Mike Steiner and his Car Collection Meet 3 On The Column Classic Car Podcast

From an Austin Healey to a Pininfarina Azzurra...

Mike's first car, at age 15, was a Chevrolet Blazer followed by a Grand Torino in the full Starsky and Hutch style.

In this episode, we compare USA and UK car cultures and the huge differences in the scale of teenagers' first cars!

And what if your PE teacher gave you driving lessons, as part of the school curriculum?

Listen now to find out more. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hi, this is the Three on the Columb Podcast with Brian Thomas and Andrew Roberts, and of course, our very special guest.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

This gentleman needs no introduction, so we won't give him one. But instead, we will allow his golden words to introduce himself to you, our loyal listener in Southampton. Mike, if you'd like to introduce yourself, good sir.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Certainly. My name is Mike Steiner. I am an American living in the United Kingdom for the last uh several years. Uh and I I'm a big car enthusiast.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Welcome, welcome. Um, we were just talking about one of your collection, a 1959 Austin Healy Sprite.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yes, yes, recently uh recently rehauled, new engine, new paint job. Uh but still a runner so we can take out every weekend. So and of course for the younger enjoy driving the cars.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

And I think for the younger listeners with the younger listeners, we need to explain your sprite has a rain and dust sealed luggage compartment. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Means it has snow boot lid, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Well, who needs those and also I don't think any Austin Healy sports car had outside door handles until the early 60s. Mine does not.

unknown 1:48

No.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

I can assure you that. Who needs such frivolities and luxuries in a sports car? Because it was designed, I think, originally, for a young owner who would have otherwise bought a um kit car to build in their garage. Now, thanks to the British Motor Corporation, you could have a fully built sports car with all the best of the small saloon car range at an extremely reasonable price. No wonder they sold. Yes, and and survived. So please talk us through the other members of your collection.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Uh well, the the car that um I had at Duxford this weekend was a uh 1985 Pina Frina Azura uh that I brought over from the U.S. It was originally a California car. Uh lived most of its life there. I purchased it um about 10 or 12 years ago in North Carolina. It had been in a in a barn in storage for about 15 years prior to that. So I spent a fair amount of time uh restoring that in the U.S. and and when I ultimately moved uh over, I brought it with me.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

And of course, our some of our listeners who have a certain vintage will remember it with in its Fiat Incarnation, won't they?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yes. Originally for the first uh well, since 1966, I believe, they started building them as uh Fiat Spider 124 uh cars. And the last three years of their of their lives, they were actually manufactured by Pina Farini due to the fact that Fiat wasn't wasn't allowed to import cars in the U.S. So they were mostly sold in the U.S. Uh there was only about 6,000 of them made. Um most of them were arrived in the U.S. And um but the nice thing with them is the underpinnings are still 124. So parts and uh restorations, a fairly simple task, uh quite quite easy to find, especially the running gear parts. And what engine does it have? Is it a two-liter twin cam? It is a two-liter twin cam. It's got a Bosch uh fuel injection system in it, the same one that Fiat had in from about 1980 on.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Have you always have you long been a fan of um Italian sports cars?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Well, oddly, I lived in the UK in the um in the 80s, and I had a 1976 Fiat 124 that was brought over from the Netherlands. So I knew the car for quite some time, and uh when I decided to purchase a second one, I just wanted the uh the more modern upgrades, the unleaded fuel, uh fuel injection, the 14-inch wheels, and all the modifications that Pina Ferrini put back on the car from their original design when they took ownership of it.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

And would you say it's more comfortable to drive than the the 70s model that you used to own? More comfortable cabin.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Yeah, I think it's much more, much, much more dependable car. Uh the the the dull side drap carburetors that they had in the 70s were were quite finicky, and uh you seem to spend a lot of time trying to tune those together. The fuel injection removed most of those problems.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I mean, I I hope you don't mind. I'm probably talking too much I always do, but I must ask, what's it like driving one of those on a freeway?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Um they they'll do I took that car up the M11 um to the show, and it'll run it'll run 6570 without really any any effort at all, other than it just feels you're running about 3800 RPMs. Um so so it feels a little whiny. You wish you had one more one more band in the transmission, but um it it it doesn't labor it really that much. The red line on that's about six sixty two hundred, so so you're not close to it, but compared to a modern car, it feels like the RPMs are quite high.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

And what about the gear changes that from memory is always one of Fiat's strong points?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Well, this car is an automatic because it was imported to the US. So uh they they borrowed the automatics for those from uh General Motors. So it's a General Motors three-speed automatic. Does it suit the engine well? It did, it bolted right up. I mean, they uh and that yeah, that the engine's 102 horsepower, I think, uh coming out of the factory, so probably somewhere 95 today. So yeah, it it it it matches up well.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

And I suppose we if we could take you back to the beginning, what was your first car?

