Smith & Sniff bounces from music trivia to car talk, starting with an apology over a “Send Me an Angel” mix-up—turns out the duo meant the Australian Real Life track, not the Scorpions. They geek out on 80s production quirks (including gated/hex-style drum sounds) and even connect it to BMX movie Rad. Car segments include a “pretend auction” pick: a UK-owned 1997 Chevrolet Impala SS with a stroker LT1, supercharger, and nitrous. Later, they discuss the new Mercedes Actros “sad sloth” face, listener hellos, and a family-car search (Renault Scenic vs Megane).
Jonny and Richard identify a problem during a Bonnie Tyler recording session. Also in this episode, confusion over the song Send Me An Angel, a strange beard in a rare Astra, getting tempted by an impractical jet boat, a sad-faced lorry, using Mekon and Tefal as insults, Miles Davis as Prelude man, Elaine Paige as Celica lady, a confusing Enya calendar, the wings of the KGM Rexton, cats at car shows, using a cat as a feather duster, the Renault Scenic, and another dip into the Car & Classic auctions.
"Have you ever been stuck on a weight loss plateau, trying everything and anything you can to lose that extra weight and reach peak health?"
A weight loss plateau is when the scale stops going down even though you’re still trying. It usually means your body has adapted and you may need a new plan.
A weight loss plateau is when your body stops losing weight despite continuing your usual diet and activity. It’s a common issue people face during health and fitness efforts, and it often triggers people to try new approaches.
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Noom is a company that offers weight-loss and health programs. Here, they’re promoting a medication-plus-coaching plan.
Noom is a health and wellness company known for weight-loss programs and coaching. In this segment, Noom is advertising a GLP-1 microdosing program delivered to customers.
"...and she was lifting the clutch up, like you say, one mil every 10 seconds... and as he gets out, she lets her foot sharply on the clutch."
The clutch is what you use to smoothly connect the engine to the gearbox. If you release it too fast or in a jerky way, the car can lurch and make loud noises.
The clutch is the pedal-operated connection between the engine and the transmission on a manual car. Letting the clutch out too abruptly (or feathering it poorly) can cause jerking, driveline shock, and in extreme cases overheating or smoke/steam.
"this couple, were doing a dance together on BMX's. I watched it last night. It's so odd, but they did a dance together, like Flatland BMX."
BMX is a kind of bike made for doing tricks. Here, they’re talking about people doing dance-like moves while riding BMX bikes.
BMX is a type of small, lightweight bicycle designed for tricks and racing on tracks or in skatepark-style environments. In this segment, it’s used to describe a “Flatland BMX” dance style where riders perform choreographed moves on the bike.
"Anyway, look, there was a confusion, but it wasn't really your fault because your home device lied to you and said that that song was by the Scorpions when it wasn't."
The Scorpions are a famous rock band. The hosts are saying their device got the artist wrong, which can happen when apps misread song information.
“Scorpions” is a well-known rock band. In the segment, the hosts mention a mix-up where a home device incorrectly attributed the song to Scorpions, which is a common issue with music recognition/metadata.
"... don't see them anymore. I think it's a Mark III Astra Cabriolet. Oh."
The Opel Astra is a compact car model line. The podcast specifically mentions an Astra Cabriolet, which is a version with a convertible top. It’s being referenced as an older model people don’t see as much anymore.
The Opel Astra is a compact car line that has gone through multiple generations, including cabriolet versions. In the podcast, the speaker references a “Mark III Astra Cabriolet,” indicating a specific older variant. It’s brought up as part of a discussion about seeing these cars less often and recalling that particular model.
"When they've had the Astra forever and it's not top of the range. It's probably still got wind down windows. But it's fine."
Wind-down windows are the kind you move by hand with a crank. It usually means the car is a simpler, lower-spec version.
“Wind down windows” refers to manual window regulators where you crank the glass up and down, rather than using power switches. The speaker uses it as a sign the Astra isn’t a top trim level.
"I've just hopped onto my gateway drug, Car and Classic, to see if I can find one. And there isn't one of that era. There's all the other eras, but not that particular one. ... It's apposite that you mentioned Car and Classic because it's time once again for us to play our little game..."
Car and Classic is a UK online marketplace and auction platform focused on classic and enthusiast cars. The hosts use it as a source for “pretend present” games based on what’s been auctioned recently.
"Although now I'm looking well. Astra GTE Cabrios, damn it. It's apposite that you mention..."
The Vauxhall Astra is a compact car, and the podcast mentions a convertible version called the Astra GTE Cabrios. “GTE” generally means a more performance-focused model, and “Cabrio” means it has a convertible roof. The episode is referencing that specific kind of Astra.
