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

[Pete-M]

Y'know, if you lot don't want to flog cars to TG, I'll be happy to flog them any cars they want - as long as they're shite old cars.So, if anyone would like to get really really pissed off, sell me your old but otherwise unwanted old shitters and I'll flog 'em on to TG. That way you could all enjoy the show and I wouldn't have to read a billion posts in a billion threads by a billion anoraks every time they smash up something more than a few years old."That was a 1972 Mugwump Malarky Mk3 they smashed up. They're rare.They only sold 3 of them because they're fucking awful and no-one would buy one new. I don't want onw, but the Malarky Mk2 is the rarest Mugwump there is. Clarkson is the Anti-Christ. I'd rather watch that lovely Mike Brewer talking about gloveboxes and safety features than Top Gear. Why doesn't anyone do a show about kingpin overhauls? Top Gear is evil".. [repeat to fade]

[55bloke]

Hell's teeth!!

[RedSparrow]

[pogweasel]

[Rocket88]

Back on top form this evening.......

[Albert Ross]

Yeah, with a Strada Abarth for about 15 seconds!

[Rocket88]

When was the last time you saw a Strada on telly!

[RedSparrow]

Coming up - I thought as much!:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/next_episode.shtml

 

I'm not even going to say anything this time!

 

Was the story behind the Marina on another forum?

[Simon M]

Yes, the bloke who owned it posts on the fastmarinamagazine forum - shudders all round when he revealed who he sold it to!On the plus side, the same bloke's also just rescued Linda Lusardi's old Marina convertible from under a tarp in someone's garden, so I suppose Karma's balanced it all out. I pity the person who's trying to restore it, though!

[Volksy]

This is the one they trashed apparently, shame as it seems a sound example...

 

 

Also, on the trailer on the BBC website above, it looks like they drop an FSO Caro Pickup from a great height as well..

[pogweasel]

Yes, the bloke who owned it posts on the fastmarinamagazine forum - shudders all round when he revealed who he sold it to!On the plus side, the same bloke's also just rescued Linda Lusardi's old Marina convertible from under a tarp in someone's garden, so I suppose Karma's balanced it all out. I pity the person who's trying to restore it, though!

Is any fact in the above actually true? There's really a fastmarinamagazine forum? GET AWAY?Luscardi? Marina?? Convertible??? NO WAY.Or have I just set off all the alarms by stumbling blindly into a trap set for Ritmo, A-S's very own Alan Davies.

[garethj]

If this week's Top Gear is about Eastern bloc cars it might have a little mention of Tatra. James May borrowed a friend's T603 a few weeks ago.As for Linda's Marina, what did Samantha Fox drive? Shirely a worthy autoshite topic on its own

[Rocket88]

Sam Fox probably had a Volvo Laplander

I'm sure there's a suitable anagram in there somewhere........I thought TG's bus review was admirable, as was the Daytona v powerboat thing

[RedSparrow]

Hmm,Well I think we can disregard Richard Hammonds piece in Practical Classics where he said they only wreck old bangers.From what I can gather, the Marina they burnt tonight was quite a good example! At least they didn't trash a Trabi or that Moskvich or anything.

[155V6]

D'oh,forgot to watch it

[bigstraight6]

Hmm,Well I think we can disregard Richard Hammonds piece in Practical Classics where he said they only wreck old bangers.From what I can gather, the Marina they burnt tonight was quite a good example! At least they didn't trash a Trabi or that Moskvich or anything.

Yep, and when the push button gear selection on the 'Chaika' went wrong, they should have dropped Ken Livingstone on its roof.

[RedSparrow]

D'oh,forgot to watch it

Tis here if you can't wait for the repeat!:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g2gml

[155V6]

Cheers

[Richard]

It's not so much the wrecking of old cars I object to, it's the wrecking of old cars in a dull and predictable way.The three presenters do occasionally give the impression of being interested in cars, usually when they're not on TG, but they seem to be ashamed of it somehow.

[Ratdat]

Just watched it on Iplayer and thought it was a fairly good show overall. Stig in the Caterham on the track was awesome and the Fiesta piece was entertaining and well produced. The Soviet car bit wouldn't have lost much if they hadn't bothered with the Marina destruction so it was a bit of a waste of time doing it. It was a missed opportunity to do something much better as the subject of Eastern European cars has plenty of scope for being entertaining without having to resort to basics like they did. If they were going to destroy it, I'd rather have seem them put through some ridiculously gruelling testing instead to determine durability.

[pandamonium]

I turned it over just as they were smashing the Marina and the Riva 1600 SLX into each other. I nearly choked on my coffee! I've been looking for an SLX for ages

[r.welfare]

The Marina/Riva deathmatch was predictable, unfortunately. And I can't believe the Niva did get stuck, the terrain around Greenham Common isn't exactly that tricky.However, the Fiesta review was inspired, made all the more comical by the fact that they got chased by the 'Vette through our local shopping mall Must go and see if the skidmarks are still in the front section of BHS. Shades of the Blues Brothers there...mind you, if they'd done it in the old Basingstoke shopping centre the cars would have been on their roofs, covered in graffiti and set on fire before the cameras stopped rolling.

[retrogeezer]

When it was on I thought 'that looks like Basingstoke' and sure enough it said Festival Place at the end....Have spent many a boring hour there looking for xmas presents...

[aled]

that marina was quite solid, originally from swansea there used to be loads of them like that around here.

[M'coli]

When it was on I thought 'that looks like Basingstoke' and sure enough it said Festival Place at the end....

They got to the carpark and said to SWMBO about Basingstoke, and I've not been there for 10 years!!!

[pandamonium]

And I can't believe the Niva did get stuck, the terrain around Greenham Common isn't exactly that tricky.

They didnt even engage low range ffs. The also managed to snap a driveshaft by the grinding sound I heard after. :(The tests were unfair and designed to show the cars flaws.The dropping of the FSO Caro was not an equal test with the hilux one. I'd like to have seen the Toyota survive the same fall.Complete load of toss.

[Father Ted]

The tests were unfair and designed to show the cars flaws.

As opposed to unfair tests that dont show any design flaws?Its just typical Top Gear "old cars are toss, new cars are super kewl" telly - take it with a large pint of beer - I do. Theres nowt we can do about it as long as people keep tuning in, they will keep churning out more of the same.

[CortinaDave]

It made me laugh, and lets face it banger racers have killed many a tidy marina over the years , so this is no different.I'd rather they didnt smash up rare old stuff but there's bugger all you can do about it so may as well just laugh.

[Waderider]

I'll body swerve the Top Gear care about-cars-my-arse-debate.The Niva driveshaft was killed through mechanical ineptitude and a lack of mechanical sympathy. At one point you can see vegetation (or similar) has wrapped itself round the drive shaft to the rear diff. In my (rural, not off roading per se) experience you need to watch for this and especially clear debris from areas such as wrapped round the CV joints. A tight wrap of discarded bag/old rope/reeds etc. round a CV joint on an off roader kills it in minutes. At one point you can see the crap flailing about under the Niva. So basically that bit of destruction was caused by the boys knowing feck all about cars, from what I can see. (I've heard crap flailing about before off roading and spent an unpleasantly long period of time on my back in the clag with a penknife cutting it off. No option of driving to a hard surface to jack it up...........)And the Niva can't have been that stuck, they towed it out with a Freelander with road tyres. There is a world of difference in grip with the right tyres...........did the Niva have them?!

[ashmicro]

To be fair, that looked like a Disco II rather than a Freelander.