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Ten Minute Oil Change And Other Service Fairy Tales · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  Don Armstrong: Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:06
  Don Armstrong: This is your place for all things automotive, the award-winning In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:12
  Don Armstrong: Just ahead, our story of the week.
• 0:14
  Don Armstrong: Later, Jeff has the racing calendar, Mars has this week in auto history, and I'll have the stories made in the automotive news headlines.
• 0:21
  Don Armstrong: Howdy, along with Mike Out of This World Mars.
• 0:25
  Don Armstrong: We always need more Jeff Zeken, Chief Engineer David Ainsley, and Don Armstrong.
• 0:30
  Don Armstrong: So glad that you could join us for our live version of this show right here on this Saturday morning.
• 0:37
  Don Armstrong: It's a pleasant Saturday here in Houston, Texas.
• 0:40
  Don Armstrong: We've got a big cruise in coming up next week.
• 0:44
  Don Armstrong: It's the Easter tailpipes and tacos cruise in at the Lupi Tortilla in Katy.
• 0:50
  Don Armstrong: Time now for our story of the week.
• 0:53
  Don Armstrong: Okay.
• 0:53
  Don Armstrong: Gather round the stuff.
• 0:55
  Don Armstrong: Mr.
• 0:55
  Don Armstrong: Morris, are you back with us?
• 0:57
  Don Armstrong: Yes, sir.
• 0:58
  Don Armstrong: Okay.
• 0:58
  Don Armstrong: Because uh I'd like for you to participate in this if we have a little discussion here.
• 1:03
  Don Armstrong: Oh, I got lots of things to say today.
• 1:06
  Don Armstrong: Apparently not.
• 1:08
  Don Armstrong: Oh my god.
• 1:08
  Mike Marrs: But uh that's you're talking about here.
• 1:10
  Mike Marrs: Oh, okay, okay.
• 1:12
  Don Armstrong: Well, I'm I'm not sure about here, there, or anywhere at this point of the day.
• 1:16
  Don Armstrong: I understand.
• 1:17
  Don Armstrong: So um here's the story of the week.
• 1:19
  Don Armstrong: Communication breakdowns topped customer complaints about dealership service departments in 2025 appearing in nearly half of all negative online reviews.
• 1:32
  Don Armstrong: Um this is a story from automotive news.
• 1:36
  Don Armstrong: That finding is prompting service managers to mine social media feedback for operational fixes.
• 1:44
  Don Armstrong: And some, including Shanahan Westfall, are responding to every review personally.
• 1:50
  Don Armstrong: Westfall, general manager of Heron Gear Infinity in Jackson, Mississippi, takes social media comments about his dealership seriously.
• 1:58
  Don Armstrong: He sees them as an opportunity to improve customer experience, especially if they're negative.
• 2:02
  Don Armstrong: He says, You may get a review in there where you're like, oops, we goofed up on that one, he said.
• 2:09
  Don Armstrong: And that's an opportunity for him, me, he says, to pick up the phone and just talk to that customer.
• 2:15
  Don Armstrong: Clear and consistent communication is crucial to good customer experiences, as experts say.
• 2:20
  Don Armstrong: Unclear or infrequent information is still a major gripe customers have with their service experience.
• 2:29
  Don Armstrong: The 2026 Voice of the Consumer Report, my reputation management firm, Wide Whale found.
• 2:37
  Don Armstrong: The two biggest drivers uh of consumer uh experience are communications and staff.
• 2:45
  Don Armstrong: Um communication friction was the top issue customers had with the service department in 2025, according to Wide Whale.
• 2:54
  Don Armstrong: Staff-related concerns ranked second.
• 2:57
  Don Armstrong: A report analyzed dealerships monthly Google reviews in 2025 and identified specific topics and keywords to determine which issued which issues appeared and whether they were positive or negative.
• 3:12
  Don Armstrong: In the report, communication was mentioned in 49% of negative service reviews, followed by staff mentioned in 40% of negative reviews.
• 3:23
  Don Armstrong: Jeff, I don't like the way you talk to me.
• 3:26
  Don Armstrong: That kind of stuff.
• 3:40
  Don Armstrong: Well, if you ask the service department, so how long do you think this repair is going to take?
• 3:46
  Don Armstrong: And they say 10 minutes.
• 3:49
  Don Armstrong: I'm going, who did you talk to?
• 3:52
  Don Armstrong: How do you know?
• 3:54
  Don Armstrong: Well, uh, it's right here on uh my rundown on my screen.
• 3:58
  Don Armstrong: Did you actually call and talk to somebody about that?
• 4:00
  Don Armstrong: Is it true in ten minutes?
• 4:02
  Don Armstrong: I don't know of a dealership that fixes anything in ten minutes.
• 4:04
  Mike Marrs: Well, you gotta park the car in ten minutes.
• 4:08
  Don Armstrong: Pretty much.
• 4:08
  Don Armstrong: Speed is no longer a differentiator, it's a baseline expectation.
