1
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,640
Speaker 1: You're listening to Ron and Nanian The Car Doctor, nationally

2
00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,240
Speaker 1: recognized auto expert trusted by Mechanics, weekend wrenchers and vehicle

3
00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,280
Speaker 1: owners alike. Ron brings over forty years of hands on

4
00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,520
Speaker 1: experience and deep industry insight to help you understand your vehicle.

5
00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,160
Speaker 1: Join the Conversation live every Saturday from two to four

6
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,759
Speaker 1: pm Eastern by calling eight five to five five six

7
00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,960
Speaker 1: zero nine nine zero zero. That's eight five to five

8
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: five six zero ninety nine hundred. You are direct line

9
00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,480
Speaker 1: to honest answers and practical advice. Looking for more, visit

10
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,920
Speaker 1: car doctorshow dot com for past episodes, repair tips, and

11
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,839
Speaker 1: Ron's latest insights, and be sure to subscribe to the

12
00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,680
Speaker 1: Car Doctor YouTube channel for exclusive videos, real repair footage

13
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,720
Speaker 1: and more. Now start your engines. The Car Doctor is

14
00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,120
Speaker 1: in the garage and ready to take your call.

15
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,800
Speaker 2: You know we were. I was thinking about that bagel

16
00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,240
Speaker 2: recall conversation thing that I was spoken about last week

17
00:00:56,280 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 2: and the week before in the Price of Bagels, and

18
00:00:58,440 --> 00:00:59,840
Speaker 2: you know, by the way, for the record today to

19
00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,880
Speaker 2: day's bagel run, because there's a there's a seminar going

20
00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 2: on that I was trying to help get started and

21
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,959
Speaker 2: they purchased a half a dozen bagels, a half a

22
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,479
Speaker 2: dozen muffins, two cups of Joe, you know, not Joe

23
00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,160
Speaker 2: the big things of coffee where it holds ten cups

24
00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,200
Speaker 2: of coffee, two ten cup containers of coffee, a quart

25
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,520
Speaker 2: of milk, a lunch for one of the guys in

26
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 2: a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. And they spent one

27
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,679
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty six dollars. And you just weird, is it?

28
00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,399
Speaker 2: You know how, it's just it's it's mind boggling. But

29
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:31,560
Speaker 2: I started thinking about what Danny and I spend every

30
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,039
Speaker 2: week in the shop, and then I'll get going. I

31
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,559
Speaker 2: promise what we spend every you know, every day Danny

32
00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:38,480
Speaker 2: and I have we have breakfast, you know, at ten o'clock.

33
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:40,959
Speaker 2: And then we got to the local bagel guy. You know,

34
00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:42,960
Speaker 2: I don't know, ten twelve bucks. I started adding it up.

35
00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,920
Speaker 2: If we spend twelve dollars a day, some days it's more,

36
00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:47,960
Speaker 2: some days it's Listen, we spend twelve dollars a day

37
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,720
Speaker 2: times five days, times fifty two weeks. We spend thirty

38
00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,640
Speaker 2: two hundred dollars a year just on a quick breakfast sandwich.

39
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,480
Speaker 2: And you know what's everybody else spending because I see

40
00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,040
Speaker 2: the same people at the bagel store every day, but

41
00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,400
Speaker 2: nobody complains about the price of bagels. Nothing against bagels,

42
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,480
Speaker 2: but let's keep it equal, right, that's my whole point.

43
00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,360
Speaker 2: Let's let's keep an equal footing. Anyway. Yes, this is

44
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,200
Speaker 2: the Car Doctor, not the Bagel hotline. Eight five five

45
00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,320
Speaker 2: five six nine nine zero zero coming up down around

46
00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:16,359
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hour. Matt de Lorenzo. Matt wrote

47
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,640
Speaker 2: this really cool book about Mercedes Benz Mercedes Benz AMG,

48
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,200
Speaker 2: and he's going to explain what AMG stands for. And

49
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,560
Speaker 2: I'm not going to really try to because I'll butcher it.

50
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,520
Speaker 2: But it's all about the Mercedes Benz hot Rod Division

51
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,400
Speaker 2: and how Mercedes Benz decided to go racing so many

52
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,240
Speaker 2: years ago and what it's become today. So it's a

53
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 2: really great conversation. You're going to enjoy it. But right now,

54
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:38,440
Speaker 2: let's go talk to Lee up in Maine and see

55
00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:40,799
Speaker 2: what's going on with her in a row six Camri. Lee,

56
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:42,840
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Car Doctor. How can I help?

57
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:49,919
Speaker 3: Well, good talking to you. I have my two thousand

58
00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,119
Speaker 3: and six Camri and as is just my mechanic told

59
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,960
Speaker 3: me that it was all rusted, and I think he's

60
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 3: being cautious to work on it right, afraid that something

61
00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,160
Speaker 3: else might go wrong. And I have a small leak.

62
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,040
Speaker 3: He said it was quite small because he's had a

63
00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:12,480
Speaker 3: hard time finding it. But he starts digging and apparently

64
00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 3: the fluid is also flushing back to going back to

65
00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:20,639
Speaker 3: other parts of the car. Okay, and where it's all rusted.

66
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,680
Speaker 3: My question to you is that I've been looking for

67
00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,720
Speaker 3: a car, and I'm maybe two years old, so God

68
00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:31,160
Speaker 3: only knows how long I'll be driving. I'm still Yeah,

69
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,880
Speaker 3: my reflexes are pretty good, but I have I was

70
00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:36,880
Speaker 3: looking at a.

71
00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:39,600
Speaker 4: What is it.

72
00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:44,400
Speaker 2: Twelve thirteen for a Ford fusion?

73
00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:46,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeahs huge.

74
00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 2: Focus, a focus.

75
00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:50,960
Speaker 3: Some recalls right, right, transition.

