The Grey NATO – 234 – Our Automotive (Mis)Adventures
Published on Thu, 13 Apr 2023 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and Nico discuss the arrival of spring and nice weather for driving and outdoor activities. They mention an upcoming Q&A episode for Patreon supporters. Jason talks about his upcoming trip to Scotland and an impromptu meetup planned in Glasgow. Nico gives a shoutout to Kenneth from Arkin Watches, whose titanium dive watch impressed him at Watches & Wonders. They discuss their wrist checks for the day. The main topic is cars - learning to drive, first cars, memorable cars owned, tickets and mishaps, and dream car replacements if their current vehicles were totaled. The conversation covers personal anecdotes and car enthusiast topics in a casual, friendly discussion.
Links
Transcript
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| Nico | Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 234. And it's proudly brought to you by the ever growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and not supporting the show, but you're interested, visit thegraynado.com for more details. Jason, Yeah. Spring is here. Give me the weather update. |
| Jason | Let me hear it. Yeah. I think we're, we must be having similar weather. I'm actually wearing shorts today. We hit, uh, we hit like 70 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday and I think it's going to get higher today and tomorrow. And I mean, it's, it's, I mean, you know, it's, it, it feels so good. It's just, it's like I sat outside yesterday in shorts and I got the old Land Rover up and running and started after having it sit all winter and I've been on my bike and it's like, you know, it's so good. It renews your, your hope in the world when, when the snow goes away and the weather gets warm. |
| Nico | Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's going to be, it was, you know, high mid digits for 15 or something yesterday. It's going to be 20 Celsius today. Oh man. Uh, double that and add 34 to get to a Fahrenheit. Uh, and went for a nice walk in high park in the sun. I had like a Patagonia vest on and it was way too hot. It was awesome. Yeah. Birds, squirrels, and went on a bike ride recently. One of the first kind of put the air in the tires and put it out. The bike needs a bit of a service, but otherwise I think it's going to be a pretty good season. Hopefully not too short. Before we get too deep, and I appreciate the weather update as I'm sure everyone does, but before we get too deep into the show, I do want to give folks a heads up that we're recording the March Q&A. So for those on the supporter side, the February Q&A just went up, so that puts us a little bit behind obviously. So we're recording the March Q&A. It'll come up in the next little while, uh, probably mid month, maybe a little bit later, uh, give or take around the time that Jason leaves for Scotland. Uh, but we, we actually have a few slots for some questions this month. So you'd actually get a very fast answer. Um, so if you want, if you've got a question on your mind, it could be something silly, something about watches, something about cars or travel adventure, all the normal topics, whatever you like, record your question as a kind of phone call style into your voice memo app on your phone, and then send us the file. thegraynado.com and we'll add it to the list. I think we've got two or three slots left for the upcoming one. I think it'll be a fun episode. The questions we've already got in there are great. So if you're on the supporter side, you can expect to see that in the next little while. And if you're interested in getting into the Q&A, the Slack, the rest of it, it's five bucks a month and you can visit thegraynado.com support for more options. So I think that's probably it for kind of details. You've got your trip coming up. Are you feeling ready for it? |
| Jason | Uh, more than ready. Um, we're, we're chomping at the bit, you know, we're, we're already starting to talk about packing and, and that sort of thing. And, and I think since we're keeping things deliberately loose in terms of itinerary and not booking places, um, and with access to, uh, a sleepable Land Rover, uh, our friend Lewis over in Scotland, who's lending us his defender sent me a video the other day of, um, he's, he's kindly, uh, gone above and beyond and actually built out a, a sleep platform in the back. um with a uh like a rolling box underneath it to store stuff and a mattress and I mean I said we'd just sleep on the back with sleeping bags and he's he's gone above and beyond so yeah um that really opens up a lot of possibilities for us because we don't then need to you know book hotels ahead of time and that sort of thing so um yeah I'm we're both very excited to go and uh and I'm also excited for this little impromptu get together that that we've cooked up in, in Glasgow. It's at a place called the Finiston pub and it's at six 30 on the 23rd. So anybody in Glasgow or nearby that wants to come, please do. There's, there's plenty of room. I've, I've gotten a lot of responses, both direct messages and then emails at the great NATO at gmail.com with people saying they're going to come and, and it looks like it should be a pretty good turnout and yeah, super excited to, to get over there. Hopefully it won't be too jet lagged and kind of bleary eyed to, to meet people, but I'm sure it'll go just fine. and should be good fun. And also thanks to everybody for the suggestions. I've gotten a lot of advice on where to go and what to see. And certainly we've done our research as well, but it's always good to add to the list. And then if we're driving by some place and see a sign, say, Oh yeah, somebody said that's worth stopping. So that's how we'll do it. |
| Nico | Yeah. You know, we saw in the Slack, like people started talking about plane flights. playing tickets to in the like, oh, it's eighty euros. I was like, I wonder what it would be from Toronto. Well, sadly, not eighty years. |
| Unknown | Yeah, right. |
| Nico | You know, it's like fourteen hundred dollars or something around trip and I was like, I don't know if I can do that for a couple of pints in class. Yeah, right. |
| Unknown | Maybe someday, maybe someday. |
| Nico | All right, take the the TGN PJ. Yeah, yeah, |
| Jason | Are there direct flights, I'm curious, from Toronto to Glasgow? Do you know? We can't get them from here. We have to go through Amsterdam. |
| Nico | I don't think it was direct. I think it was through London or something. It might have been through London. Yeah, that sounds right. But yeah, the direct flight thing, man, I know it's a very specific complaint, but air Canada, get me to Geneva on one plane. Come on, right? |
| Jason | Yeah, it's brutal. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Nico | Yeah. You know, speaking of a little little trips and that sort of thing with the nice weather got up to the cottage this weekend. Every every year around this time, usually the first or second weekend of April, we go up for just a few hours like to make sure the building is still standing. Yeah. that it's not inhabited by a black bear or, you know, thirty five raccoons or something like that. It was a nice drive. The lake is still frozen, but my guess is with the weather that we just described hitting this week, you know, you know, into the teens in the twenties, that'll be that'll be done by next weekend. Yeah. So once that's done and we know that it's not going to be freezing overnight, you know, we can bring the water back into the building and get going with with another great season up there, which I'm Very very excited for so yeah pretty pumped for that. |
| Jason | Yeah. I mean, it's like overnight I mean, I think last week we were talking about snow. We had a big big dump of snow here So it's it. I mean, I don't know what happened to spring this year We've kind of gone right into summer, but I'm not complaining. |
| Nico | So no, I'll take what I can get anything That's not not more shoveling snow or or dealing with the snow is fine I had the the front roof the freedom panels. They're called on the Jeep. The one's just about drivers. |
| Unknown | Oh |
| Nico | Yeah, the front row. I had those off yesterday and went for a drive. The jeeps give me a little bit of trouble with like these, like an evap, a small evap leak that I can't quite figure out. I thought it was the gas cap. The jeep still thinks is the gas cap. It's not. So I've been taking it on these little runs to try and test a few things out. But I had a very nice drive yesterday with with the top off. So, you know, depending on on space and everything, I think we you know, the last... It was a couple of years ago that we actually took the full top off and put the soft top on for the summer. Oh, yeah. And the issue is having somewhere to store the hard top. Right. And I think at this point, that storage space in my garage is exclusively bicycles. So it may be another summer with the hard top staying on, but we'll see, we'll see. Yeah, yeah. Could you store it at the cottage? I could. I worry about, you know, animals getting into the space. You know, it's essentially like, depending on how you store it, I guess I could hoist it in the barn, so it'd be off the ground. Yeah, so that would be an option. Yeah, certainly. And then, as I mentioned on a on a previous Q and A, like I'm moving later in the summer. Oh, sure. Midsummer. So theoretically, the new place could have something like a shed or a garage or that sort of thing where it could be stored. So we'll see. I haven't found a place yet, but yeah, that's that's on the horizon to as is the possibility of more parking spots, which could be a very expensive Proposition for your boy. |
