Jonny Smith 'That time we did a Somerset Ferris Bueller's day off'

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_05 (00:02):
This is Nineworks Radio, brought to you by the
Nineworks Marketplace andpowered by the Driven Not Hidden
Collective.

(00:27):
Mr.
Max Newman.
Hello.
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
How are you?
Yeah, good.
Really good.
Just the two of us.
I finished, well, I helped Mr.
Sibley move house on Monday.
So he is settled, but, well, notquite settled.
He's got lots to do in his newplace, so he's not with us
today.

(00:48):
Yeah, unpacking boxes, paintingwalls, setting up Wi-Fi.
Oh, just the thought of it.
Oh, blimey.
Sounds like you're going to beback round there.
I'm not going anywhere near it.
We did a lot of humpingyesterday, a lot of box humping.

(01:08):
Yes.
Yeah, a lot of moving.
So yeah, it was all good.
It was all good.
Lovely to have the greatweather, of course, to move in.
I've moved before in the wetweather and it's not been great.
So to have great weather wasfantastic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, you don't ever...
Yeah, doing that on a crappyday, do you?
Definitely not.
Definitely not.
But that's okay, you know, wecan cope, the two of us today,

(01:30):
because we've got an amazingguest.
Haven't we just?
So, you know, we've got plentyto talk about.
He's took some tracking down tonail him to the mast, as it
were.
Has he ever?
Has he ever?
Yeah.
Mr.
Popular, as he is.
Busy man.
Indeed.
Worth the wait, though, I wouldsay.
I think he will do.
Shall we tell the listeners whoit is?

(01:53):
yeah yeah yeah you'd be pleasedto hear ladies and gentlemen
that our guest this week on 9xradio is the one and only mr
johnny smith of i was going tosay what fame so many fames most
recently smith and sniff on thepodcast and the late break show
on youtube but historicallyfifth gear yeah um and uh Press,

(02:16):
Car Magazine, Max PowerMagazine.
I think that's probably his mostfamous tenure, isn't it?
Max Power.
But I think he did other thingslike, was it Vintage Volkswagen
Magazine?
I think it was the first onethat he wrote for.
Yeah.
Also wrote for Car Magazine.
Yeah.
What else?
Numerous, I believe.
Yeah.

(02:36):
Yeah.
All sorts of stuff.
And yeah, of course, you know,Fifth Gear, you know, serious
network television stuff,proper, proper stuff.
And on that for a long, longtime as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Long time.
Long time.
I think it could be sort of 15odd years, maybe more.
I'm sure we'll find out when wespeak to him.
Yeah, yeah.
So quite, quite exciting.
Proper, you know, Interestingly,because I suppose some of the

(03:00):
stuff on his own channel, LateBreak Show, are his own cars.
Yes.
And because he's been on thetelly, he's one of those people
where folk might think,actually, I know this guy.
You know, I know all about himalready.
Yeah.
So, you know, let's see whatsort of conversation we can have
with him and get to know him andsee what we learn.
Absolutely.
Before we do that, let's give amention to our sponsors,

(03:21):
Heritage Car Parts.
If you go onto their website,fill your basket with all your
goodies.
Then you need to actually login.
Once you're logged in orregistered, you can put in a
discount code, which is9works10.
That will give you up to 10% offyour basket before you check
out.

(03:41):
On loads of Porsche parts andalso topically because it was
World Land Rover Day this week.
Also a load of Land Rover bits.
Yeah, I think it was World LandRover Day yesterday.
I don't think it was today, Ithink it was yesterday.
Certainly this week.
So, yeah, crack on.
And of course, VW parts as well.
Oh, and VW parts as well.
Again, very pertinent.
I think we'll probably be to ourconversation with Johnny.

(04:02):
I think it will, but I bet he'sshopped in heritage car parts
before.
I bet.
I bet.
Excellent.
So, shall we talk to Johnny andfind out what VWs and Porsches
he's had over the years?
Yeah, let's get him on.
Well, Johnny Smith, welcome toNineworks Radio.

SPEAKER_04 (04:20):
Pleasure to be had, or with you, however you say it,
I guess.
Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_05 (04:27):
It's great to see you.
We've been thinking about thisand talking about this on and
off, I think, ever since you andRichard crashed my photo at
Rensport Reunion.
I was crouching on the groundtrying to get some kind of great
shot, and suddenly you two hovedinto view.
Looking like a couple of Englishlumberjacks.

(04:47):
And I was like, Richard, you'recrashing my shot.
And here we are.
That's nearly two years ago,isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 (04:54):
Yeah.
Is that really nearly two yearsago?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (04:57):
How

SPEAKER_04 (04:57):
crazy is that?
Wow.
Yeah.
That was such a good, fun event.
It was, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 (05:02):
It was fantastic, wasn't

SPEAKER_04 (05:03):
it?
Yeah.
Yeah, that felt special.
Well, sorry for ruining yourvideo or photo shot.
Hey,

SPEAKER_05 (05:10):
don't worry.
Don't worry.
It started a conversation that'sled to this.

SPEAKER_04 (05:13):
Well, quite.
And I need to apologise to youfor being actually so shit at
taking so long.

SPEAKER_05 (05:22):
Don't you worry.
We have plenty of patience here.
Yeah.
It's not easy, these thingsorganising.
I was pleased when...
relieved.
Not sure what the word is.
When I was watching your newcontent with Dario the other
day, and you were talking abouthow long it's taken you to get
that going.
I've been chatting to Dario onand off for donkeys too.

(05:44):
And you know, everyone's busyand it's hard to get these
things sorted, isn't

SPEAKER_04 (05:47):
it?
It is.
And, um, some stuff, there'sother stuff that other cars have
been trying to feature or peoplehave wanted to talk to.
And you sometimes have to putthe iron in the fire and leave
it for a few years and just bepatient.
And, uh, That's just the way itis.
But today it's funny that we'redoing this today because I've
actually been, I've been under aPorsche all day, like all day.

(06:08):
I've still got, I've still gotsome oil on my, it's a bit of
oil on me, scrape there a littlebit.
Yeah.
It's been, it's been quite, it'sbeen quite therapeutic.
It's been enjoyable.

SPEAKER_05 (06:20):
What Porsche was that?
Was it yours?
Yours?
The

SPEAKER_04 (06:23):
Boxster?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The Dirt Boxster, the bargainBoxster.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (06:27):
Ah, how's that going?

SPEAKER_04 (06:28):
Yeah.
It's going really well.
Thanks.
It's, It's really got under myskin.
Literally.
Well, it has.
But I mean, I bought itobviously at a very low price
and a price where you couldafford to lose if it all went
completely Pete Tong.

(06:49):
And it's done far from that.
It's been really enjoyable tothe point where I'm like, I'm
never getting rid of this car,am I?
I don't think I am.
I can't because what would I getthat would do it for me on this
level for this money?
And it's just great.
And I've turned into one ofthose people who won't stop
talking about how good boxersare.

(07:10):
I'm one of them.
I am one of them.

SPEAKER_05 (07:13):
We get a bit boring.
You're in good company atNineworks.
We've got

SPEAKER_04 (07:15):
a lot of that.
Yeah, I mean, I worry that I'mboring myself at times.
I'm waxing lyrical so much.
Oh, yeah, you've got to get a986 or a 987.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, you've totally got to getone

SPEAKER_05 (07:28):
of those.
But it turned out pretty good,though, didn't it, in the early
content?
Yeah.
you did on it it was it was likeyou know there was some
trepidation i think for you andfor everyone watching yeah like
is this going to be an absolutehowler yeah

SPEAKER_04 (07:40):
and it's and it's all right it's way better than
it should have been actually inin many ways bodily it's
frustratingly better than iexpected it to be as i did want
a bit of a ghetto boxer whichwas always the ongoing joke i'd
love a ghetto boxer but it'sit's actually good it's really
good and Yeah, it is too goodfor that.
And as a result, I've enjoyedspending money on it because

(08:01):
sometimes when cars are betterthan you expected, you've got
them at a good enough price.
I always think when you start toinvest in them, they give you
more back and you go, well, thisis just a joy.
I'm enjoying the process.
So what the hell?
Because basically today we'veput on suspension that's cost
more than the car.

UNKNOWN (08:24):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (08:24):
So any normal person would go, well, that's idiotic
what you're doing.
But you go, yeah, but once I'vefitted it, that suspension's
good for another 100,000 milesor whatever it might be.
So you go, actually, you know, Imight not be doing all those
100,000 miles.
Who knows?

SPEAKER_05 (08:41):
We should hook you up with one of our collective
members, Sakib.
He's on a similar journey toyou.
He's trying to turn one of thecheapest 986 Boxers into the
country, into the most expensive986 Boxer in the country.
That's his project.
He's doing really well.
Is he?
He's doing really well.

(09:01):
If he was making YouTube videosof it, people would be like,
Sakib, this is genius.
How are you managing to spend somuch money on this car?
It's brilliant.
He's really doing well.
And it's a 2.7 as well.
It's not an S, you know, but hejust loves it so much.
Like you, he's totally into itand he just can't stop playing.
Can't stop throwing money at itand parts and just to make it

(09:22):
wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 (09:23):
I quite enjoy working on them.
Again, it's one of those thingswhere when you have an exotic
car, I'm going to call it anexotic because it's a Porsche,
right?
But people are scared becausethey might go, there's YouTubers
now who obviously play withthings like...
30-year-old Ferraris and25-year-old Fries.
And on the face of it, youthink, what are you doing?

(09:43):
You're an amateur mechanic andyou're touching prestige, exotic
cars.
It can't go well.
But I think the era of the car,like the Boxster 986, it's
actually quite a methodicallyput together, fairly
uncomplicated car.
And because there's so many outthere, certainly in the UK, and

(10:05):
you can buy either secondhandparts or There's really good
quality repro parts and they'reclassed as a classic.
Actually, you can genuinely runone on a shoestring if you
wanted with good knowledge, youknow, good research and
friendship groups.
Oh,

SPEAKER_03 (10:23):
yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (10:24):
Safe spaces.
Safe spaces.
So, yeah.
And I won't just talk about mybargain box because that would
be boring, but I'm fortunateenough to drive a lot of
expensive new cars, right?

SPEAKER_05 (10:38):
And

SPEAKER_04 (10:39):
a lot of Porsches over the years.
And that thing out there thatcost me two grand still feels
good.
It still impresses me and itstill brings a big grin.
And that's not easy to do whensometimes you can drive a car
that's half a million quid or amillion quid.

(11:00):
And to get back into it, it's areally interesting reference, I
think, because you go, wow.
this is still pretty good.
And I could go out, if I didn'thave that one, I could say to
people, in fact, somebody textsme today that goes to the same
gym as me.
They said, oh, I've got sixgrand to spend and I really want
a convertible.
What do I do?
And I just went, hello.
It's default.

(11:22):
Yeah.
I went like, well, what are yougoing to find that's better?
I just don't know if there is abetter car for the money.
I

SPEAKER_05 (11:28):
quite agree.
It's great.
It just sort of illustrates thefundamental difference
brilliance of what Porsche madethere, isn't it?
You know, that even a two grandone has the ability to impress.

SPEAKER_04 (11:38):
Yeah, it's exactly that.
And weirdly, sometimes we're allkind of dialed into thinking
that dealer parts, you know,original dealer parts are
definitely the most expensiveparts.
But weirdly, sometimes when youjust...
you just get a price for acertain thing, like a footrest.
So my plastic footrest issnapped off.

(12:00):
Someone's either over-tightenedit or stepped on it really hard.
So I was like, well, I'll writedown the part number and I'll
see how much it is.
Well, the cheapest place I couldfind it was Porsche.

SPEAKER_05 (12:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
Always have to check.
There are some stuff thatthere's no way they're the
cheapest, but other times, yeah.
In fact, I'd say probably...
50, 60% of the time, you willfind that going to a Porsche
dealer is actually cheaper thanall of the other internet
providers and buying stuffsecondhand off of eBay.

SPEAKER_04 (12:33):
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So always try it.
I swear that maybe Porschethemselves just roll the dice
and go, should we price this oneludicrously?
Or should we just like, Justgive them a real loss leader
just to get them in, like a drugdealer giving you a free

SPEAKER_02 (12:46):
hit.
They know you'll come back.

SPEAKER_04 (12:48):
It does feel like that sometimes.
You go, well, hang on a minute.
That bolt was 80 quid, but yetI've just bought like a whole
crankcase for, you know, 12quid.
I don't understand.
Where's this going?

SPEAKER_05 (13:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can never tell.
They do feel like a...
relatively simple car as well,don't they?
My Boxster is a 981 generationS, manual, lovely.
And I was 991 before that and997 prior to that.
And this feels like a moresimple...

(13:22):
straightforward car to run andto look after.
I mean, I don't do much twirlingof spanners, as Andy knows.
Well, no twirling of spanners,in fact.
You might twirl them.
Do you actually?
Yeah, I might twirl them, then Idrop them, and I just leave
them.
But yeah, I've had it for twoyears now, and there's a
simplicity to it that I'm reallyquite enjoying.

SPEAKER_04 (13:44):
Yeah, I agree.
And I think that's maybe why...
I think the future of, let'scall them like reward cars,
weekend cars, that kind ofthing, a car that you probably
don't use every day is likerestomod type stuff, which is
based upon usually older cars.

(14:07):
And obviously the king of therestomods is a Porsche really,
and probably always will be.
But it's because of that feelingof connection and, Cars now,
like new cars, are all socomplicated.
They're a supercomputer and anengine and sometimes a high

(14:28):
voltage, all married together inthe most complicated box.
And whilst they're extremelycapable and impressive, they
don't often get under your skin,I find.
Very few of them...
stick to you and make you thinkoh do you know what this is this
is doing things for me and andso we've got so caught up in

(14:49):
like sheer firepower and statsand cars are so damn fast now
but speed is not said this theother day to somebody and i
thought do i sound like just anold bastard i don't know but
like there's speed and thenthere's sensation of speed and
there's and there's and there'sdriving fast and going around

(15:09):
corners and stuff fast and thenthere's actual fulfillment.
And that, and it's not, it's notthe same because Audi proved
that several decades ago, youcan have an extremely grippy,
fast car that leaves youcompletely numb and you don't
give a shit.

SPEAKER_03 (15:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (15:26):
You could be doing 160 miles an hour everywhere.
And as long as your tires arestill gripping, it's not that
much fun.
You're just going to either die,kill someone or fall off the
road and, or lose your license.
So that's when, for me, the moreI, of these sorts of really
ludicrously powerful cars Idrive, the more I'm going back

(15:46):
and going, I want a narrower,lighter car with narrower tyres,
with less power because itdoesn't need more power because
it's lighter and narrower, thatmoves around a bit, that
communicates a bit, and probablyis cheaper to run ultimately
because, I don't know, becauseI'm not in a position to spend
half a million pounds on a caranyway, so...

(16:10):
I wonder whether or not that'swhere we're going.
I really do.
I

SPEAKER_05 (16:13):
totally, totally agree with that.
Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (16:16):
You know, and that's why I keep wondering in my head,
is Porsche going toremanufacture the G-Body
imminently like that?
Because why wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_05 (16:32):
Wouldn't that be special?

SPEAKER_04 (16:33):
You can buy a brand new MG body.
You can buy a brand new FordMustang body under license.
You can buy a brand new Minibody under license.
Why the hell is Porsche notgoing, right, we're going to
remake the G body.
You can either backdate it.
You can leave it as a 964,whatever the hell you want to
do.
But we will sell you a shell.
Here's the shell.

(16:53):
Off you go.
Do what you want with it.
And all these cottage industriesthat thrive on resto mods and
stuff can lap it up.
It's an official product.
And people like you and I, whomight not be able to afford a
turnkey resto mod, but we couldbuy a shell and start the
journey and do it over fiveyears or whatever.

(17:15):
You heard it here first.

