Fair Food, the MX-5 is 35, and Familiar Faces Under Different Names

Step right up to a fascinating exploration of the Texas State Fair's hidden gems! Beyond the legendary fried foods lies a world of unexpected attractions waiting to be discovered. Did you know you could view world-famous butter sculptures in the Creative Arts building? Or that a 212-foot Texas Fair Swell offers breathtaking panoramic views of Dallas and Fair Park from 44 illuminated gondolas?

We take you on a virtual tour through ten must-see fair attractions, from the midway's 70+ rides (including the towering 500-foot Texas Tower) to the surprising Lagoon Park with its animatronic dinosaur exhibits. Sports enthusiasts will appreciate learning about the historic Cotton Bowl hosting both the HBCU State Fair Classic and the legendary Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. Whether you're a fair regular or planning your first visit, these insider insights guarantee a richer experience.

The automotive world takes center stage in our "Car Culture" segment, where we unpack the fascinating practice of badge engineering. Discover how a single vehicle can wear up to eleven different brand identities around the globe! From the ill-fated Cadillac Cimarron (a dressed-up Chevy Cavalier) to the Hillman Avenger that transformed into the Plymouth Cricket for American buyers, we trace decades of automotive identity-swapping. 

We wrap up with a comprehensive review of the 2025 Mazda MX5 Miata, celebrating its butter-smooth shifter, impressive power-to-weight ratio, and the pure driving joy that comes from this purpose-built sports car. Whether you're tall enough to fit comfortably is another question entirely! Listen now and share your own fair memories or badge engineering discoveries with us at info@inwheeltime.com.

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Transcript

Texas State Fair Attractions and Food

SPEAKER_01 1:05

And uh they also have some simple drink entries this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

You can taste all the finalists, cast your own onions with what is that, a pickle with cereal on it, or is that some sprinkles Mexican uh like a corn?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I don't know. It talks about the roll of the bacon, devil egg sliders, deep fried deli tacos. I'm not sure. I think that's a banana, isn't it? No, it's a I don't know. Didn't ask. Going on the Texas Fair Swell. Now, this thing is 212 feet tall, so it's not necessarily for um me. Yeah, for people that aren't that don't want to get up high, but you can get some really panoramic views of Dallas itself on a good clear night, as well as Fair Park. It's 44 gondolas, so they can carry a lot of people and they really light it up at night. Now, moving on to speaking of rides, the midway rides and games, there are over 70 rides down on the midway from kids rides up to the more uh adult type rides that kids can't get on. Like the 500-foot top of tower Texas Tower. There's the uh 1914 Denzel Carousel, and uh they've also edited Denzel Washington, no doubt. Uh could be. They have the 177-foot portable swing tower that'll give you some serious aerial thrills, I believe. But here's one now, Don, this is for you. Is this an aspire? No. This is inside the Creative Arts building. Visitors will find displays of fine arts, photography, quilting home, and the world-famous butter sculptures. Now, this is a historical tradition, and you can get all these different all these things right here. This is just four examples of butter sculptures, including the Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Look, there's Jeff over there on the right lower right-hand side with my mullet.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I don't know how they keep it from all melting, but uh, I did not know that was there, and so I've never been there and seen it.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Well, yet when you go inside there, you have to put it, make it a sweater weather kind of uh visit. And the display, the display next to it is toasts.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Toast. And they give you a knife when you go in.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So moving on to the auto show. Now, this is one of the big things. This is generally where I go whenever I go up there. Um, so they've got all kinds of cars and seen there in years. Ah, besides the point. When I have been, but you can go through and see if you got vehicles on the outside, on the inside. They've actually got a few places that you can actually drive them some around some tracks.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Look, it's got an aspire right there in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Right there in the orange one, right there in the middle. Then if you uh want some other things a little more active, you can also go to the rodeo. They've got uh daily livestock shows, judging, full rodeos with bull riding, barrel racing, and roping events. Uh got FHA, I mean 4-H and FFA participants, so you can do go through all the barns and do the rodeos in the evening under the lights. And one, another one I did not know was there. They actually have Lagoon Park. And this was not there the last time I was there for sure. This is part of their family-friendly attractions, their animatronic dinosaur exhibits and interactive shows. Puts it in a lagoon setting to make it more realistic. Then, if you're interested in stuff that's more sports, because they are right there by the football stadium, they have the women's soccer uh championship there. They have the State Fair Classic, which is an HBCU football game between Prairie View AM and Grambling inside the Cotton Bowl, and of course, the big one, the Red River Rivalry, where Texas and Oklahoma play, which I believe is going on today. And of course, they have again back to the rodeo stuff. But there's lots of things to do up there, but this is just 10 of the bigger things. Some of them I didn't even know existed.

