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110:09
Term
front wheel drive
Front-wheel drive means the front tires do the work of moving the car. It’s popular because it’s efficient and usually easier/cheaper to make. The car can feel different when you turn compared to cars that drive the rear wheels.
Concept
diesel
Diesel is a type of fuel used in some cars. If diesel prices go up, it can make driving that car feel expensive, even if the car gets good mileage.
Concept
fuel price spikes
When gas or diesel gets expensive, it changes what you choose to drive. People often drive less or pick the car that costs less to run.
Concept
Street of Hormuz is closed once again
The Strait of Hormuz is a key shipping route for oil. If it gets closed or threatened, oil can become harder to move, and fuel prices often rise.
Concept
Strait of Hormuz being on a boat
They’re making a joke, but the real point is that ships have to pass through a critical oil route. If that route gets tense or blocked, it can affect gas prices and how easily fuel gets delivered.
Concept
blockade
A blockade is basically stopping traffic from getting through a route. If that route carries fuel, it can cause shortages and higher prices.
Topic
simulation theory
Simulation theory is the idea that the world could be like a computer-made simulation. The hosts are using it to describe how unreal things feel right now.
Concept
yearly service interval
Car makers suggest a maintenance schedule, often based on time (like yearly) and/or mileage. If you follow it, you catch problems early and keep the car running reliably.
Term
15,000 K's
That’s basically the mileage number—15,000 kilometers—used to decide when the car should get routine maintenance. It’s like a “checkup” schedule based on how much you drove.
Concept
ahead of schedule
If you’re ahead of schedule, it means you’re doing maintenance sooner than planned. That usually isn’t harmful, but it’s still important to make sure the service matches what the car actually needs.
Concept
different mechanic
Changing who works on your car can affect how careful the service is. It’s a good idea to ask what they’re doing, what parts they use, and to get a clear record of the work.
Term
drums
“Drums” usually means drum brakes. Instead of pads squeezing a rotor, brake shoes press against the inside of a metal drum to slow the car down.
Term
child seat
A child seat is a safety seat for kids in the car. It’s meant to keep your child protected in a crash, and it usually clicks in or straps down securely.
Concept
wagon
A wagon is like a car with extra space behind the seats. It’s great for hauling stuff because the back area is bigger and the seats can fold down.
Term
torquey
“Torquey” means the engine has strong pulling power. You can usually drive smoothly and accelerate without flooring it or revving high.
Term
V6
A V6 is an engine with six cylinders. It usually makes the car feel smooth and gives decent pull when you’re driving normally.
Topic
N1 run
They’re talking about a good drive on the N1. It’s basically the route they were on, not a car part or system.
Topic
Melbourne Motor Show
They’re talking about the Melbourne Motor Show, which is a big car event where brands bring out new cars and show off what they’re working on. It’s a place to see concepts and previews before they reach normal dealerships. That’s why it matters to the conversation.
Topic
Hot Wheels display
They’re talking about a Hot Wheels toy display. It’s basically a car-themed exhibit using the Hot Wheels brand.
Concept
V12
A V12 is an engine with twelve cylinders arranged in a “V” shape, typically producing smooth power delivery and a distinctive sound. When someone says “three generations of the V12,” they’re usually comparing how the same engine layout evolved across different flagship models.
Car
Lamborghini Diablo
The Lamborghini Diablo is a famous old-school supercar from Lamborghini. It’s known for having a powerful V12 engine and for being a big deal in the 1990s supercar world.
Car
Lamborghini Murciélago
The Lamborghini Murciélago is another iconic Lamborghini supercar. Like the Diablo, it’s known for a strong V12 and for being one of the brand’s most recognizable cars from the 2000s.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a well-known car brand from Germany. They had a booth at the event, and the hosts are talking about how crowded and chaotic it gets around that brand’s display.
Topic
Motor Show crowding around electric cars
They’re talking about what it was like at a car show—especially how packed the electric-car area was. The point is how hard it was to move around.
Topic
EV car meet
An EV car meet is just a car gathering where the cars are electric. In this segment, people weren’t sure they wanted an event that was mostly EVs.
Concept
Fast and the Furious
“Fast and the Furious” is a movie series about cars and street racing. It became so popular that it changed what a lot of people think cars should look and sound like at events.
Term
aftermarket stuff
Aftermarket stuff means parts made by other companies, not the car’s original brand. People use it to customize a car or make it better than factory.
Topic
Motor Show in 1972
A “Motor Show” is a big event where car companies and enthusiasts show off cars. Mentioning 1972 tells you the speaker has been into cars for decades.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a big car company from Japan. Here, they’re talking about Honda having a booth at the event, which is a sign the brand is showing up and promoting its cars.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a well-known German sports-car brand. They’re just noting that Porsche showed up at the event even though Honda didn’t.
Brand
Subaru
Subaru is a car brand from Japan. The hosts are mentioning it as one of the brands that had a booth at the event.
Brand
Kea
The transcript says “Kea,” but it’s not clear which car brand that’s referring to. It’s mentioned in a list of brands at the event, but the exact name may be misheard.
Brand
Azuzu
“Azuzu” sounds like it might actually be “Isuzu,” another Japanese car company. They’re just listing which brands had booths at the event.
Concept
electric car brands
They’re saying the brands they remembered were mostly electric-car companies. That reflects how more car makers are focusing on EVs as the future of driving.
Car
Mercedes G-Wagen
“G-Wagen” is what people usually call the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. It’s a tough, off-road SUV with a very distinctive, boxy shape.
Car
Honda Prelude
The Honda Prelude is a Honda sports coupe. People often talk about it because it’s fun to drive and has a strong enthusiast following.
Topic
Fast and Furious cars
They’re saying the biggest buzz online is around the kinds of cars you see in the Fast and Furious movies. It’s more about attention and hype than a specific car detail.
Brand
Izuzu
They’re talking about Isuzu, a car company that’s especially known for trucks and some SUVs. The point here is that Isuzu’s display at the event got bigger, which usually means they’re more focused on sales and visibility.
Brand
Kia
Kia is a well-known car brand. Here they’re basically saying Kia showed up with a bigger presence this year, which suggests the company is putting more effort into getting attention and selling cars.
Brand
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (VW) is a large German automaker with a broad lineup and a strong global dealer network. In this segment, the hosts highlight that Volkswagen had an especially large stand, which indicates a bigger marketing push and higher priority for the event’s audience.
Term
four wheel steer
Four-wheel steering means the back wheels can turn too, not just the front wheels. That can make parking and tight turns easier, and it can also help the car feel more stable at speed.
Concept
new car smell
“New car smell” is the strong scent you notice when a car is brand new. It comes from materials inside the car releasing vapors, and the smell usually goes away after a while.
Concept
diecast model car in its original box
That’s a small, realistic toy version of a car. Collectors sometimes pay more if it’s still in the original packaging because it stays in better condition.
Concept
Fast and Furious toy car
Fast & Furious is a movie franchise with lots of car fans. Some toy models tied to the movies can become collectible, so people may pay extra to get the exact one they want.
Concept
eBay
eBay is an online marketplace where collectors and buyers can find niche items like limited-run model cars. Prices can swing based on rarity, condition, and demand.
Concept
Uber
Uber is being used here as a real-world logistics example: the buyer had to travel between Melbourne and Geelong to pick up the model. The point is the cost tradeoff—paying $80 for the item versus spending hundreds on transport.
Concept
Bruno Sacco
Bruno Sacco was an important Mercedes-Benz figure in design. The host is using his name to explain why this engineer had a big connection to Mercedes.
Concept
checkbook
“Bringing out the checkbook” just means “they decided to spend money.” It’s like saying they weren’t going to be cheap this time.
Term
instrument cluster
The instrument cluster is the part of the dashboard that shows you things like speed and fuel. If it’s not working right, some of the gauges might be dead or inaccurate. Replacing it can fix the readings, but sometimes one gauge can still be problematic.
Term
half a tank of fuel
Fuel level is one of the most important gauge readings because it helps you avoid running out of fuel and can indicate whether the fuel sender is reading correctly. If the cluster replacement restores most gauges but not all, confirming fuel level is working is a practical first check.
Term
10th gauge
They’re talking about a dashboard gauge piece/cluster part. If the needle is bent, it won’t point to the right reading, so the gauge can be misleading.
Term
fuel gauge
The fuel gauge is the dashboard light/needle that shows how much gas you have left. If it’s broken, you might think you have fuel when you don’t (or vice versa), so you can’t trust it for planning trips.
Term
overheating
Overheating means the engine is getting too hot. When it happens, the car may warn you, make steam, or smell hot/burning, and you should stop driving to avoid damage.
Term
new brakes
When someone says “new brakes,” it means the braking parts are being replaced because they’re worn out. That helps the car stop better and more safely.
Term
four new tyres
Replacing all four tyres at once helps keep grip and handling consistent across the car. It can also improve braking performance and reduce uneven wear compared with mixing old and new tyres.
Term
ceramic coating
A ceramic coating is a protective layer put on your car’s paint. It helps the car stay cleaner longer and makes it easier to wash, but it still needs regular cleaning.
Term
dents down the passenger side removed
“Dents removed” means fixing small body damage on the car. If the paint isn’t broken, it can sometimes be fixed without repainting.
Concept
manual swap
A manual swap means converting a car from an automatic to a stick shift. People do it because it can feel more fun and more connected when you drive, but it’s not a simple bolt-on job.
Term
transmission
Here, “transmission” just means the gearbox that lets you choose gears while driving. With a manual car, you have to learn where each gear is.
Part
clutch kit
A clutch kit is the set of parts you replace when the clutch starts acting up. It helps the car smoothly connect and disconnect power from the engine to the transmission.
Concept
on order
“On order” just means the parts haven’t arrived yet. With something like a clutch, you usually have to wait for the right parts before you can finish the repair.
Topic
Sakura
“Sakura” is mentioned as a deadline/event that affects the repair timeline. In automotive communities, seasonal meets or car events often drive when people try to get their cars back on the road.
Concept
scrap metal
“Scrap metal” is when a car is taken apart and recycled because it’s not worth fixing. People sometimes save certain parts before it goes to recycling.
Part
suspension
Suspension is what helps the car ride smoothly and keeps the tires planted. Even if the car is in rough shape, some suspension parts can still be good.
Company
Pickup House
“Pickup House” sounds like a company that comes to collect the car. They asked for details like who the last owner was, probably for paperwork and legal reasons.
Term
VIN
VIN is like a car’s fingerprint number. It helps companies confirm exactly which car you have and pull the right records for it.
Company
Jollies
Jollies is the company being contacted to buy the car. They first give an estimate, then change it after they realize the car doesn’t run.
Concept
salvage/parts-car valuation based on condition (running vs non-running)
Car buyers often pay more if the car runs because they can test it and use more parts. If it doesn’t run, they assume more problems and offer less.
Concept
free tow
A tow is when someone hauls your car because it can’t be driven. If it’s “free,” you don’t pay for the hauling, so the whole situation costs less.
Company
Pickapart
Pickapart sounds like a junkyard that takes cars for parts. If the car can’t be driven, they may still buy it and arrange transport, which affects the price.
Concept
salvage yard / parts car
If a car can’t be driven, it’s often treated as a parts car for a junkyard. That usually changes the price because getting it there takes extra work or towing.
Term
trailer hire
Trailer hire means renting a trailer to haul the car. It’s often included in the total “getting it moved” cost.
Term
gearbox
The gearbox is the part that helps the engine send power to the wheels. If the gearbox is removed, it usually means the transmission is being swapped, repaired, or taken out for work.
Term
flywheel
A flywheel is a heavy spinning part that helps the engine run smoothly. When you’re doing a swap, it often has to be the right type so the clutch and transmission work together properly.
Concept
donor car parts swap
A donor car is basically a second car you take parts from. People do this so they can use the right matching parts instead of trying to make everything fit from scratch.
Term
manual bits
“Manual bits” refers to components needed to convert or assemble a manual-transmission setup, such as the pedal assembly, linkage/cables, and related hardware. These parts are often sourced from the donor car because they’re designed to work together.
Term
pedal
The pedal is what you press to control the car. For a manual setup, the clutch pedal in particular has to be the right one so the clutch can disengage properly.
