February 7, 2025 • 48 mins
Hannah and Matt talk about the $53 Million Mercedes Streamliner and the $560,000 Aston Martin Vanquish. Plus, Matt’s trip to Indonesia.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Matt Miller and.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Okay, we had a chance to record this from the
same studio in the same city today, but I screwed that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
No, you didn't it all. You didn't it all. And honestly,
I'm not at all surprised that you are not here,
and I really don't think you should be. I thought
it was really ambitious and possibly crazy that you were
going to be here, but I wasn't going to say anything.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So you are in New York City? Yeah, First of all,
what are you doing in New York City?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So I'm in New York because every year, for a
few days at the beginning of the year, we have
a Pursuits Editorial Planning meeting and we just spend a
few days like setting goals and planning our editorial coverages
much as we can, and venting and bonding. And we
had a big dinner last night with the team. Shout
(01:06):
out to Chris Rouser, who's the editor. We have some
new editors that we got to meet, and so it's
just sort of an annual confab of all of our
Pursuits coverage, which includes of course watches and art and
food and travel all the fun things and cars of course,
so it's fun.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I love pursuits, by the way, and I follow now
so many of you. I realize on Instagram that I
see these things happen. Obviously I follow you, and I
follow Chris, and I have ever since I've known you too.
But Sarah Rappaport used to work with me in TV Pursuits.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yes, and she's killing it. She Sarah is based in London,
as you know, and she's killing it, especially with these
really high dollar real estate listings that she goes to
see and then she gets all of this very great
I don't want to say gossipy because that sounds like
it's trivializing it, but really insidery information about these really
(02:03):
cool spots. So yeah, she's doing great. And of course
Kate Crater does our food coverage and like every every
seems to just be in love with her, so she's great.
And then James Tarmi of course does our real real
other real estate, but also a lot of art and sales,
so he's great. And of course Nikki Extine the travels
(02:25):
are yes.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I used some of her tips over the last
couple of weeks Nikki stuff, and I had an insane.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I want to trip, tell me everything.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So first of all, I went to a very remote
spot in Indonesia and West Papua actually for a couple
of weeks of scuba diving. And it's my fourth time
at this one resort. It's called Missoul and it is
my one of my favorite places on Earth, if not mine.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
You had been there before and I've.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Been there for it. Yeah, it's it's the best diving
that I've ever seen. And I've dived in a lot
of different locations and the Caribbean, in Europe and the US,
but nothing compares to Raja Ampat, which is where the
seool is. So that was amazing. But the thing is,
it takes forever to get there.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
How did you get back? Walk us through your return itinerary.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So the place is five hours away by boat from
any airport and from any land. So we had to
take a five hour speedboat to Sarong, which is like.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
This is going back, this is coming back to the States.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, coming back to the States. Okay, I did the
same thing in reverse. So then in Sarong, you've got
to sleep there. There's only like one flight in and
out of sarm to Jakarta, so you've got to sleep
in Soong. You fly to Jakarta the next morning, and
then from Jakarta you can go any number of ways.
We've gone through Tokyo, We've gone through Istanbul, We've gone
(04:03):
through Doha, and this time we chose to go through Singapore, okay,
which is very cool. And on the way there we
actually stopped and spent a couple of days in Singapore.
That's where I used some of Nikki's tips. Cool because
they have amazing architecture and hotels and it's such a cool,
like cool trading spot that was set up by like Raffles,
(04:29):
some British you know, colonialist a couple hundred years ago.
So it was really fun for me. But the flight
from Singapore back to New York is eighteen hours.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So I've never been on a flight that long. That's
really really long.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's insane. It's just so so nuts.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I mean, what did you do on the flight.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
On the way there, I watched like six movies. Yeah,
And on the way back I tried to sleep as
much as I could because I was getting back at
six and I wanted to get six am, Yeah, six am,
and I wanted to get to work. Yeah yeah. But
by the time we landed and got through customs and stuff,
I realized I would be no good to anybody in
(05:12):
the office.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, that seems right. What were the travel tips
that you used in Singapore? I'm curious did any in
particular stand out?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well, just the hotels there are amazing. I mean, some
of them obviously are not and some of them are.
But because it's such a new city, you know, in
the late eighteen hundreds, nobody lived there, or only a
few Malaysians kind of lived there, and the British found
(05:41):
this area, and some Chinese had emigrated there. But there
were literally a few hundred people living in Singapore, right
and now there are millions. So because it's so new,
they've been able to completely build it, you know, planet
with modern engineering, and they've developed a marina and around
(06:04):
the trading port that is just spectacular to see. And
you know, they the one of the hotels, the Marina
Bay Hotel where we stayed, has a few different skyscrapers
and then on top there's this giant what looks like
a huge cucumber or a bag get that goes across
all of the skyscrapers and it's just amazing. There's an
(06:26):
infinity pool, it's a pool. There're some trendy restaurants up there.
There's a lot of shopping. That was one thing that
disappointed me is the shopping.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
What were you shopping for? In particular?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I just when I go to someplace unusual. For example,
when I go to Tokyo, I like to go to
the real McCoy's or check out you know, some local
leather shops.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I was waiting for the leather jacket.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes, exactly, these things that you can only get in Tokyo.
You know, Clinch boots in Singapore, all the stuff, all
the shopping stuff with stuff I could get on Fifth Avenue,
like the same store, same brand, Bomber.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Right, yeah, yeah. How was the diving?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
On another note, the diving was amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It was good. What animals did you see?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I mean, there are so many fish there. This place
in Raja on pot is one of the few spots
on the globe where the biodiversity of fish is growing
rather than declining. Because of the work that that Missoul
has done, they created this huge twelve hundred square kilometer
no no take zone, so they've there's no fishing there anymore.
(07:39):
They started it about thirty years ago because they found
a shark finning camp and all of the different species
were being desid.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I remember you said that.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
So now it's flourishing and the corals alive and colorful
and beautiful, and.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You don't look too sunburned.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I mean, you look like you got some but I'm underwater.
I was diving like four times a day, right, amazing,
But it was pretty cool. I did see some I
was looking around for some strange cars when I was in Indonesia.
When I was in Singapore, I saw a lot of
Chinese cars.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Again, I gotta get to China.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Stuff that I'd never seen. Like I was riding around
in this MG, the British brand van. It's not a
British Wow electric electric like a mini van, although a
little larger than you'd think a minivan would be.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Was that an uber or some sort of like yeah, interesting, okay,
a grab which is like that's funny. Was it good?
I mean, what was it like?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It was?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, it was pretty great for utilitarian you know, purpose vehicle.
I saw a lot of hot cars when we pulled
up to the Conrad Hotel, which is like a Hilton.
I guess that was like Paris's grandfather or whatever. I
saw revuel to an orange Revoel toe okay, parked next
(09:07):
to McLaren seven point fifty, and there was uh, what's
the rolls Royce suv I always forget the name culling
in Yeah, and a Ferrari. I think there's a for
eighty eight. So there were a bunch of these cars
and I asked the guy at the counter. I was like, yo,
are these hotel cars? Like? Can I take one of these?
(09:27):
At first spin? He says, no, These are just local
businessmen because there's a bar here. They come after to
have drinks with their colleagues.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh okay, cool, did you see anything?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It was four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Old cars, well you know old cars.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No, not really nothing. No. In Indonesia it's mostly you know,
beat up plate model Japanese and uh, Korean and Chinese
mini vans for taxis and then scooters. But everybody loves
Moto GP, which made me feel really home. Even our
(10:05):
dive guides were all you know, had chosen either Yamaha
or Handa or Dukati, and a lot of these brands,
like Honda has their motto is Satuhati, which means one heart,
and Yamaha's motto is also in Indonesian. I think it's
semicon d depen which means never behind.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
And they choose these great information yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Mottos because so many Indonesian people watch Moto GP.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Wow. So if you disappear ever, we should look for
you in Indonesia.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, look for me in Indonesia.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, we won't look for you in Indonesia. Perfect. I
mean it sounds like you sort of dropped right in
and felt really comfortable and at home. That's cool.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, I've already made reservations again for twenty twenty seven.
You're a kidding me twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Wow, So it's like in every other year type of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And they're sold out a lot too, so you can
have a fewer servas and then cool. By the way,
speaking of racing, not Motor GP but Formula one, I
was reading a story that you did on a Mercedes
that went over the block for a lot of money.
But in the story deeper down, uh, you reported on
(11:18):
a couple of other more recent Formula One cars that
have gone for big money. Yeah, I thought it was
interesting that I didn't know. I'm you know, people who
follow this stuff do. But Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula one
Mercedes went for basically twice the price of Mikhael Schumacher's Ferrari. Yeah,
(11:40):
and it stuns me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, the sales were like this year, right or recent?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah? So Hamilton Hamilton sold Is in twenty twenty three
for Yeah, I mean almost twenty million, eighteen point eight million.
