A two-stroke engine is a type of engine that works in two steps instead of four. They are lighter and simpler but can create more pollution, which is why they are less common now.
The Alfa Romeo Spider is a stylish sports car that was made in Italy, known for its good looks and fun driving experience. The 1962 version is especially loved by collectors because of its classic design and the joy it brings to driving. People talk about it because it's a symbol of cool vintage cars.
Car
Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider
The Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider is a stylish sports car from the 1960s. It's known for its beautiful design and was popular among car enthusiasts.
The Lamborghini Espada is a luxury sports car that can seat four people. It has a powerful engine and a unique design, making it stand out among other cars.
Car
MGB GT
The MGB GT is a classic sports car that has a unique hatchback design. It's known for being fun to drive and is loved by many car fans.
A used car lot is a place where you can buy cars that have been owned by someone else before. They usually cost less than brand new cars.
Brand
BL
BL stands for British Leyland, a car company from the UK that made many popular cars in the past. They are known for making cars like the Mini and Triumph sports cars.
Car
Mini Thousand
The Mini Thousand is a type of the classic Mini car, which is small and famous for its unique shape. It was loved by many people for being fun to drive.
The Corvette is a well-known sports car made by Chevrolet. The 1972 model is famous for its stylish look and fast performance, making it a classic car that many people admire.
Car
Allegro
The Austin Allegro is a small car that was made in the UK a long time ago. It had a unique look and was popular with families.
The Ford Cortina GXL is a version of the Ford Cortina, which was a well-known car in the UK. The GXL had nicer features and a sportier look than the regular models.
The center console is the part of the car between the driver and passenger seats where you find controls for things like music and air conditioning, as well as storage space.
A vinyl roof is a type of covering made from a plastic material that goes on the top of some cars. It was often used in older cars to make them look fancier.
A handbrake turn is when you pull the handbrake to make the back of the car slide around a corner. It's a fun way to drive, especially in lighter cars.
LIVE
Over 3,000 classic cars, over 300 classic car clubs, 450 traders, and two middle-aged blokes in anoraxe, ready to lap it all up. Yes, we are live here in Birmingham for the 2025 Classic Motor Show. The Tiger Kickers podcast with Max and Matt. Yes, we're here in hall number five at the NEC, right in the front.
We're sick of it, and we're ready to walk miles and miles and do some tire-kicking. Now, we'll scour the halls for the best stuff to see, the best car clubs to talk to, and the best cars to look at.
We'll also get spannered with Danny from Practical Classics, and find out if either of us have what it takes to actually fix our own cars.
Answer no. Also coming up, we'll check out the cars up for sale at the iconic's auction here, and see if there's anything worth bidding for.
Plus the usual opinions, and a bit of algae bargey as we walk around. So come with us as we work the halls and get our much-needed steps up at the NEC Classic Motor Show 2025.
Well, yes, you join us right in the thick of it. We've had a walk through Max and had a look at a few bits. I mean, you forget so many people here, aren't there?
There's lots and lots of people and lots of different cars, and if you're a bit of a car sado, and I'm looking at you, obviously not me.
You can suddenly see things you've lusted after for years and years. You can get in there and touch and be near. So it's fantastic. I just went past the Austin 1100 store.
Now, I haven't seen an 1100 in the flash for 20 years, and you forget what cute-looking cars they are. We've got to go about that.
Yeah, they are cute. I had to move you on from that one as well. We stood next to a beautiful, at the Alpha Stand, at a club stand.
And it's this beautiful green 1976 Alfa Romeo AlfaSood, which we're quite surprised at. One, because we've not seen one for a while, two, because it doesn't seem to be rusting.
Well, I'm sure it is rusting somewhere. It's just we can't see it, but when was the last time you saw an AlfaSood? I mean, again for me, it's got to be at least 10, 15 years ago.
And you remember what a fantastic design that is. Look at it. It's perfect. This is a 2-door version. It's a 1300, so it's quite rare being a 2-door.
But what a beautiful car the AlfaSood is. Really underappreciated. Yet all the lines are exactly right.
So if you've not been to this show, it's set out. It's the biggest one of the year, basically. It's set out in about three, four, five halls, I think it is.
Just speaking to a couple of people, you get your steps up here. But there's cars everywhere. We're in this car club bit now, and there's a dealer bit, whether you can buy cars.
They've got some beautiful cars on sale with very big ticket prices on them. I remember those.
