Gearheads Rejoice: Rare Cars, Raptors and Secret Spots

Beyond the highways and byways lies a world of hidden automotive treasures most people never discover. Our journey begins in Houston, uncovering six remarkable destinations that fly under most visitors' radars.

We explore the Sam Houston Boat Tour, offering free 90-minute cruises that reveal the bustling Port of Houston from a completely different perspective. Then we venture into Buffalo Bayou Park, a surprising 160-acre natural oasis nestled right in downtown Houston, complete with walking trails and family-friendly activities. For automotive enthusiasts, we uncover the Art Car Museum (affectionately called "Garage Mahal"), showcasing vehicles transformed into rolling works of art. Just outside the city, we visit the impressive Hemi Hideout, housing an extraordinary collection of restored Mopars and Americana in a 21,000-square-foot facility that's an attraction all its own. Racing fans will appreciate our discovery of the Houston Motorsports Museum, preserving Texas racing heritage with collections ranging from IndyCars to NASCAR machines. We round out our Houston exploration with the Lone Star Flight Museum, which surprisingly includes significant automotive elements like World War II Jeeps and military vehicles.

The conversation shifts to "banned, crushed, and forgotten muscle" – those legendary cars that never quite made it to glory. From the ultra-rare 1969 Chevrolet Corvette ZL1 (only two ever built) to Ford's answer to the Dodge Charger Daytona – the 1971 Ford Torino King Cobra – we examine six fascinating vehicles that represent automotive history's road not taken. These cars, often too expensive, too radical, or victims of changing regulations, offer a glimpse into what might have been.

We conclude with a comprehensive review of the completely redesigned 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor. This midsize pickup delivers impressive off-road capabilities with Fox shocks, increased wheel travel, and a powerful 3.0-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost engine generating 405 horsepower. Starting at $57,065 for the Raptor version, we examine how it stacks up against competitors like the Toyota Tacoma TRD and Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison. Whether you're planning your next

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Mr Mars has a new feature.
We're going to start todaydriving destinations, mr.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Mars and I started out with Houston.
I mean, it's local and it's agood place to start on a
memorial weekend.
Hidden Houston.
Now, one of the things I foundwas the Sam Houston Boat Tour.
Now this offers a freeopportunity for families to
explore one of the busiest portsin the United States.
Now this is a 90-minute cruise.
Takes passengers along theHouston Ship Channel aboard a

(00:28):
95-foot boat.
It's air-conditioned.
You get close-up views towhat's going on in the Port of
Houston Completely differentview than looking at it over the
bridge and going across it.
But you need to make advancereservations because this is a
really popular thing to do inHouston.
Buffalo Bayou Park.

(00:48):
What caught my attention onthis?
This is 160 acres of greenspace in downtown Houston.
Never knew it existed.
Walking trails, bike paths,play areas.
It's got hiking, biking,picnics, wildlife spotting.
There's a play area with rockclimbing walls, water features
and a sand pit that kids canplay and get lost in.
There's interpretive signs.

(01:09):
This is a really cool place togo out and take the family and
get out around nature withoutspending a lot of money.
Now getting into something alittle more automotive the Art
Car Museum, also known as theGarage Mahal.
Now, this is a unique Houstonattraction dedicated to vehicles
transformed into rolling worksof art.
Now, part of this comes intothe Art Car Parade that happens

(01:32):
once a year, but this is amuseum that you can go to all
around.
If you miss the parade, you cango see where some of these cars
end up at the Art Car MuseumCool.
Now, the other thing that youwant to look at if you're a car
guy is the Hemi Hideout.
Now, this is outside of Houston,but we're going to call it the
Houston area because it's soawesome.
It's 40 minutes west of Houston, in Brookshire.

(01:52):
It's a private collection ofrestored Mopars, neon signs and
Americana 21,000 square footbuilding to put this in.
The building itself is worthgoing to look at if you like the
signs and everything.
This is a great place to go.
Need to make advancedarrangements uh, all the money
that that people collect fromgoing to see this, uh, it goes

(02:14):
to charity and they usuallymatch that, so you need to call
them and check on this.
The hemi hideout in brookshire.
Then, going over to speed sports, there's something I found
they're called the houstonmotorsports museum and this is
out in the woodlands area atspeed motorsports facility.
It's a museum that's focused onthe collection of race cars,
memorabilia and historicvehicles.

