“Pop-up lamps” are headlights that flip up from the car’s front when you turn them on. It’s a styling feature that also helps the car look sleeker when the lights are off.
Arch extensions are the flared pieces around the wheel openings. They make the car look wider and more aggressive, and they can also help fit bigger wheels or tires.
“Dished” wheels have a concave shape where the wheel face curves inward toward the center. This look was especially common on certain classic JDM and European fitments because it emphasizes a low, wide stance and can visually enhance how the wheel sits in the arch.
“Auto” means the car changes gears by itself. Some enthusiasts prefer manual gearboxes for more involvement, so they’re joking about whether the automatic version is a downside.
Term
cobra head
“Cobra head” is a nickname for how the car’s front end looks—like a cobra about to strike. The hosts are describing the aggressive, predatory look of the front styling.
The Toyota Camry is a regular passenger car (a sedan) that many people use for everyday driving. The podcast is pointing out that some versions sold in the U.S. could have matching interior colors, like maroon seats and a maroon dashboard. It’s basically about how the inside of the car can be set up differently depending on the version.
Mileage is how far the car has been driven. Lower mileage usually means less wear on things over time, especially on a car that’s meant to be kept in good condition.
Coilovers are aftermarket suspension parts that can be adjusted to change how the car sits and how it rides. BC Racing is a well-known brand of these parts, and the seller claims they made the car drive better.
The Mark III Supra is a classic Toyota Supra from the early 1980s. The host is saying most surviving examples are being raced hard instead of being kept in great condition.
An analog odometer is the mileage counter that shows the number using traditional mechanical-style digits. Here it’s mentioned because the rest of the dashboard could be digital, but the mileage display stayed analog.
A digital dash is the dashboard display that uses a screen to show things like speed and fuel. Back in the 1980s, it looked very futuristic, but some places had rules about what could be used.
The Citroën BX is a classic French car from the 1980s. Here it’s mentioned because its dashboard used digital displays, but it still kept an analog odometer for legal reasons.
An odometer is what shows how many miles (or kilometers) the car has traveled. A digital odometer shows that number electronically, and the hosts say some countries didn’t allow it yet, so cars kept an analog one.
Cruise control dials are the knobs/buttons you use to set a steady speed while driving. The hosts are just pointing out that the design of those controls looks especially good.
This means the car has a six-cylinder engine where all the cylinders line up in a row. The “2.8-litre” part is the engine’s size, and engines like this are often known for smooth running.
The Ford Capri is a sporty coupe, known for its classic look. The podcast is using it as a personality-style comparison—basically saying it’s a Capri with a more thoughtful vibe. The focus is on what kind of car it feels like, not just the specs.
The Toyota Cressida is a Toyota model from Japan. An “estate” is basically a station wagon version with more room for cargo.
Term
semi trailing
This refers to how the rear wheels are connected to the car. Different suspension designs move the wheel differently, which changes how the car feels and handles.
Term
solid ax
A solid axle means the two rear wheels are connected by one rigid bar. That can make the car feel different over bumps and affects how the wheels keep grip.
The Toyota 2000 GT is a famous classic Toyota sports car. It’s considered special because it’s genuinely fast and rare, and the hosts are talking about how expensive and collectible it is now.
The Lexus LFA is a special, high-performance sports car made by Lexus. It’s known for being very expensive and limited, which is why it gets mentioned in car history and value discussions. The podcast is mainly pointing out how it reached extremely high pricing for a Japanese car.
The “E-Type” is the Jaguar E-Type, a famous classic British sports car. They’re using it as a historical comparison for when the Toyota 2000 GT came out.
“Triple carbs” means the engine uses three carburetors to mix fuel and air. More carburetors can help a performance engine feel sharper and breathe better at higher revs.
A “5-speed gearbox” is a manual transmission with five gears. It can make the car easier to drive fast because you can pick the right gear for the engine’s sweet spot.
“Two litre six” means an engine that’s about 2.0 liters and has six cylinders in a straight line. Six-cylinder engines are often praised for being smooth.
An “offline auction” means the bidding happens in person or not just on a website. You usually have to do more direct checking before you bid.
Term
337 were made
“337 were made” means only a few of that car were built. When a car is that rare, it usually becomes more valuable to collectors.
Term
Joint development
“Joint development” just means two companies team up to work on the same project. Here, Toyota and Yamaha are working together on an engine idea or design.
The Ford Puma is a smaller crossover-type car meant for everyday driving. The podcast mentions a “1.74,” which is likely referring to the engine size of a particular version. They’re basically highlighting a specific, smaller setup of the car.
“4.4” is the engine size, measured in liters. Bigger numbers usually mean more total engine capacity, and the host is doing quick math to relate it to a smaller 2.2-liter figure.
It means the car’s body doesn’t twist much when you drive over bumps or corner hard. If you remove the roof, the car can become less rigid, so builders often add extra metal to keep it sturdy.
Car
Pagani Codalunga
Pagani is a boutique supercar maker, and the Codalunga is one of their very special, limited cars. It’s the kind of car people talk about because it’s rare and built for serious speed and drama.
Limited production means the manufacturer builds only a small number of units, usually to keep exclusivity and manage demand. For supercars, it often drives higher prices and makes the car harder to buy new.
The Pagani Zonda is one of Pagani’s most famous supercars. The hosts are saying Pagani kept building it for a long time because it was still in demand.
Concept
Pagani's past
They’re talking about Pagani’s history—how the company kept making the Zonda for a long time. The idea is that if people still want a car badly enough, the company may keep it going.
Horacio Pagani is the person who started Pagani and helps design and build their supercars. In this bit, they compare his attention to detail to a spider carefully repairing its web.
Term
cobweb
They’re using “cobweb” as a metaphor. The point is that if you knock a spider’s web down, the spider can rebuild it so it looks perfect again the next day.
The radiator helps keep the engine cool by moving hot coolant through the car. If something goes wrong there, the engine can overheat, which can be serious on a long trip.
A jump pack is a small portable battery you can use to start your car if the battery is dead. You hook it up to the battery terminals and it gives the engine enough power to crank.
A spare petrol can is just an emergency container of gas. People carry it on trips in case they run low, but you have to be careful it doesn’t leak or smell up the car.
Term
overfilled it
If you put too much fuel in, it can spill or leak through the tank’s vent system. That can cause a strong petrol smell and wet messes where you wouldn’t expect them.
Fuel lines are the hoses or metal pipes that carry gasoline from the tank to the engine. If they leak, you can smell petrol and create a fire risk, so checking them is a sensible troubleshooting step. In this segment, the host checks the fuel lines because the car still smells like fuel.
A pinhole is a tiny hole that can leak fuel even when the container looks intact. Because it’s small, the leak can be easy to miss at first, but it can still create a persistent petrol smell and potentially dangerous fumes. The host uses it to explain why the spare fuel can was “constantly leaking.”
Battery storage is a home battery that saves electricity for later. Instead of using power from the grid all day, you can charge the battery overnight and use it during the day when electricity costs more.
Heatable is the company the host is talking about. They sell home energy upgrades like batteries, solar, and EV charging so you can lower your energy bills.
An EV tariff is an electricity pricing plan that usually makes charging cheaper at certain times. It helps you charge your car (or a home battery) when electricity is less expensive.
Peak rates are the times when electricity costs more. The speaker is saying they use their stored energy during those expensive hours instead of buying electricity at the higher price.
Spy photos are pictures of a car prototype taken while it’s out testing. If they’re “official,” the company itself released them to tease the new model.
Place
Gaiden
Gaiden is referenced as the location the speaker visited to drive Jaguar prototypes and to see how the car is camouflaged. In this context it functions as a named facility/area tied to Jaguar’s development and testing activities.
Camouflage means hiding what the final car will really look like while it’s being tested. They use wraps and other tricks so people can’t easily tell the real design.
