Unveiling Toyota's Game-Changing EV Battery and GM's Massive Recall

Music.

Welcome to Let's Talk Wheels. Here's Mike Herzing and Jeremy Bierenbaum. Cars that get stolen with only the plate number. That guy's a pretty busy. GM is recalling 450,000 trucks and SUVs and Toyota reveals their 745 mile EV battery. Oh my gosh. Buckle up. Learn about these news stories and more on today's Let's Talk Wheels. Welcome to your favorite auto show, Talk Wheels.

I'm Mike Persing, and every week we give you the automotive and power sports news, interviews, car reviews, and classic car information from my co-star, Jeremy Beerbomb. He's going to be busy today. We've got a lot of classic car questions. Who is based right there in Southern California. Mr. B, come on in. Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? How are you doing this week? It's been a crazy week.

It's been back in the nineties here in Texas after we had some cool weather, but you know, I don't know, I guess it could be whining. I could be flooded or it could be hurricanes tore it up or everything. We've been lucky. My heart and well wishes go out to everyone, you know, on the East coast that's been dealing with hurricane. And some of the videos coming through are just unbelievable.

What you see. And then I think the best part is what you see in humanity going to help everybody else and helping their fellow neighbors and whatnot. That's really heartwarming in a time like this. Now, the ones that aren't helping their neighbors are the ones that will be selling these flood cars that will be coming out in the next couple of months. So you're going to have to be, if you're on the East Coast, folks, be sure to, you know, if you're buying a used car, be sure to check it.

You know, so we maybe even, you know, it wouldn't hurt for us maybe next week to talk about some of the tips for spotting a flood damaged car. Yeah. And that's kind of an important thing. So before we get ahead of ourselves, let's get started with the news and notes segment and talk about that Toyota battery, 745 miles of range. We were talking about solid-state batteries. We've been bragging about them for how many, a year and a half now?

A year and a half we've been talking about them, and we keep saying they're coming, they're coming, and, you know, we haven't quite seen it yet, but they're almost here. Toyota's got a big leap forward in a game-changing 745-mile solid-state battery, which is, that's considerable, right? You know, I wouldn't be interested in an electric car when you have to charge for, you know, 45 minutes and you get just about the same range as a gas car.

But if you can double the range of a gas car, I'm a lot more interested. I'm a lot more interested in it. Yeah. I mean, that just makes for, you know, less range anxiety for me to go, okay. But, you know, this battery, when they first talked about it a year and a half ago, they were saying it may be 900 and something miles. They went, okay. They decided now to downgrade it to about 745 miles. But still, and it's what, how long does it take to charge?

Just a few minutes, like 15 minutes? Well, they're saying from almost empty to 80% in about 10, 15 minutes, which is pretty unbelievable. Well, you know, this is what we've been talking about. And the best part is not only that, but it's supposed to last like up to a million miles. It isn't really the miles. It's the recharge cycles. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, like a brand like Tesla, you know, after about 200,000 miles, you start really seeing degradation on the battery.

And a full battery that used to get you just say 300 miles is now only doing 280, 250, you know, just over time it's breaking down. It's just like a cell phone. I mean, it's great. I mean, they last a day and a half of when you first buy them. And then, you know, you have it, you have it about a year and all of a sudden that day and a half is now a day.

And then, you know, a year later it's half a day, you know? So yeah, those batteries do degrade and, but degradation is dramatically less with a solid state battery. They're smaller, They're cheaper or whatever. Now, like I said, they haven't quite got them out. They're looking at, what, 2026? So we're talking about another year and a half, and they'll be here. They're testing them as we speak.

And Samsung has got one, too. Besides Toyota, Samsung came out with theirs, and it's about a 600-mile battery, but, I mean, it still charges quickly, and they're also not affected by the cold weather or the heat as much. And so that's huge, man. Which is huge in a car because, you know, there's some of these people who live in these cold-weather states that can actually see the effects of the temperature on their range, which is, you know, kind of a bummer.

