Tran Girlismo

On this episode of Tran Girlismo it's time to break down the First Brands collapse, so strap in for the most transgender explanation of shadow banking and private equity you'll hear this week. Also, Jordan fills Victoria in on Renault/Alpine's F1/WEC implosion. Then we exercise our right to make this podcast a little bit of a photography show because we wanna, and talk about private equity again in the context of the Kodak Alaris/Eastman Kodak split and the surprising direct distribution of Ektar and Ektachrome!
Kodak if you're listening we'll both sell out for a pallet full of Ektachrome :)
Referenced stories:
Raybestos shut down @Motor1
2019 study on private equity job loss impacts @WaPo
Private equity failure rate @CFA Institute
Private equity discussion @The Guardian
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s video with Kid Rock and cold-dippin' jeans @Instagram HHS
The 1963 Salad Oil Scandal @Well There's Your Problem
First Brands bankruptcy filing @The Guardian
First Brands sues Patrick James @D&O Diary
First Brands creditors noticing their money is gone @Reuters
First Brands fallout @Reuters
Morningstar DBRS report on First Brands collapse
Federal Indictment of the two brothers @DOJ
Patrick James story about his secretive life @Financial Times (archived)
Tricolor collapse @DealershipGuy
Jamie Dimon cockroaches quote @CNN
IMF $4.5 trillion dollar study @The Economist
Recaro bankruptcy (Jordan meant Recaro, not Sparco) @TheDrive
GM has urgent meetings with suppliers @AutomotiveNews
Also, apparently the Pacifica PHEV did get canned apparently???? But they still have the 2026 model for sale on their website. We're doing a full-bore Stellantis episode in the very near future though don't worry!
Alfa Romeo pissed off about Dodge Hornet @The Drive
New engine rules for F1 @F1
Renault cans F1 engine program at the end of 2025 @Autoweek
"Crashgate" controversy @Wikipedia
Alpine canning WEC in exchange for increased focus on F1 @Bloomberg
Alpine still flirting with America with a crossover @Car And Driver
Lamborghini out of WEC @Motorsports Network
Eastman Kodak reintroducing direct distribution @DPReview
Ektar and Tri-X sold directly via Eastman Kodak @Petapixel
Kodak structural racism @Medium (Madeline M. Dovi)
Kodak Alaris sold to Kingswood Capital @DPReview

Our intro music as always is off stella spazzatura's album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator, which you can find on Bandcamp!

Hello! In our first bonus episode, we discuss how I could have been JD Vance, and also try to cover as many reader questions as possible while drinking and stoned after recording for three straight hours! This is a very loose episode so please expect it to be such; we might add more structure in the future so if this wasn't your bag, please suggest some ideas and we're open to them!
Thanks so much for subscribing and giving us money so I can pay rent; we truly hope you enjoy! Jordan edited this one, give her a little round of applause, also!!

Hello! In this episode, we discuss the Ferrari Luce interior (feat. Squircle King Jony Ive), the (possible?) death of the Porsche 718 EV, and Victoria puts on her hammer-and-sickle hat to discuss why she thinks Waymo could be good, but probably won't be. We also shout out Thomas Sabula, the sole man at Ford more powerful than Jim Farley. Go off, king.

First bonus episode coming later this week for Patreon subscribers!!!
Referenced stories:
Jony Ive/Ferrari Luce Interior Teaser Pics @Jalopnik
Jony Ive/OpenAI iO concept design (I thought this concept rendering I saw floating around was the real thing - it's not; they've just vaguely gestured at the idea of a wearable. Jony, you could still surprise me by not using aluminum and glass in the final design. Bet you won't)
Porsche dropping the 718 EV? Who Knows!!!! @TheDrive
Porsche in the US market @Autoblog
EV sales falling in America in 2025 @TheDrive
Waymo hits child @SFGate
Robotaxis looooooove crashin' @Electrek
Apocryphal story of Musk's hatred of the color yellow in his factories @Intelligencer
Mitch McConnell's sister in law drowns in Tesla crash @BBC
Cruise disengagement statistic @CNBC
Waymo runs over cat in the Mission @axios
Waymo customer wealth @Forbes
Cruise false reports about pedestrian impacts @BayAreaNBC
My DDR bandanna drip @bsky
Source for cost estimates on Waymo compute stack @CBTNews
One Hundred Ten Billion Dollars @Reddit
Thomas Sabula Dudes Rock Moment @Road And Track
Our intro music as always is off stella spazzatura's album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator, which you can find on Bandcamp!

Our first guest episode is here! On this episode we welcome November Kelly of No Gods, No Mayors, Trashfuture, Well There's Your Problem, and Kill James Bond! In this episode, Victoria gets a crash-course in who Lewis Hamilton's new girlfriend Kim Kardashian is, our hosts attempt to process the knowledge that Jeffrey Epstein couldn't successfully import a Toyota Century, we collectively try to untangle the mess of British masculinity that is Top Gear, and the two of us make November rank every single Bond car on a scale of 1-1,000,000.
This is a very loose episode, but it was extremely fun and we hope you enjoy! Thank you so much to November for joining us. Our first bonus episode will be coming next week, as well!
Links to referenced stories:
Lewis Hamilton dating Kim Kardashian?
Lula's Hip Hop hat.
Epstein's Toyota Century emails.
Ghislaine Maxwell in the SLR McLaren.
Amtrak's questionable X.com post.
New Grand Tour hosts.
Throttle House Youtube Channel.
Victoria on Kill James Bond! on Fast And Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Our intro music as always is off stella spazzatura's album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator, which you can find on Bandcamp!
Deep thank you to takofoodtruck for the Nikon F6 and being a fantastic fan!!!

Hello! In this episode (which is not a 1.3GB .wav file this time!) we realize we accidentally became Important at Work and now lots of people want to listen to us. Luckily, the universe bestowed us with an incredible piece of Content for episode two: The America250 Grand Prix of Washington D.C. (in the middle of August!) Also, we discuss the end of Tesla's Model S and X, the end of the Santa Cruz, and run through the Indycar calendar to decide which races are actually still worth going to.
New intro music is 'oops i did too much k while listening to toby fox on repeat' off stella spazzatura's album Horse Tranquilizer Simulator, which you can find on Bandcamp!
Jordan & I have decided we're going to try and make this a Wednesdays-show with a bonus episode for Patreon subs, btw. No worries if you can't afford a sub, you will still get plenty of us.
Some links to stories we reference:
Gavin's incredibly thoughtful review of the show @their blog.
Indycar's America250 Grand Prix @NBC News.
Trump Phone Weekly Updates! @The Verge.
Tesla Cancels S & X @The Verge.
Optimus Robot Passes Out @Youtube.
Ferrari FF First Drive (Dan Neil) @WSJ via Internet Archive.
All Supercars Should Be Rally Cars (Matt Farah) @R&T.
New S-Class Overview @Car And Driver.
Hyundai Santa Cruz Cancelled @Driving(dot)ca.
Subaru Baja @Achewood.