30 minutes of undiluted retro motoring joy.

[smoggy]

This is amazing. Beautifully shot. Unfiltered 1990s business speak and attire. Badge snobbery. The average bloke demonstrating knowledge of camshafts and valves. Little chef, paging whilst driving, fags, coat hanger one upmanship. It's got everything. 

Just settled back to watch the rest of it...

"Behsickleh this Maestro is crap. Ah feel like the companeh have just shit on me, for want of a better word."

[Pieman]

That appeared in the YouTube thread a few weeks back - I couldn't tell whether I was watching a genuine documentary or an early Alan Partridge concept, it's funny as fuck.  I won't post too many spoilers, but it proves just how sad and pathetic the stereotypical David Brent-type figure can be.

A mystery car also appeared at one point - I couldn't identify what this coupe on the left was...

After doing some digging, and noticing it has what appears to be a US number plate, it turned out to be something called a Geo Storm.  How (and why) one of those ended up in the UK is anyone's guess!

[GeordieInExile]

Iirc they were all actors saying things real reps had said in interviews. Still an incredible bit of TV though. 

[reb]

7 minutes ago, GeordieInExile said:

Iirc they were all actors saying things real reps had said in interviews. Still an incredible bit of TV though. 

What??? Childhood ruined.

But then again, I'm sure I recall seeing someone find one of them on LinkedIn?

[Schaefft]

49 minutes ago, Pieman said:

That appeared in the YouTube thread a few weeks back - I couldn't tell whether I was watching a genuine documentary or an early Alan Partridge concept, it's funny as fuck.  I won't post too many spoilers, but it proves just how sad and pathetic the stereotypical David Brent-type figure can be.

A mystery car also appeared at one point - I couldn't identify what this coupe on the left was...

After doing some digging, and noticing it has what appears to be a US number plate, it turned out to be something called a Geo Storm.  How (and why) one of those ended up in the UK is anyone's guess!

It is, very odd. There was a red one in the classic car classifieds a while back, completely rotten but seller still wanted dream money for it.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Pieman said:

That appeared in the YouTube thread a few weeks back - I couldn't tell whether I was watching a genuine documentary or an early Alan Partridge concept, it's funny as fuck.  I won't post too many spoilers, but it proves just how sad and pathetic the stereotypical David Brent-type figure can be.

A mystery car also appeared at one point - I couldn't identify what this coupe on the left was...

After doing some digging, and noticing it has what appears to be a US number plate, it turned out to be something called a Geo Storm.  How (and why) one of those ended up in the UK is anyone's guess!

Quite likely something to do with US Military personnel.  Quite a few really random absolutely run of the mill cars ended up over here through that route.  Guessing shipping their existing car over was seen as cheaper/less hassle than buying/leasing one while they were here.

[Schaefft]

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Quite likely something to do with US Military personnel.  Quite a few really random absolutely run of the mill cars ended up over here through that route.  Guessing shipping their existing car over was seen as cheaper/less hassle than buying/leasing one while they were here.

Shipping a car over is free for service men, shipping the car back however isn't, hence many of the cheaper stuff staying here.

[Lord Sterling]

We covered this here on Autoshite probably 10 or 12 years ago, possibly longer?  I recall even someone from here emailing the documentary maker and not receiving a reply as the maker has gone on to do bigger things (?) I also got this on DVD as part of a load of other DVDs from an autoshiter, so thank you again to whoever it was who sent me them, I still have them here.

Somehow, this documentary seems to have been rediscovered by the masses and I keep seeing it on YouTube etc...

Some silly people have suggested that this was covered by actors etc... no, it simply wasn't. That would have cost a huge amount of money in paying for actors, writing up scripts, renting cars and so on than it would have done to simply point a shoot a camera at real people who wanted to talk about their cars.

[Marshall2810]

3 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

We covered this here on Autoshite probably 5/6 years ago, possibly longer?  I recall even someone from here emailing the documentary maker and not receiving a reply as the maker has gone on to do bigger things (?)

Somehow, this documentary seems to have been rediscovered by the masses and I keep seeing it on YouTube etc...

