The AutoAlex Podcast Feb 4, 2026

S2 Ep28: My VW Camper Van Project Is FINISHED! (And We've Been On A Spending Spree...)

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Concept

project car

A project car is a car that someone buys to fix up or make better. It's usually not in perfect condition and needs work, which can be fun for car lovers.

Car

Honda Prelude

The Honda Prelude is a two-door car that Honda made for many years. It's known for being fun to drive and has a sporty look.

Term

touchscreen

A touchscreen is a type of screen that you can touch to control things, like how you use a smartphone or tablet.

Car

Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera is a car model that was introduced in the 1960s, and the 1986 version was the first to use a touchscreen for controlling features like climate and radio.

Term

Graphic Controller Center

The Graphic Controller Center is the name of the touchscreen system in the 1986 Buick Riviera that helped drivers control things like the climate and radio.

Car

Volkswagen Tuareg

The Volkswagen Touareg is a luxury SUV that can handle rough terrain while providing a comfortable ride. It's known for being stylish and capable.

Term

CRT screen

A CRT screen is an old type of screen that used to be common in TVs and monitors. It works by shooting beams of light to create images.

Part

brake line

A brake line is a tube that carries fluid to the brakes in a car. If it's broken, the brakes might not work properly, so it's important to repair it.

Part

gearbox oil

Gearbox oil is the fluid that helps the parts inside the car's gearbox move smoothly. It's important to keep it at the right level so the car can shift gears properly.

Part

headlight wiring looms

Headlight wiring looms are the wires that connect the headlights to the car's electrical system. If they're not connected properly, the headlights won't work.

Part

wheel bolts

Wheel bolts are the screws that hold the wheels onto your car. If one is missing, it can be dangerous to drive.

Part

wheel arch liners

Wheel arch liners are like plastic shields inside the wheel area of your car. They protect important parts from dirt and water.

Car

BMW M5

The BMW M5 is a fast and powerful car that is designed for performance. It's part of BMW's M series, which stands for 'Motorsport' and includes cars that are built for speed and handling.

Car

BMW E60

The BMW 5 Series is a luxury car that is known for being fun to drive and very comfortable. It's a popular choice for people who want a nice car that also performs well.

Car

BMW M57

The BMW M57 is a type of diesel engine that BMW uses in some of their cars. It's known for being powerful and efficient, making it a popular choice for drivers who want good performance without sacrificing fuel economy.

Car

Bedford O-Type

The Bedford O-Type is an old truck made by a company called Bedford. It was used a lot after World War II and is known for being strong and useful for carrying things.

Car

Land Rover Range Rover

The Range Rover is a fancy SUV that can drive on rough roads and is very comfortable inside. People like to talk about it because it's seen as a status symbol and is great for both city driving and off-road adventures.

Term

manifolds

Manifolds are parts of the engine that help move air and exhaust gases. They are important for the engine to work properly.

Term

Discovery

Discovery is a type of SUV made by Land Rover that is good for off-roading and family use.

Term

L322

L322 refers to a specific version of the Range Rover made between 2002 and 2012, known for its luxury and features.

Term

rust

Rust is a type of damage that happens to metal parts of cars when they get wet and start to break down. It's important to fix it to keep the car safe.

Part

rocker cover gasket

The rocker cover gasket is a piece that helps keep oil inside the engine. If it wears out, it can cause leaks, and sometimes you have to replace the whole cover instead of just the gasket.

Car

BMW X5

The BMW X5 is a high-end SUV that combines luxury and practicality. It's designed for people who want a comfortable ride with plenty of space and modern features.

Car

Mini Classic Mini

The Classic Mini is a tiny car that became famous for its cute design and fun driving experience. It's loved by many people and is often seen as a classic car.

Car

Mini

The Mini is a small, classic car known for its unique shape and fun driving. It's a favorite among many car lovers and has been around since the 1960s.

Concept

It was a bit of a gamble, though, wasn't it?

Oh, yeah.

Because, like, realistically, we're looking at some of these.

We didn't even know if they'd run.

No. We didn't know the state underneath.

We didn't have long at all to decide that we were buying all of them.

It was such a quick decision.

Like, it could have gone horrifically wrong.

We bought some of them, and then we were happy with our lot.

And then the next day, I got another phone call from Adam,

saying, would you like this and that for this price?

And I was like, come on, then.

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

home of automotive financial mistakes,

our life in cars, and your questions answered.

This week, you join Rory McKay.

Hello.

Taylor Heatherington.

Hello.

And I. So, Alex of Cursed a lot.

Mm, Alex of Hernia a lot.

Whoa.

And we're going to fill your ear and your eye holes

with what we've been up to.

We'll ask your car dilemmas and play a game of which car did it first?

Oh, that's new.

It is new.

OK.

Yeah.

Mercedes.

Incorrect.

Oh, that's not true.

Incorrect.

Yeah, incorrect.

But before we do any of that, Rory, what do we do?

We say hello to everyone.

Yeah, and hello too.

15-year-old Otis, who drove from Hartfordshire to Wrexham

to pick up his first project car.

Sorry.

I'm guessing he didn't do the designing.

I was going to say, yeah, yeah.

That might be illegal if he did.

Yeah, although it's in Hartfordshire,

so I think there's different laws in Hartfordshire.

Well, I live in Hartfordshire, so there must be.

There must be, yeah.

I've seen what you get up to.

Ben in Manchester, who spotted my old car throttle prelude,

parked up in exactly the same condition as when I had it.

Do you remember my old prelude?

No, I don't.

I do actually.

I think it was a first-gen prelude.

It was kind of like light brown in colour,

with patches of grey on it,

where it'd been just obviously fixed and then just a bit primed.

So this is the one that you started a project,

never finished it, and everyone in the comments

kept going,

What's up into the prelude?

Yeah, well, I can tell you that 10 years later,

it still looks exactly the same.

So speak to the owner.

We've got Shane, who's just bought himself an L200.

Alexandre, who spotted a matwood sticker on a ski lift in Chamonix.

Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, that is really cool.

That wasn't even us, was it?

Was that not us?

I don't know.

I mean, it could have been.

We did go to Chamonix.

Did we put a matwood sticker up?

I think that must have been Andy, I reckon.

It might have been Andy.

Maybe he's following us everywhere.

We have also got Ben Williams, who wanted to say thank you

to the entire multiverse for helping him get through family losses.

We hope you're doing all right now.

Chris Knight, who saw me driving Betty last week.

Yay!

Tora, T-O-R-E, who has emailed us an extensive message detailing

why we need to come to Norway for ice track racing.

I've been wanting to do this for ages.

Yeah, I will show you the email.

It's extensive.

He's written out where we should go, what times of the year,

what cars we should bring, blah, blah, blah.

We need to do that.

Thank you.

We've missed that two years in a row now.

We have, yeah.

We've got Stephen Gelander's listening in while replacing a window

in an aeroplane cockpit.

Now that is cool.

That is cool.

Did you know there's a story of a, I think it was a BA pilot

where he got sucked out.

He got sucked out because a person installed the wrong bolts on the window.

Stephen Gelander's might have been Stephen.

And it came out and the pilot got sucked out

and they did a whole flight with him flailing around.

And it landed and they all thought he was dead.

And then he actually, because of the low oxygen and the cold,

he actually ends up surviving.

There you go.

I can imagine that that was quite a stressful experience though.

And I reckon he would have got a week off after that.

I don't like flying, but I reckon that pilot really dislikes flying off.

Yeah, I'd say so.

And...

Rory's mum, Jaggy.

How was she on the ski slopes?

My mum was great on the ski slopes, actually.

She wasn't sure whether she would do it because she's 64.

So she's like, I don't know.

She's my age.

Right, I know, you're ancient.

Isn't it?

Don't be so wrong.

Isn't it? That's horrible.

But yeah, no, she managed to get on the slopes

and she did some snowplow turns and she got down

and she did a button lift and everything.

Yeah, no, she was she loved it.

Button lifts are difficult.

They are, aren't they?

Yeah, yeah.

No, so yeah, she loved it.

Well done, Jaggy.

Well done.

Anyway, what have we all been up to?

Taylor, we'll get started with you.

We've been up to in the last two weeks.

We missed last week, so we're very busy.

The two weeks have been completely consumed

by a bloody Volkswagen Tuareg.

However, I don't see a Volkswagen Tuareg

on the ramp in front of us.

No, there is a pair of side skirts over there,

which are giving me PTSD.

But yeah, no, the Tuareg is currently at Tom Lempfors

because we need to do brake pipe on it.

Other than that, it is currently running and driving.

It does have some issues, some it has issues.

I mean, it's a V10 Tuareg is always going to have issues.