I've seen, I've had a Ford before that was, and we had a cold front come in and one day it had a 210 miles of range and the next morning, not driving or anything else, and the temperature was dropped, it all of a sudden, instead of 210, it was like 170. And so, you know, you lose 20%, you know, or so when it gets really cold and it'd be nice not to have that.

The one thing I am going to say is about these, once they do hit the market, I think it's It's going to up the price of electric cars with the solid-state batteries considerably just because the high cost of production. And there's still a lot of hurdles to get past. But once it starts becoming readily available in more mass-market cars, then we'll start to see the price kind of decrease. Even as we see on electric cars now, now that there's more out there,

there's more competition, price has kind of settled. But when Toyota is the first one on the market with solid-state batteries, you can imagine you're going to pay a little bit more for that technology. You know, it's going to be great. I mean, it's just this is, you know, I don't even get internal combustion engine cars with 700 miles a rate. I mean, that's really, we just make it just so big. But like I said, it's going to come out starting in 2026. So we're just like a year and a half away.

So man, this is going to be pretty awesome. So check that out. All right. We've also got a big recall from GM. And what do we have with the brake fluid, low fluid warning light may not come on, which is a bad thing. And that's what cars they cover that on, Jeremy? Yeah, basically 450,000 trucks and SUVs. That would include the 2023 Chevy Silverado, 1500 Sierra, GMC Sierra, 2023, 2024 Chevy Tahoe Suburban, Yukon, Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade, and Cadillac ESV.

Yeah, so basically all of the full-size SUVs and trucks. Yeah. I mean, not the heavy duty, but the half ton. And basically what's happening is you may lose some brake fluid and there's supposed to be a light to let you know that there's a loss of brake fluid. And right now that light is not coming on to display a warning. Yeah, because as your pads wear down, it uses fluid, so you have to add fluid.

And this is something that may take, you know, 60,000 miles or whatever, but I mean, or if you happen to have a leak or something like that. So it's going to be a bad thing. So they're going to fix the electronic brake control module and things like that. Speaking of things that happen over the air, because that's a software issue what that problem is. They've got some hackers that are white hat hackers, you know, so those are the good guys, right?

And they have found some problems with how to hack into a car and drive it away, especially these cars with these digital keys, which Toyotas and Lexus has had these issues. Hyundai is so big into that and everybody's going to be doing it. And if you've got these digital keys, that makes it a little bit easier to hack into or hackable. How's that? Unfortunately, Kia and Hyundai are back in the spotlight with this deal.

But apparently, just from the license plate number of your vehicle, they can get in, control the infotainment, blinkers, horn, you know, just some silly little things. If they can do that, they can steal your vehicle is the bigger concern. I mean, I love these new high-tech cars that you can send software over the air, and they're talking about these new software-defined vehicles that are basically, as you make changes to your car, it's going to be by software, not by hardware.

So, you know, I guess you would unlock that by more money you want to spend, unfortunately. So, let's see either way. So, okay, guys, coming up next, Nick Bennett from Ford going to peek about the new 2025 Ford Expedition. I'm going to review the super exciting Camry. How about that? You know, we've got to love a Camry, right? You know, and it sounds like sarcasm, but you were talking to me off air about the car already, and it sounds like you were pretty excited about it.

It was not a bad car, you know, and a little boring, but, you know, boring can be good. Because you don't have to have those fixed very often. Right, exactly. Exactly. And there's something about a reliable family sedan, which is, this is it. So Toyota's got that market handle right there. So got a lot of stuff coming up. Got a really fun and crazy show. Buckle up, or actually put your seatbelts on. That'd be better.

All right. Be back right in a second. Music. Welcome back. Let's Talk Wheels. Mike Herzing and Jeremy Berenbaum. This week, I'm going to talk about the 2024 Toyota Camry. And the one I had was the hybrid. But if you're going to buy one, oh my gosh, this is the one to get. And it was an XLE all-wheel drive, which is everything you want. And like you said, I've got, you know, my wife has friends that are, they're just not car people, but they need something dead stone reliable.