• 4:13
  Don Armstrong: It recommends fixed ops teams pivot from managing the clock to managing the experience.
• 4:18
  Don Armstrong: Other dealerships are following a similar approach.
• 4:20
  Don Armstrong: Stevens Cook Toyota, part of American Motors Group.
• 4:24
  Don Armstrong: American Motors Group?
• 4:26
  Don Armstrong: Okay, that's a group of dealers, I assume.
• 4:28
  Don Armstrong: Negative social media comments helped Joe Castellano, the group's vice president of fixed operations, identify where his Toyota dealership was letting customers down on wait times.
• 4:38
  Don Armstrong: The Northern California group has three Toyota dealerships, two Volkswagen stores, and a single Chevy Cadillac and Alfa Romeo store.
• 4:46
  Don Armstrong: His Toyota dealerships advertised a 45-minute oil change, but a customer complained on social media that theirs took an hour and a half.
• 4:53
  Don Armstrong: That prompted Castellano to say, let's go really take a look at where we messed up.
• 4:59
  Don Armstrong: By keeping the parts in the bays and having a 99% accuracy in parts billing, they were able to shave off 15 to 20 minutes in an oil change, he said.
• 5:10
  Don Armstrong: They trimmed an additional seven minutes from 12 minutes to five minutes off the oil change by using a quick drain plug that they installed in all of the cars that they sold.
• 5:22
  Jeff Dziekan: He shouldn't even have to do that.
• 5:24
  Jeff Dziekan: There's a process problem right with the dealership.
• 5:27
  Jeff Dziekan: And if it's a large dealership, you would need well let me back this up.
• 5:31
  Jeff Dziekan: If it's a small dealership, I get what he's doing, a personal touch.
• 5:34
  Jeff Dziekan: Hey, me and you, Monoway Mana, let's go for a cup of coffee, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:37
  Jeff Dziekan: If it's a large dealership or a chain, say like your classics or your group ones, you're gonna have a committee that does that.
• 5:44
  Jeff Dziekan: If you've got multiple locations like your your Honda, your Chevy, your Cadillac, all that you name there, you got a committee for that.
• 5:50
  Jeff Dziekan: You've got a CSI committee, you've got phone numbers that relate just for those complaints.
• 5:55
  Jeff Dziekan: So in this particular case, if he's doing that and making sure that they have the proper parts and the on time in the in the bays, that's a process problem for that dealership.
• 6:04
  Jeff Dziekan: That's not a people problem.
• 6:06
  Jeff Dziekan: The people need to learn and they need to be instructed on how to do that.
• 6:09
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Mike Marrs: We we used to have uh call it process improvement committee and they would look at it and say, here's this function that we do.
• 6:16
  Mike Marrs: How can we make it better, streamline it, whatever.
• 6:19
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, let's have a meeting to find out when our next meeting is.
• 6:22
  Jeff Dziekan: That can be lost.
• 6:23
  Jeff Dziekan: Exactly.
• 6:24
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 6:25
  Don Armstrong: Well, back in my day, which was a long time ago, uh, the guy's name was Charlie, and he was the blacksmith?
• 6:32
  Don Armstrong: He was the quote unquote dispatcher.
• 6:34
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:35
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 6:35
  Don Armstrong: So all of the cars that came in with multiple problems, he put all this stuff down on his sheet along with all of the other stuff that was in the shop.
• 6:44
  Don Armstrong: And then he would assign, you know, this repair guy to do this job, this repair guy to do this job, and this repair guy to do that.
• 6:51
  Don Armstrong: Today I think it's much simpler, and most of the guys that do these things, other than oil changes and routine stuff like that, that one guy does it all.
• 7:01
  Jeff Dziekan: I think he had an AC tech or two techs.
• 7:03
  Jeff Dziekan: That's all they did was the AC jobs for that shop or front end or whatever they did.
• 7:07
  Jeff Dziekan: Front end line, yeah.
• 7:08
  Jeff Dziekan: Exactly.
• 7:09
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 7:10
  Don Armstrong: But I think but but these days I think that you know the main line mechanic does all of the heavy duty stuff like front end alignment, brake jobs, uh, you know, uh intake manifold stuff.
• 7:22
  Jeff Dziekan: They do it all.
• 7:23
  Jeff Dziekan: They have apprentice programs, they have internships, so make them part of that process to improve that dealership.
• 7:29
  Jeff Dziekan: You know, you got somebody that's maybe being paid minimum wage, they they're you know, uh a sponsorship or a co-op through a school, let them be part of that process and have those wins when they make things better for the dealer.
• 7:41
  Jeff Dziekan: Yes.
• 7:43
  Jeff Dziekan: Hello, Lawrence.
• 7:44
  Mike Marrs: I will say one thing though that about the story that I'm I'm kind of not real thrilled with.
• 7:49
  Mike Marrs: I mean, they're using feedback through social media, and that's where they're getting their comments from.
