The AutoAlex Podcast Jan 14, 2026

S2 Ep26: Can We Beat The Caravanning Top Speed Record?

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Car

Land Rover Range Rover

The Range Rover is a fancy SUV that can drive on tough terrains like mud and rocks, but it also feels very comfortable inside. People like it because it looks good and can handle different types of driving.

Car

Aston Martin DB7

The Aston Martin DB7 is a fancy sports car made by the British company Aston Martin. It was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s and is known for being stylish and fast.

Car

Jaguar XJ12

The Jaguar XJ12 is a fancy car made by Jaguar that has a big engine and is known for being comfortable and stylish. It's a popular choice for people who like luxury cars.

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What vehicle have you got? Range Rover.

What car have you got?

Oh, we've got a singer.

Do you do dogging?

And there is the hook for the podcast.

Hello, welcome back to the Auto Analytics Podcast,

home of automotive financial mistakes, our life in cars, and your questions answered today.

Tom Lenthal.

Taylor and I will fill your ear and your eye holes with what we've been up to.

We'll answer your questions.

Tell you the latest car news and discuss pointless modifications,

because I want to get on to that topic.

But before that, Tom, what do we do?

We say hello to everyone.

We do say hello to everyone.

God, you...

Hello, everyone.

Specifically, Lee from Red Rose Travel Lancashire.

Ellis looking forward to part three of the Vietnam trip,

which we'll get on to in a minute.

Andrew and Galway looking for a new family car.

Callum looking forward to Shedfest.

Josh on Domino's Deliveries, freezing his nuts off.

Jay and Kieran planning a Vietnam trip of their own.

Truck driver Stephen and...

Rory...

Rory's...

Mum.

Jackie!

But in the absence of Rory being here, because he's skiing,

you don't want to...

You do need Rory for Rory's...

We do.

We're going to say hello to my mum.

Daniela!

Hello, Daniela.

Hello.

All right, boom.

Yeah, she's out of hospital now.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah, good news.

Yeah, good news, very good news.

Right, what have we all been up to?

Tom, you're a special guest this week.

So let's get started with you.

It's been a while since we've had you on the podcast.

The last time was actually in Nam.

Oh, yeah, of course we were.

You were good to do a podcast in Nam.

How is the whole Nam thing going?

Oh, God, I was just...

Well, I was saying this to you earlier.

Most people probably think that I get previews said videos

and stuff like that, but I literally get to see it

as soon as it comes out.

That's when I first see it.

And I've sat there, sat down and watched it with Meg

and we've been glued to tell it.

And I know I'm a little bit biased,

but I do, I found it so funny.

It's been good, isn't it?

Yeah, and it's also proper long.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sit down, get your cup of tea ready.

Oh, we need another cup of tea.

What did you think when you got the notification on YouTube

and it said one hour, 18?

Yeah, I was like, well, I thought you'd gone mad.

Who's going to want to sit down and watch us

wallying about for an hour and 18 minutes

or 14 minutes, whatever it was.

Yeah, I was, yeah, I've enjoyed watching this.

Good watch.

And all the comments as well have been very positive.

People have liked us seeing like take our grandfather out,

you know, just for his last rites, really,

just a last hurrah.

Tom, what's been going on in your life recently?

Oh, well, we've had Christmas since...

Well, since we got back from Nam,

we've had Christmas and I've been out

and I've sold some cars actually.

I've sold my Aston Martin.

Oh, have you?

Yes, I've sold my DB7, so that's gone now.

I was intending not to buy any more cars,

but that didn't go well.

Oh, a bit like that.

Yeah, a little bit like that.

Well, I'm still following my role.

My one in, one out.

Oh, okay.

So anyway, we've had one out

and I've just bought a really nice XJ12,

which we're going to do some modifying on.

Yeah, we're going to modify that.

That's cool.

So I'm quite looking forward to that.

Do you ever buy cars that aren't like a Jaguar?

Do you ever buy interesting cars?

Well, look, it was funny.

That's funny.

See, you were always very, very, very anti-JLR products,

Range Rover's, that kind of thing.

Yeah.

And you seem to have kind of gone

in the other direction of it.

They do kind of get under your skin.

They do.

So I've had lots of that product

and although I think it's amazing,

I do need to try some other stuff.

So yes, I, you know, unfortunately,

that you seem to have,

you too seem to have rubbed off on me a little bit

and I've been spending an awful lot of time

looking at BMW M3s.

But you want an E46 M3, don't you?

I particularly want an E46 M3.

Yeah, and I've also been looking at Porsche 911s.

Which generation?

997.

Oh, a bit of competition there.

So I've also been looking at those recently.

We've been talking 997s, haven't we?

We have you.

Yeah, we have you.

I really want to buy one.

They're quite spany,

but I found a really nice red one

the other day for Sal and Auto Trader

and they don't come up Sal very often in red.

It was 20, was it 22 grand, I think?

But it's not the one.

It's not your dream Porsche.

Yeah, but it doesn't need to be.

I don't think it'd be like...

Get you on the ladder, I've done it so many times.

Yes, exactly.

You said it was your dream Porsche

and I was like, no, it isn't.

It's dream colour.

I said this to you before, it's difficult

because my dream is to own a Porsche 911.

I know that the dream is an old one,

but I know that I will enjoy driving a new one

like a 997 more.

So it would be cool to drive one.

I have one of those, enjoy it.

Take it on a few road trips and then buy an older one.

I would agree with you, the older ones

are more appealing to me, right?

But they are an absorbent amount of money.

Oh, they're 100 grand?

Yeah, real big investment.

So I kind of went on the theory that I thought,

well, actually, I quite like the look of that one.

It's quite nice.

And maybe it's a...

Let's have a little starter for 10.

You know, and see if I enjoy it.

It won't be 10, I guarantee that.

Well, yeah, it was a little...

If you want a turbo one, you've got to...

So what flavour are you looking for?

It was a 997.2, I think it is.

Second generation turbo.

The big decision that I can't make my mind up

and at the moment is whether I go with a manual

or the automatic tiptronic, do you think?

So if it's a naturally aspirated 911, you want a manual.

If it's a turbo, I think you want a PDK.

PDK is not a good gearbox, yeah.

Not tiptronic, the PDK is a really good.

Yeah, so I think the early generation 997 is a tiptronic.

A tiptronic and then crap.

Yeah, and the 997.2, i.e. second generation with PDK.

Yeah, PDK is very good.

So I just go on the theory that it's not a car

that I'm necessarily going to take on the track a lot

and I'm going to do this and do that.

And actually, do you know what, do I have an automatic

that can flip through the box quite quickly?

It's actually not a bad thing.

So just getting a little bit lazy, really, if I'm honest.

Yeah, but it's also quite nice to just bang through the gears

when you've got a really fast car.

Yeah.

When you've got a car that's over a certain power,

it's nice to be able to just have really quick gear changes.

I'm manual, manual, manual, manual.

Same.

If for a toy car, I would have to have a manual,

generally speaking.

Yeah.

But because this is going to be something that,

I'm not going to say daily drive,

but something I intend to use a little bit more

than just leaving it in the...

