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AI Estimates and Finding Reputable Body Shops · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_06: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the video.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_06: Sorry we didn't have the 11 a.m.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_06: Central.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to hum along.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_06: You do that.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_06: You and Jeff Gorgeous.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_06: Coming up, our auto story of the week recalls.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_06: No, we've already done all of that.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_06: Never mind.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_06: We did that already.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_04: We've got uh guests coming up.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, we do.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_06: We did.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_06: It's the award coming up.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_06: We're going to talk to the founder of Auto Fix It and how to find a reputable body shop later in Jeff's Car Culture.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_06: Same cars, different names.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_06: And Mars has 10 things to do at the Texas State Fair.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_06: Howdy.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_06: Along with Mike Out of This World Mars.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_06: Right over there.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_06: Uh-huh.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_06: Frozen.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_06: Frozen again.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_06: Over here to my left is the fabulous.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_06: We always need more Jeff Zeke.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_06: Keep going.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_06: David Ainsley has joined us.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_06: He's not in the house at the moment, but he's here in spirit.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_06: He's in here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_06: He's in the bathroom.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_06: Glad you could join us today.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_06: It's been a comedy of errors, and I do mean comedy.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_06: So we don't know what's going to happen in the next half hour or the next hour, half hour after that.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_06: So we invite you to speak and be entertained.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_06: What?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_06: It's a surprise.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_06: So do we have Elon?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, sir.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_06: Well, let's pop him in there and say hello.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_06: Ilon Mandel, founder of Auto Fix It Finding a Reputable Body Shop.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_06: And I hope I didn't screw up your name too much.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_06: Did I?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, gentlemen.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: Hi, it's a pleasure to be with you.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for joining us today.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pleasure to be with you as well.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to meet you.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_06: So tell us about AutoFixit.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_06: Now, let me tell everybody this is OTTO.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_06: Not AutoFix It, but AutoFix It, the man's name.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_06: So um, so how tell me how this all came about.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm a technology guy in background, and I decided to just build an app to connect drivers with Autobody shops about a year ago, just because I felt like there was a lot of lack of transparency as far as where drivers can go to get their cars fixed and how much they should be paying.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really know ultimately until their car's usually in the shop already.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to just give drivers multiple options.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I created a mobile app and it's also a website.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And basically, you take a photo of your car and you get an AI-driven estimate, which is admittedly, you know, it can never be super precise because there's always a lot of damage and collision and collision damage that's maybe under the hood, so to speak.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it gives them an initial sense of how much they should be paying just off of that AI estimate.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then what we do is we connect people to autobiose shops in their area so the auto buy shop can give them a more comprehensive estimate.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it does two things.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: It gives people some price transparency, and it's we're also creating new leads for autobioshops, which uh upon talking to a lot of auto-bio shops, they they really need because no one's very happy with Yelp or Google, no one's getting good leads from other platforms these days.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_06: Well, it's interesting you should say that because um my my background long time ago was in a car dealership, and they had a very extensive auto-body repair shop in the back.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_06: They also had a separate Corvette body shop repair place next to it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_06: And what little I learned is that it's pretty much a and I don't want to say a guessing game because that really is not true.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_06: Um most um auto repair guys that do the estimates for the most part are generally pretty schooled.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_06: But as you mentioned, and I think it's really important to point out here, that when you take your car in to get an estimate, it is just that an estimate.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_06: Because what they can see and what the actual mechanic that is doing the work sees could be completely different because there's so many other hidden parts that are not visible to the eye.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, supplemental.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_06: That you have to fix this.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_06: You have to have that bracket, that mount, whatever the case may be, that's bent, damaged, somehow is messed up.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_06: For me to get that fender aligned properly to the rest of the hood, the bumper, the all of that, I've got to have that bracket.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_06: And that bracket may be it may be a hundred dollars, it may be five thousand dollars because it involves other things and other parts.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So go ahead.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And because the price of the job is not set in stone until the job is actually finished, because even when you get the car in the shop, you haven't taken it apart, and you don't know all the all the complexities of the job until it's done.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's no real harm, in my opinion, in giving a person an initial estimate off of a photo, given the fact that it's gonna change anyways.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And and the real the real problem here is just the fact that nobody, or at least the average person who's not a car enthusiast, has even a shadow of an understanding of how much they probably should be paying going in.