Edd's Gone!!!

And I don't mean Edd The Duck.    

No, I mean the only other "Ed" who spells his name with two D's - Edd China:

I was going to do a posting today about Sunday's Top Gear - I had a couple of ideas and was definitely going to mention my favourite quote of the show:

"The Suspects are Joey from Friends and a bald guy in a bad suit."

or maybe I was going to complain about them dissing the Dolomite Sprint...

...which led into Rory Reid driving the most famous car on TV (if you watch car shows) - a Mark I Golf GTi carrying Reg. number A651FEJ:

Here's Jeremy with it:

 

and here it is on Car SOS:

This may well be it again but I'm not going to find the episode in the second series of Wheeler Dealers - Trading Up to find out:

It's not appeared on For The Love of Cars yet though.

And here we arrive at the big news story of today:

Discovery today announced established automotive expert Ant Anstead is the new co-host and master mechanic on the global hit series WHEELER DEALERS. After 13 seasons, longtime co-host and lead mechanic Edd China has decided to leave the series to pursue other projects. WHEELER DEALERS will continue for a season 14 later this year with current co-host Mike Brewer who will now be joined by Anstead. Ant Anstead is the former host of the Channel 4 series “For The Love Of Cars”

Wow!

Or I could have gone with...

"Opel cleared of diesel emissions cheating by French authorities"

...an Autocar story today which comes just after it was announced that Opel was to become part of the PSA Group which is part-owned by the French authorities.

No - the Edd news is much bigger.  A bit like him.

Top Nearer?

So, the Sunday Express has revealed the BBC's "Dream Team" to take over from Jeremy, James & Richard?

And the rest of the World's press has run with the story.

Which is based on an overheard conversation between ex-show producer Andy Wilmin and Jay Kay of Jamoriqui fame.

So could be a load of tripe.

And even if it is right, there is no guarantee these three would sign up for the job.

Based on the reader comments (worldwide, not just the Express) any new presenters would be unwelcome but there is suspicion of Jodie's name in particular because it is believed that the BBC is being politically correct in choosing a woman.  It is true that I have said that I would like to see a woman or three in the line-up- but that is because I believe it would add a new twist to the show - but I would be just as happy with another three grumpy, middle-aged, white men again if the show continued to thrive.

Andy Wilmin is currently writing the story of Top Gear TV in Top Gear Magazine.  In it he states how the BBC did originally want a female presenter but he argued the toss and the all-male team was agreed upon and worked extremely well.

Right, what do I think of this so-called "dream team"?

Jodie Kidd - presenter of The Classic Car Show - needs to be a bit more natural in front of the camera but basically should be good.

Guy Martin - presenter of various things on Channel 4 but I know bugger all about his work

Philip Glenister - presenter of For The Love of Cars - typical grumpy, middle-aged, white man - should fit in very nicely.  Incidentally, For The Love of Cars seems to be turning into Car SOS.  This new series has just had two very soppy episodes where the finished car has been suspiciously sold at auction to someone guaranteed to make the original owner very happy.

Whoever they get, providing they are petrol-heads, I will watch and give the new show a fair go next year.  We have to trust the BBC on  this - I dread to think who ITV would choose if it were up to them...

 

Nightmare.

Restoring the Faith

We seem to have a plethora of car make-over/restoration shows on UK telly at the moment.

We have series 2 of Channel 5's Classic Car Rescue on a Monday night.  We have ongoing Wheeler Dealers on Discovery.  Quest are repeating Chop Shop, London Garage on a Thursday and we have a new entry from Channel 4 on a Sunday namely, For The Love of Cars:

This features Philip Glenister and "internationally renowned car designer" Ant Anstead restoring classic British cars.  I put that bit in quotes because that is how Channel 4 describe him - I'd never heard of him before and he does seem to be an extremely competent mechanic/car restorer - not too sure about the relevance of his design qualifications though.

 

Ant gets on with the actual restoration work while Phil becomes DCI Gene Hunt with ever-varying amounts of stubble and goes out to have adventures and meet people and groups with stories to tell of whichever vehicle is up for restoration that week.

 

Week one saw the Escort Mexico in the picture above - the best bit was the look on the face of a Liverpool Police Officer who used to drive one in the '70s.  They were interviewing him for the series in a back alley somewhere on Merseyside and he suddenly heard the siren approaching of one of the cars in the fleet he used to use.  He got to drive it again and meet up with a '70s car-thief too.

 

Week two was the Series I Land-Rover where Phil got to meet a Landie enthusiast who you wouldn't want to meet down the pub and another who you definitely would - they even named the restored Landie after him.

 

Next week it's the Triumph Stag - really looking forward to see what they do with my favourite classic.

 

Classic Car Rescue, which I did a bit about Series 1 on, has changed a little bit.  There are still the silly, contrived, badly-acted arguments but I think there is a little more actual car restoration being shown.  The final valuation now comes in via "classic car expert" Paul O'Neill.  I put that in quotes because Paul O'Neill is an ex-Touring Car Driver who does the Twitter bits during the BTCC Coverage and is the brother of a Spice Girl.  I'm a big fan of Paul (him being a Scouser helps) but I've never heard him described as a "classic car expert" before.

 

Bernie Fineman's previous show, Chop Shop, London Garage is probably the nearest to what I think of as the original and best show like these, American Hot-Rod which I posted about back in 2011.  These two shows are more make-over than restoration but enthralling viewing to me.

 

According to wiki though, American Hot-Rod wasn't the first - Wheeler Dealers is older - and still going strong.  I love Wheeler Dealers but it's quite rare that I get to watch it because it is on Pay-TV - this is surely a prime show for Quest to take on?

 

Anyway, I hope as many of these shows continue as possible for many years into the future when one day they will be restoring Nissan Jukes and Citroen DS3s.