The AutoAlex Podcast Mar 7, 2026

S2 Ep30: Our Latest MASSIVE Purchase & We've Got The Top Gear Hilux!

Annotations will appear as you listen

0:00

62:53

Car

MGF

The MG MGF is a small, sporty car made in Britain. It has the engine placed in the middle and drives the rear wheels, which helps it handle well on twisty roads.

Car

Focus Ztec

The Ford Focus is a small family car that’s easy to drive and good for everyday use. Some versions are faster and more fun to drive than others.

Part

intercooler

An intercooler is a part that cools the air going into a car's engine when the engine uses a turbo or supercharger. Cooler air helps the engine work better and makes more power.

Car

Mini Cooper

The Mini Cooper is a small car that is fun to drive and looks unique. Many people like to fix them up or make them faster.

Concept

auction

An auction is like a sale where people bid money to buy something. The person who offers the most money gets to buy the item, like a car or bike.

Concept

British Superbikes

British Superbikes is a famous motorcycle race in the UK where fast bikes and riders compete to win.

Car

Jaguar XJ13

The Jaguar XJ13 is a special old race car made by Jaguar that was built to race but never actually did. It's very rare and has a powerful engine in the middle of the car.

Concept

Le Mans

Le Mans is a very long and famous car race that lasts 24 hours, where cars race to see which one can go the farthest without breaking down.

Term

brake horsepower

Brake horsepower is how much power the engine can make before it gets reduced by parts like the transmission.

Part

aluminium-bodied monocoque

This means the car's body and frame are made as one piece from light metal called aluminum, making the car strong and light.

Car

Land Rover Range Rover

The Range Rover is a fancy SUV made by Land Rover that can drive off-road and is also very comfortable inside.

Concept

track

A track is a special road made for racing or testing cars, not for everyday driving. People use it to see how fast or well a car can go.

Concept

road legal

If a car is 'road legal', it means you can legally drive it on normal streets and highways, not just on private tracks or raceways.

Car

Jaguar Etype

The Jaguar E-Type is an old, very pretty sports car that many people think looks amazing. It was special when it came out and is still loved today.

Car

Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang is a famous sporty car from America that many people like for its power and looks. It's been made for a long time and lots of people enjoy driving it.

Concept

primer

Primer is a special base layer put on a car before the final paint. It helps the paint stick and keeps the car from getting rusty.

Term

Oxford Green

Oxford Green is a dark green color used on some cars. It looks nice and is a popular choice for painting vehicles.

Concept

full repaint

A full repaint means painting the whole car again from scratch. This makes the car look new or changes its color completely.

Term

right-hand drive

Right-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. This is normal in places like the UK, so drivers sit on the right and drive on the left side of the road.

Concept

low mileage car

A low mileage car is one that hasn't been driven much, so it usually looks and works almost like new because it hasn't been used a lot.

Concept

never registered car

If a car is never registered, it means it was never officially allowed to be driven on public roads. So it might be brand new even if it's old.

Term

V5

A V5 is a paper that shows who owns a car in the UK. If a car doesn't have one, it means it was never officially registered to be driven on roads.

Concept

There was four motorbikes.

I wanted to buy one about four years ago.

Came up for sale and a French guy got it.

He put the motorbike up for auction and I bought it.

You're not going to do what Alex does and just decide that you like one colour

so you'll buy every single car in that colour.

Hey man, I got a purple car, I got a yellow car, I got a silver car.

But you have many red cars.

You've got a six red cars.

All right, let's have a bet.

Well, I don't know.

Let's have a bet.

I'm not going to bet.

Worry?

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Auto Alex Podcast.

Home of automotive, financial mistakes, our life in cars

and your questions answered today.

Mr. Tom Lenthal.

Hello.

You need to speak.

I'm sorry or what?

Oh my God.

Worry.

It's been a couple of weeks.

It has been.

Worry.

All right.

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

We'll answer your car dilemmas and we'll play a new game.

Well, a game that we've played before and bringing it back.

It's a Facebook game where I scroll down on Facebook

and you've got a guess what car or bike or it could be a plant pot that I'm looking at.

Oh, brilliant.

Based on time.

You might need to explain that to me.

All right.

It's truck class time.

It was a lorry.

Yeah, that's your lorry.

OK.

But before we do any of that, Tom, what do we do now?

We say hello to everyone.

We do.

Hello to Robert Oldham, transporting musicians around Europe.

Matthew and Cornwall, who spotted my old R1 MGF on the A30.

Do you remember the old MGF that I bought as a job lot?

Yes.

From Alex.

Yeah.

That's on the road.

It's on the road and it's still got the same number plate.

Go to Mike Ferney.

It went to Mike Ferney.

Yeah.

But I don't know what happened to it.

Obviously got sold on as it was.

All right.

So it's in Cornwall now, so it's probably going to last another six months before it rusts away.

We've got Mark in Staley Bridge, currently fitting an intercooler to his Focus Z-Tec S.

James in Canada, who says we absolutely must go out for a trip.

Canada trip?

Yeah, they do have epic roads in Canada.

Do they?

We could be like ice road trackers.

OK.

13-year-old William Patmore, who's bought himself a Mini Cooper project car and...

Rory's Mum Jackie.

Tom, how is Rory?

Sorry, Rory, how is your mum?

What?

What are you trying to imply here?

