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What Makes A Vehicle Of The Year, Really · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show coming up from America on the Roads Talk Show.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: Jack Niran and Mactoy Award winners.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's North American Car and Truck of the Year Award.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Big deal.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: Leader in Jeff's Car Culture, five of the longest drivable tunnels.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: Is it only in the United States?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_04: There's tunnels all over the world, but we've talked about long roads, we talked about Route 66, we talked about bridges.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's time to go underground.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: I couldn't agree more.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: On a day like today, absolutely.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars over there in Neederville, Texas.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, Neaterville.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: We always need more Jeff Zeken sitting next to me.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Chief Engineer David Ainsley just got out of the shower, from what I'm told.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's the David cam that we've been kind of monitoring, but not really.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Glad you could join us on this Saturday morning.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: And joining us now from the Left Coast, ladies and gentlemen, here he is, the man of the hour, Jack Nierad.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Good morning, Jack.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: The man of the early hour.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: At least early hour for me, less so for you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it is.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Eight o'clock on a Saturday morning.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: And as always, we always appreciate you joining us out there because we know there's a two-hour time difference.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: There's lots of other differences too, but we won't we won't go into those.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I can't take uh credit or blame for those, I don't think.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: No, you cannot, and we wouldn't place them on you anyway.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: So um, first of all, before we get into all of this, would you explain to everybody what is NATO, how it came about, and uh the awards process?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'd be happy to.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: North American Car of the Year started, I I think about 35 years ago.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was not involved in it uh at its inception.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: But the goal was to bring a bunch of uh independent journalists together uh to decide on first Car of the Year, then it was expanded to Truck of the Year, and now there's Utility of the Year, too, which is arguably the most important of the three awards, depending on how you look at it.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um But I had been editor of Motor Trend and ran the Motor Trend Car of the Year Awards uh back in the day.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it was a process that was uh fairly clear to me.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think the idea of having a bunch of independent journalists from different outlets uh is the big separator between North American Car of the Year and some of the others, including Motor Trend Car of the Year, which of course is one publication.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we have 50 jurors um with probably 50 different ways of testing cars and evaluating vehicles, but I think that results in some really um good uh good results, basically, uh in what we get in terms of naming the proper car, the proper utility, and the proper truck of the year uh as an important vehicle.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: So do you guys all sit down together or you do it over the internet, or do you share information?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do you think there's a it's a lengthy procedure?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: You can say it's a year-long procedure.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're testing independently all the all the time.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, I test a car every week on uh my radio show, America on the Road.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I think most of the insurers are testing cars on that kind of frequent basis.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're going on automotive events.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Then in uh, and we um first identify all the cars that are brand new, all the cars, trucks, and utilities that are essentially new for a particular model year.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of our basic field from which we can choose the car of the year and the others.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then we winnow that down with a vote.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: We take a vote fairly early on.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think it takes place in either late August or September, where we bring it down to a more manageable number.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Then we get together in October to drive these vehicles.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Most of us get together for that uh outside Detroit and Ann Arbor.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm typically there for four or five days.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Most of our uh jurors are there for that period of time.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then there's another couple series of votes, one to semifinalist, two semifinalists, three in each category.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those are announced typically at the Los Angeles Auto Show in late November.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have a final round of voting, and we uh we um name the car, truck, and utility of the year in mid-January at the Detroit Auto Show.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_04: Now, Jack, you mentioned that these are through the manufacturers.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of people of companies that are building cars that are not well known as the you know the Detroit three.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Are they included in this uh yeah, any vehicle that's available in the United States in any kind of reasonable number?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think if it were um such an exotic car that was super expensive, it's not likely to qualify.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: And again, we cut down some of the vehicles.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, for example, we had the lucid gravity as one of our um utility vehicle finalists this year.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's a pretty exotic vehicle, actually, probably a hundred thousand dollars or so.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, and from a very small manufacturer comparatively.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we're looking at uh everything out there that's available to the consumer.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: So do we start now and drill down into this?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: Are you ready?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm ready.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure ready, yeah.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Jack is always he's always ready.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: So let's start with the car finalists, shall we?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: You had three of them.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and the finalists were the Dodge Charger.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: Now, are you talking about the new Dodge Charger?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: We are, yeah.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: These are all new cars, so they're brand new cars.