• 7:54
  Mike Marrs: And and when I worked for a uh a big communications company, we learned that people hiding at the time.
• 8:00
  Don Armstrong: What communications company was that?
• 8:02
  Mike Marrs: Well, it used to be called Southwestern Bell before it got overtaken by ETT.
• 8:07
  Mike Marrs: But we learned that, you know, I had people in New York and people in California, so we did a lot of conference calls.
• 8:13
  Mike Marrs: We learned that people would hide behind the phone.
• 8:16
  Mike Marrs: I mean, they can sit there and say a lot of things if they're not looking at you eye to eye.
• 8:20
  Mike Marrs: They got a lot more guts to say something.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 8:23
  Mike Marrs: And it and if you're hiding behind a keyboard, it's even more.
• 8:26
  Mike Marrs: I mean, just look at any of your social media accounts and see how nasty people are.
• 8:29
  Mike Marrs: A lot of things they would never say that to somebody to their face.
• 8:33
  Mike Marrs: But they'll say it on the keyboard.
• 8:35
  Mike Marrs: So you have to kind of look at what you're you're trying to work with, how much value is it?
• 8:40
  Mike Marrs: Because it's costing you at least$150 an hour if you're a dealer.
• 8:44
  Jeff Dziekan: But Mike, I think with these things, these are actual compliance.
• 8:46
  Jeff Dziekan: These aren't people just making stuff up just to diss somebody's dealership.
• 8:50
  Jeff Dziekan: I think these are actual, yeah, I did have a problem with that with a 10-minute order change or whatever the case.
• 8:55
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, I understand, but I'm that's what I'm saying.
• 8:57
  Mike Marrs: You got to kind of balance that because I I used to spend some time at the Chevrolet dealer because I grew up with a guy that was a service manager and we would trade stories during the day.
• 9:06
  Mike Marrs: And and I watched a lot of people that he knew that we went to school with, real nice guys out on the street, but it's like they put a foot on that parking lot of that dealership, they became total jerks.
• 9:16
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 9:17
  Mike Marrs: And and they would stay that way, and then you'd see them later on in the evening at the restaurant or something.
• 9:21
  Mike Marrs: Hey, how are you doing after they just cuss you out all day?
• 9:24
  Don Armstrong: I'm familiar with that.
• 9:26
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:26
  Don Armstrong: Not in a dealership, though.
• 9:28
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:29
  Don Armstrong: But I am familiar with that attitude thing.
• 9:31
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:32
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:33
  Don Armstrong: Have somebody kiss you on the cheek and then turn around and reprimand you and threaten you with your your job.
• 9:38
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 9:38
  Don Armstrong: What is that?
• 9:40
  Mike Marrs: It's it it and it's of course how they do it and stuff.
• 9:43
  Mike Marrs: I mean, it's one thing for somebody to tell you they had a problem with something that happened in your shop, but it's another thing for them to tell you you're a low lying rotten SOB because they had the problem in your shop.
• 9:53
  Mike Marrs: I mean Mike, somebody said that to me.
• 9:55
  Mike Marrs: But they meant it in a good Christian way.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_04: In a good Christian way.
• 9:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:00
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 10:00
  Mike Marrs: That's when I started calling in quarterly meetings.
• 10:02
  Mike Marrs: Everybody came in to San Antonio.
• 10:04
  Mike Marrs: We sit down across from the table.
• 10:06
  Mike Marrs: Now, what do you got to say?
• 10:07
  Mike Marrs: And uh things changed a little bit.
• 10:10
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, no doubt about it.
• 10:12
  Don Armstrong: Well, um, I think that part of being a manager is to understand that, hey, I've got a problem here because everybody we we tout the fact that these are 30-minute oil changes to compete with all of the oil change places out there.
• 10:26
  Don Armstrong: We're a dealership, we should do better than that.
• 10:28
  Don Armstrong: It's a person waiting for an hour and a half.
• 10:30
  Don Armstrong: Where did that break down?
• 10:32
  Don Armstrong: We told them that it would be 30 minutes, and now they're waiting an hour and a half to have the oil changed.
• 10:37
  Don Armstrong: Uh no.
• 10:38
  Jeff Dziekan: And if they're if they've got an oil change special and they screw that up, shame on them because they don't make a lot of money, if money at all, on a oil change.
• 10:47
  Jeff Dziekan: It's a halo effect.
• 10:48
  Jeff Dziekan: They want to pull your brakes, they want to look at your exhaust system, they want to check your car out.
• 10:52
  Mike Marrs: Or get you in a new car showroom for a few minutes while you're waiting.
• 10:56
  Jeff Dziekan: If you're screwing something up that simple, sh maybe you shouldn't be doing it.
• 11:00
  Mike Marrs: Yeah.
• 11:00
  Mike Marrs: Well, you yeah, you definitely got a problem there.
