September 15, 2025 • 37 mins
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Every car enthusiast has THE car. For Curt Bellotti, it was always the DeLorean.
But before he could afford his dream, there was a 1984 Chrysler Laser XE Turbo with a digital dashboard straight out of Knight Rider. That car taught Curt something crucial about the relationship between desire, patience, and finally getting what you've always wanted.
Fast forward to 2024: Curt finally owns a 1981 DeLorean. But is the reality as good as the dream he'd been chasing for decades?
In this episode, Curt shares:
- Why the Chrysler Laser XE was the poor man's KITT car in the 1980s—and why that mattered so much
- The exact moment he decided "I WILL own a DeLorean someday"
- What 40 years of wanting something does to your expectations
- The first drive in his actual DeLorean—did it live up to decades of hype?
- How digital dashboards in the '80s made you feel like you were driving the future
- The unexpected maintenance realities of owning a DeLorean today
- Why some dreams are better chased than caught (or are they?)
Warning: This episode might make you finally pull the trigger on your dream car. Or it might make you appreciate the chase more than the catch. Either way, Curt's honesty about the gap between fantasy and reality is refreshingly real.
🔗 More Dream Car content: https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/16723792-stainless-steel-dreams-mike-s-time-traveling-journey-with-a-delorean-and-beyond
https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/15009054-delorean-family-story-kat-delorean-growing-up-with-automotive-icon-father
🔗 Connect: https://linktr.ee/carsloved
⭐ Help us grow: Leave a review!
And don't miss Curt's favorite episode with Timothy Kearns and the origin of the intermittent windshield wiper - https://buzzsprout.com/2316026/episodes/17461644-why-we-have-intermittent-windshield-wipers-timothy-kearns-on-his-father-s-innovation-ford-legal-battle
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to All the Cars.
I've Looked For yourauthoritative podcast on
automotive nostalgia, where ourguests are unique.
Each auto has an era, every cartells a story, so you know it's
time to plug in, get a littlegrease under the nails and slip
on that favorite car themet-shirt.
(00:25):
Now, before I cue in my partnerin crime here, let's welcome
back to Cars Love Nation, ourmost recent listeners in cities
and countries around the world.
All right, so, doug, you'regoing to like this.
I'm going to throw out.
I pulled this out of theanalytics, okay, and you're
going to dig it.
So what do these cities have incommon?
(00:47):
Right, this is a little bit ofa test here.
Brooklyn, new York welcome back, we know you're listening.
Brimmington, washington welcomeback, we know you're out there.
Birmingham, alabama, not toofar from me welcome.
Bridgeport.
Connecticut, bradford, maine,all the way in the northeast.
(01:10):
What do all of those citieshave in common?
Any clue?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
uh, two things, they both.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
They all start with b and they all start with br I
think, oh, I didn't even getclose birmingham yeah, yes, I
got B makes the buh buh sound.
Yeah, you're right, that's rightNow.
Countries all over the world.
We see a theme here.
Welcome back to our listenersyou know what and maybe even
viewers, as we ramp up theYouTube presence.
(01:40):
We're having fun with that.
Maybe Doug can speak a littlebit about that in a minute.
But hey, welcome back Sweden.
You know they used to make sobsthere.
I was going through a magazineand saw an old sob ad.
It was fantastic Sob anyway.
Okay, sweden, germany, norway,canada are neighbors in Italy,
(02:02):
so welcome back.
Hey, it's great to have all ofyou back.
And let's bring in my co-hostwith the almost.
He's got all the options.
He fires on most cylinders someof the time.
Our man with the plan, doug,what's happening, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think I'm firing on five of six today, so that's
pretty good as long as one ofthem is firing.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, the older I get, I'll take what I can.
All right, so do you alwayshave?
Do you have an exclusivelyautomotive wardrobe?
Is everything Carbase?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
It's becoming that, stocks.
It's becoming that.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
No, no, I know hats, I know shirts.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, just shirts, just shirts, right now All right
, but you've given me ideas.
I'll talk to my wardrobe person.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, talk to your fashion consultant, yes, yeah.
So what's the shirt today?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The shirt today is, no surprise, a DeLorean shirt,
one of many.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, when we introduce today's extremely fun
guest, you'll see why and I'mexcited for this one.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And what do you notice?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
about this DeLorean shirt.
Hang on, I've got to.
Let's get rid of this thing.
See, I always like these shirts.
It's got kind of a blueprint.
It looks like the car is hollowblueprint.
I'm going to guess that's maybeeither the patent or some sort
of legal documentation.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I believe it was from the patent Yep.
That's pretty slick.
I found it on Amazon.
Yep, it's an awesome shirt.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That's a great one.
That's a great one.
So it's always three questionsI got for you.
We're down with one, so let'scatch up, deandre.
So what's the newest thinghappening in your garage, if
anything have?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
you had any time this week?
No, I think the last thing Itold you was I replaced the
starter in my 1990 Nissan 300ZX.
I was kicking myself becausewhy wouldn't it start with the
new starter?
Did a little troubleshooting,found out coincidence or not,
(04:11):
the starter relay died forwhatever reason.
Yep, it had worked before theirstarter, just had a lot of
trouble engaging.
So yeah, so I got to a anotherstarter relay.
Fortunately I got a buddy onthe eastern shore of maryland
who has a literally semi phone afriend z parts for my love it,
(04:35):
my model.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So yeah, make sure you.
You can always type it intochilton gpt also, okay.
Last question what is now?
I'm gonna ask, but I don'tthink we're ready for it.
So what is new with the show?
We've been recording a lotrecently.
We've got a lot of episodes inthe can.
We're going to release themhere.
So what?
I know there's some behind thescenes technical things that I'm
(04:59):
way too unintelligent tounderstand.
We don't have to get into themnow.
But hey, we have some stuff upon YouTube.
Check out our YouTube.
Doug continues to throw thingsout on all of our social media
vectors, so maybe we should justkeep some of the show stuff
under our hat for now.
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think that's fair.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Moving.
Yeah, we can't tell any secretsAre we going to declassify any
of it soon.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Are we going to declassify it?
Well, depending on when peopleare listening to this, I just
put out a little clip from oneof our many podcast recordings
where we talked about theGenesis of the show, not to be
confused with the Genesisesiscar, which is a very nice
vehicle fantastic automobile.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Thank you for the update.
Moving on, yes, so cars lovenation.
If you like what you hear, tella family member, a co-worker, a
friend, heck, even tell anenemy, because you know what we
do.
This show brings peopletogether.
It's all about fun all over theworld, yep.
So we're going to get into itright now.
Okay, carslovecom we continueto beef up and by we I mean the
(06:11):
smarter half of us, dougcontinues to beef up the online
presence.
Do you want to give the linktree?
Because I just can't spell it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Sure, it's a L-I-N-K-T-R dot.
E-e slash Cars Loved.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know I'm going to brush up on my ABCs one day and
I'll get there.
Just got to be patient.
But the big one here is thesedays, reviews.
Leave a review anywhere you canon our site.
You can mail it through theUnited States Postal Service.
You can send a carrier pigeon.
(06:47):
However it gets here is fine.
But do you have one handy youcan read for the?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
audience, absolutely so.
This one just came in onTuesday.
Takes a couple days for ApplePodcasts to validate.
Make sure it wasn't made by abot so the Term yeah, he can't
leave a review no.
So this is from bob bob unboundand it says, for everybody who
(07:17):
has ever owned a car, reflectingon cars we have owned the good,
the bad, the bad, thetransmissions.
You wouldn't think that this isentertaining, but it really is,
and I didn't think I was a carguy.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
That might be the best review ever.