The Vauxhall Astra is the UK-market Astra model, and the podcast references the “Astra GTE Cabrios,” pointing to a performance-oriented convertible variant. This is relevant because it ties the Astra name to a specific trim and powertrain focus rather than the standard family-car setup. The episode uses it to connect to earlier Astra talk and specific model details.
"[946.9s] Nice.
[947.5s] This auction hasn't actually started yet.
[950.5s] It starts, if you listen to this on Monday,
[952.4s] tomorrow, Tuesday the 14th.
[955.3s] So hang on, I'm just going to show it to you.
[958.6s] Oh, are you?"
An auction is where people bid on a car, and whoever bids the most usually buys it. The important part here is that the bidding hasn’t started yet.
An auction is a sale format where buyers bid against each other, and the highest bid wins. In car auctions, timing (when bidding opens) and the listing details can matter a lot for how the final price is set.
"With Mickey Thompson Street ET Drag Radials. Yeah, those are great tyres."
Mickey Thompson is a brand that makes performance tires used a lot in racing. Their drag-radial tires are built to help cars hook up when accelerating hard.
Mickey Thompson is a well-known American tire and motorsports parts brand, especially associated with drag racing and performance tires. Their “Street ET Drag Radials” are aimed at drivers who want street usability but still want strong traction for performance runs.
"So this is a sleeper, really, because I mean. It really is."
A “sleeper” is a car that looks normal on the outside. But it’s been set up to be really fast when you drive it.
A “sleeper” is a car that looks unremarkable or even boring, but has been modified to perform strongly. The contrast between appearance and capability is the whole point.
"It's an 80s wash bag. A grey leatherette wash bag that you can steer with. Do you think this is one of those American cars"
Leatherette is fake leather upholstery. It’s meant to look like leather, but it’s usually less expensive and can wear differently over time.
“Leatherette” is a synthetic upholstery material designed to look like leather. It’s common in older cars and budget trims because it’s cheaper and can be easier to maintain than real leather.
"And it's got, you were expressing admiration the other week for pillar-mounted gauges. It's got pillar-mounted gauges."
Pillar-mounted gauges are instruments installed on the A-pillar or dashboard pillar area instead of in the factory cluster. Enthusiasts like them because they’re easy to read at a glance and can be part of a performance-oriented interior setup.
"I did a barn find, which was actually in a back garden last summer, I think it was, of lots of police cars..."
A “barn find” is a car someone finds that’s been sitting around for a long time. It can be cool because it might be original, but it usually needs work before it’s road-ready.
A “barn find” is a vehicle discovered after sitting unused for a long time, often in a garage, barn, or similar storage. These cars can be exciting because they may have low mileage or original condition, but they also often need significant recommissioning.
"This is a 7.4 litre Big Block Chevrolet 454 Jet Drive boat and it's got the nicest metal flake and airbrushings on it."
Metal flake is glitter-like material mixed into paint. It makes the finish sparkle and look flashy, like you’d see on custom cars and boats.
Metal flake is a decorative paint additive made of tiny reflective particles. It’s used to create a shimmering, high-gloss look that stands out in daylight—especially on showy drag-boat and hot-rod style builds.
"...which I think this won't even do on idle. I think you would exceed it."
Idle means the motor is on but not revving hard, so the vehicle barely moves. They’re saying even at that low-power setting, it might still be too fast.
“Idle” means the engine or motor is running but not producing much power, so the vehicle moves very slowly (if at all). The speaker is comparing the craft’s idle speed to the river’s legal speed limit.
"it's quite popular now to have a surround daylight running light, DRL, that's frames the grille or frames the headlight bar."
DRL means daytime running lights. They’re the lights that are meant to be on during the day so the truck is easier to see.
DRL stands for “daytime running lights.” On modern trucks, DRLs are often integrated into the headlight/upper grille area, and they can strongly affect the vehicle’s “face” and visibility during daylight.
"...judging by his registration number plate, which is, the number plate is Miles 22.2..."
That’s the license plate on a car. People sometimes use the plate as a clue or joke about the car or the person driving it.
A registration number plate is the official license plate used to identify a vehicle. In car culture, plates can be “read” like clues—sometimes referencing a car model, owner name, or a joke—so they often get discussed alongside the car itself.
"I would instantly even if the only other preset on the car radio was industrial drilling... FM, all industrial drilling all the time, I would switch onto that..."
A car radio is the sound system in your dashboard. You can usually pick stations or saved presets, like FM, and switch between different audio sources.
The “car radio” is the in-dash audio system that lets you select presets and tune to stations (like FM). In-car audio often includes preset buttons, source selection, and sometimes multiple audio modes.
