REO Speed Wagon

REO Speedwagon the band are named after REO Speedwagon the fire engine - and other truck-based vehicles.  It was manufactured by the REO Motor Car Company and the REO is pronounced "Rio" despite standing for its founder R.E.Olds and despite the band pronouncing it "Oreo" if I remember correctly.

Thank you Wikipedia.

Anyway, they became defunct in 1967.

Also thank you Wikipedia. (for the information that is, not for them going defunct in 1967)

Well, REO are back in the news today.

Or at least a reincarnation of the company is.  Car+Driver have the story here.

And  Frank Stephenson, star of my post last year and also designer of the McLaren P1 will be doing the styling.

Most start-ups seem to fail in the automotive industry.  Top Gear Magazine, as well as featuring Frank Stephenson every month, also feature a failed start-up every month.

Let's hope for Frank's sake - he only appears the once in future editions.

Where is the year going?

I'm noticing that it's actually light when I'm driving home from work.

And according to the contents page of the Top Gear Magazine that came this week - IT'S APRIL!

Hang on a mo'!

Now I know that Top Gear Magazine tends to be ahead of the time in terms of editions - it's so that they can fit a thirteenth "Awards" edition into the calendar year.

But April!?

So I checked on the one that came last month.

It only feels like four weeks between them.  Have they not delivered the March one and I've not noticed?

This month it was Number 405 - we are into Peugeot saloon territory.  So what was the one I got last month?

So a bit of a cock-up in the editorial department. Sack the proof-reader.

And Happy Easter!

Classic!

This weekend just gone I visited the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at The NEC in Birmingham.

What did I think?

Well, since you ask, I'll tell you.

The free show guide was most excellent - even came in its own carrier bag!

I got close to Mike Brewer and Tiff Needell which was nice.

And to Will & Gus from Flipping Bangers and to a couple of my favourite YouTubers.

And to Frank Stephenson - apparently pronounced Steffanson - not to be confused with Steph Fromidriveaclassic - one of the aforementioned YouTubers.  I didn't realise until he started talking that I actually knew who he was - in as much as he has a regular column in Top Gear Magazine critiquing modern car designs.  He revealed some secrets about his design work on the Mini One - check out how the exhaust pipe is the same as a Budweiser can.

There were loads of Triumph Dolomites there:

BUT THEY WERE ALL SPRINTS!

Some of us owned 1500HL Dolomites.  They did have a few Triumph 1300s and a 1500 too though.

They also had some famous cars like The Sweeney Granada:

The Saint's Volvo:

And Richard Hammond's Oliver:

They had an F40:

And also whatever this is:

The food was crap - and overpriced - but that's the fault of the NEC - should have used the various vans there.

Loved the day - would recommend it to any petrol-head - and even non-petrol-heads - the two I went with enjoyed it too.

It was classic.

The Emperor's new Clothes

Rather depressing news this week.

Autocar have it here.

The Ford Puma, which isn't a real Ford Puma like this one:

...remains top of the UK's top selling cars list.

Like 8 out of the top 10, it is a crossover SUV.  

Obviously being bought in large numbers by people who are not particularly interested in cars or driving.  Only the Corsa and Golf remain in the list representing proper cars.

You can't really blame them, they will be looking for decent value cars that meet their requirements and if the dealerships only have crossovers in the showrooms then people will buy those.  And the dealers only tend to be showing crossovers because manufacturers are concentrating on producing them.  And manufacturers are only producing them because they are selling in big numbers.

And now we're stuck in a depressing spiral.

Interestingly, (slightly) none of the top ten are specifically electric cars - although some are available as electric variants.

Meanwhile, in the Driven section of the latest Top Gear Magazine, where they review new cars to market, 9 out of 12 of the cars reviewed are electric (including an electric Puma) but only 6 are definitely cross-overs (including an electric Puma).  A couple it's difficult to tell...

What about this?

Yes that is a cross-over but is it much taller than this?

I've decided that that one is not a cross-over.

I think cross-overs are getting shorter in height so maybe manufacturers have noticed that, although profitable, they are not very good.

So, based on what's coming - there is a glimmer of hope - but it depends on your idea of what a cross-over actually is.

Another End of The World

And yet another Tesla story and also another Tom Ford car review story.

This time he is reviewing the new Tesla Model Y - the one with a real indicator stalk.

He looks a bit menacing actually...

