#BrownCarGuy – News, Views & Reviews!
Picture it: rows of gleaming chrome, that nostalgic smell of petrol and leather, and the unmistakable chatter of classic car fans, congregating around an open bonnet outdoing each other with facts and trivia. It’s the NEC Classic Motor Show, a slice of paradise for any petrolhead. But as Ralph Hosier and I walked the halls this year, an unsettling thought crept in – could we be witnessing the last breaths of classic car culture as we know it?
When we talk about the future of motoring, sustainable fuels spark some serious debate. Are they genuinely viable alternatives, or just a faux “green-washed” stepping stone? Recently, I had the chance to catch up with David Richardson of Coryton and Sustain at the St James Motoring Spectacle. We tackled the key questions and concerns that both EV fans and petrolheads have raised, looking into the feasibility, practicality, and cost of sustainable fuels for everyday use and classic car preservation. Let’s break down the conversation and see where sustainable fuels stand in today’s petrol-versus-EV-versus-biofuel world.
Some of you are going to hate this post. I get it – you’re petrolheads, purists, the warriors of the rev counter, who scoff at the idea of “silent but speedy.” But here you are. You clicked, didn’t you? And I see you… thanks for hanging about.
In this podcast I’m catching up with my mate Kirpal Singh Randhawa, founder of West London Classics, the car club that’s gone from a small group of petrolheads getting together to chat about carburettors, to one of the most significant forces in London’s car community!
The ULEZ scrappage scheme in London was meant to help clean up the city’s air by encouraging the removal of older, more polluting vehicles from the road. But for classic car lovers like myself, it’s heart-wrenching to see future collectibles and cherished cars crushed before their time. To uncover exactly what has been lost, I submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Transport for London (TfL) to find out which cars were scrapped in the most recent ULEZ scheme. Today, I got my answer.
Big Brother – you know, the iconic and voyeuristic reality TV experiment – is back this weekend. I won’t be watching. It was fascinating when it first aired 24 years ago, but now it’s just a tired rehash of a formula that’s been worked to death and beyond. What did catch my attention, though, were the hype-building adverts on ITV, featuring mice in a maze – or rather, in a miniaturised version of the Big Brother house.
Continue reading “Are We Mice in a Maze? “
Brace yourself, because the truth about British driving is more alarming than an Audi RS6 tailgating you an the M40. According to a new survey commissioned by Isuzu, as many as 15% of UK motorists freely admit they’re terrible drivers. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a shocking 4% confess they’re an actual danger on the roads! You know what, if you’re in that 4%, maybe it’s time to hang up the keys and take up walking. Better yet, stay at home. Just saying.
Cars can be weird, can’t they? One minute, they’re the laughing stock of the motor world, and the next, everyone’s fighting to get their hands on them. It’s like the fashion world: one day you’re wearing double denim and getting strange looks, the next, you’re a style icon (now apparently). That’s what’s happened to these cars – they were once the butt of jokes, but now they’re rolling down the street with their heads held high, basking in the glow of admiration and nostalgia.
Some cars hit the road with a roar straight off the assembly line. They turn heads and get people salivating and dreaming. They’re the stars of the showroom, the envy of the Joneses. However, over time, a few start to lose the lustre and begin to fade. They don’t hold up as well as first thought, and before you know it, those would-be automotive legends become the has-been also-rans that are best left forgotten. Unfortunately for you, I’m about to dredge them back up. Yup, let’s talk about the cars that went from cool to cringe – the motors that lost their spark as the miles piled on.
Despair and desperation; a beckoning whirlpool void of emptiness that entertains no hope, no redemption, and certainly no mercy. Allow yourself to slide down that funnel and life leaves you even as you go on living a nightmarish nothingness. To find the motivation, mood or momentum to escape the despondency requires a Herculean effort to punch through your own chest and jolt the heart out of its defeated dimming. It’s almost impossible.
Continue reading “The Cruel Tyranny of the Mind”