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What If The Economy Is Fine And Cars Prove It? · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:06
  Don Armstrong: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.
• 0:08
  Don Armstrong: It's the award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:12
  Don Armstrong: Just ahead, the guy that keeps us grounded here, Jack Nirak, and his take on the new car market, along with other things like what's the price of gas in LA today.
• 0:24
  Don Armstrong: Later, Jeff has the racing calendar.
• 0:27
  Don Armstrong: Mr.
• 0:27
  Don Armstrong: Mars has This Week in Auto History.
• 0:29
  Don Armstrong: And I'll bring you some of the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 0:32
  Don Armstrong: Howdy, along with Mike Out of This World Bars over there.
• 0:37
  Don Armstrong: Jeff Zeke in here.
• 0:40
  Don Armstrong: David Ainsley.
• 0:41
  Don Armstrong: Way out there.
• 0:43
  Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:44
  Don Armstrong: Glad you could join us on this Saturday for our live show.
• 0:47
  Don Armstrong: If you're uh listening, watching on a podcast, thank you for that.
• 0:51
  Don Armstrong: I think I just did the YMCA thing.
• 0:52
  Don Armstrong: Did you?
• 0:53
  Don Armstrong: I think that's what it was.
• 0:54
  Don Armstrong: I know that you well rehearsed in that.
• 0:56
  Don Armstrong: You know, Jeff was you know, Jeff was a major domo back in what high school?
• 1:00
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:02
  Jeff Dziekan: A major domo.
• 1:03
  Jeff Dziekan: It's it's called we used to call it genius back then.
• 1:06
  Jeff Dziekan: A genius.
• 1:06
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 1:07
  Jeff Dziekan: And it's uh you can call it what you want.
• 1:10
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, go ahead.
• 1:11
  Jeff Dziekan: Mike uh Oh no, no, no, no.
• 1:14
  Don Armstrong: No, all right.
• 1:15
  Don Armstrong: Well, just thought I'd mention that because uh Dimension of that.
• 1:19
  Don Armstrong: He he he he he does he does have uh a knack for music.
• 1:24
  Jeff Dziekan: He's a great drummer and well was great guy, you know, great family man, uh just great all around.
• 1:31
  Mike Marrs: You wanna you wanna just go ahead and just read as your resume?
• 1:34
  Mike Marrs: We could end the show right now with that.
• 1:36
  Mike Marrs: And on a high note.
• 1:38
  Don Armstrong: We could do that.
• 1:39
  Don Armstrong: Well, as we wait for Jack.
• 1:41
  Mike Marrs: No, Jack's ready.
• 1:42
  Mike Marrs: Jack's here.
• 1:43
  Mike Marrs: Well, well, bring him on.
• 1:44
  Mike Marrs: Bring him on.
• 1:45
  Mike Marrs: He's too busy talking about Jeff.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I love hearing about Jeff.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know we have to need more Jeff.
• 1:52
  Don Armstrong: We do need more Jeff Zeke and hello.
• 1:56
  Don Armstrong: Hello to California, my friend.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Things are great here in California.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, don't lie to us.
• 2:01
  Don Armstrong: I'll bet.
• 2:02
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 2:02
  Don Armstrong: We we heard all the terms.
• 2:03
  Don Armstrong: Have they counted the damn votes that are?
• 2:06
  Don Armstrong: No, no.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: This I I I was looking at the election results um website uh yesterday, and they say they're gonna certify sometime in July.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: July's a good day.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: July.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: July the 4th.
• 2:16
  Mike Marrs: 150 anniversary.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right around there.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think July 5th is the day they've picked.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it this July?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: We think so.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're not quite sure, but we think so.
• 2:26
  Don Armstrong: Oh, Jack.
• 2:27
  Don Armstrong: That California, dude.
• 2:29
  Don Armstrong: We love it.
• 2:29
  Don Armstrong: Wild and crazy people.
• 2:30
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, and you're loving it still out there.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we put up uh for uh with a lot for the weather, right?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I'm I'm three-quarters of a mile from the beach.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, you know, yeah, the ocean, wonderful.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh always about 75 degrees here, no matter what time of year, so gotta like that.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: See, that's and then there's the craziness, and it's everywhere.
• 2:51
  Don Armstrong: Well, but it's always been that way, Jack.
