Nicole Johnson (YouTuber, Monster Truck driver)

Summary

The Smoking Tire Podcast: Nicole Johnson (YouTuber, Monster Truck Driver)

Hosts: Matt Farah, Zack Klapman
Guest: Nicole Johnson (Nicole Johnson’s Detour)
Date: September 25, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode, Matt Farah welcomes back Nicole Johnson, acclaimed YouTuber, off-road racer, monster truck driver, and, as Matt insists, a hell of a baker. The conversation ranges from tales of Porsche project car adventures, off-road and racing culture, the realities of automotive content creation, Nicole’s journey with her 911, and candid reflections on car culture events like Monterey Car Week, SEMA, and King of the Hammers. True to Nicole's energetic style, the episode is packed with stories, technical deep dives, humor, and honest industry observations.

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Major Topics & Discussion Highlights

1. King of the Hammers & Off-Road Racing Culture

[02:13 – 06:40]

• Event Scale & Evolution: Nicole comments on how King of the Hammers (KOH) has exploded in commercial scale, comparing early days with just a handful of people to the enormous, less spectator-friendly event it is today.
• Spectator Experience:
  • Matt: "The worst thing about King of the Hammers...it's a pretty shitty spectator sport. Like in person." [02:58]
  • Both agree it's more engaging on TV due to difficult viewing logistics and vast scale.
• Racing Superstitions: Joking about how you don’t dare mention “wind” at KOH due to racers’ superstitions.
• Desert Weather Challenges: Nicole shares stories of treacherous desert weather and infamous cold desert wind.

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2. Baking, Cookies, and the Blue-Collar Fantasy

[06:40 – 08:41]

• Cookies for the Hosts: Nicole brings (slightly stale but still excellent) cookies for Matt and Zack.
• Alternate Career Dreams:
  • Nicole: "When all of this car stuff fails, I'm gonna open up a store in the mall. Nobody's ever done that. And sell cookies."
  • Discussion about the “fantasy” of escaping high-pressure jobs for a simple retail or mail-order business—and the harsh reality of retail hours.

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3. Cars, Cash, and Car Culture Nostalgia

[08:41 – 13:02]

• Retail Businesses & Car Friends: More laughs about mail-order cookies and the meme: “Need money for Ferrari major service”—with Matt’s real-life tale about the meme’s origins.
• Old-School Forums vs. Social: Nicole discusses the Pirate4x4.com era: "This is all before MySpace and Facebook...that was where we all chatted about the upcoming events or where we were gonna be." [10:49]
• Funny Moments: Nicole reminisces about the “change cup” prank in stores, prior to cashless norms.

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4. Porsche Projects & Project Car Realities

[13:02 – 34:35]

• Nicole’s 911 Journey:
  • In LA for “Porsche reasons” (Car events, SoCal Euro, Rancho Santa Fe Cars and Coffee).
  • Recap of rebuilding her 1978 911 engine with her husband—from broken head studs to a 3.2L short stroke, carbureted hot rod, including twin plugging the heads.
• Technical Deep Dive: Detailing how her husband created wax molds to practice machining, and now does twin-plug conversions for others.
• Ongoing Electrical Gremlins: Solving issues with advice and parts from Marco at TLG Porsche.
• Community Support: Matt underscores how hard it is to book good Porsche mechanics ("15 to 20 weeks" wait at TLG; [33:50]), so Nicole was lucky to get help quickly.

Notable Quote:

• Nicole: "We kind of do everything ourselves, but at some point, you still need to fast forward to the guy who's done it for 40 years. Help me out here. What are we missing?" [32:54]

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5. Towing, Trailers & Unexpected Towing Champions

[20:13 – 27:57]

• Long-Haul Choices: Nicole debates driving vs. trailering her 911 to events like Luftgekühlt and Monterey.
• On Towing with Modern Cars:
  • Matt blogs about towing with a Bentley ("People should be buying Bentleys to use to tow with." [24:25])
  • Both agree the Cayenne Diesel (with an added dipstick!) is superior comfort-wise to her aging Dodge tow rig.
  • Nicole: "The truck is so uncomfortable ... my 911 is actually more comfortable." [21:38]

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6. Monterey Car Week & Glamping/Camping Hacks

[35:19 – 44:08]

• Monterey Cost Reality Check: Nicole details camping at "Camp Overcrest" instead of paying $3500 for a Travelodge.
• Glamping Details:
  • Shows off Instagram-ready campsites ("Very Instagrammable. But it is a financial decision." [36:34])
  • Describes the logistics and challenges of camping (no hot showers, dirty shoes, poison oak, packing up camp).
  • Contrast between “bougie” hotels and pragmatic camping for car events.
• Access and Inclusion in Car Culture:
  • Nicole raises the concern: "How are we gonna get younger people interested in cars if the price of entry is so high?" [44:08]
  • Matt lists ways to experience Monterey car culture for free with planning and perseverance.

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7. Car Market (New & Used), Affordability, and Bubble Concerns

[49:02 – 53:54]

• Used Car Price Insanity: Nicole shares how she sold her 310k-mile Sequoia for more than she paid for it years earlier, expressing shock at the “floor” for running trucks.
• Matt’s Analysis: Supply chain issues, inflation, and a scarcity of new “cheap” cars push used prices up.
• Auto Loans & Repo Bubble: Matt observes rising repossessions and auto loan defaults, tying them to overall market stress.

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8. Audience Q&A Highlights

[53:54 – 68:22] (Selected questions with notable answers)

Fizziest Car Under $100k

Matt: "A Lotus Exige, or maybe a hopped-up Ariel Atom—those are 'bull riding on a fly'." [54:22]

Favorite Old VW?

Nicole: "The sleeper bug that I drove that doesn't even have a Volkswagen motor in it." (11 million views on her channel). [55:20]

Most Memorable Drive?

Nicole: “The FIA Cobra at Willow Springs… there were five actually made. Carroll Shelby sent to Europe to race, and I drove one of them at the track. Very memorable.” [60:38]

Automotive Bucket List?

Nicole: "A real GT40, but I’d also love to do vintage racing, like racing a little Datsun at the Historics." [64:32]

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Funniest/Most Memorable Quotes

• Nicole (on King of the Hammers):
  “You don't say the W word. I'm assuming you know what the W word is. So it's wind. And if you say... it will be windy.” [04:08]

• Matt (on Overcrest camping):
  "Jews don’t camp, Nicole." [36:17]

• Nicole (on replacing the Porsche’s distributor):
  “At some point, you still need to fast forward to the guy who's done it for 40 years. Help me out here.” [32:54]

• Matt (on Monterey car event prices):
  "Regular people, it is crazy...half the people there, their business pays for it."

• Nicole (on SEMA show changes):
  “Everything outside is like a big river truck on just big wheels with… a Bluetooth drive shaft. It used to be that if your car was at SEMA, it was like, ‘Whoa.’” [78:58]

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Notable Moments & Timestamps

• King of the Hammers Spectator Gripes: [02:58]
• Cookies and the blue-collar career escape fantasy: [06:40]
• Pirate4x4.com & early days of car forums: [10:49]
• Car camping vs. hotels at Monterey: [36:09]–[41:16]
• Ongoing project car woes and Porsche problem-solving: [28:03]–[33:03]
• Audience Q&A (“Fizzies” car, Bucket List drives, etc.): [53:54]–[68:22]

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Where to Find Nicole

• YouTube: Nicole Johnson’s Detour
• Instagram: @nicolejohnsonoffroad
• Upcoming Appearances: SoCal Euro, Rancho Santa Fe Cars and Coffee, Luftgekühlt, SEMA (Turn 14/Bilstein Display)

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Episode Tone and Takeaways

This episode is a perfect blend of gearhead banter, technical wrenching stories, event gossip, nostalgia, and industry introspection—anchored by the infectious energy of Nicole Johnson. Both hosts’ familiarity allows for lots of humor, real talk about the car world’s barriers and absurdities, practical tips for enthusiasts, and plenty of motivation for anyone laboring through their own project car drama.

Memorable close:
Matt thanks Nicole for the cookies, jokes about creating Patreon tiers for baked goods, and they muse on Taylor Swift sourdough before signing off.

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For automotive enthusiasts or hobbyists, this episode delivers the full sensory overload of real life in the car world: the passion, the practical realities, and the joy of sharing car culture with the people who truly get it.

Transcript

[A]

What up, everyone? Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Matt Farah here. And as always, today's episode is brought to you by off the Record. We love off the Record because they are looking out for you. If you get pulled over on the road for anything big or small and get ticketed, don't fight the cop, fight it in court. With off the record, go to offtherecord.com TST and off the Record will connect you to a qualified attorney in the jurisdiction where you got that ticket. They will fight that ticket your behalf to the death, if need be. That's right. For just one little clicky on a little linky. Offtherecord.com TST you have representation at a 10% discount. Offtherecord.com TNT don't plead guilty. Get a lawyer. Get off the Record. All right, folks, on this episode of the program, my pal Nicole Johnson is here. She is the host of Nicole Johnson's detour on YouTube. She's also a big social media star and a hell of a baker, if you ask me. We talk about her journey with her Porsche 911, which I can most certainly relate to. The cool stuff she's driving for her YouTube channel. What she wants to be driving in the future. And honestly, it's just a lot for me to keep up with this woman because she is made of distilled liquid energy. It's Nicole Johnson on the Smoking Tire Podcast. Let's go. Hi.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

Vilcome in.

[B]

Thank you for having me back.

[A]

You came in like I was pooping. And you came in, and I mean, you came in like a fucking tornado. And I was like, okay, all right. And you were. And I offered you a coffee, and you were like, I've had a monster. And I was like, okay, you can tell now I know what to expect for the next hour.

[B]

I've had a monster. Be ready.

[A]

But, yeah, it's nice to see you. I looked this morning. You know, that was 23. When you were last year. It wasn't even 24.

[B]

It was like your last one of that year.

[A]

It was our last one of, like, December, end of the year.

[B]

Year.

[A]

Yeah. A year and a half, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And the reason I looked is because since you were last here, you've done a bunch of cool stuff. But also, Zach and I went to King of the Hammers. I never. I'd never been.

[B]

Saw it.

[A]

Yeah. And now I saw it. Yeah.

[B]

It's a. It's very different than it was in the first three years. But you can see the scale of it is sure. Nuts.

[A]

Bigger because it's of the commercialness of it.

[B]

Much.

[A]

Very much. Yeah.

[B]

And a lot of it's always been a lot of people. It's crazy. Well, I shouldn't say that the very first year we. We went, there was nobody there.

