Season 2, Episode 84 - 88 Rotor 2024 Toyota Tacoma, What Makes an EV Work?

 

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Holman & Lightning (0s):

Based on your driveway, Holman, it looks like you have not yet purchased an ev, but it looks like you still have the Nissan hard body, which is the best case scenario. So I have the new Nissan hard body, and I was thinking, okay, so, so my EV search took a turn when all of the supply in Southern California evaporated on the BZ four x. And I was looking, I’m like, man, they sold literally hundreds of those things. The BZ four X is a Toyota. It’s a Toyota. One of my friends, Mike Cotton, who is a, a buddy of mine from the club who smoked cigar stuff. He got one and I saw it last night. What? And he was, dude, you had to be so burned. Well, we were working together in tandem, and he was actually looking, and I go and I was on my computer.

Holman & Lightning (41s):

He goes, oh, I went here and they didn’t have it. I’m like, hold on, where are you at? I’m like, this dealer has it. So he goes, I’m going there right now. And then he text me, I’m getting it now. No way. He got it. So I had this other dealer called me. So you must have been so chapped. No, no. I’m, I’m happy for him. He, he had a original Honda Insight ev, which had like 90 miles of range. Those are so butt. And now he’s like double. They’re what? It was mean 2.5 now. So he’s all excited. So admit that that’s a hideous car. The insight. Listen, he has a Audi S five V eight. Okay. That’s, that’s his, that’s okay. Well that’s radically different than it. No, but, but what I’m saying is, like for me, I have the 3 92, he’s got a rad Audi and he commutes a lot. He is like, I’m gonna use the EV for commuting you that way to put miles on the Audi.

Holman & Lightning (1m 22s):

It’s the same thing that I’m doing. Right. We’re both car enthusiasts, but we’re like, we need refrigerators. Right. So anyway, you guys know my stance. I’m not an EV hater. I think they’re wrong for the wrong kind of use case. And I think they’re wrong to be pushed on people. Sure. But it, but you’re a fan of hybrids. I’m, I am a big fan, fan of hybrids anyway, but this, this EV deal, like for the price, you couldn’t beat it. Now this one is an EV or is it a hybrid? It is This, Is. Street Battery. That’s it. No, no engine. And the, the lease came with a year of ev go charging for free. So it’s basically a free year of gas. And my Trader Joe’s down the street has an EV go charger. So I can just go have pizza, plug it in and get topped off. Right. Like both of myself and, and the car.

Holman & Lightning (2m 3s):

Anyway, So, it didn’t happen. So I’m in this thing where the, the deal’s ending soon. There’s no inventory. The closest one is in Palo Alto. It’s worth the drive. No, it’s not because it’s a 10,000 mile a year lease. I use 5% just driving it home. So, no, that’s not, no flatbed it. Well then don’t you have AAA say it’s broken? Yeah, well it that’s a long, that’s a long flatbed ride. Yeah. So, so that’s out. And then I got to thinking dummy Nissan aria. So I started looking at the Nissan Arias and there’s a couple lease deals there. All of a sudden I’m going, that’s pretty close to the Toyota. Then I go, oh, hey, we have a relationship with Nissan. Maybe Nissan, I should you more, maybe I should call them.

Holman & Lightning (2m 43s):

Did you, did you honestly not even think of that when You first said, oh, the Nissan aria is cool. Did you not even think I know someone at Nissan? No, no, no. It wasn’t that. It was when that other lease deal was so good. That’s the whole reason. Like that was the impetus was for less than, you know, gas in the 3 9 2. I could have this other car that’s the refrigerator. Yeah, right. And just go do whatever in. And then when somebody mentioned Ari, I’m like, yeah, but those are, those are pretty pricey. Well, for 24 they drop the price $6,000 on some of the models. Okay. And now the entry level one is like not that far off of it. So what are we talking about? 30, 39, 9 95 is where they start 39,000 and they go to 65 fully loaded. But the difference is, other than some colors and material changes, like the basic stuff is the same.

Holman & Lightning (3m 25s):

The difference is mostly the battery size and whether you have a one motor, two motor, whatever. So you’re gonna lease this thing, right? Because, and a straight lease straight. So the 39 is almost irrelevant. ’cause you’re never gonna pay off the residual. No, no, no. All I care about is having a, a car around 200 bucks a month for, for 18 or 24 months. That’s it. That’s the whole exercise. So I reached out to our friends at Nissan. I’m like, Hey, hey, they, we got, we we gotta do, we, we will, you know, we, we will put you in touch. And so there might be somebody inside Nissan looking specifically for the ones that have been on on the lot the longest. That might be Oh, interesting. A dealer might be ready to a Wheel unload deal. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. So anyway, but what I was thinking is maybe after the show, maybe during the show, we should take the hard body Yeah.

Holman & Lightning (4m 5s):

Down to the local Nissan dealer, which is like two miles away. And then go look at an aria. That could be funny. That could be funny. I, although nobody listening to the show wants to hear that though. No, they don’t. But it would be funny though. No one wants to hear us shopping for a hybrid. An ev No, ev it, it is just straight ev. So are we doing our audience dirty by talking even more about EVs? Well, okay, we can talk more about EVs ’cause I just got this, this package here. Okay. That’s a FedEx bag. The FedEx bag right here. A padded pouch. Yep. With bubble wrap inside. All right. This Is from our, our friends over at Unplugged Performance. Okay. They are the specialists in Tesla. Right? You were unplugged recently for the unveiling of their cyber truck program.

Holman & Lightning (4m 45s):

So Yep. They’re, they’ve got a bunch of aftermarket parts for cyber trucks. All right. So one of the things we talked about, and I know you’re a huge fan, and Justin Gore, who listens to the show works over there. And we were talking about carbon fiber and you love carbon fiber and I think I told you about their deal with Coneg. I told you about how beautiful some of the carbon fiber pieces for like the three and some of the race cars that they have and that were done in collaboration with Kona, eg. And it was like flawless, like taking a light down every row and you’re going, oh my gosh. Well they just released. So you’re saying the carbon fiber weave is perfect. So these are carbon fiber unplugged Kona eg. Coasters for the studio.

Holman & Lightning (5m 27s):

Wow. This weave is almost fake. It’s so good. Look at the logo. Yep. It’s actually fiber. It’s not a print. I see that. Isn’t that crazy? I see the unplug logo in the middle. Yes. Oh my gosh. If I hold it up to the, the light in the pod yet here you can see the each in the strands. I see weave. Oh, that’s wild. Those are really thin strands. So anyway, got a little, little coaster actually. And I literally have we got these so Justin, since he’s over, yeah. A cup that’s sweating right now. Yeah. So I’m gonna use it right now. Alright, perfect. A Dr. Pepper is protected from leaking all over the desk with this carbon fiber unplugged performance coaster. So thanks guys. Seems like quite a waste of carbon fiber to send us pieces.

Holman & Lightning (6m 8s):

I I wouldn’t that be better used on like a wing or I don? Spoiler I don probably. But it door definitely elevated our messy desk. Heres po That’s true. Thank you very much guys. Alright, so if you are looking for a brand new truck, you gotta head over to your local Nissan dealer. you can check out the Nissan Frontier mid-size truck. And Nissan has been the presenting sponsor of The Truck Show Podcast for like six years now. So, alright, well let’s get in the hard body and head down to the Nissan dealership. And do you know if they sell to sell the hard body in the tactical green metallic? don don’t know if they have one in stock. We can go look because that’s, I’ve never been a green truck guy, but we had one in the shop recently. No, it’s a great color. And that green is so cool.

Holman & Lightning (6m 49s):

I want to go there because I think I have the first hard body in Southern California. That thing only has like 300 miles on it. I must be the first media loan, like it’s fresh. Fresh. So you wanna head down to Beach Boulevard and just clown ’em? Yeah. Basically just pull it and have them all come out and be like, wait, what? I mean I’m totally in. Alright. I’m, I’m hearing the hard body. All right, well, enough of that craziness. You wanna frontier, you wanna tighten, you need a Nissan truck. Head on down to your local Nissan dealer or build a price at Nissan usa dot com. And rather than just replacing the filter on your gas or diesel truck, why not take the opportunity to upgrade it to a bank’s ram Air intake? Remove all the restrictions, increase horsepower, throttle response and longevity by bumping up to a bank’s ram air intake. It draws the coldest densest air possible from multiple air sources.

Holman & Lightning (7m 32s):

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Holman & Lightning (8m 17s):

Next up au review

Intro (8m 19s):

The truck show. We’re gonna show you what we know. We’re gonna answer. What The truck, Because truck rides with The truck show. We have the lifted We, have the lowered and everything in between. We’ll talk about trucks that run on diesel and the ones that run on gasoline. The truck show. The truck show. The truck show. Whoa Whoa. It’s The truck show with your hosts Lightning

Holman & Lightning (8m 55s):

And Holman. So Holman. Yeah, the 24 Tacomas are just rolling out, I guess what, two, three months ago we started to see them trickle just now seeing them in the wild, right? I’ve seen about three or four in the last couple weeks. One of the first ones that I heard about was at King Shocks of all places. They got one and they bolted on a, a long travel or mid travel suspension and it was white. And I noticed a, a logo on the side of The truck, 88 Rotors. I’m like, I’ve heard of that, but I’m not, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Googled it. Sure enough. It’s a Toyota specialty aftermarket performance shop four miles from banks, so, oh.

