What does a Renault 5 cost?

About £23K

But that's one of the brand new, most excellent, electric ones.

I was watching an episode of Flipping Bangers this week.

It's a programme I saw a series of a few years back and quite enjoyed.  I assumed that there was only one series and thought no more about it.

Then they started showing more episodes this year.

Then I saw the two blokes off it at The Classic Motor Show talking about their latest endeavours.  Turns out they've gone onto YouTube.

Anyway, I must have been watching Series 2, Episode 7.

It was an original Mark I Renault 5.

They bought it for £1000 and spent £485 doing it up.

I've just found out they they bought it off Sam Brackley, son of Paul Brackley - the mechanic off Wheeler Dealers in the Edd days.

They didn't do anything about the brown headlining or dodgy dash area above the ashtray.  It had obviously spent a lot of time being smoked in.  They didn't mention a smell though.

It also had some black tape pretending to be trim going between the wheels at the bottom of the doors.  They sort of sorted that.

They did do some actually vital stuff too.

Then they sold it to a dealer for £2600.

This was in 2019.

As soon as I saw the car I thought I recognised it - had I remembered it from seeing the show a few years back?

Nope - it wasn't series two that they broadcast.

Turns out I remembered it from here.

Twincam, another of my favourite Youtubers, has some sort of arrangement with auction house Manor Park Classics.

He reviewed it and they sold it last year.

For £4140.

Somebody somewhere has probably not done very well out of that between 2019 and 2024.

It still had the horrible headlining.

So I'll have one of the new ones please.

Naked Ant Anstead

That post title should get me a few clicks from potential female readers.

And my digital recording device seems to think his current Discovery channel series involves nudity:

A bit of quick Internet research shows that the working title for Ant Anstead, Born Mechanic was Ant Anstead, The Naked Mechanic.

As it is, there has been no nudity so far and I watched episode 5 this morning.

The premise of the show is that he is doing up classic cars to fund the restoration of a very old farmhouse for his parents.  He has the help of an old friend called Darren who seems to be giving his time free of charge.  Ant also "calls in favours" from many "friends" for both car jobs and house jobs.

I wonder if these people may appear briefly on Discovery's payroll?

Not that it really matters - it's what we thespians call "artistic license."

Like in episode 1 when Ant tells us he is scared of heights then in episode 2 he appears very comfortable on the roof of the farmhouse.

Episode 1 was particularly enjoyable though because they were doing a Triumph Dolomite Sprint - it's ALWAYS a Sprint, they never do a 1500HL like I used to have but never mind, the Sprint is a fabulous car.

Darren reminds me of someone.

It may be that I have seen so many car shows over the years that he has turned up on one if them.  Although I did also think that he looked a bit like an older version of former Stig, Ben Collins:

Then I spotted Darren's surname at the end of the show - Collins!

Maybe a cousin or something or maybe a complete coincidence.

But back to the show - I think the format is forcing Ant to sell his cars at auction with no reserve which seems somewhat unfair.  He lost a fortune on a Jaguar XJS and made just £200 (not including auction fees which were probably more than £200) on a mint (and therefore extremely rare) one-owner Alfasud.  And when I say "mint", I don't mean it had a hole in it - check out the auction listing.

A similar fate befell an original condition (and also extremely rare) MGC with just 5000 genuine miles on the odometer on the programme I watched just before Born Mechanic - that programme being Bangers And Cash, Restoring Classics.  The team spent over £30,000 on getting the car ready for auction and it sold for just £22,500.  Like the Alfa, it seemed almost criminal to let it go for that price but at least that show is about a car auction site so there is justifiable jeopardy there.

So, does this show mean that Ant has followed Mike Brewer back to the UK?

Nope, but his girlfriend is currently filming the next Bridget Jones film over here so that worked out quite well.

They obviously got their diaries aligned.

Smashed against a Wall Street

 I wonder if a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio will attract more clicks than Sylvia Krystel.

Although this post is more about the Lambo from "The Wolf of Wall Street" rather than the wolf himself:

Does that look silver to you?

It's white.

And a bit of a fixer-upper.

It's one of two nearly identical limited edition Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition cars used in the film.  The only difference between them is that other one hasn't been wrecked.  The story is here.

The thing is, both cars are coming up for auction. One in Abu Dhabi, then the other one a fortnight later in New York.

Why not auction them together? - it'll make it more convenient for the new owner because I bet it is the same person.

And if it isn't, what is the future for the wrecked version?  It's going to take some buffing out and I wouldn't be surprised if the engine won't start - buying it could be a titanic mistake.

Automatic Fail

 Here's a nice picture of a 2006 Ford GT:

You will notice that it has a Barrett Jackson watermark on it.

That is because I have taken it from one of their auction listings from Palm Beach last month.

