Chatting with the Wheeler Dealer himself, Mike Brewer

Does professional idiot. After out.

Robin Holly mr. David Prince as also tonight's

very, very special guest all the way from the UK.

It's the Wheeler Dealer himself mr.

Mike Brewer. How you doing?

Exceptional. Thank you very much and thank

you very much for having me on. I'm a little bit confused.

I put Will be upside down, but your, the right way up.

Ha ha ha. We thought the same about you?

Yeah. First of all, most, like, thanks

for coming on the show, you know.

We just thought it was a little podcast here in Australia, and we thought we'd reach out. And, and, and the fact that you

got back to us was brilliant. Like, what we, we honestly

thought was a bit of a, Hail Mary throwing it out of ya.

So we'll see, we'll see if he responds and yeah.

And you responded and yeah, we're really, really grateful and as like a personal fan from like 20 years, I've been like a really young kid watching Wheeler Dealers to now and still watching it. I can say like I'm sure for the

rest of the guys in the show. You've been a really big impact

in terms of the car car scene, and purchasing, and buying wheeler and wheeling and dealing as you would say in the automotive space. So so just a big first of all,

thank you to join me on the show.

Listen, thank you so much for having me.

I'm a car guy, you know, when cargos reach out and say to on the chat about cars, but people pull me over in a petrol station where you know, we're filling up with petrol and I'll stand there and Make it bold styling is, you know, I'm just like talking about cars so it's no, thank you very much for reaching out.

You seem like a great bunch of guys and I can't wait to talk to, you know, loving my we'll look.

Obviously, you probably. Well, I just introduced the guys

here. So we got to Scott who I've

known through work mrs. David and Edward, who, who I

know through through going to work going or cars & coffee, and then got to know them and Robin Holly A longtime family friends who are all, will massive car people.

We just, we just live and breathe them, so, to speak to other like-minded, people like yourself.

It's, it's what we do this show for, you know, so but anyway, we thought we'd get here with. Are we getting bit of a glimpse

into into you Mike be it by Art, you know, asking a few questions and then having you on the show and first and foremost, wheeler-dealers has been such a guess.

A juggernaut over over the last year.

Let's say 10 years has really gone gone completely nuts.

Why do you think Wheeler Dealers has become such Like you know, the big Juggernaut that it is because I remember back in the other year. The early episodes with over

half an hour episodes and you do need to repair the car over two episodes and and then they've been truly became one hour, one hour length and and you went to America, you did wheeler-dealer Training Up. You've got all those, you know,

all those different adventures with Wheeler Dealers?

What do you think was about the show that made it such the Juggernaut that it is and where do you say going in the future?

Because it is arguably. I think it's might personally

one of my favorite shows on But what we call a discovery turbo here. I don't know what, I don't know

what you guys have it over there as but it's arguably probably the most important show that I look forward to every new season. So what do you think has made it

become so big? Wow, that's a big question.

Such an injury to me. It's amazing garlic that I've

gotten has been such a success for a number of different reasons. For most it's the first it's the

first ever car restoration show on the planet.

There was no other car restoration show on the planet and every car restoration show thereafter and let's face it.

There are networks. Now devoted to car.

Restoration can all Trace their history back to the to the OG wiemer demons, you know, it started all those years ago, in fact, it started before, you know, it started actually started in 1997. The deal is, and it's a show

called Deals on Wheels, which was on.

National Television are terrestrial television hosted by me. And I was looking at people

buying and selling their cars, and I'm an authentic real car dealer. I'd still have a car dealership

site sell 500 cars a month still today, and they wanted an authentic Malvina to put in this program back in 1997.

And I've got plucked out of obscurity, they found me tea.

I'm empowered me and asked me if I'd be on it and that series, very quickly become the highest rated show in that Network channel, 4's, Network's history since they were invented, so it become a big hit that by week 3. It was massive.

And I could believe it, you know, there's little gardener about people buying and selling the parts hosted by Me was so, so big. And I was asked, then to do

something when series and during the subsequent series, I Was asked by The Producers to tell bit more about me.

How do you buy and sell a car? What's the what's the tricks of

the trade? And to be honest with you as I'm

making the show, I still had my card leadership behind me and the last thing I want to do is tell you guys how I do my job like mine and because everyone would be doing it, you know, I'm not I'm not going to tell you the tricks of the trade.

So I reluctantly put up a fight over that for four years up until about. 19, the property 2000.

I put up a fight and around 2001, the last series of bills on Wheels. I did an item which was how to

buy restore and sell a car. And it was just a 10-minute

break out seen in this on my show and it was to satisfy the producers, stop them arguing with the and I thought yeah let's do it. So I actually got I think you

have it down under some Toyotas Sarah.

Remember those? Yes, you have got them here.

Officially did we met? It was they were all Imports

imported. Yeah, into the UK.

So I found these Toyota's Sarah importantly, UK and it was a bit down that Hill, you know, as a bit nasty in places.

So I just showed you, I bought this car.

I'm going to, you know, change the wheels.

I'm going to tidy up the tires. I'm going to change the carpet.

I'm going to Sparkle the glass, I did basically, you know, Restoration if you like on my own on the show and another some bit and I sold it for a profit. And then we leave the building

Wills continued and it was after that, I got approached by this tiny little tiny little Network that made only running for five years that were shooting gorillas in mountains and people digging for gold. Approached me and said, we've

got this, we've got this idea. We want to make our show and we

We want you to leave it up. So what ideas have you got?

