In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show

Drive What You Build, Or Miss The Point

• In Wheel Time Podcast | Automotive talk with Don Armstrong, Michael Marrs, and Jeff Dziekan • Season 2025

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A turquoise 1958 GMC Apache pulled us in with classic lines, then surprised us with a 2016 heartbeat: a 5.3 V8, 6L80, four-wheel discs, cold AC, and the kind of road manners that beg for long miles. With shop owner and builder Sonny Bennett at the mic, we dive into what it takes to craft a true driver from an old truck—why stock-style pulley systems matter, how water-based paint helps with real-world repairs, and why anyone claiming “no filler” is selling you a lumpy fantasy. Sonny’s ethos is simple and sharp: fix it right or don’t touch it, drive what you build, and let the miles be the proof.

We also explore the business side of bodywork: initial estimates versus supplements, the hidden damage no one sees until teardown, and the big reasons Sonny refuses direct repair programs that let insurers dictate methods and margins. His shop serves the car and the customer, not a spreadsheet. That same clarity fuels his personal fleet stories—matching a ’58 when a ’55 was elusive, rebuilding a wrecked cab the right way, and finishing the Apache during the early days of COVID when the shop was deemed essential. The result? A classic that gets 21 mpg and cruises to Gulfport without a hiccup.

The ride continues with a high-dollar Nova that took home top trophies before popping an engine on the return trip, proving that reliability is earned on the road, not on a stage. Then there’s the 1967 Camaro project, acquired with a trove of pro-touring parts and a decades-old backstory involving a hot tub trade. We round it out with our racing calendar—Talladega, F1 in Austin, NHRA dates—and a fast lap through auto history, from Packard’s twin six to the Hydramatic and the El Camino. We close on EV news and incentives fading, with automakers stepping in to keep prices competitive.

If you love honest shop wisdom, restomod ingenuity, and the thrill of cars built to be driven, you’ll feel right at home. Follow and subscribe for more episodes, share this one with a fellow car nut, and drop a review to tell us whether you’d modern-swap or keep it period-correct.

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

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SPEAKER_04:

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast. Hey, this is your place for all things automotive, the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. Thank you very much. Today, coming to you from the Back to the Past car show in Houston's Spring Branch neighborhood, just ahead another guest from today's big event with a 58 GMC Apache. Mars has this week in auto history. Jeff has the racing calendar, and I'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines. Howdy, along with Mike Out of This World Mars, we always need more Jeff Zeke. Chief Engineer David Ainsley joins us today. I'm Don Armstrong. Glad you could join us. And thank you very much for joining us today. And for all of those here at the Back to the Past Car Show. This is a judged car show. It's filling up too. Yep, and uh let's see, registration. I I guess they're still uh registering.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh shows 10 to 2, judging 1130 to 1, awards at 130. All types of years, welcome, top 15 awarded, people's choice and the SBSHS Spring Branch High School Foundation Choice Award. You bet.

SPEAKER_02:

It's filling up and uh there's a lot of nice cars here. Very nice.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes, very cool. It's a very nice little show. We invite you to join us. Well, speaking of joining us, joining us right now is uh Sonny Bennett uh owns the beautiful 58 Apache Blue Um and what does it say on the side of it? Don't touch it. Don't touch it. And Ella Paint, is that what it is?

SPEAKER_03:

Ella Ella Ella Paint Body Shop. Is that is that one you own? I own it. I've been involved in it since February of 73. Wow. 73? You're telling your age now. Yeah. Showing your age too. I graduated here in 72 and I've been in paint body business ever since. Wow. Over on Ella Boulevard? Uh Ella Boulevard from 67 to 72. I went to work for him in February of 73 and I own it now. You bought it? In 79.

SPEAKER_04:

Very nice.

SPEAKER_03:

And uh your specialty is customs and classics and not anymore. I built six cars for other people. Worst time of my life.

SPEAKER_04:

Why does everybody say that? Because it's somebody else's car and you you really I mean you're in it, but you're not in it, you know?

SPEAKER_03:

It's not yours. When you sign a contract to build a car, you're due X amount of dollars at X amount of time. Yes. It's sixty thousand dollars, everybody run out of money, and I'm supposed to renegotiate my end of the deal. You either go find more money or come get your stuff. Yeah. So what what uh are you just doing general body work these days, bait painting body? I had a choice, build classic cars or fix collision. And I have a five-star rated shop that that I fix collision repair.