I think that's a haiku or asonnet.
I think you wrote that.
Niambic Pentameter.
That's beautiful.
Do we know who that is?
I think I know who that is.
Do you have any idea?
I might.
Do we know who that is?
I think I know who that is.
Do you have any idea?
I might?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
okay, okay well, that's beautiful.
Thank you for that review, bobmuch appreciated.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
so yeah, and if you find yourself, uh, near any
water cooler, whatever you go tothe, uh, the tire place, you're
having all you know, cars andcop.
Hey, just just, please, mentionus, spread the word.
All right, today's theme by wayof a prologue.
You had a good one, do you havethat one?
(08:11):
Let's, let's throw that one outhere, and then we're going to
introduce today's guest.
What's the theme?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So the theme is what do you do when your friends or
family, or just outsiders startnoticing your love for cars and
love for nostalgia?
And what would they notice?
Would it be a bunch of oilstains in the driveway?
Would it be you're building abigger garage?
(08:38):
Would it be you're buying carsfrom a certain era?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah.
So kind of what do you project?
How might other people see you?
How would your?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
neighbors.
Your neighbors are like whoa.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
All of a sudden he came into a zillion dollars.
Well, I think it's about thattime.
So excited for today's guest.
So, doug, how did today's guestmake it into our virtual garage
?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Kurt, who was wonderful to be on the podcast.
I found Kurt, like I find lotsof people Facebook, so Kurt
posted a picture of not only oneawesome car, but two awesome
cars from the 80s.
(09:25):
I'm gonna let him talk aboutthem, because those are his.
One is his dream car and one ishis.
Take me back to the 1984, 85and we'll.
We'll let kurt talk about them.
But yeah, just seeing those twocars with so many similarities
next to each other just got myattention, not to mention the
(09:47):
fact that we owned when I wasgrowing up, we owned one of
those cars.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, welcome Kurt.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I'm doing well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Man.
So you and Doug really do havea cosmic connection, don't you?
Actually several.
And the moment Doug said thatmaybe, if it's okay with you,
maybe we can post the picture ofthose two cars, but the way
Doug said it made me think ofthat picture, the two cars as
bookends, maybe bookends to yourlife.
Think about it.
Kind of one takes you way backand one kind of is you know your
(10:23):
dream for a long time but youonly got it recently.
So tell.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, so the first car is a 1984 Chrysler Laser and
that was the car that I had asa teenager.
I had, you know, when I was 17years old I got my first you
know Chrysler Laser and I had itfor many years, did a lot of
(10:52):
work on it.
Pretty much everything in thatcar I worked on and I replaced
over the years, went throughcollege, ended up getting a
second one, which was thehigh-end model of the XE model,
which is the turbochargeddigital dash, all that stuff in
college.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, oh yeah and all that stuff in college.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, oh yeah, and I had that in college and then
while you're in college.
The thing about those cars isthey take a lot to keep them
running like many 80s cars,domestic cars and I just didn't
have the resource or the time tofix it, and so I ended up
(11:33):
getting rid of it, and that'swhy I was so excited to be able
to get another one that was verysimilar to the one I owned in
college, and that's what I havenow.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Fantastic.
And before Doug really gets usin depth to the interview here
and walks you through your past,can you talk a little bit about
and hopefully we can get thisvideo online?
There are several model oh, theRC airplanes behind you.
They're just very strikinglooking.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh yeah, so that was that's.
Ever since I was about the sameage teenager, I flew RC
aircraft and I you know that wasmuch less sophisticated back in
the 80s, but yes, so that's.
One of my other hobbies is, ifyou see there hanging on the
ceiling, that's a P-51 Mustang.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Love it.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You know that's an iconic one and it's very fun to
fly.
That's just a standard likehigh-wing Cessna thing and
behind me.
So this is a cool thing, it'sa— Is that a Thunderbird.
That's an F-16 Thunderbird.
Yes, you know the modern jetsare very sophisticated now, and
(12:50):
sorry for zooming around Onemore on the wall is another 80s
icon, which is that's an F-14Tomcat.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Oh, I see Tom Cruise in the canopy.
I see it from here.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Yes, he's almost inverted, he'sinverted.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I tend to collect the RC aircraft that made an
impression on me as I wasyounger and definitely that was
going to air shows.
I used to go to them all thetime in the 90s and even out
here we have a really good airshow and the F-14 was always the
most impressive thing to see.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, I don't know, doug, if you can see it.
He's also got this kind ofvertical neon-looking sign that
says arcade on it.
Oh yeah, I got to say you're inthe running for probably the
top three or four.
Oh gosh, he's got a Pac-Manmachine in the back of his car.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Oh yeah, see, I have a little arcade there.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I'm going to show off too.
Oh there, you got it.
Okay, there you go.
Oh, there you got it.
We're kindred spirits, sir.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, you guys have a cosmic connection all the way
around, for sure that was anevidence of me having too much
time on my hand at COVID.
So that's what happened.
That's when it came.
It's beautiful.
It is beautiful.
And before we go back in time,well, okay, let's do this.
Never done this before we'regoing to step back into time,
(14:20):
we're going to go 88 miles anhour and just burst into flame
here and as we go back to whenyou had your first car, and Doug
will walk you through this.
All I want to mention is we allhave a soundtrack to our lives
of when we grew up, these songsthat were really important to
work, finding ourselves, to findus, to find our friends.
Maybe we were cool enough to gosee one of these acts in
(14:41):
concert.
Of course, I was never cool,but one of my favorite bands of
all time was my favorite band,cheap Trick, and for you, can
you talk about the bands thatmeant a lot to you?
And that song that youmentioned?
That kicks it all off.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Oh, yeah, so.
So when I think back to thattime, I mean one of the one of
the main, you know, the I guessit would be defining songs would
be.
It was Van Halen Dreams fromthe 5150 album and, and that's
what I think of being in my car,I that's what cassette I had in
there and I'd play it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yes most fantastic.
And then and then, during thepre-show, we were rattling off.
Kurt was talking about dockingoh my gosh, hadn't thought about
that in so long.
Motley crew, bon jovi, andbefore we slide back to the
automotive side of it, I uh,during the pre-show I was
(15:39):
looking at, okay, the the albumVan Halen 5115 is an album, is
an album, and you look at thetracks on that album.
Why can't this?
I won't sing it, although Ireally really want to.
Doug will strangle me throughthe ether.
Why can't this be?
Love Dreams.
Best of both worlds.
(16:00):
Love walks in.
Okay, four smash, brilliant,mozart-level songs on top of
5150, good Enough, get Up SummerNights.
And Inside summer nights andinside.
What an album.
What a cassette.
I mean, could you?
You know you, you drive aroundtown and get up listening to it.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You just never come down listening to that and
that's what when I'm, when I'min my cars now, you know the, if
I'm in, if I'm in either one ofthose, it's it.
I usually will stream the wholealbum versus individual songs
for that reason because that'show you listen to them with a
cassette right.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You didn't have the option to move around.
You just listen to it so lovely, lovely, yeah, I hadn't thought
about that.
You know Columbia house, andthis is a little before our time
I was.
I was reading some vintagemagazine and Columbia house said
yes, we have this new offeringor option for people out there
(17:02):
Columbia House, you can chooseyour music on cassette, 8-track
reel-to-reel or vinyl LP.
I just started laughing outloud.
Man, talk about it.
We think we have options now,boy, those were options back in
the 70s.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
No kidding, digital is boring, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
What story does it tell?
All right, doug, take it away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Let's talk about his cars.
So we already talked about the.
He did the introduction, buthis first car was a 1984
Chrysler Laser Silver 5-speed.
