In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show

Wrenches, Cartels, and 200mph Thrills: A Gearhead's Adventure

• In Wheel Time • Season 2025 • Episode 162

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Richard Tomlin of Apex Auto Works takes us behind the scenes of high-performance vehicle builds and international racing adventures that push the boundaries of what's possible. From a meticulously restored Panos destined for a private museum to unconventional engine swaps that challenge conventional wisdom, Richard's projects showcase the ingenuity that defines passionate automotive specialists.

The heart of our conversation reveals the calculated risks automotive enthusiasts take when pursuing their passion. Despite Mexico being under a Level 4 travel warning with cartels recently classified as terrorist groups, Richard explains why his team still plans to participate in their upcoming Mexican road racing event. "Where we're going, it's not usually a case," he notes, distinguishing between their federale-protected route and the more isolated desert racing that occurs elsewhere. This fascinating risk assessment offers listeners an authentic glimpse into how automotive enthusiasts balance passion with practicality.

We explore why certain racing events simply can't happen on American soil, with Richard lamenting that "US laws don't allow us to play like that," revealing how regulatory and insurance hurdles force enthusiasts to look beyond borders for certain experiences. This juxtaposition of American caution versus international opportunity presents a thought-provoking dimension to automotive culture rarely discussed in mainstream conversations.

The episode rounds out with a journey through automotive history, including the birth of the Chevrolet Caprice, the legendary Shelby GT350H "Rent-a-Racer" program, and how unexpected events like the Three Mile Island nuclear accident shaped automotive design trends by influencing fuel economy regulations.

Whether you're a dedicated gearhead or simply curious about the lengths people will go for their automotive passions, this episode offers invaluable insights into the calculated risks, creative solutions, and unwavering dedication that define true automotive enthusiasm. What boundaries would you cross for your passion?

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

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Show Introduction and Announcements

Speaker 1

The In Wheel Time Podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central. This is your place for all things automotive the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. Just ahead we talk to Richard Tomlin, apex Auto Works. Later Jeff has the racing calendar, mars has this Week in Auto History and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines. Hmm, I guess what they. I can't imagine what would the headlines be?

Speaker 2

this week Headlines would be Headlines.

Speaker 1

Howdy Along with Mike out of this world. Mars. We always need more Jeff Zekin and Chief Engineer David Ainsley. I'm Don Armstrong. Glad you could join us on this Saturday for our live show. We always are live on Saturdays, generally speaking 10 to noon. That's the case today. Next weekend we'll be at the Hemi Hideout. I still don't know whether we're doing a two or three-hour show out there, mars.

Speaker 3

Well, I think I saw on their website that their event is from 8.30 to 12.30. So that would put us not 8.30, 10.30 to 12.30. So we normally tend to 12. So I thought we might go to 12.30. We might go to 1.

Speaker 1

I figured we'd kind of discuss that after the day show and we may not even show up. Oh, we'll show up, I'll already show up. You'll show up, I'll go.

Speaker 3

But we ain't taking the equipment with us. Well, that's fine, I just like going there, I know Well, we all do. Hey, before we go too far, I've got two things from our online audience. Yes, okay, first, you remember talking to Rhonda Palmer? Yes, lady, with her Corvette, her husband Corvette, she went out to the Texas Mile last week and hit 201.6. You talk about a fast lady. There is a fast lady. I 1.6. You talk about a fast lady? There is a fast lady. I'm scared.

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the other thing I wanted to tell you specifically for you, John Mr Jeff Heisman wanted to let you know that that you were talking about is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Yeah, he said that. He said that he did, he introduced it. Heisman is telling you now oh Well, Jeff's always been behind the curve. Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I got that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, he said that in the interview. Yes, Okay.

Speaker 1

Yeah, what did he say let's go down to Alvin Texas, shall we? All right, let's do that. Alvin Texas and Richard Tomlin Apex Auto Works. Richard, good morning.