SPEAKER_04:

So in other words, you've lost your hair over your body shop and business because that's enough to pull your hair out. I uh have very little experience in that. I did work for a Chevrolet dealership many, many years ago. And I'll tell you what, man, that that is that is something that I still don't understand to this day. It it's it's intense and it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you have a choice to make. If you are in the paint and body business, you can run the shop or the shop can run you.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, and you've decided to run the shop.

SPEAKER_03:

I run the shop and the people won't tell me what to do, I ask them to leave. There you go.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, I want to ask you a question that I uh never actually asked a paint and body guy. So when you give an estimate, a damage estimate uh for a repair, how do you know that that bracket that's back in the back that you can't see? You know that it's bent, but you can't prove it, but you gotta order it and you make the estimate off of that. Because how are you competitive with other body shops by not I mean, obviously you've got decades of experience doing this.

SPEAKER_03:

But how do you know that? Well, the first estimate is an initial estimate. Anything else above that is a supplement. And as you tear a car apart, you're gonna find hidden damage. And it's up to you. I am not a member of an insurance company's DRP program.

SPEAKER_04:

Whatever that is.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a insurance company started a direct repair program in 1970 um 1983. And to be a member of their program you have to sell your heart, soul, and dignity out to the insurance companies. Oh no. And you lose the value and the quality of your shop. Sure. And then they want to tell you how to run your business. And yet you work for yourself. And you choose then. You work for you or you work for the insurance companies. I ask insurance companies to leave, just pay the bill. But I'm not a member of their program. I repair cars the correct way, or I don't repair them at all. Good for you.

SPEAKER_01:

So obviously you're talking about later model cars, but what if something like that came in, like a 58 Chevy Apache came in with a deemed fender that needed some work?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, there's two different deals. You have a collision shop or you have a restoration shop. The problem with restoration shops are they're a dime a dozen, they watch too much TV, they charge too much money, they're probably not worth what your the product you're getting, and you have to make a choice. You want to build cars for a living or you want to repair cars for a living. I don't consider myself a car builder. I've redone 24 of these cars of this quality build. And every one of them are still around to this day. But I don't watch TV, I piddle with cars. I repair them Monday through Friday, I build them on Saturdays and Sundays if I don't go to car shows.

SPEAKER_04:

Are you a married man?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, I've been married to my wife for 31 years. We've been together 33. And she's still putting up with you. Well, she does her thing and I do mine. We meet in the middle.

SPEAKER_04:

That's it. Well, uh, so let's talk about your 58 Apache over here. You know, you just don't see many of those. You see um, you see other other vehicles like it, kind of, but 58 is pretty rare. Uh dual headlights, I think that that's uh one of them. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

Four years ago, you couldn't buy, you couldn't give a four-headlight truck away. The problem is they run out of two headlight trucks. So I have a high-end build 55 Chevrolet Bel Air, and I wanted a matching 55. I was gonna paint and have a matching pair. I couldn't find a decent 55, but I found a decent 58, and I was gonna leave it all original. Well, you can only get flipped off so many times for going 55 miles an hour. And a friend of mine called me and said that I have a motor and a transmission out of a 2016 Sierra. It's got 4,000 miles on it, and you can buy it for$2,800. I said, I'm on my way. And I blew the truck all apart, and prior to COVID, the truck was mocked up, the frame was done. And my wife called me and said, They're gonna shut your business down, you won't be able to work. Well, then they ruled me in an essential business, and I built that truck starting April 4th and finished October 2nd.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Had plenty of time. I had plenty of time. Yeah, nobody messing with you?

SPEAKER_03:

On October 2nd, I left the city of Houston with 85 miles on it. I go to cruising the coast every year. And the next morning I woke up with 485 miles on it, so it tells me I'm 400 miles away from Gulfport, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go. There you go. That's great. Have you have you ever been on the hot rod tour of Texas?

SPEAKER_03:

I've been on the I did the hot rod tour one time. I'm not very good at following the leader. I'm not very good at being told what to do. Gotcha. So I'll see you at the destination.

SPEAKER_04:

Now, um, what kind of transmission you got in that?

SPEAKER_03:

It's got a 6L80. That truck has a six-speed transmission, four-wheel disc, air conditioned, 21 miles to the gallon. Two other drives.

SPEAKER_04:

So in other words, 2024 model. It's a band, it's a brand new truck with an old body on it. You got it. Yeah, every nut.

