Podcast 186 - Ram raid!
Added 2023-11-19 18:00:15 +0000 UTCThere’s been goings on in Jonny’s neighbourhood. Also in this episode, the weird face and musical taste of Stephen King, Mike Knight out of Knight Rider versus Mike The Knight, more on people with two of the same car, the trials of choosing new glasses, kids on lathes, why the Skoda Octavia vRS might be all you ever need, an update on Richard’s constantly broken Panda, slightly wanting a Volvo 240 when you should want a Mercedes W123, train news update, putting an auto into neutral at the lights, Natalie Imbruglia’s heated bathroom floor, and Richard’s new Boring Car Trivia book is finally on sale.
Comments
The phone held flat a foot away from the face is delightfully called "knäckebrot telefonieren" in Germany and Austria. Crispbread telephoning.
Maurice Barnes
2023-12-19 11:47:35 +0000 UTCYeah, but they were dead, same thing they use for those fake indoor "living walls". In fact Sono had a wall of it in their office reception.
Maurice Barnes
2023-12-19 11:45:22 +0000 UTCBarefoot driver since year 2000. Started in summer, top down pleasure drives. Walk to car in flip-flops , ditch them in passenger footwell. Progressed to leaving flops on the drive for full naked feet. The maximum pedal feel is great. And no further from “normal” feel than fucking huge walking boots. Had to bat away *”well Meaning advice” so learned the part of Highway Code. ( *see condescending looks, older driver wisdom, 911 cabriolet envy)
Rob Stannard
2023-12-12 07:49:14 +0000 UTCDriving in flip flops is fine, I do it all the time until the 'flops wear out. You just have to curl your toes a bit to keep the 'flops firmly in position, and it becomes a muscle memory. Manual and automatic, no problem. If coupled with being a shit driver, however, it could be a problem.
Sean Hamerton
2023-12-07 13:22:31 +0000 UTCYou talked about Italian trains departing but didn’t call them “ciao ciao trains”. It really left me hanging.
Jonathan Miller
2023-11-25 09:36:27 +0000 UTCGood friends of mine in Sydney, have dueling Jimny's
Peter Agius
2023-11-24 22:27:03 +0000 UTCWe are about to become a his and hers household with two Polestar 2s. Neither of us dress like architects though. Mind, I am pretty f**king boring 🤣 (my wife’s excuse is it was a fantastic deal on the lease… find another!)
Dibz
2023-11-23 14:40:24 +0000 UTCMultiple cars in same household. Next door we saw two teachers move in with identical Citroen Saxo VTS , consecutive number plates. Unimagiinatively christened "Car twins"
Rob Stannard
2023-11-22 18:08:05 +0000 UTCOn multiple cars of the same type households, I had an M2 & my wife and I M235i at the same time. But nothing beats a house a free block from me that has 4/5 Smart Four fours…
TD
2023-11-22 14:32:11 +0000 UTCI'd always liked my mates mums v60 r-design since she got it almost new in 2011, 12 years later I finally got myself a new v60 t6 recharge. About a month later mate's mum gets a very low trade in price for the original v60 so it gets offered out to friends and family cheap. I have therefore found myself with his and hers black v60s, I feel like a bit of a twat if I'm honest so I don't think the new (old) one will be staying too long
26west
2023-11-22 10:36:54 +0000 UTCOne of the writers of the original ‘Ray of Light’ was surprised on some Surprise Surprise type ITV show in the 90’s. He had no idea, and from memory they presented him with a chunky royalties cheque. Can’t find any footage of it on YouTube, but that incident has lived rent free in my head for 25yrs. I hope my brain can now move on.
David Carss
2023-11-22 09:14:33 +0000 UTCGot it amazingly quickly, come to find out it's printed in the Portland Oregon suburb of Troutdale.
david marden
2023-11-22 05:09:09 +0000 UTCVolvo autoboxes of the early 2000s would do the "rev of shame" themselves, where old ATF would gum up inside the valve body making its gearchanging increasingly erratic and clumsy, especially on the first years of auto S60/V70/S80 models which automatically put themselves in neutral when the car was stopped, stressing the already delicate valve body. The problem is by the point the first symptoms arrive the box is not rescuable, but like all gradual failures can be driven upwards of 20,000 miles before the car actually starts failing to select drive, starting off with the occasional lairy shift from 2nd to 3rd exiting a fast roundabout and ending with setting off being a process of putting the gear selector in D, applying footgear to throttle, and doing a good 1-2 second rev of shame before the car absolutely clouts it into gear with a massive bang and a proper learner-spec lurch off the line.