Holman & Lightning (9m 40s):

So right around the corner, I called up Ken, the owner, and said, what’s up Holmes? We need to borrow your truck. And he said, what’s up Holmes? No, he didn’t actually say that, but he was awesome. He drove it over there. We had it in the shop for pedal monster testing. We pulled the Airbox out to do a bunch of 3D scanning. And I gotta tell you that of all the people I’ve met in the last six months, Ken is the coolest. So I wanna get a You Review from him because I don’t know anyone else with a 24 Tacoma. Do you? I do. Oh, who? Yeah, I know a couple people. A few of the early adopters are on Instagram flashing their new Toyota wares and in fact a couple of ’em sold their old like crazy builds that everybody knew about. Yeah, it’s like out the old, you know, oh, this has been my truck by Denny for 6, 7, 10 years.

Holman & Lightning (10m 25s):

I put everything into it. Hey, it’s for sale now. Interesting. Yeah. So there’s a bunch of people out there who are getting rid of their, their influencer yodas for the the new ones. So, and there’s not a huge aftermarket yet. Like people are just starting to ramp up very little. So there’s been a few people who are like, Hey, I wanted to get this, but this part’s not ready. I couldn’t finish it. Or I’m, you know, and it’s like, man, you go from fully built to like having to start over. That’s gotta suck. Like, you could leave on a idle Wednesday and be like, I’m going on a trip. Listen, I’ve only driven it four miles at a whack to and from 88 Rotors. And they’re, they’re one town over from where we are. And in that short jaunt, it’s way better than the last Gen. Oh yeah. Used, oh my gosh. The turbos light up. I mean, it didn’t, last one didn’t have turbos, but This Is just, it rides better.

Holman & Lightning (11m 7s):

It’s quieter, ergonomically. I think it’s better. It’s always a little chunky for me. Oh, I love it. I think it’s, I think it’s right. I’m, I’m impressed. Anyway, I’ve said enough about it. Let’s get Ken on the phone to give you his first person perspective.

Ken (11m 25s):

Hello.

Holman & Lightning (11m 26s):

Yo Can Lightning and Holman Truck show podcast. Whoa. What’s going on over there?

Ken (11m 32s):

I’m running through the shop right now. Oh, the back to get some keep and quiet.

Holman & Lightning (11m 36s):

That was the craziest noise ever. I felt like one of the, the racks were falling like King shocks are coming out of the ceiling and hitting the floor. Hey, listen to our guest dying live on the air. Go viral. Holy mackerel. All right, so Ken Ty is on the line. We have an Intro to play because Ken is going to review his new 2024 Toyota Tacoma. Standby.

6 (12m 1s):

Tell us all about your truck. Is it great or does, does it suck before I buy? I need a clue. Don’t pull punches. You Review

5 (12m 22s):

You Review.

Holman & Lightning (12m 24s):

Yeah, that’s a cool song. Yeah, we need to do this more often. ’cause we, how old is that jingle? Like a year? We’ve used it once. Yeah, I think so. No, but once or twice. Yeah. Why don’t we tell our listeners and take this moment right now. If you guys bought a newer truck, like we wanna hear from you, just hit us up Truck show podcast at gmail dot com or leave us your information on the five star hotline, 6 5 7 2 0 5 61 5. And we’ll have you on the show to review The truck that you recently bought. Or just be Ken Tai of 88 Rotors because he’s got a 24 Tacoma. So Ken, thanks for coming on the show. This, Is the segment where again, we talked to regular schmos, although you’re not really a regular schmo because you own a shop, but we wanted your real world account of The truck.

Ken (13m 6s):

Okay. Yeah. First, thanks for having me. I actually placed the order for this truck, like what, three, four months ago when You

Holman & Lightning (13m 13s):

1999

Ken (13m 14s):

Started taking it exactly right. Feels like it. And then it was still on order locally here and I couldn’t find it. I, it wasn’t available. And then I found one online in Vegas actually. So then I just called them and they said, it’s, it’s right there. He FaceTimed me, he said, Hey, send me a deposit. Come out here, it’s yours. So that’s exactly what I did. I, I flew out there a couple days later, I sent the deposit, flew out there and I drove it back home and it was like one of the first tier D off roads that were available here that I’ve seen in, in California at least.

Holman & Lightning (13m 44s):

And so is that what you wanted? You wanted the TRD off road or, I mean, how would you have preferred the TRD Pro?

Ken (13m 51s):

I wanted the TRD Pro and I wanted the hybrid motor, the I force Max, but they’re not even in production yet from what I’m hearing. It’s, it’s going into production soon and it’s gonna be delivered at the end of the year. But by that time the truck’s gonna be a little bit old. I, I wanted The truck first. I wanted to fix it up, do what I have to do with it, you know, promote my business business and advertise with it. So that’s exactly what I did.

Holman & Lightning (14m 15s):

Let’s be honest. And I, I

Ken (14m 16s):

Plan to the, the you

Holman & Lightning (14m 17s):

You’re gonna learn on this one and then dump it for the one you actually want.

Ken (14m 21s):

Yeah, exactly.

Holman & Lightning (14m 25s):

Yes. So when You say, just dump it, This Is not a bone stock. 24, I think. How long did you have it, Ken, before you brought it to King?

Ken (14m 35s):

Under 24 hours. I drove it back. I, I brought it into to our shop. We ripped out the suspension. We tried, we measured everything out. My first thought was like, may maybe I can retrofit like a third gen setup on here until King makes something. And then right when I posted that, I got it, king hit me up and he’s like, Hey, bring it down. Let’s do it. And then there, there it was. I, I had it for less than 24 hours after driving it back to California and then I dropped it off at King and a few days later I had a full suspension set up, done.

Holman & Lightning (15m 5s):

Now did you put bigger tires on it?

Ken (15m 6s):

I did. I’m running 35 inch tires on it right now. And it fits perfect. It’s, yeah, it’s so easy to fit 30 fives on the, on the fourth generation Tacoma now.

Holman & Lightning (15m 15s):

So no, no rubbing or anything like that?

Ken (15m 17s):

No rubbing whatsoever. Back with like the third gen, second gen, everyone tried to do 30 fives and it was, it was just a bunch of work. I had one before too. I had to do a bunch of work to make 30 fives fit. Yeah,

Holman & Lightning (15m 27s):

You need the tall, skinny 30 fours a piece of cape. Yeah, it’s it’s tough. Exactly. It’s tough. Well, two questions. One, is it re geared or is the new transmission have plenty of gears where you don’t feel the need and then were you able to calibrate your speedometer so that all your gauges and stuff are right?

Ken (15m 43s):

It’s not calibrated yet. I don’t, I don’t know if there’s anything available yet. I haven’t seen it. I don’t really feel like there’s a major need to regear. I’m happy with the way it drives still, but of course I do want to, when it becomes available, the parts aren’t, just, aren’t available basically every, everywhere I’ve looked and, and all that, nothing is available yet for this vehicle. And a lot of parts are being prototyped and all that right now too. So it’s just a process.

Holman & Lightning (16m 9s):

But I wanted to talk Ken, about driving from Vegas to SoCal. It’s a four or five hour drive depending if you stop off to get food and whatnot. Tell me your initial impressions.

Ken (16m 22s):

Well, before driving it I was like, Hey, you know, four cylinder turbo, we’re gonna lose the two cylinders compared to the third generation that I had previously. But after jumping in and driving it, it was amazing. I, I guess Toyota did a great thing with this new motor and the new eight speed transmission that they made it together flawlessly, So it, it drives great, it drives better than the V six previously. And I love it going up, up the hills and everything. On the way back from Vegas, it was, I didn’t feel any struggle. There was actually a fixed up third generation Tacoma that pulled up next to me, gave me a thumbs up and then he floored it.

Holman & Lightning (16m 59s):

And then you gave him a middle finger? No, no.

Ken (17m 2s):

I felt like it, but I, he’s appreciating the new Tacoma, so I, I gasped it a little bit and then I, I passed him up. But yeah, he, his, he had a lot of modifications. I was completely stuck at that time.

Holman & Lightning (17m 14s):

Just to take a side note here, Ken, like have you been all around the country? Does the Toyota thing exist everywhere else like it does here? I feel like every Tacoma on the road here has a tent, has a little wa has like, like all the accoutrements. Like it’s just there. Every single one is built for overland. I don’t even, I I, unless that’s not true, an old gardener truck or something. No, no, no, no. There there’s many kinds, there’s, there’s definitely the old gardener trucks or the, the parts vehicles from local dealership. Then there’s the overland guys for sure. Then there’s the pre-runner guys here. Here’s the question I have for you Ken, is what are the mods Sure that are, let’s face it, the aftermarket is incredibly mature for the last several generations of Tacoma.

Holman & Lightning (17m 59s):

you can literally buy everything, fix every problem, got you covered in the new truck. Toyota did a lot to keep, you know, to fix those problems or little niggles or things that were bothersome from the factory. So the new truck has a lot of changes and updates that right outta the box. It’s really good. But is there anything from the older build that you wish were currently available that are either under development or somebody hasn’t come to the market with where, where you’re like, man, they could just, somebody just did XI would be so much more happy with this truck.

