Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Exploring the Future of Auto Shows and Trends in the Automotive Industry with Jack Nerad

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Exploring the Future of Auto Shows and Trends in the Automotive Industry with Jack Nerad · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Well, we're not blacked out by golly From the Sugar Shack Studios in Texas, USA.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: This is the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Just ahead we are going to talk to the man himself.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: He is the Stephen King of automotive.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Uh-oh, Ladies and gentlemen, Jack Nerad standing by, let's see.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: We're also going to have the racing calendar.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars has this week in auto history and I'll get you caught up on some of the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars, we always need more.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong, Glad you could join us today.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: David Ainsley sleeping in getting ready for our remote broadcast next week at Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So that ought to be fun.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Get your rest, David.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Get your rest and keep the car plugged in on the charger because it's going to get cold.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: It's going to be freezing for a couple of mornings here, Allegedly Allegedly Well, that's true for a couple of mornings.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Allegedly Allegedly Well, that's true.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Depends on what part of Houston you're in.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they tend to kind of over-hype it too.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, no, yeah, they don't.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I think they do Okay.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Well, look what the cat drug in.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Ladies and gentlemen, what can I say?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Jack, do you have?
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: a cat, I don't.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: What can I say, jack, do you have a cat?
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: I don't, I have a dog, a dog, I have a dog named Austin, actually.
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: Austin he's 18 years old, oh wow 18.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: How sweet.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah Well, I have Susie down here.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: She's 13.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: What kind of dog do you have?
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: He's an American village dog, which is a breed I never heard of and I think it's basically a mutt.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: He was a rescue dog and we've had him for the better part of his 18 years and he's a sweetheart.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's kind of like Suze.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Suze is a rescue beagle and she was about six months old when I got her, and she's fat and old and she can't hear a thing.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: So are you?
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all of those things.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I can't hear a thing either.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Thank goodness for headphones, but well, either.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Thank goodness for headphones, but well, jack, it's a great to see I, we all made it through 2024.
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure how amazing, but uh.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: Happy new year to all three of you.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 2:11
  Speaker 5: Good to be on the show with you well as always.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: It's great to uh be with you as well.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: So, um, we were talking when, during the commercial break there, uh, mr mars uh said we don't have anything in specific that we're going to talk to we.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: We talked about NACTOI.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I think the last time we talked to you, you weren't able to talk to us about the winners, and so why don't we start with that?
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm still not able to talk to you about the winners, because the winners are going to be announced about, I think, next week actually Late next week at the Detroit Auto Show.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Oh, Detroit.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Okay yeah, how was the LA Auto Show, by the way?
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: The LA Auto Show was terrific.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Actually, I think a lot of people are knocking auto shows these days or a lot of manufacturers are amazingly and ignoring them, but I think there were a lot of people there.
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: It was a huge press contingent at the Los Angeles show.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: I think it was a big success.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Why are people so negative on car shows?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I don't understand.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, I always get excited when the new car show comes to town.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It's not like it used to be with all of the concept cars and all the hubbub about those.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: It's changed, it's evolved, but it's still fun to go to.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: You get to see all the new cars in one place absolutely.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: I don't think the consumers you know your average car buyers, the general public is uh cooled on auto shows.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: I think auto shows have kind of cooled on themselves or the manufacturers aren't uh putting into them what they probably should.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: I mean, you kind of get out of it what you put into it, right?
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: I mean that's true about a lot of things well, I mean, yeah, I mean I can understand.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: You know some of those huge over-the-top displays.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, those are very expensive to move around the country, but yet the rewards are selling cars.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And isn't that what you're trying to do?
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I don't understand, I think so.
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: I mean you want to get people excited about cars.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: If cars just become a commodity, if cars are just get from A to B, I mean that takes a lot of profit out of the car industry and people aren't going to turn their cars over nearly as often.
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: I mean there's a lot of reasons you want to keep people excited about cars.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: You know I've had several people ask me here just in this past, I don't know.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Two, three weeks with all the car commercials, I guess probably has stoked people's interest in looking at getting another car, a new car in particular, and they said, well, what kind of car should I buy?
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: I said, well, first of all, what can you afford, should I buy?
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I said, well, first of all, what can you afford?
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And number two is my recommendation is buy something that you really like because you're going to be living with it.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't want to buy a car that I say is a great car and you think that it's ugly and everybody's got their own tastes.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, go out and buy something.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: When you wake up the next morning and you look in your driveway you think, man, I really like my new car, don't you agree with?
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: that 100%.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: I 100% agree with that.
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: I mean it's hard to get a really terrible car these days and I think you should be excited about it.