But were you saying that you'd rather have Shoemachers.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yes, and I'm not. It's not an argument of about
who's better better. I know that Hamilton, you know, is
could be the greatest of all time and he is
still in the midst of making his right his legend. Right,
got Ferrari now, but it's not a Ferrari right. So,
and Schumacher also for people, I feel like, for people
(12:19):
who are buying eight nine million dollar cars, right went
I think it went for nine million dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Seven point five, well seven point five probably before premium.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
They must they must be, you know, want the Ferrari more,
I would think, and Also, the Ferrari is from the
golden era of Formula One, before it was sort of
dumbed down to like turbocharged two liter four cylinders.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You know, this real use. Now, this is really interesting
because you bring up a really good point that, Okay,
the number one most expensive car that's ever been sold
is Uhlin aut Coupe, which is a Mercedes which sold
for one hundred and forty two million dollars in twenty
twenty two. And then this.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Very old one and that's it, that's all right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, that's an old one from the fifties. And then
this nineteen fifty four also Mercedes Streamliner that sold for
almost fifty million this week last Saturday, is the second
highest price ever taken in public at auction. So both
(13:24):
of those top sales are Mercedes vehicles, which is interesting
because generally Ferraris are considered, you know, the top the
blue chip vehicles.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Although Fanngio drove the Streamliner that you wrote about last week.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah but it but he didn't win any Formula races.
Like the thing about this car, and once we get
into such weird high rare air, I mean, it's all
just sort of theoretical anyway. But The thing about this
this Streamliner is yes, Fangio drove it, and so did
Sterling Moss, but it didn't actually win any significant races.
You know. They Sterling Moss had a couple of fast
(14:01):
laps in it, and Fangio won sort of an exhibition
style race in Buenos Aires that I'm sure was really cool,
and he did it. You know. The race was actually
two different days of racing that they like averaged the time,
so it was little. It wasn't actually a Formula one race.
So when you talk to people who know these cars
(14:23):
really well, they're like, well, of course it's a very
special car, but it's not the most special And part
of the reason why it's not is because it hadn't
won any real significant Formula one races. I mean again,
for so those.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Two Mercedes, right the the Streamliner which is the WA
ninety six R and the three hundred SLR uln Hoowe
to Coop, which is like obviously, you know, one of
the most famous Mercedes of all time. Those are from
the mid fifties. Yeah, so they're not going to be
many of those left, right, the Formula one cars that Hamilton,
(15:00):
the Hamilton car and even the shoe meee car was
I think from two thousand ish, So you know those
there are other are others out there.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right, That's the other thing. The Uhlin hought is considered
a one of a two car, one of two. This Streamliner,
there were fourteen of them made. This is you know,
one of four in the same body style that are remaining.
But one in four is twice as many as one
and two. And you know, again these are like we're
(15:31):
splitting hairs here, but one of two is a lot
more rare than one of four. And the idea that
you could potentially buy a Streamliner again in the next
decade or two, you know, makes it considered less rare. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The other thing, so I like the Streamliner better than
the ul and hout why at least I like one
version that the Streamliner has been because I like the
open wheel, you know, the big mouth on the front
Formula race cars. But I've seen a few different bodies
(16:09):
on that car, because as you poured out in your story,
a lot of the pieces have changed, like even the
chassis plate may be gone.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, that's the other thing, you know. Do you know
that paradox called the ship of theseus paradox.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I didn't know it before I read your story.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
So this is basically a thing where you know, the
idea is, if you're constantly replacing a board on a ship,
so much so that the ship is basically being replaced
by new wood all the time, at what point does
a ship not become the same ship as it was?
And it's kind of a vanishing horizon. And the same
(16:48):
applies to these cars, where you know, race cars are
sometimes modified during the race. You know, no good race
car that has one significant races has escaped racing incidents. Rubbing,
you know, rubbing is racing, a little nudge here there,
possibly an accident, possibly a rollover, who knows what. And
(17:08):
obviously components and even engines are changed pretty consistently on
race cars. So the idea that you would get a
sort of quote unquote original or untouched car, which we
think really would lend to a higher price tech it
doesn't really apply to these race cars. So you're right
to your point. This Streamliner was made to be able
to be in different body styles. There was an open
(17:30):
wheel body type and then of course the streamliner body
type that was better suited toward long, broad super fast racetracks.
I think the streamliner look is really cool, the sculptural
part of it, I mean, the open the open wheel
to me looks more old school like old Yeah, the
(17:51):
Streamliner looks actually kind of futuristic, which I think is
really cool.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
The old school like formula open wheel racer is what
I would love to have, But nobody makes anything like
that now except for in kit car form.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah. I mean. The other thing that is really interesting
as we're talking about Ferrari versus Mercedes, is there was
another car that is part of this series of sales.
We should say that this Streamliner, this nineteen fifty four
Mercedes Streamliner, is part of a three series sale of
cars that the Indie Museum is auctioning off to raise
(18:27):
money for their endowment. And the second car in that
sale was a nineteen sixty four Ferrari two to fifty
LM with actually a better racing history than this Mercedes.
This Ferrari, this nineteen sixty four number one, it's a
Ferrari number two had actually one Lamont outright, so it
has a significant race when under its belt. But that
(18:47):
car sold for just under thirty two million. You know,
it's not as rare as the Mercedes. So it's I
don't know, it's interesting. Some of these Mercedes just really
seem to pop and turn terms of the value in
a way that the Ferraris haven't lately. But you could
argue they're more rare.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, and I guess the rarity is part of it.
And even though the race cars have been you know,
have had almost every single piece replaced, they still have that,
you know, the idea that Sterling Moss drove it, or
that totally Angio drove it, or that Shoe Me drove it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
If you were going to buy one of these cars,
would that really make a difference for you personally knowing
that somebody really famous.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So I don't have obviously those kind of funds, but yeah,
I think it would interesting to have something in my
garage that Sterling Moss drove, Yeah, yeah, or that Fungio drove.
Then I think it makes a big difference.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I mean, I know, intellectually it does. I don't on
a personal level, I don't really care, you know, so
some old guy sat in it for a for a
few laps around a racetrack. To me, it's like, I
don't I care if the car looks cool, and I
mean that.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Kind of this point, but you know, I would have
so much and it had been changed, like if when
Fangio drove it, if it was an open wheel race car,
and since then, you know, everything from the axles to
the body, to the seats, the steering wheel, like everything
(20:20):
is different and the only thing is the same as
the is the you.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Know, the chassing, the number, the number that's printed on
the chesting.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Then it would mean a lot less to me.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I had I say, yeah, yeah, I guess I can
see that. I mean, do you care that you know
that portion nine seventeen at the Mekam auction recently. Do
you do care that it had been driven by Steve McQueen.
Would that make any kind of difference to you?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yes, I hate to say it would it would, but
it would make a huge Like Triumph sells this Bonneville
the Scrambler twelve hundred, you know, that was in the
most recent Games Bond movie, and they do a Steve
McQueen version in Dark Green, and I hate I'm not
a Steve McQueen fanboy, like I have seen a couple
(21:09):
of his movies, but still still like that version of
that scrambler.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Okay, Well that's fair. I wonder how relevant Steve McQueen
is these days.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, you're right for the kids, now.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, there are plenty of people who don't even know
who he is.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
There are plenty of people that don't think Bullet was
a very good movie.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well yeah, and there are plenty of people who think
Steve McQueen was a bit of a jerk. You know,
you can go down that road too.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, but anyway, anyway, I loved Bullet, and I haven't
gone down the Steve McQueen is a jerk road, although
obviously I've heard so much about it. Yeah. Yeah, I
sent you an auction car this morning. A buddy of
a buddy of mine, Yes, selling his SL six hundred.
And this is a different kind of thing. You wrote
(21:58):
about the W one twenty nine. Yes, and I prefer
the previous generation. But this thing is a beast.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It's got Now why is he selling it? Do you know? So?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I know that he has had one in the past.
This is a two thousand and one SL six hundred
and it's got the six lider V twelve And he
had that car exact car previously, that was a driver
for him and he put like fifty thousand miles on it,
but this particular one he picked up with just like
(22:31):
dealer delivery miles.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I was gonna say, I that to me is such
a red flag. One hundred and eighty seven one hundred
and eighty seven miles.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yes, only one hundred eighty seven miles. That's because he
bought it that I.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Mean, okay, so that's fair. There's an explanation.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And the guy who bought it from the dealer and
so dealer, it's been driven. It's never been driven, and
he had it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Has shakedown miles for sure.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
He is Philip Richter, by the way. He runs the
Turtle Garage. We've had him on the show for yep,
and he's he had this car sort of on display
at the Turtle Garage. So and he has this car
show every couple of years. So he had it on display.
It was like a display model, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, and I see it's got Montana plates.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It's so mint like.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It's definitely meant because it's never been driven. We got
to wear this thing in a bit.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It hasn't just never been driven and stayed there like
he keeps trailering it back and forth to the dealer,
you know, every year for whatever it needs. So what
they take very good care.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh god, I'm my eyes are rolling when I hear
trailering it back and forth to the dealer. And okay,
you don't know, you don't know that he's trailer. I
mean maybe one hundred and eighty seven miles came from
driving it back and forth to the dealer.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I just know that it's been back and forth to
the same dealer that sold it. So it's like, yeah,
for people who want, you know, like the Han Solo
action figure in unopened in the box, you know, that's
what this is.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's what this is. And it's currently at one hundred
and eighty five thousand dollars. We've got four days left
on the sale. So jumping on.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Four days left on the saale. Yes, somebody was like,
I think I'll bid one hundred and eighty five grand
with four days left.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Don't you want no reserve? No reserve?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
True. I asked him about no reserve because I thought
that's pretty dangerous. At least if it was my stuff,
I would feel worried about it. Yeah, but he said,
you know, contrary to what you might think, no reserve
auctions drive more people to bid higher and wait to
keep paid.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Who's your friend said that?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, Philip.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I mean he's thought about this obviously. He works very
closely with a lot of car collectors, and he is
himself a car collector. See, he gives these things a
lot of thought. Whether you do reserve or no reserve.
