0:00:02 > 0:00:04The shape of the Boeing B29 Super Fortress is deeply
0:00:04 > 0:00:07etched on the conscience of humankind,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12being the only aircraft ever to have delivered an atomic weapon in anger.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15And it bears little comparison with this -
0:00:15 > 0:00:18a humble, mid-sized Japanese hatchback.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23And yet you could argue that, long term, this has been the more
0:00:23 > 0:00:28destructive weapon, one that lay waste to acres and acres of industry.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32And it gives rise to a curious new maxim for the modern age -
0:00:32 > 0:00:37to win at cars, first you must lose at war.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Go!
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'This week, how conquered superpowers conquered all...'
0:00:48 > 0:00:50That's amazing!
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'..how British classics...'
0:00:52 > 0:00:53It is perfect!
0:00:53 > 0:00:55'..became British clunkers...'
0:00:55 > 0:00:58- You all right?- No, I'm a loser.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02'..and how American powerhouses got left in the dust.'
0:01:02 > 0:01:04The Big Three, they were just so arrogant.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Also, I murder a tradesman.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Shoot the man in the plumbing van.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14MUSIC: Back In Black by AC/DC
0:01:15 > 0:01:191945 - Britain had won the war.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Hip hip hooray!
0:01:23 > 0:01:26We still had our empire, we still had our reputation
0:01:26 > 0:01:31for engineering excellence, we were still the workshop of the world.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Thank God we won the war.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Once the war was over, our car factories could stop churning out
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Spitfires and get back to cars.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48Immediately post-war, Britain was the world's second-biggest car-maker,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50and the world's biggest car exporter.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53For many people in Britain, however, the end of the war
0:01:53 > 0:01:57simply meant dusting off whatever was up on bricks in the garage,
0:01:57 > 0:02:03and then going for a first spin in the new broad, sunlit uplands.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06And for thousands of people, that car was this.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14The Austin 7 had launched right back in 1922 and it was Britain's very first people's car.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18It was like our Ford Model T, but a bit more modest,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22and cheaper and easier to run, as you'd expect.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Was one of them Austin big 7s
0:02:25 > 0:02:28That do 60 on top and no buts
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Developing 25 horsepower
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Not only got looks but got guts.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The Austin 7 was sold all over the world.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41There were licensed built versions made in Germany, France, America.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Australia used its chassis. It was copied by Nissan in Japan.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51And an Austin 7 formed the basis of the first car from the company we now know as Jaguar.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It was also the basis of the first Lotus.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57This was one hell of a car.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08America had also won the war. Victory had left her with
0:03:08 > 0:03:12massive manufacturing capacity, loads of money, a lot of it
0:03:12 > 0:03:17owed to America, in fact, and control of the vanquished nations.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Their Marshall Plan could dictate to the losers what
0:03:21 > 0:03:25they had to do to get back into the global goodies gang.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27America had not been bombed.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30America could go back to making things like this.
0:03:33 > 0:03:40This, I'm sure you know, is a 1937 Buick Special two-door sedan slope back.
0:03:40 > 0:03:41Ahem.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48This was the cheapest car in Buick's Series 40 range,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52but even so it had a straight-eight engine giving 100 horsepower,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56modern overhead valves, hydraulic brakes, a heater, a defroster
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and even, if you paid a bit extra, a dash mounted radio.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03There was just no stopping Buzz and Chuck and Hank.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09During the war, Buick's factory was given over to making munitions,
0:04:09 > 0:04:14usual sort of thing, but in 1946 the Special went back into production.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16It would do for now.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Thank God we won the war.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28Now imagine if you'd lived in Germany in that immediate post-war period.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Everything was bombed to bits, much worse than Britain.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Millions were dead. The Allies were in control of everything.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37The great dream of the VW Beetle factory -
0:04:37 > 0:04:41that was all smashed up and in the hands of the British.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48But it could have been worse. You could have been Japanese.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Food was in woefully short supply.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Roads were largely unmade. There were virtually no materials.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58The occupying powers had been charged with changing the Japanese system
0:04:58 > 0:05:02from a military to an economic one. The Emperor had become a puppet.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07But the production of passenger cars was virtually outlawed.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09If you were lucky, you might get a bicycle.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13If you were very lucky, it might have a small engine on it, but that was it.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20And yet, a lifetime later, we buy more and more of the cars we covet
0:05:20 > 0:05:26from the supposedly defeated nations, Germany and Japan.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28So who really won?
0:05:30 > 0:05:35It took only 30 years or so for Japan to transform itself
0:05:35 > 0:05:38from a knackered nation of powered bicyclists
0:05:38 > 0:05:41into a world-conquering, car-making superpower,
0:05:41 > 0:05:47and that, despite being the world's first, and so far only, victims of atomic war.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53It took only 20 years for Germany to transform itself
0:05:53 > 0:05:56into a maker of great cars, and more to the point
0:05:56 > 0:05:59the roots of this turnaround were happening just as the
0:05:59 > 0:06:03old Allies thought their global position was completely unassailable.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05So how did that happen?
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Britain will launch a ship a day,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11more than the rest of the world put together.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Britain now leads the world in aviation.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16The problem wasn't that Britain and America didn't innovate.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Post-war, they led the world in aviation, electronics, machinery.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22We had Nobel Prize winners.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25We'd invented modern computer science and discovered DNA.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30The slumps of pre-war years must never return.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35I mean, cripes, by 1952 we had a new Queen, and America
0:06:35 > 0:06:39still had its dream, which we could all see on the silver screen.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42More to the point, it had Detroit which was a Mecca,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46a city built on the automobile and the desire to possess it.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53By the late '40s, Britain had moved on from the Austin 7 and was building new stuff.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Cars like Ford of Britain's V8 Pilot.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57And Ford were so confident of it,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59it was given its own cinema sing-along.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18This was pre pah-pah-pah-pah, obviously.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23And anyway, it was another hit from the late '40s that we remember today.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26You will have spotted that this is a Morris Minor.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39The Minor, though modest, was very middle class
0:07:39 > 0:07:44and it's interesting to know that in this golden era of 1950s Britain,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49any car worth its salt would be named after an establishment figure.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53There was never a Ford Flatcap or an Armstrong Sydney Jobcentre.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56No, no, no. Things were called the Austin Cambridge,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59the Austin Westminster.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03The Ford Consul, the Ford Squire, the Viceroy,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07the Standard Ensign, the Ford Prefect, the Princess,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12the Cambridge, the Austin Cambridge, the Daimler Regency...
0:08:12 > 0:08:14I think you get the idea here.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Bill Anderson tells me the Minor's the best car he ever had.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21- Marvellous on corners. - Gosh! Everyone's got a Minor.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23But don't just take Bill Anderson's word for it.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Here's a woman's view.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Style and value interest me most.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29That's why I like the new Morris car.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Rather in the way that the 2CV symbolises
0:08:34 > 0:08:37everything about the condition of being French,
0:08:37 > 0:08:43the Morris Minor has come to be regarded as everything that's good and proper about being British.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Let's imagine for a moment that overnight the Morris Minor
0:08:49 > 0:08:53suddenly disappeared from the British conscience, would it matter?
