Interview: Chris Harris on his new book, misplacing a BMW, and his future after Top Gear

After almost eight seasons with Chris Harris co-hosting the world’s number one car show, in late 2023, the UK’s BBC announced Top Gear would be put on hold indefinitely following a car accident with co-presenter and former cricketer Freddie Flintoff.

Now, Chris Harris is in town with his business partner and podcast co-host Edward Lovett to attend an event for the online auction platform they founded together – Collecting Cars.

Drive chatted with Chris Harris and Edward Lovett about the upcoming event in Sydney, Chris’s new memoir, the Australian car industry, misplacing an old BMW, and what the future holds after Top Gear.

Drive: Welcome back to Australia. When Drive last spoke to you in late 2021, you had just bought a Lancia Delta Integrale, a BMW E21 323i, you still had the Porsche 911 GT3 Touring, and you were about to buy a Lada Niva and a Polestar 1. There probably isn’t enough time to go through your entire collection, but out of that galaxy, what’s in your car solar system right now?

CH: Two of those [cars] booked (broke) in the last week. The Integrale – I spent quite a bit of money trying to make the eight-valve cat engine work, and that has now finally expired. So that’s up with a specialist called Tanc Barratt, who’s the best bloke in the UK for these things. The prognosis is [a] new engine, I think. So that’s a really good start.

Bought that car on Collecting Cars – don’t regret it. The whole point and the fun of the auction is you dont know what you’re going to get. And that sounds terribly ‘free plug’ like, but actually, I paid 16 grand for a shell that is gorgeous, and the engine was a bit tired.

The 323i is a bit more of a problem, because I used that in an episode of Top Gear – and I loved the car, and I loved what it stood for – so I bought it, and the paint was a bit ropey but mechanically it was lovely. So it went off to these two lads that do lots of work with me and for me – and they’re wonderful – but they can be a little bit… let’s say, disorganised.

So I had to ask where the 323i was last month, and no one could tell me! So I think it’s near Hereford on the Welsh-English border at a body shop, but we don’t quite know. However, we are investigating it at the moment.

And this is what I love about cars, and this is why I think [Collecting] Addicts is a great name for our podcast. Because whatever happens in my life – whether things are good, bad, indifferent, boring, whatever it is – I’m always on the hunt for a car story. I’m always trying to buy something, sell something. I’m looking for something. It takes up my time. You know, that’s the thing that’s been consistent in my life, really. Cars are everything.

The Polestar’s still with me, and I’m loathed to sell it actually because, in those two years, the hybrid’s emerged as the clever solution. I just think the [electric vehicle] thing doesn’t really work for us – or for me – in the UK. But the hybridity does, and the Polestar 1 will do 80 miles (129km) on its electric battery. It’s a really beautiful, special thing. It sold in vast numbers in the UK… which is why I own the only one they ever sold.

The [Porsche 911] GT3 Touring I’ve still got – the yellow one – that’s coming up to 68,000 miles (109,500km) I think. I will never sell that car. That car is too good… unless I can buy something unobtainable with it. But I think I’ll always keep that.

I’ve just bought a 130,000-mile (209,000km) [BMW] E61 M5, so the estate (wagon) car. That’s obviously a world of pain. I’m just trying to create situations to keep all of my therapists employed over the next five years, with cars. I cannot help it. If there’s a disaster waiting to be bought, I’ll buy it.

Drive: You wrote a book recently, Variable Valve Timings: Memoirs of a Car Tragic, which is a wonderful and oftentimes hilarious insight into your obsession with automobiles, and how that evolved into one of the most successful motoring journalist careers of our era. It’s been a long journey since your first day of work experience at Autocar in 1996 to here. Do you have any advice for those wanting to become a motoring journalist?

CH: Do it for the right reasons. I.e., because you love the product, and you’re fascinated by the process by which they get made, sold, and marketed – and the people that make those decisions. Don’t do it for the wrong reasons – because you want to become famous or because you think you’ll earn lots of money.

But if you get the first bit right, there’s a good chance two and three will happen. But if you go into it thinking number three is the only reason, one and two won’t happen – and you probably won’t achieve [number] three, either.

But the motorcar remains something fascinating. Social media, now, almost gives people the chance to act autonomously. You don’t need to work in an office. But I think, my main advice would be: try and work with someone, or try and learn from people.

My great frustration is I see immensely talented people out there now – young people – with the power of Instagram, and Facebook, and all these other engagements [like] YouTube, and their full potential isn’t being released, because they don’t want to learn from other people.

