Reviewed: Lucid Gravity; SP40 Restomod

Summary

The Smoking Tire Podcast
Episode: "Reviewed: Lucid Gravity; SP40 Restomod"
Date: June 9, 2026
Hosts: Matt Farah & Zack Klapman

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Matt and Zack dive deep into two exciting vehicles: the Lucid Gravity, a high-performance electric minivan, and the SP40, a fascinating Argentina-built “restomod” speedster born from pre-war inspiration but built as an all-new car. Along the way, they riff on design quirks, interior quality, driving impressions, and what it means to really experience a car—past the spec sheet and even past the price tag. As always, the banter is heavy, the inside jokes are flying, and the car nerd wisdom comes fast.

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Key Discussion Points

1. The Lucid Gravity Review

First Impressions & Styling

• The Lucid Gravity is described as an “800 horsepower minivan,” but there’s debate: is it a minivan or a giant wagon? Either way, the hosts agree: it’s both cool and good-looking for what it is.
  • “I think it's a minivan. I think it's shaped more or less like a minivan is shaped like, because it's got the stubbier nose because there's no fucking engine up there.” – Matt (09:19)
  • Matt notes that car nerds have embraced the minivan shape, unlike when Mercedes first tried to make the R-Class look less like a minivan. (14:05)

Interior & Infotainment

• The Gravity scores big for interior space, dashboard layout, and features like massage seats:
  • “Honestly, I don't know. It's my opinion that 800 horsepower minivans are objectively good.” – Matt (09:03)
  • “The Lucid's massage seats... help a lot.” – Zack (04:45)
• Infotainment screens respond quickly, proximity key issues seem fixed, and the touch interface works well, though Matt mentions minor camera hiccups. (28:08)

The Steering Wheel Controversy

• Both hosts HATE the new Lucid Gravity steering wheel—an oblong, squished oval shape that compromises comfort and change steering feel mid-turn.
  • “Whoever put this wheel in here needs to be fired out of a cannon.” – Matt (16:10)
  • “It is awkward to hold—other than 9 and 3, it is awkward however you hold it. And because this car has a very quick steering ratio, it makes it like dart around.” – Matt (17:14)
  • “If you're going straight, you can rest your hand. But then what happens?” – Zack (19:24)
  • “It's such a catastrophically bad decision that it waterfalls into other things.” – Matt (21:42)
• The steering wheel becomes a running source of frustration and humor, as both think it undermines an otherwise excellent interior and driving experience.

Comfort & Features

• The seats and legroom are outstanding, and the materials draw comparisons to a “rounder Volvo”—plenty of leather, fabric, and just enough shiny trim. (27:57)
• The glass roof is a mixed blessing: airy and spacious, but gets very hot, and the climate controls don’t compensate enough for solar heat. (29:40)

Ride Quality & Driving Dynamics

• The Lucid Gravity’s ride is decent but does not feel like air suspension, lacking either the cushy luxury of a Range Rover or the tight control of magnetic shocks.
  • “It's not as refined as my Taycan with air suspension in the city.” – Matt (32:12)
  • “It just isn’t bad. But it lacks either the ultra luxury of an air suspension or the precision control of a magnetic shock.” – Matt (33:50)
• On mountain roads, the handling impresses (and is apparently driftable on a track!), but freeway and city bump absorption aren't as plush as expected for the segment. (34:05)

Efficiency & Practicality

• Excellent efficiency for an EV this size, with a real-world range close to 400 miles and strong regenerative braking. Proximity key and energy management work seamlessly. (36:51)
• If you need to fit tall people behind tall people, this is "objectively good"—the third row is spacious and practical. (36:51)

Final Thoughts on Lucid Gravity

• “There's a lot of good to like about it. The steering wheel just crushes me.” – Matt (36:54)
• Both hosts want Lucid to survive and thrive, saying the brand is trending the right direction if they can just fix the big ergonomic missteps. (37:31)

2. SP40 "Restomod" Speedster Review

What IS the SP40?

• Built in Argentina and inspired by the Edsel Ford Special—a 1930s, pre-war sports car—this is not a restomod but an all-new car, using a Coyote V8, Tremec 5-speed, and a carbon body.
  • “It’s a whole new thing—not restored, not modified—entirely new.” – Matt (45:26)

Driving Impressions & Experience

• “It’s fast… the acceleration is irrelevant as it’s not a Caterham,” but the real appeal is the experience, the “A-plus for dopeness.” (46:10)
• The five-speed gearbox is selected for interior space reasons (narrower, more footroom).
  • “Five is more than enough.” (46:42)
• It’s compared to a Morgan or Cobra replica—not designed for track days but for open-road fun with a lot of vintage theater.
• The ride is “genuinely pleasant,” and Matt felt the steering—though unremarkable because of the long steering shaft—was direct enough for the experience. The clutch, however, catches too high for his taste.
• “It doesn't have bad behavior outside of being generally unsafe in a crash and not having a roof or doors.” (56:34)

Design & Features

• Looks polarize, but live it’s “cool as fuck.” Gauges and switchgear are custom, as are the wheels, which invoke art deco themes and resemble spinning whitewalls at speed. (55:07)
• Includes a trunk space behind the bucket seats, a good heater, and air conditioning—though side vents can send hot engine air into your face. (54:44)
• Bluetooth stereo, keyless start, and a fob shaped like the car (“a mini version”) add to charm. (58:06)

Cultural and Market Context

• Priced at $500,000, but Matt avoids defending the price—instead, he suggests evaluating it on charm, uniqueness, and craftsmanship. (46:10)
  • “If you’re at the income level where that’s not a thing you need to worry about… this [car] is unique.” – Matt (62:50)
• Appeals to wealthy enthusiasts who want something classic-looking, wild, and unique—without the headaches of a true pre-war or classic. (63:12)
• It’s not a recreation, it’s an inspired, “all new build.” Matt praises the craftsmen for building something fresh instead of another ordinary hypercar or back-dated Porsche.

Tone & Notable Quotes

• “It’s just a very friendly thing. You don’t seem like a dipshit when you drive it.” (61:15)
• “Even if you can’t afford one… if you saw one on the street… you’d be stoked to see it.” (66:05)
• “This is the real deal. I had such a good time.” (66:54)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On heated seats: “In [my friend’s] Chevy Blazer, somehow the heated seats got activated… he got second degree burns on his lower part of his body… had a lawsuit going against GM that he won. But GM went bankrupt and didn’t have to pay him.” – Matt (06:38)
• “You know, you look for red flags… if there’s a 1-inch tattoo, very small, but you go, 'Is that a swastika?' It’s just one red flag. But it red cards the fucking whole game for me. That’s how I feel about the steering wheel.” – Matt (22:14)
• “Deflate a basketball to 50% and… that’s what you got. Turn a gallon of water on its side. That’s the shape of the [Lucid] wheel.” – Zack (23:22)
• On Vespa ownership: “I did not ask for, nor did I trade for when offered a discount. I was offered a discount straight up—no strings, no nothing. And I took it.” – Matt (41:55)
• “If you need tall people to fit behind tall people, sure. It’s good for that.” (36:51)
• “This is for people who have a lot of money… and it’s a little classier, a little more subtle.” – Zack (62:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Lucid Gravity Steering Wheel Rant: 16:04–23:40
• Lucid Pros and Cons: Ride, Tech, Efficiency: 27:46–37:31
• SP40 Review (What Is It, Driving, Details): 44:39–62:50
• Fun Anecdotes (Heated Seats Legal Story): 06:15–08:00
• Reflections on “Resto-mod” vs. “New Build”: 45:26–46:10
• Listener Q&A (BMW 2002, Air Suspension, Affordable EVs): 69:19–95:40

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Flow, Tone & Extra Insights

• Matt and Zack maintain their trademark mix of deep car-geek knowledge (“the steering axle is in front of the radiator, for fuck’s sake!”), practical owner insight, and no-BS humor. They lament industry fads (weird steering wheels, air suspension durability) while giving credit on things that work and matter.
• They remain hard on cars that fail basic ergonomic or usability standards, even if the tech and power are world-class.
• When discussing rare, expensive, or bespoke machines, they keep perspective rooted in the joy of seeing such vehicles in the world—even if the audience can’t or won’t ever buy one.

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Summary Takeaways

• Lucid Gravity: Futuristic, practical, and luxurious but deeply hamstrung by its steering wheel and only average ride quality for the price. Tech and packaging are excellent, and Lucid’s progress is promising, but they need to fix basic tactile/user experience issues to justify being a true “Tesla/Higher” alternative.
• SP40 Speedster: A breathtaking—and genuinely usable—throwback to pre-war roadsters built with modern tech and power. Quixotic and expensive, it’s still meaningful for the car world by bringing “theater” and craftsmanship into the 21st century.
• This episode: Brings out what TST is best at—insightful, technical, irreverent, and passionate car wit that’s as illuminating as it is entertaining.

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Transcript

[A]

What up, everybody?

[B]

Welcome to the Smoking Tire Podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by off the Record. We love off the Record here, and

[A]

you guys do, too.

[B]

You send me emails, DMs on Instagram,

[A]

you comment all the time.

[B]

That off the Record has saved your backside. They got those points off your Record. It could save you insurance money. It could keep your job safe. All kinds of reasons to not plead guilty to a moving violation, but instead to get off the Record. And when you use offtherecord.com TST, you get 10% off all legal services booked through off of the record. Again, that's offtherecord.com TNT offtherecord.com TST. Don't plead guilty. Get off the Record. All right, on today's episode, Zach and I drive the Lucid Gravity 800 Plus Horsepower Electric Minivan. And I spend a morning with the unbelievable SP40 speedster. A not resto mod, but totally new, old cool thing from Argentina.

[A]

Absolutely super dug it. Really cool.

[B]

Stick around. It's the Smoking Tire Podcast. Let's go.

[A]

Dude, I'm going through bad thoughts. Oh, okay. Shout out again. Hey, everybody. Shout out. Right on top. Tom Segura's show, Bad Thoughts on Netflix is really, really fucking funny. There's a skit about a very Christian person. Like a real Christian, not like Christian. Not like a real Christian who goes to heaven. And then it's not what she expected.

[C]

That's a good bit. I think they had that in the trailer, and I was like,

[A]

very, very funny.

[C]

Yeah, it's like, everything is.

[A]

It's a very funny bit. But everyone should watch that show.

[C]

We watched Icy Hot, which is my name for heated rivalry.

[A]

Oh, is that. You're into that now? No, the gay hockey show.

[C]

We went to dinner with our friend. Should I name? You know him. I don't know if it matters, but he knows scripts, he knows shows. Like, we have similar senses of humor, and he sold it so hard, no pun intended, to Sarah and I, and we're like, all right, we'll go watch this. And it was like, there's a lot of softcore ride. There is a lot. Way more. There's way more. The ratio of softcore pornography to hockey is like. It's like going to watch the Travel Channel and expecting to see hockey.

[A]

All right, I'll make sure to skip that.

[C]

Yeah, you could skip it.

[A]

Yeah. Spike spent all the weekend at the Indy 500 on and on about the boys.

[C]

I'm going back to that show after watching two seasons because it's apropos.

