S2 Ep18: I Promised I Wouldn't Buy Any More Cars...

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Gareth and I took you downstairs to put the wetsuit on,

which was wet because you had been swimming previously.

It was so nice in the sea.

Turn around, you star-ballot naked.

They should just say the bottle had to be taken away from Christian Hidden.

Yes, after half of the contents had been drunk.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Auto Alex Podcast,

home of automotive financial mistakes, our life in cars,

and your questions answered today.

Rory Chris from Merch and I will fill your ear and your eye holes

with discussions about what we've been up to, and it's a lot.

It's a lot.

It is a lot.

We'll also answer your keep or quit dilemma,

and we'll play How Many Left.

So, pens at the ready, you can play at home as well.

Before we get into all of that, a massive hello to James Hughes

and his family who drove to the Nurburgring

and then ribs and beer on their way home

for the best ribs he's ever had.

We do love ribs and beer, don't we?

We've got Toby putting his iGo back together

at the back of Domino's.

Adam listening while finding an abandoned BMW M-Tech

three-series in an old garage in South Wales.

Mike and Jess on their way to Thailand for a two-week adventure.

Peter Staines and his daughter who we took pictures with

at Drive Tribe Live.

Hello. Brandon in his E46 project car.

And Rory's Mum Jackie.

All right, Mum.

How is she?

She doing all right, yeah.

In on holiday.

She's going on holiday.

Is she? Where's she going?

She's going to Croatia.

Really? Is she driving?

She's not driving.

No, no, she thought that would be an absolutely stupid idea to do that.

Why would she do that?

Yeah, if you're an idiot, we are idiots,

and you will see that series very, very soon

where we took three high-managed heroes

all the way to Croatia.

That was fantastic, and we've got that coming up.

Right, what have we all been up to?

Rory, who have you been up to?

So apologies if this podcast is a bit shorter than usual,

but it's because we have had so much to do.

Yeah.

So I'm hoping that everyone has noticed,

but we have been trying to focus on just actually

starting a project and finishing a project.

And that is the French hot hatches.

And they've been some of the most troublesome cars

I think we've ever had.

But very, very fun to work on.

Fun is an interesting word.

I've really enjoyed it.

Have you?

Yeah.

You enjoyed the Renault 5 when it's just like,

oh, we've just solved one problem

that was almost impossible, like the ECU,

not having a working ECU.

And then you're like, I've got Tom Lenthal going,

that usually takes you about a week to get one of them sorted.

And I'm like, Tom, I've got a week

until we have to go to Monaco.

And I like calling up my friends and say,

can you help?

And they usually say yes.

And then yes, Motorsport Electronics came out.

Big up Motorsport Electronics, Edwin.

Edwin came out, installed an ECU in it,

and then solved that problem.

And I'm like, oh, well, that's amazing.

That was in a day, wasn't it?

That was in a day.

Yeah.

And I thought, you know what?

Maybe we'll go on this trip.

Oh, the trip is safe.

Yeah.

And then we look and we're like, oh,

now it needs a turbo.

Oh.

And then now it needs a head gasket.

Yeah.

Now it needs a core plug.

So we pulled in more favours.

Yeah.

And the car is currently being worked on, as we speak.

Tom and Taylor, Tom and his son Taylor

in the main unit at the moment,

putting the turbo back together,

which you will see next week.

Week after next.

Week after next on the round of five.

As the third party,

I've seen you guys a lot less recently

because we've all been out there working on stuff.

We've been here, but we've not been here.

It's very strange to see you guys like this.

What's seeing us work?

Well, I saw you sweating over that Cleo bumper.

Yeah.

He, Alex, he's like a pig in proverbial.

Yeah.

He loves it.

I do.

He's so much painting.

He looked hit sweat at one point.

He did, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

No, but yeah, we absolutely love our hot hatches

and yeah, we've got a few more episodes coming out

and we are driving to Monaco on Tuesday.

Are you still coming with us?

I am.

I'm coming along.

So I'll do some BTS, I guess, or, you know.

Just a bit of everything, Chris.

Yeah, yeah, just enjoy the trip.

I saw a video, right, about Monaco.

You can get down onto the docks by the ships.

That's very exciting.

Oh, okay.

Can you drive down?

Yes, you can.

Oh, let's do that.

But you have to, basically, if the gate's open.

Yeah.

Like, mm-hmm.

Just go along.

Yeah.

I saw the supercar dude and he was filming right next to this, like,

you know, mega boat.

So what about three French hot hatches?

One of which is a real shitbox.

I think you could drive anywhere in those cars.

Okay.

All right.

We'll give it a go.

Into the sea.

If you like.

They are already corroded.

That's where my Cleo may be belong.

What else has been going on?

Well, it says here,

bottom mini, which, by the way,

sorry, the whole, like, schedule was all screwed up.

So you're listening to this and you can also,

probably right now, watch a V2 episode on the car

that Roy is about to mention.

So I bought a £550 R56 Mini Cooper S.

I'm not buying any more cars this year.

I'm going to do up my existing.

Do you know?

Oh, yeah.

You did say that.

I did say that.

Yeah.

And do you know what happened?

Right.

These guys kept buying so many cars.

I got jealous.

You got jealous.

And I was like, I need to buy some.

And also, it's because I've had so many problems

with my E28 and my Spitfire

being the most rusty cars possible

where I've had to rebuild them.

And I thought I'd have them for the summer.

And then I didn't have them for the summer.

And now I still don't have them.

And I've just given up on it.

So I'm like, I needed something else

to have a little pick me up.

Yeah.

So you bought a car for the summer.

That's not going to be ready.

Well, that's because it turns out

it was cheap for a reason.

Great video though.

Yeah.

