Road Dogs
Road Dogs is a show about the road and everything on it. Join hosts Omar (car lover) and Cheryl (car hater) as they try to reconcile their differences.
Road Dogs
On the Road with Baba
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Omar and his dad drive from Cairo to Alexandria. They talk about Suzukis, Fiats, BMWs, and Baba reads a poem.
Produced by Omar Etman. Edited and mixed by Jackson Roach.
How does your voice sound?
SPEAKER_01Sounds good. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Road Dogs. I'm Omar. Today's episode is a little different. It's just me. And I'm trying to answer a question that's nagged at me over years. And that's kind of at the heart of this show. Why do I like cars so much? Perhaps most boys who love cars don't have this question. They like cars because the boys like cars. It's a perfectly normal thing to do. But I'm not like other boys. And I've always wanted to know. To get to the bottom of it. Like it's an illness no one can diagnose. I want to know how I got this hooked. Where does this start? Earlier this summer I was in Egypt seeing family and friends, and I took my question to the source. And uh I wanted to talk to you about cars.
SPEAKER_01Ah, anytime. I'm here, I will answer as much as I can.
SPEAKER_00Can you introduce yourself?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my I am uh Omar uh father. Okay. My name is Amr Atman. I am a physician and I work in New York and I'm a gynecologist.
SPEAKER_00Could you tell us where we are?
SPEAKER_01Uh we are now driving uh on uh on the highway from Cairo to Alexandria. It's called the desert road, although it doesn't look like a desert. It was desert maybe f uh uh 30 years ago when I was the last time I was driven in it. But now there are houses and the green stuff on the right and left, trees, high voltage electric wires, and I feel like I'm looking at the road for the first time right now, and it is so big.
SPEAKER_00But it's pretty nice.
SPEAKER_01I think it's uh they would they did a good job.
SPEAKER_00Okay, could you tell me? I mean, growing up, I feel like you liked cars so much, we spent literally half of our time together talking about cars, thinking about cars. Did you like cars growing up?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, of course I do. I even I started uh uh driving my first car while it is parked in a closed garage. So I know how to drive when I was actually age 12. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who taught you how to drive?
SPEAKER_01I mean I saw how to drive uh from the my father and also from the chauffeur that uh comes and drives us, and uh I know how he pressed the pedal for the clutch and how to to change the gear. It was fascinating for me how you could coordinate between both of them and the car keep going. The first one we we call it uh Aziza, Aziz means a deer car for us. And the engine in the front, you have to use a handle, a cranking handle, you can turn it around, turn it around, turn it around, and the car will start. But for us as a kid, we were uh we were in a neighborhood, it's called the Manchete back there. There was no uh cars around that time, it was only uh five cars in this area, and the five cars belongs only to doctors. So there was no car, so we take it when we were kids, we get it out of the garage, and we know that it doesn't start, so we starting pushing it around the neighborhood. And uh when when the car we push it, push, push, and once it started to get faster, so everybody jumped on one side. So one jump on the right rail, one jump on the left rail, one sit on the back, and we would be happy and very excited. And we keep doing this maybe twice per week until we caught uh somebody caught us and told my dad, so I stopped from doing it.
SPEAKER_00But okay, but this thing, like now I think about you as loving cars so much. Like this thing that you have now, that love of cars, where did that come from?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, maybe it's coming from my exposure to different kinds of cars. It allowed me to to see, okay, this is what I need in a car. I always like the interior of the car more than the exterior because I like the comfort and luxury inside. Because if you have the luxury and the culture inside, eventually from outside will become beautiful too.
SPEAKER_00You're like you're like, I don't care about looks, I care about the feel of the inside. You're all about personality.
SPEAKER_01Correct. About how you are gonna enjoy it. It's exactly like I get uh a shift. You like it, why do you like it? Oh, because it's comfy on my body and it's silky, so it's very nice. Yeah, if it looks good, then people around you will like it. If they don't like it, okay, it's hard luck.
SPEAKER_00I guess I'm wondering, like, okay, you like the interiors of cars, but how did you come to love them? Like, what's the first car you fell in love with?
SPEAKER_01The first car I fell in uh in love with, I mean, yeah, as you I don't know how you describe love, but the one that I I really dreamed about it was uh uh Suzuki Swift Sidan. This was like a revolution in the kinds of cars the windows are electric, okay? You don't have to go with your hand up and down to do it. And it has a good air conditions all the time from the start, and seats are comfy and electric and they can move and up and uh forward and backward and all the directions just by pushing a button and everything out in other cars was manual.