And yet he seems to be a really nice bloke - I'd like to go for a pint with him and talk cars.

Similarly Lars Moravy.

Who?

Vice president, vehicle engineering at Tesla - Tom interviews him about the new Y in the latest video on the Top Gear Magazine YouTube channel.

But some of the things he says are bit menacing.

Early on we get, "When you sell 1.2 million cars worldwide" casually slipped in to the conversation and "You don't want to break the recipe"  Which is more show-offy than menacing and, to be fair, he was also talking about how the replacement Y had a lot more to live up to than, for example, the Cybertruck.

Lars may end up in trouble if it doesn't emulate its predecessor's success so he must be at least a little concerned about falling Tesla sales which must be at least partly down to his boss - a common new nickname for their vehicles, at least on the socials, is Swastikar.  Also Wankpanzer but I don't understand the pun there - especially as "wank" isn't a generally used US term.

Which is why they didn't find "Wang Care" funny.

Lars described the Y as a "world car" - I suppose it is - it is the top selling car in the World and sold all over the World - I doubt if the previous "World Car" ever managed that.

He said that he felt "so separated from everyone around me when I'm driving" which is also not menacing but but just rather disappointing.

But then he is driving an SUV cross-over.

The bit that menaced me was, "Automony in the US is huge - it's coming here in a few months." - it sounded like the sort of thing that Trump makes up on the spot.  Except, unlike Trump, Morovy is a clever man.  With connections.  What does he know?

He also said, "as we get closer and closer to unsupervised in the US..."

I presume he was talking about self-driving technologies rather than general life.

Wasn't he?

Is he an Igor to Musk's Dr.Frankenstein?

Or maybe just a minion to Musks Gru?

Shark Infested

The new new Top Gear Magazine (which I'm still not overly sure about) has a section called "Vapourware Files" which pays tribute to the many new cars announced by new car companies that never actually reach fruition.

I wonder if this is going to be featured in a future edition.

It's by Mika.

No, not the bloke who sang about Grace Kelly and the Bells Ending, pictured here with a Mini he's vandalised.

The "car" in the top picture is by Warwickshire based car company Mika - this Autocar story tells you more.

But in that particular hue, it looks like a shark.

Not a BYD Shark - that looks like a Ford F150.

And from the rear view, it looks worse.

The article makes a big play of the enveloping frame formed from "composite pultrusions" which "form an extremely rigid survival cell for occupants in the Mika"

I'm not sure if it is these that make the car look like an Alfa Romeo SZ that has been rear-ended.

Maybe that's the safety angle they will be going for - the probability of a car being in TWO serious accidents is extremely low.

They've taken the shine off Top Gear Magazine.

It's June 1st!  This means that the July issue of Top Gear Magazine has appeared in my porch.

I knew it was going to be different.  In the June edition, the regular columnists, Andy Franklin, Paul Horrell and Sam Philip pointed out that they were doing their last columns for the magazine.  They haven't been sacked or anything, but recently appointed editor-in-chief Jack Rix has decided that it is time to stamp his own style on the publication and shift a few things around - although he chooses not to mention it in his regular introduction piece.

Columnists in the past have often been the Top Gear TV presenters - notably, at it's peak, Clarkson, Hammond & May. And, more recently Chris Harris - but never Flintoff or McGuinness - maybe because THEY ARE NOT MOTORING JOURNALISTS!

Clarkson, Hammond & May were columnising back in 2010 when I last reported on a revamp of the mag.  That coincided with the recently outgone editor-in-chief first taking over.  The magazine has evolved in those 14 years and we have now lost a couple of features that I really liked such as Mark Riccioni's monthly bemoaning of his fleet of vehicles and the monthly history of a different car manufacturer (although last month the manufacturer was Lego)

The new columnists are Mike Channell (Radio Active anyone?) who I fear is going to be talking about gaming every month, Jethro Bovington who they have been trying to get us used to for a while now and Natalie Pinkham who I fear is going to be talking about F1 every month.

Oh yes, and she's a woman.

Going back to 2010, the magazine was printed on glossy paper.  Magazines in general used to be referred to as "the glossies."

You can't call them that now because most of them aren't.  Cost cutting.  Top Gear lost its glossiness many years ago but at least the front and back covers were still glossy.

Until today.  Look how dull and lifeless it looks in my photo.

It's lost its shine - inside and out?

