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Filippo
It's not just something you made. It's the privilege that you get to work with your hands. It's building something that serves a purpose, proof that you have the grit to keep going. At Timberland, we understand you take your craft seriously, and we do too, which is why our products are built to the highest quality. We put in the work so you can perfect yours with purpose, in every detail, and crafted with intention. Timberland built on craft. Visit timberland.com to shop.
Kenan
Spring starts at the Home Depot, and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season. Fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under $300. Like the next grill 4 burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout. Then set the scene and turn your outdoor space into the go to spot the patio sets for every budget. Bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from the Home Depot. Start your spring with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot. Exclusions applies to homedepot.com Pricematch for details.
Doug
Hello and welcome to this car pod. I'm Kenneth.
Filippo
I'm Filippo.
Doug
I'm Doug. And let's start with the news. The biggest news of the week is key, Filippo.
Filippo
We have a new channel.
Doug
We got a new channel. A new channel. Producer Sean, along with other people who are very gifted, created a new YouTube channel for high quality automotive content. Everybody's always like, why not more cinematic? Why not more quality? Why not do invest real money into making good stuff? And I'm in the parking lot with my bad camera. But now we have that. You can't complain anymore.
Filippo
Yep. So find it on YouTube. Subscribe. The first video is out now. It's about JDM car culture. Our very own Ryan Lopez, he of H Vac fame, is the host of that and a lot of other great, great videos.
Doug
There's great stuff coming. I've seen some upcoming key videos. They're awesome. This truly is a chance for producer SE, who, by the way, is on the podcast next week. It's a big deal. This is a chance for producer Sean to let his creative juices flow and create some really high quality, cool car stuff. That's gonna be awesome. Are you excited?
Filippo
I'm incredibly excited.
Doug
Are you excited?
Kenan
Is it gonna be only about Alfa Romeo stuff? There's gonna be other stuff, right? Cause if it's Sean, if you let him go, that's what you're go.
Filippo
I don't even think there's an Alfa Romeo in the first few episodes. Wow.
Kenan
Well, there will be one eventually. But yes, I am excited.
Doug
It is good stuff. It's gonna be legitimately, wonderfully, excitingly good. I am tre excited about it. Sean has always. Sean's going to talk about this more next week on the pod. But Sean has always had all these great car content ideas. He's finally in a place to be able to do some of them, along with a fantastic team that we have. And go subscribe to this channel and check out our content. It is good. Beep.
Filippo
Find it in the description below and go watch the first video.
Doug
We're going to pin a comment. Let's pin a comment. From now on, we're going to pin a comment saying, go subscribe to Key. Until you do, I'll be watching you, you, the police, and Sting.
Filippo
Ooh.
Doug
Okay. Key. Key is big news. The other big news of the week, almost as big as Key, but not as big as Key is the FILA is dead. So what happened to that PR person we were talking about last week?
Filippo
Yeah, you gotta assume that they're also dead. No, obviously not. But I assume that they may no longer drop. We talked last week about this being likely. So Honda has stopped pretty much all of their EV initiatives. Sony Honda Mobility is no more. Sony Honda Mobility announced that they're going to. They've decided to discontinue the development and launch of its first model and its second model collectively, all models. The models. It comes following discussions between its parent companies, the Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor Company. They are throwing Honda massively under the bus in this entire statement for good reason.
Doug
Well, Honda's the one who makes cars, so without Honda, they can't make cars. Okay. I want to posit something. I have a question for you, Filippo.
Filippo
Ken.
Doug
And you can take this one, too. They get the fellow in the office, the White House there. The Trump fella.
Filippo
Yeah. The President of the United States. Yeah.
Doug
President of the United States. The Trump gang. And things could be better, right? You can't get to an airport. You got Iran, you got the oil crisis forming.
Kenan
All lies. I get to airports all the time.
Filippo
Pretty good.
Doug
Just say there's a possibility that the libs get their act together and find a decent candidate, which is admittedly, we'll see. But let's say that happens. And the Trump fella's gone.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
Do you think that these companies that are turning their. And even right now, gas prices are shooting up. Do you think that these companies that are turning their backs on EVs may. It's either soon with the Iran situation or sort of soon with maybe a new presidential administration. Do you think they might regret not developing EVs further?
Filippo
Yeah, I think they will. I mean, to be clear, Sony, Honda Mobility, there were some concerns about their future. Regardless, had they produced the Fila one or the Filo two or the other models. I'm not sure that was ever viable. But I think that stopping that development will be really problematic. I think it will also. I mean, Honda's doing this. Every American automaker is also kind of taking the same path. And I think that we will see them regret that in the near future.
Doug
Now, do you think that Sony will regret that they can't be in the car business?
Filippo
Yeah, they'll keep making screens. They make technology. I want to legitimately read this because it's quite depressed. I'm going to read just one line.
Doug
Well, it was written by someone who loves it.
Kenan
Please illegitimately read that to us.
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
However, as a result of Honda's reassessment of his automobile electrification Strategy announced on March 12, Sony Honda Mobility will no longer be able to utilize certain technologies and assets that were originally planned to be provided by Honda. It does not have a. Have a viable path forward.
Doug
Well, yeah, no one's surprised. Afila's done.
Filippo
To be fair, it didn't have a viable path forward with Honda's technology.
Doug
So we've been laughing about AFEELA since they announced pricing, since they announced models. Like, if you. I'm going to tell you something. If you want to be successful as an EV automaker, this ain't it.
Filippo
No, it was very technology heavy.
Doug
This ain't it. It ain't happening. This is not the car.
Filippo
Okay. The good news is that Sony Honda Mobility will continue discussions with Sony and Honda regarding future business plans.
Kenan
It is so interesting because, like, Apple for a long time had considered making a car, but decided no.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
Which I think was kind of.
Filippo
It was.
Kenan
And they lost. They had invested a lot of RNG and decided to do it. Sony decides to go out and do this and fails miserably at it before it even starts, before it even becomes something.
Filippo
There is.
Kenan
It is not easy to develop a car. I think a lot of tech companies look at it. Oh, it's a skateboard.
Doug
That fellow from South Africa did it, though.
Kenan
That fellow from South Africa did do it. He started with a Lotus, but also
Doug
the guy from Florida who we talked to on this very podcast that day that it was hot. Okay. Yeah, he did it. What about that? And the Saudis are doing it today with lucid.
Filippo
It is I sort of. It's interesting to see the Japanese automakers kind of not really innovate in this space in a meaningful way.
Doug
It's interesting.
Kenan
It is interesting.
Doug
The Japanese are like, we don't need EVs.
Filippo
Yeah. Meanwhile, Nissan really excelling Honda now has had. Has had multiple quarters of quite poor results.
Doug
Yesterday I came up to an intersection, I came to a stop sign and a fellow in an Ariya got there after me and.
Filippo
But he discontinued.
Doug
Slammed his brakes. Get to the stop sign, floored it through the intersection. He turned without his turn signal. I was like, you know what? Guy's got an aria. I'm gonna let him do his thing. You know what I mean?
Filippo
Discontinued though. So he's.
Doug
That's kind of was my thinking. It's like if you're at the point in your life where you got an Ariya, you got. You know what, you drive it like that. Sir, you need that. I'm giving you that.
Filippo
I do wonder. There are a lot of one year only evs though. The Fila never made it to one year. But there are a lot. And you got to kind of wonder if these will become desirable later in life.
Doug
They will not ever become desirable. But you do wonder about support. Like there are definitely people who bought some of these EVs assuming that like especially retired people who are assuming this is going to be maybe their last car that like it was. They were sold reliability and their. Their mileage use case has gone down and all that. And so they ended up getting themselves into stuff like BZ4X. Although that technically hasn't been canceled yet.
Filippo
It's a BZ now.
Doug
Right. Or a prologue or. Which is zdx.
Filippo
Indeed canceled and problematic because it's not a Honda product. Really.
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
So poor dealers are going to have to support a two year product.
Doug
Yeah. Right. Forever with GM architecture. And that's. Try explaining that to some old person who bought one. You actually have to take this down the street to John Smith's Chevy. What? I bought a Honda because it was reliable.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
That's going to be a weird situation. Anyway, good luck to that. No surprise about a Fila. Literally zero. I would have called this the day that it was first announced. In fact, you first told me about it on this very podcast. We could go back and watch the clip, but I have a suspicion I wasn't particularly supportive.
Filippo
No. It talked to you though or something?
Doug
Dude, if it looks like that it did. It could whisper you sweet nothings.
Filippo
They ran a lot of ads that tried to connect Sony cameras to the. It was.
Kenan
You know, it just doesn't.
Doug
I have a Sony camera. Now that I think about it, I have a Sony camera.
Filippo
Oh, so you're a fan of Sony hot fob now?
Kenan
Actually, all the cameras that's being filmed right now, all of those are Sony cameras.
Doug
Oh, my God. This company we love.
Kenan
We love the cameras. Stick to the cameras.
Doug
We don't realize how integrated they are into our lives. It's like when Circuit City tried to make a car dealership.
Filippo
Right. As High School Musical taught us, you should stick to the stuff, you know.
Doug
Okay, let's move on to the next news story, which is the new Corvette Grand Sport. Surely this must be an exciting moment for Filippo, the resident Corvette enthusiast. Yeah, it is.
Filippo
We talked a few weeks ago. There was a spy shot on, like, a pullout on Angeles Crest or something like that of a Grand Sport. And indeed, the Grand Sport is coming. They announced it at Sebring. More details will come between the time you're watching this and the time we're filming, like, theoretically, more details are being announced tomorrow.
Doug
Yesterday.
Filippo
Yesterday.
Doug
For you, you know more than we do. How does it feel to live in the future?
Filippo
And therefore we don't have much to say.
Doug
No. But we do know that it has little red stripes on one corner. Like other Grand Sports have blue.
Filippo
It's got the white one.
Doug
We do know also that they have continued to tamp down rumors of a manual transmission.
Filippo
They have said very clearly that there is not a manual coming. There were rumors of it because a supplier had made a manual that could theoretically fit with the engine. But the chief engineer for Corvettes had made very clear that is not coming for them.
Doug
Now, the Tremec did make the. Is supposedly making a transmission for swaps that's coming in two years. Yeah. It'll be an interesting swap because of the center console design.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
How do you make that work?
Filippo
Okay. I will say it's quite an interesting quote. So Tony Roma is the Corvette engineer. Is the chief Corvette engineer. Right. And his quote says, tremex showed something at SEMA last year that I wish they wouldn't have shown. It's not real. So it's rare for an automaker to throw their largest, one of their larger suppliers under the bus. Maybe it doesn't actually exist. Maybe it's not direction ready.
Doug
I think Chevy is probably perpetually a little bit disappointed by the persistent rumor that there's going to be a manual transmission in this car. Possibly because a manual transmission would really be a really strong asset to this car, this is a fantastic car. One of the best sports cars on the market. It'd be cool if it had three pedals.
Kenan
I couldn't agree with you more. Mid engine, V8, manual. I mean, that is especially because GM
Doug
is so committed to manuals and other performance cars. Camaro had one right up until the end. The Black Wings got one. The both four and five.
Kenan
And their take rates must have been pretty decent on those, I would think. Like people really.
Filippo
Apparently late C7 manual take rate was absolutely low.
Doug
Well, do you mean abysmal?
Filippo
I know I said it very poorly.
Doug
I said it wrong.
Kenan
English is the second language, don't forget low.
Filippo
Excuse me, but very low. And that's part of the reason.
Kenan
Sure, but the market, I mean, the demand for it's there. Like, I would also argue.
Doug
This is an argument that I would provide to Tony Roma and one of his restaurants. I would say, look, I would say, look, I would say, I totally agree that the C7 demand for manuals was low, but the C8 is reaching a totally different kind of buyer. It's a. It's a. I presume it's a younger buyer. There is more youth interest in this car than I've ever seen before. It is much more a performance car buyer who actually probably wants to exploit the capabilities of the vehicle as opposed to some of the C7 owners that we know.
Filippo
They would argue is faster, totally, but
Doug
who want to enjoy, etc. I mean, you look at Porsche, you see what's going on there. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised.
Filippo
Two manual models.
Doug
Yeah. But GT3s, it's like all anybody wants. It's. It's a distinction between whether the car is successful in the used market or not. I mean, the real enthusiasts are going out. They're selling for 20, 30% more on the secondary market. Not that I'm saying that would happen to C8, but there's certainly demand, especially for C8 relative to C7. I totally understand. C7 take rate was low. I think that was more of the boomer Jean Short kind of buyer. I think the C8 buyers are a little bit different.
Kenan
Well, it doesn't have to be offered with every model, like a manual Z06. Like, I think we can all get behind that. That would be a pretty.
Doug
I would even be into a manual Grand Sport. Presuming the Grand Sport is like other Z06s, which is. Or other previous Corvettes, which is that it has some of the Z06 upgrades, not the powertrain. That would be a pretty Cool car.
Filippo
By the way, there's Taco. For the first time, there being two grand sport models, there are rumors that there'll be a grand sport X which is the E Ray rebranded as a grand sport X.
Doug
Hey, anything they can do to justify the investment in the E Ray. Pull up the C4 Grand Sport. I want to talk about this for a second. Do you? Yeah.
