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Humanoids Took My Job, But At Least They Don’t Take Lunch · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Hello.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: This is your place for all things automotive, the award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Just ahead, uh, we're going to talk to you about recalls, and I'm going to start off with our story of the week.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think that you're going to be interested in this one.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: Before you do that, you talk about formats for the Ford December.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: I recently catched it on the tech formats.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: I love them.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: They're great.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: They're fantastic.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why I didn't give them before.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's so funny because that was a thing that just kind of hit on that.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: And uh remember when they came out, we're going, well, what's the difference between going to Walmart and this?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: And then you get a set of those and you go, Well, wait a minute, they actually fit.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: And the little plugs, the little solar devices, all that, the little scutcheons and you know, the little heavier, yeah.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: And having lived up north with all the snow and the slush and all the ugly, nasty stuff that you get on your shoes and bring it into the car, these things, they hold all that in, and you can either sop it up or you can take it out.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: Great idea.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, and rinse it out.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I really like it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a great company, American company.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: They make American stuff there.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: Everything from dog bowls to cup display cup holders.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, and I bought uh one of those uh cell phone holders and uh I use that in my Corvette.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: Because the the cup holder in the Corvette, I I swear it's that deep.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: That deep.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: It holds nothing other than a quarter or two, and so it doesn't work.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's worthless.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: Our story of the week from Automotive News.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that uh we all can somehow in a strange way relate to this.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: Automotive manufacturing is on the brink of a radical workforce transformation as the industry's race toward fully automated assembly lines signals a fundamental redefinition of factory work.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: At least one automaker will achieve 100% assembly automation by 2030, according to analysts at Gartner and Warburg Research.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: The shift represents more than operational efficiency.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: It marks an inflection point where artificial intelligence, humanoid, robotics, and digital manufacturing converge to eliminate nearly all human roles from the assembly process.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: Now you worked on the assembly line.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: I've known other people that have worked on the assembly line.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: And so all of this is about to change.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: The implications extend far beyond the factory floor, reshaping everything from vehicle design principles to workforce training pipelines to the economics of auto production.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: A US or Chinese automaker will likely be the first to create a 100% assembly automation line toward the end of this decade, as several players in those markets are already setting up disruptive manufacturing processes and reveal more of a focus on humanoid robots.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: Automakers such as Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz have already taken steps to increase the use of humanoid robots.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: Mars, are you paying attention over there?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it sounds like somebody's putting somebody out of a job.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, listen up.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's less than two years away.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: The Automaker unveiled a strategy January 5th at the Consumer Electronics Technology Expo in Las Vegas.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: The company aims for production scale deployment of humanoids in automotive manufacturing and a scalable production system capable of producing 30,000 robots annually.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, can you imagine going to a Texans game is nothing but robots?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't see it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: I I Mercedes has launched a pilot project with humanoid robots that it says could begin working alongside assembly workers by 2030.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Alongside, yeah.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, to start off with.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, R2D2, you want to go to lunch?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's that.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: How about an oil break?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, about an oil break.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't see it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so you build a car with robots, everything's automated, assembly line, you go down the line.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Who's gonna drive that car off the line?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a thought.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Robbie, the robot will do it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But my question is when something goes wrong.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Which you know it will.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: It will, because I mean it's still a mechanical device, and sooner or later it's gonna need some sort of maintenance or attention, or something's gonna break, or or a part doesn't fit quite right, and they cram that windshield in there anyway, and suddenly it shatters.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: I and then they move on to the next, yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh since uh this story was written, I read another story with uh similar tendencies, and the issue that they're currently dealing with dashboards.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, because you gotta fit them in the car and yeah, yeah, and so now what are they gonna do with the wiring harness that goes up to it?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, for the most part, they're all plug and play.