Speaker 5

Good morning all. How are you, sir? Amazing Dead, sexy as always in yourself, yeah dead sexy.

Speaker 1

You know, we haven't talked to you since before Christmas.

Speaker 5

I've been hiding under a car somewhere.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 5

Is that one of those PHEVs behind you there? No, this is a Panos. I think late 90s Road Atlantaanta, they were selling a bunch of these. We got a local guy who's got quite a collection and this was in for a complete repaint. So complete disassembly.

Speaker 1

Paint it, put it back together, send it down the road well, uh, that's not that difficult on on a panos, is it?

Audience Updates and Racing Achievements

Speaker 5

it's more than you would think. You, you would actually think it's going to be quite simple. It's way more than it should be, but we smile about it. We move on interesting.

Speaker 1

Okay, are you changing colors or just repainting it the same color?

Speaker 5

yeah, changing it back to uh, it was one they used for a hot wheels theme car. Oh are. So if you google Panos, hot Wheels and Orange, there's an orange one with a gray and a black stripe. So, recreating that car so it can go into a museum and sit there and collect dust. We hope it gets back out on track.

Speaker 1

I was just going to say you're doing all this work too, and it's going to go into a museum.

Speaker 5

Yeah, it's going into private collection storage. Yikes. Okay, it's interesting, things change, right, yeah, always.

Speaker 1

What else you got in the shop these days?

Speaker 5

67 Firebird getting an LSA swap. Right Another Miata getting a Honda J-Series swap, so it gets a 3.2 liter Honda.

Speaker 1

Why would you do that? Why would you do that?

Speaker 5

It's amazing. I can't explain it until you drive one. It's like the ls is almost too much for that car. Yeah, the honda six cylinder is almost perfect. Wow it, it truly is. You can use the factory transmission, factory rear end. Um, it's just the motor and, uh, some electronics. So it's pretty awesome. It actually works out really well. What was that? I'm at the track, what was that little? Really well.

Speaker 1

What was that little Pontiac that Piero, no, solstice, the Solstice, solstice. So when I went to visit Hennessy up in Detroit, he has his own, obviously very heavy-laden GM collection up there and one of them was the Solstice and it looked just like a regular car. I said so why is this in here? He says well, here, let me show you. So he reaches in and pops the hood and it's got a great big V8 motor in it. I said how do you even get it into drive? I mean, it just lurch forward just at idle. He says, yeah, well, we found out that that's really the problem. He says I went to take my daughter to school, drop her off in the in the, in the in the car line, and every time I put it into drive to move up it it peeled the tires, it did a little mini burnout right there in the line and they kind of frowned on the whole experience. So I had to stop taking it to school, taking my daughter to school it happens.

Speaker 5

Yeah, there's that well, um so I assume that you have some mexican trips coming up we have a trip coming up very soon, and that that's what Mars and I were chatting about is this is the first year that we've actually had to go. Hey wait, is this where we want to go? You know, mexico's on a level four warning for Americans traveling there, and when COVID happened we were level three. We still went, no problems, and we're going. We're going to make the trip here in, I guess, three weeks, four weeks. We'll be heading south a little bit longer, processing across the border and back is what we've heard. But all of our regular guests that go with us are going. Regular teams are going.

Speaker 1

Are you taking firearms with you to protect yourself?

Speaker 5

That is not wise, not wise to do. That'll put you in jail, yeah, yeah yeah, hide him beside the road in texas before you yeah, don't even have the border.

Speaker 3

Um story goes.

Speaker 5

Even a round of ammunition is a bad find. Yeah, I see they'll put you in jail for that, not to make trying to have any of that gotcha okay.

Speaker 3

So I've been told I don't want down there. You're going down there to road race on on asphalt roads, right, correct?