Term
FM
"FM, all industrial drilling all the time, I would switch onto that in preference to listening to Elaine Page's show tunes program."
FM is one of the ways radio stations broadcast. Your car can tune to FM to listen to music or shows.
FM is a radio broadcast band (Frequency Modulation) commonly used for music and talk stations. In cars, FM reception depends on antenna quality, location, and interference.
"But you know, those hexagonal electronic drums that we were just talking about, you know, Lamborghini's design language is obsessed with hexagon."
Lamborghini is a famous Italian car brand. The speaker is saying the brand’s styling often uses sharp, geometric shapes—here, specifically hexagons.
Lamborghini is an Italian supercar brand known for bold, angular styling. In this segment, the host connects Lamborghini’s design language to hexagon shapes, linking it to the “hexagonal electronic drums” being discussed.
"They're the Simmons drums and the sound associated with the, you know, the actual module that they attached to is or was the one they used the start of EastEnders originally."
Simmons made a very recognizable kind of electronic drum kit. The speaker is saying those drums (and the sound module behind them) were used in a lot of famous music and TV-era production.
Simmons is known for the iconic “Simmons drums,” especially the hexagonal electronic drum kits that became a defining sound of late-1970s and 1980s pop and rock. The segment ties Simmons drum hardware and its associated module/sound to mainstream TV-era music.
"but it's got some really interesting [2735.6s] haunches, which are they bow out at the top and then they're concaved on the side"
Haunches are the bulging, shaped parts of a car’s body around the wheel area. They help make the car look wider and more muscular.
“Haunches” are the flared, sculpted sections over the wheel arches that add width and shape to the body. In this segment, the speaker describes haunches that bow outward at the top and are concave on the sides, creating a distinctive, aggressive stance.
"And I know that Renault is getting a lot of plaudits for the five and the four and the new Twingo."
Renault is a car brand from France. The speaker is saying Renault has been making some cars that look good and feel nice inside, and people are starting to notice.
Renault is a major French automaker known for compact cars and design-led models. In this segment, the hosts mention Renault models that have been getting attention for their styling and overall package.
"[3439.7s] Sat nav and it's funny.
[3441.3s] You should say that makes you lazy."
Sat nav is the GPS navigation system in your car. It tells you where to go, but the point here is that if it stops working, you have to rely on your own sense of direction.
“Sat nav” is short for satellite navigation, where a car uses GPS signals to show your position and route on-screen. The discussion is about how relying on it can reduce your attention to road signs and geography.
"[3476.5s] but not the outskirts of Belgium, the outskirts of Brussels.
[3479.6s] And he said, I pulled into a fuel station because I saw a couple of taxis,
[3484.2s] asked a taxi driver whether they spoke English or German.
[3487.5s] And they did and they pointed him back to the right ring road bit."
A ring road is a big loop road around a city. Instead of going through the middle, it helps you get to the right highway or exit.
A “ring road” is a road that loops around a city, helping drivers bypass the center and connect to different highways. In the segment, it’s the route guidance the taxi driver points him toward near Brussels.
"Brake Show office, which is not actually an old tin Michelin sign. You know, one of the ones that was at a fuel station for tire pressures and stuff."
Michelin is a well-known tire company. They also made lots of roadside signs and promotions, and old ones can become collectible.
Michelin is a major tire brand and also historically produced roadside signage and promotional displays. In the UK, old Michelin signs are common collectibles and often show up in automotive-themed spaces.
"...one came out on Friday because of an embargo and it’s potentially a replacement for your dacia spring..."
An embargo is a rule that says you can’t post or publish something until a set time. Car reviewers often use it so everyone releases their videos at once.
An embargo is a media restriction that prevents reviewers from publishing content until a specific time/date. In car journalism, embargos are common for new model launches so coverage lands simultaneously.
"Seen back in the Sienna with an available rear seat entertainment system."
The Toyota Sienna is a minivan. In this ad, they’re pointing out that it can come with screens/entertainment for people sitting in the back.
The Toyota Sienna is a minivan, and the transcript mentions it with an available rear seat entertainment system. That feature is designed to keep passengers occupied on longer trips.
"Seen back in the Sienna with an available rear seat entertainment system."
A rear seat entertainment system is stuff like screens or media for passengers sitting in the back. It helps keep kids (or anyone) entertained during longer drives.
A rear seat entertainment system provides audio/video for passengers in the back seats, often via screens and media inputs. It’s commonly offered as an option in family vehicles to reduce boredom on trips.
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I'm Jonny Smith.
I'm Richard Porter.
And this is Smith & Sniff, a podcast in which two friends talk about cars and many other things.
I'm going to have to plug in an apology at this moment.
An official apology specifically aimed at German band the Scorpions, I think as well, for sure.