[A]

Yeah. No. They made such a huge deal out of how. How few people there were the very first year.

[B]

Not a spectator.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

At all.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And you just parked anywhere you wanted on the lake, man.

[A]

Like, who would sign up to spectate?

[B]

Nobody.

[A]

Like I would say the worst thing about it. Like the worst thing about King of the Hammers, seriously. And this goes for. This is not unique to King of the Hammers, is that it's a pretty shitty spectator sport.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like in person.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I mean, it's just. It's too fucking huge.

[B]

You have to get way up into the canyon now. You have to park on the lake bed and you need like a side by side or something to get you up there.

[A]

And even then you're there, you have no clue when are they coming.

[B]

Right? And they go right by you.

[A]

Zach and I sat in a corner for like two and a half hours. Dude, I must have smoked two blunts and drank about fucking three coffees sitting there.

[B]

That's funny.

[A]

And it's. When are they coming? And it's not like I picked the wrong corner. There's 200 other people there. Yeah, they're all there too.

[B]

I've never spectated it though, and I don't like to spectate it for that reason.

[A]

What we eventually did was we went in the Ford VIP tent because we were their guest where they have this beautiful drone coverage and commentary and like all other off road sports, it's better to watch on television. The actual race outside of that though, the nighttime. That's why you want to be there. That's why you want to be.

[B]

Did you have any bad weather? Because it can. You don't say the W word. I'm assuming you know what the W word is. So it's wind. And if you say oh, it's not woke.

[A]

No, you don't say that.

[B]

Wind. It will be windy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So everybody's like, don't say sure.

[A]

It's like superstitious ass racers.

[B]

For sure.

[A]

Yeah. You could say it out there. The wind.

[B]

It's like Voldemort. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it is.

[A]

No, but it. There didn't rain, but I. We did when driving back from what's it called? Chocolate Thunder. There was a. There's a mud pit that when it was pitch black, you can't really see.

[B]

And there's old bomb craters. So if you don't know this and you're just blasting along in like a side by side, you will and launch yourself.

[A]

Well, it was only because I had a Raptor and I had the advantage of horsepower and speed, you know, being in a. If I was in like some old off road shit, like a Cherokee or something, I'd have been sunk. But I had the option to add 300 horsepower and I did get through it. But like if I slowed down and took or took my foot off the floor, it was like that clay. I was not getting out of there. No. And we, you know, it was one of those things where you go, you know, you park the truck and it's dark. You know, the next morning you get up and you realize just how. That's how filthy the vehicle is.

[B]

Yeah. It can be crazy weather though. Everything we've had, we've seen. Hail, sleet, if it rains, the wind. The wind is probably one of the hardest.

[A]

But cold desert wind is nasty stuff.

[B]

It's everything I did bring you.

[A]

I saw them. I didn't want to talk about it.

[B]

Timeout. I have to tell you this. You saw this big thing and you assumed they were all for you. No, these are for Zach.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

These are for Zach. Hold on. This is for you, Matt.

[A]

Wait, I need one more for Hannah. For my wife. My wife's a chocolate chip cookie free.

[B]

Take it right out of here.

[A]

That's all.

[B]

Matt is watching his girlish figure. So Matt has one. Okay, sorry.

[A]

You know what I've gotten really good at? I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I've been get pretty good at having a bite of the dessert and then throwing it away.

[B]

We all know Matt. I mean, Zach is very skinny, so he can down all of these. He.

[A]

He works really hard to be that skinny. He eats a lot of brown rice. Does he? Yeah, he does. He works really hard.

[B]

So anyway, this is for you guys.

[A]

All right, well, thank you so much.

[B]

Full disclosure, they're two days old. It took me a while to get.

[A]

Here, but they're still probably awesome.

[B]

They're great if you put them in the fridge.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

They're wonderful in the.

[A]

Thank you so much. You're a fabulous baker.

[B]

You know, this is my backup plan.

[A]

Baking.

[B]

Oh. You know, when all of these car stuff fails, I'm gonna open up a store in the mall. Nobody's ever done that. And I'm sell cookies.

[A]

Well, it's not.

[B]

They call it Mrs. Johnson's Cookies. It's perfect, right? Nobody's ever done that.

[A]

We have a fan shout out to him who owns a place in Seattle called Lowrider Cookies, and he's in the airport. I'm sure there's other ones, but the one I've seen is in the airport.

[B]

Must do well.

[A]

Good fucking cookies. I don't know, but he sent me a box of cookies and they were great. I picked them up. I was gonna layover through Seattle. He's like, oh, stop by. And there was a box of cookies.

[B]

And they had a little composite of cookies.

[A]

It was delightful. I have. Dude, I can't tell you the number of people that I know that are either glamorous or wealthy or work in big tech jobs or whatever that are sort of like, mentally ready for this, like a sort of simple blue collar retail life. I wonder if they are you. Do you think you're ready for the reality of that, though?

[B]

Oh, I've had a retail establishment before, and I do not like the hours. Because if you show up to your own place five minutes late, they're ticked off. They're standing there and they're pissed at you. So retail stinks. And, like, public hours stink. You know, if. I guess if you could, like, figure out how to, like, ship them wholesale Internet. Just ship them?

[A]

Yeah. So you on Amazon.

[B]

Boom. They're here by 3:10am to 3:00pm I.

[A]

Mean, look, folks with audiences are perfectly primed to start mail order businesses, aren't they? So I think you should try.

[B]

I should.

[A]

There's probably laws. Like, there's actually probably laws.

[B]

So with as much money as I just met at TLG yesterday, I'm gonna have to charge 18 a cookie.

[A]

Shout out to them.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, Marco's fantastic.

[A]

Well, you could have a whole campaign of like, you know, like, you've seen the meme where it's like the homeless person where it's like, need money for Ferrari, major service. I swear to God. The original one of those. The original meme of that. You see the one you've seen, that's kind of famous, right? You don't know what I'm talking about.

[B]

No, I haven't seen it.

[A]

There's an old meme from back when the Internet was fun. Okay. Before the Internet turned into now. It was fun. From, like 2010, there was a meme of this dude, like, disheveled, laying on the ground with a cardboard sign that says, you know, please help. Need money for Ferrari, major service.

[B]

I keep going. I got it.

[A]

The Person in the meme holding the cardboard thing is my old boss, Emil, who went to prison for financial crimes. And it's, like, actually a piece of shit.

[B]

And he really did need money for probably.

[A]

Yeah, like, he actually stole from people in order to live for our lifestyle.

[B]

Okay, so it's funny because maybe I didn't realize it was a meme, but now that you're saying it, I do exactly know what you're talking about. One time, we were wheeling and we were out, stuck, broke down somewhere. And my son and our friend's kid were standing there with signs. We got stuck on a trail, the Ducey Ursham Trail. And we were stuck for two extra days because we were broke down. And they had a sign that said, we'll work for Jeep parts. And everybody that went by just laughed at us. If we were sitting there camping on the side of the road, broke down, somebody had to actually go down for.

[A]

Two days, broken down.

[B]

Well, somebody had to. Like, we camped. We were planning on camping anyway, but it was like somebody had to go down the trail into town, go get parts, come back.

[A]

Okay, you were. You got it.

[B]

We were broke down, but literally, you.

[A]

Planned to be there, but you planned to have other options, too.

[B]

We'll work for Jeep parts. We couldn't keep progressing.

[A]

Did anybody have any Jeep parts?

[B]

No, we had to go get them.

[A]

All right, but did anybody. Was anyone like, what do you need? We've got some stuff.

[B]

No, there weren't very many people, but they just laughed. Thought we were being funny and not serious as they were driving.

[A]

No, for real, what do you got? Really, what do you got?

[B]

If I find it, I'll send it to you. And by the time you edit this, you should slip it in.

[A]

It's funny. I guess this. I guess that photo was like. It was before there were memes. Like, it wasn't a meme. It was like a guy doing something funny on the Internet. Like, that was before. A meme is like, I gotta be, like, a metaphor for something else. This was just a guy being.

[B]

There were some fun things that we used to do. So, like, before social Media, there was pirate4x4.com, and that was like the forum where all of us chatted about the upcoming events or where we were gonna be. And that's King of the Hammers, whatever, right? This is all before MySpace and Facebook and obviously Instagram and. Anyway, there was this thing that we did that was so funny back then, and I don't even know if it would be received now because nobody pays in Cash. But there's this thing called the change cup that I had this video I put out. Okay. So you, you, you go to pay Home Depot, whatever, grocery store, and you're gonna buy this, and it's $1.49. And you hand them $2 in cash. And when they go to give you the change back, you just hold your hand like this.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

You don't go like this. You just go like this. And you have to have a serious face. Don't bright, don't laugh. And then the. The person doesn't.

[A]

They're like, don't know what to do.

[B]

WTF? Or if you give them a 20 and you have dollars and coins, they're like. You just hold your hand like this like it's a change cup. And they go. And they're trying to like, balance the money on your hand. And I have video of them stuffing the quarters in my hand. It's. I went to like several places doing the change cup.

[A]

That's actually pretty funny.

[B]

Amazing. Nobody pays with cash anymore, so this would be.

[A]

I can't believe how often I have to ask the do you take cash? Question.

[B]

Right. Still like a 20. Oh, we don't have enough. We don't have enough change.

[A]

Cash is fun. I like it. Yeah, still good.

[B]

You know what's nice about cash is you can't remember what you bought, but if it's on your debit card, you're.

[A]

That's the opposite for me.

[B]

I blew it here. I've spent $6 there, $8 there.

[A]

Yeah, I'm actually. I find myself a little too accountable with plastic. I liked. Yeah, that's. I like, I like to. It's gone.

[B]

Forget it.

[A]

I had the cash and now I don't anymore.

[B]

Well, I've to remember where I spent it all.

[A]

No, I, you know, I live underneath like you do. Probably the umbrella of a business. So the cash, anything that I really need, that isn't something that is, you know, for the business or for cars or whatever. Things that are part of my, you know, generally write offableness, you know, therein lies the cash.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, that's how it is, right? All cars and car things are. That's work. So. Yeah, but you're here cause you're a Porsche, right?

[B]

I am here in town because of my portrait.

[A]

Physically, you're here because you're Porsche, not emotionally.

[B]

I think I'm also emotionally here. You know what? I have a sticker on the card that says emotional support vehicle.

[A]

That's pretty funny.

[B]

I am here for that too. Yeah. I'm going to big SoCal Euro, which is on Saturday down in San Diego. Rancho Santa Fe Cars and coffee on Saturday.

