The Great American Car Debate: A Discussion on America's Favorite Vehicle

In this episode of Talking Cars, we delve into the world of American cars and explore what makes one truly "American." From classic post-war era vehicles to modern-day electric models, our hosts discuss the merits of each contender. With a healthy dose of humor and wit, they navigate the complexities of the automotive industry and share their personal opinions on the matter.

One of the first topics discussed is the origin story of Tesla, a company that has become synonymous with innovation and electric vehicles. The hosts delve into the charismatic founder and the mythic origins of the company, noting the contrast between the founder's early days and recent controversies. They also touch on Tesla's vertical integration, with many aspects of its supply chain and manufacturing process taking place in-house, particularly in Fremont, California.

The conversation then shifts to the world of electric vehicles (EVs), with a focus on performance and choices available in the market. The hosts acknowledge that EV performance is a major factor in the success of Tesla, which has bred a loyal following and created a new category in the automotive industry. However, they also note that this has led to an increase in competition, making it more challenging for individual manufacturers to stand out.

As the discussion continues, we hear from our audience, with several viewers weighing in on their opinions about what makes an American car truly American. Jack mentions the Jeep Wrangler, a vehicle that has remained largely unchanged since its introduction during World War II. He highlights the Wrangler's connection to the war effort and its enduring popularity as a symbol of American independence.

However, not everyone agrees with Jack's assessment. Brian from Austin shares his thoughts on the Tesla Model 3, Ford Mustang, and Chevrolet Corvette, which he considers to be among the most American cars available today. He nods in agreement with Keith's earlier comments about the Jeep Wrangler being an American icon, but chooses to focus on more modern models.

In a lighter moment, Thomas brings up the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, a vehicle that has become a beloved American symbol. He shares his personal experience of watching the Wienermobile drive by and lobbing hot dogs to passersby, recalling a fond memory from his childhood.

As we near the end of our discussion, Keith takes the stage once again, this time to share his thoughts on what makes an American car truly special. He cites the Jeep Wrangler as his top choice, citing its role in World War II and its enduring popularity as a symbol of American independence. He also acknowledges the significant impact that Jeep has had on the automotive industry, particularly with regards to SUVs.

The conversation concludes with a nod to the Jeep name in general, highlighting the brand's contributions to the development of modern SUVs. The hosts discuss how Jeep was ahead of its time in offering family-friendly vehicles that were both functional and stylish.

In the final moments of our discussion, we take a moment to appreciate the diverse range of opinions shared by our audience. From classic post-war era vehicles to modern-day electric models, each contender has its own merits and drawbacks. As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts and engage with our community on social media using the hashtag #TalkingCars.

