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Horsepower Heritage's Maurice Merrick · That Car Show

0:00
Two hours after the interview, he's emailing me saying under no
0:05
circumstances are you to release this episode.
0:10
This week on that car show, it's our pal Maurice Merrick.
0:14
Maurice is the creator and host of Horsepower Heritage, the
0:18
highly regarded podcast for the discerning automotive
0:21
enthusiasts among us. In the Automotive World that
0:25
Dan, Lindsay and I inhabit, race is kind of like a Visa card
0:28
everywhere you want to be. He's also a fantastic
0:31
storyteller, the master of the craft, and a good friend.
0:35
This is also the first episode of Season 2 of that car show,
0:39
and we genuinely appreciate you joining us each week.
0:43
Do us a favor and hit subscribe on your podcast platform of
0:47
choice and to tell your enthusiast friends 2026 is going
0:52
to be amazing and we want them along for the ride too.
0:56
It's horsepower heritages Maurice Merrick, and it's a fun
1:00
one. It's that car show.
1:05
Hey, it's that car show. And that's always a good time
1:08
when our pal Maurice Merrick joins us.
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Though I think, Maurice, that this is your first time on that
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car show. I do seem to recall a couple of
1:17
podcast Ghosts in the attic with the steering committee.
1:21
Rest in Peace in the Roadshow. But I call Maurice the Professor
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and I swear I'm going to keep calling him that until everyone
1:28
else does as well. Listen to any of his Horsepower
1:31
heritage episodes and you'll understand why.
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Because Maurice comes prepared. He does his homework, he knows
1:36
his shit, and even if he didn't, you wouldn't know it anyway
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because he's got the voice of a man who sounds like he does.
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We always have a hell of a lot of fun together each year out at
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Car Week and Carmel. In any case, welcome to that car
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show, Maurice. We're glad to have you here.
1:51
Such kind words, Ryan. Thank you.
1:53
This is going to be fun. I've been looking forward to it.
1:55
And yeah, we've, we've been around the horn a few times in
1:58
the podcast world. You've been on my show.
2:01
I've been on your several shows. And so yeah, this is going to be
2:06
fun. Well, I think we finally have
2:08
have the recipe that works with with Lindsay, Dan and and now
2:12
Michael on board too. So yeah, but.
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Third time's a charm. You know, I think you have the
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recipe, too. You're just yourself, right?
2:18
And that makes it easy sometimes.
2:21
No scheduling conflicts? No.
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I have no one else to blame. That's the key.
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There's there's, there's that too.
2:27
But, well, what's, what's new, man?
2:29
Last time we saw you was was in Carmel.
2:32
You know, podcast is has been killing it.
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You've had some great, fantastic guests.
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But yeah, it's you've been doing the show for how long now?
2:40
A little over 5 years. I hit the five year mark in
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July. Congratulations.
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Happy anniversary. That's an achievement.
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It's not a Sprint, right? It's not a Sprint.
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You know, when I started doing this, you guys, the rule of
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thumb that I got from some veteran podcaster was 100
3:02
episodes and three years. Hmm.
3:06
That bar is actually much higher than that.
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Yeah. It's more like 152 hundred
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episodes. Yeah.
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We're at a disadvantage in podcasting because we can't go
3:19
viral, right? Like, it's not a social media
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app. There's no algorithm behind it.
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Your audience. But that's also a good thing
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because your audience grows organically and you're more
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likely to retain that audience. So that's true.
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And by the way, thank you for you've, you've given me several
3:38
shout outs on the show in the last, I don't know, year or so
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and I really appreciate it. It's it's always nice to hear.
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We're just testing you to see if you're actually listening,
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Maurice. That's all that is right.
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Yeah, that's. And good news you've had.
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Well done. So five years, I mean, it's,
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it's amazing how you know how the landscape has changed.
3:57
You know, when we first started doing the steering committee, I
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think that was probably four years ago, almost five years ago
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now, there were there was a lot less competition for starters,
4:05
right? Do you remember you couldn't go
4:06
in and buy like a turnkey podcast sort of setup.
4:09
You had to cobble something together from Guitar Center.
4:12
Like it was a very different thing.
4:13
And and now everyone's got one, right?
4:16
You know, we thought everyone had one back then, but now
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everyone really, really does have one.
4:19
But who's who stands out for you, You know, in your five
4:22
years, because you've had some pretty impressive guests, like
4:24
who really, you know, who are your top three?
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Like who are your go to's? Boy, there, there, there are so
4:32
many great ones. You know, I love talking to
4:35
authors and I've had a number of authors, even some New York
4:40
Times best selling authors on the on the show.
4:43
Just off the top my head, Douglas Brunt, who wrote a book,
4:48
Yeah, he wrote The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel, all
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about the man who created the diesel engine.
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And Doug's fantastic. He has a new book coming out
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soon. And we're, we're going to, we're
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going to have him back on the show.
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Very excited about that. Of course, Emerson Fittipaldi
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stands out. That was a live interview at the
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Quail. They, they hired me to conduct a
5:14
fireside chat that year. So it was in front of, you know,
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6000 people at the Quail and on the big screens and right, you
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know, I'm on the stage with MO. I mean that would.
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Come back to that. But yeah.
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OK, that. Was a great 100. 23.
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Yeah, that sounds right. That was when you did because
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you did a couple of those didn't you?
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The chat and you emceed the event.
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I've done some stand ups to camera at the quail.
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They've hired me to do some color commentary, you know,
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strolling around on camera, you know, talking about different
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cars. I love doing live events.
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It's, it's something that I got hired to do from time to time,
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you know, doing a round table discussions or presentations in
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front of an audience, interviews.
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And it's, it's a rush. I love it.
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I love the immediacy of the audience response, you know, so.
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Right. You actually get feedback as
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opposed to podcasts where it goes out and you hope people
6:15
laugh where you want them to laugh or get what that you want
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them to get, but you don't know when you think about doing it in
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front of the live audience, you know right away.
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Right, there's other guys like Colin Comer who?
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Lindsey. I know you know Colin, you know
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big Shelby guy, fantastic. He's got I don't know how many
6:34
books Colin has written. I'm sure if you stacked them
6:37
together you could easily stop a 50 caliber bullet.
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But right, you know, they're just so many.
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And after over 150, gosh, I'm on actually today episode 161
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dropped so so now you. Now you can just coast, right?
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Is, is what that that podcast veteran was getting at, right?
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You're good. You're off the hook.
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Never. It's it's a it's a it's a
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hamster wheel, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Really. But a good one he.
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Is yeah, yeah, very good. Yeah.
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I don't know that I've ever heard that third interview, but
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I know that I've heard the 1st 2, the Emerson, Fitapaul, the
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episode, and then also the Is it Dennis?
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Doug. Doug Brunt.
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Douglas, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah, that those two
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really stand out for me. And and you know, that those
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were exceptional. It's you know, we we've got the
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guys, the new book ride, the the silver screen cars, the
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Hollywood cars coming on next week.
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So any tips for having an author or two on?
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I mean, you just have to read. You have to read cover to cover.
7:39
I've, I've, you know, there are times when I read a book twice
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before I interview the author and I take a lot of notes and I
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do a lot of highlighting in all those books.
7:49
You'll be interested to know that this week's episode is with
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an author named Peter Grimsdale, who's been on the show before,
7:57
another novelist, but he's now he's he.
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He's on his third foray into non fiction about automotive topics.
8:07
I had him on a couple of years ago to talk about his book
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Racing in the Dark, How the Bentley boys conquered Lamont,
8:13
right? Right.
8:14
That's right. And Peter returns to Horsepower
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Heritage this week to talk about his new book, Super Veloce, how
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the Italian car industry conquered the world.
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And it is a sweeping portrayal of of everyone from Enzo Ferrari
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to Ferruccio Lamborghini, everyone in between.
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It's a terrific book. So that's the latest episode.
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And by the way, you had Robert Nagle on this show recently.
8:41
We. Did we Did, Yeah.
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Whom I've been married. He's terrific.
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Great guy. Your episode with him was one
8:51
that I listened to to prep for him being on our show, so thank
8:54
you for the help. Yeah.
8:55
Well, I, I have to tell you guys you were, you got a totally
8:59
different interview than I, I did with him.
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And of course, I I talked about primarily his work on the
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Ferrari biopic and a little bit of Ford V Ferrari.
9:09
But you guys just did a completely different interview
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and I really enjoyed it so. That's high praise.
