James May's Cars of the People
Discussion
Hmmmmm
Enjoyable, but........
Rep Race - padding - cavalier calibre v a Sierra XR4x4 - lol
That Capri was a s
t box - the rust on the front bonnet!
Cavalier mentioned in the same breath as a Cortina 'E'
Fairly certain these badge designations never rubbed shoulders?
It was all L's, GL's etc by the time the MK2 Cavalier came out on the X plates, the first Sierra on the Y's the year after. I remember my dad having a brown A plate Sierra L as a pool car for a while - had the early wing mirrors which were soon replaced.
I also have memories of him test driving a run out model cortina crusader, before he went for a Volvo 340 GL!!
Badge snobbery!! I had a fight with my best friend in 4th year juniors after my dad changed jobs and bagged a brand new cavalier CD on a C plate. Proper trumped his dads 1.6 L on a B (both facelift cars though). He didn't like that very much!
The Carlton CD that followed on an F was a proper piece of kit - drag coefficient of .32
. The 5 series that came on the J was his pride and joy (after which followed a string of big Volvo's which has continued to this day. I remember the old man almost pushing the button on a new 535i SE, but instead opting for a 960 CD cos he liked the seats. At that point our interest in cars went their separate ways.....
Enjoyable, but........
Rep Race - padding - cavalier calibre v a Sierra XR4x4 - lol
That Capri was a s
t box - the rust on the front bonnet!Cavalier mentioned in the same breath as a Cortina 'E'
Fairly certain these badge designations never rubbed shoulders?
It was all L's, GL's etc by the time the MK2 Cavalier came out on the X plates, the first Sierra on the Y's the year after. I remember my dad having a brown A plate Sierra L as a pool car for a while - had the early wing mirrors which were soon replaced.
I also have memories of him test driving a run out model cortina crusader, before he went for a Volvo 340 GL!!
Badge snobbery!! I had a fight with my best friend in 4th year juniors after my dad changed jobs and bagged a brand new cavalier CD on a C plate. Proper trumped his dads 1.6 L on a B (both facelift cars though). He didn't like that very much!
The Carlton CD that followed on an F was a proper piece of kit - drag coefficient of .32
. The 5 series that came on the J was his pride and joy (after which followed a string of big Volvo's which has continued to this day. I remember the old man almost pushing the button on a new 535i SE, but instead opting for a 960 CD cos he liked the seats. At that point our interest in cars went their separate ways.....hal3210 said:
It also jangled that he said he was p*ssed off twice, I thought he was lucky to be fronting the show.
It's a reference to a news reporter : this one : http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediaplayer.php?id...Edited by marshalla on Monday 25th August 06:47
hal3210 said:
The whole programme seemed a complete shambles to me. The time dragged horrendously and so many things jangled with me - why play the Minder theme music for several minutes during a piece about the Silver Shadow? We all know the legendary Arthur Daley is synonymous with the Jaguar XJ / Daimler. Okay, Arthur actually drove a ghastly yellow Shadow 2 in the 1988 Christmas Special but I very much doubt that May or his researchers knew this! Maybe the Minder music was actually intended for the piece on the white Terry McCann style Capri but was played 5 minutes too early! I was expecting a reference to The Professionals when the Capri was featured too! And, as previously mentioned here, the old chestnut of a Countach being a pain to drive has been done to death by him and JC before.
Being a real train spotter here but wasn't the Big Bumper Golf GTI actually introduced in 1990? May was talking about the Golf from the 80s when driving a facelift 1990 onwards model car! It seems strange to me that he's always knocking the Germans yet cheerfully drives past a broken down MGB with steam gushing from under the bonnet in a Japanese car (the car that basically nicked the whole concept of the MGB from the MGB!)
I thought May was a bit arrogant with those fleet managers - they clearly remembered the days when L and GL made the world of difference to reps and a Maestro as a company car could make a grown man cry! I got the impression May didn't really comprehend that culture at all. It also jangled that he said he was p*ssed off twice, I thought he was lucky to be fronting the show. That nonsense with photocopiers was rubbish and a complete time waster, I only hope those guys didn't get toner on the seats of those very rare Sierras and Cavaliers. The Cavalier Calibre was seriously rare when new so I doubt more than a handful exist now.
Anyway, the only great thing about the programme was that it reminded me of the 1994 series from A to B which featured highly amusing footage of company car drives - my favourite (that still sticks in the mind 20 years later) was the Maestro driver who cried when he got it as a company car and he actually took his tie off when entering motorway service cafes as he didn't want anyone else to realise he was a salesman! That show was a great insight into the culture and I'll definitely watch it again on You Tube. I'm just glad May hasn't filmed anymore of his series.
