Revving Up Passion: Celebrating Cars, Creativity, and Courage at Gulf Coast Auto Shield

Car Social at Gulf Coast Shield

Speaker 1 0:01

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast and welcome to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show Coming to you live today from Gulf Coast Auto Shield's Car Social . The man behind the shield , john Gray , joins us Later . Jeff has a timely story on engine block heaters . Mars reviews the new GMC Sierra Denali . That and more just ahead on the two-hour edition of the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show . Howdy , along with Mike out of this world , mars . We always need more . Jeff Zekin , who doesn't Joining us today in a rare Saturday appearance .

Speaker 1 0:40

Our chief engineer and bottle washer , david Ainsley I'm , don Armstrong , so glad you could join us on this Saturday . And before we get going , I did want to send my condolences to the family of Joe Sayre , who many Houstonians will recognize the name . Colonel St James passed away yesterday and I just found out this morning and God rest him . He is a great guy and , uh , a good friend of mine and uh , I talked to him just a few weeks ago and he seemed to be doing fine and , matter of fact , he posted on facebook just a couple of days ago . So not exactly sure what happened , he wasn't in the greatest of health , but I will tell you that uh , his sister , julie , uh emailed me just yesterday and said I talked to him and I said no , what's going on ? And then I got a uh instant message from her late last night , early this morning that , uh , is that that corvette again ? Oh , my god , it's the yellow corvette . Some somebody go and kill that , would you ? That's annoying .

Speaker 2 1:45

I think they need to tow it out of here .

Speaker 1 1:46

Yeah , tow it , get a hook .

Speaker 2 1:48

There's no towing .

Speaker 3 1:50

Just give me the keys and I'll take it to Needle and you won't be able to hear it from there .

Speaker 1 1:54

Anyway so I guess it was time it was Joe saying all right , move on , move on , move on , move on . Joining us now in the in-wheel time remote broadcast center here at Gulf Coast Auto Shield .

Speaker 4 2:10

ladies and gentlemen , Mr John Gray Greetings boys . How are you all Thanks for coming out today ?

Speaker 1 2:13

Yeah , Could you have picked a better , colder day for us to have the car social today ?

Speaker 4 2:18

I tell you what it's crisp .

Speaker 2 2:20

Hey Chris , Is that what you're calling this ?

Speaker 4 2:22

It's crisp , but it's a whole lot better than being hot . For sure there's that and the door's open and you have a great turnout today .

Speaker 1 2:31

Yeah , congratulations . I'm sure that's your crack marketing department that has put the word out . I think every Porsche in town is here .

Speaker 4 2:39

There's a couple .

Speaker 1 2:40

A couple . There's a couple , because in the back , back there we didn't even put a camera out there ? Did we Mars ? I don't think we did . No , no , Not outside . Well , that's a shame because Mr Mars is going to have to go out there in the cold and give you a shot of all the cars that are here . We do have a lovely lineup here in the studio . This is the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Perfection Studio I've renamed it for you .

Speaker 4 3:02

We do need to rebrand . That's a good idea .

Speaker 1 3:04

Yeah , perfection Studio because this is it . I like it . So in the studio we have the Tesla Cybertruck . I see that you have several Porsches in here . You also have a Shelby Mustang , a tri-corvette display here , including a black one that I think that we're all familiar with .

Speaker 4 3:25

Yep , and that Shelby Mustang back there . That's quite rare . That's a wide-body car . Oh it is , it's a wide-body Super Snake . So I don't know how many they made , but it wasn't very many Well what are you doing ? To it . We're going to do paint protection film on it . We're doing paint protection film on the entire car and that belongs to one of my clients , james Ludwig , and he loves that thing . He just got it and that's one of those ones that has so much power with a live rear axle .

Speaker 1 3:59

It's hard to drive .

Speaker 4 4:00

Well , you would know about that because you had your share of GTs . I have , and those new ones are a lot more controlled than that one . That one's wild Well , you had one the last time we were here .

Speaker 2 4:08

Do you still have ?

Speaker 1 4:08

that one .

Speaker 4 4:09

I don't , I don't . Was that the 350 or the 500 ? That was a GT500 Heritage car .

Speaker 1 4:19

That was a wonderful car . I know you took me for . I think you took me , for I left my brain back at the starting line In the first one .

