Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / What Should I Buy? - Big Guys, Little Cars: We Talk Fitment, Frustration, and Finding the Right Ride

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What Should I Buy? - Big Guys, Little Cars: We Talk Fitment, Frustration, and Finding the Right Ride · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Our panel of brake fix petrol heads are back for another rousing.
• 0:03
  What should I buy debate using unique shopping criteria?
• 0:07
  They are challenged to find our first time collector the best vehicle that
• 0:11
  will make their friends go Where do you get that or what the hell is wrong
• 0:14
  with you at the next cars and coffee?
• 0:20
  What's going on everyone and welcome to another installment of brake fix
• 0:23
  i'm your host brad aka the triple six with me as always Is our co host eric.
• 0:27
  Hello But on tonight's episode, we have a topic that is very near and dear to me.
• 0:32
  We're talking about what it's like to be a big man in a small man's world, or as
• 0:37
  we like to say, big guy in a little car.
• 0:40
  And to help me out tonight, we have a few special guests that are going
• 0:42
  to tell us about their experiences being big and or tall in a world
• 0:46
  designed for people of smaller stature.
• 0:48
  So without any further delay, let's go around the horn and have
• 0:51
  everyone introduce themselves.
• 0:53
  Your bio, your height, weight, or whatever.
• 0:55
  If you're comfortable, if not, you can just muffle through and
• 0:58
  what you're driving now, why you're driving it or whatever.
• 1:01
  So we'll go ahead and start Andrew, Andrew Mason.
• 1:03
  Why don't you go ahead and kick us off?
• 1:05
  All right.
• 1:05
  Hey everybody.
• 1:06
  Um, my name's Andrew.
• 1:08
  Stand about six, four.
• 1:09
  I weighed in this Monday at the doctors at the triple three.
• 1:12
  I've been a big guy my whole life.
• 1:14
  And, uh, now I drive a bigger cars.
• 1:18
  I I've always kind of looked at the Miatas and the S2000s
• 1:21
  and thought, man, that'd be.
• 1:23
  That'd be nice to drive something nimble and quick like
• 1:25
  that, but it doesn't happen.
• 1:26
  I drive a 16 chevy ss And a factory five roadster.
• 1:31
  Well, one's big and one isn't quite big enough So yeah, and we're gonna have
• 1:35
  to talk about the factory five roadster and how you squeeze yourself into it
• 1:38
  later on in the episode All right No, no All right, so let's let's go ahead
• 1:47
  and have gordon since he chimed in All right, Gordon Bell, six, four, 300 ish.
• 1:53
  I'm a 38 inch inseam and I'm, I'm a 48 inch ish hip.
• 1:59
  And the rest is torso been as low as two 20 ish.
• 2:04
  When I got out of school, up and down, back and sideways don't fit in
• 2:08
  a lot of things for a volumetrically.
• 2:11
  Exceeding individual.
• 2:12
  I'm not that large.
• 2:13
  I only have 11 and a half feet and my hands are only seven and a half.
• 2:18
  So I'm not a, a massively non normative individual.
• 2:24
  My head's a, a large, my cool shirt is an XL, which for a
• 2:28
  300 pound guy is not a lot.
• 2:30
  So yeah, I'm, I'm not that guy.
• 2:32
  And Gordon, to your point, my ring size is a 17.
• 2:36
  Holy fudge!
• 2:38
  Dude, that's like my knee!
• 2:40
  Yeah, these are all normal size.
• 2:42
  Presently drive a 2012 CTS V Cadillac, which went from daily driver to kind
• 2:48
  of track inquisitive, to yeah, we're gonna do this, to now it's oh, hell
• 2:53
  yes, we're on it, and the car is a total gut, and Yeah, just having a lot of fun.
• 2:58
  Tried smaller things.
• 3:00
  Most don't fit.
• 3:01
  Always thought it'd be so awesome to have that car in that car in the other car.
• 3:05
  And then I tried them on.
• 3:06
  It's like, yeah, that's not going to work.
• 3:08
  So I drink heavily and I'm okay with it.
• 3:10
  Gordon, is it true that you incorporated the walker into the roll cage?
• 3:14
  Absolutely.
• 3:17
  And what you do is when you exit the vehicle, you merely kick the side panel.
• 3:21
  It folds out and you drop your Old, fat butt into it, and away you go.
• 3:27
  Is that like the umbrella that comes out of the Rolls Royce stores?
• 3:30
  You got the Walker?
• 3:31
  I didn't know you knew about the umbrella.
• 3:33
  I've incorporated the umbrella.
• 3:35
  Ah, nice.
• 3:37
  Alright, so let's go over to Jason.
• 3:39
  Uh, he's new to GTM and one of Eric's, uh, long time coworkers.
• 3:43
  What's up, Jason?
• 3:44
  What's going on?
• 3:45
  Thanks for having me on.
• 3:46
  Yeah, so I stand 6 foot 8 and about 285 pounds right now.
• 3:51
  So, yeah, I like to think of myself as supersized because I'm
• 3:57
  a 36 inch inseam and I'm like a 50 extra long right jacket size.
• 4:02
  So currently I drive a 2016 LR4.
• 4:06
  The literally the reason why I bought that car is to fit in it for headroom.
• 4:09
  I did all types of weird athletic stuff.
• 4:11
  So I would did Scottish Highland games for a while.
• 4:13
  And so I was six, eight and I was like pushing three 30 at the time.
• 4:18
  I was driving an Acura TL and my wife was behind me and she called me
• 4:21
  and she's like, this is ridiculous.
• 4:23
  Like you look like an elephant on a tuna can.
• 4:26
  Like, we gotta get you, we gotta get you into something.
• 4:29
  Monkey humping a football.
• 4:31
  Yeah.
• 4:31
  So she's like, we got to get you something else.
• 4:33
  So that's how I wound up in the LR4.
• 4:34
  It's not the most efficient vehicle in the world.
• 4:37
  Fastest thing in the world, but, um, it fits right.
• 4:41
  So that's what I'm driving right now.
• 4:42
  Nice.
• 4:43
  Before crutch goes, I think we have Brian young on the line.
• 4:46
  You just joined us as well.
• 4:48
  Yeah, I'm here.
• 4:49
  All right.
• 4:50
  Um, well I'm Brian young, um, six, four, and I'm just shy of 300 pounds.
• 4:55
  And right now.
• 4:56
  I'd drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 2005, get a TDI, alternate between them.
• 5:02
  The Grand Cherokee just because it's comfortable, and then the TDI
• 5:04
  just because it's fuel efficient.
• 5:06
  Yeah.
• 5:07
  Man of few words.
• 5:10
  There's less oxygen at that height, I hear.
• 5:13
  Yeah, yeah, there is.
• 5:14
  And there's been alcohol introduced, so.
• 5:19
  Ah, okay.
• 5:20
  Well, as we get the swing of it, let's, uh, let's go back to Mike.
• 5:24
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:24
  So, lastly, we got, uh, Michael Crutchfield.
• 5:27
  He's been on the show a few times.
• 5:28
  Why don't you tell us about yourself?
• 5:30
  Well, I'm 6'2 that's all I'll say about that.
• 5:35
  I'm a gentleman of larger stature, but I also only have about a 31 inch inseam.
• 5:39
  So I'm very tall in the torso too, which in itself presents its own problem.
• 5:44
  My current track toy is actually a Beetle Turbo S, a 2003 Beetle Turbo S.
• 5:49
  Cause it mostly, cause it has more headroom than a, uh, than a GTI.
• 5:53
  We'll get into some of the interesting stories I've had on track being
• 5:56
  an instructor in, uh, small cars.
• 5:59
  So.
• 5:59
  One organizer in particular who gave, who was very amused after he saw me climb
• 6:04
  out of my student's car the first time.
• 6:07
  And lastly, I'm Brad, your host.
• 6:10
  I stand at 6'4 I'm about 325 as of this morning.
• 6:14
  My track car is a GTI.
• 6:16
  I've instructed a Miata and I've driven a Lotus Elise.
• 6:20
  You know, those are fun.
• 6:21
  My head sticks up clear above the windscreen there.
• 6:24
  Um, but yeah, that's it.
• 6:26
  That's me.
• 6:26
  So Andrew, how do you squeeze yourself into that roadster?
• 6:30
  And why do you have the roadster?
• 6:31
  I have the roadster.
• 6:33
  My dad and I built it, got the kit back in.
• 6:35
  2011.
• 6:36
  Got it fully road legal and painted by 16.
• 6:39
  Dad's about 5'10 You know, not svelte or anything, but it was a difference.
• 6:43
  Um, but he, he always wanted to build it.
• 6:44
  We, he was talking about this from the time factory five
• 6:46
  started in the mid nineties.
• 6:48
  Like in high school, I was test driving Fox body Mustangs.
• 6:50
  Cause he was looking at it like a donor car.
• 6:52
  I fit in it by basically bolting the seat to the floor.
• 6:54
  Like I still have the seats that came with a nice thick bolster.
• 6:57
  Those are gone.
• 6:58
  I got some, um, Kirky buckets with like, you know, half inch of vinyl on
• 7:02
  them and uh, that's bolted directly to the floor pan and doing that to
• 7:06
  kind of comment on like follow up on Mike said about inseam versus torso.
• 7:10
  I'm six four.
• 7:11
  I have a, I wear pants in like a 32 inseam.
• 7:13
  I can sit in that Cobra cause I can get my relatively shorter legs under the dash.
• 7:17
  Brad can't fit in it for shit.
• 7:19
  I mean, he can't do it at all.
• 7:20
  I've got a 34 I'm right at the cusp of the big and tall store.
• 7:25
  When we first built that thing, we had some nice, like adjustable seat
• 7:27
  brackets for moving it back and forth.
• 7:29
  We thought we'd use those.
• 7:30
  We had the seats that came with it.
• 7:32
  And I was literally like Brad said about that Lotus, like the top of
• 7:35
  the windshield was about at my nose.
• 7:37
  So like I was getting bugs in the face, driving it.
• 7:39
  First we replaced the seats and that was better.
• 7:42
  And finally, we just bolted the seat to the floor and dad could drive it that way.
• 7:45
  And that's just kind of how we left it.
• 7:47
  So, uh, dad passed in February and I inherited it along with
• 7:50
  his pickup and now it's Hyundai.
• 7:52
  So I got like six cars in the driveway.
• 7:53
  It's getting a little mad.
• 7:55
  I've taken an auto crossing once.
• 7:56
  That was really fun.
• 7:57
  Definitely want to get some stickier tires on it and try that.
• 8:00
  I definitely want to see.
• 8:01
  What might be able to be done, maybe a taller roll bar in the back, something
• 8:04
  to help me pass that broomstick test that maybe it could get on track.
• 8:08
  We'll see.
