James May's Cars of the People

[ajprice]

Yep. Good programme, and I have to admit that I'd never heard of or seen a Wartburg before, original American looking car or the later plain one.

[Laurel Green]

nicanary said:

Pedantry - May started Lingotto anti-clockwise, and ended it clockwise. Or am I going mad?

I guess it was easier to turn the car around rather than repositioning the cameras.

Podie said:

Shame it was cheapened with the "stunt" of dropping the Lada.

Yup. Was rather hoping they would not stoop to that level of 'entertainment'. Other than that, a very well put together programme.

[nickwilcock]

Not a bad programme (but if you're going to speak German, May, at least learn the pronunciation!) - but the puerile stunt of dropping the Lada was pointless and dumbed the programme down to yoof-level.

[MG511]

Really enjoyed it, watched it with my 10 year daughter who sat and watched the whole thing, unusual for her, a good history lesson. The Lada stunt at the end made me cringe, not in keeping with the rest of the programme.

[Fishtigua]

I worked in an East German warship yard, just after the wall came down, in Peenemunde.

It's true that they nicked your undies for the dogs to follow. The nice bit was turning up to work and having the Stazi and KGB checking our cars at the entry gate.
A Merc S600 and an Audi A8. I don't think the Wartborgs would keep up with them.

[MitchT]

Great programme. How much do I want a Fiat 500 right now? Sadly I'm nowhere near cool enough to look right in one.

[surveyor]

Enjoyed it, as did my daughter. Bit confused by the car destroying....

[Beati Dogu]

Good programme. That Lada plant was bloody massive. Again, shame about the Top Gear ending.

I always thought the Skoda was the best of the commie cars. There's a Skoda dealership in the village in North Yorkshire I used to live in and their rally team would base themselves there for part of the RAC rally.

226bhp said:

Very good, is it on next week?

Yes, it's a 3-parter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0467lv5

[Eagerbeaver]

MG511 said:

Really enjoyed it, watched it with my 10 year daughter who sat and watched the whole thing, unusual for her, a good history lesson. The Lada stunt at the end made me cringe, not in keeping with the rest of the programme.

Very entertaining. I had high hopes and it was even better than expected but as a history lesson, about on par with Blackadder.

[Bradgate]

ajprice said:

Yep. Good programme, and I have to admit that I'd never heard of or seen a Wartburg before, original American looking car or the later plain one.

Wartburgs were sold in Britain in the 1970's. A mate of my Dad's had one. It was a sort of dirty beige colour, and sounded like a lawn mower. But he bought it new, which gave him major bragging rights.

Ladas and Polski Fiats, aka FSOs were popular cars in Derbyshire in the 1980s. They were seen as a new alternative to a used Escort or Astra, in much the same way as Dacias are today. They allowed ordinary working-class families to afford a brand new car for the first and perhaps only time in their lives, and they were owned with great pride.

Edited by Bradgate on Monday 11th August 00:11

[otolith]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Agreed. Plus he looks like a tramp. Ffs, you're on national TV man, get your hair cut, run a comb thru it and iron your shirt.

I'm not asking for much, just a bit a effort in return for a pretty decent salary.

I suspect that look is carefully crafted by team of hair/makeup/wardrobe people.

[coppice]

James May really needs to decide whether he is going to be a quirky national treasure or a superannuated teenager. Good in parts but FFS why the kiddy TG stuff ; crass and pointless. He also sailed very close to the wind in the jokey style of the Nazi element of the programme

[berlintaxi]

nickwilcock said:

Not a bad programme (but if you're going to speak German, May, at least learn the pronunciation!)

On occasions he seemed to struggle with the correct pronunciation in English.

[Truckosaurus]

I'd also agree that the destroying of the Lada seemed at odds to the rest of the show. Almost as is they filmed it first and were going to have a whole show mocking the 'commie cars' but then decided to celebrate them but couldn't throw away costly footage of the stunt.

I suspect the supercars episode will be all about how rubbish people's bedroom wall poster cars actual are by modern standards.

[Vocal Minority]

Echo everyone else on here. Great show, marred slightly by incongruous lada stunt

[TwigtheWonderkid]

otolith said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Agreed. Plus he looks like a tramp. Ffs, you're on national TV man, get your hair cut, run a comb thru it and iron your shirt.

I'm not asking for much, just a bit a effort in return for a pretty decent salary.

I suspect that look is carefully crafted by team of hair/makeup/wardrobe people.

You could be right. Personally I think it's a shame, as it was a very good programme, but his appearance just detracts from it.

When talking about the paint finish on the Lada, "Honda weren't having any crisis meetings" made me laugh out loud.

[JonRB]

Truckosaurus said:

I suspect the supercars episode will be all about how rubbish people's bedroom wall poster cars actual are by modern standards.

You could be right there. Especially in the case of the Countach.

[Pesty]

JonRB said:

Truckosaurus said:

I suspect the supercars episode will be all about how rubbish people's bedroom wall poster cars actual are by modern standards.

You could be right there. Especially in the case of the Countach.

Hope not. Been done too many times.

[Kitchski]

Good program, enjoyed it a lot. Only down side was the cheapening/Clarksonising at the end by smashing the Riva up. Yes, we know it's st. We get it. We're not 6.

Otherwise, spot on!

[vixen1700]

Good programme. Looking forward to the next two.