I still would be too scared, soistic, because what if
the people who want the SL six hundred like are
diving in Indonesia that week?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Completely? I mean the other thing is if you really
need the cash.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean, there you go. I doubt that's the case,
you know, because it's on his the turtle garage is
on his horse.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Farm, so oh oh, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, but I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I'm going to be watching that. I mean I have
been watching a lot of Rolls Royce sales lately. I
think I've sent you a few half Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, they're going for a pretty penny.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
They're going for a pretty I mean there are deals
to be had, There are deals to be had. I
saw corniche go for a forty thousand, which I thought
was a good deal. Actually the other day that's a
good deal for a corniche.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, that does sound like a good deal if it.
By the way, I know not to say if it
has low miles now because I keep I keep flusting
after your nine to nine to one turbo with one
hundred and ninety thousand mind.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, I was going to say, by the way that
just crossed over, we're probably we're probably rounding down one
hundred ninety one thousand miles, to be honest, because that
was last week.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
By the way, your experience with that car and your
kind of philosophy has changed the way I, you know,
window shop for cars on Bring a Trailer, but also
on Auto Trader or whatever platform I used to I
used to limit it like I only want a car
that has less than fifteen or thirty thousand miles. And
now I'm thinking if it's one owner, yeah, happy to
(26:25):
have and you want to check that on or was responsible.
But I'm happy to have something that has high miles.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah. I think it's a case of read the room, like,
understand the context of the car. You can't just make
a blanket statement about that kind of thing. It depends
on the car, It depends on the make, it depends
on where and how the car was kept, It depends
on who owned it. And how they used it. All
of those things are important, and just the idea that
you would just say flat out it has to be
(26:55):
this way, I don't think is using all of the
information available, I guess I would say.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I wouldn't have any concerns about much on a high
mileage car like the motor Obviously, if it's been driven
a lot, it's been serviced.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
A lot, and potentially yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Guess the seats are maybe a little squishier than they
were before, but I don't care about that. It's the
suspension that would bother me. And I guess you get fair.
You know, of these expensive cars have air suspension that's
very expensive to replace.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
That's that's totally fair. I guess it just also kind
of depends on how you want to use it and
what you're looking for. I admit that I am not
too too fussy about everything being perfect because I don't
actually think anything is perfect, and I you know, I'm
far more interested in using something for fun. If you're
(27:48):
going to invest in a car, and they are investments,
no matter what you what, you know you're you're putting
money toward it, you might as well get some fun
out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Last two weeks. I spent the I spent my downtime
on my diving vacation rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycles.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh, I need to reread that. It didn't stand up.
It was good. Yeah, I need to read it million
years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
It's still so good. I mean, the author clearly was
had one screw loose.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I feel like most motorcycle people do, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, but I loved it as kind of a rebuttal
to what's the name of the guy who used to
be the editor in chief of Wired and for some
reason Bloomberg had him write like a guest essay on motorcycling.
Oh uh, Gideon Litchfield. He had taken it like a
cross country trip and he was just like, hates motorcycling.
(28:46):
So I have no idea why he did it in
the first place. But yeah, he was complaining about the
Blue Ridge Highway, like of how dangerous it was. The
maximum speed limit is thirty five and there are no
other cars on it.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You know, I will say, that's it's funny you bring
that up, because we've discussed that story at length recently
in these past few days. As we're talking about the
year going forward with pursuits. And that story was part
of this new thing we have at Bloomberg called the
Weekend Edition. And the whole point of the weekend edition
is sort of to take a step back and widen
(29:18):
the aperture. And you know, during the week we're talking
about very focused things and focused pursuits. But during the weekend,
you know, we want to take a step back and breathe.
And but I'm glad you read it, and I'm glad
we're talking about it. And that story did very well
for the weekend edition.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Well you know why it did well. Why because so
many people were angry about it.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
It got hate reads, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
And I'm not glad I read it because it still
makes me feel a little bit sick, like my chest
is a little bit tight when I think about why
would someone do something like that, Like a guy who
just doesn't clearly doesn't understand motorcycling, doesn't enjoy motorcycling. He's
riding a great bike on one of the best roads
(30:01):
in the country and he's and he's not and he's
not enjoying it. He said he couldn't wait to get
back to a traffic packed highway. That's the last person
you want to ask to write a story about motorcycling, why.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Don't you ride a Rebuttal honestly because because that's.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
A great road. I've ridden that run on my two
thousand and seven Ducatti Monster S fourrs. And it was
an absolute joy. Took that road down to North Carolina
where Olans has like its American office, and I got
(30:39):
the suspension redone and it's like the least dangerous place
you could ride a motorcycle there. Yeah, isn't anyone else around.
If you fall off, you're just gonna skid to the
corner slowly because you know, unless you're doing double the
speed limit, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I would love for you to ride a Rebuttal. And
I have to say even I'll take the hate reads.
I'm glad it got people talking. I'm glad it got
you thinking and reading something that would cleanse your mind
from all of the anks that you felt when you
read it. At least it's sparking some sort of reaction.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
That's a good point. By the way, the move to
video would be a fantastic I know one, not only
because we could show you know, the uhlen Hout or
the Streamliner, but I would like to be able to
show the new Aston Martin Vanquish, which you wrote a
story about. And I not only did I love the story,
(31:42):
I love the pictures as well. I love the color.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I know the color is super nova red and it
does cost quite a pretty penny to get it. It's
a hand painted color. And if I'm remembering right, the
price tag just on the paint chab job alone was
the thirteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, a little more. I think it was thirteen and
a half.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Was it thirteen and a half? Yeah, thirteen six. I
just found it, Yeah, thirteen six. It's such a gorgeous car.
And really the takeaway the headline on that is and
this is true. This is the first Aston Martin that
I've been in that I felt it was as special
as a Ferrari. Amazing, and I'll and you know what,
(32:26):
I actually I said that to somebody and they texted
it back to me and I was like, wow, it's
I just said it. I hadn't. It just came out.
I was talking about the car and I said, you know,
I felt like it was a special and she texted
it back to me and I'm like, oh, wow, did
I say that, and I was like, oh, I did
say that, and that's actually I stand by that. That's
the truth. They did it good gosh. It's expensive, you know.
(32:48):
The one that I drove starts at four hundred and
twenty nine thousand dollars, starts there, and then with options
like that thirteen thousand dollars amazing paint job went to
five hundred and sixty thousand dollars. But it's a great car.
I think it's the best one we've seen from them
so to date.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So the Vanquish was it's only occasionally been available, right
and has it not been available since like twenty eighteen?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That's that's correct. They've used that name plate a couple
of times, first, you know, from two thousand and one
to two thousand and seven, and then again from twenty
twelve to twenty eighteen. I believe that it's always been
a V twelve. It's a two seat only coop. One
of the new things this year is it's they're only
(33:38):
offering two seats. I think previous iterations did offer a
back seat. But yeah, I think it's obviously it's a
great name for an Aston Martin. I'm glad they brought
the name plate back. I'm glad they're staying with the
V twelve. I'm sure you are too. Yeah, this is
this is using two turbos. Before it was in it
(34:01):
was naturally aspirated. So that's a bit of a change.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Doesn't bother me though, Okay, I.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Was gonna ask about that. Why doesn't that bother you?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Because it's a GT car and I know I'm not
getting it with a stick, although they have they have
the ability clearly to do it, because they've offered a
few special editions of that mode which they claim are
sold out with a stick.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But okay, the Velora and the Valiant.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
But it's it's not like that kind of.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
It's not that kind of car car, and it doesn't need.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It's very big. This is one thing about really big cars.
I don't need them to be a stick. I like
a stick in a sports car.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yes, okay, so that's that seems sensible of you. And yeah,
I think the high notes on this are it does
feel very special. It is big, you know. Of course,
we had a park next to a twenty fourteen Turbo
and it really sort of dwarfs the nine to eleven.
It makes a nine to eleven look small, and it does.
(35:00):
It's a little bit heavier, but it's really the ride
is great. It's it's you know, on Mulholland. Now they've
put in speed bumps, which is really annoying, but it is.
It's comfortable on uneven roads. It's not just completely jarring,
you know, like GT. Three for instance. It's very nice
to drive. To your point, I thought the interior was
(35:22):
so much better than previous aston Martin's happened. They're just
sort of continually improving there, which has been really a
challenge for them. But I do feel like they're kind
of nosing no pun intended in the right direction. Now. Yeah,
and I like that. I like, yes, I like it.
(35:42):
I think they can definitely lean into sort of that
signature look.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I love the look. I saw it at the at
their sort of sales studio here Q. I think it's
called on fifty seventh in Park And I mean they
just had one in a room with a designer and
I think the engineer with whom you spoke also for
your story with I'm in Newton exactly. And yeah, so
I just got to, you know, look at it for
(36:10):
like a twenty minutes or a half hour, and it's gorgeous.
