Cropley buys a car! Plus Longbow, Ineos, a first Ferrari

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Hello and welcome to the AutoCard podcast.

My week in cars with Pry here.

Steven Grotley over there.

Hello, Steve.

How are you, mate?

Very well, thank you, mate.

Steve, Anderson Evie, the designer home charging brand,

which kindly sponsors this podcast.

I've got some more intel from them about their integration with TAP Electric,

which is expanding beyond the driveway to make their smart, stylish charging

available for businesses, hotels, even the public.

So I think the short of it is TAP Electric lets you control the rates

at which people use your charging point.

So you can let other people, if you run a hotel or a B&B,

or you just want to make your home charge point accessible to friends,

family or visitors, this integration makes it easy to create a seamless

charging experience for everybody.

Yeah, really good idea.

I was thinking of this, we were rattling just before this about

whenever she and I go to Oxford, we find it impossible to park

except in, you know, you can rent somebody's driveway for a few quid,

you know, a 10 or something.

And if that person's driveway happened to have one of these,

you know, a TAP Stroke Anderson Evie charger that we could plug into

and just pay a few quid, I'd really do that any day.

And it would simplify things because the person who owns the Anderson,

the designer home charging brand charger,

can make a couple of quid off of renting out their charger to you.

They would, yeah, that's right.

And I'd happily pay, I just love the security of it.

The good thing is, listener, is that Anderson,

if you go to Anderson-evie.com,

you can see their full range and everything else,

but that offer, which you may have heard us mention,

if you say to them, my weekend cars,

they will give you 50 pounds off your order,

that was until the end of October.

It's now until the end of November.

They have extended that offer for another month.

Must mean it works.

Must be.

Well, let's hope so.

Yeah, so Anderson-evie.com for all of that.

This week, Steve and I are going to be talking all kinds of things

because we've kind of got,

because last week's podcast was a 130th anniversary special.

So we've got last week's columns to catch up on.

This week's columns to bring you up to speed with.

Two bonus podcasts in the meantime that we've also recorded.

We had Ian Callum and David Fairbairn of Callum Designs

at the Royal Automobile Club last week.

Last week has in, last week for us recording,

not for us talking.

Last week for actual broadcasting,

Saturday just gone, I was talking to Klaus Zelma,

who is the CEO of Škoda.

Oh, how did that go?

Very good.

Lovely, easily, easy to talk to, nice fellow.

Yeah, and as most CEOs do, knows his stuff.

And the Škoda, for some reason,

even though it's just part of a big group

or not know just about it,

the point is it's not just, is it?

They seem to keep their separate persona.

Yeah, they really do.

I think they, because I know that,

although they're part of Volkswagen Group

and they use a lot of Volkswagen componentry

and it's shared among the group and everything else,

and they make engines for, I think at the Škoda factory,

the main Škoda factory, they make one liter

to 1.6 liter petrol engines for the rest of the group.

And Škoda is in charge of the sort of Volkswagen Group's

expansion into the Asian region.

So Škoda is leading that for all of the other brands.

But there is a real, yeah, I get the vibe,

there is a real separate Czech Škoda identity,

which they still retain.

And they seem to be able to reach into the parts bin

and just do something different, don't they?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, some of the cars that they've,

well, I mean, the superb for one is that sort of led

the big saloon and big estate thing,

and it's doing a great job, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, they've got, I think,

still 30-odd percent of their cars are estates.

Wow.

Which is pretty good going.

Because I spoke to them, but I spoke to Klaus about it

and said, you know, a lot of manufacturers are getting out

of the wagon area.

He said, well, it's still doing really very well for us,

mate.

Yeah, really good for us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But anyway, that's about this channel.

I can remember talking to him pretty soon after he started

the job, which a few years ago.

And he is another one of these deeply impressive people

that is speaking in his second or third language

and he's sort of, well, in my case,

more articulate than you are, you know.

Also, mate, studied in Swansea.

Did he really?

Yeah, he did.

Engineering?

Oh, now you're asking.

Yes, or...

Probably, wouldn't it?

Yes, something like.

Yes, I think so.

Oh, well, great.

Yeah, yeah.

Because we were chatting to Jack Harrison,

who is there, our photographer,

who currently lives in Swansea.

So they were swapping stories about, you know...

Oh, this was live, was it?

Yeah, this was live.

This was live in the Czech Republic.

Or Czechia as, well...

So, I think our star guide is to call it Czechia

and the official Czech guidance

is to call it Czechia these days.

But loads of Czech people I met there

still called it Czech Republic.

So I don't think they get offended either way.

Good.

As far as I can tell.

You've got to be careful, don't you?

No, it was cool.

Yeah, and I had a look around the factory

and a go-into-old cars.

And the original Rapid from the 1930s.

And a first-gen Octavia, which is late 50s, early 60s.

Yeah, I can remember.

They were sold in Australia.

Amazing wheel angles, right?

Is that the thing with the swing axles?

Oh, I don't know.

I think it's got...

The rear wheels have got very strange angles on them, I think.

But also, they took that platform, such as it...

such as what I call it, and they made...

Oh, now the name of it escapes me, which is really annoying.

I think for Australia and New Zealand,

actually built...

Was it a Felicia?

No, but they built like a wagon,

almost like a Land Cruiser slash Range Rover-y type utility

vehicle out of the Octavia original Octavia estate platform.

Brilliant.

Cool thing.

Anyway, those...

They were rugged.

I remember that very well.

Yeah, those stories are all out today in this week's AutoCup,

which you can find on the newsstands

or at themagazineshop.com.

Fabulous.

Ford slash AutoCup.

Where there are early bird Christmas offers.

God, this podcast doesn't start yet.

Six minutes, 48 seconds.

We've got a letter.

AutoCup at Haymarket.com is how you write to us.

Martin Morris writes to us, who says,

Having reached the grand old age of 77,

I have just achieved a lifetime's ambition of buying my first Ferrari.

