Summary: REDEFINING THE STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR (SMOTY) AWARD<br><br> <br> The Round Six Gearheads sat down with and got back to their roots with an unscripted, candid discussion on the state of the Street Machine of the Year (SMOTY) award. More than just a simple opinion fest, the guys share insight on the state of the art, the need for a renaissance, and the stale nature of trends. The conversation goes deep for a bit, and explores the what and why of how a car can command your attention, and then levels out neatly with an idea for a tortilla machine to be standard in all continental breakfast lines.<br> That and carbon fiber ball joints, of course. But not in the breakfast line. Mankind should know his limits, after all.<br> <br> THINGS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:<br> <br> * The current state of build trends<br> * How everything went Pro-Touring<br> * The “required mods” list, or so it seems<br> * The politics of dancing into the Top Five<br> * Carbon fiber ball joints<br> * Old trends we miss… and a few we don’t<br> * Waxing nostalgic with tongue firmly in cheek<br> * Offering constructive criticism to bring excitement to the SMOTY award<br> * Burning out on a build style<br> * “Jumping the shark” on a build style<br> * The act of throwing money at a car versus having a plan<br> * When a build becomes satire<br> * Other trends that are suffering from “same-as” burnout<br> * The pricing-out of the common man<br> * The importance of pie-in-the-sky builds as inspiration<br> * When a car is “too nice” to drive<br> * Terribly inappropriate SEMA Show call-backs<br> * The hot rod illuninati/”aluminati”<br> * The birth of a secret society<br> * When a certain build just “does it” for you<br> * That point where a high-end build breeds contempt<br> * The differences in creativity:<br><br> Designing from scratch VS junkyard trawling<br> * Engineering a home-built solution to a high-end design challenge<br> * Bringing tweed back<br> * Alex and Brian go all Star Wars. Again.<br> * Birth of the “Ratborghini.”<br> * Why Peter Jackson won’t be directing the Round Six Biopic<br> <br>
