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400 Cars On The Square - Heros & Hotrods are in Bastrop, Texas! · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:06
  Mike Marrs: From the Texas Gulf Coast, welcome to In Wheel Time.
• 0:10
  Mike Marrs: In our first segment today, we're going to be talking with Bill Zlag and Neil Jones.
• 0:14
  Mike Marrs: Now they're with the Bassdrop Area Cruisers, and they've got a really big event coming up, and we're going to learn more about that as we go along with it.
• 0:21
  Mike Marrs: We'll have some upcoming events in the second part of our show, and then we'll wrap it all up with some automotive news.
• 0:26
  Mike Marrs: Thanks for joining us.
• 0:27
  Mike Marrs: I'm Michael Mars, and let's head over to Bass Drop.
• 0:30
  Mike Marrs: Gentlemen.
• 0:31
  Mike Marrs: Hey Michael, how are you?
• 0:33
  Mike Marrs: Doing great.
• 0:34
  Mike Marrs: Bill C lag.
• 0:35
  Mike Marrs: Am I saying that right?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Z lag is fine.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's pretty close.
• 0:39
  Mike Marrs: I could do Neil Jones.
• 0:41
  Mike Marrs: I thought we would talk about you guys initially.
• 0:44
  Mike Marrs: So I think we'll start with uh Neil.
• 0:47
  Mike Marrs: Because I know a little bit about Bill.
• 0:49
  Mike Marrs: Let me find out some more about Neil.
• 0:50
  Mike Marrs: Let's talk about your automotive, your background, how you got started into cars and hot rods and all that good stuff.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: The cars uh started with my grandfather.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: He was um he had quite a collection.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my first vehicle I purchased was a 51 uh Chevy Bel Air, and then um um eventually had to sell it to go to college.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: But um uh later on in life ended up with the one car I truly wanted from this collection, which uh was a 57 uh Chevy Bel Air.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's currently in the shop and just about finished.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait to get it out on the road again.
• 1:26
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, I understand a lot of people going to college, getting married, kids.
• 1:30
  Mike Marrs: Life gets in the way sometimes with the hot rods.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 1:34
  Mike Marrs: So, Bill, if I remember correctly, you retired from GM.
• 1:39
  Mike Marrs: Yes, I did.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I worked uh for General Motors for 31 years.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, like many people, maybe in my generation, grew up um making model cars with my brother, and then always wanted to got an automotive degree from Southern Illinois University, and then uh got a job with GM.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I taught for four years at a community college first.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh got a job at General Motors, started out as an Osmobile service rep in East Texas, uh, and uh had probably at least nine different jobs between uh Michigan.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: We were lived in Michigan four different times, lived in Texas three different times, and I grew up in Illinois near in Chicago and actually ended up working over there one time.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of my work was in technician training, uh technical assistance, uh customer assistance, uh field engineering, uh, lots of different jobs I had.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great career, and I really enjoyed it and enjoying retirement as well.
• 2:38
  Mike Marrs: Well, let me ask you so was it primarily with Oldsmobile, your career?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, my my initial years were with Oldsmobile, but then I went to the corporate.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The training became a corporate activity.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: At one time it was divided by division, but back in the uh mid 80s, early 90s, they went to the corporate, a corporate service department, you might say, right?
• 2:58
  Mike Marrs: Right, right, right.
• 2:59
  Mike Marrs: Okay, let me ask you this what are you driving these days?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I had two Ozmobiles that I restored, a 70 Cuddles Convertible and a 70442.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh over the last six, seven years, we we sold both of those, and right now I got a 2011 Corvette Grand Sport, and a uh about three years ago to this month, I uh found a Chevy SSR uh with only 14,000 miles final production run.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of our fun car.
• 3:28
  Mike Marrs: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:29
  Mike Marrs: Neil, what about you?
• 3:30
  Mike Marrs: What do you drive before we get out of here?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh well, I you know talked about the 1957 Chevy Bel Air.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: I have a uh 69 C10 uh truck and uh also have a 1980 MGB and don't forget your Corvette.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yes, and Corvette.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's my wife's car.
• 3:49
  Mike Marrs: Uh it's close enough, you know.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: I drive all the time, but she never drives.
• 3:53
  Mike Marrs: I understand.
• 3:54
  Mike Marrs: So so let's talk about the Bass Drop area cruisers a little bit.
• 4:00
  Mike Marrs: So, like how I mean it's it's a very active club looking at the size of this event.