[A]

That's a very good. Cars and coffee. Actually, we were just talking.

[B]

I have never been. But I see so many pictures coming out of there that I'm.

[A]

You know why? I'll tell you why you see so many pictures coming out of there. Because it's every week.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

It's not like most of the cars and coffees are once a month.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so because this one's every week, there's genuinely a lot more.

[B]

And high quality stuff shows up pretty much, is what I hear. Pretty good stuff.

[A]

Rancho Santa Fe is one of the richest zip codes in the country.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

People like. It's a very normal thing for people to have more than one horse in their yard there.

[B]

Wow. And more than one dog. No, it's not quite the same category.

[A]

Rico Suave.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

So I'll do that for the first time.

[A]

Yeah. It's fun.

[B]

I kind of know the guys from Instagram. Right. Who run this Rancho Santa Fe. I say, hey, I'm coming. Yay. Anyway, get there early. I'm getting there early. I'm getting there early. I've been warned. So. Yeah.

[A]

And then.

[B]

So I have a relationship with Bill Stein and they are gonna have a booth or whatever display at the big SoCal Euro event. So I'll be there representing car.

[A]

They give you some. Some dampers.

[B]

Swag and dampers. Yeah. So I'm also. So when I went to Air Water, I was with Bill Stein. I saw you and you came over and saw my car. And then I went to Monterey and I. With them at works reunion. I'm also going to Luft and I.

[A]

You said you're driving there. Well, what are you doing?

[B]

You're.

[A]

But you have shit to do.

[B]

Here's the thing.

[A]

Two weeks.

[B]

I am on the. I am on the fence. By the time you air this, we will know what I'm doing, I'm sure. I am on the fence. I am debating on trailering or driving. I will make a decision after speech.

[A]

Oh, you're driving either way. It's just a matter of whether you're driving a truck or a car. Oh, yeah.

[B]

And I don't think there's anything sexy about a trailer. Although there are comforts like air conditioning.

[A]

I mean.

[B]

I don't really care about air conditioning as much. Cause I live in the desert and I can deal with it.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So we're Gonna see. I'm not gonna run my mouth yet.

[A]

Well, here's the funny thing.

[B]

I'm gonna be fluid on this.

[A]

The funny thing about driving an air cooled car is folks gotta take a quick break today because support is coming in hot from Deleteme. Delete Me makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online. At a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable, anyone can find and purchase your personal information. That's because every time you use the Internet for shopping or signing up for stuff, your information go data broker websites who then sell it to other people. That can lead to phishing scams, all kinds of nefarious garbage. And online actors are going to find this data and use it to target political rivals, civil servants and even outspoken citizens posting their opinions online. With Deleteme, you can protect your personal privacy or the privacy of your business from doxing attacks before sensitive information can be exploited. In fact, Wirecutter has named Deleteme their top fic pick for data removal services. I used Delete Me. It was very, very straightforward. I signed up, I filled out a questionnaire, I gave them a lot of information and they went to work. A few days later I heard back that they found like over a thousand instances of my information being out there. They deleted a bunch of it automatically. They gave me the tools to delete the ones I couldn't do automatically. And they were fighting legally to get other stuff removed. And that's ongoing. It's not just once. They keep going and every month you get a report saying how they're doing. Now we're down to like a hundred and something instances a month. You can't make this go away, so you have to manage it. You can take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your Delete Me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com Tire and use promo code tire at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to join Deleteme and enter code tire at checkout. That's joindeleteme.com Tire Codetire. Also, support coming in today from Upside, Fall is here. That means back to school rush, early morning drop offs, after school activities, football games, last minute supply runs and those extra trips for groceries, coffee and gas in the days that get busier. It all adds up fast, folks. But we've got Upside here, the free Upside app. There's an easy way to earn Real cash back. Every time you fill up on your tank, grab a bite to eat, or stock up on essentials. Whether you're driving across town for a soccer game or picking up snacks for the school lunch, Upside helps you keep more in your pocket. In fact, Upside has given back $1 billion to its users. All you have to do is get that Upside app. There's over 100,000 gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants on the app, ensuring that cash back is around the corner. Yes, it's real cash back. No rewards, points, credits, just actual money you can transfer straight to your bank account. Next, you claim an offer for whatever you're buying on Upside. Then you pay as usual with a credit or debit card, follow the steps in the app, and get paid. You can earn three times more cash back with Upside than any other product, including loyalty programs and credit card rewards. A million bucks cash back is being earned by users every. Every single week, man. Upside, you're already there. You're already getting gas, you're already going to grocery stores, you're already going to restaurants. All you have to do is go to the versions that are connected to the app and boom. Cash back. It's so easy. Upside has given, like I said, a billion dollars back to its users. And to find out how much you could earn, download the free Upside app and use promo code TheSmokingTire to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's an extra 25 cent back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. Use promo code, the smoking tire. And now back to the show. They're known for being, like, relatively comfortable and reliable. And so when you drive an air cooled car a really long distance, nobody gives a shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know what I mean?

[B]

It's not impressive because it keeps.

[A]

It's not impressive. People do it all the time. It's kind of what they're known for. And I'm not. But when you're physically the one doing the driving, you're like, guys, this just took four days.

[B]

Let's talk about i40. It's not glamorous.

[A]

No, it sucks.

[B]

Going down through Albuquerque and it's not gonna be great.

[A]

That's the downside of it is like, it is. Unless you are gonna go, all right, I'm going, no, it's gonna take eight days. I'm going, no freeway. But make a thing out of it, right? You know, if I'm gonna drive a truck and trailer or the Porsche down I40 for three days, ugh, we're gonna.

[B]

See no matter what to be there. So I have a Dodge 3500, a 2006 Cummins diesel, which is good.

[A]

The seats are not comfortable 20 year olds. That is before 20 year old commercial trucks.

[B]

295,000 miles on it for the def though we like it was the last year before you had to put the diesel exhaust fluid in it.

[A]

Okay, cool.

[B]

And we've had it since. It had 30,000 miles on it. It's a great truck.

[A]

The problem, there's new seats in it.

[B]

Yeah, the problem is like I drove it down here so it's, you know, parked around the corner and.

[A]

Thanks for not bringing it.

[B]

Well, I know your place.

[A]

I just don't have a lot of room.

[B]

Dude, from the Sheraton, you roll over.

[A]

The truck and trailer. I go, sorry, can't help you.

[B]

No, I knew that in advance. So I actually stayed at the Sheraton cause it was closed. Left it there in the parking lot. I'm glad you're not live because then I'm telling people, go steal it. It's over there. But anyhow, the truck is so uncomfortable. Just driving down from Vegas within the first half an hour, I was like, oh, my left butt sheet cracks and I even had a little lumbar pillow. The truck sucks. So I'm like, no, my 911 is actually more comfortable.

[A]

But don't you said you also have a cayenne diesel?

[B]

I do, but.

[A]

And what's wrong with that?

[B]

Well, you know, as any Porsche does, it has a tiny bit of oil coming out of it. And I don't think I want to stress it out, but I have an aluminum. I have an aluminum. Just a little leak.

[A]

So what, you check your levels?

[B]

Yeah, I even added a dipstick. You know those didn't come with a dipstick.

[A]

Yeah, digital dipstick.

[B]

So I, I found out that the Audi had. It's the same exact.

[A]

The Audi one has the same.

[B]

Pull a plug and you can get a genuine Audi. $30. Dismiss it. I got a dipstick.

[A]

Wait, so there is a dipstick channel.

[B]

Yes, with a rubber plug. So I have a Cayenne diesel. There's. You pop it open and there's literally.

[A]

A rubber Q7 part and put it in. Yeah, that's so.

[B]

So I just got it from a genuine Audi dealer. It was 30 bucks. Little yellow, you know, pull handle. So you know what it is. Pop it in there. Reads it perfectly.

[A]

Like you're capable of maintaining an oil level. I know if you have a choice between doing a.

[B]

So. So Comfortable?

[A]

I don't understand your rationale for that. Not you're going to a Porsche thing. If some you roll up and towing your Porsche with a Porsche, it's like double bonus points.

[B]

I know, right?

[A]

And I assume your rig is like well within the capacity.

[B]

Oh, for sure. Well, the cayenne will do £7,700 as 406 pound feet of torque.

[A]

So what's the rig? Five? Maybe not.

[B]

Not even that. Because I have an aluminum trailer that's maybe 1400 pounds, so we're talking 4000.

[A]

A Featherlight 7741.

[B]

It's an. It's an open 18 foot dual axle and it's got like a rock guard.

[A]

On it that's the same shit I just towed.

[B]

And it's got a nice wide eight foot deck. It's a nice trailer.

[A]

Did you see. Did you see my super toe? Or wait, look, this is. This is my car week.

[B]

You know what I realized?

[A]

Scroll back a little.

[B]

We talk a lot when we're together.

[A]

Chatty people.

[B]

I know.

[A]

So we're supposed to do this though. This is. Wait. Oh no. Do I know. Why do I not have.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What is that?

[B]

No guard in the front.

[A]

A source. Hang on, I apologize. Can I add sources in real time? Looks like I can. This is the. Oh, I have to like get rid of the fucking lower thirds. I'm a terrible producer. Actually, fuck it, I'll leave the lower thirds. But I totally. That's like kind of like your trailer, right? Give or take.

[B]

Yeah, except I have a rock guard on the front, which is nice.

[A]

Well, I borrowed this one, so I didn't get to.

[B]

But they're light. You don't even feel it when it's empty. I have to put the air pressure down to about 25 or it Pogos down the road. If I keep it up at like around 40. It's horrible.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Won't tow very well.

[A]

My Manx was. Is, you know, 1500 pounds. So not much weight on there. But I have a story coming out for Road and Track next week that is about towing with a Bentley. And long story short, people should be buying Bentleys to use to tow with.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yes. Good consumer advice from your boy.

[B]

You know what? I love it when a car that you don't think can tow, can tow.

[A]

Dude, I used to tow.

[B]

It's so comfortable.

[A]

You got an 06 2,500. So I used to tow. Or 3,500. I used to tow back in the day with Gotham dream cars and we had an 042500 with a stick and then an 0535.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Probably similar to what you have. And for the big trailer, two car trailer with the fucking gooseneck on it. That the 3500 was nice. For anything smaller than that, the 2500 was better. The Bentley V8S has more power and more torque than that truck. And it has two more gears, has eight speed. And when you plugged the trailer in and you connect it to the Bentley, click the port. It does a full light test automatically. And then it goes and sets the level automatically.