• 8:09
  I did think of something while we were talking, because you're
• 8:10
  talking about cars we've had, right?
• 8:12
  Yeah.
• 8:12
  I started out, my first car was the 1989 Thunderbird SC.
• 8:15
  So that was, that was a fun car.
• 8:17
  SC stands for super cool people.
• 8:19
  That's a supercharged V6.
• 8:21
  It's a whole lot of torque and high speed.
• 8:23
  Super chicken.
• 8:24
  It works, man.
• 8:26
  But, um, for a while there, what, two or three years, Brad
• 8:29
  and I both had 4th gen F bodies.
• 8:31
  Both had Camaros.
• 8:32
  And the other guy we used to hang around with, he had a 4th gen Camaro too.
• 8:35
  And he was 6'7 And so, we either rolled three deep to get somewhere,
• 8:40
  or it was three big guys, and one of us had to be Right in the back
• 8:44
  and the little like where, where the bench seat in the back wasn't a bench,
• 8:47
  it's just two little cushion buckets on either side of the transmission
• 8:50
  of the, uh, driveshaft tunnel.
• 8:52
  And I always ended up being in the backseat somehow.
• 8:54
  The only time I was in that backseat a few times, come on, I was practically
• 8:58
  spread Eagle, but you, you put one foot in the, uh, behind the driver and you
• 9:01
  sit kind of over behind the passenger.
• 9:03
  Yeah, it was, it was roughly basically, basically, what about you, Jason?
• 9:06
  So you got the LR four.
• 9:08
  What, what other vehicles have you had in the past?
• 9:11
  And I'm assuming at your height, you've always got trouble
• 9:13
  finding something to drive.
• 9:15
  Yeah, so it's a, it's a crazy story, right?
• 9:17
  So my dad for 40 years, he owned an auto repair shop.
• 9:19
  So we were constantly like passing cars in and out.
• 9:22
  Like stuff would come in, we'd buy it, fix it up, turn it, sell it.
• 9:25
  So I've driven some really cool stuff.
• 9:26
  Like I had a Toyota Land Cruiser, like the FJ type.
• 9:29
  I had an old one of those when I was in high school.
• 9:31
  Two of the weirder ones that I've had in my time, for about three weeks,
• 9:35
  I was driving a Maserati Biturbo, like one of the old like 80s ones.
• 9:38
  And my dad caught me driving about 90 past him on the highway.
• 9:43
  So that ended that the car that I had probably the longest that
• 9:46
  like fits in with the group more.
• 9:47
  So I had a, uh, it wasn't a cabriolet.
• 9:50
  I can't call it a cabriolet.
• 9:51
  I can't stomach it in my heart, but it was, uh, it was the rabbit convertible
• 9:54
  before it was a cabriolet and a guy had totaled a GTI, like an 88 GTI.
• 9:59
  So we completely Franken car that thing.
• 10:01
  And we put like, you know, new speed Springs and built shocks.
• 10:04
  And like, we completely like reconfigured that car and people looked
• 10:08
  at it and they're just like, it's.
• 10:10
  Come on, man.
• 10:10
  That's that's a cabriolet.
• 10:12
  And then that thing would run like a freaking mouse on cocaine.
• 10:15
  I mean it would just go and It was awesome.
• 10:19
  It was fun That ended up getting taken away from me when I went to college
• 10:24
  because my dad was pretty firmly convinced that I would kill myself So that got
• 10:28
  swapped for like a Volvo 240 wagon.
• 10:30
  That was like turd Brown the ladies the jalopnik special Yeah,
• 10:34
  dude, the ladies love that thing.
• 10:36
  Not, not really.
• 10:37
  So, so yeah, that's what I've kind of driven.
• 10:40
  I've been dying to kind of get in with Eric and get out on the track
• 10:43
  and do some stuff, but as I've gotten older, I've gotten broader.
• 10:46
  I haven't gotten smaller.
• 10:48
  And so like, I literally have to go try on cars now.
• 10:51
  Yeah.
• 10:51
  So, so that brings up an interesting point, you know,
• 10:53
  having to shop and try on cars.
• 10:55
  I know Gordon, you've probably looked at a lot of cars before
• 10:58
  you settled on the CTSV.
• 10:59
  I want you to tell us a little bit about how you found that that car was
• 11:02
  the one that you were able to fit in.
• 11:04
  Yeah.
• 11:05
  So back in the day, went into practice in 1990, started making a few bucks.
• 11:10
  And the first cool car I had was an Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo 1995 with
• 11:16
  the North star engine, I mean, a 12 foot hood, you know, cab four design, little
• 11:21
  tiny interior, but the car was spacious.
• 11:23
  Traded that in and bought a, an Audi, Eric Audi TT, baby.
• 11:28
  What?
• 11:29
  Oh, hold you.
• 11:31
  You had a TT at the time.
• 11:32
  So I graduated dental school at 212 pounds.
• 11:36
  Okay.
• 11:36
  As opposed to the 300 thre am So 2, 2 20 ish.
• 11:42
  The cool thing about the early TTS was on the console there
• 11:45
  was a little triangular brace.
• 11:46
  It was bolted to the sides.
• 11:48
  I took the driver's side off and I could lean my leg into the console a little bit.
• 11:52
  Those cars are volumetrically efficient.
• 11:55
  Really good cars.
• 11:57
  I had plenty of room plenty of room The fun part was watching people watch
• 12:01
  me get out of the car I get out people be like how did that big son of a
• 12:05
  bitch get out of that little tiny car?
• 12:08
  And you'd see them sort of doing the mental math like
• 12:11
  how the hell did that happen?
• 12:13
  And that was the very first car I ever took to the track 1995 Summit
• 12:17
  Point, Maine, you know, and I'm like my buddy had a Porsche 930.
• 12:22
  We both drove our little red cars as the wives say away from the houses went
• 12:25
  on our little boy's weekend And I was hooked and I did it for four or five
• 12:30
  years and then practice got busy and fast forward so Prior to the Cadillac.
• 12:36
  I had a CLS 63 AMG Mercedes, which is a spectacular automobile It's not a
• 12:42
  track car, but it's a really nice car.
• 12:46
  And so coming out, I've always leased my cars.
• 12:48
  It's one of the few things that the IRS still allows corporate entities
• 12:51
  to do is write off some of this stuff.
• 12:53
  So wrote off the CLS.
• 12:56
  Now I'm into something else.
• 12:57
  And the CTSV comes out.
• 12:59
  I'm like, Oh, daddy wants one of those.
• 13:01
  I mean, who doesn't want a 550 horsepower GM monster drove it as my daily for
• 13:07
  three and realized This is kind of a fun car and then started thinking
• 13:12
  about getting back to tracking so it's an 11 I got back to tracking at
• 13:16
  about uh, 14 15 Bought it off lease.
• 13:20
  So I leased it for three years and then bought it off lease Which is a
• 13:23
  very bad decision from a financial standpoint But it made sense for me
• 13:27
  because there was nothing else at the time that I really was in love with I
• 13:31
  mean e63 amg mercedes hundred thousand dollar car m5 hundred thousand dollar
• 13:37
  car ctsv 69, 000 car bought off lease thirty eight thousand dollars So let's
• 13:45
  buy this pig and see what we can do.
• 13:46
  So I bought it and immediately realized it was a really bad track car.
• 13:51
  So let's just start Frank and caddying the car.
• 13:54
  And so every system in the car gets reworked and Cadillac figured that out.
• 13:59
  Cause then the ATSV and then the, the gen three CTSV were great cars.
• 14:04
  But the gen 2 ctsv was just a car that a bunch of guys in detroit sat around
• 14:09
  smoking a doobie on a friday night And decided to put a big engine in a
• 14:12
  small car and be like, hey, dude, it's awesome The car blows on the track.
• 14:18
  There's not a system in the car You don't have to rework but I fit so I
• 14:22
  instruct and i've gotten in other cars.
• 14:24
  So my problem always is Bottom of dash console steering wheel.
• 14:30
  I don't fit in anything head, not so much a problem.
• 14:34
  Legs.
• 14:34
  I'm not a bendy guy.
• 14:36
  Sorry, I don't fold up.
• 14:38
  So the CTS has been my thing.
• 14:40
  And the first couple years were development.
• 14:42
  Can it do better?
• 14:43
  Can it do better?
• 14:44
  Yes, it can.
• 14:44
  Okay, let's go to the next step.
• 14:45
  Let's go next step.
• 14:46
  So this winter full gut.
• 14:48
  Car is absolutely a whole new thing.
• 14:50
  You guys have never seen It turns out I was driving a seven cylinder
• 14:53
  car for a while because my number one cylinder was absolutely The
• 14:57
  spark plug the electrode was gone.
• 14:59
  The spark plug was finger tight.
• 15:01
  So you guys will see a whole new thing this season So brian, let's
• 15:04
  just step back for one second because you owned a mazda speed three And I
• 15:08
  know that was a car that you enjoyed.
• 15:10
  How was the fitment in that for somebody of your height?
• 15:12
  So the Mach Z Speed 3, surprisingly, I fit very well.
• 15:16
  If you want me to go into the details of it a little bit,
• 15:18
  it was fully bolted and tuned.
• 15:20
  It had around 400 horsepower, but it, it was a really fun car to drive.
• 15:24
  The only problems I have usually getting out of, is getting out of cars, because
• 15:28
  my seat is usually back behind the pillar.
• 15:30
  So I have to like, swing my legs out and then kind of
• 15:33
  like, stand up out of the car.
• 15:35
  And my wife used to hate when I'd have a pocket knife on my right pocket,
• 15:39
  cause that's where I carry it because I would chew the steering wheel up.
• 15:43
  Because I'd swing my hips and my hip would hit the steering wheel
• 15:46
  every single time, without fail.
• 15:48
  And to this day, it still does it in just about everything I drive.
• 15:51
  So, when I drive her WRX, I don't put the pocket knife in my pocket.
• 15:55
  And, uh, I feel really bad for that rental car that I just had, that
• 15:58
  Charger that I just had out in Colorado a couple weeks ago, because I tore
• 16:01
  the steering wheel up pretty bad.
• 16:03
  Laughter.
• 16:05
  Yeah, it's always the swing out.
• 16:07
  I mean, stepping down out of the Jeep is fine, but stepping up and out of a car for
• 16:12
  me is what, you know, my hip usually hits the steering wheel just about every time.
• 16:16
  I feel you.
• 16:16
  So I got a question for both Mike and Gordon, since I know Mike just did
• 16:21
  this, you know, what he did a couple years ago with the BMW and Gordon,
• 16:24
  you just did this, finding safety gear like the Hans and the Simpson
• 16:29
  hybrid and seats and stuff like that.
• 16:31
  How hard is that for, for bigger guys like us?
• 16:34
  I don't sit in my seat so much as on my seat.