Some stupid people have suggested that this was covered by actors etc... no, simply not. That would have cost a huge amount of money in paying for actors, writing up scripts, renting cars and so on than it would have done to simply point a shoot a camera at real people who wanted to talk about their cars.

Agree, the detail is great. It was a nice surprise to see the Tinsley towers fly past which have been gone a while 

[sierraman]

5 hours ago, GeordieInExile said:

Iirc they were all actors saying things real reps had said in interviews. Still an incredible bit of TV though. 

No, the chubby fella in the cavalier is still selling industrial packaging machines, there was an article on him in the Yorkshire Post, he’d gone through a bit of a bad time and had come out of it the other side - good on him I thought. 
 

I think it’s quite easy to forget in the midsts of time people had very different attitudes back then, for blokes certainly cars were a conversation point over a pint so discussing the spec might not have been as outlandish as it now seems.
 

All things considered I’d much sooner have a full blown row about Cavalier specifications over a pint than I would sitting in a pub these days listening to some wanker talk about his VW ID5 with a bottle of water in his hands and some data on his phone about charging points. 

[Marshall2810]

16 minutes ago, sierraman said:

No, the chubby fella in the cavalier is still selling industrial packaging machines, there was an article on him in the Yorkshire Post, he’d gone through a bit of a bad time and had come out of it the other side - good on him I thought. 
 

I think it’s quite easy to forget in the midsts of time people had very different attitudes back then, for blokes certainly cars were a conversation point over a pint so discussing the spec might not have been as outlandish as it now seems.
 

All things considered I’d much sooner have a full blown row about Cavalier specifications over a pint than I would sitting in a pub these days listening to some wanker talk about his VW ID5 with a bottle of water in his hands and some data on his phone about charging points. 

Or celebrity love island 

[goosey]

It’s all still relevant today 

[Six-cylinder]

I had better confess, when I was offered a job with a Vauxhall dealer in 1991 with a 1.6 car I walked away until they agreed to a 2.0 LTR car!

[Mudster]

There are another 4 episodes. May as well have them all here.  

 

 

 

[smoggy]

I've figured out why my attention was suddenly drawn to it. The documentary has just been uploaded to the BBC Archives YouTube channel. My algorithm was always going to be aligned to it. Glad it was though. It's an incredible bit of history really. The reps are all gone these days and the motorway feels very different. I never had a company car but caught the vapour trail of the culture as a young lawyer doing shedloads of miles to courts all over the country in the early 2000s. Loads of brand new E Class saloons, 320is, Mondeos, Passats, Lagunas, Vectras. A byegone era of bad ties, shit food, rank coffee and proper tailgating.

 

[Matty]

7 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

We covered this here on Autoshite probably 10 or 12 years ago, possibly longer?  I recall even someone from here emailing the documentary maker and not receiving a reply as the maker has gone on to do bigger things (?) I also got this on DVD as part of a load of other DVDs from an autoshiter, so thank you again to whoever it was who sent me them, I still have them here.

Somehow, this documentary seems to have been rediscovered by the masses and I keep seeing it on YouTube etc...

Some stupid people have suggested that this was covered by actors etc... no, simply not. That would have cost a huge amount of money in paying for actors, writing up scripts, renting cars and so on than it would have done to simply point a shoot a camera at real people who wanted to talk about their cars.

Mo I thought it was great. A window into a world now gone. Who gives a shite if they were actors and it was a spoof anyway!

[Lord Sterling]

16 minutes ago, Matty said:

Who gives a shite if they were actors and it was a spoof anyway!

Well, for a start, me. And the small number of people on YouTube who continually argue that it's all done by actors. 

Absolutely, I love it as a window looking into the days gone by. But I feel that some others are checking how things are done today and applying it to back then when things were a lot different. 

[reb]

I don't have time to watch them just now, but did one of the episodes feature a teenager who'd tricked his parents into buying him a hot hatch by asking for a Clio (?) 16v which they didn't realise was fast because it didn't say GTI on the boot?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

20 hours ago, Pieman said:

A mystery car also appeared at one point - I couldn't identify what this coupe on the left was...