We like that piece that you did with the Toyota to Sarah and we sat down and discussed it with a couple of guys called Dynamite by the small production company at the time and we wrote basically on a back of a napkin we wrote Wheeler Dealers and it was that item that just we turned into originally half an hour and then it grew into an hour.

And that's Of, you know, the success of wheeler-dealers.

It's the original is the original car show.

Come on restoration, show. The second part of its success

is that I think, you know you're talking to me now you're humbled, I reached out to you. I'm not a star.

You know I'm not I've been consider myself a star or TV celebrity there anything by that?

I'm just a guy that fixes up cars and I've got a great job doing it and I love what I do and this is only for my Anak, whether it said whether it's a mentor now Elvis.

I've drilled into them and they understand it perfectly.

When we lived in the world, we're not the stars of the show.

Star of the show is the car. It's all about the car and we're

just a vehicle. We could pardon the pun a means

to an end to put that vehicle on screen and to make that car a hero and we're not Heroes. And I think that's also part of

its success is that All accessible.

We're not, you know, if you have done, if you've ever met Richard role in zone which fast allowed down there in Australia, but if you know, Richard Rawlings is the star of the show, that's that Joan is all about him and he's the star and fundamentally.

It's a long version and wheeler-dealers.

They buy a long jumpers, they put energy into them and hot rodder man and they sell them. So, think about it, it's sort of

a hot rod version and that's why it exists. because it's another

version of Wheeler Dealers, but Richard and that shows all about him being the star and it's all about their, you know, he's interactions with the the mechanics and people around it and then the car become secondary to that you know the car becomes secondary and if you ever meet reject and you know he's a great guy I'm actually going to hang out with him next month in Texas if you meet rigidity as an Entourage of 20 people around them, you know he has there's a you know, there's probably We need to go through to actually get to talk to it,

you know, and he's just a guy that fixes up called like me.

So I feel that successively the thing, this is a it's the original car show, be the car, is the star and the host of the show except back. But we're not the we're not the

stars of the show and three and that I think this is the most important one, if you look at that very first episode of, we have been as that That Porsche 924 in red all the way back there in 2003. The 20 years ago, that show

consists in the me coming up by car mean, walking around it.

Giving you tips and tricks. What to look for me hand, it

over to my mechanic and the time Ed in telling me what he can do to it, and taking it to the workshop.

Fixing it up with the help of me, buying the parts and doing some of the work. And then we drive it at the end

of the show. And then we Bit.

And if you think about it, 20 years later, we think this is me going to buy a car walking around and getting it back.

We never. We've never waned from that

original true for Matt and I won't and although, you know, over the years we've had success with producers and Executives and directors come to work on Wheeler Dealers and everyone that walks in, you know, it's the saloon doors opens in, right? I'm coming down, I'm going to

change it, you know. Make it even better and we we

say no you're not. I say no you're not you're just

going to make it the same. You're gonna make me identical

to has been made for the past 10, 15, 20 years.

And we're not going to change it because it looks like takes Roadshow. And I mean how many years has it

been going and it's people bring their old crap to a stately home and they get surprised on camera with what it's worth.

It's aegisub. And you can bet your bottom

dollar, there's an executive producer of our retina works on the Antiques. Roadshow that turns up says this

week we're going to do it differently.

What we're going to do is this the future?

We were dealers for me because you said, you know, about the future, the future Wheeler Dealers for me is the same, you know, it won't change. I produce the show as well as

present it. And I instill within the team

that I work with that, we never will never stray from our formats. We never strayed from the path,

you know, stay in Lane. I always say the team stay in

Lane, don't wander out Elaine. There's enough car shows that

have come and gone around us that of tried to, you know, go out of laying and stay failed, you know, and we're still going after 20 years and long may it continue.

Absolutely, absolutely. It's really like you guys are

working for the car like you're saying, the car is this town.

You know. You're just doing this around

the car. You look older?

Yeah. Conduit I Look to me if I could

swing, this is my office. I'm just not, we've been

renovating This Old House. And in this room, I can't swing

this around as a bit desktop computer, but my room is like a library, it's around. I'll all I've got in here.

Is car paraphernalia at Starbucks.

Your carvings and Bebe has come on models. leaving a touch pick

up you know even you know a little weenie toy cars, whatever it is is car-related and I don't know any different I simply don't, you know, I can I can reduce the show, I can talk about cars, I can fix tiles apart, mother Lon, you know proper shelf and you know, I love the fact that this world

this passion of mine and you saying, it's just us around the car. If you could, you know, I always

say to be with, you can have a moment that there's a fly on the wall and we lived in the workshop, you will see me and Elvis and the cameramen and the sound recordist.

The same ones for 20 years, you are sitting this team of people hover around the car, but kids were just, you know, it's the cat when the camera's not rolling.

I would just like, kids around the car, we're just it's amazing to walk. Sometimes I step back and from

being with the team and I step back and I made me sit in my office and I'll look through the window and the office and teaming, they're bouncing around the car that we're working on, you know, and I can't could be a pain in the arse of the trying to fix up from the shown. And it could be given us.

This carbon, you can see the team was smiling, bubbly laughing. They're all everyone is so

passionate about what we're doing.