• 4:06
  Mike Marrs: We'll get to that in a minute.
• 4:08
  Mike Marrs: But I know Hot Rods and Heroes is 20 years old because this is the 20th anniversary, but how old is the club itself?
• 4:16
  Mike Marrs: 20 uh 26 years old.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 26, 27 years.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: We just had our 25th anniversary a couple years ago.
• 4:24
  Mike Marrs: Okay, okay.
• 4:24
  Mike Marrs: And and is it open to all vehicles, or do you have certain cars that uh, you know, year limitations or anything?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's open to all vehicles, all makes, models, years.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And frankly, we've got some people that don't own uh, like you might say a collector car or a special interest car, they just have car they're either in-between cars or or things like that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's open to anybody.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll help you decide which car to get if you need help.
• 4:52
  Mike Marrs: Got plenty of advice.
• 4:55
  Mike Marrs: Let me put this flyer up here uh on the screen with us, and uh that way the the people can see the the code, the QR code on it, and you've got to be able to grab it off the screen, and it'll have lots of information for it.
• 5:08
  Mike Marrs: Uh, what will it tell them?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so the day of the event, uh we have two events.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: We have a Friday night cruising, which starts at uh five o'clock, and that's uh open to people that register for the event.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that goes until nine.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's just too kind of a social downtown, just visiting a lot of the shops and stuff.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they can park their cars on.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: We we have the the streets are closed off to regular parking, so it's very informal where they come and go, not like Saturday, which Neil will also explain, but it's just a cruise in, it's not a cruise to the neighborhoods or anything like that, stationary, and people could come and enjoy all the restaurants.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh numerous restaurants in our downtown area.
• 5:50
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, so just a Friday night around the town square.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy Saturday.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, um, yeah, Saturday uh is our main event, and that um is on the 14th.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: It starts at 7:30 in the morning, uh, and then we have the award ceremony around uh three o'clock.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: In between there, we have a veterans march, we have a flyover, and of course, judging of the cars, and uh it's just a good time to come out and enjoy the downtown area.
• 6:18
  Mike Marrs: So, when you say the veterans march, because that popped up in my notes, uh, explain a little bit more about that because we're gonna get to talking about what the event really supports.
• 6:27
  Mike Marrs: But let's start with the Veterans March.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: So the Veteran March uh starts about 10:30, and uh all veterans are welcome to uh participate in the March.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's usually marked with the flyover, so as long as we can coordinate it at the same time.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: And uh basically it's just honoring the vets.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you um start on the north side of town near the uh post office, and then you march uh down uh main street and then over to the um over over to the courthouse for uh for a veterans ceremony there.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we have involved with that, we have the ROTC, local ROTC, we have a bagpiper.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I always compare it to if you've seen honor flight, uh, when veterans are coming off or going on to the flight to go out to Washington, D.C.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: to view the veterans of Vietnam or other other uh memorials.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they you know they everybody's applauding, uh, you know, and cheering the veterans on, and it's a it's a great activity.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So as much as the car show is an important part, to me, the veterans is is also an extremely important part of this event to honor our veterans.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't have to be anybody who's registered for the show.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Any veterans or current military are invited to participate in the parade into the march.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the purpose of the show is to raise funds for veteran organizations.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: So all the money that's uh raised during the events, we we donate.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 80.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in the last several years consistently, we raised$50,000 with this event, with 80% going 80 to 85 percent goes to veterans organizations.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: We do high with the remaining funds or proceeds, we do high school automotive scholarships, like four or five thousand dollars a year for several students in Bastrop County, and then the usual food pantry and other you know local local organizations that help uh children and and uh other community community organizations.
• 8:31
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, I think it's great that y'all are doing this.
• 8:33
  Mike Marrs: My father had a chance to go on the flight to Washington in his wheelchair, they accommodated him.
• 8:38
  Mike Marrs: And of course, I didn't get to go with him, but he brought back some pictures and stuff, and it was it was very emotional, and I was really glad that he had the opportunity to do that.
• 8:47
  Mike Marrs: So, so let me ask you this.
• 8:49
  Mike Marrs: So, last year you had about 400 cars registered to actually be participating in the event.
• 8:56
  Mike Marrs: That is correct.
