Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / John Davis on 42 Years of MotorWeek, Automotive Media, and the Joy of Driving

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John Davis on 42 Years of MotorWeek, Automotive Media, and the Joy of Driving · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
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all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
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designers, and everything in between.
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Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder How did they
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get that job or become that person?
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The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
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Our guest tonight is a mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate,
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as well as an MBA from NC state and the university of North Carolina.
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He's been on commercial radio and television programs
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nationwide for over four decades.
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He is a sought after speaker and frequently addresses automotive
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executives, consumer groups, automotive enthusiasts, and
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students interested in the field.
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His weekly program offers him that rare chance to bring the enjoyment of
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a hobby to his professional life and to use his broadcasting, engineering, and
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analytical expertise to supply information and insight to those who enjoy cars.
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Tonight, we are proud and honored to let our guest's distinct
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voice introduce himself to our audience and share his story.
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So without further delay.
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Hi, I'm John Davis, and this is the break fix podcast.
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Welcome John.
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So like all good break pick stories, there's always a who,
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what, where, why, and when some sort of superhero origin story.
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So tell us about your petrol head origin story.
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Were you from a family that was into cars?
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How are you attracted to them?
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Were there certain makes and models that it got you excited about
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the automotive world as a kid?
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Transcribed Well, you're talking a long time ago, uh, Eric, and basically, you
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know, a Southern boy that grew up in the 50s and 60s, basically, you grew
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up with gasoline in your vein and, and it had been pretty prevalent through
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my family, my father, his brothers.
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They were all car aficionados.
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I will say it was pretty much almost entirely a Ford
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family, which wasn't unusual.
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We were there sort of the birth of NASCAR and we followed the people
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like Fred Lorenzen in the sixties during his NASCAR peak days.
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So yeah, it was kind of a natural, but I really went into
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school at NC state to become a.
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An aerospace engineer, although about halfway through when I
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realized how expensive it was going to be to get a pilot's license.
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Cause I really wanted one very badly.
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I even gravitated even more towards automobiles.
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I mean, I was driving my grandfather's 1953 DeSoto with a, you know, three
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on the tree up and down his driveway.
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Gosh, from the time, probably I was 12 or 13 years old, just going
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forward and back and forward and back.
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So it wasn't an unusual thing that cars became a fascination, but I did
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not expect to make my career in it.
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And I didn't for a long time.
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I mean, after engineering school into the Vietnam war, there weren't as
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many jobs for aerospace engineers.
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Those that were there, they wanted you to go get a business degree.
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So I went ahead and got my MBA before, by that time I had set my sights on
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going to wall street, which I did move to New York for about a year, but I
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had worked my way through college and radio and television, just as a way
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to make some extra spending money.
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Weekend disc jockey and then, uh, with a couple of the local TV stations, just,
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you know, weekend fill ins for the news desk and the sports desk and so forth.
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I, uh, ended up having an opportunity to go to, uh, Maryland and Maryland Public
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Television to work on the pioneering financial series, Wall Street Week with
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Louis Rukeyser, which really started financial television as we know it today.
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And I was the chief.
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producer of that from 73 until its demise about 30 years on.
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But during that process, when I had become executive producer, I was charged by my
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boss at the time to basically do a couple of pilots to see whether or not I was a
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one trick pony or had some other talents.
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One of the pilots I did was Motor Week because being an automotive
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enthusiast, and by that time I had owned a DeTomaso Pantera and a
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number of Mustangs and a Corvette.
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I mean, I basically was putting my money where my enthusiasm was.
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We did the show in 78, a pilot.
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It sat on the shelf for three years.
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And then in 81, when we got a hint that another big public TV station
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was going to do an automotive series.
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And the idea for the series was it would be a national series from the get go.
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When we got that idea that they were going to do something, uh, we jumped into
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action and finally got it on the air.
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So it went on in the fall of 81 in October.
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Thought it would be fun to do for about five years.
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And here we are, uh, 42 years later.
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So for many of our guests, they're obviously familiar with the show.
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It's been on for 42 years.
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And if you're not, if you're not, you should be ashamed of yourself.
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If you call yourself a gear head and you haven't stumbled across us on
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YouTube or something, shame on you.
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Absolutely.
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And what's beautiful is you guys have said.
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started to also bring back some of the old motor week tests, which
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are fantastic to watch online.
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We do a lot of that.
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That's our retro reviews and that's all done by an ex staff
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member who is not my son, even though he was often accused of it.
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Ben Davis.
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He, uh, basically does that after he's moved away and couldn't
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work for us full time anymore.
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He works for us part time and he puts together one of the retro reviews for
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our, uh, Motor Week listing on YouTube.
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com slash Motor Week.
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He tries to do one a week and then every time there's a holiday, he'll do a whole
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weekend marathon where you can call in.
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And sometimes I'm there, sometimes some of the old staff like Lisa Barrow show up.
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So, he's turned the retro reviews into a real thing.
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Thank you, Ben.
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And you know, what's fun is you guys really set the bar, not
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just here in the United States.
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Once those retro reviews came out, I started to see that in publications,
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even overseas where they're like, well, motor week started doing that.
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We'll start doing that too.
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And some Italian magazines were doing it, bringing back old trials and nineties.
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And I thought that was really, really neat.
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It's interesting.
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I didn't know that.
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Well, nobody has got our library.
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I mean, it's just that simple.
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There really isn't any other depository except maybe some commercials of
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video going back in our offices.
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We've actually got old tapes, cassettes, and we have, we still have some machines
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that will play them, of manufacturers B rolls that go back about 30 years.
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And I'm sure those manufacturers don't even have that stuff
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in their archives anymore.
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We actually recently had Dennis Gage on who has the second longest running
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automotive program in the United States.
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My classic car.
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And when he was here, we actually asked him about how he constructs
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his episodes and his are a little bit more free form and things like that.
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But I wonder after 42 years of doing motor week, how do you guys figure out?
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What you're going to talk about next and what cars you're going to review next.
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How do you put all that together?
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If you've watched the show for any number of years, you know, the format
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has basically remained unchanged and indeed It's really similar to what we did
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with the first episode 42 years ago The idea was it is a magazine it is designed
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with short segments that can be taken out Others put in their place, or you
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take them out to run commercials because our show is not only its first run on
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public television station around the country, but we also basically run the
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show as a second run on cable systems.
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Right now, our partner is Mav TV.
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The auto sports racing network.
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We have to be able to leave them time to make their money with a magazine style.
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So you can pull out segments, leave time and not basically destroy the
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entire program, which is harder to do when it's not formatted.
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So we're very highly formatted.
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Our show came along about the same time as two other magazine style.
