Matt Godfrey- Drawn by Matt: Ford Escort that starts itself, A-Ha on cassette and we plan a classic car show! S4E5

[00:00:00] Welcome to My Dads Car, enjoy! Welcome to My Dads Car, a podcast discussing our personal relationship with automotive nostalgia. And you know what? It doesn't even have to be about your Dads Car. It can be your Mum's, your Grand's, your Parents, Guardians or even a Neighbours.

[00:00:26] If it made an impression, let's talk about it. How are you doing? Alright? Yeah, yeah not bad. Thank you. Cool, just waiting on Jon. Okay. So he'll be with us shortly. Afternoon Chet, sorry for the delay. How's it going? Yeah alright, you?

[00:00:48] Yeah, yeah a bit of plate spinning with the kids on Easter but... Yeah nice. So here we are. For the benefit of the tape then, I met Matt at the Airstaff Swap Meet back in January I think it was.

[00:01:03] He was sat there with a table full of drawings that he's done of people's cars. And I thought this might be an interesting chap so I walked over and had a bit of a natter with him.

[00:01:14] And told him the sort of the premise of the podcast and yeah, found it interesting and here we are. Matt welcome along to My Dads Car. Good stuff. Thanks for having me. It's very kind to get me on. It's very nice.

[00:01:28] Do you want to tell people a little bit more about your drawings so they can look you up and that sort of thing? Yeah sure. So, drawn by Matt, his name is Mark, he's this. I've been in operation doing this style for what since 2010.

[00:01:45] I've got a website, it's drawnbymatt.co.uk. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook. I just started a TikTok. I'm honest, I'm rubbish at social media so I'm getting there.

[00:02:00] But yeah, I do that and then I go to the classic car shows in my Escort and set up shop. People come and commission me to draw their car or I sell stuff I've done over the last 14 years.

[00:02:17] So I've got quite a big collection of drawings that I've done. I do a bit of everything, mainly cars but I also do portraits and stuff. Fantastic. What's your earliest car memory?

[00:02:34] If I'm honest, my earliest memory was being out with my mum and a big old rock coming through the front screen and it's smashing. Oh wow, okay. It's the Alpine, he was like a bright orange. Yeah, Sunbeam or Talbot. Talbot.

[00:02:50] Yeah, that was the family car for a long time. It wasn't popular with the trending people but it was our family car for ages. I just remember driving in a back seat and just like a big rock going through the window, smashing the front screen completely in pieces.

[00:03:10] I just remember that was the earliest car memory I have. What was it? Was it just a bit of debris or was it the Brixton Riots or something like that? Someone had thrown it. Oh no. Someone had thrown it, yeah. Geez.

[00:03:23] My mum didn't have a clue what to do so she pulled over and got my dad to come and help out but it was pretty scary at the time. Nasty. I think it opened my eyes to the dangers of what's around you in cars and stuff.

[00:03:40] It could be anything, it could be debris. I've had that before. Yeah, that's as far back as I remember with regards to cars. My family, they went through cars like so many cars throughout the years it's pretty unreal.

[00:03:55] They're always cheap pieces of rubbish to be honest with you. Not popular in the slightest. What sort of age do you think you were when the rock incident happened? I must have been about four or five maybe.

[00:04:06] I was young, I remember it because I just remember being terrified of things down through the window again. Then obviously Final Destination came out when I was a bit older and then it's like, oh okay, this is real. You get logs through the window and stuff.

[00:04:22] Was it just you and your mum in the car or you got brothers or sisters? My brother was in the car as well, we were both in the back. Then it was my mum just at the front. There were no injuries or anything like that.

[00:04:35] I just think we were all just traumatised. Someone had thrown it from the side of the road. There was a school near there apparently and they're just basically launching things into the road at cars. That happened to be quite a big rock.

[00:04:48] I don't think anyone got in trouble when they scarpered and that. But obviously I don't remember that. I just remember that being the incident with that particular car. That car was unlucky, to be honest. When my parents sold it, I remember it being used in a burglary.

[00:05:06] We had the police turn up and say, oh is this your car? No, I sold that. It was used in a robbery. There you go. You're not the first person. Go on Andy. It was easy to... It wasn't online was it? It was all posted, wasn't it?

[00:05:29] It took ages to register them. One of our first guests, Azim, came on. This family Ford Fiesta got used in a bank robbery. It's not a running trend. Obviously two stories out of 40 or something. I probably would have chosen something that wasn't bright orange though.

[00:05:46] I don't know if I've gone for something else. Maybe they're going for the... If you put a high vis jacket on, you can get away with anything these days. Yeah, that's true. Apparently that's not something I do. Give us 50 quid mate. Yeah, maybe that was it.