Which you will see probably now, actually,

if you head over to the V2 channel, AutoX V2,

you will see Roy's financial mistake.

And that does look bad.

Yeah.

It's, I've got to say, it's probably like from the outside,

one of the worst-looking minis I've ever seen.

Yeah.

And the funny thing is, right,

had you actually paid like two or 3,000 pounds

for an R56 turbo, it would have been in good nick.

Yeah.

You, I think, are going to be way over that price

for a car that's already shit

and should go in the bin,

trying to make it good.

Just scrap it.

Okay.

All right, we'll do that.

Second episode, we scrap it.

All right.

So yeah, that is quite a huge financial mistake.

Yeah.

But welcome, welcome.

You're in good company.

I know.

Because I made the same mistake with the Cleo Williams.

Yours somehow has come out okay though.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

I rattled Candidt myself as well.

And even Roy's walking around saying,

do you know what?

It's not actually as shit as everyone was expecting.

And that's with, let's be realistic,

the boot lid you spent a bit of time on doing.

Yeah.

And I think realistically,

you still didn't spend enough time doing.

No, no.

I could have done with another few hours or so.

Yeah.

But it's actually come out quite nice.

Thank you.

And Robin from Viking Detail

is currently actually cleaning and detailing it

as we speak.

I've said just polish your life out of it.

Just try and make it look a little bit better

because it's a bit orange peely.

Yeah.

Because it's rattled Candidt.

But yeah, I'm super happy.

Any updates on Bailey?

You're dull.

Yeah, Bailey update.

So he's now 13 weeks old.

He had a little regress.

Regression, yeah.

Regression where he started just pissing in the house.

We had him almost toilet trained.

Literally, I'd probably have him like an accident

every three days.

And then suddenly, one day, he was just like,

five times I'm going to do it today.

And the next day, six times.

And then he went off his food and then we looked

and we think that he might have had like an infection.

Like a UTI or something like that.

Because he kept going to piss.

But he wasn't pissing.

And then we thought he was senting.

Has he got cystitis?

I don't know.

It's been a few days.

Cranberry juice.

Shall I feed Bailey cranberry juice?

Cranberry juice.

I don't know if it's good for dogs, but for ladies,

especially when they have cranberry juice.

Yeah, it's quite bad.

It's got loads of tannins in it.

Oh, okay.

Are you trying to kill my dog?

Don't do that.

Alex.

Well, you call my daughter Haggard.

So yes, feed him cranberry juice.

But she's not Haggard anymore though.

Oh, because she's turned one.

Yeah, she looks like a toddler now.

He's a toddler.

Okay, right.

Okay, I'll tell her that.

But apart from that, he's, I just love having a dog.

It's honestly, me and Elliot just so happy with it.

Yeah.

He just, oh, I took him for a walk this morning.

He was a lovely Chris morning.

Really?

I took him out.

Went up the lane with him.

He's, he loves it.

He can only do about 20 minutes at the moment.

Yeah.

But, but.

Is he still on lead?

He's still on lead.

And he, do you know what?

He used to fight the lead so much.

And now he's not pulling.

He's just walking around.

So he's, he's sucking.

Well, that's because he's got a urinary tract infection

and he's in pain.

No, he's happy.

Honestly, you should see him.

He's running through the crack.

He's trying to run away from you.

No, no, no, no.

He loves me.

Love me, Bailey.

Obviously we're on audio.

How big is he?

Off the ground.

Oh, um, knee height.

Do you know, yeah, he has actually grown a lot.

So in one week, he went from.

What was it?

6.2 kg to 8.7 kg.

Really?

Yeah.

In one week.

Wow.

It's like me in the winter.

It's like Maisie as well.

She's a big project at the moment.

Is she?

That's amazing.

Yeah, she's probably about 20 kg.

Have you not been walking her enough?

No, no, it's not that.

It's having a baby or a toddler, you have a high chair.

When she sees the dog, she's like, oh, I'm just going to put some of that food on the floor

and then Maisie's there eating it.

And then Amelia won't always finish her plate.

And we're like, oh, we're not going to let good food go to waste.

So I'll just put it in her bowl.

So she's having like two meals at the same time.

Does Amelia and Maisie interact much?

Amelia's trying to interact with Maisie,

but Maisie actually barked at her the other day to tell her off.

Because I think Amelia was probably like pulling her eyeballs.

Like just jabbing.

Probably doing something like that.

So yeah, Amelia needs to learn that she's not a teddy bear.

Yeah, yeah.

She is a dog and she does feel pain.

And Maisie doesn't think Amelia is a teddy bear?

No, no, no, no.

Thankfully.

Otherwise we'd be having a very different conversation.

But no, Maisie's very good because whenever,

I say good, it's quite awkward,

but whenever she sees like Amelia come towards her,

she's like, nope, and she'll just run in different rooms.

So I don't want confrontation.

I want my eyeballs to be where they are.

Yeah.

So I'm going to bug her off.

Amelia's going to grow up with abandonment issues already.

She just wants a friend.

Bloody hell.

She just wants a friend and now the friend keeps running away from her.

Is there something you want to open up on here, Rory?

No.

Okay.

That's it.

All right, cool.

Yeah.

This is where we both just run away from Rory.

Out of the room.

Oh dear.

As for me, Cleo, you haven't seen the Cleo, the Cleo Williams.

You will see that next week on the main channel.

Sighting.

But it's fixed-ish.

It's MOT'd and I've been driving it around and it is wicked.

Yeah.

I am so happy that I-we have invested so much time and effort

into getting that car back on the road,

because that was a parts car.

Yeah.

It should have been scrapped.

Yeah.

But it was welded by our friend twig1UK and it goes like the clappers.

I've not experienced this yet.

