Chainmail Dreams, Horsepower Screams, And A Third Row That Shouldn’t Exist

Why Renaissance Festivals Now

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And so we've kind of postponed the driving destinations today for a good reason because it's the places to go for Renaissance festivals. Are you into dressing up? Well, you need to go see a psychiatrist, but um it'll be fun. You could go in anything that you want to, and Halloween's right around the corner, so I can only imagine there'll be some dresses worn by men.

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Well, when we get back to the studio, we'll have a little bit of Halloween show of our own, not a honey air, I hope.

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All right. Well, let's see if we can't get driving destinations. Five fall road trips to Renaissance festivals, Mr. Mars.

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Alrighty.

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Did I catch you at a bad time?

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Yes. You did. Is it this one? Right there.

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So we're let me explain to every let me explain to everybody that the problem is that we are doing the same thing that we did a little over a month ago with all brand new equipment and a new setup. So uh this is all a big experiment, and um we'll just have to see how it goes. Apparently it's going. Yeah, it's going.

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Yeah, this we need uh we gotta do something about being able to see the uh see what's going on over here because it's hard to see on this laptop out here in this. I can see that.

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I got you covered up.

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All right, so a driving destinations, five Rena Renaissance festivals.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Alright, so uh we're gonna go with um let's go over to three, Jeff. I'm gonna cut the first two. Go to the next one. That's three. There you go. Don, I picked this one specifically for you. Oh god. The Renaissance Pleasure Fair. That's

Costumes, Chainmail, And Culture

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Southern California. Averages 250,000 people per season. Oh my god. Uh it's one of the oldest modern Renaissance fairs in the United States. Generally takes place in April, May, so it's already done. You need to look at it for next year. Happens in the Santa Fe Dam recreation.

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This is supposed to be fall destinations. Sir? This is supposed to be fall destinations. But that's okay. We'll we'll we'll include it it's California.

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I wanted this one for you. It was special for you.

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It's California, so it works. It's just the opposite of everybody else. Not a pleasure out there. You're right, pleasure out there.

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So the next one is going to be the Pennon Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair in Manheim, Pennsylvania. $250,000 annually. It's on 35 acres. Uh includes part of an estate and winery where they set it up. 12 to 13 weekends that they run starting in August all the way through the end of October. Got a nice Shire built out there, dozens of state shows, kitchens, lots of fair, food fair. Very immersive opportunity if you like to get into that stuff. The uh next one would be the Maryland Renaissance Festival.

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Let me ask you something. Let me ask you something. Would you get dressed up for a Renaissance festival? Because if if you did, I would go there. I'd pay good money to see that. And who would you be? Would you be the court jester or would you be the queen or the king or I think queen?

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In my younger day, when I first started going to these things in the 70s, I always wanted to wear a chainmail suit. I never had enough guts.

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You know that you can rent those.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Well, I know, but I just didn't have enough guts to wear one. But then I found out later on that you wear a bodysuit underneath it. Yeah. That made it I might have done it then if I was.

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Well that's to protect you from the lance on the on the horse. If they're not uh Sless chainmail either. Went to a wedding. Sorry. Do we have children here? All right. Mary's not anymore.

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They have 300,000 people over its nine-week run. Again, 16th century English village environment across 25 acres. Where is this? And this is in Maryland. Crownsville, Maryland, kind of up in the northeast, you might say. The uh next one would be the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Yeah. Now, this is 300 to 320,000 average in recent years. It's near the Minnesota River. Runs several weekends, late summer into fall, 16th century European village recreation. And they've got uh, of course, multiple stays, artisans, roaming characters, foods, and things like that. Uh large grounds, got plenty of room for everybody. And then the one I really wanted to get to consider the biggest in the country, the Texas Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission, Texas. 530 plus thousand people in 2024. This is the biggest rent fair in the U.S. runs over eight weekends from October through late November. 55 acres started in 1974. We were going in the late 70s. It is nothing like it is now. Back then, women were women, and you could tear your beer cooler in and all that good stuff, and it was a different world.

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Let's hope they were.

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They have 400 shops, they got 21 stages, they got a 200-acre camping facility that uh people can go and stay at. My brother's daughter got married there. We went to the wedding. Him and the entire wedding party camped in the grounds. He said it was well worth the price of admission just to see what happens in the campgrounds at night.

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Oh my god.

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My wife and I did not stay there, but uh I would like to have seen it. This year's the weekend.

