A Nostalgic Journey: Classic Beetles, Modern VW Buses, and the Evolving Car Culture

Classic VW Beetle Enthusiast Interview

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast . Rat and car lovers' favorite place to go for all things automotive . This is the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show . Just ahead , bay Area VW Clubs' David Saucier , jeff has the racing calendar . Mars has this week in auto history . Mars , don't let me forget , and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive headlines . Did you muffle something ?

Speaker 2 0:30

under your breath .

Speaker 1 0:30

I did I went beep , beep , beep beep beep , beep . Howdy Along with Mike out of this world . Mars . We always need more . Jeff Zekin , I'm Don Armstrong . Hey , thanks for joining us today . The chief engineer , david Ainsley , is out shopping . Hopefully he's going to get us something nice this year , I'm hoping , other than a big ball of wires . Yeah , I know , we don't want that , david Saucier . Good morning to you , sir . Good morning , can y'all hear me ? We can hear you loud and clear , and we can see you too . It's a miracle . Yes , sir .

Speaker 4 1:00

Good morning .

Speaker 1 1:00

Merry Christmas to y'all . Yeah , you too . So are you in your garage , or is that kind of like a green screen thing that you got up there behind you ?

Speaker 4 1:07

No , no , this is the real deal . This is my garage workshop , 1967 Volkswagen house . Basically , that's what we're in right now .

Speaker 1 1:16

Well , I like it . Are you the original owner ?

Speaker 4 1:21

No , sir , I'm not the original owner , but I'm going to be the owner until I depart this earth .

Speaker 1 1:26

Yeah , Well , I'll have to tell you . It was a little bit earlier than that that I rode in Mike Hartman's mother's VW Bug and we always had to sit in the back seat , of course . You know , I was 10 , 11 , 12 years old , something like that and she decided that she was going to run it out all the way in each gear . So you're sitting in the back seat and you cannot even have a conversation because that motor is right there winding out .

Speaker 2 1:54

Yes , sir , yeah .

Speaker 1 1:57

And of course it didn't have any horsepower , but it was a very reliable thing . She drove that thing till the wheels fell off . And that's my memory of the Volkswagen Beetle . And I'm sure you've got some of your own yes , sir , I do Plenty of them . Well , let's start with how long you've owned the Beetle .

Speaker 4 2:16

I've owned this the 67 , for about going on 15 years now . Originally it was shipped to Washington State . Now , originally it was shipped to Washington State and it , over the course of time , made its way back to East Texas to an old fella in Kennard . Met him at the Crockett Classic Cruisers car show up there during Christmas time and he was going to redo it for his granddaughter when she graduated high school . Health problems came about . Called me up a year later . I was interested . Yes , sir , I was . I promised him I would leave it stock . Uh , from then on , and the only thing I've done was just had it repainted . Everything else I did , but it is stock form , like it rolled from the showroom floor and that's a factory stock color paint , isn't it ?

Speaker 1 3:02

that is correct , the zenith blue , zenith blue , and they probably made , let me think , at least 10 million of that color and I have one of them . Yeah , that's it you got one and uh , has he got the stock motor in it . Have you not touched that does ?

Speaker 4 3:17

what , sir , it does , and it's a . It's also you can't see it , but it's a factory sunroof as well , and it works . And that's the cloth sunroof , is it not ? No , sir , that was the cassette type that you had to roll out with your hand .

Speaker 1 3:30

Yeah , yes , well , explain this one to me .

Speaker 4 3:38

It is . You reach up , you grab the handle , you turn it clockwise , counterclockwise , to open it and it's a cassette-type slider that once it drops down it slides back into the roof and it's about maybe a two-by-three-foot opening and when you close it back up it closes and it lifts back up to fill in . Let me see if I can show it to you .

Speaker 1 3:59

Oh , yeah , I see it . Yes , sir .

Speaker 3 4:01

That's it .

Speaker 1 4:02

That is a factory sunroof sir .