And so, as we bring this episode of Talking Cars to a close, we invite you to join us next time for another exciting discussion on all things automotive. Don't forget to check out the show notes for more information on the vehicles and topics covered in this episode, and be sure to submit your questions and comments at icloud.com/talkingcars. We look forward to hearing from you!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi and welcome back i'm mike quincy i'm jennifer stockberger and i'm keith barry so we're gonna wish uh our american audience and everyone else out there a happy fourth of july weekend this is uh among the most unique of american holidays during the united states calendar year and we thought well why what better time than to bring up this topic which is really hard to define really hard to put your finger on what is an american car how do you define an american car and i don't know about about you guys but but i kind of i worked hard on this and i struggled with really coming up with a definition of what is an american car what do you guys think yeah i think it's as you'll see we got this huge response from from our audience but everybody's definition is slightly different and we'll roll some of that out over there and i started with some of the input but i changed in the end so we'll talk about that later yeah and i don't even know if it's if it's even a meaningful distinction at some point uh it can be very very hard to to to pin it down and maybe when someone is searching for an american car maybe there there is something that they can search for that's specific that can make them comfortable you know where it was made if it was you know union made in the upper midwest if it if the if it is a a company with heritage in the united states or even if it's a car that sort of embodies some very american ideals you know it's it's it's that that old phrase i'll note when i see it i think a lot of a lot of people are going to find here now i think keith that's that's a really good point and one that i didn't think of sometimes you know we i think every nation sells cars that are unique to their like their roads their parking situation the price of fuel it's hard to put 200 000 miles on a on on on a vehicle in a country that's 200 miles wide all right so but anyway so so with these kind of parameters in mind uh we went through uh all of you our faithful and loyal audience uh we got a lot of your responses to answering these questions about what makes an american car what do you think is the most iconic american car out there let's get one started uh this is from nick nick writes i think an american car in today's highly global economy would mean it was built or had most of its components built in the u.s but it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be built by an american based car maker so uh you guys kind of touched on this not necessarily an american car company okay wow fun let's move on to alan you know this is kind of a contrary argument from alan who says to be an american car the company making the car has to be founded and established in the usa like ford gm amc nash studebaker etc these companies can build cars in other parts of the world but the corporation itself is anchored in the usa now that's that's kind of an interesting point that alan makes and it's certainly based on history i mean u.s car manufacturing began here in the early 1900s it rapidly developed with ford's uh moving assembly line i mean you know that the ford model t was was sold for a long time sold millions of units and really kind of you know just really kick-started the american um auto auto industry i mean that kind of what makes an american car and and this is what andrew wrote about that andrea says large size i think america americans and american made are not thought of as small at least judging by all the top gear jokes now not sure where we're going with that one but um for top gear fans you could probably get a good chuckle out of that one yeah i think there's a couple things to tease out of that one is from nick's comment in that it's not just the manufacturer coming from someone like me who worked for a supplier it's this gigandis supply chain for automobiles that also makes it american so when you talk about content you know what percentage american content that's no small potatoes so i do think manufactured and supplied by american manufacturers does have a huge huge input and you talk about the other thing i was teasing out is the big you know in my history of my brother and i in the boot of the the ford station wagon we were not restrained not one of us was restrained in that car we got bigger because we got safer and again putting my safety out everybody's going to be seated everybody's going to be buckled there's going to be child restraints there's going to be we had to get bigger because we couldn't just throw kids on the floor in the boot wherever and and if you had any more than two kids you were probably looking at something slightly larger so i think there's a little bit of that in there too i i like your comment about uh supply chains because back in the you know the the 40s the 50s maybe in the 60s it was easier to define an american carpet because you're getting your steel from pittsburgh you're getting your tires from akron ohio you're getting everything kind of mostly built here in the united states uh and and so you know but but it's it's much more complicated now and and caesar from new jersey has an interesting take on this to claim american-made status the minimum standard is assembled in america with an american-made engine and transmission this is very important because it means jobs using the term north america includes canada and mexico it's very deceptive and downright sneaky says caesar he brings up a good point well you have free trade agreements that that allow uh you know things to be parts of components of cars to be made in mexico or canada or the united states and then the car itself being put together in windsor ontario you know there is this sort of thought um of what is of of vehicles being built sort of internationally then you also have the idea of when it