• 2:54
  Don Armstrong: Let's not forget where all those bands came from back in the 60s, brother.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, that's true.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's true, including the Beach Boys, which are you know from right up the road here.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my heroes, of course.
• 3:05
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, well, all of ours.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:07
  Don Armstrong: So I have to ask you, how much the price of gas out there today?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's come down.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we were driving around yesterday, and it's uh it's under six dollars now.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh, you know, high fives.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we're not giving high fives, but uh the the uh gasoline is well, it's five forty-five a gallon or something.
• 3:25
  Don Armstrong: Well, I I will tell you this that I had to buy gas for the Corvette uh a couple weeks ago, and I it burns premium.
• 3:33
  Don Armstrong: And I I spent five dollars a gallon.
• 3:37
  Don Armstrong: I've never spent five dollars a gallon on gasoline.
• 3:41
  Don Armstrong: It cost me like eighty dollars to fill it up.
• 3:43
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, we used to buy Avgas out at the airport for that.
• 3:47
  Don Armstrong: Well, you can't do that anymore, at least you can't admit it, that's for sure.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, crazy.
• 3:51
  Don Armstrong: So, Jack, uh let's talk about new cars and anything new and fun that you've uh been on any junkets lately.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, actually, I I spent uh the early part of uh the week in Georgia, uh, and I was at the uh Hyundai Meta plant where they uh were going to build something like 250,000 to 500,000 uh electric vehicles a year.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's not gonna happen.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So they have introduced the Kia sportage hybrid into that plant, which is interesting because it's a Kia being built in uh a Hyundai plant, but of course they're they have the same parent company.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it was kind of fascinating to see that plant um add Kia to it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: There was a big ceremony, Governor Kemp was there to drive the first vehicle off the line, do all of that.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh very nice event.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then we drove down to um West Point, Georgia, kind of across the state, and saw the Kia plant where they're building all kinds of stuff and they're going great guns and uh they're making uh about half a million vehicles a year in that plant, all with American workers, of course.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna boom for the economy there.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's traffic.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the most impressive things about that was they have something like 13,000 vehicles on the ground at any one time.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are just acres, acres of cars produced, and you look at them and you go, people are buying these, but it's it's uh it kind of shows you just the scale of the industry.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so amazing.
• 5:24
  Mike Marrs: So they're literally building them so much faster than they can ship them off the property out across the country, huh?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh they build one uh about one car every 53 seconds, I think is what they told us.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then they ship a lot of them by rail and the rest of them by truck.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think to the southeast they go uh by truck and probably out to Texas by rail, uh certainly up to the upper Midwest and out here to California.
• 5:49
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then they also uh export some.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some go to Mexico, some go to Canada.
• 5:54
  Jeff Dziekan: I remember back when I was in the factory, I think they built a car every nine minutes, I think, and that was like the exclusive timed beat.
• 6:01
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, the holdup was the wooden wheels, though.
• 6:04
  Mike Marrs: Exactly.
• 6:04
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:05
  Jeff Dziekan: They warped a lot, but 53 seconds, that's amazing.
• 6:08
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 6:09
  Jeff Dziekan: The the first plant, did they have a lot of storage there on their lots?
• 6:12
  Jeff Dziekan: Because you said you went to the first one.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's interesting.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: They uh, you know, being all electric and uh things changed on them pretty radically now, didn't they?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um they have a lot of extra space.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they're going to introduce uh a lot of uh internal combustion engine vehicles there over the course of time.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: I they're calling it electrify, but you know, these are these are hybrids, so they do have a battery.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but they're not battery vehicles like the uh vehicles that were being produced or are being produced there.
• 6:42
  Mike Marrs: So they introduced the Kia sportage there at the Hyundai plant.
• 6:46
  Mike Marrs: Is it the same Kia Sportage?
• 6:48
  Mike Marrs: I mean, did or did they make some significant?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's well, I mean, it's the new model year, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they're only going to build the the uh hybrid there, the sportage hybrid.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the conventionally powered sportage is still being built in in West Point, Georgia, uh and which also builds, I think, like four other cars.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty amazing to see various vehicles come down the same assembly line and everything match up and and all you know, it's fascinating how they're able to do all that.
• 7:17
  Don Armstrong: Well, Jack, I I I know that you have probably seen the story that uh I I read today.
