Taylor from AutoAlex on The Road Trip That Broke Him | EP46

I couldn't get it into gear and we're going around

and he's like one hand on the wheel,

feathering it while it's sliding towards a curb.

Trying to ram it in gear and I'm like,

what is happening?

Yeah, yeah.

You really trusted your mechanical knowledge there.

Yeah, and we got to the end of that lap

and everyone was cheering over the walkie-talkie

and everything.

That was probably one of the most memorable moments

of my, you know, car related life.

Welcome to another episode of Talking Shop.

Today we're on the road with Taylor

of Taylor Made Cars and Auto Alex.

Please make sure to like, comment, subscribe

and let us know who you want on Talking Shop next.

Thanks for joining me. Appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

There's the scripted bit out the way.

We hate it. We mention it every time I hate it.

Tell us a little bit about you

and also how on earth did you now get into the world,

well, get into the world of cars,

which is now your life.

So it's a bit of an odd one actually

because I've always been into cars

but never expected to be in the world of YouTube.

It's a bit of a, it was a sort of

right place, right time kind of thing.

I started off in the motor trade.

So I was a mechanic for 12 years

just in a back street garage.

And then for a period of two years,

I worked on classic and American sports cars,

stuff like that.

And I realized, you know, I really liked it.

I always had a passion for working

on cool, interesting, old crap, basically.

And yeah, I did that for a couple of years.

And then I worked for the AA.

I was a roadside patrol.

Again, really enjoyed it.

You know, I've always enjoyed satisfying people

and, you know, fixing their cars

and then being really happy and appreciative.

And I've got a real buzz out of it.

I always really, really enjoyed it.

I loved fixing stuff, very hands-on,

always very mechanical.

And then after COVID, decided to set up my own business.

And I started buying and selling and fixing cars

out of a little shed in Hertfordshire.

It was actually an old chicken shed.

And, you know, the roof used to leak

and it was windy in the winter and it was cold

and it was a bit miserable in there.

But I just really liked going up there on my own,

fixing stuff.

And, you know, I used to have a lot of old stuff

and never really did new stuff.

And yeah, just really, really enjoyed it.

And then I met Alex Kirsten.

One day, I was in Costco in West London

and a friend of mine, Joe, saw that Alex,

because, you know, I always used to follow car for all.

I used to watch car for all the time

and I followed Alex and I actually met him

at the Ace Cafe.

I think it was in 2016, briefly,

and you know, got a little selfie with him and stuff, wow.

And, you know, I was always a fan of everything they'd done

and enjoyed watching it.

And I saw that he put a post up saying,

has anyone got a 330i manual touring for sale?

And I had one at the time.

I had a one-of-one TechnoViola individual.

You know, there's not another one out there.

High mileage and I know he likes that sort of stuff.

It had 220,000 miles on it, whatever it was.

And I didn't really want to sell it.

And my mate Joe kept saying, you know,

go on, just message him.

It would be cool.

Like, you know, you don't really use it.

Why don't you sell it to him?

You can see it on YouTube and it'll be interesting

and stuff like that.

And I was like, okay.

So, you know, walking around Costco,

I sent Alex a message and I said, I've got one.

It's a one-of-one.

It's high mileage.

It's what you like.

And he was like, when can I come?

Like straight away, you know,

are you around today sort of thing?

And he was supposed to go and look at another one.

And it ended up being a bit rubbish, I think.

I can't remember the exact story of that.

So he then came that evening to see mine.

And he said, like, can I come now?

And I was like, well, I'm about an hour

and a bit away from my unit.

And he was like, okay, same.

So we sort of both left at the same time.

He met me at my unit and I met him, Gareth and Chris,

his, you know, best mates, his right-hand men.

And yeah, they came and looked at the car,

walked around it and he bought it

and he took it away that day.

And it was like, you know, we got chatting to him

and they're really, really nice guys.

And it was the next day that I really got to know Alex

because he was on his way to a car-throttle shoot

at This Is Your Garage.

He was driving up the M40 and it broke down.

Boy, oh boy, did I hear about it.

It was all over social media.

And I was like, oh, this is not good.

So, you know, I would have done it anyway,

but I went and picked him up and, well,

I picked the car up on the trailer and I said,

look, I'll sort it out, it's not a problem.

And then I'll drop it back to you.

And it turns out that he had a faulty like fuel gauge

and it got to a quarter of a tank and it ran out of petrol.

So he got it recovered to a petrol station,

filled it up with petrol and then it leaked everywhere.

Ah, brilliant.

So I came and picked it up from his house,

got chatting to him, you know, he was happy at that point.

He was quite annoyed earlier than in the day,

but he was all right at that point, picked it up,

fixed the car, put a new fuel pump sender in it

and, you know, resealed it and everything.

And then I put a full tank of fuel in it

and I checked to make sure it was all all right.

And then I dropped it back to him the next day.

I even cleaned it and, yeah, dropped it back to him.

And when I, you know, delivered it to him,

again, just got chatting to him.

I was, you know, really polite to him

and we've got chatting about BMW X5s and trailers

and things like that.

Cause I had an X5 at the time that I towed it there with

and he really liked it and he took an interest to it.

And he said, I've really liked to buy one of those.

If I, you know, wanna buy one,

what should I look out for and stuff?

And I told him and he said, would you help me find one?

And I said, yeah, yeah, no problem.

So, you know, I didn't hear from him

for a few weeks after that.

And then he messaged me one day and he said,

look, I wanna buy an X5, can you help me buy one?

And I went to his and we had a little chat

and I sit down and I found this blue one in London

and we went to go and have a look at it

and it turned out to be rubbish.

So after that, we ended up going to West Kabab,

which was very famous from car for all that.

We used to sit in West Kabab and look for cars.

And I was like, you know, at that point I was like,

oh my God, I'm sad, opposite Alex Kirsten in West Kabab,

having a Kabab and we're looking at BMW X5s,

like mind blown what is going on.

It was really, really cool.

And after that, you know, I couldn't really find a nice one.

So we again, left it a few weeks

and then a little while later, I found this red, dark red,

BMW X5 manual, diesel for sale in,

I think it was Liverpool or Blackpool

and it was 900 quid or it was a thousand pounds

or something like that.

It was really cheap, but it's a really nice spec.

Double categorized, I've been written off twice.

Built. Perfect, you know, the one you want.

Yeah. Bit of lack appeal.

And I said to him, look, I found this car,

I think we should go and buy it.

And he went, all right, let's go tonight.

So we drove up in an evening

and we got chatting the whole way up there.

You know, it was one of those where the whole journey,

it was a few hours long,

he was just constantly chatting and talking

and it was just really, really nice.

And we got up there, bought the car, drove it back

and you know, we, at that point,

started to form a bit of a bond

and you know, the friendship started to evolve.

And a few weeks after that, again, you know,

at this point, you're still working for car for all.

He said, you know, I want to film a bit of a review

on the BMW X5.

Can we get your one of my one together?

Would you want to be on camera?

And I was like, well, I don't know, I've never done that.

I don't even like taking pictures of myself

let alone being on camera, you know, proper shy.

Never done anything like that before.

I was a bit like, oh, I don't actually know.

And then I said, okay, yeah, we'll do it.

I think it'd be quite fun.

I'll give it a go, why not?

So he came up to my unit one day

and he brought his X5 along and I'd have mine,

you know, I cleaned it all, put it all outside,

tire shine on it, all lovely.

He turned up in his, covered in crap,

heart tick next to mine.

And then I saw Rory, Rory was with him as well.

And at this point, I think this was the second time

I'd met Rory, I'd met him briefly once before.

And you know, I showed him around my unit

and I had a few old cars in there

because I was a big fan of like E36s and old BMs

and stuff like that.

And, you know, I showed him around

and tell him all the stories of all the different cars

and various states of disrepair and stuff like that.

And my six series was in there, my 635 CSI.

Now that is a car that's, you know, it's my forever car.

It's got a cool story to it.

I found it a while.

It's, you know, it's very different.

It's very, you know, it's more of the story

that makes that car.

And I was, you know, telling Rory about the story of it

and how I got it and stuff like that.

And he said, would you want to film that?

And I said, yeah, sure, why not?

And he went outside and he said to Alex,

forget the X5s, I want to film this.

Like literally spur of the moment thing,

completely unplanned, cancel that, let's do this.

And I was like, right, okay, this is different.

So they were like, right, we're going to start filming.

Do you want to like come out the unit and introduce yourself?

And I didn't know when they were filming,

when the cameras were rolling, what to say.

I just sort of went with it.

And I thought there was a Burger King hat in there

that I got like the day before or whatever.

I put it on my head as a laugh.

I came out and just started talking.

And as I say, I didn't know what to say.

I just started waffling away and telling about all the cars.

Or, you know, I was really nervous, really, really nervous.

And, you know, quite anxious about it and all that.

And in the end, you know, we did a good bit of filming.

We went out for a drive in it.

It literally took half a day, if that, and they posted it.

And then it ended up being their most viewed video

on auto Alex for the best part of two and a half years.

I think it's currently on 1.8 million views.

The 25 pound BMW.

And it just sort of, it went from there really, Alex.

You know, he asked me if I wanted to do a couple more bits.

And I said, well, you know, I'm actually moving out this unit

to a bigger one.

If you ever want to use the ramp or, you know, come up

and put your cars there or whatever,

you're more than welcome to.

And they did.

And we used to spend loads of late evenings

and time up there working on cars.

And we did a Jimny off-roader.

And we did his Honda S2000.

We did Matt Pollard's MX-5 in there and things like that.

And they mostly used to come and completely destroy

my office with cake up the wall and hummus everywhere.

I remember there being hummus all up the ceiling one day.

But we always had a great laugh.

And we always just loved working on cars.

Whether it be freezing cold, you know, sweating hot,

raining, whatever, we just always, always had a laugh.

And yeah, it just, it stemmed from there really.

And it got to a point where I was able to move away from,

you know, car sales and stuff and go full-time YouTube,

which I am now.

And so even now, you know, I have to sort of pinch myself a little bit,

especially when we're on road trips, traveling the world

and going through Switzerland and things like that.

I'm thinking, wow, is this actually real?

Like, this is my job.

Yeah, yeah, completely unexpected.

And, you know, even now, I spend time with the guys out there,

you know, Will and Edwin obviously work on site.

And they all used to work, you know, in YouTube or social media

in some form, they've done it for years.

They've done it for 10 plus years.

And I'm sat there, you know, if we go out for food or whatever,

and I'm like, yep, mm-hmm, I'm still an amateur.

Every day I'm learning loads of new stuff.

I'd say in the last year to year and a half, maybe two years,

I've learned more than I have in the majority of my life.

It's been a real, real learning curve, but it's been awesome.

It's been really, really cool.

It's clear to say, especially, you know, with comments

and things that you read, that people do think

you've got a very natural way with the camera.

You know, it's almost like you have done it for a lot longer.

Yeah.

And now you're heading up like the V2 channel,

doing a lot of sort of content on your own with that, aren't you, as well?

Yeah, I find that quite natural because, you know, I do it with Rory,

and a lot of the guys here I get along with really well.

I've started doing it on my own recently,

because I have set up my own channel, Tailor Made Cars,

and I've been filming some bits on my own.

And still now I do get a bit anxious, and I'm thinking, you know,

I'm not quite as natural yet.

I'm still easing my way into that.

It's still very new to me, but I feel like, hopefully,

I will, with a bit of time, pick it up and be more comfortable with it.

But yeah, as I say, literally every day is a learning curve.

So yeah, it's a lot to take in for sure.

Yeah, this is quite interesting.

Pretty sure the pretty interesting story with your channel name is like correct.