Ken (18m 27s):

As of now, I’m, I’m pretty sure everything I want is gonna be built and, and made eventually. Ultimately I want a long travel setup on this. I’m talking to somebody right now that wants to take The truck for three weeks and I’m not ready for that yet ’cause I’m enjoying it. But they’re supposed to build a long travel setup for it. And that’s one thing that I know is gonna be in development with a lot of companies. I talk to multiple people and they’re all, they all have plans for it. But other than that, a lot of the new features on this truck, I I love it. I don’t see anything that’s missing really other than like, you know, like a good skid plate or something. ’cause they come with some dinky little composite material skid place right now. And that’s like the number one thing everyone talks about.

Holman & Lightning (19m 7s):

Well take us through the upgrades that you’ve done so far and the ones you’re planning to do immediately. Because for example, we talked about the kings, we don’t know what kind of tires. Yeah, you have methods, but go through the parts that are bolted on so far.

Ken (19m 18s):

I actually have kcs, I have the B Rock forged impacts on here. Yeah, it was, it was their newly released Wheel. They hooked me up with it. I’m running that with some, oh wait,

Holman & Lightning (19m 27s):

Wait,

Ken (19m 27s):

Stop, wait,

Holman & Lightning (19m 28s):

Wait, wait. Stop one, one second. There was some debate when your truck was on the rack at work and I, and I forgot that they were kcs indeed. So my apologies not methods. No worries. But there was some debate over whether those were real beadlocks because the beadlock ring is mounted so, so tightly to the hoop. Yeah. That they almost look like fake beadlocks. But what you’re saying is they are in fact real beadlocks.

Ken (19m 53s):

They are, yes. They’re they’re beadlocks. Those are

Holman & Lightning (19m 55s):

Gorgeous. Wow.

Ken (19m 57s):

I know. I love ’em. They are

Holman & Lightning (19m 58s):

Polished aluminum home and so they’re just yeah in them. They’re great. Great looking Wheel you have, okay, so I interrupted you, you, so you’ve got the KCS on there,

Ken (20m 5s):

35, 12 and half 17. Toya open country mts and my buddies over at Canberra hooked me up with kinetic upper control arms. They’re kinetic four links in the back. They’re all billet arms, upper and lower trailing arms on her. That’s all done. And then what else do I have? I have like the Princip pro cab rack on here. I have a bunch of Baja design stuff and then rock sliders. I have the Cali Rays, LED the original guys over from Texas, they hooked me up with that. Sent me over a bed rack too. I’m running like Rome cases on there. All my re recovery stuff is on there. That’s kind of it for now actually.

Holman & Lightning (20m 44s):

Do you and put some Lighting everywhere you can, you plan to swap out bumpers. The bumpers are are pretty slick. The stock bumpers are pretty slick. Yeah,

Ken (20m 52s):

I, I wanted a full bumper, but if you notice the way the The truck is designed, there’s a, there’s a, a flare like an over fender that has vents in there, functional vents in there. So if I do a full bumper, it’s gonna cut into that. So I’m kind of stuck with doing like a half bumper, which is what people are doing on these that they’re, they’re making right now. I have my CBI covert bumper on order. They told me it was supposed to be here last week and then now they said they shipped it out yesterday. So I’m getting that installed this upcoming week. ’cause we’re gonna be out at a, at an event the following Saturday. So I’m hoping that that gets here in time so I can do that course.

Holman & Lightning (21m 28s):

And that’s a fabricated, that’s a fabricated bumper, right? That’s not tubular, that’s a sheet.

Ken (21m 33s):

It is, it’s a fabricated bumper.

Holman & Lightning (21m 34s):

Okay, okay. Oh that was the one, like one of the ones that was sitting on the floor when I was over at your shop like that. That was gorgeous. Exactly,

Ken (21m 40s):

Exactly. Those, yeah, those are very popular for these Toyota trucks these days.

Holman & Lightning (21m 45s):

How much taller is it than stock

Ken (21m 48s):

Right now? I mean the suspension I set it at about two and a half inches. So yeah, that’s two and a half inches. The tires plus the tires. I brought it up to 35 tires. Yeah, so I mean if you’re talking about like the roof line with everything I have, I probably gained like five or six inches with the roof rack as well. That’s what she said.

Holman & Lightning (22m 7s):

Let’s get back to the engine for a second. You, you, when You were saying that it was better than the last, the previous generation, how do you feel about, ’cause This Is the first one with turbos, right? So how do you feel about, does it have turbo lag? Are you happy with it? How’s the range and fuel economy compared to your other one before you got the 30 fives on there?

Ken (22m 26s):

I I love it. Yeah, I love it. Like it’s, it’s almost an instant go with this, the way Toyota made it. I don’t feel any turbo lag or anything like that. If, if you don’t know any better and you jump in in here and you drive it, you probably would believe it. It’s a V six and they haven’t changed anything if at, at all what they did with the eight speed transmission these days on the, the peak torque on these, basically what they did with the four-cylinder turbo is they with the same horsepower is like 2 78 horsepower. And that’s the same as the V six and the previous generation. But the, the good thing about this one is that the peak torque hits at 1700 RRP M only. So the second you fired up step on the gas, it just goes.

Ken (23m 6s):

So the zero to 60 time is lower on this versus the, the previous generation. And yeah, it feels very good just having all that extra torque. Everyone’s hating on the turbos, they’re saying it’s not gonna last this and that, but honestly, who’s, who’s gonna keep it that long? Oh, I’m not keeping it that long. But I, I don’t think there’s gonna be any problems and Toyota’s not gonna screw themselves over by doing this. They’re they’re, they’re doing the right thing. They going this route. Yeah, I mean

Holman & Lightning (23m 32s):

Look, they’ve had turbos on sports cars dating back 30 years, so turbos are, are nothing new to Toyota. And of all the companies that you can trust, it’s gonna be Toyota, they’re not gonna wear out. I think you’ll get a half a million miles or more at least out of outta those little turbos. So let me ask you, why Tacoma and not Tundra? How do you make that decision? You like the compact nature of the Tacoma? Because I’m a don. Don’t, I’m a Tundra fan. Oh, that ’cause I’m a Tundra fan. I love that. A new tundra. And does the new Tacoma look too much like the, the tundra?

Ken (24m 6s):

It’s like a little baby brother of the tundra to me. But I actually placed an order for the Tundra TRD pro with Longo Toyota here in El Monte. And it took them forever to get it. And then it was finally available. I already told them like, hey, I I I’m over it. ’cause we’ve probably like lifted a hundred of ’em or more at the shop already. I’m actually staring at one right now that we’re working on. So there was just so many of ’em by that point that I ended up not wanting one anymore. And yeah, the Tacoma the the space is kind of small. I wouldn’t, you know, I, I can’t really take my family out in this or anything like that, but to get around by myself and, and do things, I love it.

Ken (24m 47s):

Yeah, but who needs that has all space for me.

Holman & Lightning (24m 51s):

So then you, you mentioned the shop 88 Rotors. We need to tell people a little bit about the shop and before you do, I gotta tell you this. So you know, we’ve had your truck, we’ve been using it for some pedal monster development, and that’s looking for reverse gear so we can add reverse safety to this. And Toyota doesn’t make it easy to sense gear position on the can bus. Anyway, Ken’s been really great in loaned us this 24. And how many miles have you put on it? Lightning only to a shop once. That’s now literally, I mean I, I don’t know that he’s taking photographs of the odometer, but like I, no one has driven Ken. You should definitely take photos of the odometer. No, listen, we, we do the whole thing. We put bags over the seats and the floor and all that stuff.

Holman & Lightning (25m 32s):

We we’re, we, we treat his, his truck better than we treat our own. I was on the phone with a 24 Tundra hybrid owner this morning. I’d never spoken to him before. He was doing some beta testing with a pedal monster we had, man, we must have been on the phone 45 minutes this morning. And we were talking, I said, oh yeah, I brought up 88 Rotors in conversation because he said, oh yeah, we got a 24 Tacoma. He goes, and it’s a, we stole it from 88 Rotors. And he goes, whoa, I watch all their videos. He’s like, I think his name is Ken. He’s really entertaining. I’ve learned so much from his channel. This Is, a 53-year-old army vet that is amazing. Super cool guy.

Holman & Lightning (26m 12s):

Brand new truck. Had like 1000 miles on the odometer and had watched all your videos and I think that’s why he fell in love. He’s coming out of the diesel world into a tundra. So kudos to you for putting out some really good content at 88 Rotors. Thank you. So you’ve been doing this for 20 years at the shop. How did you get started and how did you become known as the Toyota guy in SoCal?

Ken (26m 36s):

I actually started, like in oh three, like 21 years ago. I was just selling Rotors on the side as like a, like an e-commerce type of business. And you know, I was working at a tire shop selling that. I was machining brake Rotors and stuff like that. That’s how it all started. And then in 2004, a year later, I opened up my own shop mainly just doing Rotors, hence the name. And then, what was it, oh, oh seven when the second generation Tundra came out. I I, I bought one of the first ones from Longo. It was like, it was supposed to be for one of their, their main guys or whatever. And then he kind of passed, passed it on and I was like, sure, I’ll take it. You know, at that time it was the new thing. Toyota wasn’t as big as it is now in the off-road in Overland game.