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: You have a new design, and the Honda Prelude and the Nissan Sentra.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: So obviously, obviously, I assume that there's really no comparison, really, between the price of the vehicle.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Apples, oranges, and rubegas, right?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can have you know very, very different kinds of things there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the challenges of naming the car of the year.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: But the way I look at it, and I think the way a lot of our jurors look at it, is number one, the vehicle has to be essentially the best in its class uh to really qualify as a car of the year.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so you look at that.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh to me, that's where the Centra didn't really measure up to be Car of the Year, because as good as the new Centra is, and it's very good, I don't think it's as good as or better than the uh the Honda Civic or the Mazda 3 or the Toyota Corolla.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think those are the vehicles are the equal of the Centra.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um whereas I think uh for larger sedans, you're hard pressed to find something better than the Dodge Charger available as a two-door, a four-door, in all electric, or with a really interesting uh turbocharged six-cylinder engine of immense horsepower.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that was my choice.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it was also the choice of the the whole jury.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: That was the car of the year.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: So the Dodge Charger, and it was the six-cylinder gasoline engine.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it was all of the Dodge chargers, so I think there were the proponents uh the fact that you could get the electric or you could get the gasoline engine.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: Did that play a part in it?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that played a big part.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think it played a big part in because there is, uh I think at least an element of the jury that really likes electric cars.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So the fact that you could get that as an electric vehicle.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah or what their political affiliations are.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: But all I can think of is, you know, here we are in Texas, the maker of gasoline, the importer and driller of oil.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think that we're probably going to edge toward the gasoline vehicles here.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Although I will say this: that there are some people here in Texas that are very passionate about their electrics.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: The problem, as you well know, here in Texas anyway, is charging.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, public charging is uh, at least here in Texas, or more specifically here in Houston, can be and is for me personally a real pain in the rump.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: And look what's going on with the weather this week.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, those people are gonna probably suffer a little bit more than uh an ice engine owner.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so let's depend on the commercial chargers.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even here in California, in the hotbed of electrics, uh, you know, public charging is an issue and it's gonna remain an issue.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: So uh truck finalists.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I find this very interesting.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: So you've got the Ford Maverick Lobo, which is for some reason they call it a compact pickup truck.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_03: Did you have one of those?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: I had one.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, a Ram 1500 and a Ram 2500.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Ooh, so you got two Rams on there.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Granted, one is the heavy duty and one is the light duty pickup truck.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: And they're competing against the I hate to say a car-based, because it is and it isn't, Maverick.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Subcompact comes in.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, or compact.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't call it a subcompact.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: But what give us your take on all that?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh truck is uh a bit of a challenge in terms of finding all new vehicles, right?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because trucks don't turn over.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, there aren't that as many trucks as there are cars and sport utilities.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh number two, they don't change that much from year to year to year.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: What what the the big changes were the addition of the heavy-duty RAM this year.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Very good vehicle.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, is it the best heavy-duty vehicle?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure about that.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: So that was kind of one of the one of my takes on what I named, uh, you know, what I voted for uh more most strongly.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Ram 1500 was essentially the RAM of before that had uh gotten rid of the V8 engine, and then the V8 engine came back.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the rationale for including the the Ram 1500.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a great vehicle.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh all of us uh who drive pickup trucks, and certainly I drive a lot of them, think the Ram 1500 as a personal use vehicle is a terrific vehicle, and especially with the Hemi V8 engine.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Although that same six-cylinder engine that I was talking about with the charger is also available in the in the RAM, so that's cool too.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: How is it part of the price comparison, Jack?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Is is the the price comparison between the V8 RAM 1500 and the six-cylinder 1500.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: How much did that figure into uh did it did it play a part?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: It would play some part, yeah.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think it would play some part.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh certainly value plays a part in all of this.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're trying to find the best values out there.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: So you keep a balance.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what I found was with the Maverick Lobo, which is a different version of the Maverick, it doesn't even really have a completely new powertrain.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: It has uh you know some differences in the all-wheel drive system and that kind of thing.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: But it seemed like a new take on uh a very popular segment.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I I it it it struck me as the newest of those, and probably uh certainly the best of the compact pickup trucks um right now.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, arguably the Hyundai Santa Cruz is right there with it in turbo form, but uh you know there aren't a lot of choices there.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but that was that was the choice of the of the jury.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was also my choice.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: And the utility finalists and winner.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my God.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: What did you have?