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And that's really is the concept for motor week is an automotive magazine for TV.
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But you had a series on commercial tv for many years called evening magazine
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It was done by the westinghouse stations.
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It sort of pioneered the magazine style segment after segment for Television and
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also back in those days Entertainment tonight was fairly new very new and
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that was the format they used so it has a lot of great Possibilities
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now the downside is you got to know what you're going to put in there
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You And you've got to do it to time.
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Time is what we live by.
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As far as what we cover, it's really simpler than you would think.
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There are always new cards coming out, and you're basically trying to keep
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up with the newest stuff that's there.
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Our idea was, from the beginning, we want to be as timely as the major print
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magazines, back when they were king.
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So if they would have something in their magazine on a certain month,
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Whatever the cover month was.
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Well, during that month, we would try to have it on the air.
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And the idea was they couldn't show as many pictures.
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So you got a lot of the technical data from them, and you got
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more of the pictures from us.
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Now, today, of course, it's much different.
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Everything's up on the internet almost instantaneously.
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So now what we spend most of our time with is more in depth.
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But we do think the one thing that sets us apart from so much of the video that's out
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there today is we actually do test cars.
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We don't just write about them.
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We just don't just talk about them.
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We don't just look at the press kit and kind of regurgitate it.
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We're at the track every week with whatever we've got in.
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And we run through our regimented tests, just like we have for four decades.
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So when you hear what we're doing, you know, it's firsthand experience
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and we've got the miles to prove it.
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We are public televisions.
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We are lucky enough to have that shine on us because they hold us to a very
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high standard and we're very happy.
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That they do, and we think that makes us still very unique.
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It's got to be challenging, especially getting cars in to do
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the tests and things like that.
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Right now it is.
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Ordinarily, we have two cars in a week for two weeks that we
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test, and that's a long time.
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Most car makers don't want to give you a car for two weeks.
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When you figure how much videotaping we have to do, and we have to deal
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with weather, that's That's what it works out to be right now, though,
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because of the shortage that everybody hears about the supply change.
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There's no cars on dealerships.
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Sometimes the cars show up for far less than that.
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We just have to work faster when a car comes in.
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If you watch the show, I'm usually standing up next to the vehicle
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to do my little introduction.
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That's usually a dealer car.
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Dealers don't have cars.
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So right now, the moment that car comes in, I have to do whatever I need to
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do with the car while we're testing it because that car will likely will not be
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able to get one back for a second taping.
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So the pandemic and the supply chain shortage has had
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a big impact on us as well.
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So what would you say was probably one of the hardest cars to
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attain and bring in for a review?
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Oh, it's always one of the exotics.
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Right now, some of the newer manufacturers, you know,
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it's tough to get a Tesla.
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It's tough to get a Lucid.
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We managed to do it.
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What we've always done with a lot of the exotics and now we do it with some of
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the new brands is if the manufacturers don't have a car in our area and
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they're small and they try as best they can, but it doesn't always work out.
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We'll get an owner's car.
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We have lots of owners that come to us and say, You know, I noticed you haven't done
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one or you haven't done one in a while.
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I've got one.
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Would you like to do it a little more careful with their vehicle?
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Shall we say a lot more careful, actually, to be honest, but we'll still,
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if they'll let us take it to the track and do our evaluations, but the newer
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brands, exotics, we're very fortunate that Porsche works with us very, very well.
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Lamborghini does as well.
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Some of the other exotics.
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a little harder to get to and but if we can't get it from a manufacturer,
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we'll get it from an owner and that's kind of standard throughout
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the automotive media business many times in the over the decades when
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you would see a car being tested an exotic by one of the big buff books.
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They'd often tell you it was an owner's car.
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So that really hasn't changed over the course of reviewing thousands of cars.
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There's probably episodes that just didn't go right.
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I personally remember as a kid, the Zuzu trooper slalom exercise
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and how that all went down.
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And, you know, the reviews that came from that later, it's true.
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It happened.
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What are some of those memorable outtakes for motor week?
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And what are some of those Best of memories for you
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after the last four decades.
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Of course, you always remember the stuff that doesn't quite work out.
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Right.
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I am thankful to say knock on wood.
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We've had very few accidents over the years and no one has
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ever gotten seriously hurt.
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And I hope that continues a hope way beyond my tenure.
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You have to be careful.
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Cars are lethal, if you will pardon that.
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I hate to use that word, but they're big machines and they move fast and
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they weigh a lot and you can get into trouble if you're not what you're doing.
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Safety is something that we live by day after day.
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We did have one car, and I'm not going to mention the name, but let
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me just say it was a large European made, top of the line sedan.
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And we were at our testing facility doing low speed slalom, which
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we only do at 35 miles per hour.
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And the bottom of the engine let go, coated the track with engine
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oil and the car ended up on a truth.
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Oh no.
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You think, you know, you can roll a car at 35 miles an hour.
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Yes, you can.
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You can actually roll a card about.
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15 miles an hour.
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And it turned out that we discovered that the engine had a fault.
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So after the automaker finished getting very upset with us, about
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two weeks later, they let us know that we had done them a favor.
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I had another situation where we had another European sedan.
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We were driving it to a Roebling road in Savannah, Georgia, which
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is our winter testing ground.
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And we had almost gotten to Fayetteville, North Carolina.
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It was a cold day.
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Had stopped for gas, cranked it back up.
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The pulley on the front of the engine on the crankshaft
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exploded and left us stranded.
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And then once again, carmaker of course was very upset.
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Car had to sit there for like two weeks because they had a
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freak snowstorm right after that.
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But we had discovered a manufacturing fault.
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Every five years when we do an anniversary, we show some outtakes.
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We used this one for a while, but we sort of stopped.
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But it was where we caught a vehicle.
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It was a compact SUV.
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Again, I'm not going to say which brand.
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And we rolled it at our test track.
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We discovered that the suspension had a harmonic.
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That if you got it going back and forth just properly, the car would
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literally jump off the ground.
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And turn itself on its head.
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These are all old stories.
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I mean, these go back 25 years to 30 years.
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I'm happy to say the cars today are much, much better and quality is so much better.
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We really don't have these instances.
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Now it tends to be something like the screen doesn't work on the infotainment
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system or something electronic.
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We don't tend to have mechanical issues because cars today are designed so well.
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But over the years, you know, we've had our share of mishaps.
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There are few and far between, and I want to keep it that way.
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Probably plenty of great memories to combat all of those.
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So that's awesome.
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Oh, yeah.
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I mean, you know, every day you're driving somebody else's pride and joy.
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Some engineer has spent, you know, the better part of the
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last three or four years on it.
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I feel bad for them in one aspect, because you love it, you love it.
