In Wheel Time Podcast

The Hot Rod Tour Takes Texas: Adventures on the Road

• In Wheel Time • Season 2025 • Episode 183

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Take a ride with us as we catch up with the Hot Rod Tour of Texas at Spindletap Brewery on Houston's north side. What started four years ago as a modest gathering has evolved into a 300-car caravan of classic automobiles winding through the scenic back roads of the Lone Star State.

Tour organizer Jeremy reveals the behind-the-scenes efforts that make this automotive adventure possible – months of scouting routes, coordinating police escorts, and finding unique venues that can accommodate hundreds of vintage vehicles. The tour deliberately avoids highways and toll roads, instead taking participants through charming small towns where children line up outside schools to wave at the procession of rumbling engines.

The heart of the Hot Rod Tour isn't just about the impressive machinery – it's about the community that forms when car enthusiasts share the open road. When a breakdown occurs, multiple vehicles pull over to help. One participant even brought a trailer specifically to assist anyone experiencing mechanical troubles. These moments of camaraderie, along with experiences like dining inside the Lone Star Flight Museum or visiting the Hack Winery in Santa Fe, create lasting memories that keep participants returning year after year.

The conversation shifts to a broader discussion about American versus foreign cars, with interesting statistics about where vehicles are actually assembled (Tesla tops the list of American-made cars at 89%) and changing perceptions about quality and longevity. The hosts also touch on the growing hybrid market as a pragmatic middle ground between traditional vehicles and fully electric options.

Whether you're a dedicated gearhead or simply appreciate the rolling art of classic automobiles, this episode captures the spirit of Texas car culture and the special connections formed when enthusiasts gather to celebrate their passion. Visit hotrodtouroftexas.com to learn more about joining next year's tour through the Hill Country or possibly East Texas!

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

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast. Oh God, here we go On the road with the Hot Rod Tour of Texas. This is the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show coming to you today from Spindletap Brewery on Houston's north side, coming up. We're going to hear from some of our tour takers and their rides, yeah nice. Jeff will bring us some car culture. God knows, we need it. Are we going to do American versus foreign? Yeah, what's better? What do you buy? What's going?

Speaker 3:

on we're choices.

Speaker 1:

Howdy, along with Mike out of this World, mars, who's gathering up our next guest, who's going to be Jeremy.

Speaker 3:

Actually he went to the kissing booth. It's his turn in the kissing booth, Whose?

Speaker 1:

Mike's. Well, that means that they're going to close the gates and everybody's leaving. I cannot even imagine such a thing. Howdy, along with Mike, out of this world Mars. We always need more Jeff Zekin. Our chief engineer, David Ainsley, sits behind me today, which is a pretty scary thing actually I'm Don Armstrong. So glad that you could join us today, Jeffrey. I think that the group is here.

Speaker 2:

The group is here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's a little place for you and there's a headset for you. We sterilized it just in case you had some sort of you know second thoughts about. You know, maybe is this a healthy place for you. This is not, but the headsets are. How are you All right? What about yourself? So, did you get any sleep last night?

Speaker 3:

A little bit Did you get any sleep the whole tour.

Speaker 4:

Yet A little bit yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, so this is the better half of the duo that presents the Hot.

Speaker 2:

Rod Tour in.

Speaker 1:

Texas. I assume that Bobby is out and running around.

Speaker 4:

He's right out around the corner.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, we don't need him anyway, but we have you here. So, uh, how are things this morning? You guys start off at eight o'clock this morning.

Speaker 4:

We start at eight o'clock uh, at the move that microphone a little closer to you yeah, uh. At the lone star flight museum? Uh, oh, yeah. And then we went over. How was?

Speaker 1:

how was that yesterday afternoon? I know that you guys went up there yesterday afternoon, did you not? Oh, yes, we did.

Speaker 4:

It was great, did you have?

Speaker 1:

dinner there last night. Mars, Would you get up and help him? He's struggling here a little bit. There you go, I've got a guy sitting right next to you that's supposed to know how this works, but he's just going to let you sit there and fumble with the microphone.

Speaker 2:

I hate putting my hands on a man.

Speaker 1:

Today. That was yesterday Mars.