Yeah.

I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah, I threw it through some roundabouts today

and it sticks to the road like glue.

It is wicked.

It makes good power on the dyno as well,

which you'll see very soon.

But yeah, I love it.

Gold wheels.

Brilliant.

I would have to say it's probably the biggest project

we have ever took on on the channel.

Yes.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, from where it was to where it is now,

the things that we've had to do where the full engine came out,

every single part has probably been off that car.

The only thing that stayed the same has been the interior.

We've done bodywork.

We've done every single brake, mechanical.

All the suspension.

Welding.

Everything has been done to that.

Yeah.

I don't think I've ever seen an engine come out of car here

and go back in again.

The same engine.

It's always been blown up.

Yeah.

And we have fully restored that car.

I say fully restored.

It looks rough paint-wise.

It needs more filler and blah, blah, blah.

But we have done all of that, I calculated,

I think in 17 or 18 working days.

That includes eight days of welding.

Jenny welding.

Wow.

Which is amazing because that car should,

I reckon someone would have partied out that car.

Yeah, 100%.

And if you gave it to someone to fix,

a shop to fix, a garage to fix,

you're looking at like four or five months.

Yeah, because it was a cat car.

It wouldn't, it wouldn't have been economically viable.

No, really.

Because most people would never have seen that value back.

Yeah.

But no, I'm super happy with it.

And a lot of people will say,

why didn't you take it to get paint properly, blah, blah, blah.

We are on a massive time crunch.

We have been spraying the car

while the mechanicals have been going on.

You can't do that in a spray booth or in a garage.

Also to actually paint a car properly.

Even if they're fully working on it,

it's not a quick process.

No, but it turns out with rattle cans, it can be.

And you know what?

It doesn't look too shit.

So yeah, as Rory alluded to,

busiest period of our lives at the moment.

Yeah.

Yeah, we are literally always on the go.

I'm really enjoying it actually,

but it gets to the weekend and I'm like,

oh, I can't even remember what I've done this week.

Well, we've done so much stuff.

So again, apologies that the podcast

is a couple of days late again.

We are kind of one week on, one week off as well.

But yeah, time is flying.

I'm having a lot of fun and it's great.

What else?

So we spoke about the Renault 5 Turbo Technics.

Again, massive shout out to you guys for

getting that turbo fixed in half a day.

Yeah.

Half a day.

So this week we were like shit turbos buggered

for an October Technics.

They were like, bring it up,

brought it up to them at half past four

on Wednesday and Thursday.

I've got a phone call at 1pm saying it's ready to be collected.

I will say if that Renault 5 does make it,

which we're now going to have to leave on Tuesday.

Yeah.

But if it does make it on Tuesday,

that is incredible.

Yeah.

That car has no right coming on that trip at all.

Like no right.

Yeah.

And if it does make it, where's some touch wood?

Hang on, where's some wood?

If it does make it, go on.

I think we need to do, I don't know, something.

Something with it.

What do we do?

Blow it up.

Okay.

No, we'll do something with it,

but I think it will, if it does make it,

it'll be the hero of the actual series.

Oh my God.

Damn.

Yeah.

And it should make good power as well.

Like we could be looking at near on 200 horsepower,

something that weighs about 80 kg.

I'm just hoping that we don't blow it up.

No, yeah.

I'm hoping that too.

Anyway, Chris.

Yes.

What have you been up to?

We did allude to something.

I think in the last podcast about Chris's birthday,

and I think I may have said,

I will get more into that another time.

I was going into it.

Because it was still a bit raw at the time, wasn't it?

And I was like, I'm not going to bring it up.

You know, Chris, you were in there,

you're still a little bit worse for wear.

So what happened, Chris?

You turned?

Well, yeah.

So it's been a while since it's been on,

but I've matured.

You have matured, yeah?

I've become a 40-year-old man.

Oh my God.

Who knew?

Yeah.

I did a poll on Insta.

Oh, yeah?

Between 30 and 35.

Really? People thought, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's because I'm immature.

Yes.

But no, so we had a lovely birthday,

don't we?

You went to Devon?

Yeah.

Devon?

Devon.

Yep.

North Devon, wasn't it?

Yeah, had a lovely time in a big house,

looking over the sea.

Yeah, it was great.

All this kind of 40-year-old stuff that you want.

Yeah.

You don't want a nightclub.

We had dogs and children there.

It was very, very nice.

And barbecues.

Pizza.

Pizza, yeah.

You bought your pizza oven as well, yeah.

Being mature and 30, I thought, at 40?

30?

My God, I'm for it.

All right.

I thought, you know, I'll leave presents to Sunday.

Yes.

You know, you're on a wait.

Was that the actual day of your birth, Sunday?

No, it was the week after.

Week after, okay.

Yeah, I don't want to be grabby.

No, no, okay, yeah, exactly.

You know, I'm older than that.

Fair play.

You're mature now.

Yeah, so Gareth bought me a very lovely bottle of whiskey.

Oh, yeah.

Very expensive.

Well, she's quite funny because Chris,

I wouldn't say you're known for being a massive drinker.

I don't drink that.

How many bottles of whiskey did you get for your birthday?

I think I got five.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I don't really drink.

We just all want you just to start drinking heavily.

Yeah.

And then we can say, yeah, our drunken friend, Chris.

Oh, great.

Just like uncle drunken, Chris.

That's what you'll be known as.

Oh, God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's better than socks, right?

I do like better socks.

Being known as socks, Chris.

That's a bit weird.

Chris, the man with the sock.

I meant as a gift.

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anyway.

Gareth would have spent good money on this whiskey.

Yeah, he told me.

Oh, did?

Yeah, over a hundred.

Really?

Robola whiskey.

