James May's Cars of the People
Discussion
I agree on the Company Car sub culture idea, it was worthy of a programme to itself. Anyone who had a CC in the 80s / 90s would recognize the situation. I'm in construction and we also had the L/ GL / Ghia hierarchy- all Fords, with management levels differentiated with models-Escort /Orion, Sierra, Granada etc. It was a significant day if you got to borrow the bosses 2.0 Sierra Ghia (... shudder)if your car was in for service 
I remember the day the first Mondeo on the fleet turned up in the car park too. Happy days (... I think!).
I remember the day the first Mondeo on the fleet turned up in the car park too. Happy days (... I think!). nick_mcuk said:
Simes205 said:
There's a build thread in this forum on that 205gti.
There sure is 
She has also graced a couple of Sunday Services too....I really need to start driving her more, she does more miles being transported about by Peugeot UK/BBC than me driving her this year!
bingybongy said:
DSLiverpool said:
Bit of trivia but anyone know how the cortina crusader was named and specified ?
Something to do with Express newspapers?retrorider said:
Clarkson's car years was a much better series imho.
I was thinking that all the way through this episode - essentially the same series, just brought a bit more up to date. I still enjoyed it though, and weirdly, I didn't hate the rep race or Countach reversing gags - they have to appeal to the ten year old viewer after all.
Bit of trivia but anyone know how the cortina crusader was named and specified ?
I actually just remember the Crusader coming out when I was 5! It was all part of a Daily Express promotion and readers were invited to help decide the spec of the car. It was a fairly clever marketing campaign back then. Ultimately though, the Crusader was basically a Ghia with 2 tone paintwork. The car cost £5160 and it came with the crushed velour and wood door cappings of the Ghia, some brightwork around the wheel rims, remote door mirrors, door bins, map pockets, anti-dazzle rear view mirror and twin speed wipers! It was the most popular special edition Cortina ever and is highly sought after today. One with about 12,000 miles and 1 owner from new made about £10k on eBay a few years ago.
The whole company car culture of the 80s & 90s deserves a show of it's own - ideally with actual company drivers from that era providing most of the screen time. I re-watched that infamous 'crying over a Maestro' documentary last night and it was just as entertaining as I remembered. In fact, I wonder if Ricky Gervais watched it as many of the contributors reminded me of David Brent, except they were a lot funnier! There were so many great lines - like the guy who took the 200E badge of his K-reg Merc and said he used the phone to "issue instructions" and how if he had paperwork to do, he'd "book a hotel room as I wouldn't be seen doing paperwork in this car, that's for reps!" I'd imagine his employer and wife would have different ideas though if they saw his hotel receipts! I can't imagine anyone booking a hotel room to do a bit of paperwork! He was revving that 200E like mad, it reminded me how disappointed I was when I first got a first generation 1995 C180 many years ago, you had to drive like Tiff Needell to get any performance out of the damn thing! I forgot quite how funny this programme was - the Maestro guy was great but the others were all equally amusing in their own way.
I remember as a kid if I saw a Jaguar XJ40 or BMW 5 or 7 series on the motorway I'd think I'd love to drive one of those when I'm older. But I can't honestly remember thinking wow, that guy has an Astra CD, what a top man! Oh look, that guy has an Astra 1.6L, what a loser! I don't think the general public would know the difference between an L and a CD at 20 paces. But I can totally imagine that colleagues would get very bitter and twisted if another colleague he or she didn't rate had a better car! It was also a nightmare at school in the 80s - if someone's mum had a slightly better spec Metro or their Dad had a better spec Sierra it was a minor disaster! It's just funny how in those days something like an analogue clock made the difference between a City and a City X. And an electric sunroof was something that dreams were made of!
That Maestro guy show was great though, it says so much about human nature and how people were still extremely competitive way before the internet age. Personally speaking, if I'm happy with the car I've got I can't say I'm too bothered if someone else has a better one. But I can imagine how the company car rivalry must have got under people's skin if they were working in that environment. You can't show strangers photos of your house, wife and salary everywhere but your car instantly says a lot about you. In saying that, I guess these days you can actually show strangers photos of your house, wife and a big clue to your salary on Facebook! If you are on it!
Back in the 80s, doubling the value of the company car often worked well as a guide to salary - the rep in the £8k Sierra 1.6L earned about £16k! The manager in the £15k Granada 2.0i Ghia was on £30k and the boss in the £35k Jaguar Sovereign 3.6 was on £70k. But these days, I would imagine it's a lot different. I know quite a few loaded people who drive rubbish cars and a few relatively poor people who buy 3 or 4 year old high BMWs at bargain prices. That said though, if you see someone with a Lex Autolease type number plate and the car is a BMW, Mercedes or Audi less than 3 years old I'd imagine he or she has a pretty well paid job!
I must admit I'm glad I'm not into the whole company car culture but my Dad was in the 80s and was totally gutted to receive a 2.3 litre Sierra Diesel. I remember him changing down to 3rd to overtake a lorry and nothing happened! That Sierra Diesel was probably the most dangerous car of the 80s as it had absolutely no power whatsoever to pull out of junctions. Although many things are worse today than they used to be, at least even the most basic of today's cars have a fair turn of speed and necessities like air conditioning, power steering, ABS and a half decent sound system.