It sold for $704,000.

Here is a more recent photo of it:

If that had a watermark on it, it would point at the Facebook page of some chap called John Peddle.

He photographed it after an "off" in Boca Raton in Florida.

The driver wasn't used to driving a manual.  Car+Driver have the story here.

He also wasn't insured to drive it.

And the car wasn't registered.

And his licence had been suspended.

Now call me cynical - but if the guy named as the driver is the guy in the middle here, and I can't be 100% sure that he is, but the name and age and location seem right - 

then it looks like he is another Donald Trump/Boris Johnson type of individual who was born into a very rich family surrounded by servants and sycophants who has been allowed to get away with serial lying and thinks that rules don't apply to him.

And an innocent Ford GT is the victim here.

Or maybe he's just another Florida Man.

Why Would a Priest Need a Four-Door Car?

This unusual story from Autoguide caught my eye today.

It is about a blue 1976 Ford Escort coming up for auction.

My Dad had one of those.

Only it wasn't blue.

And it was only a Popular as opposed to this GL:

It only had two doors and had the more common round headlamps.

 

But the square lamps and extra doors on this particular Escort shouldn't justify an estimate of $300,000.

 

And the seller allegedly paid $690,000 for it in 2005.

 

But go back a couple of owners from him and you get to Pope John-Paul II.

 

So this car may be unique - or at the very least, extremely rare, in that it is a car that has been owned and driven by an actual saint.  I'm certainly not aware of Mother Teresa pootling about Calcutta in a Hindustan Ambassador.

 

But, despite all of the interesting information in the article, I am still left wondering, Why would a priest need a four-door car?

'87 V6 Capri For Sale

And that IS a 1987 Ford Capri.

Although it's not for sale.

Because it sold.  At auction.  For £54000.  The This Is Money story is here. (Looking remarkably like the Mail Website)  Part of the value is in that it has only got 936 miles on the clock.

A few less than my own car which passed a big milestone today:

 

 Which only has 3073877 miles to go to catch up to this Volvo P1800S:

'96 Hybrid Phaeton For Sale

Hang on a Mo'.

All Volkwagen experts, together with those of us who have access to Wikipedia, know that VW didn't start making Phaetons until 2002:

And, they've never produced a hybrid version.

But, of course, I never said it was a Volkswagen - nor did I say 1996.

No, this car coming up for auction is a 1896 Armstrong Phaeton:

 

Fox have the story here.

I had assumed that Phaeton was just another model name (like Escort and Cedric) and Wiki helpfully informs us that "The name Phaeton derives from Phaëton, the son of Phoebus in Greek mythology."  But it also helpfully informs us that "A phaeton is a style of open automobile or carriage without weather protection. It is an automotive development of the fast, lightweight phaeton carriage."

Which sort of explains why Wayne Carini keeps encountering them in "Chasing Classic Cars".

In fact it looks like in the 1920s and 1930s you could get Ford, Packard and Buick Phaetons to name just three of many.  Go back to 1910 and you get this:

 The VW Group have come full circle - that's an Audi Phaeton!

Would you sell your Granny?

Somebody is.

And if I had £5K spare and some space and some time to travel down to East Anglia (as opposed to Ford Anglia - there's one of them for sale too) I would certainly be interested in making a purchase.

After all, she is beautiful:

It's the rarer 3-door coupe style as well.

 

So what alerted me to this sale?

 

This did.

 

It is a story from the BBC about a 1961 Triumph Herald up for sale with just 20 miles on the clock.  It is believed that the "one careful lady owner" never actually drove it. 

Sounds a bit like the story of the Merc I found in Swansea.

 

It goes under the hammer on Saturday together with the car you can just see behind it.

 

The car in the picture behind it interests me because my first car was identical to it.

 

OK, it had a different registration number and was three years younger but it was a Triumph Dolmite 1500HL in Vomit Yellow (aka Sandglow).

 

It must be in excellent condition because it is estimated to go for between £14K and £16K - although they've clearly got the colour wrong in the listing (brown) and the mileage too (69 - maybe they meant 69000)

 

I don't think they are too clever when it comes to the listings.  They have the mileage for the Herald that is making the headlines down as being 3750 (next to a photo of the speedo that shows 20).

 

3750 is still unbelievably low for a 50-year-old car and probably belongs to a second Herald the auctioneers are selling that they have listed as having 20 miles.

 

I would love to have a wander around this auctioneers site - the actual, physical site, not the website, although that is pretty interesting too.

 

For example, they have a 1988 Rover 213 - why on Earth would that be a classic?

 

Well, to answer my own question (and I bet you thought it was rhetorical) it only has 3101 miles on the clock and is expected to fetch £3K.

 

They also have Granny's successor for sale: 

Oh dear.  Maybe not.