| Jason | Yeah. Yeah. Apropos of today's, uh, today's episode where we're all, yeah. And speaking of, speaking of vehicles, um, and, and Land Rover specifically, in addition to getting the, the series three, um, up and running, and by the way, it started on like the first turn after sitting for five months. Oh, that's great. I also got a much smaller Land Rover. Uh, I got this new Lego icons edition defender build kit. Um, this is not one of the speed champions because it takes about four days to build. I think if it's anything like the, the other defender that I built a few years ago, this one's got like 2,300 pieces or something crazy like that. So looking forward to, to diving into that at some point, we were taking care of a cat for a while as a kind of foster home. And I didn't want to bust out all these tiny little pieces that a cat would enjoy playing with. So now that the cat's gone back. to its, uh, to its other home. Um, maybe it's time to crack this open and give that a go, but I'm excited to, uh, to build that one. Absolutely. It's kind of strange talking about, uh, you know, in interest in Legos, we had one of our neighbors stop in and, and this was sitting on the dining room table and she's like, Oh, you, you know, you're, so you're, you're into Lego building. And I was like, well, not, I wouldn't say I'm into Lego building. It's like very specific one. You look around and I've got the big Saturn five rocket in my office. And then we've got like the other defender up on a bookcase and it's, uh, It is getting a little out of hand, but, uh, it's a slippery slope. It is a slippery slope. Yeah. |
| Nico | Yeah. Well, look, I want to jump into risk check. And then I think we have a really fun topic. If you're, even if you're not, uh, necessarily like a big car nerd, I think it'll be kind of a fun, uh, chit chat. We've got sort of a back and forth interview style thing going with, um, some of our automotive histories, which is something that we talk about a lot, but realize like we don't really talk about it that commonly on the show. And after so many watches, uh, last week. with the watches and wonders episode. We figured this might be a nice kind of yin and yang to that. But the one thing I did want to bring up before we get to risk check is because I forgot rudely on last episode is a shout out to Kenneth from Arkin watches. So we talked about Arkin, if you remember back on episode 156, which was like a preview of a bunch of like indie dive watches that we were excited about, or just watches in general that we're excited about. And the Arkin, It's a titanium dive watch that sold out. I think they made 300 pieces. Because it sold out and just because of the timing and the rest of it, I didn't really dig in and ask to get one on loan or that sort of thing. And I was at Time to Watches. I just had my meeting with Zen. I was ordering a roast beef on a bagel and a beer to sit quietly and have an actual calm meal, which isn't that common to do at Pal Expo with the pace that we were keeping. and somebody came up and said hi, and it was this guy, Kenneth, or Ken from Arkin, and he hung out with me while I ate and then walked all the way down to Jorn with me, which is if you know where Time to Watch is, is in Geneva, and then walked to FP Jorn. It's not a small walk, really lovely guy. I'm super impressed by the watch. nice size, very distinctive, like a unique sort of presence and feel. Whoever got any one of these instrumentums, which is the first dive watch series from Arkin, you did really well. Titanium. There's a shot on my Instagram you can check out, but I did want to give a shout out to Ken for just the kindness of walking and talking with me. He's a TGN guy, so I'm sure he's listening to this. Jason, I think you're going to see him in Scotland, an absolute sweetheart. And if you want a new brand, to kind of follow along with I've seen what they what they're coming out with next. And it's the sort of thing I would put my own money into. So if that sounds interesting, hit the show notes for the links. And obviously, it's our can watch co on Instagram. So check that out and a big a big shout out to Ken and a thank you for the chit chat. So I hope you have a lovely time at the hangout in in Scotland. |
| Jason | Yeah. I'm excited to meet him and see that watch in person as well. I remember talking about that. And every time I see a picture of it, I'm like, I wonder what that's like in person, because it's a wild looking piece, not like anything else. So that's a hats off to him. Yeah. |
| Nico | Yeah. I'll include, I shot a few at the table next to my roast beef sandwich. I'll include some photos of the watch in the show notes. So check that out if you want a stronger peek at, well, you know, they're sold out. So that is what it is, but a cool thing and a nice guy. And, you know, it was, it was a treat to see what they're working on in the future. So cool. With that, you want to jump into some wrist check? Yeah, sure. |
| Jason | I've got my Blancpain Bathyscaphe, the Hodinkee LE from a few years ago. It's a watch I don't wear a ton because Ghoshani wears it a lot. And since I got my own 50 Fathoms, which is more Jason-sized, she tends to wear this one, which is 38 millimeters, but I sneaked it onto my wrist and just still enjoying it. I mean, such a great little watch. Yeah, those are killer. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | So I remember that we hung out in the city a long, long time ago and went to the Explorers Club for a drink and that's the watch you had on and I tried it on there. I have a shot of it probably still on my Instagram. Really, really nice. I mean that, you know, Blancpain's in that like two or three brands that are left that I would absolutely love to own a watch from. |
| Unknown | Yeah, yeah. |
| Nico | A Fifty Fathoms would definitely be in there and I think that's probably my favorite bathyscaphe. |
| Jason | Yeah, and I get that a lot from people and I have to agree. I mean, it's it hit all the right notes in terms of, you know, kind of the coloring and the matte dial and the size and no date and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, it's. I'm definitely lucky to have it, and it's fun to wear it. What what have you got on? |
| Nico | Well, as an aside, before I have something that we talked about, which will be fun, I'll get to in just a moment. But while we're talking Houdinki Aulis, if anybody wanted a group B chronograph, They just launched as we're recording this. Yeah, those look incredible. Yeah. Yeah, it's really rad, fully inspired by like specific liveries from the Group B series. So shout out to that one. But what I have on my wrist today, I'm not even lying. I took the Pelagos off, believe it or not, and I have the new Timex Q3 time zone chronograph. |
| Unknown | Oh, yeah. |
| Nico | So when they announced these, I immediately wrote them and asked if they could send me one. So I have a black one. those I can answer the question with the black one. There's at least one fella on the TGN slack with a white one and it looks awesome and the short of it is is for the money. This thing is real good. I'll do a full hands on for holding key the rest of it, but it's a really nice size. The bracelet is weirdly long, so if your wrist is significantly smaller than seven inches, consider just going with the rubber or or know that you might have to swap it off off the bracelet, but I think there's there is one two... I think there's three removable links left as I'm counting here, but I took a good inch and a half out of it. Wow. So if you have big wrists, that's the watch for you. If you have big wrists, that's your option for sure. Yeah, yeah. Not especially thick. I didn't measure it, but it definitely isn't wearing any thicker than my normal sports watches. Yeah. And nicely made steel. It's a tension fit, bi-directional 12 hour bezel. So that's one of the first questions that came up. and then allow me to walk you through the functionality. This is gonna be easier if you look at a photo of the watch, which there'll be links in the show notes, of course. So the three time zones are your local hands, obviously the normal hand, and that is a jump set, so you can jump set the main time display, but only forward. Okay. If you rotate the crown the other direction, you advance the date. |
| Unknown | Oh, |
| Nico | Right. So that's one that gives you one time zone, which you could refer against the 12 hour bezel or on its own. That's up to you. The second time zone is from the 12 hour bezel. So that's probably how you would very quickly refer to another zone. And then finally, the third time zone, there's a GMT hand, which as I surmised in the previous episode and had confirmed by Timex by the time the show launched, but not when we recorded it, the GMT style hand. So it's a red hand with an arrow tip looks like a GMT hand. It's actually a 12 hour hand. that is tied to a twenty four hour display. So it's basically a more legible way of reading the twenty four hour display, but it's in two twelve hour cycles. It's a weird setup. Yeah, depending on how you wanted to set this thing up, you could you could actually track three time zones. Yeah, yeah, like you could leave the twenty four hour hand or the you could leave the red twelve hour twenty four hours and I'm not sure what to call it on UTC and then always have the ability to go. Oh, it's plus five of what's being indicated here. Technically, the red hand isn't even needed like you brought up in the previous episode. You can read twenty four hour time off of the sub dial at twelve. Yeah, and then on top of that you have a date at four thirty. This is one of the one of the other reasons I prefer the white version versus the black is it's a white date wheel. I think it looks better and a little bit more subtle on the white version and it has nice black accents and then you have a sixty minute chronograph not overly difficult to use or set up with a little bit of practice. And then once you're good, you've got this ability to, um, jump set your local. So if you do land somewhere else, you could leave the 24 hour hand on home. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | Jump set the local and then run an offset from the local back to UTC. There's your three time zones. If you're actively traveling. Amazing. Yeah. For the money. I think this is a no brainer, especially again in the white, there's a green version. That's timex.com only. I believe that's only on a rubber strap as well, but that could be on a steel on their site, I'm not sure. Again, for the money, I think it's $240 on the bracelet. This thing's killer. If you need a travel watch, if you don't mind quartz, it wears like all the other cues. I have three or four other cues, the Hodinkee Ellie's we've done in the past. It wears just like those, maybe a hair thinner, maybe a hair thicker. I'll do the full sizing, the weight, the comparison to another version in the hands-on for Hodinkee. So by the time this comes up, it'll be probably a week later, something like that, that that'll be ready. But for the money, if you want a pretty flexible travel watch that also gives you a useful additional complication in the chronograph, I don't know. I think this is a winner. It feels pretty good in the hand. It doesn't feel like a cheap watch. Yeah. I'd probably want this before I would spend the same money on a G-Shock, right? Yeah. But I've been super impressed with it. It's a fun watch. |