Speaker 4:

Last night was great though it was great, we did have dinner. We did have dinner.

Speaker 1:

What kind of dinner did you?

Speaker 3:

have. I didn't make dinner. Are you guys fajita dinner? Are you picking out furniture this week?

Speaker 1:

Anyway. So that was at the Lone Star Flight Museum. Yes, sir Did you have dinner inside the museum.

Speaker 4:

We did.

Speaker 1:

Was everybody wowed by that place? Everybody was impressed. I'll tell you what man. That is an impressive place, yes, it is I didn't know anything about it.

Speaker 1:

I knew that they were building it down there several years ago and the Northside Mustang Club actually hosted the National Mustang Clubs and everybody was there. It was a full house and everybody was absolutely wowed by that flight museum. And if you're listening and have never been to the flight museum, I would encourage you to go. I mean, if you're a car guy, it doesn't make any difference. If you're a car guy or not a car guy, it doesn't make any difference. That thing is impressive.

Speaker 4:

It is very, very, very impressive.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4:

And last night we had flight simulators also.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I heard about that A lot of people got to get on the flight simulators. How did you?

Speaker 4:

do? I just watched.

Speaker 1:

Because it can be intimidating If you don't know how you actually fly an airplane.

Speaker 3:

It's not like a car.

Speaker 1:

No, it's not there's a lot going on there.

Speaker 3:

So what are your most exciting points of the tour to this point in time?

Speaker 4:

To this point. My favorite parts really are driving the back roads. We hit a little bit of winding road on the way here.

Speaker 1:

Did you?

Speaker 4:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

Every stop's been great. I'm not going to tell you where this happened, because you probably know where this happened, but I got the Corvette up to 105 before I got nervous and shut it off. I was waiting for the cops to catch me, but they didn't. I didn't see them, but there were a couple of open stretches of roadway out there between was it Victoria or Palacios?

Speaker 2:

Don't tell them where.

Speaker 1:

Palacios, north of Palacios.

Speaker 4:

There were two steps. You know, I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 1:

How fast did you get the truck up here?

Speaker 4:

You're pulling the trailer, I have to behave, so I was going 60. 60? Were you?

Speaker 1:

the one that was saddled with the trailer. My nephew's pulling the trailer oh, okay. So it's a family affair.

Speaker 4:

Yes, it is very much well you got your yellow truck.

Speaker 1:

I got the yellow truck. Yeah, so uh. We had a great time at the hack winery. Yes, who would ever know that there's a winery in santa fe?

Speaker 4:

a particularly one, that nice, yeah, very nice yes, and in like a middle of a residential area. I know pretty much, yeah, how the hell did you guys find these places?

Speaker 1:

Research, research.

Speaker 4:

A lot of research and begging.

Speaker 3:

No, he just looked at where can I get a beer near me and that's what popped up. That's the research. That's not the research.

Speaker 1:

So when you did the research for the tour, it wasn't just one day or two days, it was like a week or so, probably even more, because you took months, months, because you take several trips all the time out of town, absolutely Out of Victoria.

Speaker 4:

Yep, we do a lot of road trips, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, it would be just like coming to find this place. I mean, you know you're a couple hours away and you've got to find something to figure out. Well, let's go. Look at this place. It's two hours away, all the way on the other side of Houston.

Speaker 4:

And, amazingly, the hardest part is finding somewhere to park. That was my question.

Speaker 1:

How do you determine where you're going to stop? Parking really clearly doesn't have much to say about any of that.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, parking is the biggest part. So we'll find a location that looks cool to go to and then we'll have to start Googling maps and then we'll start talking to the owners and the managers running the place and see if they can handle this size of crowd. Well, you know.

Speaker 1:

I did some legwork for you this morning, whether you know it or not, did you?

Speaker 4:

know it? No, I did not know that. What did you?

Speaker 1:

do. Well, we were a little bit verklempt coming up here because, coming from Sugar Land, we had to go through town, around town, over here, and there's a big construction project on 59 Northbound at Parker. I'm thinking, well, that wasn't that bad, although things were down to two lanes and a five-lane road. That's never good in Houston. And then we found that there's some other construction around here. Call bobby, call jeremy, call somebody and let them know, because we didn't know the damned route where you guys were coming from and how your route was coming up here. Oh, but once we talked to sabra, we're going ah okay, so they're coming up the back way.