[A]

Which I'm like, all right. It's very hard to sell your friend in a show, even someone you trust. Like, I don't know if everyone else feels like this, but when someone's like, you should watch this, I instantly put up a wall and try and give a reason why I shouldn't. It's kind of dumb.

[C]

Depends on who I'm talking to.

[A]

No, it's dumb. And I'm not that much of a TV guy. I have very limited TV time daily to allocate to anything. So it's gotta be fucking good. I'm not gonna sit there for six hours and watch tv. Spike was on and on about the boys. I came back and I said, hannah, I think we have to start watching the boys. She's like, ugh, I watched half an episode. She's unwatchable. And I was like. And that was just. The end of. Was just shut. I don't know.

[C]

It's a team effort for you. Yeah.

[A]

It's gotta be. It has to be an agreement.

[C]

You. You would like it because its ability to predict where we are now. I mean, that show started a long time ago, but it's not a fun prediction. No.

[A]

No. So I think in the line of media that accurately describes our current world state, which inherently makes it depressing.

[C]

Right. But which you like. This is the fictional version of the type of content you like. But you might not enjoy that. Cause you'd be like, I can just read all, you know, the Groundlines.

[A]

I liked, like, don't look up, you know, Adam McKay type fiction. I liked that. So I probably would like this. Honestly. This might be one of those things that it's like Adam McKay but not funny because not.

[C]

It's pretty. It's, like, very gruesome.

[A]

And I heard it's gruesome. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. It's more serious.

[A]

I mean, it's good. I'll add it to the. Then it go. You know, it goes. It goes into the elliptical machine category.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And I just watch it by myself on the elliptical machine, you know. There we go. How's your back? Is it okay? No, it's not.

[C]

I mean, it's not. It's. It's 5% better than it was a couple days ago.

[A]

Because of the lucid's. Massage seats.

[C]

No, those helped a lot.

[A]

They do.

[C]

They're good.

[A]

They're pretty solid.

[C]

Well, we are the same PT place. And when I'm done there, they give me the heated vibrating belt.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Which I don't know, does something or Nothing. Not really sure. The massage seats and the lucid feel almost exactly the same. The heated. The heater cranks and it goes. And I'm like, oh. So today when we. Sarah goes, you want to take my car to drop, you know, your Tucker off? And I said, no, I'm going to take the lucid because the seats perform better than Toyota seats. They massage in heat. Like, yeah, it's way better.

[A]

They are pretty good massage seats in that car.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

We can talk about that car in a minute, but can I just sidebar for 30 seconds? Because it'll probably be more, but it won't be much more. When Han and I got the GMC Acadia that we drove on that road trip to scout the event that I'm actually driving in next week for Road and Track, the heated seats in the GMC Acadia and I found GM heated seats in general are almost unbearably hot. Okay. Like, it's crazy how hot GM heated seats get in my personal experience. And it's weird that new cars get that hot because my dad has a friend. I have a friend, too. He's a car guy. His name's Chris. Chris L. Don't want to use his last name. And you'll find out why in a second. Chris L. Is a friend of my dad's from back in the day. He's my father's age. Family friend.

[C]

Christopher Lloyd. Got it.

[A]

Christopher Lloyd. He was in Back to the Future.

[C]

So hot.

[A]

He. Christopher Lloyd is a paraplegic, okay. From an accident unrelated to cars. Okay. But he had a Chevy Blazer fitted with hand controls. Okay. And that was, like, his car.

[C]

Cool.

[A]

Totally. You know, as far as a gentleman, you know, fucking strong ass upper body and was as mobile as a dude in a wheelchair could possibly be.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

But obviously no feeling in the lower body, as tends to happen with many paraplegics.

[C]

Oh, I know where this is going.

[A]

Well, in his Blazer, somehow the heated seats got activated. Not intentional, because he can't fucking feel his butt anyway.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And they were so hot and he couldn't feel anything. He got second degree burns on his lower part of his body from the heated seats and had a proper lawsuit going against General Motors that he won. And this was in 2008, and GM went bankrupt and didn't have to pay him straight up. He got stiffed. It was the judge. It got wiped out of the bank.

[C]

I mean, obviously they didn't want to go bankrupt, but for them, they're like, hey, the good news is all our lawsuits go Away.

[A]

It got wiped in the bank. But imagine what I'm thinking as I'm here in 2026 driving a brand new GMC, going, these seats are crazy hot, dude.

[C]

Well, my cousin has an Outback. I think him and his wife, whatever, they have a pretty new Subaru. Same thing happened. They got, I think, what was assessed as first degree burns, but he just took it to the dealership and was like, hey, you need to turn these down. And they did. And I was like, you can suit.

[A]

Yeah, there's like a dial.

[C]

There's always a dial. There's always a something. I don't know how they did it, but you. He could have sued. But they just didn't think about it. They just brought it in. But it was getting way, way too hot. Set on three or whatever. This. The. The lucid, like, set on three. I can. After like 15 minutes, I just turn it down.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, no, the, the lucids are not. To go back to the lucid. Sorry about that. Sidebar. To go back. A little depressing for you there, but to go. To go back to the Blazer, as far as I know, they're not hot enough to give you second degree burns. Okay, let's talk about the gravity, because now you and I both drove it. I drove, spent a few days in it. You spent a few days in it. I don't know. It's my opinion that 800 horsepower minivans are objectively good.

[C]

It's like the R63, the AMG, which is a rad thing every time I see it, and I think, this is a very good looking car. I walk up and I went, I think it's really good looking for what it is. I went, wow, why do I really like this shape? Because it's a giant wagon, is a humongo wagon.

[A]

It's either a big wagon or a small minivan. Here's the thing. Like, I think it's a minivan. I think it's shaped more or less like a minivan is shaped like, because it's got the stubbier nose because there's no fucking engine up there.

[C]

True.

[A]

It can be more minivan shaped than if it was, say, a big Volvo.

[C]

That's a valid point.

[A]

So, like, and I don't think that's bad. Like, what's funny about you brought up the R Class Mercedes right away, guys.

[B]

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[A]

is Mercedes was trying to avoid at that time building a minivan. Like sprinters, like vans weren't in any way cool at all in like 2004 when they were developing that thing. So they were trying to build a minivan that like didn't look at all like a minivan. They could be like, this is not the minivan, right. But like now when fucking Demuro talks about it, it's the 500 horsepower minivan. Like car nerds are like super stoked that this is actually a minivan.

[C]

I think it definitely looks like, looks like a minivan. I think it looks more like a minivan than this only because there are like windshield, the swope, the windshield of the windshield that connects. This has, you know, a steeper angle from the hood to the windshield. But the back is definitely pure minivan.

[A]

I think they do a pretty good job at trying to make it look as little like a minivan as possible once you get inside of it. The fucking dashboard, the layout of the seats is like 100% minivan.

[C]

Very true.

[A]

Fully. Fully.

[C]

I was next to a cybertruck in this thing today and I just thought about that poor driver in there who has no center console, who has no, like curved dash in front of them, which we should talk about because it's not perfect, but, like, that is such a spartan interior in that vehicle and they cost similar money and similar power and all that stuff. And I just mean what a. What a thing to drive.

[A]

That's a. Yeah. I mean, I think Lucid has its

[C]

issues, obviously, but just seeing the cybertruck and knowing having driven it, what it has and does not have inside, like, man, it would be one thing because

[A]

it makes you look like such a loser to drive one. It would be one thing if there was some level of trade off. Right. Like if it was actually awesome inside or awesome like something. But the fact is it drives like basically every other ev.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

Like, it doesn't like steer by wire, I admit, is interesting, but I don't like it.

[C]

This doesn't have it, obviously. And the steering is quick enough. I don't care.

[A]

I hate the steering wheel.

[C]

The steering wheel.

[A]

You hate the steering wheel too, right? Yeah. So I actually texted, or I should say a lucid representative who we're friendly with and has always been super helpful with our reviews information, whatever, texted me and said, hey, you know, I'm here if you have any questions, you know, are you liking it so far? Whatever. I said, whoever put this wheel in here needs to be fired out of a cannon. And he said, I actually think they were. Can you just get a picture off of the. Cause if you haven't seen it, talk about a fucking step backwards. For a car company. The Lucid Air was a product that was flawed in execution, but pretty a plus in intent. The software was funky and they couldn't quite get there with stuff, but there was a lot that's really right about the Air. And then the interior of this is objectively better in almost every way. But they put this fucking squeal.

[C]

Yeah. And it's a squished wheel.

[A]

It's a squished wheel. It's like an oblong wheel. And it is, I have to say, other than the 9 and 3 and even sometimes then other than the 9 and 3, it is awkward to hold. However you hold, there's no other option

[C]

because it changes your leverage with the actual style steering mechanism.

[A]

You absolutely fucking nailed it. When you rest your. When you have a circle and you rest your hand, it droops with gravity naturally, right? With a circle, it droops in a way that we're like, used to. Well, it's uniform, it's uniform. With the top of this, which is almost flat, it's like having your hand on a seesaw.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And the leverage it makes it. And because this car has a very quick steering ratio, it makes it like dart around. If you're.

[C]

I'm push back on you. I'm going to sell you. I'm going to be PR for a second. This is actually an adjustable steering ratio steering wheel. Matt Farah. So when your hands are at the 9 and 3 position, you have a lot of leverage. Right. But when you put your hands at the 12 and 6 position, suddenly it's a smaller steering wheel and it's a quick steering ratio.

[A]

You're joking, but that's literally what happens.

[C]

It is what happens.

[A]

You have actually, in a joke, in a bit, you have accurately described that one's got truth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not even a nugget of truth. That's 100. What happens if you start a turn by bringing down the side of the wheel and then mid turn you grab one of the flat ends of the wheel? The rate at which you're adding angle to the turn or subtracting it changes.

[C]

Yes. And your effort has to go up. And that's what I hated about it, because I drove back from Hollywood today, took a lot of 90 degree turns. I would initiate the turn with my right hand on three, and it was easy, predictable, like every other car we drive. And then I'd have to move my hand to the top and all of a sudden the effort of my shoulder had to go up by like 100%. Like, it's suddenly more difficult. It does not make anything easier other than if you're going straight, you can rest your hand on it.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

But then what happens?

[A]

Okay. And you know what the worst part about this is? Klapman. And this photo shows it perfectly. If you're not watching the video version of this podcast, that's okay because I'm gonna describe what when you have a wheel.

[C]

Like.

[A]

All right. When we went from circle wheels to the flat bottom wheel for the first time, it was in a sports car. And it was to help you get in and out of the car, sliding your legs underneath the steering wheel. Like, that's kind of why we started that in the first place. And then it got more like yokey. I guess as we started to do this motorsport theater, Ferrari started putting all the F knobs on the thing. Lamborghini did motorcycle blinkers. It all was like, motorsporty.

[C]

I think the flat bottom came from motorsport also, though, because, like, if you're Hopping in a race car, Swinging in quicker is easier.

[A]

There's flat bottom, like Sparco wheels and stuff, like those import tuner wheels from back in the day. But, like, if you look at this photo of the lucid gravity's interior, not only is there, like, an acre of legroom underneath the wheel to get in and out, if you look at the digital gauge cluster, this angle is an artificially low angle. In real life, the entire wheel will be below the gauge. You see the whole screen above the wheel, but the bottom half of that center screen has absolutely nothing on it. So were the wheel round, it would block the bottom, like, inch or two of the center of the screen, which has absolutely zero information in this car that you need to see. Like, not just, like, never. Like, it doesn't show anything there ever.

