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Bangers and Cash - Season 13 - Episode 03: Lotus Carlton Turbo/TR7 Special Edition
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00:04On sale this week.
00:07Triumph TR7, here we go.
00:09As far as we're aware, it's one of a limited edition run.
00:12I like them, they're different.
00:13Would I have one over an MGB?
00:16Do you know what, I probably would,
00:17because they're different, aren't they?
00:19But then I wouldn't...
00:20I wouldn't fight you for it.
00:22Fairground Dodgham Camp, there we are.
00:24Interesting bit of kit.
00:26If I'd have taken that in, it would have been,
00:28what have you taken a heap of rubbish in like that for?
00:31Now, who is going to buy that?
00:33Well, who's going to buy one of them?
00:35You're not exactly going to dodge anything.
00:37You're going to dodge them with one of them, are you, really?
00:402004 Lotus Elise, the 111R Touring.
00:43Now, this is a nice car, this.
00:44I don't know if there's a correct procedure.
00:47What am I, a 25 and even I'm struggling to get in and out of it.
00:50The Lotus Colton, an absolute star of a car there.
00:53One of my favourite all-time cars.
00:54We couldn't understand why he didn't tell an Aston Martin or something.
00:59I'd have kept that.
01:04The Matthewsons, a dynasty of classic car auctioneers.
01:0955.
01:10The joys of an auction.
01:12Most people will go to a sale with something in mind,
01:14but come away with something different.
01:16The fun is the chase.
01:17We'll have a look and we'll advise you from there.
01:19You just don't know what's on the end of the phone,
01:21what you're going to find when you open them doors.
01:24This is a family's love affair with motors that have lived a life.
01:28Testing, testing.
01:29Most people will buy a car because they can relate to it.
01:32Maybe a car that Dad had.
01:34You're selling dreams.
01:35Right, here we go.
01:44I was trying to think what was in the charts when I was 21.
01:48I was saying like Agadoo or something.
01:50My Dad said to me,
01:51you can either have an 18th or 21st or a deposit for a house.
01:54What did you go for?
01:55C.
01:55I got a watch for my 21st.
01:58A jewellery.
01:59A leather handbag.
02:01A gold Kate Spade watch.
02:03A gold sovereign necklace.
02:05So not a hedge trimmer.
02:07Oh, who got a hedge trimmer?
02:10Because the current hedge trimmer,
02:13the cord that goes to the hedge trimmer,
02:15is almost like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
02:18She cut through the cord of the previous hedge trimmer.
02:21Yeah, we've got snip, snip,
02:24electrocution.
02:25Yes.
02:26We can only actually cut the hedge if it's very close to the plug.
02:29Because the cord's only about that long now.
02:31So basically you've bought her this so she can see her 22nd.
02:35Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:36Love that.
02:37That's what I always wanted.
02:39I thought the safest thing is going to be a battery one, isn't it?
02:42Safety first, I guess.
02:43Is it what you always wanted?
02:45Yeah, of course it is.
02:46I mean, it comes in handy, doesn't it?
02:48My other half threatened this morning to buy me an iron for my birthday.
02:52And where's he living now?
02:54In the garden.
02:56Does he want a hedge trimmer?
02:57He might need one.
03:07Over the last couple of years I think we have done three or four events at the circuit at Anglesey.
03:14And we like it very much.
03:16As far as racetracks and all the rest of it, Charlie does well at Anglesey.
03:20We are going round the corner to pick up two cars.
03:25One is a Lotus Carlton.
03:26They're at my end's teeth and well regarded.
03:30They were Vauxhall's version to the Sierra Cosworth, weren't they?
03:32There's very few of them.
03:34Very few come on the market and even fewer come through here.
03:38So me and Charlie are going tomorrow.
03:40Looking forward to a day in a nice warm cab, to be honest, because it's freezing.
03:52I try to think what John's thinking at this moment.
03:55And my sister's coming to that.
03:57They're probably turning in their graves.
03:59Yeah, oh yes.
04:00That's why the weather's like it is probably.
04:03In Anglesey, Philip Owen and his wife Keris are saying farewell to two family heirlooms.
04:09Both cars belong to Philip's brother-in-law, John Brown, who was married to Philip's sister, Pat.
04:17He was a petrolhead.
04:18Yes.
04:19Formula One was his thing, really.
04:21Their annual holiday was four days in Silverstone for the F1 Grand Prix.
04:27And they'll be left to me.
04:29We don't know what to do with them, so we'll have to get rid of them, won't we?
04:35Sell them.
04:35Sell them, yes.
04:37We've got the Lotus Carlton, first registered in 1992, which John bought in 2000.
04:47It's only done about just over 19,000 miles.
04:50And then the Lotus Elise, which is an 04 plate, which John purchased from you.
04:57Do they have any interest to you?
04:59No, not to me personally.
05:00I wouldn't drive them.
05:02So we couldn't understand.
05:03Why didn't I have an Aston Martin or something?
05:06I'd have kept that.
05:09Yes.
05:11The Lotus Carlton might be worth close to mine.
05:14Probably.
05:15Yes.
05:16We looked on the internet, and they're selling between 50,000 and 100,000.
05:23Back in the 80s, ambitious Steve from Accounts Live was, well, a bit tedious.
05:28He dreamt of playing polo, having a big moustache and a Ferrari 308 GTB.
