Adrian Brannan: My Dad had a Chrysler Horizon, yellow Escort Mk3, Ford Sierra and why I now own all three! S6E6

Welcome to my dad.

Welcome to my dad account. And you know what? It doesn't even have to be a market colour. It can be a mum, you're gonna or even a neighbourhood. If it made an impression, let's talk about it.

How are you?

Good afternoon.

Alright?

Yeah, that's evident.

Hi there.

How you doing?

All right. Yep, alright. Welcome along. I'm Andy. Up there, down there's John.

Nice to meet you.

Okay, so um for the benefit of the tape, we're joined by Adrian Brannan, who um we've been chatting to on Instagram. You've got a page A B car picks by the looks of things. So I think you're a photographer, is that right?

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Mainly shoot for lots of car magazines. Okay. And been doing so for over 20 years now. Fantastic. Is that a full-time gig or yeah, yeah, it's been yeah, that's been my life for a long time now. Yeah, full time. Nice.

Wonderful. And uh whereabouts are you joining us from? I detect an accent.

Yeah, I'm just outside of Glasgow. Okay. I'll try and keep the accent as uh understandable as possible. I know I know in English alike.

No problem at all. Um, yeah, we'll jump into it. Um, quickly before we do that, where can people find you? Where's the uh if they want to see what you're up to?

Probably a best one is AB Carpicks is my Instagram, and you'll see lots of my photos in like classic board magazine, uh Mini World, PvW, all sorts of that.

Have you got another page as well, which is kind of just pictures from you growing up or something like that?

Yeah, that probably appealed to some of your listeners. Uh, that's purely nostalgic. Uh Automotive 90s, and that's photos that all from when I was in my teens learning photography basically, going around local areas, just snapping cars that I found interested. And they're all proper, rough and ready, all with just like basic gear, uh, like a little 10-pound point and shoot, 35mm film. And uh yeah, I I found it fascinating just to through them all, digging about, scanning them, and putting them online. Um, that's been great fun.

Nice. Um, yeah, just before we jump into it, we did a podcast yesterday with a chap called Robbie Knox, wasn't it? Who incidentally got a tail attached to Glasgow that um he went there in a black reno, probably in the 80s, and it was stolen from outside a high-rise flat belonging to his grandparents. So if you see a black reno going around, then uh could be that one. We don't know any more than that. That wasn't me anyway. So um, yeah, uh Adrian, what is your earliest car memory?

Well, I could go right back. Start at the beginning, yeah. Yeah, well, right back. Literally, my earliest memory coming online as a human being was a car-related one. Um, not a real car, a model car. Okay. Which my parents had taken me to a neighbor's house, and in there, some kid was in a bath. I didn't even know who he was, but he was playing with a matchbox car, a taxi, and it was destroyed. It was absolutely paint all scratched off it, and he was just rattling about in this bath, and I was absolutely horrified. And I can remember it vividly and still look at this taxi thinking, how are you doing this? And that was my earliest memory as a person as two years old seeing a car getting messed up, and that horrified me.

It's not nice to see, is it, when you see a matchbox getting wrecked? No. To be honest, I remember when me and my brother used to get used to get the same toys, didn't you, as a sibling? I always remember mine would be absolutely trashed after a week or so, and his would be sort of pristine, sewing the box, and just sort of think, what was I doing?

Yeah, I I used to play with them quite carefully, and uh, yeah, none of this firing about off the walls and things. I mean, always very careful.

Was the bath full of water? Yeah, it was a good bath. Oh, he was having a bath, it wasn't just using it as a ramp or something.

No, no, he was in a bath in the living room, like a portable bath, like it was bizarre. But uh, and another another similar one to that, getting off a train going up north to Montrose. I had a Corgi, Rolls-Royce, and the spirit of ecstasy snapped off the grill. And I remember looking at that, going, oh no, and I must have been two years old then as well. Asking my parents, I was two years old then. So before this is even long before anything real car related, my two first memories uh in life were cars being damaged. That that's continued.

So if we uh yeah, step forward just a little bit in time, what was your first kind of actual real real car memories?