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so get that robot to start plugging and plugging all those dashboards in and make it all work with because you know today with a human you don't have to stretch the wire, the wire is cut just exactly right to fit up to the plug with nothing left over.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so that's what they're currently dealing with wiring harnesses, things like that, very intricate things.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: Or here's the other one, and uh Mars, I think that you were on the tour with me.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: We went through Ford, we couldn't understand why the doors went off to another part of the complex, because the doors are the most complicated of the automobile.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so they send them off to a different area of the factory put together, yeah.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they put all the innards of the door in there, and then they send the door back down the line to match up with the car that it was painted with.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so it's going to be robots assembling it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: So the door is already gonna be made when that robot touches it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, so there's gonna be a human putting that glass in, all the switches and probably at the beginning.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: At the beginning, and then they're gonna say, Okay, R2D2, go ahead, put it on, and then he goes and puts it in the trunk or whatever.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: But but there's movies to be made about all that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: We got one.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: There if you think about it though, when you're assembling a car, like you say, you plug the dash, for example, those wires plug in underneath.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And for them to touch to talk, is the old idea that you don't have any extra slack because you're saving pennies.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: That means the dash has got to be in place.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, can the robot get up under there?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or are they going to have to redesign how they put the parts together so accommodate the robot?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe the dash goes in first.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they're gonna have to change the way they assemble the car.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: So let me finish the story.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: Nevertheless, from an employee perspective, digital products and AI are making engineering and manufacturing work more challenging, according to Detlef Gerst, Javol, of course, AI and digitization expert on the executive board of IG Metall, Germany's largest trade union.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: Fast product changeovers and a wide variety of variants require cooperation between AI technology and well-qualified, flexible employees.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: In other words, you, Jeff Zeken, that we're putting tires on the car now, you're gonna have to go to school.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of school to learn how to integrate this robot to that car.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Because the other jobs that are plain and simple, they don't exist anymore.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Digital helpers are changing human tasks and skills, thereby making further training and personnel development crucial.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Employees must be able to understand and assess digital technology.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: In other words, they need a high degree of expertise as well as rising demand for skills related to digital technologies, advanced manufacturing, and the transition to electric mobility.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Workers will increasingly need the ability to adapt to change, learn throughout their careers, solve problems, work in teams, and operate safely in technology-rich environments, according to the International Labor Association.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so you go into the factory and you say, I'm gonna hijack all the robots in here, and they're gonna go after all of the human, all the humans in here.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna revolt.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: You see where the movie starts right there?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: However, full automation of the assembly line need not necessarily lead to job losses.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Those employees will be reallocated to other support functions like maintenance, engineering, logistics, and material handling or inspection.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: Likewise, labor organization anticipates that some routine and manual tasks may be reduced.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: Many jobs are likely to change in their content, and new jobs are expected to emerge.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: The emphasis is on the evolution and transformation of jobs within the industry rather than a simple one-for-one replacement of existing roles.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've I think it's taken longer.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jeff, you worked up there.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So didn't wasn't in a constant learning process, every time a model changed, you had to kind of learn, okay, this one's coming through, and instead of bolting the black to the blue, I got to bolt white to the red or something.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: There's different models have different things that go on with the body.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: It seemed to me like it would be a constant state of change so that that learning process would be ongoing.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this might not be too much different.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it it's the model change is the model change for overall for the vehicle, but putting a part on, putting a putting X part on A car and then Y part on B car, that's all part of the assembly process, and you've got that segregated or categorized how you want to put that on the vehicle.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I had the striker plates for when you push the button in the in the glove box and you push the button and the trunk went up.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was all fancy back then.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that device in the trunk was as a cover, they call it the striker cover.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: I put three screws in that every third job.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: So as the car came through, say like a Corvette, Corvette comes through, zip, zip, zip.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: I put three screws in and I'd go sit down.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then two jobs went by because somebody else was doing those jobs.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody else had number two, somebody else had number three, doing the same job, but you didn't do every every one that rolled through the assembly.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: So then you count one, two, three, and you get up and you do yours, and then you go sit down.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: And as as the car no, they don't do it that way anymore.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I was young and I was getting paid a lot of money because I wasn't a factory worker, but uh now it's all automated now.