They want something that every time they're going to start it, it has good resale value. It's comfortable. It's quiet and gets good fuel economy. This is it. You know, I think Toyota has some maybe sexier cars, but this car is really the backbone of Toyota. They sell more Camrys than anything else, I would bet. Yeah. You know, and it's kind of the car that put Toyota on the map, in my opinion. Well, it really is. Corolla and Camry, you know, or back then the old Silica.

Sure, it did. did but you know people now go to i mean the highlander is basically a the camry with the suv body on it which is a little bit more practical but there are people out there and i've had friends believe it or not believe it or not i do have friends but i have friends that just love cars they don't need they'll have any suv somewhere for the house where the wife will drive it but you know these guys drive cars and you know the camry's grown up to be the size of of,

you know, the older Avalons. And so it's a big car. It's got plenty of room in it. The one I had was a hybrid, which means it's rated at 46 miles per gallon in the city and 46 miles per gallon on the highway. I didn't get that. Not even, we don't like close. I think I got 33 or 34, which is really pretty awesome for this big of a car.

It's got a 232 horsepower combined between the hybrid system and the gas, the 2.4 liter four cylinder engine it's got a cvt transmission which is what you end up having to deal with because it's a hybrid and and i hate cvts but toyota does a pretty good job with them i just i just don't i just we don't want it the performance is good it's not great this car is quiet comfortable it drives good it doesn't oversteer it doesn't understeer you know the brakes

feel good everything is pretty nice on this car really is this one had heated and cooled seats It had JBL audio system. It had heads-up display. It had 12.3-inch gauge cluster, which you can move everything around and have it show different things. It's got another 12.3-inch multimedia display in it. This one had, basically, the Camry LE Hybrid, the base price is just under $35,000, okay, what's on the sticker.

But this one had, and like you said, Jeremy, had 50 state emissions, because you like that. It's the same car all across the country. Premium Plus package is what this one had, which is a $4,760 package, which gives you traffic jam assist if you want to pay for the subscription.

That tells you all the all the cracks you know basically all the stuff that Waze has but this one you pay for let's see front crash cross traffic alert lane change assist which I couldn't figure out a way to turn it off it made me kind of crazy let's see front and rear parking assist with automatic braking which keeps you from backing in or running into people in the parking lots rear cross traffic braking nine speaker JBL audio system that I was talking about.

Vendantly heated and cooled seats, front seats, got the big heads-up display, remote, digital key, which we're talking about capability. Mine didn't have it because I didn't have the app, but this one you can do that. And which you get a trial subscription for. That's something you got to pay for. Big glass moonroof that I never even opened because it was hot. Rain sensing fencing wipers, memory mirrors and things like that. All this goody stuff, that's close to $5,000 for that.

That's a little steep. The trunk LED bulbs. When you open the trunk, that LED bulb instead of a regular bulb, that's $25 extra. Cargo net, $49 extra. Illuminated door sills that say Camry. Pretty cool when you open the door. That's $345. The wheel locks are $90, which you can buy those at the dealer there in the parts department for $19, but they're $90. Carpeted floor mats and things like that, that's an extra $309. And then mud guards is another $150.

So basically, with delivery and processing and handling, which is a little over $1,000, it was almost a $42,000 vehicle. But that's kind of the cool thing. With all the options you've just listed, you can kind of take it or leave it on a lot of them. You start out on the LE, which is a 27.5 car, and you can get really close to 40 grand with the XSE hybrid. So it really is able to fill a lot of roles in different families, you know, depending on what your price point is.

And the one thing that I'll say is you talk to owners of these cars and they go, I'm on my third, I'm on my fourth. You know, they drive them for four or five years and then they're on to the next one. They don't even think about another brand or another model. They just go, I'm going in to get another Toyota Camry. I was so happy. You know, the car was so reliable. It did so well in my day-to-day life that I'm just going to get another one.