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we're doing is we're saying, okay, you have let's say a dent on the back panel above your wheel.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's probably gonna cost you somewhere in the range of$1,500 to$2,000.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then they can start thinking about a lot about like, should I go through insurance and other questions like that?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it there's the we've gotten some pushback, I will admit that we've gotten some pushback when it comes to you know generating estimates based off of photos, but the reality is we just tell customers that these estimates are subject to change upon the in-person inspection.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it we're really just giving people options.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and the other thing I'll just quickly note is their shops' labor rates are very different.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and so what we're seeing is that we are providing people with recommendations to reputable shops that where the prices change somewhat significantly.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, depending on the person's car or you know, what quality of repair they're really looking for, are they only looking for OEM parts or are they okay with just certified aftermarket parts?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: If they might decide to go for a slightly cheaper job, and we want to give them that option.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_04: Well, there's there's also after the the service after the the repair, because you might have you get your vehicle back on a Tuesday, and next Saturday for there's a little rattle, there's something not right, something's doesn't drive correctly.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_04: That also has to go back, and then there's probably more money added to that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_06: Well, Jeff has a perfect example.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, he his Cadillac SRX got bashed in pretty bad.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, t-boned, yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_06: T-boned.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_06: And um, then somebody stepped up to the plate and says, Oh, I can fix it for this amount.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_06: It was it was actually uh Cadillac uh dealer.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_04: The Cadillac dealer.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the re their collision service.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_04: And tell you tell the story.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: And the vehicle ended up uh it went down the road sideways.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: It was the paint was wrong.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh this was back in 2013.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: Paint was wrong, it was wrong color, different shade.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: The car ran sort of like a dog down the road, dog layer.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: Crab and down the road down the road.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_04: And uh so I I wasn't satisfied, and they kept saying, No, no, no, we'll fix it.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: So I took it to another dealer and I had the insurance agents meet me there.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: And of course, the claim of the guys, the insurance company for the person that hit me, and they said, Look, we lifted the car up, the car was bent, there was uh frame pieces that were just not right, and they ended up uh buying the car back, and I got another car out of it.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm surprised in that instance they didn't just declare it totaled.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, and that's that was the original uh thought behind the the the initial accident.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this is pretty bad, and uh they said no, we can fix it.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, that was the story.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_06: And and and you know, there are reputable car dealers, and some are questionable.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_06: And this was not uh in a in the Houston market, this was in another market.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and all I can think of is hey, you know, they wanted the business.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_06: It was it was a big job, clearly, if it was T-bone, big dealership, too.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and uh, and so they took the job on, not thinking that anybody would ever take it back and go, hey, it's crabbing down the road.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_06: That's that's major damage.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_04: Well, this this is on the dealer because you know you know, we all have standards and quality that we go by.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_04: It was just not a quality uh follow-up.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_04: They they there was a bunch of things that went wrong from the beginning.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: The estimate, the people that were working on it, the stories they were telling, and how they could do it.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_04: So it all compiled and eventually they bought the car back.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this is interesting.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I uh without going into too much detail, the the way I've I see the landscape of auto-body shops is there's kind of like three levels.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the top level is those certified shops that are certified by a manufacturer, like a BMW manufacturer, a BMW certified shop or a Cadillac in your example, certified shop.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and in my experience, those shops are the highest quality, they're only using the OEL bars, and they're also uh their the repair jobs are at the highest price tag.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's that's sort of tier one, and then tier two is maybe the shops that have four or five locations throughout a city and they're only using certified parts, and then the bottom tier, and and a lot of these bottom tier, I don't want to say bottom tier, but they're not necessarily using certified parts, and it can be hit or miss depending on the shop you go to.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: The independence, the independence, and a lot of them are great, by the way.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I I don't want to like speak ill of them.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: No, and some of that depends on the insurance company, can can kind of force some of that.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, yeah, exactly.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_04: Consider it as a good, better, best.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way that I go about deciding like what shops to recommend to folks using my app is based off of Google and Yelp reviews.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just saying I'm not gonna recommend a shop that has less than four and a half stars out of five and has fewer than a hundred reviews because that's just sort of like a grassroots way of determining if a shot's shop's been getting good reviews in the past.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you gotta have a base to start with, but even that's not scientific because anybody could load up one of those sites pretty easily.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_06: What do you mean load it up?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_06: Load it up, and other people it's a great this is a great dealership, and then yeah, you've got a buddy that does the same thing.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, it could be a business unto itself, so there's nothing really foolproof about anything.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Which which is why I'm I'm very shy about recommending shops.