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It's 2026 and if you're still paying rent without Bilt, it's time for a change.

Bilt is a loyalty program for renters that rewards you for your biggest monthly expense, rent.

I don't like paying rent and I bet you don't either, but Bilt makes it feel a little better.

Bilt is the loyalty program for renters that rewards you monthly with points and exclusive benefits in your neighborhood.

Let me explain. With Bilt, every rent payment earns you points that can be used towards flights, hotels,

lift rides, Amazon.com purchases, and so much more.

And here's something I'm really excited about.

Starting in February, Bilt members can earn points on mortgage payments for the first time.

Soon you'll be able to get rewarded wherever you live and unlock exclusive benefits

with more than 45,000 restaurants, fitness studios, pharmacies, and other neighborhood partners.

Personally, I'd use my Bilt points for travel.

Turning rent into flight feels like a win.

It's simple.

Paying rent is better with Bilt, and soon owning a home will be better with Bilt too.

Earn rewards and get something back wherever you live.

Join the loyalty program for renters at joinbilt.com.acast.

That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com.acast.

Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you.

I'm Richard Porter.

I'm Johnny Smith.

And this is On the Other Side of Things, the Smith & Sniff spinoff in which we answer your questions.

Here we go again with some questions from listeners.

Can I start with this one from a listener called Paul.

Do it.

Who says, Hello, you pair of meaty sleeves.

I'm a proud generation one Nissan Leaf owner.

The car is approaching 100,000 miles and still going strong.

Or I was driving around in it recently.

I was in a good mood.

I'd engaged in some retail therapy, buying a new camera or something.

And coming towards me with another Leaf.

A 2016 Sonic Blue.

It was even an ascenter.

That's the trim level, isn't it?

Identical to my car.

Filled with the joys of life, I gave the driver a cheery wave.

Slowed down and lowered my driver's window.

The other driver stopped alongside with a slightly quizzical look on her face.

Can I congratulate you on your choice of car and colour, I said.

She sort of mumbled agreement and still confused.

She drove off.

It was then something became clear.

I was in my wife's MG and not in my Leaf.

Oh no, really?

Oh, that's sad, wasn't it?

I did not see that coming.

It really amused me.

Yeah, it's robbed of a certain context that makes it all quite...

Oh no!

It starts to seem weird.

That's so bad.

It's so creepy.

That's like a curb your enthusiasm kind of move, isn't it?

Yes, yes.

Paul's question is, what conversation have you had or action have you done

that has confused other road users the most?

Oh gosh, there's been loads.

I remember one where the tyre...

There was a back tyre which I think must have been almost flat.

This was on the motorway and it was smoking.

The tyre was starting to smoke.

It was obviously getting very hot from being, I don't know, 4 psi or whatever it was.

And the person driving was just rigid.

One of those people that probably fears the whole concept of driving anyway.

I was looking dead ahead and I went up beside them once or twice

and did a sort of point down.

Like, there's not a lot you can do when you're gesticulating, is there?

There's not a great deal you can do.

But I pointed down at the wheel, as if to say.

And they accelerated and didn't really make eye contact with me.

And it started to get worse and worse.

And I thought this tyre was going to go boom.

And then this car's going to be like one of those cannons

that they put under cars in films

where they do the big corkscrew roll, like the A-team.

Or fast off of Furious.

And so I just panicked and I sped up

and I went over to them again and went,

no, no, it's like your tyre, your tyre's going to burst.

And they just shook their head at me.

Oh no, whatever you're trying to sell me, I'm not interested.

And they just kept driving.

So I backed right off because I was convinced

just all hell was going to break loose.

I just, I don't know whatever became of them.

Genuinely don't know what became of them.

I do it quite often with people

who it's mostly in the winter months

who have an entirely steamed up car

who have not worked out how heating ventilation works in a car

and they don't want to put their windows down.

They just sit in what looks like

one of those Victorian hot rooms

where you put exotic plants.

And it just annoys me.

I'm like, you can't see properly

and there's going to be mouldy spores

that are going to be going into your lungs.