And that's because what percentage was the whiskey?

Well, when you buy a whiskey, right, it's called a single malt.

That means it comes from one place.

It's not a blend.

More expensive.

Also way stronger.

Because they haven't worn it down yet.

58%?

57, 58, yeah.

Okay, whatever.

Strong, AF.

And I made a mistake.

When I was like in my 20s, I did this once before,

so I shouldn't have done this again.

And I would say disclaimer, don't do stuff like this.

Like, I do hugely regret what happened.

But basically, I started at breakfast, 9.30.

Don't forget eating anything.

Bearing in mind, all of this happened before 12pm.

Yeah, obviously.

Oh, whiskey, lovely.

Thank you, Gareth.

You're like, yay.

And then I had a little shot.

And then everyone thought it was very funny, including me.

I was like, I'll have a bit more.

And it was really strong.

Just knee it out the bottle.

Yeah.

And everyone was like, haha.

And then I thought, yeah, I'll keep going.

This is good.

Didn't feel drunk, felt fine.

Yeah.

We're just enjoying the whiskey.

Blackout.

Oh, after three shots?

Oh, well.

That's where my memory ends.

And I woke up in hell.

The hell had broken loose.

Let's just say the bottle had to be taken away

from Christian Hidden.

Yes.

After half of the contents had been drunk before 12pm.

So I worked this out.

And then Chris had somehow, in the space of an hour and a half,

sort of just, I don't know whether fully people had been watching him,

what he was actually doing.

He drank two and a half bottles of wine equivalent of alcohol.

Yeah.

Which is the equivalent also of like 10, 11 pints or something?

Yeah.

Something stupid like that.

Yeah, in about 15 minutes.

Yeah.

So it was about an hour and a half.

Oh, was it?

Oh, you took your time.

Mate, you tell me.

I wasn't there.

I really wasn't there.

So, yeah, that happened.

I was apparently scooting, running around the house

and had to be taken outside.

And I insisted, apparently, that I wanted to go and see.

And I would not leave the house.

Would not leave?

No.

Unless I was wearing a wetsuit.

Yeah.

And I correct me if I'm wrong, but you stripped me off completely naked.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

So, Gareth and I took you downstairs to put the wetsuit on,

which was wet because you had been swimming previously.

It was so nice in the seat.

Turn around and you start bollock naked.

So, but the wetsuit, I'm not leaving with that little wetsuit.

And we're like, no, no, Chris, it's fine.

And you were like, it's my birthday.

I'm not leaving without the wetsuit.

So, yeah, out came your little totcher.

And his two friends.

We have all seen it.

And Gareth and I just looked at each other and we're like,

right, I've got to get this done.

It's Chris's wish.

And we, yeah, we somehow managed to get that wetsuit on you.

Also, just because this will probably come up later,

this was Gareth's wetsuit that Chris had borrowed.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Not Chris's.

Yeah.

It still fitted me.

Yeah.

So anyway, we, we took you out and our friend Ed as well,

Farmer Ed, who you're the nicest man.

He drove four, maybe five hours all the way down there or something.

Yeah, on the day, on the day, on the Sunday.

Yeah, to see me.

And then I, he offered you a bottle of whiskey as well.

Yes.

Yeah, he was one of them.

Yeah.

So he was still upstairs with all the girls and babies and dogs and stuff

while we, Gareth and I were downstairs

and we were like, right, everyone, we need to get going.

Chris is getting more drunk.

Unbelievably, you were just getting more and more drunk.

And we carried you outside onto the kind of road.

This was really, really like desolate village by the seaside.

It was beautiful.

And Chris was like, I'm going in the sea.

And we were like, no, no, no, we need to,

we need to go uphill to go to the sea

because you wouldn't in no fit state to be in the sea.

Yeah.

So we walked you up and then randomly we ended up on a moor.

Yeah.

And it started raining and it was very muddy.

And you know how hard it was to keep him convinced

that we were heading to the beach,

even though we just walked past the beach.

We just walked past the beach.

Yeah.

So I do actually remember little bits of that.

I remember being in a strange little lane with

hedges and running as fast as I could.

Oh, you did a lot of running.

You were chasing everyone, trying to rugby tackle

or just randomly kick them.

It was, it was quite interesting.

Yeah.

And my favorite moment was we were running up a hill

and I just turned behind me and I got Chris running behind me

going, oh my God, I need to get away from this map.

And I started running, but then I couldn't outrun him.

No.

Somehow he gained fitness through the alcohol.

You can never outrun a drunk.

I don't know what happened.

Ask me how I know on my 21st birthday

where the police couldn't catch me.

Oh yeah, that's a very good story for another time.

And then I hear that you put me in the sea

and there was a concerned bystander as well.

Yeah, yeah.

So we didn't put you in the sea.

We put you, there was a little rock pool

and because you were still determined that you wanted to go in the sea

and there was a rock pool, it was, it was so shallow

because we definitely couldn't put him anywhere near the sea

because we don't know what would have happened.

Yeah.

But it was so shallow.

Before we did that though, it was like deserted.

Yeah.

This little like shore bay thing completely deserted.

Yeah, no one was there.

No one was there.

Yeah.

And then suddenly we put him in this little rock pool.

He's there literally, it's, it's, it's barely up to his ankles

and he's lying down in it just splashing the water over himself.

And some woman comes over and just goes,

I'm not sure he should be in the water.

And then we turn around and there's like 30 people

all of a sudden just behind us

and we're like, why is everyone staring at us?

And it's because Chris's leg like going,

my little sort of splash pool.

Yeah.

I had to throw my trainers away.

They were just like rotten.

Yeah.

The sea and wee.

Well, yeah.

Because there was so, so there was a moment

where Chris, Chris was running at me going,

I need the toilet.