There’s something about sage voices. I’ve talked about (Australian car journalist) Peter Robinson. I don’t owe anything to Peter necessarily in my career – actually, I probably do… I learned so much from mature, knowledgeable voices, like his, and I’m not sure that exchange of older voices to younger voices is happening now.

Drive: The BBC announced recently that Top Gear was on hiatus following Freddie Flintoff’s car accident which occurred while filming. Firstly and most importantly, how is Freddie going now? And secondly, are there any back-room whispers about the future of Top Gear?

CH: I think the BBC probably need to comment officially on that themselves. They put a statement out saying it’s on hold indefinitely. So my involvement in the show is now over. I won't be doing it again, and I’m very happy with that. Would you believe, I did nearly eight years of it? Which is a long time since Jeremy [Clarkson] got upset over a steak sandwich.

So there’s a lot of history there. Fred is recovering, he’s doing his thing, and all I will ever say publicly about that accident is I’m just really glad he's still with us – I won’t say anything more than that. I’m just really glad that one of my cricketing heroes is still with us and it was a pleasure to work with him when I did.

Drive: While Top Gear’s been off, we’ve been enjoying your podcast Collecting Addicts, and more classic Chris Harris YouTube videos, which help promote your online auction platform Collecting Cars – which seems to be going from strength to strength. Was the business set up as a retirement plan from motoring journalism, or will we see you writing for automotive publications again in the future?

CH: I never say ‘never’ about anything. But Collecting Cars happened because I was on my way to watch a cricket match, and Edward [Lovett] phoned me. We had a discussion about this. But he just said, ‘look, we need to do this, don’t we?’ This is the time for car transactions to move online. There’s something happening in America, why can’t we have our version in the UK? And beyond that, as we now find.

And I’m really glad that we did it. It reminded me that I’m as passionate about the business… the colour, the theatre of buying and selling cars as I am [about] actually driving cars, sliding them, presenting videos about them, and writing about them. I just love it.

My reason for being very passionate about it in those early conversations with Ed, was that I realised my editorial around cars was classifieds. Because if you do what I do for a living – and this sounds awful – I’m not that interested in what other people say about cars, because I’ve got my own opinion. I’ve driven most things. And I’m a bit of a loner, so I’m very comfortable with my own opinion about the GT3 [or] whatever it is. I’m not that interested in what anyone else says about it.

So when I go to bed, or when I’m sitting on the throne, I look at classifieds. I love browsing what’s for sale [and] how people describe their cars in adverts. That was my editorial. And that’s why I passionately felt that Collecting Cars was something I wanted to be involved with.

So, yes, it was a bit of a pension plan, because I didn’t know when that TV show was going to end – I mean it could have ended at any moment really, that’s the nature of television. So there was a bit of strategic thinking… but not that much. And I love what we do. The [Collecting Addicts] podcast is… it’s just therapy, isn’t it, really? It’s just five blokes wittering on about cars that assume no one will want to listen to it.

So there’s that side of it. I love making the films, and I’ve realised – I knew this all along – but there’s an inertia to television. Big-budget television is what everyone aims to do. But [it’s] for a particular type of person – probably not me – [because] it’s slow-moving, there are 40 people when you think there could be five, and I’m sort of back to my roots now.

I’m working a lot with Neil [Carey, the film-maker] who I love to bits, and we’re trying different things. But it does feel refreshing, and I’m really glad. I will do more television in the future – I’m very lucky, people are asking to me go and sit down and work out some ideas, and I’m sure I will do some stuff. But right now Collecting Cars is my full-time home for this kind of activity, and I’m really pleased to be doing it.

Drive: I imagine would have a lot of data from sales on the Collecting Cars auction platform. Are there any trends you’re seeing in the collectable car market right now?

EL: We’re still growing, clearly and obviously in Australia and New Zealand. We’ve only really just got started. Our biggest-selling brand is Porsche – which is peculiar, when Chris and I… it’s probably the brand we go to quickly.

But I think, going back to talking about Collecting Addicts [the podcast], we talk about these (ideal) two-car garages and we seem to be able to go wildly off-topic into different cars we didn’t even start talking about. Our interests are so broad – as are the interests of the people on the [Collecting Cars] website. Everything from brand-new Ferrari SF90s to Discovery 4 V8s.

CH: The trend thing is really interesting to me, because I’m not a data person – and I don’t think Edward is either – he’s a brilliant car salesman, I’m not, so he is dealing in these trends more than I am.

