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I would love to know the reasons behind its return to the UK. Was it a succes in the US ? Will it carry on that cheesy acting scenes that has now become common at the end of each show ?
I didnt really lean towards that Elvis chap however, unlike the early days when Edd did everything, the show now has 4/5 mechanincs so was does the main mechanic actually do apart from putting clean parts, on a clean engine, that is out usually now outside the car / on the bench ?
SBK
I didnt really lean towards that Elvis chap however, unlike the early days when Edd did everything, the show now has 4/5 mechanincs so was does the main mechanic actually do apart from putting clean parts, on a clean engine, that is out usually now outside the car / on the bench ?
SBK
sbk1972 said:
I would love to know the reasons behind its return to the UK.
It could be as simple as trying to avoid the issues of Mike getting back in to the US for filming as I think he may be in the UK at the moment and pretty sure he's excluded from entry to the US at this time, with no clear indication for how much longer.Or he may just fancy some more time back in the UK after six years
StephenP said:
sbk1972 said:
I would love to know the reasons behind its return to the UK.
It could be as simple as trying to avoid the issues of Mike getting back in to the US for filming as I think he may be in the UK at the moment and pretty sure he's excluded from entry to the US at this time, with no clear indication for how much longer.Or he may just fancy some more time back in the UK after six years
It does seem a surprising move considering Mike and Ant are living there so I don't know what's changed from all the reasons they had for moving it there in the first place. I hear there's a really good mechanic in the UK - tall bloke with wild hair. I guess he was never going to get the call.
Personally, I prefer it in the UK rather than having lots of European cars being worked on in the US (I know it wasn't only Euro cars, but quite a few).
ro250 said:
I thought Mike lived in the US now? In the video he said he was packing to return to UK.
Sorry, hadn't seen the video and so, although I knew he was living out there, for some reason I thought we was on a UK at the moment for some reason. If all of his friends and family are here, he or his wife may just wish to be back here in the current situation. 
Cross posted from the YT'er thread:
That's good news, going to the US added nothing really. I talked to a few petrolheads when I was working in the US before WD moved over there and they all loved WD and apparently it got really strong ratings on whatever channel it is they watched it on - so I can see why they moved WD over there to try and grow it further... BUT the reason the Americans' loved it was because it gave them an insight into quirky European cars that they didn't otherwise get much coverage over. So once they moved to the US, it just became a toned down version of the tens of hot-rodding shows that already exist there.
Ant grew on me over time, but Marc was also very good on the dream car thing they did. Still want Ed back though frown
That's good news, going to the US added nothing really. I talked to a few petrolheads when I was working in the US before WD moved over there and they all loved WD and apparently it got really strong ratings on whatever channel it is they watched it on - so I can see why they moved WD over there to try and grow it further... BUT the reason the Americans' loved it was because it gave them an insight into quirky European cars that they didn't otherwise get much coverage over. So once they moved to the US, it just became a toned down version of the tens of hot-rodding shows that already exist there.
Ant grew on me over time, but Marc was also very good on the dream car thing they did. Still want Ed back though frown
TBH it looks like a struggle to be chirpy cheeky ducking and diving car people in the US.
They buy things offscreen or for full price and generally sell them for about what they cost.
It must be the fear of being shot by an american that cant understand the banter.
Better to do business in the uk and europe and any interesting car you ship back from the US has a normal buyer keen to pay over the odds.
Not that fussed where they do it,one US ep irked me a bit so good.
They buy things offscreen or for full price and generally sell them for about what they cost.
It must be the fear of being shot by an american that cant understand the banter.
Better to do business in the uk and europe and any interesting car you ship back from the US has a normal buyer keen to pay over the odds.
Not that fussed where they do it,one US ep irked me a bit so good.
I would say that once back in the UK the format will need to be revisted as its becoming long in the tooth now. Im not sure if its because Im British but all this `family` rubbish, plus the hugging and croydon hand shakes when meeting people, but all that needs to stop.