9:15
Thank you so much. And that's, that's the tricky
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part. Ryan and I had talked about that
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because he has been on a couple shows and that was in the back
9:22
of my mind. I wanted to be prepared,
9:24
obviously, but I when I was listening, I was going, OK,
9:27
don't, we don't want to just repeat what he's already done,
9:31
both for the sake of your podcast and our show and the
9:34
audiences. So it's that's, that's very kind
9:37
of you. I'm glad that it worked.
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It's always the challenge, right?
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Because especially with guys who have a lot of exposure, Bruce
9:44
Meyer comes to mind. Sure, he's.
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He's done a ton of media. He's done your show.
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He's done my show, so. Yeah, but you're hard to follow,
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you know, because I feel like so often your interviews are like
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the definitive Car podcast interviews with some of these
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folks. And, you know, once in a while
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we'll get one in there. But, but you, you set the bar
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high and and but, but it was fun, you know, getting a
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completely different thing out of him.
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And he was wonderful and a hell of a guy.
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You know, so many great stories. You know innovator with the
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what's the the the tool. The biscuit rig.
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The biscuit rig, I couldn't think of which horse that yeah,
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that that was just a hell of a neat guy.
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And you know, but how do you meet these people?
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How do you meet your guests? Are you just connected to
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everyone anymore or you know? And how do you know when it's
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the right guest for Horsepower Heritage?
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Yeah, partially it's a network that was already there.
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Partially it's the power of social media.
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It might be a press release that I get or a story I see in the
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news. For example, with with Douglas
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Brunt, I I saw that the diesel book was being released and I
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jumped right on it. And I guess the secret is you
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just ask, I mean, what's the worst they can say, right?
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So. Yeah.
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We've said this before. Yeah, if you don't ask, you know
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the answer. Like.
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No, that's, that's, and sometimes you don't get an
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answer. And you know, it's one of those
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things like at age 50, if I knew at age 15 what I knew now, I
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think at the top of that list would be just ask, right?
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Just ask. Otherwise, you only get what
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comes to you, right? And and that's true.
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You're good. A good example of of that.
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Of course, I think we've all been there.
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We've probably all had a guest or two where we just didn't run
11:34
that episode. Maybe we've said, oh, we had
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technical difficulties or something.
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You have a couple of those in the archives that never made it
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to air or we don't have to mention names, but.
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Well, I've got to tell you about one that was stillborn.
11:48
So a guy contacted me on LinkedIn and he purported to
11:56
represent let how do I put this a car museum.
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And it was a museum that didn't really exist.
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It was sort of a, a grand plan and I don't even know why I
12:13
agreed to it at the time. But when, when the time to
12:18
record came and he logged on, it was like the guy had just gotten
12:24
out of a mental asylum. I mean, he was disheveled.
12:27
It, it was just, if he just rolled out of bed, he wasn't
12:30
prepared. He's running around an office
12:33
with his phone and doesn't have a microphone, doesn't have a
12:38
place to sit. The room, the room is full of
12:40
echoes. Like, like everything that we
12:43
try to prep our guests to do. He didn't do any of it.
12:48
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and, and I said, you know
12:50
what, let's let's do this another time.
12:52
And that's the last I, that's the last I've heard of the guy.
12:57
So there are those I, I don't, I can't remember an episode that I
13:02
just kind of left in the can. Yeah.
13:05
Did you know ahead of time that the museum was still in the
13:09
concept stage, or was that a surprise?
13:11
Was that yet another surprise at the time of recording?
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I knew that, but there were some bona fides and sometimes you,
13:20
it's hard to kind of vet these people.
13:23
Yeah. And and it's seldom that you
13:26
can't vet them. But in this case, you know, it
13:31
did obviously didn't work out. And there's another guest by the
13:35
way, that I had who I I interviewed in person and two
13:41
hours after the interview, he's emailing me saying under no
13:46
circumstances are you to release this episode.
13:52
I mean, it was great stuff that we got.
13:55
You know, it was a fantastic interview, I thought, and it's
14:00
very mysterious why he'd the only thing I can pin it down to
14:05
is he he's, he talked about a few very prominent people in the
14:09
car world. And I think he thought that he
14:13
had maybe said some things that that they would be unhappy
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15:02
OK. And, and so he just decided, you
15:06
know, I, I don't want this out there, so I haven't released it.
15:09
You know, that's fine. Whatever you're.
15:11
A man of of your word. You know you guys, I'm always
15:15
about 3 episodes ahead of release, so I've got a few in
15:21
the can at any given time and and so not a problem.
15:24
Not a problem. And you got a good story out of
15:27
it. Even if you didn't get an
15:28
episode, you did get a. Story that's that's incredible
15:31
you wonder what changed in that two hours or what have you you
15:34
know it's it's I've done you know I've had a whiskey or two
15:38
on a podcast and I've woken up in a panic, you know at about
15:40
2:00 in the morning wondering what I said on someone else's
15:43
show. I, I get it, but but that's,
15:45
that's maybe maybe that'll go to the Patreon folks in time, huh?
15:51
That's. You know, someday, sometime in
15:56
the distant future, it might see the light of day.
15:58
We'll, we'll see. OK, right on.
16:00
Right on right? On, you have to wait for
16:02
everybody included in the episode to pass away, and then
16:04
it can go out. Yeah, that's pretty much it,
16:07
yeah. Then it then it will be
16:08
declassified, right? Yeah, so I've had a couple, a
16:13
couple people. You know who I said you were
16:14
coming on the show. I find Maurice fascinating.
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Would love to know his story. You know, the the mustache, the
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you know, he's he's kind of a man of mystery.
16:23
So what what is the Maurice Merrick story?
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Where'd you grow up? Give us all the dirt.
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You know, what did you what did you drive when you were younger?
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How you got into this thing? You know what?
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What? Boy, I'm glad I did my mustache
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maintenance today. I mean, we are too.
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Please thank. You grew up in.
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Arizona, Arizona. I don't think I knew that.
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Grew up in Arizona, was a television producer for some
16:48
time in LA have always been a car guy since I was about, I
16:53
want to say about 8 years old. And I didn't come from a car
16:56
family, but my Uncle Dave is the guy who really got me interested
16:59
in cars. And you know, he had had a
17:02
number of interesting cars over the years.
17:05
He's the guy who taught me how to identify old cars, you know,
17:08
because especially pre war cars, they all kind of look alike, you
17:13
know, and, and Uncle Dave kind of taught me the difference
17:17
between a 39 Plymouth and a 39 Ford.
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And oh, that's cool. Went to car shows with him.
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Just began to, you know, learn a little bit more here and there.
17:29
Through high school I had BMW 2000 twos.
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Yeah, that I knew. And that's that's a cool, cool
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car to to say was your first car.
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Yeah. Really fun, lots of fun.
17:40
And after that somewhere along the line I got into series Land
17:45
Rovers and at the time I remember that I was thinking,
17:51
you know, a car, a road car is is fine but you can really only
17:56
stay on the road where as a Land Rover you can go anywhere right.
18:00
And that was part of the attraction.
18:01
So have spent a lot of years, 30 years now in Land Rovers, but my
18:08
automotive tastes develop just like everyone else's.
18:11
And, you know, there's an AR in the garage now.
18:14
There's a 31 Ford Model, A Roadster in the garage, BMW
18:21
motorcycle A73R75/5. And I'm not sure what's next in
18:30
terms of car acquisitions, but it'll it'll be something
18:35
oddball. Just, you know, none of those
18:37
really kind of fit together right.
18:38
It's kind of a yeah, yeah. And I like that.
18:42
Well, it reflects you and your interests.
18:44
I mean, I think those are the best kinds of collections
18:47
because it doesn't. The theme doesn't have to be a
18:51
traditional theme. It can be.
18:52
This is what I love, and I think that's what makes it interesting
18:55
too. Yeah, and I like having cars for
18:57
different occasions, right? Don't we all?
19:01
Speaking of which, Ryan, Lindsay, what?
19:05
What would your perfect two car solution be?
19:09
This is the big question, right? It really is.
19:12
Yeah. We just talked about this
19:13
because I was telling the guys probably in the last few months
19:17
I've noticed that I'm moving through the world wearing 2 car
19:21
solution glasses. Like, you know, I'll see two
19:25
cars together and it's like, oh, this is the funniest thing.
19:28
Like the most recent 1 is a the full size Range Rover and a mini
19:33
Moke was the funniest one I've seen recently.
19:36
I was like, that covers a lot of bases.
19:38
Yeah. It does, yeah, Yeah.
