More Endearing Film: Latest Updates and Analysis

'Now! More! Yes!' Is an Endearing Film About a Milwaukee Used-Car Salesman

One night in early 2022, legally blind neurodivergent car salesman TW Hansen was running the used-vehicle department at a bottom-feeding Milwaukee lot when he drunkenly decided to purchase a janky 1989 Ford E350–based ambulance using his boss's money. "Remember, we're from Wisconsin," Hansen tells Car and Driver, "so casual alcoholism is invariably a part of any story."

This action wasn't quite as outlandish as it might seem. In addition to purchasing and peddling sub-$10,000 vehicles to a struggling clientele often one working car ride away from losing their jobs or their housing, he also ran an ad hoc picture-car business, renting out vehicles for local film appearances. Milwaukee isn't exactly the Hollywood of the Midwest, but Hansen had a niche: obscure period-correct vehicles from the '70s and '80s, and/or cars that could be crashed, crushed, or set aflame.

He'd had some success renting out to productions a 1983 Ford LTD police car, which he'd purchased for $2800, earning enough to nearly cover the purchase price before selling it to a collector for $6000. So, the similarly priced hospital hauler seemed marketable.

A new documentary, Now! More! Yes!, directed by fellow Milwaukeean Max Hey, presents why that mostly wasn't the case. Until it maybe sort of was.

Kyle James, courtesy of Ambulance Key Ltd.

The movie, which will premiere at the famed South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, on March 8, follows Hansen and a ragtag group of no-budget guerrilla Wisconsin filmmakers, as Hansen buys and borrows vehicles for film sets and attempts to find a home for the misfit ambulance. In the process—and this is what makes the movie such a heartfelt delight—he finds a home for his misfit self as well.

"Truth be told, the period of time that the movie covers, in 2022 and 2023, was the most harrowing year of my life,” Hansen says. "Every major component of my conception of self was tested and challenged and torn down to its foundations."

NowMoreYes Film Still, courtesy of Ambulance Key Ltd.

While this tension is demonstrated clearly in the film, for car lovers like us this emotional narrative is often supplemented (if not supplanted) by the onscreen vehicular one. In addition to the ambulance—which has no key, and won't start anyway—the movie delights in the destruction of automotive ephemera. A 1990s Cadillac is burned to the frame. An '80s Saab is dropped repeatedly from a crane, then strap towed around town by an Econoline van without a front fender. A Mercedes W123 sedan is driven off a cliff. A 1987 Chevy Citation coupe appears and fades, like an apparition. There is a demolition derby scene.

Hansen's personal car collection goes well beyond any oddities we see on the screen. He estimates that he has owned well over 300 cars in the three decades since he got his license. "Some are strange for what they are, and some became strange through quantity," he says. "For example, the 1987-through-1991 Toyota Camry station wagon is not necessarily an interesting car, but between my friends and I, we've owned over 20 of them. The Toyota van from that era—the toaster-shaped van before the Previa—I had, like, five of them. Renault Alliances, those I had a bunch of." Hansen's first car, the 1977 AMC Pacer Wagon? "I had a bunch of those too," he says.

Even a serial buyer (and seller) of hundreds of weirdo cars has some vehicles on his unicorn wish list. "I never had an early '80s Ford Country Squire station wagon. And I'd like a 1962 Dodge Dart, a four-door hardtop," Hansen says. "But the one I'm really into is the Renault Avantime. which was a pillarless two-door minivan. It has a deeply peculiar brutalist style. It is weird in the way that only the French can do weird."

We won't tell you what happens to Hansen's ambulance. Or to his connection with his boss and the used-car lot. ("I would characterize it as an abusive relationship," he says.) Or to any of the movies-within-the-movie that appear in brief grainy video clips. Those would be spoilers.

Tim Hansen, Courtesy of Economy Superstar.