Yeah. I mean, they make nine different versions of this. And the only one that has a V6 now is the TRD, which is Toyota Racing Development. And I can't figure out why somebody would even buy that. Why would you buy a Camry if you want to make it a hot rod? Yeah. Don't buy it. Go buy a Supra. Don't buy it. Or go buy something. That kind of irks me in a lot of cars now. Now, they always have to make a performance version, even if it's not a performance car.

And sometimes it just doesn't, you know, match well, but to each their own. Yeah. Mike Herzing, Jeremy Berenbaum. Let's talk wheels. We're talking about a Toyota Camry for 2024, but you know, it's kind of like the people that take their grandmothers, get their grandmother's car after they graduate high school and it's a Camry and they go in and put a big wing on the back and lower it. You know, I'm like, really?

It's like putting perfume on a hog. Don't ruin that car, man. Hey, but you know what? Anytime someone gets a new car, it doesn't matter if it's an air freshener or an exhaust kit, you're going to do something thing to personalize it, you know, to fit your style. A hula girl on the dashboard. That's what I've always had. That was on my last two vehicles, my last two classics. I had the hula girl stuck on the bobblehead type thing on the dashboard and it was kind of entertaining.

My problem is the way I drive that spring goes so crazy eventually it just snaps and breaks. That's right, folks. He's wiggling his hand like this, like he's shaking it. But yes, it's fun. Mike Herzing, Jeremy Bierenbaum. we're talking about the Toyota Camry. This is Let's Talk Wheels, if you just tuned in. But no, it's a good vehicle. If you're looking for an Accord, the Camrys there, they're both, they're fun.

But like I said, this is dead stone reliable. It's exactly what people are looking for and the owners love them. I know people that finally got away from the Camry, but all they do is they go to the Highlander, which is a great vehicle too. I like the Highlander a lot. The Camry, I wouldn't probably buy one, but I wouldn't mind owning one. You know what I mean?

I think I The only thing I didn't like about this vehicle at all, and it was a beautiful blue, medium blue, gorgeous, was the CVT transmission. That's something you just have to deal with, you know, just the way it is. But other than that, it's just a nice car that gets you where you want to go every single time. So either way. All right, let's do a quick car question. I got a car question. It's kind of personal, but Nelson asks, what's your favorite car, SUV, or truck?

People ask me that all the time. I say all the cars are good. It's just whatever fits your lifestyle. If you've got a bunch of kids, a two-seater is not going to work. You know, a convertible, you know, with a tiny backseat isn't going to work. Get us something good. SUVs have a tendency to be utilitarian, and they perform good, and they drive good, and they're quiet. Now, a little Explorer, you know, a Hyundai Santa Fe, any of those kind of vehicles,

they're all Jeep brand Cherokee. They're all wonderful vehicles. As far as trucks, everybody makes a good truck. They really do. Nobody makes a bad truck. My favorites, one of my favorites is the Nissan Titan, and they're going to drop it. So we'll talk about that maybe later on in the show. Coming up next, we have Nick Bennett from Ford. He's going to give us a peek about the new 2025 Ford Expedition. A lot of changes, a lot of cool stuff, all from our friends at Ford.

Coming up next, right here on Let's Talk. Music. Welcome back to Let's Talk Wheels. Mike Kersing and Jeremy Baramo. As we talked earlier, we've got Nick Bennett today. He's on the hot seat. No, it's really not going to be hot at all. And let's see, you have heated seats. There we go, which they do.

And he is the chief over there at Ford, and he knows everything about the new Ford Expedition, one of my favorite vehicles, and especially based here in Texas, you know, you've got to have a big vehicle to go everywhere, and I've owned a couple of Expeditions. And Nick, welcome to Let's Talk Wheels, buddy, and congratulations. Well, thank you, Mike. We're so excited to be here. We're so excited about the 25 model year expedition. We're down here in Texas now getting ready to reveal it tomorrow.

So really looking forward to that. Really looking forward to seeing how our customers and how the general public view the expedition. And so something we're very, very, very excited for. Well, it's a great vehicle. They've been around forever, you know, between the Expedition and the Suburban. And, you know, that's basically, that's most of the market around Texas and things like that. There are a few other outliers. But, you know, to me, those are both great vehicles.