0:08:53 > 0:08:55I think we would struggle with it.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58If you did a survey - should we get rid of the Morris Minor?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01No! But actually, would we really notice?
0:09:01 > 0:09:03Would it in fact give us a chance to move on?
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It might be a little bit...
0:09:05 > 0:09:07As if a very popular and very well-liked television programme
0:09:07 > 0:09:09suddenly came to an end,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12everybody would think it was a disaster but after a while,
0:09:12 > 0:09:13well, they'd get over it,
0:09:13 > 0:09:16probably find something else.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22There must have been something good about the Minor as this was
0:09:22 > 0:09:25the first British car to sell more than a million.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28In the end, 1.6 million were made
0:09:28 > 0:09:31right here at the Cowley factory near Oxford.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41But the Morris Minor was not perfect.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46In fact, it's something of a lasting monument to the sort
0:09:46 > 0:09:49of timorousness and disorganisation
0:09:49 > 0:09:52that would come to characterise so much of our motor industry.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55When the designer Alec Issigonis had finished his prototype design,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58he realised he'd made it a bit too narrow.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59Now we have a model of it here.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02This is an original one from the time and if you have a look at it
0:10:02 > 0:10:05you can see he was dead right, he'd cocked it up a bit.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08It was a bit too narrow.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11So he took the full size prototype design
0:10:11 > 0:10:13and he sawed it in half lengthways like that
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and then he experimented adding different size strips
0:10:16 > 0:10:18to see what would make it look right and, in the end,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22he decided it needed an extra four inches down the middle.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Great! But the press shop, the people designing the tooling for this thing
0:10:25 > 0:10:29had already made some of the tooling for the original narrow versions.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33So in the final car they had to come up with this -
0:10:33 > 0:10:37this strip that runs down the bonnet to there and then spreads out
0:10:37 > 0:10:39nicely along there.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42That is a fudge and I know we like to think of it as
0:10:42 > 0:10:46an interesting Morris Minor design feature but I'm afraid it is, and
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I know this is a bit like burping in the Queen's face, it's a bodge.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52We will have to learn to live with that. OK?
0:10:52 > 0:10:54And it gets worse under the bonnet.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56THEME TUNE PLAYS: Open All Hours
0:10:56 > 0:11:00The Minor was supposed to have a brand-new flat four engine
0:11:00 > 0:11:01driving the front wheels.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05But penny-pinching meant it was lumped with wheezy inline jobs,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07driving the rear wheels.
0:11:09 > 0:11:10A pity, isn't it?
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Let's shut the bonnet on this travesty
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and pretend it never happened.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Morris put quality first.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Look, I'm not being down on it, the Morris Minor was brilliant,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25despite a bit of management myopia.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28And let's not forget that because he couldn't realise
0:11:28 > 0:11:31his front wheel dream of a Minor, Issigonis went on to design the Mini,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35one of the most significant small cars ever.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38And with the Minor and the Mini,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41he is responsible for a sizeable slice
0:11:41 > 0:11:44of our British sense of automotive identity.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46That's not bad for a Greek.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- NEWSREEL:- £100 million worth of cars
0:11:49 > 0:11:51exported since the war ended.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55So despite a slapdash motor here and a bodged bonnet there,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58the UK motor industry post-war was booming.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01And America's was too.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Before the war had even finished,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08US car-makers, encouraged by the government and working in secret,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11had already started creating a new era of cars.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16By the 1950s, the American car was a gobsmacking monument
0:12:16 > 0:12:19to the new culture of ownership.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23Goodbye, three-speed manual transmissions and Art Deco fixings,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27hello, the jet age, neon lights and the automatic.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Nothing could go wrong.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Could it?
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Well...not yet.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45The first Japanese raiding party to the UK barely registered.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51This is the 1964 Daihatsu Compagno.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55It was overpriced, it was breathtakingly slow,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58it was surely nothing to worry about.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03This car, however, not just this model
0:13:03 > 0:13:05but this actual car you're looking at now
0:13:05 > 0:13:09was the very first Japanese import to the UK.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14I was only one year old when the Compagno arrived
0:13:14 > 0:13:17so I couldn't reach the pedals to try it out.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23But even ten years later, I remember that we as British schoolboys
0:13:23 > 0:13:27still thought that Japanese cars were a bit of a joke.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31I have here the actual Top Trumps sports cars pack that
0:13:31 > 0:13:35I was given for my 11th birthday back in 1974
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and there is only two Japanese cars in the pack
0:13:38 > 0:13:40and one of them is this.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44It's the Toyota Celica GT.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Now you didn't want this card in a game of Top Trumps
0:13:46 > 0:13:50because it's only got a 1600cc engine,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52only makes 92 horsepower,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55it's the second cheapest car in the pack.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58And as 11-year-olds we weren't interested in or
0:13:58 > 0:14:02worried by Japanese cars with their silly names.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05We'd already been told by our elders and betters that the Japanese
0:14:05 > 0:14:09would make cheap runabouts for people who weren't really interested in cars
0:14:09 > 0:14:11but the British would continue to make the sort of stuff
0:14:11 > 0:14:13that really mattered.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17We were basically car racists.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21On the other hand, if you wanted to win a game of Top Trumps,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23the car you needed...
0:14:23 > 0:14:24was this one -
0:14:24 > 0:14:27the Jaguar E-Type.
0:14:27 > 0:14:28Look at it!
0:14:32 > 0:14:35No lesser man than Enzo Ferrari himself
0:14:35 > 0:14:38said that this was the most beautiful car ever made.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45In fact, there is nothing new for me to say about the E-Type Jaguar,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47it's like trying to have an opinion on the weather
0:14:47 > 0:14:49that you've never heard before.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53So let's just... Well, I'll tell you what, I'll shut up
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and you can just look at it for a bit.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58# Tell me all the things that I wanna hear
0:14:58 > 0:15:00# Cos that's true
0:15:00 > 0:15:04# That's what I like about you
0:15:04 > 0:15:06# What I like about you... #
0:15:06 > 0:15:07Over half a century has passed
0:15:07 > 0:15:10but I still think that is the best down the bonnet view
0:15:10 > 0:15:13that the motor car has ever provided for us,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16it has that lovely bulge in the middle, that's very feminine,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19the wings rise very slightly, at each side,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21but it's those louvres that really do it for me.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25Look at that, that is the machine aesthetic
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and it comes with a reflection of heaven.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30It is perfect!
0:15:30 > 0:15:31Perfect!