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But suppose you don't like Cars are not all designed by one person, suppose.
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You get in a vehicle, I can remember back in the oh, nineties, when in
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dash stereo systems were starting to get really, really complicated, lots
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of small buttons, and we really would take some of the manufacturers to
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task because the buttons are so small.
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You a regular hand.
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You couldn't hit.
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The button you were ended up two and three buttons, and I used to think
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after we had scolded some brand on that poor engineer that was designing
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that he probably was told to put all those controls on there probably
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knew better, but that's what you get.
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And we are enthusiast when we point out something that we don't like on a
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car, which people know is fairly rare.
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We're pretty positive most of the time.
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We wanted the car to get better.
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That's the whole bottom line.
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We're trying to give them feedback that maybe they'll take to heart.
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Over the years, though, there have been so many wonderful situations, so
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many accolades, so many anniversaries, so many great cars we've driven.
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So, John, along with that line of thinking, what is one of the most
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memorable cars that you've reviewed in all these years on Motor Week?
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The answer is, and it's an exotic, is the Enzo Ferrari.
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Oh.
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And the reason is, it was the first exotic car that I felt, number one,
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was designed for a six foot tall American, versus Italian anyway.
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It was super comfortable.
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It was the easiest car I had ever driven, insanely fast in, and felt comfortable.
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And there was something about the way they designed from start to finish.
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They wanted the most refined Ferrari they had ever developed in memory of Enzo.
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Yet they wanted it to uphold all of his performance standards.
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And they did it.
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And they did an incredible job.
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And that combination of all the parts working together perfectly and ending
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up with a vehicle that is just a joy to drive both at 30 miles an hour and
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130 miles an hour is very, very rare.
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And the only other vehicle that comes to mind that we walked
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away from feeling about the same.
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The bullet, not the first bullet.
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I believe it was bullet number three, Mustang bullet number three.
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That was Just a perfect combination of parts engineering and build
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and was just an amazing car.
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And those vehicles just don't come along very often.
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So I have to ask one of our famous pit stop questions, because I
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think a lot of our guests are going to be interested to know.
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And like you said, you have a pretty sorted past when it comes to your own
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personal cars, but you've reviewed Thousands of cars over the last 42 years.
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If you had to pick from all those cars and all the ones, you know, about what's
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the most beautiful car of all time.
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That's an easy one for anybody.
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My age, there is only really one answer and that's the Jaguar XK8.
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There is no more beautiful automobile that has been designed
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in my lifetime than the XK8.
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So that's easy.
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That's the easy one.
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Well, the hard one is then, what about the ugliest car of all time?
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Or the worst car of all time?
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That's not hard either.
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That's not hard.
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That's not hard at all.
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It's the Yugo.
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Oh, really?
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You know, you're the second person to say that now.
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That's awesome.
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Absolutely.
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Oh, I mean, we tested one.
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We drove one.
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We picked it up by its bumper and carried it across the parking lot.
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And one of our ex writers, Martin Peters, he actually owned one.
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No, he didn't own that.
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He owned a Trabant.
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Sorry.
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Just as bad.
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He owned a Trabant.
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Well, we knew quite a few people actually that owned a Ugo's at the
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time, which really isn't very fair.
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I mean, it was a little fiat that basically it was just
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And I have to say, it's probably not the absolute ugliest.
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I could throw in a couple of, Oh, I mean, a lot of people like to pick on the poor
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Aztec from Pontiac, but I think it's In my book, the Aztec, I guess, would
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be right up there with the, the Yugo.
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There were a couple of during the 80s and 90s that deserved all the
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scorn that you could reap upon them.
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But I'm sure I've now upset at least one or two of your listeners,
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because if you know anybody that owns an Aztec, they love them.
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That's very true.
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That's a very true statement.
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You said the E type of all time.
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Are there any future classics, any that you see coming on the horizon
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that really gets your interest?
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Well, we just finished testing the Audi E tron GT, which is
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based on the Taycan from Porsche.
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It's one of the most beautiful automobiles I've ever seen.
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It is stunning.
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It is so gorgeous.
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With so many SUVs on the market, Finding a real beauty is getting harder and harder.
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The Taycan, which is one of my personal favorites, and then seeing
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what Audi has done to the basic shape.
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I would say if I had to pick today, the prettiest car, certainly that's come
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through our lot in the last two years, it would probably be that e tron GT.
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It's a gorgeous car.
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So I have another question about the construction of Motor Week, and it's
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pretty important for those people that, again, I'm questioning where they've never
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heard of Motor Week before, but I often when I say, Oh, did you catch Motor Week?
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And they go, Auto Week?
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No, Motor Week, you know, the show.
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You mean Auto Week, the Peterson?
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No, no, no, no.
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It's like the old, old, old Top Gear.
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And they go, Oh, so where did the name come from?
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And how did you kind of decouple the confusion between AutoWeek,
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which has been around forever as a publication and the show itself?
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We never really get confused with AutoWeek.
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The obvious confusion comes with MotorTrend, which for several
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years, we were actually on the MotorTrend cable network.
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Basically what happened was back in 1978, When we were doing
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the pilot, I did a name search.
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And in those days you had to basically go down to Washington, start looking
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around, talk to lawyers that had access to all of the copyrighted names.
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Well, you couldn't copyright a name, but you could copyright a logo.
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We came up with MotorWeek.
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Oddly enough, We came up with it at the same time somebody else did.
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So when we went on the air in October of 81, in January of 81, I
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got a call from some folks at Turner television in Atlanta and they were
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launching a show called motor week.
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And they want to know who we were.
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By that time, we had already done whatever preliminary
22:23
registration of the name you needed.
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They had done the search the same time we did.
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They added the name illustrated, so they were MotorWeek Illustrated.
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Their logo was very different, and that's all you can really copyright
22:33
at that stage is the look of the logo.
22:36
So we coexisted for a long time, but they were on the air, then they were off.
22:41
And then they were a production company for quite a while.
22:43
I think I had gone in with a long list of names and it was the best one
22:48
that came out that it was available.
22:50
So it wasn't magic at all.
22:52
Motor pretty obviously.
22:54
I will say the week was.
22:56
Because I had been producing Wall Street week for so many years, and
23:02
I wanted the show to be a weekly.
23:04
I didn't want it to be a limited run series.
23:07
I wanted it to be on week after week after week year round because I wanted
23:13
stations to leave us in a time spot.
23:16
And if you're on for 13 episodes or 26 back in those days, and you
23:20
finish running new shows or going to reruns, stations would tend to
23:25
move you to a less great time spot.
23:28
I wanted us to be new every week and basically hold on to our
23:32
time spots and that has worked.