[C]

We should cut out, like, get a pizza round or something and just put it on the wheel and see what it would block.

[A]

It doesn't block anything. You can look. There's so much.

[C]

There's a lot of space between the top of the rim and the speedometer, which is like, the first thing you see.

[A]

Yeah, like, look, I'm just gonna, like, here, like, all of this blank. That stays blank.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bottom half of the gauge pod, the gauge screen, when you're driving, is empty.

[A]

So, like, on the one hand, like, we're spending 10 minutes talking about this. On the other hand, it's such a catastrophically bad decision that it waterfalls into other things where it's like, one thing. It's like if. When you're interviewing people to watch your kids. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you look for red flags, and it's like, you know, if there's a 1 inch on their forearm, like, very small, Very small tattoo, but you go, you know, honey, is that a. You know, you're looking over.

[C]

It's a black square. What's that covering?

[A]

You know, Is that a swastika? You know, and it's like. Well, it's just a. It's just one red flag. But it's such a fucking egregious red flag that it's. It just red cards the fucking whole game for me.

[C]

I mean, I would say that more people I'd hope, would not hire that babysitter, but obviously there's a lot of car companies that have some sort of yoke thing. People in the comments said that the Ford Expedition and Navigator has the same steering wheel, which we haven't driven. That's crazy. That supplier has compromat. They were from Assad or something like that because they sold a lot of them.

[A]

What we don't know is this is in like the Xiaomi. You know, this is like how they're, they're going to sneak Chinese cars in one part at a time. They're just going to merge it with a lucid.

[C]

You have a shop that will disassemble 10 cars.

[A]

Yeah. Like the next gen lucid is going to have the same like seats and door cards. It's like it's going to slowly, slowly be a byd into a Xiaomi.

[C]

It's just a weird. It's just it makes operating it in the city and on the highway very strange.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And it's such a pronounced squish. I mean it is really a narrow oval for people who are listening just, I don't know, deflate a basketball like 50% and just go. And that's what you got. Turn a milk turn a gallon of water on its side. And that's the shape of the wheel.

[A]

The shape and size basically.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so let's move on from the wheel. Sure. But it does, it just, it bleeds into everything. Like that's how important I tell it all the time. I impulse sold a fabulous car, my Audi S4 at the first sight of a Hummer H1. I love the car but it had the stupid four spoke steering wheel. Steering wheels are important. If I had the three spoke steering wheel, I'd probably still be driving that car today.

[C]

No, you wouldn't. But that is funny.

[A]

But I would have not bought a Hummer so.

[C]

But right above the steering wheel. Well, let's do pros first. Let's do good things, guys.

[B]

Support is coming in today from Mac Tools. You've seen that Mac Tools truck at shops before or rolling around your town. But have you ever thought about being the one that actually owns that truck route for someone already into cars? Whether you're working on them in or around shops, maybe you're already in the industry or at least spending your weekends wrenching on something or maybe racing. A Mac Tools franchisee runs their own mobile tool business selling directly to shops and technicians and potentially also very much benefiting your hobby. It's a relationship business and repeat customers that you service every week. You build those relationships and they last for life. You're not left to figure it out on your own. They've got an extensive training program and they've got support to build your route the right way. And as a small business owner, it also does seem very daunting. Most people that are already in your

[A]

industry are not going to want to like teach you how to do it.

[B]

And I had to figure out a

[A]

lot of things on my own in this business.

[B]

They're going to train you to be your own small business owner, which is extremely cool. Mac has been doing this for over a century and there's a reason it still works. So if you've ever thought about doing your own thing in the automotive world, it is worth checking out. Go to mactools.org tire to learn more and see if there's an open route near you. That's M A C T o o l s.org tire to learn more. And guys, support is coming in today from hims when your hair starts thinning, it's not just your hair that takes a hit. Trust me, it can change how you feel day in and day out. And HIMS makes it simple to take control of hair regrowth with personalized care that fits your life. Look, I committed the other way my hair started thing and I went, you know what?

[A]

Full aerodynamics.

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[A]

Well, look 800 horsepower, 900 pounds of torque, a nearly 400 mile range, tons of leg room, great grizz ability.

[C]

I like the interior materials. I've always liked that with a great job. It's like a rounder Volvo inside. There's a lot of like fabric and leather and you know, just enough shiny stuff, but not too much.

[A]

The computer, the response from the touch screens is good.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

I only had, okay, I had a couple of hiccups, but they were the same thing that happened over basically all the hiccups I had with software. The proximity key, I had no issues at all. Yeah, proximity key issue seems to be fixed. The issues were cameras. Either they didn't turn on when they should have, such as when I put the car in reverse, or they didn't turn off when they should have, such as exceeding 15 miles an hour.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Which is you. Because you can actually set when you want to turn them off. Like for like there's a setting for. If you're maneuvering and the cameras come on, the 360 camera or whatnot, or the rear cameras. At what speed does it turn off once you go forward and you can set it to like 5, 10, 15. So even if you had it set to 15, like it stayed on until I went like 22, you know, or something and I had to like X out of it. That's like pretty minor stuff. I had no other software hiccups besides that.

[C]

I didn't have any. And I didn't have the camera problem and I. The side. The blind spot cameras were really helpful for me right now because I can't turn very quickly, so. And I know Hyundai's have them and whatnot, but like the response was good. They came on. I thought the angle of them was pretty good. I like the greenhouse, but the glass roof gets hot, dude.

[A]

Real hot.

[C]

Real hot.

[A]

And I don't think wherever they have the sensor in the cabin that determines what your automatic climate control is does not accurately reflect the temperature that the driver feels.

[C]

No, because it. Dude, if you put your hand above your head, it gets hotter significantly with each foot. It's like climbing a mountain. So if the temp sensor is down like at your knee, it doesn't know that up top is a greenhouse.

[A]

The Taycan is always just set 71 auto. Look, if other cars are a degree like the Ford, the Mach E, when we had it, it was usually set 72 auto. Like, you know, whatever. It was like a degree or here or the other way.

[B]

Fine.

[A]

This thing, when I drove it around, we had it at like 66.

[C]

Me too.

[A]

Auto Most of the time. Just because of how that's where you had to get it to like blow enough air to offset the fucking heat on my dome.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So I don't know if you can get it without a glass roof or. If not, you'd have to like tinted. Tinted. PPF it, you know, or UV tint it or whatever. Cause it got toasted.

[C]

It might have uv. I hope it has UV tint from the factory. But I would want more, basically.

[A]

I mean, I like the. You know, the Model X did it first, where the windshield goes up and it's that sort of seamless. It doesn't go as far as the Model X. It stops sort of at 90 above your head or maybe just behind your head. It's a cool vibe. Like, it's nice, but it's a cool vibe.

[C]

And I think it's. It probably attracted buyers and it looks cool and it was a brand new idea, but I think I'm over it. Like, the show of it is. I am. I'm like. The light is. It brings in a lot of light. Makes it makes big. It makes big cars that have high sills feel more airy and more visible, you know, like older cars did for us before the pillars got really big. But I'm just kind of over, like, especially when they have the flip down visor, you're like, all right, yeah, that'll work if the sun's in a certain spot. But if the sun is above that spot, it's still hitting the roof. It's still warming the car. I think you just lose a lot of function.

[A]

Yeah. Dynamically, I thought it was pretty good. I thought the power was excellent. I thought the ride was great. Although it was okay. Well, you're right. I don't think it was great. It's not as refined as my Taycan with air suspension in the city.

[C]

It kind of not porpoises. Like, it's a heavy car.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So it needs a lot of spring and whatnot. But your car, which I drove, what, five days ago?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, you go over small rollers and bumps in the city, and the wheels. You feel the wheels moving around you, but the car doesn't move as much. And this was like, you didn't hear it, but the whole nose would lift and fall. It was kind of like being in a boat with, like, very mild chop, I think. And I tried low standard and high to see if that affected the ride.

[A]

Suspension.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I think I drove it up the mountain, and I think On a canyon road, it handles those type of bumps nicely. I think it doesn't do the 405. Great. The expansion joints in concrete, and it doesn't do the hard edges in the city great. It does not. Like, the air was like, wow, they've done a lot here. This one is more of a just conventional SUV's ride. It was okay, but it wasn't, like, special.

[C]

Yes, I agree. And I think for me, there's so much of the car that feels special that I was expecting it to ride like a Range Rover. So because of the way it looks on the outside and the inside and the features and the price, the power, and I was like, all right, this. I expect this to have mag ride level. And I was just like, oh, okay. I mean, it's quite enough. And we're nitpicking for sure, but it just isn't bad.

[A]

But it lacks either the ultra luxury of an air suspension or the, you know, the precision control of a magnetic shock.

[C]

I mean, it. Well, it has triple. The triple chamber air suspension, which. That's the same, really, as cayenne and stuff.

[A]

This does this. I mean, I am truly shocked. Doesn't feel like.

[C]

It just feels like a little. It feels a little too stiff to me.

[A]

It feels conventional. That doesn't feel like air suspension.

[C]

Well, yeah, but then when you hit, like, especially when you hit the, you know, change the height. Like, it has to have adjustable height somehow, so. So air suspension is the cheapest way to do that.

[A]

True. I guess I'm a dummy. But it doesn't really feel. It doesn't ride like it.

[C]

It just moves. The whole body moves a little more than I was expecting because the thing feels like such a luxury product. And I know that dynamically it's good. You said so. Jack from Savage Geese like, drifted it on the track and was like, this is the best handling SUV out there. So I'm like, this thing can slay corners. And so that's what the engineers and the product designers decided they want for me. I'm just not as into that. And I was expecting something just like a little cushier.

[A]

But, yeah, I think it's got the really cool torque vectoring in order to do that. It's.

[C]

Yeah, the radar cruise control is awesome. Sorry, I thought the tech worked great. Oh. The only other complaint was that the dash, the wraparound dash, which is very much like the Porsche Taycans, it had this, like, rainbow shimmer, at least at my height. So I'm driving north on the 110 and I just kept seeing like this little orange reflection and I'd move my head and it would move with me and it's like they didn't get the same anti reflection coating that Porsche got. So.

[A]

How interesting.

[C]

Yeah, it was weird.

[A]

The Porsche screen is the real. If you're gonna, if you're gonna get rid of that binnacle, that one. That's the least reflective one I've seen.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm still so weirded out that that's air suspension and I didn't know. What a dummy. It just doesn't ride like it.

[C]

But it rides better than a Rivian. I mean it does that. It. I think it rides much better than R1s.

[A]

Than an S. Yeah. Not than a T. Probably not than a T. The T is really good.

[C]

Yeah. Huh.

[A]

All right, well it's, it, it's a really nice thing, but that's. The steering wheel just crushes me. It just can't. I can't do it. They gotta get rid of that.

[C]

Yeah. And I. If you get the. Is ours a dream edition? I didn't look at the.

[A]

No, this is just a grand touring.