Speaker 4 4:23

yes , we went for a ride in that first one . It was those are great cars man , I would recommend a . Gt350 or a 500 to anybody . That was amazing what Ford put together . We do so much Porsche stuff and we do a lot of work with Porsche Sugar Land Great guys and they gave us the opportunity to get a hold of a 911 , and so we took it .

Speaker 1 4:47

What did you do to it ?

Speaker 4 4:49

Well , I mean , we got that 911 . It's a 911T and it's a .

Speaker 1 4:55

I know you were kind of looking for words , the right words , that you didn't want to dissolve .

Speaker 4 4:59

It's a good car . Yeah , that 911 , it's a scalpel . It's not as fast , but man , what they get out of that three-liter motor is just absolutely incredible . Go-kart it really is . It really is .

Speaker 1 5:12

So tell us what you're doing here today . Well , it's a social , so we're all kind of gathered up and talking to other autophiles . I was going to say audiophiles Got a lot of .

Speaker 4 5:32

well , there are some audio files in here , but uh , yeah , this is our , our annual get together and uh , we kind of call it a car social rather than a uh , rather than a car show , because to me it's more about the people and uh everybody getting a chance to get together and uh talk and introduce themselves to one another . And we have we have such a wonderful client base and have built , you know , such incredible relationships and I'm seeing people here that I hadn't seen and we may have delivered the car a year ago and here they come .

Speaker 1 5:54

Well , Steve Kingsley's not here is he .

Speaker 4 5:57

I hope Steve's still alive , Really .

Speaker 1 5:59

He wasn't doing well no .

Speaker 4 6:00

I just hadn't talked to him or heard from him in so long .

Speaker 1 6:02

Yeah , well , I think he moved to Austin , didn't he ? Florida is the last destination I heard of Steve . Well , that's where he was from originally . Yeah , yeah , so Steve used to own a company called .

Speaker 3 6:14

Custom Car Stereo .

Speaker 4 6:16

Yep .

Speaker 1 6:16

And through Steve is where .

Speaker 4 6:18

I met John , yeah , and that was a great opportunity because the clients they had coming in were , you know they were they . Opportunity because the clients they had coming in were , um , you know they , they were they're your clients now , a lot of them are actually , yeah , and I've held on to them since 20 , you know , 2015 , 2016 . So , yeah , that was a . That was a great start for us . Yeah , you know coming out of our garage into into that uh location , so you know that was , that was a .

Speaker 1 6:41

That was I'll never forget that phone call that I got from steve and he said hey , man , I got a guy down here that's doing really some nice stuff to paint . You need to come down here and check it out . And so I went down there and that's when I met you .

Speaker 4 6:56

Are y'all going not to change the subject ? Are y'all going to be at the Autobotive show , yes , or is ? It the Boat of Auto Show , whatever , Autobotive Show . So are we , are you .

Speaker 1 7:06

Good .

Speaker 4 7:06

We're going to be in the Marine section , okay , good , and yeah , come by . Make sure you come by and see us it depends on where you're at , come see us .

Speaker 1 7:13

Come see us In the Marine section .

Speaker 3 7:17

We'll be in the Marine section . I don't know where we're hoping to be back over by Jeep , because Camp Jeep's coming back . That's always a big event .

Speaker 1 7:25

Huge draw yes .

Speaker 3 7:26

But last year we were in between , on the edge between the boats and the cars .

Speaker 2 7:30

Right over in the Nissan booth .

Speaker 1 7:32

Yes .

Speaker 3 7:32

Yes .

Speaker 2 7:33

Steve Parrott , we'll be over by one of the bars .

Speaker 1 7:35

Yeah , part of the time anyway , this setup will be out there , but we'll be over by the bar You'll buy the drinks . Yes , Over by the bar you buying the drinks ?

Speaker 4 7:42

Yes , I will . As a matter of fact , I owe y'all . But come by our booth .

Speaker 1 7:46

We've got some really cool marine stuff that we're doing Marine paint protection film , you know you told me that last time we were out here that you were going to get into that and I'm going . Really , the marine stuff . I hadn't even thought about that . But I'll tell you what , having been a former boat owner . Yeah , I'll tell you what . Especially if you keep the boat in the water , it can get real ugly , real fast . It can , yeah , and it can damage the actual finish and the coats on the on the on the vessel .

Speaker 4 8:13

That you have . Of course it can , and uh yeah , it's tough to keep a boat and keep it nice , and this is stuff that we have that's really going to help people do that so I wanted to uh actually say to everybody and I said it in the tease at the beginning of the show that uh , we're going to help people do that .