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Wait a minute, Todd Mission, that's Plannersville. That's right. That's that's that's our that's our yeah. Yeah, Todd Mission. Magnolia, Todd Mission, all that up there. Okay, pretty good. I I know I normally don't hear about Todd Mission. David?

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Well, that's the original. That's our guest there. Okay, look at that.

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Okay, if he could get by that white line and in between the white line and the cone.

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Does it does it go in reverse? You're gonna love this. Uh apparently. Yeah. So anyway, uh there's lots of Renaissance festivals around the country. If you like to do that kind of stuff, I even found out there are people that make a living. They go from fair to fair to fair around the country with their designs and their uh performances. And uh it's pretty interesting. I will tell you that. Not as interesting as it was back in the 70s, but it's very interesting.

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I went there once and it was.

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I can take my kids now. Yeah.

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And it rained. I went there once and it rained. And did you leave or did you stay for a stay as long as we could. Okay, are we off the screen?

SPEAKER_02 6:29

All right. Well, um, I think that our next next guest has just has just shown up. There he is. And uh, yeah. Is that a Model T? Perfect. What is that? It's an oil burner, I can tell you that. Yeah.

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Jeffrey.

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And I wasn't trying to be funny, it's just that it is. And I'm sure that he'll confirm that. Time now for just car culture. Two powerful cars for their time.

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Too powerful for their time. Are you ready? Oh, oh, two. Two, yeah, two two. Uh to capitalize on the muscle car craze and racing enthusiasm, many big three automakers built limited edition factory drag cars with unreal amounts of horsepower. These were intended for the track, but were 100% street legal. Are you ready, Fifi? Hit it. Uh, first one is a 1963 Chevy Impala

Five Must-See Renaissance Fairs

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Z11. 50 Impala Z11s were built as drag cars for the track only, but were guaranteed to run under 11 seconds. That's pretty quick. The fact calls into question that uh official power rating, because the cars were definitely quick, had more juice on it. There was no real dyno or credible sources to see exactly what the horsepower was, but it's estimated to be 510. That's why. From the factory. From the factory. Yeah. The power of this car may have, in part, been part of the reason GM would ban engines over 400 cubic inches in the intermediate cars later on that GM produced. Uh may have been thinking about potential lawsuits arising from letting a bunch of knuckleheads get a hold of these cars. Who would be the knucklehead? Uh next one we've got is a 63 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty. They call it the Swiss cheese. There's a theme on this list of all these cars had underrated the Catalina Super Duty was rated at about 405 on the horsepower, which is not enough to move a full-size car down the quarter mile in 12 seconds. It was. Most likely it was over 500 ponies from the factory, higher on the track after it was tuned up. Pontiac made only 14 of these glorious cars, making them some of the rarest classics of the era. Wow, I've never heard of them. Yeah. Car pictured here is about $742,500 at a Meekam auction in 2025. So there you go. Uh another Catalina went for about $473. Okay, the next one is a 64 Ford Fairlane Thunderbird, Thunderbolt, I should say. The God of Thunder and Rock and Roll. The 64th Thunderbolt uh wasn't much of a myth as it was a legend, capable of ripping off quarter mile estimates and the leavens. With this mighty 427 cubic inch side oiler, the V8. Now uh science says that this was estimated about 425. So lightweight body and additional weight reduction. Isn't enough to do that?

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You just keep on doing your thing because uh the three of us are gonna go over here. Go for it.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Uh best estimates put at about 540 on the ponies. Uh, not a proven fact, but hey, they only made 100 of them, and several of them are still registered on the street. So the next one we've got is a 68 Dodge Hemi Dart. It is a full-blown Hemi. Uh the 68 Dart was just the name would suggest 426 street Hemi. We had a little thing here, uh, squeezed into the engine bay. Chrysler was uncomfortable with a factory installing Hemis and compacts, so they did one better. They just let Hearst do it. So actually, uh it wasn't too bad for them to do that. In addition, the massive power was upgraded. The Hemi darts were stripped in every weight, adding comfort like rear seats, carpets, insulation, they took all that stuff out of there. So that would be uh for that Hemi. We're gonna get the next one here. Is a 66 Ford Fairlane 500 R code for the 66 and 67 seasons only. The Ford Fairlane R dominated the NHRA SSB gas class and the AS classes. Uh so given the acceleration of the times of the era, and they had to do a lot of it to get it under an 11-second car. Unlike the rest of the cars on this list uh that we just read you, they're available to the general public. Ford reserved uh these cars for select drivers only. They made 57 of them, and top dollar collectors will be all over these things. And the last one we have, Michael, uh would be the well, that was the last one. There you go. So the 664 Fairlane. So there you go. That is a bonus car. Oh, the bonus car. There you go. I knew we had another one. There's the bonus baby right there. Thank you, Mike. And there you have it. What was the bonus car? My car. Performance Buick. Conformance Buick. There's always a bonus in that. Come on.