• 11:03
  Don Armstrong: Uh unfortunately, you know, the the way that new cars are sold today, you especially if you're on a lease holder, then you're gonna go into the dealership when a car says it's time for an oil change, and you expect the oil change to happen quickly, not all day.
• 11:19
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, if you got particularly if you got an appointment.
• 11:21
  Don Armstrong: Oh yeah.
• 11:22
  Mike Marrs: Oh yeah.
• 11:23
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 11:23
  Don Armstrong: And and most dealerships, I think I think most people these days are used to the fact that you really need to have an appointment.
• 11:31
  Don Armstrong: What and what's wrong with that?
• 11:32
  Don Armstrong: I re We didn't have appointments.
• 11:35
  Don Armstrong: We had a line of cars all the way out to the feeder road.
• 11:39
  Jeff Dziekan: That's for why, for instance, mine's through uh General Motors, through a Buick dealership, Buick GMC.
• 11:45
  Jeff Dziekan: I do make an appointment because it is that brand.
• 11:48
  Jeff Dziekan: If you were a guy off the street and like uh the maverick going into a Cadillac store, yeah, they're gonna treat you a little different and probably put you behind.
• 11:55
  Don Armstrong: When I think of Mavericks, all I I can all I think of is not the truck.
• 11:59
  Don Armstrong: I think the original.
• 12:01
  Don Armstrong: Which we're very cool, also.
• 12:02
  Don Armstrong: I'd drive one.
• 12:03
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, but you wouldn't be fixing it.
• 12:06
  Don Armstrong: You'd have Mars auto mechanics.
• 12:08
  Don Armstrong: Mars wouldn't touch it.
• 12:09
  Don Armstrong: No, not Mars.
• 12:10
  Don Armstrong: His mechanic.
• 12:11
  Don Armstrong: No, not a forward.
• 12:12
  Don Armstrong: Uh no.
• 12:13
  Mike Marrs: Um but no, you're right.
• 12:15
  Mike Marrs: I mean, most of the walk-ins back in in our day was everybody.
• 12:18
  Mike Marrs: You didn't make many appointments, but nowadays I believe that if you break you don't make an appointment, you just go to the dealership.
• 12:25
  Mike Marrs: Uh otherwise, it is by appointment, as far as I know, all of them.
• 12:28
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 12:29
  Don Armstrong: Yes.
• 12:30
  Don Armstrong: Once you're in, once you got your foot in the door and the car's in the loop, so to speak, then they pretty much take it from there.
• 12:37
  Don Armstrong: And it's up to the service advisor, if you want to call them that.
• 12:40
  Don Armstrong: I guess that's what you call them today.
• 12:42
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, I think they still call them that.
• 12:44
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, then it's up to that service advisor to relay to you the information.
• 12:48
  Don Armstrong: Hey, uh our tech looked at your car and they're gonna have to pass it on to another tech.
• 12:54
  Don Armstrong: He's a little bit backed up, so it's gonna cost us a few more hours today.
• 12:58
  Don Armstrong: Uh hopefully we'll have it back, but I wouldn't bank on that.
• 13:02
  Don Armstrong: I think that tomorrow would be a better timeline for you.
• 13:04
  Jeff Dziekan: Or depending on the issue, too.
• 13:05
  Jeff Dziekan: If it's electrical, it's gonna take a little longer to chase that down.
• 13:08
  Jeff Dziekan: If it's something like uh maybe a a mapping unit or sensing unit or something, they could probably knock that out for you.
• 13:14
  Jeff Dziekan: But depending on the issue, too.
• 13:15
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 13:16
  Don Armstrong: Well, there is that.
• 13:17
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, those computers.
• 13:18
  Don Armstrong: Of course, who who replaced your uh exhaust manifolds on the on the truck?
• 13:23
  Mike Marrs: Uh shop here in town.
• 13:24
  Mike Marrs: Uh most of the time.
• 13:25
  Mike Marrs: So it's not a dealership?
• 13:26
  Mike Marrs: No, no, no.
• 13:27
  Mike Marrs: I I wouldn't go to a dealer for that.
• 13:30
  Don Armstrong: I mean it was it was expensive, but I went to somebody so why wouldn't you go to a dealer for that?
• 13:35
  Mike Marrs: Because I I found somebody that had done it on his own truck and knew what to do, and he had ordered and bought the proper tools to do it.
• 13:45
  Mike Marrs: Is he is he a a mechanic that other people go to or is he uh Yeah, no, no, he's he's got a he's got a shop that that he runs.
• 13:53
  Mike Marrs: He wouldn't he doesn't do any more of them.
• 13:55
  Mike Marrs: I mean, he did mine because I take the granddaughter's cars in there when I can't fix something, so he did it as a favor, but he's he won't normally do it because it's if he he's afraid he'll break a bolt.
• 14:07
  Mike Marrs: And even though he's got the tap and die, and he it's it's a like a template that he puts on the motor so that he can keep everything straight.