Speaker 4 4:06

Yes , sir , it is , and they did not make the uh the cloth . They stopped making the cloth , sunroof , the ragtops in 63 and then from 64 on , it was the metal type cassette .

Speaker 3 4:18

I'll be I don't think I've ever seen one of those .

Speaker 1 4:20

I I don't know if I have . I've seen the cloth one , yes , but I've not seen this one that he's got on his car , so that makes the car really kind of unique it does , it does .

Speaker 4 4:31

The only options it left from the factory was the sunroof and the pop-out windows . When it made its way to the dealer in washington state , it got a am radio and a cigarette lighter . Those are two added options from the dealer and I have those yeah , dealer ads , dealer ads .

Speaker 1 4:47

And uh , clearly I don't even think they offered air conditioning , maybe aftermarket air conditioning , but they certainly didn't offer it from the factory oh they , they had air conditioning yeah , it was a it was a 440 had to roll it

Speaker 3 5:00

down yeah , that's that sunroof option .

Speaker 5 5:02

You got there the 440 air go 40 miles an hour without four windows down . Yeah , that's that sunroof option you got there the 440 air go 40 miles an hour windows down yeah , that's it .

Speaker 1 5:07

Yeah , uh , well , uh , do you ? Do you drive it frequently ?

Speaker 4 5:13

frequently , every chance I get . Last spring break a group of us left texas and drove state highway 67 all the way to presidio , texas , lord , and that was a whole weekend . That was about 2 000 miles round trip .

Speaker 3 5:29

Didn't miss a beat , I'm sure any ambitions of taking it apart and putting it in your living room uh , no , sir , no , no no don't want to do that like an old stunt yeah well , at least put a big screen in the garage that way you can play like you're at the drive-in , you know , with a big 70 .

Speaker 1 5:46

All I can think of is the Andy Griffith episode where they decided that they were going to rebuild the car in the sheriff's office . Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 5 5:55

Yeah , that's a whole other story . That was the plan I was trying to make . No , we're not doing that .

Speaker 1 6:07

So you're a member of the Bay Area VW Club and I imagine down there , uh around uh , galveston bay .

Speaker 4 6:10

Yes , sir , yeah , and um , how many members at the club ? It vacillates between uh 30 , 20 and 30 members , depending on the time of the month when we have our meetings . Uh , you know a lot of people are busy during the july time frame , you know , fourth of july , and also during the thanksgiving holidays , christmas holidays . We have about that many people that participate .

Speaker 3 6:28

Seeing on your social media that you're a pretty active club . Y'all do a lot of stuff .

Speaker 4 6:34

We do , aside from a show that we hold every year in May , we do a little toy drive for families and we give back to them . That goes between three to five families and we we give them a list what do y'all want ? And they write it down , you know , within reason for appropriate age groups , and then we'll meet them at a neutral area , and this year it was the city of south houston's gazebo . They come up on their time . We were waiting for them and we just gave him the bags of toys and clothes and this year we had a Santa with us waiting for him . It was a good time . It was a good time Nice .

Speaker 5 7:12

Nice .

Speaker 1 7:13

Yeah , so let's get back to the members in the club . And what is the oldest VW that you've got in the club ?

Speaker 4 7:28

Oh , that would be .

Speaker 5 7:28

Donnie Smith . He has a 53 Zwitter which is a Zwitter .

Speaker 4 7:33

It's a bug , but it's a model style and it's a special model . It's kind of a clone between two years into one . But he is the member that has the oldest Volkswagen . What year is it ? 53 , 1953 . A 53 .

Speaker 1 7:52

53 is winter , so that's got the small rear window in it .

Speaker 4 7:56

It has the split rear window in the back , oh the split .

Speaker 5 8:00

Makes it a splitter .

Speaker 1 8:01

Yeah , I got you Interesting . Yes , now does it have the same engine that yours does ?

Speaker 4 8:07

No , no , it has a much smaller engine . It would have come from the factory , if I believe , it would have been a 1200 , a 1.2 liter , and what size is yours ? This one is a 1500cc , a 1.5 . That's what came from the factory .