Yeah, I know.

Funny enough though, I thought about this the other day.

It's not related to Paul's message

but I remember when the first generation LEAF was quite new

I think pretty early on it developed this

slightly sort of cult following.

You know, because it was such a novelty at that point

to have any sort of EV really.

And they, so early owners of them

you didn't buy one of those by accident.

You were sort of all in on it.

And a friend of mine who's also a car journal

went to a Nissan LEAF enthusiast's meet-up.

Oh gosh.

And he said one of the most striking things

was he was talking to this guy who said

oh I never use the air conditioning

because it damages your range.

You know, I just keep the blower off all together.

And if the cars steaming up, you know,

I've just got these cloths here to wipe the windows away

and he's got this massive collection of damp cloths in the car

but he's just like

well those are generating more condensation surely.

So you're in this infinite loop of moisture

that's never going to go into your head.

So just run the blower a little bit

or not the air conditioning, I get that.

But you can't all open the windows.

Don't use damp cloths.

That's just, I mean, it's making me itch

just thinking about that.

Just a selection of damp, slimy cloths in the car.

Just awful.

It really stuck with me that.

And because there's a cloth in my Honda

and I suddenly thought, oh no,

I don't want to get into a damp cloth situation

like the Nissan Leaf and this club.

Similar to Paul, I suppose,

well not similar,

because we've talked about this before.

Old Defender owners tend to give each other a little,

often quite minimalist wave.

But since getting my Defender back in the last few months

I've been driving it quite a bit.

So I've got back into the habit of waving

and I have a couple of times accidentally

given someone in another Defender a wave

when I've not been in my Defender.

Oh no.

That's a bit knobby.

You're in the wrong character.

You're in a different character and you didn't know it.

Yes, exactly.

The one that sort of haunts me a little bit

and probably fits Paul's question

about confusing another road user is

I was coming up a very narrow street

near where I used to live in London.

In my Rover 75, actually, it was that long ago

and this guy in an espace,

remember this was in a Mark IV espace

was coming the other way

and instead of pulling in to a T-junction

that was up ahead,

he kept coming down this

there was only room for one car to go through

because a parked car is on either side.

He kept coming

and I was like, if I have to reverse,

I'm going to have to reverse like a quarter of a mile

to the next gap,

whereas you could have just gone into that thing.

So the road wasn't so narrow

that we couldn't do a proper squeezy-squeezy.

It was really, it was horribly tight

and as we got alongside,

I put my window down and he put his window down.

I went, why didn't you just wait back there

and he got really balshy really quickly

and went, why didn't you wait?

And I was like, because you were nearer to somewhere

where you could pull in.

No, I wasn't. I was already on my way.

You came towards me and I was like, that's impossible.

I'm from further back.

And it all got a bit

and he just went, you should have fucking waited.

And I went, shit off.

And he went, what?

I suddenly realized that shit off wasn't strong enough.

No, it's partridge.

It's very partridge.

It's partridge.

And the worst thing was, I was in my Rover 75.

We'd just come back from, it was a Sunday.

We'd come back from a friend's child's christening.

I was in the car with the person

who had until very recently been my girlfriend

but we had then split up.

So the atmosphere in the car was not great anyway.

Oh no.

And so after this guy went, what?

Me saying shit off in a slightly pathetic way.

We both moved forward so our windows were at parallel

and I was able to then carry on the road.

And she just went, shit off.

What was that?

I was like, I don't know.

I was already wound up as well.

I was like, don't say anything.

She's like, but shit off.

Shit off.

That's just rubbish.

And I was like, yeah.

It's not cool.

Guys, I can still see this guy's face.

He was an older guy with grey hair

and his face where he just went, what?

That's it.

Shit off.

I was like, I sort of, you know,

thrown a little bit of damp tissue at him

and he'd gone, is that all you've got?

Is that all you've got?

Yeah.

Terrible. Terrible.

Haunts me.

And this would have been 20 plus years ago

and it still haunts me.

Okay.

Anyway.

Well, I've got a letter from Simon Sterly.

Morning.