• 14:14
  Mike Marrs: And uh, but he's afraid if he ever does break one that he's liable to buy somebody a motor, so he don't do it very often.
• 14:21
  Don Armstrong: I see.
• 14:22
  Don Armstrong: Okay, well, it's interesting to note.
• 14:24
  Don Armstrong: Thank you, sir.
• 14:25
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, that was good.
• 14:27
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, all right, just ahead.
• 14:28
  Don Armstrong: Jeff has the racing calendar.
• 14:31
  Don Armstrong: Mars has this week in auto history, and I got lots of news stories.
• 14:35
  Don Armstrong: We're gonna get a few of them in here coming up on the In Wheel Time Card Talk Show.
• 14:39
  Don Armstrong: We'll be back right after this.
• 14:45
  Don Armstrong: The Easter Bunny's coming to the tailpipes and tacos cruise in at the Loopy Tortilla Tex Max in Katie, April 4th, 8 to 11 a.m.
• 14:53
  Don Armstrong: And you're invited to.
• 14:55
  Don Armstrong: Bring the kids and grandkids.
• 14:56
  Don Armstrong: It's a cruise in like you've never attended before.
• 14:59
  Don Armstrong: With a donation to Shirley's kids, you'll get a free Loopy Tortilla breakfast taco.
• 15:03
  Don Armstrong: There'll be coffee and adult beverages, plus chili pepper trophies for the best hot rod, best modern classic, and best classic.
• 15:09
  Don Armstrong: There's no entry fee and no registration.
• 15:11
  Don Armstrong: Just bring your ride and the kids.
• 15:13
  Don Armstrong: Bad bunnies aren't allowed, but the Easter bunny will be there, and he'll be full of joy to help make this tailpipes and tacos a very special one.
• 15:20
  Don Armstrong: Photo opportunities about it.
• 15:22
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• 15:28
  Don Armstrong: It's the Tale Pipes and Tacos Cruise and Easter edition, Saturday, April 4th, 8 to 11 a.m.
• 15:32
  Don Armstrong: at the Lumpia Tortika Tech Max in Katy, located on 99, the Grand Parkway, just south of I 10, the Katy Freeway, in Katy.
• 15:39
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• 15:40
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• 15:44
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• 15:49
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• 15:55
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• 16:05
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• 16:11
  Don Armstrong: Mm-hmm.
• 16:11
  Don Armstrong: InWheeltime.com has a list, and we know you love lists.
• 16:15
  Don Armstrong: We're at the Tailpipes and Tacos Cruise Inn at the Lupi Tortilla in Katy.
• 16:19
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• 16:24
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• 16:29
  Don Armstrong: Okay, time now for the racing calendar, and I know racing's all geared up and we're at full speed ahead.
• 16:34
  Don Armstrong: Oh boy.
• 16:34
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 16:35
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, it's it's it's full speed ahead, like you said, but it's really not a pleasant thing to follow anymore.
• 16:40
  Jeff Dziekan: And I'm just being a Debbie Downer on this, but you've got NASCAR, you got to be a little jerk, Jeff.
• 16:45
  Jeff Dziekan: I'm I'm being a jerk on this, but you got NASCAR at Martinsville for both the uh O'Reilly version, which is the old Xfinity series, and then you got the Cup Guys.
• 16:53
  Jeff Dziekan: That's uh Today and tomorrow.
• 16:54
  Jeff Dziekan: It's going to be on the CW and FS1 if you've got those channels.
• 16:58
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh Indie Racing, you've got the NXT, which is the uh lesser version series, and then you've got the big boys on the on the indie on the indie schedule.
• 17:07
  Jeff Dziekan: They are at Barbers Motorsports.
• 17:09
  Jeff Dziekan: Some of the qualifying was going on.
• 17:12
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh yeah, I believe so, yes.
• 17:13
  Jeff Dziekan: And uh some of the qualifying was going on this morning.
• 17:15
  Jeff Dziekan: I watched a little bit of it on a rerun, but it was all good.
• 17:19
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh fun to watch.
• 17:20
  Jeff Dziekan: I like the indie stuff.
• 17:21
  Jeff Dziekan: Formula one.
• 17:22
  Jeff Dziekan: They have the Japanese Grand Prix, which is uh this weekend, and then they're gonna be off for several because of the conflict in the Mid East, the Bahrain GP and the the Saudi Arabian GP Grand Prix is uh canceled or postponed for the next few weeks on that.
• 17:37
  Jeff Dziekan: NHRA is going April 9th through the 12th, and they're going to be able to do that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute, why did you pick?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the bomb blew up the pit.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 17:45
  Jeff Dziekan: Never mind.
• 17:46
  Jeff Dziekan: It's not pits, it's potholes.
• 17:48
  Jeff Dziekan: There you go.
• 17:49
  Jeff Dziekan: There you go.
• 17:49
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh and then I like I just said, uh NHRA April 9th through the 12th, and they're at the Winter Nationals In N Out Burger at Pomona.