05:34However, instead of a red prancing horse, Steve's company car was a blue My Little Pony.
05:39A Vauxhall Carlton.
05:40Sensible and spacious.
05:43But then Lotus had an idea.
05:45They used sensible and spacious and filled it full of dials, perforated leather, and
05:50a 3.6 litre engine with 24 valves, and two turbochargers.
05:55It made no sense, but it was faster than a Ferrari.
05:59At its top end of 180 miles an hour, it was quicker than anything the boys in blue had,
06:04making the Lotus Carlton an instant hit amongst criminal gangs, ram raiders, and car thieves.
06:10The Daily Mail and police chiefs campaigned for a ban,
06:13and the car's advertising was condemned in Parliament.
06:18But despite the controversy the Vauxhall Lotus Carlton lived on,
06:22Steve might never have his Ferrari, but this was almost better.
06:31Once he'd bought a car, a few days later he'd turn up at hours when he'd come for a spin.
06:38Unfortunately, Philip couldn't fit in the yellow one, so I had to go.
06:43I didn't want to go.
06:45Had a spin round, and then I couldn't get out of it.
06:50Philip couldn't get in, you couldn't get out.
06:54They're not practical cars, even though I'm sure the grandchildren would love to go in them.
07:09Sending Dave into raptures, a guilty pleasure from British Leyland.
07:14I love a maxi. So I just said to Mick, where's the keys for that maxi?
07:18Gonna have to have a look.
07:20Well, it was good enough for John Lennon, before he crashed it into a ditch in the Scottish Highlands, of
07:25course.
07:26I'm more excited about this than I am any RS Cosworth or whatever it might be, yeah.
07:31Why?
07:31I don't know. I'm a weirdo, aren't I?
07:34I love a maxi. I've never owned one.
07:36Did your dad have them or what?
07:37No, not really. He used to hate them. Everyone hated them.
07:38Nobody liked them.
07:40Now, Dad used to sell them, I think, back in the day.
07:42But, I mean, we're talking in the 70s when I was still, you know, in single digits.
07:45And when I started to take, obviously, a real interest in work, it was in the 80s.
07:49But by the early 80s, there was none of these left.
07:52They'd all rotted away.
07:53They'd have been made a few weeks earlier.
07:55But it's so clean and straight inside.
07:58Plant pot colour interior and ear-in-aid beige outside.
08:01You ticked it, haven't you?
08:02Yeah, she likes gardening, so the terracotta plant pot interior suits her.
08:05He's as deaf as a post, so the ear-in-aid beige goes with that.
08:08It's win-win, isn't it?
08:09It's done a mere 74,000 miles. It's amazing it's still with us.
08:12You can't even see where the ignition is.
08:14And yet everybody else has the ignition here.
08:16You know, or here.
08:17Somewhere obvious where you can just go like that and you can see going in.
08:20Oh, no, no, not Maxi.
08:21Let's hide it down here somewhere out the way.
08:23And once you'd passed the find-the-ignition initiation,
08:27there was the bonnet baptism.
08:29There was no doubt we'd have hit in the bonnet pool somewhere.
08:32That's why it's probably in a boot like they did with the MG.
08:34Who in their right mind puts a bonnet pool in the boot?
08:39Oh, no.
08:40It'd have been a lot easier if we just put a button there, wouldn't it?
08:42Save a lot of time.
08:44Ah, there she is.
08:46Yeah, let's hide it behind the fog light switch.
08:48It's a good idea, isn't it?
08:49Ah, yeah, look at that.
08:50Ah, she's lovely.
08:50Still got the cover on.
08:51It's unusual.
08:53Normally that would have been thrown away in anger.
08:55There'll be quite a lot of them in hedgebacks up and down the old A1, I would think,
08:58because as it broke down at the side of the road, you rip that off.
09:01And the first thing you do, don't you, because the missus is shouting at you and saying,
09:04you should have bought a Cortina.
09:05Why did you buy a Maxi?
09:07So in anger, you pull that off, don't you?
09:09And that goes whoosh, doesn't it, into the cornfield.
09:12And then you find out why she won't go.
09:14Yeah.
09:15I'm amazed it's still here.
09:16But we love them, don't we?
09:17And I genuinely do like my two.
09:19And this is a two.
09:20This is the updated version.
09:22Yeah, this is the pinnacle of Maxi's.
09:25I would think that car's probably three or four thousand quid.
09:28And to get you into the classic car movement for three-ish thousand quid.
09:32Do you know what?
09:32I'd rather put three thousand quid into that than I would nine thousand quid into the Cortina.
09:52In Pickling, it's a big coit kind of morning.
09:55And the early ancestors of the pre-heat function are defrosting the old-fashioned way.
10:03And while the two Jacks are sprucing up the truck for its journey south,
10:07its driver has more pressing matters.
10:10I'm trying hard to get through this Christmas cake, I'll tell you now.
10:14I'm a little disappointed because it's been in there now, from what I can see, for about a fortnight.
10:18It don't really seem to be going down that much.
10:20So it's down to me to make the effort to be sure that it does.
10:23Well, whilst you're enjoying yourself, the lobs are out there cleaning your van.
10:27Good. They should be.
10:28Exactly what they're here for.
