Classic gear on ITV 22nd December. :)

GrimV8 said:
EccentricRichard said:
GrimV8 said:
'A classic racing car that once won the Le Mans 24 Hours race was left with a burned-out clutch, damaged drive shafts and bald tyres after an "idiotic" test drive for BBC2's Top Gear.'

I've looked after various very rare racing cars with great history and have raced myself, my old man still races Classic bikes so I am well aware what's involved to look after them and what indeed is poor treatment as I'm still in the trade :|

I think we'll just agree to differ on how certain things should be treated and what's considered entertaining. After all, I think they chose not to air the antics in the end didn't they? :wink:
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You really believe anything the Standard or its sister papers say? More fool you! The 'damaged drive shafts' bit was a total concoction. Also, the "antics" were aired, and can be found on YouTube, or torrents, or whatever.
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I think you'll find what's on Youtube is what they did air :wink:
I don't even read papers :LOL: That was googled to find the story for the forum :| Like this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2999634.stm
Anyway, I come on here for fun, not to change anyones opinion, just air mine, which I have :)
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Even the Beeb News can be pretty unreliable =)
 
I'm lost for words ..........
I still think they are a trio of tw*ts but if anyone wants to watch a trio of tw*ts , then good luck to them
 
DaveHerns said:
I'm lost for words ..........
I still think they are a trio of tw*ts but if anyone wants to watch a trio of tw*ts , then good luck to them
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I'm sorry, but Clarkson has now destroyed six Morris Marinas, which makes him a saint in my eyes. Sometimes his humour can be a bit crass, but I think TG is a work of genius. May also is a fine bloke - a proper bloke, very able at everything except navigation, and a man of great intelligence and culture. Lovely guy. Hammond can be annoying, but he's a proper enthusiast. Into Morgans and Land Rovers big time, has an E-type at present and has mentioned having a Triumph Spitfire. May has had a P6, a Triumph 2000, a Bentley T2, a Rolls Corniche, 2 old 911s and more. Clarkson is a classics man too - his two are a Mercedes-Benz 600 "Grosser" and an Austin-Healey Spridget. Also, in person, he's actually a much gentler person than his on-screen persona. Hammond isn't such a clown either.
 
Clarkson has now destroyed six Morris Marinas, which makes him a saint in my eyes
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Why ? What's so clever / admirable about destroying anything for the benefit of easily amused viewers ?
I'd admire him more if he found something good to say about it , but that wouldn't make his audience giggle

There was a chap round this area who had an immaculate Lancia Beta and it was borrowed by the BBC to do a show and made to look like a rotbox .I believe the owner got an apology
 
DaveHerns said:
Clarkson has now destroyed six Morris Marinas, which makes him a saint in my eyes
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Why ? What's so clever / admirable about destroying anything for the benefit of easily amused viewers ?
I'd admire him more if he found something good to say about it , but that wouldn't make his audience giggle

There was a chap round this area who had an immaculate Lancia Beta and it was borrowed by the BBC to do a show and made to look like a rotbox .I believe the owner got an apology
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I agree with Dave.... I too would admire him more if he took a balanced view of cars but he does not, he does not because it is seen as entertainment :?

He says what he thinks the public want to hear, he is into 'fashion' where cars are concerned. Just because he does not like it does not make it bad :) Sadly the same all too frequently goes for the entire Top Gear team :(
 
DaveHerns said:
Clarkson has now destroyed six Morris Marinas, which makes him a saint in my eyes
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Why ? What's so clever / admirable about destroying anything for the benefit of easily amused viewers ?
I'd admire him more if he found something good to say about it , but that wouldn't make his audience giggle

There was a chap round this area who had an immaculate Lancia Beta and it was borrowed by the BBC to do a show and made to look like a rotbox .I believe the owner got an apology
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There IS nothing good to be said about the Morris Marina. It was a bad car, through and through. Destroying them for the amusement of TG's audience is the best possible use for them.