For me, this is a personal mistake.
Remember last podcast, I talked about this song that my Alexa just kept serving up to me.
I hope she didn't hear that I mentioned her name, although she doesn't give a shit about me normally.
So send me an angel, right? I described it, said it was a scorpion song.
I lied. Well, I half lied.
There was a confusion. You didn't willfully mislead people, but go on, will you explain what happened?
Well, it turns out, and once I said it on the podcast and sent you the link to listen to it and all that kind of thing,
I realised that this wasn't the song that I'd heard and it wasn't the one I was describing.
So consequently, we've had quite a few letters from you, the listeners, saying,
hang on a minute, are you sure you don't mean send me an angel by the Australian band called Real Life?
And that is the song that I was referring to, not the Scorpions, no.
So for me, this was a mistake, and for me, this is a personal journey, and I must say...
We've all learnt from this.
We've learnt there are two songs called Send Me an Angel.
It was confusing for me because I put on the scorpion send me an angel after we recorded the last podcast.
And you were like, where's the drum machine?
You were saying it had really, really 80s drums, and I was like, it kind of does.
I think it's got that big sort of gated reverb drum style that was popular for a while,
but it sounds like real drums processed rather than a drum machine.
So I was a bit confused that I was listening to the wrong version, but I didn't think it was like the wrong band.
I just thought there may be a remix because it was that sort of era when you'd put some other drum machine stuff on something.
But also, because you're a bit of a synth warrior, I said to you, you'd like this because there's copious synth in it.
And there wasn't.
Also, then I was fascinated to look up the video for the scorpion send me an angel,
and particularly mesmerized by the incredibly slow dissolves between one shot and the next.
If it was done in the sort of old-fashioned console with all those levers,
you'd be measuring the movement in microns.
Every shot just so slowly dissolves like a Baraka tablet in water into the next one.
It's incredible.
It's a bit like that video of that lady who was on Britain's Worst Driver,
reversing off her drive in the larder, you know, where it was sitting at 4,500 rpm,
and she was lifting the clutch up, like you say, one mil every 10 seconds.
Oh my God.
And the car was just steaming.
One of those things that I will seek out a clip and watch it again when I need cheering up
is that moment from that show when she maneuvers badly into a parking space,
and then her husband gets out of the passenger seat to check that she's in,
and as he gets out, she lets her foot sharply on the clutch.
The open door of the larder smacks him on the knee, and he makes the most incredible noise.
It's amazing.
And then she goes, the car jerked.
It's like, yeah, the car jerked, Maury, because you let your foot off the clutch.
So back to Send Me an Angel.
Oh, sorry, yes.
I just want to say sorry to everyone for leading you down a more Germanic, scorpion rock,
soft rock path, and actually, you were supposed to have gone down an Australian synth,
and we've had a few emails from people, especially in Australia.
Yeah.
And someone pointing out that, hang on a minute, that song was like a seminal moment
in the potentially forgotten mid-80s film called Rad, all about BMX riders.
What?
And there was a, I don't know, like a teen prom school dance scene where these two,
this couple, were doing a dance together on BMX's.
I watched it last night.
It's so odd, but they did a dance together, like Flatland BMX.
They orchestrated this sort of poetic BMX dance, but it's two.
There's loads of slow-mo's in it with starburst spotlights going across the lens.
It's really good.
So this Australian song, it's really 80s.
Really?
In the video, you need to watch the video just for the hair,
but the drummers play a traditional drum kit in the video, and I'm not convinced, Rich,
because I think they should be hexagonal electric drums.
You know the ones from the 80s.
Yes, exactly.
They absolutely should be.
But I think there was a lot of that around, wasn't it, where they didn't want to scare people off?
Because sometimes they do that as well.
There was somebody prancing about with a guitar, and you'd go,
not really hearing a guitar on BMX here.
Not a guitar.
I think they're just pretending.
So they go, no, look, we're a band.
At a time when it's also like, oh, the electronic music is not credible somehow.
You have to be a proper musician.
It's true, isn't it?
So they would fake it in videos, and then performances on TV shows sometimes,
where they just mime along with all the wrong instruments.
It's so true.
I'm not surprised.
But it is, when I say that track is really 80s, I don't mean that as a criticism.
It's a really, it's like a perfect example of a sort of very particular point in time
and music production techniques of that era.
I thought it was great.
I don't know why I've never heard it before.
Maybe because I'm not Australian.
It seems to be like in Australia that was a massive thing.
It's a thing.
And it's one of those songs where at first I was a little bit disgusted by it,
but I've heard it about 12 times now.
And I think it's real me in.
It's real me in now.
There's a lady singing in it halfway through in the chorus, I think.