Speaker 5

All asphalt tarmac, whichever one you want to call it. Easiest way to compare it is anybody that's seen what we call WRC on TV World Rally Championships. It is the same thing as that, just in asphalt stages. Only we don't play in the dirt with these cars. We're having problems with your signals reaching us because are you inside?

Speaker 1

of a metal building. I'm always inside a metal building, but the doors are open. Is it not great right now.

Speaker 5

You want to leave Wi-Fi and go to just cellular.

Interview with Richard Tomlin of Apex Auto Works

Speaker 1

Well, I don't care what you do, but you're kind of bouncing a little bit. You're flickering, yeah, you cut in and out whatever. You've got it set up as now. Wild, yeah, okay.

Speaker 5

Well, let's just go to settings. Let's see if we shut Wi-Fi off, if it makes it better or worse. You can go away here, but we'll try.

Speaker 3

So I was asking him about this because in a couple of weeks we're going to have a guest with us. They go down there desert racing, southern California and they go into Mexico and they're really thinking about holding it's a sponsor and he's really thinking about holding all their sponsorship team on this side of the border, not letting them go into Mexico. If the racers go, they go, but their support they're really thinking about keeping it on this side of the border because of all this stuff going on.

Speaker 1

Well, what exactly has changed Other than a lot of the stuff going on. Well, what exactly has changed Other than a?

Speaker 5

lot of the border's closed. It's kind of like the tariff deal. The cartel has been classified as a terrorist group, so the belief is there will be more retaliation towards Americans as we go across the border. Now we go across an alpine big bend area Ognagua-Presidio crossing, and that's not a large drug cartel area. If we were going through Lubbock, el Paso, I could see that maybe being a bigger issue. Or Laredo or El Paso, great. But where we're going it's not usually the case. So that's part of the reason why we're less.

Speaker 1

We have somebody that we are in touch with and they have a high-speed event. They closed down a highway out in West Texas and you know, as you heard, mike said that one of the participants went 201 miles an hour. Why can't you just?

Speaker 5

pull all that. We put the cage in her car. We know Rhonda quite well.

Speaker 1

So why don't you just pull all of that stuff and make it here in the United States, instead of taking it to Mexico?

Speaker 5

Lawyers, lawyers and the insurance Ours, april 25th.

Speaker 2

No, just change the event. Don't make it a chihuahua run, make it something else.

Speaker 5

The US laws don't allow us to play like that. Literally, we close down highways what we consider here, farm-to-market roads get closed for an hour and a half, two hours at a time, and we literally race through the streets. It is awesome and it's amazing. That's what makes it great, and we're working on a couple. I have an event that should be coming up here in October in Victoria, texas. It'll be in a city park, but it'll be a similar thing of an actual public road that normally you could drive, but that day we'll go race on it. We've got another one in West Virginia that's happening up in the mountains. We hope to see that one happen this year as well. So there's some stuff happening, but the US legal system, lawyers and interns have made it very, very difficult to make it happen without the governor basically signing off on it.

Speaker 1

So you'd rather just take it down there and risk your life and limb with the cartels and getting For where I'm racing.

Speaker 5

I'm perfectly okay with it, Perfectly okay with it.

Speaker 3

I think the difference between that and the desert racing, where you're out in the middle of nowhere, literally they're going through towns and they've literally got people with machine guns along the way to help protect them, whereas the guys that are going out in the desert, they've got nothing.

Speaker 5

Yeah, so our race? They've got to close off the roads. So every intersection, every driveway has what they call a federali. Basically, our state police get stationed in every driveway and every intersection to hold the cars off for the hour so we can race through, and then they open the roads again. So not really a hotbed for where the cartel wants to be. They don't want to be where the federal police are. If you're racing Baja in a truck or Nora, you could find yourself 100 miles from anything except the cartel, and that's the difference there.

Speaker 2

Miles from anything except the cartel. And that's the difference. There, gotcha, we got the cartel, the federales outside the door right now.

