Car SOS presenter and drummer Fuzz Townshend joins hosts Jason Plato and Dave Vitty in the latest episode of award-winning podcast Fuelling Around.
Townshend is best known for presenting one of the UK’s biggest TV car shows, Channel 4’s Car SOS, along with his musical career and being the former editor of the hugely popular Practical Classics magazine.
In a wide-ranging episode Townshend also chats about his car collection, how he got his start on television and his musical background.
Fuzz Townshend’s mum sold a classic car to pay for his first drum kit
The 58-year-old revealed to Plato and Vitty that his mum sold a Vauxhall Chevette she’d won in a national newspaper competition, to pay for his first drum kit, which ultimately led to his musical career and helped shape him as a person.
“My mum was a short person, she had achondroplasia, what is more commonly known as dwarfism,” stated Townshend.
“So she had never learned to drive a car. Not because that’s impossible for people of her build, but because it was going to be massively expensive. She was a single mum, she didn’t have any money.
“And she did this competition. I think it was in the Daily Mail, and she was what I think they call a ‘spawny get’ which is somebody who has more than their fair share of luck.
“She won a car, she won a Vauxhall Chevette, but instead of having the car, and I really wanted her to have the car. She ended up taking the cash prize which was £1,300. Which was a lot of bread in December 1975.
“So I said ‘mummy, would it be possible for me to have an electric guitar and amplifier?’ And she said ‘oh go on then, I’ll give you a treat’. We traipsed off to Woolworths in Birmingham city centre with a couple of my friends.
“We went to the music department and there was this guitar that I wanted because I wanted to be Jimi Hendrix when I was a kid. I’d had guitars since I was about six. I stood there in front of it and I looked over to the right and there was a red sparkly drum kit.”
Plenty more episodes of Fuelling Around to enjoy
Series six is nearly on the home straight, but if you haven’t listened to Fuelling Around before, you’ll be glad to know there’s a wealth of previous episodes from five series for you to listen to.
A host of celebrity guests have littered the award-winning podcast that has so far produced a string of excellent episodes to listen to.
You can also tune into Fuelling Around on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.