SPEAKER_00 6:53

My first car was a 1976 Chevrolet Blazer, uh four-wheel drive SUV. Um I got it uh 15 years old.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

So I'm envious. I always used to admire those seeing them on um episode American programs shown over here. I thought they were looked extremely rugged and dynamic, etc.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And what was your drink car?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Were they as good off-road as they seemed to be? I mean, from the uh from again, I'm just getting from television.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, they do right. Well, they my the one I had had a 350 uh Chevrolet V8 in it. Um so they they had no problem pulling pulling themselves through the mud and the snow.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

You must bear in mind that my main experience of these is in the background of the Dukes of Hazard.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Well, they they were just as fun, and I I truly wish I had it today. Uh they've they've really increased in value as the years have gone by now.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Well, before before we began, we were talking about great American cars with this, there's so many of them, and who could resist a step down Hudson, you know, Ford or Sedan. But is there an American car that you still crave that you'd want above all others? Of any era?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

That's a very difficult question. I mean, the second car I had was a was a Gran Torino, which was sort of a semi-starskin hut show, if you remember that, with the white stripe and the red car. So I had that car for most of my sort of adolescence uh wild time. And uh I would love to have that car back, just for the memories that I have in it. Uh so that was that was probably the car I would I would pick today. The other car, as you mentioned, the Dukes of Hazard, uh uh a 70 Dodge charger would would definitely be one of my picks.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

And of course, the slightly earlier model appeared in Bullet, the only Dodge Charger with 12 hubcaps, if you look closely at the crash sequence. Yeah. But Brian, what was your first car?

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Oh golly, I was just thinking as you were saying that, Mike, what amazing first cars that American teenagers seem to have. I mean, my first car was a Vauxhall Viva four-door saloon, a '74 on an end plate. It was a deluxe, so it was incredibly special, and it had dark green metallic paint, which meant somebody must have spent extra money on it when it was new. And the good thing I can say about it was that I spent £250 to buy it, and I sold it about 18 months later and got £250 for it. And I have to say I had never ever done that well out of owning and running a car since. And um Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

And to be fair, there is a link between the blazer and your Viva.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

General Motors.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Exactly. Yeah, so they're both part of the great General Motors Empire. My first one of my early cars was very exciting and charismatic. I don't know if I can tell the listeners about it, they may faint with shock. It was a 1992 Volvo 240 SE estate.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Wow. That's a bit of class down Drew. Were you a furnace were you a furniture salesman?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

No, I had I had one stepdaughter at one school boarding school north of London and two stepdaughters at another boarding school south of London. The Volvo and I got to know the M25 on an intimate basis, you might say, and we I needed a big state car so they could all sc scream and riot in a safe and secure fashion, etc. Admittedly, I did nearly drive off the Dartford Bridge when one of them asked me what lake are we crossing?

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Well, you could answer that quite genuinely, Andrew, because she could have said we're crossing over Lakeside, as in Lakeside Shopping Centre, but we're probably pulling at hairs there, I think, to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I think so. I I did think so, but I was too busy sobbing as we went to the enter the toll toll booth. Um so so no, that was I think that I don't think you ever forget your first car or the first way of drive. And also I think what we're talking about is the the difference in scale, American geography and road network and concept of distance versus British concept of distance. And of course, we have the legacy of the horsepower tax still, you know, where we our cars for many has tended to be small with small high-reving engines. And they had to be narrow so they could cope with narrow Victorian streets. We didn't even have our first motorway until 1958. So the concept of difference is always the same. And of course, even when we had our first motorway, half the cars blew up on it.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

They just weren't man enough, were they? I mean, we were producing cars, family cars. Um I mean, what was something like uh a Mark II IV console would be as a big, big family car, but it's probably only got about 40 brake horsepower or something. It probably wouldn't have a lot more, would it?

SPEAKER_01 12:42

No. They were sold by Ford America as a captive import.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

I mean, I think the most popular Amer uh captive import British Ford was the Cortina Mark II. The uh marketing people, you know, really promoted the swinging London image for it. But I think Mark II GT, they stopped selling Cortinas in the States with the advent of the Pinto. Bit of trivia. A Cortina is the last car that Christine destroys in the film. They should have never built the Pinto. I think that is a very, very an understatement, if I may. Says I don't think they were ever sold here. We I mean, Brian and I probably remember a fair number of Canadian Fords being sold here because of Imperial discount. It was cheap into Castle Commonwealth country. And so you'd have Castle Ford, you know, you'd have Canadian Mercury Monarch gears, cars like that, Canadian import mustangs in the 70s. And you know, we'd have, I think, in the 60s, um, pont things like Pontiac Parisians, which are Canadian, basically a rebad Chevy. But they get GMs, exactly. Exactly. And but I think if it was sort of an American car, you're more likely to find them in London, in the Capitol, near the special near the specialist dealers. I think it's a question of um perception. Because in the 50s, you know, you'd have well-known singers or actors buying something like a Nash Rambler and thinking it was a big flashy car. And of course, in the Straits, I think I'm right in saying it was anything as anything but that.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Well, no, it was never considered splashy.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

No. Didn't I read in Bill Bryson when his father bought one? Even Ed Sildrivers slowed down to laugh at it. You may have read that for sure. Forgive me. I'm forgive me. I'm not sure what you were expecting on this podcast, but I've made it. Oh no, um Talking talking about cars is always good. I I think so. I mean and so what's your favorite car-related film from America? Or one of them. Well, I I'll say probably Bullet and of course Ford originally wanted to supply them, I think, with not with the Mustang. Remember, it was either Ferrari Exactly, but of course McQueen insisted on the Mustang. And I know that a genuine San Francisco detective said there was no way we would ever use our own car on a chase. The insurance would be invalid for one aspect. And of course, I think with the chase scene, isn't it, that if the driving mirror is up and you can see McQueen's eyes, he's really driving. If it's dipped, his stunt double's taken over.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

So that's probably my probably my favorite movie for car moves.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

No, it's worth watching every month. And obviously, you could say you could everyone spots the ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle that keeps surfacing in the background. And but the it's the gain that there's no music. There's no score, it's just the sound of the engines. And of course, as we we all know, that was um a trope of the British film from the previous year, Robbery, which gained P.T. Yates the trouble of directing bullet, which I recommend you watch if no one's seen it.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

I'm not, I will definitely make a note of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Hoods in a Mark II Jaguar 3.8 from memory, a traced through London by a police Jaguar S type. No theme music. Wow. No incidental music. Car accidentally straying into shot nearly hitting the police car. That sort of detail. It's superbly done. You could tell it's by the same director who did bullet, except it's through grim London streets of lots of decaying Morris Oxfords parked at the roadside. So, sorry, Brian, have you seen it?

SPEAKER_02 16:48

I have seen it, yes. It's one of my favourite films, actually.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

And the inspector in it drives a Morris Cooper from memory. So, no, one of my I think one of the other great, well, there's so many great American road films, obviously um Steve McQueen's first um feature, Duel. The commercial traveller in the Duel, 1971. Dennis Weaver as the traveling salesman in his Red Valiant, being pursued by a 1955 Peterbuilt truck. And of course, over here, people saying, Wow, a travelling salesman gets a company car with a radio and automatic transmission. He must be doing really, really well. And of course, you America would think he's terrible, he's middle-aged, he's only got valiant, he's useless. Yes. Have you must have seen that one, Brian?

SPEAKER_02 17:37

I have indeed, yeah. I was just thinking, it's an interesting parallel, um guys, because I think everything in terms of motoring and the styling of cars and everything, it's probably because it's America, everything's on a much bigger scale. Um but but how do going back to sort of point I was making earlier, sort of can this young people start driving? Did you say it was 15 in America? Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

It's 16, yeah. But I I bought my first car at 15 and probably did the best the best bodywork I've ever done in my life because I didn't I couldn't drive. So you you just spent a year doing bodywork. Had more time to do it. It seems like you're doing it in between in between driving. But yeah, yeah, yeah. You you you start at 16 pretty pretty religiously.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

So what's the sort of driving test like? Because they keep trying to make it harder and harder, I think, in the UK. So when you were learning to drive in America, how what did you have to do for a driving test?

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Well, it's it's it's pretty much um one, it's a requirement to take in in high school. So yeah, driver's education is just a mandatory class. Really? And then you you have uh uh the instructor is is a teacher who's usually like a PE teacher or something, but he also teaches driver's education.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Um and then the school will own a car, and for one hour period, there's three of you that'll get in the car and you drive around to the streets and go to McDonald's and do whatever you're doing with your, you know, with your driving permit, similar to here. And then at the end, um, if you pass, the driver instructor signs you off and you have a driver's license, and then you and you're driving a car. Wowie.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

In where you were growing up in your mid-teens, would a car at that age be a necessity for travel, etc., rather than a luxury?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, it's almost exclusively. Um you you you there's no real mass transit system at all, except in the really largest of cities. But I I grew up on a on a farm in western Pennsylvania, and uh you you know you were driving tractors until you could drive a car. Um and in the winter you drove snowmobiles until you had a car. So uh yeah, you you were always driving something. Um which so that was just a natural natural part. The only time we really really saw anyone of power was back when I'm oh older than you are, probably, Andrew. So, like when we had to get the permit, you went into the police department and they verbally asked you questions and they could ask you whatever they wanted, and they just ask until they decided you knew the uh the rules of the road, and then you were issued a permit. Um, and you needed that in order, of course, to to drive with the with the instructor. But yeah, that was the that was the written permit part was all verbal at the time. And it it was with an actual policeman standing there talking to you. So there was some pressure that I don't know. I I actually had to take a driver's license when I moved over here. Um so that was a little odd to go 40 years and then have to sit behind the wheel and have somebody judge your driving skills.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

So what was the main challenge in doing that over here? Was it the the car? Was it the um what was the main culture shock, shall we say?