It does, and it is actually still touch and go

as to whether we'll be able to take it next week

because there's a long list of things that need doing.

And the longer I think of this, the longer the list gets.

So today is Wednesday, the day that the podcast

is actually going out.

And tonight, you need to go to Tom's,

you need to try and fix this brake line.

Yeah, so I'm going to pull a late night tonight.

I'm going to go to Tom's, I'm going to fix the brake line.

And then tomorrow morning, I'm going to bring it back here.

And then I need to crack on with that list of things to do

because we need to try and get for an MOT tomorrow.

Yes.

So that involves topping up the gearbox oil,

setting the ride height again, putting the side skirts back on

because we've had all the seals done.

We need to put the headlight wiring looms back in.

I need to rewire in the laser lamps

because I'm replacing the headlight wiring looms

because they're perished.

I need to talk the wheels out.

I need to find some wheel bolts

because there's a wheel bolt missing on every wheel.

I need to put the wheel arch liners in.

There is so much to do.

Yes.

It's unbelievable.

And then I need to wash it.

So Taylor has been consumed with V-Tentuaric things.

Sorry, no, not just Taylor.

Everyone has been consumed with V-Tentuaric.

It has been consumed our lives.

That is actually genuinely the worst or most stressful car

I've ever had in my whole trade working career.

Wow.

Most trade working career.

We were meant to go on this Scotland trip pre-Christmas.

We should.

We're now in February.

And the only reason we haven't been is because of that bloody car.

Because you bought the wrong car.

No, in all fairness, it has delayed us.

But we were going to go this year anyway.

The Tuareg hasn't delayed us, but maybe it did.

No, no, it did.

Well, the cars were already pre-Christmas.

It has done that.

Meanwhile, large Larry has been pulling in big old shifts

up and down the country towing cars.

Large Larry actually towed the Tuareg through Tom Lentfalls.

Yes.

You will see all of this in the series

where we go away to Scotland.

That will be the beginning part of it,

like all of Taylor's trials and tribulations.

So we won't spoil too much of it.

But Taylor, you've been in a whole world of pain recently.

Do you know what?

I actually had a stressful week last week

because I had some other stuff going on.

And that car literally broke me.

Yeah.

I think I spoke to you on Thursday night

and you were driving Betty back.

Yeah.

And you said, and I spoke to you about it

and I was so demotivated.

And you said, so you're still there?

Are you going home?

I was like, no, I'm in the car.

I'm on my way home.

I'd actually like I was.

You rage quitted that there, didn't you?

I got to a point where I thought

if I continue to work on this car.

I'm going to break something else

because I'm in that kind of mood.

I need to just sometimes you just need to call it a day

and attack it with a fresh mind.

Yeah.

I did give up, but not give up.

I rage quit.

Yeah.

But came back in with a fresh mind,

attacked it.

I've dealt with issue after issue.

You know, it's developed a misfire and it.

Oh, it's just, I don't know.

So, so, so do you now love the car?

Oh, no, I hate it.

Oh, you hate the car, do you?

I actually hate it.

Yeah.

I can't think of any worse recommendation

right now than to go out and buy a V10.

Fantastic because we've actually got an email from someone

very young who's just bought a Tuareg.

So we're going to offer him some advice a bit later on.

All I'll say is I hope it was cheap.

Yes.

Anything good happen in your life

in the last two weeks, Taylor?

Bits.

I've been working on my M5, which I'm really excited about.

My interior is ready to collect on Friday.

Oh, we can't reveal what color the interior is

because apparently it's still a secret.

It's cinema.

We know that, yeah.

So I'm so excited about this car.

I've gone a bit mad with it and I have officially spent more

on this car than any other car I've ever owned before.

I thought you were going to say that you've spent more

on the car than you bought it for.

I have.

No.

Yeah.

No, shut up.

Yeah, I have.

Yeah.

Actually, shut up.

Yeah, yeah.

By the time I've finished.

No.

You bought the car for what, 12 and a half?

I think you'll actually be substantially over the 12.

Is this going to be a £25,000 M5?

Probably, yeah.

Oh, my God.

Taylor, Taylor.

I could have bought it.

What is going on?

Yeah, really?

When you put it like that, actually.

It's quite bad, isn't it?

But you know what?

I'm hoping that by the end of this,

it's going to be one of the best and coolest E-60 M5s out there.

And then you'll sell it for 15.

I'm glad you're worried.

I went out the other night and I went up to North.

And I bought a pair of bat boxes for it.

Oh, you did, didn't you?

And they were secondhand.

And I picked them up.

So the bat boxes for an M5?

Yeah, and they're bat boxes I've always wanted.

They're Eisenman bat boxes.

Oh, they're the special ones.

They're proper spenny.

They're the guys.

If you've spent more than $1,500 on bat boxes for that car,

you're mental.

I know they're Eisenman.

They are secondhand, yeah.

So you wouldn't have spent more than $1,500.

How much have you spent?

$1,700.

$1,700!

It's quite a lot.

But I've always wanted them.

Well, I've shown them gold.

Yes, it's gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Is it really?

Okay.

So yeah, I picked those up.

I've also got loads of other cool stuff.

On Friday, I'm going to pick up, as I say, the interior

and something very cool for the engine.

Okay.

It's going to make it sound incredible.

Is it an M57 diesel?

It is, yeah.

That'll be great.

Yeah, I'm just like, I'm just buzzing.

I think it's going to be so cool.

Bit bloody better, at least for 25,000 pounds.

Oh, just don't.

It's all right though, because when you do it over stages,

like Rory knows, you give it bit by bit,

it makes you feel better.

And next thing you know, you're $15,000 into a Spitfire,

and you're like, how the hell have I ended up here?

Oh, you're $20,000 into a Mini.

$15,000.

I know.

Okay.

You're touching.

Between the combination efforts of the channel

and some sponsor parts, I would say, yeah, $15,000.

Oh, easily, easily.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, what could you have bought for 15,000 pounds, Rory?

Portion I love them.

You could have bought 10 of them.

I could have.

You could have, yeah.

We'll tell you about that in a second.

But yeah, so I'm really, really excited about that.

Also, we had a very, very large delivery yesterday.

Oh, do you mean when Christmas came yesterday?

It came really early.

I'm just staring at Christmas right now.

I just love it.

It was better than Christmas, realistically, wasn't it?

Yeah, Christmas is shit compared to what happened yesterday.

It was a very rainy day yesterday, but my card was a good day.

Yeah.

Because we, I'm not going to reveal what they are,

but we bought between us two lorry loads of cars.

We did.

Through an Instagram message.

Yes, yes.

And they arrived, as I say, on articulated lorries yesterday.

Like proper big lorries, yeah.

And we haven't just bought cars, we've bought vehicles.

Yes.

And vehicles that travel on land and on water.

Yeah, a sea vehicle.

So large that we can't legally drive them on our licenses.

Yes.

And even older than Tom Lenthal.

Even older than Tom Lenthal.

So impossible.

So everyone will actually see this next week.

No, tomorrow is the start.

Tomorrow.

And then next week is the continuation of the story of the saga.

Yes, the saga.

Yeah, it is the saga.

It is quite funny, because I was actually telling Jamie,

he was like, why did you buy all of them?

And I was like, well, it's a bit of a story, actually,

because we went to see one.

And then we bought another one.

Another one?

There was ones that we walked past.

And then the longer we were there,

we would sort of turn around and go,

oh, that does look quite nice.

I quite like that, yeah.

We love that.

Yeah, how much that?

Oh, OK, yeah, we'll definitely have that.

Yeah.

And, you know, we ended up buying all of them, apart from one.

Yeah.

There was one we didn't buy.

Seven or eight vehicles?

Eight vehicles.

Eight vehicles, yeah.

But, yeah, I bought two, personally, and we were absolutely...

Do you know what?

I'm going to be honest,

I've had a bit of a stressful couple of weeks,

and yesterday made up for it, for all of it.

It absolutely did, yeah.

And I bought two vehicles,

one of which you did the deal for me,

and I would just like to say thank you again.

Oh, that's all right.

That's quite all right.

We agreed to buy it.

Well, I agreed to buy it without seeing it.

You said, the guy was unsure about selling it,

and he then came back to you because you had his phone number

and said, look, I do want to sell it,

and you went, all right, Taylor, I'll have it,

without me even knowing.

I did do that, yeah.

And then, you know, between us,

we'd seen two pictures of this car,

not even of the interior.

I didn't even know what the interior looked like.

And was it a disappointment?

And it was an amazement.

An amaz... It was.

The background of this is,

it is a classic car restoration company that went under,

and they had a storage unit,

and everything had to go ASAP.

Like ASAP.

I got a message on Instagram saying,

would you like to buy this particular car?