Speaker 1 8:25

So I wanted to uh actually say to everybody and I said it in the tease at the beginning of the show that uh , we're going to have serene . Basically kind of take over the show , uh , beginning at the bottom of the hour here , and uh , because she's your main gal when it comes to well conditioning surfaces how's that ?

Speaker 4 8:41

I want to pre-apologize for anything that she says out of bounds .

Speaker 5 8:44

Yeah .

Speaker 4 8:45

Because it could happen .

Speaker 1 8:47

It just happens . Well , you know what ? This is not controlled by the FCC , yep , and so we don't actually encourage that kind of talk . But she has already said to us listen , I can easily step out of bounds and I am well aware of that . What's a delay ? Do we have a delay ? We don't have a delay . Okay , so it's live . And hey , listen , we've always been living on the edge and she's listening to every word that we're saying , because I saw that smirk on her face as she walked by .

Speaker 2 9:18

There she goes Every time something happens . Dave will just go beep , He'll beep it out , wait , able to just go beep .

Speaker 4 9:26

He'll beep it out .

Speaker 2 9:26

Wait a minute yeah why doesn't she have her ? She actually has a microphone on , okay . Okay , we got her wired up ?

Speaker 1 9:28

yeah , we got her wired up . It's wired for sound , yeah , but uh , she's not currently turned on , so to speak .

Speaker 1 9:35

Needs to remember to turn it off easy yeah , easy , easy don yeah , so anyway , we're going to go through several steps and she and I talked about it briefly uh , yesterday . Uh , how we're going to go through several steps , and she and I talked about it briefly yesterday how we're going to go about this , and she's got a plan in place and we're going to do it all on the Corvette so we don't have to worry about some you know million-dollar car that you've got in here . It'll be my old rag , the 01 Corvette .

Speaker 4 10:01

How about that Lamborghini over there though ?

Speaker 1 10:04

That's a nice red Lamborghini 175 miles on that car no 175 miles . What year is that thing ? 89 . An 89 .

Speaker 4 10:15

So it's a dollar a mile and Mark , the guy , my buddy , mark , that bought it , has put 50 of them on it in the last month after he got it . And 40 of them getting here this morning , probably so it . And 40 of them getting here this morning , probably so . Yeah and nervous the whole way .

Speaker 1 10:28

I saw him . He was the one that backed it in there Hanging outside .

Speaker 2 10:32

That's the only way you can back them up . You can't see anything . You can't see behind you . You've got to get out of the car .

Speaker 1 10:37

Well , we're excited with all the people that have showed up here today . Great cars , great lineup . And , for those here in the Houston area , we have actually promoted this event for several weeks now . It got postponed once because of the weather and we were kind of bumping up against the weather again today , but then all of a sudden cleared up . Cleared up , it's a beautiful morning you say so . Well , mr Detroit here is freezing to death . Come on . Oh yeah , come on .

Speaker 2 11:04

Mr , detroit here is freezing to death . Come on , oh yeah , come on , man . I lived in Michigan , I lived in the Detroit area . 22 years came down here . I still haven't thought out .

Speaker 4 11:11

That's it . Well before we go thank you guys for coming . I can't .

Speaker 2 11:17

Y'all are like family and I can't thank you enough for the relationship that we've built with y'all we agree .

Speaker 4 11:24

I appreciate y all very much , well , we appreciate you and everything that you do here .

Speaker 1 11:28

This is a first-class operation and I don't think anybody that would drop by and see the wonderful cars that you've got in here meet with anybody here . I think that everybody all would agree that we're here to support you . It's kind of a big car club , you know it is .

Speaker 2 11:45

It is , it is . It is the folks that aren't here and they're listening and watching . How do they get a hold of you and a phone number ? Email website .

Speaker 4 11:52

Yeah , GC Auto . As a matter of fact , we launched a new website last night .

Speaker 1 11:55

No .

Speaker 4 11:56

Yeah , we did , we did GCautoshieldcom It'll look different , the old one and uh , it'll have , uh , it'll have , some of our marine services on it , in addition to some of the older stuff that we've been

Philanthropic Publishing With Dream Big Books

Speaker 4 12:09

doing . And uh , what do you do with the boats ? You go to the boat . If it's trailerable , we can bring them in , okay , and otherwise , the last one that we did was a 62-foot Viking . I guess it's trailerable , but not Not , oh , that's not trailerable , not trailerable .