But we will say that the movie is transcendent, a story that results in redemption—vehicular and otherwise—and that we were cheering for the weird protagonist and his weird cars and his weird cohort the entire time.

We are not alone. "For the first time in memory, I feel like I no longer need to dwell in the labor of my own despair," Hansen says of his situation now, nearly two years after the movie's action was filmed. "My life has something resembling direction and purpose to a degree to which is a little bit frightening because I am not accustomed to direction or purpose. These are alien concepts to me."

If you're at SXSW March 8–11, definitely go see Now! More! Yes! And if you're not, watch for it at other festivals, and perhaps, hopefully soon, on some streaming service. We feel confident someone will buy it. Just like that ambulance.

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The Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider Is a Sensory Experience

"Everything else is a derivation," Enzo Ferrari once mentioned of his original V-12. Eighty years ago, Il Commendatore and Gioacchino Colombo conceived the first Ferrari V-12 engine and in 1947 put the 125 Spyder Corsa on the road. Today, the 2025 12Cilindri Spider harks back to Ferrari's grand-touring roots and its front-engine, V-12 soul.

The 12Cilindri Spider is a first-quarter opening salvo in what's shaping up to be a pivotal year in the brand's storied history. The firm will introduce six products, including its first EV in October. Meanwhile, F1 fans count the days until the Australian Grand Prix for a glimpse of Lewis Hamilton in the Scuderia Ferrari paddock. Hamilton, like Enzo, has effortless cool, an attitude that makes modern Ferrari feel distinct from the competition.

Arriving on the precipice of an expanded electrified portfolio, the 12Cilindri Spider functions a naturally aspirated front-mounted [website] V-12 engine that is an internal-combustion coda to Ferrari engine lore and a delicious guilty pleasure. The operatic engine note, experienced unfiltered in the open air, is the Spider's reason for being. For the Ferraristi, driving is a provocative sensory experience. For the 12Cilindri Spider, creating that experience was the assignment.

"I'm getting emotional," noted Ferrari designer Andrea Militello, only half-joking. Militello is head of sport design projects for Ferrari and participated in a panel discussion with his engineering and product planning colleagues the night before our coastal drive. Militello explained how the engineers, designers, and test drivers work side by side. "The final design of the car, it transmits something that we can't describe with words" he noted. "It's something that happens in the guts."

The 12Cilindri Spider's look references the 1969 365GTS/4, the famed Daytona Spider styled by Leonardo Fioravanti of Pininfarina. You can see the classic proportions in the long, clamshell-shaped hood and the set-back cabin. The modern car's contours and surfaces are tucked and shaped in sympathy with the front end and carefully frame the large 21-inch wheels. The A-pillars are swept back dramatically, and flying buttresses fade from the headrests into the rear decklid.

The Spider is meant to be savored outside in the elements, and so we traveled to Cascais, Portugal, for our drive. There, we found a half-dozen Spiders in Verde Toscana, a gemstone green hue that sparkled in the sunshine. For this car, Ferrari says it started with the "gentleman driver" in mind. What that driver is looking for in a Ferrari is defined by Raffaele de Simone, Ferrari's chief development driver, who was there to walk us through the ins and outs of the driving setup. De Simone paused to listen as we brought the 12Cilindri Spider engine to life with a tap of the haptic button on the center of the steering wheel. He let the sonic drama sink in. "Bellissimo! It sounds like music," he mentioned. De Simone recommended the 1600-watt Burmester audio system's Live setting (others include Pure, Comfort, and 3D Surround) as an accompaniment to the V-12's engine note. Live produces a full-on concert experience in the way the sound is distributed through the speakers. It's one of the more impressive systems we've tried, balancing the audio sound with the engine note even with the top down.

Act one of the 12Cilindri Spider opera was underway as we warmed up the tires on Portuguese coastal roads that were made for King Luís I of Portugal's court in the 19th century. For the unfiltered experience, we turned off the ADAS with the touch-sensitive button. The haptic-touch buttons and sliders are a bit fussy but became more intuitive over eight hours of driving. The [website] center infotainment screen and [website] passenger's display are low-key compared to the Purosangue's more digitally based cockpit.