It all comes from the top, it's so good that you're still.

You're still excited about it after after so long.

That's it's refreshing because so many people would get tired or we've done this a thousand times you know it's really real and I think that carries across that's what you know that engagement, you know is what people resonate with they like that. Well, there was a secret to

Wheeler Dealers and it's a secret.

I work. This is this is, you know why my

desk is full of Bits of Paper and it's the secret that we Medina's Which is when we're putting the show together a car, a car is a car, right? So you've got four corners on

it. Four wheels for this small part,

you've got an engine, you got an interior.

Now, we lived English has done over 350 pounds.

You know, in the time that I've been working on Wheeler Dealers, my spin-off shows, praying it up.

You know, that's another 30 cars somewhere.

We did a series called dream car 1500 series.

So it's another hundred cars. So.

How is a car? And if we win the Divas, you

would have seen, either me and Ed or me and I told me and Elvis, you would have seen us take off a hub.

Take off a disk failure to brake pads on a car.

Probably 30 times if not more, but each, and every time it you've seen it, you've not notice you've seen it before and it's the secret to Wheeler Dealers.

I always, in still in there. Team on myself, we always try to

find a new way to approach an old job, or a new process or a new technology or a new tool, or a new way of saying it could be the same thing that you've seen before.

But when you want it go, I didn't know that because it's fresh because it's a new way of saying it and it's very difficult to do. Because if you've got just one

card that you're working on and fundamentally, they're all the same. You have to think up for my sake

for him. 150 shows later, you have to think about 350

different ways you can work on that car and make it different and fresh for the audience and I love that car.

That's the bit of the job that I absolutely love.

You know, today when I leave you and I get in the car and I'm on the way to the shop and I'm talking to the team but we're doing today. We're going to be talking about

the car that's on the rampant. Moment is a Porsche 911 and

which more your talk to me about Porsches in a minute I'm sure, but is an organizer, but I'm one of the jobs that we're doing on the car. And no, it's not that car.

Sorry today, right? Be working on a on a, it's go

away from South Africa. It's a hit if you like from your

world and it's yeah, it's a Ford Cortina be 100.

It's a free liter engine. It's come from South Africa and

it's the rear main seal is gone on that car.

Now I've done a rear main seal on probably five.

Calls in the last 10 years and I know that when I'm sitting in the ground my way in and we're talking about today when I get there and Elvis is going to start pulling the back of the transmission off and that's going to go on to the stand and move away in any gets to the rear main seal.

I need to think of a way to attack that problem, attack that job in a completely different way than we did in the last, you know, Satan shows ago and two years ago on for years ago.

And I can remember what we said. I've got this encyclopedic

memory to remember what answer them?

What L know what Ed said when he did it.

And I now need to think I'm another way that we can say it today, to make it fresh for you. And that's a bit of a job.

I absolutely love. I love coming up with these

creative. Thought, provoking ideas that

you go. Why don't we come at the main

seal from the other angle, or why don't we think about, you know, making a little taller always puts up, you know, make fabric It's a told the hook on the end.

You can fold the main turned out rather than go to try and twist it out and it's always little things, you know, that make the show, I think what it is. It's the it's the excitement of

trying to be creative every single day with it.

No, that's all I guess that's the beauty behind that show because it's just it's every time you say I didn't think of doing it that way. And you're right now, that

you've said that it actually kind of makes sense when you when you think back like yeah, he's done in a few different ways before and and you know it She makes sense in the end.

So it's yeah, that these things putting interior in the car, you know, probably put in during the car but important times.

Yeah, but each time you see it, there's something different.

I'm just about to put in the interior, I bought an Audi RS6, what a cart by the way, who knows what or 150 on horsepower is. So porous layer.

But it said he stated that it's ridiculous, you know, but your wife and kids and the dogs in the boot and then Up to 60 in 4.2 seconds. It's ridiculous and sticker.

So I bought this car but the headliner and sank and football and down and the previous owner had taken it out, and put it on the ground, in where he's in work environment and it just got trash in the work environment. So now I'm restoring the

headliner, it's got me thinking back in, but carefully because it's got airbags and curtain airbags all the way around.

So as to be done on camera, we're going to do that.

You're going to see that and it has to be Done, very delicately and carefully. Now, you would have seen me put

a headliner, an edge, but the headliner in a car and addicts, I can point to, you know, several cars that we've done it in but this time it's going to be different, you know, it's going to be the same job, it's going to be different because now we're talkin about airbags and you know, explosions and is just going to fill different. It's going to look different,

you know, don't let the red wire or the green wire, which one The last 20 years obviously, they haven't been technological changes in how things are appeared like, soda blasting and, you know, all that stuff that people are doing Daily Now wasn't. I don't think it was a thing 20

years ago. Exactly.

And that's another beautiful part of what I've been doing over the last 20 years. Is that I eat we get to see them

every process we do every time we go and attack a process is a million Venture. There's a new way of doing it.

There's a new tall and new method.

Look at Play. Today, you know, when we painted

ours today that painted cars but much better than they did when they rolled out of the factory 1969.

You know there's different things on better but groans premium that we do today is a better quality of grown that we do. And sometimes you know, we're

approaching cars and Wheeler Dealers that have been restored maybe once or twice in the past and we are doing some of that restoration work was only 10 years old but it's gone, you know. That princess of restorations

and years ago and now, is a new way of doing that and a new technology and make them last even longer.

