You are in the same pace page. Yeah, I mean that's. That's a great look for him. That's cool as hell. I'm so. I love food for anyone else that's not me. I want to see you in a Typhoon.

[Eric Kendricks]

That'd be cool.

[Matt Farah]

I don't want to go in it though. I did a story for Road and Track last year that was wrote. It was typhoon versus urus performante. Let's just say the 30 years hadn't been kind to poor GMC.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's. But I mean that's how I feel in the Viper. I would never let anyone. I would never drive in the passenger seat of that like that's a car that I would throw someone the keys and be like, have fun driving it. I'm not riding with you.

[Matt Farah]

I don't even want to know the.

[Eric Kendricks]

Clutches on the left, you know, like, sorta. Yeah, I have to drag your foot a little bit on the side of the car, but you'll figure it out. But it's.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, dude. Did your feet get real hot driving that?

[Eric Kendricks]

It used to, but now with the new exhaust, it's way better.

[Matt Farah]

But what do you like? What kind of footwear do you like to drive in? Do you have special shoes?

[Eric Kendricks]

Vans, you know, some. Some. Some athletic. But I feel like, man, that car is just like. You can't drive. You're. It's meant to drive fast, which is a beautiful thing about it. But if you're in the city and you're red light to red light, you're gonna be jerking around the whole time.

[Matt Farah]

All that really fast stuff from 1985 to 1999, that was meant to go fast, was not very good at going slow.

[Eric Kendricks]

You slam on the gas, you shift through gears, you're like, man, this is smooth. This runs great. Yeah, you're driving it slow in the track. You're like, man, this is awful.

[Matt Farah]

That's you. That is. That's. It's. They were inspired by Italian cars from the 80s. That's what that was. Leia, Coco, Ferrari. Here's how they do it. Let's go. You know. Yeah, they're nutty, them cars. I like them, though. They're kind of fucking any car that has an irreplaceable charm about it that's totally unique in the world, actually. All your cars, Fox Body, a crx, a Skyline, a Viper. These are all cars that have no equal, you know, really. Which is pretty cool.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's how I like it.

[Matt Farah]

They have a very unique flavor that you actually can't get anywhere else, which is a. Which is a man of taste.

[Eric Kendricks]

And you can't. And you can't necessarily just go and buy a clean version of it as well. It's hard to find a good version because the Vipers back in the day, like, that's what people. People always come to me and tell me, hey, people don't even know how many Gen1 Vipers are available because everyone was just wrecking them. Like, everyone was just crashing them left.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, it's a car that you think there's a lot of. Until you try to find a good one, like E46M3S, you think there's a lot of them, too. And Then you're like, actually, seven of these are worth buying. But there's. Have you seen. There's a guy, you must have seen him around at some point or on the Internet who's like a local sort of Viper celebrity that lives in Marina Del Rey that has a 200,000 mile 92 Viper that just lives outside next to the Red. It's red. It's fucked up.

[Eric Kendricks]

I've seen it.

[Matt Farah]

And the homie dailies it. And it's fucking crazy that it's just. I can imagine so happy with himself.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. Just from a rain perspective.

[Matt Farah]

Like, I don't know. He got the seats recovered like two, three years ago.

[Eric Kendricks]

Okay. Okay. So he's.

[Matt Farah]

He's fixing it up a little bit at minimum.

[Eric Kendricks]

My thing is like all the plastics in there is like the cheap plastics. Like, they're so. It's like you can't find pieces for those. Like, so they're probably all missing.

[Matt Farah]

That's like, dude.

[Zach Klapman]

Like, is it this one? It's sold.

[Matt Farah]

No.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

That. That looks amazing.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's a gen 2.

[Matt Farah]

That's. That. This one is so nice that even with 200,000 miles, it's still got 45 grand. Wow. I bet if that car had 50,000 miles, it would get 45 grand.

[Eric Kendricks]

ACR is like, I feel like a good buy is that. I don't know how much they're going.