Speaker 1:

yeah, no problem, and so that worked out. But we thought, god, they're going to go the freeway. Oh, no. The Hardy toll road is shut down and you know, 59 is shut down.

Speaker 4:

We avoid tollways, major highways as much as we can, and that's part of it, because not everybody has a toll tag or anything like that that's not as much fun.

Speaker 3:

Yep, you can go right, the whole purpose is to get out in the country and drive. That's the whole purpose of it. That's right.

Speaker 1:

So just to let you know that you guys weren't really scheduled to be here until between 10 and 1045. And it's like herding cats. Yep, because, as you know especially the back roads. You get to a stoplight that isn't controlled by the police and you've got to stop.

Speaker 1:

So then it creates a gap, then you get lost and there's this group and then that group and you follow this guy and yesterday took a tour right outside of victoria and here's a policeman, and everybody turned right I heard about that and we had to go around the block, you get back in and he's going come on, this is the way to go. So, uh, there's that sort of stuff so yeah, so you don't have 300 people like a funeral procession with cops going all over the place guarding the way it's like. Here's the course you make it you know that's another impressive thing.

Speaker 4:

The first day is police escort most of the way, I know. You know that was pretty cool all the way to santa fe. You know what?

Speaker 3:

and you know they let you go through a red light. They never let you go through stop sign. So I caught myself running lights and signs this morning, thinking where's my? Escort. Come on, even though that there were police up and down the tour.

Speaker 1:

There were some that weren't manned by police. Screw it, we just ran it, yeah. And I thought if they stop us, I'm going to say well, sir, you were supposed to be at that intersection waving us through. We're on the most impressive tour of the state of Texas, and that's another thing.

Speaker 3:

speaking of impressive having that coordinated so when you get into that town that they're ready to do what they do, and I'll give David Brogger full credit for that.

Speaker 1:

He managed all the escorts, and when we did that, going through those small towns love the kids out in front of the elementary school, with everybody waving, revving the engine, honking the horn, Yay yeah it's great fun.

Speaker 2:

It's great, ain't it? Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1:

It makes you feel good, you know, exposing the kids to an event that grandma and grandpa are on. Oh look, there goes grandpa's truck up there, yeah.

Speaker 4:

That kind of thing. I think a lot of people like the marina there in palatial studio. You know we did and you know what the funny thing about it is.

Speaker 1:

That was one that we could walk up and down, talk to guys. I met a guy yesterday that's from neederville, where he is, uh, great guy, and he introduced me to his little group. One of us with the 61 imperial oh yes, the convertible.

Speaker 4:

Yep, did you look under the hood of that car? It's got a little little something oh, my god, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So we got a little bit into it, come to find out that the engine fit, but the transmission did not, because it's got a 10 speed. You know those things are massive. Yep, so they had to cut out, cut out the rear floorboard to get the transmission in there. The rear four, wow, yeah, because the engine sits so far back. It was great. Love those guys and, uh, that's really what all this is about the camaraderie and meeting people that have the same passion that we do.

Speaker 1:

Yep, everybody becomes friends did you think that this was going to happen when you started this four years ago we were quite surprised it grew like it did.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, we didn't know what to expect and it just kept on going.

Speaker 3:

Well, that's kudos to you for putting on an organization, an event, and then making sure that anything that was say you made a mistake or something wasn't right you correct it, yep. And then the next year it gets better and you get more people, and you get more people, and you keep adding to it, and I think that's where you're at today.

Speaker 4:

Yep, yep, we're trying to improve every year.

Speaker 1:

Well, and look at the fortune. I mean my god, you got a merch trailer now just like the rock and roll bands.

Speaker 2:

I mean, what more to say? You got a nephew for a roadie. Yep, yep, I sure do yeah. So how?

Speaker 3:

many people you say you have your nephew driving the merch truck. So there's you, there's Bobby, your nephew.

Speaker 4:

Obviously, your wives are involved in this how many in your group to kick this off? Let's see, we have. Let's see, another five volunteers?

Speaker 3:

I believe no. Seven volunteers, Seven volunteers, and then you four, five, Right?