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: You're probably going to well.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: The average person is spending something like $45,000 to close to $50,000 on a new car.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: I mean that's a lot of money.
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: I mean it's a lot of money, so you better be excited about it is the way I look at it.
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: Why not be excited about something you might be paying for if you get an auto loan for six, seven, eight years?
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: I mean, do you want to see that thing in the driveway and have it put a smile on your face?
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Not the opposite.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so the outside shape and then sit in it, look at it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Does the inside turn you on?
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Do you like the way it looks inside?
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: How does it feel?
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Does it make you want to get in and drive?
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: exactly.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, I love my 2001 Corvette.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Would I love to have a brand new Corvette?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: But this is what I've got and I'm proud of it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I like it Every time I take the wraps off of it out there in the driveway I'm going.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: You know it's still a pretty good-looking car after all these years, and that's the I'm a car guy.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: The reason for that is you take care of it.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: I do take care of it.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Not everyone takes care of the car, like you do, but he likes it and he wants to take care of it, he wants to drive itself.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: It's not just A to B transportation.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: You know, the funny thing about it is, if you've got a car that is generally accepted and liked by other people you've got a nice wash job on it and the tires are nice and clean and the hubcaps are shiny on it.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And the tires are nice and clean and the hub caps are shiny on it people give you the thumbs up on it.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: There's other people that like your car too, and that's a great feeling.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great feeling.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: Couldn't agree more, absolutely agree.
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: In fact, I was driving a vehicle that does that a brand new vehicle the Volkswagen ID Buzz with the car I had through Christmas holidays and that's one where you're going to get a ton of thumbs up.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, people love the shape of that car, they just love the idea of that car more than anything yeah, it's one of those things that you take it to the grocery store and then you got two or three people stopping you along.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Hey, can I look at that car?
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: yeah and it's exciting.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's kind of fun yeah, yeah, exactly I.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: It doesn't do for me what I would want in a car, but it does meet a niche and they're going to sell a ton of them.
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: You know that I think looks are going to carry that vehicle.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: I mean, uh, if you've driven it, it sounds like you have.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You know that there's some things about it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: They're kind of irritating, and maybe it's not, as it's certainly not a minivan substitute.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: I mean, most minivans are a lot more valuable in terms of overall versatility than the id buzz is, but in terms of just, you know that it sits in your driveway and you love it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: Uh, you get into it and it's interesting.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Uh, you drive it and it's an interesting vehicle to drive.
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: There's a lot to like about that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about Stellantis.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I think that the last time we talked they were about ready to or maybe they had already fired Carl, and I really feel for those people at Stellantis.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: You know the people at Stellantis.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: They all got fired and now they're starting to bring a couple of those folks back that made them successful.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Jim with Jeep I'm waiting to hear that he's coming back.
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, tim Kaniskes is back, of course, and running Ram.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: He was head of Dodge for a long time.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: I had a chance to drive the Dodge Charger Daytona I think since I talked with you guys, or maybe I had driven it but I couldn't talk about it the last time we talked.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: But that's a pretty exciting vehicle.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: I mean, you're talking about just unbelievable performance in the electrified version and they do really interesting things with that car with that platform.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: They're building a two-door and four-door off the same platform, just kind of changing some of the body shape.
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: They're going to have an internal combustion engine.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: Jeff, you'll love this Internal combustion engine version of it, which I love too and I think that's absolutely something that we're going to see way off into the future.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: I mean, electrics are interesting.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I think they're going to remain a portion of the market not even half of the market, for I mean way out into the future, as far as I can yeah, I would predict that if, when they do do that, they're going to outsell it over the the ice engine is going to be outsold over the the electric, I agree yeah, because you know now they haven't had the, the challenger or the charger now for a few years and well, they're seeing the light, they're, they're, they're coming to fruition, saying we better get, we better get it done.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah Well, I mean, if they're going to survive, they've got to build something that people are going to like and buy.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: So what is your overall take on the increase in sales this past year?
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I was kind of shocked at the number of cars that were actually sold, and especially in the last quarter of 2024, my gosh, there are some manufacturers that zoom, zoom to the top of the heap yeah, there was a lot of momentum uh the last quarter.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: I think a lot of people are excited about what this year is going to be.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: People are more more confident, I think, about the economy going forward than they've been in a long time.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: Uh, interest rates have moderated a little bit, uh, so I think, uh, you know, it turned out pretty.