Term
shifting gears
Shifting gears is how you change what gear the car is in. In a manual car, the parts that connect the shifter to the transmission have to be set up correctly so it doesn’t grind or feel sloppy.
Term
bolts straight in
“Bolts straight in” means the part is made to fit without needing extra cutting or custom work. That usually makes installation faster and simpler. It can also reduce the risk of things not lining up correctly.
Concept
cost cutting
Cost cutting means the car or parts are designed to be cheaper to make and quicker to put together. That often results in parts that fit easily and don’t require lots of custom work. The downside is it may not be as “premium” as more expensive designs.
Term
gear stick
The “gear stick” is the shift lever used to select gears in a manual or some manual-style transmissions. When they mention it being mounted “and everything,” they’re describing the assembly process of the shifter linkage/controls so the drivetrain can be operated correctly. Proper alignment and mounting affect shift feel and can prevent binding.
Part
throughout bearing
A bearing is a small part that helps moving parts spin smoothly with less friction. If the bearing is the wrong type or not installed correctly, the car can feel rough or make noise. That’s why they’re checking it as part of the build.
Term
towed it back home
To tow a car means you don’t drive it—you pull it with another vehicle or a tow truck. People do this when the car can’t safely move on its own.
Concept
broke down
A breakdown is when the car stops working and you can’t just keep driving. If it won’t move at all, it usually means something important in the power system has failed.
Concept
drag cars
Drag cars are cars set up to go as fast as possible in a straight line for a short race. They’re stressed a lot more than normal driving, so parts often need upgrades or rebuilds to keep working.
Concept
full rebuild
A “full rebuild” is when mechanics tear the important parts down, replace the worn pieces, and put it back together so it works like new. For drag cars, they often add stronger aftermarket parts so it can survive repeated hard launches.
Term
aftermarket bits
“Aftermarket bits” just means non-factory parts. People use them to make the car stronger or more reliable, especially for racing where the factory parts may not last.
Concept
parts interchangeability between closely related models
Some cars are built on the same basic design, so certain parts can fit across models. That’s why the hosts are talking about finding a shifter from one car and using it in another.
Term
shifter
The shifter is the part you move to change gears. If someone swaps a shifter, they’re usually trying to make shifting feel better or work correctly with a different setup.
Car
Dodge Stealth
The Dodge Stealth is a sports car from the 1990s. It’s related to the Mitsubishi 3000 GT, so the conversation is about using a Stealth shifter/parts as a workaround or upgrade.
Term
cabin tidy
A cabin tidy is basically a built-in-looking storage box for the car. It’s meant to keep small items organized, and in this story it goes behind the seats.
Car
Ford Falcon
A Ford Falcon FG is an Australian Ford sedan model. Here, it’s just the car the host is talking about—he’s describing an accessory storage box that fits behind the seats in that specific Falcon generation.
Concept
scrounged for parts
This is the idea of hunting around for car parts, often used ones, when you can’t easily find them in stores. It’s how many car projects get finished when parts are hard to track down.
Concept
car investigation
A “car investigation” is when police look at car-related clues to figure out what happened. They might use information connected to the car to connect people, places, and timelines.
Term
marketplace
“Marketplace” means an online selling site. The idea is that listings can show when and where something was sold, which can help piece together a timeline.
Term
behind the seats
“Behind the seats” is a storage area in the car. The speaker is saying they put the item there so it fits nicely and makes the interior feel more complete.
Term
road worthy check
A roadworthy check is a legal safety inspection for a car. If something important is worn out or unsafe, you have to fix it before the car is allowed back on the road. It’s basically making sure the car is safe to drive.
Part
shockers
“Shockers” means the shock absorbers. They help the car stay stable over bumps and keep the tires on the road. If they’re worn out, the car can feel bouncy and handle worse, and it may fail an inspection.
Part
control arms
Control arms are parts that connect the suspension to the car. They help the wheels move correctly and keep alignment. If they’re worn, you can get noise, sloppy handling, and faster tire wear.
LIVE
This is a professional radio, gentlemen.
And it's front wheel drive.
Sorry, have you got anyone you want to thank?
Just myself.
And now we do the after hours.
General, what would you go for?
They see us in there.
Because it's not a super car.
It is.
It's not.
Ordinary perfection comes in the form of two letters, A and U.
Long live my LTD.
Alright, you are live on non-EP.9 Northwest FM with your host, Alan, on car talk.
MadeJay is not in the studio today, but we will allow it.
I have with me Mr Adrian joining us.
In the studio for the first time in a long time.
How are you doing, Adrian?
It has been a while.
It has been a while.
And I'm alright.
I'm alright.
Yourself?
I'm doing quite alright.
Good to see you again.
Yeah, yeah.
It's two times in what, two days?
Yeah.
Now we know we don't see each other the same for, you know, a couple months.
Six months ago.
It fills up the Russian.
Yeah.
On live, we have quite a few guests as well.
And I've got Mr David Prince.
How you doing?
Doing very well.
Thank you.
Good to hear.
Mr Scotty Doe.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
And Mr Ed Bunting.
Good thanks.
Good thanks.
And good to hear.
And Jim Barlow has come in, but we'll wait a second until Jim's well and truly into the action.
MadeJay, the man of the hour.
How are you, sir?
I'm very well.
Thank you, Alan.
Thanks for looking after the show while I was not able to get there this evening.
So I really do appreciate you stepping in and meeting the reins.
So thank you, mate.
I appreciate it.
I'll send you the bill, mate.
Don't you worry about that.
That's fine.
You know, the invoice is in the mail already.
It could be a completely different show.
We don't know how it's going to run with Alan.
You know, with shenanigans up at the top, we don't know what's going to happen.
All the shenanigans, Ed Bunting, all the shenanigans.
Hello, Jim.
Hello, Jim.
Hi, everyone.
How are we?
Good.
Good things.
Good things.
No, that's okay.
You've got to keep it running now, Alan.
You know, there's a bit of a lull.
You don't pay me to run this.
I'll just press the buttons.
Well, he's pressing the buttons today, but it is Tuesday night.
It is car talk.
Been a big few weeks.
Been away for a few weeks.
Heaps to catch up on.
Heaps to talk about.
Good to see all your lovely faces.
I got to see you guys yesterday, but we'll cover that in a moment.
But so twice in two days, it's pretty awesome to see these lovely gentlemen.
But let's get on with some car updates.
Adrian, we haven't seen you in a long time, my friend.
What's happening with you?
Yeah, like the cars work at the moment.
So I'm just going to touch wood.
Touch them just right now that they're going to stay like that.
Well, still got the three cars.
The stage is just back up and running now.
So happy with that.
The disco.
I'm too scared to touch because if he's diesel and we all know that $3 later is not cheap these days.
So yeah, I'm kind of not driving that.
I'm scared to look at it.
It's 299 today.
It's on the right side of $3.
Oh, I'm feeling up there.
I'm feeling up.
The street of Hormuz is closed once again.
So you better fill up now because it's probably going to go to 340 again.
Is it actually closed again?
Yes.
It closed 24 hours after it happened.
It's a 20 past seven eastern standard time.
So yeah, it changes from minute to minute.
It depends on how they feel.
I don't blame them.
We're saying it work.
Well, first of all, we're saying it work.
You hear everything about street of Hormuz.
What about the gaze of Hormuz?
What about them?
And then we came up with this ridiculous notion of the gaze of Hormuz being on a boat.
And it's like they're all playing UNO and card games.
And then, okay, guys, we're going there and they start to get ready to move the boat.
I'll stop and get back it up.
Just be like, oh, what are you doing?
Well, it'll be a fun boat.
It'll be a fun boat.
It'll be playing a party on the boat.
Good times.
I know the chickpea dip too, I'm guessing.
Yes, lots of cores.
They're all just obviously on these boats.
I mean, are people dropping them food?
Like what's going on there?
I'd like to get a live cast from people who are on one of these boats working on the boat.
What's going on in their world?
They've got nothing else to do besides wait.
So I'm sure they're scanning there.
The internet's for all the different radio stations.
Only like Sudoku you can do out there in the shape of Hormuz.
Could you imagine right now, if Steve Owen was still alive,
would you send him out on a boat to see what's going on out there?
To try and rescue a turtle from the saddle.
Just like, go through, just sit down.
Look, if I get too close, they're going to bomb me.
We will blockade you.
No, we will blockade you.
I will concrete the strait of Hormuz and then it's a road.
And then we bring in trucks to try and get the diesel.
I can't actually believe what this is.
As I was saying to you guys last night,
I feel like we're living in a simulation.
It just doesn't feel real.
It's a bit of a weird motion that we're in at the moment.
Maybe we just need more corn juice.
That's what he's telling us.
Every car in the 85.
Could you imagine the smell from the streets?
I'd be happy to be out there.
You'd be high, aren't you?
I'm an electrical engineer,
but were they talking the other day that they're saying
the jet fuel is made out of canola oil?
Have you heard that?
I haven't heard that.
Yeah, I heard that this last week.
Carousel based.
Yeah, jet fuel is carousel based.
So I mean, canola oil can be a biodiesel kind of thing.
So it's in a similar vein.
I can kind of see that.
Interesting.
A few seeds on the weekend.
They were the lovely words from Mr. Chad,
the bell who was also joining us.
How are you Chad?
Hello everybody.
I'm well, how are you?
Very well, thank you mate, very well.
So we're up to Adrian's car.
So he's mentioned two of the cars,
and the third car.
That's just like a garden ornament.
We don't talk about that one.
It just sits there.
Gonna let it stew a bit before
I take it out for another drive.
I think we all have a few of those.
I think Maddie just owns
like that list of all the cars
that sit there and do nothing.
Yeah, this is true.
They like to have a bit of a sleep.
Is that often the hours in the day?
Yeah, absolutely.
If I could drive every day, I would.
But not entirely possible.
So that's your updates.
We'll move to Alan.
Alan, what are your updates?
I, much to my
sugar and in surprise,
have realised that I have done
15,000 K's in the D-Max
since
basically the start of September last year.
Wow.
So I try and get the yearly service interval
which is recommended.
I'm not going to take it as it is this time.
But I was hoping at least it would get mixed to the end of August again.
Because I think last year
I didn't actually get the full 15,000 K's.
This time I'm way ahead of schedule.
So I think I might have to find a different mechanic
to set this up in the next couple of weeks.
This time you're doing all...
You're doing Jimbalo K's?
Yeah, yes.
I didn't think driving to Sunshine was that far away.
But just in itself
I think that's about 300 K's extra a week.
And then there's a regular driving
and other shenanigans I may get up to.
So, you know.
And I'm pretty sure I think I spent a couple of weeks
in Mackay during this time.
So I'm also like not driven those weeks.
So the other weeks have to make up for it.
But, yeah.
The deep max is up for a service.
This time I'm working for a better mechanic than I used to do.
Because I don't fancy paying for...
What was it?
$1,200 for new drums on the career.
Like new shoes and drums.
And I thought, look, I'll accept the shoes
at what was it?
$43,000 K's?
Even though I don't really accept that.
I will not accept the drums as well.
That is just absurd.
But, you know, we'll see what a different opinion mechanic says.
The rest of the car is going pretty solidly.
Nothing to complain.
While Matty moves on.
Mr David Prince, updates with you?
Updates with me.
I've had a drive of a few
cars in the last week.
I'm currently got the magna
out of moth balls.
And enjoying that immensely again.
I haven't driven it for
probably a month.
A month and a half.
Andrew has taken it out a couple of times.
But Mr Riggleworth,
Mr Rigglesworth and I share that car
as listeners would know.
And
I've needed to carry a bit of stuff
around. And as we have a child seat
in the back seat of our
bigger car, our everyday car at the
moment, it's handy having a big
wagon. You can put those
seats down in that. And I reckon you could live in it
pretty much. It's enormous.
But that's been great
re-familiarising
myself with that.
Beautiful V6, lovely, torquey
sort of engine. You forget how nice that
can be just loping along.
It likes a drink though.
But, you know,
most excellent engines do.
Compared to what I normally drive.
Had a brilliant run
the weekend before last
in the N1. Actually, I don't think
we've been on the podcast
since the Melbourne Motor Show was on
either. I took myself off to the
Melbourne Motor Show. Did anyone else
here? Oh, Ed, you got to the Motor Show.