Also, an immaculate Lancia Beta? Are you sure there is such a thing? If there really was a very presentable one presented as a rotbox, perhaps given some 'make-up' to make it look rusty, then obviously that's not good - but then I suppose really well-looked-after Betas are the only ones that survive!
 
I watch TG religiously, however I do find the destruction of vehicles that I'd happily have on my drive a bit too much, instead of buying all this stuff and then trashing it, they could just deliver them to my house.
 
Come on ,there must be something good about a Marina ,Was it really that much worse than it's counterparts of the time ?

I once drove a 1.3 Maestro as a company car - I hated it but it was better than the same year 1.3 Escort

Seriously there was an immaculate Lancia Beta owned by an old chap .This was a few years ago though
The BBC used something like a wooden magnet so they could claim it was full of filler and a magnet wouldn't stick
 
I must say I don't think the Marina is as bad as it is painted. The trouble at the time seemed to be that, from being the high tech volume manufacturer, BMC deliberately went backwards to a low tech solution. That earned them ridicule in the press. The famous disc brakes on the left, drums on the right incidents didn't help either. The 1.8 was also most definitely not a drivers car, you could almost hear the Morris Minor underpinnings groaning at the engine weight! If you regard the Marina as an equivalent for the Escort, then I'd pick the Marina. Also comparable to the Mk2 Cortina, arguably better. Unfortunately Ford trumped it pretty convincingly with the Mk 3 Cortina relatively early in the cars life. Commercially, Ford continued to be able to set the class size rules, and that left the Marina uncomfortably between Escort and Cortina. I'd like to try the Australian vesion of the Marina with the straight six variant of the E series up front.

Chris
 
DaveHerns said:
Come on ,there must be something good about a Marina ,Was it really that much worse than it's counterparts of the time ?

I once drove a 1.3 Maestro as a company car - I hated it but it was better than the same year 1.3 Escort

Seriously there was an immaculate Lancia Beta owned by an old chap .This was a few years ago though
The BBC used something like a wooden magnet so they could claim it was full of filler and a magnet wouldn't stick
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Comparing a Marina to the Mk3 Cortina, Vauxhall Victor, Hillman Hunter etc... is just comparing varying degrees of crap. They were all terrible cars.

The Maestro was almost a good car - if it had been better-built, and hadn't had the A-series engine at the bottom of the range, it would have been rather better. Certainly nicer than an Escort.

As for Top Gear? I'm sure that Lancia feature was only last year...
 
Hillman Hunter crap? MIne wasn't :LOL: I like the Rootes group stuff TBH. The Avenger was a great car too IMO :)
Hillman came from the same place as Rover, IIRC, bicycles :)

Working in a Rover and Jaguar garage most normal stuff seemed under par, but Marinas and the like were just normal cars back then to me :|
 
When people think back to today's cars, what will be seen as menial rubbish, and what will be remembered as good?

Alfas are great drivers cars, but not so great as day to day transport.

VWs,Audis, and skoda/seat are so broing and slab sided it would be hard for anybody to remember them with affection surely.

BMWs are ugly but always brilliant to drive - might come into fashion eventually.

Maestros are nice cars - nicer than escorts of the age. Montegos are ugly but not bad cars either.

My dad had a marina which failed it's first MOT requiring welding to the chassis. They were basic cars - which is fine. I'm too young to know, but i can guess from this that they were basic and badly made...

Rich.
 
Marinas and Avengers and Vauxhal Chevettes do get a lot of bad press but from my perspective they were great cars!! (but I wouldnt want to own one) I used to work in Govt service and the fleet contained alot of those cars, which when I used to get a hold of them I would thrash about in my day to day duties, never had a single performance issue and especially loved the Chevettes for there close ratio gearbox which was magic at high speed hill work. As for the Hilman Hunters, at the wifes insistance I bought one..... what a mistake... the worst peice of gutless, noisey, poor handling low reliability car bar one that I have ever owned and it wasnt a monday car but a good example of the breed which I had to do a 80 % rebuilt on Brrrrr (to many bad memories with this one).