In 2010 I asked and answered these questions...

So, is it a change for the worse?

No.

Is it a change for the better?

Dunno.

Is it change for change's sake?

Maybe.

Can you spare some change?

Go away.

Today I say...

So, is it a change for the worse?

Maybe.

Is it a change for the better?

Not so far.

Is it change for change's sake?

Maybe.

Can you spare some change?

Go away.

Hmmm.

Question Time

But that isn't Question Time!

No, that isn't the right-leaning political show - that is actually A Question of Sport.

But last time I actually mentioned Question Time, I titled it "A Question of Sport" so this makes up for it.

Anyway, the question Paddy McGuinness must be asking himself is, "What have I done to upset the BBC?"

After several years of being given (inappropriately) lots of TV shows that he really shouldn't be fronting, first Top Gear gets canned and now A Question of Sport has gone the same way.

As I have previously stated, I DO LIKE PADDY McGUINNESS!

But not for Top Gear.  And I know the Question of Sport fans preferred Sue Barker - a UK tour of that team drew in the crowds after they were booted off showing that the BBC sometimes make daft decisions - I refer you back to my 2018 Post M'Lud.

The BBC needs to be careful - I mentioned earlier this month that YouTube is now my main source of motoring information, education and entertainment - Lord Reith should be spinning in his grave.

I am actually subscribed to 14 motoring YouTube channels (15 if you include Dominic Chinea)

There are the three I really like who specialise in driving old cars with bits of maintenance jobs and other interesting stuff interspersed:

• Hub Nut - the nerdy one
• Idriveaclassic - the woman one
• Twin Cam - the young one

My highlight of the week is Dennis Collins' Coffee Walk on a Friday which also usually involves food and there is his Dallas-based neighbour Gas Monkey Garage.  The other American ones are:

• Jay Leno's Garage
• TFL Classics

There are the electric ones:

• Electric Classic Cars - the Welsh one
• The Fully Charged Show - the Kryten one

There is Top Gear which is a good addition to Top Gear Magazine although I actually prefer reading their stuff but it is nice to hear the voices of their journalists.  And if you want Clarkson, May & Hammond there is DriveTribe - mostly Hammond these days.

The Late Brake Show is Jonny Smith's vehicle (if you'll pardon the pun) - very entertaining, especially his barn find episodes.

Great British Car Journey is these people - and they have added Sarah Crabtree.

And finally, there is Edd China - who I'm actually a bit worried about.  He was the highlight of my week for a very long time but hasn't posted anything new in ages.

So there you go - and here I go.

To catch up on some YouTube.

Genesis Line-Up

I'm more of the Phil Collins time than the Peter Gabriel.

I always think of Collins as a Tory sell-out.  He said he'd leave the country if Labour got in.

Rock and Roll, Phil.

But of course, this is a car blog so I am talking about Genesis the car brand.  They have entered the UK market and their line-up is here.  The G80 is featured in this month's Top Gear magazine - it gets 7 out of 10.

Genesis is the upmarket Hyundai brand.

Like Acura is Honda's, Lexus is Toyota's and Infiniti is Nissan's.

Acura never came to the UK, Lexus is very successful while Infiniti tried but gave up last year.  If they had hung on a bit longer, they could have revelled in Ash Sutton's astonishing success in the BTCC in one of their cars - and maybe sold a few more.

Car+Driver have a story about the new all-electric Genesis GV60 coming to America:

It has a fancy gear-knob described as, "an illuminated 'crystal sphere'"

Being a Korean company selling to America, they won't realise that that choice of car colour makes it look like a Citroen Cactus:

That's All.

Four Play

Autocar are playing with what the new Renault 4 will look like.

I have to say I was quite excited when i saw what the new Renault 5 is looking like - so were Top Gear Magazine - you'll have to buy the February edition to read the article:

Anyway, Renault are planning a retro-style electric vehicle called The Renault 5 which is an obvious nod to the old Renault 5.

They are starting with:

and coming up with:

Which, let's face it, is pretty cool.

There was also speculation that the same thing was going to happen with the Renault 4.

Now, that is a much uglier starting point:

A horrible, utilitarian 2CV rival.

Autocar got confirmation that it is going to happen and decided to produce their own rendering:

I'm afraid I just don't see it.  I could see that as the modern take on a Clio Williams but not a 4.

And let's be honest, we all know that the new 4 will be another bloody SUV.