Most cars steer with the front wheels only. Four-wheel steering lets the back wheels help too, which can make turning easier and the car feel more stable at speed.
This means the car is using a high-voltage electrical system, like the battery and electronics that run an electric motor. It’s different from normal 12-volt car wiring and needs special safety systems.
A mule is basically a test car. Engineers use an existing car as a stand-in so they can try new parts and setups without waiting for the final prototype.
They’re talking about using an older Jaguar XJ as a “donor” test car. The goal is to mount new parts onto an existing body so engineers can test them sooner.
Crash testing is when engineers deliberately crash a prototype in a controlled way. It helps them understand how the car behaves in an accident and whether the structure is safe.
Blown molded plastic is a way of making lightweight plastic parts by shaping heated plastic inside a mold. They’re saying the disguise panels are made this way, not out of fiberglass.
CFD modeling is a computer simulation of how air moves around the car. They use it to check that the extra panels they add for disguise won’t fly off while the car is being tested.
Anchor points are strong spots on the car body where you can bolt something down securely. Here, they’re used to attach the disguise panels firmly so they don’t fall off during testing.
Term
camouflage just
They’re talking about hiding the real design during testing. The goal is to make it harder for people to figure out what the car actually looks like from spy photos.
It just means how long the car is expected to be worth using for testing. After that, the team stops using it as a test car and may store it or keep it as a museum piece.
Term
fleet list
A “fleet list” is basically the company’s official list of cars they own or manage. Auditors look at it to make sure the vehicles are accounted for correctly.
Term
PT-101
PT-101 is likely a project or test-car code name. It helps the team track a specific prototype within their testing and paperwork.
Place
Gayden
They’re saying the car will end up at a museum location called “Gayden.” It’s where people can go see it.
The Ford Falcon is a Ford car model name that has been used for different versions over time. In the podcast, they’re describing it as big and memorable, comparing it to the Millennium Falcon. The point is that it’s a standout-looking car.
Term
winter testing on frozen lakes
Winter testing on frozen lakes is a specialized proving method where cars are evaluated on low-grip surfaces. Frozen ice allows engineers to study traction limits, stability control behavior, and handling in conditions that would be hard to reproduce safely on normal roads.
Pre-prod cars are early versions of a new model made for testing. They’re not fully “finished,” so some systems might not work perfectly yet. That’s normal during development.
The powertrain is the “stuff that makes the car move.” It includes the engine or electric motor and the parts that send power to the wheels. If it’s not working right, the car won’t drive the way it should.
HVAC systems are the car’s heating and air-conditioning controls. They manage things like temperature and airflow inside the cabin. On early prototypes, the system can act weird if it hasn’t been tuned yet.
Moisture sensors detect how humid the air is. The climate system uses that info to decide how hard to cool or dehumidify. If the prototype isn’t calibrated, it can overcorrect instead of fine-tuning.
A target temperature is the “desired” cabin temperature the climate system is trying to reach. If the prototype control isn’t tuned, it may not gently adjust—it may just blast heat or cooling all the time.
Electric seat controls are the buttons/switches that move a power-adjustable seat. If something like a cover strap gets caught on the mechanism, it can make the seat move when you don’t want it to.
G-forces are a way to describe how hard the car is accelerating or slowing down, compared to normal gravity. During strong braking, the forces can be big enough to make things move or tug in unexpected ways.
John Darlington is the top engineer on the project. That usually means he helps make sure all the engineering work comes together to meet the car’s targets.
The Jaguar F-Pace is Jaguar’s SUV model. They’re saying that, like the F-Pace, newer versions tend to feel more normal and accepted as the next generation approaches.
LIVE
i'm johnny smith i'm a reporter and this is smith and sniffer podcast in which two friends talk about cars and many other things.
Yeah,
welcome once again to whatever this is before we go any further and we're doing this now so we don't forget we need to tell you about a very special live show that we have coming up which is in the united america's of states.
In augusts we in america we're going over there in america and we're going to the pebble beach concourse of though it's now just sort of called monterey car week isn't pebble beach is part of that so we're going there.
For things that will become clear but while was there our friends at the smoking tire podcast and i'm gonna say america's leading car podcast and certainly the best and they occasionally do live shows like we do so they are doing one down in Irvine in southern california near to los angeles and we are going to join them on stage and do a little sort of.
Collab can we call it that i suppose we can't live on stage shindig i'd sooner call it a shindig i think a shindig we just spoke to matt and zack from the smoking tire the other day about what we're going to do and then we've had some ideas around but generally it's going to be.
Four mates have a chat on stage will we'll do some stuff with the audience as well it's a place called the Irvine improv so it's an improv club which i suppose seems appropriate yeah i think so Tuesday the eighteenth of august at eight o'clock in the evening.
Apparently so was that from smoking tire has found this venue because it's got plenty of room for people also plenty of room for parking which is very important in southern california so we hope if you are american and you are in the california area california is a big place isn't i suppose southern california but then or if you're a tourist is coming for car work yes exactly then and yeah.
If you're sticking around in the u.s. after car week in your fancy heading south and coming to see us yeah so Tuesday the eighteenth of august go to smith and sniff dot com and on our live shows pay to the link to the tickets or you can just look up improv dot com.
Is the club website and they've got the tickets for sale there just look for the smoking tire logo and we will be on stage with matt and zack on the eighteenth of august so hopefully we'll see some of you there.
Matt and zack and and smith and sniff i need to say chris and smith and i was gonna say i don't know who that is my dad because you were gonna say crack where that's why i'm a second crack.
Don't tell them don't tell no you're gonna spring that on them while i'm well we're in a plugging room as well don't forget festival the exceptional is happening in wait hang on next week next weekend the twenty fifth saturday twenty fifth of july festival the exceptional we're on stage they're doing.
Stuff various things a chat quiz some other bits and pieces and we'll be wandering around the show all day as well my favorite car show of the year as i said last week so yeah wait for that so if you have not got a ticket for photo and you would like one go to the haggarty website or again there's a link to it on our live shows page yeah hope to see you there just signed off some of the visuals of the silver pairs on the eagle quest in readiness for the show so.
Is it gonna be ready yes she'll be ready for the ball it's gonna look exceptional good for the only exceptional event if you know what i mean yeah that's like mismatch that and as i sort of mentioned i think last week i i hope to be there in some thing that's not.
I mean i have it's a long story but i'm thinking i may purchase a car especially for the event i might pop onto gumtree and pick up a mountain bike with no name just for the hell of it so if i can pop some big fat wheelies speaking of which thank you to everybody who got in touch after i said i need to buy a bike with help.
Advice links to bikes for sale all sorts of things but very useful i was going to say a particular thank you and i've gone and forgotten the name of his bike company which is a guy called site earner but i can't remember he makes bikes he has a bicycle company and he got in touch and he was straight away he went look i'm not trying to sell you a bike because his bikes are very nice real kind of proper kids i don't need that.
But he was very quick to say you do not need what i'm selling but i know about bikes and i'll give you a bit of a steer but there are there are a few other people as well we're really really helpful but.
Second hand bike it's like buying second hand cars people are strange and flaky and put up an advert and then go on holiday for two weeks and all sorts of stuff just exhausting.
And i've finally found someone who didn't seem to be mad but they live about 45 minutes away but i was like no i'll make the journey i'll go and see this bike they got for sale it looks all right yes and then i just it was like.
I just kind of gave in i just couldn't be bothered trawling anymore and i'd seen the castle on the french sort of sports goods shop.
They sell basically own brand bikes so that's not no name then it's not known because of course a lot of other people a lot of people got in touch and went well it's gotta be a no-name full suspension mountain bike right and i was like i suppose yes i'm committing to the bit.
Though i don't live on a canal yeah it should be but that's like i did see a couple actually on facebook marketplace of course but they were yeah they were not quite right because one of the things that the side and a couple of other people said is make sure you get a bike it's big enough.