Ken (27m 18s):

I picked that up, I started fixing it up and that’s when I started getting into like off-roading, you know, it was, it was just like a new thing for me. I was, I was young just getting that it was something cool just to mess around with. And it became a hobby. And then slowly I started attracting all the Toyota guys just by having it. And then all the guys at the shop started buying four runners Tacomas and FJ Cruisers. And that’s what we did. And it was just like we, we used to work on t cars, you know, like all the Hondas and Nissans and, you know, doing all the accessories and stuff like that. And that’s what we started off doing. But after getting my own tundra, that’s when it took off. And I, I think like when Toyota released the Tier D Pro in like 2015, that’s when it blew up.

Ken (28m 3s):

Like everyone was about Toyotas and, you know, a lot of guys over from like the Chevy and, you know, the trucks, the Fords and stuff start, started getting Toyotas and it, it became like a, a, a cool thing. So e everyone’s getting into that overlanding segment that, that we were talking about. So that’s, we kind of just transitioned over since then to strictly off road. We, we do a lot of the like suspension work, wheels, tires, modifications for them to fit all the overland accessories. We, we stock a bunch of it too. We have two warehouses that we fully stock of all, all the popular products. And you know, here oftentimes I’m always on social media asking people like, Hey, what do you guys want us to stock in?

Ken (28m 44s):

And then whatever people say, and we see that it’s, it works. We, we stock all that stuff in and we try to have inventory here.

Holman & Lightning (28m 49s):

We gotta drop off some OVR magazines over there for you. So you have ’em in the shop. You do. Absolutely. If you guys wanna see what we’re talking about, go to 88 Rotors offroad dot com. That’s number eight. Number eight Rotors offroad dot com. Also on Instagram. Yeah, also on Instagram. You guys have a pretty big Instagram following for a local shop.

Ken (29m 7s):

It’s decent. Yeah. Nice.

Holman & Lightning (29m 9s):

We’ll have to, like I said, I, I’m one of the partners on OVR magazine, so it’s right up the your alley. So I would love to keep in touch if you guys have any great builds coming out that we do features on or anything like that, or work with you guys, it’d be cool. That’s

Ken (29m 22s):

Awesome.

Holman & Lightning (29m 22s):

So can the future of the 24 Tacoma, what does it end up at the SEMA show this November?

Ken (29m 28s):

I talked to a few people about bringing it to cima. I’m not sure who I’m going to bring it with, but yes, the plan is to be there and we, we, we do shows often. We’re doing Rolex rigs next weekend too. So we’re, we’re, we’re trying to get ourselves out there, you know, meet and greet with all of our supporters basically.

Holman & Lightning (29m 46s):

Cool. All right. Well thanks for giving us the You Review for your 24 Tacoma. Really appreciate it.

Ken (29m 52s):

Of course. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Holman & Lightning (29m 53s):

Now get out there and huck some tacos. Huck tacos.

Ken (29m 57s):

I’ll do it for a viral video. Yeah,

Holman & Lightning (29m 59s):

That boy. All right man. All right. You’re the man. Thank you Ken. Appreciate it.

Ken (30m 2s):

Thank you guys.

Holman & Lightning (30m 3s):

All right. All right. Bye. Thanks. Bye. All right. It’s time to read some black type on some white pages that we printed out that started out as email. Wow, that was a stretch. Hey, we’re gonna read your emails.

Intro (30m 17s):

You email? Yeah, I email Do it. We email. That’s right. Everybody email type it up. You email proofread. I email send it. We email, click it. Everybody email. Wow.

Holman & Lightning (30m 41s):

You wanna go first or you want me to go first?

Intro (30m 42s):

Go for it. Alright, I’m,

Holman & Lightning (30m 46s):

I’m gonna start one off from Jason Foss. He writes to Truck show podcast at gmail dot com, $1 truck. Hey, just saw this clip of the Dollar truck on Brian Shaw’s Facebook page. And by the way, for those of you that don’t know, Brian Shaw is widely known as the world’s strongest man. He can walk around carrying a thousand pounds. He’s enormous and he is awesome. It’s cool that that truck went to a good guy. It’s Brian bought a 2003 Ford excursion that we hopped up at banks. So I think that’s what Jason’s referring to. So I’ve been following Brian on Facebook for a while and he seems like a really cool dude and I can guarantee you that he is need to hear that Gale Banks talks about the dollar truck and he says five stars and yeah buddy. And that’s from Jason Foss.

Holman & Lightning (31m 27s):

So about a month and a half ago I saw that Brian Shaw had purchased a 2003 Ford excursion, just pristine. Apparently it’s been his dream truck since he was a kid. And it needed a little bit of work under the hood because he lives in Colorado with mile high, low air density, needed some more horsepower. So I called him up and said, Hey, I’m Lightning and I wanna be your new best friend Ken. I mean, I didn’t say that. Okay. But I, I said, can I steal The truck, flatbed it down to Southern California, do a bunch of stuff to it, then fly you down, you shoot a video and convince you to hang out with me. And then I, we did go to dinner, so that was cool. What’d you have? We went to the Mexican restaurant that I went with.

Holman & Lightning (32m 7s):

You and I and Gale went to Lato Teca La Toca. Exactly, yes. And the dude ate like 10 tacos and a quesade and a bunch of other stuff. He really eat 10 tacos. Yes. That’s awesome. He eats a lot. Yeah. There, there are multiple episodes on his channel about how much he eats. So he eats like 10,000 calories of sitting. Yeah. So no to self, no, no. Inviting Brian Shaw to lunch and beer. A budget or dinner on a budget. No, no, do not do that. Anyway, so we did that. He came down and he took a tour and we did the big reveal at the end of the, the episode and it was awesome. And there’s two episodes up on Brian Shaw’s Facebook page and his YouTube channel. So if you’re curious what banks looks like or who Brian Shaw is or what we’ve done to his excursion, that’s all up there.

Holman & Lightning (32m 51s):

But while he was taking a tour, we show it off Lock jaw. That’s the dollar truck that Jason in this email is referring to. Whoa. Yes. Now Gail says, we bought The truck for a dollar. Is that what he says? He says that. And when he said that out loud, I cringed a little bit because I thought, wow, I’m gonna get burned by my man Holman and listeners, lots of listeners. There’s nothing I could do. I couldn’t actually, I did think I cut it out of, we’re making a version of that video as well for banks channel. Right. I think I cut that part out ’cause I was a little embarrassed because that’s not exactly how it went down.

Holman & Lightning (33m 31s):

Banks didn’t buy it for a dollar. Huh? But Holman did I have pictures and evidence? Yes, actually banks bought it for free. Banks got it for free. Well, banks have spent a lot of money on No, I I understand that. But hundreds and hundreds of man hours. They bought it from the owner after you. Yeah. Oh wait, the owner after I gave you the dollar. Pretty cool. Yeah. So I, I do encourage you guys to, by the time you’re hearing this, banks has a video out. So go to Bank Power and watch our version because I’d rather have the views than sending ’em to Brian. As cool as Brian is.

7 (34m 6s):

Review. Bye Star.

Holman & Lightning (34m 9s):

Yeah buddy. There we go. Got this one here from Shane Segel. S-E-G-E-L-K. I’m sure you’re butchering it. I’m sure I am too. Anyway, he says light beer and hold milk. Lightning. You need to expand on the shooting sticker to say don’t touch my bitch. Thieves will be shot. Shot by what? I don’t, I don’t know. don don’t own a firearm. That’s a problem. Okay. That’s an empty threat as they say. He says, I personally wouldn’t put any of these stickers on my truck. I don’t think any of them will make anyone think twice about trying to steal your truck. If they’re gonna try to steal it, they’re gonna try no matter what a sticker says. Probably better. Just rely on the igloo system to stop them. Igloo. Igloo. That’s igla An alarm would be the best thing to add to The truck with the Igla system.

Holman & Lightning (34m 51s):

So I think Autocorrect messed him up there. So I I have one, I got a Compu star, the full boat, everything. It tell me when You on many days, does your battery last when it’s parked? When it’s, it’s so far Six, but I think that it’s also six days. And I think you have a dead battery also. No, here’s what it is. It’s, it’s definitely not the Comus star system, I can tell you that. Okay. It’s my phoenix, my PA system stays on 24 7. Why? It’s programmed that way. It’s made for police cars. you can’t turn it off. Yeah, I, I can and I do, I have a a a I have a You don’t have like a, a kill switch. I do. But to find that out, to know that I had to use a GI switch. Oh geez. Yeah. I had to let it die once long.