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: There's also amazing amounts of incentives, especially on evs.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: I mean, uh, the the last quarter of last year was the time to buy an ev, or at least an ev if you ever wanted to, because the just the incentives are just crazy, crazy good, uh for people who want to do that and I.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: I want your take on this, because I've actually had three EVs in a row recently and a couple of those I'm thinking.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You know I could see myself in a certain situation where I would consider an EV.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: The price was right, it wasn't through the roof, it was competitive with a gasoline engine and if I had the charging infrastructure in place here at the house that I could get a level two charger here and I might have it as a second car.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's absolutely right.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: And I think second car, or you know another car in the fleet, it might be the primary car, but you would have a gasoline car.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: You have an ICE car.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: I think that makes a lot of sense.
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: There's a lot to like about them, especially if you're just commuting in them doing that kind of thing.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: You can charge at home.
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: You have a place to do that, you have a place to garage it and and and charge it at home.
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: Um, you know, basically, if you pay attention, you always wake up with a essentially a full tank of gas.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: Um, and that's pretty good, yeah, um, and I think the cost to own once you have it and once that's all installed, uh, you do pretty well.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I have a friend of mine that I work with.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: He bought a Tesla three years ago and he has family in San Antonio Well, that's within driving distance of Houston in a gasoline engine car, but he has to stop right outside of San Antonio coming from Houston to charge it up.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: He has made it all the way, but was nail biter it was a nail biter so, and he has now decided that.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: You know it may be right for somebody else but not right for him.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: He makes so many trips back and forth to san antonio and to me that's kind of like going from here to dallas.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Can you make it all the way to dallas?
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: and that's 250 miles, so doing 70 miles an hour, you know it sucks, it sucks down and running the air conditioning and that kind of stuff.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: You're on the edge, yeah yeah, and I think that once they get the battery technology down where you can actually make a 250 mile trip doing 70 miles an hour, I think that they'll sell a lot more of them, don't you?
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: I had a similar experience with the ID Buzz.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: I was taking my oldest daughter actually she was flying back to Dallas up to Burbank Airport, which is about, I guess, 30 miles from my house, and I thought I could make it.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: And when I got back to the house I think I had like 14 percent uh charge and you know it was flashing a charge, charge, charge, yeah, that kind of thing.
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: So uh, but then I took it over to the local mall and, you know, put it on a charger and you know, got 100 miles worth of charge so what did you do with the mall while your car was charging Jack?
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: Luckily, the mall is within walking distance of my house, so I just walked back home, I got you, I did stuff that I do and then walked back over there in the evening.
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: There it was, and you know 100 miles of range that I gained.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: I actually probably gained 80 miles of range for four hours.
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: It doesn't seem like that great a bargain, no, in terms of time, but uh you know what you got to do yeah, well, I know, and it would get old, I think to your point down too, that you can get get over that for a while and then at some point you go well, do I want to do this anymore?
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: yeah, yeah, when you can go right down the street corner, get a tank of gas that'll probably last at least 300 miles and you know that there's plenty of corner gas stations between here and 300 miles from here that you can stop for five minutes and get a full tank of gas, a Coke and a candy bar and be on your way, as opposed to at least 30 minutes of charge on an electric I.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: I'm just not there for me, you know and if yeah, when they were dropping off the id buzz, uh, they were going to charge it up for me to close to 100 and there were 11 people waiting for the fast charger that was nearby.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: Oh wow I.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: If 11 people are taking half an hour each, what's that?
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: Five hours or something like that.
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, right To wait to just get on the charger.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's a no-go.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: So what are you going to have on your car show coming up this week?
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Well, we're going to talk about that ID Buzz, because it's a rolling kind of fun thing on America on the Road, and we're going to have the 2025 Ford Ranger.
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: We're going to talk about that.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: My co-host, Chris Teague, reviewed that vehicle.
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: We're going to talk about the Genesis G80, which I think is a terrific luxury sedan.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: So you know a lot of stuff We'll have.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: I think, an interesting guest too Brian Janisch is our guest.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: Uh, he is uh an expert on the nissan gtr whoo, so speaking of nissan.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, the elephant in the room says, huh, what a nissan and honda, yeah, and I guess about that we broke that here, yeah, and I guess mitsubishi kind of comes along with that as well.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts about that?
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Well, it's fascinating.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: You know, I used to work for a Japanese company a long, long time ago.
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: I know how the Japanese work, and when one Japanese company is in trouble and Nissan's been in trouble numerous times the Japanese government and just the powers that be in japan the banks, everybody says they kind of persuade other car companies to help out.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, um, and so we've seen that happen yet again, haven't we?
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: well, it's just going to be on the ev side.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: It's not going to be anything else, but the ev technology and ev process is the way I understand it, because we read that here.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Well, they talk about sharing platforms and I think we'll see going forward how deep that goes?