Yeah leggy chap yeah you don't want to be riding a very small bike and now a lot of bikes have 29 inch wheels which is.
You know stuff of science fiction when i was last into bikes so anyway basically i gave in i looked at these decaf bikes they're not very expensive i sent one to site and he went i said you're gonna tell me the crap i mean you went no they're fine for what you need to absolutely fine.
Just don't get the base model get one up it's got much better components on it so i did that and it turned up two days later see when i'm poor brand new point box fresh was like 300 quid 330 quid or something it wasn't you know as i've discovered you can spend car money on a bicycle yes i didn't want to do that i mean obviously you can get a car for 330 quid but not a brand new one this this is a brand new box fresh.
Bike it's it's great i mean you know somebody's not ridden a bike of his own for years it's just the novelty of being able to do it it's mega it's got big wheels yeah it's got a bell came with some lights got a bell yeah.
It's got a bell came with a bell didn't know it came with a bell i was sort of slightly delighted about that because actually a bell is quite useful isn't it when you're riding on cycle paths and things like that of which they're quite a few yes oh no it's you want to give a little little ding little tingle people that you're coming.
Bell equipped bell equipped exactly bell on board we used to bell delete on some of our bikes because we thought that we reached an age where they we thought they were a bit sad so we would remove the yes.
I've got you know absolutely there were certain things on bikes that suddenly you know you get to a certain age where they look really spotty and you know i did do on my new bike is i took the wheel reflecters off because i thought they were a bit dorky and my wife saw them on the side and she went oh you still need to fit those and i was like.
Oh no i'm not putting Michael so uncool it's funny i for safety when i went down to Somerset the other week for a few of friends funeral.
I borrowed my dad's bike because my son had his bike he's got a really good bike he's got a white bike and not the color really good that the company know that the people that went to court with them.
Hold what's his name exactly your best friend mr jack and all my mate yes the jaguar skidder.
Jaguar skidder is quite a good DJ name if he was ever DJ because he is a bit.
I'm sure he's a bad DJ yeah yeah so that's interesting yeah i found him a second hand one a really immaculate second hand one this is for his birthday last year but.
The reason why i'm telling you this is because i was like i'd like to go out for a little ride and i didn't take my bike so my dad was like oh my.
And dad's one of these people that has worn out his bike probably three or four times so he's it's had all new bearings and gears.
Multiple times like these people you meet at car shows where they said oh yeah well i've restored this car three times because i've had it since 1975.
And you're like wow it's had the three rebuilds in your possession as i was riding off on dad's very high bike it has a has a somewhat Netherlands stance to it which is good for your back.
I looked down and i realized he'd fitted a bell off one of my childhood bikes before giving it away so it had a really old bell i immediately went oh my gosh i haven't seen that for years and it was batman.
It had the bat symbol on the top i was going to say did it have like a picture of Optimus Prime on it.
It was batman but it was the first batman so it was about Michael Keaton batman.
Oh not an Adam West batman no no i'm not that old.
But you can actually imagine Adam sort of a bedraggled Adam West on a no nameful suspension mountain bike.
I also but i don't know Michael Keaton on a mountain bike as well because he's quite he's quite a cool guy.
Yes now the guy that played the Joker what was he it wasn't Bob Hoskins who was it.
He's not a Joker sorry the penguin the penguin.
Oh Jack Nicholson.
Yeah Jack Nicholson is he the first penguin.
Oh damn we're no good at bat knowledge is awful.
I don't know i feel like we've slipped into we've gone into our old people's old people's home mode.
What was he who you know the man with the thing with the hair who.
The penguins very greasy filthy looking hair well which is similar to the Keith Ledger's Joker hair.
That's reminiscent of no nameful suspension mountain bike guy i would say yes isn't it.
Yes yeah well i think Keith Ledger's hair had a bit too much body to it for full no nameful suspension mountain bike guy.
Okay but it's in the same spectrum definitely.
Same milk i think if he's ledger he's ledger joker moved on to a canal boat where the shower is weak and at shoulder height.
His hair would become much more length quite quickly.
Sad water pressure is very very irritating.
Sad water pressure is terrible isn't it.
It's always when you've paid quite a lot of money for a hotel that's the worst bit.
The first thing i wanted to talk to you about was the chorus of the dead.
I've been followed several times by the chorus of the dead and this morning i was followed by the chorus of the dead.
Because i had i realized i woke up and i had no milk and my kids are teenagers and lazy and they are still in bed.
Which is why i haven't got any coffee for the first time on this podcast in a long time.
Because my coffee grinder will wake too many people up so i've had to boycott my coffee.
I quickly walked to the little shop in the village to get some milk and something else.
And there was loads of cars because there's been a closed road and massive diversion.
Anyway i have to walk on the road at a certain section over a bridge.
And as i was walking trying to stay to the side so i didn't hold any cars up i could hear this.
And i realized because i was trying not to look around too much with my shopping tote.
I realized it was actually an electric Honda that was making that mandatory noise that they make.
And then on the way back another car but this one time it was a Tesla that was right behind me.
And i realized it's more stressful being followed slowly followed by an electric car that is like a really loud piston engine car.
Because in the supermarket yeah just it's that noise and that's a questioning noise.
It's like we're going to suck your soul if we get close to you and i'm pretty sure you haven't locked your front door.
It's so it's so seeds of doubt.
They're slightly flat aren't they so they sort of have this doom-laden minor key sort of quality to them.
Yes it's yeah have you checked your testicles for lumps.
And you're like come on actually walking back from the shop thank you.
Why are they not you can program these things why are they not putting important public health messages into electric car noises.
So it's not just going oh it's going oh if you find blood in your stalls go and see your GP.
And then you know but mix it up obviously it's not just so it's not repetitive because people start to ignore repetitive warnings.
And it can be happy too.
It could be couldn't it could just dispense little bits of trivia.
Did you know the origin of since swithins day and you go oh I didn't actually know thanks for telling me.
What about I thought they would just go I feel like it's chorus like trolling hits.
Oh I bet your flies around and beat you up.
And then the one the other day when it was very very hot and I was wearing a blue linen shirt and I was absolutely paranoid about having a wet back.
Like you know there's a there's a wet patch on your back but you don't really know if it's there or not.
It was just like it's quite hard to check.
Yes in a subtle way.
Yes.
But every time I was near a reflective surface I was just trying to sort of catch a glance to make sure it didn't look like I sort of had a huge rush test on my back.
Because because it was extremely hot.
We'll come on to that in a minute.
But well yeah all I was going to say but to end this conversation was I realized that the Honda in particular genuinely sounds like somebody is whispering hair to you.
And I realized the person driving the Honda that was slowly tailgating me on foot this morning had a fantastic head of hair.
And I think I think it was it was trying to put me down because I'm I'm a folliculary challenge with male pattern baldness.
And I thought I'm not I'm not going to stoop to this.
I'm absolutely happy with I'm happy with the shape of my head given that I've lost my hair in certain places.
So actually you can whisper hair out me all you like.
I'm not I'm not playing.
That's a terrible as a terrible worry for any chap isn't it that you will lose your hair but not that in itself but that you have a weird shaped head.
Yes.
Don't suit being bald.
Yes.
It does happen.
And there are some people with prominent figures with no hair who you can't quite imagine what they would be like with hair.
I'm going to use because this was my segue.
There is a we saw it last year at Goodwood the Koenigsegg Sadez Spear which I kept calling Sadez Spear.
Sadez Spear when I saw it.
Sadez Spear.
And I realized that Koenigsegg master Christian.
He is a hairless man.
And I don't know what he would look like with hair.
Can you imagine a full head Christian Koenigsegg.
No and it's the same as like Patrick Stewart.
Oh yeah.