SPEAKER_05 (17:18):
I reckon Johnny Smith knows something, don't
you, Max?
I reckon he's in the know.

SPEAKER_04 (17:24):
I bloody love it.
I think it would be great.
And also it means that the 964in totally standard form
wouldn't, become the automotivepangolin which i think it's
going to become

SPEAKER_03 (17:35):
yeah

SPEAKER_04 (17:35):
yeah um we'll see yeah we'll see

SPEAKER_05 (17:39):
um yeah and you are right about that because i
sometimes i i have anxiety aboutthe 964 thing you do didn't you
and i know that i shouldn't andit's not my place to and there's
no value in me feeling like thatbut um every time i see a 964
still on flag mirrors and d90wheels i feel immense joy and

(17:59):
then i start to worry thatsomeone's going to restomod it
and i start to panic and i thinkif i had lots of money i'd be
which is just as bad asrestomodding i'd be buying them
all and just to try and protectthem and i'd be i don't be able
to drive them all because i'dhave too many but i'd feel like
i was doing something good butactually it be good it'd be just
as bad as as whatever

SPEAKER_04 (18:18):
maybe that's maybe maybe we should set up a
collective business which iscalled pangolin and you do it in
the same font as the porschefont on the lower doors and
things yeah but it says pangolinand that's the only custom touch
to that car everything else it'sjust as it's just as 964 as was

(18:40):
but it says pangolin on itbecause it People who know will
go, do you know what?
That is a totally unmodified964.
It's had nothing done.
It's just been serviced andrenovated and kept on the road.
And that's it.
You know, that is it.
And then we're like the oppositeto the Outlaws.
And don't get me wrong.
I love Outlaw projects.
I think they're reallyinteresting.

(19:01):
And I love the restaurant modthing.
That Theon design car that Idrove last year, what a stunning
piece of work that car is.
But at the same time, maybe thePangolin crew.
It could be a rising vigilanteforce where we're like, no, you
leave that car alone.
You leave that poor 964 alone.

SPEAKER_05 (19:19):
Yeah, that's a thing.
That's going to be a thing.
I like it.
I'm in.
Count me in.
Absolutely.
Now, we normally start ourpodcast with guests with a few
questions.
I thought we should still dothat and see how the Boxster
fits into that.
We've got our first, worst, bestand next car.

(19:41):
Yeah.
So I think we'll start with youfirst.
I know what that is, I'm prettysure, because it's the same car
that I started with, which wasa...
I'll let you say what your firstcar is.
Was.
Or

SPEAKER_04 (19:53):
still have it.
It is.
It is.
Yeah.
Beetle.
1967 Beetle 1500.
In fact, it's outside in thecarport.
And I ran it on a shoestring,bought it at 16, and just
have...
For some reason, never could getrid of it or wanted to and made

(20:16):
quite a few sacrifices not to.
And it's tatty.
And it has the same smell as italways has.
It has all the stickers I put onit in 1997 and 96.
And I should restore it at somepoint.
But mechanically, it's reallygood.
And I got it back on the road in2020 with my brother.
We set aside a working weekbecause my brother kept going,

(20:39):
stop being a tart.
and waiting to restore it.
He said, just get it on theroad.
It's MOT exempt, you fool.
Just get it on the road.
We did.
And actually he was so rightbecause I've done more miles in
it since 2020 than I probablyhave in the previous 25 years or
whatever.
And it feels like it's drivingbetter than it ever has.

(21:02):
So I've even, I rewarded it.
I rewarded it this Christmasjust gone by buying a set of
real Porsche wheels for it,which I, wanted to back in the
90s, but I couldn't afford them.
I've bought some 914, what arethey called?
Marley gas burner wheels.

SPEAKER_05 (21:20):
Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_04 (21:21):
Yeah, nice.
I need to get those reallynicely restored and I'm going to
reward it with those.
So that's this summer.
It'll be ready for summer withthem on, I think.

SPEAKER_05 (21:33):
fantastic i'm very jealous that you've still got
that mine mine um i startedtaking mine apart to do the
restoration back in 1986 anddidn't didn't get it done and
sold it off in the end so it wasa shame i didn't keep it so i'm
very jealous of you keeping youryour first car that's some some
achievement i i so yours andywas yours a 67 50 mine was 67

(21:57):
1200 1200.
So was that disc braked or wasthat just the 1500?
The 1500 has disc brakes on thefront, isn't it?
Where the 1200 was still fivestud with the disc, with the
drum brakes.
Yeah.
It was your six volt.
It was still six volt.
Yeah.
It was the last

SPEAKER_04 (22:13):
six volts.
Yeah, it was, it was 67.
It's just, you know, I don'tknow what the equivalent to see
is the 67 beetle, the equivalentto like the 1973 67.
9-11?
The

SPEAKER_05 (22:25):
72, I'd say.
72.

SPEAKER_04 (22:28):
So the

SPEAKER_05 (22:29):
one that's got the oil clapper, as they call it.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
The additional

SPEAKER_04 (22:34):
oil.
Yeah, yeah, good point.
So that's the one, isn't it?
I love the 72 for the fact thateveryone fills its oil up with
petrol.
I just...
I just think there was one thatwent up for auction a few months
back and I was doing an auctionpreview and it was in the room
and I was looking at it going,God, I'd love one of those.
I don't know why.
I mean, it's just, it's silly,but it's that one year only

(22:56):
thing of it going, well, trythis.
Oh no, it didn't work.
Let's not do that again.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (23:01):
Okay.
There is another car that'ssimilar to that.
I think it could be a 68 or 69,which one of our collective has
got one of them.
Toby Dyer's got one.
And apparently there's so manybits on it that are totally
different to other years.
The 72 is probably just that oilclapper thing that's special to

(23:22):
it, but there's that 68 or 69.
So it really sort of marries upwith that Beetle, because that's
so many one-year-only bits onthat 67 Beetle, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 (23:31):
There's loads.
And I think at the time,weirdly, I was just trying to
buy a pre-68 Beetle of any typethat my budget would cover.
How much

SPEAKER_05 (23:43):
did you pay for yours?

SPEAKER_04 (23:44):
I paid£900 for it.
It was up for sale for£1,400.
Yeah.
It's bizarre that you've broughtthis up because I was actually
speaking to, whilst working onthis Boxster today, talking to
James at TH Racing, because Isaid, I nearly sold the Beetle
to buy a Porsche in the 90s.

(24:06):
And this was when you could buya 912 in full working order that
was a little tatty, but nottotally shit, for three and a
half grand.
And you could buy a mint one.
These are all Californianimports.
And you could buy a mint one,and I mean really mint, for like
seven.
Seven and a half.
And I said to my dad...

(24:26):
Could we go to London on thebus?
I'm going to drive a 912, testdrive a 912 at Tower Bridge
Porsche.
They've got one in there that'sfour and a half and it's green
and it looks good.
And we did.
The guy let me test drive it andI was 18.
Wow.
Yeah, I was 18.
And I very, very nearly put myBeetle up for sale because at

(24:47):
the time my Beetle was worthabout the same amount, if not a
bit more, bizarrely.

SPEAKER_03 (24:53):
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (24:53):
And my dad talked me out of it.
And, and I know why.
And cause he was like, you won'tbe able to afford the parts.

SPEAKER_03 (24:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (25:00):
You'll be able to buy the car and then you won't
be able to run it.
And it was like,

SPEAKER_03 (25:03):
yeah,

SPEAKER_04 (25:04):
but I've never owned, I've never owned a nine
11 or a nine 12 to this

SPEAKER_05 (25:09):
day.

SPEAKER_04 (25:11):
Has it always been, has it always been a

SPEAKER_05 (25:13):
wish do you think?
Or maybe we'll come onto thatlater.
Yeah.
Let's come onto that later.
Um, so we've done the first, um,Great car.
Worst.
What has been your worst car?
That I've owned or driven?
Yes, that you've

SPEAKER_04 (25:30):
owned.
Gosh.

SPEAKER_05 (25:30):
Of the 130-odd or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 (25:33):
Yeah.
A lot of cars.
Yeah, it has been probably140-something now.
Jesus, mate.
Worst car I've ever owned.
There's been some fairly crapones.
Yeah.
Do you know, I actually can'tremember them.
I need to write them down.
I've written, I wrote them downup to about 120 and then lost

(25:54):
the database sheet or whateverit was.
I can't find it.
I don't know where it is.
There was an Astra Mark IIMerit, which I owned and I
bought it.
I know this.
I bought it simply because myGranada low rider that I drove
every day like a fool.
broke down and needed quite alot of work doing on it, on the

(26:17):
suspension.
And I needed a stop gap car toget to work for about six weeks.
So I bought an Astra Mark IIwith a very short MOT.
I think it had about 15 days MOToff a nightclub bouncer for£120.
And it was, don't get me wrong,I quite like Mark II Astras

(26:38):
because my friends had GTEsgrowing up and I do have a soft
spot for those.
But

SPEAKER_05 (26:41):
yeah,

SPEAKER_04 (26:42):
When it had a slipping clutch, so you couldn't
really use more than about athird of the throttle, you had
to drive it so damn carefullybecause it would just spin up
and you wouldn't go anywhere andit would just smell like
mackerel because the clutch wasjust slipping.
This is horrible.
And the sunroof had been siliconshut and it had these really
horrible stains all across theupholstery from, I guess, water

(27:05):
coming in on it.
So it's a bit of a sad, horriblecar, really.

SPEAKER_05 (27:08):
Did it have power steering?

SPEAKER_04 (27:10):
Oh, did it?
Hell no.

SPEAKER_05 (27:11):
No, I remember my mum having a Mark II Astra.
It was a diesel one, if Iremember rightly.
And the steering was so bloodyheavy.
You actually built muscles fromdriving it for the years, I
think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I

SPEAKER_04 (27:25):
mean, my

SPEAKER_05 (27:27):
first car or the first car that was bought for me
to use, you know, as a 17 yearold, I was convinced that as a
family, we were going to get aBeetle.
Because everyone was intoBeatles in our family, even my
mum, my dad and my sister.
We went to Bug Jam and BeatleBash and BW Spring Nationals and
everything.
And I was really excited.
And then my dad turned up fromwork one day with a Mark II

(27:49):
Astro.
And I was mortified.
absolutely mortified i felt likehe'd really let me down yeah
like he'd stitched me up like hewas playing some kind of cruel
prank on me i was so i wasreally quite upset and then i
wrote it off i think we had itfor yeah i wrote it off four
weeks after i passed my test ithink it was for the best you

(28:11):
know did

SPEAKER_04 (28:11):
you have a big

SPEAKER_05 (28:12):
looking back on it yeah well yeah yeah Yeah, sort
of, yeah.
It doesn't look like he wants torecall that memory.
Yeah.
It was a moment.

SPEAKER_04 (28:22):
It was a moment.
Listen, the insurance companyaren't listening.
Well, they might be actually.
I just don't

SPEAKER_05 (28:26):
know.
No, yeah.
I think, if I'm wondering, thissounds like such a stupid thing
to say, I was on a different bitof road than what I thought I
was.

SPEAKER_04 (28:34):
Okay.
That's one of the best racistexcuses I've ever heard.
I think, I thought this was ahard left, but...
Turns out it was a big rightinstead.

SPEAKER_05 (28:47):
Yeah.
So that's, that's basically howit went down, Johnny.
So it was really the road thatwas wrong.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (28:53):
Um,

SPEAKER_05 (28:53):
yeah.
So, but anyway, Mark to Astros.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not my favorite either.
Johnny,

SPEAKER_04 (28:58):
I'm with you.
I think we're with you.
Yeah.
It's GTE or nothing, right?
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
One of my, one of my oldestfriends who I still, I mean,
still in touch with, we've knownone another since we were two,
his mom and dad had a, GTEconvertible when they were new.
When they were new.
It was white as well.
It was so 80s.

(29:19):
It was white.

SPEAKER_05 (29:21):
Checkered interior, do you reckon?

SPEAKER_04 (29:23):
I think it did with the Recaros and the Roll Hoop.
And I remember we went to thecinema for his birthday to watch
Ghostbusters 2.
And it was the most excitingthing because I was sat behind
his dad driving and I watchedthe digital rev counter.
I was like, this is a friggingspaceship.

SPEAKER_05 (29:41):
Isn't it amazing how different the shittest Astras
can be to the best Astra?

SPEAKER_04 (29:47):
Yeah.
I know.
I know.

SPEAKER_05 (29:50):
They've got the spectrum covered.

SPEAKER_04 (29:53):
I love

SPEAKER_05 (29:54):
that.
Yeah.
And also, isn't it interestinghow we now hate a digital dash?
We're like, God damn you,Porsche, and your digital dash.
But on that market to Astra GTE,

SPEAKER_04 (30:04):
it was mega.
It was.
It was.
It was great.
It was great.
So, yeah, I guess that'sprobably the worst car I've
owned.
I'll think, you know, tonightI'll think of other crap.
Of course.
Yeah.
That's a long list.
So next

SPEAKER_05 (30:18):
is best.
Best car ever that you've owned.

SPEAKER_04 (30:22):
Best car ever I've owned.

SPEAKER_05 (30:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (30:26):
Well, well now.
They're all, there are ones thatare best for different things,
aren't they, like best Overallenjoyment, best for looks, best
for feel.
So I think probably I'd be a bigfat liar if I didn't say my

(30:48):
Dodge Charger.
Because it's, I mean, I'veobviously had it a lot longer
than the Boxster.
And I bought that car in 2008.
So I guess I've had it quite along time now.
Wow, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I put it on the road in 09.
And everyone said it will driveterribly.

(31:11):
I'd owned a few American carsprior to that.
I was always into classicAmerican stuff.
And they lied.
It's a manual, and it's a bigblock, and it's got non-servo
drums and no power steering.
And it's a physical car.
But A, to me, it's the best.
one of the best looking cars ofall time from so many angles.

(31:34):
There's a lot of reallybeautiful shapes on that car.
It's got muscle, it's gotsinewy.
Oh, it's just great.
And it's a real physicalexperience to drive, but
actually it does go aroundcorners because it doesn't weigh
as much as it looks and there'sno luxury in it at all.
The gear shift is really good.
Everyone said it was terrible.
It's not terrible.

(31:54):
Brakes are terrible, sureenough.
And the steering is terriblebelow about 20 miles an hour.
But above that, everything feelsso great.
The steering wheel's about, Idon't know, three feet in depth.
And you're just sawing away atit.
But I think because of, again,driving lots of new cars for a
living, I love having referencepoints from yesteryear.

(32:17):
And getting in that car, to me,feels like sort of cosplay for
one of them.
So you just feel like I'm justgoing to disappear back to 1968.
I'm not having a radio in itthat works.
I'm not going to answer myphone.
I'm just going to drive andenjoy the sheer analog

(32:37):
communication with a machine ona road that I like.
And I'd be lying if loads ofpeople listening, I'm sure, will
know this.
Of course, you love it whenpeople admire your car and you
see people go, oh, they do thatmeerkat thing of going, wow,
look at that, or they try andget their phone out.
And you go, that's cool.
I've worked hard to get thiscar.

(32:58):
It's great if someone else wantsto enjoy it as well.

SPEAKER_05 (33:01):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 (33:02):
It's good to spread the

SPEAKER_05 (33:03):
love.

SPEAKER_04 (33:04):
Yeah, I think so.
And I think so because Iremember as a kid being really
taken aback by certain cars.
And if the owner, if it was ashow or it was parked, and if
the owner said, oh, do you wantto sit in it?
Or do you want to have a look atthe engine bay or something?
Those memories can absolutelystay with you forever.

(33:25):
And in fact, they might be someof the reasons why we're sat
here today, because you justbecame mildly obsessed.

SPEAKER_05 (33:32):
Yes, of course.
And I love that.
We all have.

