Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast , a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central . This is the only place to go for all things automotive , the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show Coming up . We're going to have another guest from today's show .
By the way , we're coming to you from the 42nd annual Houston Auto Show . Mars , I think you were here for the first one and you were 40 then , so that makes you 82 now .
Is that right ? There was a display of Conestoga wagons in the back corner .
So what you need to do is ask Don , since Don's older than I am what was here before that .
The Conestoga wagons , caesar , caesar and his horses . Also coming up . Jeff's going to have the racing calendar . Mars has this week in auto history and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines . Howdy Along with Mike out of this world , mars . We always need more Jeff Zekin .
Our chief engineer , david Ainsley got out of bed this morning , didn't brush his hair , but he made it here and he's our chief engineer . I'm Don Armstrong . Glad you could join us today . It's a great day . It's a beautiful day to get out and really enjoy it . Clear skies overhead .
We've had a week of horrible weather here , several weeks and it's time now this particular past week , and it's time now to get out , enjoy and have fun .
Air conditioning , yes , and this is a good place to do it too .
So half of the arena the NRG Center is loaded up with cars , the other half loaded up with boats , and so you get a two-for-one here , Yep .
Or a BOGO , they as the girls call it . What a bogo buy one get one , buy one , get one .
So you buy a ticket and you get it and not only do you get to the automotive show , but you also get the boats as well you bet I'm gonna stick with the twofer oh , yeah , okay , well , you just do that , so our guest now in the remote studio here of the In Wheel Time Broadcasting Mega Center is Jack's son , Jeff Nicholson .
There you go .
And .
Jeff is from West Point Lincoln . I was going to say West Point Lincoln Mercury , but you know , I think that that brand went away a few years ago .
It definitely did , it did .
You're too young to know that . But yeah , so now it's just West Point Lincoln .
Yes , sir .
And Lincoln's back ? Definitely yeah . How many models of vehicles do you now have ? We have four .
And they are the Corsair Nautilus Aviator and Navigator , in that order from small to big .
Oh , I like that little one . I like that little one . Is that the biggest seller for you , or is it the Navigator , the Navigator .
The .
Navigator . Of course it is yes .
I'll tell you what .
It's been a while since I had one .
But the seats in that .
Navigator . Oh my God , it's like you took that leather , your favorite leather chair that you watch TV and game with , and put it in a vehicle . It's comfy . So where do you want to start ? What's down there in the West Point ? Well , it's actually the Lincoln booth . I assume that you're just manning it today .
Yes , sir , You're not trying to sell cars down there . You are a product expert . He's an educator . Yes , definitely . Well in our language it's edumacator , Edumacator .
But that's okay .
All right . So , Jeff , where do you want ?
to start . So we have the 2025 Navigator over there on display . It is open for everybody to look at , sit in play with , and we do have some salespeople over there that will be happy to answer any questions , even me as well . We're not going to push you to sell for anything , um .
We're just going to give you some product knowledge and make sure that you have a great time at the automotive and so do you , I mean obviously to me .
In my mind , the main competitor is the Chevy Suburban , the Cadillac Escalade , as I like to call it , and the GMC version of it . Right , yes , sir . And when you do your product review if you will , for somebody that's looking at it , do you compare ? You say , well , our vehicle does this and has this and priced this way .
And if you're comparing it to the Navigator and comparing that with the Cadillac Escalade , here's what you're going to find in our vehicle Do you do that ? Yes , because I want to know that , because if I'm shopping the navigator , I'm shopping the escalade too definitely aren't they priced competitively they are um .
The price of the 25 navigator did go up a little bit , but it starts at a hundred thousand dollars and goes up from there .
But it definitely is very , very comparable or even better than the escalade is very , very comparable , or even better than the Escalade , as you call it . Well , and I want to know that thing . You know , and we tout on the show .
The really nice part about the Houston Auto Show is the fact that you can learn all of these things and compare these vehicles in one venue . I don't have to drive out to West Point and then go down the way to the Cadillac dealership , plus , I don't have to have that sales pressure put on me .
I want to come here and I want to find out about it and that's the really cool thing to me about it , as long as I've been coming to it , which has been at least 55 years , because Conestoga wagons , you know . That's the nice thing about it , definitely .
Yeah , I love it here . We have a ride and drive outside for the 25 . Nautilus yes .