Yes, kind of like, well, I mean, there's big ticket prices. And there is the cheapest stuff. So behind us, we're on this stand at the moment with the AlfaSood.
Over there is the Lancia Club. And over there is the Fiat Club. There's a Fiat X-1-9. Now again, when was the last time you saw one of those on the road?
Well, that's a beauty. You get to see these cars up close again. You'd have to go to quite a lot of car meets, to see stuff.
So yeah, we're going to have a little mooch around. There's a dealer section. There's a trade section where we can buy a few bits.
I've just seen a British Leyland key ring that I was going to get you, but I remembered I've already got you one.
Yeah, but there is the mug there. Christmas is coming up. I'm looking at one mug here.
It's a large mug. Right. Let's head into the show and see what we can see.
So we've wandered through Hall 5 Max and seen the usual suspects. You got excited about a Metro van, didn't you?
A Metro van and the princess. We've got to go back to the princess stand because I think I saw an HLS, but I wasn't quite sure.
Yeah, we're in the car clubs section. And we actually stopped at this, which is, I'm scratching my head out a little bit.
It sort of looks a bit like a Morris minor, but it's got an Audi badge on it. I'm a bit confused. It's like, it's sort of baby blue.
It's that kind of Morris minory looks. It's sort of 40s, 50s kind of look to it, but it's got this Audi badge on it.
And it's got this sort of American style round thing. Have you seen one of these before?
DKWs, it's an auto union, isn't it? So I'm not quite sure of the history. Now we've got Frederick here from the DKW own disc club.
You can tell us about it. So just first of all, we're standing next to this car. Can you just tell us what this car is?
Because neither of us know. Right. So this is a, it was marketed as an auto union, but there really is an auto union DKW.
They're not confusing at all, man. No, no, they changed the name because these cars are all two strokes.
And two stroke cars really became not very fashionable as the 60s. No one wanted to smoke the two strokes anymore.
So they're trying to be clever and sell it as an auto union.
So it's German, then. What's the year is it?
It's in 1963, modern year. It looks a bit older though, doesn't it? It looks a little hard to back to the 50s a bit.
This design effectively came about just after the Second World War. And it was, you know, smaller, narrower, and they became wider.
And this is the last version of this model, the 1000.
Just tell us the history of this because it's got the Audi badge on the front, but it says auto union on the nose.
And it's a DKW own disc club. So just, just unpeak that for us. I'll try to help.
Yes, so the four rings, that was actually the company logo for auto union.
And the four rings, there were four car companies that merged under auto union umbrella in 1932.
Okay.
And the only company that came back after the war was DKW.
Wow. You're like a walking talking Wikipedia.
Sorry, what's that too much?
No, but it's, I've never seen it. That's why it's interesting, isn't it?
So this is a, this is a, when this was all new in 1963, Audi as a brand did not exist.
Right. Okay.
Thank you very much. I feel that we've learned something today.
It's amazing, isn't it? We don't know anything, but now we know a fact.
Yes, it's lovely.
Now a beautiful car. Thank you for talking to us about it.
Thank you.
Well, Max, we're now in the podcast cafe in the middle of what whole three.
I've got a bit disorientated walking around to be honest about you.
You've been on your feet for too long, isn't it? You need a rest.
I mean, finally, we've got to work in a cafe. This is the peak of our careers.
We're serving frapper moccuccinos, aren't we, for money?
We might have found your hidden skill.
Have you got coconut milk? No.
Walking around, I kind of feel there's lots of people look, you know,
who look like they could fix their cars and we're not two of them.
No, we definitely not.
We're a bit scared of fixing our cars, aren't we?
Well, I widened some speakers once, and they never worked.
And that was the kind of last thing I did.
I mean, I checked the oil, I checked the water, I checked the fluids,
but that's about as much as I get to.
It's a bit embarrassing sitting next to Danny to admit that, really.
Yeah, so we've got Danny Hopkins with us from practical classics.
So how's the show going for you, Danny?
Uh, busy.
I mean, I love that.
You know, you get through a weekend like this.
It goes past a thousand miles an hour because you never stop.
People come up and talk to us like they know us.
And they talk to us as if they're with friends.
And I've never met them before.
But that's because we put a lot of personality in Cinemag.
Which sounds a bit strange for a practical magazine,
where we spend a lot of time in the workshop,
and we've got our own workshop, and we've fixed stuff.
But actually, the act of fixing cars, especially when you're with your mates,
is a very social activity, usually involves a lot of swearing.
