Jo Kingman - Skulls and Snaps: Dad was a Policeman, but our Lada got stolen! Washing my Dad's Rover 800, 3 wheeled XR2 and a hotboxed Ford Orion, Chrysler Neon, Vauxhall FronteraS9E1

Of all the things to steal, you took a ladder. Started going down this hill, and then I looked and I was like, oh, why is there a wheel? If it was some silver thing, it didn't last long, your dad hated it. Someone had just decided to open said Ford and hotbox it at the top of the Ashley Centre car park. You can't just generously hotbox a BYD getting to like play around with a life-size police car. It was great. My mum made him sell it because it was just way too juicy with fuel.

Welcome to my dad's car. Enjoy.

Welcome to my dad's car, a podcast discussing our personal relationship with automated dad. And you know what? It doesn't even have to be about your dad's car. It could be your mum, your grand, your parents, dad, or even your neighbour. If it made an impression, let's talk about it. Hey there, man. Yeah, you're welcome, mate. I'm good. Yeah, good. Thank you for uh standing in for us.

You're very welcome. You're very welcome. And as it happens, you've known Joe for years. I've known Joe forever. Like I think probably well, yeah, we've got a long, long history. So it'll be an interesting one because I know a lot about her relationship with her dad and stuff. So okay. Yeah, she's gonna get emotional. I know that much. Oh really? Yeah, so I'll rein it in. Uh-oh, is she coming? I can see I can see here something. Oh dear.

Hello.

Stop talking about, stop talking about that.

How are you, Scores?

I'm good.

Welcome along, Joe. Thank you very much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Sheer fluke that I seem to have picked someone you've known for years and years and years to join us.

Yep.

Because my usual co-host John is otherwise engaged. But um I think that will make for good conversation.

It will, definitely.

Just a quick one, Joe, before we we start. I think see we followed you for a bit and you kind of reached out to us and vice versa. Do you work doing photography or what's what's the day job?

So I have my own social media management company that specialises in automotive.

Okay.

So anything from like clients, uh till it racing seats through to supercar dealers, through to supercar driver. God, little independent garages. Yeah, there's a whole mix of stuff. Oh, cool. Yes.

Sounds fun.

Yeah, it's crazy. It's great.

So for the benefit of the tape, we're joined by Joe Kingman, who um some of you may follow as Skulls and Snaps on Instagram. Joe will tell us a little bit more about that in a minute, but yeah, we've been following kind of what you've been getting up to for a while. Uh we're not joined today by John because he's otherwise engaged, but we've called up Paul from Speedbroker, who some of you may recall from previous episodes. Sheer fluke, it turns out Paul's known Joe for many years. So yeah, you should be in for a treat. So yeah, welcome along, Paul.

Hello.

And uh yeah, welcome Joe. Um, do you want to give a quick plug to your photography stuff and other things that you get up to quickly and then we'll dive in?

Yeah, just a quick one. Um so skulls and snaps is where you can find me on social media. I'm often found at events taking pictures of cars and getting up to crazy cool antics with cars, in and around cars, and yeah, um, that's kind of it, really. Yeah, posting social media stuff.

Joe picked this up so many years ago. She was one of the, I guess you'd call her one of the very first pioneers of car spotting, especially sort of like young female car spotters. Okay. But obviously, her career in automotive has pushed through from her passion as a young. So it wasn't like a trend thing to hop on this. Everything that Joe's done is kind of a I'm gonna go off on a channel. So I do really like this girl, right? But I'm not gonna say that the whole way through. But it has really evolved rather than you know, she's um wanting to get in for part of a new trend or to be part of like the new era. It's um been a good journey for her. Cool, fantastic.

Better summary than I gave.

So, Joe, what's your earliest car memory?

Oh, my earliest one, probably just cleaning my dad's cars outside with the neighbours. Um, we lived on an estate in Battersea, and yeah, that was probably one of my earliest, was just grabbing some buckets and some sponges and just cleaning my dad's cars. I loved it.

Cool. Okay. And was it just you? Have you got siblings, or was it just you and your dad?

Or I've got a younger sister.

Okay.

Like, you know, very typical mum, dad, sister, me. Um, he spent a lot of time with my nan growing up.

Okay.

So yeah, it was very kind of, you know, average, happy families. Yeah, that was that was it. And then obviously back then growing up in London, it was all very neighbourly and everyone knew each other and looked out for each other, and it was great. And yeah, seeing that change over the years was a bit crazy. But it was all good fun back then.

Do you remember what car he was driving back then? Or even kind of colour or shape or so the one I vividly remember that we cleaned all the time.

It was literally a land yacht. It was a rover, it looked like an SD one, but it wasn't an SD one, it wasn't cool enough to be an SD one.

800, maybe. Probably an 800. One that followed it.

Yeah, I think it was.

Yeah.

But I just remember the sheer size of it, literally, and there's like three-year-old me clumping around in my mum's high heels, cleaning a car that literally was like a yacht. And yeah, it was just great fun. And that's kind of one of my most vivid early memories.

I've got a question related to that.

Go on.

That car, did it have like a signature smell? Like, did it have like a leathery or wood smell?

Do you know what the smell was? The traffic light air freshener.

Faux orange or whatever it was called.

Yeah. It's just that that iconic air freshener.

I love that. Was it just your dad who drove, or did your mum drive too?

No, mum drove as well. She kind of just had to go with the flow of whatever car my dad had decided to buy randomly and then would get bored of and just suddenly rock up at home with another one. And it was never anything amazing. They were like all crappy cars. But we had many, many good times with them. Like their first car was given to them.

Okay.

So I was born. My dad, obviously, growing up in Battersea, was very much kind of walk and train, and he loved cars, but for some reason just hadn't ever done his driving license. Then obviously, when I popped along, there was a family friend that was like, okay, so for you to get around easier, let's have a car. And it was a larder.

