What does a Renault 5 cost?

About £23K

But that's one of the brand new, most excellent, electric ones.

I was watching an episode of Flipping Bangers this week.

It's a programme I saw a series of a few years back and quite enjoyed.  I assumed that there was only one series and thought no more about it.

Then they started showing more episodes this year.

Then I saw the two blokes off it at The Classic Motor Show talking about their latest endeavours.  Turns out they've gone onto YouTube.

Anyway, I must have been watching Series 2, Episode 7.

It was an original Mark I Renault 5.

They bought it for £1000 and spent £485 doing it up.

I've just found out they they bought it off Sam Brackley, son of Paul Brackley - the mechanic off Wheeler Dealers in the Edd days.

They didn't do anything about the brown headlining or dodgy dash area above the ashtray.  It had obviously spent a lot of time being smoked in.  They didn't mention a smell though.

It also had some black tape pretending to be trim going between the wheels at the bottom of the doors.  They sort of sorted that.

They did do some actually vital stuff too.

Then they sold it to a dealer for £2600.

This was in 2019.

As soon as I saw the car I thought I recognised it - had I remembered it from seeing the show a few years back?

Nope - it wasn't series two that they broadcast.

Turns out I remembered it from here.

Twincam, another of my favourite Youtubers, has some sort of arrangement with auction house Manor Park Classics.

He reviewed it and they sold it last year.

For £4140.

Somebody somewhere has probably not done very well out of that between 2019 and 2024.

It still had the horrible headlining.

So I'll have one of the new ones please.

The Long and Short of It.

I saw this in an Autocar Story today:

It looks like a cobbled-together in a shed, kit version of a Lamborghini LM002:

But it is actually a hell of a lot more than that.

It is an electric vehicle with a range-extender engine "built for expeditions as extreme and diverse as crossing the Antarctic or penetrating uncharted Amazon rainforests."

It's about the size of a Transit but very light weight with a high ground-clearance - it is called The Fering Pioneer.

This is the story.

It also has a bit of a Jeep Gladiator look about it...

...which I wouldn't have spotted if I hadn't read this Fox News story which talks about the best and worst cars for tall and short people.  Although Consumer Reports should get the credit for it.

You would think that convertibles would be best for tall drivers since there is infinite headroom.

Think again:

Shame about the number plate but I'm sure the Fox News viewers would appreciate it.

Apparently the second-best car for short drivers is the BMW 7-Series and the first-best car for tall drivers is the BMW 7-Series.

I think it just means it has very adjustable seats.

Home Brew

 Wheeler Dealers is coming home!

But wait, that's not Ant Anstead.

No, that's Marc Priestley aka "Elvis" - the British based mechanic who worked with Mike on Wheeler Dealers - Dream Car.

Which I never watched.

The full announcement is here on YouTube:

Elvis is taking over from Ant and the three of them appear in that video talking about what will be the series-after-next.

I look forward to it being British again and I have every confidence that Elvis will make a fine third incarnation of the WD Mechanic - a Jon Pertwee to Ant's Patrick Troughton if you will.

One other thing I took from the video was a throw-away comment from Ant about his wives.

So I looked them up on Wikipedia.

His first wife, according to Wiki, is famous for being Ant Anstead's ex-wife.

His second wife, however, who is also Ant Anstead's ex-wife, seems to be a TV Presenter.

One person who gets virtually zero mention, however, is Edd - still the original and best and I bet a lot of the show's fans' first choice to resume the role.  It was stated that Ant will be calling in from time to time so I think we really need a "Three Mechanics" episode at some point - if Doctor Who can do it, then there's no reason why Wheeler Dealers can't.

Sounds Like Brewer's Telling Porkies

Well he is a used car salesman. 

I am a big fan of Wheeler Dealers - both the Edd era and the Ant era.

So I follow them on Facebook.

So I was somewhat perplexed to see this posting today:

Now Mike Brewer is obviously a car guy.

I am also a car guy.  I must be, I spend time writing a car blog that only 7 people read. And, speaking as a car guy, I am pretty confident in saying that things car guys find the opposite of interesting include:

• SUVs that farmers wouldn't be interested in
• Chinese Budget motors
• Bog-Standard Electric Cars

So I am incredibly sceptical when Mike Brewer says,

"MG has launched two new models, expanding the range to include an all-new EV and a plug-in hybrid variant of the HS SUV. Having seen the MG Motor UK ZS EV at the NEC last year, I can't wait to have a test drive in this. What do you think?"

I think MG must be paying you an awful lot of money to post that - it makes you less credible than Dominic Cummings.

The comments mostly though pick up on the fact that these cars look like a VW parked next to a Mazda.  All cross-overs look the same anyway but here I have got onto Paint and produced a VW parked next to a Mazda:

They've got a point.

Driving a Shed

Not literally of course.

That would be daft:

Although Edd China did it first:

No, I'm talking about this guy: 

Various news sources have the story today - including Sky News.  It was held on with a single length of rope.  Perhaps he didn't have anything better in his shed.  To be fair to the guy though, I don't think that is a shed - it's a tool store.

 

Meanwhile, on the subject of being fined for doing something stupid on the road:

 

I don't speak Emoji so the story is here.

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.

How do you get four elephants in a Mini?

Two in the front, two in the back

How do you get four giraffes in a Mini?

You can't - it's full up with elephants.

In my day, people broke records for the number of people they could crush into a Mini.

It still happens.

But that's a new Mini not a proper Mini.  They're bound to get more in.

 

That photo (and record)  appear in this plug for the new Guinness Book of World Records book that is appearing in MSN Cars at the moment - a plethora of motoring records.

 

As plugs go, it is quite an interesting one.  Partly because not only does it feature Edd China in a couple, but it also features the Honda BTCC Team in a couple.  Win-win as far as I'm concerned.

 It also features the longest car in the World, complete with helipad and helicopter:

I particluarly like the fastest bathroom including Edd China, dirty washing and rubber duckies: 

and also this VW Scirocco which hasn't won the "most boring" title (I can think of many candidates for that category - Japan and Korea I'm looking at you) but has won the most powered by coffee category - a Sciroccocino if you will.

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?