10:30If only you get a panda of me, I'm going to show you,
10:32somebody's not fully aware of that.
10:33That's a struggle.
10:35I keep telling them, but they don't listen.
10:36I'm off to Bingley to meet a lovely guy who's got a TR7,
10:41which is in British Leyland sort of racing livery,
10:44like Union Jack, Red, White and Blue and all that sort of stuff.
10:46I'm really looking forward to it.
10:48Very knowledgeable, very clever guy.
10:50Used to be involved with Skoda Rallying.
10:52He's no-one's full. I'm quite optimistic about it.
10:56It's lovely cake.
10:57I won't eat any more of this. Just this last bit.
11:00We'll have a bit of a natter, that's what it did.
11:02We'll just chew the fat, and then hopefully,
11:04there'll still be a big lump of that cake left later.
11:08When I'll come back.
11:19Paul and Charlie's father-son road trip has brought them to Anglesey
11:23to pick up an almost mythical British supercar,
11:26alongside its sporty protégé.
11:30Hi. How are you? Hi, Philip. Hi, I'm Paris.
11:33Couple of lotuses, then, have we? Yep.
11:35Mmm, with soft tyres.
11:37Have they both been stood ten years? Yep.
11:39Right, well, ten years, we shan't be trying to start them.
11:42They're on trickle feed. All right, OK.
11:44Yeah, well, obviously, this one will be out first,
11:46and then the big one, yeah.
11:48Right, Charlie, I'd never be surprised if it started.
11:53Steady away. Woo-hoo! First time.
11:55First one. Let's hope this one does the safe.
11:58That surprised you, didn't it? It did.
12:00It did. Yeah. It did.
12:04Yeah, go on.
12:05The first job in hand, loading the 2004 OEs.
12:08Every time you block a street, innit? Every time.
12:12Right, Charlie.
12:15Just right a smidgen.
12:18Now, left a bit.
12:20A bit? Yeah.
12:24I'm not the biggest lad in the world.
12:27Sorry to keep you.
12:29It's so slow, innit?
12:29Whenever you block a road,
12:31someone wants to be in our out, don't they?
12:32You know?
12:33And then the next one out is a Lotus Colton.
12:35Can't find Lotus Coltons, can you?
12:37You don't see them, you can't find them.
12:39So, very special car.
12:40We're hoping it's going to start much the same as this one did.
12:43And it's raining.
12:44Of course it is.
12:45It's Wales, what do you expect?
12:48Sorry about the weather.
12:49Well, you're used to it, aren't you?
12:51Or Charlie will have them.
12:52I've got his gloves on them.
12:56And obviously cherished it.
12:58Oh, yes.
12:59This was the baby.
13:01Don't want to put too much in them.
13:03They may well be perished where they've been sat.
13:07Yeah, aye.
13:08You've had something in it, look.
13:10Had a little Mickey, haven't we?
13:11Yeah.
13:12Looks like it is.
13:13She's getting ready to run, though.
13:17I hope it's gone now.
13:19Because I'll be running with you.
13:21But fortunately, it doesn't look as though anything's been nibbled, does it?
13:24Give it a try, mate.
13:26Oh, look.
13:28Found a cassette.
13:30And all it says is play loud.
13:35Right, pack's on.
13:37Smells of stale fuel.
13:38Oh, OK.
13:39But it's not seized.
13:40It turns over.
13:41Just changed the fuel.
13:42There you go.
13:43Yeah, that's what it wants.
13:50She's actually quite free.
13:51Yeah, remarkably free.
13:52Keep going, you're right.
13:58That'll do.
14:01Oh, if you had one of these, you'd made it, hadn't you?
14:03These would have come out in competition, I suppose, with the Sierra, wouldn't they?
14:08You see them all sorts, don't you?
14:09Somewhere between 60 and 100, don't you?
14:11Depending on what they are.
14:12I wouldn't be surprised to see it do 75, 80 grand.
14:15I'd much rather one of them than a Ford.
14:17Every day.
14:21Ballpark.
14:22What did Dad say?
14:23What did you say?
14:24I haven't yet, because I haven't been watching them.
14:26Just put them on your phone and see what the last ones have done.
14:28Well, they've all done 20 plus.
14:31So I'm going to say 20k plus.
14:33Yeah, I thought it would do sort of, yeah, mid to late teens.
14:37I think the Elise on the top is a real genuine example.
14:42I think the fact that it started up the first turn of the key
14:45and now after 10 years kind of says it all, really.
14:47The presence of it is bonny and that's what people like.
14:50This was more of a family, older man's car,
14:53but with the Lotus twist on it,
14:56which obviously made it so much rarer and everybody wanted one.
14:59But with it being Vauxhall, I don't think it took off as much as the Ford,
15:03which is probably why there isn't so many of them now.
15:06And six-speed Fox, they're just brilliant.
15:09I think it will cause a lot of interest.
15:10It's quite exciting to see what it does really, isn't it?
15:15Cheers, Charlie.
15:16Bye.
15:24My father had a cinema, but when I came out of the RAF,
15:28my father wouldn't let me project films again.
15:31He said the cinema was going downhill because it was 1965
15:35and everyone had bought themselves blinking televisions, hadn't they?
15:39So you said go and get a proper job and you ended up in the motor trade?
15:42I did.
