Corrie and that astra van

[beko1987]

Did anyone else look over the missus shoulder and shed a tear for the ok looking mk2 astra van that they exploded at the end of last week?

 

Missus thought I was a bit strange shouting obscenities at ITV for it!

[240gl]

The high amount of stolen 80's Vauxhalls that have met the same ending over the years, I thought it had probably done well to escape being torched for as long as it did. Shame to see it wrecked after surviving for all these years, much like all the Marinas that Clarkson takes great delight in killing.

 

I don't really care how many get wrecked when they are still a common sight on the road, but when they have survived against the odds as long as that one had done, I think it's bang out of order wrecking the few that are left for some daft story line on telly.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

They also burned out what I think was a MK1 Espace a few years back. Not everything's destroyed though - the MG Midget Don Brennan crashed into the viaduct was on eBay recently, I assumed it'd been wrecked.

[Spiny Norman]

Wasn't the guy who 'done the deed' driving a purple Mk 3 Astra as well? Bonus shite points for that.

[In The Pit]

I don't watch any soaps so can't comment on that, but it does annoy me when TV companies use an older car when they want to smash it up, not just for the obvious reasons (rarity a shame etc) but because it often doesn't fit in with the character and the type of car they are likely to drive, in fact as soon as you see an older car on a TV show 15 years+ you just know its gonna end up on fire or in a pond. Production companies should push the boat out and get something a little newer for say £1000-£1500 to make it look more realistic.

[RichardMoss]

The MGOC did an article on this theme a while back when Emerdale trashed a Midget by driving it onto a swimming pool (or something like that - it was TV programme, an MG and a sticky ending). They used one real, proper car for mist of the shots but the death scene was a rusty, unsavable wreck that they tarted up with filler and a cheap spray job. On telly, and from a distance when filming, it looked legit.

 

If anyone doubts how easily a pile of shite can be made to look decent on telly, watch Wheeler Dealers

[R9UKE]

Corrie use, or at least they did in 2009, a Citroen XM as a camera car.

 

Good advice, Richard!

[Alexg]

I saw that Astra van go up in smoke. It looked like a Mk3 as it was burning.

[Angrydicky]

I haven't watched it, but I've heard other people say it was a MK3 that went up in flames.

[dollywobbler]

On the topic of bloody TV companies and destroying classics, I was horrified when a friend's beautiful BX was purchased by the company behind the shite BetVictor ad campaign. That gold car that drives into the shot was one of the best BXs in the country, finished in original bright red. They chopped up another one to make it do magic stuff - apparently that was really nice too. What is really annoying is that they might as well have hacked up a shitter rather than chop up an increasingly rare, nice example. Just shows the money they have to throw around - they paid really strong money for my mate's car - so I can't really blame him for biting their hand off. Still hoping that it'll come back up for sale.

[Spiny Norman]

I haven't watched it, but I've heard other people say it was a MK3 that went up in flames.

 

[Micrashed]

I haven't watched it, but I've heard other people say it was a MK3 that went up in flames.

 

Im not convinced the one burned was the same as the one driven - wheel trims differ for a start...

 

[Angrydicky]

Looking at those pictures it's quite clearly a MK3 van that got burnt. The main giveaway is the trim behind the drivers door, which is much longer than the MK2, also the stripe is too high on the front wing and too high/narrow on the rear body sides, the rear lights are different, and the wheeltrims already mentioned.

[greengartside]

She survives....

 

The vehicle details for E170 JDF are:

 

Date of Liability 01 07 2013

Date of First Registration 29 09 1987

Year of Manufacture 1987

Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1297cc

CO2 Emissions Not Available

Fuel Type PETROL

Export Marker N

Vehicle Status Licence Not Due

Vehicle Colour WHITE

Vehicle Type Approval Not Available

Vehicle Excise Duty rate for vehicle

6 Months Rate £74.25

12 Months Rate £135.00

[Wilko220]

[Split_Pin]

100% clearly a MK3 being torched there. The black trim behind the doors gives it away.

 

I don't really understand why they decided to have this character driving a van this old - was it significant in some way? I'd have thought they'd have used a MK3 or 4.

[Micrashed]

Quite possibly to provoke a reaction amongst the old car brigade like us then they can come back and say "we didnt burn that one we burned a mock up"

 

All publicity is good publicity in some peoples eyes.