[C]

All right. So they, I mean they started like 70 to 80. Top spec is 140. I mean, I don't know. Nice, comfortable, good seats. All that stuff feels, feels like a high quality thing. Proximity worked a lot better. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

If you need tall people to fit behind tall people, sure. It's good for that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And like it's, it is really. It was really efficient. Like I drove it a good amount and it did not significantly go through the battery. It was really nice. I mean, it's weird because I, I preach about not getting a bigger battery than you need or whatever, but you know, when you drive something that says, you know, 390 to empty, you're like, wow, that does feel nice. It feels nice to be able to.

[C]

Sure. Caveman like big number.

[A]

Caveman like caveman like big number.

[C]

Yeah. They also have very efficient tech, which is very impressive. And that's. I mean I like lucid. I want them to survive and figure out, figure out all their stuff. I think they've just had a lot of headaches and a lot of. They have a lot of uphill battles, you know, with their various lemonings and.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Very public lemon law ing.

[A]

But this one did work properly for the most part, which was, which was good. Yeah, there's. There was, there was really a lot to like about it. Yeah. The ride just didn't do it for me. I thought it would be because the air rides so good, right?

[C]

In other cars. Yeah. And again, like, they've got. When we drove the early ones, it was like, I think I was paying more attention to dynamic performance because that's what they were kind of selling us, like, super sedan. And they did that really well. The way the car's handled, the way that, you know, the motors move, the power around, the steering was really good. And that was back when they had fixed suspension, so I was really impressive. And now, like, all right, they can do that. So can they do the electronics. These are better than the last car we drove. That's good. Oh, Lucid, though. You're gonna get a bill for the express lane because it put me onto, like, HOV express stuff. And I didn't have.

[A]

Oh, the native gps.

[C]

The native GPS did. And I didn't have it selected. I didn't say select for this. And so I just followed what it was saying. All of a sudden I'm like, I'm not supposed to be here. So I waved.

[A]

Where'd you go?

[C]

105 to 6.

[A]

Oh, just the. Yeah, yeah, just that.

[C]

But it was like, here, take this exit. I went. I think it's off to the right, but all right. And then I saw what was happening.

[A]

Yeah. Sinner. Thank you to Lucid for letting us have a go in that one. Long last. It was nice to try it. Yeah, good one. I spent. Oh, and before I get to the next thing, if you bought a notice. Canyon Barry Edition shipping this week. Watches are assembled and going out.

[C]

Nice.

[A]

So there was what, two, two and a half weeks, Three weeks between. That's pretty quick ordering and shipping. That's about as long as we ever want to do it. So that's good. So new watches coming out next year, but thank you to everybody who got a Barry Canyon. You're gonna really like your watch. Tag me in your photos on Instagram when you get them. Also, in other fun colored news, did you see in the asset drop I gave you, my Vespa Nuevo has landed.

[C]

Oh, I was wondering.

[A]

Did you see that? There it is. This is it, dude. So I thought we were looking at colors, remember? And they have the matte green and the matte blue.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, I go up there, they go, the green and the blue are at Vespa of Los Angeles up there in Sherman Oaks. And I go, well, let me stop in on the way back from Santa Barbara with Hannah and look at the colors. And I go, there. I get there and this fucking thing is there. I go, what is that? And he Goes, it's the blue. I go, no, I was thinking about this blue here. And he goes, oh, you want that one? I go, fuck, no. Are you kidding me?

[C]

Listening. It's like this is a shiny blue electrico. Yeah. Blue sky blue.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Great. That's awesome.

[A]

Electric blue with black accents. And the center thing in the front of the fender is fake carbon fiber. I'm sorry to say. It's not real carbon fiber.

[C]

It's like a trunk. It looks like an elephant trunk, but

[A]

black hardware, black mirrors, black headlights. Around it has the upgraded quilted leather seat. I like the little race. Very excited.

[C]

Cool, man.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Way better than the matte green behind the it. That's.

[A]

Yeah, the matte green was. No, was not good in person. I mean, it's not horrible, but it's not for me.

[C]

No, it's like phoenix yellow. E46 green. That's what it looks like. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So I was extremely stoked on this color. I think it's great. And we're just waiting. They don't always come with the top cases. I need the top case. So there was like a. There's like two weeks to get that. So I said, do you mind holding onto it and I'll come back and get it when the case comes in.

[C]

So sweet.

[A]

But that's it. I sent the wire. I own it. It's mine.

[C]

Fantastic.

[A]

Brand new three miles on the odometer.

[C]

You've been scooter free now for I've

[A]

been scooter free and I miss we must have scooter right now. Full disclosure, I did not ask for, nor did I trade for when offered a discount. I was offered a discount straight up. No strings, no nothing. And I took it. I did. I took it. I don't know what to say besides that. There's a disclaimer, but I'm not reviewing this product. This is my. I was never reviewing the original one. I'm not reviewing this one.

[C]

You know, you're not reviewing it. You're speaking about your ownership and your time with it.

[A]

They did offer me a discount.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And so I took a little discount. Still not cheap.

[C]

That's fine.

[A]

But you know, I'll probably have this thing for 20 years because that'll be. It'll be that long before they invent an all new engine. But I'm super stoked. Nice Vespa Summer electric. What's the. The closest Porsche blue, Dolph, is either.

[C]

No, no dolphins.

[A]

Somewhere between Miami blue, Mexico blue.

[C]

Yeah, it's closer to that.

[A]

It's closer to Mexico blue Porsche color.

[C]

A little.

[A]

I think it's a little darker than Mexico, but it's. But it's real close. Yeah. Sky blue. Bright ass. Sky blue with a little bit of. A little bit of a black and red stripe on the front fender.

[C]

Yeah, I think it's great. I think it's good.

[A]

Yeah. This will be fun. It's a keyless start. It's got, you know, fucking. It's fully keyless. All the goodies. I'm very excited. They don't really have. Other than the colors. They don't really do have options though. They have aftermarket exhaust. I was like, no, it's not for me. But they have some cool art bikes and stuff up there and they will do at Venice of La Vespa Vela. Excuse me. And he told me they will fully do paint to sample. Wow. So it's like 2000 to 4000, depending on how crazy you want to go. And he had one up there that was like candy apple, apple hot rod red, which was very sparkly and cool. But I think, I mean, you know, you're not going to see another one that's this color around very often.

[C]

So I think it's a good blue.

[A]

I'm comfortable.

[C]

It's a really friendly blue.

[A]

It is very friendly.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a. It's. It reminds me of like the French Riviera.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Or something like that. Yeah. Great times. So that's fun, dude. So should we talk about this thing?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I spent the morning in the SP40 Resto MOD Roadster and they call it a restomod, honestly, because I think a mistake in branding and English being their second language, to be honest with you. Because these are Argentinian guys. They're sort of. They're lovely folks and they. Their business before was building recreation of pre war stuff like Alpha 8Cs and they do a Mercedes SSK and they did one of the original, a replica of the thing that inspired this car, which was that Edsel special.

[C]

But this is neither restored nor modified. This is a whole new thing.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. No, this is an entirely new car. So it is a tube space frame, it's a carbon body, it's an independent rear suspension. It's a coyote engine, a Ford coyote engine. It's a Tremec T5 gearbox and an independent rear suspension. It is an open wheel. I mean, not technically open wheel. It's because it's got wheel covers of sorts, but it's exposed wheel. What do you call that? Would you call it open wheel? I wouldn't call it open wheel. Ooh, that's tough because it does have wheel covers. So I think that's not technically open wheel but like a Plymouth Prowler, a hot rod. The wheels are outside the body of

[C]

the car but they have their own fenders on them.

[A]

Right. They say it's 2,600 pounds. Honestly, I don't know. It's fast. I mean this is, it's, it's fast. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Whatever the, the acceleration is. It like this is irrelevant as it's not carbon bodied because carbon is, it's not. Because it's supposed to be as light as human. It's not a Caterham. Although they do care about dynamics. It's because the original Edsel roadster. Edsel. Ford went to Europe in the 1930s, saw an early Grand Prix and saw these sort of monoposto type pre war European sports racing cars and they didn't have anything like that back in America. He came back to America and had Ford's airplane people build him this roadster thing and they used aluminum which was the advanced material at the time. So these Argentinians are trying to update it. So they go, yeah, we're going to do carbon because this is the advanced material. I think they want it to be light, but I don't think they really give a shit if it's a few pounds either way. I don't think that was the point. I happen to think it looks cool as fuck. People in the comments were sort of divided about it and I think when we talk about it like I want to talk about it like as an experience and a car sort of separate from the price for a minute. Because when you say the price is $500,000, people just have a knee jerk reaction because A, like nobody can afford that and B, you know, it doesn't necessarily look, it doesn't look like something right away that should be that much money. And I'm not trying to, I'm not gonna now go into 20 minutes on defending the price. I'm just saying like just separate for a second into like forget the money, forget like they want to sell you one of these. It's just like is this fucking dope and does it work and those type of things. Let's go through those first. Like so, like, like I think dopeness A plus. Wait, let's back up. We'll back up. Does it work? For the most part, yes. You know, it's a pretty straightforward powertrain. It's a five speed tremec. It has pretty nice long gears, but it has so much power and torque you genuinely would not need a sixth gear. The reason it has five gears is because. Because the whole car is rather narrow, as is the cockpit. A five speed gearbox is much narrower so you have a lot more room for your right foot. It's really more of a space issue. And they said also they built one with a six speed and it was a lot of shifting and it wasn't really necessary. And actually having now driven it, I completely agree with their decision. Five is more than enough. You know how a Morgan three wheeler like the one with the motorcycle engine, not the Super 3 like the older one that it's like good because it's bad. This is in that same type of thing. It fucking totally works. You turn it on and it starts up. It's a fucking Mustang engine. No problem. You drive it around. It's slightly unrefined in a couple of ways. In the same way I could say the Chimera was slightly unrefined in a couple of ways, but overall pretty fucking good. Can use it as a car. It drives like you think it's gonna drive. It steers predictably. It has a very nice ride on PCH cruising. I could do a couple hundred miles in this thing, but for the leg room, probably wouldn't. My legs would get a little cramped up because you can't straighten them out. The pedals are floor hinged like, like race car style pedals. In my opinion, if they had a top hinged pedal like a normal car, not like a race car, it would A, be probably more period correct and period looking. And B, you could tuck your feet under the clutch pedal and stretch your legs out a little bit while you were cruising, which you can't do with a floor hinge pedal. Just my opinion. But they're like race car pedals, basically. You know, electric power steering. It's not the most communicative as you could imagine. The steering shaft is quite long, but it's direct. And this is a car that is what I would call a. It's like a cruiser. Plus like I pretty much would put it in the same category of driving as I'd put in a replica Cobra, which is like you're not going, you're not taking that motherfucker to a track day. Like you're going to hit the canyons at 7, 10, wind out the motor, but you're not going to like super, super push it. And I think they made it handle as good as something that's shaped like this will handle pretty much. I mean, maybe if McLaren tried it or something. But they did put ride over handling. But the handling is still good enough. You can hustle it through a canyon as long as it's not like the snake is like suboptimal but on. You know, we didn't have time. But if we were taking it in the Angeles Forest with the open sweepers, it would be the absolute greatest. Like, I drove it up Canaan and across Encinal and then back across Mulholland. And so those roads, it's a little inside baseball, folks. Sorry, but those are the more open sweeper roads of Malibu. And on those roads where you're just like winding out sort of third and fourth gear and sort of, you know, setting it, you know, you brake it, set it, and then sort of feed throttle in as you sort of bobsled through these corners. It's a fucking good time. You know, you're leaning a little bit out the body of the car on left hand turns. You know, you want to put on a fucking scarf and you feel like Fangio or something. You know, it's. It is enough of that theater with that view and the open fenders.