So that's another part at all. That's in my box that I pull on.

You know, I can grab that song when we're putting the show together. I go, is there a new way to do

it? Is there a different way?

Is there a guide to in a shed somewhere?

Who can do it better? You know, let's go and find it.

I did that yesterday. Funny enough.

I'm I'm telling you all the money.

Guitars and Tony Aldon Secrets, but it's all here.

Sorry, I've got a Subaru BRZ pleating. 86 got be ours are

really cool car, fantastic chassis, amazing to drive, absolutely gutless, you know, that's the problem with them.

They could have had the chassis going to handle so much more and in some parts of the world super, we made an STI version of that car with the turbo but us Umbra Then we must never blessed with that. We've never given that.

So I found one and I'm going to STI, you know, that's what I'm doing to it. Miss the only and one of the

problems with the steering wheel was it a delaminated?

The level was during World eliminated and I went and found this guy who during lockdown, create a business, any Back Garden in the shed. I film with him yesterday.

Well, you may have seen it on social media.

Little video mean walking around his business yesterday and he read covers two steering wheels. But he's not like different

friends, different selling machine, a different method to do in. He's using a different kind of

stitch that you puts one ending and wanting puts a level random.

Will he pulls it? And it pulls all the stitches

together and you know we fine I'll do that.

When the camera we focus in on all those little details and it was just the I've come and see Ramones five or six times before but yesterday was different. It was just All to watch this

guy work and be with him and I ended up with this qantara, beautiful BRZ steering mode. It should be in an STI with a

little red sort of running strip at the top of it with red stitching or whatever. And it was just usually pulled

the whole and a bit about the show that I absolutely love, you know, being able to be creative and find these people and find these new ideas, these new processes, brilliant, don't you get bored me. You're all thinking.

Are we should job not away questions.

So I do know, a few of the boys have got some questions on jumpy. I love the with the timeline of

the show and how it very neatly at the end.

The person look at the current who very rarely buys it, I want to know what's the longest to take in your cell one of the cars, but we got a time to transmission, right?

So we Medina's is a, is an animal.

You did. Somebody mention early in named

John, Journal, which was very kind of yet.

For me, it feels like a train as song tracks and I always say this to the team, there's it's a train is on the tracks and the station is the transmission day and we have got to get to that stage of that. The train is arriving at the

station on that day and there's nothing we can do to change at nothing. So we need to get it already and

sold by that date and there's That we can do to change it and I panicked. I really do man it because when

I advertised in cars, I don't advertise them.

As we could be the cars, I didn't advertise them as cars and there's a really good reason for that.

We have tried in the past to say, one of my car, with a Dina's of Jeff fixed up, is Subaru BRZ.

And what will happen is a because I'm a nice guy and I want to say and talk pass for everyone and meet everyone.

What will happen is he's 200. People at turn up at Workshop,

none of them want to buy a car, but they wanted us to meet us.

So, I understand that and I will daily, George be born.

So they get bored and leave causes a problem because I'm not filming, I'm not, I'm not doing my job, so we stopped back.

We stopped advertise them as wheeler-dealer cars.

Sometimes they sit out there advertised all five, six, seven weeks, until maybe, you know, the drain is The trains pulling into the station a week away and I'm like Zen Matt to does my buying and selling forming I say to match it crash sailor in a drift by assailant. Just going to we need to get it

sold or we need to find an inventive way to sell this car.

You may have seen sometimes on my social media even I will go IL. You know I've got this for sale,

you know anyone interested I need to need to sell these cars and I need to sell it, come on quickly and that being me.

Me being desperate. So now I've got this car.

So yeah. Some the irony of that is is

that sometimes I do a fire sale. Just get rid of a car as long as

it shows a, you know, a 100 200 pounds profit on screen.

I don't get it, it's about the cars.

But what happens is to show them, go to crab Mission and then after that object yet. Now some of the people gain you

idiot, I would hope that gold offend you.

But where were you? You weren't looking for it.

Hey, you know, you should have come looking for it.

Yeah. Particularly, I'm a huge Honda

head. I'll come clean and admit that

every one even knows it aside from you, Mike, but I love the S2000. When your DS 2000 actually sold

it back to the guy, you bought it from.

That's right. You know, I've got seriously,

there's something about S2000, still today, it's making my, my tackle tingles. What tackle is England?

Just thinking about that. Just sucks, bloody amazing goal.

You know what are you ever going to often?

Say to people. What did you get a chance to

drive? Something that feels like it's

going to detonate in between every year, you know, but if not because it's built by Honda, you know, but it just feels like it's going to blow up between every year and it's bloody crazy and I love them. I love this tooth baskets right

now. So, Mike yet you've done quite

You mix. What was your favorite Mercedes

all rhyming? I think the the AMG tribute

problem we did, which was the one that I did was abandoned in America. That was a, that was a weird one

that because just recently and a tribute car got sold some of these shared it with me online. So that now, when I found it, it

was just a big, you know, 500 when I found it, I know that there was a demand A out there for these tribute cars.

You know, that was a that was a world that was happening.

So I wanted to talk about that world and make the card as far and talk about, you know, the Tribune world for cars.

