LeBron James sparks a detour into car culture and naming quirks, from the Chrysler LeBaron idea to why Americans drop the “t” in “turbot” and how French-influenced words show up in everyday speech. The hosts then pivot to real driving stories: a Jaguar R&D day featuring E-Types and XJ saloons, plus a charged-up Dacia Spring trip that’s charming despite an ADAS speed-limit warning glitch. The “pretend present” segment targets an 80s 1985 Fiat Ritmo 130 TC Abarth from Car and Classic auctions, and the mailbag covers Suzi Quattro’s late UK driving-test win and OBD reader nerding.
Jonny’s brother has invented a new word. Also in this episode, LeBaron James, American words that sound French, a new game involving Car & Classic, brine tycoons, driving some old Jags and the new one, Suzi Quatro’s driving test, ODB and ODB, and the scariness mismatch between mods and rockers.
"Anyway, I suppose the point is that he's looking around and he's gone, well, look, people like Jerry Seinfeld have already cornered the whole Porsche thing. Where's the fun in having a hanger full of those?"
A “hanger full” just means “a huge collection,” usually stored in a big building like an airplane hangar. It’s a joke about having lots of cars.
“Hanger full” is slang for having a large collection of cars stored in an aircraft hangar. It’s a common enthusiast/celebrity way to describe an extravagant garage setup and signals wealth and seriousness about collecting.
"I mean, I know we've touched on this numerous times... the most American name or French name is Chevrolet, isn't it?... They don't say the T... because Louis Chevrolet was a French guy..."
Chevrolet is a major American car brand, and it’s named after Louis Chevrolet. The hosts are talking about how people pronounce it and whether it still feels French even though it’s an American company.
Chevrolet is one of the most prominent American automakers, and the name is tied to Louis Chevrolet, a French-born racing driver and co-founder of the brand. The hosts are debating pronunciation and whether the name’s “Frenchness” is reflected in how Americans say it.
"[361.4s] Hang on.
[361.6s] I'm going to message my wife.
[363.5s] How would you pronounce the fish turbo?
...
[382.0s] Tea at the end or not.
[384.8s] Because if they do drop the teas, it will be known as the turbo fish."
They’re joking about how Americans might say a phrase that sounds like “turbo fish.” It’s not about a car part in this moment—just pronunciation and wordplay.
“Turbo fish” is being used as a playful pronunciation/wordplay reference to “turbo” plus “fish,” not an automotive term. In car talk, “turbo” usually refers to a turbocharger, but here the context is clearly about how people pronounce words.
"Do you think he has to have the seat rails modified in his cars? Oh, definitely."
That means changing how the seat is mounted so someone taller can fit comfortably. It’s about getting the seat position right.
“Seat rails modified” refers to adjusting the mounting points of a car’s seats so a person can sit lower, higher, or farther forward/backward. In practice, this can mean custom fabrication or aftermarket seat/rail solutions.
A “hot hatch” is a compact hatchback tuned for performance—typically with a stronger engine, sport suspension, and quicker steering/braking than a regular hatch. Calling someone a “hot hatch enthusiast” suggests they prefer practical size plus real driving fun.
"if you own a Chrysler LeBaron and if you don't back up your ideas."
The Chrysler LeBaron is a Chrysler car model that was popular a few decades ago. The hosts are basically asking listeners if they own one.
The Chrysler LeBaron is a mid-size American car line from Chrysler that was especially popular in the 1980s. In this segment, it’s mentioned as a specific model someone might own, tying into the episode’s “car picks” theme.
Abarth is a performance-focused brand that makes sportier versions of cars, especially Fiats. So an “Abarth” model is meant to be quicker and more fun than the standard one.
Abarth is an Italian performance brand best known for tuning Fiat models and producing sport versions with sharper handling and more aggressive engine setups. When you see Abarth on a Fiat, it usually signals a factory-supported performance package rather than just cosmetic upgrades.
"Well, so this one is in the UK, but it's left hand drive.
And I think in this case, that is a positive because it's going to have come."
Left-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. It can tell you where the car was originally meant to be sold or how it ended up in the UK.
Left-hand drive (LHD) means the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. In the UK, most cars are LHD, so an LHD car being found “in the UK” can be a clue about where it was originally built or how it was imported.
"So yeah, I mean, this is anti-decar for a number of reasons.
One of them being that it only has a 83 and a bit thousand kilometers on it,"
They’re talking about the car’s mileage. For an older car, 83,000 km is often considered relatively low, which can help the car’s appeal if the body and mechanicals are still in good shape.
Mileage is being used as a key data point for the car’s condition and value. “83 and a bit thousand kilometers” is relatively low for a 40+ year-old car, which can make it more desirable—assuming the car hasn’t suffered corrosion or neglect.
"It’s got those sort of four spoke wheels. [860.5s] It’s all going on there and super brilliant."
These are wheels with four main spokes. On older cars, the wheel design can really help it look “right” for the era.
“Four spoke wheels” refers to a wheel design with four main spokes, which can be a distinctive period-correct look on older cars. Wheel style is often part of a car’s authenticity and visual identity, especially for 1970s–1980s European models.
"Is it going to decal that goes down the side above the door handle? [897.8s] My favorite door handle of all time, probably."
A “decal” is a sticker or graphic applied to the exterior surface of a car. In this context, the speaker is discussing whether a side graphic runs down the body above the door handle, which affects originality and how the car is presented.
"Or on top three and then kicks around and goes up the the C pillar. [906.0s] I believe that it does."
The “C pillar” is the structural body panel between the rear door and the rear window (or between the front and rear sections in some body styles). The speaker is describing how a decal/graphic runs up and ends near that pillar, which is a common placement for side graphics.
"Again just to explain how this is going to work. Not actually buying it for you. But if I could I would. Two liter twin cam. So it's that that's a fierce twin cam engine."
“Two liter” means the engine is about 2.0 liters in size. “Twin cam” means it has two camshafts, which can help the engine make power more effectively.
“Two liter” describes engine displacement (about 2.0 liters). “Twin cam” means the engine uses two camshafts (one for intake and one for exhaust), which is often associated with better breathing and rev-happy behavior in older performance engines.
"I went up to the Jaguar Land Rover's Gaiden R&D centre to have a passenger ride in the upcoming new Jaguar and that was deeply exciting for me because you know I love car development centres..."
R&D is where car companies work on new ideas and test them. A track drive helps engineers see how the car feels in real driving conditions.
An R&D (research and development) center is where automakers develop and validate new technologies—everything from powertrains and electronics to chassis tuning. Passenger rides and track sessions are often used to assess real-world behavior and driver feedback.
"I went up to the Jaguar Land Rover's Gaiden R&D centre to have a passenger ride in the upcoming new Jaguar and that was deeply exciting for me..."
Jaguar Land Rover is the company that makes Jaguar and Land Rover cars. They have special engineering sites where they test new cars before they go on sale.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is the parent company behind the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. The company runs engineering and development centers where new models are tested and evaluated before launch.
"...because they said do you want to come and actually drive the new Jag and so I did but there's an embargo and last time we slightly..."
An embargo is a media/communications restriction that prevents participants from sharing details publicly until a specified date. In automotive events, it’s commonly used to control announcements around new models and keep marketing timing consistent.
"actually like go second then back into first standstill yeah and you're double-declutching it a lot and just trying to and it's still a little you get a little crunchy"
Double-declutching is a way to shift gears smoothly in a manual car. You briefly use the clutch twice so the engine and gearbox speeds match up, which helps prevent grinding.