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I guess I don't understand.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: You know, nissan has always been to me a very successful company.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: They make cars that people drive.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, my gosh you at, uh, some of the sedans that they've made in the past.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I mean you see them on.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: If you got a parking lot with 10 cars and at least two of them are going to be the nissan, and I don't know how, with a car and a company that's popular as it's been, that's on the edge, where did they go wrong other than Carlos?
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Ghosn.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Well, it goes way, way back, right.
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: I mean I remember when Datsun you know previous Nissan, I'm old enough to remember Datsun Yep, absolutely and Toyota were neck and neck.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: I mean they were, you know, one and two and two and one, and you know Honda was, you know, down the list a little bit in terms of sales in the United States, just in terms of success Through the years that has kind of withered away from Nissan and at the same time Honda's come up.
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: Of course Toyota is a juggernaut.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: They really know what they're doing.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: Well, that, and I think that the South Koreans have really put the pressure on the Japanese.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt about it.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: I mean kia and hyundai just build wonderful cars, I think, uh, wonderful vehicles.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: I think their sport utilities are really good too.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: Um, several of them have won north american car and truck of the year, sport utility of the year.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: There's some contenders this year kia k4 is a contender for car of the year, so, uh, we'll see how it does, but it's really a very good product.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: I think it's one of those vehicles where you know you turn around and you look at and you go, that's a pretty cool car and a pretty cool car that cost.
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: The base is at twenty two thousand amount.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I took delivery of the K4 two days ago and I'm going $25,000 for all of this.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: You've got to be kidding me.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I'm impressed, especially at the price and what you get for the price.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Jack, it's great to talk to you.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us, as always, and we'll hope to talk to you again here right about car show time here in Houston.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I really look forward to it.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: We'll hope to talk to you again here.
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: Uh, right about car show time here in houston I really look forward to it always wonderful to talk to you guys, america, on the road jack knee red.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you again, sir, and we'll talk to you again soon.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: All right, uh, hey, um, out and about in the houston area?
• 19:38
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• 19:45
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  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla he's pretty good.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: The rescheduled Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social is happening Saturday, january 11th, and you're invited.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Bring your car, truck or SUV, meet other enthusiasts and find out what it'll take to get your car looking show-worthy again.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint, detailing, coatings, window tint, clear bras, camera installs and wheel repair.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: The Car Social is your opportunity to get a tour of this state-of-the-art facility located at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Join the Car Social Saturday, january 11th, 9 to noon.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Talk to other owners and see how good your car can look on the upcoming Hot Rod Tour of Texas.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Put it on your calendar the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social Saturday, january 11th, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show will be there too.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: We hope to see you then.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Time now for Jeff's Racing Calendar, sponsored by Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: We do have some things going.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: 2025, the FIA Formula E World Championship is this weekend, so it's in Hancock, mexico.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: It's the E-Prix, so tune in for that.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Hancock, hancock, mexico City E-Prix, so that's what it's going to be called.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Okay, you've got the Snowball Derby coming up in Tulsa for the NASCAR boys and their open wheel cars.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: You've got Demolition Derbies coming up.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in the next couple of months, the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: The schedule is out so you can get on the internet and look at the schedule where it's going to be played in your neck of the woods and then, guess what?
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: You've got time trials and practice for the Soapbox Derby coming up.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Time trials, time trials and do you know that they have a senior division for the Soapbox Derby?
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: So I'm thinking, mike, we could probably invest in a Soapbox Derby car and, guess you know, maybe have Don drive it.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah Well, he would meet the senior crowd.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Exactly right.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Thanks a lot.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Well, not only that, but I think the back braces come with that.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Somebody has to get the backboard out to squeeze me in that thing, and you got NASCAR starting Daytona in February and you just heard Antron talking about NHRA, so a lot of good stuff coming on.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: It's all going to pile up.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: We have to sort it out and get you going on that.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: And next weekend we're going to be at Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: And if the weather permits and it's going to be a fun time to be had by all, put it on your calendar to stop by at 10 to noon at the Gulf Coast Auto Shield location.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: All right Time now for this Week in Auto History.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Mr Mars, I got to find it.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Is there history?
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: There's a little bit.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a quiet time in the world of automobiles other than birthdays, but I did find out that Jack touched on it recently, december the 26th 1933.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Now Nissan can trace its roots back to the first Japanese original.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Three investors who named the very first car DAT D-A-T Now this was an acronym for their name, each one of them their first initial.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Now the car hit the market in 1914, but by 1931, the name had changed.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: The company had changed to DAT Hedosha and Company as close as I could get.