We were all based around probably my my parents weren't car people at all. So my dad was a photographer as well. Okay, and he was doing loads of wedding photography, um, but he didn't have a driving licence, and he would have to go from like the wedding to the reception and jump in with the bride and groom in the Rolls Royce quite often to get to the next venue. Shotgun. Yeah, and he got so fed up with that he eventually learned to drive, pass his tests at the age of 31. So quite a late starter. Yeah, yeah. My mum, coincidentally, attached to pass her test at 17, and her and her sister have been given a car, singer shamwa, but she wasn't interested. She was more interested in being like a full-on flower of the hair hippie in the 60s, yeah, and didn't drive again since she was 17 and never has done. Oh wow, wow, yeah. Is this singer shamwair? Is that like the um the imp? Yeah, basically a fancy helmet. Yeah, yeah, basically the same thing. But yeah, back to my dad, uh, I remember him learning to drive. So I can remember looking out the balcony in the flat and seeing my dad driving around in a learner car, uh like metallic blue that's in the sunny. And I've just been fascinated by this thinking, this is amazing. And him passing his tests, which probably not a lot of people get to experience that with your parent passed in their driving test. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I must have been three years old at the time.

It's unusual. Even more unusual for your mother to pass at 17 and then just retire from driving for life.

Yeah, she just wasn't interested. Yeah, her and her sister were bought the car, and her sister went and made you full use of it, and my mum just wasn't interested. She was going to festivals and all sorts, and met my dad instead.

So if you remember your dad learning to drive Adrian, you must be able to remember what his first car was.

Oh, yeah, yeah. This is very influential, ridiculously influential, to be honest. My dad passed his test, and then he went like six months or something, didn't even buy a car until one of the wedding car drivers actually was uh egging him on into buying a car. So he was a bit of a part-time car salesman as well. Okay, convenient. Yeah, yeah. That was getting arranged. We went on holiday.

Yeah, a great deal on a Bentley.

Uh yeah. Importantly, we went on holiday, and my dad got a hire car, and he got his little brown Mark 1 feet at Panda, and he was basically trying to relearn to drive again in preparation of coming home to get a car. So we were driving around this resort in Menorca, and just me and my dad, so I was back in a villa, not interested. And uh he was kangarooing about this town, basically trying to remember how to drive.

Yeah.

Uh eventually got the knack of it after like workmen were egging him on every time we went by, like, cheering as he drove back to five better each time. And then well, finally got back home, back in East Co Brides, and the wedding car guy who's a car dealer as well. The three of us went there and got a selection of cars there. And I can remember this day very distinctly. I think I was four years old at this time, and first car we get in, a black Mark I Fiesta XR2, which I guess he must have thought, right, young guy, he wants something sporty and fun. It was the complete opposite. The three of us were in it, we were crammed in it. It was really noisy. I think it must have had an aftermarket exhaust on it or something. I can even remember Mum going, I think this must be a turbo. Don't have that clue what that means, really, but just this is too sporty. So that was ruled out, and then we were in a blue Fiat Strada, Mark One. Oh wow, okay. Uh proper, proper old school, like round headlights, the ones built by computers famously. And I remember thinking this is a really weird car. And remember like the weird door handles and stuff. I think everyone was just a bit too this is a bit strange. We're not quite into this. Uh and then the third car was the one we eventually bought, and that was uh a light orange Chrysler Horizon, which everyone just fell in love with right away. Okay. At the time, that was a popular car, and now stupidly rare. And uh yeah, we got we get in that little V-Redge 1979, and everyone loved it. I mean, they're pretty cheap and cheerful, they're quite fragile. Um, but that was our car for maybe four years, so um not being car people, it didn't get very well maintained, so it wasn't the most reliable. It even had a wheel fall-off twice.

Oh Christ jeez.

Yeah, there was like skip marks around about at East Co Brides, our hometown for quite a long time after it. Wow. A wheel came off, but uh we still loved the car, it got very rusty looking very quickly. Um, two weeks into owning it, quite a mishap. As my dad going to a wedding, me and mom and in the car, we would usually go along and then go to the shops or something while my dad's doing the wedding photos. Yeah, and he stops in the the car park and then somehow starts it in gear, possibly, and then went straight into a little wall and smashed the whole front of the car. Oh no, yeah, so like all the front, bought it lights, bumper, everything demolished two weeks into order, and it got sent away to get fixed. I don't really know how it got fixed, but it went away to garage, but it might be the insurance job, not sure. And it came back badges at Talbot, which was the newer version. Yeah. So like Chrysler turned into Talbot. And I don't know if they thought they were doing us a favour or let's give you a little faceless. But it came back with Talbot badges, the Talbot drill, even on the boot, it said Talbot on it. And yeah, we just always called it the Talbot ever since then, even though it was a really early model Chrysler. So it was a bit of an oddball.