After doing some digging, and noticing it has what appears to be a US number plate, it turned out to be something called a Geo Storm.  How (and why) one of those ended up in the UK is anyone's guess!

My first thought was Chrysler Neon. It's certainly similar. 

The programme was called The A to B of Motoring and has featured on here many times over the years. There was also a book written focusing on a range of the cars and contributors. I still chuckle at the Gli Cav fella and his comments about headlight wipers. 

[Pieman]

I don't think the Neon was released until just after this was filmed, that and the Toyota Paseo were my first thoughts too.

@Zelandeth is probably right, it was something to do with someone at a US military base over here.

[MiniMinorMk3]

There was also a book to go with the series that featured photography by Martin Parr

[goosey]

I remember the lad with the VW Beetle (convertible?) that needed a fair amount of repairs to keep it roadworthy and the Dad remarking why he didn’t just get a modern reliable car like their Austin Meastro 

[busmansholiday]

15 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Well, for a start, me. And the small number of people on YouTube who continually argue that it's all done by actors. 

Absolutely, I love it as a window looking into the days gone by. But I feel that some others are checking how things are done today and applying it to back then when things were a lot different. 

Absolutely, those wankers are the ones who usually haven't a clue what happened in 2001, let alone the last century.

Four adults, two children and a dog in a 1961 Reliant Regal Mk VI (look it up) taking four hours to get to Blackpool from South Yorkshire (because there were no motorways back then), been there, done it, got a small T shirt....

[Matty]

15 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

Well, for a start, me. And the small number of people on YouTube who continually argue that it's all done by actors. 

Absolutely, I love it as a window looking into the days gone by. But I feel that some others are checking how things are done today and applying it to back then when things were a lot different. 

Sorry to be clear I wasn't suggesting it was a spoof. 

[reb]

If it was done with actors, they're better actors than would usually be ok with not being credited as actors.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Here's a thread where we discussed the same almost a decade ago: 

 

 I ended up e mailing Martin Parr (and received a response) but it didn't reveal any more info on the 'actors'. Shame, really as I'd love to know what became of them. 

[Pieman]

A quote from the thread linked above...

On 26/11/2015 at 00:39, Richard said:

Has anybody ever come across anybody with any connection to this programme? It's been discussed quite a lot over the years on various forums and I've never seen anybody claiming to know somebody in it. It almost seems to exist in a vacuum, even the style has never been seen before or since.

Would YOU want to admit to knowing any of those dead-on-the-inside self-important wankers??

[Dick Cheeseburger]

20 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Here's a thread where we discussed the same almost a decade ago: 

 

 I ended up e mailing Martin Parr (and received a response) but it didn't reveal any more info on the 'actors'. Shame, really as I'd love to know what became of them. 

To add to this, I've discovered the director was a fella called Nicholas Barker, who'd be in his late sixties now. 

Does anyone have a premium IMDB account to  contact him? Worth an ask. 

https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0054960/?rf=cons_nm_contact&ref_=cons_nm_contact

 

[Lord Sterling]

16 hours ago, reb said:

I don't have time to watch them just now, but did one of the episodes feature a teenager who'd tricked his parents into buying him a hot hatch by asking for a Clio (?) 16v which they didn't realise was fast because it didn't say GTI on the boot?

Yep;

He was a posh-boy from London, he didn't really get on with his father (yet they still bought him a car) where because the Clio 16v didn't have a GTi badge which his father refused to buy anything with a GTi badge, he tricked him into buying him a Clio 16v.

One of the funniest quotes posh boy came out with was "Most of my friends are staggeringly rich"

I did posh boy was name-checked in one of the comments and is involved in the film industry in some capacity. 

[fairkens]

1 hour ago, reb said:

If it was done with actors, they're better actors than would usually be ok with not being credited as actors.

And the writing would have won awards. An 'office" style mockumentary before the office.

My dad was a rep in this era and while the people featured are, I think, slightly more extreme examples of the breed, he definitely would have quit if they'd put him in a diesel maestro. I don't know why that bloke didn't.

Thinking about it he nearly quit when forced in to a diesel Audi in the early 2000s before realising it was alright