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Um the the main culture shock really for the testing was just the the uncontrolled circumstance that they put you in. Um I I've come over back and forth for a long time. I've driven over here a fair amount. So I was accustomed to driving in Europe. I mean, which is kind of funny. You you can fly over here in a car, you know, you rent a car in Heathrow and they just give you the keys and they put you in the highway. And then you you move over here and they're like, oh, you got to get a driver's license. You couldn't just drive a car. And I'm thinking, I I've been driving a car for, you know, a month a year for 35 years. Uh so I find that a little kind of a kind of a unique situation where they all of a sudden, if you live here for more than a year, you need a driver's license. license, but you don't need one for the first month you live here. So so that was unusual. But the test itself was not uh, you know, it was good. It was I I, you know, it was fair. The um it was all commute, you know, it's on computer now and it's all multiple choice and uh there's some video stuff. And and the instructor I had was really nice and she kind of you know knew I could drive. I mean I drove to her to take the driving lesson. Uh so she helped me uh get through and I passed the first time I took it but it's it's a very cumbersome system because it just took months to wait on tests and oh yeah yeah that that we we don't have yeah you uh my two brother-in-laws when we lived in the U.S. both came over when they were about 18 um and they came to America for two weeks and they both left with a driver's license so so when they came back they could drive in England because they had an American driver's license for for a year. So so it's it's not that that hard to get a driver's license in the US but it's it's sort of a necessity so it's it's structured to to make sure you you're mobile enough to you know get a job and go to school and and do those kind of things.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

So it's actually designed to facilitate the things you want to do as you move forward in life isn't it really yeah very very structured uh to for success I think it's it's you know and it's expected but but yeah you do have to be 16 to to actually legally drive wow so tell me perhaps I mean you've obviously had quite an interesting car history um how early were you sort of into cars? I mean presumably before you didn't sort of just get to 15 and think hey well I'm into cars so to all my father sort of first cars that you thought oh this is amazing and we call it the and it forms the basis of I think of how people are with classic cars in the UK usually people get a classic car and it's probably the car that they had a poster of on their wall when they were about seven or eight so was it anything like that for you?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

My father was a was a welder for Ford Motor Company and he he welded the first first Mustang in 1964 and a half. Wow in Buffalo New York um when I was born and so he worked there for a number of years uh for Ford Motor Company and then ultimately became I mean he was a mechanic as far you know he was always a mechanic for me. So I grew up with cars and you know people coming in all the time wanting the cars repaired and uh so I just kind of grew up with cars and then being on the farm there was always old machinery and uh mechanical end so I was much more on the mechanical side um than sort of the love of the car. You know I I love the car that ran that I could I could take from you know limping along to make it a dependable more dependable vehicle so uh so that's always been my background my dad was a huge Ford guy kind of crushed him when I bought the blazer at 15. He just thought there was no no no cars like Ford's so uh well yes why didn't you buy a Ford Bronco rather than a blazer? Yeah well at the time uh the Ford Broncos were quite small and you know you you kind of buy what you can afford uh what became available. But he was a huge help to me. I bought that car the uh it was an automatic and the transmission was out of it uh it was blown up and that's why I bought it cheap because it had no transmission in it and uh we that was the first automatic we ever tore down and we did it in a barn floor and and took every clutch pack out of it and completely rebuilt it um with a with a donor transmission out of a car. And if you for those that don't understand that the automatic transmissions those 350 transmissions for General Motors the transmission itself was the same but the the dove shaft coming out of the back was shortened to get the transfer case on. So you could get a transmission out of a car but the dove shaft was too long. So you had to tear the entire transmission apart because the last thing inside one is a snap ring that holds a dove shaft in and then so you had to take it out of one and move it all over and then repack the whole thing and put it back in. So he was a huge help he he he worked with me you know step by step that to make sure it was all running by the time I was old enough to to to drive. Wow so do you think you could do the same job again now yeah I think I would have a little more faith because it wouldn't be my only means of transportation so the nervous the nervous ones wouldn't quite be there fantastic but yeah I never forget I mean like I said those are those are great things to do at 15 years old with your with your father and um learning as you go. Yeah and and that is where car bones are made isn't it yeah that's right so yeah yeah we we were always always working together on on uh on vehicles of of one type or another so that's why we were talking earlier there's my my brother in law has several cars we we live sort of in the same compound for lack of a better term out in Essex and um we uh we just took a road trip we just got back from a road trip to uh Lake Como and um I have an old 2003 SL500 Mercedes and he has an uh an 88 uh Ferrari uh 328 so we drove those down to Lake Como and back uh wow just to see if we could uh so we had a really nice time and we spent about two weeks on a on the road uh through Europe those were great cars to to tour over there with more more so than like the 124 spider would be or or the bug eyed sprite or yeah any of those those not really designed for that kind of a trip but get more long GT cars on yeah you know we yeah we were taking you know six seven hours a day running uh at the upper end of the speed limits and uh yeah I would I wouldn't want to take my my Azora over there and try to do that for for that amount of time wow they were it was a great trip it was you know the cars ran fine um we took half our toolbox with us and as many spark parts as we thought we'd need uh but other than the Ferrari using oil we uh we did just fine and didn't need to add any any additional components so how does the Ferrari compare to the Mercedes in in your mind? Well it I was glad I was in mine. The air conditioner doesn't work nearly as well in that Ferrari uh and it's it's substantially louder uh to be in it all day so uh I was glad of my choice um of vehicles and he was too I mean the people over there when we were in Italy they love that old Ferrari you know it it's sort of it's the next generation but it's that Magnum PI looking I think that was a 308 and this is a 328 so it was just the the next the next engine up but uh that's what every you know older people everybody knew the Magnum car so uh so it it generated a lot of attention um wherever we went.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