Ford jumped on the bandwagon for me. The reason I bought my first one, because they had independent rear suspension. And back then, GM didn't even think about that. And it's so much nicer. So tell us the changes they've made. I couldn't tell you. I hope you haven't made many changes because people love it as it is. Well, Mike, you're doing my job for me. I mean, I'm still happy that you love the Expedition because I love it too.

And yes, we did do some major redesigns, both to the interior and to the exterior. Just a couple of things to note. When you look at the Expedition from the front, you'll see a new lighting motif. So it looks like kind of a strong man flexing their muscles. And so you won't mistake that it's an Expedition driving down the road, something that we're super, super proud of. Looking to the back of the vehicle, new lighting back there as well, but also notably the Ford split gate.

So this is the first to its segment. And essentially what it is, is the top three quarters of the lift gate open traditionally, just as it would regularly, just up and over and perfect, no problem. But the bottom quarter folds down like a truck tailgate would. So what can customers do with that? They can set up a buffet at a tailgate.

They can set it up as stadium seating. Like the possibilities really are endless and it kind of gives the customers a chance to gather around at the tailgate or linger a little bit longer and kind of throw maybe a party at a tailgate with that split gate. So something we're super proud of. Also on the top of the vehicle, we have new zone lighting, which can keep the party going after dark.

With lighting all around the vehicle. Looking inside, looking at the interior, we have an all-new infotainment system, a 24-inch panoramic screen embedded underneath the windshield that gives the customer the ability to look up and out rather than down and in between the steering wheel. And I think that's really something special about the interior.

And it's powered by the Ford Digital Experience, which gives kind of Google, which gives the customer the ability to interact with Google Assistant, Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and just a whole new and refreshed digital experience. So definitely from the inside out, a vehicle that's been redesigned with the customer's needs in mind and something that we're really excited for them to get it. All right, folks, this is Mike Herzing and Jeremy Birnbaum. Let's talk wheels.

We're talking to Nick Bennett from Ford. He is the guru on everything Expedition. It's a great vehicle. That new clamshell tailgate is gonna be, it's very welcome. It's really nice. Otherwise you just lean up against the bumper cover anyway. Way. So you just end up scratching that. And that gives you something to sit on, step on. If you happen to get up and trying to get onto the roof rack, which some people do, I don't know why, but they do.

And it just gives you, it just makes it easier. And I think that's a good thing. And you guys, the best part is you guys are always changing it. That's improving it. And that's cool. Kudos to Ford. Right. And I haven't heard clamshell yet. I'm going to start saying clamshell and sort of instead of Ford's flaky and see how far that gets me. But it's really an accurate description and it really kind of speaks to the versatility of the expedition.

And you're right. We do make changes to the vehicles, but we make changes based off our customers. When we were working on this model year, we spoke to customers. We did 1100 hours of research. We sat in their rooms. And so these changes that we make are really, you know, kind of just made with the customer in mind more so than anything, meeting their unmet needs. Well, you know, I've talked to Ford people and all OEMs, all manufacturers, they work five years out.

You know, the product planners are five years out and the design people are maybe even farther than that. And but the main thing is you guys always talk to your customers. And I know all car companies try to, but Ford really doesn't. I mean, they don't say hound people, but you've got informants everywhere. It's not like it's a horrible thing, but it's a good thing. Everybody talks to you and you answer them.

I remember even before I was even a journalist, I had questions and I had drove Fords and I contacted customer experience type people and they were like, sure, nicest people in the world love to talk Fords and they'll help you in any way. And, you know, and when the expedition came out in 97, it was a great vehicle and it just seems to be getting better. And now you've got the two links, right? Long and really long, right? We sure do. So we have our Expedition and Expedition Max.