19:40
Are we talking cost no object or do we have any limitations here
19:44
Modern vintage? I mean, I would just say
19:47
realistic within your budget, right, because well that cuts
19:50
out. I mean that.
19:51
Cuts out what I had in mind more easily.
19:53
A little more challenging that way though.
19:55
No, I know, you know, Yeah, yeah, I mean, I could probably
19:58
argue that what I have, I only own two cars and I've got a pole
20:01
star and I've got a GT4 and that covers all the bases.
20:03
The pole star has 440 horsepower.
20:05
Whatever. It's all-wheel drive.
20:06
You know, it's it's, uh, flies under the radar.
20:09
Doesn't look like anything, right, But I like it.
20:11
It's like an old 124 Mercedes or something.
20:14
An old 240 you know, Volt. It's kind of got that vibe about
20:17
it. Then I've got the GT 4, but I
20:18
think, you know, if I, you know, it's bringing a little more
20:21
money into the house. I would have a GT3 touring, a
20:23
nine and 1.2 and some sort of of G wagon.
20:26
I think that would be my ideal solution.
20:30
You know, that's kind of where my my head is.
20:31
Vintage might be something completely different, right.
20:35
But what would yours be, Maurice?
20:36
Because I, I have an idea and one of them would probably be a
20:40
Land Rover. But you, you tell us.
20:42
Well, I've spent a lot of years behind the wheel of a Land Rover
20:46
and it's kind of I've, I've already trod down that path,
20:49
right? So probably a probably a 7911.
20:59
OK. Yeah.
21:01
And why 70? Long wheelbase.
21:04
Yeah, it's I think it's a sweet spot, you know, that would be
21:12
one that would be my vintage and and they're super reliable.
21:16
Of course, you know, you know, I really like your your G wagon
21:22
idea. That would be a fantastic second
21:26
car. I don't know, I don't know if
21:28
that's yeah, absolutely. And, and I don't know if that's
21:31
necessarily a perfect two car solution, but those are two cars
21:36
I have yet to own. I have friends who've had G
21:39
wagons, vintage G wagons. I've been, you know, I've been
21:42
to passenger. And then they're, they're
21:44
they're terrific, dead reliable, you know, I mean, great Mercedes
21:48
engineering, even though they're technically, you know, Mercedes
21:54
acquired that from Steyr Hook, right?
21:57
But, but yeah, no, I think that's, that's a great two car
22:02
solution. I do love Italian cars, though.
22:04
I have to say my alpha is just so much fun.
22:07
That's new for you, right? That's new as of this year, a
22:09
new acquisition. Yeah, Yeah, it is and I just
22:13
love it. It's a 60 Julietta Spyder.
22:16
It's what Alfisti call an Abnormale, right, Because the
22:22
Normale was the the just 1300 CC single carb, right.
22:28
The Veloce was the twin carb performance model, but the
22:34
abnormally is an alpha that's had an engine swap or that's
22:37
been breathed on, you know, so mine has a 1750 twin Cam and a 5
22:43
speed. The previous owner set it up for
22:46
touring and it's perfect for that.
22:49
And that's one of the reasons I I wanted it and it's been
22:53
terrific. You know, it you kind of wear
22:56
the car. It's tiny, it the steering's
22:58
really light, but great handling.
23:01
Just the, the, the chassis has great manners and it loves to
23:06
Rev. You know, alphas are known for that and it's, it's a lot of
23:09
fun. That's so it's set up, set up
23:12
for touring. So you're going to take it
23:14
touring and do some rallies in this thing?
23:15
Yeah, that's the plan long term Ryan, is I I want to do some
23:20
vintage touring in that car, you know, and I've I've done vintage
23:25
touring before, but it's a great way to get the most, I think out
23:31
of the car. I mean, cars and coffee is fun,
23:33
right? Or just kind of cruising on your
23:35
own for the the morning is fun. But when you get mixed in with
23:39
other vintage cars, you know, on a multi day excursion, it's it's
23:45
just a different experience. We're gonna get you on the grand
23:50
in time, right? And Lindsay, too.
23:51
We just had Nate Lander from the Classic Center, Mercedes-Benz
23:55
Classic Center, who I think you know, and you know, Michael
23:59
Lasasa was on with us. And I think Michael's been on, I
24:02
don't know, 5 grands. I've been on three or four.
24:04
And we asked Nate, who I think is younger than both of us, how
24:06
many grants he had been on. And he said, well, it's 21 or
24:09
22, you know, but yeah, we need to get you on and Lindsay on.
24:14
And yeah, it's just such a it's such a great concept, right?
24:17
I mean, not just the grand, the grand is wonderful.
24:19
But, you know, any number of these these, these, these
24:21
rallies, these tours, it's just, it's just such a such an
24:24
opportunity, opportunity to check out and, and really, you
24:26
know, get to know your car. And it's just they're they're
24:29
wonderful. And Speaking of that, let's talk
24:32
slow Baja, because that looked like one hell of a big boy
24:36
adventure. What is slo Baja?
24:40
I want to do it, but I don't. I just, I just know I want to do
24:43
it. It looks amazing but.
24:45
We need to know more. What is this?
24:46
It's it's off road. It's obviously not competitive
24:49
with the name like Slo Baja. I saw you eating tacos, camping
24:52
out on the beach. Just yeah.
24:54
What is this? All right, well, let me set it
24:56
up for you. So slow.
24:58
Baja is the brainchild of my pal Michael Emery.
25:03
Michael went to school in Michael went to College in San
25:07
Diego and spent a whole lot of time in Baja during college and
25:14
and has never really Baja has never really left Michael,
25:19
right? Michael may leave Baja once in a
25:20
while, but it doesn't leave him. He he's an interesting guy.
25:25
He was a professional photographer for many years.
25:28
He was the official photographer for the governor of California
25:33
for a time. Michael was one of the original
25:37
employees that bring a trailer way back when.
25:41
Yes. And but in recent years, Michael
25:47
started a podcast called Slow Baja to kind of share his
25:51
enthusiasm with the wider world. So he does interviews with, with
25:56
people from Baja, people who do interesting things in Baja.
26:02
He talks about stuff that goes on in Baja, everything from
26:05
Wildlife Conservation to people who are, you know, running
26:09
little guest ranches or wineries.
26:11
So it's, it's a, it's a travelogue, but it's also a car
26:17
podcast from time to time because of course he talks about
26:21
Baja racing and, and things of that nature.
26:24
So Michael came on my show, I want to say about five years ago
26:30
now, I think he was he, he came on in year 1 and we've been
26:34
friends ever since. So he runs these slow Baja
26:38
expeditions I think twice a year, once in the fall and once
26:43
in the spring or maybe once in the fall and once in the winter.
26:47
But in any event, it's a vintage tour for the most part.
26:52
He he's he's pretty lenient on, you know, having little bit
26:58
newer vehicles join us from time to time.
27:02
Anyway, this was my second trip down there with him and the
27:05
group. And I mean, what an amazing
27:08
bunch of people. You know, his trips attract a
27:11
certain kind of person, a person who's self reliant, well
27:16
adjusted, gets along with others, you know, plays well and
27:20
is just kind of up for whatever and can roll with the punches.
27:24
So it's a great group. So I.
27:26
Mean what is it like how? Yeah.
27:27
How long does it go? What what did you drive?
27:31
You know, what do you What does one expect to encounter along
27:34
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27:36
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28:13
drakemotorcars.com and let them know you heard about them on
28:17
that car show. Well, for people who may not be
28:22
familiar with Baja California, so you know a little bit of
28:25
history, the Spanish called the state of California, Alta CA,
28:30
right? The upper California, Baja
28:32
California is lower California and then the farther most
28:38
southern state in Baja is Baja sewer.
28:43
So that's kind of the the historical background.
28:45
But since Baja is this massive peninsula, by definition, it's
28:50
separated from the mainland. It's isolated.
28:53
It doesn't get the attention that mainland Mexico gets it in.
28:58
In other words, like, you know, infrastructure and economic
29:01
development, those things are all lacking in Baja.
29:06
It's a very, it's a situation where Baja is very dependent on
29:10
tourism and primarily Americans, you know, and there are a lot of
29:14
expatriates who live there, you know, a lot of retirees from
29:17
Canada and, and the USI mean you'll see British Columbia
29:22
license plates growing, you know, driving through the middle
29:24
of nowhere. That's so funny.
29:28
So the trip is 6 days, it's on and off road.
29:33
You know, we're on the highways to get to the day's destination.
29:37
But but there's a lot of off roading, you know, a lot of
29:40
beach runs. We also.
29:44
Go. Oh, it's wonderful.