when a factory starts up all these suppliers kind of start up around it and it's funny uh you go to a a town where there's a car factory and yeah sure there's the big you know stalantis factory in that but there's probably a factory for zf that does some work on transmissions and there's uh you know something for uh a company that does wiring and a company that does tires because these are such big heavy things you can't be shipping all of the uh all of the components everywhere so you have these cottage industries that grow up so i think a lot of it too it's globalization it's free trade it's it's but it's countries getting wealthier it's other countries getting mobile yeah we take for granted that a car you know i i think of brazil i remember traveling with pirelli when i was there and a car was not a right it was not it was a absolute luxury privilege as they've become more um a middle-class item i guess is the right way to put it that it's expanded i also think necessity has been the mother of invention maybe that's not the right word but of imports you know i go back to the large ford wagon we had an i think i've said i learned to drive on a 1980 volkswagen rabbit diesel manual because my dad said at the time i'm not paying 1.35 for gas i'm gonna play a dollar four for diesel can you imagine it's made in pennsylvania though right how's that right but that's what he needed it wasn't about being vw or ford it was about that was the car he needed for this long commute he had and i'm not taking that ford wagon because it just sucks fuel and it's big v8 i'm not doing it so it's it's about what we need at the time uh let's let's get back to some uh some viewer comments and this is this is andrew from new freedom pennsylvania he writes unfortunately i would consider few currently manufactured cars to be american there are too many factors to consider if it's built here has components from here designed here or from a company with american heritage sadly i no longer consider a vehicle's status as american as relevant so you know that that is also you know maybe even kind of a generational shift i mean i'm looking back at the times when when detroit pushed back against japan and they wanted you know restrictions they they wanted they couldn't the japanese couldn't sell as many cars they wanted and and and all that all the while detroit had lots of very in close relationships with the japanese manufacturer i don't want to go too deep in the weeds here but ford was very cozy with mazda general motors very cozy with isuzu suzuki and toyota so opal by azusa is one of my favorite car names just rolls off the tongue um but so i thought i thought i thought that was that was a little that was a little deceptive and and detroit would say well you know if the japanese are gonna they're gonna sell them here they got to build them here and uh even though detroit didn't know he's build their cars here and and that you know that started up a big wave of what they called what transplants you know foreign car companies building manufacturing facilities in the united states i was just going to say and as much as the big big three general motors tried to push back we wanted them we wanted those cars they weren't successful because we wanted them we needed them my father's 1980 volkswagen diesel we needed them at the time and you have stalanthus now the parent company it was fiat chrysler and an italian company and now it's fiat chrysler uh part of stellantis based in the netherlands so you have companies that are also doing what's right for them which is incorporating in the place that is you know most advantageous for them so you have the the big three turned into the detroit three is turned into the detroit two and and and european one uh you talk about advertising though too mike how they cash in all of them not domestic or foreign on our patriotism telluride you know outer banks you know all of the names the tuesday tucson colorado the santa fe they cash in on our patriotism and it's not just cars you think of i'm looking as i'm going through the notes on this podcast levi's jeans doesn't get any more iconically american built for the gold rush durability not manufactured in the united states so you know it's not just cars it's a global economy and iconic american brands are not american necessarily right but but it isn't that that american workers can't do the job obviously because because japan as we we talked about before started building lots of factories in the united states you know these production facilities really reshaped a generation of buyers in some ways but still some cling to sort of old beliefs we got a comment here from duncan from cincinnati who writes i'm only 20 but i have a lot of american pride thanks to my grandparents my parents wanted my grandmother to get a mercedes gla but she insisted on it being american so she instead traded her chevrolet tracks for a buick encore basically the same car but it was designed for and made in korea her reasoning is that the profit ends up in american businesses personally i think the honda crv is more american than the encore since it's being built by workers in ohio uh interesting that that the word profit is brought up i i was working in and around detroit in the early 90s and a lot of detroit executives said said the same thing to me well the profit stays here well that's a whole nother train of thought the parent company where does the parent company reside right so yeah exactly right and and i mean that you know to go to stay kind of on what what duncan was talking about with with buicks and whatnot uh the buick envisioned the the transmission and and the engine the entire car assembly is in china uh which is stark con uh uh contrast to the acura mdx we tested recently which is built again in east liberty ohio and both the engine and the transmission built the united states and and you know keith you looked into what some of the european automakers are doing in the united states as well right absolutely if you look across a lot of the south uh you will find you know you'll find mercedes uh let's see uh there's bmw very famously has a huge huge factory in spartanburg south