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: About a thousand of them that you had the judge?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, because you know, essentially the de facto car, quote unquote car or vehicle that people have is a sport utility.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: There are more sport utilities, new sport utilities than anything.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think uh even after we'd winnowed down the field a little bit, I think we went down to something like 13 uh was the number that we had uh on hand in Ann Arbor to drive.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a lot of vehicles, obviously.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um and uh, you know, I mentioned the lucid gravity, um, the Hyundai Palisade uh was the winner.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and again, I think the the Hyundai Palisade is available now with a hybrid, it's a mid-size, you know, it is in the middle of being um a um a useful family vehicle.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the Nissan Leaf was the other vehicle, it's arguably not even an SUV.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's kind of you know, Nissan portrays it as an SUV, but it's an all-electric, very small vehicle, you know, kind of SUV shaped.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, that was a non-starter in the in the segment.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: For others, it was a big deal.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there are 50 of us, 50 opinions.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, I think the Palisade is uh, you know, the best value out there.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh uh certainly uh arguably one of the best values, if not the best value in the mid-size SUV segment, which is a big important segment.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it added important things like hybrid powertrain.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's also the largest seller of those.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and to me, that would that would say something about it.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it obviously resonates with uh buyers of SUVs of that size, and uh that means something to me.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh whether it's the the look of the thing or the actual utility of it, the interior, the engine, all of that.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, all I assume all of those factors and more would go into your judgments.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and sales kind of indicates significance, right?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Significance in the marketplace is a really important thing to me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what I'm uh worried about is just picking the most fun-to-drive vehicle in each of these three segments and and you know, letting it go with that.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's not the way I look at it.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's not the way most of the jurors look at it, but I think maybe there are some jurors who that would be a lesson too.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: So, Jack, how do you become a judge in NACTOY?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: You uh have to be nominated by other judges.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we keep the jury pool to 50, which is a manageable number.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it helps the manufacturers, frankly, uh, allow us to drive vehicles, get vehicles to us, that kind of thing.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to go larger than 50.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: When somebody resigns, retires, you know, changes jobs that precludes them from being a part of it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And nobody can take money from a car company or be working for a car company or be working for an agency of a car company uh to be on the jury.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um again, it sounds to me like it's the Supreme Court, yeah.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and we know we're kind of appointed for life.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's the more than nine of us, and we don't have to wear robes, but otherwise it's similar, right?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_04: Whose palm do I have to uh grace with uh you know what?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that yeah.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh well I I I find it I find it interesting, and I did not know about once you're in, you're in.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I would imagine that you probably don't have too many influencers on your jury.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, once you're in, you're in, as long as you um maintain uh as long as you're still in the business of testing vehicles regularly for you know major outlets.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh as long as you have some influence from that point of view.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's a big part of it because you don't get a chance to, like you say, you meet for five days to do the finals, and if you're not participating all year long, then it makes it a little more difficult for you to contribute.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is a year-long process, and you have to be plugged into the to the industry and plugged into testing cars on a regular basis to um be good to qualify to be a juror.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_04: So are are there any other organizations out there like that toy?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, is JD Powers considered one of those, or are there any other start one?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: I would say there is the World Car of the Year.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there is the European Car of the Year organization.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a Japan Car of the Year.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: North American Car of the Year was really patterned after European Car of the Year, um, which again identified X number of journalists uh from the various countries in in typically in Western Europe.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I and um they have a jury that decides on the European Car of the Year.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: And and and you do you do they kind of adhere to your kind of rules where there's a limited number of journalists, but it's not too small that it skews the vote one way or the other?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's uh a limited number, I you know, I'm not certain exactly how they how they determine who's in the jury and and how they maintain the numbers and what those numbers are.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it's hard to it's hard to say exactly.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh certainly uh I think uh if you looked at the way the voting goes, I mean, because there's 50 of us, it would be hard for one juror to you know sway the vote.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sway the vote very much.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think it's it's not a consensus, but it is uh I think uh you know at least a strong plurality, if not majority of the votes go to the the winners.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oranges, apples, and rutabagas.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_04: The rutabagas, yes, yeah.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_04: So that, yeah, for sure.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm sure they're all sold out at the local grocery store here this week because of our frosted storm.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_04: Toilet paper and rutabagas.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: Toilet paper and rutabagas is that's probably all it needs.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's all it really needs, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Jack, it's always a pleasure to talk to you.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: We thank you so much for getting up this morning, joining us.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: You look great and uh hopefully a little sleepy.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a little sleepy, yeah.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a little sleepy, but I'm gonna be driving out to the desert, so wish me luck.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, best of luck, take some lotion with you.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: You go back.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Always great to talk to you guys.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to doing it again real soon.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Jack Nirak.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and uh, he is the man about town.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: We talk to him usually about once a month or so to get his take on things, and uh so car and truck of the year award.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: All right, on to the desert.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just ahead, Jeff's car culture.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: Are you claustrophobic?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: How about five of the longest drivable tunnels?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Plus, Mars has driving destinations, big five car museums in the U.S.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: after this break on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