76
00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:57,720
Speaker 2: A fusion, a fusion or a focus le effusion effusion okay, yes, And.

77
00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,560
Speaker 3: At twenty fourteen has thirty five one thousand miles right,

78
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,960
Speaker 3: and he wants nine thousand and he said it was

79
00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,960
Speaker 3: his mother's and then his mother died and now the

80
00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,920
Speaker 3: dad was driving it, so it looks clean and what

81
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:17,680
Speaker 3: have you. He has covered the bottom with what was

82
00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,680
Speaker 3: it roch diesel oil? I never heard of that. And

83
00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:28,320
Speaker 3: another thing too, is I'm kind of leary. I mean,

84
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,360
Speaker 3: it's very reasonable. The price is very reasonable. It was

85
00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,880
Speaker 3: thirty five thousand miles. But it's I'm maybe two years

86
00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,600
Speaker 3: old and that you know, I'm not working anymore, right,

87
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,880
Speaker 3: and so I would like here your opinion.

88
00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,479
Speaker 2: So you don't need the surprise, right, you don't need

89
00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:47,800
Speaker 2: the what if because you have to you have to

90
00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,680
Speaker 2: play what if with this carly All right, let's say

91
00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,600
Speaker 2: you get it for nine grand and it's a great car,

92
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,040
Speaker 2: and it's wonderful and it's everything he claims it is,

93
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,719
Speaker 2: and you know he doesn't know of any defects and

94
00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,800
Speaker 2: it doesn't have any and then six months goes by

95
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,240
Speaker 2: and the transmission fails?

96
00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:03,760
Speaker 3: Got it?

97
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,960
Speaker 2: And it's five grand to put a trans in that car? Right? Well,

98
00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,440
Speaker 2: maybe it's maybe it's maybe it's three. Now it's probably

99
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,320
Speaker 2: four grand to put a trans in that car in Maine.

100
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,960
Speaker 2: In New Jersey, it's probably six. But regardless, okay, you

101
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 2: know it's it's bigger than a bread box. As I

102
00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:20,400
Speaker 2: like to say, would you put the four or five

103
00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,080
Speaker 2: grand into it?

104
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:24,039
Speaker 3: A pardon me?

105
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:25,960
Speaker 2: Would you put the four or five grand into it?

106
00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:26,920
Speaker 2: If it needed a trans?

107
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:28,320
Speaker 4: Oh?

108
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:29,400
Speaker 3: Gosh, probably not.

109
00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:30,720
Speaker 2: So it's time.

110
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:32,080
Speaker 4: It's year.

111
00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,599
Speaker 3: They're gonna give me a license in two three years?

112
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,120
Speaker 2: Well, right, so so let's attack this from a different angle,

113
00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,960
Speaker 2: all right, and you know, you tell me where I'm wrong.

114
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,040
Speaker 2: So trying to stay within some kind of a budget,

115
00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:49,200
Speaker 2: all right, if I were, if we were standing at

116
00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,640
Speaker 2: the counter, my advice and my question to you would be,

117
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,560
Speaker 2: you know, can you get by? Could you afford two

118
00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,200
Speaker 2: hundred dollars a month or three hundred dollars a month

119
00:05:57,640 --> 00:05:58,599
Speaker 2: as a car payment?

120
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:03,960
Speaker 3: I probably could, but I hate to do it again

121
00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:04,719
Speaker 3: at my age.

122
00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:07,719
Speaker 2: Right. Well, there's no free lunch, kiddo, and I don't have

123
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,520
Speaker 2: to tell you that. You know that, right, But if

124
00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:16,559
Speaker 2: you could find a cheap lease and lease for three years, okay, right?

125
00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,320
Speaker 2: If you you know, I'm starting to see some cheap

126
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,920
Speaker 2: leases out there. Kia comes to mind. I saw one

127
00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,800
Speaker 2: on TV the other day, a Kia something for one

128
00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 2: ninety nine a month. I didn't see what the downstroke was,

129
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,800
Speaker 2: but you know, two hundred dollars a month, new car,

130
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:35,200
Speaker 2: no worries, no aggravation. You know, maybe you'll drive until

131
00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:36,760
Speaker 2: you're eighty five. I mean, unless you think you're going

132
00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:37,920
Speaker 2: to drive till you're ninety.

133
00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:39,920
Speaker 3: Well i'd like to.

134
00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,400
Speaker 2: Right, you know, well, yeah, listen, I get it. You know,

135
00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:44,359
Speaker 2: I'm hiding keys now so my kids can't take my

136
00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,200
Speaker 2: cars away from me. But that's another story, you know,

137
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:50,240
Speaker 2: it's it's you know, do we do we look at

138
00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,360
Speaker 2: this from a lease perspective or the other way around?

139
00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,320
Speaker 2: It is okay, without going into a lot of detail.

140
00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,800
Speaker 2: Is there a family member that you know, maybe when

141
00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,560
Speaker 2: he stops driving, they'll want to take over the car,

142
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,600
Speaker 2: so we we we purchase something newer, better, a granddaughter,

143
00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,280
Speaker 2: a grandson, somebody that's gonna need a first car. And

144
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,480
Speaker 2: then you know, with the with the thought process that

145
00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,880
Speaker 2: this now, this now goes to you know, Johnny or Jill,

146
00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,480
Speaker 2: so to speak. So it's not it's not wasted. And

147
00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,240
Speaker 2: you know, maybe we look at that down the road

148
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:23,560
Speaker 2: and then you know what if you do that and

149
00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,640
Speaker 2: then grandma needs to get driven somewhere. Hey, you know

150
00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:28,480
Speaker 2: that car I get, I need to be picked up

151
00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:30,720
Speaker 2: at two o'clock next Thursday. I have to go to

152
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 2: the I have to go to the doctors, or I

153
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,520
Speaker 2: have to go to the women's convention or whatever it is.

