Podcast Archives - Page 6 of 19

#202, Joe Wiesenfelder of Cars.com talks future of EVs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:39 — 53.1MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreJoe Wiesenfelder is the executive editor of Cars.com and he’s immersed in the future of EVs — electric vehicles. According to the website’s recent data, about one-third of car buyers are actively looking to purchase their first electric vehicle. But many questions remain with the anticipated growth. Wiesenfelder and his colleagues are counting on it. Wiesenfelder is our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast. EVs: Marketplace will expand Co-host Bruce Aldrich and I discuss with the long-time journalist the future of the electric vehicle market and the goal of Cars.com to assist consumers with their buying decisions. “Cars.com bought its first

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#201, Al Unser Jr. talks drugs, driving in new book

As co-hosts of The Weekly Driver Podcast, Bruce Aldrich and I sometimes have a guest cancel at the last minute. Two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was our scheduled guest. With his non-appearance, we decided to talk about him. Specifically, we discuss Unser’s new book, “A Checkered Past.” The 302-hardcover offering includes a foreword by Roger Penske, the team owner who once employed “Little Al” and who is now the owner of the Indianapolis Speedway. The book is written “As Told To Jade Gurss.” A long-time journalist, Gurss has written several additional motorsports books and has also worked in marketing and publicity for Mercedes-Benz and Mazda in his varied career. Unser’s book is appropriately titled. Throughout his adult life,

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#200, Few carmakers get top grades in car seat installation

Cars.com recently released its 2021 Car Seat Fit Report Card. It provides a detailed analysis of which cars are the best for parents when it comes children’s car seat installation. Jenni Newman, the editor-in-chief of Cars.com and a certified child passenger safety technician, is our guest on Episode #200 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich and I discuss the report card and the reactions by carmakers to the grades they received. Only four vehicles made the car seat installation Honor Roll with “straight A’s”: the 2021 Nissan Sentra, 2021 Genesis GV80, 2021 Audi SQ8, and the 2022 Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. Few carmakers get car seat installation right While the 2021 Ford Bronco Sport earned a “B” for its

Podcast, Auto Shows-Museums

#199, Terry Gale, curator of Rambler Ranch in rural Colorado

A minute’s drive from County Rd. 21 in the Elizabeth, Colo., Rambler Ranch is perched in a clearing of trees on the outskirts of the small town about 45 miles southeast of Denver. It’s a secluded museum of Americana, a life’s work for Terry Gale as a remembrance of family and the iconic automobiles of yesteryear. Gale, 60, didn’t plan to own the world’s largest collection of Nash, Rambler and AMC vehicles. But in 30-plus years he’s cultivated an unequaled collection of the small vehicles originally produced inexpensively for the post World War II economy. A lot happened to the long-ago defunct vehicles and life has changed for Gale, too. He started with his father’s 1954 Nash Ambassador and he

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#198, Colton Herta, IndyCar racing champion

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:31 — 43.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More Colton Herta is 21 years old and he’s been behind one steering or another since he was age six. Go-karts to Indy cars and several racing classes between, Herta is now competing at his best as the NTT IndyCar Series concludes this week in Long Beach, California. Herta (Andretti-Autosport), the youngest driver to win an IndyCar race, successfully defended the Grand Prix of Monterey title he won two years ago on Sept. 19. He completed the 212.61-mile race at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 32 seconds and at an average speed of 104.114 miles per hour. Herta’s season

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#197, CarInsurance.com picks cheapest, best companies

Ashlee Tilford is the managing editor of QuinStreet.com, the marketing and search engine service company. It recently released a consumer-based post detailing a new study by CarInsurance.com — the cheapest and best car insurance companies. Tilford is our guest this week on The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with Tilford the CarInsurance.com, one of QuinStreet.com’s companies, compiled the resource guide. While considering what’s available in major and small auto insurance companies, the report includes information vetted by experts in several categories, including driver’s age, location and driving habits. “We compared rates among 35 different insurance providers,” Tilford explains. “But before we did that, we created 11 different driver profiles because almost anybody is going to

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#196, Bruce buys a truck, letters and buy us a cup of coffee

Driving a new car is generally enjoyable; the process of acquiring it? Not so much. Bruce Aldrich, the co-host of The Weekly Driver Podcast, hadn’t purchased a new vehicle in more than a decade. His Subaru Outback will soon approach 200,000 miles, and it’s doing fine. But Bruce and his wife, Alene, decided a new Ford F-250 pickup truck is the vehicle to get. It’ll tow an RV just fine, which is a good thing since the couple is planning to do more traveling with friends who are also RVers and who also own a pickup truck. Bruce “built” his new truck online from the Ford website, and now he’ll wait for the truck to arrive. Delivery could take months.