And he was trying to get the wetsuit down.

But I don't know if anyone's tried to get a wetsuit down.

It's really hard.

Yeah.

Especially when you're drunk.

And then Chris is there going,

I try to get it down.

And he's just trying to wee and he couldn't.

And then suddenly he's run,

he's running and I'm trying to stand next to a hedge.

And then he just goes, it's okay.

And I just look at Gareth and Gareth.

Gareth is like, the day before we went in the sea,

Gareth gave me one rule.

Do not wee in my wetsuit.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And then five times the next day.

But it's your birthday, man.

You do you.

Yeah.

So it was a matter.

Yeah.

We all had a great time.

Sorry, guys.

It was the most hectic but brilliant day

I think I've ever had in my life.

I had such a good weekend.

Yeah, it was good.

I had terrible bare feet.

So that all happened in the morning.

Yeah.

I woke up at 6.30 at night.

Gareth and I put you to bed.

And we put a baby monitor on you as well,

just to make sure that you were all right.

Yeah.

And I got up and walked around naked.

Yeah.

I was like, oh, look, everyone.

He's stopped bullet naked again.

Oh, God.

So I woke up with terrible beer fear.

And yeah, that was a whole thing.

So thanks for coming to my birthday.

Everyone on the podcast.

I can't wait for your 50th.

Yeah.

Another thing.

Yeah.

It's not funny.

No, no, no, no.

Drink responsibly.

Don't be like Chris.

No.

And yeah.

What was going through your head?

I was drinking it.

I was getting laughs.

I'm a little like, you know,

you know, when people laugh at your jokes and you're like,

I'm great.

I think it was that I wasn't,

I didn't feel remotely drunk.

But Chris, people laughed at the first few.

And the next thing you know, it was just,

where's Chris got?

I mean, he's secretly doing a little sip of the whiskey.

There was no attention on you.

You just kept on going.

Maybe Chris does have a problem.

So yeah.

Have you drunk since then?

No.

Excellent.

OK, good.

No.

A classic promise.

I'm never drinking whiskey again.

Sure.

Paul Gareth, he's, so there's still 50 quid of whiskey.

Well, I know that's a lie,

because a few days after Chris's 40th,

I got brought him my present at 50th.

What did I say, 50th?

I don't know.

40th, which was whiskey.

And then Chris was like,

I suppose you better just take a sip of this.

Well, it was rude otherwise.

Because you do like the taste of whiskey.

Yeah, I like it.

Just everything in moderation.

It just, yeah.

Especially a bit of shanky's whip as well.

Oh, is that nice?

It's like a licorice whiskey from Ireland, I believe it is.

I was about to say, you don't get some now,

but we're not drinking like that.

We've got to move on.

I'm genuinely queezing up.

Are you?

Yeah.

But what a fun weekend.

It was a very good weekend.

I've been just extremely busy like you guys.

Yeah.

Oh my God, merch.

Merch is flying, Chris.

Yeah.

It is.

Since the beginning of the year,

we had it, we have a sit-down to everyone

just to think about things that would be really good.

It all come together and the products are gray

and that's going food and fuel like two weeks from now.

Yeah, yeah, September 21st.

So like these guys have been mad busy

and I've been mad busy in our little world.

So yeah, it's really good at the moment.

And if people want to get a little cheeky discount code on merch?

Yeah, September 10.

September 10.

Okay.

Nice.

Okay.

Yeah, we've got loads of really cool merch.

So yeah, we'll see if there's birthdays

or even early Christmas presents.

And also cash in.

Just for people listening to the podcast here.

Shelsley Walsh.

Yeah.

If people want to get 10% off

use the code AA10.

AA10.

But it's only for the first 100 people.

We've got to limit it.

Okay.

So get your tickets quick.

Yeah.

Because they might be sold out.

I'm worried about the atmosphere of that.

So for people who don't know food and fuel,

Shelsley Walsh, what's happening, Chris?

So we've done one food and fuel before

and food and fuel is in the name.

Great cars.

Great food.

Really good food.

Good atmosphere.

And this time we're doing the same thing again

but Shelsley Walsh hill climb.

And so there'll be 100 cars going up the hill.

Including us, YouTuber cars and stuff like that.

Yeah, it's going to be really good atmosphere and stuff.

So it's a hill climb event.

It's a show with a hill climb in the middle basically.

We don't want it to be all about racing.

So it's basically a festival of speed.

Yeah, just cheaper and better.

With better food.

Yeah.

Which, can I say,

there's a vendor coming and I'm so excited.

Oh, go on.

Who's that?

Beefy Boys.

So you haven't had a Beefy Boys have you?

No, what is Beefy Boys?

So Beefy Boys is known around my area.

So it started in Hereford.

Didn't I have a Beefy Boys with you one time?

No, that was Hanbao.

So that's in Worcester.

That also is a very good burger thing.

But Beefy Boys is a Hereford based

and they're now in like Cheltenham

and a few other places.

My mouth is literally watering because we've not had beef.

These beef burgers are delicious.

I had a bar, I had an onion po-boy California style.

We filmed at the lab.

I don't know when that's going out.

And so you filmed there?

Yeah, we went there.

So you guys have had this food except for me?

Yeah.

Well, you can have it at Chelsea Walsh

on the 21st of September.

Buy your tickets right now with the code.

A-A-10.

All right.

That one.

Yeah.

And I'm bringing cars.

Taylor's bringing cars.

TDC are bringing cars.

I'm going up in Alfred.

Yeah.

Oh, we've got a man called Brad as well

who is a Peugeot 106 with a super bike engine.

Oh, is he going up the hill?

Yeah, I've been riding him along.

Oh, hell yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What are you doing?

