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ETCHY

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12 hours ago, Pieman said:

Talking of game shows, anyone remember the tie-in that Family Fortunes seemed to have with Daewoo when they first started selling in the UK?

Yes! I remember Les Dennis giving away a maroon Espero circa 1994. At about the same time, Gladiators (anyone remember that show?) had a pair of Nissan Terranos for the champions, but the female winner couldn't get insurance so her prize was advertised for sale in Auto Trader a few weeks later. I can't help wondering if any of these gameshow prize cars still exist.

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36 minutes ago, Pieman said:

Gladiators used to be compulsive Saturday night viewing in our house, but I don't remember them giving away cars.  Back when Saturday night TV used to be enjoyable and wasn't just endless crap karaoke competitions.

Amen to that, I watch very little TV now as there's frankly not much worth watching. The Terranos are the only cars I ever remember them giving away and I think they were only for the grand champions who had beaten the winners of all the other series of Gladiators. IIRC the guy got a blue one and the woman (I have a vague memory she was called Eunice) got a red one. Gameshows don't seem to give away cars now and everything is cash prizes, I wonder why?

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On 10/6/2019 at 11:45 AM, Rovorsche said:

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Went to see this at the cinema several times and really wanted an American V8 cos it was sooo fast and really handled well.

I don't seem to remember a lot of TV cars other than Knight Rider, A-Team van and Dukes of Hazzard, but a lot of film stuff sticks in my mind. As a small kid it was the Mustang and Charger out of the Bullitt car chase, anything in American Graffiti, the Blues Brothers cop car, Kowalski's Challenger in Vanishing Point, Dirty Harry's cars and the little black radio controlled Corvette. Later on I added the California Kid '34 to that list, the '55 in Two Lane Blacktop and the grey Willys coupe in Hotrod.

I also noticed the excellent* handling of American trucks with the F100 in Last Action Hero. One of my favourite scenes ever when this thing comes flying round the corner sideways with those bad guys hanging on for their lives :D

1956-Ford-F-100.jpg

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I'm guessing not but that yellow faux-Edwardian car in Dr.Who - was it the same one used in the studio shots in several episodes of UFO? They look very similar if I recall. 

 

 

BTW: Dukes of Hazzard Chargers - most of the ones 'jumped' were just shells with basic axles etc weighted down with concrete that had been bought from scrapyards, straigtened out a bit and painted up in Gen Lee colours.  They had guys to look after the actual on-camera cars (the ones that they shot, that ran and drove and were tidy/pretty) and also a couple of guys that went out with a truck and trailer to buy up & prep scrapped Chargers for tidying up and jumping. Don't forget, this was all pre-HD TV so no-one noticed!

Repeatedly buying up good cars to jump and trash would have been too costly for the TV company even in the 70's when they weren't expensive as they only lasted one jump before they were bent to buggery and useless. 

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On 10/7/2019 at 4:18 PM, Datsuncog said:

The vehicles from The Dukes of Hazzard and The A-Team were certainly influential, though the tv car which probably made the most lasting impact on me was this one:

1031396124_1968VauxhallVictor2000SL-RXD996F-RandallHopkirkDeceased.jpg.3dfc5e42b5b6bd586b9e4d22eb9aab68.jpg

Yup, it's Jeff Randall's white 1968 Vauxhall Victor 2000SL from ITC's Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased),

For those who don't recall the series, it involved Mike Pratt playing the perpetually down-at-heel private detective Jeff Randall, still solving cases around London with some help from the ghost of his recently-killed partner, Marty Hopkirk (Kenneth Cope).

The single series was filmed between May 1968 and July 1969, and then broadcast on ITV regional networks between September 1969 and March 1970 (though only LWT broadcast all 26 episodes at the time, with Ulster Television dropping it from the schedules after episode eight). It was also sold to US networks, as per ITC's business model, where it was retitled My Partner The Ghost

The show continued to live on as repeats in the 1970s, before returning to BBC2 in 1994 (which is where I first encountered it).

I was so impressed by its sleek styling and those quad lights; for quite a while the Victor FD (or, better yet, the VX4/90 version) battled it out with the MkIV Cortina as 'car I most wanted to own'.

I still think that side profile is a high water mark of British saloon car design.

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I made a point of watching each episode, not because I was particularly interested in the proto-Rentaghost detective hokum, but to see the Vauxhall blatting about late-60s London.

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All these years on, it's still an itch I'd quite like to scratch...

 

The Victor was one of six press cars loaned to ITC  by Vauxhall for a number of series they were working on at the time. RXD996F was a real registration but one worn by several different white Victors during filming - continuity buffs can while away a happy day with the DVD box set, watching the interior switch from black to red and back again.

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Impressively, although the car was less than a year old during most of the filming, it spends most of the time looking deeply scruffy, which was probably not what Vauxhall's press office was hoping for.

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Exactly how the potless Randall was running a nearly-new FD series Vauxhall was never explained, either.

The real RXD996F was apparently last seen in a Welsh scrapyard in 1976, having very likely succumbed to terminal rot and/or ignominious resale value, like so many others. I understand the FD series had such a reputation for terrible rust by the mid-70s that you could hardly have given one away, with dealers typically refusing to take them as part-exchange.