I think when Magnum was on as a kid when I was growing up I mean I think that was probably my first sort of visual an oral experience of a Ferrari um and I had no concept watching it then that the average guy who's a detective or something would actually drive around in a car like that. I mean you know it it would obviously be a four desk school when I was growing up they'd have but you know this guy's got a Ferrari you know I mean I just thought that was normal I just thought I wanted to be a PI because I thought that's what they drove. And living away and yeah yeah I mean we had there was a guy who did a series a guy called Trevor Eve I think who's still an actor and he was shoestring that's it yeah I was gonna ask you Andrew because I knew you'd knew but he drove a Mark III Cortina estate. So you've got they both do the same kind of job they're both similar kind of cars aren't they really except one's a British PI and the other one's a kind of American and there's a difference one's a Ferrari one's a Cortina well well one lives in Hawaii in the lap of luxury and one is a radio DJ in Bristol who takes on private detective work but often gets beaten up from memory.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

So there is a slight there is a slight difference. I mean one of my favorite program American programs as a child was The Invaders a Quinn Martin production and even as a child I noticed that our hapless hero always managed to get his hands on a new Ford or Mercury every week whereas the villains tended to drive very elderly Chevrolets or Plymouths that blew up. I'm not saying that you know there was sponsor there was clearly product placement and I think that I began noticing things like that. I think if I did want one program that did influence me in terms of American cars early teens reruns of Car 54 Where Are You? Now that's what a police car should look like I was amazed to find out that I think they were painted something like different shades to genuine American police New York police cars so they when when they shot on location they would still look normal on black and white television but they wouldn't be flagged down on the street. No, I thought that's what uh a police car should look like in the United States.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

I mean I always imagine even now that the American highway patrol would drive black and white Dodge Polaras well oddly they they drive almost no cars at all they they run um the SUVs now that's the cars big enough to put people in the backseat. So they're running Ford uh Ford Explorers are are very big um and the Chevy Tahoes so they can still get police interceptor packages for those I don't know but yeah the the things like the Crown Vic and all that they nobody make you know the Capri's the General Motors make those they don't make cars anymore.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