All Aston Martins are gorgeous, but it's very special. And
I wonder what you think about the plate on the
back you.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I was just going to ask you about that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I would rather have it in a color that's closer
to the color of the car, or i'd rather the
car in the color closer. I don't like that too
much contrast, but I think it's cool. Yeah you think.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I actually I agree with you on that. It doesn't
bother me to see it, and it's sort of I
don't want to say two tone, because it's certainly not that,
but in a high contrast color ways. But I would
be very very curious to see the car in a
dark slate gray or something, maybe even a midnight and
(36:56):
have that black carbon shield across the back. That would
probably look real mean and cool. I do also love
what they did with the rear, the rear tail lights,
the how they stacked them vertically. They're like notches kind
of stacked. I thought that's cool. I like a signature
tail light in general, for for cars, because you're assuming
(37:18):
everyone's behind you anyway, So I like that. I thought
that was cool. I don't know, it just it just
felt I'll tell you one thing, I was very I
was a lot less likely to just whip it around with,
you know, sort of erratically like you may do on
Sunset Boulevard, because it felt more like a Ferrari. I
(37:42):
didn't you know, in a nine to eleven you can
whip things around. It's great. This felt more like, oh,
I need to be careful, you know. I didn't want
to scratch any splitter. It doesn't have a lift, it
doesn't need a lift for the front at all. But
you know, I was just way more aware that, ooh,
this is this is a big car. It's got a
long nose, it's got that front splitter. I saw this
(38:03):
bright red Camark parked opposite me on Sunset and I
was like, ah, I needed the photo photo, and you know,
did not flip around, though in a different car we
might have. But it was just like, I can't whip
this around. It's too much of a precious thing. It's
just it's sort of that feeling that you definitely feel
seen in it. I don't think it's outrageous though, it's
(38:26):
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I mean, it's gorgeous. I'm looking at now the pictures
in your story, and I kind of wanted to make
one of screensaver it's so good.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Which one is it?
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Just the one where it's parked on the brick driveway?
Oh yeah, the front, Yes, it's where I'm looking at.
And I know this, you know what I mean. Twenty
grand the carbon like the car starts at four thirty.
This one was five sixty. The carbon packages alone, I
think added like forty grand for sure. Price.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh well, the interior carbon package was like over twenty
one thousand dollars. And that's just the interior and not
all of the interior that's like doors and dash So yeah,
it's definitely priced up there. And all of this is
part of Aston's strategy to increase profits and get some
(39:15):
cash in their coffers. Although I have to say, our
good friend Steve Sario did point out to me that
Aston Martin's in the nineties. When you compare their pricing,
we're really about the same if you're talking exchange rates,
(39:36):
you know, I think he I'm trying to remember which
he told me.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I will say that the so I'm looking at the
carbon fiber roof was like five grand. And then as
you mentioned, the interior package is twenty two, basically twenty seven.
The upper body carbon fiber is another seventeen, so you're
at forty four, and then the lower body is another seventeen,
(40:06):
so you're at sixty one, and then another exterior carbon
fiber package was twelve, So seventy three seventy three grand
in carbon fiber. That's insane.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
You know what's crazy. It doesn't even look that like
it's that much on the car. You know, it's not
like the car is you know, nose to tail carbon fiber.
It's like it looks actually like, oh, pretty classy. There's
a touch there, there's a touch there, you know. But
but yeah, it's a lot of carbon fiber, but it's
not like full carbon fiber hood.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It's you know, they really contrive. They what they want
to do is get the kind of margins.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
That Ferrari has. Everyone wants to be Ferrari and.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
That Porsche was aiming for it. By the way, portion
missed big on margins.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Do you want to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Because we don't have to talk about it. But it's
another example of a manufacturer that is going to take
a huge loss, I think an eight hundred million dollar
right down this year because of their because of their
exploration of evs, right, And I don't hate all EV's.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
No, and this is a great segue. I know where
you're going with this.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
I would, I would. I love the Kia EV nine
for example.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
I love the EV nine and I love the five hundred.
The Fiat five hundred.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
E me too great.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And I actually also loved the Rolls Royce Specter. I
had another that well, you'd love it. You would love it,
I'm sure, yeah. And I also didn't hate the Dodge
Charger EV.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
So and I'm excited to see some like of the
new E Rev. Speaking of Dodge, you know they're they're
coming out with one. But all this to say, I
don't hate all EV's. M hmm, there are some that
I like. And because we got an email from someone
who said I'm biased against you.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Now, okay, fair, I want to discuss that. But I
want to put a pin on this Portia. We've seen
this unfolding for nearly a year now and it's fascinating
and I do have quite a large story that we've
been working on about it. So watch this space because
(42:15):
by the way, I.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Keep thinking that, I keep thinking, now's the time to
buy Portia shares. I would never give investment advice. The
only time I ever have it was wrong, horribly wrong.
And I'm not allowed to buy shares in companies that
I report on, so I won't be sure really allowed to. Yeah,
just like all the other things that I want to buy.
But I keep thinking, Okay, they can't get any worse.
(42:36):
They're down thirty percent over the last twelve months. They're
down half since the IPO. If you bought P nine
to eleven shares of the IPO, you've lost half of
your money.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
And that was the largest none, that was the largest
IPO in Germany in like two decades. I mean it was.
It was considered a wild success.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
And by the way, you know, Barry Ritholts always says
when you want to buy a product, think about buying
the stock instead, Like if you want to buy an
Apple MacBook, right, you should just money stock and you'd
be doing much better off of Portie, right, because if
you wanted to buy the stock and instead you just
ordered a.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
GT three, at least you can drive it.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
You're in the money too.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Yeah, or I mean, just hang on in the line.
I would never ever ever count Porsia out those guys
have this German Schwabian grit and determination, and yeah they
are down right now, but they are definitely not out.
You know, I think if you can hold on and
(43:36):
be patient, we will, Like you say, I guess if
you could buy stock.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Right, Yeah, I'm well, I'm not saying you're.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Not get you know, you're not saying that.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
No, No stock is getting so crushed today because the
margins are only like twelve percent, and most carmakers dream
of margins like that, right, but they're not the seventeen
or nineteen percent that you would have hoped at the IPO.
But so the email, let's talk about it. I'm pretty
stoked on it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Actually, Yeah, so this is from Dean. I guess we
could say first names. That's safe, right, Dean.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Thank you for writing on his substack.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
So yeah, what's the substack called Portico.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Darwin Portico Darwin dot substack dot com.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yes, thanks for writing to us. Dean in San Francisco.
Dean said he loved our podcast, but he doesn't like
the anti EV bias.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Which is a fair criticism.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Actually, do you think it? Do you think we we
are a little anti EV?
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yes, we are, and maybe more than we should be.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
I would I would say I was surprised to hear that,
because I'm all about the right tool for the job,
and I do not care really what's under the hood.
Matt cares. Matt cares about his v especially, I truly
don't care. I I just want good things, and my
(45:02):
criticism of EV's has just been that there. I just
haven't seen some good ones. But I have seen a few,
a few that are good. But it's fair, it's fair,
it's interesting. I found it more interesting that that's what
he's getting.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Yeah, I mean, look, I just for me, I like
what I you know, I have my preferences just like
everyone else. But that doesn't mean I don't think there
are some.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Really good EV cars completely.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Including Tesla. You loved the cyber truck, by the way,
I yeah, I thought it was.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I thought honestly, I thought it was. I have no
problem with it, you know, I I thought it was.
It was a lot better than I anticipated. And I
loved how and I've said this before, how kids especially
got so excited about it. And I am a thousand
percent behind vehicles that evoke an emotional emotional reaction, because
(45:55):
most of them don't.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I also love I drove the gm SE Sierra EV
and I absolutely adored driving it. The Hummer EV.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
As, Oh yeah, that was fine.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yes, kind of it makes a statement that I don't
necessarily want to make, but I really enjoyed. I like
to drive big heavy vehicles in the massive battery two
hundred killot battery packs. So you and I also like,
you know, like you mentioned, the Fiat five hundred EV
is such a great little get around.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Her honestly perfect, perfect thing. Yeah, perfect thing. I thought
it was just very well executed, priced fairly. I love
the heritage, of course. I just thought, yeah, it was great.
I but I do I will say I don't actually think,
and I've said this before, if you want to do
the best thing for the world right now, I would
(46:47):
just not buy anything. Don't consume, yes to me. And
I don't like the idea that we have to consume
and buy something else that is not actually green. There's
way too much stuff in the world in general, and
I just don't like being force fed the idea that
you've got to buy something else and consume this other
(47:09):
product in order to be somehow quote unquote good. That
just is not inaccurate.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Totally agree with blossophy, and I also agree with Dean
that I'm too biased again and I will try to
be less.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Yeah, it's good to be aware of that. Thanks. Thanks,
we loved your letter, Dan, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
We have we got another. By the way, our email address.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Is hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I just wanted to remind our listeners to shoot us
emails because we do read them and we find them fascinating.
We got one from another guy, Declan, who is looking
for Goodwood Revival tips. And I think what we're gonna
do is I think what we should do is study
a little bit and then report back, report back next week.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
It's a great question.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, I think it's a great question. And I would
I just imagine mister enthusiasts at Goodwood Revival in a jumpsuit.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
You know, oh my goodness, he'll be so happy to
hear his name mentioned. And you know he will be
in a jumpsuit, yeah, underneath his raccoon for a coat.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
If it's a little chilli, he'll be wearing a raccoon
for a coat.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Which with a watch on each wrist.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I'm very much for the raccoon for a coat.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Look, you need one, Matt. Why can't we all get
one Team Raccoon for a coats.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
I would definitely wear one for sure.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
I'd like to see that. I'm Matt Miller, and I'm
Hannah Elliott, and this is Bloomberg
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Matt Miller and.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is Hot Pursuit.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Okay, we had a chance to record this from the
same studio in the same city today, but I screwed that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
No, you didn't it all. You didn't it all. And honestly,
I'm not at all surprised that you are not here,
and I really don't think you should be. I thought
it was really ambitious and possibly crazy that you were
going to be here, but I wasn't going to say anything.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So you are in New York City? Yeah, First of all,
what are you doing in New York City?