I don't disagree with much of this but maybe I have different perspective on it. Being a real train spotter here but wasn't the Big Bumper Golf GTI actually introduced in 1990? May was talking about the Golf from the 80s when driving a facelift 1990 onwards model car! It seems strange to me that he's always knocking the Germans yet cheerfully drives past a broken down MGB with steam gushing from under the bonnet in a Japanese car (the car that basically nicked the whole concept of the MGB from the MGB!)
I thought May was a bit arrogant with those fleet managers - they clearly remembered the days when L and GL made the world of difference to reps and a Maestro as a company car could make a grown man cry! I got the impression May didn't really comprehend that culture at all. It also jangled that he said he was p*ssed off twice, I thought he was lucky to be fronting the show. That nonsense with photocopiers was rubbish and a complete time waster, I only hope those guys didn't get toner on the seats of those very rare Sierras and Cavaliers. The Cavalier Calibre was seriously rare when new so I doubt more than a handful exist now.
Anyway, the only great thing about the programme was that it reminded me of the 1994 series from A to B which featured highly amusing footage of company car drives - my favourite (that still sticks in the mind 20 years later) was the Maestro driver who cried when he got it as a company car and he actually took his tie off when entering motorway service cafes as he didn't want anyone else to realise he was a salesman! That show was a great insight into the culture and I'll definitely watch it again on You Tube. I'm just glad May hasn't filmed anymore of his series.
The Minder music was clearly a reference to Mr Daley as that model moved a prestigious marque to dodgy dealers. Any reference to the Professionals would have been doing matters beyond death, far more so than the excuse to get out in the Countach.
You must have missed him making the point that he realised he was driving the later Golf.
Clearly the photocopier bit was silly but programs like this have to appeal to people who live in joined up houses too as some of them pay their TV license as well.
Not sure if most realise that the engine in the back was a deliberate "gaff".
My view of these 3 programs is that they were wasted on the talents of James May. Episode 1 was OK but let's not pretend it was a history lesson please. Episode 2 was the weakest of the 3 and episode 3 was mildly interesting background noise.
My. Dads company cars were all Montego estates. New one every year. F,G,H,J... He even had one of the last on an 'M' reg.
Oddly because of the weight he needed th self levelling suepwniob which only came with fhe higher bands. So his company had to have these, and then paid fro them to be de-specc'd down to q lower trim level: cloth seats, removing wood door caps etc. a very odd and expensive way of snobbery
These days you'd just buy a BMW or Audi and then remove the badge so nobody knows its a 316
Oddly because of the weight he needed th self levelling suepwniob which only came with fhe higher bands. So his company had to have these, and then paid fro them to be de-specc'd down to q lower trim level: cloth seats, removing wood door caps etc. a very odd and expensive way of snobbery
These days you'd just buy a BMW or Audi and then remove the badge so nobody knows its a 316
williamp said:
Oddly because of the weight he needed th self levelling suepwniob which only came with fhe higher bands.
If using a tablet with auto-correct switched off is like driving a car with all the driver aids turned off, then I think you just left the road backwards and through a hedge with that post. 
Pistom said:
Not sure if most realise that the engine in the back was a deliberate "gaff".
You're right: it had to be deliberate, given that he was there driving the thing, with the engine noise coming from the front - but I couldn't see the point of, or the humour in, May making that comment.Pistom said:
My view of these 3 programs is that they were wasted on the talents of James May. Episode 1 was OK...
I agree: I thought the first one was very promising, but the other two just descended into copies of any typically crappy Top Gear episode, with their pointless races and wanton destruction. Very disappointing.Regarding the notorious documentary about repmobiles - the Maestro was a DIESEL no less. Back in the days before common-rail motors. No wonder he was p***ed-off.
My own company gave us the most poverty-spec models imaginable. "Starter" car was a Metro City (NOT the X) which didn't even have a parcel shelf.Next up was a Maestro City 1.3, and senior managers got a Cortina "Base" 1.6. I think these were only usually bought by fleets - I can't imagine why a private buyer would want one, they didn't even have hubcaps.
We were supposed to be grateful........
My own company gave us the most poverty-spec models imaginable. "Starter" car was a Metro City (NOT the X) which didn't even have a parcel shelf.Next up was a Maestro City 1.3, and senior managers got a Cortina "Base" 1.6. I think these were only usually bought by fleets - I can't imagine why a private buyer would want one, they didn't even have hubcaps.
We were supposed to be grateful........
FourWheelDrift said:
B.J.W said:
Cavalier mentioned in the same breath as a Cortina 'E'
Fairly certain these badge designations never rubbed shoulders?
I've checked and the Mk3 Cortina and Mk1 Cavalier overlapped by 12 months. Fairly certain these badge designations never rubbed shoulders?