We've had them come up a few times, kind of the Chrysler Talbot sort of crossovers. Yeah. Despite the fact that actually they weren't that common, I don't think, even then, really. Our hit rate on Talbot's and Chrysler's is pretty good.

I think they were more common than you think. I think they just died so quickly because they rusted so badly. A fair, yeah. And they were probably like the Hyundai or Kia equivalent of the day, they were cheaper with a bit more kit on them and stuff than the equivalent, like Fords or Vauxhalls or Volkswagens. So they they weren't really very loved, they were just thrown away. Um, and in some of my old 90s pictures, I've got photos of some that are absolutely destroyed, and they must be like 10 years old at the most. I mean, proper, like hole through the door with rust, like absolutely destroyed. That was the first of the most influential cars. How long do you think they had it for? I think that was maybe four years they had that for, and it died with the clutch went.

Right.

And even though it's only a clutch, like that was just like right, the car just wouldn't move anymore. So it was abandoned at the side of the road. I think somebody picked it up for them that they traded it in with or something. I'm not sure. But uh yeah, it was for months and months. It was getting slower and slower because the clutch was daggered. So yeah, that was like right, that car's expired.

Yeah, yeah.

And then we went on to a relative who had a car garage uh in Glasgow, and the replacement was a Mark III Escort, a bright yellow, five-door, 1.3L, and uh absolutely loved this car. Okay. It was probably two or three years old when they got it. Okay. And it looked great when they got it, but it rapidly deteriorated. I mean, it rusted like nothing I've seen before. It leaked everywhere. We used to scoop out water from the foot well in the morning.

Oh god.

It was proper rough, um, and it got welded everywhere, typically as unreliable as the first car as well. You wouldn't think it these cars sound terrible, but these were like cars that really influenced me, and I've actually bought versions of them in recent years. So I went and sought out a Chrysler Horizon. Um I've got a bright orange one myself, which put a little bit of bone twist on it, so it's lowered on banded steel wheels, sort of retro-caried modified, they're still really original looking. And there's only three of them in Britain of these early Chrysler, so they're super rare. So that that's like one car. I'll never ever sell that.

It might be more, I might just be covered over with the Talbot badges.

Yeah. Yeah. If you look up the n yeah, there's a few that are weird changeover times where they come like the Chrysler drill on them, but they say Talbot on the bonnet. They've seen that happen before. But it was all about a confusing time, then most people don't even know that you get either one of them. Um, or they're basically the same thing.

Yeah.

But yeah, I mean I I've got one of them now. I've not let that go. And uh, I did the same a couple of years ago when I found possibly the last yellow escort of that model as well. Like a yellow five-door escort Mark III, it's stupidly rare. I hunted down one that was spotted in Essex. Oh wow, and then managed to find it up at uh Carcave near Edinburgh, which is a car dealer place that deals in lots of classic boards that I've done a lot of work with, and he eventually had it, so I bought it off of him. So that's sitting in my unit waiting. That'll be getting the restoration because it's pretty rough. It looks as bad almost as my dad's. Yeah, and he even delivered it as well. I think he just went out his way. Nice.

So we go back to those early cars, Adrian. Have you got any sort of memorable journeys that you used to take, maybe holidays or school runs or something like that?

Yeah, I mean, I pretty much learned Glasgow inside out from sitting in the back seat of my dad's cars when he was going around all of his work stuff. So I'd get picked up from school and then usually rush into Glasgow and he'd be going to like the photo printers and other photographers. Uh it's all sorts of work. So I I've gained quite an encyclopedic knowledge of going to Glasgow just from seeing that. Yeah, that was really pretty standard. We'd just we'd be driving all the time. Not car people, but constantly in the car. Would you be in the back or the front? Or yeah, well, I'd be in the back. I mean, this is still under 10 years old, so like yeah, my mum would be up front, my dad driving, uh, I'd be in the back. Um, the escort didn't have seat belts, and nobody thought anything of that. No. The Horizon strangely did have seat belts, but nobody bothered using them. It was just like, well, why would you use them? You're in the back.