carolina you know you can look at the first number of the vin on on the vehicle and find out where it was manufactured based on that on that first number or first letter where the final point of assembly was and you can also look on your window sticker they say on the on they call it the monroney sticker uh it'll say you know engine was made here transmission was made here final point of assembly percentage of american uh you know north american content but a lot of the european manufacturers wanted the lower labor costs the lower shipping costs and also when they when mercedes wanted to build an suv they knew they weren't selling big suvs in europe they were going to sell those in the united states so they're going to make them in the united states again back to your theme of the world car you know i want to buy america and i want to but it's it's it's all it's point that's a great resource when you're roaming the lot if you're even roaming a lot you know when you haven't narrowed it down other ways you know that's a good resource to say how much of this do i want to be for those people where that's super important not to be american use that sticker and and you know just to get back to some of our our uh our viewer comments uh is another kind of a generational shift uh this is paul from bloomfield connecticut hey right up the road from us paul writes the idea of an american car according to our grandparents definition has not existed in decades it may not even have existed back in their time for the modern day the definition cannot be based on supply chains production locations or the history of the badges the acura nsx for example is seen as a true japanese performance car despite being american made if you told people in my small rural hometown that a toyota tundra is more american than their brand new gmc pickup you'd likely be called a trader so yes the might the mighty nsx is built in ohio uh which which i i i admittedly i i kind of looked that up i was like wait a minute it doesn't sure enough it's built off it you you don't know you can't assume any of it for any manufacturer you gotta look and dig and and find that stuff out if that's important too right right uh so so this is a this is kind of a good way to wrap up this particular segment about you know defining what an american car is and and i think this this comment from air knob from chicago uh is a good way to kind of put the lid on this he writes i'm an immigrant and being an american is important to me and i wanted to jump into this discussion with full gusto american cars are diverse like herself and her people trucks muscle cars the legendary ford model t tesla and many more but when you buy an american car that car is trying to do something with itself it gives you more than just transportation it's a hard working car and a tough car maybe a little flashy and may have some rough edges american cars take risks have global roots and international appeal and will try to do it all in a cost effective way it's worth it now i think honestly that is one of the best comments i have ever read on talking cars and i feel the sentiment there and i thank you for for sending that in and let's uh as you've talked about let's let's segue let's sense we're not testing the segway we're just talking about shifting our focus another focus you know forward focus oh stop oh so so what what i asked you guys and we asked our audience what is the most american car of all time yeah this is really where the rubber meets the road no let's get let's get a video response um uh this is scott from arnold maryland hey guys i have been a fan since episode one in reference to your fourth of july and the most american car i think it has to be a throw down between the model t and perhaps the 64 and a half mustang with the 289. that's just my opinion what do you think keep up the great work guys so a throwdown between the model t and the and a half mustang with a 289 what a great kickoff scott and i are aligned i think in our on our lives but anyway okay um and andy is uh keeping the vintage ford vibe alive the most american car must be the ford model a pick any year any variant even the double a truck and this is also followed by claire from boston who simply wrote ford model t so uh so let's mix things up a little bit let's start with with jennifer's pick so tell us uh what is the most american car okay so so i started and i was going to pick a car but and i'll get to that but what makes a car american is because we as americans choose it it has nothing to do with where it's made where the money goes we as americans it's very fourth of july have more variety and a range of vehicles that we can choose from than any other country in this world we not only use them as transportation to your point we define ourselves at times some people many people with the car they choose it's a lifestyle choice it's a perception choice you know be it leonardo dicaprio in his prius or be it my husband in his ford f-150 pickup cars are a part of our americanism our patriotism as much as our levi's and our converse all-stars and what makes them american is the choices we made to the model t point that was the only choice they had they didn't have a choice of what other car to buy of course it soared millions sold millions of units that was it you think of now the number of choices and i don't care if it's the lowest volume fiat 500 pop or whatever it might be that's being sold in the us that is your american car because you are an american and you've chosen it for yourself um global manufacturers as i said cash in on that with their names with their tellurides their colorado's their their big bends everything they want that if you want me to narrow it down for right now the most american car is the ford f-150 pickup because it sold 726 000 units in 2021 more americans chose that car than any other 2022 it may be a different car you can not define the most american car of all time you can only define the most american car of this time or what it was 20 years ago or 20 years from now by what we choose and we are so fortunate to have that choice so it sounds very broad and very i don't know esoteric but the