• 17:57
  Jeff Dziekan: And that should pretty much wrap that stuff up.
• 18:00
  Jeff Dziekan: But they're they're it's very hard to be a fan following it when they're delayed, they're taped away, and all this other stuff like that they're on tracking.
• 18:08
  Don Armstrong: I don't know, I don't know who clearly no one in their right mind would sign a television contract with somebody like FS1.
• 18:16
  Don Armstrong: Oh, we're on FS1.
• 18:19
  Don Armstrong: I don't care.
• 18:20
  Don Armstrong: I can't get FS one.
• 18:22
  Don Armstrong: I choose not to pay for these subscriptions.
• 18:25
  Jeff Dziekan: And beyond that, you've got you okay, I'm gonna watch a specific auto racing series and you turn it on at two o'clock, and there's a tiddly wings championship from Alaska for another 20 minutes because they went into overtime.
• 18:38
  Jeff Dziekan: Now, who is gonna stay for that?
• 18:40
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, there is that.
• 18:42
  Jeff Dziekan: It just grinds me.
• 18:44
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, it grinds me too, that the the this television stuff that I don't know who writes the contract.
• 18:49
  Don Armstrong: You know, I think that the series, the racing series, whichever one it is in particular uh NHRA comes to mind.
• 18:58
  Don Armstrong: Oh, well, if you want to watch the race online, then you're gonna have to pay for that.
• 19:02
  Don Armstrong: Why?
• 19:03
  Don Armstrong: Because here's here's the deal why not take the income from the sponsorship online as opposed to having me buy the stupid ticket to get online to watch your stupid race.
• 19:16
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, and it's not only in racing, but it's in other sports too, because uh uh the baseball MLB, certain ball games are gonna be on uh Apple TV rather than regular TV.
• 19:25
  Jeff Dziekan: So there we go.
• 19:26
  Mike Marrs: We're gonna infiltrate other sports.
• 19:29
  Mike Marrs: And a lot of that is it's the whoever's writing the contract, they're not worried about actual viewership per se.
• 19:35
  Don Armstrong: Guess who that is, Mike?
• 19:36
  Don Armstrong: A lawyer.
• 19:38
  Mike Marrs: Exactly.
• 19:38
  Mike Marrs: All she's looking at is bottom line numbers.
• 19:41
  Mike Marrs: So you say you're gonna pay me this much for my content that I'm gonna give to you, and and that's what they look for.
• 19:48
  Jeff Dziekan: It's just it's a weird business model because we went from the racing calendar to don't do it again to a big discussion.
• 19:56
  Mike Marrs: That's right.
• 19:57
  Mike Marrs: We can we can spend a lot of time doing that if we want.
• 20:00
  Don Armstrong: Well, instead of doing that, why don't we move on to this week in auto history, Mr.
• 20:04
  Don Armstrong: Morris?
• 20:04
  Mike Marrs: We can do that.
• 20:05
  Mike Marrs: Where are we at, Michael?
• 20:07
  Mike Marrs: Right here.
• 20:08
  Mike Marrs: Here we go.
• 20:08
  Mike Marrs: Here we go.
• 20:09
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir, got it, got her, got it.
• 20:10
  Mike Marrs: We're good.
• 20:11
  Mike Marrs: So this week in auto history, so we want to start with March 22, 1904.
• 20:17
  Mike Marrs: The uh the slides are not working, Jeff.
• 20:21
  Mike Marrs: Can you try it?
• 20:21
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir.
• 20:22
  Mike Marrs: So in 1904, Rolls Royce Limited was announced.
• 20:26
  Mike Marrs: Now, the what this was, I've always kind of wondered about this, but Charles Rolls and Henry Royce are the ones that fail that made the partnership.
• 20:35
  Mike Marrs: Now, this wasn't uh a hip-hop group or anything, but it's Rolls Royce Limited.
• 20:39
  Mike Marrs: You know, they one of them was uh real big in engineering, and the other one had little.
• 20:43
  unknown: Wait a minute.
• 20:44
  Don Armstrong: Didn't didn't Rolls-Royce do uh uh car wash?
• 20:48
  Mike Marrs: That's what I was thinking about.
• 20:55
  Mike Marrs: So this is the beginning of the the beginning of the very uh prestigious luxury automobile that's out there in the world today.
• 21:05
  Mike Marrs: So then going on, we're gonna go up to 1916.
• 21:08
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is when BMW was founded.
• 21:11
  Mike Marrs: Now, they actually started as an aircraft engineering manufacturer, so that was real big.
• 21:16
  Mike Marrs: Airline airplanes were becoming up, and they were building motors for them, and that's where they got their their engineering expertise per se become known as an engineering.
• 21:25
  Mike Marrs: So when they began to build cars, then it all carried over in uh how well the engineering was and the enthusiast benchmarks that they were on and their engineering excellence.
• 21:37
  Mike Marrs: Then in 1965, Ford, here you go, Jeffrey, Ford Motor Company introduces the LTD.