| Jason | That's cool. And so that I remember when we were discussing it last time, We were trying to figure out whether the correspondence between the 24 hour hand and that second hour hand with the big arrow was a kind of a Photoshop anomaly because it's slaved together, right? So if it's four o'clock, it should say four or 16, right? |
| Nico | Yeah, I can't. Yeah, exactly. I can't. I can't get it to unlink. And then, yeah, so you can basically set the 24 hour time however you want and then set the minutes at the same time. and then just move the local hand one hour jumps forward and then correct the date. So it's not as it doesn't have that normal natural flyer GMT date back and forward, that sort of thing. Yeah. But again, it's $240 and it's not that much like it's not, this isn't the easiest one, but it is a lot of functionality for the money. And I think it's a cool thing. It's also just a weird thing that they made. It's neat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason | Yeah. That's cool. |
| Nico | All right. You want to get into some, a little bit of car talk. I think that was a famous car podcast. |
| Jason | Yeah, right. Yes, indeed. Yeah. I feel like we've, uh, you know, we haven't done a real sort of car themed one. I mean, we've had some kind of automotive personalities on before, you know, Henry Catchpole, et cetera, but you and I have never kind of just discussed our own history or preferences, um, kind of in a full episode format. So, uh, should be fun. And I, I like kind of the list we have here. It's not, you know, kind of dream car stuff. It's just like, well, let's jump into it. I mean, let's just, let's just go for it. |
| Nico | Yeah. We have a little bit of dream car stuff, but that's towards the end. I want to get kind of the, I want your CV, your curriculum verite of driving. So this is kind of a weird idea. We'll see if it works. We'll see if people like it. You know, we're not, it's, it's a title that's not going to have Rolex or Tudor or Seiko in it. So it's not going to be the most, uh, you know, high performing episode, but I think it'll be a fun chat. I think we'll kick it off where you start, like who taught you to drive and what was that vehicle? |
| Jason | And, uh, I remember him very distinctly and, and they actually had sort of the classroom. It was almost like getting, uh, uh, scuba diving training. Cause they had like the classroom portion and then you had the actual practical application of it. But we did, um, we had a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, Kind of the classroom theory stuff. And then in the parking lot of, of our high school, they had like a double wide trailer with rows of driving simulators in them in the back of the school. So when, after you were done with the classroom, like you'd march out like today, the day we're going to be in the simulator and we go out to the simulator and this thing, they must've had it since I swear the 1950s. I'm not that old. And these simulators had. Um, if you wanted to, it had, you know, a brake and gas pedals and a little dashboard. And then they projected the driving scene on a screen in front of everybody, I think. But you could, you could choose whether you want it to drive an automatic or get this a three on the tree stick shift. I mean, that's how old this thing was. And you know, nobody even knew what three on the tree was. I mean, we're talking, this was in the 1980s. And so it was like, you know, there weren't vehicles. |
| Nico | They had been long since retired. Yeah. Um, but I always remember the Chevy two or something like among the last cars to have three on the tree crazy for those who for those on the younger side. That's a stick shift, but it's on the column kind of like you see in a cop car or a oh yeah, you know, like a minivan like almost everything has a center console shifter or a button, but you know you'd have this one and you'd have a clutch and everything and there was kind of this weird pattern, but when people say three on the tree, that's what they mean. |
| Jason | Yeah, it was crazy. So, so we, we did this in the simulator and then there was a different teacher that I believe you had to pay separately. You could either go through a private agency to do your driver's ed or the school had their own program that you'd pay for. And I suppose this was all with the goal of giving you the skills you needed. Then you'd go and take your test. And you know, I guess I could have had a relative teach me or something like that, but I went through the school program and that's how I learned. And then practice, I suppose, with a, with a permit on, on one of our family cars until I, uh, until I bought my first car, which we'll get to in a bit here. But what was your learning experience like? |
| Nico | Yeah, so mine is a little bit different than yours and also includes something when we get to our crash history. So I was obsessed, like my number one obsession growing up was cars, like from about the time I could read. It was car magazines, it was toy cars, it was going to car shows, it was seeing cars. There was a guy down the street from me, named Elgin when I was in kindergarten, who's rebuilding a series two Corvette. Oh cool. Beautiful Corvette and my parents knew that we lived like a block from my school and my parents knew that if I didn't come home, I had stopped to talk with Elgin as he was working on this Corvette and I was just kind of obsessed with this stuff growing up and then I was obviously like so keyed in. I memorized the book to pass the test And then on the day of my birthday in when I would have turned sixteen, the group, the Ministry of Transportation went on strike in Canada or in Ontario. Sorry. So I couldn't I like nothing like I got out of school to go get my test. It was like the biggest thing for me and they were they went on strike. So I couldn't do it. And I remember I the next time we could do it was my dad's birthday, which is what two and a half months later and went past the course got what's called a G one, which is your learner's permit. and basically was just constantly trying to get seat time with either of my parents. And then you do a certain amount of time with your G1, and then if you do something called young drivers, they shorten the amount of time before you can go for your G2, which is your actual... You can basically drive, it's close to a full permit. There's a few restrictions, but we don't need to get into the weeds on that. So I went and did young drivers. It's like a driver's ed course that's offered. It's a bunch in class and then a certain number of hours in the car. And that's how I did it. The car was a 97, 98 Cavalier red. Oh, okay. I'll we'll get to that in the crashes, how that how it worked out for that car, but and then I when I when I actually started like in earnest, like learning to drive or driving more commonly, it might I think the going vehicle in my in my family was a shiv boville van nine passenger. I have five siblings right, so this is this is the family truckster or whatever you'd call it yeah. And I think it was that one. And then when we get to my quote unquote first car, which is the next question there, that's where it kind of like expanded beyond there. But at the time, you know, my dad had any number of, of jeeps, whether it was he was a Cherokee and grand Cherokee owner at the time. And then we had this Boville, but the, the earliest, like learn, like quote unquote learning to drive was either in like, yeah, one of like a early nineties Cherokee which I still love, those XJs are great. Yeah. Or, or a 90's Chevy Boville, you know, nine passenger. That couldn't have been easy to drive. |
| Jason | It's kind of big for... Yeah. |
| Nico | I mean, like if, if I have this thing where like if it has a steering wheel, I'm in. Yeah. I've never seen, like even I dropped my kids off at school today and there was a garbage truck, like awkwardly backing out of the school and onto a very busy street. Yeah. I was like, Oh, I would love to drive this. And so like a nine passenger van was could have been a Ferrari for all I care when I was 16, 17. Yeah, it was freedom too, like everybody says. Yeah, right. Yeah. All right. So for you proper, whether you can take your pick, how you interpret your first car, whether it's the first one that had your name on the ownership or maybe you were on the insurance, I'm not sure how it works in the States for that kind of thing, or maybe it was the first one that you bought, but what was kind of your first, your first car? |