Oh, it might not be morning.

Morning.

You couple of well-practiced Spower Sir Men.

A cautionary tale for listeners.

I think I've developed a form of Tourette's syndrome

after listening far too long to this bloody podcast,

starting with Folds and Trains.

It's...

And more recently, spanning an extended lexicon.

My daughter now joins in by yelling,

Miata at any FX5 we pass.

I blame the US TV shows for that.

And we both yell,

Wanker at any shiny Chelsea tractor.

Oh, God.

Wow.

Yeah, that's strong.

More recently, though, we developed a game

where you spot any vehicle that's basically a golf underneath.

Golf, T-Rock, Beetle, A3, Q3, Ibiza, etc.

There are loads.

Yeah.

And you have to be the first to point it out

and declare golf in the flattest monotone voice possible.

I personally try for a Nigel Mansel-style voice.

Golf.

So my question is, do you guys have any phrases

similar that you can't help yourself saying out loud

whilst driving?

I feel like you've got a few, Rich.

PS, whilst choosing her first car,

my daughter came across a forgotten classic,

the Vauxhall Tigra Twin Top.

And I found a spares or a pair one for 350 sheets

in a lovely metallic blue,

which only needed a new front wing,

50 quid off eBay, right colour even,

and it's back on the road.

Potential festival of the unexceptional transport

for next year.

Well.

Yeah.

Gosh, bargain for a Tigra.

This is good.

I'm trying to think.

I've probably done loads of this sort of thing

in the past.

My brother's the ultimate for this kind of thing.

He's got nicknames for all sorts of cars, isn't he?

I know he has.

That's the problem.

He has.

Yeah, he does.

He says mouth-breather a lot to people who,

you know when you flash someone

to pull out of a junction before you go in,

because it's just a bit easier.

If you flash once and you sort of count to two

and they haven't reacted,

my brother would just go,

mouth-breather, like that.

Because it is a bit, and it is annoying.

It's really annoying.

I get that.

You're giving them that opportunity,

but then there's that really awkward pause.

I do sometimes say foglight fucker under my voice.

If somebody's driving around with fog lights

on when it's not foggy whatsoever,

there was someone actually yesterday

bearing in mind it was a really sunny hot day yesterday,

and they came in hot and cut me up,

and they had rear fogs on,

and I'm thinking they must have just got in the car

and just battered the switch and not noticed.

Or just like poured at the dashboard

a bit until everything came on.

Yeah.

I'm good.

I'm off.

Yeah, that's reorienting as well.

I don't know why this came to mind,

but when the, do you remember when the MG3,

the original MG3 went on sale,

all the adverts seemed to major just around the word fun.

Yes, I do remember this.

Yeah.

And for some reason,

I borrowed an MG3 to review,

and all the time I was driving it,

I couldn't stop going fun.

Yes.

Fun.

Yes.

Just to myself.

It carried.

I couldn't stop it.

And every time I saw an MG3, I go fun.

And then for some reason in my head,

I don't know why I'm not sure how this happened.

I think it might have been something to do with it.

I feel like MG put out something

that had a typo in it.

Right.

And so I started putting a typo into fun in my head.

What?

So that it was a spell FNU.

And so then whenever I saw an MG3, I'd go FNU.

I knew you would come up with the best answer for this question.

And to this day, when I see an original MG3,

which thankfully is not that often,

I can't help but go FNU in my head

and sometimes out loud.

I think if I ever see,

if I ever see or I'm driving

a classic convertible car,

the sort of thing that's quite tally-ho and slow,

or I see somebody the other way in a kind of Morgan-ish,

pre-war-ish car, I always just go,

I know. I know.

I know.

With like a big four smile on your face,

like almost like a puppet.

I know.

I feel like a kind of posh old money marionette.

I know.

And I turned.

I turned to whoever's in the passenger seat

with, I turned my whole body and not my neck.

So, you know, like a puppet would.

I know.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, it's just, it's,

I've done it to my kids now for all of the years

that they've been alive and they're completely over it.

They're just like, not funny.

Don't do it.