15:43In Bingley, retired garage boss Paul Wooding remembers a lifetime spent with cars.
15:50So, in Bradford, you set up a Skoda dealership?
15:53Yeah, I was the first one.
15:55The first one?
15:56Yeah, I brought Skoda into Bradford.
15:58That was 1971.
15:59And you were selling Skoda and other vehicles, aren't you?
16:03And classic cars, yes.
16:05Classic cars.
16:06I loved classic cars, but I wasn't selling the price that,
16:10obviously the fetching nowadays, they were very cheap.
16:14E-types, £350, £400.
16:16You'd cry at night.
16:19How did you come to get hold of a Lombard edition TR7?
16:25It was my wife, she just loved it, and so that was keeping my wife happy.
16:31I bought that TR7 in 1993, did quite a bit of work on it, put it onto electric fans and
16:39various things, and I put it on the road in 1995.
16:42It's been on the road over 30 years with us.
16:46With Derek winging his way towards Bingley.
16:49Um, sat in there, said I'd be there, if I possibly can.
16:52Yeah.
16:53I'm sorry I'm running a little bit late, but...
16:55Oh, it's alright, it gives me a bit of time.
16:57Paul's friend, Chris, is lending a helping hand with the TR7 removal.
17:03Chris, when was the last time Paul used this car in anger, do you think?
17:07The last time I remember being at a show with Paul was 2019, Burley and Wharfdale Cricket Club.
17:13It's not the easiest car to get in and out of, as you've seen from me, and it's impossible for
17:18Paul sadly now to do it.
17:20So, time for the car to go, find a new home, and hopefully somebody else will enjoy it.
17:30It's browsing day, and the maxi is sparking a journey down memory lane.
17:35We had had some really good times driving maxis, but also we've had times where you're going down the road
17:42and all you can see is this grey smoke coming out the back.
17:47But it's got us out of one or two fixers.
17:49We had a tent blow down in Wales, and we'd got two German Shepherds with us, and it was pitch
17:57black, so we all got in the maxi.
17:59The seats folded down into a double bed, and we slept there the night, and we were all fine, and
18:04we could hear people banging away on tent pegs,
18:07because the tents were blowing down here, there and everywhere, and we were all toasty in the maxi.
18:13A good solid car as well.
18:16When we were in a flat floor pan, you didn't get that much rust on them.
18:19I love driving it.
18:21So if we don't get the cars we've come to look at...
18:24You might even end up with a maxi.
18:34The wheels are spinning, the dogs are begging, and that means it's auction day.
18:39Part three, ready chopper, get your chopper out, look at that, mirrors, eh?
18:43Yeah, tiger tail.
18:44240, stop at here.
18:46Third and last time, stop at here.
18:48240, thank you very much.
18:511980, Austin Maxi.
18:53Oh, we're the old girl.
18:55Maxi 2.
18:57Third and last time, 3,100.
19:01A good show car at a bargain price.
19:05Exactly £1,250 depreciation in just 45 years.
19:09Cue the advert that predicted the maxi's inflation-beating powers.
19:33Lovely old car, picked them up yesterday and they got filthy.
19:36Thought, well, we'll just give them a wash off.
19:38And then I'll do a photo and video and things in a minute,
19:41and then that's that one done.
19:43And that one, and that one, and that one.
19:46Behind every hammer down are hours of hard graft,
19:50from polishing and preening to photographing and filming the hundreds of cars.
19:56Very often, you buy whatever it is you're going to look at
19:59from ten foot away, don't you?
20:01As you walk up to it, you already know in your head, really,
20:04whether it's one for you or not, whether you really want it or not.
20:07But the very fact that you've taken the time to go and see said item
20:10tells me that you're interested in it, so you're halfway there, aren't you?
20:13And if you present it correctly,
20:15there's no reason why it shouldn't then tick all the boxes, really.
20:21And inside, the king of speed has spotted the Elise.
20:25They're a nice sporty little car, aren't they?
20:28Money was no object.
20:29It'd be nice to have one in the collection just to say you've got one,
20:32and it's a real fun, sporty driving car,
20:34what you might use once in a blue moon.
20:36If you were to go on a track and drive it properly,
20:38I bet they're fantastic.
20:40Would I want to use one every single day or even on a weekend?
20:43You'd get sick of getting in and out of the thing, wouldn't you?
20:45And they're not the comfiest driving car.
20:48You wouldn't want to nip to the shop in it, really, would you?
20:51If you wanted one, you know, this is the one, really.
20:53They are strong money, aren't they?
20:54Yeah, two-seater sports car, Lotus.
20:57It's all ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching, innit?
20:59It's going to be north of £20,000.
21:02We never struggle to sell them.
21:03There's always someone for them.
21:05Try and get in it.
21:06Just got to dislocate your legs and fold yourself up in here, aren't you?
21:10I don't know if there's a correct procedure.
21:14Then you end up scratching all the, what am I, 25?
21:17Even I'm struggling to get in and out of it.
21:20Oh, there you go.
21:22Yeah, I'd love to get in one and go around the track.
21:24I bet that would be mega, wouldn't it?
21:30Anyway, we'll see where it goes and see what it makes.
21:32Never know, he might let me take it out around the circuit with him.
21:36I've got to try and get out the bloody thing now.
21:37Oh, there you go.
21:41Just like that. Easy.