• 16:39
  How many seats did you try out before you were able to find
• 16:42
  one you found you that fit?
• 16:44
  So I started with a sports seat that omp had because it didn't
• 16:46
  have much bolstering, but it was also a reclinable one So it's not
• 16:51
  Ideal for, for most situations.
• 16:53
  I actually just had to go down to OG and just say, find me your widest seat.
• 16:58
  I could have gone the Kirky route.
• 16:59
  You can even get Kirky to custom, make you a seat, build the seat to
• 17:02
  your measurements if you really want.
• 17:04
  But I wanted something a little more comfortable than that.
• 17:08
  Just sitting on a sheet of aluminum.
• 17:10
  So I just, I went down to OG and said, bring out all your widest seats and just
• 17:14
  went one by one through the seats they had until I found one I was happy with, which
• 17:18
  is what is now in the, uh, In the bug.
• 17:21
  The BMW that's out front still has the, uh, recliner sports seats.
• 17:26
  I did exactly the same thing.
• 17:27
  I went to OG and Matt and the guys brought out a bunch of stuff, tried things on,
• 17:32
  and most seats top out at 19 to 20 inches.
• 17:35
  On the base width, I've got the race tax out of, uh, New Zealand, which
• 17:39
  are 21 and a half inches base width.
• 17:41
  It's a very nice compliance snug fit.
• 17:44
  It's not tight.
• 17:45
  It's not loose.
• 17:47
  I didn't realize how much I was banging my knees against the
• 17:50
  door in the console, trying to stabilize the seat with harnesses
• 17:54
  transformed the way I use that car.
• 17:56
  And I'm, as you said earlier, I'm, I'm mounted on the floor.
• 18:00
  I'm.
• 18:01
  three quarters of an inch off the floor with my seats and I've got
• 18:05
  an inch and a half of headroom.
• 18:06
  Nobody else can see out of the car in the passenger seat You know, I carry with
• 18:10
  me Brad you can see through and confirm.
• 18:14
  I feel like a six year old when I run It is so comfortable in
• 18:18
  the passenger seat at ctsv.
• 18:20
  I it's like sitting in a like a luxury liner It's amazing.
• 18:26
  So getting a seat that fits properly is is critical Key, I would like to
• 18:30
  have a little bit of partial enclosure and I may try and fabricate You know a
• 18:35
  partial halo because race tech doesn't make a halo attachment for that But you
• 18:40
  know at the end of the day, it's far better than what I had and the six point
• 18:45
  harnesses Just you know, I feel locked in and I feel compliant and it totally
• 18:50
  transformed the way I managed the car Whose harnesses are you using, Gordon?
• 18:53
  Just out of curiosity.
• 18:54
  Honestly, I can't answer that.
• 18:57
  Um, I think they're Scroth, but I'm not sure.
• 19:01
  I got them from Piper Motorsports, who did the cage in the car,
• 19:04
  and they worked with OG to, to source those, but I, I'm not sure.
• 19:09
  I should know that and I don't You've got the Simpson Hybrid.
• 19:12
  I do.
• 19:13
  Yeah.
• 19:13
  And so I saw a post you put out, you know, when we were talking
• 19:16
  about this, this webinar, I have the largest hybrid available.
• 19:20
  Yeah, I do too.
• 19:20
  And it sort of fits like a, a 13 year old's bra on a
• 19:24
  28-year-old well endowed woman.
• 19:26
  You know, it's, it, it rides up.
• 19:28
  The only good part about the hybrid is it has those secondary clips
• 19:32
  that you can thread through the lap belts, because without that
• 19:35
  it would probably be up around my neck and I would asphyxiate myself.
• 19:38
  Somebody needs to figure out that not everybody is a 5'8 170 pound man.
• 19:44
  Is there anybody out there listening?
• 19:46
  Please, you know, write this down.
• 19:48
  Not everybody is 5'8 170 pounds.
• 19:51
  What about you, Crutch?
• 19:52
  Do you have one?
• 19:52
  Do you have a head and neck restraint?
• 19:55
  No, I probably should but which one would you go with you think it's not that
• 19:59
  valuable just saying It's what's inside that's valuable, you know Some people
• 20:04
  will probably be happy if some of the story time with quick stories just left
• 20:07
  my brain but I mean I would have to get a hybrid because the The bug's still running
• 20:13
  three points and you know, with student cars, it's unpredictable, but as a taller,
• 20:17
  larger gentleman getting in student cars, I'm often in a seating position.
• 20:21
  That's suboptimal just in general.
• 20:23
  Cause of recline.
• 20:24
  Yeah.
• 20:24
  Practically laying down, but can still see over the dashboard.
• 20:27
  Yeah.
• 20:27
  I'll probably get more neck compression than, than, uh, basal skull fracture.
• 20:33
  So Jason, you said that you're looking to get something, you're thinking about
• 20:36
  getting into like motor sports and like track days and stuff like that.
• 20:39
  Yeah.
• 20:39
  Yeah, so like, I've always had like a, like an interest in it, but like,
• 20:44
  obviously talking to Eric, it like lit the flame to the gasoline, right?
• 20:48
  That's what he did to me.
• 20:50
  So I'm super interested in it, but I mean, I think what's.
• 20:53
  Really helpful.
• 20:54
  Like being the new guy, like not the, not the guy that's into racing, but
• 20:57
  the guy that wants to get into racing, like looking at some of the information
• 21:00
  that's out there that you guys have on your website and like some of the
• 21:03
  podcasts, right, like what to drive.
• 21:05
  Like some, there's some aha moments out there that hit me that are like, well,
• 21:09
  I never thought about that because you, you made a comment in one of the earlier
• 21:12
  podcasts about like what to drive.
• 21:13
  And you're like, yeah, but when I have my helmet on, I have no headroom.
• 21:16
  And I'm like, Son of a bitch.
• 21:19
  What's going to happen to me when I put, cause I've got a big old bucket head.
• 21:22
  Right.
• 21:22
  I mean, I think the helmet I'm going to have is going to be like
• 21:24
  a modified Home Depot bucket with like a hole cut in the front.
• 21:27
  Like, so I think he allows those.
• 21:31
  So like, how the hell am I going to drive with something on my noggin?
• 21:35
  Like, to me, that was an aha moment.
• 21:36
  Like I hadn't even thought about never having gotten behind the wheel
• 21:38
  of a race car with the proper safety equipment and stuff like that.
• 21:41
  So now it completely like.
• 21:43
  revamps what I get to think about and what I could possibly
• 21:46
  think about and like change the conversation for what I could drive.
• 21:49
  For you, I will say cars that do not come factory with a sunroof usually have
• 21:54
  a little bit more, you know, headroom because they didn't have to put in
• 21:57
  the mechanics for the sunroof there.
• 21:58
  So what are some of the cars that you're, you're thinking about or
• 22:02
  considering or would you consider?
• 22:04
  It's interesting, right?
• 22:05
  The whole perspective has changed over the last little bit, right?
• 22:08
  So I never considered driving something American, right?
• 22:11
  I always thought about like the GTI route or the Jetta route and that's probably
• 22:15
  going to be more difficult, right?
• 22:16
  So looking at things like a Mustang, right?
• 22:18
  And that completely changed the dynamic of like what I would do.
• 22:21
  The answer is, I don't have a damn clue.
• 22:24
  Like, I guess the best thing for me to do honestly, is to go out to a track
• 22:27
  day, throw a helmet on my head, climb and ask if I can just sit in somebody's
• 22:30
  car really quick and see what fits, what feels natural, what feels good.
• 22:34
  Right.
• 22:34
  Just take it out there.
• 22:35
  Cause I mean, bluntly in my personal life, that's what I have to do.
• 22:38
  Like I looked, I looked at a Yukon, right.
• 22:41
  And.
• 22:41
  That didn't work for me.
• 22:43
  Right.
• 22:43
  And it just didn't, the proportions didn't work out for me, especially when
• 22:47
  I put my daughter in the back seat, who's behind me, like things just didn't fit.
• 22:51
  So for me, that's kind of like a natural thing to like have the
• 22:54
  mentality that I have to try on cars, like their shoes, right?
• 22:57
  This isn't too narrow.
• 22:58
  This is too short.
• 22:59
  Like this doesn't feel right.
• 23:00
  Like, I think that's what I'm going to end up having to do before I
• 23:03
  make an investment in a vehicle.
• 23:05
  Like I'm probably just gonna have to come out to the track and.
• 23:07
  Make some friends and try their cars out, see what I can do and take it from there.
• 23:12
  I will say that if GTI is something that interests you, everything got
• 23:16
  larger until the Mark V and then started getting smaller again.
• 23:20
  So 2006 to 2010 GTI, I think it's 2010 is when it cuts off.
• 23:27
  Is, uh, much more headroom than anything before or after it.
• 23:31
  Because I used to have a Mark 5, I have a Mark 4, but I have a bug instead.
• 23:34
  And I drove a Mark 7 in, uh, Australia, and it was much
• 23:39
  more snug than my Mark 5 was.
• 23:41
  Right on.
• 23:41
  Yeah, I mean, it's solid advice.
• 23:42
  Like, I'll take any advice I can get right now just to, you know,
• 23:45
  steer me down the right path.
• 23:46
  I mean, you could always do the high tower thing and like, take the
• 23:49
  front seats out and sit in the back.
• 23:52
  Just take a helmet with you when you go to test drive, show up at the
• 23:56
  dealership with a helmet and just like, I'm here to test drive this car.
• 24:02
  So back in the day, I was an auto mechanic for awhile and I worked for a
• 24:07
  franchise that dealt strictly in imports.
• 24:10
  So I have physically put myself in an MGA and an MGB.
• 24:15
  Now that being said, my ass was on the top of the seat and my head
• 24:19
  was two feet above the windshield.
• 24:21
  And it was simply to move the vehicle in and out of the garage bay.
• 24:25
  But I agree.
• 24:26
  Absolutely.
• 24:27
  Jason, what's going to happen is you're going to have to try on stuff.
• 24:30
  Cause the defining moment for me was probably 93 to 95, been in practice
• 24:36
  for a few years, making a few bucks, I'm going to go buy me the car.
• 24:40
  And.
• 24:41
  Driving past the one place near me.
• 24:42
  They had a rotisserie or steel restored, um series three jaguar xke car.
• 24:48
  I've Fascinated about my entire life I could not fit my skinny long ass in
• 24:55
  that car If you held a gun to my wife's head and they had four or five other
• 24:58
  cars there that I tried on None of which did I fit in I walked out of there
• 25:03
  demoralized Dejected pissed off and that's what you're going to deal with.
• 25:08
  I mean, there are so many cars.
• 25:10
  I I Guy that I ran into had a bakani huayra.
• 25:14
  I could not even physically get to him Even close into the vehicle.