I'm taking him.

I'm going to take my Vantage up the hill.

Are you?

Yeah.

It's the first time I'll drive it in Angra

so I'll probably crash it.

So to come to watch that.

Yeah, exactly.

If you want to see an Aston Martin blow up and crash

then come to.

Five grand of tails.

I do need to get it MOT.

I just found out it expired.

Oh, brilliant.

I've got to get that to an MOT.

All right.

Okay.

Plenty to do.

So, yeah.

Get your tickets right now.

Link below.

What have we got in here?

Chris, what have we got?

We've got a what have we got in Harry mystery box?

I spelt the thing on there wrong.

You did?

Yeah.

But I'm just a guy.

It's Harry.

Just a guy.

You are just a man.

Just a guy.

I've got inside the box.

Yeah.

Well, it's the mystery box.

So these have been flying.

They have, yeah.

They're really good value.

You get at least two t-shirts.

Hoodie.

Fantastic.

Key ring.

All sorts of stuff.

Yeah.

29 pound.

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I use it all the time.

You do?

All day.

Yeah.

Even on holiday.

On holiday.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, from a sun lounge.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alex is like, can you change this?

He's like, yeah.

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Back to the podcast.

Right, we're now going to move it on to a game called How Many Left?

So I've been on a website, HowManyLeft.co.uk,

which is why I was asking you guys, I was like in the merch unit,

name any car, and then I was just punching it into How Many Left.

So we're going to play, play at home as well, or on the toilet,

or in the car, or in van, or lorry, whatever you're doing.

And it'll be just between you guys.

Right, Rory versus Chris.

Yep. Last time I was on, I triumphed.

Did you?

Because you gave me an extra question, because we're cheating.

Conspiring.

Yeah, it's inspiring.

Give me that extra one if I lose it.

Okay.

All right, are you ready?

Stop looking at numbers on your phone.

No, I'm sorry.

I'm ordering parts while in the middle of the podcast.

Oh, what do we need?

What rear brake pads?

Rear brake discs.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, well, you can multitask.

Okay, so How Many Left, because I'm obsessed currently,

Cleo Williams.

There are three phases of Cleo Williams.

Yep.

How many are registered on the UK roads?

20, 25.

Rory, you start.

All phases.

All phases, three phases.

Phase one, two, and three.

I'm going to say 410.

Registered on UK roads, 410.

Go guess.

Christoph.

I think that's about what I would have said.

I'm going to go 350, which is what?

And that's too low.

No, 500.

500.

410 versus 500.

Yeah.

Have you locked it in at home as well?

Oh, what are you going for?

You idiots.

Did you hear that one over there?

He said 100.

1,000.

Is that just the voices in my head?

Well, if he said 100, he would have only been 22 out.

Oh, wait a minute.

78.

I'm still registered.

You are still registered because you changed your mind.

Oh, man.

You went 510.

78 Cleo Williams.

When is the last time you saw Cleo Williams?

It's only 78.

Yeah, of all three phases.

Mad.

Yeah.

I saw one today.

Where?

Just out here.

I'm still waiting for the Cleo Williams badges.

Are they arriving today?

I know, yeah.

Royal Mail, I need those Williams badges,

otherwise it's not real Williams.

It could be a Cleo campus for all I care.

Okay, so 1,0, terrore.

Well done, yeah.

Well done, Rory.

If you guessed any closer than 100.

Honourable.

This next car was from Gabel,

who is head of partnerships.

He used to own one.

It's his favourite car.

S2000.

Yeah, S2000.

Okay, all variants of S2000s.

How many left?

Please, Christopher.

I went to a car for all event ages ago,

and his S2000 was there,

and he opened the bonnet for me.

And I closed the bonnet,

and he was like,

you've got to do it quite strong.

Yeah.

Didn't realise it was quite a light bonnet.

Yeah.

Gab's first time I've met him, I think.

Oh, really?

And he was like, maybe not that strong.

I'll tell you who's also really bad at slamming doors on cars.

Oh, here we go.

It's Rory.

You are a door slammer.

It's your beast.

Look, do you know what it is?

I know what it is.

I do know what it is.

It's your fat wrists.

No, it's my strong arms.

No, it's your fat wrists.

Tell me about your fat wrists.

Sorry, sorry, we have to interrupt this.

It's a very, very funny story.

It's a very funny story.

Go on, Rory.

So I have a very nice watch,

and I don't wear it that often,

and I haven't worn it for probably like six months plus.

And anyway, it was a nice occasion.

I thought I'd put it on.

And I put it on,

and I tried to do up the clasp,

and he just didn't want to shut.

Oh.

And I was like, oh, that's weird.

That's almost like my wrist has got bigger for some reason.

And then I was like, do you know what?

I'll put it in summer mode,

because it's got like an extra little,

sort of like probably half a centimetre

for when it's in summer,

for when your wrist swells up.

Yeah.

It was already in summer, right?

So I couldn't actually wear the watch.

So I now need to add another linking,

because my wrist has got so fat.

Oh, dear, that's funny.

So Taylor's got fat fingers with shawl fingers.

You've got fat wrists.

Yeah.

And I've got a fat...

Alex.

Um, gut.

Shh.

Thank you.

Yeah, fair.

All right, we'll go and go.

Anyway, 100s, 2000, all variants.

How many registered on UK roads 2025?

According to the website,

how many left?

I'll go first this time.

That's what I'm calling, Chris.

I'm going to go...

All variants, say.

All variants.

5,200.

5,000.

I'm going to go 1,000.

Exactly 1,000.

1,074.

Your way off.

Chris, you win this one,

because there are 3,382.

Okay.

I didn't know there were that many still.

It's quite a few.