Double-declutching is a manual-transmission technique used to match engine speed to the next gear before engaging it. It helps reduce gear clash and makes upshifts/downshifts smoother, especially in older gearboxes.
"I went oh shit it's got power steering I forgot that had been invented by then"
Power steering uses a pump or electric assist to reduce the effort needed to turn the wheels. The speaker highlights that the Series 3 E-Type they drove had power steering, which makes it easier to handle than earlier versions.
"it had an easygoing quality and actually it is it's more of a GT car than a sports car but that's fine"
A GT car is built for comfortable cruising—especially longer trips. It’s not only about being fast; it’s also about riding well and feeling relaxed.
A “GT” (grand touring) car is designed for comfortable, long-distance driving rather than pure track performance. The speaker contrasts GT comfort with “sports car” expectations, arguing the E-Type’s character fits GT use.
"point out the two ashtrays as a period such yeah like yeah there was a chance at that time I think the xjs so the early xjs had it as well as an ashtray either side of the gear selector"
An ashtray is a built-in receptacle for cigarette ash and butts. In older luxury cars, ashtrays were often integrated into the center console or near the gear selector for convenience, reflecting the era’s smoking-friendly cabin design.
"either side of the gear selector so you don't have to do anything as inconvenience as reach across too far and risk dropping ash into the selector mechanism"
The gear selector is the lever or control you use to put the car into the right gear. They’re saying the ashtrays were positioned so you wouldn’t have to reach over the shifter.
The gear selector is the control used to choose the transmission’s gear positions (like Park, Reverse, Drive, etc.). The host notes ashtrays were placed either side of the gear selector so you wouldn’t have to reach across the cabin and risk dropping ash into the mechanism.
"named obviously after the Audi that conquered wrc yes indeed yes okay suzi quattro"
WRC is a major rally racing competition where cars race on rough roads. The host is saying Audi did really well there.
WRC stands for World Rally Championship, a top-level rally racing series. The transcript connects Audi’s name to winning in WRC, using motorsport credibility as part of the story’s background.
"ivy hey amazing fact about susie quattro her father art was a semi professional musician who worked at general motors did he his name's art"
General Motors (GM) is a big American car company. The episode mentions it because the person’s father worked there, which ties the story back to the auto world.
General Motors (GM) is a major U.S. automaker and one of the largest global vehicle manufacturers. The segment mentions GM in a biographical context, which can be interesting for listeners because it connects the person’s family background to the auto industry.
"...she's got to do her driving test does it say did she have lessons or did she just dive in there..."
A driving test is how you prove you can drive safely to get your license. It usually includes a practical test on the road (and sometimes a written/theory part).
A driving test is the formal assessment you take to earn a driver’s license. In the UK (where the transcript is clearly set), it typically includes both a theory component and a practical on-road test.
"but she also she got rid of the Mercedes uh and bought um a rolls silver shadow in 1976 oh does that that's a shame well that's kind of but that's sort of peak peak uh 70s celebrity car"
The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a very luxurious classic car. The hosts are saying it was the kind of car celebrities were known for in the 1970s.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a luxury flagship from the 1960s–1970s, famous for its smooth ride and understated prestige. In the segment, the speaker calls it “peak 70s celebrity car,” emphasizing how it fit the image and lifestyle of the era.
"...she's photographed here this must be recent taking the l plates off her car and it is a first generation merc cls..."
L plates are the learner-driver signs used in the UK. They show the person is still learning to drive, so it helps date the photo.
“L plates” are learner plates used in the UK to indicate a driver is still learning and must follow specific restrictions. The host uses them to suggest the timing of when the photo was taken and therefore which car she likely has now.
"[2931.1s] ...using his odb wand it is in fact the the standard in modern cars
[2940.3s] is obd two isn't it it is this is correct ...
[2965.4s] ...basic history of obd which does stand for onboard diagnostics...
[2972.0s] ...it's the standard protocol used across most light duty vehicles to retrieve vehicle diagnostic information"
OBD-II is the computer system in most cars that can be “read” with a scanner. It tells you what the car thinks is wrong, like why a warning light is on.
OBD-II (on-board diagnostics, generation 2) is the standardized system in most modern light-duty vehicles that lets a scan tool read fault codes and other diagnostic data. It’s used for things like checking why the “check engine” light is on and verifying emissions-related systems.
"since this was the early 90s wrapping was not yet a thing i think i remember the engine bay being the only place where you could spot the original body color"
A wrap is like a vinyl skin you put on a car to change its look. They’re saying back then, people mostly repainted cars instead of using vinyl wraps.
Car wrapping is applying a vinyl film over the body to change color or add graphics. The hosts note that in the early 1990s, vinyl wraps weren’t common, so color changes were typically done with traditional paint.
Concept
mods vs rockers
"i've never really understood the whole mod thing you know mods and rockers goes back to just pointlessly fighting on seafronts in the 60s yes"
This is a reference to a real 1960s UK youth culture rivalry. It’s not about car upgrades—it’s about different groups of people and the bikes/scooters they rode.
“Mods vs rockers” refers to a 1960s British youth rivalry tied to style and motorbikes/scooters. In the conversation, it’s used as a metaphor for the speaker’s confusion about “mods” (car modifications) versus “mods” (the subculture).
"quick yeah big twin or or a yeah a 500 cc single thumper well also because if for some reason the mods had got hold of guns"
“500 cc” is a way of describing engine size. Bigger cc usually means the engine can make more power, though exact performance depends on the design.
“500 cc” refers to engine displacement, measured in cubic centimeters. In motorcycles, displacement is a key factor in how much power and torque the engine can make, and it’s often used as a shorthand for bike size/performance.
"...johnny's got a new project on the go... i've been keeping it under laps and the project car naughtiness reveals itself..."
A project car is a car someone is working on as a hobby. It might need fixing, or it might be getting modified step by step.
A “project car” is a vehicle that’s being worked on over time—often with upgrades, repairs, or a planned build. The episode uses it as a framing device for a recurring segment and hints at a reveal.
Select text to request an explanation
I'm Johnny Smith. I'm a reporter. And this is Smith and sniff a podcast in which two friends talk about cars and many other things.
All right, mate. Are you doing all right? Just going around the bypass and that. Well, they tried to take me out, but they won't. They try to catch me, but they won't. Are you familiar with the American basketball player, player LeBron James?
Yes, which I always think sounds like a fantastic 80s special edition, one of those bad American cars that we quite like a bit like a Chrysler, Chrysler LeBron.
Well, that's exactly it.
Oh, really?
This is where I was going with this because I got a link served to me somewhere to an article in I think Vanity Fair about LeBron James.
It just popped up on my phone and my brain read his name as LeBron James.
Because LeBron James is an article about his cars as well as LeBron James. Is that his nickname because he has a LeBron or maybe many? I mean, you know, he's a man of means. Perhaps he's got the world's greatest collection of LeBrons.
He could fill LAX's biggest airport car park with LeBrons and still have enough money left to do anything he wanted, I would say.
He's reached an accolade this week, didn't he? Of the most numbers of baskets in a career? Or I should know this because I actually am interested in basketball.
The only thing that's quite amazing is he's not a young man for a professional athlete, is he?
No.
He's sort of in his 40s.
Yeah, he's incredible.
But still just doing it, out there doing it, like being.
He's 41.
Is he, would he legitimately be described as a goat?
Yeah, I think he is now.
Weird that you mentioned his name because he did come up in the news this week, but I sort of heard it while I was, I don't know, shouting at my children or something.