Speaker 4:

So a dozen people, about a dozen people.

Speaker 1:

Dirty dozen.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4:

They stepped up to the plate to help park and do the scanning in and everything. Yeah, always appreciated.

Speaker 2:

By the way, all the tedious little stuff yeah.

Speaker 1:

I was talking to Kate down there at the Victoria Square. Yep, the lady down there and I said do me a favor, would you please guide these guys next year, because there's not enough parking on the square. Here's what happens they all get there at 2 o'clock in the damned afternoon and the event doesn't start until 5. Well, they snap all the parking spots, so I have to park in a parking lot. We'll fix it next year.

Speaker 2:

There you go, and that's what it's all about.

Speaker 1:

We even had ancillary parking right there next to the courthouse. You know what parking lot I'm talking about, so that's going to be ours. Thank you very much, don Armstrong.

Speaker 3:

I going to be ours. Thank you very much, Don Armstrong. You know what he negotiated there's going to be a spot with his name on it. That's what he wants.

Speaker 1:

Right next to the band Don Armstrong Once I'm dead there'll be the memorial there the Don Armstrong Memorial parking spot, and they'll put a. Yugo in it, exactly. So what's the car count like this morning? Because you know it's one thing to start the event and you've got a full house and then, for whatever reason, this guy has to drop out, can't do the whole thing, so do you know what the car count is this morning?

Speaker 4:

I do not, but it's still over 200. It's still over 200. And we?

Speaker 3:

started with three, yes, 300?. But you know, folks do other things. They'll be here, they'll be coming in.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, some of them. You know there were several cars on the side of the road and people were stopping to help them. So it's not just one car down. Now you've got two, maybe three that are down because people are trying to help each other out. That's right. I saw that I think three different times.

Speaker 3:

And different time, and that's a good thing about this group. They see someone go down, they're gonna pull over and absolutely yeah, well, maybe we can get someone, uh, for next year to have like a chase truck have actually, there is somebody I saw one of those, a recovery vehicle. There you go, there you go. Is that what it said, you see?

Speaker 4:

triple a on it or something somebody glom on to the end of the tour hey, he's bringing a trailer, his uh, he has a, uh, a bel air station wagon that's getting painted. It didn't get finished. So he's still coming along. Brought a trailer in case anybody breaks down.

Speaker 3:

Very nice and that's camaraderie and thinking ahead.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's very good. That's Steve.

Speaker 4:

Glenn from Pan Joe's Pizza in Corpus. Ah, very nice.

Speaker 1:

Pedro's in Corpus.

Speaker 4:

Pan Joe's, oh, pan Joe's Pizza.

Speaker 3:

I've had that pizza.

Speaker 1:

You know there's a pizza place there in Victoria that I thought went out of business. Oh no, pied Piper Pizza, oh yeah, remember.

Speaker 2:

Pied Piper oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

It's over there on Navarro, across the street.

Speaker 4:

Competitor at Chuck E Cheese. Yep, yeah, see, look at what I know.

Speaker 1:

I've learned the hard way, he ordered a pizza.

Speaker 3:

He's got a parking spot. He's good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's good to go. So what's on the agenda for this afternoon? You spent a couple of hours here.

Speaker 4:

We'll spend a couple hours here. Then we're going to move on and wind our way to Montgomery.

Speaker 1:

Montgomery, Texas.

Speaker 4:

Tonight is the guitars and classic cars in Montgomery, and what is that? That was a new venue that we stumbled across, and so I believe it's 20 acres, right at 20 acres five-acre pond. And it's got a stage set up and we'll be parking under the trees.

Speaker 2:

It's an outdoor venue. It's an outdoor venue.

Speaker 4:

We'll be parking under trees and they have string lights throughout the trees Very nice, and they held a about a month or so ago they had a nighttime car show there.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so they set the stage.

Speaker 4:

Yes, and we'll have the crowbars playing there also, by the way. Congratulations, fun group they are and, uh, very talented.

Speaker 1:

And we learned something about the crowbars yesterday, about the drum, the bass drum he had a suitcase he's playing a suitcase you can use, as long as it makes the tone.