A good example as well of just that he is a bald man and and that's fine.
It was almost be disorientating if he had hair.
Yeah.
I just don't know what.
No.
It's very true.
So as regular listeners will know we are sponsored by the nice people at Car and Classic.
A veritable trove of treasures both in their classifieds and their auctions.
So every week on this podcast one of us picks a car they think the other would like.
And in a mythical world we are using our mythical billions to buy it for the other person as a thoughtful present.
So Johnny this week I've gone I think a little bit off piece but not that much.
I just have a look at that.
This is my gift to you this week.
Oh hello.
It is a 1984 Toyota Celica Supra.
So yes it is pop up lamps.
Those sort of slightly not squared off but a little bit squared off big arch extensions.
Those wheels as well which Toyota put on Celicas and Supras and they somehow made their way onto some Lotus XLs as well.
Those wheels which I was thinking.
I really like them.
They're quite dished.
They're a good design of Allo.
This is an 84 Celica Supra.
Gosh this looks immaculate.
It's an auto.
I don't know if I'm marking it down for being an auto or not because it is a bit of a GT car isn't it really?
Oh my gosh Richard you could mark it down for being an auto but you need to mark it up for the majesty of the cobra head.
Wow.
This is part of the attraction.
It is from an era when we were almost at peak JDM cobra head and my goodness that thing is rearing up and spitting on every journey.
It is such a cobra head.
That's amazing.
It's like a robotic cobra head I think as well.
Yes.
It's an incredible thing.
It's also from that era of Japanese car I think particularly the Japanese car makers really went for this where if they decide to give it as in this case blue seats.
Yes.
It would also have a fully blue plastic dashboard.
Yes.
They wouldn't compromise.
It was most striking when you see like sort of American spec Camry's and they would have maroon seats but then a maroon fully maroon dashboard.
Yeah.
That's where I think Euro makers would leave it black.
Yeah it is isn't it because then presumably if you did you got to use different colours in the mould.
It's just faff but no so the interior is comprehensively blue.
Yeah.
The amazing thing about this car is that it only has about 34,000 miles on it.
Gosh that is amazing.
That cobra head has got an overdrive switch on it.
Stone the crow.
Yes I know.
It's good isn't it.
And look at the seats.
Seats are good.
Wow.
It's been lightly and sympathetically adjusted so it has BC racing coilovers which the seller says significantly improved the drive.
And it's had various other bits and pieces.
New fuel pump, new fuel filter, new battery, new fuel, full stainless steel exhaust, bespoke sound sign system.
It's kind of different steering wheel and I can't read the make of the steering wheel is it?
It is a nadi wheel and apparently it was made to order in Italy but the original steering wheel comes with the car.
Okay.
If you're a purist you can refit that.
I mean it's 35 grand near as damn it so it's not cheap but it is.
We are into finding another territory here aren't we so I think this is a bit special.
You will not see another one of those on the road on your average journey or indeed find another one.
It's a high spec car this.
Overdrive cruise control and air conditioning on what's this 1984 you say?
Air conditioning in something that's not a Rolls Royce in 1984 really quite swishy.
In this country obviously in the US and Japan quite commonplace but here that was still a bit.
That's a bit fancy.
I like this.
I was quite taken with that.
Original paintwork throughout I've just been scanning 46 photos of this bad boy and I've been zooming in around like the sunroof and the rear arches because I love the arches on these.
I cannot see a blemish on it.
What's quite sad is most of the these that I see these days that you know the Mark III Supra is around the banger track.
They still get banger raced.
Which is just unbelievable really.
Oh my gosh the digital dash rich.
I buy it just for the digital dash.
It's got real.
It's got real airwolf style grid in the background of the LCD LCD.
I think it is.
Yeah I was trying to do something with graphics to look like digital instruments of cars from the 80s.
I was looking at a few of them and it's funny how a lot of them do have that grid background.
It was just sort of an obligatory 80s futuristic thing.
Graph paper.
And here it is.
Graph paper.
It's sort of graph paper.
You notice it has digital speedo, digital bars for temp and fuel and then this brilliant sort of arc of a rev counter that's also digital.
But the odometer is still analog.
I did see that.
Which looks slightly incongruous and it was the same on Montego's and things with digital dash.
There's a really nice chap who came to our live show in Belfast who brought his Citroen BX with the digital dash.
Yes what was that called?
Which he let me sit in.
Digit.
That's right the digit.
And that had an analog odometer as well but also a digital one.
And he explained to me that the reason is because at that point the authorities in many countries had not authorised the use of digital odometers.
So that's why like this Supra still has an analog one because digital ones hadn't been passed in all countries as legal.
Citroen bless them went well we'll do both then screw you.
But this is an example of where they just went we'll stick with what we've got.
But then there's also got a digital clock as well within the instrument pack on this Toyota.
It's mega.
I mean there's a lot to like.
The cruise control dials are to behold.
So much.
So much.
It's just it's a beautiful period piece.
And also let's not forget it's got a 2.8-litre straight six.
It's a lovely engine.
This is like a sort of thinking person's Capri really isn't it?
Oh gosh this should be so much better than a Capri.
I like a Capri guys.
I do.
I've never owned a Capri.
I've come close to owning my Tornus GXL that I once owned.
It's just sort of a Capri.
But this is a better car than a Capri.
I would say so.
I would say so.
I'm really quite taken by this.
I mean like you say it's toppy.
Money wise it's toppy.
Yeah but it is you know it's if someone will want this because otherwise you know
one won't come around again for ages like this.
So no it's a bit special that and I do find them actually you know
there's quite a handsome car.
Yeah you could so use that too.
You could so completely use that.
You got me scanning.
This is the proper car in classic.
Once you're hooked in with the gateway drug which is a friend sends you a link.
Yes.
I'm now in and I'm now looking at Bloody's Toyota Celica lift backs and there's
an incredible bloody Cressida estate.
Oh I love those Cressidas.
Oh gosh.
The circular lights.
I assume that it's got it's yeah it's not some the suspension on that's that
it's not just a is it a solid ax on there or it's I just according to this
it's no semi trailing.
Yeah I was going to say thought it would be but like a like a BM or something
so yeah goodness gracious me it's is it so you could say it's expensive on the
other hand you could say it's the thinking man's 2000 GT couldn't you.
Oh yes the thinking that the 2000 GT you could use every day.
Exactly.
What are 2000 GTs worth now are they.
I think I'm right in saying they became the first million dollar Japanese car or
million pound Japanese car that probably similar money to Lexus LFA's.
I would want to say.
Where are they that's sort of hundreds aren't they right.
I'd always thought about the 2000 GT is that obviously it's lovely and interesting
and all the rest of it.
Yeah it's only like a two litre I bet that dog's slow.
Well I don't know because the thing is they came out around the time of the E type
you know just a few years after the E type which is one of the things I think
they modeled everything on.
I bet you a 2000 GT engine on triple carbs with the 5 speed gearbox.
I bet it could almost out hustle a 3.8 Jag in terms of refinement and.
Yeah but I just think.
I love to find out.
There ain't no substitute for cubes if you're going against a 3.8 litre Jag.
True.
Two litre.
I mean I bet it's lovely that all two litre six was developed with Yamaha.
There is one on car and classic.
Is that?
There's a 2000 GT.
How much?
It says price on application.
It's an offline auction.
Oh for God's sake.
I'm just trying to work out what I think it's in Japan.
Yes it's in Japan for sale.
Wow.
Yeah they didn't make many.
If I always forget they didn't make many.
337 were made.
Was it?
Yeah between 1967 and 1911.
Crikey.
Okay well.
Joint development with Toyota and Yamaha.
You are right.
That was one of those weird, I wrote a little thing about it a while ago.
Yamaha's occasional forays into car engines.
There was that and then that lovely little 1.74 in the Ford Puma.
Oh yeah.