SPEAKER_03:

And that's the way it should be. Every nutton bolts brand new. Wonderful. Uh where did you find the truck? I bought the truck from a dealership in uh outside of New Orleans. A rich guy bought the truck all original, and they had the guy that owned the dealership asked him to bring the truck up there for a car show. He brought the car up for a car show and left it there. It sat there for about four years and finally they put it on the showroom floor and says sell it. I bought him.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Sweet. Well, obviously with fate played a part in that because I mean you just don't run across a truck like that. And it sit around for all those years and put it on the not outside sitting around either.

SPEAKER_03:

It sat on the showroom floor of a dealership for four years. Wow. And uh the problem with you know, a paint job covers a lot of mistakes. Yeah. The truck was wrecked real bad in the B pillar, and I had to put a whole cab panel on the truck. It's um, I don't know. That's what I do. Well, you did an absolutely beautiful job. It is.

SPEAKER_04:

Now the the uh the beige part there by the window, was that the original, was it styled that way?

SPEAKER_03:

No, no, the truck was originally green with a white top.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

I didn't want a white top, and I didn't want white. So when I painted the truck, and they have a turquoise in that air color, in that year cars, and I didn't want that color turquoise, I wanted a different one, so I have the water-based paint system in my shop, and I wanted a color that I could fix if something happened to it. So that's a PPG fleet line color called Hot Licks Turquoise. And I tried to go with You bought it because of the name. Right. Well, the women love the color, and I wanted a I was going white, but white was too bright, so I went with the beige. And the beige and the logo is the same on the back of the cab and on the inside. Good call.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, that's one of the most beautiful trucks, a 58 truck I have ever seen. I mean, look on even even underneath the hood.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you. Yeah, you you done good, that's what I'm telling you. Well, it just came back from Mississippi for the fifth time. Yeah. I mean, we drive them. Um I tell people all the time if you have a classic car and you don't drive it, you trailer, you're missing all the fun.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely your money. Yeah. I built a Corvette one time. Uh I bought it new, drove it for 35,000 miles, and then I decided I wanted to show it. Well, custom paint job, you know, did all the pinstriping underneath the body, mirrors, all of that. I did that. Never again would I ever do that. No, I drive my cars.

SPEAKER_03:

I built 24 cars. The first 10 had chrome everywhere, and I learned a long time ago that you gotta clean that stuff. Exactly. And if you break down on the side of the road, nobody has the parts for that pulley system. And when you go to replace it, you gotta buy another whole pulley system. So the last 14 I've done all had factory pulley systems on them. Because you can buy the parts anywhere, continental USA. Right. And if you drive them, you're going to break down. Yeah, yeah. And what what year engine is it? It's a 2016 GMC Sierra 5-3.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice. Nice.

SPEAKER_03:

It's it's the LT edition.

SPEAKER_04:

So y I mean, again, you kind of fell into that the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Hey man, you want to buy the motor? Yeah. Well, I learned a long time ago. I went through a real nasty divorce and I was broke. And the best time of my life was when I had$10,000 to afford anything I wanted. And if I couldn't afford it in that ten thousand dollars, I waited till I got more money. And I didn't buy nothing else until I replaced my ten thousand dollars. And that truck is I said I built twenty-four cars and every one of them are are as good as they get.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice.

SPEAKER_03:

And I I have people want to buy them all the time. So there's no filler on that one. There's plenty of filler on it. Someone says, Oh, my car doesn't have bondo, but they're lying to you. Well, yeah, but I mean that's just because even some of the best car builders out there, they skim coat every car they build. Absolutely, yeah. So that skim is a filler. And if someone says, hey, I don't use bondo, well, you're gonna have a lumpy car. So how many others do you have in your collection? I have three others, right? Two others right now. I have a 55 Bel Air, and I just finished a 66 Nova.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh. And they're yours.

SPEAKER_03:

Mine.

SPEAKER_04:

60. This is a Nova man right here.

SPEAKER_01:

My first car is a Nova.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I have awful expensive Nova. Jack is here with his Nova.

SPEAKER_01:

Herman Jack.

SPEAKER_03:

Do you? And why do you say that? Well, I've got people interested in it, and the price is over 135,000. So that's a pretty expensive car. Yeah. And you'll probably get it. Good stuff in it. It's sold. You sold it. All I gotta do is get rid of it. Oh. All I have to do is turn it over. I have five people want to buy the car. If one backs out, I have one backs out, I got four right behind me.

SPEAKER_04:

So what what's going to be the day that you sell it? I mean, what's going to be the deciding factor on who you sell it to?