A violent windstorm had left the pavement sand-swept, and the 12Cilindri's little wiggles in the turns were a thrilling reminder of its rear-wheel drive and V-12 power in action. Soon the roads opened up, and we pursued the engine's delightful 9500-rpm crescendo. We cycled through high notes, trying out the various driving modes, reveling in the palpable feedback of 819 horsepower as the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission worked its silky magic. Top down, the Spider magnified the V-12's glory.

On public roads, we never saw the claimed 211-mph top speed—same as the coupe's—but 60 mph comes quickly at an estimated [website] seconds, and the four tailpipes served as trumpets for those we left in the dust. On-the-money steering and confidence-inspiring carbon-ceramic brakes checked boxes on a GT-car wish list. The suspension's magnetorheological dampers produced a smooth ride on bumpy concrete, a welcome bonus.

The neck-level heat vents and the retractable center window between the headrests kept the cabin serene and let us settle in to focus on the driving dynamics. In third and fourth gear, Ferrari now does electronic torque shaping, like it's done previously on turbocharged models, to keep the rising crescendo of power linear, a move the corporation indicates doesn't slow acceleration. Later, we closed the retractable hardtop, a quick 14-second maneuver—raising or lowering the roof can be done when the car is in motion at speeds up to 28 mph, a fun party trick to deploy with the touch of a center switch.

Top up or down, 12Cilindri Spider satisfies all five senses.

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Why Level 1 EV Wall Charging Is More Useful Than You Think

Let's be real for a second: nobody wants to sit around and wait hours and hours for their electric vehicle to charge. The fear of long charging times, along with nowhere to actually do it, is what scares many people away from owning an EV. And certainly, the time it takes to charge from a standard wall outlet—which might take anywhere from 60 to 200 hours depending on the car—isn't very encouraging.

Most EV owners plug in at home and use faster Level 2 chargers to get juiced up in a matter of hours, not days. Others rely on public DC fast charging, whether regularly or on road trips, to recharge in mere minutes. Yet all EVs can also plug into a standard 120-volt wall outlet. But what good is that, really?

It's actually very good, believe it or not. I found this out during my road trip out to the far West Texas desert in a 2025 Rivian R1T. That experience convinced me that so-called Level 1 charging, the slowest form of EV charging there is, can be an immensely useful tool—if you use it correctly.

In fact, wall charging saved my bacon on this trip. I'll tell you why.

(Full Disclosure: Rivian loaned me an R1T for a road trip over the 2024 winter holidays.).

Over the holidays, I drove about 400 miles from San Antonio to the remote town of Marfa, Texas near the Mexican border. As you might guess, there aren't many EV charging options out that way. One hotel near the house where I was staying had a Level 2 charger, but it was for guests only and I wasn't staying there. I probably could've talked my way into borrowing it a few times, but didn't want to take advantage.

Photo by: Patrick George No, I don't normally park like this. But there was nobody around.

My best bet was a Tesla Supercharger station in the town of Alpine, which I used quite often on this trip thanks to the adapter Rivian included. But that was 30 miles away before any highway range losses, and in the opposite direction of all the things I enjoy doing out in Marfa. In short, depending on that meant a range hit almost as soon as I drove away from the parking lot.

Luckily for me, Rivian also included a portable wall charger. I decided to throw the R1T on that when it was parked in the driveway. Lo and behold, it was just what I needed.

A standard 120-volt wall outlet typically provides 1 to 2 kilowatts (kW) of electricity. That translates to about three to five miles of range per hour.

On a 149-kilowatt-hour battery pack (with 140 kWh usable) like my R1T Dual Motor Max Pack tester, you'd be looking at around 30 to 40 hours to charge from 20% to 80% capacity, depending on the speed. Around 2 kilowatts of electricity for each kilowatt-hour of battery capacity, best-case scenario. Makes sense, right?