Oh, sorry.

How's Jackie?

Yeah, she's doing all right.

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah.

I can't really think what she's been up to.

I can.

Oh!

You know, I bought another Moa for Christmas at a robot store.

You bought a lucky one.

I bought a robot lawnmower.

It's come back out of hibernation.

Oh, really?

Yeah, although I think I must have programmed it wrong,

because it tried to go into the flower bush and blow down all the flowers.

Oh, no.

So I need to maybe look at that.

What a middle-aged conversation we're having.

Sorry.

Oh, well, you asked what she's been up to.

That's what...

I didn't ask what her robot Moa's been up to.

But that's exciting.

Oh, is it?

Yeah, it's a robot lawnmower.

All right.

Wow, OK, thank you for that.

I'm glad you agree.

Right, what have we all been up to?

Tom, let's get started with you.

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

Are we doing well?

You're looking slimmer, by the way.

I've been dieting.

I've been on a soup diet.

Have you?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is there any reason?

Because I'm fat.

I'll see you next Tuesday.

Yes, no, I need to get back down to race weight.

Oh, OK, why is that, Tom?

Well, because you're so uncompetitive.

I might have a competitive issue.

Yeah, and I do need to lose some weight.

It's been a while since I've actively tried to lose some weight.

So and I've not been going to the gym and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So yeah, lack of alcohol, not drinking as much.

Yeah, OK, that's good.

Yeah, the trouble is I've got a heavy bond with Stella.

You do, yeah, yeah, Stella.

So yeah, so yeah, not been drinking so much, which is a good thing.

And yeah, just not eating so much, just having soup for lunch every day

and then one meal in the evening.

How's that going being on a soup diet?

I really like soup.

OK.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with it.

What's your soup go to, Tom?

Oh, it's chicken and veg.

Chicken and veg.

Yeah, yeah, get some weight.

I was going to say like pie and chips soup.

Well, are you talking is it a Heinz soup?

No, don't you?

OK, I don't know.

This is no weight.

Yeah, it comes in like a plastic tub with a heater up and she gets a man

serves you down, you know, I was concerned.

I said to Meg, you know, not being funny.

Can we not, you know, buy some of the slightly cheaper soup?

And she goes, it's like one tub does her and myself for the day.

And she puts it in like a firm as flask in that.

And it's like three pound twenty five a tub.

That's pretty good going.

So it's both of us and I have a little role with it.

So I'm then I'm not and I'm not having carbs and I'm not doing this

and I'm not doing that.

And yeah, yeah, just trying to try to worry how the other half

live three pound twenty five for a tin of soup.

Yeah, I actually think I'm saving money to be fair.

That if that is all you're having for a day, that is she's also having dinner.

What are you having for dinner, Tom?

Well, last night I had a chicken steak.

You would call it a chicken.

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

Chicken breast.

No, just just a chicken breast steak.

All right, yeah, yeah.

Butterfly chicken.

Yeah, well, I suck a snitzel type thing, I suppose.

Yeah. So breaded.

It did have breadcrumbs on it.

It's just a Kiev. Quite carby.

No, the Kiev.

Do you know what Kiev is?

It's usually when you've got a little bit of anything.

Kiev's got butter and garlic butter and stuff like that.

So anyway, I had a piece of chicken last night.

We've cooked that in the air fryer.

Yeah, yeah. So that's a little bit better.

Couscous and salad. Fair play, Tom.

Yeah. Very high protein, low calorie.

Well done. Yeah, yeah.

So I'm just I'm making a concerted effort because and I'm back out on the

I'm getting back out on the bike in a few weeks time ago after Spain.

My bike, not bicycle.

Are you going to take your new bike?

No, no, the new bike's not ready.

Which one's a new bike?

So I bought a couple of as a couple of vehicles.

Well, I thought when I came on today,

I bought a couple of vehicles in recent times,

which I've not really talked about at all.

OK, OK. I thought I thought I don't mind talking about now

because I'm going to make a concerted effort to start doing some YouTube

stuff of my own again. And I'm going to be like you.

I know, you know how lazy I am when I come here and busy.

I'm going to make a concerted effort.

So I've got a motorbike that I bought in October last year at an auction.

Is that the race bike?

Which is a quite a well known race bike, which came up for auction.

And I was lucky enough to be able to buy that.

So that's a 1996 Yamaha YZF 750 Cadbury's boost bike.

Yeah, which they made four of.

And it's if you're into bike racing, it's the one that won the championship

in 96, 97, 98 British Superbikes.

Not with you on it.

Not with me on it.

But I remember being in my early 20s, watching that bike go round the track.

Oh, wow. That's so cool.

So who was riding that bike?

No, Mackenzie, Jamie Wittem.

So no, Mackenzie won the championship.

His teammate was Jamie Wittem in 96.

Then it was Steve Hislop and Chris Walker.

I think also rode for them.

So and there's a few other other guys that rode them, but there was four motorbikes.

I know we're all I know where the other three are.

And I wanted to buy one about four years ago, came up for sale and a French guy

got it, one's owned by Nile Mackenzie, the French guy owns one.

Rob Mack, who was a team manager, owns one.

And the other one went to a guy called Nigel Nottingham in 1998,

ended the 98 season and he rode it in 99.

And he then subsequently kept it for the last 25 years.

And I've spoken to Nigel.