[B]

That is nice. You know what I like about the Cayenne and it's the first car I've had with a backup camera. I like driving an older car. I can drive it one shot. That ball underneath. Perfect. One shot.

[A]

I've never in my life hooked a trailer up to a car faster.

[B]

Yep, same.

[A]

And I had to do it in pitch dark because the very last day, Sunday night I stayed Sunday night after car week. The Manx broke down a fuse went and I had to rescue it myself. Thank God it broke somewhere with cell phone service. That was like the luckiest. It broke somewhere with a safe turn off and cell service. So I got an Uber back to the Airbnb and I had to connect the trailer in the dark which. With this beautiful 2025 Bentley backup camera. When I tell you I did this in under 30 seconds in one move.

[B]

Perfect. The best just to come here. So I brought. So my. The Dodge has a shell on it and there's no seeing out the rear view at all.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So it's 14 times of getting out of the truck and I was above myself. 14 times of looking. Backing up. Round two.

[A]

Got it.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

That's why that left side of the seat's so beat every time. Seriously. That's why.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Yeah. So backup camera technology. You should be taking the Cayenne.

[B]

I know.

[A]

No one will notice your drips of oil and.

[B]

Yeah. Just put more in it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. We drove it to Monterey though. We did. We trailered it up to Monterey. It was so freaking comfortable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And quick.

[A]

Porsche makes a great seat.

[B]

It tows fantastic. It wasn't even. Didn't even really feel.

[A]

My good friend Larry Casilla bought himself one to drive his kids around Connecticut to baseball practice and did a whole overlandy kit with it. And I was down at Zinger a couple days ago. You know them and Lucas Zinger drives a Cayenne diesel on big like oz rally wheels with off road tires.

[B]

Off road mine. I mean it feels like that's natural for me. I want to do that.

[A]

I have heard of them before. They're excellent.

[B]

I would like to do that.

[A]

It has stock wheels, tires, suspension.

[B]

I have the 20 inch nice. Like the ones on the Panamera or something.

[A]

Sure, but like Porsche stuff, not like big off. Correct. You can do small things to make those things very good off road. Yeah, that's cool. But we were supposed to do something yesterday and you had to bail. Cause you had to go to tlg, which you just said. So what happened to the Porsche?

[B]

Okay, so back it up. For anybody who doesn't, you know, I assume everybody's following along.

[A]

Oh, here, I'll pull up pictures of.

[B]

So my husband and I not producing.

[A]

I was too busy talking and not producing.

[B]

There's my little car. So after air water, which was end of April, our plan was okay. I got a three and a half month window before the next place I have to be, which is Monterey. And my husband and I decided to rebuild the motor on our own first rodeo here. And we had some broken head studs. So that turned into. Let's turn it into a three, two short stroke carbureted. And yeah, it turned out beautiful. The distributor had some issues. We've been chasing electrical problems while we've been carb tuning. So as we, you know, as we would be dialed in one day.

[A]

This car's like an 80s car.

[B]

So this 78.

[A]

Okay. But it would have been an injected car.

[B]

It was not a car tuned. And I gotta tell you, it didn't even know it had a broken head stud. The day before we ripped the motor out, my husband, like, we drove to air water through the Overcrest rally and put 1,000 miles on the car doing 100 miles an hour in the desert. Just the day before we ripped the motor out. So there was nothing wrong with the car.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Except you gotta deal with the head studs. So. Yeah, so we ripped it out. And my husband did the twin plug machining himself again. First rodeo here, he built a wax mold of the heads and practiced in wax before he drilled.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

Yeah, he built a box, put the heads in a box, poured some carving wax in there. And then he had a perfect casting of the head and it took about four tries. Oh, no, that's not right. Pour some more wax in. Got it correctly. Right. And then only did it once.

[A]

Wow, that's pretty cool.

[B]

And now he's offering it. He's actually done another guy's.

[A]

He does it once. This is the most American shit Ever. You do something once and then you're like business, business.

[B]

Exactly. Yeah. No, he's already done it for another guy. Yeah. Yeah, we already had some heads brought over so y. If you need twin plugging done, we can do it. So. Yeah, so he did that. And anyway, fast forward to this is a great little, you know, it's kind of a little hot roddy and not without too much going too crazy.

[A]

I mean, did it. Did it.

[B]

But we weren't getting. We were, we got to Monterey, but we were chasing electrical problems, not knowing what was going on because one day it would run great, the next day we'd be down a cylinder.

[A]

Guys, one more break from the action today because hello Fresh is here supporting us. Fall is here. Cooler night, heartier meals, and the craving for something warm and satisfying. I think fall dining is my favorite dining. It basically starts with hamburgers in the summer and just works its way progressively towards Thanksgiving. Get it to the next level with HelloFresh bringing those seasonal ingredients right to your door and they've got the biggest menu refresh yet. Say hello to a new way to do dinner. HelloFresh has doubled its menu. You can choose from 100 options every week, including new seasonal dishes and recipes from around the world. Dig into bigger portions that'll keep everyone satisfied. There's an even healthier menu filled with high protein and veggie packed recipes. HelloFresh now helps you get greener with new veggie packed recipes that have two or more veggies in each dish. Plus steak seafood at no extra cost. There's three times more seafood on the menu now at no extra cost. Plus new seasonal produce each week from snap peas to stone fruit, corn on the cob and more. I love HelloFresh because it's right amount of food, spices, seasonings for me and my wife so it cuts down on waste. It cuts over on leftovers which I don't like. It's exactly what I need in terms of the amount of food and the freshness. Plus I keep that nice colorful photographic recipe card. So if I want to make the dish in a bigger quantity for a party or a gathering, I can always go back to it. The best way to cook just got better. Go to hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm to get 10 free free meals and a free item for life. One per box with active subscription free meals. Applied is a discount on first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. That's hellofresh.com smokingtire10fm to get 10 free meals and a Free item for life. Now back to the show. Wow.

[B]

Why are our plugs fouled? All this stuff. Anyhow, long story short, we had some issues with the distributor, Marco. I was told to go down to Marco and that he's the guy. So Friday I took it down there, he's indeed the guy, and he happened to have another distributor, and he popped it in and that solved that problem. And then he, you know, he just found a few more things that needed to be buttoned up. Cause I said, hey, I gotta be driving this car. And now here I am. Drove it yesterday. It was great.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

So, yeah, so he just, you know, we kind of do everything ourselves, but at some point, you still need to fast forward to the guy who's done it for 40 years. Help me out here. What are we missing?

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you can turn the bolt. You just need to know which bolt to.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

So he's. He was really helpful.

[A]

That's why I just. I mean. And look, let me tell you something. Consider yourself lucky because I called him yesterday and this is. This is one of my best friends. We have dinner together all the time.

[B]

He said, sorry, Nicole's already here and I'm busy.

[A]

No, no, but I. But I. My. One of my. My physical therapist, my. For my niece, who I've been seeing for literally 14 years. Okay. Has a 996. I help him with it, you know, here and there. The guy who's working on it is fucking up and it's not shifting right. The linkage. The link. The linkage isn't right. It feels like shit. Mark, can you help out 15 to 20 weeks? 15 to 20 weeks is what I said.

[B]

I heard that.

[A]

That was me calling.

[B]

He did a solid for me big time.

[A]

You can't get in the fucking.

[B]

I was in a pickle. I'm like, I gotta be at this show. This is a big effing deal. I gotta have this car deal.

[A]

I get it. I get it. Emergency.

[B]

And he was just. And I'd never met him before, and he went out of his way and I thanked him probably 85,000 times while I was.

[A]

Did you give him cookies?

[B]

I did, yeah. They were one day fresher than I would.

[A]

Yeah. I would start with. I'd start with him. I should probably send these back up.

[B]

And then I met Thaddeus. He was great. And then I met Alex, the body guy. Because I didn't have the deck lid on when I ran down to. On Friday. I just grabbed the car out of the garage. It didn't have the deck lid. And anyway, the other reason why I didn't bring the Cayenne on this trip is I have have tires from Continental to put on. So I got a new tire sponsor, which I'm thrilled with.

[A]

Congratulations for the 911 for everything. Oh, yeah. So what tire do they have that goes on the sport Contact whatever?

[B]

Yeah, for the 911. Yes. And then there's. They've got a great all terrain that I just put on the Dodge. Great tire. And now, you know, I've got the Boxster that needs tire. I take that on the track. Needs tires.

[A]

I did the. The ones that you have on the 911 I did on my Ferrari 328. Those are the best options for 308s and 328s. They're good.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So I have them in the back of my truck and I'm gonna get those mounted like when I leave here. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to San Diego and putting tires on the car.

[A]

Did you. Did you enjoy Car week? Do you go.

[B]

I went to Camp Overcrest. Do you know about Camp Overcrest?

[A]

No, you.

[B]

How what?

[A]

Go.

[B]

Okay, scroll down, scroll down. You gotta see camp. Okay, well, first of all, Chris Rangi's car was at camp.

[A]

No. Yes. I mean, if you go down. He's the man. We're gonna get him. He. I saw.

[B]

He was just at Sports Car Vacation, then he wasn't camping. So. Sorry. Go down. Look it right there.

[A]

Yes, I saw him.

[B]

Look at this.

[A]

Hang on.

[B]

See this photo? That's Camp Overcrest.

[A]

Oh, it's camping at.

[B]

At Tirananza, the winery. And it was in car outside of Carmel Valley. So you had to go. You know, Carmel is windy roads. Then you go about six miles through the windiest single lane road. Don't get in a head on around the corner. Right. That kind of road. And we camped five days.

[A]

So funny.

[B]

How rad is that?

[A]

This is not my idea of a good time. It's very. It's the. Huh?

[B]

You're bougie, are you?

[A]

Jews don't camp, Nicole. It is. Look, I will say this. If you're into car camping, which I know a lot of people are, this is a gorgeous aesthetic.

[B]

I will be honest.

[A]

This is the most Instagramable camping shit I've ever seen.

[B]

Very Instagrammable. But I will be honest with you. It is a financial decision. A Travel Lodge is 3500.

[A]

Oh, shit.

[B]

Yeah, I ate this. A Travel Lodge is $3,500 for five days. And you don't have Wi Fi anyway at Travel Lodge because it sucks. They don't come in for towel service by the end of day three, you have no toilet paper because they haven't brough you anything. I know this because I stayed in it last year, and I'm like, this was like 650 bucks for five days.

[A]

Dude, I am not.