I will be interested to see what selection of cars the program goes for. The stuff from the 80s / 90s has all but been done now so is it going to be ? BMW 330ci ? Audi Rs3 /4 ? BMW 7 series ? Kia Soul :-) ?
The market is difference nowadays, YouTube has a larger influence and has many good channels to now watch. These channels are far more raw, honest, open and enjoyable. Im not ignoring the fact that Mike and this show was pretty much the forefather of all these but facts are facts and so he will need to be better than the US version.
I never truly like Ant, something about him that I just didnt connect with.
I will be interested to see what selection of cars the program goes for. The stuff from the 80s / 90s has all but been done now so is it going to be ? BMW 330ci ? Audi Rs3 /4 ? BMW 7 series ? Kia Soul :-) ?
The market is difference nowadays, YouTube has a larger influence and has many good channels to now watch. These channels are far more raw, honest, open and enjoyable. Im not ignoring the fact that Mike and this show was pretty much the forefather of all these but facts are facts and so he will need to be better than the US version.
I never truly like Ant, something about him that I just didnt connect with.
Fonzey said:
That's good news, going to the US added nothing really. I talked to a few petrolheads when I was working in the US before WD moved over there and they all loved WD and apparently it got really strong ratings on whatever channel it is they watched it on - so I can see why they moved WD over there to try and grow it further... BUT the reason the Americans' loved it was because it gave them an insight into quirky European cars that they didn't otherwise get much coverage over. So once they moved to the US, it just became a toned down version of the tens of hot-rodding shows that already exist there.
I think you're spot on there. It's the calm, understated nature of UK programming that tends to appeal over there as an antidote to the usual shouty "reality" stuff, padded with irrelevant fluff, that is so often produced in the US. Problem is, the US execs see the success and interest and think "hell yeah, we'll buy that in and then add a big dose of the 'reality TV' drama" because they think that is what the audience. They don't get that it's the lack of that rubbish that makes the programmes appealing to so many in the first place!SydneyBridge said:
Ant has his son now and i think he will do very well for himself in the usa
Ant seems to have found a fair bit of fame himself and tbh seeing some of the comments on his Instagram when his wife announced they has split was surreal. He really appears to have attracted some of the crazies.ro250 said:
TEKNOPUG said:
The production company was bought out by a US company and they moved to the US to feature US cars for the lucrative US market, no?
They didn't really focus on US cars though did they? It was mainly European and Japanese cars.sbk1972 said:
I would love to know the reasons behind its return to the UK. Was it a succes in the US ? Will it carry on that cheesy acting scenes that has now become common at the end of each show ?
I didnt really lean towards that Elvis chap however, unlike the early days when Edd did everything, the show now has 4/5 mechanincs so was does the main mechanic actually do apart from putting clean parts, on a clean engine, that is out usually now outside the car / on the bench ?
SBK
lol. I did (somewhat) predict this earlier in this thread (page 8).I didnt really lean towards that Elvis chap however, unlike the early days when Edd did everything, the show now has 4/5 mechanincs so was does the main mechanic actually do apart from putting clean parts, on a clean engine, that is out usually now outside the car / on the bench ?
SBK
According to Ant, he has 3 new projects lined up.
Greetings to all from Canada. This is my first post on PH.
I signed up to say that over here the latest season of WD (and the last one based in California with Ant as mechanic) has started to be rolled out on Motor Trend Online. The first episode is a Fiat X1/9 and episode 2 is a Triumph TR4.
Like many here I have found the US-based shows to be less satisfying. Even the last season that was produced by Attaboy was notably inferior to those that came before, and once Discovery took over production the show has been in continual decline for the most part. There have been occasional episodes that were OK, but far too many that were overproduced and had the presenters doing things that were outside of the show's core values. Examples of this abound - I do not know if these have been aired in the UK yet, but the two-part Barracuda episode was one that left me cold, and more recently the "test drive" endings to the episodes featuring the Jeep CJ-7 and the 300ZX Twin Turbo were just cringe-worthy, continuing a tradition of bad test drive segments that has plagued the show for the last few series.
