Hey, what did you drive this week? I had a Lamborghini horror car. Yeah, very orange, very orange. I like to call it high viz.
Orange.
No, I didn't.
Well, I drove the MG four, the new one. Yeah, from like thirty eight thousand dollars, which is bloody check.
That's is that it's not technically the cheapest by like one hundred dollars, right something like that.
I think the.
BYD Dolphin is like in that by one hundred bucks. But I'm pretty sure those two cars are miles apart.
Well, the MG I think looks better to me. But then I also went to check out the key at EV nine. Yeah, and I reckon that looks unreal. So that's launching in October this year. It's like as big as a land Cruiser, seven seats full of electric.
Does it feel heavy?
Well, we didn't drive it.
It's these were pre production cars, but got to sit in it and it has all of the bells and whistles. They haven't announced pricing, but it'll be about one hundred grand, so it's gonna be But yeah, that that is good fun. Now, before we get further into this show, we're about to have a guest on and.
Yes, and one thing I will say before the guest comes in, just enjoy me in beautiful, lovely crisp audio while it lasts. While it lasts, is in about four minutes, it's going to turn shit house.
Yeah.
So we had an issue with Gordy's mike and it, yeah, it clips a little bit for some bizarre reason. So when you do hear the interview, we apologize profusely for Gordy's performance.
Not my fault. It's not my fault, babe.
Happens all the time.
But yeah, this bloke you will know him from radio, from TV. He was on Essays Australia and.
One half of American Rosso and nowadays he's drinking lots of wine. He's also he also has an awesome podcast which you can find on iHeartRadio. We're going to check the links in the description and all that sort of stuff, so please check out his podcast anyway. Merrick Watts, that.
Was pretty tense. It was pretty tense driving that car. It's funny you only get to like, you know, fifty sixty k's, but you get there very quickly and it sounds it looks like you're going a minimle now, but you're definitely on the speed limit at all times.
Yeah, you'll you'll load to the ground. Yet you're also metaphorically so much higher than other people high state.
It's definitely high stage individual years. Yeah, but the car is low profile. Yes, I said the juxtaposition there, it's excellent. Yeah, five points to you. This is a competition, isn't it. Yes, we have to get on the podcast, by the way, because we start the podcast when I'm ready and we have I have all started. Yeah, absolutely, we have welcome. Welcome, Welcome to the Driver Show with Paul and Gordi. I'm Merrick, their guest.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, so here we are all crammed in a very hot room. By the way, I have to warn you that this room does get quite steamy, and Paul is of Croatian descent, so he will most likely get some sort of a bush and kind of like sort of tap it on his back as if it's some sort of Mediterranean sauna.
Yeah.
Really, yeah, we all get naked.
It's funny.
Okay, let's just taken the turn.
Let's let's talk about Australian cars. Because I'm a big fan of the eight stuff. I know that you've you've owned GTOs, you had an XAGT as well. I saw a picture of that. What is the what was the two Hands connection.
This is gonna sound insane because so many of my car purchases have been insane, and often at the time of purchase fueled by alcohol. But like quite literally the Two Hands car.
From the movie.
We purchased that because we were leaving Fox Studios, Rosso and I had been to a screening or a meeting or something, and we're walking out. We bumped into Gregor Jordan, who's the director of the film Two Hands, and Ned Kelly is a terrific guy, and we bumped into him and we go, what are you doing with this? And he has, oh, I'm trying to sell it, and there was like a tire kick had some guy'd come along and was like he was going to chop it up
for parts. And he was like you could see that he was guardted that this piece of you know what he fairly thought was historical Australian engineering, and also too, you know, a movie film, a movie film, a movie car.
It's a Mulphie film, it's a movie film.
And he was like he's pretty gutted by the idea that it might be chopped for parts, and so we just on the spot just went, oh, let's go for a drive or buy it. And he is, where are you going to go for a drive and then buy it? Yeah, we'll go for a drive and then buy it. And so we went for a drive down the end of the street and then we bought the car. Rus and
I owned a few cars collectively. What year was this, I think it was like two thousand and four, two thousand and five thereabouts when we bought the XA.
And how much did you pay for it?
I can't remember, but it was I think about eighteen grand. It could be completely wrong, it could be thirty five. I was drunk a lot, but no, I think it was. I think it was about eighteen grand or something like that.
If you look at them today, they have just gone through the roof. And that's even for like a replica.
Great car. Well, they call them tributes now, which I love.
It is a tribute. I think that's a porn term.
You'd know.
I would not know that, and that's genuine. What's interesting about that car, though, is that it's a Ford, but the paint job is actually the color is actually from Holden. Ah just deliberate, Gregor did it deliberately?
So?
Yeah, the Duco is a Holden Duco put on a Ford.
Why was that a deliberate thing?
I think because he wanted to have I don't know. I don't know.
I think I think it had something to do with the good and bad elements within the film or something like that, you know, the character stuff. I really can't I think it was definitely something to do with the film. It was a very deliberate decision. It wasn't accidental. But he got the car and he had it resprayed with a holding color, and it might have just been because it looked better and he thought that Ako, the character Accho, would look better driving there.
I don't know.
So that car went to auction. Do you know where it is today?
Got no idea.
Did you ever take that down across at all? Just for like shitting gigs?
Oh?
Yeah, took the car all sorts of places, just mainly around Sydney. I don't think I drive it. I think I drive it out to Bathurst.
Yeah, I did.
I drive it out to Bathurst. I drove it around the mountain just because it felt like it needed to go do some sort of spiritual connection. It was like something there And yeah I did. I drove to Bathurst, but I didn't drive it.
Long distances typically.
I used to just you know, get it out on occasion just to be a bogan.
And were you and Rosso like it was that like shared custody of that car.
Yeah, it was shere custody. But I was definitely the favorite parent. So you know, it was like a lot of marriages. I wo'd always prefers one parent, but doesn't tell them they car loved me, loved me, but that look, I was kind of I was more the kind of custodian of it in some ways. But Russo, yeah, he'd drive it from time to times. Well, we had a few cars we own. We had a few cars. We had a couple of Layland Piece seventy sixers there for
a while. Why again, Like honestly, we were at a pub one day and we were drunk, and we were going through the auto trader on a Friday afternoon and we saw some a pair of Layland Peace seventy six is for sale and Queensland and we went as if this wouldn't be the best decision ever, so we bought them. And then the next day we'll get a phone call from our assistant and she said, oh, by the way, you went to lower the piece seventy six's and we went,
what are you drunk? And she goes, no, you were there. We're going no, we don't know that car, but he's talking about it. She said, no, you purchased them yesterday. I've done all the paperwork. She was furious. So we're like, oh, wow, we've got two cars with to get rid of them.
So why did you guys buy cars together? What was the reason for that?
I don't know. Both love them.
Both Russell and I love cars, Australian cars particularly, got a passion for them, and it's less about what's actually under the bonnet and more about what they've done socially or what they've represented in a time or space. And I think that's what it was. We both liked different cars, but we also liked the same cause. Also, I had a Citron, which you really really liked.
It was a DS Citron he had there for a little while and he really liked that.
He also had an EH for a little while as well, and he really liked those cars.
But neither of those cars I would purchase for himself.
I had at that time, I had a Mark one Mustang Nice and I also had a holding gto as well, So at any one point I owned about three or four vs. This is why you should never give Bogan's cash. That's what this is.
What can't You can't really do that anymore, right, Like you look at the classic car market. It has gone so ballistic that you can buy an absolute shit box and it'll never run, or you can go and spend one hundred and fifty grand on a clean club sport or something. I think these days that's gone and it's not the same as it used to be. Everyone's trying to make a buck.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean the prices of some of those cars that I used to admire as a kid, which were you know at that time. You know, when I was young, all I wanted to do was an SLR five thousand.
I just love them.
But I grew up in Eltham in Melbourne, which is the home of Peter brock So Brocky went to my school. So you know, Holden's and Tarana's were very popular. Yeah, I lived well, We.
Had Bev on the show and the history is amazing some of the stories she had about her growing up, but also then the life with Brockie was unbelievable, and even the story she told about after he passed away. She was getting a lot of requests to authenticate cars and memory be She had one bloke that claimed he lived in Diamond Creek and he wanted to come and sign something that Pete had signed.
So the address was in Diamond Creek.
She's turned up and knocked on the door and ladies answered and she's like, no, I didn't ask you to come here. I don't know who you are, or I'd never asked you to do anything like that. And she's like, I'm really confused, and starts walking back down the driveway and this dude just pops out of the bushes with some car park that she wanted that he wanted her to sign. Oh wow, because he was going to flog it off secondhand somewhere, but there was just so many weirdos out there.
Yeah, he's sort of attached to that. But I think growing up that's the.
Bev's foolish mistake because Diamond Creek is actually halfway between Eltham, where Brockie went to school and where they had a property up near Kangarooground. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, that's that doesn't seem like I mean, for her, that's not out of order at all.
Yeah, it's and I think this guy probably lived who knows where, and he thought, well, I'm going to pick a location where I know is near where she is, and I'm going to go and just give this, give this a crack.
But Lounds is from Diamond Cracker, I think, yeah, right.
What gravitated you guys to old cars?
I think that there was a uniquely Australian element to them. Like if you particularly for me, with muscle cars, you know, there's really you've got sports cars and supercars from Europe. You know, your Ferraris and Lambeous and Asta Martins and everything else. So then you've got muscle cars. And if you look at where muscle cars are kind of fabricated, you've got some it's a little bit of an identity there in the UK, but it's largely America and Australia.
We were really into the muscle cars, and I think that's what I always was drawn to. That was felt Australian, but it felt international at the same time, and it felt like we were doing something that was different and better for it.
I agree. I mean, if you look at American muscle cars, they got terrible after sort of the late seventies eighties, except for the Pontiac Fiber amazing, but even the nineties, like the Mustang, the interior is just I.
Can tell you what it is. When Barbie started, like quite literally, like you know that it's not saying Barbie or the movie or was responsible for it, but that styling became very, very popular, and that you know, they weren't as obsessed by engine capacity.
They were all more in line with.
Thinking about petrol costs because of the time, and so they started to reshape them and have look at them and you look at something like the Ford Capris, you know, the Ford Capri. When I was a kid, those early Ford Capris were a.
Weapon, an absolute weapon.
And then they re released the Ford Capri and I've gone, that looks like a.
Barbieco I want to say Barbecao.
I mean like an open top, kind of flat accessible coupei. You know, that's what it was. It was less about that hard top coupe was it was soft top.
And it was easy to get in and out.
Of and easy to. That's what happened to the fo Capri as well. It became Barbie cars.
Yeah, and they were always like a sexy shade of gold coast red. Why were they always red.
Because you could put your figureines in and out of them, you know. That's what I say, Like the Barbie car is like because it was it was not as tough and aggressive looking they were. They still like the performance vehicle, but they had lost for me, they had lost the way, as you say, at that exact time, I just went to shit.
So fast forward, we're moving towards an era of electric cars.
And how do you feel about electric cars.
I haven't got.
Really any strong opinions on them because I haven't driven them. Yep. I think they're good, yep, I think. I mean, the data speaks for itself. There's things fly because of the engine drive you know, the lack of drive train.
But the.
I think that they are a good step forward generally, but I'm not convinced that they are the best long term option yet because what is required to manufacture an electric vehicle, you know, precious metals particularly, and the fact that you know, I could be misquoting somebody that I
heard on the internet or something. But I'll be bold, but there's simply not enough precious metals on this planet for every person to have an ev hydrogen where I reckon, We'll go and I reckon when you start seeing everybody knows electric cars the thing the thing, Well, then why have massive manufacturers like BMW and others not given up on hydrogen?
Whyt all correct?
Right, so you go, well, hang on if they'd completely walks back and just said the hydrogen experiment was a little bit like when Brocky got the crystals.
Out the energy pulvarizer.
Yeah, do you know what?
You can actually still buy those things.
Because people want them to put in their their groups. If you actually want the original A lot of they were stolen over that is that completes an original car, and now they are over the moon expensive. But you are right with electric cars if you look at some countries. And I've said this countless times before, but when I went to South Africa recently for a car launch, the middle of the night, power went out for like six hours and they still powershed for like six hours a day.
If you own an electric car, you.
Cannot own one over there because you don't know if you're going to be able to charge it or not. Your alternative is to use a diesel generator, which seems intuitive to me. If you come down to Victoria, we predominantly have coal power, and you're then charging an electric car with coal power, which it doesn't seem intuitive as well.
So I think hydrogen still has legs.
I reckon hydrogen will see first in a kind of commercial yes, realm and transport buses and mining stuff like that, in a spot in hospitable locations possibly, who knows, but I think that we'll see a combination of those two elements. And obviously fossil fuels will eventually just remain in use for airline travel.