Okay.

So this was the first car I ever went in, was a larder. Hilariously. One of the first times that we went out as a family in it was to Richmond Park and it broke down. And it was like end of January, early February, freezing cold. And I just remember this story my mum and dad telling me. We were just sat in the car in the park and the windows started like frosting over. And it's only when this like couple drove past and they were like, Oh my god, you've got like a newborn baby. Like, sit in our car, let's sort this out. And they generously kind of took us back home and it all got sorted out. And then a couple weeks later, the larder got stolen and it was then burnt out outside of stretch and tires.

Okay, who steals a larder?

Well, this was always my question. I was like, of all the things to steal, you took a larder.

They just needed some heat. Yeah.

Clearly. Yeah. So that didn't last very long. But yeah, my dad was constantly buying and changing and swapping and would get bored very quickly. So I actually had to write like a list of the ones that I could remember.

Okay.

And I sent it to my mum and sister and was just like, what have I forgotten here? And then yeah, my mum was like, Oh, we got given one by your auntie or your godmother after the larder got stolen and burnt out. We then had a voxel and she was like, It was some silver thing, it didn't last long. Your dad hated it. Then we ended up with the Rover 800.

Yeah.

And then we went into a very Ford heavy era.

Okay.

So one of my favorites, for no apparent reason, other than just the fun family day trips was our Ford Orion.

Oh, yeah, nice.

Silver F Reg. And I just remember loving sitting in the back on our day trips and just absolutely vibing. And it was great.

Do you remember the trim level though, Joe? Like, was it a Ghia? Could it have been a Ghia?

I think it was a Ghia.

No. Armrest?

I think it was.

I love it.

I just remember the funniest thing being uh at this point we had that we'd moved to Epsom and we used to park on the top of the Ashley Centre Car Park. And there was one morning we went to go to school and just sort of looked and was like, why the hell are all the windows down? Someone had just decided to open said Ford and hotbox it at the top of the Ashley Centre car park.

Crazy.

And then generously wound all the windows down because obviously they were manual windy windows and left it so that it could clear before we got back to it in the morning.

Wow.

So that was fun.

Different times.

Yeah, very good times. Uh Epsom in the 90s.

Couldn't do that in a BYD, could you?

You can't just generously hotbox a BYD. Leave the windows down for the next person to not really know.

That's a snippet.

There we go.

Yeah.

Was your dad driving for work, or was it just kind of the necessity of getting about with the family?

So initially it started as the necessity for family needs because he joined the Met Police.

Okay.

And living in Battersea, he was based at Leavender Hill, so he walked to work every day.

Yeah, yeah.

Then obviously started driving panda cars and area cars and things like that. So yeah, one of my kind of earliest memories for driving was he took me to the Met Police impound lot and I got to drive around in some of like panda cars. And then obviously I sat on his lap as we're doing this.

Yeah.

But I was driving. And then, like at the time when the Met had recovery lorries instead of outsourcing it to really expensive third parties, um, got to drive that round. So back then it was kind of like it's in the parking lot, have fun. Fair enough. So that was one of my earliest memories of actually getting to drive a car. Was that so that was fun, and then obviously flicking the sirens on and off.

And yeah, that would have done call as a kid.

Well, this was the thing. I was like three, four years old, just getting to like play around with a life-size police car. It was great.

That's amazing.

So yeah, that was fun. Then when the Orion, I think the Orion died, I don't think they sold it, I think it died, which was sad. He ended up coming home with a XR2. Yeah, black pepper pot wheels.

Very cool.

It was sick. It was very cool. Um, another fun adventure with this one. Uh he came and picked me and my sister up from school, kind of at the bottom end of Epsom. So if anyone knows it, there's a really big hill. We literally pulled out, started going down this hill, and then I looked and I was like, oh, why is there a wheel? Oh, that's our wheel. It had just been for a brake service, and they hadn't tightened up the wheels.

Oh god.

So my dad is managing to balance the car on three wheels down a hill, and then just kind of ditched it at Stamford Green Common, and then just like running after the wheel because it's like heading into the woods. So that was fun. I just remember my sister crying being like, Oh my god, why is the wheel not on the car? And I'm just laughing.

Was it a front wheel or a rear wheel?

It was a front.

Oh, yeah.

So we turned the XR2 into a Robin Reliant.

It's that moment, isn't it, where you sort of see the wheel go, What idiots hasn't got a wheel on their car. Oh, right, yeah, yeah.

Legit. Like just, oh my god. Oh wait, that's our wheel. Oh no.

What was his criteria for for the vehicle? Was it literally just MOT and four seats? Was that kind of what he was looking for?

Pretty much. Obviously, like everyone who was into cars, everything was unobtainium that he wanted. Um, being a policeman, kind of just wanted to make sure the family were all good financially and whatever. The cars was always like a me and him would sit and flip through auto trader. Instead of like me circling the Argos catalogue at Christmas, it was me circling auto trader with like, Oh, I want this and I want that. And he'd be the same, and we'd often compare and you know, take notes on my specs better than yours that you've chosen, and my one's a nicer colour. And so, yeah, it was things like that that was fun growing up to kind of do.

But I miss it so much, don't you? Like exchange mark auto trader.

It was so much more fun to have like this big catalogue that you pick up at the supermarket or in a corner shop, and you just sit there and flip through and then just mark stuff. Like it's no fun to start scrolling on your phone, that's not the same.

You need to start a publishing place, Joe. Let's start it again.

Yes, let's do it. Let's bring back printing auto trader magazines.