SPEAKER_00What year is this? When when did this car come out?
SPEAKER_01This was I think in 1993. This was the first uh car that was uh made in Egypt by a joint venture between Japan and uh and the Egypt. We knew the the presidents of the of the company and my father-in-law at that time, he knew him very well, and we got actually one of the first cars in the country, in the streets of Egypt, was actually belongs to me. How did that make you feel? I feel special. It was a like uh grayish in color metallic, and it was good. And actually, when it comes time to to for for for you to be on on life when you have to to be delivered, actually we drove you with this car uh to the hospital. In the swift, to the hospital, yeah, yes. So if you need to say, okay, what is my pre-born experience with cars? If you like cars, it is it should be the Suzuki sweep to sit there. Because you, I mean, if I I was delayed 15 or 20 minutes to go to the hospital, you were delivered in the back seat. And I'm gonna send you the bill in order to fix that.
SPEAKER_00Funny Baba. Could you tell me about about the Mercedes your family got? What was it? Describe it to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we got uh Mercedes uh 200 uh E, I think. It was 1982, it was brand new. And uh we didn't drive it that much, we always keep it for occasion. So if we are going to wedding, we can use it. Other than that, we it's just parking in the garage. So the car kept clean for for years.
SPEAKER_00I I rem in in the lore, in the story of you and mama getting married, I feel like the Mercedes plays a big role. Or for some reason, I've always thought like I've always known since I was young that Baba had a Mercedes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it's it's a sign of uh being wealthy, okay, as a Mercedes. Okay, and yeah, Mercedes new car, it's good. Even in the uh first day after I uh I got engaged with Herbert, I went to the Mercedes car just to show after that hey. Uh look at me here. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Why do you think I like cars so much?
SPEAKER_01You were fascinated with it uh since actually younger age, like nine-year-old, something you keep reading about cars, you're reading about cars, and all the details, uh the engine size and the brake size and suspension and all the minor details. And all what you come when you come for school, then what you do? Just read about cars. My friends, we said, okay, can you ask Hallmark okay which car I should buy? And why this car and not that the other one? So it became like an authoritative figure for anybody in my extended uh uh friends how to pick the right car for the right time, and actually he used to give a wise decision. Uh for somebody of his age, it was uh was a good thing.
SPEAKER_00I think I liked being an expert in general, and I liked that knowing a lot about cars meant that adults took me seriously.
SPEAKER_01Yes, well, the adults feel like okay, they are talking to adults now, and when you feel like those adults and grown up listen to this nine, ten-year-old, this means I'm sure he he knows what he's talking about. And I remember one time I was trying to go look for a car, and Omar came with me, and uh we're asking the the salesman about the cards, and he doesn't know, but Omar was actually reciting everything in the car. And he said, Oh my god, I I have no idea what you are saying about. Although I sell these kind of cards, but I don't know anything about it. And until now, I cannot make a decision to buy a car until I get his approval, which you feel like constrained at some time, because he his flavor or taste for cars is different and he looks at different things, but sometimes ignorance is a blessing. Just go get it, if you like it, just go get it. Because too much of uh of reading about everything and you're starting to say, okay, I'm gonna go this, I'm not going to go that, and then you end up not getting a car because none of them matches with uh with what you want.
SPEAKER_00You know, when I got maybe when I was a teenager, maybe like through through my teens, I liked that even when our relationship wasn't very good, we would always still talk about cars. It was like it was our main topic. It was like if we didn't feel super comfy talking about other things, we would just talk about cars, and I was always happy that we had that to talk about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know. There was a lot of uh issues, and I'm sorry that I let you go through this and you and your brother. But it was tough for all of us. And uh yeah, and actually it was an interesting topic.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, I liked that um I liked that cars were a bridge. It felt. It's beeping because every time I drive over 120 kilometers an hour it beeps.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the speed all the time.
SPEAKER_00The speed limit is 120. It just beeps at 120.
SPEAKER_01Can you turn it off? The other cars are faster than you are.
SPEAKER_00Literally, like I'm going slow. No, I can't turn it off. Um tell them how much how often you wash the car.
SPEAKER_01Uh what? Daily?