SPEAKER_04 (33:34):
Yes, massively addictive.
And I remember going in early...
early memories of going inPorsches.
My friend who I just talkedabout, whose parents had the
Astra GT in the eighties.
Well, in the nineties, they hada, they had a 911.
They, they had a couple of carsand then they got this 911.

(33:55):
It was a white Targa.
What year was it?
89.
It was an 89 Targa.

SPEAKER_03 (34:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (34:04):
Which would have been a G body.
Yeah.
3.2.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, And I remember we actuallystole that car.
I can say it now because it'sbeen many years.
They went on holiday.
I've said this story beforesomewhere.
So we did a proper, we did aSomerset Ferris Bueller's day
off, but with a Porsche, not aFerrari.

(34:24):
And his parents went on holiday.
We were 16.
Did we even have a license?
No, we didn't.
We were 16.
We were 16.
I'm not proud of this, so ifyou're a child listening to
this, this is a really awfulidea.
And we were sat in his kitchen,and he had the nicest house out
of all of us.
And it was a red-hot day, likeit had been today.

(34:46):
And we all sat around, and wewent, Luke, how long are your
parents on holiday for?
And he went, oh, about the nextsort of week.
Okay.
Did they take the Porsche?
And he went, no.
And we all look around likethis, and there's a key hook in

(35:08):
the kitchen, a rack of keys.
And I saw the crest of thePorsche badge glinting, and we
all just went, no, the Porsche.
So we all ran around into thegarage and opened it up and had
that face.
We went, oh, my gosh, your folkshave left the Porsche.
We've got to start it.
And he went, no, no, we're notdoing that.

(35:28):
And then he paused and he went,ah, yeah, let's have a go.
We, we, we let him, he got init.
He goes, no one else is drivingthis apart from me.
We went, okay, fair, fair.
We, he struck it up and we alljust stood there going, oh my
gosh, this is amazing.
And, uh, we took it out.

SPEAKER_03 (35:47):
We took it out.

SPEAKER_04 (35:48):
We took it out for about a 10 mile drive and we
went, we did.
We were idiots.
Who drove?
My, my, my, my friend Luke did.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (35:57):
Yeah.
Oh,

SPEAKER_04 (35:58):
really?
He

SPEAKER_05 (35:59):
wasn't very good at driving.
He's definitely a 16-year-oldtrying

SPEAKER_04 (36:03):
to drive.
We were driving around backlanes with blind corners in
second gear, maybe third.
And we went to call on anotherfriend of ours, because of
course this is pre-mobilephones, to call on him, like
Ferris Bueller, to prove that wewere out in the Porsche to him.
And he wasn't in that day for 10minutes.
And it was the 10 minutes thatwe called over.

(36:25):
And get this, to this day, he'spissed off about it.
To this day, he said, do youknow where I was?
He said, my mum and dad said,come out with us because we want
to go out and we need to buysome stamps.
And he went.
He agreed to go out with hisparents, bless him, because they
needed to buy some stamps in aPeugeot 405.
We came round illegally drivinga blimmin' Porsche Targa.

(36:50):
That's maybe for the best thathe

SPEAKER_05 (36:52):
wasn't there, because that would mean his
parents were there as well, andthey might not have enjoyed

SPEAKER_04 (36:56):
that.
I think he would have opened thecurtains and gone, hang on a
minute, they don't have adriving licence, and that's a
white Porsche.
What the hell's going on?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (37:03):
Yeah, you're right.
What an experience as a16-year-old.
That could have gone wrong,couldn't it?
But that's cool.
That is.
That's cool.
And he got away with it, got itback safely.
Yeah, he drove it safely,actually.
He drove

SPEAKER_04 (37:11):
it pretty well.
Axel

SPEAKER_05 (37:13):
Stans put it in reverse?

SPEAKER_04 (37:15):
Well...
We did measure where it was inthe garage and we put twigs down
on exactly where the tyres wereto put it away.
And we never said anything tohis parents for years and years
and years.
And like 15 years later, Lukewas drunk at his work's due.
Him and his parents run abusiness together.

(37:37):
And he admitted to his folks.
He said, you know, when he wenton holiday that year and his dad
went, I know what you did.
I know you took the Porsche.
Yeah.
And we're like, what?
But he just went, ah, he said, Iknew you'd done something with
it, but I looked around it.
There was no scratch.
There was no damage.
I was like, meh.
His dad was very laid back.

(37:58):
And so we were like, wow.
And to this day, none of us,yeah, none of us have owned a
Porsche apart from me and theBoxster, I don't think.
And I don't know where that caris now.
Do you know what?
I'll find out the registration.
Yeah.
I wonder if anybody who listensto this knows where that car is
now, because it was lovely.
It was mint.

(38:20):
There's a chance.
It'd be nice to drive it one daywith a driving licence rather
than not with a driving licence.
Yeah.
Love that story.
Maybe you could add it to thefleet, Johnny.

SPEAKER_05 (38:29):
You could

SPEAKER_04 (38:31):
buy it.
That'd be special.
That'd be cool, wouldn't it?
One day.
A 911 is a car that constantlyeludes me.
I get close and then...
I get close and, uh, I used tolive in London and work in
London for car magazine in about2000 and 2001, maybe a
millennium 2000.
Yeah.
And a guy that I knew fromanother, from the publishing

(38:53):
world, he had a beautiful 1967nine 11 to two liter car.
It was black.
It was absolutely stunning.
And he said to me one day, hesaid, I'm in, my girlfriend,
we're going to buy a flat.
He said, I'm going to sell thePorsche.
He said, I know you've alwaysreally admired it.
So I'll give you first refusal.
I'm like, right, great.

(39:14):
He said, I want 12 for it.
I can't go below 12.
And I went, and at the time Iwas earning, I know I was
earning 18 grand a year.
I was like, I could probably tryand get a loan or something.
And I just couldn't.
And I went, I'm so sorry.
I'd love to.
I just can't.
And I, that really hurt mebecause I always think back to

(39:37):
that car, how, how nice it was.
And then now, because I'm, youknow, cause I've been in the
game a little while, there arecars that are classed as sort of
modern classics now, likePorsches.
And I go, I drove that when itwas launched.
Yeah.
And it was really good.
And there are some that you do,you drive them in period and you
go one day, I'm going to findone of them and, I'm going to

(40:00):
get one.
And the 997 GT3 is one of them.
That's for me.
Cause I, I, that was the firstGT car I ever drove new in, in
period.
And it had a very profoundeffect on me.
I remember one night I'd justbecome a dad.
My daughter was a baby and Icouldn't, she couldn't get to

(40:21):
sleep.
And when she finally got tosleep, it was like midnight or
something.
And I just was wired.
And I, made my excuses to myex-wife, and I went, I'm just
going to go out, just clear myhead for a drive, because I had
a GT3 997.
It was a white one on the drive.
Yeah, and I just disappeared init.

(40:43):
And I drove that car for about120 miles that night.
I drove it for hours.
Hours.
And it was wonderful.
And it never, having drivenfaster, better cars since, I
still go, ooh.

SPEAKER_05 (40:58):
Max has got a real love, haven't you?
Still my favourite 911, John.
I mean, I'm a 997 guy.
And so my first Porsche was a997 Gen 1 Carrera Coupe, Bassart
Black, manual, lovely.
Did a gazillion miles in it over10 years that I owned it.
And when I bought it, which wasin 2012, I was 36 years old.

(41:20):
I thought this is going to be,this is my first 911 and it's
going to be a gateway to a 997GT3.
That's my plan.
You know, I'll have this for awhile.
I'll keep working.
I'll keep doing well.
And that'll be a sensible move.
And then, you know, the marketwent silly and the prices went
up and, and it sort of went awayfrom me.
And I started to think latterly,maybe it's not the 911 for me

(41:41):
anymore.
You know, maybe there'll beother things that would fit
better into my life.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (41:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (41:46):
You know, the kind of thing.
And then a friend of ours fromthe collective Geordie Benn,
who's been on a car buyingspree, he bought one from RPM
Technic, which is close to me.
I live in Buckinghamshire, soit's close to me.
And I picked him up from thestation and we went to get it
and he came back to my house andhe said, right, you're going to
have to drive this car.

(42:07):
I said, why?
And I was all quite nervousabout it and a bit shy and coy.
And he said, no, I've put you onthe insurance.
So it needs petrol.
So we need to go to get somepetrol.
We're going out for dinnerlater.
You can drive me to dinner init.
So over that he afternoon andevening I drove it I think
crucially on familiar roads likemy roads going to my petrol
station and my curry house andin the end I actually

SPEAKER_03 (42:30):
felt like it was my car you're a successful local
businessman aren't you owningthe fuel station and owning

SPEAKER_05 (42:37):
the

SPEAKER_03 (42:37):
curry house oh

SPEAKER_05 (42:37):
wow and I was holding on to the keys they were
in my pocket and because it wasblack the same as mine was I
sort of thought it was mine andI really got into it I'm totally
totally enchanted and bewitchednow.
And now all I want again is a,is a 0.1.
I don't want a 0.2 997 GT3.
I'm completely obsessed with

SPEAKER_04 (42:59):
it.
Amen to that.
I would say.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Incredible.
It's, it's, it's just a greatcar.
It's just a great car that doesa lot of things really well.
But again, like the performanceof it on paper compared to a
base model Carrera 2 now isnothing on paper.

(43:21):
But that's not what it's about.
It's about how does it feelthrough your spine and your bum
cheeks, really.

SPEAKER_05 (43:28):
It's all about the feel,

SPEAKER_04 (43:29):
isn't it?
It's so much about the feel.
There's so much about it.
I really, I do wonder whether ornot we should just be putting
cars on space savers, you know,like 135s or whatever, 145s.
So maybe Michelin could do a Cup2 or something in a 135, 145

(43:50):
section.
That's effectively

SPEAKER_05 (43:52):
what the Toyota did, isn't it, with the GT86?
Is it GT86?
Oh, yeah, that's on the Priustyres, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 (44:01):
Yeah, yeah.
I do wonder.
I do wonder if it'd be great.
The other weird thing is, iscoming home tonight, I saw a
GT3, be a 992, I pulled over atthe side of the road in the
opposite direction on the A1 towhere I was going.
By what looked like, I am sureit was a police defender, Land

(44:24):
Rover defender, flashing all theflashing lights.
And I thought, well, A, how thehell did the defender catch the
911?
This is assuming the 911 wasgoing some.
And B, I didn't know the policehad...
defenders they're doing allright that's an expensive car

(44:44):
expensive car now it'sdefinitely not a working class
car like it used to be yeah souh but yeah and and of course
the gt cars now are massive yeahhuge and the my son who's going
to be 14 this year is reallyinto um He's got, when he was
younger, he wasn't so into cars.

(45:04):
I mock him now and say, look,I've brought home this car when
it was new and this and this.
I've got photos of you sittingin this.
And he's like, really?
Have you?
I went, yeah.
And he didn't give a toss.
And now suddenly you're like,oh, daddy, when you bring home a
GT3 RS, I'm like, well, I willdo at some point.
Oh, come on, come on.
I've done it loads

SPEAKER_03 (45:23):
before.

SPEAKER_04 (45:24):
Yeah.
I said, I've had all the otherones at some point and you
didn't even care.
So, but he's, he's, he lovesthe, the wings and the, you
know, I'm more of a touring guyand he's more of a, but it's
that, I think it's, yeah, helikes the vents and the wings
and I like the, the subtlety, Ithink.

SPEAKER_05 (45:44):
Yeah.
So, um, we've done best car.
Somehow we've got onto Porschesagain from, from Dodge Chargers.
Um, what's the next car?
What have you got lined up?
What's, what's, what's on thewish list?

SPEAKER_04 (45:58):
The wish list is a, is a, is a turbulent car.
terrible temptress yeah um thatdoes change so in the last four
weeks yeah it's gone somethinglike this citroen sm at least
twice at least twice it's almosta fever dream

SPEAKER_05 (46:19):
i see uh jethro was out driving his dad's one at the
weekend

SPEAKER_04 (46:24):
looks amazing isn't he So cool.
What a cool car.
It's an incredibly cool car.
I think it's probably a volatilerelationship car, but I feel
like maybe it's my midlifecrisis.
Maybe I should do it.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 (46:38):
It's the challenge you need to accept, Johnny.
I mean, it's right up yourstreet, isn't it, Johnny?
I mean, all the things thatcould happen in a Citroen SM,
that would be just, that's gotyou written on it.
Content, content, content.

SPEAKER_04 (46:51):
Yeah, a serious road trip in what is widely regarded
as the most temperamental car ofall time probably so I'd love
one so I've done that I've doneHillman Avenger numerous times
Tiger because it's a car on mylist having grown up around
Avengers the Tiger's the one tohave and then completely like a

(47:15):
cliche Motoring Journalist 911so 993 C2 or If I could find a
997 C2 with absolutely nooptions, I mean no options, for

(47:36):
some reason I would really digthat.
I'm a bit weird when it comes tostuff like that.

SPEAKER_05 (47:41):
Hasn't Williams Crawford got a zero option one?
No, that's actually a few bits.
It's got a few bits on it.
It's actually quite nicely.
So it looks like a nice car.
I'll send it to you.
It's quite cool.
It is quite cool.
But yeah, that's got some niceoptions on it, actually.

(48:01):
I know what you're saying withthe zero option.
I've always liked a pretty basespec Carrera.
There's something about it,isn't there?

SPEAKER_04 (48:10):
Do you know what it is?
It's like a really good qualityvanilla ice cream.
Most people go, oh, vanilla icecream.
Like, that's the obvious choice.
Everyone just goes for vanilla.
But it's like, yeah, but there'svanilla, and then there's
vanilla.
And a really good vanilla, likea really good Sunday roast, or
if it's done right, just go withit.
It's great.

SPEAKER_05 (48:30):
Yeah, you don't need the cordon bleu.

SPEAKER_04 (48:31):
No, and I do worry that a lot of people now,
because they spec cars up, theytick a lot of boxes, and they
buy cars for the next owneralmost.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(49:06):
Like, what are you doing?
Straight in for the hard stuff.
You're absolutely right.
Yeah, you know, it is though,isn't it?
I mean, I don't do drugs, butI'm just using that as a sort
of, you know.

SPEAKER_05 (49:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, you're absolutely right.
I've joked on here before,except I'm not joking, of
course, that there are peoplewho, I believe there are people
who don't know that there's any911 other than a GT3 or a Turbo
S.
They don't even know what aCarrera is.
A Carrera?
What are you talking about?
I don't even know what that is.

SPEAKER_04 (49:32):
And they're missing out.
They're missing out.
Do you know, you guys will knowPorsches better than me, but do
you know if you can, can youstill delete option certain
things?
Yeah.
Can you?
How simple could you make anentry-level 911 now?
I don't even know.
Because it's so luxuriousinside.

SPEAKER_05 (49:55):
Didn't Richie, Andy, didn't– I mean, you might have
driven it.
Richie had that red 992,first-gen 992.
Yeah, that was my basic.
That had, I think, only like 180quid's worth of options on it.

UNKNOWN (50:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (50:08):
And one of those was a changing the badge on the back
to that little nine 11 badge.
And I can't remember what theother thing was.
The other thing was somethingreally innocuous as well.
And other than that, there wasnothing.
And that was on the, that was onthe fleet.
That was a press fleet car.
So there are, there are, youknow, there are, but who people
buying those probably not verymany, probably not very many,

(50:30):
which is a shame.

SPEAKER_04 (50:31):
It is a shame.
It's the same way that colorslike now we, we look, I think,
and it's a, it's, quite aPorsche thing, but you look out
for interestingly colouredsecondhand ones and go, oh, wow,
someone really went to town onthis one.
And we applaud it.
But yet, when you buy a car new,a lot of people, they're quite
conservative and they go, oh,why did you buy that in silver?

(50:53):
You could have bought that inyellow or, you know, a
chartreuse green or my favouritegreen, probably, Porsche green.