• 21:45
  Mike Marrs: I got that just for you, Jeff.
• 21:47
  Mike Marrs: I found that one, and there you go.
• 21:49
  Mike Marrs: That's a beauty.
• 21:49
  Mike Marrs: So the LTD was a luxury oriented oriented, full size car when full size cars were full size, you know, and it started bringing the upscale feature.
• 22:00
  Mike Marrs: To the broader market, such as the family and the station wagons, and to uh bring in that little bit of luxury into the American sedans.
• 22:07
  Mike Marrs: And it's an airwind comfort size and smooth V8 power to find success for these vehicles.
• 22:15
  Mike Marrs: Then moving up to 1968, Dodge Charger got a redesign.
• 22:20
  Mike Marrs: Now, the red card in the top left-hand corner of your screen there, that is the new design.
• 22:25
  Mike Marrs: And then right below it, you're going to see a couple of shots of the older design, the 6667, and how it changed so much and became actually much more popular with the newer designs than what it had.
• 22:37
  Mike Marrs: Some of the years had hidden headlights that when it first came out had the aggressive styling, and it kind of looked more racy than the other ones did.
• 22:45
  Mike Marrs: So this was a real good move for the Dodge Charger, and this is what you're going to see in most of the movies that have that car as a feature car.
• 22:53
  Mike Marrs: Then in 1970, the Datson, Dotson, however you want to say it.
• 22:58
  Mike Marrs: Oh my god, that's Texas.
• 23:00
  unknown: Hey, I got me Datson over here.
• 23:02
  Mike Marrs: Well, I had a Datson B210 for a while.
• 23:05
  unknown: I'm sure you had a Datson B210.
• 23:07
  unknown: All right.
• 23:08
  Mike Marrs: So the 240Z was really growing in popularity.
• 23:11
  Mike Marrs: It was really everybody wanted one of these because it was a little two-seater.
• 23:14
  Mike Marrs: It was a hot little car.
• 23:16
  Mike Marrs: It ran really well, had the four-speed transmission.
• 23:18
  Mike Marrs: It was just a cool car to have.
• 23:21
  Mike Marrs: And um, it really brought in a lot of the other Japanese automakers as people started looking at this.
• 23:27
  Mike Marrs: They said, Well, let me look and see what else is out there.
• 23:29
  Jeff Dziekan: My brother has several.
• 23:33
  Mike Marrs: Good for him.
• 23:34
  Mike Marrs: It'd be a good thing to have.
• 23:35
  Mike Marrs: Then in 1993, Dodge redid the Ram truck.
• 23:40
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the new Ram truck design, whenever they went to the big truck style, if you will, the big rig-inspired grill and the big muscular stance with the broad rolling fender wells on them.
• 23:51
  Mike Marrs: What year was this?
• 23:52
  Mike Marrs: 1993.
• 23:54
  unknown: Okay.
• 23:55
  Mike Marrs: And it kind of changed, it changed everything Dodge did.
• 23:58
  Mike Marrs: And some of the others, they didn't really copy that, but if you look at them now, they really did kind of go to the bigger, bolder styles, uh, particularly like in the front ends and stuff.
• 24:06
  Mike Marrs: They you can't hardly see it in the hood.
• 24:08
  unknown: They're huge.
• 24:09
  unknown: You can't even get them in the damn garage.
• 24:11
  Mike Marrs: Right.
• 24:11
  Mike Marrs: You can't get you can't check the oil hardly without having a stepladder.
• 24:15
  Mike Marrs: So that was this week in automotive history.
• 24:18
  Mike Marrs: Some of the things that we found that we thought were rather interesting.
• 24:21
  Mike Marrs: Learn something new every day.
• 24:23
  Don Armstrong: All right, for all you baseball fans, Major League Baseball has gone to the bullpen after more than two decades of having Chevrolet as one of its top sponsors.
• 24:32
  Don Armstrong: Ford is replacing Chevy as MLB's official auto partner.
• 24:37
  Don Armstrong: Uh as a matter of fact, the sponsorship includes everything from the World Series to Little League Baseball and Softball.
• 24:44
  Don Armstrong: An organization already supported locally by many of its dealers.
• 24:48
  Don Armstrong: The Automaker also will be the presenting sponsor of MLB's July 4th celebration for the nation's 250th anniversary.
• 24:55
  Don Armstrong: The partnership is about honoring tradition while putting uh Ford CMO, Lisa Meta Matarazo.
• 25:06
  Don Armstrong: Chief Marketing Officer.
• 25:08
  Mike Marrs: I was wondering what that was.
• 25:12
  Jeff Dziekan: So when the commercial starts, see the USA in your L T D.
• 25:17
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, your L T that's it.
• 25:19
  Don Armstrong: Your Galaxy Mustang.
• 25:21
  Jeff Dziekan: That's it.
• 25:22
  Don Armstrong: Zooks will start testing its purpose-built robo taxis in Miami and Austin.