21:43Imagine being an older fella.
21:44Oh, you can't, could you? You get sick of it.
21:46So, yeah.
21:47We'll see.
21:48See what it does.
21:54Meanwhile, Jack's older fella is eyeing up the luxurious Vauxhall Lotus Carlton Turbo.
22:00I was that close to buying one about 10, 15 years ago.
22:04They were quite cheap 10 or 15 years ago in comparison to where they are now.
22:09So, 20-ish grand got you one.
22:12But now it's worth four times more.
22:14So, yeah, what a machine though.
22:17First one I've been lucky enough to get involved with full stop.
22:20So, no, really pleased to have it on board.
22:22And you can't help but just look at it, can you?
22:24Well, it's just one of them cars, isn't it?
22:26I mean, jeez.
22:27Yeah.
22:27It shouldn't have happened, should it?
22:29You know, let's face it, it shouldn't really have been built.
22:32There was no real logic behind building it.
22:36Thankfully, they did.
22:37So, the interior then is top-end gold.
22:41Yeah, it's sort of, yeah.
22:43It is and it isn't.
22:44It's a little bit more on steroids in there, but it's not quite the diplomat spec, is it?
22:49You know, 19,000 miles or something, isn't it?
22:51It's a lot of stone chips on the front for 19,000 miles though.
22:54Some of these will come off.
22:56To be fair, this wants a polish around the front.
22:57I must stress, this is straight out of 10 years worth of storage.
23:02It didn't run.
23:03We've got it now running.
23:04We're not doing any more than that with it because, let's face it,
23:07it wants recommissioning properly, not just a jump pack and a bit of fuel.
23:11It wants doing sympathetically and properly.
23:12Obviously, there's a right and a wrong way.
23:14But at least we've proven that it does actually run and everything works
23:18and those pistons are going up and down in there.
23:21You probably could think that could be 19,000 miles.
23:24It's dirty and dusty.
23:25It has still got that yellow tinge to the aluminium and so forth.
23:30They are such an iconic car.
23:32They are a bedroom wall poster type car, aren't they?
23:35And the movement has changed tremendously in the last year and a bit.
23:40Ironically, this car would have made a lot more money two, three years ago,
23:42so they have dropped in value.
23:44So, yeah, the family, I think, are hoping for around the 80k mark.
23:50Personally, now the car's here and I can see what we're dealing with.
23:54I think it's a £60,000, £65,000 car.
23:57I think we've got our work cut out, I'll be honest.
23:59But I'm still very pleased it's here.
24:01It's a lovely thing.
24:02See how we go.
24:12Derek's arrived in Bingley to pick up Paul Wooding's TR7.
24:17But with a shared CV in Skoda sales, the little Triumph might have its nose pushed out.
24:23I feel as though I know you because...
24:25Nice to meet you.
24:25...part of Skoda and everything.
24:27Yeah!
24:27It was really good, we've done very well.
24:29I still have people, when I go to cafes now, patting me on the shoulder.
24:33Best cars ever bought Paul Wooding's Skoda.
24:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:36Looks like Derek's discovered a kindred spirit or met his match.
24:41It's nice to think you're preserving something now.
24:43Yeah, very much so, yeah.
24:44I think, and I know it's a TR7, but my wife of the colour, I love the colour.
24:49Yeah, yeah.
24:50And we love the car, it's been everywhere.
24:53And how long have you had it?
24:5532 years.
24:56I bought it in 93, and I put it on the road in 95.
25:01Running wire, she's okay?
25:02Oh, she's super.
25:03Brand new petrol tank on it.
25:04Right, yeah.
25:05But what have we got to rain for Paul?
25:07Near four as you can go.
25:08We won't make four.
25:09As long as you're happy that three-ish sort of...
25:11Do the best you can.
25:12Yeah, yeah.
25:13Because that's where it's going to be, I can assure you.
25:14Give someone a chance to spend some money on it.
25:16I just hope it goes to someone who drives it.
25:20With 52,000 on the clock, Paul says the TR7 was one of a run of just 30 specials.
25:25Made to commemorate the Lombard Rally.
25:29I don't normally like to cars jazzed up like this, and probably you don't.
25:32But they do suit it, don't they really?
25:34Well, I can assure you, Derek, that if there's a World Cup on and England are playing,
25:39you drive round the roads, the pubs are all out there and be waving you and cheering you as you
25:44go past.
25:44Yeah, I'm sure they would be, yeah.
25:46Like the little model.
25:48So, Derek, this would have been done then for dealers to promote the brand, wouldn't it?
25:52Yeah, I'm sure.
25:53No doubt an awful lot of the dealers made them up themselves, obviously.
25:56It could be 31 or it could be 41, but it's nice to think this has won the original batch.
26:02There's a premium age for getting in and out of a TR7, and this isn't it.
26:07So, you got in, and you're not getting out to check, would you?
26:10Not until I park it up on that wagon, I'm not.
26:13I ain't getting out again.
26:16And then back in again.
26:18And then back out again.
26:18So I've got to do this.
26:21Right, Derek, right, right.
26:24We're there, mate.
26:26Also leaving the garage is a blast from the past that looks like it's from the Cold War.
26:32Derek, what's this that's going on now?
26:34This is a Krypton tuner.