That is a production decision, and that is where the problem lies, not with the two presenters, who mainly just do what they are told. If you look at the credits, they are listed as simply "presenters" and not with any production credit. Even in the days of Edd China he was listed quite far down in the credits as an Associate Producer, which I took to mean that he gave input into the mechanical portions of the production. By the time of the last couple of series he was in, that production credit had disappeared.
I can offer up a surprising bit of hope, however. On the most recent TR4 episode, I noticed that the program "felt" different somehow while watching it. Not totally like the good old days, but with notably less silliness throughout that has plagued the last few series. It was a good (albeit not necessarily great) episode. During the credits I think I spotted part of the reason why. Listed as "Producer/Director" was Dan Allum, one of the original creators of the show and the director for many if not all of the old shows made in the UK. I was surprised.
Someday we may know what led to the decision to bring it back to the UK but for now it is mostly speculation. I think it has to be considered good news on the face of it. With Allum's return I wonder if somebody finally realized that the show needed to change tracks back to what it used to be somewhat. Ant's desire to stay in the USA for personal reasons likely made that decision easy. If Allum and others from the past rejoin over there, one hopes that the series will find new life.
I signed up to say that over here the latest season of WD (and the last one based in California with Ant as mechanic) has started to be rolled out on Motor Trend Online. The first episode is a Fiat X1/9 and episode 2 is a Triumph TR4.
Like many here I have found the US-based shows to be less satisfying. Even the last season that was produced by Attaboy was notably inferior to those that came before, and once Discovery took over production the show has been in continual decline for the most part. There have been occasional episodes that were OK, but far too many that were overproduced and had the presenters doing things that were outside of the show's core values. Examples of this abound - I do not know if these have been aired in the UK yet, but the two-part Barracuda episode was one that left me cold, and more recently the "test drive" endings to the episodes featuring the Jeep CJ-7 and the 300ZX Twin Turbo were just cringe-worthy, continuing a tradition of bad test drive segments that has plagued the show for the last few series.
That is a production decision, and that is where the problem lies, not with the two presenters, who mainly just do what they are told. If you look at the credits, they are listed as simply "presenters" and not with any production credit. Even in the days of Edd China he was listed quite far down in the credits as an Associate Producer, which I took to mean that he gave input into the mechanical portions of the production. By the time of the last couple of series he was in, that production credit had disappeared.
I can offer up a surprising bit of hope, however. On the most recent TR4 episode, I noticed that the program "felt" different somehow while watching it. Not totally like the good old days, but with notably less silliness throughout that has plagued the last few series. It was a good (albeit not necessarily great) episode. During the credits I think I spotted part of the reason why. Listed as "Producer/Director" was Dan Allum, one of the original creators of the show and the director for many if not all of the old shows made in the UK. I was surprised.
Someday we may know what led to the decision to bring it back to the UK but for now it is mostly speculation. I think it has to be considered good news on the face of it. With Allum's return I wonder if somebody finally realized that the show needed to change tracks back to what it used to be somewhat. Ant's desire to stay in the USA for personal reasons likely made that decision easy. If Allum and others from the past rejoin over there, one hopes that the series will find new life.
Edited by Greg_B on Friday 25th December 16:29
A few days ago I saw just a few minutes of the first Porsche 928 WD did , a very old episode and it sold for £6000 , MB wouldn't give £1 off !
I then looked at the MOT history for said car , none at all and seems to have not been taxed since 2010 .
Did some research and the 928 episode was September 2005 , shortly before MOTs started to go online .
Just adds to the theory that it's all faked or the quality of work done falls very short of acceptable .
Only other explanation is that it became a racing car , possibly .
I then looked at the MOT history for said car , none at all and seems to have not been taxed since 2010 .
Did some research and the 928 episode was September 2005 , shortly before MOTs started to go online .
Just adds to the theory that it's all faked or the quality of work done falls very short of acceptable .
Only other explanation is that it became a racing car , possibly .
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