James May visits Richard Hammond's workshop to get help!

welcome to middle-aged men in glasses we're back at the smallest cog and we've got a fairly unique day ahead of us we do not get this very often hammond and me [Music] we filmed this video in january hence why we all look a bit cold and this was james's first ever visit to the smallest cog so richard treated him to a tour of the workshop hammond has given james the full tour of the workshop now but we're finding out the real reason james is here sorting out a bike frame [Music] i've commanded hammond's entire workforce two-thirds of them the other third being uh poorly should we say with you know what old anthony can't be here yeah so um very skillfully removed the lugs that i don't need by de-brazing and desoldering very risky because you can end up with a hole in the frame in which case it's mixed now we're just going to grind off the excess and then finish it off with some hand files yeah probably in a bit of wire wool yeah we'll put a bit of yeah a bit of sandpaper just to get it depends how smooth we get this should be quite smooth and we'll probably run the da over it when we do the paint take these screws out and carry on but if you wanted you could have them go that way no you do i'll have a go first and then you've got it all done by a professional okay you could you could have got the blade man if he went wrong would he do it i've always had a theory that most people with classic cars classic bikes always wanted to have a go in a workshop and paint their own car yes and i think that's right but it's a health and safety side of it would be against it but yeah but it's also a mistake because people think oh spraying paint on is easy but it really is no no no no you could make a world of pain i've i've tried it and i'm not doing it again i dread the thought of you getting sparks in your eyes would be there you need awareness okay i'm back on mars that's it perfect life on mars okay yep [Music] have a look if you're if you're happy though it's not far a little bit square there we go in the file then but yeah that's the files on yeah almost draw firing almost yeah yeah just literally a little bit excellent it's not far off really very very close that was very brave going that close yeah yeah it could be the trouble you can't put the metal back on can you no take it off you can't put it back on and other things that metalwork teachers say [Music] richard you've known james for now on 30 years now were you a bit nervous about him coming today yeah i'm an idiot because um i know yeah nearly 30 years and he won't mind me saying he is a man known for his astonishing attention to detail and yet i agreed to paint his bicycle plate the chances of him not finding a blemish or something to his dislike on that are vanishingly small but i think given off and he has said it given the chance if he lived close i'd come in the morning and he'd be in there painting something or fixing something or well i was saying it's a shame he's not got any classic cars left to bring here that would be the perfect fit he would be all over it he would love it yeah been quite nice also him and neil between them yeah a lot of chat they chatted for about 45 minutes over there about filing it was great yeah yeah and you won't find me saying any of this is because he does know that about himself he likes to chat about mechanical stuff so yes he's both the perfect customer because he's interested and cares about it and enthusiastic and knowledgeable but the worst customer because there's more attention to detail enough actually it'd be like be like reversing it and painting a car for me okay which is not something anybody would want to do everything like james you'll just be all over it yeah yeah yeah okay so we've had a bicycle what's next that steam engine in the yard or we're moving away from cars clearly not not that far away from cars it was a brief hop away from cars the lads have loved it because i loved having him over and meet him and they enjoyed doing a bicycle because it was something different but it's taken most of the day yeah financially it won't quite stand up [Music] james it's been awesome filming you and hammond today what do you think of his new digs uh i i love it i think it's a truly fantastic workshop and i'm quite envious if i'm honest well it's a shame that you've kind of got rid of all the cars that would fit in here your ferrari et cetera you've never got a classic anymore no the only thing i've got is a beach buggy which is already in perfect nick so i don't really need his services apart from to occasionally paint a bicycle frame well that is looking very good so far what are you expecting from that pristine yes frankly i'm expecting it to look pebble beach bicycle frame okay no pressure no less and what do you think of the guys i think hammers found some pretty oh yeah they're tremendous yeah yeah they're very entertaining apart from anything else and they obviously know their stuff so all the ingredients are absolutely perfect you just need some jobs would you actually like to use the place come in maybe work on your own bikes over the weekend do your