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  SPEAKER_03: Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience of Lupi Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I 10 in West Houston.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: Visit any of the Luffy tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail at each and every location.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: Start your Luffy experience with pizza flappiato and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: Dine up famous Luffy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp crochet, or a fish or vegetarian outfit, and finish with lump just floud for dessert.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: Find Luffy tortilla in Houston, College Station, Boma, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas Fort Worth.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: There's a Texas location near you.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: The recipes are authentic and time-tested.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: The ingredients always fresh.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Luffy tortilla eats beauty food.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: Make us the trees.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be doing a broadcast next week if we can get all the buttons pushed and have Don Armstrong have all of his brain cells firing off at the correct time.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: We might be late then.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we definitely will be late.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: Thank God David's gonna be there to get these old people with their teens at the at the uh in-wheel time booth.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: He'll be all showered up by that.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure he will be nice and clean, yes, uh, with his lotion.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh hey, we want to get to Jeff's car culture.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: The five longest tunnels in the United States of America.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: Do I really want to know that?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_04: Well, so when you're outside the longest tunnel in the US, you can't help but wonder how did they build it?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_04: You know, what did it cost?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: How many people?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_04: Is it really an engineering marble?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_04: Well, yes, to all of that.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, some of the stuff you've got to be a real good engineer to figure all that stuff out.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: So here we go, Michael.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_04: The Lincoln Tunnel is another tunnel under the famed Hudson River.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: It connects New Jersey, forget about it, to New York.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's a massive 1.5 miles in length.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's the third largest traffic tunnel in that area.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, it's created off of the Route 495, uh and this is one of New York's most iconic traffic destinations.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_04: So, what really makes the Lincoln Tunnel unique is the three separate tunnels that are involved.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_04: One was built in 1937, one was built in 1945, and the last one was built in 1957.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't know that.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the Lincoln Tunnel averages over 100,000 vehicles daily, and it's one of the most driven tunnels in the US.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_04: So the next one we have is uh the Ted Williams Tunnel, and it's a renowned tunnel located in the famed Boston, city of Boston, with a length of 1.6 miles.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's one of the longest tunnels in the United States, established in 1995.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_04: So when you're there and you're in the car park or you, you know, all that stuff, you gotta take the tunnel.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh established in 1995, Ted Williams uh extension of I-90, which is the longest interstate highway in the country.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_04: The tunnel is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and consists of six lanes.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: The tunnel has a speed limit of 40 miles an hour, and it's a total tunnel, and you can pay anywhere from 20 cents to$2 depending on where you live.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_04: What?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I guess these different accesses to different neighborhoods have to pay certain things to get on the road or get in the tunnel.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_04: So that's what it's that's what they're all about.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_04: The next one, Mike, is uh situated under the Hudson River and is called the Holland Tunnel.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_04: This is the second longest tunnel in New York City, and it connects New York to New Jersey.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_04: Again, if we miss it, forget about it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the tunnel is a four-lane tunnel, it carries traffic from both I-78 to I-39, and it's about 1.62 miles in length.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_04: Clearly, it's the longest tunnel in the U.S.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_04: And the Holland tunnel was first opened in 1927, making it the oldest road tunnel in the history of the country.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_04: And this was pretty unique.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, Don, you may know this.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_04: When are you probably being dead on it?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's in the Colorado Rockies, it's the Eisenhower tunnel.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's 60 miles east of Denver on Interstate 70, and that's where the tunnel's at, and the highest tunnel in the world with an average of 11,112 feet.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_04: So it's up there, it's up high in the in the mountains.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_04: It runs through terrain, and the average uh annual snowfall from that terrain from November to April is 26 feet.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_04: So you've got a lot of snow around you, a lot of mountains.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: Two tunnels measuring just a hair under 10,500 feet each direction, and it was finished in 1973.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_04: It spans two watersheds and the continental divide.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_04: The federal government purchased it uh a long time ago and they paid 90% of the cost, and the city or the state uh picked up the 10%.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_04: Averages about 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles, so it's a lot, and it's pretty high up there.