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So I'm in New York because every year, for a
few days at the beginning of the year, we have
a Pursuits Editorial Planning meeting and we just spend a
few days like setting goals and planning our editorial coverages
much as we can, and venting and bonding. And we
had a big dinner last night with the team. Shout
(01:06):
out to Chris Rouser, who's the editor. We have some
new editors that we got to meet, and so it's
just sort of an annual confab of all of our
Pursuits coverage, which includes of course watches and art and
food and travel all the fun things and cars of course,
so it's fun.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I love pursuits, by the way, and I follow now
so many of you. I realize on Instagram that I
see these things happen. Obviously I follow you, and I
follow Chris, and I have ever since I've known you too.
But Sarah Rappaport used to work with me in TV Pursuits.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yes, and she's killing it. She Sarah is based in London,
as you know, and she's killing it, especially with these
really high dollar real estate listings that she goes to
see and then she gets all of this very great
I don't want to say gossipy because that sounds like
it's trivializing it, but really insidery information about these really
(02:03):
cool spots. So yeah, she's doing great. And of course
Kate Crater does our food coverage and like every every
seems to just be in love with her, so she's great.
And then James Tarmi of course does our real real
other real estate, but also a lot of art and sales,
so he's great. And of course Nikki Extine the travels
(02:25):
are yes.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I used some of her tips over the last
couple of weeks Nikki stuff, and I had an insane.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I want to trip, tell me everything.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
So first of all, I went to a very remote
spot in Indonesia and West Papua actually for a couple
of weeks of scuba diving. And it's my fourth time
at this one resort. It's called Missoul and it is
my one of my favorite places on Earth, if not mine.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
You had been there before and I've.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Been there for it. Yeah, it's it's the best diving
that I've ever seen. And I've dived in a lot
of different locations and the Caribbean, in Europe and the US,
but nothing compares to Raja Ampat, which is where the
seool is. So that was amazing. But the thing is,
it takes forever to get there.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
How did you get back? Walk us through your return itinerary.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So the place is five hours away by boat from
any airport and from any land. So we had to
take a five hour speedboat to Sarong, which is like.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
This is going back, this is coming back to the States.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, coming back to the States. Okay, I did the
same thing in reverse. So then in Sarong, you've got
to sleep there. There's only like one flight in and
out of sarm to Jakarta, so you've got to sleep
in Soong. You fly to Jakarta the next morning, and
then from Jakarta you can go any number of ways.
We've gone through Tokyo, We've gone through Istanbul, We've gone
(04:03):
through Doha, and this time we chose to go through Singapore, okay,
which is very cool. And on the way there we
actually stopped and spent a couple of days in Singapore.
That's where I used some of Nikki's tips. Cool because
they have amazing architecture and hotels and it's such a cool,
like cool trading spot that was set up by like Raffles,
(04:29):
some British you know, colonialist a couple hundred years ago.
So it was really fun for me. But the flight
from Singapore back to New York is eighteen hours.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
So I've never been on a flight that long. That's
really really long.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's insane. It's just so so nuts.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I mean, what did you do on the flight.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
On the way there, I watched like six movies. Yeah,
And on the way back I tried to sleep as
much as I could because I was getting back at
six and I wanted to get six am, Yeah, six am,
and I wanted to get to work. Yeah yeah. But
by the time we landed and got through customs and stuff,
I realized I would be no good to anybody in
(05:12):
the office.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, yeah, that seems right. What were the travel tips
that you used in Singapore? I'm curious did any in
particular stand out?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Well, just the hotels there are amazing. I mean, some
of them obviously are not and some of them are.
But because it's such a new city, you know, in
the late eighteen hundreds, nobody lived there, or only a
few Malaysians kind of lived there, and the British found
(05:41):
this area, and some Chinese had emigrated there. But there
were literally a few hundred people living in Singapore, right
and now there are millions. So because it's so new,
they've been able to completely build it, you know, planet
with modern engineering, and they've developed a marina and around
(06:04):
the trading port that is just spectacular to see. And
you know, they the one of the hotels, the Marina
Bay Hotel where we stayed, has a few different skyscrapers
and then on top there's this giant what looks like
a huge cucumber or a bag get that goes across
all of the skyscrapers and it's just amazing. There's an
(06:26):
infinity pool, it's a pool. There're some trendy restaurants up there.
There's a lot of shopping. That was one thing that
disappointed me is the shopping.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
What were you shopping for? In particular?
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I just when I go to someplace unusual. For example,
when I go to Tokyo, I like to go to
the real McCoy's or check out you know, some local
leather shops.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
I was waiting for the leather jacket.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes, exactly, these things that you can only get in Tokyo.
You know, Clinch boots in Singapore, all the stuff, all
the shopping stuff with stuff I could get on Fifth Avenue,
like the same store, same brand, Bomber.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Right, yeah, yeah. How was the diving?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
On another note, the diving was amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
It was good. What animals did you see?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I mean, there are so many fish there. This place
in Raja on pot is one of the few spots
on the globe where the biodiversity of fish is growing
rather than declining. Because of the work that that Missoul
has done, they created this huge twelve hundred square kilometer
no no take zone, so they've there's no fishing there anymore.
(07:39):
They started it about thirty years ago because they found
a shark finning camp and all of the different species
were being desid.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I remember you said that.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
So now it's flourishing and the corals alive and colorful
and beautiful, and.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
You don't look too sunburned.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
I mean, you look like you got some but I'm underwater.
I was diving like four times a day, right, amazing,
But it was pretty cool. I did see some I
was looking around for some strange cars when I was in Indonesia.
When I was in Singapore, I saw a lot of
Chinese cars.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Again, I gotta get to China.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Stuff that I'd never seen. Like I was riding around
in this MG, the British brand van. It's not a
British Wow electric electric like a mini van, although a
little larger than you'd think a minivan would be.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Was that an uber or some sort of like yeah, interesting, okay,
a grab which is like that's funny. Was it good?
I mean, what was it like?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It was?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, it was pretty great for utilitarian you know, purpose vehicle.
I saw a lot of hot cars when we pulled
up to the Conrad Hotel, which is like a Hilton.
I guess that was like Paris's grandfather or whatever. I
saw revuel to an orange Revoel toe okay, parked next
(09:07):
to McLaren seven point fifty, and there was uh, what's
the rolls Royce suv I always forget the name culling
in Yeah, and a Ferrari. I think there's a for
eighty eight. So there were a bunch of these cars
and I asked the guy at the counter. I was like, yo,
are these hotel cars? Like? Can I take one of these?
(09:27):
At first spin? He says, no, These are just local
businessmen because there's a bar here. They come after to
have drinks with their colleagues.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh okay, cool, did you see anything?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It was four o'clock.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Old cars, well you know old cars.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No, not really nothing. No. In Indonesia it's mostly you know,
beat up plate model Japanese and uh, Korean and Chinese
mini vans for taxis and then scooters. But everybody loves
Moto GP, which made me feel really home. Even our
(10:05):
dive guides were all you know, had chosen either Yamaha
or Handa or Dukati, and a lot of these brands,
like Honda has their motto is Satuhati, which means one heart,
and Yamaha's motto is also in Indonesian. I think it's
semicon d depen which means never behind.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
And they choose these great information yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Mottos because so many Indonesian people watch Moto GP.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Wow. So if you disappear ever, we should look for
you in Indonesia.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, look for me in Indonesia.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, we won't look for you in Indonesia. Perfect. I
mean it sounds like you sort of dropped right in
and felt really comfortable and at home. That's cool.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, I've already made reservations again for twenty twenty seven.
You're a kidding me twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Wow, So it's like in every other year type of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
And they're sold out a lot too, so you can
have a fewer servas and then cool. By the way,
speaking of racing, not Motor GP but Formula one, I
was reading a story that you did on a Mercedes
that went over the block for a lot of money.
But in the story deeper down, uh, you reported on
(11:18):
a couple of other more recent Formula One cars that
have gone for big money. Yeah, I thought it was
interesting that I didn't know. I'm you know, people who
follow this stuff do. But Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula one
Mercedes went for basically twice the price of Mikhael Schumacher's Ferrari. Yeah,
(11:40):
and it stuns me.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, the sales were like this year, right or recent?
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah? So Hamilton Hamilton sold Is in twenty twenty three
for Yeah, I mean almost twenty million, eighteen point eight million.
But were you saying that you'd rather have Shoemachers.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yes, and I'm not. It's not an argument of about
who's better better. I know that Hamilton, you know, is
could be the greatest of all time and he is
still in the midst of making his right his legend. Right,
got Ferrari now, but it's not a Ferrari right. So,
and Schumacher also for people, I feel like, for people
(12:19):
who are buying eight nine million dollar cars, right went
I think it went for nine million dollars.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Seven point five, well seven point five probably before premium.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
They must they must be, you know, want the Ferrari more,
I would think, and Also, the Ferrari is from the
golden era of Formula One, before it was sort of
dumbed down to like turbocharged two liter four cylinders.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You know, this real use. Now, this is really interesting
because you bring up a really good point that, Okay,
the number one most expensive car that's ever been sold
is Uhlin aut Coupe, which is a Mercedes which sold
for one hundred and forty two million dollars in twenty
twenty two. And then this.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Very old one and that's it, that's all right.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, that's an old one from the fifties. And then
this nineteen fifty four also Mercedes Streamliner that sold for
almost fifty million this week last Saturday, is the second
highest price ever taken in public at auction. So both
(13:24):
of those top sales are Mercedes vehicles, which is interesting
because generally Ferraris are considered, you know, the top the
blue chip vehicles.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Although Fanngio drove the Streamliner that you wrote about last week.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah but it but he didn't win any Formula races.