Speaker 4 12:25

Well , 18-wheeler , you've got to crane it out of the water Crane it , that's right . So look , I don't have enough money to know that when you're out 200 miles bill fishing those , I don't have enough money to know that when you're out 200 miles bill fishing those fish will come out of the water and they'll scratch the side of your boat with a bill .

Speaker 2 12:40

Man dang those fish .

Speaker 4 12:42

Well , I wouldn't know anything about that .

Speaker 1 12:44

I wouldn't either , Because I'm not offshore and nor will I ever again .

Speaker 2 12:48

So David's got a dinghy . Would you be able to work on David's dinghy ?

Speaker 3 12:51

Of course , don't get personal .

Speaker 2 12:53

Not that dinghy of course , don't get personal , that that , not that ding .

Speaker 1 12:55

Oh , oh , oh , um . So the question , the question is what is it that you would like ? You know , you wanted to get this guy on the air and , uh , we , we want to , uh , talk to him . Is he available ?

Speaker 2 13:08

is he around ?

Speaker 4 13:10

uh , where's merwin ? There he is right there , there he is is Merwin Joshua , You're on buddy .

Speaker 1 13:17

Yeah so why , don't you introduce him and tell us what he's got going on here ?

Speaker 4 13:23

Josh Merwin . He has made a series of inspirational books and it is a charity that he's put together and he's really got some cool things going on here and with that , I'm going to let him take it away .

Speaker 1 13:39

Okay , all right , because he's got a beautiful Porsche that's in here and it's white and it's all decorated up and kind of , I guess , promoting whatever it is that you're promoting . So what is your first name ? Again Josh , josh . So tell us , josh , it's good to have you on the show . What do you got going on ?

Speaker 5 13:58

Yes , I've got a philanthropic .

Speaker 1 13:59

Pull that microphone nice and close to your mouth . We've got a philanthropic publishing company .

Speaker 5 14:02

It's called Dream Big Books . We create animated films and books Started on athletes . Actually , our first athlete is right over there , michael Montgomery . He played football at Texas A&M , collapsed on the practice field with a heart defect , didn't know he had Doctor saved his life , said you're never going to play again . He goes yes , I am . He ended up playing two years at A&M and five years in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers .

Speaker 1 14:24

Really .

Speaker 5 14:25

Yeah .

Speaker 1 14:26

The Packers . I'm a Wisconsin boy , yeah , brother , so tell us continue on .

Speaker 5 14:38

Yeah , so every story we do has kind of three main topics , um , the first one is what athletes or historical figures were into as kids . Um , because a lot of the books are made , starting for elementary school students , um , and so it allows the younger kids to identify with the athlete or the subject as kids , and then they kind of follow in the athlete's footsteps as the journey goes along with the story . So we talk about whatever obstacle they've overcome in life , usually off the field , and teach kids how to overcome obstacles and tell them that life's not always easy now what inspired you to get to into this um my background's photography and film okay .

Speaker 5 15:08

Um , so I used to shoot for espn magazine sports illustrated right out of college , which is a lot of fun . Um did a documentary film , um , and just storytelling in general . Um launched a sports film festival . Um .

Speaker 5 15:20

Unfortunately it's right before covid , so it was a little difficult because nobody wants to go into theaters anymore , exactly um , but I had had the idea to do kids books on athletes , um , and met michael at the super bowl in la a few years ago and met a guy who had a daughter that was 14 years old , self-taught artist , and so she did the art for the first book . And what we do is we create , we record as the artist draws , so the film comes to life before your eyes . So for kids , especially now , to keep their attention , you need something special . And so , as it comes to life before their eyes , we now write the words on the screen . And as the words are written on the screen , the subject says the words in their own voice . So it really fills gaps in education , reading , literacy , art , creativity and then inspiring kids to chase their own dreams very nice .

Speaker 1 16:04

Is this your car ?

Speaker 5 16:06

that one's my mom's your mom's car yeah , I got my mom's car . We got that . We wrap a car with John at Gulf Coast . He's been amazing , so he helps we wrap a car with John at Gulf Coast . It's been amazing , and so he helps us wrap a car for a release .

Speaker 1 16:18

I was going to say how did you get together with John ?

Speaker 5 16:21

We did . We released the previous version of this book on Donovan Carter , who's a football player at UCLA January of last year around the College Bowl Championship at Porsche Sugar Land . So Bram Zeger is the GM there . He's amazing .