[00:06:04] Take us back to the tour at Alpine. Do you remember anything more about what was inside? Was there any music being played? We had a family album that literally stayed with us for years and years to come. It was A-ha, it was the album.

[00:06:23] You can get it on Spotify now, the A-ha album. They never played the take on me. It wasn't that one. It was always the unknown songs that they were playing. The stuff that nobody ever heard of. Which is obviously ingrained in my memory now.

[00:06:41] Literally, I had this on tape and it went everywhere. It went from car to car to car to car. There were songs for every occasion on that album. I remember driving to Macro. It was a warehouse, one of those wholesaler warehouses.

[00:06:57] My mum had her own shop so she had a trade card. I remember driving there and the window wipers weren't working. This wasn't on the tour but this was on Cavalier. Driving there, the window wipers weren't working at all. Just chucking it down with rain.

[00:07:14] The most saddest song from A-ha was playing. I swear she kept rewinding it and putting it on repeat. She was properly depressed. I remember my dad driving, my mum was co-pilot. He was having to reach out and manually do the window wipers. Trying to move them. Oh, God.

[00:07:38] That album. There was that one and I always remember UB40. My dad absolutely loves UB40. He still to this day loves it. I always thought, random memory, but I always remember thinking that the lead singer looked like, I was envisioning looking like Jeremy Beedle

[00:07:57] and I don't know why. I have no idea why. That's such a random memory. It was those two albums that we listened to. But A-ha and there was a song called Touchy. If you ever get a chance, listen to Touchy. It's a catchy song even today.

[00:08:15] Give it a listen. It's quite nice that the A-ha album you had wasn't the mainstream thing in a way. I think I had a similar thing. My dad had this Queen album in the car. But it's not a well known one.

[00:08:29] I think it's the last album they did actually. All the songs on it are very rarely played anywhere. So when I say I don't mind Queen, it tends to be the more hidden stuff compared to all the stuff everyone associates with Queen.

[00:08:43] Sounds like a similar thing with the A-ha experience. I suppose we do it today really don't we? We always look out for unheard of songs and then as soon as they get commercial, we kind of stop listening to them. Maybe that's what it is.

[00:08:57] Some of the songs you would never have heard of to be honest with you. And are A-ha on your Spotify playlist now? Yeah, you know you can save the fact I still listen to them. So in my escort I still have a tape player.

[00:09:11] I don't have the tape anymore, but I have a cassette that has the auxiliary cable. And then I've got an adapter that goes to USB-C. So I plug my phone into my escort when I'm driving it and I listen to A-ha. When I'm out in the escort,

[00:09:28] I will listen to the old songs that I used to listen to. The other one is The Lighthouse Family. Oh nice, yeah. That's the classic. Yeah, yeah. My dad used to listen to that. There's a little fiesta, I always remember. You'd be out delivering pizzas

[00:09:43] and listening to The Lighthouse Family. It's like probably... Earning a crust. Yeah, that's it. Very good. The Lighthouse Family had a real hot street didn't they? And then they just sort of disappeared off the face of the earth it seems. They really did.

[00:09:55] I mean that album must have hit after hit. It might have been across two albums actually, I'm not sure. Yeah, cool. Music for me is a massive part of the driving scene. So obviously I love going out in my cars

[00:10:07] and it's what connects me from when it is to my childhood is the music that we were listening to in those cars. It just brings back so many memories. I think it's a very powerful tool, isn't it? So what came after the Talbot?

[00:10:21] You mentioned the Cavalier I think. Yeah, oh with few of those. So I remember after that one, I've got a list prepared. So the Talbot album, that was my dad's. And at the same time my mum had Monty, the Silver Austin Metro.

[00:10:36] They were the family cars for ages. And then I remember after that one we had the Escort, yeah the Mark III Escort. This one was a white one though. I remember it having, I thought it was possessed, because you turn the engine off

[00:10:53] and it would start itself back up without a key. It was brand new, this car. It was brand new from Ford. They took it back obviously and they changed it. But I remember, you'd leave it outside. My parents at the time didn't have a driveway

[00:11:08] so they'd park on the road and then go in and then you'd get a knock on the door and there would be someone saying, your engine's still running. And yeah we took that one back and swapped it for another one.

[00:11:21] So is that the red one that replaced it? Yeah, it was a maroon colour that we had. Yeah that was pretty cool. But that's so strange. Because I love Ford. I'm biased, so even that doesn't put me off. I would have figured out how to fix it.