Yeah, briefly on the Friday
I was there and I didn't get
to stay long. I had to go to another meeting.
But I ran straight to the Honda
stand and saw the
Réliude and the
Super 1.
So, I didn't
go last year because it was pretty much
a terrible
just terrible.
You just call it terrible.
That's all it was.
So, but
a couple of legacy brands threw their hats
in the ring this year and I've got to say
I was, I didn't have
high expectations but they were all exceeded.
I actually had a really good time
and it was a pretty inspired
operation. They had this huge
Hot Wheels display
an interactive sort of area.
They had fast and furious
cars. I had some muscle cars
and
the low beginning club of Australia was
there. Did you see that with the V12?
No, I didn't. They had
the three generations of the V12.
The Diablo
Mercilago and then the
Eventinal all
side by side. I didn't see that
primarily from the point of view that on the Sunday afternoon
when I went, it was pretty much
a seething massive humanity
and getting around to see
a lot of this stuff
was
pretty tricky.
I went on Sunday afternoon
and it was dead.
Really? Yeah, like
I got there about 12.30 and it was
okay. It wasn't
overly busy
but by the time we went to go leave which was about
4.30, it was dead.
We were just walking through it and it was hardly
any people there. Well, it was there
Friday. It opened at 12 on Friday
which actually threw me because I said
to my work colleagues, let's all go in the morning
and then we'll have a lunch after. It didn't open
until 12 on the Friday and I was, what are you doing?
If you're going to be three days,
be three days.
Anyway, I had a rant about that
internally but it was
insane on the Friday.
Same as you David, you could barely
move. I was like, this is
horrible.
You were just having PTSD
from the years you had to walk there
handing out stickers. Had to work there
and stuff like that.
You actually do that, Edward?
Yeah, I worked on the BMW stand many years.
Wow.
We were right at the front so people
would come out of the ticket office
straight in and they'd just pour onto the
BMW stand and you just think
a bit like Antiques Roadshow, some
of these people are not going to know where they've
been living but you think if you're going out
and that's the best thing you've got
to wear,
I'm concerned for you.
They're just
the general public are absolutely
feral.
You should have seen last year at the
Motor Show. It was terrible.
You couldn't walk anywhere near where the
electric cars were.
It was just nothing.
Disgusting, Phil. And then I had one guy
one year whinging at me that he wasn't
getting any great service. He wanted to
buy a car and he wasn't getting great service.
I said, mate, have a look around.
There's 300 people on this stand right
now.
This is not a car show room.
Come and look at the car but this is not
where you buy a car.
I'm not being treated for it.
At least they didn't ask to take it for
a test drive.
We used to play a game of who was
wearing a toupee with my friend.
That was fun.
We'd try and pick the rugs
out of all of the general public.
That's when you need a big leaf
flower.
A sudden gust of wind comes
with it.
Well,
I think the organisers,
well, I know the organisers.
I was talking to a couple of people in
regard to the organisation of it and the
organisers were surprised with the response
and next year I reckon it'll be
bigger again and may well go over
the three days because they,
but also having a during the school holidays
was a pretty clever move I thought too.
You got a lot of families and stuff.
I was just having fun.
You mentioned the organisers.
I actually know Craig.
I was speaking to him last year
when he organised the first one.
We were having a good chat about it
because he was saying he was bringing back
the name and I'm like, oh, that's awesome.
I haven't gone to one in years
and we're having a good chat about it and then
he brought all the electric cars in
just to get the name out
and he was saying
when he was bringing it out this year
he wanted to listen to what
the people wanted and a lot
of people canned it because it was like
an EV car meet.
That's what people were calling it
and this year I have to say
he went absolutely
phenomenal with it.
The cars, the quality
of them, it was next level.
Absolutely next level.
Did you see the
GDRs that we knew where the Fast and the Furious
set up was?
I couldn't get over there.
There were so many people
I was whizzing around
the internal bit
and there were
lots of people I needed to speak to
so I could get far past that.
I looked at a lot of the
aftermarket stuff which was interesting.
That was always a highlight
back when I was in the exhibition buildings.
I got a few years on most of you
and I started going to the Motor Show
in 1972.
I would love to take
to go back to then.
I did find, cleaning out Mum's
house years ago, I did find a photo album
and I had
8 photos from the Instamatic
that I had developed back then
and 4 or 5 of them
were from the Honda stand
so I was pretty impressed from that.
It was like 76.
I must try and dig those photos out.
I will say though
hearing the stands
and the freedom of Honda
like you just said, still doing it
it's pretty impressive.
Honda wasn't there last year.
They weren't, no.
I think Porsche was there
weirdly enough.
Subaru was there,
Kea was there,
Azuzu was there.
Out of the main brands
they were the 3 that I remembered
and it was all the
electric car brands.
But yeah, this year
I'm glad to see Honda made
an effort as well.
Mercedes was there with a couple
of cars that had a G-Wagen
that was out there.
Yes, they both were
which was cool to see.
Azuzu was there again
which was good.
I can't remember who else.
I think Honda
kind of stole the show.
Genuinely.
All the things that I've seen
from the
all the reels and stuff on Instagram
and things was pretty much all
the super one and the prelude.
I want to agree with you but you're wrong.
The part that stole the show
was the fast and furious cars.
I have to say
that everything they've seen
on it, like you're saying
afterwards all the videos and all that
is of the fast and furious cars.
I think this is something about
our
algorithm.
Well, actually
I'm spewing you didn't
end up seeing it because
it was near where the fast and furious cars were
but they had a very clean
and original 8K Civic
that was sitting there.
And it was
just
so clean.
It was so good to see.
You just don't see him anymore.
No you don't.
A few of you went to the Motor Show.
I couldn't get there.
Scotty definitely couldn't get there.
But
it sounds like it was a pretty good event.
If it was that busy I think they're definitely
going to go again.
The issues that they stopped doing
was because the manufacturers were saying
it was too expensive to be involved with.
If I can remember correctly David.
That's exactly right.
I mean an Ed would know.
I think your BMW stand had one
or two stories at the end
didn't it?
It was a real
Taj Mahal style affair.
There was upstairs downstairs and you had a lifestyle
store.
It was very costly to do it all.
Back then it was like a million bucks
just to do the Motor Show.
Stafford had the stand
pay for the space.
It was big money.
I think
a lot of the displays were
paired back which was completely fine.
They still did exactly what they needed to do
but they weren't quite as fancy as in the old days.
Which they don't need to be.
If you amortise the cost of having it
over a weekend rather than over a week
it's even cost you theoretically
more.
But
it's got a
I think it's gone beyond translating into
sales.
You've really got to have a presence there
and I think there will be more
legacy brands there next year
that we know and love.
I think.
What I did notice this year compared to last year
is what you were saying.
With Izuzu and Kia
those major brands
that were there last year
they didn't have much of a stand.
It was very small.
Then this year
it was double in size
for what they had.
Even with Volkswagen they had an absolutely huge stand.
it's good to see that
I'm going to say next year are going to be even better.
I agree.
I'm looking forward to it already.
And Honda even
handing out stickers.
I've got some stickers.
I've been getting a lot of stickers.
What did they say?
They had old preludes
and new preludes.
They had
I've got more here.
I'm just telling the stickers.
Yeah cool.
So you had your old four wheel steer like this.
Oh that's nice.
You had your new fancy
coupes.
Nice little Honda little sticker like that.
Had a bit of a
a prelude air freshener.
I wonder what that smells like.
Be careful showing off these stickers David.
Look at the new car smell.
Adrian's ironed off these stickers.
I didn't get them.
It was hard with older new.
That's cool.
That's really cool.
That really took me back because
the seven or eight filing cabinets
of brochures in my garage will attest to how many brochures
I used to collect at the Motor Show.
So yeah.
It was a good weekend.
I really enjoyed it.
Did you get any brochures?
No brochures of course.
For years now they've been
the last 15 years they've been saying
I'll go to our website and
download the brochure.
It saves on printing costs.
I do have to say what was really cool this year.
Last year and same one with
MotorRx and
all these
bigger car shows that happened.
They really stopped
with the stickers.
A lot of places just were like
no we're not doing stickers anymore.
This year the stickers came back.
It was
so cool to see.
Bring back the stickers.
I love stickers.
The more stickers I get the better it is.
I just opened the air freshener.
What amount?
80's.
What's that?
Imagine putting that in a bottle.
Can I get the scent of 80's Honda please?
What did Monte Carbon say it was?
The 80's smell?
It was sweat,
soya sauce.
Cigarettes.
Cigarettes, yeah.
That's awesome.
Next.
Next.
It was a good time.
I think
I didn't go last year
or go this year, but I wouldn't mind
sussing it out.
One other story I've got for MotorShow
just on that topic.
I had dinner with my friend last Monday night
and
he told me that he'd sold
a fast and furious toy car
like a diecast model car in its original box.
He put it up on eBay or something
and some chick paid 80 bucks for it.
It's worth like 5 to buy new I think.
So he got good money out of it.
And she said,
I need to pick it up.
But I've got to get an Uber there.
And he said, I'm in Geelong and she was in Melbourne.
Turns out she got an Uber to Geelong
and Uber'd back.
He said that Uber would have been like 400 bucks
and she paid 80 for this model.
But she had to have it for the stand
at the MotorShow because it was the fast and furious
model of that car.
It was one of the ones they had.
So he goes, yeah, my car
was at the MotorShow.
Your model car was at the MotorShow
or whatever.
That was actually cool.
They had the Hot Wheels.
And I think they all had the Hot Wheels
in front of it.
So obviously she was scrambling around to find it
because it's limited or something.
All the fast and furious Hot Wheels
unfortunately these days,
the sculptors grabbed it from the stores
before they could get in.
Yeah, Maddie.
Yeah.
When I worked at Target,
actually,
I've said it now, haven't I?
We used to see all the stuff that
Scotty can attest to this.
We used to see all the stuff that came before.
We'd go out on the shelf and...
I did the same at Colts.
I know what you're talking about.
Absolute scumbaggery.
You little whore.
Yeah.
My manager wasn't very happy with me at one point.
But anyway, that's another story.
But another MotorShow story,
a friend of mine...
Soto, not a friend of mine.
A guy came into work.
It's super cheap.
And he was an engineer.
And I think I mentioned him on the show.
He's the guy that met Bruno Sacco.
He used to design
all Mercedes stands
for the MotorShow for the last however many years.
So his team used to
design and build him
an engineer and build him.
I must get him round to my garage.
Yeah, I think you might have to.
Do something nice there.
Yeah, so he's like
that stuff was never cheap.
But Mercedes just brought out the checkbook.
It was always a good time.
So that's the MotorShow.
That's your updates, David.
Scotty.
Me?
Well, so last night, right?
That's not your update, Scott.
I can't steal another update.
I was just doing it from my perspective.
I drove it everywhere.
I drove it everywhere.
For some reason, I think
it's going to like throat punch you if you do that.
It's my me.
At this point, Jim's not excited because
Scotty hasn't said I've washed the blade yet.
So.
Well, I can say that
because I did.
Jim, is that approved?
Yes, that's approved.
Is it verified?
And then when I was driving
to work this morning, the
truck has gone by and sprayed
water on the roads to like clean it,
to clean the mud off. And obviously,
they haven't cleaned the mud off. It's still all there.
So you need to splash the water
all over the car.
It's totally convenient.
So you wash the car and the car's dirty.
I mean, it's not easy
to use this, guys. It's just
not an easy run.
It's really hard to get me to
constantly just keep this white car dirty.
How do you feel about that, Matt?
Scott's had a really hard time
when his car got dirty.
I would dirt on it.
I would take a dirty car any day.
Wow.
The instrument cluster
arrived for the R31.
That was the other week.
Put that in nice and easy.
And all the gauges work
except for the 10th gauge.
But who cares?
At least I know that I've got half a tank of fuel in it.
Can you swap the 10th gauge
out of the other cluster?
Um...
I reckon you could.
You could have.
There's a fun little evening project
for you, Scott.
Because I threw it out.
Oh, okay.
I'll see you.
You got dirt on your car and you throw out
the one thing you should keep.
Wow. I didn't think I need to keep it
because the fuel gauge doesn't work
on it.