My first car was a 1989 DodgeDaytona Silver silver five speed
.
My first car was in 1989 dodgedaytona silver base model
automatic.
And, uh boy, I thought that wassuch a cool car flip up
(17:43):
headlights.
I know the the laser didn'tinitially have it, but I have.
Sometimes I just go back and Iwatched, uh, those commercials
and you see chrysler laser.
Yes, they're just so thedigital dash.
Right, this was during thenight rider era, right, it was
so well timed, futuristic, yeah,yeah, and really, those cars
(18:05):
and and we'll let the owner ofthe car tell, tell us more but
those, those cars were reallyeconomy cars.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
They were built, built on the Chrysler K-Car
platform, which was like everycar Chrysler built, but they
built everything on thatplatform and that was the
platform that saved Chryslerwhen Lee Iacocca came on board
(18:33):
yeah, you mentioned about knightrider and you know I was a, I
was a young teenager when knightryder was on and and that just
left such an impression on mebecause I was, I was always, I
always, um, you know, migratedtowards tech and you know
technology, I'm an engineer nowand I mean, it's what you know,
it's what I like.
So, um, you know that.
And then to see that car,actually I was, uh, I went with
(18:53):
my father and grandfather to theChrysler dealer I think it was
1985.
And he was picking out aChrysler Fifth Avenue, because
that's what you do as an old man.
And so my grandfather wasbuying a Chrysler Fifth Avenue.
But while they were over theretalking to the dealer, I
migrated over and they had abrand new black Laser XE with
(19:17):
that digital dash and they hadit all set up.
It was lit up inside.
I was blown away.
I mean I thought I can'tbelieve this.
This is Knight Rider, I want it, and that's what really got me
on the path of that.
And then, if anyone remembersthe movie the wraith in 1987,
(19:38):
maybe 86.
It came out charlie sheen,charlie sheen well, chrysler
definitely did product placementthere and they put they had,
they had a chrysler laser withthe digital dash in one of the
scenes and they also had somedaytona.
That was a 80, 87 and up, yeahand uh, and that was right, that
was right.
Right, as I was looking,starting to look for a car, and
(19:59):
that that cemented the deal, itwas like, okay, I've got to have
it so yeah, yeah, good, not thebest movie, but great, no, it
was a it was a b movie, but yeah, if you look on the uh, on the
dodge forum, the turbo dodgeforums, it's, it's, it's their
anthem yes, yeah, yeah, noagreed.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And you know brilliant taking that show car
right, the uh interceptor rightyeah oh yeah, that was that
dodge interceptor.
Yes, yep, yep and making it, uh, part of the movie.
Yeah, and, and people, actuallypeople recreate that car.
I've seen it recreated on aPorsche Boxster, even chassis,
(20:39):
and yeah, just the digital.
And did your car talk, or?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
does your?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
new car talk.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It does.
Yeah, so the first car I hadwas it was analog gauge, a base
model.
Mine too, the second one I had,which was in college base model
mine.
The second one I had, which wasin college, was identical to
the, to the one I saw in thatdealership.
It was black with the redstripe.
It had the digital dash.
It talked to you.
Black leather seats um, the oneI have now is actually a very
80s brown.
It's a saddle brown color whichthey only made in 1984 and but
(21:12):
it has the full digital dash.
It talks to you when you openthe door.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Sorry to interrupt you.
Did you have to fix any ofthose things?
And I ask because I've seen onthe Chrysler Laser Forum, which
is probably where I saw you,I've seen people who repair the
digital dashes.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, which is me.
Actually've seen people whorepair the digital dashes.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, which is me actually.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh, you're the guy.
Yeah, so I'm one of the ones.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
If anybody needs a digital dash, who should they go
out?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
to.
Is there anything you don't do,my goodness.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Well, I'm a lifelong engineer, that's my passion,
it's my job and it's what Ienjoy to do.
So I've uh on.
You know, one of the things isgetting this car Cause I
actually remember when I was, uh, you know, when I was in
college and the car was onlyfive years old.
Well, that stuff stoppedworking.
You know that eighties,electronics just didn't last in
(22:06):
and on the car and I, I Iremember pulling my dash out
trying to figure it out, and Iwasn't trained, I didn't know
what I was doing, but I got itenough to where I could get a
soldering iron and get it backoperational.
No-transcript.
There were multiple things thatthe bulbs were not working,
some of the circuits weren'tworking.
(22:27):
There's a trip navigator, whichwas actually a very forward
thinking for 1984.
It was basically a tripcomputer where it would tell you
how many miles, what miles pergallon, you're getting all that
stuff.
After about two years thebutton stopped working and then
the display would stop working.
So pretty much every one thatyou buy those don't work.
(22:51):
So I've replaced many, many ofthose and especially now that
you know on those sites peopleknow that I do it.
So I've probably replaced Idon't know 25, 30 of those
things.
Basically, you unsolder all theswitches, you put new ones in.
It's relatively simple if youknow your way around electronics
.
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Can I hop in here real quick?
Now for the digital dash andjust that wow factor.
Did you have to get that XETurbo?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yes.
It was only in the XE fullmodel.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
yes, Wow, man.
So there was nothing like thatin the base model.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Right right, it was all analog gauge in the base
model Gotcha Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
All right, well, there we go.
More reliable but not as cool.
Back to you, Doug.
Okay, Well, it's funny youmentioned the.
You said soldering iron, my dadwas an electrical engineer, so
I had a soldering iron at ageseven.
What could go wrong?
It's been fun.
I'm not great at it, but givenyour and we talked about your
(23:59):
first two cars already so I dowant to talk about what was the
car that you hated the mostBefore we get to your dream car,
which is also your favorite car, which you also own.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah and geez.
I'm wondering if I don't knowif I answered that for you.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
You did, you did.
I can remind you.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, remind me because I'm trying to, I have to
remember which, oh I know whatit was he hates so many.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I know which one.
Now he seems so full of hate.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It was a PT Cruiser.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yes, also another.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Chrysler product?
Yes, it was.
I owned a 2001 PT Cruiser andyou know those were one of those
love-hate things, right?
You either thought it was kindof cool because it was that
throwback.
It was one of the earlythrowback stuff.
Yes, where you early throwbackstuff where you really, really
hated it.
It just it's kind of like acyber junk today, right, it just
instills hate.
(24:49):
So, um, the only reason I haveit is because I had a uh, two
year old son that absolutelyloved.
Anytime he would see him, heloved them.
Right, he would point them out,he would.
It was one of the first thingshe would say right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But you know, they call it terrible twos for a
reason.
You know that.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Oh dude, that was great.
So I blame it on him for owningthat.
And oh yeah, it was not.
It would be my least favoritecar, yes, and the most
troublesome.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You mentioned something really interesting,
though it was one of the firstthrowbacks wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yes, it was.
So 2001, think about everythingthat came after that Ford with
a Thunderbird um and not theMustang that has to kind of
harken back and all all thosethrowbacks were kind of home
runs.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But but yeah, the PT Cruiser I thought was really
interesting because it was sodifferent but you really go into
and I liked the way you put it.
Was unique in a love-hate kindof way.
That's perfect, like the wayyou put it.
You said it was overweight,underpowered and mechanically
unreliable.
Now was 2001, the first yearthey came out.
(25:58):
Were you an?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
early adopter.
It was, yeah.
I think 2001 was the first yearand I don't know how long they
ran them, Maybe 2006 or 2007.
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
But I don't think later models got any better.
But there may be people thatdon't agree with me.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
My neighbor owns a and he was on the show David.
He owns a PT Cruiserconvertible which I've been for
a ride in.
