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posted
I was more surprised that they still existed then that they had been scrapped. Still, seems short-sighted. Then again, the last paragraph seems to raise more questions.

link

ICONIC customised cars from Top Gear’s glory days have been scrapped by BBC bosses.

They infuriated fans by ruling that the motors — often comically adapted by the stars for bizarre challenges — were too run-down to restore or to sell into private hands.

And former host Jeremy Clarkson told of his concerns that the collection could not remain on show at the National Motor Museum on the Beaulieu estate in, Hants.

He told The Sun: “I’m sad that many have been destroyed. I guess the problem is some people see cars as just a ton-and-a-half of glass, plastic, metal and rubber.

“But to petrolheads, they’re more than that. That’s especially true of cars we used on Top Gear”.

Those sold for scrap included Clarkson’s Fiat Panda stretch limo and a Mini Cooper used in the first-ever car ski-jump attempt from the show’s 2006 Winter Olympics special.

The episode saw Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond put a Union Jack-emblazoned Mini on skis, before adding a jet-powered rocket and attempting to beat a professional jumper.

May’s caravan airship, which he used to fly across England in 2010 as an alternative to clogging up roads, was also destroyed.

A double-decker car is believed to have been disposed of before the World of Top Gear exhibition closed last November.

The display, with more than 60 props, closed after it was decided to “rest” the series due to Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash in 2023.

One fan wrote online: “A shame. It would have been nice for them all to stay together.”

Another said they have been auctioned off for Children In Need”.

A third added: “You’d probably get someone interested in buying them as a memento and paying a decent amount of money for it.”

One car that was saved was the “indestructible” Toyota Hilux, which Clarkson famously blew up in a tower block explosion.

Others spared included Hammond’s VW “Dampervan” which failed to cross the Channel, and Paddy McGuinness’s all-electric, all-wheel drive, all-terrain “Mr Nippy” ice cream van.

It is understood the surviving cars could be put back on display later this year.

Others may be restored for promotional work.

Former Top Gear and Grand Tour producer Richard Porter wrote on X: “They can’t be sold, even for charity, for various reasons, not least liability.”

No license fee money was used to scrap or move the cars.

BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, confirmed: “We have rehomed the majority of the show’s iconic vehicles from the now closed World of Top Gear exhibition at the National Motor Museum, and we’re pleased to confirm that many of them will be available for public viewing at a soon to be announced new location.”




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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis
 
Posts: 5711 | Location: District 12 | Registered: June 16, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
The display, with more than 60 props, closed after it was decided to “rest” the series due to Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash in 2023.

Normally this would be a WTF action but...

BBC paid-out Flintoff a near $12m settlement after the crash. I can see how the BBC boses throwing their arms up in the air and declaring a halt to all things Top Gear
 
Posts: 15285 | Location: Wine Country | Registered: September 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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$12 million should be nothing compared to TG's ad revenue, that was a great show, and it dropped big time with all the alternative presenters, Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris were pretty good.

I'd like to have the Patagonia specials 928, with the H982 FKL plate!...
 
Posts: 24746 | Location: Gunshine State | Registered: November 07, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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The limo was pretty much scrap after that episode. I'd be similarly not that upset if they were scrapping the Vauxhal SUV he cut in half to ford the stream.
The airship was neat but useless, as proved by that episode.
The Mini, I'm sure they stripped to a shell to fit the rockets.

So, it sucks to lose some TG memorabilia, but these may be 3 of the easiest to let go of.




The Enemy's gate is down.
 
Posts: 16379 | Location: Spring, TX | Registered: July 11, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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