Filippo
I've never loved the C4 Grand Sport.
Doug
The C4 Grand Sport is my all time favorite Corvette. We sold in grand.
Kenan
Sorry, I didn't grand.
Filippo
It's not an.
Doug
He's not a giant Corvette enthusiast.
Filippo
He's a Maserati grand.
Doug
This is my all time favorite Corvette. I love this car more than the C4.01. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Really? C4 Grand Sport is the coolest looking Corvette of all time. It came at the very final model year of C4. It just balled out. Ooh.
Kenan
355.
Doug
I love the C4 Grand Sport and it's still to this day, occasionally think about picking one up and you know, we got this WS6 bird in the office. Makes me want one of these even more. I want to get into some late 90s, early 2000s America. Let's go.
Kenan
Doug is ready for his jean shorts era.
Doug
Pull up the interior. This was not a jean shorts car. This is for connoisseurs for real adults. Look at this red interior.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
You had this interior back in 96. You were somebody.
Filippo
Can you go back to the photo of the 355? Can we just agree that anybody that's actually buying a 355 should just buy a C4 Grand Sport?
Doug
Yeah, especially because it's a roofy lifter. Yoffie. No.
Filippo
Right.
Doug
Okay, move on to the next news story, please.
Kenan
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Filippo
Sean and I grabbed coffee at Ultrea Coffee in Ocean beach before. We record pretty regularly. It's a great spot and every time the operation just feels dialed in fast. Checkout instant receipts. Zero fumbling. They're running Square and you can tell. And support for today's episode comes from Square. And they've got big news. During Square's biannual releases event, they launched a wave of innovative new tools to help local businesses run faster and smarter and more profitably. From AI that answers your toughest business questions to tech that simplifies food orders and tracks every dollar. It's all live and it's built for businesses like yours. Whether you're starting fresh or scaling fast, Square helps you keep up and get ahead. The Square AI is what gets me. Just ask it where is my money going? And you get an instant chart. And for a small business owner, that's a game changer. Right now you can get up to $200 off Square Hardware at square.comgocarpod. that's sq a r e.com Go Carpod. Run your business smarter with Square.
Doug
Get started today, which is the C4 Grand. Oh, Lamborghini. Okay, Road and Track is reporting Road and Track Famous magazine, or possibly they're not a magazine anymore. They're reporting that the fellow who runs the Lamborghini there. Stefan Winkleman. Yes, or Stefan if you want to
Kenan
call best dress CEO in the world.
Doug
He's the Road and Track was talking to him at the 12 Hours of Sebring and he said that they're continuing to work on EVs. They're not sure and blah blah blah. But what we're missing is a grand Touring car. A two door, two plus two. Now this surprises me because Ferrari has had this in their lineup for decades and it has never been successful ever. It's always been the car that they make you buy. If you want to get a nicer
Kenan
car, it's one of them. You got to get a Roma and you got to get that. They've added more to the line, but
Doug
back in the day it was the one like if you bought a 612, they would have a conversation with you about some high performance. Something else.
Filippo
Yes.
Kenan
And everybody loves to say that was the car that old man Ferrari loved himself. Two plus twos like that.
Doug
Was it Enzo? The last shot of Enzo driving a car, he's in a 412 or is it a Peugeot? Anyway, the point is. A point is that Lambo says they're missing this. Aren't you astonished to hear this?
Kenan
Yeah, because realistically, two door, two plus two. Right. What I feel that like you know, covers the two plus two thing for them is the Urus like that is like that.
Filippo
And they sell gazette suv. Yeah.
Kenan
But they sell because that's what the market wants.
Doug
That's what the market wants. Who's looking for two door two plus twos anymore? Who is there anyone out there in the world? You know, whenever we say these hypotheticals and people get in the comments like actually I'm looking for a $13,000 two wheeled pickup truck. I bet you no one's going to get in these comments and be like, yeah, I want a $380,000 two door, four seat Lamborghini.
Filippo
That's every 911.
Doug
Yeah, basically. Yeah.
Kenan
Because those people are cross shopping with Lamborghinis.
Doug
Is Lamborghini going to hop in at the $90,000 price point?
Filippo
New 911 is 125.
Doug
Okay. Are they going to hop in at the 125 price point?
Kenan
No. 200 something thousand dollars car.
Filippo
They also said in that same interview that they've ruled out a sedan and a small suv.
Kenan
Well, that makes sense, you know. Well, you remember the sedan, the estoke. Remember that?
Doug
Pull it up. I still have to this day have a hot wheels of it. My kids play it all the time. It's incredible.
Filippo
You know this car, the stoke.
Doug
Yeah, yeah. This could have happened. And then Filippo screwed it all.
Filippo
I went into their headquarters and said, do not build this.
Kenan
You did. But that I think that is so cool.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
Because that was event just before Aventador.
Doug
So got all that had the front end. Honestly, the Lambo design, like so many of these cars, the design language translates so much better to a four door sedan than it did to an SUV. Yeah. The Urus was. Has still after 10 years, never been attractive. This car looked cool still.
Kenan
Look at that flare that comes out of the rear door for the Lambo
Doug
did it right though. By not making this car they probably got close. I mean this looks pretty production.
Kenan
Yeah.
Doug
In the end they were like.
Filippo
They were right not to. I mean it wouldn't have been.
Doug
It was the wrong time. It was the recession. And then a couple years go by after the recession, the market starts changing for SUVs. And then they think about it, really, the recession.
Kenan
That looks so far ahead of its time.
Doug
I feel like it was 08.
Kenan
I think you're correct.
Filippo
But like that is far ahead of its time.
Kenan
I mean. Yeah, because these headlights kind of ended up on the Huracan, which was much later than 08. But very interesting. Very interesting nonetheless. I agree. This is a wild thing that they feel this is what they're missing.
Filippo
I kind of get it. I mean, they have a small two seat, two door car. They have a larger one, the Temario. They have the larger one. They're a welto. What can you add? You already have an suv. Well, you add something that's maybe a
Doug
little bit off road. SUV, it wouldn't be a 2 plus 2. No one's buying that. Name a car, that's where that's successful anymore. Mercedes. Okay, but 125 grand or, or 250 for a turbo.
Filippo
Right. You're not that far.
Doug
But that's the Huracan or whatever it's called now. The John Tamari.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
If they're thinking about. It's interesting. If they're thinking about a 2 plus 2 as a Ferrari California competitor, that's a different conversation. I would.
Filippo
California called. Now it's not the Portofino, the Roma,
Kenan
the Roma Spider, and then there's the. The Amalfi.
Filippo
Amalfi. That's what it's called now. They keep moving to different coasts.
Doug
I mean, if they're talking about that, that's interesting. It's a different market from the angled Lamborghini design.
Filippo
That's true. Yeah.
Doug
Into the Roma, which is like a relaxed kind of old guy in Newport beach kind of car interested to see. Hey, pull up the Lamborghini Portofino, if you will.
Filippo
I'm so sorry, what?
Doug
The Lamborghini Portofino. I got a trivia question for you on this one. One, the Lamborghini, if it's not Portofino. Pull up the. Pull up the picture of this.
Filippo
Wow.
Doug
Why?
Filippo
You see the Lamborghini Portofino, Filippo, what
Doug
car do you see in that?
Filippo
I see a lot of dodging.
Doug
Dodge and trepping. You know, Chrysler and Lamborghini were best pals at this era. Then one lone, the other who knows who. And they. This is a Lambo concept car. And they took the Lambo concept and they made a Dodge and trip.
Kenan
It had dual scissor doors.
Doug
It had dual scissor doors. Yeah, yeah.
Kenan
That's nuts.
Doug
Can you imagine? That must have worked terribly. How could that makes any sense?
Kenan
You know, it does make sense for ingress and ingress to a degree.
Doug
Both those completely get out of the way. That Koenigsegg I drove was like, oh, no, it had one giant one.
Kenan
But imagine having to close this.
Doug
What do you.
Kenan
You go like.
Doug
Well, it's the same, especially because they must hinge on each other. So does that mean you have to
Filippo
close them at the same time you close the back?
Kenan
Well, that's a good point.
Doug
Or they'd latch on each other, obviously. Maybe they latch on the bottom somehow, which probably isn't allowed.
Kenan
Not structurally so good, but yeah, that
Doug
was the Lamborghini Portofino, which became the Dodge Intrepid. Think about that.
Filippo
Boy, will I, man. Nothing else to think about.
Doug
Next news story, please.
Kenan
Ah, yes. On the topic of manual transmissions, Porsche, as we know, selling lots of transition.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
Recently a patent had come out. Now, this isn't a new patent. This was actually submitted in 2024, but this is the first time that we're hearing about it. You remember the Koenigsegg ESS transmission, where you'd have an automatic and a manual at the same time?
Doug
Yeah, I remember they talked about it. Is that real?
Kenan
That's real. Now, Porsche also believes that you can do this and they filed a pat. So the idea is that you have a lever that you can select automatic mode like anything else, or you can put it into manual mode and have a traditional H pattern. Now, it's not actually connected to the transmission. This is a totally separate unit that would be shift by wire, which I'm sure Porsche purists will be very upset about, which I kind of understand. But nonetheless, like they're looking at this, you have to imagine, because they're thinking for EVs, this could be something that they're going to offer.
Doug
I'm going to give you some bad news here. This is an EV transmission.
Kenan
I agree with that. That was my analysis of that. However, I think it would be kind of co. Still be able shift gears in an EV.
Doug
Totally.
Kenan
Because if there's anything that the Ionic 5N proved to you and I, it's that shifting it that way feels pretty organic and really cool. And even if we're. We're forced to have evs one day, if we can still row our own and they build the parameters where it can feel like a manual and engaging.
Filippo
Agreed.
Kenan
I think that's kind of. That's pretty cool technology.
Filippo
Cool.
Doug
Totally.
Kenan
So I'm really curious to see if this comes to fruition. I mean, just because it's a patent does not mean they're going to make it. But I suspect we're going to see this in Porsche EVs in the future.
Doug
It makes sense in EVs. Porsche has already hinted a few times that the Hyundai N shifting thing is something that they're interested in, they're looking into, etc. This has been talked about. It would make sense for Porsche, for whom people love the physical act of shifting so much. Not just the paddles and the sounds, the physical thing to develop, to be the ones who develop a manual for that purpose.
Kenan
I agree. And of course with the ev, Cayman and Boxster, it's like this seems like a very natural thing to integrate into that and will upset us a lot less. So we'll see.
Filippo
Maybe it depends on how well it's done. Apparently they would use electric motors and springs to give the shifter feedback and have faces of the engine.
Kenan
If any company can be trusted to judge that correctly, it is Porsche. Porsche and Honda make the best shifters in the business.
Doug
Totally. Although I do wonder about the early integrations of this I suspect will be interesting and maybe look back like they have with SMT and its weird quirks. I wouldn't be surprised if this is looked back on someday as like, huh, that was a weird maybe.
Kenan
But maybe it will be the beginning of something that flourishes into something else. Who knows, but we'll find out. I just love that unlike gm, Corvette understands they need to be offering manual transmissions in their sports cars.
Doug
Yeah, there you go. They're looking at a manual automatic.
Filippo
I know. I've always loved this idea conceptually. Think about it. Do you remember the young child Mr.
Doug
2 with the SMT?
Filippo
I don't.
Doug
What car was it that had a pattern but no clutch? That was a Saab.
Filippo
There was a Saab, but there's also some Citroens that also had that same concept.
Kenan
Yeah, don't forget the Ferrari Vallejo.
Doug
That's right. The Valo Ferraris, of course had Porsche
Kenan
did that also Porsche had Sport O Matic Sport. Doesn't that not have a clutch? I don't think that it didn't have a clutch.
Doug
But was it a pattern anyway?
Filippo
There were a few. Yeah, that works even more.
Doug
The Ferrari Vallejo. The F40 Vallejo.
Kenan
The F40 vallejo built for the Agnelli family. Just one of them.
Doug
But I, I what's the F40 we want?
Filippo
Right?
Kenan
That's right. The autom.
Doug
The only automatic 40.
Kenan
Wonder where that car is.
Doug
Probably worth 5x what a manual wants. Gianni Agnelli's personal car. In the later years. He's taking all his mistresses in it.
Kenan
Yeah. Just imagine watching him try to get into that car toward the end would have been really rough. And then he puts it in, you know, he just shifts the bay at the side. Very impressive.
Filippo
It's a lot of technology for him. Yeah.
Kenan
But nonetheless very cool.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
On the next news story.
Doug
This is a big one, folks. The Nissan Z has been given a minor facelift and Filippo insisted we talk about it.
Filippo
Yeah, it is a minor facelift, but it is a facelift. And also crucially, there's a new paint color which is unreal green.
Doug
Oh, it is unreal. No one's gonna buy it. That's why it's unreal.
Filippo
Unreal, unreal. I don't know. I don't speak English. Good. But much, much more importantly, the Nismo Z will have a manual transmission.
Doug
The Nismo Z is finally getting a manual, which I should have had from day one. It's too little too late though, because.
Kenan
Is it? Yes.