154
00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:37,840
Speaker 2: You know that always plays a good hand too, you know,

155
00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,080
Speaker 2: you gram everybody thinks nice of Grandma then, but just options, right,

156
00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,520
Speaker 2: I would I would rather see you buy a better

157
00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 2: car with the probability of less surprise, because you need

158
00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,720
Speaker 2: stability as much as you need a vehicle, right, And

159
00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,320
Speaker 2: if if you got hit with the five thousand dollars

160
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,800
Speaker 2: ups or the three thousand dollars ups, ugh, you know,

161
00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,160
Speaker 2: and and and at eighty two, I'm gonna use your

162
00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,280
Speaker 2: number for age. At eighty two, you don't need the

163
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 2: you know you're out, You're out six o'clock at night,

164
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 2: and and that's late. I get it. You know, I'm

165
00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,960
Speaker 2: catching up to you, Leon, I'm not far behind. And

166
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,360
Speaker 2: you know it's it's you don't need to be out

167
00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:20,600
Speaker 2: late at night, and all of a sudden there's a

168
00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,200
Speaker 2: surprise and you gotta wait for the tow truck and

169
00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 2: the dead battery and the whatever, and you know, main

170
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,800
Speaker 2: winters and you know, yeah, it's it's you know, we

171
00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,880
Speaker 2: want safety. Yeah, So I mean, that's that's kind of

172
00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:34,960
Speaker 2: how I look at it. The price of what we

173
00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,720
Speaker 2: pay for something now or how can I say this?

174
00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,400
Speaker 2: The the inexpensive price of what we pay for something now?

175
00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:43,760
Speaker 2: Can come back to haunt us later on. I'd rather

176
00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:45,559
Speaker 2: pay more now and not have the aggravation.

177
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, you're right. My daughter man said the

178
00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:54,480
Speaker 3: same thing, right, so so, and there's no miracle that

179
00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:55,960
Speaker 3: I could do with the rust.

180
00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,440
Speaker 2: Hang if it's if it's that bad, if it's ss

181
00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:02,760
Speaker 2: rostolium and you need a tetanus shot looking at it,

182
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,320
Speaker 2: I think it's over. You know, there is no there

183
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,600
Speaker 2: there is no cure. Well, there is a cure for rust.

184
00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,679
Speaker 2: It's called the scrap yard, all right, and it's you know,

185
00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,360
Speaker 2: it's it's I mean, the honest answer is because Maine's

186
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,360
Speaker 2: a very good state in the sense that in Maine,

187
00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:18,120
Speaker 2: I believe the car has to you know, have it

188
00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,880
Speaker 2: can't be rusted to the point of being unsafe. Would

189
00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:27,240
Speaker 2: it pass Maine state inspections? Right? Well, then this conversation,

190
00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,440
Speaker 2: it was fun talking to you. But the rest of

191
00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:33,600
Speaker 2: the conversation, it doesn't matter what we think. It's you know,

192
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,600
Speaker 2: coding it with whatever, because I know how main works.

193
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:40,360
Speaker 2: You know, we have a regular listener, Steve, who runs

194
00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,480
Speaker 2: the Bracket family markets up there, and he tells me

195
00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,000
Speaker 2: the story about the bath Bridge and Maine that you

196
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,960
Speaker 2: know rotted away and I you know, the whole nine yards,

197
00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,240
Speaker 2: and you know, I hear about these things all the time,

198
00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,480
Speaker 2: so means a great state. But boy, you guys sure

199
00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:54,800
Speaker 2: get a lot of snow and you put a lot

200
00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,079
Speaker 2: of that chemical on the ground, so it just beats

201
00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:58,400
Speaker 2: up your car something fierce.

202
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,160
Speaker 3: So all right, kiddo, Okay, Well, thanks for your insuet.

203
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:04,120
Speaker 2: You're very welcome.

204
00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:08,040
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, and you have wonderful holidays, and

205
00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:08,800
Speaker 3: stay well.

206
00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:11,040
Speaker 2: Thank you you too, dear be well eight five five

207
00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,040
Speaker 2: five six nine nine zero zero. Run any of the

208
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:18,920
Speaker 2: car doctor coming back right after this. Hey, let's get

209
00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,280
Speaker 2: over and talk to Carl in Wisconsin and see what's

210
00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:24,040
Speaker 2: going on here. Carl, Welcome to the Car Doctor, sir.

211
00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:24,600
Speaker 2: How can I help?

212
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's good afternoon, yes, sir. So in spring, back

213
00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,240
Speaker 4: in April, I bought a used twenty twenty four Nissan

214
00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,040
Speaker 4: Pathfinder and we drove it around a little bit. I

215
00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,120
Speaker 4: have another car that actually a two thousand and one

216
00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,640
Speaker 4: Buckless Saver that still runs great. But anyway, so I

217
00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,400
Speaker 4: let the car sit, the Nissan Pathfinder let us sit.

218
00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,120
Speaker 4: During the summer, we were camping and stuff, and then

219
00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,920
Speaker 4: the battery died and so I came to realize there's

220
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,600
Speaker 4: no volt meter on this Nissan Pathfinder. I have no

221
00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:02,120
Speaker 4: way of monitoring, you know, if the alternator is working

222
00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,560
Speaker 4: or or anything. It's and I asked the dealer about it,

223
00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,520
Speaker 4: the sales guy. He said, no, no volt meter. I thought,

224
00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:12,520
Speaker 4: so is this standard on It's a modern vehicle.

225
00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,400
Speaker 2: It's becoming Yes, isn't it silly? It really is. It's

226
00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,680
Speaker 2: I want to see numbers. I'm like you, I want

227
00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,079
Speaker 2: to see gauges. I want to see you know, there's

228
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,400
Speaker 2: a reason they call the idiot lights. When the when

229
00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:28,240
Speaker 2: the component fails, it's to me, it's useless because at

230
00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,800
Speaker 2: that point I I don't see the fault before it happens.