29:46
And you know, we, we go up in the mountains.
29:49
We, we visit one of the the first night we stay at a guest
29:54
ranch that is absolutely wonderful.
29:58
It's in this little valley. The owner, Raul is an amazing
30:03
host. He's been there 29 years and and
30:06
it's kind of a dude ranch. You know, there's, there's
30:08
horseback riding and all sorts of other activities for his main
30:11
guests. But you know, he hosts this huge
30:14
group of four by fours and we all camp out and the the food is
30:18
tremendous. You know, goat cooked over an
30:22
open fire, fantastic so often. I mean, it's hard to go wrong
30:27
over an open fire, right? Absolutely.
30:31
And, you know, Michael's got everything planned down to the
30:34
last detail. He has so many connections in
30:38
Baja and, and, you know, every day he's got a group of locals
30:43
that are looking after us in some way.
30:47
All of the meals are, are planned.
30:49
And you know, you don't, you don't have to crack your cooler
30:51
if you don't want to. So it it's really well planned
30:55
and executed and no two days are alike.
31:00
You know, the scenery changes we we go from again, like sea level
31:04
up to snow elevation in the mountains.
31:07
Really. Yeah, a lot of people don't
31:09
think about having like Baja even having that.
31:13
Right. I wouldn't know that.
31:14
Right, Rancho La Concepcion is, is the place I'm referring to
31:18
and it's it's up in the mountains and there's 100 year
31:21
old apple orchard there. Really.
31:23
Oh my gosh. So there's all these little
31:26
magical things you just don't expect in in this desert
31:30
environment. And like I said, in a place that
31:32
has, you know, lacking infrastructure and not a whole
31:36
lot of development, especially inland, Right.
31:41
So, yeah, it's a wonderful trip. And like I said, I can't say
31:45
enough about the people that go. Yeah.
31:48
It sounds amazing. I was listening to your episode
31:51
in preparation for having you on the episode about Slow Baja, and
31:55
I noticed you talked to Alana. Cher was one of the people who
31:58
was on this year's trip and she's become a good friend.
32:02
And we run into each other at Car week, if not throughout the
32:05
year. But it sounded, I think this was
32:08
her first year going. Is that correct?
32:12
Alana's been to Baja many times. I think this might have been her
32:15
first slow Baja trip. Yeah.
32:18
And of course, she was writing an article for Car and Driver
32:20
and and she brought along Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster, which I
32:27
got an opportunity to drive. Great vehicle.
32:31
And the, you know, the other special occasion this particular
32:35
trip was that it was the 50th anniversary of Sal Fish's
32:42
ownership of the Baja races, Right.
32:45
So, so the Baja 1000 kind of the first few years were a little
32:51
bit creaky. The Mexican government at one
32:53
point wanted to take control of it and then they just couldn't
32:56
manage it. And Sal ended up buying
32:59
basically the concession for it and ran it for 50 years.
33:03
The guy's a Baja legend. He's I think 83 years old.
33:07
And he was along with us on the trip, as well as Kurt Leduc,
33:12
who's a veteran Baja racer. And spoke with Sal on the
33:17
episode correct. Yes, and.
33:19
I loved his portion. It was so, I mean, it was just
33:22
so charming and informative and I was like, I just want to hang
33:26
out with this guy and hear all his stories.
33:29
Well, you know, I recorded that episode a little bit each day
33:32
along the way. And surprisingly, or maybe not
33:39
it, it was tough because everybody's so busy the whole
33:44
time. I mean, if we're not driving,
33:47
we're preparing camp, we're eating, we're socializing.
33:50
So it was kind of tough to catch people at the right moment.
33:55
But I managed to do that. And the the portion of the show,
34:00
the portion of the episode that was with Sal and Kurt and
34:03
Michael was recorded on the beach, on the Sea of Cortez, at
34:10
a restaurant, at our campsite. So we were out on the patio
34:15
having some tequila and I just pressed record and let it RIP.
34:20
And it was so much fun. Well, you found the magic
34:23
moment. Yeah, it was so good.
34:26
I mean, those guys never run out of stories about their
34:29
experiences down there. You know, they, they've, between
34:33
Kurt and Sal, I think they have 100 years of, of Baja tales, you
34:40
know, to choose from. So.
34:42
Yeah, you're like, all right, we could do a whole podcast just
34:44
with you guys. Absolutely no, no problem at
34:48
all. Yeah, I think we all sort of
34:51
crave that kind of adventure, right?
34:54
We just get so little that in our lives anymore like, you
34:57
know, there's probably no cell service for starters, right?
35:00
Well, that. Actually, that's a good thing
35:02
about Baja. You know, I mean, a lot of
35:05
people that are listening to this right now will will have
35:08
been there. You know, there's probably a lot
35:10
of Baja veterans, more than you might imagine.
35:13
And it's not like we're blazing new trails.
35:18
Baja is a known quantity, but the experience is still really
35:24
pure I. Think.
35:27
And, and, and the, the lack of cell service is great because
35:30
you get to tune out. It's almost, you know, for an
35:32
American, it's like living in 1990, right?
35:37
You just get to disconnect and and enjoy what's going on around
35:41
you. Yeah, What's that like?
35:44
We have to remind ourselves we were marveling the other day
35:48
about, you know, pre cell phone life and how our parents would
35:53
just drop us off at the mall to go see a movie and then you have
35:57
to go find the pay phone to call them to bring you home.
35:59
But yeah, it worked it. Absolutely.
36:03
Did I? Remember as a kid looking
36:05
forward to pick my picking my dad up from the airport, right
36:08
because I could go to those phone banks and go to each each
36:11
little coin, you know, whatever return thing and see if.
36:14
There was an order. And inevitably I'd find one or
36:16
two and, you know, like, but it's amazing how much things
36:20
have changed. You know it is there's, there's
36:24
little you know, there's little pleasures you know our kids
36:27
will, will, will not know. Yeah, we have to figure out a
36:30
way to recreate that somehow or fill that in.
36:34
I remember going to the arcade and you know, with maybe 10
36:38
bucks and just dropping quarter after quarter into Galaga or.
36:45
That yes. Spy Hunter or whatever, you
36:48
know, and I'm kind of dating myself but, but, but, but
36:53
ultimately, you know, yes, we were playing video games, but it
36:57
was a really social activity. You know, your friends would be
36:59
around you watching you, you know, trying to get the high
37:02
score. And, yeah, it was fun.
37:04
And, and, you know, when we were out of quarters, we would leave
37:10
the arcade and kick around and, you know, get into all kinds of
37:12
trouble. So yeah.
37:14
Yeah, as you should at that age, right?
37:17
Well, you mentioned a couple of them, but what's in your garage
37:19
these days? Other You've still got the Land
37:21
Rovers right? I have a A1961-O9 station wagon
37:26
that's a long wheelbase 5 door. I've had that since 2008 and
37:32
it's been, It's done thousands of miles off road and you know,
37:38
I would throw the whole family in that thing and think nothing
37:42
of driving 500 miles in a day to get to where we are going to, to
37:47
off road and camp. I also have a 1968 short
37:54
wheelbase series 2A, which is really just, it's literally a
37:59
basket case guys. It's, it's in boxes and the, the
38:03
chassis is leaning up against the wall in the backyard.
38:08
Well, kind of out of sight at least.
38:09
Sure. It's a little bit like Sanford
38:11
and Son in my side yard. OK, there's a, a bunch of Land
38:15
Rover parts and then I have a 53 series 1.
38:19
So that's very, that's pretty early production.
38:21
You know Land Rover started in 48 so.
38:24
Yeah, OK. And and that is a.
38:28
It's a project that is going in fits and starts, but I I'm
38:33
determined to finish it in the next 12 to 18 months to 24
38:37
months to 36 months, yeah. That's a reason that's a
38:41
reasonable timeline. Anybody with Project Cars knows
38:44
that. Yeah, absolutely.
38:45
Yeah. Well, and you and I had the very
38:48
unique experience during Car week this last year of getting
38:51
to ride with the Land Rover team in the Defender, that 5 or 6
38:57
Defenders in the Tour de Pebble and so up Hwy. 1 and back down
39:04
obviously, and that was just magical.
39:07
It was and we were in a Camel Trophy defender.
39:11
Right. I think it was the last one that
39:14
had done. That's cool.
39:15
Like the last Camel trophy. Yeah.
39:17
Yeah. And I should probably correct
39:19
myself and, and say a Camel Trophy 110 because I don't, I
39:24
don't think it was technically called the Defender at that
39:26
point. And some Land Rover anorak out
39:29
there is screaming that I made that mistake.