Holman & Lightning (35m 32s):

So Yeah. Lasted about five. You have to five, six days. Yeah. God. So I leave it on a charger. Oh geez. Anyway, he says also don’t listen to anybody. You understand that when the, when the alarm goes off, dude, when they break the glass, it, it’s a police siren. Yeah. It’s crazy. Yeah. Now if they continue to break in Yeah. With a police siren going that takes massive s then they deserve your truck. I hear Challenge door listeners. No, God no. Please, please. Checking. By the way, I didn’t tell you that I, or should I see from the next episode my, my latest update You did not. Do you want me to do it here or next? Well I’d like to finish Shane’s email. Go ahead. Okay Shane, keep going. Also, don’t listen to anyone who complains about the jingles. They are either awesome or hilarious or both. One of my favorites is The truck Review ’cause Yeah.

Holman & Lightning (36m 15s):

And the funniest one is the original inside job jingle. Especially when things worky work. Work. If you read this email during the show and played both of those jingles, that would be awesome. I also don’t mind the Honey Biscuit song because it’s also hilarious. Thanks Shane. He’s got some hashtags here. Hashtag rolling Cole and Dragon Truck nuts. Hashtag Taste the biscuit. Hashtag taste the honey sauce and hashtag taste the goodness of the biscuit with the honey sauce. Wow. That’s gotta piss off Holman to no end. And Shane, you, he hates that song. Shane are going to be removed from ever participating in the show again. I’m gonna save those till after the show. Shane, stick around.

Holman & Lightning (36m 55s):

Take that Shane Kevin Hart from the 9 0 3 area code writes yes to presale shirts. It’s about damn time he says Hmm. Double exclamation mark. All right, so Holman, that’s one person who has said yes standing by two T-shirts. I’m standing by. Alright, we got this email from Scott Barton who apparently listens to the show and has a EGR roll track that he heard about on the show. Ooh, nice. At least that’s what I’m going with. Okay. It says 3 92 and TRX 3 92 A TRX our nicknames. Now I seen that our local Dodge dealer has a T Rx. No, no, no not I’ve seen stop it already in the front of their lot I saw or I have seen with the price in the windshield.

Holman & Lightning (37m 36s):

129 9 99. Ouch. Good thing you already have yours Lightning. Here’s some ideas. Either deterrent or taunts would be thieves. One break glass to sound alarm. Two. No warning shots will be fired. Ooh, break glass to sound alarm. I didn’t do that one. Three. You are being watched. Four. I can see you. And five protected by both Smith and Wesson. Also, I just installed my EGR roll track on my Trail Boss this weekend. It is a really well engineered product and looks fantastic. I am irritated to find out that it cannot adjust my tire size on my Trail boss. That was my plan when the factory tires wore out. I think we look way better on 30 fives. Yeah buddy Scott Martin on. Hey dude, thanks for taking care of our sponsors on that.

Holman & Lightning (38m 18s):

Yeah buddy. EGR roll track. ’cause as you know, we’re big fans of that particular Tahoe cover system. So what did he put that on again? Trail Boss. Full-sized. Chevy 1500. So what he doesn’t know is that Mr. Matt gamble at banks during his after hours time, which is, it’s not many, but I’ve stolen a few hours of his time. He’s making me a headache rack. No, you’re talking about that from my, I know that, but I think we’re gonna make it modular so he could potentially use it. It’s designed specifically for the EGR roll track. Mm. Interesting. I got the CAD from our bros. Justin and Mike at EGR. So that was super cool. Bitching. TRX Thievery is the message from Matt.

Holman & Lightning (38m 58s):

Hey Lightning, just pull out an extra insurance policy on it. I mean I, I have the biggest one I can afford. I think it could be considered a collector car or an enthusiast car. People all over have priceless car collections and don’t worry too much about them getting stolen because they are all insured and don’t worry about it. Just drive it like you stole. Okay. So Matt, just because you have an insurance policy does not mean that you don’t care if it gets stolen. That’s insane. If this were a bone stock truck, as I’ve said before, it would be a bummer but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. ’cause in theory I could go buy a replacement. The fact that I have a bunch of hours. No unobtainium, no different than Holman with a 3 92 modifying it with all the a EV bits and all that stuff.

Holman & Lightning (39m 42s):

You get, there’s a piece of you in it. Again, it’s not a Honda Accord that’s bone stocked that you can just walk down to the dealer and get another one. That’s part of the issue. And more so about collector cars. You know you got a 63 Austin Healy with Chrome knockoffs and it’s beautiful. It’s pristine and show car quality. You don’t want someone stealing your Austin Healy. I have no idea why I said that other than maybe ’cause my father used to own a 63 Austin Healy.

8 (40m 4s):

Oh my God. Lightning shut the F up. All

Holman & Lightning (40m 9s):

Right, shut up Lightning. All, all right, all right, all right. Alright. Got another truck security email for you. Lightning. Oh geez. This was from Austin Bryce’s Lightning Holman. It’s me again. I saw this and thought you might want consider this for the TRX. Maybe that way they’ll think twice after reading the sticker. These will be shot and hearing a gunshot after breaking it or put a trip wire at the end of your driveway. But what do I know? I just listened to Suckage.

8 (40m 30s):

You can hear it

Holman & Lightning (40m 31s):

Sucking, keep up the Lord’s work. Austin Brown. And he sent us a link to that company that does the trip wires that are wired to a shotgun shell blank. So when You trip trip over it, gunshot goes off. Okay. No, I don’t wanna do that, but I do want fire. Why? That’s my neighbors will go crazy and I’ll get somehow sent to jail. What I do want you didn’t shooting was just a loud bang. It’s a, it’s a blank. It just fires the blank when they trip it. But I would rather have one that when they trip it, it like turns on lights and sirens and stuff. Well I think if I don’t wanna you trip a gunshot that would probably send people fleeing.

Holman & Lightning (41m 11s):

Yeah. But then wouldn’t they pull out their gun and start firing? You’re inside your house safe and sound and No you’re not. Dude, that’s you. That’s in, you know that kids have been shot in cribs and stuff ’cause they’ve gone through how many kids and cribs are in your house? Zero. Exactly. But they’re gonna start shooting. Who knows where it’s coming from? No, that’s why you put it toward the street. So they shoot out toward the street. Oh, come on dude. You know, that’s barbaric. I’m not gonna do that. But if there is a trip wire system that you guys are aware of, or it’s the two lights like you have in your garage where the garage door won’t close. If you’re standing in that in the way of those two IR sensors, wherever they’re, please let me know because I would love to have one right in front. So at night I can arm it and if someone walks into my driveway, it lights everything up and has music or some ungodly thing.

Holman & Lightning (41m 54s):

You know, maybe music is a bad call, but mu I mean maybe some of the weird music you listen to it would be, it would be weird if like Kenny G came on would be weird. I would run from that too. So would I, he also sent off this link that’s from W-W-L-T-V CCB S four. And it’s about a guy who booby-trapped his car. Is that the guy? The white, white full-sized Chevy. Yeah. And they keep busting his window. Yeah. And they would steal whatever was in his center console. Yeah. So when they lifted his center console, it had all kinds of stuff that sprayed out and covered him. Yeah. And he was just watching guy after guy, like roll out of the car with just like they would ’cause it’s the, the top half of their body would be in the driver’s window.

Holman & Lightning (42m 42s):

Yeah. And they’d come out just covered it. Crap. I like that. Yeah. It’s illegal in the state of California to booby trap your vehicle. Why? It is, it’s illegal to do everything. It is. Why? It’s not a booby trap. It is a booby. It’s trap. No it’s not. And a theft device. It’s a booby trap. How’s it a booby trap? Could it define booby trap? Could it, could it scare the thief enough to give him a heart attack? Who cares then It’s a booby trap. No, I think they’re, I think that’s vague. you can break into someone’s house in California and if they were to somehow scare you and you trip, you’re the thief. You trip and bump your head. you can sue them even though you’re in their house stealing their wares. Yeah. That’s why you have that nuts. That’s why you have to handle that right away. Yeah.

Holman & Lightning (43m 24s):

T-shirts Subject line for Matt Bracket. A Lightning and Holman. I can hear that. Dude. Stop. Long time, long time listener to The Truck Show Podcast from British Columbia. I would 100% be buying a T-shirt if they were available. Five stars. And definitely matter those parameters. All right. Truck show podcast at gmail dot com. Do you guys want presale T-shirts? Let us know. Five star

7 (43m 49s):

Review. Five star

9 (43m 52s):

Monitor. Key engine parameters.

Holman & Lightning (43m 56s):

All right. Mr. CNN let’s get into some news. Whoa Whoa.

10 (43m 59s):

What’s new in trucks? We need to know what’s new in trucks. We need to know what’s new in trucks. We need to know

Intro (44m 8s):

Lifted, lowered and everything in between. What’s happening in the world of trucks?

Holman & Lightning (44m 14s):

Ah, it’s me alone. There is, well you kind of messed me up when You called me by that horrible acronym. I’m looking at the news and it is so light this week. We’re gonna knock it through real quick. This won’t be our normal news where Lightning takes sideways on every story. He’s smiling. All right. Hey Lighting, did you hear welcome to Barnes and No, no. I have not heard. Apparently the Tesla cyber truck was recalled because of that viral TikTok video where the pedal cover the, the metal pedal cover comes off the accelerator and then wedges it under Yep. The firewall and causes it to go at a hundred percent throttle. Yeah. So This Is a decorative cover that fits over the plastic pedal and it might be a metal pedal.