[B]

I brought. I brought a aromatic on that.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

And I brought a down comforter. I brought real linen, like, sheets. I was glamping, but my husband ended up with killer poison oak, so. So that's where I sweep.

[A]

I don't know about you, but I'm not trying to, like, roll up to the concourse on Sunday with poison oak. Zack and Thaddeus, a couple years ago, went car camping in Big Sur.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And it was not $650. It was $0, because you just show up or whatever. 40 bucks for the permit. And they camped out of Zach's replica Cobra.

[B]

Where are they? They just. How. Where did they put the stuff?

[A]

Well, they. So now that you mention it, I don't know, because Zach's parents live in Santa Cruz, and that's where the Cobra was. So they drove down from Santa Cruz. But they may have had two cars. Maybe they had a Cobra and another car, Uber Courier.

[B]

Drop off the stuff.

[A]

No, no, no. They may have had another car because they. They took the Cobra from the campsite to stuff every day. But there may have been another car that they left with all the shit in it. So I don't know. But they did do car camping, and they did have, like.

[B]

Were they in the same tent?

[A]

I don't think they were in the same tent.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

I don't think they were in the same tent.

[B]

Just clarifying.

[A]

They did have fun. And I. Look, the aesthetic of this aesthetic is awesome. This is the most, like, of course I want to do. Look how romantic it is with my classic 911 and the string lights. There's probably an orgy somewhere.

[B]

There was a tree, a tire hanging from a tree.

[A]

Of course there was, of course, a lot of live laugh pillows.

[B]

We didn't have hot water until the very last day. So what they did was some people, like, if you go there, I have another video where. If you go back.

[A]

Okay, hang on, hang on.

[B]

It was the first night of setup. Go down one more. Keep going, keep going. Right the middle one. Yep. That video right there. I'm just walking around the first night, kind of showing it to you. And there was. That got A lot of views, but people were like, well, where do they poop? Well, guess what? About a hundred yards away were really nice. Like, the presidential, like, bathroom set up with the. Really nice. Nice.

[A]

The trailer ones with the generators.

[B]

Yes. We had a production ones. Women's bathroom, men's bathroom. There were showers. I'm driving that, by the way.

[A]

Is it real or is a hawk?

[B]

That is a.

[A]

It's a hawk, right?

[B]

No, no, no, that's a Lister Bell Str. But yes, I'm driving that in a few weeks when I get to North Carolina, by the way, for an episode.

[A]

So anyway, look, it's.

[B]

It's.

[A]

Look, it's cute. It's very Instagramable.

[B]

So we didn't have hot water.

[A]

That's what I'm saying. That's this whole glamping van life.

[B]

Three days in a row with, okay, I can't wash this hair because it's so thick. It requires a lot of water pressure and time to get the soap out of my hair. And I didn't wash my hair for, like, four days. This is also, like, I didn't go to Motorluxe because how am I gonna get dressed and ready? Do you know how hard it was just to go to Pebble Beach?

[A]

What are you talking about?

[B]

To go to the Concourse, I had to break down camp first, right. In the morning. And then I had to go to my buddy's Travel Lodge.

[A]

This is like. And borrow his shower when I go camping. And then I have to. The first time, I. I don't feel really dirty until I walk into that first store.

[B]

And then you realize.

[A]

And then I'm like, holy shit, I'm so dirty. Imagine instead of a store, it's the cockroach.

[B]

Yes. I'm like, how am I gonna get dressed for the Concourse? Every pair of shoes you had, I brought some brand new vans with white laces. And within hours, like that first day, my brand new shoes looked 300 years old.

[A]

Yeah, dude, you're camping on wood chips. That's the fucking thing.

[B]

It was terrible. But listen, it was dirt cheap, and now I can afford to fix my car.

[A]

No, what you should do in the future is skip the Instagram version and just camp in Big Surfer. 0i. Well, for zero.

[B]

For zero. But here's the other problem.

[A]

Is it really 35 hundo for a room at the Travel Lodge? Is that what you said?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's also better ones we'll talk about, but for $3,500.

[B]

Like, come on.

[A]

No, no. Car week is a joke, silly.

[B]

Like, that it's a joke.

[A]

This is why two years ago I.

[B]

Was overlooking a gas station for $2800.

[A]

The sponsor's supposed to pay for that.

[B]

If you.

[A]

There's ways, there's. There's ways to do it better.

[B]

Listen, I'm announcing right now, not telling.

[A]

Them on the fucking mic what they are at.

[B]

20, 26 mon. You're putting me up in a nice place. That's what it's putting my foot down.

[A]

Yeah. Not even nice. Just like decent.

[B]

Yeah. I will, I will take one step up from the Travel Lodge or I.

[A]

Will camp the other way. The other way to do it for cheaper is to literally wait until like the day it starts because scrap what's left.

[B]

I see.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because then they're going to drop it and get it.

[A]

Yeah. I have a friend who's like, way ballsier than me that books his Monterey shit on like Tuesday. Like, he's got a suitcase packed. He lives in San Francisco. He books a fucking house.

[B]

Airbnb, last minute, they dropped the price.

[A]

While he's having coffee with a packed suitcase that day.

[B]

I've noticed on Expedia too, you can do that. Like if you roll into a town and you're sitting in front of the hotel you want, don't walk in, they'll charge you the walk in price, which is always like, hey, you're here. If you sit there on Expedia, you will always get a better price. Like last second, I actually saw, when.

[A]

I was standing in the lobby of the Portola, I was with McLaren. Not this year, past year. And we were at the Portola, which is, you know, the hotel downtown where RM auctions are.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[A]

Fucking average hotel, fabulous location.

[B]

Walk to so much, you're right in everywhere.

[A]

You can walk to so much, you can get so drunk every night and walk home. It's very good.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

Very, very good. But, but we're checking in and a guy next to us walks in, you know, you got any rooms? And I, I was like, just in his face. I was like, you're asking. And they were like, yes, we do. And like, get the out of here.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

How much? Well, they were 1100 a night. But this is, but this is, you know, a. I saw my bill from McLaren and they paid more. McLaren paid more per night. It was like 1800 for them, you know, and then one cookie for you.

[B]

I'm gonna.

[A]

I'm not. I didn't spend this money. I didn't spend this money, nor would I spend this money.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

It is for regular people. It is crazy.

[B]

Yeah. Eleven hundred dollars.

[A]

Half the people there, their business pays for it.

[B]

Well, and when a Travelodge is 300 and 500 and $600 and I like, forget it. Just.

[A]

But you, you mean stupid but still, like, it's crazy expensive. But I mean, it's at least. It's a business expense. At the very least. It's not, it's not the same as if you're paying like post tax. Yeah, you know, it's. It is a little cheaper because you're. You are spending business money on that. Yeah, yeah. So anyway. But there's. There's many lists of like good affordable and. Or free things to do at car week. But yeah, staying is expensive.

[B]

It's a very expensive week. And I think that one of the problems with it being so exclusive is all of these events are expensive. How are we gonna get younger people interested in cars if the price of entry is so high?

[A]

I think the price of entry for everything isn't that high.

[B]

Yeah, but we want to be able to see. I would love it if people who didn't have the means could still walk around and see some of these extraordinary cars.

[A]

Well, look, they can. There's a lot Internet. No, no, no. I mean, look, you. You maybe can't get an affordable hotel room in Monterey, but, but you could drive if you, if you wanted to. You could drive in for the day.

[B]

Right. Or you stay in Salinas.

[A]

I mean, Salinas is getting expensive too. But, but, but you could drive in from somewhere else for the day. You can go any you. On Highway Thursday, for instance, you can see every car that's at the concourse in motion in Big Sur and then parked in Carmel. The tour ends in Carmel and those cars are there for hours. That's the entire concourse for free. Basically 90% of the concourse, you just have to get up early for free. You just have to get up early. But you can do it.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

There's a, like, there's other. Like the parking lot. Lot of the Quail. Parking lot of the Quail is better than any cars and coffee on the planet. And yes, like, finding a way to get over there is mildly inconvenient because it's fucking 10,000 people in an area not designed for it. But if you get there, which many people do, you can walk right in and walk right up to the gate of the Quail and see the craziest shit ever. Yeah, you can go to what's the Baja Cantina on any Day there's crazy. You can just sit in downtown Monterey.

[B]

The peninsula is full of really cool places.

[A]

Just being there, like, yes, it's inconvenient to get there because it's so busy and because hotels are expensive. But, like, if you, like, you don't need to be rich to just be there and see crazy shit.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

There's a lot, a lot, a lot of cheap and, or free stuff to do if you can bear the inconvenience of getting there.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

I'm not saying it's not insane. Like, hypercar cultures and stuff. Like, all this shit is insane. Like, like it's, you know, it's, it's, it's probably bad for the world that people have a collection of $10 million cars or whatever. Right? But, but, and, and you don't want to price people out of the hobby. Sure, but I don't think it's fair to say that, like, everything at Car Week prices people out, because it's not.

[B]

No, but you're right. You can come in and there's a lot to look at. Just being in the environment, you're gonna see it no matter where the show where you turn. I mean, I saw like four Panteras on the road in one day. Yeah, tell me the last time you Dr. We're on the road in one time. I've never seen four on the road anywhere.

[A]

Traffic, you know, you see the crazy stuff. Now, I will say that I used to feel I'm not trying to be an angry old man, but, like, seven, eight years ago, I felt like some of the stuff I saw in traffic was a little more interesting than now, where it's a lot of new supercars and hypercars, which, Look, I, I, I'm not. I know the youth are extremely into supercars and hypercars the way I was into the Countach. And, but I also, like, and, but they also are so many more of them now. So many more of them by volume.

[B]

And what do you think in general, of supercars? Hypercars? Like, I mean, look, I don't like them.

[A]

Fast, fun cars are good, and the people who are designing them and building them are extremely passionate and talented.

[B]

And I mean, your job exists because of new cars, right? Primarily, yes.

[A]

But my best performing videos are of cars that people can afford, and the fact that there are fewer and fewer of those every year makes my job much, much harder. Because. Because even though I cover every new sports car that comes out expensive or cheap, people get mad at me when it's at their prices? Well, it seems like they do. When it's like, oh, another car I can't afford. And it's like, like, I understand. Yeah, I can't afford it either.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And.

[B]

But do you want to look at it or not?

[A]

Well, no. Like, I have to make videos of something. If this was the Affordable Sports Car Channel, there'd be no fucking videos. Like, I'm sorry, this. There's like four cars left that people can afford. You've got your Corvettes, your Mustangs, your. Your 86 twins, you know, the Civic, Type R kind of stuff. There's not much really left. Yeah, and that's shitty.