23:34
Growing up in the DMV, it's always just been one of these things.
23:37
When you watch Motorweek, especially as a kid, you realize the testing
23:41
was always done at 75 which has been closed now for many, many years.
23:45
It reopened, it closed again.
23:47
Well, officially that's true.
23:49
The track did close as far as to be open.
23:53
This is a Dragstrip that, for those that don't know, they're Mount Airy, Maryland,
23:57
in a little community called Monrovia.
23:59
And it was owned for, um, many years by Bill Wilcom.
24:03
Bill was, uh, a dear, is a dear friend, I should say.
24:06
I believe his son didn't want to take the track over.
24:08
So, as Bill got older, he first farmed out the operation to someone else.
24:15
It was briefly closed to the public, then it opened again.
24:19
During all of this time, though, we continued to use it as a test track.
24:23
So legally, it was not closed.
24:26
It did not close for absolute good until two years ago.
24:32
And even then, the new owners, because it was finally sold, have
24:37
shown interest in reopening it.
24:39
They haven't managed to do it yet.
24:41
But at that point, we were fortunate enough, Bill had introduced us
24:45
to the folks behind Mason Dixon Dragway in Boonesboro, Maryland.
24:49
It's a very nice track, a beautiful setting.
24:52
It's up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
24:54
So it's a good another 45 minutes for us, but it's a beautiful track.
24:59
And we've been very fortunate to go from 7580 up to Mason Dixon.
25:04
But yeah, for 7580, we started using them in the 80s and
25:09
stopped, what, two years ago.
25:10
So.
25:11
But more importantly, for many of us here, we pilgrimage every
25:14
weekend, after weekend, after weekend to summit point motor sports
25:17
park where motor week also tests.
25:20
So that's always an exciting thing to see.
25:22
Oh, there's, you know, that's term 10 at summit.
25:24
It's always super exciting when you guys are there.
25:27
Yeah.
25:27
Again, personal relationship, the longtime owner of summit was a dear friend.
25:32
We had a little bit to do when they built the Jefferson circuit.
25:36
Which really is used, I think, a lot by motorcycles, but we tend to use it a
25:40
lot because it's a short, fast, and it's easy to shoot, but we've been able to
25:46
continue to use Summit, and we also use Dominion Raceway down in Fredericksburg.
25:51
That's been relatively new.
25:53
We don't tend to go back to Pocono much anymore.
25:56
We used to do that quite frequently as well.
25:59
We're lucky enough that summit is, you know, within the easy drive
26:02
as is Mason Dixon and Dominion.
26:04
So we're very, very fortunate.
26:06
They're not right next door, but they're not that far away.
26:08
Very nice people.
26:09
I mean, the owners of these tracks are just really great people.
26:13
That's all I can say.
26:14
So switching gears a little bit, many people may not know
26:16
that you've worked alongside the department of energy to promote.
26:20
Public awareness of alternative fuels.
26:23
So I wanted to ask you another one of our Pitstop questions, which is, what
26:27
are your thoughts on the current, what we call evolution and the birth of
26:31
these EVs and the change from internal combustion to these electric vehicles?
26:36
What are your thoughts?
26:37
And are there some that stand out at you right now as some up and comers?
26:41
I've got gasoline in my veins and I wouldn't say I'm a contrarian.
26:45
I'm a realist.
26:46
I think that The governments are pushing a little too hard for EVs in everybody's
26:51
garage too quickly, but that is what governments and politicians tend to do.
26:57
We've been lucky enough to be intimately involved in the entire alternative fuel.
27:03
A world actually, since the show began, but for the last
27:07
20 years, working with the U.
27:09
S.
27:09
Department of energy, looking at alternative fuels and not just
27:13
electric, but natural gas and propane and biodiesel and you name it.
27:18
We probably done something about it because we found
27:22
it really goes back to 2001.
27:25
I was at a conference with the Department of energy folks, and they
27:29
had asked me to come give a little.
27:31
chat about what we do.
27:33
And I realized that it would be great to find some kind of soapbox,
27:38
purpose, something we could focus a lot of the energy on the show
27:42
on that wasn't already mundane.
27:44
I mean, everybody and their brother talked about safety and even
27:47
fuel economy was just everywhere.
27:49
So it struck me after listening to a number of these speakers.
27:52
All of these amazing fuels.
27:54
And we had done shows on coal powered car.
27:57
The GM came up with back in the eighties.
27:59
I mean, we'd done electric conversions.
28:01
We'd done all sorts of stuff, turbine cars.
28:03
We'd done it all, but we hadn't really looked beyond the surface, beyond the
28:08
vehicle, after talking to these folks that ate, slept and drank alternative
28:13
fuels, we realized there was a great story there and a lot of success stories that
28:18
our audience would like to know about.
28:20
And so I'm very thrilled that we've been able to work with
28:24
them so closely over two decades.
28:26
They're great folks.
28:27
They have lots of wonderful ideas.
28:28
Most people don't realize that an awful lot of the technology that's
28:34
going into battery electric vehicles and just the It's about everything you
28:38
can think of the lightweight materials that all comes from laboratories that
28:43
are run by the department of energy.
28:45
So in other words, it's your tax dollars at work and just like NASA
28:50
and it's forerunners create things to make air travel better and then
28:54
airframe manufacturers and airlines get to basically use it for free.
28:58
It's the same really with the DOE labs.
29:01
So when you get into that battery electric car, There's probably some
29:04
of your hard earned tax dollars help get it to where it is today.
29:08
Getting back to what you ask.
29:11
I think the push towards going all electric, even by some of the brand
29:15
manufacturers like General Motors by 2035.
29:18
I think it's a little fast.
29:20
I think it's going to happen.
29:21
Everybody knows the major problems for public acceptance are range and
29:25
infrastructure, charging infrastructure.
29:27
The range is continuing to climb.
29:29
I mean, we're very fickle in our business.
29:32
First, it was, well, when they get to 200 miles of range.
29:36
We'll think that's maybe enough and then it was 300 now I think most of us are
29:41
holding out for 500 and it's coming I mean the new silver auto is probably going
29:46
to have 500 mile range or 400 anyway to start the lucid It's got 500 of course,
29:51
it's pricey But my point is when you get to the point where these vehicles
29:56
can be used On fairly long trips where people can view them as if not their
30:03
only car, a car, they don't have to worry about getting where they want to go.
30:07
If they have an emergency without stopping for 30 or 40
30:10
or 50 minutes, then we're there.
30:13
Where are we now today?
30:15
We're at the level where many of these vehicles are terrific for
30:20
the second car or commuter car.
30:22
We're seeing the prices come down.