• 7:24
  Don Armstrong: The fact that it seems as though, at least for now, that the auto industry, the car manufacturing industry, is actually not doing too bad.
• 7:34
  Don Armstrong: They're still selling lots of cars, which goes completely against what we hear about grocery store prices, uh how bad the economy is, but yet we still have this love affair for cars.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, there's a drumbeat that the that the economy is bad, and the economy isn't bad.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I think people think that the economy is bad because they hear it every day in the media, but actually they're spending money like the economy is really pretty darn good.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the indicators of that is they're buying cars.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Not only are they buying cars, they're buying expensive cars.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the transaction price uh is uh right around fifty thousand dollars, uh, the average transaction price.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a fairly robust uh car industry, and both dealers and uh the car manufacturers are making a lot of money.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, this is pretty bad times for them.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Good news doesn't make good headlines.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, exactly.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I I think uh media is trying to rile this up, and I think when you see what the media is about these days, which is getting clicks, you don't get clicks by telling people good news.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You get clicks by telling people that things are lousy.
• 8:44
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, it's a moneymaker.
• 8:45
  unknown: Yeah.
• 8:46
  Don Armstrong: So I have two people right now in my life that are both in the car buying mode.
• 8:53
  Don Armstrong: Um, one of them being my daughter.
• 8:55
  Don Armstrong: Um, the lease is up on her rogue, and um she is interested in buying a used Jeep Grand Cherokee.
• 9:05
  Don Armstrong: So we started doing, I clicked around a little bit.
• 9:08
  Don Armstrong: Oh my god, if if you go online, you're gonna find a bajillion of them, all different makes and models, all different years, all different mileage uh figures, and prices are all over the board.
• 9:22
  Don Armstrong: So it's not just new cars, it's used as well.
• 9:26
  Don Armstrong: I have another friend of mine that uh was in the market because their lease is up on their Volkswagen, and um looking at they don't do not want another Tiguan uh because of the jerkiness of the turbo and it just it the engine thing.
• 9:45
  Don Armstrong: Oh, well, we've changed the you know the algorithm in the computer.
• 9:48
  Don Armstrong: Okay, fine.
• 9:49
  Don Armstrong: Right you go do that.
• 9:50
  Don Armstrong: But guess what they're really going after?
• 9:54
  Don Armstrong: A Chevy tracks of all things a Chevy tracks.
• 9:59
  Don Armstrong: And I'll tell you, Jack, you know, I actually drove one not that long ago.
• 10:04
  Don Armstrong: It's a pretty decent car for under$30,000.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of the few, right?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the few.
• 10:10
  Don Armstrong: And it's it it and it's not what you would consider a cheapo.
• 10:15
  Don Armstrong: Not by any, it doesn't look that way and didn't drive that way.
• 10:18
  Don Armstrong: It's got a three-cylinder engine that gets 30 miles per gallon.
• 10:21
  Don Armstrong: I mean, it's got a lot of things going for it.
• 10:24
  Don Armstrong: My guess is they're going to sell everyone they get on the lot.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's funny.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a friend of mine at uh JD Power recently, and he was touting the tracks too.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, you know, he used that as an example of uh one of the few affordable cars out there that's uh really a good deal.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's something to look at.
• 10:42
  Don Armstrong: Well, it and it looks good too.
• 10:43
  Don Armstrong: It doesn't look like a cheapo.
• 10:45
  Don Armstrong: I remember back in the day, yeah, that car is a cheapo, you can just tell by the way it looks.
• 10:50
  Don Armstrong: They don't they don't generally make those anymore.
• 10:53
  Don Armstrong: You want to upgrade from that, there's always Buick.
• 10:56
  Don Armstrong: Oh Lord.
• 10:56
  Don Armstrong: So Jeff's still touting his Buick and his decision to buy a Buick, and I will say that's a pretty nice car, too.
• 11:03
  Don Armstrong: There you go.
• 11:03
  Don Armstrong: And it's not fifty thousand dollars.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, and it's I'll tell you if you had a Buick out here, you would have the most distinctive vehicle on the road because you wouldn't you wouldn't see anything just like it out here, I can tell you that.
• 11:14
  Don Armstrong: Do they not sell Buick's in California?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh very rarely.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's don't see them.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's you know, they're a pretty good-looking vehicle.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I uh you know, you see one on the road and you go, what is that?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go, Oh, it's it's a Buick Buick.