Creative Arts and Auto Show

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Well, there you go. Once again, we don't know what we don't know. Exactly. All right, well, thank you, sir. In real time car talk is continues right after this quick break. Let's see how you own it. Thanks for being with us today. Time now for Jeff's Car Culture. Same car, different names.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Yeah, it's sort of like a Cadillac SRX that turned into a V. Yes, I remember that. Sort of. So for decades, car manufacturers have confused buyers by offering models with an array of identities. Now, that picture right there, that is a uh uh Land Rover. Eleven different names that that vehicle has been on over the years. Really? It's a practice known as badge engineering, not to be confused with platform sharing or joint ventures, all of which have become increasingly common in recent years. Some car companies have overindulged, while others know better than to mess with their branding. Six decades of badge engineering cars. And you'll see that some automakers uh crop up from time to time. You'll see that in this whole segment. So here we go, Michael. Push the button. Number one, Cimarron Cadillac. In 1982, there were two models of this vehicle. When GM raised it in the early 80s, that BMW and Mercedes were stealing sales and parts for the luxury car market, it stuck Cadillac badges onto Chevrolet Cavaliers in a bid to compete with the smaller luxury cars. But the high prices and four-cylinder engines made the Cimarron, which is pictured here, a laughing stock. Even in the introduction of a V6 in 1985, it did nothing to make the car more sellable. Shame on them. The next one is a Lancia Delta, it's a 2011 model. There were two models, yeah. Wait, that's a Chrysler. When Fiat merged with Chrysler, it proved how shameless it could be with its abuse of brands. First, we got the Lancia Delta, then we got the Lancia Ypsilon, rebadged as a Chrysler for the UK, sort of like a Monage de Trois. Oh my god, for the UK Market hopelessly ambitious premium pricing, and then Chrysler 200, which is pictured here, and Grand Voyager were rebadged as Lancia's. The former sold as the Flavia and was notably unfortunately. The Flavia Lancia, I guess. That's something to do with verbs. There you go. Speaking of Monage de Trois, check this one out. Three Volkswagen 2011. There were three models. Now check this out. The Volkswagen rules the roost when it comes to rebadging. It's first generation of the MQB platform, fueled 15 different models, but sometimes we get the same car wearing different badges instead. With no attempt to separate them, which is why Volkswagen pictured on the right, the right bottom one, uh, also came up uh virtually identical to the seat my, which is pictured center, and the Skoda Sitco, which is pictured left. Most global markets apart from North America. So they weren't sold here, but they were in other places. It's a Skoda.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Isn't that a uh Swedish company?

SPEAKER_02 7:46

I think it's a vodka drink, isn't it? Well, yeah, that's it. Could be. Yep. The Hillman Avenger in 1970. There were six bottles of this bad boy. Britain's Roost Group. Ah, look at the family. We had it again in the rear-wheel drive family car that arrived in 1970. Originally sold as the Hillman Avenger. There was also the Talbot, the Sunbeam, and the Dodge versions of it. While in the U.S. it sold as a Plymouth cricket, which is pictured there. In Argentina, it sold as a Volkswagen. Wait a minute. A Plymouth cricket. Plymouth cricket. I remember that. What year? Uh 80s. 70s. The 70s. 70s. Yeah. And then, of course, now they repatched it into a Volkswagen.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

I think that's a 72, the play stuff played out of the 70s.

Jeff's Car Culture: Badge Engineering

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Pretty close. Michael, the next one is a Chevy Captiva. It's a sport model, and it's in 2006, and there were seven versions of this. Seven, of course. General Motors gave this car a different identity all over the world. Australia got it as a Holden Captivia, Captiva. And in the UK, it was a Vauxhill Antera. Vauxhall. While elsewhere in Europe, it was the Opal Antera. Sold as the Saturn View in North America. In South America, it was the Chevrolet Captiva, which is pictured here. And in South Korea, it was the Daewoo Windstorm Max. Day Woo. Now there you there's a big name in automotive history. Is the Suzuki Vitara. Four models of this, depending on the markets in the Vitara, which is pictured here, was sold as a Suzuki sidekick. Chevlet did it as a tracker in the Geo Tracker. Uh GM's Geo brand from 89 to 2016 consisted entirely of rebadging cars made by other companies. The Prism was really a Toyota Sprinter. Look at that. That's right in front of a renamed cracker barrel. Exactly. It was uh Toyota Sprinter. The storm was in the Suzuki Pulse, Chiquito, and the Spectrum was in a Suzu iMark, and the Metro, as we all see, was rebadged as a what? Suzuki Swift. Hey Mars, what was the name of it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Mar Mars, what was what was the name of that car that you had last hour? That car that you talked about that we we all the Tata car? The Tata, yeah. Yeah, but what but what was it? What was the name of it that you called it? Oh no, that was the afford aspire. Aspire. Yeah, yeah. Aspire. Aspire. You called it Aspire. Aspire got my East Texas from playing in there. Uh-huh. From the Tata Motor Company the Aspire. Made by Tuck Mill. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

There you go. Rebadged, renamed.

