Top Gear 1983

homingbird

Full tv show from 83 that opel junior never made it into production. Thank god!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooI-EQIDouA&feature=related

Anan1

I watched some of that, and it was actually pretty good. It's amazing how much they've dumbed it down since.

delthedriver

homingbird wrote: »

Full tv show from 83 that opel junior never made it into production. Thank god!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooI-EQIDouA&feature=related

Opel eventually brought out in the '80s a Corsa Junior

RobAMerc

Anan1 wrote: »

I watched some of that, and it was actually pretty good. It's amazing how much they've dumbed it down since.

it really used to be well worth a watch - I used to be heart broken when it finished. ( although I'm not talking about 1983 no beeb in the sticks then )

Sids Not

Yeah I loved it too...when it was all about cars and driving..and not about presenter ego's ......its now got as much to do with cars as American Chopper is to bike building......;)

manta mad

nice glimpse back in to the 80s cars

Opel AsconaC looks well on the stand ... another model thats scarce now !!!

Capri

Sids Not wrote: »

Yeah I loved it too...when it was all about cars and driving..and not about presenter ego's ......its now got as much to do with cars as American Chopper is to bike building......;)

Aaaah, Back when the Beeb meant quality, not American propaganda, smiley smiley newsreaders, and 'ratings'.

I think that Opel 'junior' was based on the Fiat Panda (80's)interior and may have spawned the Fiat Cincequento ? (90's)



I get my car show fixes now from DW-TV Drive it! (German channel in English )

http://www.dw.de/dw/0,,9690,00.html


And DMax (in German) on Astra1 (Lidl satellite ):eek:

Die Ludolfs - 4 'culchice' brothers who run a scrapyard in Germany
Tuning Alarm - sort of German 'Pimp my ride' - Mantas /Polos etc
Der Checker - Girl in an old Checker cab pimping up cars
Spiegel TV doku - About car shows / meets in Germany
DMAX DOKU - About luxury cars
Top Gear :eek::mad::mad::mad:
Desert Car kings - US show
American Hot Rod - Boyd Coddington
Street Customs - Pimp my ride style

Yada yada, no I don't speak fluent German but I get an idea of what they're doing :D:D

RobAMerc

Sids Not wrote: »

Yeah I loved it too...when it was all about cars and driving..and not about presenter ego's ......its now got as much to do with cars as American Chopper is to bike building......;)

well said - I must admit its entertaining though, but little or nothing to do with car journalism like old TG. I hate the way fools regurgitate the nonsense they hear on it as fact ( not too far away from here I might add ! )

bijapos

Excellent programme. I like the way they acknowledge that the Germans were making strides in developing technology and innovation in cars and buses and the fact that they explained those differences. If that was Clarkson & Co there would be several childish references to "boring sausage eaters, D-Day, WWII, 1966 and putting towels on beach chairs".

A few things that are interesting looking back almost 3 decades later:

"The 900 Convertible is not likely to go into production ............" It was a classic before it ceased production in the mid 90's.
The Opel Junior would look modern today, probably too modern.
Twin tyres, never heard of it, wonder if they are as good as claimed.
190 sold with a 4 speed manual as standard in Germany, there is a thread here on Irish "Paddy spec" cars, the Germans are no better.:D

Nice insight as well into Merc testing its components. It's stuff like this that makes me think that there is space on BBC for a 30-60 minute car show once a weee, using the format of 1983. Keep Top Gear for it's 600bhp AMG cars but there is serious space for a show for the general car owner and buyer. Throw in a segment on 2nd and 3rd hand cars, one on HGV's and Vans, one for motorhomes, one for classics, one for ordinary motorsport and you've a good 60 minute programme.

Btw anyone notice the racket going on in the background, it's obviously a day or two before the show and the stands are still being built. i worked on stand building at a fair few shows and the last week was inevitably a string of 18 hour days.