Yeah, yeah, you're safe, aren't you there?

Yeah, it wasn't even a thought then. Yeah. It's quite bizarre to think that seatbelts were a thing, but using them wasn't you had to be told to use them.

Yeah, it was quite strange. Like you would obviously put the one in the front, but in the back. Why would you do that?

Strange. Yeah.

Yeah. And when we're doing these journeys, I'd be taking photos as well. So in later years as a teenager, I would wander around locally, take photos of cars, and uh but earlier on I would be doing it like from my dad's car quite often. Out the back window, try to take photos of car to car shots. Okay. Something which I do regularly with car magazine shoots now. And so, yeah, the early days of it was dangling a camera out the back window at stranger's cars. Did you have music on in the cars? Do you recall? Yeah, uh well, the the horizon, it didn't even have a radio of any kind, it had a hole in the dash, but they had a radio cassette player sitting in the back seat. Right. Okay, oh like a ghetto blaster type thing. Yeah, yeah, not even a like a single speaker radio cassette. Like a kitchen one. Yeah, yeah, like exactly like that. And mom and dad are like hugely into music, they were really influential. I I learned so much from music from them. Um so there was always music. I mean, it'd be like from contemporary, whatever was on the radio, right back to like Bowie, the Stones, Hendrix or 60 stuff. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, they were big into their music. And uh when we got the escort, it had a radio, not a cassette, but it had a radio, and that was like quite a novelty that we could actually have a medium wave radio in the cars. Yeah, yeah, that was usually just radio one when it was on medium wave, that was getting played there all the time when we got the escort. It's fantastic. What came after the uh the escort then? Yeah, well, it it felt um like super up market after that because uh it then went to Sierra Sapphire. Oh wow, yeah. French 88, 1.8 L Tasman Blue, and that felt just like a limousine compared to the escort. Even though it was a basic spec one, it still felt so much fancier. It was like it had digital radio, a cassette player, a sunroof, proper headdress, not these weird plastic head restraints you get in an escort. You have an armrest in the back. Oh no, it wasn't that fancy, it was an L spec, so no, just a basic bench in the back.

Steady on Andy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was always my definition of kind of yeah, luxury family car. I was like, oh, look, it's got an armrest. Oh, that's wild.

Yeah, you've got to go much higher for that.

I was gonna ask, was your dad still getting these cars from his friend um previous?

Um, it was a wedding car guy, the for the horizon, and then that was a relative that owned a garage for the escort. Yeah, and uh I don't know if he got scared off with it by the escort voice, but yeah, we just went to like a local dealer for the Sierra and uh it was it was crazy high mileage, even when we bought it. It was two years old, and I'm sure it had nearly a hundred thousand miles on it.

Wow, yeah.

So I think we're getting like a way better car than we could afford because it had such huge miles on it. Maybe a cabby, yeah. I think it came from down south. Uh and I remember looking into it, and it I think it was like a fleet car, like a salesman's car or something. So and it had a lot of miles on it, but it looked great. Later on, like the edge did get really rough and it got really smoky, which probably but that was all these motorway miles really catching up on it. Yeah, but no, I mean that was a great car, and uh I loved being around that, and that became my muse for car photography. I like I took photos of that car all the time when I got myself an SLR camera. I was asking my dad to park it in places and practicing taking different kinds of photos and even trying to lighter on it and stuff. It's the most photographed basic Sierra in history.

So that's quite nice that you've still got all of that though on record, isn't it? Yeah, I mean at the time you probably thought, oh, these might just be lost in time. But obviously, now it's quite valuable, isn't it?

Yeah, I've got boxes of photos, like absolutely, and that's what I spent all my pocket money was on film and then processing, uh, and then showed my parents and born them senseless with look, here's a cortino in Safeway Car Park that's not really interested, but like now I can put them on Instagram and there's random people all across the world who seemed to love seeing that.

Yeah.

But yeah, I mean that Sierra was great. I mean, I even I ended up passing my test on that car as well. When it was on its last legs, I didn't actually get proper driving lessons, I just used that car to pass my test basically. Okay. Yeah. I'd oddly I'd learned to drive a fair bit earlier.

Interesting.

