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Wheels & Deals with The Old Car Lady
Wheels & Deals with The Old Car Lady, the UK's classic car podcast for people who love the stories behind the cars.
Sam Grange-Bailey isn't a presenter. She's a classic car dealer and a car dealer's daughter who grew up in the Manchester motor trade. She lived through the golden era of the British car business — the 1960s, '70s, '80s, and early '90s — when deals were done on a handshake, the cars had genuine personality, and the dealers who sold them were larger-than-life characters.
This podcast preserves those stories before they're lost.
Each episode brings honest, unfiltered conversations with the people who lived it: dealers, auctioneers, journalists, mechanics, and collectors. Expect tales of dodgy deals, auction house drama, barn finds, family businesses, cars that got away, and the ones that probably should have.
If you've ever wondered what it was really like inside a British car dealership before the internet changed everything or you just love hearing proper stories about proper cars ➙ this is the podcast for you.
Featured guests include Bond car specialists, Rolls-Royce dealers, senior motoring journalists, auction house insiders, and the characters who built the Manchester and UK classic car scene.
Topics: classic cars, motor trade history, buying and selling at auction, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, MG, Porsche, barn finds, modern classics, showroom stories, car dealer life, classic car values, and the unwritten rules of the trade.
New episodes every week.
🌐 theoldcarlady.com
📸 Instagram: @the_old_car_lady
🎬 YouTube, TikTok & Facebook: The Old Car Lady
📧 grangebaileys@gmail.com
Wheels & Deals with The Old Car Lady
Mike Smith | Racing Minis, Dealing BMWs & 007 Bond Insider
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week on Wheels & Deals, I'm joined by the legendary Mike Smith, from managing and driving cars for the Bond films to co-authoring the official Bond car book, Mike is a true Aston Martin aficionado who was even approached to present Top Gear. But his story starts long before Hollywood, with a childhood obsession that saw him racing stock cars at just 10 years old and throwing rubber plants across showrooms by 17.
Pitstops:
• Racing stock car Minis at 10 years old and nearly winning his first final before the petrol tank gave out
• Playing "Herbie" and spotting red, white, and blue Minis inspired by The Italian Job on family drives
• Getting secretly trained as a general manager at 16 while racing Audi Quattros
• How he took a rubber plant as a deposit on a car deal (and why he felt entitled to hurl it across the showroom)
• From BMW dealer to Bond insider: how knowing obscure car specs got him onto 007 film sets
A Nod to:
• The Saint's Volvo P1800 (and later Aston Martin)
• Corgi Toys with working steering wheels
• The Italian Job
• Ralph Renton's Renault dealership
• Manchester City FC
• Lionel Smith's dealership
• Roger Moore, George Lazenby, and the Bond legacy
If we've mentioned you but missed you here, drop me a line at grangebaileys@gmail.com.
Come Along for the Ride with Me at:
📸 Instagram: @the_old_car_lady
🎬 TikTok, Facebook & YouTube: The Old Car Lady
💬 WhatsApp: 07405 813554 — share your memories, stories, thoughts, and questions with us by sending a message or voice note.
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