• 25:19
  Not that i'd ever be baller enough to own a car like that But that
• 25:23
  being said you don't fit people like us don't fit these things.
• 25:27
  It's fun to think about it It's like looking at supermodel while you're making
• 25:31
  me doing other things, you know And I have to say too sometimes it's weird
• 25:34
  things that like don't fit in cars, right?
• 25:36
  So like now for a mayo spider like I can get into it But the steering
• 25:40
  wheel is so freaking big in that thing that I can't actually mash the clutch
• 25:44
  because my knee gets stuck between the door handle and the steering wheel.
• 25:48
  Like I can't actually get my left leg working.
• 25:51
  So it's all these like little weird nuances sometimes that come along with.
• 25:55
  Being, you know, a tall person that I got money that all of you have no problem.
• 26:00
  Heel towing, pretty much any car that's out there.
• 26:03
  Sometimes I do it by, by mistake.
• 26:04
  Yeah, I just hit both pedals at once.
• 26:07
  I don't hit, I don't two, I hit three.
• 26:08
  Don't heel to.
• 26:11
  Well, I was gonna say, well one, I don't hit, I don't heel toe.
• 26:14
  I hit all three at once.
• 26:15
  Cause I have a 13 4 E foot.
• 26:20
  Damn!
• 26:20
  Clopper foot!
• 26:23
  Uh, I have, like, I have actually had trouble with my, my throttle foot
• 26:33
  catching the brake pedal on the way up.
• 26:35
  Because my feet are so hot!
• 26:37
  In the 80s, they called that unintended acceleration.
• 26:41
  I think Toyota was sued for something like that.
• 26:46
  To Jason's point, I mean, I have a similar story.
• 26:48
  Like I was at a car show in College Park and I had the opportunity to drive.
• 26:53
  It was a 2001 Dodge Viper GTS.
• 26:57
  The guy just handed me the keys and I was like, I was, I was like
• 27:00
  drooling over this car all day.
• 27:01
  And it's like, the guy said, hand me the keys and said, here, go have fun.
• 27:04
  I got in the car.
• 27:06
  I let the clutch out to get it moving in first gear, and then that was it.
• 27:09
  I couldn't do anything else.
• 27:11
  I was stuck.
• 27:12
  So I had to you know, limp it around the parking lot a little bit, got it back in
• 27:16
  the parking spot, and it was like, I just, I can't drive your car because I can't, I
• 27:19
  can't shift, the steering wheel's too big.
• 27:21
  I'm in the door panel, it's just, it's.
• 27:23
  I don't know why they don't design.
• 27:24
  Why don't they design cars for us?
• 27:26
  What the hell's wrong with them?
• 27:28
  So I was at pit race with chin motorsports last fall and there was a a viper club
• 27:34
  there There was like 75 vipers And the guy that built a lot of these vipers
• 27:38
  out of ohio was there And I expressed the desire to have a viper because
• 27:42
  I think they're just banging cars.
• 27:44
  I've always loved that car He said well we can totally get you in a viper
• 27:48
  It's like I don't think you can he said well, we've got a guy here like
• 27:52
  you so a gentleman of our stature Horizontally, but not vertically.
• 27:57
  So he said I guarantee you can get in john's car So we go get
• 28:00
  in john's car and my effing knees are up above the steering wheel.
• 28:05
  They can't get under he goes I've never seen anybody couldn't get in a viper.
• 28:08
  He goes.
• 28:09
  Well, we can stretch one for you It's like you can do what he said.
• 28:13
  Yeah, we have all the bucks.
• 28:14
  We have the molds we can stretch one We can add, you know a couple inches
• 28:18
  behind the driver's door like all right Will you do the math on that for me?
• 28:22
  Would you please?
• 28:23
  So he calls me or he sends me an email.
• 28:25
  He goes.
• 28:25
  Well, we have an acrx donor car It's 105 000 and we can stretch it for 75 000 dude.
• 28:34
  Do I look like bill gates son?
• 28:36
  I mean what the hell i'm gonna spend 180 on a toy Nobody fits in
• 28:42
  the if you're above six foot, you don't fit in those damn cars Why
• 28:47
  the hell does no one get that?
• 28:49
  Yeah, and and uh, I always had people tell me because I used to
• 28:52
  lust after the viper as well And they say well hulk hogan had a viper.
• 28:56
  You can fit you're not bigger than him.
• 28:58
  Uh, yeah, I am He was a short little dude.
• 29:02
  I was in a viper once in the passenger seat.
• 29:05
  I was I was smaller than And it was a first gen, so the
• 29:08
  seatbelt is on the wrong side.
• 29:11
  I get in the car and I go to reach over my right shoulder, like, wait, where's
• 29:15
  the, but I didn't have a helmet on.
• 29:18
  And getting out of that thing was comical.
• 29:21
  Because it's not, you don't climb out of a Viper, you just kind
• 29:24
  of like roll out of a Viper.
• 29:25
  And it had a hard time, so I couldn't go up.
• 29:28
  Are you sure it wasn't a Shelby Durango GTS with the same paint job?
• 29:31
  Oh god, those things are horrible.
• 29:33
  But no, it was a Viper at the Helmets off the Heroes or something
• 29:35
  like that Oh, yeah, I was I was thinking about 13 triple quad E feet.
• 29:42
  Um Like on my roadster, it's it was I mean you should look at who designed
• 29:46
  it Dave Smith the president of factory five He's like five eight looks like he
• 29:50
  works out every morning, but he's he's just a real compact guy and between
• 29:53
  that and You The choice that we made building it to go with a dual overhead
• 29:57
  cam modular Ford, instead of a small block, which is like an extra foot wide.
• 30:01
  And you look at like a normal shoe, like, you know, your, your standard
• 30:04
  issue, suburban new balances, they get wider as they go down.
• 30:07
  So your footprint's bigger.
• 30:09
  I've gotten to the point where I have like size 11, like two sizes
• 30:13
  smaller, like Adidas soccer shoes.
• 30:15
  I'll wear those.
• 30:16
  I've worn, I've tried wrestling shoes.
• 30:18
  I got to the point now I just drive a barefoot.
• 30:20
  Cause that's the only way I can avoid, you know, getting the clutch
• 30:23
  in the break at the same time.
• 30:24
  You just got to figure out what works.
• 30:26
  Yeah.
• 30:26
  Just like I got my brother in law is like five, two or something.
• 30:29
  He's like, I'll never play in the NBA.
• 30:30
  And you can't, you know, I can't help that.
• 30:32
  And that's the truth for big guys like us.
• 30:34
  Like some things are just not going to work.
• 30:36
  If size was no object, like size was not a concern and money was no object.
• 30:41
  What would your car be?
• 30:42
  What, what would you, what is your dream car?
• 30:45
  Two or three of them.
• 30:46
  If you had a three car garage.
• 30:47
  And you could have anything you wanted.
• 30:49
  What would it be?
• 30:50
  And then to add to that, size is an object and it is
• 30:54
  something you got to think about.
• 30:55
  What is your next vehicle?
• 30:57
  The next 1, you're lasting after for your current size.
• 31:00
  I'll go with that because I've thought through this at length.
• 31:03
  So, I mean, the wish list is.
• 31:06
  A Koenigsegg Regera RS plus one second place would be again a
• 31:11
  Pagani Huayra or anything Pagani's made because it's just so retro.
• 31:16
  As a pilot, I love the switch gear in the Pagani's.
• 31:20
  It just, it harkens back to a prior age that the cars are
• 31:23
  just spectacularly detailed.
• 31:25
  What might I be in next?
• 31:28
  Would probably be if I can probably a an sl mercedes A
• 31:34
  couple years off sl mercedes 550.
• 31:38
  They've depreciated the hell out of themselves.
• 31:40
  I mean you can buy a 150 000 at list mercedes now five
• 31:45
  years later for 30 grand.
• 31:48
  I think that's a spectacular value I've always wanted a hard top convertible
• 31:52
  I fit I tried a patient's car on the other day and I actually fit in the car.
• 31:56
  So I'm like, daddy's getting an SL.
• 31:58
  So as soon as my garage is built, I will have an SL.
• 32:01
  So what would I drive?
• 32:03
  I'd love to get my hands on like a Lotus Evora.
• 32:05
  I've always thought they're kind of slick looking rides, you know, well balanced.
• 32:08
  I think something like that would be fun.
• 32:09
  I've always been a fan of English cars.
• 32:11
  So like one of the new F types, but I don't know that I want to get behind the
• 32:14
  wheel of one of the, uh, one of the V8s.
• 32:16
  I've actually heard that there's too much muscle with them.
• 32:19
  So something like that would be really cool.
• 32:21
  Cool.
• 32:21
  Maybe an Aston Martin.
• 32:22
  I don't know.
• 32:22
  I've actually sat in one of the new kind of newer Aston Martin vantages
• 32:26
  and I actually can fit into one, you know, they brag about them being a
• 32:29
  comfortable kind of touring car for me.
• 32:32
  I don't know if that's the case, but I think it, I think I do fit in it.
• 32:36
  Like it's, it's a drivable car.
• 32:38
  So that's kind of the route I would take if like I could have like that
• 32:41
  side of it for what actually fits me and fits comfortably and fits my family.
• 32:45
  Cause my wife is and I've got two daughters that are super tall as well.
• 32:50
  Like my, my My daughter going into seventh grade is on this five foot 11.
• 32:53
  So like the Range Rover long bodies, like the, like the really
• 32:57
  long ones, those are pretty slick.
• 32:58
  I like those a lot.
• 32:59
  I actually like that, like the eight L's as well.
• 33:02
  Those have a ton of room in them.
• 33:04
  Those are super nice cars, in my opinion, like those, but don't like
• 33:07
  the price tag that rolls with them.
• 33:08
  So if somebody else is paying for it, I'd pick one of those
• 33:10
  two to be my, my everyday ride.
• 33:12
  So Jason, if I see you guys walking through the mall, is it like
• 33:15
  watching people from Avatar, you know, strolling through the mall?
• 33:19
  Yeah, so my so I played basketball in college at a small school in Virginia and
• 33:22
  my wife She actually played volleyball at University of Maryland So like I am
• 33:26
  by far not the best athlete in my house And from the way things are trending my
• 33:31
  daughters are probably going to be way better athletes than me So it's cool.
• 33:34
  It's pretty wild to see like people definitely People definitely look
• 33:38
  at us when we walk into the place.
• 33:39
  Yeah.
• 33:40
  My, my wife is six three as well.
• 33:41
  And she's, uh, she's the best athlete in the house as well.
• 33:44
  She was a state champion basketball player in high school.
• 33:47
  So I feel you on that one.
• 33:49
  Here's the deal.
• 33:50
  If you saw the Ferguson family photograph, you know, the, the Christmas card
• 33:54
  or whatever, they would look normal.