[B]

But, like, what is your take on how expensive used cars are? Let me tell you, when I got my Cayenne, I had to sell my sequel. When I bought my Toyota sequoia, it had 130,000 miles on it. I paid $13,000. Nine years ago, I had 310,000 miles on it and I sold it for $13,500.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And only paid 14 for the Cayenne. Yeah, but so how come a Toyota with 310,000 miles, I mean, we know Toyotas are gonna go forever. Why did I. I sold it for 500 more than I paid for it nine years earlier. Earlier. Why?

[A]

This ticks me off because there's. All right, there's, there's not a lot of really cheap, you know, what are.

[B]

You gonna go get?

[A]

There's not a lot of cheap cars. Right, right. So, like, everyone who's looking for a cheap car is now looking for a used car.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And also, like, you know, people can't keep up with inflation. Like, there's just people, regular people have, have less buying power. And those trucks that are known for reliability and dependability and simplicity, you know, if they're in good condition, still will command a baseline. The floor is higher. If you have a running, driving, decent condition truck with whatever miles on it, the floor is higher than it, than it used to be.

[B]

It seems ridiculous.

[A]

Yeah, well, new cars are like, insanely expensive. You actually try to go price out almost any new car, you'll be fucking hard.

[B]

How much are you going to pay for a Diesel, long bed, 4x4 crew cab truck today?

[A]

I mean, it's probably 70 grand to. For a shitty one with bench seats, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

But yet my Dodge, when it was two years old with 30,000 miles, was literally $30,000. You can't do that today. You can't find something that's just slightly depreciated and still affordable.

[A]

Well, yeah, I mean, yes, I think there's still like lingering supply chain stuff from COVID that. And yeah, new cars are just really, really expensive and it bolsters the prices of used ones.

[B]

It's true.

[A]

And people are, you know, the average age of cars on the road is longer, blah, blah, blah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What? Let's see. We can go to the people. We have some good questions for you. Oh yeah, well, the related story that I wrote down was auto loans and defaults are going wild, which there's multiple stories about, like how many?

[B]

So then is that a sign of heading to a recession? I don't know, I'm not an economist.

[A]

Well, I think there's a difference between a car bubble and a house bubble. If someone's car gets repossessed, their life isn't changed same way as if their house is foreclosed on. That's true, but it's not good. And I mean, I think in the article that I read this morning about it, which was. Hang on, hang on. I think it was from the shit. Normally I would have had Zach have this ready. Hang on, sorry. Let me see if it's still 2023. No, and I can't now. I can't find where the story is, but basically it was a real thing that basically said that the people surveyed for the article were shockingly comfortable being in a crazy amount of debt in order to have a nice new vehicle. And the dealerships were all too willing to. To just keep rolling these trade ins and upside down credit. And it was insane. So the price of used cars may come down as we have foreclosure or we have repo fucking city. Yeah. Anyway, we have quite a few questions from the people, of course, if you want to ask us questions for the show. Patreon.com the Smoking Tire podcast is where you do it. You can watch the live stream when it exists. I'm sorry, Zach is out of town and I am incapable of multitasking a fourth thing at once. I think I could probably get away with three, but not four. Patreon.com SmoketirePodcast get the livestream, ask us questions, get the show ahead of time. Get the show without ads and a whole lot more. Let's see. Two, wait, two. I'm trying to. This is a fun two. U, R, G, S, E2 ERG, C. Whatever. What is the fizziest car? Fizziest meaning like the most engaging and fun car you've ever driven. Under a hundred thousand dollars.

[B]

Oh geez. Fizzies. I don't even know if I can comprehend what fizziest means. It was gonna be your car.

[A]

Probably. I mean my car would be up there. Yeah, but I mean that will still happen eventually.

[B]

I am going to drive your radial maze. I will, I will. The easiest car. I don't know because a lot of the cars I've driven are kind of expensive. But you know, I'm going to sound stupid because I don't have an answer for that. Busiest. I don't know.

[A]

Okay, I'll step in. If you're talking about like a late model sports car, a Lotus xz one of the hopped up Lotus, I mean that's like, you know, that's like bull riding on a fucking fly. You know, something like that. You know you could talk about like an aerial atom, you know, one of those like, you know, an exoskeleton type car. You could talk about a replica Cobra with a big block in it or something.

[B]

Well, I can. I still don't. Can't wrap my head around physiast and the price point probably it's a car.

[A]

It's a car with where it's all about vibes and feelings and feedback.

[B]

A Renault R5 Turbo too.

[A]

Oh sure. There you go.

[B]

I've driven that. But the price point is crazy.

[A]

I don't know if you're gonna get one under 100. You might get a shitter for a hundred.

[B]

Exactly. But I would say that's the first car that came to mind.

[A]

Sure. Johnny Ev Gearberman. It's a shot on me, right? Nicole, what's your favorite old Volkswagen?

[B]

My favorite old Volkswagen was probably the sleeper bug that I drove that doesn't even have a Volkswagen motor in it.

[A]

Is that on your YouTube channel? Let's go take a look.

[B]

Videos and sort by or popular detour. Go to videos and sort by. Popular.

[A]

Popular.

[B]

There you go. 11 million views on that.

[A]

Holy Mother of God. 517 horsepower sleeper bug it.

[B]

That's wheel horsepower too, by the way.

[A]

Go watch that. I can't play it cuz we'll get copyright striked on this. This channel here.

[B]

But wheel horsepower, I control that.

[A]

So you want Maserati. All right. You just did.

[B]

Dude. That is a $10 million Maserati. That is. That was the one owned by Carol. There were two of them. A 250s owned by Carroll Shelby. And that is an incredible car.

[A]

Is that Phillips?

[B]

No, I can't disclose. We can't talk about the owner.

[A]

Okay, so it's not Phillips. If it was, he wouldn't give a shit. He just wanted trophy at Pebble Beach.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

With what's probably the other one then.

[B]

So what I can say is that its caretaker is a guy in Arizona named Robert Webster. And he rally preps these cars. It goes on all of the. Like the copper. It goes on all of the long rallies.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

That car. Yeah. Was really special. Right hand drive, dog leg gated shifter.

[A]

Left hand shift. Right hand drive, left hand shift or right hand drive, sill shift?

[B]

Right shift, left shift. And there's a lot where you don't have any muscle memory for that. Like, I specifically was like, I am not gonna miss a shift. I looked down every freaking time. It's a $10 million car. I'm not gonna. You know how many. There were, like, three guys are like. Like, you would be fired if you ever look down a shift. I'm like, bro, I am not going to miss a shift in a car that I have no muscle memory.

[A]

Can I help you with something?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not $10 million because of the gearbox.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

That's not why. It's $10 million. I was in a 250 GTO on a racetrack. Not driving it, riding it with a guy who did not own it. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It was this very wealthy collector's car, and this other very wealthy collector was driving it. And fucking. This is a 250 GTO?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And he was beating the absolute shit out of this car. And I was amazed at how hard he was pushing the handling on the track. The balance was beautiful. I was equally amazed at how bad he was at downshifting.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

He was hideously bad at it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And he took someone else out right after me and blew the gearbox in the car. And I was like, holy shit. You just blew the gearbox in a $50 million car.

[B]

But the gearbox isn't 50 million.

[A]

That's what he. He said. It's not 50 million because the gearbox. He said, I bet that's about a $20,000 fix. I was like, balls of steel, my friend. But okay.

[B]

So to his point, I 100% agree. I 100% agree.

[A]

I'm not trying to say that I don't understand the position.

[B]

No, that was.

[A]

I'm trying to free your mind.

[B]

That was a. It was a try not to wrap your head around what you're doing. Just drive it and enjoy it and, you know, hopefully nobody hits us. It was great.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that Ferrari was awesome. It's really not a 308. And it's. There is no such thing. I don't think It's a.

[A]

So I saw this Ferrari 308 GTO.

[B]

It's not. It's a 288 GTO body on a 308. But it has race history.

[A]

But it has a transverse V8,308 engine, not a longitudinal twin turbo.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

Okay. I didn't realize.

[B]

A lot of fun to drive.

[A]

They're the same. I didn't realize you could fit a direct swap of a 288 body if.

[B]

Something done in the 80s by Jim Carpenter at Italian Design and racing at down in Arizona.

[A]

Oh, they were doing.

[B]

And it was in combination with. Gosh, I'm blowing it on his name right now. The. He was a Lamborghini driver from the 70s and 80s. So anyway, it's a really cool, cool car.

[A]

It looks cool.

[B]

I drove it on the track. It's really cool.

[A]

What track is that? Las Vegas Motor Speedway or Spring Mountain?

[B]

Radford.

[A]

Oh, Radford. Right, okay.

[B]

Have you been there? I'm sure you.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. A million times. Yeah.

[B]

I love the guys.

[A]

It's a fun. It's a fun little place.

[B]

It is fun.

[A]

Is Mark running, Mark's running that joint, right? Yeah. Valentino. Shout out to Mark Valentino.

[B]

We love that.

[A]

Formerly of a place we don't talk about. Let's see.

[B]

Oh, go down. You know what's really fun? What's really fun? The NASCAR go down one.

[A]

I'm looking. Hang on. And I gotta, I gotta do it so that other people see it.

[B]

So the NASCAR C10 and the NASCAR Nova are both owned by the same guy. That NASCAR Nova dude, that is the rant car. It's like a fifteen hundred dollar car with a race history and you drive it on the street and you just. It's cool.

[A]

Have you noticed that your. When you do NASCAR and or American trucks your videos are like double. When you do any other car.

[B]

I know people don't like European cars. They really don't like Porsches either.

[A]

I'm sure they are.

[B]

Our worst viewed videos are Porsches.

[A]

That's awesome. Yeah, you should keep doing them. Fuck those people.

[B]

Nobody likes Porsches. They like the American.

[A]

It's really funny. I did a. I did a series for Hagerty once about modified cars and Hagerty's audience didn't know. That's a good expression for you. Hagerty's audience was like. Not like they were like who the is this guy and why is he on camera? It was really funny how distinct it was. Yeah, this may. This may actually have been. Okay. We did Your old VW Matt's missing Countach parts. What is your most memorable drive?

[B]

Oh, that is very easy. The FIA Cobra at Willow Springs. You know, there are five. You know what an FIA Cobra is, or shall I explain that to our.

[A]

I do, but why don't you explain to them?

[B]

Okay. So the easiest way to.

[A]

I'll find.