Speaker 1 8:25

And did they run the ?

Speaker 4 8:25

1500 all the way to the very end . No sir , the 1500 was a one year only body style or engine style . They upped it the next year to a 1600 well , I guess I .

Speaker 1 8:35

Why do they keep doing that ? Just for the horsepower ?

Speaker 4 8:37

performance . Um , they were getting complaints from the customers not enough power . Uh couldn't get out of its own way . So very next year to a six to eight and up , they increased the displacement .

Speaker 1 8:48

It was still a single port engine , but they just increased the displacement now , if memory serves me correctly which it probably won't that there's some sort of a weird way that I remember back in the day . Yours probably has this . I don't know whether you push down on the shifter to get it into reverse . Is that what it is ? I remember it still is it still is Really .

Speaker 4 9:09

Push down and back .

Speaker 1 9:11

Down and back for the reverse . I knew there was something weird about it because you know I learned on my dad's three on the tree . Oh , yes , yeah , yeah , okay , well , very interesting .

Speaker 4 9:23

Yeah , yeah , okay , well , very interesting , and I think you can wind that out probably at least 1,000 RPM , and it sounds like it's doing about 9 million RPM . Yes , that is very true , but it's happy at high RPMs and you wouldn't believe it the way it sounds , but they do better at 3,500 RPMs and up . They perform better . They were meant for that .

Speaker 1 9:45

Yeah , and this is an air-cooled engine . That is correct , yeah , which is completely different than most people today understand , outside of even motorcycles today , or you know , they've got a radiator on them . They're water-cooled engine thing . The biggest difference was that it was air-cooled six-cylinder and it was a flat six in the Chevy . That is correct , and you got a flat four in yours , do you not ?

Speaker 1 10:25

That is correct , yeah yeah , so horizontally opposed engine , not known for tons of horsepower back in the day , but hey , it was what it was . They would run forever . Yeah , and yours has a single hole carburetor on it , if I'm not mistaken .

Speaker 4 10:42

That is correct .

Speaker 1 10:43

Yeah . That's absolutely right yeah , and so I mean talk about starving an engine for air . There you go . Yes , sir , put a one , one single opening for the yeah I got .

Speaker 4 10:53

It's like running the boston marathon breathing through a straw pretty much , yeah , and you haven't changed any of that .

Speaker 1 11:00

No , sir , no , and you know the other thing too that uh comes to mind when it comes to that model volkswagen beetle , is the exhaust so distinct ? There is no other sound like it on the . I don't know what they did with that muffler setup . It's got two little tailpipes on it gizmos , gizmos , but it looks we call them pea shooters . Pea shooters , that's perfect , yeah , and it's just a very unique sound to it . I guess it's the mufflers that make that .

Speaker 5 11:28

So what do you think about the new van coming out for VW ?

Speaker 4 11:33

I have mixed feelings about it . I'm not a fan of the electric . They really haven't , I guess , paid . It's hard to describe , but I don't think they've really went back to their roots . As far as the model design , yes , it's similar , but it's not quite

Modern VW Bus Discussion With Enthusiast

Speaker 4 11:53

the same . I get the change . Sure , absolutely . We all must change , but you're either going to like it or you're not .

Speaker 1 12:01

There's no gray area . Here's the key to that . You are old , sir , and they're not , and they are thank you very much and they are not appealing to you . They're probably appealing to your children and mine yes , and that's totally fine .

Speaker 4 12:18

I I get that , I understand that , I'm comfortable with that . Uh , but would I buy one ? Maybe , maybe , but I would be hard-pressed to shell out that amount of money for one .

Speaker 1 12:30

They're expensive .

Speaker 4 12:30

They're expensive , but compared to the old buses , in a relative sense , I guess maybe it's the same , but the dollars now are different from the dollars back then .

Speaker 5 12:42

Correct , and when Dad says maybe it ain't happening .

Speaker 4 12:46

Maybe it's just me being cheap .

