Robin Reliant???

I noticed that too.

Shame it was such a damp squib, though 140mph on knackered Land Rover wheels off a Sankey trailer might not have been too good an idea.

Good point!

I wonder though if there any 'off air' substitutions of safety related stuff like those tyres?

Also, they call 'time' and often you can see they are w a y off a finished machine. I know they get some extra fettling time but I'm not sure it's just fettling ...?

Like those 60 minute house makeovers (60 mins, yeah right).

All the best ..

T i m

My sister lives opposite a house in Hertfordshire where an episode of 60 minute makeover was filmed.

The actual time spent working in the house was indeed only 60 minutes, and the quality of the job, which is something I doubted, was very good.

Chris

Hmm, a mate runs a Granite worktop / kitchen Co and the show he was involved in took way over 60 mins ....

I guess it depends on how far they have to go (like can you wallpaper over wet plaster?) and there are only so-many trades you can have working in one room at the same time (I know they can move about the house etc but even so ..).

I also like the parting comments "The items used on the makeover cost around £25,000 ..." plus labour I guess?

All the best ..

T i m

From what I've heard, the basic machine is supposed to be finished in the given time. There's then additional time to make them 'safe' by adding any necessary guards etc.

A lot of money for tarting up your house, but peanuts in terms of the budget for creating mainstream TV shows ;-)

Chris

I'm sad enough to have read Robert Llewelyn's book on the series, which is actually a jolly good read. He describes some of the background work that goes on after the day's filming. The contestants are often suspiciously easy going about whether the rusty engine they've just dragged out of the heap will actually run, often not even bothering to try it until the last few minutes. This is because they know that the programme maker's mechanics will do whatever's necessary to get it started before the test day. After all, it wouldn't be much of a programme if the things didn't work at all.

I can't help feeling that it would have been better just to have grabbed a car off the scrap heap and run it without any alterations. Or failing that, the campervan one of the teams got the donor engine out of would probably have done 70 plus especially once the rear cabin was ripped off. Not much of a build though, half an hours scavenging and half an hour with an angle grinder.

I thought that too, but suspect they're not as free to choose their own designs as it might appear. In this case, the decisions that one team would build a chassis from scratch and that the other team would combine two engines was probably made between the "experts" and the director before filming started. I've thought this in the past too, it's the only thing that could account for both teams _always_ taking completely different approaches.

We are of one mind (half a mind apiece?). I recall a few years ago when they made steam cars, the production team obviously placed two steam engines in the heap which were of different types. I was most disappointed then because I was hoping one or other would manage to turn a petrol engine into a steam engine.

You think this is a big issue?

There is a car that gets variously called a Ford Probe, MX-6, Toyota Supra, Mazda 323F (1), 924, 944, CRX, Calibra, Skyline, is that a Toyota? and "OH WOW, A FERRARI".

The later model also gets misscalled various names, Skyline, GT Skyliner (sic), Mondeo (early model), Pug 406 coupe (late model), Celica, Supra and even Toyota Skyline.

(1) One owner after giving his wife the keys to get in the car found her trying to open a 323F. Well it's got pop ups, I assume it was the same colour.

Not a big issue, a frustrating little one. ;-)

So it's not a Reliant Robin I guess ..

Regal?

;-)

I overheard a conversation on the train a while back between two women. One was telling the other about the new car they (her and hubby) had recently bought and was going into reasonable detail including engine specs and trim options etc. When she had finished she politely asked the other what car she had and the reply .. "I'm not really into cars .. it's a red one though .." (honestly).

All the best ..

T i m