• 11:27
  Jeff Dziekan: If you toot the horn, I'll wave at you.
• 11:28
  Don Armstrong: And you know, uh to that end, Jack, and I I know that you'll agree with me on this, in different parts of the country, it's almost as if it's going from Neiman Marcus to Dillard's to Macy's.
• 11:43
  Don Armstrong: You know, it's yeah, it's a it's a blouse or it's a shirt, but it's different in the different parts of the country.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you travel around as we do, and if you look at the sales figures, stuff that sells in the Northeast does not sell in the Southwest, for example.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or uh things that sell in Texas don't sell in North Dakota.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, nothing really sells.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a trend of the region.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's nobody that lives in North Dakota.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I think North Dakota is probably booming now because of the oil business up there.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but um I'll tell you, uh, it is kind of regional, very regional splits.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see a lot of domestic vehicles in the middle of the country and on the coast, you just don't see them very much.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And here in Southern California, I mean, this is a giant import market with the exception of Tesla, uh, which is a domestic brand, of course.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you see uh a lot of Teslas here.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in California last year, or something like that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So go go figure.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um that probably won't happen uh going forward because uh the lack of the federal tax credits, but uh we'll see.
• 12:50
  Don Armstrong: Well, so what are you going to uh talk about today on uh your car show?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things we talk about is the Mazda CX30.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And is that really an SUV?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, my take on that, and especially in the turbo version, is it's more of a hot hatchback.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's a really fun-to-drive car.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we talk about that.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, of course, we do car reviews.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're also reviewing the Deep Grand Cherokee this year, and that or this this week, and that that vehicle has uh a new powertrain with this new uh turbocharged four-cylinder engine, very uh interesting tech.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um kind of I guess I don't want to uh overtell what we're what's on the show, but uh we're not necessarily big fans of the newer newer.
• 13:37
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay.
• 13:38
  Jeff Dziekan: That that's that's an honest opinion.
• 13:40
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 13:41
  Don Armstrong: News this week from Stellantis.
• 13:44
  Don Armstrong: They're bringing back the horsepower, brother.
• 13:47
  Don Armstrong: Something that they should have never gone away from.
• 13:49
  Don Armstrong: They wouldn't be this deep in debt had they not gone away from it.
• 13:53
  Don Armstrong: But that idiot that they finally got rid of, uh Yeah, that that's a thing of the past.
• 14:01
  Don Armstrong: I mean, apparently they're gonna go all in on horsepower.
• 14:04
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, you said more horses, they're gonna put more electric motors in them.
• 14:07
  Don Armstrong: Well, in some cases, but uh but I mean I I think that the the Hemi's back.
• 14:13
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think what we saw, and what I was talking about just now with the Jeep Grand Cherokee in that four-cylinder engine, all things being equal, and uh, if we didn't have the fuel economy requirements that we used to have and the emission requirements that we used to have that have now been banished, uh thankfully, we wouldn't have stuff like that.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people are facing the um uh they're being confronted with turbocharged four-cylinder engines in all kinds of things that they uh are about to buy, and they're going, well, I don't really want this.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I like a V8 engine, I like a you know, a solid, uh normally aspirated six-cylinder engine like I'm used to.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't want the complication and sometimes the turbo lag of a turbocharged engine, and that's because of fuel economy requirements that were just crazy.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, impossible, almost impossible to reach, and certainly impossible to reach without those kind of powertrains.
• 15:08
  Mike Marrs: And whether you're driving that turbo three-cylinder or you're driving the the 5-7 Hemi, the cost of the gas, the fuel is the same.
• 15:16
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 15:16
  Mike Marrs: Just depends on how hard you push it and use it.
• 15:19
  Mike Marrs: Yep.
• 15:19
  Mike Marrs: Right.
• 15:20
  Don Armstrong: Well, I think that uh I think that they're headed in the right direction for their miraculous comeback, and Lord knows they've had enough of them in the in the life cycle of that company.
• 15:30
  Don Armstrong: But uh yeah, I I was kind of excited to hear that uh the SRT is going to make a huge comeback.
• 15:36
  Don Armstrong: They're gonna have like, I don't know, 30 different versions of it or something like that.
• 15:40
  Don Armstrong: It's crazy.
• 15:42
  Don Armstrong: But uh, and it's not gonna take that long for this to get on the um on in the road, to be honest with you.