SPEAKER_03 (51:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (51:02):
Maybe an Irish green.
I mean, Porsche, I love greencars.
I was having this conversationon my podcast the other week
about, I don't particularly likered cars.
Whatever.
I'd be the last person to buy ared Ferrari.
Green.
So many good greens out there.
Do you know, there

SPEAKER_05 (51:23):
was always that thing, wasn't there?
When I was a kid that it wasthe, you wouldn't, People
wouldn't buy green cars becausethey were...
It was unlucky, wasn't it?
I believe it was unlucky, and Idon't know the reason.
You don't know the reason forit.
No, I don't.
I heard somebody talking aboutthat the other day, and I was
like, yeah, I do remember that.
It was a huge thing.

(51:44):
It was.
Green cars didn't happen backthen.

SPEAKER_04 (51:50):
Well, it's weird, though, isn't it?
Nobody calls it British unluckyracing green.
Green, yeah.
I

SPEAKER_05 (51:56):
don't

SPEAKER_04 (51:56):
think

SPEAKER_05 (51:56):
we need to look into this.

SPEAKER_04 (51:58):
My parents bought a green car brand new and that's
what I'd learnt to drive in andthat's what I remember.
And I think maybe that's why Ilike green cars because I
remember this forest greenmetallic car all the time.
I'm just into it.
And also it's the kind ofnature.
Isn't it?
Flourishing nature.
So if you bin it into a hedge,you can cover it up and no one

(52:18):
will

SPEAKER_05 (52:19):
see.
God, I wish I could have donethat.

SPEAKER_04 (52:20):
What

SPEAKER_05 (52:21):
colour was that?

SPEAKER_03 (52:22):
It

SPEAKER_05 (52:23):
was white.
It was white.

SPEAKER_03 (52:25):
I knew it could be white.

SPEAKER_05 (52:29):
Here's a question for you, John.
I've got a question for you.
So you've got a bit of money inyour...
in your back burner.
It's burning a hole in yourpocket.
And you're presented at the sameprice with a really, really nice
993 Carrera 2 manual coupe.
Nice thing.
And a 997.1 GT3.
They're the same money.
So they're like 80 grand orsomething.

(52:49):
A couple of nice cars.
Which one do you buy?

SPEAKER_04 (52:52):
Oh, bums.
You're a bad man.
Could I...
So could the 997...
Could the GT3 be the comfortpack and I could put a back seat
in it, back in it?

SPEAKER_05 (53:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, yeah.
Tony is stroking his face in arather strange way

SPEAKER_04 (53:17):
as you listen to this.
This is a conundrum, aconundrum.
I'd probably go 997 GT3.
However, however, however, Ithink the 993 is probably a
prettier car.

SPEAKER_03 (53:33):
I

SPEAKER_04 (53:34):
think the 997 GT3 is probably a more fun car for me.
And also, the 997 GT3 is a moremodern car.
So compared to the cars I've gotthat I own, I own a lot of 60s,
70s, 80s cars.
To have a 997, it's a noughtiescar.

(53:56):
And I think there is a bit ofnostalgia in me who goes, I
remember driving that when itwas new and it had a real wow
sound.
Yeah, I love that

SPEAKER_05 (54:04):
story of you going off at the middle of the night.
That's just amazing.
I

SPEAKER_04 (54:08):
mean, dude, I can say this now because I'm
divorced, but there was another9-11.
It was a Targa.
It was a 997 Targa when theybrought back the Targa after a
little sabbatical.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I had one of those and me andmy then wife had a massive row
and I can't remember what it wasabout.
It would have been about beingtired parents.

(54:28):
At the time she, we had a rowand I stormed out the house and
all I took, I didn't take awallet.
I remember I just took the keyto the nine 11 and I went for a
long drive just to cool off andjust think about the world.
And it was great.
I enjoyed it.
Then I came back and I'd beenlocked out and I tried to phone,
I tried to phone and she turnedher phone off and it was like,

(54:51):
you ain't coming back tonight.
I had all I had was a, was anine 11, a press car.
with a full tank of fuel and theclothes that I was in.
And I went for a long drive, gotthe cabin nice and hot.
And then I went down a backlane, reclined the seat and
tried to go to

SPEAKER_05 (55:07):
sleep.
Was it a cold night?
How long did

SPEAKER_04 (55:10):
it take?
It was one of those ones whereabout three or four in the
morning when the temperatureproperly dips, you're like, this
is not comfortable.
I don't enjoy this.
I don't want to do this.
But I did want to sleep on myown drive in the car because
that would look extra sad.
So I was just down a countrylane, looking a bit weird in a
brand new Porsche at the time.

(55:32):
And I just thought to myself,what am I doing?
But I remember that.
I took my daughter out forseveral drives in that when she
was very young into a littleRecaro kiddie seat, and she was
in the back of the Targa.
So the glass house goes all theway back, doesn't it?
And she loved it.
She remembers it to this day.

(55:52):
And I've got a thing for Targas,I have to say.
For a long time, they were a bitdismissed.

SPEAKER_05 (55:57):
Yes, yeah.
Didn't Richard have a Targa fora long time?

SPEAKER_04 (56:02):
No, he had a...

SPEAKER_05 (56:03):
Oh no, it was Coupe,

SPEAKER_04 (56:04):
wasn't it?
Yeah, he had an S.
He had a Basalt Black 997.
Yeah,

SPEAKER_05 (56:12):
second gen 997, I think, wasn't

SPEAKER_04 (56:13):
it?
Yes, and he very much loved itand used it a lot.
But yeah, we both like Targas.
I've got a thing for a Targa.
In fact, that 997, yeah, when itfirst came out, I thought, wow,
they've done such a good job onthat.
And they've kept it up, I think.
They've done really good Targassince.
So I'm down for a Targa.

SPEAKER_05 (56:34):
Yeah, I'm down for a Targa.
I quite fancy a 997 Targa,

SPEAKER_04 (56:38):
actually.
We're just these idiots thatjust buy cars in our head.
We're just fantasy buying,aren't we, all the time?

SPEAKER_05 (56:43):
Yeah, that's my life.
Welcome to my

SPEAKER_04 (56:46):
world.
There's so many cars.

SPEAKER_05 (56:49):
Speaking of which...
Speaking of which, I've got aquestion about a car for you,
which I know you know all about.
Okay.
And I'm thinking about it in thecontext of 2025.
Is it a good car to own and touse?
Right.
The original Honda Insight.

SPEAKER_04 (57:02):
Oh, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (57:04):
God, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (57:04):
Hell yeah.
Okay, so...

SPEAKER_05 (57:06):
They're

SPEAKER_04 (57:06):
cool.
The thing about the HondaInsight is obviously the looks
are divisive because it's quitean unusual looking alien.
I love them.
Yeah, I do.
But even if you don't likethat...
but you appreciate engineering.
As a piece of engineering, it'san absolute tour de force.
And it's so satisfying to drivein that way that we've talked

(57:27):
about, in that it's a hybrid, soit's not, and it's a tiny
engine.
It's got no torque.
It's not fast, but you can carryloads of momentum with it.
It'll corner really well.
The steering's just a delight.
The driving position and thecomfort, I mean, I've cane miles
on mine.
And because it's all aluminiumand it's handmade, it feels like

(57:49):
it's not going to go anywheresoon.
And I've, yeah, like I said,I've owned it twice.
It's done, it had its, I took itback to Honda to have its
service two weeks ago.
It's done 335,000 miles.
Bloody hell.
And it's still hot to trot.
It's amazing, isn't it?

(58:12):
Every car fanatic should driveone before they do it.
It's one of those cars youshould just try

SPEAKER_05 (58:16):
it

SPEAKER_04 (58:17):
to understand what it's about.

SPEAKER_05 (58:18):
I've driven a couple.
I've test-driven them a coupleof times and been so close to
buying but just didn't do it.
I seem to have lots of parallelswith your driving career and
your car ownership career, butthere's one thing that you
always seem to have done, whichis buy the bloody things, and
I've just test-driven them.
but yeah I was yeah that insightI loved that thing it's just I

(58:44):
don't know it's just somethingdifferent as well isn't it I
think we've both got the lovefor something weird

SPEAKER_04 (58:50):
they're also incredibly good value for money
still

SPEAKER_05 (58:53):
are they still

SPEAKER_04 (58:53):
you know they're still really good value for
money like you can buy animmaculate one for like seven or
you can buy really yeah yeah oryou can buy a leggy one for
three

SPEAKER_03 (59:04):
you

SPEAKER_04 (59:05):
know and and there's again, there's a really strong
like, um, owners forum andthere's loads of hacks you can
do to them now.
Like I put suspension on mine,which I filmed it for a video
and I haven't put it out yet,but I put adjustable coil overs
on the back and, um, there's afew different mods you can do,

(59:26):
which really improve them.

SPEAKER_05 (59:29):
Yeah.
Uh, I might have to scratch thatitch still.

SPEAKER_04 (59:31):
It's still doing, mine's still doing 78 to the
gallon, like regularly.

SPEAKER_05 (59:35):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (59:36):
This was the world's first mass-produced, definitely,
100-mile-per-gallon car.
Yeah.
And it was the world's firsthybrid that was sold globally.
So the Prius beat it by aboutnine months, but that was
Japanese domestic market only,that Gen 1.

(59:57):
Also, the Gen 1 Prius looksshit.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:00):
Yes,

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:00):
absolutely.
And it's just never going to becool, in my eyes, whereas the
Honda drives really well.
Like it has the steering of aLotus.
It feels like a sort of ecoLotus.
It's great.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:10):
Honda's are cool, aren't they?
Honda's, Honda are such greatengineers, aren't they?
Such a great engineeringbusiness.
I think

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:15):
they're brilliant.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:16):
I've inadvertently

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:17):
owned a lot of Hondas of late and it's not
because of, they haven't, Ihaven't sought them.
They've sought me.
That's my excuse anyway.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:25):
Did you have a Mark I Civic?

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:28):
I've never had a Mark I Civic.
I've tried to buy one.
I've had, I've got, I bought aCivic for my kids to learn to
drive in, which is the EP2 shapeor whatever they call it.
The one with the gear stickcoming out of the dashboard.
And I've got an Element.
Yeah, they're cool.

(01:00:48):
If they brought the Elementback, please bring the Element
back.
It would just be amazing.
I've owned an S600 Coupe 1965.
Honda's first sports car.
Honda's first proper car.
And that thing was, again, as apiece of engineering, oh, my
word.
I mean, that thing would rev to11.

(01:01:09):
Some of the guys in the clubsaid it revved to 12.
Jeez.
That was a 600cc, four-cylinder,four-carb, needle roller-bearing
crank car that would do 100miles an hour in 1964.
Wow.

(01:01:29):
When we were buying MG midgets,you decide which one you'd
rather have.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:34):
Yeah.
It's another world, isn't it?
That's so trick.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:37):
That's a trick.
Honestly, that car wasunbelievable.
The back suspension alone was ascomplicated as a Swiss watch.
I mean, I had a meltdown tryingto find parts for it and then
realized I couldn't fit in it.
So I had sold it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:50):
Oh,

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:50):
really?
Is that why you sold it?
Genuinely.
To be honest with you, Acombination of couldn't really
fit in it, so I couldn't shutthe door more than one click
because my knee wouldn't goanywhere, my right knee.
And COVID came along, and beingself-employed and it being
really tricky, it was like,you're going to have to sell
some cars.
And the Honda.

(01:02:11):
The Honda was very collectibleabroad.
It sold to a collector inSingapore, I think.
So, yeah, you know, you can'tkeep them all.
No, no.
We

SPEAKER_05 (01:02:23):
were saying earlier that you've had 130, 140 cars.
Yeah.
That's some list.
What have you currently got?
What's left?
Okay, so

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:34):
I've actually been a bad man.
I've quite a bad man in the lastyear.
I've got more cars rather thanless cars.
I've got the Austin Allegro TypeR sleeper project, which
continues to be challenging.
But we'll get there.
I've got the Dodge Charger, theBeetle, Nissan, Cedric, Tokyo

(01:02:59):
Taxi.
That's cool.
Love that.
Yeah, I do like that.
That car's so smooth.
I've got the Boxster, smartBrabus Roadster.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:10):
Brilliant

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:11):
car.
The Honda Insight, the HondaElement, the Civic.
sort of children's field car umoh i've got a matra rancho which
i bought on a complete whim froma field in cornwall that's one
of the rarest cars cool it's oneof the rarest cars in the world

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:31):
yeah

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:31):
yeah do you know how many are on the road one of my

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:32):
favorite majorette toy cars i bet wicked yeah love
them what less than 10 maybe onthe road

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:40):
really oh It's rarer than a Ferrari 250 GTO by a
country mile.
God.
What sort of state's that

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:47):
in?
Terrible.
Is it really proper

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:50):
rotten?
Excuse my language.

SPEAKER_05 (01:03:52):
Because they were rotten when they came out of the
factory, basically, weren'tthey?
With that rattly old Tolbertengine.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:58):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:04:00):
It deserves to be

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:00):
saved, though.
Well, I got a real thing forthem as a kid of the 80s.
They looked so ahead of theirtime.
So cool.
They were so ahead of theirtime.
So...
Yeah, I had to save that.

SPEAKER_05 (01:04:14):
Johnny, what engine would you put in that if you're
going to rest him on it as partof your saving it?
What would be the right enginein that?
Can you keep a secret?
Yeah, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:24):
I'm not actually doing this because I don't have
the money, but if I could dothis.
I joked to Robert Singer once.
The one and only time I've methim, we were in a bar.
And after a few drinks, I said,I'm going to give you a
Matarancho one and you're goingto bloody Singer it.
And he laughed and he went,yeah, yeah, maybe.
And I went, no, seriously,you're going to sing it.

(01:04:44):
And I worked out on those sillywebsites where you can do
wheelbase calculations withother cars.
It's got the exact wheelbase ofa Subaru Impreza WRX.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:57):
Oh,

SPEAKER_04 (01:04:59):
perfect.
And the Rancho was neverfour-wheel drive.
It all looked good, didn't it?
So, hello, come on.
Imagine, just imagine that.
Brilliant.
I'm in.
Yeah.
I mean, like if I had a sparehundred, 200 grand in my back
pocket and I thought, let's justdo something dirty.
Yeah.
Weird.
And then you can

SPEAKER_05 (01:05:18):
give it to Travis to do the video.

SPEAKER_04 (01:05:20):
Honestly, I really would.
I really would.
So yeah, I actually don't knowwhat other, Oh, I know another
car that I've forgotten aboutthe car that I've owned for 20
years this year and still neverdriven it.
Um, Chevrolet Impala Supersport,1964.
The low rider, which thenever-ending story, as my

(01:05:42):
friends call it, that I'llprobably never finish.
But I will finish it because Ihave to.
Bloody cool, that is.
Well, I've spent more money onthat car, genuinely, than any
other car I've ever owned.
And the engine hasn't even run.
I've never driven it.
It's despicable.
I'm a complete car tragic.

(01:06:03):
But do you love it?
Do you know what?
When I see it, when I open thedoor of the workshop and I stand
there and I look at it, I go,wow, it has a real, it is a
fantastic car and I love theshape of it.
The work that's been done to ithas been done to a really high
standard.
It's just, it's one of thoseprojects that in hindsight, I

(01:06:26):
would do it in a different way.
I would tackle it in a differentway and I would plan it better.
I'm not a planner,unfortunately, and it bites you
when you don't plan.
Prepare to fail or fail toprepare or whatever the saying
is.
It's true.
But that car, yeah, it'sstunning.
It's stunning to look at.