Speaker 1 12:48

Well , no , I mean , that was the one thing that stood out to me . I kind of like the shape , I like the way that they've done it . I haven't seen one in person , but I've seen plenty of pictures when they made the debut and I liked it at first , but then they came out with the price I'm going oh , no , no , no , because now you're trying to appeal to a market that already has a stigma to it the minivan because that's basically what it is . It's not the same size as the volkswagen bus that we grew up with . That's right , especially the 13 window job . I mean , that was , that was just an oddball van to me . Back when it came out I thought , my god , how many more windows could they possibly ?

Speaker 3 13:31

stick into this part of what made it unique and that's what drew people to it .

Speaker 1 13:34

And today that's a collector's item .

Speaker 4 13:37

And you say 13 windows . They went as high as 23 .

Speaker 1 13:40

Oh Lord , have mercy . But they did put an extension on the back of it .

Speaker 4 13:44

No , they put them up on the crease , the roof , the curvature of the roof . They put them around there . Oh yeah , Kind of like the Vista Cruiser . Yes , the Vista .

Speaker 1 13:52

Cruiser yes , cruiser .

Speaker 4 13:59

Yes , yes , there you go 23 , amazing . Uh . So does anybody in the club have one of those ? No , sir , no , sir the um , I don't . I don't know if anybody in our club would , would get one . There might be one or two , but it won't be our age , it'll be the , the younger ones . Yeah , um , obviously you said it appeals to them . Um , I would love to see one . I haven't seen one yet .

Speaker 1 14:18

Are they out , are they for sale ?

Speaker 3 14:19

yet I think they are . I haven't seen anybody . Ask me in about 30 , 45 minutes .

Speaker 5 14:26

Here's what I see With all the car clubs and all the new innovations , with electrical cars the Nissan that you just did , the bus we're talking about it's going to come to the point where , when you go to a car meet , you're going to have to have charging stations .

Speaker 2 14:40

Well , there's a yeah they're going to have to have .

Speaker 5 14:42

that I hadn't thought of that yeah you're going to have to have them so folks can go back to where they .

Speaker 1 14:46

What a great money-making idea from me A portable trailer with generators on it .

Speaker 3 14:51

Gasoline you can pull up there .

Speaker 5 14:52

Yeah , yeah , yeah Just like the old , when you go to the drive-in , how they have the stanchions , yeah , you're going to have the park . Like you go to Granbury , for instance , they have little stations .

Speaker 1 15:02

I think you get more along the lines of those really nice men and women's portable restrooms that you kind of step up , get in there and they've got places to wash your hands .

Speaker 3 15:11

Air conditioning Air conditioning .

Speaker 1 15:13

Air conditioning lighting all that , that's what I'm thinking , okay .

Speaker 5 15:18

I thought I had to go there , but that's just . You know , you're going to have to have them eventually with all these car clubs Well , not me Okay so does the Bay Area VW Club have a way to get a hold of you guys ?

Speaker 4 15:30

Yes , we're on Facebook . You can find us on Facebook Bay Area Volkswagen Club . We're on there . We have a pretty active base . We try to communicate a lot with the Facebook members in what we're doing and when our meetings are . Our meetings are every first Thursday of every month at a little Mexican restaurant here in La Porte .

Speaker 1 15:50

I hope and pray that you don't have to read the damned minutes of the last meeting at your weekly brouhaha .

Speaker 4 15:59

We do , but it's very condensed . A Reader's Digest version .

Speaker 5 16:02

Yeah .

Speaker 4 16:04

But we also have to read out the financial report . That's very important to everybody . We all need to know where the money's going , and we do that every month .

Speaker 1 16:14

I can see that . So somebody that set up the rules of the club was in government in high school .

Speaker 4 16:23

We do have to keep the reins on , like I said , where the money goes and we do a pretty good job . But again , we're a pretty loose-knit group of individuals , but we know our boundaries .

Speaker 5 16:34

Is there drinking involved A Mexican restaurant ?

Speaker 1 16:36

of course Is there drinking involved . A Mexican restaurant ? Of course Is there drinking involved . Yes , sir , okay , that's all I need to know .