He's a really nice guy.

And he put the motorbike up for auction and I bought it.

Yeah. Do you know how many races your bike actually did?

Or was it was it like the backup one that never actually did?

No, well, it's like all these things when it comes to there's always these myths

about race bikes, race cars and stuff like that.

And I'm very realistic about it, having worked in racing and stuff like that.

You know, I know that it's documented that the engine that I've got in my bike

did the wild card British Superbike round at Donington or Brands or something.

I've got it all documented.

So and all four of those riders almost certainly would have ridden that bike.

Yeah. And like the fairing on the fairing,

you can see where the stickers used to be on it, saying Mackenzie,

which are burnt into the paint. Oh, really?

OK. Yeah. So if someone says to you,

oh, that's the bike that done X-Race,

unless you literally pick that bike up as it comes over the finish line

and put it in the back of your van and say that I guarantee you

that things would have been taken or things would have been changed.

Yeah, yeah, stuff like that.

So so so I've got that at the workshop at home now.

And I'm, you know, and I'm going to recommission it

because it's not really been used for the last 25 years.

You're going to ride it over to the unit.

It's not that type of bike.

Can you make it road legal?

I wouldn't want to know because it's got so many race parts on it.

They're just not designed to.

It's got no electric fan on it and stuff like that.

Has got nowhere starting it.

You have to have a like a, you know, a dummy starter to get it run up.

It could use you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is that because I'm such a good starter?

No, it's because he said dummy starter.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So yeah, so it's just not, you know, they wouldn't be practical on them.

Are you going to have to bring Meg everywhere?

You go with it to hold an umbrella for you.

Yeah, or the number, the race number.

Because Meg used to be.

Meg, so the reason that I got involved in bike racing back in the day was Meg's

uncle was the marketing manager for a company called motorcycle city.

And part of his job was running the race team and he asked Meg

and another one of her friends called know me to be Polly Dolly.

So stand on the grid with the umbrella.

And I ended up going to race meetings and we worked for our rider was a guy

called Philip McCallan, who was a bit of an Ironman TT specialist.

He's quite well known.

You know, and we just got involved and it was like, you know, the guys there

were like, well, you know, what are you doing?

I'm a mechanic.

And before, you know, where you are, you're not just a mechanic.

You're a free mechanic.

And you know, you know, like some people take things labor for free,

like unbelievably, you know, take advantage of people.

I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know anyone these days.

So, yeah, so I just got involved and, you know, I found myself a lot

of British rounds and I'm an Ironman TT and fantastic.

Yeah, holding umbrellas.

Yeah, I was holding spanners.

But it was just really good fun.

It was just a really good fun time in the nineties.

And that particular bike that I bought was the one that was winning

a lot in that time period.

So I think it was just a, you know, cool thing for me.

So it's got a special place in my heart.

You probably would have seen that bike actually on track racing.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Wishing that he was one of those racers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wishing I was that good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wishing it was fast.

Yeah.

One day I'll be fast.

Never happened.

Never happened, did it?

I was an undiscovered talent and then I got fat.

Anything else you bought, Tom?

Yeah, yeah.

So it was actually a while ago that I bought this car and you guys know about it.

I bought quite a special one.

Are you finally talking about this?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I'm this is so my intention is to I've got a video that I want to send out

and then I want to do I want to do a series of videos on this car that I'm building.

So I think this is the most excited I've been for any one of your cars that you've ever had to.

Rory's very excited about this car.

So before we continue with the podcast, a massive shout out to this week's fantastic

sponsor Shopify, the all in one commerce platform to start, run and grow your business.

Shopify is the commerce platform, revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide.

And whether it's stickers, t-shirts, dog beds, or even shed fest merch that you're selling,

Shopify simplifies selling in person and online.

And it even covers all of your sales channels.

Shopify even gets you selling across all social media marketplaces,

including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

But not only that, because Shopify is also full of industry leading tools

to help supercharge your growth, giving you complete control over your business

and your brand without having to learn new skills in design and coding.

As well as supporting you every step of the way with their award-winning help

and extensive business course library.

Now, Chris, we've been using Shopify for many years across all facets of the business.

Tell me, tell us why Shopify has helped revolutionize the business.

It's so easy to use.

Excellent. I love to hear it.

When you have loads and loads of orders coming in, it's always a good feeling.

But there's loads of orders.

So maybe you need to give them some information.

Put in their name.

Yep.

Postal address.

Anything vaguely connected to them and you'll find them.

Fantastic.

So it's really easy for tracking loads of stuff.

And speaking of loads of orders, just hit our 10,000th order on that site.

10,000 orders. Thank you very much, guys. That's fantastic.

They're sending out a plaque.

Really?

They're like YouTube.

So I'm going to put it on the wall.

Fantastic.

I'm going to put all my cool sunglasses.

You've got to be quick, because someone's asking you questions.

You've got orders coming in.

You've got to get them out the door.

People don't want to wait around.

So with Shopify, it makes it easy.

If you want to know how the shop's doing,

you just go straight to analytics and the graphs are right there.

You just put in the date.

And it's all there.

I'll show you that stuff.

There we go.

What do we need to do next?

Exactly right.

Yeah.

It's so useful.

You can get plugins or even you can just code it yourself.

Lovely job.

So it's like anything you can imagine is possible.