[Matt Farah]

For, but I feel like depends on if you want. With 200,000 miles, I think ACRs are. I don't see those as much.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's what I'm saying.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. I don't see this as much, but Vinnie, who works for me is obsessed. Had a 96 GTS with the. The blue with the white, you know, the Shelby colors for a minute and he's missed it ever since and doesn't shut the up about it. And so we got to find him one that's like the best.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like. Like Gen 2 Blue with the stripes.

[Matt Farah]

We have one in storage at our other store.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's like the. I feel like that's the sweets. I mean, I like my Viper, like, obviously biased, but the Gen 2 is like, they cleaned up a little bit of everything. They have windows, power windows. The door locks are better. Like, everything's better.

[Matt Farah]

The GTS gets all the love, but I like the Gen 2 RT and I know it's sacrilege, but I like the center rear exhaust.

[Eric Kendricks]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

I think that makes that car sound like a Lambo. Whereas with the side exhaust, you're only. Only really hearing like one. And it sounds kind of like a UPS truck. Yeah. Which is cool. Like, that's a vibe. But. But the ones with the rear exit exhaust I think do sound.

[Eric Kendricks]

Those are the wheels I have on my.

[Zach Klapman]

Can I just say, I just looked at four different listings of Viper because I was like, I must be looking at a weird one because this headlight to hood gap is so big. But all four of them have this same. Eric's like. Nope. Cross the board.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yep.

[Zach Klapman]

That's just the thing.

[Eric Kendricks]

You better have somebody on the other side when you open the hood up. That's a big heavy hood.

[Matt Farah]

And they, you know, people crack them.

[Eric Kendricks]

Probably you want to.

[Matt Farah]

That's like the Ford GT rear bumper gap with the clamshell. They're. They're all fucked. It doesn't exist. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

But yeah, I think that the gap changes every single time.

[Zach Klapman]

Do the headlights stay aligned right.

[Matt Farah]

Or.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, it looks good this time.

[Zach Klapman]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

Wow. They stopped it from rattling. They just moved them further.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Man.

[Eric Kendricks]

The more. The more you drive the Viper, the more you realize they just like threw it together to race. Like. All right, Come on.

[Matt Farah]

Well, I remember seeing back in the day, there were. There was a whole forum threads because I had a C5 Corvette too, which was just as fucking rattly as a Viper. There was all these forum threads about people that was taking apart their interiors and like dynamatting them to make them stop rattling. And like there is some amount of Dynamat that you can add that will stop it from rattling. But it's a lot.

[Eric Kendricks]

I take all the rattles.

[Matt Farah]

We did it on mine in my Corvette because the transmission tunnels would get hot as fuck. And so you have to line it with Dynamat and it would actually help dissipate the heat.

[Eric Kendricks]

Shoot. Yeah, Smart.

[Matt Farah]

I didn't come up with it. I saw it on the Internet.

[Zach Klapman]

You have to take the trains out for that?

[Matt Farah]

No, you just have to take the interior apart, the housing bit. Yeah, yeah. Do we have things from the people, from our patrons, our lovely patrons [e-mail] the Smoketire Podcast. The greatest website on the entire goddamn planet. So I'm saying everybody. People probably have football questions. I don't know if you know, I'm not a very big football person. I love watching a football game if one is presented to me. But I don't follow the sport. That's why I like your car. Shit. It's really good. I don't care that much about football, but I imagine our fans have some football questions. So I'm going to try to not sound like an idiot when I read this. Them, of course, if you want to ask us questions, if you want to catch our live stream, if you want to get the show without ads, if you want to get the show before everybody else, if you want to get exclusive access to merchandising and collaborations. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast Matt's Hard Nabra says which football player has the worst taste in cars? Oh, that's. You're just asking to shit on somebody.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, I'm not gonna. I mean, I mean there's a ton. First of all, a ton of players. However, I'm gonna say Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins first of all, has great taste in cars.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

So it's kind of like a whatever. But if I was him, I would have so many cars.