231
00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:36,280
Speaker 2: It's just it's Yes to Renault. Easy, easy solution for this, Carl,

232
00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,000
Speaker 2: Jump on Amazon. Do you have a cigarette lighter in

233
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 2: the vehicle? Yes, jump on Amazon. Get a charging port.

234
00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:47,600
Speaker 2: You know they make they make a uh it's it's

235
00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,040
Speaker 2: a I call it a chotchkey, which is like a gizmo.

236
00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,520
Speaker 2: It's just a charge port adapter you'll plug into the

237
00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 2: cigarette lighter. It'll have USB C or USB A on it.

238
00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,160
Speaker 2: But they also make them with the charge port for

239
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,280
Speaker 2: your cable for your your phone or your your device

240
00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,480
Speaker 2: whatever you're going to charge. And they also make them

241
00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,319
Speaker 2: with both of those, and you know, a vault meter

242
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,240
Speaker 2: built in, so it'll say, you know, twelve and a

243
00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,840
Speaker 2: half volts, thirteen volts and so on of the vehicle's running,

244
00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:13,640
Speaker 2: so that becomes the gauge. And they're very hard and

245
00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 2: it's you know, less than twenty bucks if you spend

246
00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,840
Speaker 2: twenty bucks you bought the super Deluxe model, all right,

247
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:24,000
Speaker 2: you know, quick, easy solution. It's it's not it's not great.

248
00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,040
Speaker 2: I agree we should have it built into the dish,

249
00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:29,920
Speaker 2: but it's the cheapest, quickest workaround because they're not going

250
00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:31,440
Speaker 2: to fix that. And I think you're going to see

251
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,320
Speaker 2: more and more car manufacturers going to that. I've seen

252
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,760
Speaker 2: Honda do that and I've seen Toyota do that as well,

253
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:40,760
Speaker 2: just on some of the simpler models. So it's it's

254
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:42,800
Speaker 2: not uncommon, not uncommon, sir.

255
00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,440
Speaker 4: So, So related to that, should I be concerned about

256
00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,800
Speaker 4: disconnecting the battery because the battery that it came with

257
00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,600
Speaker 4: is losing power rather quickly. I mean within a day,

258
00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,840
Speaker 4: it'll go from twelve point one bowls down to eleven

259
00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:00,480
Speaker 4: point nine the next day it's eleven points it and

260
00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:02,840
Speaker 4: so I'm going to change out the battery. Do I

261
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:04,080
Speaker 4: have to put in a what.

262
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,400
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about that now. Are you charging the

263
00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,760
Speaker 2: battery or are you counting on the vehicle driving?

264
00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:13,360
Speaker 4: I'm just driving it around?

265
00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:19,400
Speaker 2: Okay, probably not enough. So you know what I would do,

266
00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,200
Speaker 2: is I have I think it's I think it's the optimum.

267
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,600
Speaker 2: I'm going to embarrass myself. Is the DS four hundred

268
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:32,240
Speaker 2: their latest battery maintainer. Really cool little tool, right, a

269
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,839
Speaker 2: couple of bucks. But you know what, we like our toys, right,

270
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,840
Speaker 2: That's who we are. And you know, for the vehicles

271
00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:41,040
Speaker 2: I have sitting, and you know, it will show it

272
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,840
Speaker 2: will show current voltage, it will show state of charge.

273
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:45,800
Speaker 2: I can set it a number of different ways. It

274
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,800
Speaker 2: does a great job of charging the battery and maintaining

275
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,960
Speaker 2: the battery when I'm not using that particular vehicle. And

276
00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,240
Speaker 2: you may find that's the way you want to go,

277
00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:58,160
Speaker 2: because just driving it isn't enough, especially on a vehicle

278
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,640
Speaker 2: that sits, because you need a good charge it like

279
00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:03,960
Speaker 2: the optima that's going to desulfate and clean up the

280
00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,839
Speaker 2: battery electrically, and you know that may rejuvenate it because

281
00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,440
Speaker 2: at twenty four is just what a year and a half,

282
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,080
Speaker 2: two years old? How old is the vehicle?

283
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's it's a little overo. I think it

284
00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,760
Speaker 4: was manufactured in like August of twenty four, right.

285
00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,960
Speaker 2: So that's kind of soon to be getting a battery. Yeah,

286
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,480
Speaker 2: you know, but I mean, if if you have to,

287
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,280
Speaker 2: if you have to know, disconnecting it, you should be okay,

288
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,720
Speaker 2: you know, you should be.

289
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,320
Speaker 4: There's some automatiles they say, do not disconnect the battery.

290
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:40,920
Speaker 4: It's nothing but trouble.

291
00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:46,120
Speaker 2: Well, because they're worried about adaptives, they're worried about driving habits.

292
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,120
Speaker 2: They're worried about, you know, how smart are you you know,

293
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:50,880
Speaker 2: or how smart is the car? And is it going

294
00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:51,840
Speaker 2: to understand that?

295
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:52,680
Speaker 4: You know?

296
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,360
Speaker 2: But you can get out to and it shouldn't be. Listen,

297
00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:58,960
Speaker 2: you get a dead battery, all right? Think of it

298
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,640
Speaker 2: like this. Think of how many cars in America right

299
00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,160
Speaker 2: now might have a dead battery? Right, got to be

300
00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:08,000
Speaker 2: a few, pretty big right, pretty big country? All right.