Oh, well done him.

Well done him.

Well, you say that, I say that.

A beautiful red Portofino with tan leather and all the bits,

despite owning over 60 cars and even writing a book on the subject,

it seems to have created controversy and distress

among the majority of my family and friends

who are not themselves petrolheads.

I've owned many Porsches, Bentley's and Aston's,

but none of these seem to cause any concern.

However, the sight of me driving this new Ferrari

has provoked both disgust and disdain in equal measure.

Really?

Yeah, who have stayed unequivocally that I am, quote,

much too old to be driving such a vehicle.

On both aesthetic grounds

and with regard to the safety and well-being of others,

I would say I have a clean license

and have never been involved in an accident.

But this does not stop them expressing these views at every opportunity.

My 16-year-old granddaughter on seeing me for the first time

was upset and said that at my age, I should know better.

However, after I drove around the block while she videoed it,

she changed her mind and pronounced the experience and the car

cool, high praise indeed.

My daughter-in-law sent me a posting of an,

oh yeah, I saw this, of a 94-year-old couple

who have just bought a new 911 GT3.

Did you see that?

No, mate, no, no.

Bournemouth Porsche, this couple in their 90s

went and bought their first Porsche, a 911 GT3.

Excellent.

How cool is that?

Anyway, so the short of it,

Martin Morris says,

I totally adore the car to look at

so I don't really care what other people think of me

because I'm having such a great time.

It's, but annoying, though, isn't it?

Yeah, it is, isn't it?

Because, you know, one of the most special things

you've ever bought and everybody turns around and goes,

you shouldn't have that.

What's wrong with, why don't,

there's a phrase I learnt quite recently,

why do people want to yuck somebody else's yum?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just, why can't, Martin, we're happy for you.

And I think the listener is happy for you.

Yes, I think he's among friends anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I feel you.

I hope you enjoy it for a long time.

Me too.

Yeah.

What should we talk first, Steve?

Shall we talk Polestar 3?

Yep, if you like.

Go on then.

Tell me about it.

Well, I got one in the other day.

I was, in two minds about these big-ish electric saloons,

they're excellent when you're in them.

And Polestar, the Polestar 3 is a really good car, I think.

Except for one or two foibles.

But I found myself wondering what it's for.

That's the trouble.

Who it's for?

You know, I've just, I've been overtaken by the love of little cars.

You know, the Alpine, the Renault 5,

I've just bought a car that we might talk about later.

Oh, yeah, no, I haven't put that in the show notes.

But we should talk about that.

Do you like talking about that?

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Oh, good.

Yeah.

Good.

I mean, there's a bit to do, so I won't reveal it in pictures.

But yeah, let's have a rattle about it in a minute.

But another little car.

And when I'm in these big ones, I keep looking over my shoulder

and thinking, what's all that for?

Yeah.

And it's, but very well done car.

The difficulty is such a battle for them to make it into a viable,

you know, a profit earning business.

And the thing I keep thinking of Thomas Ingenlath,

the bloke, the founding CEO, I think he was,

formerly the chief designer of Volvo,

German bloke, X Audi, amazing sort of live wired sort of Jack in the box

kind of fellow who set a lot of the sort of philosophical direction

of Polestar, I reckon.

And I miss him.

He went down with the ship as it were.

You know, I didn't earn enough money.

So others were deemed to be better able to run a business or something.

But anyway, he disappeared.

And he was such a good bloke and such a fantastic ambassador.

And I miss the guy.

And, you know, without him, Polestar's less.

Yeah.

I would have kept him, you know, even, you know,

kicked him up but upstairs like they do in football clubs.

Yeah, just as a director of something.

Yeah.

Yeah, just an overseer.

Yeah.

You know, just the embodiment of the mark.

He was a terrific bloke.

And I think wherever he is, he's wasted.

Because he was so perfect for Polestar, it seemed to me.

Yeah.

Yeah, he did seem to really embody it.

Yes, Thomas.

Where has he gone?

I've got no idea.

I guess he went back to Germany.

We haven't heard of him bobbing up at any way

sort of non-German like, you know, Ferrari or Asimov or anything.

Shall we talk small cars?

Yeah.

You've been in, what have you been in?

Renault and the Alpine and...

Yeah, well, I think...

I've been in the Audi a lot recently as well.

I'll tell you what was on my mind.

I haven't actually written about this yet,

but I had to go in both versions of the Alpine A290, though.

Oh, the lower-powered one too.

Yeah, the 180...

There's a 180...

Sorry, a 178 and a 218, I think it is.

So, they're nominally 40 brake horsepower part.

But if you have a look at the...

And they claim that there's a second difference in 0-60,

you know, something like 6.8 versus 7.8.

But if you have a look at the torque output of these engines,

identical engines, government except for the software,

the lower-powered cars got 285 newton-meters,

the more powerful ones got 300 newton-meters.

So, they're only separated by whatever it is,

you know, 6 or 7 percent, 7 or 8 percent.

Yeah.

And I...

So, it's what, when pounds feet, that's hardly anything, is it?

It is, yeah.

And I've got this feeling that if you...

If we got those cars out on a drag strip,

I wouldn't mind betting you there'd be a lot closer than one second.

Yeah.

And because they've kind of got to keep them apart,

because there's about five grand difference in the purchase product.

So, it strikes me that the 180 is a better deal.

Felt perfectly sweet.

But the best of the lot I cling to this is the Renault 5.

Yeah.

It isn't quite as quick, but it's fine.

Yeah.

Absolutely fine.

Yeah, I'm aware we've talked a lot about the 5 recently.

Yeah, yeah, we probably should shut up.

But what about the...

Because it was a Tokyo mobility show the other week.

Oh, yeah.

You've seen the Super N or Super 1, the Honda?

Yeah, there's a lovely little sort of squarish...

Cross between the Honda E, you know, the short-range battery car

that hasn't done very well because the range is too short.