0:15:31 > 0:15:34# That's what I like about you... #
0:15:36 > 0:15:40The E-Type being long, lascivious and affordable
0:15:40 > 0:15:44became the perfect statement of the British male machismo
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and it remains it.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Doesn't it?
0:15:50 > 0:15:54This, by the way, is a Series 1, 4.2 Jaguar E-Type.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58The trouble is within ten years of its launch in 1961,
0:15:58 > 0:15:59the E-Type had been...
0:15:59 > 0:16:01well, improved into...
0:16:01 > 0:16:03this -
0:16:03 > 0:16:05the Series 3.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10The Jaguar Series 3 E-Type has become a bit of a fatty.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13It's 20% heavier than the original car,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16it's a bit bigger all round, the styling has become fussier
0:16:16 > 0:16:18and it's actually slightly slower,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20especially in the case of this one which was
0:16:20 > 0:16:24a three-speed automatic.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27It isn't the pure, lissom sports car it once was,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29it's become a bit middle-aged.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31It has become, heaven forefend,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34a GT.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39Meanwhile there was a second Japanese car in my Top Trumps deck.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40And here it is -
0:16:40 > 0:16:43the Datsun 260Z.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45And here it is for real.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Definitely not a cheap economical runabout for people who don't
0:16:48 > 0:16:52really care, very definitely and obviously a sports car.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Another clue we blissfully ignored.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58The Datsun had done a better job than
0:16:58 > 0:17:01the E-Type of maintaining its figure through the years.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06It arrived in 1969 and by the time I was Trumping in the school cloakroom
0:17:06 > 0:17:09in 1974 the engine had grown a bit
0:17:09 > 0:17:11but its weight had hardly increased.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17But how does the Datsun compare with the Jag in the real world,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20rather than in a subversive card-swapping exercise
0:17:20 > 0:17:23in a schoolboys' lavatory in Rotherham?
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Time to find out. I mean, I quite fancy the Datsun myself
0:17:26 > 0:17:29but maybe I should ask someone who knows better.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36This man's lineage has almost as much E-Type provenance as the car itself.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38His dad was the first man ever to race an E-Type
0:17:38 > 0:17:41right here at Oulton Park in 1961.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44That man was Graham Hill,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46so this must be...
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Damon Hill, and here he is. Good morning.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51- James, how are you? - Very, very well, thank you.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53E-Type Jags, does it resonate?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Well, I think they just mean speed, don't they?
0:17:56 > 0:17:58E-Type - there was all these kind of jokes about E-Type
0:17:58 > 0:18:01this, that and the other. E-Type bananas and things like that.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04When we were growing up it meant fast, didn't it? E-Type.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06I'd forgotten the E-Type banana joke. What's yellow?
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- What's fast and yellow? - Fast and yellow, that's it.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11- An E-Type banana.- And what's white and wears tartan trousers,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14- No, that was Rupert the fridge. - Yeah. I don't know that one.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18But the E-Type, this is svelte, this is curvaceous and it was our...
0:18:18 > 0:18:21It was like suddenly this was a Ferrari and we didn't have a Ferrari,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25we had English cars and then suddenly this thing arrived and
0:18:25 > 0:18:30I think it gave everyone a bit of a sense that, hey, we can be sexy too.
0:18:30 > 0:18:31Come and have a look at, erm,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34this, which is what it became.
0:18:34 > 0:18:35So this is a decade later -
0:18:35 > 0:18:37that's all it took for it to become...
0:18:39 > 0:18:40..just not as nice
0:18:40 > 0:18:42but it's got a V12 now.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45It's a bit swollen here, there's some bigger bits,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48some of this is to do with American legislation.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I mean, the grille is totally different. What a swizz.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Yeah, total. If I could just turn your attention to the
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Datsun 260Z which is...
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Now this is the second generation of this car so the engine has become
0:19:00 > 0:19:03bigger but it's otherwise pretty much unchanged
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and, yeah, we were a bit dismissive of this when I was a teenager
0:19:07 > 0:19:09because we thought, "Well, it's Japanese they can't...
0:19:09 > 0:19:12"The E-Type is brilliant, it's the best thing in the world.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15£The Japanese can't possibly know," but it's a got straight six,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19it's light, it's simple, it's sort of...it's like the E-Type philosophy
0:19:19 > 0:19:24was and that had happened to the E-Type and this was still like this.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26This has definitely got the '70s lines to it and that -
0:19:26 > 0:19:29that is almost starting to look old-fashioned now.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33'So after a quick Trump to decide who drove what...'
0:19:33 > 0:19:36240 kilometres an hour.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Oh!
0:19:38 > 0:19:41'..we decide to have a race.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45'The classic Series 3 E-Type versus the Japanese upstart Datsun.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49'I'd drive the Datsun and then Damon the E-Type for one lap
0:19:49 > 0:19:52'and then we'd swap to cancel out his advantage from,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54'um, knowing the track.'
0:19:54 > 0:19:56ENGINES REV
0:19:58 > 0:19:59And they're off.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Well, we left him behind.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04He's buggered off already.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09The Datsun has 150 horsepower against 272 for the Jag.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Bit of a slow acceleration there.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16But the Jag weighs 450-something kilograms more.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21Oh, it's very soft, it's a very soft, floaty feel to the handling.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24Lovely.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28And it's almost like I'm on a flying mattress.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32I can't feel any bumps at all.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Going over the start and finish line now,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44I'm looking in my mirror and I can't see James at all.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Brake, you bastard.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Let's just edit that bit out.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Time to swap.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58This time I would have the upper hand.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Spoiler alert. Damon Hill is a faster driver than me.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11But what we now need to do now is add the pro Damon Hill lap
0:21:11 > 0:21:14for each car to my average doddering man on the street lap
0:21:14 > 0:21:18to find out which car was truly better.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19Thank you.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Do you want to know the lap times?
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Erm, go on.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27In the Jag...
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Damon Hill - 1:29:06.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32James May 1:... Really?
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Yeah.
0:21:34 > 0:21:381:49:97. In the Datsun...
0:21:38 > 0:21:42- Wait a minute, that's, that's 20 seconds slower?- Yes, it is.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44- That's an awful lot.- Yes, I know.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48In the Datsun - Damon Hill 1:30:05.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53- Oh, right.- James May - 1:47:81.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56So if you, if you aggregate the whole thing,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58you kind of take us as a cross section of the driving community.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Very well put, yes.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Then, erm, then which comes out on top?
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Well, hang on a minute, if we add together...
0:22:06 > 0:22:08No, it actually goes to the Datsun...