[Matt Farah]

Because he has too few really expensive cars.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, he just doesn't, like, he doesn't spend money on cars. But he loves them, though. He loves them for what they are. And he knows like, you know, mopar. He knows like, he, he knows a lot about a lot. And he has great taste in cars, but he refuses to buy them.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, that's a sin. That is a sin. And I'm like, you owe it to us to buy it all.

[Eric Kendricks]

Buy them all, you know.

[Matt Farah]

But is there like. Have you seen like the Mansory stuff?

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, yeah, I've seen some Mansory stuff. I've seen, you know, the Brabus and stuff like that, which, I mean, some, you know, the Bravo G wad.

[Matt Farah]

Bravo is all right. They're hard.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

I don't know about the G1, but.

[Zach Klapman]

I mean, Kirk, because I also don't follow football, so Kirk got a 180 million dollar deal from the Falcons. And so he likes cars. And you're like, dude, you can afford cars.

[Eric Kendricks]

Hopefully some. Now I remember, I remember we, I remember we went to go this guy's collection and, and he had a, like a Gen 2 Viper, the Blue one we're talking about. And it was something reasonable. 60 super low miles. I'm like, bro, you're never going to lose on this. And he was just like, can't do it.

[Zach Klapman]

Like, he likes this Astro van, you know?

[Matt Farah]

What is an Astro van?

[Zach Klapman]

I think he has, I mean, he.

[Matt Farah]

Conversion van.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, no, he, he, he had a forerunner when we both have four runners in Minnesota. I mean, love that guy.

[Zach Klapman]

All right.

[Eric Kendricks]

But I'm like, man, buy some more.

[Matt Farah]

Do you know, do any, any, any of the boys have like six sprinters that they get driven around?

[Eric Kendricks]

For sure, for sure. I mean, My. My thing is the, like, it's. If you. There's cars that people want, and they just check off the list, and it's like, who am I to tell someone who's worked hard, you know?

[Matt Farah]

Oh, no.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, yeah. Who's worked hard and they want. And they. And if you want a Maybach, cool, get it. But, like, for me, I'm, like, looking at the numbers, and I'm, like, the amount that you lose on the Maybach.

[Matt Farah]

You could just like, do you ever get press cars? Or. You do. Oh, so you get to do. You roll up in press cars?

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

See, that's. Then people are like, what are you doing over here?

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, so I get to drive a lot of flavors, you know, it's been awesome.

[Matt Farah]

Doesn't that help you not spend stupid money 100%? Totally.

[Eric Kendricks]

I get to drive this for a week. I get to drive this for the week. I mean, I get a taste, you know, what's cool and what's not.

[Zach Klapman]

But are there cars you've had as press cars where you get out and you go, yeah, I wouldn't buy that. You know, I thought I might like it, but I don't. And are there cars where you've gotten out, had to return it, and you go, ooh, should I go to the dealers to be like.

[Eric Kendricks]

So the car that made me feel like that, like, it was an Aston Martin dbx.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, interesting.

[Eric Kendricks]

For some reason, I just didn't. I didn't think anything of it getting out. I'm like, cool. I get to drive this. This fast suv. You know, it's gonna be fun. And then I started driving it, and I'm like, oh, like, this has a kind of a feel to it.

[Matt Farah]

Is it a 707?

[Eric Kendricks]

I have no idea. It was a sweet color, had sweet wheels. I'm like. I'm like, okay. Like, if someone buys one of these on a used market, I'm like.

[Matt Farah]

I'm like, a DBX 707 is exceptionally good. And they're. They. They're. They're gonna.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, it wasn't the 707. That's the one with the spoiler and everything added on top.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, he likes the regular one. You should give Aston a Buzz and 707. They're awesome. But, yeah, they're the first car that's gonna do this. The full carplay integration.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Like, where it's your whole. Your gauges and everything become carplay. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Another car was the Acura nsx. The new ones. I love those, too.