Every year on the summer holiday, they would get like a higher car, which would be like a C at Merba, like a Fiat Panda equivalent. And every year I get a little bit of a treat of being allowed to drive it like a tiny distance. So it'd be like along the street where the villa is, and it would be like a hundred yards. But like that, starting at nine years old, I was delirious with joy being able to do that. Like, and it was starting, I was like kangarooing about absolutely being incompetent. But like every year, I'd be a little bit more, a little bit more, uh, until they let me do far too much that they definitely shouldn't have let me do the time. I was 16, and then at 17 years old, I just wanted to get my test passed as soon as possible. I was absolutely dying to get out there and have my own car. Yeah, they wouldn't let me drive the Sierra until one lesson on my birthday, and then it was like, right, okay, you can drive the Sierra now. So I had two months of driving the Sierra, just basically doing their commuting and like chauffeur them around until it's like, right, okay, I'm ready. A lesson on my test day, and then I thankfully passed my test in this clapped out Sierra, which by that point was knackered. It was vibrating and smoking, and the synchro didn't work in seconds. And I think the examiner took pity on me as well. What is this 17-year-old dude turned up this knackered Sierra? It was probably quite a bizarre sight for someone to see. Yeah, it's quite a big car to learn in as well, isn't it? Really? Yeah, it was, yeah. Well, compared to now. Even then, uh, Sierra seemed quite a big car. I remember it being parked in supermarket car parks, so it'd been like really quite a long big car. I mean, now I've got I've got a Sierra as well now. I've got two Sierras, and uh they seem tiny compared to your average car. Deeper, a modern super mini beside one, and it looks small. Yeah, yeah. It shows you how much cars have changed.

Do you remember cars owned by um friends' parents?

Um, yeah, yeah. I can remember when my best pal Chris, his dad liked his ladder reavas. Oh no. And I can remember him in tears once saying, No, don't take me to school in it. It was that embarrassing. Was the Reaver the uh the four by four? Was that the Neva? I always get them mixed up. No, no, that was the little standard boxy one. Yeah, yeah. Just your your typical ladder. And even his was a it was a fancy one with the big grill on it and a spoiler. Oh but he he wouldn't be seen dead in it.

No.

Nowadays. You could appreciate it. I was at a show with him just recently there, and he was looking for a model when saying, I need to get my dad's old ladder. I need to get a model of it. So things change, I guess. Yeah, definitely.

Quite a nasty thing back in the day, wasn't it, really, to be associated with.

Oh, they were horrendously embarrassing. He couldn't bear going to school, getting dropped off. I remember seeing him being dropped off like half a mile away from school, but it didn't look near anyone.

Yeah, I'd have thought in 20 years' time or whatever he's gonna be chasing a model of what I know to relive that kind of misery.

I know. And then his dad got a Jetta after it. Oh, lovely. Which was like a big step up in the world. Yeah. Mark II Jetta, dark green, uh, it looked lovely, but it was so unreliable. It just would not start all the time. We worked out like years and years later. It's probably got these crappy Pierreburg carburetors on it, and they're really unreliable.

Yeah.

It probably had one of them. And I've had them on cars as well before, and like, right, that's getting thrown away. Stick a Weber on it, the car's great.

Yeah.

His dad went through years of troubles with that Jetta that should have been amazing because of this carburetor, most likely. Yeah, yeah.

You had a Jetta, Andy.

Yeah, I bought one off um Ed. You know, I had a red one.

I remember.

I quite liked it. I to be fair, that had a Weber on it actually. The peer bags are fine when yeah, when they work, but yeah, they can be troublesome. But uh yeah, that was a 1.8 GL carburetor. So yeah, nice car. Oh yeah, they're great when they work. Yeah, yeah.

But his was a nightmare.

Um, how do you feel now? Obviously, you've got the horizon and you've got the um the escort. When you're driving those cars, are they A enjoyable? B, do you kind of get that sort of reminiscence from it? Are they what you expected them to be? Because I'm imagining in period, they weren't kind of much to write home about with regards to driving experience.

Yeah, I think my car taste has pretty much got stuck then. So they are still my favourite cars, like a Mark III escort, that just I just feel completely at home in that. It feels totally perfect. And I also got a Mark II Ryan. I went in the raffle a year ago, and I thought this will be a great bit of fun. Um and it's proper shonky, it's really a bit rough around edges, but I've used that daily so much over the past year. Spent a good bit of money on it.

How many Fords are you how many Fords are you holding, Adrian? Let's uh come clean.