Speaker 3 16:42

In that case , it's all okay .

Speaker 5 16:44

The rest of it works . They're doing expenditures . What's this $10,000 in real-time place ?

Speaker 1 16:50

The booze . Yeah , that's exactly right .

Speaker 4 16:52

Brown water .

Speaker 1 16:52

Dave , it's great to talk to you , man . Thank you so much for joining us today . It's been a blast . We would like to hang out with you guys sometime .

Speaker 4 16:59

Yes , sir , one of these days I will get to meet y'all in person and shake y'all's hands .

Speaker 1 17:04

I don't know . If you want to do that , you'll have to wash them real good when you get done .

Speaker 3 17:08

Dave take care .

Speaker 1 17:09

Thank you , my friend Time Car Talk Show is available 24-7 through the In Wheel Time app . Download it to your mobile device today if you don't have it already . We also video stream on Facebook , youtube and InWheelTimecom , and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider . And you can also find us on our new broadcast partner , odyssey Radio A-U-D-A-C-Y , odyssey Radio . The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break .

Tex-Mex Dining and Auto History

Speaker 1 17:37

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 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 18:37

The rescheduled Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social is happening Saturday , january 11th , and you're invited . Bring your car , truck or SUV , meet other enthusiasts and find out what it'll take to get your car looking show-worthy again . Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your one-stop shop for paint detailing , coatings , window tint , clear bras , camera installs and wheel repair . The Car Social is your opportunity to get a tour of this state-of-the-art facility located at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway , just south of the Southwest Freeway . Join the Car Social Saturday , january 11th , 9 to noon .

Speaker 1 19:14

Talk to one of their owners and see how good your car can look on the upcoming Hot Rod Tour of Texas . Put it on your calendar the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Car Social Saturday , january 11th , 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway , just south of the Southwest Freeway . The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show will be there too . We hope to see you then . Hey , you know the holidays are here and we hope you'll think of our show sponsors this season for gifts , and they include Loopy Tortilla , tex-mex Restaurants , pro-am Auto Accessories and Gulf Coast Auto Shield Time . Now on In Wheel Time for the Racing Calendar sponsored by Texas Muscle Car .

Speaker 5 19:47

Club Challenge . Yes , sir , thank you . Texas Challenge Muscle Car Club Challenge . Muscle Car Club Challenge , thank you . Formula E coming in 2025 , january 10th and 11th . You've got the Mexican race down in Hencook , mexico City Grand Prix . It's called the E-Prix , so we're going to be talking more about that as the weeks come online for that . The next thing is you know what we've got going on next year . Also , demolition derbies oh yeah , hutchinson Kansas , december 28th , coming up 8 pm in the Kansas State Fair . You can buy tickets from Tickets Smarter for the live event on the 28th . It starts at 8 pm in Kansas . Then you've got the Cornish Mississippi Demolition Derby coming in February . So a lot of stuff .

Speaker 1 20:34

We're going to be talking about it , you ever been on a demolition journey .

Speaker 5 20:37

I want to go .

Speaker 1 20:37

I've never been in one , not in one . I've seen them , I've never been in one In the Houston Astrodome , I was in .

Speaker 5 20:42

But I'm going to get more information on that , but they're coming up . It's going to be fun .

Speaker 1 20:49

And we'll see you there . All right , auto history and Mars . I apologize , I completely messed it up last week and I know you do a lot of work .

Speaker 3 20:59

We were rolling last week .

Speaker 1 21:00

It wasn't too big a deal . Yeah , we're not rolling this week .

Speaker 3 21:02

We got the roll later on . We're not rolling quite as fast .

Speaker 1 21:04

That's it , okay . Well , it's your turn , all right .