• 8:58
  Mike Marrs: How's this year looking?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're around uh 325 currently.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: 350 was told.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh the numbers are old, yeah.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: The numbers are two, three, four days old.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because uh we only have registration uh probably six, five, six weeks ago, and uh what's amazing we're a little ahead of last year, or and uh even though the deadline is coming up uh for registration, because we we do not uh allow any cars uh to register the day of the show.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: We just can't, we barely have room for the 400 cars, we can't take anybody else.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh sometimes we have a few no-shows, but still we can't, you know, we don't do any other other uh you know arrangements, and we park on the streets, so it takes a while to get 400 cars because we have to go down the streets.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: We do have two entrances.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great map on the website that shows where to enter, and then the cars obviously have to go down these fairly narrow streets on Main Street and and Pine Street, and we have some parking lots adjacent to the downtown area, but there's plenty of restaurants downtown.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And one reason that we can donate as much money as we do, we probably have about 80 sponsors for the event that donate anywhere from$5,000, which is our our top sponsor, Craig's Jewelry.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have sponsors that donate like$2,500, which was uh also Covert, Chevrolet and Bass Drop here, and many other what we call uh Colonel or Colonel Elite level sponsors uh that donate uh$1,500 to$2,000.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Captain level is$500, but that's what really you know generates the funds.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a community event that's uh very successful and probably the biggest, if not uh it's often claimed to be the biggest event, and uh at least uh 30 to 35, 40, yeah, 35 percent of the registrations are for more than 100 miles away, so it's not just a local show bass drop in Austin.
• 10:59
  Mike Marrs: So it's got a pretty good sized draw then from a range.
• 11:01
  Mike Marrs: Oh, for sure.
• 11:03
  Mike Marrs: So obviously the city works with you really well on this since you're trying to put 400 cars in a space that probably doesn't normally handle 400 cars.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yes, yeah.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: We uh been working with the city, you know, every year for the show.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we have to design where we park, um, and um we have to get okay with the fire department, police department, um, on all that to leave lanes open, stuff like that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, the city is heavily involved, and we really appreciate their help on this.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, shutting down most of downtown is you know pretty big task.
• 11:41
  Mike Marrs: Yes.
• 11:42
  Mike Marrs: So you you mentioned, you know, uh about uh the task of parking all the cars.
• 11:47
  Mike Marrs: Now these cars aren't judged, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, we are a judge, uh we are a judge show.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you don't have to be judged.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there's a$35 uh registration fee, you get a t-shirt and uh whatever, like a goodie bag, whatever we can uh get you know donated.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we've got yeah, we've got about 30 classes, 30, 33 classes, and we ask people if they want to be judged, so that helps us a lot because there's no use judging them if they're not interested in that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it's usually 20, 25 percent, I think that'd say they're not interested in being judges.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what makes our show unique and the fact that we draw such a large number of vehicles so soon registration is we judge by class.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're in the Tri-Five Chevy class, the same two people judge all those cars regardless of where they are on the show field.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: We number the slots as we number the parking spaces as the cars come in, so those judges find the car.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh as far as you can get, you know, other than like concourse judging.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, and I wanted to mention one other thing.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, uh, the car club members, our cars are not in the show.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: We have a separate area for our cars that anyone that's registered at the show can come and judge us.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um we're not uh yeah, we're not fighting again you know for the awards.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: We're not judging cars.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that makes it nice because our members can show their cars off.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're in a separate little lot across from a Gracie's restaurant, and uh people can go there, as Neil says, and and vote for their favorite, two or three favorite vast Rawberry Cruiser's cars.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a similar plaque awards that the and we've got some great, great plaque awards since our 20th anniversary.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're splurging on our our the the frame for our plaque this year.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be really, really something special.
• 13:37
  Mike Marrs: So well, is there anything else because it's your 20th anniversary that you may have added that people should be on the outlook for when they come?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say there's anything we've got.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: A the the vehicle that's on our our graphic here is a 1956 Chevy staff car.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there was no wars going on at that time, but it's uh it's from uh a large car collector that lives in uh near Le Grange.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: His name is John Birkland, and he also donates uh uh several couple thousand dollars as a donation just out of his own pocket.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: He and two other people paid one million dollars at a Barrett Jackson auction for honor flight with this vehicle, and it's in his display.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: He owns probably about 200 and some cars that he has in six different buildings on his property.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: We go there once a year for an outing, and uh so that's one thing.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, on our shirts this year, on the sleeves of the men's shirts, we're gonna have the uh 250 logo, you know, for the 250 anniversary of the you know, United States.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if there's anything else special, just the normal, normal things we do.
