Guilty Pleasures

I said I was ready to record, then I got lost in Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow colours on the

internet and then completely forgot about it.

What a nerve!

The Tire Kickers Classic Car Chat with Max and Matt.

Well hello there, we're back and talking all things classic cars. This time around

we're asking, what's your classic car guilty pleasure? You know, the cars you secretly

love but are too afraid to admit.

Like me for example, I say I want a Mercedes Pagoda SL but I really fancy a TR7.

The Tire Kickers.

Also ahead we talk pop-up headlights, which classic car gives you the best wink.

Plus I sent Matt unsupervised to an auction to select some cars to watch, so what are

the chances he picks some absolute clunkers, better known as stags, highly likely?

How rude and from pop-up to glow-up, I'll tell you the latest on my Triumph Stagg refurb.

Plus we'll hear your thoughts on our big debate from the last show, which decade is the best

ever for classic cars?

That's all in this latest episode of Drivel, which in court, my lord, I believe is referred

to as the Tire Kickers.

Driving and arguing since 2024. This is the Tire Kickers.

Right then, here we go again and I've been thinking, which is a little bit dangerous.

Dangerous, yeah.

The thing I've been thinking about, Matt, is is there a classic car you'd secretly like

to buy but never would?

So what I mean by that is, you know, a car that maybe is too ugly, maybe a bit too old,

or just a national joke, like one of your favourites, a Marina.

I mean, I quite like the Marina.

It's the Ittale that was doing crimes against cars, and the fact they're both rubbish.

But okay, yeah, I kind of get the idea.

I mean, there's lots of stuff I'd like to drive but not particularly buy or own.

I like the fact that other people buy them.

Yeah, well, we're talking about the Ittale.

Wasn't that the one where the radio was out of reach of the driver?

I mean, it's the terrible...

Around the corner.

What was going on in that interior?

In fact, there was a post.

We had a guest car post on there that somebody put up and it was an Ittale.

And you look at that dashboard and it's just, like, weird.

Oh, it was a shocker.

You had to actually kneel down and you almost lost vision out of the front windscreen if

you were driving to try and tune the radio.

And they even had to design the radius, had a bit cut out so it would fit the dashboard.

So, obviously, that's not one that you kind of hanker after.

But do you have those guilty pleasures?

Do you have cars that you kind of think, I really wouldn't like that,

but I just don't think I'd ever buy it or drive it?

Yeah, for me, to be honest, every British Leyland car, for example,

I'd like to drive it but just not own it.

It wouldn't be that stupid.

But what about a princess, though?

You've said in the past you would actually buy one if you had space.

Yeah, only to annoy you, really.

I mean, it's kind of like space things, isn't it?

If I had infinite space, I would buy a princess because I really like princesses

and I like the way they drive and I like the wedge shape and I just like the design.

But I don't have infinite space, so probably I'm glad that there is a Princess Owners Club

for other people and I could admire it when I go to a show,

but I don't particularly want to own it.

I think there's classic car owners as well.

We sort of stay in our lane in terms of classic cars.

The ones that we like and the ones, you know,

I find myself gravitating to the similar sort of cars that always go after convertibles.

I always look at classic convertibles with chrome bumpers,

so I'm sort of a bit scared to go off-piste as such.

And also, I think our era as well, we don't go off-piste.

I mean, here's a good example.

This is one, a car that I saw recently and I thought,

you know what, I'd love to have that, but I don't think I ever would.

It's a 1954 MGTF.

So think about, you know, an old-style MG with the running boards,

a bit of a, what classic, non-classic car people would call like a toad-a-toad all-car.

It's that sort of, how would you describe it, Max?

It was the car that every RAF pilot drove to the pub

after shooting down some meshesmiths, wasn't it?

It's that, got that kind of Second World War feel to it.

So I'm surprised because they're not particularly great to drive,

but I mean, all that is secondary to the fact you just wouldn't fit in it.

So here we go. Throw that up on your screen now. Have a look at this.

So this is 1954. It's a red with wire wheels, 50,000 miles, 1250 cc.

And it's that classic, as you say, it's that sort of, you know, Cad's car

around the sort of post-war Cad's car with cream leather seats.

It's all obviously very, very open. Did these come with a roof?

I suppose there were a tonneau cover or something?

They came with a very basic roof, yeah, but I think it was just so fiddly

and flapped all the time that nobody used it.

Come the summer, that would be that.

I just imagined driving down a bolting down a country lane in that.

As you say, it would be very, very tight.

I think, well, I mean, compared to 60s cars and not that much time,

it's probably probably a little bit more generous than the cars that came after it.

But so it's ridiculous. I wouldn't own one, but I really like them.

So it is a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Yeah, I get it. I have a similar thing about base cars, you know, base models of cars.

So there's one on your screen now, which is the very, very basic VW Beetle.

This is a 1967 VW Beetle.

Oh, I like these.

And it's got nothing on it. I mean, I like Beetles,

but I particularly like something which is stock,

which is exactly how it came out of the showroom with no frills.

I mean, if you look at the dashboard, there is a switch for the hazard lights

and there's a switch for the headlights and there's a switch for the wipers.

And that's it. And that's what I really like about these Beetles.

They're so basic. They're just kind of pure.

Apart from picture five, somebody's put three massive speakers

in the rear parcel shop, which just ruins the illusion.

It just ruins this car.

But go past that.

And actually, it's just perfect.

That could come straight out of the factory.

It's like a green, greeny, creamy kind of car.

It's a very, very basic.

If you think of the most basic, original sort of iteration of the Beetle,

that's what this is with that big, you know, sort of thin steering wheel.

And as Max says, it's all very, very clean inside.

So it's being restored by the looks of it.

I mean, it's really, really nice, but there's a couple of things that really stand out.

One is under the dashboard.

There's this aftermarket stereo,

which looks like it's come from Alfa's with flashing lights.

And then on the back parcel shelf, there's three JBL massive woofers,

including what they look like to, you know,

pair of stereo speakers and a big subwoofer.

It doesn't go with the car.

It's terrible.

Because I think for me, the kind of idea of this,

it's the purity of the thing.

Now, I wouldn't buy one of those because one, it's the 1200cc.

So it's really slow.

And secondly, it's not a particularly interesting car

because it's the base model.

But that's kind of at the same time what appeals

because it's just plain and vanilla and perfect.

That's how it came out of the factory.

So in this kind of sense, you know, I'd love to drive one for a bit,

but again, I wouldn't own one.

On that sort of same theme, I love it and I wouldn't live with it.

I'll throw this on your screen.

Citroen Traction Avant.

This one's from 53.

And I think these look cool.

I think these are really cool.

And I sat in one recently.

They got suicide doors.

You sort of climb in.

I've got column gear shift.

Most of them were left hookers.