I think the other thing with that is that when you had no pictures, you started painting a picture in your head of it, so you kind of built that excitement a little bit more. It's like, what if, like Paul was saying earlier, what if it's a gear and they've not written it? Like you get there, and oh, it actually has got factory alloys, or it's got electric windows, or it's a particularly rare colour, or oh, they've neglected to mention it's a turbo model or something ridiculous like that because it's just an old boy selling a car.

Yeah, it's just a quick, like, oh, let's just scrap it down quickly, and it's like, oh, actually, hidden gem.

Yeah, yeah. But that's you know, I think I touched on this before with you, Andy, and this is my biggest problem with social media, and I think it's good in so many ways, but the issue is where people will go to these shows or spotters are out constantly, you're seeing these cars all the time. I mean, I live very close to three really big dealers, I see laughs everything almost every day, and I become immune to it. Whereas when I was 17, 18, if I saw something like a 355 drive past me, I would literally be like, Wow.

You'd be telling people for weeks.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's the thing I think that's such a big shame because people think that these cars that we see now are normal. And when you when you break it down to the percentage of people who have these cars and have access, it's very, very small, but yet it's accessible online to 100% of people.

Yep. So it's like I read someone's comment the other day where um they were like, Oh my god, I'd kill to see. I think it was an F40 in person, and I'm like, Oh my god, I actually forget that there are people who've never seen one in the flash. Yeah, and I'm like, wow, I'm so desensitized to this.

Didn't I get you out in your first F40?

Yes, I think you actually did.

There we go.

I think you did, and then I've just been growing them ever since.

Back to dad's and so yeah, obviously Auto Trader, Exchange of Mart or whatever was the place of choice for finding those cars. Yeah, and just a case of what run it into the ground till it blows up and get another one.

Yeah, pretty much. Um until it gave up or until he got bored and then was just randomly searching through and then went, oh, actually, now I fancy this. Because it's like we went from the XR2 to a Renault Laguna.

Not a Renault Laguna.

I loved it.

Great front splitter, best front splitter ever made.

Yes. I also made him put yellow fogs on it because that was when I decided to get into my like racing in like phase, and I was like, it's green, like British racing green. Please put yellow fogs on it. He was like, Oh, that's a great idea. So he did. And I loved it. It wasn't anything special, wasn't a special model, but looked great. We loved it. Like we used to go all the time, because obviously we've always lived kind of London, Surrey, but we'd go visit like my mum's family down in Bournemouth. So I remember there was once where we'd literally we'd spent a Saturday down in Bournemouth with my mum's family. Okay, and then got home on the Saturday night, and my aunt and uncle rang and were like, Look, Johanna loves our football. Does she want to come to the Southampton Chelsea match tomorrow? My dad jumped straight back in that Renault, took me straight back down there, dropped me off to my aunt and uncle's, and he went straight back home again.

Because he wanted to drive.

Any excuse to drive. Love that. Like, legit. My mum was like, Oh no, it's ridiculous. We've only just got back. And my dad went, grab the keys, let's go. And that was him, and I think I very much picked that up. Um, any excuse to go for a drive. Any excuse to be behind the wheel. I've definitely got that from him.

What was he like as a driver, Joe? Because I'll say this you're a pretty good driver.

Thanks.

I will, you know, that's it for you. That's it. There's no more complex stuff from now on, right? That's your lot. What was your dad like?

Um, my dad was an amazing driver, obviously police trained. So he's done the extra courses and whatever for learning how to drive at speed and like observing what was going on around all the time, and very much taught me how to drive in that same way. So, yeah, just like obviously growing up, very police mindset from him, kind of installed into me is to like always check your mirrors and keep an eye on what car's behind you and what car's in front of you. And especially when I started driving, he was very much like a remember what I've taught you with monitoring who's behind you and for how long. So it was very much a safety thing as well. And I still do it to this day, especially with the car I've bought most recently, is watching who's behind you all the time and if they're following you and how long have they stuck with you and how long have they been there and are they taking every turn you take? And that was very much drilled into my head by my dad. But yeah, we just spent so much time on the road that yeah, we never had an accident. Um, he never had an accident. And yeah, being in the car with him was kind of the normal thing if he wasn't working. So we spent so much time in the car.

Would he listen to the radio or have music on?

Uh he was a country music fan, so it was very much all his cassette tapes and then CDs, country music or classic rock. Again, that music influence has very much been passed down to me.

Yeah, yeah.

The only car that we had where he would kind of just enjoy the sound of the car was when he had a 406 coupe.

Okay, yeah, yeah. Was it a freelancer? Basic.

Yes, yes. Uh it was something like iridescent blue.

Um I remember them coming out. Yeah, they were really nicely done. And they raced them in touring cars.

They did.

I saw them, yeah, race at brands, touring cars.

It was the thing that he always said was the closest he'll ever get to owning a Ferrari, which was true.

Pininfarina, isn't it?

Bingo.

Yeah.

Black leather interior. Oh, it was lovely. It was great. And then my mum made him sell it because it was just way too juicy with fuel. Because he tried to daily it. Three-litre V6. I definitely don't know someone who would daily a three-litre straight six athletes. Oh wow, me and my dad are so alike, it's scary. Um, I know where I get it from. Then, yeah, after that, when he was like, Oh, we've got to be more economical and more sensible, and ended up with a Chrysler neon.

Oh, yeah, that was a car.

Champagne gold.

Those cars feel like was he buying those as kind of bangers, so to speak, or was he doing a bit better at that point? So actually, he he went to a dealer or whatever.

He was doing a bit better at that point, yes. Yeah, we went all the way up to Cambridge for that. I remember that vividly. Uh oh my god, why is the number plate just come to my head? W249XJA.

I wonder if it's still on the road.

I know, I need to have a look.

There can't be many neons on the road.

Oh no, it won't be. It won't be, it won't be. My mum wrote it off.

Oh, really?