39:33
So I, I, I will correct myself, yeah.
39:36
That's a good quote. I thought I would have said
39:37
Defender 110 with the Camel groupie but.
39:40
And the driver was Scott from the, you know, the founder of
39:43
Overland Journal. Great guy.
39:46
He. Was amazing.
39:47
And Jeff Huden, who does the PR for Land Rover in North America,
39:52
he was with us too. So yeah, we had a pretty fun
39:55
crew. We had a great crew, yeah, and
39:57
we didn't break down. We didn't none of us broke down,
40:00
which is an amazing testament to the defenders.
40:03
And yeah, it was just the the weather could not have been
40:07
better. It was unbelievably spectacular
40:10
and definitely, you know, pinch me moments just getting to be in
40:14
those cars on that road. Well, and with the rest of the
40:19
cars that did the tour, I think we all kept commenting.
40:22
You don't often get to see, you know, especially some of the pre
40:25
war stuff. And I think that Tulip wood car,
40:27
that one, I think that was on the tour, you know, getting to
40:31
see one of those cars driving is amazing.
40:33
But getting to see all of those together on the road and to be
40:37
part of it was just unreal. And of course, you know Land
40:41
Rover is the only way to go. Well, we got a whole lot of
40:44
cheers along the way, you know, especially the kids loved that
40:48
thing, you know, So and, and the crowd along the way is a great,
40:53
a great aspect of the tour because the natural beauty is of
40:56
course, wonderful. And there are a lot of, you
41:00
know, people with classic cars or, or, you know, hobby cars
41:05
parked along the way. But then when you get sort of to
41:08
the end of the tour, the, the turn around point, yeah.
41:11
And there's hundreds of people and suddenly you're kind of in a
41:14
parade, right? Because you are the parade,
41:17
yeah. Yeah, yeah.
41:18
So that was really fun. It was, I was trying to think of
41:21
how to describe it to somebody because it's you're up in the
41:25
mountains a bit in terms of the scenery and you've gone on a
41:29
windy Rd. obviously along the coast.
41:32
But for anybody that's been to good vibes, it was like a big,
41:36
big, big good vibes day. You know, times 4 when you get
41:39
to the end, just the crowd and the energy and the enthusiasm.
41:43
And I think a parade is a great way to describe it because
41:46
people cheer non-stop as you drive through.
41:49
It was so much fun. Yeah.
41:51
Yeah, it was wonderful. How many years have you gone to
41:55
to Car Week? Maurice, since I want to say
42:00
2018. OK.
42:02
Not. That.
42:04
Long. Not that long.
42:05
You know, I put it off for many years.
42:10
It was, and I don't know what it was, Ryan, that that made me put
42:15
it off. It's just one of those things in
42:18
life, you know, you're you're busy with family and kids and,
42:22
you know, kids sports and car projects of your own and, you
42:26
know, whatever have you. And it was kind of one of those
42:30
things where I thought, well, you know, I'll get a group of
42:34
friends together and go at some point.
42:36
And now I can't stay away. No, no.
42:40
It gets under your skin, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
42:43
We heard all this talk this year about, oh, it's jumped the
42:46
shark, you know, it's the end of car because we know it.
42:48
And I had a great time. This was only my second year,
42:52
but I don't know what I was missing.
42:53
It seemed pretty wonderful to me, maybe for a local and
42:56
Carmel, you know, it gets a little, you know, tedious after
42:59
a day or two and imagine it does.
43:01
But but I can't imagine not going moving forward, right.
43:04
You know, it's just, it's such a, a touchstone or whatever for,
43:08
for those of us who do what we do.
43:09
And, and you just, I, I wouldn't, I'd feel out of the
43:11
loop if I, if I, if I missed it, you know, it's just, but have
43:15
you noticed any changes in the, you know, the seven years or
43:18
whatever that you've gone? I mean, it's definitely more
43:23
crowded, Yeah. Prices have gone up,
43:27
particularly for accommodations. Yeah.
43:31
And it's become more and more commercialized every year, for
43:35
sure. I think social media has had a
43:41
greater impact than any other single factor because it
43:45
attracts people who just want to, you know, put stuff on their
43:50
TikTok or Instagram or what have you.
43:53
And, and they're less about the experiences of Car week and more
44:00
about capturing content for their platforms.
44:04
So that's a big change. Super cars have kind of taken
44:10
over the street scene, I think I think that's fair to say.
44:15
And, and just, you know, traffic in general is it has been
44:21
impacted a lot. I would say the core events are
44:25
still kind of true to what their intent has always been.
44:31
You know, if you go to Laguna Seca and you want to see the
44:34
historic racing, I mean, you could just do that.
44:38
Yeah. Do nothing else.
44:39
Yeah. And and and have a fantastic
44:42
week. Yeah, right.
44:44
Yeah. Speaking of that, I'll never
44:45
forget the first year I went. So 2524 rather I show up to
44:50
Laguna. This was the year that some of
44:53
us ended up doing some some commentary, which was was
44:56
amazing but also terrifying in the moment.
44:58
But I'm walking in I guess to the pits and I see you pop out
45:01
of a car. You are the riding mechanic and
45:05
to remind me the car, it was like a 30s.
45:09
That's my pal. That's my pal Bobby Green, Old
45:13
Crow's Feed Shop. Yes, and Bobby is a huge
45:18
collector and and historian and preservationist and that's his
45:21
19/20/20 Duisenberg racer. OK.
45:25
Yeah, that's. Amazing.
45:28
But to see Maurice pop out of that like that was like, you
45:30
know, no big thing, you know, but.
45:33
That makes perfect sense. I mean, where else?
45:36
Of course he's popping out at one of those.
45:38
Well, and to throwback to our Trent Abbott episode, Bobby
45:42
Green is a charter member of the PT Cruiser Spotters Anonymous
45:45
Club. So I love, I love the callback.
45:48
I love that. Didn't even put two and two
45:50
together, but. I can't say enough about Bobby.
45:53
I mean, he's a guy you need to have on the show.
45:55
Yeah, yeah, would love to. And and and, you know, it's
45:58
going to be historic, Yeah, but it you will have no end of fun
46:03
with Bobby. In fact, I was just at his place
46:05
this morning. He sold me a set of 35 Ford wire
46:09
wheels for my Model A and and. Something.
46:14
For, for my model, A Roadster, yeah.
46:16
And in fact, I spent half the afternoon, you know, sanding
46:19
them, getting ready for paint. And they're going to go on the
46:22
car this week. But yeah, Bobby's definitely
46:25
would. He would be a good get for you.
46:27
And I can make that happen. Well, it pays to know the right
46:31
people, huh? Yeah.
46:33
I remember him because I used to watch American Pickers and if I
46:37
recall he was a regular on American Pickers and I was again
46:42
thought, this is a pretty cool dude.
46:44
Yeah, he figured out. He and Mike are tight.
46:46
They're they're good friends. Yeah.
46:48
And and I, I've spent a little bit of time with Mike and he's a
46:50
wonderful guy. He is exactly who you see on
46:53
television. That's great.
46:54
That's great. Yeah, that's great.
46:56
But I feel a little bad because he's from Iowa and I just wrote
46:59
an article for Autoblog where I really dumped on Iowa and I kind
47:03
of feel, I don't know, Lindsay, did you read that?
47:07
Really. In fact, Well, I dumped on the
47:08
Iowa drivers and that was but, but look, I remember.
47:13
I remember in Iowa mentioned, but it was yeah.
47:15
So go on for those that haven't had a chance.
47:18
Of leaving yeah, yeah, I need a redemption or something, you
47:21
know, most my my Iowa people but.
47:23
Ryan, what is it about Iowa drivers?
47:26
Well, I'll tell you there was a scenario in the article, but
47:29
they like to sit in the passing lane, usually in a Chrysler
47:32
minivan of some some sort. And then they get upset when,
47:35
you know, after waiting patience patiently, you go to pass them
47:38
in the right. And it's this just come, I think
47:40
I call it a combination of of sort of indignant self
47:43
righteousness and just sort of lack of lack of situational
47:47
awareness, right? And it's just, it's just.
47:50
Not a fantastic intersection to be at.
47:53
No. And every time we drive from
47:55
Colorado to Minnesota or Wisconsin, we're happy to visit
47:58
family. We inevitably have to go through
48:00
Iowa. And you know, of course, after
48:01
driving through Nebraska, it's beautiful, but the people just
48:04
are the worst drivers in the country.