Which is a shame, because if we are having a 21st Century Renault 4 then it has to be ugly and not an SUV - somebody I've never heard of called David Obendorfer did a perfectly good job of exactly that ten years ago - check out the pictures in this Carscoops story.

Much truer to the original - and hopefully available in brown.

Rouille en Paix

That's French for "Rust in Peace"

Google Translate says it is anyway - a Frenchman may disagree.

It's probably not a good idea to visit France at the moment, unless you don't mind a couple of weeks quarantine on your return.

Which means that you could be missing out on an unusual tourist attraction.

Last month's Top Gear Magazine plugged an interesting book entitled "Lost Wheels" by Dieter Klein.

"It all started in Cognac, in this French town in Nouvelle-Aquitane, at the edge of a small village close by, I fell in love with Rosalie"

I think that is a better opening line than "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and certainly better than "Call me Ishmael."

Especially when you find out that Rosalie is an abandoned Citroën delivery truck.  The book is full of beautifully photographed abandoned cars and other vehicles.

So why am I bringing this up now?

I'll tell you.

Autocar today have an interesting article by American-based-in-France-with-an-Irish-first-name Ronan Glon which involves abandoned cars in France.

Some are old:

Apparently that is a Renault Monaquatre from the early '30s.  It would have looked like this:

Some are unrecognisable:

Believe it or not, that is a Renault Fuego.

 

What I like about this article is that Ronan and his researchers have tried to find out about the specific cars and vans - checking out number plates, VIN plates and even door hinges in one case to identify a Peugeot.

 

Some are surprising, like this Celica:

That Toyota is probably my favourite but this Renault 4 inspired Ronan so much that they have bought it:

It's a shame that some of these cars have ended up in this state - some have been stolen and stripped for parts - some just parked and forgotten about.  Some were used to build a dam - which didn't last very long.

A bit of a beautiful mess.

Talking of messes, our Government is insisting that the schools will reopen in September.  They may have a bit of a problem now:
You do realise we're all in France? say teachers (satire - but only just)

A Legend?

Don't think style-conscious Barney Stinson would be impressed with the Mulholland Legend 480.

 

The latest Top Gear Magazine plopped through my letterbox this morning and, as with all other issues of it recently, around about page 19, they do a "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" feature on some car that has featured on their Website.  Here is the link to this month's choice.

 

Normally, I think it is a bit unfair that that you only have one positive element (The Good obviously) and two negative elements - The Bad and The Ugly.

 

But this month it looks like they have really struggled to find positive comments.

 

The car itself is the Mulholland Legend 480.  Nope.  You, me and Top Gear had never heard of them.  They are based in Derby and hoping to be the "true successor to TVR" although, since TVR themselves are trying to be the successor to TVR, there could be trouble ahead.

 

The rear view does have a sort of TVR-ish feel:

But the front view!

One commenter, who they put in the "Good" section because they were desperate said,

"Looks a bit Nissan-y"

 

I think it looks A LOT Nissan-y:

What do you think, Barney?

Bright and Dim

Bright is this advert in the Top Gear Magazine delivered to my house today.

What is bright about it is those headlamps really are lit up.  It uses the same technology you find in greetings cards that make noises when you open them.  I guess that the technology has become economical enough to insert into however many thousands of copies Top Gear Magazine produce in a run.

 

And what better a product than the Nissan Leaf to advertise using this technology?

 

Although I'm sure Elon Musk will be a bit miffed when he finds out.

 

Meanwhile, Dim is Donald Trump.  Here's the story, from CNN, about how he thought that the Japanese dropped bowling balls onto cars to test their safety. 

White House spokeswomble, Sarah Huckerbee Sanders than had to go on record to say he was only joking.

Sorry Sarah, but if you expect anyone of intelligence to believe that, then you re as stupid as The President.

Infernal Combustion Engine

The new Honda Civic looks pretty spectacular:

That is going by Editor-in-Chief of Top Gear Mag, Charlie Turner's, comment that "...our cover story, where the battle for the hot-hatch heartland continues with the arrival of the fifth-generation Civic Type-R"

 

Ah, of course - it's the Type-R - that explains the spoiler.

 

Or maybe, while us subscribers to this fine magazine get our own covers, maybe we should also get our own welcome message from Mr.Turner.

 

In case you're wondering, that's an Aston-Martin Valkyrie not a Honda Civic.