Yeah. So we got it in 2001. So it was fairly new. Because what, that would have been a W red 2000? Yeah.

It would have been about a year old.

Yeah, it was about a year old. So yeah, and then my mum kept it. And then I think in about 2006, 7, 8, she wrote it off at the bottom of Box Hill.

Uh whoops.

Yeah. Then he went back to having crappy cars again. He bought a Vauxhall Frontera off of eBay. I think it was like £600.

Oh, you shouldn't have done that. Top Gear voted them worse, didn't they? Every year, Frontera, bottom of the JD Power Survey.

He just wanted an SUV and was like, oh, it's cheap. Let's go get it.

I was like, Well, especially at that sort of time. What you know, that was like late, a late what Frontera's like 96, isn't it? 97.

Yeah. And this was 2007, 2008 that he bought that.

So you still had like sort of, you know, things like um the X5 and the MLs. They probably went into Gen 2. So it was still kind of quite posh to have a SUV, you know, like a luxury SUV.

Yeah.

Kind of early 2000s. Yeah. So like what was your dad's dream car? Did he have a dream car?

Oh God. There were so many because he was into his cars. It was just, oh yeah, that's a dream. That's a dream. Um always loved a Testerossa and an F40. He always had a die cast model of a Testerossa that I ended up destroying because being young and just playing with the doors all the time and fell off and stuff. But yeah, it was very much F4E Testerossa type. But then would just look at other things and be like, what? Um he always wanted a impressor 22B.

Good taste.

I know, right? Said he should have bought one. And all those years ago, it would have been great now. But he was like, I'd settle for a P1. And I was like, okay. But we very much were into our WRC, which was where the warmth for an impressor came from.

Yeah.

But yeah, it was things like that. Just nice things like that. That yeah, there's so many cars. My dad was always like, Oh, I want one of them, I want one of them, I want one of them. That yeah, you kind of just lose track of what actually was like the dream car.

Yeah, fair enough. I d I don't know the story. Is your dad still about or is your dad passed?

No, my dad passed in 2018.

Okay.

Yeah. So um I'd literally looked after him from the minute I left school in 2008 at the age of 15. I was his full-time primary carer for 10 years.

Wow, okay.

So yeah, that being a big part of my life as my main job.

That's why I said it was a slightly different story today, uh Daisy. I know the journey that Joe went through with that.

Can I ask you more about it? Or you go for it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm always happy to discuss this. Was your was your father still working in 2008, or he kind of had an accident or he had an illness, or so 2008 is when his illnesses really deteriorated to a point that he had to quit work.

Okay.

So he left the police in around 2005, 2006, due to injury and obviously this illness that was kind of undetected at that point, had been progressing that he had to leave work. And he then ended up going into chauffeuring.

Okay.

So he chauffeured Phil Collins for a while, which was an interesting one, in a Volvo S6 that. Which he then got to bring home. So it was kind of like the newest, fanciest car that he could come home in and stuff.

A bit better than a Frontier.

It was the saloon, wasn't it? Yeah, the saloon. Yeah.

Oh, is it the saloon? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, the S60.

Yeah.

But yeah, he ended up going into chauffeuring and stuff. He also had a little scint of doing recovery driving.

Okay.

So again, on the road with my dad, I would go with him.

Yeah.

Because kind of at the time where I was just about to be diagnosed with ME, I was going in and out of hospital a lot. That insomnia was a big thing. And my dad was like, okay, look, I've got a 3 a.m. job where I've got to go pick up a woman who's stranded at the side of the road. Come with me. And it was another thing that, like, his police brain was like, rather than this burly ex rugby player showing up in a recovery lorry, single woman on her own, if there's a female kid, this woman's gonna be a bit more reassured.

Or even less reassured.

Well, this was always the way. It was like it could go one or two ways, depending on who you meet.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, like there was one woman in particular, she was a doctor, and she was like, Oh my god, and she ended up talking to my dad, and it helped with me getting my ME diagnosis. Oh wow. So it was all a very kind of full circle moment. But yeah, he ended up having to leave work completely in 2008 and just deteriorated from there. But I managed to string it out for 10 years, so I got an extra 10 years out of him.

Goodness.

That's um I've got a question for you. Go on. Right, so this is one I thought about. If you could take one more drive of your dad, what car would it be? Where would you drive to? And what would you be listening to?

Oh god, that's so tough because there's so many amazing people that I could tap up and be like, hey, can I borrow your car? And they would be like, Here's keys go. Um, it'd have to be something I wasn't completely terrified of. So throw an F40 out of the equation, especially because of the value of them now.

Yeah.

But then I kind of think my R8, because it's mine, like he never got to go in the M140. Yeah. Because at the time I got that, he was in hospital and then a care home. So he never actually got to see it in the flesh. He only ever heard it at hospital or in the care home. But yeah, I think that's something kind of quite nice in being like my R8, going for a drive somewhere. Where would I go? I don't know. Just kind of endless with no real route. Just keep driving. Wherever, yeah. Probably down to the coast somewhere because he loved the coast. But then, yeah, a big mix of country music would have to be playing.

I love that. Yeah. Your M140, or as I like to call it, triggers broom.

Yeah. It's not that bad. It's actually really good.

It's not that bad. But it's just how you drive it and how many miles you put on it.

111,000.

Yeah. Did your dad's love of cars rub off on your sister as well?

No.

No.

Uh there's only very, very minor things where like my sister's grown up with a love of like SUVs.

Yeah.

That came from my dad's influence. Her ultimate favourite dream car is a Bugatti Valeron.

Okay.

Black and white, because she loved 101 Dalmatians growing up, so she's like, oh, and have like a Cruella de Ville number plate. Like just this whole like I still imagine her being like six years old. She's not, she's like 32. But yeah, a lot of my dad's influence in what she likes.