30:24
GM's Chevrolet's new Equinox CV, 30, 000 with a 250 mile range should
30:31
be very, very successful and not only looks great, it's going to do
30:34
what people need to run it to work.
30:36
Charge it once a week, either at work or at their home with a relatively
30:40
slow charger, a 240, you know, like a dryer circuit charger, but to take
30:45
it on the road, you know, you're going to need more fast chargers.
30:48
Either if you've got a Tesla, you're ahead of the game because they've got
30:52
their chargers in more places right now, but brings me home and why this is not
30:57
ready for prime time is two weeks ago.
31:00
On my way to Vermont, we always stop in Rutland, Vermont and gas up.
31:05
And we pulled into a station and here's a row of Tesla chargers and I'm
31:09
there and gone in about seven minutes.
31:11
And the three or four Teslas that were there, they were there when I got there.
31:16
People reading magazines and newspapers and there were tablets and they
31:20
were there a long time after I left.
31:22
And I don't think most Americans.
31:25
are willing to take two hours out of their day if they're
31:30
making a long trip for this.
31:32
The other thing is, while the Tesla's, their charging system is
31:36
well done, they plug in, it knows the car, it charges it, you're gone.
31:40
The commercial systems out there right now, they're not quite plug and play yet.
31:45
It can take you 15 minutes to get them to work.
31:48
If you're unlucky, you may have to call their 800 number.
31:51
It can be enormously frustrating.
31:54
When they work, they work great.
31:56
When they don't work, they're frustrating.
31:58
And you roll up and there's four of them, and three of them are occupied, and
32:02
one's vacant, but that one doesn't work.
32:04
There has to be some maturity along with just not only more infrastructure,
32:10
but it has to work better.
32:11
It's coming.
32:12
It is the future.
32:13
I hope it doesn't displace all internal combustion engine
32:17
vehicles anytime soon 2050.
32:20
I think that's a very realistic time frame to where they could become total.
32:25
Shall we say 2035 is pushing it.
32:28
In my opinion, I'm being honest with you.
32:30
I really don't like politicians telling people what they can and cannot
32:34
buy when it comes to automobiles.
32:36
It's never worked.
32:38
Back in the 70s and 80s, when they tried to make everybody buy
32:41
small cars, what did everybody do?
32:44
They discovered the loophole, and they went into SUVs and pickup trucks.
32:48
And so I sort of feel like I've lived through this kind of forcing
32:51
you to do things against your will.
32:53
And I don't think it's going to work this time any better than it worked last time.
32:56
Who knows?
32:57
California certainly is at the forefront, as are the other
33:00
states, including the state of Maryland, who are likely to follow.
33:04
But even there, there's a loophole.
33:05
They're still going to allow some plug in hybrids, which have
33:08
an internal combustion engine.
33:10
So, I think plug in hybrids have been largely overlooked because to
33:15
me, that's the best of both worlds.
33:17
The Chevrolet Volt, V O L T, that was a fabulous vehicle.
33:20
65 miles of battery and enough gas.
33:25
To get you anywhere you needed to go in an emergency and keep going.
33:28
That's a great solution.
33:30
My ideal electric vehicle is a plug in hybrid with a about a hundred
33:35
mile range on the battery and a small engine that will either charge
33:38
the battery or give me direct power and let me do my 500 mile trip.
33:43
Right now, the Europeans seem to be a little more interested in that than the
33:47
American manufacturers, but I actually think that's the perfect solution.
33:51
The other perfect solution is if Lawmakers would sit back and just look at facts.
33:57
If you want to demand something, demand manufacturers make all their
34:02
vehicles just regular hybrids.
34:04
Small battery, doesn't have to be a big electric motor, gives you help when you
34:08
start out, when you use the most gas.
34:10
That would cut the carbon footprint of automobiles in half almost overnight.
34:15
And a couple of manufacturers, notably Toyota, they're working towards that.
34:19
Almost everything new they bring out.
34:21
The standard vehicle is either hybrid or it's just barely one up from the bottom.
34:26
So standard hybrid today is possible and would really alleviate the carbon
34:32
footprint more than some pie in the sky that's going to inconvenience people.
34:37
Because most people with hybrids don't even know what they're driving, except for
34:40
the fact that they get great gas mileage.
34:42
In the DMV especially, we talk all the time about how speeds are
34:48
up, driving seems to be extremely erratic, especially after COVID.
34:52
And I came to find out that you're actually the spokesperson for the
34:56
Smooth Operator Program, which a lot of us see on the digital billboards,
34:59
like on 695 and places like that.
35:02
That was a long time ago.
35:04
That was years ago.
35:05
They were nice enough to ask me to contribute to that campaign, but
35:09
so that's, that, that is in my, I mean, I haven't done anything with
35:12
them for years, so I'm delighted that somebody still sees it.
35:15
They still pop up.
35:16
I see them as I'm going down the road.
35:18
Funny.
35:18
I'm putting these two together, but do you think it's changed?
35:21
Do you think it's still the same?
35:22
What are your thoughts on the way people are driving in the big cities now?
35:26
I think people are driving like crazy people.
35:29
COVID has done more damage to highway safety Then speed, I think, ever did,
35:35
because unfortunately, when people weren't going to work and are still
35:40
not going to work, the people that were out on the roads, they just
35:44
felt like, hey, there's no traffic.
35:46
I can go as fast as I want.
35:47
A lot of the law enforcement were staying home because of Covid.
35:51
What little decorum there used to be on the roads around, you know, the Maryland,
35:55
Washington, Delaware area, I think it's pretty much gone out the window.
35:59
I mean, you have to drive defensively much more now than you did, I
36:03
think, even three years ago.
36:05
I'm not trying to pretend that, you know, I don't take liberties with the
36:09
speed limits too, but what I see on the roads these days is a total disregard.
36:15
for safety and for your fellow man.
36:18
And I find it's really sad.
36:20
COVID has done that in a number of ways, but one of them that's
36:24
most recognizable is, um, driving.
36:26
We often bring that back to a conversation around motor sports too, because people
36:31
will poo poo on the racers quite often.
36:33
So you guys don't know what you're talking about.
36:34
You know, you're addicted to speed and this and that.
36:36
And if you talk to most racers, they're like, well, We're some of
36:39
the calmest people on the road.
36:41
We have very high situational awareness, but I think the track
36:44
kind of gets it out of your system.
36:46
And oftentimes I recommend to people, you should go take an advanced
36:49
driver course and see what it's like, because I hate to say anybody can go.
36:54
Fast in a straight line, but it's really different when you're taking a turn
36:58
at 80 miles an hour on a racetrack, like you guys do when you're testing
37:01
cars versus what you do on the street.
