DarrenW
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 10:24 AM |
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Heres another throught. Why single out Top Gear?
What about The Sweeney, The Professionals etc. And then countless other progs and films. Top Gear is probs at the far end of the pareto compared to
these lot.
I had a fantastic dream that i had an old Mk1 Escort in the garage. Was a 4 door but ready for a great restoration. Then i got woke up at 5am by the 4
year old wanting to play!
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morcus
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 11:22 AM |
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I can understand both sides of this but, in the grand sceme of things, TopGear isn't doing any real harm by destoying old cars, for cars to
truely last as originals they have to be kept in museum condition for most of the time anyway.
On the scrappage system, having bought or helped to buy about 4 cars in the last year (2 for me and 2 for my folks) I'm sure that there'll
be cars scrapped that are in better knick than the £5k modeos and Vectras you'll find on dealler forecourts across the land. I'm told old
folks are one of the biggest groups to use the sceme and anyone who's bought an old bods car will know what I'm on about. The real losers
though aren't the real car fans but young people who will now have to pay more for there first shed because they're in higher demand.
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scootz
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 11:35 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Shadowcaster
Before I duck down into the trenches again I have to defend British Leyland. I worked for a BL garage in the 70's and although it's now
said that the Marina's Allegros's and Maxi's were crap. When judged against the the other manufactuers they stood up pretty well.
Anyone remember the Vauxhall Viva the Moskovitch the Chrysler Rancho the Hillman Hunter and lets be honest the Jap cars were nothing special then
either. I drove a Marina van for 18mts covering 80/90 thousand miles and can honestly say it never missed a beat and I drove a hell out of it
delivering part all over Cornwall and it was converted to run on LPG. A good mate had a Marina Estate in which he covered over 200 thousand miles.
During my employment I got to drive most of the cars of the 60's / 70's and the BL stuff wern't that bad. We used to howl with
laughter at some of the Jap cars with their cheap plastic and wafer thin metal. And remember there were some stand out motors back then like the Stag
and my favourite the SD1 the 2.5Pi Dollie Sprint and the loveable Mini Cooper's
I know some will think me mad I have to agree, we should be keeping these cars, bikes ect for future generations.
Cheers
Rich
[Edited on 22/7/09 by Shadowcaster]
Good point, well made!
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 11:56 AM |
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i was annoyed but amused in that clarkson wrecked a perfectly good 940 turbo , plus he didnt do it justice when tuning it up either , should have
bloody asked me .
is it a classic ? not just yet .
but they did the same with the 944 and that red jap thing , and a trend is developing - lets make entertaining TV by smashing stuff up .
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 12:53 PM |
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Who here has not broken up Escorts mk1 and 2 ,seirras and countless motorbikes.....
Sorry If I upset whipster but the death of these cars serves to make the preserved ones more valuable.
So taking a merc on a banger rallys is bad....
or a pair of jags.
How many had a laugh at the fiat panda posted up under darren why doesnt it sell.
just because its a marina....would it be differant if it was the panda.
Its life and things happen..linky
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RK
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 03:46 PM |
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IMO that show is about showing the worst of the old British class system: "I'm so rich I can go around wrecking anything I want and
laughing about it". At the same time, Clarkson pretends he is above actually working on cars. They may not have snooty origins, but they want
you to think they do. The accents you have no longer give you away, (at least to my foreign ears) as they once did, since it is considered cool to
sound like an uneducated bum.
Destroying history is never a good thing. It's like cutting down trees: you won't live long enough to see it again. Those cars are cool.
They are simple and reflect a simpler time. Sure the technology advanced, but why are we building what we are? Anybody could work on those old things.
Try working on a new Audi sometime! I don't even know how to get access to the engine.
[Edited on 22/7/09 by RK]
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Richard Quinn
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 04:31 PM |
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I, as some of the above, have mixed feelings on this.
Partly it is the Government to blame once again. In the past I had Mk1 and 2 Escorts from Mexicos to RS's. If I bent it I went to Rushtons
Scrapyard and got myself a "new" wing/door whatever. These places don't really exist any more due to the constraints placed
(possibly rightly so) on people now dealing with End of Life Vehicles.
If you don't tax your car, it gets crushed??? How environmentally friendly is that? Why can't they be impounded and then auctioned off to
raise a bit of money that could be well used somewhere?
Also, not every car built in the 70's is a Classic. I remember my dad going to look at a Datsun (120Y I think). Even then I was thinking that I
had never seen so much cheap plastic, badly fitting panels and rust. OK, there were some cars that would be worth saving but these are the ones that
are special in some way. Most of these are represented by specialist groups. You don't see many Vivas around these days but there are still some
good examples of Firenzas/Magnums about owned by enthusiasts.
The Austin 7 and Model T have been mentioned previously. Obviously these are significant as they represent certain milestones in the development of
the motor car. The Marina on the other hand...
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Liam
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 05:12 PM |
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Blimey dont worry guys - there's enough marinas around for at least a few of them to end up in museums so that our complete history (even the
crap bits) can be preserved forever. 
I think some of you guys better make sure you stay well away from these things called 'action movies' too! Literally millions spent on
destroying perfectly good vehicles, aircraft, buildings, etc etc, of all types and ages purely for entertainment! Enough to give some of you heart
attacks . Should have seen what John Cleese did to that poor Morris 1100 in Clockwise. Why didn't they think of that car's potential
future classic status? Animals... rah rah rah...
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Richard Quinn
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 07:13 PM |
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Just taken the dog out and walked on the other side of the road to normal. Spotted an Austin Maxi "5 Speed" tucked behind someone's
garden hedge!!
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 22/7/09 at 11:55 PM |
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Saw a Sierra a few weeks ago and the word "cool" floated through my head. Ten years ago I wouldn't have given it a second thought
because there were so many around. Imho the main reason why these "classics" should be preserved is purely down to being not many left of
them.
It won't be long before we're saying the same thing about the 306 or the Seat Leon, but not while there's 30,000 of them on the
roads
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