The faulty fuel doesn't
work on it.
And the
10th gauge one, the needle is bent.
What are you saying?
It doesn't matter if the car is smoking.
Just as long as it's got fuel.
It's not hard to tell if it's overheating
anyway. You can smell it.
Yeah.
Do you mean over the BO
and the soya sauce?
Easy.
That's it. I haven't done anything else.
That's Scottie's
updates.
Jimbello.
Nothing particularly interesting
to mention, really.
The
Euro that I bought recently
was going to have new brakes on it
yesterday, but I rescheduled that.
That's going to be happening on Thursday
and it's got four new tyres
now.
The magna
has been detailed and had a
ceramic coating applied.
And
on the 28th
we'll have some
dents down the passenger side removed as well.
What
was somewhat amusing is
that the detailer I use when they sort of post
cars and stuff on Facebook,
usually they don't get any comments
or one or two.
But they got about 25.
Mostly because
they put the details of my car in wrong and so
a lot of people sort of were like,
that's not this, it's that or whatever.
Anyway, so that was
amusing.
apart from that, yeah, that's about it, I think.
Lovely.
Actually, one other thing, sorry before I go.
I did get the
absolute privilege of driving Maddie's
Fiesta
on
when was it, Saturday or Friday?
Friday, I think.
Friday, yeah.
Sorry.
I said it's a fun car.
It's a wonderful car, yeah.
Yeah, it's a fun car to drive.
I think you were
quite impressed, Jim.
You were like, oh, I should get one of these.
Yeah, I was very, very impressed.
Yeah, I can totally see why you bought one.
A lot of fun.
It was good to see
someone else driving for a change.
It was actually nice to be a passenger princess for a change.
It doesn't happen often.
Maddie, you are a princess.
Yeah, this is also very true.
Chad, updates with you, my man.
We had a big update on Saturday.
Yeah, so Saturday,
we started on the
manual swap.
Essentially just, yeah,
had Maddie over and Paul Gatt,
the magna guru.
He
took us through on
how to remember the transmission
in an L, at least out of the manual car.
He just flew through it.
It was just like,
I was like, what can I do?
He was just under there and doing it.
He ended up pulling it off.
Yeah, he just
really got into it.
So many, many thanks to him.
So I've got
pretty much all the parts I need.
I think
one of the pieces of the clutch kit.
So
that's on order,
should be here soon.
And
yeah, so I'm just going to set up another weekend,
maybe in a couple of weeks time.
Unfortunately, I was hoping to get it done before Sakura,
but I don't think that's going to happen
because I'm not here this weekend
and Sakura is next weekend.
So it's not going to
happen, unfortunately.
But yeah, so one
step closer.
I'm just trying to get rid of this shell now.
Well, not the shell, but
the car, you know, the Magna,
the wagon with the bits in it
and it's got a
three quarters of a motor
still. I thought a scrap metal
person would love that.
Well, before I thought,
sorry, before I send it off to scrap metal,
I wanted to give it to a records.
I wanted to see if anyone else,
you know, could use parts of it or whatever.
It's pretty shagged, but
I'm sure there's bits and pieces,
suspension and stuff
like that, like, you know, brakes
and all that stuff. I'm sure that
you know, Mitzi bits or whoever,
like in some of those Melbourne records.
I haven't yet. So I contacted
Jollies.
Sorry, I contacted Pickup House first
and they wanted all this information, like who was the last owner
and, you know,
the Vin and all this stuff
and I was like, I'll
see what Jollies says.
I called Jollies, sorry,
I messaged Jollies, sent
like an online form
and they
just, you know, sent an automatic message,
you know, requesting photos.
So I sent those off this morning and they
came back and said, look, we'll give you
$100.
I was like,
that's pretty rough. Anyway,
20 minutes later,
Jollies messaged me back and said, oh,
we just noticed the car is not, it's not
a running car. So
we can offer you $0.
It was the actual
like message
a whole sum of $0
and you should have jumped on the 100.
Well, I mean, yeah,
so, so $0
but a free tow.
So, you know, it's something I don't have to pay for a tow at least.
Yeah. But
Pickapart offered me
$250
and it would
have been $350 if it was a car that you could drive
to them. So $250
and a free tow. That sounds
pretty good to me. So I'm just
trying to get the details off the previous owner
and
hopefully that's good enough for them.
What's that? $250 for it?
Yeah, it was $250 for the whole thing
plus going to get it and
all in it was about $400
including the fuel and the trailer hire
and whatnot. Yeah.
And, you know, lunch.
So, yeah, it was
lunch.
Yeah, it's, you know,
looks like it's going to go to Pickapart, hopefully
and likely it'll be at
Campbellfield and
just waiting for them to confirm with me that
they can take it
and
you know, once I give them the details and whatnot
but yeah, and like they asked for back details and all that
so I was like, yeah, sweet. Sounds good to me.
Jollies can get stuffed
at this point.
$0, which is
they'll still make money off the car
no matter what, they're going to make money off it.
So
anyway, so
yeah, that's kind of it. I think
I haven't really done anything else on any other car.
Everything else has been
sleeping.
So, yeah, the
I think the swap's going quite well.
I was surprised how quick Paul got that gearbox
out of the maze, bang, bang, bang, bang.
I was like, just ripped it out. Yeah.
He's just like, yeah, eight bolts there and
take this off and that off and
it was out. And then he
ran it off to get the
flywheel machines, which also got
done, which is good. It's so amazing seeing
someone who knows what they're doing, who's so familiar
with something like that
and can just, you know, it's
like like magic to some of us
and I'll put my hand up for that
and yeah, but just
seeing someone who knows what they're doing and just makes it
look so easy. It's
see someone know that much about
one particular thing. Yeah.
What was well to me is like, you know,
you're taking all the bits off the
donor car or the manual bits
and then, you know, and putting them
into your car, so like, you know, the interior
bits are pretty much done except for the pedal
and
you'll need that. I know that much.
You'll need that.
But all the shifting
gears and everything, it's
all in the same spots as the auto.
Everything just bolts straight in and it's just
I mean, it makes sense because it's
cost cutting and how to make the cars
but it's
shows, you know, that's how it's
meant to be done and
once the gear stick
and everything was mounted and everything
and
I think it was Chad said the way God intended it
to be.
Chad, it should have been.
Yeah, absolutely. It was quite funny
just to see you like, oh, this is actually
coming together now. So, so yeah,
pretty much it's pretty much just running the go just
waiting for that
that throughout bearing because all in the
kit was a little bit different but we'll
we'll suss that out and
yeah, I can't wait
to see that car driving and it was
it was so weird to see you start at Chad
and then you're like watch nothing happens
and you just accelerates and it just screams
off its head and it doesn't go anywhere.
Yeah, you saw it like Jolt
forward a couple of times. Yeah.
Yeah. And that's what it's been doing since
I got back from Adelaide
except for one more drive after that.
So, well, once it
once my wife was driving it broke down, towed
it back home. I couldn't get it to move
more than like, I don't know.
I'm not even a meter.
I ended up rolling it off
my driveway down onto the road
and push it into the gutter
to like park it up and
yeah, and then yeah, you guys saw it and
just like wouldn't go anywhere. Yeah, it's cooked.
The one thing
out of that whole day was
Paul said
the people in the states
love these transmissions because
they're quite stout. I'm like, how?
Yeah. And not that one.
Not that one.
And not the one before, obviously.
But yeah, like
yeah, it was saying people use them in like
and drag cars and stuff and
wow, weird.
I think, you know, obviously they give them
a full rebuild and throw
aftermarket bits in it to
actually make it last.
But yeah, I was pretty impressed.
Yeah. Yeah. I was like,
okay, that's a
I was learned something that day.
The one thing that
disappoints me about the shift in the
in the Magna is the manual shift is
that the gear lever is ridiculously long.
If it was half the length
it would be very long.
So it
it looked better, you know, it's
it sort of looks a bit like an afterthought,
you know, like it was designed
as an automatic and you could chop
that down, Chad, in yours.
Yeah, I mean, why not
chop it down or put a short shift
or something and yeah, yeah.
Actually, I suggested
it to Gatti and he said, oh,
he said you with the
3000 GT, you said you get
get the shift out of the 3000 GT
and then that sort of bolts on
you just got to do this and you just
and then you just had to adjust.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then he lost me
at that. I said, yeah.
So
we're going to find a 3000 GT
shifter left
in the world.
There's another model
in America that they made heaps of
evidently.
Stealth, the Dodge Stealth
Dodge Stealth. Yeah.
Yeah. He reckons that
I don't know that, you know, they're about
you can get them in a site so easy, you know,
I will say true
I haven't got the same problem in mine.
Oh, okay.
Why is that?
Well, I don't have to change gear
for the wooden spoon. Mine's a bit shorter.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, really? Is that that's an aftermarket
bit in there? No, no, it's factory.
No, they would just be
Oh, really?
Yeah, I say, I'm going to say
I should have ordered
the next one up.
But then I'm used to a high
S which has got, you know, like a broom
handle. So like
I think that the longest
shift I ever used was
my dad used to drive an old school bus
for one of the schools
in the northern suburbs and
this old Mazda
in blue and white, you know, those blue
and white buses.
Yeah.
It's like a T
800. I don't work.
Yeah, I remember them.
Yeah.
Anyway, that's like, do you want to drive
around the block? I'm like, yeah, sure.
And first gear to second gear was like
in a different postcode. It was huge.
It was just like
and
off I went again.
So yeah, it was good.
It was good. Ed
Bunting updates with you.
There's been a few. I think was I on
last week or did I miss last week?
It was the last program last week.
That's right. You're away. So
last Monday
night, I was a bit bored
and I thought, what are we going to do
tonight's daily savings is gone. So depressing
and I decided that I had
to have the
accessory storage
box. It's called a cabin tidy that
goes behind the seats in your FG
Falcon
So there's a few round Australia
of these cabin tidy boxes and they say
they've got twin little lids that lift up and they
say forward on top, which I kind of
like that. So it's a genuine thing.
Anyway, there's a few round the country, maybe four
for sale. One's 450, one's
400, one's 350, one's 300.
Anyway, there was one in Geelong, which was
300 and I thought, I'm just going to have a
look at this. I reckon I'll get it for 200.
So I trekked down to Geelong
in the FG
and went out to this
property and I just thought it was another
one of those situations where it's dark, it's cold.
I'm somewhere where no one knows where I
am in a remote property
scrounged for parts. And I thought
I'm going to die one day out
in one of these places. Like I will get shot
or stabbed or something
and people will just be like, they won't
know for ages and then the cops
will be trying to work out where the hell was he,
why was he there, you know, usually
for some sort of remote part.
And the car investigation
you would be like, he was getting past the whole time.
He was getting past, he could probably trace it through
marketplace. That's the best. If anything
happens for everyone, this is the best place to start
is that. So my family
can have closure.
Anyway, so I could... So you're saying millions
of missing persons cases could be solved with
the market? Maybe through market?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I thought well rather
than just watching TV or
something, it would be useful in. So I drove to
Jalong, got my Falcon
Tidy box of $200, put it behind
the seats. I'm like, yeah, I love this thing,
you know, it completes my interior
and then had dinner with my friend who lives in
Jalong and then came back. So that was a fun Monday night.
In terms
of the other cars, the
Vienta that I bought off David's
neighbor went in for a road withy check. It's not
diabolical, like four shockers,
couple of control arms,
an engine steady up the top, like one
of those engine stabiliser things.
And that was sort of it. The rest
of it was okay. Oh, I've got to have the motor
fully washed down, like get all the old...
He said, I don't think it's leaking oil now,
but there's a lot of old oil on it.
So that needs to be cleaned
off properly, which I'm getting done by
a detailer guy, or he did it today, actually.
So I've decided to forge ahead with that
and get it detailed properly,
do the road worthy. Let's
try and make a silk purse
out of a sow's ear on that car.
Other cars,
just driving around in the U, still
driving around the EGAS sedan
here and there,
the Saab, bloody hell,
the Saab.
You still got that.
It hasn't really left
various mechanics shops
over the last month. So I got that
back today at lunchtime.
It has a current road worthy
certificate.
Some sort of cosmic miracle
that car has a road worthy.