So I can't exactly remember what he reached, but he definitely reached a point in his career.
Is it?
I'm scrabbling on Google now to try and give the listeners some substance.
Because he, is he kind of outscored by Michael Jordan and kind of other greats and is that what's past or has that already happened long ago?
Anyway, I suppose the point is that he's looking around and he's gone, well, look, people like Jerry Seinfeld have already cornered the whole Porsche thing.
Where's the fun in having a hanger full of those? That just looks like I'm copying. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to have the world's best collection of Chrysler LeBarons.
And I'm going to change my name to LeBaron James and be done with it.
I just, I'm thinking about LeBaron, LeBaron James, the baron comma James.
It never occurred to me that the Chrysler LeBaron is that, is it, did they just come up with the name by going, well, let's call it the baron.
The baron.
What's more exotic? Do it in French?
Well, yeah, I guess so, because there's a long history of American cars with French names, though, right?
I mean, I know we've touched on this numerous times off of the off of this cast and that the most American name or French name is Chevrolet, isn't it?
The fact that they don't.
Oh, yes.
They don't say the T and because it Louis Chevrolet was a French guy that just rocked up in Detroit, I think.
Um, I don't know if he's just looking for work.
I think he's just looking for bits and bobs just scratching around.
I feel a bit thick now because it has never occurred to me that
really you would say Chevrolet.
Yes.
If you were just pronouncing it in a more anglicized Americanized way.
Yeah, for sure.
It's not because the Frenchness is because, you know, they don't say, uh, I've got to go on business.
I'm flying to San Louis.
It's been St. Louis.
It's been Americanized.
And the only one that's stuck as well, I suppose, is Herbs.
Going to buy some herbs in my Chevrolet.
Well, there's another one in the words of my favorite rap artist, um, DJ Khaled.
Another one I recently found out.
I wanted to just question this with you because you are married to an American.
So maybe you have insider knowledge on this.
And obviously we have an enormous amount of American and Canadian listeners,
which we're very thankful for.
So I've heard that the fish, the turbot, the flat fish,
flat fish having sort of eyes and mouth on one side,
they look like they've had a bit of a sort of collision with stuff, an evolutionary collision.
I believe Americans call them turbos.
They don't use the tea.
No.
Well, this is what I, I believe Americans drop the tea.
While we're recording.
Yeah.
Or is it some Americans do and some Americans don't?
Is it a?
There's a road in Los Angeles called Sepulveda.
Yes.
Near the airport.
Some of it is.
I mean, a road to Los Angeles near many things because they're so bloody long.
Sepulveda, as I always called it.
Well, that's the thing.
Sepulveda, right?
I used to say Sepulveda and then my wife laughed at me.
And I think I realized I'd said it in public to other people,
like, you know, the hire car employees and stuff.
But yeah, it's Sepulveda.
But then somebody in the US said, well, it's Sepulveda here.
But in, I can't remember where they said like New Orleans or something.
Yeah.
There is also a Sepulveda boulevard and it's pronounced Sepulveda.
So both are admissible.
Because, you know, well, of course, it's like people's accents across the US are different.
So their pronunciation might be different, same as it is here.
Hang on.
I'm going to message my wife.
How would you pronounce the fish turbo?
By the way.
Hang on.
I'm going to say, I'm just going to show you that.
How would you slash other Americans pronounce?
I'm willing for this to be wrong.
Tea at the end or not.
Because if they do drop the teas, it will be known as the turbo fish.
Yes.
But I've never heard someone go, actually, I'll have the turbo.
Well, I always have the turbo prepared.
Fillet of turbo.
Because they say fillet, fillet of fish.
They do.
Whereas we say fillet.
Yes.
Started to realize how French the Americans are without realizing it.
Because, you know, during, what was it, the Gulf War when the French wouldn't join in?
We'll probably join another round of this, aren't we?
But I said, they refused to people in America on principle saying,
we're not going to call them French fries anymore.
We're going to call them freedom fries.
Oh, gosh.
But then getting into their Chevrolet.
Yeah.
To go and pick up some turbots.
Fillet of something.
But yes, my wife, if she was ordering a steak at a restaurant, she would say,
I'll have the fillet.
There we go.
Also, they say entree a lot as well now, I think about it.
As a course in restaurants, they don't just say main courses.
Oh, yeah, I'll have the fillet for my entree.
Fillet entree, great rapper.
Yes.
Really good.
Oh, I think she's, I think she might be in a meeting or something.
She's not, she's not looking at her messages.
Not yet.
I'll keep you updated on that one.
This is not car news.
Back in February, LeBron James 41 achieved historic NBA feet by becoming the oldest player
to ever record a triple double.
And he achieved this feat during a victory match over the Dallas Mavericks.
He's of course an LA Lakers player.
And there we go.
Okay.
Well, LeBaron James.
The Baron of James.
The Baron.
I want to know what LeBron actually drives.
I know he's probably got a shitload of cars because he's born in Ohio,
which is the home of the Corvette, isn't it?
So really, he should just have all the Corvettes and they should all be one of ones.
No, they're built in Kentucky.
Oh, well, they are thought they were thought they're bowling green Ohio.
Yeah, bowling green Kentucky.
Yeah, no, it's Kentucky.
It's like, oh, there's two bowling greens.
There's different bowling greens.
What? Is there a bowling green in Ohio?
I'm sure there's a bowling green in Ohio.
Again, where's the emphasis in that?
Is it bowling green or bowling green?
Oh, gosh, I don't know.
I would say traditionally Americans land the emphasis on the first syllable of things.
Ice cream.
Yeah.
Being a case in point, we would say ice cream.
So I don't think basketball players of the stature of LeBron, LeBron James,
and of course, as Shaquille O'Neal is famously into his cars and Michael Jordan.
He has got an electric Hummer apparently, a Rolls-Cullinan, a Bentley Conti GT,
911 Turbo S Cabrio, maybe because he puts his head and shoulders above the windscreen line
in the Cabrio.
He's got a 458 and an F430 Spyder Ferraris, Phantom Rolls.
This is all Spyder stuff, isn't it?
There's a lot of Spyderies.
He's six foot nine.
So there are a lot of cars that he probably struggles to fit in.
But this is it.
The LeBaron Cabrio.
599 GTO Ferrari.
My favorite, my favorite modern day Ferrari, probably.
He's got one of them.
Do you think he has to have the seat rails modified in his cars?
Oh, definitely.
I would love it if one of these basketball stars and one of them must be into some compacts.
Must like his compass and therefore just spends loads of money on custom seat operations.
He is a hot hatch enthusiast.
Real, like he's had all sorts of stuff imported, 25 year rule and all that.
So he's got like, he's got an incredible collection of 205 GTIs,
but he drives them all from the back seats.
Just as the driver's seat taken out.
There's no need.
They have a quick release molded, like a carting chair,
where you know your bum is molded to the seat and it's waffa thin carbon fablon.
And it's on quick release pins so you can move the seat to whatever car you like.
I like that about it.
I'd love to be able to do that.
When I went around Gordon Murray's historic car collection,
he's had custom seat frames and actual chairs fitted in numerous cars,
because he obviously loves tiny cars.
And he's not six foot nine, but he's six foot, probably six.
Oh, yes.
He's Clarkson height, I would say.
Clarkson's six foot five or six foot six, isn't he, I think?
He's, yeah.
He's a long one.
Six, five maybe.
Yeah.
He's probably shrunk a bit now from, you know, just general decompression.