Two short-range battery car, I think.

And a K car, you know, these little boxy Japanese cars.

And it was launched...

It just looks lovely to me.

I like it.

It's quirky, he doesn't pull that.

But I could see myself driving around in one of those all day long.

I think it's terrific.

What...

So, I wrote this in my column last week, so I've forgotten what I wrote

and you'll have forgotten.

The reader will have long forgotten as well.

Won't be great.

So, over the summer, actually not that long ago,

the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,

said that the EU would back the introduction of a small car class

within Europe to try and combat some of the onslaught

of the Chinese car industry,

which can make battery electric medium-sized crossovers

seemingly cheaper than anybody in Europe.

And the entire European car industry has basically given up

on the tiny, tiny car, really, haven't they?

Yeah.

So, the guy from Stellantis, the CEO whose name escapes me,

said that in 2019 there were 49 different models within Europe

on self-illustrum, 15,000 euros.

And as of this summer, there was one, which was the Fiat Panda.

Amazing.

And then because of the latest Euro 6 regulations...

Yeah, we're moving towards Euro 7.

Yeah, plus GSR2, ADAS, driver assistance system.

Sorry, I know that's a lot of acronyms and nonsense,

but a lot of active safety kits and a lot of sensors,

and it's all really expensive.

So, all of these cars have been priced out of profitability.

Yeah.

And then the European Commission is saying,

well, maybe we could look at some way of opening up that market.

Yeah.

Well, two things have happened since what you wrote.

Yeah.

Which was prophetic because these two things have happened since.

There was an announcement today, this is Thursday,

and we're making this in the...

Thursday 6th.

Thursday before the Wednesday, as it were.

There's an announcement, I'm sure I saw an announcement today

saying that there will be some specifics

from the European authorities by December.

Oh, really?

I just happened to see it in some piece of electronic nonsense

going by, and the other thing is that the Twingo is revealed

and it's going to cost less than 20,000 euros,

which is getting there, I think.

And it looks like a nice little car, it's pretty Twingo-ish.

It's quite recognizable.

Yeah.

In fact, it seems like a neat combination of the Twingo,

the original Twingo that we remember,

and the sort of second one.

Oh, interesting.

So nice.

Inoffensive, but nice.

Yeah.

And cheap.

And it's going to have an LFP battery,

the new cheaper type of battery.

Oh, interesting.

So it's electric only?

Yes, yes.

Okay.

And Renault have discovered these LFP batteries,

and there's even talk that...

I mean, I don't think it's official,

but there's talk that their existing electric cars

might get these cheaper batteries,

and therefore eventually at least hold their prices

rather than going up.

Are they worse inverted commas batteries

in terms of performance, or are they just cheaper?

I don't believe so.

They're just more of a competition.

The claim is they'll be the same,

but then you've got to be careful of these claims,

don't you, because we found on our Alpine adventure

to, you know...

To the Cumbria a few weeks ago.

That there is a pretty big difference

between the Alpine A290 and the Renault 5 range, didn't we?

Yeah.

Listeners were very kind about that, Pod.

Thank you, listener.

Because we thought we wouldn't...

With those little lapel mics and with a lot of

tire noise and road noise and wind noise and everything,

people wouldn't necessarily hear us,

but a few people have said,

I didn't realise you were moving until about halfway through.

Yeah.

So I was quite pleased about that.

Oh, amazing.

A couple of people said,

well done, Stephen, for managing to drive and chat

so seamlessly at the same time,

especially as we weren't entirely sure

where we were going for the first few minutes.

I wonder if we got lost on the pod.

I can't remember whether we actually got lost on the pod.

No, I think we went the right way.

I think you sorted it out.

I think you took us in the right direction.

There were a few clicks and things from the turn indicators.

Yeah, but I think that went...

I think it was fine, mate.

Yeah, there's...

Well, I mean, perhaps it can be revealed that

sort of sometimes towards Christmas,

a Bentley is coming our way, isn't it?

We fully intend to make at least one pod in a Bentley.

Yeah, yeah.

We...

Yes, we need to...

We need to find some time.

To do some trips,

to go to some places that we've been meaning to go

for a very long time and do some recordings there

or thereabouts which will see us over the Christmas period.

Yeah, that'd be great.

Sorry to talk Christmas.

Early bird Christmas office, the magazine shop.com

slash auto car, 20% off.

20% off existing offers.

What about my little car?

Will I talk about that?

Yeah, shall we talk that?

Oh, well, before we do,

how is the European car industry going to make money

out of making a small car?

Because it strikes me that some of the talk around it

were like, well, the future's still electric.

So are they still faced with making a battery electric small car?

And the expensive bit is one,

electrification and two,

and or two, driver assistance systems.

You know, all the sensors and everything else.

So unless you're creating a class where you don't have to have those things,

because those are the two things that are making those cars

unviable for European manufacturers at the moment.

So if you've still got to keep those things,

how are we going to make money?

Unless it's just increasing tariffs on foreign made-cars

or foreign, you know, out-of-region made-cars.

Yeah, I don't think that's...

I don't know what the sketch is.

Well, there are...

There's people have been making noise about

new manufacturing systems that can save money.

You know, I remember Luca D'Amio, before he left,

was talking about a whole new, cheaper way of making cars.

He was a boss of Renault until a few months ago.

That was it. Yeah, sorry.

And I always go back to what...

You remember Richard Parry-Jones all those years ago,

the Ford engineer, late Richard.

He... We always used to talk about what life would be like in 2050.

And he said, I think it'll be fine.

And I said, how do you know that?

And he said, I don't know, but I trust engineering.

And when you look at what engineering's achieved,

just in the last decade,

I can't believe he's not right.

You know, we've got...

There's such progress.

Such progress.

So I sort of trust him, I think.

And also, they haven't got any option.

Because we're not going to buy...