Doug
Yeah. Dude, no one's buying this car. This is the end of the Z. Do you have any epilogue you want to give to the Z? A eulogy perhaps, or maybe an Unuru, as you say?
Filippo
No, no, no eulogy. I've never really felt that strong about the car. But I am excited that the Nismo, which by all accounts drives quite well, will have a manual and be a little more engaging in 03.
Doug
When I was a 15 year old and the Z came out, changed the world.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
It was the coolest car on the planet and the G35 was the coolest other car on the planet. And this is like kind of a whimper. And you wonder if maybe Nissan should have put some money towards succeeding instead.
Filippo
Well, you know, a couple years ago, it's kind of exciting that they did anything with it. I know that they reused the same 370Z chassis and a lot of the same components to make the Z no number this time. A little bit more upgraded and it looks great. It's a good looking car. Don't see many of them. Maybe we'll see like two or three of these.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
I'm sad because I believe that it is a wonderful car. You've driven it. I mean, it's a very competent car. Yeah. And it is just so such a shame that it was too little too late with this thing.
Doug
I mean, it's so cool. I suspect it will in the end, make money. Ultimately, they were using the platform of the old car and a lot of the technology in the old car.
Filippo
Camera of the old car.
Doug
But you that that trick can only be used for so long, and it does kind of show where we are with sports.
Filippo
I mean, that's pretty clear then, right? Like, you do one cycle facelift, you let it run for another.
Doug
The fact that they didn't even bother with a convertible also kind of gives you an idea of how they feel. The success is gone. All the previous. Many of the previous Z have had convertibles. But good new wheels, new wheels, new. You can get unreal green, as Leo calls it.
Kenan
I don't know if you've noticed, it's very hard to see in the picture, but the tires actually say Nissan on them. You can't really see if it says Nissan.
Doug
How about that for me?
Kenan
I don't know if that's something that they're actually partnering with or that's just Photoshop, I imagine. That is just Photoshop.
Filippo
There's also a tan interior.
Doug
Color green.
Kenan
Tan.
Filippo
That is the color.
Doug
You know, many years ago, I was at the Porsche museum there, and there's a Porsche with Porsche crests in the tires. Oh, and it also has the top. It's a zipper.
Filippo
Ooh.
Doug
It's called the Panamerica. You want to look it up?
Kenan
No, not. Not really, but sure.
Doug
Panamericana. I'm sorry. Panamericana. Okay, now you're thinking to my. You're thinking to yourself, there's no way this car has Porsche crest on the tires. And the top is a zipper. That's what you're thinking.
Filippo
Right?
Doug
Right.
Filippo
Huh?
Kenan
Oh, this thing. Yeah. Wow.
Doug
There's the. The tires. Zoom on in. You can see the Porsche crest. My back tire.
Filippo
Man, what a car.
Doug
All right. And then you go to this. Go to the. You can see the roof. That purple is one giant zipper. And you can unzip it.
Filippo
So cool.
Doug
Yeah. I saw this once there at the museum.
Filippo
Aren't you sad they didn't make it?
Doug
I thought to myself, boy, this company's had some terrible ideas over the years. It's probably really light. It's wonder that this company still exists in any capacity. Look at it from the rear three quarters. That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life. No, I've looks like it got hit.
Kenan
Hit.
Doug
It's somewhere between a 9, 93 probably it got hit because it lost traction due to the fact that the tires are Porsche crests.
Filippo
Also, those are some. Some wide Tires.
Doug
Well, they're narrow.
Kenan
Well, it has no body weight. Of course they look cool, but the.
Filippo
The top is very light, so that's.
Doug
Yeah, yeah. Right up until your zipper gets some stuff in it and then you can never use it.
Kenan
Exactly.
Doug
Like a yj.
Kenan
You have to take it to the zipper guy. He's a zipper guy.
Doug
All right, that's. I don't know why that came up, but I owe the tires. Love, Por.
Filippo
Yeah, sure. Good reason, if any. All right, quick recommendation for your next drive. And I mean this genuinely. This up our alley. There's a podcast called Drive with Jim Farley. Yes, the Ford CEO Jim Farley. And look, how often do you actually get this kind of unfiltered access to someone running one of the biggest car companies in the world? The podcast is him sitting down with fascinating people talking about cars and what actually drives them to succeed. Dan Ricardo is on it. Sir Chris Hoy, the Olympic cycling legend turned racing driver is on it. The guests alone are worth it. I checked out a few episodes and it's the kind of car conversation that doesn't feel like a press junket. It's genuine. It goes deep. And coming from someone with Jim Farley's seat at the table, the perspective is pretty unique. It's exactly what you want. Queued up for a long highway stretch to listen to Drive With Jim Farley, Just search for Drive with Jim Farley in your podcast app. That's Drive with Jim Farley.
Kenan
I've been wearing Chubby's for a long time. Like, genuinely before, it was cool to admit that you preferred slightly shorter shorts. Once you go to Chubby's, you just don't go back. The fabric is unreal. They dry insanely fast. They go from water to whatever without missing a beat. And I've worn mine for a very long time. And this year is actually Chubby's 15th anniversary, and they're bringing back the originals, the shorts that started it. All the same iconic fit, the same stretchy comfort. First design. 15 years and over 2.6 million customers later, they clearly got it right from day one. For a limited time, Chubby's is giving our listeners 20% off with the code. Doug at Chubby's Shorts, get to. That's 20% off your order with the code D O U G. Don't be stingy. Show some skin with Chubbies. Support our show and tell them that we sent you.
Doug
Next story, please. Oh, something. Filippo.
Filippo
Yeah. We spoke last week about how a new Mercedes minivan is coming to America and was Just revealed which is the vle. We've now gotten confirmation that there'll be a Maybach VLE or the Maybach vls.
Kenan
Actually.
Filippo
Actually.
Kenan
Wow.
Filippo
It'll be larger than the vle, obviously. You know, vle vls. Maybe it'll be a VLC someday vg. But it will be. All we know is that it will be a purpose built VIP shuttle and we think that it will have a lot of screens. Well, that. And we can move on to the next news story.
Doug
It's very compelling. Wow. How exciting. A purpose built VIP shuttle. I mean you don't have to build one yourself.
Filippo
A lot of people have converted the metric into like a Maybach metric. You reviewed one? Yeah. Now Maybach will make a large.
Doug
Their own van which looks better and it's going to be better. A Maybach van. This is, this is going to be. It's $200,000 is the number that's being bandied about. Sure, yeah. Pretty big. But it's a purpose built VIP shuttle. And most importantly, I can't wait to review one because that video is going to blow up Sean that month. Sean's going to be like, yeah, we hit the numbers. Yeah.
Filippo
And also about two years after it comes now you can buy for 55,000.
Doug
Yeah. But can you imagine, Filippo, all this stuff. There's going to be.
Filippo
I know there's going to be wild
Doug
fish tank in this. There better be.
Filippo
And it'll have 100 miles range.
Kenan
Do you think they would ever do an AMG version of it and give us the R63 back in our lives?
Doug
Wow.
Filippo
Wow. I bet they could. They will make a VLS. A Mercedes Maybach VLS with EQ technology. AMG.
Kenan
Perfect.
Filippo
Some combination of those words.
Kenan
Right. Only 75 characters for the name.
Doug
You don't think this is pure electricity electric? Of course it is.
Filippo
They still call it with EQ technology, won't they?
Doug
No VLS with EQ technology.
Filippo
No, no. Because the, the, the, the electric. Pure electrics that don't share body plastic.
Doug
I'm wondering if it isn't gonna. Is, is the van fully electric? Do we know these vans like the ID Buzz?
Filippo
The. The VLE has been revealed as fully electric. The VLS is technically different model. So we don't know.
Doug
Man. You know what I hope they have. I hope they have cobblestone flooring ring.
Filippo
I bet they will.
Doug
That's. That was. There was a. I believe it was a Cadillac that had that at one point.
Filippo
Yeah, famously.
Kenan
It was a rare option. Only ones come to market with it
Doug
be nice to see that here in the van. Next news story, please.
Filippo
All right, Jerry McGovern.
Doug
Jerry McGovern, he formerly of Jaguar, Jaguar Land Rover. This is short. Sure you are not giving enough credit.
Filippo
He designed the Defender, he designed the new Range Rovers, he's done it all.
Doug
He designed the new defender. Jerry McGovern did a lot of stuff and he's, he's, he's just announced that he's leaving Jaguar Land Rover. We reported about six months ago that he had been fired and then like two weeks later they were like, oh, no, he wasn't fired. No, no, wrong, sorry. Well, now he's finally decided he's retiring. He's 70 years old, he's going to move on to his own.
Filippo
He's starting his own consultants.
Doug
What all car designers do when they retire from car designing, they're going to do a consultancy where they do a little bit of work designing the finishing touches of bread makers.
Filippo
For a lot of money.
Doug
For a lot of money works out. And Jerry McGovern and he's designed some of the all time great vehicles including, and this is what it says on his Wikipedia, he was the lead designer of the critically acclaimed Land Rover Freelander.
Filippo
That was a good looking car.
Doug
Folks, we're losing this great mind to designing bread makers. This is, this is. Oh, if we sold the Freelander, we have, of course. How lovely Jerry looking car. Very McGovern. That orange reflector. Same as my Ford GT.
Filippo
I remember when these came out and they were great looking cars.
Doug
I love the Freelander, you know. That's true. They were actually good looking. The era that's popular, it's funny how
Filippo
they all disappeared has not aged well. They all disappeared because they were notoriously
Doug
unreliable, unreal, horrible cars. Absolutely horrible cars. In fact, if you bought this one, one.
Filippo
I'm sorry, I, I, I had a friend in Italy whose mom had a freelancer. When they came out they were rich, obviously.
Doug
I remember in Philly there was one in a consulate with Italian console plates and it was a manual diesel.
Filippo
That's right, those days. By the way, there are a couple of other pieces of Jaguar news out this week. Oh yeah. Ian Callum, who was a design director from 1999 to 2019.
Doug
Yes.
Filippo
And a famous person revealed that they had designs for the a new X, a new xj, a redesigned F type and a redesigned F Pace that were ready. I don't know if they were ready engine from an engineering perspective, but they were ready and like they were going to move forward and then at the end they scrapped them all for the Type 00 concept.
Doug
Now, I want to be deferential to Ian Callum because the man designed one of the all time great vehicles ever, the Volvo C70.
Filippo
Which gen?
Doug
The good one.
Kenan
Yeah, but I mean, yeah, he does quite a few good cars. V8 Vantage.
Doug
Yeah, they were like. It was Peter Horbury. No, both of them. Regardless, Ian Callum did the DB7 too, which we have to give the man his credit. That is the finest $18,000 car you can purchase.
Kenan
Are they that much?
Doug
But no, he did the F Type, which I think actually was a true contribution to modern car design and a bunch of other beautiful cars. Those cars wouldn't have sold. So, like, it's great that they. It's great that they came up with. Everybody's so upset with Jaguar for going in this new direction. They were fake failing. A new XF wasn't going to be it. If they had come up with a new xf, it wouldn't have been like the savior of the company. It wouldn't be sitting here being like, Jaguar's good now. They redesigned the xf.
Filippo
Yep. Good looking car, though.
Doug
Yeah, it was good looking. They sold six of them.
Filippo
You know, it was also a good looking car, the E Pace, but nobody's ever seen one.
Doug
No, the E Pace was not a good looking car. You don't like these stubby little thing. Ian Callum didn't touch that, I promise you. Regardless, Jeff, Jaguar, Jaguar, we'll see how that all shakes down again. Been more than a year, we're still waiting for their new product onslaught to come. I have a suspicion we'll be waiting for a long time. In the meanwhile, Land Rover dealerships are still rocking. They still have good products such as the Discovery Sport and the Evoque.
Filippo
Sorry, the Velar.
Doug
Velar, which is still. The Velar and the Evoque have been forgotten about. Land Rover has forgotten that they produced them, but I'm here to tell you that they do.
Filippo
There is still a new Evoque. Right? You can. Loud.
Doug
Yeah. Okay, next news story, please.
Kenan
Ah, Mercedes Benz. For those of you who truly know us, we're not actually a Porsche podcast. We are a Mercedes Benz podcast. Owner. Owner. Former owner. We have a. We love Mercedes Benz. They have announced that. You remember this came out last year, they announced that they were doing a concept AMG GT Track Sport. Not track Leisure. Track sport.
Doug
Yes.
Filippo
All right.
Kenan
So now they have announced that they are going to do a black series, a new black series. We haven't had one since 2021, so. We're kind of due. And then they're going to do a homologation version of that. GT racing, specifically, which is really cool. Now, they've been talking about this for a while. We still don't have a lot of details on this. You should have read the press release. It was unbelievable. Very difficult to read.
Doug
Yeah, I had it pulled up. It was complicated.
Filippo
What was the 2021 Black series?
Doug
The AMG. Previous AMG GT Black. The Nurburgring lock. Yes. That is a serious car. It's a very serious car.
Kenan
It looks modified from the factory. It's insane.
Doug
Pull it up. That was a really desirable, cool, special car.
Kenan
We see him occasionally.