0:22:08 > 0:22:09just.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15The Datsun has just squeaked it by less than a second.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Actually, there's a third thing that this demonstrates other than that
0:22:18 > 0:22:21the Datsun was a better sports car and you're a better racing driver than me,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Top Trumps is not real life and we believed that game -
0:22:25 > 0:22:28that meant everything to us when I was 10, 11 years old.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32The E-Type Jag was a great car for winning that game therefore
0:22:32 > 0:22:34- it was a better car but that's not true.- No.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37- They sold us a lie but that's... - You'll be all right.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- But that's something I'll have to come to terms with. - It's only Top Trumps.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45I spent years stuck with misconceptions about Japanese cars,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48the greatness of Britain, commando war stories
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and pictures, all sorts of things.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55They promised us the world and they gave us tinsel.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The bastards, I knew there was something wrong with my life
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and I've lost at that and I've lost at Top Trumps.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04- Are you all right? - No, I'm a loser, goodbye.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10So the Japanese invasion had begun in earnest
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and America had it even worse than the UK.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15I suggest we don't be fuelish.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19The world's great gift to the Japanese car industry was
0:23:19 > 0:23:21the oil crisis of 1973.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Suddenly the USA's "bigger is better" philosophy
0:23:24 > 0:23:27wasn't looking too big or clever.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The Mustang, you may remember from series one, was the gas-guzzling
0:23:31 > 0:23:35powerhouse that democratised style and performance in the US.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37But the market was changing,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40economy and size were the buzz words,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43so Ford came up...
0:23:43 > 0:23:44with this.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50The Mustang 2 was designed to meet boring everyday concerns,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55gas mileage mainly, absolutely head on and it looked a bit rubbish.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59And there was worse because the original Mustang was based
0:23:59 > 0:24:03on an everyday family car, the Ford Falcon, this was also based on
0:24:03 > 0:24:07an everyday family car but this time it was the rather unloved Ford Pinto.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Built to run and run and run.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Japan, on the other hand, had no oil of its own
0:24:13 > 0:24:17and so small, efficient engines were their bread and butter.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Would Detroit and the US rise to the challenge?
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Only one way to find out. Time for a real world test.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26When the Mustang 2 was launched, it came with a V6 engine,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30but after a year or so, they gave it the big five litre V8,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33which is of course the one that the vast majority of Americans
0:24:33 > 0:24:35bought because if you didn't have a V8,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38you were fundamentally a goddamned Communist.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Now, I have one US gallon of gas with which to drive around Detroit
0:24:41 > 0:24:45and whilst I'm doing that, these fine gentlemen are going to tell me
0:24:45 > 0:24:47everything they know about the city, the motor industry,
0:24:47 > 0:24:49the culture, all the rest of it.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52They are Ralph, who used to work on the Ford production line,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Steve, who is a local historian with a particular
0:24:54 > 0:24:58interest in the motor industry, and Jerome, who was a steel supplier
0:24:58 > 0:25:02to the motor industry in that vital 1970s, 1980s period.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Happy, chaps?
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Let's burn rubber.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11While I'm doing that, I am also in Japan with this,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14the original Toyota Celica GT 1600,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18straight from the Top Trumps pack of lies, same colour and everything.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21How about that? However, in the interest of fairness
0:25:21 > 0:25:24and because we have the larger engine Mustang, I'm going
0:25:24 > 0:25:26to be driving this version of the Celica, which is
0:25:26 > 0:25:30the more popular and more powerful 2000 GT lift back.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34As before, I'll have exactly one US gallon of gas
0:25:34 > 0:25:36and my passengers for this trip are
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Mr Kuroyonami, who was one of the designers of the Celica,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Mr Furuichi, who maintained the Celica production line,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48and Mr Sugisaki, who worked in prototyping for Toyota
0:25:48 > 0:25:50for a massive 53 years.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Gentlemen, thank you very much. Shall we go?
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Climb aboard.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Now, I'm not actually going to put just one gallon in each car
0:26:03 > 0:26:06and then run them dry cos there could be all sorts of genuine '70s
0:26:06 > 0:26:10rubbish in the bottom of the tank, like Boston's More Than A Feeling.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13No, we did an earlier economy run, so I know when my gallon's gone.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19We're making a right here and going to go onto these train tracks.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26While in America, I'm getting a tour of Detroit.
0:26:26 > 0:26:32Over in Japan, I'm driving around Detroit's sister city, Toyota.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Yes, Toyota City,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40an entire city that was created just to manufacture Toyota cars.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Everything you can see here, from houses to fields to stadiums,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47is designed to serve that one purpose alone.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Just to make everything absolutely clear,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I have an earpiece in on this side
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and there is a translator in our film car, which is coming with us,
0:26:58 > 0:27:02and he can also talk to my guests through an open radio down here
0:27:02 > 0:27:04in the door, so my questions will be translated to them.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Their answers will be briefly translated to me.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11So, translator man, could you please ask them
0:27:11 > 0:27:15what it was like to work in Toyota in the 1970s?
0:27:15 > 0:27:20TRANSLATES INTO JAPANESE
0:27:25 > 0:27:29MUFFLED TRANSLATION
0:27:32 > 0:27:34'What?!'
0:27:34 > 0:27:36I can't really hear what Christian's saying, I'm afraid.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39It sounds very muffled in this little Walkman earpiece.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Could you say to them, "I like the Celica very much.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48"It's a very fine car." TRANSLATES INTO JAPANESE
0:27:55 > 0:27:59'If you think this seems like a phenomenally overcomplicated
0:27:59 > 0:28:03'set-up just to see how much fuel these cars burn, you're right.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06'When I conceived this plan, I thought
0:28:06 > 0:28:10'I'd neatly sidestep the problem of not being able to speak Japanese.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11'I was wrong.'
0:28:11 > 0:28:15SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:28:23 > 0:28:27I worked at the Dearborn Assembly Plant
0:28:27 > 0:28:31from 1977 to 1985, I think.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33So, did you build this?
0:28:33 > 0:28:37Chances are that I worked on the engine in this car.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Back in Japan, my translator is now speaking
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Japanese into my earpiece, rather than out to the rest of the car.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47JAPANESE IN JAMES' EARPIECE Wrong channel.
0:28:48 > 0:28:49Wrong channel.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Wrong channel.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56JAPANESE TRANSLATION CONTINUES Wrong...
0:28:56 > 0:28:57No, you're doing that in my ear.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08I don't understand any of it.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11Let's just stick to America for a bit.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13What went wrong with Detroit?
0:29:13 > 0:29:16There were a combination of things that really came about to
0:29:16 > 0:29:18bring a demise to Detroit.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23One was the automotive industry had had 25 or 30 years of zero
0:29:23 > 0:29:27competition. The cars had developed style and charisma
0:29:27 > 0:29:30and had gotten away from reliable and durable and economical.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34- And...- So they weren't reliable? - Oh, no. The cars were disposable.
0:29:34 > 0:29:35In a lot of ways,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38the cars were designed to make you buy one every...
0:29:38 > 0:29:41as soon as you had it paid off.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45So the oil crisis - what was the main immediate impact of that?
0:29:45 > 0:29:47Fuel price, I suppose?