Speaker 3:

As long as it makes the tone, it's good it sounded good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there's no bass drum per se. It was the suitcase and it worked.

Speaker 3:

Yep, samsonite and ludwig, they need to get into business well, or dw you talking about mary samsonite? Do you remember mary samson?

Speaker 1:

no, I no she didn't go to my school. Did you ever watch Dumb and Dumber?

Speaker 4:

No, oh, I know what you're talking about, mary Samsonite.

Speaker 1:

Yep, yeah because she had left her briefcase with all the money in it and it had Samsonite on it.

Speaker 4:

Yep.

Speaker 1:

And she was Mary must be Mary. What's her name? Mary Mary Samsonite, okay.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I remember that, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Remember the strange things. Is there food here today?

Speaker 4:

They do have a food truck outside.

Speaker 1:

Okay, good, I think it's right out.

Speaker 4:

And there's lots of beer here. I can see it through the window right there.

Speaker 3:

Lots of beer here. There's a Hot Rod Tour merch truck out there.

Speaker 4:

Yes, they're setting it up. Right now they are.

Speaker 3:

We're backing it up as I walked in here, I see it on camera right here oh, I see it there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there, it is right there with the texas flag and the hot rod tour of texas the giveaway go.

Speaker 4:

Yes, all right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, our famous logo so tonight is montgomery and then you're going to stay somewhere up in the woodland.

Speaker 4:

We'll say we'll stay in the con. Most of us are in the conroe area, yeah, and then tomorrow we'll leave out um hunger crush cafe in montgomery, yeah, and we'll be pulling Hunger Crush Cafe in Montgomery, yep, and we'll be pulling out of there, of course, taking a bunch of back roads, and we're going to end up in Madisonville at Braves Yep Playground and museum.

Speaker 2:

I believe You're going to go through the forest up there.

Speaker 4:

We're going to be driving through some trees yes.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so before you leave us, how do folks get a hold of you? Hot Rod Tour of Texas, maybe for some merch or maybe kind of pre-sign up for next year. How do they do that?

Speaker 4:

All right. So we have our Hot Rod Tour of Texas tour page, facebook page, and then we also have a website, hotrodtouroftexascom, and we have our store located there also, if you want to, if you want to buy merch and do shipping got. We're trying to get better at announcing where we're going to be if you want to go and see us there. We do go to New Brunswick monthly to meet there, right and uh, really yes yeah, every month. Every month last weekend of the month at uh Gateway Cars.

Speaker 1:

But you don't stay at Gateway Classic Cars, that's a consignment store.

Speaker 4:

Yep, but we go there. They have like a caffeine and chrome is what they call it. I think we've done a couple of announcements on it Last year, the past two years, the past two years, yep.

Speaker 1:

We sure did. It's good to go in there and see the cars with the stickers on them, the price tag of them. Yeah, yeah, hell, they got 100 cars inside that warehouse?

Speaker 4:

Yeah, easily, easily. Yeah, it's a beautiful facility, so if you want to get on the Hot Rod Tour.

Speaker 1:

George, are you listening to me?

Speaker 3:

George, david George is down there somewhere, jeffrey, a hot rod.

Speaker 4:

Calling those boys out. That's right. It don't have to be a classic. It could be a car.

Speaker 3:

Well, you know, I'm driving a Buick this year and I've been getting rave reviews about it.

Speaker 1:

It's a 2025 model.

Speaker 3:

It's going to become a classic.

Speaker 1:

He's actually looking at putting some wood siding on it. There you go, but you know.

Speaker 3:

I've got to get the right shaker. Can color yeah, that. And the sponge and the sponge yeah, You've got to get the texture All right, but yeah registration usually doesn't open until the beginning of the year.

Speaker 4:

That's when we finalize everything.

Speaker 3:

You want to maybe give us a preview of where you think you might be going next year. We won't tell anybody.

Speaker 4:

Nobody we believe we'll be going back to the Hill Country next year.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, that's always fun.

Speaker 4:

But you know what?

Speaker 1:

There's only one other place, and that would be East Texas.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And going north from the Beaumont area up through the Piney Woods up to maybe down the road.

Speaker 4:

Maybe down the road.

Speaker 1:

We try to change it up every year. By the way, there's your car right there.