Some were built in style, weren't they?

And they were right hookers.

But a lot of them on the market are left hookers.

Yeah, three speed gearbox, which kind of like bumps into your knee.

I wouldn't be embarrassed to drive this.

I'd love to drive it, but I don't know if I kind of could drive it

because it's so different to us.

It just feels such a different car.

I think it'd be quite hard work.

And I think the problem with some of these cars,

I mean, you've both thrown cars up from 1953.

So a minute ago, you're an RAF pilot on the way to have a pint.

And now you're a French detective driving around Paris

in the fog and the gloom.

So the problem with both of them is how really far could you go in them?

Because cars from the 50s, they were a bit limited.

They were a bit slow.

So I like the idea.

Again, I'd love to have a drive from one of these.

Never driven one of these Traction Avant.

But would you really want to live with it?

How far could you go in it?

Would you just get bored of people overtaking you?

Well, and this is the thing.

Where is that MGTF?

I think it was probably about usable as a 60 sports car.

In terms of you could run it out and you could run it down the palm

and you could go to car meets in it.

And you're not really going to go massive amount of miles,

which I didn't in my 60 sports car.

This one would probably go even less miles and much more slowly.

But the problem is that you and I have sort of moved on in classic cars.

I mean, now I've got cars that are more usable.

I mean, I take my snag down the shops to the supermarket run

just to get out and use it.

I'm not going to be taking an MGTF down the supermarket

because it's one, I'm not going to be able to put anything in it.

But two, it just, I don't know, just it feels like not the right car to do that.

And it's not very usable.

I think both of those cars, as you say, they're 50s cars.

They're going to take a lot of cuddling and warming up to get to get running.

They're going to be very slow.

You know, you're not going to get anywhere in a hurry.

So I think I think they just don't become usable.

And the reality is for most of us, we don't have the space to have more than one car.

So what do you do with it?

So then, well, I could put it in storage or I could rent a garage or whatever.

And then it just becomes a bit of a bullock, doesn't it?

And it doesn't become enjoyable.

So you're one space in a garage.

I think you tend to err on the side of caution of something that you know you're going to love and use.

I wouldn't be embarrassed to have one of these.

I think I could open up the garage and be excited about both of these cars.

Yeah, no, you wouldn't be embarrassed.

It's just one of those cars that I'm glad other people buy and drive

so I can look at them and appreciate them, but I just wouldn't really do it myself.

It's that kind of guilty pleasure idea that, yeah, I love it and I love it from a distance.

Well, talking of buying and driving and being embarrassed about it,

your next pick, I don't think I would drive, actually,

because I probably would be embarrassed, a TR7.

No, you wouldn't be embarrassed.

This was the future once, as they used to say.

I think that the point about the TR7 for me, I like the TR7.

Again, I probably wouldn't buy one unless it was a very rare early fixed head

because they were a bit rubbish.

But I like the idea that they exist and I like the idea there's known as Club

and other people out there are driving them and keeping them going.

Although not many, because when I was looking for TR7s on our kind of usual classifieds,

there's not many around.

I couldn't actually find a fixed head.

I could only find these convertibles, which is on your screen now.

This is a silver convertible, a later one with the mini lights.

I don't think they were standard, but it has got the kind of standard tartan check cloth,

which I quite like.

TR7 is nice.

I'm glad other people drive them.

I really like looking at them at shows, but I'm not sure I'd want to drive it.

It's just the engine bit slow.

It was five speed.

It wasn't a great engine.

I think I like the look of it, but for somebody else.

Remember when we started this podcast up two years ago?

Episode one, crush or caress?

I voted to crush the TR7.

I couldn't crush them.

No, no, I can't crush them.

It's probably not the number one choice.

Like you said, we've only got one space in our garage each.

That has to be that something is a bit more substantial.

It's got a bit more of a story behind it.

The TR7 has got a story behind it, but it's just not a particularly good one.

It's a story of failure, really.

We put a TR6 next to this.

It's a no brainer.

The TR7 has got the back end of a bus.

When I see them at shows, no disrespect to TR7 owners,

but it's just not the car that I get excited about.

So I wouldn't even want one as a guilty pleasure.

Damn with faint praise in that case.

Poor TR7.

I'll erase that from your screen then.

Yet TR7s, they're a good part of the British car story,

but I'm not sure I'd want one in the garage as my only car.

Coming more up to date and they say never to meet your heroes.

This car for me was a pin-up hero when I was a teenager.

This is a car that I really, really wanted.

A Lancia Delta integrale.

I'll throw this up on your screen.

Have a look at it.

I used to phone the insurance broker and annoy them

on my local high street on a regular basis

by phoning them up with performance cars and asking for quotes.

And you remember you did it back in those days.

Yeah, not third party, Fire and Theft.

Forget the Fire and Theft bit.

I'm not bothered if it gets nicked.

Is there anything lower?

Is there a fourth party?

What's the cheapest?

Well, you used to be able to get...

I don't think you'd buy anymore, can you, third party?

Because everybody wants to sue everybody now for whiplash,

so you can't have it anymore.

So, but third party, I once got a quote on one of these,

which was about 300 quid, and I thought,

but this was the pin-up to me because at the time,

in the late 80s, these looked like the nuts, nuts.

I mean, they were one of the few cars

with the proper flared wheel arches.

I mean, I don't think they were a great buy.

There was a dealer in Wimbledon in London

who specialized in this, but just went bust, I think,

because all the cars he ever sold just came back

having gone wrong, having broken, basically.

I think the engine needed a rebuild

every 20,000 miles on integrals.

They weren't the most reliable cars.

And also, I don't know if you've got to picture five yet.

Yeah, I did pick this one.

It's a line of rust.

Where the roof meets the windscreen,

there's just a line of bubbly rust.

It gets worse, go to picture seven.

It started making a break for it.

It looks like the car's got barnacles.

That is now structural.

I can see an MOT tester getting a screwdriver at him.

Oh, look, he's gone MOT on picture nine, actually.

Is that a fail or a pass?

How's it got a pass with that rust?

Held together with paint.

But it's not dated very well.

I mean, this was the Hero car,

and then the HF was the one that most people

would go into showroom and buy.

But it's not dated very well.

It all looks very lumpy.

And I know it was a rally pin-up and all that sort of stuff.

And it was my pin-up car that I just wouldn't

really ever want to own it.

So it was a guilty pleasure for a long time,

but I just think time has not been kind to this particular car,

nor have the elements.

Now, your next pick is your guilty pleasure

about being a mini-cab driver,

because you seem to have picked...

I think it might be.

I think you might be right.

A quick run to Heathrow.

I think the point...

I mean, the guilty pleasure about this one is that,

again, I really like a base model that's reliable,

but I wouldn't particularly own it.