Speaker 1

Yeah, they're protecting us. God, I hope they don't have one of those you know, wishbone things that they could find us Well they got a little beagle dog for the drug dog.

Speaker 3

Yeah Well, she's in the nursing home, so she's a supplier.

Speaker 2

She's the supplier.

Speaker 1

That's it, cosaquin. Yeah, that's it. Well, she's in the nursing home, so I don't think she's a supplier. She's the supplier. That's it, cosa Quinn. Yeah, that's it. Well, this sounds like fun. So what kind of cars do you take? Do you have categories of racing and V8s and four cylinders and that sort of stuff?

Speaker 5

Yeah, I mean they call it ABC and basically you've got your four cylinder, you've got your sixes and then you've got your big V8s and the V8 is always the biggest class. That's what everybody wants to drive. You've got a couple Europeans that bring in the 4-cylinders and are really fast in the little 4-cylinders, but the American V8s is where it's at and it's the fun and it's the noise and it's what the fans want to see and that's where the involvement is. We'll be taking the 5 Corvette again, just like your stock 04, but it's almost 300,000 miles now, well driven, well used. It's a loved car.

Speaker 1

Nice, yeah, a loved car. It's been wrecked. How many times it is loved.

Speaker 5

Eight or nine yeah well loved Put it back together and go race again.

Speaker 1

'm just gonna say yeah, so it's been. It's been to the hospital many times.

Speaker 5

It's kind of like that it's been the hospital a few times, yeah all right.

Speaker 1

Well, there's that, so you're going to take the corvette and are you going to drive it?

Speaker 5

yes, I will not be driving. I'll be running service and crew. Okay, scott butler will be driving again. It's uh, his car's, his car and he gets to wheel it through that portion of the event.

Speaker 1

By the way, did I happen to tell you we may be?

Speaker 5

doing an event in Bonneville this year, a street event in Bonneville, nice. So it's a new event happening out there. Instead of it being all race cars and roll cages, it's going to be a street car only event, to be a street car only event and uh, I'll get some more details on that and get those over to mars, but uh, it's going to be an invitation only uh event, but it looks like they're taking 150, maybe 200 cars.

Speaker 5

So so we could take the time machine over there yeah, I mean it's kind of nice because instead of you waiting to get off the salt to get the bottom of your car wash, they're going to have a car wash for you every night when you come off of the salt. So we don't have to worry about the salt sitting on the car more than a couple hours getting cleaned off. So we're going to take a couple vehicles out there and go play.

Speaker 1

Okay, nice, that sounds like fun. Did I happen to tell you that I had an experience going up the mountain there in Colorado?

Speaker 5

Pike's Peak. You've had some good times up there.

Speaker 1

I know what experience is this one well, yeah, white knuckle experience all the way oh, okay I was doing about five miles an hour and, uh, I tell you what, the next time I get that high, I'll be on my way to heaven, because I, I won't be. I can promise you that. And I can't even. I, yeah, no, I can't even imagine with my, with my right foot nailed to the floor of a, a, a accelerator pedal. No way, I don't understand. I don't understand how anybody can do that. Uh, no, I can't do it. Matter of fact, I had to sit in the car when we got to the top of the mountain. You know up there where the little display thing is, where you can get out there and have something to eat. Oh my God, I wouldn't even think about having something to eat and looking over, you know, 14,000 feet down. No, I'm good, that'll never happen again. It was an experience. I white knuckled it all the way up there and all the way down. I'm crying like a baby.

Speaker 5

It is not for everybody. It's not for everybody, but it is one of the most beautiful places in America.

Speaker 1

It's truly amazing up there it is amazing, especially when the trees stop growing.

Speaker 5

Lack of oxygen Tree line.

Mexico Racing Plans Amid Safety Concerns

Speaker 1

Yeah, all of that. God made it that way so people wouldn't go there. I'm just saying I just wanted to, I just wanted to put that out there for anybody, or anybody that ever said, hey, don want to go up pike's peak again. Uh, no is the answer to that good to go yeah, I am good to go. So what do you got planned? Are you just working on race cars and fun stuff like that thing behind you?