I actually just remember the Crusader coming out when I was 5! It was all part of a Daily Express promotion and readers were invited to help decide the spec of the car. It was a fairly clever marketing campaign back then. Ultimately though, the Crusader was basically a Ghia with 2 tone paintwork. The car cost £5160 and it came with the crushed velour and wood door cappings of the Ghia, some brightwork around the wheel rims, remote door mirrors, door bins, map pockets, anti-dazzle rear view mirror and twin speed wipers! It was the most popular special edition Cortina ever and is highly sought after today. One with about 12,000 miles and 1 owner from new made about £10k on eBay a few years ago.
The whole company car culture of the 80s & 90s deserves a show of it's own - ideally with actual company drivers from that era providing most of the screen time. I re-watched that infamous 'crying over a Maestro' documentary last night and it was just as entertaining as I remembered. In fact, I wonder if Ricky Gervais watched it as many of the contributors reminded me of David Brent, except they were a lot funnier! There were so many great lines - like the guy who took the 200E badge of his K-reg Merc and said he used the phone to "issue instructions" and how if he had paperwork to do, he'd "book a hotel room as I wouldn't be seen doing paperwork in this car, that's for reps!" I'd imagine his employer and wife would have different ideas though if they saw his hotel receipts! I can't imagine anyone booking a hotel room to do a bit of paperwork! He was revving that 200E like mad, it reminded me how disappointed I was when I first got a first generation 1995 C180 many years ago, you had to drive like Tiff Needell to get any performance out of the damn thing! I forgot quite how funny this programme was - the Maestro guy was great but the others were all equally amusing in their own way.
I remember as a kid if I saw a Jaguar XJ40 or BMW 5 or 7 series on the motorway I'd think I'd love to drive one of those when I'm older. But I can't honestly remember thinking wow, that guy has an Astra CD, what a top man! Oh look, that guy has an Astra 1.6L, what a loser! I don't think the general public would know the difference between an L and a CD at 20 paces. But I can totally imagine that colleagues would get very bitter and twisted if another colleague he or she didn't rate had a better car! It was also a nightmare at school in the 80s - if someone's mum had a slightly better spec Metro or their Dad had a better spec Sierra it was a minor disaster! It's just funny how in those days something like an analogue clock made the difference between a City and a City X. And an electric sunroof was something that dreams were made of!
That Maestro guy show was great though, it says so much about human nature and how people were still extremely competitive way before the internet age. Personally speaking, if I'm happy with the car I've got I can't say I'm too bothered if someone else has a better one. But I can imagine how the company car rivalry must have got under people's skin if they were working in that environment. You can't show strangers photos of your house, wife and salary everywhere but your car instantly says a lot about you. In saying that, I guess these days you can actually show strangers photos of your house, wife and a big clue to your salary on Facebook! If you are on it!
Back in the 80s, doubling the value of the company car often worked well as a guide to salary - the rep in the £8k Sierra 1.6L earned about £16k! The manager in the £15k Granada 2.0i Ghia was on £30k and the boss in the £35k Jaguar Sovereign 3.6 was on £70k. But these days, I would imagine it's a lot different. I know quite a few loaded people who drive rubbish cars and a few relatively poor people who buy 3 or 4 year old high BMWs at bargain prices. That said though, if you see someone with a Lex Autolease type number plate and the car is a BMW, Mercedes or Audi less than 3 years old I'd imagine he or she has a pretty well paid job!
I must admit I'm glad I'm not into the whole company car culture but my Dad was in the 80s and was totally gutted to receive a 2.3 litre Sierra Diesel. I remember him changing down to 3rd to overtake a lorry and nothing happened! That Sierra Diesel was probably the most dangerous car of the 80s as it had absolutely no power whatsoever to pull out of junctions. Although many things are worse today than they used to be, at least even the most basic of today's cars have a fair turn of speed and necessities like air conditioning, power steering, ABS and a half decent sound system.
KTF said:
How convenient, they went down a closed road by complete accident with the Disco camera car in front of them filming the whole thing.
Why do they bother with the staged stuff? It doesnt need it.
Are you the only person in the world who thinks that TV programmes like this involve sending out the presenter and just filming what seeing what happens ? of bloody course it's staged and scripted... Virtually nothing you see is by accident.Why do they bother with the staged stuff? It doesnt need it.
williamp said:
DSLiverpool said:
A young me was impressed that you could buy a Capri GT XLR 3.0 - more model designation letters than ever seen since I think
Didnt ford do a car with something like this on the back: ford granada scorpio v6 2.8i 24vThe original company car documentary of which clips were shown is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsMFQZa8os
carl_w said:
The original company car documentary of which clips were shown is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsMFQZa8os
Good spot will give that a watch 
I'm sure there was also something similar about 7-8 years ago on BBC2, it was a 3 - episode special and backed onto top gear. Anyone remember it?
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