Like the thing about this car, and once we get
into such weird high rare air, I mean, it's all
just sort of theoretical anyway. But The thing about this
this Streamliner is yes, Fangio drove it, and so did
Sterling Moss, but it didn't actually win any significant races.
You know. They Sterling Moss had a couple of fast
(14:01):
laps in it, and Fangio won sort of an exhibition
style race in Buenos Aires that I'm sure was really cool,
and he did it. You know. The race was actually
two different days of racing that they like averaged the time,
so it was little. It wasn't actually a Formula one race.
So when you talk to people who know these cars
(14:23):
really well, they're like, well, of course it's a very
special car, but it's not the most special And part
of the reason why it's not is because it hadn't
won any real significant Formula one races. I mean again,
for so those.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Two Mercedes, right the the Streamliner which is the WA
ninety six R and the three hundred SLR uln Hoowe
to Coop, which is like obviously, you know, one of
the most famous Mercedes of all time. Those are from
the mid fifties. Yeah, so they're not going to be
many of those left, right, the Formula one cars that Hamilton,
(15:00):
the Hamilton car and even the shoe meee car was
I think from two thousand ish, So you know those
there are other are others out there.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Right, That's the other thing. The Uhlin hought is considered
a one of a two car, one of two. This Streamliner,
there were fourteen of them made. This is you know,
one of four in the same body style that are remaining.
But one in four is twice as many as one
and two. And you know, again these are like we're
(15:31):
splitting hairs here, but one of two is a lot
more rare than one of four. And the idea that
you could potentially buy a Streamliner again in the next
decade or two, you know, makes it considered less rare. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The other thing, so I like the Streamliner better than
the ul and hout why at least I like one
version that the Streamliner has been because I like the
open wheel, you know, the big mouth on the front
Formula race cars. But I've seen a few different bodies
(16:09):
on that car, because as you poured out in your story,
a lot of the pieces have changed, like even the
chassis plate may be gone.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, that's the other thing, you know. Do you know
that paradox called the ship of theseus paradox.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I didn't know it before I read your story.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
So this is basically a thing where you know, the
idea is, if you're constantly replacing a board on a ship,
so much so that the ship is basically being replaced
by new wood all the time, at what point does
a ship not become the same ship as it was?
And it's kind of a vanishing horizon. And the same
(16:48):
applies to these cars, where you know, race cars are
sometimes modified during the race. You know, no good race
car that has one significant races has escaped racing incidents. Rubbing,
you know, rubbing is racing, a little nudge here there,
possibly an accident, possibly a rollover, who knows what. And
(17:08):
obviously components and even engines are changed pretty consistently on
race cars. So the idea that you would get a
sort of quote unquote original or untouched car, which we
think really would lend to a higher price tech it
doesn't really apply to these race cars. So you're right
to your point. This Streamliner was made to be able
to be in different body styles. There was an open
(17:30):
wheel body type and then of course the streamliner body
type that was better suited toward long, broad super fast racetracks.
I think the streamliner look is really cool, the sculptural
part of it, I mean, the open the open wheel
to me looks more old school like old Yeah, the
(17:51):
Streamliner looks actually kind of futuristic, which I think is
really cool.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
The old school like formula open wheel racer is what
I would love to have, But nobody makes anything like
that now except for in kit car form.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah. I mean. The other thing that is really interesting
as we're talking about Ferrari versus Mercedes, is there was
another car that is part of this series of sales.
We should say that this Streamliner, this nineteen fifty four
Mercedes Streamliner, is part of a three series sale of
cars that the Indie Museum is auctioning off to raise
(18:27):
money for their endowment. And the second car in that
sale was a nineteen sixty four Ferrari two to fifty
LM with actually a better racing history than this Mercedes.
This Ferrari, this nineteen sixty four number one, it's a
Ferrari number two had actually one Lamont outright, so it
has a significant race when under its belt. But that
(18:47):
car sold for just under thirty two million. You know,
it's not as rare as the Mercedes. So it's I
don't know, it's interesting. Some of these Mercedes just really
seem to pop and turn terms of the value in
a way that the Ferraris haven't lately. But you could
argue they're more rare.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, and I guess the rarity is part of it.
And even though the race cars have been you know,
have had almost every single piece replaced, they still have that,
you know, the idea that Sterling Moss drove it, or
that totally Angio drove it, or that Shoe Me drove it.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
If you were going to buy one of these cars,
would that really make a difference for you personally knowing
that somebody really famous.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
So I don't have obviously those kind of funds, but yeah,
I think it would interesting to have something in my
garage that Sterling Moss drove, Yeah, yeah, or that Fungio drove.
Then I think it makes a big difference.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I mean, I know, intellectually it does. I don't on
a personal level, I don't really care, you know, so
some old guy sat in it for a for a
few laps around a racetrack. To me, it's like, I
don't I care if the car looks cool, and I
mean that.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Kind of this point, but you know, I would have
so much and it had been changed, like if when
Fangio drove it, if it was an open wheel race car,
and since then, you know, everything from the axles to
the body, to the seats, the steering wheel, like everything
(20:20):
is different and the only thing is the same as
the is the you.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Know, the chassing, the number, the number that's printed on
the chesting.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Then it would mean a lot less to me.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I had I say, yeah, yeah, I guess I can
see that. I mean, do you care that you know
that portion nine seventeen at the Mekam auction recently. Do
you do care that it had been driven by Steve McQueen.
Would that make any kind of difference to you?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yes, I hate to say it would it would, but
it would make a huge Like Triumph sells this Bonneville
the Scrambler twelve hundred, you know, that was in the
most recent Games Bond movie, and they do a Steve
McQueen version in Dark Green, and I hate I'm not
a Steve McQueen fanboy, like I have seen a couple
(21:09):
of his movies, but still still like that version of
that scrambler.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Okay, Well that's fair. I wonder how relevant Steve McQueen
is these days.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, you're right for the kids, now.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, there are plenty of people who don't even know
who he is.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
There are plenty of people that don't think Bullet was
a very good movie.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Well yeah, and there are plenty of people who think
Steve McQueen was a bit of a jerk. You know,
you can go down that road too.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, but anyway, anyway, I loved Bullet, and I haven't
gone down the Steve McQueen is a jerk road, although
obviously I've heard so much about it. Yeah. Yeah, I
sent you an auction car this morning. A buddy of
a buddy of mine, Yes, selling his SL six hundred.
And this is a different kind of thing. You wrote
(21:58):
about the W one twenty nine. Yes, and I prefer
the previous generation. But this thing is a beast.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It's got Now why is he selling it? Do you know? So?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
I know that he has had one in the past.
This is a two thousand and one SL six hundred
and it's got the six lider V twelve And he
had that car exact car previously, that was a driver
for him and he put like fifty thousand miles on it,
but this particular one he picked up with just like
(22:31):
dealer delivery miles.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
I was gonna say, I that to me is such
a red flag. One hundred and eighty seven one hundred
and eighty seven miles.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yes, only one hundred eighty seven miles. That's because he
bought it that I.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Mean, okay, so that's fair. There's an explanation.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And the guy who bought it from the dealer and
so dealer, it's been driven. It's never been driven, and
he had it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Has shakedown miles for sure.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
He is Philip Richter, by the way. He runs the
Turtle Garage. We've had him on the show for yep,
and he's he had this car sort of on display
at the Turtle Garage. So and he has this car
show every couple of years. So he had it on display.
It was like a display model, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah, and I see it's got Montana plates.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It's so mint like.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It's definitely meant because it's never been driven. We got
to wear this thing in a bit.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It hasn't just never been driven and stayed there like
he keeps trailering it back and forth to the dealer,
you know, every year for whatever it needs. So what
they take very good care.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh god, I'm my eyes are rolling when I hear
trailering it back and forth to the dealer. And okay,
you don't know, you don't know that he's trailer. I
mean maybe one hundred and eighty seven miles came from
driving it back and forth to the dealer.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I just know that it's been back and forth to
the same dealer that sold it. So it's like, yeah,
for people who want, you know, like the Han Solo
action figure in unopened in the box, you know, that's
what this is.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
That's what this is. And it's currently at one hundred
and eighty five thousand dollars. We've got four days left
on the sale. So jumping on.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Four days left on the saale. Yes, somebody was like,
I think I'll bid one hundred and eighty five grand
with four days left.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Don't you want no reserve? No reserve?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
True. I asked him about no reserve because I thought
that's pretty dangerous. At least if it was my stuff,
I would feel worried about it. Yeah, but he said,
you know, contrary to what you might think, no reserve
auctions drive more people to bid higher and wait to
keep paid.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Who's your friend said that?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, Philip.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I mean he's thought about this obviously. He works very
closely with a lot of car collectors, and he is
himself a car collector. See, he gives these things a
lot of thought. Whether you do reserve or no reserve.