Speaker 5

Yeah, we installed ABS on the Pikes Peak Monster, so I'll be playing with some ABS system stuff today. More bleeding and brakes, and then this afternoon I'll paint a couple more panels for the panos behind us. That'll be my Saturday. Then it's time for dinner and barbecue, I'm sure.

Speaker 1

I'm sure. Well, it's great to talk to you, as always. Thank you for very much calling in. We really appreciate you and we'll be waiting to hear all about the Mexican trip, if you're still alive, we'll be alive.

Speaker 5

Aye, aye, aye, god bless.

Speaker 1

Thank you, richard, appreciate you. Just ahead, jeff has the racing calendar, mars has this week in auto history and we've got plenty of news headlines on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. We are back in a flash. You've waited all winter and it's finally here the Tailpipes and Tacos Spring Cruise Inn. It's been a while, but the popular Tailpipes and Tacos Cruise Inn returns to the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy.

Speaker 1

Saturday, april 19th. Make any donation to Shirley's Kids and get a free breakfast taco. There'll be mimosas and Bloody Marys too. Get to the best-in of the year Tailpipes Tacos. Saturday, april 19th, 8 to 11 am. Cruise in, make a donation of any amount and grab a free Loopy Tortilla Breakfast Taco. Tailpipes Tacos only happens at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex in Katy, 703 West Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard, just south of the Katy Freeway. Join the car camaraderieie and your car will automatically compete for one of three Chili Pepper trophies at no charge. Spring is here, and what better way to celebrate than with a free taco at Tailpipes and Tacos.

Speaker 1

Saturday, april 19th, 8 to 11 am. The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show will be there too. We hope to see you then. Come on out. You own a car you love. Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it. Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts. We promise you'll be impressed.

Speaker 1

Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano-ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go. Curbed your wheels Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired? How about a professionally installed radar detector? Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too. Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom. Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior. Call them today 832-930-5655, or gcautoshieldcom.

Speaker 1

Hey, you going to the Hot Rod Tour of Texas? Yep, I am Be sure. And follow the In Wheel Time team when we join over 300 other enthusiasts beginning April 24th as we trek across Texas. Get the info link at inwheeltimecom and our In Wheel Time Facebook page. Also, next weekend we're going to be at the Hemi Hideouts an open house out there. Everybody is welcome $10 donation in cash it's important to say that and John matches the $10 and gives it to the local charities out there in Brookshire. If you've never been, it'll be an eye-opening experience. Yes, I promise, and we'll be there broadcasting our show and they have other events there too.

Speaker 2

They have weddings out there, All sorts of stuff.

Speaker 1

Time now for the Racing Calendar sponsored by the Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge.

Speaker 2

Thank you for that. Nhra is this weekend, it's the Lucas Oil. Nhra Winter Nationals. It's the In-N-Out.

Speaker 1

Burger. Why do they?

Speaker 2

call that.

Speaker 1

That's a holdover, because it's not winter anymore.

Speaker 2

You have to ask them Because it's not winter anymore. You have to ask them. I don't know, but it is the In-N-Out Burger, pomona Dragster. That's what's going on there. Craftsman Trucks ran last night in the NASCAR series. Don't know who won that one because it was up late and I didn't get to see it. So the Xfinity runs today.

Speaker 1

You were drinking at Loopy Tortilla.

Speaker 2

I mean at Los Tios, I had two and I had two and I had my limit, and then I went and prayed that I could make it here in the morning. Martinsville is where they're at this weekend, and then NASCAR is tomorrow at Martinsville I think they're on CW channel. Then you've got the Japanese Grand Prix coming up on April 6th. That's going to be pretty cool. That's for Formula One. And then you've got IMSA on April 12th, so that's at the Long Beach. And then you've got IMSA on April 12th, so that's at the Long Beach. Got a lot of stuff going on that.