Not funny stop.

So, there we go, Simon.

That's that.

Yeah, I hope that's some answer there to that.

Yeah, we're both quite strange.

Reggie, I just sold my car online.

Let's go, Grandpa.

Wait, you did?

Yep, on Carvana.

Just put in the license plate, answered a few questions,

got an offer in minutes.

Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame.

You don't say.

Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow.

Talk about fast.

Wow.

Way to go.

So, about that picture frame.

Ah, forget about it.

Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested.

Car selling made easy on Carvana.

Pick up these man-fly.

It's 2026 and if you're still paying rent without Bilt,

it's time for a change.

Bilt is a loyalty program for renters

that rewards you for your biggest monthly expense, rent.

I don't like paying rent and I bet you don't either,

but Bilt makes it feel a little better.

Bilt is the loyalty program for renters

that rewards you monthly with points

and exclusive benefits in your neighborhood.

Let me explain.

With Bilt, every rent payment earns you points

that can be used towards flights, hotels,

lift rides, Amazon.com purchases, and so much more.

And here's something I'm really excited about.

Starting in February, Bilt members can earn points

on mortgage payments for the first time.

Soon, you'll be able to get rewarded wherever you live

and unlock exclusive benefits

with more than 45,000 restaurants, fitness studios,

pharmacies, and other neighborhood partners.

Personally, I'd use my Bilt points for travel.

Turning rent into flights feels like a win.

It's simple.

Paying rent is better with Bilt,

and soon owning a home will be better with Bilt, too.

Earn rewards and get something back wherever you live.

Join the loyalty program for renters

at joinbilt.com.acast.

That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com.acast.

Make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you.

I've got a question here from a listener called James

who says,

I've been pondering something lately.

I'm convinced that certain albums

simply sound best in certain cars.

Yeah.

Almost as though the record sleeve ought to come

with serving suggestions like a wine pairing.

Completely.

For example, Paul Weller's Stanley Road

is surely best served in a Rover 827 Coupe

in nightfire red with cream leather and red paper.

That's so specific.

And in my own experience,

Money for Nothing by Diastrates has never sounded finer

than when played through the stereo

of my much-missed Saab 95 Aero.

Oh.

And Jilted Generation was perfect back in 2005

in my Nissan 200SX S13.

Gosh.

Fleetwood Max Rumors, that's clearly a Mercedes R107 SL

with the roof down.

Yeah.

The driver marinating in an otherwise quantity

of aftershave.

Yeah.

Portis Head surely belongs in a Renault Avanti

rather than that frankly dreadful Nissan Primera.

The song will forever be tainted by the baffling adverse

in which Portis Head's Dumb was paired with Dolphins

and that dog shit car.

Steady on, James.

Nothing wrong with the Primera.

The dog shit car.

I also don't remember that ad.

No.

I was just trying to think of it myself.

Dolphins.

I loved that.

Oh, was it?

I loved that first album by Portis.

James says the Triumph Stag has to be steely dan.

Just imagine singing along to Pegg while keeping one eye

on the ever-increasing temperature gauge

as you sit in traffic.

Do you chaps have any other classic album car pairings

that spring to mind?

We used to play this game a lot.

We did amongst ourselves.

Yeah, you and I used to do it a lot.

Pre-dates the podcast by years, doesn't it,

where we'd message one another and go,

here's the setting.

What's the song?

Or here's the car.

This is what the weather's doing.

What am I listening to?

We did.

We used to do it.

In fact, I might have written a few down over the years,

but there's definitely...

See, I would have gone with the Stag.

I would have gone with

Come Up and See Me, Make Me Smile

off of Coagley Rebel.

Oh.

What a great song.

That's a great song.

And I would have had a little cheeky little medallion

and a completely yellow gold watch.

Yes.

On the door, just resting on the door.

I'm in the Stag.

I'm listening to Coagley Rebel.

Perfect.

It is, isn't it?

Because Coagley Rebel,

it's a very British song, I think.

Obviously because Steve Harley and Coagley Rebel are British,

but what I mean is it's kind of...