And that's obviously meant to emulate an angel calling the band, us, the listeners, I don't know.
But I just want to say, by the way, that as a podcast, this music video doesn't have any cars in it at all.
Oh.
So there.
Anyway, look, there was a confusion, but it wasn't really your fault because your home device lied to you
and said that that song was by the Scorpions when it wasn't.
Yeah, I know.
Because it's got confused with the titles being the same.
It did.
So all I'd say is homework this week, if you can listen to the proper version
and imagine what car are you driving?
What countries region are you in?
And what's the saga?
Is it days at night?
Is there a breakup?
Is there a, I don't know, are you a detective and you're trying to work through a case?
I don't know.
Name it.
Whatever you might be.
You might be a professional bassoon player and you've just accidentally, the boots flowed out,
but you bassoon fell out of the boot while you were on the motorway.
I don't know.
Tell me.
So that's that.
Good.
Sun's out here and I've seen twice this morning, twice.
A ruddy-faced, wiry, grey-haired couple in a extremely boring, but rare, but nobody cares
because you don't see them anymore.
I think it's a Mark III Astra Cabriolet.
Oh.
The one with the sort of V on the front grille, you know, the chrome V.
Yeah.
And it's British racing green or green wine bottle green, judging by their faces.
And he's in the passenger seat, she's in the driver's seat, she looks like Rutland's answer
to Julie Cooper and he looks, and he's got the best armish beard, a huge silver beard,
but nothing on the mustache line.
Nothing.
What?
Which always sends the proportions of your face completely out to me.
Oh.
It just doesn't quite work for me.
The beard and the structure and shape of a beard is a fragile thing.
If you remove one element, you're playing with fire.
It's like the guy from Biker Grove, Jeff, who had the...
Lamb chop sideburns.
Yeah, but he also had a...
He sort of had a goatee, but he'd removed the chin sections.
So it made it a very, very droopy mustache, I think.
He did.
But it was always...
It was confusing.
It was just...
There's some choices for no reward.
There's some bathroom mirror choices there.
So I saw this couple and they looked like they were having a whale of a time.
And it reminded me of like...
There doesn't seem to be many kind of quite dull, dowdy cabriolets about
that ultimately do bring you joy and fun, right?
Because you're dropping the top on a nice day and you're just escaping.
You get that lovely open-air feeling.
You can smell the flowers and enjoy nature.
And it's not a fast car, so you just bit more pedestrian and chilled out.
Well...
Exactly.
It made me think.
It's a bit like I was out in my boat yesterday, Rich.
Don't know if I've told you.
I've got a boat.
Oh, lala.
Yeah, exactly.
And it was my brother's birthday yesterday, so we had a sort of afternoon on the water
and then followed by a lovely restaurant dinner.
And...
And do you know what?
I don't know why I'm laughing at that.
It's not funny.
It's something funny.
Lovely restaurant dinner as opposed to, I don't know, pet shop dinner.
And I...
As we were on the river enjoying my £275 on eBay boat.
And we managed to fit six...
Was it six or seven people in it?
One, two, three...
Six people.
Is it meant for six people?
No.
Or is that...?
It's not, but it wasn't too low in the water and there was no currents.
It was very low, the river, so it felt safe.
And the electric outboard just coped, so it's fine.
And it made me feel a bit...
Do you know what it made me feel?
It made me feel a bit old money.
Because the boat looks shit and it was very cheap.
But it's dependable.
And I was wearing a fairly new diver's watch.
So on the one hand I'm dry...
You know, I've got a boat.
But it's an old, tatty, horrible looking boat.
But I've got, you know, quite a nice timepiece on my wrist.
And in the same way that I feel like this couple I've seen twice this morning in their Astra,
I think they're old money because the Astra was very muddy
and they were quite ruddy.
But they looked like they probably lived in a ten bedroom manor house down the road.
When they've had the Astra forever and it's not top of the range.
It's probably still got wind down windows.
But it's fine.
Yeah, I kind of liked it.
If you're sort of so demented and posh that you're beyond snobbery,
so you would just buy a Vauxhall because I saw this car in the garage down in the village
and it looked perfectly decent.
So we bought it and that was it.
Yeah, I like the colour.
You live in a world above any sort of brand snobbery or anything like that.
You just buy things because you like them.
I love that about it.
And I'm still troubled by this man's beard.
The mental image of it is so strange.
Unfortunately, there was a whiff of leprechaun.
Right.
Okay.
Which troubles me.
Did we talk about this that I read somewhere recently
about someone's mum or grandmother or something
used to pronounce Vauxhall as a Vauxhall?
No way.
Are you joking?
I just thought that's more sort of a high and synth bouquet type of thing
rather than because you're incredibly posh.