I I I I don't actually know. It's double figures anyway. Oh wow. I've got yeah, quite a few Fords. I've got three BMWs and the Chrysler. Uh yeah, it's bad when you have to start thinking, what have I actually got? I've got to rent a unit to put my cars in, so it's that bad.

Oh right, okay.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

But uh no, I mean cars of that era they've always been my favourite. And I don't really go beyond the mid-90s even now. Like I went to a 2000 E39 BMW. That's a bit new to me. Like, I'm gonna sell that one soon because I'm not really that into it. Yeah, uh, I've got an E34 mid-90s BM, the previous shape, and I much prefer that. Like, that's my limit. I I feel quite at home in that.

So yeah, yeah, I had an E34 and an E39, and you can sort of feel that the E39 is a big leap forward from the E34 in terms of technology. I mean, obviously not like modern modern technology, but the stuff that's on it compared to the E34 is just a bit of a step up, isn't it?

Yeah, you've got like you've got traction control and stuff, and there's a so much more electrics on it. Uh I would say the driving position is much better than E39. I do like that because you're proper like sunk down at one with the car. But I mean overall, I think the E34 just suits me better. I just I just prefer that. It's just more my the time that appeals to me.

So does the rear door on your E34, does one of them not open from the outside? It's a fault that I always used to encounter.

They surprisingly all do work. Do they? Okay. And even both it's a touring, so it's got both tailgates work on it as well.

Oh, it's a touring.

Lovely, right. It took me years to find a good one of them because I know they rust so bad. And usually you see them for sale, they're a fortune or they're scrapped. It's very hard to find something in between.

So that's true. Sometimes you'll see one listed and think, oh, that seems quite reasonable. And then you look at it and then you get to the pictures of the seals and stuff.

It's just like, oh yeah, the cells that you can see through doors, and yeah, there's yeah, they're they're tricky to find good ones, yeah, definitely. But I mean, that one's great. I've I've put over 50,000 miles in it in a couple of years. So yeah, and it's just nice and simple. Just a 2.5 petrol automatic, and thankfully it doesn't break unlike the diesel E39, which was a nightmare.

Is there any uh truth in the rumour that Scottish cars rust more? Do you buy your cars from down south?

Um, I'm not going to uh say yes when I'm trying to sell anything, yeah. Uh yeah, I tend to buy all the cars down south or even in Europe, because Scottish cars really do rust. Yeah. Um I don't think any of my cars actually are Scottish.

Maybe that's what happened to Robbie's Renault. Maybe it just rusted away one night.

Probably did, yeah. I mean, they absolutely love chucking salt in the road up here, and it rains a lot. You don't know how easy you've got it down south, you really don't.

How cold is it there at the moment? Just that I mean, because it's about one here today in southeast.

It's bloody freezing. Uh, because I was doing a shoot yesterday of a mini and I had to put on like latex garage gloves because it was so cold holding my camera. It's that bad. Yeah, it's freezing just now. Oh god.

Yes. Um, yeah, interestingly, you have kind of sourced those vehicles and sort of fought. A lot of people have got kind of a bit of a bucket list, really, that they'd kind of like to get one of these, and actually, you've kind of done three. Are there any more on your on that hit list?

Yeah, well, uh the Sierra's also kind of covered as well. I've got a Sierra Cosworth, which was the same year as the one that I passed my test in.

Okay.

I mean, it's basically the same car, but it's got tons more power and tons more expense and problems attached to this.

And an armrest. Go on, tell me it's got an armrest.

Yeah, it does have an armrest, yeah. Brilliant.

You've made it.

It's got leather seats and an armrest, yep.

What colour is the Cosworth?

It's flint and grey.

Oh nice.

Yeah. Two-wheel drive, flint and grey, F-Rage, as well as the one I learned to drive in.

I do like a sapphire Cosworth. I've always preferred that personally.

Yeah, it's a proper old school hooligan mobile. Yeah. Um I've had that for 12 years or something now. In fact, I bought that for my mate who was embarrassed with his dad's ladder. Have you got kids to pass this on to? These to influence. No, I do not. I've I know there's far too much of my life with all these cars, so I'm the one. There's no kids, no.

You can't have that amount of cars and have a family as well, Angie.

No, God, no, no. Uh I've got much too much on my plate as this.

Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Um, what else do we need to ask you?

Was there any more cars of your parents that stick in your mind, Adrian?

Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, after that, they all became very heavily influenced by me. Because that basically I was of driving age, and then it would be like, right, I'll take you to the auction, we'll buy a car. So, like after that, my dad got a Mark III Grenada gear, which is a lovely car, like early 90s Granada with all the toys in it. So it was like a big fancy version of the Sierra. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that was awesome. And to this day, he still says that was his favourite car. Nice. And he had that for ages. And after that, they all became sort of cheaper, more just yeah, this'll do cars. So he's had all sorts, and they've kind of went in line with things that I've been into. So I've even had like an E36 BMW coupe at one point, just because I was getting into them, so it didn't really suit him, but he had that. Uh and then when I ran Volvos for 10 years, I kind of thought, these are durable. This is what you need. You're really hard on your cars. So he's had Volvos now for maybe 15 years. So yeah, he's got like an S80 now, nice, which is doing them well because they're pretty sturdy things. So yeah.

That's pretty ideal in the cold weather as well, isn't it? Any sort of Volvo.

They kind of relish the Yeah, they're big, comfy bargains, so they're not very economic floating dry, but they don't break very much. So that's perfect for my dad to be getting about in.

Is your dad still photographing?

Um, he's retired only very recently, but yeah, you can't stop him taking photos. So yeah, his Facebook feed is just constantly him digging out photos or doing current new stuff. He's been quite prolific with photography over the years. So I learned a lot for him that he did like theatre photography, portraits, loads of weddings. Um, I mean I helped him over the years as an assistant now and again. Yeah, learned a lot for him, like he's an absolute master when it comes to control of people. And like, you think wedding photography, that's basically crowd control. Yeah, and he's always a master of that and just getting the best out of people. So I learned a lot that way, and even just stealing his equipment, helping him in the dark room and stuff. So, yeah, that's been very influential. Yeah, and I've had to give him influence in the car scene because that's not really ever been his thing, but yeah, he's ended up with cars that I've kind of approved.

Sounds very easily led on cars.

Yeah, it's never really his thing. I mean, he got it out of uh having a driving license even out of necessities. And uh yeah, it was been much more influential to me. I mean, even that day we go to buy the cars or go at the the very first car shopping day. I mean, that sticks in my mind so much. In fact, even had a mishap at the end of that day as we had a green buying the horizon, and then I guess they hadn't sort out the finances for it. The guy gives a lift home and he's marked two jag. Lovely, and it's like, wow, this is amazing. Remember sitting the back of that and then think, what the hell's that? Is a wheel flew up the side of the road? The wheel that was at my side of the back of the car just flew off. Jesus. And I'm like, Oh, what is going on?

Oh, they're on knockoffs, aren't they? On the wire wheels, probably.

It might have been, yeah, it might have been. Um I couldn't tell you that, but uh these guys have a habit of just not attaching the wheels to certain cars. It seems to be, yeah.

And even the car the horizon I had wheels falling off it as well later, maybe it was his fault. Yeah, um, and we were stranded, so we ended up having to walk the whole way home, the other side of Eastwood Ride, which is a good few miles, and it felt like it took a week to walk home.

It's a bad day, yeah.

But it all came good in the end. We got we got the amazing car. Well, I think it's amazing anyway.

Yeah, now you've got one.

You're yeah, yeah, numbered with it now. One of the few people that has one, few people that want one. Fantastic. Excellent.

Thank you very much, Adrian. Yeah, no brother. I think that's been good fun, some good stories in there, and um, yeah, well done for kind of uh following those dreams and chasing down the unusual cars and keeping them on the road. Yeah, and I'm still driving them.

Yeah, I'm sure I'll still always be driving them because that's just what that's just what I like. So yeah, absolutely.

It's nice to hear from someone that's actually ticked them off and uh got the cars from the past. Yeah, most of the time, Andy, people are they'll have a car, won't they, that they've sort of put a circle around, but then it's getting hold of one and uh it's the tricky bit.

Yeah, more often than not, though, as well. That like it's that bucketless car, isn't it? Which is kind of yeah, back in the day, I guess like the Cosworth, maybe it was sort of it was affordable and now it's sort of out of reach for sort of your your average man in the street, perhaps. And actually, Cosworth aside, you've kind of gone the opposite way, and you like the reason you've not been able to buy one earlier is because they're just really rare, like they're not around anymore. It's not that they're millions of pounds.