How you set your, you've called it, you've called it Tailor Made Cars,

but did someone buy the original name that you wanted to call it?

Is that, am I right in thinking that was the case?

Yeah, so we did an auto alec podcast, and I mentioned on there,

you know, I'm going to set up my own channel, and I spoke about it.

And, you know, I said I was quite excited or whatever.

And this was before I'd actually, you know,

taken Tailor Made Cars on YouTube.

And I didn't even think about it at the time, you know, silly old me.

I don't, I never think about stuff like that.

And yeah, the podcast went out, and I think like a couple of days after it went out,

I went to, you know, like start the channel.

It's like, this name's been taken.

And I was like, oh no, really? Has someone done that?

I'll make sure.

And then someone messaged me on Instagram, and he was like,

I heard you were going to start your own channel.

So I've taken the name, do you want to buy it?

And he went like a grand or a couple of grand, whatever.

And I thought, you cheeky git.

But fair play.

You could sit over both sides.

Oh yeah.

Did you have to give him some money then?

No, I didn't.

I wouldn't give in to it.

I'm too stubborn.

So I set it up as Tailor Made Cars official.

I think he's still got it.

I was too stubborn.

You know, I might one day, I'm not that pressed by it,

but I was really annoyed at the time.

I was really angry actually.

I was like, that's, you know, you're a podcast listener,

and I feel like you've betrayed me.

And I was like, actually, it's quite good business mind.

That's a few hundred quid out of it.

The stories of town.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, but I never think about stuff like that.

What does your personal garage look like at the minute?

What have you got?

So I was thinking about this the other day

because I actually forget what cars I have

because they're all, you know, dotted about all over the place.

It, I currently have nine cars.

I did have more, but I sold some because I realized that

having loads of cars that constantly need work

and maintenance and stuff like that

is actually quite stressful.

And it's hard to keep on top of it.

And I thought, I'm going to sell some

and then just concentrate on the ones I have

and get them to a really, really nice standard.

So today I've come in my Volkswagen Tuareg,

Tuareg V10 TDI, because I like cars with silly engines.

So it shouldn't really exist, but do.

So that's a 5.0-litre twin-turbo diesel.

Does about 20-odd miles per gallon.

It's horrendously inefficient.

And it's too large, but I just really like it.

And I've just done a load of restoration work on that

on my channel, which is going to come out this week, actually,

and loads of work on it.

I bought it damaged, so it's categorized,

and I fixed it without even taking it to a body shop,

which is quite interesting.

So I have that.

And then my other daily that I tend to use more often

is a 330D, so 2016 F30.

And then I have my 6-series, which I won't ever sell.

Yeah, I'll only go.

And then I have a 540i E39, which I bought about five years ago,

just coming out of lockdown.

And it's a one-of-one car.

It's got a bit of a cool story to it.

I never knew what it was at the time.

I've got a message by my friend, Anthony,

who runs part of the BMW car club.

And he said, I've got a friend selling this car.

It's a bit of a sort of barn find sort of thing.

It's been sat half on a drive in London for about six or seven years

in a bush.

Do you want to buy it?

And at the time, I didn't know what it was.

I just knew it was an E39 touring.

So I went down to go and buy it and had a little look at it,

realized it was a V8 manual.

I thought, this is cool.

And I ended up buying it, and I bought it to sell it.

And then I got it running, fell in love with it,

cut a long story short, still got it.

I fully restored it, done loads of bits to it,

all the suspension, full re-spray, wheels, tires.

You name it, I've done it.

And I've just supercharged it.

And I haven't driven it yet, supercharged.

It's currently up north at the moment

with my mate James being dynoed.

And it started off at 285 horsepower,

which is factory, and it's now about 440.

Wow.

So I'm quite excited to take it out for its first drive,

as you can probably imagine.

The idea was, is that I wanted to do an M5 touring

without doing the engine swap and stuff.

So I said to him, as long as I get one more horsepower

than an M5, I'm fine with that.

And it turns out it's done 40 more.

So yeah, have that.

And then I have a 330i manual touring,

which I took to the Nürburgring.

That was actually a channel car, so that was bought by Auto Alex.

And some of them I get a bit attached to,

and I end up buying off the channel afterwards and keeping.

And that was one of them.

I will, that's currently having bodywork done,

because it was completely rotten when I bought it.

All the arches are rotted out inside and out.

So I've had all that welded up.

That is going for paint this week, actually.

And then I'm going to bring it in here, fix it up,

and then I'll probably sell that one afterwards,

because I don't really have much of a use for it.

But I wanted to do right by it before I sell it,

because it's a really good car.

And I overtook Alex's M3 touring on the Nürburgring in it.

So I thought I've got to repay the favor to it.

Thank you, old friend.

So I have that, and then I have an R53 Cooper S,

which I blew up at the Nürburgring,

and put an engine in it, and I've done loads too,

and it's been signed by Mike Brewer, Matt Watson,

Matt Armstrong, Tavares, it's a very, very cool little car

that I have a silly attachment to that I shouldn't do,

because it's an absolute pain,

because it breaks down most times that I drive it.

I just love it.

And I actually sold it beginning of the year,

and immediately regretted it,

and then ended up buying it back a few weeks ago.

So I now have that back, and again,

I'm going to bring it in here and do a load of work on it,

and fix it up, and do a couple of videos on it.

Hopefully take it back to the Nürburgring at some point,

and not blow it up.

Fingers crossed.

Yeah, fingers crossed.

So I have that, and then I also have an E60M5 V10,

which I didn't, I was really on the fence about buying.

I was a bit scared to buy it,

because I've heard all the horror stories of an E60M5,

but I always wanted one.

And I thought, you know what,

I'm going to pull the plug, I'm going to buy one.

And I bought one with really good body work

that needed a few mechanicals,

because I knew that I'd have to fix it regardless.

I thought I don't want to fix it,

and do all the body work on it.

So yeah, I got that.

That's been constant maintenance since I bought it.

I've spent, I think I worked it out the other day,

£5,800 just on parts, since I've had it.

I've only had it, I've not had it a year yet.

So yeah, I have that.

I do have plans for that.

I want to DCT swap it, and do something cool with it.

And then I've got 205 GTI,

Perso 205 GTI,

which I recently took to Monaco on one of our trips,

which is MI-16 swapped.

And I think that's it.

Is that nine?

Do I've lost count?

I've lost count, yeah.

I'm sure it's a daily occurrence with yourself.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

I think so, yeah.

But yeah, so there's quite a sort of mix.

Yeah, of BMWs.

Of BMWs, yeah.

I am a big BMW fanboy.

I never, again, something that I never really

intended to get into was BMWs.

I actually started off telling, I also have my first car,

which I forgot about, which is my Punto.

I've got a Fiat Punto.

I've had it for 15 years.

I don't use it.

I don't look at it because it's currently in storage

at my mate's unit.

But I just, I know that I've got it.

It's in the back of my head, it still exists.

I will do something with it one day.

But yeah, I know that I have it,

which is, I really enjoy it,

just having that thought in my head.

Your comfort blanket.

Yeah, I think everyone wishes they could

either own or buy back their first car.

Everyone says that.

Literally everyone says that.

And that's the reason I still have one.

It's not worth anything.

And I know that if I was to sell it,

it would probably get run into the ground

and it would fall into a state of disrepair.

So, it has cost me a bit to store it over the years,

but I don't mind.

It's just the fact, my mum bought me that car

when I was 16 before I could drive for 110 quid

because it was going to be scrapped.

And it was going to be scrapped

because the garage I worked at

got it in from a customer and the head gasket had gone.

And I said, can I buy it as a first car?

At the time I wanted a Corsa, God knows why.

But, you know, I saw this little red Punto

and it had 60,000 miles on the clock.

And I thought, that'd be perfect.

And I bought it from,

my mum bought it for 110 quid

and I did the head gasket on it.

First time I'd ever done a head gasket.

And, you know, I sort of learnt my trade on that little car.

And I've done so much to it over the years.

I put all the Abarth kit on it

and the Alfa Romeo leather seats and everything.

And going back to it,

I never intended to get into BMWs.

I was always into Italian cars.

So when I was really young,

I used to go to Auto Italia all the time.

And my dream car was a Fiat Coupe 20 valve turbo

when I was really young.

And, you know, I used to be the old typical,

don't want a BMW.

They're all, they're all twats.

I don't want one.

You know what it's like.

I agree.

And then I've got the, yeah.

And then I've got the six series.

When I was 19, that was my second car.

And I sort of, you know, became sort of known for owning this car.

And a lot of people sort of either offered me parts

or BMWs and stuff.

And I just really got into them.

And I became the guy that's, you know,

you know, thought that everyone that had a BMW

is attached until you've actually gone.

And you're like, actually, they're really good.

And, you know, and then I had E36s and E46s

and stuff like that.

And just grew to sort of love them really.

But yeah, I think if it wasn't for the six series,

I'd probably still think that all BMW owners are twats.

It's unexplainable, isn't it?

It's until you jump into one, you just get it.

You just understand why they are what they are.

While there's a following there.

Because I did the same because it was,

I was at that thing of a similar thing really,

not even being one before,

not really sort of had experience with him.

It was actually Ben, who's my brother,

he owned one at the time and thinking,

this is really good.

This is a really good car.

And then just the same thing went from there really.

Yeah.

There's just loads of things about them.

And they're just, you know, good to drive.

The seating position is great.

They're great to work on, get bits for them.

There's just loads of stuff.

There's something about them that I can't explain.

I like trying loads of different cars.

I don't like to think of myself as narrow-minded

when it comes to cars.

There's so many cars that I'd like to own.

You know, I'd really like a B7 RS4.

I'd like a first gen R8.

You know, my dream cars are 911, stuff like that.

But I find myself trying them.

And I always end back in a Porsche, in a BMW.

You know, there's just something about them.

I just, even if I buy a car as a daily,

like, you know, I've had the odd Mercedes here and there.

And I just find, oh, it's a bit boring.

I'll go back to a BMW.

Yeah, that is the argument.

Mercedes or a BMW, isn't it?

Yeah.

And, you know, I once had a Passat as a daily.

And it was great.

It was a Passat Highline.

It had every option on it.

It had the sunroof.

It had sat nav.

It had cruise control, heated leather seats.

It had everything.

It was a V6 diesel manual, like quite a rare one.

Which will go forever.

Yeah.

And everyone used to take Mickey out on me for it.

Every, all my mate, no, you don't suit that.

When are you getting a beer?

And I sold it and I bought the worst 330D ever.

It was hanging.

It had 200,000 miles on the clock.

The arches were rotten.

You know, it was an SE.

It was low spec.

It was, it was such a piece of crap.

But I was like, oh, I'm back in a BMW.

Yeah, it's still better.

Yeah.

Now, we used to say the same thing about BMW.

And then, yeah, we all, we all ended up having one.

And yeah, they're brilliant.

Don't get me wrong.

Some of the stuff that they make, especially nowadays,

is questionable.

But generally speaking, they're a good car.

Yeah, they are a good car.

And in Chelsea, you say 9-11, natural progression.

BMW, a lot of people say is you'll end up in a Porsche anyway.

Yeah, I find a lot of people that are into BMWs also really

like Renault Sports and Porsches.

It's like the little sort of group of cars.

Whenever you go to the Nurburgring,

it's BMWs, Renault Sports and Porsches.

It's all that same sort of group.

So that's where the BMW sort of love come from.

But where did the whole, where did it start with cars?

What got you into cars originally?

I genuinely couldn't tell you.

It's just something that I've always grown up with, you know.

Even as a child, I always had toy cars and little models

and things like that.