Whether it's a Mercedes or, you know, the mark 1s goal, you know, there's lots of people trying to make their cars look like a rally car. So I wanted to tell that story

and when I was trying to find the parts for that car, which is the Blurred with our GPS and the fled from arches when I was going to kind of parts. I realized that I literally bit

more life in Chile because I've gone into the show thinking I can do this. And once we got into the

production of it, I realize we can't because those parts don't exist, and they are unobtanium. And I literally tried

everywhere. I was on the phone for Germany

and remember, I was making in. L.a. at the time I was on the

point of Germany, all my contacts in England's all across Europe, Australia, spoke to people in Australia.

I don't We're and I couldn't find any.

And it just so happens that our guy online.

I didn't look, we Post online like a almost a Clarion call a pleading for help to say, does anyone know where I can get some Ang body panels? And this guy online hit on a

bought every single part to make an AMG tribute car, interior body panels, wilted going to every single part except for the They call have to talk. He have to be at the parks.

So what did the deal? When I said, look, you know, let

me have you part, Sophia. I'll put them on the car and

I'll sell you the car. And if you don't like it, I'll

pay you for the parts. And fortunately, it, of course,

he loved what we did, he lock the car and he bought it, and I'm struggling in my brain. To remember the thing about.

I think it was around 40 thousand dollars at the time.

Americans in u.s. dollars the time.

Well, A friend of mine, Henry, and Big.

Ang petrol head. He sent me a link just week

before last and then letting the same guard and AMG tribute car, not a genuine car, when through went through like bars and classic or, you know, bring a drainer, when some one of these sites online and it's over, 175,000 dollars.

Now, the tribute cars are making Crazy money.

Have you got one? I've got now, been going to

create a sec but I'm going to make one yeah.

Good luck. Finding the parts come to me.

It's like a friend of mines. Got a Porsche 356 Speedster, you

know, replicates a fiberglass replica.

He paid 20 grand for 10 years ago, maybe he's been offered six figures for that here you know and it's a Volkswagen with a slightly warm boxy motor in it but and he's done it.

Well he's chimney. Tyrion, what have you bet?

I'm just blown away that the tributes are worth that much money. Well, I think, you know, what's

happened in this tribute Market is, I think it's change because of the successful finger. So Singapore.

Sure took a 911 and they come and they did that re-imagination of it. And if you think about it is a

tribute, there's they take a 964, which has a GDP car, and they turn into an earlier. Gee Bobby carving turn into an

early adopter so they're basically doing tribute dance and they said that the first seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars. And so now the world of tribute

system and dirty word anymore. Now, it means that, you know, it

means it's really cold. If somebody else is doing it or

why can't I do it? I love that.

I've been, that was brilliant. It's all right.

Well, you just went through and explained one of your, I guess one instance where you bit off a bit more than you could.

Chu. Is there an instance because I

find it hard, you kind of get attached to the cars you've gone through. So many, how do you just easily

sell them off? Is there any that you've gone

back and maybe reboard off the person or anything like that?

Well, I'll get when you touched upon the subject here, but I mean, they are my children, you can't is like selling your children at the end of the show because you put so much effort into them. It destroys me.

I hate it. I understand in the car, you

know, as I said, we just under nine eleven, I sold it.

You there's an episode coming up and I can't wait for you to see it and you're you're when you're watching somebody sewed, as the British audience of already seen it, you will see what they saw which is, I'm just genuinely in love with this vehicle while I'm in love of it and I aren't seeing just how much I admired it. Giggle, I'm kind of numb of

Italy to answer the question that every single one of them.

My babies, they are selecting done.

I have a contract that says, I'm not allowed to buy any vehicles of Wheeler Dealers. I'm not allowed to keep any for

myself, or I buy the vehicles myself, but because I should never profit or gain out program.

I'm going to be in the host of it.

And I understand that, and discover his point of view, however, in a recent episode, I Sold a mark one for Transit.

Yes. Okay.

So you can see there is something Beyond other than Mike River. There's some of the, my brother

on screen, I genuinely am in love with that vehicle.

They meant so much to me. It reminded me of my dad, it was

a time machine as soon as I grabbed another gear knob.

I was transported back to sit next to me.

My dad changing gear for him, we did an amazing job on it that Lap-Band drives a right-hand drive conversion, and turned it back into the original color, but that maze in drive.

At the end around Grimsby dots where we're pretending to be going thieves on the run from the old Bill.

The whole thing was just epic, the whole thing was epic but there was something magical about the bloody van a Transit van, you know, something magical about it.

So I'm people here I am signaling.

I saw that when the when the show transmitted I told it to abandon Center and put it on display, actually, no more buying it as a display item. And one that show transmitted

going to look to yourself. My my timeline was just provided

an Innovative probably you know, 300,000 people looked at the Poston and brought me a thousand people.

Commented and said why on Earth? Did you sell that?

You love that. Wait, you're an idiot.

You should have you should have It.

Now this is this is Arthur, which goes been transmitted, the big console. But I've already arranged with

the band sensor that I could borrow the van because I do this big live show in the NEC in Birmingham called the classic car show and I said, come forward up and back and want to put it on display at the show. The People, the audience would

like to see it. I gather a few wheeler-dealer

cars. I always put one of these

players been blind for men and knives and bands and machete.

Yeah. Showing, you know, if you want

of its speed, but I've handled this playing, please do.

So I'm going to put in it from him, and of course, I'm going to the show and my wife has a cheap runs the merchandise from Wheeler Dealers. So, we bad.