• 14:51
  Mike Marrs: So most of the information you get off the flyer.
• 14:53
  Mike Marrs: We've got it up here on the screen, so hopefully people can see it.
• 14:56
  Mike Marrs: Uh maybe get a picture of the QR code, and uh there's a few of your sponsors listed there, and it's the hours.
• 15:03
  Mike Marrs: You've got the hours on there.
• 15:04
  Mike Marrs: I can't read them, it's too far away from me on the monitor.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, show starts at 7:30, uh ends at three, uh three o'clock at uh after the award ceremony.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have also Saturday.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: We also have silent auction going on near the museum.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh uh live, uh not a live auction, we have uh raffle that is we we some of our sponsors give us prizes and we we kind of re-donate those to the local VFW and the Lost Pines Leathernext, which is a a military, you know, a marine veterans organization here in town.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And they they in addition to the money we donate to them, aside from the proceeds, they keep the money for the raffle.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we have lots of good activities going on with that raffle.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh like I said, the silent auction generates a lot.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of good prizes that are donated by local businesses, lots of lots of restaurants and Bass Drop, like many cities in Texas, are growing at a rapid rate.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we have lots of now boutiques and things like that.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh some pretty uh pretty nice stores and things downtown.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Also, a very famous bookstore and uh other things that uh ladies and spectators could take advantage of uh and and and really have a good time downtown.
• 16:26
  Mike Marrs: So the name of the event is Heroes and Hot Rods.
• 16:29
  Mike Marrs: So if I'm coming and I haven't been there before, I haven't been to downtown Bass Drop at all.
• 16:34
  Mike Marrs: If I'm there to the event, is there anything in particular that I shouldn't miss either with the city or with the event itself?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we we have an excellent museum, which is kind of our judging headquarters, and it's a very modern, you know, in inside the museum is very well done.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not that old, it's probably only about 10 or 12 years old, and a lot of people aren't aware, but Camp Swift, which is very close to Bassdrop, was one of the main training headquarters during World War II.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: So they've got a great exhibit in there, and the admission will be free for all veterans the weekend and half price for other people uh at that museum, and it's right on the corner, right where the DJ is.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really the heart of the event is that corner of Pine and Main Street.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: And the uh club donates to the museum, which pays for veteran admission fees uh for the year.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's one of our one of our uh recipients of our donations is so veterans uh all year long uh can uh get free admission.
• 17:36
  Mike Marrs: Great, great.
• 17:37
  Mike Marrs: So the event is uh Heroes and Hot Rods, Bass Drop Area Cruisers, Friday, November the 13th, and Saturday, November the 14th is the big day for the car show and all the other events that go along with it.
• 17:50
  Mike Marrs: It's a full day.
• 17:51
  Mike Marrs: So you can come out and make a whole weekend out of it and bass drop.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And there's links on the links on our website.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: The hotels have special room rates, uh, at least six or seven hotels, and there's other many hotels and RV parts and other places to choose from as well.
• 18:07
  Mike Marrs: All right.
• 18:07
  Mike Marrs: So you said that there was some more room for some cars, uh, maybe a few more cars to register.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, we have at least another 50 spots open.
• 18:17
  Mike Marrs: So um so when will you shut down registration?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's normally the the week before the show, but it'll be long before that.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So as soon as we get to get the 400, which will probably be in less than two weeks, my would be my estimate.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: The it'll be we'll have to shut it down, yeah.
• 18:37
  Mike Marrs: All right, very good.
• 18:38
  Mike Marrs: Well, I hope the weather's great.
• 18:39
  Mike Marrs: One of these days I'm gonna get up there and see this because y'all keep talking about it, and it's really great.
• 18:44
  Mike Marrs: Let me ask you one more thing.
• 18:45
  Mike Marrs: How long have y'all been event involved with this event?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been involved uh probably close to 10 years now.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: About 17 years for me, 17 or 18 years since we we moved here in 07 when I got transferred here, and uh we've been in the club ever since.
• 19:03
  Mike Marrs: You just like it so well you just stayed.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, yeah.
• 19:07
  Mike Marrs: Very good.
• 19:07
  Mike Marrs: Well, that's great.
• 19:08
  Mike Marrs: Bill Zelik and Neil Jones, Bass Drop Area Cruisers, Heroes, and Hot Rods on Veterans Day weekend.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Come join us.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Michael, we thank you so much for allowing us to uh work with you to promote the event, and we really appreciate all that you do for us.