[Zach Klapman]

Yep, those are good.

[Eric Kendricks]

Cars. I mean, like, I had one, I thought about it one way in my head and I got it and I'm like, wow, this hybrid is actually. It's kind of nice.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

And it's in their fast, super fast, comfortable. It's performed well. Got looks on the road.

[Matt Farah]

They caught a bad rap for some reason, but they're nice. Yeah. Matt loves Pearl Jam. That's an accurate statement. Who's the hardest player to tackle?

[Eric Kendricks]

I feel like there's a toss up. I mean, obviously you have like Lamar Jackson who's like, like he's like a running back that's a quarterback. So he is like very shifty. He just avoids getting hit hard. And it makes no sense because sometimes you feel like you have him dead to rights and he just kind of squirms out of it and gets like four more yards. And then Saquon Barkley is obviously one of the top running backs in the league and he's pretty hard to tackle. I would say. He's, you know, he's got all the attributes as far as running back's concerned that you, you'd want, you know, strike strength, you know, contact balance. She's shifty, he's fast. But my underrated, hardest person to tackle, and this is like physically, like one on one, head, head to head was Chris Carson from the Seahawks. He was a running back for the Seahawks. And he. I would watch film and he would just like, if someone's about to tackle him, he would just like, like punish them.

[Zach Klapman]

He just knew how to like, he's gonna get tackled.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like he's getting tackled and he's like not. You know, sometimes they're no games, but like, like whoever's tackling him is gonna.

[Matt Farah]

Feel all trying for that.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like, so I'm like, I respect it. Cuz it's like that was his game. Yeah, it's like, that's hard to do. Go down, down.

[Matt Farah]

Make yourself painful. Is a fucking hard. Yeah. All right, cool. Wow. Laguna, Sega Genesis. That's a fucking good one. All right. What's a car, Eric, that's on your list? Haven't had it yet. Looking at it.

[Eric Kendricks]

The two cars that I've been looking at the most is probably. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna like expensive ones. I would say for gt. Oh, six. Oh, five.

[Zach Klapman]

Yes.

[Eric Kendricks]

And then I would say Ferrari. I'm gonna give three Ferrari 458 Speciale.

[Matt Farah]

Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

And then I would say the career GT has been.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, you need.

[Eric Kendricks]

Those are like, those are like mine. Those are my.

[Matt Farah]

When you Go up from where you. Exactly, exactly. And then I'm like right here, right now.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

So it's like that's a zero and then two zeros.

[Zach Klapman]

But you need a mess. You don't have a mid engine car. Right. You need that.

[Eric Kendricks]

I don't.

[Zach Klapman]

So that's the problem. You have to replace. You gotta get.

[Eric Kendricks]

And you can, you can see it's like turning. That's the only thing that's kind of missing.

[Zach Klapman]

Those are all pretty different. Different though.

[Eric Kendricks]

They are, they are different flavors. I've driven one of those. I've driven the 4, 5, 8, but I haven't driven the, the Ford GT and I haven't driven the Carrera.

[Matt Farah]

Ford GTS are very special, I heard as our career GTs but they're different.

[Eric Kendricks]

Way different.

[Matt Farah]

Ford GTS are smooth. Really smooth. Really like eerily smooth. Yeah. And Carrera gts are like very like sharp and, and like on your fingertips. Both really nice.

[Eric Kendricks]

So hey, if anyone wants to let me drive one, you gotta. You want to lend me one?

[Matt Farah]

Sure.

[Eric Kendricks]

I'm open. I'm open.

[Matt Farah]

Somebody could help you find one.

[Zach Klapman]

Go, go visit Doug DeMuro in San Diego.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, yeah, Doug is. Doug has the extra two zeros. Regular cat reviews. Do any of the bigger NFL players have to do Shaq style seat mods to fit in their cars?

[Eric Kendricks]

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean the ones who is there.