That's a lot less than my own home ChargePoint Level 2 charger, which runs a steady output of [website] kW. That means it can charge my Kia EV6, with its [website] kWh battery, from 0% to 100% in around 10 hours, though my typical time is around five or six hours. I've never run that car all the way down to 0%, and I don't intend to ever do that.

Photo by: Patrick George 2025 Rivian R1T Review.

So if you're new to EVs, you may scoff at Level 1 wall charging as being too slow. But remember this: What is your car doing most of the time? Well, it's just sitting there parked.

Since it's just sitting there, that means you can "refuel" it. This is a kind of secret superpower for EVs that few people talk about. With a gas-powered car, you have to drive somewhere and get gas. With an EV, for the 95% of the time the car is parked, it can be recharging its battery so long as it's near an outlet.

Photo by: Patrick George 2025 Rivian R1T Review.

This was extremely useful to me. On my trip, I wasn't driving all of the time. I was walking around town, seeing the sights, eating and drinking with family and friends or taking photos. Like any car does, the R1T just sat there a good amount of the day. I figured I might as well keep it charging while it was stationary.

That paid off handsomely. Just from the wall outlet, I was adding about 30 to 40 miles of extra range per day, much of it done in the evenings and overnight when I was sleeping. I never ran the Rivian down to 0% so I didn't have to start from scratch. And I always had some juice in the system from that Tesla Supercharger. The wall outlet just ensured that I had more than enough range to cover most of my daily activities and errands.

I have found that EV charging is typically less of a "now it's empty, so I must fill it up" proposition like it is for gas-powered cars. It's more about getting the range you need for exactly what you need. I didn't need the R1T to be "full" every day; I needed enough range to comfortably cover my driving. Using the wall outlet gave me a great daily buffer until I had to go back to the Tesla Supercharger station. With EVs, you start thinking more strategically about your energy use. That's not a bad thing.

That extra 30 to 40 miles from daily wall charging powered a lot of my trip. It's why there's also a not-insignificant number of EV owners out there who only use Level 1 wall charging for the job. My colleague Kevin Williams has written about this extensively; he's an apartment-dweller and uses slower charging with great frequency.

Think about people who own a smaller EV with a smaller battery, or who have an EV as a second or third car primarily for around-town errands. Why would you not use a wall outlet, especially when you don't need something as fast or as costly as a Level 2 home charger?

For me, at least, I do enough driving at home that a Level 2 charger is a necessity. I think living solely with Level 1 charging wouldn't really suit my needs. But now, I think of it instead as another tool—a very powerful and convenient tool—in my arsenal. This is especially true on road trips and vacations. If you're going to a new place and you aren't guaranteed to have tons of fast charging options along the way, I would very strongly recommend bringing a portable wall charger. Even if it's not the fastest option, it's advanced than nothing and may keep you from real trouble.

I'll add the typical caveats here and say that it's imperative to make sure the electrical system you're charging from is safe, modern, robust and able to handle the load. If you're renting an Airbnb, definitely check with the hosts to see if EV charging is cool (and it probably won't hit their electric bill all that much.).

Some manufacturers advise against using an extension cord for this sort of thing. Extension cords on any long-duration, high-draw application can be problematic. While an industrial-grade, low-gauge extension cord would be best here, I recommend always defaulting to what your owner's manual says—or if you have further concerns, talk to an electrician about the best course of action for longer cords. Don't just assume you can plug and play with any extension cord lying around. Level 1 charging can certainly help keep you on the road, but burning out a charger or starting a fire will turn this solution into a bigger problem.

So long as you can do it safely, do not rule out Level 1 wall charging, especially on your next EV road trip. Always remember: if it's parked, maybe it can be plugged in somewhere.

Photo by: Patrick George 2025 Rivian R1T Review.

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