[B]

I'll understand it.

[A]

I'll find the video. You don't worry about that.

[B]

The easiest way to understand it is the. In the movie Ford vs Ferrari, there's a scene where they're trying to pass tech and you got to fit a suitcase in the back seat because it's the GT class and the suitcase has to fit. Not the back seat, the trunk. You got to be able to close the trunk. Well, the rounded curve of a Cobra, you're not fitting a square box in there. So they take a hammer and they smash the underside of the. There you go. They smash the underside of the trunk. So there are little luggage bumps so that you can clearance this suitcase. There were five actually made. Carol Shelby sent to Europe to race, and I drove one of them at the.

[A]

The track. Cool.

[B]

And that was really memorable. Very memorable. Because, example, I. You know, when I left my. My friend Lynn park, who owns these, said, you can pretend that you're Ken Miles and just, you know, go enjoy.

[A]

It at Willow Springs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So funny in that movie how they don't have to dress Willow Springs up at all to make it look like 1966. Are you coming on the 11th?

[B]

I will. North Carolina.

[A]

Oh, I would love. Right.

[B]

Yes. Well, we're on the road, so we're going to North Carolina, and I'm going to shoot three. Two or three episodes while we're back there, and one of them being that. That Lancia Estrados replica that we saw.

[A]

Cool.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, that seems fun. Yeah, I like that. That's a good one, though. Every time I've driven and ever, I drove Parnelli Jones Trans Am car. A Thunder. Thunderhill. One of the worst performing videos I've ever made.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. After traveling so far, because Thunderhill's in the middle of nowhere.

[B]

Are they just expecting only new stuff from you, like a new car review?

[A]

I'm in the consumer advice business. Should I buy.

[B]

If I do a new car, nobody's.

[A]

Gonna watch it because you're not in the car.

[B]

If you do an old car, nobody's gonna. Yeah, we have different audiences.

[A]

I come to you for this thing, and if you don't do exactly the thing I come to you for.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. You may not be creative. You may not try new things. Not on my watch. They say as fans, my most memorable drive, I mean, there have been.

[B]

You've driven so many things.

[A]

There's been a lot.

[B]

I mean, a little tiny baby compared to you. Like, you've driven a lot of things.

[A]

Yeah, I would say there's been a couple really good ones. Maybe three years ago, the 4am Drive to Car Week in my Ferrari 328, where I got to. I got to PCH in. In San Simeon right as the sun was coming up, and I drove the most perfect, uninterrupted, you know, fog lifting over Big Sur, which was on a Thursday. So I ended in Big Sur and then got to watch the tour. It was like, full seamless.

[B]

It's one of those moments where you're literally telling yourself to remember this moment. Yeah, that's how it was for me on that.

[A]

I mean. I mean. And, you know, just last week, Friday, I got to drive, you know, the GT. I had a full track to myself, eight hours with a Mustang GTD, the new one, and the GT3 Lamar car. And I got, you know, that's. That's some pretty epic and, like, full drift days.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Challenge. Stradali Llama. Bravo, Nicole. Yeah, right. Yeah. The master of the contractions. Nicole, what's still on your automotive bucket list?

[B]

A GT40.

[A]

Okay. It has to be a real one, or do you care if it's a replica?

[B]

I understand the unobtainium real one scenario. There is one that was made by Gelsko. Are you familiar with Jelscope? Oh, a British company.

[A]

It's pronounced Yelsco.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

Probably. I'll believe you anyway. See, there is one.

[A]

Why is it. What's. Why is it gel?

[B]

Oh, gels.

[A]

I spelled it like Koenigsegg.

[B]

There's one in Indiana that is an exact replica of a particular real GT40 that is probably the closest one that I'm ever going to get to. My vision's bad, so I can't see all of them.

[A]

Is there something about this Jelsko Gelsko?

[B]

Every nut and bolt is an exact replica. It's not a superformance. It is exact.

[A]

So many of them say that. No, they all say the fucking parts are interchangeable with the real car. Superformance. Been saying that shit for years.

[B]

No, this guy. So there's a guy who I know in Indiana who has had a superformance GT40 and was very disappointed. So it was a piece of crap. Got rid of it. Then he went to Jailsco and had him build them one. And it is now. I haven't seen it in person. I've seen pictures of it. He sent me videos of it. I'm really dying to drive that car.

[A]

I also, man, if you're gonna spend this much time and energy driving a fucking car, you should drive one someone's heard of. No one's ever heard of Jelsko. You should find a real one. For this much effort you can find a real one. Someone will let you drive a real one. Peterson would probably let you drive theirs.

[B]

Well, you know they have that one that's a left hand drive.

[A]

Yeah, the blue one.

[B]

Three. Which one is it? There's like seven of them or how many?

[A]

They have one that's sort of ugly. It's blue, that has maybe a mark that has like a weird tail that I don't love. But it is real. It's there and it's real. So I don't know.

[B]

I, of course I'd love to drive a real one, but I've sat in a superformance. The ergonomics are weird. They're very weird. I don't know what size you're supposed to be. I'm usually mostly car size. Like I can fit in most, most cars, like tall guys have issues.

[A]

You've been around real GT 40s. Do you think the ergonomics of those look better? Those things are up.

[B]

They're all jacked up. Yes.

[A]

You ever tried to drive any race car?

[B]

I've driven a superformance at Willow Springs and it was really.

[A]

Yeah, they're strange.

[B]

I could not get closer to the steering wheel and I was like, oh my gosh. My arms were like. It was horrible. Like I'm gonna hit my head on the bar. It was awful.

[A]

I'm not sure the seats or the steering wheel adjust in a Jeep.

[B]

No, I think you'd need a dish.

[A]

The pedals adjust.

[B]

You'd have to have like a dished, you know, wheel for me to drive it.

[A]

Yeah, they're. They're not like comfortable.

[B]

No, I think it would be really neat to try. You know what? I would, you know what would be cool? This is dumb. It'd be fun to go race a little, little Datsun around at the Historics. I, I would actually. My bucket list goal, what I really want to do more than anything is I have my race license at, through NASA. I got that earlier this year, went through their whole HPDE program. I'm yet to take a green flag because then we hit summer, and I've been rebuilding this build.

[A]

Yeah. Go racing. It's fun.

[B]

I need to do that. But my real goal, literally, you should.

[A]

Take the green flag. Like, if you go endurance racing, you should do the start.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It's a good time.

[B]

That would be fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. No, I. I want to. I want to do some vintage racing.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I don't have the car to do it. Somebody has to put me in the car. But I want to go do Monterey or something. I would love to do that at some point.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I think they are so badass. Like, I love it. I love watching the old cars.

[A]

Well, they have, like, Vera and svra. Like, you can do the regional stuff easily and eat the car. Cars aren't, like, expensive.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You could. If you got rid of your. If you traded your Boxster out for something old, you could be doing this, like, by springtime. Go on racing junk. You'll find some. You'll find.

[B]

Dude. Are we joining Project Cars Anonymous now? You aware of Project Cars Anonymous?

[A]

I just got a free car.

[B]

Are you aware of Project Cars?

[A]

No.

[B]

Is that like a Michael Gideon's? You know who that is, right?

[A]

No.

[B]

You don't know who he. Just look him up on Instagram. Just like. Well, you look at. Okay. He does these really great. He's up in Ventura. He does these really great satirical videos. But I can't believe you don't know who he is. M. Gideon.

[A]

Yeah, I see him.

[B]

Okay. But he also own. Has the. The Instagram Project Cars Anonymous. And it's very much like an AA meeting for people who have Project Cars.

[A]

That's funny. When I. When I first started the Smoking Tire and I was coming through trying to figure out names, it took me like, six months. But one of my, like, shitty, like, fail names was Drivers Anonymous.

[B]

Yeah. Well, pca, right? It's a spoof on. There's all these Porsches that show up to. It's pca. It's part of Cars. I told him, I am gonna start. I'm gonna be your Vegas chapter president. I'm gonna hold meetings in Vegas. I got a great place. My buddy has a house that he had so many Porsches, he gutted the house and brought all the Porsches inside and had to move next door.

[A]

That's fine.

[B]

And he calls it Porsche House. I'm like, we're going to hold our first. And it's Project Porsche is all over the place. It's rad. I'm like, we're going to. I told him we're Going to hold a Vegas meeting and I'll be your chapter president.

[A]

There's a guy in Malibu who built a secret garage. Where on the. From the front of the house, it looks like a normal house, but if you drive around the back of the house, it looks like a fucking car dealership. It's all glass.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The whole house is full of. Full of cars.

[A]

It's like a 15,000 square foot, 20,000 square foot house. It's one bedroom, one bathroom.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

And it's a garage from the back. It's a great. But it's designed to fool his hoa.

[B]

That is like every dude's dream.

[A]

Yeah. His real house is like across the street. It's fucking crazy.

[B]

That's funny. So I know a guy, in fact on Instagram he's. Well, I won't tell you who he is, but he has a place like that where they will not allow him to build a big garage. So he built a second home. And the whole. It's a one bedroom, one bath. And the whole living room is cars. It's his garage.

[A]

Okay. Well, I sincerely apologize for pulling up an article from the Daily Mail because the Daily Mail is a fucking shit newspaper.

[B]

What you got?

[A]

But I just wanted to show you. Hang on. Oh my God. There's so many fucking pop ups.

[B]

Oh, you need a browser. You need a browser like DuckDuckGo or something.

[A]

I usually have a Zach to deal with this.

[B]

And then there's no. There's no pop. There's no ads.

[A]

Come on, photos. Look. So this is the back.

[B]

Wow. So the warehouse.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then this.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

This is. This is the back. So if you drive around from the side, this is how it looks from from the back. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, it doesn't look like anything super crazy.

[A]

Sorry. It was coming up and I had the wrong. The wrong window popped up there. So this is it from the back. This was before it was full of Porsches. This is when the guy who lived there, he liked to collect Ferraris. But. And then here's your one bedroom. There's your one. Your one bedroom apartment is up here.

[B]

It looks like a car storage.

[A]

I need a photo from the front though. Look, the apartment's like, just like shitty. Oh, really? Oh, man.

[B]

Where are we at now?

[A]

I don't know. I don't know where that's. It's fucking Daily Mail took us to some piece of junk, but. But I wanted to see it from the front, but that's the idea.

[B]

Have you been there before?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is it crazy? Yeah, just like smallish. Looking in from the front, just normal.