So this is a 1991 Mercedes 190E, the W201 on 90.

I love these, but they're a bit boring,

but that's why I kind of like them.

So it's the kind of...

It's the contradiction here

that I would love to have one of those as a guilty pleasure,

but probably I'd never go and buy one

because everybody just thinks it's some old taxi

that you're smoking around in.

So, you know, when you look at the pictures,

they're great because it's the base model again,

and it's got nothing on it that it shouldn't be.

It's got a wiper, stalker, and a mirror,

and a steering wheel, and that's it.

And that's what I like about it.

But again, would you bore of it if you kept it for a while

because you just think,

well, what's special, what's interesting about that?

But at the same time,

every time I see one on the roads,

which is an increasingly rare sight now,

I stop and have a look at it and go,

oh, isn't that nice?

The other thing that seems to be a common theme

in your pics as well

is you like stuff that looks like a van.

So you pick the...

I mean, the TR7 looks like a back end of a bus,

and next up on your list, you've got a Sherpa van.

Why is this a guilty pleasure?

I've always liked Sherpa vans

because, as you know,

my dad was a car dealer in the 70s,

and there was lots and lots of commercials came in.

I think it might have been.

I think he might have run a commercial for tax reasons.

I don't know this is a fact.

But when we were kids,

he would always cut out a bit of carpet

and then put it in the back of a van

and then tool around in that for a few weeks.

And so we'd be bouncing around in the back.

One of them was a Leyland Sherpa van.

And I love Sherpas

because they've got this really happy face to them.

It's kind of like the...

It was the alternative to the Ford Transit,

but it was just a much happier looking car.

And I remember we had some great times in Sherpas

going around as a kind of family.

But again, I wouldn't buy one.

But this is for a different reason

because actually I can't find one to buy

because they're so rare now

that actually I cannot find a Sherpa in this country to buy.

Not that I would do,

but even if I wanted to, I couldn't do it.

So there's a second reason

for not having the guilty pleasure.

But yeah, Leyland Sherpa vans.

If you haven't ever seen one,

Google it because it's got the friendliest van face, I think,

since the Bedford Comet.

Oh, that's quite nice then

if it's a nice nostalgic memory.

But it's a bit weird that there's not many around

because these were everywhere, weren't they?

Yeah, I mean, they were the post office vans for a while.

I mean, British Telecom used them as well.

So I mean, everybody used Sherpa vans,

but I think they've all just rusted away.

But friendliest van face, if that's ever a competition.

So if you had one more space then out of your picks,

which of your guilty pleasures would you pick?

I do love the simplicity of a VW Beetle.

I mean, I'd love a Beetle, I think.

I just wonder whether I would get a bit bored of it

because you can't go very far.

You can't go very fast.

If you meet a hill, it's a bit of a challenge.

And once you've driven it for a bit,

do you really have that kind of feeling

I want to go for a long road trip in it?

Possibly not.

But I think it would probably...

Guilty pleasure, number one for me,

is the kind of original 60s factory fresh VW Beetle.

And for me, it would be that MGTF, you know,

for years I used to flick through Kit Car magazine.

So looking at all the Kit Cars

that were basically styled like these MGTFs,

which you bought because the MGTFs were too expensive.

But now you can pick them up.

I've seen them go through auctions for like 10 grand.

So you could have that as a bit of fun.

It wouldn't be your everyday classic car in the summer,

but you could roll it out every so often

just to capture an era of being that.

And I could wear a sort of fine jacket and put a tash on.

So I think there'd be a, like, a guilty pleasure of doing that.

Oh, God, you would as well, wouldn't you?

I know that.

I can just imagine you doing that.

Don't behave.

Ding dong.

Let us know what your classic car guilty pleasure is.

What's the car that you really secretly love,

but you really never, ever going to own?

Do let us know on our socials.

And here's how you do that.

You can find us at the TireKickers UK on Instagram

and the TireKickers on Facebook.

You're listening to episode 51 of the TireKickers

and Spring is in the air here in the UK.

Well, it was for about a day max, wasn't it?

And it went great.

It was a nice hour, but it was an hour.

It has got us optimistic, though, that the weather is on the turn.

So naturally, people are thinking about the three things

that they forgot about over winter,

namely convertibles, ice cream, bands,

and shiny classic cars.

Yes, so that means there's more footfall at the car auctions.

So instead of just us with coats on,

Spring brings the people who quite fancy a classic

to kick some tires.

But the question is, does that affect the prices

and send value soaring,

or just mean there's more people in the way

when you're trying to have a good look around?

Well, this week was the historic spring sale

at the famous Ascot Racecourse.

Now, normally, in the past, we'd go together

and I'd obviously do all the research beforehand,

but this week, I had to send Matt solo.

And of course, you don't even read the catalogue

before you turn up.

No, I don't because I get used to it.

Besides, I kind of like looking around

and using my own eyes and seeing what sort of leaps out of me

rather than sort of studiously researching beforehand.

Yeah, which is the problem.

So I gave you a list of really good, interesting stuff

to kick the tires on.

So there was a Fintail Merc from the 50s,

a manual Porsche 928, a couple of nice E-types

and a lovely BMW 3.0-litre CSL, the E9 Coupe.

So which one of those did you look at?

Well, naturally, I paid no attention.

I just carried on as normal.

All right, so none of them?

Yeah, no, none of them.

So you just walked around and looked at some shiny stuff

and went, oh, look, there's a stag.

Well, I just, I may have done that.

I went with an O from my Max.

You know how, you know, you know how I do it.

Yeah, and that's the problem.

But I suppose, as all parents know,

it's good to let the kids do stuff by themselves.

So I packed you off with a bus fare

and a packet of cheesy watsits for lunch.

Well, here's the thing.

It doesn't happen in Britain very often.

Beautiful blue skies, sunshine.

I'm outside Ascot Racecourse looking at the paddocks

and surrounded by some beautiful, classic cars.

Now, Max gave me a bit of an earful

before I came here saying that he wasn't with me.

I'd pick some clunkers, but let's see what I have picked.

Well, I've gone around with an open mind

and cars that I thought I'd pick, I haven't.

And ones that have stood out, I haven't.

Here's the first one.

It is a beautiful sort of light gold silver shadow,

1980 silver shadow, guided for 13 to 17.

It's one of those cars you just walk past and go, wow.

I mean, you get in it and it just looks immaculate.

Cream leather, cream piped leather.

Blue carpets, walnut, dashboard.

It just feels great in here.

It's really, really nice.

If you want to guess what it's done before,

that's the glove box opening.

There's some wedding ribbon in the glove box.

That's a good one.

But it feels a really together car.

You know, nice vinyl roof.

It just feels really, really good.

13 to 17.

I wonder if we'll get the money.

We'll find out.