What I realised recently is we produce one piece of paper that I think is so valuable – and I implore people, who [perhaps] don’t want to buy a car from the [Collecting Cars] website, to look at it – [because] if you want to buy a version of a car, we’ve sold one recently. That is the best indication of what that car’s worth – as long as the condition and the spec of it is similar to what you might be selling – that’s the best piece of information out there! It’s really valuable – and it’s free! Unless Edward can find a way of charging for it – I know he’d love to, but I don’t think he can at the moment.

But if you want to buy a 992 GT3 Touring and we’ve sold one in Australia in the last couple of months, that’s what that car is worth. It’s the best indicator of what a car’s worth. And I love that, I think it’s fascinating.

And I think rather than dealing in trends – and I do slightly put words in Edward’s mouth as well here – what we buy into is the freedom to buy what you want, but also, the importance of buying cars for the right reasons. We don’t talk about investment. We don’t talk about making money – because that’s totally outside of our control. You might make money, you might lose money.

We’re more interested in what you do with the car. Do you enjoy it? Did you love buying the car through our platform? Have you been on adventures with it? Did your kids like it?

I’m pretty tired of the really popular cars becoming commoditised recently. I think a lot of cars have ended up with the wrong people for the wrong reasons for the wrong money, and they get stashed away. It’s sad, isn't it? And I think loads of people are going to regret it, [because] in 10 years’ time you may not be able to drive some of these cars.

How smart are you going to look if you owned a 911 ST and it just sat in a painted garage for the two years that you owned it? It’s quite a sad story, isn’t it? I don’t want to be part of that narrative at all.

Drive: Jerry Seinfeld has said on Spike Feresten’s podcast [Spike’s Car Radio] – if you own a Porsche 911 with the lowest mileage, you’ve lost the game.

CH: I think Jerry is absolutely right. I’m on course to do 100,000 miles (161,000km) in my 991 GT3 Touring, and I’m telling everyone else to get out and use these things. And you know what? The Law of Murphy means the more you use them, the more you’re rewarded somehow. You might make even more money when you come to sell it – who’s got the better story? – I don’t know.

But market trends are… it’s a dangerous game, really. But certainly in Europe, prices are weakening, because I think the market has become more realistic. And that means a more exciting time for car buyers. I think everyone’s just waiting there, their hands are just in the tip of their pockets, thinking ‘ooh, it’s going to be good now’.

Just look at your car, [the BMW] E34 M5 – we’ve had some crazy prices asked of those in Europe. They’ve just come back a bit after things free up and people get involved with them. It just frees the market up a bit. And I think we’re just – certainly in Europe – we’re in that phase. Australia has been more stable because your economy appears to be a bit more robust than ours at the moment.

Drive: I understand you’re in Sydney with Edward Lovett to attend a morning Coffee Run event organised by Collecting Cars this Sunday. For those who have never been, what can we expect at a Coffee Run?

EL: A very unpretentious gathering of all types from all corners of the car community. We don’t favour any particular car or person. We’ve got 1200 cars turning up, and it will be hot hatches, Americana, European classics, Aussie muscle cars – there will be flavour of everything. And we don’t separate the parking, so a Yaris should be parked next to a Testarossa, and a ute should be parked next to a Bentley.

CH: I’ll add two things to that: the late, great [motoring journalist] Russell Bulgin – a name you might recognise… you’re a bit younger than me, but he probably was one of the top three motoring writers that ever lived – he wrote a wonderful column in the first published issue of Evo magazine.

He described a scenario where the drivers of a [Porsche] 993 911 and a [Peugeot] 205 GTI arrive on a petrol [station] forecourt together, and the driver of the 205 looks at the 993 and thinks ‘One day I want to own one of those’, and the 993 driver looks at the 205 and says ‘I used to own one of those, and it reminds me of how much fun it was’. A mutual appreciation.

The great thing about cars is – if you have a car attraction – they immediately break down boundaries. The person that loves their little hatchback loves their car for the same reason that the zillionaire woman that turns up in the [Bugatti] Chiron loves her car. We want to cross all those boundaries.

And second of all – and I mean this from absolutely the bottom of my heart – the only people I don’t like are the ones who leave like total wankers and try and show me how good they are at driving. Because I’m not handing out contracts to come and do the slide sessions of my videos – I can do them perfectly well myself.

So when you leave, please don’t make it difficult for us, because that’s when it gets ugly. That’s the only serious thing I'll say. So yeah, we don’t need any hooning when you leave – just go quietly, please.