48:05
And I'll go to my grave. You know, asking them to let you
48:10
buy. Yeah, yeah.
48:12
So. Probably combined with a
48:14
Methodist resolve to stay the course.
48:16
I am not. There you go.
48:18
That's what it is. That they're just they're yes,
48:21
yes, they're that's the I like that.
48:23
But I one thing I would like to say is I would like to change my
48:27
answer for the two car solution. Oh, OK.
48:31
I would like a modern Land Rover Defender.
48:35
Here's my here's my two cars that I think would be very fun.
48:39
It would cover a lot of ground, literally and figuratively,
48:43
because as we've established, the Defender does so well on and
48:46
off the road. So I'm taking the budget
48:48
consideration out of it. And I would like a Land Rover
48:52
Defender Octa and a 2018 Ford GT350R Mustang.
49:00
Wow, OK. There you go.
49:03
Not, not a dark horse. No.
49:06
OK. All right.
49:08
Very good. I haven't driven 1 yet, which
49:10
maybe if I drove one I might change my answer, but it did
49:13
such a good job with the R and you could take it on the track,
49:17
but it's still really fun on the street and the Defender you
49:20
could take off road and it's lovely to drive on the street as
49:23
well. Yeah, I feel like that covers a
49:25
lot of bases. No, that those are good.
49:29
That's a good two car solution. And by the way, I have to tell
49:31
you, I rode with Robert Nagle in his.
49:34
Oh, in his star course, yeah. And and you guys I think touched
49:39
on that a. Little we did.
49:40
We did and. It's like a one of one because
49:43
of the options that he ordered together.
49:45
Yes. It sounds like a really
49:47
interesting car. It's an awesome car and I mean
49:51
to be in the passenger seat with Robert Nagle.
49:55
The man, Yeah. Right in that car, like, you
49:58
know, some people you get a little bit nervous right as a
50:02
passenger Nah, not that guy That guy is nails.
50:06
He's so good behind the wheel Yeah and and he definitely put
50:10
his foot in it, you know a few times.
50:11
It was fun and I'm going to change my 2 car solution since
50:14
you're doing it too. OK, perfect.
50:16
All right, you know guys, I think my perfect two car
50:19
solution would be like a 1970 Porsche 9/11.
50:23
I I love the long hood cars. I like the long wheelbase less
50:28
of a fan of the impact bumper cars.
50:31
They're a little bit more refined, you know, by 1970 and
50:36
really reliable. And then the second car would
50:40
probably be like a 69 bump side Ford Highboy 4 by 4.
50:46
OK. I mean, again, like simple good,
50:52
good Ford engineering. I love the look of the bump
50:56
sides. They're just great trucks and
50:59
yeah, big, big mudder meets on it that that'd be perfect.
51:04
I. Love it.
51:06
Maurice, is there anything new that that?
51:09
Yeah, no, I'm, I'm sticking with my GT3 Touring in my Galondivog
51:13
and I think that's about as good as as I'm going to get.
51:16
Is there anything new that interests you, Maurice?
51:18
Like anything that's new out there that you'd want in your
51:20
garage? Because I definitely feel like
51:22
you have a slant toward the, you know, the vintage stuff.
51:27
I do, I do. I'm I'm pretty blase about new
51:31
cars. I got to be honest, you know,
51:33
there's there's some interesting stuff out there, but none of it
51:36
is in my price range. I know that people are raving
51:41
about that three cylinder turbo Corolla, you know.
51:47
Anybody we know? Yeah, yeah, right, Right.
51:51
Yeah, Mr. Lieberman. Well, and Ryan?
51:56
That's right, you know, Ryan, I thought.
51:58
It broke the thing. So I'm just glad I haven't had a
52:00
call from Toyota over the last couple weeks, you know,
52:02
following up with, you know, an invoice.
52:04
But yeah. Right.
52:05
I I was a BMW fan for so many years and I think they've
52:08
completely lost the plot. 100%. So what was the last one that
52:13
you loved? Like.
52:15
Latest model. Like 2016 and I'll tell you one
52:19
of the big reasons why analog instrumentation.
52:22
Yes, I hate digital instrumentation with you get rid
52:26
of it. We don't need it.
52:27
Yeah. I like that.
52:28
So that was. A lot more modern.
52:30
That was a lot more modern than I thought you were going to
52:32
choose, actually. Yeah, well, here, here's what I
52:36
think happened. You guys, this whole push toward
52:40
EVs and the supposed demise of the internal combustion engine,
52:46
that was all political nonsense. It was a bunch of pressure
52:49
groups pushing for it. And you know, I'm not, you know,
52:54
anti environment, but I, I think it was just, it was hysteria and
52:58
it was also people trying to cash in and, and, and, and, you
53:03
know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of political elements out
53:06
there who are trying to answer to a constituency that is just
53:09
not being realistic about sure, sure about how the world gets
53:14
around And it's sure it with ICE engines.
53:17
And it will be for the foreseeable future.
53:19
And by the way, as long as I'm on my soapbox, Lindsay, you've
53:24
been in California long enough to know, although you're no
53:28
longer a California resident, but sort of.
53:31
Right. Yeah.
53:32
Yeah, but but having grown up here, you know what the smog was
53:36
like at one time. I remember I was thinking about
53:39
this, yes, as a kid we had the air quality warnings and you
53:44
couldn't see downtown LA on and on, etcetera.
53:47
Yes, please continue. And I think we're all old enough
53:50
to remember idling at a traffic light with our parents and
53:54
smelling the exhaust right? Because you had your windows
53:56
down. Because most of us weren't
53:57
running AC right or. Well, and a lot of us were in
54:01
the rear facing 3rd row of the station wagon where the exhaust
54:05
came right in directly. Yes.
54:08
And now we know what's wrong with me anyway, go on.
54:11
Well, so if you think about those days and you think about
54:13
how far we've come and you can pull up to a traffic light and
54:16
never smell a whiff of exhaust now, Yeah.
54:19
And so the technology has progressed so far.
54:24
Engines are very clean burning, very efficient now they're
54:29
incredibly reliable. I mean, think about we're going
54:32
15,000 miles between oil changes.
54:35
I mean, on paper, I, I don't do that.
54:38
But my point is right. My point is we've, we've come a
54:45
long way. There's no way that we need to
54:48
abandon that at this point. And, and, and, and I don't think
54:52
one-size-fits-all is a good formula for anything, let alone
54:56
cars. So, so getting back to where we
55:03
were, the EV push really messed up the marketplace for and, and
55:08
manufacturers are now having to scramble to go back to internal
55:13
combustion. In fact, I can't remember who it
55:16
was, but I think it's Jaguar. Jaguar had nothing on the table
55:21
for internal combustion. They they've fully committed to
55:24
EV. They have no engines in the
55:27
development pipeline. And yeah, they're kind of,
55:31
they're stuck with EV. So what's going to happen there?
55:33
I mean, I think they're the design chief for Jaguar.
55:37
Land Rover just got let go, yeah.
55:40
Yeah. And, and I don't know why, but
55:44
it has to. I, I can imagine it's partially
55:47
because of a lot of the backlash and they're just panicking at
55:50
this point at, at JLR thinking what are we going to do?
55:54
Well, we got it. We got to hang this on somebody.
55:56
It might as well be him. Yeah.
55:57
So yeah. Yeah, the term sacrificial lamb
56:00
was thrown around yesterday when it came out.
56:03
Yeah. Yeah, well, thank God for Land
56:05
Rover, right? Kind of keeping the boat afloat,
56:07
you know, and, and to go back to EVs, you know, for the record, I
56:11
have an EV because they were artificially subsidized and they
56:14
were giving them away. And that, that is the reason
56:16
that I own 1, you know, and I do think it's a, it's a wonderful
56:20
sort of around town conveyance. But, but you know, but the
56:24
environmental stuff, and I like the environment, but that never
56:26
even factored into it for us. It was literally just the price
56:29
and the performance and we needed a car, you know?
56:32
I do appreciate that both of you have felt the need to preface
56:35
your statements with I do enjoy the environment.
56:39
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I support the environment.
56:41
Let's. Be for Jaguar though, like I'm
56:44
trying to say it like you Jaguar or whatever we did the end here
56:47
to say, you know, thank God for Waymo, right, because where
56:50
would Jaguar be without Waymo at the moment?
56:53
There's the only times I ever see new Jaguars are when
56:55
they're, you know, they're dressed up as Waymos or
56:57
whatever, so. No kidding.
56:58
No, it's, you know, I considered the BMWI 3 when it first came
57:05
out. I mean, I'm not opposed to EVs.