It is not only the cheapest version of that car in the UK,

but in the world, by a country mile.

I own one of these cars,

and about two months ago,

I told you guys that I bought the cheapest version of it

at 7,000 pounds.

Turns out it's not.

No, it's far from it.

Because the price that we paid for that one is just,

it's just crazy, crazy cheap.

We got offered this opportunity to buy these cars,

and they're at a point where we're not even going to haggle.

We go there, we have a look at them,

we're happy with them, we love them,

and we're fortunate enough,

thanks to everyone listening to this,

we're there eye holes in e-hows,

and watching the channel as well,

that we're in a position to buy them.

And thank you, Adam, the person who got in contact with us as well,

for putting us in touch with us.

And a massive shout out to JK Transport in Likers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you need cars or vehicles or anything transporting,

like big stuff,

JK Transport,

because we are going to be using them for all of our shows.

And they brought them all back for us as well.

And yeah, so going back to it,

one of the ones that I bought that you sorted out for me,

is the only vehicle I've ever bought in my life

that has had a full restoration.

And when I say a full restoration,

I mean every nut and bolt.

Even the tires are brand new pretty much.

Yeah, everything is brand new on it.

Like all the bolts have been zinc coated.

It arrived on the lorry,

and I think we were all a bit speechless, weren't we?

So we got very, very lucky.

Very lucky, yeah.

And yeah, I'm really excited to do a couple of bits with them.

I'm going to do a couple of videos on them.

And yeah, I will probably sell them on at some point,

but it's cool to be able to own them and enjoy them

and do a bit of fun with them.

It was a bit of a gamble though, wasn't it?

Because like realistically, we're looking at some of these.

We didn't even know if they'd run.

We didn't know the state underneath.

Like we didn't have long at all to decide

that we were buying all of them.

It was such a quick decision.

Like it could have gone horrifically wrong.

We bought some of them, and then we were happy with our lot.

And then the next day,

I got another phone call from Adam saying,

oh, would you like this and that for this price?

And I was like, go on then.

I'm never going to get an opportunity like this ever again.

So we can't say no, we can't say no.

And in the meantime, I need to get my lorry license.

Yeah.

You know what, we can reveal one.

It's a Bedford O-Type.

You bought a 1945 lorry.

It's like a truck lorry thing, yeah.

It's red in color.

You'll have to Google O-Type.

It's a beautiful, beautiful machine.

And we think looking at underneath,

we think we might have spotted some military green paint.

So it looks like it might have been in the army.

So this could have been part of the war effort,

which is absolutely insane.

Well, in 1945, what had that been?

Second World War, sort of?

The tail end of it, right?

So it may be like a cleanup operation.

We don't know.

So that could have been in use just after the war.

It would have to be in early one, yeah.

It could have been.

Which is crazy.

Large lorry.

Large lorry, yeah.

Is a war veteran.

Indeed, indeed, indeed.

Very cool.

But yeah, also, apart from that,

obviously that was very exciting.

I've been, I've got some stuff planned for Jeff,

my Range Rover, my Land Rover.

And also, since doing the Twi-Reg,

I love Range Rovers.

I just love them.

Yeah?

I love them so much.

So everyone should go out and buy Range Rovers.

You know what, they are unreliable.

Yeah, we're saying that when we're looking

at my L322 on the other ramp,

and the subframe is out on the ground

and the engine is hanging in the engine bay

because we've got to replace some manifolds.

But you know what?

That job, even though it is horrendous,

still way easier than the V10 Twi-Reg.

Oh, gotcha.

And also, you won't have to code that subframe

back into the car when you put it back in.

No, we'll just have to get a man to bolt it.

Yeah.

But yeah, I just, you know what, they're a bit like,

you know with a Range Rover, when it breaks,

you can, you'll use you a bit like,

well, it is a Range Rover, you know.

Yeah, it's all right, yeah.

You bolt something to it and it works.

Yeah.

And also, the parts are actually relatively cheap,

especially for L322s and discoveries.

They're actually quite cheap on the part front.

They are, yeah.

There are quite a few bits that are a bit of a pain to fit

because they do go a bit rusty,

but that's like any car, really.

But rusty, I don't know what you mean.

There's no rust on mine.

There was this bit of corrosion on some of the bumps.

No, not one bit.

Do you know what else I'll say as well?

Landrovers, I can get seven different part manufacturers

all with the same part, all to come here tomorrow.

V10 TwiRogue, iPhone Audi.

Yeah.

Oh no, we don't do that.

Oh, it's on back order, blah, blah, blah.

I then look at where else I can get a part from.

Oh, maybe somewhere in Europe,

you can get a part or something like that.

And then you just can't get parts for them.

Even the rocker cover gaskets for that TwiRogue

can't get them, cannot replace them.

And they're part of the rocker cover.

So you have to change realistically the whole cover,

which is hundreds and hundreds.

It's an engine out job.

Everything's an engine out job.

And like even we had to get a couple of turbo gaskets.

Yeah, they're on, you've got order and five days,

whatever it is.

It's like, come on, man.

Even if that was an X5 or a rare BMW,

they've all got, they've got all the bits in stock.

Yeah.

Anyway, we're getting too much into Land Rover discussions now.

Yeah, but anyway, I love Jeff, my Range Rover.

Your Range Rover.

I might actually bring him in tomorrow.

Fantastic.

And then also, finally, I've been working on my unit

and I've been, bless you.

Excuse me.

I've been using it all up.

Oh yeah.

And I've just had a delivery of all my new NEO tools.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, you didn't have a delivery because it all came here

and we were like, what the hell's going on?

Oh, you missed the effort of trying to get that onto the trailer.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

We don't have a forklift.

Well, we did, actually.

What?

Trev.

Oh, Trev.

Yeah.

Oh, good old Trev.

That was actually a really stressful day.

Not the day of loading it, the day of transporting it.

So I got a massive NEO tools delivery on a pallet, right?

And then for some reason, he thought it would be a good idea

to deliver it 70 miles away from his actual unit.

Why didn't you get it delivered to your unit?

Because I'm not at my unit that much

and I didn't know when it was going to arrive.

And I didn't want to have to take a day off of here

just to get them delivered there.

So I thought, oh no, I'll just get them delivered here.

It won't be that much.

And I'll put it in the back of my car.

Yeah.

As it turns out, it's quite large.

So I put it on the trailer, right?

And I had that and then exhaust for my M5 on the trailer

because that was also so large.

And that's in one piece.

Yeah.

The only way to move it is on a trailer.

So I had it all strapped down and I came in on Saturday morning.

Yeah.

And I picked the trailer up and I joined the M4.

And all the, you know, that plastic bracket

it just started flapping.

Oh no.

And like 10 minutes in, I just started to tear.

Oh no, that's stressful.

And it's all flat and I'm just sat there.

You know, when you're just like really stiff.

Yeah.

And I'm crouched up against the steering wheel

doing like 50 miles an hour on the M4.

And like this is really stressing me out.

Oh, and you can't really pull over on the M4.

No.

So I pulled off at Slough, motor factors,

and I bought a load of parcel tape.

Oh, did you?

And I just wrapped the whole thing.

Fantastic.

But yeah, so I've been doing that.

Jujun up my unit and that's about it.

Nice.

Rory, over to you.

What have you been up to?

I got my Spitfire back.

You did.

Yeah.

The color of it.

Some people may have seen it in the background of the latest videos.

Yeah.

It looks amazing.

It's so good.

So the classic car series is coming back.

Hey.

Whether you like it or not.

I think people really enjoyed the classic car series.

This is a bit of an issue with that.

Go on.

The classic car.

Why?

Don't really have a car.

Oh.

There is one in the paddock.

There is one.

Well, it's actually now in the storage.

So it's been so long.

I think we can finally reveal.

Taylor actually sold his classic Mini.

He did sell the Mini.

I did.

And the guy that I sold it to said that we could borrow it.

Yeah.

But he's currently busy with other stuff.

Yeah.

And also the car's in bits as well.

It is in bits.

So now that we're ready to go on ship, I don't really...

Well, I have a car.

Yeah.

But it's not the Mini.

No.

So there is a possibility that we may be able to buy the Mini.

Yeah.

Or if not, borrow the Mini for the series.

Because I think all three cars need to come back together.

Because we've got amazing colors.

Yes.

But if they don't.

Yeah.

Then we have a fantastic backup.

I have the backup of the century.

There's something about that car.

I'm going to use the word charming.

Right.

I just love it.

What year is it?

It's a nine...

It's 70 something, isn't it?

It's a 19.

Yeah.

Wait, let me Google it quickly.

OK.

It's white in color.

It's just amazing.

And I love it.

It's a four seater.

Brown interior.