And when I was at school, I just always wanted to be,

I wanted to do something with cars.

It didn't, I was just obsessed, you know.

It's not even a hobby or a passion.

It's literally an obsession.

Yeah, it's something that I probably can't really explain.

It's just always been there, that love for cars.

But it's again, like it, for me, it's always been an obsession.

It's not, you know, it's, I actually said to myself,

it's probably a couple of years ago actually,

and I do think about it every now and again.

I wonder when the last time I went a day without a car

being part of my life, whether it be driving one,

thinking about one, ordering bits for one,

looking at them, going on the internet and seeing them.

When, when was that?

Like I've, I can't think of it.

I genuinely can't think of it.

Actually, that actually opens my eyes as well.

Yeah.

It is that mentality of, yeah, every day is something about a car.

Yeah.

I sat at lunch the other day and my Mrs. went,

have you got anything else to say other than cars?

And I went, nope.

Even, you know, my best mate, Henry, he, you know,

loves cars as well.

He's well into them.

Even him sometimes.

He's like, do you talk about anything else other than cars?

Do you know what?

I don't actually.

I don't.

We can if you want to, but I'll get very bored.

Yeah.

That's all the weather's nice, isn't it?

So busy day.

It's all natural to talk about.

Yeah.

We've often talked about like, when was the best year of cars?

And obviously you speak to your dad,

I don't speak to your parents or whatever.

And they're like, no, with a better back in my idea or ever.

For us, it's sort of like the early 2010s, I suppose,

all the way up to like the late 2018, 19s,

where you've got that mix of you and any, any idiot could drive it.

It's got all that power, but it's got the technology.

It's the sweet spot.

And then obviously everything since then has been crap.

What about you?

What's the sweet spot for you?

I would say I'm pretty much the same.

I do also really like 80s and 90s stuff.

I really love cars from the 80s and 90s.

You know, your 205 GTI is a Renault five GT turbo stuff was just cool.

And I feel like even if you weren't into cars, you still liked them.

Whereas now it's just, you know, an appliance or such people.

You know, if you're not into cars, there's nothing there.

But apart from, you know, like,

I really like the new Renault five, the electric one,

because it's all familiar, all about the design of it.

And it's just cool and funky.

And it's a bit different.

And I think even if you're not into cars, you're buying one.

Because you're like, oh, I quite like that.

Yeah.

It's quite interesting.

Well, as you say, the names for things now have been adopted into cars

that look nothing like a Capri or a Mustang or a,

you know, the five is pretty much sort of throwback to what the five was.

And I think that's why it's selling well.

And it's very cool.

But yeah, I would agree.

Yeah, 2010s, 2005 to 2010, something like that.

Cars coming out with silly engines that shouldn't be in them,

you know, like your Piek era Volkswagen stuff

and your E60M fives and the 46M free.

I genuinely believe is one of the best cars ever made.

I know BMW, whatever.

Get in one and drive one before you say anything.

They are amazing, amazing things.

Yeah, I like cars that are retro, cool, interesting,

but also very usable.

I find myself selling cars that I don't see myself using that much,

apart from obviously the six series, but that's a bit different.

Like my 205, for example,

if I didn't feel comfortable driving that regularly,

I'd probably sell it.

Like I had a classic Mini and fully restored it.

It was really cool.

Enjoyed building it, didn't enjoy driving it,

so I parted ways with it.

And that's fine with me because I got the buzz from that car

out of building it and doing it.

And it was great fun.

And yeah.

I think it's actually something that maybe

the TDC guys mentioned once,

but I think the mentality is spot on.

If you start to think about selling a car, that's the point you saw.

I think you've thought about it, so you do it.

Unless you do something to it that's different,

that reignites that passion for it,

or you do something with it like go on a road trip or whatever.

I've had cars before, I think, oh, I might sell this,

and then I'll go on a road trip in it with my mates,

build some great memories.

And I think I've got that attachment to it now.

And then I think, okay, I want to do this to it now.

And that actually was a bit with the 540.

There was a time where I thought about selling that car,

and I actually messaged a mate of mine and said,

would you be interested in buying it?

And then I took it to Paris in the summer

with a group of my mates, and it was brilliant.

It was such an awesome car.

We've got all of our stuff in it.

There was all four of us in it, and we just went to Paris.

The weather was amazing.

The car was really cool.

It's got a valve to exhaust.

So there's a tunnel, as you drive into Paris,

you drive under the runway.

It was valve open flat out through the tunnel, V8 noises.

And I was like, oh, I love this car.

How could you sell that now?

Yeah, and I always wanted to supercharge it.

And I always thought, am I actually going to do it, blah, blah.

And then after that, I was like, no, I'm supercharging this now.

This is a cool car.

And then I actually did it.

And for me, that is added to the six series.

I won't part ways with that now,

because it's just that I love everything about it.

And it's usable as well.

It's funny what you said about the 80s and 90s.

You think as well, when you think of that era,

you think of an outrageous everything

specced into its six series with like armchairs,

or this super retro 205, little sports car.

It's pretty much one or the other.

Yeah, it's having that.

You know, I like cars that are different.

And, you know, one day you go out in the 205,

and it's just basic raw.

You've got four wheels, a seat, and a set of ITBs

that make loads of noise when you floor it.

And there's just something about it.

It's, you know, as basic as driving gets,

but it's really good.

It's in a really, really good form.

It's got a great chassis.

The brakes are good.

It's nice to drive if you just want to commute here in it.

But at the same time, you know,

you've got a 1.9 16 valve with double the horsepower

it came out of the factory with,

and the ITB is singing away.

And it's just so, that car, when I drive it,

it doesn't just make me smile.

It makes me laugh.

It genuinely makes me giggle.

And, you know, I never even grew up in that era.

I was after the 205 hype, and, you know,

it's all the old boys that appreciate them out,

but I can see why they love them.

I really, really can.

It comes across in the last road trip you did with the five,

the 205 and the Williams, wasn't it?

I think how you all felt driving those cars,

especially when you swapped cars as well.

How, again, you know, you're surprised,

but how good is this car, you know, and compared to yours?

Yeah, I think that really shone.

Yeah, how well it...

We actually all said, you know, off camera,

it's one of the only road trips we've ever done

where we all love each other's cars as much as our own.

Because, you know, usually it's a bit of a, like,

oh, your car's rubbish, and, you know,

there's always a bit of a, you know,

a bit of Tom Follery and your mess about and whatever,

but actually we all loved each other's cars.

And, you know, driving the 205 and seeing the Renault 5

next to me and the Cleo Williams in front of me,

I was like, this is so cool.

These are, like, such a cool generation of cars,

and they're really interesting.

And I feel like a lot of car makers tried to replicate it,

like with the 208 GTI,

they put that little bit from the 205 on the side,

but they're never the same.

They're never quite the same.

So, yeah, it's like, I feel like that was the golden era

of hot hatches.

And then you move along to, you know, 2005 onwards,

and that's your golden era of, like, tech and engines,

and, you know, you could go out and get an Audi Q7

with a V12 diesel in it.

Why?

That's still crazy, I'm like, ever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Has that ever tempted you, one of them?

Oh, yeah, I'd love one.

I love one.

They're a bit too much for me.

They're, you know, 25 plus grand.

They're, you know, I've really got that kind of budget

to spend on a Q7, but...

Yet.

But if one ever came up a bit shit or a bit written off

or whatever, I'm straight on that.

Yeah, I think they're so cool.

Yeah, so, so cool.

I mean, what a thing.

I mean, like you said, that sort of timing,

time that where you literally could just buy a car

with a, not just a supercar engine,

but a diesel version of...

It's a bonkers box.

It's mad, yeah.

And, you know, I was saying the twire egg the other day,

it's the sort of car that it doesn't make any sense.

It's the sort of thing that, you know,

a wife goes out to her husband and says,

right, go out and buy a family car.

Yeah.

Or something sensible for the kids.

Yeah.

And they go to a dealership and then they see it on the list.

Five litre V10 diesel.

I want that one.

Why do you want that one?

Don't care, I just want it.

Yeah, use a family car.

It's so cool.

As I say, it's pointless, but I'm glad it exists.

It's sad that that will never be recreated again.

We'll never see that.

Yeah.

And I think that's why cars like that,

although they were very sort of, you know,

just your sort of general car that wasn't really that interesting

has become really interesting.

And I think always sort of will be, really,

because that won't happen again.

Yeah, exactly.

Maybe values will do one thing because of it.

Yeah, potentially.

Yeah.

Until you're on your next journey

and you are really trying just to get 20 miles per gallon out of it.

Yeah.

Well, the Tuareg's all right.

I can get 30 to the gallon out of that.

You do have to be careful.

The worst bit about it is the maintenance.

It's not, they're very durable.

They're very, very reliable.

But to work on, they're an absolute pain.

You know, start motor is engine out, turbos engine out.

It's, mine's got a little bit of an exhaust leak

and it sometimes if I'm sitting in traffic

and it's warm, it'll come into the cabin.

I'll have to put it on research.

And to fix it, of course, it's engine out.

So, you know, it's fine for people like me

that will at some point get it in here

and take the engine out and do all the bits on it.

But for people that have to take it to a specialist

and pay them to do it, it can become really extortionate.

And I can see why they got to a point where,

you know, they're worth a couple of grand

because they are really expensive to look after.

Yeah.

And as you say, it said it to a specialist for one week for

exhaust leak, the next week something else happened.

Again, engine out.

And before you know it, you're spending,

you're into not twice double the amount

that you pay for the car in the first place.

And I can completely understand that if you're not into cars,

that would become a pain.

And it's just a bit of a nightmare.

Yeah.

Is there a job, obviously you like to fix everything you can

by the sounds of it, but is there a job where you're just like,

I'm not doing that?

I will get somebody else to do that.

Yeah.

I think there's bits on the M5 that I worry about

because I know that if I do something on that car and it goes wrong,

then it's 10 grand straight away.

You're throwing the engine away and you're putting a new engine in it

or something like that.

There's a lot of specialist tools that are required to work on it.

It's very technical, but at the same time,

I'm getting to a point now where I'm like, I just, I want to do that.

Yeah.

I actually, I was at a point where I was, you know,

I was thinking, I don't want to touch that because I'm worried.

And now I'm like, I want to do it because it's a bit of a challenge.

So sort of, initially my mind would say, no, I don't want to do that.

But then I think, yeah, if I've got the time and if, you know,

if the guys will allow me to put it in the unit and put it on the ramp and

become really stressed for a few days, yeah, I would actually like to do it.

So there's, I've never been very good at body work.

That's the only thing I would really like to learn a bit more of.

I have tried it.

We have failed quite a few times.

I've definitely seen that.

In fact, a certain Fiat Coupe 21, yeah, that, that, yeah.

Yeah, that looked like we'd painted it with melted down crayons by the time we'd finished with it.

So I would, but again, like instead of saying, I don't want to do that,

I want to learn more about body work and how to do it and fabrication and,

you know, putting a car on a jig and how it all works.

I find it really interesting.

So yeah, there used to be a time where I think, no, don't want to do that.

And now I'm like, I want the challenge.

I'm feeling more ambitious as time goes on.

Do you meet any, because we often, obviously we're in the industry in a sense of we're

not so much cars, but in heavy, heavy God's vehicles, we visit a lot of workshops

and you don't see many youngsters around.

Do you get many youngsters come to you asking you for advice or how do you see,

you know, the next generation coming through?

Do you see many people tinkering?

Quite a bit.

Not as much because as cars are evolving, they're getting harder to work on.

You know, it's all very, this car's locked and you need to take it to a dealer or,

you know, they're becoming a bit hard in that sense.