own little knick-knack it's a bit far away but potentially in the summer yeah it is chuffing freezing in here and i don't i'm not sure hammond has quite grasped the impact of temperature on morale absolutely history has demonstrated this many many times they've got that jet engine there which is pretty toasty but it won't turn it on a fire that you don't turn on is the most useless thing in the world it's just taking up space and money okay well looking forward to seeing how your bike comes out yeah so am i it should be out so um i reckon by 5 30 which is in an hour and a half's time it will probably be pretty much there and then that is your project for this coming year probably a full bike fairly soon oh that'll be a full bike within a couple of weeks yeah can we film your raiding it yeah as soon as the bits arrive i'll sling it together and then i'll bring it over here and you can have a picture of it parked in the empty space in the workshop where there's no other work you just have a nice portrait of my bicycle you're already thinking about thumbnails yeah there you go coming soon to drive trade thumbnails technical terms nothing to do with thumbs or nails no why haven't i got that name does anyone know where it comes from contact sheets and photography where you used to lay all the either the um transparencies or sometimes the negatives on one sheet of photographic paper expose it okay so then you got those little tiny pictures which you'd give to the editor and they'd say i'll have that one that one and that one that's a so-called contact sheet and they became known as thumbnails i suppose because well my thumbnails because i'm peasant stock are fairly square and about the size of an enormous thumbnail yeah it's like twice the size of mine so if they'd hang around with people like you they wouldn't be known as thumbnails because your thumbnails aren't the right shape but mine are it's like a little picture and that's i presume how they became known as thumbnails anybody know otherwise there you go origin of the youtube thumbnail by james may's thumb [Music] welcome to middle-aged men in glasses be honest yes you are more impressed than you've ever been with anything at the facilities and the general panacea style with which we go about our business facilities yes definitely superb yes no it's really great it's um i can imagine many happy thursday evenings here you see yeah it's a hobby this is close yeah there's that okay discounting the huge potential for catastrophic business failure yes for a sec if you had your way you'd just be here all the time if i lived near it yeah you wouldn't get rid of it thank you definitely and actually i don't think i'll be really honest i don't think you are headed for business failure because your show's proven quite popular obviously it pains me to say that of all the people watching your show most of whom will be old car enthusiasts you only need a tiny number of them to think i'm going to have my my work done by the workshop whose name we're not strictly supposed to mention but it's the smallest cog yeah that you're done yeah we don't need a lot of work but we do need they do need some yes and the problem is the long jobs just on and on and on and on what we need is those quick turn bicycle for example that's a bit too quick and maybe it could take all day maybe that's because you were talking to neil i was yeah okay yeah he's very interesting man he was telling me about israeli chocolate no i let you go that's the one frustration for me as i set this up thinking brilliant have an evening learning alongside the masters so you're going to have to do management neil and andrew can teach me how to fix cars and paint cars properly and do you probably rather you bug it off and stayed in your office it's a bit like my pub i go down there and i make suggestions they go yeah that's a great idea and then they completely ignore it yeah all of it yeah yeah i think this is going to turn out to be a bit like that but it is early days here yeah no i mean i'm glad you've got it it means i don't have to go to all this trouble because it is actually i can see how it could be a very useful facility for you to well yes exhibit i could for example bring a bicycle frame that needed you have used my number one operative all day yeah i'll pay i can't charge it what it would cost i just would feel awful 50 quid yeah okay it's gonna be it's gonna be a drink okay it is with the frame now painted and dry all that was left was to wrap up james's bike and bid farewell [Music] what's been really nice about filming with both of them today is that you can tell that they're having so much fun that they are genuine friends and you think that's so cool to see it's very rare that we get both of them on the channel but we will do our utmost to get them in as many videos as possible i've been mike and don't forget to subscribe to drivetribe [Music] [Music] you

Channel: DRIVETRIBE

Views: 1,968,520

Keywords: jeremy clarkson, richard hammond, james may, cars, top gear, the grand tour, drivetribe, the stig

Id: ak_IumsqlSM

Length: 11min 8sec (668 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2022