Yeah.

The engine is like a sewing machine.

Yeah.

It does burn a bit of oil.

It burns all of the oil.

It burns an incredible amount of oil.

You might have to fix that.

And I guarantee you will not have seen one on the UK roads

for about 20 years.

And when the clutch is gone.

Well, no, the clutch is not gone.

It's just when Rory's in it, it slips.

Oh, OK.

So it is a 1979.

Oh, fantastic.

And it has been off the road since about when I was born.

Oh, OK.

Until last year.

Yeah.

When I bought it last year.

You did, yes.

And then you sold it and now it's come back.

I have actually bought this one back.

It was off the road for about 30 years.

It shows.

It does show.

No, it doesn't.

Poor overall conditions.

It's a survivor.

It's a collectible item.

All right, Beyonce.

I love it.

I do.

I was talking to Rory about this, actually.

So I actually drove it yesterday in the rain.

Yeah.

And above about 30, it does feel a bit floaty.

OK, fantastic.

All right, nice.

We might have to change the wheels and tyres

because the tyres that are on it are 40 years old.

They're not perished at all, which is amazing.

I think they made out of plastic.

OK.

So best case, we do get the mini back in some sort of form.

And then that car that you're alluding to

is driven by our oldest mate.

Yes.

Because it was his first car.

Our oldest of friends.

And when I say old, I mean prehistoric.

Yeah.

And if not, then...

You'll both be in it?

I have a both.

Well, then you'll definitely need to change the clutch

because it definitely won't go anywhere.

I have both of us in it because it is a two-man job

to get that car wherever it needs to go.

Or Tom...

What?

The man, the oldest man...

Our oldest man.

Tim showed us a car that he's just bought

that he'd quite like to take.

But I don't know if that would work.

You'll never guess what brand it is.

Is it a Jaguar Land Rover product?

No.

What?

Yeah, no, it is.

OK.

Very good.

It's very cool.

And it's the same colour as my classic car.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it's quite nice.

He's done some nice bits to that.

Anyway, Rory, what were you saying?

So, yeah, Spitfire's back.

That colour's great.

It doesn't run anymore, though.

What, anymore?

No, no.

Well, since it's been in Pope...

So, it went in the body shop and it ran.

Yeah.

And then it just didn't like sitting for nearly a year.

So then it's come out and it's just gone, no.

OK.

It's just not running any more.

No, I'm not running any more.

Yeah.

So we think it's something to do with the dizzy,

whatever, is just playing up.

We need to do quite a bit of restoring on that.

I've got new seats to go in, which would be nice.

Yep.

What else?

Obviously, I went skiing.

Again?

Yeah.

Great.

He's taken a hold of January off, hasn't he?

Look, all like I don't go on some holidays.

I do my little ski holidays and, you know...

OK, so no more holidays?

No, I won't.

Shake on it.

No, no.

Shake on it.

No, I'm not saying that.

No more holidays.

You went to Greece last year.

Cyprus or whatever it was.

That was literally like for three nights.

And you went to Vietnam on holiday.

That was not a holiday.

It felt like a holiday.

It was a holiday, you kids.

And yeah, apart from that, everything's going all right.

Good.

Yeah.

Oh, I bought a gadget for Bailey.

A gadget for Bailey?

Yeah, it's really good, actually.

What gadget would you buy for a dog?

Is it a device?

I'll give you...

Oh, I bet it, because you're the laziest person I know.

Is it something that walks the dog for you?

Or he gets a ball, puts it in the ball thing,

and then the ball thing flings the ball into the garden?

No.

I reckon it's a device to either stop him jumping the fence

or track him when he does jump the fence.

Oh, he has become a bit of an escape artist.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Do you know why that is?

Why?

Because he hates you.

Oh, he loves us.

No, it is a little Hoover device.

OK.

Right.

And then you have like a long tube coming out of it.

OK.

And then...

My mind is going in very strange places.

It's got a little sort of hair scraper thing on it.

Yeah.

And then, because obviously,

the golden retriever emults a lot.

Yeah.

And you haven't experienced a summer with him yet.

Wow.

We've got this new device, and it's, honestly, it's revolutionary.

So what it does, it hoovers as you're doing it,

and then you sort of like unclip it,

and then it socks it all in.

And then it comes in this little like plastic tube,

and you can see all the hair coming off.

And then it's all spinning around.

So what Rory's done is he's bought a vacuum cleaner.

He's bought an electronic brush.

No, no, because it's got the attachment on it.

Then you do this, and then you can then see it all flows.

He's bought a brush and a vacuum cleaner.

No, because I tried the brush.

We did have a brush, and it's when you're brushing him,

the hair starts going everywhere.

Have you ever thought, now, here's an idea.

I have had a dog before.

Yeah.

And I used to brush my dog outside.

He's too late.

So that the hair is outside.

I will say, that's a slight problem with that.

What, has the outside broken?

No, the dog's broken.

Oh.

Because for some reason, he wants to eat his own hair

when it's going flying around.

So I'm trying to brush him outside,

and then it's all floating around,

and he's like running after it, going,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Question.

Yeah.

Does he eat his own shit?

No.

Doesn't touch shit.

Cool, I was just...

No, it's just hair.

Does your dog eat?

I was just curious.

That's so grim.

Your dog does, I know.

Yeah, and she doesn't eat her own shit anymore.

That is so grim.

She used to, she also is partial to other dog shit.

God, that is so grim.

Sometimes she'd come back, like, wagging her tail.

She'd, like, smile at me, and be like,

you've got shit in your teeth.

Oh, no.

She's a very well-fed dog, but, you know,

other dogs are on kibble and stuff,

and she's like, oh, I can smell a bit of food in that.

I'll have it.

Oh, God.

I don't know.

I'm going to be sick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I've had to stop kissing my dog.

Oh, that's so...

The transfer, and, yeah, it's just, yeah.

I used to get ill from it, stomach bugs and everything, yeah.

I feel sick.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's all I've been up to.

Alex, what about you?

I picked up Betty.

Three.

So, Betty is now fully restored.

Slaughterhouse Customs have had Betty for about six months.

The interior on Betty...

Amazing.

Incredible.

I've got a kooka.

A kooka?

I've got a sink.

I've got a fridge.

I've got a Wabasto diesel heater.

I have got drawers.

Yeah.

I have got two beds.

LED lights.

I've got LED lights.

It's just, it is the dog's bollocks in there.

I think Betty has gone from probably one of the shittest T25 campers.

No, they're all quite shit when they're not restored.

Yeah, but I think it was one of the shittest.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll give you that, yeah.

To actually one of the nicest in the country.

Yes.

Oh, thank you.

That's because I'm a vehicle restoration expert.

No, no, no.

I'm a car connecter.

It's through no effort of you.

It's through the effort of Yorkshire car restoration.

I had picked the restoration experts,

and I was like, you will do this and you will.

No, they're going in contact.

They've done an amazing job though.

Yorkshire car restoration did all of the body work,

like massive shout out to Ryan and all those guys up there.

And then Ben from Slaughter.

Oh, I've got a bloody PD engine in there as well.

Oh, yeah.

How have you not mentioned that?

I forgot about that because we were talking about the interior.

She drives beautifully.

So you've got a 1.9 PD engine in there.

The PD 130 that's been detuned a little bit

because the PD is actually mated to the four-speed manual

gearbox, the original gearbox.

So it can handle the torque because it's

been derated a little bit.

But she pulls like a train ounce.

It's like she's on rails.

She is lovely.

Do you know what?

I don't actually drive her the other day, and she is.

It's weird because you start her up and it's Betty,

but then she sounds like a Mark IV Golf.

She does sound exactly like a Mark IV Golf.

It's a bit odd, but great.

Yeah, she drives really, really nice.

I have bought some new 16-inch Rogue wheels.

So they're like Van Lifey wheels.

And we've just ordered some General Grabber tyres.

So those wheels are currently black.

They're going white.

And I will be at the Volkswagen Show at the South Mims

grounds.

Services.

No, no, the county show grounds in April sometime.

There's a big VW gathering.

And I'm going to be there with Betty.

Do you know what?

Maybe I'll come to that because I'm a Volkswagen enthusiast.

You are now, aren't you?

Yeah, the twarek.

No.

Yeah, no, no, come along.

Come along.

I could bring one of mine.

Maybe my sports one.

Oh, it's very nice.

All right.

And now a break from the podcast to give a massive shout out

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Nice.

So yeah, I've got Betty.

I'm over the moon and I'm really excited

to relaunch the classic car series.

Now, question, right?

And this is off the bat.

I don't think we've discussed this that much.

OK.

Where are we going to take these cars?