| Jason | Yeah, my first car was, it was a 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit. Um, and it had 220,000 miles on the odometer. I think I saw an ad in the paper for, for this car. I was, I had a certain budget, which wasn't much. Um, you know, I was, I had the kind of jobs where you're like, you're cutting grass. I remember I had a job building picnic tables, kind of, you know, after school and that sort of thing. I saw this ad, um, and I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I think the guy probably advertised it for $800. And I remember driving, it was on the far side of Milwaukee. I was living in Milwaukee and, and I approached this guy, I think I got dropped off there and I offered him, Oh, he was asking $750. And I, I thought, okay, I'm going to do my best negotiating. And I offered him $725. And I think, I think he kind of knew, knew that I wasn't very experienced at this. And he's like, Oh, sure. I'll, I'll, I'll come down to that. You know? So I gave him $725. Um, oh, my mother drove me there and she waited on the street. I didn't want her like coming along for the negotiation. I wanted to kind of be the adult here. And then, then of course she had to follow me home, uh, in her car and I was driving this rabbit, but I didn't know how to drive a stick shift. So I taught myself like how to drive a stick shift on the drive home. Sure. And it happened to be like rush hour traffic in Milwaukee on the far side of town. And it was a nightmare and it was a hot day. And I remember, you know, pulling up to stoplights and just being terrified of what was going to happen. And I'd look in my rear view mirror and my mom was like smiling, encouragingly and thumbs up, you know, kind of waving. She was probably terrified as well. And it was a lot of lurching, lots of shaking, rattling, et cetera. I, I got the thing home. And by that time I was probably by necessity, fairly proficient in, in driving a stick shift by that time. But it's, it's funny because. all of that rattling and lurching and killing the car at stoplights actually rattled loose part of the exhaust system, which was probably on its last legs. And so when I started and was driving like a day or two later, the muffler completely fell off and it got very loud. All of a sudden I didn't even realize it was my own car. And, um, and so then I had to get it fixed. And I remember by this time I'd spent all my money buying the car. And I remember it was one of those scenarios where I was literally like counting my last nickels and pennies to take it to the muffler shop and have them, uh, replace or fix the exhaust system. And which I did, but I had a lot of memories and a lot of my early years were defined by Volkswagen ownership. And I remember with that car, it had black vinyl seats. It had a single like speedometer in the middle, four speed stick, no radio. I mean, this thing was absolutely bare bones. I remember I could easily just kind of take all the seats out. Which I did when I was like moving apartments, I took out the back bench and the front passenger seat, and it became like this little truck. And I hauled stuff in that thing. I learned how to kind of do some basic, you know, repairs. I remember replacing a thermostat and changing the oil and some gaskets and things in that car. So I have, I have very warm memories of that. Old, very bare bones car. And every time I see an old rabbit, which isn't very often these days, uh, I get a little warm, fuzzy feeling. So, yeah, it was a good car to start with for sure. It was a good car to start with. Yeah. Yeah. How about you? I think you were, was yours the S 10 or something like that? |
| Nico | The blazer? No, my brother had an S 10. Oh, the blazer. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it was a post K blazer, but that was, I guess, um, that might've been the first one. That's funny. I didn't even think about that in talking about this and planning it, that that was probably the first one that had my name on the ownership. Okay. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | I bought that for a dollar from my uncle who had who had it from my grandfather and my grandfather bought it brand new. There was a two door four wheel drive. That's cool. Chevy blazer. That's a cool really cool and he had kept my grandpa was like an obsessive when it came to keeping things. Yeah, so it was in perfect condition and then went to my uncle where it kind of became a bit of a farm vehicle and then it sat for a long time. Yeah, so it had some terrible rust problems that eventually led to me not being... It couldn't be... It wasn't really safe on the road. Oh, yeah. And thin metal, that sort of thing. But it had that ridiculous 4.3, so you wouldn't believe how bad the gas mileage was, especially if you were in your late teens and driving it like I was. Yeah. But on the other hand, it had tires that were maybe four inches wide in the rear. Yeah. So if it was rainy or snowy, you're just Mika Hakkinen, just driving out the side windows, one lock to the other the whole time. And then if you actually needed grip, you could just reach down on the floor and it was, you know, an auto locking four wheel drive. That was actually like a little tractor. It would just go and go. And I liked that a lot. It probably informed a lot of my decisions to like later buy something like the Wrangler. Yeah. Was it red? I always picture those red. It was blue. It was blue and it was faded like a recycling bin. Oh, at one point I've seen pictures of it. It was like metallic blue. Yeah, but my first car proper like the car that I put most of my worst behavior into the driver's seat was an eight hundred dollar one thousand nine hundred and ninety four cavalier wagon three point one V six. It was a little rocket fourteen inch wheels, front wheel drive, blue cloth interior. So it's blue on blue metallic blue. Sure, I got it and did all the things you do put a stereo in it tended the windows. |
| Unknown | Yeah, |
| Nico | It had some rust, which I learned to fix, like do the bondo thing, try and have some guy paint match to a rattle can. So in the sunlight, it didn't quite, you know, it was pretty blotchy. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | And that was a that was an absolutely fantastic car. I drove that through several times, you know, several eras of going to university and that sort of thing. And it put up a good fight. It was a fun car. when we get to the ticket story, I've got a pretty decent ticket I earned in that car and it was faster than you would have expected anyways. Yeah, but yeah, that was my that was my first and then to follow yours like because you told us how you learned to drive stick. I would say that I kind of learned stick probably when my dad bought his Wrangler, which was the first kind of stick thing he'd had since the Red Ranger like a decade or more before. Yeah, so like I'm sure I drove sticker in a field at the farm as an eight or nine year old, but not really anything more than that yeah, and then he got the Wrangler and I think gave me a couple lessons. The idea was like you know if there was an emergency, I sure get you know you could get the car to a hospital or something, but I wasn't proficient and then I think the next time you guys will roll your eyes real hard at this. The next time I probably drove stick like in earnest was like I lived in Vancouver and it was loaned a press car. That was a stick And then I bought the jeep. Oh yeah, and I bought the jeep and like it was a it was pretty rocky getting at home. It wasn't bad. I don't think I heard it or anything. And I know like just because of the love of cars, like I understand the mechanics of what you're doing when you're driving stick, which I think helps if you're not just kind of trying to learn based exclusively on feel. But that was my absolute like going from a novice to someone who can actually drive stick in, in, you know, different vehicles in different settings and, and, you know, bad weather and, you know, he wanted to go fast sort of scenarios. That was all just in the last few years when I, when I committed to having one as my daily. |
| Jason | Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's funny, you know, when you kind of commit to that and you, and you just a stick shift becomes like your daily driver, you, you almost can't think of not having that. Um, Oh, I'd really miss it. Yeah. I mean, other than the frustration of, you know, when we took the defender down to, wind up in Chicago last year, the Chicago traffic and a, and a heavy, uh, old Land Rover clutch. It wasn't a good combination, but other than a scenario like that, I just, I never want another, you know, kind of automatic or, or I don't want to be without a stick shift car to use. Let's put it that way. It doesn't have to be the daily driver, but I I've ever since that first Volkswagen, we've always had, I, or we have always had something with a stick shift, um, parked outside. And, and I just, I just liked that. It's kind of good to see. I think they're starting to come back a little bit, maybe. |
| Nico | I think some of the manufacturers are... Yeah, I think that we're down... Jalopnik publishes a list every year of the cars you can still buy stick, and it's definitely getting smaller. But on the other hand, Gordon Murray, with the T-Series, offered the T33 with a DCT, with a paddle shift, and the take rate was zero. Oh, wow. Nobody wanted it, so they canceled it. Wow. So I think it depends on the vehicle. You know, I think it's crazy that we live in a time when you can't buy a stick Ferrari. Yeah, having driven both, you know, automatic and stick Ferraris, I would rather a slower, more difficult experience with a stick than than these like, you know, I had a GTC for Lusso for several weeks and it's a four seater like wagon thing with a V 12 And the whole time you're going like, wow, this is great, but I'm just going way too fast. Oh yeah. Yeah. And then you go to, I went to LA and grab that Miata that we've talked about and you're like, oh man, I'm, I feel like I'm going fast. And then I looked out and I'm just keeping it. It's perfect. |
| Jason | Right. |