Yeah, yeah.

But he was also into his motorbikes.

Okay.

And she's got her bike license.

Okay.

So she's kind of taken that route. So.

From a point of view of speaking from someone who's lost their dad also, has losing your dad made you do anything different? Do you do stuff almost in his name to a point of view?

Yes. Yes. For sure.

Okay.

The R8 was definitely one of those.

Okay.

Because it was like a, you know, life's too short. My dad died at 53.

Yeah.

And it was like a, do you know what? We don't know how long we've got. Can't take it with you. Just do it.

Yeah.

So it was very much a I have horrendous anxiety every day of my life. And especially since he died, because he was my safety banker. He was my rock. But it was also like a if I don't do it, I'll always regret not doing it.

Yeah. We had so many conversations about that, didn't we?

Oh God, so many. Where I was like, Oh, I want to do this, but I can't, but I want to.

And I was also mixed about it as well because you know, I completely understood. I I got it. I was like, you know what? I belie I I'm with you. You know, life is so unbelievably fragile. And you look, how old was your dad when he died? He wasn't old, was he?

53.

53 is so unbelievably young.

Yeah, I lost my dad. He was 65, I think. So yeah, and that's young.

That is young. That is young.

And you just got to go for it. I think. I think if you're able to, and again, if your dad wasn't in the equation in terms of your thought process, you probably wouldn't even consider it. But you know, I was waiting on five years, it doesn't matter. But actually, let's do something where he's looking. I don't know what happens, but let's just say that people are looking down there here. Energy. There's got to be an energy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%.

And the energy can just carry on, right?

Yeah.

I get it.

Yeah. There's also a big reason as to why I went into doing what I do for work because, like leaving school, going into caring for my dad, I also had my nan in the same household that was diagnosed with dementia.

Okay.

It was very quick with her with the progression downhill. And just like we'd spent another year with her being her carers. And then obviously I had my dad there as well. And my sister was going through anorexia and a multitude of mental health issues. So I had this very healthy household that I was looking after. Um, I'd just been diagnosed with ME. So I had my own stuff, but it was like them first, just take care of them, despite my success rate only being 33.333%. So I've only got my sister left out of the three that I was looking after, but it's fine, it's all good. Um, she's still going, so we're proud.

Yeah.

It was just one of those where it was like when everything shifted, because a lot happened after my dad died, that you know, we were in a housing association house, but it had been signed over already to my dad, so they wouldn't sign it to me, so therefore I was homeless.

Yeah.

They were like, you essentially now have to squat in this house and it could take years. And I was like, Oh my god.

Oh god.

So I can't apply for a job because I technically have no fixed abode. But my carers' money's now stopped that I was living on because my dad's now dead. So I was like, what the hell do I do? Kind of just had this massive breakdown, was so done with everything, just didn't want to continue. I was done. Um, some very amazing friends stepped in, supported me, offered me some money to help out and whatever. And they were like, whether you want to get a flat or pay off any bills, whatever, deal with it, do it, whatever. Um, resolved things with my mum because when my mum and dad split, we didn't speak for 10 years. I went and then looked with my mum and then ended up kind of going, what the hell do I do for work? Like, what do I want to do? And I was very lucky that there was an automotive media agency in Surrey where I'd moved back to that kind of went, Hey, we've seen your social media. We're all very techie, but we don't really know cars or understand them. We think we can kind of do a bit of a skill swap with you as kind of like a social media exec. And I was like, okay, cool. So that's where I learned everything, agency side, and then I've just kind of gone from there. But it was always my dad pushing me to do the social media thing. He's like, whatever event you can go to, don't worry about me. I'll be okay. I'll get your sister to come around, you go and do it. And he very much pushed me through to go do it. And like Paul said in the beginning, you know, I was the first female to go do car spotting in Knightsbridge. So when I showed up, everyone looked at me like I was an alien.

Yeah.

And it's only when I started talking to these guys about the cars and they were like, wait, she knows what she's talking about. It's like, I do. I'm I'm one of you. I just look like this.

Yeah.

It was quite funny. And yeah, my dad was just like, just go, just keep doing it. Like, just do it. And then obviously we'd go back and tell him about the cars I'd seen and like the people I was meeting and things like that. And he just completely pushed it and was like, just pursue this. You love it, you know about it, just do it.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, I'm very lucky I've got some voice notes actually on my phone from him saying things like that. So every now and again where I need a little pep talk and then want to cry my eyes out, I listen to those.

Yeah, I had a voicemail from my dad, but it's yeah, it's kind of long gone, and it was nothing special, but that's sort of like a snippet of yeah. But yeah, what was it that made you go car spying? Like what kind of got you into that? Had you seen other like guys doing it and thinking, are we gonna go and do that, or you just so it was very much treated like my respite. Okay.

So to zone out from the carer's life, um, I remember my GP being sat with my dad and being like, She needs a hobby, like she cannot be with you 24-7 because obviously I was worried if I left my dad alone, something was gonna happen. Yeah. Because he'd been through heart attacks. So he'd had one, I saved him. Then there was another one a few years later, again, I noticed the signs and saved him. And then the third one was obviously the the final one.

Yeah.

But it was one of those anxieties that had created with like, if I leave my dad, something's gonna happen. He went, just don't worry, if I need you, I'll call you. And obviously, we only lived like 10 minutes away from Knightsbridge, so it was easy for me to drive over, go have a walk around.

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

He was like, You love photography, you love cars, I'll get you a camera, just go have a look. And that's what started it. It was my respite out. Yeah. For those couple of hours I was walking around, I wasn't a carer, I was developing skulls and snaps, and I still treat it like an alter ego today. But the reason I knew about it was because me and my dad had been sat watching a league of their own on Sky One, and there was this chrome-wrapped SLR.