Yeah.
And you know the other thing with fossil fuels as well.
Porsche is building an e fuel production plant in Tasmania and in Chile, and they've got other brands working on e fuels as well, and it's going to mean that, especially for Porsche, if you own a Classic nine to eleven and the future goes towards hydrogen or electric or whatever, you're still needed fuel to run your vehicle. And to me, I'm excited by that because all the chipboxes I have. I'm still going to be able to drive them on
a weekend. It will be an expensive fuel to manufacture, and even if it's ten bucks later, I still can stick it in the car on the car and know that it can still make lots of sound and be fun. So that is happening because my fear was that, Okay, let's pretend the world moves to electric in ten fifteen years. What I'm going to do with my vatcomitals. I want to still be able to drive them, but I don't want to have to have like a meth lab style fuel action the thing at the back of my house.
One thing I'll say about EV's is I still don't reckon we are where we should be in terms of infrastructure. Like any charger that's that's not Tesla just feels risky.
Yeah, I mean, you're changing a whole other network, so you know you've got it when you're not just changing a fuel source. So like when we went from leaded petrol to unleaded petrol, they are vastly different and yet they are interchangeable, whereas EV requires a whole new network and also to you look weird when you've got like one of my neighbors has got like an extension card coming at the window of their house to power the
Tesla out the front. I'm just like, Okay, that's what we're doing now, is it?
Yeah?
Yeah, well that's that's your power cord is across the footpath Mark.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah.
It's not an ideal solution, isn't it. What does your car history look like in terms of first car type stuff? What did you sort of grow up with up until you had enough money to buy something that wasn't a third box. I my first car was a Valiant VEG Coop. Yeah, nice seventy model.
And I loved it.
Yeah.
Great, it was like driving a boat. But that was my first car. And I had Coops solely and entirely for many years. But they were a great car. And I wanted a charger, and I wanted an SLR five thousand, and I wanted lots of things.
But what I.
Had was two two hundred dollars. That's what I had, was a Valiant.
Yeah.
Just changing track a little bit. How long were you guys doing breakfast radio.
For like ten years? Yeah?
How do you reckon things have changed for you personally since breakfast radio times? Because I look at you now and I'm like, you're calm, You're a smart guy, you're articulate. But I mean when you're in the pressure cooker, that is. I mean I've seen some tantrums, mainly my own.
Don't have emotional control, thank you. No, I mean that Oh okay, good, so it didn't hurt first enough. I did it again, knowing.
That it would.
Yeah, yeah, it's got Well, I am going to have to have a look at myself. I'm just going to go home and cry. Excuse me, guys. No, But my point is it is an absolute rollercoaster, right.
Yeah, it's And it's partly to do with hours, Like you know, it's you You're not meant to be peaking out at six am. You know, you know, it's against your Cicadian rhythms. It is against the way your brain chooses to work. And then you know you're heightened that with an intensity in the studio and passionate people, passionate voices. There's a lot of You've got a big bag of firecrackers, and eventually one firecracker, a small fire cracker is going
to let the whole bag bower. Right, That's just the way it works, and in hindsight, it's really easy to see that. In hindsight, you go, oh, well, of course, there's all these accumulative pressures.
And some of them are really good.
You know. One of the things I love about breakfast radio is that it is pressure. I love that pressure, like the intensity, and I like the drive. I really enjoy that. But there's also too there's other factors involve, and those accumulatively can set off some fireworks. But you know, it's a great privilege to do breakfast radio. I always thought that to do any radio is a great privilege.
But you know, for me, I mean, I don't it's not even the hours for me now, my disciplines in my lifestyle now are far more conducive to being able
to handle those sorts of pressures. I wouldn't be I mean a typical day, I'm awake at quarter to five anyway, So the hours don't make any difference to me because I have a very set routine in the morning that I adhere to, and it allows me to get to this point of the day later in the day and still be calm, still be focused, still be energetic, still do all the things that I want to do and fulfill. But I have to set that early in the morning.
I have to go through a very very long and boring process of elements and sequence that set my mind up. So I always say I work on me first, then I work for other people second. So I work on me in the morning and work on me daily, and I do the things that I need to do physically, mentally and spiritually, and then I.
Got to work.