Like your project tape, sort of.

Well, I mean, I've done nearly 7,000, 8,000 miles

in the project tape.

I've done a lot.

Yeah, is there a lot, yeah.

Yeah, so I've used the project tape

and that's also an auto with a flappy pedal.

It's a very good flappy pedal.

Yeah, it's really good.

ZF-8, isn't it?

ZF-8.

Well, so when I said I just bought an XJ-12,

the whole point of buying the XJ-12

is we're putting a ZF-8 gearbox in.

Are you?

Wow.

Into a 1976 car.

There's a couple of people out there

that have played around with it

and kind of done it already,

but we want to try and make a,

you know, something that's actually really practical

and usable, you know.

And so, yeah, so anyway, I've got a gearbox.

I've got an adapter plate.

I've got a few of the bits and pieces in place.

The car is actually being delivered tomorrow.

Oh, that's exciting.

So I get the car tomorrow

and then we're going to plow ahead

and make a ZF-8 working an old-school jet.

And then you'll have to sell it to Harry Metcalfe.

No.

Harry's got to buy that, wouldn't he?

I think I might pop up and see him for this.

I think you'll like it.

So you're working on that.

You want to buy yourself a 911?

Yep.

What else is new, Tom?

I've been spending a lot of time on my,

in my workshop at home.

But in my Ford, my fast Ford together,

which has been off the road.

So I've got a Ford Sierra.

Yep.

Whale tail Cosworth, which I've had for,

I didn't even realise I'd had it this long.

I bought that car in 2010.

So I've had 15 years now.

That's when you and me were in school, isn't it, Tay?

You would have been in school.

I actually went to school.

2010 was my first year of work.

Was it right?

Yeah.

So I left school in 2009, I think.

Wow.

I have a request.

Good morning.

When that's hard done, can you take me out on it?

Because I've always, always wanted to dip into the old school

Ford market and see what they're like.

We've, again, this is something that me and him

have spoken about a little bit, is we've got to go to Southend.

Southend also?

Yeah, go on, do your repression.

So we're going to buzz down at Southend.

You really hate your colleague getting on Whale tail end.

I'm going to buzz down there in me little 205.

We're going to churn the place up, get nicked,

test some fishing chips, and I'll bag her on you.

That's it, yeah.

Exactly, yeah.

Oh, dear.

So that's you out, Tom.

Is that all your new news?

Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Not what else been going on really, you know.

Good Christmas, all the rest of it.

And you know, you have no doubt going to be

rowing from being to some things in the future,

aren't you?

Hopefully so, yeah, we've got some stuff coming up

that we'll maybe touch on a little bit later.

Also, Tom, just quickly.

You've just got your E-type back out, haven't you?

I did use it for the first time in ages

on New Year's Day to go to the Phoenix,

Hartley Whitney Phoenix New Year's Day extravaganza

that happens every year.

And yeah, it was the first time I've driven it

since it's all been redone and everything,

and I'm pleased to say it was lovely.

Good.

Yeah, really, really happy with the E-type.

Yeah, E-type's cool.

Yeah, I like that.

Engine didn't seize up.

Nothing went bang, nothing fell off it.

Fantastic.

So I did then spend the next two days

cleaning all the salt off of it.

Oh, yeah, that's bad, isn't it?

But I really wanted to use it for that day,

and I took it to work, put it on the ramp,

and then we just spent ages cleaning it,

and it's now tucked up again for the rest of the winter.

That's the only thing about going out

in an order car this time of year.

If you put it away after driving it,

it's got all salt and stuff on it.

It's horrible, isn't it?

You've got to get that stuff off

or you're in trouble with something of that age.

We've all plated lovely nuts and bolts

and all the rest of it, it'll just kill it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it'll rip it apart.

Yeah, Taylor, it's been a battle week

since we did the last podcast.

Yeah.

What's new?

Quite a lot, actually.

I have officially fixed my M5.

Have you?

I have, yeah.

I don't think I've spoken about this on the podcast yet.

So I've spent thousands of pounds

and months trying to work out what was wrong with it,

and I fixed it for 15 quid.

15 quid?

Yeah, I won't tell you what was wrong with it

because there's a video on my channel

coming out this week on it.

What day?

On Wednesday.

Wednesday.

Okay, so today is Wednesday, yeah.

Did it only cost 15 quid?

Because the bit that I done for you of rectification was free.

Well.

I did it for love, as it were.

Really?

So...

Tom, you've never done anything for me for love.

Oh, I think you are.

Oh, we've got Santa Claus back.

Tom did it in exchange for a favor, no doubt.

I know a list of favors.

There's obviously a deal somewhere with Tom, yeah.

But, yeah, so I fixed it for 15 quid,

slightly broke it, and then Tom fixed it for me.

Okay.

To weld it up, didn't you, Tom?

Yeah, we had to do a little bit of welding.

That's what welded it up?

Yeah.

Did you blow up the diff?

No, I had an issue involving a drill.

No doubt you'll see it in the video.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I'm like gassed with that,

because I've spent so long trying to fix that car,

and I've never actually owned it with full power.

I've never had it with a 507 brake, whatever it is.

Is it quite fast now?

It's unspeakably fast.

Really?

When you pulled away from my workshop, you drove it away.

It's very loud.

Oh, it's very loud.

Is it obnoxiously?

Is it too loud now?

Yes.

Oh, really?

Oh, definitely.

Are you going to get it fixed?

Yeah.

Okay.

So, it's fully straight piped.

A V10 petrol with 500-something brake horsepower,

fully straight piped.

Yes.

And there's no valve.

Okay.

So, it's straight piped all the time.

I actually parked it at home the other day,

and I cold-started it in the morning,

and I set two of my nose alarms on.

Oh, no.

I mean, when you did leave my place,

it was over Christmas.

It was over the Christmas break.

Yeah, it was, yeah.

It was over the Christmas break.

So, there was literally no cars on the road.

I hate to add.

And you left my place,

and I'm shutting the door down,

and you went blasting off down the road.

I was like, oh, he's just going to get arrested?

Yeah.

There's no way, you know.

Do you remember my old Jaguar?

Yes.

It was louder than that.

Really?

Oh, definitely.

But do you remember how loud that exhaust was?

And we did some work at your place.

And then we went for a spirited test drive, didn't we?

We did, didn't we?

And you were going up and down this one particular road,

and there were some people on the side of the road.

They looked a little bit offended.

And then we got back to your workshop,

and then news came that the police

were out looking for us.

Meg Rangan told us to go a different way,

which is the cops going up and down the industrial state.

And then it was my time to drive home in that car.

And I was just on the lookout for the cops the whole time.

And you were like, go down that way.

Don't go that way, because the police are waiting for you.

Oh, my goodness.

That car got us in a little trouble, didn't it?

You didn't get rumbled, did you?

I didn't get rumbled, no.

It can never catch me.

You two are a nightmare.

Do you know what?

It doesn't go with age, does it?

No.

It gets worse.

You still enjoy loud cars and causing a bit of havoc here.

Obviously like legally, but it's quite fun to go out and have a lot of fun.

It is occasional, OK.