Holman & Lightning (44m 57s):

This Is. Just like a stainless steel cover that goes over it. Well that’s what I’m saying. Yeah. It’s a, it’s a decorative stainless steel pedal cover and it apparently they didn’t glue it or screw it on well enough and it slides up literally up and it gets wedged under this i i the bulkhead basically. And yeah, something gets just gets stuck in the firewall. Yeah. And then basically, and the guy explained in the TikTok video that he was able to hold on the break. And When, you hold the break, it cancels out. Throttle it cancels out. But as soon as you let off the break, it’s like launch mode. 3,878 units built until April 4th are all subject to the recall. So Gotcha. A a a fairly big number. So if you drive a cyber truck, be careful. One of the things that came outta the recall that’s kind of interesting though, is if you look at the numbers, Tesla delivered more cyber trucks in the first four months of this year than hu sold EVs all last year.

Holman & Lightning (45m 45s):

Yeah, I could see that. But I’m just saying that it’s a, it’s, that’s a vehicle that’s been out for a year with a bunch of fanfare as well. And cyber truck. I’ve there’s a guy down on my street bought, bought one. Yeah, yeah. And there’s one, I’ve seen crews in the neighborhood that’s not him. ’cause I went, oh, that’s where he lives. And his truck was parked there. I’m like, oh, that wasn’t him. And then I’m starting to see him around town and stuff. Well, so I was, remember Brian Rodriguez over at SoCal Tint? Yeah. He did the expel work. Yep. Some of it. Anyway, I was there yesterday and he was doing a midnight blue metallic rap and he says everyone, he’s getting known for wrapping these things. Yeah. Because he’s been on Instagram. If you look at Look up SoCal Tint, I think it’s SoCal Tint Chino. You’ll see quite a few cyber trucks.

Holman & Lightning (46m 26s):

And I was surprised how the panels all kind of snap on to the, the body shell, like they’re, yeah, there’s a, it’s, there’s basically a body underneath and then the, the the stainless, like the whole truck’s not stainless. It’s like’s the body panels. Yeah. I I just expected it to like be more structural and it’s just not, but boy oh boy, no different than offender. I, I’m telling you. So the, the, the sharp edges are every bit as sharp as people have said, they are, like, they are legitimately not razor sharp, but they are most certainly sharp enough to cut you. Do you think we should call him right now? I I, he might answer. I mean, I have a question for him and I’d be interested to know more about what he’s up to. Sure. Rapid cyber trucks.

Holman & Lightning (47m 6s):

That’s not my question, but Sure. Okay. Hello, it’s Brian. Yo. B Rod. It’s a Lightning at home, a truck show podcast. How you doing? What’s up brother? So we were talking about a new story, which catch you guys up to, we were rapping about in our new segment here. We, we were rapping. Is that what your, your lead in is gonna be a pun on wrapping NI didn’t even think about that. No, nice pun. Yeah, we were talking about you wrapping a a, a bunch of cyber trucks, one of which I saw the other day in some kind of an inter interesting midnight blue or whatever you called it. You had a fancy name for the, the wrap. Yeah.

11 (47m 46s):

Yeah. It’s called midnight. It’s out by Flexi Shield, which I just teamed up with David over there and Emma. And so far so good. Their product is top quality. We just wrapped up another cyber truck. It left today and we knocked that out in three days. Complete tint and full tear down. Wrapped it. Sealed it, and put all back together. Delivered it today.

Holman & Lightning (48m 15s):

So what is different about wrapping a cyber truck versus anything else?

11 (48m 21s):

Cyber truck. It can almost do it with no thumbs.

Holman & Lightning (48m 26s):

I mean, it’s gotta be easier, right? ’cause you don’t have any, like, it’s all flat panels, convex and concave, weird move body lines and

11 (48m 33s):

Yeah. So for all those, all those flat earthers out there, that’s pretty much how easy it is to wrap So. it, it’s super simple. Would

Holman & Lightning (48m 41s):

You sell it to the flat earthers? That’s, I would sell it by telling them that it’s easier than going past the ice wall.

11 (48m 46s):

Exactly.

Holman & Lightning (48m 48s):

How did you, well first off, how did you get started? Because right now you’ve done like, I feel like a dozen cyber trucks already, don don’t know where the number is, but I keep seeing a pop up on your Instagram, so now you become like the cyber truck guy here in Southern California. Like,

11 (49m 2s):

Yeah, it’s fun. I, I love working on anything, so I’m just, I’m just like, you guys, I’m just a big kid and the world’s in my garage, so I, I love doing what I’m doing. So, you know, aside from, you know, I did my stint with the military, I did EMT Sheriffs, you’re always told have a backup career. And my backup career was playing with motorcycles and playing with cars and So. it, it’s just like second nature to me. So I love creating and building something and try to be unique with anything that I touch and do, especially for individual customers. I’m always try to say, you know, let’s put this twist on it, make it different.

11 (49m 42s):

So it stands out from the next one. That’s what I always like to try and do.

Holman & Lightning (49m 46s):

Is it weird that your backup career is now becoming wrapping cyber trucks?

11 (49m 51s):

Yeah. Yeah. It seems like that’s, that’s why I’m just gonna have to put that on my name badge now. Just gonna say cyber truck wrapper.

Holman & Lightning (49m 57s):

So do you have to pull off the trim and things like that? Is it easier? Is it harder? What’s, what’s underneath the cyber truck?

11 (50m 4s):

It like three hamsters and a mouse. I think that’s running everything, but,

Holman & Lightning (50m 10s):

And one of them’s drunk, but it,

11 (50m 11s):

It’s, yeah, one of ’em is Irish, I think. So, no, no offense to Irish people. It, it’s fairly simple. It’s, you know, it’s almost like there are other cars, but I feel like this car is much easier to pull apart the fender flares, the cameras, the side port for, you know, the charging system and even the large stainless steel, the a pillar frame that goes from the front of the windshield up to a V point and then down across the back we pull that off and then wrap that individually. Same thing with the hood, it’s a short hood and that front piece is considered the grill.

11 (50m 51s):

And we’ll pull that all out, pull the headlight out, the daytime running light and just wrap everything separately so that we can get around the flat end. Where most installed jobs are kind of rounded as you’re going into the fenders or around the doors or whatever you’re doing. This, Is just bam, it’s just straight and then what like a three six, like the smallest whatever it is. And then it just drops flat on the back and you gotta wrap it so that it attaches. So there’s, there’s some tricks to the trade to do that, but you know, okay, we make it

Holman & Lightning (51m 25s):

Happen. All right. So questions. You’re, you’re in your shop, you have your two best installers side by side is the hood of a Wrangler 3 92 next to a complete cyber truck. Which one do you finish first?

11 (51m 41s):

The cyber truck 10 times over

Holman & Lightning (51m 44s):

Because that hood on Saturday’s. Oh, it’s awful. Yeah, it’s like just doing the hood is like a $2,000 job. Oh my God. Because of the labor and how hard it is and it curves every which way and it does all sorts of things. So people had bitched and moaned Brian about the, the sharp edges of the cyber truck. And it’s the first one that I have Sean over here has been to around a bunch of them. I’ve only seen the one at your shop up close. Are they dangerous? Like dangerously sharp? How many paper cuts have you got and realized they weren’t from paper and that you’re actually a knife blade?

11 (52m 16s):

Yeah, it’s, it’s dangerous to a point where you, you have to be careful just in case. ’cause we, you have to remember that these are all getting stamped out and it is Tesla putting these cars together so there’s no real fine tuning at the end. It’s almost like that movie with Michael Keaton gun ho I’m taking this one home, I’m driving it off the lot. Here we go baby. And it just boom, it falls apart. But yeah, the, the, the front corners on the fenders are probably the most dangerous and the ones on the corner of the hood. But we are working and trying to develop something that would be easily attachable but also invisible, almost like baby proofing it.

11 (53m 2s):

That’s what we’re trying to do. So

Holman & Lightning (53m 4s):

Then compare the build quality of a cyber truck to an XS three, whatever, and then compare it to a F-150 or a Nissan frontier or something.

11 (53m 14s):

Build quality from those other manufacturers. Are you feel like almost a more hands-on thing. There’s more time and efficiency put into it. Cyber truck is probably a fairly easy truck to assemble even probably easier than like model three or Model x. I I I feel it’s, it’s pretty simple. It’s, it’s really easy.

Holman & Lightning (53m 41s):

But the build quality though, like are you seeing the panel gaps and such? Like, have you, because you’ve been working on Teslas since the get go. Oh,

11 (53m 48s):

I gotcha. Yeah. This Is probably the better build of any of the Tesla vehicles.

Holman & Lightning (53m 56s):

Now. I, I will say that the, the cyber trucks I’ve been around, one of the things that surprised me is just how heavy the doors are and how solid the clump to close ’em is. I was that, that, that blew me away. I wasn’t expecting it to feel like a actual, it it reminds me of like an old Mercedes s class where it just has that really like, feels like a piece of granite or a vault door. It’s, it’s, that was impressive to me. Yeah.

11 (54m 18s):

The, the old SEL bodies.

Holman & Lightning (54m 20s):

Yes. Yes. A hundred percent. Yeah.

11 (54m 22s):

Yeah. You could run that through a brick wall and barely chip the paint. The, the cyber truck build quality is pretty good. It’s, it’s, it’s solid. I I haven’t seen too many, like any gapping or any issues. It’s, it’s mostly just like the stuff that’s clipped in. It’s the clips. The clips are still, could be better, but the doors yeah, are solid. They’re, they’re super heavy. It’s just go home and run into your fridge

Holman & Lightning (54m 49s):

About the same. Have you run into any rust? You know, a couple weeks back we were the, the, the rumors of rust rusting, stainless steel panels was all the rage. Is that a thing? ’cause you have to detail these vehicles before you wrap them because whatever you wrap over stays there forever.

11 (55m 6s):

Correct. Yeah, so I, you know, I was in on all this info and you know, the chat forms and stuff and you know, we got one right away. So that was one of the first things we looked at. And we looked at it under a couple different lights that we use. And what it is is you’re stamping stainless steel panels with steel machines, so you get metal fatigue, but those metal fatigues are just micro fragments like dust, like pollen. So you’re not gonna see it. So once these vehicles are getting out and delivered, you’re starting to see all this spotting and all this rusting. Now what should have been done was once those were stamped, they should have went through conveyor belt with an acid wash to get all that stuff out.

11 (55m 47s):

Because stainless steels, it’s not painted, it’s not even clear coated, it’s just, it’s frost stainless steel. So they should have been cleaned properly. And once that’s done we’ll, we’ll, you know, de iron it and we’ll clean it all down and we’ll do that probably about like two different stages then we’re ready to start, you know, working on the car. But that’s, that’s where the whole resting came in. And then you saw some of those cool photos where one looked like they just found it in the desert from like 20 years ago.

Holman & Lightning (56m 14s):

I would’ve totally left that one. Like it.

11 (56m 16s):

Oh we’ll just print a wrap out like that and just wrap one like that

Holman & Lightning (56m 19s):

Says the guy who sells wraps customers. Exactly. Yeah. So haven’t you, you done any, let’s

11 (56m 24s):

Go with the rest, the rust edition. Well

Holman & Lightning (56m 25s):

You did a, you did a camo one, didn’t you?

11 (56m 28s):

Yeah, so that one was really cool. That was our first one. And the guy wasn’t too sure what he wanted to do. He just wanted it all matte black. I’m like, no, no, no, it’s just gonna look too plain, you know. So I said I have this shadow black wrap from 3M and the body lines are just, you know, a wrap installer’s wet dream. So we took the bottom half of that body line, we did all that. It just matte black and the top half, including the hood. We did all in this camo black and it’s, when it’s when the sun hits it, you’re just like, oh, oh, oh. You know, it’s, it’s beautiful.

11 (57m 9s):

So that two-tone looked really completed. It So, it was nice.

Holman & Lightning (57m 13s):

Very cool. So I have about 17,000 miles on the 3 92 now. Mm. Ex rapid expel. Yes, rapid expel. And it’s been probably no joke, over 5,000 of those are off-road miles.

11 (57m 28s):

Nice.

Holman & Lightning (57m 28s):

And so I’ve got a few tails that need to kinda get cut off and then when we were installing my roof rack, we may have, the person who was helping me may have lost their arm strength for a brief second and dropped it on the corner of the back and just put a little, little tiny tear in the corner panel. So, you know, is that something that I could come see you for and we could rectify that.

11 (57m 52s):

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You got my number. Just, just tell me when You wanna shoot by

Holman & Lightning (57m 56s):

All good deal. ’cause I wanna make sure that thing stays protected. That, and I’ll tell you, and we haven’t done an update in a while, but you know, almost well over a year and a half in on that. Lots of miles. That thing is unbelievable. And I’ll tell you, you know, I had it wrapped in, in Michigan, drove it home and then Brian is certified installer. So he did the follow up. ’cause normally you would have it done, you would bring it back after it dries and they come and they cut the tails and they, it’s all part of the process. And I wasn’t able to do that ’cause I had it done in Michigan. So I asked Brian if he would go over it for me. And he did when I got it back. Dude, it’s so funny. That thing is still the almost no scratches on the wrap itself, even though I have photos, all the plastics, the mirrors are all desert pinstripe.

Holman & Lightning (58m 38s):

The, the side is, is fine. We took it to the California Overland Show. It was in the OVR booth. And I’m standing there and I heard three times this weekend people walk by and go, well there’s another one that’ll never go off road. Little do they know that thing’s been off road. Thousands and thousands of miles all over the fricking desert Moab, the Mojave, Arizona mud. It’s been in sandstorms. And so you even, you haven’t even had to take a hairdryer to it to like mend itself. ’cause remember no, one of the things that sold us when we had Chris on the phone way back when from Expel Yeah, we should have him back on. It’s like, Hey, Chris Hardy. Yeah, Chris Hardy. Oh, and he’s the best. And so like if you get a scratch and you can take a, take a hairdryer, but I think what happens is Holman parks it in the sun like two, three days a week and it just mends itself in the hot summer sun.

Holman & Lightning (59m 20s):

I, I hate having a dirty car. So sometimes if I, I won’t put it away dirty in the garage and I’ll leave it out because it bugs me to go clean it. Yeah. And then I’ll put it in the garage clean. But while it’s sitting out there or in the desert, you know, it’s a hundred degrees during the day after you go through a bunch of bushes and stuff and the next day, and here’s the other thing about it, is everybody a Wheel with, they’re the hydrophobic coating that’s on there repels dust as well. So I literally have only about 10% of the dust and dirt on it that anyone else that’s in my group. And so all the photos of this thing, it looks bright red and everybody else is covered in dirt and dust and mud. And it’s, they’re like those your those your Jeeps stay so clean. And dude, I I look

11 (59m 55s):

At this,

Holman & Lightning (59m 56s):

Oh dude, we, we,

11 (59m 57s):

We get this pavement princess. Totally.

Holman & Lightning (59m 59s):

We had this discussion on this podcast. I love it. ’cause all of all the people that shouldn’t be accused of owning a pavement princess of a mall crawler. It’s me. It’s whole man. Well, and that’s the thing is it’s like here we are thousands of miles, almost two years in, still looks great. And I and you guys, you are listening know that I was the first person to go like Chris Hardy, you’re full of shit and I’m not on board. Dude, he was, Holman was super skeptical of the raps like This Is. No way. I would totally do it because the idea was, yeah, it’s great for a streetcar, but it’s not gonna live up to the rigors of off-roading. Dude, I would totally do it again. I I’ve been so impressed with that rap un unbelievable. Yeah. And I would totally do it again. So anyway. Yeah.

11 (1h 0m 36s):

And, and you know, I I’ve been in the drive in like a drive through and a kid walks up and he goes, oh look at, look at this Bronco. ’cause I have a 21 Bronco that I, I fully built and customized and the way I build, I built, I built daily driver right to the dirt. You know, so that’s the way it’s gotta be for me. And that was, it was super clean. I said, Hey, you think it’s not dirty? Look up underneath. Look inside my Wheel. Well, yeah, exactly.

Holman & Lightning (1h 1m 2s):

Exactly. So anyway, I just wanted to say that I’ve been really impressed, but I do need to get by you so we can cut off some, some lifting tails and a few little things and then just give it a tune up. We didn’t tell anyone. I was gonna see for another episode, episode since we have you on Brian installed some shatter proofing material on the inside of the windows. So Holman, we’ve talked about it for a bunch of episodes, right? Like how am I gonna stop guys from getting into this? I brought it up, I told, I told you and you’re like, Whoa, Whoa Whoa. So how thick is this film that you put over? So I have expelled XR window tint, which I absolutely love because it’s not you. You

11 (1h 1m 34s):

Have the XR plus

Holman & Lightning (1h 1m 36s):

XR plus, sorry, I have the XR plus. And the reason it’s amazing is because it really cuts out, I’ve had, if you see me, I look like Spock, one of my ears had cancer on it from skin cancer. And the freaking dermatologist cut a piece of a whole chunk of my ear out. So I’m kind of freaked out by the sun almost No infrared is coming through my windows. And so you don’t feel the heat and I yet, they’re not that dark. Like I’m not a big fan of like limo tint or anything. So this IR plus is fricking awesome. But on top of the IR plus you slapped on this, I wanna call it bulletproofing material, but it’s not, how thick is this on top of the tint?

11 (1h 2m 12s):

It’s, yeah, So, it, it’s, you know, for those that don’t wanna add tint and just want something that’s clear and un you know, un deceiving, it’s, it’s a four mill automotive security film. So you can, you know, heat it up and shrink it and mold it to the windows and we use the, you know, the plotter to pre-cut it so we get that full span of the actual glass. Once this film dries and bonds, it’s, it almost acts like the laminated glass that’s in some of these manufacturers now where the two front doors are laminated and that purpose is for, for sound to lower the sound of the cars because it seems like the aluminum’s getting thinner and thinner every year.

11 (1h 2m 56s):

So it’s great.

Holman & Lightning (1h 2m 58s):

So basically if someone tries to pop my glass, break it, this will hold it in place, So it, it won’t shatter and, and fall in and they’ll be, they’ll have to beat on the window and even still it may not cave and fall in so they can’t get in. Yeah, exactly.

