Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades on why Volvo will always be cool
IT’S no secret that fame gets you a lot – including free cars.
Normally it gets under my skin to see celebrities plastering their social media channels with fancy motors gifted to them by manufacturer PRs.
While the rest of us have to pay monthly out of our hard-earned.
But here’s one TV personality who, in my opinion, deserves it.
I was chatting to Jay Blades from TV’s The Repair Shop because he’s now in partnership with Volvo.
But he’s far from here for the freebie.
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Number one. Jay genuinely loves Volvo and owned a 240 back in the day.
Number two. When DFS asked him to design a range of sofas for them he knocked them back. His response was: “You’re not cool enough.”
He had the opportunity of a big pay cheque but he was thinking of other people.
Jay said: “I’ll give you a story, Rob. Check this out. Nothing to do with cars, but this is how I am.
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“DFS came to me. They took me up to the factory, gave me a tour, sat me down for lunch, and said, ‘We want to chat to you about some of your designs. We want to put some stuff in a shop’.
Coolest person on BBC
“I thought about it for five seconds, and I turned around and told all these execs, ‘You’re not cool enough for me’.
“They could have put millions in my bank account. I said, ‘The only way I could team up with someone who is not cool is if I design some stuff, you make it, and we give it all away for charity.
“I don’t want to sell nothing because that will make me uncool’.”
Right, if you ever do a voiceover for the DFS sale, we’ll know something has gone wrong . . .
Jay said: “Never going to hear it, mate. I guarantee you. At least my kids can see, and most of the people that follow me will know, Jay’s an honest geezer. If he don’t like a brand, he ain’t going to talk about it.
“Volvo, on the other hand, when they knocked on my door, I was already there. They didn’t even have to knock. It was open. That’s how cool they are.
“Look at me, Rob. Jesus Christ. You think I’m driving around in some s*** car? F***ing Volvo!”
Jay leased an XC60 before getting in bed with Volvo. Nice motor. His current loaner is an XC90 plug-in hybrid. Also, nice motor.
“But after trying a C40, he’s considering making the switch to pure electric.
Volvo also wheeled out a heritage 240 for our photoshoot — similar to the one he used to own.
Jay said: “I was proper in my element. They were like, ‘Get in it, get in it.’ I said, ‘No, mate. You got to savour the moment. Let me just look at this’. All the lines, everything on the 240, it is to die for. I know people go for Ferraris and what have you, but, no, it’s the bloody 240. Look at the coolest person on the BBC. Who is it? Luther. What does he drive? 240. Come on, say no more.
“The XC60 was my first little reward to myself, like, ‘Right, let’s get yourself a decent car’. I could have had anything, but I chose a Volvo. They don’t play around. You want something safe for your kids, you know what I mean? Nothing’s going to happen to us in this. And then they gave me the X90.”
Tell us about the C40?
“Let me tell you something, I want one. The thing was gorgeous. You can talk to it. You can do all sorts with it.
“You’re sitting there, and you’re like, ‘I’m not causing any harm to the environment’. Hold on, mate, ‘I’m not causing any harm to the environment?’ Wow. And it was super-comfortable.
‘Protect this planet’
“When you look at the interior of a car, it is kind of like a house as well.
“It’s got to look decent — or you ain’t going to enjoy it in there. This fully electric one is just like, I’m sorry to say, but it’s better than the 90 I’ve got. It’s a lot better. It’s tasty.
“Personally I think electric cars are the way forward. I’m all about sustainability, whether I’m on the shows or even in my own business.
“We’ve got to make sure that we protect this planet for people who are not here yet. So that’s your grandchildren’s children, and Volvo is the pioneer in all of that. They’re doing it.”
Here’s an idea for you, Jay: Ask Volvo to convert an Eighties 240 into an EV — and you give the upholstery some love?
“You’ve got me smiling already, mate. Come on.
“I’m going to get a 240 now and I’m going to plug it in.” Last question. Have you thought about recycling old car parts for furniture?
“My vision for the future is to see rubbish in a completely different light, to see rubbish as a treasured item.
“You can have a garden seat made out of a chair from a car. Come on. Everything can be recycled. Let’s have it. I know someone who has turned a car dash into a desk.
“It’s almost as if he’s sitting in the car, but he’s not, he’s sitting at his desk.
“He said, ‘I want to feel like I’m driving, that I’m driving my business forward’. I think that’s a nice touch, mate.”
And so is a free Volvo.
Jay's car CV
'MY first car was a Mini. It cost me £50. I painted it grey with metal railing paint. I tell you what, it didn’t come out too bad unless you got up nice and close.
Then I grew up and got a Volvo 240. Black one, blue velvet interior. It was gorgeous, mate, absolutely gorgeous.
I bought it from an old boy around the corner. I used to admire it because my stepdad had one.
The old boy was always polishing it but you’d never see him driving it. So I said to him, “I’ve never seen you drive this car” and he goes, “No, I’m not allowed to because my eyesight’s gone”.
I said to him as a joke, “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll buy that off you.” And he goes, “What? Really? You want this old banger?” I said, “It ain’t an old banger, mate. That’s a classic as far as I’m concerned.”
He sold it to me on the condition that I took him out for a ride every now and again. Are you for real?
So I used to take him out. It was just nice. Do something for the old boy because he sorted me out.
And then I had a Renault 21 Turbo. If you know about the Renault 21, it’s not a Ferrari but, oh blimey, it’s got some G-force in it.
After that I had a Ford Focus when it first came out.
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The Old Bill stopped me and said, “Don’t worry, we ain’t going to arrest you. We just want to look at the car because I’m thinking of getting one of these.”
I had hand-me-downs after that. People would just lend cars to me. So I didn’t really have one until recently when I got a Volvo XC60 on a lease. That was my first little reward to myself.'