There was a Yamaha Colab and then that V8 the Volvo used for a bit was a Yamaha effort as well.
I'd love that car.
I would love that engine.
I think I've talked about it on previous casts.
I really want that Volvo V8.
I'm not interested in the car it's in.
I just would like one of those engines on a pallet so I can just try store it for another project on another day please.
Try to remember if I've ever driven anything with that engine in it.
4.4 wasn't it but quite compact.
4.4 yes.
Yes.
Which 4.4 of course is twice 2.2 so it's quite insane.
Oh my god yeah.
Do the math yeah.
There's a 2000 GT for sale in Belgium by the looks of it.
Let's go.
And it is.
I like Belgium.
If it was for sale in the country I don't like it.
I just won't go.
You won't catch me there.
It's just over 800 grand.
So yeah I was going to say they've hovered around a million quid for a while.
I would say LFA's are probably a little more than that now.
I think there's a problem though because famously they made I think just two 2000 GT convertibles.
Yes.
For the Bond film you only live twice and it's the reason they had to do this I think.
It's because they were going to live twice.
Yes.
So they wanted one for each life.
Connery couldn't fit in the coupe because he was I don't know how tall Sean Connery
was but tall enough that he couldn't you know he's a big guy as well I guess.
He just couldn't sit until they chopped the roof off.
I think you and I both being around sort of six foot three.
Yeah.
May struggle to drive the car we're going to Belgium to buy.
Well that's a shit.
Isn't it?
You really know how to shrink it.
Sorry I just oh hey look we go and buy it and we cut the roof off and we go full Bond spec.
Yeah.
Which my work hang on a little 2000 GT.
Anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah here we go look the car was customized into a convertible in just two weeks because
Sean Connery was six foot two and couldn't comfortably fit in the coupe.
Oh gosh.
Only two convertibles are ever made so there we go.
Oh gosh.
Wow I bet that had some sharp edges on it in real life.
I bet.
If it didn't do we thought maybe not incredibly torsionally stiff but never mind.
There we go.
Well talking of cars with the top chopped off.
Yes.
That's almost a smooth segue onto one of the cars that caught one's eye at Goodwood recently.
Ah yes.
And the car in question it's just because I think it's got one of those funny names.
I don't know it makes me giggle it might not make anybody else giggle but it reminds you
have to say it in a certain baddies voice.
Fool how dare you think you can beat me in my Codalunga speedster.
Oh.
Pagani Codalunga.
The only person who's worth challenging me is the Valelunga from Dita Masso.
Valelunga.
My father Valelunga will rise up from the ashes.
Which is your favourite of the lungas?
Pick your lunga please gentlemen.
I can't think of any lungs so that's it.
It's just one V1.
I guess the Pagani was...
The Codalunga.
Do you like the way it looks?
Well it was on display in this kind of toothpaste coloured green.
Which I think was a very high metallic and pearl.
It looked quite something.
I mean I thought it was cool.
My son, because I went with my son this year and just let him dictate where we were going to go.
Spent a lot of time in the paddock of the supercars.
I did add a couple of apostrophes to all of the banners with a sharpie pen.
It was very cool.
I think it looked really cool.
And then I went on the press release and it says...
On wheels.
I thought I was going to say with prices starting from none of your business.
I like the fact that it just says limited production of five all sold with prices starting from.
Why doesn't it just say with prices starting from not going to tell you because all sold?
Irrelevant.
That's right.
You can't have one.
Except if we look at Pagani's past and the fact that they seemingly couldn't stop making the Zonda.
In fact they may still be making it today.
We just don't know because it seems to be the unending car.
Yeah.
So I sort of feel like when they go limited to five units apart from the sixth one that we're just making at the moment.
And of course if you want the seventh or eighth, we're very welcome to them.
Just not the ninth.
Someone's already spoken for that one.
Cheers.
They don't seem to have enough self-control when it comes to this stuff.
Did you know...
It would be like you know you fetch up and you're Lewis Hamilton or someone.
But they'll do you a special.
Did you know that it's because Horatio is a huge admirer of spiders?
And the reason for that is because if you walk past a spider's cobweb and you just bat it away with your hand.
You know the next morning it's back and perfect.
The spider's been at all night just repairing it making sure that you'd never know.
Yes.
That's what Horatio does with all of his products.
They're industrious aren't they spiders?
They are.
They're incredible.
So there are a hundred percent survival rate of Zondas.
That's almost a fact.
Because whatever happens to any of the Zondas, Horatio will sneak over, fly over and work tirelessly to make sure it's perfect.
Like a spider's web that you've carelessly swept out the way.
He's a cool guy Horatio Pagani but his name particularly when we've been saying it quite a bit just in this section of the podcast.
I always think of like sort of a low Horatio gearbox and I can't sort of unhear the fact he's got ratio in his name.
Oh yes.
The ratios of Horatio.
Horatio's ratios.
Yes.
He has a hillclimb car so he just goes.
Oh my gosh.
Can you imagine Horatio's hillclimb?
Or a high hillclimb.
Because we both were at the festival speed but separately this year because we weren't making videos for Goodwood.
So you went with your lad on Thursday and I just went on a sort of on a social call on Sunday.
It was delightful and it was so delightful to be not working because you could actually just enjoy it.
But it was also so hot that every time I decided to go for a wander to the other side of the site I gave up.
Did you?
I just because yeah because I had the sanctuary.
If I was a guest of Bentley very kindly invited me down and said we have this hospitality which turned out to be right by a really nice bit.
Just sort of just down from Malcolm.
So you got this really good view sort of all the way down the hill and then you could see up into into the corners.
So it was a primo spot and they had cold towels later on as well.
You could just get a cold towel and put it on your neck.
This is why I mentioned earlier on one of the reasons when I was going wandering and sort of giving up and going so hot partly was because it was like we for the last five years.
We did a lot of walking at Goodwood with our film crews to go and do videos.
And we always spent a lot of time crossing those quite sweaty bridges because they have the bridges over the over the hill and somehow it's because you're exerting yourself to climb the steps.
They're enclosed which seems to just trap in warmth.
There's always a large gentleman who somehow manages to wipe himself on you as you're walking up.
And they're just sort of a bit clammy.
Clammy bridge.
I was getting towards one of those clammy bridges.
I just getting towards one of the clammy bridges and I went, I don't have to go over there.
I don't have to be anywhere.
No.
No, I'm going to go.
I'm going to turn around and go back.
But it was also because of the blue linen shirt.
I was really worried about getting.
You were linen.
Back breakthrough.
Yeah, just linen.
Well, linen's good.
Yeah.
Light blue.
I should have sought out a charcoal linen or something like that for a high heat environment, but I didn't think it through.
I wore it.
I mean, yeah, I wore a white t-shirt which went a little bit brown around the neck and it looked like I had a fake tan.
But it's not.
It was because of all of the dust settling on my clammy sun cream clad skin.
So yeah, I did a lot of walking with Wesson.
We drove down there in an old car and everything.
Oh yeah, that's the thing you didn't even have the recourse of.
That's the other thing.
I really let the side down.
I didn't go for big walks because it was too hot.
I also, at the last minute, chickened out of driving down in my Honda Beat because of, well, I'll tell you why.
Tell me why.
It wasn't the heat.
Right, because, you know, sometimes around good with the traffic can be really bad.
And I thought, what's going to happen here is cut to me sitting in the beat with the roof down in blazing sunshine for like three and a half hours or something like that.
The previous week, I had been to see a dermatologist to have some moles checked.
He said to me, you're okay.
I see nothing of concern here at the moment.
However, you, your skin and your coloring, you are someone who is at very high risk of skin cancer.
So, you know, just be aware and keep an eye on things with this thing.
And I was like, I said, oh, I keep out of the sun.
And he was like, well, you know, that's fine.