Oh , for the Nautilus . Yes , sir , and where does the Nautilus fit in ? Is it underneath the Navigator ?
So it is underneath the Aviator .
It is our midsize two-row SUV . The mid-size , yeah , seems to me that that would well that and the smaller one would be inching up on sales , probably because of the price for one and what you get in it , because now you're competing with things like Jaguar . Yes , yeah . Correct .
Correct Jaguar , porsche , cadillac , volvo , all of them , yeah . And let's not forget Buick , buick uh , cadillac , uh volvo , all of them , yeah .
And let's not forget buick , buick .
Oh yeah , buick's creeping up , for sure , because he owns the dang view .
That's why , so don't feel bad , it used to be cadillac , yeah . Now it's beauty , that's beautiful that's beautiful it could be .
Lincoln could be . Lincoln , it could be definitely .
You should definitely come check us out . Yeah , down there at west point . Where is west ?
point west point is off of i-10 in Kirkwood , right , okay , we also do have a Sugar Land location which is 59 , roughly around West Airport area , and it's very nice down there . It's right next to the old Texas Direct Auto that used to be down there .
Right .
That's right , yes , I know exactly where you are .
And which one are you at ?
I am at the Kirkwood location in I-10 . Well , business should be pretty good out there . Definitely . We are the energy corridor of Houston , exactly , and we got all those people coming through .
Do you live out there ?
I live in Richmond .
Oh , not far , it's not far .
On I-10? .
Yeah , i-10 and Kirkwood . What time are you supposed to be at work ? Every day , 9.30 .
So you get up at 4 . What time are you supposed to be at work every day ? 9.30 . So you get up at 4 . So he's at the tail end of morning drive . Yeah , and he's walking in with his tie .
He'll be like that Got to make sure I look spiffy ? Yeah , exactly .
How long have you been in ?
the car business Almost seven years , really .
Almost seven years .
And did you raise your hand to get in the car business ? Where did you start ? I started at uh auto nation , uh cdjr in katie , and then just moved around from there looking at different cars .
I worked at cadillac , um , even kia for just a little bit , for a week so when , when you were , when you were in high school , you said I want to be a car salesman I wanted to work in the car industry , did you particularly because that's that was me , because I was in high school I wanted to be in the service department , gotcha , because I was in new
car make ready at a place called richardson chevrolet it doesn't exist anymore , but uh . So I worked at a very , very busy dealer , yes , and they sold a ton of Chevys , definitely . And so , you know , I started New Car Make Ready Washing , getting cars ready to go out to the customer that just bought it , yes , and then graduation came along .
I thought you know what I want to get into the service side . So I was a service advisor . They sent me to GM Training School , learned a few things there and got skated on by all of the other people that were in the service department and that didn't work out too well for me , but I learned a lot and it was an interesting thing .
It's not that way anymore . Dealerships are a lot different than they were back then . And the very successful ones . They got their act together . They know what they're doing . They have a lot more tools in the sales department . I mean , you got computers . You can shop what you're selling . You can shop around and see what other people are asking for .
You know , yeah , selling . You can shop around , see what other people are asking for . You know , yeah , um , it's um .
It's an interesting market today , and to go into a new car dealership is an experience my first was a service rider at a cadillac dealership in ann arbor , michigan and that was when you had five copies press hard you know , to all the service riders all the parts and things like that .
Now , getting to your computer I so vast differences and it didn't take that . Now , getting to your computerized so vast differences and it didn't take long to get to the computer age but that's not where you started . You started on an assembly line .
Well , I started for uh yeah , I've worked it for fisher body in the car industry on an assembly line , but so far as public and on in dealerships was the cadillac tuition did you have somebody paved the way to get in there ? I went to high school with a guy . His dad was the GM and he worked in service and they needed somebody else in service .
So I applied and got it Nice . So we rode together in high school and all that stuff .
Yeah , it was kind of like me . I had a friend of mine , so you didn't have a friend in the car business , you just went for it yourself .
Yep , I just went for it yourself . Yep , I just went straight for it and said , hey , I want to work . You know , I went straight into work and I was like , let's do this .
Yeah .
Well , you seem like a very approachable kind of guy . Thank you , yeah , I mean , if I was going to buy a car , I'd rather buy it from you . Oh , thank you . Some old gray-haired fart that is like you know curmudgeon , that's been in the car business all his life . Yeah , what do you want ? Oh , you want one of those .