• 33:56
  They're all proportionate to each other.
• 33:57
  Truth to that.
• 33:58
  It is true.
• 34:00
  If I could actually fit, I would love a Corvette.
• 34:04
  My stepdad had a 78.
• 34:06
  25th anniversary, two tone silver, white leather interiors, beautiful car.
• 34:11
  I was never allowed to touch it, but it was a beautiful car.
• 34:14
  And I've just, I've always, I've always liked Corvettes, but, uh,
• 34:17
  I'm never going to fit in one.
• 34:18
  Nick insisted I could, I could fit in his and try and sit in the passenger seat.
• 34:23
  And I'm like, my knees hit the dashboard before they can go under the dashboard.
• 34:28
  So it just, it does, it doesn't work.
• 34:31
  I mean, right now, everything I drive is, you know, besides the truck is,
• 34:34
  is German because they, they tend to build for us, taller folks are
• 34:38
  2012 facades getting up there miles.
• 34:40
  And, uh, we're looking for something that we can replace that with, but it's
• 34:44
  probably going to end up being something like another facade, because as much
• 34:48
  as I love it, they stopped making the Magnum and I want something newer.
• 34:51
  And then, because the Magnum is a wonderful car for, for a larger
• 34:54
  person who wants something, uh, especially if you have any,
• 34:57
  anything to haul around with you.
• 34:58
  I found that to be true of a lot of the newer Chryslers.
• 35:01
  The Charger and the Challenger.
• 35:02
  Challenger especially is deceivingly large inside.
• 35:05
  Oh yeah, I mean, it's large on the outside too.
• 35:09
  I mean, I've been, I've been on track and I mean, I've been, I've
• 35:12
  been in Challengers, Chargers, and a Magnum on track, instructing.
• 35:15
  And I mean, they're, they're huge cars, but I like having the extra
• 35:19
  storage that a wagon affords.
• 35:20
  That's, and if, you know, Volkswagen actually would give us a decent
• 35:24
  wagon, I'd love to buy one.
• 35:26
  Especially that Arteon Shooting Brake, but you know, we're, we're not worthy.
• 35:29
  But I'm not a big crossover person.
• 35:31
  So it's, it sucks for me and everyone's killing sedans and all
• 35:35
  the econo boxes are too small now.
• 35:36
  So yeah, it's a probably gonna end up being another facade or maybe a
• 35:40
  slightly used facade GT with the VR six.
• 35:43
  And one thing I can say about the Corvette, I'm sorry.
• 35:45
  Uh, sorry, Gordon, I fit in the Lotus because the hips are low.
• 35:51
  So like my, my 52 inch, you know, chest and shoulders.
• 35:55
  I have some place to put them.
• 35:56
  I've got air around me.
• 35:58
  When I sat in Andrew Banks Corvette, like the, it comes
• 36:01
  up and it kind of curves over.
• 36:03
  The B pillar goes right into my shoulder and I can't do anything with it.
• 36:07
  So I feel you on the Corvette.
• 36:09
  It'd be nice to have like a C6 or a C7, but.
• 36:12
  It's not in the cards.
• 36:13
  You rode in chivalry c6 with me at ncm and it was a tight fit even in that car Which
• 36:18
  is much larger inside than the seven.
• 36:20
  I was uncomfortable in the c6 Actually, i've never been comfortable in the c6.
• 36:24
  They're really cramped actually c6 I can actually fit in I could possibly drive
• 36:29
  one in partial anger C7 forget about it never gonna happen And one of the guys
• 36:35
  in the corvette club just got his c8 and I tried it on And i'm very glad I did
• 36:39
  because I don't have to think about that car anymore You Spectacular automobile.
• 36:43
  Gordo doesn't fit.
• 36:45
  But it's going back to Mike's comment on the the wagon.
• 36:48
  I worked with a guy, coached him at Pocono in an AMG wagon.
• 36:54
  Holy hell.
• 36:55
  That car was stupid fast.
• 36:59
  I mean balanced.
• 37:00
  It's a lot like the CTS V wagon.
• 37:03
  Very neutral.
• 37:04
  The handling was spectacular.
• 37:06
  The power was spot on.
• 37:08
  That car was da nuts.
• 37:11
  It was amazing.
• 37:13
  Again, a hundred plus thousand dollar car, but goddamn, if you want a wagon
• 37:18
  you can just take and go crazy with.
• 37:21
  Get you one of them.
• 37:24
  I don't have the imagination for the, you know, hyper cars and stuff like that.
• 37:28
  And, and I, if I could make something fit at any cost, it would
• 37:31
  probably be on the Corvette track.
• 37:33
  It'd probably be the ZR1.
• 37:34
  It'd be one of those, you know, that's a garage queen in my mind, dropping
• 37:38
  half that equation, saying that size is.
• 37:40
  Important, but the money's not an object.
• 37:42
  I guess I've always loved the idea of some of the, uh, pro touring mod, like, or like
• 37:47
  mid sixties, a bodies, um, Dodge darts, like smaller, smaller muscle cars, like
• 37:52
  economy cars from back in the day with a, with a blank slate, or I should say
• 37:56
  a blank check, well, big engine, lots of turbos, lots of LS, but the more upright,
• 38:02
  like my first and only track day in my, my Chevy SS, which is a big sedan in itself.
• 38:08
  And I fit in it driving around so well, I love it.
• 38:11
  I just need an LSA like you, Gordon, but as soon as I put my helmet on,
• 38:15
  so I'm like doing a half a sit up through 20 minutes track session.
• 38:19
  It was miserable every month or so I go out there and I stare under the
• 38:21
  seat looking for some for an inch or something to cut out, but it didn't there.
• 38:25
  So I like the idea of more of an older body line with more of a vertical
• 38:29
  windshield with a higher head, right.
• 38:31
  Where I could have a nice, you know, upright scene position, whatever I wanted,
• 38:34
  but just like, especially as far as what I would build with unlimited funds, it
• 38:38
  would, it would have two seats in it.
• 38:39
  And, and, and that's it, but, but having that blank slate for all the
• 38:43
  power, all the suspension, all the safety without any of the confines of,
• 38:48
  uh, you know, all those wonderfully aerodynamic shapes we enjoy today.
• 38:52
  Yeah.
• 38:52
  And honestly, with that said, most of us have taken whatever it is we have,
• 38:56
  and we've engineered it to whatever specification we want, we've taken
• 39:00
  what we've gotten, made it better.
• 39:01
  And that's really, I mean, people have asked me repeatedly, why
• 39:04
  the F are you driving a Cadillac?
• 39:07
  Because it fits and because I can.
• 39:11
  And if you're willing to put the time in, there's no piece of sheet
• 39:14
  metal that you can't engineer to whatever it is you want it to do.
• 39:17
  And I'm finally getting to the point where the Cadillac is kind of, sort
• 39:24
  of, maybe, possibly, perhaps, what I've always imagined it could be.
• 39:28
  It's never going to be a Ferrari Performante.
• 39:31
  It's not going to be any of these other hypercars.
• 39:33
  But it's still not a bad ride for not a shit ton of money.
• 39:38
  And it's a unicorn.
• 39:39
  And a unicorn's kind of fun to drive.
• 39:42
  So, why not?
• 39:43
  I thought you drove it because it fit in at the retirement home.
• 39:46
  Tall.
• 39:48
  He can put his golf clubs in the back.
• 39:50
  That's right.
• 39:51
  And my, my Walker folds up behind the seat.
• 39:55
  You can clown on me if you want to, but I've always been a fan of the Nissan GTRs.
• 40:00
  I saw one at an auto show a while back, went to get in it.
• 40:03
  I got in it, but it was hard for me to get out of.
• 40:06
  And I was actually smaller.
• 40:08
  I was smaller back then, you know, weight wise, I was probably like 250 or so.
• 40:13
  Like, my legs were cramping up trying to get out of it.
• 40:16
  So, I've always wanted one of those, but that would be one of them.
• 40:20
  Another thing is a Buick GMX.
• 40:23
  I mean, I was born in the 80s.
• 40:25
  I fell in love with that G body.
• 40:28
  Body style, the long nose, you know, coupe basically with a big engine in it, but
• 40:34
  the GM X for whatever reason stood out.
• 40:36
  I mean, it's, it was the only turbo car from the eighties that I actually
• 40:40
  like fell in love with, um, aside, well, the minor Carlo SS isn't.
• 40:46
  Exactly a G and X, but that's my second favorite.
• 40:49
  Um, and then lastly, if money were no object, no limit whatsoever, I
• 40:55
  would have a Kona SAG, a Garrel RS.
• 40:58
  They are just absolutely gorgeous to me.
• 41:00
  And honestly, I probably wouldn't even drive it.
• 41:03
  I'd, I'd, you know, Say, hey Eric, can you drive that for me?
• 41:05
  Because I can't sit in it.
• 41:07
  Show me what it can do.
• 41:08
  I have achieved baller status, don't need to go any further.
• 41:12
  Yep.
• 41:14
  Someone can drive me to the track and I'll watch my car drive.
• 41:18
  I am totally okay with this arrangement.
• 41:20
  Whenever you're ready, sign me up.
• 41:24
  Yeah, but those are, those three cars are, you know, If I had unlimited money, it
• 41:29
  would be a built version of the first two.
• 41:31
  So the Nissan and the Buick, and then obviously, like I said, I probably
• 41:35
  wouldn't even touch the Koenigsegg.
• 41:37
  It just sit there and I'd just admire it for what it is.
• 41:40
  Uh, and I guess I'll go ahead and throw my, my stuff out there.
• 41:44
  If money was no object and height was no object, I'd love a C7R.
• 41:49
  You know, they're decommissioned now, so you can probably pick 1 up for peanuts.
• 41:52
  And I say peanuts, like, you know, what, 500, 000 dollars or something, whatever
• 41:56
  the factory Shelly is selling those for.
• 41:58
  Also, I've always been fascinated with the Shelby Daytona coupes.
• 42:03
  I think those cars are beautiful cars there.
• 42:06
  And I know factory 5 makes a replica version of 1.
• 42:09
  I can't even fit my, my right foot in it, let alone my entire body.
• 42:13
  You know, you remember that trip, Brad?
• 42:15
  You remember that trip to the kid car show, like 12 years ago, we were getting
• 42:18
  in trouble for sitting in all those cars, like, without even asking, but yeah,
• 42:22
  you could get in, but you can't get out.
• 42:23
  Yeah, exactly.
• 42:25
  And when I drove, uh, Andrew Banks Lotus, I mean, the only reason I was able to
• 42:28
  get in is because the roof was off, and I literally just stepped and lowered
• 42:33
  myself into it like I was on an elevator.
• 42:35
  And then I would also like a 911, like a 911 Carrera 4S or something like that.