But I find there are a lot of younger people that are into older cars and,

you know, ask for advice and they just give it a go, which I always admire.

I always admire it when you, you know, because I was at that point in life where,

you know, I had my six series and a little council look up and I'd go down there on a weekend

when the weather was a bit rubbish and I'd squeeze down the side of it and jack it up

with a little Halfords trolley jack and I'd work on it and I wouldn't always know what I'm doing,

but I'd give it a go or I'd YouTube it or I'd Google it or whatever and just do it.

So yeah, I always admire that.

On the VM, obviously you got it for 25 quid, spent a load of money,

I'd load a time on it and it's stunning, by the way.

Thank you.

It's your best one.

Thank you.

Any idea what those that would be worth now? Have you ever looked at that?

They're not worth a massive amount yet.

They do tend to go up every year.

For me, it's more the sort of sentimental value that's worth more than anything.

I think insurance has valued it about 50 grand or something like that.

If I was to actually sell it, it's probably worth about 30 something like that, I would say.

Like just as a car, but for me, it's more of the value of, you know, the memories

and the sentimentalness and the fact that, you know, I use it as a career,

makes it worth more because, you know, I've filmed videos with it and stuff like that.

And I do have a few more plans with it and, you know, want to change bits and bobs on it.

But yeah, value with that car is never something I've ever cared about

because I'll never part with it.

So I don't see the point.

It's actually a bit annoying because the more it becomes worth,

the more desirable it is to be nicked.

So true.

Yes, yes.

So yeah, I don't actually care about it.

It's not worth anything.

I actually saw, I'd never thought about that car getting nicked.

I always sort of had it, you know, I've always been very protective over it.

I always block it in and it's right in a corner.

It's a nightmare because if I want to drive, I have to move that five cars,

get it out of the way and take cover off of it and all that.

But I saw recently that Chris Harris's E28 got nicked.

Yes.

And it has made me a bit paranoid because I thought, I always thought,

no one's ever going to nick a car like that.

It's so distinctive.

It'd be silly to do that.

And I saw that happen and it was a bit of an eye opener for me.

And I thought, you know, maybe I should get some kind of tracker put on it

or in a mobilizer or something like that.

So I have actually put a tracker in it since because I'm a bit paranoid about it,

you know, especially if I'm out driving it in a parking on a street somewhere.

Road trips and things to say.

Yeah, yeah.

The person might not necessarily know the car if they don't watch the channel.

And then they might think, oh yeah, go on.

And then realize actually, as that's Chris,

I think that was the story with Chris Harris's car.

I don't think they realized whose car it actually was until it, when it was nicked.

And then obviously the heat of social media, I think it made it a bit,

I hate the phrase, but a bit hot to handle.

Yeah.

Can you imagine if you nick that car and then you saw it on social media and you're like,

oh my God, whose car is it?

We need to put this somewhere.

I don't want this anymore.

I'll be back, please.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, that in itself is probably actually a bit of security

is when a car like that is quite well known.

Sure.

It gets shared about quite a lot.

But yeah, that's, yeah, as I say, value, and with the 540 as well,

you know, I'm not really that fussed about it anymore because I don't plan on selling it.

So, you know, it's, I hate selling cars.

I've really, really, I love buying them and I love fixing them.

I always, I get so stupidly emotionally attached.

And there's quite, you know, even quite a few car enthusiasts don't really get that.

It's so silly.

Me and Alex both share the same thing.

You know, we look at a car as if it has a character and a personality.

And it sounds really sad, but it's something I've always sort of gone by.

Rory doesn't really have it.

He doesn't, he doesn't understand it so much, you know, when we've got cars that are

set out in the paddock that we're sort of done with and they're not worth anything.

And it's a bit of a liability for us to sell it because there's a few mechanical issues.

And you'll go, just scrap that.

And it, it's literally not worth anything.

And I go, oh, I can't.

I can't bring my, we'll just let it sit there.

And me and Alex are the same.

We get a paddock, a car that car hoarder and they're so shit.

And they're just a lot of them are dilapidated, but we can't bring ourselves to throw it away.

Yeah.

You know, and it's, it's so, so silly.

And it is a pain sometimes because there's, again, it gets the point when you've got quite a lot of them, but I'm not, I don't want to get rid of them.

With Charlotte and Shanice were mentioning the whiteboard over there, the list of shit cars,

which to be fair is actually all rubbed off, but I'm sure there's plenty to go on there.

Yeah. That was, I actually rubbed that off, I think last week or so.

And it was a list of cars that all needed MOT and all fixing or whatever.

And it got to a point where they wouldn't all fit on there.

So it was just half of them.

And then we'd forget that there'd be a load more.

So we just sort of rubbed it off.

Start afresh.

Just forget about it.

Yeah.

And then there was a list.

I started, I thought I'll be organised and we were doing a build and I put all the list of bits on that, on that whiteboard over there.

And then we did that build.

I think we've done three builds since and I haven't changed.

Yeah. The organisation only happened for a day or so and then it disappeared.

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Thanks Eclipse, now back to the show.

So you've been in YouTube now a couple of years?

Yes.

A couple of years, because we can share the same of being behind a camera at first.

It's weird.

It's still, we're like complete awkward weirdos, we've been doing it.

But have you got a piece of advice now knowing what you know?

You've said you've learned so much in those two years.

Do you have a piece of advice for your younger self?

I would say stick to doing what you want to do.

I really enjoy doing this because we do stuff that I like doing.

And it's always something that I've, when I set up my own channel,

it's mainly because there's loads of stuff that I personally want to do.

Whether it be fixing a V10 to our egg or modifying an M5 or whatever.

I always find that I'm more natural and comfortable and enjoy it a lot more

when I'm doing something that I actually want to do.

Not for something that I think, oh, that will get good views or that all,

you know, explode on the internet.

I've never really thought about that.

I just do stuff that I find really interesting and enjoy.

And I find that's when you put the most amount of passion and interest into it.

Good answer.

And yeah, just be natural and just, it's a bit hard to say, you know,

forget the cameras there.

A lot of the time it helps because, you know,

Rory's on the other side of the camera with me.

And I get along with Rory really well and we have a laugh.

And I do sort of forget it's there and, you know,

we just act natural and mess about with cars.

But yeah, that's, you know, I never intended to get into this.

I was very much the same awkward with cameras,

didn't like taking selfies or pictures or anything like that.

And just sort of became very comfortable with it over time.

Yeah.

And I have got used to the sound of my own voice.

Because that was something I couldn't bear at first,

you know, Alex would watch her and Eddie and I'm like,

I can't listen to this.

She's replaying it and it's got my voice in it.

But now I'm a bit used to it now.

Have you had a bit of a pig of a project yet?

Have you had one that's just not gone?

Yeah, we've had quite a few.

The Renault 5 Turbo was a bit of a pain.

And it did come across in that video that I'd bodged a lot of things.

And that's because I had because, you know,

I do like to do things properly and I do like to do them to a good standard.

But sometimes, especially with that car,

we're on a real time restraint.

And Rory has this thing of we work well under pressure.

I disagree with him because it stresses me out mainly.

But, you know, when we do work under a time restraint and under pressure,

we do get stuff done.

You know, I'm always willing to put in the hours and weekends

or whatever I need to do to get a car on a road trip.

That car in particular just kept throwing curveballs.

You know, we initially bought it and we thought, you know,

it will need a general recommission, suspension, service,

fresh fuel in it, it should be fine.

Turned out the ECU was knackered.

The wiring was knackered, you know.

And I did the timing and I messed up the timing belt

and everyone took the mickey out of me for it.

And, you know, and then it had oil leaks and it had a fuel leak as well

when we got it going and it was just a bit of a pig.

Yeah, one thing after another.

Yeah, and there's been a few more.

I can't really think of many off the top of my head.

Yeah.

Just put that in perspective.

We were here last time and that car was on that ramp.

Yeah.

And it was it was in bits and you said to me,

yeah, next Monday it's going to Monaco.

Yeah.

And if you remember right, the Clio was here with the engine on the floor.

And I was trying to do sort of both at the same time and I was so stressed.

Yeah.

I mean, if you didn't come across it to be fair, so good for you.

He's done pretty well.

Yeah.

I tried.

I think it got to the point where I was like,

well, it is what it is.

I can't really care anymore.

I think that's what you've got to what you've got to do sometimes.

Yeah.

But whenever it is a pig of a job, it's always rewarding getting it done.

Yeah.

It doesn't matter how much I hate the car at the start.

I always get to that point and I'm like, I hate this car.

I don't want to work on it.

It is so rubbish.

I hate it.

I'm fed up with it.

And then you persevere and you do it and you get it done.

It's always rewarding.

Yeah.

Always rewarding.

Especially seeing that car in Monaco, even if it did overheat slightly,

you know, Tom Lentville sat in it sweating to bits with steam coming out of Monaco.

I'm still like, it's here.

It's made it.

It's cool.

So I think I was, well, definitely from the viewer's perspective,

but when you're watching that video with those three cars that finally made it there,

I think, wow, yeah.

That's a really proud moment really to see what they've been through.

I think it was relief.

It was relief.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's all done now.

Yeah.

But I do tend to have quite bad luck when it comes to cars because, you know,

I'm the one that works on them and prepares them.

And I tend to find that, you know, I'll sort out all the cars and it's always me that breaks down.

To be fair, it's, I'm going to jinx myself.

Don't do it.

It stopped happening recently.

So the 205, pretty faultless on the trip.

And we recently did a dream car road trip where I took the six series on my first ever

European road trip.

And that sounds like someone's drilling something outside.

I thought it was a bird.

That's what I said.

This is the wrong time of year for it.

No, someone's drilling without using WD-40, I'd say.

Yeah.

And the six series was faultless.

It was really, really good.

So before that, it was just every single time I broke down and it was usually catastrophic,

you know, the mini, the engine blew up on the way to the air bogering, on the auto bar.

And I was doing 140 mile an hour and blew it up.

And I spent, you know, Alex bought me a new engine and I spent the whole day

putting the engine in.

And to be fair, by the end of it, I'd got it done and Misha took me out for a lap in it.

It's the most terrifying motoring moment of my life.

You know, 20 minutes prior, I'd got this engine running for the first time.

And it hadn't been running two and a half years or whatever it was.

It'd been sat in a shed.

And, you know, he's taken me around.

He's got no mechanical sympathy, Misha.

He's flat.

When he's in that car, he's flat out.

And, you know, I'd literally just put the engine in it and I was just sat there

covered in crap, just staring at the temperature case.

It's like we had a heat cycle at this point.

He started on the Nürburgring.

That was the first heat cycle and it still had a bit of air in the clutch and he couldn't

get it into gear and we're going around and he's like one hand on the wheel,

feathering it while it's sliding towards a curb, trying to ram it in gear.

And I'm like, what is happening?

He really trusted your mechanical knowledge there.

And we got to the end of that lap and everyone was cheering over the walkie talking and

everything.

That was probably one of the most memorable moments of my, you know, car related life.

Yeah.

Which, again, is why I have such an attachment to that car.

But yeah, prior to that, you know, I had a Z3 that was supercharged, took that to

Nürburgring, that broke.

Luckily, again, managed to fix it.

I did an off-roading trip with an X-Trail, that broke down.

I took the Mini to Wales, that broke down in Wales.

I reversed, I think it was up a hill or down a hill in Wales.

I can't even remember why.

I think we were getting some shots and it just overheated in reverse.

And yeah, just every single time we've done a road trip and it's a funny thing.

So I said earlier that sometimes Alto Alex buys cars and I personally buy cars.

And if it's ever a personally owned car, it always blows up.