So then if it's time for you to get serious about selling,

get Shopify today.

You can sign up for a £1 per month trial period

at Shopify.co.uk forward slash autoalex.

That's Shopify.co.uk forward slash autoalex.

This is possibility powered by Shopify.

On with the podcast.

I bought what you call a Jaguar XJ13,

which is a race car from the 1960s,

which was built for Le Mans,

but never raced because they changed the prototype rules

and it didn't qualify.

So it was due to do 66 Le Mans and it didn't do it.

Do you know why it didn't qualify?

Oh, it was something to do with the engine size

or something like that.

I can't quite remember.

But it's a rear engine V12

and yeah, it was like, it was a five litre

and it was like, you know, 500 brake horsepower.

So they only ever built one.

And the original car is in the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust

at Gaiden.

And a few replicas over the years have been made

and they're, you know,

they're very, very expensive cars to build.

Made by?

Well, there's a company called Proteus that made a few

and there's another company called

Building the Legend that made a few.

And the one I've got is produced by a company called

Building the Legend.

And it's a full aluminium-bodied monocoque

with a space frame type thing hanging out the back

that mounts all the engine and stuff like that.

It's a super cool car.

And the story went that this guy commissioned

the build of the car.

He, for whatever reason, it didn't then get completed.

I'm not quite sure what happened.

And it got sold to a guy in America to finish the build.

So it is a aluminium body, got wheels on it,

no engine, no gearbox.

It's literally just a starting point.

And it got sold to a guy in the States

and he unfortunately passed away

and I spotted it in a workshop in Coventry.

Really?

And I said to the guy, I knew the guy and I said,

do you mind if I just have a seat in that?

Because it's a dream sort of car for me.

And I want to, I want to stop dreaming about it.

I want to know if I actually fit in it.

Yeah, yeah.

So he goes, yeah, by all means have a seat.

So I jumped in the car and I sat down in the bottom.

I thought, yeah, I could fit in this, no problem.

And then he turned around and he goes,

this might actually be coming up for sale.

And I was like, really?

Okay, so we had the conversation.

And then I think we were, this was probably around

about this time last year.

And then I think we were, were we on our way to Croatia?

I think it was.

I think maybe, yeah.

I think it might have been, yeah.

I think it might have been on our way to Croatia.

I was in the Range Rover, was that Croatia?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I finally, we agreed a price and a deal.

And I, and I, and we agreed to buy it.

And I remember going up to you guys going,

I've just bought a car.

I was perfectly quite happy about it.

But only about four weeks ago did the deal get completed

because there was complications with parts.

And anyway, so we, so I now own that car.

Is that the best 1500 quid you've ever spent?

It was a little bit more.

I'll tell you, it's the most expensive car I've ever bought,

full stock period, or the most amount of money that I've parted with.

Let alone the fact that it's got no engine, no running gear.

Correct.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Now, have you ever sat in an XJ13 before, Tom?

Until the day, well, yeah, a couple of years ago I did, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

And, and you fit?

It's tight.

So, so what I've actually did was I bought the car

and there was a few things sought out.

But in the meantime, I sent it over to, because it's all aluminium.

And I've got a friend who does aluminium, you know, like coachworks,

you know, a proper building.

And he has reshaped the rear bulkhead

to give me about another two inches.

Okay.

Tom, we could have done that for you.

We could have got a V2 back.

We're a good with the hammer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So all that's been done.

And there's a few other little jobs and bits and pieces I've had done.

And I go, I'm probably going to go and pick it up

sometime in the next two or three weeks.

And then we'll start filming a build.

So when is this going to be,

when are you aiming to have this on a track?

I don't think that I'll get it done this year.

It'll be next year.

Yeah.

All right.

Are you going to make, can you make this one road legal?

It's going to be road legal.

It's going to be, oh, okay.

This is going to be road legal.

I cannot wait to drive that.

What about you, Rory?

I don't think I'll trust myself to drive it to be honest.

I trust myself, Tom.

So, to be fair, you are much faster and better than I am.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I didn't want to bring it up.

You know, 1.7 seconds.

Sorry, Tom.

Sorry.

I'll just get carried away.

Anyway, it's going to have a, a six point.

I've already got the engine for it.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I had an engine which I'd earmarked for another project

and I've now shifted over to this one and it's got,

I've got a 6.1 liter V12 engine.

Are you going to have like the ITBs sort of coming out?

Somebody got ITBs on it.

So, I was actually going to put this engine in my coupe

and I've got crossover,

generally crossover throttle bodies on it.

Yeah.

And then I've just been busy and not got round to put it

into the coupe.

So, I'm not right.

Actually, that engine can go in the,

So, the original engine in the XJ13 was a 5 liter V12?

A 5 liter V12 quad cam.

It's what you call, so the very first,

I think it's like the first six or seven engines of V12 format

that Jaguar did were basically prototype engines for this,

for this project.

The quad, so it had a quad cam, so two cams per V.

But for whatever reason, they decided that

they were going to go single cam

and then the engine got developed into,

or a twin cam engine rather than one camshaft per bank.

And that's what ended up going in the E-type.

And it had, so, but the original,

getting hold of a quad cam engine is in,

you know, you just, you just can't buy them for love and money.

So, and a couple of quad cam engines have been reproduced,

but I don't feel as though they've ever been fully developed.

