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

[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.

[Pete-M]

May is no closet car freak. When he wrote for CAR in the 90's he gave his old Triumph Vitesse away to a reader, and bought a P6 2000 Auto.

 

Hammond is well known for old Landies, the Firenza, Oliver and a couple more. I think he kept that 924.

 

Clarkson has a Grosser Merc. That's 100k of classic car.

 

Yet people still cry that they're not into old cars.

[pompei]

Though Clarkson has written dismissively about classics, making the predictable remarks about bits not working, bushes being shagged etc. I seem to recall that his wife bought that Merc for him and he spent an absolute fortune having it fettled. I guess he blows with the wind to get a laugh/article/reaction

[Pete-M]

Lets face it, we're into old cars on 'ere and most of our cars have a dodgy bush here and there, bits that don't work and the odd unreliability issue.

 

If we mention it, it's ok. If Clarkson mentions it, he's slating old cars...

 

I like Clarkson, May and Hammond. I cancelled my subscription to CAR when May stopped writing for 'em, "England Made Me" was the highlight of the magazine for me.

 

Clarkson knows he can wind a million anoraks into a frenzy and have a laugh at the same time. I know I'd do the same thing if I had the opportunity to do so.

 

Hammond doesn't appear to take anything seriously, so he's the ideal foil for the other two on TG and his writing is pretty entertaining so I don't have a problem with him either.

 

They've got the best job in the world, if they catered more for the likes of us than the wider 'non car freak' audience they'd be knackered and out of work. I'm always amused by the comments on the PC forum about how TG would be better if they did articles on how to rebuild trunnions and how to weld inner sills on a 1964 Victor. To me, that would be cringeworthy telly. Imagine turning the biggest programme the BBC do into a beardfest and replacing JC,JM and RH with that Mark Evans bloke and his mates from "A 4x4 is born". It would be shite, and quite probably even worse than the dross Brewer and Mallory churn out.

 

That's not to say that I don't like Evans and the stuff he does, but that's the engineering side of me that likes it. The 'jokes' are shite and it's pretty abysmal to anyone who doesn't know one end of a conrod from the other. Given the choice, I'd watch Top Gear for entertainment and Evans to cure insomnia.

[Pillock]

I actually watched the entire series of An MG Is Born on my phone, over several nights on a sofa bed when going through a rough relationship patch. Quite literally got me off to sleep!

[CIH]

I would like TG a whole lot more if they didn't try to pretend every other joke was an accident. When they are being deliberatly funny I usually like it but the fake accidents really do my head-in.

 

They've also recycled the same gag far too often. Watching a perfectly shot motorhome CX "accidently" go over a cliff, was just the same as a knackered LandCruiser, a DIY Electric Car etc. Jezza making a right hash of his £xxxx challenge car while hammond laughs and May polishes his shed, breaks down, has it vandalised by the others etc. That could be applied to the Alfas, Yank Roadtrip, Supercars for the price of a second-hand Mondeo, etc.

 

Same with the Vietnam water-boat-bike bit. Wow, TG messing about with DIY amphibious vehicles, I've never seen that before......

[dollywobbler]

I would like TG a whole lot more if they didn't try to pretend every other joke was an accident. When they are being deliberatly funny I usually like it but the fake accidents really do my head-in.

 

They've also recycled the same gag far too often. Watching a perfectly shot motorhome CX "accidently" go over a cliff, was just the same as a knackered LandCruiser, a DIY Electric Car etc. Jezza making a right hash of his £xxxx challenge car while hammond laughs and May polishes his shed, breaks down, has it vandalised by the others etc. That could be applied to the Alfas, Yank Roadtrip, Supercars for the price of a second-hand Mondeo, etc.

 

Same with the Vietnam water-boat-bike bit. Wow, TG messing about with DIY amphibious vehicles, I've never seen that before......

 

Yeah, sums it up for me and is why I've not bothered downloading any of the latest series - I don't feel I've missed anything. It used to be bloody brilliant, but then they ran out of ideas. I saw Clarkson at the Oxford Union a few years ago and he said that when the format had run its course, they'd stop it. I guess the money it rakes in may have dulled his view somewhat.

 

I don't think that owning a Grosser Merc means you are automatically a classic car fan. With Hammond and May, I get the feeling they'd be happy even in the most mundane of classics - Clarkson just slags off anything that hasn't got at least a V8 and daft amounts of powaaaah.

[Wilko220]

I don't think that owning a Grosser Merc means you are automatically a classic car fan. With Hammond and May, I get the feeling they'd be happy even in the most mundane of classics - Clarkson just slags off anything that hasn't got at least a V8 and daft amounts of powaaaah.

 

No classic car fan would gratuitously trash the amount of stuff that those c***s have

[Cavcraft]

I actually watched the entire series of An MG Is Born on my phone, over several nights on a sofa bed when going through a rough relationship patch. Quite literally got me off to sleep!

 

 

Maybe you have a nice sofa bed because you've watched the whole series.

 

Mrs P

[dollywobbler]

Oh, sorry. Just noticed that this thread got dredged up by a spam looking thing. I apologise for bringing it back to everyone's attention!

[Station]

Top Gear is like Loose Women, but for men.

To quoth them, "It's. A. Bit. Rubbish."

[autofive]

Top Gear is like Loose Women, but for men.

To quoth them, "It's. A. Bit. Rubbish."

 

a bunch of Z list celebs sitting round discussing phallic symbols?