0:29:47 > 0:29:51- You couldn't buy fuel on a Tuesday. - Lines at gas stations...- Yeah.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54And all of a sudden, you had the rest of the world that had
0:29:54 > 0:29:58been building reliable, practical, efficient vehicles...
0:29:58 > 0:30:03So, you know, a 4,000 pound, 500 cubic inch Chevrolet Monte Carlo
0:30:03 > 0:30:06became a completely undesirable car when you could...
0:30:06 > 0:30:08It got five miles to the gallon.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Meanwhile, in Japan, we finally stopped getting lost in translation.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16- TRANSLATION:- I guess for people overseas having Japanese cars
0:30:16 > 0:30:19imported to their countries must be, you know, a little
0:30:19 > 0:30:22defeating for their national pride, but for us,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25it was a sense of, you know, excitement and pride.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29- TRANSLATION:- I went to Detroit in the '70s
0:30:29 > 0:30:32and the downtown was dangerous back then.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38There were places where you couldn't park a Japanese car.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42They wouldn't let you park it at Ford in the parking lot.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Especially like during the downturn,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48when folks started getting laid off and...
0:30:50 > 0:30:52You guys remember Vincent Chan?
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Yeah, Vincent Chan was killed at a McDonald's. They thought he...
0:30:56 > 0:30:58He was actually Korean.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02I think he was Chinese and he was getting married the next day.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04He was out at a bar
0:31:04 > 0:31:08and some out-of-work autoworkers
0:31:08 > 0:31:11assumed that he was Japanese
0:31:11 > 0:31:15and part of the reason why they were laid off.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21And they confronted him. I guess there was alcohol involved.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Bottom line is, they murdered Vincent Chan.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32And they actually got away with it,
0:31:32 > 0:31:37until the federal government prosecuted the people for, erm...
0:31:37 > 0:31:41- Violating civil rights. - Violating civil rights.- Wow.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44- So they thought he was Japanese... - They assumed he was Japanese...
0:31:44 > 0:31:48The entire Asian population was afraid to go out at night.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53They had a parade on... The first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday...
0:31:53 > 0:31:56What is it? Mardi Gras.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00And they had a truck, flatbed truck with a Japanese car on the back
0:32:00 > 0:32:03and a bunch of big strong guys beating it with a sledgehammer...
0:32:03 > 0:32:06- I remember that. - ..you know, in the parade.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13What started out as a simple fuel economy test has
0:32:13 > 0:32:16turned into a genuinely eye-opening experience.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24- TRANSLATION:- Being just Japanese, we're hardworking people,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27you know, we do what we're told to do.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30We do more than we're told to do.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34I guess that's in our blood, so to speak.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37These racist things you're talking about,
0:32:37 > 0:32:40this was all sparked by the Japanese car because that was...
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Yes. A loss of lifestyle.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48The Japanese imports, they were actually making the better product.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52It was perceived to be inferior because it was smaller,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56but the finish was better and it was more refined.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00- TRANSLATION:- I didn't feel any blue collar,
0:33:00 > 0:33:04white collar difference when I worked at Toyota.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07I felt like I was surrounded by experts.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Wherever I went, I felt like there were masters,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14great masters around me, creating these things.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18It was a joke when I was a kid, you know, "Where did that come from?"
0:33:18 > 0:33:21"Made in Japan." I mean, no matter what it was.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24The big three, they were just so arrogant, you know.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Too big to fail.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30- Too big to fail. - Yeah, yeah, exactly.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34And less than a mile later...
0:33:48 > 0:33:51That's 13.6 miles. That's one US gallon.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54So, that's as far as I can take you, I'm afraid.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59Sorry it couldn't have finished somewhere a bit more picturesque.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01But...cheers.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Thanks, James.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06- What up, do'.- What up, do'. - What up, do'.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Thanks for your help. It's been tremendous.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Well, that was tremendous.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I've learned a lot of interesting things about the American
0:34:13 > 0:34:16motor industry, about Detroit, about the teenage lives of those guys.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18I've learned to say, "What up, do'".
0:34:18 > 0:34:19I wonder how I'm getting on in Toyota City.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25Like a battery-powered rabbit, the Celica just keeps going
0:34:25 > 0:34:28and going and going.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33The Mustang lasted just 13.5 miles.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37The Celica keeps going for almost 26.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Ford Mustang, mmm or hmm?
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Yes? Down? Oh, OK.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Incredible when you realise that a Mustang 2 would have cost you
0:34:48 > 0:34:51over a third more than a Celica.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54'When you add it up, a Toyota really gives you your money's worth.'
0:34:54 > 0:34:58Well, I think what we've learned from that is that the Japanese were
0:34:58 > 0:35:00taking the whole business of conquering the world with
0:35:00 > 0:35:04the motor car very seriously indeed, whilst the Americans believed they'd
0:35:04 > 0:35:08already done that and they were just dipsticking about,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11having a laugh and doing stuff on the backseat of the Mustang 2,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13without realising that its engine was too big, the car was too big,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16it was too heavy, the factory was too old and all the rest of it.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19But really, that was a very convoluted way of saying
0:35:19 > 0:35:22the taut, efficient Japanese engine was more economical
0:35:22 > 0:35:26than the old American iron, but fuel economy is boring on the television.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28I hope that was useful.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32So, bad news for the Mustang. But for the city of Detroit...
0:35:34 > 0:35:37..it was devastating.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41The post-war Mecca of US car making had fallen further
0:35:41 > 0:35:43and further into ruin.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50This is Detroit's once great Packard car factory, as it stands today.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00# When the road gets dark
0:36:03 > 0:36:06# And you can no longer see
0:36:09 > 0:36:13# Just let my love grow a spark
0:36:14 > 0:36:18# And have a little faith in me... #
0:36:21 > 0:36:24It wasn't just Toyota and the Celica.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28Datsun and Mazda and all the rest of them, they too were ready,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and then there was Honda, a name that Americans knew for having
0:36:32 > 0:36:37changed the face of motorcycling with the all-conquering Super Cub.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41We covered the phenomenal Super Cub in the last series.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44Nothing can stop the noodles!
0:36:44 > 0:36:48But in '72, Honda launched the Civic, and then, four years later,
0:36:48 > 0:36:49the Accord.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Both were compact, economical, good to drive, cheap,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56and could be used to stalk blonde female joggers.
0:36:56 > 0:36:57What more could you ask for?