• 25:27
  Don Armstrong: Oh boy.
• 25:28
  Don Armstrong: Part of a coast-to-coast expansion as Rival Tesla faces delays in its autonomous ride hailing rollout across seven U.S.
• 25:35
  Don Armstrong: cities.
• 25:36
  Don Armstrong: Have you seen a Zooks?
• 25:38
  Don Armstrong: Oh my god.
• 25:40
  Don Armstrong: It looks like a phone booth with wheels uh sticking out uh at the front and the back.
• 25:45
  Don Armstrong: It is just a horrendous looking thing.
• 25:48
  Don Armstrong: I wouldn't get in it.
• 25:50
  Don Armstrong: I'd rather walk.
• 25:51
  Don Armstrong: Zeus is also growing its current service areas in San Francisco and Las Vegas, where its carriage style vehicles are driven a combined 350,000 miles.
• 26:02
  Don Armstrong: Service in Austin and Miami will begin in limited areas with its purpose-built robo taxi, the company said.
• 26:09
  Don Armstrong: Zeus has tested in those cities since mid-2024 using separate fleet vehicles.
• 26:15
  Don Armstrong: When you see this thing, you're gonna go.
• 26:28
  Don Armstrong: Actually, any place in California.
• 26:34
  Don Armstrong: No, let me do this.
• 26:35
  Don Armstrong: Dealership employees who post about vehicles for sale in their personal accounts can put the stores in legal jeopardy if they don't follow certain rules.
• 26:50
  Don Armstrong: Dealership advertising has come under intense scrutiny since March 13th when the FTC announced that Christopher Muffrage, the director of the agency's Bureau of Consumer Protection, sent letters to 97 dealer groups on the suspicion that they violated at least one of six illegal advertising practices.
• 27:09
  Don Armstrong: If you advertise it, you better sell it at the price that you advertise does not include tax.
• 27:17
  Don Armstrong: Okay?
• 27:17
  Don Armstrong: Just like you would go to the grocery store, you pay taxes on your groceries, you pay taxes on your car.
• 27:22
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, sales tax.
• 27:23
  Don Armstrong: That's the only exception to the rule.
• 27:26
  Don Armstrong: If you say we've got a brand new Ford F-150 on sale here for$40,000, you better sell it for that price, and it better be on the lot.
• 27:40
  Don Armstrong: On the lot.
• 27:41
  Don Armstrong: That's another one of those rules.
• 27:43
  Don Armstrong: So um be looking for more stupid trades.
• 27:50
  Don Armstrong: And uh still not his North America design head.
• 27:54
  Don Armstrong: Scott Kruger said the automaker is still passionate about Chrysler, which has had to straight buy as a minivan-only brand since discontinuing the 300 sedan in 2023.
• 28:04
  Don Armstrong: During an overview of the company's design operations, Kruger said Chrysler is very much alive and well, and that his team has been busy behind the scenes.
• 28:12
  Don Armstrong: Declined to share any details about the plans for the brand's future ahead of a Stellatus investor presentation coming up in May.
• 28:19
  Don Armstrong: I think they're coming back, to be honest with you.
• 28:23
  Don Armstrong: They need a shot shot in the keister to get them going there.
• 28:27
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 28:27
  Don Armstrong: Uh hey, we'd love to hear from you.
• 28:29
  Don Armstrong: Just shoot us an email.
• 28:30
  Don Armstrong: The address is info at nwheeltime.com.
• 28:32
  Don Armstrong: We are back after this break.
• 28:34
  Don Armstrong: You own you own a car you love.
• 28:37
  Don Armstrong: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 28:39
  Don Armstrong: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 28:46
  Don Armstrong: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 28:48
  Don Armstrong: 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 tint, or new windshield protection called ExoShield, Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
• 29:02
  Don Armstrong: Curbed your wheels?
• 29:03
  Don Armstrong: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 29:06
  Don Armstrong: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 29:08
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 29:10
  Don Armstrong: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshield.com.
• 29:16
  Don Armstrong: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway and get a personal tour.
• 29:23
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 29:27
  Don Armstrong: Call them today, 832-930-5655 or gcautoshield.com.
• 29:34
  Don Armstrong: The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches millions of folks around the globe each year.
• 29:40
  Don Armstrong: Check us out on InWheeltime.com, YouTube, Facebook, and don't forget our podcasts.
• 29:45
  Don Armstrong: Catch our live show every Saturday, 10 to noon Central Time.
• 29:48
  Don Armstrong: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show has informative automotive guests, new car reviews, along with popular features including driving destinations, Jeff's car culture, the latest car news, cruise ins, and racing days.
• 30:00
  Don Armstrong: It's all on inwheeltime.com.
• 30:03
  Don Armstrong: Join us.
• 30:06
  Don Armstrong: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:09
  Don Armstrong: 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.
• 30:19
  Don Armstrong: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 30:28
  Don Armstrong: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.