26:36Not to be confused with the superhero's home planet, a Krypton tuner was the first electronic
26:42engine tuning system.
26:45Before ECUs were invented, back in the day, if you wanted your motor to move faster, Budding
26:50Nigel Mantles would book their car into a session with this high-tech wizardry.
26:56It'll go on, load it.
26:58What do we need that for with the TR7?
27:00Keep the bloody thing running.
27:04No, no one knows how to work them now anyway.
27:06I'll be perfectly honest, you know, there weren't that many blokes out there, me included,
27:11that knew how to work the rotten things in the first place.
27:13They were all right for, like, maybe doing the dwell angle or something like that, you know,
27:16but other than that, hardly use them at all.
27:19So the chances of that selling, Derek?
27:21Zero.
27:23But they do look good while they're working, I must admit.
27:26Will it be working when you get back?
27:27I wouldn't put money on it being there when I get back.
27:31It will be.
27:32That's pretty tight in there, that bit of wood.
27:34I can't see that.
27:35I can't see that going anywhere.
27:37She'll be right.
27:39Well, I'm going to love and leave you.
27:41Thanks for your kindness and I'll see you again.
27:57It's auction day again and the 4x4s are turning heads.
28:02The Range Rover, 1977.
28:05In 2024, it had some recommissioning, maintenance work at the cost of over 2,000.
28:10Third and last time, it's being sold.
28:138,750 sold.
28:16The Toyota Hilux truck, driven to the sale.
28:19As clean a Hilux as you're going to find at 12,000 pounds.
28:27CJ7, you cannot buy CJ7s in the structure of this one.
28:32For the third and last time, 12,100.
28:40Willy's Jeep, manufactured in the US around about 1951.
28:44Third and last time, we'll try for you.
28:478,750.
28:49The offer isn't accepted and the Jeep sells later at the timed auction for 10,800 pounds.
28:56As the lots continue to rattle through, next up, the Lotuses.
29:00Or should that be low-tie?
29:042004 Lotus Elise, the 111R.
29:07Touring, here we are.
29:08Now, this is a nice car, this.
29:10You're not going to get a better car.
29:1118,000, then 18,250 and 18,500.
29:1418,750 at 19,000 pounds.
29:18Third and last time, hammers down at 19.
29:21Provision at 19.
29:23The offer is accepted and the Lotus Elise is off to Stratford-upon-Avon.
29:28The Lotus Colton, an absolute star of a car there.
29:32One of my favourite all-time cars.
29:34I've got 65,000 straight away.
29:3565,000, 66.
29:3767.
29:3868.
29:3969.
29:40At 70,000 pounds, I have at 70.
29:4271, here with me at 71.
29:44At 71,000 pounds.
29:46And are we all done at 71?
29:4772.
29:48At 72,000 pounds.
29:49Internet bid.
29:5172,000 pounds.
29:5372,000 pounds.
29:54That's very provisional at 72,000 pounds.
29:55But we'll try our best for you.
29:57A little lower than the family wanted, but higher than Dave's prediction.
30:01So the 72,000 pounds is accepted.
30:08With the auction showroom at the usual bursting point, you never know what you might bump into.
30:15How did you end up with this stuff?
30:18Search me, mate.
30:19I ain't got a clue.
30:20I keep saying to them, don't just take anything.
30:22I keep saying, I've said it for years and years and years.
30:25So this is nothing to do with you?
30:26Nothing at all to do with me.
30:28And I turn me back, look what arrives.
30:31If I'd have taken that in, it would have been, what have you taken a heap of rubbish in like
30:36that for?
30:36Yeah.
30:37Now, who is going to buy that?
30:39Well, who's going to buy one of them?
30:41You're not exactly going to dodge anything in a dodging with one of them, are you, really?
30:45It's not old enough, is it, to be interesting?
30:47It's not sort of usable.
30:50It's debatable whether it's complete.
30:52They've dumped it on us and it's just useless.
30:55Do you know what?
30:56It's 50 quid, that.
30:57If that were mine and it made 250 quid, I'd be doing cartwheels.
31:01But the fact of the matter is, it's rubbish.
31:03And it's just taking up the space of two motorbikes.
31:07You know, you can see them programmes on telly where they, what do they do?
31:10Not upgrade, they repurpose it.
31:12That's what that wants.
31:13Like an old sideboard.
31:15And they change the colour of it, cut a bit of leg off, don't they?
31:17Make it a bit shorter and all that sort of thing.
31:19And do something and put some different handles on.
31:21And all of a sudden it becomes desirable.
31:24So when you bought it and put it in your garden and turned it into a plant pot.
31:28Best thing ever.
31:29Look at that.
31:30You can put a load of rubble in there for a start off, fill it up.
31:32And then a bit of topsoil.
31:34Put your geraniums and your bit of white allicin and blue lobelia.
31:38So you didn't know I was...
31:39Listen to you!
31:40No, you didn't know, did you?
31:41You didn't know that I was horticultural.
31:42And what a lovely little attraction that would be in the front garden.
31:45Wouldn't it? Just!
31:46So suddenly it's gone from a world...
31:48I like that.
31:48I reckon that's going to make 500 quid.
31:53I've just repurposed it.
31:57Talent's beyond belief, isn't it really?
31:59It certainly is.
31:59Yeah, isn't it?
32:00It surprises me all the time.