37:04
So I can't recommend it enough for people, you know, spend a couple
37:06
of hundred bucks for that advanced training and you will learn so
37:10
much and your driving will change.
37:12
To be honest, they don't even have basic training.
37:15
I don't think you ought to start with advanced training.
37:18
You know, if I had children, I don't.
37:20
The first thing I would do when they became legal so they could drive would
37:24
stake them to get Barbara has it.
37:27
There's a summit point does it all the time.
37:29
They're basically skid break and skid schools.
37:33
Yeah, tire rack street survival, street survival, learn how to break
37:38
and steer, learn how to steer.
37:40
Bertle Roos, who, um, is gone now, there's still a school up in Pocono with his name.
37:46
Bertle taught, and he was the most important instructor
37:49
that I ever learned from.
37:50
He called it ocular driving, and what he had done is he had brought over from
37:55
Europe the concept that you basically had to use your eyes, look as far into
38:00
a corner as you could look, look as far down the road as you could look, trying
38:05
to anticipate What was going to happen?
38:08
And I have stuck to that to this day that when I ever I'm driving either on
38:14
a racetrack or just on an interstate to try and look as far as my eyes
38:19
can see, anticipating either within that vehicle is going to do, or if
38:24
there's a crossroads, what am I going to do if somebody is coming out of it?
38:28
And the other part of ocular driving that he taught, and it may sound
38:32
stupid, but it's, it's not intuitive.
38:35
Look where you want to go in an emergency.
38:37
Chances are you will get there.
38:39
If you look where you don't want to go, you're going to get there too.
38:42
So you have to train yourself that if somebody's coming at you, find the
38:47
escape route and do everything you can to get to that and stay focused on that.
38:52
And chances are very good that will get you out of the fix.
38:56
Thanks.
38:56
We do drive very fast on a track, and yes, we do get that probably out of our
39:00
systems, but safety is not just paramount.
39:04
It's the only thing we are concerned about.
39:07
We preach to our drivers, never drive over your head.
39:12
Never do something you feel unsafe.
39:14
If the car is not responding to you properly, and you don't feel that it
39:18
can be pushed any harder, don't push.
39:22
Because if you push the car beyond your limits, you're in trouble.
39:27
And unfortunately, when I see, oh, an older sedan and flying around
39:32
the Baltimore beltway at 80, 85, 90 miles an hour, I'm wondering what
39:37
kind of tires does he have on it.
39:40
Or he or she, uh, has it been maintained properly?
39:43
It wouldn't take very much for that car to end up on a truth or worse.
39:48
And that's what we see a lot of people driving like video games.
39:52
That's the thing that gets me.
39:54
And I actually think video games maybe have done more damage to driving habits
39:59
than any kind of racing or competition.
40:01
But yeah, if you've ever driven with a professional driver and I've
40:04
driven with a lot of them, they're the coolest people on the planet.
40:08
You may be frightened to death.
40:10
But they're as cool as a cucumber.
40:12
They do it every day.
40:13
It's their job.
40:14
Take a step back for a moment.
40:15
So when I first met you, you and I were both much younger.
40:20
And I remember the day, like it was yesterday.
40:23
I'm flattered.
40:23
Thanks.
40:24
It was a Porsche club event.
40:26
You were giving you were giving a talk and all this kind of thing and I'll never
40:29
forget because it was one of the most exciting and also traumatic experiences
40:33
for me because you were taking questions from the crowd and this is at a PCA
40:37
event where all they want to talk about is the latest 911 that's coming out and
40:41
the 968 and all these kinds of things.
40:43
And here I go.
40:44
I raise my hand and I go, you know, Mr Davis.
40:47
Can you tell me something about the Dodge Stealth and maybe this new Acura
40:50
that's coming out and you just heard the air gets sucked completely out of
40:54
the room as all the heads turned and looked at me and you're like, I must have
40:58
blasphemed in church or something, right?
41:00
To come back from that, I want to ask you about two cars that are hot right now.
41:04
from the same manufacturer and get your opinions on those.
41:06
And they are not the Dodge Stealth and not Acura Vigor.
41:10
They are both from Toyota, the new GR Supra and the GR Corolla that is
41:16
hitting our shores here in October.
41:18
I want to get your thoughts on those cars as you've probably seen,
41:20
tested and reviewed both of them.
41:22
Well, we love the Supra.
41:23
The only reason it didn't get more awards when it came out is it had some real
41:26
competition, but it's a fabulous car.
41:29
The rebirth of the Supra was far and away more than the
41:33
original car ever could deliver.
41:35
The GR Corolla, I think I applaud them because here you've got a company that
41:40
on one hand is doing everything they can to promote a fuel economy, making
41:45
hybrid standard almost across the board.
41:47
That's their aim.
41:48
And at the same time, they haven't forgotten that Some people really
41:52
want to enjoy driving even down to their most mundane product line.
41:57
I think Toyota is a fascinating company.
41:59
A lot of it comes from, of course, their roots, but a lot of it is their U.
42:03
S.
42:04
management team, which most people don't realize when Toyota was
42:07
pretty young in this country, most of their management team were ex
42:10
folks from Detroit automakers.
42:13
And they've over the years shepherd dual paths of performance, but also
42:18
common sense when it comes to using fuel and how it impacts the environment.
42:23
So I think they're both very exciting vehicles.
42:26
Toyota is unusual.
42:27
They've got a lot of money so they can afford to kind of cover all the bases.
42:32
But super is one of our absolute favorite cars of all time.
42:36
The new super Gazoo racing, however you want to pronounce it.
42:39
Gazoo.
42:40
They've got some very talented engineers.
42:42
It reminds me not too many years ago when you used to see that
42:46
kind of skunk works inside some of the Detroit automakers as well.
42:51
Even coming from brands like Volkswagen and others, where they were always
42:54
throwing something out there to get the enthusiast based excited.
42:56
So it's good to see that.
42:58
That's a great case in point.
43:00
VW, VW.
43:01
How many times over the years have we said on motor testing some lowly
43:08
golf product or Jetta or whatever, how they've instilled all the essence of
43:13
some of the finest and most expensive European sports sedans in a vehicle that
43:18
everybody can buy after all VW was the everyman's car and they continue to do it.
43:23
I mean, Volkswagen's one brand, man.
43:25
That no matter what vehicle you buy, you're going to buy a vehicle that
43:30
it has above average performance, i.
43:33
e.
43:33
handling, braking, and reasonable acceleration.
43:36
It's part of their DNA.
43:38
I'm not sure there's any other automaker that I could say that
43:41
about that makes affordable cars.
43:43
I mean, their good solid street performance is their
43:47
DNA, no matter what they do.