• 42:41
  Those I think are just great cars.
• 42:43
  And Mike touched on something in one of the earlier podcasts that I hadn't even
• 42:47
  thought about and I don't even know.
• 42:48
  But an Audi R8 is a beautiful car as well.
• 42:51
  So I think those would be my choices.
• 42:54
  And so we're going to go around the horn one more time.
• 42:57
  And just to close us out, I want to hear your thoughts.
• 42:59
  Your funniest or most embarrassing or most exciting big guy little car story.
• 43:05
  Just anything that has to do with you being a big guy climbing
• 43:09
  into out of a little car.
• 43:11
  Jason, Eric has told me that you've got plenty of stories.
• 43:15
  So let's go ahead and hear one of your gems.
• 43:17
  Yeah, I'll give you, I'll give you one that's a little bit
• 43:19
  longer than one that's super fast.
• 43:20
  So I flew out to a big conference out in San Francisco and made the
• 43:25
  cardinal sin of laying over in Chicago and I ended up having like
• 43:28
  a six hour delay, seven hour delay.
• 43:31
  So I roll into SFO and go to pick up my rental car because I had to go back
• 43:34
  and forth between San Francisco and Santa Clara for some customer meetings.
• 43:38
  And I roll up to the Hertz counter and it's like one o'clock in
• 43:41
  the morning West Coast times.
• 43:42
  It's like 4am East Coast and the guy's like, we've only got two cars left.
• 43:47
  And he was like, I can give you a discount and charge you 350 a day for the
• 43:51
  Escalade or you can take the Fiat 500.
• 43:54
  And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me, dude.
• 43:57
  Call the manager.
• 43:58
  And they're like, I, and they're like, this is what we got, right?
• 44:02
  You can either take the Fiat or you can pay three 50 a day.
• 44:04
  And I didn't think my company was going to be real jazzed about me paying, you
• 44:08
  know, for the week for an Escalade.
• 44:10
  So, I take the Fiat, right?
• 44:13
  And literally, like, there's, and I'm not lying to you, there's barely
• 44:16
  enough room for me and my bag for the week to get into this vehicle.
• 44:20
  So, like, I'm riding it and my head's cocked all the way over, like, my right
• 44:25
  shoulder so I can, like, squeeze into it.
• 44:28
  And you know, it's driving in San Francisco is bad enough.
• 44:31
  So I get to the hotel and the woman who works the front desk is like
• 44:35
  smoking a cigarette out front.
• 44:36
  Cause it's like two o'clock in the morning.
• 44:37
  And she's like, Oh my God, I can't see through the car.
• 44:41
  She's like, you literally take up the entire car.
• 44:45
  Like, thanks.
• 44:46
  Thanks lady.
• 44:47
  Appreciate it.
• 44:48
  Yeah.
• 44:48
  So I spent the entire week running up between San Francisco
• 44:51
  and Santa Clara and that thing.
• 44:52
  And I literally thought I was going to die.
• 44:55
  Everyone that saw me is like, dude, that looks, Ridiculous.
• 44:58
  Like that's, it's awful.
• 44:59
  That's one of the good ones.
• 45:00
  Second one is I was out with a bunch of buddies and one of my friends had a
• 45:03
  couple of too many drinks out at a bar in Baltimore and he's got a Mercedes SLK.
• 45:08
  And you know, I, I hadn't had enough to drink to where I couldn't drive.
• 45:12
  So I was like, I'll, I'll drive your car home.
• 45:14
  So he put the top down and it took us about three seconds to figure out there
• 45:18
  wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to be able to drive that vehicle.
• 45:21
  Like I started to slide down and like literally my shoulders were above The
• 45:26
  windshield like I mean it was like it wasn't like my head was above it
• 45:30
  It was like my entire shoulders and everything It looked like a go kart
• 45:33
  and we're like who's calling the cab?
• 45:36
  Like that's it We're like we're leaving the car here if it gets stolen.
• 45:39
  Sorry, but yeah, I gotta ditch it So that's that's two two of my good ones.
• 45:44
  They are really good ones.
• 45:45
  I love the fiat 500 I would drive one if I could fit my head under the under the roof
• 45:50
  line I need to follow that because one of my stories involves a fiat 500 as well You
• 45:59
  I'd never coached with hooked on driving Southern States before.
• 46:03
  And Chivley and I are going down to a event at Roebling and Chivley
• 46:08
  goes way back with Dave Auer.
• 46:09
  And I had briefly met him, but he didn't know me by name.
• 46:13
  So, I show up and find out I've been assigned a, uh,
• 46:16
  student who drives a Fiat 500.
• 46:18
  And, for those unfamiliar with Fiat 500 driving, they like to have the coach
• 46:21
  drive the car for the first two laps.
• 46:23
  That wasn't happening.
• 46:24
  That just wasn't happening.
• 46:27
  The other thing I will say is, fortunately, Roebling Road
• 46:29
  is mostly right hand turns.
• 46:31
  Because at that point, I was ballast, and I was sitting in the
• 46:36
  car with my helmet on, reclined, with my head cocked to the side.
• 46:41
  And Auer did not see me get in the car.
• 46:45
  Auer saw me get out of the car and his jaw just kind of dropped.
• 46:51
  And he's like, I'm sorry.
• 46:56
  Uh, obviously there's my, my one 35 I convertible stories from Germany.
• 47:01
  And I've shared a link to one of the photos from my time in that we
• 47:05
  were airborne on the Nürburgring with my head above the windshield,
• 47:11
  the convertible top down going into a braking zone, into a corner.
• 47:15
  With no helmet by the way.
• 47:16
  With no helmet.
• 47:17
  No helmets required over there.
• 47:18
  I didn't pass a broomstick test without a helmet, so it doesn't matter.
• 47:23
  And if you look really closely in that picture, you actually will see
• 47:26
  that there's someone in the passenger seat curled up almost in the fetal
• 47:30
  position, scared for his life.
• 47:31
  And then way back, there was also a time I had to instruct in a Honda Prelude.
• 47:37
  And that was one of those, I'm basically lying down in the
• 47:40
  passenger seat to instruct this car.
• 47:42
  And the problem is, like, a lot of cars, if you recline, you get more headroom.
• 47:46
  But in a Prelude, the roof starts to come down so quick, that as I'm reclining, the
• 47:50
  roof is going down faster than my head.
• 47:52
  So I'm reclined, and then I have to scoot down and bunch up my legs at the front.
• 47:57
  To even, and the, the chief instructor just happened of that event, just happened
• 48:02
  to walk by and he looked in the car and just shook his head and walked away.
• 48:06
  All right.
• 48:06
  And Brian, do you have any, uh, any, any amusing stories for us?
• 48:11
  I have two short ones.
• 48:12
  So I was probably, I want to say like 24 or so, and my buddy Jason comes to
• 48:18
  my house, and he picks me up in his dad's Miata, and, um, I look at him, and
• 48:24
  Jason's probably, yeah, he, he's like 5'9 5'10 and he looks at me, and he looks
• 48:30
  at the car, and he goes, bad choice, and I said, no, we can make it work.
• 48:34
  We can, we'll make it work.
• 48:35
  So the top goes down, right?
• 48:36
  And he goes, yeah.
• 48:37
  And I'm like, oh, well, let's try it with the top up first.
• 48:39
  So I managed to get in, obviously my head's plastered the top of the Miata,
• 48:43
  the soft top, and we're riding down the road, and every bump I hit, I
• 48:48
  feel like I'm just in a rubber band.
• 48:49
  I'm just going up and down constantly in this state of bouncy
• 48:53
  ball, basically in the seat.
• 48:54
  And I said, hey man, pull over, let's, let's put the top down.
• 48:57
  So we put the top down and like I readjusted to get more comfortable,
• 49:00
  obviously I have more headroom now.
• 49:02
  We're riding down the road and I remember my, my eyes were level
• 49:05
  with the top of the windshield.
• 49:07
  So I really couldn't see anything unless I'm like looking around.
• 49:11
  And I felt something hit my face.
• 49:13
  And I was like, what the hell was that?
• 49:15
  And it was, it was a rock hit the top of my forehead.
• 49:19
  So like, I looked at him and I'm like, Hey, am I, am I bleeding?
• 49:22
  And he's like, no, why?
• 49:24
  And I was like, I'm getting pelted with stones over here,
• 49:28
  can we put the top back down?
• 49:30
  And he's like, yeah, we'll put it down when we stop, it's just right up the road.
• 49:33
  I'm like, alright, whatever.
• 49:34
  So I like duck down behind the windshield.
• 49:36
  We get to where we're going, we have a good time.
• 49:38
  I think we were at a cookout at a friend's house we hadn't seen in a while.
• 49:41
  We, uh, we're getting ready to go home.
• 49:42
  And the top gets stuck.
• 49:45
  We couldn't get it up.
• 49:46
  miata, it's his dad's car, I'm looking at him.
• 49:50
  He's looking at me, I'm like, whatever, let's go.
• 49:52
  Starts raining.
• 49:55
  On our way home, so we're driving home in the rain.
• 49:57
  My head's above the windshield.
• 49:59
  I feel like I'm getting stung by bees.
• 50:01
  Man, I get home, my hair was greasy and oily.
• 50:06
  It was like, I don't know, I washed my hair like five or six times and
• 50:10
  there's still shit coming out of it.
• 50:11
  So that was the one big guy small car in a Miata.
• 50:15
  And the other one is me and my buddy Jeff went to the auto show
• 50:19
  down in the Baltimore Convention Center, and this was about 2008.
• 50:22
  And we're walking around, and I'm like, What in the hell is that?
• 50:25
  It looks like a baby viper.
• 50:27
  Just this tiny little baby viper.
• 50:29
  Get up to and it was the Dodge Demon concept at the time.
• 50:33
  And it was this two door little coupe and little roadster looking car.
• 50:36
  It was almost like a Z3 at the time.
• 50:39
  And I'm like, I gotta get in this thing.
• 50:43
  So.
• 50:43
  I open the door and I get in and I adjust everything I'm looking at and
• 50:47
  he's looking at me and I'm like yeah man and I'm like looking around looking at
• 50:50
  all the interior stuff and I look over and he's gone my buddy Jeff had wandered
• 50:55
  off you know how we are kids in a candy shop in a car show we're just kind of
• 50:58
  like oh what's that squirrel what's that anyway I look over he's gone and I go
• 51:03
  to get out and I cannot get out of this car and at this point my you know I'm
• 51:10
  starting to get I'm getting embarrassed because I literally could not get out.
• 51:14
  I'd go to sit up, my knees were under the steering wheel.
• 51:16
  I couldn't lift my legs to, to like really swing them out because the
• 51:21
  steering wheel, I really don't know how I got in the car, to be honest with you.