Graeme
 
I passed my test in my Fathers Avenger. :D
And back in the day we were driving through Folkstone once in my mates Hunter when he changed up & we heard a clang & lost all drive to the wheels. Pulling over & looking back through the rear windscreen we saw the propshaft lying in the road so retrieved it & chucked it in the boot, then walked back to the caravan. :LOL: His father drove down the next day in his MkII Jag with four new bolts & they put it back on. The old ones had sheared right through.
 
rockdemon said:
When people think back to today's cars, what will be seen as menial rubbish, and what will be remembered as good?

Alfas are great drivers cars, but not so great as day to day transport.

VWs,Audis, and skoda/seat are so broing and slab sided it would be hard for anybody to remember them with affection surely.

BMWs are ugly but always brilliant to drive - might come into fashion eventually.

Maestros are nice cars - nicer than escorts of the age. Montegos are ugly but not bad cars either.

My dad had a marina which failed it's first MOT requiring welding to the chassis. They were basic cars - which is fine. I'm too young to know, but i can guess from this that they were basic and badly made...

Rich.
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Today's BMWs are (mostly) pretty damn good-looking IMO. The Mk1 Z4 and the E60 5-series were great-looking cars - radical, yes, pretty, no, but very distinctive and with enormous presence in the sea of beige that is 21st-century car design. Today's VWs etc are bland, sure, but the Seats aren't (they're distinctive, but I don't like them much). Skodas are much-loved for being fantastically capable and great value for money.

A friend of my dad's bought a brand-new Marina in 1972... gunned the engine to merge into the traffic, off the forecourt, and the rear axle fell right off, the floorpan was so badly rusted.
 
I really dont like the look of the recent BMWs - they lost all of their elegance which to me had been one of their hallmarks...
 
I had a '79 Marina estate about 12 years ago fitted with the 1700 and automatic. It was a great car! Took me most of the way 'round the North Island on camping trips and carted all my tools about for work. Never missed a beat. After I sold it, I bought a Lada estate. Also a surprisingly good car. :shock:
Would I go back to either of them? Not a chance, I'm too addicted to quality now! :D

I think the problem with modern cars becoming classics is that they just aren't restorable. Can you imagine trying to revive all that plastic an electronics on one of these things in 30 years? Damn near every part of a modern car is a sealed, unrepairable unit and parts supply dries up when they are 10 years old. Nightmare! Plus, what is the life expectancy of an airbag? Can they still be expected to function when they are 20 years old? The car can't be considered roadworthy if the airbag or abs light comes on. If you think a NADA spec dual circuit brake system is complex, try rebuilding ABS! Anyone who thinks P6s are complicated to work on obviously hasn't tried anything serious on a modern car!
Sorry, I'm a little grumpy. I just spent 5 1/2 hours today changing the heater core on a Toyota. :x
 
:LOL: I know the feeling, spent about 7 hours trying to unscrew the bottom bolt on my alternator on a Honda Vigour I owned a cocouple of years ago, just so I could change the fan belt (some walley stuffed the adjusting nut hex flats up on the top bolt). Lots of cursing frustration and blood by the time the job got done.

Graeme
 
I owned a Hunter GLS for a while. Awesome motor. Three wheel drifts every opportunity 8)
Yep, Chevettes were good too, and Vivas once you'd got used to the sharp uptake on the clutch :shock:
 
Plus, what is the life expectancy of an airbag?
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- I think it says in my car's service book to change them after 10 years - which would be totally uneconmic and render the car scrap

We all need to remember to compare old cars- I remember driving a Hillman Super Minx in the 70's and being amazed at what a smooth ride it was but that was in comparison to Cortinas A60's etc

Hunters were OK but better with the 1725 engine

A friend of my dad's bought a brand-new Marina in 1972... gunned the engine to merge into the traffic, off the forecourt, and the rear axle fell right off, the floorpan was so badly rusted.
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I'm assuming the car wasn't brand new when the axle fell off ?
 
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