So my mission, because we're probably

going to be doing this quite soon,

I think the whole aim of the trip needs to be to find the sun.

I want some sunshine.

To find the sun?

Yeah.

I'm so bored.

So we keep, we drive and we keep going south

until we find the sun.

I'm so bored of the cold weather.

We drive into Australia, aren't we?

Yeah.

It's going to be a long trip.

Yeah.

I think Portugal, Spain.

Oh, Barcelona.

Barcelona?

Do you remember that really nice Mediterranean restaurant

or Brazilian restaurant there?

We could go there.

Maybe we'd set that as our destination.

And we can go to the same club.

We'd go into a club.

I think we're banned from that.

We're banned.

Yeah, probably.

That was quite wild.

But what about Barcelona?

Barcelona, yeah, we could go to Barcelona maybe.

Yeah, we'll pick somewhere nice.

My car might be a bit of a job.

Yours?

We'll need the entirety of the North Sea.

Or what we could do is we could get in contact with JK Transport.

Just get them transported down

and then just pretend like we've done it.

Because all of them do have like realistically a cruising speed of 55 to 60 miles an hour.

No, Betty can do 65.

Now.

She's screaming, but she'll do 65.

Mine, and I know this because I've actually driven mine to the British Motor Museum.

Yeah.

No, the Haynes Motor Museum.

Oh, yeah, that's far.

Yeah, that is long.

Mine does do 70.

Really?

And it does cruise at 70.

Wow, OK.

It's a bit burny.

Is that why there's a massive oil leak?

No, no, it's not actually.

No, but mine actually, do you know what?

Mine is actually quite nice to drive.

Is it?

It actually is.

It drives and it's quite comfortable.

Fantastic.

All right.

But it is a very hit and miss.

OK, well, we'll see about that on our way to Barcelona.

Apart from that, I've been going to the gym a lot.

Oh, how's that gone for you?

Gone really well?

The gym being healthy?

Do you know what?

I am stronger.

Not been stressing your body any at all?

No medical issues at all.

No, no, no, not that I recall.

Not gone against doctors advice.

No, I've not gone against doctors advice.

OK.

I had my little hernia operation in July.

I was told six weeks, you'll be fine.

What they probably didn't account for is the fact

that I'd like to lift heavy things.

Yeah.

And I was in the shower the other day

and I just gave myself a little prod in my belly button.

I was like, oh, God, not another one.

Another one.

So, yeah, I've got a double hernia.

So I've been stitched up, right?

Yeah.

Like literally stitched up, not like, oh, you stitched me up.

I got stitched up because I had a little belly button hernia.

Yeah.

And now I've got another little belly button hernia,

just right next to it, a little pea-sized thing.

So you need to get it.

What?

I need to get cut open.

I need major surgery again.

Or you could just stop being a moron and stop lifting weights.

No, I enjoy doing it.

So I just enjoy it.

How long at your age now until you get the old chandelier

up the backside because you've been straining too much?

What's piles?

Oh, OK.

I don't know.

Because that's the next thing, realistically.

Well, if it's coming out the front, it'll come out the back.

Oh, OK.

Well, maybe we'll have to have a little look later.

And then you can give me a kind of timer.

Rory, you'll have to copy chandelier.

All right, fine.

But anyway, I've been going to the gym a lot.

I have a personal trainer, a man called James Exton.

Is he training the two of you or?

What, me and my little friend now?

See, I'll do my little friend.

No, he doesn't know about it yet.

I've kind of kept that from him.

But no, he's very good.

And I am stronger, but now I'm weaker at the same time.

But that's OK.

Because what can't kill you gives you a hernia.

Whatever makes you stronger.

Thank you.

Apart from that, I need to get a lorry license.

So if anyone knows how I can get my C1 license.

Yeah, under 7.5 tons of lorries.

I need a C1 license.

And also last week went to Bolesworth, which is where we are hosting.

Shedfest 2026 went there to do a bit of a promo material for you guys.

A bit of drifting.

A bit of driftage in Phil.

Phil is well and truly out of hibernation now.

So yeah, that was a lot of fun.

And yeah, we are over a third sold tickets.

All the camping or very much nearly all the camping has all sold out.

And we've also had like 50 to 60 show bikes have also.

That's really cool.

Yeah, really cool.

So we have a nose.

So yeah, we're just working on making the best show possible.

So if you want to come to Shedfest 2026, then just just Google it.

Shedfest 2026 tickets and then we'll be there.

Also, even sooner than that.

Yeah, there is food and fuel on the 11th.

Yes, 11th of April, 11th of April.

Bista Bista Motion.

We are hosting another food and fuel show.

So that's going to be awesome as well.

So we are kicking things off beginning of April and rolling into May.

And then we've got a Shelsley Walsh food and fuel up the hill in August.

Yeah.

And then after that, I can't remember.

Then it's the final course, which which is also Bista.

Yeah, yeah, but with track action.

We're track potentially traction.

Potentially traction.

Thank you in it.

Well done.

Thank you.

I'm really excited for all of those.

I love doing car events and stuff, you know, especially with you guys.

And we do more stuff now, like Shelsley Walsh and Garth Hill and do a couple of burnouts.

It was funny because M, who does all of our events,

she asked us yesterday how many cars we'd want to take to Shelsley Walsh.

And we went through the list and just our cars,

not including top dead centre and all the gears, boats.

Just asked, just asked her if it was like 22.

Yeah, we got a problem.

You got a problem, man.

And that's just cars that we want to take.

Yeah, that's not all of them.

I'd love to work out how many between us we actually own

because I've got some at home and at the unit.

And I today have got rid of two vehicles.

Vinnie, the Volvo 480 is going to Money Pit, Matt.

Yeah.

And he's also taking the Suzuki X90.

He is taking the X90.

Yeah, realistically, we're not going to do anything with him.

So the next question is, is you're going to keep or sell?

Two out.

I need to buy two cars now.

Yeah.

Keep or sell.

Your Range Rover.

No, Range Rover.

Not that one, the other one.

Oh, we get that one's going.

No, I've just made space.

No, that one's going.

I love the Range Rover.

Everyone, let us know.

Are you done with Range Rovers?

I'm not done with Range Rovers.

I know.

Look, we've done an L32 to 20 times.

I know Top Dead Centre gave it to you.

I feel like they've done that to stitch me up

because they needed a video.

Yeah, they did.

So realistically, I'm probably going to get rid of it.

It's a 4.4 V8 BMW.

It's just not as special as that one.

No.

No, I like that one more.

Yeah, that one's so much better in everywhere

and it's got a supercharger.

So if anyone would like to purchase potentially a multicoloured Range Rover.

Yeah, it's a project.

It's a project.

It is, but it needs quite a bit of work.

It's like one of three, isn't it?

It is so rare.

Yeah.

It is so, so rare.

It's a TVR car.

It needs some work, but it is cool.

Yeah, then you can contact us on...

...podcast.autolexcars.com.

I don't remember there being an urr in front of it.

Anyway, let's move on.

We have had an email from a 19-year-old male called Daniel.

I can already see the title of this.

The subject line is V10 Tuareg Advice.

I'm not liable for this.

Don't do it.

I'm not liable for this.

Is it V10 Advice or is it just Tuareg Advice?

It's V10 Tuareg Advice.

OK, I've done it.

Don't settle it.

Get rid of it.

It's the worst piece I think you'll ever buy.

Leave the country.

Run away from it.

Hi, guys, I'm Daniel, 19 years old and a compliance manager from the North East, Darlington Way.

My car history is a 4x4 Panda.

Very good.

1.4 Ibiza, also happy with that.

OK, so all cars easy to maintain so far.

112K before I sold it on and a Peugeot 2008.

Is that the one?

No, that's not the slidey door.

No, that's the 1.007.

It's the weird curvy saloon.

Before I got my current daily, my Insignia Estate 170.

Rory, you're happy with that.

Oh, I bought another Insignia.

What?

Yeah.

He's going to put it in the fabric.

For your friend.

Oh, it's for my friend, but I went out and bought another one.

You stitched your friend up.

You hate your friend.

Insignias are good cars for the price.

OK.

That they are now.

Rory hates all of his friends.

Pass it on.

Say what you like about it, but I adore it.

It's been in the family for 105,000 miles

and it has 121,000 miles and I class it as a forever car.

Aim higher, Daniel.

What?

Aim higher.

What, the Insignia?

Yeah.

No, they are good cars.

Especially, I will say the estate Insignias

actually look quite good.

Oh, Rory, it's time for you to stop talking, Rory.

It's time for you to stop talking, Rory.

No, you know what's nice about an estate Insignia, right?

Right, sorry, everyone.

There's no lip.

It's just straight through.

I need to, after this podcast, to get on your phone.