11 (1h 3m 11s):

Like put like putting your hand through a spider web, it’s just gonna, it’s gonna es it’s gonna f you up

Holman & Lightning (1h 3m 17s):

And it’s gonna leave a lot of DNA for those detectives to figure out. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I’m not excited about mopping up blood, but if that’s what’s gotta happen then so be it. And that’s a great way to end. Exactly. Alright, well we got more news to get to. So Brian, thanks Brian. Thank you. He’ll Holman will be out to see you in the coming week or so. Yeah, I’ll, I’ll reach out SoCal tin out in Chino, California. I’m good. Yep. Alright. Alright Brian,

11 (1h 3m 40s):

I gotta get back to my other TRX. I’ll see you guys. Oh okay.

Holman & Lightning (1h 3m 43s):

She’s cheating on me. It’s a yellow one too by the way. That’s a Hubble brag. That’s rat. Alright, thanks Brian. Get outta here Brian. See

11 (1h 3m 49s):

You guys later. Bye bye-Bye.

Holman & Lightning (1h 3m 53s):

Hey Lighting, Have You Heard. No wait, no. The Ram 1500 Rev has been hinted that there’ll be a long range model that gets over 500 miles of range, but that doesn’t look like it’ll be out till the end of 2026. So the rev will launch for the 168 kilowatt pack and the 229 kilowatt hour pack is gonna take a long time. So if you’ve been waiting for the really long range one standby, what we know so far is that despite lagging ev truck sales, it’s on schedule to launch later this year and it does have some impressive stats compared to the competition. It’ll be zero to 60 to about four and a half seconds. 4.4 it can go through 24 inches of water and it’ll deliver 654 horsepower and 620 pound feet of torque.

Holman & Lightning (1h 4m 41s):

Damn. The best in class payload said 6 24 will be at 2,700 pounds towing 14,000 pounds. Damn. Yeah, I mean it’s, it’s what pretty impressive. So the smaller, not the long range. 500 mile battery pack. The one that we, that’ll be available sooner, which is the 168 kilowatt hour pack is expected to go about 350 miles. Okay. Which is still pretty good. So if you’ve been waiting for the Ram Rev, keep waiting a little bit longer, but Ram is definitely coming in hard. The other thing that’s kinda interesting is Ram is, I guess I can’t tell you ’cause there’s an embargo. We’ll have to wait. Oh no Fargo. Yeah, I’ll tell you the different show.

Holman & Lightning (1h 5m 21s):

So are people waiting for the Ram Rev? I I feel like they’re not, I when it comes out they’re gonna be excited but I don’t feel like think people are going, I love this. I can’t wait for this one. No, I think the more people are waiting for the, the range extending Ram charger version with the generator on board, I think that’s, that’s the more exciting tech. Yeah, I agree. Hey Lighting, did you hear? No, no, no. So I told you that I had a chance to meet with the head of Jeep North America, bill Effer back in Moab. He was talking about a choice being really important and it looks like there’s some new news coming out with Jeep CEO Antonio Osa. So he has now taken the reins over of Jeep and they dropped prices right away when he came through.

Holman & Lightning (1h 6m 5s):

And then they took Wagoner and rolled it into the Jeep the way it should have been in the first place. Now he’s talking about the electric Wagoner s and the new off-road oriented recon ej, which is the all electric cheap, like the new charger that’s coming out, which was designed to be ev but it’s gonna be getting a version of the straight six. So they’re gonna have both sounds like they are kind of ba backpedaling a little bit and saying, well the, there may be some ice options in these two vehicles. Interesting. So I think that that’s kind of interesting that they were going full tilt and I think the brands like Ram and Jeep have kind of gotten to the point where they went, you know, everybody’s telling us that that’s not what they want right now.

Holman & Lightning (1h 6m 45s):

And those look like some pretty good vehicles. But I think they would be a lot better with What do you think the ice engine options would be? I would imagine it would be the hurricane four cylinder or hurricane six cylinder. I, that’s basically all they have now. Well you don’t think they would roll back into like the, the two liter turbo or something? That’s the hurricane four cylinder. Oh duh. Of course it is. Yeah. Sorry. So that’s, that’s that’s what they have. You know, I would imagine the recon probably gets the two liter in the wagoner s gets the, the straight six. But the Wagoner s is really like, it has some serious Range Rover sport vibes. It’s like if you took a Range Rover Sport, married it to a, a Grand Cherokee, that with a inline turbo six, it could be a cool car. Yeah. I have been seeing more wagoneers on the road here in SoCal.

Holman & Lightning (1h 7m 27s):

I love those things. I I’m not feeling it. Ah, they’re awesome. I’m not, I’m not saying, saying You said you haven’t driven one. I, it, it, I, no I haven’t. Just the exterior appearance is just not my cup of tea. It looks cool. I would go on a road trip when one, because I believe you that it’s the ultimate road trip machine. It’s one of the nicest interiors of any vehicle you get. It looks a little too luxury for me. That’s exactly what they’re going for. Yeah, well that’s like going, you know, I’m more of a Yukon guy ’cause that ade just looks too upscale to me. No, see I, I like the Escalade. I mean that’s like, that’s not too much luxury for you. But don don’t know. The Wagoner just looks more, it just looks it’s extra.

Holman & Lightning (1h 8m 9s):

Yeah, just extra. Oh dude. You know Chris and Liz at work? Yeah. Chris surprised her with this deep metallic green Escalade. ESV. It’s like a super deep, in certain light it looks black, but man that thing is straight baller So it just get rid of the caddy sedan. Oh. Oh no, no. Wait, wait. You’re talking about the CTS? No, no. Still have that. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah, that’s one of 800 made. So they’re, they’re gonna hang onto to that, but they needed something bigger ’cause they got family, kids, all that stuff. Dogs and whatnot. And, and they have like 80 dogs. The dogs are all running around banks. A lot of dogs. Yeah, no, it’s like all these wiener dogs. Wait, wait A minutely Wier Dogs. I’ve been banks 400 times. I’ve never seen a wiener dog there. Are you serious? Yes. Never. Not once. I’m not even joking.

Holman & Lightning (1h 8m 48s):

I think they have like 35 wiener dogs. Wow. All right. Yeah. And they’re all female. I demand to see some wiener dogs next time I’m there. That’s what she said. I don’t think that’s what she said. I think so. you can always tip us off to Truck News Stories truck show podcast at gmail dot com. The truck show, The truck show, The truck show, or Holman at truck show podcast dot com or Lighting at truck show podcast dot com. Or hit us on the socials at lbc Lighting at Sean P Holman at Truck Show podcast. And we wanna hear from you. So leave us a message on the five star highlight. 6 5 7 2 0 5 61 1 0 5.

Holman & Lightning (1h 9m 30s):

Yes. Don’t forget to send us some events that are happening. Your neck in the woods. We’ll put it up on our events calendar at truck show podcast dot com. And yeah, if you want t-shirts, let us know. Well, I think they did. I think they’ve spoken, two people have spoken. That’s a lot of people. If you equate each person who’s spoken to 10 people. Yes. We’re only, we’ve only sold two T-shirts. Listen, I’m standing by, I’ve already made the calls to Mitch at Big Studio, my screen printer. We are ready to go. I’ve, I’ve already laid out some design work for the hats, the shirts. I just think I’m waiting for slope folk over here, Mr. Holman to pull the freaking trigger. Like what do you need to do? Get it set up.

Holman & Lightning (1h 10m 9s):

We got it. I’m ready. Let’s do it. Shirts our listeners want these serious. Alright. You know who else wants shirts? Our presenting sponsor, Nissan, because we give them all sorts of reads. They give us trucks, we give them nothing else in return. So no, we, we don’t really reciprocate. Well do we. We should send them a big box of shirts. Anyway, listen, thank you Nissan for presenting The, Truck, Show Podcast. And if you’re in the market for a truck, head on to, to your local Nissan dealer where you can check out the Frontier, the Titan, the Titan xd, the Titans have the industry’s best five year, 100,000 mile warranty. The Frontier’s one of the best mid-size trucks in the segment. And you can build a price at Nissan usa dot com.

Holman & Lightning (1h 10m 50s):

And when it gets time to clean your air filter, don’t just go out and get a replacement from O’Reilly or Craig or whatever. Go to banks power dot com, type in your year, make and model and select a bank’s RAM air intake for your truck. Increased performance, longevity, and you’ll get more miles between air filter cleanings banks power dot com to find yours. And you can find out how AMS oil’s, synthetic lubricants can save you money and time. Time by helping your vehicle run better and last longer than with conventional oils. Head over to AMS oil dot com. When it comes to lubrication, AMS oil is the leader in synthetics. That’s what she said. That still doesn’t make sense. The Truck Show Podcast is a production of truck famous LLC.

Holman & Lightning (1h 11m 31s):

This podcast was created by Sean Holman and Jay Tillis with production elements by DJ Omar kh. If you like what you’ve heard, please open your Apple Podcast or Spotify app and give us a five star rating. And if you’re a fan, there’s no better way to show your support than by patronizing our sponsors. Some vehicles may have been harmed during the making of this podcast.