I still remember getting my Dad to get the latest Vauxhall and Ford brochures when they came out - big thick bibles full of 80's imagery and comparing the spec sheets.
Was a 1.6 GL Mk 3 Cavalier a better prospect than a 2.0L?
Turns out the former, as this was the car one of the junior sales managers who worked for my dad opted for when there was a choice of both engine and spec. The Sales Managers were tooling around in Cavalier SRi's and 2.0 Sierra GLS/X's, though I do remember one of them opting for a 16v Astra GTE (which must have also been on the list).
I had a company car when I first graduated - the choice was a 1.8TD Mondeo LX in red, purple or white, a Daewoo (fleet had obviously done a deal.....), or a 306 LX HDi (but estate only?). I went for the Mondeo has it came with a CD player and front fogs.
Talking of having a Metro as a company car reminded me of a Metro in my street as a kid. The guy worked for Granada TV Rental. The car had a wood effect strip along the length of the car. This wood strip was removable and underneath was the company name! So when he was working the strip could be removed to display the name and for private mileage the strip could be put back in place. Seemed a bizarre set up. There wouldn't be many companies these days that would be happy to lose out on the free advertising that having a vehicle plastered with their name would bring.
Better than the last one, not as good as the first.
I actually thought the rep cars feature could have been a whole show, it a very interesting sub-set of 80's life that hasn't really been explored. That Vauxhall Calibre was fking horrible though. Glad I've never seen one in real life.
Hang on, fleet manager wielding power in a company, a selection of stereo-typical reps (the nice one, the brash one, the family man, the useless one.), the brash secretary and the normal secretary who the nice rep fancies....
Sitcom?
Don't agree with the Rolls Royce definition of a cool car. Its an unfortunate thing but as was pointed out slightly in the programme, it will now forever be tinted with the brush of Sir Jingle-Jangle and there is nothing more uncool than that. Shame because its a great looking thing. (colour dependant).
All in all, 7/10 for the programme but a 5/10 for the series.
And as he proved, the answer is always MX-5.
I actually thought the rep cars feature could have been a whole show, it a very interesting sub-set of 80's life that hasn't really been explored. That Vauxhall Calibre was f
king horrible though. Glad I've never seen one in real life. Hang on, fleet manager wielding power in a company, a selection of stereo-typical reps (the nice one, the brash one, the family man, the useless one.), the brash secretary and the normal secretary who the nice rep fancies....
Sitcom?
Don't agree with the Rolls Royce definition of a cool car. Its an unfortunate thing but as was pointed out slightly in the programme, it will now forever be tinted with the brush of Sir Jingle-Jangle and there is nothing more uncool than that. Shame because its a great looking thing. (colour dependant).
All in all, 7/10 for the programme but a 5/10 for the series.
And as he proved, the answer is always MX-5.
I've just watched it again because I have to confess I was rather drunk last night and don't remember half of it 
The "pissed off" comment at Rockingham was a reference to the very famous "Colin Baker for Thames news, Westminster, soaked with cold feet & an aching heart, married, several children, pissed off, really dreadfully pissed off." http://youtu.be/u3M-BS47UHQ
I thought the episode got better as it progressed, and his summing up at the end with the Golfs was pure James May and not at all Top Gear. It was, tellingly, the best bit for me.
The "pissed off" comment at Rockingham was a reference to the very famous "Colin Baker for Thames news, Westminster, soaked with cold feet & an aching heart, married, several children, pissed off, really dreadfully pissed off." http://youtu.be/u3M-BS47UHQ
I thought the episode got better as it progressed, and his summing up at the end with the Golfs was pure James May and not at all Top Gear. It was, tellingly, the best bit for me.
I think it was pretty clear throughout all 3 episodes which bits were James May bits and which were Top Gear bits. The Top Gear bits were pretty rubbish and the James May bits were rather good.
I'd have liked to have seen the Kei cars explored even further, and...
I'd have liked to have seen the Kei cars explored even further, and...
The Hypno-Toad said:
I actually thought the rep cars feature could have been a whole show, it a very interesting sub-set of 80's life that hasn't really been explored.
... yes, I agree. That was rather fascinating. I hadn't realised that class and caste were still so prevalent even as recently as the 80's. ch108 said:
.... The car had a wood effect strip along the length of the car. This wood strip was removable and underneath was the company name! So when he was working the strip could be removed to display the name and for private mileage the strip could be put back in place. Seemed a bizarre set up. There wouldn't be many companies these days that would be happy to lose out on the free advertising that having a vehicle plastered with their name would bring.
It was a Metro,so maybe not 
Only company car I ever had was a Mazda 3,senior legal executive had a Mazda 6,and the partner had an RX7
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