SPEAKER_00Daily, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, before I go to work I have to this is just uh uh just spray some water in it, then I can dry it and I go to work. I like for the car to go clean. You go, you take a shower every day, you wash your face every day. Why don't you wash the car that is part of you?
SPEAKER_00I think I used to think that was crazy, but now I understand it a bit more.
SPEAKER_01Uh everybody does. Thank you for letting me know. So this is my point. I mean, you have to make it enjoyable. So you feel like the car is part of you, not just like a machine is moving and you are directing it right or left.
SPEAKER_00I remember um in in in a draft of your memoir, there's one chapter which is just a list of all the cars you've ever had. And I found that so moving actually, because I've heard you over the course of my life tell so many stories about all of those cars. So that just by reading a list of the cars, it was like a summary of your entire life. Like I could like I could map your whole story onto just a line of cars. It was like a poem kind of.
SPEAKER_01I didn't think of that, but thank you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Morris Minor. Fayette 1300 1300 Fayette 124, Fayette 125, Fayette 127, Ford Fairmont, Mercedes 200, Pizot 305, Suzuki Swift, Set Ruin, Reno, Skoda, Pizot 101, Mazda 626, Plebos Voyager, Fort Probe, Chrysler New Yorker, Chrysler Concord, Honda Pilot, Mercedes GL450, Mercedes CLS 500, Mercedes S550, Mercedes SL600, Mercedes SL63 AMG and Audi TT. Those are all the cars and do not ask me more.
SPEAKER_00I won't ask you more. Actually, actually, wait, wait, wait. I think there is something we have to talk about. Now this is gonna become full therapy. Do you know what I'm about to ask about? Can I ask about it? There was You can't. Let me let me talk about it. There was maybe 15 years ago, Bubba bought a car for from a friend of his, kind of like this kind of grandfather-like figure in our lives. Uh, Torah Abed Musa. He bought his old 1998 Mercedes SL600. It was like from this generation of Mercedes that were all really long and blocky and sleek and teutonic and like like heavy. Everything was solid, like everything like click, click, click, clicked in your hand, and had this great wood steering wheel. And this, like, pretty complicated for the time folding soft top, and this hard top you would put in its place in the winter. I mean, it was just the slickest thing there ever was. And I remember Bubba bought it as a surprise. He bought it from Abed Musa in Syracuse and had it shipped to our house in Wyoming. And I came home maybe from school one day, and it was just in the backyard. Like the the showroom was the backyard. It was perfectly placed just on the grass in the middle. And uh I mean it's just the best car there ever was. And then a few years after, Bob we we left Wyoming. You guys moved to a place that didn't have as much parking space. You didn't have a place to put it. So Ali took it. And Ali sold it. And that remains a big wound.
SPEAKER_01You can't develop a connection uh of love between uh you and the machine, which is a car. And uh this one, one of the most beautiful cars I ever had. So we gave it to Ali, and then uh this is what happened as Alma Twitter. I feel it's still uh the pain all the time, and even when I look at the sometimes of the auction side cars and I see the cards, I feel the longing for that, I feel the dream for it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, any final questions for me?
SPEAKER_01Why are you doing this to me? I need I need to enjoy the episode live.
SPEAKER_00As if as if you're not enjoying this.
SPEAKER_01I am enjoying it, okay. How far are we from?
SPEAKER_00We are 35 minutes away.
SPEAKER_01Ah, not bad at all.
SPEAKER_00Road Dogs is created, hosted, and produced by Cheryl Rivera and Omar Atman. It's edited and mixed by Jackson Roach with music by Blue Dot Sessions.
SPEAKER_01Special thank you to Omar's dad.
SPEAKER_00There's a man carrying bags on the side. There's a silver Mitsubishi Lancer, which was for a few years a ubiquitous car of Egypt. Now it is the Nissan Sunny. There's a Mercedes C-180. A Honda Santa Fe. I don't think it's called that here. Mercedes E200. A Honda Civic, rare, rare to see. There aren't as many Hondas here, lots of Toyotas. Palm trees on the left. It looks like a palm tree farm, it doesn't look like naturally occurring palm trees. And there's farms on on the right. Bisected by mounds of really yellow sand. There's houses on the sand. Okay, there's there's some cars driving by us really fast. A Scota Octavia, which is I love Ascota Octavia, and a Mercedes CLA are just zipping by. Probably going like 160. There's map billboards. Let me tell you about these billboards. For these random compounds. Kins. Nuzeid. Madar Development. Demerabes, your brand belongs here.