You and I, and the people we know,

we're not going to buy big electric saloons.

We're not. You know, the Jaguar I-Pace,

which seemed like such a progressive vehicle just a few years ago,

just seems a bit irrelevant now.

Yeah. Well, somebody we had a letter, didn't we,

from a woman who had bought one basically new for under 40 grand.

That's it.

Basically half price, wasn't it? I think not very long ago.

Less, I think, yeah.

No, it's amazing. And guaranteed.

Warranted and all that. Yeah.

Amazing.

But I think the future is space-efficient.

Small cars, especially since EVs,

as we're learning from,

even from sports cars like this,

sports cars like this new Longbow, that's just come out.

Oh, we'll talk that in a minute, yeah.

I mean, that's really quite space-efficient,

even though it's about size...

It's a 4.2 long, about the size of an Alpine.

It's shorter than a forward focus.

Let's talk that in a minute.

First, Steve Crockley, ladies and gentlemen,

has bought a car.

Hey!

What and why and how, and tell me more.

All right. Well, where it came from was...

I went and did the Sprint Watergate Bay in the Electric Renault 5.

Had a really good time.

But the thing I enjoyed most was just the lovely competition

and the rest of the people and the noise.

It is a great sport, that.

You know, amateur motorsport.

And I thought, look, I have to get involved in this

and I can't keep on borrowing cars from people.

So I need one.

And there was a...

parked on the hillside was this Renault...

sorry, Peugeot 205 rally car,

just sitting there.

And I thought, God, that's what I need.

And then I went and did another day at Prescott Hill Climb,

the Bugatti owners club, Hill Climb near here, near Cheltenham.

And I had another good time.

And, you know, I found I could still remember the way up the hill

and did all right.

You know, I had not covered myself in glory,

but I didn't stick it under the arm-coat either.

And I thought, I have to do more of this.

My sons are up for it.

So I thought, I need a car.

So I started looking around, found this rather excellent rally-prepared

Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9, caged, seam-welded race seats in it.

Quite a healthy engine, you know, twin webbers and all that.

And I bought it for 9,800 quid.

And I intend to do a few things that convert it more

towards the Sprint Hill Climb car than a rally car.

But there's not that much to do.

Really? So what's it?

You won't share pictures of it yet, I think.

But, Reader, I've seen a couple.

And it looks pretty rally-spec'd.

What do you have to do or what will you do?

Well, I just, I think really just, I mean, there's got four

massive lights across the front for a start.

I'm not sure.

It does look rather flash.

It does look good, I thought, yeah.

Really, not that much.

You know, changing tyres, probably different kind of brakes.

Might change the paint, get rid of the other blokes, decals.

So it's a sort of green at the moment?

Yeah. Oh, keep the green.

You're going to keep the green?

Yeah.

Because green was, you know, the Peugeot 309 that I'm trying to replace

was also green, different green with a green.

Anyway, this, I reckon this car's probably got about an

almost 140, 150 brake horsepower and it's very light.

It's got, you know, not much in the way of trim.

We'll have to put a bit of trim back in it to go in the right class.

Oh, really?

It's a little cloudy.

Do you think it's too, is it too light for some class, the class you want to be in?

Well, it's a bit too modified inside.

Oh, I see.

It might need, you know, proper door cards and things.

Oh, I see.

So what, sorry, what do you reckon it weighs?

Less than 800?

800 inch?

The 309 we had, by the time we finished with it, had weighed the same as a Lotus Elise,

which was 830, 820, some of that.

And it's, it would be of that order, I think, because of 2.0.5 is a smaller car anyway.

And I'm really excited.

I mean, it's a very healthy car.

It's already been driven 100 miles by a bloke who's assisting me to buy it.

And he says it's great.

In fact, he was, the day before he picked it up, he was shaping up to buy a motorbike.

And then he reached his destination in my car and started looking on eBay for a second-hand rally car.

Oh, really?

So it seems to have converted.

Anyway, the thing is, it's going to go to rally prep though, the Cornwall folks and just get everything looked at because it hasn't really done anything very much for about five years.

And it needs commissioning.

And then we'll be off and running.

The plan is to do, the first event will be a, there's a grass track event in Cornwall that my friend Neil Yates runs rally prep, goes to every year.

And he says you just spend the whole day going sideways on grass.

Sounds tremendous.

You should come.

Oh, yeah, I should.

Yeah, I should.

The great thing about this car is that I think it's the sort of thing where we can all have a go.

It's not going to be precious.

That's so cool.

Because I figured a bit, well, I did get a bit revved up by the Suzuki Swift Sport that I ran in the Birket six hour the other week.

And it's just, I speak into the 750 Motocop about it.

They're going to sell that car for, they're not sure because they might sell it as a package that gets you some race entries next season.

But I take, talk about this last week.

A bit, but not that big.

But the car is like a Suzuki Swift Sport of that generation.

So, 2007 maybe.

I think you can get them for 500 to 1500 pounds.

You do all the kit, they sell you the kit and you have it fitted.

So you get a race car for six grand.

And they say some people will perhaps do two to 3000 pounds a year because their race entry fees are 400 pounds for a weekend.

I mean, people spend that playing golf or they do whatever.

And I know, you know, I know that we're still talking sums of money that are not insignificant.

But in the big motoring scheme of things, in the motorsport scheme of things, particularly, that's not that expensive.

No. And the fun, you know, the, well, we know from experience, you've done a good deal of low-end motorsport as well.

And honestly, you have such fun.

And everybody's a nice person, it seems to me as well.

Yeah, I think it seems, the paddocks do seem to be, and I like that about sprints and hill climbs, I think, is that there is no some racier race meetings.

There can be a slight tension around the place.

But I don't, I don't feel that with sprints at all.

And also, nobody comes along and knocks a corner off your car, do they?

No, exactly.

And to be fair, I've never felt it in the 750 motor club stuff I've done.