So we might as well just put her on.

So we blow to the show would have merchandise in it and I put it on display and pop them out and dies out and my wife there with my shop and, and it was at that moment.

When I got how on Earth do I not only so, I, how is this not mine? It's ridiculous that it's not

mine. So I phoned the guys, at the

band Center, who had given tickets to come to the show, say, thank you for Lending me your hand, I'll find a bit.

The man's engine said, when you come to the show tomorrow, Pikachu shape. I am because I'm absolutely 100%

fine panel. I'm letting you take it back and

there was a bit of a discussion with them.

The discussion was genuinely the discussion was if I invest in their business, their balance and two bits new also in the bank. So I have

On the porch at 99 28, the brown one that we did in series 3 million it, you know, really Caillou.

Did you repainted that and and a few things that we repainted it.

Yeah it was it was in Brahms it was a Japanese import, right?

And drive lovely car and Hong Kong will import, sorry.

Lovely car. Some Irish girl wrote about it,

true or not. Download you wrote about to put

on my website and some Irish life contact needs at.

I got a car and I'm getting divorced.

You want to be here and I said, yeah.

Okay. He said just don't pay me brick.

Hey, my brother and use PayPal account.

My wife again, my wife and I bought the car back.

Actually restored it for the road here in the UK.

You know, did a load of work too.

To it and then I just sold it last month at the auctions and I sold it for a lot from what he owed me.

I sold it for not purely because there was a kind of is desperate for it. He wanted that car, and one of

the bit of, we love being the memorabilia and I said, I'll just let him have it. You know, it's been a good

little car. Robert at our was in the right

hands rather than the wrong hands.

It interests you sell out like there was a car that would look like I own a first generation MR2 and your episode was The reasons why I was one reason why I got to really, really love it.

But unlike some of them are two pages on part of because if they're quite big in the UK, there's a few beers, a few BMR, two-part, specialist result, which I apply my parts from over there, they track that car down and it was just rotting in someone's driver. They're like all that work and

it's just gone to it's gone to crap.

And then you know, they spent all this time, all this time doing it. Do you ever hear stories like

that? And they just break your heart

of like your children, just being just just just gone, you know? It just get a killer.

Yeah. So There was one recently, which

was somebody sent me a picture of the mini just blatantly assassin a mini chatter. Yo, and monocoque that was

sitting on bricks in the back of this damn garage with holes in it. And there was no wheels on it,

it had no interior. The door drop a bit, no, no

glass. And it was just the just the

body. Basically, whether mini, and

somebody said that your 50th Anniversary mini one that meaning That's impossible. Somebody just got open it and

stuck in the garage and pick from it and destroyed it and it broke my heart. I did bring back wine back and

do it again. It was it was way too much work,

way too much work and do you have down there?

Do you have a show on job National Geographic and a show called Paris OS. Yeah yeah yeah okay.

So I broke our SOS so that you can put that one down to me as well. So I wrote I wrote Actually, it

was called wheeler-dealer SOS originally but I gave it to National Geographic and on their next series they've got a mark on a mile to just let you know. Well that's exactly why it's

called alignment p76. So if you ever do want in

Australia come and do mine, I'll tell you to take it seriously.

So you just hit the right notes because you said, if I ever do one in Australia, I I'm being quite vocal with the network at the moment that the next series of Wheeler Dealers should be a Wheeler Dealers down under so much so that that's the pitch document so that ego is brilliant.

I've you know I'm just sharing this information with you a moment. It's not even up there for

General consumption, I'm thinking, you know, I do it.

You just come down in the document.

These are all the things up in a document.

Of course. I've got a DUI.

Yeah. Yeah.

Or whatever it is. And I want to be 16 to the mix.

What? Sorry, A Renault 16.

Can I add one of those to the mix?

The problem is I failed if I'm to come all the way down there and do a series. I think my Indians and the rest

of the audience in the world will see Australian only copy of Ozzy. Yeah.

It's got to be honest. I don't think too hard so I just

choose bottles and Waylon was assembled here.

So you know, Rob, you're okay. Give me 60 there.

That's what I'd like to know. Just be really exciting and then

we can all hang out with our toes and get better.

We're at all of them. We are, we don't we don't do

anything else. We just go to do, I have one

question Mike and that's a personal question right back to today. One I wouldn't know what, your

first car was you know, how much do you pay for it?

Where you got it, what happened to it and what did you love and hate about it? And well it's the is the start

of Wheeler Theatres. My first car is the start of

Wheeler Dealers and we all owe a lot to that car.

It was a change. Any 1000 love.

It was an eerie Light Beige, almost the same color as that run. Golfing blanket, you fucking

Island. It was called kamino gold.

I think. Here it was it looks like baby

poop. You know nothing.

Yeah. I have that car and I paid 300

pounds for it. I can't put that in Australian

dollars but 300-pound five, but six five, six hundred bucks.

I bought it when I was 17 years of age.

Yeah. When you can legally drive in

the UK, I drove that car anywhere.

Our growth of tips off that car. Overheated constantly in never

stop going to the firmest out, me and my dad was a car.

Customized re you need cars backwards, inside out, we change a head gasket took thermostat house, flushing the radiator.

Change the radiator changed, the temp gauge.