| Nico | And, and I think some vehicles really like a, like an older defender with an auto, like why? Yeah. Yeah. Or like a Wrangler like mine, in my mind, it had to be a state. Yeah. Right. right. It just suits it and I knew I was buying the car just for me. I don't drive that often and even in the worst possible, I mean I've driven it to Manhattan. Yeah, yeah, I've you know, I don't I don't like the clutch is very forgiving. It's probably near the end of its life. Yeah, it's having a little bit of link up issues, but that's it's fine. I mean two hundred and twenty thousand kilometers we passed this week, so it's going fine and I really feel there's a I feel a preference towards keeping a vehicle and rather than, you know, keeping the cycle going of the new cars and what goes into them and the rest of it. Yeah. So yeah, I've been I've been super happy with it. And like you, I'm not saying everything I'm ever going to own moving forward would be stick. If it was just me driving it, it would. Yeah, but there'll be a point where there's not none left, right? That could be like a normal daily car, right? Like in a bunch of cars. I really like don't they don't make them. You can't buy a new defender with a stick. I think that would be super good. Yeah, you can't buy, you know, a Mercedes E Series wagon with a stick. It would also be great, right? But you can buy like a CT5 Blackwing, right? You know, those big, big high horsepower Cadillac with a six speed, and I'd be down for that in a big way. So yeah, the stick thing remains like a low key obsession, and I love how much more fun it is to drive something slow like the Wrangler or even slow fast like the Miata, but when you have the stick. Yeah. I haven't driven an older Land Rover, so I can't compare the the clutch, but if you say it's heavy, then it's probably very much on the heavy side. I don't believe the Jeep to be an especially heavy clutch. Yeah. |
| Jason | Yeah. And it's funny when I switched from the defender to the old series three, which from the mid seventies, um, and it's a, it's a four speed. It's, um, it's, it's even more, it's more difficult. It's not a heavy clutch in that one. Strangely, I would have thought it would have been heavier or equally, but it's a more vague, it's more vague and it's, um, I believe the clutch is near the end of its life as well and the engagement point's very high and it pops out of some gears. I mean, it takes some finesse to run that one. And then there's an overdrive stick that you push forward, you know, to kind of mimic a fifth gear above a certain speed. And you can use that in any gear. So you can actually go from first gear to first gear overdrive to second gear to second gear. You know, it's got like eight forward speeds. And yeah, it's a reduction gear of some sort. It's, uh, it's crazy. That's cool. But, uh, yeah. How about, um, mishaps any, uh, any scary crashes or, or memorable ones? |
| Nico | Yeah. I mean, I got, I'm, I, I look back on this and I'm not superstitious, so there's no knocking wood or anything, but I got incredibly lucky. I spent the first several years of my driving career. driving like a complete maniac, like no gray matter, no appreciation for the fact that like I could die, someone else could die, other people in the car, all those sorts of things. I think I've talked a bit about it before. I just love driving that much that it would like take over how I would drive. Yeah. And I just wasn't mature enough at in my early teens or in my mid to late teens. But my only accident to date was the first time my first drive with driver's ed. Oh, Wow! Yeah, it was... I hadn't done much night driving at that point. I was very new to driving. I had done maybe a couple hours with my parents around town, that sort of thing. Yeah. And it was like a driver's ed scenario where the one kid in training, one driver in training came and picked me up with the instructor, and then we drove that person to their house, which was in the town over from where I grew up. And coming back, it was just kind of bad conditions, not an incredible car, the rest of it and a brand new driver behind the wheel, put a front wheel in the gravel on a turn in a country road. Both myself and my instructor jumped on the brakes, which ended up being too much brake. Oh, car lost control of the rear wheel, hit the gravel as well, and we ended up on the roof in the ditch. Oh, wow. So that was like, you know, our four or five of driving. Yeah. You know, cops came, did the hanging upside down, letting go of the seatbelt thing from the movies. Everybody was fine, nobody was hurt. I don't even think we were going very quickly, all things concerned, and I got really lucky that nobody got hurt, no other cars involved. Obviously, a driver's ed car, if you're gonna crash a car, that's the one to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There were no... There were really no repercussions. I think like two or three weeks later, I continued the course with the same person. Oh, wow. And just finished. Yeah. And since then, I'm definitely not gonna attribute it to skill, But I've just been very lucky in that I've become a more cautious driver than I was. And I think in my younger years, I just got lucky that wrong place, wrong time didn't happen several times. How about you? Any kind of major shunts, crashes, that sort of thing? |
| Jason | Yeah. I had a kind of a mortifying moment, uh, back in, gosh, I was probably still in high school and my, my dad had a long commute from Milwaukee down to Chicago and he had replaced this little Renault, um, that he was driving for something more comfortable. And it was a 1982 BMW five 28. Um, so great, uh, eight 28 series car, um, four door black with a kind of tan leather and a sunroof. I mean, it was a, it was a beautiful car. And, um, if I, If I washed it for him, he would give me the keys and let me drive it. Occasionally I'd take it out with friends and it was, it was such a pleasure, you know, for like someone 17 years old, 18, it was, I just felt like, you know, king of the world driving that thing. And then, uh, I don't know, a year or so later he was, I think he was out of town on a business trip or something. And I took it out for a drive and it was winter, um, really bad, bad idea, bad judgment. And, and the roads were slick and this was, you know, an older, I super powerful, but you know, rear wheel drive car, no traction control, no, no snow tires. Yeah, for sure. And I was on the interstate and, um, hit a patch of ice and just started spinning. Um, fortunately did not hit another car. I'm not sure how that happened. Uh, but I slammed into the barriers between the two sides of the, of the interstate, uh, quite hard and kind of bounced around a bit. And then I remembered that sick feeling. I wasn't hurt, but the car was pretty, pretty torn up in the back, um, mainly the, the rear bumper, um, you know, and, and probably some heavy duty alignment issues. And I just remember being just, just sickened and horrified by that. Oh, it's a bad feeling. Yeah, it was a, it was a bad feeling, you know, no injuries, no, no big deal. Um, but then I had, uh, I guess my bad luck kind of comes in BMWs cause years later I had a three 18, um, TI, which was a little, little hatchback BMW. Um, Like you've shared a photo of you with that car. That was a cool car. I really enjoyed that car. Um, but again, winter on the highway, spun out, went into the ditch. Um, that time, very minimal damage, not a big deal. And then I think the one that I'm most gutted or heartbroken by was one of my dream cars after I had that very first Volkswagen rabbit, you know, rabbit, um, sorry, Volkswagen was making. Um, that was in the early days of the GTI. It was the mark one GTI. Um, and, and I, I actually found a pretty mint condition, well-maintained mark one, uh, rabbit GTI white with black stripes, um, kind of that funky blue plaid seat with the golf ball shaped, uh, shifter crank open sunroof. I'm just, it was my dream car. It was absolutely my dream car to this day. If I could find another one like that, I would, I would buy it. It, it was. It was quick. It was, it was fun. Um, anyway, I had it for maybe two months during, during the summer that I got it and was just minding my own business. Pulled up to a stop sign, stopped, continued on through and got T-boned from the side, from the passenger side by an older woman driving an even older, like Buick, big thing, huge car. Sure. Just crushed. Just got Skylarked. That's tough. Skylarked. Yes. Just crushed it. And it was totaled. The insurance, you know, just said, sorry, you know, we're not. And I suppose I could have, you know, paid for, I mean, I just didn't have the money to pay whatever it was totaled. And, and man, I didn't, I didn't get to enjoy that car long enough. I, to this day, I really miss that, that old car. It was such a beauty. |
| Nico | But, uh, what about, um, you don't have the need for speed that I've got, but any like any impressive tickets or funny, funny interactions with, uh, law enforcement, that sort of thing. |
| Jason | I've had, there was, there was one year, I think it was with that 318 BMW that I got like three tickets over the course of one summer. Um, and you know, we're not talking, you know, going a hundred or anything like that. I was, you know, over the speed limit is probably doing 80 or something, but I, I think that car was, was just fun to drive. And so I did a lot of kind of, you know, aggressive sort of passing on the, on the freeway and just driving faster than I should and got three tickets, but no, I've never had any like. you know, really full on like egregious, egregious speeding tickets. How about you? Have you ever, ever gotten thrown in the clink for going, you know, 120 or anything like that? |