Yeah, I mean, you do see them at car shows quite a lot.

You don't see them around, though.

Like, when do you see an S2000 driving?

Unless it's maybe a Sunday,

you probably won't ever see one.

No.

They are looked after, though.

They are, yeah.

Certain clientele.

Oh, yeah, 100%.

The first-gen ones are quite snappy,

aren't they?

In crashy.

Yeah, yeah.

They're probably not around.

They're also really expensive now.

£15,000 for an S2000.

So, has it got to that point that they're all just in garages now?

Probably, yeah, just being looked after.

That's sad.

Maybe a bit.

It is sad, yeah.

Because Gabor used to really rag his one around.

That's how you kind of need to drive it.

Yeah.

What sideways everywhere?

In Bristol.

Yeah.

Cheddar Corge.

Cool.

Oh, dear.

Next car, Lotus Carlton.

The iconic Lotus Carlton.

The original.

The OG getaway car in the UK.

I chucked this one.

I should have googled it.

I didn't.

We didn't know what the question was for.

No, I didn't.

71.

Oh, OK.

64.

OK.

64.

Did you just say who it was?

Yeah, yeah.

I remembered.

Yeah, OK.

64.

I remember those two.

You remembered a couple on your list.

Yeah, yeah.

There was like two that had been crashed

and there was the other one.

I'm going to go 50.

Just a clean number.

50.

So, 64 and 50.

The answer is 39.

Oh.

Chris wins this one.

Oh, that's two to me.

Is two to Chris?

One to Rory.

The next car is, this was from Emily

who looks after our events.

See, now I heard a shout this out.

Yeah.

Is this on UK roads?

Yeah, on UK roads.

Corvette ZL6.

Oh.

The new Corvette.

Hmm.

You know, the mid-engine Corvette ZL6.

No.

Isn't it?

No, that's a C8.

Yeah, it is.

A C8 is.

Corvette ZL6.

Is that mid-engine one that we get in the UK?

Is it?

No, a ZL6 could be.

It says here, ZL6 man.

Really?

Yes.

Can you import those or could you only buy them here?

You can get those in right-hand drive.

OK.

Corvette ZL6.

You'd have to import them.

No, you can get them right-hand drive.

Can you?

Yeah.

I am pretty damn sure.

Or is it just you can only get them for the first time?

Do you want me to go first this time, Marie?

Um, is it who's going first?

No, it's you.

It's my turn.

It's your turn.

Uh, I wish I wasn't.

Let's go.

I'm going to say 200.

200?

OK, good guess.

Yeah.

God, are they popular?

They are.

I've seen them a lot.

But I only have a one.

I'm going to say 300.

OK.

Just a bit more information.

You can get right-hand drive now.

OK.

So, again, please.

I'll go and buy one then.

Answers again, please.

200, Chris, 300 for me.

Chris, you've pulled it out of the bag.

There are only 11.

What?

11 registered in the UK.

No, that's not right, though.

That's not right.

It is.

That's not right.

According to the website, how many have you seen?

Have you ever seen one in the flesh?

Yeah.

Chiro's got one.

There's plenty more than 11 in the UK.

I've seen them at car shows, but only ever one at a time.

But there's still one.

No, there's still more than 11.

All right.

You carry on looking.

I'm going to go for the next car, which is a Porsche 924 Turbo.

Why would we ever talk about a 924 Turbo, Alex?

Because I might have done a little grubby deal on mine.

Oh, gosh, you have.

It's a restoration project.

I haven't even heard of this.

Yeah, no, it's a big old restoration project.

It was on the whole theory that we're meant to buy a car

every single trip we do, and he ended up buying two.

Yeah, I did.

Yeah.

I've not paid the man yet.

We haven't spoken to each other for about a week and a half, so.

I'm hopefully he's forgotten about you.

No, I don't think so, which is why I'm bringing it up on the podcast again.

No.

Porsche 924 Turbo.

That's me in the door.

I go on, Roy.

I mean, you've already lost this.

I have 80.

Chris, can't be 80 now.

40.

117.

Yeah.

Wow.

I've recovered slightly.

Three, two, to Chris.

Congratulations, Chris.

Yeah.

You get, shake your hand, Roy, there virtually.

There you go.

You get 10% off food and fuel ticket.

Do I?

Use the code AA10.

Yeah, that was seamless.

Shall we move on?

Yeah.

All right, because we've had an email from a man called Josh Turner.

All right, Josh.

Hello, Josh.

How are we doing?

He's got a keep or quit dilemma.

Okay.

Let me read it out for you boys.

Before you even read it.

Yeah.

Quit.

Okay.

Keep.

I will listen.

Oh, okay.

He's been recording me.

Hi guys, long time viewer and listener here.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma with my weekend toy

and I don't know what to do.

I have a 2010 Ford Focus ST Mark II facelift

on just over 70,000 miles.

I only bought it a few months ago.

As much as I do enjoy it,

I haven't fallen in love with it as much as I thought I would.

I have an E91 BMW 330D manual touring as my daily driver.

And since buying the Focus,

I've realized it doesn't really feel or handle

anywhere near as good as I thought it would.

The insurance is also £160 a month

due to my no claims being used on the BMW.

With all of this,

do you think it'd be better to sell up

before I put too many more miles on it

or stick with it and see if the bond grows more?

Hope to hear back and love the podcast Dylan.

I've messed up, haven't I?

Sorry Dylan, your name is Dylan.

It's Dylan.

So it's not Josh.

It's not Josh.

Josh was last week.

You just haven't changed the name, have you?

No, I haven't.

I was going to say who's Josh.

Sorry Dylan.

Dylan.

Hello Dylan, how are we doing?

All right, well it's Dylan then.

Yeah, go on.