It's nice, but you know it's aconvertible.
You can't go wrong with aconvertible on a nice day, yeah,
and uh.
He likes to joke that, uh, hiswife got it for their 20th
anniversary.
But also he wonders if shelooked at the safety rating
(26:44):
before he she gave to him.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I remember renting one.
I was on a vacation, actually,and my wife and I rented one, I
think because we had the regularone and we rented it.
It was a convertible because wewanted a convertible, but I
remember driving it and it felteven heavier than ours because
they have to make them heavierto stiffen them up.
But I just remember thewindshield which doesn't have
(27:09):
any structural support.
It would shake side to side andI'm like man, this doesn't seem
right and it was a brand new.
It was a rental.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well, that'll teach you.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
That's the way they built it.
Thanks for sharing that andyeah, you really pacified your
two-year-old with that.
Oh, yeah, he loved them.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
He actually.
I mean, that's why we, he wouldpoint them out.
That was one of the firstthings he would point and he
would say Does he?
Still like them, kirk, I don'tknow, Maybe he doesn't even
remember that we had them now.
Maybe that'll be his dream car.
He's graduating from collegenow, so he's much older now, so
maybe that'll be his dream car.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Speaking of which, um , so you got your chrysler laser
turbo in 2022 covet times, Igot my dream car.
Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, so that, uh, that is a, it's a 1981 delorean
and, um, well, it's been a blastto have it.
Um, so, you know, I was.
(28:20):
I didn't even know deloreansexisted as a kid until the movie
came out back to the future in1985.
Those people, yeah, and, andyou just assumed it was a prop
right in the movie.
But then, but then you learnafter the fact and I grew up in
in western pennsylvaniapittsburgh area you would have
never seen a real delorean inpittsburgh.
It's just not a place youwouldn't have it, you know, when
(28:41):
they were new.
But, um, but then I learnedthat's a real car.
And then you learn about it andthen it kind of falls out of
your mind because life happens,you have kids, all this stuff.
And then, um, you know, that'sthat's once.
Once I kind of got back intocars with the, you know, with
with the laser.
Then I started saying, well,you know what I'd really like to
(29:02):
have, that dream car.
And that's that's where Istarted looking.
You know, I, shortly aftergetting my car, I started
looking and just kind of luckedinto one that was very close by
me and very good shape, and uh,so, yeah, I've had that for over
a year now and uh, it's a lotof fun.
It it's.
It's fun to drive.
It's it's you know it's not aspeedster, it's not a, it's not
(29:24):
a race car.
You know that.
It wasn't known for that.
But it's very fun to drive,it's comfortable and it just the
reaction it gets out of otherpeople.
It just it smiles.
Yeah, everyone else that seesit.
It just lightens up their day,right.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, I feel the same way.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
It's a very uplifting car that everyone loves to see.
It's not because I like to showoff or anything, it's just it
does bring.
It brings people joy to see it.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It does, it truly does, and that's I don't know
about you, but just the DeLoreancommunity of people that I've
met, whether local or or justhow I met you.
Right, I saw both of your cars.
Now we can say what the secondone was.
It was probably on a DeLoreanFacebook group, but I'm pretty
sure I'm on the Chrysler group,probably too.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And DeLorean.
People are just awesome andsome of them are super
particular, we know.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Some of them love it and I don't know if you knew
this we had Cat DeLorean on ourpodcast on the 10th episode.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Oh, wow, yeah.
I've seen her on variousinterviews.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yes, yeah, yeah, she's awesome.
That was such a treat becausewe won't get to meet John
because he's been gone for awhile.
But next best thing, hisdaughter.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, there's a large community.
I'm from Southern California,san Diego area, and there's a
large community I'm fromSouthern California, san Diego
area and there's quite a fewDeLorean owners here.
There's a club and we meetevery few months at a restaurant
and there's different membersthat come and it's nice to see
the variation.
I mean, all DeLoreans werebuilt the same.
There's very slight differencesover the three years that they
(31:06):
built them, but it's interestingto see now how they vary.
Some of them have engine swaps,some of them have different
options and things like that.
The one I have is all stock, soI was lucky to find it off the
original owner that bought it in1981.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
That's a great story too.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Right, we'll save that for another episode.
Yeah, uh, but you see a lot ofvariation.
But yeah, the the you know cargroup people in general are
usually very happy to talk abouttheir cars.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yeah and they're happy to help others right all
that all that great stuff.
Yeah well, next time I'm outyour way I might look you up and
maybe get a Chrysler.
So here's a trick question.
I think I know the answer.
Maybe it's not a trick question.
In a race between your DeLoreanand the Chrysler Laser
(31:58):
Christian, which one will win?
Laser?
Okay, I vote Laser also.
Yeah, kurt.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
I would say the DeLorean would win, because if
you look at the horsepowerratings of the two, they're very
, very similar.
Yeah, but the difference is youhave to be full boost in that
laser to be operating.
True, the DeLorean has it's aboring 135 horsepower, but the
torque's there all the time.
It's a V6, that kind of thingand the other thing and I've
(32:30):
told this to other people thatsay that it's a dog, it's so low
to the ground and it's early80s suspension.
But it's a Lotus suspension andit will stick to the road.
It would out-corner the Lasergoing 20 miles an hour.
So you know the laser is a kcar.
Right, it rolls around the turn, so yeah yeah, body rolls the
(32:53):
thing.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah no I just, I remember my
brother's chrysler laser turbostick shift and it had a lot of
torque.
Now, granted, I'm going back toI don know 1989 or so in my
mind, 1990.
So maybe for the time.
But yeah, it would spin thefront wheels quite easily.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, you can spin the wheels and yeah, it buzzes
along.
For the 80s it was actually afast car.
It was.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yep, and they're both very similar in kind of style,
minus the gull wings.
The taillights are similar,it's just.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
it speaks 80s, right, definitely, and I think that's
the one that you saw online thatyou replied to.
It was I had them out of mydriveway, parked side by side,
and I took multiple angles andyou can really see the
similarities of that 80s style.
Right, you know, they're verysimilar.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Good deal Good deal.
So so, as we kind of guide thepodcast gently to the off ramp
here on the way out, kurt, I gotgot kind of a question.
We'll involve Doug in this ishow many?
So I should mention for thepeople that can't see the video
right now, you're each wearingt-shirts that honor your dream
(34:14):
cars that you have right now.
You've got DeLorean t-shirts on.
How many DeLorean t-shirts Kurtdo you have and Doug, how many
do you have?
and I want to decide a winnerhere, if I can, and I will also
say I respect people so muchthat have the big passion for
the brand and they just go allin.
You know, doug's got like aDeLorean hat.
(34:35):
I don't know if he's gotDeLorean jacket.
Watch, driving gloves, watch,yes, huh.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Watch.
Yes, yeah, I just love thedevotion to the brand.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You guys have passion .
So how many shirts, kurt, let'shear it.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Let's see.
I have to add them up, but Ibet I have 10.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Really yeah, he's got me beat.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Fantastic.
How many do you have?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I think about four.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Okay, well, hey, kurt , do you want to do a podcast
with me?
And we can just drop.
Doug, what do you think Joking?
We would never do that.
Anyway, kurt, it was afantastic pleasure to meet you.
As soon as I saw the picture ofthose two cars together, I said
this is a unique guy with astory to tell.
So thank you for taking sometime out of your day, bud.
(35:19):
We had a blast.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Well, thank you for having me, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Love to have you back .
Yeah Well, I was just about tosay there's a whole lot about
Kurt that we didn't even get to,but we have to bring this
episode to an end.
So what do you say, kurt?
We'll have you back sometime inthe future.