301
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,800
Speaker 2: Do you think it would be enough if every time

302
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,080
Speaker 2: somebody had a dead battery or disconnected a battery, the

303
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,720
Speaker 2: car didn't run, didn't run properly caused the problems that

304
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,160
Speaker 2: couldn't be solved by just driving it. Don't you think

305
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,800
Speaker 2: it would have made the national news. We might actually

306
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,720
Speaker 2: have something, we might actually have something interesting in the

307
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:30,360
Speaker 2: news for once, right, So so you know, yeah, you know,

308
00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:32,040
Speaker 2: if you have to disconnect the battery and you don't

309
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,080
Speaker 2: have a memory saver, then just be aware when you

310
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 2: go to reconnect and just drive the car normal. Just

311
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,280
Speaker 2: put it through its pace as a trip around the block.

312
00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,040
Speaker 2: Warm it up, turn on the air conditioning, turn on

313
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,400
Speaker 2: the high beams, put a little bit of electrical load

314
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,360
Speaker 2: on it, right, and just go through its paces, and

315
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,680
Speaker 2: within a very short distance you'll find that that vehicle

316
00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:56,400
Speaker 2: learns its learns its, you know, its adaptives, and it

317
00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,320
Speaker 2: will you know, may take a little while, depending upon

318
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,680
Speaker 2: the vehicle, but it will in time do what it's

319
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,200
Speaker 2: supposed to do. But in the meantime, if you do

320
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,480
Speaker 2: want to get a charger, go out to Optima Batteries

321
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:07,840
Speaker 2: dot com and you can read all about I believe

322
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,960
Speaker 2: it's their four hundred model that will that's their latest

323
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:12,960
Speaker 2: and that will do what it's supposed to do for you.

324
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,440
Speaker 2: And that's a great little charger. Very handy to have around,

325
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:16,400
Speaker 2: all right, sir.

326
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,320
Speaker 4: All right, all right, thank you very much.

327
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:23,000
Speaker 2: You're very welcome, very welcome. Yeah, common stuff, right, common

328
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,320
Speaker 2: sense about batteries, and that's that's really what it's all about.

329
00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,880
Speaker 2: Coming up next, Matt de Lorenzo. I had a great

330
00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:34,360
Speaker 2: conversation with Matt. We carried on and you know, in

331
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,800
Speaker 2: the pre interview before the show talking about Mercedes Benz,

332
00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,440
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how big a deal Mercedes Benz is

333
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,800
Speaker 2: as far as racers are concerned. You know, you look

334
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,120
Speaker 2: at Mercedes, I think of Mercedes. Well, I'm sort of tainted.

335
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,120
Speaker 2: I remember somebody telling me once that Mercedes Benz in

336
00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,000
Speaker 2: Germany is like a Chevy in pala here right back

337
00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,000
Speaker 2: when we made in Palace. You know, that's that's how

338
00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,520
Speaker 2: long ago I had this conversation. But you know, you

339
00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,439
Speaker 2: think about Chevy and Palace racing. No, that never really happened.

340
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 2: But you think about Mercedes Benz, you know, in the

341
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:11,240
Speaker 2: F one Formula series in you know, Mercedes factory support

342
00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,399
Speaker 2: in what they do. You know, it's it's it's kind

343
00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,360
Speaker 2: of an interesting story. And Matt wrote this really great

344
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,360
Speaker 2: color pictures the whole thing hardcover. If we're getting ready

345
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:23,359
Speaker 2: for the holidays. We need a book to buy for

346
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:28,479
Speaker 2: our favorite, you know, car enthusiast, Mercedes AMG. It's going

347
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,719
Speaker 2: to be available in November. It's available now, I think think,

348
00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:33,439
Speaker 2: I think we'll talk about that in the interview. I'll

349
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:35,280
Speaker 2: have to make sure I mentioned that to him. But

350
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:40,120
Speaker 2: just some good stuff, and most importantly, I will get

351
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,000
Speaker 2: him to explain what Mercedes AMG stands for, because I've

352
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000
Speaker 2: always wondered about that every time I pull up behind

353
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,800
Speaker 2: wanted to stop light. What the heck does AMG mean.

354
00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:49,760
Speaker 2: Matt's going to be here to tell us all about

355
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,040
Speaker 2: it right after this. I'm ronnin Andy and the car Doctor.

356
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:57,679
Speaker 2: We'll be back. Don't go anywhere. There's a lot of

357
00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:59,560
Speaker 2: things I've talked to you about over the years, and

358
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,560
Speaker 2: a lot of interviews, and we've talked about a lot

359
00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,560
Speaker 2: of cars, and we've talked about a lot of books.

360
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 2: And I recently came across Mercedes a MG and I thought,

361
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,800
Speaker 2: you know, there's something we've never talked about, you and

362
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,639
Speaker 2: I and we need to discuss it and understand just

363
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,280
Speaker 2: what is it. You know, I think of Mercedes bens.

364
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,240
Speaker 2: A lot of people think of Mercedes Benz and it's

365
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:21,800
Speaker 2: it's well, tell you what, let me, let me bring

366
00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:24,880
Speaker 2: our guests on and and get started here. Matt de Lorenzo,

367
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,080
Speaker 2: he's written a book, Mercedes AMG. It's available now on Amazon,

368
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,159
Speaker 2: and we're happy to have him with us here. Welcome

369
00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:31,480
Speaker 2: to the Car Doctor, Matt.

370
00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,200
Speaker 5: Thanks Ron, I'm really happy to be here.

371
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,080
Speaker 2: So, you know, Mercedes AMG, where do you want to?

372
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:37,760
Speaker 2: Where do we start?

373
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:37,919
Speaker 4: Right?

374
00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,760
Speaker 2: Let's you know, I think of Mercedes. Okay, if I'm

375
00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:42,960
Speaker 2: the average consumer and I'm going, well, it's a status symbol.

376
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,639
Speaker 2: I drive a Mercedes. It's a nice, fancy, luxurious car.

377
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,360
Speaker 2: But but there's a hot rod side to Mercedes Benz, Right.

378
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's the that's the AMG brand. And you

379
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,639
Speaker 5: know that perception that you talked about people considering it

380
00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:04,320
Speaker 5: just a luxury car, that's what AMG led to the

381
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,480
Speaker 5: genesis of AMG to begin with. Back in the late

382
00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:12,160
Speaker 5: nineteen sixties, there were two engineers, Hans Werner off Wrecked

383
00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:16,159
Speaker 5: and Erhard Melcher, and they were young engineers. They worked

384
00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,080
Speaker 5: within Mercedes. They wanted to go racing. They developed some

385
00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,720
Speaker 5: racing engines and built a race car and campaigned it

386
00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,639
Speaker 5: for a year while they were still employed, and they

387
00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 5: were told either you win or you're going to lose

388
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,280
Speaker 5: your job. They won, they kept their job, but Mercedes

389
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,720
Speaker 5: stopped racing and at the time people were thinking, well,

390
00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,000
Speaker 5: there was nothing wrong with you know, Mercedes the ultimate

391
00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:41,880
Speaker 5: luxury car performances and part of the thing. They went

392
00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:46,760
Speaker 5: off and started their own company, AMG and they started

393
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:52,640
Speaker 5: building hot rod Mercedes for racers and they were very successful.

394
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,400
Speaker 5: And so that AMG is off wrecked Melker and then

395
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 5: the gas Grossodspotch, which is the small German town where

396
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:03,240
Speaker 5: Afrech was from.

397
00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, is it that I would go

398
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,360
Speaker 2: into it? Not to make this about how to get one?

399
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:10,280
Speaker 2: But is it that I would go into a Mercedes

400
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,439
Speaker 2: dealer and I want to buy an AMG or they

401
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,000
Speaker 2: already have them. Now their relationship with Mercedes is so

402
00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 2: that the dealers just stock.

403
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,560
Speaker 5: These vehicles, so to speak, right right, Well, what happened was,

404
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,720
Speaker 5: at first Mercedes wanted nothing to do with these so

405
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 5: called garage tinkerers, and they kept a fairly arm's length

406
00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:36,800
Speaker 5: relationship with them up and through the nineteen eighties, and

407
00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:42,240
Speaker 5: then they introduced this car called the Hammer that got

408
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,639
Speaker 5: everybody's attention. It was putting a big V eight in

409
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:51,239
Speaker 5: a midsize Mercedes. And then they started helping Mercedes with

410
00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 5: their German touring car racing and they were very successful there,

411
00:20:57,440 --> 00:20:59,760
Speaker 5: and then all of a sudden, Mercedes goes, well, why

412
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,760
Speaker 5: don't we let them sell our cars through our dealers,

413
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 5: And that happened in nineteen ninety and then about nine

414
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 5: years later they bought half the company, and then six

415
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 5: years later, in two thousand and five, they bought the

416
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 5: rest of the company and they turned it into the

417
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:21,200
Speaker 5: Mercedes AMG division, which is the performance division of Mercedes.

418
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,080
Speaker 2: The late don Imis, the radio host, was once interviewing

419
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,120
Speaker 2: and I'm quoting from the introduction in the book by

420
00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:31,360
Speaker 2: Sam Posey, and the book is phenomenal, by the way,

421
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,160
Speaker 2: I can't tell you enough the color pictures, in the detail,

422
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,359
Speaker 2: and the way, you know, you feel like you're at

423
00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:38,760
Speaker 2: the racetrack driving in some of these cars.

424
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 4: Right.

425
00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 2: The late don Imis was talking to Bo Didle, the

426
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:47,480
Speaker 2: former New York City detective, and they were talking about

427
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 2: a Mercedes in which one to buy, and don Imus said,

428
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,919
Speaker 2: buy a Mercedes S sixty five AMG. And his reasoning was,

429
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 2: that's just the most expensive one. But that's not necessarily

430
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:02,159
Speaker 2: the only reason. Right, Mercedes's AMG is a real performance

431
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 2: car then as now.

432
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 5: Right right, And I think that that's that's you know,

433
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 5: the perception of Mercedes being a luxury brand was around

434
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,400
Speaker 5: and that you had to have the most expensive one.

435
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 5: They have the best one and Amgs since they were

436
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 5: you know, they have handbuilt engines, that their engines are

437
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:30,719
Speaker 5: built by one technician and then they're exclusive to the

438
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 5: AMG car. So that's why they were sold at a

439
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,639
Speaker 5: premium to other Mercedes. But as you say, there's a

440
00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:43,399
Speaker 5: lot more to it. I mean that the suspensions are different, Uh,

441
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 5: the engine tuning is different, they have different interiors in

442
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:53,920
Speaker 5: different styling, and they are actually now bespoke a MG

443
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 5: models like the AMG G T, which is a sports

444
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,280
Speaker 5: car that actually competes with the portioninal eleven.

445
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,080
Speaker 2: And in your book when you when you wrote this, Matt,

446
00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 2: and for those of you just tuning in, we're talking

447
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 2: to Matt de Lorenzo. He's written a book Mercedes AMG,

448
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,639
Speaker 2: and we're discussing it at length here on the Car Doctor.

449
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,919
Speaker 2: You know, Matt, when you wrote the book, how do

450
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,640
Speaker 2: I attack this question is Mercedes your car? I mean,

451
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 2: is this is this your passion? You know, what do

452
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 2: you what do you normally write about? Did you just

453
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 2: wake up one day and say I'm gonna write about

454
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:24,159
Speaker 2: you know?

455
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 5: I've been I've been writing about cars since the late seventies,

456
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 5: actually so, and I've written other a couple of other books.

457
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 5: I did one hundred and one hundred year anniversary of Dodge.

458
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,879
Speaker 5: I did a book on corvettes. I did a Mustang book.

459
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 5: So I've been writing again, sort of across the the industry.

460
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:50,200
Speaker 5: I do like performance cars, and about a year and

461
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 5: a half ago I was talking to my publisher and

462
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 5: I said, you know, I'd like to do something different,

463
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 5: and he said, we want to do an AMG book.