And I'm looking at about,

I'm looking about the thick end of 80 to 100k

to build a quad cam engine.

Yeah, okay.

When I've got a twin cam engine,

I'm not going to say cost me nothing,

but it's, you know, in stock.

Not 80 grand.

It's not 80 grand.

So, so I think I'm going to go with the, you know,

and the quad, the twin cam.

And, and I've got quite a lot of other parts

that I've already collected from,

and actually from a build point of view,

from my point of view, it's really easy.

There's hardly any trim.

There's no chrome work.

There's no, do you know what I mean?

So for me, it's actually quite an easy car to build.

I'm really quite excited about it.

Yeah. So I don't, I don't think I'm going to have it this year.

I don't want to rush it.

I want to get it right.

I think it'll be out next year.

And I think we'll, we're going to definitely going to video it

and then, you know, start releasing some, you know,

videos on the build, but it is very, very, very exciting.

Yeah. I'm very, I've not been this excited

about a car that I've bought for a long time.

Amazing. Anything else in your life

that's exciting you at the moment?

Continuing putting the Cosworth together.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I've had my floor resined at work as well.

Oh, yeah.

The chaps who done TDC's floor come over and they're very good.

Yeah. They are very, very good.

Yeah. They're doing a good job.

Yeah. No, I'm quite pleased with that.

And yeah, we're just tarting the workshop up a little bit

and making it a little bit nicer.

I assume you haven't gone for the same purple fleck.

No. No, I didn't know.

No, we've just gone for boring gray, light gray,

where you can see things when you drop them on the floor.

Perfect. That makes perfect sense though.

And if memory serves, the last time you were on the podcast,

you said that you were looking for a new mechanic.

Yeah. Has there been any development?

Yeah. We have got, we've got a guy called Dan

who's starting in about two or three weeks.

Happy days.

And we're looking, basically looking to expand the modern side

of the business at the moment.

And I reckon I could do with another two good mechanics.

I think I'm into viewing another couple next week,

but if there's anyone listening,

a fancy is an opportunity.

Yeah.

We're definitely looking for, yeah, we definitely want more.

We'll look at more mechanics.

Do you know, after doing the whole filming

of our latest crew car being rebuilt,

I can see why you're struggling to find people, Tom.

Because they are just awful cars to work on.

But the thing is, right?

I thought you meant the people were awful.

Oh, try it. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

It's only, you know, it's like anything, isn't it?

A jigsaw puzzle is only difficult

if you've never put it together before.

Yeah. Yeah.

So it's like anything, if you learn it

and you understand it and all the rest of it,

it's actually, it becomes easy.

So most people are telling me, oh my God, a V12 engine,

how do you even comprehend starting to build a V12 engine

or even a V8 like this thing in front of you?

But I could build that engine blindfolded.

I know I'm so well, you know, so.

Okay. All right.

Okay.

I bet you can't.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, now's your chance double or nothing.

No, no, no, no, no, Tom, Tom, go on.

There you go.

No.

You might as well just have the whole lot.

You know this.

Oh, I didn't want to bring it up.

I think there's 500 quid there.

So you'll all find out what this is about

on next Thursday's episode.

I've got 200 pounds.

You've got more than 200 there.

Really?

Well, I just thought I might as well just, you know,

give you all of it because you're going to,

I'm so out of luck when it comes up in bets.

Yeah. Okay.

There's, I think there's 500 quid there.

You might as well just keep it.

There's not 500.

There is not 500 quid there.

I bet there is.

Why would you give me more money?

Oh, just because that's what I had in my pocket.

No, I'll take.

Right. For anyone in Reading, Tom walks around with 500 pounds in his pocket.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Tom walks around with money in his pocket because he's coming to see Alex.

And he keeps on losing.

Oh, I've lost him.

Keeps on losing.

I've lost yet another bet.

Oh, God.

I needed to give a little bit more thought into that.

I was thinking, why is he so confident?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It is a really stupid idea though.

So that is, you'll find out.

Yeah. You'll find out Thursday, but Tom thought he knew something.

No, no, no, no.

No, I didn't think I knew something.

Well, you were pretty confident.

I didn't feel as though anyone could be stupid enough to design something like that.

But I was wrong.

And then you decided to call me stupid and an idiot.

And now I have got about 200, 300 pounds.

And I was wrong.

You were wrong.

I'm an idiot.

Actually, I do think this is more than 200 pounds.

It is more than 200 pounds.

All right. OK.

Thanks, Tom.

I might have changed.

Don't worry.

You're not the only person I've got to pay today.

What, have you lost out to more people?

No, no, no. I've purchased things.

I actually got something from my money other than an insult.

Oh, fantastic.

Right, Rory, what have you been up to?

What's been going on in your life?

We have been working on the Spitfire as part of the classic series.

Yeah. It's looking good.

We're looking at it right now.

Yeah. So we've had a few complications with it,

namely the fact that the front wheel seems to be, well, a bit loose.

It wasn't really attached that well.

Ah, trunnions.

Yeah. The trunnion sort of the bolt at the bottom was just not even done up tight.

So have you tightened that bolt up now?

No.

Oh, OK.

OK.

Has it always been like that?

Probably.

OK.

Yeah.

Because I don't think we ever have had to undo that bolt.

OK.

So that's that.

But it looks good.

It does look really good.

Yeah. We've now actually managed to put some spacers on the rear.