| Nico | So I have a very, like I have a clean record now and I was always very fearful of getting speeding tickets, especially because the, I don't know, maybe the insurance thing is a little bit different in the States. It's expensive here. And if you're a young driver, they're, they're really Hawkeye. It takes years. And I think seven years for a ticket to fall off your record. So I remember early on driving to and from university. I went to McMaster University and I didn't live on campus. I lived at home. Yeah, the the one that all that really changed me and the way that I drove was I remember I was coming back from a very late night at school studying, but it was also like it was probably a night of the week when they could have assumed partying not studying like it was a Thursday night, something like that. Yeah in January, just after winter break and was coming back in the Cavalier and was driving along a road kind of between in the Haldeman County area. I won't give it. It won't be too specific, I suppose, but I was coming along this road and it's this long, fairly straight road and there's a big section with no stop signs like where you're away from people's houses for the most part. Yeah, and you know being 19, I guess or whatever. I just figured like I'll see how fast it goes. |
| Unknown | Yeah, |
| Nico | It was nice, cool air. I figured it's, you know, it'll be a comfortable thing. I knew I'd check the tire pressures that day. So I was like comfortable with the quality of the tires, the rest of it. And I just kept it pinned for kilometers. Wow. Yeah. And kilometers and kilometers and kilometers. And then as, as I'm driving and I'm coming up to like where you do have to kind of make a decision to slow down, especially in a car that's not designed to essentially like, I think the GM limit that, you know, would be about 175, 177 kilometers, something like that. Yeah. and I just I don't really know because it was just the needle was on the little holder stopper like for some time and I was just like this is great. I'm having a blast out here all by myself. I see another set of headlights and I go like well roll the dice. What are the chances right? Yeah, yeah, and I shoot by in the lights come on immediately break lights and then and then roof and I'm in a moment. I go like oh this. So this is before now there's a street racing law. So I would have gone to jail. The car would have been impounded all that kind of thing. Luckily, this is long before that existed in my mind. I went well, I just won't stop yeah yeah and and I realized I realized oh, but ahead of me is a T junction yeah at a river. Oh yeah, and I had never slowed this car down from the speed. We were going little tiny breaks not great. You know all this kind of stuff. So I was like no, I should probably just come to a controlled stop and and try and deal with this. Yeah, and I thought for sure, like you know, lose the license might, I'm gonna have to call my dad at two in the morning to come pick me up and tell him the car's been taken and the rest of this or all I was like, you know what I'm not gonna do, I'll walk home yeah and it was miles. I was no, I was not in town yet and and so I remember going through all this and the other thing I remember is I'm sitting on the I pull over slow down, take some time, I pull over, it's like probably like a kilometer to pull over and I wait a long time before the cop shows up behind me, huh? Because I think they I was moving. |
| Unknown | Yeah, right. |
| Nico | Like I we put some gap and I don't think it was a woman and I don't think she thought I was going to stop and she got out like hand on the gun. Oh, wow. Flashlight all the rear windows. It was like me. There's a kid seat in the back and then there's like one of those family size like toilet paper packs in the back, you know for ballast. Yeah, right. And she came to the window real angry. Yeah. Why like she couldn't believe I stopped. She couldn't believe that I wasn't like drunk or running guns or like she was and I was like no, I just just you know, I was coming home from school and in a good mood and thought I'd say how fast it was. She's like you gotta be the dumbest person I've ever met. I remember her saying that yeah, you're, you're probably right, and so she left and came back and left and came back and left it came back and like I said, it was just just early January twelve thirteenth of January, something like that, and after a bunch of this and we we talked and she explained how much trouble I was in because for her, she said it was like a hundred and seventy six and a sixty. Oh whoa yeah, oh my gosh kph for those listening kph and and I don't there's like at the time. I didn't know that you should ask to get that verified like I didn't feel like I was in a position to fight this ticket. Yeah, I was just hoping to get home with the car right, even if I had to like if she to escort me back and then take cut up my license in the driveway. whatever it is. And she went back and forth and it took like 30 minutes. And then she said, all right, you know, just so you're aware, I've made a note on your license that this is what we actually got you for, but here's your actual ticket. Merry Christmas. Oh, and it was for 15 over no points. Oh, so that was the last speeding ticket I ever got in Canada. I paid that and felt like, well, that's that's your one chance. Yeah, yeah. slow slow down right right and and so I that one always kind of weighs on me. I've got that scar somewhere inside yeah inside my brain when I'm driving and now, of course, I drive something you couldn't go anywhere near that quickly in in the jeep, but there's that one and then I think I've talked about on on the on the show before, but I got a I got pulled over in Germany in a Porsche Panamera doing one hundred and thirty five in an eighty And that was on the brakes. I only went to the brake because a guy on a motorcycle came the other way. We're in the hills, like in the mountains, the foothills. Yeah. A guy on a motorcycle came the other way and gave me the sign to slow down. And so I was deep into the brakes by the time they got the gun on me, but I just made a pass. I had passed a work truck of some sort. It was a 550 horsepower sedan. Yeah. What I didn't realize is, were I a German person, or at least as the cop told me when she calmed down, she's really angry. I got pulled over and I was told that if I was because I was there and I had like this international driver's permit, yeah, which is like a way of protecting your license in these scenarios. And so I give her that in my passport and she's like kicking dust, like real mad about about it. And she was saying that if you're a German citizen, your license would be suspended for 90 days or something for going that fast. Yeah, and we went back and forth and I thought like man, what is she gonna do? Like how bad is this gonna be? I'm just trying to get to the point where she tells me how much it is so I can pay it and go. I've got dinner to get to, I'm on a press trip. I've got a guy in the right seat with me, like another journalist. And so finally she's like, well, it's gonna be so much money. You're in so much trouble financially and all these sorts of things. And in my mind, I'm thinking like, well, 55 over in Canada could be like up to seven, eight grand. They could take the car. It's a lot of money. I might've made a big issue. She comes back with a ticket that's 170 euros. and obviously no points, no repercussions like right yeah and and I go, can I just pay you and I like have I have that cash on me yeah and she's like no, you have to, I have to radio the ticket to the the police station and you go pay it oh and I was like oh you guys are just keeping the hundred and seventy. You know what fine, you don't want to take, you don't want to do the bribe here on the side of the road. Yeah, yeah, that's I take and say fine, I'll go and so get to drive all the way to this five star hotel with Portia, get there and go to the thing and say hey, I have to pay a ticket and they're like oh okay, can you drive these other people that also have to pay tickets and and so we drive across the lake. It's just like it's like Lake Como, but for Germany and we go to the other side and sure enough, they're they're just waiting for us to walk in. I didn't get a receipt that guy just made a hundred and seventy years. I was fine like whatever cool yeah, but those those are my those are my most other than that, like you know I haven't been pulled over since I've had the jeep ways also makes it really hard to get a ticket yeah you know, I did a lot of kind of spirited driving in and around Vancouver, up to Squamish, those sorts of things. And, you know, with ways in some situational awareness, I think it's pretty difficult to, to get pinged. So maybe I've just gotten kind of good at it, or maybe I've slowed down or maybe a combination of the two, but those, those are the two that stand out that people I thought might find entertaining or terrifying. I'm not sure, depending on your, your position. |
| Jason | Yeah. And I think in Europe now they have obviously not in the U S yet, but they've got those traffic cameras that will actually detect your speed and then you'll get a ticket in the mail or something. Oh, they have them all over for sure. |
| Nico | That's why I don't drive in Switzerland. Yeah. Yeah. But speaking of driving fast, a bit, you know, a common question, what's the fastest you've ever driven? |