So then when I walk into whatever situation it is, I'm able to adapt and be calm and not necessarily passive. I can dial right up, but I just have better emotional control, which I don't reckon I have when I was in breakfast. That was probably my greatest weakness when I was doing breakfast is I was very very quick to go volcanic, whereas now I just sort of see things calmly and objectively view things and then make decisions.
Okay, great, So I'm taking notes and.
I came in and talk about cars, and I've given you some life directors. If anything, I feel like your new Anthony Robbins is what I am. I'll relesse the DVD you can buy.
I know we're aman to talk about cars, but when did that change for you. You mentioned it after you didn't have it during breakfast radio.
When did it change?
I think part of it happened when I stopped doing breakfast Radia. I think part of it happened when I became a father. I think then I went through a process a few years ago preparing for a television show called Sas Australia. And that was a very very long and difficult process for preparation which I took laser serious, like I actually take everything in life, even fun, even comedy.
I take very very seriously. If I choose to apply myself to something, I apply myself one hundred and ten percent or I don't bother yeap so, and I'm very prepared. So when I went on that, it was like six to eight months worth of training in preparation before I went in Australia. Yeah. So when I went in there, like everyone was going, you know, the comedian he's watching him is going to burn in two days. And I was like, I will be at the end of this
and I will finish this course. There is no doubt in my mind that I would finish this course.
You were so like I went into that show going this is such a hilarious time because you're going to remember it was kind of COVID and yeah, we were handing celebrities machine guns. I saw this amazing, silly side to the whole thing, like this is fucking amazing. You come along and I'm like, this guy's like fall on, that was one of the greatest things. And you were You're right there at the very end, like it was incredible.
What.
Yeah, it's just like it's a it's a physical ability, but it's a mental practice that gets you through those sorts of things and you know, getting you back to cars. Like I used to care so much more about cars and motorbikes several years ago than I do now. My core values have changed enormously. Like if somebody said to me, you know, you can have an five thousand, I go
obviously with a drop tank. Yeah, you know, it's it's something that I still love, but I'm not as passionate about owning things now as I am about doing things and completing things. And that's been a big shift for me. So I know, I had even this year, I had two motorbikes. I sold two motorbikes. One was you know, an old kind of classic and I just went, I'm just not riding them. And I think if I'm not
riding them, then I'm not enjoying them. If I'm not enjoying them, and somebody else should and that's for me, that's what it's about. Like I said, I'm more fun well focused on rather than I used to be. Like I was that guy who just wanted to own twenty five cars. Yep, I didn't care if I drove any of them. I just wanted to own twenty five different cars, and that was my higher purpose. Now I just have a wagon. I've got an Audi a four wagon, and
I love it. It's like it it gets everything done for me, and I enjoy it, you know. So I still love driving cars, I still love I love riding motorbikes. But I also like building businesses and creating new ven and taking on new goals. So you know, you can't have everything. You can't have all those toys and all those things like cars and have that as you focus and give them enough tension, because you know, a classic car is like a child. You've got to look after it otherwise
you're not doing you know, duty to it. So for me, it was like there has been a transition where I sort of go, no, I'm more into experiencing things, creating things, developing things, building things, making things than I am a particularly unique things that I am about owning things. Having said that, I am going to own an Aston Martin one day, I just love them.
As a new one or an older one.
I'd like a new one please.
Wow.
Yeah they look they look under British racing green just just tan interior, just death on wheels.
Actually, did I hear something about you doing up old posty bikes? Is that you?
Yeah, with a friend of mine, Joan, we just did it kind of like as a bit of a joke, and then all of a sudden we had about six of them. So there was a point there where I owned I think eight motor bikes. So I told you, look, you know, this is what happens when you get Bogan's money. But yeah, we used to get oh posted bikes and then strip them out, respray them and lose some of
the undercarriage, like the prop upstand. We'd get rid of that and just have the kickstand instead, lighting them right down so that we literally you could carry them upstairs.
And they were unreal.
Yeah, they were written up by a motor journalist and they came in and borrowed one of the bikes and he rang me up. At the end of the weekend, he goes, Mate, I went, oh, no, he's crushed. They said, question, can I keep this bike for a few more days? Said yes, I thought he's having a lend and mate, seriously, it is so much fun to write, so light and it's easy, and it's nimble, and I put fat Kobby tires on it so you could go roll over garters and but you crash it, you own it.