Speaker 4:

My train.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. If you could figure out a way to go around Houston to East Texas, that'd be great.

Speaker 3:

That would be a logistical thing for them to work out from Victoria up to Beaumont. I don't know. You need a passport, you've got to get shots and all that Shots.

Speaker 1:

Jeremy, thank you.

Speaker 4:

Thank you, sir, it's great to be here.

Speaker 3:

All right, we'll see you later on. We'll talk before the end of the show. All right, you bet All right, thank you, hey.

Speaker 1:

Just ahead a special feature, along with Jeff's car culture and prepping American versus foreign rides.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what do you want? To buy the In One Time Car?

Speaker 1:

Talk Show is back in two minutes. What do you want to buy? The In Real Time Car Talk Show is back in two minutes. The Tex-Mex dining experience is defined by Loopy Tortilla your destination for Texas' best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas. Since 1983, Loopy Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients. Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience at Loopy Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in West Houston. Visit any of the Loopy Tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location. Start your Loopy experience with queso flammeado and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita. Dine on famous Loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper pepper shrimp brochette, or a fish or vegetarian entree, and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert. Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston College Station, Beaumont, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth. There's a Texas location near you. The recipes are authentic and time-tested, the ingredients always fresh. Loopy Tortilla, it's pretty good.

Speaker 1:

The In Real Time Car Talk Show thanks you for 14 wonderful years. Yep, our first show aired May 7, 2011 on a local radio station. Then it was a move to the digital world and social media and you followed. Thank you. We continue to build and grow our fan base, and it's all because of you and your auto enthusiast friends. We appreciate your support. It's always great to see you at our remote broadcasts and we hope you'll continue to stop by and say hello. It's been a great ride and we hope to bring you more fun and adventure right here on the in-wheel time car talk show. All right, thanks for joining us today on the in-wheel time car talk show. Um, let's see. Hey, we hit the road again.

Speaker 1:

God help oh no the next stop is granbury for the lone star and street rod association state run. Join our live broadcast on June 14th. We'll be on 9 to noon. Thanks for being with us today and we appreciate you. We're coming to you on the Hot Rod Tour of Texas today and we are at the Spindle Tap Brewery here on the north side of Houston Yep, just off of US-59, the East Tex Freeway as we call it, and all of the well. It started off as 300 cars. I think that they're probably down to 200 cars, but let me tell you that's a lot of cars a lot of cars, yeah and uh 50 cars is a lot of cars.

Speaker 3:

It is if you stop and think about it.

Speaker 1:

It is all right. So, uh, what do you got? You have a special for us.

Speaker 3:

I do, it's called American Cars vs Foreign Cars. A little bit of stats and facts. And what would you buy? Choosing between American and foreign automobiles is sometimes a complicated decision, but it's interesting to find out what people want to know about it and how they make their decisions. What percentage of cars are American? Well, nearly half of all cars in the United States are from overseas. More specifically, about 45% of them are foreign cars. 54% are domestic. So that's a fairly decent number, american outweighing the foreign. What are the foreign cars better than American cars?

Speaker 3:

Well better is a subjective term, but because European car manufacturers usually have stricter regulations, the requirements from an automobile manufacturer in America these tend to be higher. The quality tends to be a little bit lasting longer. That's consensus in the people that are looking into buying these things. Why are American cars better than foreign cars? Well, that's another choice that you have to make. American cars are sometimes better than foreign car vehicles, especially to consumers that want to buy America wherever they can. I mean even in appliances and multiple choices purchases as well, even though sometimes difficult to tell exactly where the parts of that vehicle are made.

Speaker 3:

Do American or foreign cars last longer? There's always an argument regarding whether American or foreign cars last longer. At one time, typically, vehicles drove very well under that banner about 100,000 miles, that was the max. Now they're about 300,000 miles and still going. So it's a matter of maintenance and how they put them together. Who assembles the most cars in America? Well, you're looking at in the United States. Tesla assembles the most in the United States, in the country, followed by Jeep at 89%, cadillac 86, dodge at 83%, gmc at 80, and number 11 on the list is Nissan, which assembles about 55% of the vehicles in the United States. Why do Americans prefer foreign cars? Well, whether these perceptions are nissan, which assembles about 55 of the vehicles in the united states, why do americans prefer foreign cars? Well, uh, whether these perceptions are completely realistic or not, it is subjective and there's a few reasons that people have in their own making of that decision can I just jump, in sure.