| Jason | I think the one I remember noticing was I was on a trip with Gear Patrol in Germany, driving with Eric Yang from Gear Patrol. We were visiting Lange and we were there for a week and we had uh, worked out a deal with, with BMW and they, they loaned us, uh, the 650 grand coupe. It was six series. Um, yeah. And, and it was, it was a, it was a fun car. And I remember taking that up to 220 KPH on the Autobahn, um, with snow tires in not great weather. So I was a little white knuckle, but, um, that's impressive. Okay. But the roads are, you know, they're well-maintained and it was, uh, you know, I remember the car was very easy to go fast in. I don't think had I, you know, considered the conditions I would have, um, probably gone that fast. I just remember looking down and seeing 220, which is, you know, just shy of 140 miles per hour. Um, and then I don't know exactly how fast I was going on, on, on the, uh, on the speedometer, but I was also on a trip with Hublot. This was many years ago in Florida. They were partnering with Ferrari and, and I, it was like an actual, like a rally where a couple of us each got a car, you know, and it was kind of this loose, weird competition where like drive here, look for a windmill, then turn left and find a burger shop or, you know, whatever it was, you tick things off on a list. But this was kind of rural Florida with really long, straight flat roads with nobody on them. And, uh, I had a Ferrari FF. Um, it was, you know, not long after that car had come out. And I remember checking into my hotel and, and being told, you know, the, the, the front desk will have your key to your car and, and take it and meet us, you know, the next, I mean, I had this car, it was like my, my loaner. And, and, and during this rally, I remember just being giddy with the power that this thing had, I think it was the most powerful car I'd ever driven. And I remember kind of, you know, pulling out. onto this empty highway and just flooring it. And it felt like we were going to lift off. I mean, it felt like an airplane. I remember feeling like the front end is coming up and we're just going to like lift off at any moment here. That I, like I said, I don't remember the number. I don't remember the speed, but I remember that sense of speed in that car was, was faster than anything, anything else. For sure. |
| Nico | So, um, yeah. V12 Ferrari is a special thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fun stuff. |
| Jason | Yeah. How about you? You've had faster cars than that. You've been in McLarens and Bugattis and. |
| Nico | Yeah, I mean the two times that I've driven Bugatti, so I did a Veyron Supersport and I've done the Chiron, both times with a... If you ever drive a Bugatti, you almost always have a chaperone. Andy Wallace one time, which is very cool. But... So those times, and those were on public roads in somebody else's $4 million car. Yeah. So that wasn't gonna be the zone necessarily, but in the same trip as the Porsche Panamera where I got that ticket, when we went back to Munich, From Tegernsee, there's an incredible run on the Autobahn on a Sunday morning. It was sunny. It was cool. It was like late, late September, early October. Yeah. And I think that's the fastest I've ever been about 290, 287. Wow. KPH. Wow. So that's about 180 miles an hour in the Panamera, in the Panamera. Yeah. And I, I think bossom who was also on that trip. Good dude. I think he did like he cracked 300. So there was something left in that car. I just must've chickened out. Yeah. Yeah. Other than that, it's one of those things where if you're on a track, 250 comes up pretty quickly in some cars. But I think that's probably the fastest. I still haven't done 200 miles an hour, which is a bummer. Would like to be able to do that at some point. I mean, even in the span of time I've had that goal, cars have now gone significantly faster than 200. But I think that could still happen sometime in my future. Legal 200 is really the goal. It's kind of insane to do it on a road where nobody's expecting it. So I think we can, we should probably start wrapping this up. We're over an hour now and I want to get to final notes, of course, but tell me about any weird or quote unquote, like bad cars you've owned. Cause I've had a couple. |
| Jason | Yeah. I remember kind of the most boring car I've ever owned was, was a Pontiac 6,000. I don't know if you remember this. |
| Nico | It was like there were precursors to the Tempest. |
| Jason | Well, I don't even know what a Tempest is, but it, but it was like, it was like, it was, There were other cars that were in that vein, you know, GM always had these kinds of clones across their product lines. And this was just, it was like a Chev Corsica might've been something like that. Yeah. Something along those lines. And it was, it was double bland. Yeah. Double blind. So I won't even go into more detail about that, but I would say in terms of weird cars weird, but also lovely, um, was a sob 900 turbo. That was a mid eighties, which was quirky. Anybody that, you know, He's a fan of Sobs or knows these. I mean, the, the key between the wheel and yeah, I mean, just spectacular car. It's another car I'd love to have back one day for sure. |
| Nico | Yeah. 900 turbo, man. |
| Jason | Yeah. A three door with a big hatchback. I mean, it was gorgeous. Um, and then, um, kind of another bad car experience. I had a lot of Volkswagen's and I had Volkswagen had this kind of ugly duckling kind of between good years, um, called the Fox, the Volkswagen Fox. Sure. And they had like a kind of a cool little station wagon version, two door wagon, which I should have had, but I had the, like the two door, I don't know what you call it, a coupe sedan. I don't know. It had a little trunk. Sports coupe. Yeah. You had light on the sports. What year? I remember driving, it was, uh, I don't even remember, 89 maybe. Okay. And I remember driving to, um, kind of my first real job interview and I remember driving and it was, it was winter, but the radiator blew. And I remember seeing, Uh, I was on my way to this interview and I remember seeing coolant streaming up over the front of the hood and splashing onto the windscreen where I had to have the windshield wipers, like wiping coolant off the windscreen. And I remember kind of just coasting into the parking lot of this job interview. And, um, that car gave me a lot of trouble, but, uh, yeah, the Pontiac 6,000 pretty rotten. The Fox was unreliable. And then, and then probably the weirdest cool car I've had was that, that Saab 900 turbo. That's great. |
| Nico | Yeah. I don't think I've owned anything that I would call weird cool. Maybe the closest, if you're a Mazda nerd, we had a 929. Oh, yeah. That my dad bought for $1,500, maybe a bit more, which is Mazda's full size sedan. It was almost like they were trying to make the Lexus move. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | This one was triple brown, so it was two tone brown on the outside, lighter brown on the top, darker brown on the bottom, and the interior was like cappuccino. Yeah. Had a wraparound dash, had a... I wanna say a three cylinder, a three liter six. Okay. Pretty fast. Yeah. Yeah. I set my personal record from Oshawa to where I lived in Hamilton at the time in that car pretty, pretty quick. |
| Jason | It's covered some good ground, really comfortable. Yeah. Kind of a jag look to it. |
| Nico | Yeah. A little bit of a jag, kind of looked like a weird bastardization of an Aston Martin in the back. Yeah. And then the one, if you really wanna speak to the two sides of me, the pragmatic side when it comes to actual car ownership versus the side that loves cars. I've owned two, back to back, two Oldsmobile Aleros. Oh, okay. Yeah. Which is not a common car. So if you don't know this car, it's Oldsmobile's version of a Grand Am, a Pontiac Grand Am. I had, the first one I bought was a Coupe. And when I actually like, I love cars and I love obsessing about cars, but when I go to buy them, I usually like make a list of the features I want. and work down from that, and I wanted... I wanted a V6. Yeah. I wanted... Sorry, V6 or V8, I'm not sure what I was thinking with the V8 at the time. I wanted a sunroof, I wanted leather, and I wanted a decent stereo, or the ability to put a decent stereo in it. Yeah. And I worked backwards from that into a car that nobody wanted, which was a Leros. you know, full on grandma spec. This is probably why I didn't get tickets in any Alero I owned, but I made all the dumb upgrades. I did the HID headlights and we had like rally fog lights in it. Sure, a great stereo. I meticulously maintained the first one. It was stolen and promptly crashed right out of the driveway and then me being me and just needing a car. I was working at the obviously working at the time and I just went out and bought another one, a four door in nice condition and I kept that until I moved to Vancouver and I sold it to a guy like I put it on on Craig's list at a very fair price and said like well maintained, I please come see it. The guy was a mechanic like a GM mechanic and he and his like seventeen year old son came out and he's like these things are kind of like a little secret when it comes to insurance. I'm like, hey buddy, I know these things cost nothing to run and and so he took that and I have, you know, I think I sold it for thirty two hundred dollars or something and just moved on. but I yeah it's the it's the biggest blight on my like car enthusiasm record is that I owned two back to back Oldsmobile Oleros and oh one and and oh two maybe oh three and oh one and oh three yeah what a bland bland car. All right, I do want to talk about road trips, but I think that could be its own thing because there's like a gear side to road trips and planning and travel and the rest of it. So let's save road trips for a future episode and I'll leave you with this hypothetical. Yeah, If your current daily, let's say you parked it and somehow it got hit by a garbage truck, nobody was hurt, but your Land Rover got written off. Yeah. What would you buy? What would you replace it with? |
| Jason | Well, yeah, so I've got these two old Land Rovers, and so I guess you could say if one got totaled, I'd still have one, which would keep me happy in that regard. So then I think what's missing, what I miss, because when I got the old Series 3 Land Rover, I had previously had a And we've talked about this a lot, so I don't need to go into a lot of detail, but I think it would be something like a Triumph TR6. Oh yeah. You know, something, something British, something. Good hips. Yeah. Something, um, you know, that could be worked on, probably slightly problematic. Um, but now by, by now I'm used to kind of British quirkiness, um, and would fit in the garage, which is a big, big deal. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, big problem for me at this point. I can't fit anything in our garage. Um, so something like that, something that, you know, during the winter I can be longing for spring while I'm, you know, tinkering away in the garage, you know, with, with a little lamp and the radio on and kind of putts with, uh, so again, something old, something fun, but something markedly different from, from what got totaled by the garbage truck. |