Vauxhall.
Should we go out in the Vauxhall?
Oh gosh, I've never heard that.
Wow.
Well, no, because it's not this.
It sounds mad, but I quite like it all the same.
Say now, I'm trying to find that I think that Astra they were driving
is exceptionally rare.
Oh God, I bet so, yes.
I've just hopped onto my gateway drug, Car and Classic,
to see if I can find one.
And there isn't one of that era.
There's all the other eras, but not that particular one.
Damn.
Although now I'm looking well.
Astra GTE Cabrios, damn it.
It's apposite that you mentioned Car and Classic
because it's time once again for us to play our little game
where one of us picks the other one,
a pretend present of a car from the Car and Classic auctions.
Oh, the auctions.
The auctions.
For the past couple of weeks, we've done this in the theme
such as it is, has been,
I can't remember what the theme was.
What was the theme?
80s.
80s.
80s, that's it.
I just remember two feats.
It was two feats.
That's all I could say.
I was like, the theme wasn't feats, was it?
That was just going to dental.
I got you a feat panda, very late 80s feat panda van,
like an assistance van that was minty as can be.
Yeah, it was, I was delightful.
Well, anyway, so I forgot to say this early,
but I thought that the theme for the next couple of weeks
should be American cars.
Oh, thanks for that.
I appreciate the memo.
But that's okay.
You've got a week to think about this,
because this week I have brought to you
a theoretical present of an American car for sale
in the UK, our Car and Classic, through their auctions.
Nice.
This auction hasn't actually started yet.
It starts, if you listen to this on Monday,
tomorrow, Tuesday the 14th.
So hang on, I'm just going to show it to you.
Oh, are you?
And await your reaction.
Oh, yes.
So the last of the full size.
It is a 1997 Chevrolet Impala SS.
Yes.
The big boy.
Yeah.
Body on frame.
Body on frame.
Yeah, full size.
Chevy saloon.
But then notice, if you will, Mr. Smith,
that this one is no ordinary SS,
because it has a Golan 6.3-litre LT1 stroker engine.
Oh, it's a stroker.
With Howardine Supercharger and Zex Nitrous System.
Oh, Sugar Plum Fairy.
This thing's quick.
It has additional wheels.
Shod, it says.
Shod.
Yeah.
With Mickey Thompson Street ET Drag Radials.
Yeah, those are great tyres.
They are really good.
This is some of your street, this whole thing.
They're very, very good drag car tyres.
So this is a sleeper, really, because I mean.
It really is.
It's got the thing.
Because it just sits nicely.
No, it doesn't.
It just looks like a big barge.
You know, it's an X.
You could believe that's an X cop car or a former taxi or something,
but very much not.
Yeah.
Is that in the UK?
Then the wheels give it away.
Yes, it is in the UK.
It has been in the UK since 1997.
Has it really?
Yeah, and it's been owned by the current keeper since 2003.
So, you know, this is not.
This was personally imported when it was new.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's so cool.
But it's been, as they say in the advert, comprehensively developed.
So, yeah, as it's hard, it has this Golan 6.3-litre LT1 stroker motor.
Forged internals.
With an Eagle 4340 crank, SRP forged pistons.
There's a power-dine supercharger, two-stage nitrous.
This drivetrain has been strengthened to match with a roadmaster Dr. Evil 4L60E transmission,
BNM torque converter, aluminum driveshaft and launch control.
The suspension's been reworked with Hotchkiss trailing arms, heavy-duty sway bars,
energy suspension bushings, summit call springs, while SLP shorty headers
and a ball of stainless cat-back exhaust handle the soundtrack.
This is great.
Goodness.
It's quite a thing, isn't it?
Yeah.
But really, up your particular strip.
Yeah, I actually have driven one of these.
I did a BBC America show years ago and we had one as a sort of car
that we were featuring on the show and dicking around with.
And it was a fairly tired example of this mark.
And I've kept the badge on the depil.
I've still got it in my cabinet at work.
They weren't very valuable at all back then.
And I think time has been kind to them because they were the last of a certain era.
There's a fondness to them.
They're also bloody robust.
And that LT1 engine is a great, great engine.
This is so good.
I wish it hadn't shown it to me now because now I'm going to be following it on.
I don't mind you that under the rules of this game,
I don't actually buy you this car.
I just pretend as I would if I was choosing your present this week.
So yeah, it's quite a thing, isn't it?
What I love about it is it's sea green, which is a great colour.
But it's also reminding me, as I've scrolled through all the comprehensive photos and stuff,
is how unbelievably plain the interior is.
It's like a packet of cheap salt and vinegar crisps.
You just open it and go, is that it?
That is it.
And yeah, it's a bloody fast guy.