(01:06:46):
I'm kind of building it for myson now because I caught him
watching Lowrider videos abouttwo, three years ago on YouTube.
I leant over his shoulder andwent, oh, it's a 64 Impala.
I've got one of those.
He goes, no, you haven't.
really and i and i said i saiddarling i i have one of those
cars i've actually owned two butyeah i've got one of those

(01:07:09):
that's actually a super sporti've got a super sport and he
went i don't believe you proveit and i went it's that thing i
said there's that car that you'dnever see that the gold one and
i showed him he went what andthis is the thing he he wasn't
really into cars for many yearswas that the switch yeah yeah
what

SPEAKER_05 (01:07:26):
did yeah what what did turn him do you think

SPEAKER_04 (01:07:29):
I think it was coming to the end of primary
school and then going tosecondary, which is a big step,
isn't it?
And then hearing his friendstalk about supercars, because
obviously supercars is a boydream thing.
Well, I know girls too, becausemy daughter's probably more
car-y than my son.
And then suddenly, probably hismates finding out what I did for

(01:07:53):
a job, seeing me occasionallypulling up in different cars not
not a lot of supercars um andthen his mates going oh you know
i really want to own a this wheni'm older i really want to win
that when i'm older and uh and ithink that's that's sort of
spooled the turbo up and he'she's suddenly gone well hang on
a minute like i've been to loadsof car shows as a young kid

(01:08:17):
didn't really i thought it wasjust normal and then he realized
no no maybe not i mean he'sprobably been to more car shows
than before he was six years oldthan most people before they're
16.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:08:29):
And then I, but I think now he's finding the cars
he likes.
He loves, uh, nine 11 GT threes.
He loves MX fives with flip upheadlights.
He loves, um, he really likesthe Dodge by Dodge.
Yeah.
Um, so he's finding his, hisfindings you, but I didn't want
to force the car thing on mychildren.
Cause you don't want to be a dadthat forces your hobby and your

(01:08:52):
passion on, um, on others andthen repels them really so you
gotta but both my kids enjoywatching drag racing because
i've taken them to santa pod towatch drag cars since they were
tiny because i just find itquite fun and it's a good it's a
good interesting noise and it'sgrassroots and yeah and i'm

(01:09:16):
gonna just keep taking them todifferent car shows and
hopefully they'll I'll pick itup.
They both enjoy, well, mydaughter loves driving, loves
karting.
And if I could afford it, I'dput her through a karting school
and get her to kick some ass.
But, It needs to be

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:32):
done.
It needs to be

SPEAKER_04 (01:09:33):
done.
Well, I'm, I'm too busy spendingmoney on it.
You know, really important.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:38):
And the empire that always makes me think of the
film boys in the hood.
Is that the right?
Am I thinking of the right?
I'm pretty much in the rightspace.
I love that movie.
I know that's an open top one inboys in the hood, but all that
stuff.
Ah, wicked.

SPEAKER_04 (01:09:52):
I watched that film for the first time last month,
uh, for the first time in, it'sgotta be 20 years with my
nephew.
Who's, 18.
And I said, look, you'llappreciate this.
Watch it.
And it's such a good film.
And, and I, I watched it theyear that came out and it had a
very profound effect on me.
And that's one of the reasonswhy I've got a bloody Impala and

(01:10:15):
why I had a, uh, Mark oneGranada on, on hydraulics that,
I mean, who in their right mindwould drive every day, a low
rider that they don't even have.
You don't even have a drive.
You have on street parking in arented house, uh, So you don't
even have a garage to work onit.
I mean, what a 19-year-old foolI was.

(01:10:36):
I spent every single penny thatI earned on cars.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:40):
Yeah.
It's a crazy addiction, isn'tit?

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:44):
It really was.
It's that

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:45):
commitment to the cause, Johnny, that's made you
the man you are today, is what

SPEAKER_04 (01:10:49):
it is.
I said to people, I'm like, whydid you do it?
Because I just didn't thinkthere was any other thing that I
should do.
This is what you do.
You earn money and yeah, youknow, you'll go out and have a
few jars now and again and youtry and be successful with
women.
But ultimately, I'd try and buyinteresting cars and go on road
trips and pick up the yellowpaper and go, look, there's that

(01:11:12):
for 200 quid.
Let's go and get it tomorrow.
And that's what we did.
That's basically it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:17):
Have you ever been over the years into a position
you've got yourself and youthought...
God, I just need to get out ofall of this and be normal.
Have you ever thought that?

SPEAKER_04 (01:11:30):
Yeah, I have actually.
Probably setting up my ownYouTube channel was a big, it
was a big jump and it was, Iwanted to try it.
I probably didn't realise quitehow intense it would be in terms
of workload.
And of course, compared to TV,where TV has sort of peaks and

(01:11:53):
troughs of energy levels.
You deliver a series of showsand then there's a lull and then
you promote it and then you goagain.
The problem with the internet,it's just a big, big whale that
just swims through the ocean andinhales whatever is in its path.
And people go, yeah, that's agreat video.

(01:12:14):
When's your next one?
That's a great video.
When's your next one?
And You run out of energy.
And also, you sort of, like anyself-employed person, I suppose,
you can let it consume you.
And you forget that you'reactually in control of the break
and the clutch here.
You should be the one that says,I'm only going to work this
amount of hours or put thisnumber of videos out.

(01:12:37):
And I think probably 2021, 2022,I...
got to several points, almostbreaking points.
I was like, I don't enjoy thisanymore.
I think I'm going to have tojust run away.
And actually that's why I don't,I know it sounds awful, but I
don't watch a lot of car contenton YouTube because I need a

(01:13:01):
break from it.
And, um, Yeah.
You can OD on it, can't you?
You can oversaturate.
Absolutely.
So that's why I just go and, Igo and like stroke my cat or sit
in the garden and just, justchill.
I do like doing, you know, I do.
That's, I think that's whyhistorically classic cars was
always my hobby.

(01:13:22):
Yeah.
And, and modern cars was my, mywork, my business.
And that would be the division.
I tinker with old shitters inthe shed and that would be my
therapy.

SPEAKER_05 (01:13:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:31):
my downtime.
And then I'd go and drive thenew, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_05 (01:13:36):
So would that be like the fifth gear and the
fully charged era?

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:41):
Yeah, it would.
And, and, and, uh, and I alwaysenjoyed that.
But of course now, uh, withYouTube and the way it's gone,
the, the, the, the passion andthe pastime and the business
have done this and it's, It'sreally exciting sometimes, but
also it can be quite damaging.
And you do run out of love forstuff and you have to just shut

(01:14:03):
the garage door or you just go,I just want to go for a walk.
I don't want to get in a car.
I've been driving a car all weekand sat on my ass.
I actually just really want towalk.
So I do enjoy walking.
And people go, but you're a carnut.
It's the same way that peoplego, I've seen you driving EVs.
You're supposed to be a carfanatic.

(01:14:25):
And I go, I am a car fanatic.
It's just there's differenttools for different jobs.
And I think that EVs work inlots of different circumstances.
They don't work for everybody.
And I was the first journalistto drive the Taycan.
I've just remembered that.
Got the world exclusive on thatbloody car.
That was good fun.

(01:14:47):
And so I think that you have to–I do sometimes crave a nine to
five, going back to youroriginal question.
I think being a motoringjournalist for magazines first
and now online stuff, you don'treally have a pattern of work

(01:15:08):
and time.
And so I do sometimes whenthings get really intense or you
get bombarded with stuff or yourpersonal life takes a bit of a
hammering, you do go, I wish Ijust had a predictable work
pattern.
I worked for somebody and thenjust came home and did what some
of my friends do.
They meet every Tuesday and theydo a thing.

(01:15:29):
And they meet every Thursday andthey do a thing.
And I'm like, I can't tell youthat.
Like this Thursday, I'm drivingthe new Renault 4 on the launch
in Portugal.
I'm sorry, but I am.
I don't make the rules.
That's when it's being launched.
I'm sorry.
And it can be reallyfrustrating.
However...
The trade-off is you get to dothings that money can't buy and
you get to drive cars that youcan't afford.

(01:15:50):
Some

SPEAKER_05 (01:15:51):
crazy stuff,

SPEAKER_04 (01:15:52):
yeah.
You get to meet some reallyinteresting people.
And I think the older I get, themore I'm interested in the
people behind the cars ratherthan the cars.

SPEAKER_03 (01:16:01):
Yeah, the story.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:02):
Yeah, yeah, because the cars are fine and the cars
are great.
But, like, you know, we could goto a– we could have a little
Porsche gathering now andthere'd be a line of cars, a
line of GT– threes and the sameof those and a line of those and
they're all the same butactually it's when you get

(01:16:23):
chatting to a couple of thepeople and they there's a
there's some sort of bond and acommon passion and yeah and when
i do the barn finds on my on myyoutube channel that's why i
like the barn finds the bestactually because it's not just
metal it's the sentiment thatjust comes out and the emotion
and actually with the mostemotional barn find i've ever
done was a lady excuse me, whoselate husband had a 911 SC.

(01:16:47):
Yeah.
And which was handed down to himfrom his dad who passed away.
And she had it and she'd losthim about 18 months previous.
And she was just looking forsomeone to buy it who was right.
She said, it's not about themoney.
I've got to make sure this caris given to the right person.
If they're not the right man orwoman, I'm not giving it to

(01:17:11):
them.

SPEAKER_03 (01:17:11):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:11):
And she asked all day off camera, she was saying,
I really want you to buy thiscar, Johnny.
And I'm like, look, I would loveto buy this car, but I know I
can't afford it.
I could fleece you and tell youit's worth 12 grand when it's
worth 45.
But yeah, it was quite emotionalbecause she was tearing up
talking about all the happytimes that she'd had in it.

(01:17:33):
And that's the thing about allthese cars.
It's like, it's not just aboutthe way they corner and they
accelerate.
It's the

SPEAKER_05 (01:17:42):
memories, isn't it?
It's the things that you've donein it, the things that you've
achieved, things that you'vedone with other people.
It sparks off all of those goodfeelings.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that's why we should usethem and we should share them
with other people and createthose memories for others.
Like, you know, you drive yourcar down the street on a nice
sunny day sunday afternoon andpeople go there might there
might be a kid that goes wowlook at

SPEAKER_05 (01:18:08):
that yeah

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:09):
i've never seen a car like that before or look at
that color isn't it wild

SPEAKER_05 (01:18:13):
yeah or the odd sick shout

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:16):
always seems

SPEAKER_00 (01:18:16):
to happen mate or can you do that mate yeah like
that rev it yeah yeah yeah

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:20):
i'll stick it on the limiter and just like spin a
bearing just for you yeah Ican't bear the limiter,
thrashing on the limiter thing.
Do you know what?
I just think it's reallyretarded.
Am I allowed to say that?
It is, isn't it?
Yeah, you are.
Do something artistic.
It's like, you know, just ifyou're going to do something

(01:18:41):
like that, do somethinginvolving car control.
Don't just sit the bastard's caron the limiter.
You're basically saying you'vegot no mechanical sympathy at
all.
Yeah.
At all.

SPEAKER_05 (01:18:52):
Yeah.
Strange,

SPEAKER_04 (01:18:53):
isn't it?
Strange behavior.
You wouldn't kick your own dog,would you?
in front of people at least,because that's just a nasty
thing to do.
That's what you're doing withputting your engine on the
limiter for no reason.
Just like,

SPEAKER_05 (01:19:03):
just.
Yeah.
There's a question, Johnny.
I've, I've actually wanted toask you for quite a long time.
Curiosity.
I promise it's the only seriousquestion I'll ask.
And it's, it's about thetransition when you, when you
set up your YouTube channel, youknow, which has been a, you
know, a roaring success and allconsuming one, as you say, but,

(01:19:25):
you know, producing some reallywonderful content.
But at the time, you know, as,as an observer, as I was, and,
and, and still I'm askingpeople, Johnny's a, Johnny's a
proper motoring journalist, youknow, in print and on the
television, you know, YouTubersfor the most part aren't.
I thought, I wonder, I wonderhow, I wonder what the, feelings

(01:19:49):
are here, not necessarily athought, the thought process,
you know, you can see how weknow what the direction was, but
I wondered how you felt aboutit.

SPEAKER_03 (01:19:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:19:57):
You know, looking at the, some of the people who were
doing that at the time, noteveryone, and maybe it's a
different landscape now, but Ijust wondered how, how that, how
that, how that

SPEAKER_04 (01:20:05):
was.
It's a good question.
Cause, cause I pondered it for along time and, um, influences or
that kind of term that was givento a lot of people on social
media, um, A lot of journalistswere really holding those people
at arm's length, actually.
There was a bit of a them and uson launches of cars.

(01:20:29):
I think what happened was it wasa combination of things.
I'd done the TV for, I'd doneFifth Gear for 19 series.
A long time.
How

SPEAKER_05 (01:20:39):
was it that long?

SPEAKER_04 (01:20:40):
Yeah, I did it in 2006.
You don't

SPEAKER_05 (01:20:43):
look old enough, Jonny.

SPEAKER_04 (01:20:45):
well, I don't look, I'll give you a nice bottle of
wine and a nice Christmas.
I appreciate it.
But so I think, I think, I thinkI don't know quite a lot of, of,
of fifth gear.
And the truth of the matter wasthe, the budgets for TV were
dwindling because TV was losingout to a lot of online

(01:21:07):
platforms.
Yeah.
Um, people were able to, createbetter and better content.
And so the caliber of stuff onYouTube was higher and higher.
And also, I used to getfrustrated with certain things
on TV.
And don't get me wrong, I reallyenjoyed working on the TV.
It's given me loads of greatopportunities and I'm proud of a
lot of it.

(01:21:27):
But what it does do is it has todumb stuff down for mainstream
consumerism.
So when I wanted to nerd out ondetail, It wouldn't let me or
they would edit it out becauseultimately I was just a
presenter.
I was a paid head and then Icouldn't control the edit.
So, and I got a bit jaded reallyabout pitching TV ideas, car

(01:21:54):
ideas.
TV ideas to production companieswho mostly didn't understand the
car world.
And we're always just looking tohow could we introduce famous
people into this?
How could we make it a bitsilly?
And it was like, no, you don'tneed to do that.
So doing Fully Charged as aYouTube channel when I was

(01:22:15):
working with Robert Llewellyn, Ireally, really enjoyed doing
that.
And it was refreshing.
And I guess I saw the way hebuilt that brand up.
And he'd done it out of realpassion and real focus and, uh,
was making, uh, making carreviews and videos that were
television quality.
And so I was like, well, if youcan make television quality and

(01:22:36):
people are starting to watchYouTube as a television show.
So not just 10 minutes or fiveminutes, full half hour
episodes, like a TV show, maybeI should try it.
And, and, and, and I got, it wasevery Christmas.
I always have a, a bit of extratime off and I do a real bit of
life reflection.

(01:22:56):
I should probably do it morethan once a year.
But Christmas is when I reallydo it.
I really wind down and go,right, new year, what do I want
to do differently?
What am I happy with?
What am I not happy with?
And all that stuff.
And I think my then wife said,look, you work for other people.