Just blow off a little bit of steam, isn't it?

I've been owning a Sierra Cosworth for God's sake, you know.

That is true.

Honestly, I love the...

Because I've been putting it all together.

We repainting it, so I've been doing the bodywork stuff on it.

And I put the whale tail back on it properly a couple of days ago.

And then I found myself putting a microfiber cloth

on the top of the whale tail and putting my cup of tea on it.

Because it's just the best...

It's a perfect time.

Did you buy a pizza as well and put it on top of it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it made me laugh because when the kids were young

and we used to take it out, we would literally use the whale tail as a picnic.

Oh, really?

That's cool.

Do you know, I'm embarrassed to say this.

I only realised the other day that an escort Cosworth is a rally homologation car.

Yeah.

I didn't know that.

I thought it was just like something they made,

but it was actually made so that they could create the escort rally car.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Did not know that.

But yeah, M5 is fixed.

Yeah.

Super excited about that.

I've got a lot of plans for it.

I've got to get the exhaust done because obviously it's too loud.

Yeah.

It's a big yobbo.

Yeah.

I'm also at the end of this week having the interior done.

Oh, yeah.

We were talking about colours.

What are you having done to the interior then?

So you know it's blue with silverstone leather at the moment.

So it's got that silvery white leather.

That won't do, will it?

I think...

And I've asked a few opinions.

I've always wanted to do this.

I think I'm going to do it cinnamon.

I was hoping you'd say cinnamon.

So you're getting it conalised.

You're getting it painted.

I'm getting it properly dyed, yeah.

Yeah, you're getting it...

Yeah.

Right.

Because the leather's actually all right.

It's not split or anything like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So you're not getting a retrim.

You're basically painting it effectively.

Yeah, yeah, effectively.

But it will look brand new.

So it'll be really nice.

Yeah, yeah.

I know the process, yes.

But yeah, I wanted to go set it a bit different.

And I've never seen another Intelargos E60M5 with cinnamon leather or M5 in general,

actually.

I don't think they did it.

I think you could get like a tan leather but not cinnamon leather.

It's going to look nabolo.

So where are you getting that done?

Because that's like quite a...

That's not an easy thing to do.

It's not.

So I am friends with a guy called Raj, who's part of the E60M5 owner's group.

Yeah.

And he does it in his garage at home.

Wow.

And I've seen some of his work and it is unbelievable.

So yours, the cinnamon that you're going, are you putting that all over the seats

like centre console door panels a full bit?

Yeah, so everything that's white currently.

So I've got black carpets, a black dash.

I've got black door cards, but they have a coloured insert and then the rear seats

and the centre console.

All right, OK, so you're only painting the white bits.

Exactly.

Because if you try and paint the black bits, you'll feel all sorts of trouble.

No, no. So all the black bits will stay black.

OK, fine. It'll clean them all up and make them really nice.

Yeah. And then all the bits that are white, it'll do them in cinnamon.

So it should look...

Well, I know it's going to look really good.

OK, so I'm going to be a bit naive now.

What colour is cinnamon?

I'll show you a picture.

It's like a nice kind of light leather look.

I can't visualise it.

Yeah. Oh, that's tan.

It's darker than tan.

Yeah, OK, fair enough.

It's the same colour as Biscoff, like cinnamon.

Yeah, OK.

It's Biscoff.

It's Taylor's Biscoff, yeah.

Oh, OK.

It's Taylor's Biscoff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I really like Biscoff.

But yeah, that's in an E46M3.

Yeah, it's tan.

It's sort of like tan, but do you...

I prefer...

I think I've seen a few non-elevens with that sort of colour type.

Are you saying it's a common colour and that it needs to be a bit more daring?

Go pink.

Go pink or go home.

I've got to be honest.

I'll reserve my judgement till I see it, but it's not personally for me.

Anyway, any other news?

I've...

Jeff.

So, Jeff is your Range Rover Sport.

Yes.

And I've just realised, you have two cars.

Yeah?

Two.

You have many cars.

But those two cars, Jeff and your M5.

Yeah.

Combined, they make over a thousand horsepower.

They do do that.

That's ridiculous.

Yeah.

Even more.

Yes.

Because the M5's going to get chipped.

Yep.

And Jeff is going to get chipped by Tom.

Okay.

So, you bought that off my mate?

Yes.

What, Jeff?

I bought it off of Tom's mate, Michael.

He's a really, really nice bloke.

It's part of one of the Jaguar racing groups.

He's a...

Yeah, he's a...

Me and him have had many, many, many enjoyable races together.

Oh, is that right?

Rubbing paint, as they say.

Yeah, rubbing is racing, yeah.

Rubbing is racing.

So, the guy is...

I'm going to say hello, Michael.

Hello, Michael.

Michael Hall.

He's a proper laugh.

I like Michael.

He's a really, really...

He's a diamond geezer.

Very down to earth.

I turned up to see Jeff, the Range Rover.

And I went, has he got service history?

He went, yeah, he's got a bit.

Probably.

It's probably forged.

Yeah.

And I was looking for, I was like, Michael, this is a duplicate.

And like, it doesn't really match up the service history.

He's like, yeah, I know.

It was proper dodgy when I bought it.

But yeah.

So, I've actually been dailying Jeff.

Yeah.

Can I ask a question?

What's the MPG like on something like that?

Right.

17, 18.

So, my average MPG is saying it's 17.

Okay.

Even though I've been doing motorway driving.

Yeah.

But I've been doing quite a few miles recently.

Yeah.

Because I went up to my unit a couple of times.

I've been down to Robbins.

Yeah.

Viking detail a couple of times.

There was actually a period of last week of three days where I put a tank of fuel

in it every day.

How much is a tank?

It's about...

80 quid.

So, it's quite a small tank then.

But I was doing it per day.

Yeah.

That's annoying, isn't it?

That's why I got rid of my KN.

Because on occasion it would be a tank a day.

And I'm like, this is boring.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

It's unbelievable.

But yeah.

Jeff, I've actually been doing a few bits to him.

Yeah.

I've had Apple CarPlay installed to the original head unit by Dan12K.

It does all of our Apple CarPlay stuff now.

Yeah.

Which I love.

Because it's got all the original...

I'm a sucker for OEM price.

I prefer the one in my Range Rover.

I could bigger screen.

Could not disagree with you more.

Really?

Yeah.

I get that it's a bigger screen.

It's a bit clearer.

But it looks aftermarket.

But I like it in mine.

It's in the original screen.

Yeah.

And you hold a button and you go back to all the original infotainments.

So, I've got my 360 cameras.

I've got my reverse camera.

Yeah.

And it still uses the original car's hands free.

So, the microphone is actually good.

The integration now is amazing, isn't it?

What they can do is brilliant.

It's literally as if it came out of the factory like it.

Yeah.

It's so, so good.

And I love stuff like that.

I'm proper nerdy for making stuff like that work.

So, yeah.

I've also had a pair of new headlights put in it.

Oh, really?

By Headlight Restorations UK.

You haven't nicked more of my headlights, have you?

No, that's Rory that does that.

Rory nicked your headlight.