Well, it happens, doesn't it?
Yes.
Good.
All right.
Well, if you are LeBron James, do get in touch and let us know
if you own a Chrysler LeBaron and if you don't back up your ideas.
Yeah, please, because Cullinans and stuff are predictable and cack.
I know exactly.
So.
And they do the cabrio, so you could still fit in it,
because you can just poke your head out the top with the roof down.
That's a very good point.
Anyway, let's just to change the subject slightly
into a new format point for this podcast,
which is something that we're doing with our friends at Car and Classic every week.
One of us is going to choose a car as a pretend present for the other
loosely themed, if you like.
So to kick this off, I thought I would buy inverted commas by you,
a car from the Car and Classic auctions.
Oh.
From the 80s.
Oh, yes, please.
The theme is the 80s.
And so.
What are you going to buy, mate?
It's this, the look there.
It's a 1985 Fiat Ritmo 130 TC Abarth.
Oh, my gosh, you've gone in there bullseye.
Now, these are rare, aren't they?
Because they didn't sell that many.
No.
And they're finding one now.
Yes.
40 years later or more, hard.
Yes.
Well, so this one is in the UK, but it's left hand drive.
And I think in this case, that is a positive because it's going to have come.
Well, basically because it hasn't lived in Britain is the headline.
It wasn't owned by a Scottish trawler man who left it on a key side
when it was brand new and then discovered that within a year it was practically ruined.
And so.
Well, or a or a brine tycoon.
Are there brine tycoons?
Well, there are now.
And I'm going to cling to that notion that there are in fact brine tycoons.
But unfortunately, I don't think it's a little no fact that brine is
highly intensive to produce under pressure.
And the pipes at the brine plant are always rupturing and just spraying brine into the air.
So awful.
You're just your RITMO 130 TC a bath is constantly wet stored without you wanting it to be.
Yeah.
So yeah, I mean, this is anti-decar for a number of reasons.
One of them being that it only has a 83 and a bit thousand kilometers on it,
which is 50,000 miles or something like that.
So it's low mileage.
It's said it's left hand drive.
It's gray.
It's very but it's got those little bath badges on it.
It's got those sort of four spoke wheels.
It's all going on there and super brilliant.
Like a real period touch.
The normal the gap between the the rear lights has got a branded RITMO reflective red thing in it.
Oh heck blend.
As was the style at the time.
Yeah, a sort of 80s heck blend.
Probably were a heck blends.
I've just brought a photo up of it.
It's on the force spokes, isn't it?
The domed fours.
Yes, yes, domed fours.
That's what they are.
Gosh.
And look at that.
Is it going to decal that goes down the side above the door handle?
My favorite door handle of all time, probably.
Or on top three and then kicks around and goes up the the C pillar.
I believe that it does.
Do you know I've still never driven one of these and I've featured a few car collections
like car caves on the late break show whose whose owners have got one.
And one guy in particular who owned pretty much every one of 80s hot hatches of repute
said I because I said which one is like the most hot hatch.
And he said he just pointed straight at the our bath 130 and he goes nothing else comes close.
And I went seriously.
He went it's so good.
He said it's so raw.
The throttle response is so it just cracks and goes.
And he said the chassis is mega.
And I went oh my gosh.
He said you must drive one at some point because no one gets to drive them.
Like everyone drives 205 GTIs and R5 turbos.
But he says nobody has driven a Strada our bath or a Ripmo our bath.
So he said you really ought to.
So I think I'm going to have to and damn it.
The fact that you're buying me one means I don't have to.
Which is really kind of you Rich.
Really so kind.
Yes.
It's bringing a small tear to my eye.
Again just to explain how this is going to work.
Not actually buying it for you.
But if I could I would.
Two liter twin cam.
So it's that that's a fierce twin cam engine.
There's just I could hear that car.
Yeah.
Because it's sort of raspy.
It is very raspy.
Gargly raspy.
It is.
It's one of those cars where when people go four cylinder engines they never sound very nice.
Do they just go that's not strictly true.
They can.
The Italians are always good at raspy fours.
Always.
Yeah.
Gosh this looks good.
So there you go.
The auction for that is running at the moment.
Go to Car and Classic and have a look if you like.
In fact why not buy it just to make us all insanely jealous.
All I would do I you should probably issue a warning before you go anywhere near carandclassic.com
in that it is absolute catnip for car tragic like us.
It's so dangerous and once you're in you're in.
And you will come away with something.
You will.
I've mentioned this on the podcast.
I was explaining this to somebody in real life the other day when I was saying why I've
started going to a lot more public places to work you know a cafe or something.
Because perversely I find if I have a lot of work to do I get more done in a public place.
And I think it's partly because there's a certain amount of embarrassment that if I sat in the same
cafe for two hours doing what I might do at home which is browsing car and classic.
People go look at this waster doesn't he have a job to do in the middle of the day.
And I'm so embarrassed that if I'm in a cafe I kind of go oh I better just like make it obvious
that I'm typing an article or something but if I'm at home a couple of hours on car and classic
well that's time well spent as far as I'm concerned.
That's brilliant.
Not my actual job sadly.
You've I haven't heard the term waster for ages.
I remember my brother used to actually genderise that term.
If he saw a female that he thought was a waster he called her wasteress.
I don't know I don't know why it always tickles me.
Now exciting exciting things I did last week because did you just say
exciting things I did.
It's just like I did.
I know sorry I've become seven again.
No last week I was just a regular listener so I remember last year the end of last year
I went up to the Jaguar Land Rover's Gaiden R&D centre to have a passenger ride in the
upcoming new Jaguar and that was deeply exciting for me because you know I love
car development centres and all that stuff and you don't normally allow it into them
and we were allowed to go get driven around the track in the car and it felt very good
and the ride felt nice.