So I need to
put some new badges on it, put a dash
mat on it, give it a really good scrubbing
and take some photos that make it look
better than what it is.
That's the job for the Saab for the next few days.
Then that will be online. I feel like there's
another car. Oh, yeah.
This is a fresh one today. This is real
press. I got a call
from a referral from
another person I bought a car from and they said,
you know, my son wants to
sell a car. So I
ended up buying, I think it's my
first Volvo.
I don't think I've ever had another Volvo.
It's a
2018 XC40
T5 launch
edition, which gets you
hard and gets you leather, gets you sunroof
some niceties. It's
106,000 K. It's red,
but you know how they have the two tone roof
on those? It's got a white roof.
It always looks a bit
like an Australia post delivery vehicle.
And I thought
I quite like it, but I don't
know that everyone in the market will like it, but
to me, I thought it was a bit cool.
Anyway, that
literally just arrived half an hour before this show
started. It's in the garage. I haven't even driven
it. They just brought it around and I get money.
Are you going to do a surprise
for that one to it? Well,
I mean, who would I be surprising?
I know yourself, maybe.
Myself? I know.
The garage feels all a bit dull
tonight, but we'll get to that.
Hey, Ed, would that Volvo
if the white roof is a bit
confronting for people?
Is it something you could wrap?
Look, you could, but I wouldn't.
I think if I like it, someone else
will like it. I think the launch
edition got little Swedish
flags on the
seats and stuff too. I've got to go and
have a really close look at it, Dave.
I sort of have it. I just
I said, yeah, that price. Yep.
Yep. We can bring it around to you. Okay.
Cool. Walked around it. Yep. All right.
There's your money. Sign here.
I ran the
PPSR check and stuff on it, but
I, um, yeah, I just, I haven't
even driven it and I probably should have.
So they're actually, they're actually quite
a nice car, a friend of mine. Yeah.
Got one of those, um, that Sage Green
in the
she loves it. One
who's a dealer has sold two of them
recently, sort of secondhand, obviously.
And he really likes them. He said, I
love the way they drive. They seem popular.
People gets quite a bit of inquiry on them.
I think they look good.
I think they were
Euro made those ones too.
Which I don't know. It might have been
before they went to China or there's some
Chinese content. I don't know.
I'm pretty sure it'll have somewhere on it.
And that's why I think they had the Swedish flags on the
like little tiny, like, you know,
two centimetres square one sort of thing.
Yeah. I'll go and have a look after
after this podcast
and have a play with it.
It's got a third of a tank. So love that.
Happy days. So they're my updates. I don't
you know, I don't think there's anything else.
I mean, I did, I did buy another
car during the week. You know, that's
that's a nice segue into, Matthew, do you
have any updates?
Well, um,
that's all we've got time for.
We're going to go in there.
Alright guys, I'll catch you later.
Take us back to last week.
Take us back to your little
holiday. So
let's crack back to
we'll go back to Scotty's
Scotty's wedding. Scotty's wedding was on
two Fridays ago.
Congratulations against Scotty.
How does it feel? Does it feel any different?
Feels the same, which is a positive.
That's a positive.
So we,
Steph and I drove out there in the laser.
I
then parked it up
gave it a full tank of fuel
and
Steph and I were off to New Zealand the very
early next morning.
So we get to New Zealand and have a
great first day there.
We went to Milford Sound and
it was just, it was, it's like, I don't know
if any of you have been to
New Zealand on this podcast, but it is
one of the most, if not the most
beautiful place I reckon on Earth.
I can see why they film movies there.
I can see why they do all sorts of stuff there
because it is, it's just like
it's so picturesque
that it's not fair that this place exists.
You know, it looks, it looks
that good.
So this is the Saturday night
and, you know,
helping into bed and
get a call at
two in the morning local time
to New Zealand. So about midnight
our time here from
Pam, who's my housemate,
basically telling me
that there's been a car accident
and, you know, pretty
dosed. Steph, like
to be honest with you, I didn't even answer the phone call.
I was, I was that wrecked from the day
Steph ended up picking up and Steph
wakes me up and there's been an accident.
I'm like, what do you mean there's been an accident?
She's like, no, there's
been quite an accident
and, you know, your car is involved
and I was
but before I realized what happened, I was
I got up and
I put my
contacts in and
came back to bed and I
couldn't really see much at the time because it was
pitch black, you know, it's late
at night. I just see some flashing lights
in the distance and there was my
laser which I'd owned for 16 years
in a really, really bad way.
So what's
happened was a
stolen mute, stolen Hilux
with false plates
lost control
and
drove into my car when it was parked
it hit it through right in the side
and it pushed it into another three cars.
Yeah, pretty confronting
confronting viewing. It hit the car
that hard that it
ruptured the fuel tank, that all the fuel was all over
the ground, it hit me square in the middle
of the car, you know,
pushed the back wheel in and mounted
everything. There is
I mean, you guys have seen the photos, I'm assuming.
Yeah, it
really isn't much
salvageable in terms of body
but I didn't realize how bad it was
and I was like, oh, you know,
it was bad but I didn't realize how bad
so
yeah, it was pretty
pretty gut-ranging and anyway, the
guy who
crashed the car had to climb out the back door
because the Hilux was completely
mounted as well.
When a Hilux is mounted after an accident
you know there's he was absolutely
and it was a fairly
modern Hilux. It had airbags and side
bags and stuff in it. Everything, yeah,
everything current model actually
or just the one that was just superseded
so he hobbled away and nobody
knows where he is.
Yeah, so damaged
my car, damaged George's car
and
my three neighbors
and one of the other, my car went into
the back of an Everest, a brand new
Everest and yeah, it was not going to win
that battle at all.
So yeah, it was
pretty, pretty
upset.
That car
that car was more than a car, I think
as an owner for 16 years
it was a car that I've
especially with all the things that have happened
in the last few years when I lost my house
and the fire and everything, I still had
my car. It was the one
kind of constant that I had throughout
all my
things that have happened over the last
few years and
16 years is a long time
to own something.
It's a big part of, it's half
my life, which is
well just under half my life, but
it's a very
very long time to own something. I went all through my
P's
to now
essentially.
And to have that taken from me is
pretty
pretty gut-wrenching.
It's
I don't know, it's just a car
and it's
four-box and it's rubber and it's
glass and engine
and fuel and things.
But
as we know on this show and people listen
to this show, we completely agree
that
cars to us are a bit more than
that.
You know, you do grow
in attachment to them. You can't say
remember that time we took the fridge to the
Great Ocean Road?
You don't get
that with anything else besides a car.
Cars you build a family is what
you're trying to say.
Cars are like
you build memories with them.
You're old,
Odyssey that you got back
David. It took you right back
to when you had it and when you got it
back again.
It came back briefly.
You're mini.
It's got a story.
All these cars have got stories.
So
there was many stories with my car.
So
to have that taken from me is pretty rough.
Lucky I wasn't in it
and Jimmy made a good point.
I quite literally got home the same
time it happened
from Scotty's wedding a few
nights before.
I'm so lucky I wasn't
in it. I would have probably been killed
genuinely.
It hit it that hard.
The driver's seat buckled.
It got hit that hard.
The back seats are bent in half
and
it's a right all mess.
It's
very tweaked.
So it wasn't until the next morning
I saw it
in the daylight and I was like
oh dear.
It's
I then realized the severity
of the hit
which sucked
immensely. I called you David.
We had a chat about it
and
you gave me some good clarity
and then
when it happened
I called my insurance company.
So here's a car talk top tip.
Don't
ever get third party fire and theft.
Just try to get a comprehensive
thing if you can
because
my car wasn't covered
under this
circumstance
because it was a stolen car
and they can't
pin the
crash
of the vehicle
because he wasn't driving at the time
and the police are like we can't do anything
and if they catch him I have to go through the victims of crime route
and all that stuff.
They didn't even offer me a tow
they were like pretty much tough
I'm not going to say who they were
but they weren't very helpful
or consoling.
After a big event like that
it was pretty disappointing
because I had a few cars with them
the cars were no longer with them
but just a bit disappointing
and I get
that's how they work but it would have been nice
for them to say
we can see this is a really
rough situation
let us do something for you
but they didn't. I even had to pay for my own tow
believe it or not
to get it off the...
The other thing just on that topic with third parties
and a lot of people don't realise it
your insurance company
even if you've got third party like you did
will not act on your behalf
No
if you've only got third party
so basically
I was in a similar situation years ago
someone hit me in the back
I had third party, fire and theft
they hit me, I'm not even at fault
they had insurance
but it was me as an individual
fighting with their insurance company
to put in a claim to cover my car
because they had a big bull bar and they're like
oh we don't really need to make a claim
our car's fallen
and I had to fight me as an individual with them
so my insurance wouldn't act on my behalf
and that's one of the biggest
things I think that people don't realise
with third party
your insurance company will only act on your behalf
if you've got comprehensive
otherwise they'll cover everyone else
if you hit someone they'll cover the Bentley you ran into
but in terms of someone hitting
your car even when you're not at fault like me
I got no assistance from them
in terms of that
so be wary
I agree with Matt, be very wary of a third party policy
know what you're getting into in terms of that
yeah
obviously
owning a lot of cars
and your insurance isn't cheap
but yeah I think just for the peace of mind
just spend the extra few hundred dollars and do it
I've learnt my lesson big time
so yeah
put a dampener on my holiday to New Zealand
but it took me a day
and then I kind of got back into it
and felt a lot better
then was on the hunt for
I was like well I can't not have
an SR2 in my
stable
it's a very
it's an important car because
for that car is the reason why this show really began
Adam Grasser who's been on it many times
and myself
we were laughed at at high school
because we had the little hatches
and they always had Commodals and Falcons
and more powerful stuff
we basically said
because we'd always catch up and talk cars
why don't we do a show about it
and our first episode was about hatches
like warm and hot hatches
and the SR2 was
kind of that
it was part of the main reason that this
exists and the reason why I
go about doing this podcast every week
with you guys
is because of that car
it's a big part
of the podcast
of Cartel
so I was like well I can't not have one
so when I realised
how bad it was
it isn't repairable
I have to try and find one
so I think I did Steph's head in
quite a bit
over in New Zealand
looking at on marketplace constantly
and trying to find
car sales and gum travelling
looked on eBay
it was I don't know
I played a bit of phone tag and I caught him
when I was coming back from Malta Peak
and we had a chat didn't we
we had a chat
I was keen to chat to you
number one obviously I'd send him a message
with my condolences for the previous
black car
but number two because Matt had sent me a blue one
that he found in Canberra
and
I just wanted to suss out where
your head was at
in terms of
how you're feeling
and I wanted to talk through some options
because I remember what happened to me years ago
I really was sort of
your head's just spinning
and I said well
these are the options
you can either buy another car
but is that going to give you the same thing
as the one you had
it's not going to be the exact same car
but you could do that
you could take the motor and gearbox out of your car
that have all been fully rebuilt
and put that into another car
and the heart lives on
find one with a stuffed engine
and have the guts of your car
reborn
you could
decommission the previous car
put a photo of you
in a nice frame
with the gear knob
and a few
parts of it that you regularly touch
to your door handle
which you could still do in theory
it would be pretty cool you could still do that
which would be a nice
tribute
but I also said the thought
personally
the thought of having a car like that
that meant so much to me
towed away, never to see it again
to a wrecker where other people
are going to pull it apart
they're going to be the me
at pick apart, pulling it apart
I just thought
I can't handle that
it's too close to home
and so
and Matt agreed I think
he said I don't want to go to Jollies
and see my laser there
being picked apart by every other laser nut in Melbourne
that's awful
feels like they're destroying your family
I thought Mattie was the early laser nut
that is also true
I don't know
that's true this week has proven that to not be the case
so
we discussed
around that and I said well I think it's better
if we pull apart
we can help you pull apart your car
with all the salvageable bits
that's more therapeutic and better
and saying goodbye
and then knowing that those bits will live on
down the track
that's nicer
absolutely
it's
I know it's not human
I know it's not
it holds a lot of sentimental value
to me
especially after owning it for so long
to see someone ripping bits off
of what we do with the records
don't be bad
literally rip stuff off
quite literally
I've seen some stuff with the records
remember that time where the records
the guy was pulling windows
and doing weird smashing things
and I was like what is going on where are we