• 19:26
  Mike Marrs: Thank you guys.
• 19:28
  Mike Marrs: Appreciate it.
• 19:28
  Mike Marrs: Big thanks to the Bass Drop Area Cruisers for joining us today.
• 19:32
  Mike Marrs: Coming up after this short 60-second break, we're going to have the race card, we're going to have some events, and we're going to wrap up with some automotive history in the first half of our program.
• 19:43
  Mike Marrs: Be sure and stay with us.
• 19:44
  Mike Marrs: Be right back.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's that time again.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Fire up those engines.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Heroes and Hot Rods is rolling into Bastrop for Veterans Day weekend.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Friday night, cruise downtown.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Saturday, 400 of the coolest rides in Texas, take over Main Street.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Honor our veterans, enjoy local food and shopping, and help support local charities and scholarships.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Presented by Craig Jewelry and over 200 local sponsors, November 13th and 14th, Downtown Bathrop.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Don't miss it.
• 20:16
  Mike Marrs: Cars, trucks, SUVs, motorsports, road trips, and the people who make the automotive world interesting.
• 20:23
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• 20:25
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• 20:31
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• 20:38
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• 20:41
  Mike Marrs: Our cars, our trucks, and the people who love them.
• 20:44
  Mike Marrs: Time now to take a look at where the roads can take us this week.
• 20:48
  Mike Marrs: And everybody's waiting on a little bit cooler weather here in Texas, regardless of where you're at.
• 20:52
  Mike Marrs: Might be pressing in a little bit, but there is cooler weather coming, and it's not going to take too long.
• 20:57
  Mike Marrs: So let's take a look at what we can do with some Southeast Texas trips that don't take a full tank of gas.
• 21:04
  Mike Marrs: And we're going to start with the Texas Rice Festival.
• 21:08
  Mike Marrs: This is in Winnie.
• 21:09
  Mike Marrs: It runs September the 30th through October the 3rd.
• 21:11
  Mike Marrs: So if you're looking for one that doesn't take going very far, this is a pretty good answer whether you're coming out of Houston or you're coming out of the Beaumont, Port Arthur area, or even into Louisiana.
• 21:22
  Mike Marrs: It's not that far out here.
• 21:24
  Mike Marrs: It celebrates the region's rice growing heritage with food, entertainment, and usually got some pretty good entertainment.
• 21:30
  Mike Marrs: Family activities got livestock events and a nice family festival atmosphere out in the Winnie Stowe Park.
• 21:37
  Mike Marrs: Now it does again run September the 30th through October the 3rd, and the car show, the annual car show, is on that Saturday.
• 21:45
  Mike Marrs: Then coming up next, we're going to take a look at the Austin County Fairgrounds.
• 21:52
  Mike Marrs: This is in Belleville, October 7th through 11.
• 21:55
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is where you're going to find a Texas County Fair experience.
• 21:59
  Mike Marrs: We're going to Find the livestock, the rodeo, carnival attractions, food, and entertainment.
• 22:05
  Mike Marrs: And on the busy nights, you can park at the Margaret Chelsea Park, and there's a shuttle that takes you out to the fairgrounds on that.
• 22:12
  Mike Marrs: Next up is the Katy Rice Harvest Festival in Katy, October 10 and 11.
• 22:18
  Mike Marrs: Now, this gives us another connection between Texas agriculture and automobiles.
• 22:23
  Mike Marrs: Now for 2026, the event returns to the historic town square.
• 22:27
  Mike Marrs: You're going to find more than 100 vendors, food trucks, live music, a carnival, got lots of agricultural activities and plenty of family entertainment.
• 22:37
  Mike Marrs: Now, on that Saturday, it's 10 to 10 p.m.
• 22:40
  Mike Marrs: Sunday, it's noon to 6 p.m.
• 22:42
  Mike Marrs: From there, we are going to make a drive.
• 22:44
  Mike Marrs: We're going to run down to Galveston.
• 22:45
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is Ghostly Galveston Festival, October 1 through 15.
• 22:49
  Mike Marrs: Now, instead of making Galveston just another festival stop, this October gives us a chance to make the island itself a destination.
• 22:57
  Mike Marrs: Ghostly Galveston runs through October with ghost tours and opportunities to explore the island's historic buildings, the mansions, cemeteries, and the harbor after dark.