• 51:24
  Yeah, it was about five minutes later and one of the, uh, I guess one of the show
• 51:29
  girls walked by with the little pamphlet things and I was like, Hey, can you go get
• 51:32
  that guy over there with the backpack on?
• 51:34
  And she's like, that one.
• 51:35
  And I'm like, yeah, she goes over there and tassels the shoulder.
• 51:38
  He comes over and takes a picture of me stuck in this car.
• 51:41
  And then he proceeds to help me out at this point.
• 51:43
  I'm like, I want to go home.
• 51:47
  I'm done with this auto show.
• 51:48
  I was just embarrassed, but yeah, those are my, the two bad stories that I've
• 51:52
  had for, for big guy in tiny cars.
• 51:54
  All right, we'll go over to Andrew because I have a feeling Gordon's
• 51:57
  got something really special for us.
• 51:59
  So we'll save him for last.
• 52:01
  No pressure.
• 52:02
  I spent a summer working at CarMax.
• 52:04
  I had a fun test drive with Brad the first time I met him.
• 52:07
  That was three big guys in a Mustang, but that there was plenty of instances
• 52:11
  of having cars like an S2000.
• 52:13
  Uh, what else there's something else like I remember having to actually
• 52:16
  when we're taking the cars off the lot for a test drive I'd have to go inside
• 52:19
  and get my manager or get another salesman to pull it off the lot.
• 52:22
  You And hand the keys over to my customer because I couldn't really drive the car.
• 52:26
  It's like, okay, that's small.
• 52:28
  But another rental car story I was I my wife's daily driver got dinged
• 52:32
  up and It was going in the body shop and I had to rent a car and I called
• 52:35
  my one of my friends who worked for enterprise And just said hey, man, what
• 52:38
  are they going to give me for 30 a day?
• 52:40
  And he's walking me through he's like listen, they always have a quad cab
• 52:43
  pickup on the lot They never rent it out.
• 52:45
  They would be happy to give it to you But but you can't just ask for it
• 52:48
  because it costs more money, right?
• 52:49
  You So I get picked up from the, the auto body dealer by this nice
• 52:53
  young lady from enterprise and she's five, five foot tall and we're,
• 52:57
  she's driving some kind of Nissan.
• 52:59
  I don't even know what it is because it was so small.
• 53:00
  I don't know if they put a name badge on it, but he told me, he said,
• 53:03
  listen, when she comes to pick you up.
• 53:06
  Don't get comfortable in the car like kind of make it obvious that you're a big dude
• 53:10
  And I put I put the seat all the way back.
• 53:11
  My knees were still touching the dash I had my work bag up in my
• 53:14
  lap and we're halfway there and she looks over and she's like you don't
• 53:17
  look very Comfortable in this car.
• 53:19
  I'm like, I guess i'm not you know, and and she's like, okay It's like do you want
• 53:23
  me to look and see if we have something bigger for you back at the office?
• 53:25
  I'm like, yeah Yeah, if you can that'd be nice and sure enough I had like a
• 53:28
  month's rental on on a dodge ram quad cab, which was which was great But
• 53:32
  to get that little that little hookup from my friend was helpful So take
• 53:35
  take take advantage of your of your big guy in a small car status every once
• 53:38
  in a while So i've related to that.
• 53:40
  I was at And, uh, in Tampa for work in like 2002.
• 53:45
  So first we had to return our Pontiac Sunfire cause the car just blew up.
• 53:49
  I was driving a coworker back to the airport and the car just
• 53:52
  went haywire and was RPMs range was going all over the place.
• 53:57
  Transmission wouldn't go into gear, went to the airport.
• 54:00
  Not surprised.
• 54:01
  I walk up to, I walk up to the counter.
• 54:03
  I'm on TUI with three other people.
• 54:06
  So, and we were dropping one off, so there's still gonna be three of us
• 54:09
  left to come back to the airport later.
• 54:10
  So I'm returning the Sunfire and she goes, well, we have a Mitsubishi
• 54:15
  Mirage, and then looks up and goes, I have a Mitsubishi Lancer
• 54:20
  that I'm going to put you in.
• 54:24
  You know, sometimes, sometimes just the look you give, I'm just staring at
• 54:28
  her like, are you, are you kidding me?
• 54:31
  And she, she instantly got the clue.
• 54:33
  And uh, fortunately I didn't have to try and put on my, uh, another left shoe.
• 54:38
  If you'll help me upload these at some point, there's a picture of me in the
• 54:41
  Cadillac pulling it off the trailer and I forgot to release the tie down straps.
• 54:46
  And just at the point where the Cadillac went off the back of the trailer,
• 54:49
  the straps went tight, car wouldn't go back, car wouldn't go forward.
• 54:53
  Gordon couldn't open the door.
• 54:55
  It's a 95 degree day and I lost my shit.
• 54:59
  I mean, I, I think I'm a pretty composed guy.
• 55:02
  I was freaking the F out.
• 55:04
  I'm sweating.
• 55:05
  I'm like, Oh my God.
• 55:06
  Oh my God.
• 55:06
  Then I realized just turn on the air conditioner.
• 55:08
  Okay.
• 55:08
  Just get okay.
• 55:10
  So, but how am I going to get out of the car?
• 55:11
  So I climbed out the passenger window.
• 55:15
  Then my wife had the bright idea to film me getting back in the car.
• 55:18
  Cause then I got to get off the damn trailer.
• 55:20
  So I cut the straps when I get it back in.
• 55:22
  So I'm doing the inchworm in through the driver's side window.
• 55:26
  I climb in and my big fat ass disappears in.
• 55:29
  My head goes down into the passenger foot well.
• 55:31
  I got to turn myself around.
• 55:33
  There's a great video of this.
• 55:34
  So y'all need to see that at some point.
• 55:36
  It's the scene where Jim Carrey comes out of the back of the
• 55:40
  hippopotamus in Ace Ventura.
• 55:42
  Beautiful.
• 55:44
  It's played backwards.
• 55:49
  What I do have is me and Crutch riding in cars.
• 55:51
  So me and Crutch riding in his bug.
• 55:57
  And we got lots of looks from people in the paddock and me and
• 56:00
  Crutch riding in the Cadillac.
• 56:02
  Which was decidedly different because one has about 12 times more horsepower
• 56:05
  than the other two guys in a small ish car The bug was just funny But my story
• 56:11
  is again a rental story the wife working for corporate america went up to the
• 56:15
  west coast And we're in san francisco going to to monterey And so I rented
• 56:20
  a jaguar f type r From Hertz Gold Club member got a banging deal and, and I
• 56:25
  actually kind of, sort of fit in the car.
• 56:27
  So we're driving south on a Saturday and we decided to stop at Pebble Beach
• 56:31
  and have lunch, go to get outta the car, and I dislocate my right hip.
• 56:35
  It took three guys our size to get me out of the vehicle.
• 56:40
  Holy shit.
• 56:40
  To load me on a stretcher to take me to the hospital.
• 56:43
  To relocate my hip.
• 56:46
  So be careful what you ask for I mean, dude, you can't believe the pain.
• 56:52
  I couldn't feel my feet I I mean just like oh my god, and it's just I think
• 56:56
  it's probably a prior orthopedic injury from football I don't know, but just
• 57:00
  suddenly I wanted to get out something went up and it's like Oh, F me.
• 57:05
  This is not good.
• 57:07
  And so, yeah, the car went back to the dealer and I think we drove a,
• 57:10
  we drove a, uh, a Saab something or other the rest of the time.
• 57:15
  Not an F Type R.
• 57:16
  So you played football back in 77 at NC State?
• 57:19
  Shut up, asshole.
• 57:22
  I played football at some point in time.
• 57:24
  Not well.
• 57:25
  Um, that's why I work for a living now.
• 57:27
  Size doesn't buy you anything apparently other than bad joints.
• 57:31
  It just costs you more Yeah, oh dude.
• 57:34
  It's so y'all don't i'm 60 actually 61.
• 57:38
  I'm the oldest guy in the room And shit does break i'm just telling you your shit
• 57:43
  is going to go bad at some point and it's not going to be fun Just saying that's
• 57:47
  why I drink heavily get over But there is a vehicle I discovered that we may want
• 57:53
  to discuss that I think will will satisfy All of your big guy needs and give you
• 57:58
  performance and everything like that.
• 58:00
  I recently discovered this vehicle It is a it is a domestic.
• 58:03
  It was built from 2006 to uh, 2011 But think it is a performance vehicle.
• 58:09
  You can get it with that turbocharged four cylinder making close to
• 58:12
  300 horsepower I mean, that's an ultimate track weapon right there.
• 58:15
  You betcha.
• 58:16
  It's known as the uh, chevy hhr.
• 58:18
  Have you guys heard of that?
• 58:19
  Oh, yeah Ugliest pickup that ever existed I think jason's camera says it
• 58:27
  all right there No, the the h the ssr is the pickup The HHR was the one that
• 58:34
  looks like an old box van, panel van.
• 58:37
  It's a PT Cruiser.
• 58:39
  It's a rip off of a PT Cruiser, which is a horrible thing to be.
• 58:42
  There's only one HHR that's worth looking at photos of.
• 58:45
  And that's the one that blew No, it blew up.
• 58:49
  Because the guy inside it used too much Axe body spray
• 58:52
  before lighting a cigarette.
• 58:53
  And it actually happened in Maryland.
• 58:55
  LAUGHS Only good HHR.
• 59:03
  Oh my god.
• 59:06
  Yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's a, it's a difficult time to be a guy in cars because
• 59:11
  everybody's building more efficient.
• 59:14
  You know, I, I look at all these econo boxes that are out and most of that
• 59:17
  shit's not engineered for guys like us.
• 59:19
  Fortunately, there's still people building bigger cars.
• 59:22
  But being an enthusiast, it is, I think, more challenging going forward finding
• 59:27
  things, unless you're going to go a couple years back and reengineer stuff
• 59:31
  to your specification, we're not going to find stuff off the floor that's
• 59:34
  going to really meet our needs anymore.
• 59:37
  Well, I mean, with, with the current trending and badge engineering, the
• 59:40
  civic will now place its badge on the back of the Honda pilot because
• 59:44
  it's getting bigger every year.
• 59:46
  So currently it's on the accord.
• 59:47
  It's okay.
• 59:49
  But nobody wants to track an SUV.
• 59:52
  I have, I have one more question I want to pose you guys real quick.
• 59:56
  I just, I think it's an interesting one.
• 59:59
  But if you could ask automakers today to make one concession for
• 1:00:03
  the large guy, What would it be?
• 1:00:05
  I would say leg room.
• 1:00:07
  Give me two inches, three inches extra in any vehicle.
• 1:00:10
  There's probably 90 percent more cars that I could consider owning.
• 1:00:14
  More vertical variation in seat height because like Volkswagen
• 1:00:17
  has the, has those pump up seats.