Speaker 1:

So back in the day when toyota and honda came to the States.

Speaker 3:

And they were head-to-head. They were head-to-head.

Speaker 1:

But the movement was in my era at that time late 60s, early 70s that the foreign makers, honda and Nissan and those bunches that came to the United States first. They lasted longer, they were better built, they were higher quality cars. Well, they were smaller cars too. They were they were better built. They were higher quality cars.

Speaker 3:

Well, there were smaller cars too.

Speaker 1:

They were, they were, and for that they competed against the other smaller cars that the manufacturers in the United States were making, the Novas, for instance.

Speaker 3:

That sort of stuff. I had one. It was a great car.

Speaker 1:

But that was the nomenclature here that we all said. Oh well, I hear that they make longer lasting cars, and that wasn't necessarily true. If you took care of your american car, which we didn't do, we treated them like trash well 35,000 miles we traded it in a different era, because they didn't last much longer than 35,000 yeah well that's well. What do you mean by that? Well, my dad's.

Speaker 3:

Buick lasted forever, but our age, when we were growing up, I was flipping cars every couple of years, you know as a teenager. Well, I didn't have that kind of money, Jeff.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that's part of being a teenager, though, but you're right, you know. I remember my dad rebuilding motors in the driveway. Oh, it's got 100,000 miles on it. It's got a hundred thousand miles on it.

Speaker 3:

It's got the rings in it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you got to put rings in it or bearings, the points or something. Yeah, exactly, there's always something.

Speaker 3:

And why are cars, not american cars, not sold in europe? Well, it's, it's the conception, and not being the better built vehicle, like you just said. It's not true? Well, that's the, that's the perception, and the conception of some of the people yeah, anyways, uh, worldwide, there's roughly 160 brands of vehicles, which means that the uh the makes of these vehicles. As far as models are concerned, there's new ones popping up all the time, but in 20, as of 2020, the estimate uh about 250 to 260 total models of vehicles.

Speaker 3:

So make your choice my god, it's all you a lot yeah and some of them brands I've never even heard of.

Speaker 1:

So it's and there's more and more now yeah now it's the electrics that are everybody's trying to get a foot in the door ev this and ribbian type ocean there's all sorts of different new makers that haven't even thought about coming out of states yet, but they're poised to. We haven't even opened up the market to the Chinese.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And the Chinese really have a leg up on pricing and longevity mileage on their electric vehicles. We haven't even opened a store here yet.

Speaker 3:

That's coming. They interviewed the CEO of Hyundai on some news show the other last week or whatever, and he was talking about how they want to come to the United States and start blasting cars out in the United States, and they ended the conversation on a handshake. So that was good.

Speaker 1:

I have to tell you, and I'm going to- review this in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3:

I'm just driving.

Speaker 1:

I just took delivery of a 2025 Ford F-150 hybrid. Granted it's $80,000,. But let me say this it's a hybrid and boy is it nice.

Speaker 3:

Hybrids are popular.

Speaker 1:

Hybrid is the way to go. Manufacturers know how to make them. They've been making them for a while.

Speaker 2:

And.

Speaker 1:

I think they got the juju down on the hybrids. So if you're going to the market for a new car, I would definitely check out a hybrid if you can. They're a little bit more expensive but, hey, it's worth the money, I think.

Speaker 3:

Cadillac Escalade Electric 460 miles is what they're touting, and on a range yeah range.

Speaker 1:

So keep that in mind. Alright time now for a quick break here on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. We're on the Hot Rod Tour. Thank you for joining us up here at Spindle Tap Brewery. We're back after this.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches 5.3 million folks each year. Check us out on inwheeltimecom, the Odyssey Radio app, youtube, facebook and just about every other entertainment source out there, including our live broadcast every Saturday 10 to noon Central Time. The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show has informative automotive guest interviews, new car reviews, along with popular features, including Jeff's Car Culture, the latest new cars, cruise ins and racing dates. It's InWheelTimecom. Join us. 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