Nothing brings on a wave of embarrassment like stalling a car. It happens to the best of us, and is all the more mortifying when someone bears witness to it. As I discovered while manoeuvring a very racy Porsche 911 GT ‘evocation’ onto the PH stand at the Bicester Scramble a couple of weeks ago. Naturally, it drew quite a crowd, which swiftly erupted in cheers after I stalled the thing while reversing up a ramp (a steep one at that). Humiliating? Yes, but it at least made a good anecdote to open this week’s episode of The Gassing Station podcast.
We’ve crammed a fair bit into proceedings, including a TVR Tuscan S that’s currently for sale on PH. It’s not just any Tuscan S, either, as it once featured in the first episode of ‘new’ Top Gear in 2003, when the Stig attempted to drive past a speed camera and not set it off. We’ve already covered the car’s story here, so John and I decided instead to go through the TV and film cars we’d like to own. No surprise that most of John’s picks were from the ’80s, including the C4 Corvette from the A-Team, not unlike this one, while I went a little more contemporary with the BMW 750iL from the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Sadly, we don’t have any E38s for sale at the time of writing, but this previous generation E32 makes a fine alternative (minus the V12, roof rockets and remote controls).
Then, it was on to our buying challenge, which this week comes courtesy of jimmsy. They’re after a special car, spurred on by a ‘mid-life crisis’, in the region of £80k that’s less diva-ish than their old supercharged Ford Mustang. John was considering this V12 Vantage S and even this Ultima GTR, before settling on this achingly cool Mercedes SL65 AMG. A tough act to follow, that, and I did admittedly go over budget with this AMG GT-R. I ultimately settled on this Ferrari 599 GTB for £79,995, which may not fulfil the ‘reliable/low-stress’ bit of the brief, but it’s a front-engined V12 Ferrari at the end of the day, one that’d be incredibly difficult to say no to. If, however, you think John and I are way off the mark, you can drop your own suggestions in the topic here.
Given we were still riding a nostalgia high from our TV and movie car ramblings, we decided to visit Wacky Racer’s ‘What dream car did you have on your bedroom wall as a kid?’ topic. Because who didn’t have a picture of a car on their bedroom wall when growing up? John’s were pretty typical of those who grew up half a century ago, whereas mine were, er, pretty obscure for a millennial. Feel free to add your own to the topic here, but only after you’ve had a listen to the pod first, of course.