• 1:00:19
  And if it could just go down a little bit more, a lot of them
• 1:00:22
  would be a lot more comfortable for, for people with longer torsos.
• 1:00:25
  But you know, they want to put 500 pounds of seat heaters and, and stereo
• 1:00:28
  equipment under the seat for some reason.
• 1:00:30
  So mine's kind of weird.
• 1:00:31
  I can't stand how they take a lot of the seats and like up around the shoulders,
• 1:00:34
  how they wrap them around and bring them more towards the steering wheel.
• 1:00:37
  Like I feel like in a lot of cars, I'm like constantly hunched
• 1:00:40
  over and like, yeah, it's just, it's constantly uncomfortable.
• 1:00:45
  Like I want a car that drives like a bat out of hell, but doesn't have
• 1:00:48
  those like shoulders pushed forward.
• 1:00:50
  I think those are the kind of the dimensional challenges I
• 1:00:52
  was gonna add that as a big guy.
• 1:00:54
  We sweat.
• 1:00:55
  I miss the old feature from my old Thunderbird.
• 1:00:57
  The air conditioning vent, I'm just gonna say it's right directly below
• 1:01:00
  the steering column, all right?
• 1:01:02
  That used to be a thing on cars.
• 1:01:03
  A lot of Fords had it.
• 1:01:04
  The ball sweat cooler.
• 1:01:06
  The ball chiller was amazing.
• 1:01:08
  So I'm just gonna say like, I don't think it would take much, but
• 1:01:10
  every car I get in, it's a hot day.
• 1:01:12
  I'd like, I flashed back to being 16 years old and be like, this
• 1:01:15
  is the greatest part of my car.
• 1:01:16
  They just need to supercharge the seat cooler.
• 1:01:19
  Yeah.
• 1:01:20
  It's yes.
• 1:01:20
  Cause I will say something like the navigators and stuff have cooling seats.
• 1:01:24
  At least they, they did.
• 1:01:25
  I don't know if they still do.
• 1:01:26
  I think some of the luxury cars have cooling seats where they're not just
• 1:01:29
  heated, but they also have like air conditioning pumping through the,
• 1:01:32
  through the seats preparations.
• 1:01:33
  I mean, if any day, everybody's already got the things aside from the ball
• 1:01:36
  chiller, I didn't even think about that.
• 1:01:38
  But, uh, yeah, what you were saying with the Navigator, the
• 1:01:42
  cool seats, the Jeep, Eric, I don't know if yours has cool seats.
• 1:01:44
  Mine has cool seats, but when I drive the Jetta, yeah, the
• 1:01:48
  ball chiller would be great.
• 1:01:49
  I understand the wraparound part with the shoulders, because I
• 1:01:51
  have wide shoulders as well.
• 1:01:53
  Definitely more leg room for anybody.
• 1:01:54
  If the seat could go back, you know, even like an inch and
• 1:01:57
  a half, it'd just be better.
• 1:01:59
  And then the height variation, of course, it's just a play on everybody's.
• 1:02:03
  If it were all together, I think big guys would be two inches happier.
• 1:02:09
  I believe Chrysler calls that the pro chiller, but Jason
• 1:02:15
  brought up a really good point.
• 1:02:17
  A car that goes bad out of hell, has room for a big guy, and all that kind of thing.
• 1:02:21
  There is actually one car I can think of that checks all those boxes.
• 1:02:25
  The car I'm thinking of is actually the Challenger Hellcat.
• 1:02:28
  700 horsepower with tons of space built for bigger guys and it looks good.
• 1:02:33
  It sounds good It comes in a manual does all the right things I mean if this
• 1:02:37
  was an episode of what should I buy?
• 1:02:39
  I would be advocating for that car for you guys 110 percent unless you
• 1:02:43
  want to take it to the track I drove one of those this afternoon patient
• 1:02:46
  of mine as a neurosurgeon had one Brought it to the office today and I
• 1:02:49
  had some time So we took it and went around some of the roads near the
• 1:02:52
  office And i've worked with the guy at poking it with one You I am absolutely
• 1:02:56
  astounded by how good that car is.
• 1:02:58
  It is large, you know, it's 34 or 4300 pounds.
• 1:03:02
  It's a big car But they've really got that car dialed in and what you
• 1:03:06
  what you look at that car If you open the hood on that what you see
• 1:03:08
  is an engine A clean installation.
• 1:03:11
  What you see in the Cadillac is what a bunch of crack smoking Detroit
• 1:03:16
  engineers came up with on a Friday night.
• 1:03:18
  I mean, Chrysler has this stuff figured out.
• 1:03:20
  That car is spectacular.
• 1:03:22
  The Hellcat Redeye, 797 horsepower.
• 1:03:26
  It's a demon minus 0.
• 1:03:28
  01 for a shit ton less money.
• 1:03:31
  That is a banging automobile.
• 1:03:33
  And I like the challenger.
• 1:03:34
  I like the original ones, like the new ones.
• 1:03:35
  So I'll just add this.
• 1:03:36
  I've driven an original SRT8 on track at NCM.
• 1:03:40
  I thought it was fantastic.
• 1:03:41
  I wasn't really a fan of the truck interior that it had, but once, you
• 1:03:45
  know, that was a Mercedes thing.
• 1:03:46
  Everything looked like it was a pickup truck.
• 1:03:48
  Um, But once Fiat got their hands on it, they've really made it
• 1:03:51
  a great place to live inside.
• 1:03:54
  I have gotten the opportunity to drive a brand new Hellcat.
• 1:03:57
  I will say it's an exercise in patience because it's big horsepower,
• 1:04:00
  but it was really rewarding.
• 1:04:02
  The Magneto suspension was fantastic.
• 1:04:04
  The car was really on point compared to a regular challenger.
• 1:04:07
  They really got that car sorted out.
• 1:04:09
  I can't imagine what the demon is like with a thousand horsepower and all that.
• 1:04:13
  I mean, it was, it was a.
• 1:04:14
  It was a lot of work to keep the Hellcat under control.
• 1:04:18
  And again, it's an exercise in patience, but it was very
• 1:04:20
  rewarding at the end of the day.
• 1:04:22
  Yeah, I would sell everything.
• 1:04:25
  The demons not designed to go around corners.
• 1:04:27
  I mean, that's a straight line car.
• 1:04:28
  The Hellcat and the Red Eye are both cars that could be adapted to the track.
• 1:04:33
  And there are guys that are actually doing that.
• 1:04:35
  I mean, there's a bunch of guys that have modified those cars.
• 1:04:37
  You know, much like what guys have done with the, I mean, the ZL1 Camaro.
• 1:04:41
  I think spectacular car.
• 1:04:42
  All of these cars with high horsepower.
• 1:04:44
  If you take a little bit of time and take what the factory gave
• 1:04:47
  you and massage it a little bit.
• 1:04:49
  You've got a pretty damn capable track car.
• 1:04:51
  And I mean, I could go cheap too and go for a 392 at the scat pack.
• 1:04:56
  I mean, it's perfectly fine.
• 1:04:58
  500 will work.
• 1:05:00
  Yeah.
• 1:05:00
  When I had that Challenger, I had an Alpharetta Georgia.
• 1:05:03
  It was just the six cylinder, you know, the base model Challenger.
• 1:05:06
  I was going to say I fit really comfortably in that car.
• 1:05:08
  In and out was easy.
• 1:05:09
  The features on the inside, like you were saying, I'm just used to those
• 1:05:13
  features because the Jeep and it's easy for me to transition from the
• 1:05:16
  Jeep into the Challenger because it's basically the same layout on the dash.
• 1:05:20
  It's just a, you know, misplacement of a few things here and there.
• 1:05:23
  But from a familiarity standpoint, that thing, you know, that that
• 1:05:27
  would be a good car for me.
• 1:05:29
  I liked it.
• 1:05:30
  Guys at the track, you know, we talk about their Miatas, and their yearly consumable
• 1:05:34
  budget is my weekend consumable budget.
• 1:05:39
  What the hell?
• 1:05:40
  It's not, it's not fair.
• 1:05:41
  We need 50 tires for the big cars.
• 1:05:46
  We need like an Exocet.
• 1:05:48
  Challenger to get rid of all the weight or just take like a mini Cooper
• 1:05:51
  Clubman and just rip the front seat out and drive from the back, right?
• 1:05:55
  Like, And then put an LS way and pedal extender.
• 1:05:59
  Yeah, yeah, you get long pedal extenders.
• 1:06:02
  So I guess the answer for regular people is Miata always.
• 1:06:06
  And the answer for big guys is always hellcat.
• 1:06:08
  I think that's what we've stumbled upon Oh my gosh
• 1:06:17
  That was our special moment we were to share that What happens
• 1:06:20
  in cadzilla stays in cadzilla.
• 1:06:22
  There you go, baby.
• 1:06:24
  This is awesome.
• 1:06:25
  Thanks for having me on everybody.
• 1:06:26
  This is Very good.
• 1:06:28
  And if any thank you all Yeah, and if any of you guys want to be on in a future
• 1:06:32
  episode, don't hesitate to reach out.
• 1:06:33
  We got a list of different topics we're going to cover and, and we'll
• 1:06:37
  definitely share that with you guys.
• 1:06:38
  So don't hesitate, especially to jump on some of the, what should I buy episodes?
• 1:06:42
  Those are always a lot of fun and you can throw something out there and just
• 1:06:45
  let the piranhas chomp on it for a while.
• 1:06:47
  So looking forward to that.
• 1:06:48
  Well, thank you all for being on.
• 1:06:49
  We really appreciate it.
• 1:06:51
  And as Eric said, we would love to have you back for another episode.
• 1:06:54
  Uh, and uh, yeah, I guess that's it.
• 1:06:57
  Peace.
• 1:06:59
  Peace.
• 1:07:04
  If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM,
• 1:07:06
  be sure to check us out on www.
• 1:07:09
  gtmotorsports.
• 1:07:10
  org.
• 1:07:11
  You can also find us on Instagram at GrandTouring Motorsports.
• 1:07:14
  Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows, you can
• 1:07:18
  call or text us at 202 630 1770 or send us an email at crewchief at gtmotorsports.
• 1:07:26
  org.
• 1:07:27
  We'd love to hear from you.
• 1:07:28
  Hey listeners, Crew Chief Eric here.
• 1:07:30
  Do you like what you've seen, heard, and read?
• 1:07:32
  from GTM?
• 1:07:33
  Great, so do we, and we have a lot of fun doing it.
• 1:07:36
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• 1:07:39
  a no annual fee organization.
• 1:07:41
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• 1:07:44
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• 1:07:48
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• 1:07:51
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• 1:07:51
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• 1:07:55
  top right corner on the support and donate to learn how you can help.