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: By that time its main automotive product was the Dat Type 11.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: Now this was a smaller version of the original Dat.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: And this one comes with an odd job to throw his hat through.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Yes, and it became known as the Son of Dat.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: That's just what it got called Son of Dat, which later became Dat Son.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: That's how you get to the Dat Son who Dat.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I thought it was Daihatsu.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, daihatsu is another, yeah so through other acquisition and mergers.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: then in 1933, is when the name was actually changed to Nissan.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: So that's how it got to their name.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Wow, so that's how he got to their name.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Now, December the 31st 1959, the first generation of the Corvair was introduced as a 1960 model, offered as a sedan and a coupe.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: The car was really well received.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Sales were strong.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: The first year in the market there was a station wagon.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: The convertible body styles were added to the lineup, as well as the ramp side and the load side pickup truck.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You see that she parked it and walked away from it.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Well, that's, that's a 65, that's that version too yeah, the greenbrier and then the corvair vans were also added, there's the original in 1962 the corvair monza spider debuted as a turbocharged version of the flat six engine, that's their little hot rod.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: In 65 the second generation corvair was introduced with sneaker styling, upgraded rear suspension.
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: Despite all this, the debut of the Ford Mustang, as well as concerns about the safety of the first generation swing axle suspension, raised by Ralph Nader in his book, led to decline in sales until Chevrolet finally focused on their Mustang fighter, the Camaro and the Corvair was discontinued in 1969.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: You do realize that the Yanko Chevrolet company.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: They actually had a version of the Corvair.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, that's right, the Yanko Corvair.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: They made some hot rods out of everything.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Then, january the 1st 1904, the origin of license plates could be traced back to the late 19th century in France in 1893.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: Automobiles were a novel invention.
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: License plates were a practical way to identify the owners and although New York was the first state here to require automobiles to have license plates in 1901, these plates were made by the owners.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: They used their own initials instead of them being issued by the state agencies.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: The very first license plates were handcrafted on leather or metal and they just meant to identify that, and you used the owner's initials to help do that instead of a numbering system.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: but it was two years later, in 1903, the first state-issued license plates were distributed in Massachusetts Distributed.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Distributed.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: That's over there.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: That's a Niterville way of putting it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the way we get them on the market.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: Theoretically, it is Theoretically, yes.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: The very first plate featuring just the number one was issued to Frederick Tudor, who was working with the Highway Commission, and one of his relatives still holds an active registration for that number one plate to this day.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Joe Biden, in a move with major implications for the automotive supply chain, blocked the sale of US Steel Corporation to Japan's Nippon Steel Corporation, ending a $14.1 billion deal that has faced months of vocal opposition and raising questions over the future of a US industrial giant.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Biden announced his formal decision on January 3rd, yesterday, after the case was referred to him by a US security review panel ahead of a deadline early next week.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: Us Steel has endured years of sluggish performance and warned ahead of any decision that its facilities needed billions in new investment and that failing to complete the deal could see some plants close.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Well, that's no news there.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: So that's over with.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Banner.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Year for hybrids and electrification provided a boost to the US new vehicle market in 2024.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Gm reported a 21% increase in fourth quarter sales and all but one brand posted double-digit gains.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Sales rose 17% at Chevy, 33% at GMC, 35% at Cadillac and 9.5% at Buick last quarter.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: And you contributed to that 9.5% increase I did.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: The company's electric vehicle sales rose 50% in the last quarter and 125% in 2024 overall and record Sierra Canyon and Denali sub-brand volume helped.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: Gmc sales hit an all-time high of 614,000 last year.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Jeep Ram still struggling.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: It's Stilatus Hybrids, light Up Honda results.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: So there's all of that cooking All of it as well.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: All right, well, that's some of the headlines going on this week.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: We've got more coming up in our next hour, but it's time for a quick break and a reminder that we'd love to hear from you.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Just shoot us an email.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: The address here is info at inwheeltimecom.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: We'll start the next segment of our show after this quick break.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000 square foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: At Pro-Am Auto, you'll be dealing with a small group of professionals who truly want to help you with your automotive needs.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge, in Houston's Galleria area.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781-7755.
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: From the open roads to the open waters.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: Your adventure starts at the Houston Auto Boat Show at NRG Center.
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: One ticket, two shows.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: Check out top cars, trucks, sport boats, fishing boats and more.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: New designs, new technology and everything in between Spectacular experiences, amazing fun.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: There's something for everyone.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: Get your friends, get your family and get your tickets now.
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: The Houston Automotive Show making waves and fueling adventures.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.