Hi John, yes Top Gear have done two Amphibious shows, the first across a lake the second across the English Channel. The vehicles used match the presenter personality. James May has an old fashioned sailboat (originally a Triumph Herald). Richard Hammond has a homely motor cruiser made out of a VW camper bus. Jeremy Clarkson chose a truck with a huge 500hp outboard motor on the tailgate.
Yes the Toyota Hilux feature was also great. As well as dropping it from the roof of a 40 floor building that was being demolished they set it on fire and drowned it at sea and it still ran. Theory is- like in the movie Christine - the Hilux is so strong you can't kill them. On the back of that they recently drove an '07 model Toyota Hilux up through the artic circle and parked it on top of the North Pole. First time that has ever been done. Top Gear is the worlds most downloaded motoring show on the Internet and always well worthwhile watching. It is so popular in the UK there is now a satelite channel hear that shows all the episodes back to back.
Re Salvage Squad, yes, not the same quality as Top Gear but the Amphicar show was good. I must write up what really happened for the club newsletter but to answer a few questions.
Yes the discovery was staged, car had been in barn for 20 minutes. It had already been part restored. The doors and hood / trunk had been done well and were removed for the "discover" photos and some rotten ones were fitted, that is why they change colour at one point in the show.
They spent $25K on the restoration - but that all went in to body and paint. They did that very well. All joints were sealed with lead and no ripples when you look down the sides. The reason they did the quarters that way is I supplied them with repair panels from the German club. These have the correct profile at the bottom but are shorter than the ones available in the US. (Before anyone asks there are no more of those German repair panels available).
After the bodywork the money had run out so everything mechanical was lashed up - the engine is my spare. The starter thing was staged, they wanted to replicate the Faulty Towers scene where John Cleese hits his Austin America with a branch when it won't start.
The car had some serious leaks as the door seals were never fitted, the smoke I think was paint burning off the muffler but it could have been one of a number of things. It's pretty much undrivable because they fitted the driveshafts splines 90 degrees out - and the clutch is awful.
Filming was 4 years ago. Car hasn't done much since it was finished, I pull it out of the garage and change the fluids and wax it etc at least once a year. I'm going to need to strip it and put it together properly but no big problem - I'm happy that the money went on the body and was done well. Only really annoying part is the guy they used for chrome destroyed the vent window frames - luckily I spotted it and stopped the rest of the chrome going there. I was involved throughout the restoration as they had a few problems - which is why I didn't look surprised at the end. Oh and of course it didn't drive back to me from London. It was never finished to the point where it was road legal.
The show isn't on any more. The format didn't really work, TV people these days work to strict budgets and hate the unknown / unbudgeted. I had to tip at least $10K of my own cash in to the project to get it finished to the point the "reveal" could be filmed, some of the vehicles never got finished as their owners refused to do that.
David C
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Finally got a chance to watch "Salvage Squad". A welcome addition to the hot tub cinema. Hey Dave Chapman, send 'em over here so they can fix a truly rusty car!! I would like to see a couple of close up pics of gas tank and filler. A good fun show to watch. Thanks Allan for making available. -10 right now, Winter still Sucks
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