SPEAKER_03:

My friend has the first dibs and he's not backing out. And I get to enjoy the car because that car is going to go everywhere that truck in my Belair goes.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice. There you go. Nice.

SPEAKER_03:

So, as I said, the only reason why my friend's getting it is because he he wanted it first.

SPEAKER_02:

And he's got the money.

SPEAKER_03:

He's got the money. And money talks. Sometimes. I had a guy offer me almost$400,000 for all three of them, and I turned him down.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go. You need to send that. Very nice. Yeah, you need to send that to Mr. Morris.

SPEAKER_02:

And we put that up on our screens. Yeah, absolutely. Very nice. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

It was a hand-me-down for my mom. Nice setup. Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. Thank you. Yeah. Well, uh, so what are the what are the plans now? Uh have you got all the cars finished that you want to finish at the moment?

SPEAKER_03:

When uh well, the guy that bought the Nova told me to get all the bugs out of it. So I went to the Fairfield Car Show, the only car show that they they've had it that's been going on for 28 years, and the judges came up and said I won everything, and they wouldn't would I mind if they passed the trophies around? I said, I just appreciate the recognition. I don't really need a trophy. And uh I won best muscle car in the 60s, I won the best of show, and a 10-year-old gave me$500 first place tries. Well, coming back, I blew the motor up in the NOVA. So I got got a new motor as of Thursday and it's going in tomorrow. Nice. Then I'm gonna let get rid of the car. But you have fun doing all that. I don't watch TV. When I built my 55, I told my wife I was gonna build a car that got 21 miles a gallon, comfortable, and had AC. And she named the car TV time because that's what you get when you don't watch TV. That's very nice. I got an awfully expensive toy for not watching TV. There you go. Sweet. It's it it is not for sale. That truck is not for sale. When I retire, I'm gonna ride around town in that truck. Nice. And uh I'm getting ready to start a 67 Camaro.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. Now you're the Camaro guy.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm the Camaro guy. Well, the Camaro's next. Do you do you have the Camaro? I already have it. You have it. What what's the story behind it? A friend of mine, he's the chief in the Houston Fire Department, and he traded a hot tub for it 32 years ago. A hot tub. Bought twenty-three thousand dollars worth of pro touring chassis, interior, every option that they put on the sixty-eight and sixty-nines and he lost interest. And I wouldn't build it for free. So three years ago, before I bought the Nova, he said, Why don't you buy my car? I said, What car? He told me about the Camaro. Well, I got everything for fifteen thousand dollars. So I've got a whole lot of parts in a car that I have to build. I can sell it for twenty five thousand or I can sell it for$125,000. Easy decision.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds like you like doing the build.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't watch TV. There's nothing good on TV.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, when you do finish it, put Don as number one on your list before he's the number one. Yeah, well put him on it. Yeah, Don just bought a hat. He likes a 69, though. Yeah, 67's close.

SPEAKER_04:

It's a couple years' difference. Yeah, yeah, the same body style. I I got it. I'm good. I'll take a 67.

SPEAKER_03:

Cars are my passion, and I love what I do, and you know, uh you can see that it's awesome. I got a pack with a good Lord above that'll help people as long as they give me a will to get up every day.

SPEAKER_04:

There you go.

SPEAKER_03:

So that's my life story.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, Sonny, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Beautiful truck. It's a pleasure to meet you, talk to you. And uh it's Ella Paint and Body Shop. Magnolia, Texas. Perfect. Right up there by uh by the Renaissance festival.

SPEAKER_03:

Now I'm on the back side of the woodlands. Okay. Well, you're in the area.

SPEAKER_04:

I'm in the area. Yeah, that's that's it. We we just did a segment on Renaissance Festivals for fall road trips. Mr. Mars is gonna dress up in chain mail. Yeah. Anyway. Sonny, thanks so much again. We appreciate you. Just ahead. Jim has the racing calendar. Mars has this week in auto history. And uh uh we're gonna we're we're gonna we're gonna make it all happen. So stay with us here on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. You've waited all summer and it's finally here. The Tail Pipes and Tacos Fall 25 Cruise In Car Show. It's been a while, but the popular Teal Pipes and Tacos Cruise In returns to the Loopy Tortilla Tex Max and Katie, Saturday, October 18th. Make any donation to Shirley's kids and get a free breakfast taco. There'll be mimosas and bloody merry's too. Get to the best cruise in of the year. Teal Pipes and Tacos Car Show, Saturday, October 18th, 8 to 11 a.m. Cruise in, make a donation of any amount, and grab a free Loopy Tortilla Breakfast Taco. Tail Pipes and Tacos only happens at the Loopy Tortilla Tex Mex in Katy, 703 West Grand Parkway at Kingston Boulevard, just south of the Katy Freeway. Join the car camaraderie, and your car will automatically compete for one of three chili pepper trophies at no charge. Paul is here, and what better way to celebrate than with a free taco at Tailpipes and Tacos Cruise In Car Show. Saturday, October 18th, 8 to 11 a.m. It's the cruised in you won't want to miss Luffy Tortillas, Tail Pipes and Tacos in Katy.