It's all been very, very friendly where somebody's tried to start their car, batteries could put three other competitors will go.

And this happened in the Austin 7 stuff I did.

Somebody went, oh, blimey, it won't start.

And within 30 seconds, somebody else had another battery ready to slot in and three people got set about doing it.

Makes life, it makes a world go around that stuff.

Yeah, I've just ordered a, because it's sort of, I was thinking, oh, I should do that.

But actually, I mean, I do have a car with a roll cage that has done some rallying in the Imp.

And I need to crack on with the engine conversion because there will be places I can use that.

I tell you what, that'd be with that engine, with the BMW engine and that would be superb Hillclimb and Sprint.

I ordered a Zorst for it the other day because the engine I bought didn't have one.

And have I told you this?

Nope.

In that case, I haven't told the listener either.

So on social media, I knew a guy who does this stuff a lot.

But then his identity on one of the socials changed its name.

And I was like, this is a bit weird because he just said, I'm going to order a batch of exhausts.

If anybody's interested, let me know.

And because the more we order, the cheaper they get.

These are in?

This is for the BMW.

Oh, for the BMW engine, yeah.

And anyway, so I said, yeah, count me in, count me in.

And then by the time you ordered it, his identity changed.

I thought this is a bit weird.

This is strange because he's now asking me for a few quid as a deposit for this exhaust.

And I don't know who he is.

I've never met him.

And he's talking in a different name to he was previously.

And I'm like, this is the sort of thing that people say not to do.

Yep.

Is it?

Yeah.

Absolutely not to do.

On piston heads, when people used to say, oh, I own a so and so and so and so and other

people didn't believe them.

They used to say, get a tin of custard from your kitchen, put it on top of the car, take

a photo of it and post it back in here to prove you own it.

Anyway, so I said to him, this is a bit weird, but could you just take some groceries out

if you're covered?

Photograph in front of the YMP that I know you've got so that I know you are the person

I think you're talking to anyway.

So about three minutes later, I think he had a loaf of bread and a ham with him and his

partner in front of his Hillman going, yeah, this is definitely us.

So I have sent him the money for the deposit and a guy called Jeff is apparently making

up some exhausts which should fit perfectly onto the BMW engine and within the rear of

a Hillman YMP.

And I should have it some point later in a few weeks time.

Wow, that sounds great, doesn't it?

I'm no closer to putting the engine in, but I'll have most of the bits.

Yeah, you know what to do now.

Yeah.

Well, mate, that sounds great.

Yeah.

Well, we're very deliberately set ourselves as an objective, which is to have, you know,

the car ready for an event.

Because Neil wants to do the event in one of his cars, so we're going to...

And the event is when?

It's March or something.

Oh, so the start of next season proper.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, brilliant.

Yeah, that's...

And this is the grass job.

And I really fancy the grass job.

That would be super.

I had a...

My childhood was full of...

Admittedly, it was dirt, but it was...

But it was, you know, sideways on other people's fields.

Yeah.

Yeah, my cousin Graham used to do it in an old Mini, and it was...

We had a good fun watching that when I was a kid.

And I think there has to be a degree of skill in it.

As we know, oversteer comes in all sizes, shapes.

Yeah.

Oh, that'd be terrific.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

It's time for Steve and I to take a short commercial break,

in which I tell you that Anderson, the designer home charging service,

has teamed up with...

Tap electric.

Yeah, sorry, mate.

I've just...

I've slightly distracted that I've got a...

I've got a...

A message from one of our editors about the copy that I mowed.

That I own.

Tap electric.

That's slightly distracted me.

I shouldn't look at emails at the same time.

Well, I'm trying to look up the info about tap electric,

which means that you can actually earn money from your Anderson charger

all whilst staying in complete control.

It gives a domestic user the option to make their charge points available to the public.

So whether you're managing workplace parking, running a hotel or Airbnb,

or want to make your home charge point accessible to friends, family or visitors,

this new integration makes it easy to create a seamless charging experience for everybody.

No, that sounds good.

Yes, Rachel, I will start delivering copy within the next 24 hours.

Isn't it as the...

You know, our job has many advantages, but those ones...

The message from HQ where they say,

unless you supply by...

The world will end.

Yeah, exactly.

You just think, oh...

Oh, no.

I am working on it.

I am trying.

Christmas road test is exciting.

That's what you're...

That's what I've got to write.

Yeah, I've got to write that.

I've got to write...

Well, the feature on the six-hour Burkitt Relay.

Oh, great.

I'm looking forward to that.

Good picks?

Yeah, really nice picks, actually.

Who took the picks?

It was a guy called John Elsie who works for the club.

Oh, good.

But they're really lovely.

Yeah, really good.

Excellent.

And I also...

Oh, I drove last week.

I drove a Grenadier, Ineos Grenadier on portal axles.

So, raised 150 mil off the ground and also a bit wider, about 200 mil wider.

It looks great.

They look so good.

It sounds amazing.

Yeah, really good.

So, it raises the ground clearance.

You know what?

Portal axles have a gear in the wheel hub.

Yeah, that's good.

Lift it all up.

Yeah, so it raises the whole thing and means that the ground clearance in the middle of

the track also increases so that the axle doesn't hang down as far as the centre of

the wheel.

The diff doesn't hit the rocks and all that.

Does it feel topply though?

I mean...

No, it feels any...

If...

Because it's a bit wider, it doesn't feel...

It feels a bit bigger and a bit more vague on the road, but not topply by any stretch.

But it can be driven on the road.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the gear ratios within the wheel centres, it's got bigger wheels, wider tyres.

Which would change the gearing, but what they've done is done by...

Does it compensate with the...

Yeah, those compensated with the gear ratio within the portal axles themselves so that

the gear ratios remain exactly the same.

And that means they haven't had to readjust the ABS.

They haven't had to redo the stability control.

They haven't had to redo the traction control or any of that stuff.

It just increases its capabilities all around.

Wow.