• 15:48
  Don Armstrong: I I see that uh I saw a preview, I don't remember what car it was, but it looked real good.
• 15:55
  Don Armstrong: And I'm thinking, you know, there's something about an American V8, normally aspirated, that is unlike anything else that we drive, Jack.
• 16:06
  Don Armstrong: And you gotta agree with me.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh big fans of those, and I've been big fans of those forever.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what we see in uh full-size SUVs is kind of the remnant of that, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, those are the only separate body on frame, V8 power rear drive vehicles that are still on the road.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that's what everybody had as a family car, you know, uh 30, 40 years ago.
• 16:29
  Don Armstrong: The only thing that we we never heard about turbo lag until they started making them to for customers to drive.
• 16:36
  Don Armstrong: Turbos have been around forever and ever and ever.
• 16:38
  Don Armstrong: But uh, the ones that we drive, I remember when they first came on the market, they were horrible.
• 16:43
  Don Armstrong: Step on the gas and it kind of inched forward, and then all of a sudden, this huge rush of power that you're squealing the tires and not meaning to.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: They've kind of moderated that to some extent, but a lot of these turbos I drive still have some lag.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and as I say, I don't want to mean mean to pick on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but as you're driving that, uh, you know, this is a big heavy vehicle, um, and you'd like immediate torque, you just don't get it from those kinds of engines.
• 17:13
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, turbos were originally designed or used on like big industrial equipment, large dump trucks and diesels and things now.
• 17:20
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 17:20
  Mike Marrs: And so the slow turn-up of a turbo was fine for that.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and lower torque.
• 17:26
  Mike Marrs: To stamp to the Stellantis' credit, but they're responding to the market.
• 17:31
  Mike Marrs: They're not responding to the government mandates now.
• 17:33
  Mike Marrs: They're not being forced to build cars for mandates of building, trying to build cars that people want to buy.
• 17:39
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, they were making money on the mandates on on that because now they're not making money, so they do have to pivot.
• 17:44
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, and I think that I think that uh the pivot when a great big huge company makes a pivot, it takes a while to get that wheel turning, so to speak.
• 17:54
  Don Armstrong: So, Jack, uh, what uh is your press car of the week that you're driving this week?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: I have a Volvo XC60.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I actually went out uh this morning even before the show and and uh did some photography on it.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, that's a sweet ride.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the XC60 is one of the Volvo's best, and um, you know, it's a mid-size luxury SUV, and yeah, they just finish them well.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the seats are among the most comfortable uh of any seats in in the industry.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's a terrific vehicle.
• 18:26
  Don Armstrong: You know, you just don't hear of people buying them, at least here in Texas anymore.
• 18:30
  Don Armstrong: And I think that it that Volvo brand uh has something to offer and uh something to look at if you look at for something a little bit more upscale than I don't know, Chev Chevyers.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they're building a lot of them now in in the United States, which is cool as well.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of their SUVs are being focused.
• 18:50
  Don Armstrong: Well, Jack, it's always great to talk to you, and we thank you so much for taking the time out of your day.
• 18:54
  Don Armstrong: America on the Road is his show.
• 18:55
  Don Armstrong: Look it up.
• 18:56
  Don Armstrong: And uh any new books?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm working on another crime novel.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's more in my head than it is on the paper yet.
• 19:04
  Don Armstrong: It's a crime up there in your head.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of things are a crime.
• 19:08
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, you've been in Don's head then, haven't you?
• 19:11
  Mike Marrs: That's my wife.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:12
  Don Armstrong: Jack, we love you.
• 19:13
  Don Armstrong: Thank you so much.
• 19:14
  Don Armstrong: Have a great uh uh summer, and hopefully we'll talk to you before summer ends.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to it.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Always great to talk to you three.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jack.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jack.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 19:23
  Don Armstrong: Appreciate you.
• 19:23
  Don Armstrong: Hey, you're invited to join us again next week for our live show.
• 19:27
  Don Armstrong: And next week it's a bonus hour, 9 to noon Central, as we take it all the way up to Granbury, Texas, for the Lone Star Street Rod Association, Lone Star State Run.
• 19:40
  Don Armstrong: If you miss our show, you'll be able to connect through a podcast from your favorite podcast channel anytime.
• 19:45
  Don Armstrong: We're going to be right back after this quick break.