So Expedition Max gives the customers just a couple extra inches of space in the rear, in the trunk, just to kind of fall and tug more in their rear. So yeah, we still have Expedition and Expedition Max. Which one is your biggest seller? The standard Expedition? I'm just curious. I just, one of those things that, eh, wouldn't have always asked you. Yeah, at the moment in time, XLT in our 24 model year is the bestseller.

And we do have changes coming to some of the series names that we have in the 25 model years. So that will be replaced by the active. But yeah, as of now, the XLT is our bestseller. Okay. Now, you have a new trim level. It's coming out. Was it the Tremor? Yes, yes. And I'm so glad you asked. So Tremor is the most capable Expedition ever, period, point blank, most capable Expedition ever, with 440 horsepower and 510 pounds per foot of torque. Also coming with a 3.5 liter V6 high output engine.

So from that standpoint, incredibly capable. But also looking at the suspension of the vehicle, the underbody shielding, the trail one pedal drive, it's just fully decked out with all those bells and whistles that make it kind of an off-road beast. Oh, so basically you stole or borrowed from some of the F-150 Tremors and the Raptor and all those goodies, which is, you know, those are pretty good bones to come from, let me tell you.

And so you've added some of those things because, you know, some people for hunters and stuff, man, they take these things in places. You wouldn't see a big full-size SUV, but they're there, right? Sure. Yeah. And it makes sense. And yeah, you're right. You know, our truck series has Tremor and we kind of took all that DNA and all that spirit and we put it into the Expedition. So all the Tremor DNA that our customers know and love now in the Expedition.

Wow. Okay. When are these going to be around? Is this going to be for the 2025 year models? When does that start next year or when? Good question. So in the next coming, in the coming weeks, next couple of weeks, we'll have our order bank open. So our build and price page will be live. Customers will go and be able to kind of build out what they want. They'll also be able to see pricing information and that'll be coming in these next couple of weeks.

And then they'll start hitting dealer lots in the spring of next year. Well, that's about perfect because, you know, interest rates will be down. The economy will probably be in better shape. We're always basket cases, you know, near an election and things like that. That is really, I mean, Nick, this is really great information. New interior stuff, new exterior stuff, a new trim level. I mean, you guys are really kind of making some tweaks here and I like it.

A hundred percent. And just one thing I want to add too is that it's really designed with the family in mind. You know, we talk to these families. We like to say that it's a life stage vehicle, not a lifestyle vehicle. These families are people who have kids that might be going to college soon. They might have a few kids in college, but they understand that their time with their kids is fleeting.

And so we designed the Expedition to make sure that these parents and that these families can really capitalize on these moments with each other. And Expedition is the perfect vehicle and vessel to enable these really valuable family moments. Oh, yeah. It's a great vehicle. The fuel economy is, you know, in the 20s, low 20s. it's really pretty hard to beat an Expedition.

I mean, because Explorer, don't get me wrong, it's a great vehicle, but when you get to Expedition, the pricing is right, it looks great. Lots of power, good fuel economy, pretty much everything everybody would really want, right? Like I said, Mike, I mean, you're doing my job for me, you're selling it for me, but you're hitting the nail on the head. It truly is a wonderful vehicle and something we're very proud of.

All right, Forks, go to Ford.com, check out the stuff. Nick Bennett, thanks for joining us today, buddy.

Take care. Thank you so much. He's got a smile because he's driving an expedition right now. All right, folks, hang on. We've got more Classic Car Chef coming up in our next segment. Music. Let's talk wheels. Here's Mike Herzing and Jeremy Bierenbaum. Jeremy, we've got a couple of classic car questions, and one of them is from Robert. He wants to know if you have any tips on finding a classic car because he's got the bug and finally plans to buy a classic. He really doesn't know where to start.

You know, I mean, what do you like from high school or what do you want? What would you do? How did you get into it, Jeremy? Honestly, if someone wants to get into a classic car and they don't know where to start, the first thing to do is just go start looking at them. Start driving them. Go ask them questions. It doesn't have to be the car you're going to buy, right? Just get educated.