Well, you know that lovely disco 4?

Yes.

That you sold me.

Oh, that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The headlights have disappeared and they're now on Blue Peter.

Do you like that?

Do you know Rory took the whole disco 4 front end off,

put it on here on Blue Peter.

Yeah.

Put it out here and Rory was standing in front of it going,

boy, it does look nice, do you?

It looks young, blah, blah.

He didn't even notice.

I didn't clock it at the time.

He didn't even notice.

Too many cars.

But yeah, there's a company called Headlight Restorations UK

that refurbish headlights.

So, you can buy headlights off them and they...

You know when they go yellow?

Yeah.

They sand them down and lacquer them and re-coat them.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Because the reason they go yellow is the UV coating

goes off of them.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you can polish them up again,

but then only last like a week or so

and then they start to go yellow.

So, they put the coating back on it as well?

Yeah.

And they steam clean all the backs of the headlights and stuff.

Okay.

So, he sorted me out some new headlights for it

because mine had gone proper yellow

and they looked manky.

Yeah, thank you.

And yeah, and I've been loving it.

And me and Tom have had a chat recently.

Oh, bloody hell.

And we're going to get...

Plan's over, foot.

We're going to get some bits.

Yeah.

And we're going to tune him up.

Yeah, we're going to get a little bit more out of him.

And we should be at a round.

Come on.

600 ish.

Shut up.

600 brake horsepower.

Yeah, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

And it's got a tow bar.

Oh, I'm so excited.

Have you sort of like gone on what you're intending to do after that

as time goes on?

So, I've always had this thing that I've always wanted to do.

Are you going to talk about the thing I want to do,

which get a speed record with a caravan?

You know that that's always...

So, my treat.

I've always dreamt it's a ridiculous thought

of setting the Guinness World Speed Record of a caravan.

Yeah.

Which is 141.6 miles an hour.

It's got to be doable.

I reckon it is doable.

But I found out the other day to enter into like the Guinness Book of Records,

it's like five grand a day.

What do you mean five grand a day?

To get the people over to like what you do it.

But I know the man.

I've done stuff with him.

Have you?

Yeah.

Have you?

Yeah.

And it's five grand a day.

What?

Well, I don't know.

I'll speak to him.

Can you have a chat with him?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll get the car.

You need to do a practice run or two, don't you really?

So if there's any caravan people listening to this

and you have like a streamlined caravan or something,

if I could borrow it for a day.

Should we join the caravan in club?

I don't think they'll be interested in your input.

No, we'll join it and then we'll do some dogging for a week

and then infiltrate them.

And then we'll...

I don't think that's how it works.

Oh, shit.

Is it just...

Is that why caravans are popular?

I'm not sure if that's, you know, a qualification.

Is it not?

We'll try it.

Do you think that's on the application form?

We'll give it a bloody go.

What about...

What vehicle have you got?

Range Rover.

What caravan have you got?

Oh, we've got a singer.

Do you do dogging?

And there is the hook for the podcast.

Oh, my goodness.

I wonder what the dogging world speed record is.

Oh.

Because you could be dogging while...

In the caravan.

Yeah.

Although it isn't dogging when you're outside the caravan

watching people having sex.

So you'd have to be in a car next to you

in another very fast car looking at window.

We're going to need a Porsche Cayenne or something.

We are.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I reckon as long as the windows are stained up

and there's an interior light on this glass, there's dogging.

Okay, so that's a tick, is it?

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

All right.

Have you ever seen dogging?

Yeah, of course I have.

Have you?

Yeah.

I've done more than see it.

I will never forget.

Tell me you're right.

There was one night I was on the way back from Southend.

I'll never forget this.

And I went down this back lane.

It would be Southend.

It was Southend.

It was Sierra.

And my mate.

He worried about you.

My mate went, here, there's a dogging lane down there.

Should we go and have a look?

And we turned off the A127.

And I remember we came round this little loop

and there was like this back lane.

It's a dead end.

And we drove down there and I remember there was like...

Did you get stuck?

No, there was a...

It was like a combo van or something like that.

You know, like a Vauxhall combo van.

And there was a...

The passenger...

It was parked up against that side of the road.

So you drive down.

It's on the right-hand side on the driver's side.

And there was a bloke stood out with the door open.

And obviously his partner, his lady partner was...

She was just popped on the...

Okay, was she?

Yeah.

What, on the bonnet?

No, on the chairs.

So he was inside.

She was on the bonnet.

No, she was inside laying across the chairs.

Yeah.

And he was like...

Back seats were the job.

And I just saw his entire anus.

Oh!

With the trousers down.

I'm proud.

And I just thought, this is definitely a dog in lane.

Yeah.

By the time we came back down,

they were sat in the car of the visors.

They were like, they're so embarrassed.

Tom, have you ever been caught dogging?

No, I don't believe so, no.

No.

I'm trying...

No.

They're just right here somewhere.

No, no.

I did think about going into story.

No, I'm not going to go there.

Do you know what is funny is when I used to have...

Meg won't forgive me.

When I used to have...

Do you remember my whilst in Allegro?

Yeah.

When I had that...

This is recent.

Yeah.

No, it was about...

It was a year or so ago.

Yeah, it was recent.

It was over a year ago.

I took that to the Haynes Motor Museum for drive-tribe.

Do you remember?

Yeah.

Yeah, we did the little lap, didn't we?

I drove it there.

And I remember Mike Brewer came up to my Allegro.

Yeah.

And he was like, oh, I used to have one of these.

And he really liked it.

And I remember the first thing he said,

bear in mind there's a crowd of people.

Yeah, Mike Brewer has no filter.

No, he has no filter.

I remember the first year.

Oh, I've done unspeakable things in the back of an Allegro.

I just...

By himself, no doubt.

Very funny.

Anyway, we've gone off track a little bit.

Anything new?

Anything else?

The only other thing I can think of is currently working

on the Tuareg Overlander.

Yes.

And you'll notice that it's in a lot of bits.

Yes.

The engine is going to be coming out tomorrow, hopefully.

Yes.

So the Overlanding series is coming back.

It's a big, big job that.

Even I'm looking at it and I'll go,

oh, that's a lot to do.

Yeah.

I am slightly regretting it at the moment.

But you've gone too far now.

The whole front end is off.

So you've got to continue with it.

Yeah.

Yeah, you will see that in next week's episode.

This is in next week's episode.

Yeah.

Well, you haven't given me much time, have you?

You've got it.

Today's only Monday, Taylor.

In and out, whip it in and out.

But I've got some bits to do when it's out.

Or then crack on.

It's going to be a late night.

Anyway, as for me, I celebrated my 31st birthday on the weekend.

Your what's birthday?

All right, 33.

No, your what's birthday?

It was 51.

41.

Turned 41 on the weekend.

Very old.

Very, very old.

I went to the gym on my birthday actually.

Did you?

In the evening.

So, yeah.

And that was nice.

Went out for a nice lunch with my wife, Rianne, and daughter, Amelia, while mum was at home.

What else did I do?

Yeah, it was just super chilled.

I've also now got a personal trainer.

Have you?

I do, yes.

You've got a personal trainer.