• 19:47
  Don Armstrong: Stay with us.
• 19:50
  Don Armstrong: The Tex Max dining experience is defined by Lupi Tortilla, your destination for Texas's best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 19:58
  Don Armstrong: Since 1983, Lupi Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients.
• 20:05
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• 20:12
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• 20:17
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• 20:23
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• 20:31
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• 20:37
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• 20:39
  Don Armstrong: The recipes are authentic and time-tested.
• 20:41
  Don Armstrong: The ingredients always fresh.
• 20:43
  Don Armstrong: Loopy tortilla eats pretty good.
• 20:59
  Don Armstrong: You want me to get a mic?
• 21:00
  Mike Marrs: If you would, sir, I'll pull it up and get you started.
• 21:02
  Mike Marrs: There you go.
• 21:03
  Mike Marrs: All right.
• 21:04
  Mike Marrs: So swap meets are something that we used to.
• 21:08
  Mike Marrs: I remember when I was much, much younger that that was something that we always went to looking for parts.
• 21:12
  Mike Marrs: It was a big deal.
• 21:13
  Mike Marrs: It was almost like almost every car show had a swap meet, and it's not so much anymore.
• 21:18
  Mike Marrs: Now, if you're going to find something, generally it's tied into a flea market.
• 21:21
  Mike Marrs: But there are several swap meets.
• 21:24
  Mike Marrs: Or you go online and get it.
• 21:26
  Mike Marrs: You know, it takes all the fun out of watching, walking through it.
• 21:29
  Mike Marrs: So, but one of them that's going on that is still a pretty big deal is the Southwest Swap Meet at Lone Star Park.
• 21:36
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is right between Dallas and Fort Worth.
• 21:38
  Mike Marrs: Happens twice a year.
• 21:39
  Mike Marrs: In fact, it's going on this weekend, is the spring event, and there'll be one later on in the fall.
• 21:44
  Mike Marrs: Now, this has been around since 1968, and it's set up on a six on excuse me, a 300 acre horse racing facility.
• 21:52
  Mike Marrs: So it's not a lot of open fields and stuff.
• 21:55
  Mike Marrs: You've got parking lots and grandstand, the tracks all right there in the background, but there's like 5,000 spaces available for vendors, food trucks, and the auto corral.
• 22:05
  Mike Marrs: So if you want to go looking for something in a little bit more of a laid-back atmosphere that's not totally too big, put on your walking shoes and go check out this one.
• 22:14
  Mike Marrs: Now, getting a little bit closer to home down here in the Dallas part of the world, Hot Rods of Texas swap meet happens up in Conroe.
• 22:23
  Mike Marrs: Again, this one is twice a year, and this is the second largest swap meet in Texas.
• 22:28
  Mike Marrs: Now, uh the October event is set for October the 23rd and the 25th.
• 22:33
  Mike Marrs: Again, Montgomery County Fairgrounds out on Airport Road.
• 22:36
  Mike Marrs: We've been out there a couple of times with some other events.
• 22:39
  Mike Marrs: It is a real fairgrounds.
• 22:41
  Mike Marrs: It is a large place, and they use the whole thing.
• 22:44
  Mike Marrs: Hot rods, muscle cars, project builds.
• 22:47
  Mike Marrs: And the great thing about this one is if you're going to be a vendor there, if you're going to come in there and set up, you've got to have at least 75% of your content or your stuff you're bringing in has got to be auto-related.
• 22:58
  Mike Marrs: So you're not really going to turn this into some sort of flea market with a lot of handicrafts on it.
• 23:03
  Mike Marrs: And uh it usually draws a lot of a pretty big crowd because isn't that a cute purse you brought over there?
• 23:10
  Mike Marrs: Got a car on it.
• 23:12
  Mike Marrs: So um then we want to go to the big one.
• 23:15
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the biggest in Texas, and it is considered one of the largest in the country.
• 23:19
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the Pate Swap Meet.
• 23:22
  Mike Marrs: Happens April the 23rd through the 25th, so still got time to get there.
• 23:25
  Mike Marrs: Now, this was started in 1972 by several Texas car clubs who were going off to Pennsylvania, to Hershey, and places like that, and they got tired of making the drive.
• 23:34
  Mike Marrs: So they decided to set one up here, and it's been through several different places, and now is home at the Texas Motor Speedway.