that's me
literally anything I need for the disco
rip the stuff off to get what I need
at the end
of that phone call because Mattie had sent me this blue car
I said
is that an option would you consider that blue car
and we were looking at the photos
I'm looking online as I'm talking about
it's actually pretty original original stereo
it's still got the Bono protector on it
and then
I said well you're in New Zealand
do you want me to send the seller a message
you know find out about it
and he goes yeah yeah yeah send him a message
I was like okay cool leave it with me
so I hung up the phone
for Matt that's that
yeah
and then I got a ping
from cars and the car has been sold
and I was like
because the two colors
in the SR2 that I really loved
were the blue and the black
obviously on the black one
and this blue one was
it's a really pretty blue like as you said
sorry it's like an ester blue
it's very close to ester blue
in a BMW M series
it's a beautiful blue
yeah
so I was pretty got it
I was like alright so I got a photo
right little snippet I had
to make Matt think that I hadn't bought it
so
I said
I said
oh my god Matt you're not going to believe it
I messaged the seller
they just got back to me they sold it yesterday
but they hadn't taken it offline yet
which does happen
that's a common thing
there's someone local
I thought that's believable and Matt said
who they sell to and I said I think some local in camera
you know like
and I left
and I'm like for fuck's sake
I was acting annoyed
what was funny
I was like I wonder who's bought it
I wonder if they you know
I was actually you know wondering
where that car was going
I was pulling the I hope whoever bought it gets hemorrhoids
you know
I was like
I was like hello
you know
if the body kit would be district
it is quite a bit
of a low car
so yeah so the whole time
while I was there I was looking at
the few options and they don't come up often
I guess that's who don't really come up often
but surprisingly this week three of them came up
you say that
and
yeah
a silver one, a black one
and the blue one obviously that
sold and I was like
this is a sign
so I
I get back to
I get back to Australia on Friday
on Thursday night go look at the car
on Friday it is completely munted
and then I'm like okay
I came to terms with it I think I called you again David
I was like yep I've come to terms with it
it is absolutely
some clarity
it's completely munted the fact that
the doors don't open or close properly
on both sides of the car it's
bananaed
it says pretty much what you need to know
and
I was like well I've still got some good bits
I can still probably make a nice car
and
you know I can
if I can buy one and there's a silver one
in Adelaide and
you know I was like to my brother
what do you think of this and he's like no don't buy silver
it's a you know it's not a good color
you don't like that color there's not any other
and I'm like oh but it was the brochure car color
you know it looks
alright and Steph's like no I don't like the silver one
everyone was telling me don't buy silver
it's not a good color
all these sedans were silver
we were like me can't get a sedan color
I know exactly right
I was like why is everyone not liking silver
I'm like the chance I'm
you know like they don't come up often
anyway
on that evening I think
a black one popped up like all of a sudden
it just came up and Michael is just listed for five grand
nicks
what was that
six grand
sorry six grand
I know I'm intimate with that ad
yes
and it's like I had a few photos and I said
I'll pass you the side door damage and I'm like
so you know I was like hey he's got
service history and stuff didn't get a response
like whatever and then it then it vanished
the
and I
which had on Saturday and I call
about the silver one
and you know it's had a full
respray and this and that and
you know and I was like okay
you know and I was thinking about it but I was
like nah you know what I think
on Saturday I came to terms with like nah I'll wait for
the right car I'll wait for
a local car or something that
it's really good I will
you know
be the one to buy
it you know be be the one
for me
so I came to terms with that I think Saturday afternoon
I was like yeah you know I'm gonna wait
I'm gonna wait
you didn't have too long
no
then
so it was a Sunday
Sunday night yeah so
Pam's like
just for some context Pam's like to me
I've got
you know I've been
given a voucher to this Japanese
restaurant in Malvin and I'm like oh
I think that might be the one that
we went to you know just
before we went to
Japan that time you know to discuss
I'm like oh yeah is it a double story one
and she's like uh I think so
like you know she was
playing like she's like look I've got a voucher
yeah I've got a voucher
because you know
she's moving she's moving jobs and
this is like going away I said to her
I said that's a really
random gift to give
a gift voucher to like the most
random Japanese restaurant I've ever seen
but I was like oh you know
whatever you know
a free feed's a free feed
and she's like oh you know
we've got enough for Ed like we've got
about $800 worth of food
you know see Ed lives
around there like you see if he wants to come
and I know Ed's a sucker for a free meal
so hey
I love driving
and some other people love cooking so it's a great combo
so I call it up and there's
a sign that we're having a chat and I said
oh look you know I explained that he's like
I'll come for dinner
I think the time you want to pick me up
and he's asking Steph oh yeah
$7.30 okay $7.30 yeah that's a good
yeah
so I uh
you know I'm coming from work and
we should what we should do here is fill in the background
right yes yes and what happens
in the background right I get off the phone
for Matt when he's in New Zealand
I sit there at my desk doing some more work
I'm like
yeah okay I'll inquire on this blue car
and then I'm like you know what
it's $3.5 grand this blue car
it's not a lot of money you know really
it was actually quite well priced
so
and I think you know what
if all the people we know
we could probably cover that
and so they'll ring of course for more clarity
David rings me for clarity I ring him for clarity
he's a clarity man isn't he
different kinds of clarity you know
we give each other different kinds I think
so I rang David the voice
of all reason and I said
hey do you reckon
we just buy this thing
and we all chip in
and just get it for Matt you know
and he goes oh I like what you're putting down Ed
yeah okay
and I said well
let me see if I can secure it first he goes yeah
he goes I'm in
I reckon and we went through a little loosely
I reckon they've been
I reckon they've been
and I came with quite a few people
using two hands and I thought
well I can't be that hard
alright so I'm on the phone today
the guy rings me the blue laser guy
because you know marketplace
you can't just ring him you gotta message him and say
here's my number call me you know
so I had a chat to him and I found out a bit about the car
yeah it's a new clutch you know it runs with the world
just past its roadworthy
we haven't had it that long but the previous owner had it
quite a few years and
he said he was selling it
to get a range of wild track
and I said they're not exactly similar cars
we had a laugh about that
but and then he goes
oh look I've got someone coming I said
look I'm actually in Melbourne da da da and he goes
I've got someone coming tonight at six o'clock but you know other than that
it's around now that could have been a lie
but I don't think so it seemed pretty genuine
yeah I'm thinking alright
this is one of those little fork in the road moments
I'm either I've either got
to take a punt now on this and see if he bites
or
six o'clock person comes and you know you probably
miss out so I took a punt
I threw him a number
he said yes I said alright
give me your bank details so
bang money transferred I thought
I mean I ran a PPSR and that made sure it wasn't stolen
and shit you know and then I thought
okay step one secure the car
so I ring David back I got the car
secure the merchandise
and they're like okay now
how do we get it from Canberra
Melbourne so
it wasn't exactly right in the corner
no so then I was looking at and this
is still obviously in the background and we'll get back back to you Matthew
shortly I was like
well Canberra I know a couple of people in Canberra
something of the world
first thing I thought is it would be a good idea
to get it so it's not at his house
because I have paid money for it you know I don't even know this guy
so
my cousin lives there and I said
would you be able to drop it at my cousin's house
which is only Canberra it's not really big it's a few something
away he said yeah yeah that's totally fine
I'm happy to drop it there great
so he dropped it at my cousin's house
my cousin has the key
she confirms that it's there so I thought
right okay it's somewhere that I know
someone I know has the key
I've insured it
so far so good
your cousin seems like a good person
I wouldn't trust my cousin like that
you're gonna call from your cousin
oh boy so I was gonna come drop off a car
you should have kept it there for a couple of days
I'd be like I need drugs in this car
you're gonna get back in like the world
it's gonna break
this car you used in a crime
you know
you know they trust cousin Ed
they probably shouldn't but they do
it's from a different part of the world where your cousin
yeah
doesn't know the north west that's fine
there's no way of camping this weekend
you know I can't go get it this weekend
I've taken Friday off work I'm camping
for three days I'm a wall
I think I don't worry about this weekend
Ed you know he's sick with the car
he can sit there for a week go get it next weekend
so then I'm looking at flights or looking
at driving up in one of the gas falcons
with you know maybe Tommy or something to get in
he couldn't do next weekend
bouncing around some logistics
and I think David you had something
on that weekend on the Friday or the Saturday
because we're thinking oh do we do a quick up
and back and that didn't work
and then
the saviour arrives
Andrew and Laura Mr. Magna
himself he says
hey Ed do you want us to go up this weekend
and get the laser and I'm like
really what you guys yeah we've got a free weekend
I said oh what about next weekend I can do next
and come with you and he goes no we can't
we've got stuff on but we can do it this weekend
and I was like I'm not gonna stop you
alright let's do it
so I give you my cousin's number
they go up on the Saturday
they get the car
they go to their favourite Thai restaurant
they come back on the Sunday
and as I'm coming down the hum with my caravan
the way back from holiday and he's about an hour behind me
because he's like alright
I almost thought he was gonna overtake me in the caravan
and I'm like there it is
so I was looking out for him but
you have this one important little
oh yeah yeah
you created the Facebook group
oh yes sorry
I had to create the Facebook group
to get everyone involved
so I created that the day after I bought it
which was I think last Thursday
Wednesday
so Wednesday I created the Facebook group
Tuesday I bought the car
Wednesday I created the group
now the group is called secret
with the exclamation mark
Matty J. laser project
and I wrote the story
because not everyone probably knew that your car had been crunched
it was pretty fresh information
I didn't
there you go
so I'm like here's the story of the shit that's just gone down
here's the bit Mat doesn't know
and then you keep reading
I bought the car it's in Canberra
I work out how to get it back
here's what we're thinking we'll get it
and we'll surprise him with it
now we thought
I'm in
David in Jim in
Scott in
and then Scott he goes add Karen
so I've had to befriend Karen of course
I'm happy to befriend Karen she's lovely
so then she gets an invite
so then we had
this bunch of people
go oh my god this is amazing
everyone's in so I'm like great
we've got some backup I think I'm going to cover
cover the cost of the car here this is good
then
then it's
how does the car run is the next hurdle
so you know is Andrew
going to get out onto the Hume
highway and realize 20 minutes in
like my little sojourns out
to Mannheim auctions you know
how well does this run
why was it at the auctions you know
this laser that no one's ever seen or driven
how is this thing going to perform
fortunately Andrew was like
it's sweet the motor the box
the clutch he said it feels great
it had a squeaky fan belt when it's cold
but loose fan belt
other than that he said it's running beautifully
and I'm like okay good
so I didn't hear from him much on that day
he was coming back and I thought well
no news is good news you know
if it had busted down the side of the road
I'm the first number he's going to call
so it sounds like it hasn't broken
and the other thing was
the guy that was selling it said oh my brother's
coming up to visit me and he's going to be
he's flying up but he's not sure when he's going back
he could possibly drive it back to Melbourne
so the fact that he suggested that his own brother
drive this car to Melbourne as an option
I thought well that
that shows that he's got some sort of faith
in this thing it's not a
it's not a total bucket you know
so then I'm sitting at home
I get home about an hour before Andrew at my house
I've just backed the caravan back into the garage
and I know Andrew's coming
he says yeah we'll be here about four o'clock on Sunday
Matt's on the phone to me
talking about this voucher and oh yeah
we'll pick you up at 7.30 to go to the restaurant
and I say oh Matt I've got to go
my mate's just rocked up
Andrew's in the street
because it's a blue car
anyway so I hang up
and I go that was Matt
he's on for 7.30
yes
then in the background of that
I'm saying to everyone
we can't wait
Matt has found this silver car he's going nuts on
these black cars turned up
he's inquiring on I'm like
I've never seen so many goddamn SR2s
for sailing my life
Matt's like a madman
on a hell-bent
on getting one of these things
because he's missed out on one already
he wants every SR2 out there
I thought I'd say like
I'm not going to get one
all the ones that'll be out there will be munted
the whole time I'm camping away
all weekend I'm just on my phone
on Facebook and I'm like what's the latest message
what's happening
what do I do
what do I do
Matt I just realised
you've got the perfect reference
from Fast and the Furious just said