(01:23:17):
You get into an age where youshould build something for
yourself.
That's what you should do.
You've got a lot of contacts.
Just do it.
And if you're going to do it,bloody do it well.
Jump in with both feet and do itwith conviction and actually to
her credit.
I wouldn't have probably done itor I wouldn't have done it on
the level that I've done it ifit weren't for her saying, do

(01:23:39):
it, but do it.
And of course, starting aYouTube channel at the age of 40
is not what most people do.
if I was still living at homewith my parents and didn't have
the overheads and didn't have afamily or any of those worries,
you kind of wing it a bit more.
But I think because I worked onTV and because I was a
journalist background, I thoughtif I'm going to do this, it's

(01:24:03):
got to be proper.
It's got to have a bit ofcredibility and I've got to
really, make sure that peoplecan go back and watch older
videos and go, yeah, you know,that was a fairly solid piece of
work because don't get me wrong.
I've done some terrible videos.
They haven't all worked, butI've, I've tried my best with
the resources I've got.
And, and to that end, I thoughtI've got to make it look like a

(01:24:24):
TV show because that's wherepeople have, a lot of people
have followed me from, from TV.
I film it all on my phone in awobbly way.
way it's going to look like I'vehad a massive fall from grace I
know this sounds a bit kind ofpretentious but it might look
like I've had a massive fallfrom grace and I'm just phoning

(01:24:46):
it in as it were and I can't dothat I don't want to do that I
want to really put my back intoit so that's why I did it that
way and it allowed me to nerdout and that's what YouTube
allows you to do if I want to doa half hour

SPEAKER_05 (01:24:59):
niche you could get in the niche

SPEAKER_04 (01:25:00):
yeah Yeah, if I want to do one episode of 25 minutes
all about why Porsche in 1972put the oil filler cap on the
rear quarter panel rather thanin the engine bay, you could do
it.
And if there was a hook andthere was a good interview or an
archive clip that you could getyour hands on and you could try

(01:25:21):
and convince people that it wasan interesting thing to watch,
go for it.
Bloody go for it.
And I think that's what's reallygood about social media.
And, uh, and of course now, youknow, TikTok's trying to kill
YouTube and Instagram somewherein the middle and Facebook's
having a big renaissance.
And, uh, yeah, Facebook,Facebook's really big.

(01:25:43):
I mean, don't get me wrong.
I'm not on it as me as JohnnySmith.
But my show, my channel is onit.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah.
But I mean, I do pay a freelanceto do that because I'm terrified
of Facebook in case, I don'tknow, an old girlfriend stalks
me or something.
I don't know.
Or Facebook Marketplace, whichis apparently an absolute

(01:26:04):
goldmine for people who sellperfectly good cars but can't be
bothered to take pictures ofthem or write descriptions and
they just go, car for sale, giveme 50 quid now in the next two
hours, otherwise I'm...
earn it.
And you find out that it's anangry divorcees career.
I don't know, but I can't do it.

(01:26:27):
I think you're

SPEAKER_05 (01:26:27):
wise to keep away from it, mate.
I think you'd, you'd be fillingup another, well, another unit
somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 (01:26:33):
Yeah, I can't do it.
I can't do it.
So, so yeah, so that's, and I,and I suppose, yeah, I've, I've
reached, I'm really happy withthe way the late break shows
grown organically and, has

SPEAKER_05 (01:26:45):
it grown differently to how you anticipated so did
you when you first set it up didyou think right I'm going to
have this sort of I'm going tohave a playlist for this
playlist for that playlist forthis I'm going to do this type
of video and what's changed

SPEAKER_04 (01:26:59):
it's changed a bit in that I suppose you have to be
a you have to be businessminded.
You're always weighing up likethe, I want to, I want a good
variety on the show.
Cause that was always the ideaof the channel.
I want a good variety.
I want to balance, you know, Iwant to bring together this idea
of you can appreciate electricEVs, V8s.

(01:27:20):
Um, you can go into people'sprivate garages.
You can, we can do barn finds.
We can, you'll see some of myown cars and my own tragic
projects and things.
And there's no, uh, elitism oranything like that.
Yeah.
Um, but, certain things alwayswork better than others.
And then when you have asuccessful video, you think, oh,

(01:27:41):
well, it worked really well lasttime.
So let's do another one ofthose.
And then it doesn't do the sameas what the other one did.
And you're like, damn this.
And I guess I try and explain itto people.
I guess it's like being in aband when you write a hit song
and it just flies and you go,wow, we wrote that in like 10
minutes when we were on a teabreak and we had no idea it was

(01:28:02):
ever going to be our biggesthit.
you try and do it again.
And then you try to do it again.
And then you try to do it again.
If we all knew how to do it,it's bloody hell.
We would just keep doing it.
Wouldn't we?
And it's, it just doesn't, itdoesn't always work that way.
So, um, yeah, I'm trying toalways balance like, this is my
business.

(01:28:22):
I've put, I have put all my eggsin the basket of, uh, a channel.
Okay.
I do a podcast as well, but, um,So it has to succeed as a
business.
I've got a family and I've gotoutgoings and like all this
stuff.
And I would like to finish myImpala and my Allegro.
And I'd like to buy an i11 GT3.

(01:28:45):
But at the same time, you know,like at the same time, I want it
to be authentic.
And I want to keep exploring thecar world further because it's
such a rich mine.
And also I want to try, if Ican, in some small way, inspire
a newer generation a youngergeneration of car fanatics

(01:29:06):
because i do worry there's goingto be a huge void of people that
might not want to get a drivinglicense might not want to own a
car and if they do own a car itmight be just the latest most
technologically late and thingare not something that just
gives you a bit of a thrill so ii really like doing that that's

(01:29:27):
why i embarrass my daughtersometimes by turning up on the
school run and in my two cv oruh you didn't mention the two cv
oh yeah the

SPEAKER_05 (01:29:37):
list

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:39):
yeah that's i've been driving it all week and
i've bloody forgot about itthat's cool i realized you've
got a flat two a flat four and aflat six

SPEAKER_05 (01:29:46):
brilliant

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:47):
i need a flat eight now

SPEAKER_05 (01:29:48):
yeah you do what's that does a tatra

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:52):
have a flat eight yeah i'd love a tatra yeah
they're

SPEAKER_05 (01:29:56):
amazing

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:57):
what a car yeah Rear engine V8 or flat eight Hemi,
air cooled.
What a thing.
Madness, madness.
What a

SPEAKER_05 (01:30:05):
thing.
So I've got a question onvideos.
Two questions, really.
What's your favourite video thatyou've put out over the years
under the guise of the LateBreak show?
And maybe what's been the mostsuccessful?
You know, what's the mostwatched?

SPEAKER_04 (01:30:26):
That's a really...
I'm going to go on my phonerudely because I actually, I
know this is bad.
I sort of forget what I've done.
People used to ask me this a lotwith the TV.
They'd go like, what's the bestthing that you've filmed on
fifth gear?
And I go, I actually can'tremember all the things I

(01:30:46):
filmed.
And people then regale.
They go, I really enjoyed whenyou drove the Lotus Evora around
that, around that track.
And I go, I remember it.
Oh, yeah.
And then I'll watch it and go,yeah, yeah, I remember exactly
what happened that day.
Yeah, it was really good.
So I'm going to sort by...
You've got 25

SPEAKER_05 (01:31:05):
videos with over a million views.
Have

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:07):
I?
Is it really that many?
Pretty cool, isn't it?
How many?
Yeah,

SPEAKER_05 (01:31:11):
yeah.
25.
That's a lot.
Between 1 million and like 3.6or 7 million,

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:15):
something like that.
So I've just...
Wow, I didn't realise.
I did not realise that because Idon't look back that much
because...
simply in the world of YouTube.
We don't have time.

SPEAKER_03 (01:31:23):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:24):
Yeah.
Um, yeah.
So the best video, so the mostviewed video I've ever done is
the beast, the 27.
Wow.
Yeah.
And the, and then also one aboutthe, um, a futuristic, uh,
scrapyard, uh, a salvage.

SPEAKER_05 (01:31:42):
Yeah.
Trent's.
So that video just around thecorner from me.

SPEAKER_04 (01:31:45):
Right.
So that video I did really outof curiosity because I was
interested in it because I likesalvage yards.
Never in the world did I thinkthat was going to be one of the
most successful videos I everput out.
It's just weird, right?

SPEAKER_05 (01:32:00):
Yeah, it was a great video.
And I couldn't believe thatTrent's, because I remember
Trent's when I was, I remembergoing in there when I was about
17 or 18 with a friend thatlived down this way.
And I remember going in thereand there's this grotty little,
you know, terrible, Scrapyardhad five cars on top of each
other.
You were wading around in aworld.
It was horrific.

SPEAKER_04 (01:32:21):
With an Alsatian on a chain.
Oh, it was proper

SPEAKER_05 (01:32:25):
nasty.
Yeah.
And then to see that video 25years ago and it's still owned
by the same family and how ittransformed into this.
absolute modern craziness that'sjust around the corner from here
and I didn't know it existed.
It was astounding to see thatvideo.

SPEAKER_04 (01:32:43):
That's like the most advanced scrap slash salvage
yard in the UK by a mile.

SPEAKER_05 (01:32:49):
It's unbelievable,

SPEAKER_04 (01:32:50):
yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So that, yeah, I mean, the barnfind Lamborghini, I don't know
if I'll ever get, I'd love tofind a rarer car than that or a
sort of like a rarer, uh exoticvehicle

SPEAKER_03 (01:33:08):
yeah

SPEAKER_04 (01:33:09):
yeah yeah that that's done really well um it's
weird some of my favorite videosthat i've ever done um haven't
done very well in views so sostrange it's so strange

SPEAKER_05 (01:33:20):
talk about no rhyme or reason yeah you know the
beast i mean like the quirkieststrangest thing ever and all
those people want to watch itthe savage the honda e you know
the beast and honda e

SPEAKER_03 (01:33:32):
yeah

SPEAKER_05 (01:33:33):
it's

SPEAKER_04 (01:33:34):
it's right you're exactly right it's so weird um
and yeah

SPEAKER_05 (01:33:38):
actually honda e i really like the way they look
reminds me of a mark one golfreally little range but they're
good value i'd quite like one doyou think i should get one right

SPEAKER_04 (01:33:48):
honda e especially over winter because winter's the
time to buy an ev same asconvertible you can get a honda
e with like 3,000 miles, or youcould last winter, I think it
was, 3,000 to 5,000 miles on theclock for 10 grand, 11 grand.

SPEAKER_05 (01:34:04):
Really?

SPEAKER_04 (01:34:04):
Yeah.
And you go, hang on, that carwas 37 grand.

SPEAKER_05 (01:34:08):
No way.

SPEAKER_04 (01:34:09):
I'm telling you now, and I will bet my Boxster on it,
that is a bona fide futureclassic, the Honda e-Class.

SPEAKER_05 (01:34:17):
Wow,

SPEAKER_04 (01:34:17):
they're so cool.
And anyone who goes, oh, yeah,it's a shame it can only do 130
miles on one charge.
Well, but if you've got two carsand that's your sort of commute
car and you do a predictablecommute, like most people do
less than 20 miles a day or 30miles a day, perfect.
And it's got the nicestinterior.
I love the cabin of that car.

(01:34:38):
Yeah, yeah.
It's so nice.
That's when Honda just, yeah.
When Honda just goes, do youknow what, we're just going to
tread our own path, that's whenHonda are just brilliant.
But the problem is they shouldhave backed it up with a
subsequent second batteryoption.
Like Fiat 500e, they did a cityrange battery and then they did
a longer range battery.
If Honda had done that, theywould have really won it.

(01:35:02):
And it's a shame they justdidn't.
They just didn't do it.
It could be an

SPEAKER_05 (01:35:07):
option for an i3 and...
Instead of the i3, Max?
Well, maybe instead of the i3.
I've been thinking about gettingan i3 for ages.
Andy's got an i3 already.
But every time I see a Hyundai,which isn't very often.
Yeah, you don't.
I get very excited.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:21):
Very excited.
I've got to say, I mean, the i3is probably the coolest BMW
they've done in the last decade.

SPEAKER_05 (01:35:28):
Yeah, bizarrely.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:29):
That cabin is still wild.
Awesome, isn't it?
Yeah, wild.
Such a lovely...

SPEAKER_05 (01:35:35):
I've got the brown leather with the wood, you know,
proper lounge...

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:39):
Proper Scandinavian sexy architect spec.
That's it,

SPEAKER_05 (01:35:44):
yeah.
That's what I feel like everytime I get in it.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:47):
It's a really cool car, that.
It's a really cool car.

SPEAKER_05 (01:35:50):
Really

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:50):
cool.
And do you know what?
I was thinking about base modelkind of appreciation earlier.
I remember driving, I was sayingto James earlier at TH Racing, I
said, have you ever driven abase model Panamera, the V6 rear
wheel drive manual one that theybrought out?
The one that about seven peoplein the UK bought.

(01:36:11):
I said, it was great.
It was really, really great.
But everyone just went, no, Iwant the Turbo S.
And that was it.
And my favourite Taycan was therear wheel drive, single motor,
long range battery base model.

SPEAKER_05 (01:36:29):
On the 18-inch wheels or the 90s?

UNKNOWN (01:36:32):
It looked like gas burners.

SPEAKER_05 (01:36:33):
Yes, yeah,

SPEAKER_04 (01:36:34):
yeah, yeah.
Yes, yeah.
And Porsche had one on the pressoffice that was that spec, and I
drove it to– I went on a job.
I did a barn find in Cornwall, Ithink.
I did loads of miles in it overthe course of about four days.
It's still my favourite Taycan.
It's great.
Yeah.
It's great.

SPEAKER_05 (01:36:50):
Another good value car on the market now.
Amazing,

SPEAKER_04 (01:36:53):
amazing value car and a really nice– Yeah.
Really nice car.
Indeed.
I'm quite taken by the taken.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:37:02):
I think that's another car that would blow up
in my face.
You know, I've got limited slotson the driveway.
I can't have 130 cars.
I haven't got a hundred.
And, and, and, and one of themhas to be for my wife.
So I have to pitch ideas to her.
If there's a car that I wantthat doesn't fit in one of my
two slots.
Yes.
Taycan, she'd kick my ass if Ibought one of those.

(01:37:24):
It's just too big.
She really wants an i3.
Does she?
I think she'd go for a Honda

SPEAKER_04 (01:37:32):
e.
I think so.
Listen, if you want to, if I canhelp you find the right one, I
mean, they are so, so good.
And also the quality, thequality of them is exceptional.
The feel of the quality insideis don't get me wrong.
An i3 is a glorious, gloriouscar, but, um, Yeah.
I mean, imagine if we, the nexttime we do this podcast

(01:37:53):
together, Porsche do bring out anew G body shell body.
By the way, I don't have anyinside information on that.
I, although I am really closefriends with someone quite high
up at Porsche in North Americawho I used to work with when we
were young, silly man.
But, um, yeah, I, I don't knowwhy they're not doing it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:38:17):
Yeah.
I think it's a good call.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:19):
Do you know a video?
I've just thought of a videothat I was really proud of that
took loads of prep on the latebreak show, like way more prep
than others.
And nobody watched was, was Itook a, you know, they do a
catering with the K car Suzukiengine.

SPEAKER_05 (01:38:41):
I watched that.
Loved that episode, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:43):
Where I sort of went to Port Merion and did the
prisoner kind of reenactment andI got an electric moke, mini
moke, which had newly launched.
That took so much prep and theweather was really being a
bastard to us and it was reallystressful.
Didn't do real well at all.

(01:39:04):
Such a shame.
And yet sometimes I do athrowaway video that I film on
my phone real quick.
I don't film myself much.
I don't I do the odd vlog,mostly the garage stuff when
you're working on cars.
Yeah.
And, uh, and they can sometimesdo really, really well.
Yeah.
It's so, it's so odd.
You just don't know.
I don't know.
That's why I'm always keen on,on people's feedback, like real

(01:39:25):
feedback where they go.
I would really enjoy seeing you.
I don't know, fly to theNetherlands and buy a car for a
thousand euros and drive it homeimmediately.
Yeah.
Or whatever.
I like some of the feedback youget.
You go, yeah, that's actually areally good idea.

(01:39:46):
But you've got to be careful notto get caught up in like some
YouTubers and some ones that canactually afford it, perhaps, who
buy cars online.
Because they know their viewerswill want them.
Yes.
Like, and then you're, you're inthis quite dangerous cycle.
I think of your, it's like, youknow, you're wearing clothes to
impress other people rather thanthe clothes that you really want

(01:40:08):
yourself.

SPEAKER_03 (01:40:09):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:09):
And where do you, where do you draw the line?
Cause I could, you know whatit's like now with credit and
finance.
I could wake up.
Yeah.
I'm going to go and buy a, what?
I don't know.
I've gone by career GT oncredit.
All right.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'll just, I get rid of all mycars.
I just get a Creo GT.
I'll vinyl wrap it and I'lljust, I'll bounce off the

(01:40:33):
limiter.
You don't fit into that

SPEAKER_05 (01:40:34):
camp.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:38):
You're

SPEAKER_05 (01:40:38):
rebuilding an Allegro.