• 23:41
  Mike Marrs: Fourteen clubs get together to put this together.
• 23:44
  Mike Marrs: They have 2,000 vendors, they have 9,900 spaces for people to set up and swap parts and swap stories.
• 23:54
  Mike Marrs: Then they have an auto corral.
• 23:56
  Mike Marrs: And there's some pictures, part of these pictures are from the top seating of the track looking out over the field.
• 24:03
  Mike Marrs: It uses the in the whole track.
• 24:06
  Mike Marrs: And uh a lot of people, I mean, they now have uh golf carts, a lot of people use scooters, a lot of people get around.
• 24:13
  Mike Marrs: I last time I was up there, it wasn't quite this big, it was pre-COVID.
• 24:17
  Mike Marrs: I was there two days and still didn't get to walk through all of it.
• 24:20
  Mike Marrs: So there's a lot of stuff up there and lots of things.
• 24:24
  Mike Marrs: And if you buy something, if you can't carry it, they got people that'll actually tear it to your car.
• 24:28
  Mike Marrs: So one thing about these car, these swap meets, whether it's these big ones or the small ones that you can find, the biggest thing you got to remember is bring cash.
• 24:36
  Mike Marrs: Cash is king because out there in the middle of the parking lot, you're not gonna necessarily have access to a credit card.
• 24:43
  Mike Marrs: And the other thing is if you want to get something in particular, if you're really looking for a hard to part find, you ought to get there a little bit early and get started on it.
• 24:52
  Mike Marrs: Bring your walking shoes.
• 24:54
  Mike Marrs: And um a couple other things.
• 24:56
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:57
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, you walk your feet off with that.
• 24:59
  Mike Marrs: A couple other things I want to mention quite real quick.
• 25:01
  Mike Marrs: Greenville Swap Meet, that's an old school option early in the spring that's up there.
• 25:05
  Mike Marrs: And the other one is the Corvette Chevy Expo down in Galveston.
• 25:08
  Mike Marrs: It's pretty close.
• 25:09
  Mike Marrs: That one also has uh a swap meet, but it's primarily GM focused, uh head, obviously heavy into the Corvettes.
• 25:17
  Mike Marrs: But swap meets are still out there and you can find them.
• 25:19
  Mike Marrs: Uh just got to kind of look for them.
• 25:21
  Mike Marrs: They're not uh as plentiful as they used to be, but there's still a lot of yeah, there you go.
• 25:29
  Don Armstrong: Thanks for being with us today.
• 25:31
  Don Armstrong: Time now here on the In Wheel Time Card Talk Show for Jeff's car culture.
• 25:34
  Don Armstrong: Not the motor minute, but the car culture.
• 25:37
  Don Armstrong: Abandoned car factories that still hold secrets.
• 25:40
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, the city of Detroit was once the beating heart of the global industry, uh in automotive industry, basically.
• 25:46
  Jeff Dziekan: The American automobile industry rapidly expanded in the early 1900s with Detroit as its epicenter.
• 25:53
  Jeff Dziekan: Millions of cars rolled out of the factories.
• 25:55
  Jeff Dziekan: The city rightfully earned the name Motor City.
• 25:58
  Jeff Dziekan: So here we go.
• 25:59
  Jeff Dziekan: The first one that's still in Detroit is the Packard Automotive Plant.
• 26:02
  Jeff Dziekan: Since the opening in 1903, the plant served as a manufacturing heart for the Packard Motor Company, producing some of America's most prestigious automobiles.
• 26:11
  Jeff Dziekan: During World War II, the facility joined forces with Rolls-Royce to manufacture 55,000 Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, which was on the Spitfire.
• 26:20
  Jeff Dziekan: The Packard Motor Company collapsed in the late 50s, which led to the closure of the automotive plant portion in 1956, leaving the location abandoned ever since.
• 26:30
  Jeff Dziekan: Deemed structurally unsafe for decades of neglect, the massive complex was partially demolished in 22 and in 24.
• 26:38
  Jeff Dziekan: Today only fragments of the 3.5 million square foot factory remain.
• 26:43
  Jeff Dziekan: There's been movies actually uh made in that part of the dilapidated structure as well.
• 26:48
  Jeff Dziekan: So some of it is still viable.
• 26:50
  Jeff Dziekan: They've got the uh folks that go in there and and skateboard and and you know tag all the paint and stuff like that.