Yeah , we got a couple of them out there in the back lot . You want to go take a ? Look at if you like something , sign this , sign right here . You want to drive it , you really ?
want to drive it and speaking of that , you keep saying sign it and sign it . When I bought my vehicle , they gave me uh usb as all the documents . They don't hand you paper anymore or an envelope . They give you one of these . They give you a flash drive with all your documents on it . That's it . That's all your paper . What do you sign ?
You sign electronically on the computer . You just sign the screen . With your finger , with your finger or toe , whatever you want to sign it with , and then they give you the flash drive at the end . Do you do that ?
Yes , that's the way you do there .
That's technology , you know five copies .
Press this index finger Doesn't work , the same as a pin and that signature on there .
I know who's is that .
Oh , that's mine . With a finger doesn't work , so how is ? Oh , look at there , that's your granddaughter .
And there's your wife . Yeah , and there's Donna .
Look , they made it in . They let you guys in this place . We told them not to , so somebody didn't do their job , but it's good to see you . She's wearing her .
A&M shirt Texas A&M .
Yes , you see that I remember my daughter went to Alabama , uh-oh , got a rivalry . Yeah , there's that . So that's another story for a different day . Anyway , how is inventory at your dealership ?
We have a bunch of inventory to get rid of All of our cars . We have like 50 to 80 navigators .
Really yeah .
So we're trying to get rid of them . We do have 0% for 72 months or for 84 months . It's 1.9 .
Are they offering any kind of show specials ? If you come back to our dealership , we'll give you X amount off . Come see Jeff .
No , but they will give you a free tote bag , tote bag .
Yeah , a tote bag All right . Yeah , all right , yeah , I'm in .
Those are ones that he stole from the other manufacturers , from the .
Kia .
Here . Let me go out to the car and open the trunk .
I got one for you from the Jeep people he's a Kia for a week .
Oh my God , you know your boss is going to get this and he's going to go .
what the hell did they do to my poor salesman ? They're going to . Jeff , could I see you in my office , but I didn't do it . It wasn't my fault .
I'm so sorry . He's an old guy , mike . Yeah , these are old people .
I couldn't help it . They run me out of there .
Well , he's got to be doing something right . He came back , he's still there , he's still with West Point .
So do you have 24s that you're trying to get rid of ? Are 25s coming in ?
now . So the 25s will roughly be in around April to June time . We're hoping earlier , but that is kind of the time frame that we are looking at right now . But we do have 24s on the lot , yeah , so we're trying to move them and just they have a great selection for sure .
Yeah , west Point , lincoln . Now is it that in both locations They've got 50 navigators in both locations ?
So that is just on our Kirkwood location at the moment . I don't know personally how many are at the Sugar Land location .
Here's the phone you want to call them . I'm just teasing . No , that's okay .
Now , what about the other models ? The other models ? We do have a good amount of Corsairs . We do have a lot of Nautilus coming in daily and we're just pumping them out .
Okay .
Besides the $100,000 Navigator , besides that what is your favorite one ?
Honestly , the Aviator , the Aviator .
And where does that fit in the lineup ?
Is that ? Second from the bottom , so second from the top . Yes , it's a midsize three-row SUV . Well , wait a minute . So you've got four vehicles .
Yes , so it would be the middle one . Yes , yeah , I got it Okay .
And why is it your favorite ? Honestly , because it's rear-wheel drive . I love rear-wheel drive vehicles and all-wheel drive capability . That thing is just fun to drive . And all-wheel drive capability that thing is just fun to drive .
400 horsepower Really .
Twin-turbo V6, . Yes , is it the twin-turbo V6 ? Yes , 3-liter twin-turbo V6 .
That's a lot 400 horsepower , Definitely Out of that little V6 . Definitely . Hey , Mr Mars . Yes , sir , If you'd look down here , there's somebody that's been trying to get a hold of you and we're going to get him a pull string so he can get his attention .
I guess , yeah something .
It's always something Always something All right .
Well , jeff Nicholson . Thank you , sir Jack's son , west Point , lincoln . How's he doing , by the way ?
He's doing good .
Hey man , thanks for putting up with us .
Thanks for the information .
We appreciate it . We're going to send all of our viewers that are out here today to come see you . Forget everybody else in your display . They're coming to see you . You're going to have a gang of people around you .