[Matt Farah]

A guy a go to that's the modder of the seat rails?

[Eric Kendricks]

No, I would say that the guys who I know, I mean most guys would just, to be honest, they would just buy the car that they fit in. But the guys who, that I know who are enthusiasts who are, who are on the bigger side, they get the seat rails for sure. And they, and they're enthusiasts so they know guys who are like they can trust and everything.

[Matt Farah]

It would be funny if there's like one dude.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Johnny Lake in the NFL. That's like everyone knows. Oh, you gotta call.

[Eric Kendricks]

I know like three people in the NFL who have 34 doors and I know for a fact one of them has the C mods in them. And I, and I thought about doing.

[Matt Farah]

It because I mean the longest wheelbase one, right. If you actually wanted leg room, that's the one you'd want.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's it. It works well with seat. With, with the like you can't even tell. I mean they could, they can just fit in a good. But like I fit in that like NSX. The old NSXs, I don't really fit them in as well. But the, the gtr. I sat in that and I was like, okay, I fit great in this.

[Matt Farah]

So, I mean, GTRs are easy.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. I don't need to. I don't need to put seat rails in mine, but I feel like Shaq, this.

[Matt Farah]

The Shaq was crazy.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. He's looking out the rear, like, you know. Yeah.

[Zach Klapman]

Or they stretch the whole thing.

[Matt Farah]

They did the 04 Gallardo stretched like, 18. Door was like, the size of this table.

[Eric Kendricks]

So funny just to get a guy.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, right. In hindsight, remember them cats?

[Eric Kendricks]

Gardo Super Legera.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, they were nice.

[Eric Kendricks]

I like those.

[Matt Farah]

Yes.

[Eric Kendricks]

Those. Better than Huracans.

[Matt Farah]

There's an argument if you've driven a stick one.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, I haven't driven one.

[Matt Farah]

A stick Gallardo is a nice thing. Yeah. R8s, too. Kind of the same. Unpimp your auto says. What car buying advice would you give young players who just got money for the first time?

[Eric Kendricks]

This is crazy because I actually just talked about this yesterday.

[Matt Farah]

I.

[Eric Kendricks]

The first thing I would do was, like, if you're finding. If you're going for a car that you want to purchase, the least thing you should do is just go on the Internet and try to find five versions of the cheapest version of the car that you can find before you go to the dealership that's close to you or whatever. Like, find five cars, and they could be cheap. The cheapest ones you could find, just so you know what the market is on them at their lowest. And just so when you go into the dealership, you're not like, like, blindsided by a 20k plus charge because they know you're in the NFL and you just think, oh, that's just what it costs.

[Matt Farah]

Like.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, like, figure out how much this car really costs, especially if you're buying a used one. You know, you can search all that stuff. So, I mean.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, I bet people but by use, though, can take advantage of.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

Minnie Finney says most common car found in an NFL parking lot.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like, most common, like, player car, I.

[Matt Farah]

Think is the question.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like a. Like a. I would say, like. I would say like a G wagon or a Urus.

[Matt Farah]

It's got bigger guys, big SUVs.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

G wagons are interesting. Or like Raptors. Not great for, like, tall people.

[Eric Kendricks]

They're not. But. But I would say, like, Raptor. Raptor. Raptor. Rs. Raptors have been really popular.

[Matt Farah]

Sure.

[Eric Kendricks]

The. The. The Rams. What are the trx? Yeah, those are really, really popular.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, you're playing a Dallas.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. So like, tr. Trx, Ram, Escalades. The Escalade Vs, though. I've seen a couple of those this past year.

[Matt Farah]

See, I'm a hater. I'm an Escalade V hater. I think it's dumb.

[Eric Kendricks]

They sound so good.