Yeah, and buy an Insignias book yourself an eye test

because you've got issues.

Well, he's got quite a few glasses.

Them glasses are not working well.

They're not going in.

An Insignias.

Can we please get back to Daniel's email?

I'm almost offended.

Is that all right?

I'm bored and I'm offended.

Reason for the email is

I've just bought a V10 toiregg from a dodgy bloke.

He drove it to my house about 15 miles.

But when we went to park it on the drive after the deal was done,

it left puddles of oil everywhere.

I booked it into a specialist who informed me

that the rear main oil seal was knackered,

as was the gearbox sump.

When I drove it there, I also found the transfer case to be broken

as the clutch or wherever the V10 has was slipping.

That's out of order.

I've since sawn it and cancelled the insurance,

which was my cheapest policy ever so far, might I add.

And I'm saving on my apprentice wage to have the engine, gearbox

and transfer case pulled and all redone correctly.

What advice would you give?

And do you think I'm in way above my head?

Yes.

Thanks, guys.

Hopefully this makes it to the podcast.

Well, A, first of all,

that's out of order.

Yeah, someone's driven that to his house and it's it's leaking oil.

Everyone that's, you know, they've done that on purpose.

Yeah, if that is someone that trades cars or is a dealer,

I think the first thing you need to do is speak to them

and try and get A, some money back or B, back the car.

Yeah, or speak to it like a small claims.

I would have a look, even if he's saying he's not a dealer,

look who you transferred money to, see that he's like a limited account

or if it is a business name that you transferred it to.

Yeah, or if it was on Facebook, look at the other stuff

that they've got listed for sale or whatever, because that's wrong.

You can't that's that's really bad.

Yeah, be whatever the specialist is quoting.

If you do want to fix it, add a fair bit more to that

because when they take the gearbox or whatever out, they will find issues.

Yeah, transfer case is quite common to chain slip in them.

You can either buy a repair kit or I think you can just buy transfer case

from any twiring.

I think they're the same throughout the V6 and all that lot.

I don't actually believe they change them.

So you can just get a second hand one, rear main oil seal, pain.

But if it's not leaking horrendously, I won't worry about it too much

and then just change the sump gasket on the gearbox.

But we're talking a lot of hours of labor.

Oh, my God, this is this is going to be thousands.

Yeah, whatever they quote, as I say, it will be more than that.

Because they there's stuff that needs to be done

when the gearbox or engine is taken out of a twire egg.

I mean, you don't know the condition of the turbos.

Yeah, no, I mean, just look at us.

Well, we we put ours down just to do the seal on the back on the back

of the fuel pump. Yeah.

And that would have been a simple job, which then turned into realistically

if we were paying for all of that work to be done, I would say what

turbos think probably about another six grand.

I reckon we're yeah, like normal rates.

I reckon we're 10 to 15 grand.

And actually, you know, even adding more labor because what realistically

we're now into two weeks of Taylor labor time, like to your two weeks

mechanic, and that's really much I don't want to admit it.

Taylor works very quickly.

Oh, usually a workshop mechanic will charge double what we would do in our time.

So what we'd be up to like four weeks.

So they're four weeks of labor time and trevult as well.

And Trev yet. No, we were all right, Trevay then.

Trevs in the background.

It's kind of leaning against the rain.

So would would you get a V10 to our record?

No, no, personally, if I was you on an apprentice wage with that car,

I would learn a lesson out of it, try and get a bit of money back.

If you can't, I would cut your losses and put it up for sale.

And you will take a bit of a hit on it.

You will take a bit of a loss, but I reckon you'll take less of a loss

than if you were to go ahead and repair, unless it's fairly simple to repair.

If you're looking at taking engines and gearboxes out, honestly, which

realistically needs to happen. Yeah, I wouldn't.

I would, you know, do the gearbox, some gasket, because that's not horrendous to do.

That's quite easy service to gearbox while you're there.

Maybe chuck a second and transfer box in it just to get it driving nice.

And I would, I would part ways with it.

I wouldn't go too deep into it because you know what else you should do.

They spiral out of control as a confirmation of whether to put any money into it at all.

Pull the arch liner down and have a look at the rail, the chassis leg and start.

Take a screwdriver to the top of it, because if you poke a screwdriver

through there, give up, yeah, that car scrap and even just have a look at the

sills, because if you're going to get the sills replaced, you're looking

at minimum to an half grand.

Yeah, you know, it's all well and goodbye in these cars, and they are

quite cool when they work.

Like I know I still know in the back of my head that when, you know, our

Tuareg is done, it will be very cool and it will drive quite well and it is

powerful and whatever.

But there's a reason that these cars were once a hundred thousand

pounds and are now a couple of thousand pounds.

It's because of the maintenance.

Do you know the only way that a Tuareg V10 makes sense to own?

Having a YouTube channel.

If you have a YouTube channel, or if you can get content out of it

because it's very, very popular, very popular, or if you, you know, are very

nerdy and enthusiastic about these cars and do a lot of it yourself.

Yeah.

If it's your job, not necessarily, if you have a normal job, you will never

have time to finish it.

No, yeah, you've spent four weeks solidly on this thing.

Yeah, yeah, you think you split that time.

That would be like nearly half the year.

You would never see your family weekends just doing your Tuareg.

That is a lot.

So Daniel, it sounds like you have been stitched up by this quote on quote,

dodgy bloke, see if you can actually get in touch with them.

If he has a company, then there is some sort of protection for you where you need

to get your money back because that is not on.

No, it's not on.

If not, spend a little bit of money on it.

Don't go too deep into it.

Don't take the boxes out and stuff like that and then just sell it.

And just, you know, a car at that age, you know, unless you're planning on

and just running it into the ground and scrapping it.

It's not really a good car to own.

Yeah, it's cool, but it's not.

It's a nightmare.

No, yes, it's terrible.

So Daniel, by a fiesta or a Range Rover.

You'd be better off with a bloody Range Rover or just put money into your

Voxel and Cygnia because it's the best car in the world or rain.

And with that, we're going to move on.

We have a new game, the new game.

All right, Trev, yeah, do you need it?

Have we done anything wrong?

No, he's just having a listen.

All right, Trev, do you want to play along as well?

We got a game called which car did it first?

So I'm going to say the first man manufacturer to do X and then you're

going to guess what that is.

OK, OK, Mercedes S-Class.

No, everyone always says that, but it's not for any of these questions.

OK, so the first manufacturer to offer seatbelts.

See, now I would say the Mercedes S-Class, but apparently it's not.

So I now have to go with something.

It definitely isn't Volvo.

Incorrect.

If you can tell me the year as well.

So if you can tell me the year and the car.

OK, I'm going to go Volvo 19.

Do you know what?

No, I am going to go 1911.

For seatbelts.

Yeah, yeah, because I think I think there'll be some weird man who decided

to put a belt in to stop people flying out of the cars.

OK, so 1911 and you're saying?

Oh, I don't know.

What's the car in 1911?

Ford Model T.

Rolls-Royce.

I don't know if they existed then.

Taylor.

I don't think Rory's going to be very good at this game.

No, I didn't know the answer to this, but I've forgotten.

So Volvo, as far as I remember, by the way, you can't change your answer now.

They were the first to do the inertia seatbelt or the locking seatbelt.

The three-point seatbelt.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the actual seatbelt would have started off as a lap belt.

Yes, correct.

And I'm going to say that came in in around the 1960s.

There were there abouts by probably.

I'm going to say it's probably something American.

You'd be correct.

It is American.

And I'm going to say it's probably something like a Ford or a Cadillac Chevrolet.

OK, right.

The answer is the first seatbelt, 1949.

Wow, OK.

Nash was the first American car manufacturer to offer seat belts as a factory option.

In its 1949 models, they were installed in 40,000 cars, but buyers did not want them

and requested that dealers removed them.

The feature was quotes met with insurmountable sales resistance.

And Nash reported that after one year, only 1000 had been used by customers.

So there you go.

1949, it is the Nash.

That's quite interesting.

OK, the second question is the first car with airbags.

Would anyone like to tell me that?

Trev, have a little guess of the year.

The first car with airbags.

Yeah, in the 80s.

In the 80s would be incorrect.

1974.

Close. 1973.

And I'm going to go Volvo and I've not guessed yet.

I know, but you need to guess the manufacturer.

Volvo. Volvo.

Taylor.

God, I was only one year out on the.

Oh, God, God.

You're so good at this.

I'm so good.

You're so good.

1973.

Yeah.

Oh, I don't know if it was Volvo.

It wasn't Volvo.

No, because Volvo are very good with safety, but they didn't invent a lot of it.

They just perfected a lot of it.

Go and have a guess, then.

I'm going to say a 90.