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:40):
I know, I'm a weird bastard.
That's

SPEAKER_05 (01:40:42):
for your own joy, isn't

SPEAKER_04 (01:40:45):
it?
Yeah, I've always trodden my ownpath, rightly or wrongly.
I've always gone, no, I'm goingto do it that way.
Rightly, rightly, Johnny.
Well, when I worked on MaxPower, um, Years ago now, I
said, I'm going to build a carthat people will really take
notice of.
And the base car cost me 150quid.
It was a Jag XJ, a four-litreSovereign.

(01:41:07):
And the guy, I got it, I boughtit.
It was running on fivecylinders.
And I drove it back fromCambridge from a guy who owned
an internet cafe.
That's how it dates the story.
All right.
Yeah, I bought it for 150 quidfrom a bloke that ran
Cambridge's biggest internetcafe.
And...
not that they exist anymore.
And so I got it back and theyjust went, that's just a

(01:41:28):
pedophile's car.
That was basically the commentthat I had.
And I went, no, no, this isgoing to look good.
And he said, well, I did buy itfrom Instagram.
I bought it on the dark web.
Yeah.
And I went to town on thisproject XJ and it was, it looked
amazing.
I think it looked amazing.
It did really well.
And we took it to a couple ofthe big events that Max Payne

(01:41:51):
did and it got, it got loads ofpretty good attention.
And it was that whole thing oflike going, well, I'm from the
street machine, uh, era schoolwhere I, I really like hot rods
and that sort of car, um, prostreet.
And, um, but I like trying tobring that into the next
generation of people who willappreciate it.

(01:42:12):
And that's what I tried to do.
And the low rider type of thing.
But yeah, there's, there's,there's so many different
interesting cars, isn't there?
And I do really like hearingother people's, car tastes i
really like going to people'sprivate garages when they get
grant me permission to go andfilm with them in a for a day in

(01:42:33):
in a garage that could be rightnext to their house or a private
unit and and just hear why doyou own what you own why do you
buy what you buy yeah it mightnot be what i want to buy but
that doesn't matter it's notabout me it's like I love
hearing it.
Like people go off.
You know, I remember my boss hadone of these when I was an
apprentice and I, that was thecar that I really had to aim

(01:42:54):
for.
Or my, one of my parents had oneof these, my uncle had one of
these or whatever.
There's, there's always athousand and one reasons.
And, um, it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_05 (01:43:04):
It's completely fascinating.
One of the, one of the things Ifind so interesting about those
scenarios is when, when, whenyou're playing fantasy garage in
your mind, it's invariably ablank sheet job, isn't it?
You set yourself a certaincriteria, you get your maths
textbook out and you're in yourback thinking, right.
So if this was the situation,these are the cars that I'd
have.
And you write them down.
It's blank sheet.
But when in this scenario, inthe real world, when you're

(01:43:26):
going to someone's privatecollection, what I think is
really interesting is theacquisition journey of the cars,
you know, how they've ended upwith that collection of cars.
Cause they haven't, start ablank sheet and gone out and
bought them all in one go andput them in the garage it's the
evolution of the collectionwhich i think is so interesting
yeah dream job

SPEAKER_04 (01:43:44):
it is really good yeah i do feel very fortunate
because my job is um it'sextremely busy and it's energy
demanding but it's never everboring never and i and i like
that because i know peoplefriends who I've grown up with
who have got successful jobsthat are well paid, but they're

(01:44:07):
bored.
They crave the weekend or theyjust don't do something they're
passionate about.
And weirdly, I always go, Iwould never do a job I wasn't
passionate about.
Why would you do that?
But then I realised that maybeI'm the weird one.
And most people go, no, I'm justgoing to do a job.
It's a means to an end.

(01:44:27):
I'm going to do a job that earnsgood enough money so I can do X
and Y.
And I go, well, but you spend somuch of your time doing a job.
Just do it.
Something that you really careabout.

SPEAKER_03 (01:44:36):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:36):
I think I'm not that money driven.
Uh, I have to make money likeeverybody.
You have to earn a living andall that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (01:44:45):
But it's not the be all and end all.
No.
Remember, Johnny, you were the19-year-old with the slam
Granada.
Oh, my gosh.
That's a different level.
You were on a different

SPEAKER_04 (01:44:53):
level right from the start.
I was.
It was a very low level.
It was extremely low, thatGranada.
It was extremely low.
Do you know, one day there was amassive flood, massive flood,
and loads of people couldn't getto work.
And I realized my Granada couldgo as high as a Toyota Hilux on
full lift.
And I drove through a flood.
I wish there'd been a localpaper there to indicate.
interview me or something.
I drove through a massive floodin my low rider and got it to

(01:45:14):
work.
That's a practical car.
yeah

SPEAKER_05 (01:45:19):
practical low riders there we go that that would have
emap would have published thatat some point back in the day
that could have been a thing

SPEAKER_03 (01:45:27):
practical it's really good

SPEAKER_05 (01:45:31):
yeah yeah i've got one more question we can't keep
well we could keep talking allnight we could all get the wine
out but we probably shouldn'twhat is your favorite and this
is a driving story not a partystory what is your what is your
what is your favorite JasonPlato story

SPEAKER_04 (01:45:50):
bloody Plato he's an absolute as well

SPEAKER_05 (01:45:54):
yeah his his idle chat was hilarious and then the
idle chat with Matt and then allthat I loved all of that that
was just

SPEAKER_04 (01:46:03):
I'm so pleased that panned out because every time we
speak on the phone now, healways thanks me for doing that
idle chat with Matt because itmade him and Matt friends.
They're actually really closefriends now and they both
retired from racing.
So I think there's not that kindof, um, pecking anymore.

(01:46:25):
There's not that face to face,um, anger, but, um, So the best
Plato story, there's been loads.
I mean, there was that time.
I don't, I have told it.
I don't know where.
So Plato's obviously a verymischievous man.
We were, it was a, it was a hotsunny day and we were filming
fifth gear at Millbrook.

(01:46:47):
We used to do a lot of filmingat Millbrook.
Millbrook is very strict.
The proving ground is verystrict rules.
If you deviate from the rules,you're straight to that master.
It's very zero tolerance.
And Plato doesn't like, rulesand i'm not a massive fan of
rules so anyway to cut a longstory short we we've been

(01:47:08):
driving we were testing a we'redoing a group test involving an
aston i remember there was anaston or something that we
pulled over we both needed a weewe both decided rather than
walking to the toilets we woulddo in in plato's words not mine
let's do a big boy wee and iwent i Like what?
And he went, what is that?

(01:47:29):
Trousers and pants to the floor.
And then you just, you justwait, not looking at one
another.
We're not that weird, but westood next to one another
looking out across what is aVista of Millbrook whilst having
a big boy wee.
Okay.
There were no cars visible atthis time and there was nobody

(01:47:50):
around.
However, as we started our bigboy wheeze giggling, over the
crest of the Alpine circuit, Ithink it was, in Millbrook, was
about five Aston Martins.
They were having a VIP customerdrive day.
And they were greeted comingdown this hill, hot on the
brakes of these new Astons thatthey were hopefully going to

(01:48:13):
buy.
We're just two grown men havingbig boy wheeze.
And...
Well, talky talky crackled notthat long after we were sent to
the clerk of the course orwhatever his name was at
Millbrook.
We were that close to gettingFifth Gear banned indefinitely
from Millbrook because we'dexposed ourselves and not used

(01:48:38):
the toilet facilities provided.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:48:42):
Oh, my goodness.
And

SPEAKER_04 (01:48:44):
Plato being Plato, he was like, this is just
fucking ridiculous.
Silly rules.
We were just having a bit offun.
There was no one around when westarted, Wig.
It's like, no, you're right.
There was no one around when westarted.
So that's probably it.
There's many other...
Plato stories.
Yeah, I think we could probably

SPEAKER_05 (01:49:02):
do another episode, couldn't we?
We could do a whole episode ofPlato stories.
I always used to really like itwhen you did the team test where
there'd be all of you with a carand then you'd all pile in and
invariably Plato would bedriving and you're hanging on to
the passenger thingy and it allgets a

SPEAKER_04 (01:49:22):
bit intense.
Because the thing is he wouldturn up for work on the shoot on
Fifth Gear shoot days and younever knew what mood he was
going to be in.
And sometimes he was going to bein like a really mischievous
mood.
He'd have a glint in his eye andyou knew you were in for trouble
that day because it could be areally naughty swine.

(01:49:44):
Or other days he might be in afoul mood.
Or other days he might besmoking nonstop and he wouldn't
put his cigarette out even tolike film a take.

UNKNOWN (01:49:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:49:56):
So he'd sometimes have it behind his back.
And then the director would belike, Jason, listen, your back
is smoking and it's visible oncamera.
So you just can't do this.
Like people are going to go, whyis Plato's back smoking?
Why is he only gesticulatingwith one hand?
So you just go, no, no, no, it'sfine.
It's fine.
The viewers won't know.
Only go, no, Jason, they'lldefinitely know.
We're looking through thecamera.
We can see it.

(01:50:16):
It doesn't work.
But there's all sorts of funnythings.
That time in the bloody...
Passat.
No, no, Phaeton, VW Phaeton onthe bowl, the high-speed bowl at
Millbrook.
And this was when I had a bit ofa sense of human failure.
He was driving, set the cruisecontrol at 140, 145, I think it
was, and then just got out ofthe driver's seat and crawled

(01:50:37):
into the back seat between theseats and just started giggling
at me uncontrollably.
And I'm like, get back in thedriver's seat now.
We are doing nearly 150 miles anhour.

SPEAKER_03 (01:50:47):
Oh, my God.
If

SPEAKER_04 (01:50:48):
this thing exits stage right, we're all dead.
And he just thought it was thefunniest thing because he knew
what he was doing.
He knew the car, unless we hit aseagull or the, I don't know, we
had a tire blowout.
It would just hold it at theright angle.
I was terrified.
Absolutely terrified.

(01:51:08):
I feel really, I feel extremelyprivileged to have worked with
him and Tiff and Vicky becausethey're all, yeah, they were all
a really accomplished presentersand drivers.
And I was, I was the weakestlink when it came to driving
expertise.
And I learned an awful lot fromspending hours on deserted

(01:51:29):
airfields with those three,because I'd watch them, you
know, I'd watch Vicky and Tiffon old school top gear.
And, and I, and I learned a lotand I, and I, and I don't drive
on track very much anymore.
And I do miss where youbasically, you've got an hour
and a half an hour to kill andyou just go, I just go out in a
car and just do, do a few lapsand learn a few corners and go

(01:51:54):
out with Tiff, who hasabsolutely no fear, by the way.
I'm going to confirm this.
Out of all the people that I'veever met in the car world and
presenters and handy drivers,Tiff absolutely doesn't see
danger.
And

SPEAKER_05 (01:52:09):
do you think that's still the same now as it was
back then?
He's still nothing.

SPEAKER_04 (01:52:16):
Plato would always take me to one side and he'd go,
don't do it.
If Tiff thinks it's all right, Idon't.
Don't do it.
And Plato would see the danger,even though Plato is a risky old
school racing driver where he'sprepared to take certain risks.
He would see a risk and go, I'mnot doing that.
And Tiff would be like, ah,that's fine.
It's fine.

(01:52:36):
It's fine.
Don't need a helmet for that.
It's absolutely fine.
And he would have such, he hassuch belief in the machine and
his ability.
It's really impressive.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:52:47):
The

SPEAKER_04 (01:52:47):
number of times he's casually lost control.
I mean, it's not been very oftenthat he has, but I remember at
Rockium once, we were in aScirocco R.
Yeah, we were in a Scirocco R.
And we came into a corner.
So on liftoff oversteer, it waswell over 100.
And it didn't quite do what hewas expecting it to do.
I think I probably did it forthe third time.

(01:53:08):
And he went, oh, oh, okay.
I think we're going to roll thistime.
And it was a real, it's like apilot coming in and going, okay,
so we've lost both the engines.
We almost certainly have tobrace.
You just don't want to hear.
So I'm already like spasming onthe, on the grab handle, the

(01:53:29):
ocean going.
We are, if he says we're goingover, we are probably going
over.
We are now on the grass side,like at 90 miles an hour.
Uh, but we didn't.
And, and amazingly he caught itand it came back on off the
grass and didn't, damaged thecar and he just went well i
wasn't expecting that and uhjust go well you're driving the

(01:53:50):
damn car i don't know what i wasjust expected to say prayers and
exit the world but yeah

SPEAKER_05 (01:53:55):
cracking so i've loved the um i've loved the tiff
nadelle um and the and the jasonplato can you do a vicky but but
butler henderson impression

SPEAKER_04 (01:54:09):
oh are

SPEAKER_05 (01:54:09):
you any good at that

SPEAKER_04 (01:54:10):
Oh, I'm not, I'm not very good at, um, see Vicky's
Vicky's great because she'sexactly as you, as you see on
the TV.
Yeah.
The same kind of personality,the same voice, the same
delivery, you've got the bestvoice, best voice, voice in the
world.
Um, and, and flirty, reallyflirty.
Um, but what I remember fromVicky was when she would slide a

(01:54:35):
car, her hair, I think shestraightened her hair or she, I
think she's just straightenedher.
Her hair would swing.
So her head would stay the same,but the hair would sort of do
this.
It would go out of shot and thencome back in again and then go
out of shot again.
So you'd know where the car wasgoing if I was watching it on
the TV and if I wasn't in thecar.

(01:54:55):
And I used to think it wasgreat.
And she'd always have thatsqueal.
She'd always do that reallyhigh-pitched squeal when she was
skidding a car and slitheringit.
She'd go...
Like a naughty little kidthat's, I don't know, just...
Like stuck some chewing gumunder the table or something.
No, she was, she's, she's, she'sreally, I haven't seen Vicky for
quite a while, actually.
She's, she might still have aGT3.

(01:55:16):
I don't know.
She has a 997 GT3.
Oh, my husband, Phil.
Yeah.
I should ask.
I know.
I was well gel.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:55:27):
Yeah.
God.
I think my favorite bit of VBHcontent ever was when, as in, in
Italy, I think it was four orfive, eight, maybe four or five,
eight, um spider launch andshe's on those you know those
roads that you all use whenyou're in italy driving ferraris
and uh and she was loving it andthe cars are fantastic and she
said but god this car's so goodi actually feel i feel quite

(01:55:48):
emotional and she sort of likebacked off and slowed down and
just sort of went sort ofpo-faced and you know as if she
was going to cry and then justwent ah and then just like just
went for it again and it's justa beautiful bit of bit of tv and
it's just it's fantastic yeah uhyeah she's awesome

SPEAKER_04 (01:56:03):
she is good and she's she she's properly
passionate.
And I, I still don't thinkthere's enough women in the car
world.

SPEAKER_05 (01:56:09):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:56:10):
Not, not, not at the, the sort of caliber of
Vicky.

SPEAKER_03 (01:56:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:56:15):
And she, I think people forget, you know, she was
doing it in the nineties when itwas probably quite a difficult
place to, to access, you know,it was probably quite a, um,
yeah an industry which was veryvery still is male skewed and
very hard for a woman to kind ofwith any credibility to get in
there and show what she had andvicky was great has always been

(01:56:39):
great like that i'd like to seeher do more i'd like to see i
can do more actually i

SPEAKER_05 (01:56:44):
think get her on the channel

SPEAKER_04 (01:56:45):
yeah i should get her on the show you're
absolutely right i should Ishould, because out of the three
of them that I used to workwith, she's the one I see the
least, even though I actuallylive the closest to her
geographically.
So, yeah, I should.
In fact, I had an interestingphone call from Plato the other
week.
He may or may not have beendrinking gin that afternoon.