So like the ride height and fitment is all really nice.

Shall I take a picture so people can see what we're looking at?

What we're looking at.

Watching with your eye holes.

The wheels do look good.

I like those.

I do like the Milly lights.

I think they set the car quite nicely, Rory.

So the only problem that we've run into though is namely,

I bought some seats about a year ago

and I thought they would fit.

Mainly Will told me they would fit.

Yeah.

Where did you buy them from?

One of Will's mates.

OK.

And...

Before you continue, they look good though.

They look great.

But as Alex found out, absolutely useless a seat to the car.

Yeah.

You're sitting in it.

Oh, I want to see Tom in that.

And you're looking, Tom will not be able to fit.

I want to see that.

100% will not be able to fit.

But with those seats?

Yeah.

Because they don't go far enough back?

You cannot sit in them right now, Tom.

And they're way too high.

Like my eyes are at the top of the window.

Oh, OK.

Yeah.

Bad.

So I need to...

Well, Tom's going to very kindly try and help me

fix my old seats.

Because we messed them up so bad.

I'm going to have a word with the trimmer that I know.

See if he can do something.

Yeah.

Because they're pretty bad.

Yeah.

Pretty bad.

But yeah.

So that's going really well.

Mustang.

Oh.

So Mustang.

Somehow...

I only dropped it off four days ago.

It's already in primer, Tom.

Oh.

Is it really?

Yeah.

It's...

So it's going Oxford green.

Come on, show us a picture.

It is going Oxford green, a BMW colour.

I thought you were just tarting up the original paintwork.

I was, but then they started saying that it was not too much...

Because all the panels were new.

They were like, yeah, it's not going to be too much more work

to do a colour change.

So what are you doing now, then?

Full repaint.

I'm doing a full repaint, Tom.

It's...

Oxford green.

You know that lovely BMW colour?

Look at that in primer.

That looks great.

How good is that?

That looks so good.

He's going full repaint.

Doesn't take a lot to part you with cash, is it?

No.

Do you know what it was?

So I thought about it more.

And because it's...

I don't know if I explained this on the last podcast.

I think I did.

But because it's a Hertz replica paint scheme,

it will always be a replica.

Because it's not actually that.

It was renter racer colours, wasn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

But it's a replica.

Like it's like putting RS badges on a standard focus for me.

I don't know.

It's not...

I just quite like the colour.

I like the renter racer colours.

I know, but imagine Oxford green, Tom.

So like a metallicky green.

With white stripes on it.

White?

Yeah, white or gun metal grey?

Gun metal grey.

I'd go gun metal grey.

He's going to go white, isn't he?

Yeah, probably.

I know what I would do, actually.

I would paint the finger oaks for green and then do the stripes.

Or I'm going in vinyl.

In a vinyl.

Because then you can change them if you don't like it.

Yeah, that's what we're doing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, that's a good call.

So it'll go white.

Yeah, it will go white.

Of course it will.

But I'm really excited about that.

I can't wait to have that car back.

Nice.

Yeah, I think I'm really excited about the upcoming stuff

that we've got as well.

We've got a lot of really good projects.

I do really like the Mustang though.

I am hooked up on that.

It's again, one of the few cars that you get

that I'm excited about driving.

I'm excited about having to go in that.

As another car, you're quite excited about driving.

We can't mention it.

I was about to say, are you allowed to talk about it?

No, no, we can't.

No, we can't talk about it.

He's going to lend me something for the weekend.

Yes, yes.

At some point.

Yes, I will do.

It's the only car that I've actually seen you come over here,

Tom, and go, I want to borrow that.

He sent me a picture.

Actually, I sent you a picture of the XJ13, didn't I?

You did?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then you then sent me a picture of your latest purchase.

I was like, what?

No way.

No way, as he bought that.

And I was immediately, I did have to come over straight.

I was like, are you at the unit tomorrow?

I'll be around.

Well, Tom did his usual thing.

I sent him a picture.

I parked this vehicle on my driveway

and my wife's mini is on the driveway as well.

And I sent him the picture.

He was like, nice mini.

And I was like, OK, Tom's clearly not interested in it.

But that for you is like a backhanded compliment.

Wasn't it?

You were interesting.

Oh, I was.

Yeah.

You know, I don't like to overconfident.

But you've got to start getting ideas.

You felt movement in your knickers

that you've not felt for years.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's on a list, as I said.

It's on a...

You're on a list.

I'm listing.

You already do.

Right, Roy, anything else that's exciting you in a minute?

Uh, no, no.

I think that's about it.

All right, perfect.

As for me, I had to write it down again

because of my memory.

I bonked my head yesterday as well.

You did.

I really bonked my head.

You didn't just bonk it.

You did.

What did you do?

So this vehicle that we were discussing just now,

Taylor was like, oh, what do all these buttons do?

And I lent in and the actual window itself is very small.

So I literally like flew into the top of the door

and really bonked my head.

It's very tender.

Okay.

I'll let you touch my head later.

Not right now, not on camera.

Anyway, I digress.

So last week, no, this week, what day is it?

Friday.

Friday, yeah.

Did I go this week to the SL shop?

Oh, did you go and see Bruce?

No, there's no man called Bruce there.

I think you're confused.

When I told you about SL shop,

you were like, oh, Bruce, but no, the owner is called Sam.