57:07
I I do a lot of driving and, and it just, it made sense, except
57:11
the range was like at the time was like 85 miles or something.
57:15
It was. It was not much.
57:16
Maybe it was 185, but it was pretty abysmal and I would have
57:20
had range anxiety and problems. So and there was no charging
57:24
infrastructure. It's a, I would, I would
57:28
definitely consider an EV in the future, but I'm also a long term
57:35
owner. Like, you know, I keep my cars
57:38
for 10 years and 200,000 miles and I just maintain them and I
57:42
enjoy them. And so I don't trade up very
57:45
often. So it, it, I guess it just, it,
57:51
it hasn't really made economic sense for me to to go full EV.
57:56
I think Toyota's doing it right out of all of them, you know,
58:00
gas, electric, hybrid. Yeah, exactly.
58:03
So. Well, that hydrogen model didn't
58:05
go very far. No, true.
58:08
Yeah, and BM doesn't. Go pushing the hydrogen thing
58:13
because the only place to see them is is in California for,
58:16
you know, obvious. Reasons.
58:17
Well, and there was an actual I was aware of where there was a
58:20
hydrogen station. When was it the Aria when that
58:23
came out? Yeah, the Aria and the Mirai
58:25
right are the 2. The Mirai, that's the one I was
58:27
thinking of. Yeah, there was because I
58:30
remember hearing about this. I'm like, that's great, where do
58:32
you get hydrogen? But I did, there was 1 station
58:36
that was open in Orange County that I was aware of.
58:38
I'm like. It'd be an.
58:40
Interesting experiment. Yeah, that's a California thing.
58:43
The manufacturers, some manufacturers have decided to
58:46
sort of anticipate where California is going to go.
58:49
And we we have a dearth of refineries here.
58:53
As you know, it all has to be refined here in the state of
58:56
California, which drives the price up.
58:58
And so I think, you know, car makers are just trying to figure
59:02
out what's California going to do next and we have to be ahead
59:06
of the curve. So a couple have opted for the
59:09
hydrogen experimentation. BMW was experimenting with
59:12
hydrogen, I think as early as the, the late 80s with the, they
59:17
had a 7 Series hydrogen project, if I recall correctly.
59:24
But yeah, I, I think, I, I think if anything happens to change
59:32
all this, it will probably be some sort of synthetic
59:37
hydrocarbon fuel. And Porsche is really, really
59:40
behind that. I I know as well.
59:42
That said, I just have to share slash brag that I had this, this
59:47
Genesis press car recently. So I didn't feel bad putting 85
59:52
octane in it. But that 85 octane I paid $1.82
59:57
a gallon a dollar. I haven't paid that since high
1:00:00
school. Guys $1.82 a dollar 82.
1:00:04
Oh my gosh. Well, do you guys remember when
1:00:06
gas prices really went crazy and the pumps would shut off at $50?
1:00:10
Yeah. Before that, the stations
1:00:13
accommodated. Yes, I remember in high school
1:00:17
paying $1.25 a gallon. OK, OK.
1:00:21
OK. And you know, when you're a high
1:00:22
school kid, that's not, you know, to fill up your tank.
1:00:26
It's, it's a little bit of an expenditure, at least it was for
1:00:30
me, right. You know, working a minimum wage
1:00:32
job for 4/25 an hour. So sure.
1:00:34
Sure. Yeah, that's a chunk of it for
1:00:36
sure. And it adds up.
1:00:38
Yeah, yeah. What was that job, Maurice?
1:00:40
I'm just curious, what were you doing in high school?
1:00:42
Pumping gas. Ironically enough.
1:00:45
You could just sneak in a little freebie, you know at the end of
1:00:49
the day or. Never, never.
1:00:50
OK, Nope. I was on the full service island
1:00:53
at the at the Chevron and most of my most of my money was made
1:00:58
in tips. Believe it or not, I mean I.
1:01:00
Was gonna ask yeah if you got tips.
1:01:02
Yeah, got got good tips, got, you know, $5 here, $20 here.
1:01:07
You know, occasionally somebody would would give me a $50.00
1:01:10
bill or even $100 bill in one case.
1:01:12
Yeah, yeah. Whoa.
1:01:15
So and then that guy would come in and not tip, you know, for
1:01:18
the next 5 Phillips. But that's OK.
1:01:21
We're good, right? We're right good.
1:01:22
We're good. It's like this counts for the
1:01:25
next six weeks. Change the subject a little bit.
1:01:28
We haven't talked about your YouTube channel and I know that
1:01:31
your YouTube channel is really taking off.
1:01:33
I have some questions because all I hear from people, Matt
1:01:35
Fair and all that is how difficult YouTube has become.
1:01:38
He said he had a kind of, I don't know, an episode that did
1:01:42
75,000 views and he got to check I think for $300 or something.
1:01:45
So what's this? What's the state of YouTube and
1:01:48
automotive YouTube and you know, and how are you making it work?
1:01:53
I try not to think too hard about it, Ryan.
1:01:58
Yeah, I just read this week that YouTube is the algorithm is now
1:02:02
favoring recency. So newer videos are getting
1:02:07
pushed harder. I could tell you what has done
1:02:11
well on my channel, which is turning wrenches those kind of
1:02:14
videos that does well. My my interview with Robert
1:02:19
Nagel did extremely well, but that was just based on my
1:02:23
strategy, which was to release that the day before the Ferrari
1:02:27
biopic opened. So I rode that wave.
1:02:32
Yeah, yeah. I'll be honest and say the
1:02:36
podcast episodes, including the ones where I do a sit down video
1:02:40
interview version for YouTube, do not do nearly as well as my
1:02:46
other videos. And I think that's a function of
1:02:49
just not being big enough. You know, of course, guys like,
1:02:55
I mean, the perennial example, right, is Joe Rogan.
1:02:57
He can pull, you know, millions and millions of views or even,
1:03:03
well, other guys who do interviews can, can, can do huge
1:03:07
views with sit downs. I'm not there.
1:03:11
That's OK. Like I said, I try not to think
1:03:14
too hard about it. I just do what I like.
1:03:16
If something hits, that's great. You know, I'm I'm making some
1:03:19
money off of YouTube. It's, you know, it's certainly
1:03:22
not going to, you know, fill my garage with the cars that I
1:03:27
would love to own. But but that's OK.
1:03:30
You know, slow and steady wins the race, or at least comes in
1:03:34
second. I'll be happy with second.
1:03:35
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
1:03:37
Yeah, it's still a good place to be, right?
1:03:39
Yeah, I mean. In this context.
1:03:42
It's a ton of work, you guys, you know, I'm I'm putting out a
1:03:45
a podcast episode every two weeks.
1:03:47
Originally it was a weekly show and, and I think the one of the
1:03:52
reasons I changed to a bi weekly podcast releases.
1:03:57
It gives listeners time to die to to listen to the episode,
1:04:02
digest the episode. And then in in another two
1:04:05
weeks, I'll see you again. And because we're all busy,
1:04:09
right? And, and people might not
1:04:11
necessarily have time to, I think what I'm getting at here
1:04:15
is if someone hasn't listened to your show for a few weeks and
1:04:18
they see like, Oh my gosh, I've got, there's like 3 or 4
1:04:21
episodes or what have you to catch up to.
1:04:24
I think they're less inclined. I think they feel like that's
1:04:27
sort of a barrier and they, they may start to tune out.
1:04:30
It's a psychological trick. Sure, like I'm already behind.
1:04:34
I can't and I'll never catch up. That kind of thing.
1:04:36
Which is weird, right? But it's it's not going to.
1:04:39
Be a test and we're happy to have you here.
1:04:41
Yeah, but it is kind of like a perceived value thing, right?
1:04:43
If we were putting on a show every day, it wouldn't seem too
1:04:45
special, right? But if you're doing twice a
1:04:48
month or whatever, Lindsay, maybe that's what we need to do.
1:04:50
This one a week thing is, is kind of burning.
1:04:54
But you guys are doing a different animal.
1:04:56
Well, yeah. You're topical and you know,
1:05:00
you've got an ensemble cast, so right, you know, it's different
1:05:04
and, and I think it, it really works for you.
1:05:07
I think you've you've found the right formula if there is a
1:05:11
formula but. And so have and.
1:05:13
So have you and this is it. But, you know, so have you and
1:05:18
and you know, I do look at your episodes as sort of these like
1:05:21
little jewel box things, right, Where they're well researched,
1:05:24
they're well edited, you know, and there's not a bad one in the
1:05:27
bunch, right? They're just these, these highly
1:05:29
polishable things that, you know, it's, yeah, pretty
1:05:34
wonderful Horsepower, heritage. You got a good thing.