[00:11:37] That would have been my thing. But I remember after that one we had an Orion. Okay. And this was for me the coolest car. It's still today, it was fantastic. It was a blue, it was like a mid-blue, two tones, you had the black bottom

[00:11:51] and then you had the mid-blue colour Orion 1.6 and it had a boot spoiler on it and I was like, that's the car I want. That's the car. Obviously I haven't got one of those but yeah that was just an incredible car. But actually when I look back now

[00:12:08] there was nothing to it really. It was such a simple car. Were your parents buying these new or from a garage I guess if the car went back? Well so the one new one that they bought was the white Mark 3S Corp

[00:12:20] I think it was like a 1.3 or something and then they took that back and then they swapped it and it wasn't many years after that they actually got rid of it and then they started buying your cheap stuff. I think they were burned from it

[00:12:34] and they were like, no we're not going to do that anymore because then after that we just had a car after coming, they didn't even last five minutes these cars, they'd get rid of them and back then cars were like 50 quid you know what I mean?

[00:12:46] It was easier to get rid of them but the list is quite a lot when I think about it. I've got some random ones for you. Now I don't know if you know anyone that ever had a Lada Samara. Have you ever heard

[00:13:00] of one of those? I don't think I have. It is a box on wheels. It's kind of a hatchback though isn't it? Almost like a three door coupe. Well it had a boot. It had a boot yeah. Okay. It was a mess, whatever it was

[00:13:14] and we had that. It was not popular at all. I believe as a child I'm just going to throw it out there. I lived two doors from the school and everybody saw what cars we had. There was no hide in it. What colour was it? Champagne.

[00:13:28] Champagne. What colour was it though? Yeah I think it was glittery beige. Oh it was a mess it was like bubbling in rust. Yes yeah. The roof had a big old sort of like dent in it where someone was obviously ran over it or something at some point.

[00:13:48] I don't even know how they got it. Where do you find those? I've just googled it. I do actually remember now that I see it I do remember these cars but the name doesn't ring any bells. No this is it. I remember the car very well

[00:14:02] because it was hideous and just it was so unpopular. It's quite a nasty looking thing. Was it a saloon or a hatchback? It was a saloon. Oh okay that seems like a rear model. There's a sporty one here that seems to have come across. Well it's sporty.

[00:14:16] And the headline underneath it is Lada Samara on the brink. That was true back then as well. But we had a lot of say random cars but like cheap cars. Metros, we had a lot of metros. My first car was a metro actually a G-Reg 1.3 beast

[00:14:36] of a car. Do you think they were just dying off Matt because well they're not just being serviced maybe. I'm thinking because cars were so cheap back then maybe just didn't bother with servicing and thought when it dies it dies

[00:14:48] and then I'll move on to the next culprit. My dad was very hands-on with cars. Was he? Yeah. Okay. He always used to fix cars. I mean I remember him taking like castor pieces in our garage that was sort of in our

[00:15:02] back garden at the time. And he was a tool maker so my dad was a tool maker for 30 years before he got replaced by like robots or whatever but he had every tool known to Matt so if he ever needed anything bespoke for fixing

[00:15:16] it he would make it and it would be like a one-off thing that he would create. That's cool. It was very clever but you know he was always hands-on with these cars but then I think because they were so

[00:15:26] cheap he just thought now screw it get another one. Whereas like my neighbors I was always envious of my next-door neighbors, Jim and Allison. They always had new cars and they were Ford. They were Ford people and I think maybe that rubbed off me as well. He

[00:15:42] always had Mondeos and he had Sierras as well at the time. They went from Sierra and when they died, they were always brand new at them and then he was always playing Genesis because he would wash his cars on his drive and he'd be

[00:15:54] listening to Genesis on a loudspeaker and yeah she always had little fiestas so maybe that's where it rubbed off from because I think it's in my veins the Fords. Do you recall your parents selling the cars? Were they going to scrap

[00:16:12] when they were finished with them or were they putting them in the paper or someone come and bought them? No, they put a sign in the window and they'll be gone. Where we lived so close to a school there was so much footfall so they'd sell really quickly.

[00:16:26] I don't think there was any car that we didn't sell actually. None of them went to scrap although there was one of mine went to scrap. I remember that because I was still living at home and I bought a stolen XR2i that I bought

[00:16:40] and I'm pretty sure that one would have gone to scrap because it was a mess and I didn't realise it was stolen by the way so the police took it. Oh no. Yeah that was a waste but that was a great car to be fair the old

[00:16:54] XR2i's. They work for a bit now don't they? They aged well haven't they I think? Yes, definitely. A run of metros? Yeah they had a Hillman Hunter I remember that one. That was a pretty cool car. One of the ones

[00:17:12] that he mentioned my dad was talking to about it is he absolutely loved his Cortina. That one in the picture that I sent you I'm not sure that because he said to me oh that's a Cortina I've looked at it I don't think that is what.