(02:35):
It's dedicated preserving thehistory of motorsports in texas
and specifically and beyond,with things like indycars,
formula one, one, nascar andendurance racing machines.
Great place, close, to go checkit out.
Plus, you can do a littledriving while you're out there.
Finally, I wanted to mentionthe Lone Star Flight Museum.
Now it's primarily focused onaviation, but it's such a cool

(02:56):
place.
It's in Houston, includes acollection of vintage military
aircraft, war-era automobilesand it's out at Ellington Field
and it's got some World War IIJeeps, motorcycles, staff cars
and some other transportationvehicles.
They even have hands-onactivities with simulators,
guided tours available.
It's very family-friendly,admission is modest and this is

(03:19):
a great place to go see somereally cool stuff with your
family.
Check out Hidden Houston whileyou're out and about.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
All right, Thank you, sir.
Very good Time now for Jeff'scar culture Banned, crushed and
forgotten muscle, that's right.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
So not every muscle car made it to glory.
Some were banned before theyeven hit the streets, others
were quietly crushed after theirmoment had passed.
So this first one up on theblock is a 1969 Chevrolet
Corvette ZL1.
The 69 ZL1 was technically aproduction car, but just barely
Chevy built a new one.
Just two of these, powered withan all-aluminum 427 V8

(04:03):
designated for racing.
The engine alone added $4,000to the price, doubling the cost
of that standard Corvette andthat year-made model.
Too expensive, too aggressivefor the public roads, the ZL1
faded into obscurity and it justwent away.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, it didn't fade that much because you got it on
this thing.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Well, both examples survived, but they're in private
collections and not used.
So next one 71, ford Torino.
King Cobra Ford's response tothe Dodge Charger.
Daytona and the Superbird wasthe Torino King Cobra Sleek
fastback and radically slopednose designed for NASCAR

(04:43):
aerodynamics.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
God, that's ugly.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Woo.
Only three prototypes werebuilt before NASCAR changed the
rules.
After they built them, it saidno more.
No more of that.
With the program scrapped.
The King Cobra never reachedproduction.
The prototypes were quietlyshelved and the 429 jet engine
silenced before they could makethe headlines.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
I wonder where that car is today.
It's a museum piece.
It's a museum piece.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
It's a museum piece 65 Pontiac Catalina 2 Plus 2.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
I remember these 421 high output I remember these.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
I love that car.
Pontiac's Catalina 2 Plus 2 wasbuilt to move, especially when
equipped with a 421 high outputengine making 376 horsepower at
a time.
Though it was a full-size coupe, it had quarter-mile
performance that rivaledmid-size muscle cars, but
overshadowed by its GTO sibling.
So it's a little bit smaller onthe GTO side, but that's a

(05:34):
beautiful car.
Plus, it's a ragtop.
That's good.
Next one we're going to go toMike is the 71 AMC Matador
Machine.
The Machine AMC planned tofollow up with the Rebel machine
with a more aggressive Matadorversion in 71.
The idea was to carry over themachine's 401 V8 and the
graphics, but marketing didn'tback it.

(05:55):
They didn't like it.
A few prototypes were made butthe project quietly died before
mass production.
What's left of the Matadormachine concept is mostly photos
, paperwork and a few scatteredparts no one completed.
No known completed cars havesurvived, making it one of the
strangest.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
AMCs.
There is Now wait just a minute, that's a late model Tahoe back
there in the back.
So somebody's got that dead car.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, somebody's got that there, but that's just what
I can tell you.
Okay it's a photoshop, it couldbe uh.
1966 fairlane gtx prototype.
This fairlane was a fordprototype created to bridge the
gap between the mustang and thefull-size so what is the valve
covers that have shot throughthe?

Speaker 1 (06:33):
uh, what the?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
hell is that loose bolts?

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I think it's been recalled uh no, but if you think
about, if you think about the,the later models of the
roadrunner and stuff, they hadhoods, not like that.
That's ridiculous, not nearthat tall.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
It wore a unique badging.
Interior trim reportedly testeda few suspension tweaks that
would later show up on the GTand the Cobra models.
It never intended forproduction, but after a few
developmental changes it wasreportedly destroyed.
What makes it interesting ishow the little photographic
evidence remains.
One of these cars you hearabout engineering's, performed

(07:09):
executives, all that good stuff.
No one knows where it went,what.
That is a new Explorer orsomething.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, it's an Expedition or something.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
There you go, 73.
Somebody has that car.
73 Pontiac Trans Am SD455 withan aluminum block, or, as they
say, aluminium block.
Sd was super duty.
Super duty 455 is already arare piece of pontiac history.
But there's a subset ofprototypes that took things
further.
A handful of pre-productioncars were fitted with