Okay.

And it was obviously wrapped by Yanni, and he was sat there and he was talking about it. And um, Instagram became this new thing, and I had a look, and he mentioned he was going to be in Knightsbridge, and saw loads of people commenting that were car spotters, and was like, Oh, okay, I might pop along to this. So that was kind of the thing that initially started it. Was just going and starting taking pictures, and yeah, I got to speaking to some of the guys there, and they were like, Yeah, we come out pretty much every day, or like every weekend at least, and just see what's about, and yeah, just jumped on it.

So, but I think you were noticed, I think, because one, because you are I had bright blue hair. And one thing, you did have this alter ego, you were skulls and snaps, and you were like like to the outside world, you're larger than life, and then I guess only a small group of people really knew the person who you were behind the scenes, yeah. Which that's the person I've got to know over so many years. Yeah, but I guess at the time you were coming out spotting, I was like the heyday of my previous business as well. So I was kind of out in London and we were doing bits and pieces and whatever, but you would notice you, and I think the reason why this episode's so different is because I think every move you have made from being such a young adult, really, you were still a kid, really.

Oh god, yeah.

You were.

I still am now.

Yeah, you're massively, massively childish. But that's another story. But what I'm saying is that the reason that that your dad's so important to life now is because every single Lego block that was built was in or around your dad, you were with him all the time. Yeah, everything encouraged to do was where you are now. So this is why this episode's a bit different. It can't just be based on necessarily childhood memories, that's whatever. Yeah, yeah. She's not crying yet.

No, we're good at the moment.

Yeah, we're good at the moment. That's not the goal. We don't have to set out to tears or we don't stop.

Yeah, tears or we keep going.

Yeah, no, right. Let's see what I can do.

No, I'm not it won't take long, don't worry.

No, I'm not gonna do it. Um, if we kind of yeah, move away from your dad's cars just for sort of a minute. Do you remember kids at school with kind of interesting cars? Either interesting or really, really rubbish.

So I remember there was a teacher that I absolutely idolized, and it was Miss Jenkins, and she'd had a brand new tourist saleika.

Okay.

Um, I loved it, and I thought she was an absolute hero. And there was one like lunchtime where she was going out, and I'd just been back from a dentist appointment or something, and my dad was like talking to her, and I was like, Oh, I'm just gonna have a little look. And she was like, I can sit in it if you want. And I was like, Oh my god, this is so cool. I was like, I want one. Obviously, I didn't think the same as I got older. I sort of just looked and was like, um, but it was one of those where it was like that was cool. Um, I don't really remember ever anyone having something wow when I was at school. My secondary school, my levers, I completely forgot that someone rocked up in an SLR until I re-watched the video the other day. And I was like, what the hell? But it just kind of snuck it in, dropped it off, and left. Because I'd have made a much bigger deal of that if I'd have actually realized that night, but I hadn't seen it.

What year would that have been? When you know your teacher with a seleaker, what year would that have been?

Late 90s.

What what year was the seleeker or what year was it which you had it?

No, like I was just saying it was brand new. So if it was like late 90s, that would have been like 205 shape, like an SD 205.

No, it was the generation after.

Okay. The sharper one.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

So we refer to those as a zonda because there was one that went through Knightsbridge with a straight pipe, and one of the castporters was convinced he'd heard a zonda, and then the selector came around the corner. So we've always referred to them as a as a zonda since then. So that's Silika is a zonda.

Of course, because of 1.8 litre V V T L I sounds just like it, yeah.

Oh, don't worry, he still gets ripped today for it.

Yeah. Tell me who that was.

I'll message you after. I love it.

I love it.

Um, is there a particular car that you kind of aspire to own? And is that is there any sort of back feed to your father because of it? Or do you think you've reached that if you've got an R8?

No, there's there's always more. There's always there's always more. Everything I had on my list pretty much is now on Obtainium.

Fair enough.

Things like a 458 Speciale. Loved. So did my dad.

Yeah.

Always been a sucker for an eventador, but now you kind of look and you kind of go, You couldn't have a first gen eventador, it'd have to be like an S or even like an S V. But then as an adult, now you start going, oh my god, the servicing costs, and oh my god, this, and that I have too much anxiety for that.

So you're basically a lottery win away from those.

Yeah. The only thing I think still, um, we very much kind of had this thing where because my dad wasn't very much a Porsche fan, I also followed that way. But as I spent more time with carsporters who had an obsession for them, especially my friend Harry, educated me on Porsche's like there was no tomorrow, because he was such a fan that then I ended up teaching my dad about them. And we kind of very much both changed our minds on them and was like, they're very cool, like pure driver's car. So I'd still take a GT3 tomorrow.

Yeah, GT3 or 458 is probably next on my list. Definitely.

A GT3 was also very high on my list consideration with the R8, but it just happened to be that I was on owner's Facebook group seeing the engines going bang on GT3s, and I went, Oh no!

Yeah, I fan of at that level, that level, I think the R8 is uh is a better car. Yeah, it's got that screamer of a V10, which is like absolutely unrepeatable in terms of the engine. Yeah, and the GT3 is like, yeah, then it's like 991.1, and yeah, there is that 3.8, does go bang. There's just the worry behind it. I think I think all these things, it's such a lower percentage than we think. Yeah, but because again, it's everywhere, you're constantly in this fear mode. Yeah, you're gonna be that one. So no, I think what you bought is is it's it's a special car.

You know, don't let anyone tell you it's not unbelievably special because it is yeah, it was um a tough choice when I was actually looking because obviously the iconic advert that both me and my dad were mental for was obviously the Gen 1 RAV10 on a dyno, spit in flames, and it was both of us went, Oh my god, dream car, yes, but then obviously the Gen 2 came out. I absolutely slated the Gen 2 when it first came out, as did my dad, and then he was like, I actually really like it, you know, it's it's it's a good looking thing. I was like, nope, awful, don't like it. Gen 1 all day, every day. And then yeah, when it came to looking, I was like, maybe my dad was right. So it's kind of what swayed me.