more i thought about it i'm like you can't you can't pick one we all have our own you bring up a lot of a lot of good points we do have a lot of choices in the in in the united states it's funny though when you look back in history there are actually fewer brands nowadays than there used to be but certainly the cars are so much better than they used to be so let's let's keep let's keep moving here let's go with kurt kurt writes for me growing up in the 50s 60s and 70s it has to be a full-sized chevy biscayne bel-air or impala and john's on the same wavelength john says 1954 pontiac steel and rubber come to detroit a car comes out the other end or my 1967 oldsmobile 442 had it while i was in the marines and drove it coast to coast several times that would have been a really cool trick and a little trivia for you guys out there what does the 442 stand for four two stroke four cylinder four valve four four two stood for four barrel oh four barrel four speed it changed throughout the iterations of various 442s over the years but that was there because you know four barrel that was like a big carburetor back then so anyway sorry a little trivia for it i love doing stuff like that but so enough of my nonsense uh let's let's go with keith what's your pick well i i think you know maybe i'm a little this week i you know i worked on an article about that the 10th anniversary of the tesla model s and i really think tesla's up there i i think for a lot of reasons i mean first of all it started off as this incredible uh a truly groundbreaking product the likes of which the world had never seen with an incredible innovation incredible promise um and and sort of really change the world um at the same time on on the other hand to that you have um you know a sort of charismatic founder who uh there's a real sort of mythic origin story around the company and the founder has in recent years in the company of sort of broken promises and and you have these sort of two sides as as everything has um you know maybe it's just the family that i grew up in but i i i learned that it's okay to criticize things and people you love uh also for right now the lots of vertical integration these vehicles we talk about supply chains tesla does everything sort of in-house a lot of it's done in fremont now now in austin um so there's that as well and you take tesla you know for performance wise and they say you know do or imitation is the greatest form of flattery there's a lot of tesla followers its success has bred more choices to my point in that ev performance ev market you know it's kind of like it's the good the bad the ugly it's all wrapped up into one that's still about everything you know right right exactly uh let's let's get a comment from brow leo who says after much deliberation i think the most american car is the jeep wrangler hasn't changed too much in the last 40 years um and again there's that there's that world war two connection there that so many of these these these cars are that sort of post-war era too and this one during war right you know right that's that's that's a car that what that's a that is a truck that that that won world war ii i mean truly incredible yep yep and and but this is where we kind of run into a string of comments uh that we received from from our great audience that really did kind of a fast forward to to current days and forget nostalgia you know tail fins chrome old time rock and roll jack writes rivians are truly american designed in various american cities and manufactured in illinois as and soon in georgia it doesn't get more american than that tesla and ford are also doing this and this is followed by brian from austin my vote is for the tesla model 3 with the ford mustang and chevrolet corvette as runners-up so so yeah brian did mix in some old and some new but you know but both jack and brian are going kind of new school with rivian and tesla and and certainly echoing stuff that that keith is saying as well um and and i think maybe the funniest comment that we got for for this segment of talking cars uh we got this one from thomas it doesn't get more american than the oscar meyer wienermobile whenever it drives by lobbing hot dogs to the neighborhood boys and girls i stand on my front porch and say the pledge of allegiance with tears in my eyes and gosh i know what's for dinner this is why i'm glad this is why i put beard so i can do this that was awesome i love that comment um but and and i know that we got to kind of put put a wrap on this and and keith you you you gave a little foreshadowing talk about the jeep and and world war ii because honestly that's my pick for the most american car as you mentioned this off-roader helped win uh the war it went on to become a favorite here in the united states i mean jeep is a brand was the most valuable part of american motors when chrysler bought it in 1980s the only reason chrysler bought it was just to get the jeep name and that certainly was was was a a brilliant move on their por on their part and and what i also think about the wrangler i'm also thinking about the jeep name in general i mean the cherokee the grand cherokee they were on the forefront of suv suv craze which is what we're still going through i mean they were way ahead of their time taking sort of an off-roady approach to a family vehicle it out-muscled station wagons it's out muscle minivans suvs are the family car right now and jeep was was way ahead of that curve and what other vehicle that that you guys have mentioned that our viewers have mentioned has their own ways okay the jeep wrangler wave okay so anyway uh i've had so much fun doing this podcast with you guys i loved all the response we got from talking cars uh viewers and listeners uh this was really awesome i appreciate the time that you guys put into preparing for this and as always as we always say you know check the show notes if you want more information on the vehicles and the topics that we discussed as a reminder keep your questions coming keep your videos coming talking cars at icloud.com that's talking cars at icloud.com we love to hear your stores keep them coming thanks so much for tuning in we'll see you next week\n"