Really?

I have got a personal trainer.

I didn't think you were the sort of person that would have a personal trainer.

Neither did I.

Because usually Alex knows best.

And what is said personal trainer training you?

I don't know yet.

He hasn't given me a thing yet.

Hasn't given you a thing?

No.

But I posted a picture of myself in the gym on Saturday.

Did you get a lot of comments on that?

Yeah, same.

Piss off.

We don't want to see it.

Your flabby gut.

And then a guy I know, James from London Muscle.

Have you heard of London Muscle?

The app.

I have heard of London Muscle.

Yeah, yeah.

So, James's message saying, oh, well done.

If you ever need any training, let me know.

And I was like, all right.

And he was like, oh, shit, I've actually got to do this now.

But he's going to give me a whole training program,

whole nutrition program.

So I'm going to be starting that in the next few weeks.

I've got a call with him on Thursday.

And he wants to do a little kind of tour of my home gym.

And then he'll set me up.

Can James get me up as well?

I need a bit of PT.

No, he can't.

He'll be far too busy with me getting rid of my gut.

Oh, I'd be really interested to know if he actually thinks

your technique is, you know, that was the one thing I found

when I went to the gym with a PT was that it was more about,

you know, technique of lifting.

I'm quite good at technique.

One thing I have learned about the short period

that I've been going to the gym is everyone's technique is different.

Everyone does it differently.

And they do it their own way.

And they do it in a different order or whatever.

But everyone is different in the gym.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

The main thing is just do it slowly and at your own pace.

Otherwise you get injured.

Yeah.

I like nearly pass out like I did nearly throw up.

Or vomit.

Yeah, I've done that before.

Come too hard and vomit it.

I thought I was going to vomit.

It was really bad.

You did that to me about a year ago.

It was a couple of years ago.

Oh, was that before the Christmas party?

Yeah.

What happened?

We did a gym session today.

I remember that.

You basically messed me up.

Did I?

And then the next day you were coming up to me and pinching me.

If you're in pain the next day, you know it's bad.

Yeah.

Or maybe it was two days.

Anyway, you set me up.

Yeah.

And then I have got some other new news.

Oh, God.

He's smirking.

That means he's bought something.

I have finally bought myself another number plate.

Hold on a minute.

Number.

You have purchased.

This is my third one now, actually.

Wait, what is this?

I've got M3 bow for the E46.

Yes.

I bought N24 bow for my 9-11.

So N24, no bearing 24.

I'm obsessed with it.

Have you bought one for Blue Barney?

No.

I have bought one and I can't put it on any car that I own.

I know what it is.

Yes.

E4 auto Alex.

I have bought auto Alex.

Did you really?

AU70 ALX.

That's cool.

That is really cool.

Are you allowed to disclose how much you had to pay for said number?

But I don't think that would be that expensive, actually.

It was 599 quid.

I see.

Which I think is all right.

The DVLA plate website.

You know what that means.

You're going to have to put it on Vanity or something.

No, no, no.

You can't.

It's got to be 2020.

You know what that means?

You've got to buy a new car.

I've got to buy a new car now, don't I?

I've been thinking about Porsche Panameras.

They're nice, aren't they?

God.

So talking of number plates,

when we were on the 9-11, I've got 992 LOL.

Shut up.

It's on his Jag.

It's on my Jag.

Oh shit, of course it is.

Yes.

Oh, you have to buy a 992.

I know.

I'd made my mind up some time ago

that I was going to take the number plate off of the Jag

just because it's transferable

and it's worth coming with.

I did get offered some money for it

and I turned the offer down at the time.

What's something like that worth?

About 10 grand?

I got offered 10 grand.

Okay, okay.

What is a 992?

Well the 992 is the latest generation of 9-11.

Oh yeah, it is, isn't it?

So it goes 997, 991, 992.

So I've got 992 LOL.

You should sell that plate.

That's worth a lot.

Or buy a Porsche.

Yeah, there is that.

Yeah, I know it's tempting, isn't it?

But how much is a 992?

They're big money, aren't they?

If you go like turbos and oh yeah.

Which you'd have to.

Yeah, it's a lot.

You'd want a GT2 or a GT3 touring or something like that.

Oh, GT3 news, 996 GT3.

Do you remember when we were filming going to buy,

I think it was the Range Rover.

We stopped in at Noel Hill.

Yeah.

And we had a look at the Silver one.

The Silver one, GT3.

You know the man from whom I bought the 996,

the high mileage one?

Yeah.

He's going to look at that car this week.

Really?

Yeah.

Do you know, on 9-11 Talk J,

our videographer has offered me his 996.

What is it?

Is it a C4?

It's a Carrera 4S.

So it's the wide body, the turbo body.

It's categorised.

So it was previously a Cat D.

Which I wouldn't normally buy.

But if it's a ticket into a cheap 9-11,

I'm kind of here for it.

How much that?

It's a manual.

Yeah.

And it's got a sunroof.

And it's got a black interior, which is my criteria.

What colour is it?

It's black.

Black on black.

Black on black, which I like.

Because a lot of them are silver.

See, I've looked at a lot of the ones I've looked at.

I really think a black interior in a 9-11

looks better for me.

I agree.

But I go, oh, that's a nice colour.

I quite like that.

It's a nice dark blue.

It's got a tan interior.

Yeah.

Cinnamon.

You don't like cinnamon.

Cinnamon.

Yeah, I know.

That's why I don't like it.

Cinnamon.

Can you do me a favour?

Can you please say Vietnamese?

Vietnamese.

Do it again.

You shouldn't laugh at him.

You shouldn't laugh at him for this.

It's quite funny.

It's so funny.

But yeah, so he's offered me that.

Yeah.

So how much?

He said 12.

Okay.

Which is very cheap.

That's very cheap.

It's never had an IMS, but I can do that.

Yeah.

And it does need like a bit of body weight.

It's never had an IMS.

Good video content.

IMS bearing.

Intermediate shaft.

Yeah.

It's the bearing that goes in the crank for the gearbox.

Oh.

I believe.

And it goes cupboard.

Yeah.

They fall out and they do something.

I don't know.

But it's a very common thing on those.

Yeah.

Okay.

So that's a must.

Yeah.

But you know, I'd quite like to do something like that.

It'd be good video content for your channel as well.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And it is crucially a manual.

There you go.

If you were going to buy said car, with your new one in one out

roll, what would be out?

I would consider selling the 205 for it.

Really?

Yeah.

Because like I love that car.

So I do enjoy it.

Question.

Hmm.

You could have got 20 grand from it for Tom.

I could have done.

Yeah.

He did.

He did send me a message the other day.

He goes, is that offer still there?

You didn't.

What would you pay for it today, Tom?

Or are you over it now?

I'm in a selling mood.

I am, honestly, I'm in a selling mood.

And I've always, I've got one as well, haven't I?

I've still got my 205 which I need to bring out.

So I've made a really conscious decision that I'm not going

to buy any more restoration projects or anything daft.

I want to complete what I've got, sell certain things

and change certain things.

So if a 911 came along or something like that, something

that's really on my radar that I really want.