32:01I'd put the gubbins back in so the steering wheel's sticking up and the rest of it.
32:05And you know, get a proper bit of pipe up there with one of them hooks on.
32:09Hanging basket.
32:10Hanging basket.
32:10Hanging basket, better still.
32:11Hanging basket.
32:12You get it, John.
32:13Have you done this sort of thing before then?
32:15I'll give you the camera.
32:18I'll tell you what, there's no end you could do with that motor.
32:20So you're glad it's here?
32:21I am now.
32:22Yeah.
32:22If I'm auctioneering that, I should be sure that that is how I describe it.
32:26It is a plant pot in the making.
32:28Jump in.
32:29In here.
32:31Good girl, that's it.
32:33Good girl.
32:34You like it?
32:35If you like it, Daddy might buy it for you.
32:53Back in planet Pickering, the special edition TR7 has landed.
32:58It'll make a go, innit?
32:59It wants a bit of work, though.
33:00It wants a lot of work, to be fair.
33:01If it's right money, it'll sell, won't it?
33:04And the mysterious Krypton tuner seems to be taking root in its new home.
33:09That looks like something straight out of Wallace and Gromit, doesn't it?
33:12I've got a question about a piece of equipment for you.
33:15Oh, God, what equipment?
33:17A Krypton tuner.
33:18A what?
33:19It would be great, wouldn't it, as a prop on a science fiction thing.
33:24Yeah.
33:24No, that's absolutely great, that.
33:26There's technology in there, lads.
33:28What's a Krypton tuner?
33:29Something to tune sound.
33:32You took one off at back of your lorry with your grandad.
33:34Oh, that, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember it, yeah.
33:36What's that?
33:38A load of rubbish.
33:40Why'd he fetch it in?
33:41Because it's grandad.
33:43But the thing is, if that was there, what else has he brought?
33:47And where is it?
33:48When was the last time you, yourself, utilised a Krypton tuner?
33:53Never used anything like that.
33:55I used these and these.
33:57Tuning an engine, it's all about you.
33:59What do they say in physics?
34:01Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.
34:04Krypton tuner, Krapton tuner, whatever you want to call them,
34:07we never, ever used them.
34:13Meanwhile, outside in the yard, Dave is in two minds about the TR7.
34:20Marmite car, aren't they? Complete Marmite car.
34:23I haven't read the book on TR7s, I don't intend to read the book on TR7s,
34:27but there was mention of one or two limited editions,
34:30but it's all a little bit cloak and dagger.
34:32And I think there's some suggestion that the try before you buy cars
34:37had a bit of bling on them, you know,
34:39to sort of lean towards the motorsport side of things,
34:42which is possibly what we've got here.
34:45I like them, they're different.
34:47Would I have one over an MGB?
34:49Do you know what? I probably would, because they're different, aren't they?
34:52But then I wouldn't, I wouldn't fight you for it.
34:56No, I wouldn't fight you for it.
34:59If there wasn't this potential link with the limited edition,
35:02the value of the car is probably around £1,500.
35:05Will the link to the limited double that or more?
35:09Not sure.
35:11Not confident.
35:12And if there was 10, 20, 30,
35:14there might only be now 5, 10 or 15 left.
35:17So in which case there is some interest in it, isn't there?
35:20But it still wants a fair bit of restoration of the car.
35:22In fact, it wants a lot of restoration.
35:24And as Forrest Gump says, I mean, that's all I've got to say about that.
35:34Triumph TR7, here we go.
35:36As far as we're aware, it's one of a limited edition run.
35:38We're already off the £2,000, £2,200, £2,500, £2,600,
35:44£2,500, £2,600, £2,600,
35:57do you want £3,700?
36:01We have to move on.
36:02£3,700.
36:04£3,700, he says.
36:05For the third and last time, looking round.
36:08I'm pleased it made a little bit above £3,500.
36:10It's just nice, like, you know.
36:12You've got it.
36:13376 yards.
36:14Brilliant.
36:18Fairground Dodgem car.
36:19There we are.
36:20Interesting bit of kit.
36:21Best thing to do, really, is just fill it up with soil and plant it, eh?
36:24I think so.
36:25I could see this, I tell you.
36:27I'm talking myself into it.
36:28Start me on it.
36:29I've got £200, £210, £220.
36:31I've got more on my sheet.
36:33I can't do it.
36:34£220.
36:35Third and last time, £220.
36:38The Dodgem car sells later, at the timed auction, for £230.
36:48I was 16 years of age at the time.
36:51I worked in a wee garage.
36:52And I seen one, and I thought they were pretty awesome looking.
36:56And I thought, one of these days, I would love to have one of them.
36:59For Eric Brewster, owning the 1976 TR7 is a dream come true.
37:05And it's all down to a deal with his wife.
37:08We ended up here because I decided to retire.
37:11It was just time to sell up and look somewhere different.
37:15The wife loved here.
37:17I'd say it's on the conditions that I can get my dream car.
37:20She was fine with that.
37:21She got what she wanted here.
37:23Lovely, peaceful, quiet.
37:24I got them a dream car.
37:26And we moved here to Port of Ferry.
37:29When Eric spotted the car up for auction,
37:31he knew that, at long last, he'd met his perfect match.
37:36Love of first sheet, so it was, when I seen it.