See what you like, see what you don't like, because in the classic car world, they all drive a little bit different. They all have their own characteristics, things that go right, things that go wrong. And if you're going to invest time and money and everything else that goes into owning a classic car, make the right decision, make the educated decision, go out there and do a little homework first. Because I hear people all the time that go, oh, my neighbor had this car and I just bought it.

Now where do I go? Now what do I do? I don't even know if I like it. I couldn't drive it. It wasn't running when I purchased it. Now it's in my garage and I got to figure it out. I see that story time and time again. My thing is always go drive it, drive it first. Don't, you don't have to be a hundred percent interested. You can tell the seller you're, you know, you're really interested and you want to drive it, but drive it for the experience.

See what it's like first, because a lot of people have this idea of what they think a classic car is going to be in their life. And then it ends up being very different once they own it. Just like my, my 46 Willys. I, I bought it, not sight unseen, but I get it and I realize it's so tiny. Tiny. I had trouble getting in it. When you got in my Jeep, Jeremy, your knees are up around your chin. I mean, it's horrible. And the windshield did no good for me. I was a full head higher than it.

Right. So those kind of vehicles, yeah. Yeah. My dad always wanted a Karmann Ghia. He bought one. He got in it. He bought it sight unseen, had it shipped over. He got in it and he was like, this is so uncomfortable. I don't like driving this. And he sold it within a year. And some of those things can be alleviated by sometimes just going to test drive a car will get your fix. You've been jonesing for this thing for months now and you go drive it and you go, eh, you know what?

It didn't live up to what I thought it was in my head. Well, the other Saturday, for example, I have that 46 Willis. It looks like an army Jeep. And my sponsor was Jeep. And my friend of mine was, until he just retired last fall, but was the president of Jeep, Jim Morrison. And Jimmy was great. And he and I is just like, man, I got to find one of those. Bought a flat fender Jeep, fix it up. That's great. But you know, it's 45 miles an hour wide open. I mean, that's downhill with a tailwind.

It's more comfortable around 35 or 40. The brakes are not very good. If somebody pulls out in front of me, I'm done. You know, I mean, it's just, I mean, it stops, but those, that, those year models, they didn't stop. They didn't drive that, that well. It was a military vehicle basically. And you know, people use these things on the farm and things like that, but it rides horribly. It, but, but it's noisy. It gets horrible fuel economy, but boy, it's wonderful to drive.

You know, I mean, to own it, people wave and smile at you. I've been, you know, grand marshal at parades and things like that. It's great. And having a classic car is great. I mean, right now I realize I'm looking at 57 Chevys. I've never seen 55, 56 and 57 Chevys at the lowest price I've seen. The price has seemed to be dropping because people that are interested in them are getting a little bit older and the younger people want the 80s stuff, you know, late 70s and 80s.

And it's just funny how each generation has their idea of what they want. You know what I mean? Yeah, totally. And another thing I hear all the time is people say, oh, I want to buy a classic car because I want to make some money, right? And I think that's one of the toughest reasons to buy a classic car.

And I'm going to talk you out of it real quick, because depending on the condition and what kind of work you have to put into it and then the insurance you pay on it and everything else that goes into it. I do it for fun. I do it for passion. I do it because I love it. But if I was doing it to make money, there's far better ways to invest your money where you're going to see a better return.

Well, you know, you're right. Granted, you can make some money on it and odds are you're not going to lose money on it. That's for sure. And you're going to enjoy it. And that's the main thing is buy it because you enjoy it, right? You've always said that. Yeah. And when you talk to people and they say, oh, I bought this car for X and I sold it for Y, the first question I want to ask them is, how long have you owned it for?

Because that's a big thing. You're going to hold onto these cars for a good amount of time to see any type of positive return. How much did you put into it? And then my next question would be, how much do you drive it? How much did you enjoy it? Because there are cars that you can buy and make money on, but they're going to be cars that you're either A, afraid to drive, or B, putting miles on them is going to actually decrease the value.

So there's those two things there that also kind of hurt you.