Yeah.

And it's a good, nice running vehicle, getting in and drive it.

If I haven't got to spend a load of time on it, then I

would potentially buy it.

So if someone watching this has got one of those cars,

how can they contact you?

I'll just bong me an email or an Instagram message

or something like that.

What's your email?

Info at tomlenthal.co.uk.

Instagram's a bit tricky.

Yeah.

Before we continue, a quick shout out to this week's

sponsor of this podcast that is car vertical

without whom our videographer, our, you know, do

anyone like Transportman, Jamie, he'd be in a bit of

trouble, wouldn't he?

Because he's been in the market recently for an E36

328i.

He has.

He is obsessed with the things.

Mm-hmm.

And he found one recently on, was it AutoTrader?

Facebook, I believe.

Was it Facebook?

Yeah.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

He was very interested.

And then he actually did a car vertical report, which,

let me just get it up.

But you know a bit more about the car, don't you?

Some like basic details.

We won't go too deep into it, but.

So what you're saying is you've done a car vertical.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're glad that you did.

Yeah.

The E36, it was listed as a manual.

Mm-hmm.

And it was listed as a certain color.

He did a car vertical check and transmission type,

automatic.

Yeah.

We were going to go up and again, a bit like the KN.

Yeah.

We were going to go up and see this car.

So this is actually two cars in two weeks?

Yeah.

It was in Manchester.

Yeah.

And he was really excited and wanted to go and see the

car.

And I said, this is very rare, this car.

It was in Santorini Blue.

Yeah.

They don't come up for sale very often.

And I said to him, run a car vertical check on it just to

make sure that it's all as it's cracked up to be.

Yeah.

And it turns out it wasn't because it was a manual,

but it was originally an auto.

Yeah.

And it wasn't listed as that.

Mm-hmm.

And it was actually the wrong blue.

Does it really harm their value if they've been manual

swapped?

The color is one thing because it's been painted,

which is fine because it looks in nice condition.

Mm-hmm.

But yeah, it was originally an auto and it is a manual.

Which do you know what?

If the conversion's been done okay, fine,

but the value has got to match that.

Because it's been modified.

Exactly.

Yeah.

It's not an original car.

You're paying factory manual prices for what is a factory

automatic.

The car has to match its value in this case.

So a manual swapped car is effectively, you know,

less.

It devalues it.

It does devalue a little bit.

Yeah.

And the price has to match that.

And without car vehicle, yeah, we wouldn't have known

that.

Absolutely right.

So we saved again another three and a half hour journey

because it was in Manchester.

Exactly.

So yeah, two cars in two weeks and a lot of time saved.

Thanks to car vertical.

So it's clear then that running a car vertical check has

saved a lot of time and effort and potentially money

for our man, Jamie.

So to check that the car van or motorbike that you

want to buy, or if you want to check one for your

friend or even your own car is a good one

than always run a car vertical report before

even getting out the door.

Car vertical will tell you if the car has been

crashed, stolen or clocked.

And as ever, car vertical doesn't only work in

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And using car vertical couldn't be simpler as well.

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So use the link below and use the promo code

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report.

Anyway, on with the podcast.

Let's talk about pointless modifications.

Now I saw real, I can't remember what it

was.

A guy in his garage or like a big workshop

talking about the three most pointless

modifications and I want us to go through

the group and see if that matches what he

was saying because there are so many cars

driven by people of questionable tastes

and they drive past me and it makes me

absolutely mad with rage.

The first one I think we'll all agree

on pops and bangs.

Excessive pops and bangs.

Excessive to a point.

It's alright.

As soon as you let off the gas, it's

constantly.

It's just too much.

If it's all the time, then no.

But if I'm giving it a little bit of

giving it the beans.

Yeah.

But it's not mechanical.

It's all engineered to do that.

And as a dad now and as a dog owner

as well, I guess so angry.

I guess so old.

I'm so old.

You are so old.

Yeah.

What does that make you if I'm so

old?

That makes you prehistoric.

Yeah.

So fossil.

You know.

We used to do it the old fashioned way.

Yeah.

You drive down the road and turn the car off

and keep the foot on the bike.

And key bag it.

Yeah.

That's a key bag.

Do you know my mate did that once with

an SD1 and I saw the backbox fly off.

Honestly, you can really wreck the

baffle once.

Yeah.

Pops and bangs mode.

Do we agree on that?

Like the modern.

Excessive.

Yeah.

If it's excessive, then definitely.

What else annoys you, Tom?

I don't really know actually.

I mean, I probably don't pay

attention in the same manner that

you do.

Okay.

You know.

You've caught me a little bit off

guard because I haven't really had

time to think about it.

4D or 3D number plates.

Is that something?

Oh.

I don't really.

You're not fussed.

I'm not fussed.

It's a number plate.

I do, you know, some of the ones

that are like really, really dark.

Yeah.

Where they're obviously trying to

avoid the cameras and stuff like

that.

I understand their reasoning for

it, but I'm like, come on.

Yeah.

You know.

Take your number plates off.

What we used to do back in the

day was get a bit of fairy liquid,

squared it over your number plate,

grab a bit of dirt and just

load it on it.

You know.

Back in my day.

Yeah.

Back in the day, you know.

We didn't have dark number plates.

We had fairy liquid and dirt.

Yeah.

You know.

But yeah.

And I'm trying to think something.

Yeah.

Some of the overly tinted.

Okay.

Right.

Overly tinted windows.

Yeah.

And people that drive four by

fours with like 24 inch wheels

on.

Oh, yeah.

Because I just think what is the

point?

You know, I just that that

infuriates me where somewhere

where cars have overly low profile

tires and stupidly large wheels

which just ruin the ride and

ruin the car.

Yeah.

And it's all the looks.

What about wheel spacers?

You're right.

I quite like a real space.

Yeah.

I was thinking about putting

wheel spacers on my range over

time.

What do you think 25 mil all

round?

Yeah.

Why don't you just push it out?

No.

Why?

You said you like wheel spacers.

I do.

I think we're on the same team.

Yeah.

On your paw.

Okay.

So why for better handling?

Why the stance better handling?

Yeah.

Why are you going to take it

on a track day?

Yeah.

B road blaster.

Okay.

No.

Why?

Right.

50 mil all round.

You've got a.

I know.

I'm going to put them on.

You've got a luxury.

Luxury.

Luxury four by four.

So me.

Yeah.

Definitely low to low profile big

wheels on.

Tom.

Tom comes for you riding.

Tom.

parts, have you? They're not good.

By the time I first saw them, I was fortunate enough to be able to afford a proper caliper.

But I've got to be honest, if I wasn't able to afford a proper caliper,

would I have been tempted on my Mark III Escort, probably?

Probably. Yeah, if, look, if you're 17 or whatever, fair, but yeah, it's like the third one,

those Formula One brake lights.

Yes, I was going to say, yeah.

Oh, that's so annoying.

Oh, what, the flashing one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You get them on golfs mainly, don't you?

The people put them on standard cars.

I see like a golf with 15-inch wheels and no other modifications.

It's got a 1.4, and it's just a diffuser and an F1 light.