Whereas even if it's my car on the road trip, but Alto Alex owns it, it's always faultless.

It's the first road trip we ever did where I didn't break down was our unreliable road trip.

Where we bought the most unreliable cars we could find.

I bought an Alfa Romeo Brara V6 for £1,000 out of a scrapyard.

It was hanging.

The guy had broken it for parts and I asked him to put it back together so I could buy it.

And the timing chain was a little bit rattly and it was in limp mode.

And I put it back together as I could.

I've got it and all the bolts were loose and hanging out of the suspension and

there was bits missing.

It was such a pile of crap.

And we put it back together and I put some new bolts in it.

And we did a few bits to it.

I don't even think I changed it all along that car.

I might have done.

And we drove it all the way to Scotland and all the way back.

And I sold it to a mate and he drove it for a year and a half and it never broke down.

And I was like, it's literally typical.

It's the only time I buy a reliable car and it's on the unreliable car road trip.

And the only thing that went wrong on that road trip was Rory had a Range Rover P38 and

the wipers stopped working.

Brilliant.

And that was it.

So yeah, it's quite funny.

I have this sort of bad luck thing.

Was it the one where you were going to take the six series and didn't you fit throttle

bodies to it or something?

It just wasn't happening.

Yeah.

So that was actually the beginning of the story.

So we were doing the Poland road trip to Altrae.

Yes.

That was it.

And I sort of knew about this road trip but I don't think at the time it was fully set in

stone when I started the ITBs on the six series.

So I put the six series on throttle bodies.

So what I always wanted to do, dreamt about it for ages, pulled the trigger, bought the

kit, fitted it and then I had to get it wired in and you know and all that.

And we just kept having problem after problem with it.

And then the road trip sort of came up and I tried to rush it together and we got it running

and it had loads of problems and it broke down like when the day we were supposed to be leaving

and all that.

And it just didn't work out.

It, I was doing so many late, I was up until like seven o'clock in the morning every day

trying to get this car to go.

And we just couldn't do it.

And it's the first and only time I've ever given up.

And I gave up with it and I was really, really upset, really down about it.

And Rory called me one night and he said, you know, get a flight out and we'll meet you out

there.

And I was, I was, you know, really stubborn and bitter about it because they were all

taking the mickey out of me and I was like, no, I don't want to come.

I'm not doing it.

Leave me alone.

I don't want to talk to you.

And I was, you know, I was really, really upset.

I really took it personally.

And then I saw they're all having a laugh on social media and this, that and the other.

And I thought, I'm going to take my 540 and I'm going to meet them out there.

I'm going to surprise them.

And I'm, you know, I'm just going to drive out one night.

I'm going to do an all nighter.

So I got in it and I drove to Calais or no, I got the Euro tunnel.

No, I didn't.

I got the ferry.

So it was too tight to pay for your tunnel.

Got the ferry over, got into France, started driving.

And, you know, I was going to do it one way all the way.

They were just outside of Poland at this point.

I'm going to get it all the way there and I'll meet them tonight.

I'll be there by, you know, 11 o'clock tonight, whatever it is.

Well, I got a couple of hours into Belgium and the bloody wheel fell off.

You literally could not ride that.

And I thought, I don't need this.

Now I'd done between 500 to a thousand miles in that car and it was fine.

And I hadn't really had, I can't remember the last time I had the wheels off of it.

And the bloody wheel fell off.

And I was like, did you make any content on that?

Yeah, I just got a little bit on my phone.

That was it.

Oh, yeah.

So there was something, it just don't go to Poland.

There was something saying, don't go to Poland.

I very much believe in everything happened for a reason.

And there was something at that point, I was like, no, this is, I'm done now.

And, you know, the caliper went through the wheel and I didn't,

I can't remember what it was.

I didn't have the wheel brace.

I don't think it was a different size or something like that.

Anyway, I managed to get the wheel off and I put the spare on.

The spare was pretty much flat.

I had like five PSI in it.

So I limped it off to a petrol station, pumped the tyre up, I drove home.

I got really upset.

I did cry in the petrol station.

I won't, I won't, I won't really believe you to that.

After the amount of stress you've had prior to it.

And just thinking, right, I'm going, I'm going regardless.

Yeah.

Not up at the end, I think any, any person would do the same thing.

Yeah.

I was so upset.

And I obviously, I love that car.

And, you know, the fact that it'd been a bit damaged and it was all right.

It was mainly just, you know, I sort of chipped the wheel arch a little bit and wrecked the wheel.

But yeah, I took it very personally.

And I, yeah, got into the petrol station, had a little cry on the drive home.

That was that.

Do you know what, one of the, one of the thick questions we wanted to ask was,

is there a hilarious moment that sort of for everyone else that didn't quite make the cut?

And I suppose it is that, that one, unless you've got another one.

Do you know what, there's loads.

There's so many.

A lot of the time before we didn't, so we have a little vlog camera now and we film

as much as possible.

And it adds a very personal perspective to our road trips.

Whereas before we'd only film, you know, certain bits and it would be, you know,

more cinematic and, and we'd film like the intros, the outros, the driving bits and that was it.

So we find that a lot more now, you sort of get to know that we,

we do mess around quite a lot on our road trips and, you know, as,

I don't know if you watched the recent trip to Croatia, but far on each other's face.

That was absolutely good.

And jump on inflatable unicorns in the sea at night while trying to go out for dinner and,

you know, silly things like that.

I've got quite a bad memory, but if I dig back and look through the picture on my home,

there's so many funny times that we've had that we just didn't quite capture.

But that says, you say, sometimes when you're filming, you can't capture that.

It's the stuff that happens when you're not rolling.

You think, oh, I wish I would have had that on the camera.

So now with that vlog camera, it's stuff that you probably will catch because you're always filming.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a count.

I mean, you know, we, we do have a real genuine bond, all of us, you know,

even the videographers and the editors and stuff, we, we all get along and we have a right laugh.

So it, it, whenever we go away, it ends up being a right laugh because we,

there's so much Tom Follery and we generally do muck about a lot.

Well, it does come across.

I think a lot of people say the reason back in the day a top gear was so successful is because

those three, no matter what they did, they had that chemistry.

I think a lot of people compare it now to you guys where you've just got that way of

dealing with each other and just the way you get on and stuff.

And then that's why people watch.

Yeah, yeah, it's very similar.

Yeah, it is very similar.

And on that note as well, you know, that for me growing up with top gear and wheeler dealers and,

and stuff like that was always the dream.

So going out and actually doing it and spending, you know, going to amazing places and amazing

cars with people that you genuinely get along with and mess about with and have a laugh with

and are very close with, it is like top gear and I have to genuinely pinch myself sometimes,

especially driving through Switzerland in a little 205 with the pan roof open,

looking at all the mountains, taking the mick out of each other and farting on each other.

That's just, I think one of the podcasts recently, when you sound clipped it,

I think it's just a level.

Yeah, Rory put it on the soundboard.

Yeah, and that was the whole trip.

So every single time we went to either a restaurant or a hotel reception,

Mike, our editor had already edited together a little clip of Tom farting on Alex's head

and we'd play it full blast wherever we went.

You know, we'd get to a hotel at 12 o'clock at night or whatever it is and we'd all be

standing there really like, oh, I can't wait to go to bed.

You know, it was really tired, just very lethargic and one of us would get our phone out,

full blast, it would be, oh my God, people just start laughing in the hotel receptions.

And you know, you've got a French guy behind the counter or whatever, just going,

what is, we've got Brits abroad here, you know, like Riff Raff, he's not going to cause travel.

No, no.

And it was everywhere, you know, sitting in Venice in a really nice Italian restaurant

on the site, you know, you've got the boats going past, oh my God, it's so funny.

That's something you'll never forget.

Yeah, that really set the tone for the trip.

It did, yeah.

That guff, yeah.

I think watching people, not only you guys in hysterics, but I think everybody else

on the, just on the ship, just top of the house going on there, just shut it.

Yeah, yeah, great.

I mean, we caused such a commotion in that shot.

Just really, yeah.

Tom guffed and then we all, we were almost on the floor, I was in tears and it was,

you know, like you forget how loud it is, like all the laughing and everything.

You sort of stop laughing and everyone's looking at you and this shot and you're like,

oh, I'm going to get kicked out in a minute.

But that's what it's like.

Most places we go, you know, it's just so funny and it's nice to have that bond.

Even with, you know, Tom Lentford, he's a 50-odd-year-old bloke and we get along so well

with him.

We have such, because he's like us really, you know, like he's, yeah.

Big kid.

Yeah.

Big kid, yeah, in that sort of sense.

It's just a laugh.

It's a right laugh.

Comes across.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You are living the dream.

Yeah, it is.

And I'm very, very grateful for it as well.

Don't get me wrong.

It doesn't come without its stresses.

It's not all plain sailing.

Stuff goes wrong and cars are a pain and it's stressful and organizing it all

and making sure everything's on schedule and correct and parts are arranged and everything.

It's day-to-day, it can be really stressful, but it's incredibly rewarding.

And it is, yeah, like living the dream.

Yeah, nice.

So, yeah, it's definitely enjoyable.

And so I never expected to be in either.

Yeah, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

Or they'll have a lot of stress.

Yeah, yeah.

A lot of bad luck.

It's dealing with, you know, Rory and Alex on a day-to-day basis.

It's a nightmare.

No, I love them to bits.

Genuinely love them to bits.

Good.

And they are genuinely my best mates, you know, like we go around each other's houses

and we have barbecues and there's a very genuine bond there.

So I'm very grateful to have that as well.

Other than people putting spoilers and body race kits on Teslas,

how do you see the evolution of like the car community now?

That's a bit hard to say.

I do think it's a bit unpredictable.

I would like to think that people would still stay with, you know,

and have that enthusiasm for older cars.

I do worry that that will fade away and it will become more difficult because,

you know, as much as people are moving into electric cars and stuff like that,

and I can genuinely see why I'm not against it.

I just hope they don't take away that, you know,

enthusiasm to be able to own older cars.

I don't think they will, but I hope that's not the case.

I would like to see people modify in electric cars and doing something to

them and having that enthusiasm there.

Because I do think that there's a real stigma at the moment that they're very uncool.

And I do agree with that to a point.

A lot of them are, really.

They are really uncool.

A lot of them are quite cool.

We often see the odd one, like you mentioned the new Renault,

we like the Taycan, you know, the look of the Taycan.

And it's actually like, I don't know.

Do you want to make the Taycan better?

The 4-litre V8?

Yeah, yeah.

But that was kind of the pediment, wasn't it?

But we get this purpose.

Yeah, I can see why, you know, people buy them.

I really can.

You know, you've got no maintenance, you don't have to worry about service in it.

You know, you don't have a long commute scene.

Just plug it in at home.

It's a great idea.

It doesn't work for everyone, but it is a great idea.

I don't really like the pressure around the government forcing everyone to own one

because they're not suitable for everyone, realistically.

I actually said the other day, it'd be really nice if the government were to allow,

instead of banning the sale of petrol and diesel-only cars,

it would be nice for them to do a scheme like they did before,

which is why the Aston Martin Signet exists,

where a manufacturer has a certain carbon footprint,

and then they're allowed to have a bit of a mess around from time to time

and create a really cool petrol or diesel-only car.

But yeah, going back to it, where do I see it going?

I don't fully know.

It is a bit unpredictable, but I would like to see the enthusiasm

staying there, whether it be with older cars or electric cars.

Because, you know, I like to think I'm not narrow-minded.

I appreciate electric cars.

It'd be cool to see people enthusiastic about them and enjoying them,

even if they are a big uncle.

Good answer.