Buddy, sure, I'd enjoy it.
Fantastic.
So if one of you would sing aVan Halen song while I talk us
(35:44):
out, that would be great and go,not going to be me either.
You have just heard the highrevving, low mileage, late model
.
Heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He's Doug.
Reach him at Doug atcarslovecom.
I am Christian.
Reach me at Christian atcarslovecom.
(36:05):
And he's Kurt.
Super cool guy.
Please follow and tell a friendif you like the podcast.
It helps us grow and bring morecontent to you.
Try out carslovecom or our linktree at l-i-n-k-t-r dot e-e
slash carsloved, drop the mic.
I'm sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, showroom,
(36:28):
race trip or concourse.
We appreciate you listening andwe will see you next time.
Welcome back to All the Cars.
I've Looked For yourauthoritative podcast on
automotive nostalgia, where ourguests are unique.
Each auto has an era, every cartells a story, so you know it's
time to plug in, get a littlegrease under the nails and slip
on that favorite car themet-shirt.
(00:25):
Now, before I cue in my partnerin crime here, let's welcome
back to Cars Love Nation, ourmost recent listeners in cities
and countries around the world.
All right, so, doug, you'regoing to like this.
I'm going to throw out.
I pulled this out of theanalytics, okay, and you're
going to dig it.
So what do these cities have incommon?
(00:47):
Right, this is a little bit ofa test here.
Brooklyn, new York welcome back, we know you're listening.
Brimmington, washington welcomeback, we know you're out there.
Birmingham, alabama, not toofar from me welcome.
Bridgeport.
Connecticut, bradford, maine,all the way in the northeast.
(01:10):
What do all of those citieshave in common?
Any clue?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
uh, two things, they both.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
They all start with b and they all start with br I
think, oh, I didn't even getclose birmingham yeah, yes, I
got B makes the buh buh sound.
Yeah, you're right, that's rightNow.
Countries all over the world.
We see a theme here.
Welcome back to our listenersyou know what and maybe even
viewers, as we ramp up theYouTube presence.
(01:40):
We're having fun with that.
Maybe Doug can speak a littlebit about that in a minute.
But hey, welcome back Sweden.
You know they used to make sobsthere.
I was going through a magazineand saw an old sob ad.
It was fantastic Sob anyway.
Okay, sweden, germany, norway,canada are neighbors in Italy,
(02:02):
so welcome back.
Hey, it's great to have all ofyou back.
And let's bring in my co-hostwith the almost.
He's got all the options.
He fires on most cylinders someof the time.
Our man with the plan, doug,what's happening, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think I'm firing on five of six today, so that's
pretty good as long as one ofthem is firing.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You know, the older I get, I'll take what I can.
All right, so do you alwayshave?
Do you have an exclusivelyautomotive wardrobe?
Is everything Carbase?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
It's becoming that, stocks.
It's becoming that.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
No, no, I know hats, I know shirts.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, just shirts, just shirts, right now All right
, but you've given me ideas.
I'll talk to my wardrobe person.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, talk to your fashion consultant, yes, yeah.
So what's the shirt today?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
The shirt today is, no surprise, a DeLorean shirt,
one of many.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, when we introduce today's extremely fun
guest, you'll see why and I'mexcited for this one.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And what do you notice?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
about this DeLorean shirt.
Hang on, I've got to.
Let's get rid of this thing.
See, I always like these shirts.
It's got kind of a blueprint.
It looks like the car is hollowblueprint.
I'm going to guess that's maybeeither the patent or some sort
of legal documentation.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
I believe it was from the patent Yep.
That's pretty slick.
I found it on Amazon.
Yep, it's an awesome shirt.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That's a great one.
That's a great one.
So it's always three questionsI got for you.
We're down with one, so let'scatch up, deandre.
So what's the newest thinghappening in your garage, if
anything have?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
you had any time this week?
No, I think the last thing Itold you was I replaced the
starter in my 1990 Nissan 300ZX.
I was kicking myself becausewhy wouldn't it start with the
new starter?
Did a little troubleshooting,found out coincidence or not,
(04:11):
the starter relay died forwhatever reason.
Yep, it had worked before theirstarter, just had a lot of
trouble engaging.
So yeah, so I got to a anotherstarter relay.
Fortunately I got a buddy onthe eastern shore of maryland
who has a literally semi phone afriend z parts for my love it,
(04:35):
my model.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So yeah, make sure you.
You can always type it intochilton gpt also, okay.
Last question what is now?
I'm gonna ask, but I don'tthink we're ready for it.
So what is new with the show?
We've been recording a lotrecently.
We've got a lot of episodes inthe can.
We're going to release themhere.
So what?
I know there's some behind thescenes technical things that I'm
(04:59):
way too unintelligent tounderstand.
We don't have to get into themnow.
But hey, we have some stuff upon YouTube.
Check out our YouTube.
Doug continues to throw thingsout on all of our social media
vectors, so maybe we should justkeep some of the show stuff
under our hat for now.
Is that fair?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
I think that's fair.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Moving.
Yeah, we can't tell any secretsAre we going to declassify any
of it soon.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Are we going to declassify it?
Well, depending on when peopleare listening to this, I just
put out a little clip from oneof our many podcast recordings
where we talked about theGenesis of the show, not to be
confused with the Genesisesiscar, which is a very nice
vehicle fantastic automobile.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Thank you for the update.
Moving on, yes, so cars lovenation.
If you like what you hear, tella family member, a co-worker, a
friend, heck, even tell anenemy, because you know what we
do.
This show brings peopletogether.
It's all about fun all over theworld, yep.
So we're going to get into itright now.
Okay, carslovecom we continueto beef up and by we I mean the
(06:11):
smarter half of us, dougcontinues to beef up the online
presence.
Do you want to give the linktree?
Because I just can't spell it.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Sure, it's a L-I-N-K-T-R dot.
E-e slash Cars Loved.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know I'm going to brush up on my ABCs one day and
I'll get there.
Just got to be patient.
But the big one here is thesedays, reviews.
Leave a review anywhere you canon our site.
You can mail it through theUnited States Postal Service.
You can send a carrier pigeon.
(06:47):
However it gets here is fine.
But do you have one handy youcan read for the?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
audience, absolutely so.
This one just came in onTuesday.
Takes a couple days for ApplePodcasts to validate.
Make sure it wasn't made by abot so the Term yeah, he can't
leave a review no.
So this is from bob bob unboundand it says, for everybody who
(07:17):
has ever owned a car, reflectingon cars we have owned the good,
the bad, the bad, thetransmissions.
You wouldn't think that this isentertaining, but it really is,
and I didn't think I was a carguy.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
That might be the best review ever.
I think that's a haiku or asonnet.
I think you wrote that.
Niambic Pentameter.
That's beautiful.
Do we know who that is?
I think I know who that is.
Do you have any idea?
I might.
Do we know who that is?
I think I know who that is.
Do you have any idea?
I might?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
okay, okay well, that's beautiful.
Thank you for that review, bobmuch appreciated.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
so yeah, and if you find yourself, uh, near any
water cooler, whatever you go tothe, uh, the tire place, you're
having all you know, cars andcop.
Hey, just just, please, mentionus, spread the word.
All right, today's theme by wayof a prologue.
You had a good one, do you havethat one?
(08:11):
Let's, let's throw that one outhere, and then we're going to
introduce today's guest.
What's the theme?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
So the theme is what do you do when your friends or
family, or just outsiders startnoticing your love for cars and
love for nostalgia?
And what would they notice?
Would it be a bunch of oilstains in the driveway?
Would it be you're building abigger garage?