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that striker cover I talked about in the trunk, it's probably pre-made in that somehow before putting on that added piece.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's something to think about.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Your cars that's where your unions come in, yeah.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's why they're so expensive.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I think that you're going to see that the price of cars will continue to rise because robots are not cheap, but they are cheaper than paying insurance in the long run.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Insurance, uh retraining somebody uh to not only put the tires and wheels on, but now he's gonna have to bolt up the transmission to the engine, or they're gonna have to put the engine in.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: You get the point.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: Prior to that, my brother worked for the same Fisher Body.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: My dad got us in.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: My brother was part of a fire crew.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: He would ride around in a golf cart with fire extinguishers.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's all he did all day.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: And if he saw a fire, they'd put out a fire.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: But that was just a job that they had.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Huh.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Mars, there's something yet for us to do.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is back in the 70s again, guys.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, I remember one time I had a job in a refinery that I was on the fire crew, but uh they didn't have any no fires if there were no drills.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody hollered there was a fire, yeah, this was in everybody came a running.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everybody went to the middle of the plant like idiots, you know.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, anyway, it's something to think about.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I would imagine that uh the majority of cars are going to be built with robots.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and they already are today.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: They are like all of the welding stuff, those those those bodies and and the frames and all of the parts and components that are underneath the car that you don't see, those go into a metal cage and you have all these robots doing all of those weld points.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Go to a tire plant, it's all automated.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's all automated in a tire plant.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: They've got the you know, the big arm robots that do that.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they've got all that names.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but but a lot of that stuff to me is not as intricate, is not as delicate as trying to put the wiring harness together or or mount the computer and plug it in, things like that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: That let me tell you something.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: I I am very good with uh wiring harnesses.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I sit back and I look at all those wires and I'm going, You should have seen them this morning with a one-eighth plug.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, what do I do?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: Where does it go?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Where does it go?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, all of the wires are black.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: There's no color code.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: What do I do?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: I told him to call you, Mike.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, and get the next guest on.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, call Mike, he'll figure it out.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thanks, God.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I thought that that was a pretty interesting story.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and uh it's only the beginning.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: All this stuff being presented at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, is it open to the public?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's kind of like SEMA, it's it's industry.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh buddy.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're right.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're right, Mike, because uh yeah, you have to be a manufacturer, like you said, like a SEMA thing.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Journalist, something, you know, something in the industry.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: It'd be nice to have a car, a hot rod car, a Randy Borting high-end rebuild resto mod thing, take that to CES.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: In addition to CEMA, then you're gonna go over to the consumer electricity.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: What would be the what would be the point of taking the the car to CES?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, you know, it would probably have some sort of fancy computer in it or okay, uh, you know, engine management or something.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: It was all painted the whole car was painted in detail by a robot.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's what you could do.
• 14:12
  unknown: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: Or yeah, have it painted with the wiring harness painted in the paint on the outside of the car.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Don't they have I don't know if it's one of the auto shows or somewhere I saw that there's actually a clear car, clear vehicle.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: All the parts are clear, even on the engine.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: I missed that.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would have liked to.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to find it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was a dream.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe a display for somebody or something.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It could have been.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: Every day is a dream for me.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: He's living it.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm living it.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, just ahead.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: Jeff has the racing calendar, Mars has this week in auto history, and I'll bring you some of the stories making automotive use headlines this week.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: The Unwheel Time Card Talk Show continues right after this.
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  SPEAKER_03: Well, all the popular ones.
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• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: All right, time now for Jeffrey's racing calendar, sponsored by the Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Guess what I got?