We did everything. For some reason that car was

like a looks thing train. It just like, it's just like,

it's like overheated everywhere. I'm killing it.

I can't reach him from coming back to my girlfriend from Brighton on the south coast knowing that I've got a face reigate Hill, where the card is absolutely an overheat right?

Big hill. And I was so worried about it

and panicking about it and thinking about it.

And it dawned on me that I can cure the problem instantly and I took my sock off and I put it over the temperature gauge, I couldn't see it. Ha ha ha ha.

I think about it outside? My sister's, my sister's house

and my neighbor removed out of her driveway and she had a 14 a month. I have some chrome bumper car

and cheap whacked it right underneath the headlamp between the headlamp and the indicator on them going from we yeah, I know. Stupid perfect in there and it

pushed the headlamp down, push the indicator up and it was the perfect sort of dense destroyed the front Wing, effectively mum.

Fortunately she's also hit it so hard, she got to the inner wheel. So when the insurance ancestor

came out, looked at he broke it off, he said it's a you know, really good car. It was formed Syd Syd.

I'm going to write it off. So back then, in Jordan.

Companies used to be on the Main Street in walk down.

Main Street, near be insurance company, you can walk in.

So they took the power away from me because my name is the second. It they have the car insurance

company, and they phoned me and said, we've written a car off, come and let the check. So, I walked into the walked

into the insurance company. And the lady said, you know,

I've got this check for you, free under pounds of the polycom insurance. You know, the same money I paid

for it is your money back for in the pram.

But behind her and out a window of the shop was my car sitting in the compound at the back. And I said, well, as much as my

car there are few men. Yeah, as we going to do with it,

she's at War. Go to the scrap yard.

I'll send out. Is that you went?

Well, we get 225 pound for it or something you make the check out 25 pound less. I'll take the car back.

And she went sure. Okay, let me just ask the boss

that. See that come back and said,

yeah, no worries. But you just gotta get it out

there and remove it. Yeah.

So the battery was flax. So one of the guys there

jump-started me and I drove it home.

I got in the car and drive it back home and I said to my dad, like I've got the car back plus 275 pound.

What do I do? We have this driveway.

This house and is a massive tree at the bottom of the driveway.

Way behind a car customizer it done all kinds of things in his life. So my dad said, okay, we're do

it man, do it, just do it together.

So, we welded on the front Wing, a who onto the front Wing, he put a hook in it and then wrap the chain around the tree.

And then let's go inside of a reverse it up as fast as you can. And I just as fast as I could,

and we eventually pulled. Thatís the front wing.

And then because I had 275 pounds left over, which is a lot of money back then, I'd put mini lights on it.

I change the interior painted the roof, black painted, the front Wing, obviously. So it look as good as me put

some spotlights on the front leather strap on the Bonnet.

You know, all those kind of things and had this amazing that will car at the end of it. You know, I just have this

amazing little cars and a and of mine was absolutely obsessed with my mini one side picks it up and he offered me a 200 pound for it. So I'm sure you want to give me

a pound projectile, but I can friend a quick form, go for it.

So that started me on the path of being a wheeler-dealer because I thought off the bat that I thought, all right, I'm actually quite good at this. I know what the media.

I can just buy these cars, fix them up and sell.

And I started doing that at the age of 17 and I'm still doing it today. It sounds a very familiar story.

I got given an old debts and you know, for free off of friend, is a 120y, which I don't know if you got those in the UK.

And yeah, not a great car but I did a few tinkering.

Did some brakes, put a battery in it and I sold it for 500 bucks. Like two weeks later and I went

age, similar age. I might have been slightly

younger 14, maybe or 15 and I went, oh, is easy money and then you never stop. It's funny.

It's funny. You met.

You, you mentioned that. Your first car was a was a mini,

your first car was a minion you. But you still at which you still

own and you've got a mock now and I'll take a first cousin Morris Minor, but I never drove at you.

I just again bought and sold a few miners, but that the mini was very early on. Yeah.

Oh my god. I've now got a 19.

So I'm obsessed with Menace. So I've got a 1964 Mini Cooper

S. That is a full Restoration is

just to die for. Is that is?

It's in my preference. 75 motor or is that an earlier motor like

a 997 1970 1971. Yeah.

And I'm 79-71 Mini Cooper S. Nice thing.

You know were fortunate money today and just add to this story and somebody got up in 10 minutes.

They just threw a new story. I was in, I was in Long Beach,

California, a car show and this this little couple met before shuffled up next to me and said, well do you want to buy some cars? And I said, honey what we got

and it's a friend of ours has died.

And he's left his car collection to his two sons.

They are in their 60s and they don't like ours.

They not like that, they just don't like God.

So they want to sell the collection.

So I'll secure, give me the given a number.

So I've got a card I a week later was with my wife.

Michelle coming back from filming boarding.

This car collection foam, advice that I come and see the cars Born Into the collection and they were involved.

I weren't interested in. They were 1904 that I hope Pope

hartford's and dairy A's. And, you know, needs with a sort

of rock stars. It was a couple of 1916 you had

elapsed, that kind of thing. And I said, I'm not really not

interesting, but in the back of the collection was to write and ride. Minis one in Armand, green with

a white roof, 1967 Cooper. Arrest on one, a little Morris

Cooper. Not very early Carl 1961 in red

with white hair, white socks, and I said to my scars, you know, you're selling them. It is, they said, yeah, we're my

dad Bilbo's because our mums from Brighton England and in the 1980s, my dad went to Brighton with my mum and he came back, what he's cars, the right-hand Drive minutes.