Look at the steering wheel.
It looks like someone's wash bag that's been sent a text on the steering wheel.
It is.
It's an 80s wash bag.
A grey leatherette wash bag that you can steer with.
Do you think this is one of those American cars
where the electric seats move at a comically fast pace?
Have you ever seen some American cars where you just hit the recline button
and you go, like, really, too quickly almost.
So it's hard to adjust very finely.
But it's almost like it's just done for, yeah, come on.
I've got stuff to do here.
I haven't got time to adjust my seat.
I really like this.
I really like this.
It's a thing of wonder.
And it's got, you were expressing admiration the other week for pillar-mounted gauges.
It's got pillar-mounted gauges.
Yes.
I have to say it's probably an absolute bargain compared to a Buick Grand National.
Similar era.
Yeah.
That's not a similar era.
This is later.
But kind of similar body on chassis.
No weight removed, just added performance.
I did a barn find, which was actually in a back garden last summer, I think it was,
of lots of police cars and one of the police, one of the cop,
most of them were Crown Vix as you probably remember,
but one of them, only one, was one of these.
And apparently that was the owner's favourite.
The chap who has all those cars is almost constantly trying to get us to buy one, isn't he?
Which I feel like it's a war of attrition that he will probably win in the end.
One day we'll have, I mean, we talked Mercury and Marauders the other week and yeah.
Well, before we leave, carinclassic.com forward slash auctions,
not spelt like that, spelt in the traditional way,
it's not relevant entirely to us.
Apart from the fact I mentioned I was, I tell you I was in my boat yesterday.
You did.
It actually, it will be ended by the time the listeners hear this.
There is a 1979 Eliminated Jet Super Speed Drag Boat for sale in Poland
that's currently at four and a half thousand euros
and the fact that I was born in 79 and I don't know if I've told you,
but I've got a boat and I've got access to a river.
This is a 7.4 litre Big Block Chevrolet 454 Jet Drive boat
and it's got the nicest metal flake and airbrushings on it.
Holy heck.
Have a look at the engine.
Oh, man.
Oh, wow.
It's splendid.
Not the kind of thing I'd expect to buy from Poland, but hey.
I noticed someone's written,
get in, sit down, shut up and hang on on the dashboard.
Well, I think this would be nothing short of terrifying,
but also have you seen the trailer?
The trailer is as cool as the boat.
The trailer, yeah, I see.
Dedicated trailer and it really is.
It's been liveried up to match.
It's got airbrushed and metal flake trailer with Wolfray slot mags and...
Yes.
I feel like...
I think if Smith and Sniff ever needed a water vessel, I think...
Oh, yeah.
Do you know what, bollocks, I'm going to actually bid on this.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, I'm going to bid on this.
Although, I think the river outside my house is an eight knot speed limit,
which I think this won't even do on idle.
I think you would exceed it.
You have to have permanent anchor dragging behind it to keep it legal.
I just, I mean...
It's called the Eliminator.
I know.
I feel it's only going to end with one thing and it's your untimely demise.
It's...
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Well, anyway, there we go.
If you're interested, the Chevrolet, like I said, the auction starts tomorrow.
I started to feel that Johnny may in fact be bidding on that.
Dammit.
Hey, moving on.
I just wanted to say hello to a listener and a patron called Tony.
Tony came to our live show at Beaulieu a couple of weeks ago.
And in the interval, he came over to have a chat to say that he's British,
but he lives in San Francisco and has done for many years.
He'd flown to the UK not to see us, but because he had a ticket
for the following Monday's Pet Shop Boys show at the Electric Forum in Camden.
Because this week just gone, Pet Shop Boys have been doing five consecutive nights
under the title Obscure.
And they're not playing any hits.
Deliberately so.
This is like B-sides and album tracks was the whole point of it.
So they'd currently been doing it for a few years now.
This was kind of greatest hits tour where they just play all the bangers that everybody knows.
This was the reaction to that.
Five nights in quite a small venue in Camden Town just doing fan-based stuff.
So Tony had got a ticket for the Monday night.
I had a ticket for the Wednesday.
We had a good chat at Beaulieu about it.
And I said, I was just saying, I won't see you then.
He went, well, I'm actually, I'm thinking I've got a ticket for Monday.
I might try and get a ticket for another night as well.
So you never know, I might see you there again.
So cut to Wednesday night.
I go to the Electric Ballroom.
I'm going there with our friend, Jason Barlow, the car journalist.
Also another massive Pet Shop Boys fan.
Sweet, sweet guy.
And a sweet, sweet guy.
Jason got there a bit before me.
So he went in.
He was queuing up to buy a t-shirt.
And the person behind him went, oh, are you Jason Barlow?