[C]

It's kind of like a Morgan Aero.

[A]

Yeah, it's in the Morgan Aero family. Yeah. Where it is, the things that you touch are pretty modern. Simple, but modern. I mean, all the knobs and shit, all the gauges are all made for them. They make the steering wheel, they make all the. They only use the only button behind the shifter. They have one of the SEMA special ring lights.

[C]

It's the light you hate.

[A]

And I said, I had to explain to them, listen, you want 500 for this car, you need to get rid of that. And I said, the Ford gt, red start button. The Ferrari, you need a big red start button. That's not that one. But outside of that.

[C]

Is the wood dash actual wood or is it.

[A]

It is, but it's not like structural. No, it's real wood.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

It's real.

[C]

I'm just looking at the picture.

[A]

So it's real wood and you can choo your wood. You can choose, you know, they'll make it. They'll make it however you want. Any leather, any wood, they'll do. This is bare carbon, the body, but they'll do painted, you know, any color you want. These seats, I think are very cool. They're buckets that look like the kind of buckets you'd find in sort of an old Ferrari or an old Cobra. But the backs hinge forward to like, almost flat. And then the space behind them is the full boat tail is open. So they make a set of luggage. That Tetris is in there real nice. Or you can throw your own stuff in there. But it actually holds like a bunch of shit. It actually was very easy to drive. It does get hot, sure.

[C]

Oh, you mean because you're exposed to the sun or because the trans tunnel is getting hot?

[A]

Give us a shot of the full car. So, yeah, So a couple things. The side pipes, not such a bother. But those louvers, I guess they're not punched because it's carbon, but they look like punched louvers on the side of the engine. Those vent heat from the engine that just goes directly into your face.

[C]

They are aimed at your face.

[A]

They're aimed right at your face. And so there is air conditioning. And you can crank the AC at the same time you're driving. And that does help. There's also pretty good heat. Heat for cold mornings. There is, like, a proper heater. What else can I say? The wheels are very art deco.

[C]

I like the design of the wheels. They kind of look like rally wheels. The center cap, though, like, this huge center cap is very cool.

[A]

And they say when they're spin. I couldn't see this, but when they're spinning, apparently those silver. I guess you could call them spokes, like the ring of silver squares around there. Those make it look like a white wall tire kind of when it's spinning.

[C]

Oh, okay. I could see that vibe of a

[A]

white wall tire, but it has a great attitude, a great stance, a great sound. It's obviously, like, pretty loud, but for any real amount of time, you might want to wear some hearing protection to drive it, because it's kind of loud. But, like, it is in the same type of way that a chimera is very unique. This is really different. It's not bad. Like, it's not. Other than not having a roof or doors and, you know, being generally unsafe in a crash outside of that, like, it doesn't have a lot of bad behavior. They said they were having an issue where it was not missing, but, like, it was not. It didn't want to rev past, like, three, and they had to, like, look into what was happening. I mean, but it's a coyote engine. Like, whatever's happening, it's like, just. It can be fixed. And for the record, I was warned that that was happening by another journalist who drove it the other day. They then said, hey, just so you know, this has been happening. And I was like, well, let me Try it. And, and it didn't do it for me. So what, what you need was a fucking faro love a little bit, you see. Waiting for the proper driver. And you know, at start, at first I was like, all right, well, I just keep the revs down and like you can loaf this motherfucker around and it's still like pretty quick. Doesn't weigh anything and you know, big torque, long gears, like no problem, whatever. But after a while they're like, okay, just kick up the revs and like it was fine.

[C]

So is this the first prototype or the first.

[A]

This is the second prototype. The first one. They said this is the first. The first one had a bunch of different rear suspensions they tested, had a bunch of different gearboxes they tested, you know, different, different this, different that. And said did. They said, didn't even have any bodywork on it. This is, this is the first one that's like road worthy for someone like, you know, me to have a go in. And they're letting people drive it and you know, they're trying to sell 40 of them, which is a manageable number. They've apparently sold one according to them. But honestly, like, there's a lot of good details. The tail lights are these little dainty things, but within that one tail light is a blinker. An actual tail light and a reverse light. All of which are different colors I'd expect.

[C]

So. Right.

[A]

Which is like. Yeah, but it's like a propeller of color. It's kind of neat. There's just, there's good little details. There's Bluetooth, stereo, you know, it's keyless, keyless start. It's got like a cool fob that's a mini version of the car. Like a little not. It's a probably matchbox car sized version of the car. And it was, I would say the steering precision was amazing. It was okay. That was probably the most compromised part of the experience. And I didn't love the catch point of the clutch. It was pretty high. Like the top 2 inches of a 10 inch throw is where it caught.

[C]

Oh yeah.

[A]

It almost felt like. Is the clutch slipping? But the car only had a thousand miles on it, so I doubt it was that. I was like, if you can make somehow an adjustment so the clutch catch point is lower. I don't know, whatever you could do or maybe nothing but that, you know, it's not a 1010 car. No one's going to a track day in this thing. But as a, as a five to seven and a half ten cruise, this Was the fucking titties, this thing.

[C]

I mean, the Morgan that we drove around was the plus four.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

That was so fun. And the engine was fine. It was like an inline, I think, BMW engine, right?

[A]

No, the plus four was a four cylinder Ford engine.

[C]

Oh, that's because of the four.

[A]

The new one is the BMW engine, but the old one, the way you drove, was the last one.

[C]

Yeah. The engine that was like totally, literally forgettable. Yeah, it was whatever. Because the rest of the car, it's the vibe, it's the look of it, the way it's styled. It made, you know, me feel like I was from like the 30s. I think this looks gorgeous. I think it's a really cool design. So people obviously have to be, you know, wanting to put on that style of shoe to go out.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, that's who this is for. It's for people who have, you know, a lot of money. And it's funny, like you say that the steering feedback's not great. Yeah. The dynamics back then when they raced these cars, when these were first developed, probably not great. We've evolved now to have mid engine or, you know, the engines are closer to the middle. Like that's. That's all changed and improved. So this is going back in time. Like modern materials, but classic shape, classic proportions. And so you just have to deal with some of those compromises.

[A]

And for the record, the steering isn't bad. It's not like that totem thing where there was no self centering. It has self centering. It has an okay weight. You can tell where the wheels are pointed. It's not like totally vague. It's just not super precise. But look how fucking far it's gotta go. Of course it's not super. I mean it when I say that given the shape of this thing where you're sitting just in front of the rear axle. The fucking steering axle is in front of the radiator, for fuck's sake.

[C]

Yeah, great point.

[A]

It is so far away, your feet are not even a third of the way to the steering axle.

[C]

Yeah. The front wheels are effectively bolted to the front bumper of a car.

[A]

Yeah. And it's already a long car, so it's as good as it's going to be. Given the circumstances. It's. It's pretty good.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And it. It's just a very, like. It's not. It's not angry. It's like. It's. It's loud, but it's not. It's not a mean thing. It's like. It's very fun and approachable and friendly. People want to talk about it. You don't seem like a dipshit when you drive it. I had a cop give me a fucking what's up on it today? It's on a Montana tag, you know.

[C]

So how many originals were there? Is there one? Wow. It sold for 88 grand. That seems very low. This. I don't know when this auction was.

[A]

Let me see. That's. That can't be right. It's got to be a replica. You sure can't be right.

[C]

Recreation. You're right.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Got it.

[A]

This company, among the other things they recreate, did do an accurate recreation of the original one. I don't know how much it costs, but that's what inspired them to do this one, which is sort of an all new build. I think it's extremely cool, dude. Yeah, it's super, super expensive. If you start thinking about what else you would use that money on, almost anything is going to be more practical than this. But if you're at the income level where that's not a thing you about and you just go, what is different and cool and outrageous? And we'll get those fucking car juices going in a way that nothing else does. This is unique.

[C]

This seems like the thing for a true car enthusiast who probably bought a big Lambo when they were 26, because that's what you're into and you want to be loud, literally, figuratively, everything. And then 20 years later you go, all right, right, I want something that still turns heads. But it's a little like I've calmed down and matured and it's a little classier and a little bit more subtle.

[A]

But there's. Sorry, excuse me. But there's also, you know them guys that take like, you know their blower Bentleys and drive across, you know, a continent. This is the kind of car where you can do that. You can be hardcore where you're exposed to the elements and you don't have a roof and, you know, you've got that vibe, but you don't have to know how to fix a fucking blower Bentley in order to do it. And you don't have to learn how to drive a blower Bentley in order to do it or something of that era in order to do it. And this holds a bunch of your stuff. If you want to go on vacation, you can convince someone to go with you. And you're probably not going to get sort of poo poo by the actual guys in the blower Bentleys. The way you would, you know, if you were driving a recreation of a pre war sports car.

[C]

Oh, right. Well, interesting, because this is sort of.

[A]

It's inspired by, but it's not a recreation.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, they've definitely like, looking at the original. They've changed some of the angles, but it's very similar in design.

[A]

Oh, yeah, it is similar, but they've also made it. It's lower. It's. The top of the body is lower and the ride height is also lower.

[C]

It looks. The profile's awesome.

[A]

Yeah, it's bitching.

[C]

It's super cool.

[A]

And I was. I took these guys that shot is at Paramount Ranch. So I took the Argentinians there and I was telling them about the history of the racetrack there. They're pretty stoked on. They got a house in Malibu and they've been like there for like three weeks, you know, driving the car in

[C]

the hills and stuff.

[A]

He's like, this is fucking great out here. You guys are lucky.

[C]

I think it's really cool. And I know that people mad about the price. Sure, that's fine. They're selling so few of them. I'm happy this exists. Yeah, I think it's cool that someone, instead of building another hypercar competitor or instead of grabbing more stuff from Radwood

[A]

fucking964 back date or something, another one

[C]

of those things, they go, let's go way back further. I think that's really cool.

[A]

It's so cool. This company we've worked with, Persang, which is another company that does those recreations. And like, it's a pretty dope thing that the craftsmen that are. That have typically applied their talents to these recreations are like, well, what if we took our aesthetic, you know, but built something that's brand new? And, you know, I go out and drive it like, you know, fairly aggressively in the canyons. And it's like, not shitty. Like, it's actually pretty nice to take the knowledge today. Very and very fun. And it's like motoring, you know, you're extremely involved in the process, you know, and that is like, that's a thing I think people seek.

[C]

I think so. Because cars remove us from the process more and more. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Even though it's expensive and so few people can afford it, I think it's still a net positive to society to exist for sure. It's fucking cool. And like, this is the kind of thing where I think even if you can't afford one and will never afford one, if you saw one on the street. You. You'd be stoked to see it. You'd be stoked that someone else had it and that it was out for you to see.

[C]

I am quite cranky about the state of income inequality and blah, blah, blah. I'm happy to see this.