I'll give you a clue.

It's American again.

Yeah, I was going to say something American.

Is it a Cadillac?

No, it's an Oldsmobile Tornado.

How are we supposed to guess this stuff?

So, 1973 Oldsmobile Tornado.

In 1981, so a few years later, Mercedes-Benz S-Class introduced the first modern driver

side airbag.

And in 1987, the Porsche 944 Turbo became the first car to offer both driver and passenger

airbags as standard equipment.

How much to test out an airbag in an Oldsmobile Tornado now?

There's a video of that, isn't there?

Did you know that airbags actually have a lifespan of about 10 years?

Yeah.

And after 10 years, they expire like they go out of date, and they're not actually

recommended to be used.

Even though they do still...

It's like when food goes off, you get that extra day.

Yeah.

You can use it, it's all right.

But yeah, with airbags, they do have an expiry date as such, and you should actually replace them.

Indeed.

Next one, and these are quite difficult, I'll give you that.

The first car with heated seats, give me a year.

Taylor, I'll go to you.

First car with heated seats, give me a year.

1969.

OK.

74.

No.

I knew this the other day.

No.

It was really old, and it was, I think, a Rolls-Royce or there or thereabouts.

And it blew hot air from the engine up your skirt and up the back of the seat.

OK.

And I think it was an old Roller or something like that.

And I think it was in the 1930s or 40s.

OK.

Well, the answer I have here, courtesy of AI, is 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood.

And it used carbon fibre pads to warm seats to between 85 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Like what?

Oh, Fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit.

That might be wrong, because I remember reading a thing the other day of it.

There's the thing that used hot air to blow it up, yeah.

The old Rolls-Royce did.

Yeah, Trev's saying the old Rolls-Royce did, and they used to blow hot air up your chandelier.

Fantastic.

All right.

And then we have got first car with cruise control.

Now, you might know this, Taylor.

The first car with cruise control, 1961.

It was in the 60s, I believe, and I think that was a Cadillac.

OK.

1958 Chrysler Imperial was the first production car to feature cruise control,

marketed as an option named AutoPilot.

Now, the interesting thing, invented by Ralph Teter, a blind mechanical engineer,

the so-called Speedostat system used a dashboard dial to maintain a constant speed

via the speedometer cable.

It was later branded cruise control by Cadillac.

Yeah, there was a lot of American cars back in the day.

They came with this technology.

Do you know, I don't know if you've got it on there.

Do you know when and what was the first car to ever come out with automatic main beams?

Automatic main beams?

Yeah.

That's got to be quite modern, then.

Yeah, it's got to be, I'm going to say, 80s.

So I don't know the exact year, but it came out in the 60s or 70s,

and it was, I believe, a Cadillac, and it used a mirror built into the top of the windscreen.

Yeah.

I mean, it worked that way.

I don't know exactly how it worked,

but it was like a mechanical way of doing it.

OK.

It was really cool.

All right, we've got one more.

Oh, and then I've got one more for you.

The first car with a touchscreen.

Give me a year.

All right, so I'm going 1991, and I think it's Japanese, and I'm going to go with...

You're incorrect.

Taylor, give me a year.

It's got to be in the 2000s.

I don't think it's a 90s car.

I'm going to say it's a 97, something like that,

and I'm going to say it's probably, I would have gone with Japanese, actually,

because I remember the Lexuses used to have touchscreens, the LS400s and stuff like that.

But if you're saying that's wrong, it's probably American.

No, I don't think it'd be American.

It's probably German, I'd say.

OK, what do you think?

It doesn't matter, you're wrong.

The year 1986, Buick Riviera was the first production car to feature a touchscreen

known as the Graphic Controller Center.

The nine-inch green and black CRT screen allowed drivers to control climate,

radio and vehicle diagnostics, replacing many traditional buttons.

That's pretty cool, I didn't know that.

So all American.

I've got a couple that live in my brain for some unknown reason.

What was the first car to come as standard?

You don't have to give me a year, just to make a model,

to come as standard with alloy wheels.

Alloy wheels?

Oh, bloody hell, as standard.

Mini.

No.

Is it American?

No.

Is it British?

Yeah.

A Vauxhall.

Jaguar.

No.

Triumph.

Yeah.

Stag?

No.

Spitfire?

No.

TR?

No.

Go on.

What's the name of it again?

Oh!

I had it a minute ago.

It's the Triumph Dolomite Sprint.

Really?

What was the first car to ever come with xenon headlamps?

Was it a German car?

Was it a BMW?

Might have been.

Was it an X5?

No.

Oh, no.

Seven series.

Might have been.

All right.

But what seven series?

E32.

750.

Yeah.

The BMW, I think it was the V12.

1989.

Imagine it being in 1989 and having xenon headlamps.

That is mental.

Yeah, that's good.

Do you remember, I watched a really, really, really old

episode of Wheeler Dealers.

And Ed China put retrofitted xenon headlights to an LS400.

And he paid like 500 quid or whatever it was for this retrofit kit.

And it looks like the eBay ones you get now, which like 40 quids.

Imagine back then having them in the 80s.

First car.

And you might know this because I think there was actually

a movie done on it.

Or at least some sort of special series thing.

First car to have intermittent wipers.

Adjustable intermittent wipers or just intermittent wipers.

Just intermittent wipers, yeah.

Trev, what do you think?

Trev's having a little thing.

What does it say on your T-shirt, Trev?

Can you open up?

I may be wrong, but it's highly unlikely.

That's factual.

That is fair.

If there was ever a Trev T-shirt, that was it.

Was it a Ford?

Intimidant wipers.

Is it a Ford?

I'm going to say American.

You're correct.

Would Ford and American?

Is it a Ford?

What year?

Intimidant wipers.

Yeah.

Do you know the first wipers were invented by a lady?

Was it?

Yeah.

I think in 1911.

Really?

Yeah.

That doesn't help us so, does it?

No.

Intimidant wipers, I'm going to say a Ford.

Was it a 1960s Mustang?

I was going to say Mustang.

It was a Mercury.

A Mercure.

Does it end in URE?

U-R-Y.

Oh, sorry, Mercury, yeah.

No.

And yeah, it was invented by a guy called Robert Kearns.

And basically, he tried to sell it to Ford,

but Ford reverse engineered it and then didn't license it off him.

And they spent a decade trying to pursue each other basically for it.

And eventually, Ford settled for $10.2 million.

Really?

But I believe that's still nothing on what they should have paid

for the actual licensing.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, it's...

Because we like our intermittent wipers.

I do, especially when they're adjustable.

Yeah, yeah.

But that's, and yes, there's a film called Flash of Genius,

which you can watch about it.

I've got one more before we change.

Go on then.

Do you need to Google it?

No, no, I think you'll need, you'll know the answer to this.

So you have to answer first, Rory.

But you might also know what car first came with neon lights.

Neon?

Instead of LED, it had neon lights.

Not underneath the car.

They were in the tail lights.

The actual tail lights.

And I believe the indicators on the front were neon.

BMW Z1.

Is it? What's the really expensive convertible BMW?

Z8.

Yes.

As if you look at them, they look like LEDs.

I've got that.

They look like tubes.

Well done, yeah.

But they are neon tubes in the lamps.

Very cool.

And if you have to replace them, they are extortionately expensive.

If you have to replace them, sell the car.

But those cars were about a quarter to half a million now,

which is mad.

I love a Z8.

I think they're really cool.

Yeah. Do you know what I've driven a Z8?

Have you?

I've drove backwards about two miles an hour.

Really?

Yeah.

Did you like it?

It was a fantastic ride.

I think they are amazing.

They're beautiful.

They're stunning.

They are one of the coolest cars ever created.

£1,500 Z8 challenge.

If only I could dream.

If you've got a Z8, cheap Z8 and a cheap FF, let us know.

Let us know.

Imagine if we went on a trip in an FF and a Z8

and you'd have to buy something, Rory,

you'd have to buy something British.

No, like American, like a Ford Mustang or something.

Or you could buy.

No, only idiots would buy Mustangs.

Or Rory, you could get an Aston Martin

in DBS Volante.

That would be nice.

Anyway, let's move it on.

We have had another email at

thepodcast.autolexcars.com.

Rory strained them when he said that.

He did, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry, I'm having a poo.

We've been emailed by Matt Wallace

and the subject line is NC 500

in 2000 pound executive cars want to buy.

That sounds fun.

It does.

That sounds like a bit of us.

Hi, Alex and team.

Firstly, a quick thanks for all the videos and podcasts.

I've been an avid watcher since the CT days

and moved over at the start of your new adventure.

Your on-screen chemistry genuinely brightens my day.

Every time a new video or podcast drops,

one of the few things I watch and listen to

that makes me laugh out loud.