Is there one modification or a trend people do to the cars that you think,

great question.

I don't like that.

The 4D number plate.

Thank you.

You can't stand them.

No, brilliant.

Or do you know when people take their number plates off of the plinth,

where it's supposed to sit on the front and they'll put it in the grille?

Yes.

And you just think, why have you done that?

I think my two pet peeves are 4D number plates and tinted lights.

I thought you were a tinted place, but no, tinted lights.

Tinted light.

I don't know if you see sometimes a car,

like a really nice car with 4D plates and tinted lights,

do you think that would be a really nice car if it was standard?

Yeah.

It would be really, really nice.

Yeah, they're my main pet peeve.

Obviously, I don't really like massive diffused F1 brake lights.

There we go.

That's the, yeah.

I don't think I've seen these.

I can't be doing them with F1 brake lights.

So, yeah, people are fitting the F1 brake lights to their 1L.

Oh, like the one glowing in the middle.

The flash, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was driving on the M25 the other day, as I do every day,

and there was a Mark VI Golf 1.4 TSI in front of me.

And it had a rear diffuser with an LED, you know,

Formula 1 brake light in the middle of it.

And every time we touched the brakes, it was like flashing really fast.

I was like, this thing's going to give me an X-ray.

So bright.

And I just thought, why have you done that?

Someone's being on T-Move.

Yeah, literally.

Just please take, that'd be a lovely car if you just took that off.

Exactly.

And I think it portrays a bit of a bad image,

because whenever you see 4D plates on tinted lights,

you can guarantee they're on the M25,

undertaking, going faster than they should be,

driving like a bit of an arse,

and it just gives a bit of a bad stigma.

Yeah, yeah, right.

I've got a new pet hate.

I think you'll like this one.

Number plates that look like they're melting.

Have you seen them?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Honestly, I can't even explain it to you.

It's like, imagine if you got a blowtorch on a plate,

and it was melting at the bottom.

That's, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

There's those, and then there's new ones now,

where they're like, the letters are 4D raised,

but they're like diamond shaped.

And they look like, the only way to describe them is front door numbers.

You know, the numbers you get at the front door.

Yeah, yeah.

And, and I just ribbed.

Yeah, literally.

Or you get the ones where the edges of the number plate are like cut,

like the lamb, the Lamborghini ones.

Yes.

And you just think, leave the number plate alone.

Yeah.

Just, just leave it.

Yeah.

Just don't touch it.

It's lovely as it is.

I totally agree.

And it is always a Lambo as well, actually.

It's always like a Huracan.

I always, I don't know why.

That's the car I see it with.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, BMW owners are adopting them.

Oh, they're a nightmare.

Yeah.

Oh, they're a nightmare.

Yeah.

I've seen them and gone.

You know, when you see like a 318D,

and you know it's 318D because it's got a single exhaust tip,

but it's got the M3 mirror caps on it with a little bit

that come out and you just take them off.

Don't do it.

Just take them off.

I actually bought my, my 330D, like a day,

I bought that recently off a very good mate of mine.

And when I got it, it had tinted front windows

and carbon fiber mirrors.

And the rest of it looks really nice.

I thought that's coming off immediately.

All coming off.

Sort of, all.

Yeah.

And it's got, you know, a factory M Sport kit on it,

which is a bit chubby, but I kind of like it.

Because for a long time, I've driven around in old man cars,

like Estates or, you know, the Tuos,

but in old man, I thought, I want to live my youth a bit.

I want to say a bit chubby.

I thought I want to say, you know,

a bit of a younger person's car.

So it's not, it's just a loon.

It's not an estate.

I thought, yeah, I want to, I want to be a bit trendy for once.

And I bought it and I thought,

I'm going to leave the M Sport kit on it.

I'm going to put chrome grills back in it

because it had black grills in it.

And it did kind of match.

I thought, no, that's not me.

So I put my old man grills in it.

I've taken all the tints off.

I've put normal white mirror caps back on it.

That's how it should be.

Yeah. I just, yeah, they're my main pet peeves.

I can't stand all that.

Just chuck it all in the bin.

Like everyone's got a taste.

I understand.

Like everyone's got their own little thing, what they do.

There are certain things just go, no, no, no.

Yeah, yeah.

That looks crap.

Quite like the idea, like you say,

of making your car unique.

I quite like that.

Yeah.

If you're going to go and do that,

then it's when they do, yeah, start to.

Yeah. But do you know what?

Put them back, John or Tesla.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

But you know what?

Everyone's got their own tastes.

Yeah.

And if you want to do it, then do it.

Go ahead.

It's just not to my taste.

I must say though, those pet peeves,

my mate Joe is a car dealer.

And he, you know, sometimes takes cars in as a par X

that have got bits like that on it.

And I love pulling it all off.

He bought a Gulf the other day with a Maxedon kit on it.

And we just, you know, it's like a 350-grid kit.

Yeah.

And it would have looked really gent,

like a diamond cut wheels, lovely car without it.

But you know, and it's just a bit javage.

So we took it all off and just put it all in the bin.

And it was really satisfying.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't sell it, just bin it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it was a bit of a challenge.

I think it's probably dying out again now,

hence why we're seeing all these mad trends.

But there's this like, leave it OEM.

Leave it OEM. It looks cool OEM.

Yeah.

I must say though, as a car enthusiast,

it is hard to leave a car alone.

Because you get it, you're not going to do this.

I'm going to do that.

It's just, sometimes I do, I think, just leave it.

Stop.

Yeah.

Just stop.

Yeah.

What you need is an inability to do anything.

Yeah.

Me.

Like fit in a number plate.

Then you can't.

Or you go the opposite way.

You pay a man.

Is there, now that we've touched old cars,

you're going to have to move you away from those.

Are you sure?

I'm not very good at talking about anything on the car.

But is there a manufacturer at the minute

that you think is doing everything right?

Is the one that you think's getting it all wrong?

That is a good question.

That is a very good question actually.

I think Renault are doing very well with going back to the Renault 5.

Because I think it's hard to make a new electric car,

trendy and interesting.

I do think they're very good.

But it's hard to make them interesting.

A lot of them look very generic and boring and plastic.

And it is hard to get something that stands out in a good way.

Because some of them really do stand out in a bad way.

Like there's some bright orange MGs that I've seen that are very questionable.

Or an aura funky cat, which I look at and I want to heave.

I think Renault are doing it right.

And I'd like to see more of that.

That retro, cool, funky, interesting design.

People like design and fashion and art and stuff like that.

And to put it in a good way into a car, I think that works.

Agreed.

At the moment, I feel like...

I don't like hating on them all the time.

I do feel like Jaguar Land Rover have messed up a bit.

The whole ingenium thing, I think it's really bad.

And a lot of people have suffered as a result with extensive maintenance costs.

And having to rebuild their engines and their timing chains and this, that and the other.

And I do think their build quality is just, it's really subpar at the moment.

But at the same time, they make some great cars like the new Defender.

New Defender is great.

Absolutely love it.

They're really cool.

The new Range Rover, what a bit of kit.

But yeah, I do think they need to step up their game.

They need to pull their socks up a bit and get rid of that notorious Land Rover unreliability.

They need to get rid of that stigma.

They need to shake it off.

Yeah.

And they are mega.

You see them everywhere because they are amazing.

Yeah.

They're the best but the worst at the same time.

Totally.

Yeah, they're absolutely spot on.

Yeah.

I would really, really like to see Land Rover step up their game a bit.

I've no idea what Jaguar's doing at the moment.

I still don't really, I'm very confused by that.

They seem to have just sort of disappeared off the face of the earth and then pop up on

social media every now and again as far as I'm aware.

Yeah.

So that's a bit strange.

Yeah.

Other than that, you caught me off guard a bit with that one.

I think the answer on the Renault, because I saw a couple of them recently and I thought,

oh, nice.

Yeah.

I let your cars don't tick on my fantasy show.

We still haven't got that car.

But yeah, as a thing, yeah, it looks,

yeah, they've done a good job in bringing back that heritage really.

Yeah.

I'd like to see more of that.

I'd like to see, it sounds a bit funky, but I'd like to see a re-imagination of the Espace.

Yeah.

You know, I've liked them all.

I thought they were really cool back in the day when the Espace had those vents up the front,

not the wing mirrors, and they were a bit wedge shaped, a bit weird,

but I think they're quite cool.

Just go mad.

Yeah.

That's what we want.

We want someone to go completely bonkers in a good way.

I'd love to see like the sort of Renault 5, but the re-imagined version of an Espace.

That's what I thought.

And I think it would be quite cool to see that.

You see Singer with Porsche.

Imagine if somebody did that with BMWs.

Yeah.

That would be nice.

It would, wouldn't it?

Or an Espace.

Or an Austin Princess.

That's a good one.

Good, come on.

But they kind of did that back in the day though with the Aventine.

Was it the Aventine?

Oh, the Aventine was great.

Three door Espace, wasn't it, really?

But that was still back in the day, really.

So to bring that back now would be pretty cool.

Yeah, it'd be really cool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think stuff like that as a, you know, that car doesn't really make sense

because it's like a two door sort of, it doesn't really know what it is.

It's a two door people carrier.

Yeah.

It's a bit weird.

But I think something like that today would just be really,

if car makers did stuff like that, it'd be really interesting.

And people would buy them because it's different.

Yeah, and I completely agree.

I find Ford is a bit meh at the moment.

Like, they don't make the Fiesta anymore.

I was a bit sad by that because I like a Fiesta.

They're good cars, they always have been.

They stopped doing that and they make the Capri and the Puma.

I find the Fords really boring at the moment.

Really, really boring.

You know, the Mustang, they've dragged out for ages.

And yeah, some of them are all right, but they're very meh.

Yeah, they're just very meh.

Yeah, well, sorry.

No, all the manufacturers now, they're just making of those crossovers.

The Nissan Dukes, the Ford Pumas, and they're everywhere.

They are everywhere.

They're clearly selling, so they're going to make more of them.

But I just wish people would.

Yeah.

And I do have one myself, but I wish people would go away from SUVs and cross it.

And maybe just go back to a saloon or an estate car.

Or just go and get something else.

Nothing wrong with an estate car.

You can get the same amount in an estate car to what you can get in a good size.

I'd say what SUV.

And you know, so yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Well, with Ford, it proves it.

They're not making anything RS related these days.

The RS brand has stopped.

That's a bit sad.

Yeah, it is.

Because I grew up with 2,090, 2,010 Focus RSs on my wall, but green months.

Nothing like that.

Yeah.

Imagine a modern looking Focus RS now.

Think something outrageous in it.

Quite cool, yeah.

Yeah, they can do it.

Yeah, even if it was a hybrid, I still think people would buy it.

Well, even the very last of the Focus STs, they're a good car.

Yeah.

They're a cool car.

They almost bought an RS, didn't they?

Yeah, long story.

Yeah, yeah.

But I think in my head, I was still, that car was new.

I went to see it and thought, hmm, they've gone to that.

Someone's had it.

They've ruined it.

They've tried to put it back together again.

They're selling it for more than it was new.

It's just not.

Yeah, they do.

Yeah.

Not the same.

It was bright green.

Every single panel was a different type of green.

I'm like, no, that's it.

So, yeah.

I do also worry a little bit that the Chinese are going to take over a bit of their cars.

And again, they might be good.

I find them really, really uninteresting.

And the design, I just find a bit awful with a lot of them.

They do look quite terrible.

Even the slogan, I'm sorry, but build your dreams.

If my dreams look like that, I've done something very wrong.

Yeah, that's not a dream.

That's a nightmare.

Yeah.