| Nico | Yeah. I just love the idea of you have two Land Rovers and a TR six. That's the full English breakfast of vehicles. and possible vehicle pain exactly. Yeah, yeah. |
| Unknown | How about you? |
| Nico | I mean, if the jeep was sold today, I'd probably see if I could find another one. I really like it. It's it's in all the ways that it's bad. It delights me. Yeah, it's not a great car. We've talked about this before. It's not like a great car. It doesn't do anything aside from the off road stuff, which I use at 512 3% of that a year. Yeah, I use it like a tractor when I'm at the cottage, but otherwise like it's it's in the driveway or drives around Toronto. If I had a commute, I would look at something like a Chevy volt The hybrid, I really like them, they're quiet, they're easy to drive, good on insurance, not that hard to find, nice size. I like a car, I prefer a car despite owning a jeep. If I had options, the daily, if I had to drive every day all the time, like for work or whatever, it would be a car, not an SUV. I like to sit a little lower, I like the sound, I like the ability to have something that might be a little bit more nimble on its feet and that sort of thing. And now with the quality of options for four wheel drive or even just snow tires, like you can do a lot with a sedan that used to be the purview of a vehicle with more ground clearance. Right. Other than that, I think the dream if I had to replace the Jeep would be probably something like a full size Mercedes wagon. Oh yeah. Whether or not I could afford something as ridiculous as like an E63 or the E53, I don't know, but an E400 is still gonna be pretty quick. They make like an all road style version, like with the plastic cladding and a little bit higher off the ground. That would be like a premium. I'd be taking whatever money I got from the insurance for the Jeep and then adding quite a bit. But those are always in the mix. And then the last thing that I'm always super curious to drive, just out of almost like raw curiosity, is the Kia Stinger. Oh, yeah. That nice kind of... They make a stick version of that. Yeah. Those are handsome cars. Yeah. Yeah, I think they're nice looking cars. I don't I have trouble like warming up to Kia and Hyundai, but the brands just seem to be just really nailing it these days. Yeah, they've got they both have cool electric cars. Obviously, they're represented by the same sort of automotive group, but the idea that you could get a nice V. I've driven other Genesis products with that three point three yeah and to do the three point three with the stick and and a nice drive train rear wheel drive that sort of thing like I'm in. I think that could be very appealing and then if we're talking like I get a settlement from the city for my jeep or whatever, then it'd be that Cadillac almost no questions. I could put everyone in it. They're just ludicrously fast and you get the stick and you get, you know, really nice tech and great breaks and it's a whole package sort of scenarios. The idea of having a a hotted up Corvette that four people can sit in and you can have a conversation and you can listen to podcasts and all this kind of stuff. So yeah, I think that's the direction I would go. But man, this is probably the most like car episode we've ever done. We'll have to see if it just tanks. Yeah. |
| Jason | I think it'll be split. I think, you know, some people are, uh, I can remember when, you know, in years past when Houdinki would publish something that was like a car thing and people would, some people would come out and just rail against it. I'm, you know, watch people aren't necessarily car people and then some people love it. So yeah, our audience takes this one. |
| Nico | Yeah. Look, you get five episodes a month or at least four. They can't always be perfect. Uh, I, I really had a nice time with this conversation, so that's usually my metric for for whether or not a show kind of works for the feed. Obviously, let us know if you have any answers to these questions that we've gone through, whether you want to drop it into the comments on substack or if you want to drop them into the slack with the rest of the crew. I would love to hear, you know, some of your, you know, kind of ludicrous speeding tickets or car interesting cars that you've owned or learned to drive on or that kind of thing. It's it's it is one of these few things that a lot of people have an experience with learning to drive, driving, owning cars. And it is a thing that's like equal parts benefit and pain. Yeah. So I think there is some interest there, even if you're not a car person. Right. If you're not a car person, you listen for this long, uh, bless you. Let's get into some final notes. Jason, you want to hit us with the first one? |
| Jason | Yeah, sure. I've got a quick one. So, um, seeing as I'm going to Scotland, uh, in a couple of weeks here, um, I do plan on, on buying some, some bottles of whiskey to bring home. And I was debating like how to, how to get them home. Uh, and a friend of mine who was recently traveling down in kind of the American whiskey country down in Kentucky, uh, had, uh, sent this idea over to me and it's, it's called the bottle travel protector bag with pump and it's sold on Amazon. It's like 12 bucks and it's these like air filled, um, almost like bubble wrap that come flat and uninflated. Um, that comes in like a pack of 12 with its own little pump. And you basically put the bottle in and then insert this little, little plastic lightweight pump and you just pump it full of air, seal it. Um, and it protects your bottle and it's perfectly sized. You know, if you've ever ordered alcohol or anything in a bottle or glass, um, from anywhere, it usually comes in something like this and it's packable. It's very small. So we're going to pack this little kit. It arrived a few days back and we're going to pack it along for this trip and hopefully, uh, ferry some, some good bottles of obscure Scotch home in our luggage without ending up with all of our clothes smelling Petey. So yeah, I thought that was, it was a great thing. It's like, I think $12 or something on Amazon. Oh, that's clever. If you're traveling anywhere like wine country or anything like that might be something to consider. |
| Nico | So absolutely. Yeah. Good pick. And I hope you're able to find some great bottles and stuff to bring back. Maybe stuff you can't more easily get here. |
| Unknown | Right. Yeah. |
| Nico | That's awesome. Yeah. All right. How about you? Mine's a car thing. I just figured I'd stay on topic for the episode and I'm hoping that there's some people in the audience who would enjoy this but don't know what best motoring is. It's a Japanese automotive program and they kind of are well known and still beloved for their track battles. So if you've watched a top gear, if you've watched any of the major stuff, they'll put cars on a track and time them and that sort of thing. But it's not exactly like wheel to wheel racing with a new car that's been, you know, loaned to them or whatever. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Nico | Well, Best Motoring took it the step further where they would do these huge track battles with an array of cars that kind of sometimes it was like weird comparisons. Other times it was the ones like, Oh, if you know an STI, you'd want to know how an Evo nine and an Evo 10 kind of stacked up against it. And they'd have these incredible drivers on a track, like really running these cars to the end. in these track battles and recently, just a couple of weeks ago, I got lucky because I was going to try and find one or two of these that were my favorites on youtube and jalopnik published their favorites. So there's like 10 of them in here that you can check out and it's everything from uh you know track race number 45 is the impreza versus the evo seven versus an nsx versus an rsx versus an rx seven versus the nissan gtr yeah And they're all on the track at the same time. And not only do you get views from inside the car, and it's kind of like pre-GoPro. Yeah. So it has a time age to it, but there's also the foot cam, so you can see the guys working the pedals. Oh, yeah. |
| Unknown | Nice. |
| Nico | Man, is it good. |
| Unknown | Oh, wow. |
| Nico | Track Race 23 is hilarious. It's a Ferrari F50 versus a Diablo versus an F40 versus a GT3 versus an F355 versus a GTR, which would have been an R34 GTR and then a GT2 911. awesome. And then if you scroll down far enough, you'll also get to like more fun stuff like cappuccino versus a rav four versus an esteem versus an odyssey. Like it's not necessarily super sports cars and super cars and that kind of thing. But man, these are so much fun and it's like I would love to see this come back or or not come back like see this continue in some way. Yeah, so that's my that's my pick. It's a it's a kind of a best of or a favorites compendium of best motoring's track battles from Jalopnik. So that's in the show notes if it sounds interesting. I had a blast watching a handful of these. I'll watch the rest soon. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason | Oh, these look fun. Cool. Yeah, very fun. All right. Wow. That was a that was quite an episode. That was a lot of fun. Very. Yeah, I had a good time. Something a little bit different and hopefully people will like it as always. Thank you everyone so much for listening, for sticking with us through this one. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grabbing a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Nico | And we leave you with this quote from Lewis Carroll, who said, if you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. |