Well last week they stepped things up a notch because they said do you want to come
and actually drive the new Jag and so I did but there's an embargo and last time we slightly
broke the embargo and as I explained last time embargoes are there not you know they're not
trying to be controlling they're just trying to be fair to all the media outlets they're
inviting along to do these things so that no one gets to jump on anyone else because
they went a day earlier so they said look could everyone just not talk about this till next
well basically tomorrow Tuesday the 31st so I'll talk about that another time but
what they'd also arranged is some old Jaguars for people to have a go in because they're
making this point of the DNA there is a through line and the first thing or one of the first
things they did with this whole reinvention of Jaguar project was they drove all the old cars
and picked the bits and the characteristics that they wanted to put into the new one and I think
I said last time that Matt Becker their sort of head of dynamics I can't remember his proper job
title he said they are lighted on the XJC V12 from the 70s as being the sort of north staff
this whole thing of embodying Jaguar qualities that they wanted to make sure that the new car had
yeah well and effortless talk well this is the thing so they had an XJC V12 there they had an
XJV12 and sadly the XJS is mentioned quite a bit they didn't have an XJS we could drive they only
had one on static display but they had two E-types they had a series one a really early series one
flat floor one with a moss gearbox I wonder if that's the one I drove with Plato to to Geneva
oh it might be because it was a very early car it might be because it's from the heritage fleet
yeah and then they had a series three so the V12 longer wheelbase the one that often gets a little
bit of a hard time as being you know the E-type had gone fat Elvis yes it's got a the the windscreen
pillars more vertical isn't it and yeah it's a two plus two so it's more practical but not as
pretty it's very you know big chromey grille that funny sort of mermaid tail exhaust on them and it
just yeah they get they're not as pretty as you're certainly not a series one now it's a long time
since I've driven an E-type and the series one like it's it's interesting but it's apart from the
else talking to you about LeBron Richard James he definitely wouldn't fit in a series one E-type I
was a bit squeezed in at six foot three and that moss gearbox is famously a bit crunchy yeah someone
thankfully tipped me off before I drove it said if when you try and get it back into first
actually like go second then back into first standstill yeah and you're double-declutching it
a lot and just trying to and it's still a little you get a little crunchy can't rush it no so it's
a very old-fashioned feeling car but what one of the things they seem to have alighted on as a very
jaguar quality rightly so is a sort of easygoing not necessarily a soft soft ride but a good ride
that sort of you know car engineers sometimes talk about breathing with the road and for a sports car
that first e-type it's not a hard-riding car at all and they deliberately made us drive down some of
these absolutely khaki horrible roads like deliberately horrible roads that they have up at
gaden where the surface is shit I thought you were going to see like huge stone steps outside
a mason's hall or something like that yes they made us we drove into the center of Birmingham and
down the steps outside the library at that time oh it's really soaking that up isn't it oh no the
exhausts come off um no they just like terrible terrible cambers and stuff like that and actually
even the e-type was manageable on there but it is an old-fashioned car no power steering very
crunchy gear change if you don't pay attention yeah but it did have this sort of quite comfortable
sort of soaking up the surface kind of quality to it so that's sort of interesting and then
but the series 3e type I really liked it it was a manual v12 it's got power things the first thing
we set off and I went oh shit it's got power steering I forgot that had been invented by then
you know because it's sort of it's in many ways it's still an old car but a bit more room in it
because longer wheelbase so I was more comfortable but that v12 it just pulls it's fantastic
it and it had an easygoing quality and actually it is it's more of a GT car than a sports car but
that's fine it was still a really interesting car to drive and I've never driven a series 3e before
I've only ever driven an earlier e-type so I was a bit like I think these get unfairly slagged off
because it's it's good it has a nice character it's always the way though isn't it the car was
a mechanically evolved version that the the s-type jag is better than the mark 2 jag oh yeah it's
better than the mark 2 jag in almost every way but it's worth half the money or something ridiculous
I don't understand why yeah because you just get in an s-type and all of the things that weren't
great about the 2 have been resolved but yeah people go I know it has to be a mark 2 and for me
anyway with a with a slight squint they look identical anyway so it's like well don't worry
about it I'd rather have an s do I mean anyway on on brief acquaintance I've got a real appreciation
down for a series 3 I mean I still think they don't look as nice as an early e-type but um
they have a sort of charm of their own and I think I don't know where values are on them and
have how much they're sort of worth less than a than an early series one but uh yeah that was
one of my highlights but then got to drive the xj's and they were both just fantastic yeah just
really again sort of easy going and I can see what they're trying to port into the new car is
there's power there when you need it but it's not screaming in your face to make you yeah drive
everywhere like a knob and they have this very sort of a lot of ways they reminded me a bit of
Roger Moore as James Bond because you know he's sort of elegant and and he looks like quite
a slender man but actually he's quite tough like you feel like if you punched him in the chest
he wouldn't flinch he's quite take it yeah he's quite a stout man in the best possible way like
he looks dense and I think there's that quality these cars they feel sort of stout not not heavy
and not lumbering but they just have this sort of depth to them and they and so they they just
amble over khaki surfaces and then they they got us out on that minute what they call the
emission circuit at gaden the main for the fast four lane loop around and in every single one
of those cars you could wind them up I mean the guy who was sitting alongside me he had to say to
me with the v12e type he went you know this will do three figures no problem at all and so I because
you think old car I don't want to ring its neck and then it just sort of sat there at just over
a hundred miles an hour absolutely tracking dead straight yeah I had one hand on the wheel
and it's like oh I didn't expect that and the xj's were the same they're just there and if you
want to go a little bit faster you just sort of gently depress a loafer and more more torque arrives
so it's just that was fantastic so as you effortlessly did three figures three three numbers
yes did did he reach over because you couldn't quite see what he was doing did he reach over and
put a lit cigar in your mouth no right one of one of the guardians of these heritage cars who was in
as the xj saloon did as we set off point out the two ashtrays as a period such yeah like
yeah there was a chance at that time I think the xjs so the early xjs had it as well as an ashtray
either side of the gear selector so you don't have to do anything as inconvenience as reach across
too far and risk dropping ash into the selector mechanism but um yeah they were they they were
all really charming cars but I think what they had in particular v12 was this sort of easy going
always available extra bit of oomph and this sort of nice kind of free flowing really laid back
they're easy listening cars are very easy listening but in a in a really charming way so
I had a lovely day out the only thing that had a nicer day out at this event than me was my
dacha spring oh because so I decided that I was going to drive up there because I've been sort of
been doing a bit of longer distances in and I'm really really smitten with my spring at the moment
I think it's again talking about cars with nice personality I love that sort of old school french
way that it just sort of bimbles along country roads and so I sort of decided that I would I
would drive up to gaden in it and um but I was a bit like well now it won't do there and back on one
charge even with the weather being a bit warmer so I said to somebody at jag when I get to see you
is there any way to charge up there because I feel like I've seen charges in your visitor car park
and you went yeah yeah yeah we have yeah I'll make sure that there's one kept free for you
and then it turns out they're new charges and they hadn't been set up or something so they weren't
working oh he said don't worry about it if you're okay just give me a keys and while you're doing
all the stuff today we'll um we'll bring it into the inner sanctum from the visitor's car park and
we'll just we've got you know got loads of charges here so I'm inside the inner sanctum and we had
a little briefing inside the r&d building and then we'd go outside and there's there's always
nice old cars lined up and I was heading out in one of them and that game place now it's
it's bloody massive how there's so many buildings and and areas and things that I swear didn't used
to be there when I first went there sort of like 20 odd years ago and there's just this this bit that
sort of got you know loads of some camoed up Range Rovers and all sorts of other interesting test
cars and things and then just there next to them was my little dacha like out on the test track
in this holding area and I was I was driving by the guy who's in the car that's my car there