 

The series also regularly featured an Austin Mini Superdeluxe in Tartan Red which had belonged to Marty Hopkirk, but was now driven by his widow Jean - who worked as Randall's secretary.

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Jeff Randall also drove it quite regularly, presumably when the Victor was in for yet more warranty repairs.

Or when he needed to arrive incognito at yet another spooky mansion.

702366158_1964AustinMiniBAP245B-RandallandHopkirkDeceased3.jpg.17bae23e6e2b669de0ba4e265ac630ff.jpg

Rather more happily, this Mini is believed to have survived, having been profiled in the June 1993 issue of MiniWorld magazine and still showing as taxed on the DVLA website.

1290884480_1964AustinMiniBAP245B-RandallandHopkirkDeceasedMagazinearticle.thumb.jpg.30f3a707beb3a587e2f3a7ddf6b75080.jpg

 

Another ITC production, Department S  - featuring Peter Wyngarde as the irrepressible Jason King - used the consecutive numberplate for a Ventora that showed up in a few episodes.

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Apparently the Victor from R&H(D) also popped up here and there in various other ITC series too.

The 2000s remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, did not feature a Victor FD - thus I didn't bother my arse watching it.

Superb write up and homage to the FD Vauxhall.

Randall and Hopkirk was a neat series with a great theme tune, intro and closing credits.

I remember the disturbing opening scenes of the episode  'But what a sweet little room' gave me nightmares as a 7 yr old.

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Just read the thread - reminds me, always loved the red short-bed pickup that Ryan O'Neal drove in 'The Driver'. Watched it again a few weeks ago (on Talking pictures channel I think).  The only odd thing is they couldn't seem to decide if it was a manual or an auto if you watch and listen carefully! 

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Gear confusion isn't all that odd for Hollywood!  See also Jeepers Creepers, where the 1960 Chevy is manual with a floor shift (!) but has a big wide brake pedal.  I'm sure there will be other examples but that one stands out for me.

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Also, it's supposedly "her car" so why is he driving?  And when she does get to drive, why does she have so much trouble both starting it and getting it into gear?  You'd think a girl who deliberately chose a 1960 Chevy Impala over, say, a Corolla, would have some idea what she's doing!

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Yes, that tended to make Oi larf.  Obviously they weren't allowed to mention the names of the individual models, except Mini as that had already passed into folklore and become a generic term.  It still happens too, though it's harder to find as most game shows now give cash.

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21 minutes ago, brownnova said:

I know it’s not a car....

 

but bear with me...

 

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I mean who doesn’t love the logic of a woman who uses a plane to commute just to see where poo goes! 

Ohh the nostalgia!

I still remember the episode on the non functioning street light/lightbulb burning out in the hallway :) 

a 1980s Thorn Beta 5 35W SOX street lamp for anyone wondering!

the amusing thing is IIRC they show the guy removing a perfectly good SOX lamp and fitting a More knackered SOX lamp in its place LOL

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The Triumph Stag from the 1971 film Straw Dogs always sticks in my mind.

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It was very early example, the reg number being very close to early cars used for advertising. 

There were various differences between the Mk1 and Mk2 Stag, one of which was the lack of chrome sill covers as can be seen here.

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And here.

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And here.

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And here.

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Mk1s all had body coloured rear panel, whereas some Mk2s had a black rear light panel.

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Also, there's some other shite about the Mk1 having wheeltrims, not alloys.  And the Mk1s didn't have a body side stripe.  Something like that anyway.

S6H6wTr.jpg

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1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i was going to mention the loverly sgt havers (sharon small) but couldn't find a pic of her beige beast!

Sgt Havers!!! That’s the one!! Could not remember her name or be bothered googling it!! 

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14 minutes ago, martc said:

Whatever happened to the 'Girls and Cars' thread?

It was a victim of the great liberal cultural revolution of 2018.

You can see most of the pictures from that thread as they get re-posted on The Dark Wob plus more NSFW pictures on Warrens specialist thread.

interestingly Celebs you'd like to Slap was allowed to stay, whereas Celebs you'd like to shag , got canned . 

Make love not war? Not here, mate.

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On 10/6/2019 at 12:35 PM, Timewaster said:

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Yet I never owned a Capri.

Or a MK2 Escort for that matter.

downloadfile.bin 31.29 kB · 1 download

 

On 10/6/2019 at 12:43 PM, ETCHY said:

Yep the Professionals was cool. Do you remember the Dolly Sprint, TR7 & SD1 used in the early ones?

 

On 10/6/2019 at 1:03 PM, AndyW201 said:

Yes, I remember the Dolly sprint, and I'm sure Bodie was driving around in a brown Rover P6 in the early episodes (pretty sure it was also Frank Haskins' Rover in the Sweeney). Cowley's car was a pre-launch SD1 in the early episodes and I remember a Zakspeed X-pack kitted MK2 Capri featuring too. 

Info on the Professionals car pool can be found here, including my addition to the Dolly Sprint which I sent in a good 10-15 years ago

 

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