[Matt Farah]

They do. But if you put that exhaust on the regular one, it sounds just like that. It's not the engine. It's just that exhaust. And in practical terms, really, a 450 horsepower Escalade versus a 700 horsepower escalation. What is the difference? How often are you in an Escalade on the floorboard? If Garrett is out there, he's probably mad at me. Cause I was in Garrett. You know Garrett. You know that dude? He's the American muscle HD influencer. He's from the South. He's like. Yeah, he's like a black dude with, like, braids, and he does all, like, crazy builds and stuff. Shout out to him. We love Garrett, but he has a fucking built escalade with, like, 800 horsepower. Me for riding it, and I was like, this is the stupidest car in the world. But he loves it, so.

[Eric Kendricks]

And they're so big, too.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Are huge.

[Matt Farah]

Huge. I don't. I don't like huge cars.

[Eric Kendricks]

I don't.

[Matt Farah]

Little cars.

[Eric Kendricks]

Now, 4Runner, like, that's the biggest. I would go.

[Matt Farah]

No. Like, I'm not saying everyone has to drive, like, a tiny little Econo box, but, like, let's keep it in the zone.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah. Lexus gx. Like, that's perfect.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

Like, that's the biggest. I go, you.

[Matt Farah]

If you pull straight into a parking spot at the fucking grocery store, the cars on either side of you both need to be able to open their doors pretty comfortably. Like, that's. That's not too much to ask, right? I was just driving that Alpine today, and it was the right size. We can talk about that later. Nice. Cam says, do you or any other NFL players consistently go to the track? Yeah, to race.

[Eric Kendricks]

So my buddy's Neil Hunter. He. He lives in Texas. I mean, it's harder out in California, I would say. Say I try to go the track, especially when I'm not driving my own car, but. But, yeah, a bunch of people do. I feel like. I feel like more guys will go to the track, even if it's, you know, one of the ones you go to the Vegas and you rent it out. Like, more guys would do that, you know, even if they're not in car enthusiasts in the league. Because guys like to be competitive and. And test themselves, and we're adrenaline junkies, so. Yeah. For sure guys go to the track. I would say that some go. Like, my buddy Danil goes all the time hunter, big car guy.

[Matt Farah]

That's cool. Dustin says, what was your childhood poster car?

[Eric Kendricks]

Actually, the Viper. I had the Viper with the three colors on it with the stripes going down. Oh, I remember that. So I actually had the Viper as a poster card with. And I had an Allen Iverson poster right next to it. And in quick little story about me and my brother who also played in the NFL, one time, he jumped on my back and I rammed him through the wall, the drywall, because I was mad.

[Matt Farah]

He's on my back.

[Zach Klapman]

Wow.

[Eric Kendricks]

And we. And we took the Allen Iverson poster and we moved it over the hole and my mom walked in and she said, what'd you guys do right here? We try to hide it, you know, so. Funny thing about posters, I had to give shout out to my brother.

[Matt Farah]

I was. I was in. I went to. I was in college in Philly during Allen Iverson time. And it was fucking crazy down there. Allen Iverson, he was fucking man Philly at the time. Couldn't. Couldn't fucking tell him nothing. Throw some Ds on. It says, oh, if you weren't in the NFL, would you consider being part of a NASCAR pit crew as college football. Football players transition well into those competitive roles?

[Eric Kendricks]

No, absolutely. And I think we saw that. We've seen that video go viral, like, recently. Yeah, I mean, it's competitive. You know, you're on a time. It's like you're competing with yourself as well. I think that would be super fun. Be around motorsports. Not really. You know, behind the wheel, you're still part of a team. I think that's a good way for. I feel like football players, like, we transition. It's so tough for us to transition from football life to, like, after football life because we lose the team aspect. You can't go play pickup football anywhere. You know, any other sport, Any other sport you could really, like, you can go to the batting cages. You can go, you know, you can go play pickup basketball. You can play hockey. Crazy. Football is like one of those things where it's like, when you're done, you're done. So a lot of guys struggle. So I think this is a good way for guys to transition. Still be part of something, like team oriented, physical. I think it's awesome. I think it would be cool to try.

[Zach Klapman]

I was talking to Bozie about it.

[Matt Farah]

Our buddy Bozie's on a pit crew and very much enjoys it.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, I think It'd be cool to try.

[Zach Klapman]

A friend of a friend was inquiring about it, and I. So I called Bozie and said, what's the process of getting in there? And he's like, at the top teams, a lot of the people that do go over the wall are former college athletes or pro athletes. And I didn't. I had no idea.

[Eric Kendricks]

It's pro sport.

[Zach Klapman]

And he's like, here's why. Like, one, you got to move fast. You got to carry these heavy things, but also they're disciplined, they're trained up, they're already athletic. And.

[Eric Kendricks]

And if someone's telling you you're doing it wrong. Right, you got to be able to fix it.

[Zach Klapman]

You'll fix it quick, and you do it right. Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

High pressure.

[Zach Klapman]

I didn't expect that at all.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, that'd be a good career. And you. The travel thing, how much are they getting paid?

[Zach Klapman]

The top. Top teams? They're making six figures. But is what he said, like, top NASCAR teams, like, salaried. Six figures. But it's not crazy money. And then as you go down the, you know, the poll of pit crew stuff, like, some of them are contractors, some of them are salaried, you know, but also doing other things. It depends on how much value you can bring to the team besides just like. Like carrying a tire. You know, maybe you're an engineer. Maybe you can fix the car, stuff like that.

[Matt Farah]

So it's really good. Bacon, egg and cheese.

[Zach Klapman]

Do that, you know, marketing something.

[Matt Farah]

That's what I do.

[Zach Klapman]

I know. I think I know that viral video. That guy you're talking about, he's reading, like. He speaks like four languages and is reading all these amazing books.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's so cool.

[Zach Klapman]

Then goes. Moves so fast with the jack that I have to drag, and I'm like, clack, clack. And he just, like, runs around the car. It's so amazing.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, no, that was cool.

[Matt Farah]

Ted Stryker says, what would be the biggest car buying mistake you've made in lesson you learned from that? Do you have a big mistake?

[Eric Kendricks]

I actually don't have too big of mistakes. My second car was a RS7 that I. That I sold for a trade in value on the Porsche. So, like, I got a significant.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, it sounds. Okay.

[Eric Kendricks]

It sounds. That was like. I mean, that was the most money I had lost on a car, essentially.

[Matt Farah]

But, like, just buying a new car and taking regular depreciation on it.

[Eric Kendricks]

Exactly. I bought a.

[Zach Klapman]

You.

[Eric Kendricks]

I bought it used, though. I took regular depreciation on that. Drove it a of ton Done.

[Matt Farah]

So I Think that was a mistake.

[Eric Kendricks]

But I think that the, the, the biggest thing that I did on my first car was when I was buying it, the guy who was helping me buy it shout out to Mike, Mike Lastovich. He was telling me, just get like the top of the line version. Like, you know, you're gonna, you know, just like get the top of the line version. You're in Minnesota, you have a little bit of money now. And I was like, no, I'm gonna go the cheap route. And then I ended up modifying everything to where I have got all the things that I could have just got from the factory. So I think that was like, my biggest mistake was like, you know, if it, if it makes sense, it makes sense.

[Matt Farah]

But a lot of people learn that, like with Hondas in high school and you learned it with like Audis and big money. But yeah, no, it's. Yeah, just if, you know, you're gonna want to go fast, figure out how to get the fast one from the factory and then if you need to go further. Okay. But yeah, buying the small one and trying to make it the big one.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, that was like, I learned. I learned right away.

[Matt Farah]

That's a good lesson. That's life lesson. I love it. Follow Eric's Instagram. It's like 80 car with some football sprinkled in there. And dude, thank you for joining us. I imagine we'll, we'll see you up on the mountain, right? You're up there pretty regularly.

[Eric Kendricks]

I'm at car shows. I'm just. I see. That's where I meet everybody, See everybody there.