Actually, speaking of creating, one thing I know you had a big hand in was when you're at Triple M the carbecue.
That was a great car. Somebody else owns that too, but that was an x B. I think it was an ex big yeah. And what I just had an idea for making a car that could also be a barbecue, because I thought that would be a great combination. But I wanted it to look like the car from Mad Max.
Yes, that's right.
So I said, it's got to be resprayed, it's going to be Matt Black, it's got to look like this. And we spent a lot of money. When I say were the radio station spent a fortune on it, but it was actually for something we're doing with I think it was with Meet and Livestock Australia and they were looking for an idea and they are wonderful people to work with and I was like, oh, well, I've got this idea for this carbecue and they're like, oh, that's great.
And it made international news like it was on like what's that one of the TV talk programs? I forgot what they are. It was like a morning show in America, the largest morning show in America was with a viewing audience of like I think tens of minions. And I was watching it on screen. Somebody showed me and they were talking about this guy in Australia who had built a barbecue in a car and how a novel was like somebody regis is it regious?
And something like that? Anyway, watched you going, I'm that guy?
The guy they're talking about.
Why am I not in the shot? Why am I not.
In the shot? Why is the car in the shot?
And I'm not a shot? Yeah?
That was a cool car. Did that get all listener? What happened with that?
No?
We kept it for a little while until the company said to me, again, you've built something that's costing us money. And we drove around a little bit for a while and did some you know, some primal work, and then eventually they flogged it off to private market and a guy I think in Queensland border and he was wrapped. But then he was again a car enthusiast. He wanted to work on it. He wanted to look after it. He loved the idea of it, but he wanted wanted
it for what it was. And I don't regret it because if a car, I always think you a custodian of a car. So have your time with it. When you're not offering the car or anything, you should pass it on. Yep, not about what the car is offering you. If you're not offering the car, enough move it on.
So before we wrape up, what's you mentioned you liked drinking when you were younger?
Has that finished?
Now?
Do you drink anymore?
No?
I still drink more than ever. I'm qualified wine joke.
Oh yes, of course. Yeah, wine's your thing now, Semilia and.
A wine joke. Yeah, So I've got an international standard whine. I work one of my companies is called Grapes of Mirth, and we do lascoal comedy events and festivals in wine regions right around the country. That's what when I left radio went and started that. That was the reason why I kind of wound up radio, because they've done twenty solid years of radio and felt like I was living in a literal fish bowl. And I started grapes some myth just before I finished up on radio, and that's
what I do. You know, we run festivals and it's awesome. But yeah, I drink, but I'm very, very disciplined with alcohol. So I like, I love wine. I love wine, I love beer spirit, I'll drink everything. But because I work in the winers room, because I've got qualifications, because I do occasional judging and stuff like that, I think it's really important to have the balance around it. So I don't drink so much, like on a Wednesday or sometimes
have wine with my wife at home. But like, I won't drink tonight it's a Thursday, I won't drink tonight. I will drink on the weekend. I probably won't drink Friday, but I will definitely drink on Saturday. And when I say drink, I mean fucking everything.
Your wife goes into the bathroom, where's the domestos? I thought that was Italian wine.
I exercise and meditate every single day, right, and this is the way I do. And this is a car reference for you, right. I say to people during the week I treat myself like a Rolls Royce and on the weekend, I treat myself like a high car.
You know the concept of Grapes of Mirth is it is so cool. Like I I've seen gigs. If you do people have like a flight of six wines.
That's my show. So that's an idiot's gode to Wine, which is a festival show which has been touring now for eighteen months and is going overseas now as well. So that's run by Grapes of Mirth. So Grapes of Mirth is the larger festival event, but Grapes of Myth is also the company and has three partners in it, and we all work together and.
We perform show. Well.
I perform the show called and Need It's Got to Wine, which is where people taste six wines throughout the course of the show. And it's unreal. I mean, it's been going longer than any other live show ever done. It's completely unique in the world, and we're touring it again. We've been overseas with it, but we're going to do some more extensive touring with it.
It's great.
Well, and you're right, you have to find a niche like that, and everyone, well not everyone, but people that do comedy do comedy. Whereas if it's around a thing or an event that people are doing like it is, no one's going to come and replicate that, or if they do, it'll be shit.
But I don't think that would have much trouble beating it. I do the show. It's good, but like it's like a carried away. I don't think it's that big a challenge.