The tyre kickers.

Another thing Max said was,

I bet you pick a stag because there are three here

and I was going to walk past them,

but I caught somebody looking at this one,

restored one, so I stopped and I got interested.

And you know, when you start looking at cars,

they start popping out at you.

In fact, it's a good choice here.

There's two kind of identical looking stags.

They're both white.

One's a Mark II.

One's on an L plate.

One's on a J.

And they are different.

One's been totally bare metal restored.

And it looks great.

I mean, listen to the door chokes in it.

It just feels really good.

I mean, the engine bay is spotless.

It's got the paperwork to show the restoration.

And then there's another one.

This Mark II hasn't been restored,

but it still looks really, really good.

You know, the door chunk.

Sorry about the music, by the way.

It's OK.

You know, this one looks a more original car,

but it's still great, great nick.

This one, the one that's not been restored,

is 13 and the other one's like over 20 as a reserve.

So they're both different.

But when you look at the paperwork,

it tells a story.

The non-restored one has got better paperwork.

The restored one has got a great photographic story

of how it was restored,

but no servicing paperwork at all.

So I kind of would go for the cheaper option personally,

because I just think you know the story of that bit better.

Both are really, really good.

Both good hoods, if you're after a stag,

they're once to watch.

But let's watch the price on this restored one,

lot 198.

See if it goes over north of 20.

The tire kickers.

Well, I've come inside at Ascot Racecourse now.

I've walked past a Ferrari Dino.

That will upset his lordship.

We'll move on from that.

And I've struck upon this really cute 1974 Alfa Romeo Coupe,

a GTV 2000.

Estimated between 20 and 25.

It's in blue.

It's from South Africa, imported in 2024.

And the thing that got me on this,

I mean, we've talked about these on the last show,

about great 60s, 70s cars.

I really like these.

The thing about this is the interior.

Oh my God.

It's so nice.

It's quilted tan leather.

I mean, just I could live in here.

It's just so, so nice.

It's almost like a cognac tan leather, ribs leather.

It's been done recently with ribbed door panels and stuff.

I mean, there's other bits in the interior,

a little bit tatty that could be tied it up.

But it's got the cow dials and it's got aluminium foot pedals.

It's just really fun.

It's got that driving position.

You know, that eight like alpha driving position,

but it feels like it'd be fun to drive this.

So I'm interested to see what this goes for 2025.

It's sort of normal money for these.

I wonder whether this, because it's got a nice interior

or it's come from a supposedly rust free location,

goes up for a bit more.

We'll see.

The tyre kickers.

Okay, car number four, the fourth and final car.

I mean, it's really, really difficult

because there's some beautiful stuff here.

A couple of BMWs and some beautiful restored Austin Healey's.

There's Aston Martin there.

But this one is not one I thought I'd pick,

but seeing it in the flesh, my God, it's amazing.

It's probably my pick of the show.

It's a TR6, 1971.

It's guided between 45 and 52.

It's had a nut and bolt restoration.

It is in a gun metal grey on beautiful wire wheels.

I mean, it just looks absolutely stunning.

Better than factory.

Sadly, the owner passed away recently

and the resto paperwork has gone missing.

However, you look at the car

and you know when you look at restos,

sometimes they've done the bodywork

and they've done the interior,

but the engine's been sort of cleaned up

and put back in.

This is absolutely, if you get under the engine bay here,

absolutely stunning.

You can see the brake work has just been done like,

it's like art, the brake work.

The pipe work is so beautifully done.

Everything's been, I mean, the rocker cover is chrome.

The carbs are super clean.

Everything is brand new.

New radiator in here.

The interior is, oh my, it's brand new red leather.

The dashboard has become on the other side.

It's a beautiful gun metal grey.

The dashboard, I mean, it's walnut capped

and you can look in the dashboard

and you can see it's been done as a one piece.

It's been done properly.

I mean, there was no expense spared on this.

What brand new does,

everything you look at and touch and feel is brand new.

Absolutely stunning.

But it is up for a lot of money.

You know, these normally,

they're struggling to reach 20 of these TR6s in good condition.

This is up for 45 to 52.

Will it make the money?

We've got two resto picks in this show that I've done

and we've asked the question, you know,

is it still a good time to buy a restored car in auction?

Generally, yes, because somebody spent all the money on it

and they're never going to get it back.

But we will see.

Those are my four picks.

Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, a Triumph Stag,

an Alpha and this beautiful, beautiful gun metal TR6.

So surprise, surprise, it's a Stag

and two cars where you just got blinded by the interiors

and some shiny bits.

This is exactly why you can't go out unsupervised.

I know, it's really hard picking just four cars.

And afterwards I did actually see some more great stuff

because I went back actually on the Saturday for the sale.

But the stuff I picked mostly had a point.

I wanted to ask, do restos still stack up at auctions as good buys?

And I kind of wanted to look at good examples of a lukewarm car

and then see if it got the money.

Plus I did get distracted by the bloke looking at the Stag.

Honestly, I didn't go thinking about Stags, but there were two.

Of course you did.

I even texted you the day before.

So what are you going to come up with?

Number one, a Stag.

Two, a Stag.

Three, a Stag.

And then four, some kind of Alpha.

My own excuses.

There was a bloke really, really interested in it from Cyprus

and I ended up chatting to him.

Because you know the car you end up yapping.

And obviously because it is your car and you've got one,

you can spot, you know, if you look at NSL now,

you can spot the good ones right away, can't you?

So that was why I got distracted.

But let's talk about what comes to Stag in a minute.

Let's start with the resto that I kind of said was my pick of the show.

You know, it was amazing.

It was a TR6, gum metal grey.

It was an amazing car from front to back as you heard there.

But I later found out, you know, there was no paperwork showing the resto

because it was a probate car and because for whatever reason.

You know, the resto had clearly been done.

It had been done really, really well.

But you just do need that provenance, don't you?

Yeah, particularly with restos, you know, with no paperwork,

how long ago has it been done?

Because you could need to do lots of that stuff again, isn't it?

Particularly things like hoses that would perish and fluids that would go off.

So yeah, it's a lot of money they're asking for TR6.

What was it?

Were they estimating between 45 and 52,000 for a TR6?

Yeah, it's quite chunky.

I mean, I think with the paperwork as well,

we were just standing on that point, you need it if you go to sell it on.

Because otherwise, the story is stretched, isn't it?

Oh, it got restored. When did it get restored?

Show me the evidence.

So yeah, between 45 and 52 is the estimate.

It was a big ass for a TR6, but it was beautiful.

I mean, what, TR6, the TR6 is what, in the 20s?

Yeah, early 20s.

There was a bit of a flurry for this, though.

Clearly a couple of people really, really wanted it.

And it climbed to 34 before the hammer went down.