you know the part where Johnny Tran
doesn't have the engines in the car
and he's like
there's like a couple of SR20s
a pool of premium one week before race
was
you can turn around you can go
a couple of SR2s a pool of premium
one week before Sakura
before Sakura
100%
they were coming up
they were coming up everywhere
it was nuts
so that's why
obviously that's why
Luca is ringing you saying no don't get silver
Sharon you want me to be saying don't get silver
I'm saying it's a bit boring
we're all missing on the silver car
everyone was shitting on it
it was just like
the silver car
and the black ones
look it's been painted
it's probably going to shrink
you'd rather get that done yourself
you're a good guy you'd rather pay a bit less
and do yourself
I was pulling out all the stops I didn't know what else to say
and the black car sold within a day
and I thought oh fuck he's gone
I bought the black car
I messaged Steph and I said
as he bought that black car and she's like no
and I'm like phew someone else has it's off the mark
it wouldn't surprise me if it was someone
in this group actually who just did it
to get rid of it
Damus how did you know
I thought if we can get through to Sunday night
I think we're safe
because you're back at school Monday
you'll be occupied busy first day of term
but I said to everyone
Monday night is it my house
be here 7 o'clock sharp
do not park anywhere near my house
park up on Spring Road and walk down
because you'll see the cars Matt knows all our cars
gonna see the cars
I got a picture for everyone
and then
I put the car on the angle in the garage
and then I'm like the fluoro lights look shit
so then I was like I need
spotlights so then I remember we had those upstairs
so I bring those down put the spotlights
then I get the silk car cover
and then I'm like we need some music
and then I'm thinking music just Matt like
he loves the midnight we went and saw them twice
together live and then I'm looking through the songs
that the midnight have and I'm like
well this one called deep blue that's appropriate
the cars blue
and then I think well we need some other songs
you can't just have one song and then silence that's a bit orcs
so I was like then I created a playlist
of songs that have blue in the title
just use that a min
it's not hard I was doing it in bed
and then
and then I was like okay I think
good then Rowan turns up a bit earlier
so I'm like Rowan we need to practice
so I'm like okay it's got to be music
garage door
up to three quarters then the lights
thank you Jim Barlow excellent work on the spotlight activation
and then Rowan
does the you know glamorous
motor show lady style
pull the cover off the car and we all say
surprise and I'm like so we practiced
three times I think in the street
and Rowan standing over the other side of the road
like going yep yep good yeah
timing book and I was doing everything because it was only me then
so I'm like I'm like door lights
let me do do do do
okay
we go okay I think we got it down
let's do this so then yeah I rocked up
and in the car Pam's like oh
do you reckon how to let me use the toilet
I'm like I'm like
are we early like we got time
I was worried about missing the restaurant
because we were booked in for 745
for a sitting there turns out it didn't exist
but anyway so
just on that too I heard from
the two other passengers in the car
but they had to call into chemist's warehouse
and we're dancing in the shop for 20 minutes
trying to lay her a wrinkle
because Steph said to me she goes
and I put in the thing you know the what time
we're getting there and it was 10 past seven
and she goes I told you 730 so
they had to delay you till
730 or close too
so Steph knows me quite well
because like you know I'm not a big
shopping person so she's like
I'm gonna go to chemist's warehouse
just to get a cream I'm like yeah alright
and I'm like I'll just sit here
so I just sat in the car
just responding to messages
and things and I was like hey you know
and it turns out like they're just waiting
and I was dancing and I was like to the music that's going on
and just trying to waste time
we've all become really
good lies this week
it's been a web of lies
the entire week
I know Steph's like she's like the most
punctual person I've ever met
like you know she's got
time anxiety to like you wouldn't believe
and I'm like she's not
she's not even worried about time I'm like Steph
are you sure we're gonna make it on time to pick up Ed
you know then it's like
another 10 minutes or so from his place
you know Tommy Park the car
you know this and the other
we're pushing it and she's like no no
she's like are you sure you don't want to put fuel in the car
I'm like no we don't have enough to
have enough to get there
anyway
we're pulling in
and Pam's like oh you know
I better go to the toilet
I'm like well look I can't
you don't know which house it is
like she's never been there before
I'm like I'll come and knock on the door
and say you know I'll show you where the toilet is
anyway
you know you walk out the front door
and you were on the phone
the day before it was like you got to see
because I stopped to see the
the eco-lpi
that was gonna be that was my lure
that was my lure
because it's where we were to go to the toilet
and they were like how do we get in the garage
I'll just show them the Falcon right
yeah absolutely
you had me at eco-lpi
and
so I'm standing at the door
and Pam's like actually
I probably don't need to
I'll tell the rest
but you just got out of the car
what's going on
how do you change from
busting to needing to hold it within a second
it went away
all of a sudden
I just see the garage open
you're like I'll open it
there was a bit before that probably
so I said
we were at the front of the car
can they use your bathroom and I was like yeah you can
but the rest one's quite close
and I was like okay
and I said I'll show you the Falcon
before we go to the Falcon
and you're like eco-lpi
and then
then the big reveal
get back in person Matt
the music
the midnight start up
he's showing me off
he's talked up his ute like you wouldn't believe
and this is the ute that I
you went quiet on
quiet on
he's really rubbing it in
he wouldn't do that
that's not nice I wouldn't do that
I know but I was like what's going on
anyway and then I saw
I saw the fog
I saw the fog light of the car
I know what that fog light
they're pretty unique
they are unique to that car
and I'm like I know what that is
and by the time
I jerryed
the lights came on
and all people were just yelling surprise
and then I even cried in front of people
I don't do that
the cover
got slipped off Jim hit the lights
the music was playing and everyone was just
surprised and I just was like
I think I was just shocked and more than anything
I can't believe you guys saw me cry
I'm so embarrassed
but um
actual emotion
I think
emotion
I think all the emotion
from that week
all the memories and all the emotion
it just hit me
it honestly
it was the nicest thing
anybody has ever done for me
I
cannot thank you enough
I cannot
I
can never repay that
that's
it shows
that I have the best friends in the world
I freaking love you guys
each and every one of you guys genuinely
holds a special place
in my heart
I just couldn't believe it
I couldn't stop sobbing
I don't know what was wrong with me
I can't stop crying
I was just shaking
I think it just hit me
I've never just teared up
like that before in my entire life
so
yeah it was just
people had given you cars before but they were a bit shitter
yeah
they weren't great
and they didn't reveal like that one
no
you did an absolutely amazing job
with that one
it was amazing
I'll do what I can
it was
production or something
it was amazing
waste of talent man
the only thing I do have to say though
is
Maddie I know that you were sobbing because you saw the car
but
I thought that you were sobbing more because all I could hear from
inside the garage was
oh the Ika LPI
the Ika LPI
you didn't see it
there was no Ika LPI
you still haven't
seen Ika LPI
I still haven't seen it
I wasn't really the focus
this week
so now we're going to the restaurant
like Maddie there is no restaurant
pizza for everyone
inside you can
even go hungry
it was the most surreal moment of my entire life
I don't know it's a
freaking laser but it was
the most
I've ever felt
people have cared for me
in my entire life
it shows what
being a good person
and I pride myself
I'm trying to be a really good person
Matthew you are
that's why it happened this way
exactly
if you were a prick
you still would have gone a foreign
if you example what happened to Adrian
you know
you want to make sure there was just one wheel
sitting there
you want your discovery there's what's left
you buy a disco
you're like this is my one
there's just a bit of rust on the floor
there's your disco
that's formally disco
and Maddie it also sort of helped
that the car that you really love
is not that valuable
so that's good
if it was a car on the other side
I think we'd give it back
if you want to be nice
I think we can sell all of our
houses
we can sell all of them
it's a little bit worse
but yeah fun Ed all the best
that was the one conversation I
loved with Ed afterwards
I'm just glad that his car
his dream car is so cheap
it was easy to do
it was painful
I didn't remember saying to you Ed
if I won the lotto I would buy you that
I did mention that to you once
let's hope that still stands
absolutely it stands
does it have to be a real look
or can we just start going down in scale
look I'll take a model
honestly the best thing to have
happened to me it was the most surreal moment
of my entire life
I woke up this morning
I had to pinch myself
do you think it was a dream
this actually happened
what got me the most wasn't just
the car it was seeing all of
you guys there
there were 18 people there last night
18 people
there were a couple that couldn't make it
so
I'm still in the process
of writing thank you messages to people
there's still some signatures
need to go in the glovebox
there's a couple signatures
I think Luca and Emily need to sign it
I think Harley needs to sign it
and Rob
that might be
what I know of I think
I'll be definitely about making them sign the glovebox
but then of course I've never driven this car
Riggles has driven this car I was really keen to hear
from you
how does it drive because you're so intimate
with that model
all rebuild engine
driving away last night
down my street in the blue for the first time
what did you notice
or what did you feel with it
it felt
it felt like my black one
it just felt like it had done
almost 200,000 less
does it feel tighter
than the black car
my car was very tight
I had a little
shocks done everything
it was a very tight car
this one feels exactly like that
the engine is really sweet
the gearbox feels
really nice and loose
but in a good way it just glides into gear
that's fantastic because we couldn't go through a gearbox
rebuild again
no absolutely not
I know where there is one
I know where there is one now
which is fine
yeah correct
the engine is sweet
it revs really nicely
it's punchy and torquey
I didn't thrash it or anything
I just putted it at home
it's all the way down the street
it's all the way
no, it felt
really good
it reminded me of when I first picked up
my black laser
that same feeling
that same feeling
it looked exactly the same
but the factory stereo
and stuff
did you feel that one with the car
by the time you got home
I turned on the corner
this is like home
this is exactly
I was just about to ask that
it felt exactly
like how it should
it did all the right things
didn't have
anything like that
there's a few things I've got to do
which I'm really keen and chomping at the bit
to start doing
big front rims
just for it
I'm really excited to
just give it the many J times
because the interior
is ridiculously good
it's mint
so I'll put my
original SR2 floor mats in it
and
there's a couple of globes
out behind the center stack
but I've changed those in my sleep before
so they're pretty easy to do
but yeah, everything worked
the aircon's ice cold
heater works
it felt like home
it felt like I'd never
I've driven many
lasers of that generation
and 323s for that matter
so I'm very comfortable with that platform
and you know
it's the car I tell everybody
it's the car I feel most comfortable with
and I always have
it's the easiest car to drive
so yeah, got it to mom's place
Alan was there, thank you again Alan
for pushing the cars
so I backed it into a driveway
I'm not going to register it
for a while
I'm going to just wait till it's club plateable
but I'm going to get it all ready to go before then
I didn't check the build date
on it but I think it's an early
issue too
it's an early O2, if it was registered
4th O2 it would be
it's compliance 4th O2 so I think it's probably
a Jan or a Feb or a late O1
build mate
it could be, I couldn't double check last night
I'll have a look at the plates
I'm going to go past to my evening
and just
just have a look
and have a look
so what I'm going to do is
I've already got a few plans
just to tidy it up
I've still got some
permanent on there so I'm going to take it to
my mechanic to get him to look at it
to tell me what it needs
if it's past the road where they recently shouldn't really need much
but in case if it does that way I can say
alright, I'll get that
I want to get a timing belt
water pump for it
and then basically give it a
just paint the roof and the bonnet
and the spoiler and the rear bar
the front bar is actually quite good
pretty good
and I think that's it
I'm just going to enjoy it
and love it to death
and not park it in the same spot
definitely not
it's not going anywhere besides
a parked
place
so that is not the front of my
house
so yeah
I just wanted to thank you guys again
it's
stuff like this doesn't happen for people
especially to me
it just shows
the highs and lows of humanity
some
not
thank you Adrian
took my car from me essentially
and
it took one not
nice person
to bring together a community of the best people
to help out somebody
and
African of you guys
it's been
one of the hardest but also one of the best weeks of my life
so thank you
so thank you guys
welcome
all ahead with
that's not all
you organized this man
honestly
it's phenomenal that you organized it all
I'm happy that everybody said
we all jumped in
I was first
let's do this
it's even thinking that
you're a very nice person
as I said to Matt today
I can't fix a lot of things