43:49
So there's one more car I want to ask you about because I talked about it a lot.
43:52
I was super excited about it and everybody's going to cringe
43:54
and go, he's going to ask about the new DeLorean Alpha five.
43:57
No, no, no, no, no.
43:59
I wanted a DeLorean really badly until I drove one.
44:02
I have to tell you an acquaintance of mine who had been a writer was their PR person.
44:07
And I followed John DeLorean, followed him at General Motors, I
44:11
followed him in this new project.
44:13
And when the DMC came out, we really wanted to get our hands on it.
44:17
I wanted to buy one.
44:18
They wouldn't send them to the press.
44:20
And finally got one.
44:22
And when we got one, we realized why they didn't send them to the press.
44:25
They were probably one of the worst handling automobiles ever built.
44:29
It came with super wide rear tires, which told you something.
44:32
It was never meant for that Peugeot Renault V6 that was in it.
44:37
The engine was too heavy.
44:39
It was a worse pendulum car than the early 911s, as far as if you
44:43
got in an off camber corner, you basically started to go into a slide.
44:49
I cried.
44:50
It was so terrible.
44:51
Taking a corner at 30 miles an hour that was an off camber turn was scary.
44:55
So the new car looks very promising.
44:57
We followed a lot, the company behind it.
44:59
We follow those folks and the folks that kept DMC alive for many, many years.
45:04
We went down to Texas and did some stuff when they were custom
45:07
building from parts left over.
45:09
I wish him well, it's a very exciting looking vehicle.
45:12
Now it's yours again.
45:13
Ask me the question.
45:14
I'm so sorry.
45:15
I interrupted you.
45:16
The Nissan Z the new 400.
45:19
What do you think?
45:20
I haven't driven it yet.
45:22
Has anybody driven it yet?
45:24
Uh, not to my know of, but we've been to two events, at least two events.
45:30
One of our folks have been there, maybe three.
45:32
You know, it's one of those cars that it seems like it's never going to finally
45:35
get here, but it's very exciting.
45:37
I think it's going to give the super run for its money.
45:40
I think that Nissan's very serious about it being a new halo car for them.
45:46
We may be looking at one of the last new sports cars period that's
45:51
not run with battery electric.
45:53
So I'm very excited about it.
45:55
I love Zs and always have.
45:57
Well, that's a great segue because you have owned a variety of high
46:00
performance cars over the years, and you mentioned a few Mustangs,
46:03
Corvettes, De Tomaso Pantera.
46:05
A couple.
46:06
What's in your garage these days?
46:08
What do you daily drive?
46:09
Nothing exciting.
46:10
Nothing exciting.
46:11
There's only two cars that I've ever hated that I fell in
46:16
love with when I drove them.
46:18
One was the Mustang Mach E.
46:20
Really?
46:20
I hated the concept.
46:22
I thought it was heresy what Ford was doing with the Mustang name.
46:25
Until we drove it.
46:27
When we drove it, I thought Ford had done an amazing job.
46:30
Cause I'm an old Mustang guy.
46:32
I've owned more Mustangs than anything else.
46:34
Old ones.
46:35
I thought Ford had done a remarkable job of instilling Mustang DNA in it.
46:40
Almost bought one, but wasn't quite happy with the range for the kind of driving
46:44
I wanted it for, but it was very close.
46:47
The other car though, I did buy back in 2001.
46:50
We knew it had been coming the BMW rebirth of the mini Cooper.
46:54
I spent a lot of time in England and in Europe riding
46:58
around in the original minis.
47:00
I thought this new car was a terrible idea.
47:04
It was too big.
47:05
It was too modern, just not original until Ray Cuata, my videographer
47:11
and I went to San Francisco for the introduction of the mini.
47:15
We got in the car, we spent all day driving in around the wine country
47:19
on a lot of some very great roads.
47:21
Fell in love with it.
47:23
I said, this is not a commuter car.
47:25
This is a two box sports car.
47:27
That model 50 was the best handling front wheel drive vehicle that we
47:33
had ever driven, with the exception of maybe a couple of early Saabs.
47:37
I came home.
47:38
I called up the PR guy the next morning.
47:41
I put in my order.
47:42
I've still got that car today.
47:44
Wow.
47:44
It has all of 31, 000 miles on it and my wife drives it as her daily driver.
47:49
Six months a year during the winter it stays in a nice warm heated garage.
47:54
I have a very eclectic Not particularly interesting fleet.
47:58
We have an old Ford Ranger pickup truck, you know, one that was the
48:01
real Ranger, not the new truck.
48:02
We've got the 2012 Subaru Outback, got a 2014 Mercedes SLK because
48:09
we missed our Miata and wanted a little roadster back again.
48:13
And we've got a 2020 Hyundai Palisade.
48:15
I drive so many interesting cars at work.
48:18
That I really don't need a garage full of really high performance or even classics,
48:25
nor do I have the wherewithal to do it.
48:27
I mean, we're our public television, by the way, is that we were
48:30
not commercial TV, no big bucks there, but that's my garage.
48:33
It's not very interesting.
48:35
I'm afraid the mini is this car that just today I put some charge on the battery
48:39
and it was just so much fun just to go out and drive it for about an hour.
48:43
And just to remember what a great little handling car it is.
48:46
I'm sure people want to, what color is it?
48:47
Blue and white, of course.
48:49
So did you defer your thoughts against the Mini to the Beetle
48:53
and the Fiat 500 instead?
48:55
I love the Fiat 500.
48:57
I, you know, especially the Abarth.
48:59
That was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, too.
49:01
Great little car.
49:02
The Beetle, not so much.
49:04
The Beetle, well, I spent a long time crunched up in the back.
49:08
Seat of a beetle, uh, going up and down the East coast.
49:11
When I was in college, I have nothing but admiration for the beetle.
49:15
The only thing about the beetle I never liked was back in the seventies when they
49:18
tried to put a, an automatic transmission in it, that didn't work very well.
49:22
And I had a friend that had one that was nothing but trouble, but you know,
49:26
the beetle, that basic chassis is, uh, has got a lot of performance in it, but
49:31
I don't have a problem with the beetle.
49:32
I think the, the bill served its purpose for a long time.
49:35
And it'll be back.
49:36
I'm sure somewhere in VW they've got an all electric Beetle.
49:40
If they brought the bus back, they're going to bring the Beetle back.
49:43
Amen.
49:43
And hopefully the Karmann Ghia too, so we'll just leave it at that.
49:46
That, there would be a treat.
49:48
There would be a treat.
49:49
So is there still a bucket list vehicle, new or old, that you'd
49:52
like to review for MotorWeek?
49:54
Oh, I'd love to have my old Pantera back.