SPEAKER_00:

The father of those entities and pay tribute to the folks who make freedom possible. Friday night. Sponsored by Freddy Jewelry. November Summer Mystery.

SPEAKER_04:

We invite you to join our live broadcast every Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon Central Time on InWheeltime.com, Facebook, and YouTube, and we hope you check us out. If you miss us, you'll be able to connect with us through our podcast from your favorite podcast channel. So, time now on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show for the Racing Calendar, sponsored by Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge. Jeffrey has that.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for that. We got NASCAR. The Craftsman Trucks ran yesterday. They ran at Talladega. I watched a little bit of the qualifying. I don't know who won, so I don't want to spoil it for you. But they're running it yesterday. You got Xfinity, they're running today. They're going to be in Talladega. Everybody's at Dega. So that's going to be at 3 p.m. on the CW Network. And then we got the NASCAR, the big boys. Well, some of them are. NASCAR is at Talladega. That's a 2 p.m. uh Sunday tomorrow on NBC.

SPEAKER_04:

The Nobody Cares Television.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go. And guess where Formula One is at this weekend? Well, they're in Austin at Circuit of the Americas. It is a 59 Lapper. They're going to be uh October 19th, which is tomorrow. So get on out there, get yourself some tickets and and have fun out there with those folks. We should have given away some tickets. We should have. I've got uh World Series tickets for the Astros if anybody needs them. Uh NHRA showcase of speed. That's gonna be October 24th. It's gonna be in South Georgia Motors Motorsports Park. And then I got a couple of write-ins. We got sled dog racing, the Iditarods coming up in March. Uh registration, David, is uh November 28th. That's when registration opens. And this is for you, Michael. Did you know there are 17 sanctioned dash hound races in the United States? Yes. October, November is in Texas. We got we got uh it's D-A-S-C-H-O-U-N-D racing. Uh October, November here in Texas, and they're they're all around the the countryside, a lot of them in Florida. Then David, you got Pigeon Racing Federations coming up. Uh that's gonna be probably in the spring. You remember that from all that in your hair. Yeah, yeah. And then pigeon poop. Ice racing, you got cars, bikes, and wind racing coming up for those northern states and then on the pond where David grew up up in uh up in the UP. The UP of mission. So there you go. You got all that going on. So enjoy your racing.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, thank you for that, Jeffrey. Well, it's time now on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show for this week in auto history. And uh we actually had a bit of history live in a living color here about 20 minutes ago. So uh if you missed it, you'll have to check it out on a podcast. Very nice. Very nice. All right, time now for auto history, Mr. Morris.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, starting in uh 1915, Packard introduces the twin six, and um it was really two sixes put together, so they created their V-12, is what it amounted to. And what they were doing this for was to take competitive with the really luxury cars of the time, the Paris Arrow and the Rolls-Royce. Now, this particular one they started out initially with 421 point 424.1 cubic inch with 8,800 horsepower, 88 horsepower at 2600 RPM. And uh it became a symbol of the prestige, and it's really what put Packard up there as a premier automaker. Then going up to 1933, the first American drive-in theater opens. Now, this is cars that become part of American people moving around and getting around, so it became part of the intimate entertainment culture. Now, the first test the guy did in his driveway, he took and nailed some screens up to some trees, invited some people to come over and watch it on a small projector he had just to see how they felt about watching movies in their cars. So the first one he actually built was in New Jersey, had room for 400 cars, the screen was a 40 by 50 foot screen, and the speakers were on a big tower by the screen, blasting out, and so the people in the back had a little trouble hearing. But one thing also I wanted to add in here was there was a movie that came out, real popular at the drive-ins in 1957. It was I Was a Teenage Werewolf. And I'm sure you, John, Don, you remember that one. Michael Landon was the guy that starred as the werewolf. And um one of the little notes there on the screen, it says special note, well calculated to frighten all blondes, brunettes, and redheads into the nearest males protecting arms. Don Steele uses that on his business card, a personal business card. Moving on to 1940. GM introduces the hydromatic transmission. Now, this is the first mass-produced fully automatic transmission, the hydromatic. Came out first in the Oldsmobile models to eliminate the manual gear shifting and so kind of move that Oldsmobile more up into the luxury market and it influenced almost everybody started going to this, and they used the basic design to build their own. Now, one thing that was uh that helped to promote it, 1948 Ford Deluxe convertible. It's automatic, it's systematic, it's high dramatic, it's grease lightning.