Oh, that's interesting.

Is it?

Okay.

He's been there for like 13 years, Tom.

Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Who's Bruce?

Are you confused?

Yeah.

I need to talk to Lee.

Okay.

Who's Lee?

That's a friend of mine.

I don't think Lee works at SL shop.

No, no, no.

He's a customer.

Oh, okay.

So there might be a man called Bruce,

but he certainly doesn't own SL shop.

That's Sam.

That's all Sam's.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe there's another SL shop that I've...

No, no.

It sounds like your friend Lee's got ripped off

by a fake SL shop.

Yeah, no, no, no.

Anyway, I went to the real SL shop in Stratford upon Avon.

Okay.

All right, that is interesting.

I transported Fabian, my fabulous SL560 American import there.

I had the guys look over Fabian.

There are quite a few issues that you guys are going to see.

No.

Yeah, no.

Rust was actually also an issue,

but it's not as bad as it would have been had it been a UK car.

So work has already started.

So I can reveal there is already a new roof on Fabian.

A brand new roof.

Yeah.

Okay.

Which is fabulous.

Very, very exciting.

Can you talk about the car that you got to see when you were there?

I was literally about to get into that.

Oh, yeah, okay.

So Sam, owner of SL shop, not Bruce, recently acquired,

became the custodian of an SL500 not registered ever.

UK.

Right-hand drive.

And it's got 42 miles on the clock.

Wow.

Yes.

So it's in a big glass box and no one is allowed to sit in it,

do anything like that.

What year is it?

It is good question.

It's I think mid-80s or so.

Oh, okay.

All right, yeah, yeah.

And Sam also thinks that that is probably the lowest mileage one in the world.

No, I would have said almost certainly.

Yeah.

So there's no V5 for it because it's never been registered.

It has no number plates because it's never been registered.

It is absolutely incredible.

It still has the same oil in there, the same fuel.

It's never been started.

It's never been driven.

And Sam actually opened the door and let me smell inside.

And it is brand new old Mercedes.

Like the smell, I cannot describe the smell,

but if you ever bought a brand new Mercedes back in the day,

then that just filling your nostrils is just such an experience.

It has every single sticker on every single part.

Wow.

It is immaculate.

I mean, it's obviously immaculate, yeah.

Sort of thing you'd expect to find in the Merck Museum, basically.

Yeah, yeah.

Not even the Merck Museum has something like that.

Wow, okay.

So it's absolutely incredible.

So we've actually got a social reel coming out on that on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Check it out because Sam goes into a lot of detail,

but Tom, you would really like to pull over this.

You really would.

It's absolutely immaculate.

There is one thing that has just triggered that,

that Tom has been drawing over something recently.

What's that?

And he's been looking to buy.

Oh, gosh, yeah.

Buy a certain car.

And Alex, do you know about this?

Is it because he wants to become one of the boys?

He wants to become one of the boys.

He wants to be a lad like us.

So I own one.

Chris owns one.

Taylor owns one.

We've been talking about this for a while.

We're talking about Porsche 911s.

So anyone that's a petrol head of any, at some point in their life,

have drilled over a 911.

Yeah.

And I've never, I've driven a few,

but I've never taken the plunge and bought one.

And I am at a stage where I've had so many Jaguars.

And I love my Jaguars.

Don't get me wrong.

But you know, it's nice to, you know,

I've got cars that don't have a Jaguar.

Yeah, I mean, you're a petrol head.

You can appreciate other brands.

Tom, what if you...

But I've never really done the German thing.

I've never really done the B&W thing.

I've had a couple of Mercs actually, funnily enough.

And I've never owned a Porsche.

What if you never owned a Porsche?

Own the Porsche though now,

and decide that your whole life has been wasted.

Oh, shut up.

And that Jaguar is not as good as you thought they were.

Do you know what he'll do?

He'll go into his bank and have a look at his account.

He'll be like, you know what, I actually quite like Jaguar.

Could you imagine Tom Lenthal just quickly changing the name.

So Jaguar Specialist crossed out Porsche Specialist.

Rebrand.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He wouldn't get any work though,

because they're actually reliable.

Oh, I don't know about that.

Taylor?

Yeah, so I've been looking at 997 turbos.

Turbo, okay.

Yeah.

How much power they got?

They're like 500 ish, aren't they?

Something like that.

Yeah, a bit north of that, yeah.

Yeah, maybe a little bit north of that.

I think the normally aspirated ones,

like the Carrera 2s and 4s and Ss and stuff,

they're about 400 ish, aren't they?

So how long before you bike the bonnet and buy one?

Well, they're quite a bit of money.

They're not, you know, they're not 5,000, are they?

Tom, Tom, yeah, it doesn't answer the question.

How long?

Oh, I see.

Well, I need to sell something, is the honest answer.

No, you don't.

No, I do.

No, you don't.

It's more of a space.

Okay, it's a space issue.

We've got space, Tom.

No, you haven't.

He wants me to get my tiles out of the bloody unit.

That's because they're just in the way,

and you're never going to do anything with them.

I'm going to sell them.

Okay.

Well, can you hurry up?

Well, if you buy a Porsche beforehand and you want to store it,

I'm going to put the tiles in the Porsche.

Okay, all right, yeah.

So, yeah, so I'm after a 911 turbo.

Okay.

Yeah, but I want to, yeah, I just need to find the right car.