[A]

Well, these guys were fucking cool and they're leaving for Argentina and the car has to go in and get that issue sorted. But they're coming back later in the summer, so you'll get to have a go. Hopefully your back will be up to it. Like. Yeah, if you got silly money, get one of these. These, this. This is the real. I thought it was just. Just great. I had such a good time.

[C]

I bet.

[A]

Yeah. Should we go to the people? All right, I'm going to refill. I'm gonna refill my glass. How do you like this shirt?

[C]

Looks nice.

[A]

Little white linen. Summer. Summery. So vibe breezy.

[C]

They are. They're great. I have linen shirts and like, you can't believe how much wind is going through them. They're a little see through, but. But it's all right.

[A]

I have to get some new linen

[B]

shirts because most of my linen shirts

[A]

are a little bit too big.

[C]

Nice.

[A]

Let's go to the Patreon. Of course, patreon.com the Smoketirepodcast. It's where you ask us questions for the show. It's where you get the show live. It's where you get the show early. It's where you get the show without ads. It's where you get extra show. It's where you get access to exclusive collabs and things such as the one we're working on right now that we're going to be releasing very soon. It is super sick, you guys. Additionally, we are working on a live show tour and I have a call tomorrow, Zach. With a possible sponsor of the tour.

[C]

Sick.

[A]

So I also had a thought, and I haven't done the math out on it yet, but you know, the trailer we're getting, what if we buy 200 chairs? We just bring our own. Sure. It only would take two or three rentals to pay for that off.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And if we have a trailer and we get a press vehicle to tow with, we could mooch financially off, you know.

[C]

Makes a lot of sense.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. So I had that thought.

[C]

You could put the TV in there, all that stuff.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Because right now we're working on two different shows, two different cities.

[A]

Yes. So we're trying to do a tour.

[C]

One here, one. Okay. Yes.

[A]

But we haven't announced here, one not yet.

[C]

Let's.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

August 13th in Detroit. Woodward, Dream Cruise, Smoking tire, Christian, James, Hand. I. Finally we got the artwork back for the fucking poster and the eventbrite page. So I'm gonna post that very soon.

[C]

Very cool.

[A]

By the time this show goes up to the public, it will be the event thing will be up. So we'll have the tickets. Dude, come hang in Detroit. Fuck car week this year. Let's go to Detroit.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Let's fucking party. Yeah.

[C]

And we're working on a show that'll be in LA area August 18th. So pencil it in and we're gonna.

[A]

Oh, you do have a date.

[C]

That's probably gonna be the date. It's not 18th. It's probably gonna be the date. We're gonna have two awesome guests, habibi.

[A]

So let's fucking go rage against the ultimate driving machine.

[C]

Nice.

[A]

A. That is what contractions are for. I know. It's been many moons since your BMW 2002 review. Has your opinion of the little classic changed? No, I don't really like BMW 2002s. I think A325 is accomplishes exactly the same goal in my mental. In my filing process of car experiences, just much fucking better.

[C]

I think they feel very different, but I understand.

[A]

I just package them the same.

[C]

That's fine. I think. I think this. I think the O2 is. Has more of the weird design whimsy of like, you know, the SP40 thing. Like, they look old. They feel old.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then you drive, you know, a 199325 and you're like, this feels almost modern. It's so good.

[A]

It's not modern, but.

[C]

It's not. But I think I. I think I. I can connect the DNA very easily from the E30 to the 30 to the 46. But the 2002 I think feels totally different. Different.

[A]

That's fair. I just was so offended at how poorly it went up hills, you know, And I was like, this, this is not. This is not good. This is. This is garbage. You know, it went. It went up hills worse than like a 356.

[C]

I've never driven at 356.

[A]

A good 356 will rip up a hill. Them shits is from Australia.

[C]

Well, I've ripped Sam Smith's rust bucket, but good driver in the hills around Tale of the Dragon. Great. And then I've driven. Ali's like built.

[A]

I know. That's an E30 M3 with a 2002 body on top.

[C]

Some are saying I've had the diaspora and I like it.

[A]

She put her Volvo on my pole like a star. Very good. Are there features that you can't believe are not solved problems yet? Yet for me, it's either wind buffeting or air suspension durability. Those are both pet peeves. Wind buffeting typically is related to a car being super aerodynamic, which is usually done with the windows closed. And they give no fucking regard to what happens. If you want to drive with the windows open.

[C]

I think it's a solved problem. Like they could fix it, but they focus.

[A]

They don't give a fuck.

[C]

Right. Because they're like, what do people do? They roll the windows up, they go on the highway. So how do we maximize efficiency for that situation?

[A]

Yeah, there's often, like, if you have a car that Wynn buff, there's an enthusiast club of that model, you can often get some little bit that you glue or like 3M tape to, like somewhere on your side view mirror. That will largely solve it. Yeah, the Lucid's wind buffeting was fucked up.

[C]

Oh, I didn't try.

[A]

Oh, it was brutal. So bad. It was so bad.

[C]

Barrel down the back windows too.

[A]

The Taycan's is bad too. Lucid's not unique there. The Taycan's bad too. The best is like my old shit, dude, the Delica, it's brick. No buffing.

[C]

Well, because the wind is being sent completely into other neighborhoods before it goes around.

[A]

There's no better car for ripping heaters than the Delica. It's perfect. The airflow is so calm for having a heater while you're driving, you don't

[C]

even think you're moving.

[A]

Yeah, it's amazing.

[C]

Air suspension, I mean, rubber durability has probably improved, but I would say there's a great insulation at the Peterson. I don't know if it's still there. That shows the different versions of tire and wheel they made for the Mars Rover. It's like, here's what they went through. They ended up with like this metal mesh thing. You know, rubber can only be so durable. You can only inflate it, which stretches it so many times before it's going to break down. Or it's going to cost $80 billion to have suspension that lasts forever.

[A]

I'm pretty sure, pretty sure that there is preventative maintenance you can do to an air suspension.

[C]

Lotion.

[A]

It puts lotion on its lotion, on its grommets, on its O rings.

[C]

Is that a triple chamber system? Get in the room.

[A]

There's gotta be preventative maintenance you can do to an air suspension. System that is so expensive. The fourth owners of these cars are just not doing it. My neighborhood is. My neighborhood is so close. There's no trash or anything around there. The trash in my neighborhood is Land Rovers and Mercedes on blown out air suspensions. That is the full on all over the place. Early 2003 to 2008 land rovers and Mercedes on blown out air suspensions everywhere.

[C]

So Accuair air suspension, I think we drove. That was experience. We worked with them years ago. Yeah. But they have a blog that's like how do you maintain airbag suspension? And their thing is to clear out a tank that the condensation tank, make sure the lines are secure. There's like a bunch of little things. So I guess we don't really know why the many cars in LA are having failed. You know, they're dropped on bags.

[A]

They're all of a certain age.

[C]

They are. But I'm wondering is the line breaking? Is the bag breaking? But there's a lot of them that are just slammed.

[A]

Yeah. My leaky valve gasket says I see Taycans all over where I live. And in a desire to be different, I'm looking at audi e tron GTs which are much rarer for a reason. No, I'm kidding. Is the difference in overall experience that much better in the Porsche? Well, no, I mean not as like a daily like in my opinion, Taycans feel like Porsches and E Trons feel like Audis. They just feel different. The Audi sits a little higher. You don't sit down sunken into the body the way you do in the Taycan. You just sit like an Audi. The dashboard and the way the controls work is very much Audi. I happen to prefer, I'm used to and prefer the way that Porsche's work work to the way that Audis work. If I'm given a choice of do you want to operate a car the Porsche way or the Audi way? I'll take the Porsche away. It's just me. Right? Do you. I mean, they're similar dynamically.

[C]

They're not like they both have the double screen. Like they look very similar and they operate very similar. I like the Porsche design better. I don't like all the angles on the Audis right now that's just me. And I don't know, I was looking at Consumer Reports to see if there was like a reliability verdict, but there's not. So I'm not sure. But they look cool and you don't see many of them around. So you will be different.

[A]

I don't hate them. I mean, when I bought the Taycan, I was like, shit, if I really want to save money, I'll get a fucking E Tron. And they're not worth anything on the second hand. Seriously, you want a deal? A real deal?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Go right past the Porsche dealer to the Audi dealer and get yourself a two year old E tron GT with 20,000 miles on it for like 50 grand for like, for fucking half price or less. Less than half price probably. They're good cars. They're not bad cars. I thought that I would enjoy a Taycan and our audience would because each, when you're a content creator, E tron GTs are SEO death. Nobody gives a. Yeah, but that doesn't make them not cool cars. They are cool cars.

[C]

The average E tron GT price for a 20, 23 is 37 to Dude Wild.

[A]

That's a 23 and my Taycan's a 22. Like, dude, them shits is cheap. If you can get a cpo, maybe you need one of those.

[C]

Dude, if I get a cpo.

[A]

If you get a cpo, four year unlimited mile.

[C]

I do that. If there's a warranty with it on one of those.

[A]

That would be sick. That would be the deal of a lifetime. Imagine you can get one of them them in the 30s with a four year warranty on it.

[C]

I'm reading their list, I'm reading the list of recalls right now just to see if there's any. There's 14 for that year.

[A]

That's okay. I've probably done. Yeah, I've probably had seven or eight for my car. But they've all been software. Oh, they just update.

[C]

A loose retaining ring may allow air to escape, compromising vehicle handling and increasing the risk of a crash. So that's like your air suspension. Nice. Yeah, there's a. There's some electric thing and some other things. An air suspension strut failure may cause loss of vehicle handling.

[A]

Well, just make sure they're done. Yeah, it doesn't make it a terrible.

[C]

I'm just, I'm just reading what's on Consumer Reports. I'm just curious. No, yeah, get them done and done, which I'm sure they have, then maybe it'd be all right.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. There could be. There could be deals.

[C]

There's definitely deals I can call.

[A]

Dude, we got. I got people in Audi stores all over the place.

[C]

Look, you want a Wuhan Bat? You know how cute those are?

[A]

I can get, I can get you E Tron. That'll Be. It'll look beautiful. It'll be a little smelly, but it'll be very cheap. World Rally Blue Chewbaru says. Is there a good way to maximize the battery life of quartz watches or do you need to just wear them? Do you leave them with the crown pulled out?

[C]

I don't.

[A]

I just leave them. I only have one quartz watch. Battery lasts three years.

[C]

Three years? Years.

[A]

Three years.

[C]

So if you pull the crown out and stop the watch.

[A]

I don't.

[C]

Is that what the theory is?

[A]

It is. I don't know. Never tried, don't care. Three years is long enough. I'm okay with three years. I don't know. I'm not trying to be a snob, but I don't have a whole bunch of battery powered watches. I have one.

[C]

How much is a watch battery? I think all my watches are watching.

[A]

Cheap watch, cheap battery. There's quartz pateks, there's quartz APs. Yeah. Yeah. My watch had to go back to Japan to get the battery changed. It was like three months.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. GS comped it because I'm ambassador now, but it would have been 180 bucks. Okay.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah, but that's what, you know, that's a very accurate quartz movement. So what are you gonna do? Nefarious shaboing boing. Will Cadillac use a C8 chassis to make a new supercar? Prime time to bring back the Cadillac cn. Dude, pull up a Cadillac cn because nefarious shaboing Boing is very much not wrong here. The proportions of the CN could be fitted over the C8 chassis, like, pretty closely. Right? Like, this is a fucking. It's not far off. I mean, you would need much bigger side scoops, obviously. And I don't know if, like, if the front end would totally work in production the way it is there, but you could make it look kind of like this. Like you wouldn't have to go far off.