(01:57:09):
He's got this great idea.
We need to turn up on TIFF'sdoorstep.
and demand that we have asleepover.
Although adults don't saysleepover, do they?
They don't.

SPEAKER_03 (01:57:26):
It sounds

SPEAKER_04 (01:57:26):
like we're all...
But it's in the right spirit,isn't it?
I like it.
He said, we're going to turn up,we'll hold up a really nice
glass of red and a curry and go,right, we're here for the night.
Let us in.
And I think that's a marvellousidea, so we should do that.
Do you know what?
Probably one of the most fun,some of the most fun times I've
experienced in a Porsche havebeen with Plato potato.

SPEAKER_05 (01:57:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:57:51):
Cause he, he, I remember he, when he first got a
turbo, he's had a few nine 11turbo.
Yeah.
Then he had a brand new turboass.
It would have been a nine nineseven.
He turned up in it with hisnumber plate, his personal
number plate on it.
And he said, he said, I'm in arush today.
I've got, he was trying to seala deal with a race sponsor and

(01:58:14):
he was trying to get it off theground.
He was, you could tell he wasquite, stressed when he, when,
when, when sponsors needed to besealed and you had to get a
drive at that moment.
And he had to lease.
And I've got to have, I've got ahard stop at three today, guys,
or four today or whatever itwas.
And we were at Bruntingthorpeand he finished the film.

(01:58:35):
He was like constantly clockchecking and right.
So, right.
We'll do this one more time.
Now I've got to go.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
And he got in this, this 997 andhe absolutely, launched this
poor car.
This car was cold.
And he took off and went round,round Bruntingthorpe, like

(01:58:55):
basically did a victory lap togo out.
He didn't have to go all the wayaround, but went out and had the
thing lit.
And I have been in a, I think itwas a 911 of some derivative, I
don't remember what, when wewere doing what they call, you
know, tracking shots.
The camera car was out on thetrack.

(01:59:16):
We were coming in, coming in hotand then backing off.
And then you do the same thingagain.
And then you'd have a walkietalkie on your lap from the
director.
I was a passenger, Plato wasdriver.
We were in a 911 of some sort.
He was coming in hot, doing somedrifts past the camera whilst he
had the phone on loud speakertalking to some sort of

(01:59:39):
potential sponsor or somethingto do with touring cars whilst
also eating.
I think it was a pasty or asausage roll.
So we were on private property,folks, just to make that
absolutely clear.
We were skidding a 911 reallyclose to a camera car with a
phone on speaker talking to someimportant person who I didn't

(02:00:00):
know who it was.
I was just staying quiet whilsttrying to munch on a bit of a
Greg sausage roll or somethinglike that.
That's skills.

SPEAKER_05 (02:00:08):
That's skills.
That's a man with a lot of sparecapacity for doing stuff, isn't

SPEAKER_04 (02:00:11):
it?
And that's the differencebetween people like him and Tiff
and Vicky and me.
they could get in a car neverdriven it before and put it on
the limit a meter and a halfaway from a camera at big speeds
and do it not once but five orsix times and then go all right
are we done there let's move onto the next take whereas you and

(02:00:35):
i probably would very muchstruggle to do that or it would
end in expensive bills and iwatched them do it i remember
when remember the Lamborghiniwould have been the, was it the
Gallardo?
The Aventador, when theAventador was launched and Tiff
just turned up and went, right,where, where is it?
And he just went, they threw himthe keys.

(02:00:56):
He went, um, off we go.
Where'd you want me?
And he just, they went, right,we're on corner two of
Rockingham.
We're going to put the camerahere.
Tiff, I need you to be, within ametre of the camera.
He went, what speed?
And they went, I don't know,make it fairly rapid.
He went, okay, between 140 and150.
And he just went out, neverdriven it, never driven an
Aventador ever, and just putthis thing full send, half a

(02:01:21):
metre from the camera.
And I watched him do it fivetimes and just went, I am in the
presence of greatness.
And then we'd come straight backin and wind the window down and
he'd go, Johnny, where's the RedBull?
He was just, Tiff is an animal.
He's a really impressive animalthat runs on Haribo, double
espresso and ham, egg and chips.

SPEAKER_05 (02:01:44):
How old is he

SPEAKER_04 (02:01:45):
now?
He is, I think he's 75.
He might be 75.

SPEAKER_05 (02:01:51):
Wow.
Wow.

SPEAKER_04 (02:01:52):
I just saw him at the Goodwood members meeting and
he came over and put his armaround me and he said, what have
you been saying on your podcastabout my leather jacket?
And I said, Oh, well, you know,he goes, whatever you're saying,
it's annoying.
People are coming up to me andsaying it

SPEAKER_05 (02:02:11):
to me.
I mean, I couldn't believe whatI was watching back in the day
when him and Plato started doingthose, those races, the jewels.
I remember like one of the, itwas 987 Boxster time.
So it's 987 Boxster and Z4.
I forget which circuit they'reat.
And I just couldn't believe whatI was.
I think eventually somebody ranout of brakes, but they didn't
take each other out, of course,because they had it and they

(02:02:31):
were laughing like drains,assessing the cars and basically
racing them like they're touringcars.
They started with those two andthen they were doing it like 997
and R8.
I think that was a bruntingthought, that one.
It's just...
wild brilliant brilliant tv

SPEAKER_04 (02:02:46):
it's lovely to watch because they are naturally
competitive because of thembeing pro race drivers but
there's a mutual respect as welland because the car control is
so high they would reallyimplicitly trust one another it
was like watching dance partnersyou know professional dance
partners where they wouldsynchronize so beautifully but

(02:03:06):
they would they would know whatwhat they were going to do.
And they would, if one of themhad lost it a bit or gone wide,
or there was a problem, theother one would know.
And I used to sometimes hear iton the walkie talkies when they
were in the cars.
And sometimes they would come inand go, that was, that was
close, but they would love that.
They go, that was close.

(02:03:27):
It was good.
Close.
I think you're right.
There was some moments of thosedog fights when I was like, Ooh,
seriously, that was very nearlyan insurance claim.
It was one in the wet with anAMG, I think it was an AMG GT or
SLS versus an Aston of somederivative.
And they were pretty much twindrifting, tandem drifting.

(02:03:50):
And it was so damn close withthe wipers on full.
And I don't know how they didn'tcrash.
I don't know how neither of themcrashed, but they're so, so
talented behind the wheel.
And I, yeah, it's a real, it wasa real joy to go out and just
sit in the passenger seat andwatch.
I used to watch the pedal boxwith Tiff.

(02:04:10):
I used to always watch the pedalbox because I'm like, well, how
are you doing that?
How are you even doing that?
And he would do it whilstconducting a really mundane chat
with me, like a real, you know,just get to work and you go, so
have you had a busy week?
And you had any interestingphone calls?
And we'd be looking out the sidewindow.

(02:04:30):
Yeah, the thing would be slight.
We'd be like doing one driftinto the next.
The next drift, and I'd just begoing, look, let's just focus on
what we're doing.
And he'd be going, no, no, how'sthe kids?
Is everything all right?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, good.
And I got used to it in the endbecause it became normal.

(02:04:51):
But for a long time, it waslike, wow, you have such trust
in the machine and your owntalent.
Like I said, it's thatincredible car control that we
all wish we had, actually.
We all wish we had it.
I've seen Tiff throwing cars.
Basically, if you say to Tiff,that car is a base model with an
open diff.

(02:05:12):
It's got no power at all.
I bet there's no way you couldmake that drift or get it to
over his G.
He'd go, right, let's go.
He would just try it.
He would try and throw anythingout, anything.
Ford S-Maxes, I've seen themfully...
I mean, just, you name

SPEAKER_05 (02:05:34):
it.
Amazing experiences.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 (02:05:37):
Fantastic.
I feel very privileged because Iscarily, I realized I was
talking, I think to my, one ofmy kids and I thought, shit next
year is 2026.
That'll be 20 years since Istarted working on TV as a
presenter.
That's, that's terrifying.
Really terrifying.
I love to look at all the carsthat were launched in 2006
because there'll be classicsnow.

(02:05:59):
yeah yeah yeah yeah something tobuy something to buy something
to buy yes

SPEAKER_05 (02:06:06):
yeah

SPEAKER_02 (02:06:06):
20 years on 997GT3 there it is stop it stop it
there we go 997GT3

SPEAKER_05 (02:06:15):
perfect Andy perfect on that bombshell on that
bombshell well

SPEAKER_04 (02:06:20):
I've really enjoyed

SPEAKER_05 (02:06:20):
this conversation thanks chap thank you it's been
almost like a super time isn'tit

SPEAKER_04 (02:06:27):
it's been a lot of fun it's really good fun It's
really good fun.
And I know it's been a realprivilege to be on.
So thank you.

SPEAKER_05 (02:06:36):
Yeah.
Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_04 (02:06:38):
Sleep well.
Yeah.
And you.
You

SPEAKER_05 (02:06:41):
too.
Cheers.
Bye now.
See you soon.
Bye.
Okay.
Well, that was good, wasn't it?
What a great conversation.
Absolutely fantastic.
It was long.
It was long and into the night.
Mr.
Johnny Smith would not stoptalking, would he?
What a man.
What a super fella.
What a super fella.
I absolutely loved that, Andy,that chat.

(02:07:03):
Really, really good fun.
He's, because obviously we'vemet him and had a good chat at
Rensport reunion.
And he is just the guy you seeon the TV, on YouTube, isn't he?
And in the podcast.
Relaxed.
So focused on cars.
Just a good round all guy.
Good all round guy.

(02:07:24):
Yeah.
Lovely, lovely man.
Lovely, lovely man.
Thank you again, Johnny, forjoining us on the podcast.
We really appreciate it.
And we really enjoyed it.
Yeah.
It was absolutely worth thewait.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, um, you know, thinking, andI promise this isn't like fixed
or anything, uh, but thinkingabout the marketplace gem of the
week, I actually had two carslined up.

(02:07:47):
for the marketplace gem of theweek.
One is obviously a drop top and,and not a Boxster.
I've never been like that, butMax is going to choose a
Boxster.
Of course he is.
It wasn't, it wasn't a promise.
Topical because of the sun out.
Yeah.
Topical because of the sun out.
So it was going to be a droptop.
But the other one that I had inmind was my, dream car which has
come up on the marketplace butit turns out it's also johnny's

(02:08:09):
dream car as well so i'm goingto ditch hopefully the weather
will still be nice next week andi can bring out the uh drop top
that i had in mind if it hasn'tsold but um uh my dream car and
johnny's dream car is the uh gen1 997 gt3 which is at harbour
cars which is such a beautifulcar such a beautiful i don't

(02:08:30):
know if i've seen that what'sthe spec what's the color so
nice it's gt silver Nice.
Which is a lovely colour onthose.
It's got steel brakes, which Ithink is good.
It's got comfort seats.
Which was one of Johnny'srequests.
Yeah, so we can put back seatsin, and that works for me as
well.
Also means it's more likely to,and this one does have the
extended leather dash, which isreally nice in a 997.

(02:08:53):
It's a really, really beautifulcar.
Let me just check the oldmileage.
It must be a 6 or a 7.
Oh, it's a 57 plate 2007.
It's done just under 28,000miles.
So very, very little work, Ithink.
And it is priced at a whiskerunder£90,000.
So that is a beautiful car thatI would have in a heartbeat.

(02:09:18):
I'm sure someone's shouting, whydon't you sell your Macan, you
idiot, and buy it?
That's not quite how the worldworks, is it?
But man, I would love that car.
I'd love that car.
Suits you, suits you.
Suits Johnny too, yeah.
But maybe Johnny and I can gohalves on it.
Whoa, yes.
That's a Thor Z plan.
Z plan.
There you go.
I'm going to send him a message.
Do it.

(02:09:39):
Do it.
Excellent.
Shall we get a little tech tipfrom Mr.
Wright?
Mr.
Chris Wright at Wright Tune?
Yeah.
See what he's got up his sleevethis week to keep us on the
straight and narrow.

SPEAKER_01 (02:09:53):
Hello, Nineworks.
Now, 996 and forwards.
You want to be looking atbrakes.
I'm talking about brakes today.
The discs, for some reason, theydo get quite corroded on the
inner faces more so than theoutside, particularly if you
leave the car outside.
The car, when it's on itswheels, can look not too bad.
But you need to get it up or getunderneath it and have a look at

(02:10:16):
the inside faces and make surethere's no corrosion there, you
know, impeding your brakes, soyour braking efficiency.
So, yeah, just have a look atthat today for me, guys.
Cheers.

SPEAKER_05 (02:10:26):
Thank you, Mr...
Mr.
Right.
I want to call him Mr.
Tune.
I think there's nothing wrongwith that.
Chris Tune.
Thank you, man.
Excellent.
Last thing on the agenda, Ithink, then, would be a
collective update.
If you're up for that, Max.

(02:10:49):
Okay.
First one.
Right.
I've got a difficult name for mehere.
It's UD...
So it's Jiptandi, Tandai, I hopeone of those is right.
Great to have you along, basedin Oxford, referred by a member,

(02:11:11):
I don't know which member, sowhoever did refer for you,
that's great, thank you verymuch, drives a 991.2 C2.
Very nice, nice car that.
Welcome, Udi.
And if we have made a bit of apig's ear of your surname, do
send us a voice note and we canget a hold on it.
But welcome aboard.

(02:11:33):
Indeed.
I've got a...
Who's next?
We've got Mentin, who is afriend with Guy.
Ah.
And a couple of other mutualconnections in the Driven Not
Hidden collective.
He...
I think he's on...
Thank you very much.

(02:12:18):
996.2 club sport man tie RSequipped missile he calls it
which he uses for track day andbad behaviour and then also
races in the horse trophy andthe CSCC in his Boxster 986 race

(02:12:40):
car there we go I found him yesyes I recognise I recognise yeah
yeah I'm following him followinghim Yeah, lovely, lovely cast.
Based in Hertfordshire.
Super, welcome aboard.
Excellent to have you aboard.
Yeah.
Okay, Dan Brown, who is...
Where are you, Dan?

(02:13:01):
I don't know exactly where Danis, actually.
Yeah, somewhere in the UK.
I'm thinking that he'sprobably...
down this way somewhere becausehe has recently bought a car
from paragon which he says issuch a fab place he's now
driving a 997.2 uh c4s yeahwhite one i found him on the

(02:13:23):
ground excellent found him onthe ground that's a good looking
car as it would be from paragonof course yeah so i think was
that that may have been the onethat i drove was it I think you
drove a red one, wasn't it?
The C4S you drove was a red one,and I think maybe the GTS was a

(02:13:43):
white one, as they often are.
Yeah.
But yeah, that's a good-lookingcar.
997 Gen 2 C4S, wide body,good-looking car.
Lovely.
Lovely.
Welcome aboard, Dan.
Good to have you on board.
Excellent.
Right.
I think that's us done fortoday.
I think it is.
I think we need to go for asleep.

(02:14:03):
Yeah.
End of a long pod, that one, butwhat a great pod.
Really enjoyed it.
Really enjoyed it.
Once again, thank you to Johnny.
Should we spread the loveactually for Johnny?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, if there's anybody whodoesn't know what he's, you can
get hold of Johnny.
I'm sure everyone does.
It's the Late Break Show onYouTube.
And Smith and Sniff on thepodcasts.

(02:14:24):
Check it out.
Check them out.
But don't listen too muchbecause they'll get up the
charts even more than theyalready did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Not too much.
They're already knocking it outof the park.
They don't need any help.
In fact, don't listen.
Don't bother.
Forget about it.
9MX Radio.
Stick with it.
That's the one.
Stick with us.
All right.
Catch you next week.
See you.
Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 (02:14:42):
Music Music Music Music

SPEAKER_03 (02:15:10):
Thank you.

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