[00:17:26] I don't think the rear lights are Cortina. No, that's what I was thinking but he said to me oh yeah we had that and we had Cosmic alloy wheels that's what he kept on banging on. My dad's like 70 so you know I mean but he remembered the Reg

[00:17:40] and it wasn't that so he's obviously giving me false information there but he was like oh yeah it was that picture. So my dad is the one as you look to the picture he's on the left with the mustache he looks like Jimmy Greaves if you ever

[00:17:52] want to know what he looks like. For the benefit of the tape. Yeah, he supports Spurs as well he was up there the other week and he literally he could be like a lookalike. Really? Yeah, yeah everyone thinks he looks like him. He has hair in

[00:18:08] that picture so because he was a bit younger but now he looks. Is this the one that's in the garage? Yeah, in the garage. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what car that is because I don't the rear lights aren't right on that

[00:18:22] but then if you look at the on the boot it is kind of in pot on sort of Yeah, the rear fuel filler is quite forward as well isn't it for the the era but yeah we'll post it up we'll find

[00:18:34] out what it is. Yeah, I guess I'm going to find out what it is because it's bugging me now Could still be out there who knows? Well there's no information on the DVLA about it so if it is out there I suppose

[00:18:46] it's old enough not to drop off the books on it really maybe. Yeah. But he loved that car in the garage I remember that and then he had the I'd say he's marked to Cortina and then the reg on the Cortina wrap wrap 735G so

[00:19:00] if that's still out there I've no idea that probably ended up being scrapped but that one was his pride and joy because we used to always have a place with the garage so you could put his car in it. That was like the rule I said to Andy

[00:19:14] when I saw that picture obviously in the garage there's no way you get anything in that nowadays is there so small. It's so funny when you see an older car that's behind a Morris Miron the other day I said to the kids

[00:19:26] look at that car in front of us how small it is it literally looked like half the width of some of the modern stuff. It's incredible. Yeah so one of my cars is Triumph Herald. Okay yeah. And that is a diddy little car. Yeah.

[00:19:40] Yeah that's a tiny little thing doesn't weigh anything either. Yeah. And then yeah I was, my daily driver is a Nissan Xtrail so when I park behind it or I follow my wife when she drives when she because it's her car really because I love my

[00:19:54] Ford I'll stick with my Escort. Yeah. It's like I can barely see the car on it. It's so small. I think you really notice it. I want to go real sort of Nigel and Ken topic here but when you go into like a supermarket

[00:20:06] or an old style supermarket the bays are so small aren't they with the new cars but if you go into like a modernized freshly built one they're a bit more forgiving. Yeah yeah. I mean that's why I'm quite jammy though because I have a blue

[00:20:20] badge I've got MS so whenever I go out in my old cars obviously I take my blue badge with me and I'll put it in the window so I don't get the bays are incredibly big for me and my tiny little cars. Which is fantastic because

[00:20:38] I don't want anyone hitting there. Probably do a three point turn in one couldn't you? Probably yeah. Yeah. Oh this is crazy how big the cars are getting today and they only get bigger. Yeah. I think they're looking to start charging people with big cars more to

[00:20:54] park. I think that's the next thing they're looking to do. Yeah. I think there's been a bit of a campaign I don't know if it's recent but I've seen it going around more recently anyways like these big pick up trucks where the bonnet is

[00:21:06] like twice the size of a toddler and there's just no way you'll be able to see anyone. No. I guess it's just following the Americanized sort of way isn't it with their big trucks and whatnot. Yeah. The robes here aren't made for it though. Correct. Yeah. I've driven

[00:21:20] in America. I got married in Vegas so we had a Mustang 5 litre V8 Mustang and we drove all through off the beaten track up to San Francisco. Nice. And it was yeah the robes over there were just they're really big in comparison like yeah

[00:21:38] over here I mean driving up the same sort of car here yeah it's just not ideal. Take one to Devon you're probably going to get stuck pretty quickly aren't you in one of those little narrow yeah yeah not so long ago I had a higher

[00:21:52] car whilst my X-Trail was getting fixed at Nissan. They gave me a brand new Mercedes GLE it was a 450 thing it was a beast but we went over some whales in it and there were roads that I physically couldn't drive out in it and I had

[00:22:08] to reverse thank the Lord there was so many cameras on it because I almost drove it off the edge of like a cliff but it's fine. Honestly yeah they're so big and it's just a bit I don't know do you need it?