We've got a road brand of swear words that we can use for that kind of thing.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
And you get your damaged knuckles and stuff.
So you do have the scars.
But what would you recommend as a kind of starter job
on something to fix a car with?
Well, can we start with this really simple?
Well, I think the first thing to do is you've got to know who you've got to know yourself.
And if you're really not a technical person, then don't put yourself through the pain
of trying to be, to be honest.
Although I would say that you can't work that out unless you try it.
And there is no feeling in the world.
There's no better way of getting to know your car than getting under the bonnet
and just doing a job.
And it can be something really simple.
Doing, changing the oil.
If you've got to 3,000 miles or 4, 5, 6, whatever you decide is the interval.
Rather than spending 200 quid with a specialist to do it.
Why don't you get the kit yourself?
And it's all there.
It's all available from the owners' clubs or even dare I say it from one of the online quartals.
Although you never know what's going to turn up in the post.
Get under the bonnet.
Give yourself some time.
Work out how to do it.
I mean, if it's not available in practical classics,
it's a very good technical advice in that magazine.
But there's always a YouTuber somewhere ready to tell you the exact job you want to do.
You get that, get under the bonnet.
Get that job done.
Change the filter, change the air filter, change the oil.
Stand back, start the engine and think,
I've done that.
And I've done that for the cost of the parts alone.
And that means I'm actually part of this car that I own.
You underestimate us though.
We forget to put the sunblock back in.
So you said stand back and call the RAC.
We've all done it.
And we've all made horrible mistakes.
And to be honest, one of the things that magazine does is it celebrates the things that we get wrong.
Because failure is so much more interesting than success.
OK, we hopped over the white picket fence in hall number two
or inside the auction section, the iconic auction section of Max.
Next to this beautiful blue 1962 Alfa Romeo 2,600 spider.
So it's one of those 60s pre the alpha spider spiders.
The bit wider, beautiful.
It's almost like a red ox bloody kind of interior.
This has had some work done on it.
What a stunning car.
That is absolutely gorgeous.
Is it a 1962 guided for 70 to 80,000?
But before we get into this, before we get into the cars,
I want to explain what we're going to do.
We're going to talk a bit about auction cars here.
But the next episode is an all-action auction special.
All right, who's doing that then?
Just for the alliteration of you and I, sadly.
Oh.
I haven't told you yet.
Come away from the bar.
We're going to do this.
We've got to do some work.
I thought we'd finish.
It's only 2.30.
So you can't finish yet.
So what we're doing is we're going to pick 10 lots.
And some of them here, actually, I'm just going to point them out.
There's the Lamborghini Espada.
There is the MGBGT rubber bumper L.
Yeah.
We're running out special.
There's a white e-type.
So what we're going to do in the next episode is we're going to crawl around these cars
and have a really good look at them.
OK.
Then we're going to come and have an idea of what price we think they'll be going for.
And then we're going to, through the magic of time,
step forward and actually see what they went for.
Right.
So it's a really clever concept.
It's probably too clever for you and I to do, isn't it?
It's so rich.
But before and after, basically.
Right, OK.
And we're going to check out 10 lots.
And some of those are there.
So we'll have a look at them in a minute.
OK, so that's coming very shortly in the next few days.
So in the meantime, we'll carry on with this.
Let's go get hammered.
We're in Hall 3a.
Now this is the dealer hall.
This is what we're looking at.
All the deal is very expensive, very shiny cars are laid out.
But we've come to one different dealer,
which is laid out in the style of Arthur Daly.
Do you remember Arthur Daly's old used car lot?
Well, this is just like a used car lot from the 70s and 80s.
Isn't it with Porter cabins and cars lined up with prices in,
four-speed, MOT and tax.
And they've got some really interesting BL cars.
Yeah, before you get into that, let's just describe it a bit more.
And as Max says, it's like an old car lot.
They've got stickers, they've got price stickers on the windows.
They've got those boards on top of the cars.
They've got bunting across as the Winchester Club.
There's even a rack of clothes, Max,
that you can dress up right after Daly.
That's a really smart idea because lots of people are stopping here, aren't they?
Yeah, we've already come like Arthur Daly though.
So we can't really dress up like how we've already arrived.
But let me get to the cars because I'm very excited about these.
Well, let's describe this.
And before you get into that,
so we've got a row of cars here that are right up our street.
We've got what?
An orange allegro.
A mini thousand, a dollar-mite sprint,
and a coroutine, and a 72 coroutine,
the Coke bottle coroutine, and the GXL.