I still would be too scared, soistic, because what if
the people who want the SL six hundred like are
diving in Indonesia that week?
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Completely? I mean the other thing is if you really
need the cash.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I mean, there you go. I doubt that's the case,
you know, because it's on his the turtle garage is
on his horse.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Farm, so oh oh, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, but I guess.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I'm going to be watching that. I mean I have
been watching a lot of Rolls Royce sales lately. I
think I've sent you a few half Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, they're going for a pretty penny.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
They're going for a pretty I mean there are deals
to be had, There are deals to be had. I
saw corniche go for a forty thousand, which I thought
was a good deal. Actually the other day that's a
good deal for a corniche.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, that does sound like a good deal if it.
By the way, I know not to say if it
has low miles now because I keep I keep flusting
after your nine to nine to one turbo with one
hundred and ninety thousand mind.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, I was going to say, by the way that
just crossed over, we're probably we're probably rounding down one
hundred ninety one thousand miles, to be honest, because that
was last week.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
By the way, your experience with that car and your
kind of philosophy has changed the way I, you know,
window shop for cars on Bring a Trailer, but also
on Auto Trader or whatever platform I used to I
used to limit it like I only want a car
that has less than fifteen or thirty thousand miles. And
now I'm thinking if it's one owner, yeah, happy to
(26:25):
have and you want to check that on or was responsible.
But I'm happy to have something that has high miles.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah. I think it's a case of read the room, like,
understand the context of the car. You can't just make
a blanket statement about that kind of thing. It depends
on the car, It depends on the make, it depends
on where and how the car was kept, It depends
on who owned it. And how they used it. All
of those things are important, and just the idea that
you would just say flat out it has to be
(26:55):
this way, I don't think is using all of the
information available, I guess I would say.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I wouldn't have any concerns about much on a high
mileage car like the motor Obviously, if it's been driven
a lot, it's been serviced.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
A lot, and potentially yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Guess the seats are maybe a little squishier than they
were before, but I don't care about that. It's the
suspension that would bother me. And I guess you get fair.
You know, of these expensive cars have air suspension that's
very expensive to replace.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
That's that's totally fair. I guess it just also kind
of depends on how you want to use it and
what you're looking for. I admit that I am not
too too fussy about everything being perfect because I don't
actually think anything is perfect, and I you know, I'm
far more interested in using something for fun. If you're
(27:48):
going to invest in a car, and they are investments,
no matter what you what, you know you're you're putting
money toward it, you might as well get some fun
out of it.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Last two weeks. I spent the I spent my downtime
on my diving vacation rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycles.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Oh, I need to reread that. It didn't stand up.
It was good. Yeah, I need to read it million
years ago.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
It's still so good. I mean, the author clearly was
had one screw loose.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
I feel like most motorcycle people do, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, but I loved it as kind of a rebuttal
to what's the name of the guy who used to
be the editor in chief of Wired and for some
reason Bloomberg had him write like a guest essay on motorcycling.
Oh uh, Gideon Litchfield. He had taken it like a
cross country trip and he was just like, hates motorcycling.
(28:46):
So I have no idea why he did it in
the first place. But yeah, he was complaining about the
Blue Ridge Highway, like of how dangerous it was. The
maximum speed limit is thirty five and there are no
other cars on it.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
You know, I will say, that's it's funny you bring
that up, because we've discussed that story at length recently
in these past few days. As we're talking about the
year going forward with pursuits. And that story was part
of this new thing we have at Bloomberg called the
Weekend Edition. And the whole point of the weekend edition
is sort of to take a step back and widen
(29:18):
the aperture. And you know, during the week we're talking
about very focused things and focused pursuits. But during the weekend,
you know, we want to take a step back and breathe.
And but I'm glad you read it, and I'm glad
we're talking about it. And that story did very well
for the weekend edition.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Well you know why it did well. Why because so
many people were angry about it.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
It got hate reads, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
And I'm not glad I read it because it still
makes me feel a little bit sick, like my chest
is a little bit tight when I think about why
would someone do something like that, Like a guy who
just doesn't clearly doesn't understand motorcycling, doesn't enjoy motorcycling. He's
riding a great bike on one of the best roads
(30:01):
in the country and he's and he's not and he's
not enjoying it. He said he couldn't wait to get
back to a traffic packed highway. That's the last person
you want to ask to write a story about motorcycling, why.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Don't you ride a Rebuttal honestly because because that's.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
A great road. I've ridden that run on my two
thousand and seven Ducatti Monster S fourrs. And it was
an absolute joy. Took that road down to North Carolina
where Olans has like its American office, and I got
(30:39):
the suspension redone and it's like the least dangerous place
you could ride a motorcycle there. Yeah, isn't anyone else around.
If you fall off, you're just gonna skid to the
corner slowly because you know, unless you're doing double the
speed limit, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I would love for you to ride a Rebuttal. And
I have to say even I'll take the hate reads.
I'm glad it got people talking. I'm glad it got
you thinking and reading something that would cleanse your mind
from all of the anks that you felt when you
read it. At least it's sparking some sort of reaction.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
That's a good point. By the way, the move to
video would be a fantastic I know one, not only
because we could show you know, the uhlen Hout or
the Streamliner, but I would like to be able to
show the new Aston Martin Vanquish, which you wrote a
story about. And I not only did I love the story,
(31:42):
I love the pictures as well. I love the color.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
I know the color is super nova red and it
does cost quite a pretty penny to get it. It's
a hand painted color. And if I'm remembering right, the
price tag just on the paint chab job alone was
the thirteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah, a little more. I think it was thirteen and
a half.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Was it thirteen and a half? Yeah, thirteen six. I
just found it, Yeah, thirteen six. It's such a gorgeous car.
And really the takeaway the headline on that is and
this is true. This is the first Aston Martin that
I've been in that I felt it was as special
as a Ferrari. Amazing, and I'll and you know what,
(32:26):
I actually I said that to somebody and they texted
it back to me and I was like, wow, it's
I just said it. I hadn't. It just came out.
I was talking about the car and I said, you know,
I felt like it was a special and she texted
it back to me and I'm like, oh, wow, did
I say that, and I was like, oh, I did
say that, and that's actually I stand by that. That's
the truth. They did it good gosh. It's expensive, you know.
(32:48):
The one that I drove starts at four hundred and
twenty nine thousand dollars, starts there, and then with options
like that thirteen thousand dollars amazing paint job went to
five hundred and sixty thousand dollars. But it's a great car.
I think it's the best one we've seen from them
so to date.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So the Vanquish was it's only occasionally been available, right
and has it not been available since like twenty eighteen?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
That's that's correct. They've used that name plate a couple
of times, first, you know, from two thousand and one
to two thousand and seven, and then again from twenty
twelve to twenty eighteen. I believe that it's always been
a V twelve. It's a two seat only coop. One
of the new things this year is it's they're only
(33:38):
offering two seats. I think previous iterations did offer a
back seat. But yeah, I think it's obviously it's a
great name for an Aston Martin. I'm glad they brought
the name plate back. I'm glad they're staying with the
V twelve. I'm sure you are too. Yeah, this is
this is using two turbos. Before it was in it
(34:01):
was naturally aspirated. So that's a bit of a change.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Doesn't bother me though, Okay, I.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Was gonna ask about that. Why doesn't that bother you?
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Because it's a GT car and I know I'm not
getting it with a stick, although they have they have
the ability clearly to do it, because they've offered a
few special editions of that mode which they claim are
sold out with a stick.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But okay, the Velora and the Valiant.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
But it's it's not like that kind of.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
It's not that kind of car car, and it doesn't need.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
It's very big. This is one thing about really big cars.
I don't need them to be a stick. I like
a stick in a sports car.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yes, okay, so that's that seems sensible of you. And yeah,
I think the high notes on this are it does
feel very special. It is big, you know. Of course,
we had a park next to a twenty fourteen Turbo
and it really sort of dwarfs the nine to eleven.
It makes a nine to eleven look small, and it does.
(35:00):
It's a little bit heavier, but it's really the ride
is great. It's it's you know, on Mulholland. Now they've
put in speed bumps, which is really annoying, but it is.
It's comfortable on uneven roads. It's not just completely jarring,
you know, like GT. Three for instance. It's very nice
to drive. To your point, I thought the interior was
(35:22):
so much better than previous aston Martin's happened. They're just
sort of continually improving there, which has been really a
challenge for them. But I do feel like they're kind
of nosing no pun intended in the right direction. Now. Yeah,
and I like that. I like, yes, I like it.
(35:42):
I think they can definitely lean into sort of that
signature look.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I love the look. I saw it at the at
their sort of sales studio here Q. I think it's
called on fifty seventh in Park And I mean they
just had one in a room with a designer and
I think the engineer with whom you spoke also for
your story with I'm in Newton exactly. And yeah, so
I just got to, you know, look at it for
(36:10):
like a twenty minutes or a half hour, and it's gorgeous.