[00:22:24] Would have been fun handing that back wouldn't it with the man with the clipboard at the higher actually well at Nissan we're paying for it I wasn't Yeah our local Sainsbury's actually they've got kind of spaces between spaces they've kind of marked out sort of a door

[00:22:38] opening area. That's a good move which is sort of a I guess a sensible thing because no one looks when they open their door they just sort of kick them open and then wait for it to stop don't they? Yes. I'm sure

[00:22:50] in hospital car parks they make the bays deliberately small just to test the sort of people that aren't able to get out you know I've seen it before and waiting people just literally care free opening their door onto another door Oh that's

[00:23:04] massive. You sort of wince as you see it yeah I guess that's the way some people operate isn't it they just couldn't care less about other people's property or theirs. That's what you've got bumpers for True, true need to get some of those little

[00:23:18] things used to sell in that shop we used to work around in a little door protectors yeah yeah that's it reflective ones or like the little hands like the fingers which go round your boot lid They do actually they've started doing those on

[00:23:32] some of the newer Ford's actually as you open the door you get a thing that springs out that protects the door. Is that at the bottom of the door? It's kind of like on the side of it so it's kind of like well I suppose

[00:23:44] it's the bottom half of the door yeah it pops out as you open the doors as that could stop to stop it from pranging somebody else's car. Right, good idea I just think it's just going to leave a bigger dent if I'm honest but probably

[00:23:56] yeah but they have thought about it I think but yeah I suppose you have to be able to open the door in the first place to be able to use that yeah They'll just tell the absent minded owner that

[00:24:06] you've got that facility and then that just means they'll just push it with all four it's alright because it's got a pad on it yeah yeah I think but like I say when I was growing up my parents didn't care at all about door pranks I think their

[00:24:18] state of the cars that they ended up having wouldn't surprise me like they were guilty of doing that if I'm honest whereas I think car people they're so precious obviously they're so delicate when they open the car doors just because they're obviously conscious

[00:24:34] of other people's property in there I've had it when I've been sitting in the car and someone's opened it against and then they know that you're in the car and there's that awkward sort of did you say something?

[00:24:44] I think I gave them a bit of a glare you know but what can you do? It's not like they probably have like imprinted the smallest of things haven't they but it doesn't seem like one of those ones where you should be taking their details for it

[00:24:56] maybe you should I don't know I'll be out there that's what I'll be out there straight away I don't think they're anything too precious to be hit anymore so they can crack on so our daily drivers yeah not so much but my old cars yeah probably

[00:25:12] end up going to jail or something do you remember breaking down in any of these old bangers if they were buying kind of rubbish if you like oh yeah all the time and they never have breakdown cover or anything like that all

[00:25:26] the time we just sat at the side of the road cheating really isn't it breakdown cover yeah well I have it because literally I needed it the other week I broke down in the Herald that was fun nowadays I mean I can't go anywhere without breakdown

[00:25:42] like I had a brakes fail on me in the Escort a few years ago and I wasn't chanting that on the way home but yeah my parents they would just call somebody Richard who's the other guy in that picture in the garage

[00:25:56] he was well he was a panel Peter that's what he used to do but he would be the go-to guy that would come out and sort of help you like he'll get you back on the way and it would always be some kind of little bodge to get

[00:26:08] you back home kind of thing yeah so many times breakdown I remember the head gasket went on they had a little 1.1 Fiesta that popular was Tappet Special sewing machine well I own one of those my Mark 4 Escort is a machine but no I remember that breakdown

[00:26:30] it was just constantly overheating and he just bought us out a load of water so that we could sort of nurse it home like get back a bit further cool it down let it cool down for a bit fill it up with water carry on and you

[00:26:44] just literally you're getting must be there are you about two three hundred yards and you have to stop again took forever oh honestly did he have any restrictions in terms of like logistics of the distance that you'd be willing to actually travel to fix no

[00:27:00] no that's proper isn't it I remember we used to go on holiday in like Weymouth and Devon and all that sort of stuff yeah you'd just go for it we broke down all the time we had another was it Lee Sibley Andy whose dad's

[00:27:14] friend had a contact yeah his dad's mate yeah yeah you could just call up and say I'm four hours away and he'd be like well I'll see you in four hours and off he went that was basically what we had yeah amazing yeah

[00:27:26] it's like your own personal breakdown cover yeah paying with beer imagine the cost of that now calling someone out to yeah wouldn't be good it's two hundred quid in fuel before you've done enough and else yeah yeah a hundred pounds to take a deep intake of air

[00:27:44] I haven't got the part on board sorry yeah I listened to your podcast about the NEC by the way because I was up there okay yeah yeah that was really good I enjoyed all the different segments that you had the different people there was such a wide variety

[00:28:00] of people so that was really good but I was up there I saw a guy with the XR3i that you spoke to what was it he had it was for something I think he was from Ireland yes and he was telling you about his

