By Tim Harris, Blair Smith & Shinoo Mapleton · April 23, 2026

🎧 You can also stream us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

First time reading? Sign up here with just one click.

This was one of those weeks where the automotive world didn't give you much choice but to pay attention.

Tim's still out — dispatching updates from Puerto Rico — but Blair and Shinoo sat down to cover what was genuinely a big week in automotive news. New Porsche. New lap records. A brand-new EV truck that nobody saw coming.

And a hot debate over the most emotionally charged question in enthusiast culture: is the manual transmission dying, or are we watching it be reborn?

Blair's ongoing saga with his sight-unseen Japanese van purchase took a turn last week when his mechanic pulled him aside in the garage with that specific tone that means brace yourself.

Cylinder 4 was under suspicion. Oil buildup on the spark plug. The words "Mitsubishi Bravo engine replacement" briefly flashed through Blair's mind in ways he didn't enjoy.

Fortunately, the fix was a spark plug and wire swap — and the result was immediately obvious. Off boost, the van was already running noticeably better. The only true diagnostic, naturally, was to call his brother and challenge him to a rematch drag race in a suburban Salt Lake City two-lane road.

His brother had beaten him once before. He shouldn't have. The four-cylinder turbo is now running on all four, the family honor is restored, and Blair reports the 13-year-old twins were — rumors to the contrary — not outrunning either van off the line.

Blair also discovered the correct use case for the Lotus Elise: running late to your daughter's dance recital 40 minutes away with the top off and a custom sound system cranking.

The freeway, it turns out, is a magnificent venue for the Elise. Bob and weave through traffic at speed in a car that goes exactly where you point it, music up, sun out, smile involuntary. He made it in time. The seat comfort study is ongoing.

Shinoo's 996 Porsche rebuild hit a milestone — a new rebuilt gearbox is going in, the exhaust has been Cerakote coated, and the car should be back on the road for the weekend.

But the bigger news is Shinoo's shop has officially signed on as an authorized Callaway performance center. He made the trip out to Connecticut to see the Callaway headquarters in person — nearly 50 years of storied history improving production cars, most notably the Corvette. The partnership is official.

Shinoo also got a look at something more unexpected this week: a Slate truck focus group, NDA and all.

Slate is a startup building a small-to-midsized electric pickup with a philosophy that turns the entire auto industry on its head. The premise: strip the truck down to almost nothing, offer just two battery configurations, eliminate options entirely, and sell it direct to consumer for under $30,000. Production starts by end of year at a converted print press factory in Indiana. Design office in Long Beach. Headquarters in Troy, Michigan.

The two trucks on display at the focus group told the story clearly:

That last point had Blair and Shinoo momentarily speechless.

Shinoo's shop brainstormed 25 potential aftermarket products for the Slate in a single session. Blair was immediately added to the warranty blacklist.

The price reveal is expected in June. If they hold the under-$30K number, the comparison to the Ford Maverick's runaway success — which Blair raised — seems very apt.

The car everyone saw in spy shots last week has now been officially revealed: the Porsche 911 GT3 SC (Sport Cabrio — a roofless GT3). Shinoo watched the full official Porsche launch video. Here's what matters:

What's good:

What's debated:

What it costs:
Sticker starts around $270K. Fully specced, you're looking at $325–$330K before dealer markup. And the markup reports coming in from multiple dealers are not encouraging:

That puts real-world acquisition cost in the $380K–$430K range — which, both hosts acknowledged, is getting into territory where quite a lot of other very serious cars become available.

The other big lap time news: Ford's Mustang GTD Competition posted a 6 minute 40 second Nürburgring lap time with Dirk Mueller behind the wheel — running in the pre-production prototype class, which is a crucial asterisk. This is a further-developed, not-yet-released version of the $350K GTD, with increased power, reduced weight, and additional aero over the standard car.

For context: the Porsche GT3 RS Manthey Racing Kit car ran 6:45 in the production-based class — a different classification, so direct comparison is complicated.

The ZR1X, for reference, posted a 6:49 when it set its record — also in the pre-production prototype class, also driven by internal Chevy development engineers rather than professional ring specialists.

Shinoo's point about the ZR1X bears watching: those engineers were almost certainly holding time in reserve, waiting to see what Porsche and Ford posted. Hiring a ring specialist and doing a proper lap-time assault could peel another 4–6 seconds off that number.

The deeper story on the GTD: Blair raised a pointed question. Did Ford always plan to release a higher-spec "Competition" version, or did the original GTD's slower-than-expected sales prompt a reboot to generate buzz? Shinoo's read: GTD inventory suggests they didn't sell out. The Competition version looks like a calculated injection of excitement — a smart move to clear remaining allocation and re-energize a car that, at $350K, is still a very hard sell.

Blair's honest position: seeing the ZR1X drag race a Koenigsegg and then hang with a Rimac Nevera made an impression. The GTD Competition posting faster Nürburgring laps than the ZR1X is remarkable — even accounting for the class differences. The fundamental point is that we are absolutely at peak sports car performance right now, and it's a privilege to be watching it.

BMW is about to launch a new generation of vehicles under the Neue Klasse (New Class) banner, reportedly backed by a $10 billion investment. The hosts' take on current BMW styling is decidedly mixed — Blair nearly had a physical reaction describing the iX on the road this morning — but there's a glimmer of hope.

BMW has gone on record saying they have not abandoned brand shaper cars. Once the Neue Klasse lineup is established, the stated plan is to return to enthusiast-focused vehicles — potentially including a modern spiritual successor to the M1.