I mean, you see car makers like Ford become a bit boring and land Rover sort of stepping off a

little bit with their reliability.

And they're sort of firing straight at the UK car market.

And I can see why they're succeeding because their stuff is cheap and good.

Yeah.

What's the one that looks like an Evoque?

Like it looks like they've gone draw a picture from an Evoque and they've made it.

And if you look at it at the right angles, it kind of, is it a Jco or something?

I can't remember the actual brand.

But I'll be honest, they all look the same.

I know.

And it's the first time I am now driving past a car and going, what's that?

Like, you know, I don't want to say I know every single car, but I would like to think,

you know, a majority of them and I drive past them in these cars and I'm like, a what?

Yeah.

A seal.

What?

An over seal.

Yeah.

Be quiet.

What?

Me and my mate have a bit of a funny game.

Whenever we go out and we're walking through a car park, we'll see a big line of cars and

they'll go, right, you've got to have one of them.

You get one, three, what one are you having?

And I'll always look and I go, I don't want any of it.

It's all plastic.

I don't want any of this.

Stick with the six series.

But who can afford now to walk into a new showroom of a BMW or a Porsche or a Mercedes

and go and buy some of these brand new cars now?

They're a lot.

Yeah.

Oh, it's ridiculous.

Yeah.

Mega expensive.

They are a lot.

We're talking about the Golf R, like great car.

The Golf R is now a 50,000 pound car.

That is unbelievable.

I think the one that gets me is the RS3 because it's a 70, 80 grand car and you just think,

why?

I know.

That is, it's not worth that.

No, it's not.

No.

The one about putting the five cylinder into a special edition Golf R, which I just know

is going to be a 70,000 pound car.

It'll be quite cool.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

I mean, the principle is fantastic.

But yeah, it's just unless that's, well, until that's 10 years old, you know,

it won't be worth the money.

But there you go.

We've stopped buying new cars generally anyway.

Yeah.

That's with you.

Yeah.

They're just extortionate and you lose all your money and yeah, they're not really that great.

Like they have that we've, we talk about our company cars at work where they've just gone that one

level of both madness on safety stuff where if it's not dinging at you, it's slamming its brakes on

because, oh, you know, you can't reverse on your own, you know, what are you doing?

Yeah.

There might be a car behind you.

The cars are now becoming so like interfering and they're killing that,

you know, oh, you, oh, you enjoy driving.

Yeah.

You want to drive, you know, this car yourself.

No, no, let us do it.

Let the car do it itself.

And I, I find that really sad and I do find I get in a lot of these modern cars now and I'm like,

off, off, off, off, off, off, off, off, off.

Just want to drive.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Drive to me mad though.

I think you compared it with a day to feel like you're a fighter pilot getting into it.

And it's really annoying.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I wish I was loading on you, you know, I'd set off.

You're ready for this.

No, I'm not.

I'm just turning everything off.

It is frustrating.

I mean, I drove, I sound like a right old Gifford saying this.

I drove a Mark VII Golf the other day with that radar guided cruise because I do really like it.

Yes.

And it, you know, it creeps you in traffic and it's, it's good.

When you're on the M25 every day like I am, it's great.

But then I drove a newer car.

I drove a brand new Range Rover and you drive along and it's

and if you're on the phone, they can hear it down the end of the phone.

And it's like, oh, it doesn't come to the out.

I thought surely it was.

Wow.

No, because my, my mate drove it and I was on the hands racing.

I could hear it.

I could just like, is that bonging from the Range Rover?

And he's like, yeah.

And they just bong all the time and you have to go through like sub menus to turn it all off and

it is just so annoying.

It is so, so frustrating and it's just a bit too much.

Yes.

And I don't want to sound old.

I don't want to sound narrow minded.

Old cars are the best, whatever, blah, blah.

It's just a bit too much.

Just tone it down a little bit and get rid of the bonging.

Yeah.

Because it is annoying.

I think some manufacturers, I think Range Rover being one of the, or Land Rover,

made a button on the steering wheel where you can turn it down a little bit.

So you can turn like the sensitivity of the bonging and the safety.

You can press a button and you can turn it down a little bit.

But there'll always be something that you try to intervene.

I feel like because I'm not interested in that technology as well,

I feel like I'm getting old now.

Somebody jumped in my work the other day and said, oh, did you not?

I was trying to, that was it.

I was trying to turn the climate show down.

For some reason, all the fans are just like blowing max.

And I'm trying to speak on the phone.

I'm like, I'm really sorry.

I'm pressing everyone.

I don't know what I'm doing.

Just bear with me a second.

I'm sorry you can't hear me.

I said, oh, did you not know if you press the voice control on the steering wheel?

You can say, oh, climate control fan two, you know, down five or whatever.

And I'm like, no.

I just want a little knob.

It was ever wrong with buttons.

Yeah.

That's why BM had it so right with, okay, it doesn't work perfectly every time,

especially when you want to like type something in or whatever.

But just the, what do you call it?

The iDrive.

Yeah, brilliant.

Bring that, that, leaning forward.

I know.

I'm going to say, we should know when we never do that.

The most annoying experience is just trying to turn your heated seat on or off.

You've got to go right through two sub menus to turn your heated seat on.

Yeah, it is.

It is very frustrating.

In my, if you look at my Toyota, there's loads of buttons and knobs and everything.

And I know where all of them are and I can drive along.

And if I want to turn my heating up, I know exactly what it is.

I don't need to look at it.

Yes.

I just turn it.

It's simple.

Yeah.

I can't just have that.

I don't know about you guys, but I think sometimes like,

do non-car people get annoyed by this as well?

Or do they not get fussed by it?

I don't know the answer, but you're absolutely right.

Yeah.

Does it just frustrate us because we know how older cars are?

Or do they think, oh, that's quite cool.

Actually got to go through two menus and then.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah.

You're absolutely right.

If someone were to start driving today and get in a brand new car

and drive it with all the bongs and that going on,

would they find it annoying or would they just not care?

Yeah.

Or, you know, I do think that the people as a whole actually want this.

Or is it just us old car gifters that don't want it?

It used to be better 20 years ago.

Back in my time, right?

You didn't have none of this.

You were lucky to get an elected winner.

Literally.

We are turning to those people.

Yeah.

Let's not go wingy about it all.

Just buy the old stuff.

About out for hours.

Yeah.

Could we see the comments?

Oh, you're just the answer.

So if you had no limits on budget or timeline or whatever,

what's the one car you'd go out to buy tomorrow that would make

maybe a mega project or just take a big box for you?

I knew you was going to ask.

It's such a difficult question because there's so much I want.

Yeah.

Or three.

Top three.

Okay.

What would you get?

So my dream car is an old 911.

Okay.

I really, really would like a G-body 930 style 911 with the whale towel,

you know, proper old 80s, mid to late 80s 911.

But I'd like one of them as a bomb find.

I want to find one that's got a story that was in a family,

always been sat in a barn for years.

It's not completely rotten, but just needs a good going over.

It's cool and just has like a part and a bit of a story to it.

That's, that's a bit of a dream for me.

I'd love to find something like that.

No budget, I would say I grew up in a time where I was watching Top Gear

and one of the biggest sort of things for me was the Veyron.

You know, when the Veyron came out and Jeremy took it across Europe and

it done 200 mile an hour.

You see that constant clip of that gauge going up with the 1000 and one horsepower.

You know, even if one day I just get to drive one, that is a dream for me.

Like to be able to sit in a Veyron and take it for a drive and listen to that start motor.

And I just think they're so cool.

It's all theater, isn't it?

All of it is just.

Yeah.

When I was really young, well not really young, but when I was younger,

I used to, you know, be into model cars and I spent, I think it's like 250 quid

on this auto out model of a Veyron.

It had real carpet in it and you know, it was cool.

And it was because I was so obsessed with the Veyron when it came out.

I just thought it was so, so cool.

Other than that, I really do like a Mercedes SLR McLaren.

Yes.

I think they're really cool.

That was when it came out my favorite car at the time.

I think it's 2005, something like that.

And that supercharger noise and when Jeremy took it to Oslo and stuff,

I just thought they were really, really cool.

You've only got to look at the starter button, which is on the gear stick.

I mean, what better feeling getting a car flicking up the action star in that for me.

Completely unnecessary, but cool.

Absolutely.

So I thought, yes, that would be a great way.

They were saying uniqueness though.

Do it.

Why does everybody have to have every car works the same way?

Yeah, yeah.

And I also really like, you know, Zonders and stuff like that when they came out.

Would I want to own one?

Probably not.

I mean, if they were on a bit of pain in the ass,

that looks like a really, really big pain.

You could buy Lewis Hamilton's old one that's been crashed three times.

The purple one.

Yeah.

I thought that was crashed again, wasn't it?

Not too long back.

But yeah, something like that.

If, you know, a Veyron, I say I wouldn't want to fix it,

but realistically, I probably would.

Yeah, it'd be quite cool.

That would be some good content.

No, yeah.

Watch a series on that.

Yeah, that would be cool.

I don't know if you guys follow Ed Bolian with his red Veyron.

It's very cool.

Very, very cool.

You get the feeling sometimes that, I mean, it loves it.

It loves it, but the frustration of, oh, it must be so stressful.

I know.

Yeah.

I mean, you've not only got the complex way of putting these things on,

but it's the cost of the things.

Like tires.

20,000 pound of tire.

I know.

And just, again, a similar thing really.

You almost have to drop the engine for anything

because the sheer size of this thing.

Well, I actually saw a video.

I think it's a couple of days ago, actually, of a Veyron split in half

because you undo these bolts and the car splits in half.

So you've got the front half where the doors and the cabin are,

and then the whole back of the car with the engine and the gearbox

and the chassis and everything comes away.

And you have to basically do a nut and bolt rebuild

after every certain amount of time or mileage or whatever it is.

And I just say, I don't want that.

No, I don't.

I don't want that.

No, exactly.

Yeah, yeah.

Quickly run up the numbers on that one.

Yeah, but at the same time, if I was in a position to buy a Veyron

and someone said to me, if you fix it there and make some cool content on it,

people will find it really interesting and they'd watch it

and they'd learn from it and it would be really cool.

Of course I would do it.

Of course.

Yeah.

On the 911, I think my favorite here, one of them,

it was the bad boys one.

I don't actually know what that generation's got.

964, that was.

Incredible.

And then I was describing it to Ellie Mayer, she loves Porsche as well.

And I was describing what it was the other day.

And she went, oh, is it this one?

And she shows me one of the Kardashians has got one or one of the...

Oh, really?

One of the...

And I was like, you don't deserve that.

You know what that is?

Like, I was livid.

She had one.

How dare you?

It's probably with the amount of money that they've got.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is the bad boys one.

It might be.

And she learned how, so she was teaching her sister how to drive in it.

I mean, what a car to learn to drive in.

Tell me about it.

They're not the easiest things to drive.

Well, heavy clutch and whatever else, yeah.

For me, going down like Malibu or...

It's just cool.

Yeah.

It's just cool.

The thing is, they're not...

You know, I have driven one and they're not the nicest things in the world to drive,

but they're just so cool.

And it's the noise and...

The look.

And I think that's what a lot of people, especially car guys,

miss about electric cars is we really get a lot of enjoyment

out of the feeling of a car and the vibrations and the smells and the noises

and the little crackles that they make.

And, you know, the clonks when they change gear and that is obviously fading away.

But I just hope that that stays.

I hope that, you know, you're still allowed to enjoy that with older cars.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yes, okay.

You know, as you said earlier, okay, if they've banned the sale of new ones,

let us enjoy everything prior to that still, you know.

But yeah, that's what I like about the old 911.

It's the look.

It's cool.

Yeah.