It's jolly 70s, upbeat 70s.

Well, it's a very angry song.

That's the thing.

The music's quite jolly,

but it's a very angry song.

He's very bitter in the song.

It's about his former bandmates, I think.

I didn't know that.

Only Metal Water Boar is about money.

It's a great track.

Probably my favourite song in the whole world.

Is it really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, great.

Come up and sleeve me, Make Me Smile.

Come up and sleeve me.

It's also, if you are a pedant about this,

the song is perversely called Make Me Smile.

Brackets come up and see me,

which is a bit unwieldy,

but it's been covered by various people,

including Eurasia, weirdly.

It's not a brilliant cover.

Gerand Geran, also not a brilliant cover.

Just throw these bands under a bus, why don't you?

Well, no, because they've got their bands.

I love Eurasia, I love Gerand Geran.

He's nothing against either of those bands,

but they just didn't do, I think, an amazing job.

You've just got me thinking now,

just talking about Gerand Geran.

You know Skin Trade by Gerand Geran?

Yes.

To me, Skin Trade would be

extra GTE, Mark II, convertible.

But you'd be, I'd be a woman driving it.

I'd just feel like it would be better

if I was a woman in that situation.

I don't know why, I haven't got any reasons, really.

I know what you mean.

And it would be loud, I'd be playing it loud

and unashamedly, because it's a big song that.

It's got some quite echoey drums in it from memory.

It's all big, isn't it?

It's very big.

It's production.

Also, I was going to say,

Susie Quattro covered Make Me Smile.

That's not a good version at all.

Did she destroy it?

Again, nothing against Susie Quattro, but just no.

But the wedding present, for people who know them,

their cover of Make Me Smile is frigging fantastic.

And I urge you to go and listen to it.

Apparently, it was Steve Harley's favourite version of that song.

Oh!

So it's got the actual endorsement of Steve Harley himself.

But no, I love that, because the stag, very British car,

for a very British song.

And because the song is superficially jolly,

but actually sort of a bit angry and bitter underneath.

Perfect for stag ownership, where you want to enjoy it,

but it's overheated again or something.

It makes you sad.

It's brilliant.

I remember a slight name drop,

Jack Osbourne, Aussie's son.

I remember going out for the night with him once in LA,

and I've said this before, probably,

he picked me up from my hotel in his Camaro RS.

I think it was a 1968 beautiful car.

And we were going through town,

a typical hot summer night in LA, windows right down.

And we weren't actually listening to any music.

We were just talking.

But I've replayed that moment in my head

for quite a long time afterwards.

And I think it was definitely Bob Seger

and the Silver Bullet Band Hollywood Nights,

because we were...

Yeah.

I know it's cliche.

And it is cliche, but who cares?

I'm a foreigner.

And at that moment in America,

going down those streets in that car with Jack,

it just felt so right.

It was great.

Do you know a song that I don't know why,

but to this day, whenever I hear it,

and it's a great song,

and I absolutely love it as a song,

but it is Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac.

Yeah.

But it reminds me,

not of an R107SL, as James suggested,

but it always makes me think of a sales rep

in the 80s or 90s in a cavalier,

like a two-litre GLS cavalier.

Yeah.

And he's absolutely drumming the steering wheel,

because it's got quite...

It's got heavy, heavy toms in it, hasn't it?

Heavy toms, hasn't it?

Yeah.

It's like as a mate of ours once...

When I...

This song was on in the car,

we were in the car together,

and he just went,

big mick on the skins there.

Sorry.

Yes.

Yes, I suppose he is.

Yeah.

Go Your Own Way,

but very specifically,

sort of slightly aggressively swerving through a contra-flow,

because they're so excited by the music.

I don't know why I think that.

Well, I think we mean...

This is one of those things

that we could turn into a flipping episode in itself, really.

But if anyone's got any other suggestions

and why they think it's important,

let us know.

Yeah.

Cars, car and music matches.

I've got a...

Alistair May has written to us to say,

listen, you couple of SSGs,

interesting quandary I need advice on.

I've got three cars

in which I could start a project on.