1:05:36
I appreciate that. And by the way, Speaking of
1:05:39
YouTube and Speaking of Baha, I shot a ton of video on that trip
1:05:43
and it's in the the editing Bay and it's, you know, I'm, I've,
1:05:49
I've got multiple videos that I'm working on at any given
1:05:53
time. So it's in it's in the queue.
1:05:56
But if people are interested in seeing what we were talking
1:05:59
about tonight, you know, subscribe to Horsepower Heritage
1:06:03
on YouTube. And the the SLO Baja episode
1:06:07
will be coming up pretty soon. So something to look forward to.
1:06:10
Yeah, yeah. I look forward to seeing it.
1:06:13
Yeah, as as as well of of course.
1:06:15
So what's next for you? What's what's in the hopper?
1:06:18
Like what? What's your next big event?
1:06:20
What are you looking forward to? You know, I haven't had time to
1:06:24
sit down and look at the event calendar for 2026.
1:06:29
You know, obviously there are certain events you we all want
1:06:32
to hit. I do want to go to the to the
1:06:34
Chattanooga Motoring Festival this year.
1:06:37
You know, it's all, you know, antique racing cars and, and
1:06:41
things like that and. They have right up your alley.
1:06:44
Yeah, I haven't been to that one yet.
1:06:47
I would like to get to Goodwood next fall for the revival.
1:06:53
I have yet to do that. And, you know, that's, that's
1:06:56
kind of the pilgrimage that we all have to make if we're really
1:07:01
into the, the, the old stuff. That was a must do.
1:07:05
I mean, you know, you talk about going to car week and now you
1:07:07
can't not go. That was the only problem that I
1:07:10
had that when I went to the revival is, I mean, within maybe
1:07:14
an hour we were walking around and in my head I went, well,
1:07:17
this is how, how am I going to not do this every year?
1:07:20
It's just so spectacular. And in terms of upcoming guests,
1:07:25
you know Christopher Runge will be on the show right on in the
1:07:28
near future. Interesting.
1:07:30
Yeah, Chris and I, you know, got to know each other a little bit
1:07:33
during Car Week this year. And the first time I saw one of
1:07:37
his builds was, I think about 2018 or so in Santa Barbara at a
1:07:43
Cars and Coffee, and I couldn't take my eyes off the thing.
1:07:46
And his, he has refined every build so much since then.
1:07:51
And now he's just that the stuff he's doing is so incredibly
1:07:54
elegant. So Chris is going to come on the
1:07:56
show. Rob Ida, who is a wonderful hot
1:08:01
rodder and fabricator out of New Jersey, will be on the show in
1:08:07
2026, which is not that far away from us now, so yeah, which?
1:08:11
Is wild. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
1:08:14
And you know, I I love talking to racing drivers.
1:08:17
So there will be certainly some some racing drivers coming on
1:08:20
the show in the near future. So I, you know, I try to mix it
1:08:23
up and keep people guessing. And so, yeah.
1:08:26
Who's your dream get? My dream Get Well, they're all
1:08:32
dead, Ryan. So settling for someone who's
1:08:38
still alive. I would love to interview Gordon
1:08:43
Murray, yeah. Yeah.
1:08:46
You know, Gordon is definitely up there.
1:08:49
I'm going to have Jay Leno on the show at some point in the
1:08:53
near future. I, I, you know, spent some time
1:08:57
here and there with Jay. I've been to the garage.
1:09:00
Fantastic guy. And, you know, he's of course
1:09:03
super busy, but he always seems to make time And I just, that's
1:09:07
something that I haven't, you know, I haven't contacted him
1:09:10
about yet, but I, I want to do that.
1:09:15
You know, again, you kind of got me on the spot for dream guests
1:09:20
And and I I'm, I'm really kind of serious when I say that
1:09:23
they're they're they're no longer with us because that's
1:09:27
just. Who you know now.
1:09:29
Now you have me curious, if that was not a constraint, who would
1:09:35
you love to have? I would love to have interviewed
1:09:38
Carroll Shelby. I know you're going to say,
1:09:41
yeah, would love to have interviewed Johnny Anielli, who
1:09:44
was the chairman of Fiat. And, you know, he's the guy that
1:09:48
that made the deal with Enzo to to, you know, take essentially
1:09:52
take the Ferrari Rd. cars under the Fiat umbrella.
1:09:56
And and he left Enzo with the racing division.
1:09:59
But beyond and beyond that, Anneli is just a fascinating
1:10:04
character. I would going way back and none
1:10:07
of your listeners will know this name.
1:10:10
Would love to have interviewed Harry Miller.
1:10:13
Oh. Sure, Harry Miller.
1:10:15
Harry Miller was a guy from I think Kenosha, WI.
1:10:22
That sounds right. Who worked for ransom?
1:10:26
Olds of Oldsmobile, OK in the very early days like 19319 four
1:10:32
and then Miller was a Miller was kind of a natural engineer.
1:10:37
He designed some very elegant carburetors in the teens and 20s
1:10:42
and made a fortune from his carburetors, licensing,
1:10:45
licensing them, and then, you know, kind of selling them,
1:10:50
selling the design. And then he started building
1:10:56
these incredible racing engines with, you've heard the name
1:11:03
Offenhauser. So Offenhauser was one of his
1:11:07
guys and a guy named Leo Goosen, who was his chief engineer.
1:11:16
And those three guys, Goosen, Offenhauser and Miller had these
1:11:20
incredible racing engines. So the Offi engine, which after
1:11:27
Miller kind of had passed from the scene, Offenhauser took that
1:11:30
engine and went to Indy with it. And it was the dominant engine
1:11:35
at Indy until gosh, I think the mid 80s.
1:11:39
Because it's a mono block. It's a mono block, so the head
1:11:43
does not come off the engine. So they can run extremely high
1:11:46
compression, forced induction, 4 cylinder engine, just a magical,
1:11:53
a magical piece of machinery. And so, but Miller is a really
1:11:56
interesting character. He's kind of like part Frank
1:11:59
Lloyd Wright, part Howard Hughes, really kind of a
1:12:05
mysterious character in a lot of ways.
1:12:06
And I would love to have sat down with him.
1:12:08
So, but we're talking ancient history right now.
1:12:11
I mean, but see, this is what I love because you can tie all of
1:12:15
this together to the present day.
1:12:17
If you just kind of follow the family tree and fall and and
1:12:20
start pulling on threads, you will find stuff that is relevant
1:12:25
today. But the roots of it are in the
1:12:30
19 tens 1920s. So yeah.
1:12:33
Yeah, right. And the decisions that people
1:12:35
were making then and the innovations and the direction,
1:12:39
you know, they shaped automotive.
1:12:41
And like you said, the threads are there and Yep, even today.
1:12:44
Yep, so the. Influence.
1:12:46
Yeah. And there's no thank you and
1:12:49
there's no end to it. I mean, that's what the beauty
1:12:51
of this is Like I I'll never run out of subject matter, so.
1:12:54
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You ever thought about writing a
1:12:56
book? Is there a book?
1:13:00
I have and I will, and I'm not sure what it's going to be yet,
1:13:03
but yeah, that is one of my goals.
1:13:05
I'm going to write an automotive book.
1:13:08
I am glad to hear that. So thank you.
1:13:10
Well then, we would like you to come on as an author once the
1:13:13
book is written, and we will talk about it.
1:13:16
Happy to do so, yeah. Yeah, well, Marie, thank you so
1:13:19
much for joining us. It's always a pleasure to talk
1:13:23
with you. So glad things are going so
1:13:25
well. Look forward to hanging out
1:13:27
again before too long. Any Colorado plans?
1:13:33
Just. I know it's something you've
1:13:34
talked about. Hey, you know what?
1:13:37
You build it and I'll come. OK, All right.
1:13:39
We're going to make that happen in time.
1:13:41
Yeah, all. Right.
1:13:41
That's another one we have to add to the calendar, right?
1:13:44
That's right. For me, you have, you have done
1:13:46
it, but. Yeah, no, you could get out of
1:13:48
here too. Maurice Merrick, Horsepower
1:13:50
Heritage podcast, YouTube channel.
1:13:53
Gentlemen, can't thank you enough for joining us tonight.
1:13:58
We're that car show. Until next time, Lindsay.
1:14:02
And remember, always be driving and we'll see you next week.
1:14:05
Thanks for joining us. Thanks.