Doug
Yeah. Really huge win. Yeah. You don't remember this. So it set the Nurburgring production time. It may still stand, that thing.
Filippo
Oh, that was called the Black series, I thought it was called.
Doug
There were various versions of that AMG gt, but the top, top, top, top, top, top, toppy was the Black series.
Kenan
And it is wild. One of the craziest wings ever put on a road car until actually, until the new GT3Rs, to be honest with you. Look at that wing. That's crazy. But anyway, a new Black series is coming and I do think it's cool that they're going to all get it and go GT3 racing with it. Now they're testing the car. Currently, they've tested at the Nordschleife, tested at Portimount, a couple other European tracks. So they're getting closer. Development is certainly getting there. It's going to have a V8 engine, which is lovely to hear, but we do have a ways to go on this. They said the GT3 will be allegedly ready for the 2027 racing season. So we're close, but so some follow. You know, stay in the space. We'll certainly see more of these.
Doug
It gives a little credibility to the car. The previous Black series had serious cred because of the Nurburgring time. It was a cool car. But going racing gives credibility to the car.
Kenan
Oh, yeah.
Doug
Obviously, Mercedes Benz, for 20 years now has been looking at 911, thinking, how do we get in on that? And they've been trying and trying and trying and it's never really been successful. But this is one way to do it, is to go racing and then create a car based on the racing car. Obviously, Porsche does that with their GT3 and GT3Rs. Massive success financially and weight loss and
Kenan
reputationally, all homologation cars are cool. That you take for racing.
Doug
They're all GR Yaris.
Kenan
Yeah. Yes. That is a very cool.
Doug
Grr, Yaris. Grr. Yep.
Kenan
But this I'm excited about. I love seeing another black series come to the linear. So we'll see where this develops. But in the meantime, it's coming and they gave us some colors too.
Doug
Now I actually by the way, the new AMG GT is essentially an SL coupe. It's not the most desirable car. It's not as cool as the previous gen. However, I think it looks better and I do think that a GT version of the current AMG probably will look really cool. These spy shots give a preview of it and they look pretty cool in the spy shots they do. Hopefully they don't offer this color scheme.
Filippo
Maybe they should.
Kenan
You know what? Someone is going to recreate this in Miami. They're going to drive around looking like this. Totally. But, but. All right, next news story. So Rolls Royce has also announced something new. So they are introducing their coach build collection. Now, I don't know if you remember the sweet tail and the boat tail. Do you remember those at one off RollsRoyce.
Doug
I think about them all the time.
Kenan
So they are now offering something along those lines. They're being a little bit cagey about what it is, but they said they wanted to bring their clients closer and bring them behind the scenes to be close to the engineers and experience. I love this. They said extreme weather conditions in their cars. Exactly what every Rolls Royce owner once makes no sense. Like the press release on this is one of. One of the crazier ones I've read. But they said, they said they'll be welcome into the ateliers of master craftspeople from adjacent worlds within super luxury whose dedication to perfection mirrors that of Rolls Royce.
Filippo
Quite a quote.
Doug
AI Bay. Eons are the worst combination that has ever existed in corporate worlds.
Kenan
I couldn't agree with you. It was like just hard to read. But nonetheless, I do think it is cool that they're offering more atelier program now. I'm hoping what this means is they're going to do a lot more more. It's everything they said is going to be based on the electric. Like that's the.
Filippo
Which makes sense. They've said that they will be fully homologated and road legal throughout the world.
Kenan
And so starting with start with EV
Filippo
makes that so much easier.
Kenan
Exactly. But to do. I love the idea of going back and doing coach building like traditional one off. I mean that's.
Doug
Give me a Dario Francitti. Oh, Dario's got a. Dario knows this race car driver. He's got a Rolls Royce Wraith with a shooting brick Y. And let's do that. I'll take a Spectre shooting break and I'll pay up to 125,000.
Filippo
Tax that and you're maybe in the ballpark.
Kenan
I don't even think. I can only imagine what you're gonna do.
Doug
Dario paid 1.5.
Filippo
They've said that the Kogebil collection will only be offered to clients with a deep affinity for Rolls Royce design.
Doug
In other words, very rich.
Kenan
Very, very rich in comfortable.
Doug
In other words, anyone they can find who's willing to do it and has the money.
Kenan
Yeah, exactly.
Doug
That's a translation of that. If you needed to.
Kenan
Yeah, Deep, deep pockets, but nonetheless, very cool. And Rolls Royce as a brand makes a lot of sense to do this
Filippo
with, by the way. They also said that there'll be people that participate, will be able to join the engineers at top secret test facilities. What top secret test facilities do you think Rolls Royce has?
Doug
Top secret?
Kenan
Yeah, Top secret. What are they developing there? A new. A new. New ashtray?
Doug
Top secret.
Kenan
They're developing a new Neuralink.
Doug
God, what a press release. Rolls Royce really trying to get people into the whole. Whole thing. Yeah. The British have that mystique, though. All right, is that our last news story?
Kenan
That is the end of the news.
Doug
There is one more big news story. Filippo, say it.
Filippo
All right. After almost six years of. Six years, touching every single auction that comes on Carson, you touched them all.
Doug
You touched them all.
Filippo
You wrote many ducks takes.
Kenan
You, you.
Filippo
You edited many, many Doug's takes. The Doug's Take is going away.
Doug
We're getting rid of the Doug's Take this week. By the time you watch this, it won't be gone, but it's because starting
Filippo
Monday, the Doug's take.
Doug
We've been writing these Doug's Takes forever. So when the Doug's Take first came out in the auctions, I wrote a little blurb. Yeah, pull up the Daytona. I wrote a little blurb about every car that went live. And usually it was like, this car is cool.
Kenan
Hold on, let me find your first car, because I'll find the very first auction that we did.
Doug
And it was always like, oh, we got a little something going on. There it is the first auction. There's my first Doug's Take.
Kenan
They started out pretty tame.
Filippo
They started out just.
Doug
Often they were just a sentence or two. They were cheeky, they were fun, funny. But as we've grown and we're now selling like 50 cars a day, it's gotten to the point where it's not feasible to write anything meaningful. How many E39 M5s we sold? How many E46 M3s we sold? Where you talk about the S54 six cylinder and the handling prowess.
Kenan
I could say something different about every E39M5. We'll move on. I have. And he takes it all out.
Doug
But ultimately it just is not value additive anymore. Our community tells us they don't really read it anymore. They've become too generic. Eric. Because it's not really easy to add that much value. And so we're taking the Doug's takes out also the comments. The community has grown so much that the comments provide what the Dugs take was intended to provide in the first place. Which was like sort of this kind of personal. Interesting tidbit but the commenters know more about the individual cars than me. And so the Doug's take's going away.
Kenan
Will it appear on any like really special cars?
Doug
No. But I've decided I'm going to comment more because I want to still make sure that I see all the cars. I still want to look at all the auctions. It's very important to me. With 35,000 auction. Something like that.
Filippo
Yeah. Just about 36,000.
Doug
So you know it's still important to me. So I'm still going to like be there and I'm going to try to comment more and like really be a part of it. But I'm certainly not there was. It just got silly that I'm every 100 Series Land Cruiser. I'm talking about the combination of luxury and reliability and off road capabilities. It's just that it's not even believable. It's like silly.
Filippo
Fundamentally it's become a blocker to sellers.
Doug
Right.
Filippo
Like you do an incredibly good job of touching every single day but it
Doug
takes an extra day to have traveling. It takes. And so the cars are going to be able to go through the process probably about a day quicker on average. Since I don't have to. We don't have to wait for Doug anymore.
Filippo
And you get time back every single day to make better content. To make more content.
Doug
I actually bet in the end I won't get time back because I'm still going to just be perusing the listings to try to leave a little comment on the ones that I find the most interesting. But I think even that will be more appropriate for the purpose the Doug's take originally had. Like I'm actually saying something about the cars that are interesting. Saying interesting things about the cars. That are interesting. Rather than dropping on every car like, oh, it's finished in this cool color. As a clean carfax. It wasn't.
Kenan
It's offered with the thrill of no reserve.
Doug
That's right. That's right. It just got too generic. And I don't think anybody's going to mourn the loss of this. But we wanted to tell you about it.
Kenan
I've been. We've. It's. You've been doing this for six years and for five of us have been begging to get rid of the Doug's tank. I'm glad that it's. I'm glad that you will have some more freedom and you will still be involved with the cars. You're not going anywhere anywhere. So.
Doug
That's right.
Kenan
It's exciting.
Doug
Now we have a big talk cars segment today. But. But first I want to tell you. The talk car segment is brought to you by the Mega Track.
Filippo
I'm sorry, I'm familiar, but I'm sorry,
Doug
can it pull up the Mega Track, please? No, no, trust me. We've never sold one of these.
Kenan
I figured.
Doug
Okay, just Mega. Have you ever heard of this?
Kenan
No.
Doug
All right. The Mega Track. Track. This is part of my ck. No, no, Space Mega is actually the brand. The Mega Track. Pull up this picture. Yep, there's some picture. Oh, here, pull up this picture. Pull up the one. Yes, this. The Mega Track was an off road supercar that I believe was French. And they made maybe 10 12. And it's huge,
Filippo
to be fair. Why that other.
Doug
Why that car is there? Because I think it's another Mega, but
Filippo
it's like the small Mega, but it's lifted.
Doug
So that's nice.
Kenan
That's even worse than like the big Mini.
Doug
It had suspension set. I pull back out. There's other great photos. The Mega Track. Look at this. This photo here, the Mega Track is actually in the background. You don't realize it, but it's huge.
Kenan
What powered this thing?
Doug
I don't remember this one. This one here on plates from Vienna in Austria. Oh, there, there. That picture. That one is seen in Monaco sometimes. But that picture, you can see how big it is. It's an M120 thanks to an F40. It's like laughable. It's like truly embarrassing. It was supposed to be an off road supercar. Of course it wasn't successful at anything, including selling the Mega.
Filippo
How did you.
Doug
Where did this come from?
Kenan
You must have had some time to do some reading recently. There it is.
Doug
Monaco, the talk car segment today. There's the Mega Track next to a Yukon Denali. And look how big it looks.
Kenan
Well, that is.
Doug
These cars are both in Vienna. Look at this thing.
Filippo
Were those Audi or Porsche tail lights? Were Those from a 960 or from an Audi?
Doug
The Mega Track was developed, ground up by the finest connoisseurs.
Filippo
No, I mean by manufacturing corporation. That could go either way.
Doug
The corporation of Mega. This picture also really illustrates what the Mega Track was capable of.
Filippo
Wow.
Kenan
Do you have problems handling your supercar? Do you accidentally end up off? Well, this one's the one for you.
Doug
Exactly. You don't have to worry about it getting scratched or whatever because it can go anywhere and do anything. This was the Stado before the Sterrato. Although it was actually two stirratos size wise.
Kenan
I mean, another one. Normal traffic. Look. I mean, look at that.
Doug
It's so ridiculously absurd. Yeah. That one on Vienna plates is apparently seen around Monaco here and there. Someone's driving around. So 400 horsepower Mercedes V12. Must have been terrible.
Filippo
Shout out to shmee who filmed that car in 2011.
Doug
But he's filmed it going by. Someone's got to do a Quirks and Fears features. We got to get a Mega Track video. There's a 959 next.
Filippo
Let's get you to. To Austria.
Doug
Let's get there. Those were the two off roads that,
Filippo
by the way, the 143 scale, still giant.
Doug
Can't believe someone made a 143 scale mega track. 143 scale mega track wouldn't fit on this table. So much bigger.
Kenan
It's so hard to understand the scale. Ridiculous.
Doug
Stupid. Most idiot car ever made. Oh, I love it.
Filippo
I love it so much.
Doug
The Mega Track.
Kenan
I had no idea. I'm gonna go read about this.
Doug
There's.
Filippo
There's.
Doug
You can do a deep dive. The company was called Axiom, but their line of vehicles was called Mega. And then the track.
Filippo
Right.
Kenan
And then the track. There were others.
Doug
There was like. There was also like the Mega Whatever. And the Mega wasn't just the Axio Mega Track.
Kenan
Wow.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
Anyway, thank you for that.
Doug
That's a great.
Filippo
They're currently the leader in Quadricycles in France.
Doug
Oh, wow.
Kenan
I went from that.
Filippo
AKA the cars that teenagers can drive.
Doug
Yeah. You know what you do? You take your Mega Track to the Quadricycle dealership for service.
Kenan
Right? Quadricycle. Quadricycle. Quadricycle Mega Track.
Doug
You pull up next to the shop. They're not big enough. The shop's not even big Enough to fit the Mega track.
Filippo
I want you guys to know that they currently offer a mega product still. The, The. The Axiom brand. It is like a lifted.
Doug
I want the track in this picture. That's what. That's the Lotus Europa. It's parked next to it. They're actually next to it.
Filippo
I want to talk about the scouty Evo.
Doug
I want to talk about Slate. You don't remember Slate?
Kenan
Of course.
Filippo
What are you going to say about this? Because I see what's right in the dock and I don't.
Doug
All right, I got a Slate story for you. It's a slight story, but it's a slight Slate story.
Kenan
Nice.
