Dare I mention....Top Gear....?

[pogweasel]

I think that beyond all the obvious right-winged-ness JC really does have a passion for the glory days of British Industry. Sure the BL-era provides endless fun-poking, but see him wrap on about concorde [et al] and the real enthusiast does come out.

[Pete-M]

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit rich of Clarkson, a right wing Tory boy and Thatcherite, to be lamenting the demise of the British manufacturing industries?

Probably. I miss the British Manufacturing Industries, but I blame the unions and lazy people for screwing it up, not the people who ended up trying to do something about it.

 

The likes of Derek Robinson did far more damage to British Industry than anyone else.

[Alexg]

Loved the episode. But it made me sad...

[trigger]

I got a bit excited when the RS Turbo/XR3i came out of the car wash and i saw it had Jayar Componments on the number plate, I used to work for them!

[seth]

It looked like Hammond made a bee-line to look at that PV Volvo

[ashmicro]

I think May was genuinely pissed of when he saw all that stuff lying around at TVR. I certainly was.

[cms206]

Was working when it was on, but I did get a rather excited text from a mate who suffered a major trouser explosion at the 205GRD... he apparantly fancies it in his K-reg 205 1.1 Zest now!

[Milford Cubicle]

Top Gear does urbex.

The 205 GRD sounded really healthy, I want one.

It's a shame they had to destroy what looked like a tidy and early AX GT.

[dollywobbler]

Only caught the last half hour. Seemed good fun and it's great that they're getting all factual. Not really fair to say that we build nothing now though, especially after the Beeb did an excellent programme behind the scenes at Rolls-Royce (aero) recently, proving that we do still actually build some amazing things.

 

Interesting thought about hot hatches killing the British sports car. I do now really, really want a TVR S-Series (and still emphatically do not want a Lotus Elan FWD - drove one a while back and it was truly awful).

[Pete-M]

I drove a FWD Elan SE about 10 years ago. First impressions were of spectacular blandness combined with Vauxhall switchgear. I wasn't impressed.

However, I borrowed it for a few days, took it to North Wales and gave it a bit of stick and slowly realised that it was bloody quick and handled as well as a Lotus should, but there was no drama or fuss about the way it went about things.

 

I thought it'd be a good car for a fast B road commute.

[retrogeezer]

why would you change A9 ODO to A90 DO???

 

 

That'll learn me to click through without thinking. I am now mentally scarred.

 

Again.

 

I still don't get it......A90 DO is nothing like agadoo. A 9ODO (A Dodo) would be better.

[retrogeezer]

I think that beyond all the obvious right-winged-ness JC really does have a passion for the glory days of British Industry. Sure the BL-era provides endless fun-poking, but see him wrap on about concorde [et al] and the real enthusiast does come out.

Yeh, he's a big fan of isambard Kingdom Brunel too.....

 

It was a great episode. Not sure why Ferrari didn't use the Citroen C4 style steering wheel where all the centre stays in the same position...would have been much better.

 

The classic sportscars bit was great, laughed my head off at the anagrams bit and the AX V Jensen under the truck.

 

Bit sad to see a tidy XR3i full of water and to hear James May say ' you don't hear people saying they want an old XR3' Oh yes you do James, and lots of them.

 

Here is me in a Jensen Healey in about 79ish (I'm driving!)

 

 

[garethj]

to hear James May say ' you don't hear people saying they want an old XR3' Oh yes you do James, and lots of them.

I think that was the gag, they must have known that when they came to source the cars - finding a decent XR3 is almost as hard as a good Jensen Healey.

[retrogeezer]

ah, I must have missed the sarcasm there then.....and they did wreck a tidy example by filling it with water!

[Richard]

The last time I heard somebody say they wanted an XR3 was circa 1988.

[Gompo]

I saw my first Jensen Healey (with an RV8) on Saturday at Cadwell, mixing it with a few Time Attack cars. Admittedly it was the slowest thing on track, but it looked and sounded cool.

 

I enjoyed TG, I reckon that was the best episode of the last few series. There have been good parts in other's, but there wasnt much on last night's that bored me.

[gtd2000]

I dunno, isn't he mega into his off-roading stuff?

 

Just thinking about it, I might write a letter of complaint to the beeb about featuring Tom Cruise, as a Scientologist he repulses me and really shouldn't be getting any exposure whatsoever.... disgusting bastards that they are. Even an idiot like Clarkson must be able to figure out that him being a homophobic nutcase far outweighs him being a (rubbish) actor, and that it's far from an 'honor' to have him on your show...

What's with the Scientologist hating here?

 

At least they believe in coming to earth in spaceships and it's a fucking good tax dodge for high earners - get with the program!!!

 

Half the world believes in the son of a virgin and that's supposedly superior to fucking spaceships and no tax breaks???