Speaker 1 16:37

So it's that connection .

Speaker 5 16:38

We did the first event and I happened to be having a meeting with Brom at the same time . John was coming in to introduce himself and we were talking about wrapping a car and John walks in and we're like you're the guy . So it's been a great relationship since then and , you know , ideally looking to get a dream big 911 that we can drive around to coffee and cars and events at kids at schools . Sure , that we can do a full wrap on all year and the cars we wrap , kids can color on it with dry erase markers . So it's a little .

Speaker 1 17:03

Oh , there you go . Yeah , a little more exciting . You know , we've got somebody I think that you would probably enjoy meeting , and that's the guys with the Hot Rod Tour of Texas , which is coming up in April , that I've been involved with . I guess this will be the fourth one . And it's good it comes out of Victoria and we take a road trip for three days in Texas and it's tons of fun . 300 cars , lots of people , yeah , and you'd fit right in .

Speaker 2 17:30

Yeah , I'd appreciate the connection , Everything from you know 32 tea buckets to what you've got .

Speaker 5 17:36

Yeah .

Speaker 2 17:37

It's fun .

Speaker 1 17:38

Yeah , no limits as to you know the age of the vehicle , none of that . Everybody you sign up , you come along and it's a good deal . We need to connect you with them .

Speaker 2 17:47

You and 299 of your best friends .

Speaker 5 17:49

Yeah , sounds good . Yeah , I mean , the cool thing about Porsche is , you know , obviously it's a high-end luxury brand but it is somewhat attainable by people . But everybody who owns a Porsche or loves a Porsche has some sort of Porsche story and I think that's the most interesting part of the brand and events like this right , social events around cars and coffee .

Speaker 2 18:08

And my story is I don't have one .

Speaker 1 18:11

That's it . Well , it's great to meet you , great to talk to you . Thanks for stopping by . Let's stay in touch . We've got business cards so you can get in touch with us . Well , anybody can get in touch with us . Info at InWheelTimecom .

Speaker 5 18:24

Or Don at InWheelTimecom , and our website is DreamBigBooksorg . So you can check us out and make a donation , and we'll do a custom animation of your car too .

Speaker 1 18:32

Sounds good , josh , great to talk to you .

Speaker 5 18:34

Thanks , guys Appreciate it .

Speaker 1 18:35

We appreciate you . Hey , the In Wheel Time Car Talk show is available 24-7 on the In Wheel Time and Odyssey radio apps . Just search In Wheel Time Car Talk and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider , including now SiriusXM . Did you know they have a podcast channel and we also video stream our weekly show on Facebook , youtube and InWheelTimecom . 10 to noon every Saturday , the InWheelTime Car Talk Show continues right after this break .

Speaker 1 19:01

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Speaker 1 20:00

You own a car you love . Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it ? Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts . We promise you'll be impressed . Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance , apply a ceramic coating , install a paint protection film , nano-ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield , gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go .

Speaker 1 20:27

Curbed your wheels . Instead of buying new , why not have them repaired ? How about a professionally installed radar detector ? Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too . Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom . Better yet , stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway , just south of the Southwest Freeway , and get a personal tour . Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior . Call them today 832-930-5655 , or gcautoshieldcom . Welcome back to the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show . If you'd like to get in touch with us anytime , shoot us an email . The address here is info at inwheeltimecom dot com . You know it couldn't have been a more perfect subject for this kind of day . It's beautiful the sun is shining out here , but it is cold brother and being the international correspondent for in real time the international correspondent , we get something going for this , good , good price all over the world .

Speaker 1 21:27

You're hot man , oh yeah , and you're ready , you're hot , okay .

Speaker 2 21:30

Well , here we go , michael , it's all you humans use hot chocolate , coffee , tea , whiskey , tea , whiskey , chicken noodle soup . I got a friend of mine with a blow-up doll named Larry .

Speaker 5 21:38

Did you bring any whiskey to that ?

Types of Engine Block Heaters

Speaker 2 21:40

No , what is an engine block heater ? What does an engine block do ? Types of engine blocks . An engine block heater is an electrical device designed to warm a part of the engine and or motor oil of the vehicle you're in . There are numerous types of engine block heaters that have various methods to provide that heat to that engine . The purpose of an engine block heater is to heat the engine . By using the engine block heater in a cold climate , your car will start easier and use less energy . The engine block will receive its normal running temperature sooner than later . Okay , so we're going to get into the first one , and it's going to be a core frost freeze plug heater . This type of heater replaces an existing core plug , also commonly referred to as a freeze plug .