Matt Kimber (Timberwolf)
2023-11-21 13:47:23 +0000 UTCThe same sort of thing exists in the world of bus enthusiasts, videos featuring "epic kickdown thrash". Genuinely they walk amongst us.
John Hammond
2023-11-21 13:15:22 +0000 UTCMaybe my brain has decided what I once thought they should of done was an actual fact. Lucky I don’t write books.
Chris Oxford
2023-11-21 12:08:20 +0000 UTCNot that I know of. The Polestar 2 was originally a Mini rival that grew. Details in my new Boring Car Trivia book... Richard
Smith and Sniff
2023-11-21 08:29:04 +0000 UTCWHAT?! Oh no!
Smith and Sniff
2023-11-21 08:26:38 +0000 UTCWaited patiently for the bit with Natalie Imbruglia. Now she's on repeat. Thanks very much 🖤
Zdeněk Posejpal
2023-11-20 22:13:00 +0000 UTCI have had loads of occasions where I have worn walking boots and the way somewhere then after they got covered in claggy clay worn just socks on the way home. It took a bit of getting used to at first but now it’s second nature.
Peter Grogan
2023-11-20 20:13:01 +0000 UTCI'd forgotten one of my friends family had 'his and hers's cars of the same kind - a matching pair of Peugeot 405 saloons, both of which were the rapid Mi16 variant. I remember they were really nice cars, getting taken home in one once. Some years later whilst in our 6th form college years, this mate rocks up in one of the 405s one day, believing the insurance on his usual ratty Nova would give him 3rd party cover on the 405. Duly off we went on one of our between lesson ambles, tearing around the town like a bunch of complete flutes and I'm amazed the car and occupants survived to tell the tale. Whilst out, some of our so called "mates" let one of the tyres down and I being the sole car minded one in our circle, had to change to the spare wheel in a supermarket car park. The flat tyre got him rumbled when he got home and he got a massive bollocking as he'd taken the car without his parents knowledge. The things you do when you are young!
John Hammond
2023-11-20 16:34:24 +0000 UTCOn Writing by Stephen King is a great book. Part autobiography, part instruction manual His face changed after he was ran over by a van in 1999 nearly killing him. P.S. Boring Car Trivia 4 has been ordered.
david marden
2023-11-20 16:05:35 +0000 UTCDashboard based Cacti. 2 more from them later.
Dandydandan
2023-11-20 11:50:41 +0000 UTCPolestar was intended to be branded saab wasn’t it? But they couldn’t buy the brand. That’s why they have some Saab styling cues on them.
Chris Oxford
2023-11-20 11:16:01 +0000 UTCOooh, on the subject of unintended high-rev shame, I'm sure Jonny and many other motorcyclists will recognise this scenario: A young Chris, sitting at traffic lights on new ZXR750, feeling like the coolest person in the world with dark visor and gear. Clutch in, revving while keeping an eye on the lights, I'm going to perfectly time a blistering standing start with max revs. Everyone knows the girls love a loud, clutch-burning, high-rpm launch, eh? It's a new bike though, so the gearbox is still a little stiff and not quite as slick as it might be, so after getting off to a decent start the shift to second doesn't quite work and finds a false neutral. The bike revs out, bouncing off the limiter while still travelling at low speed on the High Street. I can almost hear the tutting, head-shaking and eye-rolling from pedestrians. My dark visor fulfils its true purpose: to hide my embarrassment. Finally, the pièce de résistance; in flustered shame, my repeated attempts to force second gear while not clutching all the way in result in a massively loud "CLUNK" as second eventually goes home. The bike jumps forward, stalls and won't restart while still in gear. I'm blocking traffic. My friend the dark visor is misting up so has to be opened. I start the push of shame to the kerb and park the bike, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with my smirking audience, and sneak off to McDonald's to heal my wounded pride. ZXR 1 - Chris 0
Chris Squirrel
2023-11-20 09:41:36 +0000 UTCI’ve not heard that about being stationary, but have routinely been told never to coast semi-auto/auto vehicles in neutral as the gears continue to turn but are not fed with oil whilst the engine is idling and thus it causes premature wear. As a bus driver, we were always told to knock semi-auto or fully auto buses into neutral when stationary, as the fluid flywheel is active when the gear is selected and fighting against the handbrake. Some years ago a former colleague stopped a bus with some sort of engine issue in a layby, he had left it in gear and it fighting against the handbrake whilst he went to a phone box to call for breakdown crew. When he returned 10 minutes later the bus was well ablaze and by time he went back to call the fire brigade, it was destroyed. The cause was the oil in the flywheel getting so hot that it ignited. Transmission oil combusts at a much lower temperature than engine oil.