It's safety. How about that?

It's ridiculous.

My PA, when you drive it fast and then you brake really hard, the indicator's flashing.

It has a, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's most modern cars, yeah.

Yeah, most modern cars do that.

And I'm like, I'm not even going that fast.

What's wrong with you?

It's almost like over, yeah.

When I'm on the track doing a track day, then they're going crazy.

When you're hacking away on a track day.

Hacking away, as I do.

Yeah, as you do, yeah.

He's usually curbing away.

Curving his way around the racetrack.

I don't have a lot of defense for that, really.

You know, when he goes bowling, he always puts the sides up and just slaps on the track.

Maybe that's what they do on track because he's a bit slow.

They put the sides of the track up so he just bends.

And they're like, right, everyone off.

I'm bouncing, man.

That's why he was a bit slow at land there because he didn't have the sides up.

A bit, a bit slow.

He was...

Right, moving on.

Don't worry, you'll get your revenge, right?

Yeah, I'm sure, I am sure.

You have to beat him.

You have to.

You have to beat me, Tom.

It's happening.

It's a given, is it?

Yeah, I already know it's a given.

I don't even need to lose the weight or train.

I could still smash it.

It's not a problem.

Okay, all right.

How much do you weigh now?

About 16 and a half stones or so.

I'm floating between 105 and 110 kilos.

Okay, so let's say 105.

Have you benefited the doubt?

Even if you make it down to 90 kilos,

we will then put 15 kilos back on your bike.

Why?

Because you said you don't need to lose any weight for it.

You're that confident.

So that's my handicap to put that weight back on your bike.

And the weight will be very high up.

It will be on top of your helmet.

Yeah, no, no, no, no.

If I reduce my centre of gravity, that's my business.

God, I'm going to have to stop eating.

I'm going to try and get down to 50 kg.

50?

Just so I have a weight advantage.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

50?

No, not 50, Tom.

That would be silly.

Well, you're quite short.

So I don't really know how to handle it.

All right.

Let's not...

It's my turn to say that's all that I've done.

We have had an email from a man called Will.

And he says, new com recommendation.

Hi, guys, big fan here.

I have a 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia.

I love it, Dealey.

However, due to new circumstances, it has to go.

I know you've completely switched off here,

but I'll bring it back to you.

No, no, that's all right, Alpha.

No problem.

In its replacement, I needed a practical family car

without losing out on cool car park status.

I have a maximum budget of £10,000

and have been looking at a 2013 Mercedes ML50,

sorry, ML30, as well as a few Discovery 5s.

It must be reliable as I would use it

for work and travel with the family.

Please respond as I am really stuck

and need your help, Will.

I don't think any SUV is reliable.

So you might as well go all out

and get yourself a Range Rover Sport 5-litre supercharged.

That's the worst advice ever.

Disco 5.

But just don't get it with a 2-litre engine in a minute.

Yeah, they're not good.

They put the 2-litre in the Disco 5.

Do you know you can get a BMW X5 with a 2-litre diesel in it?

Oh, that makes me so sad.

That's so dumb.

Yeah, 2-litre engine in.

Okay, so what engine can you get in a Disco 5?

Disco 5 for 10 grand.

That seems...

Yeah, I don't know.

I didn't think you'd get a Disco 5 for 10 grand.

No, you can get a Disco 4 at a push, kind of.

They do quite a nice...

I think they do a 2-litre petrol engine.

I'm barely sure they'd still put the 3-litre diesel in it.

That's what you want from a Land Rover specialist.

I'm fairly sure.

I'm a bit out of the loop.

That's because you work in the office just smashing your keyboard all the time.

I work in the office on old cars all the time.

Yeah.

So Disco 4's realistic.

Disco 5 unrealistic, are we saying?

Yeah, I would have said Disco.

For that price range, yeah.

10 grand.

The...

What about the Merc, though?

That's...

I've never liked those.

They're so boring.

Aren't they?

All those are so boring.

It's not an ML63 that a TDC guys.

No.

No, that's good.

Yeah, that's cool.

Any other suggestions then for an SUV?

If it has to be an SUV for 10 grand?

I wouldn't...

I wouldn't actually get a Range Rover Sport.

I just did.

I know, yeah.

Of course I would buy a Porsche KN 3.0 diesel V6 because they're really good.

Okay.

And as long as they're well looked after,

they don't really suffer from that many issues and they're good to drive.

I actually think that's the key with all of these vehicles that we're talking about.

You just got a fine one that's been well maintained and well looked after.

Which is hard these days.

It is because people don't tend to continuously invest in maintaining cars.

And...

That's because it's expensive.

Yeah, and the service intervals are way, way, way too far apart.

Yes, that's true.

20,000 miles with some of the cars now, isn't it?

Yeah, that's rubbish.

I don't think I could even...

Even if I owned a car that I didn't care about,

I don't think I could leave it that long between the servicing.

But this is, you know, I still...

I do firmly believe that a lot of the reason why we get some of the failures that we do

is because we are leaving it so long in between servicing vehicles

and they say, oh, the oil's better, this is better, that's better.

So, you know, if the oil's so good and the service intervals correct,

why are we getting engines blown up?

Also, as well, I was thinking about this the other day.

You know, like a lot of hybrids, petrol hybrids.

You start it up, you go out to it in the morning.

I don't know about you guys.

I start my car up, I let it come off cold start, and then I pull away.

I always let it come off a cold start.

I don't always feel bad, like I've got mechanical sympathy.

When you've got a hybrid, people get in them,

they drive away on electricity, the engine's still stone cold,

it's not been started.

And then you're driving up the road and all of a sudden it'll kick in.

And you kick it in from stone cold start at like 3,000 RPM straight away.

That's true.

And it must wear, it must prematurely wear it.

Yeah, it's not going to help, is it?

Let's face it.

Also, the fact that we're hybrids, the engine is kicking in and out all the time.

Yeah, that's got to be bad for it.

Like, that's why I switched off start stop on my cars as well,

because I don't want it on, off, on, off.

Yeah.

Well, you know, they say that we get a lot more timing chain issues

and stretch because of stop start,

you know, where they're constantly turning on and turning off.

And, you know, there probably is something in it.

But I think the reason that we're not seeing problems with the hybrid engines

or the hybrid, you know, cars with the petrol engines or diesel engines

is because they're, although they are getting these cold starts,

they're not, they're not actually doing the mileage, are they?

So if you go and buy a second-hand hybrid car,

and it's done, I don't know, let's say 50,000 miles.

Yeah.

How many miles has the actual engine done?

Do they, I haven't looked, but does it actually give you a figure

of how much it's done on electric?

I don't know, actually.

I think you just get one overall reading, don't you?

Yeah, you do.

Yeah, I don't think it tells you.

I think some of them do give a breakdown.

Oh, okay.

I believe so, you know, but I've never bought one.

Anyway, that'd be very interesting to look at.

We're getting a little bit off topic for our man, aren't we?

We are, we are.

What's your suggestion?

10,000 pounds, I would also say a KN.

A well-maintained KN.

Yeah, I can't think of anything better.

That was our suggestion last week.