0:37:00 > 0:37:05# Who built the road, who was the foolish one... #
0:37:05 > 0:37:09And then something unthinkable to the older generation happened.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14In 1982, Honda opened a factory in the US, in Marysville, Ohio,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18to build the Accord in America's backyard.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25By the time we arrive at this Accord, the fourth generation in 1990,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28something truly remarkable has occurred.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31The Accord, from a maker of cheap runabouts
0:37:31 > 0:37:34and step-through scooters for preppy kids and moms,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37has become the best-selling car in the United States.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Honda had taken over the American market, but in Britain,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47we had a different problem altogether.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50We were a small island with a small market.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54To thrive as we had done before the war, we needed to export.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59So, in 1973, Britain joined a free trade zone.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Two years later, a referendum confirmed it. We were in.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06April 1975, we joined the Common Market,
0:38:06 > 0:38:10and that meant we were free to sell our cars in places like Germany.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15Germany were also free to sell their cars in places like England.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16And theirs were better.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Nothing symbolises the might of the German car-making machine
0:38:24 > 0:38:27quite like BMW's 3 Series.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33This is the first of seven generations of the 3 Series.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37The Germans launched this one on us in 1975,
0:38:37 > 0:38:41literally three weeks after we'd voted to be part of Europe
0:38:41 > 0:38:44to try to sell to them.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48To be honest, the first 3 Series were a little bit po-faced
0:38:48 > 0:38:52and not really that exciting to drive, but they did seem different.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56The instrumentation and all the controls,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00they're all very clear and logical and...German, yes,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02of course.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06This is industrial design. It's modern.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10But UK car-makers weren't about to lie down without a fight.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16We were ready. We had the Triumph Dolomite.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Especially this version, the Sprint.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27I've always loved the Dolomite Sprint, ever since I was a kid.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30And it was genuinely quick.
0:39:30 > 0:39:340-60, 8.7 seconds, top speed, 116 mph.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43It was a little bit old school, but you got overdrive on third
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and fourth.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51So effectively, you've got six gears. This would give Hans a bloody nose!
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Triumph should have had the upper hand.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59The company had existed since before cars were even a thing,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03having started off as an importer of bicycles and sewing machines.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06They had a string of successful sports cars
0:40:06 > 0:40:08and saloons to their name.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12BMW, on the other hand, had their whole factory in Eissenach
0:40:12 > 0:40:15nicked by the Russians after the war and had to start again.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21BMW's first masterstroke in the '50s was a decision not to bother
0:40:21 > 0:40:23with affordable runabouts or any of that rubbish.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27They were going to make sports cars and nice, expensive,
0:40:27 > 0:40:29well made saloons.
0:40:29 > 0:40:30Big profit margins.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32Clever.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Their second masterstroke came in 1960 when they decided
0:40:35 > 0:40:39on the complete modernisation programme known as the Neue Klasse.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43This demanded that all of their cars had unitary bodies,
0:40:43 > 0:40:46new engines and modern independent suspension.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49So, this looks like a pretty fair fight.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53We have two companies, each with a sporting pedigree and an engineering
0:40:53 > 0:40:58bent, and they're both making essentially posh mid-size cars.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Let's give these two some tap and see what's what.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03ENGINES REV
0:41:08 > 0:41:10Go!
0:41:49 > 0:41:53Yes! That is a victory for Triumph and Great Britain!
0:41:53 > 0:41:56But we all know how this really ends, don't we?
0:42:00 > 0:42:04The Triumph might outperform the BMW when you're racing round a circuit,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07but it was unreliable, it felt coarser,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10the brakes were more wooden, and the wind noise was dreadful.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12And it just got worse from there.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15You see, this car was part of their Project Ajax range,
0:42:15 > 0:42:19which began in 1965 with the 1300.
0:42:19 > 0:42:21And then there was the 1500
0:42:21 > 0:42:23and the Toledo and various versions of our car.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28This range of supposedly related mid-sized cars came in two
0:42:28 > 0:42:31different lengths and with front wheel drive and rear wheel drive.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34It was completely baffling.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39The 3 Series, meanwhile, slotted neatly into a growing range
0:42:39 > 0:42:43of clearly related cars and that continues to this day, of course.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47You have the 5 and the 3 Series, and also the 4 Series,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50the 1 Series, the 2 Series, and so it goes on.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00Even outside of the cars themselves,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04the whole landscape of British car-marking was becoming apocalyptic.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07'Right now, the five week old dispute at Triumph has robbed
0:43:07 > 0:43:10'the firm of £20 million worth of turnover.'
0:43:10 > 0:43:14We'd have preferred not to have gone on strike. We had no alternative.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18The British Motor Corporation, who made Austins, Morris Minors,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21and Jaguar E-Types, and the Leyland Motor Corporation,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25who made buses and trucks, had merged and then gone bust
0:43:25 > 0:43:28and ended up being bought by the British government.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32The trade union strikes of the 1970s made everything even worse.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Successive models of the Triumph would be delayed by two years
0:43:36 > 0:43:37because of industrial action.
0:43:39 > 0:43:45Well, we all know how it ends. BMW triumph and Triumph faded away.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48By 1984, it had gone, disappeared and gone.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51And the next Triumph after the Dolomite was the Acclaim,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54which was really just a licence-built Honda.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57And that can be considered a bit of a defeat.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00The UK just couldn't keep up.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03The troubled British Leyland desperately flailed for a last
0:44:03 > 0:44:07great hope. It would be a car of the future.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09'A new concept in vehicle engineering.'
0:44:09 > 0:44:12It would revitalise our expert business.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14'The car will appeal to European tastes.'
0:44:14 > 0:44:18It would show Germany and Japan what Britain was really made of.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21'Five years' hard work, an enormous investment in money and skill.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25'And throughout its development, nothing was left to chance.'
0:44:25 > 0:44:27It's the Allegro.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34The Allegro is one of the most reviled cars
0:44:34 > 0:44:36in British automotive history.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40The people who built it nicknamed it the Flying Pig because it was
0:44:40 > 0:44:43supposed to be the car that saved British Leyland,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46but I think that was just the British workers'
0:44:46 > 0:44:51cruel Midlands humour cutting through the management's rousing rhetoric.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55It's a car which we think will appeal not only to the sophisticated
0:44:55 > 0:44:58British public, but to the sophisticated European public,
0:44:58 > 0:44:59which, of course,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02is very much greater now that we're in the Common Market.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07It is not funky or modern. It is blobby, rounded and conservative.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09It should very obviously have been a hatchback
0:45:09 > 0:45:13because hatchbacks were all the rage in 1973 when this was launched,
0:45:13 > 0:45:17but the management decided that the Allegro would have a boot,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19like a proper car.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23'From the essentially practical to the unashamedly glamorous.'
0:45:26 > 0:45:29I sit in here, looking at this door fit and this bit of welding, this
0:45:29 > 0:45:34bit of plastic, and I honestly think, "I could make it this well...
0:45:34 > 0:45:35"in my shed."
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Everything about the Allegro was wrong,
0:45:43 > 0:45:48from the lack of a hatchback to the ghastly giant square steering wheel.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51The German and Japanese cars felt like harbingers of a new
0:45:51 > 0:45:54technical age. This car, like the Triumph before it,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57felt like a shelf full of Grandma's knick-knacks.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01The weird thing is the management at British Leyland at the time
0:46:01 > 0:46:03must have actually believed that this car
0:46:03 > 0:46:08was a winner, that this would save them, would save Britain effectively.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12There must have come a point when it was all ready and they stood
0:46:12 > 0:46:17back and looked at this shape in this baby poo colour and said, "Yeah!