The mad thing is about the R8, even like a Gen 1, even like the V8, you know, my old business used to deal with so many of them. I mean like dozens of them. And I remember driving one back into London for a customer, and this must have been like 2009, 2010, maybe. First one I kind of driven back into London, and it was just completely stealth, look, black, black wheels. And I went through the West End and there was like theatre goers, people outside of the pub. I have never seen such a frenzy of people around this car. You know, I'd I've driven 430s and stuff into town. This was like they'd seen a spaceship, it was unreal. And as the years went on, it was like, oh, it's an R and V8, uh and it's like, no, that was a really special car. Yeah, it's just that you know, people get spoiled.

Yeah, 100%.

So there we go.

Yeah, it was, I guess, a kind of a supercar for the everyman in a way, wasn't it? That like obviously a lot of Lamborghini kind of technology, etc. But with an Audi badge on it, and it felt like, yeah, potentially you could drive it, and I don't know what they came out at, but significantly less than a Lambo was.

Yeah, but it's it was amazing, people spilling on the streets, you know. You have these like city guys, like oh, you know, swiveling beer, like, oh my god, and that there was like loads of women like crossing the road looking at the car, and like yeah, you know, and it was just it was madness, but like I say, we just don't understand what we've got sometimes, you know.

Yeah, so true, so true.

Yeah, cool, yeah. Nice place to wrap it up, I think. Thank you very much, Joe.

No problem, thanks for having me. We didn't get tears, so no, I've managed to hold it in.

I'll just start on that straight after this.

Brilliant, thank you so much.

I think yeah, what's nice about kind of the podcast, we don't kind of set out to do a podcast that's about losing people, yeah. But when we do talk about those things, I think it's a it's a place to be able to talk about those things with happy memories rather than just sort of going, sort of diving into the grief point of view and sort of celebrating those characters, the people that we've lost and kind of why they've inspired them, and also kind of growing up as a kid, it's not very often you kind of shout your parents out. They'll stand in the school playground or whatever and big you up till the cows come home.

100%.

But you never kind of throw it back, and kind of that's something I've learned being a parent that when your kids do call you out for doing something cool, it's like that's that's really nice.

That's a big thing. That's the best thing.

Like, yeah, my little one, she'll go to school and hand people flyers for the podcast and stickers and things like that.

Oh, that's so cute.

And she's the one who does the voice for the intro, so she's on all of them.

Oh, nice!

And that's just like yeah, she'll go to the school and hand them to the teachers and things like that. Listen to this, listen to this, and you kind of get that back, and it's like, okay, this is an opportunity for me to do that for my parents, as well as other people just kind of sit down for 20 minutes, half an hour, and yeah, I wouldn't necessarily sit in a room and go, thanks dad, for this or thanks mum for this.

Yeah.

But this is my way of going, yeah, I've noticed, and yeah, you might not have got it right all the time, but you got these bits right.

Well, this is the thing, it's like a lot of people feel a bit awkward when they bring up dad, especially if they know me or know of me, that they feel a bit like, oh my god, I don't want to talk about it. But I don't want to stop talking about him. Plus, me being so open about the loss of my dad, because I've always used my social media as like an online diary to just be myself and be very open and honest, whether it's mental health or young care or grief and struggles, whatever, it's actually helped a lot of people when they've been through that. It's really sad to say that, but like quite a few people have turned to me since and gone, how the hell do you deal with this? Because the way that you've come through it, and then it's like this kind of online therapy session. But yeah, there's so many different stories. It was like um I was very lucky and got to sit in Colin McCrae's impretzer at an event the other week at Bista. I cried. I sat there and I cried. And then I looked at a picture where I went to an event with my dad and I got to sit in McCrae's focus. So I've put these two pictures together, and it was like, this is very cute, kind of full circle.

Full circle moment, yeah.

Exactly. And then like my dad had a Hilux surf. I was at an event at the weekend with Tessa Whitak, and there was Arctic trucks, and it was like, oh my god, one of my dad's favourite things was his Hilux.

So again, had a little happy tear, but there's a lot of things that all just come back, and yeah, it's just but yeah, and it's why I love what you do, it's why I'm behind this podcast so much because I think it's very easy to go onto a podcast or something online and just go, I have this, I have that, I own this, I own that, I do this, I do that. But it's the stories and the characters that have shaped your life.

Yeah, 100%.

So unbelievably important to where you are. But also, it's that whole thing about knowing that you also influence people going forward. You know, people who rely on you, whether you've got kids or not, there are still people out there that watch what you do. Very true, and it's like understanding how people moulded us is the most important thing to sort of knowing how to put the right message out there to people and how to inspire people in the right way. Even if it's only a small group of people, or if you're very big and you're an influencer, you know, a couple of million people, it's still so important to know where you came from. That's why I love this this podcast so much, really. Thank you.

I think uh yeah, it it it's like even if you if you've got a Fiesra or a Ferrari, like the the memories are still valid, like the conversations you could be having in that car, the music you're listening to, the places you went to, yeah, people you saw. Yeah, it doesn't matter if it was an 800-quid car or an 800,000 pound car. And yeah, we've had people on with kind of both spectrums, and yeah, the tales are fascinating, and they're not necessarily, oh yeah, my dad had this and and he had this, and yeah, money falling out of his pockets, and that was kind of what was so great about it. Actually, to some of the people, like they got dropped off of school in a Rolls-Royce, and that was actually the worst bit of their childhood. That that ruined school, like they got bullied because of it.