Keep it up, gents.

The auto Alex universe are, in my opinion,

the best thing on YouTube.

That's not opinion.

That is fact.

Google it is fact.

Inspired by your trips, myself and a group of friends

have decided to do the NC 500,

but have challenged ourselves to do it

in 2000 pound executive cars,

mainly because they depreciate so much.

So you get a load of bang for your buck,

but also because they are comfortable

and it's a long way to go from the South Coast.

And I'm not getting any younger.

Amen to that.

So my question is, given you've been there and done that,

what would you take?

I'm currently torn between sensible option,

Lexus RX or GS, the newest option, Jaguar XF,

probably a diesel or the DAF choice Mercedes S-Class.

Given the challenge of no more than 2000 pounds

and an executive car, what would you choose

to do all of those miles in any of the above

or something completely different?

Keep up the great work, Matt.

Do you know what?

Is it like executive saloon?

Not a coupe?

I'm guessing executive saloon.

Or something just really comfortable.

Do you know what I'd buy?

Yeah.

I'd buy a jean.

What jean would you buy?

I would buy, I don't know, you might know, Rory,

what X, whatever it is,

the 2003-ish, four-ish, five-ish?

XJ.

Yeah.

You know the first aluminum ones?

Oh, you can't get those for 2000 pounds.

I think you can.

I would not choose one of those.

I would choose Signia and X351,

because on co-part at the moment,

I just need to Google these.

Yeah, but you can't buy a car from co-part

and then do the NC500.

Why not?

Because these aren't broken ones.

These are working cars,

but they're just going through auctions.

Is that the same shape as your one?

That is the same shape as my one.

Some of those are going,

it's a little bit over budget,

but they're going for two and a half grand.

That's 500 pounds over budget.

Over budget, Rory.

So, sorry, you're out.

I like the older shape.

I like yours, but a little bit of a chips ain't cool.

All right, I would then,

because they are in budget,

I probably would go for the XF of the XJ,

because if you can get a free litre XF.

X, what's the XF?

That's the same one that top dead center had, the XFR.

Oh, yeah, I quite like those.

You can get those in a free litre,

which is same horsepower as mine.

So that's like 0 to 16, 5.4 seconds, 5.5 seconds.

Quick cars.

I do like them.

Uncomfortable.

Yeah, or you could just buy a Range Rover.

I've just found a Volkswagen.

Fight on.

No, it better not be a V10.

It's definitely not, it's a diesel.

It is a bit over budget, 2,600 pounds.

Well, no, you can't.

That's 600 pounds over budget then, Alex.

Yes, but this is a private seller, Rory.

You can get them down to 2,000 pounds all thereabouts.

You will have to just fix the small throttle body issue,

but a faton for under 3,000 pounds.

Or you could probably get an Audi A8 for that money,

couldn't you?

Do you know what?

That's all I think that'd be a bit boring.

Could you get an E38 for that much?

Or have they gone up now?

It would be a bit of a crap on.

But you might be able to.

A 728i, yeah, probably.

Do you know what?

That's a shout, actually.

The E38 728i is actually quite good.

That's a nice car to do it.

I've just thought Peugeot 607.

You've got issues.

Peugeot 607, that's the luxury Peugeot.

That's worse than a Vex.

That's an excellent insignia.

Shut your dirty filthy mouth.

How different we dare you?

Imagine we set a challenge.

I'd rather go in an insignia

to do a 2,000 pounds executive car challenge,

and you turn up in a Peugeot,

and he turns up in an insignia.

It's a Peugeot 607,

then it looks furious.

You would rather have a Peugeot 607 than an XJ.

Yes.

Are you mad?

Yes.

How much can you get a Quattroporta for these days?

So now, the other day on Facebook Marketplace,

I found a Maserati Quattroporta for £3,000.

It's £1,000 over budget.

It is, but it's Maserati Quattroporta.

Matt, you need to up your budget by £1,000.

You know what?

If you did up it by £1,000,

you could get some a lot more interesting stuff.

Yeah.

Like a lot more.

I think I'd just do it in a jag.

What about Alphas?

What Alpha could you get?

But that's not very luxury.

No, no, no.

The big luxury, the 166.

They are so ugly.

Oh, I know, but it's so luxurious.

You've got to say it's nice to look at

because you want to take pictures of it.

Oh, my God.

There's one here for 600 quid.

Oh, that's so ugly.

Oh, shut.

What? Are you mental?

How is that an ugly car?

I think it's a three liter V6.

I think realistically, if you're going to do this trip, right?

Oh, it's waiting on logbook,

but have green slips.

£6,000 on a rougher.

Brilliant.

You either want to do it in a jag

because it's British.

It's nice.

It'll be fun.

If it breaks, you kind of go, well, it is a jag

and you accept it for what it is.

Yeah.

Or you do it in a BMW because they're good to drive.

And then you get there and back.

Yeah.

You'll burn a lot of oil, but you'll get there.

Yeah.

And then they're just good to drive.

Even a 7 Series is a nice car to drive for.

Whereas if you do it in an Audi or a Volkswagen or whatever,

they are boring.

They're really boring.

Yeah.

So we would say the Jaguar XJ.

Yes.

Maybe go for a 7 Series.

All 7 Series, apart from the really old ones

that are collectible, are really cheap.

I wish you could get an A8 for all these days,

like an early A8.

That A8 is a fairly cheap, but they're quite boring.

If you get the LD A8, get the 7 Series and get the Jag

and then do it.

Let us know how you get on.

Yeah.

Or.

A Mercedes CL.

They're quite cold.

Not for two grand, though.

You can get them for two grand.

And they're V8s usually.

All right.

They're a bit cheaper.

Let us know how you get on, Matt.

Right, Rory, what have we got coming up?

So we have got a lot.

We've got a lot.

We have got our classic car series after the Overlanders,

which we should be heading to Scotland next week,

which hopefully then we can finish that series

and get that shitty crap VW Tuareg out of here.

I would be happy to see that burn, genuinely burn.

Then after that, we've got our classic cars.

So we'll find out what Taylor is driving,

because even for us at the moment, it's a mystery.

Yeah.

And then we have got our luxury limos sort of things.

Luxury British series.

Is it just British?

Well, it will be British.

British.

Because we've chosen to do British.

OK.

So we've got the luxury limos, which we're going to go to Africa.

Yeah.

And then I guess we then need to...

I like how you just dropped that.

Which we're going to go to Africa.

Yeah, it's just going to go to Africa.

Yeah, we've just gone pop down.

We've got a G-Wagon in Las Vegas that we bought.

Yeah.

Yeah, we need a buzz over there.

We need a buzz over there.

So we'll probably do that maybe after that.

Yeah.

And then we'll move on to maybe some of the cars that we've...

No.

Maybe.

We also need to go to Vietnam again.

Yeah.

I do think at some point we need to take a little,

just a little jawn down to Santa Pei.

Because I left my phone there.

Oh, did you?

No, Robbie said that we have to come back

and pay the bill and...

I've just noticed, by the way, your phone screen is fixed.

I have got it fixed.

You got that fixed very quickly.

270 pounds later.

Nice.

That was very quick.

It was, yeah.

I couldn't use it.

I was uncontactable.

But yeah, I do think I've left my phone,

my other one, at Robbie's in Santa Pei.

You got a burner phone?

Yeah.

And I need to go and collect it.

Robbie, when can we come back?

Please, please, Robbie.

It was best, but just best.

We want to fly a boat.

Yeah, fly a boat?

Yeah.

Fly a boat.

Drive a boat.

OK.

Yeah?

Cool.

We do have a boat.

We've got a jet boat.

Maybe we should bring our boat to Robbie.

No, why don't we just fly over there?

We could tow the boat without one of our classic vehicles

to Santa Pei.

Yeah.

What we need to do, realistically,

is fit one of our classic vehicles with a little bar.

Yeah, just to buzz our boat.

And then we can either go to Barcelona or Santa Pei,

but we need to find somewhere sunny.

All right, we'll do that.

Just bet he have a tow bar.

She does.

Does she?

And we're going to go boating and betty.

And she's the most economical vehicle, so you could do a bit of towing.

And we did say we would head south to find the sun.

Robbie, we're coming your way.

Right, and with that, thank you very much for watching and listening

with your ear holes and your eye holes.

We will see you and chat to you next week or next time

on The Auto Alex Podcast.

Thank you very much.

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

We've got a very, very busy day ahead of us.

Thank you very much.

We'll see you soon.

Bye bye.

0:00

68:43

S2 Ep28: My VW Camper Van Project Is FINISHED! (And We've Been On A Spending Spree...)

BMW M57

Bedford O-Type

Mini

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