and they put it on charge at like one of the r&d charges like out in the some engineering
compounds I was like that that's fantastic looking look it's just there with all of these big Range
Rovers and Land Rover I came back in switched into another car I was driving out suddenly there's my
dacha at the back of the design studio parked in a row of defenders I was like look that's my car
again what's it doing it was like it was having a little day out exploring the Land Rover r&d
center and then for the rest of the day that I was like I was driving for a looking where's he
gone now what's he up to I find I find that he's gone inside the design studio he's sitting on
one of those clay modeling plates it was I was thinking that little cars I've had a lovely time
today almost as a lovely time as I'm having but um but blessed them they charged it up so that then
I had a full battery to to zip back home in it was a lovely evening as well nice spring evening
and I was just and I've had a really great day and I was driving across the country like so set
the nav to not do motorways because it's just nicer on back roads in that car why are you getting
more you're getting more range don't you as well mate well that's why I do you know and you sort of
go just just drive it drive it well that's the on the way back I was like I'll just I'll just drive
it normally because actually it was fine a plenty of plenty of range to get home is but yeah I was
more smitten with that thatch it than I've ever been except it's broken oh as in something's
gone wrong with some of the adas system so it no longer does the speed limit warning which is no
great loss but no yeah something's happened and I don't know I assume I have to go and take it to
a dealer or something but every time you get in it flashes up driving assistance not not available
oh okay to get that looked at yeah so you know that's but it's a mark of how much I love it that
I honestly and it's not it still works fine as a car it's it's no great hardship it's just but
you kind of go it's not really good is it in a brand new car for something to go on the piss so
but it hasn't really blotted his copy book because it's such an amusing car to drive so yeah and it
had a lovely day out at Gayden as I did and next week I suppose I'll talk about the new
Jag and what it's like to drive but well and I need to say sorry to Jaguar's people because
apparently I was invited but I didn't see my invite and so I feel guilty because a I would
have loved to have actually gone and b I don't want them to think that I'm giving them the cold
shoulder because I'm not or co-chater as if you were living in the west country um and I'm not
I'm not I'm not guys I'm not oh this just in what from my wife
she says Americans would pronounce turbot with a t at the end no I've been lied to by several
who told you this I can't I can't say can't say they work in the industry and they need to
remain anonymous I believe uh right so so there um anyway I've got some other news in rich uh
yes not not not involving flatfish and not involving Duchess or pre-production shankuers
we've had a letter from uh Canada okay Diane fair service great name yeah I thought that too
hi you find purveys of car facts and other tasks which is probably the most accurate
summation of this podcast my husband and I both like to listen to your podcast but have
agreed that we can only listen to them together which means we save them up until we do our road
trips together that is so sweet sometimes this is often sometimes this is not all that is to say
is that we've only just listened to podcast 379 slash otto sort 84 where someone writes in with
the story of his grand learning to drive at slightly more than middle aged this made us laugh
as we saw this attached story the evening beforehand and we're already planning to send it
your way in a letter and it was timely after your discussion about older first time drivers well
Diane has sent a link which maybe some listeners already knew this because the this news came out
back in oh no it was only a couple of weeks ago it's only a couple of weeks ago suzi quattro
named obviously after the Audi that conquered wrc yes indeed yes okay suzi quattro passed her
driving test after unknowingly breaking the law for 54 years is the headline of this news piece
it says i'm 75 for god's sake i've been driving since i was 16 but it turns out the queen of
rock and roll suzi quattro only passed her uk driving test this week what she moved to the
uk from detroit in 1971 at the age of 21 and only discovered in january this year that her u.s
driving license was only valid for 12 months after entering the country which means she's been driving
legally since 72 i could have told suzi quattro this because my this is what happened to my wife
she had to redo her take her uk driving test after a year yeah wouldn't it have been amazing for i
don't know our dpr if they made her take her test in in some sort of quattro that based vehicle
yes and also that suzi as part of the influencer agreement has the q in her surname has to be
lower case it can't possibly be uppercase just to make it authentic suzi quattro it's only one t
isn't it though it is only one t yeah so they'd have to get her to rebrand quattro it's suzi
quattro quattro is suzi quattro it's that now a super question but is that her real name i i knew
you'd ask this and i don't i don't know richard i'm not expecting you to know like our suzi
quattro correspondent jolly smith uh she it's uh yeah i think it is her real name is susan quattro
susan quattro suzi quattro you imagine if you're you're growing up your mum had a friend called
susan quattro that'd be amazing that's very cool i've never well i you know my my mum's called
susan as i've said before and we know that rinaldo that guy who's quite good at football
says su when he um scores and and slides on his knees and does the sort of like opening of your
chest to the crowd for admiration um but that's what i do to my mum these days that's how i greet
my mum like rinaldo would i just go ah su i think i think su in portuguese just means yes
oh because because i i i'm pretty sure i question this because it's like why does he keep saying
su su i don't think his wife's called su might she might be i don't think so he just likes to
say a sort of older lady's name every time he's scored carol
mord june yes names that nobody uses anymore uh ivy hey amazing fact about susie quattro her
father art was a semi professional musician who worked at general motors did he his name's art
i absolutely love that so yeah it's a great name so yeah susie quattro born and raised in
detroit and her her her grand her paternal grandfather this is according to wikipedia
was an italian immigrant to the us and her mother helen was hungarian her family name was quattrochi
oh which means four eyes or bespectacled does it shorten to quattro hang on so if alpha came along
and saw how much money out he were waving under susie's nose and went no no you need to change
his surname to quadrofolio oh and she's now now susie quad fog and and as such he's got to drive
around in and quite a gargly fiery italian saloon i could see susie in one of them actually susie
quattro has lived in britain since the 70s since 72 yes wow that's right not not look back no but
maybe she did that because british maybe she cracked the music scene in britain which meant she
cracked it more easily in america i don't know sometimes it works that way or it did do yeah
or sometimes there's just people who crack it here and then don't really ever do so back home so
they just cut a yeah like um what's his face shewie shewie morgan out of the fund loving criminals
yeah that's right i don't think the fund loving criminals cut through in the us and the way that
they sort of had a period of success here did they so yeah now shewie morgan just lives here being
pretending to be in new york do you think though that susie quadro having driven for so long
yes she learned to drive at 16 and then she she's 75 now so she's been driving for 59 years
she's got to do her driving test does it say did she have lessons or did she just dive in there
i don't uh didn't say i would have thought she must have had lessons though really
she couldn't have just gone in shortly well that's what i'm thinking because she would have
she would have had so many bad habits yes exactly wouldn't she oh my god she probably
parming or sorry just got slightly distracted by looking up uh shewie morgan and uh it says here
that uh he lives in bath bath what i know you're gonna bump into the actual fund loving criminal
well i mean the thing about this town city confusing but it is that it's it's weird how
people know each other it is i can guarantee that if you meet someone new it'll turn out
that they know someone you know it is a very sort of incestuous town so laura of averages
i must know somebody who knows hewie morgan and yeah you will do i you absolutely don't know
what i can do with that but why does he live here why do i live here well well why do you live there
maybe he used to be like nick cage's lodger of course the cage because nick cage obviously
we've mentioned before that bathtonian cage yeah so yeah did you know that uh i've gone down a
susie quattro whole car based whole um did you know that she lived in essics i don't know if she
still does um her dream car was always a forward thunderbird but she got one whilst in the uk and
drove around in it and like to get milkshakes from mcdonald's and listening to 50s music and she
realized that it was quite embarrassing so she sold it that was it she only drove it a couple of
times i found an article about hewie morgan living here and there's a photo of him with his dog outside
the royal crescent you know the big famous curved georgian building but quite clearly just behind
hewie is a ferrari 400 actually i think it's a 412 oh okay that's kind of weird isn't it yeah
jeckon quattro would have one what i thought like a 400 right 400 i don't know yeah jeckon
daisy i think she's from detroit i think she's she's gonna stay loyal isn't she she'll probably
