On the latest episode of BBC Top Gear, Jezza, the Hamster and Captain Slow celebrate the 40th anniversary of British Leyland in one of their famous cheap car challenges. Armed with 1200 pounds sterling, each of them is sent to buy the best BL manufactured car they can find, and then subject it to a barrage of challenges to test speed, durability, and humiliation.
Most embarrassingly of all, the Queen’s honor was put up against a 69hp lime green Datsun 120Y (aka B210, Sunny), complete with honeycomb hubcaps, piloted by The Stig. According to the lads, this model was the car that showed Britain automobiles could be reliable and expected to start on the first try.
The following are the presenters and their weapons of choice:
(May) Let it never be said that Fairlady is a silly, girly name for a car when the English have named a car the Austin Princess despite their first language being, in fact, English.
(Hammond) Or the Dolly Sprint. Well, to be fair, the real name is the Triumph Dolomite Sprint, which sounds like some kind of Olympic track and field event involving blaxploitation but is actually a pretty cool little car. DO-LO-MIIITE!
(Clarkson) The Rover SD1 was equipped with a 3.5L V8 and looks like a Clark Kent version of the Renault Alpine A310. Does it have what it takes to school a 1.2L Japanese four-cylinder of the same era?
We won’t spoil the ending for you, but it’s good to see a country that can joke about its own auto industry, and in the immortal words of James May, “Brown is a seventies color. This is a 1978 car. It’s very interesting.” So without further ado, here are the clips courtesy of YouTube: parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Thanks to MadFlava for the tip!
That was fantastic! I love Top Gear. I especially love it when they do those wacky contests. Just shows how good classic japanese cars are, either that or how big of pieces of crap british cars are.
The contest was way more interesting than the test of the new Aston Martin DBS794 or whatever it is. They so rarely talk about vintage cars, regardless of nationality, so this was one of our favorite episodes ever!
Like american… but little.
I Like it.
2Jeff Brown, I don’t like Top Gear… For dumb peoples imho.
You can spoil the ending now- Youtube pulled the clips. 🙁
Check http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgear/10/7/ for the episode 🙂
Didn’t the Datsun look awesome as it four-wheel-drifted round the track ? Is that a genuine £1200 car, or would it be worth more than the BL cars ?
Hi….im the biggest fan of 120Ys that ever walked on earth…& i dont know how i couldve missed out on this episode…..any clues as to where i can get the clips?? Any help would be much appreciated!!
I’d also like to add that Datsun in the form of the B210 gave to the motoring industry a true classic car which should not even be considered a car to be compared to Rover/Ford etc……it was infact a benchmark for these car makers and made them strive more & more to improve the quality of their cars to come even close to the Datsun!! .this car has a league of its own and created a legend in the form of its styling, realibility, peppy performance and quality workmanship
Thanks!
Ob, Tom’s link above should direct you to a site where you can download the episode. Thanks!
Hey Jeff, be nice. 🙂 I own two classic Minis (’66 Austin Cooper S and a later model car), and I’d put them up against anything comparable. They’re awesome little cars.
…now 1970s BL (British Leyland) products can be a little iffy. That Dolomite Sprint is pretty rad though.