I've got an 80s Range Rover,

which needs all of the welding.

I love that.

It's just all of the welding.

All of it.

In brackets, least viable.

I've got a Beetle

that's been sat for 20 plus years

and I'm unsure of how sound it is,

or when it last ran

before going into the back of a lorry body.

That sounds like somebody squirreled away a problem.

Yes.

And the third on this list,

and most likely to get done,

a Merck 198 that's been sat in the garage since 2014,

it didn't run when it was stood up.

And to be honest, the engine was not strong

and had issues anyway.

This is such a sad negative email.

The plan was to get a 2.3 compressor,

either an early SLK or CLK

and replace the asthmatic 2.0 liter.

But not being too mechanically minded.

I've got no idea where to start,

exclamation mark,

CMTMB, Alistair.

Alistair, if you're not very mechanically minded

and you've got three sounds like

pretty broken cars,

I don't want to be a downer on you.

And your surnames may.

I don't know whether you're related to James,

because you know he's obviously quite handy

and likes to take his time over this stuff.

I'm going to say

this.

One of the first cars I ever photographed

when I was trying to get my foot in the door

from magazine was actually a guy

that had put a Beetle body

on a Range Rover chassis.

What's your...

And it was really good.

It was a V8 Range Rover

with the yellow Beetle on the top.

And it was actually lots of fun.

But I think in this instance,

Merck 190, 100%.

I know you said you want to put a 2.3 in it

and I don't know the relationship

with those engines because I just

off the top of my head can't think.

But if you just want to get a car back on the road,

why don't you just go again

with another Merck-related engine?

You could put a 6 in it.

And recommission the rest of it,

assuming the car's not rotten.

Because that would have gone up in value

since you put it away in 2014.

And they're a really good car.

And we've said in a podcast before,

for a whole swathe of younger people,

the Merck 190 is like a really aspirational car

even with a weedy engine.

So I'd probably go with that.

And the Beetle,

unless it's sentimental,

if it's post-1970,

I probably wouldn't bother.

I know that sounds brutal,

you'll spend a lot of money

writing the wrongs and it will be worth three grand.

Which is a shame.

It is a real shame.

So unless it's sentimental,

I'd probably leave that one.

And I don't know about all the welding,

it scares the shit out of me.

Saying an 80s Range Rover

sees all underlined all the welding.

Yeah, I...

The Range Rover is probably best as

parts for someone else.

Would you say?

Yeah, you're right about the 190 as well.

I don't know.

Is Alistair being modest

when he says he's not mechanically minded?

I don't know.

Quite honestly,

these all sound like projects

for someone highly competent

with a lot of spare time.

Yeah, exactly.

You're either cash rich in time poor

or time rich in cash poor, typically.

And so you've just got to make that decision, really.

I think you've got to decide also

how ruined these cars are.

I mean, if the Beetle and the Range Rover are ruined,

then sometimes it's better to just

find a better donor, a better car

and use these as donors.

That's what I would say.

Yeah, also,

it sounds like all of these cars

have been sat for quite a long time.

So the truth is, Alistair,

you're not going to miss them if they're gone.

I would just get rid,

get something that you can actually use and enjoy.

Don't get bogged down.

Honestly, if you enjoy working on cars,

that's one thing,

but it sounds like maybe you don't, I don't know.

It's quite sensible here on.

It is, but you can get bogged down

and then the love can disappear

and you've got to decide why you're doing it.

I enjoy the process of a lot of them

and some of them you just have to make a decision.

Sentiment's the real key here.

If the thing is sentimental,

then you spend as much money and time on it

as you want because it's that car

that represents that thing.

And that's why I'd happily,

I would happily roost a tail,

30 grand on my beetle.

I don't give a shit because it's...

Would you?

Yeah, well, next year I will have had it 30 years,

which makes me sound elderly,

but I don't...

Well, another truth.

Yes, anyway.

I know.

Well, I don't know.

Like you said, don't want to be a downer,

but it really does sound like perhaps

the answer to which project to start is none

in this case.