(08:38):
Would it be you're buying carsfrom a certain era?
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah.
So kind of what do you project?
How might other people see you?
How would your?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
neighbors.
Your neighbors are like whoa.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
All of a sudden he came into a zillion dollars.
Well, I think it's about thattime.
So excited for today's guest.
So, doug, how did today's guestmake it into our virtual garage
?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Kurt, who was wonderful to be on the podcast.
I found Kurt, like I find lotsof people Facebook, so Kurt
posted a picture of not only oneawesome car, but two awesome
cars from the 80s.
(09:25):
I'm gonna let him talk aboutthem, because those are his.
One is his dream car and one ishis.
Take me back to the 1984, 85and we'll.
We'll let kurt talk about them.
But yeah, just seeing those twocars with so many similarities
next to each other just got myattention, not to mention the
(09:47):
fact that we owned when I wasgrowing up, we owned one of
those cars.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, welcome Kurt.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
I'm doing well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Man.
So you and Doug really do havea cosmic connection, don't you?
Actually several.
And the moment Doug said thatmaybe, if it's okay with you,
maybe we can post the picture ofthose two cars, but the way
Doug said it made me think ofthat picture, the two cars as
bookends, maybe bookends to yourlife.
Think about it.
Kind of one takes you way backand one kind of is you know your
(10:23):
dream for a long time but youonly got it recently.
So tell.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, so the first car is a 1984 Chrysler Laser and
that was the car that I had asa teenager.
I had, you know, when I was 17years old I got my first you
know Chrysler Laser and I had itfor many years, did a lot of
(10:52):
work on it.
Pretty much everything in thatcar I worked on and I replaced
over the years, went throughcollege, ended up getting a
second one, which was thehigh-end model of the XE model,
which is the turbochargeddigital dash, all that stuff in
college.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, oh yeah and all that stuff in college.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, oh yeah, and I had that in college and then
while you're in college.
The thing about those cars isthey take a lot to keep them
running like many 80s cars,domestic cars and I just didn't
have the resource or the time tofix it, and so I ended up
(11:33):
getting rid of it, and that'swhy I was so excited to be able
to get another one that was verysimilar to the one I owned in
college, and that's what I havenow.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Fantastic.
And before Doug really gets usin depth to the interview here
and walks you through your past,can you talk a little bit about
and hopefully we can get thisvideo online?
There are several model oh, theRC airplanes behind you.
They're just very strikinglooking.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh yeah, so that was that's.
Ever since I was about the sameage teenager, I flew RC
aircraft and I you know that wasmuch less sophisticated back in
the 80s, but yes, so that's.
One of my other hobbies is, ifyou see there hanging on the
ceiling, that's a P-51 Mustang.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Love it.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You know that's an iconic one and it's very fun to
fly.
That's just a standard likehigh-wing Cessna thing and
behind me.
So this is a cool thing, it'sa— Is that a Thunderbird.
That's an F-16 Thunderbird.
Yes, you know the modern jetsare very sophisticated now, and
(12:50):
sorry for zooming around Onemore on the wall is another 80s
icon, which is that's an F-14Tomcat.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Oh, I see Tom Cruise in the canopy.
I see it from here.
Oh yeah, definitely.
Yes, he's almost inverted, he'sinverted.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I tend to collect the RC aircraft that made an
impression on me as I wasyounger and definitely that was
going to air shows.
I used to go to them all thetime in the 90s and even out
here we have a really good airshow and the F-14 was always the
most impressive thing to see.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, I don't know, doug, if you can see it.
He's also got this kind ofvertical neon-looking sign that
says arcade on it.
Oh yeah, I got to say you're inthe running for probably the
top three or four.
Oh gosh, he's got a Pac-Manmachine in the back of his car.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Oh yeah, see, I have a little arcade there.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I'm going to show off too.
Oh there, you got it.
Okay, there you go.
Oh, there you got it.
We're kindred spirits, sir.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yeah, you guys have a cosmic connection all the way
around, for sure that was anevidence of me having too much
time on my hand at COVID.
So that's what happened.
That's when it came.
It's beautiful.
It is beautiful.
And before we go back in time,well, okay, let's do this.
Never done this before we'regoing to step back into time,
(14:20):
we're going to go 88 miles anhour and just burst into flame
here and as we go back to whenyou had your first car, and Doug
will walk you through this.
All I want to mention is we allhave a soundtrack to our lives
of when we grew up, these songsthat were really important to
work, finding ourselves, to findus, to find our friends.
Maybe we were cool enough to gosee one of these acts in
(14:41):
concert.
Of course, I was never cool,but one of my favorite bands of
all time was my favorite band,cheap Trick, and for you, can
you talk about the bands thatmeant a lot to you?
And that song that youmentioned?
That kicks it all off.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Oh, yeah, so.
So when I think back to thattime, I mean one of the one of
the main, you know, the I guessit would be defining songs would
be.
It was Van Halen Dreams fromthe 5150 album and, and that's
what I think of being in my car,I that's what cassette I had in
there and I'd play it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yes most fantastic.
And then and then, during thepre-show, we were rattling off.
Kurt was talking about dockingoh my gosh, hadn't thought about
that in so long.
Motley crew, bon jovi, andbefore we slide back to the
automotive side of it, I uh,during the pre-show I was
(15:39):
looking at, okay, the the albumVan Halen 5115 is an album, is
an album, and you look at thetracks on that album.
Why can't this?
I won't sing it, although Ireally really want to.
Doug will strangle me throughthe ether.
Why can't this be?
Love Dreams.
Best of both worlds.
(16:00):
Love walks in.
Okay, four smash, brilliant,mozart-level songs on top of
5150, good Enough, get Up SummerNights.
And Inside summer nights andinside.
What an album.
What a cassette.
I mean, could you?
You know you, you drive aroundtown and get up listening to it.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You just never come down listening to that and
that's what when I'm, when I'min my cars now, you know the, if
I'm in, if I'm in either one ofthose, it's it.
I usually will stream the wholealbum versus individual songs
for that reason because that'show you listen to them with a
cassette right.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You didn't have the option to move around.
You just listen to it so lovely, lovely, yeah, I hadn't thought
about that.
You know Columbia house, andthis is a little before our time
I was.
I was reading some vintagemagazine and Columbia house said
yes, we have this new offeringor option for people out there
(17:02):
Columbia House, you can chooseyour music on cassette, 8-track
reel-to-reel or vinyl LP.
I just started laughing outloud.
Man, talk about it.
We think we have options now,boy, those were options back in
the 70s.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
No kidding, digital is boring, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
What story does it tell?
All right, doug, take it away.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Let's talk about his cars.
So we already talked about the.
He did the introduction, buthis first car was a 1984
Chrysler Laser Silver 5-speed.
My first car was a 1989 DodgeDaytona Silver silver five speed
.
My first car was in 1989 dodgedaytona silver base model
automatic.
And, uh boy, I thought that wassuch a cool car flip up
(17:43):
headlights.
I know the the laser didn'tinitially have it, but I have.
Sometimes I just go back and Iwatched, uh, those commercials
and you see chrysler laser.
Yes, they're just so thedigital dash.
Right, this was during thenight rider era, right, it was
so well timed, futuristic, yeah,yeah, and really, those cars
(18:05):
and and we'll let the owner ofthe car tell, tell us more but
those, those cars were reallyeconomy cars.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
They were built, built on the Chrysler K-Car
platform, which was like everycar Chrysler built, but they
built everything on thatplatform and that was the
platform that saved Chryslerwhen Lee Iacocca came on board
(18:33):
yeah, you mentioned about knightrider and you know I was a, I
was a young teenager when knightryder was on and and that just
left such an impression on mebecause I was, I was always, I
always, um, you know, migratedtowards tech and you know
technology, I'm an engineer nowand I mean, it's what you know,
it's what I like.