Doug
Do you remember a couple of months ago they did that video where the CEO. Yes. Was like, answered questions. One of the questions, when can Doug demur review. Do you remember what her answer was?
Filippo
Whenever.
Doug
Whenever he wants. So for the last two months, I've been working with the Slate people, trying to figure out a day to review it. And we've set on a date. And then they bailed and pushed the date. And we set a date. We bailed and they pushed the date. Set a date, bailed, pushed it. It's happened three or four times. And the most recent was. How about June or July? This was supposed to happen in February.
Filippo
Wow.
Doug
In addition to that, that woman is no longer the CEO.
Filippo
She's the president.
Doug
She's the founder. No longer CEO. They hired a CEO.
Filippo
She's the president.
Doug
And of course, the. The price of these trucks has increased significantly, which is one of the problems when you kind of make your announcement around the pricing based on incentives, which could go away. And so I wonder, whenever he wants to review it has now been pushed, pushed, pushed. Like, how we doing? How we doing over here?
Filippo
I think the answer is not.
Kenan
Well, I personally am hoping they do another Wes Anderson style thing where she answers a bunch of questions, because I really enjoyed that. But I really, I. I do want. Everybody wants to see you review this thing. So June twice. That means it's gonna be fall.
Doug
Yeah. The fall.
Kenan
The fall, maybe winter.
Doug
Well, that's the thing. It's like, what are we doing here? Like, what she said, whenever we want. And then they were scheduling it. We had March 6th on the bus.
Filippo
Jay Leno did it a month ago.
Doug
Where's Doug? They're not afraid of Jay. I don't think they're afraid of Jay. Like, Jay drives the car. He's like, ah, whatever. Tell me about the car. This CEO goes on Jay's video, talks about the car. Car. That's right. Doug doesn't do any of that. Doug actually pokes into the things and you watch Doug's Prelude video and you start thinking, maybe we don't give him. Maybe we're a little nervous about what he's going to say. But that makes me nervous about the state of this company. And they obviously are probably also nervous because of the EV incentive no longer makes their product as compelling as it once was.
Filippo
I mean, we talked about when. When they first announced it, producer Sean and I went up to Orange county to their launch party.
Doug
That's right.
Filippo
And we talked about it that week and we were a little skeptical that it would be an appealing proposition at the price they stated, which was 20,000 with tax credit. Some of that. So high twenties without. They've since said that they'll be in the mid twenties.
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
Or so they've lowered it a little bit. But no tax credit anymore.
Doug
Yep.
Filippo
It's not a compelling proposition at that price point. It's like the range is too low, the power is too low.
Doug
That's right. Equipment, two door.
Filippo
It's small. It's a niche segment. The Maverick exists.
Doug
The maverick exists for 30 with a four door. I could. I could just go get a Volkswagen Cevero. But I'm glad you went to the launch. You don't even say anything about that. I'm glad I went to the. You went to the launch party because Ken and also went to that launch party with Emily and afterwards was a lovely evening in Los Angeles for the two of them.
Kenan
We did not go to that.
Doug
But. Yeah.
Kenan
But Filippo did get a tattoo while he was there because they were offering that tattoo booth. Do you remember that?
Filippo
I remember the tattoo booth. I did not get a tattoo.
Kenan
Oh, that's unfortunate.
Filippo
I'm not a tattoo.
Kenan
But you could have commemorated when you got to see the slate.
Doug
Anyway, I'm a little bit nervous.
Filippo
I did get some ice cream. That was nice.
Doug
A little bit nervous about the Slate situation, as we all are. Little bit nervous.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
Speaking of Slate and Amazon, who is a majority or minority partner.
Filippo
They're investor.
Doug
The other day I'm driving around here and I see an Amazon delivery truck with a Montana license plate plate on it.
Kenan
Huh. Now we're not in Montana.
Doug
Oh, no.
Kenan
We're in Southern California.
Doug
California.
Filippo
Interesting.
Doug
Now it's Montana temporary license plate. Here's a theory. I'm gonna give a theory. I'm not saying they're doing this, but here's what I would do if I was Amazon trying to limit my Tax liability. You set up a business in Montana. You buy the trucks from the Montana business.
Filippo
Which LLC creation business do you think they're using?
Doug
I think they got their own.
Kenan
They're calling llc.
Doug
Buy the trucks in your Montana Montana business. And then after they've been titled in Montana, no sales tax, you flip them to another state where you happen to sell the car for $1. And in that state, that's the price you paid because your Montana business sold it to your California business for a dollar. That's just what I might do if I was trying to limit my tax liability and I was a giant company. But it was interesting to me because California last week was cracking down on a dentist in Fremont for doing Montana on his Aventador. And here I am driving this Amazon truck with a Montana plate. And I'm like, you know, that's interesting. And it's a temporary plate, so they're waiting for title. So the moment they get Montana title. What would you do if you were a large company trying to limit your taxes?
Filippo
What's interesting here is I would be stunned if they purchased the trucks, just leased them. They would lease them from themselves. I mean, fundamentally, they would have a financier that is probably the themselves own them. That makes it interesting. I remember most Amazon trucks have the digital California license plates.
Doug
I don't want to speak to what's going on. It's interesting. The other interesting.
Filippo
Some people are asking questions. That's all I'm saying.
Kenan
It's merely an observation.
Doug
The other interest, California license plates have finally switched to the new format nine. The end of the nine series has been reached. This started in 1980. They've switched. I got the very first one. The photo that you see. The photo that you see? No, I have it. It's in my house. The photo that you see right now is me with the very first one. How did I pull it off? You'll never know.
Filippo
Did it actually ever arrive?
Doug
Yeah. Wow. It was on the Ford GT. It was registered the 4 GT for a little while.
Filippo
Right.
Doug
I never put it on. I got the first one. So California has made us after. After 46 long years in the same license plate format, the switch has been made. This is a massive news story, people.
Filippo
So up until that's been number three letters. Three numbers.
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
And now it's what, just flip the opposite?
Doug
It's really not interesting.
Filippo
But there's three big deal letters, three numbers, one number.
Doug
I'm only mentioning this news story because I got the first one. I'm not mentioning it. For any other, it's a big deal, period. Are you jealous that I have the first?
Filippo
No, but I'm really sad that I never saw a 9Y plate. Or 9Z Z plate, rather. I actually haven't seen a 9Y plate.
Doug
You will see 9Y's. It seems like they skipped 9Z. Do you?
Filippo
That's so sad to me. I wanted to see 9Z.
Doug
Do you? Well, hey, if you're looking for three plates, you'd find that you'll never see a 3Z. Let me tell you something. Or a onesie. Let me tell you something.
Filippo
Isn't onesie a truck plate?
Doug
No. Let me tell you something. As the person who got the very first one, I'm proud of the new format. Love it. Obviously, it all kind of started with me. I consider myself the founder of the format. Really. It's hard as a founder.
Kenan
Field of California dmv. They were going to through. It's like, oh, my God, somebody took it. It's this guy. It's not the first one.
Doug
It was a random chase.
Kenan
All right?
Doug
I walk into the AAA office down by my house in San Ysidro, Modesto, and there they were. The previous guy got the last one and I got the first one. It was pure chance.
Filippo
Are they starting with a 000 AAA? No, they're not.
Doug
No, it's. The first one is 000AA1 we've been showing on the screen for the last 15 minutes.
Filippo
It's the second one.
Doug
I meant to bring it in today, but I forgot. But it's at my house. No, the. The first number is gonna be like the last number. The last number is gonna be like. The first number was.
Filippo
Do you understand that?
Doug
No, the last number is gonna be like. The first number was like the age identifier, basically.
Filippo
Right?
Doug
So what point are they starting?
Kenan
Zero is gonna be first.
Doug
Then 00081. I don't know.
Filippo
They were skipping some.
Doug
No, they didn't skip. They gave me the first one. And by the way, 000. Because California starts each series with 000, as some states do. Are you happy about this?
Filippo
I think I gotta go get a vanity plate and then return to a regular plate to get a new one.
Doug
Maybe I need to buy a card.
Filippo
Maybe.
Kenan
So you're gonna. The great irony of this is you can't put this on any card because then it looks like you just got it. Which also disavow.
Doug
At this point, California probably won't let me have this plate anymore. That's just going to be in my garage. It's just going to go up on my gar as a souvenir of the time that I started it all.
Kenan
Well, I'll say a couple of things. One, I didn't care at all about license plates until you came into it. And that's all I look at. And that's all I look at.
Doug
It is helpful especially in California where they stay with the car. I agree because you can tell who's a little sketch and who's not totally.
Kenan
But I feel that it is notable. I feel this is like a California thing. To see the plates switch over like when you moved here is like to know what sequence they. And now we've all gotten to see them switch like do the big switch that we've been waiting for.
Doug
Big day for Filippo.
Filippo
My 911 has done WXP9WXP.
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
Really?
Doug
What are you gonna do about the wheels?
Filippo
Well, I. I'm selling my bbs'. I. I have a buyer for them. I have a buyer for them. He actually reached out by email like early on.
Doug
What are you gonna do about the wheels in the car? They're gray painted.
Filippo
So my BBSs are sold. Yeah, I have to ship them out, but they're sold. My wheels that were the OE wheels were refinished by the prior owner and he never put them back on the car.
Doug
He refinished them in brakes dust.
Filippo
Unfortunately that they're a little
Doug
ppa. He just got him really brake dusty. Then he ppf and he didn't think
Kenan
about the center cap.
Filippo
It's maybe acceptable. In other words, it's not. At some point I will refinish them.
Kenan
Now here's the great thing.
Doug
Not gonna.
Kenan
You're not going to. The time to do that was. Oh, I don't know when the car was on another set of wheels.
Doug
That was the time we didn't know how bad.
Filippo
You couldn't tell tell in the box how bad they were.
Kenan
No, but you can put those center caps in.
Filippo
I'm getting a lot of pressure to change out the bbs.
Kenan
I know.
Doug
I now regret it and honestly wish that the car was still on the bbs.
Filippo
No, I like those. I like the wheels so bad, Ryan.
Doug
They're like. They're a little dark, slightly gray. They're like really messes with.
Filippo
I will get them, get them redone today. The issue is that I don't want to go without the car. I drive the car every day and I want to keep driving the car every day.
Kenan
Do you drive?
Filippo
Yeah, absolutely.
Kenan
But you Know what?
Doug
Here's it's going to.
Filippo
Some days I don't.
Kenan
Your pickup truck is on the way from Arizona.
Filippo
It's getting shipped.
Kenan
When that gets lights here, send the 911 and get the wheels fixed at some point because you have to drive around in a carbureted. You have to sleep in the bed
Filippo
you have made to buy new wheels for the pickup truck because they're 16 and a half coming here. It should be getting picked up today. Tomorrow.
Kenan
Filippo's just.
Doug
It's coming here this week?
Filippo
Yeah, maybe early next.
Kenan
We're just finding this out now? It's Wednesday when we're filming this.
Filippo
I have it as an item on here for that reason.
Kenan
I think it was supposed to be here. I've been hearing it's going to be here this week for three weeks.
Filippo
I, I paid for a ship yesterday. It's coming.
Doug
Damn. So this is like real real? Yep.
Kenan
Fleet is going to be a carbureted man like you. What do you have to say?
Filippo
I, I, I will be honest here. The, I need to get it titled. It does not need to pass smog, which is great. And I do need to get new wheels and tires quickly because I can't really drive it that much.
Kenan
I mean, you're just mired in wheel and tire power. I know. It's incredible.
Filippo
I know.
Doug
Well, what's the wheel and tire issue on this? Does it, does it bolt up to other Ford wheels? I mean, let's throw on some, let's throw on some of the Pope Fusion wheels.
Filippo
Putting it. The Pope apparently had a manual Fusion according to Farley. I wish I did. I almost bought one on Craigslist years ago.
Doug
You and the Pope. It was probably ex Pope.
Filippo
It was, it was in Madison. So.
Kenan
You know what, dude?
Doug
It was ex Pope.
Filippo
It could have been ex Pope, man.
Kenan
You. Oh, that's cool.
Doug
Pope John what?
Filippo
Gen 4 fusion, cuz. Multiple gens had a manual.
Doug
I think it was the 2010 that pre, pre redesign. But like the good face lift.
Filippo
Yeah, that was the one. I was
Doug
John Paul Pope. John Paul's like Fiat Uno on ebay one time sold for like $2 million. This could have been you.
Filippo
Imagine the Ford Fusion. The worst car.
Doug
You missed out.
Filippo
Love that one now.
Kenan
Or maybe the Vatican want it back. Put it in the museum.
Doug
There you go.
Kenan
You know, with. Yeah.
Filippo
The truck is coming though. I I finding new wheels will not be a problem. Just it's a, it's a family process. So there are many.
Doug
It's a family process. The family's got to be consulted on which, on which wheels.
Kenan
How is that? All right. I got so many questions. I'm just going to let you have that. Thankfully.
Filippo
Appreciate that.
Doug
They get a. Hey, family. A what, what is everybody. So we're going to take a family
Kenan
vote on which, on which set of family meetings.