(07:40):
experimental aluminum blocks forweight savings and better heat
distribution.
Only a few were ever built andmost were destroyed after
testing.
None were sold to the public.
Rumors persisted about onesurviving car in private hands,
but nothing has been confirmed.
That's a pretty car.
I like that car.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well, that would be easy to do.
You could hide thatall-aluminum V8 underneath the
hood.
Yeah, even though it was just aregular Trans Am at the time,
or a Camaro or Firebird,whatever.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
All the externals, and there's companies that make
the retro.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
They'll take a new Camaro and they'll make it look
with the old body, styling andstuff.
It's still new, but they'llmake it kind of retro looking.
That's no fun.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
I had an aluminum block car one time.
It was the lightweight, Iunderstand, but it always had a
heating problem.
You had to be careful that youdidn't cook the engine because
it just didn't take much to heatit up.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, you're probably using the mechanical fan on the
front there of the motor.
Oh, absolutely 1963.
Oh yeah, they didn't haveelectric fans back then.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
So it was.
You know I could see why theytried it, but it didn't work so
good.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
All right Time now for this hour's car review.
I had the opportunity to drivethe 2024 Ford Ranger.
Now you say, well, wait aminute, it's not a 25.
Well, it's a brand new one.
The Ranger has been completelyredesigned for 24, and they
didn't make any changes reallyfor 25.
So take that for what you will.
Final assembly location Wayne,michigan, at Michigan Assembly,

(09:16):
I've been there.
Available trim levels the XL,the XLT, the Lariat and the
Raptor.
I had the SuperCrew 4x4 Raptraptor.
This is a mid-sized pickuptruck.
That's what we're going to callit anyway.
Seats five little tight in theback seat because it's not a
full-size pickup truck.
Now it's all new for 24.
As I mentioned, it has a raptorspecific grill and you would

(09:41):
think that it has wider fenderslike they have on the Raptor 150
.
It does not.
It's the same.
It has fender extensions on itto gobble up all of that big
rubber, and I'll tell you aboutthat in a minute.
Front skid plate on it.
Optional bedlock-capable wheelswith 33-inch all-terrain tires,
which, by the way, is a $1,500option.

(10:03):
There it is right there.
Exterior I told you about that.
What I liked about it we likethe F-150 Raptor.
Look applied to its littlebrother the Raptor Ranger.
Now, what could use improvement?
Not a big fan of the Raptorgraphics, but that's just me.

(10:23):
I like the more conservativelook, so you can get it without
the graphics on it, and I thinkthat may be one of those things
where they send the graphicsdown to the dealer and the
dealer applies them.
I don't know, but I'm not a bigfan of the graphics.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Or they stick them in the glove box and put them on
it.
Well, not the glove box, butyes.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Why not offer a multi-purpose tailgate?
That would be just a littlesuggestion to Ford.
Make themselves a little bitmore money and I like that
multi-purpose tailgate.
Interior highlights Eye-popping, contrasting color highlights
throughout the cabin of theRaptor, which you can't get on

(11:00):
the regular Ranger Dash welllaid out, easy to find controls,
awesome.
Sync 4 operating system,changeable instrument display,
cargo and trunk room.
Well, there's not a lot of roomin the back seat and you can
flip the back of it up, down,whatever, and make a little bit

(11:20):
more room, but it's just not awhole lot Back there.
It is a midsize.
If you want to get somethingbigger, get the F-150.
What I liked I liked thematerials.
I liked the fit and finishAwesome throughout.
What could use improvement?
Fuel and other essential gaugesare a little bit too small on
the dashboard instrument cluster.
That's just for me.

(11:40):
3.0 liter twin turbo EcoBoost,that turns out 405 horsepower,
430 pound-feet of torque,10-speed automatic transmission
tows, 5,500 pounds.
Haul rating 1,375.
16 miles per gallon, city 18,highway for combined to 17, and,
believe it or not, I got 17.2over 281.9 miles.

(12:04):
What I liked about it?
The power.
What could use improvement?
Hey, if you can think ofsomething good for you, I can't
Ride and handling Wheel travelmakes for a softer ride.
Wheel travel is for off-roadingand let me tell you something
this thing doesn't ride like anykind of specific truck.
Is it a softer shock?
It's got Fox shocks on it Foxshocks for one, but the wheel

(12:27):
travel is much more than aregular Ranger Pricing.
Base trim price Now we'retalking about the Raptor version
of this Ranger Base trim$57,065.
As tested $60,050.
If you want to just get intothe Ranger base model price
$32,670.

(12:49):
Competitors again, these arebase model prices.
Toyota Tacoma TRD 33.7, rightthere with it.
Jeep Gladiator is a little bitmore expensive 37,895.
And then Chevy Colorado ZR2Bison, which is brand new for
this year.
It's Chevy's version of anoff-roader.

(13:10):
29,500 is where it starts.
Nice, and that is my review ofthe 2024 Ranger Raptor.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
You know you mentioned that multi-purpose,
multi-use tailgate.
You know, on a truck that'slifted like that one is that
would be even better than on aregular truck because, just you
know, not only do you have todeal with something up in there,
but now you've got to deal withthe height because it is a
raised for the off-road thing.
Thank you, that would be agreat ad.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, hey.
If you'd like to get in touchwith us, you could always shoot
us an email.
The address here is info atinwheeltimecom.
We're back after this.