But then I was thinking, I keep out of the sun, except when I'm driving to the Festival of Speed in a soft top car where I don't tend to put the roof up because it's quite cramped.
And I've, you'll be proud of me here.
I've never checked if the aircon works in that car.
Oh, God.
Because it's 35 years old.
So, you know, I just don't, well, I've even driven it like five times with the roof up.
Oh, as long as it's not raining, the roof is down on that car.
Yeah, good.
Because it's just nicer.
It's one of those cars where it's better with the roof down.
But yeah.
Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like with the roof up.
It's fine.
You can do it.
I mean, I had to do it when it's rain, but it's like, it's just, you know, obviously, suddenly from having infinite headroom, you have very little.
It's quite cozy.
So, yeah, but I just thought, I'm going to bake to death slash get, you know, get some sort of melanoma.
So I chickened out last minute and felt like a traitor to cars because what's the point in having an interesting car if you don't take it to places where
other people who like cars are going to be.
But anyway, that was my decision.
I let Wesson choose what car we were going to go down.
I said, let's go down in an old car because we'll leave earlier on the Wednesday and we'll cruise down.
And yes, it's a long drive, but it's a good long drive in terms of, you know, you can just settle into a cruise.
And in the end, yeah, we went, we went dodge.
I'm not a prepper, but I took a spare battery, a jump pack, and I took three gallons of water just in case I had a radiator problem.
Oh, three gallons.
That's a lot.
Yeah.
And I also, as we brimmed it, I took a spare gallon can of petrol because I usually do brim the gallon can put it in the boot.
And as we were driving away, I was like, it really stinks of petrol.
I know I've just filled the car with petrol, but that's not right.
So I pulled over and I just looked.
And in the boot where I had some carpet down to put some tools and things, the, the, the car board had soaked with petrol.
It's like, what, what's happened if I like overfilled it or something?
It's a bit odd.
And I thought, well, it's roasting hot.
It'll just evaporate.
We were running late.
Let's just drive.
Well, I'll just pop my magnifying glass collection here and then we'll be on our way for four hours of driving in with the pillarless windows down.
And it's still stank of petrol.
And I was like, that's weird.
I checked all the fuel lines in the engine because I was quite paranoid.
Got down there, still stank of petrol.
And we were distracted because we, we were, we had, we were the guests of Gunther Works.
So we, we had a lovely dinner with them and it was wonderful.
And, but do you know what it was?
It was nothing to do with the car.
What?
The fairly new spare gallon can that I put in the back had a pinhole in the bottom of it.
And it was constantly leaking.
That's not good.
No.
And it's really disconcerting in an old car because it just, it plants the seed of doubt.
And I shouldn't have ever doubted the Dodge because the Dodge has always got my back.
Yeah.
So that was annoying.
That was a bit annoying, but it was a great drive.
We conquered it.
It was very, it's funny going to a festival, a festival of speed for the first time in quite a few years and not working and just being able to enjoy it as a punter.
And he do you go, there's some cool stuff.
I was thinking I must bring my boy next year if I can because he would bloody love some of the stuff that was there.
It's just, yeah, drift cars and things like that.
He's probably getting into that kind of thing.
So that's cool.
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The bear's name is Steve.
Please stop this.
Hey, I didn't tell you.
There's two quite cool things that I got to do in the last two weeks from a very, very nerdy point of view.
Okay.
And one of them.
You know how, I mean, it's been well documented on this podcast that the new Jaguar became my white whale
because I tried to go and spot it on test before anyone had seen it.
And without success because I was useless.
And then quite soon afterwards, Jaguar released some sort of official spy photos of a prototype
and then released a concept and really sucked the wind out of my sails.
And then subsequently I've been, it's been quite remarkable because you don't normally get this kind of access to secret new cars,
but I've been up to Gaiden and actually driven briefly while the prototypes.
But then knowing what a nerd I am, the Jag people went, do you want to come up and talk about how we camouflage this car
because it's actually more complicated than you might think.
And I was like, do I? Of course I bloody do.
And then they said this months ago and then I've just been badgering them ever since.
So last week I actually went up to their Gaiden R&D place and they got three test cars.
This was just before Goodwood.
So they got the one that was going up the hill, which is just in a blue wrap.
It's not really camouflaged much beyond that.
And can I just say that was a serious impressive seeing that going up the hill.
Yeah. And I saw some people online going, it was really quick.
It was 1000 horsepower.
But then I saw people online who had watched the videos of it going, oh, look at it.
It's like a bloody oil tank because it, you know, it moves around quite a lot on a suspension.
And I was like, having driven it, that is part of what actually made it quite nice is that they have engineered into it a certain amount of movement.
It's not soft per se. It's not like, you know, sort of 70s Cadillac.
Yeah.
But when you clog it on the straight, the nose rears up like a speedboat just a little bit.
And it gives you that sort of sense of, here we go.
It doesn't have to be like that.
It's all a setup thing.
It's on their suspension.
It's got, you know, high voltage electrics with all sorts of other trickery and four wheel steering and things like that.
It's actually quite agile, but they've deliberately set it because they think it's a Jaguar characteristic to have this sort of, you know,
it's bloody quick on the hill.
So I saw that car before it went off to Goodwin.
But then they had a sort of mid-stage prototype, which had got the camo that was in that official, those, you know, the official photos that came out,
which was, you know, is amazingly more complicated than it looks.
It's not a wrap.
Oh, it is a wrap, but it's more than that.
But the one that really caught my eye was the other car in the room, which was the very, very first hand-built prototype,
which was called PT101 in their sort of coding system.
So this is like absolutely the first, because that car's got really extreme proportions.
You know, normally you'd do a lot of development testing with a mule, so you'd get, you know, whatever it would be,
get an old XJ or something and graft the under parts of the new car within the body shell of the old car.
But that wasn't entirely practical because the proportions and the size of the new one are so
totally different.
Unlike anything they've done before.
Yeah.
So they did some early testing on axles and things on some modified Range Ropers.
It just sort of looked like Range Rovers.
But they had to build physically representative prototypes about a year and a half earlier than they might have otherwise done,
which in modern car development is a fucking long time.
So straight away, it's like, well, that's a security risk because people might, you know, if we just run them around, people would see it
and they'd know, and this is like pre-concept car, pre-official photos.
So those early, they did a batch of nine fully hand-built cars and some were crash tested.
The ones that were doing development on test tracks, they had this whole thing.
They made them look like estates.
It was, it's amazing.
They had this whole, it's blown molded plastic.
It's not fiberglass.
These two panels, one on either side that create this estate profile and then an infill panel in the middle.
And it's all bolted on with anchor points drilled through the bodywork so that because they do CFD modeling with the panels on the car,
all in the, you know, in the computer to make sure it won't blow off.
So it's like actual engineering has to go on just to do this bloody camouflage just so that someone, you know, doesn't get a cheeky photo of the car
and is able to tell the shape because at this point the shape was a total surprise.
So they put all this work.
All that camo wrap is they print it in-house because they use so much of the stuff.
It's 10 meters of wrap to do one car.
So they're rather, yeah, it's nice.
They're rather buy in.
They gave me some.
I've got some upstairs.
They let me put a little, let me put a little patch on the first prototype because brilliantly,
there's this initial batch of nine, some got crash tested.
The rest did early proving work.
They're really rough in a brilliant way because they're just working cars.
They were powertrain development mainly.
So they don't need to have fully functional interiors and things.
They just need to get miles on the fundamentals.
So they're normally, they're quickly superseded by later spec cars which are closer to production intent.
And that's what happens every phase they're getting closer and closer to the cars that customers actually buy.
These early ones, really rough and ready, do a bit of work.
They're working cars.
They're like working dogs.
You know, you make them sleep outside.
And then they're meant to be crushed because they're insured for over a million quid each because there's so much effort has gone into hand building a car that they are very, very valuable.