So, um, you know that.
And then to see that car,actually I was, uh, I went with
(18:53):
my father and grandfather to theChrysler dealer I think it was
1985.
And he was picking out aChrysler Fifth Avenue, because
that's what you do as an old man.
And so my grandfather wasbuying a Chrysler Fifth Avenue.
But while they were over theretalking to the dealer, I
migrated over and they had abrand new black Laser XE with
(19:17):
that digital dash and they hadit all set up.
It was lit up inside.
I was blown away.
I mean I thought I can'tbelieve this.
This is Knight Rider, I want it, and that's what really got me
on the path of that.
And then, if anyone remembersthe movie the wraith in 1987,
(19:38):
maybe 86.
It came out charlie sheen,charlie sheen well, chrysler
definitely did product placementthere and they put they had,
they had a chrysler laser withthe digital dash in one of the
scenes and they also had somedaytona.
That was a 80, 87 and up, yeahand uh, and that was right, that
was right.
Right, as I was looking,starting to look for a car, and
(19:59):
that that cemented the deal, itwas like, okay, I've got to have
it so yeah, yeah, good, not thebest movie, but great, no, it
was a it was a b movie, but yeah, if you look on the uh, on the
dodge forum, the turbo dodgeforums, it's, it's, it's their
anthem yes, yeah, yeah, noagreed.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
And you know brilliant taking that show car
right, the uh interceptor rightyeah oh yeah, that was that
dodge interceptor.
Yes, yep, yep and making it, uh, part of the movie.
Yeah, and, and people, actuallypeople recreate that car.
I've seen it recreated on aPorsche Boxster, even chassis,
(20:39):
and yeah, just the digital.
And did your car talk, or?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
does your?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
new car talk.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It does.
Yeah, so the first car I hadwas it was analog gauge, a base
model.
Mine too, the second one I had,which was in college base model
mine.
The second one I had, which wasin college, was identical to
the, to the one I saw in thatdealership.
It was black with the redstripe.
It had the digital dash.
It talked to you.
Black leather seats um, the oneI have now is actually a very
80s brown.
It's a saddle brown color whichthey only made in 1984 and but
(21:12):
it has the full digital dash.
It talks to you when you openthe door.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Sorry to interrupt you.
Did you have to fix any ofthose things?
And I ask because I've seen onthe Chrysler Laser Forum, which
is probably where I saw you,I've seen people who repair the
digital dashes.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, which is me.
Actually've seen people whorepair the digital dashes.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, which is me actually.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh, you're the guy.
Yeah, so I'm one of the ones.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
If anybody needs a digital dash, who should they go
out?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
to.
Is there anything you don't do,my goodness.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Well, I'm a lifelong engineer, that's my passion,
it's my job and it's what Ienjoy to do.
So I've uh on.
You know, one of the things isgetting this car Cause I
actually remember when I was, uh, you know, when I was in
college and the car was onlyfive years old.
Well, that stuff stoppedworking.
You know that eighties,electronics just didn't last in
(22:06):
and on the car and I, I Iremember pulling my dash out
trying to figure it out, and Iwasn't trained, I didn't know
what I was doing, but I got itenough to where I could get a
soldering iron and get it backoperational.
No-transcript.
There were multiple things thatthe bulbs were not working,
some of the circuits weren'tworking.
(22:27):
There's a trip navigator, whichwas actually a very forward
thinking for 1984.
It was basically a tripcomputer where it would tell you
how many miles, what miles pergallon, you're getting all that
stuff.
After about two years thebutton stopped working and then
the display would stop working.
So pretty much every one thatyou buy those don't work.
(22:51):
So I've replaced many, many ofthose and especially now that
you know on those sites peopleknow that I do it.
So I've probably replaced Idon't know 25, 30 of those
things.
Basically, you unsolder all theswitches, you put new ones in.
It's relatively simple if youknow your way around electronics
.
Yep, yep.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Can I hop in here real quick?
Now for the digital dash andjust that wow factor.
Did you have to get that XETurbo?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yes.
It was only in the XE fullmodel.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
yes, Wow, man.
So there was nothing like thatin the base model.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Right right, it was all analog gauge in the base
model Gotcha Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
All right, well, there we go.
More reliable but not as cool.
Back to you, Doug.
Okay, Well, it's funny youmentioned the.
You said soldering iron, my dadwas an electrical engineer, so
I had a soldering iron at ageseven.
What could go wrong?
It's been fun.
I'm not great at it, but givenyour and we talked about your
(23:59):
first two cars already so I dowant to talk about what was the
car that you hated the mostBefore we get to your dream car,
which is also your favorite car, which you also own.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah and geez.
I'm wondering if I don't knowif I answered that for you.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
You did, you did.
I can remind you.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Yeah, remind me because I'm trying to, I have to
remember which, oh I know whatit was he hates so many.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
I know which one.
Now he seems so full of hate.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
It was a PT Cruiser.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yes, also another.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Chrysler product?
Yes, it was.
I owned a 2001 PT Cruiser andyou know those were one of those
love-hate things, right?
You either thought it was kindof cool because it was that
throwback.
It was one of the earlythrowback stuff.
Yes, where you early throwbackstuff where you really, really
hated it.
It just it's kind of like acyber junk today, right, it just
instills hate.
(24:49):
So, um, the only reason I haveit is because I had a uh, two
year old son that absolutelyloved.
Anytime he would see him, heloved them.
Right, he would point them out,he would.
It was one of the first thingshe would say right, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But you know, they call it terrible twos for a
reason.
You know that.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Oh dude, that was great.
So I blame it on him for owningthat.
And oh yeah, it was not.
It would be my least favoritecar, yes, and the most
troublesome.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You mentioned something really interesting,
though it was one of the firstthrowbacks wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yes, it was.
So 2001, think about everythingthat came after that Ford with
a Thunderbird um and not theMustang that has to kind of
harken back and all all thosethrowbacks were kind of home
runs.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
But but yeah, the PT Cruiser I thought was really
interesting because it was sodifferent but you really go into
and I liked the way you put it.
Was unique in a love-hate kindof way.
That's perfect, like the wayyou put it.
You said it was overweight,underpowered and mechanically
unreliable.
Now was 2001, the first yearthey came out.
(25:58):
Were you an?
Speaker 3 (25:59):
early adopter.
It was, yeah.
I think 2001 was the first yearand I don't know how long they
ran them, Maybe 2006 or 2007.
I don't remember.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
But I don't think later models got any better.
But there may be people thatdon't agree with me.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
My neighbor owns a and he was on the show David.
He owns a PT Cruiserconvertible which I've been for
a ride in.
It's nice, but you know it's aconvertible.
You can't go wrong with aconvertible on a nice day, yeah,
and uh.
He likes to joke that, uh, hiswife got it for their 20th
anniversary.
But also he wonders if shelooked at the safety rating
(26:44):
before he she gave to him.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
I remember renting one.
I was on a vacation, actually,and my wife and I rented one, I
think because we had the regularone and we rented it.
It was a convertible because wewanted a convertible, but I
remember driving it and it felteven heavier than ours because
they have to make them heavierto stiffen them up.
But I just remember thewindshield which doesn't have
(27:09):
any structural support.
It would shake side to side andI'm like man, this doesn't seem
right and it was a brand new.
It was a rental.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well, that'll teach you.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
That's the way they built it.
Thanks for sharing that andyeah, you really pacified your
two-year-old with that.
Oh, yeah, he loved them.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
He actually.