Speaker 1

Long Beach race. I've always liked that yeah it's just fun to watch.

Speaker 2

Street race right down there by the harbor, yep, and you've got a little bit of terrain adjustment, things like that. It's very cool Nice stuff.

Speaker 1

Okay, yep, mr Mr Mars this week in auto history.

Speaker 3

Yeah, buddy. We had lots of things going on this week in auto history. Picked out four of them that I thought were rather interesting and, beginning in 1965, chevrolet introduced the Caprice. Be still my heart, this was actually when it was introduced. It was an option package for the Impala, but it became a standalone model and it became one of Chevrolet's most successful full-size cars.

Speaker 1

Fully loaded Impala is what it was.

Racing Calendar and Automotive History

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely. They even actually went on and introduced it as a limited Caprice custom sedan trim package for the 65 Impala which came out in the 66 models. It featured upgraded interiors, unique badging, upscale trims such as wood grain trim, thicker carpeting, better sound insulation and engines. That's a good looking car right there it is. That is a nice looking car. Engine choices you had a 283 V8 at 195 horsepower, the 327 had 250 or you could get the 396 at 325 horsepower 396.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you talk about gulp gulp, gulp, leaded fuel.

Speaker 3

And so, 1966, the first Shelby GT350 was delivered to Hertz. Now, this is where Ford and Shelby American delivered the first Shelby GT350.

Speaker 1

Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat today.

Speaker 3

The only problem is this doesn't have a top. You couldn't drop down into it. It's a GT350H is the way it was packaged as part of the RIT eraser program, so customers could actually rent this high-performance Mustang based on the GT350. It had a 306 horsepower, 289 V8, automatic transmission and they were all black and gold. Now these were rented to car enthusiasts, so a lot of people got to drive these performance cars that they wouldn't otherwise get to drive because you couldn't get too many of them out on a test drive. After they kind of went out into the open market, a lot of them ended up being raced and they're very collectible to this day, particularly in their factory Hertz.

Speaker 3

Well that's a later model. That is a later model yes, but it's still a 350H. Okay, so then in 1952?

Speaker 3

clearly not in order here, oh god yes, the nash calvinator corporation and the hudson motor car company merged to form the american motors corporation. It was the largest corporate merger in us automotive history at that time. Now, amc's aim was to compete with the big three. They were going to build compact, innovative cars. The merger led to models like the Rambler, the Javelin and the Gremlin and despite the success they had in these niche markets, they never could make it long-term and they were eventually acquired by Chrysler in 1987. I can't imagine why.

Speaker 1

Probably somewhere right below the Edsel is the attractiveness to me.

Speaker 3

Yes, absolutely, that's what I thought I like the car I would drive it.

Speaker 3

So in 1979, and this I thought was rather unusual never thought about it the Three Mile Island nuclear accident oh, I thought there was a Tesla plant there. Yeah, dealership, tesla dealership. The Three Mile accident happened on March 28th. Now. This heightened the public fear of nuclear energy, and what this did caused people to be more reliant on fossil fuels, which influenced the fuel economy regulations, which caused the automakers to focus on smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and that allowed the acceleration of compacts being imported and ended up with domestic fuel savers like the Chevette and the Ford Escort.

Speaker 1

The new little Chevy Chevette.

Speaker 3

So that was some of the things we found this week in automotive history.

Speaker 1

We're right. We're going to have a whole segment on the 25 tariffs that they're coming our way next week for cars built outside the united states, and in the meantime and in between time that I have other news stories, get some headlines going. I do, and I I thought that I had separated them in a better way than I currently have, and that clearly is not the case, so I'm going to have to thumb through here real quick, because there was one in particular that I wanted to share with you.

Speaker 2

Talk amongst yourselves out there while we, you know.

Speaker 1

Yeah, we need to have the do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do there you go Do-do-do-do-do-.

