Top Gear in the ’80’s

Look out for a young posh Jeremy Clarkson and the lady with the Ford Orion so very BBC
William Woolard was like the history or chemistry teacher that would give you too much homework just as your hormones are kicking in, no chance of ever getting it done

Wasn’t Top Gear responsible for launching Kate Humble’s TV career?

🤦

Where’s Clarkson?

Nice bit of 80s misogyny there. Quip about lady drivers and Sue’s name not in the credits at all.

Fascinating look at the state of tech back then, it’s like Top Gear meets Tomorrow’s World.

I watched Top Gear in the 80s, I am that old. It was very dull but just about the only car program on TV.

Where’s Clarkson?

There he is!

Blimey…1983 really was an age of improvement for cars!!! That Aston Martin interior looks awful…and seems to be a bargain price at only £50k.

L, GL, GLS – you knew your place simply by counting the letters.

Blimey, there’s a Clarkson island.

it always amuses me how well jeremy clarkson lost his public school accent on his journey to become so popular. almost as good a job as johnny vaughn.

a bargain price at only £50k.

£180k in today’s money.

why can i never play embedded youtube videos on singletrack posts?

I remember watching that era of Top Gear as a kid (the sort of kid who’d have anything on the TV really) and for some reason one of the main things about I remember was their standardised luggage that they used to test the practicality of a car’s boot. Therefore I’m quite surprised to see that the Orion’s boot was not tested in that way in the episode above – perhaps the Top Gear luggage was an exciting innovation for a later series?

Where is he??

Wasn’t Top Gear responsible for launching Kate Humble’s TV career?

I am not sure. But Angela Ripon was a definitely a host in the early days!

Kinell. If you ever doubted that Tiff could drive a bit…! He’s constantly fighting that motor and he’s winning.

L, GL, GLS – you knew your place simply by counting the letters.

Yep, and the ultimate goal, for a driver of a Ford, was the Ghia. Or a few years later, the Ghia X.

As a kid, I used to love comparing specs on cars – in fact, I still do that now 🙂

If you were an old fart maybe, my ultimate car was an RS and I reached it with my 77 RS2000 custom which I loved, would probably still prefer to drive it today over anything modern but I am not spending 40K to find out.

Arhh Thursday nights.
Tomorrow’s world, top gear, red dwarf.
All on a little 15″ tv.

Arhh Thursday nights.
Tomorrow’s world, top gear, red dwarf.
All on a little 15″ tv.

Nostalgic Thursday evening TV comment without Top of the Pops being mentioned. That’s just weird.

I watched Top Gear in the 80s, I am that old. I

Most on here are old enough. It’s not like it’s ancient.

I recall watching it and being mostly dull.

Oh and a small bit of ‘trvia’.

Many many moons ago my mother decided there had to be more to life than her current job and how her life was panning out. She applied for 2 jobs one in social services and another for Top Gear presenter.

Went through a lengthy process for Top Gear and made it down to a final few for an audition. At the same time she secured a job with social services. The Top Gear audition clashed with my Dad working studying for his degree and my younger brother was barely a toddler. So she choose not to go because he was so young.

Not very exciting but there we go.

Most on here are old enough. It’s not like it’s ancient.

Somewhere theres a 20 year old newby mountain biker who has stumbled in here by mistake, and they’ve just said “yes it is granddad”

I actually liked clarkson in it at that time, he was a breath of fresh air then.

The can you live with a Ferrari with him going shopping etc.

Presenters that are neither fat nor gobby and one is female. The 80s weren’t so bad.