But there may be money locked up in those cars

which you can liberate to go and buy something else.

Exactly.

Sell one, rescue two,

or sell two, rescue one.

There's lots of other options.

But yeah, be realistic, please.

Yes, realistic.

That's what we're looking for, realism.

Just one more very quick question from a listener

called George who says,

Hello, you floundering fleshy flutes.

Recently in Glasgow, where I live,

my commute has been interrupted by the filming

of the new Spider-Man film.

Glasgow is acting as a double for New York City.

Is it?

While hundreds of people...

Yeah, I've seen this mentioned elsewhere online,

but George says,

while hundreds of people gather to get photos

of the swinging bastards,

I've taken great joy in seeing US spec cars

in the UK with full New York plates.

This is included NYPD Dodge Chargers,

Ford Fusions and US spec Chrysler,

which has made my commute more interesting.

Often, when I see a non-UK plate car,

I rub a neck to get where it's come from.

My question is, where is the place you've been?

You're still laughing about Spider-Man being described

as a swinging bastard, aren't you?

That's just way funnier than the question.

You're swinging bastard.

George says, my question is, where's the place you've been?

I'll do that again.

George says, my question is, where have you been,

where you've seen the most unlikely registration plate?

Bonus points for unlikely car.

Oh!

An example of this is a social media personality

who, while car spotting in New Jersey,

spotted a Skoda Yeti on UK plates.

I'm still fascinated as to why and how it was there.

That is weird, isn't it?

That is really weird.

Yeah, this does remind me of something that I saw once.

In fact, speaking as we were of being in Los Angeles,

it was when I was in Los Angeles,

or certainly Southern California,

on the freeway,

and I saw a car on British plates,

but the rear British number plates

had then had a US license plate

screwed over the top of it,

which I've seen people do before

and like old Minis and things in the US.

But what made this particularly weird,

and this was probably about 15 years ago or more,

was that the car was a right-hand drive Smart Roadster.

Oh, was it? That's interesting.

I just cannot figure out how that was possible

because it wouldn't have fitted within the 25-year rule

in which you're allowed to import cars

that were never actually sold in the US.

The Smart Roadster wasn't sold in the US.

So what was it doing there?

But also it clearly had been registered in some way or other

because it had got an American plate

over the rear British plates.

So I've had, since my Smart Roadster episodes

on the Late Break Show,

I've had a few Americans and Canadians saying,

I would love one of these.

I just can't wait for them to be over the age threshold

or viable.

Yeah, that's a great one.

Goodness, what is the story with that?

Lemonade.

Yeah, isn't it?

Yeah.

I'm trying to think of...

I always think that seeing really large,

exotic things in countries

like small, thrifty cars is odd.

I've seen a Bentley Turbo R

in quite a rural

and probably quite poverty-stricken part of Romania,

which this was ages ago.

This was like 18, 20 years ago

and I thought it looked really strange

and also inappropriate.

And this is when you saw in Romania

still a lot of horses and carts.

And I don't know whether you see many horses and carts

in Romania right now.

I haven't been to Romania for a few years now,

but that was always the odd thing.

But...

Yeah.

Oh, there we go.

All right, well, a brief but hopefully informative answer.

We will do this all again next Friday,

normal show on Monday.

If you have a question for us,

hello at smithandsniff.com.

Put Otisot at the start of your subject line

if it's a question, helps us to find them

because we're disorganised.

We'll answer more questions next Friday.

Until then, goodbye.

Bye, guys.

On the other side of things

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we have about trying to get our lives right.

Because we're still doing a lot of stuff wrong.

But who isn't?

That's why each week we're talking about the topics

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OTOSOT 67

About this episode

Nissan Leaf

Renault Espace

Mazda MX-5 / Miata

Opel Tigra

MG3

Saab 95

Nissan 200Sx

Cadillac Fleetwood

Studebaker Avanti

Audi Quattro

Chevrolet Camaro

Mercedes-Benz GLS

Land Rover Range Rover

Mercedes-Benz SLK

Ford Fusion

Skoda Yeti

Smart Roadster

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