But obviously clearly that wasn't enough because you and I know,

and anybody goes to an auction, though, that after the hammer falls,

there's a bit of sort of horse trading goes on afterwards to try and do a deal.

And actually that's worth bearing in mind if you ever miss a car or auction,

phone up because afterwards they'll do a deal.

But this got to 34K, but clearly it wasn't enough and it doesn't appear to have sold.

So I just think without that paperwork, it's never going to reach those big numbers.

And it does stress actually the importance of keeping your paperwork together,

because even with our own cars, I might try and be fairly disciplined with putting my paperwork together.

But sometimes you get in from having the car serviced or whatever,

you just lob it in the kitchen, don't you?

It goes in the pile of post or everything else.

But when you come to sell that car, it's so important to have that stuff there.

It will come as no surprise to you that our paperwork approach is very different.

I have a file in front of me here and every receipt from the Mercedes dating back to when it was made,

it's got a separate clear plastic folder in my file.

Unusually, that's something we both do that's similar.

That's shocked you, isn't it?

Yeah.

We'll have to compare our paperwork.

I think my homework might be a bit better.

Probably with different coloured highlighters and different colours for different things, maybe.

Right, come on, next car is a triumph stack.

Well, yeah, I got distracted by this.

You know, I met this really nice guy from Cyprus who was looking around it and wanted to ship it over there

and cruise around the streets of Nicosia, which I said,

are you sure?

And you're just getting SL.

Are you sure you want to do that?

But he was taken about how good a resto was.

It was one of those cars that literally, it felt resto fresh, super clean,

estimated between 21 and 25.

And there was some strong bidding on this, including from Mr Cyprus.

But the hammer fell at 17 and a half and it still listed for sale.

So that post sale negotiation obviously stalled.

But it's worth mentioning it's twin.

It was another part next to this other white one, as you heard from 1972.

It was an older resto.

Now, for my Cypriot friend, it wasn't quite as good.

It was sprayed with under seal underneath.

Whereas the resto was super clean, fresh metal.

But the paper files were thick on this one and thinner on the other one.

So you had all the original books you'd have loved.

You had the old Leyland passport and all that sort of stuff.

Passport to service, yeah, I love all that.

Passport straight back to the service dealer.

That's what it means.

For me, it was a better car though.

It also came with a matching hardtop and that sold for just short 13,000.

So a great deal.

I mean, that was an 18 grand car.

The only thing you don't know, actually, I thought about this

and obviously I think owned a stag and kind of bought with caution

is you don't have the engine is because that's always the risk.

You can see the car, obviously, you can see the paperwork.

But, you know, you don't know whether the engine is going to be okay

when you drive it off.

It's going to get hot.

Over 20 grand for a stag.

That's a big ask, isn't it?

Because there's risks with it.

There's well known risks with it and they all can be fixed.

But it's still a risk, isn't it?

So, I mean, 12 grand is about right, isn't it?

Well, yeah, because it's a gamble, isn't it?

So if you have 12, 13 grand for a gamble, if that car is great,

the trouble is if that car isn't, it runs a bit hot

as stags apparently sometimes can do.

I've heard, yeah, I've heard, yeah.

You're looking at, you know, four or five grand

to play the head gasket game really, aren't you?

So, yeah, I mean, I think that's a good buy for someone.

Hopefully it's fine.

Do change that number plate though.

It had a very strange looking, rude looking registration,

which was CUN 700L.

Oh, and it was the original plate, I think.

I think it was the original plate.

I thought the DVLA were quite good at rooting out.

Anything could be even slightly seen as rude,

but that's unbelievable.

I did a double take at that because I thought, no.

Somebody put that on there.

You'd want to drive a car with a plate like that.

That's going to buy it for you.

I looked in the paperwork and it was,

it seemed to go back for a decade.

So, yeah, I'm going to change that though.

It looked very rude.

Another car that I got distracted and you said as well,

I bet you pick an Alpha and I did pick an Alpha.

It's going to be an Alpha.

I couldn't resist it.

One of those 105 coupes in 1974, blue Alpha 2000 GTV.

This one had come in from South Africa.

And you called it right.

I did get distracted by that interior

and as you heard, I was sort of gushing over it

as I looked at it because it was,

oh, it was that tan leather and you could smell it.

It was so good.

But in reality, having looked at it

when I went back on Saturday,

the rest of it did actually look a bit tatty.

And I got speaking to an Alpha specialist

who was looking at it as well.

And he kind of said,

you need to throw another five grand of this

to cuddle the engine and do some body work.

And the engine looked all right,

but I think, you know,

you're going to need to throw a bit of money out.

And what do they go for about 20 grand normally,

those 20 to 30?

Yeah.

Also, we've been to a couple of auctions

where they've been unsold.

They've asked big money for it

because they've got lots of Alpha Hull X bits on it,

but they've actually gone unsold

because it's quite a tight market on those

because they are quite expensive

to do any body work on.

Well, yeah, but this went for 31,

you know, including the fees,

which I think is quite chunky.

And another car that I probably would have,

if you were with me,

I'd have gone, oh, not another silver shadow.

Let's not look at another Rolls Royce silver shadow

because obviously you've been banging on about them for ages.

But this one caught my eye.

I just wanted to see that, you know,

if a car is a good example of one,

because I've looked obviously a couple with you

and you've pointed out the bits to look up,

you know, around that back window,

then only go, don't they?

This one was really nice.

Nice arches, retrimmed.

Somebody spent 12 grand on getting the brake service.

12 grand.

Yeah, that is the Rolls Royce Achilles heel

because they're so expensive to fix.

Good God.

But yeah, as you heard from when I was sat in it,

I mean, it's just such a nice...

Do you know what?

I don't know if this is a psychological thing,

but every time I now get into silver shadow,

I feel smaller.

I don't know if just modern cars are getting bigger.

Or you're getting bigger.

There's a kind of proportion issue here, isn't it?

There's a percentage issue.

As you get 10% bigger every year,

the Rolls get smaller.

You might be right,

but I might be morphing into a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow driver.

Well, welcome to middle age.

Welcome to middle age.

Everybody in middle age just actually looks at a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow

and goes, oh yeah, I bet that's comfy.

This one was really nice.

I would have thought that actually you'd be interested

in terms of the values of this.

Yeah.

Color.

Color, color, color, color, color.

That's the problem with Silver Shadows.

That kind of gold.

It's a bit Jim Davidson, Jimmy Tarbuck kind of thing.

No, it looks fantastic.

You need to get...

They do such good colors on those,

like the Tudor Grey and the Caribbean Blue

and the Oxford Blue.

A kind of really restrained color on a Silver Shadow.

Then it looks classy.

In gold, it's just Saturday Night Light Entertainment.

It's shiny floor.

1980.