So no exactly it's it's in the little cars you can't use for police work I imagine. Yeah so so they're pretty much exclusively running uh the the four-door SUVs um for for police vehicles one of my friends over here does have an ex police crown victoria yes that was I mean he loves it they built those for 20 years um and if you got the police interceptor package in them uh I mean that that's why they were sought after because they had the bigger engine they had a better suspension uh much better steering uh system in them uh that you you know the average person couldn't necessarily get but yeah they sold it as a package and like I said they just moved it over to the SUV so you can get you can get those same type of packages if you're uh uh police department today I mean you're taking me back um I mean you asked me in my age um born the year of Abbey Road the Moon Landing and the Austin Maxi and Monty Python's first series on the BBC but I always enjoyed reruns of Highway Patrol with always using two-door Buicks in the early episodes with where Broderick Crawford seemed to wear his hat under every circumstance possible and was clearly reading his lines from various boards as well you'll you'd like it right Clint Eastwood turns up in one as a biker does he yes yeah early early Clint Eastwood early Clint Eastwood um because you didn't get many car chases in um dragnet that was usually Jack Webb smoking and looking cross and in the later colour ones always ranting about hippies I don't think Jack Webb likes hippies because he was always giving lectures about how hippies were wrong but in highway patrol a thrilling chase usually on the same stretch of road if I remember rightly yes they only had one stretch exactly have you ever seen Friday was it Detective Friday that was dragging it Sergeant Joe Friday I carry a bear Joe Friday I knew Friday was in there somewhere. Exactly and one of the delinquents he picks up in the 50s episodes was Leonard Nimoy with a quiffe yes yes sorry you're obviously a fan of the best episode Lee Marvin as a very courteous sociopath and mass murderer who goes to the vegetarian cafe for dinner and confesses you could tell how good he was even in Dragnet whereas Brian have you ever seen Dragnet I tell you I have actually remember we we need to give you the facts don't he? We need to give Brian the facts just the facts just the facts just the facts ma'am just the facts that's all they that's all Friday wanted Sergeant Friday just wants the facts etc about 20 pack of Chesterfields every episode a highway patrol was it um is it Captain Dan played by Broderick Crawford and his two-door Buick police special fighting highway crime you know with a dramatic announcement by George Feniman who was also Gramsci Marx's announcer aren't you pleased that you have such useless information no no because I no I think it was Art Gilmore Homos Highway Patrol George Feniman was the announcer at the end of Dragnet was it the names have been changed to protect etc and then you'd have the sentence Protect the innocent exactly it was revived after it ran 50 about 50 to 59 on television and then revived in 67 in which Jack Webb still a sergeant is uh basically battling hippies and LSD and dropouts and he doesn't like them very much no Brian you've got to watch it the concept you've you've got the concept I know the only one I know with Highway Patrol is of course chips which um with the market by component oh no no chips was great fun no in fact in one episode they pull over Broderick Crawford from Highway Patrol a nice joke so no I mean that we'll cross over it was it was a nice cross that ran that was screened for years on ITV um I think it was on uh on a sat on a Saturday um so and again you got to see the what fabulous cars on the highway all those wonderful vehicles in the background you know if someone hadn't imported Mercedes Benz 450 SL you knew that they were an upper class crook and the other great series full of police chases was my beloved TJ Hooker in which William Shatnough and who was not wearing a corset and not wearing a toupee fought crime you've not seen that slowly oh yes and of course when he ran behind what was he ran past a burning pile of tyres his stunt double definitely did not take over definitely not yeah that was uh that's pretty corny shows sorry Brian you just run off because you just can't wait to see T Dre Tre Hooker um which is so splendidly bad I recommend it to one all the cars are nice I'm not can't say much about some of the acting that's um let's not be let's not be unkind obviously the greatest Pontiac television show was the Rockford Files yes James Garner absolutely and that was a great show and listeners if you want to see how great an actor James Garner was and he was great 1964 film The Americanization of Emily he should have won an Oscar for it he should have that film it's great isn't he fantastic why do people just write him off as a light comedy light comedy is difficult sorry Brian but it's a great film and you realize what a all the best comedy actors are the best at high drama they're focused yeah so so no that's it seems that way I see that way um so as you can see we I probably watched a lot of imported um US television um taxi on the BBC every Monday I mean I love the yellow caps I mean the checker to me they seem the I mean I know that they're probably not glamours but to me there was a height of glamour because they were so different to a black Austin FX4. Yeah and also it's the way much different exactly um and again I would always in uh you know obviously enjoy any sort of show where motor vehicles would likely the fugitive because of the very nature of the show is bound to be motor transport because you know our heroes always on the run it's always um no no the fugitive will always be David Jansen and Barry Morse from London will always be Lieutenant Girard there you are Brian what American motor shows do you remember you mentioned chips you've um we've mentioned highway patrol etc um where Roderick Crawford would give a message of road safety to the end including I remember rightly about drunk driving which was somewhat ironic given the actor's own little predilections um what other I mean obviously there was so there were so many there were so many of them there was and I hate to say it a sitcom from American certainly one of the worst in the world which means of course I want to see it My Mother the Car that was not one I watched basic basically a young man buys a 1920s car to find out it's the reincarnation of his own mother I'm not making a terrible concept for a show. Yes starred not Dick Van Dyke but Jerry Van Dyke Oh I do know Jerry Van Dyke So Brian you you clearly want to go and watch this show which incredibly lasted I think a season I'm I'm wondering where you got that one from Andrew really I can't my other my my other daytime job I am sorry um yes yes film and television history means you do dig up the most um old ones the most remarkable I mean I mean the most remarkable thing I saw on that line was um a full free promo um for Chevrolet with the with hosted by Lawn Green because of course Chevrolet sponsored Bonanza Bonanza the show with horses yeah yes with the joke was with banana exactly well the joke was with banana well the joke was that no one none of the um cartwright family could ever afford a river they had to cross it because it was sponsored by Chevrolet so the actors that appear with Chevrolet commercials and promotional films etc and there's Lauren Green saying hi I'm Lawn Green I'm really an ex-Canadian radio announcer pretending to be a cowboy however I'm being paid a shed load of money for this I'll say anything and but we haven't mentioned the all-time greatest American car commercial ever with Ricardo Montalbagna Soft Corinthian leather in leather exactly Chrysler exactly cordova I mean I want yeah I mean my admiration for the man went up a thousandfold I think he appeared on letterman said that Corinthian leather was complete nonsense but the way he says it I want a car I want a cordova with soft Corinthian leather have you seen the commercials Brian I I haven't no and I'm trying to think what Corinthian leather would be. It's a market there wouldn't be there is there wouldn't be it's there's something that they asked Ricardo to say for lots and lots of money and being the pro he was he did. There's advers with Ricardo sort of looking dapper and handsomer than he was. Looks like Mr Rawke only without the white suit you know with a Cordova thanks Corinthian and what exactly means absolutely nothing but you know the way he says it you want to immediately go out and place an order for a car like this I mean the other great American car well there were so many the Volkswagen ones were usually the best um Dustin Hoffman in 65 advertising the type three fastback you've probably seen that it's it's genuine it's genuinely well done I may I probably spend far too much time watching um fantastic US car commercials, but I'm addicted now. I also love the Folgers Coffee commercials in the nineteen sixties, and I don't understand why there weren't more divorces in their commercials. You know, honey, you don't know how to make coffee. Yes. That's it. Sorry, I love American pop culture. I I truly I truly, truly do. I'm I'm still very sad because Freddie Boom Boom Cannon died recently. Tallahassi Lassie Sorry. I play rock and roll guitar and drums very badly. Yeah well not simultaneously that doesn't work. But enough of my so what may I ask you were you ever influenced by any English or British programs and films saying wow what fantastic cars I must have one.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