[00:28:16] past that was pretty intense but I was like oh my god yeah Jim I think his name was he was a character I've got a photo of his car actually because obviously drawn to it you know but it was there that was quite fascinated to listen to actually

[00:28:30] I liked that show that you had such a wide variety of cars obviously practical classics clearly that weren't the norm I go to a lot of car shows as you probably do as well and you end up seeing a lot

[00:28:44] of the same thing yeah and I thought that that particular show there were cars I'd never even seen before in my life and I was quite fascinated at some of them to be honest with you there was a really really nice

[00:28:56] it was a little Fiesta Shell but it was the Healy one did you see that? A green one US one yeah yeah I was salivating over that one I wanted that but there was some amazing cars and there was another guy that I see he's got a Renault 10

[00:29:14] his name's Jeff and he does Facebook live streaming and he was there and I was having a good old look in his car because he's put like proper carpet in the floor on the headliner and that really strange but that's what I like about these old cars

[00:29:28] is that you can just do you can customise it can't you? Maybe it's one that you could take something down yourself one day yeah maybe I mean mine mine is a practical classic to be fair my Escort is a five door it's not

[00:29:42] popular because it's obviously five door but it's very practical my daughter gets in the back we go to the shows together we're going to one tomorrow actually yeah we're doing a heritage car show Detling Hill okay you know the showground I don't know if you're not from Kent

[00:29:58] I was born in Kent and I used to go up to shows around because my dad lived in Gillingham so I've been to Detling quite a few times I'm in Sibcarp which is Kent really as we both know not according to the mayor of London

[00:30:12] yeah no it's great in London yeah or London oh it's proper London where abouts are you Matt? I'm in Maidstone oh you're not far then yeah I used to work in Siddcup actually I wouldn't work there now though because none of my cars would be okay

[00:30:30] the Herald would be alright you're going for free in the Herald I used to work in Kingshill which isn't far from Kingshill yeah very nice yeah big old industrial site good pub there doing nice beer yeah I know the one Spitfiles I don't really go that way

[00:30:48] to be fair I think I had a half time Guinness there once in the office and walked back oh my god there's nowhere around there though is there must have been walking for ages no I walked back to the office I mean it literally is the only drinker

[00:31:06] yeah I think I've got more stuff now but it's more of a just a industrial stay yeah the benefit of the take I was well under the limit on that drive home yeah one of the other cars I was going to mention

[00:31:24] I wanted to give it a shout out was my dad's Vauxhall Nova Salute you don't see many nice two door or four door oh yeah it wasn't popular nice ones also in champagne oh nice they liked that colour it was a 1.3 little beast

[00:31:44] and it broke down like every other day running on champagne again won't they probably the irony of that is yeah my dad does like a drink so maybe that's what that was the hidden meaning wasn't it he was buying champagne towels to just say look

[00:32:02] I like a drink but champagne, cars and lemonade budget yeah very true he picked that up for about I think 75 quid or something you paid for it fantastic he made profit on it that was pretty good but they're popular nowadays not then though

[00:32:22] they're probably only popular now because you don't see many of them if there were still hundreds of them on the road would people kind of really care? that's why the reason the practical classic thing is so good is like you were saying Matt

[00:32:34] a lot of the cars that are there aren't sort of run on the mill and most of the ones that people go along and see they're probably sort of think oh so I saw one of them and remember going in that

[00:32:44] when I was a kid I think that's the beauty of going to a show like that in my opinion anyway yeah definitely yeah I know a lot of my friends had pretty much all of the rovers at one point like even the 75

[00:32:56] so yeah I thought it was quite good to see the rovers there and it wasn't just your you know your sportier versions it was quite nice I was quite impressed with that they weren't all perfect bodywork and that I really appreciated because it made me feel

[00:33:12] better about my situation with my cars I was like well these are in the NAC so it's obviously it's not that bad but it was quite nice to see that and it was nice to see like as I say the more generic models

[00:33:28] that aren't like it because the thing is I know a lot of people that have got RS Turbos and stuff and they are fantastic cars but they're like next level aren't they that kind of money and then like at what point do they start becoming individual

[00:33:42] yeah once you've seen one of those four of them or whatever in various colours they're also at a level where you can't do that much to them because they've now got the value in them like you've probably got either Cosworth wheels or sort of polished

[00:33:56] doglegs or whatever on them or back spokes and the interior is all going to be stock Recaro and it's all 90 spec body kit and you walk past one you walk past five and similar with VWs that I'm into kind of Mark 1, Mark 2

[00:34:10] Golfs apart from kind of a change of colour people do kind of just conform to that sort of style yeah BBS alloys lower it, Recaro's job done it looks great yeah don't get me wrong like yeah I'm not turning one down but yes when you do kind