John Hammond
2023-11-20 09:18:30 +0000 UTCMy introduction to the lathe came in my first year at secondary school, back in 1990. Our teacher for technology was a real ‘old sweat’ teacher called Mr Wallace. He must have been nearing retirement and he had a zero fucks given approach to many things, which included smoking his pipe during lessons. He was a staunch one on pupil discipline though and his introduction to metalwork involved him standing at the front of the class and holding up his hand and showing 3 fingers, a thumb, and a stump. “Don’t ever mess about with the lathe” he exclaimed; the sight of his mangled hand was enough to silence the entire class. Turned out he’d been pratting about in a lesson himself as boy and lost a finger to the machine. Effective, very very effective.
John Hammond
2023-11-20 08:47:39 +0000 UTCNot forgetting, the cancelled Sono Sion solar EV came with dash filled plants (moss), as standard...
Kevin Cochrane
2023-11-20 06:59:37 +0000 UTCIf you want to get into the dirty diesel side of things spewing filth spec just google/youtube 'carry on clagging' the voice over, the frothing mouthed enthusiasts bellowing out the drop lights, and of course the glag - dreaful https://youtu.be/7_exyKhgnRI?si=tIkGr-J3illljBvq
Dee Sherman
2023-11-20 05:58:24 +0000 UTCAs the owner of two Skodas (a last gen Octavia RS and Superb Sportline), this week’s show was particularly strange as only on the weekend I went to support my partner while she got new glasses. On the way home I had the car in neutral at a set of lights, forgot and gave it some revs when they turned green. On that point, I do it in the Octavia as I’ve installed a stronger engine mount which reduces axle tramp but increases NVH. When the car is stopped and in gear it absolutely shudders more than when it’s in neutral. Also while idling having the car in drive uses slightly more fuel
Jordan Mulach
2023-11-20 03:08:00 +0000 UTCI’ve heard of someone driving bare foot to Dundee once.
David Wilson
2023-11-19 23:57:21 +0000 UTCI'll here nothing against Maximum Overdrive, it's the best vehicular horror movie directed by a coked up writer ever. I also saw a brace of Honda CRVs today, didn't get a photo opportunity, but they were clearly different generations, but the clearly older one had a private plate.
Graham Dallas
2023-11-19 20:58:22 +0000 UTCThanks for this, I've listened to the podcast having just watched the latest TLBS with Greg James.... I'm now torn (though not lying naked on the floor, thankfully, ours is brick...) between looking for a Volvo 240 GLT estate or a an E34 M5 Touring.... I appreciate the intrinsic differences, but believe somehow, that they are equally cool... Furthering the estate car 90's/early 2000's references, I once purchased a Subaru Legacy GTB estate, which before I was even able to collect it, was stolen and used in a ram-raid in London and later found burnt out on the perimeter of Heathrow airport... I did manage to salvage some bits from it however, which were subsequently bolted to my near identical replacement. Happy days...
Gregg May
2023-11-19 20:37:33 +0000 UTCI kid you not, for the 2008 Knight Rider reboot the guy was called Mike Knight, even the car referred to him as Mike. It was just one of the many awful things about it.
Matt Tester
2023-11-19 20:07:11 +0000 UTCThanks for the rendition of Mambo No. 5 Jonny, I'd almost forgotten how it went 😂👍
Andrew Armstrong
2023-11-19 19:28:57 +0000 UTCRef autobox in neutral. My next door neighbour, former Volvo master tech, said don't, as in gear the trans fluid is circulating, but in neutral it isn't and you'll prematurely wear all the voodoo in the box.
Duncan Hamilton
2023-11-19 19:20:19 +0000 UTCI put the van into park at the lights, gives your feet a rest. If you touch the brake and pull the gear lever button in, you can go straight to Drive
Shaun Brennan
2023-11-19 18:08:27 +0000 UTCAm just watching your idol chat with Greg James, Jonnythan. I’ll listen 🎧 after that. 🤝
Nathan English
2023-11-19 18:03:38 +0000 UTC