You know I was I was in the US military uh which is how I got here in the 80s but I was I was stationed in Michigan which the heart of cars and um a guy imported a um MGC to the base and that was the um that was the first sort of British car I'd really crawled underneath and and really looked at and based on that I went down to the to the office and uh I requested an assignment to to England. And that's that's how I got here the it the very first time 1984 I arrived in country.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

So you were actually inspired to come to the UK because of an MG.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

But not as any MG not as any MG MG cylinder uh tractor engine of a of a car wow careful the so the yeah I've always been a fondness for those well yes and of course I mean funnily enough one I was out on the road my next one was son and we saw one and he said that's a B and said no it's a C look it's got the bonnet bulge the bonnet bulge that was always a given they ride slightly higher than an MGC um I mean did you did you get to drive the MGC as a matter of interest?

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Yeah in fact we we have one in the out of the out of the house we have an MGC with an automatic with a factory automatic in. Which is probably well suited to that engine same engine as the Austin 3 liter is what is it a road store or GTA It's a it's a GT yeah because it's the hardtop we actually had a uh we had a convertible version as well and and and we've moved on from that sold that I think last year but but the um yeah the the hardtop we still have what and it runs great i mean they're they're just bulletproof engines you you I don't you know uh they're so heavy though I can see I mean I I can appreciate the concept of what they were trying to do and what they were trying to compete with. Uh they just didn't have the engine um so they you know basically borrowed and uh and and stuck stuck a tractor engine in there and and the weight must have just killed the the handling uh of it it was never designed for that kind of weight on the front on that front end but it's a great car I mean it starts on a button and you know runs runs up and down the road so and it and yeah that was the first British car I sent.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

And of course this gives you something in common with his majesty the king because that was his first car I believe he was given an MGC I think it was from you from University Motors. Yeah I think they what they built those for three years is that right Andrew two years six they were launched in 67 because I think people knew that the Austin Hilly 3000 was on its way out that disappeared in 68 it lasted until 69 and then you could 69 right that's right then you could argue in 1970 when the Triumph Stag was launched another three seater that seemed to have more chances of success being genuinely designed as a Grand Torah with four or two plus two seats according to your point of view rather than a modified MGB that was the always the problem apart from the bonnet bulge it looked too much like the parent car. And perhaps from marketing point of view before it the Sunbeam Tiger had the same problem yes you know there are detail differences and they sound a lot different but it looks too much like the do its parent model. I think I've been in contact with someone who has one of the ex London Met police models. Oh wow they were used as um high speed pursuit vehicles plain finish they had a fog lamp and a bell behind the radiator grille and that was it wow that's all you need that's all you need you know none of these frivolities and um so forth but I was interested you say how heavy they felt and and I said of course I think the concept of putting power steering in one in 67 would have been just too outlandish. Yes no they just put a bigger steering wheel in yes exactly that's sort of which is why if you see any of those three liter big BMC big Farina saloons their steering wheels look like a dustbin lid because you need it but you if you've ever seen I think Brian were talking about this if you've ever seen um any old police films the stunt driver isn't act overacting frantically spinning the vast wheel it's the only way to get it to go around a corner.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