The lineage the hosts want to see honored: the M1, the Z8, the Z3 M Coupe, the Z1. The cars that made the brand worth the "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan that, despite everything, still seems to hold power in the market (BMW is currently outselling both Mercedes and Audi). The renderings for the Neue Klasse suggest at minimum a visual improvement is coming.

The "This or That" segment turned into an extended debate about the most lovably hideous cars in history. A listener had specifically written in to suggest the podcast covers too many obscure cars — and then Blair promptly pulled out a Saab 900 and an Alfa Romeo SZ. The segment delivered exactly what it promised.

BMW Z3 M Coupe (the "Clown Shoe") — Shinoo's clear number one. From the rear three-quarter with the wide hips and flared arches, it might be the coolest looking car on the planet. From any other angle, including the one Blair had on screen, it looks like someone made a mistake. Shinoo owned one in black on Workmeister five-spokes and maintains it had presence that converted skeptics in person. Blair's wife "came around." The Civic Type R wife did not.

Honda FK8 Civic Type R — Total anime styling chaos. Shinoo bought one. His wife refused to be seen in it. He picked her up in it anyway. She was not feeling it. But he maintains it drives like a front-wheel-drive Cayman — precision, eagerness, spectacular shifter — and he'd buy another based purely on the experience.

Alfa Romeo SZ (Sprint Zagato, 1989–1991) — One of the first cars designed primarily in CAD. Built by Zagato on an Alfa platform, powered by the legendary Busso V6 (widely considered one of the best-sounding naturally aspirated engines ever made). Very angular. Very wedge-shaped. Very avant-garde for 1989. Shinoo has seen one in person and reports it looks genuinely good — forward, but cohesive. Blair puts driving a Busso V6 on his automotive bucket list.

Lotus Europa — Restored one a few years back. Remarkable to drive: lightweight, perfect shifter, wonderfully communicative for an older car. The front end looks great. The back end looks like they ran out of ideas and time simultaneously. Blair cannot explain what happened back there. Shinoo offered no defense of the rear styling. Both love the car regardless.

Saab 900 — Blair owned a 99 (predating the 900) in his college days. He drove it with a blown head gasket or cracked block for so long he carried a gallon of water everywhere as standard equipment. He loved it. He lamented GM's decision to kill the brand. He thinks the 900 looks "radoo," which in context appeared to mean somewhere between radical and voodoo.

Tesla Cybertruck — The audience submission nobody saw coming. Blair's case: in a world drowning in crossovers — RAV4s, Subaru Ascents, Audi Q4s, BMW X3s, all shaped like the same mild-mannered aerodynamic potato — the Cybertruck drives past and creates a reaction. It is objectively ugly. He's not buying one. But he is glad it exists, purely because it is different.

Shinoo immediately put a photo of a gray garbage dumpster on screen.

The debate was spirited. It was not resolved.

A listener named Rich B. sent in a question following Blair's newsletter piece, “🕹️ The Quiet Death of the Manual Transmission“ Rich challenged the data cited from Tony Romia (chief Corvette engineer), who used low C7 manual take rates as justification for no manual in the C8.

Rich's argument: the C8 Corvette successfully attracted a younger, wealthier, and more diverse buyer base compared to the C7. If the demographics shifted substantially — and the data confirms this, with 90% of Z06 orders coming from buyers over 40, but with significantly more millennials and Gen X represented than before — does C7 take rate data even apply?

The hosts' verdict: Rich is largely right.

Shinoo, who coaches at Spring Mountain, confirms the demographic shift is real — more younger drivers, though plenty of the older cohort remains. But his bigger point: the paddleshift cars simply lap faster. That engineering reality, combined with the expense of developing, homologating, and producing a manual gearbox for what might be modest take rates, makes the business case difficult.

Blair's counterpoint: go look at the ratio of automatic to manual C6 and C7 Corvettes on the used market right now. The data tells you that older buyers — who made up the bulk of C7 sales — systematically chose the automatic. But that demographic is not who's buying C8s in the same numbers. Newer buyers, coming from a performance car culture that has increasingly treated the manual as a choice rather than a default, may respond very differently.

The Motor Trend data Blair pulled supports this: modern manual take rates are trending high, often surprisingly so. The GT3 SC coming out manual-only is exhibit A.

The hosts' shared wish: the C9 needs a manual option. Not necessarily as the primary drivetrain, but available for those who want it. A buddy of Blair's — who has driven more cars than nearly anyone — offered Shinoo a specific suggestion for Callaway to pass along to their new Connecticut partners: Tremec has already fitted a manual gearbox to the C8. If GM won't put one in, Callaway should work with Tremec to offer it as a package.

Shinoo duly noted it.

Tim, if you're reading this from Puerto Rico: the ZR1X better be incoming, the white New Balances better stay clean, and the microphone better be ready.

The GT3 SC won't wait.

🎙 Listen to the full episode here:

– Tim, Blair & Shinoo

🏁 The Full Throttle Talk Team
Buckle up. Hit the gas. Let's go full throttle.

Got thoughts on today’s topic? We’d love to hear them. Just hit reply or share your take with fellow gearheads inside our private Facebook group.

📩 Don’t keep Full Throttle Talk a secret—share it with a friend, family member, or colleague. Let’s spread the fun!

💬 Want your question featured on the next show? DM us on Instagram or reply to this newsletter.

🧠 Got an article or market take? Send it in—we’ll feature our favorites in an upcoming issue.