[00:34:28] of walk down that sort of hole at the NEC and you just see kind of a real mixture of stuff it's like they've got a car park from the early 80s and just sort of emptied it out and just sort of spread it into the corners

[00:34:42] there is another show isn't there I think it's like a festival of the unexceptional that one appeals to me I don't know how far how long it will take me to get there though I'm not sure where that is located if you want to

[00:34:58] further north I think but run by Hagerty I think yeah okay yeah be cool if I don't know if anyone's already doing this but if they're not it's an idea for them if they did like the show like Practical Classics and then as you go

[00:35:12] in like the holes kind of stands and everything is kind of set in that era say you own like an 80s Ford you've got to dress like you're in the 80s and all the food could be sort of retro and

[00:35:26] obviously this is going to cost a lot to do so good idea no rush on it NEC but have you done Goodwood Revival John? No I haven't no oh yeah it's a bit like that that's probably as close as you'll get

[00:35:38] to it oh there was a show called Radwood as well which was sort of 80s 90s flavour where yeah people were dressed up in shell suits and yeah we're kind of going for it but yeah as a sort of experience yeah the revival's brilliant from

[00:35:52] that point of view I suppose 80s 90s would be more appealing because I've kind of lived and seen it but yeah the revival I guess because I'm not from that era I'd like to do it don't get me wrong but yeah probably not as

[00:36:06] much as a pull from itself you need to have money to go to that don't you? Go to the revival that's very true yeah yeah yeah yeah I went last year on the Friday the Friday's a

[00:36:16] little bit of a hidden secret which I don't want to tell everyone about still paying off the loan Andy for a burger you see all the cars going but there's not racing but about a third of the people go

[00:36:28] so you still see kind of the famous faces it's all sort of dressed up as so it's about 60 quid a ticket I think so it's it's a little bit lumpy but yeah it's quite the day yeah good fun that's a nice place to go

[00:36:40] as well afterwards isn't it if you want to go for drink and food up in Chichester yeah yeah let's spend all day there there's a show near me that's on a Sunday it's a vintage and retro show they have like Lindy Hop dancers

[00:36:54] and stuff so it's all classic cars and stuff and then they have these people doing all this sort of dancing and all in uniform and stuff and then so it's quite they really try and bring that that sort of atmosphere to the show which is pretty cool

[00:37:08] I trade there every year actually it's a local one made stone it's one of the greens and it's a really good show for a variety of cars as well you've got from like the 30s all the way up to sort of

[00:37:22] I don't think they go it's all pre 90s cars that's kind of got that that feel to it where they're trying to get everybody into sort of character which is quite nice but yeah it's not on that sort of scale I think you were looking at with

[00:37:36] you know I guess it's a sort of thing that the organizers could potentially say to people exhibiting this year we're sort of encouraging people who are coming to try and get into the era of what they're bringing I don't know something like that but

[00:37:54] I don't see why the NEC couldn't do that though because if I mean I think it was like was it 30 quid a ticket wasn't it I did on the Sunday and obviously you've got the people that are trading there they must pay an absolute fortune

[00:38:06] because those types of places charge hundreds and hundreds of pounds I reckon they could do it have like zones that are all 80s themed and then you go into the 90s I'd like a Max Power Steve you mentioned that on one of your earlier podcasts

[00:38:20] what was her name? Helen yeah she mentioned the Max Power stuff and obviously that's like I was in my prime at that point and that would be so cool if they did that I reckon I mean I don't know you've got contacts get in there and he has

[00:38:40] are you suggesting we put it on? yeah do it might be a bit of a stretch on the budget at this stage a couple of coffees it's going to be Dad's car con I've had to remortgage the house I think it's a really good idea

[00:38:54] so many people would be up for that I reckon I really do I think as you get a bit older you get stuff from your youth appeals doesn't it? whether you're looking at something on TikTok or whatever it is you do kind of jumps out at you

[00:39:12] when you see something old that triggers an old memory plastic bumpers plastic body kits and stuff over the top spoilers that just look ridiculous that's my scene I think maybe it just starts small maybe it is just a village green and it's like a picnic or something

[00:39:30] but the rule is you've got to dress to the era of your vehicle it could be anything from bringing a retro snack break away something like that, trio if you can find one it would be very tasty don't eat it because it's wet out of date

[00:39:48] probably end up spending more on the chocolate bar or snack day two cancelled due to huge amount of food poisoning involved that would be so cool though it could start that small you do it somewhere where there is a little bit of visibility where there's people walking around

[00:40:06] and you get 10, 20 cars together and then the next time I guess 50 cars turn up call it car marathon in a nod to the previous name of Snickers back in the day brand it like that as well that would be cool though