Doug
212 used wheels and tires we're getting. If we're going to go down to
Kenan
Sandy family, it's you and your wife are the ones that have this thing like all that matters is her and I don't think she cares about them.
Filippo
She's family.
Kenan
Yeah, of course she is. But like I don't think she cares about the wheel.
Filippo
Other, other people.
Kenan
Are they round? That would be her question.
Filippo
That would, would be an important component.
Doug
I will say screw up the wheels on that truck if you get the wrong ones because the truck. But I, you will undoubtedly do that.
Filippo
I want to be clear. It's also not on the OE wheels. It's on some, you know.
Doug
Oh, it's on some aftermarket.
Filippo
Yeah. From like 90s though.
Doug
Get, get the 97. Pull up. Can you pull up an Explorer please?
Filippo
I will absolutely not get the. I know your wheels mad.
Kenan
You say 97.
Doug
No, no, no. On cars and bids. Cuz that's. We're trying to, we're trying to push that website on people podcast.
Filippo
It's carsandbids.com carsandbids.com there's an app I think.
Doug
Yeah, yeah. It is just for go down. Go down the wheels. I like the wheels. I, I, I like a lot of wheels but the ones I want you to get, click on that Explorer. See the red one? Click on the red one. I don't want to see the white one. I want the red one. Yes.
Kenan
Oh yeah.
Doug
I liked these because they had sort of this like teardroppy raindropy situation.
Filippo
They are cool.
Doug
Are these, are you a five lug?
Filippo
Probably not. I honestly don't remember. I don't. I assume not though.
Doug
Look at these things still on Firestones. Wow. This is, this is a nostalgia play. You can drive around the on your Explorer and get killed. Look at the original tires. Jeez. Jeez.
Kenan
That looks like a, like a map. Oh Lord.
Filippo
Are those original tires?
Doug
What? How many did this have on it?
Kenan
This one had. Yeah.
Doug
When did we foist this on?
Kenan
2000 miles. TMU though.
Doug
With a salvage tile.
Kenan
This is an unusual one. 10 GS.
Doug
How did this one not get cash for clunkered.
Filippo
Seriously, don't you wonder 2000 miles like might be real.
Doug
It's pretty clean.
Kenan
I mean, it looks pretty clean.
Doug
That's how the seats look to oe. Yeah.
Kenan
So that's a good.
Filippo
Damn.
Doug
Grab those wheels. Okay. Canon. Canon has much more to talk about. I don't know why we've been talking about. We've been sitting here talking about California license plates and Filippo's brake dust.
Kenan
That's how it works. You guys talk and I listen.
Doug
But we'll tell us about the SL65.
Kenan
Yeah. So I recently sold, as people know, my SL65 on the cars and the bids, and it brought $60,000 big money.
Filippo
It's all because of that fourth picture where you're cleaning off the. The.
Doug
Well, that.
Kenan
That does have something to do with it. That is how I care for my car meticulously. But this car sold well. The bidding war, it was bid up pretty quickly. If you look at like the actual bid history. For the longest time it was sitting at 45, and then it went to 47. But the. In the end, there were a couple more bids and it ended up at 60. And the car is going to Dallas. One of the cool things, by the time this airs, it'll probably be went on a truck on. On Tuesday of this week. The was a cool story the. The buyer was talking to me about. So he. He wanted an SL65 and his buddy has an SLR and an SL65 in addition to a bunch of other cars. And it was a black on black and red car. And so he wanted to buy that. And his friend watched the video I did with Nick on the SLR SL65 and was like, I can't sell you the SL65. I have to keep them both. They're both too good.
Doug
Wow.
Kenan
And so then. So then he ended up bidding on this car and he won it. And now it's.
Filippo
Now it's in Dallas.
Doug
Look at this car. Take this picture. Who took this picture?
Kenan
This is a Nick Stafford. Stafford Media took this picture.
Doug
That is real photography.
Filippo
That's a great photo.
Doug
This makes me want the car. And I already drove the car and had it around.
Kenan
I was. I was a little disappointed in your video. You didn't give it the full. You didn't go full throttle in the car.
Doug
What was I the same way, though, when something interesting happened?
Kenan
Probably. But this car, the thing is, yes, I'm very happy to sell it. I'm happy it goes to good home. I'm happy to get a very good result on it. I will miss that engine. It is just one of the all time great engines and I will sing that thing praises until the end.
Doug
Canon's SL65 has departed us.
Kenan
Yes. And the hunt is on for a Viper.
Doug
Canon is legitimately looking for a Viper.
Kenan
There are three people I am talking to all with first generation Vipers, all red in various years. All three spoke, all side piped. And so we'll see. I'm working together on a couple of. Yes, there's, there's an order. I'm not in a rush so I'm going to find the right one. But I am, I'm definitely. I look, everybody has given me a lot of guff about this. It's like, oh, this car, the Mercedes is so much better than the Viper. It's like, well yeah, you're missing the point.
Doug
We're experienced men, we're.
Kenan
I want to experience it. I want to be clear. I am likely not going to have the Viper for more than six to nine months.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
But I just, I have to have it like I, it's. I just, there's an itch that I have to scratch. I want to follow in Doug's footsteps.
Doug
Yep.
Kenan
Get a manual V10.
Filippo
You'll be really good at putting the top on and off.
Kenan
So there's a fun fact about first gens. They came with a tonneau cover. On the first gen Vipers across the dash there are a bunch of little snaps. That is for a tonneau cover that goes over the whole thing. So if you want to just cover the interior you can.
Doug
Wow.
Kenan
So I'm going to get. And there's a zipper so you can zip out. Just driver's.
Doug
No roof at all. Okay.
Kenan
There is of course a roof but
Filippo
it's a, that's a fun fact.
Kenan
But yeah, a lot of people. Have you ever noticed that?
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
Yeah. So I figured you would have. But like. Yeah.
Doug
So I kind of remember at the Peterson maybe I even, I don't remember they had that. They have like the fourth one made or something.
Kenan
Yes.
Doug
You know what, I was, I was at my kids school there the other day, you know, over there, over there,
Kenan
over there by the thing.
Doug
And I was walking up to pick up one of the kids there from the school.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
And there was, I hope there was a school district van and it was an economy and on the side of it it said Triton V10. And I'm thinking to myself, how bizarre is it that the people driving V10s are Huracan Gallardo R8 owners, LFA Carrera GT muscle guys and Vipers and Then a school employee,
Kenan
hey, the V10 knows no bounds. Everybody has to experience it. Whether it's in the truck.
Filippo
We, I mean I of course have
Kenan
my friend Talent has one. And how he. And he's not a car person at all. He's had a high.
Filippo
Yes.
Kenan
That he said at one point he put 27 friends in and drove down to the beach. So I'm sure it was, you know, very safe. But like yeah, because I hadn't seen this truck forever. And then he pulled up to this volunteer thing we're doing and it said
Doug
V10 on today's world. It's so ridiculous. Young kids growing up today who become car enthusiasts are going to look back at those V10 vans. Like we look back at like those old Cadillac V8s that were 8 liters and made no power and be like back in the grandpa's days they were putting V10s in vans. So weird.
Kenan
We lived through a great period of automotive history. We really did. But I, I am again just thrilled with the result. Thank you again for reviewing it. And I was very happy to represent this one. The car made it easy because it was a very good car.
Doug
Do you think he's going to end up with a Viper? Yeah. Are you pumped for this?
Kenan
Yeah, I think I'd like for you to drive it.
Filippo
I'd like to.
Kenan
Well, you'll be part of my friends drive my Viper.
Filippo
Will this time wasn't this time.
Kenan
And you can be too because you're not going to review it cuz you've already done a first gen Viper.
Doug
I would do it again. Especially if you got a ketchup and mustard.
Kenan
I should have bought that one. I was sitting right. But I had to. I, I want the three spokes.
Doug
That car was so unruly.
Kenan
I want the side pipe. It is. They are, they're so unruly. You know another thing I did recently, I went to Texas to do the Port Hill country rally which I'll talk about a little bit in a second. But what it made me realize is how much I love classic cars. I really love them. And the Viper is this unusual blend of classic and modern because I. It has like fuel injection. You can be diagnosed and they're pretty reliable and no carbs, nothing like that. But it's so raw and visceral and it is about just driving. Nothing else, just driving. And admittedly the driving situations you get into are a little scary with that car. But that's what it is about one thing and I just respect that and I love that And I want to experience it.
Doug
And it is a very different experience from your E39 M5, which the SL65 also was, but maybe not in the right way. Like, it was more relaxed, more easy, more serene. Like, not. But the Viper is going to be like, you already have some of that stuff in the E39. Like, the Viper is going to be. So, like, just. You got to control it. You've got to handle that car.
Kenan
The M5 is good at, like, it does a bunch of things and it's just like taking the slider and stretching out one of those. In the SL's case, it was performance and luxury. In the Viper's case, it going to be rawness.
Filippo
No, it ain't performance.
Kenan
It's still pretty. I mean, it's a lot of power in a lightweight car.
Doug
Groundhog over here, producer Sean.
Filippo
Yeah, Sean.
Doug
@carsandbids.com he hadn't liked the boys Viper.
Kenan
No. But Sean has what we call hot takes in some friend circles. We know him as hot Take Shawn. And he is often wrong.
Filippo
So.
Kenan
So we're going to find that. I know he hates the Viper a lot. The thing about the Viper, you once said that a great car should be loved and hated in equal measures by people. That's how you make, like a truly awesome car. And the Viper is that some people love it. And the people love it, really love it. And people hate it, really hate it.
Doug
It is. It is. It is. I was. I was sitting in a light the other day next to a Harley and I was walking. I was watching the whole thing shake. And I was thinking to myself, German and Japanese bike enthusiasts who see this laugh at how unrefined it is. Meanwhile, that's exactly what attracted that fellow to that bike is the rumble. And that's the Viper. Sean's over here. His bad colored G wagon is behind us. He's shooting from his high, holier than thou German car, European car brand. He's got three European cars. Since I've known him, he's had five European cars. Guy's just one of these coastal elites. Meanwhile, meanwhile, you man of the people with your rumbly thing.
Kenan
Born and bred in the Midwest, baby. So, like, I've also only owned European cars and I want to own an. But I want to own an American car. Like I. And I just think that it is. I just think they are as cool as it comes. I just think they're the best.
Doug
So tell us about the Porsche rally.
Kenan
I'm going to pull up a picture of the Viper. So we can just stare at one.
Doug
Yeah. Leave that up while you talk.
Kenan
Yeah, perfect.
Doug
That's a great one too.
Kenan
I actually think this rear three quarter. Look at that. That's a. A cool car. It's a cool car. Anyway, I went.
Doug
You'll never.
Kenan
I went to Texas with some friends of mine from New Orleans to go drive in the Porsche Hill Country Rally. Now this is a rally that takes place every year just outside of San Antonio in the Hill Country. And it's. It's focus. Some rallies you go to, it's kind of a car show. Like this was not that we showed up and there were 374 cars, a lot of them at this hotel. But the thing was, they're all torsion bar cars. So 1989 and Ford Porsche. So that's 911, 914, 350, new and older. 1989 and older. Correct. What I realized when I got there is that it is a classic car event and it is focused on driving by the. By the time we get up in the morning at like 7:30, the parking lot would be almost completely empty.
Filippo
Wow.
Kenan
All those cars are out just driving. They gave us these great routes to drive. You could drive at your own pace. You chose. When you left. There was no like organization around. They didn't dictate when you had to drive.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
And so it was just a bunch of people out there driving these old Porsches. And what I realized is like, those cars can really take it. Like it is a classic car. I was in a 1973911 E, which just made the most glorious sound. You know, the beginning to Le Mans when Steve. Steve McQueen is driving his 911. Does anybody know? People know what I'm talking about. That's what it felt like. It was just raw and visceral and I'm. I'm losing my mind. A video's coming out about this soon. But it was just like we really used those cars. 450 miles in less than in two days.
Filippo
That's strong.
Kenan
And people drove from all over the country. A group of guys drove up from Monterrey, Mexico with a bunch of cars. People came from California, drove to.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
Paul Kramer drove with a group. They only did 100 miles on highway. Everything else was back road. Got there, drove some car and drove back again.
Doug
Do you. Are you a Porsche man now? Like Spike.
Kenan
So. Well, here's the thing. I realized that it's coming for me.
Doug
Like, oh my God.
Kenan
It's coming for me.
Doug
Oh my God. However, take mine.
Filippo
However.
Kenan
I am going I would. What I realized is most of these people, they just liked cars. It just happened to be Porsches. They actually, they were exactly what we like. They weren't obsessed over the little deviated stitching. They were driving the things and they were driving them well and as they were intended to be and using them. People were fixing stuff in the parking lots and like, it was just. It. That was real automotive enthusiasm. I. I think that is the future of car events. To go and use them the way they're supposed to be used. Like, that was the most pure automotive event I have ever been to and I absolutely loved it. And I plan to go back next year, but I know that I'm going to end up with a Porsche at some point. In the mean meantime, Filippo, and I'm
Doug
not trying to be a jerk to you. I really am not. But Felipe and I prefer the rare shades event where we look at the cars are parked on plinths and we look at very similar, identical Porsches that just happen to be slightly different versions of gray and brown. And we talk about how cool that brown is compared to a different brown. That's what people And I like.