But it's also just that, you know, they really crackle on the overrun

and you got that long throw gear lever and you sit in a right hand drive one

and then the pedals are, you know, you sit like this.

You really should have been that guy.

Yeah, it hurts your hips and...

But you get great feedback through the steering and the chassis and you feel everything and

are just really, really cool things.

Yeah, even today to this day, like, the 911s are incredible.

It's incredible cars.

Porsche have done very well is manufacturing how older cars felt.

So, you know, with sort of artificial turbo lag to make it feel like it's an old turbo,

you know, and just the way they've managed to just keep that bit of heritage in a new car.

Yeah.

They could make it 10 times better, really.

They've kept that bit that Porsche owners are used to.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah. Well, I think Porsche still do what BMW did for a long time,

which is they value what their customer base actually want,

which is why BMW will always rear wheel drive, front engine rear wheel drive,

50-50 weight distribution, that was their thing.

You know, a lot of the time, six cylinder as well.

Obviously, they have moved away from it now because the one series is now front wheel drive

and all that.

They do still have it with some of their cars,

but Porsche have always stuck with that thing of what do our customers actually want.

They want a car that drives really well, that feels really nice,

that has that bit of turbo lag, or, you know, the chassis is really great,

or they can feel these certain vibrations or what they value that.

And I respect that a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're Porsche fanatics.

Yeah. Yeah.

All three of us have got them.

Yeah. Definitely.

Yeah.

We love them.

Hopefully, one day, I will join them.

Yes. Yeah.

That's it. Love our own road trip.

Yeah.

Yeah. That would be nice.

Yeah.

And then I'll blow mine up on the way.

Let's put a bit of that in.

It all goes well.

Yeah. Yeah.

For me, it's not, they don't break on me.

I break them. That's my problem.

Yeah. That's usually the same with me.

Yeah. I'm a bit of both.

Like, I don't ever break them or they break on me,

but they're usually broken either way.

Yeah.

I need to buy everything with warranty and tick every box

and insurance.

Do you want coverage for that?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Legal, extra legal protection?

Probably.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

What's next for Taylor?

What's next in the journey?

Well, obviously doing a lot of auto-Alex stuff.

So I'm very, very much enjoying doing all of this at the moment.

Obviously, I have got my own channel

and I have been working on that.

But to be honest, I really enjoy and value my time here.

So I will, you know, this will be taking up the majority of my time

and the Taylor makers will still be, you know,

a little bit of a side thing for me for now,

and at least anyway, because, yeah.

Congrats on that, by the way.

It's been, it's, you've done very well.

Thank you. Yeah.

Quickly.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm still finding, very much finding my feet with it.

Very much.

I'm in the phase of I don't know what my niche is.

Everyone's got their own little niche in what they do.

Yeah.

And I still don't know what mine is.

I think I want to follow the route of buying a car,

fixing it, selling it a little bit like Wheel of Dealers.

I used to love watching Wheel of Dealers.

Mike Brewer, you know, whoever he was with, I enjoyed, you know,

whether it be Elvis, you know, or a China, or what was his name again?

Mark, Mark Presley.

No, he's Elvis.

And there was, I'm sorry,

Ant Anstead.

So I actually have a unit in Hertfordshire,

and it's Ant Anstead's old unit.

And it's where he first started his trade and my doors

and the bench that I've got in there was built by Ant Anstead,

a bit of a small world.

That's cool.

He was in there years and years ago.

But yeah, whoever it was with, I always enjoyed Wheel of Dealers.

So I would quite enjoy doing something like that.

So I'm going to give that a go, maybe.

And I'm telling you this now, someone's going to nick my idea.

I'll send it back to you.

Yeah, that's it.

But yeah, but I value my time most here.

So, you know, I really, really enjoy it here.

And this is where I will spend the majority of it still.

I could go full-time attainment cars.

Do I really want to?

Not particularly at the moment,

because I'm in a very happy place.

But what is next?

I would like to buy some cars for my channel

and fix them up that I've always wanted to own.

You know, I'd like a B7 RS4.

I've always wanted a Bentley Continental GT,

mainly because it's my mum's favourite car.

And I want to turn up with it one day

after I've fully restored it and say,

do you want to go out for dinner in this?

Yeah, make it lovely.

And she'll go, oh, can I keep it?

No, I'll grab no.

It's a nightmare.

Not yet.

Things like that.

Hopefully, at some point, an old 911 as well,

because that is the dream.

Now you've said that though,

you're never going to get a cheap one.

Everyone's going to know.

Everyone's going to put the prices up.

That's it.

Seven Game.

We'll just put this podcast out a few months.

Yeah, that's it.

But I'm really, really happy with the cars

that I have at the moment.

Very content with them.

You know, the other stuff that I would like,

I'm not like, oh, I need to go out and buy that now.

Very, you know, just wanting to fix

and finish the ones that I have,

like the 540 and, you know,

all the little bits on the 205 and the 6 Series,

I'm just going to get them perfect

and just enjoy them.

Nice.

Finally, then, who out there that you haven't yet,

would you love to, whether it's on Telly May Cars or Otalex,

love to collaborate with?

That is a tough one.

I would really like to collaborate with Shretton,

M539 restorations.

Obviously, I've met him a couple of times.

He's a really, really nice bloke.

And I have watched his stuff for years.

There's been many a time

where I sat around my mate's Henry's house

in his living room watching Shretton rebuild

an old 7 Series or something like that

and, you know, watching all the time lapses

of him going over it and doing all that.

That's proper car nerdy stuff.

And at some point, I'd love to take my M5 over to him

and him say, yeah, this is really crap.

And I think, yeah, brilliant.

You know, so, yeah, I'd love to do a collab with him

at some point.

I think that'd be really interesting.

I would one day, not necessarily like to collab,

but like to meet Clarkson.

Because I think that's the dream for any car guy, really,

you know, just to shake his hand and say hello or whatever.

It would be cool to meet him one day.

Of course.

So that would be a bit of a dream.

Um, anyone else?

I don't know, really.

Just in the recent we did with Smee,

that was quite called the Clio build.

Tim's a great guy.

He's very, very interesting.

His car collection is awful.

He's one of the poor bloke, honestly.

Every week, it's pick up my brand new car.

What do you mean?

What do you mean what's wrong with the other 20 of them?

Yeah, he's, um, you know, I'm not a massive super car guy,

but you know, you walk into his place

and it's jaw dropping.

It is amazing.

He's a really interesting guy.

He's so knowledgeable and so intelligent.

And I just sit there opposite him and he'll speak.

And I'm just like, my God, I'm an idiot.

It's one thing, okay, knowing your stuff about the car,

but the level of detail he goes into one hit as well.

It's a skill.

It is an art.

And like he would talk to me about some of his cars.

And yeah, I think, oh, you know,

my cars are cool because I've got a story.

And he's like, expect his from brand new.

And he's, you know, I've got this because of this reason.

And it's a heritage for this.

And, you know, I've put this plate on it

because it means this, this and this.

And it's, you know, I've, I just think I'm going to pick the color

because he likes the color, not because it's, you know,

the first ever one of these that came out in, you know, 1979

was this exact color code.

And I've had it done exactly to that with the same interior.

And it's identical.

And I think, my God, the number plate matches the color code.

And I think this guy has, he's passionate,

passionate about his cars and cars in general.

And a bit like me obsessed.

And I admire that.

Yeah, absolutely.

And he's a, he's a great guy, Tim.

Really, really great guy.

And yeah, working with him was a pleasure.

Even if it was doing a little 1.2 Cleo,

you know, it was really good fun, really good few days.

Sure.

And working with Dan as well.

There's a guy there called Dan from Dan's Auto Services.

And, you know, a bit like me starting off in the trade

and then worked his way out to YouTube.

And it was just awesome.

Just working with them all and just building this one off Cleo,

you know, making it look like a 1.2,

but have all 182 running gear in it.

It was really great fun.

Really, I love doing stuff like that.

Really love doing stuff like that.

It's something that not nobody,

but not a lot of people have thought about doing.

Yeah.

And I can imagine that little 1.2 Cleo rolling down the street

and all of a sudden it's got pop and bang mouth.

Yeah.

It was, you know, pretty much going around the track.

Yeah.

1.2 Woods.

Yeah.

It's really great fun.

Yeah.

Really great fun.

And I feel like I learned a lot from Tim

and Tim sort of watched us do it.

And he learned quite a lot.

And I think he was a bit amazed that, like,

how quickly you could put a car together and make it all work.

Sure.

And, you know, he's not, he doesn't,

he's not very hands-on.

He doesn't really do mechanical work.

But what, him watching it, I think he was a bit like,

this is really cool.

I really like this.

And I think he enjoyed it as well.

So, yeah, it was a pleasure to work with all of them.

Actually, it was really nice.

So if I can do more of that in the future as well,

that would be cool.

Yeah.

So.

We'll look for it.

Absolutely.

That's what's up.

Yeah.

Well, thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

We've covered everything we wanted to.

Unless you wanted to tell anybody about,

tell anybody about anything you've got coming up or?

Well, what have we got coming up in terms of auto-fix?

Just be careful, because, you know.

It'd be awful if you were like,

we've got a Overland series coming up,

which is very cool.

So we're taking three SUVs,

and we're turning into off-roaders.

So we're going to lift them up a bit,

chunky tires, roof tents on them,

and we're going to go on a winter adventure,

which is very exciting.

That's exciting.

We've then got a series early next year,

where we're taking three luxury cars,

old luxury cars, to Africa.

Oh, wow.

And we're going to drive them further than we've ever driven before,

which I'm really excited about.

Because driving to Croatia was, you know,

we go on a lot of road trips.

It's the first time I thought, I feel really far away now.

Like everything looks really different.

Nothing looks European.

I feel like I've driven somewhere really far.

And obviously we had.

So yeah, driving to Africa is going to be super,

super interesting.

I'm excited for that.

In terms of tailor-made cars,

I've got my Tuareg build coming out on my V10 Tuareg.

I'm hoping to do some stuff with my M5 soon.

I'm going to fix that because it is a little bit broken,

as an E60 M5 normally is.

And as I say, hopefully buy a few cars and fix them up,

and then sell them on and do that sort of style.

Other than that, next year,

I've already said to the guys,

I really want to go to Japan.

And I want to buy a car in Japan,

do a road trip with it in Japan.

And they have agreed to that and said we will work.

Nothing's planned yet,

but they've said we would like to do that.

And we're going to go back out to America.

Because last year was the first year I've ever been to America.

We went to Las Vegas and I absolutely loved it.

It was awesome.

We bought a G-Wagon while we were out there,

an old G-Wagon, quite rubbish.

And we're going to buy the bits over here to fix it.

We're going to take them out there, fix it up,

and then we're going to drive it across America,

which is awesome.

So I'm super excited to get out more and travel.

I love traveling and seeing the world.

And I've always said as well,

the best way to see the world is in a car.

Because you get to stop off at some really cool places

that you've not normally stopped at.

You don't go to a destination.

You see loads of destinations.

And it's just a great way to enjoy it.

And you meet some really cool people as well

when you're in a car.

You stop off and you just get chatting to people

and you meet friends.

And you stop and the odd people recognize you for YouTube

and stuff like that.

And you just get chatting to them.

It's really nice.

Really, really nice.

I agree with that.

I'm excited to do that.

Next time you book in Ryanair, don't bother.

Yeah.

Just buy something really crap.

And break down somewhere in Europe.

Sounds enjoyable.

Selling the dream.

Really, if you've enjoyed this episode with Taylor,

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Thank you.

Taylor from AutoAlex on The Road Trip That Broke Him | EP46

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