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'd rather just give people the options, and so I'm saying, okay, these are four different shops I got quotes from.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is the different prices that they're giving me for your for your damage case, and then you you can decide.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I I try to steer people depending on their car.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I might say, like, okay, you have a brand new 2025 BMW, you should probably care about getting those OEM parts and going to a certified shop.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas maybe if your car is worth$7,000, you're you don't really want to be paying top dollar for new OEM parts, and you can go to a shop that maybe is just using certified parts.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it depends on the customer.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I want people to make the decisions they're gonna make based off of their financial circumstances, their car, etc.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I just want to give them the options because right now there's there's no tool out there that says, you know, across these four shops, these are the four prices they think it'll cost.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I really liked about looking at it because one of my granddaughters wrecked her car, not a you know, 150,000 mile car going back and forth to school.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, the way it got wrecked, I didn't have any idea what it was going to cost.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: You know, is this something we really want to fix, or is this car totaled or whatever and go the interest?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: So to me, the information that you can get from this auto fix it app by the pictures and stuff, gives you a little more information to start your decision process, and then you start talking about going to the shops and looking at them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and again, I I tell people the AI is is as good as the technology is these days.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: You take a photo and it's it's gonna give you an estimate, and we've trained it to be pretty good.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and and just to give you guys a little bit of information about it, like we always get uh aim high on the estimate that we we create, but the real estimates are what you're gonna get from shops.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the real value ad that we're creating is connecting people to shops and whatever zip code they give us.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we're we're serving as like a price transparency tool, but also just a shop discovery tool, you know.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like Google has a bunch of shops, but we're tailoring shops based off of our our uh filtering criteria, like the four and a half stars and the shops we know, right?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm based in LA, so we've already started to build out a network of shops out here.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: How are things in LA today?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so when it comes to the auto body market, I've you know I've talked to nearly a hundred jacked up, is that what you're gonna tell me?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, prices are all over the place.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: So as far as jacked up, you know, the prices are all over the place.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to the shop owners, they're all telling me that it's a drought right now.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: No one's getting customers, it's really tough out there.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and then I asked them why, and they're saying, Well, we think it's a combination of inflation and tariffs, you know, tariffs are making their their costs higher, and inflation is making people have less money in their pockets.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm getting a lot of positive reception to my app on the supply side, on the shop side, just because everyone's needing new customer inflow.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: They just don't know where to go.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's just tough out here.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like people have said that in in the autobuy industry have said very, to be honest, bad things about Yelp.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and Google, everyone's sort of like 50-50 on just indifferent.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like Yelp, though, I mean, they're paying and they're not getting any quality leads, you know.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yelp and Google are providing people leads, uh, providing shops leads for people that might not even have card image in the first place.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, why are they paying for those leads?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I would think the businesses would like your app to the point in my mind, a customer comes in, they've been on your app, they've got an idea that this is your AI says this is a$7,000 repair.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: He looks at it and he says, okay, it's really a 10.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's a whole lot easier to express explain going from seven to ten because of varied sensors, things that the AI can't see, than it is to go from if they come in thinking, well, this is only going to be fifteen hundred dollars, and now it's ten.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: So to me, I think it would help them explain it, help them deal with their customer a little bit better, too.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, though I will admit I would prefer that we tell them ten and then the shop tells them seven.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we've ended up programming is for the for our technology to always guess high, um, and also to create a range.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the the ranges that we're we're putting, depending on the base number, might be as much as like a thousand dollars or or five hundred dollars in each direction, just because it's it's impossible to be certain.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But we would much rather tell a customer it's gonna be three thousand dollars just to set expectations and then have shops come in at around 1900.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_06: That'd be great.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_06: Is it is it auto fix it o t t o fix it f I x it dot com?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_06: That's the website, and from our website you can download the app.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_06: Cool, got it very good.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_06: Well, this is great information, and hey, best of luck to you.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, it sounds like you got got a hit on your hand, so let's see how it works out.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, I might be going down the street over here and uh find find out that I've been referred by auto fix it.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate the time.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_06: No problem.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_06: We appreciate you.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, hey, just ahead, Jeff's Car Culture, and this week it's the same car, different names.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_06: Plus, Mr.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_06: Mars has 10 things to do at the state fair.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_06: Is that open next weekend?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_06: It's open right now.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, I think it's this Thursday.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, county fair is open.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_06: The county fair is this.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_06: Or Ben County, yeah.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_06: But we're not, we're we're talking about the big, big state fair.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_06: And the big D.
