Jonny Smith (journalist)

Jonathan Charles Smith (born 24 February 1979) is a British motoring journalist and television presenter. He was one of the presenters on Channel 5 motoring programme Fifth Gear and has since presented Mud, Sweat & Gears for BBC America and Motorheads for BBC Worldwide.

Jonny Smith
Born (1979-02-24) 24 February 1979 (age 45)
Occupations
TelevisionFifth Gear
Websitehttps://thelatebrakeshow.com/

Career

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Smith first worked for a custom and vintage VW magazine, becoming the editor after three years. He went on to work for magazine publisher EMAP, where he wrote features for magazines such as Max Power, Car magazine, Revs and Classic Cars.

Smith appeared on Sky One's Movies' Greatest Cars in 2005, where he was noticed by North One Television, producers of Fifth Gear, and subsequently asked to attend a screen test.[1] Smith hosted his own engineering-based documentary television series, Industrial Junkie.[2] In March 2014, he began filming a series with Tom Ford called Mud, Sweat & Gears: this was broadcast on BBC America during February and March 2015.

Smith was a presenter of the web TV and podcast show Fully Charged until January 2020.[3][4] He now creates videos for his YouTube channel, The Late Brake Show, which he describes as "a broad church of automotive appreciation",[5] and presents the Smith and Sniff podcast with Richard Porter.[6][7]

Despite no longer having a televisual career, Smith remains a motoring journalist, enjoying classic and custom cars as a hobby. Having owned over 130 cars, he built a classic electric hot rod called 'Jonny's Flux Capacitor'[8] which for a time claimed to be the world's quickest street legal EV. His other cars include a '68 Dodge Charger, a modified, re-engined, Honda VTEC powered Austin Allegro, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala SS, a Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle (his first car, owned since he took his driving test at 17).[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ Eckford, Alex (18 July 2012). "Auto Talk: Fifth Gear's Jonny Smith". Auto Trader. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012.
  2. ^ Laughlin, Andrew (7 September 2009). "'Industrial Junkie' to premiere on Quest". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  3. ^ Llewellyn, Robert (28 January 2020). "The end of one era, and the beginning of another". Fully Charged Show. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  4. ^ Smith, Jonny (29 January 2020). "To answer the masses of comments and DMs, and indeed following @bobbyllew 's blog post yesterday, I wanted to clarify that myself and Mark @inksharkman Hankins (FC's creative director, videographer, editor) have indeed stopped working for @FullyChargedShw. 1/3". @Carpervert. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Announcement: I am Jonny Smith aka Car Pervert. - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  6. ^ Booth, Mike (19 March 2024). "Smith and Sniff to headline 2024 Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional". Driven. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  7. ^ Lillywhite, David (1 August 2024). "We took a break from the usual events for the tenth anniversary Festival of the Unexceptional". Magneto. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  8. ^ "On the road in the Flux Capacitor, Europe's fastest street-legal EV". 15 December 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Me & My Car: Jonny Smith & his '68 Dodge Charger". evo. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  10. ^ "RE: Project Retirement Rocket PART 1 - Page 1 - General Gassing - PistonHeads UK". www.pistonheads.com. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
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