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Time now for this hour's car review. I had a chance to drive the 2025 Toyota 4Runner. Final assembly location. Taharan, Aichi, Japan. All right. Available trim levels. There are nine of them, including variants of the TRD, which has the most of them. SR5 Limited, Platinum, and Trail Hunter, which is a new trim level. Four-wheel drive limited is what I had. This is a standard SUV, in other words, body on frame. And we were going to call this a mid-size SUV. Seats 5. Now, it can come with a third row, which this one did. I don't know why. They've squeezed it back there, but I guess somebody wants it. This is the sixth generation. Uh, but that third row, by the way, is going to cost you $1,500 extra. Third generation, all new for 2025. The new skin on it still retains the forerunner look, but it's more muscular, a little more edgy than the older model. Three-part grille includes a skid plate down low in the version that I had. Bigger wheel options add a sophisticated street look to this. Modern tail lights look in the large tailgate with a sunshade over the rear window. What I liked about it, the new look was 16 years in the making. We hope that you enjoy it, and so do they. What could use improvement? There are too many trim levels. I think that they need to whack some of those away. Uh it's just too many. And I understand why they do it, because they bundle all of these things together and they come up with all the trim levels, but it's too confusing. Um, you know, is it worth it? I don't know because the problem is when you have this particular trim level, then you say, but I want that. Well, that's extra. Now, if you want, you can have that and that with a bunch of other stuff for the next trim level. And it just keeps on going and going and going. That's just my opinion. Interior highlights. Uh homework is needed for its multi-function four-wheel drive system. I didn't try it. Uh, it has lots of adjustments. Listen, this is an off-road vehicle, and let's not forget that. Who takes them off-road? No one that I know that owns one. My son-in-law owns one, and he's never been off-road with it. Phone charger is up underneath the dash in front of the console. I figured that this is a perfect place for it. It's kind of a no-man's land up there. You just kind of slide the thing up there. It's got an automatic charger, the whole nine yards. It's perfect. Uh, upper trims get classy leather appointments, and I mean nice looking. Uh, optional huge infotainment screen that I had, it's a bump up from the standard one, and even the seven uh incher that I think that it is on the standard uh forerunner, that uh it's plenty big, but if you want a great big one like a Tesla, well, you can get it. Um, easy operation, however. Uh cargo room, adequate without the third row up, needless to say. What I liked about it, the ruggedness, the ruggedness of the interior really stands out. So you're not gonna, it's not a sissy mobile. Okay, you're buying an off-rotor, it's gonna look like an off-rotor on the inside. Uh, third row is a no-go for me. Engine, no more V6, 2.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder, 278 horsepower. It's fine. 317 pound feet of torque, eight-speed automatic transmission. It'll tow three tons. Wow. So you know it's got to be stout, right? Uh, mileage ratings, 20 in the city, 24 in the highway, 21 for a combined. I got 20 over 437 miles. What I liked, the turbo 4 works well. And I'm not a huge fan, generally speaking, of turbocharged four cylinders, but this one does work well. Well, it's Toyota, what do you think? Happy. Yeah. Uh ride and handling. What I liked about it, it's a nice cross between on and off-road compliance. Uh, what could use improvement? Optional air ride suspension. If you're going to get one of those high-end ones, hey, let's go all the way. Right. Let's do it on air ride. Base trim price, $57.4. That's base trim price, $57.4. Price is tested $62,625,

Texas Festival Scale And Camp Life

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but you can get in one, the two-wheel drive model, no bells and whistles, $41,270. Competitors, the Jeep Wrangler starts at $32,095. Fort Bronco, $38,995, which is probably its closest competitor. And the Chevy Tahoe, because GM does not have anything really that competes in this class. Uh the Chevy Tahoe, $5850. There is no mid-size from GM.

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Then then they go up from there drastically.

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Yeah. And that's my review of the 2025 all new from the ground up Toyota for runner. And they're probably selling a Google amount of them. I'm sure. Because once you get in one of those things, it's really hard to get out of because they're they're nice and you know, but nobody takes that I know of anyway. Um, hey