• 16:01
  unknown: Yeah.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_06: All right.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_06: Um, that's so that's coming up.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_06: Things, 10 things to do at the state fair this year.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_06: After this quick break here on the In-Wheel Time car talk show, stay with us.
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  SPEAKER_05: I like it.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_05: What can you say?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_05: Well, um I think I know that guy.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_05: Do you?
• 17:50
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  SPEAKER_05: With the guy on the minibike?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you'll know the old one.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_05: The old guy that was in the old guy.
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  SPEAKER_05: It was like seven.
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  SPEAKER_06: With with the Dr.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_06: Spock wave.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_06: That one.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_06: Hey, uh thanks for being with us today.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_06: In real time, invite you to join us 10 to noon, Central Time, every Saturday for our live show about all things automotive and personal behavioral suggestions.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks for being with us today.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_06: Time now for Jeff's Car Culture.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_06: Same car, different names.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and sort of like a Cadillac SRX that turned into a V.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: Sort of.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: So for decades, car manufacturers have confused buyers by offering models with an array of identities.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: Now that picture right there, that is a uh uh Land Rover 11 different names that that vehicle has been on over the years.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's a practice known as badge engineering, not to be confused with platform sharing or joint ventures, all of which have become increasingly common in recent years.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_04: Some car companies have overindulged, while others know better than to mess with their branding.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: Six decades of badge engineering cars.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_04: And you'll see that some automakers uh crop up from time to time.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_04: You'll see that in this whole segment.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_04: So here we go, Michael.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_04: Push the button.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_04: Number one, Cimarron Cadillac.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_04: In 1982, there were two models of this vehicle.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_04: When GM raised it in the early 80s, that BMW and Mercedes were stealing sales and parts for the luxury car market, it stuck Cadillac badges onto Chevrolet Cavaliers in a bid to compete with the smaller luxury cars.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_04: But the high prices in four-cylinder engines made the Cimarron, which is pictured here, a laughing stock, even in the introduction of a V6 in 1985.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_04: It did nothing to make the car more sellable.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_04: Shame on them.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_04: The next one is a Lancia Delta.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's a 2011 model.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_04: There were two models, yeah.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_04: Wait, that's a Chrysler.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_04: When Fiat merged with Chrysler, it proved how shameless it could be with its abuse of brands.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_04: First, we got the Lancia Delta, then we got the Lancia Ypsilon, rebadged as a Chrysler for the UK, sort of like a Monage de Trois.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, for the UK market.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_04: Hopelessly ambitious premium pricing, and the Chrysler 200, which is pictured here, and Grand Voyager were rebadged as Lancia's.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_04: The former sold as the Flavia and was notably unfortunately.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_04: That's something to do with verbs.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_04: Speaking of Monage de Trois, check this one out.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: Three Volkswagen 2011.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_04: There were three models.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: Now check this out.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: The Volkswagen rules the roost when it comes to rebadging.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's first generation of the MQB platform, fueled 15 different models, but sometimes we get the same car wearing different badges instead.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_04: With no attempt to separate them, which is why Volkswagen, pictured on the right, the right bottom one, uh, also came up uh virtually identical to the seat my, which is pictured center, and the Skoda Sitco, which is pictured left.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_04: Most global markets apart from North America.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: So they weren't sold here, but they were in other places.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: It's a Skoda.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_06: Isn't that a uh Swedish company?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's Shoda vodka drink, isn't it?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's it.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Could be.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: The Hillman Avenger in 1970, there were six models of this bad boy.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_04: Britain's Roost Group.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: Ah, look at the family.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_04: We had it again in the rear-wheel drive family car that arrived in 1970.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: Originally sold as the Hillman Avenger.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: There was also the Talbot, the Sunbeam, and the Dodge versions of it.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: While in the U.S.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: it's sold as a Plymouth Cricket, which is pictured there.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: In Argentina, it sold as a Volkswagen.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: Wait a minute.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: A Plymouth cricket.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_04: Plymouth Cricket.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: I remember that.