0:46:17 > 0:46:20"We've done it, chaps!"
0:46:20 > 0:46:23'Lord Stokes has no doubt about its future.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25'I'm absolutely convinced that they've got a car
0:46:25 > 0:46:29'here which is quite outstanding in its class and its type.'
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Something just doesn't make sense,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36so I've agreed to meet the original designer of the Allegro, Harris Mann,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40in a secret location, where no-one can throw things at him.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43This had a rather unfortunate birth...
0:46:43 > 0:46:49- Right.- ..in that it was supposed to be an 1100 replacement.
0:46:49 > 0:46:50The Austin 1100.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54The Austin 1100 replacement, but as it got developed,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57it had various requests from engineering, in that...
0:46:57 > 0:47:01Interfering is the word you're looking for, is it,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04- possibly?- Always. Always interfering.- Yes, OK.- Yes.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09So they wanted to put a much more robust heater into the car
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and they wanted to also accommodate a 1500cc engine in here.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16By the time you stuffed the carburettors on the side,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18it started to gain height.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20It should have looked like this.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22Ah!
0:47:25 > 0:47:26It's much better!
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Well, I think it was.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31But it just went through so many engineering disasters.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35Why couldn't they just design a new heater that allowed you
0:47:35 > 0:47:39- to build your nice funky Allegro? - Unfortunately, it cost millions.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41So it had to come out of the parts bin.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46So... This was the car that was supposed to save British Leyland.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48That was its job.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Are you saying that the fortunes of this car
0:47:51 > 0:47:54and therefore of a very large chunk of the British motor industry,
0:47:54 > 0:47:58were all changed by the heater and a tall engine?
0:47:58 > 0:48:02- I suppose you could say that, yes. - Whose fault was it?
0:48:02 > 0:48:06I think it was engineering management.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09I was party to sitting in some meetings
0:48:09 > 0:48:12and they couldn't talk to each other.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14One party was...
0:48:14 > 0:48:16Like the union side were talking union speak
0:48:16 > 0:48:20and the managers were talking management speak and between them,
0:48:20 > 0:48:24it was like, you know, two computers that couldn't talk to each other.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Right. Well, that's a very, very sad... It's a very sorry tale.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Well, it is, to me, anyway, as somebody who likes cars,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33to think that your vision was never realised, that it was
0:48:33 > 0:48:38spoilt by interference and that it slightly spoiled your life as well.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41So I'm going to give you back your artwork, for that is what it is.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44- Thank you.- The best I can offer you, to be honest, is...
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Well, would you like a lift?
0:48:46 > 0:48:49No, thanks. I'd rather walk.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53- Oh.- Thank you.- Fine, thanks very much for coming.- Thank you.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54Thank you.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Maybe he's in a hurry.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04I thought as much.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08It was the bloody class system, something which my Japanese friends
0:49:08 > 0:49:11back in the Celica said they didn't have to deal with.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13'£20 million went into the new Allegro,
0:49:13 > 0:49:16'but production has never hit the target of 4,000 a week.'
0:49:16 > 0:49:18'It's stoppages like these that forced
0:49:18 > 0:49:20'Leyland into near bankruptcy.'
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The communication breakdown between management
0:49:23 > 0:49:26and workers meant that despite the protests of people
0:49:26 > 0:49:29like Harris Mann, Germany gave us a thorough spanking.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32And for proof that class mucked this up,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35you only have to look at what happened to the Allegro next.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39British Leyland decided that the secret weapon that would turn their
0:49:39 > 0:49:43great hope around would not be the quality or aesthetics of German
0:49:43 > 0:49:47cars or the clever features and dependability of Japanese cars.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50Oh, no. What would, without question,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54save the Allegro would be a posh radiator grille.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55Ha!
0:49:59 > 0:50:02This, yes, it's the Vanden Plas.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07The Vanden Plas was just an Allegro
0:50:07 > 0:50:09but with even more Victorian trimmings
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and a whopping great radiator grille stuck on the front -
0:50:12 > 0:50:16like it had come last in a Rolls-Royce fancy dress competition.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20I'm not sure how it's possible for a car to actually look embarrassed,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22but this somehow manages it.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25Just imagine you're German, you've just seen the Neue Klasse BMW
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and then you see this.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31GERMAN ACCENT: Gott, vot are zese people doing?
0:50:31 > 0:50:35There's also a really strange whirring sound going on in this car,
0:50:35 > 0:50:37which I would like to be able to say
0:50:37 > 0:50:38is probably the sound of Harris Mann
0:50:38 > 0:50:40rotating rapidly in his grave -
0:50:40 > 0:50:44except I've just met him and he's very much still alive.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49I'm imagining a scene in sort of mid-1970s suburban Britain,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51a Terry-and-June-type couple looking out of the window
0:50:51 > 0:50:53and Terry, perhaps, saying,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55"Oh, have you seen the neighbours have got a new car?
0:50:55 > 0:50:58"Something dead posh and it's got a big radiator grille on the front,
0:50:58 > 0:50:59"is it a Bentley?"
0:50:59 > 0:51:01And June will say "Oh, I don't think so,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03"it looks a bit like an Allegro to me."
0:51:03 > 0:51:05"But it can't be an Allegro," says Terry,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08"it's got a radiator grille on it, look at it.
0:51:08 > 0:51:10"It must be a Rolls-Royce."
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Nobody would have been fooled.
0:51:16 > 0:51:18VAN HORN TOOTS
0:51:18 > 0:51:19Yeah, I know, mate, it's ridiculous.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24God, I hope he doesn't think it's my car.
0:51:27 > 0:51:28What if he does a tweet that says,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31"I saw James May today out in his Vanden Plas."
0:51:31 > 0:51:33That's...
0:51:33 > 0:51:35basically the end of me, isn't it?
0:51:35 > 0:51:36Oh, no, he's taking a picture.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Somebody shoot him, he's taking a picture of me in it.
0:51:39 > 0:51:40My life's over.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47Production, shoot the man in the plumbing van.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53I think the idea was to provide the social impact
0:51:53 > 0:51:54and the on-the-road presence
0:51:54 > 0:51:56of something like a Bentley,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58but in a car for everyman -
0:51:58 > 0:52:00but of course that doesn't really quite work,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04because the body shape is too bulbous to appear truly imperious
0:52:04 > 0:52:07and the radiator grille serves only to remind you, in fact,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10of your relatively lowly status in life.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13And more to the point, the Vanden Plas was around 26%
0:52:13 > 0:52:16more expensive than a standard Allegro
0:52:16 > 0:52:17with the same size engine -
0:52:17 > 0:52:22an extra £534 to advertise to the world
0:52:22 > 0:52:24exactly what was wrong with Britain.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27In fact, the only good thing about the Vanden Plas
0:52:27 > 0:52:31is that it makes the standard car look relatively good -
0:52:31 > 0:52:33even in executive dysentery,
0:52:33 > 0:52:34or whatever they called that.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40But did it make Britain a player again in the export business?