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_04: So if you got you know things to do with altitude or tunnels, uh we can do it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_04: Baltimore Harbor, Michael.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: This one is uh prior to the Baltimore, prior to the Baltimore Harbor, it's being built and placed in the list of the longest tunnels in the U.S.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_04: Baltimore's narrow streets were the only direct roads between the city, uh city, the south side of that of Baltimore and Philadelphia.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_04: So this was built in 1940, and uh it was because of the terrible roads and everything.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's just pretty crazy right there.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_04: Construction of the tunnel began in 1955, and by that time uh it was it was pretty well built and over budget, uh has 21 twin tube sections, about as long as a football field.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're into taking those tunnels, uh good luck.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's all I gotta say.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to worry about me taking those tunnels.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: Now there's a tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, and it's a little under a mile.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we've got one here called the Washburn tunnel that goes underneath the Houston ship shadow, and I just assumed I'd go on that either.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, look, yeah.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I I don't know about that, but uh you know, I'm I'm real comfortable with that.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Mr.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_03: Mars has uh biggest car museums, Mr.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: Mars.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: I guess he doesn't.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_03: I can't hear you, Mike.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: No, we can't hear him.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is he even on with us?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: We can't hear him.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: My bad.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh communicating with David, sorry.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so um it's time now for um, as I mentioned, your biggest car museums.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just thought that uh with all this weather impacting the whole country, some people.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_04: Let's go somewhere.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Get out, get about.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is one of the largest museums in North America.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's set on a 90-acre campus.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's got over 400 vehicles that run from the brass era cars up through the classic American iron and even into post-war icons.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different buildings, and they're all dedicated, got some of them dedicated to the Cadillacs Pierce Arrow, the Model A Ford, and even some others that you can kind of walk around between them and see how the different history blends in.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's another one up in Tacoma, Washington, and I've actually been to this one.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's the LeMay, America's Car Museum.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh again, these are one of the largest automotive museums.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: They've got 350 vehicles, and it's really a very modern-looking architecture, and it's all designed and drawn from the Harold LeMay's collection.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is his personal collection over the years, and that's how he built this museum.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: They have different displays that rotate in and out, and they do a lot of educational things for people, including uh industry and personal freedom, that it shows what's how the Americans have dealt with the uh automotive through the years.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then you get into what probably is the most famous one, the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I went to this one once and it was under construction, so I got to go into the basement and I got to see about what's on the screen, and that's about it.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, it's a big place.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: They have over a hundred vehicles on display all the time.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: They specify or they they look a lot at the automotive design, engineering, and motorsports so they kind of bring a lot of stuff in and out.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hollywood cars are very easy to get to, a lot of concept vehicles here.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's really one of the more famous museums in the country.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the ones that I'm most impressed with was the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it really goes into a lot of things.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's really America, and but the automobile sections of it, it just goes from beginning to end.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and it just got everything from the Model T's, historic, historic race cars, presidential vehicles.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there is just so much there that uh you just can't see it all in a day.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think Don and I were there for for less than a day, and it was just amazing the amount of stuff that's in there regarding transportation and manufacturing.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Then uh the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is of course in Speedway, Indiana.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it's all about motorsports.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's got uh a collection of the Indy 500 winners, got some legendary race cars, some pace cars, a lot of the trophies, a lot of a lot of things about the race itself, but it's also got more than that as it considers the automotive motorsports across the country.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a race car fan, this is the museum that you really want to go see.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that'd be like five museums across the country that you might be able to get out to if you uh get tired of all this rotten weather we're having.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, there's that.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, time now for a break.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: The in-wheel time car talk show continues right after this.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: You own a car you love.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: You own a car you love.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
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• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano ceramic window tent, or new windshield protection called ExoShield, Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
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• 29:45
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• 29:52
  SPEAKER_03: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: Call them today, 832-930-5655 or gcautoShield.com.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: Apple or Android NWL Time Podcast can be found everywhere, on the stream and through downloads.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you're on the road or at home and Jones in for a different kind of car talk show, give InWheel Time a try.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: Honest new car reviews, fun, informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture and Mike's driving destinations, all on In Wheel Time.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: InWheeltime.com has a list, and we know you love lists.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheeltime.com website.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_03: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.