Speaker 3 21:06

The Plymouth Superbird was created with one job in mind and that was to dominate NASCAR , along with its older sibling , the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona In 1969 , dodge only had to build 500 Daytonas to be eligible for the 1969 NASCAR season . But as sanctioning bodies do , they changed the rules for 1970 because of the increasing number of purpose-built race cars . This meant that Plymouth needed to build at least 1,920 Superbirds . It was based on how many dealers there were , so there had to be . The rule was one car for every two dealerships . Didn't matter how many it was and how it worked out . So anyway the Hemi-powered Superbird . Nascar drivers took home eight checkered flags in 1970 , with Pete Hamilton getting the first at the Daytona 500 that year . That was followed by five wins by Richard Petty , who had returned to Plymouth from Ford specifically to drive the Superbird . And then the production run for the car was short , with the first one leaving the line on October 17 , 1969 , and the last on December 15 , 1969 . So they didn't make them very long . They made a lot of them and they're out there . 1969 so they didn't make them very long , they made a lot of them and they're out there .

Speaker 3 22:21

Then , coming into the dodge nitro was a compact suv manufactured , marketed by dodge for 2007 to 2012 single generation . They never changed it . It was a close variant of the second generation jeep liberty . They both used a lot of the same body parts . Now the Nitro debuted with the class-leading 5,000-pound towing capacity , had a lot of features really for its time Electronic roll mitigation , traction control , airbags A lot of things . That was really good . That really put it out there and they sold a lot of them initially . But due to declining sales , chrysler built the 2012 Dodge Nitros for fleet market only . The final Nitro came off the assembly line December the 16th 2011 . They built 195,000 of these vehicles and there's still some out there on the road . Now this next one here . This is a personal favorite .

Speaker 1 23:12

You pull up next to it and you laugh . When you're at the stoplight , you're going .

Speaker 3 23:15

Are you kidding ? You're trying to figure out what it is .

Speaker 1 23:17

No , I know what it is and I don't want to see it ever again .

Speaker 3 23:21

December the 17th 1911 , a day that will live in infamy . Infamy In a maintenance experiment for road and highway maintenance . That seems to me to set the standard for all future road projects . All the way up to now they took eight miles of earth roads in Virginia's Arlington and Jefferson Road districts . They hired a patrolman to furnish a horse , a cart , some small tools , and he drew a drag , a road , built a drag built for the road of planks , and required he was required to drag the road every time it was suitable condition for dragging , usually after it rained . Now this went on forever and ever and the patrolman was paid sixty dollars a month and he got an extra dollar a day whenever he had to have two horses to drag the road . Nice , and so constantly . That's why you wonder why your highway department is still working on projects there .

Speaker 5 24:15

You Now wouldn't it be dragging your ass , though ?

Speaker 3 24:18

No , no , no , it's horses .

Speaker 5 24:19

That was a mule that was a mule division .

Speaker 3 24:22

Oh , okay , the mule division , the first armed robbery using a getaway car .

Speaker 1 24:28

Looks like H-E-B .

Speaker 3 24:29

Oh my God , yeah , right down the street Took place took place in Paris , as four robbers of the Bonnet gang used a stolen limousine to escape . After robbing a courier who was bringing cash into a bank instead of HEB Could have been HEB Two men stepped out from the vehicle . They confronted the courier and his bodyguard with pistols when they shot him when he resisted . Then they stole the case with the money and they hopped back in the car and they raced away in the getaway car . Right Now the story continues with , after several more daylight robberies , bonnet and he became one of France's most wanted criminals .

Speaker 3 25:05

On April , the 28th 1812 , he was tracked down to a house . 500 armed policemen , soldiers , firemen , military engineers and private gun owners surrounded the building . Gunshots were exchanged . Eventually , the Paris police chief Ordered the front of the house to be dynamited . Benet was found lying Barely conscious under a mattress In the rubble . Police then shot him repeatedly Before the police chief shot him in the head . He was then arrested and taken to the police station where he died . And that's this week in auto history , dang .

Speaker 1 25:39

Talk about ending with a bang .

Speaker 5 25:41

Yeah , there's a lot of violence today . Wow , lots of violence .

Speaker 1 25:45

I liked it . I'm wearing my Marlboro shirt today . Just wanted to let you know that . I don't have the pack of them rolled up in my sleeve , but I got the shirt on .