Yeah, so you didn't know as a kid, did you? When you're five years old, you didn't think about the value of a car. No, you sold something, and it was like, you know, I remember a neighbour of mine had a Triumph T R7, and it was like a barn find. He was like probably 10 15 years older than me. There's a neighbour of mine, Ian, and it was like his first car or something that he'd found. And I used to think there was some sort of like you know, new technology sitting in the garage. It was like this incredible racing car that was about to be breathe new life into. I didn't know that it was like.

few hundred quid I just thought wow that looks amazing it's all pointy I didn't care either I didn't care either yeah yeah it's it is fascinating and you kind of yeah unpick those stories and yeah it's great that people will come and come on and share them with us and and hopefully when people do listen to it it just helps them with their journey they can kind of just put things into perspective a little bit better or maybe help them handle something and yeah ultimately sadly we are all gonna pass away at some point but um yeah if your parents are still there or your close ones are still there just enjoy them and don't take them for granted 100% and if they're not then yeah there's obviously light the other side of the tunnel but um yeah don't forget them for sure so thank you very much Joe cool thank you very much for this it's been fun thanks Joe really enjoyed it bye see you later bye bye bye cool thank you very much Paul for sitting in and yeah Joe was great yeah she's a character some lovely stories yeah I love what kind of she's done with regards to her hobby kind of turning it into a career yeah obviously looking after her dad for 10 years is just sort of um I don't know what the word is for it it's um you kind of got you got admirable isn't it you've just got to look at that and go well yeah if you're put in that situation some people run away from it but yeah you've got to look after kind of where you came from yeah I literally knowing it was her coming into this her dad was part of every piece of her job did you did you meet her dad?

Only once I met her dad because he didn't really go I think he was at Bram's hatch. He was in a chair though at the time okay um but other than that you know the the years I knew Joe well he was pretty much bedbound or actually he was in hospital for the for quite a quite a long period as well. Yeah yeah but yeah like everything you know revolved around her dad because it was literally her and her dad you know for the last decade of her life. Yeah so you know and you could tell and she was you know she was quite a she can be quite an anxious person behind closed doors but certainly she's quite feisty in person. Yeah and she's she has definitely developed this alterego where she can kind of stand up around the the men and the the businesses within the industry. Yeah yeah and she's she's done she's done well to do that she's done well to do that.

Yes and some interesting cars in there obviously starting with like the the rover kind of the 800 was basically a rounded sd1 wasn't it pretty much yeah and I don't yeah I don't have a lot to do with them but kind of yeah a fairly decent car. The the Laguna I remember a friend's dad having one of those and when that came out that was kind of that was really plush French car companies kind of did sort of luxury on a budget pretty well I think really well really well in that sort of era what 96 97 like velore and all the rest electric windows and they styled them really well obviously helped by the fact that Alain Menu won the touring cars and all the rest but they were a cool car.

Have you seen the um BTCC replica uh Emile do you know Emile Willis? No he's got Laguna BTCC replica that he went down to um Cars and Curry at um Turner's Hill yeah um about a month ago and he bought it there for the evening but you know he's taking this three liter V6 yellow and blue or green and gold no it's green it's green okay with Nestle you know Nestle or Nescafe? Nest Cafe sorry yeah yeah Nes Cafe so it's fully you know it's fully liveried up it's on coil overs it's got big OZ rims on it it's got a custom made BTCC splitter I mean it looks the absolute part and it was on it was on um I'm trying to think what it was like like Plato and a few others they did this like presentation I don't whether it's it was for Heggerty or something else about 90s touring legends. If you put like Plato documentary touring legends it's actually got my friend DeMille's car in there okay where Plato goes there's a guy who goes around with the car I had with Plato on the window and he drives it you know he drives it around he takes it to shows it's mad but what a car yeah they had them I was at the members meeting earlier in the year and they had all the super tourers out which was pretty cool. I saw that yeah I saw some footage of that that are brilliant so I I've been wanting to do one for a while but I've got the missus currently saying we're on a one in one out policy at the moment we don't we genuinely don't have space we've we've got like five or six cars at our house we've got two or three at some storage we've got and then we don't have anywhere else to put cars but I really want a BTC there's an A4 actually on the marketplace 2750 it's up for I think it's a 96 A4. Well like beer replica yeah it's got coilovers it's had a custom made front splitter it's got buckets in it it's a V6 and he wants 2750 for it literally all it needs is different wheels and the delivery yeah yeah and it's spot on and I said it's 2750 I'm gonna go and buy it she goes and keep it wet I'm like well I can ask a mate if it can go on his drive or something and she's like you're mad you're completely mad your logo's not far off the colour scheme to be fair and you could have speed broker instead of the rings down the side and there's so much stuff I would do but it's it's just it's being practical isn't it rather than anything yeah there is that and the problem is what seems like a great idea at the time very quickly becomes kind of a weight round your neck and a pain yeah and something you then kind of think oh I've then got responsibility for that. Yeah we've just finished our 206 max power build did you see that I've seen a couple of pictures of it yeah looks smart.

So yeah that was kind of Momo quasars on it isn't it or quasar twos?

Momo twins they're called oh okay uh momo twins it's on coilovers it's had the kit it's had the paint job yeah you know we've spent a fortune on this car but because of the paint jump because of everything we've got to keep it inside yeah yeah so now we've got my son's little MGZR and this 206 squeezed into our double garage yeah all the others sitting outside and it's like what do we now do so no idea but it's all fun isn't it indeed indeed indeed okay Paul thank you very much mate I really appreciate you coming on and I enjoyed that you're very welcome I look forward to the next one yeah I'll keep you posted all right look after yourself okay let's wrap it up roll the credits thank you for listening to my Dad's cart I hope you enjoyed the show please support us have the coffee and subscribe and tell all your friends