Kenan
You're a Cassis guy. There were a couple of people. There were a couple of cars there that were like, so nice. They weren't driven on their own. I was like, whatever. But those people brought other cars, just go cane. Which I thought was really cool and acceptable. So I. I have to say, and it was. I'm very grateful to everybody came up and said hello. A lot of people were surprised I was there, like, what are you doing here? But, well, I'm just becoming a Porsche person and I'm grateful to my friends who brought their cars to let me drive. And the New Orleans crew was great and we just had a great time. So I highly encourage people to get out there, go to driving events. They are the most fun.
Doug
I agree with that. And on the subject of driving events, I want to move on to the market report. We have two very short things to cover before we have to move on to questions which are going to be short today. I'm going to. Sorry. The market report is brought to you by the Suzuki across. The Suzuki across. Pull up. The Suzuki across.
Kenan
We sold one.
Filippo
Actually.
Doug
No, no, the Suzuki across. Filippo, do you want to tell us. No, tell the audience.
Filippo
I'd rather not engage.
Doug
Suzuki across is. It's a four wheeler. Pull up. This picture actually of it, I think is the best one.
Filippo
That's the last gen.
Doug
The Suzuki across. That's the One I like the Suzuki across is a four wheeler. It's a very.
Kenan
And that it has four wheels.
Doug
It's a very competent, capable off road vehicle. And you have never seen this body design before. This is brand new car, Suzuki across, totally distinct from any other automobile. And you can tell that it's a Suzuki and not something like a Toyota because the center caps have the Suzuki logo on.
Filippo
That's right.
Doug
And ignore the fact that the plug in hybrid badge is the same as you might see on some Toyotas. That Toyota copied that from the Suzuki man, you've had.
Kenan
Oh my God, did you get shot?
Doug
Go to the pull up the Daytona. That would be a cute problem.
Kenan
This is another thing we have to talk about. So a couple of. I can't spell today. A couple of weeks ago after Moda I went and drove this 1970 Ferrari 365 GTB. Yes, Daytona. What an unbelievable car. Now I, I started working with car in bids six years ago yesterday.
Filippo
Happy six years.
Kenan
Thank you. And I have since we started I have dreamt one day that we would have a car like this on the site. And here it is, a Ferrari Daytona.
Doug
We've had tashes.
Kenan
Well yeah, but I'm more of a
Doug
better in every way.
Kenan
I'm a Ferrari guy.
Doug
So you know Daytona's on site. It is absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking. What was it like to drive there?
Kenan
So special.
Doug
Yeah.
Kenan
Surprisingly agile. Once you like it, you set the chassis in a corner then you go. I mean fully independent suspension in a 1970. And this engine, the Colombo V12 is one of the most magnificent things as
Doug
I'm sure you know.
Filippo
Of course.
Kenan
Yep. The tipo. Yeah. Anyway, well, forget it. I'm not going to waste my time anyway. But just to hear the carburetors like it just makes such a wonderful noise and like. And the power is good. The steering. Everybody said at low, when you're not moving if you have to do a dry turn like with no motion, very heavy. But once you are moving. I found every engagement point with the car was wonderful. It really is a special automobile and it just felt solid. It felt like I could have driven that car back from Seattle to California.
Filippo
Like genuinely what I mean that would
Kenan
have been so beautiful.
Doug
Maybe someday. Every time I see a Daytona, which is pretty much only at car events, I'm astonished by just how special it is. It is a very cool car. Very special vintage Ferrari. It is the link between vintage Ferrari and more modern Ferrari. It was this design that sort of took them out of the, you know, taller Grills and wire wheels era and kind of moved them into the more swept back cars that we kind of more even to this day more know as the Ferrari design.
Kenan
It was the last Ferrari to have bronis after that and they offered mags at the time you could get them.
Doug
But it was literally the link between them.
Kenan
That one it was literally.
Doug
And then from a design perspective too, it was clearly Ferrari going more.
Kenan
And then after this for 30 years they were mid engine and then they brought the 550 back which this car was in the car in Driver magazine where they like issue where they compared this and the 550 Marello like brand new.
Doug
And there's a lot of similarities. If you really look at them on paper. There's a lot of.
Kenan
But the one last thing I'll say on this because I know I'm talking a lot today but the stiffness of the drivetrain is unbelievable. Like because it's a torque tube. So it's secured at the front and the rear. Rear and the transmissions at the back. The transaxle. Yeah, it just. When you get on it, the whole
Doug
thing is tight and so you get
Kenan
on it and the foot goes like this. It just rocks back and then you monster off down the road.
Doug
Sean, we got to get a Daytona in the office.
Kenan
It's pretty special.
Filippo
Who wouldn't want that? I will say go, go watch Ken's video on cars and beds YouTube channel.
Kenan
Yes, thank you for the reminding.
Doug
You want me to get a Daytona? You got to get one here so I can drive it.
Kenan
Bid on this one.
Doug
Bid on this one.
Kenan
But there it is. We went and we drove the car and it was just the coolest thing. I had the greatest time and it was a chance for me to meet a hero of mine. I've dreamt of that car since I was a kid.
Filippo
Totally.
Kenan
And it far exceeded my expectations. And whoever ends up with this car is very lucky indeed. Daytonas have not been appreciated the way that they deserve to be. And I hope that that changes because it is. Just look at the thing.
Doug
Yeah, okay. Unfortunately there's no other time for more market report stuff. We wanted to talk about Xteros. We want to talk about 97s360. We had a good 360 pull up the 360 result. We got to move on to questions. We're not going talk about the 360 result. It's just going to sit here. It's just going to sit here and you're going to look at.
Filippo
It's a high mile Car, too.
Doug
Questions, of course, are brought to you by Cars and Bids. Cars and Bids is the leading authority on cars and on bidding. If you want to bid or if you want cars, you go to carsandbids.com. oh, yeah.com there. We have an app too, Filippo.
Filippo
We do, yeah. We have an iOS app. And if you've been asking about an Android app, stay tuned.
Doug
Stay tuned.
Kenan
That's.
Doug
My God, he's telegraphing. There's a future.
Filippo
Just like, minutes ago, I got an email inviting me to join our Android testing.
Doug
It's like when Stefan Winkelman said they might do a two plus two. Oh, this is that level of. Oh, my God.
Filippo
No, no. Much more certain and much sooner.
Doug
I hope this gets covered in all of the industry publications. Anyway, from OMG foz. First question. Oh, and remember, you can ask questions. Go to carsandbids.com, click on the community tab. The next pod is with Sean. There's not gonna be a questions thing for it after that. You can. You can ask questions. First question is from OMG foz. Release the Saturn files. I want to talk about this because people have been asking me about it. You want to tell the story?
Filippo
No.
Doug
All right, here's the story. Go back to the fall of 22.
Filippo
Is that what it was?
Doug
Yeah.
Filippo
God, it's been a while.
Doug
Summer of 22, the fella sold his 430 Scuderia on cars and bids.
Filippo
I remember the car.
Doug
You reviewed it. Really nice guy. He lived up in somewhere and he was great. And he said, hey, listen, he. He said, since you're up here. He said, I also, as a nostalgia thing from my childhood, I bought a 1992 Saturn and it's pristine. Do you want to review it? And I was like, yeah, sure. So I did the Scoot. Sold the Scoot on the site, whatever. Then I did the Saturn same day. And the Saturn video has never found a date to go live.
Filippo
I, by the way, legitimately love the Saturn sl. We've auctioned a Saturn sl.
Doug
We actually had the Saturn video on the calendar over last summer, but I pulled it off.
Filippo
Look at this car for.
Doug
For something else.
Filippo
Yeah, I love. This is not the car. I love the Saturn sl.
Doug
That curved rear glass. Anyway, any whom. That's the, The. The. The. The formal way to say any who will.
Filippo
It will ever be shown to the public.
Doug
Well, I don't know. What do you think? Like, my. My thinking is Sean wants us to put it up at some point, probably to stop all the annoying comments.
Filippo
Plus to see 2022 dub. It's been a while.
Doug
Been a while. No beard.
Kenan
Just give me a shot.
Filippo
Your hair was longer or shorter?
Doug
Yeah, no, it will be interesting. I will put it up at some point. The problem is basically this. We now have. Ever since then, more or less, we've switched to this new format where on Tuesdays I put up video reviews with brand new cars and on Thursdays I put up video reviews with cars that we're selling on cars and beds. And the Saturn is neither. And so it's been hard to find a spot for it. I get emails from the automakers almost every day, like, hey, you filmed this car three months ago. Why has the video gone up yet? It's like, okay, we got a. Put that up and. Or hey, this car's got to go live because the seller needs it to be sold. So that video's got to go up. And they all have a higher priority than the Saturn. But it's out there.
Filippo
Can I. Okay. Mr. Beast, one of the top creators on YouTube and Amazon, Jimmy has a thing where he like pre recorded videos for like Jimmy five years from now, ten years from now, whatever. And also for once after he dies.
Doug
Oh, wow.
Filippo
Jesus. Have you considered just kind of saving that for that fateful unfortunate.
Kenan
I have an idea. If it comes up together, April 1st falls on a Tuesday or on a Thursday, I think. So release it then.
Doug
Maybe I'll release it for the five year anniversary of filming it next year, which is probably September. I would.
Kenan
That's what you should do. Sean popped up the gopher.
Doug
The thing is, I want to put it up. What? What? Sean? We should sell a shirt. We should sell a shirt. Check out Sean and Filippo. The. The cars and bids for merch.carsandbits.com got a great merch. I'm putting it up. At some point I got to find a slot for it. It initially was like, ah, it's been a year. There had been videos that waited a year and then there was that video that waited a lot longer. And I got to find a place to put it. But it's been hard.
Filippo
Only fans, they're going big into non VAT creators.
Doug
Next question from row 76. Tell us about the mega track. Ah, you're in luck. No, I'm kidding. But man, I. Pretty cool, right? Row 76. When are we getting Ryan on the pod? Ryan, I'd love to have him on the pod. Normally he sits and watches the pod, but we haven't been keeping his interest today. I don't need to deal with These jerks. Someday, Ryan will go on the pod. I think pretty soon, actually, Ryan's planning to be on the pod. I would love to have Ryan on the pod for a lot of reasons. Mainly to kind of get inside his head, get inside his psyche and see what's all going on in there.
Filippo
Let's see if we can get a night. Get an explanation.
Doug
And you can. He golfs. I mean, he's. He's. He's an interesting fella. He's. He golfs. You can. You can talk about it to him. I don't know. You don't talk about it.
Kenan
Golf is interesting. That's definitely what our audience wants to hear more golf.
Doug
Felipe, you want to have Ryan on the pot or not? Of course. Can I?
Kenan
Yeah. I like Ryan. All right, let's get to be in videos with Ryan. I'm lucky.
Doug
That's true. You're around Ryan more than all of us.
Filippo
Ryan, by the way, you can find him most Mondays on the cards and bids YouTube channel.
Doug
Check out the Cars and Bids.
Kenan
You channel the new channel?
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
Key. Go to Key. You see Ryan Lopez 247 right now?
Filippo
Well, depending on where you watch it, in the next two hours, you'll see a video with Ryan on the Key Channel.
Doug
You can even ask him about his hair in the comments. Okay, next question. Next question. Dear Doug, from One Cheap 987. Dear Doug, you've mentioned several times you hated working for an oem and you pity everyone who works for an oem. If you were forced to pick an OEM right now, who would you choose for. I do not pity people who work at OEMs. I think people who work at OEMs, OEM being car companies, headquarter car companies. I do not. I've definitely never said that I pity people who work for OEMs ever. I promise. I've never said that. The OEM that I worked for. Yeah, yeah, that was. I definitely have some pity there. There. Which was Porsche. It wasn't. It wasn't my best job. Let's put it that way. Let's. Let's just say if I had to walk behind Filippo cleaning up all of his slop, that might also be a better job than the one I had.
Kenan
I don't know. We're off the rails at the slop. It's all over.
Filippo
What?
Doug
Filippo, have you ever thought about working for a car company?
Filippo
No, not really. I'm a startup guy, through and through, and even startup.
Kenan
Go, work. Go for RJ.
Filippo
These startup car companies are 100 times larger. Than I want my company to be.
Doug
Go work for Tello, dude.
Filippo
Tello is small.
Doug
Tello's small. Just like the truck. Just like the truck.
Filippo
It's a teletruck drive.
Doug
If you were forced to pick an OEM to work for right now, who would you choose? Buick. Next question.
Filippo
You and Mary Bar can hang out.
Kenan
Buick.
Doug
Next question. This is a very interesting question from Ricky Marquez. Will the manual Panamera go up in value in the future? This question makes an interesting presumption assumption and that there is a manual Panamera.
Filippo
Was there?