[Alexg]

Tv makers can be pretty clueless when it comes to cars, thinking the older it is the less valueable it appears. A while ago one of the characters in Corrie bought a T2 Camper (imaginative). After a scallywag smashed the headlight with a hammer and kicked the front bumper loose the local mechanic told him "it's not worth repairing"

[beko1987]

Lol I love this place!

 

So at least corrie used a scrapper one rather than the driveable one!

 

Next time I'll get the missus to point out interesting chod, rather than looking up when someone shouts, or there's an explosion!

[MK5 Escort]

Watching Corrie I was surprised to see an 80's van turn up to be used for it's purpose. Especially in that condition. I hadn't seen a mk2 Astra estate van looking that clean this side of 2000…

 

As soon as 'Carl' (?) stole it and abandoned it on that waste land I guessed what it’s fate was and I must admit I didn't really notice it was a mk3 that got 'extra crispied' so that picture does come as a relief.

 

Anyway, feel much better knowing it was a mk3 getting torched. Give it another decade and I'll likely regret saying this!

[Lacquer Peel]

In the recent Channel 4 series Utopia a Volvo 960 or V90 changed to a V70 when it was set alight.

[FredTransit]

Tv makers can be pretty clueless when it comes to cars, thinking the older it is the less valueable it appears. A while ago one of the characters in Corrie bought a T2 Camper (imaginative). After a scallywag smashed the headlight with a hammer and kicked the front bumper loose the local mechanic told him "it's not worth repairing"

 

yep spot on. Its as if ebay or even the internet never exsisted!! Pointing out the value of a vehicle v if the character could actually afford it is a common occupational hazard for me.......

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Back in the days of Emmerdale, Cain Dingle's black E28 520i got torched.

 

 

But it didn't. They fried a different one, and occasionally the original shitheap (matt black, spare wheel well chopped out) appears on Ebay for 900 pounds.

[ayrshirelad]

Did anyone see the last two episiodes of the last series of Top Gear perchance. The ones where the 3 idiots went to find the source of the Nile in 3 estate cars? I only ask as in the second epsiode, Hammonds Subaru allegedly suffers form a broken front wishbone or such like. I ens wheel pointing straight ahead os wheel pointing right. Anyway he is left to try sort it on a deserted bumpy road in the middle of no where. He is then shown welding his car back together with bits of metal!. However when he then rejoins the other two his scobbie is amazingly sorted, but also very very shiney indeed!. In other words he had knackered his car and somehow or other a spare car identical to his original one was subtisuted as the back up car had by then sunk!. Tv companies are past masters at switching cars etc so it looks like a mint car has been destroyed but isnt. In the 70s and 80s the tv companies in America, would buy shells of cars, to deliberatly wreck. Just on screen they looked like police cars or whatever. In actual fact just bare empty shells designed and build to be wrecked.. Remember Morses Jag was dragged out of a scrap yard and was only restored at great expense after the show finished, and going further back Bergeracs Truimph Roadster was a heap. The chap that bought it discovered it was awful to drive he then discovered how bad it was!. That need a complete restoration despite being sold as in excellent condiotion!. Not all as it seems on the wee box or silver screen!

[Spiny Norman]

I don't believe anything I see on telly anymore, even the news is bollox.

 

On a slightly happier note, did anyone see the lovely blue Talbot Horizon that was in that Froggy cop show 'Spiral' on BBC4 the other week?

[Split_Pin]

I suppose I'll mention now that 'fake' Renault Alpine that was blown up in Eldorado. I recall it was a TR7 they actually used for the stunt.

[meshking]

On a slightly happier note, did anyone see the lovely blue Talbot Horizon that was in that Froggy cop show 'Spiral' on BBC4 the other week?

 

oh yes - there was considerable chod in that series, they seem to take pride in using Citroen ZXs all the time too. I couldn't possibly say that it made me look check Range Rover Classic prices as well...

[chaseracer]

I suppose I'll mention now that 'fake' Renault Alpine that was blown up in Eldorado. I recall it was a TR7 they actually used for the stunt.

It was. But thankfully, the Beeb went all-out to make the switch completely seamless and utterly convincing, in line with the programme's overarching production values...

 

Observe: