MOTORCULT EPISODE 41 IS LIVE

This week on MotorCult, Ryan is in Monterey with Jana and  special guest, Ben Hsu from Japanese Nostalgic Car! We discuss what is going in the Japanese Nostalgic Car world, what Japanese Nostalgic Car is, how we came to love Japanese cars and Ben gets tossed the standard gauntlet of questions including the Mondial Challenge.

We recap what we saw over the weekend and our views on how the car week went, the overall state of Japanese collector cars in the public eye and how big of a deal it is that Datsun was the first Japanese featured marque at Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

Another event we cover is the Infiniti Japanese Automotive Invitational. While not in Concours D’Elegance proper, it is still within the walled city of Pebble Beach. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but when you consider that the entire city of Pebble Beach is closed to outsiders, the provenance of this event begins to sink in.

This leads us to ponder what is going to happen to Japanese collector cars once the 1% begins to take more notice of them, for better or worse. We also have a primer on JCCS, Japanese Classic Car Show, in September and the changes that will be made.

Click the link below to check out Episode 41

MotorCult Episode 41

MOTORCULT EPISODE 40 IS LIVE

In this episode we mix it up because Ryan and Jana are in Monterey for Car Week so our producers stuck Berger in a room alone with Brian May of Trueform Technologies and Nick Johannes take’s Ryan’s place.

Berger gives Brian the standard interview questions and the episode becomes SpaceCult since Nick and Brian are nerds, it is probably for the best that Ryan wasn’t there because it would have just become Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk radio show. Should we mention that Brian forms sentences consisting of. One. Word. At. A. Time? That might be an effect of the endless Redbulls he drinks, regardless Brian is one of the most interesting guests we’ve ever had on. Brian talks about his builds he has going on, what Trueform Technologies does and direct injection on a standalone ECU.

Our Patreon topic is about the best cars for a new driver, what you would look for if it’s your kid and why. Airbags get a pass as does the manual transmission and it should be easy to maintain. Just don’t have a car made of driving aides so they actually learn to drive, in fact a really good idea is to take them out to some autocross days or advanced drivers training classes.

In news a crashed Porsche 959 sold for a massive $425,000 at Mecum in Monterey and Maserati makes a performance version of their Levante and they named it after the coolest Oldsmobile of all time, the Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo. Since we don’t like CUVs here at Motorcult, we have used a picture of the Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo instead.

We round out the episode with Brian and Nick discussing ECU technology and ending up babbling on about the space shuttle.

To listen to episode 40 of the MotorCult Podcast click the link below.

MotorCult Episode 40

MOTORCULT EPISODE 39 IS LIVE

On this episode of the MotorCult podcast we start off with Berger’s story of getting hassled by a police officer, who turns out to be a very nice person. Ryan, Jana and Berger discuss if he was actually that nice though.

Berger gives us a preview of Monterey Car Week when he went a week early. Despite being unintentional, he says the days before Car Week are a must see. Berger for possibly the first time, mentions a pre-war car not prompted by Ryan when he describes a Locomobile he saw at Laguna Seca. We prime the audience about what Ryan and Jana will be up to while they’re out there.

In news Ryan covers an incredible barn find story, Brabus makes a 125 HP Smart FourTwo and Bugatti unveils their DiVo.Volkswagen makes cars with colors after the astonishing discovery that people like choices. They expand the color catalog of the Golf R from 3 to 43!

Our Interesting Engineering topic is metric tire sizes, why they existed in the first place and why they went away.

We come to the World Cup of Cars semi-finals with France battling it out against Iran and Japan taking on Sweden for a chance to compete in the final match of the World Cup of Cars.

To listen to the latest episode of MotorCult click the link below!

MotorCult Episode 39

MOTORCULT EPISODE 38 IS LIVE

On this Episode of the MotorCult podcast we talk about small and troublesome cars, including the future of Brexit, Berger’s turbocharged E30 Wagon.

Photo Credit: Volkswagen Group

In news we talk about a tourist in Dubai who racked up $47,000 in speeding tickets in a single evening with his rented Lamborghini. Berger notes how terrible AWD turbo BMW water pumps are to service. Ryan notes how fantastic and perfect the new Suzuki Jimny is as well. We also bring up just how terrible Fastest Car on Netflix is, just in case you forgot.

We note our favorite car designers of all time and why. These are the heroes that make the most iconic shapes of cars and make these cars just how special they are.

For the World Cup of Cars we have two matches on this episode. Match 1 is Serbia’s Yugo GVX moving on to take on Sweden’s entire Koenigsegg brand. The second match is much more difficult because Japan is battling England with 60’s GT cars. The Toyota 2000GT battles the Aston Martin DB4, both Bond cars, both with beautiful straight 6 engines but only one will leave the victor.

To listen to MotorCult Episode 38 click the link below

MotorCult Episode 38

MOTORCULT EPISODE 37 IS LIVE

On this episode of the MotorCult podcast we discuss Berger’s adventure to Powercruise and Ryan’s adventure to Drive Cartel’s Cars and Crafts event. We discover that if you’re in the show crowd or the race crowd, Minnesota offers some of the best events in the midwest.

Ryan tells us about karma hitting a daily dick driver in his Maserati like a wall, or more literally like a Hyundai immediately followed by a wall. News includes the G29 BMW Z4, Tesla taking the company private once stock hits $420 and Roadkill Nights in Michigan. The Diamler F Cell hydrogen fuel cell vehicle comes up in conversation and we immediately think of how awful the hydrogen infrastructure in America currently is.

As a topic of discussion we ponder good looking but awful to own vehicles and how the ownership experience can spoil the car as a whole.

Finally we get to the World Cup of Cars where Iran’s Zamyad Z24 takes on the best of Russia. The second match up is the best of modern French motoring represented by France’s Renault Aventime versus the best of old French motoring, the Argentinian Pur Sang Bugatti Type 35.

To listen to MotorCult Episode 37 click the link below

Episode 37