Automotive News Headlines and Warnings

Speaker 1

Customer accused Miami dealership. I found it Okay. Customer accused of Miami dealership, a captive finance company and a service contract administrator in a suit company and a service contract administrator in a suit alleging fraud and consumer violations and failing to disclose his used vehicle had been damaged in two crashes. Not only were the prior accidents recorded on carfax and other databases, but auto nation nissan miami serviced and repaired Norlin Palacios' 2021 Nissan Rogue Sport after the crashes. According to the suit, the suit arose from the sale of the Rogue in October of 23. Palacios claims he didn't learn about the prior damage until 13 months later, when he tried to resell the vehicle as a result of the accidents. He sold it at quote a substantially lower price than the market value end quote, thereby losing thousands of dollars. The suit contends the dealership leased the vehicle in February 22, and the LeSore was involved in crashes in April and July of 22. So buyer beware Always do your Carfax, do your homework, before you buy it.

Speaker 1

Dealerships in Texas are warning one another about a man who has been posing as a customer so he can film himself test driving exotic cars, often at speeds of well over 100 miles an hour and with a panicked sales manager or person in the passenger seat an hour and with a panicked sales manager or person in the passenger seat.

Speaker 1

They say it's been happening in the Dallas and Houston areas for months, but the most stores had just written off as an obnoxious potential customer. Cbs News Texas said it contacted nearly a dozen dealerships shown in the man's Instagram videos and found only two that had called police. Dozens of videos filmed behind the wheel of Ferraris, porsches, corvettes, hellcats are posted on an Instagram account belonging to Amir Saeed. In many, the salesperson can be heard urging the driver to slow down, pull over or return to the dealership. One video shows an Audi topping 130 miles an hour and then cuts to the salesman, vomiting onto the pavement. I would have been scared to death. It's one thing for me to drive the car at 130 with me in there by myself, but having somebody else like you or you driving me 130 miles an hour.

Speaker 2

I'm a little bit nervous. I told you earlier I was doing 38 and felt I had to turn myself in because it was a 35-mile-an-hour speed limit. I felt dirty after that.

Speaker 1

You did.

Speaker 2

I felt dirty.

Speaker 1

I'm feeling dirty right now just hearing it. My ears are bleeding.

Speaker 3

Kind of interesting the number of times that somebody actually called the cops Twice.

Speaker 1

Exactly. Hey, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltimecom. We are back after this.

Show Wrap-up and Sponsor Messages

Speaker 1

Pro-am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle. Pro-am is known as the place to go to find exclusive and hard-to-find parts and accessories. Pro-am is one of the very first distributors in the USA for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson. Located in the heart of Houston's premier retail and service corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000 square foot warehouse, showroom and installation bays. Pro-am not only sells parts and accessories, but also offers installation and service. Pro-am is now reaching a worldwide audience through Pro-Amcom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world. At Pro-Am Auto, you'll be dealing with a small group of professionals who truly want to help you with your automotive needs. If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand. Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge, in Houston's Galleria area. Call them at 713-781-7755.

Speaker 1

You own a car you love. Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it? Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts. We promise you'll be impressed, whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano-ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go. Curbed your wheels Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired? How about a professionally installed radar detector? Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too. Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom. Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior. Call them today 832-930-5655 or gcautoshieldcom.

Speaker 4

Mecham Auctions, the world's largest collector car auction company, returns to Houston April 3rd to the 5th at NRG Center. Join us for the fun, fast-paced, high-energy Mecham experience. With 1,000 vehicles up for grabs For avid collectors, first-time buyers and enthusiasts of all ages, there's something for everyone. Bring home your dream car Register to pick and buy spectator tickets now at Mechamcom.

Speaker 1

That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show. I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music. Keep listening and we'll see you soon.

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Don Armstrong

Host
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Jeff Dziekan

Co-host
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Michael Marrs

Co-host