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: I've got the racing schedule for everything.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: I've got Cup coming up, Daytona 500.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: You're going to start February 1st for the cookout clash at Bowman Grace Stadium.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's going to be February 1st.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: Then you got February 12th, the America 250 Florida duel.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then February 15th is the actual 500 at 2:30 p.m.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: on Fox HBO and FUBO.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: Guess what else I have?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: FUBU, I think it was FUBO.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Fubo, FUBO, whatever.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: Boo Boo.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: Whatever.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then I got Xfinity, same schedule, same track, just a different uh grouping.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: You got the Xfinity Boys, and then the truck.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: So the trucks are going to go uh February 13th on the 26th.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course uh there's some 21st.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Tony Stewart's gonna run a truck.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and there's also one of the craftsmen, one of the craftsmen, uh, can't think of his name.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: He's retiring.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, I can't think of his name.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: I've got the article somewhere.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, I got NHRA.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: NHRA starts March 5th through the 8th, the 57th annual NHRA Gator Nationalism Gainesville race.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, Gainesville, Florida.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: I was talking to somebody like Gainesville.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: You ever been to Gainesville?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh probably through it when I was a kid.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: You ever been to the racetrack there?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's in a swamp.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's in a swamp.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Florida is a little bit more.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Two-lane road that goes out into the swamp, and then all of a sudden, boom, there's the racetrack.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's weird.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Don Garland's is weird, always has been, and uh he will confess to that.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um F1, Cadillac obviously is going to be announcing their livery during the Super Bowl.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: I actually saw a preview picture of it.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: It looks pretty good.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a black car with a little logo on it.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: So they're gonna they're gonna it's pretty cool.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty cool car.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of them are introducing that stuff.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh two weeks is the testing for Formula One.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Two more weeks.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Two more weeks.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's like the patio at the time.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: The patio took seven months, but it's took seven months, but every time we go, we hey is it how's it coming?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_03: Two weeks.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_03: Two more weeks.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Seven months later, they finally opened the outdoor patio.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: 13-foot hole in the ground and no concrete around.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Two more weeks.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Two more weeks.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Alrighty, then Mr.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: Mars has this week in auto history.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yes, sir.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Found a few things this week that I thought.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean to catch you off guard, but he caught me off guard.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Did I catch you off guard, Mike?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not me.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of watching Jeff waiting to make sure he was ready.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, uh, hanging on with my finger.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's going to be able to do it.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So this week in automotive history.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in 1896, the first automobile accident was reported.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is just basically the earliest one.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it was in New York when a motor car struck a bicyclist.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it just started the whole world as that we know now.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 1899, Fiat, everybody's favorite, is founded in Italy.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's uh in Turin, Italy, it grew into one of Europe's most influence influential automakers because it produced everything from tiny city cars to race winning machines.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And of course it ended up being bought up through Stellantis, through mergers, and everything, and that's how we ended up with Fiat in America.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: In nineteen oh four, and I did not know this, Henry Ford becomes president of the Ford Motor Company.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just assumed he was president whenever he created it and started it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: But that picture was taken before the dementia set in, Chambership.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at the eyes, but anyway, so he had a vision for affordable transportation which focused on efficiency, durability, and mass production.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, that's what led to the uh moving assembly line and really where we are today with automobile manufacturers.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: Mike, if you look, if you look at him and you move, his eyes follow you.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Inch by inch, step by step.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 1950, the first Corvette design concept was approved.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is kind of early in.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: I did not realize it took that long from the time they decided they were going to do this, so they actually produced one.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it was inspired by European sports cars and it brought the American performance in.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: And let's not forget, this is the first fiberglass car built in America too, and uh they had to try to perfect that.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever seen an actual?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: I I saw number two.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever seen number two?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they're pretty pretty rough.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they were all made by hand, weren't they?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, oh yes, they were.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: And the fiberglass is all laid by hand, and you can actually see the fiberglass beneath the crappy painting.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: The fibers in the fiberglass, yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's truly amazing.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: I I never knew, but that's the way it was.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they let it out the showroom for okay.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: In 1954, Hudson and Nash announced merger plans.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is I think it's crazy, Hudson Motor Company, car company, and the Nash Calvinator revealed their plans to merge, forming the American Motors Corporation.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, why I tried to do a thing on that, but it didn't work out.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, uh I've driven a refrigerator before.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So AMC, the idea was that they were going to compete against the big Detroit's Big Three, and they did produce a lot of iconic motors like the javelin.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: They even actually produced the Jeep Cherokee originally.