37:38As I say, I've always loved them.
37:39But the extra bonus on it was, it was a limited edition one.
37:43I was looking for just any Triumph TR7.
37:46But it came with a bit of history with it.
37:49Limited edition.
37:49There was only 30 of them, I believe, made.
37:51And this particular one is number two of the production line.
37:57I got it transported over and sent to Belfast.
38:01I still hadn't seen the car, but I sent a mechanic up to collect it for me.
38:05And take it to his garage, do any essential work that it needed.
38:09Work done so far is brakes, discs, pads, mechanical ways, nothing on the engine.
38:17Body ways, blasted down, primered.
38:21Three coats of paint, marked, hollies, finished.
38:24The whole car had a full paint job.
38:27The owner that owned this before myself, Paul Whitting, and his wife,
38:32she didn't like the interior of the car.
38:34So he took off the original door panels and got ones made in Scottish Tartan.
38:41I've replaced the Scottish Tartan ones with the originals,
38:45but still have the Scottish Tartan ones in the garage.
38:49These are the Scottish Tartan ones that he got made.
38:53Not that I didn't like them.
38:55I just wanted to put the originals back on with it to go with the rest of it.
39:00I like the style of the car, just the size of them.
39:04Nose way down and short back.
39:06They're only very small inside, only two seats.
39:10It's more or less like a little sports car.
39:12Getting down into them, you're low level, like you're on the ground.
39:15It actually is quite comfortable to drive.
39:20Plans for the car are, I'll take it to all classic shows that are on that I can get to.
39:26It'll be out on the road.
39:28Nice weekend, sunny weather, drys, wet weather.
39:31It'll not be just stored to be put away in a garage.
39:34It'll be out and frequently drove in.
39:46In Warwickshire, sports car enthusiast Sean Baker and son Joe
39:51are reminiscing on how the 2004 Lotus Elise 111R
39:55was transformed from a good car into a great one.
40:01I've got a friend of mine that runs a paint shop, haven't I?
40:04It spent then a couple of weeks with him to strip it down and respray.
40:08It wasn't a full bare metal respray, but the front end and the back end got quite a lot of
40:13attention
40:13with the fiberglass work that they did on it, didn't it?
40:16Yeah.
40:21But life is never straightforward in the classic car world, as we well know.
40:26And after driving his Elise for a few months, Sean got itchy feet.
40:31Trading it in for this red Lotus Exige.
40:34While the Elise has a four-cylinder engine, there's more oomph in the Exige's V6.
40:41I loved the yellow one so much that I longed for the extra horsepower and the larger engine
40:47and it's slightly newer.
40:49The yellow one made me fall in love with the Lotus.
40:51I loved the way it drove and how it handled.
40:53And there's a local dealer which I visit fairly regularly.
40:57Fairly regularly?
40:58Fairly regularly.
40:59Right, OK.
40:59I'm seeing a pattern here.
41:01Yeah, no, absolutely.
41:02And he had a red one and it was an Exige with a slightly larger engine and slightly newer.
41:07And in a moment of madness, I planned to swap it and hence the red one now.
41:11So no regrets buying the yellow one initially?
41:14No, absolutely not.
41:15I enjoyed doing it.
41:16I loved doing the work and I enjoyed playing with the Lotus whilst I had it.
41:20Just moved on to the slightly larger and newer model.
41:25A familiar machine is taking pride of place at Sean's local dealership.
41:30I think it's probably one of the best Lotus Elise 111Rs that are out there on the market.
41:35When it was up in the auction, there was just some small little stress tracks
41:39which I just think were age-related at the time that they needed repairing
41:42and when we went round the car a little bit more, there were a few of them hidden away under
41:46panels
41:46that we replaced and fixed all those stress cracks as we found them.
41:50We knew that when we picked the car up that it had been off the road for 10 or 11
41:54years.
41:54So on both sides, we sprayed all the wings probably pretty much from the door back and replaced the stone
42:00guards.
42:01This area was repainted, down here was repainted, changed the colour of the wheels obviously all round.
42:06And on the rear here, there wasn't too much to do on the actual back of the car here.
42:09But the top section, not the bonnet, but the top section here was all repainted as well.
42:13So all the way around the car there.
42:16Whilst I might have been expecting £500 to £1,000 on paint, we probably spent nearer four.
42:20There was mechanically nothing really wrong with it.
42:22It was just recommissioning, changing the fuel, changing the oil
42:25and it drove amazingly once it was all done.
42:29Yeah, I'm just wondering how much space I've got at home and whether I can get it back in.
42:32Surely not.
42:37With a Lotus addiction clearly coursing through his veins,
42:41for now, it's a car to be enjoyed, until a blue wand comes along.
42:46The driving pleasure is quite a raw experience as you're probably seeing now.
42:51There's no frills in here, the seats are fairly firm and the ride's fairly firm,
42:55but it's a great driving experience.
42:57I've got the two boys and they love joining in and coming with me.
43:00I'm bound to keep this a while.
43:02Unless you happen to be driving past the garage again.
43:05Unless I happen to be passing through the garage again.
43:43I'm bound to keep this time.
43:44It's just a while at all.
43:44At the Thompson tombow.
43:45A Heroes in the Silver Party.
43:45If you'reภFlow in the meetup, it's impressive.
43:46I know I love you.
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