They change the springs...

Can you do it to an existing car?

Yeah, yeah.

You can either buy a kit to do it to an existing one or you can buy one direct from your...

Directly from your thing.

Oh, I'm keen to hear about that.

It's a really cool thing.

Absolutely no experience of that at all.

German fire service had a few demonstrators there because they've already started receiving them.

And there's nothing...

There's nothing else that quite does what it does because the...

Unimolk, which is a portal axle vehicle, is a large vehicle.

Very big gear.

You could get stuff done to...

I don't know, maybe Arctic trucks or stuff do things to big pickups and things and they

raise the ground clearance, but they...

It's not quite the same sort of thing.

They tend to put sort of more balloony type tyres on.

But this is a very specific purpose and they go, well, we're getting two specific kind

of customers.

We're getting people who really want something that just looks...

Private customers who want something that just looks cool and utility users who really

want what this car can offer.

And it still...

It tows the same as it did.

It drives the same...

Wow.

The same ish as it did.

It's just more capable.

Is there any...

If you own one, it would be pretty pricey conversion, I'm guessing.

Yeah, I think I've got a double check, but it's about 60 grand for the stuff.

So it's quite expensive.

But when...

If you need it, you need it.

I'm looking forward to the picks of that too.

Yeah, that's cool.

I haven't got the picks for that yet.

Oh, and I've got to write my Audi A200 mile to the gallon.

Oh, yes, yes.

Are we revealing what...

No, because I still need to do one more fill to...

What's the word I'm looking for?

Complete...

Yeah, you know, calibrate the fuel.

Oh, you said.

Yes, yes, you did say that.

I'm trying to write this story about...

We've engaged a very good engineer and a very good designer to create a new car for Lotus,

which...

An auto car proposal for Hethel that would save Hethel rather than...

Because we know that cars like the Amira, cars like the A110 are a lovely idea,

but everybody loves them, but nobody buys them.

Wouldn't it be not enough people?

Not enough people to keep the lights on.

But we believe there's a car that Lotus could make, which would be more practical,

still contain the lovely Chapman engineering facets and so on,

and be capable of being made in Hethel.

We're going to propose it.

They'll be very interesting to see whether Geely tear our hand off or not.

Are you going to present it to...

It's going to be in one of the Christmas issues.

Interesting.

Really interesting.

But we've got a highly credible designer, highly credible engineer,

and we are the customer creating the car.

Excellent.

Heinz O'Connor writes to us.

It's an excellent letter and there's quite a few things in it.

Thanks very much for that.

But let's touch on just two of the things he wrote to us about.

Steve Carter, he said, wrote,

seeking a recommendation for a planned midlife crisis road trip to Italy.

The letters this week are a bit sports car heavy, aren't they?

They're not always.

We won't always do this.

I've been through that phase and I'm now planning a fourth such adventure.

There is room for two trolley cases and two further bags in the boot

of an R230 slash R231 Mercedes SL.

That's the 2001 to 2020 version with the roof stowed.

There's also room behind the seats for a smallish dog

to share your automotive adventures home or away.

Please consider Spain instead of Italy as a destination.

The Amalfi Coast is not a great motoring environment.

You can take the ferry from to Santander or Bilbao from where you can enjoy

beautiful places, scenery and roads.

The people are very welcoming food and accommodation,

wonderful and reasonably priced rather than Italy.

Do you think so too?

Well, I do.

Two reasons.

I have been up and down the Amalfi Coast only ever on motorcycles.

So the great thing about and every time I stopped,

I remember thinking I can only do this because I've got a motorcycle.

The car has to keep going.

Otherwise you just create a traffic jam.

So it's difficult.

And there are hotel car parks along the way,

but they're precipitous and probably full already.

So I absolutely get what Heinz says about it being difficult to stop,

but it's still a beautiful place to go.

But he's right.

I used those ferries once or twice as well

because I used to go on trips with Roger Craythorne.

Do you remember him?

Really?

One of the pioneers of modern Land Rover.

And he didn't like flying and he went to Spain a lot

because he played a lot of golf.

So he used to use those ferries.

And I went with him a few times with various interesting

and sort of experimental or new cars.

So he's precisely right.

The people are terrific.

As long as you take the pills, you know,

going across the Bay of Biscay is fine.

But I need to see sick pills.

Otherwise, I'm not brilliant.

If not, you can.

And I did on a family holiday ten years ago,

I suppose, in a Defender.

Was it in the Landy?

Yeah.

We drove, including seeing a bit of Paris on the way

because my daughter insisted that we should.

So we took the tunnel,

saw a bit of the Channel Tunnel,

saw a bit of Paris and drove to the south of France in a day.

And it's quite a long day.

But then once you're there, you can then spend a few days touring Spain.

The roads are really good in Spain.

Yeah.

I had some good times down there.

Yeah.

So he's right.

You know, and the food's good.

There's a lot of space.

The roads are lovely.

The scenery's good.

Yeah.

Also, you don't get monstered too much by the police.

Not that you or I would be...

Well, not that we would do any of those things either.

No, of course.

But, you know, it is helpful just not to feel

that you're under threat all the time.

Yeah.

Let's talk something slightly more prosaic.

Same letter.

I always park nose in.

I'm dismayed at people.

My wife, among them, reverse parking at the supermarket

or the airport.

They bang their shopping or luggage against the sides

of ever-wider cars trying to access the boot,

which they have parked out of reach.

Yeah.

That is the one reason for nose parking for me.

If you need to get in the boot and your car is wide enough

that you can't get in it anyway, I get it.

Yeah.

I do see that.

Until I read that, I didn't...

Never even occurred to me because I always just parked nose in.

But, of course, yeah, you just don't want people

that sort of crate full of stuff scraped down the side of you.

Your car, which is parked next door to, you know.

But I still...

The A2 is very narrow.

Well, indeed.

So I can still get in the boot.

Yeah.