• 23:08
  Mike Marrs: It gives drivers a reason to leave Southeast Texas in the afternoon, enjoy the island, grab dinner, and then take one of the evening tours.
• 23:16
  Mike Marrs: And of course, getting there is part of the experience, whether you're coming down through the I-45, coming out of Houston, or if you come across the ferry on the Bolivar Peninsula.
• 23:24
  Mike Marrs: Then we're going to go back up to East Texas for the East Texas Yambree in Gilmer.
• 23:29
  Mike Marrs: This is October 14 to 15.
• 23:31
  Mike Marrs: It is a longer road trip.
• 23:32
  Mike Marrs: Just point your car north toward Gilmer and the East Texas Yamboree for the 89th annual event, is October 14 and 17, goes all the way back to 1935.
• 23:43
  Mike Marrs: And the idea was to celebrate the region's sweet potato harvest.
• 23:47
  Mike Marrs: There is a carnival, there is livestock shows, contests, entertainment, and the famous tater trot.
• 23:54
  Mike Marrs: I'm just going to tell you till you've gone and experienced the tater trot, you just haven't done it.
• 24:00
  Mike Marrs: So this is a kind of destination where the road trip through East Texas is almost as important as what waits at the other end.
• 24:07
  Mike Marrs: Up next is the Houston Bayou City Art Festival.
• 24:11
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is October 9 through 11.
• 24:12
  Mike Marrs: This is a little bit different.
• 24:14
  Mike Marrs: You go head off to Houston for the Bayou City Art Festival.
• 24:17
  Mike Marrs: It's in Memorial Park.
• 24:18
  Mike Marrs: Now there's more than 250 artists from around the country are expected to be there this year.
• 24:23
  Mike Marrs: They're going to turn the park into a giant outdoor gallery with art, food, and entertainment.
• 24:28
  Mike Marrs: Now it's going to give you some a different feature.
• 24:31
  Mike Marrs: It's going to have some variety.
• 24:33
  Mike Marrs: So not every road trip has to involve a rodeo or a carnival.
• 24:37
  Mike Marrs: It can just simply be a beautiful fall Saturday.
• 24:39
  Mike Marrs: Drive into Houston, walk through Memorial Park, and take a chance to see something you wouldn't normally see on a typical weekend.
• 24:47
  Mike Marrs: Then if you're willing to make a little bit longer road trip, the State Fair of Texas is back at Fair Park in Dallas from September the 25th through October the 18th.
• 24:58
  Mike Marrs: Now that's 24 days of Texas food, music, livestock, midway rides, and more than 100 daily attractions.
• 25:06
  Mike Marrs: So just pick your cooler October day because it's coming.
• 25:09
  Mike Marrs: Point the car north and make a day of it.
• 25:11
  Mike Marrs: And don't forget to go through the auto show.
• 25:14
  Mike Marrs: This is one of the biggest auto shows in Texas because of the time it's there.
• 25:18
  Mike Marrs: All the manufacturers are going to have all their new stuff there.
• 25:21
  Mike Marrs: They've got a couple of driving events.
• 25:23
  Mike Marrs: It should be a great event this year.
• 25:26
  Mike Marrs: So the weather's going to get better.
• 25:28
  Mike Marrs: The windows can come down, and the road is calling you.
• 25:31
  Mike Marrs: Just pick a destination, fill the tank, and remember sometimes the best part of the weekend is just getting there.
• 25:37
  Mike Marrs: Road trips are always a lot of fun.
• 25:39
  Mike Marrs: But uh we're running a little short on time.
• 25:42
  Mike Marrs: So we're going to run through some automotive news right quick.
• 25:44
  Mike Marrs: Volkswagen ID Buzz, the the U.S.
• 25:47
  Mike Marrs: return has been delayed to another model of year.
• 25:50
  Mike Marrs: So if you were looking for one of the ID Buzz's cars, the little Volkswagen uh retro fan bus, fanigan, whatever you want to call them, uh they go by different names.
• 26:01
  Mike Marrs: But they've just basically gonna push it back another year.
• 26:04
  Mike Marrs: They're just not ready.
• 26:05
  Mike Marrs: Affordability crisis hits the used car lot.
• 26:08
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is a headline news.
• 26:09
  Mike Marrs: Again, we get our news from automotive news.