I mean, that's why we, he wouldpoint them out.
That was one of the firstthings he would point and he
would say Does he?
Still like them, kirk, I don'tknow, Maybe he doesn't even
remember that we had them now.
Maybe that'll be his dream car.
He's graduating from collegenow, so he's much older now, so
maybe that'll be his dream car.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Speaking of which, um , so you got your chrysler laser
turbo in 2022 covet times, Igot my dream car.
Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, so that, uh, that is a, it's a 1981 delorean
and, um, well, it's been a blastto have it.
Um, so, you know, I was.
(28:20):
I didn't even know deloreansexisted as a kid until the movie
came out back to the future in1985.
Those people, yeah, and, andyou just assumed it was a prop
right in the movie.
But then, but then you learnafter the fact and I grew up in
in western pennsylvaniapittsburgh area you would have
never seen a real delorean inpittsburgh.
It's just not a place youwouldn't have it, you know, when
(28:41):
they were new.
But, um, but then I learnedthat's a real car.
And then you learn about it andthen it kind of falls out of
your mind because life happens,you have kids, all this stuff.
And then, um, you know, that'sthat's once.
Once I kind of got back intocars with the, you know, with
with the laser.
Then I started saying, well,you know what I'd really like to
(29:02):
have, that dream car.
And that's that's where Istarted looking.
You know, I, shortly aftergetting my car, I started
looking and just kind of luckedinto one that was very close by
me and very good shape, and uh,so, yeah, I've had that for over
a year now and uh, it's a lotof fun.
It it's.
It's fun to drive.
It's it's you know it's not aspeedster, it's not a, it's not
(29:24):
a race car.
You know that.
It wasn't known for that.
But it's very fun to drive,it's comfortable and it just the
reaction it gets out of otherpeople.
It just it smiles.
Yeah, everyone else that seesit.
It just lightens up their day,right.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, I feel the same way.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
It's a very uplifting car that everyone loves to see.
It's not because I like to showoff or anything, it's just it
does bring.
It brings people joy to see it.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
It does, it truly does, and that's I don't know
about you, but just the DeLoreancommunity of people that I've
met, whether local or or justhow I met you.
Right, I saw both of your cars.
Now we can say what the secondone was.
It was probably on a DeLoreanFacebook group, but I'm pretty
sure I'm on the Chrysler group,probably too.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
And DeLorean.
People are just awesome andsome of them are super
particular, we know.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Some of them love it and I don't know if you knew
this we had Cat DeLorean on ourpodcast on the 10th episode.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Oh, wow, yeah.
I've seen her on variousinterviews.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yes, yeah, yeah, she's awesome.
That was such a treat becausewe won't get to meet John
because he's been gone for awhile.
But next best thing, hisdaughter.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, there's a large community.
I'm from Southern California,san Diego area, and there's a
large community I'm fromSouthern California, san Diego
area and there's quite a fewDeLorean owners here.
There's a club and we meetevery few months at a restaurant
and there's different membersthat come and it's nice to see
the variation.
I mean, all DeLoreans werebuilt the same.
There's very slight differencesover the three years that they
(31:06):
built them, but it's interestingto see now how they vary.
Some of them have engine swaps,some of them have different
options and things like that.
The one I have is all stock, soI was lucky to find it off the
original owner that bought it in1981.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
That's a great story too.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Right, we'll save that for another episode.
Yeah, uh, but you see a lot ofvariation.
But yeah, the the you know cargroup people in general are
usually very happy to talk abouttheir cars.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Yeah and they're happy to help others right all
that all that great stuff.
Yeah well, next time I'm outyour way I might look you up and
maybe get a Chrysler.
So here's a trick question.
I think I know the answer.
Maybe it's not a trick question.
In a race between your DeLoreanand the Chrysler Laser
(31:58):
Christian, which one will win?
Laser?
Okay, I vote Laser also.
Yeah, kurt.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
I would say the DeLorean would win, because if
you look at the horsepowerratings of the two, they're very
, very similar.
Yeah, but the difference is youhave to be full boost in that
laser to be operating.
True, the DeLorean has it's aboring 135 horsepower, but the
torque's there all the time.
It's a V6, that kind of thingand the other thing and I've
(32:30):
told this to other people thatsay that it's a dog, it's so low
to the ground and it's early80s suspension.
But it's a Lotus suspension andit will stick to the road.
It would out-corner the Lasergoing 20 miles an hour.
So you know the laser is a kcar.
Right, it rolls around the turn, so yeah yeah, body rolls the
(32:53):
thing.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah no I just, I remember my
brother's chrysler laser turbostick shift and it had a lot of
torque.
Now, granted, I'm going back toI don know 1989 or so in my
mind, 1990.
So maybe for the time.
But yeah, it would spin thefront wheels quite easily.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, you can spin the wheels and yeah, it buzzes
along.
For the 80s it was actually afast car.
It was.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Yep, and they're both very similar in kind of style,
minus the gull wings.
The taillights are similar,it's just.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
it speaks 80s, right, definitely, and I think that's
the one that you saw online thatyou replied to.
It was I had them out of mydriveway, parked side by side,
and I took multiple angles andyou can really see the
similarities of that 80s style.
Right, you know, they're verysimilar.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Good deal Good deal.
So so, as we kind of guide thepodcast gently to the off ramp
here on the way out, kurt, I gotgot kind of a question.
We'll involve Doug in this ishow many?
So I should mention for thepeople that can't see the video
right now, you're each wearingt-shirts that honor your dream
(34:14):
cars that you have right now.
You've got DeLorean t-shirts on.
How many DeLorean t-shirts Kurtdo you have and Doug, how many
do you have?
and I want to decide a winnerhere, if I can, and I will also
say I respect people so muchthat have the big passion for
the brand and they just go allin.
You know, doug's got like aDeLorean hat.
(34:35):
I don't know if he's gotDeLorean jacket.
Watch, driving gloves, watch,yes, huh.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Watch.
Yes, yeah, I just love thedevotion to the brand.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You guys have passion .
So how many shirts, kurt, let'shear it.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Let's see.
I have to add them up, but Ibet I have 10.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Really yeah, he's got me beat.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Fantastic.
How many do you have?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I think about four.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Okay, well, hey, kurt , do you want to do a podcast
with me?
And we can just drop.
Doug, what do you think Joking?
We would never do that.
Anyway, kurt, it was afantastic pleasure to meet you.
As soon as I saw the picture ofthose two cars together, I said
this is a unique guy with astory to tell.
So thank you for taking sometime out of your day, bud.
(35:19):
We had a blast.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Well, thank you for having me, yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Love to have you back .
Yeah Well, I was just about tosay there's a whole lot about
Kurt that we didn't even get to,but we have to bring this
episode to an end.
So what do you say, kurt?
We'll have you back sometime inthe future.
Buddy, sure, I'd enjoy it.
Fantastic.
So if one of you would sing aVan Halen song while I talk us
(35:44):
out, that would be great and go,not going to be me either.
You have just heard the highrevving, low mileage, late model
.
Heard around the world.
Authoritative podcast onautomotive nostalgia.
He's Doug.
Reach him at Doug atcarslovecom.
I am Christian.
Reach me at Christian atcarslovecom.
(36:05):
And he's Kurt.
Super cool guy.
Please follow and tell a friendif you like the podcast.
It helps us grow and bring morecontent to you.
Try out carslovecom or our linktree at l-i-n-k-t-r dot e-e
slash carsloved, drop the mic.
I'm sure we'll see you at thenext local car show, showroom,
(36:28):
race trip or concourse.
We appreciate you listening andwe will see you next time.
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