I suppose the argument is it depends on the car, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does a bit.

Yeah.

It's surprising how some of these little cars I'm banging on about

are fairly wide.

You know, how many is wider than you expect.

Still good.

Yeah.

There's that Morgan Super 3 that is about to depart my house

in the next week or two.

Yeah.

It's 1.8 metres wide.

Yeah.

Mind you, only across the front wheels.

It's still...

It's still very easy to get out because there's no doors

and the body is much, much narrower than the front track.

But still, you need to watch it, don't you?

Yeah.

How big, mate, you touched on it earlier.

How big is this new longbow?

What is the new longbow?

Well, it's a new so-called featherweight sports car,

EV sports car, which is based on an aluminium, extruded aluminium

platform chassis with a...

But the beauty of it is it's a kind of classic skateboard

except that the battery cells are integrated into the structure

of the chassis.

So there's no need for the battery to sit, to add height

to the skateboard at all.

It's in there.

So when you sit in the car, it just feels like a car.

It's not...

You know how in a previous generation of EVs, the driving

positions, even in things like Leafs, were compromised

because you sat too high at the age point and all that.

Hit point is too high.

But this car is very space-efficient, very light, weighs

895 with a 52-kilowatt hour battery, the same size

as the Renault 5 battery, has at least 200 kilowatts,

that's to say, what, 270 horsepower.

So it's going to go really hard, very aerodynamic, very low.

It's been designed by Avant Design, this consultancy

in Lemington.

The platform is the work of Neil Yates, the guy's telling

about with his rally history, but he also has a business

that makes modern skateboard EV chassis.

And he's highly configurable.

They can be used from everything from trucks to sports cars.

And it's thoroughly convincing, really nice styling,

going to cost, well, it depends which model you buy.

The first launch speedster model is going to be 80-odd,

but there's going to be a coupe later for 60-odd.

So interesting.

So what did you see?

Is it finished?

Well, I saw a thing they described as a full speed prototype.

So it's a car with all the suspension, all the engine.

Seating in it and so on.

The interior wasn't finished.

So there's quite a simple but very nicely,

lovely architecture based on aluminium finished.

That basically wasn't there, but all the car could be driven

and at full speed.

So it was somewhere between a concept and an early production model.

Very impressive people.

Do you know when customers might get one?

The talk is that there will be deliveries of the speedster.

The idea of a speedster is it's a car with no windscreen

and no pretty abbreviated doors.

That makes life much easier from a technical perspective.

And there's a coupe, which they call the Roadster, curiously,

which is going to be a year behind that.

So early 26 for the speedster, late 26 for the...

So not too far away?

No, I think that's the story.

But there's a year between them.

I could be wrong about the early 26, but certainly 26.

That's pretty good.

The thing that fills you full of optimism

is that there are people still doing their stuff.

They've found a niche, they've found a business case.

There are suppliers in this country who can now do this.

They've proved it with this prototype.

It's a highly credible car.

Drive it down any street you name and people would be impressed with it.

It's going to go like the clappers and it's relatively simple mechanically.

So pretty good.

How many do they need to make?

Well, I think a bit of a sort of a handful to start with.

But I think they're talking about...

I think the figure was 10,000 cars by 2030.

In total.

And then I suppose they'll think of something else.

But having established a company...

Is there somewhere to make them...

Well, I tried to chase them on this.

We wondered about...

I mentioned the name of Hethel and they didn't deny it.

But it would be a hell of a thing to do a...

I mean, imagine a little British sports car company doing a deal with Lee Shifu in China.

It doesn't sound like a natural fit, does it?

But on the other hand, the Hethel plant would be about right for them.

Well, if they do big numbers, yeah.

It was worth saying that this Pace's platform that's under this car is very cleverly designed.

So it's self-jigging and you can...

As long as you've got the components accurately cut and made bent,

you know, sort of folded whatever the word is,

you can make it without jigs and therefore you can...

You know, just a great big shed.

Oh, interesting.

So you could...

Because there's a lot of places in the Midlands where...

Well, when we spoke to Ian Callum and David Fairbend last week of Callum Designs,

in their facility, they have built bays for modifications or building new cars

like the Callum Sky or the Mini they're doing or whatever, don't they?

There are places around where you could build cars.

Yeah.

And that was the message from these two fellows that...

And...

I mean, it sounded...

You know how we were saying in the pod we did with those two guys,

with Ian and David,

in our record, you get used to people making claims that you know aren't going to fly.

Yeah.

And we've got a pretty good nose for that now, haven't we, after all these years?

But I did not get that feeling.

Oh, good.

With the longbow, I thought...

That's good.

I thought that they had an answer for every question,

except where are you going to build it?

Yeah.

I think we know that with this easy, you know, self-jigging chassis

that you could be done in a lot of places.

Yeah, that's really encouraging.

Simon Saunders of Aerial talks about it, doesn't he?

Because they sometimes get invited to consult on new sports cars or niche cars or whatever.

Yeah.

And he gets a vibe very quickly when you go in and you see the spreadsheet

and the directors have already chosen what cars they're going to be driving around in

and yet you just sort of do the numbers and think this doesn't add up.

Yeah.

Because he's always caused a spade of shovel.

He's said to us a few times, you know,

my advice is always don't do it.

Yeah.

Do you...

I don't know if we've got time to get into this or whether we've had any new...

I don't think there's any more news on it.

Do we just pull the curtain down on the TVR plans as they have been in the past?

Interesting.

Since that new Griffith arrived and then didn't.

Well, it was pointed out to me without any...

There's no news in this.

But it was pointed out to me that this same system of self-jigging aluminium extruded chassis

could be applied to a TVR quite well.

I think the issue with the TVR continuing, as I understand it,

is that the backers have put up quite a lot of money,

not being rewarded and are pretty reluctant to do it, to commit any more money.

There's a bit of a life's too short aspect.

But the idea is there, isn't it still?