Doug
Okay, so here's an interesting thing that a lot of people don't know. When the Panamera first came out in 2010, Porsche made manual transmission, rear wheel drive Panameras, both the V6 and the S. There are manual Panamera s never sold in the United States. This question asks, there's only 146 of them made. Will they go up in value? One time I was in Stuttgart at a business meeting when I worked for Porsche. The job that was similar to cleaning up Filippo's slop. And I remember right at the factory there in Zufenhausen, which is also Stuttgart. No one knows why they're called both, but they are. There's a Porsche dealer right there at the factory. And one time, I remember after the meeting ended, I was waiting for a ride back to the hotel or whatever and I walked into the dealer and there was a Panamera S sitting there on the showroom. I looked inside and it was was a stick. And I was like. I knew it existed, but I was like, oh my God, this is so crazy. They. They killed it real quick. Yeah, but. And claims only 146 made, probably most of which were V6s. I think the S's are probably the rare one. How cool. What a cool thing. Do you think it'll go up in value? I don't know. 928s never went up in value.
Kenan
You know, Kayan says, but Cayenne certainly have.
Doug
Yeah, but still not over sticker like that one green one.
Filippo
But other than that also only I think in the U.S. okay, and that's true.
Kenan
But also I imagine if, if someone one day, if Nick is still being crazy many. And what's that? You said 2010, so we got to wait till 2035.
Doug
It's not that far off. It's already 16 years old. It's nine years away. They're legal in Canada. You could bring a manual Panamera to Canada today if you can find.
Kenan
I could figure out A way.
Filippo
Godspeed.
Doug
If you can find one.
Filippo
Surely it was whoever wanted the cheapest Panamera.
Doug
I mean, there were probably people who bought S's. They looked cool because like the Carrera gt, the Panamera had the shifter up high. So it was like a high mount car shifter. Yeah. See if you can pull one up. Manual Panamera. See if you can pull up an image from the interior. They're out there. Wow.
Filippo
Right hand drive and left hand drive.
Kenan
That does not surprise me. Wow, look at that.
Doug
They're out there. They exist.
Filippo
Wow. Good. Good shifter position.
Doug
They exist. You want one of these?
Filippo
Kind of. Yeah, I. I do.
Doug
You know the sad thing, the. The truth is the dual clutch was such a good trans for that car.
Filippo
Switch swappable though?
Doug
Probably not.
Filippo
Why not?
Doug
Because it's a dual clutch. It's not.
Filippo
Well, you know, you got to swap entire transmission.
Doug
Okay. Yeah. Buy it. Buy an 8, 400 automatic Panamera. Spend $43,000 swapping the last remaining manual transmission.
Filippo
That's cool.
Kenan
That is.
Doug
I did not know somehow you didn't know they existed?
Filippo
I think vaguely it was somewhere in my mind.
Kenan
But no, you know the other one, Alfred. Didn't the Alfred Julia Quadrifolio come with a manual in?
Doug
Did it?
Kenan
Yeah, I believe in Italy. Correct.
Doug
Really? Damn, that'd be a cool car too. Those are a lot newer.
Kenan
Those are a lot newer. But they are only.
Filippo
Was it the Quadrifogler? Was it? Yeah, yeah, it was the Quad.
Kenan
It was the Quad. Yeah.
Filippo
That's cool.
Doug
Next question. We'll do two more. Very, very quick. Two more from Lawrence. Hi, Doug. Why do you no longer include exhaust sound clips in the reviews of performance cars like Canon's AMG V12 powered SL65 Kenan? Do you want to explain why I didn't do an exhaust clip in that video?
Kenan
Well, that particular car, it's pretty quiet is kind of the reply.
Doug
Doesn't it not rev?
Kenan
No, it does.
Doug
The reason, the answer, I still do them. To be clear, when I can. Like I just did the Viper and we did it. But to answer your question, like almost all new cars do not let you rev in Park. Like 2000 RPM is the max you can rev almost all. In fact, the C8 being a Corvette, has a special mode where you can't rev it in park, but if you pull both paddles at once, you can rev it and park. Like you have to confirm that you want to be annoying. But like almost all of the new cars that I review do not do that the older ones do. And so I do it when it's appropriate. Like I didn't do it for the X5, but like for the Viper, we did it. I did it for the Aston Vanquish, which is coming up. There's a few. The Firebird we have coming up in our office. But that's, that's like the big problem. You go to rev like the new RS6 Avon and it revs the 2000. Like there are electronic.
Kenan
I forgot that was the thing.
Filippo
Aren't there ways. Is it like neutral or drive?
Doug
You try neutral, it doesn't work either. It's the same thing. Car stop will not let you rev. It's just like fine with that.
Kenan
Why?
Doug
Maybe for sound. There's all these rules in Europe. Maybe for emissions, maybe for just general annoyance. Maybe to protect the engine from cold revving. Like you start it and want to show your buddies and. But a lot of new cars don't do it from a lot of different brands.
Kenan
I'd love to know more on the reason, but all those sound plausible.
Doug
Yeah. Yeah. Final question from Jolly Swagman. Final question. Dear Doug and team members, thank you for referring.
Kenan
Thank you.
Doug
You all call Southern California home these days, and you're all plugged into the local car enthusiast scene. But you've all lived in various places across the U.S. how would you compare car culture in of the other cities where you've lived?
Filippo
Yeah, happy to answer. Madison, Wisconsin had way more manual hatchbacks. Way more my scene as a result.
Doug
Okay.
Filippo
Yep.
Doug
Okay.
Filippo
Okay.
Doug
What about Baltimore? How was the car culture there?
Filippo
Great.
Doug
Okay.
Filippo
No, I don't know. I was. The reality is that before cars and bids, cars were always a part of my life. But going to like car events really.
Doug
Okay, but you're driving around Baltimore, like, what are you seeing?
Filippo
Oh, great, great cars that I love. I love quirky, weird things. There was a. In my neighborhood, there was.
Doug
Was a.
Filippo
There was some old American EV that I'm blanking on that was just parked on the street.
Doug
There S10EV. EV GMEV1.
Filippo
No, full. There was something that was really interesting. Was there like you see cool cars everywhere.
Doug
Did you ever.
Filippo
My folks are in New Hampshire. A lot of manual station.
Doug
We're talking about Baltimore car culture. You agree if Nick was on the pod, we'd have to cut out.
Filippo
We have to cut apart every single word.
Doug
Yep. That would hit the cutting floor pretty hard. And what about your previous in Cleveland?
Kenan
Yeah, I found the thing about Cleveland that's galvanizing is the weather. So when it's nice. We can all use our cars. Like all come out.
Filippo
Unfortunate word for that context.
Doug
Ironic, actually. Yeah, it is.
Filippo
Yeah.
Kenan
But it. It really is. And so like I actually found. There was a. I found a great group of car people. There's. When I live there, a surprising number of exotics make their way in from the coast. They end up in the Midwest. And there's also a very, very strong pre war scene there. So it's a surprisingly. And of course muscle cars and like there's a pretty diverse actual group of car enthusiasts there. And they're all. We're all very tight as there's. When the weather's nice, we drive and we're out there going and using them. So yeah, a very good scene. Still friends with a lot of people in the Cleveland car scene out there. So shout out to the land as it were.
Doug
All rust. Worst car scene in the world. Philadelphia. You agree? In America. No.
Filippo
Wasn't there a Veyron in center city for a while?
Doug
You agree though? Worst car in America.
Filippo
I was walking up pine and an drove by me.
Doug
Sure you are.
Filippo
No, it was. I have a picture for like 2015 of this happening.
Doug
Worst car scene in America, Philadelphia.
Filippo
I don't agree with that.
Doug
It's a city where the people don't have. It's not like New York where like to have a car you got to be like rich and quirky. So there are some weird cars around. Philly's the opposite. Street parking is horrible. The culture generally is like things get damaged. Like that's just like general Philly culture. Like it's not a place for cars. People did not get into cars. It's not a driving city. There are no good Philly core cultural work in America. Now I'm not saying outside Philly. I'm not coming for you, Wayne. That's where Filippo lived for two years when he was in his suburban family phase. Of course he left that family.
Filippo
Right. They don't know that. But yeah.
Kenan
Oh man, that's really. You're close there.
Doug
Who's out there? Worst car culture in America.
Filippo
I don't agree with that.
Doug
What do you think? Source car?
Filippo
There's a lot of cities that don't really have any kind of.
Doug
That was Philly.
Filippo
No, Philly had.
Doug
Every car in Philly had like 14 of those residential parking permits on the back and was a Toyota Corolla.
Filippo
We. We like different things.
Doug
It wasn't even cool. It was Toyota Corollas. It was nine year old Toyota Corollas.
Filippo
There were also some. Some cars. One time there was a manual 360 driving around. There was a Skyline GTR. There was a hover, there was a VA Vantage.
Kenan
I'm so sick.
Filippo
There was an S cargo, there was a Viper. I think that's it though, right?
Kenan
That was all.
Doug
That was all of them. We had Defender, we had an rdx.
Filippo
Yeah.
Doug
I own an Acura. People don't ever forget that. Okay, that's the end. Kenan, give us some parting thoughts.
Kenan
Well, I don't know. I'm very happy SL65 found a new home. Go check out my YouTube channel. I have one more video coming out on that car. Talking about the auction and walking through that.
Doug
We never a little bit of the drag race.
Kenan
Yeah, we never A little bit of news. Have a little bit of news. But that's going to wait. Teaser, you're going to have to wait. But we never did do the drag race cuz Nick and I were scared. But I'm kind of happy we did didn't so it's fine. Plus then Nick doesn't have to be truly embarrassed in my car as fast there is that.
Doug
Goodbye everyone.
Filippo
Goodbye.
Kenan
Goodbye. Esto Valela penasaverlo TikTok shop Tiajuda Scubir productos de wembalorio fertas or Presa rapido Simbusque Interminales solo buenas compras descarga TikTok aura.
In this lively episode, Doug DeMuro is joined by regular co-hosts Filippo and Kenan to break down the week’s most notable automotive news and trends. From Honda/Sony’s failed EV partnership, the debut of the latest Corvette Grand Sport, thrilling manual transmission developments at Porsche and Nissan, a possible four-seat Lamborghini, Mercedes-Maybach’s new luxury van, to personal stories of buying, selling, and driving unique cars, the crew delivers sharp analysis and plenty of humor. Listeners also get updates from the Cars & Bids world, audience Q&A, and some wild automotive trivia.
[01:17–03:08]
"A chance for Producer Sean to let his creative juices flow and create some really high-quality, cool car stuff." – Doug [02:19]
[03:08–08:44]
"If you want to be successful as an EV automaker, this ain’t it." – Doug [06:02]
"It is not easy to develop a car. A lot of tech companies look at it—oh, it's a skateboard." – Kenan [06:38]
[09:22–14:23]
“Tremec showed something at SEMA last year that I wish they wouldn’t have shown. It’s not real.” – Tony Roma via Filippo [10:34]
“One of the best sports cars... would be cool if it had three pedals.” – Doug [10:57]
[16:55–21:12]
“Who’s looking for two-door two-plus-twos anymore?” – Doug [18:17]
“Best-dressed CEO in the world.” – Kenan, on Stephan Winkelmann [17:12]
[22:22–24:41]
“I think that’s pretty cool technology...the physical act of shifting...” – Doug [23:36]
[26:02–28:30]
"The Nismo Z is finally getting a manual, which it should have had from day one. Too little too late though.” – Doug [26:28]
[31:45–33:08]
“A Maybach van...$200,000 is the number being bandied about.” – Doug [32:36]
[40:57–43:07]
[38:23–41:13]; [76:13–80:33]
“Daytonas have not been appreciated the way they deserve to be.... I hope that changes.” – Kenan [80:04]
[43:32–46:45]
“It just got silly...every 100 Series Land Cruiser, I’m talking about the combination of luxury and reliability”—Doug [46:01]
[46:45–53:54]
[65:01–70:38]
[72:40–75:18]
“I think that is the future of car events: go and use cars the way they’re supposed to be used. That was the most pure automotive event I have ever been to.” – Kenan [75:18]
[80:33–94:25]
"Worst car scene in America: Philadelphia." – Doug [93:56]
The End of Doug’s Take:
"The community has grown so much that the comments provide what the Doug’s Take was intended to provide in the first place." – Doug [44:44]
On Electric Manuals:
"If there’s anything the Ioniq 5N proved...shifting it that way feels pretty organic and really cool.” – Kenan [23:17]
Maybach Van Hype:
“There better be a fish tank in this.” – Doug [33:04]
Afeela’s Failure:
“It does not have a viable path forward.” – Filippo [05:41]
Nissan Z Farewell:
“When I was 15 and the Z came out, it changed the world…this is like kind of a whimper.” – Doug [26:53]
Classic Car Driving Events:
"...that was the most pure automotive event I have ever been to and I absolutely loved it.” – Kenan [75:18]
Cars and Bids News:
“Cars and Bids is the leading authority on cars and on bidding. If you want to bid or if you want cars, you go to carsandbids.com." – Doug [80:34]
This episode is a smorgasbord of car news, enthusiast culture, and behind-the-scenes insight—delivered with Doug DeMuro’s signature mix of expertise and wit, plus the humor and banter unique to the show’s regulars. Essential listening for anyone who loves spirited debate on car industry moves, obscure automotive trivia, and evolving car culture.
For more, visit the THIS CAR POD! archive or subscribe to their new "Key" YouTube channel for video content.