Preferably, the external color, I don't mind too much,

it's like I really want a black interior.

And even I think the one that Taylor's just bought, that's got a gray.

Yeah, and I really don't like the gray interior.

That's fair enough.

I don't like the gray interior.

Well, you don't like his cinnamon interior on the M5, do you?

That's not my cup of tea.

No, that's fair.

So, yeah, it's got to be black interior, external color.

I don't really mind as long as it's not silver.

I can't have silver on black.

Yeah, fair.

But yeah, they do a couple of really nice sort of like dark blue metallic colors.

They do, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You get red one.

Yeah, red.

I've got a red car, aren't I?

What's that?

Oh, yeah, project.

Yeah, so I don't really want another red car.

Fair.

Yeah, but I don't mind green or black or something like that.

But yeah, you're not going to do what Alex doesn't,

just decide that you like one color so you'll buy every single car in that color.

Hey, man, I got a purple car.

I got a yellow car.

I got a silver car.

But you have many red cars.

You got six red cars.

I also got red shoes.

Have you got six red cars?

I don't know.

He's just made up a number, but I can't actually confirm it.

Master?

Yeah, sort of.

Bill, E30, 205.

205 is red.

Merck is red.

Merck.

Yeah.

Clifford, the lorry.

No, yeah.

It's red.

It's the next five.

Yeah, it's red.

I feel like there's one more that I'm missing.

Yeah, probably.

But that's six.

I got a red Ducati 748.

You do, yeah.

Yeah.

I'll let you off that.

That's a good part of that.

Cheers, Dad.

All the oven for tea.

Alex, yeah, sorry.

What else have you been up to?

I interrupted with Tom's 997.

That's right.

I'm excited about a 997 turbo as well.

I'm going to have the shittest Porsche 911 out

with a lot of us.

Yeah.

You have 993, you mean?

I think Alex forgot about it.

Oh, the 993 is also red.

Oh, yes.

There we go.

A Renault 7.

Yeah, OK, so OK.

No, my 996.

Oh, the one you're going to make look a GT3.

The fake one.

Yeah, the fake one.

Yeah, yeah.

Fake it till you make it.

I caught on a 470 ground for a bloody GT3.

I'm not willing to spend that.

Anyway, also, shut up, Tom.

Also, good news for Shedfest as well.

If you're a fan of Top Gear,

which everyone is because we're into cars,

you will remember the indestructible Hilux.

It was drowned, dropped, hit with a bloody big wrecking ball,

blah, blah, blah.

So we obviously went to the Grampian Museum up in Scotland.

And if you're going on a Scotland road trip,

you have to go to the Grampian.

I've spoken to Ross, who's like the curator of the museum.

And I said, is there any way that we could get the Hilux down to Shedfest?

And he was like, I don't see where.

Not Paul.

So, yeah, that is confirmed.

So if you come to Shedfest, you will see that iconic car,

arguably like the most iconic Top Gear car.

And they're going to allow us to drop a piano on it as well.

Are they?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, OK.

Is it one of those things asked for forgiveness late?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

OK, all right.

We won't tell them until it's there with a piano on top of it.

I really hope they don't listen to the podcast,

because even joking about that is sacrilegious.

Don't you have to drop it onto a Morris marina or something?

Wasn't it a Morris marina?

They kept on dropping it.

Yeah, that's what they kept destroying, wasn't it?

I'm sure it was.

And caravans.

I'm super excited.

And they're also going to try and get that thing going.

Obviously not at Shedfest, but yeah,

if there's any way that we can get involved in trying to get it restarted after,

I don't know, 20 years of not being started, that'd be amazing.

I went on a Gruffalo trail with Amelia, my daughter.

Do you know the Gruffalo?

I do know the Gruffalo, yeah.

I really like the Gruffalo.

It's cool, isn't it?

Yeah, a little brown mouse went in deep dark with blah, blah, blah.

So we did a Gruffalo trail.

So that's like really wholesome, like family stuff.

It was me, Gareth, his daughter, my daughter.

There's also like a brewery, a micro brewery.

This is a...

That helps, doesn't it?

It really helps.

So we were walking around with our very, very strong beers.

It's local to us, obviously.

And looking for Gruffalo's.

And it was just so wholesome.

And I just had such a nice time.

And I just want to just tell people, if you have kids,

it's just a nice time as well.

It's not all doom and gloom.

And then we also released this week, living with a classic lorry, right?

That was good.

And Tom, I don't know if you've seen the video, right?

I don't know if you've seen the video.

You sent...

How do you mean, don't...

You sent me the link to it last night.

Oh, I did, I did.

Yeah, funny that.

But quite near to the beginning, we actually have the Sun newspaper.

So go on to the video and we created a nice little paper cup.

And it says YouTubers bring London to a halt.

Yes, yes.

And because you were kind of...

You phoned during the trip.

I did.

I thought, let's get Tom in there.

And the strap line is, where's my stellar?

Can I read it out to the people?

You can read it out.

OAP, Tom Lenthal caused outrage on a ferry crossing

by farting on his friend's head.

After being banged up for the offence,

Lenthal was seen scaling the walls of HMP Reading shouting,

where's my bloody stellar?

S2 Ep30: Our Latest MASSIVE Purchase & We've Got The Top Gear Hilux!

V5

About this episode

Original notes