[Matt Farah]

I'll be around. Good. I'm glad.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Now we know you have like six cool cars.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, you have, you have excellent taste.

[Eric Kendricks]

I don't think I'm taking the CRX up to Angel's Crest anytime soon.

[Matt Farah]

Fun. Be fun. Just make sure you have good brake pads.

[Zach Klapman]

I need to get power to wait a bit.

[Eric Kendricks]

So actually, actually I need like. It has R12AC.

[Matt Farah]

Oh, yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

It has no AC.

[Matt Farah]

You're going to have to convert it. But it's pretty easy to convert. I have a person for that.

[Eric Kendricks]

Okay.

[Matt Farah]

I, I do. I tried to convert. My wife has a Mitsubishi Delica. The JDM van and the R12 died. Converting it is, according to the Delica forums, like a nightmare where almost the entire engine has to come out of the car.

[Eric Kendricks]

That's crazy. To convert the ecs. I don't want that.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah, no, no. In a crx, in an old Honda, it's much, much easier. In this car, it's like, oh, I guess it doesn't have air conditioning anymore.

[Zach Klapman]

Like, sorry, what tires are on the cross rx.

[Eric Kendricks]

He's got some hand cooks.

[Zach Klapman]

Yeah. Oh, it'd be fun.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah.

[Eric Kendricks]

No, and actually, like, I might drive it up there, but I can't take it. Take anybody in the passenger seat.

[Zach Klapman]

You got to build up speed on the flat, right. Build up speed in the valley and then just keep going. Don't lift off the flat.

[Eric Kendricks]

The car rips, man.

[Matt Farah]

They're awesome.

[Eric Kendricks]

I mean, here we go. Talking about cars, I'm trying to wrap up, but at the same time, the car is faster than I thought it was when I. You know, it's fun, it's engaging, but when I put my buddy Kenneth Murray in the passenger seat, we were going uphill. I was like, oh, I feel. I feel the. I feel the slowness now.

[Matt Farah]

Alpine this morning, this thing is from Europe, and we're gonna do a video about this car, but it's £2,400. And look, I'm. I weigh what I weigh, but, like, I don't know how to drive a car without my own weight in it, so. So I'm driving, ripping this fucking thing. And our friend Thaddeus goes, you have to take me for a ride. So. Okay, Thaddeus weighs probably. Probably £30 more than I do. And so he's in the passenger se. So we're going. And he's like, man, this car feels great. And I didn't want to say, like, you should feel it without you.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah, I mean, it's not. It's not feeling the same for me right now.

[Zach Klapman]

Driving to Vegas, listening right now.

[Eric Kendricks]

I was excited to take my friend to show him how fast the CRX was. Like, bro, watch how fast. And then I'm like, we're kind of. I'm like, we're kind of putting around right now. Dang.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. You think this is great? You should try it without you. So good. Yeah. No, CRX is me mobbing up there. Be a good time. I saw. I talked to a lovely woman up there this morning named Sarah, who was driving a Mercedes 240D4. Speed up the fucking hill. Which is like, chugga chugga, chitty chitty bang bang shit. I was like, have you ever timed yourself? She's like, it's about 45 minutes. I was like, I think it might be long.

[Eric Kendricks]

I was. At first, I was driving the Porsche up there all the time. I would go all the time with the Porsche. Still do. But the first time I drove the Mustang, I'm like, how much time am I spending up here? Like, this is like double the time.

[Matt Farah]

Yeah. But it's fun.

[Eric Kendricks]

Yeah.

[Matt Farah]

It is a good time. I do like driving old cars up there, man. Thank you for joining us. This was great. Thank you to our patrons for asking such good questions. We appreciate y' all. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast if you really didn't like the ads you heard during the show and you never want to hear them again, there's your out. That's how we do it over here. We'll be back with more Smoking Tire Podcast next week. Thank you. Goodbye.