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_04: What year?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: Uh 80s.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_04: 70s.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: 70s.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_04: And then, of course, now they repatched it into a Volkswagen.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_06: I think that's a 72, the place on it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: Pretty close.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_04: Michael, the next one is a Chevy Captiva.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's a sport model, and it's in 2006, and there were seven versions of this.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_04: Seven, of course.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_04: General Motors gave this car a different identity all over the world.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_04: Australia got it as a Holden Captivia, Captiva.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: And in the UK, it was a Vauxhill Antera.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_04: Vauxhall.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: While elsewhere in Europe, it was the Opal Antera.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_04: Sold as the Saturn View in North America.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_04: In South America, it was the Chevrolet Captiva, which is pictured here.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: And in South Korea, it was the Daewoo Windstorm Max.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_06: Daewu.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_04: Now there you there's a big name in automotive history.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_04: Is the Suzuki Vitara.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_04: Four models of this, depending on the markets in the Vitara, which is pictured here, was sold as a Suzuki sidekick.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_04: Chevlet did it as a tracker in the Geo Tracker.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: GM's Geo brand from 89 to 2016 consisted entirely of rebadging cars made by other companies.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: The Prism was really a Toyota Sprinter.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_06: Look at that.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_06: That's right in front of a renamed cracker barrel.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_04: It was a Toyota Sprinter.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_04: The storm was in the Suzu Pulse, Chiquito, and the Spectrum was in a Suzu iMark.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_04: And the Metro, as we all see, was rebadged as a what?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_04: Suzuki Swift.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_04: Hey Mars, what was the name of the Swifty?
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_06: Mars, what was what was the name of that car that you had last hour?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_06: That car that you talked about that we we all the The Tata car?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_05: The Tata, yeah.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but what but what was it?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_05: What was the name of it that you called it?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, that was the afford aspire.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_05: Aspire.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_05: Aspire.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_05: Aspire.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: You called it Aspire.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_05: Aspire got East Texas from playing in there.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_05: From the Tata Motor Company, the Aspire.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_05: Made by Tapel.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_04: Rebadged, renamed.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_06: Um, it's time now for Mr.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: Mars Driving Destinations.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_06: 10 things to do at the State Fair of Texas.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, sir.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let me get right back over here and we need to.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_06: I think that you just need to concentrate on putting all this stuff up, just not even paying any attention to us.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I'm I don't.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_06: Did I start?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, you didn't.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: You've never started paying attention to us.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so this week, Texas State Fair started.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: So we're going to take a quick look at 10.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's lots of things to do, but there's 10 things you need to be sure and do.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Big Tex Towers more than 50 feet.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: It greets everybody coming into the uh fairgrounds.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_03: That's the one that burnt up the other.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's got a much darker tan now, but he's been greeting fairgrowers since 1952.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: He's got an ass buyer.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Then uh, and of course, if you're there, one of the things that you're going to do is the annual fried food competition.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: Good food, fried food.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: No matter what.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh they also have some simple drink entries this year.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: You can taste all the finalists, cast your own opinions.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_06: What is that?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_06: A pickle with cereal on it, or is that Mexican?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_04: Mexican, uh, like a corn.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: It talks about pickle, but they're all the bacon, devil egg sliders, deep fried deli tacos.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not sure.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's a banana, isn't it?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's a banana.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't ask.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: Going on the Texas Fair wheel.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this thing is 212 feet tall, so it's not necessarily for um me.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for people that aren't don't want to get up high, but you can get some really panoramic views of Dallas itself on a good clear night, as well as Fair Park.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's 44 gondolas, so they can carry a lot of people and they really light it up at night.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: Now, moving on to speaking of rides, the Midway rides and games, there are over 70 rides down on the midway, from kid rides up to the more uh adult type rides that kids can't get on.