464
00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:02,360
Speaker 5: They had done a book on BMW, which is somewhat

465
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:08,120
Speaker 5: analogous to AMG. You know, it's a performance motorsports division

466
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:12,200
Speaker 5: of BMW, and the publisher found that nobody has really

467
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 5: done a comprehensive history of AMG. So I looked at

468
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 5: that as a great opportunity. And I knew I knew

469
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:27,160
Speaker 5: quite a bit about AMG, especially since AMG had bought

470
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 5: or Mercedes had bought AMG. And I actually traveled to

471
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 5: Germany when I was at Road and Track and saw

472
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 5: some of the early development on the SLS gull Wing,

473
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,960
Speaker 5: which was the first pure AMG products, so I was

474
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 5: familiar with that, I wasn't familiar with the history, and

475
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,760
Speaker 5: when I went down the internet research rabbit hole, I

476
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,880
Speaker 5: was absolutely fascinated by Offreck and Melker and what they

477
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 5: were able to accomplish.

478
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:58,399
Speaker 2: You know, chapter six, the title from road back to Track,

479
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 2: the chapter seems to cover that we're taking everyday cars

480
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,119
Speaker 2: and we're taking them to the racetrack.

481
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 5: Right, And you know, that's kind of a recurring theme

482
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 5: with AMG because in the beginning they made race cars,

483
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 5: and the racers would come to them and said, well,

484
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:21,479
Speaker 5: we want to we want to have you work on

485
00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 5: our road cars. So they started doing road cars. Well.

486
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 5: During the seventies, with the energy crises and all that

487
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,959
Speaker 5: other stuff, motorsports kind of went into a little bit

488
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 5: of decline and AMG concentrated more on road cars. They

489
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:41,879
Speaker 5: were doing body kits and wheels and engine upgrades and

490
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 5: primarily for road cars for the public. The eighties thing

491
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:52,400
Speaker 5: shifted back towards competition and that's when they got involved

492
00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 5: with the German touring car series, which was wildly popular.

493
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,919
Speaker 5: Over one hundred and fifty million people around the world

494
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 5: would watch these races, and AMG took the baby Benz

495
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 5: the one ninety Mercedes and won the championship. Was very

496
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 5: successful in there, and and that caught a lot of

497
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:17,679
Speaker 5: people's attention to that. You know, AMG is Mercedes are

498
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 5: very closely alive with Mercedes.

499
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 2: Or vice versa. You know, yes, what we're what we're

500
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,880
Speaker 2: really saying here in a sense is AMG is a

501
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,880
Speaker 2: factory hot rod. It's a factory race car. You can

502
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,200
Speaker 2: go out and buy something exactly, drive it to the track,

503
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,760
Speaker 2: race it around the track, and then drive it home exactly.

504
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 5: They have a lot of track specials and they still

505
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:46,240
Speaker 5: compete heavily in sports car racing. So the AMGGT has

506
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 5: competed very well. It's one. It's class at Lamart, it's

507
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 5: one at Daytona twenty four. It's really the two are

508
00:26:55,480 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 5: are interrelated. The performance aspect on the road and still

509
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 5: their ability to do really well in motorsports. And incidentally,

510
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 5: one of the guys who's helping Mercedes with that is

511
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 5: Hans Werner Offrecked and after he had sold the company

512
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 5: to Mercedes, he formed his own company called HWA. His

513
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 5: initials Hans Werner Offreck and he actually builds a lot

514
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,600
Speaker 5: of the privateer GT racing cars for Mercedes. And his

515
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 5: shop is located right where AMG was kind of grew

516
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:36,080
Speaker 5: up in Walterbach, which is north of Mercedes headquarters in

517
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 5: Shuttgard Well.

518
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 2: A grassroots effort and look what it became. Hey, Matt, Yeah, ladies,

519
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 2: let's take a pause. I'll tell you what. Stay right

520
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 2: where you are, let me come back. I want to

521
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 2: talk about the flying pig. Don't say anything else, Okay,

522
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 2: I want to give it away to the listeners and

523
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 2: I want to get that out there. And I'm runnin

524
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 2: any and the Car Doctor. We're here today with Matt

525
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 2: de Lorenzo and we'll both be back right after this.

526
00:27:55,800 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 2: Don't go away? Do pigs really fly? Hey, Ronanini and

527
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 2: the Car Doctor. I'm here with Matt di Lorenzo. He's

528
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 2: the author of Mercedes AMG, a brand new book. It's

529
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 2: available out there on Amazon. It comes to us from

530
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 2: Quarto Publishing. And we're just sitting here chatting about Mercedes

531
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 2: and AMG and the performance side of it in the book.

532
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,680
Speaker 2: And great book. I can't say enough good things about it, nice,

533
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 2: big color pictures, a lot of history on Mercedes. First chapter, Matt,

534
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 2: this pig can fly? What are we talking about? Flying

535
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 2: pigs in a carbook? What are we talking about there?

536
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're talking about Hey, how AMG really got on

537
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 5: the map in the first place. Alfreka Melcher had left

538
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,959
Speaker 5: the company and they were tuning race cars and they

539
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 5: were doing some road cars for people. Mercedes had put

540
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 5: a V eight engine in their S class. It had

541
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 5: originally been used only in the big six hundred Limos,

542
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 5: and they wanted there was some engineers inside the company

543
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,760
Speaker 5: wanted to take it racing, and they tried to take

544
00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 5: it racing, and management kind of put the kebash on it.

545
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 5: They tried to run at Spa in nineteen sixty nine

546
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 5: in a twenty four hour race. So AMG took up

547
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 5: the challenge and they bought a wrecked sel with the

548
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 5: six point two leader V eight in it, punched it

549
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,959
Speaker 5: out to six point eight leaders, painted it red and

550
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 5: took it to Spawn nineteen seventy one. Well, you had

551
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 5: this big luxury car roaring around the track with a

552
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 5: vight engine, open pipes, and people said that looks like

553
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:43,080
Speaker 5: a big red Pig. But the crowd loved it. And

554
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 5: actually they finished second overall of Ford Capri one. But

555
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 5: the Red Pig came in second overall and first in class.