[A]

It looks like a. Like a well. So like it goes kind of downhill. So the up top, it looks like a ranch house, but then it goes. Sorry. Oh, I that all up. But then it goes, oops, it goes around and down. So. Yeah, so it doesn't look very big. Yeah, yeah, it's a real.

[B]

Now you know how much you miss Zach. You need Zach, don't you?

[A]

Yes, yes, I do. I know that. I've never. I have no illusions about this at all. I absolutely need Zach. Yeah, I'm doing. I'm. I'm juggling eight pins over here.

[B]

Zach keeps you together. Listen, where is Zach? He's on a press launch.

[A]

Yeah, he went to Sonoma to drive some fast Toyota stuff.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

Yeah. And then I'm leaving. Right.

[B]

You know, how long have you guys been working together? How'd you guys meet?

[A]

It's been 15 years. Yeah, it was 15 years in July.

[B]

Well, you should know Michael Keenan because Zach's done videos with him before. They're sitting on a bus stop. You don't know.

[A]

What does that mean? You don't know who he's friends with? A guy I work with has worked with someone else. How dare I not know know him?

[B]

I thought you knew everybody.

[A]

No, I don't know. I don't even like most people. What are you talking about?

[B]

That's right.

[A]

No, people. I don't know people.

[B]

You know, people.

[A]

I. Most of my, like acquaintances. Not my friends friends, but most of my acquaintances, if they're not literally standing next to their car. I don't know you. I see people that I'm supposed to know in other situations. It's enormously embarrassing. But without context, I got.

[B]

I'm with you. I'm with you. If you run into somebody, you're like, did I know you from church or from my kids school or from what? Or when you see them in the other environment, like at a Costco, you have no idea who they are.

[A]

Listen. And now throw smoking weed into this mix. Now it's like, hey, Matt. Okay, are you a fan? Are you a friend? Are you like one of my wife's friends or co workers? When you're a familiar Internet personality is you will. No, they don't come up to you like you're a person on TV where like, if you met, if you met.

[B]

A list or like a Brad Pitt level.

[A]

If you went and met Noah Wiley, right? Or George fucking Clooney or whoever you would talk, you would approach Them in a manner where they're gonna be certain that they don't know you already. Whereas if someone approaches me very frequently, it's in such a familiar manner that I am literally, literally going in my head, am I supposed to know you? And you know, if we had met in a recent period of time and I didn't remember you, I really feel bad about that. It's tough, man. My brain is too full of things.

[B]

I got a story like that. So the head of four wheel parts. Years ago, like 20 years ago we took Trans American and who owned four wheel parts? Are you familiar with that whole conglomerate? Anyway, this is when I was off roading. We took a bunch of them in Moab for a bunch of rides. Spent the whole day and the owner, the president, the head guy at Four Wheel Parts transamerican spent the whole day wheeling with him. Later that night everybody went and shot pool at the local bar or whatever, right? Everybody was shooting pool. And I, I didn't remember him. And I was like hey, and so what was your role at four of Hearts? And he says I'm the hmfic. And that was. I'm sure you know what that means. I did not know what it meant.

[A]

Head motherfucker in charge.

[B]

Yes. And I was like oh yeah. So bad.

[A]

That's tough.

[B]

You kind of have to take notes.

[A]

That guy's important.

[B]

Do not forget that. That guy.

[A]

It's definitely happened before where I have.

[B]

That was Greg Adler. If anybody who's listening, that was. Sorry, Greg. That was Greg Adler.

[A]

It's happened to me with like, like legit high level executives in car companies before. Yeah, yeah. This is like our, our brains are not prepared to know the number of people that we probably have to know.

[B]

And I have a terrible memory. I'm just not good. I just can't.

[A]

People just can't like do that. We're so cranked with information all the time.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

It's too hard.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

We have one more question. Has nothing to do with you, Nicole. It's about watches. Fast Back to the Future just got their first NATO style watch strap. That's those nylon straps that are very popular find throughout the day it stretches out and I have to readjust midday. Is that normal or did I buy a cheap strap? Little of both. It depends on. Some straps are cheaper than others and do stretch more than others. Also they weave the straps to differently. Like usually it's for aesthetics but different, different weaves have different stretches. But it's not totally abnormal. Especially if you get the thing wet or sweaty, that it would stretch by one hole and then shrink back up later. But if you bought the cheapest off Amazon and It was like nine bucks, like, try spending 30 or 40 and you'll probably get something a little higher quality. Not trying to be elitist, but you yourself are considering that maybe you bought a cheap crappy strap and finally chewnhound free. Jimmy Kimmel. I can't believe I have to fucking go on the radio and defend Jimmy Kimmel of all people. But like that shit we got, we got to fucking nip this in the bud asap.

[B]

What's the question? Is there a question?

[A]

There's no question. There's no question. Just that, like, you know, political pressure shouldn't be, you know, having late night shows taken off the air.

[B]

We want. We want political conversations.

[A]

We don't want them taken off the air. I think we could say we don't want people. People taken off the air.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Because of pressure.

[B]

I agree with that. That's.

[A]

That's bad. Thanks, Nicole. Good times. And thank you for my two cookies.

[B]

Yeah, this is your. This is your.

[A]

Me and Zach's the difference. My two. And Zach's 12. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But he actually said, oh, I'm so bummed I'm not gonna be there. Save me some cookies. And I told him I was only gonna put one in a bag.

[A]

Oh, yeah, I am stoked on that. Of course. Go. Wait. Oh, man, I'm not even.

[B]

Go to the Daily Mail.

[A]

Not. Yeah, definitely go to the. The Daily Mail. Go to subscribe. Go to. Check out Nicole Johnson's Detour is on the YouTubes like. And subscribe. And then of course, Nicole Johnson off road, just written out, no punctuation on the gram.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And your car is going to be at SoCal Euro. Your car is going to be at. And of course, you and Luft and Sema.

[B]

I'm actually. It'll be at Sema at the turn 14 display. I think indoors. Turn 14 is a distributor for Bilstein.

[A]

Got it, got it.

[B]

So it's through the.

[A]

Hopefully indoors.

[B]

My Bilstein. Yes. That's why I said. I was like, I, you know, you got all. Have you been. Do you go every year to see.

[A]

No, no, I did for a while. I haven't been in four or five years.

[B]

Well, you're not missing much because I really feel like it's gone downhill. I've been probably 15 plus years in a row.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's just like lately in the last few years, every. Everything Outside is like a big river truck on just big wheels with. No. It's a 4x4 truck with no front drive shaft. And the whole joke is a Bluetooth drive shaft, right? They're ridiculous. It's like the bare. The. It used to be that if your car was at sema, it was like, whoa. And I think it's all gone downhill, which is the only reason they're letting me in, because my car is not a SEMA car by any means. I told Bill Stein that. I'm like, it's just a car I drive.

[A]

I don't know. My Corvette was in Sema like, it in 2012, and it wasn't that cool. Yeah, my car's not that cool, but I'm not sure. I made videos back in the day about the lame stuff that was at sema, so I'm not sure I could say it's gone down here.

[B]

There's some cool things, but there's also, I think mostly everything outside has not been vetted before it.

[A]

Oh, that's totally possible.

[B]

So now I'm like, yeah, I'd love it if my car was inside. I feel like there's a little bit, you know, I want to be indoors.

[A]

I don't know if it's like, it's gone downhill, but I think if you go every year or, like, repeatedly, then it would seem very stagnant. I mean, ultimately, it's a fucking trade for people who sell parts.

[B]

Don't get me wrong. I love going, but I have to look harder now for my favorites. There's always something mind blowing there. I feel like I just have to look harder. It used to be more like every single thing you were looking at was like, wow, something new and cool. But it is. If you haven't been, you have to wear great shoes. Let's all establish that your number one advice is wear great shoes and you're gonna be walking a lot.

[A]

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I actually, you know, I really selfishly. Because, like, like, you know, I have to, like, if I want to be famous, I have to, like, put myself in places where I'll be famous. Like car shows.

[B]

Sure, sure.

[A]

And it's sema. I'm really famous.

[B]

It's not like you're walking around like Target, and people are like, no, no, no. Never, never. Yeah, you're not like, Target.

[A]

No. I can actually choose when to be famous, which is incredible. Incredibly convenient. Like, Ben Affleck can't do that shit, but I can. But at sema, it was, like, really hard. It's hard to go anywhere, like. And you're like, I just. I just have to pee. Like, I'm trying to get across this thing.

[B]

I don't even get that.

[A]

You know, I went. I went during the COVID year, and with masks. Oh, my God, it was the best sema ever.

[B]

They didn't recognize you?

[A]

No. Sema with masks was awesome. I got shit done and, like, you know, a bunch of people fucking didn't want to go or whatever. And so they. So it was great. I was like, Vegas was, like, lovely. It was not crowded.

[B]

Recognize anybody?

[A]

I absolutely loved it. Yeah. I don't. I don't know you. You don't know me. This is.

[B]

This is great. You just walk around and get things done.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

It's perfect.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

All right, well, thank you for letting me sneak back into your place.

[A]

Of course. Thank. Will you bribe me with cookies? What could I possibly do? Thanks for coming.

[B]

Gonna have to just mail order these cookies now. What do you think my price point is?

[A]

Oh, I don't know. I think it's gonna have 20 a dozen. Farmer's market, Malibu farmers market. Price 20 a dozen.

[B]

Even then, it's probably not worth my time or ingredients, but damn. Yeah, right?

[A]

Well, maybe it's a Patreon tier.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

The next tier.

[B]

$100.

[A]

$100.

[B]

You get a box a dozen of these.

[A]

I think Taylor Swift could probably pull it off with the sourdoughs, but It'd be like 100k for a sourdough. Yeah, right. What do you think someone. I bet you some freak would pay 100k for Taylor Swift sourdough.

[B]

If we're going to talk about sourdough, let's talk about the intensely time consuming it is to sourdough bread. Because I've got a couple of different family members that are into making sourdough. You gotta feed that sourdough and you gotta make it for like two days and then you eat it in five minutes.

[A]

Well, you have to have people to give. That's like. Taylor Swift can give sourdough away for six hours a day and she'll never run out of people who will appreciate the sourdough.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, how did we get to.

[B]

Taylor Swift and sourdough?

[A]

Because you give away cookies and she gives. She's giving away sourdough giveaway cookies for Patreon. It's part of the reason I just deleted Instagram. Back off my phone. Is because of that. Thanks, everybody. Our patrons are the best. I'll be back at 2:00 clock California time with Moto Man, George Notaris. And thanks, Nicole.

[B]

Thank you, Matt.

[A]

Bye.

[B]

Bye.