she would rather have um uh like uh some kind of what would you want a large four-seat coupe
it must be the thunderbird sort of is but what she had like um a lincoln continental should have
should have a pontiac or a nice buick one of those a fantastic buick station wagons that i can never
remember the the name of with the extra is it the vista oh that's an old movie old's vista cruiser
oh if you ever want to look up like the peak of um station wagons they did some fantastic ones
no she had her Mercedes she had her first hit in 73 bought her first car in 74 which was a blue
280 sl Mercedes and it had been owned previously by engelbert humpeding that he bought for his wife
it's true it's true i'm just reading it now it's true may i've got it yeah it's true may um and
but she also she got rid of the Mercedes uh and bought um a rolls silver shadow in 1976 oh does that
that's that's a shame well that's kind of but that's sort of peak peak uh 70s celebrity car
there isn't it the shad kind of they all they're all in on the shad in those days so that's okay
that doesn't mean that she's you know uh should be cancelled no no it doesn't mean she's a wrong
exactly we're not saying that she she said there's nothing like the rolls it's the perfect car for
the uk and it's non-existent class system i used to go to the laundrette with the kids strapped in
the back in their baby seats and if we wanted to have a social night in a drink i'd hire a driver
so we could get home safely oh so so oh oh guys i've just found something else we will move off
this but i've just found something that suggests susie quattro is indeed an american car loyalist
but also doesn't have great taste in cars oh because it's her posing next to a chrysler crossfire
convertible i think it might be the srt6 as well it's got some spicy wheels on it well does that
combine the two things that we know about her her first proper car was a misades s l and she's from
d town therefore that car is a mix of misades bends and and chrysler isn't it so do you say
cry chrysler or chrysler chrysler chrysler chrysler chevrolet and chrysler
um
old mobile so when um when yes desoto also known as the soto the soto of soto yes that's right
anyway wait i think it sounds like when she splits up with her partner uh susie quattro
sold the Rolls Royce um and when she married uh uh chap called reina has who's a concert promoter
he gave her a bmw z1 oof it was a present she says but reina drove it so much that in the end
he bought it back from me who's who's like what she sold her own husband a gift back to him that
seems okay is this for tax purposes do we think i don't know oh well it might be because if you're
american you are always liable for american tax oh sugar that sounds awkward ask my wife
it's uh it's an incredible system of nuisance this uh she could still say i then fell for a
chrysler pt cruiser which looked great but was a terrible drive now i have a chrysler crossfire
conversable for sunny days and a Mercedes cls for longer journeys was from six years ago no sorry
eight years ago no mention of any quattros sad quite sad she does not go into a lengthy
soliloquy about the benefits of wet weather grip no but going at both ends which is probably nice
for her to not mention that yeah i wouldn't if i were her i wouldn't i wouldn't major on that
suzie suzie going at both ends no that's not right no she's photographed here this must be recent
taking the l plates off her car and it is a first generation merc cls oh that's a good car
hmm it's a it's a mixed bag on the quattro front but yeah howdy possibly missing a trick
in this photo i thought the suzie quattro was it looks like she's taking the l plate off the rear
wing of the Mercedes which is bizarre and it also looks like she's holding an oar above her head but
i realized now it's a guitar this is an incredibly locally local newspaper style this why would she
be holding an oar above her head oh well that's what i was confused about i was just like she
passed a boating test as well this is so weird but no it's it makes more sense that it's a guitar
because of it being suzie quattro but at the same time the photographer going look the thing is love
no one's going to know you are unless you hold something related to your profession above your
head so that's fine it's a good job she doesn't work in an abattoir the um wanted to talk a little
bit about um obd readers yes a poor mccartney's obd obada readers that's right um every time
because i've i've been using one recently because cars i guess cars beyond the millennium that was
the kind of obd the dawning of the obd port yeah every time it's mentioned can't stop thinking about
one of the members of wootang clan every single time i think about old dirty bastard yes odb of
course so i but i can't i can't unpick the two things and it i am annoying myself constantly
thinking about odb operating an obd reader and just trying to decipher whatever information
because the thing about these readers fault code readers they work for a certain brain
i find them quite most of them at least quite difficult to fathom um because they're a code
aren't they and you have to learn the code or right print out the code is there not a a list
of what the codes mean there is a list and and the older the car the the more cryptic the list is
oh i see because obviously the the complexity of the car the the brain of the car is not as
as evolved but i'm just wondering whether there's scope for odb to do a wrap using all the information
that he has oh i see from an obd reader yes and odb's obd yeah yeah one ocd that's it he's he's
obsessed yes with the codes from onboard diagnostics so yes it's odb's obd ocd
yes that's right obd one kenobi so as we know he goes around
he's not the lambda sensor failure you're looking for it's obd wand kenobi so he's got one of these
things on on us on a magical wand that he will put into a vehicle and immediately
run a diagnostic check and thus can get around any naughty people that he needs to or he goes
into the cantina and he'll he'll he'll broker a really good deal with some i don't know bounty
hunting pricks or whatever using his odb wand it is in fact the the standard in modern cars
is obd two isn't it it is this is correct and i don't know when that was introduced obd two
second album it's always difficult as well yes the thing about that is i i really felt for obd
when they had to bring out something else before people got bored but i think they did it well
but i've just magically in that way that we do on this podcast i've just stumbled across a very
basic history of obd which does stand for onboard diagnostics in case anybody actually wanted to
know it's the standard protocol used across most light duty vehicles to retrieve vehicle diagnostic
information and the information is generated by the ecu or engine control units or ecms engine
control modules within a vehicle but when did obd two come out because obd two i think is it a 16
pin gosh this is interesting listening isn't it yes shall i just change the subject completely
with something that we receive from uh yeah i think you ought to from a previous correspondence
it's michael who is as he signs off himself off of the young timers podcast off of the netherlands
oh yes he's mentioned before he has he's written to us before for sure yeah so michael says hello
you pair of picantos which he explains with photographic evidence in the netherlands is
not only phonetically a small korean car but also a moderately spicy minced meat stick which you
below um but the reason he's getting in touch is that he's noticed that some other dutch listeners
have been as he says feeding you bits and pieces about our childhood heroes count basi who is now
in a wheelchair and tumblr adrian oh so we have because there's this dutch kids tv duo who had
a prelude that's right after a metro rancher or do they have them both at the same time yes
oh i can't remember now if we've been sort of the timeline has been established but
michael has some incredible additional information about the cars of basi is it basi or basi i would
say basi but i don't know basi and adrian today they would sound like a pair of mixologists
uh rather than fighting clown mace luke's
so michael he says that adrian really wanted a honda legend as his private car i guess as in
like not in the show as his his actual personal vehicle yeah but in a color that wasn't available
through honda oh so he bought a brand new legend and had it stripped and completely
repainted in his desired color which if i'm correct michael says is malbec metallic red
since this was the early 90s wrapping was not yet a thing i think i remember the engine bay
being the only place where you could spot the original body color since taking the engine out
went a bit too far even for adrian there should be a magazine article about this summer on the
internet but i cannot find it but he drove at least 500 000 kilometers in his respray legend
which makes sense because the guy is a legend that is fantastic so basi and adrian the the the
the dutch kids tv duo were honda loyalists in real life but very precise honda loyalists because
i don't know why you you wouldn't just live with the i guess you just you bought the color and
you go if you're going i'm going to keep this car i'm going to do at least half a million
kilometers in it yeah i want it to be a nice color that's a lot of kilometers isn't it i wonder
where that car is now but if it was entirely around the netherlands and nowhere else then that car
has never had to strain up a hill so it's probably in quite good condition yeah i feel like when my
matrimonio body swap project is finished um not if it's finished when it's finished i just thought
i'd state that on on officially i feel like it are you manifesting yes i am manifesting that
chisel i feel like it should we maybe we should drive it to the netherlands via a bit of france of
course um because it might get a lot of attention because people might think it's a i don't know
a new reboot of basi and adrian maybe you could follow me in a brand new prelude maybe that could