Now there's two things I want to point out on here
because in the last episode, we were talking about car specs.
And you remember we were talking about dashboard.
It's used to just have basically a speedo.
Have a look inside this allegro 1300 Super.
Now if you have a look at the dash...
5995, only 15,000 miles.
It's a left hooker, isn't it?
So look at the dash.
You've got the speedo.
And on the right, they're so mean.
They haven't put a rev counter in.
They've just put a blank instrument.
It's just a blank script.
We did say we could get in.
So get yourself in an allegro.
You've been wanting to do that for years.
Oh, suits you, sir.
God, this brings back memories.
I mean, that kind of flat front dash.
And that sort of upright driving position.
Because the allegro is quite a high car.
But it's just so mean in here.
Four gears, one switch for the headlights.
One heated rear window.
One hazard switch.
And that's it.
And the two classic kind of BL Marina stalks.
You know, this one came from Switzerland.
And they probably had better spec, didn't they?
It couldn't get any worse.
Wow.
That's nice.
So let's go and sit in another one for a bit of fun.
So this is in lovely BL orange, this one.
And as I say, you know, they've made this fun.
They've written on chalk on the windscreen.
They've got 5995 on that.
They've got those stickers.
Do you remember those stickers
that you just have on every car dealer with them?
Yeah, they used to have one lady owner stickers.
You know, that's how ridiculous it was.
Come to the end.
Because there's a Cortina GXL here.
Now again, we were talking about specs in the previous one.
The GXL, the Coke bottle Cortina, 1972.
GXL was one beneath the gear.
But look at the extras you got on it.
You've got the center console.
You've got the GXL badges.
You've got the vinyl roof.
Do you remember how good a vinyl roof was on it?
And these, these Cortina, if the Coke bottle Cortina is the only 70s ones.
Such pretty cars.
This is a life on Mars Cortina.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Get yourself in that.
It's a left hooker again.
So only 31,800 miles from you.
It says 17995.
MOT and tax exempt vanity mirror.
It says on the specs, you less compliant.
And four speed.
And Max, it's getting yourself into this brand, brand Cortina.
This is proper luxury spec.
Again, four speed.
But you've got a clock.
You've got a speedo.
And you've got a rev counter.
Oh.
This is a cool car.
It's that 1970s brown console.
And look at all these gauges down here.
You've got, you've got fuel, battery, oil temperature, water temperature.
This is really, this is actually spaceship levels of spec for the 1970s.
Those Cortina pedals.
Oh, I don't know if I had the use to market this car, but I always just have a vision of those pedals
with a slip on, a leather slip on shoe over the top.
And these Cortinas with a handbrake, an old fashioned handbrake.
You can handbrake turn these for fun.
Because they were so light at the back, they're great, great cars to drive.
Well, it's a really, really nice little setup.
If you're coming to the show, you're seeing a whole three.
It's Andreas Jefferson.
It's the dealer.
And they're based down in Devon.
They've just decided to do this for the show.
They're all these cars are for sale.
The money of them comes from Switzerland, which is a bit interesting.
So there's obviously a supply of classic cars out there.
But yeah, if you're out at the show, do stop at this one.
It's a good fun.
They've got a bar.
They've got the Winchester Club.
You can dress up as after daily.
And what a good idea.
Oh, it's fantastic.
Isn't it all your after daily car dealing fantasies?
In one easy car sales patch.
Well, that's it from the 2025 classic motor show here in Birmingham.
We're now off for a pint and a good sit down.
Listen out, though, for a bonus episode coming very soon
with all the results of that iconic auction.
And we'll be back soon with another nearly award-winning podcast
that is the tire kickers.
But for now, goodbye.
Bye.
About this episode
Live from the 2025 NEC Classic Motor Show, Max and Matt dive into the excitement of over 3,000 classic cars and numerous car clubs. They explore unique finds like a rare 1976 Alfa Romeo AlfaSood and a DKW Auto Union, while chatting with Danny from Practical Classics about the joys and challenges of car maintenance. The duo also checks out the auction section, teasing an upcoming episode focused on auction results. With plenty of humor and nostalgia, they capture the vibrant atmosphere of this classic car gathering.
The Tyre Kickers have left the studio! And spent the day arguing the toss about Espadas and doing oil changes at the 2025 NEC Classic Motor Show. Check out our special edition as we brave indifference at the Podcast cafe as the audience goes totally mild. Listen now to our Classic Motor Show special episode….out now!