But I want to get into Well, I have a shipload of wine and I've got a neighbor that has a shipload of it.
Don't you drive by the way. I will say this, though I'm extremely extremely disciplined around booze and cars, I always have it. I've never been into it. I've never thought it was a good idea and so like I know that you go you make jokes about it, like, of course you make jokes about it, but I never ever, ever do booze and now I'm on.
The same page. And that's the thing.
A calibrated fucking alcohol meetup. They're like one hundred bucks and if you've had a big night, it's so easy to just check and you'll be okay. But yeah, what is your recommendation for someone who wants to get into wine and get a better understanding. What is the most effective way to get across it without having to do a six month course?
Well, I mean, you can do like kind of lower level courses through the school that I've went through, which is a West Set because it's internationally recognized. You don't have to get to my level. I hold West Set three. But you know what, just find a wine shop and just go and have a chat to people in the wine shop. They love talking about wine. Go to a winery and go roll up to the cellar door and say,
tell me about these wines. I know nothing, and they will go They will not make you feel bad, They will embrace you and they go, right, we're going to start with reasoning or we really like this, and they'll talk you through it. Wine people, and particularly wine makers and people who work at cellar doors, are far less snobby and interested in the bullshit of wine than people think they are. They are not the people who are
going on with that stuff. It's people who work. Often I find people who work in media or press or have got some skin in it too, or usually to some people old dudes who just want people to feel a little less not educated, but they like the power that they wield with their own knowledge.
But some of the.
Most incredible minds, like literal masters of wine, which is like extremely difficult to get. It's like a professor, just really easy going people and they just talk about it in really simple terms, like you know that tastes pretty lemony.
Yeah, it does.
It's as simple as that.
That's because that's what's in there.
They don't bang on it and go, you know, soup into bullshit. So yeah, just go to a bottle shop and talk to them.
Yeah like the sound of that.
Not to drive through though, because I'm going to go hang out with Dan Murphy right.
Now, baticalarly not at a Lamborghini.
I reckon anybody's going to be able to hear your order.
I'd like a cask of reasoning.
Just chuck your box a cooler bar in the bag, that'd be great.
Thank you so much for coming in.
And this has been an absolute experiments.
Technically you've had a few issues, but you know what your heart and your soul and then you've asked good questions you care about. That's great, You've done your audience of service. Well now I'm giving you guys seven and a half.
Out of one hundred thousand. Is it is actually out of a thousand. I got to.
Say, yeah, yeah, you go, you go.
No, I got to say.
I was really blown away by that chat, just because you know, I thought, you know, I will chat cars and stuff, but he is really he's a really switched on guy.
Yeah, and he is.
Yeah, the stuff that he was talking about, he just is a laser focused and very intense. And yeah, I was just I don't know if mesmerized is the right word.
I think at one point you took your pants off and you fell quite in love. You wanted to embrace. Yeah, legend of a bloke harm But you know, the weird thing is I wasn't expecting him to be so I guess switched on back in the radio days. He's kind of a manic dude. Like it was almost this this this thing of chaos would come into the room. But nowadays Merrick Watts is calm, measured, he's articulate, he's focused. Often feels like the smartest guy in the room. Probably is,
but especially when you're in the room. Yeah, holy yeah at your face.
Yeah, but no, that was a really awesome chat. So us shoot us an email let us know what you thought about that. Contact at the Driversshow dot com today you if you're listening to this and you enjoyed that chat or our chat last week with Bev Brock, please make sure you leave five star rating for us.
We do really appreciate it.
Yeah.
I know we keep saying this, but we need to give some merchandise away.
I actually got an email. Oh do you want to read it? Yeah, let's quickly do that.
Okay, So let's run through some of these And I'm sorry we haven't read these apt for a little while, but this one is from Chrissy goes Hey, Gordy and Paul. One of the best episodes yet with John Kodogan. Something I'd be interested in hearing you guys talk about is what are the best non CBT cars on the market.
Thanks, Chris. You don't have to be more.
Specific with that because there are stacks of them on the market, and stacks of different segment So get back in touch with us and let us know which segment you're after.
I think that would be really nailed down price point and everything.
Yeah, another one from Craig. Hey, guys, love the show.
Thank you. I just wanted to let you know a story.
He said.
I purchased a golf Life.