It was, yeah, yeah.

Anyway, we're going to move on to news.

This is our final segment.

There's not a lot of news.

It's quite like boring for news this week,

but I have found one piece that Tom, you will actually relate to.

Good morning.

Okay.

The news is compulsory ITES every three years for elderly drivers

as part of Labor's new road safety strategy.

If you fail, you could lose your license.

Okay.

And I actually downloaded the picture that they used

in the news article.

I think it was on Auto Express.

So if you're listening with your ear holes,

it is a picture of an old man sitting very close to the wheel

and we have superimposed Tom's head with the, with the hats,

you know, the hat with the years from Vietnam.

So yeah, yeah.

I have to have an eye test every two,

I think it's two or three years for my race license.

I do.

Yeah.

I don't think that's massively, massively fair.

Why?

When you hit seven.

No, I get that it's a safety thing, right?

Yeah, I think most people go and have an eye test

quite regularly anyway by the time you fit that age.

Yeah.

You know,

but also old people don't really do that many miles.

They go to the shops, they nip around and blah, blah,

and that is their key to freedom really a lot of the time.

I was listening to some debate on the TV or radio the other day

and, you know, it was about who are the scariest drivers on the road.

They were talking generational, you know,

young drivers, you know, and it was, you know,

it was sort of like quite, you know, unanimous,

the older generation sort of, but when I say old,

I'm talking probably 75 plus, you know,

people found the most sort of scary.

But that's got nothing to do with eyesight.

It's just not awareness, isn't it?

Yeah.

So what are they saying?

What age have you got to go and get an eye test?

Over 70.

Well, I think most over 70 is going to get an eye test anyway.

Yeah, probably.

Yeah, I don't think that's the key to road safety, really.

I think that's the last thing we need to be looking at,

because there's a lot of people out there,

and trust me, I see them every day,

that have got very good eyesight,

but they don't use what's behind the eyes.

No, that's because they're looking at their bloody iPhone,

you know, or their, or whatever.

I saw a man this morning in a Porsche 911,

I think it was a 996, and I shit you not,

I drove past just to have a look at him,

and he had his phone in front of him like that.

It was so blatant.

I was like, you must be so dumb to do that blatant,

like you can usually see people

with their heads down, can't you?

Yeah.

And the phone by the side, but you just don't care.

So what is it, six points now, if you get caught?

I don't know, what is it?

I don't know.

I think it's, it's going to be three or six, isn't it?

Yeah, I think I hope it's six.

Either way, you don't want to,

you don't want it to happen.

No.

There's, you know, there's no excuse, is there?

Because there's so many good, as you say, you know, like,

Apple CarPlay, things you can put in older cars now,

and all the rest of it.

And even then, if I'm really honest,

I don't really think it's such a great thing,

you know, on modern cars, full stop sitting there,

because if you're not looking ahead,

and you're doing that,

and you're looking down there for any more than a,

you know, a few split seconds.

The lines are very blurred, aren't they, with technology?

You can't use your phone,

but you're allowed to use the infotainment system.

Yeah, Tesla's case of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And a lot of them, and I think, as in,

you make the point with Tesla, you know,

if you, anything that you need to do,

with like putting your heated seat on,

or turning the heat on,

you know, whereas, you know,

I'm going to use my disco floor

that I turned up in here today, as an example,

I don't even think, you know, I just, I'm driving out.

You just know where the button is.

Because I know where the button is, you know,

so there is a lot to be said for that old school.

And I think there was,

like someone said to me,

and I don't know how true this is,

that the new Range Rover got a bad safety rating,

because it was too much touchscreen stuff.

Yeah, really.

And they've actually introduced a couple of knobs

for certain functions,

because it helped lift their safety.

Yeah, did they put you in the driver's seat?

Yeah, I can't say none of this.

So even, you know, the, you know,

the, the, the bod to look at this sort of stuff,

I'm starting to, you know, realize that, you know,

having a few familiar places to have,

for the things that you adjust

whilst you're driving on a journey.

Intuitive things like seat or controls,

they all need to be manual controls.

Yeah, I think so.

And I really do think that it's, you know,

it's not just me being old fashioned

and all the rest of it.

And I don't want, you know,

there is a definite safety element to it.

I'm fully with you on that.

Anyway, that now brings us to a close for this podcast.

But before we go,

Tom, what have you got coming up?

What are you excited about?

I'm, well, I'm, I'm excited about seeing the next

installation of the Vietnam video.

Fantastic, which is coming out tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm not excited about going through the edit.

Mike is currently in a whole world of pain.

Also, yeah, props to our editor, Mike.

He has been, he sent me the draft for day one

of the Vietnam trip yesterday being Sunday.

He works on the weekends as well.

I've told him not to, but he genuinely enjoys it.

We said this earlier,

people would probably imagine that we get to see,

I get to see a lot of videos before they come out,

but I don't.

It literally, I, you know, you, you guys,

you, Rory and, you know, the editors deal

with all that sort of stuff.

And the first time I see it is when it came out.

So it's our job to make you look good, Tom.

Yeah. So I'm just as excited as everyone else

to see it when it comes out.

I have got another trip plan with you guys

coming up in the future.

And I'm looking forward to that as well.

Fantastic. But in the meantime,

are you looking for someone to potentially join your workshop?

Oh, yeah, no.

So yeah, we're on the lookout at the moment

for a new, new, new mechanic.

So we're after a fully skilled technician.

Don't actually mind if they're JLR or not.

You know, it'd be great if we can find ourselves

a fully fledged, you know, level four,

level three JLR technician.

But I just want someone that's capable, wanting to work,

you know, good attitude towards work

and all that sort of stuff.

And as long as they're a good technician

and good at pulling cars apart and putting them together,

I can teach you all the product knowledge.

We've got all the product knowledge.

We can teach you that.

So, so, yeah.

So if there's anyone out there in the, in the area of,

in the redding area of Bain Stoke area,

where we are that needs, you know,

that's thinking of doing something a little bit more

interesting, then, yeah, by all means,

please, yeah, send us an email

or get hold of me on Instagram.

What's the email address?

Email is info at tomblenthal.co.uk.

And Instagram is, was it?

It says, tomblenthal is limited.

Fantastic.

All right.

And with that, we will leave it there.

Tell you, you know, any, any final words?

No, I was just thinking about taking the engine out

of this Toyota.

I've got to crack up with it.

Yeah, yeah.

I just keep looking at it in the background.

Yeah.

You've got a very long night ahead.

Yeah.

Anyway, thank you very much for watching this

with your eye holes and listening with your ear holes.

We will see you next time on the Auto Alex podcast.

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

We love you guys.

And yeah, we're looking forward to food and fuel in April,

Shedfest in May, and then another two food and fuels.

It's going to be a very, very jam packed year for events

and road trips.

And maybe because of its success, going back to Vietnam.

You might have to book that in with your lovely wife.

I've already buttoned her up, don't worry.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

From us, thank you very much.

We'll see you next time.

Bye bye.

See you, bye.

Bye.

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56:42

S2 Ep26: Can We Beat The Caravanning Top Speed Record?

Jaguar XJ12

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