Exactly but yeah the C now has a real leverage you can get exactly as Brian at this point demonstrates correct police push pull technique um push whatever and eventually it will go cars.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

I'm trying to think what the rival to the MGC would have been in 67 obviously they said the healy's on the way out the problem was obviously no that was discontinued in 64 that was yeah I mean the when it when the MGC was launched it was the main rival would have been the Triumph TR5 which has the 2.5 engine or the TR250 as it was in the States with the carb engine and that was replaced in the 69 by the TR6 and I think I suspect many buyers went more for the Triumph than the MG you know larger cabin so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_00 50:19

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

I mean because I think with the TR4 ohm as you can see the cabin is does that the cabin reflects how they've been can was it canly been listening to American dealers you know we need a more comfortable cabin we need dashboard fresh air vents etc etc you know we need we've got export is our main market but of course I think MG hoped you know captive audience given how successful the B was in the States if it wasn't for the American market I suspect the B would have been cancelled a long time earlier. You know because you know obviously you I'm I'm a tr as a child I'm sure I remember seeing the export trains packed with MGBs heading towards Southampton docks you know with memories such as memories such as um that but I'm going to ask Mike a question about Anglo American cars and one that we all know have you ever driven a Nash Metropolitan No Pity the Nash that was built over here by Austin but for the American market Yeah I have never seen one of those I recommend it is like a soap dish on wheels I will be looking for one now. Have a look at one Nash Metropolitan it's there was even a Hudson Metropolitan for a while but um and are there any American car makes you know we've all we can say the same over here in the this side of the pond are there any American car makes that you really regret the demise of regret that they left?

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Yes you know so I mean obviously some men some Australians are still upset the Holdens are no longer made for example I mean most of my life we had quite the selection I mean there was some you know uh that that went away but the I was sort of in between a lot of the manufacturers that went out happened around the wartime and you know they didn't make it quite through the 50s but it was pretty stable um from from the 60s through through the 90s probably and then you know Pontiacs disappeared and you know certain uh elements of General Motors and the Chrysler fell apart and which didn't bother me a whole lot um because I thought they killed the jeep and uh you know when American Motors went out they kind of took took a fair amount with them and whenever they stood up. So I I think I lived in a pretty pretty good era of cars uh that that you had a nice a nice selection and choice to to pick from and uh before all this consolidation kind of made them all one car. I'm not sure we we we just have one car with a different badge on it now that there's only so many engine plants left in the US and the world really and everybody's looking for the same aerodynamics which I think leads leads us to the same type of shape.

SPEAKER_01 53:31

Same conclusion yes which is which is yet another reason to love American graffiti one of the greatest films in the world because every car has its different personality every car has a different role to play yeah they were they were designed for for looks not necessarily for complete functionality um which I mean I get I from an environmental standpoint I get why you want the best fuel mileage and the the best aerodynamics but it it takes a lot of personality out of out of the designer's hands. Oh yes I mean I mean obviously I mean it's a cliche I know but the uh rocket shaped tail lights of the 59 Cadillac for example that's right you know the flattened fins of the 59 Buick which are quite stunning the Chrysler new look which I still think is one of the design classics of the 19 of the 1950s etc and of course the battle of the fins at the end of the 50s I think I think towards the end of the decade it looks as though the Cadillac looked as there was a fin with a car attached to it rather than the other way round. And that's what I absolutely that's what I enjoy. Although of course you know obviously there's long say with General Motor has been commonality otherwise there would be no plot twist at the end of my cousin Vinny which I hope we've all seen yes that's great. Exactly Brian have you seen it I have yes in that case to watch it then they will know the essential difference between a Butte Skylark and a Pontiac Tempest in metallic mint green yes well good people I hate to wind up this because I have had the time of such a ball Mike I hope you've enjoyed it I have I really appreciate talking about cars and trips and memory lane it's simply that it's simply I now have to not because I want to run away etc or take a road trip in a 1970 Valiant which would be a bad idea I know what happens you know 1955 Peter built keeps chasing you etc but um incidentally anyone who says that he that Lori's driverless is talking nonsense you see the driver hand signaling clearly at one point so but it's been absolutely splendid experience and I hope you'll come back and rejoin us. I appreciate it well