 

Meanwhile, on Page 20 of the mag, we learn that Volvo's high-performance division, Polestar, will now be exclusively building electric cars.  Which is a shame.  But it also fits in with the big Volvo news from last week - Carmaker Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from 2019.

 

They were actually quite clever with their wording there.

 

My own car for example has several electric motors - at least one in each door.

 

They got the headlines though.  It plans to launch five fully electric models between 2019 and 2021 and a range of hybrid models.  But it will still be manufacturing earlier models that have only combustion engines.  And those hybrids will still have some carbon being ignited - so it is nothing more than an indication of the direction that the car industry is moving in.

 

Further illustrated by the story a day later that France is set to ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040.  No indication of what happens to internally combustion engined cars bought in France in December 2039 though - or those bought over the national borders that may get driven in to France.

 

I suppose they still have 22 and a half years to fine-tune the rules...

 

...and to come to some sort of agreement in Paris.  Probably not involving this foolish fossil...

who may well be personally adding to the world's fossil fuel stocks by then.

Happy New Yorker!

 

See what I did there?

A Chrysler-related seasonal greeting.

Like my Christmas post?

Oh never mind.

Anyway it is now 2016.

And last week I received my February 2016 copy of Top Gear Magazine.

In December 2015!

I did notice that the one they delivered in November was the January 2016 edition - every other year it would have been the Awards issue - making it 13 in a year and keeping it roughly close to the correct month for the edition.

So are they ripping us off?  The subscriptions page still talks about buying 13 issues.  I buy mine using Tesco Clubcard vouchers so I suppose I wouldn't really notice.

I do miss the Clarkson, May & Hammond columns - there's no sign of a Chris Evans one yet.  They did have an extract and an offer on his book last month but that doesn't count.

Of course, talking Evans and 2016, the big event this year will be the new series of Top Gear Telly.  Let's see if it's any good and if we can have a Happy New Yorker Year.

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.

Prior Warning

I read Matt Prior's latest article today.

No, not Matt Prior the mentor and very good friend of Kevin Pietersen:





I'm talking Matt Prior the Autocar writer:

He is basically talking here about how it is important that car reviewers don't get freebies or payments or little extra jobs from car manufacturers.  It looks like a dig at other car magazines - he specifically points to "one US car magazine is actually presenting a TV car advert" - I'm guessing he is talking about Car+Driver who do sometimes feature car ads - but only to comment on the ad or show a particularly good one but I've never seen one and thought that they were endorsing the car in question.

I got the feeing that Mr.P is trying to say how wonderful Autocar is compared with the competition.  Understandable given that he works for them.  I hope it isn't an indication that the magazine is struggling though.  If they are, I am not exactly helping because I only read their articles online.  The only Car mag I purchase is Top Gear and I don't pay full price for that thanks to my Tesco Clubcard points.

I then looked back at some other Matt Prior articles.  Back in February, he was saying "why the Autocar road test is so important."  He is extolling the wonderfulness of his magazine for finding a potentially fatal braking problem with the Suzuki Celerio they were testing.  It caused the car to be taken off sale while it was sorted out.

At this point I should point out that Celerio is a stupid name for a car.  It sounds too much like celery or celeriac - which I believe is related to the turnip.

The other Prior article which caught my eye was this one.  Probably because of the picture they chose to illustrate it:

 

Ironically enough,  it is a short article about the use of glamourous women at The Geneva Motor Show (and all other motor shows) that Matty P had recently attended.  He plays the feminist card - and gets a lively little debate going in his comments section.

At this point, I decided to see if I could find any suitably sexist material in Autocar.  I can't speak for the physical magazine (because I haven't bought one in many years) but online they look very clean.  Best I could find was from 1973:

 

So then I decided to look up the 2015 Geneva Motor Show in Google Images - and I found hardly any glamourous females adorning the cars.  The few women that did show up there had two things in common:  "Autoevolution" written across the photo; and virtually no way of identifying the car.

I think I'll use this photo when I advertise this posting on my Facebook page.

Autoevolution, incidentally is autoevolution.com, a Bulgarian based car site that I delve into from time to time - they tend to have lots of stories, sometimes interesting, sometimes trashy.  I can guess which way their Geneva 2015 coverage went.

Are they competition for Autocar?

I hope not - but I suspect so.  Let's see if Matt Prior can knock them for six.