• 22:19
  unknown: Huh.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Then rolling over to 1966, Chevrolet reveals the Camaro name.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is for the pony car, and this was designed to complete direct compete directly with the Ford Mustang.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a small, they considered the Camaro a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs, is the way they backed up this name for the naming process.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 1960.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: Wasn't the original name of the Banshee of the Camaro?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I didn't think so.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I thought that that was the Pontiac version.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: A banshee comes to mind.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody had a banshee.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: That may have been an ex-wife or something, I don't know.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 1968, AMC introduced the javelin.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this again was to compete in the pony car market uh against the Mustang and the Camaro by this time, but they did find a lot of success in the Trans Am Racing Series and among road enthusiasts out on the road because it really had some nice performance and some really nice look on it.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's a classic.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 1992, this started it.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Lexus SC Coupe debuts at the Detroit Auto Show.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this isn't look like the new one, but the new one I think is one of the most beautiful cars in America today.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: But you can see where it gets its heritage of the lines on this car that built up to the newer one.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it just a beautiful car.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then in 2003, the final Oldsmobile was built.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what's interesting about this is they announced the new Bravada SUV launch.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: They were going to start selling these SUVs.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Two days later, they announced they're going to kill Oldsmobile.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now it took them about four years to go through the shutdown process as they killed different models each year instead of just shutting it all down at one time.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the last one that was actually built, uh, the fact the last 500 has special plaques, say the final 500 on them, but it was an Alero GLS four-door, a vehicle that looked just like this one.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And after it was produced and they ever shut everything down, it ended up uh in a couple of museums.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: The museum shut down and they auctioned it off to a dealer-only auction, and that car is now in Florida at a dealership down there somewhere in the part of the world.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that's this week in automotive history.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, sir.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: A couple of stories making automotive news headlines this week, about a half a century after creating the iconic slogan baseball hot dogs, apple pie, and chevrolet.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: Chevy is again wrapping itself in the American flag for the nation's 250th anniversary.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: The brand is rolling out five special editions, it's calling the Stars and Steel Collection.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: The models, all built in the U.S., add stars, stripes, and a 250 graphic, along with red accents and select premium options that underscore patriotism.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Package will be available on certain trims of the Silverado 1500, Silverado HD, Silverado EV, and Colorado pickups.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Chevy will also sell 250 stars and steel corvettes, which come in either Arctic White with a Santorini blue interior, or black with an adrenaline red interior.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: Line them up, take them away.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: He used to call it blood red.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: In GM moving its global headquarters this week into a newly finished building in the heart of downtown Detroit.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: The automaker's offices with all of their 21st century conveniences pay deep homage to the mid-century modern design of its global tech center campus in suburban Warren, Michigan, which opened 70 years ago this May.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: GM's new headquarters on the site of the former J.L.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: Hudson's department store.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm work there.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Incorporates the timeless elements of Year Eero Serenan's technical campus through the use of clean lines, curves, stone, and warm wood tones.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: According to Rebecca Waldmeyer, who just graduated from the Verb department at uh GM's Architecture and Experience Design Center.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, they're getting rid of or they're they're moving out of the Rensen.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Rensen was done, yeah.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was there multiple times, uh, tours and things.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: We used to have meetings there with in the General Motors building.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: I actually went to Renovic on ATD.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: They used to take us there for two weeks twice a year.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: I still don't understand why they did that.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh that downsizing, I guess.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, it could be.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now that property was actually purchased from Ford Motor Company to build the RenSend for General Motors.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they didn't build it for General Motors, but they built it.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: But the property did belong to Ford Motor Company.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: I did not know that.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Take a monorail to the ball game, back to the hotel, back to the Ren Center.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: Well, um is is is this new GM Center on Woodward Avenue?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know for sure.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Warren, the Warren Tech Center.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's been there forever, like you said, but I'm not sure where their thought I'd question you.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: Of course you haven't lived there in fifty years, right?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, about that, yeah.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we'd love to hear from you.
• 27:23
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• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: We'd love to hear you.
• 27:26
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• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Time now for a break on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: And we're going to be right back after these important messages.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: You own a car you love.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano ceramic window tent, or new windshield protection called ExoShield, Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: Curbed your wheels?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_03: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 28:17
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• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshield.com.
• 28:25
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• 28:32
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• 28:36
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• 28:42
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• 28:48
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• 28:53
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• 29:03
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• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
• 29:10
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• 29:13
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• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheeltime.com website.
• 29:27
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• 29:35
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