• 26:57
  Jeff Dziekan: So it's still around.
• 26:59
  Jeff Dziekan: The next one, uh, this is uh kind of near and dear to my heart, the Fisher Body Plant 21.
• 27:03
  Jeff Dziekan: This is the old Fleetwood plant.
• 27:04
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh I actually worked on the fourth floor there.
• 27:06
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh if you look really close, you can see my parking spot right up front.
• 27:10
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh built in 1919, the 600,000 square foot Fisher Body Plant was designed to serve as key manufacturing site for General Motors.
• 27:18
  Jeff Dziekan: The plant closed in 1984 despite a short second life with small businesses occupying the premises until 1993.
• 27:25
  Jeff Dziekan: The massive concrete structure was left abandoned for decades.
• 27:29
  Jeff Dziekan: According to the Urban Explorers, there we go, the the rail system that transported vehicles within the factory is still left in place.
• 27:37
  Jeff Dziekan: After decades of neglect, the building is now fenced off and finally being uh revived through the Fisher 21 Lofts redevelopment program.
• 27:45
  Jeff Dziekan: So they're trying to do something with it back in that area.
• 27:47
  Jeff Dziekan: Fisher Loft.
• 27:48
  Jeff Dziekan: Fisher Loft.
• 27:48
  Don Armstrong: Maybe that's what they need to do with the sugar factory in Sugarland.
• 27:51
  Jeff Dziekan: I thought that's turned into a larger I thought that's what they were kind of trying to do.
• 27:55
  Don Armstrong: That's another story.
• 27:57
  Don Armstrong: Okay.
• 27:57
  Jeff Dziekan: Anyways, the next one is the Highland Park Ford plant.
• 27:59
  Jeff Dziekan: This one's got a lot of history to it as well.
• 28:02
  Jeff Dziekan: It's one of Detroit's most significant factories in automotive history.
• 28:05
  Jeff Dziekan: It opened in 1910, designed by the designed by the same uh architect that designed the Packard building.
• 28:12
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh the plant became the birthplace of the modern moving assembly line from Henry Ford, introduced in 1913.
• 28:18
  Jeff Dziekan: As a production of the Model T moved to a different factory, the Highland Park Ford plant transitioned into automotive trim manufacturing, truck and tractor production, as well as the production of tanks, aircraft, and certain parts in World War II.
• 28:32
  Jeff Dziekan: According to the Ford Company, sold uh sold this historic Highland Park complex in 1981, but it continues to leave space for storage even today.
• 28:40
  Jeff Dziekan: So you probably got a little storage company working and that's pretty good to keep it going.
• 28:45
  Jeff Dziekan: Last one we got, Michael, is the American Motors Detroit plant.
• 28:48
  Jeff Dziekan: You know, we've covered all the manufacturers there.
• 28:50
  Jeff Dziekan: This one was built in 1927.
• 28:52
  Don Armstrong: Wait a minute, I thought that they were up in Wisconsin.
• 28:55
  Jeff Dziekan: This one was the original, built in 1927.
• 28:57
  Jeff Dziekan: It's a two million square foot industrial complex that serves as headquarters for American Motors, or AMC.
• 29:03
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh the company first oversaw the development of production of appliances and focused exclusively on production of vehicles starting in 1960.
• 29:11
  Jeff Dziekan: Rambler, the Hornet, the Javelin, Gremlin, Pacer were some of the manufacturer's most popular models built in this factory.
• 29:17
  Jeff Dziekan: In the late 80s, Chrysler acquired Chrysler required the AMC to move uh as a move to let the complex being uh repurposed for Jeep and Truck Engineering Center.
• 29:29
  Jeff Dziekan: So there you go.
• 29:30
  Don Armstrong: Well that was interesting.
• 29:31
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 29:32
  Don Armstrong: Uh that's funny.
• 29:32
  Don Armstrong: Uh yeah, because I always thought that American Motors was Kenosha.
• 29:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 29:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, you know, that that's probably after that, because this was built early on.
• 29:42
  Jeff Dziekan: So but again, this I was there for that.
• 29:44
  Jeff Dziekan: They were making appliances first in this one in this particular plant.
• 29:48
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• 29:51
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• 29:55
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• 29:58
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• 30:02
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• 30:07
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• 30:13
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• 30:16
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