be the road trip and we just have cv radios oh actually i haven't had a chance to to look at this
but a few people have said that there's a prelude sort of adverts or or kind of promo thing on youtube
and in the comments lots of people have just written 2.2 yeah so um i suppose we should be
proud of that i'm not sure believe uh louis you should wrap this up but i just
probably did i wrote in my notes from last week because something we forgot to discuss which
was that you were mentioning how mods aren't scary and for two reasons i've got them written down
here as a lady's hair style and b riding them mum's moped see i've never really understood
the whole mod thing you know mods and rockers goes back to just pointlessly fighting on seafronts
in the 60s yes and i must be on a seafront can't happen in land no no no they just don't they say
hide to one another they say we'll see in half an hour i'm just polishing my knife and other
weaponry i'll see you in a bit after i've had a cone of chips um i just what i don't understand
about mods is on the one hand they were wearing the latest clothes they were obsessed with the clothes
but they did have hair that looked a bit ladylike and also and this is the crucial thing of rockers
whether you like them or not whether they are washed or not whatever they rode bikes which
sounded tough and they usually went quite fast mods i don't think scooters really went fast
and they went for more and they also created so much drag with excessive horns and mirrors
like they're even slower than stand
so i don't understand the mod thing
because you're trying to be so hard you're trying to be so hard so what would be a classic
rocker bike yes what would you like a like a try a psa gold star yes so it's or a basey sort of
norton yeah yeah it's big and and sort of quite heavy but it's got a basey loud engine and it's
quick yeah big twin or or a yeah a 500 cc single thumper well also because if for some reason the
mods had got hold of guns and the rockers like oh no we're done for they could just ride away what
are the mods going to do if they go quick go on to a motorway they're legally not allowed to follow
us because they're all riding them their mum's moped
the head rocker meet up and they go right we're going to have the fight to end all
fights so that the head rocker goes yes but we're not going to have it here where we are now in
brighton we're going to find a different coastal town how about uh oh i don't know blackpool and
you go what blackpool how are we going to get there because we've all got we've all got our mum's
and she's not going to let us let us ride them and the rocker says if you don't get there in the
next two hours we've automatically won the turf fight so that's it yeah and he goes oh
shit shit because not only is it going to take us longer than that to get there but also i was
planning to stop off somewhere to just make sure that my lady's haircut is extra feathery
you're right mods aren't scary so i mean obviously if you are a mod and this angus you
please don't come and knife us or no but obviously like mod music i love mod music and the people
like paul weller the mod father as known great musician interesting guy by all accounts but
yeah the hair is quite ladylike and even if you are a hard nut it does have a feel like you're
borrowing your mum's car to go out for the weekend which sort of erodes the hard man image somewhat
like hey i'm going to go and do some people over and maybe like do a bit of gang violence
and probably hold up a post office as well can i borrow you my mum's k10 micro yeah i'm not a
massive paul weller fan particularly but i know a lot of people love him and i think he a lot of
people whose musical tastes i really respect i think he's great yeah solo and in the jam so
don't start slagging off paul weller's vibes no no don't do that as long-running successful
musicians go i don't think anyone has consistently had such bad haircuts
he's all i'm saying it's nothing to do with the music i don't know that guy from slade
rod stewart oh rod stewart he's had some quite bad lady hair too well he sort of had the same
bad haircut yes it's almost dinner lady hair sort of null edmunds did though because he just picked
a haircut and then that was it there was no no real movement wellers it sort of feels like it's
changed a bit but it's always been just a bit off it's just a cycling helmet it's a kind of follicle
cycling helmet of her isn't it really well no but then it's just it's almost like it it's always one
bit of it is the wrong length sometimes it's the front bit to the sides and sometimes it's the back
and sometimes it's somewhere in the middle there's just something is not the right length like every
time he goes to the barbers there's a fire just when the bloke's finishing up and he has to live
oh no he hasn't cut these long bits either so just leave the face i look like a bit of a prawn now but
that's okay i don't want to enrage mods or paul weller fans because i feel like both of them could
probably are no and i'm interested in modern rocker lifestyles and i appreciate that people
are into it i do genuinely i'm not just saying that and by the way just to finish the obd thing
once and for all 1968 i believe was the first obd computer system with scanning capability
introduced into a car by volzwagen wow yep by volzwagen by volzwagen gosh that's earlier than i
would have guessed yeah i reckon that was in the k k 70 or something oh the vw 412 411 the never
popular yes uh okay well uh let's bring this into land but before we do i have three things i'd like
to share with you uh the first is uh johnny's got a new project on the go where every week he
presents the former lead singer of meridian with a different product or service and forces him to
come up with a compelling sales and advertising strategy under the working title fish markets
if that's not to your taste then there is of course the late break show any uh anything we
should know about on there oh gosh richard uh i can't remember i'm so useless and promoting my own
work uh let me just i could just make something up no oh i know johnny no i know i know i've just
looked it up i'm revealing some some project car naughtiness oh okay some project car naughtiness
happened last year i've been keeping it under laps and the project car naughtiness reveals itself
this sunday so if you're listening to this on on monday it's just been revealed yesterday okay
on that side of things which i'll all right you know about it you promise i don't know because
there's so many things i've got i was good at i think i know which one you mean but i'm having
well look spoiler alert harks back to first family car when and car i came back from hospital
from as child and learned to drive in and may have driven it across a golf course with no
lights on when i was 17 sorry dad that yeah okay on that side of things and thanks to everyone who
watched the chris harris video uh me and him dicking around in a v8 m3 engine mini in the worst
weather i've ever done a shoot and i would say i didn't do any social media videos behind the
scenes because the microphone would have got blasted with wind you would have never heard anything
and chris had terrible toothache oh yeah i know all right uh second thing to say is just a uh a
quick reminder that we are doing a live show in belfast on the 15th of may so go to smithandsniff.com
and follow the button for live shows and you can buy tickets through there direct from the venue
15th of may belfast at the mac um metropolitan arts center and uh hopefully we'll see you there i
can't wait for that we'll see some of you later this week in buule for the sold out uh live show
at the national motor museum looking forward to that as well and the third thing i was going to
share with you is that most ginger cats are boys are they really yes interesting the ginger gene
in cats is not quite the same as in human beings and uh it's because in cats the ginger gene is is
on the x chromosome and because females have two x chromosomes they would need two ginger genes
and so it is harder for a cat to be ginger if it's a girl but boys only have one x chromosome so
they only need one ginger gene interesting it's about a three to one ratio they reckon
between boys and girls as far as ginger cats concern that cat that keeps coming into my house
and annoying me and my cat lola who isn't she hasn't come around me well today it's quite rare
when i'm recording this she normally does um when it woke me up the other night uh because i heard
her hissing on the bed and i just sat up and i have you recently watched the the clip of uh the
old viral clip of the techno viking at the berlin sex parade or whatever it was called have not
haven't watched it not watched it that recently well you need to because he does that he makes
very hard eye contact with the guy that he's just pushed away from who just sort of went up and
grabbed a woman yes and he points with the most pointed of fingers and hands like if you if you
step forward again i will bury you and i did that i think well after being in in the middle of a
deep sleep and i pointed at this cat and i went get away you fatty and then and then and then
tried to run downstairs after it it smashed through the cat flap so hard i thought the cat flap's
going to need some sort of euro end cap rating because it absolutely battered it i haven't seen
it since so the sight of a naked man shouting get out you fatty has really i think embedded in its
mind well i'm glad about that on that enduring image i think it's time to end but thank you
ever so much for listening i will do this all again next week until then goodbye cheers mate
thanks mate
cheers mate, bye
outside of things. 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
upload to take the piss. Like and subscribe, but we were told to ask for this. Like and subscribe.
Like and subscribe.
Got a plate for that one. Got a plate for it. Yeah, got a plate. Ooh. Alright, well there
we go. Wastrous. Wastrous.
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