Speaker 1 22:21

That looks like one of those things that you put in the iced teacup .

Speaker 2 22:23

Yeah , it could be the same principle . It directly heats the coolant with an engine , with the engine using an element that sits in the coolant , and you can use your car's service manual to find the correct location for that plug . Next one we have is an engine warming blanket placed on top of the engine or attached to the underside of the hood .

Speaker 3 22:41

I used that last night . I know you did .

Speaker 2 22:45

An engine warming blanket disperses the heat across the entire engine block . The next one we have and this is very , very popular is an oil pan heater . This is more of a diaper type situation . Yeah , uh , heater is essentially an automotive .

Speaker 2 22:58

Closer and closer to that every day automotive grade heating pad don , placed on the underside of an oil pan in different parts of the engine , typically attached with magnets or bolts , much like you do , uh , to warm the pads and the oil and keep the oil inside nice and toasty . The next one we have is an actual dipstick heater . Now my urologist has one of these . The heater replaces the dipstick with a long heating element that warms up the oil . That's what you guys are calling it now . The next one we have is an inline heater . It's circulating . Now there's two types . There's a circulating and a non-circulating . This device is actually both of them , because it's the way you hook it up to the engine itself . An inline heater requires some work as they are spliced into the coolant hose . Circulating models use the existing pump to spread the heat and coolant through the system . On a non-circulating , it just splices into the coolant and it only heats that area that is spliced into it .

Speaker 1 23:52

I know you've got to have one of those .

Speaker 2 23:53

You've got to have one . The next one we have is a bolt-on external heater . A bolt-on external heater is attached directly to the engine block , don , and it heats it from the outside in , so it's outside in yeah , we know about outside in .

Speaker 2 24:10

Do you need an engine block heater ? Generally , if you live in a climate where your regular temperature is below 10 degrees Fahrenheit , it's not a bad idea to have one . If you live in those temperatures that are rarely doing that , probably not . When should I plug in an engine block heater ? About three to four hours before you actually want to use the vehicle . Use a timer to set it up . You know like you have a light timer in your home . Use the same thing for the timer there . Do modern cars still need to be warmed up ? If you're trying to warm up the inside of your vehicle , yes , if you've got a fuel-injected car , the vehicle you're trying to protect your engine not necessarily going to work . It's because of the way that modern cars are designed .

Speaker 3 24:56

So , as for engine block heaters .

Speaker 1 24:57

They're a good idea if you're in that type of climate , but one warning I have unplug it before you drive Whoop I stretched that a little bit too tight , martha .

Speaker 4 25:02

A little bit longer , martha yeah .

Speaker 1 25:04

Poor Martha , martha . Where are the garden lanterns ? All right Time now for this hour's car review , and I believe that Mr Mars at least he said he was going to review the GMC Sierra .

Speaker 3 25:23

Well , that's because he's going to do the GMC Sierra .

Speaker 1 25:26

You have the page pulled up there . Yes , sir the 2025 .

Speaker 3 25:30

Gmc Sierra , denali Ultimate HD . Don't yell at me . Well , I'm just trying to make sure that Don could hear over there you know what ? So it is the .

Speaker 2 25:43

Sierra .

Speaker 3 25:44

It's the base thing , it comes in , actually there's seven different trim levels , but when you get into the Denali there's actually only two trim levels and we we had the Denali Ultimate , which is the top of the line for that particular brand of vehicle . Now this is a full-size pickup truck . It's five passengers , five nicely roomed passengers . It's got plenty of room . And on the outside of it , up front , you're going to find you've got LED lighting with automated projection headlamps , you've got fog lights , tail lights , you've got the grill logo actually lights up and there's lighting in the cargo area and it's all LED . It works really , really well . There is also a set of power assist steps . So when you come up to the truck and you get ready to step up in it , because it is an HD and you're going to have to step up .

Speaker 3 26:29

They come out and they're really quick . They're there when you want them .

Speaker 2 26:31

Do they automatically drop when the door opens ? No , they'll start dropping before you get the door open .

Speaker 3 26:37

Yeah , and they're quick . Now we also had the trailer package , so we had some other things , like the fifth wheel setup inside the bed . We had the power folding , heated extending tow mirrors . Did you ever notice these guys that got these ?