[00:40:24] well I don't know, I think we're on to something here could be business venture, there you go you got any money Matt? I just spent so much money on a steering rack from my escort because that's gone and they're rare as anything by the way

[00:40:44] trying to find one of those, I've just spent money on that I've just spent a grand on my boot lid that was going to cost £300 initially but then needed a tonne of welding I'm very poor and my wife hates me but it's she got any money

[00:41:06] not anymore, no well actually to be fair she's got more than I have she doesn't spend it on anything like any car related stuff I just pay for her MOT and everything she's got me well trained I think

[00:41:20] I don't know how much can you get for a kidney? got checked recently I'll sell one of those one previous owner full of service history imagine if you could do that with body organs but it would be a little bit like just tapping on your phone to pay

[00:41:42] so it would be connected to donor card and you just tap your phone to pay and they're like yeah that's one kidney sir and you just tap that and you're like yep that just knocks it off your donor card

[00:41:52] at some point you've got to give a kidney to that company, this is a bit random sorry there's a film like this isn't there repo men or something and they're like really? yeah I'm pretty sure this is similar to a film where they get artificial

[00:42:06] things to replace there they sell their organs I don't know why I'm on those lines could be in a sort of magazine you find W.H. Smith a bit like auto or the abbreviations for sort of one previous owner smokes a little bit on start up, lungs

[00:42:24] non drinker ten fingers and ten toes, there's money everywhere okay let's wrap it up alright, it's getting a bit random and I probably ought to do some work thank you very much for joining us Matt it's been good fun, thanks Matt yeah all the best, you too

[00:42:45] thank you for your support as well cheers mate cool it's good fun wasn't it yeah took a bit of a twist didn't it I quite like the idea of having some sort of retro dress up picnic that would be quite funny Goodwood is definitely a really cool event

[00:43:03] on a slightly smaller more affordable scale I suppose Goodwood has got everything going for it in terms of holding an event from the bargain era with racing and all that sort of stuff it's kind of ready to go isn't it you just need the people there

[00:43:17] yeah but they build fake shops, they had a whole fake Tesco's one year that they built with all kind of retro products in it and everyone dresses up they've shipped steam trains in and things like that before, it's mad

[00:43:29] the amount of money they spend there to do it yeah just the whole kind of feel and vibe is just really cool yeah one for the bucket list I should do it, it's crazy that I haven't done that one actually, I've done obviously

[00:43:41] but I felt with that one once you've done it, I'm not really inclined to do it again and also the way that cars I think last time I went there when the cars were sort of motoring around it all just seemed like they sounded the same

[00:43:53] not necessarily looked the same but that engine though is very of the modern stuff anyway, it's kind of seems a bit generic these days but I suppose I'm a bit of a dinosaur in that respect yeah yeah it's worth considering

[00:44:07] I've got to look at tickets, I'll go with my brother I'll let you know what the damage is yeah yeah, keep me posted so yeah, good to have Matt on some nice stories of some bangers a rock through the windscreen pretty scary, yeah that's not nice to hear

[00:44:21] no, unless it's a fish, but it was actually a stone yeah, nice shout out for AHA yeah I was waiting for someone to do the partridge AHA but it didn't land oh okay, do you want to give it a crack? AHA just a light one AHA

[00:44:43] he'd be a great guest I'm sure he would, he might be a little bit out of our league at the moment, we'll see we'll add him to the in right, fix the button line up, balance partridge good to get Matt on

[00:44:55] yeah he's a really talented artist as well so he's got some good stuff, look him up as he gave his details earlier, if you want a picture of your car etc always good to hear a bit of forward action isn't it, especially when there's one

[00:45:05] that just starts itself with no one being near it as well yeah, like the Herbie of Blue Oval Vehicles yeah, yeah I'll be the Josh of that on so yeah some good stories, good to get him on anything we need to shout out

[00:45:27] we did, actually which will go out before or after this, we did our first podcast in person didn't we? we did our first podcast, sit down wasn't completely without technical glitches no we got 20 or so minutes in and discovered the machine switched off so we started again

[00:45:43] we did record it for film as well yeah, be good to get that together at some point yeah it was good fun yeah hopefully that will pave the way for a few more of those a little bit like the NEC's paved the way for

[00:45:55] kind of events, hopefully we'll do a few more of those as well yeah certainly yeah with a bit of luck, a little bit closer to home that isn't sort of north of Watford yeah, so if you know of anything shout, if you want us to come to your

[00:46:07] event give us a call or an email or whatever okie dokie, thank you very much John been good fun, alright mate see you later roll the credits Thanks you for listening to My Dance Cart I hope you enjoyed the show please support us buy us a coffee

[00:46:27] and subscribe and tell all your friends