Getaway Cars

I found an interesting little section on the Hagerty UK site today called "The One That Got Away."

And yesterday, while I was watching "Salvage Hunters Classic Cars", they added the moneyed star of that show, Drew Pritchard:

He must be bloody young in that picture - and check out the hair on the bloke we know as completely bald!

The "The One That Got Away" stories are of the cars that people wished they hadn't got rid of and would quite like to buy back.

Despite the caption they put on that Beach Buggy in the article, it was the badly-painted orange VW Bus that he swapped to get that Beach Buggy that he wants back.

Drew reckons he's owned about 250 cars but has stopped selling the ones he really likes now.  I've owned five cars and I'm pretty sure three of them are in scrapyards.  If you are ever in a scrapyard and spot a vomit yellow Triumph Dolomite NRE 915W, let me know.

So, that's last night's telly covered, tonight it is the return of Bangers and Cash on Yesterday while Fifth Gear Recharged continues on Quest.

Last month, the star of Bangers and Cash and also of my post last Saturday, Sarah Crabtree told Hagerty of her (also orange) Mini:

Not sure when that would have been taken but satellite telly had been invented.  Again it is fun to see her so young.

And back in October, star of Fifth Gear Recharged, Vicki Butler-Henderson told of her not orange BMW M3 CSL.

Tomorrow night, Jason Manford is on Would I Lie To You (cue Boris Johnson joke).  I found this picture of a younger Manford in a car:

and it looks like it is still on the road:

Fair deal?

The Discovery Quest Channel has started showing Wheeler Dealers.

This is excellent news for me - Quest is a Freeview Channel and I am a big fan of the show.

They have started to show the episodes right back from the first series in 2003.

For those of you unfamiliar with the programme, used car dealer Mike Brewer buys a classic car in need of a little attention at a knock-down price.  Then, trusted mechanic Edd China gives the car the attention and finally Mike sells the car on for a profit (if you don't count Edd's labour).

I have heard speculation over the years that all is not what it seems on this show.

I have heard that the people Mike buys the cars off and those he sells them to are production staff from the show.

I have heard that Edd doesn't do any of the work.

This interview from Total Car Magazine implies all is legit.  This is from this year.

This forum post from Wheel Whores implies otherwise.  This is from 2008.

A guy calling himself Pete Nice says he pretended to be the bloke Mike bought a knackered Beetle off -  this would be him:

Indeed, in the episode, this bloke is called Pete.

 

The episode involved converting the Beetle into a Beach Buggy.

 

Whether or not it is the same Pete is open to conjecture but there is something fishy in that episode from Series 2.  The knackered old Beetle had registration number FTD 243J.  That plate appears on the workshop wall behind Edd during that episode: 

However, when the conversion is complete, the finished Beach Buggy sports a completely different registration number - UPW 450H: 

That, to me, implies a completely different, slightly older, base car was used.

 

But never mind.

 

I would have thought, nowadays, if the show wasn't genuine, they would have to declare that bits were fabricated for entertainment purposes.  There are certainly such disclaimers on American Hot-Rod and Classic Car Rescue.

 

However, in 2003 such rules probably didn't exist.

 

Let's just say all is legit today.

 

Deal?