in this world
I can't change family relationships
I can't bring back ex-wives
I can't fix
I can't change
health concerns
we might all have
but sourcing a laser SR2
and getting that to work
that I can do
and the positivity you bring to Mattie
absolutely
I appreciate it
I want to give a special shout out
to all you guys
I'll do you last
but I want to give a special shout out to
Laura and Andrew
for going up and getting it
that's their time
they said to me
they said
thanks for
giving us a great weekend holiday in Canberra
I said
you're thanking me
did you spend like
honestly
the nicest humans
they are
thank you
to everybody involved
thank you
David for
putting up with
my phone calls
thank you
Scotty
Jim
Adam
for the messages
just to check in
it's checking in
it's
I know it's not a person
it's not a real death
it meant a lot to me
and you guys knew how much that meant
to me so
thanks for keeping me distracted and talking to me
thanks to my brother
he's had phone calls this week
mate he's been
he's called me more this week than
he's called me in the last month
that's a giant distraction from buying these other things
so
he's messaging me
he goes I'll call him
I'll talk to him
apparently I spoke to him today
and you said this to me as well
and he went to buy the car
and it sold
and you were like yeah I'm the one that bought it
he did say it
because I said I bought it and he goes
oh really? I was almost just like
I was just going to buy it
I was just going to buy this damn thing
and then I bought it
but he's my plan
I started telling him about the plan and he's like
I like it let's do it
he really wanted to be there last night
he was very keen to see this unveil
so when the videos are done
Alan and Adrian he's
very keen to see it
I can say just from looking over
Chad's shoulder just watching Lucas face up
when he saw how you reacted
that was beautiful we watched as well
wow
yeah it's uh
meant a lot so thank you Luke and Emily
love you guys thanks to Steph for putting up with me
for the last freaking week and a half
of this and she's been
I wasn't sure how
Steph would react right because I wasn't
friends with her on Facebook so
I added her
and then I invited her to the group
and I thought is she going to
be on board with this or is she going to be like
another car
another car is replacing that one
and she just wrote back to me
she said oh my god I'm crying
do it you know like
on board you know and I was like okay
if I got the blessing of Steph
shout out to me
and Shaz because I invited her to the group
and Sharon said
I can't believe it oh he's going to be so
wrapped up like
I'm tearing up do it you know I'm on board
you know so I've got Shaz
on board I've got Luke on board I've got Steph on board
alright we're clean this is happening
you're good to go let's do this
unless he buys another car
well yeah Steph was like to me
she knows
I was looking for like an LPG Falcon
to replace the laser
she's like
this is on Friday
after no Saturday
after I come home from helping you
chat and you know
I put my oily clothes in there in the wash
and you know got changed
and came downstairs for dinner
and I'm like so I spoke to the silver guy
car today and she's like
listen you either buy
that or you buy this what are you
going to pick and I'm like
ugh
you know so
apparently she's like
okay she's full later in the wash
she's like you're not having both
and I'm like alright
what was the other option Matty
the blue one
silver
or a gas Falcon
oh yeah Tommy
because Tommy was away with me so he's like
I'll send him another Falcon so Tommy's like
yeah
we should have done that
he was talking
it took a lot of distraction
she was like to me
yesterday she's like
I had to
just kind of lay down the law because
I knew this was happening and she's like
if you would have brought that other car home
I would have killed you
I'm spewing now
we should have got you both
I wrote that in the chat
I said oh my god
he could end up with two of these damn things
and steps away
yeah
stop him
I was like
because obviously the car's in Adelaide
the silver one was in Adelaide and it's like
10 minutes from my brother's place
and she's like
can you tell your brother just to get eyeball it for me
I just want to see if it's real
she's like oh where's the place
I'm like oh it's like
Matt I wouldn't buy a car from there
it's like the Dallas of
she was like really pretty
she's like it's worse than
Brody
she's like you don't know where this car's been
and I'm like
I mean I guess
but then
my next response was like
but Ed just buys random cars from me but he doesn't care
so that was
my response
so I was like
I do care where I buy them from
for the record
just
just for the record
when Edward I first met
I knew a guy that had this old mini
that he was talking up and Ed was like
I'll grab a look at it
it was in the middle of Summerton between two brothels
and he still went there and looked at it
so
to talk about it
I figured if the car's not good
you still leave her happy
100%
it's a good time
so
yeah it was
seeing the amount of effort
and seeing the relief on Steph
she's like I'm just glad this ordeal's over
I was
very much enjoying my beer
after the review
I was like I think he likes it
so
it looks like you're ready for sleep
straight afterwards
I was
it's been an intense week
it's been working
we're all camping
I'm doing all this other stuff
it was just intense
if you just relaxed a little bit Matthew
it just went on
you know the right one will come along
we could have done this at Sakura
I could have organized a nice lunch barbeque
everyone or something
but no
it was perfect
Monday night in the darkness
it was the best
I honestly stopped looking for lasers
Saturday
after I spoke with Steph
and Luca
had told me numerous times in tradytalk
don't buy that car
if you know what I mean
I was like
I'll just wait
I think after that all I was looking at
was LPG Falcons
which is rare for me
I was like
I started playing my switch again
so I was playing Super Mario
and just relaxing
I was like I need to relax before I go back to work
I don't need any of this extra BS
I've got next week to do things
well I'm glad somebody was relaxing
I know
quite literally
even if the pull is here
yeah
exactly
so then
yesterday I was just like
I was just like
here's what it's like
pick up Ed
it'll be a good night
Ed's always down for a free feed
I don't have to pay
I'm tight
but I'm not like total tight
I know I'm just making you laugh
honestly it was
the best surprise ever
best gift ever
let's look at all the cars you've been given
LTD given
but a bit shit of a hand over
month
what was the other one
Ford laser that Pam drives
yeah that's been great
listen to the show
Norma thank you
for giving me your car
what have been at the other
wasn't there another car you got
given the Merc
on 2-4
I would say that was a curse
can we start doing this with someone else instead
yeah
and then
this is the fourth car you've been given
yeah and it's the best one
by far so again guys
thank you so much
I cannot thank you
the biggest of thanks to you
especially just for you
just to pull the pin and say screw it
sometimes you gotta take a punt
but I had a good feeling about this car
from what I saw in the photos
I thought I think this thing's okay
and I was very
sort of relieved when Andrew and Laura dropped it off
and I walked around it with them and I'm looking
at every crevice and under the bonnet and I'm like
I think this is alright
I think we've lucked on
a solid base here
it's a cracking car so thank you
my friend always jokes
my friend Matt always jokes he's a dealer as well
because I'm always on about a clean boot
if the boot in a car
is sort of good
usually the rest of the cars
good
it's my little theory anyway
and I said Matt the boot on this car is beautiful
it's got the original tools and don't know
and the carpet looks like it's never anything on it
and the plastics aren't scratched at all
it's not even a mark
and he goes you and your boots you always love a boot
and I'm like well I think it's a good sign
cause yeah
the car is in it
it's interior wise it's cracking
exterior wise it's 90%
it just needs a bit of paint
but it's never had paint
we walked around it last night under those lights
and it really doesn't look like it's ever had
a panel painted
which is good and as I said
with Canberra cars like my Tarago
it's 80k an hour everywhere
they all get warmed up properly usually
there's no stop-start horribleness
so mechanically it's actually quite kind
to cars coming from Canberra
and no
good climate for cars
yeah I'm upset
it's um yeah
like I've been in Canberra a few times now
it's pretty easy like
to get anywhere you gotta drive a bit
so yeah
it's good
I'm just so thankful to you all
we look forward to seeing its progress
and seeing you through
absolutely I'm gonna take it next week
to go get looked at
just to see what it needs
by the way did you take out insurance on it today
I'm doing that straight after this podcast Edward
it takes me when you're done
and I'll get rid of one
I'm gonna do that straight after this
but yeah honestly guys
thank you so much I honestly can't thank you enough
I don't know how I could ever repay you guys
so thank you
no repay
it's our pleasure
invite the podcast maybe
yeah it's been a big episode
so thank you guys
have a rest
I'm going to
I invited you into the group last night
so you can see all the bullshit
I haven't even looked at it to be honest with you
let's go for a scroll
we'll do some quick plugs before we finish the show
Chad's delivering it
and Magna transmission swaps
he now knows what to do
Nina manual converted
Magna he's your guy
no need any metal or glass
yeah correct
in general
Scotty's golf tip of the week
Scotty's snitches
just to let you know
you're getting a blue laser
yeah thank you
extreme blue
extreme blue
yeah
just snitchin
come and get it
Vienta soon to be ready
Volvo as of today
my first ever one
what do you Volvo driver
Jim's car taking
yes on the
complete waste of 20 million dollars
I'm telling us how to save fuel
I did notice I never seem to
mention servicing your car
we're just going to have a profound impact on whether or not your car uses a lot of fuel
so I would recommend
making sure your car is serviced properly
there you go Jim's tips
advice Jim
David's words of wisdom
I'm not even looking one up tonight
it's very simple
if you get the chance to do something nice for somebody do it
because it's an amazing feeling
yeah
yeah
Adrian's ARB anything you want to plug Adrian
all I'm going to say is
if
if you're listening
if they want to see what's happened
with what we're talking about
there is a video that will be coming
I have something
quite epic planned
so hopefully it does not take too long
a movie-length picture
I don't know if I can get it that far
but I am trying to plan something really big
so
I'll put it online this could go viral
with worldwide laser commuters
that's what's going on
Alan
alright if you
would like to smugly look at your fellow
petrol and diesel commuters
after spending five to six
figures on an EV
you can hit up our good friend
at carloop.com.au
also on facebook at facebook.com
he is a man in the know
when it comes to electric car space
he can let you know which one you should waste your money on
so you can then say I'm saving on fuel
we won't worry about how you
justify
those costs in the first place
destroy the environment
he is also the man in the know
when it comes to the cost of new cars
so hit him up
like and share our facebook pages
castle.com
or wherever you get your podcasting out
check out our merch
go to our print locker store
the link will be in the show notes below
and for all our other episodes
support the show there
or support the show by going to our patreon
go to patreon.com
we are also on
youtube
so we have some previous episodes
some exclusive car videos
and in the near future
a pretty good
little documentary on
is this a documentary or what
it would be a documentary
we would have to have you sit there and tell the story again
and a bunch of different people
kind of you know things
it would be like a netflix one though
it would be like a smoking jacket
I first
had the idea
it was a
last week
you need the Scotch
you need the Scotch in your hands
and because the zoom is with lower
my whiskey is like
the scenes we repeated on multiple times
so you have to say the same thing three times
and everybody
is like
what we call preview
of the same part
that's happened as well
this is going to be a terrible documentary
absolutely
alright guys
take it easy
great week
About this episode
A chaotic, heartfelt Car Torque catch-up blends fuel-price doom, global geopolitics jokes, and a deep dive into what car culture costs and means. The big emotional centerpiece is Scotty’s Laser SR2 being totaled by a stolen Hilux in New Zealand—followed by an enormous community effort to source and deliver a replacement car as a surprise. Alongside that, the crew trades updates on services, restorations, the Melbourne Motor Show (legacy brands returning, stickers back), and a manual Magna swap progressing with expert help.
Original notes
On this episode of Car Torque, Matty, Ed, Alam, Scotty, Chad, David and Adrian discuss their latest updates. Matt then discusses his wild week of emotions with his Laser SR2 being at the centre of discussion and heartache.
The guys of the podcast get everyone involved to help Matt is this very special episode of Car Torque.
Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review!
Please follow this show on Spotify. It really helps!
Support us and become a Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/cartorquepodcast
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Check us out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCybzrcsj4nhADsyfYKtXPzwhttps://
carloop.com.au
David and Eds Podcast Autoretro
https://open.spotify.com/show/5aOi9R8WfqOccEfnm2vslQ
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#Carupdates
#CarQuiz
#2026
#Ford
#fordlasersr2
#laser
#lasersr2
#sr2
#bestfriends
#carcommunity
#suprise
#newcar
#crash
I would personally love to thank all involved for this event. Steph, Pam, Luka, Emily, Sharon, Adrian, Alam, David, Chad, Rob, Harley, Scotty, David Day, Rohan, Kerryn, Patrick. But especially Andrew and Laura for driving to the ACT and Ed for all his organisation and putting this dream together.
Car Torque with Matty J
Matthew Janineh
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