All right, Chris.

No more Dylan.

Are you keeping or are you quitting then?

So...

Dylan Thomas.

If...

Are you keeping with your original keep?

Right.

His email is basically talking about

his feelings for the car.

Yeah.

And for me, they don't...

It's not like a thing that changes particularly.

No.

So...

I disagree.

Really?

Yeah.

Okay, you're going to chip...

So I had...

I've had cars like the Cayman,

where I loved it more and more.

But you know, I did enjoy it pretty much straight away.

Yeah.

And I had cars like the R8 where I never really...

Geldner there.

For me, the difference is giving it a name for some reason.

I know it's like a device.

If some people hate giving cars names,

they think it's tacky.

But R8 never had one and they're never really...

You know.

So I don't know if your feelings are going to change,

to be honest.

Okay.

And 70k miles is probably the right kind of time to sell it.

Yeah, it's good mileage to get rid of a car.

What engine is in those?

It's not the...

It's a 2.5 turbo.

Yeah, five cylinder.

So I'd say, you know, don't be afraid to find love

when you're current...

Wow, okay.

Go on, keep going.

You'll be okay, Dylan.

Yeah.

You'll be okay.

It's not your fault.

Okay.

It's not your fault.

So you said...

What did you say earlier?

And I said, I disagreed.

I said, you can't really grow to love.

Okay.

So the reason I would disagree is because

I think I've done that quite a few times.

Okay.

So you buy a car, not really love it that much,

and then you take it on a really big road trip.

And then you're like, do you know what?

I am so proud of this car for getting me to Croatia

or Germany, the Nürburgring,

doing a lap and taking me all the way home.

And this is now my friend.

This is a family member.

So to Dylan, I would say...

You obviously bought the car because you wanted it.

Give it one more chance.

Take it on a long road trip.

Take it somewhere cool.

You've never been before with some mates in cool cars,

and then maybe it'll just click for you

and you'll be like, do you know what?

I get it.

But with your R8,

you never really took it on particularly long road trips.

I tried.

To be fair, that was because it was broken.

It was all right.

Yeah.

It was all right if it was breaking, right?

But it could have broken and bankrupted me.

Yeah.

And that was always in my head.

Yeah.

I think really interesting you said that.

Cayman thought it was quite good.

Changed the exhaust.

And then I was like, I love this car.

If I had chucked like a straight through on the R8,

I think that might have changed my mind.

Potentially, I am.

So actually, maybe I'm eating my words a little bit,

but I'm imagining an ST has a rude exhaust anyway.

Yeah, probably.

It probably sounds quite good.

Yeah.

Rory, I'm going to keep with my quits.

Okay.

So I feel like if you already A, sending this in,

by the tone of the email,

I think he's already out of love with the car.

I think the other thing to take note of,

his daily, to me, is better than this fun car.

A 330D E91.

Manual.

Manual touring.

That is more of a fast car in my mind than a Focus ST.

It won't be fast.

So it won't sound as good.

It won't sound as good,

but I feel like the actual drivability of that car

will be far superior to the actual Focus ST.

If you sell the ST, you have more money

to spend on the BMW, essentially.

Yeah. I mean, so it sounds like, obviously,

insurance is a part here.

Maybe, you know what, actually, Chris,

I will say maybe sell the 330D and get a 330i.

Maybe.

Or I've got a better option, get rid of the Focus,

and buy yourself something smaller,

easier to work on, less expensive to insure,

probably, like a Clio 172 or a 182.

Yeah. You know what?

If you want a weekend toy, that is a car to go for.

Also, one of those cars, like a Clio 172,

are not going down in value.

No, exactly.

If you get one of those, at least you know

that you're keeping it.

Whereas the Focus ST, you're worried

about putting miles on it, whatever.

It's going down in value, still.

Buy yourself a high mileage, 172 or 182.

Yeah. So it'll be a bit more fun.

You'll be two grand deep.

And what's the worst that happens?

The engine blows up by another engine for $300.

There's still parts all over the place.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Even for the Williams,

there's still loads of parts.

Yeah.

So hopefully that gives you, I don't know,

some advice.

I would say do a road trip with it.

Maybe you'll fall in love with it.

If you don't have time to do a road trip,

maybe move it on and buy something more affordable,

more raw.

And yeah, less likely to go wrong as well.

Sound advice?

Yeah.

All right, cool.

Well, we've still got three French hot hatches to restore.

So we must get on.

Yeah.

So again, apologies that we're a little bit late.

Hope it's been worth the wait.

And Chris, your story was absolutely fantastic.

Just don't ever repeat it again.

No, I won't.

I don't think I want to see your penis 100 times in a day.

Not bit later.

Go on then.

All right.

Anyway, from us, thank you very much for watching

and listening with your eyeballs in your ear holes,

whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability.

Have a great weekend.

And as a reminder, on the V2 channel,

you will get to see Rory's financial mistake mini

that we're going to scrap next week.

Again.

Yeah, again.

And if you want to write into the podcast,

you can do that at podcast.todayxcars.com.

Fantastic.

Thank you very much, Chris, for joining us.

You're welcome.

And to you guys, we will see you next time.

Actually, next time you see us, we'll be maybe in Monaco

or we'll be back from Monaco or something.

We would be back from Monaco.

Yes.

Maybe with all the cars, maybe not.

You guys will find that out very, very soon.

From us again, thank you very much.

We'll see you soon.

Bye-bye.

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S2 Ep18: I Promised I Wouldn't Buy Any More Cars...

BMW E46

Renault 5

BMW E28

Peugeot 106

Honda S2000

Lotus Carlton

Chevrolet Corvette

Porsche 924

Porsche Cayman

Jeep Grand Deep

About this episode

Original notes