Wagon early last year, but in the end had to wait nine months to get it and so only received it in November. I've since changed jobs, which comes with the company car. I went back to Volkswagen and asked what they would be willing to pay for it, and they offered thirty K, twenty k less than what he paid six months ago. Their response was, when he asked if that price was correct, that we have to make money, and he goes anyway, if you don't want to test
drive of a golf Wagon, I still have one. I honestly believe outside of its over aggressive safety stuff, it's a great car. Why people get SUVs with less internal space makes a little sense.
Keep up the good work.
Yeah, that is a bit of a funny one.
It's a shame he's selling it too, because I actually think they're a great little car.
Yeah, yeah, I think they are too, and I feel bad that he's getting screwed around, but unfortunately that is how the used car system works.
And at the moment, used car prices are going down as well.
So yeah, I think the whole market is starting to definitely correct itself.
Now this one's this one's great. I'm got to read this as fast as I can. It's song lyrics just for us.
Okay, Well, all right, slim Shady. I think I know what you're going to do here. We should play we should play a little beat. In fact, I will get our production guy, DJ Diamond Davis please.
Don't beat box. Sorry you're embarrassing, but.
I'll get him to put the beat under it.
And you do your Okay.
So subject was partly you still ain't called me, question mark, and I thought this more spam.
Come on, drop the mic, let's go.
Here we go, Dear Pavel, I wrote to you, but you still ain't calling.
I left my phone, my grinder link, and my Quantus Frequent flyer status at the bottom.
I sent your two dms back in autumn. It's not a goddam.
There probably was a problem with the Graham or some shit. But anyways, fuck it. What's been up man?
How's your daughter?
My girl friend's pregnant too. I've had to be a father if I have a daughter. Guess what I'm gonna call it. I'm a name of Donna. I heard about your comrade Gordy too.
I'm sorry.
I heard a friend selling his stinger too because of some picture didn't want him. I know you probably hear this every day, but I'm your biggest fan. I got the pre pew best ship that you did with John Canogan.
I got a hard trive full of your reviews and your pictures.
Man.
I like the ship you did with hell Boars too.
That ship was fat.
Anyways, I hope you get this man hit me back just to chat. Truly, yours your biggest fan that was from Duncan. Duncan has to get some merder.
Oh my god, yeah we should. We should get a bloody he made up for here. Maybe you and him can do a rap battle.
That was bloody unreal. So thank you for the earbails. Guys.
If someone does have anything else they want to send through, please do please do.
That sort of stuff is great. That is going to get you a shit ton of merch. Yeah, please actually do that, so duncan.
I'm going to get Gordy to reach out to you and get your address and stuff so he can send you some of our merch.
I think that would be I love how you've just you should play AFL. You've got a great fucking handball.
No, no, not sport.
I'll quickly I know this episode in now going forever, but I'll quickly read out some feedback that we got in ratings. Here we go, a bit of a shaky start, but great now. That was from Leckford, Gordy and Paul. I've been listening to The Driver's Show, to The Driver's Show and now No I think you're What he meant to say was I've been listening to The Drive Show
and now The Driver's Show since it started. I have to say there were times at the start I was going to unsubscribe, thinking it was a bit crass and I was expecting another car expert podcast.
Yesh, I wondered.
An actual automotive experience.
However, I have to say the change.
Of format, including guests like John Kdogan in the last episode and Brendan Jones the one before I got me sold. It's still very lighthearted and crass at times, but it's a lot more enjoyable and entertaining. Keep up the good work, and the odd mention of Donna still makes me laugh. Another one from zot zot good blend, four stars only how about we changed that to a five? Mate wrote nice, She wrote nice blend. They wrote a nice blend of banter and info that I actually find useful and interesting.
Episode with Paul Cardigan switches me.
Away from pure EV's a few John and then I'll rebomber out here. Two more actually, one from Mardy three one ninety five my favorite podcast. Eagerly look forward to this dropping every fortnight. And then last one I read out from Toby the Great okayv title legends. Uh huh yep present awesome podcasts. Keep up the great work, way better than the lame at Drive podcast.
Now hang on. I will not have a bad word said about our colleagues.
No, mainly because of legal issues. But yes I didn't say that.
That's exactly right.
I've run out of money. This was a fun show.
Fuck up Scalore. Yes, thank you for listening, and please leave us five stars and get in touch.
Probably won't after you okay,