Yeah, they're stupidly rare, yeah. And me being so fussy, I want them in like the same colours as well. A really obscure model that was never saved in the right colour. So, yeah.

I think, yeah, it's gotta be the right colour, isn't it? Really? Yeah, yeah.

And I think I'd love to get a replica of the Sierra as well, but I think that's probably taken it too far. I've got two Sierras as it is, and that's enough on my plate. That'll do.

Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise, yeah, when are you gonna drive them? You still gotta upkeep them and look after them and store them, etc.

I know. I'm all for just if you've got a car, just use your silly cars all the time as well. Like, I I don't go for this, I'm only driving it for a show or something. Like that Orion, I've put 10,000 miles on it this year, I think. And it was just meant to be a daff bit of fun. Yeah, and I'll just I'll use that to go to jobs and stuff. I went to Goodwood with it from Glasgow a few months ago. Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, turning up to shoot some like million pound Porsches in an Orion that cost me 25 quid. Excellent, fair enough.

Okie dokie. Yeah, thank you very much, Adrian. It's been good fun.

Oh, that's brilliant, that's a pleasure. Good to get all these stories out.

So yeah, absolutely, yeah, it keeps us going. Yeah, nice one. Uh well, thanks a lot for having me. Not a problem at all. Thanks for joining. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Cheers. Cheerio, bye bye. See you later. Bye, bye. Here we go. Nice. That was yeah, some good stuff in there.

Yeah, nice little Ford hoarder.

Yeah, absolutely. Really good. Nice appearance for the tool, but Snash Chrysler. Yeah, we said like they've cropped up a few times, haven't they?

Yeah.

I remember, yeah, vaguely we looked at one, kind of at a car dealership once. We didn't buy it, but um, yeah, I don't remember them being kind of a a big, big thing, but perhaps maybe I'm just slightly too young for that.

Yeah. Maybe they were a few years before. I think my oldest brother might have been involved with one once upon a time. Because we we didn't live together, so he would come and visit us maybe a few times a year.

Yeah, yeah.

And invariably you would come in a different car every time because it was that sort of era when like Adrian was saying, you know, once the car, like a clutch went, that was the end of that car.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Go and buy another one for 50 quid. Quite a strange concept, really, isn't it? Like now you couldn't, if the clutch goes, you replace the clutch. You you don't generally buy a new car, do you?

It's no, I guess I guess, yeah, if that's the straw that breaks the camel's back, I suppose. But yeah, even if you get a bill for a grand for your clutch, you can't buy a lot for less than a thousand pounds, can you, these days?

So you could, but then you could be getting into more problems straight away, yeah.

Yeah, so you kind of just got to swallow, haven't you? Take it on the chin, get the clutch done. Whereas, yeah, if it's a 50 quid car, even back in the day, like you probably weren't getting a clutch done for 50 pounds. No, there was almost an abundance of sort of cars with four months MOT and perhaps like a sort of slightly questionable MOT because there's a mate at the pub who's got a book of them or something, he'll write you a new one out for a pint and a bag of crisps. Um, so yeah, that was kind of how it was.

It's nice to think um like Adrian's dad obviously just retired, but all those pictures that you took years ago we're we're now of an age, aren't we, where people sort of hankering to see those because we've got the places to share them. And like you see pictures of like old streets, don't you, from like even the nineties? It's quite interesting to look at.

Yeah. Um, I guess either we take photos of everything because we've got a phone in our pockets, or you take photos of nothing, I suppose. Back then it was a it was a little bit more considered, I suppose. Because you did have to then go and develop it. You could only take 24 pictures on a film or something.

Yeah. Um you used to have to take those ones at the end, didn't you? Just to use the film app. Yeah, a picture of the fridge or something, or your hand or your pictures about the carpet or something.

But yeah, really enjoyed it. Yeah. Good guest, and um worth giving his page of I think A B car picks and then spotted nineties or something like that. I think the uh yeah. We'll put the links in the description so people can have a look for that.

Yeah, I think I'll go and have a little sift through myself, see if I can see any of his own cars. They sound quite interesting.

So yeah, okay. We'll uh yeah, wrap this up. Thank you very much, John. Thank you. And uh yeah, roll the credits.

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