• 26:11
  Mike Marrs: And one of the things that they're talking about here is that a$10,000 to$15,000 used car today, on average, is nine years old and it's got 98,000 miles on it.
• 26:24
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is compared to five years, uh, five years old and 58,000 miles in 2019.
• 26:30
  Mike Marrs: So that tells you, gives you a little bit of range of how much the used car market has changed.
• 26:35
  Mike Marrs: Now, annual lease volumes have fallen roughly 4 million vehicles.
• 26:40
  Mike Marrs: Now, that was before the pandemic, and it's projected to reach 2.5 million this year.
• 26:45
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is a shrinking supply of low mileage cars that are entering the used car market because they would go out on lease, got a limited number of miles, come back to the dealership, they would service them, make sure they're all good, and then put them into the used car market.
• 26:59
  Mike Marrs: So you got less of those coming in, so that's another thing that's going to make a factor of it.
• 27:03
  Mike Marrs: So things like that are making a big difference.
• 27:06
  Mike Marrs: Just had a granddaughter go through that process of trying to find one.
• 27:09
  Mike Marrs: She got lucky, found a one owner with 70,000 miles on it, but Carfax and everything else checked out.
• 27:16
  Mike Marrs: So that's just the state of the market.
• 27:17
  Mike Marrs: So kind of keep an eye on that, and that may be why a lot of us are keeping our vehicles longer than others.
• 27:23
  Mike Marrs: Got a couple of uh stories here with Stellantis.
• 27:26
  Mike Marrs: I'm not sure we got time to get them all in, but they've got a big deal going up in Canada.
• 27:31
  Mike Marrs: The Brampton sale, they were actually going to sell off a factory up there because of the excess capacity.
• 27:36
  Mike Marrs: I'm gonna shorten this real quick because of time.
• 27:39
  Mike Marrs: So they were gonna sell it, but the problem was Canadian and Ontario governments had pledged$525 million each to retool that factory in 2022.
• 27:51
  Mike Marrs: So they got a lot of money invested in this, and now Stellantis is saying they're gonna sell it off.
• 27:56
  Mike Marrs: Well, the union's complaining, and everybody wants their money and they're cut because of the loss of jobs.
• 28:01
  Mike Marrs: The union's involved too.
• 28:03
  Mike Marrs: Ottawa is telling Stellantis either build or you need to pay us back.
• 28:08
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is a story that was on September the 16th.
• 28:11
  Mike Marrs: The first one was on the 15th.
• 28:12
  Mike Marrs: This is on the 16th, so it's kind of building up here.
• 28:15
  Mike Marrs: And then on the 17th of this month, so Stellantis decided that they had exhausted all of their options for the Branton Assembly Plan after months of trying to figure out a use for it, going through a lot of things that they could possibly do with a Toronto area facility.
• 28:34
  Mike Marrs: That's our first half hour of In Wheel Time today.
• 28:36
  Mike Marrs: Coming up in our next half hour, we're going to be talking with George Levy about his new book, Motorsports Mavericks.
• 28:44
  Mike Marrs: It's a really nice coffee table book, and I think you're going to enjoy this interview.
• 28:49
  Mike Marrs: We're going to have some auto history the week ahead, and we're going to have a weekend update for the events that are going on that you might be interested in making a trip out to.
• 28:58
  Mike Marrs: So stay with us, and we'll be right back right after this.
• 29:04
  Mike Marrs: For more than 14 years, in wheel time has been talking about the cars, the trucks, the people, and the stories that make the automotive world interesting.
• 29:13
  Mike Marrs: Now we're taking in wheel time to the next level.
• 29:17
  Mike Marrs: New vehicles, automotive news, car reviews, motorsports, industry leaders, and interesting people.
• 29:24
  Mike Marrs: We're going to take you beyond the driveway and the dealerships with stories from the people who build, race, restore, and actually live the automotive lifestyle.
• 29:33
  Mike Marrs: And we're hitting the road with driving destinations worth discovering.
• 29:37
  Mike Marrs: First across Texas and eventually wherever the road can take us.
• 29:42
  Mike Marrs: Plus, we're going to have some automotive history, features, interviews, and stories that you may have missed.
• 29:48
  Mike Marrs: It's still in wheel time, but there's a lot more of it to discover.
• 29:54
  Mike Marrs: Watch us, listen to us, follow us.
• 29:57
  Mike Marrs: It's in wheel time.
• 29:59
  Mike Marrs: Cars, trucks, and the people who love it.