2025 Mazda MX5 Miata Review

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Okay. All right. So let's do this hour's car review, shall we? Had a chance to drive the 2025 Mazda MX5 Miata. Uh final assembly location, Hiroshima, Japan. Yes, home of the atomic bomb. Available trim levels come in sport club grand touring and 35th anniversary edition. If you're watching, what you're seeing there is the 35th anniversary edition. This is a two-seater. Um it's classified as a two-seater. And uh exterior changes from the last model year. Well, it is part of the fourth generation that was originally introduced in 2016. This is the best looking Mazda MX5 Miata that has ever been in existence, as far as I'm concerned. I love the peaks on the fender wells up front. Notice how it's almost a Corvette-like look up there. Long hood short deck, classic sports car shape. Crisp top of the front fender, low-to-the-ground grill, uh bulging rear fenders to carry the rubber back there. Unique taillights fit its unique overall design. What I liked about it, everything. Uh I love the fact that the shape of it, including the grill, all proportionate. Nothing is overdone, but what is there is really outstanding, I think. Interior highlights. Uh love your passenger because it's very tight confines on the inside and six footers, beware. Oh boy. Modern infotainment system and instrument cluster. Um clean look dash design with no passenger side glove box. The tiny storage area is behind and between the two seats. It's interesting. You can't actually look in there if you're driving. You just got to kind of feel around in there and hopefully you remember where you put whatever it is that you put in. Trunk room is tiny, one overnight bag, and that is all. What I liked about it, the easy-to-use top, uh, it's a one-click thing for the top, and you put it down manually right behind you, and the same thing to put it up. There's no electric top or nothing like that. It's manual, but it works so well, it's unbelievable. Uh the manual shifter that you see there, it is butter. It works like butter. I have never driven a car with a shifter like that. It's so smooth, unbelievable. Um could use improvement. Well, it is what it is, it's tiny. I remember when they came out with this car and they sent all the press out there to debut the car. And um everything about it, there is a name that they used, and it's a Japanese name. I can't remember what it is. For instance, like the steering wheel, where the steering wheel is placed in the car, it's dead centered up in front of the driver. If you will notice your car offsets, they're offset the the steering wheel is a little bit offset one way or the other to accommodate the mechanics underneath the hood. Anyway, just a bit of trivia. Two-liter four-cylinder engine turns out 181 horsepower, 151 pound feet of torque. But let me tell you this that is all about the fact power to weight ratio. It car weighs nothing. And at 181 horsepower, it feels like it's got a great big block, Chevy, 400 horsepower motor. Because you're in a small environment and you're low to the ground. And the car doesn't weigh anything. Yeah, till rating, no, there's none. Hall rating, it hauls butt. How about that? Uh, manufacturers set up as far as uh miles per gallon is concerned. 26 city, 34 highway for combined 29. I got 34.5 miles per gallon out of 453.1 miles. What I liked about it, power to weight ratio is awesome. What could use improvement? This is a purpose-built sports car that can cut a rug around a road course racetrack. And if you want to go and have some real fun, get yourself one of these. What I liked about it, handling on this thing is awesome. What could use improvement? It may be a bit too stiff for those looking for a highway cruiser because that it is not. It will cruise the highway, there's no doubt about it. But the ride, well, it's a sport car ride. Here's the pricing. Base trim price is$37,485. Price is tested,$37,435. Now, I don't know what happened to the$50 there. Just by looking at it, I guess they want you to say, I like the car. Base model price. You can get in one of these for$29,530. Yeah. So here are the competitors. The Toyota GR86 starts at$30,400. Its cousin, the Subaru Brz, starts at 33210. Well, the other competitor, if you want to call it that, the Mini Cooper, is$28,950. That's my review of the 2025 Mazda MX5 Miata. Love the car. As far as a six-footer person is concerned, it's a little tight.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

I was going to say, so when you go to an amusement park, you have to be taller than this line to get into that car. Yeah. If you're and with the car, if you're taller than this line, you can't drive it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Well, I will tell you this. So I have my my buddy that I work with, um Matt. Matt got in it. Matt is a little heavier set than I am. By golly, he could fit. Now his knees did touch the dashboard, but he can make it work. So I'm telling you, if you really want to, for no other reason, go out, take a look at it. I think that you'll really have a good time looking at the car if you don't want to buy it.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

And a step up from that would be what the Mazda 3 to be a little bit larger vehicle, yeah, kind of. I guess.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

But it's like you lose the whole two-wheel thing though when you do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

You lose the performance. Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltime.com. We are back after this quick break. Stay with us.