I mean, you are virtually got a PhD in these now.

1980 Silver Shadow 2.

That's a very late Shadow 2.

So realistically, that should be going as a nice one.

They're kind of like 18 upwards, I think,

for a really nice one.

I mean, the cheaper ones around the 12 to 15s,

but they are usually pretty horrible,

as you and I have seen.

But the nicer ones are kind of 18 plus.

Well, it's got a fair bit of interest

and actually sold for 24.

So I'm guessing that's to a private individual,

because you're not going to make the money

as a dealer on that, are you?

No.

That's good money for Silver Shadow 2.

But there's so few good ones.

If you do find a good one,

you've got to cling on to it

and probably pay what it's worth.

Being at the sale on the day,

the prices were sort of all over the place.

Some stuff, the world wasn't selling.

Some stuff was going for silly money.

The cover star actually didn't sell that.

On this auction, you always get a big thick catalogue.

I've got to hear that.

Which you love, don't you?

I mean, it's like your...

Well, I keep them.

I've got a shelf full of them up there.

Yeah.

Max, he kind of goes off air for about a week

just reading the blooming catalogue.

But they always, on the front of the catalogue,

they always have the kind of star of the show.

And this was a BMW CSL.

It didn't sell.

It said 1972 in the catalogue and 1974 online.

Maybe it was confusion about what year it came from.

But it was estimated it was between 150 and 160.

And by the looks of it, it hasn't sold at all.

So there was a flurry of activity over that.

But it just didn't go.

And then I'll say a lot of stuff didn't hit reserves.

Same problem as the Shadow, though.

Wrong colour.

That was that BMW Salon Gold,

which is better known as Sludge Brown.

It's just the wrong colour.

Those CSLs need to be in a really nice colour

because they've got a beautiful shape to actually sell.

And a brown one, we talked about brown cars,

but a brown CSL for 150,000,

people are probably just going to pass on it.

Being at the auction was fun, though.

Were you a bit jealous that you weren't there?

I think.

Yeah, I was very jealous, actually.

I was having a medical procedure,

which I won't describe what it was.

But if you used to take your cat to the vets in the old days,

the way that the vet used to take the temperature of the cat

is not dissimilar to how I was having a medical procedure.

On that bombshell, there was a moment

that was the what-the-hell moment for me, though,

this auction, which I wish you were there for.

Have a look at this on your screen.

It was literal.

I looked at the person next to me and said,

is this really happening?

It's a 1988 Ford Escort,

Mark IV laser van in red

that looked like a post office van from the late 80s.

And there was a real battle for this,

and it sold for just short of £14,000.

What is this?

Can somebody please explain what this Ford thing is?

Because the Mark IV Escort was the worst one,

and it's the van of the Mark IV Escort,

so it's the worst of the worst,

and somebody spent £13,000 on it.

Why?

It's an exceptionally rare petrol-powered example.

Who cares?

Who's going, oh, do you know what my dream car is?

It's an Escort laser van, but not a diesel one.

A petrol one.

I just want to feel.

If only there was an exceptionally rare petrol one out there.

Good God.

I don't know.

They're presenting an exceptional condition.

I mean, just what are you going to do with it?

Why are you going?

Unless you run a Postman Pat tribute act,

you know, it's not like you're going to do with it.

Time's hard.

We can consider it.

Still to come on episode 51 of the tire kickers,

we've talked about number plates, which is CUN 700L.

Then we're going to talk about winkers, pop-up headlights.

But first, Matt, I saw, actually,

that you'd driven your classic car to the classic car auction.

So you get an extra 10 points for that,

because I do like to walk around the car parks in those auctions

and see who's driven there in a classic car,

because it's an extra benefit.

Yeah, I picked a good day to get historic,

which meant I could run the stag down,

because I've been using it a fair bit, Max,

but it's, you know, it's been with the roof up

and the weather's been a bit...

But, you know, this was the first opportunity,

probably this year, to put the roof down

and actually feel fairly warm.

And I gave it a good run up the motorway,

and I gave it a good hammer.

And, you know, when you feel your car's running well

and it's warmed up and you just can hoon it a little bit,

and I was able to do that with it.

So I drove it to Historix and I was able to use it there,

and then I kind of ragged it around for the day

and really enjoyed it.

I went and saw the specialist, the stag specialist,

asked him to, you know, if he could fix a couple of bits,

a bit of trim.

But I have done quite a lot, actually.

I've done my interior refit, I've finished it.

Which I know you're a little bit mealy-mouthed about,

because it's not original, but...

I'm not mealy-mouthed about it.

I've just heard a lot about it, so...

Possibly Fordham has set in, but tell us about it anyway.

For those of you, the fact that you don't know

the two people left on the planet don't know,

basically, I took my stag apart

and have re-vineered the dashboard

with a well-known kit that you can get,

which gives it a kind of warm-up trim look.

One of the things that I didn't like about my car was the interior.

When I bought it, the exterior and the engine were all

in pucker condition, but the interior was just a bit shabby.

It's got the original Bolsa Woods dashboard.

I think it was called American Oak, but it was split,

and, you know, it was tatty.

When you sat in the car, it was tatty,

so I had to do something with it.

So I've re-vineered it.

Having done a dashboard before, I thought I could do it.

So I've tackled it.

I took it out piece by piece.

I learned from my mistakes last time I did it,

and I've actually done it, and it looks great.

And a friend sat in the car the other day and went,

wow, it looks really good.

I'm really, really pleased with it.

I've done the dials.

I've put new green LEDs in the dials,

which are factory kind of color, but they're super, super bright now.

The interior just feels more, more, much more luxurious

than it did before.

There's nothing annoying me.

I've re-sprayed things.

I've just got the pedals to do now,

which I've got to paint, put new rubbers on,

but by the end of it, it's going to look really, really good.

It's already feeling great,

and I'm getting a pleasure from driving it,

so that's really good.

I'll put some pictures up online,

because some of you may be interested.

I can get a sense in that Max is not really that interested anymore,

but I've done it.

I've done it sympathetically.

It looks period.

It looks more like a sort of Jaguar dashboard

than a Stag dashboard now,

but honestly, in the car Max,

it just feels so, so much better.

I've got a last few little bits to do,

and then I'm going to get the car detailed and sorted out.

I need to get some new tyres.

You know, I mentioned about mine being old

in a couple of shows ago.

I actually kind of made a bit of a mistake.

They're not from 2003.

They're from 2013,

but it's still quite a long time ago, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm not sure that's going to be any better, is it,

because they're still going to be pretty tired.

It's one of those things that's difficult to tell, isn't it,

because you don't know how they're going to handle

with new tyres on until you get new tyres.

So you might just have to do it and see what happens,

and see if you feel any better.

