The very, very first Top gear now on Iplayer

[williamp]

from 1977. With Angela Rippon. How the Police record speeding, and road rallying.

Fantastic!

Will they show all of the old, pre-2001 Top gears???

[milesgiles]

williamp said:

from 1977. With Angela Rippon. How the Police record speeding, and road rallying.

Fantastic!

Will they show all of the old, pre-2001 Top gears???

Remember it being very earnest

[Pony]

lets be real Top Gear without Clarkson isn't.
How can one man be responsible for so much aesthetic produce?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DdwJhPSNxI

[GliderRider]

From memory, the early Top Gears were like reading an Autocar car test of the same era. Great if you wanted to know what a Mini Metro glovebox would hold, less so if you were passionate about speed, adventure and enjoyed a good belly laugh.

[Randy Winkman]

I wanted to enjoy it, but didn't really. The interviews with members of the public in the service station were quite fun but that was the best bit for me. The Top Gear guy talking about risky driving in the economy test and then having an accident was notable though. Twit.

[PinkTornado]

Already been discussed in the actual Top Gear thread.

[Eric Mc]

GliderRider said:

From memory, the early Top Gears were like reading an Autocar car test of the same era. Great if you wanted to know what a Mini Metro glovebox would hold, less so if you were passionate about speed, adventure and enjoyed a good belly laugh.

It was originally a programme designed to give drivers valuable and honest consumer information about cars they might want to buy. It also covered legal issues around driving. It was, in essence, intended to provide practical information to people who drove.

It followed on (literally) in the wheeltracks of earlier similar programmes which had been shown on both the BBC and various ITV channels (such as "Wheelbase"). I remember some of the ITV programmes being presented by the likes of Tony Bastable and Shaw Taylor. They were all of a similar style.

"Top Gear" originally had nothing to do with jolly japes and overgrown children fooling about.