And Jason said, yeah, they started chatting.
And I think they were just talking about, you know, people coming from far away
because these gigs, you know, a bit of a rarity and they were sold out really quickly.
And so, you know, it's sort of drawn people in if you're a real fan.
And Jason said, oh, yeah, my friend Richard Porter, who's coming to this gig with me.
He was doing one of his podcast live shows last week.
And he had a guy in the audience who'd flown in from San Francisco.
At which point the person in front of Jason and the queue turned around and went, hi, that's me.
No way.
And it was Tony.
That's brilliant.
So I just want to say hi, Tony.
And thanks for coming to our live show.
I know it's not the reason that you're in the UK.
Yeah.
I hope it was not too disappointing next to two nights.
In fact, no, he went on the Tuesday as well.
It was that good.
He did three straight nights at these obscure gigs.
And I was like, are you going to go for a fourth?
He's like, no, I can't.
Can't do that.
That's brilliant.
And he's a patron.
So he's earned a hello, a shout out.
I wanted to talk about the fact that have you seen the new, they've probably been out
now a year, Mercedes Actros trucks.
Yes.
Mercedes have brought a new truck out and it's got a quite a distinctive face.
Yes.
And it's a sad face, Rich.
I feel sad for it because I'm sure it's a great truck, but it looks a little bit sad.
Like it's, you know, in sloths, they've got those eyes which slope down a bit and that
even when they're smiling, you're not totally convinced.
Are you sure you're happy?
Are you saying that you think sloths are putting on a brave face and they really should just
talk to somebody about what's on their mind?
Yeah.
Do you know that beautiful scene from Love Actually, when is it Emma, what's the actress's
name?
She's great.
Emma Thompson.
Emma Thompson as Alan Rickman's wife.
When he finds out that Alan's bought that necklace for not her.
Yes.
And you know, she sits on the bed and has just like a small tear moment and then immediately
clicks back into mum mode.
It's a very, it's a very poignant part of that film.
I feel like that's what sloths do.
Right.
And I feel like this is what, maybe that's what, that's what this, if a mechanical thing
can do that, that's what the new Actros truck is doing because it's going, I am so sad,
but I've got to gather my thoughts because there's haulage to be done, wipe those tears
away, take another bite of the pasty and let's do this.
It's quite a funny face.
I think, is this not the electric one that has the sad sloth face?
Well, I thought it was, but I've seen too many of them in the UK recently and I might
be wrong, but I think they can't have been adopted that quickly, the electric truck.
So I think they're mostly diesel.
Because I've definitely, when I've seen one up close, I think it said E-Actros.
E-Actros.
E-Actros.
E-Actros.
E-Actros, you bastard.
Because I thought, it reminded me a bit of, do you remember the BBC adaptation of Hitch
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the 80s?
Yes.
Marvin, the paranoid android in that, a sad-faced robot.
Yes.
I thought that truck looked a bit like a sad-faced robot.
No, I've just looked it up and I think it is just the 2025 Mercedes Actros because I've
only seen them since Christmas.
And so what it has is, you know, it's quite popular now to have a surround daylight running
light, DRL, that's frames the grille or frames the headlight bar.
It's kind of got that.
So it's running lights, look like quite sad, slothy eyes and the rest of the grille area.
They don't really have grills, modern trucks, but you know what I mean.
Because it's black and sloths have quite a black face mask going on.
It does look quite sad, even though it's a good-looking truck, I know it doesn't sound
right, but it has very cool Mercedes badge and stuff and I want to have, basically, I'd
like to have a closer look, but it is just an Actros, but a sad, slothy Actros.
Yeah, but for a memory as well, there's a lot of blank panel at the top, isn't there?
There's just a big Merck badge and then it's almost like all of its features have slid down
to the bottom.
It's quite forehead-y in a way.
It's like those are Vecchio fans that are very sort of forehead-y, that have got a rugby
player forehead.
Is it like that creature from the Dandere comics from the 50s?
Was it called not Ming the Merciless, was it called the thing on the alien that flew around
on the disc?
Oh yes.
What was it called?
It had a huge forehead, absolutely massive.
The Dandere enemy.
What was it called?
The Mekon.
The Mekon, it's basically like, it's sad because the Mekon looked angry, the Actros
doesn't look angry, it just looks slightly sad, but it's just getting on with it.
So it's trustworthy, it's dependable, but just a little sad.
I don't know if this was still the case when you were at school, but certainly when I was
at school and the Eagle was, I think they relaunched the Eagle in the early 80s, didn't
they?
It was definitely, anybody in your school who had a slightly large forehead was just called
Mekon.
Or T-Fal Man, which I think was an 80s TV advert, was it something like that?
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