How many folks do you have there ? Right now , we have about four people . There are more coming .
We're going to make sure that we have everybody here . Do you need some pins to sign the autographs ?
No , not yet . We have a bunch of custom Lincoln pins that one of our salesmen did create .
Do I get one of those ? Definitely .
We'll use them in the studio , oh , definitely .
That's it .
Hey , just ahead , jeff has this , jeff has the racing calendar , mars has this week in auto history and I'll have this week's auto news headlines coming up on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show Back in a flash .
Thank you .
Jeff , I'm sorry to interrupt but I was trying to play a commercial here , but I don't think that you had turned up the commercial here for everybody to hear you ready . I know that you are . The Tex-Mex dining experience is defined by Loopy Tortilla , your destination for Texas' best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas .
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We also video stream on Facebook , youtube and InRealTimecom , and podcasts of the In Real Time Car Talk Show can be had everywhere , including SiriusXM . All right time now for the racing calendar . Can you do that ? Yep , jeff has that , sponsored by the Texas Muscle Car .
Club Challenge . I'm going to run through this . I do have a couple of complaints , but we got coming up March NHRA March 6th they're going to be at the Gator Nationals in Gainesville Raceway , nascar starting tomorrow at the Clash of Bowman . I saw a little special on that .
Oh , I did .
That's such a historic racetrack I saw an hour special on that actually just the other day , so it's going to be interesting . But NASCAR , they're going to go on the streaming side , so it's not going to be an NBC thing constantly through the season . They're going to have to buy a subscription to get on some streamer to do that .
Hell no .
The other complaint I have is last week was IMSA . Imsa racing was last week and it was the 24-hour of Daytona and it was all advertised NBC is going to have the final six hours . It wasn't , it was a soccer game you had to get on streaming . You had to get on streaming . So , imsa , I'm not happy with you .
All right , then we've got Soapbox Derby Don , north Florida . Soapbox Derby practice February 8th this next week is coming up . So get your soap , get your box , get on out there . And then then , of course , the demolition derbies are starting again this spring .
Yeah , so there you go , so that's all the race into a demolition derby david evan huh coming up .
There's so much fun yep , it's actually uh .
Soon a few more weeks , we've got another one coming up , so love demolition derby .
So nascCAR and IMSA and all you racing folks , get off the platforms , get off the streaming . Go back to regular TV . Listen , I don't mind streaming , I don't either .
I don't mind that , but put it on something that I don't have to pay extra for because I'm not doing it . As a matter of fact , I am a huge NHRA fan . If it's not on something that I can get like on Roku or , you know , regular broadcast , I'm not going on it . I'm not doing it , I'm cutting stuff , all right , all right .
All right , mr Morris , this week in auto history , besides , me yeah , buddy .
So this week in auto history , back in 1917 , and I did not know this .
Ford began its production .
Well then , you probably drove one of these . They began building the Fordson tractor . Now I bring it up because this was one of the first affordable tractors . Did you call it Fordson ? Fordson F-O-R-D-S-O-N .
Fordson tractor okay .
Introduced in 1917 . It really changed the way that farmers could do it because it actually ended up replacing the horse pull plow .
It had a 20-horsepower , it was lightweight , all metal including the wheels , and it was actually produced in the united states , the uk and in ireland up until 1964 and , uh , it really changed things as far as agriculture and industrial machinery goes . Now also this week , in 1930 , jeff Cadillac introduced the V16 engine .
Now this featured one of the first V16 engines produced . It was a 7.4 liter , that's 452 cubic inch , engine with 165 horsepower . It really it was really no-transcript but coming up into the Depression so it kind of limited sales didn't take it and they didn't build it real long .
I tried to mount one of those on my lawnmower one time . It just didn't quite fit .
No , no , I can see that .
But by the way , Mr Mars , I just want you to know that the video stream has stopped working , so this is just an audio thing and I've been working on that and I have a message for Jeff as soon as I get through it . What is it ? Is that a hand signal ? Because I know what that hand signal is here it is right here .
Yeah , yeah , yeah so , but you might , what you could do , don go back to your lawnmower . Maybe get the 431 cubic inch V16 that came out in 1938 . That might fit a little bit better . So also this week in 1955 , general Motors introduced the legendary small-block Chevrolet 265 . 265 , that's correct , had up to 180 horsepower .