But I suppose from a safety point of view,

if I was to strap on a fluorescent jacket

and start lecturing you about speeding,

probably tyres would be quite good to change,

if they're what, 13 years old?

Well, it is the bit that connects you to the road, isn't it?

I mean, on the last car,

I got all four replaced, actually,

and the difference it made, you know,

the steering improved, you know,

just the whole handling of the car was a lot, lot better,

and they weren't that expensive tyres,

actually, sort of mid-range tyres.

So I think it does make a difference.

But here's the thing.

So you go onto the Stag forum,

and you ask what size tyres,

and then you just get, it's like chat GPT,

you go, about six pages and stuff.

I said, well, just one three numbers, thanks.

Nobody can agree on what size tyres to get.

And I think the ones on mine are just a bit too small.

In fact, I took it to the tyre place,

and I meant, you need blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I said to the Stag forum,

I've been told by the tyre place, I need da, da, da, da, da.

And then 20 people had an argument

about what size tyres to get.

So it is really confusing, isn't it?

I mean, because the original ones

are still available, but they're 1,200 pounds

for four of them.

I'm not that much a purist.

What make is that?

Are they Michelins?

Yeah, Michelins, yeah.

And they're of the peculiar, you know,

size with a peculiar tread.

So, you know, I'm not going to spend,

I'm going to spend four hundred, five, you know,

three, four hundred pounds on a new set of tyres,

because I'm only doing, you know, 1,500 miles.

You're not at the ragged edge of grip on every corner, are you?

I mean, it's one of those things.

I'm not in that, though.

Yeah.

The thing is that I do, I am,

I am a little bit OCD about what they look like,

and I'm not, you know, I want to buy something half decent

that looks decent.

So, you start having to go down the rabbit hole

of, like, what's that going to look like on my cars?

I think I've found the answer at you.

I've found the tyre.

But, yeah, I might do something on tyres, actually.

I think I might do a special on it,

which hopefully doesn't sound too boring,

because I think it's really quite confusing.

Apparently, it's the number one topic.

Certainly, I'm going to try and stag for it.

What tyres to get, which seems bonkers, doesn't it?

More than overheating.

That's a thing of the past.

Yeah, no, probably second to the overheating,

and also, why is the car falling apart?

You're listening to the tyre kicker.

There's now plenty of chat on our socials

about our last episode where we asked

what was the best classic car decade ever?

Ever.

Can we have some reverb on ever?

No, that doesn't work.

Back to the comments.

My classic wheels on Instagram says it's tricky,

you know, picking the best decade,

but thinking of some of the better cars from those eras,

I think I'd say the 60s.

So many iconic cars and designs

with all that chrome and curves.

I hear you, I hear you.

The 90s would be the last, though,

he says, if I was ordering from top to bottom,

it was bland and boring.

I totally, totally agree.

Now, we talked about the E-Type,

probably being the best car of the best decade,

and Kevin Bryant on Facebook says,

I listened to this while working on the E-Type this afternoon,

lying face up in the footwell,

trying to access the choke cable.

It didn't feel like one of the most beautiful cars,

but you're right, the 50s, 60s and 70s were probably the best.

Jeremy Hinchley on Instagram agrees

with our pick of the best decade,

saying the 1960s without a doubt.

Cars, he says, were just beautiful then.

And a final word to the guys at Californian classics up in whole,

they restore NGBs and say it's hard to pick just one decade,

as most of the cars they like working on

are from the mid-60s to the mid-70s.

Well, yeah, but it doesn't work like that.

Yeah, exactly.

One decade.

Oh, the 60s or the 70s.

A quick word on brown cars.

We mentioned in episode 49 that people have gone off brown cars.

We're sort of a bit down on brown now,

but the conclusion was that brown cars are often just a big tell,

especially when you can have more colourful stuff.

Well, listener Mark Faulner sent us a photo

of this Aston Martin he spotted in London in brown.

And look at this, Max, does that prove that brown is sexy?

Yes, but I don't think that's factory brown, is it?

Because it is metallic.

So I'm not sure they did a DB4 in metallic brown,

but it does look good.

But then to be honest, that car would look good

in any kind of, wouldn't it?

Well, yeah, yeah.

I mean, even if you painted that in BL colours,

like the Mosey Yellow or something would look good.

A posh car, you know, like an expensive Aston or a Ferrari

is going to look good in brown anyway.

Lots of little stuff on our socials, by the way,

including some classics I spotted out in Spain at the beach.

And that just looks so good in the sun.

Max's picks the auction lots at the recent race retro

as well are on there.

And also, Max, have a look at this.

This is on our Facebook.

I'll put this on our Facebook page.

This is a house for sale where the whole ground floor is a garage.

Now, to describe it, it looks like a new-build house.

But basically, if you go to picture one there, Max,

you'll see the new-build house.

It's like a double-fronted house with a garage and a red front door.

If you then go to the floor plan, you realise

why one of the windows is blocked out,

because all of the downstairs is a garage.

Yeah, that's good, isn't it?

There's an entrance hall, a toilet, and then there's just this big garage.

Look, it's like a multi-storey car park underneath.

Yeah, but it's filled with.

It's got a modern Mini Cooper, a 2016 Mini Cooper,

a Mark V Golf, and some kind of Passat.

I mean, what a waste.

That's just waiting to have an MGTF in there and a TR7, isn't it?

The tyre kickers.

Now, we hit 50,000 downloads in the last episode.

The stats are interesting.

Well, maybe not to you, but to me, they are.

Our biggest audience is here in the UK with 67% of downloads,

but second is Australia, where there's 7% of our listeners,

most of them in Melbourne, interestingly,

and 6% of our listeners are in the US.

So that's either G'day or Howdy.

We'll have a look at some Australian classifieds next time

and see what classics of a sale down under, particularly in Melbourne.

Yeah, we're not stalking you,

but we do get some basic stats on where you're listening.

And I always find it really interesting, Max,

that the kind of random places that people are listening in.

I love seeing the new cities that come up.

We have some in St. Maritz, Pimpana in Queensland,

Portucket in Rhode Island, and Knoxville, Tennessee.

I saw in Almeria in Spain as well, somebody listening there.

It's really, really fascinating where people go.

It gives us a top four, doesn't it, on the stats of the most recent cities.

And I think there was like three glamorous ones and one that said Grimsby.

So it's always interesting to see the mix.

Wherever you are, we really, really appreciate you listening.

And sorry if you are in Grimsby because we've just insulted you.

So I mentioned the TR7 earlier as one of my guilty pleasures.

One of the reasons I love TR7s, though, are those pop-up headlights.

Now, when I was growing up in the 1970s,

they were the icing on the wedge-shaped cake.

Now, since then, I've always been a sucker for a hidden headlight.

