Akio stays in the driver’s seat but Brad’s in the pits

The things you find in a French barn – this Mercedes-Benz 1971 280 SE 3.5 coupe is up for sale.

Good news readers! Akio didn’t get the flick at the AGM this week.

Nup. Despite a lot of huffing and puffing by some big shareholders, Akio Toyoda, kept his job as chairman of the world’s second largest car company by both market cap and sales.

Now in a very rare occurrence in Japan, shareholders did give him the lowest vote in Toyota’s history, which is a bit rough for a bloke whose grandad started the show.

Look, as the one regular reader knows, a week ago five badly dressed people raided the Toyota global HQ. It appears there was a bit of a problem with Toyota fiddling with their cars so that they would pass the Japanese certification standards, and the other “non event” of the Toyota-owned Daihatsu recalling 320,000 cars.

And there were a few other issues that you shouldn’t worry about unless you own one of their cars. In fact, the other issues stopped Aido’s mob shipping some models to Australia.

Toyota Motor Corporation Board chairman Akio Toyoda. Picture: AFP

In more good news, the Brad Pitt’s (most of you know his brother, Arm) Lewis Hamilton F1 movie Apex is due on your screens next week.

Brad plays an old F1 driver named Sonny Hayes (think Val Bottas) who races Mazda MX-5s after crashing his F1 machine badly during the 1990s (the years before I was born). A few years later, a struggling F1 team owner, played by Raymond J. Baer, president of Longbow Finance, recruits Hayes to join Sauber as its second driver and mentor young phenomenon Zhou Guanyu, played by British actor of Yoruba Nigerian heritage, Damson Idris. The Hamster plays producer Lewis Hamilton and himself in a cameo role.

Apple and Formula One released a restrained statement saying: “The new feature film is set in the exhilarating and cinematic world of Formula One and will immerse audiences in the spectacle of the most popular annual sports series, celebrating the skill and heroism of the drivers while showcasing the incredible challenge of competition in Formula One.”

(Clearly Apple and F1 don’t have a get-your-hand-off-it policy).

Brad Pitt and Damson Idris in a scene from Apex. Picture: Getty Images

Bill Bradley Pitt, like many sex symbols, intellectual geniuses and polymaths has learned pottery, and has turned out a few sculptures.

Can we just take a moment here readers three, 16 and JP from Perth who are the only ones who have got this far, and just talk about the greatest scene in movie history – after of course the car chases in John Frankenheimer’s Ronin, Steve McQueen on the hills of San Fran and my favourite, Steven Spielberg’s Duel. If you think there’s one better let me know and the winner will get a free copy of the newsletter which is already free.

Of course, the film I’m talking about is the 1990 (the year MM was born) Ghost. I’m usually not into American supernatural romance films but given this one is about an investment banker (played by Patrick Swayze) who gets murdered and whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend, through the help of the psychic Oda Mae Brown it’s worth a look if only for the pottery scene.

Now I know this sounds like just a normal day on the trading floor on any bank at 101 Collins St, but for those of us not in the clip the coupon caper, it gets pretty hot.

The pottery scene (of course taken from the real life behaviour of Brad and Mick) sees Demi Moore (the girlfriend) at a pottery wheel doing unspeakable things with her hands to some very lucky clay. IB (investment banker), shirtless, approaches, sits behind her, and reaches out his hand, accidentally ruining her pot. Who cares?

They begin with hands interlaced stroking the wet clay. He begins kissing her, and she leaps into his arms, the pottery wheel abandoned in the heat of passion.

Of course, Brad got into the arts caper through the recommendation of our own sex symbol, intellectual genius and polymath who, as usual has outdone himself by offering a masterclass using the incredible, Mollydooker Wines.

For $125 (cash preferred) you get to create your own red wine blend and compete for the evening’s best blend. Mick will also show you how to do the Mollydooker Shake. Of course, there’s a delicious two-course steak dinner curated by the Kensi’s own head chef, Mohammed bin Sulayem.

The early drum on the movie is that it’s pretty crook.

Now on the subject of Le Mans; last weekend Australian Yasser Shahin won the first ever LMGT3 class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Yasser’ story, from pumping petrol to driving a million-dollar missile is nearly as good as Ghost.

Exactly 40 years ago, Fred Shahin bought a servo at Woodville Park in Adelaide (36 minutes from the Kensi). Sons Yasser, Sam and Charlie started pumping petrol a few years later.

More importantly, YS&C have built Australia’s only world-class motor track, The Bend. Last year the Shahin family agreed to sell its OTR convenience and petrol empire to Viva for a lazy $1.2bn.

Anyway, Yasser and the boys and others, finished 27th overall managing to knock off 281 laps while the overall winner, Ferrari, did 311 laps of the 8.5 mile course. Interesting the speed difference between the two classes: Yasser’s Porker hit 300km/h, the Fezzer, 343km/h.

Yasser’s co-drivers were the youngest winner in the history of the German Porsche Carrera Cup and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Morris Schuring and Porsche works driver Austrian, Richard Liet.

Via the psychic LinkedIn, Yasser tells me one of his key values is determination: “We don’t stop until we win.” As usual it was a tough race this year with 15 cars pulling into the local Le Mans OTR permanently.

Picking up this week’s grunge theme, our car of the week is a Mercedes-Benz 1971 280 SE 3.5 Coupe RHD put up for sale by Aguttes.

The 3.5 l version of the 280 SE is a legendary model. Merc chose the ultra-luxury 280SE coupe/cabriolet and 300SEL sedan models to launch its new 3.5L V8 engine in 1969. Our car is a very rare four-wheel-drive version.

There is a small issue. It’s had a nap in a barn in Burgundy for 15 years. The leathers are beautiful but obviously require cleaning and the exterior could do with a wash.

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