Yeah.

I mean, I always thought...

It struck me that starting with a less ambitious plan rather than going,

here's a new car we're going to build.

How many they wanted to build a year?

1,500 or more or something?

You just think, why don't you just build one and then build half a dozen and race them

and prove them that way and then flog a couple and just be at the size where you just have a few.

And that's fine.

The idea that, oh, we're going to take over.

Did you see that fact?

I stopped by that factory in Wales.

No, I never went there.

I saw pictures.

I've been twice to...

First time it was still largely in...

Not derelict, it's the wrong word, but empty from the previous owner.

Then the last time I stopped by it was very clearly being run now by somebody else

and refurbished by somebody else.

But it's enormous.

It's enormous.

It's just not the place for that sort of niche build.

You've just got to have this outbreak of realism, don't you?

I guess it's easy to get carried away.

Yeah.

That brings us pretty much to the end of this week's My Week in Cars.

Between now and next week, what do we have going on?

I think there's going to be a chat on the weekend coming.

I think Mark Tishor has met a designer from Citroen, but more on that another time.

Oh, the design boss.

Interesting guy.

Yeah, but I haven't listened or had that edited together yet.

I think he's the fellow that's...

They're at work on a Neo2CV, aren't they?

Am I right?

Yes.

I think you're right.

Yeah, I think you're right.

Tishor will be the bloke to draw a bit of that out.

Yeah, so that may be next week, or actually it may be more relevant to something happening

at the end of the month.

At TBC.

On that front.

Are you away?

I'm just in the...

Well, I've got a...

Hello, Rachel.

I've got to deliver all the copy that has been asked for between now and this time next

week.

And you are...

Well, I've got a big E to write, but I'm going to...

I should be doing it tomorrow, which is Friday, but I am in fact going to the classic car

show in Birmingham instead, because it's such a...

It's years since I've been to...

Yeah, I haven't.

One of them.

And I really think...

I think that they deserve our attention, especially now, because classic cars are...

They're such reassuring items, aren't they?

They just make people feel better.

For reasons we've discussed plenty of times on this pod, you get in the MGB and you sort

of think, ah, yeah, what a simple...

And are they more relevant to driving fun?

Yeah, well, I think it's arguable for the reasons that you were outlining.

Yeah.

So I might come as well.

Well, that'd be great.

I mean, I'm going to just be up there with a mate.

Why don't we link up?

If you...

It just gives a ring and we'll have a sandwich and go...

I've got another friend who's manning the DKW stand.

Oh, really?

I mean, I've got this ridiculous weakness for two-stroke cars.

And there's a DKW Sonder class, which is...

He's got several of them, and he's not a conventional person, this bloke.

I am going to...

I'll decide in the morning.

I'll tell you what.

I'll see how much copy I get written before the morning and I'll decide.

Actually, it's not too bad from your place.

Oh, no, it's easy.

Easy trip.

I went to the...

Because I was on the way back from somewhere the other day, but I had...

I think I had a column to file and I wanted a cup of tea.

So I went to the National Motorcycle Museum.

Oh, isn't that good?

Because, yeah, there's so many bikes in there, though.

It's a bit overwhelming.

It is.

But it's a place to just...

Because they've got sofas and stuff in some of the halls.

I just took my bag in and just sat down and did a bit of work.

And it was surrounded by classic bikes, which was quite cool.

Which is just over the road from the NEC.

It is.

I think...

Give it a go, Matt.

Yeah, I should do.

Don't worry about all this copy.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll deal with that next week.

Excellent.

Still time to tell you about the early bird Christmas offers for Autocar.

Which will have Steve's words and mine in them when we file them.

And that's at themagazineshop.com.

20% off all of the existing offers.

So you can get, for example, digital ones.

You can get 13 issues for about 32 pounds just under.

Yeah, amazing.

And if it's a present, if you leave this podcast running around your nearest and dearest,

they will be able to buy you a present and even will...

If they say this is for somebody else, they send you a gift card

that you can then give to the person on Christmas Day.

That's great.

That is nice, isn't it?

To judge by some of the letters that we've been getting,

you once embraced by the Autocar into the Autocar fold,

you never leave.

I mean, I wrote about a bloke who'd been reading us for 59 years the other day.

And I've had nothing but letters from other people saying,

59 years you...

Is that all?

Yes.

Yes, hello to Peter Taylor, who's 96 and still reading.

I made the mistake of saying, does your subscription turn up?

Have I told you this?

No.

Does your subscription turn up on time?

He said, I don't subscribe.

I just buy it from the shop.

I won't subscribe to something that might last longer than me.

What a man.

Well done, Peter.

And thanks finally to Anderson, the designer home EV charging company,

which has tied up as you will have heard with TAP Electric,

but also there's so much to tell you from Anderson,

because they make great looking chargers.

They have seven year warranties.

The British designer made 50 pounds off if you sign up.

There's also a 5,000 mile free thing they have with octopus energy go.

Oh, that's right.

So there's so many different things we could tell you about them.

This is David Martell, isn't it?

The boss, he's just one of these people that keeps thinking of new ways

of making a business better.

Yeah.

I really admire him for that.

Yeah, me too.

And actually our chat with him,

which we had some time before this sponsorship deal was announced,

was elsewhere on this channel.

On the AutoCarMeets, one of our bonus podcasts,

which is on Saturdays, but not every Saturday.

And finally, this week, this very day,

well yesterday, in fact, as AutoCar turned 130 years old this week,

we haven't talked about the 130th veteran car run next week.

Oh, yeah, let's do that.

Let's do that next week.

But also, this podcast clicked over a million downloads.

So thank you very much indeed for that.

Yeah, what support that is.

It really fills us full of joy, doesn't it?

It really does.

Yeah, it really does.

So until next week, see you.

See you soon.

Thanks, mate.

Cropley buys a car! Plus Longbow, Ineos, a first Ferrari

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