SPEAKER_04:

Grease lightning.

SPEAKER_01:

1958, Chevrolet introduces the El Camino. Now, this was a hybrid vehicle, kind of with a car styling with a truck utility. They marketed it as a pickup with a passenger car grace, and uh it got really uh originally back in the then when 1958-59 models were kind of modest, they're very expensive nowadays, but uh they became one of the main features of the Chevrolet line as they went on through the years. Um very popular vehicle. Then finally in 1972, the Honda Civic debuts in America. Now, this is the Honda Civic 10. It'll almost fit in the trunk of the current model Honda Civic based on the size. It was built because of the uh early 70s fuel crisis. A lot of people bought them, it was well built, reshaped America's perception of Japanese cars, and it really became part of Honda's global success and their long automotive uh staple that they've used around the world. And that is this week in automotive history.

SPEAKER_04:

Interesting, as I remember when the Honda came and everybody went, Honda, they they build motorcycles, they're gonna build cars. A friend of mine uh in middle school had a Honda 50. And I thought that thing was the bomb.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they were they were fast little bikes.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I mean, it was better than my homemade homemade uh motorbike that I built on a 20-inch frame.

SPEAKER_02:

You're a little kid and you got that all that, you know, horsepower and testosterone gone, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh with the federal government's$7,500 tax credit for electric vehicle buyers now dead, many automakers are digging into their own coffers for big discounts to keep EV inventory moving. Hyundai Motors, for instance, has kicked in$7,500 cash incentive on the 2025 Ionic 5 this month and cut small crossover sticker price by up to$9,800 for 2026. GM and Ford thought they'd found a way to help customers benefit from the tax credit for several more months, but they abruptly backtracked amid political pressure from two Republican senators who condemned the workarounds as nefarious schemes to continue bilking the U.S. taxpayer. Both companies said they will offer comparable lease deals on their own dime instead. Cross-town rival Stellantis already had been replicating the value of the tax credit, which expired September 30th, with similarly generous incentives. Automaker's decision on how to price and market EVs now that federal subsidies have disappeared will vary, reflecting differing views of the segment and their share of it. Several brands, including Tesla, Chevy, and Nissan, have introduced lower priced EVs to get court buyers seeking options nearly as affordable as gasoline-powered vehicles, which it should have been all along. Why do I have to pay for your EV? No, I'm not gonna pay for your EV or your EV or anybody's EV. Well, where do you think the$7,500 came from?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Second generation Chevy Bolt, which returns for 2027, starts at less than$30,000 with shipping. Tesla, meanwhile, debuted new versions of its Model Y crossover and Model 3 sedan, priced near$40,000. Just wait long enough. Telling everybody. All right. Hey, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. The address is info at inwheeltime.com. We are back after this. You own a car you love. Well, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it? Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts. We promise you'll be impressed. Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano ceramic window tent, or new windshield protection called Exoshield, Gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go. Curbed your wheels? Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired? How about a professionally installed radar detector? Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too. Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshield.com. Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway, just south of the Southwest Freeway and get a personal tour. Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior. Call them today, 832-930-5655 or GCAutoShield.com. Wrap up your engines. It's time to roll back in style at the Back to the Past Car Show. Join the Spring Branch Senior High School Foundation Saturday, October 18th at Cornerstone Academy, 916 Westview Drive in Houston. Classic cars, trucks, and motorcycles, family fun, food, music, and memories. There's something for everyone. Proceeds benefit local students and programs. Don't miss the shine, the chrome, and the nostalgia. 10-2, Saturday, October 18th. Back to the Past Car Show. Springbranch Bears.com slash car show for more information. In Wheel Time will be there too. That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show. I'm Dot Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheeltime.com website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music. Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.

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Don Armstrong

Host
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Jeff Dziekan

Co-host
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Michael Marrs

Co-host