556
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 5: And they actually they were raising a couple of other

557
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 5: VA cars. There was a Camaro that had sat on

558
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 5: the pole and a Mustang in the race, and uh,

559
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 5: and the Red Pig beat them both and almost won

560
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 5: the race overall. So a big sensation.

561
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 2: Suffice it to say, you pull up to a traffic

562
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 2: light and there's a Mercedes in front of you, and

563
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 2: it says a MG on the back. That's just not

564
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 2: fancy interior and bitter carpeting.

565
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 5: No, it's a it's a faster car. And and that

566
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 5: was the thing about those the big luxury cars. And

567
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 5: again the hammer that they did later, they were sort

568
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 5: of they were luxury cars, but they had these hot

569
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 5: rod engines in them that would shut down nine to

570
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 5: elevens and and BMW's, so they they really, uh, they

571
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 5: really brought it when it came to performance.

572
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:46,000
Speaker 2: The name of the book is Mercedes AMG Matt Inside

573
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,719
Speaker 2: one of the chapters, is it a MG one story?

574
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 2: In our in our final two minutes, they talk about

575
00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 2: you talk about they made an F one engine into

576
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 2: a into in Mercedes and it was a handbuilt prototype

577
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 2: car some kind of Yeah.

578
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 5: They they did a hyper car for the streets and

579
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 5: they actually adapted the same Formula one engine that's used

580
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:08,960
Speaker 5: by the racing team. Now the racing team has actually

581
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,280
Speaker 5: run out of England and has minimal it's more of

582
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 5: a badging thing between AMG F one and AMG road cars.

583
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 5: But they did develop this car together and they made

584
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 5: a street car that uses current F one technology. Very

585
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 5: difficult to do because it's a hybrid. You know, it

586
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 5: has a battery that the kinetic energy recovery system, the

587
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 5: curve system and it's like a it's a two million

588
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 5: dollar car. It's really amazing. But you talk to the

589
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 5: engineers and they're like, yeah, we'll never be able to

590
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 5: do this again because of the emissions. They had noise

591
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 5: regulations emissions. Even just starting the car, it takes ten

592
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,720
Speaker 5: guys to start an F one car. This car you

593
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 5: go in and you push a button, it starts, and

594
00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,000
Speaker 5: I took a lot of engineering.

595
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 2: Took a lot of technology, I'm sure. So yep, Hey Matt,

596
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 2: and your closing thoughts, where can the listeners go get

597
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 2: this twenty seconds or less. What should they look for

598
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 2: in the book? What are they going to get out

599
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:08,959
Speaker 2: of it?

600
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,920
Speaker 5: I think they're going to get a great background history

601
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 5: and where AMG came from and kind of where it's

602
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 5: headed with their next round of products. And you can

603
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 5: find it on Amazon.

604
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 2: Cool beans. Matt de Lorenzo, We appreciate you taking the

605
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 2: time and spending it with us here on The Car Doctor.

606
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 2: We'll have you on again real soon and you be well, all.

607
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 5: Right, Thanks so much, Ron, it was great being here.

608
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,520
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. I'm running aeny and the Car Doctor.

609
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 2: We're back right after this. Boy, what a fun time,

610
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,480
Speaker 2: right driving a factory hot rod or Mercedes that can

611
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 2: do all the things that Matt was talking about. It's

612
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: good stuff, good stuff. And I can't say enough about

613
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 2: the book. If you're looking for a holiday gift for

614
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 2: the car person in your life, just you know, you

615
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,960
Speaker 2: look at it and you go, but you know what

616
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 2: it's got some the color quality of the pictures and

617
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 2: just the whole story of Mercedes. And it's an interesting story, right.

618
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 2: Not everything has to be a black fifty five Chevry

619
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 2: or a yellow Douce Coop, well almost not everything, but

620
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,479
Speaker 2: you get the point. So, and kudos to Research Kathy

621
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 2: who reached out to me during the break and she

622
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 2: was able to order the T shirt for me for Nate.

623
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 2: So at least I know that the T shirt Nate

624
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 2: is going to the right address out there in Oregon.

625
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 2: So we thank Kathy for that. She's on top of

626
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 2: her game as always. And she had a comment about Lee.

627
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 2: She said, you know, you wonder if she can lease

628
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 2: a car at eighty two? Would they allow her to

629
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 2: do that. I don't know the answer to that. If

630
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 2: anybody has the answer to that, is there an age

631
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 2: limit unleasing a car? I'd like to know. Is that

632
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 2: is that you know? Are they are they limited by that?

633
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:49,200
Speaker 2: I just I just assumed that I never really thought

634
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 2: about it. But that's why we have Research Kathy. She's

635
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,080
Speaker 2: handy like that. She does a lot of the odd

636
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 2: jobs around here and we'd be lost without her. So,

637
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 2: but just just things to think about. What do I

638
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:01,120
Speaker 2: want you to think about a couple things. I want

639
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 2: you to think about improving your relationship with your mechanic

640
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 2: in the weeks to come. I think I want you

641
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,760
Speaker 2: to also just be aware of cold weather's coming winter

642
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 2: months taking better care of the car. And if I

643
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 2: can ask you, if you're in the position on our

644
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,280
Speaker 2: YouTube channel, on our Facebook page, to like this radio

645
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,520
Speaker 2: show in any way, shape or form it helps us

646
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 2: so we can be around to help you. Till the

647
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:27,439
Speaker 2: next time I'm running Andy in the car, Doctor good

648
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 2: mechanics aren't expensive, they're priceless. See you