All Aston Martins are gorgeous, but it's very special. And
I wonder what you think about the plate on the
back you.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
I was just going to ask you about that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I would rather have it in a color that's closer
to the color of the car, or i'd rather the
car in the color closer. I don't like that too
much contrast, but I think it's cool. Yeah you think.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I actually I agree with you on that. It doesn't
bother me to see it, and it's sort of I
don't want to say two tone, because it's certainly not that,
but in a high contrast color ways. But I would
be very very curious to see the car in a
dark slate gray or something, maybe even a midnight and
(36:56):
have that black carbon shield across the back. That would
probably look real mean and cool. I do also love
what they did with the rear, the rear tail lights,
the how they stacked them vertically. They're like notches kind
of stacked. I thought that's cool. I like a signature
tail light in general, for for cars, because you're assuming
(37:18):
everyone's behind you anyway, So I like that. I thought
that was cool. I don't know, it just it just
felt I'll tell you one thing, I was very I
was a lot less likely to just whip it around with,
you know, sort of erratically like you may do on
Sunset Boulevard, because it felt more like a Ferrari. I
(37:42):
didn't you know, in a nine to eleven you can
whip things around. It's great. This felt more like, oh,
I need to be careful, you know. I didn't want
to scratch any splitter. It doesn't have a lift, it
doesn't need a lift for the front at all. But
you know, I was just way more aware that, ooh,
this is this is a big car. It's got a
long nose, it's got that front splitter. I saw this
(38:03):
bright red Camark parked opposite me on Sunset and I
was like, ah, I needed the photo photo, and you know,
did not flip around, though in a different car we
might have. But it was just like, I can't whip
this around. It's too much of a precious thing. It's
just it's sort of that feeling that you definitely feel
seen in it. I don't think it's outrageous though, it's
(38:26):
it's cool.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
I mean, it's gorgeous. I'm looking at now the pictures
in your story, and I kind of wanted to make
one of screensaver it's so good.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Which one is it?
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Just the one where it's parked on the brick driveway?
Oh yeah, the front, Yes, it's where I'm looking at.
And I know this, you know what I mean. Twenty
grand the carbon like the car starts at four thirty.
This one was five sixty. The carbon packages alone, I
think added like forty grand for sure. Price.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh well, the interior carbon package was like over twenty
one thousand dollars. And that's just the interior and not
all of the interior that's like doors and dash So yeah,
it's definitely priced up there. And all of this is
part of Aston's strategy to increase profits and get some
(39:15):
cash in their coffers. Although I have to say, our
good friend Steve Sario did point out to me that
Aston Martin's in the nineties. When you compare their pricing,
we're really about the same if you're talking exchange rates,
(39:36):
you know, I think he I'm trying to remember which
he told me.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
I will say that the so I'm looking at the
carbon fiber roof was like five grand. And then as
you mentioned, the interior package is twenty two, basically twenty seven.
The upper body carbon fiber is another seventeen, so you're
at forty four, and then the lower body is another seventeen,
(40:06):
so you're at sixty one, and then another exterior carbon
fiber package was twelve, So seventy three seventy three grand
in carbon fiber. That's insane.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
You know what's crazy. It doesn't even look that like
it's that much on the car. You know, it's not
like the car is you know, nose to tail carbon fiber.
It's like it looks actually like, oh, pretty classy. There's
a touch there, there's a touch there, you know. But
but yeah, it's a lot of carbon fiber, but it's
not like full carbon fiber hood.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
It's you know, they really contrive. They what they want
to do is get the kind of margins.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
That Ferrari has. Everyone wants to be Ferrari and.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
That Porsche was aiming for it. By the way, portion
missed big on margins.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Do you want to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Because we don't have to talk about it. But it's
another example of a manufacturer that is going to take
a huge loss, I think an eight hundred million dollar
right down this year because of their because of their
exploration of evs, right, And I don't hate all EV's.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
No, and this is a great segue. I know where
you're going with this.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
I would, I would. I love the Kia EV nine
for example.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
I love the EV nine and I love the five hundred.
The Fiat five hundred.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
E me too great.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
And I actually also loved the Rolls Royce Specter. I
had another that well, you'd love it. You would love it,
I'm sure, yeah. And I also didn't hate the Dodge
Charger EV.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
So and I'm excited to see some like of the
new E Rev. Speaking of Dodge, you know they're they're
coming out with one. But all this to say, I
don't hate all EV's. M hmm, there are some that
I like. And because we got an email from someone
who said I'm biased against you.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Now, okay, fair, I want to discuss that. But I
want to put a pin on this Portia. We've seen
this unfolding for nearly a year now and it's fascinating
and I do have quite a large story that we've
been working on about it. So watch this space because
(42:15):
by the way, I.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
Keep thinking that, I keep thinking, now's the time to
buy Portia shares. I would never give investment advice. The
only time I ever have it was wrong, horribly wrong.
And I'm not allowed to buy shares in companies that
I report on, so I won't be sure really allowed to. Yeah,
just like all the other things that I want to buy.
But I keep thinking, Okay, they can't get any worse.
(42:36):
They're down thirty percent over the last twelve months. They're
down half since the IPO. If you bought P nine
to eleven shares of the IPO, you've lost half of
your money.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
And that was the largest none, that was the largest
IPO in Germany in like two decades. I mean it was.
It was considered a wild success.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
And by the way, you know, Barry Ritholts always says
when you want to buy a product, think about buying
the stock instead, Like if you want to buy an
Apple MacBook, right, you should just money stock and you'd
be doing much better off of Portie, right, because if
you wanted to buy the stock and instead you just
ordered a.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
GT three, at least you can drive it.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
You're in the money too.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Yeah, or I mean, just hang on in the line.
I would never ever ever count Porsia out those guys
have this German Schwabian grit and determination, and yeah they
are down right now, but they are definitely not out.
You know, I think if you can hold on and
(43:36):
be patient, we will, Like you say, I guess if
you could buy stock.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Right, Yeah, I'm well, I'm not saying you're.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Not get you know, you're not saying that.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
No, No stock is getting so crushed today because the
margins are only like twelve percent, and most carmakers dream
of margins like that, right, but they're not the seventeen
or nineteen percent that you would have hoped at the IPO.
But so the email, let's talk about it. I'm pretty
stoked on it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Actually, Yeah, so this is from Dean. I guess we
could say first names. That's safe, right, Dean.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
Thank you for writing on his substack.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
So yeah, what's the substack called Portico.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Darwin Portico Darwin dot substack dot com.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Yes, thanks for writing to us. Dean in San Francisco.
Dean said he loved our podcast, but he doesn't like
the anti EV bias.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Which is a fair criticism.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Actually, do you think it? Do you think we we
are a little anti EV?
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yes, we are, and maybe more than we should be.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
I would I would say I was surprised to hear that,
because I'm all about the right tool for the job,
and I do not care really what's under the hood.
Matt cares. Matt cares about his v especially, I truly
don't care. I I just want good things, and my
(45:02):
criticism of EV's has just been that there. I just
haven't seen some good ones. But I have seen a few,
a few that are good. But it's fair, it's fair,
it's interesting. I found it more interesting that that's what
he's getting.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Yeah, I mean, look, I just for me, I like
what I you know, I have my preferences just like
everyone else. But that doesn't mean I don't think there
are some.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Really good EV cars completely.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Including Tesla. You loved the cyber truck, by the way,
I yeah, I thought it was.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I thought honestly, I thought it was. I have no
problem with it, you know, I I thought it was.
It was a lot better than I anticipated. And I
loved how and I've said this before, how kids especially
got so excited about it. And I am a thousand
percent behind vehicles that evoke an emotional emotional reaction, because
(45:55):
most of them don't.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
I also love I drove the gm SE Sierra EV
and I absolutely adored driving it. The Hummer EV.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
As, Oh yeah, that was fine.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
Yes, kind of it makes a statement that I don't
necessarily want to make, but I really enjoyed. I like
to drive big heavy vehicles in the massive battery two
hundred killot battery packs. So you and I also like,
you know, like you mentioned, the Fiat five hundred EV
is such a great little get around.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Her honestly perfect, perfect thing. Yeah, perfect thing. I thought
it was just very well executed, priced fairly. I love
the heritage, of course. I just thought, yeah, it was great.
I but I do I will say I don't actually think,
and I've said this before, if you want to do
the best thing for the world right now, I would
(46:47):
just not buy anything. Don't consume, yes to me. And
I don't like the idea that we have to consume
and buy something else that is not actually green. There's
way too much stuff in the world in general, and
I just don't like being force fed the idea that
you've got to buy something else and consume this other
(47:09):
product in order to be somehow quote unquote good. That
just is not inaccurate.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Totally agree with blossophy, and I also agree with Dean
that I'm too biased again and I will try to
be less.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Yeah, it's good to be aware of that. Thanks. Thanks,
we loved your letter, Dan, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
We have we got another. By the way, our email address.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
Is hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot net.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
I just wanted to remind our listeners to shoot us
emails because we do read them and we find them fascinating.
We got one from another guy, Declan, who is looking
for Goodwood Revival tips. And I think what we're gonna
do is I think what we should do is study
a little bit and then report back, report back next week.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
It's a great question.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Yeah, I think it's a great question. And I would
I just imagine mister enthusiasts at Goodwood Revival in a jumpsuit.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
You know, oh my goodness, he'll be so happy to
hear his name mentioned. And you know he will be
in a jumpsuit, yeah, underneath his raccoon for a coat.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
If it's a little chilli, he'll be wearing a raccoon
for a coat.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Which with a watch on each wrist.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I'm very much for the raccoon for a coat.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Look, you need one, Matt. Why can't we all get
one Team Raccoon for a coats.
Speaker 2 (48:28):
I would definitely wear one for sure.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
I'd like to see that. I'm Matt Miller, and I'm
Hannah Elliott, and this is Bloomberg
Hosts And Creators
Hannah Elliott
Matt Miller
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!