49:56
Do a retro review.
49:57
I recently did a podcast for one of the Pantera groups, and they asked
50:02
me if I still had the VIN number, they could find the car for me, but
50:05
I don't have the VIN number anymore, which is too bad, but I laid under it
50:09
every weekend to work on it to keep it running, but I did love the car.
50:12
It's a very good question.
50:13
Do I have a bucket list of cars right now?
50:17
It's odd.
50:18
I like what's new.
50:20
I'm not a classic car guy.
50:22
I don't know a lot about classic cars.
50:24
I know what I like.
50:25
If I have a bucket list, it's going to be for something new.
50:29
I definitely want an EV.
50:31
And I'm probably going to buy an EV as a commuter car.
50:35
I'm looking at the second generation, no surprise, Mini Cooper SE,
50:39
when it comes out next year.
50:41
It's rumored to have, well, the current one's a little over 100 mile range.
50:45
It's going to have 200, 250, so the rumors go.
50:47
You know, that would be a great commuter car because right side, I'm
50:52
sure it'll still have all the things that Mini is noted for as far as its
50:56
handling capabilities and use of space.
50:58
I think that's an interesting vehicle.
51:00
I mentioned the Taycan.
51:01
I think that's just one of the most fabulous automobiles that's ever been
51:05
devised by any group of engineers and Audi with the e tron GT just made it better.
51:11
It's a pretty amazing car.
51:13
You know, when you start looking at the stratosphere, you know,
51:16
like the new Ferrari SUV and stuff with a V12, you know, I don't know.
51:21
I do think that if I was going to go out today and buy something today, I
51:26
probably at least try and buy something with a V8 because it's not going to be
51:29
around much many of those much longer and I think anybody that's got one
51:33
of the last V8s is probably going to have something that's at least semi
51:36
collectible even if it's a pickup truck.
51:39
There's that new Mustang dark horse coming, you know, that might have
51:41
John Davis written all over it.
51:43
Uh, you never know, you know, if this is indeed going to be the seventh
51:47
generation, which they just showed in Detroit, the 14th of September, they
51:51
unveiled the new, um, seventh generation Mustang, interesting looking car.
51:56
I'm not saying I'm not sure I'm absolutely in love with it.
51:59
But it is clearly a Mustang.
52:02
And you know, it's still going to have a V8 for a while.
52:05
Could very well be end up one of those parked in my garage, right
52:07
next to the Mach E, who knows.
52:09
John, as we wrap up here, any shout outs, promotions, or anything else
52:14
you'd like to share that we didn't cover anything about the future of
52:16
MotorWeek that you'd like to share?
52:18
Time marches on time is important to us on the show, and it's important to everybody.
52:22
And hopefully, even though television has changed a great deal, and a lot of people
52:27
now don't think they watch TV, but that's what you're watching on your tablets,
52:31
whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
52:33
20 years ago, we were worried that there weren't going to be
52:36
enough automotive enthusiasts to keep automotive journalism alive.
52:40
Fortunately, we were wrong.
52:42
All you have to do is go to YouTube and see that just about anybody with
52:45
a camera has opinions on vehicles.
52:48
I cringe when I hear some of them actually get some kind of remuneration for it, but
52:53
there's also a lot of great people out there giving very good, honest advice.
52:58
The idea of unbiased reviews for the second biggest purchase in most
53:05
people's lives is alive and well.
53:07
I like to think that being the first non conventional media, being
53:11
television that covered cars, we had something to do with that heritage.
53:16
I think it's going to continue and grow stronger.
53:18
So I'm very hopeful for the future.
53:20
You know, more opinions is good.
53:22
Fewer opinions is bad.
53:24
I'll give the same advice I've always given.
53:26
If you're going out and buying a vehicle, Look at everything
53:29
you can about that vehicle.
53:31
Don't trust one, two or even a half dozen reviews.
53:34
Keep going until you think you've really gotten every side of
53:38
it and then go judge yourself.
53:41
And that will tell you who's giving you the straight.
53:44
Poop and who isn't, but I think that we're lucky that we live in an age
53:48
where so much information is available so easily, including everything from
53:53
motorway for all you folks out there that still haven't watched us youtube.
53:57
com slash motor week or your public television station or Mav TV.
54:01
There's no excuse.
54:03
I do want to say one more thing before I wrap up my part, Eric.
54:07
And that is, I want to thank the tireless team at MotorWeek, who
54:10
really works seven days a week, 24 hours a day to bring this 52 week a
54:16
year series into everybody's home.
54:18
And I also want to thank all the folks that go back all the way to
54:22
almost the beginning of Maryland Public Television, because they've
54:25
allowed us to produce MotorWeek.
54:27
It's been the love of my life, easily.
54:30
So thanks everybody for making all of this possible as motor weeks host for the
54:35
show now celebrating its 42nd season John davis has the opportunity to put all of
54:40
the new car models through extensive road tests and to judge their practicality for
54:45
buyers He also acts as final editor on all the new car road test segments and
54:49
writes many of the test opinions as well As other portions of the program motor
54:53
week is the staple in the automotive journalism world and countless of us
54:57
You We'll continue to enjoy the program for many years to come as Emmy award
55:02
winning producer, host, and creator of motor week television's original
55:06
and longest running automotive series.
55:07
John Davis can be seen and heard throughout the United States on PBS
55:11
broadcasts and Mav TV cable networks.
55:14
To learn more about John Davis, log on to www.
55:19
motorweek.
55:19
org or follow them on social at Motor Week.
55:22
And don't forget about those Motor Week Retro Reviews on YouTube.
55:26
And with that, John, I cannot thank you enough for coming on Break Fix.
55:31
Sharing your story with us.
55:32
And for me personally, you are an inspiration.
55:35
Like I said, there has not been a time where MotorWeek
55:38
has not existed for many of us.
55:40
I hate to say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
55:43
And we try week after week to emulate some of the things you've done with MotorWeek,
55:48
whether you realize it or not, you're one of the heroes of the automotive world.
55:52
That's high praise, Eric.
55:53
Well, you're welcome.
55:54
I hope it was a lot of string of consciousness in the air.
55:57
Absolutely.
55:57
It's good seeing you again, John.
55:58
And let me know when you get that Z400.
56:00
We want to come see it.
56:02
Thanks, Eric.
56:02
It was a pleasure.
56:04
Anytime.
56:04
Just give us a call.
56:06
All right.
56:06
Bye now.
56:06
Bye bye.
56:23
If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM,
56:26
be sure to check us out on www.
56:28
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56:30
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56:30
You can also find us on Instagram at GrandTouringMotorsports.
56:34
Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, You
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56:46
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56:48
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56:50
We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
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