[C]

Yeah, they could figure it out, I think. I Bet if the F1 program goes decent, like right now they're finishing like 20th, 19th. Like, if the cars don't break during the race, that's great. And that's what they're figuring out out. I think if the program goes in a good direction, they'll probably have the justification to build a supercar because they need the marketing. They need. The F1 has. We've done this well and da, da, da. And now you can drive it on

[A]

the street, but it'll be like a Valhalla. It won't. It won't be a C8 Cadillac. It'll be a million dollars.

[C]

Maybe, because that would cost way more money. But. But they might do that because they also have their LMP1. Like their IMSA program is also doing great.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So they, they have racing pedigree that some people care about, but they need the racing pedigree everyone cares about. And that's F1.

[A]

But I would love to see a Cadillac CN make it. Cadillac has had, in my opinion, the best concept cars the last 30 years that didn't make production. Their lineup of abandoned, amazing concept cars is absolutely awesome. Unparalleled in the history of cars. It's amazing the dope shit that Cadillac absolutely refuses to build. V6 weighs till Sunday. Are T tops not possible because of regulations or are they just out of style? I think that, yeah, cars are structurally better now and you don't need the T bar anymore.

[C]

Oh, yeah, I didn't think of that. Oh, yeah, I always thought it was just like a fun half measure.

[A]

No, them shits was mad flimsy.

[C]

So if they had made a Camaro convertible back then.

[A]

Oh, you wouldn't want to see that,

[C]

huh? Yeah, I guess that was. That was their way of getting as close to convertible but maintaining the structure. Perhaps, like, you could take a. You could take a Firebird coupe and just cut the T top and it's like a little open air. But they. They don't have to, you know, re engineer the structure.

[A]

Right? Correct. Yeah.

[C]

Like that theory.

[A]

I mean, I think, look, it would. I think it wouldn't be the one could whimsically, you know, if all of a sudden, out of nowhere, gm, which would be. Honestly, could be fun as hell. You know how from 2010 till 2025, the Camaro, you know, was the evolving, modernized version of this 68, 69 Camaro. Like, what if out of nowhere, they drop the updated Gen 2? It would be sick.

[C]

Right?

[A]

Right.

[C]

It could. Yeah, it could look really cool. It could look sick.

[A]

And if they had a T top, people would nut in their fucking pants, dude. Right.

[C]

They would.

[A]

People go crazy.

[C]

Yeah. And they call it the Radwood edition.

[A]

I think they're gonna skip that, Jen. And I think there might be an updated version of the IROC coming, which is what I would do if I was gm.

[C]

Let's see.

[A]

But PTS Normal says, do you think lucid will survive?

[C]

Oh, sorry, real quick. I'm reading a Jalopnik article on titas, but you're right. NHTSA became a thing and they were safer than the convertibles. So a lot of companies were like, oh, our convertibles might be too dangerous. And if NHTSA tests them, they'll discover how dangerous they are. So let's just keep the T top structure's pretty much the same name and we can just sell it. Interesting. And the cars got safer. All right, continue.

[A]

No pts. Normal says, will lucid survive? And I mean, probably. I think probably.

[C]

I'll try to look up their burn rate.

[A]

I don't know. I mean, I just. I don't know their finances.

[C]

Right.

[A]

I. I hope they put a round wheel back in that car is all I really care about. Jedi Master Chronometer says, what are each of your favorite Batmobiles? Tim Burton era for me, 1990 Michael Keaton.

[C]

I go the newest Batman.

[A]

Oh, Tumblr.

[C]

No, no, the one after that from the New Batman. I think it's called New Batman, right? The one that spills on like a charger. And I mean, I got to do an article about it, but it's. I like the Tumblr the most because it looked like it could actually do and then the charger looks like Batman could have actually built it instead of using, like, a defense company to build it.

[A]

So that's why Wheat City Night Court says, is there a regulation about how much of the original car in a resto mod must remain in these reimaginings? Is there anything preventing a 1987 Buick Skylark from being turned into a V12 HYPERC car? Are we testing regulators patience with these loopholes?

[C]

That's a funny good question.

[A]

There are states that have literally no inspections of any kind, and they start with M and end in Ontana. And if you fucking. You literally. They don't have to look like as long as the title still goes to something somewhere like they're not looking. And so they'll just give you a plate. And so it just, it doesn't fucking matter. Like, it's the. When it comes to restomodding old shit. Is the wild ass west out there, dude?

[C]

Yeah, I don't. That's a good question, though, because, you know, people can get, you know, they'll find a 1920s or 30s Ferrari, like in the bottom of the ocean. They pull it out, they cut the little VIN thing off, and then they rebuild it and they say it's the original because it still has this panel, right? So. So could you just take the Skylark panel, make your Cadillac CN and go, well, it's a Skylark. Or are you transforming it into something new? So with a regulating body.

[A]

So I own a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle. Do I?

[C]

Good point. That's a better example.

[A]

What's left of that? Like fucking nothing. Nothing left of it. So like what's preventing me from integrating that floor pan into a V2, you know, glue it to the bottom of a carbon tub. Right?

[C]

That'd be funny.

[A]

The Hennessey Venom GT. That's a 2005 Lotus Elise on paper. You know, so it's. Look, you can't register in California. You can't register in a number of states that have VIN verification requirements. But like there's plenty that don't. And they'll happily give you a plate based on the existence of a type of idle. That's really it. So you know, these are very small volume cars. So I believe that mass market cars should be safe and clean and efficient and all that kind of stuff.

[C]

If you're building 20 hypercars, I don't

[A]

give two shits about this. Have at it guys, whatever the fuck you want to build. 20 psycho death mobiles that don't pass emissions like. I don't fucking care, man. We got bigger problems to solve than that. Fifty rare shades of gray. Very good. Ford recently released a luxury trim for the Bronco. Inching ever closer to putting a Lincoln badge on it and giving the G wagon a run for its money. Not if they put an oval steering wheel in there. How well would a Lincolnfied Bronco work out? Out? I, I don't think it would. I just, I don't that's.

[C]

I mean it wouldn't compete with the G Wagon. They could say it is, it won't. Like they just. Because there's too much parts sharing. Because the oval and companies like it require that to, to save and make money. So there's just going to be too much parts sharing from cheaper cars. Whereas Mercedes gets to pull parts from a, a higher tier of car. You know we talked about before and you know, they all like Porsche. The most expensive Porsche will have some parts from the cheapest Porsche. But the cheapest Porsche starts at $85,000.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

Start at $28,000.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

So

[A]

yeah, Lincoln's got, got nothing rugged about it. You know, that's a street cruiser. I don't think they need a Bronco. I think Lincoln, man, Lincoln could, they could have been somebody. That's all I'm saying. They could have fucking done it. They could have done it. But they, they. Who knows what the they're doing over there. I, I'd like to try one of the new.

[C]

I see navigators around and I think they're pretty good looking cars like I see.

[A]

Do the Navigator have a football wheel too?

[C]

According to one of our commenters, yes. But they also like. I think the exterior design of their car are pretty good and distinct.

[A]

Yeah, the midsize SUV looks good. Like the Corsair or whatever that is. That looks pretty good. Tap that European Adas twice. Good, very good. You talk about not fitting well in certain cars. If you were 3 inches shorter and had size 10 medium feet, what cars would you want to buy? Great question. Number one, all the value for the money. Gallardo LP560 Spider manual, the best. But I don't fit for shit. Great, great value, great time, fast as fuck, makes a great sound, can be had for relatively small money right now for a Lamborghini and like yeah, F. Ferrari 355. I don't know what would you buy if you had smaller? Well, you don't, you, you don't have

[C]

these things, you know, you don't have this one problem. Yeah. The things I don't fit in are because Italians design them to fit very specifically shaped 5 foot 7 people. Like I can sit in the car and I go, wow, their arms must be 6 inches longer than mine. But they have no legs.

[A]

Yeah, I mean like all modern Lamborghinis like Huracans or if you'd have to be like 5, 10 tops to really drive those cars. Aventador SVJ. Not that, not that that's what's keeping me from buying an Aventadorj.

[C]

But oh, a Viper. If you're shorter, you can see out of a Viper.

[A]

Yeah. Oh yeah.

[C]

Even I'm too tall for that.

[A]

Yeah. Droop the droopy bonnet. Yeah, you gotta be short to drive a Viper. That's true. Go buy a C4ZR1 says the last 5 years of Ferrari models have been been disappointing. And now the Luce takes it to the next level. Rumors of a manual returning for a special model. Will it be a gated manual or some kind of digital model? I heard they were doing a small run of 12 C's in manual. Okay. But it's small run.

[C]

I wonder now, I wonder if our patron is asking is it going to be a real manual or is it going to be a fake manual like in a Koenigsegg that controls a different box that then shifts like this. This transmission that's in the 12C right now. Yeah, probably real.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

They can buy them from some supplier and it would be, I think the, the. They don't need any more bad press. So if they Did a fake manual. People would be mad.

[A]

Yeah. Herkimer Battle Jitney says, what regular cars do you get excited about when you see them in the wild? I'll tell you what, Lexus is 300, Sport Crawler, the wagon, those are a treat.

[C]

If I see a clean is 300 because I wanted to buy one. I still like that.

[A]

A clean RSX Type S is a lovely thing to see.

[C]

I saw a clean TSX today on Gold, which I thought was cool.

[A]

I mean really, any super clean, you know, Fox body or IROC or a

[C]

Dodge Omni or like lowriders in the wild. Low riders. When you see them on the highway, especially after your test drive, we know how bad they are.

[A]

Yeah, they're crazy.

[C]

That's cool.

[A]

Randy says you've talked about how nobody wants to spend more than 150k for an EV. Would special advanced technology make you more interested, like axial flux motors, solid state or lithium batteries, 48 volt architecture, et cetera? No. These cars drive the same. It's the driving experience that I think people can cap at 150. It's not all electric motors when deployed underneath your foot, feel the same. All of them.

[C]

Yeah. So if those new technologies made the cars feel distinct, then we could have that conversation. But all the things they listed are what you'd see in a press release that most shoppers don't care about.

[A]

Yeah. Did 48 volt architecture help the cybertruck truck?

[C]

Not in a way most people cared about it, not in the operation of it really.

[A]

Has 48 volt architecture led to Tesla announcing the development of a new Model s or X or 3 or Y featuring 48 volt architecture? No, it has not.

[C]

Well, that's there.

[A]

I don't think it makes a difference. I think customers cap the driving experience of any ev, no matter how fast at that. Christian says, I know you don't like car themed watches, but would you buy Alpena wine? Yes, I would. Alpena is the largest importer of wine in Germany and I would fucking buy all the wine from Alpena. That guy probably knows more about wine than they know about fucking cars. Alpena watches are not related to Alpena cars. Andy Bovenseepen wears an Alpena watch because he's cheeky like that and it's got his fucking company's name on it. Even if someone else makes it, it. But it's a different company. Alpena wine is the same company as Alpena Cars. And that motherfucker knows something about Wine. He's. He's making cars for fun. His wine is his job. Drink his wine. Wow, the pops and bangs bus pretty funny.