Speaker 1 25:53

You want to follow the roll-up I have got some great news for all of us car guys . Popular Motor Trend publication will reportedly break free from the Warner Brothers discovery fiasco to join forces with likes of Car and Driver , road and Track and Auto Week , all operating under the Hearst umbrella . Around ten months after Warner canceled the Motor Trend Plus streaming service and not even a month after we heard that the Roadkill show was officially canceled due to the morons at Motor Trend Production Studio media conglomerate Hearst Magazines announced the acquisition of the Motor Trend Group , originally founded by Robert E Peterson back in 1949 . The announcement was made by Alex Wellens , ceo and president of Motor Trend Group , whose autofocus brands include Motor Trend , hot Rod , roadkill , automobile , among others . So bring it back now , today , thank you . I'm not in any big hurry for it . Back now today , thank you .

Speaker 5 26:55

I'm not in any big hurry for it to come back .

Speaker 1 26:57

Three months ago Jeep stopped letting Wrangler buyers pair a V6 engine with an automatic transmission . I did not know that .

Speaker 4 27:03

Did you know that ? Did you say that again ?

Speaker 1 27:07

Are you not paying attention ? It just went by so fast .

Speaker 3 27:10

It shocked him so much .

Speaker 1 27:11

Three months ago , jeep stopped letting Wrangler buyers pair a V6 engine with an automatic transmission . It now admits after fans of the SUV protested vociferously . That's the word . There it is written . I thought that's what he said that killing the popular powertrain combination was a bad decision . Jeep said it's bringing back the torque flight automatic transmission as a $4,500 option , which is a lot , and the V6 Wrangler , which , for the 2025 model year , was initially available only as a manual . Okay , stellantis Carl , you screwed it all up , you idiot .

Speaker 5 27:53

Again , golly Poor .

Speaker 3 27:55

Carl . No , he's not poor Carl , he's rich Carl .

Speaker 1 28:02

Detroit Auto Show attendees are going to see vehicles from 22 brands , including a Detroit 3 automakers lineup and new participants Rivian and Ineos and a new test track when the show returns to its winter roots in January . And Ineos and a new test track when the show returns to its winter roots in January . There'll also be some missing elements . On the 723,000 square foot Huntington Place , formerly Cobo Hall , tesla won't have any vehicles at the January 10th to the 20th event . Well , that's no big deal and there'll be less participation among major automotive suppliers . So there's that , all right . That's the news headlines . Hey , we'd love to hear from you . Shoot us an email . The address is info at nwheeltimecom . We've got more of the show coming up right after this .

Speaker 1 28:42

The holidays are upon us and Pro-Am Auto Accessories is your local one-stop for the auto enthusiast on your gift list . Pro-am Auto has been serving Houston since 1984 , providing world-class products for sports cars , european sedans and American muscle . Pro-am was one of the very first distributors in the US for brands such as Recaro , redline , momo Corbo and Simpson . Located in the heart of Houston's premier shopping corridor , the Galleria area , pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000 square foot warehouse and showroom with installation and service bays . Pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom with installation and service bays . Pro-am reaches a worldwide audience through Pro-AmAutocom , taking its local reputation to the rest of the world . Holiday gift-giving is alive and well at Pro-Am Auto . 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 Green Ridge in Houston's Galleria area . Call them at 713-781-7755 .

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From the open roads to the open waters . Your adventure starts at the Houston Auto Motive Show at NRG Center . One ticket , two shows . Check out top cars , trucks , sport boats , fishing boats and more New designs , new technology and everything in between Spectacular experiences , amazing fun . There's something for everyone . Get your friends , get your family and get your tickets now . The Houston Auto-Botive Show Making waves and fueling adventures .

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And a reminder that the show is January 29th through February 2nd . Wednesday hours Wednesday through Friday hours 11 to 8 . Saturday 10 to 8 . And Sunday 10 to 6 . That's the Houston Autobotive Show . 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 .