I like my Sunday evenings, and they usually are in front of the log burning fire, reflecting on my weekend, hopefully about my cars, enjoying a tipple or three of the finest malt from Scotland, or occasionally Ireland. This week, having been full of a cold, I was reflecting that I haven’t done nearly as much motoring as I wanted to, and worried that there was nothing to talk about in my blog However, this is not true, even though Mrs Rambling Motorist and I have felt under the weather, I have spent many an evening of late enjoying some of the finest motoring channels on YouTube, and some are very entertaining indeed. I thought that I would share some with you.
Firstly, I will share my criteria for my selections of channels. I prefer a YouTube channel that is presented as if it was an entertaining television programme, that not only will be interesting to the viewer, but, there is no foul language, or is very limited in context to the scene. The type of light entertainment that doesn’t tax my brain too hard, and I can watch upon demand without a private subscription. I do subscribe to YouTube, so I have no adverts to watch. Even though there are channels that provide excellent content that are less than fifteen minutes in duration, at that length, it is not really presented as a television programme for general watching online, so these will be excluded from my selection here.
AC Dodd
Theme: Tuning the BMC A series engines, for the Mini, Metro, Morris Minor et al.
Duration: 20 – 25 mins
Star: Adrian Dodd
Link: AC Dodd
I like this one, not only because it is about the tuning of the Mini engine, but, Adrian is quite happy to explain things, and tips on camera, and share trade secrets. The BMC A series engine was found in many British classic car from the 1950’s onwards.
Bad Obsession Motorsport
Theme: The build of “Project Binky” a 4WD classic Mini with a 16 valve twin cam turbo engine.
Duration: 20 – 55 mins
Star: Nik Blackhurst, Richard Running, (and Rex Hamilton LOL)
Link: Bad Obsession Motorsport
As I am a classic Mini fan, I have been following the build of this custom one off car called “Binky”, a Mini 1000 from a long time ago. These are just two lads, in a shed, in Shropshire, where I live, building something with passion.
Diesel Pump UK
Theme: Getting the most power out of a Mercedes OM606 (or OM605) diesel engines.
Duration: 20 – 60 mins
Star: Luke and Paul
Link: Diesel Pump UK
Luke’s business is the manufacturing of components to enhance the performance of these mechanical diesel injected diesel engines.
Garage 54
Theme: Tinkering with old scrap Lada’s.
Duration: 20 – 30 mins
Star:
Link: Garage 54
This is a Russian channel, dubbed in English, that takes apart Lada engines, and experiments for fun with the cars.
Harry’s Garage
Theme: Reviewing both classic and new cars, along with sharing the enjoyment of his own car collection.
Duration: 20 – 30 mins
Star: Harry Metcalf
Link: Harry’s Garage
Harry Metcalf used to be a motoring writer for Evo Magazine back in the day, and lives on a farm with a barn full of interesting classic and sports cars. His channels (see Harry’s Farm too) are very entertaining exploring all things motoring, both current and past.
Jay Leno’s Garage
Theme: Classic cars from all over the world, but mainly American.
Duration: 30 – 60 mins
Star: Jay Leno
Link: Jay Leno’s Garage
For me, what is nice, is the American take on the classic car scene. Jay has some fantastic old vintage cars in his collection. He also invite guests onto the show in order to share rare or interesting cars from years gone by.
LR Time
Theme: Land Rovers, Range Rovers, and their restorations
Duration: 45 – 75 mins
Star: Vera and Christian
Link: LR Time
This is a German channel, and presented in excellent English, the channel focuses on the restoration of their own Land Rover and Range Rover collection of cars.
Mr Hewes
Theme: Tanks, WWII military vehicles and their preservation and restoration
Duration: 45 – 75 mins
Star: Joe Hewes, Seb, Jack, Adam, and of course Ted
Link: Mr Hewes
This is a very entertaining channel of a gang of lads having fun, playing with large tracked equipment, tanks, diggers, cranes, 6×6 lorries, and tank transporters.
Robot Cantina
Theme: Finding the most economical diesel engine to power a car
Duration: 15 – 30 mins
Star:
Link: Robot Cantina
This is an interesting mechanical engineering project to be able to swap a super small engine into a car to see how to get the most economy out of the engine including real road testing.
Tyrrell’s Classic Workshop
Theme: Classic car restorations
Duration: 15 – 35 mins
Star: Iain Tyrrell
Link: Tyrrells Classic Workshop
One of my favourites, this channel restores and road tests classic supercars from the 1950’s onwards. Iain, with specialist knowledge, is also often invited to judge concours events.
In watching all these, I just don’t know how I find time to do my own motoring..! Hopefully I will be better soon, and back to creating some interesting writing, perhaps about my own car collection.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist”
Sources
- The YouTube logo is their artwork.
- The content of each channel represented is the work of that individual.