Capri

Fifth gear ? - http://www.channel5.com/shows/fifth-gear

Sids Not

RobAMerc wrote: »

I hate the way fools regurgitate the nonsense they hear on it as fact ( not too far away from here I might add ! )

Yeah...plenty of them will take what the three stooges say as gospel...ah well.......:rolleyes:

Oh and btw theyre not funny either.....unlike the three stooges....:)

junkyarddog

Capri wrote: »

I get my car show fixes now from DW-TV Drive it! (German channel in English )

http://www.dw.de/dw/0,,9690,00.html


And DMax (in German) on Astra1 (Lidl satellite ):eek:

Die Ludolfs - 4 'culchice' brothers who run a scrapyard in Germany

Yada yada, no I don't speak fluent German but I get an idea of what they're doing :D:D

I used to love watching these lads,
the amount of stuff they have in there place is unbeliveable.
Sadly my old analog box went on the blink so haven't seen them in a while.
One of them has since died too,the lad that answered the phone.

Capri

junkyarddog wrote: »

I used to love watching these lads,
the amount of stuff they have in there place is unbeliveable.
Sadly my old analog box went on the blink so haven't seen them in a while.
One of them has since died too,the lad that answered the phone.

I've an old BlackDiamond and a Lidl satellite and it works grand - so far !

jimmyw

Thanks OP for making me feel old:(:D

No though it was good though seeing all those old classics now.

Of all the Golfs, I find that mk 2 version to be the nicest.I dont why they were doing the bus though or who of the general motorist it was aimed at but still good all the same.I always wondered why some buses back end had no windows, so that told me.

hi5

It was all about cd factors back then, Audi had theirs printed on the side of the 100 as a badge of honour for a while IIRC:).

delthedriver

Sids Not wrote: »

Yeah...plenty of them will take what the three stooges say as gospel...ah well.......:rolleyes:

Oh and btw theyre not funny either.....unlike the three stooges....:)

Perhaps it is something to do with age! I have to say how much I enjoy Clarkson, May, Hammond. I too can regurgitate the crap these guys come out with. It is Gospel!

Capri

manta mad wrote: »

nice glimpse back in to the 80s cars

Opel AsconaC looks well on the stand ... another model thats scarce now !!!

Voila ! http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/3759761 :cool:

unkel

That was excellent.

One of the highlights for me was the bus! That's exactly how I went on cheap sun holidays as a student in the late 80s (flying was for rich folk back then!)

And the testing of the c-class (baby merc with us 30 years this year, didn't realise that!) Also the fact that the entry level c-class only cost half of the Saab Cabrio teaches me a lesson that Mercs back then were not as expensive as I thought. Saabs were as expensive as I thought

The one criticism that I have is that the Opel Junior concept was clearly a reaction to the super practical, cheap and very successful Fiat Panda - funny they didn't mention that

bijapos wrote: »

Excellent programme. I like the way they acknowledge that the Germans were making strides in developing technology and innovation in cars and buses and the fact that they explained those differences. If that was Clarkson & Co there would be several childish references to "boring sausage eaters, D-Day, WWII, 1966 and putting towels on beach chairs".

A few things that are interesting looking back almost 3 decades later:

"The 900 Convertible is not likely to go into production ............" It was a classic before it ceased production in the mid 90's.
The Opel Junior would look modern today, probably too modern.
Twin tyres, never heard of it, wonder if they are as good as claimed.
190 sold with a 4 speed manual as standard in Germany, there is a thread here on Irish "Paddy spec" cars, the Germans are no better.:D

Nice insight as well into Merc testing its components. It's stuff like this that makes me think that there is space on BBC for a 30-60 minute car show once a weee, using the format of 1983. Keep Top Gear for it's 600bhp AMG cars but there is serious space for a show for the general car owner and buyer. Throw in a segment on 2nd and 3rd hand cars, one on HGV's and Vans, one for motorhomes, one for classics, one for ordinary motorsport and you've a good 60 minute programme.

Btw anyone notice the racket going on in the background, it's obviously a day or two before the show and the stands are still being built. i worked on stand building at a fair few shows and the last week was inevitably a string of 18 hour days.

+1

Capri

Capri wrote: »

Voila ! http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/3759761 :cool:

Ascona B 2.0SR http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/vintagecars/3687078

homingbird

The bit about the bus i did not get either it must have only been a filler to make the program as that bit felt like a holiday show. They should have left top gear in this format with cars you could afford to buy.

Tzar Chasm

That was rather interesting, I liked how they showcased Lucas dashboards, very futuristic at the time but most of us would recognize the technology today.

Things I did notice tho, they were just as biased to british products in those days like the maestro segment and Lucas electrics. The presentation was very flat almost to the point of detracting from what was being said