But if you've been them, you know, you can then claim the VAT back and stuff.
So it's like, they just get thrown away.
There's no sentimentality usually.
But they told me there's this guy called Alex Hall.
He's one of the engineers on this project.
He said that we got quite attached to this car.
So when it had come to the end of its useful life, we tucked it away somewhere.
And the auditors were emailing going, I can't help noticing that the PT-101 is still on your fleet list.
Why is that?
And so they just ignored them.
And they've kept it so long now that it's going to go into the Jag Damela Heritage Trust.
So it'll be in the Museum at Gayden.
It'll be on display in its camo.
But it's mega.
It's just like the Millennium Falcon.
It's this brilliantly, they were pointing out the bits where it had various accidents with crash barriers and spun off during winter testing on frozen lakes and stuff like that.
And got dinked and scuffed.
And it's just like, there's nothing more fascinating.
It's got a hell of a story to it.
They were saying two things.
First of all, they had to go and dig it out of storage to show it to me.
And this chap Alex was saying, actually, having not driven it for a while, it's quite interesting.
You can feel the car it became.
It still feels like the car we know now as engineers working on the very late stage prototypes of pre-prod cars.
It was sort of there.
The fundamentals were there.
But it's lived a hell of a life.
Because it was mainly powertrain, the aircon and stuff didn't really work properly.
That's fine, guys.
That's fine.
Well, you, I was going to say.
I'd sign that off.
Apparently, because obviously it's all digital, modern HVAC systems are really sophisticated and sort of moisture sensors and all sorts.
But in the early days, that hasn't been calibrated.
So they were saying that some of those prototypes, they just had a target temperature, which was like 21 degrees or something.
And basically, the system would go absolutely batshit if it was either higher or lower than that.
But just there was no nuance at all.
It was just kind of, oh, seems to be cold.
It needs to be heat, maximum heat all the time.
These engineers doing this sort of early proving work, they suffer for their art.
Because the other thing is that there's all this bloody wrap over some of the windows and stuff to obscure their shape.
And all this cloth over all the bits of the interior.
Because even the first prototype has, the style of the interior is broadly correct.
It's just it's all very crude moldings.
But it's like, it's the right layout.
That's what it has to be.
So they cover it in bits of cloth.
But you can't bloody find anything.
No, do they have to peel it back like a tablecloth and look for the...
Once they're on the move.
Yeah, it is that.
You're doing some kind of card game, finding matching pairs.
You peel back, oh, there's the vent controls, right?
There's the door release.
Even the window controls are covered over.
So if you want to put the window down, you've got to peel back this bit of cloth.
It looks like a right nuisance.
And they pointed out as well, even when the HVAC is working properly, the cloth covers the vents.
They're not blowing as they should because some of it's getting obscured.
But they showed me how on cars with the correct production seats, they've got seat covers so you can't see what they look like.
Oh, really?
Yeah, but once Alex Hall was doing brake testing and the strap for the seat cover was hooked around the electric seat control.
So when he hit the brakes, it tugged the opposite way somehow on the seat control.
So as the G-forces were throwing it forward, the seat was moving backwards away from the steering wheel and pedals.
So it's a right bloody nuisance having camouflage.
The engineers would rather that there was none, but they also kind of understand that you want the big ta-da.
And the other guy, John Darlington, who is the chief engineer of the whole project,
he said, you know, we understand there's no point us developing a car if no one then hears about it.
So we get it that marketing PR sales all want the big ta-da moment.
So we live with this, this sort of charade of making cars look like something they're not.
So even the later phase ones, the wrap is just the start underneath the wrap.
You can poke at all these bits and they're squishy because there's bits of foam.
And they sit down with design and go, right, what are the key bits we need to hide?
So you can see now on the finished car because the wrapped one at Goodwood is, you know, there's no squishy.
Actually, there's squishy bits on the front and back, but there's nothing on the sides.
So it's, it's hiding that the panels are very, very flat and very sheer, including the bonnet.
But on the, all the test cars, it looks like it's got a bonnet bulge and the sides are built out.
So you can't tell that it's sort of got a bit of a, you know, it's got hips and things.
It's, it's, it's mind-boggling how much work goes into it.
I've just forwarded you a photograph of when the original, say original, the previous XJ was, was launched.
Which was quite, quite a long time ago, as you can tell from the picture of me.
But the reason why I sent this to you, and I put it on screen for those of you that watch these casts, not listen.
And I think that Jag, when it was doing the hot lap up, up Lord Charlie March's Hill, it is really reminiscent of the Mark 789 Jags,
which are the lesser known, lesser talked about these days, lesser remembered predecessors of the XJ.
It looked more like that than any other type of Jag in terms of the proportions of it.
And it just suddenly made me look at it and go bloody hell.
It's almost like they're, it's almost like they're trying to do a kind of futuristic art deco type thing.
Isn't it? I feel.
Yes. Now you mention it because you're right.
That, that, so what is that? Is that a Mark 9 that you're leaning on there?
I think that's an 8 or a 9.
The thing is, is the 789s are really similar.
There's not a lot of differences.
Long bonnet.
Extremely flat front.
Elegant, elegant.
And then a very sort of, and a shallow glass house.
Yes.
No, you're absolutely right.
It is, it's sort of, yeah, you could see a through line, which is I think what they're aiming for.
But the, you know, the new cars obviously also quite, quite radical.
I think it will look extremely dramatic in traffic with other cars because it is so unlike anything else.
I mean, you know, there's still, people are still a bit uptight about what's going on with Jaguar.
We said before, they had to do something different.
They did have to do something.
And I also, more people are talking about it.
Well, they are aren't they? That's the thing.
Only one thing, only one thing worse than being talked about.
More, more carenthesiast.
Certainly a younger demographic of carenthesiast are now sniffing out second hand Jaguars and talking about Jaguars.
I haven't heard more older Jaguars.
Like Jagachat than I have in the last 12 months.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it.
And that's a good thing.
You know, we'd probably be sort of approaching like the second generation F-Pace now.
And like that F-Pace is a perfectly fine car.
And it did sell all right.
And it drove nicely.
It looked good.
But it's sort of, there are a lot of medium sized crossovers in the world.
Correct.
It would never have had that cut through no matter how good it was.
And they needed a bit of cut through, I think,
to just sort of re-jolt things in a different direction.
So we'll see how it goes, but for me, as a car nerd,
and as, you know, we've talked on this podcast before,
like trying to stalk the new Jag.
They pointed out again, these guys I was talking to,
they said once again, oh yeah, when you did that podcast
where you came up here and you were snouting
around the lanes of Gaiden, yeah, this bread van
looked prototype, yeah, we were running those on the track.
What you bastards!
But they, yeah, I think they find it amusing.
So that's good.
So that was my super hyper nerdy day out at Gaiden,
just like getting to poke at actual camo-ed up test cars,
which you normally don't get to do.
No.
So that was great.
That's it.
The other nerdy thing I did was I went to a celebration
of 25 years of the MGZ cars in Cardiff at the original hotel
where the first press launch was done 25 years ago.
Did you go to that?
Which was a very, I did, I went for the evening
because there's a chap called Jake who organized it
along with Kevin Jones, the old PR guy from MG Rover,
who we worked with for years in a professional capacity.
So yeah, Kevin and Jake worked tirelessly
to put together this event to sort of replicate.
They'd had like, you know, original materials reprinted
and stuff like that.
They'd got the t-shirts done.
So Jake went, oh, I want to really make it feel like
2001 again.
So he bought, because the hotel didn't stock it,
bottles of hooch and smirn off ice.
But then had a special branding made for the bottles
with the logo of the 25 years of ZR, ZS and ZT on them.
It was like the detail that got into it.
That's great.