So, yeah, we're being happy to sell them.

And I said, what do you know about the red one?

And they said, Nothing we know very little about it.

It's just a my dad bought it somewhere in England and I said, okay what about the green one? And maybe yeah we do know a

little bit about my don't boil for guy called.

John Cooper is a picture of that.

Shaking hands over the Bonnet with John Cooper.

And I said guess. So, to lend a pictures of the

car and I sent the pictures, some might confer John Goodman's, son. And I do you recognize this car

and he said, not only do I recognize it.

In fact, I could probably do this quite quickly for you, because I'm good at this kind of stuff, he said that only do I recognize it. He said that.

My dad's car oh no way. Wow.

So I said okay I'm rushed back to the these guys are you fa put there is in when I'm buying it you know in of these two guys are rush back to these two guys and I said I like the come on I'll have it on a minute that's the red one.

I'm buying of them you know the pair of these cars.

So I ended up Find John to this Mini Cooper.

That's unbelievable. Even so that's the one used to

have no. So that stuff is it in Long

Beach, California fancy running into that so I ship them both back to England and one of the really packed into England, I had silver seductions. Biggest auction house here in

the UK. So you just bought the world's

first six bigger mini well done. Wow, the car was, I felt that

the car I already have my 64, which is Exactly the same time in the same color and I felt that this car needed to be in a collection or a museum of somebody that would.

If I admit I've described it everyday and destroy it, you know, that's what I'll do because I love using cars and I felt it was too important for me to own and it had too much problems, too much history. Yeah, I let people come fight

over it and the auction we do, you know.

Nice little treat. It was like a little lottery

win. It's lovely.

Would that be like your your most incredible find out of what of all years of doing wheeler-dealer /?

Just, I mean, how I found some amazing cars affect the Lamborghini urraco in Poland's was possibly one of my best Vines ever. But yeah, I think you know this

car didn't make TV because it wasn't for Pb.

It just I'm open to You know, act but it fell onto my lap is completed as Mini Cooper, but no, I think the Lamborghini urraco is one that, you know, definitely sticks out to me as a as a very special find. And I love that I really did

love backup. Also a recent episode you may

have seen is the mark one Astra GTE, the white one.

Yeah. There's only there's only nine.

That was only eight actually registered in the you tail.

What I found that car and you know that there's somebody, right? Right now, you know, down in

Australia somebody is standing in Ferrari Sydney.

Just writing out a check for 250,000 dollars to come.

Buy a Ferrari to be smooth it. Yeah you know there's only eight

smart one actually gtes circling around so you don't get more exclusive than that via. It's like when you found that

it's called RS Cosworth in America.

Like that's just another one. You know that cause work in

America but by now The shed Emil that was an incredible car and in fact steffensen, tell him that incredible story about the third wing, you know, called so much controversy that story around the world of people saying they hated it and and whatever. But I did, we don't care if they

loved or hated it. They were talking about it.

And more importantly, you found something out about Kyle, you never knew before, you know, use meant the Red.

Baron lives Mentor free wings, I love it, absolutely love it.

And we proved that these bird wing actually worked and it more downpours and I'll side with 16 World Championships.

Instead of one input, the third win.

In fact, it's so so popular that show around the world.

It was that Vicki still wear highest-rated, show, ever the hen block. Blessed of God.

Rest his soul. He bought a god work early bird

window. Yeah, I don't like you've got to

go. So thank you again for coming on

the show. This morning for you and this

afternoon or this evening for us to one, it's just on behalf of all the guys he had to say. A big thank you for coming on

the show. You've given us a great, great

insight, and thank you again much appreciated.

Listen guys, thank you so much. I've loved every minute of it

sitting there, just talking about cars.

It's got me got me going for the day and I can't wait.

And I really do mean his top, wait for the opportunity to come down under, and hang out with, you lot with the hopefully, the new series and wheeler-dealers that weird.

Be bringing down to Australia and if there's if you want to go out online and go to all your car groups and tell them to in and they Discovery Channel or discovery.com looking pay with

requests, that brings we live because they're feel free to consider it done because you want myself open up all different, email accounts and despair.

We've got to get somebody by Colin the shards just for you guys when we buy a car in the show, like, you know, in our own personal Collections and things we we always say, I did.

We say it? His people have made careers out

there, delaying read off the back of it.

So I do appreciate you guys. And your mean to you, your end,

you got yourself a cracking podcast, all the very best.

So wheeler-dealers you can find, it might be on all your social.

You can give yourself a quick plug before you go, so you can find me on Micra on Twitter and Instagram Wheeler Dealer on Facebook and my crew official. I'm now on Dick time.

But yeah, look out. You've what you're more advanced

than me like that's for sure. Thank you again mate and to all

over your listeners. Thank you.

And we'll see you next time. Take it easy.

Thanks. Thanks guys.

Chatting with the Wheeler Dealer himself, Mike Brewer

About this episode

Porsche 924

Porsche 911

Ford Cortina

Audi Rs6

Subaru Brz

Honda S2000

Porsche 356

Toyota MR2

Minor Morris Minor

Opel Astra

Vauxhall Astra Gte

Nissan Micra

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