[C]

That's good.

[A]

Oh, wait. Oh wow. That's another question about the 150k EV. Sorry, I thought I was deja fucking.

[C]

It's a question we've answered before, so you could probably do it quickly.

[A]

But what is the floor of. Wait, okay, 150k is the ceiling for EVs, but what is the floor? That's worded weird. What you mean is when the manufacturers say nobody wants a bare bones simple car with no options, I think they are right. What they want is like a regular car that just costs what they can afford. But because wages and all that. The problem isn't the cars, it's the wages. But that is getting the venting about the wages comes out in we can't afford the cars. And they go, well, we're gonna build you a bare bones car. And they're going, no, you asshole, you have to pay us more so we can just buy regular cars, right?

[C]

Yeah, but you know, the whole system keeps making products cheaper. I don't think people want a car with. I think there are probably a lot of people that would buy a car that if it had AC and auto windows and like, because they said no options, like, sure, there's probably a good population that would go fine, this does all the things. I think that's why BYD and others are such a threat, because they provide what people need. Need simple transportation that's comfortable. And if they can do it for 12 grand instead of an entry price of 24 for a Toyota Corolla, then people would go over there.

[A]

I think what people want is a car that will run for 150,000 miles with absolutely minimal maintenance. And they see a car that's very complex as a car that won't do that even if sometimes it kind of will. You know, they just. The perception is, you know, it's like, where have. There was someone wrote an article recently that was like, where have all the beaters gone? And it's like that, you know, the $5,000 indestructible Honda Civic really doesn't like exist so much anymore. You know, JCAT says not a watch person, but discovered the Giugiaro designed seikos from the 80s. Do any of them, say, stand out as exceptionally weird or interesting? Yeah, Giugiaro did a collab with Seiko, did some watches and the famous one is called the Ripley because Ripley wears it in the movie Alien. Because they use it. It looks futuri and weirdo. I mean, they are cool. When I see somebody wearing one, I go, oh, yeah, cool. Look at that. But I'm not a Seiko collector in that way, so I've never wanted to own one. But I know few people that have them and it's a treat to see one out in the wild. They are very funky. Yeah. Uli Kunkel's Autobahn. What car brands will disappear from North America in three to five years? Predict deaths. Is Alfa Romeo still a brand in North America?

[C]

Good question. Let me look.

[A]

Alpha and is Chrysler. I mean, they have the Pacifica, but I feel like the Pacifica is going to become either a Dodge Caravan or a Ram of some kind because that's the only product they have. And so, like, why keep Chrysler going?

[C]

So according to goodcarbadcar.net Alfa Romeo USA sales figures halted in March. Sorry, that's. I'm an idiot. They are still selling cars. Looking at this over, like in 2025, they might have sold 3,000. That's not good. That's not down from height. Like a peak in the 2019 looks like 14,000, which is still a low number.

[A]

That's still low.

[C]

I mean, not great. Not great.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Fiat, I think, I think Chrysler, they don't need to be here anymore. They make a van, call the van, buy Ram. People like that van. It's a good car. It's good at its job. It's the only product they sell. Yeah. So who cares? I don't know why, like, take the money you spend like making Chrysler ads and then just save all of it and slide it over into something else.

[A]

What if it's because they have franchise agreements with Chrysler stores and they have to continue? You know, maybe those agreements run out in five years and they just drag this motherfucker out until they can shut it down for less money than it would cost them to shut it down today or something like that. There could be some business y decision where they're trying to like, you know, squeeze them out or something. But yeah, they could just make that a Dodge Caravan and then they're, you know, that's that CRX machina.

[C]

That's good.

[A]

What would you consider the features and aspects of a minimum premium restomod build things like switchgear, AC comfort steering wheel, etc. The problem with restomods is it's very easy to come up with a list of things that the car should have, have and check boxes. It's actually the important bits are do Those things work. Are they easy to use and intuitive and how do they feel to operate? You know, making a car go faster, stop better, turn better. All that shit is easy. Actually making. Making it not a shitbox is really hard. Making it not rattle and squeak and all that kind of stuff. And then past that is making the things that you touch and look at be really, really premium and not recognizable as parts. Stuff from other cars. So the best, the very best ones make all their own switchgear. They make their own seats, they make their own steering wheels, they make their own buttons and stuff. And the sort of cheesy ones use what we talk about, the SEMA buttons and, and just off the shelf, parts that are pretty easily identifiable as, as being, you know, fairly generic parts. So there's nothing wrong with building a car yourself with generic parts. But if someone's trying to build a restomod and sell it for big money and I can see that there's generic parts in there, it's no good.

[C]

We have three more.

[A]

Do you want to do all three? Okay. Quadrifoglio face. Has any. Have you driven anything quicker to rotate than the last generation M2? Competition? The current generation M2 is the most tail happy car I've ever driven. Not the cs, the regular one,

[C]

the red Mini Cooper, the Gildred racing, basically anything. The shorter the wheelbase, usually the quicker to rotate with the right tire setup and stuff. So the Gildred car was terrifying. That felt like it wanted to spin all the time.

[A]

Time, yeah. That was the Most. Maybe the 1M originally. Panamera Papers says I'm looking to buy my first set of wheels for a Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo. What are your do's and don'ts for wheel selection? My car is agate gray. What color might look best? I mean, so you know, first thing is your, your overall rotating rolling diameter has to be the same. That's. Otherwise your car's gonna be all fucked up. I don't, I mean if you have a Panamera like you, I wouldn't get like big 22s or something. Like I would go whatever the size of the sportiest factory wheel is, you know, that's your biggest size. And I don't know what you're replacing with, you know, if you've already got sport wheels or if you've got basic wheels or whatever. But you know, you don't want the. If you're Talking about getting HREs, they're going to fit your car properly, but you certainly don't want wheels that are going to stick out. If you have wheels that are like a chrome lip like I have on my Taycan, it could actually make the rims look smaller than they are, not bigger than they are. I don't love black so much, especially

[C]

not on a gray color car. Like I think you could go with a more aggressive contrast. Bronze is good. Gold maybe. White could look cool when they're clean. Really bright silver, something like that. Or you could get crazy colorful if you want to. But yeah, look at things like you said, like rotating size, important offset. Because you might think a wheel is cool, but if the offset's wrong, suddenly you're having rub when you, you know, hit a bump or it's going to hit an inside suspension component. And make sure it's from a company that is reputable. Like there are more stories of people buying replicas from like Alibaba or Temu. The wheels break a lot. You can't get warranty service obviously. So just make sure they're from a good company.

[A]

Pull up at HRE521M. It says like they're looking for. Let's see what those look like and we'll give them a go. No go on the 521M. Since you're. Since you're serious. I think those look vaguely like an OEM Porsche 911 wheel. I don't really know how that. Can you scroll down on this page and see if there's images of it on a car? There usually are. Is there anything looks like a Panamera there? What kind of. What do we have? A Cayenne? Okay, there it is. In a Cayenne. I think that looks pretty good. It's a nice looking wheel. It's aggressive, it's sporty.

[C]

It's very aggressive. Aggressive.

[A]

It's not a luxury wheel. It looks like a sports car wheel. But on a Panamera wagon it could look cool.

[C]

Let's see here.

[A]

What's that?

[C]

But it's a great. No, it's a gray gti.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So if you get it on agate gray Panamera, like it's a nice looking wheel.

[A]

It's not. It's not bad. It's probably not what I would put on a Panamera, but it's not bad. I'd put a more look. Oh, there it is. On an RS6. These look more like what I'd put on a sports car than what I'd put on a wagon.

[C]

I feel like they're trying really hard like on the big wagon, you know. I agree. I think the great. I think when I think wagon, I think monoblock, something like that, like thicker spoke because the car is big. So I don't want like a little dainty spoked wheel. I want the proportions to be kind of right. You know, it's a. In my head, it's like a sturdy, big car. Give me like a sturdy big spoke.

[A]

Yeah. These are a little sports car for my. For my taste, but. But I don't hate them. See, I think the 527, I think, is kind of interesting. I don't necessarily think it would work on a Panamera, but it was just the big spoke. Pull it up on a 9 on the 911 there. How'd it look on the 911? Right here? Yeah. On any of. Any of those 911s. That could work on a Venom Air. Actually it could. It's not bad. This is very similar to my NSX wheels, but the big thick spoke.

[C]

I like the hard.

[A]

On a Panamera.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

You know, food for thought. Yeah.

[A]

Was that it? That was it, I think. Right. Is there one more? Oh, Rick says I have a 2019 Civic Si and a 2013 Lexus GS350. Considering call consolidating both into one. I drive 30 to 40,000 miles a year. Reliability is important, and I'm looking for sub 40,000 bucks. I don't care for manual unless it's a great one. Auto is fine. Okay. 30 to 40,000 miles a year. That's a lot of miles. How do you beat fucking a Naturally

[C]

aspirated Honda Civic Si for that and a GS350. Like I was gonna say, you go GS350F Sport, but it's gonna be almost the same car. Brand is a big chunk, though.

[A]

Can you get an ES350F Sport? I mean, it handles nice. That's a tough one because when you talk so many miles, that's hard because

[C]

this is a good amount of money. I mean, 40 grand will get you like so many types of car, but 40,000 miles a year? Yeah, I'm like, I'm not going to push you into a turbocharged BMW or turbocharged Mercedes. So I think you 40 grand, you could just. Well, you also didn't provide like, it seems like you need a car with four doors. So you don't need a really fast thing and you don't need an suv. What's the coolest, reliable

[A]

brand new Prius. No, you'd hate us for that.

[C]

The new. Was it the new Acura? What did we drive? Not the. Go ahead.

[A]

No, sorry.

[C]

You could do new Integra.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Two year old Integra Type S. If

[A]

that is that price. Yes. If it's not like a brand new Civic Si is probably what you actually want for like 34,000. Shit. You could probably get a Elantra N either manual or dct.

[C]

That's true.

[A]

Yeah, it's a dct.

[C]

I think it's dct.

[A]

Dct.

[C]

That's a good car.

[A]

Elantra N could do it.

[C]

And it should be cheaper than you have. So you'll have money to repair it.

[A]

Well, they have a 10 year warranty.

[C]

Oh yeah. All right.

[A]

That's 10 years, 100,000 warranty, two and

[B]

a half year warranty.

[A]

Well, 10 years, 40, 40,000 miles a year, that's two and a half year warranty, man.

[C]

Don't they offer unlimited? No, that was Kia. Kia. You could engines every week you save the money.

[A]

Yeah, you know, you 34 grand or whatever, you save the money, you get the extended warranty when your warranty runs out.

[C]

All right. On cars and bids, a two year old Integra type S went for bid to 44 grand. So they're still a little too expensive. Yeah.

[A]

Elantra N though, or Conan.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Is where you're at. That's all day. Thanks everybody. Fun one. Happy Thursday. Enjoy the. I guess we're recording this on Thursday. You're gonna hear it a week later on Thursday. So slight delay of game. I hope this doesn't sound like old news for the rest of y', all, but we love you and we'll see you next time. Bye.