Drive: I don’t know if you saw the [recent] scenes from Summernats, an annual car show in Canberra… there were a lot of burnouts through the capital of Australia.

EL: That won’t go down well with us – or the local police.

CH: We have a responsibility to the wider community. Everyone’s waiting for the guy to get it wrong, and we don’t want to be part of that. Look, they’re lovely events, but mill about, have a chat, have a coffee, but also remind yourself that you’re not alone.

Sometimes being a car enthusiast can feel a little bit like being a sole trader these days, but there’s loads of people out there. Have a chat. Walk up to a car that you don’t understand and that you’ve never quite ‘got’, and ask the owner of that car why they love it – that’s what I like to do. I walk up to people and say ‘I don’t get that, tell me why it’s great’. And I normally walk away thinking ‘Oh, I might buy one of them’.

Drive: In your last interview with Drive, you mentioned Australia’s now-defunct car industry. Do you think car manufacturing unites a country to some degree? Does it contribute to a nation’s identity?

CH: Good God, that’s a very, very big and existential question. But there’s a truth in it, isn’t there? But my answer is I’m not clever enough to say either way. But I would say that that is one of the denominators that represents a shift in the way a country views itself – would you not agree? It’s one of the things you look at. And if this spreads further, where does it end?

But, [Australia’s] not the most populous country on the planet, and the types of vehicles you were making, the format they were making, probably didn’t… it could be argued was too inefficient. But it’s a shame, it’s a real shame.

I’ve only been to Bathurst once as a spectator, but when you get up on that hill and you watch them come through at the top, against the walls, it was magnificent. I really, really loved it. It was captivating. So, I get it.

But in the UK we haven’t really had our own indigenous car industry for a long time, so maybe the sub-plot for that question is, ‘what constitutes your own car industry?’. If you have other foreign-owned [car companies] coming in and building their cars, is that the same? Probably not. Arguably the UK car industry is almost entirely owned by foreign companies anyway, so we’re sort-of in the same position as you. Only we weren’t wedded to such a distinctive format of car as you.

The V8 ute is a joy. And one of the things I was talking to someone about the other day – I’m amazed someone hasn’t Singer-ised the ute. Why hasn’t someone decided to celebrate your format of cars. If someone made an HSV GTR-R-R-R-R 880 that was carbon-bodied and [Singer Vehicle Design founder] Rob Dickinson designed it, there’d be no shortage of Australian billionaires to buy them, I don’t think. Edward's looking at me saying ‘there’s an idea!’.

So, it’ll come back. But it’s an interesting point, it is. For me, it was watching V8 Supercars 25 years ago and hearing commentators say the name Jason Bargwanna – that was as Aussie as the Baggy Green [cap] or the [Sydney] Opera House. It was intrinsically linked to your nation.

Drive: Last time you spoke to Drive, you mentioned wanting to go on an adventure in Australia. Besides the Coffee Run, do you have anything exciting on the agenda while you’re visiting?

CH: Not massively, we’re quite tight on time, and adventures take a lot of time. We will certainly be coming back. I’ve got an old mucker (friend) who you’ll know, named [redacted], who sends me really, really offensive messages – but again, I love him dearly. He can’t message me without using a word that begins with ‘C’, which I find deeply offensive...

Drive: It’s a term of endearment in Australia.

CH: It is, I know. But I’m going to meet him, and [his company has] got an interesting electric product that goes quite fast, I think we’re going to film that. But no big adventures, I’m not going out where the roads are straight and everything is a prehistoric-looking thing with massive teeth – I’m not really into that at the moment.

But we will come back and do some of that. But we’ll do a bit, we’ll hang about. We just want to meet people. Our Australian [Collecting Cars] team are smashing it at the moment – they’re doing a fantastic job – so part of it is to come out and pat them on the arse, and obviously to launch the platform here and in New Zealand as well. But we’re on the ground for not long enough to go out and go walkabout.

Drive: Thanks very much for your time. If our readers want to follow what you’re up to, where can they find your socials, your podcast, and YouTube channel?

CH: The YouTube channel is Collecting Cars – that’s where the podcast is, but you can get it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well. I’m @harrismonkey, he’s @edwardlovett, and @collectingcars is the handle for the business on Instagram and all social media platforms. So have a look at it. And if you can, come along to the meet in Sydney, please do. We love meeting new people.

The Collecting Cars Coffee Run event is happening between 8am and 11am on Sunday 4 February 2024 at the Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Rosehill, Sydney. For those wishing to attend, sign up on the Collecting Cars website by clicking here.