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like the 500-foot top of tower, Texas Tower.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: There's the uh 1914 Denzel Carousel, and uh they've also got Denzel Washington, no doubt.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh could be.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: They have the 177-foot portable swing tower that'll give you some serious aerial thrills, I believe.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: But here's one.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: Now, Don, this is for you.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is this an aspire?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is inside the Creative Arts building.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Visitors will find displays of fine arts, photography, quilting home, and the world-famous butter sculptures.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this is a historical tradition, and you can get all these different all these things right here.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: This is just four examples of butter sculptures, including the Maryland.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_05: Look, there's Jeff over there in the right lower right hand side with my mullet.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how they keep it from all melting, but uh, I did not know that was there, and so I've never been there and seen it.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_06: When you go inside there, you have to put it, make it a sweater weather kind of uh visit.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: And the display next to it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: The display next to it is toasts.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: And they give you a knife when you go in.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_04: There you go.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: So moving on to the auto show.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this is one of the big things.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: This is generally where I go whenever I go up there.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so they've got all kinds of cars.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: But you can go through and get you got vehicles on the outside, on the inside.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: They've actually got a few places that you can actually drive them some around some tracks.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_06: Look, it's got an aspire right there in the middle.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right there in the orange one, right there in the middle.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then if you uh want some other things a little more active, you can also go to the rodeo.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: They can get the daily livestock shows, judging, full rodeos with bull riding, barrel racing, and roping events.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh got FHA, I mean 4-H and FFA participants, so you can do go through all the barns and do the rodeos in the evening under the lights.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: And one, another one I did not know was there, they actually have Lagoon Park.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: And this was not there the last time I was there for sure.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: This is part of their family-friendly attractions, their animatronic dinosaur exhibits and interactive shows.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: Puts it in the lagoon setting to make it more realistic.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: Then, if you're interested in stuff that's more sports, because they are right there by the football stadium, they have the women's soccer uh championship there.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: They have the State Fair Classic, which is an HBCU football game between Prairie View AM and Grambling inside the Cotton Bowl, and of course, the big one, the Red River Rivalry, where Texas and Oklahoma play, which I believe is going on today.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, they have again back to the rodeo stuff.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: But there's lots of things to do up there, but this is just 10 of the bigger things.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them I didn't even know existed.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_06: Well, there you go.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_06: Once again, we don't know what we don't know.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_06: Exactly.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_06: All right, well, thank you, sir.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_06: In real time car talk is continues right after this quick break.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_06: Let's see how you own a car you love.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_06: Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_06: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_06: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_06: 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.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_06: Curbed your wheels?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_06: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_06: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_06: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_06: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshield.com.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_06: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway and get a personal tour.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_06: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_06: Call them today, 832-930-5655 or GCAutoShield.com.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_06: Rev up your engines.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_06: It's time to roll back in style at the Back to the Pass Car Show.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_06: Join the Spring Branch Senior High School Foundation Saturday, October 18th at Cornerstone Academy, 9016 Westview Drive in Houston.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_06: Classic cars, trucks, and motorcycles, family fun, food, music, and memories.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_06: There's something for everyone.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_06: Proceeds benefit local students and programs.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_06: Don't miss the shine, the chrome, and the nostalgia.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_06: 10 to 2 Saturday, October 18th.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_06: Back to the Past Car Show.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_06: Springbranch Bears.com slash Car Show for more information.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_06: In Wheel Time will be there too.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_06: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_06: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_06: Join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our inwheeltime.com website.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_06: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_06: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.