Company Cars Running Wild!

Jon Summers is the Motoring Historian. He was a company car thrashing technology sales rep that turned into a fairly inept sports bike rider. On his show he gets together with various co-hosts to talk about new and old cars, driving, motorbikes, motor racing, motoring travel.

In this episode, Jon reminisces about his history with unreliable yet fast cars and bikes, shares details about a harrowing night drive through Death Valley, and talks about sponsoring AUXITO lights. The hosts also recount experiences with various company cars, the culture around them in Britain during the '70s and '80s, and their personal favorite company car stories. They explore the thematic shift in popular bike styles from sports to adventure and cafe racers, and delve into the nostalgia and technical excellence in driving simulation games like Gran Turismo. Additional segments cover topics such as the appeal of the Porsche Carrera GT, the death of designer Marcello Gandini, and recommended motoring reads.

• Judas Priest - Running Wild (intro)
• Furious Driving, A Mustang in the desert and Auxito, our first show sponsor
• Our Auxito Discount link 15% off with code MOTORINGHISTORIAN
• Running Wild - Free Wind Rider (intro)
• Owatrol - not sponsored, but improve old headlights without needing polishing tomfoolery, as recommended by Chops Garage
• Xan Clan - Go, Go, Go
• Nismo 400 launch party at Z Car Garage
• Group C and IMSA of the eighties; an awesome spectacle
• Judas Priest - Running Wild (break/2nd verse)
• Gerald Laing
• Running Wild Freewind Rider (chorus)
• The why of our Company Car Episode
• A potted history of the British company car, and its unusual foibles
• Sunroofs. Rooves.
• The Rise of the Car Allowance
• J’s first company car, a white Ford Mondeo
• The Importance of the 2.0 Ghia vs the 1.6 L
• The Ford Granada 2.8i Ghia X
• M”s red ‘97 Renault Laguna RN(?). Base.
• M’s silver ‘00 Ford Focus 2.0 Ghia, a eulogy to Richard Parry-Jones
• The nineties/noughties requirement to meet customers face to face meaning 50,000+ miles per year (!!!)
• Cars with low horse power, but low weight too 
• Company car policies and bending the rules; M’s Seat Leon Cupra R
• Hooligan behaviour on the way to Le Mans (neither M or J driving) 
• Living in the car; the value of the face to face meeting, especially if the deal doesn’t go your way, because at least they used to tell you why you lost.
• J’s “Annus Horribilis”, in 2000. 
• J’s Vauxhall Vectra S202BVT, understeery as hell
• J’s Ford Soapbox. Are you listening Ian “Hubnut” Seabrook?
• J’s 2000 Subaru Impreza Turbo, which he never drove (go me)
• J destroys M and J’s shared Sierra Sapphire 2.0 Ghia crashing into a ditch
• M’s ‘07 Nissan 350Z and ‘09 Honda CBR600RR
• M’s Nissan 350Z and 370Z
• J’s Stinky Subaru
• After the power metal special, today’s Running Wild special
• An early and very effective traffic avoidance technology
• A wrecked Citroen Saxo VTS
• The Uffington White Horse and a rolled car
• Not Sierra but Slayer, on the bootlid of E773NKV M’s Sierra 2.0 L
• A Red J-plate Subaru Legacy wagon; Gary Lineker, beloved British soccer player, calls J a Motherfu**er. 
• J’s misses the Green Vectra SRi sedan, dark green V-plate. 
• Vauxhall speke: SRi vs GSi
• J mourns J191RBH, a grey Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier SRi
• Slow cars fast vs Fast cars slow
• J has Toyo Proxes on his Fiesta ST. Now it sounds like a Stuka. But the grip is unholy.
• M's Fiesta ST now has a Mounttune catback exhaust
• J’s business idea flipping French hot hatches becoming US-legal thanks to the expiry of the 25 year rule
• Renault Safrane Biturbo / Monaco
• Peugeot 309 GTi, 106 Rallye, 306GTi-6, 306 Rallye
• RIP Marcello Gandini, the designer of the Renault 5 Turbo 2 and Cizetta V-16. Among many others.
• The Bertone Pirana
• J on the dodgyness of Car Consignment; the car the money and the title - at no point should one person have all three
• Will J’s ‘77 Lincoln sell ? Or more accurately, will it be picked up?
• The rise and rise of the Porsche Carrera GT, compared to the Ferrari Enzo and Mercedes-McLaren SLR
• M’s eulogy to the Carrara GT; peak analogue?
• Running Wild - Riding The Storm
• Sportsbikes were bikes when M and J learned to ride. J hadn’t realized sportsbikes were a flash in the pan!
• M is tired out by naked bikes and wants some wind protection; J appreciates the artificial speedlimit
• BMW S1000R and S1000RR; M’s ‘09 Honda CBR600RR is better than him, and might remain that way
• J cannot speak highly enough of Gran Turismo as a virtual preservation and introduction to the world of cars, driving, and motoring culture as a whole, while retaining a Japanese flavour
• J’s white Sierra Cosworth RS. In Gran Turismo
• J and M do not like mudflaps
• Renault Laguna BTCC car
• M’s digression on difficult computer games 
• Favourite company car; M’s handbrake turns
• J’s black Mondeo, limping up to Worcester using zipties in place of an alternator belt
• Car guy reading 101: J: Enzo Ferrari - My Terrible Joys; M: Matt Oxley, a very clever motorcycle writer
• Running Wild - Wild Animal (Outro)

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Copyright Jon Summers, The Motoring Historian. This content is also available via jonsummers.net. This episode is part of the Motoring Podcast Network and has been republished with permission.