You know you're exactly right and also you know what fits in your garage what you know is it going to be a car that's a like you said it's a it's a pilot we've got a lot of rust it needs lots of body work that you can't do or do you have room to do like you you guys have a paint booth at your at your shop you have all these little things that that you know your garage is set up for to paint cars and fix body work and do this kind of stuff but not everybody

has that no and once you Do you have to go to somebody to do that? It costs a lot of money. And it rightfully does when you go to the right person because it takes a lot of time, especially if you're doing body work and paint work. And paint work, the prep work is 99% of the actual work. Painting takes a couple hours, but to get the body ready and everything, you're paying for those man hours.

Yeah, but a lot of people will buy classic cars, in my opinion, that I've met that buy it and they don't really care.

You know making money on it's great and that's fun don't get me wrong but the fun part is putting it together finding it making it you know having a vision for it and putting it together and and and buying that i'm looking at a 65 corvette that needs a lot of work but i'm going to get it at a good price the whole point is i'm going to spend six or eight thousand dollars on just paint work i'm going to spend another probably the same doing

the interior you know this kind of stuff and so So, but you and I, we're, we're like the same in that we like the project. We enjoy it. Once the car is finished, you're either waiting for something to break so you can get back into it or you're ready to get rid of it so you can start another project. Right. That's exactly it. You buy it because of the project. But then again, you know, you buy one that's already done. It's kind of like, well, it's, they're never really done.

Never. And something is always going to break, especially when you're driving out. I mean, sitting, some things are going to go wrong. Driving things, some things are going to go wrong. But I say that's how I learn, right? That's how I get experience. And I love that because the more you do it, the more you fix on your own and the more when things break, you can fix on your own.

And you feel this really good feeling of accomplishment when you're able to fix your own car or somebody else calls you with a car question and you have that answer. And the only way you're going to get that answer is by doing it first. You know, you're exactly right.

And then folks, Mike Hersey and Jeremy Verum, let's talk wheels. We're talking about classic cars and people boning. You know, like I said, depending on what you are set up for, maybe you love to do interior work. Maybe you love paint work. Maybe you love to just, you want one that just maybe needs electrical wiring problems. Maybe you got one that that's pretty much done and it just needs a little bit. You know, those are fun, but you know, it's funny. The last 10% takes 80% of the time.

Yeah, yeah. But, and get, once you do one, you kind of understand what's in your wheelhouse. Like I know I'm terrible at electrical, so I try to find cars that don't have electrical issues, right? And I know what I'm good at and I look for cars that are, that have those type of deficiencies. But one big piece of advice I always like to give, and I kind of hark on it a lot is you're not on a time clock.

If somebody starts pressuring you and saying, well, this car is going to be gone tomorrow, like if you don't act quickly, say, OK, fine. You know, Ford made a million Mustangs. So if yours isn't the right one, I'm going to go out and find another one. You know, sometimes a good deal is not the deal that's just right in front of you at that moment, you know.

Jeremy, you are a wealth of knowledge for this stuff. So, folks, if you have any questions you want me to give to Jeremy in just a second, we're going to tell you all of our email addresses and everything so you can give us that information. We'd be glad to help you guys anyway, always. And if you've enjoyed our show, tune into the same station next week for the following episode of Let's Talk Wheels. And if you miss part of this show, you can catch the podcast on all major podcast platforms.

All you got to search for is Let's Talk Wheels. We have 425 episodes up. The podcast contains this show and a bonus segment with an extra car review. So be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out. And if you have any topics you want us to cover or questions you need us to answer, even if they're cars that you're interested in and you want me to give it a once over, I don't mind. Email Mike at Let's Talk Wheels dot com. will always respond. We love to hear your car questions.

As always, folks, on behalf of Jeremy Bierenbaum, Matt Peralta, and myself, thanks for joining us today on the Let's Talk Wheels Radio Network and the Talk Media Radio Network. I'm Mike Herzing. He's Jeremy Bierenbaum. Have a great week, folks. Thanks for joining us on another edition of Let's Talk Wheels. We'll see you next week. Music.