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Well, around 670,000 Allegros
0:52:43 > 0:52:45were produced in total.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49Only 25,000 or so ever left Britain.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53More to the point of this film,
0:52:53 > 0:52:54its direct Japanese rival
0:52:54 > 0:52:57is a perfect example of a petrol phoenix
0:52:57 > 0:52:59rising from the ashes of war.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05It's the fourth generation Mazda 323, launched in 1980.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07J-POP MUSIC PLAYS
0:53:09 > 0:53:14Suddenly, the Mazda 323 was a modern front-drive hatchback.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Take that, Allegro.
0:53:16 > 0:53:17You'll be amazed.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19Mazda had been formed in 1920
0:53:19 > 0:53:21as a cork-making company
0:53:21 > 0:53:24and only turned to cars in the difficult post-war years.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26That's amazing.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Do you remember what we were saying earlier on about Japanese engines
0:53:30 > 0:53:34being small, revvy and efficient because they were forced to be?
0:53:34 > 0:53:35It's still true in this car.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37This is now 1980, but it's zippy,
0:53:37 > 0:53:39it's quite refined,
0:53:39 > 0:53:41it's got a bit of get-up-and-go
0:53:41 > 0:53:42and it's got up and gone.
0:53:45 > 0:53:46And the honest truth is,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50the Mazda 323 is not really a particularly remarkable car.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52It looks ordinary,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54it's only 1.3 litres,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57it's just a universal Japanese small hatchback,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59but it's such a relief to be in,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02compared with being in the dowdy, old Allegro -
0:54:02 > 0:54:04even now, when it's 35 years old.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06J-POP MUSIC PLAYS
0:54:10 > 0:54:13It may be humble, but therein lies its strength.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16The Japanese started out with a proper plan
0:54:16 > 0:54:18and gradually improved and finessed it,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21rather than trying to go bigger or better, like the US,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24or just panicking and covering the thing in wood, like the UK.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29This is taut and...
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Well, it feels positively contemporary.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34This car is alive,
0:54:34 > 0:54:36it's sprightly.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39By 1982, two years into its life,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41this generation of the Mazda 323
0:54:41 > 0:54:44had sold one million units.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46That actually made it the fastest car in history,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50where fastest means first from 0 to one million.
0:54:50 > 0:54:531982 was also, coincidentally,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55the last year that an Allegro
0:54:55 > 0:54:56rolled off the production line.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03It was also the beginnings of the global car
0:55:03 > 0:55:05because the basis of this car
0:55:05 > 0:55:08also formed the basis of two American Fords.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13The Austin Allegro was just a local car for local people.
0:55:13 > 0:55:14So, there you have it -
0:55:14 > 0:55:18because of, not despite, their limited resources,
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Japan's Mazda 323 was the sort of people's car
0:55:21 > 0:55:24that we could only dream of exporting.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27And I'm also guessing, but it is just a guess,
0:55:27 > 0:55:30that the equivalent of Harris Mann at Mazda,
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Harisum Manusan,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35probably ended up with the car he drew in the first place.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39By this point, it was all over.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42Germany and Japan had cemented their lead
0:55:42 > 0:55:44as the world's biggest car exporters
0:55:44 > 0:55:46and the once-great British institutions
0:55:46 > 0:55:48fell like dominoes.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52Triumph and Rolls-Royce are now owned
0:55:52 > 0:55:55by a different company altogether.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57And that car company is...
0:55:59 > 0:56:00..BMW.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Remember the giant Morris and Mini factory back in Oxford?
0:56:06 > 0:56:08This is now owned by BMW.
0:56:15 > 0:56:16And then there's Bentley,
0:56:16 > 0:56:19now also owned by Germany - through VW.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Soon, everyone was feasting
0:56:22 > 0:56:25on the carcass of what were the war victors.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29MG and Austin, now owned by China.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Jaguar and Rover, owned by India.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35Lotus, Malaysia.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39The US might be just behind Japan and Germany in terms of production,
0:56:39 > 0:56:41but its car factories have only survived
0:56:41 > 0:56:44by adopting modern Japanese techniques.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47They transformed the old Detroit methods.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50We could blame the fuel crisis or poor management,
0:56:50 > 0:56:52or even the class system for this,
0:56:52 > 0:56:54but it's also worth considering that
0:56:54 > 0:56:57while our brightest minds were occupied elsewhere
0:56:57 > 0:57:00on things like defence,
0:57:00 > 0:57:04Japan and Germany were barred - by treaty - from rearming.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06So, what else could their brightest minds do
0:57:06 > 0:57:09than move onto developing cars?
0:57:11 > 0:57:14Indeed, we unwittingly sowed the seeds of our own downfall.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17Remember when I said that Britain used to be
0:57:17 > 0:57:20the world's biggest car exporter?
0:57:20 > 0:57:25In Forbes' list of the largest auto manufacturers in the world for 2015,
0:57:25 > 0:57:30Japan and Germany occupy every single one of the top five places.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34From the devastation of war
0:57:34 > 0:57:37had risen two automotive giants -
0:57:37 > 0:57:39something even more incredible
0:57:39 > 0:57:44when you consider where a car like the Mazda 323 had come from.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50This is Mazda's home town, Hiroshima,
0:57:50 > 0:57:52but it's more famous, of course,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55for being the site of the world's first atomic attack.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57Now, Mazda emerged from the rubble of the old city
0:57:57 > 0:58:00and has now become a cornerstone of what is,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03very obviously, a completely modern one.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Mazda, perhaps more than any other car-maker,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09proves that to win at cars,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12first you must lose...
0:58:14 > 0:58:16..at war.
0:58:24 > 0:58:25# Speeding along
0:58:25 > 0:58:27# The rolling highway
0:58:27 > 0:58:28# Singing a song
0:58:28 > 0:58:30# To the rhythm of the road
0:58:30 > 0:58:32# The sun's in the sky
0:58:32 > 0:58:34# A heaven of blue
0:58:34 > 0:58:35# The world flashes by
0:58:35 > 0:58:37# You feel so happy
0:58:37 > 0:58:39# When you're sweeping along
0:58:39 > 0:58:40# A leafy byway
0:58:40 > 0:58:42# Singing a song
0:58:42 > 0:58:44# To the rhythm of the road
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# You'll never be late
0:58:46 > 0:58:47# If it's a V8
0:58:47 > 0:58:48# When you're speeding along
0:58:48 > 0:58:52# To the rhythm of the road
0:58:52 > 0:58:59# The rhythm of the road! #