And the people who did the full weekend got to go to the,
they went to the Pembray track
where the original launch did some track work
and then drove up into the Breckens and Kevin had dug out
the original routes they'd given to journalists
to go and test the cars up there.
But yeah, Saturday evening was at this hotel in Cardiff.
So it's not that far from here.
I went over for the evening to interview Rob Aldeke
of the old product development director on stage
about how they did those cars
in an amazingly short amount of time.
I hope Mike Ferney was over there with you.
He wasn't, he couldn't make it in the end.
And it was a shame because I know it's right up Ferney street.
But no, there were a couple of other car journals there,
voluntarily, because they both own Z-cars.
And I was like, what are you doing here?
Are you writing about this?
No, just here for fun,
because they just love their Z-cars.
So yeah, it was a good turnout.
They were a really nice turnout, the room was pretty full.
And so yeah, interviewed Rob.
And then did another Q&A on stage
with some other guys, Kevin being one of them,
but also, it's a guy called Ron Brown,
he was one of the marketing people who worked on that project.
And again, he's fascinating.
And he worked at Rover and Land Rover for years.
And you can imagine what a nuisance I was around these people,
because I could have talked to them all night.
I was just like, no, tell me more about this.
If you worked on the Mark Robb Freelander,
I don't know if you want me to tell me that.
But Rob Alderge told me some amazing stuff about Rover,
we're talking MG Rover, we're talking to Fiat,
which I think was well-known.
They were gonna buy diesel engines off them
and they were gonna do this,
but they also, they had this serious idea
that they would make Lanciers into Rovers.
And that would be part of how this,
they would buy the Lancia Epsilon or the basics of it
and make it into a new small Rover.
And it was only scuppered,
firstly, because that car was only left on drive at the time,
but also because just Fiat wanted too much money
for everything, so they walked away.
But things could have been very different
if everything they'd hoped for had gone their way.
Usual British motor industry story,
just not enough money at the right time.
So yeah, thanks to everyone as well at the MG Z car thing,
who came over and said they liked Smith and sniff,
because that was very sweet.
I wasn't sure what the overlap in audience was,
but it turns out it's quite big, so that's good.
Well, as you would normally say,
it's time to make this land now.
It is, yeah.
Bring it on that side of things.
All I was gonna say was,
my videographer on Late Brake Show, Phil,
sweet, sweet guy, sweet, sweet Welsh guy,
he's got a two-year-old son who is really into playing
with toy cars and specifically,
very into commercial vehicles,
lorries, tractors, that sort of thing.
However, there's a problem.
He can't say the word truck,
and unfortunately,
he has replaced it for not the most predictable one
that you're thinking of, Richard.
Okay. Okay.
Okay, go on.
But unfortunately, simply can't say it,
and has replaced it with cock.
Oh, my God.
We've got evidence of this.
So, bless him, Finley's favorite thing to do
is to go and get his collection of monster cocks.
Oh, no.
And watch monster cock racing on TV,
and also, he likes, because he can tell the difference,
he really likes a flatbed cock,
and he's got a model flatbed cock as well.
What, like fixed chassis or articulated cock?
That's a good question.
I'll find out, I've sent you an audio file
to prove that this is, bless him,
he's gonna love this when he's 18 years old.
Yes, yes, he really is.
That we have some audio evidence of this.
I don't know, children are great at that age
when they can't quite say things right,
and they've got their own little word system.
Oh, no.
But I think...
My brother used to say farties instead of smarties.
I just remembered.
I think I would take farties over monster cock, I think.
Yeah, yeah, that is problematic.
Anyway, everything's just a face.
It is, it's just a face, Richard.
Just a face, I know.
Let's moor this one up.
But before we go, three things I'd like to share with listeners.
First is, of course, that Johnny has a solo YouTube channel
called The Lake Break Show.
How do you know what's on there this weekend?
I'm pretty sure this weekend
it's when I have a detailed walk around
the Ferrari shooting break made by the crazy,
but talented and interesting Dutch guys,
or guy, Niels van Rooij design,
where they've made this Ferrari 599,
obviously a naturally aspirated V12 based shooting break,
mimicking the Daytona shooting break
with the sort of bat-wing glass windows,
hatch access at the back.
It's a very mad, but I think very, very handsome car.
And it was a good first sort of speed,
but I got to have a look around it in a studio
and try and understand what's going on in this great man's head
because he's done two-door modern Range Rovers,
he's done Tesla Model S shooting breaks,
they've made numerous one-offs.
And when I say one-offs,
they focus on clients who really do want one-off vehicles.
They spend between...
Watch and learn, Horatio.
Yes, exactly.
Like he says, no, we genuinely,
we spend between three and six years
building one car for one person.
Clutty hat.
I know.
That's what I said.
I'm not a patience for that.
No, it's incredible, isn't it?
Oh, well, that's good.
I'll be a treat.
I know.
And the second thing I want to share with you
is I have various books out.
Summer's coming out.
You may want a novel to read by a swimming pool or something.
Why not?
Buy Steel Flies by Roy Lanchester.
It's a spoof Cold War novel
by a spoof car journalist turned thriller writer.
At least one reviewer on Amazon has said
the plot is surprisingly good.
So, you know, bear that in mind.
You can actually read it as a book if you really want to.
And the third thing I was going to share with you
is we talked last week about flying and day.
But did you know that scientists actually sometimes
refer to it as nuptial day?
Nuptial?
Yeah, because it is when the ants go and find partners.
Oh.
The queen ants go and find the males to breed with
to continue the ant bloodline.
So is it like celebrities go dating or Love Island for ants?
Yeah, celebrity Love Island, but with ants.
Yeah, it's not actually also flying ant day is a myth.
There's no one day.
It's flying ants season.
The ants need warm, still air to be able to fly in
because they're not brilliant flyers.
And so it's whenever that is in your area,
that's when the flying ants will be out,
but it's not even consistent across the country.
So there's no one day.
It's just a season.
You know, when the ants talk to one another,
you see them, they touch like not antlers, but antenna.
And they look like they're having an actual chat.
Do you know what the ants are saying to one another
just before they take off?
No.
Just fucking send it.
That's what they're saying.
Are they?
Just fucking send it, mate.
Send it.
There's just send it.
They're good old ants.
All right, well, that's quite enough from us,
but we're back on Friday doing one of our Q&A shows,
normal show next Monday.
Remember if you were in America next month,
then you want to come to our live show in Irvine
in California, Tuesday the 18th.
We'd love to see that.
We'll see you at photo next week.
But until then, goodbye.
Cheers, mate.
Thanks, guys.
Thanks, Trish.
Thank you.
Bye.
You could buy our merchandise.
We've mugs and hats, but still no ties.
One day we will make those pies.
But in the meantime, guys, hey, guys.
Like and subscribe.
And maybe leave a nice review.
Like and subscribe.
We know you know just what to do.
Like and subscribe.
We don't want to take the piss.
Like and subscribe.
But we were told to ask for this.
Like and subscribe.
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I say cook.
I say cook.
About this episode
Horacio Pagani’s “spider” obsession becomes the episode’s through-line, as the hosts describe how Zondas are kept “perfect” and even claim “a hundred percent survival rate of Zondas.” Along the way, they bounce between supercar lore (Codalunga rarity, roof-off stiffness) and real-world car talk: prototype development at Jaguar with camouflage engineering, plus classic Toyota/JDM details like a 1984 Celica Supra and Mark III Supra digital dashes. The episode also includes EV noise humor, fuel-scare troubleshooting, and live-show promos.
Jonny and Richard have noticed something about Horacio Pagani. Also in this episode, news of an American live show, Richard has bought a bicycle, Jonny gets taunted by EV warning sounds, imagining Christian von Koenigsegg with hair, fun times at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a deep dive into the complicated camouflage used to conceal the new Jag, an evening at the MG Zed cars 25th anniversary event, and another cracking pick from the classifieds at Car & Classic.