And really what makes this significant because for the 55 , 56 , 57 , I mean those were some classics that the Chevrolet built the small block , they made the engines bigger and it really changed , particularly hot rodding and the way that we look at things like that . Also this week , in 1958 , the first Toyotas were sold in the United States .
Now they came into the market with the Toyopet crown , I think that's how you say it .
Let me see that Toyopet , toyopet crown .
This was the precursor to a Chia Pet . A Chia Pet .
That came much later . That was the second generation .
This was the Japanese version of the . Chia Pet . This is the Toyopet , so this model was the crown .
It had a 1.5 liter four-cylinder engine , it had 60 horsepower and it was very durable , but it was kind of a sluggish because of the weight of the vehicle . Now , they only sold 287 units before . They stopped selling this vehicle in 1961 .
But then they came back in 1965 with the toyota corona oh , not corolla the corona corona that was Corona , that was a cigar , it was a beer or a beer . So anyway , they felt this was better suited for American roads . And that began Toyota's long-term success .
I mean , they've become really a major . Is this a long feature that you're going to do today ? I can make it long .
I know Well , you're doing that already . So that's this week in automotive history .
Thank God . Get back to trying to get our video stream back up . I'm working on it . All right . I got some stories . We're making news headlines this week . Tesla will finally launch a long-promised commercial robo-taxi service in June Guess where ? Austin , texas man that's going to expand the ride-hiling network across the us and globally .
According to ceo elon musk , he told the investors that on january 29th he says the proof is in the pudding . Musk said on tesla's fourth quarter call . So we're going to be launching unsupervised full self-driving as a paid service in Austin in June . Good luck . In its financial report , tesla said fourth quarter profits fell but revenue rose slightly .
Musk , who acknowledged broken past promises , said Tesla vehicles are already operating autonomously at its Fairmont sorry , fremont California factory , driving themselves off the assembly line to designated parking spots in a holding lot . Hell , I think that we could do that , couldn't we ? Yep ? What is this all hanging down there ? I don't know .
Could you fix that yeah yeah down there .
Could you fix that ? Tesla's full-service driving software is classified as an advanced driver assistance feature . That requires a human supervisor for safety . Okay , for those that are in the market to buy a new car .
The Federal Reserve on January 29th announced no changes to the central bank's benchmark interest rate policy after its first Federal Open Market Committee meeting of 2025 . The federal fund's rate target will remain at 4.25 to 4.5 percent , where it has stood since a quarter point cut in December , federal Open Market Committee said January 29th .
Investors expected the Fed to leave its benchmark rate alone this month as US inflation had remained higher than the central bank's goal of 2% . So it ain't going to change anytime soon . If it does , it'll be a quarter of a point . So get out there and buy , buy , buy , bye-bye , wait a minute .
Isn't that a Taylor Swift song ?
No that's a boy band NSYNC .
Is it NSYNC Something like that ?
Bye-bye-bye .
You would know a boy band .
Yeah , I would , because I used to be in one . Actually , I'm in one now .
I heard that out loud . He did yeah he did .
He said it and I couldn't help myself , but I had to chuckle at that . We've got a lot more coming up . We've got this is a three-hour extravaganza that we're doing here .
So is the SS Minnow .
Yeah , that's right , that was a three-hour tour .
Yeah , and it's a boat of show and we could sink at any minute , that's true , we could , we're treading water right now .
Right , we are Matter of fact . I've got recalls and I'm going to give you the recalls at the top of the next hour because I think they're important and if I don't do them , I'll forget and won't do them at all . And there's some important ones on here , including Ram 1500s 2016 to 2019 . But we'll give you all of that coming up .
We'd love to hear from you . Shoot us an email anytime . The address is info at inwheeltimecom . We are back after this . 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 .
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Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area . Call them at 713-781-7755 . It's time for the 47th Annual Corvette Chevy Expo in Galveston , saturday and Sunday , march 15th and 16th , at the Galveston Island Convention Center . This premier indoor event features iconic Chevrolets , from classic Camaros to America's sports car Corvette .
See over 135 displays , automotive vendors and unique finds at the expansive swap meet . You'll also see the all-handmade Galveston Craft Show featuring over 100 local artisans . Be part of the Chevy celebration March 15th and 16th . For tickets , visit CorvetteChevyExpocom . 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 .