Speaker 3 26:50

tow mirrors , oh yeah , and sometimes they're extended when they're not towing , that's so they can see further back . It makes a difference . I found out this particular vehicle , interestingly enough , has a set of 3,500 leaf springs underneath it , with a 12-inch shock package and 342 gears , so it's really set up to do some towing . Now , like I said , the LED cargo area has LED lighting in it as well , there's a power sliding rear view window and it has the six-way pro tailgate , pro adjustable tailgate . It's got the speakers in it and everything , and it looks really cool .

Speaker 1 27:25

That one that you showed had lighting in it .

Speaker 3 27:27

Yeah , yeah , it's got that too . It's got speakers and there's a lot of stuff in there . So you get to the inside of it , of course , this Denali you're going to find you've got leather seating . The front seats are heated and ventilated . The rear outboard seats are also heated and that is a 60-40 folding rear seat . Got some storage that's built in underneath that . Up front , the driver has a 12.3-inch driver screen that's adjustable to figure out what you want to see on there .

Speaker 5 27:50

as far as the vehicle goes 13.4-inch touchscreen .

Speaker 3 27:54

That's got your infotainment , your convenience controls , your surround view camera system in it . You also have a camera that you can look at the cargo bed to see what's back there . There's a lot of USB outlets but they're all USB-Cs . You've got a wireless phone charger and the bed view camera . I mentioned charger and the bed view camera I mentioned . There is a Bose premium 12 speaker audio system with a subwoofer in it and it gets really nice sound woofers are good .

Speaker 3 28:19

So up under the hood of this particular vehicle we had 6.6 liter V8 , v8 turbo diesel , 470 horsepower , 975 pound-feet of torque . Like I said , this thing is set up to tow allison transmission , 10 speed tow rating , properly equipped 20 000 pounds . All rating 3048 pounds . Wow , now the curb weight on this vehicle I've noticed it was 8 264 pounds and it carries a 36 gallon fuel tank , because , wow , that's big . Now the epa does not give you a rating on this vehicle because they don't rate them , but I got 13.6 miles across 434 miles , so that 36-gallon tank gets put to use .

Speaker 3 29:00

It is a big truck . It's a big truck , it drives big . It rides big . One thing I've noticed about it that if you look down the side of it , the belt line , the hood , is actually taller . So you , actually I feel like I sit down a little bit lower and I keep trying to get up to look over the hood , because the hood is taller than the rest of the truck . Now , uh , there's plenty of room up in there and if you're looking for something to compare this to , uh , you're going to be looking at the ram 2500 , the ford f-250 and the chevrolet heavy duty . Now a base vehicle , the , the base GMC Sierra is $47,300 .

Speaker 3 29:36

And that's a four-door double cab .

Speaker 1 29:38

Now the base trim price when you get up into the Denali $92,800 .

Speaker 6 29:44

Now .

Speaker 3 29:44

MSRP is tested $96,830 .

Speaker 2 29:49

Hubba , hubba .

Speaker 3 29:50

But now you go , look at that Ram and it starts at $42,270 . It'll get up to $89,000 .

Speaker 4 29:55

The .

Speaker 3 29:55

F-250 , $47,000 , gets up to $100,000 . Easy in the Platinum . The Chevrolet Heavy Duty at $45,000 gets up to $71,000 , real quick .

Speaker 1 30:03

If I'm going to spend that kind of money .

Speaker 3 30:04

I want it all , baby . Well , I think the Denali is going to just about give you all of it as far as capacity room .

Speaker 1 30:12

Is that the diesel ?

Speaker 3 30:13

Yes , it's the big diesel , and I can see putting a fifth wheel behind that thing and it's all there . I mean it's all the mounts there . All you got to do is back it up and hook it up .

Speaker 1 30:24

Yeehaw .

Speaker 3 30:25

Get ready for the rodeo friends . That's my review of the 2025 . Gmc Sierra Denali Ultimate Heavy Duty . You could buy two Buicks for that .

Speaker 1 30:33

Today's In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show is sponsored by Loopy Tortilla , tex-mex , gulf Coast Auto Shield and Pro-Am Auto Accessories . The In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break . The Tex-Mex Pro-Am Auto Accessories has been serving Houston's auto enthusiasts since 1984 , providing world-class products for sports cars , european sedans and American muscle .

Speaker 1 30:55

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Speaker 6 31:45

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Speaker 1 32:17

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 .