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#195, Acclaimed auto writer chronicles Jaguar at 100

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:53 — 53.4MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreGiles Chapman is a prolific automotive journalist whose book topics have ranged from the importance of car badges to the history of Land Rover. His latest title is “Jaguar Century: 100 Years of Automotive Excellence.” Jaguar Century chronicles the company and its remarkable vehicles. It covers the manufacturer’s start in 1922 by William Lyons and William Walmsley, and it reports on the current F-Type sports cars to the F-Pace SUV. Chapman, who began his career in 1984 in automotive consultancy, is our guest on episode #195 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. New Jaguar book: Aches, pains at 100 Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia

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#194, Lawyer, engineering expert questions Tesla’s AutoPilot

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:45 — 69.7MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreTesla isn’t new to controversy and nor is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and both are back in the news. The NHTSA, previously critical of the electric vehicle manufacturer, recently said its conducting a preliminary evaluation into the carmaker’s self-titled “Autopilot” systems after 11 crashes in nine states. The concern, the agency reported, is how the driver assistance technology works to “monitor, assist, and enforce the driver’s engagement with driving while Autopilot is in use.” Bryant Walker Smith, an associate professor in the School of Law and the School of Engineering at the University of South Carolina, discusses the Tesla situation on

Podcast, Rare-Vintage

#193, Monterey Auto Week: Classic cars, Classic owners

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:50 — 41.0MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More Donald Osborne is an opera singer, museum CEO, international business owner and one of the voices of the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel, California. He knows cars and people and the gift of gab. Osborne recently returned from Europe but in plenty of time for Monterey Auto Week. The coronavirus and its variants are in different stages in Italy and England, where he attended globally renowned automotive events. On Tuesday morning, Aug. 10, the proprietor of Audrain Auto Museum in Newport, R.I., was in his usual perch nearly the judging platform on Ocean Avenue, looking dapper in his official blazer, bowtie and

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#192, Want to drive a stick shift? Hagerty has a ‘manual’

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:24 — 36.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More Learning how to operate a manual transmission car or truck was a rite of automotive passage for drivers of a certain age. It’s now a rarity, with a few exceptions including a campaign introduced by Hagerty. The American automotive lifestyle and membership company, Hagerty in July announced, as part of its 10th anniversary of the Hagerty Driving Experience, a mission. Its goal: to teach 500 people to drive a stick shift in 50 days. Rachel Ventimiglia, Assistant Manager of Car Culture at Hagerty, is my guest on Episode #192 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich is on assignment, so I discuss

Auto Shows-Museums, Podcast

#191, Monterey Auto Week tuned up, ready for restart

A few events have been amended, few postponed for another year. But by any name, Monterey Auto Week to Classic Car Week, and with events from The Little Car Show to the Concours d’Elegance, it’s back. The all-encompassing showcase of automobiles and many related areas returns after a one-year COVID-19 hiatus. The festivities begin August 6 and continue through August 15 at multiple locations throughout the Monterey Peninsula. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James it all during this Episode #191 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. We’ll be on-site for four days beginning Aug. 9. Plans include a podcast from the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel (Aug. 10) and The Little Car Show (Aug. 11) in Pacific Grove. Aston Martin will

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#190, Collector Part Exchange: new global online swap meet

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:09 — 44.2MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreChris Bright is a vintage car enthusiast with an empathetic ear toward other automotive fanciers who can have difficulty finding parts for their unique vehicles. Or maybe they have a garage full of parts and don’t know what to do with the load. To help, Bright recently debuted CollectorPartExchange.com. It’s a modern-day swap meet. As the site is promoted it’s “Open 24/7/365 and spans the globe. Oh, and the weather is always perfect.” Bright, a competitive age-group cyclist who lives in Portland, Oregon, is our guest on Episode #190 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia discuss with Bright the

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#189, Sandra Button: Queen of the Pebble Beach Concours

Sandra Button has judged thousands of cars, Bentley to Bugatti, Maserati to Mercedes-Benz. But a masterpiece from yesteryear can still give the chairwoman of the Pebble Beach Concours a jolt. It happens early Sunday mornings when 200 cars emerge at Pebble Beach Golf Links for the annual homage to automotive beauty and tradition. “I have seen cars drive onto the field from the mist and thought, ‘that’s the one; that’s got a run for the roses,’ “said Button. Sometimes, I’m right and sometimes I’m not. Sometimes, they don’t even make it out of their class. “But I’ve been surprised many, many times seeing a car come around the corner onto the field and saying, ‘wow, what is that?’ It didn’t

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#188, Broadcaster John Kraman talks Mecum Auctions

John Kraman spends his work career immersed in automotive auctions. He’s the lead TV commentator and analyst for NBCSN during Mecum Auction broadcasts. He can barely curb his enthusiasm. There’s no doubt the broadcaster is ready for the return of the three-day Mecum Auction during Classic Car Week beginning Aug. 12. Kraman is my guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich is on vacation, so Kraman and I discuss the upcoming Mecum Auction during Monterey Auto Week. “This pandemic really hasn’t slowed us down,” said Kraman. “We have been on the go. Our foot has been on the gas pedal, making adjustments to scheduling and having some safety issues we’ve had to deal with at

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#187, Cars.com index: Tesla, the most American made

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:08 — 38.6MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreTesla innovation has changed the automotive world with a lot of industry firsts. Its latest designation is the top spot on the latest American Made Index (AMI). Introduced 16 years ago by the editors of Cars.com, the AMI analyzes a range of factors to determine the percentage of new cars and trucks made American Kelsey Mays, the assistant managing editor at the online motoring website that debuted in 1998, is our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast. He discusses with co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia the latest index result and Tesla’s top spot. “We like to think that the index

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