Tag: shahzad sheikh

Toyota UK’s Hidden Heritage Fleet Walkaround: Icons, Oddballs and a £777 Time Machine

A rare behind the scenes tour of Toyota UK’s hidden heritage fleet packed with icons, oddities and unforgettable automotive treasures

Some days in this job make you grin like a kid who has just found the secret stash of sweets hidden away for Eid. My visit to the Toyota Media Experience Centre in Crawley did exactly that. I walked in expecting a few classics tucked into a corner. What I found was a warehouse of wonders containing everything from a Lexus LFA to an Corona time capsule to a Prius that survived a cross continental rally.

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When the Years Catch Up: A Birthday Reflection

A raw, witty confession about relevance, resilience and refusing to be scrapped, even when the suspension’s a bit knackered and the engine is spluttering!

Gotta be honest. I’m starting to feel it. It’s my birthday today. I’m 57 years old. Five, seven. Fifty-seven. How did that happen? When? Surely that’s an admin error. A typo someone forgot to correct.

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The Future We Promised Ourselves – And Why We’re Not at Warp Yet

Shahzad Sheikh staring at the Starship Enterprise from a shuttlecraft window
I’ve always loved Star Trek for its vision of a hopeful, united, intelligent humanity. But as the USS Enterprise prepares to warp into the future, I can’t help but wonder – have we stranded ourselves in the past?

Stardate: Right-Here-Right-Now

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved Star Trek. Not because of the phasers, photon torpedoes, or the occasional red-shirt casualty (though let’s be honest, those were fun too). No – it was the future it promised. A future built on intellect, compassion, curiosity, and progress. A future where humanity finally grew up, stopped arguing about nonsense, cured disease, ended hunger, explored the stars – and had the decency to put cup holders on shuttlecraft.

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The NEC Classic Car Show 2025 – A Treasure Trove of Metal, Mayhem and Mind-Blowing Prices

From a HEMI-swapped Datsun to a nut & bolt Charger win and a pristine ’78 Corolla with 23k miles – the iconic halls of the NEC delivered one of the most eclectic classic-car weekends in years

Let me pull you into it: vast halls, thousands of gleaming machines, petrol and polish in the air – that was the vibe inside the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show 2025 at the The NEC Birmingham. I wandered the aisles with my good mate Sy (Founder of Drivers Union), trying to take it all in: club stands, traders, rare models, and some genuinely wild builds. It’s a show that doesn’t just showcase classics – it celebrates them with a roar.

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Is Zohran Mamdani Anti-Car? What New York’s Motorists Need to Know

The Mayor doesn’t drive, but he’s steering New York’s future – and motorists might not like where the road’s heading

When a man who doesn’t even drive becomes the Mayor of New York City, you just know things are about to get interesting. Zohran Mamdani’s victory has made waves across the world – not just because he’s the first Muslim, first brown and first African-born mayor in NYC’s history, but because he represents something much bigger: a changing philosophy about how cities are built, who they serve, and – crucially for us car lovers – whether there’s still space for motorists in the urban future.

Now, before you reach for your pitchforks or your petrol can, let’s take a calm, and rational look at what this actually means for drivers.

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Cars & Coffee: The Dangerous Habit Ruining Your Driving Focus!

That extra coffee might wake you up, but it could also be wrecking your driving focus – here’s why caffeine behind the wheel isn’t always your friend

Coffee – it’s the legal performance enhancer that fuels early mornings, late nights and long motorway hauls. Most of us can’t even start an ignition, let alone a working day, without one. But here’s the shocker – too much caffeine might actually make you a worse driver. According to a new UK survey, 11 million drivers regularly exceed the safe daily caffeine limit of 400 milligrams – that’s about two barista coffees, four cups of tea, or five cans of energy drink. Go over that, and you might start to feel like you’ve traded your steering wheel for a fidget toy.

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PODCAST: Ghosts, Gearboxes & Great Stories – Is Car Journalism Dead or Just Rebooted?

BCG Therapy Session Podcast with Jeff Bailey & Imthishan Giado

Somewhere between haunted roads, electric cars, and the eternal fight between influencers and journalists, a very honest discussion broke out. In the latest BrownCarGuy Therapy Session Podcast, I was joined by Jeff Bailey – long-time motoring writer, serial car buyer, and author – and Imthishan Giado, my partner-in-crime from our Car Middle East and Motoring Middle East days. We didn’t plan to solve the mysteries of the universe, but somewhere between the nostalgia and the banter, we might just have done that – or something…

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Is the Chancellor About to Scrap the 40-Year Classic Car Exemption?

Are They Coming for Our Classics? – The Chancellor’s Bonkers Plan to Tax Heritage!

Rumour has it the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is preparing to scrap the 40-year tax exemption for classic cars – and if true, it could be one of the daftest economic moves in decades. Because make no mistake – if this goes ahead, you won’t just be taxing old motors. You’ll be taxing passion, history, and an £18-billion-a-year industry that already contributes around £3 billion in taxes annually to the Treasury.

That’s right. The same government that loves to preach about “protecting heritage” might soon be taxing it to death.

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Ageing Out or Levelling Up? Why Older Workers Still Matter

Approaching 57, I ask if age really sidelines us – or if experience, insight and resilience make older workers more essential than ever

In just a couple of months, I’ll be 57 years old. And honestly? Some days, I feel it. The knees creak more than they used to, the waistline’s trying to sneak past the speed limit, and let’s not even mention how often I forget what I came into the room for.

Now… where was I? Oh yes… Professionally, too, the landscape has shifted. There’s less work floating around, fewer calls coming in, and a niggling voice that asks: maybe I’ve had my time. Maybe I really am edging towards my sell-by date.

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