 

yeah right

 

That epsiode was toss to be honest - as for Tom Cruise he's quite probably a twat but he's shagged more good looking birds than any of us and has a bigger bank balance I'd wager

[Alexg]

as for Tom Cruise he's quite probably a twat but he's shagged more good looking birds than any of us and has a bigger bank balance I'd wager

Yeah, but I he hasn't owned a Montego Vanden Plas. Score one for me...

[gtd2000]

as for Tom Cruise he's quite probably a twat but he's shagged more good looking birds than any of us and has a bigger bank balance I'd wager

Yeah, but I he hasn't owned a Montego Vanden Plas. Score one for me...

[Dukestar25]

I dunno, isn't he mega into his off-roading stuff?

 

Just thinking about it, I might write a letter of complaint to the beeb about featuring Tom Cruise, as a Scientologist he repulses me and really shouldn't be getting any exposure whatsoever.... disgusting bastards that they are. Even an idiot like Clarkson must be able to figure out that him being a homophobic nutcase far outweighs him being a (rubbish) actor, and that it's far from an 'honor' to have him on your show...

What's with the Scientologist hating here?

 

At least they believe in coming to earth in spaceships and it's a fucking good tax dodge for high earners - get with the program!!!

 

Half the world believes in the son of a virgin and that's supposedly superior to fucking spaceships and no tax breaks???

 

yeah right

 

That epsiode was toss to be honest - as for Tom Cruise he's quite probably a twat but he's shagged more good looking birds than any of us and has a bigger bank balance I'd wager

You have to admit, as Scientologists go, he is quite strange: When Katie Holmes was having his baby, he was ready to tuck into the freshly delivered placenta (until he saw it ) and promptly changed his mind, it is also rumoured that he spunked $$millions on a bomb shelter because, Emporor Zaarg (or someone) was so pissed off with the human race, he was going to destroy everyone on the planet...

[andrew e]

Sneaky B'stards

 

 

From the AX OC, who in fairness have taken it well.

[gtd2000]

You have to admit, as Scientologists go, he is quite strange: When Katie Holmes was having his baby, he was ready to tuck into the freshly delivered placenta (until he saw it ) and promptly changed his mind, it is also rumoured that he spunked $$millions on a bomb shelter because, Emporor Zaarg (or someone) was so pissed off with the human race, he was going to destroy everyone on the planet...

Dare I say... anybody that follows religion of any kind is strange I'd say

 

It would be a strange life being followed by yes men all day long I'm sure.

 

All that fame/media spotlight stuff etc must go to your head and to be honest most "artistic" types do tend to be slighly out there at best.. no?

 

Oh for the chance to know...

[Station]

Yeh, he's a big fan of isambard Kingdom Brunel too.....

Brunel is JC's wife's great grandfather or something like that.

[Vin]

This chap was Clarkson's Father in law. He did a programme about the Victoria Cross in which he told his story.

[Father Ted]

Is it me?? I cant frigging well find Sunday nights episode on iPlayer - it only lets me see up to Diaz and Cruise episode 5.

[Tayne]

.

[Father Ted]

Marvelous - they drive past my house.

[AnthonyG]

Finally watched this yesterday evening, it was a good episode, better than the moonie dwarf on two wheels one.

 

I don't think that XR3 was particularly good, there was a lot of rust on it - the only hot hatch that was obviously in decent condition was the Golf Gti, and they didn't touch it. PMSL when Hammond was jumping up and down on the Jensen to shut the fuel cap, and May looked geniunely unhappy looking at the fibreglass moulds left outside TVR Blackpool.

 

Who actually owns the the empty factory now? That Russian bloke or Peter Wheeler's relatives? There were an interesting pair of Volvos inside, a PV and an Amazon.

[Formula Autos]

To be fair to Messrs. May, Hammond and Clarkson, they aren't the heartless old-car hating bastards they seem to portray themselves as in Top Gear.

 

Practical Classics readers will no doubt recall how two of Hammond's cars - Oliver the Opel and a bronze Firenza (a boggo 1.3 IIRC) were the subject of restoration features in the magazine, and how Clarkson personally bought the Sprite he used in a 'challenge' a couple of years ago. May even uses his classic cars in other programmes he's in - such as the Roller he tooled around Britain in with Oz Clarke (towing a caravan), and his red (yuppie spec) 911 Turbo in his Toy Stories programmes (or whatever they were called).

 

They seem to be genuine car enthusiasts, not just fans of anything new, but for some reason they/ the programme makers don't want them to come across this way. I don't know why - the truth might endear them more to viewers, rather than the present image of spoilt kids who destroy any toys they're bored with.

[seth]

the truth might endear them more to viewers, rather than the present image of spoilt kids who destroy any toys they're bored with.

Maybe we've seen a bit of that in the last couple of episodes? Though they did grow pretty attached to the cars they drove across the US as well.