I'm thinking Ferrari 308 GT4, Lotus Esprit Series 1, Porsche 94944,

or even the Mazda MX-5.

Yeah, they were cool.

I mean, I can only think of the one-eyed wink of cars that were broken headlights

because they didn't always work for very long, did they?

So certainly one would slowly pop up.

I mean, I like classic cars with a face as well.

And the pop-up, while it was cool in the 70s,

I don't know, I don't know if it hides the eyes of the car.

Yeah, but they were there for a reason when designers were chasing shapes

that slipped through the wind.

The big headlights of 60s cars were like a narrow dynamic brick wall.

Now, pop-ups hid the lights and smoothed the shapes.

Well, when they were closed, at least.

Think about the Lotus Elan, the Lamborghini Kuntach, the Aston Martin Lagonda,

Porsche 914, and here's a picture of the TR7 with the lights up.

Now, this is one of the original launch pictures from,

this is a piece of 76 TR7 in white with steel wheels and the headlights up.

Now, that is both cool and also unusual

because I remember from the press launch of the TR7,

they were early pre-production cars and the headlights actually didn't work

and they launched it some of it at night.

So journalists were driving around with no lights,

which is a classic TR7 moment.

But when the lights work, I think they're really cool.

Yeah, I mean, it did look cool.

It was quite space-aged in the 70s.

You say the wedge shape was quite space-aged.

We thought that was quite futuristic back then

and these pop-up headlights were cool.

And it was a bit of a showpiece, wasn't it,

when you had a car with pop-up headlights,

oh, go on, pop the headlights up.

And then as you say, you know, go off now,

it either didn't work or one came up slowly.

One went down slowly and they were a bit rubbish.

But with them up, they do look cool.

I'm surprised that you say this is from the original launch

because looking in the car, there's two old blokes with bald heads.

So that's the perfect kind of, that could have been yesterday.

TR7 driver and passenger from yesterday.

But yeah, come on, show me some more of your pop-ups.

What else have you got?

Here is probably one of the best, I think, pop-up headlights.

It's in the Series 1 Lotus Esprit.

Now, can you see that on your screen?

This Lotus Esprit Series 1 is red

with the chrome mirrors, the chrome wall-phrase alloys,

and the two headlights popped up.

Doesn't that just look cool?

That gives it a kind of face

that it doesn't have when the headlights are down.

And you can really see the kind of look of it

is very different to all the other cars.

And also, the other thing about pop-up headlights,

from when you're driving or in the passenger,

you can see them come up.

So it's a bit of kind of car theater.

That's why I really like those pop-up headlights.

Yeah, I mean, this moves on one stage further,

because these are double headlights, aren't they?

So that it pops up four sealed units, basically.

And it does look cool.

I mean, it's the Series 1 Esprit that are really, really nice.

Oh, they're great, aren't they?

Every time I see them, I kind of think this is a great car.

Again, guilty pleasure because they go so wrong so badly.

I like other people having them.

I'm not sure I'd be brave to buy one myself.

Well, what's low to stand for?

It's lots of trouble, usually serious, isn't it?

But yeah, I mean, I know people get nuts for the Bond one,

but I think these ones are super, super clean.

But yeah, those pop-up headlights just do make it

because they were a party trick.

And then when you pop up like double headlights like that,

I'll give you that, they do look cool.

Not so cool for pedestrians, if you got hit with it,

because you would be not only bouncing off the bonnet,

you'd be scraping bits off as you go.

I mean, the safety regulators didn't like them, did they?

They weren't aerodynamic when they were up.

They kind of always went wrong with complicated motors and pulleys,

kind of getting hit by all the road stuff

and obviously even gets clogged up and doesn't work.

Plus, the lights got smaller,

so they didn't need to take up so much space.

I mean, where was the last pop-up headlights?

When did they go out of fashion?

I mean, they clung on to the 2000s, I think.

The Lotus Esprit had them to about 2004-ish, I think.

Then the Corvettes from the C2 to the C5 had them.

But I think the Corvette C5 finished around the same time,

actually 2004, probably some kind of legislation.

And also, there were some clunkers of the pop-up.

Now, if you look on your screen now,

I'm going to give you the Volvo 480.

Oh, yuck, yeah. Now, that's not looking so good.

That looks like a sort of cross-frog, doesn't it?

You know, it's like an angry frog.

You've upset it or you've poked it and the eyes have come up.

Because they've done that Volvo thing.

They've put big indicators and big side lights

and big fog lights on it,

but then put tiny little pop-up headlights,

and so it doesn't look right.

So all the kind of mouth is all wrong

and they're a bit of an odd shape anyway.

There's 480 ESs, but that wasn't a great pop-up headlight.

You know, the pop-up, which is fantastic,

could not save that design.

What would you say was your number one pop-up pin-up?

This one just basically shuts the door

on any complaints about the pop-up headlight

because if you look at your screen now, the Ferrari F40.

Now, this is a picture of one in red, obviously,

and it's got the headlights up and on.

And it just looks tremendous.

It looks both angry and sexy at the same time.

Now, the F40 is a beautiful looking car.

I've not found a bad F40 angle ever,

but with the lights up, it just looks like it's going flat out.

It's a fast car and with the headlights up, it looks even faster.

If you are on an auto strada

and you looked in the rearview mirror and you fit, you know,

and you saw that coming behind you with the headlights on,

you just get out of the way because it's just perfectly encapsulating

the face and the anger of an F40.

It's quick. It's fast. Get out of my way.

Well, hopefully you're still with us.

You didn't pop off while we were talking about pop-ups.

But if you've stuck with us this long, thank you for your patience.

And don't forget to join us again when we're talking

mini classics on the next episode.

Have you got a small space?

If so, what's the best mini classic to fit it?

And also, as lots of our listeners are in Australia,

it's time to dive through the Aussie classifies

and see what's for sale down under.

Yeah, nah, mate.

Also, ice, ice, baby.

Not the Americans with guns,

but what's the best in-car entertainment for a classic car?

We talk stereos, graphic equalizers and retro radios.

If you've enjoyed this episode and that's a big if,

please tell a friend.

Now, it's time for us to go.

Thank goodness.

See you next time. Goodbye.

Bye.

Yeah.

Rolls-Royce Rollsroyce Silver

TR7

Volkswagen Beetle

Citroen Traction Avant

TR6

Lancia Delta

Mercedes-Benz 190E

Ford Transit

Mercury Comet

Jaguar Etypes

Porsche 928

Ferrari Dino

DB4

Volkswagen Passat

Lotus Esprit

Ferrari 308

Porsche 1 Porsche

Porsche 94944

Mazda Mx5

Aston Martin Lagonda

Lotus Elan

Lamborghini Kuntach

Porsche 914

Chevrolet Corvette

Ferrari F40

Mini Classics

About this episode

Original notes